2005年NPR美国国家公共电台三月-College Teaches Students the Art of Moder(在线收听

Alcohol abuse remains one of the most serious problems on college campuses.Many schools have responded with anti-drinking campaigns and treatment programs. One college in Maine is trying an unusual approach and attempt to teach students the art of moderation. Maine public broadcasting’s Genie Barren reports:
Here is something you don’t hear very often in a college dining hall:

- Would you like a glass?
- Um, yes, please.
- It is by shipyard, it is a darker beer but it's...

A bartender in a crisp white shirt and black vest carefully holds a short stand glass as she pours a dark beer and offers it to senior Alanmergy.

-There you go there.
- That’s their spring season
- It’s very good
- And actually, I am very fond of this.

It’s Friday night at Colby College in Watervell. About a dozen students have brought their dinner trays, skimming soup bowls, pasta, assorted vegetables to this quiet room set off from the main dining hall.Maggie is taking advantage of a special program for Colby’s older students. They're encouraged to have a drink and relax together over a meal. Maggie says it’s a fine idea.

- I think it’s nice for seniors and people who are over 21 to be able to have, you know, something with dinner just because it’s nice 'cause it happens in the real world.

These seniors had student leader Catherine Welch to thank. Welch says she began to wonder whether campus life had become polarized between binge drinkers and teetotalers.

- Isn't there a third option here? We’re forgetting what your parents do. What you gonna do next year. Are those really gonna be the only two options?

At first, dean of students Janis Armor Carsman says she resisted the idea of serving alcohol even to students who are over 21, but then Carsman decided she wanted to find a way to make it work.

- This was an idea to model good behavior and so this wasn't a proposal for some Bulk and alien party.It was a quite impressive and innovative way of showing how you can use alcohol.

Students must show ID. There is a two-drink limit and they must pay for them.Of course Carsman knows that younger students are the most likely to abuse alcohol but she says the older students are modeling a classier way to drink that younger students might emulate later.

Unlikely, says Mathilda Felco,president of Drug Strategies,a Washington DC group that researches drugs and alcohol policy.

The college should be trying to shore up the non-drinking undergraduate culture,making that as cool as possible.I don't think that the notion of providing the option of wine is going to have any real impact on the core issues that push kids to drink to excess.

Nevertheless,the Colby experiment doesn't appear to be drawing much criticism.Arthur Branan is a Maine Superior court judge whose daughter Christine is a senior at Colby.Branan is a Colby grad himself.

I mean what's really important is how the kids react,you know,to enjoy alcohol in a setting where it's controlled,and where it's not the focus.It's a complement to something else.Strikes me as making some sense.

Colby senior Christine Alan enjoying a glass of Chardonnay with his pasta agrees:"Drinking alcohol with food definitely teaches you to drink properly in a normal social scene as opposed to say more competitive drinking.That's we call it."

A round of competitive drinking may be following the civilized moment.Alan's friends say they are on their way to a local pub once dinner is over.For NPR news, I am Genie Barren.
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/NPR2005/40510.html