VOA慢速英語: 申請美國大學的建議，第二部分

申請美國大學的建議，第二部分

Why are American universities so expensive?

為什么申請美國大學費用這么貴？

First of all, I’ll say that American education is expensive for Americans. I spent the good part of my twenties working to pay off college loan debt. So, American education is very expensive, but you’re getting a high-quality education from some of the best professors in the world with some of the best resources and facilities in the world. American universities have state-of-the-art laboratories, computers, research systems, classrooms and all that is expensive. And also at many U.S. universities, you’re learning from leading researchers and people who are at the top of the line in their field so it’s also expensive for universities to have those people as professors. So, you’re paying for a quality product—that’s why it’s very expensive.

首先，美國的教育對美國人來說就不便宜，我二十多歲時的大好青春用來償還大學貸款，所以說，美國的教育很昂貴，但是你會接受高水平的教育，這里有美國最優(yōu)秀教授、老師，還擁有世界上最好的資源和設備。美國大學擁有最先進的實驗室、電腦、研究體系和教室，而所有這些都很昂貴。而且，很多美國大學，有最頂尖的研究人員和各科領域的頂尖人物教授課程，而雇傭他們作為教授也是很昂貴的。所以說，你是在為高質(zhì)量的教學買單——這也就是為什么大學那么昂貴。

What kind of financial aid is available?

那有什么可行的助學金？

It really depends on the university what kind of financial aid is available. There are a lot of opportunities out there for international students. There are some universities that have merit-based scholarships. Many have scholarships in general for international students. There are athletic scholarships, scholarships based on a specific talent. It really depends on the individual university, but if the students give themselves sufficient time and really do their research, I think that they can find a university that fits their financial profile, that might have scholarships available, different, you know, work opportunities on campus for individual students.

助學金取決于各個大學政策。外國留學生有很多申請獎學金的機會，有些學校以成績評定為準的獎學金。很多大學為外國留學生提供獎學金，有給予特殊天份的體育獎學金。獎學金取決于各個學校的情況，但是如果給學生充裕的時間來做研究，我想他們能夠找到一所適合他們財務狀況的大學，也許校園為學生提供各種工作機會，會提供各種獎學金。

Are school rankings important?

學校排名重要嗎？

I know that rankings matter to a lot of parents and students worldwide, but here in the U.S. we pay very little attention to rankings. The rankings that are produced are actually the opinion of several different magazines. They’re not really official government rankings. The U.S. doesn’t have a universal ranking system. So the way that we see it is that rankings are, just produced by several magazines. Usually the same schools are typically listed as the top 10 or top 20 year after year. So in the U.S., they don’t really have that much credibility. With that said, we know that to many families abroad and outside the United States, rankings are very important.

我知道學校排名是很多家長和學生關心的問題，學校排名是各個雜志的不同觀點，并不是官方發(fā)布的學校排名。美國并沒有一個全面的排名制度，所以我們看到的大學排名只是幾家報紙發(fā)布的消息。通常大學排名年復一年的在前十名或者前二十名不變。因此，在美國，沒有什么可信度。但是我們知道那些排名對海外的家庭和學生來說很重要。

So as a university, we try to make that information available so that students can see our rankings. But I think that they really should understand how little value they have in the United States in terms of determining whether or not a university is a quality institution and if it would offer a very good education. There are many US universities that don’t show up on any rankings that are fantastic and have some of the best researchers in the world and best facilities in the world offering really high-level quality education that students might never hear of if they’re just looking at magazines that tell you the top 50 U.S. universities. So I think that international students really need to keep that in mind.

所以，作為一所大學，我們盡力公布有用的信息，讓學生看到我們學校的排名，但是在決定一所大學是否是所高品質(zhì)的大學以及大學是否能夠提供良好的教育方面，我想他們確實應該明白學校排名實際上是沒有用的。有很多大學不向你展示任何了不起的排名，他們擁有世界上最優(yōu)秀的研究者，最完善的設施提供高水平、高質(zhì)量的教育，也許是學生從未聽說過的優(yōu)勢，而這些東西從報紙上無法獲取這些信息。所以，我認為外國學生確實需要記住這一點。

How can I prepare for the visa interview?

我如何準備簽證的面試？

In terms of the student visa, I know that that generates a lot of anxiety for many students around the world and my tip for that would be, as long as you are a genuine student, it’s likely that you will receive your visa. When you go for the interview they’re looking for generally three things.

關于學生簽證，我知道全球很多學生都很憂慮，我的建議是，只要你真的是名學生，很快就能獲得簽證，你去面試的時候，他們通常會問三件事。

One, of course, is that you’re a genuine student, that you’re coming to the United States to study your education program to get your degree. So when you go into that visa interview, you should really know things about the university that you’re going to, why you’re going there, why you want to study, what you want to study—that’s how you show that you’re a genuine student.

第一，當然，你是名學生，來美國是為了學習獲得學位。所以，當你走進去那個簽證面試考場的時候，你應該知道你要去讀的那所大學的情況，為什么要去那讀書，為什么想去學習以及你想學習什么——這些問題表明你真的是申請去學習的學生。

The second thing that they’re looking for is to be sure that you have the finances to cover your educational program. You’ll have to submit the same bank documentation you used in order to get your I-20 to the U.S. Embassy as part of your interview to prove that you are able to pay for your education in the U.S.

第二件事他們關心的是要確保你的財物狀況能夠但付得起你的教育費用。你需要提交銀行賬戶，以便能夠拿到申請美國大學的I-20表格。大使館作為你面試中的一部分，為了確認你能夠支付得起在美國的教育費用。

The next thing that they’re mainly looking for is to be sure, again, that you’re a legitimate student and that you’re not looking to move to the United States, that you have a reason to return to your home country, whether it be your family, a home; prospective employment. So if you go into the interview thinking of all those things and prepare yourself to answer those questions and that you really are legitimately coming to the United States to get an education, I think that the visa interview will be no problem.

接下來是他們要確保你是名合法的學生，而不是尋求搬到美國，你有理由回國，無論是家庭原因還是就業(yè)前景的原因。所以去面試的時候，想到這些問題，準備好這些問題的答案，證明你確實是要去美國學習，我想簽證面試就不是問題。

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Words in this Story

debt – n. an amount of money that you owe to a person, bank, company, etc.

state-of-the-art – adj. using or having the most modern methods, knowledge, or technology

top-of-the-line – adj. of the best quality

merit-based scholarship – n. a financial award that a college bound student may receive based on high school success.

rankings – n. a list of people or things that are ordered according to their quality, ability, size, etc.

credibility – n. the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest

anxiety – n. fear or nervousness about what might happen

legitimate – adj. allowed according to rules or laws

prospective- likely to be or become something specified in the future