五名高中生被提名为2018年全国学生诗人

Five High School Students Named 2018 National Student Poets

Five American teenagers were officially named the 2018 National Student Poets on Thursday at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. The award is the highest honor for young poets in the United States.

The new class of poets include Alaxandra Contreras-Montesano, Heather Laurel Jensen, Darius Atefat-Peckham, Ariana Smith and Daniel Blokh. The students represent states from all over the country: Vermont, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Alabama.

The teenagers were first chosen in August from among thousands of award-winning young poets in the United States.

No more than a pencil and paper

Virginia McEnery leads the Scholastic¹ Art and Writing Awards, which plays a part in choosing the national student poets. She says poetry is powerful because it is open to everyone.

“It’s so democratic, you don’t need more than a pencil and piece of paper. It’s a really good access point for young people.”

McEnery says she hopes the national student poet program will support the winners not only as writers, but as activists². Many of the student poets have already held literary³ leadership positions, McEnery said.

“For many of them, they are already on the youth advisory⁴ council for their library or they're running the literary mag (magazine) for their school or one of them is actually very involved in running thescholastic awards program for her state.”

As national student poets, the five young people will give presentations, performances and training on poetry and literature. They will also promote the services of libraries and museums, and volunteer in their communities.

In addition, each poet will receive a $5,000 academic award and the opportunity to learn from poet and teacher Glenis Redmond. And, they will meet with Tracy K. Smith, the current poet laureate for the United States.

McEnery says she has seen for herself how programs to support students’ creative expression can change young people’s lives.

“It’s such a hard time to be a teenager, social movements are happening in real time as they are coming of age. What better, smarter, saner⁵ thing can a young person do than try to write about it?”

I’m Phil Dierking.

Words in This Story

academic - adj. or relating to schools and education?

advocate - n. a person who argues for or supports a cause or policy?

elastic⁶ - adj. able to be changed?

enormous - adj. very great in size or amount?

promote - v. to make (something) more popular, well-known, etc.?

teenager - n. someone who is between 13 and 19 years old

1 scholastic   

adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的

参考例句：

• There was a careful avoidance of the sensitive topic in the scholastic circles.学术界小心地避开那个敏感的话题。
• This would do harm to students' scholastic performance in the long run.这将对学生未来的学习成绩有害。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 literary   

adj.文学（上）的

参考例句：

• Literary works of this kind are well received by the masses.这样的文学作品很受群众欢迎。
• The book was favourably noticed in literary magazines.这本书在文学杂志上得到好评。

4 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

5 saner   

adj.心智健全的( sane的比较级 )；神志正常的；明智的；稳健的

参考例句：

• He seemed wiser than Hurstwood, saner and brighter than Drouet. 他看上去比赫斯渥明智，比杜洛埃稳舰聪明。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Such brooding didn't make him any saner. 然而，苦思冥想并没有使他头脑清醒。 来自辞典例句

6 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。