访谈录 2010-08-24&08-26 美国第一所穆斯林大学?

Tuesday is the first day of class at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California. Christian¹ and Jewish colleges have long been a part of the American education system. But Zaytuna wants to become the very first accredited³ Muslim college in the US. And co-founder Shaykh Hamza Yusuf explains his vision for the school. We've set out to be accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. We started that process. It takes 4 to 8 years. And hopefully we'll become a full-fledged accredited college in the United States. What you have been hearing and the world has been hearing about this proposed Islamic center, community center and mosque⁴ near Ground Zero and all of the uproar⁵ about Muslim Americans in the country. Have you got any criticism over the college? Have you seen any protest? You have any concerns about that?
Well, I think the same people that are criticizing the Ground Zero or mosque nearby, whatever it is, I mean the same people that are vocal⁶ in that, in the media are also criticizing us and other organizations. I think it's just par² for the course right now. Islam is an acceptable target to be prejudicial. Torture Islam is really politically correct still. But I think that's gonna change. I think a lot of good Americans are waking up and realizing a lot of the jingoism⁷ here, the xenophobia. Muslims have been in the United States from the start. They were here at the founding of this country and there are many books that have proven that fact. So Islam is here, is here to stay and I think we need to make the best of the pluralism of our nation.
You are only offering two majors. What are those majors?
Right now, we are offering Islamic law andtheology as a major and the Arabic language as a major. And we have a very, very good curriculum. It's been developed and worked on.
How you plan to expand your curriculum beyond these two majors? I’m sure that's part of what you like to do.
Well, we hope, we hope, yeah, as time progresses, we hope that we get the type of support that's necessary, the type of endowments. It takes a lot of money to really create a full-fledged college. But every college in the United States started out, very small generally, with rare exception of some of the major philanthropists that started a college. University of Chicago with Rockefeller money, Standford with Stanford railroad money. So, but we hope, I think our community is realizing the importance of having our own academic institutions in the Unites States.

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

3 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。

4 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

5 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

6 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

7 jingoism   

n.极端之爱国主义

参考例句：

• They have stripped the veneer of jingoism from the play,by showing war in its true horror.他们剥除了极端爱国主义的外衣，在剧中展示了战争恐怖的实质。
• Patriotism can turn into jingoism very quickly.爱国主义可以很快转变为沙文主义。