奧巴馬長女馬莉婭間隔年後上哈佛
WASHINGTON — Malia Obama, the older daughter of President Obama, plans to attend Harvard University beginning in the fall of 2017, the White House announced on Sunday, waiting until her father leaves office to begin her college career.
華盛頓——美國白宮週日宣佈，奧巴馬總統的大女兒馬莉婭·奧巴馬(Malia Obama)計劃於2017年秋季赴哈佛大學就讀，等到其父卸任後纔開始自己的大學教育。
Malia’s much-speculated-upon decision, announced in a news release after months of official silence from the White House about her college search process, will make her the latest in a long line of presidential children to attend the elite university in Cambridge, Mass. Both of her parents attended law school there.
白宮在馬莉婭尋訪大學的過程中沉默了數月之後，以新聞稿發佈了這個備受各方猜測的結果。馬莉婭的決定，使她成爲在這所馬薩諸塞州坎布里奇市的菁英大學裏就讀的大批總統子女的最新一員；她的雙親都是哈佛大學法學院的校友。
“The President and Mrs. Obama announced today that their daughter Malia will attend Harvard University in the fall of 2017 as a member of the Class of 2021. Malia will take a gap year before beginning school,” the White House said in a statement.
“總統夫婦於今日宣佈，他們的女兒馬莉婭將在2017年秋季進入哈佛大學，加入2021年畢業生的行列。馬莉婭會在正式入學前先度過一個間隔年。”白宮在一份聲明中表示。
In deferring her start date until 2017, Malia, 17, is availing herself of the opportunity to take a “gap year,” a popular option for high school seniors who are seeking experiences outside the classroom — some in far-flung parts of the world — before they begin pursuing a degree. Harvard actively encourages admitted students to do so.
17歲的馬莉婭把入學時間推遲至2017年，讓自己有機會度過一個“間隔年”(gap year)。這是想體驗課外人生的美國高中畢業生，在繼續攻讀高等學位前的熱門做法。有些人會趁這段時間遊歷四海。哈佛大學很鼓勵獲該校錄取的新生做此決定。
It may also yield a less scrutinized freshman-year experience for Malia, whose parents have worked vigilantly to keep her out of the public eye during her years in the White House and hope to shield her from such attention as a college student.
此舉或許也能讓馬莉婭的大一生涯少一些遭到放大檢視；在白宮生活期間，她的雙親已份外留意使她不要置身鎂光燈下，也希望她在成爲大學生之後能免於這類關注。
“When you’re a presidential has-been, the rest of your life you’re famous, you’re a target, you’re in a security bubble, but it’s not the same,” said Gil Troy, a presidential historian at McGill University and the author of “The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s.” “The kids can get to at least some level of irrelevance that they absolutely cannot get when they’re still in the White House.”
“一旦你當過第一家庭，餘生都要揹負盛名，備受矚目，活在安全保護措施之下，但也有不一樣的地方。”麥基爾大學(McGill University)的總統歷史學家吉爾·特洛伊(Gil Troy)表示；他也是《克林頓紀元：1990年代的美國》(The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s)一書的作者。“孩子們至少能在某種程度上置身事外，而這是他們還在白宮時絕對無法享有的待遇。”
Malia visited Harvard and a handful of other Ivy League and liberal arts schools last March on the East Coast, setting off speculation about where she might go. But the White House has steadfastly refused to comment on her college deliberations, even last month when she accompanied Mr. Obama on a trip to California, prompting whispers that she was giving Stanford University a final look before committing herself there.
馬莉婭曾在今年3月時造訪美國東岸的哈佛與幾間其他的常春藤盟校及文理學院，引發了人們對她意中學校的揣度。不過對馬莉婭的選校考量，白宮一直拒絕透露半點風聲，即便是她在上個月陪同奧巴馬前往加州時也一樣。這趟加州行引發了各方傳言，說這可能是馬莉婭在決定落腳斯坦福大學前，赴該校做一次最後確認。
Harvard accepted 5.2 percent of applicants this year, making this admissions cycle the most selective in its nearly four-century history.
哈佛大學今年的新生錄取率爲5.2%，是該校建校近400年來篩選最嚴苛的一次。
When she arrives at Harvard, Malia will join a long list of presidential children who have attended, including John Quincy Adams and his son, John Adams II; Abraham Lincoln’s son Robert; the sons of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt; Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of John F. Kennedy; and George W. Bush, who went to business school there.
馬莉婭於哈佛開始學業後，將加入一長串曾在此求學的總統子女之列，其中包括了美國第六任總統約翰·昆西·亞當斯(John Quincy Adams)與其子約翰·亞當斯二世(John Adams II)、林肯總統之子羅伯特·林肯(Robert Lincoln)、老羅斯福與小羅斯福總統之子、肯尼迪總統之女卡洛琳·肯尼迪(Caroline Kennedy)，以及曾就讀哈佛商學院的小布什總統。
The university has also long been a popular destination for the children of foreign leaders.
這間大學向來也是許多外國政要子女的熱門入學選項。
Malia, who turns 18 in July, is a senior at the prestigious Sidwell Friends School here. The school sends a handful of students to Harvard most years.
馬莉婭將在7月滿18歲，她是華盛頓西德威爾友誼中學(Sidwell Friends School)今年的應屆畢業生。該校聲譽卓著，幾乎每年都有幾位校友赴哈佛就讀。
