VOA慢速英语2015 谷歌公司着眼黑人学校提升多样性（在线收听）

Google Looks to Black Universities for Diversity 谷歌公司着眼黑人学校提升多样性

The tech industry is driving the U.S. economy into the future, but not everyone is sharing in the prosperity.

科技产业让美国的经济大步向前发展，但并非所有人都能够分享这个繁荣景象。

Only six percent of Facebook employees are Hispanic, Black or African-American.Just four percent of Twitter employees are Hispanic, Black or African-American.

Facebook员工中只有6%是西班牙裔或者非洲裔美国人。Twitter员工中只有4%是西班牙裔或者非洲裔美国人。

Those numbers are small compared to the entire US workforce.Twelve percent is Black or African-American.Sixteen percent of the U.S. workforce is Latino.

与美国整体劳动力相比，这个比例非常小。美国劳动力中有12%是非洲裔。16%的美国劳动力为拉丁美洲人。

Now Google is teaming up with some historically black colleges to provide more opportunities for African-Americans to work in the tech industry.

目前，谷歌正与一些传统的黑人学校展开合作为非洲裔美国人在科技行业就业提供更多机会。

Historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, were established in the 1800s to help black Americans get a higher education.Until the 1950s, many universities excluded blacks.Today, all races can attend HBCUs.

传统黑人学校（HBCU）建于19世纪，帮助非洲裔美国人获得高等教育。直到20世纪50年代，很多学校都排斥黑人学生。但现在，所有种族都可以到HBCU就读。

Google began a program in 2013 called "Google In Residence" at Howard University, an HBCU in Washington, D.C.As part of the program, Google sent a software engineer to teach computer science classes at Howard.

2013年谷歌公司在霍华德大学华盛顿特区开展了“Google In Residence”项目。作为项目的一部分，谷歌公司派一名软件工程师在霍华德大学教授计算机科学。

Legand Burge III is the head of the Computer Science Department at Howard University.Burge graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1998.When he graduated, he was the first African-American in the university’s history to complete a master’s degree.

Legand Burge III是霍华德大学计算机科学系的主任。Burge于1998年毕业于俄克拉荷马州立大学。毕业后成为大学史上第一位拿到硕士学位的非洲裔美国人。

Burge said a big part of the diversity problem starts earlier than university.

Burge表示多样性问题在大学之前就已经存在了。

Burge started a program at Howard called "Pre-Freshmen in Computer Science" in 2012.The program’s goal is to help students reach the level of ability they would need before starting university classes.The program is similar to Google’s own Computer Science Summer Institute.

2012年，Burge在霍华德大学开展了“大一入学前计算机科学”（ Pre-Freshmen in Computer Science）。该项目的目标在于帮助学生达到大学课程所需要的水平。该项目与谷歌公司“计算机科学暑期班”类似。

Howard then partnered with Google to bring an engineer to teach a beginner computer science class.Any student who wanted could take the class.

随后，霍华德大学与谷歌展开合作，让一名工程师讲授零基础计算机科学。所有想学的学生都可以来听课。

Google then decided to share this program with other HBCUs in 2014.Amos Johnson is an associate professor of computer science at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.He said that having a Google engineer at the school helps students see the choices they have.

2014年，谷歌决定于其他传统黑人学校分享该项目。Amos Johnson是佐治亚州亚特兰大莫尔豪斯学院的副教授。他表示，谷歌工程师在学校授课，能够让学生们看到自己有的选择。

Johnson said the people hiring at tech companies usually only think about one type of person.

Johnson表示科技公司雇佣的人通常只考虑一类人。

"So if the pattern is you only see white males from Stanford and MIT and Berkeley, and they look a certain way,that creates a pattern in an interviewer’s mind that these are the types of people that are coders."

“所以如果你只看毕业于斯坦福大学、麻省理工或者伯克利大学的白人男性， 就让面试官形成一种观点，那就是这种类型的人是编码员。”

Andrea Lawrence is the head of the Computer and Information Sciences department at Spelman College.Spelman opened in Atlanta, Georgia in 1881.Lawrence said diversity is important because it lets people see different sides of a problem.

Andrea Lawrence是斯贝尔曼学院计算机与信息工程系的系主任。1881年，在乔治亚亚特兰大建立了斯贝尔曼学院。Lawrence表示多样性非常重要，因为多样性让人看到问题不同的方面。

"Different people bring… different backgrounds to a problem…If all the people in the room has the same background and the same ideas,they are likely not to find a good solution or they may not find the best solution."

“不同的人对问题的看法不同。如果一个房间所有人的背景和观点都一样， 那么他们很可能就找不出好的解决方案或者最佳解决方案。”

Burge said many minority students say they feel they do not belong in the tech industry.Sajid Hussain is the head of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.Hussain said that the small size of HBCUs causes problems for the students.

Burge表示很多少数民族的学生都觉得自己并不属于科技行业。Sajid Hussain是田纳西州纳什维尔费斯克大学数学与计算机科学学院的院长。Hussain表示传统黑人学校规模较小，给学生造成很多问题。

"Because HBCUs are small… we can give them more personal attention…But then, because of small size, we don’t get so much attention from the major companies."

“由于传统黑人学校很少，我们能够给予学生更多个人关注。但由于学校规模较小，很多大公司都不会关注我们。”

Marc Fisher is the Google engineer teaching at Fisk.He said he knew nothing about Fisk before applying to teach in the Google program.

谷歌工程师Marc Fisher在菲克斯大学教课。他表示申请参加谷歌项目之前，对费斯克大学一无所知。

An important part of getting a job at a large tech company is first getting an internship with that company.Before the Google In Residence program, Fisk had only one student ever complete an internship at Google.

想到大公司工作很重要的一点是先到公司实习。谷歌开展Google In Residence项目之前，菲克斯大学只有一名学生曾经在谷歌公司实习。

The Google In Residence program is also working with students out of the classroom.The engineers help students write resumes, prepare for interviews and understand the culture at big tech companies.

Google In Residence项目还在课外与学生们展开合作。这些工程师帮助学生撰写简历、准备面试并帮助学生了解大公司的企业文化。

Over the past three years, the program has had success.After the first year of the program, two Fisk students completed internships.Next summer as many as six Fisk students will have Google internships.

过去的三年间，该项目取得了很大成就。项目进行1年后，两名费斯克学生完成了实习。到明年夏天，将有6名菲克斯学生去谷歌公司实习。

Since the program started, Google has hired two Howard students directly after they graduated.Before the program, there were never any directly hired graduates of any HBCUs.

项目开启之后，谷歌公司直接雇佣了两名从霍华德大学毕业的学生。开始该项目之前，从未直接雇佣过传统黑人学校的毕业生。

But, Burge said, many minority students say they feel they do not belong in the tech industry.Many feel that if they fail, they are representing every other person of their ethnic group.Some feel they are only getting hired because the company is trying to increase its diversity.

但Burge表示很多少数民族的学生都感觉自己并不属于科技行业。很多人都觉得，如果自己没做好，代表的将会是本族的所有人。有人觉得，因为公司想增加多样性，才会雇佣他们。

That is why Burge said it is important that minority students see more people who look like them in the industry.Lawrence added that because the tech industry will only get bigger, including all people is important.

Burge表示，这也是为什么要让少数民族的学生看到科技行业有越来越多少数民族的原因。Lawrence补充道，科技行业会越来越强大，将所有人都纳入其中非常重要的。

"I just really think that it’s so important that we reach out and get everyone we can in this…for the future of our country and also for the future of the young people involved."

“我觉得所有人都应参与其中。对祖国的未来以及年轻人的未来很重要。”

Words in This Story

prosperity – n. the state of being successful usually by making a lot of money

workforce – n. the number of people in a country or area who are available for work

software – n. the programs that run on a computer and perform certain functions

graduate(d) – v. to earn a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

master’s degree – n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after one or two years of additional study following a bachelor's degree

diversity – n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization

institution(s) – n. an established organization

campus – n. the area and buildings around a university, college or school

exposed – adj. caused to experience something or to be influenced or affected by something

hiring – v. giving work or a job to someone in exchange for wages

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

certain – adj. used to refer to something or someone that is not named specifically

interviewer – n. the person who talks with and asks questions of someone who is being considered for a job or other position

coder(s) – n. a computer programmer

background(s) – n. the experiences, knowledge and education in a person's past

internship – n. a period of time when a student or recent graduate works for a job in order to get experience, usually without pay

résumé(s) – n. a short document describing your education and work history that you give an employer when you are applying for a job