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We're posting a piece from December that emphasizes the value of what colleges call a "gap year." In this article from the WSJ by writer Melissa Korn, we learn why taking a break from traditional academics before a student goes to college might be a really great idea.
We hope you enjoy this article.
New gift to Duke will support gap-year projects before students enroll as freshmen, with aim of opening up option beyond affluent students.
杜克大学的新礼物将支持学生入学前的间隔年项目，目的是为富裕学生以外的学生提供更多选择。
Duke University this year announced it will begin giving $5,000 to $15,000 to a few dozen admitted students with particularly compelling gap-year plans.
杜克大学今年宣布，将向数十名录取学生提供5，000至15，000美元的资助，这些学生的间隔年计划尤其引人注目。
By
Melissa Korn
Dec. 25, 2018 8:00 a.m. ET
本文作者：Melissa Korn
2018年12月25日美东时间上午8点
Colleges are offering financial aid to entice admitted students to stay away for a year.
大学提供财政援助，以吸引被录取的学生离开学校一年。
Gap years, long popular in Europe, have gained ground in the U.S. not just for wealthy teens who can afford a lengthy vacation, but also for students of modest means who want to pause before jumping into academic endeavors.
“间隔年” 在欧洲一直很受欢迎，如今在美国也开始流行起来。这不仅适用于那些能负担得起长假的富裕青少年，也适用于那些经济能力不高、想在开始学业前先停一停的学生。
Incoming freshmen at Tufts University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida State University and Princeton University can get financial support to defer their enrollment for a year and travel, volunteer, or pursue other passions.
塔夫茨大学、北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校、佛罗里达州立大学和普林斯顿大学的新生可以获得财政支持，推迟一年入学，参加旅行、志愿活动或追求其他爱好。
This fall, Duke University announced it will begin giving $5,000 to $15,000 to a few dozen admitted students with particularly compelling plans.
今年秋天，杜克大学宣布，将向数十名录取学生提供5，000至15，000美元的资助，这些学生的间隔年计划尤其引人注目。
The gap year allows hard-charging, academically focused students “to reflect, to grow, to mature, to develop,” said Duke Undergraduate Admissions Dean Christoph Guttentag.
杜克大学本科生招生主任Christoph Guttentag说，间隔年让努力学习、专注学业的学生 “反思、成长、成熟、发展”。
The school also benefits, he said, as students with creative problem-solving skills and resilience built from real-world challenges provide perspective inside and outside the classroom.
他说，学校也从中受益，因为学生们具有创造性的解决问题的能力和从现实世界的挑战中锻炼出来的韧性，更能为课堂内外提供视角和观点。
Venture philanthropists Laura and Gary Lauder have pledged $500,000 a year for three years and will fund another three-year stretch if Duke grows the number of participants over the 15 or 20 annually who now take gap years and increases their socioeconomic diversity. The couple, whose daughter attends Duke, will then contribute $10 million to permanently endow the gap-year program.
风投慈善家Laura和Gary Lauder承诺每年提供50万美元，为期三年，如果杜克大学每年增加15到20名间隔年学生，并增加他们的社会经济多样性，那么他们将再资助3年。这对夫妇的女儿就读于杜克大学，他们将捐赠1000万美元永久资助这个间隔年项目。
After four intense years of high school, the Lauders’ son spent a year working for a startup in Israel, interning on Capitol Hill and traveling around Africa and India before enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania. He returned “a different person,” Ms. Lauder said.
在经历了四年紧张的高中生活后，Lauder夫妇的儿子在以色列的一家初创公司工作了一年，在美国国会山实习，在非洲和印度旅行，最后进入宾夕法尼亚大学。Lauder女士说，他回来后变成了“一个和以往不同的人”。
She has offered a similar funding plan to Penn. That school’s admissions dean confirmed the discussion.
她向宾夕法尼亚大学提供了一个类似的资助计划。该校招生办主任证实了这一讨论。
Many top colleges allow gap years. Duke is embracing them, backing organized trips or letting students design their own. Mr. Guttentag said plans could include things like apprenticing for a boat builder or joining a political campaign.
许多顶尖大学允许间隔年。杜克大学正在实行，支持有组织的旅行，或者让学生自己设计。Guttentag说，这些计划可能包括为造船者当学徒或参加政治竞选等。
There is little data on how many students nationwide take a gap year, as many don’t participate in organized programs and don’t apply to school until afterward. The current push by colleges is focused on persuading high-school seniors who’ve been admitted to defer a year with the school’s support.
目前几乎没有数据显示全国有多少学生会进行间隔年，因为许多学生不参加有组织的项目，直到后来才申请入学。大学目前的努力主要是说服那些已经被录取的高中毕业生在学校的支持下推迟一年入学。
Peter Scharer, a freshman at Princeton, spent last year studying Hindi and Urdu and volunteering at a school in northern India as part of Princeton’s Bridge Year program.
Peter Scharer是普林斯顿大学的一名大一新生，去年他学习了印地语和乌尔都语，并在印度北部的一所学校做志愿者，这是普林斯顿大学 “桥年” 项目的一部分。
The university launched that offering for 20 students in 2009, and this year it is funding 38 students doing service projects in Bolivia, China, India, Indonesia or Senegal. Princeton covers basic living expenses and offers need-based aid for travel and incidentals like visa paperwork.
2009年，该校启动了为20名学生提供服务的计划，今年还资助了38名在玻利维亚、中国、印度尼西亚或塞内加尔开展服务项目的学生。普林斯顿大学负责基本的生活开支，并提供基于需要的旅行和杂费援助，如签证文件。
“I was stepping away from the cycle that I had been in,” said Mr. Scharer, now 19 years old. He said the program was “a powerful way to get a different perspective on the world, better understand myself, [and] better understand what I might be interested in studying.”
现年19岁的Scharer说，“我在远离我所处的循环，” 他说，这个项目是“一种获得对世界不同视角、更好地了解自己、(以及)更好地理解我可能感兴趣的研究内容的强大方式。”
Mr. Scharer said he has a new outlook on things like consumption and waste after seeing an open dump in India, and on the best way to offer aid to a needy community. He just finished a class on the interplay between national identity and language.
Scharer说，在看到印度的一处露天垃圾场后，他对消费和浪费等问题以及向贫困社区提供援助的最佳方式有了新的看法。他刚刚上完一节关于国家认同与语言相互作用的课。
An analysis of students from Colorado College showed gap-year participants graduate slightly faster and have higher GPAs.
一项对科罗拉多学院学生的分析显示，间隔年的学生毕业速度略快，GPA也更高。
About 60 of that school’s incoming first-year students take a gap year, 10% of the class and double the number from a decade ago.
该校约有60名新生参加了间隔年项目，占整个班级人数的10%，是10年前的两倍。
Colorado College is host to a new research consortium of a dozen top schools aiming to better define what a purposeful precollege year looks like, and measure its benefits.
科罗拉多学院主办了一个由十二所顶尖大学组成的新研究联盟，旨在更好地界定有目的的大学预科教育是什么样的，并衡量其益处。
“It’s had a reputation of something that is elite, homogenous and kind of a luxury,” but that is no longer a fair description, says Abby Falik, founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year. That group has 150 fellows living and working in India, Brazil, Ecuador and Senegal this year.
全球公民年的创始人兼CEO Abby Falik表示: “它一直以精英化、同质化和奢侈化而闻名，” 但这已不再是一个公平的描述。该组织今年有150名研究员在印度、巴西、厄瓜多尔和塞内加尔生活和工作。
As institutions endorse the gap year as a transformational, educational experience, they are considering how more students can access that potential benefit.
随着院校将间隔年视为一种革命性的教育体验加以认可，他们正在考虑如何让更多学生获得这一潜在的好处。
Global Citizen Year and Year On, another gap year organization, have agreed to match Duke’s grant funds if students are admitted to their programs; those students can get up to $30,000 in total support.
另一个间隔年组织——全球公民年复一年已经同意，如果杜克大学的学生获准参加他们的项目，他们将获得与杜克大学相当的助学金; 这些学生总共可以获得高达3万美元的资助。
Global Citizen Year says it also has partnerships in the works with the University of Notre Dame, Colby College and other schools, some of which include financial support and academic credit for gap-year students.
全球公民年表示，它还与圣母大学、科尔比学院和其他学校合作，其中一些学校为间隔年学生提供财政支持和学分。