VOA慢速英语:Study-Abroad Programs Take Deeper Dive Into Local Culture

Each year about two hundred fifty thousand Americans study in other countries. Some study-abroad programs are trying harder to get students to learn about the local culture. One student on his first morning in Beijing was brought to a distant part of the city. He received money and instructions how to get back. It took some time but he succeeded.
每年约有25万美国人在其他国家留学。一些留学项目试图努力让学生们了解当地文化。一个学生在初到北京的第一个早晨就被带到这座城市一个遥远的角落，学生会收到钱和如何返回的指南。这耗费了一些时间但他还是成功了。

William Finlay heads the sociology department at the University of Georgia in the United States. He says challenges like this help students experience another culture.
William Finlay负责美国佐治亚大学社会学系。他说，像这样有利于帮助学生体验另一种文化。

WILLIAM FINLAY: "It’s absolutely crucial that they know something about how people in other parts of the world live and think and how they behave. Often those students go in large groups and they hang around with each other. We felt that they really weren’t getting to know the local inhabitants."
WILLIAM FINLAY：“让他们知道一些关于世界其它地区人们如何生活、思考及行为的知识是绝对有必要的。这些学生往往是一整批出去留学，并且他们混在一起，我们觉得他们真的不会去了解当地居民的。”

In two thousand eight, Professor Finlay started a program with South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. The program combines traditional classroom learning with community involvement through a nongovernmental organization.
在2008年，Finlay教授启动了一个与南非斯泰伦博什大学（stellenbosch university ）合作的项目，该项目通过一个非政府组织，将传统的课堂学习与社区参与相结合。

WILLIAM FINLAY: “We’ve been working with a particular NGO in the township and they do two things: they run a number of these creches, which are basically day care centers for children whose parents are working, and the library in the community where there are some computers. Our students typically work either with the little kids in the day cares or they work in the library and teach very basic computer skills to mostly young adults.”
WILLIAM FINLAY：“我们与该镇一个专门的非政府组织合作，他们负责两件事：开办一些托儿所，基本上是有工作的父母的孩子们办的；在社区开设一所配有电脑的图书馆。学生们主要是在幼儿园里教孩子，或在图书馆工作，教年轻人电脑技能。”

Hillary Kinsey is studying international affairs. She spent three weeks in the Stellenbosch program.
Hillary Kinsey正在学习国际事务，她在Stellenbosch项目工作了三周。

HILLARY KINSEY: “It was interesting to learn the history of the area and the recent development with democracy and that sort of thing, and then talk to these people and see what the social dynamics were, what the ethnic divisions were, how certain groups felt about other groups.”
Hillary Kinsey：“了解该地区的历史、近期民主的发展之类的事情非常有趣。还可以与当地民众交流，看看社会动态，种族分歧，以及特定群体对其它群体的看法。”

When Ms. Kinsey returned from South Africa recently, she and other students in the program created a noNPRofit organization.
当Kinsey女士近期从南非回来时，她和该项目中的其他学生创建了一个非赢利性组织。

HILLARY KINSEY: "We called it Ubunto, which is a South African concept coined by Desmond Tutu, and it means 'I am because we are.' The idea is kind of based around relationships within society and what generates prosperity for the whole. And so we kind of took that notion and translate into a larger international community.”
HILLARY KINSEY：“我们称之为Ubunto，这是图图大主教提出的一个南非理念，意思是'有了我们，方有我之为我。'该理念基于为全社会创造繁荣的社会内部关系，因此我们选举这一概念，用在更大的国际社区中。”

She says the goal is to help improve education and development in South Africa.
她称该组织的目标是提高南非的教育和发展水平。

Mark Lenhart is the executive director of CET Academic Programs. Each year, that company places more than one thousand students in semester and summer study programs. The programs are in China, Jordan, the Czech Republic and other countries.
Mark Lenhart是CET学术项目的执行理事，该公司每年都为1000多名学生提供学期和暑期学习项目，中国、约旦、捷克等国家都有此项目。

MARK LENHART: "In all of our locations, we place students with local roommates."
MARK LENHART：“在所有我们所在的地方，都将我们的学生与当地学生放到一块。”

Students gain from that, he says, but the experience is not always easy.
学生们可以从此中获益，他说，但这类经历并不总是那么容易。

MARK LENHART: "Not just in terms of language learning, but they also find the local culture can present challenges, and perhaps misunderstandings. They have to adjust to local life. It's no longer OK just to have a little Chinese, for instance. If a student is studying Chinese, they want to come home from a program like this fluent in Chinese. And so this will enable students to become more employable when they graduate.”
MARK LENHART：“不仅是在语言学习方面，他们还发现当地文化会引发挑战，甚至可能是误解。他们必须适应当地生活。光懂点中文不再吃香。比如说，不仅仅是学一点中文那么简单了，如果学生在学习中文，他们希望参加像我们这样的项目，回家后中文就很流利了，这种项目可使学生毕业后更容易找工作。”