If the headlines are to be believed(如果头条新闻可信的话), no one should want to be a student in England any more. And yet this September and October, a record(创纪录的) number of school leavers will begin their journey at university, unwilling to let rising costs, a regressive(倒退的，累退的) loan system and dimming(变暗的，黯淡的) graduate job prospects blot out(遮蔽，抹去) the promise of the best years of their lives. The burden now placed on today’s students has grown so heavy, though, that it is reshaping people’s experience of higher education: new data from the university admissions service Ucas shows a marked rise in the number of students planning to live at home with their parents, rather than moving away to study.(如今学生负担过重，以至于正在重塑高等教育体验：数据显示，计划住家而非离家求学的学生数量显著上升。)
如果头条新闻可信的话，在英国，应该没有人再想当学生了。然而，今年九月和十月，将有一批创纪录数量的离校生开启他们的大学之旅，他们不愿让不断上涨的费用、倒退的贷款体系和黯淡的毕业生就业前景，遮蔽掉人生中最美好年华的期许。不过，如今压在学生身上的负担已沉重到正在重塑人们的高等教育体验：来自大学招生服务机构Ucas的新数据显示，计划与父母同住而非离家求学的学生数量显著上升。
It’s first worth stressing that this new arrangement is not, for the most part(在很大程度上), a voluntary(自愿的) one. That’s clear in the gap between those “choosing” to stay at home and those who have no choice at all: among students from England’s poorest neighbourhoods, more than half now expect to live at home while studying, compared with just under a fifth from the least-deprived(贫困的，匮乏的) areas.
首先需要强调的是，这种新安排在很大程度上并非出于自愿。这一点从那些“选择”留在家中的人与那些根本别无选择的人之间的差距可以清楚看出：在英格兰最贫困地区的学生中，现在有超过一半的人预计在求学期间会住在家里，而在最不贫困地区，这一比例仅为五分之一以下。
The student rental market is the main culprit(罪魁祸首) – it is now forcing many teenagers to fork out(掏出，支付) more than £10,000 a year just for basic accommodation, even in cities outside London. Since the liberalisation(自由化) of housing regulations in the 1980s (alongside an influx of wealthy international students), private landlords have been given free rein(自由支配权) to jack up(抬高，猛增) prices while housing standards worsen, with damp, rat-infested(鼠患成灾的) accommodation now becoming a normalised(正常化的，习以为常的) part of the student experience. A recent study by the National Union of Students found that an appalling(骇人听闻的) 84% of students reported significant issues with their housing, with almost half living with mould(霉菌), despite the extortionate(敲诈性的，过高的) costs many are now paying. It’s no surprise, then, that many of my peers feel they have no option but to stay at home.
学生租房市场是罪魁祸首——如今它正迫使许多青少年每年仅为了基本住宿就要掏出超过1万英镑，即使在伦敦以外的城市也是如此。自20世纪80年代住房法规自由化以来（加之富裕国际学生的涌入），私人房东被放任自由地抬高价格，而住房标准却在恶化，潮湿、鼠患成灾的住所如今已成为学生经历中习以为常的一部分。全国学生联合会最近的一项研究发现，高达84%的学生报告其住房存在严重问题，近一半学生生活在霉菌环境中，尽管许多人正支付着高昂的费用。因此，我的许多同龄人觉得除了住在家里别无选择，也就不足为奇了。