【英音模仿秀】从小在农场长大的孩子是如何成功的

An unlikely class of college graduates will walk the stage this coming week. They've gone through an accelerated computer science program that launched three years ago. It had a goal of training the children at California's agricultural Salinas Valley for careers in nearby Silicon¹ Valley. But as Krista Almanzan of member station KAZU reports, some are finding their dream jobs a bit closer to home.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Monse Hernandez.

(APPLAUSE)

KRISTA ALMANZAN, BYLINE²: The students walking across the stage at this celebration luncheon³ might be one of the most demographic-defying classes of computer science graduates year.

UNDIENTIFIED MAN: Devon Drasconi.

(APPLAUSE)

ALMANZAN: In a field dominated by white and Asian men, this class is more than 80 percent Latino and nearly 50 percent women.

UNDIENTIFIED MAN: Leticia Sanchez.

(APPLAUSE)

ALMANZAN: They're soon-to-be graduates from an intensive, three-year bachelor's degree program now called CSin3. It's a joint⁴ venture between Hartnell Community College and Cal State Monterey Bay.

UNDIENTIFIED MAN: Arturo Lopez.

(APPLAUSE)

ALMANZAN: As the students take their seats at tables with orchid⁵ centerpieces, Teresa Matsui walks to the podium. She's the daughter of Salinas Valley orchid farmer Andy Matsui, who had the initial idea for the program and then paid for it by giving every student a full-ride scholarship.

TERESA MATSUI: You're the first cohort of the first program of this kind anywhere in this country or anywhere else we can think of.

ALMANZAN: The Matsuis wanted to help families similar to those who helped their orchid business grow. Many of the students in this cohort are the children of farm workers or immigrants themselves. The hope was to train them for jobs at Silicon Valley tech giants like Apple, Uber and Salesforce, and some have accepted jobs at those big-name companies. But since the program launched three years ago, a new opportunity has emerged to do high-tech⁶ work here in the growing field of agricultural technology.

In a heavy machinery⁷ workshop at the community college, Jose Diaz and Monse Hernandez are connecting a small box with some wires to a John Deere tractor.

JOSE DIAZ: We connected it to the starter.

ALMANZAN: They both spent their summer interning⁸ at Cisco in Silicon Valley, but later took a second internship⁹ at local ag (ph) tech startup HeavyConnect. They create software to help farmers streamline¹⁰ administrative¹¹ tasks. The students are demonstrating a program they built that unlocks a tractor's ignition only after the driver completes a series of safety checks.

MONSE HERNANDEZ: And that's an indication that the tractor is unlocked right now.

I'm only doing this project to help the owners, the farmers themselves, but also figure out ways to help the employees because of all the hard work that they go through, all the long hours in the sun.

ALMANZAN: While Monse Hernandez is still weighing her post-graduation options, Jose Diaz has accepted a job with HeavyConnect.

DIAZ: Over at Silicon Valley, I feel I would be another worker maintaining the company. But with HeavyConnect, it's going to make big change. And that's what I want to do - help the community.

PATRICK ZELAYA: It was just luck that there's this talent mill of students that are proving themselves to be technical rock stars by completing a four-year degree in three years in the same town that we're starting this business.

ALMANZAN: HeavyConnect co-founder Patrick Zelaya has been so impressed with the CSin3 students that he held off filling full-time¹² positions until graduation. He says it's an added benefit that they bring both computer science skills and knowledge of the ag industry. CSin3 co-director Joe Welch says some of the students came to the program from rural parts of the Salinas Valley, where they hadn't been introduced to computer science in high school.

JOE WELCH: Absent the program, they wouldn't have known about computer science. And absent the program, they wouldn't know how successful they could be if they just worked and worked and worked.

ALMANZAN: In the Cal State system, only about 28 percent of students transferring from a community college finish on time. In the CSin3 program it's 69 percent, and almost all the others will finish within the next year.

WELCH: We're seeing the embodiment of grit¹³.

ALMANZAN: And that grit is proving inspirational to others. Some younger family members are already a part of the next cohorts already underway. For NPR News, I'm Krista Almanzan in the Salinas Valley.

1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 orchid   

n.兰花，淡紫色

参考例句：

• The orchid is a class of plant which I have never tried to grow.兰花这类植物我从来没种过。
• There are over 35 000 species of orchid distributed throughout the world.有35,000多种兰花分布在世界各地。

6 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

7 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

8 interning   

v.拘留，关押( intern的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I will spend the summer interning at a software company in Bombay. 夏季我将会在孟买的一家软件公司里实习。 来自互联网
• The young doctor is interning at the Medical Center this year. 这名年轻医生今年在医疗中心做实习医生。 来自互联网

9 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习

10 streamline   

vt.使成流线型；使简化；使现代化

参考例句：

• We must streamline our methods.我们必须简化方法。
• Any liquid or gas passing it will have streamline flow.任何通过它的液体或气体将呈流线型的流动。

11 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

12 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

13 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。