Special English 又叫“慢速英语”，是VOA 专为全世界非英语国家初学英语的听众安排的一种简易、规范的英语广播节目。该节目创始于50年代末期，是VOA 的专家们研究如何与世界各地的英语学习者进行交际的产物。它正式开播于1959年10月。当时只面向欧洲和中东，但由于这个节目适合许多国家英语学习者的需要，所以它的广播对象不久就扩大到世界其他地区，并很快在全世界范围内产生了广泛的影响。现在这个节目对欧洲、非洲和拉丁美洲每晚广播一次，对加勒比地区每晚广播一次（星期天除外），对东南亚广播次数最多，每天上午两次，晚上三次。
　　30多年来，VOA 为了办好Special English节目，进行了大量的调查研究工作，对播音速度、内容及用词范围都作了具体规定，基本上达到了既能为英语学习者提供信息，又不损害英语本身风格的目的，使之成为VOA 独具特色，拥有最大量听众的节目。
　

===============================================================

2008.07.31

NYU Pushes Foreign Study

By Nancy Steinbach / Broadcast date: Thursday, July 31, 2008

　　This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

　　The number of American students who study in other countries has been growing. The Institute of International Education, in its most recent report, counted more than two hundred twenty-three thousand, a record.

Katie Parker, right, advises Sophia
Prantera, 18, on study abroad
programs at Michigan State
University in East Lansing　　A few years ago a commission established by Congress called for a goal of one million a year by two thousand seventeen.

　　The institute says growth in study abroad programs is partly the result of more choices of shorter lengths of study than a full school year.

　　More than half the American students who go abroad study in Europe, though fewer than in the past. Students have shown growing interest in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

　　Since two thousand one, New York University has been sending more students abroad than any other campus in the United States. It offers classes in Argentina, China, Ghana and several countries in Europe.

　　More than nine hundred sixty undergraduates from New York University will go abroad this fall. The largest number —— four hundred —— will study in Florence, Italy. Mostly local professors teach fifty courses there. Twenty-six students, the smallest number, are going to Berlin, Germany, where just eight courses are offered.

　　Ayla Schermer of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a nineteen-year-old business major entering her second year at N.Y.U. She wants to study in another country for the spring semester beginning in January. She has to decide which country in September.

　　Ayla says her choice will depend on the courses offered at each place and the cost. The classes will cost more than eighteen thousand dollars, but that does not include transportation or housing.

　　Chris Nicolussi is the student services director in the Office of Global Programs at N.Y.U. He says housing costs differ from program to program. Some places offer dormitory housing; in others, students live with local families or in apartments.

　　The strength of the euro against the dollar makes programs in Europe more costly than those in Argentina, for example. But Chris Nicolussi says the university has not seen any drop in the popularity of its European programs.

　　He did say, however, that more students are interested in low cost activities organized by the university during their time abroad. And before they go, he says, more want to learn how to better budget their money.

　　And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Archives are at www.voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.