标签（空格分隔）： 经济学人
As more young people seek degrees, the returns both to them and to governments are lower. Employers demand degrees for jobs that never required them in the past and have not become more demanding since. In a desperate attempt to stand out, students are studying even longer, and delaying work, to obtain master’s degrees. In South Korea, a country where about 70% of young workers have degrees, half of the unemployed are graduates. Many students are wasting their own money and that of the taxpayers who subsidise them.
参考译文：追求学位的年轻人越来越多，学位的回报便随之降低，对他们自己和政府来说都是如此。对于那些过去并没有学位要求的工作职位，雇主现在提出了要求，而这些工作并没有变得更难。为了能脱颖而出，学生们拼尽全力，进一步延长求学时间，延后工作来获得硕士学位。在韩国，大约70%的年轻劳动力有大学学位，而失业者中有一半是大学毕业生。许多学生在浪费自己的钱，也在浪费资助他们的纳税人的钱。
As more young people seek degrees, the returns both to them and to governments are lower.
追求学位的年轻人越来越多，学位的回报便随之降低，对他们自己和政府来说都是如此。
??语篇分析：①句为中心句，亮出观点：追求学位的人越多，回报便越低。
- as… as+句子这一结构常用于引出背景，相当于中文中的“随着…；在…的背景下”，句子时态用一般现在时，比如这篇文章的副标题
◇As higher education expands, returns are falling.
再比如
◇随着科技的发展 As technology develops, …
◇随着人口老龄化As population ages,…，
大家在今后的学习过程中多多留意as的这一用法，灵活运用于自己的作文中。[写作推荐]
seek 后面可以直接跟宾语，表示“寻求”、“谋求”，比如
◇追名逐利seek fame and fortune，
◇寻求政治避难seek political asylum。
seek sth也可以表示“寻找”，相当于look for sth，比如
◇找工作seek employment / jobs，
◇找对象Many single people are seeking that special someone.2017年4月，政府划定雄安新区(Xiongan New Area)，房价暴涨，当地土著的身价也不同了，当月经济学人一篇报道中就提到一则“雄安男”的征婚启事：Male, 53, two acres in Xiongan, seeking woman, 25 or younger, beautiful, preferably with study-abroad experience.
seek 后面还可以跟不定式，seek to do sth 指“力图做某事；想方设法做某事”(If you seek to do something, you try to do it)。在写作中我们可以用seek to do sth 替换掉try to do sth比如◇Local schools are seeking to reduce the dropout rate.当地学校在寻找办法降低辍学率。
- seek还可以构成合成词， -seeker指“找…的人、追求…的人”，比如找工作的人job seeker，追求出名的人 publicity seeker，asylum seeker寻求政治避难的人 [写作推荐]
Employers demand degrees for jobs that never required them in the past and have not become more demanding since.
对于那些过去并没有学位要求的工作职位，雇主现在提出了要求，而这些工作并没有变得更难。
??语篇分析：②③句解释说明①句原因。②句从雇佣者角度指出：工作难度一样，但雇主要求更高。
demanding形容物表示“要求高的，需要高技能的”(needing a lot of skill, patience, effort, etc)，我们可以用demanding来替换difficult，形容任务的难度，我们在《经济学人》一篇在线教育的文章有这样一句话：Less demanding professions also put up huge barriers to entry. 即便要求不那么高的专业职位也设置了巨大的准入门槛。类似的表达还有challenging，也可用于替换difficult。
since 除了作连词引导句子外，还常用作副词，指“自…以后；从…以来”，常与现在完成时或过去完成时连用，可置于句中和句尾，since的这一用法在外刊出现的频率很高，试看下面的例句：
◇He left home two weeks ago and we haven‘t heard from him since. 他两周前离家外出，我们至今还没有他的音信。
◇Last summer Vancouver imposed a 15% tax on foreigners’ house purchases. The city’s property market has since cooled.去年夏天，温哥华开始对外国人购房加征15%的税，楼市自此已降温。
In a desperate attempt to stand out, students are studying even longer, and delaying work, to obtain master’s degrees.
为了能脱颖而出，学生们拼尽全力，进一步延长求学时间，延后工作来获得硕士学位。
??语篇分析：③句从学生角度指出：为了脱颖而出，学生纷纷追求研究生学历。
desperate adj. 不顾一切的, 拼命的
in a/an attempt to do sth 表示“企图…；为了…”，比如 ◇In an attempt to ward off criticism, the government has made education a priority.为了避免受到批评，政府已决定优先发展教育。
- 同样表目的表达还有：in an effort to do sth,as a way to do sth,as a way of doing sth,均可以用来替换in order to sth。[写作推荐]
stand out 指“出众；显眼”(to be much better than other people)。比如 ◇ We had lots of good applicants for the job, but one stood out from the rest. 这份工作有很多人选，但有一个人十分出众。
初级学位即学士学位Bachelor’s degree，获得学士学位的人被称为Bachelor。
中级学位是硕士学位，即Master’s degree, 获得硕士学位的人被称为Master，如工商管理学硕士MBA (=Master of Business Administration)。
大学里的最高一级学位是博士学位，即doctorate，获得博士学位的人被称为Doctor。注意，doctorate是指博士学位，而不是指拿到博士学位的人，比如◇Tom received his doctorate last month, so he is a Doctor now.
但是PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) 既可以指博士学位，又可以指拿到博士学位的人，比如◇Tom is a PhD / has a PhD.博士后 (Postdoctoral researcher) 不是学位名称，而是指那些在取得博士学位之后在大学或科研机构中有限期地专门从事相关研究或深造的人。
④In South Korea, a country where about 70% of young workers have degrees, half of the unemployed are graduates. ⑤Many students are wasting their own money and that of the taxpayers who subsidise them.
在韩国，大约70%的年轻劳动力有大学学位，而失业者中有一半是大学毕业生。许多学生在浪费自己的钱，也在浪费资助他们的纳税人的钱。
Spending on universities is usually justified by the “graduate premium”—the increase in earnings that graduates enjoy over non-graduates.These individual gains, the thinking goes, add up to an economic boost for society as a whole. But the graduate premium is a flawed unit of reckoning. Part of the usefulness of a degree is that it gives a graduate jobseeker an advantage at the expense of non-graduates. It is also a signal to employers of general qualities, such as intelligence and diligence, that someone already has in order to get into a university. Some professions require qualifications. But a degree is not always the best measure of the skills and knowledge needed for a job. With degrees so common, recruiters are using them as a crude way to screen applicants. Non-graduates are thus increasingly locked out of decent work.
参考译文：
在大学教育上花钱通常受到一个理由的支撑——“毕业生溢价”，即大学毕业生比非大学毕业生赚得多。人们认为，这些个人所得累积起来对整个社会是一种经济推动。但毕业生溢价是一个有问题的计算指标。学位的一部分用处是给了大学毕业生求职上的优势，而这是以非大学毕业生的相对劣势为代价的。学位也向雇主传达了一个信号，表明求职者具备聪明和勤奋等综合素质——他们能考上大学就少不了这些。有些职业对资质有要求。但学位并不总是衡量工作所需技能和知识的最佳尺度。学位如此常见，结果成了招聘人员筛选求职者的一种简单粗暴的方法。结果，非大学毕业生越来越多地被那些体面的工作拒之门外。
①Spending on universities is usually justified by the “graduate premium”—the increase in earnings that graduates enjoy over non-graduates. ②These individual gains, the thinking goes, add up to an economic boost for society as a whole.
在大学教育上花钱通常受到一个理由的支撑——“毕业生溢价”，即大学毕业生比非大学毕业生赚得多。人们认为，这些个人所得累积起来对整个社会是一种经济推动。
justify [?d??st?fa?]为动词，指“是…的正当理由；作为理由支持…”(to be a good and acceptable reason for sth) ◇ Nothing justifies murdering another human being.什么都不能成为杀人的正当理由。
◇ Your lateness won’t be justified by the traffic. 堵车可不是迟到的正当理由。
justified为形容词，义为“合理的，有正当理由的”(If you describe a decision, action, or idea as justified, you think it is reasonable and acceptable) ，我们在纽约时报：孙杨被禁赛八年，冤吗？|外刊精读也讲过。比如
◇In my opinion, the decision was wholly justified.我认为，这个决定完全合理。
再比如考研英语2012 Text 1有这样一句话：The company, a major energy supplier in New England, provoked justified outrage in Vermont last week when it announced it was reneging on a longstanding commitment to abide by the strict nuclear regulations.该公司是新英格兰地区的一家主要能源供应商，当它上周宣布将违背“遵守严格的核能管理条例”这一长期承诺时，激起了佛蒙特州人民的公愤。
justification表示“正当理由”(a good reason why sth exists or is done)，《新概念英语4》Lesson11一篇关于如何变老的文章也出现了这个词，原句是：Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling.有些老年人因为怕死而感到烦恼。 青年人有这种感觉是情有可原的。
句型There is a justification for sth. 便表示“...是情有可原的。”
the “graduate premium” 乍一看我们都不明白这是什么意思，但不用担心，《经济学人》往往会在这样的专有名词后面进行解释，这里作者就用破折号引出一个同位语，解释说明graduate premium 这一概念的内涵：the increase in earnings that graduates enjoy over non-graduates.大学毕业生比非大学毕业生赚得多的部分。
- be at a premium 指“稀有；紧缺”(if something is at a premium, people need it or want it, but there is little of it available or it is difficult to get) 。比如◇During the Olympic Games, accommodation willbe at a premium. 奥运会期间住宿会很紧张。我们在经济学人精读社的写作小课堂扩展过一系列关于“供应短缺”的地道表达，老学员可以复习一下。[写作推荐]
the thinking goes 人们认为，在文中作插入语。thinking作不可数名词，指对某件事的看法、态度或见解，如：
◇The Administration‘s thinking changed as the war progressed. 随着战争的进展，政府的态度改变了。go在这里指“…的内容是”，比如
◇The argument goes like this.论据的内容是这样的。
◇We need to ‘spread a little happiness‘, as the song goes.我们需要“散播一些幸福”，歌词里是这样唱的。
◇The story goes that my grandfather saved his captain‘s life in battle.据说我祖父在战斗中救了他的上尉一命。[熟词僻义]
society as a whole 指“整个社会”，比如
◇It‘s going to benefit society as a whole. 这将令整个社会受益。比如《经济学人》一篇关于青少年的文章提到：In America—though, phone-bashers should note, not in the rich world as a whole—suicides of young people are up. 在美国，年轻人的自杀率在上升——但抨击手机的人要知道，富裕国家整体上并非如此。
③But the graduate premium is a flawed unit of reckoning. ④Part of the usefulness of a degree is that it gives a graduate jobseeker an advantage at the expense of non-graduates.
但毕业生溢价是一个有问题的计算指标。学位的一部分用处是给了大学毕业生求职上的优势，而这是以非大学毕业生的相对劣势为代价的。
reckoning [?rek?n??]为名词，指“估算；计算”(the act of calculating sth, especially in a way that is not very exact) 。比如◇ By my reckoning you still owe me ￡5. 我算计着，你还欠我 5 英镑。
reckon为动词，除了表示“想，认为”的意思，还可表示“估计，估算”，比如◇Angela quickly reckoned the amount on her fingers. 安吉拉掰着手指头快速计算了一下数量。
give sb an advantage 指“给予某人优势”。
part of sth 部分part of前面不用a。
◇Part of what I‘m searching for is a reason for that slowing.我正在查找的问题当中，一部分就是要弄清楚进度因为什么原因慢了下来。
jobseeker 指“求职者” 类似的表达还有：job hunters
- at the expense of sth表示“在牺牲（或损害）…的情况下；以损害某人/某物为代价”(with loss or damage to sb / sth)。类似的表达还有at the cost of sth, come at the price of sth，比如《纽约时报》在一篇文章中曾这样批判孔子学院:On American college campuses, accepting money from the Beijing-backed Confucius Institute has come at the price of academic freedom: There are mounting concerns that the language and cultural centers financed by the institute prohibit discussion on issues that place China in a critical light.在美国的大学校园里，接受来自受北京支持的孔子学院的资金，已经带来了失去学术自由的代价：孔子学院资助的语言和文化中心禁止讨论用批判性眼光看待中国的议题，引起了人们日益增长的担忧。 [写作推荐]
⑤It is also a signal to employers of general qualities, such as intelligence and diligence, that someone already has in order to get into a university.⑥Some professions require qualifications.
学位也向雇主传达了一个信号，表明求职者具备聪明和勤奋等综合素质——他们能考上大学就少不了这些。有些职业对资质有要求。
-general qualities 综合素质
⑦But a degree is not always the best measure of the skills and knowledge needed for a job.
但学位并不总是衡量工作所需技能和知识的最佳尺度。
measure [?me??r] 作名词指“…是某事物的体现; 是对某事物的评判标准” be a sign of the importance, strength etc of something, or a way of testing or judging something)。比如《经济学人》一篇关于青少年的文章曾提到：It is revealing of broader attitudes that, in Britain, “teenagers hanging out on the streets” is a standard measure of anti-social behaviour. 在英国，“青少年三五成群流连街头”被视为反社会行为的典型表现，这就表明了大众的普遍态度。近义表达还有gauge，yardstick, 也是表示“衡量标准”的高频词汇。
⑧With degrees so common, recruiters are using them as a crude way to screen applicants. ⑨Non-graduates are thus increasingly locked out of decent work.
学位如此常见，结果成了招聘人员筛选求职者的一种简单粗暴的方法。结果，非大学毕业生越来越多地被那些体面的工作拒之门外。
recruit [r??kru?t]指“招聘，招收”新成员(to find new people to work in a company, join an organization, do a job, etc)。recruiter [r??kru?t?r] 指“招聘人员”。
screen [skri?n]作动词指“筛选，筛查”(to check people or things to see whether they are acceptable or suitable)。比如◇ I use my answerphone to screen my phone calls. 我用电话答录机筛选打来的电话。[熟词僻义]
crude为形容词，指“粗略的”(not exact or without any detail, but generally correct and useful)。比如◇Birthplace data are only the crudest indicator of actual migration paths.出生地信息只能非常粗略地显示实际移民过程。crude 还可指“天然的”，我们常说的原油便称作crude oil。
decent adj. 得体的；正派的；相当好的
原文：https://www.cnblogs.com/HLBBLOG/p/12509882.html