Passage 8
“十年树木，百年树人”，教育从来都是一个十分有意义的话题。让我们看看，世界经济最发达的美国，高等教育是如何开展的。
Higher Education in America
There is evidence that even incomplete university study gives a person better career prospects than none at all. So, it is accepted that the benefits of a university career are useful.
All this effort in Americas higher education is very expensive. Some of the costs come from fees and benefactions, particularly towards research, but most have to be paid from public funds. Parents favor big expenditures on higher education; a wider public opinion favors them for idealistic and cultural reasons, and because of the supposed value of education as an investment by society.
The first universities were developed by private charitable organizations. The private universities are still very important, and most of the bestknown institutions, like Harvard, Yale and Princeton, are private.
Most of the principal state universities have between 10, 000 and 30, 000 students, and some have increased rapidly in the past few years. Private universities and colleges are generally smaller, and although they are more numerous than public institutions they have a smaller total number of students than those in public institutions. The private colleges vary very much in standards and reputation, from the worldfamous and select to the cranky and the obscure①. The best known of all is Harvard.
There are also many junior colleges to which students may be admitted at the end of their high school career, providing only the first two years of university work.
For the most part Americans think that theres some advantage in attending one of the betterknown private institutions, in spite of the higher cost, rather than a state university. However, state universities are becoming increasingly important, and some of them, particularly in the Midwest have a reputation practically equal to that of the private ones. Almost every state by now has several university institutions directly under the authority of the state government.
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文章开篇就指出接受教育总是颇有好处的，为后文作了一个很好的铺垫。紧接着第二段就讲到美国社会各 巨大，引出了文章的话题——美国的教育。第三，四，五段就具体的阐述了美国的教育体系是由私立学校，州立大学和大专学校构成的。最后一段讲述了州立大学的发展前景。
美国的高等教育
有迹象表明，一个人大学肄业也比从未上过大学有更好的就业前景。因此，人们相信，接受大学教育总是颇有益处的。
美国在高等教育上的投入是十分巨大的。某些费用，尤其是科研费用，来自学费和捐款，但是多数费用还得由公共基金支付。家长乐意将大笔经费投入高等教育；基于理想上和文化上的缘由，加上教育具有一种被认定为社会投资的价值，社会舆论也比以前更加普遍地支持在高等教育上花费巨资。
美国最早的大学是由私立慈善机构兴办发展的。现在私立大学仍然十分重要，且多数最著名的高等院校，如哈佛大学、耶鲁大学和普林斯顿大学，都是私立大学。
美国大多数主要的州立大学在校学生人数在1万至3万名之间，其中有些大学近年来学生人数激增。私立高等院校一般规模较小，尽管其数量超过公立院校，其学生总人数却比公立院校的要少。私立院校的水平与名望彼此相差甚远，从举世闻名、出类拔萃到动荡不定或默默无闻的都有。所有大学中，哈佛大学最负盛名。
美国还有许多只开设大学头两年课程的大专学校，高中生毕业后就可上此类学校。
尽管私立院校费用较高，大多数美国人认为，就读于名气大一些的私立院校有某种优越性，故 。然而，州立大学日趋重要，其中部分院校，尤其是中西部地区的州立大学，现在已与私立大学齐名。如今，几乎各州都有几所隶属于州政府直接管辖的高等院校。
benefaction n.恩惠, 善行, 施予
expenditure n.经费，费用，支出额
charitable organizations 慈善机构
cranky a.任性的, 暴躁的
obscure a.不著名的，不重要的
prominent a.突出的，杰出的
①【注释】vary from sth to sth 改变，变动，变化
【临摹】Her mood varied from optimism to extreme depression.她的情绪由乐观变为极度消极。佳句临摹
The great difficulty in  experience out of ideas. 教育之艰苦在于从意念中获得经验。
The one real object of education is to have a man in the condition of continually asking questions. 教育惟一的真正目的，就是让一个人进入这种状态：不断提出问题。
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