【正文】 ke many bank stocks, should yield huge dividends.但是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們認(rèn)為，打算舉債資助四年聚會(huì)和學(xué)習(xí)的家庭可以這樣安慰自己：大學(xué)是不同于很多銀行股票的投資，它應(yīng)該產(chǎn)生巨額的紅利。In 2005, The typical fulltime yearround . worker with a fouryear college degree earned $50,900, 62% more than the $31,500 earned by a worker with only a highschool diploma.在2005年，典型的擁有四年大學(xué)學(xué)位的全職美國工人平均收入為50900美元，比高中文憑的工人的平均收入31500美元多了62%。但是學(xué)費(fèi)奇怪的變化說明，選擇上哪種大學(xué)并不只是金錢的問題。Does going to Columbia University (tuition, room and board $49,260 in 200708) yield a 40% greater return than attending the University of Colorado at Boulder as an outofstate student ($35,542)?上哥倫比亞大學(xué)（學(xué)費(fèi)，食宿費(fèi)在2007年2008年達(dá)到了49260美元）比起非當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)生報(bào)讀科羅拉多大學(xué)博德爾分銷（費(fèi)用為35542美元）的回報(bào)率高40%嗎？Probably not. Does being an outofstate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder yield twice the amount of ine as being an instate student ($17,380) there? Not likely.不太可能。No, in this consumerist age, most buyers aren’t evaluating college as an investment, but rather as a consumer product—like a car or clothes or a house. And with such purchases, price is only one of many crucial factors to consider.不，在消費(fèi)主義的時(shí)代，大部分的買家不會(huì)把大學(xué)看做一種投資，而是一種消費(fèi)品就像汽車、衣服或住房一樣。As with automobiles, consumers in today’s college marketplace have vast choices, and people search for the one that gives them the most fort and satisfaction in line with their budgets.正如汽車一樣，在今天的大學(xué)市場，消費(fèi)者有很多選擇，人們在尋找復(fù)合預(yù)算條件的最舒適和滿意的學(xué)校。And just as two auto purchasers might spend an equal amount of money on very different cars, college students (or, more accurately, their parents) often show a willingness to pay essentially the same price for vastly different products.正如兩名購車人會(huì)為完全不同的汽車付同樣的價(jià)錢一樣，大學(xué)生（或者更準(zhǔn)確地說，他們的父母）經(jīng)常愿意為完全不同的產(chǎn)品支付差不多的價(jià)錢。 an expensive consumer product that, over time, will pay rich dividends.為了追上汽車最炙手可熱的消費(fèi)者趨勢，或許最好是把大學(xué)看做混合動(dòng)力汽車；一種消費(fèi)品，但隨著時(shí)間的流逝，會(huì)帶來豐厚的回報(bào)。在數(shù)億年前的時(shí)間里，海龜一直在掙扎著離開大海道海灘上產(chǎn)卵，時(shí)間遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)遭遇自然紀(jì)錄片的贊揚(yáng)，或全球定位通訊衛(wèi)星和海洋生物學(xué)家的追蹤，又或者志愿者們用手把幼龜放在海邊以避免它們受到光線的影響迷失方向，爬向汽車旅館的停車場。由官方建造的大型圍墻用于保護(hù)海龜在大西洋沿岸的主要筑巢地。But Nature is indifferent to human notions of fairness, and a report by the Fish and Wildlife Service showed a worrisome drop in the populations of several species of North Atlantic turtles, notably loggerheads, which can grow to as much as 400 pounds.但是自然卻無視人類的公平觀念，由漁業(yè)和野生動(dòng)物服務(wù)組織提供的用一份報(bào)告顯示，北大西洋的數(shù)種海龜?shù)姆N群數(shù)量出現(xiàn)了令人擔(dān)憂的下降，特別是體重可達(dá)400磅的紅海龜。The South Florida nesting population, the largest, has declined by 50% in the last decade, according to Elizabeth Griffin, a marine biologist with the environmental group Oceana.The figures prompted Oceana to petition the government to upgrade the level of protection for the North Atlantic loggerheads from “threatened” to “endangered”—meaning they are in danger of disappearing without additional help.該數(shù)據(jù)促使Oceana組織向政府情愿，要求將北大西洋紅海龜?shù)谋Ｗo(hù)級別從“受威脅”提升至“瀕危”這意味著如果沒有外界的幫助，它們將會(huì)面臨滅絕的危險(xiǎn)。It turns out, according to Griffin, that while we have done a good job of protecting the turtles for the weeks they spend on land (as egglaying females, as eggs and as hatchlings), we have neglected the years spend in the ocean. “The threat is from mercial fishing,” says Griffin.“主要是來自商業(yè)捕撈的威脅”格里芬說。Of course, like every other environmental issue today, this is playing out against the background of global warming and human interference with natural ecosystems.The narrow strips of beach on which the turtles lay their eggs are being squeezed on one side by development and on the other by the threat of rising sea levels as the oceans warm.Ultimately we must get a handle on those issues as well, or a creature that outlived the dinosaurs (恐龍) will meet its end at the hands of humans, leaving our descendants to wonder how creature so ugly could have won so much affection.最終我們還要解決這些問題，否則一種比恐龍活得更久的生物將會(huì)在人類手中滅絕，讓我們的后代困惑于怎么這種丑陋的生物會(huì)贏得如此多的關(guān)愛。美國移民的比例（包括非法移民）連續(xù)數(shù)年呈增長趨勢.At percent, it is now higher than at any point since the mid1920s.%，比20世紀(jì)20年代中期以來的任何時(shí)候都要高。我們不是要回到國會(huì)公開表示擔(dān)憂等民族污染美國血統(tǒng)的時(shí)代。但是我們再一次想知道美國是否有太多不適合的新移民。We now know that these racist views were wrong. In time, Italians, Romanians and members of other socalled inferior races becameexemplary Americans and contributed greatly, in ways too numerous to detail, to the building of this magnificent nation.曾經(jīng)，意大利人、羅馬尼亞人以及其他所謂的“低等民族”成為美國人的楷模，并且通過不勝枚舉的方式為這個(gè)美妙國度的建設(shè)做出了偉大的貢獻(xiàn)。Although children of Mexican immigrants do better, in terms of educational and professional attainment, than their parents, UCLAsociologist Edward Telles has found that the gains don’t continue.盡管墨西哥移民的孩子在教育和職業(yè)成就領(lǐng)域比起他們的父母表現(xiàn)更佳，加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校的社會(huì)學(xué)家愛德華特列斯發(fā)現(xiàn)這種成就感并沒有持續(xù)性。Indeed, the fourth generation is marginally worse off than the third. James Jackson, of the University of Michigan, has found asimilar trend among black Caribbean immigrants.事實(shí)上，第四代要比第三代稍差一點(diǎn)。Telles fears that MexicanAmericans may be fated to follow in the footsteps of American blacks—that large parts of the munitymay bee mired (陷入) in a seemingly permanent state of poverty and underachievement.Like AfricanAmericans, MexicanAmericans are increasingly relegated to (降入) segregated, substandard school, and their dropoutrate is the highest for any ethnic group in the country.像非裔美國人一樣，墨西哥裔美國人日益降入實(shí)行種族隔離政策、低標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的學(xué)校，他們的退學(xué)率在整個(gè)國家的所有民族中是最高的。我們已經(jīng)認(rèn)識到在民族、種族低劣的前提下去排斥他們是多么愚蠢。 those things happen pretty much on their own.But as arguments about immigration heat up the campaign trail, we also ought to ask some broader questions about assimilation,about how to ensure that people, once outsiders, don’t forever remain marginalized within these shores.但是隨著關(guān)于移民的爭論使總統(tǒng)大選白熱化，我們也應(yīng)該提出關(guān)于融合，關(guān)于如何確保曾經(jīng)的外來人口無需永遠(yuǎn)在國內(nèi)邊緣化等更廣泛的問題。這是比無證工人的遭遇或者如何包圍邊境安全更重要的問題。It will have more impact on our future than where we decide to set the admissions bar for the latest wave of wouldbe Americans.And it would be nice if we finally got the answer right.與現(xiàn)在我們隊(duì)即將涌入的準(zhǔn)美國人設(shè)定“準(zhǔn)入點(diǎn)”相比，它將對我們的未來產(chǎn)生更大的影響。Sustainable development is applied to just about everything from energy to clean water and economic growth, and as a result it has bee difficult to question either the basic assumptions behind it or t