VOA慢速英语2018--适应新墨西哥大学的变化

Adapting to Change at the University of New Mexico

Leaving one’s childhood home and moving somewhere new and unknown can be a difficult thing for people to do.

No matter where you go, there are challenges that come with being somewhere new, including finding¹ your way around and making friends.

Jose Miguel Ayala Salas faced these challenges and more when he left his home country of Ecuador for the United States.

The 20 year-old was born in Quito, the country’s capital. When he was in high school, his father decided² to seek a doctoral degree at the University of New Mexico. That was in 2015.

Ayala Salas’s father asked his son if he would join him in New Mexico. His father suggested he would have many life-changing experiences as an international student.

Ayala Salas says the decision was not an easy one. His mother would stay in Quito, and he had never been that far away from her in his life. And, although he grew up speaking both Spanish and English, he still did not feel his English abilities were very strong.

In the end, Ayala Salas agreed to go with his father to the United States. The two moved to the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Ayala Salas began studying at Albuquerque High School.

Ayala Salas says that, from the beginning, the language barrier proved to be a serious problem for him.

He says he had no difficulty speaking in English for presentations and other activities in his classes. But he found it very hard to build friendships with anyone who did not speak Spanish themselves.

But Ayala Salas did not let these difficulties defeat him. He says he learned³ to believe in himself and never give up, an important lesson for anyone in a similar situation.

"Don’t care about making mistakes. At some point you’re going to improve. But you’ve got to fail first. You’ve got to just talk and don’t care about your accent, about your vocabulary. Just do it until it improves and gets better, to the point where you can actually communicate with people."

Ayala Salas’s belief in himself ended up taking him further than he could have imagined, he says. He completed his high school education in Albuquerque. And because he had lived in New Mexico for over a year at that point, the state considered him a legal resident⁴.

At most American public colleges and universities, the cost of attendance⁵ is lower for state residents⁶. New Mexico also offers financial help for graduates of the state’s high schools who seek higher education at an in-state public college or university.

Ayala Salas says that with that kind of support in place, he was more than happy to continue following his father’s path. And in 2016, he, too, became a student at the University of New Mexico.

The University of New Mexico, or UNM for short, is a public research university. It was established in 1889. It serves over 26,000 students. The school is in the middle of Albuquerque, which is surrounded by both mountains and desert.

Ayala Salas says he was pleased that the school accepted him to its undergraduate⁷ program in political science. But even though he had succeeded as a high school student in America, he still faced additional⁸ challenges as a college student.

This included learning⁹ how to be independent, he says.

"In Ecuador … when people graduate from high school they go directly to college in the same city. … So when you go to college, you are expected to still live with your parents. They take care of you. They pay the bills. They cook for you. Well, here in … at UNM … it was quite different for me. I had to take care of myself, pay rent, take care of the house."

It was not long before Ayala Salas found another source of support: his girlfriend, Araceli. They met through their parents. Her mother was Ayala Salas’s father’s professor at UNM. Ayala Salas and his girlfriend quickly became close, he says, and they eventually moved in together. She had been living on her own since she was 16, so she was able to teach him a lot about how to be an independent adult.

Personal relationships are also what helped Anima Bista come to enjoy life as an international student at UNM. The 26 year-old is from Narayangarh, Nepal. She completed her undergraduate studies in her home country in 2015. But she says she always knew she wanted at least part of her education to take place overseas.

So Bista chose to complete a master’s program in civil engineering¹⁰ at UNM. But she never really felt that far from home; when she moved to Albuquerque, she found housing¹¹ with four other Nepalese students.

Bista says at first she felt she had to surround herself with familiar faces. That is because, in a way, everything she was experiencing was new and unknown. She says she and her friends from Nepal all had ideas about how to behave or what to wear, for example. Those ideas came from the way how they grew up back home.

"Our people there, we are pretty much not that open-minded like the people here in the United States. And then there’s a lot of cultural differences. Like, even today, when the girl goes out alone at night, back in my country they don’t feel safe because that’s how our cultures have been, you know?… But here it’s so open. Like, you can move around free. You can go around free."

Bista admits that she and her friends felt somewhat¹² unprepared for life in America. But she adds that going through the process together helped them all adjust and adapt.

Bista was also able to make American friends. She says they have taught her to enjoy many activities outside of school, such as hiking.

Bista chose to work in the Global Education Office at UNM. The office acts as a resource for international students. It helps with all kinds of problems that international students face.

Ayala Salas now works¹³ there, too. He and Bista both agree that while trying find solutions on your own is important, it never hurts to have other people there to help you find your way.

I’m Pete Musto. And I’m Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

challenge(s) – n. a difficult task or problem

doctoral degree – n. the highest degree that is given by a university

accent – n. a way of saying words that occurs among the people in a particular region¹⁴ or country

resident – n. someone who lives in a given place

graduate(s) – n. a person who has earned a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

undergraduate – adj. describing a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after four years of study

bill(s) – n. a document that says how much money you owe for something you have bought or used

rent – n. money that you pay in return for being able to use property, especially to live in an apartment or house that belongs to someone else

master’s (degree) – n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after one or two years of additional study following completion of an undergraduate degree

adjust – v. to change in order to work or do better in a new situation

adapt – v. to change your behavior so that it is easier to live in a particular place or situation

hiking – n. to walk a long distance especially for pleasure or exercise

1 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

4 resident   

a.居住的，居留的；住校的，住院的

参考例句：

• I've been resident in this place for five years. 我已经在这个地方住了五年。
• They engaged a resident tutor. 他们聘用了一名住家的家庭教师。

5 attendance   

n.出席，出席人数，护理，照料

参考例句：

• The attendance of this class never dropped off.这个班的出席人数从未下降。
• The young man danced attendance on his rich aunt.这个年轻人小心侍候他有钱的姑妈。

6 residents   

n.居民( resident的名词复数 )；（旅馆的）住宿者

参考例句：

• Plans to build a new mall were deep-sixed after protests from local residents. 修建新室内购物中心的计划由于当地居民反对而搁浅。
• Local residents have reacted angrily to the news. 当地居民对这一消息表示愤怒。

7 undergraduate   

n.大学生，大学肆业生

参考例句：

• Mr. Stone spent his undergraduate days in Columbia University,majoring in economics.斯通先生在哥伦比亚大学度过了他四年的大学生活，主修经济学。
• During this time,they are called undergraduate students.在此期间，他们被称为大学本科生。

8 additional   

adj.添加的，额外的，另外的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to set down these additional rules.有必要制定这些补充规则。
• I think we can fit in an additional room.我想我们可以再加建一间房子。

9 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

10 engineering   

n.工程，工程学，管理，操纵

参考例句：

• The science of engineering began as soon as man learned to use tools. 人类一学会使用工具,工程科学就开始了。
• It was the first great engineering works in the world. 这是世界上第一家大型的工程工厂。

11 housing   

n.房屋，住宅；住房建筑；外壳，外罩

参考例句：

• Do you think our housing sales will turn around during this year?你认为今年我们的住宅销路会好转吗？
• The housing sales have been turning down since the summer.入夏以来，房屋的销售量日趋减少。

12 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

13 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

14 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。