2024年英语专八写作话题训练：论大学教育的含金量

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　　For many students in the UK today, deciding whether or not to go to

　　university can be as muchabout affordability as it is about ambition and

　　aspiration.

　　对于今天英国的许多学生来说，决定是不是去上大学已经不仅仅关乎抱负与渴望，能不能上得起也是他们做出决定的重要因素。

　　In times gone by, students in the UK could apply to a university or college

　　safe in theknowledge that, even if they came from a low income family, their

　　tuition fees and some of theirliving(or maintenance) costs would be covered by a

　　local authority grant. A universityeducation was, in a financial sense, open to

　　all and the number of students attending universitygrew year on year.

　　过去，英国的学生可以申请大学，并且确信即使自己来自低收入家庭，学费和一部分生活费也可以由当地的政府部门拨款发放津贴解决。大学教育，从学费角度而言是对所有学生开放的，因此踏入大学校门的学生也逐年增多。

　　Sadly, it seems, those days are long gone. The turning point came in 1998,

　　when the LabourGovernment introduced tuition fees of ￡1,000 a year and, instead

　　of giving students amaintenance grant, asked them to cover their own living

　　expenses with a repayable studentloan. Only students on the lowest incomes were

　　entitled to a grant.

　　遗憾的是，那些日子一去不复返了。转折点发生在1998年，工党政府开始推行每年需缴1,000英镑大学学费的政策，并且不再向学生发放生活津贴，而是让他们通过需要偿还的学生贷款来解决生活费问题。只有来自最低收入家庭的学生才有资格得到补助。

　　The flood gates had been opened. As time passed, the ceiling on tuition

　　fees rose, andalthough applicants from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales

　　still qualified for varying levelsof subsidy, by 2009/10 students in England

　　often found themselves facing tuition fees inexcess of ￡3,000 a year.

　　这类政策一旦推行就会愈演愈烈。随着时间的推移，学费的上限也水涨船高，尽管来自苏格兰、北爱尔兰和威尔士的一些学生仍然够资格申请不同程度的补贴，但到了2009/10年度，英格兰的学生通常都要面临每年超过3,000英镑的学费支出。

　　But the biggest change was still to come. In 2011 the Government announced

　　that, from2012, universities could charge fees of up to ￡9,000 a year. Although

　　the Governmentsweetened the pill by stating that postgraduates did not have to

　　begin repaying their studentloans until they were earning more than ￡21,000 a

　　year, the news created outrage. Manystudents argued that it was unfair that

　　students should have to begin their work life saddledwith huge debt, while

　　others complained that the changes would bring back a class divide touniversity

　　education. These views were reflected in the number of students applying for

　　auniversity place, which by January 2012 fell by more than 22,000. The

　　Universities Minister,David Willetts, stood by the decision to increase tuition

　　fees, saying that they would not “putuniversities’ finance on a sustainable

　　footing” and facilitate “a stronger focus on high qualityteaching.”

　　但是更大的巨变还没有到来。到了2011年，政府宣布从2012年起，允许大学收取高至9,000英镑/年的学费。尽管政府为这一做法找的说辞是研究生可以在每年收入21,000英镑以前，不必偿还学生贷款，但这个消息还是触发了众怒。一些学生认为这种政策很不公平，会令他们刚刚开始工作就背上沉重的债务负担，还有学生认为这一政策会在加剧大学期间学生间的阶级分化现象。这些观点也在大学申请人数上反映了出来，到2012年1月，英国申请大学的人数下降了22,000人。英国高等教育大臣大卫?威列茨支持政府提高学费的决定，并称他们不会“把大学财政建立在学生可以付得起的基础上”，而是要全力促进大学“对于教学质量的关注”。

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