英文欣赏：我不会让儿子上大学(上)
I Won't Let Our Boy Go to University
我不会让儿子上大学
I've refused to allow my stepson Jim to go to university because it will be too expensive and a waste of time.
我不会让我的继子上大学，因为上大学是件既浪费金钱又浪费时间的事情。
People think I'm selfish or uncaring. But I think more parents will come to accept my way of thinking.
人们认为我自私，对继子不够关心。但是我相信会有更多的父母会接受我思考问题方式。
Britain's university system is failing to serve either society or our children.
英国大学系统对社会或者孩子都无益处。
I can't remember when I began to change my mind on education. Like many middle-class parents, I had assumed that going to university was what children should do.
我忘了从什么时候开始改变自己对教育的看法。和大多数中产阶级家长一样，我曾经认为上大学是孩子应该做的事情。
It's one of the reasons we sent him to an expensive private boarding school with a good academic reputation, rather than a weak but free local one.
这是我送他最贵的有着良好的学术声誉的寄宿学校上学的原因之一，我并没有让他去普通的当地学校。
Education was more important than nice cars, new kitchens, or skiing holidays.
教育比豪车，新厨房，或者滑雪度假都要重要。
Jim is a teenager of whom any parent would be proud. He's charming, considerate and helpful; he's a genius at things like hanging pictures and mending door handles; he's good with children; he's handsome. But he's shown little interest in study.
吉米是任何父母都会感到骄傲的青少年。他可爱，体贴，乐于助人；他擅长挂画架和修门把手；他和伙伴们相处得很好；他很帅气。但是他对学习不感兴趣。
It's not Jim's intellect that's the problem, but an inbuilt reluctance to do any more work than necessary to get by.
这不是吉米智力的问题，而是他不愿意付出更多努力，只是想通过就行。
We've tried every method to make him work harder: blackmail, bribery, threats. None of it has worked.
为了能让他更努力学习，我们尝试了所有的办法：勒索，贿赂，威胁。这些都不起作用。
For his final exams, Jim got a D and two Es. Even allowing for our low expectations, this came as a shock to his mother and me.
吉米在期末考试中，得了1个D和2个E。尽管我们已经降低期望，但是这样的成绩对我和他的妈妈来说还是一个打击。
1. get by v. 通过；过得去；过活；获得认可
eg. I'm a survivor. I'll get by.
我是个幸存者。能勉强过活。
eg. Your work will get by, but try to improve it.
你的作业还过得去，但要努力改进。
同义词：get through sth, make through
eg. I think you can get through the first two chapters.
我想你能完成前两章。
eg. It is hard to see how people will get through the winter.
很难想像人们将怎样熬过这个冬天。
2. come as a shock 感到吃惊
eg. It may come as a shock, then, that mere mortals have now made artificial life.
这也许会让人们为之震惊，然而，人类现在确实可以创造出生命。
eg. Since market prices tell us that this is what investors expect, it should not come as a shock to them.
既然我们从市场价格得知，这是投资者预料到的，它就不应该对他们造成冲击。
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