VOA新闻杂志2024--How Connected Are You to the World?

How Connected Are You to the World?

Saodat Sadikova is an English teacher in Jizzakh, Uzbekistan. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a flight attendant¹ and traveling the world. Her parents told her she would have to learn at least three languages in order to reach that goal.

Although she was not able to become a flight attendant, Sadikova did study languages. She speaks Uzbek, Russian, English and Turkish.

Sadikova has never traveled outside Uzbekistan. Even so, she reports feeling connected to people around the world. "The whole world is for human beings," Sadikova said. She still dreams of visiting many countries.

American Trina Bright worked in education for nearly 25 years. Today, she lives in the southern U.S. state of Arkansas. During her career, she traveled to many countries, including China and South Africa.

Bright used stories from her travels to help her students in the U.S. understand their place in the world. She spent most of her career in a minority-serving school district. Sharing stories from her travels helped her students see value in their own cultures. "There's value in all experiences, not just typical American ones," Bright said.

Bright has visited more than 20 countries. But Bright, unlike Sadikova, does not report feeling connected to people around the world.

Bright is not alone. She is among the more than half of Americans who report they do not feel especially close to people around the world.

That information comes from a new report by Pew Research Center, an organization that aims to inform the public about the issues, beliefs and trends shaping the world. The report, called Attitudes on an Interconnected World, was released² on December 6.

Pew recently asked people in 24 countries a series of questions about how connected they feel to their own communities and countries as well as to people around the world. Pew researchers looked at, among other things, how international travel experience relates to feelings of connectedness.

About half of all respondents reported they feel at least somewhat³ close to people all over the world.

Feeling close to others around the world is more common in Europe than in most other places, the study found. In the United States, only 35 percent of the respondents said they feel at least somewhat connected to those in other countries. The percentage was even lower in Argentina (28 percent) and Indonesia (22 percent).

The study found that, in general, respondents who had traveled to at least one other country feel more connected to people around the world.

Ninety-nine percent of respondents in the Netherlands reported having visited at least one other country and about half said they had visited 10 or more countries. The Pew researchers found that 77 percent of respondents from the Netherlands said they feel at least somewhat close to people all over the world.

But international travel does not always mean a person feels a closeness to people around the world. Bright, the retired⁴ American schoolteacher, is one such exception⁵. She said, "I don't know a bunch of people around the world, just some." And, she said, her connections to them are not especially deep.

Pew researchers found a similar case in Sweden. Ninety-nine percent of Swedish respondents said they had visited at least one other country. Yet a much smaller share of Swedish respondents – 47 percent – report feeling close to people all over the world.

In fact, a higher number of Indian respondents – 68 percent – report feeling at least somewhat close to people all over the world. Yet just 3 percent of respondents from India said they had traveled to another country. Such findings⁶ show that international connectedness can be formed in ways other than traveling overseas.

Sadikova, the Uzbek English teacher, told VOA Learning⁷ English she feels connected to people all over the world even though she has never traveled outside Uzbekistan. She said, "Some years ago it was difficult for us to get information about people in the world, but currently⁸, because of media, it is quite easy to get acquainted⁹ with events and news."

Words in This Story

typical–adj. normal

respondent–n. a person who answers a question

somewhat–adj. a moderate¹⁰ amount

acquainted with—phrasal verb. to be informed about someone or something

1 attendant   

n.随从，跟班，出席者，服务员；adj.伴随的，出席的，注意的，在场的

参考例句：

• She was interrupted by the entrance of an attendant.服务员进来，打断了她的话。
• We met the officer attendant on the general.我们见到了随从将军的副官。

2 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

3 somewhat   

pron.一些，某物；adv.多少，几分

参考例句：

• The cake we made was somewhat of a failure.我们做的蛋糕不大成功。
• The two office buildings are somewhat alike in appearance.这两座办公楼在外形上有点相似。

4 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

5 exception   

n.例外,除外

参考例句：

• Everyone should keep discipline and you are no exception. 每个人都应该遵守纪律,你也毫无例外。
• There's an exception to every rule. 每项规则均有例外。

6 findings   

n.发现物( finding的名词复数 )；调查（或研究）的结果；（陪审团的）裁决

参考例句：

• It behoves us to study these findings carefully. 我们理应认真研究这些发现。
• Their findings have been widely disseminated . 他们的研究成果已经广为传播。

7 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

8 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

9 acquainted   

adj.对某事物熟悉的，对 某人认识的

参考例句：

• The students are already acquainted with the work of Shakespeare. 这些学生已经读过莎士比亚的著作。
• I have heard about your friend but I'm not acquainted with him. 我听说过你的朋友，但同他不熟。

10 moderate   

adj.适度的，稳健的，温和的，中等的；v.节制，使...稳定，使...缓和；n.稳健的人

参考例句：

• You should moderate your language when children are present.在孩子面前，你说话应该有节制。
• The wind is moderate today.今天的风很柔和。