How Common Is a Gap Year?
空挡年是多么寻常？
By Adrienn Green
Malia Obama will attend Harvard, but she’s waiting until her dad’s out of office. 【生词】 out of office 卸职
【翻译】玛丽亚·奥巴马进入哈佛学习，但她一直在等她的爸爸卸职。
When the Obamas announced Sunday that their eldest daughter, Malia, will attend Harvard University, they also revealed that she will take part in what is becoming an increasingly popular tradition in the United States: the gap year. 【生词】reveal 透露
【翻译】奥巴马一家人星期日宣布，他们的大女儿玛丽亚，将进入哈佛大学学习，他们还透露，她将参与美国一个越来越流行的传统：空挡年。
“The President and Mrs. Obama announced today that their daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in the fall of 2017 as a member of the Class of 2021. Malia will take a gap year before beginning school,” the White House said in a statement.
【生词】statement 声明
【翻译】“奥巴马总统和夫人今天宣布，他们的女儿玛丽亚作为2021班的一员将在2017秋季入学哈佛大学。玛丽亚开学之前有一个空挡年，”白宫在一份声明中说。
After graduating from the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in June, Malia will take advantage of the year-long deferral where many students choose to travel, pursue special projects, or gain work experience. Harvard in particular encourages this
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practice, and as a result, between 80 and 110 of their students choose to do so each year. While it is unclear exactly what Malia will do during her gap year, the decision to wait until her father leaves office to begin her college education will also likely afford her a less-scrutinized freshman year. 【生词】take advantage of 利用...
【分析】While it is unclear exactly what Malia will do during her gap years是时间状语，句子的主干是the decision will also likely afford her a less-scrutinized freshman year。to wait until her father leaves office to begin her college education 是后置定语修饰the decision。
【翻译】六月从著名的Sidwell Friends School毕业后，玛丽亚将利用长达一年的延期，很多学生在这期间选择去旅游，追求特殊的项目，或获得工作经验。哈佛特别鼓励这种做法，所以，每年有80到110位的学生选择这样做。虽然目前还不清楚究竟玛丽亚在她的空档期会做什么，决定等到她父亲卸职后开始她的大学教育也有可能使她度过稍欠仔细考虑的大一生活。
Gap years have been common in Europe for many years, but they are growing more popular throughout the U.S. While there are no official statistics that track participation in gap year programs, the Associated Press reports that 30,000 to 40,000 students take advantage of the break each year, and the year 2015 showed a 22 percent increase in students taking gap years over the previous year, according to surveys taken by the American Gap Association. It’s important to note that gap years can look very different for different students; some engage in structured programs while others work toward more personal goals.
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【生词】engage in 参与
【翻译】在欧洲空挡年很多年以来已经很普遍，但在美国变得越来越流行。尽管没有官方统计数据，跟踪空挡年项目的参与，美联社报告说，每年30000至40000名学生利用这一休假，并且根据美国空挡协会的调查，2015年显示参加空挡年的学生比上一年增长了22%，。需要特别指出的是，不同的学生在空挡年中做的事也不一样，有人参加指导项目而其他人为个人目标奋斗。
In an article on the university’s website, William Fitzsimmons and Marlyn E. McGrath of Harvard’s admissions department, and Charles Ducey, a lecturer in psychology, assert that a gap year could be an answer to the burnout faced by ultra-ambitious students as they compete to gain entrance into the “right” college followed by the “right” graduate schools, and the “right” sequence of jobs, in order to live in the “right” kinds of communities. 【生词】admissions department 录取部门 burnout 过度劳累
【分析】a gap year could be an answer to the burnout 是主干。faced by ultra-ambitious students是后置定语修饰the burnout。as they compete to gain entrance into the “right” college followed by the “right” graduate schools, and the “right” sequence of jobs, in order to live in the “right” kinds of communities.是状语。
【翻译】在大学网站上的一篇文章中，哈佛的招生部门的威廉·菲茨西蒙斯和马林E.麦克格拉斯和心理学讲师查尔斯杜塞声称特别雄心勃勃的学生为进入想要的社会阶层，“立马”从学校毕业后竞争“立马”进入大学，和随后“立马”工作的学生，空挡年可以给面临过度劳
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累的这些学生提供一个答案。
In the 1995-96 school year, among those who enrolled in postsecondary education, a third had waited a year or more after graduating from high school to attend. Jonathan Guzman wrote recently about his own gap-year experience in The Atlantic, noting how he’s seen acceptance of the gap year proliferate at American universities. He notes that roughly three-quarters of each incoming class at Harvard University’s law school applied after taking at least a year off; Northwestern University medical school hopefuls favored a gap year; even schools like Princeton and Tufts have started their own programs for students to take a “transformational year of full-time service, domestically or abroad, before beginning their academic studies.” 【生词】academic 学术的
【翻译】在1995-96学年，在那些就读于高等教育的学生中，三分之一的学生高中毕业后已经等了一年或一年以上。古兹曼·乔纳森最近在《大西洋》写了他自己的“空挡年”经历，指出他认为美国大学中接受空挡年的人数会激增。他指出，哈佛大学法学院每个收入阶层大约四分之三的人申请休假一年；西北大学医学院有成功希望的人也支持空挡年；即使普林斯顿和塔夫茨等学校对学生采取它们的项目“在开始学术研究前，国内外转型年全职服务方案”。 In the U.S., taking time off for travel, experience, or simply rest, was long considered an indulgence, where in the U.K. for example, it has been slightly more of an expectation. These two education systems are not completely comparable—a bachelor’s degree in the U.S. typically takes four years to achieve, where it only takes three in the U.K., possibly lending to a more natural gap year—but
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anecdotally, they may represent the value that different kinds of universities are putting on experiential learning. The increasing popularity of gap years in the U.S. could signal increased efforts to combat the workaholic culture that has proliferated at elite American higher-education institutions. 【生词】indulgence放纵 anecdotally传闻地 workaholic工作狂 proliferate激增
【分析】句子的主干是The increasing popularity of gap years in the U.S. could signal increased efforts to combat the workaholic culture 。that has proliferated at elite American higher-education institutions.是定语从句修饰increasing popularity of gap years。
【翻译】在美国，花时间旅行，体验或只是休息长时间来被认为是放纵行为，例如，在英国，它不仅仅是一种期待。这两种教育系统是不是完全类似的——美国的学士学位一般要四年才能获得，而在在英国只需三年，可能导致一个更加自然的空挡年，但有趣的是，他们可能代表不同高校学报的价值，而带来经验学习。美国空挡年的流行可以展示不断抗争工作狂的的努力，而这种努力在美国杰出的高等院校不断增加。
The increasing willingness of high-performing students to take time off stands in contrast with the recent push to get \"at risk\" high-school students straight into college after graduation—a pressure borne out of the fear that the longer these students, who typically come from underserved backgrounds, wait, the less likely they are to enroll in college as time passes. While Malia Obama’s decision to take
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a gap year appears to be a personal choice and there is no reason to think she won’t earn a degree, other students put off college for financial and other reasons that can lessen the likelihood that they enroll at all. During his presidency, Obama has made considerable efforts to increase the chances that students from low-income communities and communities of color can access affordable postsecondary educations. that can lessen the likelihood that they enroll at all.是定语从句修饰financial and other reasons 。
【分析】While Malia Obama’s decision to take a gap year appears to be a personal choice and there is no reason to think she won’t earn a degree, 是状语，主句的主干是other students put off college for financial and other reasons。
【翻译】越来越多的高材生愿意休假与最近推行毕业后直接进入大学有风险的举措相悖，这种压力来自恐惧，担心这些通常没有什么背景的学生休假的时间越长，随着时间的流逝，他们越不太可能入学了。当玛丽亚·奥巴马决定休学一年似乎是一个个人的选择，没有理由认为她不会获得学位，其他因为金融和其他原因休学的学生入学的可能性更小。在他的任期内，奥巴马已经取得了相当大的努力增加教育机会，使得来自低收入群体和黑人社区的孩子能够负担大学教育。
Students who choose to delay are at considerable risk of not completing a postsecondary credential when compared with their peers who enroll immediately after high school graduation, says a National Center for Education Statistics study. The study’s authors acknowledge that students that delay entry are not homogeneous (they could be taking a single gap year or going to school more than a decade later to pursue mid-life career changes), but they do note delayed
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entrants who are racial minorities, come from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds, and have parents who are not college-educated, are at a sizable disadvantage compared to peers who enter college right away. “The likelihood of being enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program declined with each successive delay group from 30 percent among those who delayed a year to 8 percent of those who delayed 10 or more years,” the study reads. “Aspirations for advanced degrees, however, declined with the length of time between high school graduation and postsecondary enrollment.” 【生词】credential文凭 enrollment入学
【分析】这一句子是由but连接的两个部分部分构成。第一部分的主要结构是The study’s authors acknowledge that 从句。在从句中的主干是students are not homogeneous。that delay entry 是定语从句修饰students。第二部分的主要结构是they do note that 从句。在从句中的主干是delayed entrants are at a sizable disadvantage compared to peers。who are racial minorities, come from lower-socioeconomic backgrounds, and have parents是定语从句修饰delayed entrants.who are not college-educated是定语从句修饰parents。 who enter college right away.是定语从句修饰peers。
【翻译】选择延迟的学生比那些高中毕业后随即入学的同龄人在取得大学认可上具有相当大的风险，国家教育统计中心的研究显示。这项研究的作者承认，延迟入学的学生是不均匀的（他们可能是只是休一个空挡年或在十年后入学以追求中期生活的职业变化），但他们认为延期入学的人是少数民族，来自低收入社会经济背景，有没有受过大学教育的父母，比起立即入学的同龄人他们有很大的劣势。这项研究的显示：被一个学士学位录取的可能性在每一
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个接着延期的群体中是下降的：延期一年的可能性是30%，延期10年或更长时间的可能性是8%。“渴望获得高级学位，然而，录取可能性随着高中毕业和高校招生之间的时间长度有所下降。”
But Joe O'Shea, the director of Florida State University's Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement and author of Gap Year: How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World Needs asserts that lower-income or at-risk students actually benefit even more from gap-year programs. “The greater the resilience, grit, and tenacity of a student, the more likely they are to complete a degree,” he said during a phone interview. “So taking the time to undertake the gap year that is structured and challenging can help reform a student’s identity and develop those characteristics that we want and need in higher education…. It makes it more likely that they’re going to go to college and graduate so it’s the opposite of that criticism.” 【生词】resilience 韧性 grit勇气
tenacity百折不饶的精神
【分析】句子的主干是taking the time to undertake the gap year can help reform a student’s identity and develop those characteristics。that is structured and challenging 是定语从句修饰taking the time to undertake the gap year这件事，that we want and need in higher education是定语从句修饰characteristics。
【翻译】但乔·奥谢，佛罗里达州立大学中心主任负责本科研究和学术参与也是《空档年：延期入学是如何以世界需要的方式改变人》的作者认为低收入或高危学生真正从空档年项目
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中受益更多。他在电话采访中说：“一个学生的韧性、勇气和百折不饶的精神越大，他更可能完成学位”。“因此，我们要花时间来进行一个结构性的和具有挑战性的空挡年，可以帮助改变一个学生的身份和培养在高等教育中想要的和需要的特质…这更有可能使他们去上大学和毕业，所以这是对批评的相反意见。”
According to the Associated Press, generally one percent or less of an admitted class defer their enrollment, and those that do are often students from higher-income families. The 2015 American Gap Association National Alumni Survey notes that there is a positive relationship between estimated parental income at the time a student takes a gap year, and parental contribution to funding that gap year. Essentially, the more money a student’s parents make, the more likely that they will fund whatever the students fill their time with during the gap year. For example, 18 percent of respondents to the 2015 survey said that they were taking a gap year and that their parents made more than $200,000 a year. Of that 18 percent, 71 percent of parents contributed financially to the gap year. While this may not be nationally representative, it does allude to the fact that certain types of experiential gap years are afforded to students from higher-income families. Some schools however-like Florida State and the University of North Carolina-are offering financial aid to lower-income students to have the same kinds of cultural experiences before attending college. 【生词】representative 代表的
【翻译】据美联社，一般一个录取的班级中百分之一或更少的学生推迟入学，那些这样做的学生往往是来自高收入家庭。2015个美国国家的空挡协会全国校友调查指出，学生申请空
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挡年与父母的收入有着正比的关系和父母将在空挡年中资助学生。从本质上讲，一个学生的父母赚的钱越多，他们就越有可能资助任何学生在这个“空挡年”中做的事。例如，2015年的受访者中有18%表示，他们正处于空挡年，他们的父母年收入超过200000美元。在这18%的人中，71%的父母空挡年中在经济上进行资助。虽然这可能不是国家的代表，它暗示的事实是来自高收入家庭学生可以负担某些类型的空挡年体验。然而，一些学校——像佛罗里达州和北卡罗来那大学——为低收入学生提供经济援助使他们在进入大学前也可以有类似的文化体验。
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