4、Buy some insurance, while you\'re at it
既然身处这个地区，就为它买些保险
Given the impressive levels of spending on education in the Gulf, it is hard to imagine that its middle classes will put up with so little control over their countries\' wealth—or, indeed, their governments—for long. There are some signs of change, but they are small. By Saudi standards, King Abdullah is a reformer; by any other standards, he moves exceedingly slowly. There is external danger, too. When Saddam Hussein sent his tanks streaming into Kuwait, he was cheered on by many Arabs whose own countries never won a geological lottery and who continue to resent the undeserving fat cats with oil.
海湾国家大量投资于教育，而长久以来它的中产阶级居然可以忍受自己几乎不能掌控国家的财富--事实上也不能掌控他们的政府，这让人实在难以理解。变革的信 号已经出现，但是还很微弱。按照沙特的标准，阿卜杜拉国王算是个改革者：可按他国标准，他的动作实在是太慢了。外部危险同样存在，当年萨达姆.侯赛因把他的一辆辆坦克开进科威特时，许多阿拉伯人欢欣鼓舞——这些人自己的国家没能在地理博采中中奖，并且始终对那些大发油财的肥猫们耿耿于怀，他们认为这些人不配得到这些财富。
Today\'s dangers are different. Saddam is gone. But the Gulf states are threatened by the chaotic politics in Iraq and by the rivalry between America and Iran for influence in the region. In their volatile part of the planet, the sheikhs cannot buy perfect security. But they might consider investing a bit more of their windfall in stabilising Iraq and the broader Middle East, not just in their fabulous pleasure domes.
今天危险不同以往了。萨达姆离开了历史舞台，但伊拉克混乱的政治局势，以及美国和伊朗为争夺地区霸权的对立都威胁着海湾国家的安全。在这个动荡的地区，酋长们买不到安全，但是他们可以考虑一下在稳定伊拉克和大中东局势方面多投资一些，而非仅仅他们自己的那些令人叹为观止的大厦。
Tags: 社论
5、American history
美国历史
Big bite
大张口
Apr 24th 2008
From The Economist print edition
THIS entertaining and informative book, which traces the burger\'s evolution from working man\'s snack during the Depression to symbol of American corporatism, is nothing less than a brief history of America in the 20th century.
这本趣味横生、资讯丰富的书，追溯了汉堡从大萧条时期作为工薪阶层的零食到成为美式企业标志的历程，相当于一本20世纪美国的简明历史书。
Like many stories, this one starts long, long ago, with a castle. This castle had five-cent hamburgers instead of princesses, and rather than being in an enchanted forest, it was in Wichita, Kansas.
跟许多老套的故事一样，此书也是从很久很久以前的一座城堡讲起。这座城堡位于堪萨斯州的卫奇塔而不是阴森的森林里，里面只有五分钱的汉堡包，没有公主。
An ambitious fry-cook named Walter Anderson opened White Castle in 1921. He did not invent the hamburger (this book wisely steers around that controversy); he merely standardized its production, cooking dozens of pre-weighed, pre-shaped burgers at once on a dedicated griddle, and serving them on specially designed buns. The friendly grill man in a white paper hat, amicably chatting with the customers as he formed meat into a patty and slapped it onto the grill next to cheese sandwiches and omelettes, gave way to the kitchen as assembly line, and the cook as infinitely replaceable technician.
沃尔特•安德森，一个满怀事业心的炸料厨师，在1921时开了家叫白色城堡的餐厅。安德森媒没有发明汉堡包（此书巧妙地绕过了那个争论）；他只是把烹饪标 准化了，他把数十个事先称过、造好型的肉饼放在一个特制的平底锅里马上煎好后就放入了专门烤制的圆面包里。这位乐呵呵的厨师戴着一顶白色的纸帽子，一边将 肉做成肉饼、拍打着放在烤架上靠近奶酪三明治和煎蛋卷的旁边，一边和食客们拉着家长里短。这样使得厨房成为了流水线工厂，厨师也成为了可以无限更换的技 工。
When a businessman named Ray Kroc bought a “drive-in burger bar” in San Bernardino, California, run by Richard and Maurice McDonald, he built on White Castle\'s practice of culinary standardisation: a McDonald\'s hamburger weighs 1.6 ounces (45.4 grams) and spans 3 and 5/8 inches (9.2cm); it is garnished with a quarter of an ounce of chopped onion, a teaspoon of mustard, a tablespoon of ketchup and a pickle slice one inch in diameter.
当一个叫雷•克洛克的商人买下理查德和玛瑞斯•麦当劳兄弟经营的位于加利福利亚州圣•贝纳德的“前进肉饼店”时，他模仿了白色城堡餐厅的标准化烹饪工艺： 每个麦当劳的汉堡包都重1.6盎司（45.4克）、高3.4英寸（9.2厘米），并用0.25盎司的切片洋葱、一茶匙的芥末、一汤匙的番茄酱和直径为一英 寸的泡菜作为佐料。
Burgers are cooked 12 at a time, laid double-file on the grills; the third row, closest to the heat, is flipped first, followed by the fourth, fifth and sixth rows, then the left two last. All managers must complete a rigorous training course at Hamburger University, McDonald\'s training centre in Illinois.
每次都要烹饪12个肉饼，在烤架上放两层；烤架第三排的肉饼受热最多，最先翻面，紧接着是第四排、第五排和第六排的，然后是最后的两排。所有的餐厅经理都必须在伊利诺伊斯的麦当劳培训中心“汉堡包大学”完成一个热火朝天的培训课程。
But Kroc—a businessman of such drive and rage he once fired a man for wearing a woolly hat on a freezing day and said of rivals, “If they were drowning I\'d put a hose in their mouth”—added a crucial twist to his business model: franchising. Most restaurants are independently owned, making McDonald\'s less a single corporate behemoth than a “confederation of entrepreneurs, small businesspeople operating according to standards devised by a central organising authority.”
然而，克洛克——一个性急暴躁的商人曾经炒掉了一个在大冬天戴毛绒帽子的员工，以竞争者的口吻说到“如果这些毛掉了下来，我会用管子把它们喂到你嘴里。” ——带来了他商业模式上的重要转折：特许经营模式。大多数的餐厅都是私人个人的产权拥有，使得麦当劳不太像一个庞然大物似的法人单位，而是一个“企业家的 联盟，小商人们的经营活动根据设置的标准由一个中央机构控制”。
The real trick behind McDonald\'s success had to do with property: Harry Sonneborn, the company\'s first chief financial officer, decided to buy or let sites, then sublet them to franchise managers at a hefty mark-up, and the rate rose concomitantly with burger sales. Sonneborn used to tell investors that McDonald\'s was less a hamburger company than a property business. The charming Kroc crowed, “Now we will have a club over [franchise managers], and by God there will be no more pampering or fiddling with them”.
麦当劳成功的真正秘诀是对所有权的分配：哈利•索恩本，集团首任财务总监，决定买或租下餐厅，然后再以高价转租给拥有特许经营权的经理们，使得麦当劳的发 展速度与汉堡销量比翼齐飞。索恩本过去常对投资者说“与其说麦当劳是家汉堡包公司，不如说是家所有权公司。”极富魅力的克洛克洋洋得意地说“现在我们将成 立特许经销商的俱乐部，上帝作证，他们中绝不会有人被偏袒或愚弄。”
This is why McDonald\'s is a worldwide icon with a market capitalisation of $67.2 billion and White Castle remains a modest but stable burger chain (even if its soft, square little burgers, eaten by the sack and topped with grilled rather than raw onions, are immeasurably superior to those of any other fast-food chain).
All of this, of course, is a long way from meat on a bun, but then a hamburger isn\'t just a hamburger. José Bové\'s supporters, after all, didn\'t smash up a McDonald\'s because they wanted extra pickles.
这就是为什么麦当劳现在是市值672亿美元的世界知名品牌，而白色城堡只是一家发展缓慢、稳定的汉堡连锁店（即使它家松软、四方的汉堡，用口袋装着吃时顶端都是烤过的洋葱而不是生的，没有话说，它的质量好过了任何一家快餐连锁）。
6、Only in America
与众不同之美国
Apr 24th 2008 2008年4月24日
From The Economist print edition 经济学人印刷版
America\'s particularities will survive George Bush
乔治布什卸任之后，美国的特异性将依然延续。
IT IS exceptionalism week in the world of American think-tanks. No fewer than three of them—the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and the Manhattan Institute in New York City—have arranged discussions of a fat new book on the subject, “Understanding America: The Anatomy of an Exceptional Nation”, edited by Peter Schuck and James Q. Wilson. But, as Hegel feared, do the thinkers understand a concept just as it stops being relevant? Does the owl of Minerva really fly only at dusk?
对于美国棋布星罗的智囊机构而言，这是“美国例外论”大行其道的一周。其中有不少于三家的机构（即位于华盛顿特区的美国企业研究所，布鲁金斯学会以及坐落 于纽约市的曼哈顿研究所）已安排了数场讨论会，研讨一本新近出版以此为主题的“巨著”，即由Peter Schuck和James Q. Wilson编辑的《理解美国：剖析例外之国》一书。但是，正如哲人黑格尔所担心的那样，当一个观念已开始与现实世界无关时，思想家们是否能够理解其内 涵？智慧之神化身的猫头鹰是否真的只在黄昏翱翔？
All countries are exceptional. But America likes to think of itself as exceptionally exceptional, different from other advanced industrial countries not just in its social arrangements but also in its underlying values. America has a smaller state than other comparable countries and a more unequal distribution of wealth. It is also more strongly committed to what Margaret Thatcher once called “Victorian values”—individualism, voluntarism, patriotism.
所有国家都有其独特性。但是美国人喜欢认为他们的国家尤其的与众不同。与其它发达的工业化国家相比，这种不同不仅仅体现在其社会安排上，还表现在它的基本 价值观念上。与类似的国家相比，美国政府在社会经济生活中所占的比例更小，其财富分配也更加的不均衡。美国也更加强烈的致力于曾被撒切尔夫人称为“维多利 亚价值”的个人主义，志愿主义和爱国主义。
American exceptionalism has been increasing ever since the rise of the modern conservative movement from the late 1960s onwards. The current Bush administration, with its commitment to conservative values at home and assertiveness abroad, is the most exceptional administration in recent years. But the book raises a new question: is a new cycle, dominated by a rejection of conservatism and a convergence with West European norms, about to dawn?
美国例外论自上世纪六十年代后期现代保守主义运动兴起以来，一直呈增长态势。当前的布什政府在国内推行保守主义价值，在国外则独断专行，彰显美国实力，在 这方面可称得上是近些年来最“出类拔萃”的一届政府。但是这本书也提出了一个崭新的问题：这个以排斥保守主义融合西欧准则为显著特征的新时期是否即将到 来？
There is plenty of compelling evidence. The Bush administration has whipped up a mighty opposition. The Democrats are poised to increase their majorities on Capitol Hill and have a better-than-even chance of taking the White House. George Bush has the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup poll. Nearly three-quarters of Americans think the country is heading in the wrong direction. The conservative movement is suffering a collective mental breakdown.
在这一问题上有很多令人注目的例子。布什政府的所作所为激起的反对声可谓一浪高过一浪。民主党人现在已做好在国会山增加其多数党席位的准备，而且他们夺取 白宫的几率可称得上是前所未有。在盖洛普70年的民调历史上，乔治布什是最不被美国民众认同的一位总统。几乎有四分之三的美国人认为他们国家正走向一个错 误的方向。保守主义运动此刻正经受着集体精神崩溃之苦楚。
Americans strongly favour the introduction of universal health care. They are also desperate to improve their global image. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have promised to introduce the former. All three candidates have promised to improve the latter. The next administration will undoubtedly see significant moves, such as the closing of Guantánamo Bay or the adoption of stronger environmental regulations, that will be intended to make America less of an outlier.
美国人强烈赞同推行覆盖全体国民的医保制度。他们也急切的渴望改善美国的全球形象。关于前者，希拉里克林顿和巴拉克奥巴马都已对选民慨然允诺。而且三位总 统候选人都承诺要改善美国形象。毋庸置疑，下一任政府会做出一些重大的举动：比如说关闭关塔那摩湾，采取更严厉的环境监管措施等等。其目的就在于使美国不 再显得那么的“与众不同“。
But look at the 2008 election—the one that is supposed to be changing the direction of the country—and American exceptionalism seems to be as strong as ever. Where else do primary elections go on for well over a year? Where else do candidates raise tens of millions of dollars a month from their supporters? And where else do the party rank-and-file (as well as some non-party people) get a chance to choose the candidate for the top job? Gordon Brown became Britain\'s prime minister without a single ordinary Briton casting a vote. John McCain won his party\'s nomination despite the opposition of a large chunk of his party. Mr Obama is leading an uprising against his party\'s old establishment.
但是如果你看看正在进行的2008年总统大选（这 个应该正在改变美国方向的选举），你就会发现美国例外论似乎强健如昔。还有那个地方的初选活动能够延续足足一年多的时间？还有那个地方的候选人能够在一个 月内从其支持者那里募集数以千万计美元的竞选资金？还有那个地方的普通党员（和一些党外人士）能有机会选择最高职位的候选人？要记得戈登布朗可是在没有一 个英国老百姓参与投票的情况下，当上了英国首相。而约翰麦凯恩尽管遭遇到共和党内很多党员的反对，却依旧获得了该党的提名。此时的奥巴马正领导着一起针对民主党内旧有势力的“武装暴动”。
The various campaigns have often invoked American exceptionalism, especially the strength of its religious feeling. Mrs Clinton has stressed her credentials as a cradle Methodist who once thought of becoming a minister. Even before the Jeremiah Wright affair, Mr Obama spoke at length about how he found purpose in life when he discovered God. The only odd thing about this election is the fact that the Democratic candidates both seem more comfortable with God-talk than Mr McCain.
总统候选人在五花八门的竞选活动中经常将美国例外论作为谈资，尤其喜欢谈论美国人强烈的宗教意识所具有的力量。克林顿夫人着重强调她生来就是卫理公会派教 徒这一资历，她说她甚至曾经考虑过做一名牧师。而奥巴马即使在其牧师杰里迈亚赖特（Jeremiah Wright）惹起风波之前（注1），就曾详尽地论述过他是如何在发现上帝时找到人生真谛。在谈及宗教话题时，两位民主党候选人似乎要比共和党人麦凯恩惬 意得多，这可真称得上是奇事一桩。
All three candidates preach a peculiarly American style of patriotism. Mr McCain invokes his military service in Vietnam, when he learnt to depend on something greater than himself. Mr Obama argues that there is not a red America or a blue America but one America united by common values. All three candidates wax lyrical about the American dream. And by European standards all three candidates are strikingly willing to sanction the use of force. Mr McCain sings “Bomb, bomb Iran” to the tune of “Barbara Ann”. Mr Obama talks about sanctioning a search-and-destroy mission in Pakistan without the permission of that country\'s government. Mrs Clinton said this week that, as president, she would have no qualms about “totally obliterating” Iran if it used nuclear weapons against Israel.
这三位候选人都宣扬一种独特的美国式的爱国主义。麦凯恩喜欢谈论他在越南服兵役时的种种经历，他说正是在那时他学会了依靠比自身更伟大的事物。奥巴马则声 称并没有一个所谓的红美国和蓝美国之分（注2），有的只是一个被相同的价值观念连接在一起的美利坚合众国。一旦谈及“美国梦”，这三位都显得那么的文采飞 扬。而且这三位候选人都愿意核准使用武力，这无疑会令许多欧洲人对其侧目而视。麦凯恩和着歌曲“芭芭拉安”的曲调高声歌唱“轰炸，轰炸伊朗”。奥巴马称自 己要在未经巴基斯坦政府许可的情况下，授权在其境内展开搜索轰炸行动。克林顿夫人本周说，如果她当选总统，一旦伊朗胆敢对以色列动用核武，她将毫无疑惧的将其从这个星球“彻底抹去”。（ 注3）
7、More liberal is not less American
多些自由主义并不意味着去美国化
A Democratic hat-trick in November would certainly produce a more liberal America, with more government involvement in providing health care and protecting the environment. But it will be a liberal America of an exceptionally American kind, not a facsimile of Europe. Both candidates have rejected the “single-payer” health-care model popular in Canada and Europe. Instead they advocate a very American solution—allowing people who are happy with their private health coverage to keep what they have but then using a mixture of mandates and subsidies to extend coverage. And even modest changes will be endlessly diluted. The world may be transfixed by the presidential campaign. But the president\'s powers, as the book stresses, are remarkably limited, qualified not just by Congress and the courts but also by the states and the localities.
如果民主党真的在十一月份上演“帽子戏法”，那无疑将会产生一个更加信奉自由主义的美国。在提供医保以及保护环境方面，政府将会比以往更多的参与其中。然 而这样一个信奉自由主义的美国也将极具美国特色，它绝对不是对欧洲模式的简单效仿。民主党两位候选人都拒绝采用流行于加拿大和欧洲的“单一支付者”这一医 保模型。相反他们赞成一种非常美国式的解决方案，即允许那些对其私人医保方案满意的群体保持原状，同时采用授予委任书和提供补贴金的方式扩大医保覆盖范 围。甚至这些微小的变化将来也会被无休止的稀释。世人也许此刻被美国大选弄得神魂颠倒。但正如此书所强调的那样，美国总统的权力实际上相当的有限，不仅要 由国会和各类法庭授权，而且还要受各州和地方的牵制。
The big change coming is not the end of American exceptionalism but the end of American triumphalism. Winning the cold war left many Americans intoxicated with power. Even Bill Clinton boasted about America as the “indispensable nation”—a country that stood taller and saw farther than its rivals. The mood is very different today. The main challenge facing the next president will not be to blunt American exceptionalism, but to make sure that American triumphalism is not replaced by a grumpy and irresponsible isolationism.
即将到来的巨变并非美国例外论的结束，而是美国必胜主义的终结。赢得冷战让许多美国人陶醉于其拥有的权力。甚至连比尔克林顿都将美国吹嘘成“不可或缺的国 家”，这个国家比它的对手更加高瞻远瞩。然今日之情绪比之往昔已大相径庭。下任总统面临的主要挑战并不是减弱美国例外论，而是要确保美国必胜主义不要被乖 戾且不负责任的孤立主义所取代。
注释：
1. 杰里迈亚赖特（Jeremiah Wright）时奥巴马的前任牧师。赖特牧师与奥巴马关系非常密切。他不但亲自为奥巴马施洗礼、带领奥巴马皈依基督教，而且主持了奥巴马的婚礼，后来又给 奥巴马女儿施洗礼，甚至还是奥巴马创作《无畏的希望》一书的灵感来源。他曾指责恐怖袭击是美国暴力政策的直接后果。“我们曾经轰炸广岛，轰炸长崎，曾遭我 们核武器攻击的人数远远超过纽约和五角大楼此次遭袭的数千人，对于这些我们从来连眼睛都没有眨一下，”他说，“我们至今仍在支持针对巴勒斯坦人和南非黑人 的国家恐怖行为，而现在我们因为在自家院子里尝到了在海外所作所为的苦果而感到愤怒。美国的懦夫终于遭到恶报。”2003年，他在布道时说美国应遭到黑人 的谴责。“政府给他们毒品，给他们修建越来越大的监狱，然后还要他们高唱《愿上帝保佑美国》！不，不，愿上帝诅咒美国。”
2. 美国的总统大选，常常被描绘为“红美国”和“蓝美国”的决斗，这里的红色阴差阳错，代表的是保守的共和党，而蓝色则代表民主党。总统大选时，媒体在地图上将两党赢得的各州，以红蓝二色表示。美国保守派和自由派势力的分布和消长，也因此得到清楚显示。
3. 克林顿夫人在此明显是引用伊朗总统内贾德宣称要将以色列“从地图上抹去” 那番言词。用的可谓“恰如其分”。
8、Rural schools镇里的学校
Shrinking pains合并之痛
Apr 24th 2008 | RUTLAND
From The Economist print edition
South Dakota\'s rural schools grapple with change
南达科塔州的小镇学校：全力以赴博变革
NESTLED in wide fields somewhere west of Interstate 29 lies Rutland, South Dakota, population an estimated 200. Rutland\'s post office closed decades ago. But at the end of Main Street is a school. For Rutland, and many other small towns like it, a local school is a community\'s heart and a main employer. The future of schools like this one, however, is uncertain.
南达科塔州29号州际公路西部某处，是荒野合围的拉特兰，约摸有居民200人。当地的邮局几十年前就歇业了，但是在主街道的尽头，有一所学校。对拉特兰和众多类似的小镇来说，本地学校是整个社区的心脏，是主要的用人单位。然而现在，这些学校却前景难料。
Last year South Dakota passed a law to force school districts with fewer than 100 students to merge, though the most remote districts are exempt. The state had 168 districts for just 120,277 students in the 2006-07 school year, and enrolment had declined 9.4% over the previous ten years (see chart). Many of those districts have just one school.
去年南达科塔州通过了一项法律，强制学生人数不满100的学区合并，尽管最边远的学区可以例外。在2006-07学年，该州有168个学区，而学生人数总共才120,277人；而且此前的10年里，入学率下降了9.4%。许多这样的学区都只有一所学校。
Legislators, particularly urban ones, reckon that merging districts will create economies of scale and allow schools to offer a broader curriculum. But in many cases, a merger will lead a good school to close, forcing its pupils to take long bus journeys to the next town. Ten districts have already been slated for reorganisation. Rutland, with 124 students, is one of many near the brink.
立法者，特别是城里的立法者认为，合并学区会产生规模经济体，学校因此能够提供更多的课程。然而许多情形下，合并会关闭一所好学校，迫使它的学生搭乘长距离公共汽车到邻镇上学。已经有10个学区认定是要重组了，不少学区就在重组边缘，只有124名学生的拉特兰也是其中一个。
The push for school consolidation has been long and contentious. In 1939, the first year for which data are available, America had some 117,000 school districts. By 2005 it had just over 14,000. The issue is especially fraught in states with many rural schools. In North Dakota, talk of forced mergers in the late 1990s sparked such outrage that politicians dropped the subject entirely. Maine\'s new consolidation law is creating political havoc.
要求学校合并的敦促很早就有了，还引发不少争议。在1939年（可获得数据的最早年份），美国有大约117, 000个学区，到2005年，只剩下14, 000多个了。在农村学校多的州，合并学校一事尤其问题丛生。上个世纪九十年代后期，北达科塔州强制合并的言论引发的震怒如此强烈，政客们只得彻底放弃了这个话题。缅因州的新合并法也会制造政治混乱。
Carl Fahrenwald, Rutland\'s superintendent, says the state should not interfere. Small rural schools, he argues, perform well and nurture competition. The Rural School and Community Trust, a pressure group, points to small schools\' low drop-out rates and strong parental involvement. An analysis of South Dakota\'s test scores, however, shows mixed results. Younger students in small districts do score higher than those in big ones. For teenagers, big districts score higher.
卡尔•法兰沃得是拉特兰学区负责人，他说，州里不应掺合学校合并。他认为小的乡村学校运行良好，有利于竞争。乡村学校利益集团--乡村学校和社区信托指出：小学校辍学率低，家长热心参与。然而，对南达科塔州的测试成绩的一项分析结果表示，事情不那么简单。小学区里，低龄小学生的确考得比大学区的好，而大一点的孩子的成绩，则是大学区的更好一点。
Even the most defiant schools superintendent will admit that rural districts face challenges. South Dakota allots about $4,500 for each student. Though small districts receive a bit more cash, districts that lose students lose money. Many districts, including Rutland, have to raise extra money locally to cover their costs.
就是违抗态度最强硬的学区负责人也承认，乡村学区面临挑战。南达科塔州给每个学生拨款45, 000美元。尽管小学区收到的现金会更多一点，但是只要有学生流失，学区就会失去拨款。包括在拉特兰内的许多学区，都不得不在当地另外筹资以保支出。
The biggest difficulty, however, is finding teachers. Mr Fahrenwald is Rutland\'s superintendent, physics teacher and bus driver. There are fewer teachers to hire: the number of state students graduating with a teaching degree dropped by 30% between 2000 and 2007. It doesn\'t help that South Dakota\'s salaries for rural teachers are the second-lowest in America.
然而最大的难题是找老师。法兰沃得是拉特兰学区负责人、体育老师兼校车司机。能请到的老师越来越少了。2000年到2007年，该州学生毕业时有教师资格的人数下降了30%。南达科塔州乡村教师的工资水平是全国倒数第二，这也不能有什么积极作用。
Consolidation, legislators hope, may begin to offset these trends. A merged school means recruiting one algebra teacher, not two. Don Kirkegaard, the head of a consolidated district in the north-eastern part of the state, says he now has more money for pension accounts, special education and capital expenses. Critics say that the savings are often lost because of greater bureaucracy.
立法者希望，合并可能会抵消这些不利势头。一所合并后的学校意味着只要找一个几何老师，而不是两个。唐•可可伽德是该州东北部一个合并后的学区负责人，他 说，现在有更多的资金来考虑养老帐户问题、特殊教育问题和经济开销等。批评者则认为，省下来的钱常常因为官僚机构更庞大而无影无踪。
But the debate over rural schools hides a sad irony. The better a small town educates its pupils, the more likely they are to seek jobs elsewhere. According to a study by Pennsylvania State University, returns to investment in human capital are much lower in rural areas than in urban ones.
但是，关于乡村学校的争论背后，藏着一个令人辛酸的讽刺。小城镇把它的小学生教育的越好，他们则越有可能去别处找工作。根据宾夕法尼亚州立大学的一项研究，在边远的农村，人力资源投入的回报要远远低于城市。 |
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