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1.VOA常速
【W(wǎng)orld's Economy Still Focused on Europe】
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TEXT:New reports out Friday show German business confidence declined in June.
Chinese manufacturing continues to shrink.
And the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits hit a nine-month high.
Expectations were naturally high on Friday as leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain met in Rome. Despite announcing general agreement on a $160 billion plan to revive economic growth, analysts say fixing what ails Europe will require more than money.
Thanos Veremis is a Greek political historian:
"If you want to save the euro, you have to do much more than just hand out money around, you need to create a ministry of the exchequer - or whatever you call it in England - or a minister of finance or a common fiscal policy, which we don't have in Europe," said Veremis.
Structural reforms from a European banking consortium to jointly issued euro-bonds are just a few of the ideas gaining momentum - especially after formation of a new coalition government in Greece failed to ease concerns about the deepening fiscal crisis.
With the world's major economies slowing down, some investors were eager to see stimulative action from the U.S.
But financial markets were ultimately disappointed Wednesday after U.S. central bank chairman Ben Bernanke announced only the extension of an earlier program to maintain interest rates at record lows.
Experts say the Fed still has a few options, including expanding its balance sheet to make more U.S. dollars available, but market strategist Stephen Wood says the Federal Reserve may be conserving its fire power.
"I think in some ways the Federal Reserve, like the European Central Bank - they want to keep a little bit of their powder dry just in case the financial situation in Europe gets out of control."
Despite agreement on the need to bolster economic growth, European leaders remain at odds over how to do it.
Among the thorny issues likely to come up at the European Summit in Brussels on Thursday, June 28 is a proposal to use Europe's existing bailout funds to buy debt from ailing economies in Spain, Italy and Greece.
2.VOA慢速
【Getting a Better Picture of Student Success】一種衡量學(xué)生學(xué)術(shù)成長(zhǎng)的新方法
TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)教育報(bào)道。
About ten percent of spending on primary and secondary education in the United States comes from thefederal government. For ten years now, federal law has tied this spending to student performance. States have been required to show progress through yearly testing.
美國(guó)中小學(xué)教育10%左右的開(kāi)支來(lái)自聯(lián)邦政府。十年來(lái)，聯(lián)邦法律將這項(xiàng)開(kāi)支與學(xué)生表現(xiàn)聯(lián)系到一起，各州需要通過(guò)年度考試展示出教育進(jìn)展情況。
But states say testing tells only part of the story about efforts by schools and students to improve. So the Obama administration has eased the limits on states in measuring performance.
但各州表示，考試只能展示出學(xué)校和學(xué)生提高的部分成就。因此，奧巴馬政府已經(jīng)在績(jī)效衡量上放寬了對(duì)各州的限制。
The western state of Colorado, for example, has a new assessment method. This new measurement tool is called the Colorado Growth Model. The idea is to show academic growth, not just achievement on tests. It combines test scores, family income levels, school size, the ethnicity of the student and many other factors.
美國(guó)西部的科羅拉多州有一個(gè)新的評(píng)估方法。這一新的衡量工具被稱為“科羅拉多增長(zhǎng)模型”。其理念是不僅僅是通過(guò)考試成績(jī)來(lái)展示出學(xué)術(shù)的增長(zhǎng)，而是結(jié)合了考試分?jǐn)?shù)、家庭收入水平、學(xué)校規(guī)模，學(xué)生種族及許多其它的因素。
Bill Bonk is one of the creators of the Colorado Growth Model.
比爾·邦克（Bill Bonk）是“科羅拉多增長(zhǎng)模型”的創(chuàng)建者之一。
BILL BONK: "A big part of that has been the calculation of academic growth. It’s a very fancy calculation. We’re very proud of it."
邦克：“它是一種非常別出心裁的計(jì)算方法。我們對(duì)此非常驕傲。”
The results from schools across the state are shown online on a graph. The graph shows a school’s average score on standardized tests as well as its academic growth.
全州各學(xué)校的分?jǐn)?shù)都顯示到一張?jiān)诰€的圖表上。該圖表顯示了一所學(xué)校在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化測(cè)試及學(xué)術(shù)增長(zhǎng)上的平均分?jǐn)?shù)。
Josh Smith is principal of a middle school in a network of public charter schools called West Denver Prep. Charter schools are publicly funded but not operated the same as traditional public schools. Mr. Smith says he likes to show his students this graph so they can see their school's progress.
喬什·史密斯（Josh Smith）是一所中學(xué)的校長(zhǎng)，該學(xué)校是屬于一個(gè)名為西丹佛預(yù)備學(xué)校（West Denver Prep）的公立特許學(xué)校網(wǎng)絡(luò)。特許學(xué)校由政府資助，但運(yùn)作方式和傳統(tǒng)公立學(xué)校不同。史密斯先生表示，他喜歡把他的學(xué)生們展示到這張圖表上，這樣他們就能看到自己學(xué)校的進(jìn)展情況。
Many of his students have parents who do not speak English. He likes to play word games with his students, like having them expand their vocabulary。
八年級(jí)學(xué)生胡安·索特洛（Juan Soltero）說(shuō)這類游戲，以及努力學(xué)習(xí)已經(jīng)幫助他提高了自我期望。他說(shuō)自己想成為一名電氣工程師。
Eighth grader Juan Soltero says games like these, and studying hard, have helped raise his expectations for himself. He says he wants to be an electrical engineer.
八年級(jí)學(xué)生胡安·索特洛（Juan Soltero）說(shuō)這類游戲，以及努力學(xué)習(xí)已經(jīng)幫助他提高了自我期望。他說(shuō)自己想成為一名電氣工程師。
JUAN SOLTERO: "The teachers, they really want you to learn. They really do love you. They give you support and talk you through things. It’s not just about academics. You have to be comfortable in learning so you can just stick it in your head."
索特洛：“老師們真的想要我們學(xué)習(xí)，也確實(shí)很愛(ài)我們。他們給我們支持，并貫穿事例來(lái)教育我們，而不僅僅是空談。你必須領(lǐng)在學(xué)習(xí)上適應(yīng)，這樣才能把它們牢記到腦海里。”
On average, students enter sixth grade at West Denver Prep performing below grade level. But three years later, most are outperforming other students across the state.
平均而言，西丹佛預(yù)備學(xué)校進(jìn)入六年級(jí)的學(xué)生的表現(xiàn)低于年級(jí)水平。但3年后，大多數(shù)學(xué)生表現(xiàn)要優(yōu)于全州其他學(xué)生。
The new assessment method shows that, each year, the average West Denver Prep student learns more math than ninety-four percent of all the students in Colorado. Reading and writing scores also show growth.
這種新的評(píng)價(jià)方法表明，每年西丹佛預(yù)備學(xué)校的學(xué)生平均比94%的科羅拉多州的學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)了更多的數(shù)學(xué)知識(shí)。閱讀和寫(xiě)作分?jǐn)?shù)也呈現(xiàn)增長(zhǎng)。
Josh Smith says perhaps the most important thing they should learn is to believe in themselves.
史密斯表示，也許他們應(yīng)該學(xué)習(xí)的最重要的事情是相信自己。
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
