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奥巴马宣布筹款2.4亿美元 加强美数理化教学

President Barack Obama has announced nearly a quarter-billion dollars in new pledges to support the study of science, technology, engineering and math, a group of fields jointly¹ called STEM. At the White House Science Fair Monday, the president stressed the importance of private sector² efforts to encourage more students from underrepresented groups to pursue science studies.

奥巴马总统星期一宣布美国企业、学校、和基金会捐款两亿四千万美元，来支持美国学生学习科技、工程和数学。 奥巴马总统星期一在白宫的科研成果展示会上强调，私营部门和民间团体鼓励更多学生攻读科技工程和数学的重要性。

President Obama viewed exhibits that sprawled³ through several rooms, and he stopped to discuss projects with the students. A group of Girl Scouts⁴ showed him a prototype of a battery-run page turner to help paralyzed people or those suffering from arthritis⁵.

奥巴马总统星期一参观了在白宫举办的科研成果展示会，他不时停下来与学生们讨论他们的科研项目。 一些女童子军成员向奥巴马展示了她们设计的，便于瘫痪者或是关节炎患者读书使用的翻页机。

A high school student from New Mexico showed the president how algae⁶ can be used to produce a sustainable energy infrastructure⁷ at low cost.

来自新墨西哥州的一名高中生向总统介绍如何用藻类来制造低成本的能源。这位学生说：

"I utilized⁸ a chemical reaction and sort of created a reaction so as to demonstrate a net energy gain, and I do that by eliminating the most energy-expensive step of the process," said the student.

 “我利用化学反应，制造了某种化学反应，通过消除该过程中消耗能源最多的一步，来展示净能量增益。”

President Obama told the audience afterwards that the young inventors have something to teach us all.

奥巴马总统后来对听众说， 大家都能从年轻的发明者那里学到东西。

"These young scientists and engineers teach us something beyond specific topics that they are exploring. They teach us how to question assumptions, to wonder why something is the way it is and how we can make it better, and they remind us that there's always something more to learn, and to try and to discover, and to imagine, and that it's never too early or too late to create or discover something new," said Obama.

奥巴马说：“这些年轻的科学家和工程师们教给我们的，超出了他们正在探索的具体的科研题目，他们教我们如何质疑假设，如何探索事情为什么是这样的，怎样去改善创新，他们提醒我们，总有更多的东西要学习，要去尝试和发现，去想象。创造或发现新的东西永远都不会太早或太迟。“

More than 100 students from 30 states, representing more than 40 science competitions and organizations, participated in this year's fair. President Obama encouraged them to continue inventing and innovating⁹.  But he said the United States must encourage more young people to engage in scientific innovation.

来自30个州的100多个学生代表40多个科学竞赛项目和团体参加了白宫的科研成果展示会。奥巴马总统鼓励他们继续发明和创新。他说，美国必须鼓励更多的年轻人投身于科技创新。

"So, five years ago we launched a campaign called 'Educate to Innovate,' to help more of our students explore science, technology, engineering and math.  Today, I'm pleased to announce $240 million in new contributions from businesses, from schools, from foundations across the country to help kids learn in these STEM fields," said Obama.

奥巴马说： “所以，五年前，我们推出了一个名为”教育创新“的计划，帮助更多的学生探索科学、技术、工程和数学。今天，我很高兴地宣布一些公司企业、学校、和各地的基金会捐献了两亿四千万美元，来帮助孩子们学习科学、技术、工程和数学。“

President Obama said no young person should miss out on the opportunity to excel in science because of a lack of funds.  He said with the new pledges, universities and corporations have committed up to $1 billion to help expand high-quality science and technology education in the country.

奥巴马总统指出，任何年轻人都不应当因为缺乏资金而错过在科学上脱颖而出的机会。他说，大学和公司企业已承诺捐款十亿美元帮助美国推广扩大优质的科技教育。