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GeoffreyCanada_2013S-_我们的那些烂学校，我受够你们了_
I'm a little nervous, because my wife Yvonne said to me, she said, "Geoff, you watch the TED Talks." 我有点紧张,因为我的妻子Yvonne对我说: “Geoff, 你看TED演讲的,对吧？”
I said, "Yes, honey, I love TED Talks." 我说: 对啊,亲爱的,我喜欢TED演讲。
She said, "You know, they're like, really smart, talented -- " 她说:“那些演讲者可都是很聪明、很有才能的人哦！”
I said, "I know, I know." (Laughter) 我说:“这我知道、知道。” （笑声）
She said, "They don't want, like, the angry black man." 她说:“那观众不会喜欢你这个怒气冲冲的黑老头吧？”
(Laughter) （笑声）
So I said, "No, I'm gonna be good, Honey, 因此,我对她说:”放心好了,我不会发火的,亲爱的！“
I'm gonna be good. I am." ”我会控制我的情绪的,我会的！”
But I am angry. (Laughter) 可是,我还是火大了。（笑声）
And the last time I looked, I'm -- 最后我还是生气了不是？
(Applause) （掌声）
So this is why I'm excited but I'm angry. 这就是我兴奋的原因,可我还是生气了。
This year, there are going to be millions of our children that we're going to needlessly lose, that we could -- right now, we could save them all. 今年,将会有成百上千万的学生 完全没必要地,在我们的手中流失, 而其实,我们现在还可以拉他们一把的。
needlessly:adv.不必要地;无用地;
You saw the quality of the educators who were here. 我们的师资质量各位是有目共睹的。
Do not tell me they could not reach those kids and save them. I know they could. 你可别对我说我们的教育工作者没法帮那些孩子 和拉他们一把。我知道,他们可以的。
It is absolutely possible. 他们完全可以做到的。
absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
Why haven't we fixed this? 可为什么我们没去做这件事呢？
Those of us in education have held on to a business plan that we don't care how many millions of young people fail, we're going to continue to do the same thing that didn't work, and nobody is getting crazy about it -- right? -- enough to say, " Enough is enough ." 我们有些教育工作者已经习惯墨守成规 我们不太在乎有几百万的学生学无所成, 而我们还乐此不疲地继续做着那些无用功, 而从来都没有人因此生过气,发过火,对不？ 这些足够我说:“我受够了”
Enough is enough:够了;适可而止;
So here's a business plan that simply does not make any sense. 所以,我想讲一下这种毫无意义的教育模式
You know, I grew up in the inner city , and there were kids who were failing in schools 56 years ago when I first went to school, and those schools are still lousy today, 56 years later. 要知道,我是在市区长大的, 当时,很多学生在学业上就已经一事无成了 那可是在56年前,当时我刚开始读书, 而那些学校在56年后的今天仍然还很糟糕、很烂。
inner city:n.(居民拥挤,住屋破旧的)市中心平民区;adj.市中心的; lousy:adj.非常糟的;极坏的;恶劣的;
And you know something about a lousy school? 各位知道烂了这么多年的学校的是什么样子的吗？
It's not like a bottle of wine. 这可不像陈年老酒（年份越老越好）。
Right? (Laughter) 对吧？（笑声）
Where you say, like, '87 was like a good year, right? 如果是陈酒,1987年的就是一瓶好酒,对吧？
That's now how this thing -- I mean, every single year, it's still the same approach , right? 我的意思是说我们的学校 年复一年地在使用相同的教学方法,对吧？
approach:n.方法;路径;v.接近;建议;着手处理;
One size fits all, if you get it, fine, and if you don't, tough luck. Just tough luck. 千人一面的,如果它适合你,那还好,但如果不合适呢 那你可要倒大霉了——你肯定会倒大霉的。
Why haven't we allowed innovation to happen? 可我们为什么不创新呢？
innovation:n.创新,革新;新方法;
Do not tell me we can't do better than this. 你可别告诉我:“没有什么比现在的体系更好的了。”
Look, you go into a place that's failed kids for 50 years, and you say, "So what's the plan?" 想想看,你进入一所50年来从没有让学生们学有所成的学校 你问校方:“你们的教学计划是什么？”
And they say, "We'll, we're going to do what we did last year this year." 他们告诉你:“我们今年的教学计划 和去年的一样。”
What kind of business model is that? 那是一种什么样的运作模式啊？
Banks used to open and operate between 10 and 3. 过去,银行的营业时间一般是上午10点到下午3点。
They operated 10 to 3. They were closed for lunch hour . 他们上午10点到下午3点营业,可午餐时还关门。
lunch hour:n.午餐时间;午休;
Now, who can bank between 10 and 3? The unemployed . 但谁会在上午10点到下午3点之间上银行呢？除非他是无业游民。
unemployed:adj.失业的;下岗的;n.(集合词)失业者;
They don't need banks. They got no money in the banks. 可这些人不需要银行啊。他们没钱存银行。
Who created that business model? Right? 那是谁创造了这种业务模式呢？是吧？
And it went on for decades. 可就这样,它也运作了好几十年。
You know why? Because they didn't care. 为什么呢？因为他们不在乎我们。
It wasn't about the customers. 他们不在乎顾客。
It was about bankers. They created something that worked for them. 这是银行家们的事。它们只为自己着想。
How could you go to the bank when you were at work? It didn't matter. 在上班时间 你怎么可能去银行呢？ 可是,没关系。
And they don't care whether or not Geoff is upset he can't go to the bank. Go find another bank. 他们不在乎我Geoff是否因为不能在这个时间段去银行 而感到爽与不爽。你可以去找另一家银行啊,
whether or not:是否…; upset:adj.沮丧; v.打乱; n.苦恼; (意外的)混乱;
They all operate the same way. Right? 可所有银行都是这样的营业时间啊,对吧？
Now, one day, some crazy banker had an idea. 然后,某一天,某个疯子银行家突发奇想---
Maybe we should keep the bank open when people come home from work. 或许我们应该在人们不上班的时间也对外营业吧。
They might like that. What about a Saturday? 顾客们可能会喜欢这样子的呢。星期六（营业）怎么样呢？
What about introducing technology ? 又或者,引入新技术怎么样呢？
technology:n.技术;工艺;术语;
Now look, I'm a technology fan, but I have to admit to you all I'm a little old. 我是一个技术发烧友,但我得承认 我年纪是大了点。
So I was a little slow, and I did not trust technology, and when they first came out with those new contraptions , these tellers that you put in a card and they give you money, 所以,我会有点跟不上形势,我也不相信技术, 尤其是我第一次看到的新玩意儿—— 就是这些你将银行卡塞进去就能给你吐出钱来的自动取款机
contraptions:n.奇妙的装置;精巧的设计; tellers:n.(美)出纳员;讲述者;讲故事者;计票员;
I was like, "There's no way that machine is going to count that money right. 我想,这些机器没法数准这些钱吧！
I am never using that, right?" 我从没用过取款机。对吧？
So technology has changed. Things have changed. 其实技术已经变了很多,世上的事情也在变。
Yet not in education. Why? 可就是教育从来没变过。为什么？
Why is it that when we had rotary phones, when we were having folks being crippled by polio , that we were teaching the same way then that we're doing right now? 为何在我们还使用旋转式拨号电话机时, 当我们还有人因脊髓灰质炎而至残跛行时, 我们所受的教育 和现在的孩子所受的教育还是完全一样的呢？
rotary:adj.旋转的,转动的;轮流的;n.旋转式机器;[动力]转缸式发动机; crippled:v.使残废;使跛;使成瘸子;严重毁坏(或损害)(cripple的过去分词和过去式) polio:n.小儿麻痹症(等于poliomyelitis);脊髓灰质炎;
And if you come up with a plan to change things, people consider you radical . 而如果你有计划做一些改革, 人们又会说你激进。
come up with:提出;想出;赶上; radical:n.自由基;激进分子;游离基;adj.根本的;彻底的;完全的;全新的;
They will say the worst things about you. 他们还会讲你很多坏话。
I said one day, well, look, if the science says -- this is science, not me -- that our poorest children lose ground in the summertime -- 我曾说过,某天,如果科学说: 是科学——而不是我——使得我们最贫穷的孩子 在夏天里像一盘散沙一般没学上——
summertime:n.夏季;
You see where they are in June and say, okay, they're there. 六月时可能你发觉他成绩还不错的,然后你会说,没事啊,他们成绩还可以的。
You look at them in September, they've gone down. 可等你在九月开学再看到他们时,他们的成绩已经一落千丈了。
You say, whoo! So I heard about that in '75 when I was at the Ed School at Harvard . 你会说,哇！所以,在1975年我听到这样说法 当时我还在哈佛的Ed学校。
Harvard:n.哈佛大学;哈佛大学学生;
I said, "Oh, wow, this is an important study." 我说,“哇,这是一个很重要的研究
Because it suggests we should do something. 因为这表明我们应该做些事情来改变这一状况。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Every 10 years they reproduce the same study. 每10年他们都会重复这一研究。
reproduce:v.繁殖;复制;再现;生育;
It says exactly the same thing: 说的还是同样的事:
Poor kids lose ground in the summertime. 穷学生在暑假时学业会一落千丈。
The system decides you can't run schools in the summer. 我们的教育体系决定了我们的学校暑假不上课。
You know, I always wonder, who makes up those rules? 我一直都挺郁闷的,到底是谁制定这样的臭规定啊？
For years I went to -- Look, I went the Harvard Ed School. 多年以来,我一直会去哈佛的Ed学校。
I thought I knew something. 我想我还是了解一些情况的。
They said it was the agrarian calendar , and people had — but let me tell you why that doesn't make sense . 他们说,这样规定是因为农时的问题,人们...... 但让我来告诉你,为什么这种说法站不住脚。
agrarian:adj.土地的;耕地的;有关土地的; calendar:n.日历;挂历;v.把…记入日程表中; make sense:有意义;讲得通;言之有理;
I never got that. I never got that, because anyone knows if you farm, you don't plant crops in July and August. 我从来不相信这些鬼话, 因为,人所共知,如果你务过农, 你不会在七、八月份播种的。
You plant them in the spring. 你应该在春天播种。
So who came up with this idea? Who owns it? 那是谁想到这样的借口的呢？始作俑者是谁呢？
Why did we ever do it? 我们以前为什么一直这样做了呢？
Well it just turns out in the 1840s we did have, schools were open all year. They were open all year, because we had a lot of folks who had to work all day. 事实上,在19世纪40年代,我们确实还有 全年上课的学校的。这些学校整年都在上课, 这是因为我们有太多的人要整天工作,
They didn't have any place for their kids to go. 他们又没有地方安置自己的孩子。
It was a perfect place to have schools. 而学校是一个最合适不过的地方。
So this is not something that is ordained from the education gods. 所以,这并不是什么 教育圣人定的金科玉律。
ordained:规定;
So why don't we? Why don't we? 所以,我们为什么不可以做一下变通？为什么不呢？
Because our business has refused to use science. 因为我们这个行业拒绝运用科学。
Science. You have Bill Gates coming out and saying, "Look, this works, right? We can do this." 拒绝科学！我们来听听比尔·盖茨是怎么训的, “看,这真的管用,是吧？ 我们可以这样做。”
How many places in America are going to change? None. 在美国会有多少地方会改变这种现行的教育制度呢？一个也没有。
None. Okay, yeah, there are two. All right? 没有,好吧！可我真见过两个,信不？
Yes, there'll be some place, because some folks will do the right thing. 对,在某一个地方会有这种事,因为有些人会做正确的事。
As a profession , we have to stop this. The science is clear. 作为教育工作者,我们必须停止这样做。科学是很清晰的。
profession:n.行业,职业;业内人士;同行;
Here's what we know. 以下是我们所知道的东西。
We know that the problem begins immediately. 我们知道,问题很快就会来的。
Right? This idea, zero to three. 对吧？ 我们来谈谈婴儿从出生到三岁的变化情况。
My wife, Yvonne, and I, we have four kids, three grown ones and a 15-year-old. 我的妻子Yvonne和我一共育有四个子女, 其中三个已经成年,还有一个已经15岁了。
That's a longer story. 说来话长,呵呵。
(Laughter) （笑声）
With our first kids, we did not know the science about brain development. 第一个孩子出生时,我们不了解 小孩子大脑发育方面的科学知识。
We didn't know how critical those first three years were. 我们也不知道这头三年是如此的重要。
critical:adj.鉴定的;[核]临界的;批评的,爱挑剔的;危险的;决定性的;评论的;
We didn't know what was happening in those young brains. 我们不清楚这三年这些孩子大脑中发生了什么。
We didn't know the role that language, a stimulus and response , call and response , how important that was in developing those children. 我们不知道语言、 刺激和反应、呼唤和回应这些因素 在小孩成长中有多重要。
stimulus:n.刺激;激励;刺激物; response:n.响应;反应;回答;
We know that now. What are we doing about it? Nothing. 而这些东西我们现在全部研究清楚了。可我们有为此做过什么事吗？ 也没有。
Wealthy people know. Educated people know. 可富人们知道,受过良好教育的人们也知道。
And their kids have an advantage . 而且他们自己的孩子也拥有某些优势。
advantage:n.有利条件:优势:优点:
Poor people don't know, and we're not doing anything to help them at all. 可穷人们不知道, 而我们又没有做任何事来帮助他们。
But we know this is critical. 但我们知道这很重要。
Now, you take pre-kindergarten. 现在我们有学前班。
We know it's important for kids. 我们知道学前班对小孩子很重要。
Poor kids need that experience. 穷人家的孩子也需要这一体验。
Nope. Lots of places, it doesn't exist. 可是没有。很多穷地方根本没有学前班。
We know health services matter. 我们知道健康服务很重要。
You know, we provide health services and people are always fussing at me about, you know, because I'm all into accountability and data and all of that good stuff, but we do health services, and I have to raise a lot of money. 你知道的,我们提供健康服务, 人们总认为我是大惊小怪的人, 因为我喜欢问责和数据 和所有好东西,但我们有健康服务, 我必须筹措大量的资金。
fussing:v.瞎忙一气;过分关心;(为小事)烦恼;(fuss的现在分词) accountability:n.有义务;有责任;可说明性;
People used to say when they'd come fund us, "Geoff, why do you provide these health services?" 过去,常有人说他们会资助我们, “Geoff,你为什么不提供这些健康服务呢？”
fund:n.基金;资金;存款;v.投资;资助;
I used to make stuff up . Right? 我过去常常编造一些鬼话搪塞他们。
make stuff up:瞎编故事;
I'd say, "Well, you know a child who has cavities is not going to, uh, be able to study as well." 我常说:“一个小孩子 如果有太多的蛀牙, 他就不能管好自己的学习。
cavities:n.腔(cavity的复数形式);[医]空洞;蛀牙;插线孔;
And I had to because I had to raise the money. 我要筹措资金就必须编这些鬼话来搪塞他们。
But now I'm older, and you know what I tell them? 但现在我老了,你知道我是怎么和他们说的吗？
You know why I provide kids with those health benefits and the sports and the recreation and the arts? 你知道我为什么为这些小孩提供这些健康服务、 运动、娱乐、和艺术吗？
recreation:n.娱乐;消遣;娱乐活动;游戏;
Because I actually like kids. 这是因为我喜欢小孩子。
I actually like kids. (Laughter) (Applause) 我是真的喜欢他们。（笑声）（掌声）
But when they really get pushy , people really get pushy , 但是当他们变得有进取心时,我们就会变得更有进取心,
pushy:adj.有进取心的;爱出风头的;有冲劲的;固执己见的;
I say, "I do it because you do it for your kid." 我说:“我这样做就像你们为自己的儿子做的原因一样。”
And you've never read a study from MIT that says giving your kid dance instruction is going to help them do algebra better, but you will give that kid dance instruction, 可能你从未看过麻省理工学院的一份报告,报告说 教你的小孩舞蹈 会对你孩子的代数学习大有裨益。 但你会教那些孩子舞蹈,
algebra:n.代数学;
and you will be thrilled that that kid wants to do dance instruction, and it will make your day. And why shouldn't poor kids have the same opportunity? It's the floor for these children. 而你也会很兴奋地发现学生喜欢学舞蹈, 那这样子你就会觉得有点成就感。那为什么穷学生 就不能有相同的机会呢？对这帮孩子来说,这是最基本的东西呢。
thrilled:adj.非常兴奋; v.使非常兴奋; (thrill的过去分词和过去式)
(Applause) （掌声）
So here's the other thing. 还有,
I'm a tester guy. I believe you need data, you need information, because you work at something, you think it's working, and you find out it's not working. 我是一名测试论的支持者。我相信你需要数据和信息, 因为你可能在做你认为有用的事, 然后你发现其实它并没有多大用处。
tester:检验器,试验员
I mean, you're educators. You work, you say, you think you've got it, great, no? And you find out they didn't get it. 我是说,你们是教育工作者。你会说,我在做事情啊, 你认为你做了应该做的事,不是吗？然后你发现学生没学到其想要的东西。
But here's the problem with testing. 可是,就算是测试也有很多有待改善的问题。
The testing that we do -- we're going to have our test in New York next week — is in April. 我们给学生的考试—— 比如说,下周纽约州又准备考试了。 现在是四月,
You know when we're going to get the results back? 可你知道我们什么时候才知道考试结果吗？
Maybe July, maybe June. 可能要等到七月,也可能是六月。
And the results have great data. 而考试结果里面含有大量的数据,
They'll tell you Raheem really struggled , couldn't do two-digit multiplication -- so great data, but you're getting it back after school is over. 比如说,他们会告诉你如Raheen的学习有困难, 他做不了两位数的乘法——这数据多有价值啊, 可当你拿到这些数据时已经放暑假了。
struggled:v.奋斗;努力;争取;艰难地行进;抗争;(struggle的过去式和过去分词) two-digit:二位的; multiplication:n.[数]乘法;增加;
And so, what do you do? 那你怎么会利用好这些数据呢？
You go on vacation. (Laughter) 你都去度假了。（笑声）
You come back from vacation. 等你度假归来,
Now you've got all of this test data from last year. 你拿到这些上学期的测试数据
You don't look at it. 你连看都不会看了。
Why would you look at it? 你怎么会看呢？
You're going to go and teach this year. 因为你又要准备新学期的功课了。
So how much money did we just spend on all of that? 所以,你看我们在这些无谓的事情上浪费了多少资金？
Billions and billions of dollars for data that it's too late to use. 那可是成亿美元的资金啊 就为那些来得太迟而我们无法使用的所谓数据。
I need that data in September. 我九月需要那些数据,
I need that data in November. 我十一月需要那些数据,
I need to know you're struggling, and I need to know whether or not what I did corrected that. 我需要知道你学习上有什么困难,我需要知道 是否我采取的措施能补救学生学习上的不足。
I need to know that this week. 我需要知道这些,考完试的这周就需要。
I don't need to know that at the end of the year when it's too late. 我不希望在学年结束时才拿到这些数据,因为那太迟了。
Because in my older years, I've become somewhat of a clairvoyant . 到了我这把年纪,我可以说是已经开了慧眼了。
somewhat:n.几分;某物;adv.有点;多少;几分;稍微; clairvoyant:n.千里眼;有洞察力的人;adj.透视的;有洞察力的;
I can predict school scores. 我可以很容易地预测到某所学校的成绩的。
predict:v.预报;预言;预告;
You take me to any school. 只要你把我带到任何一所学校。
I'm really good at inner city schools that are struggling. 我尤其善于预测市区那些办学水平不怎么样的学校。
And you tell me last year 48 percent of those kids were on grade level. 只要你告诉我去年学校有48%的学生取得 及格以上的学业成绩就行。
And I say, "Okay, what's the plan, what did we do from last year to this year?" 我会问:“那你们今年的计划是什么？你采取的措施 和去年的有什么不同？”
You say, "We're doing the same thing." 如果你告诉我:“我们和去年的做法差不多。”
I'm going to make a prediction . (Laughter) 那我就可以帮你预测一下了。（笑声）
prediction:n.预报;预言;
This year, somewhere between 44 and 52 percent of those kids will be on grade level. 今年,你的及格以上的人数大约在 44%到52%之间。
And I will be right every single time. 而我每次的预测都全中。
So we're spending all of this money, but we're getting what? 我们花了这么多钱,可我们得到了些什么？
Teachers need real information right now about what's happening to their kids. 老师们需要的是及时的信息和数据 ——关于他们的学生学习真实情况的数据啊。
The high stakes is today, because you can do something about it. 不过,亡羊补牢为时不晚,因为我们还可以为此做些事情。
stakes:n.桩; v.以…打赌,拿…冒险;
So here's the other issue that I just think we've got to be concerned about. 由此我想到了另外一个问题, 我们得关心这个事情。
issue:n.重要议题;争论的问题;v.宣布;公布;发出;发行; concerned:adj.有关的;关心的;v.关心;与…有关;(concern的过去时和过去分词)
We can't stifle innovation in our business. 在教育改革中,我们不能扼杀创新。
stifle:vt.扼杀; vi.窒息; n.(马等的)后膝关节; (马等的)[动]后膝关节病;
We have to innovate . And people in our business get mad about innovation. 我们必须创新。可我们很多人会对创新抱抵触的情绪。
innovate:vi.创新;改革;革新;vt.改变;创立;创始;引人;
They get angry if you do something different. 如果你要做些改变他们会很不爽。
If you try something new, people are always like, "Ooh, charter schools." Hey, let's try some stuff. Let's see. 如果你想尝试些新东西,总会有人说: “哦,又弄来一间特许的实验学校了。”但至少你让我们来做些尝试吧。
charter:n.章程; v.包租(飞机、船等);
This stuff hasn't worked for 55 years. 我们现行的制度55年来都没起什么作用啊。
Let's try something different. And here's the rub . 让我们来尝试些新的东西行不行呢？可这也有难处。
rub:n.擦;抹;搓;揉;v.擦;磨;搓;(使)相互磨擦;
Some of it's not going to work. 有些特许的实验学校也不成功。
You know, people tell me, "Yeah, those charter schools, a lot of them don't work." 要知道,也有人告诉我:“唉,那些特许学校有很多也是不成功的啊。”
A lot of them don't. They should be closed. 那些不成功的学校,就应该关掉。
I mean, I really believe they should be closed. 说实话,我真的认为它们应该关掉。
But we can't confuse figuring out the science and things not working with we shouldn't therefore do anything. 但我们不能将科学 和那些不起作用的东西混在一起,然后说,我们什么也不用做啊。
confuse:v.混同;使迷惑;使糊涂;使更难于理解;
Right? Because that's not the way the world works. 是吧？因为这个世界本来就不是那样子的。
If you think about technology, imagine if that's how we thought about technology. 如果我们来看一看技术, 试想如果这就是我们对技术的看法——
Every time something didn't work, we just threw in the towel and said, "Let's forget it." Right? 每次如果有什么东西没有用, 我们就放弃,就说:“算了,没用的。”这样行吗？
You know, they convinced me. I'm sure some of you were like me -- the latest and greatest thing, the PalmPilot. 他们想说服我。我想你们当中有些人也曾和我一样—— 当时有一台最新款的、最好的东西——掌上电脑。
convinced:adj.坚信; v.使确信; (convince的过去分词和过去式)
They told me, "Geoff, if you get this PalmPilot you'll never need another thing." 他们告诉我:“Geoff,如果你有了这台掌上电脑, 你就什么别的东西都不想要了。”
That thing lasted all of three weeks. It was over. 但是,那东西我只用了三个星期就坏了。
I was so disgusted I spent my money on this thing. 我为我把钱花在这种玩意身上而懊恼不已。
disgusted:adj.厌恶的;反感的;v.使作呕;使厌恶;使反感;(disgust的过去式和过去分词)
Did anybody stop inventing? Not a person. Not a soul. 可有任何人因为这样就不去发明了吗？不会,绝对不会的。
The folks went out there. They kept inventing. 人们会不断地去发明、去创新。
The fact that you have failure, that shouldn't stop you from pushing the science forward. 失败不能阻止你 将科学推向进步。
Our job as educators, there's some stuff we know that we can do. 作为教育工作者, 我们知道我们可以做些事情。
And we've got to do better. The evaluation , we have to start with kids earlier, we have to make sure that we provide the support to young people. 我们要做得更好。我们要在低年级的孩子中做教育评估, 我们得确保我们对年轻人提供了足够的支持。
evaluation:n.评价;[审计]评估;估价;求值;
We've got to give them all of these opportunities. 我们要给他们足够的机会。
So that we have to do. But this innovation issue, this idea that we've got to keep innovating until we really nail this science down is something that is absolutely critical. 这是我们应该做的。但是创新呢？ 我们还是要继续创新的, 直到我们打下坚实的科学基础。 这是重中之重的事。
innovating:n.创新;v.革新(innovate的现在分词);创立;
And this is something, by the way , that I think is going to be a challenge for our entire field. 顺便说一句,我认为 这对我们所有的教育工作者来说都是一种巨大的挑战。
by the way:顺便说一下;
America cannot wait another 50 years to get this right. 美国不能再等50年再来将这些我们做错的事情改过来,
We have run out of time. 我们耗不起这个时间。
run out of:用完;
I don't know about a fiscal cliff , but I know there's an educational cliff that we are walking over right this very second, and if we allow folks to continue this foolishness about saying we can't afford this — 我不懂财政危机什么的,但我知道 我们当下正面临着严峻的教育危机。 如果我们继续容忍这些人做蠢事, 然后说我们没法做这些事——
fiscal:adj.会计的,财政的;国库的; cliff:n.悬崖;绝壁; educational:adj.教育的;有关教育的;有教育意义的 foolishness:n.愚蠢;胡言;傻事情; afford:v.给予,提供;买得起;
So Bill Gates says it's going to cost five billion dollars. 因为,比尔·盖茨说,这要耗掉美国50亿美元。
What is five billion dollars to the United States? 50亿美元对美国来说是什么概念呢？
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
What did we spend in Afghanistan this year? 知道我们今年在阿富汗花了多少钱吗？
Afghanistan:n.阿富汗(国家名称,位于亚洲);
How many trillions ? (Applause) 到底我们花了多少万亿美元呢？（掌声）
trillions:n.[数]万亿;adj.万亿的;num.[数]万亿;
When the country cares about something, we'll spend a trillion dollars without blinking an eye. 当一个国家在乎一些事了, 我们就算花一万亿美元也不会眨一下眼睛的。
blinking:adv.讨厌,可恶;v.眨眼睛;闪烁;(blink的现在分词)
When the safety of America is threatened, we will spend any amount of money. 当美国的安全受到威胁时, 多少钱我们都会花。
The real safety of our nation is preparing this next generation so that they can take our place and be the leaders of the world when it comes to thinking and technology and democracy and all that stuff we care about. 我们国家的真正安全 在于下一代的人才储备, 这样他们才能接好我们的班, 成为世界的领导者。 能在思想、技术和民主 和所有我们关心的事情上面做到最好。
democracy:n.民主,民主主义;民主政治;
I dare say it's a pittance , what it would require for us to really begin to solve some of these problems. 我敢说,只要非常微薄的一点钱, 就能让我们真正 着手处理这些事,解决这些问题。
I dare say:我敢肯定！; pittance:n.少量;小额施舍;少量津贴;
So once we do that, I'll no longer be angry. (Laughter) 所以,如果我们做好了这些事,我就不会再生气了。（笑声）
So, you guys, help me get there. 所以,各位,请帮帮忙,帮我做好这些事。
Thank you all very much. Thank you. 谢谢大家！谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）
John Legend : So what is the high school dropout rate at Harlem Children's Zone? 现在哈林儿童区的中学生的辍学率是多少呢？
Legend:n.传奇;说明;图例;刻印文字; dropout:n.退学学生;脱落;信号失落; Harlem:n.黑人住宅区(纽约的);
Geoffrey Canada: Well, you know, John, 100 percent of our kids graduated high school last year in my school. 约翰,实际上 我们的学生现在100%都读到中学毕业。 这是我校去年的数据。
A hundred percent of them went to college. 去年他们100%去升入大学继续学业。
This year's seniors will have 100 percent graduating high school. 今年的高中生毕业率也将达到100%。
seniors:n.年长者,老年人;资历较深的人(senior的复数形式);
Last I heard we had 93 percent accepted to college. 上次我听说有93%的学生能上大学。
We'd better get that other seven percent. 但我们还要让那7%也读上大学。
So that's just how this goes. (Applause) 这也就是我要生气的原因了。（掌声）
JL: So how do you stick with them after they leave high school? 那他们高中毕业后你是如何追踪他们的呢？
GC: Well, you know, one of the bad problems we have in this country is these kids, the same kids, these same vulnerable kids, when you get them in school, they drop out in record numbers. 你知道,美国有很多很糟糕的问题, 其中之一就是,这些没读上大学的孩子, 这些来自弱势群体的孩子,你招他们入学后, 他们大量地辍学。
vulnerable:adj.易受攻击的,易受…的攻击;易受伤害的;有弱点的;
And so we've figured out that you've got to really design a network of support for these kids that in many ways mimics what a good parent does. 因此,我们已经弄明白了你得真正去设计 一个用各种方法去帮助这些孩子的网络, 就像孩子们的父母们为孩子们做的一样。
mimics:v.模仿; n.会模仿的人(或动物); (mimic的第三人称单数和复数)
They harass you, right? They call you, they say, "I want to see your grades. How'd you do on that last test? 比如说,家长会干涉你的,对吧？他们会打电话给你,他们会说: “我想看一下你的成绩。 你上次考试考了多少分？”
harass:v.侵扰;骚扰;不断攻击(敌人);
What are you talking about that you want to leave school? 如果你都不想读书了,
And you're not coming back here." 你不会再回到学校了,你还能说些什么呢？”
So a bunch of my kids know you can't come back to Harlem because Geoff is looking for you. 所以,我的很多学生知道,你不能再回到哈林儿童区了 因为Geoff那个家伙在到处找你。
a bunch of:一群;一束;一堆;
They're like, "I really can't come back." No. You'd better stay in school. 就好像:“我真的不能回去的。”其实不然,这类学生最好还是呆在学校。
But I'm not kidding about some of this, and it gets a little bit to the grit issue. 我这不是开玩笑的, 而这就会碰触到我想谈的核心问题。
grit:v.研磨;在…上铺砂砾;咬紧牙关;摩擦作声;n.粗砂,粗砂石;勇气;决心;
When kids know that you refuse to let them fail, it puts a different pressure on them, and they don't give up as easy. 当孩子们知道你不想他们失败时, 这无形中会给他们一种不同的压力, 他们就不会轻言放弃了。
So sometimes they don't have it inside, and they're, like, "You know, I don't want to do this, but I know my mother's going to be mad." 所以,有时他们并不是发自内心的自己想追求进步, 而是,正如他们自己所说的:“我不想做这些事的 但我知道,我不做我妈妈会生气的。”
Well, that matters to kids, and it helps get them through. 这对孩子来说很重要,这会帮助他们渡过很多难关。
We try to create a set of strategies that gets them tutoring and help and support, but also a set of encouragements that say to them, "You can do it. It is going to be hard, but we refuse to let you fail." 我们会想方法为他们创设一系列的策略来辅导他们、 帮助他们和支持他们,同时给他们以足够的鼓励, 比如:“你行的。尽管会有些困难, 但我们不会让你学无所成的。”
strategies:n.策略;行动计划;部署;战略;(strategy的复数)
JL: Well, thank you Dr. Canada. 好的。谢谢你,Canada博士。
Please give it up for him one more time. 请各位再次将掌声送给Canada博士。
(Applause) （掌声）