VOA慢速英语20060112a

EDUCATION REPORT - University of Virginia Is New Home for 'Semester¹ at Sea'By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, January 12, 2006

I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Three times each year, the Semester at Sea program takes more than six hundred college students sailing² around the world. Since nineteen sixty-three, almost forty thousand students have taken part.

The University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, has organized the program since nineteen eighty. Last month, the Institute for Shipboard Education announced that Semester at Sea will soon have a new home: the University of Virginia.

Virginia will take control of the program beginning this summer. University President John Casteen says it will help the school increase its international activities for students.

The Semester at Sea program takes place on a ship named the M.V. Explorer³. Students and professors live and work on the Explorer. Classes are held each day that the ship is at sea.


M.V. Explorer

The ship is really a floating university. It has classrooms, a library and a computer laboratory⁴ with wireless⁵ Internet. It also has a student center, a store, two dining rooms, a swimming pool and an exercise center. And the ship has two hundred crew⁶ members.

Most of the students in the program are from the United⁷ States. But students have also come from other countries around the world.

Each student must take at least four classes during the one hundred day semester on the ship. On shorter summer trips, students must take at least three classes.

In one required class, students learn about the places they will be visiting. Students have traveled to sixty countries over the years. Recent stops have included Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, India, Burma, Vietnam⁸, China and Japan.

When the ship is in port, students take part in field activities organized by the teachers. In the past, students have stayed with local families, visited universities and traveled to places of historic⁹ interest.

The cost is about sixteen thousand dollars for the one hundred day semester. The cost for a sixty-five day summer trip is almost ten thousand dollars. Officials say financial aid is offered.

For more details, you can visit the Semester at Sea Web¹⁰ site: semesteratsea dot com.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Internet users¹¹ can read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 semester   

n.一学期，半学年，六个月的时间

参考例句：

• A student will probably attend four or five courses during each semester.每个学生一学期可能要修四五门课程。
• I had an especially rough time during my first semester.我第一个学期的日子难受极了。

2 sailing   

n.航行，航海术，启航

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• The operation was plain sailing.手术进行得顺利。

3 explorer   

n.探险家，探测者

参考例句：

• His father is an Arctic explorer.他父亲是一位北极探险者。
• The explorer organized an expedition to the North Pole.那位考察者组织了一个去北极的探险队。

4 laboratory   

n.实验室，化验室

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a laboratory.她捐款成立了一个实验室。
• Our laboratory equipment isn't perfect,but we must make do.实验室设备是不够理想，但我们只好因陋就简。

5 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

6 crew   

n.全体船员，全体乘务员；vi.一起工作

参考例句：

• A captain controls his ship and its crew.船长管理他的船和船上的船员。
• The captain kept his crew at a distance.船长与他的船员总保持一段距离。

7 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

8 Vietnam   

n.越南

参考例句：

• Vietnam is suffering from food shortage.越南正遭受食物短缺之苦。
• Laos is on the west of Vietnam.老挝在越南西面。

9 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

10 web   

n.网，蛛丝，蹼，织物，圈套，卷筒纸；vi.生蹼，形成网；vt.织蜘蛛网于，使落入圈套

参考例句：

• The spider weaves a web.蜘蛛织网。
• You mean the World Wide Web?你是说国际互联网？

11 users   

用户，使用者( user的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The new software will prove a boon to Internet users. 这种新软件将会对互联网用户大有益处。
• Ramps should be provided for wheelchair users. 应该给轮椅使用者提供坡道。