论文部分内容阅读
Brett Neely： A sign above the door of this classroom says： If you have to speak English， whisper. And learning the ABCs is not on the lesson plan for these pre-kindergarteners this morning.
（soundbite of class）
Ms. Mary Shaffner （Executive Director， Yu Ying Elementary School）： I think it’s a poem and it looks like a kid’s poem. They actually know more than I do. I know a little bit of Chinese， enough to be dangerous， but they’re actually better than me.（soundbite of laughter）
Neely： Yu Ying’s executive director， Mary Shaffner， showed me around.
Ms. Shaffner： You know， it’s amazing. They’ve only been in school—these 4-year-olds have only been in school since the beginning of the year and you saw them read all those characters.
Neely： Yu Ying is a public charter school. The name means nurturing excellence. It doesn’t charge any fees， though parents do have to apply to send their kids there. The school opened its doors three years ago and now has 240 students from pre-K to third grade and plans to expand to the eighth grade. The student body is about half African-American and a quarter white. Most of the rest of the students are Asian and many come from families where English is the first language.
The kids spend every other school day immersed in Chinese， taught by native speakers. Shaffner， whose daughter is in the first grade here， helped found the school with a group of parents.
Ms. Shaffner： We all knew Chinese was the language
of the future and what an edge to give our children. Neely： Frank Lowenstein’s daughter is a first-grader.
Mr. Frank Lowenstein： I had a slightly different motivation. With the amount of money we currently owe the Chinese， I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a daughter who spoke Chinese when they come around to collect.
布雷特·尼利：教室的门上标示着：如果你要说英语，请低声说。今早这些学前儿童的课程内容并不是学习ABC。
（上课声）
玛丽·沙夫纳女士（育英小学的执行董事）：我觉得这是首诗歌，听来像是首儿歌。事实上他们懂得比我多。我只会一点点中文，这已经够危险的了，但事实上他们比我要好。（笑声）
尼利：育英的执行董事玛丽·沙夫纳带我到四周参观。
沙夫纳女士：你知道的，这让人感到惊奇。他们才刚刚来上学，这些4岁的孩子在今年初才开始来上学，可是现在你看到他们会读那些汉字了。
尼利：育英是一所公立特许学校，名字的意思是培育英才。尽管家长们必须通过申请才能将孩子送到那里学习，但是他们并不需要支付任何费用。学校于三年前成立，现在有从学前到三年级的共240名学生，并且计划将学生队伍扩展到八年级。学生构成大概是一半非洲裔美国人，四分之一白人，余下的大多数是亚洲人，许多学生来自于英语是母语的家庭。
孩子们每隔一个上课日就来学习中
文，由讲地道中文的老师执教。沙夫纳和一群家长们出力建立了这个学校，她的女儿在这里读一年级。
沙夫纳女士：我们都知道中文是未来的语言，会说中文能给我们的孩子们带来
很大的优势。
尼利：弗兰克·洛温斯坦的女儿是一年级生。
弗兰克·洛温斯坦先生：我的动机稍有不同。我们现在欠下中国很多债务，我发现当他们来追债时，有个会说中文的女儿并不赖。 Neely： And it’s that sense of China’s growing importance to the U.S. that’s driving a boom in Chinese education across all levels. In 2007， the college board started offering Chinese advanced placement exams for high school students. By last year， the number of students taking those exams doubled to nearly 5，000. 60，000 college students studied Chinese in 2009， twice the number a decade ago.
Still， Spanish remains by far the most-commonly taught foreign language in American classrooms. At the college level， Chinese continues to lag behind a number of languages， including French and German. But many students now see Chinese as vital to their careers.
Joshua Sloan is a freshman at George Washington University who plans to major in business and minor in Chinese. He was inspired by his dad， who works for Costco and travels regularly to China.
Mr. Joshua Sloan： He doesn’t speak the language and while he does a great job and he’s very good at dealing with people， it would give him that much more of an edge if he spoke Chinese.
Neely： Sloan started learning Chinese at his high school in Seattle. Hundreds of high schools across the country have added Chinese to their curriculum—sometimes at the expense of other languages. Some of those schools are getting financial help from the Confucius Institute， an organization backed by the Chinese government.
But interest in languages does follow fads， says Jonathan Chaves， a professor of Chinese at George Washington. If the political or economic climate changes， he says students may again lose interest in Chinese. But meanwhile， Chaves says this generation of students entering college is already much better prepared to learn Chinese than students were 10 years ago. And the
students at the Yu Ying School who’ve been learning Chinese
since they were four will be even better prepared.
（soundbite of classroom）
尼利：那就是说中国对美国日益重要，才促成了各阶层学习中文的热潮。2007年，美国大学理事会开始在预修课程考试中提供中文科目供高中生报考。到去年为止，报考该科目的学生数量已成倍增长至5000人。2009年有六万大学生学习中文，比十年前翻了一番。
然而，西班牙语目前仍是美国课堂上最普遍教授的外语。在大学里，中文还落后于其他一些外语，包括法语和德语。但是许多学生如今意识到中文对他们事业的重要性。
乔舒亚·斯隆是乔治·华盛顿大学大一的新生，他计划主修商业，副修中文。他的父亲在好市多（译者注：美国最大的连锁会员制仓储量贩店）工作，经常到中国，他因此受到启迪。
乔舒亚·斯隆先生：他并不会说中文，虽然他工作很突出，也善于与人打交道，但是如果他会说中文的话，可能会有更大优势。
尼利：斯隆在西雅图上高中时就开始学习中文，全美数以百计的高中已经将中文列入课程中，有时会缩减其他语言教学的费用。一些学校得到孔子学院的资助，这是一个中国政府扶植的机构。
但是学习语言的兴趣是一时狂热而已，乔治·华盛顿大学的中文教授乔纳森·查韦斯说。如果有政治或经济形势的变化，他说学生们会再次失去学习中文的兴趣。但是与此同时，查韦斯指出这一代的大学生已经比10年前的学生作了更好的学习中文的准备。在育英小学的学生们从
4岁就开始学中文，就准备得更充分了。
（上课声）
（soundbite of class）
Ms. Mary Shaffner （Executive Director， Yu Ying Elementary School）： I think it’s a poem and it looks like a kid’s poem. They actually know more than I do. I know a little bit of Chinese， enough to be dangerous， but they’re actually better than me.（soundbite of laughter）
Neely： Yu Ying’s executive director， Mary Shaffner， showed me around.
Ms. Shaffner： You know， it’s amazing. They’ve only been in school—these 4-year-olds have only been in school since the beginning of the year and you saw them read all those characters.
Neely： Yu Ying is a public charter school. The name means nurturing excellence. It doesn’t charge any fees， though parents do have to apply to send their kids there. The school opened its doors three years ago and now has 240 students from pre-K to third grade and plans to expand to the eighth grade. The student body is about half African-American and a quarter white. Most of the rest of the students are Asian and many come from families where English is the first language.
The kids spend every other school day immersed in Chinese， taught by native speakers. Shaffner， whose daughter is in the first grade here， helped found the school with a group of parents.
Ms. Shaffner： We all knew Chinese was the language
of the future and what an edge to give our children. Neely： Frank Lowenstein’s daughter is a first-grader.
Mr. Frank Lowenstein： I had a slightly different motivation. With the amount of money we currently owe the Chinese， I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a daughter who spoke Chinese when they come around to collect.
布雷特·尼利：教室的门上标示着：如果你要说英语，请低声说。今早这些学前儿童的课程内容并不是学习ABC。
（上课声）
玛丽·沙夫纳女士（育英小学的执行董事）：我觉得这是首诗歌，听来像是首儿歌。事实上他们懂得比我多。我只会一点点中文，这已经够危险的了，但事实上他们比我要好。（笑声）
尼利：育英的执行董事玛丽·沙夫纳带我到四周参观。
沙夫纳女士：你知道的，这让人感到惊奇。他们才刚刚来上学，这些4岁的孩子在今年初才开始来上学，可是现在你看到他们会读那些汉字了。
尼利：育英是一所公立特许学校，名字的意思是培育英才。尽管家长们必须通过申请才能将孩子送到那里学习，但是他们并不需要支付任何费用。学校于三年前成立，现在有从学前到三年级的共240名学生，并且计划将学生队伍扩展到八年级。学生构成大概是一半非洲裔美国人，四分之一白人，余下的大多数是亚洲人，许多学生来自于英语是母语的家庭。
孩子们每隔一个上课日就来学习中
文，由讲地道中文的老师执教。沙夫纳和一群家长们出力建立了这个学校，她的女儿在这里读一年级。
沙夫纳女士：我们都知道中文是未来的语言，会说中文能给我们的孩子们带来
很大的优势。
尼利：弗兰克·洛温斯坦的女儿是一年级生。
弗兰克·洛温斯坦先生：我的动机稍有不同。我们现在欠下中国很多债务，我发现当他们来追债时，有个会说中文的女儿并不赖。 Neely： And it’s that sense of China’s growing importance to the U.S. that’s driving a boom in Chinese education across all levels. In 2007， the college board started offering Chinese advanced placement exams for high school students. By last year， the number of students taking those exams doubled to nearly 5，000. 60，000 college students studied Chinese in 2009， twice the number a decade ago.
Still， Spanish remains by far the most-commonly taught foreign language in American classrooms. At the college level， Chinese continues to lag behind a number of languages， including French and German. But many students now see Chinese as vital to their careers.
Joshua Sloan is a freshman at George Washington University who plans to major in business and minor in Chinese. He was inspired by his dad， who works for Costco and travels regularly to China.
Mr. Joshua Sloan： He doesn’t speak the language and while he does a great job and he’s very good at dealing with people， it would give him that much more of an edge if he spoke Chinese.
Neely： Sloan started learning Chinese at his high school in Seattle. Hundreds of high schools across the country have added Chinese to their curriculum—sometimes at the expense of other languages. Some of those schools are getting financial help from the Confucius Institute， an organization backed by the Chinese government.
But interest in languages does follow fads， says Jonathan Chaves， a professor of Chinese at George Washington. If the political or economic climate changes， he says students may again lose interest in Chinese. But meanwhile， Chaves says this generation of students entering college is already much better prepared to learn Chinese than students were 10 years ago. And the
students at the Yu Ying School who’ve been learning Chinese
since they were four will be even better prepared.
（soundbite of classroom）
尼利：那就是说中国对美国日益重要，才促成了各阶层学习中文的热潮。2007年，美国大学理事会开始在预修课程考试中提供中文科目供高中生报考。到去年为止，报考该科目的学生数量已成倍增长至5000人。2009年有六万大学生学习中文，比十年前翻了一番。
然而，西班牙语目前仍是美国课堂上最普遍教授的外语。在大学里，中文还落后于其他一些外语，包括法语和德语。但是许多学生如今意识到中文对他们事业的重要性。
乔舒亚·斯隆是乔治·华盛顿大学大一的新生，他计划主修商业，副修中文。他的父亲在好市多（译者注：美国最大的连锁会员制仓储量贩店）工作，经常到中国，他因此受到启迪。
乔舒亚·斯隆先生：他并不会说中文，虽然他工作很突出，也善于与人打交道，但是如果他会说中文的话，可能会有更大优势。
尼利：斯隆在西雅图上高中时就开始学习中文，全美数以百计的高中已经将中文列入课程中，有时会缩减其他语言教学的费用。一些学校得到孔子学院的资助，这是一个中国政府扶植的机构。
但是学习语言的兴趣是一时狂热而已，乔治·华盛顿大学的中文教授乔纳森·查韦斯说。如果有政治或经济形势的变化，他说学生们会再次失去学习中文的兴趣。但是与此同时，查韦斯指出这一代的大学生已经比10年前的学生作了更好的学习中文的准备。在育英小学的学生们从
4岁就开始学中文，就准备得更充分了。
（上课声）