VOA慢速英语 2007 0628a

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Summer means the end of another school year in America. May and June are graduation season.

 
A group of Brown University undergraduates before Brown's graduation ceremony in Providence¹, Rhode Island.
Centuries of tradition explain the special caps and gowns that students and professors wear at commencement ceremonies. Top members of the class and invited guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes for what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, the names of the students are called.

They go to the front and shake hands with school officials. They might receive their official diploma that day or maybe a few weeks later.

Graduations are always emotional events. But in May, at Fort² Hays State University in Kansas, a graduate named Nola Ochs received special attention. Her major area of study was history. Nothing unusual about that. But Nola Ochs is ninety-five years old.

That made her the world's oldest graduate for the keepers of the Guinness World Records. Until now they have recognized a ninety-year-old journalism³ graduate from the University of Oklahoma in two thousand four.

Nola Ochs' granddaughter graduated with her. One of the commencement speakers told the students to take a lesson from Nola Ochs and never stop trying.

That is good advice on which to end our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We began in September with the process of applying to an American college or university. We talked about admissions tests, financial aid, online education, student exchange programs, programs for disabled students and a lot more.

All forty-three reports can be found online at voaspecialenglish.com. Many were based on questions from listeners. We invite you to continue writing us with your questions about the American education system. Our Foreign Student Series may be over for now, but we will still try to answer questions on future reports. Our e-mail address is [email protected].

Population experts at the Census⁴ Bureau say American colleges and universities will have an estimated eighteen million students this fall. Twenty years ago, there were thirteen million. Today there are not only more college-age Americans, but more going to college, including older people and women. At last report from two years ago, fifty-six percent of undergraduates were women. And women were fifty-nine percent of graduate students.

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

1 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

2 fort   

n.要塞，堡垒，碉堡

参考例句：

• The fort can not be defended against an air attack.这座要塞遭到空袭时无法防御。
• No one can get into the fort without a pass.没有通行证，任何人不得进入要塞。

3 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

4 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。