(单词翻译:单击)
专八题目：
The Validity of College Rankings
专八范文：
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?
每年公布的大学排名吸引了许多人的关注。包括记者、大学管理者、教职员、学生、父母以及高中生。再加上其他的指导书，大学排名反映了中国大学的整体水平。莎士比亚的戏剧“罗密欧与朱丽叶”中说“名字包含了什么？我们管它叫做玫瑰。其他名字闻起来也一定是甜美的。"我们想问一问：数字里面包含了什么？
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．
许多学者认为大学排名是一种衡量大学水平的客观途径，所以，它的排名很片面。我认为我们应该综合考虑，这样才能评估大学的真正排名，而不是只关注于排名。
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，大学排名是否公平，如何做出的大学排名是非常重要的。一种测量系统仅仅包含了评估、经济实力、师资力量、学生成绩、保留率方面的考虑，其他测量系统或许会更加重视著名校友的数量，老师对学生的评估，以及学生的评估。根据有关数据表明，同一所大学有可能总排在第一名，但是，换一种测量系统之后，这所大学有可能会成为一所排名中等的大学。总体来讲，根据同一种准则，排名可以客观地反映出某大学的实力，但是，却不能反映大学水平的全部。此外，许多大学有其特有的准则，我们不能仅仅推断出一所音乐或戏剧学院就比工业学校要差，这要根据不同的排名系统而定。
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，大学排名很有可能是人为控制的，这将不可避免地将减少它的权威性和可信性。一位知名大学的教授称，一位专门负责大学排名的机构曾经暗示他说，如果您同意支持他们的组织，那么，该组织将提高该学校的排名。根据一些新闻报道，这样的现象并不罕见。许多排名机构都曾经邀请过许多大学老师。我们还能相信大学排名真正能够反映大学的实力吗？特别是某些排名机构以换取支持而抬高排名为由的排名吗？
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．
总之，大学排名是评价大学的重要手段，而这样的排名是根据不同的测量方法而定的。某一种排名只侧重了高等教育的某一方面，我们不得不与各个排名系统相比较，之后，我们才能了解大学的真正实力。同时，我们也应该小心这一现象背后的人为原因。
译文属可可英语原创，未经允许，不得转载。
