(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is the VOA Learning English Education Report.
More than half a million South Korean students in their final year of high school recently took the university entrance examination. Many people consider success on this test the first step toward a good life. But South Korean students say they feel stressed from the pressure.
Seventeen-year-old student Lee Jee-woo is not ready yet to take the test. But he has a strong opinion about it. He says, "This test can determine the rest of your life."
South Korean high school students spend years studying for the university entrance examination. People say good scores guarantee entrance to a top university and the possibility of a high-paying job. Some say good test results even improve chances for a good marriage in the future.
The test is multiple choice, meaning that the student may choose among several possible answers to a question. Some observers say this system does not help the students learn to think for themselves. They also say South Korea is not the only country to use these tests.
Jasper Kim is a professor at Seoul's Ewha Women's University.
"I think you'll see similar things in China and to a lesser degree in Japan. It became the end all, be all, the standardized test, what you got on it. What it created was a system of teaching to the test. So everyone was geared, in terms of, getting to the right answer ... and not knowing why that is the right answer."
Vietnam also is known for its university entrance examination.
Professor Kim says this system of learning by memorization produces a lot of stressed students. A recent government study found that South Korean children are the least happy compared to children in 29 other developed countries. Many South Koreans blame educational pressure for this unhappiness.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has promised to reform her country's educational system. She urges the system to increase creative thinking and reduce student tension.
But Jasper Kim does not feel sure that reforms by the top government alone will solve the problem. He says, "The bureaucrats, they can say all they want. But it really starts at home."
Still, getting South Korean parents to ease the pressure on their children might not be so easy. Shin Jeong-yeon says she would like not to put so much pressure on her daughter. But, she says there is a lot of competition, so it is impossible for parents not to do so. For now, all Ms. Shin and other parents can do is hope that the pressure brings good results.
And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report for today. I'm Jeri Watson.
词汇解释
1.memorization n. 记住；暗记
Rote memorization has been the educator's standard operating procedure for centuries.
几个世纪以来，死记硬背一直是教育工作者奉行的标准教学方法。
2.bureaucrat n. 官僚；官僚主义者
The economy is still controlled by bureaucrats.
经济依然被官僚们所控制。
3.standardized adj. 标准的；标准化的；定型的 v. 使合乎标准；按标准校准；制定标准（standardize的过去分词）
There is a drive both to standardize components and to reduce the number of models.
有一种使零部件标准化并减少型号数量的需求。
内容解析
1.What it created was a system of teaching to the test. So everyone was geared, in terms of, getting to the right answer ... and not knowing why that is the right answer.
be geared to 使适应
Education should be geared to the children's needs and abilities.
教育应该适合孩子的需要与能力。
Our military operations had to be geared to clearly defined negotiating objectives.
我们的军事行动必须与明确规定的谈判目标一致。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
最近韩国50多万高三学生参加了大学入学考试，很多人认为这个考试的成功是迈向美好生活的第一步，但韩国学生们说感到压力很大。
17岁的李梓佑现在还不准备参加高考，但他对此感受颇深，他说，“这个考试能决定你的一生。”
韩国高中生要花费几年的时间来准备大学入学考试，人们说高分能确保进入名牌大学，并有可能获得高薪工作。有的说好的成绩甚至能使将来获得美好婚姻的几率提高。
这种考试是多项选择，意味着学生可以在几个可能的答案中进行选择，有的观察家称这一制度不能帮助学生独立思考，他们说使用这一制度的不止韩国。
杰士伯·金
是首尔梨花女子大学的教授。
“我想中国的情况类似，日本也是，但没这么严重。高考成了标准化考试，你能从中得到什么呢？它制造了应试教育，所以每个人都要知道正确答案，却无需知道为什么是正确答案。”
越南也因其大学入学考试而知名。
金教授说，这种靠死记硬背的教育制度制造了大批有压力的学生，最近政府研究发现，与另外29个发达国家的孩子相比，韩国的孩子是最不快乐的。很多韩国人将这种不快乐归咎于教育压力。
韩国总统朴槿惠承诺改革本国的教育制度，她敦促教育体制增加创造性的思考并减轻学生压力。
但金教授不认为单靠政府高层的改革就能解决这一问题，他说，“官员们说他们想解决问题，但解决问题的源头在家庭。”
不过，让韩国父母们减轻施加在孩子身上的压力并不容易，申贞妍说她也不想给女儿太大压力，但她说竞争很激烈，所以父母不这么做是不可能的。对目前来说，申贞妍等父母们所能做的就是希望这种压力能带来好的结果。
这就是美国之音慢速英语教育报道，我是杰瑞·沃森。
