四六级阅读：美国学校将网络安全与礼仪列入课程

　　【今日阅读推荐】本篇阅读材料“美国学校将网络安全与礼仪列入课程”选自《今日美国》(原文标题：Schools add Internet etiquette, safety to coursework 2011.11.30)。如果大家觉得比较简单，就当作泛读材料了解了解，认识几个新单词或新表达方式也不错。如果大家觉得这些材料理解上有难度，不妨当做挑战自己的拔高训练，希望大家都有进步^^

　　As more students spend large chunks of study and leisure time online, schools across the USA are adding coursework focused on privacy, cyberbullying and electronic plagiarism.

　　Many schools not only are incorporating Internet safety into lesson plans but also shifting their focus from the pervasive "stranger danger" message typically given to young computer users.

　　The idea, says Principal Chris Lehmann of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy, is teaching students to be better "digital citizens." Freshmen at his public high school are required to take a course in how to watch their digital footprint — in other words, to be careful what they say on the Internet.

　　"All of the drama, all of the growing up, all of the growing pains, all of the things we know happen in high school now also happen digitally," Lehmann says. "Think of every mistake you made as a teenager. Now imagine making that mistake in a permanent public forum."

　　Many schools around the country have adopted similar coursework. For instance, at Schwenksville Elementary School near Philadelphia, librarian Joan Curtis teaches fifth-graders how to recognize bogus websites using a fake but realistic "Librarian of the Year" site she created.

　　At Gresham-Barlow Web Academy, a charter middle- and high school near Portland, Ore., all middle-schoolers are required to take an online safety course that covers topics including cyberbullying, plagiarism and online "ethical behavior," Principal Michael Harris says.

　　The digital training comes as research shows that Web usage is virtually ubiquitous among kids. Though most students say they generally access the Internet from home, 75% of teens say they go online at school, too.

　　New findings show that even young children spend time online. A national survey released in October by the non-profit Common Sense Media found that 41% of children 8 and younger have access to a smartphone and 13% have spent time on social networking sites and virtual worlds.

　　Schools teach students to be wary of whom they meet online. Harris says educators are concerned about older students as well as younger ones. "Even though they’re 15, 16 years old they’re still pretty vulnerable," he says.

　　be wary of 提防;担心

　　be concerned about 担心;挂念

　　vulnerable adj. 易受攻击的;易受伤害的

　　Statistics show that online predation is rare — a Harvard study sponsored by attorneys general in all 50 states found that being online "increases the availability of harmful, problematic and illegal content but does not always increase minors’ exposure." It said kids most at risk are those who "often engage in risky behaviors" and have difficulties in other parts of their lives.

　　sponsor v. 赞助;发起 n. 赞助者;主办者;保证人

　　attorney n. 律师;代理人

　　"The whole ’stranger danger’ thing was very much driven by parental alarm," says Barbara-Jane Paris, principal of Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin, who testified before Congress in 2010 on cyberbullying.

　　The challenge, she and others say, is teaching kids that what they say and do online can have immediate, profound consequences — and that an offhand cruelty or indiscretion can last forever.

　　profound adj. 深厚的;意义深远的

　　offhand adj. 随便的;即时的

　　indiscretion n. 轻率;行为失检

　　"You can’t indefinitely call somebody a (slur for gays) and then just say, when called to the table, ’I was only kidding,’ " Paris says.

　　Question time:

　　1. How to be better "digital citizens" according to Principal Chris Lehmann of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy?

　　2. How many teenagers go onlie at school?

　　1. To be careful what we say on the Internet.

　　2. 75%.