(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
The cost of attending university in the United States has risen quickly in the past 20 years. Many people today say they owe huge amounts of money for loans they received for higher education. The students past and present say they are drowning in debt.
Movie maker Andrew Rossi examines education debt in the film Ivory Tower. The documentary was released to movie theaters recently. Ivory Tower is often used in America to mean university or college. Andrew Rossi wrote, directed and produced Ivory Tower.
He says college tuition, the cost of attending classes increased by about 1,100 percent between 1978 and today. Estimates place the nations combined debt for student loans at 1 trillion dollars.
One comment made by a woman in Ivory Tower shows the deep concern that student loans can cause. But one young man in the Washington D.C. area says he does not face much worry about college costs.
Brandon Attilis says his parents prepaid his tuition, he is working this summer at a restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Attilis also plans to reduce his expenses by sharing a house with two friends.
"My parents are paying the cost of the house, but I'm paying utilities. So, between the two, it's still less expensive than actually living in the dorms," Brandon said.
His mother Chris Attilis says she and her husband began saving money for college tuition shortly after each of their children was born.
"We took care of four years of college education for less than a year's costs in today's market," said Chris.
Still, many families lack enough money to do that. The movie notes that there have been reductions in government aid for education. Some colleges also build beautiful but costly campuses in hopes of getting students to attend. But the building projects can also increase costs for students.
Ms. Attilis visited colleges with Brandon.
"They put on a good show. And walking through and looking at the granite sinks in the bathrooms I'm thinking, 'This is not what it was looking like when I went to school.'" Chris said.
Ivory Tower suggests that many students choose not to get a traditional college education because of the costs. Some try online education. Brandon Attilis however says online education is not for everyone.
"You have to be a real hard worker, you have to really want it," Brandon said.
He says he hopes that his own schooling will lead to a good business education and a good career. He hopes it will not include huge debt built at the so called ivory towers of education.
And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report. I'm Bob Doughty.
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.utilities n. 公用事业；实用工具，[计] 实用程序；公共事业设备；公用程式（utility的复数）
Water supplies and other public utilities were badly affected.
供水以及其他公用事业受到了严重影响。
2.granite n. 花岗岩；坚毅；冷酷无情
He was very skilled at pointing down the blocks of granite.
他善于把花岗岩石凿平。
3.Ivory Tower n. 象牙塔（指脱离现实生活的小天地）
They don't really, in their ivory towers, understand how pernicious drug crime is.
身处象牙塔里，他们并不真正懂得毒品犯罪多么有害。
内容解析
1.He says he hopes that his own schooling will lead to a good business education and a good career.
lead to导致；引起：(道路)通向；通往：把…带到(或引到)：
Heart failure led to her father's death.
心力衰竭导致她父亲的死亡。
The street leads to the supermarket.
这条街通向超级市场。
He led us to a museum.
他把我们带到了一个博物馆。
参考译文
这里是美国之音教育报道。
过去30年间在美国上大学的费用已飞速上涨，今天很多人说因接受高等教育欠了大笔钱，过去和现在的学生们都说债务缠身。
电影制片人安德鲁·罗西在影片《象牙塔》中关注了教育债务这一问题，这部纪录片将于最近在影院上映。在美国，象牙塔通常用来指大学或学院，安德鲁·罗西编写、导演并制作了《象牙塔》。
他说从1978年到今天，上大学的学费已经增长了1100%，估计全国学生总的贷款债务在一万亿美元。
一名女性在看完《象牙塔》后表示非常担心学生贷款带来的问题，但华盛顿特区一名年轻人说他并不是很担心大学费用。
布兰登·阿特里斯说父母为他预付了学费，他这个暑假在维吉尼亚州亚历山德里亚市一家餐馆工作，他还计划和两个朋友同住来减少开支。
“我父母为我支付房租，我自己付水电费，因此这样就比住宿舍的开支要低些。”
他母亲克里斯·阿特里斯说她和丈夫在每个孩子刚出生后就开始积攒大学学费。
“我们负担的四年大学学费比现在一年的开支要少。”
但是很多家庭没有足够的钱做到这一点，这部影片指出政府削减了教育资助，有的大学建造了美丽而昂贵的校园，希望学生们来学习。但建造这些项目可能会增加学生的学费。
阿特里斯女士同布兰登一起参观了校园。
“他们上演了一出好戏，在看到浴室的大理石水槽时我就在想，‘这不像是学校。’”
《象牙塔》这部影片表明，很多学生出于费用考虑不接受传统的大学教育，有的选择在线教育。布兰登·阿特里斯却说在线教育并不适合每个人。
“你必须得非常努力，非常愿意学习。”
他说希望自己接受的教育能帮助通向良好的商业教育和好的职业，他希望其中不会包括在象牙塔产生的巨额债务。
这就是美国之音慢速英语教育报道，我是鲍勃·多迪。
