評論
打印
專八題目：
The Validity of College Rankings
專八范文：
The publication of college rankings each year would draw increasing attention from interested people．Those people include reporters，college administrators and faculty，alumni，parents，and high school students．Together with other popular guidebooks， college rankings feature data on the overall universities and colleges in China．Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet once stated that “what is in a name? That which we calla rose．By any other name would smell as sweet．”We can ask a similar question over the college rankings：what is in a number?
每年公布的大學排名吸引了許多人的關注。包括記者、大學管理者、教職員、學生、父母以及高中生。再加上其他的指導書，大學排名反映了中國大學的整體水平。莎士比亞的戲劇“羅密歐與朱麗葉”中說“名字包含了什么？我們管它叫做玫瑰。其他名字聞起來也一定是甜美的。"我們想問一問：數字里面包含了什么？
Some scholars warn that college rankings use objective measures to evaluate subjective considerations so that they can only tell a prospective college student a limited amount．In my opinion，we should take several rankings into consideration to evaluate a specific college’s place in the ranking，instead of only relying on one ranking．
許多學者認為大學排名是一種衡量大學水平的客觀途徑，所以，它的排名很片面。我認為我們應該綜合考慮，這樣才能評估大學的真正排名，而不是只關注于排名。
Firstly，to decide whether college rankings give a college a fair shake，it is crucial to look at the methodology of the ranking system．While one system may conclude peer assessment，retention rate， facultyresources，student selectivity，and financial resources，another system may lay its emphasis on the number of famous alumni，the student evaluation of professors and the evaluation of college students．Accordingly，the same university may rank top in one publication of one ranking system，but be reduced to theaverage university category in another ranking system．Generally speaking，based on the same criteria， the rankings can objectively reflect the strength of a certain university，but it can not tell the whole story ofa college．Besides，many universities are characterized by their unique disciplines． We can not simply reach conclusion that a music and drama university is worse than a technological university according to their places in the ranking system．
首先，大學排名是否公平，如何做出的大學排名是非常重要的。一種測量系統僅僅包含了評估、經濟實力、師資力量、學生成績、保留率方面的考慮，其他測量系統或許會更加重視著名校友的數量，老師對學生的評估，以及學生的評估。根據有關數據表明，同一所大學有可能總排在第一名，但是，換一種測量系統之后，這所大學有可能會成為一所排名中等的大學。總體來講，根據同一種準則，排名可以客觀地反映出某大學的實力，但是，卻不能反映大學水平的全部。此外，許多大學有其特有的準則，我們不能僅僅推斷出一所音樂或戲劇學院就比工業學校要差，這要根據不同的排名系統而定。
Secondly， college rankings are likely to be manipulated， which inevitably reduces their authority and trustability． As a president from a famous university revealed， one college ranking compiling organizationonce visited him and insinuated that if the president agreed to sponsor their organization， they could put the college in higher places of ranking． According to some news report， this phenomenon is not rare． Many universities have been invited to “corporate”with some ranking compiling organizations． Can we still believe that college rankings reflect the strength of some universities when some universities sponsor the compiling in exchange of higher places in the ranking?
第二，大學排名很有可能是人為控制的，這將不可避免地將減少它的權威性和可信性。一位知名大學的教授稱，一位專門負責大學排名的機構曾經暗示他說，如果您同意支持他們的組織，那么，該組織將提高該學校的排名。根據一些新聞報道，這樣的現象并不罕見。許多排名機構都曾經邀請過許多大學老師。我們還能相信大學排名真正能夠反映大學的實力嗎？特別是某些排名機構以換取支持而抬高排名為由的排名嗎？
In a word， college rankings， an important means to evaluate universities， are based on different methodologies． As one methodology only focuses on certain aspects of higher learning， we have to consult with several ranking systems and then we can find out the whole story of a university． We should also be cautious about the manipulation behind the scenes．
總之，大學排名是評價大學的重要手段，而這樣的排名是根據不同的測量方法而定的。某一種排名只側重了高等教育的某一方面，我們不得不與各個排名系統相比較，之后，我們才能了解大學的真正實力。同時，我們也應該小心這一現象背后的人為原因。
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
