VOA慢速英语 2007 0322a

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week, in our series for students who want to study in the United States, we tell about the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Cadet basic training

West Point is a four-year school in New York State that educates future Army officers.  The students are called cadets.  They do not have to pay for their educations.  But they must agree to serve on active duty in the Army for at least five years after they graduate. 

A young man or woman must be nominated to the academy, usually by a federal or state lawmaker.  Nominees¹ also must satisfy the entrance requirements.  These include being in excellent physical condition and getting good grades in high school.

About four thousand American cadets are at West Point this year.  In addition, fifty-nine cadets from foreign countries are attending.

These international students are nominated by their home governments.  They also must satisfy the physical and educational requirements.  And they must do well on the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language. 

Home governments may have to pay up to sixty thousand dollars a year for each student they send to West Point.  Among the countries with cadets at the academy this year are Afghanistan, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia.

Each year, the United States Defense² Department invites countries to nominate students to West Point and to the Navy and Air Force academies.  This year, one hundred fifty-nine countries were asked to nominate students for the next school year.  Not all countries take part in the program. 

We spoke³ to Major Robert Romans, chief of the international affairs division at West Point, and Major Michael McBride, head of the international cadet program.  They say up to sixty foreign cadets at any one time can attend the academy.  And they say that interested students must seek information about the program at their local American Embassy.  The embassy's Defense Cooperation Office will know how the student can be nominated. 

The West Point Web site provides some information about the international cadet program and its requirements.  The address is admissions.u-s-m-a.e-d-u.

Our Foreign Student Series continues next week.  Scripts are available on the Internet at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach.  I'm Steve Ember.                                                                    

1 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

2 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。