2023年01月29日 VOA慢速英语：国际学生也在课外学习

 

The cost of attending a college or university in the United States is very high. Education Data Initiative, an organization that collects data on the U.S. education system, says the average college student spends more than $50,000 each school year.
在美国上学院或大学的费用非常高。收集美国教育系统数据的组织Education Data Initiative表示，大学生平均每学年花费超过 50,000 美元。
 
Some international students receive scholarships or financial aid. But many have to pay full price and often need to work outside of their class and study hours. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency says students on an F-1 visa are permitted to work both on, and off campus, as long as they follow certain rules.
一些国际学生获得奖学金或助学金。但许多人必须支付全价，而且经常需要在课堂和学习时间之外工作。美国移民和海关执法机构表示，持有 F-1 签证的学生可以在校内和校外工作，只要他们遵守特定规则。
 
Students can also get experience with American work culture by volunteering for organizations outside of their study area.
学生还可以通过为学习领域以外的组织提供志愿服务来体验美国的工作文化。
 
Learning English recently spoke with two international students about what they learned about American culture from their jobs.
Learning English 最近采访了两名国际学生，讲述了他们从工作中了解到的美国文化。
 
The Indian pollster
印度民意调查员
 
Khushi Agnish, from India, recently finished her undergraduate studies at Quinnipiac University in the northeastern state of Connecticut.
来自印度的 Khushi Agnish 最近在东北部康涅狄格州的昆尼皮亚克大学完成了本科学习。
 
Agnish received a scholarship from Quinnipiac. But she needed a job to cover extra costs. She got a job making public opinion research phone calls for the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The poll researches a wide range of topics such as tensions between Russia and Ukraine and New York City's new mayor.
Agnish 获得了昆尼皮亚克大学的奖学金。但她需要一份工作来支付额外费用。她找到了一份为昆尼皮亚克大学民意调查研究所拨打民意研究电话的工作。该民意调查研究了广泛的主题，例如俄罗斯和乌克兰之间的紧张局势以及纽约市的新市长。
 
Agnish said she made up to 100 phone calls a night for the work. One thing she learned was how to confidently speak on the telephone with Americans. She said sometimes Americans had trouble understanding her accent.
阿格尼什说，为了这项工作，她每晚要打 100 个电话。她学到的一件事是如何自信地与美国人通电话。她说有时美国人听不懂她的口音。
 
"People just think if it's an Indian person calling or if they're talking to an Indian person, it's probably a scam. Other than that, a lot of times people were actually really nice."
“人们只是认为，如果是印度人打来电话，或者他们正在与印度人交谈，那可能就是骗局。除此之外，很多时候人们真的很好。”
 
Agnish also worked at the campus technology center and volunteered at a hospital as a sexual assault counselor. At the technology center, she helped people who had computer problems, like lost files. At the hospital, she helped people who said they had been assaulted to contact the police and fill out paperwork.
Agnish 还在校园技术中心工作，并自愿在一家医院担任性侵犯顾问。在技​​术中心，她帮助遇到电脑问题的人，比如丢失文件。在医院，她帮助自称遭到殴打的人联系警方并填写文件。
 
Agnish said she learned that in America "people are not just sitting at home or telling girls to sit at home." She said that is different than in India, where many women do not go out alone because they are concerned about rape.
Agnish 说她了解到在美国“人们不仅仅是坐在家里或告诉女孩坐在家里。” 她说这与印度不同，那里的许多女性因为担心被强奸而不敢单独外出。
 
"I was glad I could help in some way," she said.
“我很高兴能以某种方式提供帮助，”她说。
 
The piano player teaching kids
钢琴演奏者教孩子们
 
Tony Yan Tong Chen just completed his undergraduate degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He is now applying to study for an advanced degree in piano performance.
Tony Yan Tong Chen 刚刚在纽约罗彻斯特的伊士曼音乐学院完成本科学位。他现在正在申请学习钢琴演奏的高级学位。
 
He came to the U.S. from New Zealand with a strong background in classical music. Along with piano, he is a skilled string musician.
他从新西兰来到美国，拥有深厚的古典音乐背景。除了钢琴，他还是一位技艺精湛的弦乐演奏家。
 
Chen said the best jobs at Eastman for piano players are saved for graduate students. He could do things like work in an office or direct people to their seats during musical performances. He chose not to do those jobs.
陈说，在伊士曼，钢琴演奏者最好的工作留给了研究生。他可以做一些事情，比如在办公室工作，或者在音乐表演期间引导人们就座。他选择不做那些工作。
 
Instead, Chen got a job with ROCmusic to teach young students from Rochester schools how to play music in an orchestra. Many of these students lack a musical background and do not know how to talk about music. "I had to change my vocabulary to make it accessible and help them improve," he said.
相反，陈在ROCmusic找到了一份工作，教罗切斯特学校的年轻学生如何在管弦乐队中演奏音乐。这些学生中有许多缺乏音乐背景，不知道如何谈论音乐。“我不得不改变我的词汇量以使其易于理解并帮助他们改进，”他说。
 
"When certain students even just show up, that will really please me. So I think in general, it's just really celebrating small successes."
“当某些学生甚至只是出现时，那真的会让我很高兴。所以我认为总的来说，这只是在庆祝小的成功。”
 
Academic advice
学术建议
 
Like other international students, Agnish and Chen's work experience gave them extra money and added to their understanding of American culture.
和其他国际学生一样，Agnish 和 Chen 的工作经历给了他们额外的收入，也加深了他们对美国文化的了解。
 
But one professor who studies education had a warning for international students: do not let your work prevent you from completing your degree on time.
但一位研究教育的教授警告国际学生：不要让你的工作妨碍你按时完成学位。
 
Walter Ecton is an assistant professor at Florida State University. He and two other professors recently wrote a paper on students who work while attending college. The paper noted that students who work are about 20 percent less likely to complete their degrees than those who do not. He said the best amount of work for students is five to 10 hours a week.
沃尔特·埃克顿 (Walter Ecton) 是佛罗里达州立大学的助理教授。他和另外两位教授最近写了一篇关于在大学期间打工的学生的论文。该论文指出，工作的学生完成学位的可能性比不工作的学生低 20%。他说，学生最好的工作时间是每周 5 到 10 个小时。
 
Ecton said it is likely that international students who work while going to school learn a good deal about American culture, new kinds of people and work routines. But they need to be sure they do not put themselves in a bad situation by delaying their progress.
埃克顿说，在上学的同时工作的国际学生很可能会学到很多关于美国文化、新的人和工作惯例的知识。但他们需要确保不会因拖延进度而使自己处于不利境地。
 
"For international students, many of them are paying really large amounts to be over in the United States. They need to work to support themselves, but they also want to get their degrees as quickly as possible."
“对于国际学生来说，他们中的许多人为了在美国结束学业付出了巨大的代价。他们需要工作来养活自己，但他们也希望尽快获得学位。”
 
If the students can finish on time and move on to the next part of their lives, a little bit of work can be, as Chen put it, a way to "get out of the music school bubble … and feel more integrated into the community."
如果学生们能按时完成并继续他们生活的下一部分，那么正如 Chen 所说的那样，一点点工作就可以成为一种“摆脱音乐学校泡沫……并感觉更融入社区的方式” ”