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Nearly three hours after midnight, Tajaih Robinson and Iyana Trotman of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina finally heard the judges' decision.
午夜过后将近三个小时，北卡罗来纳州温斯顿-塞勒姆的维克森林大学的塔杰·罗宾逊和伊亚娜·特罗特曼终于听到了评判员的决定。
They had defeated the University of Michigan in the finals on April 4.
他们在4月4日的决赛中击败了密歇根大学。
After 12 debates over four straight days, the Wake Forest team won the 2023 National Debate Tournament (NDT).
经过连续4天的12场辩论，维克森林队赢得了2023年全国辩论锦标赛。
Their coach, Justin Green, described the moment as: "Hugging, yelling, crying, and laughing..."
他们的教练贾斯汀·格林这样描述那一刻：“拥抱、大喊、哭泣和大笑……”
Over 500 colleges and universities in the United States have competitive debate programs.
美国有500多所学院和大学设有竞争性辩论项目。
The program gives students a chance to work together to argue for or against an issue or statement.
该项目让学生们有机会一起为一个问题或声明辩护或反对。
Students and their coaches point to several benefits of the activity.
学生和他们的教练指出了这项活动的一些好处。
They say debate helps develop research skills, critical thinking skills, time management, and public speaking.
他们说，辩论有助于培养研究技能、批判性思维技能、时间管理和公开演讲能力。
John Turner is Director of Debate at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
约翰·特纳是新罕布什尔州汉诺威镇的达特茅斯学院的辩论主任。
He said debaters research issues in detail and across many different areas of knowledge.
他说，辩手们对问题进行了详细的研究，涉及许多不同的知识领域。
"We are drawing from academic materials from so many different subfields, many of which are never in conversation with each other. . . we are bringing this full variety of perspectives to bear on a common point."
“我们从这么多不同领域的学术材料中汲取灵感，其中许多领域从不交叉……我们正在利用各种不同的视角来处理一个共同的问题。”
Turner added that debaters can bring knowledge that other students might not have to their classes, especially in the social sciences.
特纳补充说，辩手可以把其他学生可能没有的知识带到他们的课堂上，尤其是社会科学方面的知识。
And undergraduate debaters often do as much research in a year as graduate students in master's and doctoral programs.
本科生辩手在一年里所做的研究工作通常与硕士和博士研究生的研究工作一样多。
Kelly Phil is a member of the Michigan team that reached the NDT finals.
凯利·菲尔是进入全国辩论锦标赛决赛的密歇根队的一员。
She said research for her classes seems "incredibly easy" compared to the research for debate.
她说，与为辩论而进行的研究相比，为她的课程进行的研究似乎“更容易”。
Phil studies political science and history.
菲尔学习政治学和历史。
Like Turner, she said debate research is useful for classes.
和特纳一样，她说辩论研究对课程很有用。
"Debate gives you this big… background reservoir of knowledge that you can draw on at any point when you're writing a paper. . ."
“辩论为你提供了一个巨大的…背景知识宝库，你可以在写论文的任何时候利用它……”
Ana Bittner is another debater from Wake Forest.
安娜·比特纳是另一位来自维克森林大学的辩手。
She thinks she is "more well-read than other students" and that debate has improved her ability to quickly process large amounts of information.
她认为自己“比其他学生更博览群书”，辩论提高了她快速处理大量信息的能力。
For example, Bittner said she quickly looked through a 550-page book in about one hour to find information to support her debate arguments.
例如，比特纳说，她在大约一个小时内迅速浏览了一本550页的书，以找到支持她的辩论论点的信息。
Mikaela Malsin is Director of Debate at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
米凯拉·马尔辛是佐治亚州亚特兰大市埃默里大学的辩论主任。
She said debate helps students think about both sides of an issue and learn respect for others:
她说，辩论帮助学生思考问题的正反两面，并学会尊重他人：
"Not many activities or areas that you encounter… really challenge you to think differently and to take on different perspectives… the switch-side nature of policy debate is really significant."
“你遇到的许多活动或领域并不都……真正挑战你以不同的方式思考，采取不同的视角……政策辩论的变革性真的很重要。”
Like student-athletes, top debaters travel to competitions on weekends.
和学生运动员一样，顶级辩手在周末也会去参加比赛。
And they can spend up to 30 or 40 hours a week preparing for important tournaments.
他们每周要花30到40个小时来准备重要的比赛。
Ari Davidson of Wake Forest said a debater might miss up to 10 classes each semester.
维克森林大学的阿里·戴维森说，一名辩手每学期可能旷课多达10节。
This makes it very difficult for some students to debate, especially if they have science classes that require time in laboratories.
这使得一些学生很难参加辩论，尤其是如果他们的科学课程需要时间在实验室。
Phil, of Michigan, said the extra time she spends on debate feels like "just another part of academic life."
密歇根队的菲尔说，她花在辩论上的额外时间感觉就像“学术生活的另一部分”。
She also finds that debating makes her more willing to speak in class.
她还发现，辩论让她更愿意在课堂上发言。
She says that when she has a clear idea of what she wants to say, "it's really not that difficult to speak in public."
她说，当她清楚自己想说什么时，“在公共场合讲话真的没有那么难。”
Both Malsin and Turner said the best debaters can combine large amounts of information and explore many different arguments.
马尔辛和特纳都表示，最好的辩手可以将大量信息结合起来，探索许多不同的论点。
Above all, Davidson and Turner said the activity acts as a laboratory for testing ideas and looking for solutions to big problems.
最重要的是，戴维森和特纳表示，这项活动就像是可以测试各种想法和寻找解决大问题的办法的实验室。
Kamal Belmihoud came from Algeria to study at Clarion University in Pennsylvania.
卡迈勒·贝尔米胡德来自阿尔及利亚，就读于宾夕法尼亚州的克拉里昂大学。
English is not his first language.
英语不是他的第一语言。
In fact, it was his fourth.
事实上，英语是他的第四语言。
But that did not stop him from joining the debate team.
但这并没有阻止他加入辩论队。
For the first year and a half, Belmihoud lost every debate.
在头一年半的时间里，贝尔米胡德输掉了每一场辩论。
But his coaches kept supporting him, and he enjoyed the travel and being a member of the debate community.
但他的教练一直在支持他，他喜欢旅行，也喜欢成为辩论社区的一员。
Over time, Belmihoud increased his language skill and confidence.
随着时间的推移，贝尔米胡德提高了他的语言技能和自信。
In his last semester, he won several debates.
在他的最后一个学期里，他赢得了几场辩论。
Now Belmihoud teaches writing at Baruch College of the City University of New York.
现在，贝尔米胡德在纽约市立大学巴鲁克学院教授写作。
He includes in-class debates as part of his teaching.
他把课堂辩论作为教学的一部分。
Belmihoud says international students should not let fear stop them from trying debate or other activities.
贝尔米胡德说，国际学生不应该让恐惧阻止他们尝试辩论或其他活动。
Instead, they should center on the progress they are making and being part of a team.
相反，他们应该专注于他们正在取得的进步和成为团队的一员。
I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Caty Weaver.
安德鲁·史密斯、凯蒂·韦弗为您共同播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
