VOA慢速英语 2007 0510a

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A listener in Nigeria has a question about financial aid for blind and visually impaired¹ college students in America. S.A. Ogunlowo in Ile-Ife wants to know if visually impaired foreign students can get a full scholarship as an undergraduate².

 
In 2004, Tim Cordes, who is blind, graduated near the top of his medical school class at the University of Wisconisn-Madison
Financial aid programs in the United States, especially at the undergraduate level, do often require American citizenship³. At the same time, scholarships often pay only part of the cost of an education. The National Federation⁴ of the Blind advises students to contact any school they wish to attend to ask about financial aid.

The federation is the country's largest group for the blind. Each year it awards scholarships that do not have any citizenship requirements. Students must be legally blind. And foreign students cannot apply until a college in the United States has already accepted them.

The application deadline was March thirty-first for thirty scholarships offered for this fall. Most are three thousand dollars. The highest is twelve thousand dollars.

The United States has an estimated⁵ one million blind adults. The federation says there are no special colleges or universities for the blind. But schools do offer special services and technology to help students with disabilities.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. More information about the scholarships from the National Federation of the Blind can be found at its Web site: n-f-b dot o-r-g (nfb.org). This was week number thirty-six in our series for students interested in coming to the United States for higher education. If you missed any of our reports, you can find our Foreign Student Series online at voaspecialenglish.com. And if you have a question, send it to [email protected]. Please include your name and country. I'm Steve Ember.

1 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 undergraduate   

n.大学生，大学肆业生

参考例句：

• Mr. Stone spent his undergraduate days in Columbia University,majoring in economics.斯通先生在哥伦比亚大学度过了他四年的大学生活，主修经济学。
• During this time,they are called undergraduate students.在此期间，他们被称为大学本科生。

3 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

4 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

5 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。