concern(concern可数吗)

通过精读外刊提高阅读和写作

 

今天带大家精读的是分数膨胀(grade inflation)这篇文章的下半部分，选自大西洋月刊(The Atlantic)，同时也是2019年考研英语一阅读的Text 2这篇文章探讨了当今高校成绩膨胀问题，并分析了其原因，难度较低。

文章上半部分的精读讲解请戳下文英文外刊精读丨分数膨胀(上)文章全文如下：原文Grade inflation--the gradual increase in average GPAs(grade-point averages) over the past few decades—is often considered a product of a consumer era in higher education, in which students are treated like customers to be pleased. But another, related force—a policy often buried deep in course catalogs called "grade forgiveness"—is helping raise GPAs.。

Grade forgiveness allows students to retake a course in which they received a low grade, and the most recent grade or the highest grade is the only one that counts in calculating a students overall GPA.

The use of this little-known practice has accelerated in recent years, as colleges continue to do their utmost to keep students in school (and paying tuition) and improve their graduation rates. When this practice first started decades ago, it was usually limited to freshmen, to give them a second chance to take a class in their first year if they struggled in their transition to college-level courses. But now most colleges save for many selective campuses,allow all undergraduates,and even graduate students, to get their low grades forgiven.

College officials tend to emphasize that the goal of grade forgiveness is less about the grade itself and more about encouraging students to retake courses critical to their degree program and graduation without incurring a big penalty. "Untimely," said Jack Miner, Ohio State Universitys registrar,"we see students achieve more success because they retake a course and do better in subsequent courses or master the content that allows them to graduate on time."

That said, there is a way in which grade forgiveness satisfies colleges own needs as well. For public institutions, state funds are sometimes tied partly to their success on metrics such as graduation rates and student retention—so better grades can, by boosting figures like those, mean more money. And anything that raises GPAs will likely make students—who, at the end of the day, are paying the bill—feel theyve gotten a better value for their tuition dollars, which is another big concern for colleges.

Indeed, grade forgiveness is just another way that universities are responding to consumers expectations for higher education. Since students and parents expect a college degree to lead to a job, it is in the best interest of a school to turn out graduates who are as qualified as possible—or at least appear to be. On this, students and colleges incentives seem to be aligned.

精读讲解第四段①College officials tend to emphasize that the goal of grade forgiveness is less about the grade itself and more about encouraging students to retake courses critical to their degree program and graduation without incurring a big penalty. ②“Ultimately,” said Jack Miner, Ohio State University’s registrar, “we see students achieve more success because they retake a course and do better in subsequent courses or master the content that allows them to graduate on time.”

段落结构：第①句话站在学校领导的角度继续阐述了分数宽恕的目的(the goal)第②句话引用人物说的话进行举例论证①College officials tend to emphasize that the goal of grade forgiveness is 。

less about the grade itself and more about encouraging students to retake courses

> without incurring a big penalty.这句话当中有两个结构需要注意一下：1critical to..graduation在这句话当中充当后置定语,修饰前面的courses相当于前面省略了which/that are(retake courses which/that are critical to...graduation)

2less about...and more about...less A more B在这里可以理解为更多的是关于B，而不是关于A这里的more/less  about是对某事的特征或性质的重要性进行描述。

在作文当中我们也可以灵活运用这个表达，比如写到高等教育时，我们可以说：The purpose of college education is less about preparing students for a job 。

and more about instilling in them the way to think critically.大学教育的目的更多的是关于教会学生如何辩证性地思考，而不是为了以就业为导向外刊中经常会出现另一个类似的表达：

be more of A than B在对电影战狼进行评价时，外刊上出现过这样一句话：Wolf Warrior is more of a patriotic movie than an action film.与其说战狼是一部动作片，不如说其是一部爱国片。

这个短语可以译为 与其说……倒不如……比如写到环境保护话题时，我们就可以说：Environmental protection is more of a public issue than a government responsibility.

与其说环境保护是政府的责任，倒不如说是每个人的责任incur(to lose money, owe money, or have to pay money as a result of doing something。

)招致，遭受文中的penalty(处罚)就是一种金钱的损失【常用搭配】incur costs/expenses/a lossThe company has incurred huge losses over the past three years.公司去年损失惨重。

②"Ultimately," said Jack Miner, Ohio State Universitys registrar, "we see students achieve more success because they retake a course and do better in subsequent courses or master the

content that allows them to graduate on time."registrar 教务主任注意这里的content是个不可数名词，表示书中的内容，也就是知识点或考点参考译文。

大学领导倾向于强调，分数宽恕的目标不在于分数本身，而在于鼓励学生重新选修对他们的学位课程和毕业至关重要的课程，而不招致巨额惩罚俄亥俄州立大学的教务主任杰克·米纳说:“我们最终会看到学生取得了更大的成功，因为他们重修了一门课程，在随后的课程上表现地更好，或者掌握了能够让他们按时毕业的知识点。

”第五段①That said, there is a way in which grade forgiveness satisfies colleges’ own needs as well. ②For public institutions, state funds are sometimes tied partly to their success on metrics such as graduation rates and student retention—so better grades can, by boosting figures like those, mean more money. ③

And anything that raises GPAs will likely make students—who, at the end of the day, are paying the bill—feel they’ve gotten a better value for their tuition dollars, which is

another big concern for colleges.段落结构：上一段是站在学校领导的角度，而这一段则是站在局外人的角度分析问题的通过第一句话的as well(功能上相当于also)可以看出来这一段与上一段属于。

并列关系，讨论的是分数宽恕的另一个目的：满足高校自身需求同时第①句话也是本段的中心句通过第③句句首的And和句尾的another可以看出，第②句和第③句也是并列关系，作为本段第①句的两个分论点，即高校满足自身需求的两个方面：。

1.获得更多国家资金；2.让学生学有所值①That said, there is a way in which grade forgiveness satisfies colleges own needs as well.。

that said(used for adding an opinion that seems to be the opposite of what you have just said, although you think both are true

) 即便如此这个短语一般放在句首，表明接下来要说的内容与上文可能与上文刚好相反我们可以这样理解：上面一段是学校方面的说辞，并不一定是真正的原因，而这一段是实际原因the way表示方式时，后面的定语从句可以用。

in which和that两种形式这句话中的in which也可以改成that最后一段的第一句就出现了另一种形式way that②For public institutions, state funds are sometimes 。

tied partly to their success on metrics such as graduation rates and student retention—so better grades can, <

by boosting figures like those>, mean more money. 这句话当中的by boosting figures like those是由by引导的方式状语，相当于一个插入语，不属于句子主干。

其中动词boost的逻辑主语为better grades,也就是better grades boost figures like thosebe tied to与...相关这个短语在之前一篇文章中有讲过。

英文外刊精读丨金融短期主义表示与...相关的短语还有be related to,be linked to,be associated with,be connected withtied to中间加了一个。

partly，目的是避免说法过于绝对，使行文更加严谨类似的副词结构还有largely/in a large part 在之前一篇文章中讲to blame时也有提到外刊中有哪些地道实用的表达3metrics。

表示一系列数值或指标由后面的graduation rates(毕业率)也可以推测出来，metrics表示跟数值有关的意思retention(the ability to keep students from leaving a school。

)保留student retention指的就是留住学生，与之相反的就是学生辍学或退学美国高校的学生辍学率远高于中国高校，所以国家对学校发放资金时会比较看中这个指标当然并不是每个学生辍学都能成为乔布斯或比尔盖茨。

③And anything that raises GPAs will likely make students—who,, are paying the bill—

feel theyve gotten a better value for their tuition dollars, which is another big concern for colleges.

这句话中出现了两个连续的破折号的第二个作用：补充说明，相当于一个插入语，不属于句子主要成分(这个在这篇文章上半部分精读中有提到)其中，at the end of the day属于破折号当中的插入语，可以用括号括起来，变成who are paying the bill,也就是一个非限制定语从句，修饰students。

这里如果不用两个破折号，改成逗号的话，就成了make students,who,at the end of the day, are paying the bill, feel...这句话就存在句法问题了，因为make students feel中间又夹杂了一个动词成分are paying the bill，导致整句话过于松散。

at the end of the day(used for saying what you consider is the most important thing about a situation after thinking about it

)翻译成中文就是到头来concern在这里并不是表示担忧的意思在弄清楚concern在这句话中的意思之前，我们先来梳理一下concern作为名词的几个主要意思：A 担忧Many have voiced concern over the proposed changes in the law.。

B 令人担忧的事The trip was cancelled because of concerns about safety.C 关注的事/关系重大的事His only concern is to study abroad.。

D 关心He showed a complete lack of concern for the childrens welfare.其中，A和D是不可数名词，BC是可数名词文中，concern前面有个修饰词another，说明这里concern是可数名词，对应的应该是B或C。

再结合一下这一段的中心，即satisfy colleges needs，由此可知，②③两句讲的是两个高校比较关心的需求，因此concern在这里表示关注的事参考译文即便如此，有一种方法可以让分数宽恕满足大学自身的需要。

对于公立学校来说，国家资金有时在部分程度上与他们在诸如毕业率和学生留级等指标上的成功挂钩因此通过提高这些数值，更高的成绩可以意味着更多的资金而且，任何提高平均成绩的措施都可能使那些到头来交钱的学生觉得他们的学费交的值，这也是高校关心的另一件事。

第六段①Indeed, grade forgiveness is just another way that universities are responding to consumers’ expectations for higher education. ②Since students and parents expect a college degree to lead to a job, it is in the best interest of a school to turn out graduates who are as qualified as possible—or at least appear to be. ③On this, students’ and colleges’ incentives seem to be aligned.

段落结构：这一段从更深的角度对分数宽恕的原因进行了分析通过连接词indeed可以看出，这一段是对上一段语气的加强，对应上一段的最后一句的another big concern for colleges第①句摆明观点，第②句进行进一步论述，第③句得出结论。

①Indeed, grade forgiveness is just another way that universities are responding to consumers expectations for higher education.

在这句话当中，way后面就是用that引导的定语从句一般来说，way后面的in which可以替换成that，但是that不一定可以替换成in which,比如下面这句话：We must dispose of garbage in a way that is conducive to environmental protection.。

在这句话中，that作后面定从的主语，因此不能被替代成in which②Since students and parents expect a college degree to lead to a job, it is 。

in the best interest of a school to turn out graduates who are as qualified as possible—or at least appear to be. ③On this, students and colleges

incentives seem to be aligned.be in someones (best) interest(s) (=bring an advantage or benefit) 符合某人的(最佳)利益。

还有个常用的表示：be in the public interest 符合公众的利益/对广大民众有好处比如以上海垃圾分类政策为例：Shanghais recent move to enact trash-sorting rules is in the public interest.。

turn out(to produce something, especially in large numbers)大量产出外刊中还会经常出现一个类似的表达：churn out大量炮制(通常指粗制滥造)。

如关于豆腐渣工程，我们可以说：Some property developers have churned out houses susceptible to natural disasters like flood and earthquake. 

qualified [kwɒlɪfaɪd] 有资格的；合格的，胜任的a qualified teacher一名合格的老师【常用搭配】be qualified to do sth有资格做某事比如前段时间美国主持人翠西扬言要与中国主持人刘欣进行二次约辩，对此，我们可以这样回怼：。

If you dont speak Chinese, you are not qualified to demand a second discussion.incentive[ɪnsentɪv]激励；动机(

sth that encourages a person to do sth)align[əˈlaɪn]使一致根据这一段第①句的respond to和第②句的in the best interest of可以大致推测出来，这个词表示“统一/一致”的意思。

变成分词形式aligned就是统一的，一致的参考译文事实上，分数宽恕只是大学回应消费者对高等教育期望的另一种方式由于学生和家长都希望大学学位能给学生带来一份工作，所以培养出尽可能合格或至少看起来合格的毕业生是学校的最大利益所在。

在这方面，学生和大学的动机似乎是一致的如果你读完这篇文章后有所收获，就帮我点个"在看"吧，谢谢大家！