(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
Recently, there have been efforts to make sure children in Africa get a good strong education. But a new report says governments are losing about $129 billion every year on poor quality education. As a result, about one in four students in poor countries cannot read a complete sentence, that represents about 175 million young people.
The report comes from UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It says poor teacher training and spending cuts are just two of the reasons for underperforming school systems.
An instructor teaches students in Lodwar, Turkana, Kenya. He supplements his teachers salary with a small shop managed by him and his wife. (K. Prinsloo/ ARETE/UNESCO)
Pauline Rose, an education specialist directed the report. She says more teachers are needed across Africa, especially in countries south of the Saharan desert. She says the area would need about 225,000 additional teachers a year to guarantee a primary school education for all boys and girls by 2015.
Miss Rose says governments like to save money by using contract teachers. These educators are not government employees but work under a special agreement. Contract teachers can be easily dismissed if found to be underperforming. They also earn far less money than teachers working for the government. Contract teachers represent more than half of the teaching work force in many West African countries.
Pauline Rose says teachers need to have a strong desire to help children learn. She says they should want to be in the classroom instead of doing other jobs. In recent years, financial support for education has gone down or stayed the same in many countries.
The UNESCO report says governments will need to increase spending on education. Miss Rose says governments can do better on collecting taxes and making sure everyone pays their fair share of taxes. She says governments could also offer good housing to make sure impoverished areas have enough teachers.
The report says South Africa gives six times more money to students in areas with low education levels and high unemployment. Malawi is creating teacher colleges to train new candidates for teaching positions in skills for rural areas. And Ethiopia is urging mentors and supervisors to help support teaching candidates.
And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English, I'm Mario Ritter.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.supplement vt. 增补，补充 n. 增补，补充；补充物；增刊，副刊
If you are travelling alone, the single room supplement is $25 a night.
如果你独自一人旅行，单人间的额外费用是每晚$25。
2.dismiss vt. 解散；解雇；开除；让...离开；不予理会、不予考虑 vi. 解散
He offered to dismiss me.
他威胁要解雇我。
3.impoverished adj. 穷困的；用尽了的，无创造性的 v. 使贫困（impoverish的过去分词）
The goal is to lure businesses into impoverished areas by offering them tax breaks.
目的是通过提供减税优惠把企业吸引到贫困地区。
4.mentor n. 指导者，良师益友 vt. 指导
Leon Sullivan was my mentor and my friend.
利昂·沙利文既是我的导师，也是我的朋友。
内容解析
1.In recent years, financial support for education has gone down or stayed the same in many countries.
go down 下降；平静下来；传下去；被接受；引起…反响
Lawyers advised their clients that a neat appearance went down well with the judges.
律师们向其当事人们建议说，整洁的外表会赢得法官们的好感。
Income from sales tax went down.
来自销售税的收入下降了。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
最近全球一直努力确保非洲儿童能获得良好的教育，但一份新报告称政府每年都因糟糕的教育质量损失约1290亿美元，结果，贫困国家每四个学生就有一个不能完整地阅读句子，有约1.75亿这样的学生。
这份报告来自联合国教科文组织(UNESCO)，该组织称教师培训差和开支削减是造成学校系统失灵的两大原因。
波林·罗斯是负责这份报告的教育专家，她说整个非洲需要更多教师，尤其是撒哈拉南部非洲国家。她说该地区每年需要增加约22.5万名教师，来确保2015年所有学生都获得小学教育。
罗斯女士说政府喜欢使用合同教师来节省资金，这些教育工作者不是政府雇员，而是依据特殊协议来工作的。合同教师如果表现不佳很容易被辞退，与受雇于政府的教师相比，他们的收入更少。在很多西非国家，合同教师占全体教师数量的一半多。
波林·罗斯说教师需要有帮助学生学习的强烈愿望，她说教师们应该想要上课而不是做别的。最近几年来，很多国家的教育资金支持在减少或维持不变。
UNESCO的这份报告称政府需要增加在教育上的开支，罗斯女士说政府可以在收税上做得更好，确保每个人都纳税。她说政府应该提供良好的住房条件，确保贫困地区有足够的教师。
这份报告称南非向低教育水平和高失业率地区的学生提供了6倍以上的资金，马拉维正在建造教师大学，为农村地区培训教师岗位的新候选人。埃塞俄比亚正敦促指导者和主管人员帮助教师候选人。
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道，我是马里奥·利特。
