牛橋：本是同根生

福建龍巖市上杭縣才溪中學(xué) 卓義勝

Oxbridge is acompositeof the two mostrenowneduniversities in Britain,the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge,which was founded by scholars fleeing Oxford in 1209.There are a great many similarities between them,so they arejointlyreferred to as Oxbridge.

The history of the two universities can be traced back to the 11th and 13th centuries respectively,whereas the term “Oxbridge” originated from the British writer William Thackeray's novelPendennis,published in 1849.It was not until the middle of the 20th century that“Oxbridge”was accepted gradually.The most common feature between Oxford and Cambridge is their collegiate structure,both of them are composed of more than 30 autonomous colleges,which provide the environments in which students live and sleep.Applicants must choose aspecificcollege when applying to Oxford or Cambridge,or allow the university to select one for them,because all undergraduate and graduate students must be a member of one of the university colleges.

However,students studying the same subject are given lectures together,irrespective of which college they attend.Colleges regularlycompetewith each other in avarietyof fields,including sports,speech anddebate,and so on.

Word bank

1.compositen.混合物；綜合體

2.renownedadj.聞名的；受尊敬的

3.jointlyadv.共同地；聯(lián)合地

4.specificadj.特定的；明確的；具體的

5.competev.競(jìng)爭(zhēng)；對(duì)抗；參加比賽

6.varietyn.不同種類；多種式樣

7.debaten.辯論；討論

參考譯文

牛橋，是英國(guó)最著名的兩所大學(xué)——牛津大學(xué)和劍橋大學(xué)的合稱。劍橋大學(xué)是由1209年從牛津大學(xué)逃離的學(xué)者們建立的。兩所大學(xué)之間有著很多的共同點(diǎn)，因此常常被合稱為牛橋。

兩校的歷史分別可以追溯到11世紀(jì)和13世紀(jì)，但是，“牛橋”一詞的說法則起源于英國(guó)作家威廉·薩克雷于1849年完成的小說《潘登尼斯》。直到20世紀(jì)中葉,“牛橋”一詞才逐漸被人們所接受。牛津大學(xué)和劍橋大學(xué)最大的共同點(diǎn)在于它們的學(xué)院結(jié)構(gòu)，它們都是由30多所自治的學(xué)院組成的，這里是學(xué)生們?nèi)粘Ｉ詈途幼〉牡胤?。學(xué)生們?nèi)雽W(xué)時(shí)必須選擇一個(gè)特定的學(xué)院，或是自己選，或是由學(xué)校來選，因?yàn)楸究粕脱芯可急仨殢膶儆趯W(xué)校的某一個(gè)學(xué)院。

但是，上課則是按照學(xué)系分班，共同授課，不論他們屬于哪個(gè)學(xué)院。學(xué)院之間經(jīng)常有各種比賽，包括體育比賽和演講辯論賽等。