VOA慢速英语2019 数千名教师在洛杉矶罢工

Thousands of Teachers Strike in Los Angeles

Tens of thousands of teachers went on strike Monday in Los Angeles, California.

加州洛杉矶市数万名教师周一继续罢工。

The teachers acted after contract negotiations¹ failed.

这些教师在合同谈判失败后采取了行动。

"Students, we are striking for you," said teachers union President Alex Caputo-Pearl. He spoke² to a cheering crowd of teachers marching in the rain.

教师工会主席Alex Caputo-Pearl说，“学生们，我们是为你们而罢工。”他向一群在雨中欢呼游行的老师发表了讲话。

Los Angeles is the second-largest school district in the United States.

洛杉矶是美国第二大学区。

Members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted last year to call a strike if the union and school district failed to reach an agreement. The teachers want higher wages and smaller class sizes.

洛杉矶教师工会成员去年投票同意，如果工会和学区不能达成协议就罢工。这些教师希望提高工资并缩减班级规模。

Months of negotiations between the two sides ended without a deal. It follows teacher strikes in other states.

双方经过数月谈判未能达成协议，其它州也发生了教师罢工。

Substitutes working for striking teachers

代课教师上场

The union has 35,000 members. Schools are open in the Los Angeles Unified³ School District, which serves 640,000 students.

教师工会有3.5万名会员。洛杉矶联合学区的学校有64万名学生。

The school district has hired hundreds of substitute teachers to work during the strike. The union calls that irresponsible and has called on parents to consider keeping students home or join marchers.

学区在罢工期间聘请了数百名代课教师。工会称这是不负责任的，并呼吁家长考虑让孩子不上学或者加入游行。

The district argues that the union's demands could lead to financial ruin. The school system says it expects a $500-million deficit⁴ this budget year. Billions of dollars are required for payments and health care for retired⁵ teachers.

学区辩称工会的要求可能会导致金融危机。学区表示，预计这个预算年度会出现5亿美元的赤字。退休教师的工资和医保需要数十亿美元。

Negotiations were suspended in December, and re-started this month, but little progress was evident in the contract dispute. The union rejected a district offer Friday. It proposed to add almost 1,200 teachers, guidance professionals, health care workers and librarians and reduce class size by two students.

谈判于12月暂停，并于本月重新开始，但是合同纠纷的进展甚微。工会拒绝了学区周五的开出的条件。学区提出增加近1200名教师、指导专家、医护人员以及图书管理员，并把班级规模减少2名学生。

The offer also included a proposed six percent pay raise over the first two years of a three-year contract. The teachers’ union wanted a 6.5 percent increase at the start of a two-year deal. The union also wants considerably⁶ smaller classes, now often filled by more than 30 students. The union is demanding more nurses, librarians and counselors⁷ to "fully⁸ staff" schools.

学区开出的条件还包括拟在三年合约的头两年涨薪6%。教师工会希望在两年合约一开始就涨薪6.5%。工会还希望相对更小的班级，现在班级经常超过了30多名学生。工会要求提供更多保育员、图书管理员和辅导员在学校全职工作。

The 'Red4Ed' movement

Red4Ed运动

Teachers are hoping to build on the "Red4Ed" movement that began last year in West Virginia and moved to five other states. It spread from conservative states with "right to work" laws, which limit the ability to strike, to the more liberal West Coast, with strong unions.

教师们希望以去年在西弗吉尼亚州开始并扩大到其它五个州的Red4Ed运动为基础。该运动保守州开始，这些州拥有限制罢工权利的工作权利法，蔓延到了更加自由的西海岸，这些地区拥有强大的工会。

Such actions energized⁹ Los Angeles teachers, Caputo-Pearl said before the strike.

Caputo-Pearl在罢工前表示，这类行动激励了洛杉矶教师。

The labor¹⁰ union argues that the school district has $1.8 billion that could be used to finance the pay and staffing increases. The district said that money is meant for retiree benefits and other costs.

工会认为，学区有18亿美元可用于提高薪水和增加人员。学区表示，这笔钱要用于退休人员的福利和其它开支。

School district Superintendent¹¹ Austin Beutner asked Friday for California Governor Gavin Newsom to get involved to try to avoid a strike.

学区负责人Austin Beutner周五要求加州州长Gavin Newsom参与进来设法避免罢工。

The union says Beutner, an investment banker and former Los Angeles deputy mayor, and school board members are trying to privatize the district.

工会表示，作为投资银行家和前洛杉矶副市长的Beutner，以及学校董事会成员正试图把学区私有化。

The union says Beutner and the school board support calls for school closures. It says they are turning public schools into charter schools. Charters are privately¹² operated public schools that compete for students and financial support.

工会表示，Beutner和学校董事会支持关闭学校。它说他们正在把公立学校变成特许学校。特许学校是争夺学生和财政支持的私营公立学校。

Beutner has said his plan to reorganize the school district would improve services to students and families. He and his supporters on the board want to create an education system with public and charter schools under the same leadership.

Beutner表示，他计划重组学校，这将会改善向学生和家庭提供的服务。他和董事会支持者希望建立一个学校体系，让公立和特许学校接受统一领导。

I’m Caty Weaver¹³.

Words in This Story

hire – v. to give work or a job to (someone) in exchange for wages or a salary

substitute – n. a person or thing that takes the place of someone or something else

benefit – n. money that is paid by a company or by a government when someone dies, becomes sick or stops working

staff – v. to supply (an organization or business) with workers

librarian – n. a specialist in the care of books, magazines, documents and other records

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 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。

3 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

6 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

7 counselors   

n.顾问( counselor的名词复数 )；律师；（使馆等的）参赞；（协助学生解决问题的）指导老师

参考例句：

• Counselors began an inquiry into industrial needs. 顾问们开始调查工业方面的需要。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• We have experienced counselors available day and night. ) 这里有经验的法律顾问全天候值班。） 来自超越目标英语 第4册

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 energized   

v.给予…精力，能量( energize的过去式和过去分词 )；使通电

参考例句：

• We are energized by love if we put our energy into loving. 如果我们付出能量去表现爱意，爱就会使我们充满活力。 来自辞典例句
• I am completely energized and feeling terrific. 我充满了活力，感觉非常好。 来自辞典例句

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

12 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

13 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。