美国国会议员敦促扩大接受高等教育

 　　美国国会议员敦促扩大接受高等教育

　　LOS ANGELES, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The largest Asian American civil rights organization in the United States Tuesday urged the state legislature of California to expand access to higher education, especially those who are disadvantaged and underserved.

　　Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA)also urged the state legislature to focus on expanding educational opportunities for all California students, after California State Assembly Speaker John Perez Monday halted a constitutional amendment¹, known as SCA5, which the Asian America deemed biased² against them.

　　"Now is the time for a broad, bold, and inclusive solution to this problem - one that must necessarily expand the pie for all California students such as through expanding college slots, instead of just redistributing currently limited resources," Stewart Kwoh, president and executive director of Advancing Justice-LA told reporters Tuesday.

　　He said that Asian Americans should unite with other ethnic³ groups to seek equal educational opportunities for all, not just for any single ethnic group.

　　The organization urged the Senate to reflect the diversity of the state, and to hold hearings throughout the state to ensure a broad range of input⁴.

　　"In the past five years, California has cut its spending on public higher education by nearly 30 percent, while also increasing tuition and fees," said Mike Eng, member of the Board of Trustees for the Los Angeles Community College District.

　　Eng said the tuition has doubled but government spending on education was reduced rapidly.

　　The organization also appealed for reversing disinvestment in public higher education, ensuring more slots for all California students, and making higher education more affordable⁵.

1 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

2 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

5 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。