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。
　

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

2008.11.13

Foreign Student Series: What SEVIS Means to You

By Nancy Steinbach / Broadcast date: Thursday, November 13, 2008

　　This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

　　We are now ten weeks into our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. So far we have talked about planning for school and about subjects like online education and diploma mills.

Students　　Last week the subject was getting a travel visa. Today we discuss something else that every foreign student needs to know about: SEVIS. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.

　　More than nine thousand American colleges, universities and exchange visitor programs are required to use this electronic system. It links them with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in the Department of Homeland Security.

　　The terrorist attacks in two thousand one led to the creation of the department. But SEVIS was being developed even before the attacks as a way to improve record keeping on foreign students in the United States. Some of the September eleventh hijackers entered the country on student visas.

　　With SEVIS, a school enters information about a student. The system lets the school know when the student has arrived. The school must then provide reports on whether or not the student is attending classes. Students who violate the terms of their visa can be expelled from the country and may be denied future entry.

　　Two examples of violations are failing to begin classes by the required date and working at a job without permission. Other violations are not attending classes full time and not leaving the country after completion of studies.

　　SEVIS currently lists more than one million active, nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors and their dependents.

　　Students and exchange visitors are charged fees to help pay for the system. The fee for students increased to two hundred dollars in September. This is the visa application charge we talked about last week.

　　Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the fee must be paid before going to an embassy or consulate for the visa interview.

　　All the information you need to know about SEVIS can be found on the Internet at ice.gov. That's i-c-e dot g-o-v.

　　And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Next week: how to begin applying for admission to an American college or university. All of our reports are online at www.voaspecialenglish.com. Click on the Foreign Student Series link at the bottom of the page. I'm Steve Ember.

★★★ 往期节目列表 ★★★