VOA慢速英语 2007 0111a

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.


Students at the University of Iowa

More than five hundred sixty thousand foreign students attended an American college or university during the last school year. It was the seventh straight year with more than half a million international students in the United States.

Last year's group was about the same size as the year before -- which was good news for schools. Why? Because the number of students coming to the United States had been falling for two years.

Today, in our Foreign Student Series, we present numbers from the latest Open Doors report. The information is from the Institute of International Education, based in New York.

India again sent the most students in the school year that began in autumn of two thousand five. India passed China in two thousand one as the leading sender of foreign students to the United States.

American schools last year had more than seventy-six thousand Indian students. That was a five percent drop from the year before -- the first reduction¹ since nineteen ninety-six.

China had more than sixty-two thousand students in American schools, roughly² the same as the year before.

South Korea was third with an increase of ten percent. And Japan was fourth -- but with an eight percent drop.

The report says there were also sharp decreases in students from Turkey, Colombia, Pakistan and Malaysia. But there were notable³ increases in students from Nepal and Vietnam.

For the fifth year, the school with the most foreign students was the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. It had almost seven thousand.

Columbia University in New York was second. Others with large numbers included Purdue, New York University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor⁴.

What were the most popular areas of study? Eighteen percent studied business and management. Sixteen percent studied engineering⁵. Nine percent were in the physical and life sciences. Eight percent studied social sciences, and another eight percent studied mathematics and computer science.

There were fewer international students in computer science and engineering last year. But there were more in areas including art, health and intensive⁶ English language.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. For the full Open Doors report, you can find a link to the IIE Web site at www.unsv.com. Our Foreign Student Series is also there. I'm Steve Ember.

1 reduction   

n.减少，减低，减缩；减少，减低

参考例句：

• Reduction in income tax will be welcomed with open arms.减少所得税将受到热烈欢迎。
• You will have a reduction for cash.付现金可以打折扣。

2 roughly   

adv.概略地，粗糙地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• If you treat your coat so roughly,it will be worn out soon.你如果这么糟蹋你的外套，它很快就不能穿了。
• The island is roughly circular in shape.这个岛屿大致是圆形的。

3 notable   

adj.值得注意的，著名的；n.名人，要人

参考例句：

• His achievement is very notable.他的成就是非常显著的。
• He wrote and published the essay under notable's name.他假托名人写文章发表。

4 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

5 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。

6 intensive   

adj.加强的，密集的；精工细作的，集约的

参考例句：

• I'll make an intensive study of a subject.我将集中学一门课程。
• There we received several weeks of intensive training.在那里我们受了几星期的集中训练.