VOA慢速英语: 申请美国大学的建议，第二部分

申请美国大学的建议，第二部分

Why are American universities so expensive?

为什么申请美国大学费用这么贵？

First of all, I’ll say that American education is expensive for Americans. I spent the good part of my twenties working to pay off college loan debt. So, American education is very expensive, but you’re getting a high-quality education from some of the best professors in the world with some of the best resources and facilities in the world. American universities have state-of-the-art laboratories, computers, research systems, classrooms and all that is expensive. And also at many U.S. universities, you’re learning from leading researchers and people who are at the top of the line in their field so it’s also expensive for universities to have those people as professors. So, you’re paying for a quality product—that’s why it’s very expensive.

首先，美国的教育对美国人来说就不便宜，我二十多岁时的大好青春用来偿还大学贷款，所以说，美国的教育很昂贵，但是你会接受高水平的教育，这里有美国最优秀教授、老师，还拥有世界上最好的资源和设备。美国大学拥有最先进的实验室、电脑、研究体系和教室，而所有这些都很昂贵。而且，很多美国大学，有最顶尖的研究人员和各科领域的顶尖人物教授课程，而雇佣他们作为教授也是很昂贵的。所以说，你是在为高质量的教学买单——这也就是为什么大学那么昂贵。

What kind of financial aid is available?

那有什么可行的助学金？

It really depends on the university what kind of financial aid is available. There are a lot of opportunities out there for international students. There are some universities that have merit-based scholarships. Many have scholarships in general for international students. There are athletic scholarships, scholarships based on a specific talent. It really depends on the individual university, but if the students give themselves sufficient time and really do their research, I think that they can find a university that fits their financial profile, that might have scholarships available, different, you know, work opportunities on campus for individual students.

助学金取决于各个大学政策。外国留学生有很多申请奖学金的机会，有些学校以成绩评定为准的奖学金。很多大学为外国留学生提供奖学金，有给予特殊天份的体育奖学金。奖学金取决于各个学校的情况，但是如果给学生充裕的时间来做研究，我想他们能够找到一所适合他们财务状况的大学，也许校园为学生提供各种工作机会，会提供各种奖学金。

Are school rankings important?

学校排名重要吗？

I know that rankings matter to a lot of parents and students worldwide, but here in the U.S. we pay very little attention to rankings. The rankings that are produced are actually the opinion of several different magazines. They’re not really official government rankings. The U.S. doesn’t have a universal ranking system. So the way that we see it is that rankings are, just produced by several magazines. Usually the same schools are typically listed as the top 10 or top 20 year after year. So in the U.S., they don’t really have that much credibility. With that said, we know that to many families abroad and outside the United States, rankings are very important.

我知道学校排名是很多家长和学生关心的问题，学校排名是各个杂志的不同观点，并不是官方发布的学校排名。美国并没有一个全面的排名制度，所以我们看到的大学排名只是几家报纸发布的消息。通常大学排名年复一年的在前十名或者前二十名不变。因此，在美国，没有什么可信度。但是我们知道那些排名对海外的家庭和学生来说很重要。

So as a university, we try to make that information available so that students can see our rankings. But I think that they really should understand how little value they have in the United States in terms of determining whether or not a university is a quality institution and if it would offer a very good education. There are many US universities that don’t show up on any rankings that are fantastic and have some of the best researchers in the world and best facilities in the world offering really high-level quality education that students might never hear of if they’re just looking at magazines that tell you the top 50 U.S. universities. So I think that international students really need to keep that in mind.

所以，作为一所大学，我们尽力公布有用的信息，让学生看到我们学校的排名，但是在决定一所大学是否是所高品质的大学以及大学是否能够提供良好的教育方面，我想他们确实应该明白学校排名实际上是没有用的。有很多大学不向你展示任何了不起的排名，他们拥有世界上最优秀的研究者，最完善的设施提供高水平、高质量的教育，也许是学生从未听说过的优势，而这些东西从报纸上无法获取这些信息。所以，我认为外国学生确实需要记住这一点。

How can I prepare for the visa interview?

我如何准备签证的面试？

In terms of the student visa, I know that that generates a lot of anxiety for many students around the world and my tip for that would be, as long as you are a genuine student, it’s likely that you will receive your visa. When you go for the interview they’re looking for generally three things.

关于学生签证，我知道全球很多学生都很忧虑，我的建议是，只要你真的是名学生，很快就能获得签证，你去面试的时候，他们通常会问三件事。

One, of course, is that you’re a genuine student, that you’re coming to the United States to study your education program to get your degree. So when you go into that visa interview, you should really know things about the university that you’re going to, why you’re going there, why you want to study, what you want to study—that’s how you show that you’re a genuine student.

第一，当然，你是名学生，来美国是为了学习获得学位。所以，当你走进去那个签证面试考场的时候，你应该知道你要去读的那所大学的情况，为什么要去那读书，为什么想去学习以及你想学习什么——这些问题表明你真的是申请去学习的学生。

The second thing that they’re looking for is to be sure that you have the finances to cover your educational program. You’ll have to submit the same bank documentation you used in order to get your I-20 to the U.S. Embassy as part of your interview to prove that you are able to pay for your education in the U.S.

第二件事他们关心的是要确保你的财物状况能够但付得起你的教育费用。你需要提交银行账户，以便能够拿到申请美国大学的I-20表格。大使馆作为你面试中的一部分，为了确认你能够支付得起在美国的教育费用。

The next thing that they’re mainly looking for is to be sure, again, that you’re a legitimate student and that you’re not looking to move to the United States, that you have a reason to return to your home country, whether it be your family, a home; prospective employment. So if you go into the interview thinking of all those things and prepare yourself to answer those questions and that you really are legitimately coming to the United States to get an education, I think that the visa interview will be no problem.

接下来是他们要确保你是名合法的学生，而不是寻求搬到美国，你有理由回国，无论是家庭原因还是就业前景的原因。所以去面试的时候，想到这些问题，准备好这些问题的答案，证明你确实是要去美国学习，我想签证面试就不是问题。

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Words in this Story

debt – n. an amount of money that you owe to a person, bank, company, etc.

state-of-the-art – adj. using or having the most modern methods, knowledge, or technology

top-of-the-line – adj. of the best quality

merit-based scholarship – n. a financial award that a college bound student may receive based on high school success.

rankings – n. a list of people or things that are ordered according to their quality, ability, size, etc.

credibility – n. the quality of being believed or accepted as true, real, or honest

anxiety – n. fear or nervousness about what might happen

legitimate – adj. allowed according to rules or laws

prospective- likely to be or become something specified in the future