One in five graduates earns less than a person who left school with as little as one A-level. The official figures raise doubts that thousands of students have wasted their time with 'useless' degrees.
英国1/5的大学毕业生赚得比那些只参加过中学高级水平考试的高中毕业生还少。这组官方数据让人怀疑，成千上万的学生是否把他们的大好时光都浪费在了“没用”的学历上。

On average, the Office for National Statistics says that a person with a degree or higher academic qualification, such as a PhD, earns £16.10 an hour. By comparison, a person who got at least one A level, or an equivalent qualification, typically earns £10 an hour. But 20 percent of graduates earn less than £10 an hour, the amount they would have earned without a degree. The figure could be even worse in reality because the ONS did not include graduates who are unemployed or who have never worked.
英国国家统计局称，一个拥有大学以上学历的人，比如博士，平均每小时赚16.1英镑。相比之下，一个参加过中学高级水平考试或学历相当的人，一般每小时挣10英镑。 但是20%的英国大学毕业生每小时的薪水还不足10英镑，这点工资就算他们没有大学学历也能赚到。 现实的情况可能更糟，因为国家统计局并没有把那些失业的或没工作过的大学毕业生统计在内。

The study also said the proportion of graduates doing low-skilled, badly-paid work has quadrupled to 2.3 percent since 1993. Many of these end up doing jobs which require little or no training such as hotel porter, postman, cleaner or catering assistant. Business groups have repeatedly warned that employers are turning their backs on graduates.
该研究还称，从事低技能、低薪水工作的大学毕业生比例相比1993年的2.3%翻了两番。他们中的很多人最后都从事了一些几乎不用或根本不用培训的工作，如酒店门房、邮递员、清洁工或是餐饮助理。商业团体反复警告说大学毕业生正被雇主们拒之门外。

A recent report from the British Chambers of Commerce said too many graduates have "fairly useless degrees in non-serious subjects". Phil McCabe from the Forum of Private Business said: "The value of a degree is dwindling." Tanya de Grunwald, founder of Graduate Fog.co.uk, a website for job-seeking graduates, said many are devastated by the salaries they are offered. She said: "Finally, the figures from the ONS back up what our graduates have been saying – that they are just not getting the quality of job that they thought their degree would lead to. People say that a graduate typically earns £26,000, but this doesn't reflect the reality. Many of them are just scraping the barrel."
最近一份英国商务部的报告称，太多的大学毕业生“空有一纸无用的文凭，而且学的专业也没什么意义”。来自私人企业论坛的菲尔•麦凯布说：“学历的价值正在缩水。” 毕业生求职网站Graduate Fog.co.uk的创始人塔尼亚•德•格伦沃尔德说，很多大学毕业生都对自己能拿到的薪水感到崩溃。 她说：“最终，国家统计局的数据证明我们的大学毕业生所言非虚——他们得不到自己当初以为凭学历能拿到的那种工作。 人们说大学毕业生一般年薪2.6万英镑，但这和实际不符。他们中的很多人都只能勉强度日。”

One anonymous contributor to a student website wrote: "If I could have my time back, I wouldn't have gone to university. I graduated last year and work in a friend's cafe for £6 an hour."
一位学生网站的匿名投稿者写道：“如果时光倒流，我不会去上大学。我去年毕业，现在在一个朋友的咖啡店打工，每小时6英镑。”

词汇学习：

A-level: 英国的中学高级水平考试

quadruple: 使成四倍，翻了两番

porter: （旅馆、学校、医院等的）看门人，门房，警卫

turn one's back on: 拒绝，冷眼相看

dwindle: 渐渐减少；变小

devastate: 使垮掉；使震惊

scrape the barrel: 勉强度日；刮家底；采用最后的办法