2022年12月六级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 1 原文翻译及答案解析

Some people in the US have asserted that forgiving student loan debt is one way to stimulate the economy and give assistance to those in need. One government proposition is to eliminate $ 10,000 of debt for 4 economically distressed? students. Some in US Congress have gone so far as to suggest forgiving up to $ 50,000 in debt per student borrower, but does forgiving student debt necessarily correlate to helping the economically disadvantaged?

美国一些人声称，免除学生贷款债务是刺激经济并为需要帮助的人提供援助的一种方式。一项政府提案是为4名经济困难的学生消除1万美元的债务。美国国会中的一些人甚至建议为每个学生借款者免除高达5万美元的债务，但免除学生债务是否必然有助于帮助经济上处于不利地位的人？

The answer is no. This policy is just giving money away to universities and the most affluent students in attendance. Federal Reserve data reveals that the highest-income 40 percent of households owe approximately 60 percent of outstanding student debt, while the lowest 40 percent owe just under 20 percent. This could be due to a combination of factors: students from high-income households are more likely to go to expensive colleges, less likely to receive financial aid, and more likely to have high incomes post-graduation. Plus, the majority of student debt is held by graduate degree earners, who earn approximately 25 percent more than their undergraduate counterparts. Clearly, giving free reign to banks to forgive student debt is a step in the wrong direction.

答案是否定的。这项政策只是把钱送给大学和最富有的学生。美联储数据显示，收入最高的40%家庭承担了大约60%的未偿还学生债务，而收入最低的40%家庭只承担了不到20%。这可能是由于多种因素：来自高收入家庭的学生更可能上昂贵的大学，更不可能获得财政援助，毕业后更可能有高收入。此外，大部分学生债务由研究生学位持有者承担，他们的收入比本科生同行高出约25%。显然，允许银行自由免除学生债务是朝着错误方向迈出的一步。

Other proposals for broader, long-term student loan plans have some fundamental problems. One idea is to cancel student debt only for undergraduate degrees and for students making less than $125,000.

其他更广泛、长期的学生贷款计划提案存在一些根本问题。一个想法是只取消本科生学位和收入低于12.5万美元的学生的债务。

This attempts to address the fact that Congress' previously mentioned student loan forgiveness plan largely helps out the wealthy, but is an adverse incentive for universities to keep raising tuition and for students to choose to major in low-earning degree programs. Colleges have no reason to make their programs more affordable if they believe students will just take out more debt. And, students will feel more comfortable making the irresponsible decision to go tens of thousands of dollars in debt to major in impractical or idealistic subjects if they know their loans will be forgiven.

这试图解决国会之前提到的学生贷款免除计划主要帮助富人的事实，但对大学继续提高学费和学生选择低收入学位专业是一个不利激励。如果大学认为学生只会借更多债务，就没有理由使他们的课程更实惠。而且，如果学生知道贷款将被免除，他们会更轻松地做出不负责任的决定，负债数万美元来主修不切实际或理想主义的科目。

This is especially concerning given the pandemic (大流行病) has rendered a college education practically worthless. Students are paying tens of thousands of dollars per year to live at home and be lectured on the Internet. Do we really want to tell colleges that they can get away with providing below-average service for an outrageous cost?

鉴于大流行病使大学教育实际上变得毫无价值，这尤其令人担忧。学生每年支付数万美元在家生活并接受网上授课。我们真的想告诉大学，他们可以以离谱的成本提供低于平均水平的服务而逃脱责任吗？

In the case of any of these student debt plans, working-class Americans who chose not to or could not afford to go to college will be subsidizing the education of the professional class. Plumbers and retail workers will be paying for the degrees of doctors and lawyers.

在任何这些学生债务计划的情况下，选择不上大学或负担不起大学费用的美国工人阶级将为专业阶层的教育提供补贴。水管工和零售工人将为医生和律师的学位买单。

The US government's effort to help those in debt is commendable but is this really the solution that will help the poor financially recover?

美国政府帮助负债者的努力值得称赞，但这真的是能帮助穷人经济复苏的解决方案吗？