越来越多的学生申请进入美国宗教学院

More Students Applying to America's

Religious Colleges

越来越多的学生申请进入美国宗教学院

 

These are tense times for many college students in the United States, as they wait to hear whether they've been accepted at the college of their choice. For a growing number of such students, that choice is based on religion as well as academics. Journalist Naomi Schaefer Riley explores the trend in her new book, God on the Quad¹: How Religious Colleges and the Missionary² Generation Are Changing America.

 

Mr. Riley visited some 20 religious colleges to write God on the Quad. They represented a range of faiths -- from Wheaton College, which is evangelical Christian³ to Brigham Young University, a Mormon school to Notre Dame⁴ University, one of the country's most prestigious⁵ Roman Catholic institutions. But she says almost all the schools had at least one feature in common.

 

Riley: They really tried to integrate the faith into the classroom in different ways. And then tried to get students to think about how that faith would impact them once they left the school. And I should really say that the administrations of these schools are very much encouraging them to move to the cultural and political centers of the country, to move to the top of their professions.

 

The college quad, or quadrangle, is traditionally a place to gather and talk about all kinds of ideas. But, at the schools described in God in the Quad, students and faculty⁶ share a commitment to looking at everything -- including politics, science and the arts -- from a spiritual perspective. Ms. Riley writes that there are now more than 700 such colleges in the United States, with about 1.3 million graduates to date.

 

And she says applications to schools affiliated⁷ with the evangelical Christian, Roman Catholic and Mormon faiths are all on the rise.

 

Riley: The enrollment⁸ at schools that are evangelical has risen by 60% between 1990 and 2002. I was talking to a lot of admissions officers who said that 10 [or] 15 years ago this process was really driven by parents who said, 'I want my kid to get the reinforcement of their faith.' And now it is much more student-driven. You get students who may belong to an evangelical youth group, and they're just flocking to these schools.

 

God in the Quad includes profiles of young people like Jenny Ebbeling, a recipient⁹ of the prestigious National Merit Scholarship award. She graduated recently from Baylor University, a Baptist-affiliated school in Waco, Texas.

 

Jenny Ebbeling: I really wanted a Christian school. I'd heard about the world of academia becoming more liberal. I didn't want anything too dogmatic. I still wanted to be open to the world of ideas, and Baylor really was a perfect balance between the two.

 

Author Naomi Schaefer Riley immersed herself in the life of each campus she visited, sitting in on classes, going to parties and talking with professors. While academic programs varied¹⁰ from school to school, she found that most tended to offer a more traditional, structured curriculum than secular¹¹ colleges.

 

Riley: There is a sense on these campuses that there is a truth with a capital 'T' -- which has sort of been missing increasingly from secular universities, where the answers all depend on your values and your perspective. I think the students at religious colleges really do feel they can question a lot and they can get a variety of perspectives, but ultimately they are in pursuit of the truth.

 

A Harvard graduate and conservative Jew, Naomi Schaefer Riley found the students at religious colleges to be conscientious¹² learners, bringing the same sense of purpose to academics they bring to their faith. They also tend to be more conservative, politically and socially, than students at secular schools.

 

Riley: The students are more interested in marrying early. There's a lot less drinking. I didn't encounter any drugs. And one of the things that was pointed¹³ out to me was a lot of these students are coming from schools where they're used to having to defend their lives, and coming to these schools is almost a relief to them because they're surrounded by people who live the way they do.

 

Naomi Schaefer Riley acknowledges that religious colleges are sometimes insular¹⁴ places. Students who don’t share the main faith on campus can feel uncomfortable. But if that means less diversity than you'd find on a secular campus, young people like Jenny Ebbeling still maintain they got a great education.

 

Ms. Ebbeling: I think college is the time that you can get really firm in what you believe. The rest of the world is going to challenge you from then on out.

Ms. Ebbeling is now working at a California television station. She hopes to become a religion reporter, taking her place in the missionary generation that inspired Naomi Schaefer Riley's new book.

 

Ms. Riley: I think in terms of their professions, they're really bringing an ethical¹⁵ dimension to them. These students have often studied bioethics in school. They've talked about how their faith can impact decisions they'll have to make in everything from medicine to journalism¹⁶.

 

And with America divided these days between red states and blue states, liberals and conservatives, believers and skeptics, Naomi Schaefer Riley believes the education and enthusiasm of the missionary generation could help bridge the gap.

 

This is Nancy Beardsley.

 

注释：

catholic [5kAWElik] adj. 天主教的

integrate [5inti^reit] vt. 使成整体

quad [kwCd] n. 方庭

affiliated [E5filieitid] adj. 附属的，有关连的

immerse [i5mE:s] vt. 沉浸于

bioethics [5baiEueWiks] n. 生物伦理学

1 quad   

n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅

参考例句：

• His rooms were on the left-hand side of the quad.他的房间位于四方院的左侧。
• She is a 34-year-old mother of quads.她是个生了四胞胎的34岁的母亲。

2 missionary   

adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士

参考例句：

• She taught in a missionary school for a couple of years.她在一所教会学校教了两年书。
• I hope every member understands the value of missionary work. 我希望教友都了解传教工作的价值。

3 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

4 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

5 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

6 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

7 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

8 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

9 recipient   

a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器

参考例句：

• Please check that you have a valid email certificate for each recipient. 请检查是否对每个接收者都有有效的电子邮件证书。
• Colombia is the biggest U . S aid recipient in Latin America. 哥伦比亚是美国在拉丁美洲最大的援助对象。

10 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

11 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

12 conscientious   

adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的

参考例句：

• He is a conscientious man and knows his job.他很认真负责，也很懂行。
• He is very conscientious in the performance of his duties.他非常认真地履行职责。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 insular   

adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• Having lived in one place all his life,his views are insular.他一辈子住在一个地方，所以思想狭隘。

15 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

16 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。