【英语语言学习】编程的女性

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report in Special English.

 

American colleges and universities awarded about one million seven hundred thousand bachelor’s degrees in the school year ending in twenty ten. Fifty-seven percent of the recipients¹ were female. Yet only eighteen percent of the women earned degrees in computer and information sciences.

 

Reshma Saujani would like to change that. She launched an organization called “Girls Who Code” in two thousand eleven. Her goal is to get more girls interested in science and technology.

 

Reshma Saujani

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"It's predicted that we’ll have about one point four million jobs that are open in the next twenty years in the science and technology related fields. But, only twenty-nine percent of Americans today have the skills to actually fill those jobs. And many of those Americans are men. And less than twenty percent of women are actually going into the technology and science related professions. And so we have an enormous gap.”

 

And she says the underrepresentation of women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM, is caused by a bigger societal issue.

 

“Girls and boys perform about the same in math and science. So there’s not an aptitude² issue.”

 

Reshma Saujani says we live in a society that sends messages that girls should avoid these fields of study.

 

“I can still go to Forever 21 and buy a t-shirt that says ‘allergic to algebra³.’ We still have that Barbie that would say that she hated math. And we still have this kind of cultural stereotype⁴ that a computer scientist or a programmer is kind of like a dorky, young white guy.”

 

“Girls Who Code” has partnered with educators, engineers and business people. Twenty girls took part in the group’s first eight-week program last summer in New York City. They learned how to build websites and mobile apps, and create business plans.

 

“We took girls on field trips to the NYPD, to Facebook, to Twitter. And we showed them how technology is a part of every, every industry. Whether it’s fashion, whether it’s medicine. And that you can really use technology to really change the world.”

 

Ms. Saujani says companies have been very supportive of the group.

 

“The private sector⁵ really understands that they have an enormous pipeline⁶ problem. We have a huge shortage of engineers. And they invest in “Girls Who Code” to really grow that pipeline.”

 

Google was the first business to invest in the group. Reshma Saujani says if not for Google, “Girls Who Code” would not exist. Twitter, General Electric, eBay and others have also provided support.

 

Ms. Saujani says the program has been extremely successful. She says all the girls who took part in its first group plan to continue their STEM training. And, she says, “Girls Who Code” hopes to train many more.

 

“If our goal at “Girls Who Code” is to really close the STEM gap, we realize that we have to teach two million girls how to code in the next twenty years.”

1 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

3 algebra   

n.代数学

参考例句：

• He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
• The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。

4 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。