VOA慢速英語:A Program Aims to Increase the Number of Americans Studying in China

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report in Special English.

這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報道。

Last year 200,000 Chinese students were in the United States. That was a 23 percent increase over the year before. The Institute of International Education in New York reported last month that 26,000 US students were in China in 2011. They included 15,000 studying for academic credit and 11,000 taking part in other kinds of educational activities.

去年有20萬中國學生在美國學習，比前一年增加了23%。紐約國際教育協(xié)會上月報道稱，2011年有2.6萬名美國學生在中國學習，其中包括1.5萬名修學分的學生，和1.1萬名參加其它各類教育活動的學生。

A program called the "100,000 Strong Initiative" aims to increase the number of Americans studying in China. The State Department launched it in 2010. The goal is to send 100,000 students from the United States to China over a four-year period.

一個名為“十萬人留學中國計劃”(又譯為十萬強倡議)的項目旨在提高到中國留學的美國人數(shù)量。美國國務院于2010年推出該項目，目標是在四年內向中國派遣10萬名美國學生。

Christie Civetta is studying in Beijing as part of the initiative. She is taking Mandarin classes at Beijing's Language and Culture University.

克里斯蒂·西維塔(Christie Civetta)作為該計劃的一部分在北京學習。她在北京語言文化大學就讀中文課程。

"I think it really opens your eyes to what actually is here, like what truly is going on in China, what truly is happening. I think that's incredibly important to know if you want to be educated to chat about it at all."

西維塔表示，“我認為它能讓你看到這里真實的一面，像中國正在發(fā)生什么。我認為知道這些非常重要，如果你想要接受教育討論這些的話。”

Last year a non-profit organization called the "100,000 Strong Foundation" was launched. One of the groups that the foundation supports is Project Pengyou. It connects students who have lived or studied in China.

去年，一家名為“十萬人留學中國基金會”的非營利性組織被發(fā)起。“朋友項目”是該基金會支持的組織之一。該項目為在中國生活或學習過的學生搭起了溝通橋梁。

Project Pengyou is based in Beijing and led by Holly Chang. She says personal ties formed during study abroad can have an effect on relations between the United States and China.

“朋友項目”總部設在北京，由張虹琳(Holly Chang)領導。她說，在留學過程中結成的私人關系能夠對中國關系產生影響。

"We live in this bipolar world where there is increasingly, there's power struggle, but there's still a huge level of misunderstanding I think on a cultural level, and it's not until you actually create those people-to-people relations and strengthen personal bonds between people that they actually strengthen their capacity to work together."

張虹琳說，“我們生活在這個日益兩極化的世界里，這里不乏權力爭斗，但在文化層面上還有很深的誤解，直到我們真正創(chuàng)建人與人之間的聯(lián)系，加強人們之間的個人友誼。這能強化合作能力。”

The Chinese government has offered 20,000 scholarships to Americans under what is known as the US-China Consultation on People-to-people Exchange.

根據(jù)中美人文交流磋商，中國政府已經向美國學生提供了2萬份獎學金。

The 100,000 Strong Foundation has no official relationship with the Chinese government. The foundation says it works closely with Chinese government officials to encourage more Americans to seek these Chinese scholarships. The aim is to give more Americans a chance to get a taste of Chinese culture.

“十萬人留學中國基金會”和中國政府沒有建立正式關系。該基金會表示，他們和中國政府官員密切合作，以鼓勵更多美國人申請這些中國獎學金。其目的是給更多美國人機會接觸中國文化。

As part of her study abroad program, Christie Civetta is also taking cooking classes at a restaurant in Beijing. She not only learns how to make traditional Chinese dishes, she also gets a chance to practice her Chinese language skills with the employees.

作為她留學計劃的一部分，西維塔還在北京一家餐廳學習烹飪課程。她不但學會了如何做中國傳統(tǒng)菜，還得到了和同事練習中文的機會。

"That though may not be the direction I want to go for my final career life if you will, I am very excited to get that alternative perspective on the whole world of culinary arts through a Chinese lens."

西維塔表示，“盡管這不是我想要的最終職業(yè)生涯的方向， 我還是非常高興從中國角度對世界烹飪藝術獲得了另一種觀感。”