《中英對照讀新聞》More Young Americans Take Chinese Language Challenge
更多年輕美國人接受中文挑戰

◎陳宜君

Studying geometry can be taxing for a 10-year-old. But Dr. Zhang's class of young American students are not merely learning all the angles, they are doing it in Chinese.

研讀幾何學對十歲的人來說可能相當費力。但張博士班上的年輕美國學生不但學習所有的幾何角，還是以中文進行。

Maryland's Potomac Elementary School, in a prosperous suburb north of Washington, D.C., is one of a growing number of U.S. schools that teach Chinese -- a hot language thanks to China's surging economy and growing world clout. At Potomac Elementary, children as young as 6 are honing their Chinese, motivated by a mix of parental prodding and their own desire to do something different.

馬里蘭州的波多馬克小學，位於華盛頓行政特區北方的繁榮郊區，是越來越多教授拜中國經濟起飛與世界影響力與日俱增而成為熱門語言的中文的美國學校之一。在波多馬克小學，最小僅六歲的小孩在家長激勵與自己希望學習不同事物的交互驅使下，正在磨練他們的中文。

The United States has declared 2005 the “year of languages” although few Americans are aware of the designation. According to a 2002 Modern Language Association survey, more college students are studying foreign languages than ever before.

美國已宣告二○○五年是「語言年」，雖然很少美國人知道此事。根據「現代語言協會」二○○二年的調查，相較以往，有更多的大學生研讀外語。

Dictionary-新聞辭典

thanks to：片語，由於、因為。例句：It was no thanks to you that we won.（我們獲勝可不是拜你所賜。）

clout：此處為名詞，意指影響。例句：It's massive export earnings give the company a lot of clout with the government.（該公司龐大的出口獲利使其對政府具有許多影響力。）

motivate：動詞，激勵、使產生動機、出於…動機。例句：We've got to try and motivate our salesmen.（我們得設法激勵推銷員。）

aware：形容詞，知道的、意識到的、明智的。例句：She is a very aware person.（她是非常明智的人。）