2010考研英语：历年真题来源报刊阅读100篇连载（4）
University bonds: An education in finance
Less well known is the increasing willingness of colleges to borrow in the markets, too. On May 15th, for example, Cornell University sold $250m-worth of bonds.In recent weeks both Harvard and the University of Texas have also raised hundreds of millions of dollars in this way.
Such debt-raising is becoming more common. There are abundant reasons to believe that the market will grow much bigger yet.
Largely this is because colleges are only belatedly becoming aware of how useful the financial markets can be. No doubt some of their hesitation has been cultural: academics may have been reluctant to look at their universities as businesses; or they may have misunderstood what was needed to help those businesses grow.
If they did look at their institutions in economic terms, people in education tended not to think that universities lacked capital. Rather, they thought that they had a structural inability to use capital and labour more efficiently. Unlike the car industry, many schools felt that they must maintain, or even increase, the ratio of employees (teachers) to customers (students). Small class sizes are taken as a signal of high quality, so investing money to save on teachers’ salaries is not an attractive strategy.
Schools had other reservations as well. Poor schools were worried about being unable to service debt. Rich schools with huge endowments may have seen no need.
So much for an academic perspective. A growing number of investors saw things differently. Those lovely buildings on rolling campuses, the better universities’ reputations, taxpayers’ backing of state-owned institutions: all this looked to them like a deep pool of assets against which lots of money could be borrowed. The money raised could be used to attract more customers, who are choosy about the product and whose demand varies little with the price (loudly though they may complain).
Some of the richest universities may be using another tactic too, although they would be loth to admit it. To understand this, it helps to know that America has three types of university-public ones; private, not-for-profit institutions; and private schools run for profit. Both public and not-for-profit universities often issue tax-exempt debt. This tends to be cheap. They can then invest the money they raise in the higheryielding taxable market but, because of their non-profit status, avoid taxes.
This is not quite a licence to print money, but it is not far off. Under a 1986 law, money has to be raised for a purpose, such as a building.However, this is a matter of substance rather than form. Money is fungible. As long as the tax authorities are happy that the promised sum is being spent on the stated projects, a university can borrow cheaply and, in effect, earn a spread. Reflecting just how complex this market has become, most universities borrow at variable rates and then hedge their interest-rate risk through swaps.It is all pretty clever.
Outside America, schools have been hesitant to take this approach largely because their operations and spending are more closely tied to the state, but they too are changing, if slowly.
考研词汇：
willingness [ˈwiliŋnis]
n.自愿，乐意
abundant [əˈbʌndənt]
a.丰富的, 充裕的, 丰富, 盛产, 富于
financial [fəˈnænʃəl]
a.财政的;金融的
hesitation [ˌheziˈteiʃən]
n.犹豫, 踌躇
institution [ˌinstiˈtju:ʃən]
n.公共机构, 协会, 制度
perspective[pəˈspektiv]
n.①视角;②透视法;③(in~)正确地
[真题例句](63) The emphasis on data gathered firsthand, combined with a crosscultural perspective (①) brought to the analysis of cultures past and present, makes this study a unique and distinctly important social science.[2003年翻译]
[例句精译](63)强调收集第一手资料，加上在分析过去和现在文化形态时采用跨文化视角，使得这一研究成为一门独特并且非常重要的社会科学。
[真题例句]Not everyone sees that process in (28：perspective) (③).It is important to do so.[2002年完形]
[例句精译] 并不是所有人都能正确看待这一进程，虽然了解这一点非常重要。
背景常识介绍：
在美国，1995年发行债券的高等院校已经达到160所，债券总额达26.7亿美元。1996年，发行债券的学校又增加到189所，债券总额达到41.4亿美元。债券的形式有两种，一种是普通债券，一种是免税债券。债券偿还期分中长期和长期两种。中长期债券的还贷期在25—30年间，利息在5—6%之间。而长期债券的还贷期要长得多，利率也要稍高一些。发行债券的用途有哪些?概括地说：(1)为了周转资金;(2)为了偿还当前的其他债务;(3)为了用于学校大型项目的建设。
参考译文：
大学债券：教育经费的新窗口
不为人知的是，越来越多的大学开始热衷于向市场贷款。例如，康奈尔大学于5月15日出售了价值2亿5千万美元的债券。最近几周，哈佛大学和德克斯大学也通过这样的途径获取了数以亿计的资金。
像这种贷款集资的方式已经越来越普遍，我们有足够的理由相信市场会得到大幅度的扩张。
这主要是因为，很多大学才刚刚发现金融市场的用处有多大。当然，受传统文化的影响，一部分人还持怀疑态度：学术派不愿看到学校过于商业化;或者他们没有看清帮助这种商业扩张需要的是什么。
如果他们从经济学的观点来看这些学校，教育者们难以接受这些大学会缺乏资金。他们更倾向于认为，学校有足够的组织能力来驾驭资金和劳动力。与汽车行业不同的是，很多学校愿意为了消费者(学生)的需要而保持，甚至增加员工(教师)的比率。小型的课堂教育被认为是高质量的标志，因此投入资金来节省教师薪水并不是有吸引力的方案。
各个学校也有其他方面的限制。普通学校担心自己无法偿还债务。名牌大学由于有巨额的资金捐赠或许没有必要向市场贷款。
学术派的观点暂且讨论到这里。更多的投资者们持不同的看法。校园里面漂亮的教学楼，更佳的学校声望，国有机构的纳税者支持：所有这些对于他们而言，借来的资金就像丢进了一个无底洞。更多的资金可以吸引到更多的消费者(学生)，这些消费者对产品之间的微小差别会吹毛求疵，而不会太在意价格的不同。
一些最有钱的大学或许会采用另一种方法，虽然他们不愿承认。要理解这一方法，我们首先要清楚美国的大学分为三类——公立、私立和非盈利型;私立学校为了利润而经营，而公立学校和非盈利学校常常发行一种免税债券，而这种债券并不昂贵。他们可以在高税收的领域投入资金，然而，由于他们的非盈利性质，常常避开纳税。
这虽谈不上像拿到印钞许可证一样，但实质上也差的不远。根据1986年的法律，筹集资金需要一定的理由，比如修一栋楼之类的。然而，这只是其实质并非表面。货币是可替换物。只要税务机构对这些花费在国有工程的许诺金额满意，大学就能相对便宜地借到资金，有效地赢得其中的差额。这就反应出了市场变得是多么的复杂，很多大学贷款的比例都不一样，然后通过交换来保护利率风险。这些想法都相当聪明。
在美国以外的学校对于全面采用这种方式集资还徘徊不前，因为学校的运作和开销与国家的联系更为紧密，但是他们也在慢慢转变。
2010考研英语：历年真题来源报刊阅读100篇连载（5）
University expansion
BRITAIN’S universities are in an awful spin. Top universities were overwhelmed by the 24% of A-level applicants sporting indistinguishable straight As; newer ones are beating the byways for bodies.
Curiously, both images of education—the weeping willows of Cambridge and the futuristic architecture of UEL—are cherished by the government. Ministers want to see half of all young people in universities by 2010 (numbers have stalled at 42%), without relinquishing the worldclass quality of its top institutions.
Many argue that the two goals are incompatible without spending a lot more money. Researchers scrabble for funds, and students complain of large classes and reduced teaching time. To help solve the problem, the government agreed in 2004 to let universities increase tuition fees.
Though low, the fees have introduced a market of sorts into higher education. Universities can offer cut-price tuition, although most have stuck close to the $3,000. Other incentives are more popular. Newcomers to St Mark & St John, a higher-education college linked to Exeter University, will receive free laptops.
As universities enter the third week of “clearing” , the marketing has become weirder. Bradford University is luring students with the chance of winning an MP3 player in a prize draw. Plymouth University students visited Cornish seaside resorts, tempting young holiday-makers with surfboards and cinema vouchers. These offers suggest that supply has outstripped demand.
Not so the top universities that make up the “Russell group”, however. Their ranks include the likes of Imperial College London and Bristol University along with Oxford and Cambridge. Swamped with applicants, only half offer any places through clearing. They have a different problem: they need money to compete for highcalibre students and academics, both British and foreign, who could be tempted overseas by betterheeled American universities or fastimproving institutions in developing countries such as India.
Higher fees and excess supply are causing students to look more critically at just what different universities have to offer. And the crunch could become more acute. The number of 18-year-olds in Britain will drop around 2010 and decline over the following ten years, according to government projections.
Bahram Bekhradnia, the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a thinktank, says the government hasn’t a hope of getting 50% of young Britons into higher education by 2010. And the decline of home-grown student numbers will have a “differential effect” on universities, he reckons. Those at the bottom end will have to become increasingly “innovative” about whom they admit and some may not survive.
The Cambridge shades evoked by Rupert Brooke were gentle, nostalgic ones. Many vicechancellors today are pursued by far more vengeful spectres of empty campuses, deserted laboratories, failed institutions. Markets, after all, create winners—and losers.
考研词汇：
awful[ˈɔ:ful]
a.①极度的，极坏的，糟糕的;②威严的，可怕的;ad.十分，极度地
overwhelm [ˌəuvəˈwelm]
vt. 淹没, 覆没, 受打击, 制服, 压倒
curiously[ˈkjuəriəsli]
ad.好奇地
imperial[imˈpiəriəl]
a.皇帝的;帝国的
swamp[swɔmp]
n.沼泽, 湿地, 煤层聚水;v.陷入沼泽, 淹没, 覆没
acute[əˈkju:t]
a.①敏锐的，尖锐的;②(疾病)急性的
[真题例句]Acute (①) foreign observers related American adaptiveness and inventiveness to this educational advantage.[1996年阅读4]
[例句精译] 目光敏锐的外国观察家把美国人的适应能力和创新能力与这种教育优势联系起来。
innovative [ˈinəuveitiv]
a.创新的, 革新(主义)的
背景常识介绍：
20世纪80年代英国进行了教育市场化和教育私有化。随后的20多年是英国高等教育实施激烈的市场化改革并取得初步成效的时期;同时1988年通过的教育改革法和1992年通过的高等教育改革法，则更是明确要求英国教育转向完全面向市场的体制。政府经过近30年的改革实践，现已逐步改变原来的政府负债局面，走上了良性发展的轨道。
参考译文：
大学扩张
英国大学正处在一种糟糕的迷惑状态。顶尖大学申请者人满为患，其中成绩清一色全A的A级生比例高达24%;新兴大学则为生源争得头破血流。
奇怪的是，教育界两个景象迥异的学校——垂柳依依的剑桥和建筑前卫的UEL——都是政府扶植的对象。部长们希望2010年半数年轻人能读大学(目前大学生比例在42%左右)，同时保证顶尖学府的世界级质量。
许多人指出要同时实现两个目标须花费更多的钱。研究人员需要钱，学生抱怨大班上课和课时缩减。为解决该问题，政府于2004年同意大学提高学费。
学费虽然不高，却已经引来了高等教育的初级市场。尽管多数大学的学费已经固定在接近3000镑的价位，但仍可以减少学费。其他激励措施则更为流行。St Mark & St John大学(与Exeter大学合作的高等教育学院)的新生可以免费获得笔记本电脑。
当大学进入“调剂”的第三周，市场经营手段也更加新奇。Bradford大学用抽奖赢MP3的活动来吸引学生。Plymouth大学的学生造访Cornish海滨度假村，用冲浪板和影院优惠券来吸引年轻度假人士。种种好处暗示大学市场供大于求。
构成“罗素联盟”的顶尖大学却不是这样。该联盟包括诸如伦敦帝国大学，Bristol大学，牛津大学以及剑桥大学等名校。由于申请者众多，所以只有半数学校在调剂阶段还在招人。这些学校则面对不同的问题：他们需要钱去争夺英国乃至海外的高才生和优秀教师，这些人容易被更富有的美国大学和发展中国家(如印度)高速发展的学校所吸引。
更高的学费和供大于求导致学生在挑选学校的时候更为慎重，所以竞争将更为激烈。而政府预计2010年起英国18岁年轻人的数量将开始逐年减少，并持续10年之久。
高等教育政策学会(一个智囊机构)主任Bahram Bekhradnia说，政府在2010年达成让50%的英国年轻人读大学的目标渺茫。他估计，本土大学生数量的减少将对大学产生“差异化效应”。那些在底层的大学在招生上将不得不变得更富于创新，而其中的一些可能会惨遭淘汰。
Rupert Brooke所唤起的剑桥记忆是温柔而怀旧的。如今许多大学校长则更多地被空荡荡的校园、荒废的实验室、废止的机构里的幽灵所追逐。毕竟，市场成就胜者，也造就败者。 |
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