EDUCATION REPORT - Foreign Student Series 24: Harvard Univer

EDUCATION REPORT - Foreign Student Series #24: Harvard University
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, February 10, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our Foreign Student Series with a report on the oldest school of higher learning in the United States: Harvard University.

 
Lawrence Summers
You might have heard that its president, Lawrence Summers, gave a speech last month at a conference on women and science. Mister Summers is an economist¹. He discussed possible reasons for the small number of women in top jobs in science and mathematics. He suggested that biological differences between men and women might play a part that should be studied further.

He meant his comments to incite² debate. It worked.

Critics pointed³ to the history of unfair treatment of women in science and at top schools like Harvard. In the past, Harvard students were all white males.

There is some dispute over what he said exactly; no recordings⁴ have been released. But Mister Summers has made apologies. In one message, he said: "I do not believe that girls are intellectually less able than boys, or that women lack the ability to succeed at the highest levels of science."

Last week Harvard created the Task Force on Women Faculty⁵. Another is called the Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering. The university says both new committees will develop proposals to reduce barriers to success. Ideas are expected by May, so steps can begin in the next school year. Harvard also plans to appoint a top administrator⁶ who will try for more female professors.

In the beginning, in sixteen thirty-six, Harvard had one teacher and nine students. The area around Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston, was an English colony then. The school is named for a Puritan religious leader, John Harvard. He gave the college all his books and half his property when he died.

 
Graphic⁷ Image
Today Harvard has almost twenty thousand undergraduate and graduate students. More than three thousand are from outside the United States, mostly Asia and Europe. Foreign students also can receive financial aid. One year at Harvard costs more than thirty-seven thousand dollars.

The university includes Harvard College and Radcliffe College, and ten graduate schools.

Internet users can learn more about one of the top research universities in the world at harvard.edu. And our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish dot com.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

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 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

5 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

6 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

7 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。