VOA慢速英语2015 如何培训出更多的女工程师

 

How Do You Develop More Female Engineers? 如何培训出更多的女工程师

Not enough American students want to be engineers, mathematicians¹, or scientists. The Obama administration wants to change that. They are spending money to do it. The government will invest three billion dollars in the education of young Americans in science, technology, engineering, and math. The four areas together are known as STEM. 

Many jobs in the STEM fields will open in the coming years. The U.S. government’s investment aims to increase the number of Americans who can take those jobs.

Yet girls appear far less interested in STEM subjects than boys.  Only 25 percent of STEM students are girls.

Camsie McAdams is at the U.S. Education Department. She says girls simply do not feel welcomed in STEM subjects. Ms. McAdams says young women look at industries such as engineering and computer science and see most of the leaders are men.

"We, as women, want to have people that look like us, people that we can relate to. A lot of times what distracts people from entering the field, or, even when they get the degree, keeps them from wanting to work in the field, is because they don’t feel welcomed.”

Debbie Sterling² is an engineer. She invented a construction toy for girls. The name of the toy is "Goldie Blox." Ms. Sterling hopes Goldie Blox will help girls develop spatial³ skills. Spatial skills help engineers and builders to think about objects in three dimensions.

To interest girls, Sterling created the character "Goldie." Goldie does not care about beauty or clothes. Goldie tells stories, solves difficult problems and creates pretend worlds.

Mia is a seven-year-old girl who likes science. In her room, she has no fashion dolls. Instead, she has a pegboard, wheels, blocks and an inventor’s journal to write her observations.

Mia received a set of Goldie Blox from her grandmother. She learned to make a machine with the blocks.

"When my grandmother first sent me the present, a spinning machine, I was really excited.  I knew it had to do with engineering, so I grabbed the box and opened it.  Then I went for more -- I went to the web site; I went on YouTube to find more videos.  My mom asked me why I was just watching videos instead of building.  I told her I didn’t have enough pieces.  She got me the builder survival kit⁴."

Experts say parents should do more than just buy toys to interest their girls in STEM subjects. They should also provide a good education. At school, girls should participate in projects that require teamwork and creative thinking.

Women in scientific and technical jobs are also working to encourage young women to explore STEM. One is Anu Tewary. She studied Applied⁵ Physics and worked for technology companies. After she had a daughter, she started Technovation Challenge. The challenge is an international competition for young women from 10 to 18 years old.

Technovation offers girls the opportunity to learn how to start a company and become high-tech⁶ entrepreneurs. Since 2009, over 2,500 girls from 28 countries have developed 650 mobile phone applications. They learned to launch start-up companies through Technovation.

There’s a good chance that soon, more young women using mobile phones will also be developing programs for them.

Words in This Story

STEM - acronym⁷. referring to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math

construction - n. the act or process of building something

spatial - adj. of or relating to space and the relationship of objects within it

dimensions - n. the length, width, height or depth of something

pretend – adj. not real; imaginary

entrepreneur - n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money

technical - adj. relating to the practical use of machines 

1 mathematicians   

数学家( mathematician的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do you suppose our mathematicians are unequal to that? 你以为我们的数学家做不到这一点吗？ 来自英汉文学
• Mathematicians can solve problems with two variables. 数学家们可以用两个变数来解决问题。 来自哲学部分

2 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。

3 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

4 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

7 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。