书城外语英语PARTY——时尚之国·美国
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第34章 名校风采Famous Universities(7)

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University, is a privatelyfunded American university in Stanford, California. Located approximately 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County adjacent to the city of Palo Alto, Stanford lies at the heart of the Silicon Valley, both geographically and historically. Situated on an expansiveexpansive adj.易膨胀的, 易扩张的, 广阔的, 豪爽的, 豪华的 and picturesque campus in suburban California, Stanford University offers comprehensive undergraduate and graduate education programs as well as hosting a worldrenowned medical center and a wide variety of research facilities and community outreachoutreach v.到达顶端, 超越 projects.

History

Stanford was founded by railroad magnate and California Governor Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, and is named in honor of their deceased teenage son, Leland Stanford, Jr. Locals and university affiliatesaffiliate v.(使……)加入, 接受为会员are known to refer to the school as The Farm, a nod to the institution,s origins as a horse farm.

The University,s founding grant was written on November 11, 1885, and accepted by the first Board of Trustees on November 14. The cornerstone was laid on May 14, 1887, and the University officially opened on October 1, 1891, to 559 students, with free tuition and fifteen faculty members, seven of whom hailed from Cornell University. The school was established as a coeducational institution although it maintained a cap on female enrollmentenrollment n.登记, 注册, 入伍, 入会, 入学 for many years and continues to have predominantly male enrollment in many strategic areas, such as engineering and computer science.

The official motto of Stanford University, selected by the Stanfords, is “Die Luft der Freiheit weht”. When loosely translated from the Latin, by way of German, the quote from Ulrich von Hutten means “The winds of freedom blow”. At the time of the school,s establishment, German had recently replaced Latin as the dominantdominant adj.有统治权的, 占优势的, 支配的 adj.[生物] 显性的 language of science and philosophy (a position it would hold until World War II).

Campus

Stanford University owns 8,180 acres (32 km2), making it one of the largest university campuses in the world. The main campus is bounded by El Camino Real, Stanford Avenue, Junipero Serra Boulevard and Sand Hill Road, in the center of the Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula.

In the summer of 1886, when the campus was first being planned, Stanford brought the president of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Francis Amasa Walker, and prominent Boston landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted westward for consultationsconsultation n.请教, 咨询, 磋商, [医]会诊. Olmsted worked out the general concept for the campus and its buildings, rejecting a hillside site in favor of the more practical flatlands. Charles Allerton Coolidge then developed this concept in the style of his late mentor, Henry Hobson Richardson, in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, characterized by rectangular stone buildings linked by arcadesarcade n.[建]拱廊, 有拱廊的街道 of halfcircle arches.

Much of this first construction was destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake but the University retains the Quad, the old Chemistry Building (which is currently unoccupied) and Encina Hall (reportedly the residence of John Steinbeck during his time at Stanford). After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake inflicted further damage, the University implementedimplement n.工具, 器 vt.贯彻, 实现 v.执行 a billiondollar capital improvement plan to retrofitretrofit n.式样翻新, 花样翻新 and renovate older buildings for new, uptodate uses.

Many of the modern buildings were designed in the Spanishcolonial style common to California, with red tile roofs and white stucco exteriors, which gives the campus a uniform yet distinctly Californian look that many find aesthetically pleasing - the red tile roofs and bright blue skies common to the region are a famously complementary combination. The University has its own golf coursegolf course n.高尔夫球场 and a seasonal lake (Lagunita), both home to the endangered California Tiger Salamander.

The offcampus Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve is a nature reserve owned by the university and used by wildlife biologists for research. Hopkins Marine Station, located in Pacific Grove, California, is a marine biology research center owned by the university since 1892.

Contemporary campus landmarks include the Stanford Quad and Memorial Church, the art museum and art gallery, the Stanford Mausoleum and the Angel of Grief, Hoover Tower, the Rodin sculpture garden, the Papua New Guinea sculpture garden, Green Library and the Dish. Frank Lloyd Wright,s 1937 Hanna House, and the 1919 Lou Henry and Herbert Hoover House, are both National Historic Landmarks now on university grounds.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology麻省理工学院

麻省理工学院是美国一所私立的高等学府,是世界最着名的高等学府和研究机构之一,以科学训练和研究闻名。它在机械、电子、化工、材料、生物技术、电子计算机等研究领域均处于领先地位。

麻省理工学院于1861年获得马萨诸塞州颁发的办学许可证。该校创建者地质学家威廉·罗杰斯为建立一所完全从事科技训练的高等学校,曾进行筹备工作多年;由于南北战争爆发,该学院延至1865年才在波士顿正式开学,当时只有15名学生注册上课。该校于1916年迁至坎布里奇。

麻省理工学院(简称M.I.T.)是美国最好的理工科技大学,唯一可与其分庭抗礼的学府,相信只有加州科技学院,并且仅在某个特定领域中才有资格与其相提并论。麻省理工学院在“全美大学龙虎榜”上排第4,但以学术声誉来说,它和哈佛及斯坦福大学同列全美之冠,三分天下。

麻省理工学院每年花费在每名学生身上的经费高达34 000美元,正是物有所值。 据《耶鲁大学日报大学指南》指出,前几年共有6411人投考麻省理工学院,仅2140人获得录取。

麻省理工学院有完善的设备,以研究太空、地球、核动力、电脑等领域的科技。分5个研究院。科学研究院中主要研究生物学、化学、数学、气象学、物理学、地球与其他行星科学。此外,还包括航行太空的工程研究院、建筑学研究院、工商管理学研究院及社会科学研究院。麻省理工学院最杰出的贡献是电脑制造、导弹制造、海洋工程及机械设计。二次世界大战以后,它在尖端科技方面的发展高于其他大学。

学生都异口同声说,大学的工程学系是“最知名、最多人读和最难读”的学系,其中以电机工程名气最响,而紧跟其后的是机械工程。除了工程学系之外,其余的学科,如经济、哲学、政治科学和物理都获好评。美国工程教育学会执行主任Karl Willenbrock曾经说过,“如果麻省理工学院忽然消失,国家安全堪忧。他们是工程的IBM。”

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a research and educational institution located in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.