VOA常速英语2014--US College Entrance Exam Revisions Could Hamper Foreign Students 美国大学入学考试变革可能阻碍外国留学生

 

US College Entrance Exam Revisions Could Hamper¹ Foreign Students 美国大学入学考试变革可能阻碍外国留学生

The company that administers one of the two most widely-used U.S. college admissions tests recently announced its first major revisions to its test since 2005.  The College Boards' changes to the SAT exam drop infrequently used vocabulary words and the mandatory² essay, and add passages referencing U.S. historical documents.

美国负责管理两个最广泛使用的大学入学测试的公司最近宣布了它自2005年以来的第一个重大修改。该公司大学委员会对SAT考试的修改包括取消非高频词汇和作文部分，但是增加了与美国历史文献相关的部分。这一改动将对国际学生申请美国大学有所影响。

When Howard University students from Nigeria and Jamaica were applying to college, they were among the approximately 100,000 foreign students each year who took the SAT.

当这些来自尼日利亚和牙买加的霍华德大学留学生申请上入学时，他们和其他大约10万外国留学生一样参加了SAT考试。

Now, some have mixed emotions on whether the newly-announced changes will help or hurt international students interested in U.S. schools.

对于新发布的修订是否会孤立或者打击有兴趣申请来美国读书的国际学生，他们有着不同的看法。

“First of all, they are dropping the vocabulary words, which is,  I think, the biggest challenge for most international students,” said Howard University student Peace Umoru.

尼日利亚大一留学生皮斯·乌莫鲁说：“因为，首先，他们减少了对生僻词汇的考核，而这正好是让大多数国际学生最头疼的一部分 。 ”

But Shanique Campbell, also a Jamaican student at Howard, has concerns about adding questions about U.S. historical documents.

但牙买加大二留学生沙妮·坎贝尔对增加美国历史文献相关的问题有所担心。

"That I believe will be very scary for international students," said Campell. "We are already faced with knowing that we are taking an American-based exam, and so there are a lot of things that we are not prepared for in terms of what to expect on that exam — [for example], cultural references that we will not be able to identify with."

坎贝尔说： “我相信这对国际学生来说，将是十分可怕的。我们参加的是一个美国的考试，所以有很多东西都是我们无法准备和预期的，比如我们无法认同的文化差异。”

Some 800 of the approximately 3,000 four-year colleges in the U.S. do not use the SAT or its rival test, the ACT, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.

根据美国国家公平和公开测试中心的统计，美国3000所左右的四年制大学中有800所左右并不要求申请者参加SAT考试，或者它的竞争对手ACT考试。

But, the group's Bob Schaeffer says those that do could put foreign students at a disadvantage.

国家公平和公开测试中心鲍勃·谢弗说，那些要求申请者参与标准化考试的大学可能使外国学生处于不利地位。

"Students from other countries, particularly those who did not grow up learning English, are at a double disadvantage," he said. "The test is in a foreign language and they did not get test prep. So, it is harder."

谢弗说：“其他国家的学生，特别是那些不是在英语环境下长大的学生，将处在一个双重劣势中。该考试是通过一门外语进行，而他们没有得到相应的准备，所以更加困难。 ”

The revisions begin in 2016 for the 1.5 million students who take the SAT each year.

这些修改将于2016年开始对每年150万名参加SAT考试的学生生效。

Overall, the revisions appear to be positive, says Eddie West of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

全国高校招生咨询协会的埃迪·维斯特（Eddie West）认为，总体来说，这些修订似乎是积极的。

"I feel like the changes are moving the test in a more positive direction insofar as they link up with skills and abilities that students will need to succeed, not just in getting into a college or university, but succeeding once there," said West.

维斯特说：“我觉得这些修订正使得这项考试向更积极的方向改变，它将考试与学生获得成功所需要的技能和能力连接起来，不只是帮学生进入学院或大学，而是让他们在那里获得成功。 ”

But he agrees that references to U.S. historical documents could put foreign students at a disadvantage.

但他同意，引用美国历史文献会使外国学生处于不利地位。

"It is going to be relatively³ uncommon⁴ for an international student to be really conversant⁵ with the Declaration of Independence or Martin Luther King Jr.’s work, or anything else along those lines that might be cited in the test," he said.

维斯特说：“很少会有国际学生真正精通独立宣言或马丁.路德.金的成就，或者其他类似可能出现在考试中的内容。”

West says U.S. colleges need to engage with overseas high schools to learn more about their coursework and make better decisions about admissions criteria⁶.

维斯特说，美国高校需要与海外高中更多地交流，了解他们的课程，并就录取标准做出更好的决策。

More than 800,000 international students are in the United States, about four percent of the college population.

美国目前有超过80万的国际学生，占大学学生人数的4％ 。

1 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

2 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

5 conversant   

adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的

参考例句：

• Mr.Taylor is thoroughly conversant with modern music.泰勒先生对现代音乐很精通。
• We become the most conversant stranger in the world.我们变成了世界上最熟悉的陌生人。

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。