从美国名牌高校毕业, 你能挣多少钱?

 　　Colleges give prospective¹ students very little information about how much money they can expect to earn in the job market. In part that's because colleges may not want people to know, and in part it's because such information is difficult and expensive to gather. Colleges are good at tracking down rich alumni to hit up for donations, but people who make little or no money are harder and less lucrative² to find.

　　对于未来的学生可以在就业市场上赚到多少钱，院校提供的信息非常少，一部分原因是院校也许不希望别人知道这些信息，还有部分原因在于收集这些信息并不容易，成本又高。院校擅于联系富有的校友为母校捐款，但赚钱少的校友不仅难于查找，而且这么做的效益也不高。

　　On Saturday, the federal government solved that problem by releasing a huge set of new data detailing the earnings³ of people who attended nearly every college and university in America. Although it abandonded efforts to rate the quality of colleges, the federal government matched data from the federal student financial aid system to federal tax returns. The Department of Education was thus able to calculate how much money people who enrolled⁵ in individual colleges in 2001 and 2002 were earning 10 years later.

　　上周六，美国联邦政府解决了这个问题：他们公布了大量新数据，详细列出了美国几乎所有学院和大学的学生收入。联邦政府没有费心去给院校的质量评级，而是把联邦学生资助体系和联邦纳税申报系统的数据进行了匹配。这样一来，教育部就计算出了在2001年和2002年进入各所院校的学生，在10年后赚了多少钱。

　　从美国名牌高校毕业, 你能挣多少钱?

　　On the surface, the trends aren't surprising — students who enroll⁴ in wealthy, elite⁶ colleges earn more than those who do not. But the deeper that you delve⁷ into the data, the more clear it becomes how perilous⁸ the higher education market can be for students making expensive, important choices that don't always pay off.

　　从表面上看，他们发现的趋势并不出人意料——毕业于有钱的名牌大学的学生，收入比其他学生高。但越是深入研究这些数据，就越能清楚地看到，高等教育市场的风险变得何其巨大：学生们做出了代价高昂的重大选择，却并不一定能得到回报。

　　The national universities producing the top earners are no surprise: Harvard, M.I.T., Stanford and others that routinely top the annual U.S. News and World Report college rankings. The most troubling numbers show up far beneath the upper echelons⁹ of higher education. Elite institutions prop¹⁰ up the overall average earnings of college graduates nationwide. Although earnings of college graduates continue to outpace those of non-collegians by a significant margin¹¹, at some institutions, the earnings of students 10 years after enrollment¹² are bleak¹³.

　　收入最高的学生来自全国知名的高校，这并不出人意料，包括哈佛大学、麻省理工学院、斯坦福大学，以及其他几所经常排在《美国新闻与世界报道》排行榜前列的大学。最令人不安的数字，来自那些排名远远低于第一梯队的院校。精英教育机构拉高了全国高校毕业生的总体平均收入。尽管大学毕业生的收入仍然远超没有读过大学的人，但在一些院校，学生入学后10年的收入并不高。

　　The Department of Education calculated the percentage of students at each college who earned more than $25,000 per year, which is about what high school graduates earn. At hundreds of colleges, less than half of students met this threshold 10 years after enrolling¹⁴. The list includes a raft of barber academies, cosmetology schools and for-profit colleges that often leave students with few job prospects¹⁵ and mountains of debt.

　　教育部计算了各所院校年薪超过2.5万美元（约合16万元人民币）的学生比例，2.5万美元是高中毕业生通常的年薪水平。在数百所院校中，只有不到一半的学生在入学10年后，跨过了这道门槛。这些院校包括大量的理发学院、美容学校和营利性院校，它们的学生往往就业前景惨淡，背负了大笔债务。

　　But some more well-known institutions weren't far behind. At Bennington College in Vermont, over 48 percent of former students were earning less than $25,000 per year. A quarter were earning less than $10,600 per year. At Bard¹⁶ College in Annandale-on-Hudson, the median annual earnings were only $35,700. Results at the University of New Mexico were almost exactly the same.

　　但是，一些比较有名的院校也是如此。在佛蒙特州的本宁顿学院，超过48%的学生在入学10年后，年收入低于2.5万美元，四分之一低于1.06万美元。在安南代尔哈得逊的巴德学院，学生的年收入中位数只有3.57万美元。新墨西哥大学的数字差不多也是一样。

　　The data reveals how much money students are borrowing in exchange for earnings after graduation. While U.C.L.A. and Penn State are both prestigious¹⁷ public research universities, recent U.C.L.A. grads leave with about 30 percent less debt, even as their predecessors¹⁸ are earning about 30 percent more money than counterparts at Penn State. Harvard students borrow barely a quarter of what Brandeis students take on, and earn nearly twice as much.

　　这些数据也显示出，学生们为了换取毕业后的收入借了多少钱。虽然加州大学洛杉矶分校(UCLA)和宾夕法尼亚州立大学都是久负盛名的研究型公立大学，但前者近期毕业的学生所背负的债务，比宾州立少30%，而UCLA早些年毕业的学生，收入约比宾州立高30%。哈佛学生借的钱，不足布兰迪斯大学学生的四分之一，收入却是后者的近两倍。

　　It will take time for the raft of new federal earnings data to seep¹⁹ into the complex reputational ecosystem²⁰ that continues to govern the higher education market. But this new bottom line will eventually become a permanent aspect of how colleges of all kinds are understood.

　　这些新的联邦收入数据需要经过一段时间才会影响到高校声誉的复杂系统，这样的评价体系仍然主导着高等教育市场。但这个新指标终究会成为人们评价各种大学时，总会参考的一个因素。

1 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

2 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

3 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

4 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

5 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

7 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

8 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

9 echelons   

n.（机构中的）等级，阶层( echelon的名词复数 )；（军舰、士兵、飞机等的）梯形编队

参考例句：

• Officers were drawn largely from the top echelons of society. 这些官员大都来自社会上层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Except in the higher echelons, extensive classification has no place in the classification of vegetation. 除高阶类级之外，外延分类在植物分类中还是没有地位的。 来自辞典例句

10 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

11 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

12 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

13 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

14 enrolling   

v.招收( enrol的现在分词 )；吸收；入学；加入；[亦作enrol]( enroll的现在分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They lashed out at the university enrolling system. 他们猛烈抨击大学的招生制度。 来自辞典例句
• You're enrolling in a country club, Billy. 你是注册加入乡村俱乐部了，比利。 来自辞典例句

15 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

16 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

17 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

18 predecessors   

n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Will new plan be any more acceptable than its predecessors? 新计划比原先的计划更能令人满意吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 seep   

v.渗出，渗漏；n.渗漏，小泉，水（油）坑

参考例句：

• My anger began to seep away.我的怒火开始消下去了。
• If meteoric water does not evaporate or run overland,it may seep directly into the ground.如果雨水不从陆地蒸发和流走的话，就可能直接渗入地下。

20 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。