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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Weekly Address: Giving Every Child, Everywhere, a Fair Shot
每周电视讲话：让所有孩子享有公平的机会
WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President laid out his plan to ensure more children graduate from school fully1 prepared for college and a career. Our elementary and secondary schools are doing better, as demonstrated by the news this past week that our high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high, but there is still more that can be done to ensure every child receives a quality education. That’s why the President wants to replace No Child Left Behind with a new law that addresses the overuse of standardized2 tests, makes a real investment in preschool, and gives every kid a fair shot at success. He reminded everyone that when educating our kids, the future of our nation, we shouldn’t accept anything less than the best.
华盛顿：在本周的讲话中，奥巴马总统提出了他的教育改革计划，他提出要让更多的孩子得到良好教育，为大学和职业生涯做好准备。当下我们的基础教育和中学教育越来越好，这得到上周发布的消息的印证，高中学生毕业率达到历史新高，但为了让孩子们得到更好的教育，我们还需要做很多事。正因如此，总统提出用一项新法案替换现有的《不让一个孩子掉队》计划，解决当前对标准考试的过度依赖，加大对学前教育的投资，让每个孩子拥有公平的机会追求成功。他提醒大家，孩子的教育问题关系国家的未来，我们只能追求最好，不可以退而求其次。
Hi, everybody. In my State of the Union Address, I laid out my ideas to help working families feel more secure and earn the skills required to advance in a world of constant change.
大家好！在我的国情咨文中，我提出了我的一些想法，要帮助工薪家庭获得更多的安全感，让他们掌握新的技能在当前持续变化的经济环境中获得职业进步。
And in a new economy that’s increasingly built on knowledge and innovation, a core element of this middle-class economics is how well we prepare our kids for the future.
在当下这种越来越依赖知识和创新的新经济环境下，中产阶级经济发展方式的其核心要素就是我们如何帮助孩子们为未来做好准备。
For decades, we threw money at education without making sure our schools were actually improving, or whether we were giving teachers the tools they need, or whether our taxpayer3 dollars were being used effectively. And our kids too often paid the price.
数十年来，我们在教育上投入大量资金，却没有检验学校是否真的进步了，或者老师们是否得到了他们需要的东西，或者我们纳税人的钱是否得到了有效的利用。这一状况更多的让孩子们付出了代价。
Over the past few years, we’ve seen signs that our elementary and secondary school students are doing better. Last year, our younger students earned the highest math and reading scores on record. Last week, we learned that our high school graduation rate hit a new all-time high.
过去的几年里，我们看到中小学生学的更好了。去年，年轻的学子们在数学和阅读上的得分创下了新高。上周，有消息表明我们的高中生毕业率也创下了历史记录。
This is progress. But in a 21st century economy, our kids will only do better than we did if we educate them better than we were educated. So we have to do more to make sure they graduate from school fully prepared for college and a career.
这就是进步。但在21世纪的经济环境下，要想让孩子们比我们做的更好，我们就要让他们获得比我们更好的教育。因此，我们必须努力保证他们从学校毕业为大学学业和职业生涯做好准备。
This year, I want to work with both parties in Congress to replace No Child Left Behind with a smarter law that addresses the overuse of standardized tests, makes a real investment in preschool, and gives every kid a fair shot in the new economy.
今年，我希望与国会两党共同合作，用更灵活的法案替换现有的《不让一个孩子掉队》计划，解决当前对标准化测试过度依赖的问题，加大对学前教育的投资，让每个孩子在新经济环境中获得公平的机会。
Now, it’s pretty commonsense4 that an education bill should actually improve education. But as we speak, there’s a Republican bill in Congress that would frankly5 do the opposite.
现在，用一项教育法案切实改善教育环境是再恰当不过了。但就在当下，共和党提交到国会的法案却完全要唱反调。
At a time when we should invest more in our kids, their plan would lock in cuts to schools for the rest of this decade. We’d end up actually invest less in our kids in 2021 than we did in 2012.
我们希望在孩子教育上增加投资，他们的计划却抓住在今后十年里继续削减教育经费不放。这样，到2021奶奶，我们在孩子教育上的投资将比2012年还少。
At a time when we should give our teachers all the resources they need, their plan could let states and cities shuffle6 education dollars into things like sports stadiums or tax cuts for the wealthy.
我们希望给老师们提供他们所需的一切资源，而他们的计划将让各州、市把仅有的教育经费投入建体育场馆或为富裕人士减税上去。
At a time when we have to give every child, everywhere, a fair shot – this Congress would actually allow states to make even deeper cuts into school districts that need the most support, send even more money to some of the wealthiest school districts in America, and turn back the clock to a time when too many students were left behind in failing schools.
我们需要给全国各地的每个孩子公平的机会，而本届国会却准备让各州在最需要资金的学区大幅削减预算，而在富裕的学区大力增加投入，这种开历史倒车的行为将让更多学生在不好的学校被同龄人落下。
Denying a quality education to the children of working families is as wrong as denying health care or child care to working families. We are better than this.
拒绝为工薪家庭的孩子提供高质量的教育，就像拒绝为工薪家庭的提供医保和儿童保育一样，是完全错误的。我们还不至如此吧。
I have a different vision for the middle class.
对中产阶级，我有着不同的愿景。
In today’s world, we have to equip all our kids with an education that prepares them for success, regardless of what they look like, or how much their parents make, or the zip code they live in.
在当今世界上，我们必须为我们的孩子们提供合适的教育，让他们为未来的成功做好准备，无论他们是谁，他们的父母能挣多少钱，或者住在那里。
And that means trying new things, investing in what’s working, and fixing what’s not.
这意味着要革新，在有成效的地方投资，修正无效的措施。
That means cutting testing down to the bare minimum required to make sure parents and teachers know how our kids and schools are doing from year to year, and relative to schools statewide.
这意味着尽量减少不必要的测试，让家长和学生了解孩子们在学校每年都学到了什么，并与全州的学校进行比较。
That means giving the teachers and principals who do the hard work every day the resources they need to spend less time teaching to a test, and more time teaching our kids the skills they need.
这也意味着让老师们和校长们尽最大努力用好他们的资源，不是将时间用在如何应对上，而是教会孩子们掌握技能。
Some of these changes are hard. They’ll require all of us to demand more of our schools and more of our kids, making sure they put down the video games and iPhones, and pick up the books. They’ll require us to demand that Washington treat education reform as the dedicated7 progress of decades – something a town with a short attention span doesn’t always do very well.
有些改变是很难的。这需要我们对学校和孩子们提出更高的要求，让他们放下游戏机和iPhone，拿起书本。这也要求华盛顿将教育改革当作未来几十年最需要投入的事业，这一事业，目光短浅的地方政府是无法做好的。
But I'm confident we can do this. When it comes to education, we are not a collection of states competing against one another; we are a nation competing against the world. Nothing will determine our success as a nation in the 21st century more than how well we educate our kids. And we shouldn’t accept anything less than the best.
但我对做好这件事充满信心。说到教育问题，我们不是彼此充满竞争的一些州的集合，而是与全世界竞争的一个国家。决定我们国家在21世纪能否获得成功的，就是我们能否教育好我们的孩子们。在这个问题上，我们只能做到最好，不可以退而求其次。
Thanks, and before I go – Happy Valentine’s Day, Michelle. Have a great weekend, everybody.
谢谢大家！结束之前，米歇尔，情人节快乐！祝大家周末愉快！
收听单词发音 |
1
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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standardized
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| adj.标准化的 | |
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taxpayer
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| n.纳税人 | |
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commonsense
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| adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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6
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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