John McManus, BBC News

媒体英语会带大家一起学习 BBC 撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: 对大多数人来说，一生中至少会收到一封拒绝信，可能是申请工作或者是报考大学。牛津大学作为英国的顶级院校每年会寄出无数封拒绝信，不过这一次，牛津大学却被一个申请者给拒绝了，此事现已成为人们茶余饭后的笑料。

Nineteen-year old Elly Nowell from Winchester in the south of England applied to the Oxford college of Magdalen to read law, but when she was invited for interview she decided she didn't like what she saw.

Elly, who is finishing her A-levels, told the BBC that Oxford resembled the British Monarchy in that it was what she called ridiculous and elitist, but unlike the Royal Family, was rarelymocked. Her actions may well change that. Following her interview at Magdalen College, Elly wrote a rejection letter to the University using the kind of language that officials employ when they're trying to let somebody down gently.

Elly admits that her letter of rejection to the University was not entirely serious, but it has raised some important points. Oxford and Cambridge universities are often accused of elitism and of having entrance procedures that favour students from private schools.

Yet Oxford says it's changing and that last year more than half of its academic offers went to pupils from state schools. As for Elly, she now hopes to gain a place at University College London. The admissions staff there may well be watching the mailbox very closely.

• interview [´intəvju:]   n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈   (初中英语单词)
• unlike [,ʌn´laik]   a.不同的 prep.不象...   (初中英语单词)
• rarely [´reəli]   ad.难得；非凡地   (初中英语单词)
• oxford [´ɔksfəd]   n.牛津   (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid]   a.明显的；决定的   (高中英语单词)
• ridiculous [ri´dikjuləs]   a.荒谬的；可笑的   (高中英语单词)
• cambridge [´keimbridʒ]   n.剑桥   (高中英语单词)
• monarchy [´mɔnəki]   n.君主政治；君主国   (英语四级单词)
• trying [´traiiŋ]   a.难堪的；费劲的   (英语四级单词)
• academic [,ækə´demik]   a.学术的 n.大学学生   (英语四级单词)
• applied [ə´plaid]   a.实用的，应用的   (英语六级单词)