When students think about college classes in the United States, they often think about the ones that will result in a degree. A science student might take a number of biology and chemistry classes.
当学生想到美国的大学课程时，他们通常会想到那些能获得学位的课程。一名理科学生可能会参加一些生物和化学课程。
 
However, most American universities permit students to take several classes outside of their study program, or major.
然而，大多数美国大学允许学生在他们的学习计划或专业之外选修几门课程。
 
In fact, most universities require students to take classes outside of their major in order to gain general knowledge. At Brandeis University near Boston, students who study for a degree in biology must take a number of "core" classes. In addition, students also take classes called "electives" that do not fall into either their core studies or their major.
事实上，大多数大学都要求学生参加专业以外的课程，以获得一般知识。在波士顿附近的布兰戴斯大学，攻读生物学学位的学生必须修读一些“核心”课程。此外，学生还可以选修不属于其核心研究或专业的“选修课”。
 
Some of these classes cover unusual subjects.
其中一些课程涵盖了不寻常的主题。
 
At the University of Texas, you can take a class called "The Taylor Swift Songbook." At Amherst College in Massachusetts, there is a class called "Rap, Reagan and the 1980s."
在德克萨斯大学，您可以参加名为“泰勒·斯威夫特歌集”的课程。在马萨诸塞州的阿默斯特学院，有一门课叫做“说唱、里根和 1980 年代”。
 
VOA Learning English spoke with one international student and two professors about electives.
美国之音慢速英语就选修课采访了一名国际学生和两名教授。
 
The Norwegian squash player
挪威壁球运动员
 
When Jesper Phillips of Norway arrived at Bates College in Maine, he took a class for first-year students called "The Local Politics of a Global Game." It was about soccer.
挪威的杰斯珀·菲利普斯 (Jesper Phillips) 来到缅因州的贝茨学院 (Bates College) 时，为一年级学生选修了一门名为“全球博弈的地方政治”的课程。这是关于足球的。
 
Phillips wanted to go to a school with good science classes. He also wanted to keep playing squash, an indoor racquet sport. So, he chose to attend Bates. He finished school in 2022 with degrees in both physics and math. He also was the top player on the school's squash team. He now works as a data scientist for Microsoft.
菲利普斯想去一所科学课很好的学校。他还想继续打壁球，这是一项室内球拍运动。所以，他选择了参加贝茨。他于 2022 年完成学业，获得物理和数学学位。他还是学校壁球队的顶级球员。他现在是 Microsoft 的数据科学家。
 
He enjoyed school at Bates because the classes were very small. The largest had about 20 students and one special physics class had only four.
他喜欢在 Bates 上学，因为班级规模很小。最大的一所大约有 20 名学生，而一门特殊物理课只有四名学生。
 
The politics of soccer class was part of the college's First Year Seminar program. Other classes that year included: "Reading Cats and Dogs," about animals in famous writing, and "Contemporary Comedy" a class that studied humor in writing, podcasting and in movies or television.
足球课的政治是学院第一年研讨会计划的一部分。那一年的其他课程包括：“阅读猫狗”，关于著名作品中的动物，以及“当代喜剧”，一门研究写作、播客和电影或电视中的幽默的课程。
 
"All the options are going to be unrelated to (your major)," Philips said when discussing the classes.
“所有选项都将与（你的专业）无关，”飞利浦在讨论课程时说。
 
Phillips said he had to explain the reason for the class to family and friends at home.
菲利普斯说，他必须向家里的家人和朋友解释上课的原因。
 
"I got a few comments about really spending my time well in the U.S. and really getting value for it. There was definitely some question marks, but I kind of explained the purpose of it and they were a bit more open to the idea."
“我收到了一些关于在美国度过美好时光并真正从中获得价值的评论。肯定有一些问号，但我解释了它的目的，他们对这个想法更加开放。 ”
 
Phillips said that the class is supposed to help students learn what college expects of them. They had writing projects and a lot of discussions. They learned about a syllabus, or class plan, and how to cite their sources when writing.
菲利普斯说，这门课应该帮助学生了解大学对他们的期望。他们有写作项目和很多讨论。他们了解了教学大纲或课程计划，以及如何在写作时引用他们的资料来源。
 
He thinks about the class every four years during the World Cup. Phillips also made friends he still talks with five years later.
在世界杯期间，他每四年都会想起这门课。菲利普斯还结交了朋友，五年后他仍在交谈。
 
Teaching future doctors how to talk with elderly people
教未来的医生如何与老年人交谈
 
At the University of North Dakota's medical school, in Fargo, students studying to be doctors can take Jeremy Holloway's class called "Legacy Building with Older Adults."
在法戈的北达科他大学医学院，学习成为医生的学生可以参加 Jeremy Holloway 的课程，名为“Legacy Building with Older Adults”。
 
Holloway's class helps medical students make connections with elderly people by setting up in-person conversations or video calls. Holloway said he hopes the students learn how to "see older adults as human beings…and not as a different species."
Holloway 的课程通过建立面对面的对话或视频通话来帮助医学生与老年人建立联系。霍洛威说，他希望学生们学会如何“将老年人视为人类……而不是一个不同的物种。”
 
The point of the class is not the same as others at a medical school. In those classes, students might learn about the human body or how to treat disease. In his class, Holloway said he wants to help young students learn to see people first and not think of them as their job positions or titles, such as doctor, nurse or professor.
课堂的重点与医学院的其他课程不同。在这些课程中，学生可能会了解人体或如何治疗疾病。在他的课堂上，霍洛威说他想帮助年轻学生学会先看人，而不是把他们当作他们的工作职位或头衔，比如医生、护士或教授。
 
"I've always said the title that's more important to me is Jeremy, because that's what my mom, my dad gave me that. It'll be the most important title that I'll have until I die."
“我一直说对我来说更重要的头衔是杰里米，因为那是我妈妈，我爸爸给我的。这将是我死前拥有的最重要的头衔。”
 
Holloway said international students in his class learn something from older adults, and adults learn from the international students. First, many of the older adults have never met someone from another country. Second, when the students make friends with an older American, he said, "It really helps them to learn the culture of the United States."
Holloway 说，他班上的国际学生向年长的成年人学习一些东西，而成年人则向国际学生学习。首先，许多老年人从未见过来自另一个国家的人。其次，当学生们与年长的美国人交朋友时，他说，“这真的有助于他们了解美国的文化。”
 
Discussing risk and failure
讨论风险和失败
 
At Indiana University, Robert Kunzman teaches about learning from failure. The class is called "Failure: How We Can Learn from It."
在印第安纳大学，Robert Kunzman 讲授如何从失败中学习。该课程名为“失败：我们如何从中学习”。
 
Kunzman said it is important for students to think about "questions and topics that they might not have planned for." He said taking a class outside of their main study program is a good way to "broaden their horizons and ways of thinking about the world."
昆兹曼说，让学生思考“他们可能没有计划的问题和话题”很重要。他说，在他们的主要学习计划之外上课是“拓宽他们的视野和思考世界的方式”的好方法。
 
The course tells students how people in many different professions learn from failure. In medicine, a patient might die from cancer. In business, a company might lose money and close. In both cases, Kunzman said, "we learn more when we fail (because) we're forced to consider what we need to do differently in the future."
该课程告诉学生许多不同职业的人如何从失败中学习。在医学上，病人可能死于癌症。在商业中，一家公司可能会亏损并倒闭。在这两种情况下，Kunzman 说，“当我们失败时，我们会学到更多（因为）我们被迫考虑我们在未来需要做些什么。”
 
Kunzman said he gets students from "all across campus" in his class. Their fields include business, science, engineering, journalism and public policy.
昆兹曼说，他的班级里有来自“整个校园”的学生。他们的领域包括商业、科学、工程、新闻和公共政策。
 
 
"They learn a lot more," he said, "than just sitting in class with students from their own majors."
“他们学到的东西更多，”他说，“不仅仅是和自己专业的学生坐在一起上课。”
 
He said one of the most important lessons for students to learn is that it is all right to take calculated risks.
他说，学生要学习的最重要的一课是，承担有计划的风险是可以的。
 
"I think that what's important is to develop a capacity to make good judgments, to make good decisions, about the chances that we take, and to develop strategies that allow us to learn from the times when we fail, when things don't work out."
“我认为重要的是培养做出正确判断的能力，做出正确的决定，把握我们所把握的机会，并制定策略，让我们能够从失败、行不通的时候吸取教训出去。”
 
The end goal of electives
选修课的最终目标
 
Kunzman agrees with Holloway, who said, "There's a need for these kinds of experiences." They believe students cannot get a full education by only taking the courses that are required for their major.
Kunzman 同意 Holloway 的观点，Holloway 说：“人们需要这种体验。” 他们认为，学生不能仅通过学习专业所需的课程来获得完整的教育。
 
Sometimes, Kunzman said, it is hard for students to understand it might be good to make time for an elective. After all, many feel pressure to finish school and start working.
昆兹曼说，有时候，学生很难理解为选修课腾出时间可能是件好事。毕竟，许多人都感到完成学业和开始工作的压力。
 
But, he noted, the educational experience can be "supplemented and supported by courses that allow the student to (think about) questions that are important to having a meaningful career and a long-term impact on their society and themselves."
但是，他指出，教育经验可以“得到课程的补充和支持，这些课程允许学生（思考）对于拥有有意义的职业以及对他们的社会和他们自己产生长期影响很重要的问题。”