EDUCATION REPORT - Graduates of West Point Become Army Offic

EDUCATION REPORT - Graduates of West Point Become Army Officers
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, April 14, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Education Report.

 
 
This week, we answer a question from China as part of our series for students who want to study at an American college. Song Bin¹ in Guizhou Province would like to know about the United States Military Academy at West Point.

West Point is the four-year school in New York State that educates future Army officers. The students are called cadets. They do not have to pay for their education. But they do have to agree to serve on active duty in the Army for at least five years after they graduate.

A young man or woman must be nominated³ to the academy, usually by a federal or state lawmaker. Nominees⁴ also must satisfy the entrance requirements. These include excellent physical condition and high marks in school.

About four thousand American cadets are at West Point this year. In addition, there are forty-four cadets who were sent by other countries for a military education.

International students are nominated by their home government. They also must satisfy the physical and educational requirements. In addition, they must do well on the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language.

Home governments may have to pay up to fifty thousand dollars a year per student at West Point.

Among those with cadets at the academy this year are Bulgaria, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Singapore, Taiwan and Tunisia.

Each year, the United States Defense⁵ Department invites countries to nominate² students to West Point and other military academies. Last year, one hundred fifty-five countries were invited to do so. Not all countries take part in the program.

We spoke⁶ to Captain Robert Romans, head of the international cadet program at West Point. He says up to sixty foreign cadets at any one time can attend the academy. He says students who are interested should seek information at their local American Embassy⁷. The embassy should know where in the home government to go to learn how to be nominated.

The West Point Web site does not have much information about the international program. But it does have a lot of other information. The address is usma.edu.

Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish dot com. 

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 nominate   

vt.提名，推荐，任命

参考例句：

• I nominate Tom to make the tea.我指派汤姆去沏茶。
• The EU would nominate two members to the committee.欧盟将为该委员会指定两名成员。

3 nominated   

adj.被提名的，被任命的 动词nominate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She has been nominated for the presidency. 她已经获得了董事长职位的提名。
• The movie was nominated for an Oscar. 这部电影获奥斯卡金像奖提名。

4 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 embassy   

n.大使馆，大使及其随员

参考例句：

• Large crowd demonstrated outside the British Embassy.很多群众在英国大使馆外面示威。
• He's a U.S. diplomat assigned to the embassy in London.他是美国驻伦敦大使馆的一名外交官。