Kids Learn With 'Man's Best Friend'(翻译)

In American English we have an expression: "A dog is a man's best friend."
美式英语中有一条短语：“狗是人类最好的朋友。”

A dog can also be a child's best friend, especially if that child is having difficulty reading.
狗也可以是孩子最好的朋友，尤其是那些有阅读障碍的孩子。

An organization called Reading Education Assistance Dogs, or R.E.A.D, has been using dogs to help children learn to read since 1999.
一家名为陪读狗的组织自1999年以来一直利用狗来帮助孩子学习阅读。

The idea is that sharing a book with a kind listener increases the confidence of the students. It can also increase their love of reading.
该理念认为同友好倾听者分享一本书可以提升学生们的信心。它还可以提升学生们对阅读的热爱。

In the library at Public School 57
在57号公立学校的图书馆

Listeners include Izzy. Izzy is a cute, scruffy therapy dog and a regular visitor to Public School 57 (P.S. 57) in East Harlem, New York.
倾听者包括伊兹（Izzy）。伊兹是一只可爱的邋遢的治疗狗，也是纽约东哈林区57号公立学校的一位普通访客。

Students meet him in the library, pick out a book and sit down on the carpet. Izzy snuggles up to them and gets ready to hear a story.
学生们在图书馆见它，拿起一本书然后坐到地毯上。伊兹挨近他们准备听故事。

"I love reading to Izzy because he listens to me, and he doesn't make fun of me when I make a mistake."
“我喜欢给伊兹读书，因为它听着我读，并且在我犯错时也不会取笑我。”

Nine-year-old Aelane Vasquez is in the third grade. Her parents are from Mexico. She is among the 15 students of Latin American descent at the school who were selected for the program.
9岁的艾琳·瓦斯克斯（Aelane Vasquez）上三年级。她的父母都来自墨西哥。她是该校15名选定该课程的拉美血统学生之一。

Bridget McElroy teaches English as a Second Language at P.S. 57.
布里奇特·麦克尔罗伊（Bridget McElroy）在57号公立学校教英语。

"All the students that we worked with in the R.E.A.D. program were behind reading levels at the beginning of the year. Most of them have caught up to where they should have entered, if not surpassed that."
“今年年初时，参加陪读狗课程的所有学生都落后于阅读标准。其中大多数已经赶上或者超出了他们应有的水平。”

That achievement is important. Reading at grade level when kids are young is linked to how well they will do in school later. Studies show that kids who can't read as well as they should when they are nine years old are less likely to graduate high school by the time they are nineteen.
这一成就非常重要。孩子年幼时阅读达到年级标准和他们之后在学校中的表现有关。研究表明，9岁时未能达到应有阅读水平的孩子到了19岁更不容易从高中毕业。

McElroy says she sees a great difference in Aelane and her classmates. The difference is not just in their reading levels. She also sees their increased love and excitement of reading. The teacher calls this phenomenal.
麦克尔罗伊表示，她在艾琳和她的同学身上看到了很大差异。这种差异不仅仅是阅读水平。她还发现了他们对阅读不断提升的热爱和兴奋。这名老师称之为“惊人的”。

"Not only do the kids have time to practice reading, what we are really seeing is that they are excited to read, and they are motivated to practice even when Izzy is not here. And as a classroom teacher that's phenomenal because, you know, there is very little that I can do to convince a kid to go home and practice reading, where 20 minutes a week with Izzy is all that they need."
“不仅孩子有时间练习阅读，我们真正看到的是，他们兴奋地阅读，他们被激励着练习，即使伊兹不在这里。作为任课教师这是惊人的，因为我不太能说服孩子回家后练习阅读，每周同伊兹阅读20分钟就是孩子们所需要的。”

The R.E.A.D. teams from New York Therapy Animals work with 175 kids at P.S. 57 t and nine other schools. The popular program plans to expand to even more schools in New York City next year.
来自于纽约动物医生的陪读狗团队和57号公立学校以及其它9所学校的175名孩子一起努力。这一颇受欢迎的课程明年计划扩大到纽约市更多学校。