EDUCATION REPORT - Foreign High School Students Get a Free L

EDUCATION REPORT - Foreign High School Students Get a Free Lesson in American Life
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, June 23, 2005

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

Hundreds of high school students from countries with large Muslim populations have learned¹ for themselves about American society. They spent ten months, one school year, studying in the United States through a State Department program.

More than four hundred fifty students just took part in the second year of the program. They attended high schools and lived with American families in twenty states.

The program is called Partnerships² for Learning³ -- Youth Exchange and Study, or YES. It seeks to improve international understanding and security⁴, and to teach about the rule of law.

Countries involved this year include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Lebanon. Others on the list are Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen.

Students from the West Bank, Gaza and Arab communities in Israel also took part.

 
President Bush, right, meets Ghizal (last name not given), 16, from Afghanistan, fourth from left, as other exchange students from The Partnerships for Learning, Youth Exchange, and Study Program look on in the Rose Garden of the White House Monday, June 13, 2005 in Washington. 
President Bush, right, meets Ghizal (last name not given), 16, from Afghanistan, fourth from left, as other exchange students from The Partnerships for Learning, Youth Exchange, and Study Program look on in the Rose Garden of the White House Monday, June 13, 2005 in Washington.

President Bush met with some of the students at the White House on June thirteenth. He urged them and their friends to think about going to an American university.

In a speech, the president described experiences of students over the past year. He noted⁵ that some got involved in political work related⁶ to the presidential election⁷ last November. One student from Morocco, for example, helped voters in Oregon get rides to voting places.

The president thanked the students for sharing their cultures with Americans. He read comments written by a student from Syria named Abdul Rahman. In one of his classes, Abdul found signs everywhere wishing him a happy Ramadan on the first day of the holy month. Abdul had taken time to explain Ramadan to the other students. He says some students even tried to join him in not eating that day.

One hundred sixty high school students took part in the program in the first year. State Department officials say they expect six hundred fifty students for the next school year in the fall. More countries added to the program include India, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Once students are back home, they are supposed to form groups to work on service projects in their own countries.

More information about the program can be found on the Internet at exchanges.state.g-o-v. Again, exchanges.state.gov.

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

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 security   

n.安全，安全感；防护措施；保证(金)，抵押(品)；债券，证券

参考例句：

• A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
• There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时，机场的保安措施很严密。

5 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。

6 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。

7 election   

n.选举，选择权；当选

参考例句：

• There is no doubt but that he will win the election.毫无疑问，他将在竞选中获胜。
• The government will probably fall at the coming election.在即将到来的大选中，该政府很可能要垮台。