VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - China Passes India

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
This week, the Institute of International Education in New York published its yearly report on international students in the United States. The report says more than six hundred ninety thousand attended American colleges and universities during the last academic year.
That number was a record high. It was an increase of three percent from the year before. But it was mainly the result of heavy growth from one country, China. China passed India as the top country sending students to the United States.
The president of the institute, Allan Goodman, says the economic crisis could have limited growth from other countries.
ALLAN GOODMAN: "Rates of increase for international students coming to America were a little bit slower in the last year and we think that reflects the global recession. And the number of Americans studying abroad declined a little bit. So we think that these flows are sensitive to things like wars, revolutions, recessions and natural disasters."The Institute of International Education publishes its report called "Open Doors" with support from the State Department. The latest report is for the academic year that ended this past June.
It says China sent more than one hundred twenty-seven thousand students. That was an increase of thirty percent over the previous year.
Foreign students at Dickinson State University in Dickinson, North Dakota, in 2008 India was the top sending country for eight years. But last year it was in second place, followed by South Korea. Among the top sending countries, Japan showed the greatest decrease -- a drop of fifteen percent.
For a ninth year, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles reported the largest number of foreign students -- nearly eight thousand.
The most popular field of study for international students in the United States is business and management, followed by engineering.
But the report noted¹ a nine percent decrease for intensive English-language programs. Allan Goodman says the reason may have been the recession. He says English-language training is often the most costly² part for students beginning their studies.
But Mr. Goodman pointed³ to an increase in another area: the number of foreign students at the undergraduate level.
ALLAN GOODMAN: "Traditionally, study in America has been overwhelmingly at the graduate level. And in the past several years we've begun to see almost an equal interest by families in sending students here for undergraduate education, and I think that’s going to continue because America is really a unique country. We have four thousand accredited⁴ colleges and universities. International students make up only about three percent of our total enrollment⁵."What that means, he says, is that there is a lot of room for growth.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Lawan Davis. I'm Steve Ember.

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 accredited   

adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于

参考例句：

• The discovery of distillation is usually accredited to the Arabs of the 11th century. 通常认为，蒸馏法是阿拉伯人在11世纪发明的。
• Only accredited journalists were allowed entry. 只有正式认可的记者才获准入内。

5 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。