VOA常速英语2018--寒门学子可凭借努力获得更好的生活（在线收听）

TV Ramakrishna knows how a good education can open doors to a better life. Growing up poor, he was lucky to have caring adults around him who helped him pursue an education. He eventually came to the United States, received his doctorate degree in civil engineering. When he retired, he returned to Bangalore with his wife Vijaya and in 1998 founded the nonprofit Sahasra Deepika foundation for education.

罗摩克里希纳很清楚接受良好的教育有助于追求更好的生活。出身寒门的他很幸运，身边有对他无微不至的长辈助他求学。他后来得以来到美国，并获得了土木工程学的博士学位。他退休后，就跟妻子维贾亚回到了班加罗尔。1998年，他成立了非盈利教育基金会Sahasra Deepika。

His daughter, Sarva Rajendra, serves as president. Sahasra Deepika is a Sanskrit word that means a thousand lights. And my father looks at it as a thousand lights of hope, love and compassion for children in need.

他女儿萨瓦·拉金德拉是这家基金会的负责人。Sahasra Deepika是梵语，意思是一千盏灯。而我父亲正是将这个基金会视作一千盏灯，代表着给有需求儿童的希望、爱与同情。

Over the past 20 years, the foundation has helped hundreds of impoverished children, especially girls. In 2009, it expanded its programs to reach even more children in government schools and help them improve their English language skills. Bangalore is a very cosmopolitan city, if you don’t know English and you only know the native language of Canada, you’re at a disadvantage to get a good job, even as a driver or anything like that.

过去20年来，该基金会已经助力了上百名贫困儿童，尤其是家庭贫困的女孩子。2009年，该基金会扩张了许多项目，旨在帮助公立学校的更多孩子，让他们能够提高英语语言技巧。班加罗尔是非常国际化的城市，如果一个人不会说英语，只懂加拿大本国母语的话，就很难找到好工作，就连司机之类的工作也会很难找到。

The foundation introduced a spelling bee competition. Each year, around 2,500 students participate. Winners get college scholarships and other prizes and opportunities offered by the sponsoring corporations. The scholarship to college is a really really important prize for that child, because they do come from the lowest rungs of society. To be able to get through and get the scholarship to the next stage is a really springboard for their future success. To celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, Rajendra asked filmmaker Monica Sam Tommy to produce a documentary about it. Her film Be the Future follows several students as they compete. So we chose them randomly and we chose them before the spelling bee took place, because we wanted to see the process that they were going through.

该基金会发起了一场拼写比赛。每年都有近2500名学生参加该比赛。获胜者会得到大学奖学金等奖励，还会获得多家赞助公司提供的机会。大学奖学金对于孩子们来说是非常非常重要的奖励，因为这些孩子的家庭都处于社会最底层。如果能赢得比赛并获得奖学金的话，就可以进入求学的下一阶段，这对他们未来的成功是很好的跳板。为了庆祝该项目成立100周年纪念日，拉金德拉邀请制片人莫妮卡·山姆·汤米制作一部有关该主题的纪录片。她的电影《未来》讲述的是几个学生有关比赛的故事。我们是随机选择的学生，而且是在比赛开始之前就选好了人，因为我们希望能跟进整个过程。

Practicing at school, practicing at home, early in the morning, late at night, one of those random kids was the winner. She’s a girl that says to herself, only through me making this happen. Am I not only gonna get myself a better future, but also my family, and then community. Program organizers hope the documentary will inspire more children to embark on the exciting journey that spells success for their future.

在学校练习、在家里练习，从早到晚地练习，就是这样一位随机抽选的孩子成为了获胜者。她是一名女孩，她经常对自己说：只能靠自己才能让这一切发生。我不仅要为自己赢得更好的未来，我也要为我的家人、我的社群赢得更好的未来。项目的组织者们希望这部纪录片能激发更多的孩子着手于令人兴奋的旅途上，为自己的未来勾勒成功的蓝图。