More than twenty-nine thousand foreign exchange students attended American high schools last year. The State Department says the teenagers came from one hundred nine countries.
去年超过2900交换生进入美国的高中。政府部门说这些少年来自109个国家。
Foreign exchange students get the chance to learn more about a culture and its people. They make new friends and experience new places. But they can also experience problems being far from home, among people they do not know and may not understand.
外国交换生得到了解美国文化和人民的机会。他们交到新朋友，体验全新的环境。但他们也遇到一些远离家乡，生活在他们不了解，不理解的人之中产生的问题。
The way many describe it, the experience is exciting and frightening at the same time.
很多人说，那是一种又兴奋又害怕的感觉。
VOICE TWO:
In the past, exchange students usually had limited contact with their host families before meeting them. But times have changed. Today, exchange students may know a lot about their host family before they ever leave home. E-mails go back and forth; pictures of families, homes and pets are shared.
过去，交换生在见到他们的寄宿家庭前往往对他们所知甚少。但时代不同了。现在，在离家之前，交换生就了解他们的寄宿家庭很多了。电子邮件的往来，家庭人员，房屋，还有宠物的照片得以分享。
E-mail and cell phones also make it easier for the students to keep in contact with their own families back home.
电子邮件和手机也让交换生与自己家庭的联系变得容易多了。
VOICE ONE:
| | 
登录/注册后可查看大图
Some foreign exchange students attending high schools in Virginia |
| | |
Exchange groups are supposed to provide a contact person, or liaison, to help students in case they have any problems.
交换生组织为交换生提供联系人或联系方式，以在必要时帮助他们。
This is what happened with a boy from Argentina we'll call Juan Carlos.
这是发生在一个来自阿根廷的男孩身上的事，我们叫他Juan Carlos。
Juan Carlos liked sports; his American host family did not. He liked to go out with friends; his host parents did not approve. And they did not think he was doing well enough in school: he was getting average grades. The host parents discussed these issues with his liaison.
Juan Carlos喜欢运动，他的美国寄宿家庭不喜欢。他喜欢和朋友外出，他的寄宿家庭不赞成。他们认为Juan Carlos学习不够努力：他成绩一般。他的寄宿家庭父母和他的联络人讨论了这事。
And the solution? A new family was found for Juan Carlos. The new family included two boys who played soccer on local teams. Juan Carlos joined those teams and was much happier with his new family. Not only that, his grades improved.
结果怎样呢？联络人为Juan Carlos找到一个新家庭。这个家庭有两个男孩，在本地球队踢球。Juan Carlos加入了那支球队，对新家很满意。不仅如此，他的成绩提高了。
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Exchange students have to speak English well enough to attend an American high school. But some students find it takes weeks or months for them to understand everything they read or hear.
交换生必须要能说英语足够好才能上美国的中学。但一些学生发现，要花几个星期才能弄明白他们读到的或听到的东西。
One girl from Switzerland told her exchange group that some students at her American high school made fun of her accent. An exchange volunteer asked how many languages she spoke. The girl said her native language was Swiss-German and she also spoke Italian, French, English and Spanish.
一个来自瑞士的女孩和交换生组织说，她所在学校的同学拿她的口音开玩笑。一个交换生志愿者问她可以说几种语言。女孩说她的母语是瑞士德语，她还能说意大利语，法语，英语和西班牙语。
The volunteer had this advice: Tell those students that you have an accent in four of the five languages you speak. And then ask them how many languages they speak. The majority of Americans speak only English. 志愿者给她这样的建议：告诉那些学生，你说五种语言，四种有口音，然后问他们可以说几种语言。大多数美国人只会说英语。
VOICE ONE:
Seventeen-year-old Nadia Gerstgrasser is from Italy. Nadia says being a foreign exchange student is not always easy.
17岁的Nadia Gerstgrasser 来自意大利。她说作为一个交换生并不容易。
登录/注册后可查看大图
Italian foreign exchange student, Nadia Gerstgrasser | | |
| | |
NADIA GERSTGRASSER: "Like the language, you think it's going to be hard, but you don't know how it is in real life when people don't understand you and how hard it can be even to order a hamburger. When a waiter asked me the first time how I wanted it done, I said 'cooked' and he was like 'yeah, I know, but how,' and I said 'on my plate,' and everybody started laughing. Stuff like that. It can embarrass you, but that's just the way you learn English. Now I laugh about it, but back then I was really embarrassed."
比如语言，你认为那会很难，但你不知道在生活中当别人不能理解你时，当你甚至没法点一个汉堡时会是多么困难的情况。服务生第一次问我要怎么作汉堡时，我说“作”他又问“是的我知道，但是怎么作”我说“放在我的盘子上”大家都笑了。如此这般。那会让你很尴尬，但你就得这样学英语。现在想起这事我自己也笑，但那时我真的很尴尬。
VOICE TWO:
Nadia is living with a family in Alexandria, Virginia, through the end of June. She is attending a Fairfax County high school with more than one thousand seven hundred students. Nineteen percent of them are limited English speakers. She says that surprised her -- finding so many different ethnic groups.
Nadia一直到六月底都和一个凤凰城的家庭生活在一起，她进入的是一个有超过1700学生的Fairfax County中学。百分之十九的学生说不好英语。她说她很吃惊－－那么多不同文化背景的人在一起。
NADIA GERSTGRASSER: " You know, I was expecting all Americans ... like, I knew there was black people, white people, but I didn't know there was a lot of Hispanics, Asian kids at my school. And, yeah, it was surprising but positive."
你知道，我以为都是美国人...比如，有黑人 ，有白人，但我不知道还有很多西班牙人，亚洲孩子在我的学校，是的，我很意外但确实是。
VOICE ONE:
American high schools come in small, medium, large and extra large. They can have three, four, even five thousand students. It is easy to feel lost at first in a huge building and moving from class to class.
美国中学有小型的，中型的大型的还有特大型的。他们可能有三千，四千甚至五千学生。身处巨大的建筑中，从一个教室到另一个教室，开始的时候很容易迷路。
Changing classrooms might also be a new experience for exchange students. Some students come from countries where the teachers move from room to room, not the students.
对交换生来说，换教室可能是全新体验。在一些学生的国家，是教师从一个教室到另一个教室，而不是学生。
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
More than one hundred organizations are involved in the State Department's Exchange Visitor Program for secondary school students. These groups are responsible for choosing, placing and supervising exchange students. 超过一百个组织参与政府中学交换生计划。这些组织负责选择，安置和监督这些交换生。
In many cases, families pay an organization to place their child with an American family and supervise their time in the United States. 很多情况下，家庭付钱给这些组织，这些组织把他们的孩子安置在美国家庭，同时监督这些孩子。
In the case of Rotary International, local Rotary clubs pay some of the expenses of exchange students. The clubs place students with three different families during the school year. 对于扶轮国际组织，他们的地方社团支付交换生的一部分费用。社团在一个学期安排学生去三个家庭。
VOICE ONE:
As of last year there were twelve schools and school districts involved in the State Department program. Schools often want foreign exchange students as a way to increase the diversity of their student population. These programs may be true exchanges. A student from the school goes to a foreign country for a school year while a foreign student comes to the United States.到去年为止，有12个学校和学区参与交换生计划。学校希望外国学生能增加学生的多样性。这些计划可以是真的交换。一个美国学生去外国学校一学期同时一个外国学生来到美国。
VOICE TWO:
Secondary-school exchange students normally come to the United States with J-One visas provided by the State Department. Some, however, come with an F-One study visa from the Department of Homeland Security. But an F-One visa does not provide the same protections as a J-One visa. 来美国的交换中学生一般持政府提供的 J-One 签证。而有一些持本国安全部门的 F-One 签证。但是 F-One 签证不能提供和J-One 一样的保护。
These protections include making sure all adults in host families have been checked for criminal records. Another protection is making sure exchange students have placements waiting for them in American schools. 这些保护包括，确定接待家庭的所有成年人都被检查过犯罪记录。其他的保护还有确认美国学校准备好安置这些学生。
VOICE ONE:
The Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students is a nonprofit organization in California. It works to strengthen protections for exchange students in the United States and around the world. 负责交换生安全的委员会是加州的一个非营利组织。它为加强美国及全世界的交换生的安全工作。
Sally Smith is a family law attorney who works with the committee. She says exchange students should know how to report any cases of sexual abuse or other crimes. In the United States, the number to call for police or other emergency services is nine-one-one.
Sally Smith 是一个律师，和委员会一起工作。她说交换生应该知道怎么报告性侵犯和其他犯罪行为。在美国，报警和其他紧急情况报告的电话是911。
Sally Smith advises parents of teens who are considering an exchange program to discuss the possible dangers with the sponsoring group. Exchange students should never leave home without knowing who their host family will be, and that the family has been investigated.
Sally Smith 建议那些关心交换生计划的孩子的父母和主办组织讨论可能发生的危险。在了解接待家庭前或接待家庭没经过调查前不要离开自己的家。
Sally Smith notes that the rules in the United States do not say how a criminal background check must be carried out. The Committee for Safety of Foreign Exchange Students wants the government to require criminal checks based on fingerprint records.
Sally Smith 说美国没有规定犯罪记录应该怎样调查。交换生组织希望政府能通过指纹识别来调查犯罪记录。
A State Department representative tells us that officials are now studying the possibility of strengthening the requirements for background checks. But she says the details are not known at this time. 一名政府官员告诉我们官方正在研究加强背景调查的可能性，但现在还不知道细节。
VOICE TWO:
The State Department has programs to bring exchange students to the United States from different areas of the world. One program, for example, is for German teenagers. Another is for students from countries of the former Soviet Union. Other programs offer exchanges for students in Serbia and Montenegro and countries with large Muslim populations.政府有一些从世界各地引进交换生的计划。例如有一个计划，是对德国青少年的。另一个计划使面对前苏联国家的。其他计划是面向塞尔维亚和南联盟（？）和穆斯林国家的青少年的。
VOICE ONE:
Gauri Noolkar from India is in Virginia as part of the State Department's Youth Exchange and Study, or YES, program. We'll let her explain it:
维吉尼亚的来自印度的Gauri Noolkar 是政府青少年学生交流计划的成员，被称作YES计划。我们让她来解释一下：
登录/注册后可查看大图
Indian foreign exchange student, Gauri Noolkar | | |
| | |
GAURI NOOLKAR: "The students in the YES program, their expenses are basically covered by the State Department of this country, and it is for fostering friendship between America and Middle East and Asian counties. It is based on merit and talent, and they cover all our expenses and in return we are expected to teach people over here about our cultures and then go back and teach our people about American culture."
YES计划的学生费用基本上是政府部门负担的，目的是培养美国和中东和亚洲国家的友谊。它基于优点和才能（？），他们负担全部费用，作为回报我们要教给这里的人关于我们的文化，然后回国教给我们的人关于美国的文化。
Seventeen-year-old Gauri is also attending a public high school in Fairfax County. And like Nadia from Italy, Gauri says she, too, was surprised by the ethnic diversity she has seen in the United States.17岁的Gauri也进入了Fairfax County的一所公立学校。和来自意大利的Nadia 一样，Gauri说她也一样对美国的文化多样性感到惊奇。
GAURI NOOLKAR: "Another surprising thing was even though it is a very individualistic society, there is a notion that Americans just live for themselves. But I realize that over here they are very helpful and nobody turns you down. If you ask for help, you do get it."
另一个惊奇是，即使这是一个强调个性的社会，有一种观念，美国人为自己而活。但我发现这里的人乐意助人，没人会拒绝帮助你。如果你求助，他们就会帮你。
VOICE TWO:
To become an exchange student at an American high school, students must have completed no more than eleven years of school, and done well. They must be between the ages of fifteen and eighteen and a half. They must also speak English well. And they must agree to accept the rules of the exchange program and their host families.
要成为美国中学的交换生，学生不能超过十一学年，学习成绩要好。必须在15—18.5岁之间。必须能很好的说英语。他们必须接受交换计划组织和接待家庭的规矩。
Host families are supposed to receive training in hosting an exchange student. Host families do not get paid, but they get a fifty dollar tax deduction for each month the student lives in their home.
接待家庭要接受关于接待交换生的训练。接待家庭没有报酬，但在交换生居住期间每月可以得到50美元的减税。
VOICE ONE:
Nadia Gerstgrasser has this advice for students considering a foreign exchange:
Nadia Gerstgrasser 给那些在考虑出国学习的学生这样的建议：
NADIA GERSTGRASSER: "You should not leave your country thinking 'Oh, wow, cool, a year of holiday, I'm not going to do anything, it's going to be fun, everything is just going to be exciting,' because it's also hard. But at the same time it's so cool. You're gonna start liking it. It's worth it. You should try."在离开你的国家时，你不应该想“哇，酷，一年的假期，我什么也不做，一定很好玩，一切都很刺激”因为，那也很困难。同时，那也确实很酷。你会开始喜欢。那很值得，应该试试。
Going to a foreign country to live with complete strangers is not for everyone. But many who have done it say the experience taught them a lot about the world and about themselves.
不是每个人都有机会出国和完全陌生的人住在一起。但经历过的人说，这种经历对了解这个世界，了解他们自己都有好处。
[此贴被系统于2008-5-14 6:57:11编辑过]
[此贴被系统于2008-5-14 17:53:10编辑过]
[此贴被系统于2008-5-15 11:20:15编辑过]
.jpg)
