An lnterview with the President of Yale University

 

 

Journalist: What qualities does a university require when ¹⁾enrolling students and what changes when they leave school?

Richard: That’s a good one. The students coming into Yale, of course they have to show a high-level of academic achievement with a series of tests that students take, the SAT tests and some of the achievement tests that go along with it. But then they’re also expected to have very excellent grades in their secondary school, in their high school education and then also show some potential for leadership, and that’s very hard to assess. It’s certainly not to mean an assess just from one’s academic performance so we look at...

Journalist: You have face to face interviews.

Richard: There are still those, but frankly² those can be ²⁾deceptive³. I think we look more to the record of what students have done in their ³⁾extracurricular activities. Have they done something unusual? Have they founded a new organization or led are they active in volunteer service in their ⁴⁾communities, or have they been excellent ⁵⁾athletes and perhaps elected captain of their team and shown leadership skill in that way? So through a variety of ⁶⁾mechanisms, we try to ⁷⁾ascertain⁵ the potential for leadership. The other thing that’s important is, we actually expect to have students who have made enough of an impression on their teachers and other adults that they, that the letters, we ask for letters of recommendation, and that these letters don’t just say that, “This is the brightest student I’ve had in five years” but actually say something of the character of the individual. And the most effective letters of recommendation are those that really do try to describe the person and give a sense that this is really someone who has great potential. It’s all very ⁸⁾forward looking you try to pick the people who will end up being leaders and I you know, we are fortunate to have a very good record.

Journalist: As more and more young people want to get into Yale, does the ⁹⁾criteria⁶ for enrollment⁷ become more and more critical?

Richard: Well, the criteria won’t change but the ¹⁰⁾threshold, the level of achievement has gone up and it’s remarkable⁸ today right now we have about seven or eight applications for everyone we admit and already there are many who don”t apply, because they know they don”t have a chance to come, so we have a very strong pool of applicants⁹, but that said we’re very eager to expand that pool internationally. One of the things that’s most important to me is to make Yale a truly global institution. It started as very local ¹¹⁾Connecticut, that grew to a national institution, but I think in our fourth century which is coming up, we would like to be a truly global institution and get the very best students from around the world.

Journalist: Any comments on the Chinese students in Yale?

Richard: Oh, we have ¹²⁾fabulous¹⁰ Chinese students. I mean these Chinese students are so you know I think the kind of extreme creativity and imagination that we like to see in our students. We’ve seen in my department in economics, we’ve seen some really excellent students in the graduate level. We have now over 300 students from China at Yale, most of them now in graduate programs. Mostly Ph.D. programs, but some of the other professions law and music especially, architecture. We would like to see more at the undergraduate level and but we’re very pleased with the ones we have. CE

 

09、采访耶鲁大学校长

 

记者∶大学的招生条件是什么？那和学生的毕业条件有什么不同？

理查德∶问得好。要念耶鲁的学生，当然考试成绩必须要好，像英语水平测试还有别的要进行的一些考试等等。同时他们的中学学业成绩要好，要有领导天分——那是很难评判的。当然了，我们不会光从表面成绩来下结论……

记者：你们还有面试。

理查德：面试是有，但老实说，面试可以弄虚作假。我们更多的是去看这学生在课外活动的表现。他们是否做过什么不同寻常的事？他们是否成立过新组织或者在社区的义务工作中起带领作用或表现积极，他们是否是优秀的运动员或是被选过为队长，或在这方面表现出过领导才能？所以我们是在通过各种途径确定有没有领导潜质。另一点也很重要，就是我们其实希望学生给他们的教师或别的成人留下深刻印象，由他们写信过来，我们需要看到推荐信，而且这些信上写的不是什么“这是我五年中教过的最聪明的学生”诸如此类的话，而是言之有物地描述出个人特点。真正地描述出了被推荐人、表明此人真正具有优秀潜质的推荐信才是最好的。努力地挑选出今后的领袖人才，这种做法是很有远见的，而且我认为你也知道，幸运的是我们在这方面保持了良好的记录。

记者：随着越来越多的青年人希望进耶鲁就读，招生的标准是否也变得越来越苛刻了？

理查德：标准没变，但门槛提高了，分数线在上升，值得注意的是我们现在有七、八名学生在竞争同一个名额，还有很多的人甚至不申请，因为他们知道自己毫无被录取的可能，所以说我们的申请人济济，可我们非常希望能把申请人的范围向全球扩展。我的重要职责之一就是力争把耶鲁真正地变成一个全球性机构。耶鲁在康涅狄格创建，然后成长为全国性大学，但我想我们的第四纪即将来临，我们希望成为一个真正的全球性大学，从世界各地吸收最优秀的学生。

记者：你怎样评价在耶鲁的中国留学生呢？

理查德∶噢，耶鲁有非常优秀的中国学生。我是说，我认为中国学生非常富有创造力和想象力，那正是我们希望学生所具有的。我们在我的经济系里见到过，在研究生中也见到过非常优秀的学生。如今我们在耶鲁有三百多名中国留学生，其中大多数是念研究生课程。也有很多在念博士后，有的念法律、音乐，尤其是建筑。我们希望将来见到更多来念本科课程的，不过能得到像现在这样好的学生我们也非常高兴。CE

 

1) enroll¹ [in5rEul] v. 招收

2) deceptive [di5septiv] a. 欺骗性的

3) extracurricular [5ekstekEnikjulE] a. 课外的

4) community [kE5mju:niti] n. 社区，社团

5) athlete [5AWli:t] n. 运动员

6) mechanism⁴ [5mekEnizEm] n. 途径，手法

7) ascertain [ 7AE5tein] v. 弄清，确定

8) forward looking a. 有远见的，向前看的

9) criteria [kri5tiEriE] n. 标准

10) threshold [5WreFhEuld] n. 门槛，限度

11) Connecticut [kE5netikEt] n. 美国康涅狄格州

12) fabulous [5fAbjulEs] a. ［口］ 极好的

 

1 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

2 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

3 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

4 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

5 ascertain   

vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清

参考例句：

• It's difficult to ascertain the coal deposits.煤储量很难探明。
• We must ascertain the responsibility in light of different situtations.我们必须根据不同情况判定责任。

6 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

7 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• 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。

8 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

9 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

10 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。