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Inequality in South Korea: Degrees of disenchantment
韓國的不公平：覺醒的程度
Young people are losing faith in an elitist education system.
韓國青年對精英教育失去信心。
“If you don't have the ability then blame your parents,” wrote Jung Yoo-ra on social media in 2014, after being accepted into a prestigious university.
小柳女士在被一所知名大學錄取后，2014年在社會媒體平臺上這樣寫道：“你的無能都是因為你的父母”。
Her mother, it turns out, had gone to great lengths to secure a spot for her, inducing Ehwa Women's University to alter its admissions policy in a manner tailor-made for Ms Jung.
原來，她的媽媽想方設法地讓她進入了著名的梨花女子大學，并且讓該大學為小柳女士量身定做了一條招生政策。
Last month a court ruled that the nine people involved in this subterfuge had fundamentally shaken the “values of fairness that prop up our society”.
上個月法院裁定，使用非正規手段進入大學的這九人已經從根本上動搖了“支撐我們社會的公平的價值觀念”。
Above all, the “feelings of emptiness and betrayal they caused in hardworking students” could not be excused.
畢竟，“讓不辭辛苦拼搏的學生感覺遭到背叛和產生空虛感”這是不可原諒的。
University was once seen as a source of social mobility in South Korea.
大學曾被視為韓國社會流動的源泉。
But so important is the right degree to a student's prospects in life that rich families began spending heavily on coaching to improve their children's chances, leaving poorer families behind.
但因為學位對于一個學生的未來至關重要，于是富裕的家庭開始在輔導孩子的學習上花費時間以給孩子創造更好地機會。這樣一來，貧困的家庭就變得越來越貧困。
By 2007 over three-quarters of students were receiving some form of private tuition, spawning a maxim about the three necessities to win a place at a good university: “father's wealth, mother's information, child's stamina”.
截止2007年為止，超過四分之三的韓國學生接受私人補習，坊間還流傳著要進入好的大學的三個條件：“父親的財富，母親對信息的收集，孩子的毅力”。
A report by the ministry of education found that in 2016 households with monthly incomes of 7m won ($6,230) or more were spending 443,000 won a month on private education, nine times as much as families bringing in 1m won or less.
韓國教育部的一項報告顯示，在2016年，月收入為700萬韓元(6230美元)及以上的家庭每月花費44.3萬韓元在個人教育上，其每月教育支出是家庭月收入為100萬韓元及以下家庭的9倍。
Many South Koreans believe that the rich and influential do not just spend more on education, they also manipulate the system, as Ms Jung's mother, a close friend of the previous president, did so spectacularly.
許多韓國人相信富人和有影響力的人不只是在教育上花更多的錢，他們也會干預政治，像前任總統的閨蜜，即小柳女士的母親一樣。
According to the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, only a fifth of those aged 18-33 believe that working hard brings success.
根據名為皮尤研究中心的智囊團的研究顯示，在年齡為18-33歲的人中只有五分之一的人相信努力終將會成功。
An ever-growing dictionary of slang attests to the perception: people speak of using “back” (backing, or connections) to get jobs; when Ms Jung refused to return to South Korea to face charges related to her university admission, the local press dubbed it a “gold-spoon escape”.
詞典中不斷增加的俚語也證明了這一結論：人們常說的走后門、靠關系來獲得工作；當小柳女士拒絕回到韓國去面對關于她被大學錄取的各種指責時，當地媒體把此舉稱為“金匙逃生”。
And 34% of young people say they feel “isolation due to academic cliques” at work.
34%的年輕人說他們在工作中能夠感覺到“因為學校不同產生的隔離”。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
