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.

华盛顿——美国白宫周日宣布，奥巴马总统的大女儿马莉娅·奥巴马(Malia Obama)计划于2017年秋季赴哈佛大学就读，等到其父卸任后才开始自己的大学教育。

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 elite¹ university in Cambridge, Mass. Both of her parents attended law school there.

白宫在马莉娅寻访大学的过程中沉默了数月之后，以新闻稿发布了这个备受各方猜测的结果。马莉娅的决定，使她成为在这所马萨诸塞州坎布里奇市的菁英大学里就读的大批总统子女的最新一员；她的双亲都是哈佛大学法学院的校友。

“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.

“总统夫妇于今日宣布，他们的女儿马莉娅将在2017年秋季进入哈佛大学，加入2021年毕业生的行列。马莉娅会在正式入学前先度过一个间隔年。”白宫在一份声明中表示。

In deferring² 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 actively³ encourages admitted students to do so.

17岁的马莉娅把入学时间推迟至2017年，让自己有机会度过一个“间隔年”(gap year)。这是想体验课外人生的美国高中毕业生，在继续攻读高等学位前的热门做法。有些人会趁这段时间游历四海。哈佛大学很鼓励获该校录取的新生做此决定。

It may also yield a less scrutinized⁴ freshman-year experience for Malia, whose parents have worked vigilantly⁵ 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.

此举或许也能让马莉娅的大一生涯少一些遭到放大检视；在白宫生活期间，她的双亲已份外留意使她不要置身镁光灯下，也希望她在成为大学生之后能免于这类关注。

“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 irrelevance⁶ that they absolutely cannot get when they’re still in the White House.”

“一旦你当过第一家庭，余生都要背负盛名，备受瞩目，活在安全保护措施之下，但也有不一样的地方。”麦基尔大学(McGill University)的总统历史学家吉尔·特洛伊(Gil Troy)表示；他也是《克林顿纪元：1990年代的美国》(The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s)一书的作者。“孩子们至少能在某种程度上置身事外，而这是他们还在白宫时绝对无法享有的待遇。”

Malia visited Harvard and a handful of other Ivy⁷ League and liberal arts schools last March on the East Coast, setting off speculation⁸ about where she might go. But the White House has steadfastly⁹ 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.

马莉娅曾在今年3月时造访美国东岸的哈佛与几间其他的常春藤盟校及文理学院，引发了人们对她意中学校的揣度。不过对马莉娅的选校考量，白宫一直拒绝透露半点风声，即便是她在上个月陪同奥巴马前往加州时也一样。这趟加州行引发了各方传言，说这可能是马莉娅在决定落脚斯坦福大学前，赴该校做一次最后确认。

Harvard accepted 5.2 percent of applicants¹⁰ this year, making this admissions cycle the most selective in its nearly four-century history.

哈佛大学今年的新生录取率为5.2%，是该校建校近400年来筛选最严苛的一次。

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.

马莉娅于哈佛开始学业后，将加入一长串曾在此求学的总统子女之列，其中包括了美国第六任总统约翰·昆西·亚当斯(John Quincy Adams)与其子约翰·亚当斯二世(John Adams II)、林肯总统之子罗伯特·林肯(Robert Lincoln)、老罗斯福与小罗斯福总统之子、肯尼迪总统之女卡洛琳·肯尼迪(Caroline Kennedy)，以及曾就读哈佛商学院的小布什总统。

The university has also long been a popular destination for the children of foreign leaders.

这间大学向来也是许多外国政要子女的热门入学选项。

Malia, who turns 18 in July, is a senior at the prestigious¹¹ Sidwell Friends School here. The school sends a handful of students to Harvard most years.

马莉娅将在7月满18岁，她是华盛顿西德威尔友谊中学(Sidwell Friends School)今年的应届毕业生。该校声誉卓著，几乎每年都有几位校友赴哈佛就读。