[00:00.00] Chapter 17 Education
[00:12.59]Unit 17 Education
[00:17.95]Conversations
[00:21.60]part 1
[00:25.16]Wang Ming and Chang Hua are taling about English study.
[00:30.62]What keeps you so busy lately? Studying English.
[00:37.17]Why do you study English so hard?
[00:42.14]You know we're going to have PETS Level 3 next month.
[00:48.09]I'm afraid I can't pass it.
[00:51.93]Your English is not so bad.
[00:56.37]Thank you,but I'm afraid my writing is not good enough.
[01:02.22]I often make mistakes in sentence structures.
[01:07.19]The English sentence structure is quite different from that of Chinese.
[01:13.85]And there are so many idiomatic ways of speaking.
[01:19.62]Our teacher said we should drill as much as possible,
[01:25.47]and the more we use phrases,expressions and idioms,
[01:30.80]the more natural they will become.
[01:34.56]But drill is tedious.
[01:38.40]Speaking,listening,reading and writing are closely combined.
[01:45.17]We need more practice. "Practice makes perfect."
[01:50.73]Good suggestion. We should practise all the skills together.
[01:56.98]Only by doing so can we achieve great progress in the correct use of English.
[02:03.43]2.Mike and Lisa are talking about the beginning of the college days.
[02:10.59]How's your beginning of the college days,Lisa?
[02:15.86]Oh,it's chaotic during the first week of the semester.
[02:21.43]Why? We had to register for classes.
[02:26.89]But I didn't know which building to go to.
[02:31.85]Was there anybody who helped you?
[02:36.21]Oh,yes.A sophomore told me,but I didn't know where it was.
[02:42.98]Oh,I'm sorry to hear that.How was it then?
[02:48.41]Finally,I found the place.
[02:52.36]I realized that it is very important
[02:56.80]for me to be familiar with the teaching buildings first.
[03:01.97]What did you do next?
[03:05.73]I selected courses,
[03:09.20]paid fees and attended the school-opening ceremony for new students.
[03:15.97]Where was the school-opening ceremony held?
[03:20.62]In the hall.The president walked on to the platform.
[03:26.05]He said that he was happy to see new intelligent-looking students.
[03:32.58]He hoped that we would all manage to profit from our courses of study.
[03:39.25]3.Xu Lin and Wei Fang are talking about using the library.
[03:46.40]Excuse me.Can you tell me how to find some books on African Education?
[03:54.27]Sure.You see all these little drawers here
[03:59.44]and all the way around the walls? Yes...
[04:03.88]These drawers contain cards describing every book in our library.
[04:11.14]Together they constitute the library's "card catalog".
[04:17.49]You can see drawers run from one part of the alphabet to another.
[04:23.42]So if I'm looking for a book called African Education,I'd just look under "A".
[04:31.96]Yes.But if the book is called A History of Modern Dance,You'd look under "M".
[04:39.33]The article "a" and "the" don't count in the alphabet,
[04:46.28]and the cardsa re generally omitted for very common words and phrases
[04:52.44]such as "History of","Introduction to" and so on.
[04:57.51]What if I don't know the name of the book?
[05:02.16]Then you can look under the writer's name.
[05:06.73]For example,you want to find a book byn Theodore Dreiser.
[05:12.08]You'd look under Theodore and then Dreiser.
[05:16.84]And suppose I don't know either the title or the author,
[05:22.90]but simply want to look at some book on art?
[05:27.76]Look under the subject heading.
[05:31.81]In this case you can look under "Art".
[05:36.38]The information on the card will help you determine whether
[05:41.73]or not you're interested in that particular book.
[05:46.10]4. Malin and Rose are talking about changes in teh higher education in Britain.
[05:54.35]As a college student,
[05:57.98]I'd like to know something about changes in the higher education in Britain.
[06:04.23]The expansion in education in recent years
[06:09.58]has led to many important changes in the higher education system.
[06:15.43]What's the percentage of the high school graduates to colleges?
[06:21.00]Well...In the year 2002,at least,
[06:26.04]one in three of the high school graduates entered higher education or training.
[06:33.48]There must be changes in courses and teaching methods as well.
[06:39.44]Sure.In addition to courses in the traditional disciplines and research,
[06:46.52]universities are placing more emphasis upon developing students' creative ability.
[06:54.25] In the US the colleges and universities are rated each year.
[07:00.41]How is that in Britain?
[07:03.65]There is a national review body to assess all university departments
[07:10.21] and give a rating for their research and teaching every four years.
[07:16.56]Unitversity with the highest rating will get more government funding.
[07:23.32]Passage Education for All
[07:28.57] In 1944 Congress passed the Servicemen's Rdadjustment Act,
[07:35.55]soon popularly called the "Gi Bill of Rights".
[07:41.01]("GI",at the time,was a nickname for the American soldier.
[07:47.07]The nickname came from an abbreviation for "Governamet Issue"
[07:53.42]---the uniforms and other articles "issued" to a soldier.)
[07:58.77] The Act promised financial aid,including aid for higher education,
[08:05.85]to members fo the armed forces after the end of World War II.
[08:11.91] The war ended in the following year.
[08:16.35]The prediction was that about 600 000 war veterans would apply for aid for education.
[08:24.53]By 1955,more than two million had used their GI Bill of Rights to go to college
[08:32.99](and the total kept increasing).
[08:37.04]Many of these veterans were from poor families.
[08:42.50]Thirty percent were married when they applied for college aid;
[08:48.07]ten percent had children.
[08:52.01]More than a few had to work part-time while they took courses.
[08:58.49]It was difficult,but these veterans believed that a college degree
[09:05.15](which they could not afford on their own)
[09:09.41]would improve their chances for a good job in the post-war economy.
[09:16.07]Some went to liberal arts colleges;
[09:20.61]others to technical and professional institutions.
[09:25.58]Their outstanding success in all these schools forced everyone
[09:31.64]connected with higher education to rething its purpose and goals.
[09:38.40]Within just a few years,
[09:42.16]American veterans had changed the image of who should go to college.
[09:48.62] In post-war America,other groups sought their place on America's campuses,too.
[09:56.19]The enrollment of women in higher education began to increase.
[10:02.15]Black and Hispanic minorities demand and end
[10:07.29]to segregation in elementary and secondary education
[10:12.65]--and thus an equal opportunity to get into college.
[10:18.61](In the United States the term "minority" has two meanings,offten related:
[10:25.55](1)A minority is any ethnic or racial group that makes up a small percentage of the total poputation;
[10:34.59](2)The term also suggests a group that has less political power than the majority.)
[10:42.25] By the 1960s,college introduced special plans
[10:49.01]and programs to equalize educational opportunities--at every level,for all groups.
[10:56.59]Some of these plans were called "affirmative action programs".
[11:02.54]Their goal was to make up for past inequality by giving special preference
[11:09.07] to members of minorities seeking jobs or admission to college.
[11:15.24]Some colleges,for example,sponsored programs
[11:20.70]to help minority students prepare for college while still in high school.
[11:27.23] By the 1970s,the United States government stood firmly behind such goals.
[11:35.17]It required coleges and universities receiving public funds
[11:41.34]to practise some form of affirmative action.
[11:46.19]But when colleges began to set quotas
[11:51.05](fixed numbers) of minority students to be admitted,
[11:56.09]many Americans (including minority citizens) protested.
[12:02.05]They felt that this was another form of discrimination.
[12:07.33] As with most (but not all) problems in American public life,
[12:13.68]the conflict was resolved by change and compromise.
[12:19.45]Colleges continued to serve the goal of affirmative action
[12:25.09]--but in less controversial ways.
[12:29.66]One large university,for example,announced a new policy:
[12:35.83]It would seek to admit students who would add diverse talents to the student body.
[12:42.88]It thus dealt with all applicants -- minorities included--
[12:48.52]On a basis that was not restricted to high schook performance and entrance tests,
[12:55.18]but which took into account the talents,
[12:59.44]voluntary activities and "life experience" of the student.
[13:04.90] What success did these efforts have?
[13:09.76]By the early 1980s,
[13:13.91]almost as many women as men were enrolled in some form of higher education.
[13:20.86]but only one out of every six students in American higher education came form a minority group.
[13:28.72]Thus,minorities--who make up about 20 percent of the United States population
[13:36.09]--had not yet fully reached their education goals.
[13:41.66]Nevertheless,the democratic revolution of American higher education
[13:48.00]had made remarkable advances.
[13:52.16]Words and Expressions
[13:56.00]serviceman nickname abbreviation
[13:59.24]n.军人 n.绰号 n.缩写
[14:02.48]veteran work part-time on one's own
[14:05.75]n.退役军人 兼职 凭自己的力量
[14:09.03]be connected with rethink campus
[14:12.21]与...相联系 v.再想 n.校园
[14:15.38]enrollment minority segregation
[14:18.62]n.登记，注册 n.少数民族;少数派 n.隔离
[14:21.86]racial make up make up for
[14:25.28]adj.种族的 组成 弥补
[14:28.70]affirmative sponsor discrimination
[14:31.94]adj.肯定 v.主办 n.歧视
[14:35.18]resovle compromise restrict
[14:38.41]v.消除 n.和解 v.限制
[14:41.63]take into account voluntary enroll
[14:44.60]考虑 adj.自愿的 v.登记;使入学
[14:47.56]Exercises
[14:51.12]Section I Listening Comprehension
[14:56.68]Listen to the record.
[15:00.47]Answer each question by choosing A,B,C or D from the four possible choices.
[15:09.40]A Mary,why were you late for work this morning?
[15:16.66]I overslept and missed the bus.
[15:21.39]Did you see Bill in the Department office?
[15:27.35]yes,he was applying for a student loan.
[15:32.02]Aren't we supposed to have an English test this afternoon?
[15:38.37]It si postponed because the teacher is ill.
[15:43.23]How long ahs Jack been working on his paper,three weeks?
[15:49.60]At least that long.
[15:53.26]John thinks he has much trouble in learning maths and French,he wants to drop them.
[16:02.33]I'm sorry to hear that.
[16:06.17]You'd better prevent him form doing that.
[16:10.61]I see that you are good at Physics and Chemistry.
[16:17.45]Would you like to be a postgraduate at the unitversity or would you rather get a job?
[16:24.01]I'd rather get a job,I think.
[16:28.66]What did you do in class yesterday morning?
[16:34.33]The teacher reviewed last Mondy's lesson.
[16:39.58]How long have you studied Japanese?
[16:44.93]I've never learned Japanese.
[16:48.69]I started to learn French three year ago.
[16:53.06]Have you read Jack's paper?
[16:58.02]I thought it would be boring.
[17:01.78]Did you pass your English exam?
[17:06.74]Yes,but I have never had a more difficult one before.
[17:12.20]B It seems that only half of the students passed the final examination.
[17:19.28]Well,it doesn't surprise me at all,you know.
[17:24.61]The exam was very difficult this time.
[17:29.34]Well,I'm really surprised.
[17:33.41]There are many students who definitely didn't fail.
[17:38.38]According to Jack,there are eight boys in his class who failed,including Scott.
[17:45.46]No! I don't believe it!
[17:49.82]Scott is one of the top students in the college.
[17:55.28]What about his sister? Did she pass?
[17:59.95]Oh,yes.It seems she got good marks.
[18:05.21]That's absolutely incredible!
[18:09.57]Scott was a much better student than his sister,
[18:15.13]and has been working so ahrd for the last few months.
[18:20.88]It seems unfair,doesn't it?
[18:25.03]But,from what I've heard,perhaps he worked too hard.
[18:30.07]he was ill during the week of the exam.
[18:34.51]Oh,I see.These things happen,sometimes.
[18:40.47]I suppose the dean will take his illness into account and give hime a pass.
[18:47.42]Well,there's a rumour going around that the head of the Department is leaving."
[18:53.98]Because of the bad result,you mean?
[18:58.34]Well,I suppose so.I'm not sure.
[19:02.00]Maybe,Mr.Smith is going to be the new Department Head.
[19:08.37]C The college had a very good basketball team,
[19:14.72]and its best player was a student who always had trouble in school.
[19:21.38]Then one year the dean of the college said that the player
[19:27.62]would have to leave because he had cheated on an exam.
[19:32.95]The basketball coach immediately went to the dean to try to persuade hime
[19:40.21]to let the student stay in school.
[19:44.47]The dean showed him two answer papers.
[19:49.75]"This one is Rose's paper.
[19:54.61]She is the top student in the class,"he said.
[20:00.17]"And this one's your basketball player's.
[20:05.03]They're almost the same.
[20:09.00]The basketball player sat at the next desk,and just copied from her."
[20:16.44] "But maybe she copied from him,"the coach said.
[20:22.22]"You can't prove it was the other way.""Look at this,"the dean said.
[20:29.27]"Rose didn't know the answer to this question,so she wrote,'I don't know!'
[20:36.53]And You basketball player wrote, 'Neither do !'"
[20:42.59]Supplementary Reading
[20:46.25]Get a Jump on Learning
[20:50.72]you've been involved in early education for .... For years.
[20:56.57]At what age should public school start?
[21:01.43]At kindergarten. I think Head Start is very important,
[21:07.20]and parents' picking really good day-care centers for their children,
[21:13.05]if their children go to day care,is important.
[21:17.88]It's crucial,really,to child's success later.
[21:23.14]It's no surprise that research proves that how much a child has been read to
[21:29.61]before they start school determines how successful they'll be,
[21:34.97]especially in the first year.
[21:38.81]Should there be curriculum for these early childhood centers?
[21:45.05]Yes.One of the things that the president wats in his education plan
[21:51.32]is for Head Start to have an academic goal along with social
[21:57.17]and nutritional and health-related goals.
[22:01.43] There is a Head Start center in Dallas called the Margaret Cone Center
[22:07.70]that the Texas Instruments Foundation adopted about 15 years ago.
[22:13.76]This is a neighborhood with the highest poverty,
[22:19.01]they lowest deucation rate,the most single-parent households.
[22:24.78]For two years Texas Instruments provided every health and nutrition benifit they could.
[22:31.94]year-round day care.Three meals a day.
[22:36.98] Even after that,when the children started kindergarten
[22:42.26]they were still tested in the bottom one percentile
[22:47.01]on the Lower test of basic skills.
[22:51.66] The T.I. Foundation knew they had to add something else.
[22:57.33]A reading professor at Smu,Nell Carvell,
[23:03.08]developed what she called LEAP,Language Enrichment Activities Program.
[23:09.92]It's not a curriculum that asks little three and four-year-olds to sit at a desk.
[23:16.87]They play all day.
[23:20.53]But she added pre-reading skills--story telling,
[23:26.09]story listening,talking about letters,talking about sounds.
[23:31.37]The children starting kindergarten tested in the 74th to 75th percentile on the Lower test.
[23:40.33]They now have 10 or 11 years of reserch.
[23:45.19] Let's follow up on the English as a second language idea
[23:51.43]and the controversy over bilingual education.
[23:57.18]I think bilingual education is great
[24:01.91]if we know it helps children learn to speak and read in English.
[24:07.58]The goal for children in America is to learn to read and speak English.
[24:13.74]For children who are lucky enough to be bilingual the goal is to become bilateral,
[24:21.11]to learn to read and speak well in English,
[24:25.97]but also to take advantage of their heritage.
[24:30.72]It's a huge advantage.
[24:34.48]There are so few Americans who are actually bilateral,
[24:39.94]especially compared to Europeans.
[24:44.02] More than one million students are being schooled at home.
[24:49.58]Do you think home-schooling is a good idea?
[24:54.44]I do.Parents are willing and disciplined enough to make sure their child gets a great education.
[25:02.38]And in most cases the parents are very,very disciplined.
[25:08.26]I think it's a fine idea if people want to do it.
[25:13.40] All the way through?
[25:16.67]Sure,if they want to.
[25:20.72]Aside from your family,can you name someone who influenced you most?
[25:27.38]My second-grade teacher,Charlene Gnagy.
[25:32.66]I wanted to be so much like her that I decided in the second grade I wanted to teach.
[25:39.81]I saw an article about how women are choosing teaching again.
[25:45.77]The daughter of a longtime friend of mine has decided she wants to teach
[25:52.12]and she's gone back to school.
[25:55.88]And amazingly enough,six of her friends have done the same thing.
[26:02.25]And one reason,my friend thinks,is because of the television show "Boston Public".
[26:09.80]I think that's great.
[26:13.28]Because teaching went very out of fashion for a while.
[26:18.24] A lot of older people want to teach,
[26:22.68]and some are shut out because of degree and certification policies.
[26:29.21] well,in New York there's a program called the New Teacher Project,
[26:35.38]and her it's called the D.C.Teaching Fellows.
[26:40.42]both of those help midcareer people who don't have education degrees
[26:46.98]to get their teaching certificate.
[26:51.10] There's also a federally-
[26:55.15]funded program that encourages retiring military to choose teaching.
[27:01.11]They still have a lot of productive years.
[27:05.78]They have already worked with young people,
[27:10.04]and they bring a lot of discipline and maturity to the classroom.
[27:15.29] When I was in Kosovo,the NCO whispered to me,
[27:21.07]"When I retire,I'm going to teach in Memphis.
[27:26.32]I want to teach at-risk kids."So that's good.
[27:32.06]Because there's no other more important profession than teaching.
