VOA常速英语听力：虽然目前大学排名机制存在问题，但现有排名变动可能不大

 

Students and college advisors agree that there are problems with a popular college ranking system in the United States. The magazine U.S. News and World Report produces the rankings.
学生和大学顾问一致认为，美国流行的大学排名系统存在问题。 《美国新闻与世界报道》杂志制作了排名。
 
At the same time, the critics do not believe the rankings will end anytime soon.
与此同时，批评人士认为排名不会很快结束。
 
The list of recent problems related to college rankings is a long one.
最近与大学排名相关的问题清单很长。
 
At the start of 2022, Moshe Porat, former leader of the business school at Temple University in Philadelphia, was sentenced to 14 months in prison. A court had found him guilty of giving false information to U.S. News and World Report that raised his school’s ranking. He was also ordered to pay a large financial penalty.
2022 年初，费城坦普尔大学商学院前负责人摩西·波拉特 (Moshe Porat) 被判入狱 14 个月。法院裁定他向《美国新闻与世界报道》提供虚假信息，从而提高了学校的排名。他还被勒令支付巨额罚款。
 
Over the summer, Columbia University professor Michael Thaddeus said he believed some of the data the university sent to the magazine were incorrect. As a result, the university held back its numbers and was not included in U.S. News and World Report’s 2023 rankings. The publication also removed Columbia from past lists.
整个夏天，哥伦比亚大学教授迈克尔撒迪厄斯说，他认为该大学发送给该杂志的一些数据是不正确的。结果，这所大学保留了它的数字，并且没有被列入《美国新闻与世界报道》的 2023 年排名。该出版物还将哥伦比亚大学从过去的名单中删除。
 
Law schools back out
法学院退出 And finally, in autumn, a number of top law schools protested the rankings. They restricted some information they sent to the magazine. The protesting schools included Yale, Stanford, Harvard and the University of California – Berkeley.
最后，在秋天，一些顶级法学院对排名提出了抗议。他们限制了发送给该杂志的一些信息。抗议学校包括耶鲁大学、斯坦福大学、哈佛大学和加州大学伯克利分校。
 
In all, nine of the top 14 law schools ranked by U.S. News and World Report joined the protest.
总的来说，美国新闻与世界报道排名前 14 的法学院中有 9 所加入了抗议。
 
The leaders of the law schools said the magazine does not consider some important information. For example, they said the magazine does not show how the schools prepare students for work in public service.
总的来说，美国新闻与世界报道排名前 14 的法学院中有 9 所加入了抗议。
 
Heather Gerken is the head of Yale’s law school. She called the magazine’s product -- ranking schools -- “nearly impossible.” She noted that all law schools are different and a “one-size-fits-all” system “cannot provide an accurate picture.”
法学院领导表示，该杂志没有考虑一些重要信息。例如，他们说该杂志没有显示学校如何让学生为从事公共服务工作做好准备。
 
In early 2023, U.S. News and World Report answered the criticism. The magazine said it would change its system. The rankings would not penalize schools whose graduates moved on to advanced degree programs or important, but low-paying, jobs in public service. In addition, the magazine said it would no longer center so much of its final number on the opinions of law professors, lawyers and judges.
2023 年初，《美国新闻与世界报道》回应了批评。该杂志表示将改变其系统。该排名不会惩罚毕业生继续攻读高级学位课程或从事重要但低薪的公共服务工作的学校。此外，该杂志表示，其最终数字将不再以法学教授、律师和法官的意见为中心。
 
The law schools, however, continued to say they would not cooperate.
然而，法学院继续表示他们不会合作。
 
What comes next?
接下来是什么？
 
Heading into 2023, some schools, such as Columbia, will be unranked. Other schools are reconsidering their involvement with rankings. One expert, however, said rankings are still an important way for students to get extra information about colleges.
进入 2023 年，哥伦比亚大学等一些学校将不排名。其他学校正在重新考虑他们参与排名。然而，一位专家表示，排名仍然是学生获取有关大学的额外信息的重要方式。 Allen Koh is the chief executive at Cardinal Education, a company in Northern California that helps students think about colleges and prepare their applications.
Allen Koh 是 Cardinal Education 的首席执行官，该公司位于北加州，帮助学生考虑大学并准备申请。
 
He said he does not think the protest will affect the reputations of law schools at Yale or Harvard. In addition, he said it is unlikely universities will stop their participation in the rankings.
他说，他认为抗议不会影响耶鲁或哈佛法学院的声誉。此外，他表示大学不太可能停止参与排名。
 
“For any university that is considered hyper-elite now, it will be considered hyper-elite later. And we don’t think that’ll change.”
“对于任何现在被认为是超级精英的大学，以后都会被认为是超级精英。我们认为这不会改变。”
 
In fact, Koh said he thinks universities will continue to try to get good rankings even though “everybody understands rankings are imperfect.” He noted that rankings are especially important for international students who cannot visit colleges before deciding to attend.
事实上，Koh 说他认为大学将继续努力获得好的排名，即使“每个人都明白排名是不完美的”。他指出，对于那些在决定就读之前无法参观大学的国际学生来说，排名尤为重要。
 
“Your ranking – A – helps attract talent. B – instills pride for people who have already graduated. The better ranking you have, everyone who’s already gone there, their degrees are getting more valuable.”
“你的排名——A——有助于吸引人才。 B – 为已经毕业的人灌输自豪感。你的排名越好，每个已经去过那里的人，他们的学位就越有价值。”
 
Koh pointed out that a school’s ability to raise money improves as its ranking improves, which permits it to open new buildings and create more programs. He called it a “virtuous cycle.”
Koh 指出，随着排名的提高，学校筹集资金的能力也会提高，这使得它可以开设新大楼并创建更多项目。他称之为“良性循环”。
 
International students
国际学生
Sarju Poudel of Nepal recently finished his mechanical engineering degree from the University of Texas-Tyler. Tyler is a city in the eastern part of the state, not far from Louisiana.
来自尼泊尔的 Sarju Poudel 最近完成了德克萨斯大学泰勒分校的机械工程学位。泰勒是该州东部的一座城市，离路易斯安那州不远。
 
Poudel said the process of choosing a college in the U.S. was “overwhelming.” But, he said he never considered just a college’s rankings. He wanted to make sure he received full financial aid at a school that supported computer science, physics and engineering.
Poudel 说，在美国选择大学的过程“令人不知所措”。但是，他说他从不只考虑大学的排名。他想确保自己在一所支持计算机科学、物理和工程的学校获得全额经济资助。
 
“As long as the programs and university was regionally accredited, it passed my criteria for consideration,” he said.
“只要项目和大学获得地区认证，它就通过了我的考虑标准，”他说。
 
Now that he has graduated from college in the U.S., Poudel said he thinks higher-ranked schools can sometimes provide better possibilities for their students. For example, “high-ranking colleges may indicate availability of more funds, and (therefore) more research and project opportunities.”
现在他已经从美国大学毕业，Poudel 说他认为排名较高的学校有时可以为他们的学生提供更好的可能性。例如，“排名靠前的大学可能表明有更多的资金可用，以及（因此）更多的研究和项目机会。”
 
Still, when he gives advice to students from Nepal, he said he tells them to ignore rankings. He pushes them to explore “their programs, professors’ backgrounds, projects and events related to their program and availability of internships.”
尽管如此，当他向尼泊尔的学生提出建议时，他说他告诉他们不要理会排名。他推动他们探索“他们的项目、教授的背景、与他们的项目相关的项目和事件以及实习机会”。
 
Kartik Sundaram of India is finishing an advanced degree at the University of Michigan. The first thing he did when thinking about colleges was look up rankings, “just like I would if I was looking to buy a laptop.”
印度的 Kartik Sundaram 正在密歇根大学完成高级学位。在考虑大学时，他做的第一件事就是查看排名，“就像我想买一台笔记本电脑一样。”
 
“Did I think they were important? Yes. Do I think they are important now? No.”
“我认为它们很重要吗？是的。我认为它们现在重要吗？不。”
 
The rankings, he said, were good because they gave him a starting point for his research. From there, he could look for more details, such as how often students graduate in four years. “Because I did not want to pay for a fifth year,” he said.
他说，这些排名很好，因为它们为他的研究提供了一个起点。从那里，他可以寻找更多细节，比如学生四年毕业的频率。 “因为我不想支付第五年的费用，”他说。
 
His advice for international students considering universities to attend?
他对考虑就读大学的国际学生有何建议？
 
“Don’t sweat [the rankings] too much,” he said, adding, “No matter how much research you do, it’s unlikely you’ll even get close to half of the whole picture.”
“不要对 [排名] 过于担心，”他说，并补充道，“无论你做了多少研究，你都不太可能了解整个情况的一半。”