EDUCATION REPORT - Homecoming: A Way to Relive School Days o

EDUCATION REPORT - Homecoming: A Way to Relive School Days of the Past
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, December 08, 2005

I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Education Report.

A listener in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Hua Khanh Co, asks us about the tradition of "homecoming." He explains that his girlfriend attended homecoming events this year at the University of Oklahoma.

Homecoming is a tradition at American colleges, universities and also high schools. Schools usually hold a weekend for this purpose each fall. Homecoming weekend is a time when former students return to get together with current students and with old friends.

 
Members of the University of Southern Mississippi's dance squad¹ prepare for homecoming events 
The weekend usually centers on a football game and a homecoming dance. Many schools also hold a parade. And some burn a ceremonial fire to show support for their team.

The University of Illinois has claimed for many years to have held the first college homecoming weekend in nineteen ten. The planners of that celebration saw it as a chance for students and former students to get to know each other. They said it would create more loyalty² to the university. And they said it would lead other universities to follow.

We found a research paper on the Web site of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was completed this year by members of the university archives program.

It seems they found that Baylor University in Texas held an event called "Home-Coming" one year earlier, in nineteen-oh-nine. It was organized as a time to meet former student friends, recall³ old memories and "catch the Baylor spirit again." Events of that weekend included a concert, a parade and a football game.

And Northern Illinois University has records to show it held a homecoming weekend even earlier, in nineteen-oh-six. It was also a gathering⁴ of former students with organized social events built around a football game.

Today most American colleges hold a homecoming weekend. Things can get a little wild. But some students say the weekend is fun only when their football team has a winning season. Still, whoever started it, homecoming weekend remains⁵ an important social event at many schools in the United States.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

2 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

3 recall   

n.回忆，召回，取消；vt.回想起，召回，与...相似，恢复

参考例句：

• As you may recall, he was in the army then.你可能记得当时他正在从军。
• We demand that you recall your army from our border.我们要求你们撤回在我们边境的部队。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• 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。