Americans Take A Worldly View

美国人持的全球观点 （2）



副题：Pragmatism Inspires Interest In Languages and Contacts

美国人越来越认识到世界相互联系的性质和为了不落在后面而进行的务实努力。

如果他们具有另外的技能，他们就能在就业和事业方面走在前面。

美国人对国际新闻的关心程度比过去降低了。

[9]For a variety of reasons, more Americans are traveling. The number of passports issued annually has risen by roughly『大约；粗略地』a half-million a year in the past decade, except for a drop in 1989, amid the turmoil『动乱；骚乱』in Eastern Europe, and in 1991, after the Gulf War. Forty-five million passports are in circulation『流通；使用』, meaning about 1 American in 6 holds one.

[9]由于各种原因，更多的美国人出国旅行。在过去10年里，所发护照数每年增加大约50万份，只有在1989年东欧发生动乱时和在1991年海湾战争结束之后有所下降。450万份护照在使用就意味着每6人中就有1人持有护照。

[10]In 1986, 12 million Americans traveled abroad (not including to Mexico and Canada). By 1996, the figure had risen to 19.8 million.

[10]1986年有1200万美国人去国外旅游（这个数字不包括去墨西哥和加拿大的人数），而到了1996年，这一数字达到了1980万。

[11]Overseas phone calls have soared『上涨；上升』, more than doubling in number from 411 million in 1985 to 984 million in 1990, and then nearly tripling in the five years after that to 2.8 billion, according to the Federal Communications Commission.

[11]与国外的通话次数也增加了。据联邦通信委员会统计，通话次数从1985年的4.11亿次上升到1990年的9.84亿次，增长了一倍多。而在五年后达到28亿，几乎是1990年的三倍。

[12]The number of Americans living abroad has more than quadrupled in the last 30 years to around 3.3 million, according to State Department estimates. Groups representing Americans abroad say many go uncounted; they believe the true total is 4 million to 5 million.

[12]根据国务院的估计数字，生活在国外的美国人人数在过去30年增加了四倍多，达到大约330万。代表国外美国人的组织说，许多人未被计算在内，他们相信实际的总数为400－500万。

[13]In a sign of bottom-up『自下而上的；根本的』change, the number of U. S. public and private elementary schools offering foreign languages has risen by 9 percentage points in the past decade, to 31 percent of all schools, according to a study by the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington.

[13]据华盛顿的应用语言学中心的一份研究报告称，开外语课的美国公立和私立小学的数目已在过去十年增长了9%，目前占全部小学的31%，这是发生重大变化的一个标志。

[14]“There are dramatic『惊人的；突然的』increases in starting languages early, in elementary and middle schools,” said C. Edward Scebold, executive director of the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages, in Yonkers, New York. “This argues against any notion『观点；看法』that we don't care about the outside world.”

[14]美国外语教学委员会的主任爱德华说：“越来越多的小学和中学进行早期外语教学。这就反驳了那种批评我们不关心外部世界的说法。”

[15]The number of secondary schools offering language instruction has held steady, around 86 percent, but is expected to be pushed up by the growth from below. The percentages of high school students studying foreign languages (51 percent in public schools; 78 percent in private schools), are the highest since the 1920s.

[15]开设外语课程的中学在所有中学中的比例一直稳定在大约86%左右，但预计会受小学的影响而扩大。学外语的高中生的比例（在公立学校为51%，在私立学校为78%）是20世纪20年代以来最高的。

[16]States like Oregon and New York have toughened『变得强硬；加强』language requirements, reversing『彻底改变；扭转』a nationwide trend『趋势；倾向』.

[16]像俄勒冈和纽约等州已经加强了对外语水平的要求，彻底扭转了全国外语教学的局面。

[17]In a sea change『巨变；显著的变化』of sentiment『情绪；观点』from days when many people said, “ ‘Let them learn our language,’ parents are going to principals and superintendents and really demanding foreign languages,” said Nancy Rhodes of the Center for Applied Linguistics.

[17]人们的看法有了巨大的变化，过去许多人说：“让他们来学我们的语言。”而现在，用应用语言学中心的南希·罗兹的话说，“家长们跑到校长那里强烈要求孩子学外语。”

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