2010年考研经典短文背诵:第4期

The picture shows a boy who is crossing a river by stepping on his peasant parents’ heads like stones. The river symbolizes the heavy financial load on rural parents to support their children’s advanced education. As is quoted in the picture, a family in countryside can barely afford a high school student, not to mention a college student.

The picture apparently mirrors an increasingly common social phenomenon in China—the hiking cost of education in contrast with the tiny income of the rural population. For one thing, the problem is partially attributed to the present disparity of wealth distribution. Sometimes the college tuition per student equals the annual income of a rural family. For another, colleges and other educational institutions fail to provide financial tools to assist students from poor areas. For example, the application for scholarship and student loan is usually so complicated that the procedure seems to take forever, while students see no trace of money.

In my opinion, the government needs to reform the educational system with measures that can show immediate effect. Cutting tuition and other expenses proves to be most beneficial to students. Further, a large-scale reform at the macroeconomic level to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor is a basic solution to this issue.
　　

这幅图一个男孩子正在把他的农民父母的头作为垫脚石来跨过一条河。这条河象征了农村的父母们为了供孩子们接受高等教育所承受的巨大财政负担。正如图中所说的那样，在农村养一个高中生都很困难，更不用说是大学生了。

这很显然反映了在当今中国一个越来越普遍的社会现象——快速增长的教育费用和农村人口的微薄收入之家的差别。一方面，这个问题部分归咎于现有的财富分布不均。有时候一个大学生一年的学费就相当于一个农村家庭一年的收入。另一方面，大学和其他的教育机构没有通过各种各样的融资工具来帮助来自贫困地区的学生。比如说，申请奖学金和贷款的程序都非常复杂、需要花很长时间，而学生们却很难真正拿到钱。

我认为，政府应该改革教育系统，采取一些立竿见影的措施。降低学费和杂费被证明是对学生最有利的。此外，解决这个问题的根本措施在于在宏观经济的层面上进行一个大规模的改革，从而缩小贫富差距。