西點軍校

浙江省紹興市紹興市樹人中學張祖平選譯

West Point is a college for future army officers.Ithasmorethanfourthousand students.The students are called cadets1.The school is located about 80 kilometers north of New York City.

WestPointistheoldestcontinuously occupied military post in the United States. General George Washington built a fort2there during the Revolutionary War.The aim was to protect the Hudson River from the British soldiers.He moved his headquarters3to West Point in 1779 in the middle of the war．

In1802,PresidentThomasJefferson signed legislation4to establish the military academy at West Point.The education centered oncivilengineering.WestPointgraduates designed many roads,bridges,harbors5and railways for the young nation.

Not all the young men and women at West Point are American.This year,fifty eight are from other countries.Up to sixty cadets can be international students.

International students are nominated6by their governments.They must satisfy physical and educational requirements.They must also do well on the Test of English as a Foreign Language．After graduation,they return home to serve in their nation’s armed forces.Other services besides the Army also accept foreign students at their academies.

Major Joe Sowers,a West Point public affairsofficer,saysinformationaboutthe military academy is available through American embassies7.

西點軍校是一所培養(yǎng)未來軍官的大學，有4000多名學生。這些學生被叫做“士官生”。西點軍校位于紐約市北部80公里處。

西點是美國持續(xù)被占領時間最長的軍事要塞。喬治·華盛頓將軍在美國獨立戰(zhàn)爭期間在西點建立了一個堡壘，旨在保護哈德孫河免遭英國士兵侵犯。戰(zhàn)爭中期，華盛頓在1779年把指揮部搬到了西點。

1802年，托馬斯·杰斐遜總統(tǒng)簽署法案，在西點建立軍事學院。學校教育主要集中在土木工程。西點軍校的畢業(yè)生為年輕的美國設計了很多道路、橋梁、港口和鐵路。

西點軍校里的年輕人并非全部是美國人。今年，有58名來自別的國家，最多可招收60名國際生。

國際生由他們本國的政府推薦，他們必須符合體能和教育程度上的要求。他們也必須在托福考試中表現(xiàn)優(yōu)異。畢業(yè)以后，他們回國進入自己國家的部隊。學院還招收軍事專業(yè)以外的外國學生。

西點軍校的一名公共事務官員喬·索爾斯上校稱，關于西點軍校的信息可在美國大使館獲取。

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