听力文本

What if we just look at, find out, look at states where the vast majority of people were graduated from high school
如果我们只观察那些大部分居民都拥有高中学历的州
Not talking about people with higher levels of education
不考虑人们是否具有更高的学历
but just looking at those where just about anyone is high school degree
只考虑那些居民大部分达到高中学历
Not many high school drop-outs so people have attended high school
高中辍学率低，大部分居民都上过高中的州
And by this measure, Minnesota is the most educated state
依照这种衡量方法，明尼苏达州是教育水平最高的
which voted for Kerry but not by a huge margin
而它将选票投给了克里，但他获胜的优势很小
Then we got Montana
第二名的是蒙大拿州

Wyoming one of the most Republican voting state, 29% for Kerry
其后是怀俄明州，共和党支持率最高的州之一，克里在该州只获得了29%的选票
Nebraska, Utah very heavily Republican voting states
内布拉斯加州和犹他州都是共和党支持率非常高的州
And again New Hampshire coming in
我们又看见新罕布什尔州榜上有名
So for the states where everyone is educated to the high school level it just about everyone is a mixed bag
可见，当我们关注高中学历人口比率较高的州时似乎原来的规律被打乱了
And actually lots of these states were heavily Republican voting
而且事实上很多这样的州都是忠实支持共和党的
States where they have a lot of people who have not completed high school with Texas being at the bottom
相反，在那些未达到高中学历的人较多的州中德州的高中毕业率最低
All except when we get to Rhode island which actually I was very surprised to see voting for Republican party
让我惊讶的是这些右边的这列州中，除了罗德岛州，其他州都将选票投给了共和党
What's interesting actually you don't have to go many more steps down to find California
如我们所料，即使不看这些数据，我们也能知道加州的情况
As a high percentage of people who have not completed high school
加州作为一个高中辍学率极高的州
as well as high percentage of people who have advanced degrees
同时也是高学历人口比例很高的州
California, a very bifurcated state on income, on education, on other sorts of issues
加州的两极分化情况极为严重，无论是收入，教育程度还是其它方面
This map aren't particularly good
这幅地图可能看的不清楚
but it's showing county level data showing percentage of population without a high school degree
它是一幅县级地图，反映了各州无高中学位人口的比例
So the white counties are the ones where virtually everybody has a high school degree or better
白色表示该县几乎所有人口都有高中或以上学历
The dark red area is substantial percentage of people who don't
深红色的县则有很多无高中学位的人口
And you can see very clear pattern what's some exceptions
地图的颜色分布规律非常明显，除了一些比较例外的情况
The exceptions here are generally American Indian reservations
所谓例外包括印第安人保护区
We'll talking about those later
我们稍后会详细讲
but we can see these areas in the north, central part of the country
这些保护区主要分布在美国的中北部地区
Some Democratic voting states like Minnesota some Republican states like Nebraska or Kansas
如支持民主党的明尼苏达州以及支持共和党的内布拉斯加和堪萨斯州
So it's original pattern doesn't correlate that well with voting patterns
这些区域的教育水平和选举倾向可能没什么关系
New England fairly well educated
新英格兰地区教育水平很高
Or the opposite maps here, just percentage of population with bachelor's degree or higher
来看一另一幅的地图，反映的是本科及以上学位的人口比例
Again we can see some other similar pattern
我们再次看到一些类似的规律
Actually high levels of education from Colorado, Wyoming, Montana as well as the plain states
一些州教育水平很高，如科罗拉多，怀俄明，蒙大拿，以及一些分布在大平原地区的州
Much lower in the south and actually fairly low in the good part of the middle west
南部的高等教育水平明显低得多，中西部的不少地区水平也较低
So at this level the educational pattern doesn't fit quite so well
从这个角度观察教育水平对投票倾向的影响并不明显

视频及简介

本课程结合大量地图，探索了美国总统大选（包括过去和现在）中的地理学，并且对仅仅简单把美国分为红州（共和党）和蓝州（民主党）这一说法提出挑战。现实中，美国社会两党的情况，远比这种简单的两分法要复杂。