美国高考修订或阻碍外国留学生

 　　美国高考修订或阻碍外国留学生

　　The company that administers one of the two most widely-used U.S. college admissions tests recently announced its first major revisions to its test since 2005. The College Boards' changes to the SAT exam drop infrequently used vocabulary words and the mandatory¹ essay, and add passages referencing U.S. historical documents.

　　When Howard University students from Nigeria and Jamaica were applying to college, they were among the approximately 100,000 foreign students each year who took the SAT.

　　They have mixed emotions on whether the newly-announced changes will help or hurt international students interested in U.S. schools.

　　“First of all, they are dropping the vocabulary words, which is, I think, the biggest challenge for most international students,” said Howard University student Peace Umoru.

　　But Shanique Campbell, also a Jamaican student at Howard, has concerns about adding questions about U.S. historical documents.

　　"That I believe will be very scary for international students," said Campell. "We are already faced with knowing that we are taking an American-based exam, and so there are a lot of things that we are not prepared for in terms of what to expect on that exam — [for example], cultural references that we will not be able to identify with.

　　Some 800 of the approximately 3,000 four-year colleges in the U.S. do not use the SAT or its rival test, the ACT, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

　　But, the group's Bob Schaeffer says those that do could put foreign students at a disadvantage.

　　"Students from other countries, particularly those who did not grow up learning English, are at a double disadvantage," he said. "The test is in a foreign language and they did not get test prep. So, it is harder.

　　The revisions begin in 2016 for the 1.5 million students who take the SAT each year.

　　Overall, the revisions appear to be positive, says Eddie West of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

　　"I feel like the changes are moving the test in a more positive direction insofar as they link up with skills and abilities that students will need to succeed, not just in getting into a college or university, but succeeding once there," said West.

　　But he agrees that references to U.S. historical documents could put foreign students at a disadvantage.

　　"It is going to be relatively² uncommon³ for an international student to be really conversant⁴ with the Declaration of Independence or Martin Luther King Jr.’s work, or anything else along those lines that might be cited in the test," he said.

　　West says U.S. colleges need to engage with overseas high schools to learn more about their coursework and make better decisions about admissions criteria⁵.

　　More than 800,000 international students are in the United States, about four percent of the college population.

1 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

4 conversant   

adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的

参考例句：

• Mr.Taylor is thoroughly conversant with modern music.泰勒先生对现代音乐很精通。
• We become the most conversant stranger in the world.我们变成了世界上最熟悉的陌生人。

5 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。