The numbers are ruthless: Out of more than 40,000 applications a year to Harvard University, not quite 2,000 make the final cut. Just one admitted for every 19 rejected. Every year high school seniors with straight A's, perfect test scores and stellar recommendations wonder why they didn't make it.

数据是残酷的：每年有超过4万名学生申请哈佛大学，但仅有两千人被录取。每录取一名学生，就有19名学生遭到拒绝。拿到全A、成绩全优、手握重量级推荐信，每年都有很多这样的高中生不知道为什么自己没有被录取。

Want a place at Harvard? Persuade your parents to give the university a nice gift. A new building, perhaps, or a million dollars for a fellowship. That sort of thing.

想在哈佛大学读书吗？说服你的父母给这所大学送份好礼：一栋新楼，或者一百万美元的奖学金，诸如此类。

It has long been understood that you can, to some extent, buy your way into many of the US's prestigious¹ universities. There are certainly plenty of examples of people with more money than sense being admitted to elite² educational institutions.

长期以来，人们一直认为在某种程度上，美国的许多名牌大学花钱就可以上。有很多例子可以表明，精英教育机构在录取时会选择有钱人，而不是有才的人。

Jared Kushner, for example, got into Harvard despite having a mediocre³ academic record. To be fair, this may have had nothing to do with his father pledging $2.5m to the university shortly before he was accepted. Perhaps the admissions office just had a hunch⁴ that this was the genius who was finally going to bring peace to the Middle East.

比如，特朗普的女婿贾里德·库什纳学生时期虽然成绩平平，却被哈佛大学录取。或许，这与他的父亲曾在他被录取之前承诺向哈佛捐赠250万美元无关。或许，招生办公室只是预见到，他才是最终为中东带来和平的天才。

想进哈佛大学? 让你的父母去捐钱捐楼就行!

While it is no secret that offering financial gifts to certain Ivy⁵ League universities may compensate⁶ for a lack of natural gifts, the extent to which Harvard's admission process favors relatives of big donors⁷ is only now being laid bare.

虽然向某些常春藤盟校捐款有可能弥补天资上的不足早已不是秘密，但哈佛在录取过程中偏爱大金主的亲属的程度直到最近才被披露出来。

This is thanks to a lawsuit⁸ currently under way against Harvard that accuses the university of discriminating⁹ against Asian-Americans.

这要归功于目前针对哈佛歧视亚裔美国人的一场诉讼。

A 2013 email exchange among Harvard administrators¹⁰, for example, was presented at the trial last week.

比如，上周的庭审中公开了一份2013年校方管理人员之间的电邮往来。

In one email (subject line: "My Hero"), the dean of the university's Kennedy School of Government commends the dean of admissions for doing a great job in extending offers to students with generous parents.

在一封主题名为“我的英雄”的邮件中，哈佛大学肯尼迪政府学院院长称赞招生办负责人在招收“金主”子女方面做得很好。

"Once again you have done wonders. I am simply thrilled about the folks you were able to admit," the email says. "Redacted has already committed to a building."

邮件中说：“你再次创造了奇迹。看到你招进来的这些学生，我简直太开心了。某某已经承诺要捐一栋楼。”

The other people described as "big wins" in the email were connected to donors who had "committed major money for fellowships".

邮件中还将招录的其它一些学生称作“大收获”，因为他们的背后是“承诺要捐一大笔钱作为奖学金”的捐赠者。