DAY 79 The government ponders bailing out universities
ponder /ˈpɒndə(r)/ =consider
to think about something carefully for a period of time
bail out [beɪl aʊt]
（往外） 舀水; （常指通过出资） 帮助…脱离困境; 保释（某人）; （从飞机上） 跳伞逃生;
1> to jump out of a plane that is going to crash
2> to escape from a situation that you no longer want to be involved in
Before the crisis, the government was keen to shrink the university sector. Covid-19 makes it likelier that that will actually happen
be keen to
1 A quick flick through a student brochure is all it takes to see why universities are so concerned by the pandemic, and the collapse in international travel it has wrought. A British undergraduate studying classics at Oxford, as the prime minister did, pays £9,250 ($11,500) a year for tuition. A Chinese undergraduate on the same course pays £27,285, almost three times as much. Altogether, foreign students last year provided at least a fifth of the income of 48 higher-education institutions, ranging from the London School of Economics to the University of Sunderland. That is why, as a vice-chancellor puts it, “everyone is nervous as hell.”
flick through = flip through
1> to look quickly through a book, magazine, website, etc. without reading everything
2> to keep changing television channels quickly to see what programmes are onwrought /rɔːt/ v
caused something to happen, especially a change
adj. 锻造的；有特定风格的；加工的；精细的v. 使发生；工作（work 的过去式和过去分词）student brochure 学生手册
brochure /ˈbrəʊʃə(r)/ n. 手册，小册子
a small magazine or book containing pictures and information about something or advertising somethingthe prime minister 首相
classics ['klæsɪks] 古典文学
[u] the study of ancient Greek and Roman culture, especially their languages and literature
vice-chancellor [ˌvaɪs ˈtʃɑːnsələ(r)]
n. 大学副校长；副大法官
英国最好的学校G5：RSE是其中之一
the University of Sunderland 普通一些“everyone is nervous as hell.” 每个人紧张的要si~
2 International students are not all that Britain’s vice-chancellors have to worry about these days. Any business that brings together crowds of people faces trouble. Universities are likely to have to move either some or all of their teaching online. That may mean fewer domestic students, depending on whether the urge to dodge terrible lectures on Zoom is greater than the desire to avoid a terrible labour market. Even before the crisis, some universities were looking shaky. Large deficits were common among smaller, less prestigious institutions. And the debt taken on by some of the country’s grandest universities now looks more concerning. Universities uk, a lobby group, has opened the bidding for government help, petitioning for a £2bn bailout. The decision about whether to provide the cash, and if so how to distribute it, will shape higher education for years to come.
Any business 任何行业
dodge /dɒdʒ/ v 躲避
1> to move quickly and suddenly to one side in order to avoid somebody/something
2> (rather informal) to avoid doing something, especially in a dishonest wayshaky /ˈʃeɪki/
1> shaking and feeling weak because you are ill, emotional or old = unsteady
2> not stable, steady or safe; not certaindeficit /ˈdefɪsɪt/
1> (economics) the amount by which money spent or owed is greater than money earned in a particular period of time
2> (formal) the amount by which something, especially an amount of money, is too small or smaller than something elseprestigious
a lobby group 一个游说的组织
lobby [ˈlɒbi]
n. 大厅；休息室；会客室；游说议员的团体
vt. 对……进行游说vi. 游说议员opened the bidding 出标
zoom 软件 在线听课；视频
petition /pəˈtɪʃn/
1> to make a formal request to somebody in authority, especially by sending them a petition
2> to formally ask for something in court
n. 请愿；请愿书；祈求；[法] 诉状
vi. 请愿；请求vt. 请愿；请求；恳求million n. 百万；无数adj. 百万的；无数的
billion bn n. 十亿；大量num. 十亿adj. 十亿的
trillion n. [数] 万亿adj. 万亿的num. [数] 万亿will shape higher education for years to come.
shape 影响，塑造
has opened the bidding for government help
开启了向政府求助的大门
bid for 投标；出价；许诺获支持
3 Before the crisis, ministers had big ambitions. In his budget on March 11th, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, promised almost to double research and development spending to £22bn by 2024-25. But the ambition to invest in excellent research coexists with a belief in Downing Street that the sector has grown too big. Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s chief adviser, has previously questioned the value of “third rate he [higher-education] institutions”. Alison Wolf, another adviser who is the country’s most influential thinker on tertiary education, has called the expansion of universities “a bad bargain for the taxpayer and for the student”.
chancellor [ˈtʃɑːnsələ(r)]
n. 总理（德、奥等的）；（英）大臣；校长（美国某些大学的）；（英）大法官；（美）首席法官tertiary [ˈtɜːʃəri]
adj. 第三的；第三位的；职业教育的；（地质）第三纪的；三代的n. （地质）第三纪；第三修道会会员，第三级教士
tertiary education 高等教育，大学教育But the ambition to invest in excellent research coexists with a belief in Downing Street that the sector has grown too big. 共存
4 Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, has announced that she will tackle the problem of “low-quality” university courses. The government has its sights on universities producing the fifth of graduates, as identified by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (ifs), a think-tank, who would have been financially better off had they not attended university. The earnings of those who left university a decade ago suggest that’s true, on average, of female graduates of Bolton University and uc Falmouth (now Falmouth University), and of male graduates of 39 universities, including Goldsmiths and Manchester Met.
have its sights on 瞄准 关注
keep its eyes onproducing the fifth of graduates
the Institute for Fiscal Studies (ifs) 财政研究所
think-tank [ˈθɪŋk tæŋk] 智囊团
be better off (doing something) 境况富裕；更舒适
used to say that somebody is/would be happier or more satisfied because they are/if they were in a particular position or doing a particular thingon average 平均；普通，通常
5 Ministers are not rushing to pony up the cash that Universities uk wants. For the moment, the Office for Students, the higher-education regulator, has demanded a pause in all changes to existing offers until May 4th to prevent a free-for-all in which universities poach each others’ students. Though the eventual impact may be big, higher education is at less immediate risk than other sectors seeking bail-outs, for most universities are relatively insulated at least until the start of the new academic year. The government will wait for the impact on student behaviour to become clearer, allowing it to decide whether to cough up, and if so what it wants in return.
Minister [ˈmɪnɪstə(r)] n. 部长；大臣；牧师
rush to do [rʌʃ]
将…匆匆送往；匆匆到…，火速赶往…；急着做…pony up
付账；交出
to give the money required 付款 [美国英语] [非正式]
pony
n. 矮种马；小型马adj. 小型的；每日摘要的vt. 付清vi. 付清For the moment 暂时，暂且；目前
the Office for Students 学生办公室
higher-education 高等教育（指含大学以上的教育）
higher-education regulator 高等教育监管机构
offer 录取通知书free-for-all [ˈfriː fər ɔːl]
n. 自由放任；混战；可自由参加的比赛（或情形）
a disorganized fight or argument which lots of people join inpoach pəʊtʃ]
(通过不正当的手段或秘密) 挖走 (其他组织的成员或顾客)
If an organization poaches members or customers from another organization, they secretly or dishonestly persuade them to join them or become their customers.
vt. 水煮；偷猎；窃取；把…踏成泥浆vi. 偷猎；侵犯；剽窃insulate [ˈɪnsjuleɪt] vt. 隔离，使孤立；使绝缘，使隔热
If a person or group is insulated from the rest of society or from outside influences, they are protected from themclearer ['klɪərə] adj. 更清楚的；更明显的
cough up [kɒf]
咳出；勉强说出；被迫付出
If you cough up an amount of money, you pay or spend that amount, usually when you would prefer not to.in return adv. 作为报答
other sectors seeking bail-outs 寻求救市的其他部门
immediate risk 眼前的风险；即时危险；紧迫的风险
at risk 处于危险中uk 的offer —— conditional offer，eg 雅思7分才能拿到full offer——other学校说6.5就可以
change offer，录取条件
英国研究生，英语成绩，本科GPA，推荐信，大学文书（介绍自己，自己对专业的兴趣，为什么这个项目适合）
美国：10月开始到年底，申请季，在ddl前提交合格的英语成绩，才有资格申请offer。
英联邦，候补的方法。给你conditional offer。拿到offer之后再去申请full offer
语言班，牛津剑桥，7-7.5，英国学校开设语言班。eg，要求7.5，只有7，去英国那边上语言班（eg32周）。直升班，上过之后就ok，另一种还需要再考雅思。（语言班~预科班）
dbq 紧急财政援助
6 Previous Conservative universities ministers have emphasised that they are not afraid to let universities go bust. The Treasury is said to be inclined not to offer universities a bail-out, allowing them to get access to standard business support and intervening only on a case-by-case basis. The expectation is that, if the government removes restrictions on recruitment on May 4th, higher-ranking universities will suck up students from lower-ranked peers to make up for the fall in those arriving from abroad. Many of the resulting strugglers would be universities producing graduates who earn less than they would have had they not gone to university. Treasury officials would not be sad to see those shrink or disappear altogether.
go bust 破产，完蛋；失败
The Treasury 财政部
be inclined to conj. 倾向于…；有意
case-by-case 具体分析；个例
recruitment [rɪˈkruːtmənt]
n. 招收，招聘；（自然种群）增长；募集（反应、现象）suck up 吸收
resulting [rɪ'zʌltɪŋ] adj. 因而发生的，作为结果的
strugglers ['strʌglə] n. 奋斗者；斗争者 （挣扎者）
7 Yet there are problems with such an approach. Jack Britton of the ifs notes that graduate-earnings data looks at those who left universities in the late 2000s. The post-pandemic labour market may require different skills to the one which preceded it. And letting universities in poorer parts of the country go bust would be difficult to square with Boris Johnson’s desire to “level up” struggling areas. “The preponderance of institutions [which might need saving] that are in the north and Midlands is quite embarrassing,” notes a vice-chancellor.
precede [prɪˈsiːd]
vt. 领先，在…之前；优于，高于vi. 领先，在前面square with
与 ... 协调或一致；付清账款；商量；与...成直角
would be difficult to square with 相悖于The preponderance of institutions
preponderance [prɪˈpɒndərəns]
n. 优势；多数；占优势“The preponderance of institutions [which might need saving] that are in the north and Midlands is quite embarrassing,
大多数需要援助的机构……
8 Universities uk’s bail-out bid carefully balances universities’ competing interests. It asks for a doubling of the main source of research funding, which would mainly benefit high-ranked ones, helping to make up for the expected shortage of foreign students. In return, these institutions would agree to restrictions on recruitment, so that they do not suck up students from lower-ranked ones. It would also include a “transformation fund”, which could be used by the government to help universities merge with other universities or even further-education colleges, thus helping it to rebalance resources from universities to vocational education. In March the government said it would lay out its plans for further education later this year.
bid
A bid for something or a bid to do something is an attempt to obtain it or do it. 努力尝试 [journalism]lay out ['lei,aut]
展示；安排；花钱；为…划样；提议further-education 继续教育
9 Universities hope the bail-out plan would allow them to get through the next few years, before a demographic boom in the number of 18-year-olds comes to their rescue. But recruitment restrictions would mean the government was, in effect, banning students from attending the best institution that would have them, and thus preventing top-rated universities from taking up the slack in the system. And the bailout would give higher education some protection against the government’s desire for radical reform.
demographic boom [ˌdeməˈɡræfɪk] [buːm]
demographic
adj. 人口结构的；人口统计的n. 特定年龄段的人口；（demographics）人口统计数据，人口统计资料
boom
n. 繁荣；（某种体育运动、音乐等）突然风靡的时期；吊杆；隆隆声；水栅；帆桁
v. 使兴旺；发隆隆声；急速发展；用低沉的声音讲话；鸣叫
slack [ slæk] n. （绳索的）松弛部分；富余部分；煤屑；懈怠
people, money or space that should be used more fully in an organizationradical reform 激进的改革
take up the slack
1> to improve the way money or people are used in an organization
2> to pull on a rope, etc. until it is tight
是指阻止高校通过利用系统的空子（更改入校规则从而招收更多学生）in effect 实际上
10 On April 29th Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, told mps that his priorities were protecting research, students and the role universities have in local economies—which sounds like a reference to the need to look after poorer places. Those aims will have to be squared with the Treasury’s pressing need to save money and the government’s ambition to squeeze waste out of the sector. It sounds like universities with poor graduate prospects in richer parts of the country should be worried.■
mps
n.议员(全写为Member of Parliament，经选举在议会中代表某一选区者); 宪兵;
prospect [ˈprɒspekt]
n. 前途；预期；景色vi. 勘探，找矿vt. 勘探，勘察
prospect in 前景
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