华盛顿邮报 开学在即 美国面临灾难性教师短缺(2)

I'm curious to hear more about those conversations.

我很想听到更多关于这些对话的内容。

What are the kinds of things that teachers are saying about their rationale for quitting?

老师们说他们辞职的理由是什么?

So, for example, I spent some time with a woman in Florida who was a teacher there and loved her job, but that person is married to a woman, and there was a law that came out in Florida very recently -- it took effect over the summer -- that limits instruction on LGBTQ issues.

举个例子，我在佛罗里达和一位女士呆了一段时间，她是那里的一名教师，她很喜欢她的工作，但那位女士娶了一个女人，佛罗里达州最近出台了一项法律——在今年夏天生效——限制对性少数者问题进行教导。

And this woman just felt that it had become so fraught¹ for her.

这位女士觉得这项法律让她忧心忡忡。

Like, if a student asks, you know, "How is your family?" and she says, "My wife is doing well," does that count as instruction on LGBTQ issues? Can she get a parent coming to the classroom and saying, "Oh, my gosh, you broke the rules"?

比如，如果一个学生问，“你的家人怎么样?”然后她说，“我的妻子很好”，这算不算对性少数者问题的指导? 她能不能让家长到教室里说:“哦，我的天哪，你违反了规定”?

She just doesn't know.

她只是不知道。

And so with that level of uncertainty², coupled with honestly things about the teaching profession that had always been trouble spots -- lack of pay, long hours, really hard work -- this woman decided³ to quit.

在这种不确定性的影响下，再加上教师这个职业一直以来存在问题——工资低，工作时间长，工作非常辛苦——这位女士决定辞职。

I spoke⁴ to Leslie Houston, who is a special-education teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia.

我采访了北弗吉尼亚费尔法克斯县公立学校的特殊教育教师莱斯利·休斯顿。

She's also president of a teacher's group, the Fairfax Education Association.

她还是费尔法克斯教育协会(一个教师组织)的主席。

And she said that she has never before ever seen so many teachers leaving the job because they feel just a total lack of respect.

她说，她以前从来没有见过这么多教师离职，因为他们觉得完全缺乏尊重。

I look back and I think now, back then, you know, we were never paid what we were worth.

现在回想起来，我们从来没有得到过应有的报酬。

And then, over the last couple of years, just such disrespect and disdain⁵ for teachers, I think, is causing this teacher shortage⁶.

在过去的几年里，我认为正是这种对教师的不尊重和蔑视导致了教师短缺。

You had parents get up in front of school boards nationwide and say mean, hateful, and disparaging⁷ things about teachers.

家长们站在全国的学校董事会面前说一些关于老师的刻薄，仇视，贬低的话。

You know, there were some times that I would drive up to school-board meetings, and I wouldn't go in because I didn't want to subject myself to that.

有几次我开车去参加联合校董事会的会议，但我没有进去，因为我不想让自己卷入其中。

You know, listening to that, it really strikes me that Leslie says that she was never paid what she was worth, that teachers have never been paid what they were worth.

听到这句话，我真的很震惊莱斯利说她从来没有得到应有的报酬，教师的工资从来没有达到他们应有的水平。

And I find it really interesting that, even though that has been the case for such a long time, that this country has undervalued teachers, at least financially,

我觉得很有趣的是，尽管这种情况已经持续了很长一段时间，但是这个国家低估了教师的价值，至少在经济上是这样的，

that something has changed in these last couple of years that that, plus this feeling of disrespect or this feeling of being at the center of a lot of different conflicts that are happening in society, that that has really put things over the edge.

在过去的几年里发生了一些变化，加上这种不被尊重的感觉，这种处于社会事件各种冲突中心的感觉，这真的把事情推向了边缘。

1 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 disdain   

n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑

参考例句：

• Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
• A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。

6 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

7 disparaging   

adj.轻蔑的，毁谤的v.轻视( disparage的现在分词 )；贬低；批评；非难

参考例句：

• Halliday's comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. 一天天过去，哈里代的评论越来越肆无忌惮，越来越讨人嫌，越来越阴损了。 来自英汉文学 - 败坏赫德莱堡
• Even with favorable items they would usually add some disparaging comments. 即使对好消息，他们也往往要加上几句诋毁的评语。 来自互联网