The legal age for drinking alcohol in the United States is twenty-one. Underage drinking is a crime but also a common part of college social life. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we look at alcohol policies at American colleges and universities.
These policies differ from school to school, as do enforcement efforts. But many schools have been moving to strengthen their rules.
The United States has more than seventeen million students in higher education. Each year, one thousand seven hundred of them age eighteen to twenty-four die from alcohol-related road crashes and other injuries.
Six hundred thousand more are injured while under the influence of alcohol. And almost seven hundred thousand are attacked by another student who has been drinking.
These numbers, from a two thousand five report, are on a government Web site: collegedrinkingprevention.gov.
One behavior that college officials are trying to prevent is binge drinking, having four or five drinks or more in a short period of time. Some researchers have found that students who think binge drinking is normal often overestimate how much other students really drink. A person can die of alcohol poisoning.
At the University of Oklahoma, new policies went into effect after a nineteen-year-old student died in two thousand four. He had been drinking heavily at a fraternity party.
Now alcohol is banned from all fraternity and sorority houses and university housing. Student organizations can serve alcohol at events but only on Friday and Saturday nights. And they must provide for transportation to and from off-campus parties. Other new requirements include an alcohol education program that first-year students take online.
The policies govern behavior on campus and off. With a first violation, students pay seventy-five dollars and their parents are told. They must also take an alcohol education class. For a second "strike," they have to pay one hundred fifty dollars. A third strike means a suspension for at least one semester.
Since January of two thousand five, six hundred thirty-three students have had a first strike. Thirty have had a second strike —— and one has been suspended. An official at Oklahoma tells us the aim is not just to punish but to change behavior and the culture at the university.
译文:
美国大学的饮酒政策
在美国，法定饮酒年龄为21岁。未满岁数就喝酒是违法的，但这却是大学生活中一个很平常的组成部分。这周在我们的外国留学生联盟里，我们看了美国的学院和大学的饮酒政策。
这些政策，作为强制实施的成果，校与校之间是各不相同的。然而，许多学校却越渐强化他们的规则。
美国有0.17多亿学生接受高等教育。每年， 18-24岁的学生中因与酒精有关的道路交通事故和其他伤害而死亡的人数达1700人。
60多万学生因受酒精影响而受伤。近70万学生曾遭受过醉酒学生的袭击。
这些数据，来自于2005年的一个报道，被刊登在一个官方网站：collegedrinkingprevention.gov.
大学行政人员正试图阻止的一种行为是酗酒，即一次喝四五瓶甚至更多。
研究人员认为那些认为酗酒属于正常现象的学生往往会过高地估计别的学生的真实饮酒量。人会因酒精中毒而死亡。
在俄克拉荷马大学，2004年新的政策因一名19岁的学生死亡而起了作用。这名学生是因为在兄弟会的聚会上过量饮酒致死的。
现在所有的兄弟会，姐妹会和学生会都禁止饮酒。学生团体可以喝酒但仅限于星期五和星期六晚上。并且他们必须为校外聚会的去回而自备好交通工具。另一些新的规章制度还包括网上录取一年制学生教学计划。
这个政策约束了学生校内校外的行为。学生要是首次违反的话，就会被罚款75美元并通告家长。而且他们还必须上酒精教育课。要是再越“雷池”，就得交150美元。而第三次则意味着至少休学一学期。
自2005年1月以来，已有633名学生踏出了第一步。30名再犯——一1名休学.俄克拉荷马州的一名官员告诉我们这个政策并不是意在惩罚而是意在改变大学生的行为和风气。