Chicago’s schools

芝加哥的学校

Hard work rewarded

勤劳的奖励

Rahm Emanuel’s school reforms are working

拉姆·艾玛努尔的学校改革措施正发挥作用

Let me teach you some new words

让我来教你一些新词汇

“NO FAMILY should go to the poorhouse because they are giving their kid a crack at theAmerican dream,” said Rahm Emanuel on January 9th. Chicago’s mayor was presenting hisplans for education at Kenwood Academy, a high school on the city’s South Side.

“所有家庭都不该去救济院因为它们击碎了孩子们的美国梦，”拉姆·艾玛努尔在一月九号说道。这位芝加哥市长正在市南边的一所名叫肯沃德学院的高级中学里施行他的教育计划。

On the same day in Tennessee, President Barack Obama announced plans to exemptqualified students from tuition fees at community colleges. The White House had taken a leafout of Chicago’s book, said Mr Emanuel, who last October introduced the Chicago STARScholarship, which pays the community-college tuition fees of the best graduates fromChicago’s public-school system.

同一天在田纳西州，奥巴马颁布改革豁免了有资格攻读社区大学学生的学习费用。艾玛努尔说白宫无疑是仿照芝加哥的做法，他们去年十月份推出了芝加哥明星奖学金计划，这项计划将从芝加哥公立学校系统中为优秀毕业生支付社区大学学费。

Mr Emanuel wants more students to enroll in a college and take courses (and, if they pass, getcredits) while still in their last year of high school, which helps to reduce their tuition costs later.With the help of a donation of 500,000 over three years from General Electric, the programmewill grow from almost 2,500 students to more than 6,000 next year. Kenwood Academy hasmore students in the programme than any other high school in Chicago.

艾玛努尔想要更多学生在他们高中最后一年进入大学并参加课程学习(而且，如果他们通过就能得到学分)，这将有利于随后降低他们的学费。在通用电气公司三年五十万刀捐助的帮助下，这项计划将在明年资助2500名左右的学生上涨至超过6000刀一年。在芝加哥市，肯沃德学院同任何其它学校相比有更多的学生参与这项计划。

Some of the toughest decisions Mr Emanuel had to make in his first term concerned schools.He demanded merit pay for teachers and a longer school day (Chicago’s was only 5 hours 45minutes) and earmarked for closure 50 half-empty schools in poor districts. Teachers went onstrike for the first time in 25 years, but Mr Emanuel got the longer day and the closures wentahead in 2013. The teachers kept their seniority-based pay system.

在艾玛努尔第一任期内不得不做出的艰难选择中，有一些都是关于学校的。他要求建立教师的绩效工资及更久的学习日(芝加哥只有5小时45分钟)而且在穷困地区专门关闭50所半满员的学校。教师们在25年里第一次句型罢工，但是艾玛努尔延长了学习时长并在2013年进行学校关闭措施。教师们还是保留了他们基于工龄决定的工资体系。

Mr Emanuel ploughed some of the money saved by closures into charter schools, which madehim even more unpopular with the teachers’ unions. But charter schools have worked well inChicago. The Noble Network, which already runs 16 charter high schools with 10,000 pupilsand plans to have 20,000 by 2020, has an attendance rate of 94% (compared with 73% forChicago public schools) and a drop-out rate of only 0.4% (compared with 4.7%). It also getsbetter results on the ACT, a college-readiness test. It has an even higher percentage ofminority students (98% compared with 92% at Chicago public schools), and slightly lesspublic funding.

通过关闭学校省下了钱，艾玛努尔划拨了一部分给特许学校，这项举措无疑让他在教室公会中更加不受欢迎。但是芝加哥的特许学校开办得如火如荼。高尚网络系统已经经营了十六所特许学校，有着一万名左右的学生，并计划在2020年招生两万名，入学率高达94%(同公立学校73%形成鲜明对比)以及在辍学率方面仅为0.4%(公立学校为4.7%)。在ACT美国大学测试中它也有着更好的成绩。在少数族裔学生比例中它也取得领先(98%同对比公立学校的92%)，而且还少占了一点公共资金。

Rosa Alanis, the principal of Golder College Prep, one of the Noble network schools, says all herpupils have a teacher as a designated adviser, whom they see twice every school day.Attendance and performance are the advisers’ responsibility, so they go to great lengths toensure their charges show up, dress properly in their uniform of grey trousers and bluesweaters, and work hard. Ms Alanis herself looked after a group of 13 “challenging” boys. Inone case she even drove to a pupil’s house to get him to come to school. He was still in hispyjamas, but obeyed.

洛萨·阿兰尼斯是黄金大学预科的校长，这所学校是高尚网络特许学校中的一所，他说他所有的学生有一名老师当他们的指定建议人，这些老师每天需要和学生见两次面。学生出勤和日常成绩是这些建议人的职责，因此他们在学校里花很长时间保证他们的职责体现出来，统一穿着制服—灰裤子和蓝毛衣，并且辛勤工作。阿兰尼斯自己则负责13名“具有挑战性”的男生小组。一次她甚至开车去学生家里将他接到学校。虽然他还穿着睡衣，但还是被许可上学。

Mr Emanuel is keen on charter schools, but he didn’t mention them when he presented hissecond-term plans for education. Instead he promised to put Wi-Fi in all classrooms, and toensure that every family would be within three miles of a high school offering some specialfocus, such as science or the International Baccalaureate. Presumably, he did not want toannoy those who think that charter schools leave public schools in the dumps. In fact,competition has prodded public schools to shape up a bit. The drop-out rate has gone downand ACT scores have slightly improved, albeit from a very low level.

艾玛努尔很倾向于特许学校，但是他在陈述第二期教育计划是没有提及它们。然而他承诺所有教室通上Wi-Fi，并且保证每个家同在三英里内都有高中等措施则引起了特别的关注，再例如理科或者国际文凭的开展。可以推测的是，他想顺着那些持有特许学校将公立学校遗弃到垃圾堆观点的人们。事实上，竞争已经刺激公立学校改进了一些。辍学率已经下滑而且尽管ACT得分还是很低，但已经轻微上扬。

1.plan to 打算; 计划

Both chambers plan to vote on that policy beforeJanuary 15th.

两院都打算在1月15日前对那一政策进行投票表决。

I dreamed up a plan to solve both problems at once.

我想出了一个方案，可以同时解决两个问题。

2.exempt from 免除;豁免

Soldiers were exempt from paying rates.

士兵免缴地方税。

Men in college were exempt from military service.

大学在校男生免服兵役。

3.compare with 比较

The more recent conifer plantations cannot yet compare with the old woodlands.

年代较近的针叶树林场还比不上年代久远的林场。

How does your new house compare with your old one?

你的新房子和你的旧房子比起来怎样?

4.show up 露面;出席;到场

Scientists know that cancer may not show up for many years.

科学家们知道癌症可能会潜伏多年。

We waited until five o’clock, but he did not show up.

我们一直等到了5点，但是他始终没有露面。