VOA慢速英语 2007 0125a

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Graduate students often work as teaching assistants while they study in the United States. Teaching assistants may get money or get to take classes for free, or both.

A T.A. usually works about twenty hours each week. In some cases, the professors they assist have big undergraduate classes with hundreds of students. The professor gives one or two lectures a week, and teaching assistants lead smaller discussions at other times.




They also give tests, grade work, provide laboratory assistance and meet with students who need help. And they have their own educations to think about.

Labor¹ unions have been working to organize teaching assistants who feel overworked and underpaid. Some schools have had strikes.

Another issue is the language barrier. Many states have proposed to require that teaching assistants be able to speak English well enough for students to understand them. Universities have increased their efforts to deal with this problem.

Our example school this week is the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. The Institute of International Education says more foreign students go to USC than any other American university.

The American Language Institute at USC provides training to help international teaching assistants improve their English. The university requires most non-native English speakers to pass a test before they can become a T.A.

Those who went to college in an English-speaking country do not have to take the test. The same is true for those who scored at least twenty-seven on the speaking part of the TOEFL Internet-based test.

The exam at USC is a fifteen-minute spoken test that involves two examiners. Students talk about their education and interest in the school. Then they present some issue or idea from their area of study, and answer questions about it from the examiners.

Those who do not score high enough on the test have to take classes to improve their English. Until their English is better, some departments give them jobs that do not require them to communicate with students.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Listen next week for the next part in our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States.

MP3 files and transcripts² of the series are at www.unsv.com. If you have a question or comment, write to [email protected], and be sure to include your name and country. I'm Bob Doughty³.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

3 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。