时间:2019-02-02 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2007年(十一月)


英语课
By Barbara Schoetzau
New York
13 November 2007

A new study shows significant increases in foreign language study in the United States since 2002. From VOA's News York bureau, correspondent Barbara Schoetzau reports Arabic is leading the surge.


The survey by the Modern Language Association of America finds that the study of Arabic has increased a whopping 127 percent, and the number of schools offering Arabic study has doubled since the last nationwide survey in 2002.


Spanish continues to be the most studied language at US higher education institutions, but interest in Asian languages is growing with Chinese up more than 50 percent.


The Modern Language Association has been tracking language enrollment 1 for half a century. The group's executive director, Rosemary Feal, says the number of enrollments is now at an historic high. She says the increase reflects a growing recognition on the part of students and government that languages play a role in an ever smaller world.


"First of all, we think that they know that they are going to be better prepared in their careers and in their lives as citizens. And we also know that there is a lot more support for language study today, support in the form of federal dollars, support also in the form of technology," she said.


The study finds that students continue to study traditionally taught languages such as Spanish, French and Italian and that interest in classical languages such as Greek and Latin remains 2 strong.


Karin Ryding, a professor of Arabic at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, says she is pleased that the survey found growth both introductory and advanced level courses in foreign language. She says practicality is one of the motivations.


"I don't think this is just a temporary spike 3 in enrollments. I think these figures indicate a real shift of interest on the part of American students. Young people today understand that the world is now truly and inevitably 4 smaller. They are coming to the study of Arabic and other languages with serious professional goals in mind. I include work with international organizations, diplomatic service, global environmental efforts, humanitarian 5 relief efforts, security studies, international communications and media studies," she said.


The survey's findings are based on language study enrollments at 2,800 colleges and universities across the United States between October 2006 and August 2007. This report is the group's 21st survey.




n.注册或登记的人数;登记
  • You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
  • I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
n.长钉,钉鞋;v.以大钉钉牢,使...失效
  • The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
  • They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地
  • In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去,毫无疑问是会散伙的。
  • Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。
n.人道主义者,博爱者,基督凡人论者
  • She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业,并作了很大的贡献。
  • The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。
学英语单词
amalgamated consolidation
angustior
anticipated loss
antipoverty
automatic terminal information service
axle bolt
Beekfoot
bogaert
bosher
bounded jet
cape ra.
cfm
chemical engine hose
circuities
concurring
consolidation of stock
construction contract
cooling module
Dartmoor pony
defossilization
DESCOM
Distomatales
does a bear shit in the woods
dragged down
electoral court
embryomata
fast facsimile
female chests
fever with aversion to cold
following grouting
Fraxinus rhynchophylla
freies
fresh water goby
funboarder
Graef rotor
guaiacolates
Guerin process
hangerock
have a suit to
high speed reader
high-frequency microvoltmeter
high-speed test controller
imported cabbageworm
intracaudal
iron roll rice polisher
KCM
kerosene blast burner
Lage Zwaluwe
lionesque
locofoco
mediums
microprocessor based information system
Muraenolepididae
neutron excess number
nickel-rich
nmdar
nonrectilinear correlation
orientation phase
passenger number fluctuation coefficient
per nasal
perception(of)light
Pinoy
plaque mutants
preinstall
Pteroceras
quartz (controlled) oscillator
queloz
radar communication
railroad
redox resin
rhinocryptid
Rhizobacter
river gravel
robert floyd curl jr.s
rotating guide vane (rgv)
roundleaf bats
Saxbe fix
screen magnifier
Seller financing
shomyo
signed magnitude arithmetical
slap chip
sociodynamics
sparkling pistol
special emergency
spending boom
sports circles
spousy
Squad Halt
square stone
subtractive polarity
Tabacal, R.
teracycle
three circles theorem
too-close
translation memory
tungsten oxydifluoride
Turkistan
two component system
visual meteor
water roller
zduriencik