VOA慢速英语:Students Try to Cut Federal Budget in Online Game

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
 
Some people think of politics as a game. But an online game lets people think of themselves doing one of the hardest jobs in American politics: cutting the federal budget. The game is called Budget Hero.
有的人认为政治是一场游戏。但一款在线游戏让人们觉得自己是在做美国政治中最为艰难的工作之一：削减联邦预算。这个游戏被命名为《预算英雄》。

(SOUND)

Students in Los Angeles and other cities have been playing it.
洛杉矶和其它城市的学生们一直在玩这个游戏。

STUDENT: "A simplified tax code and a tax code that more fairly and correctly taxes the wealth in this country is obviously preferable."
学生：“一个简化的税法，以及对美国富豪公平合理征税显然是更可取的。”

Budget Hero lets them decide how they want to spend federal tax dollars. The game uses information from the Congressional Budget Office. It shows what effects each cost-cutting proposal would have.
《预算英雄》让他们决定如何使用联邦税款。该游戏采用了来自美国国会预算办公室的信息，它能显示出每项降低成本的建议会产生怎样的影响。

High school student Dory Bennett says she thinks spending cuts are needed to keep the economy growing and keep the American dream alive.
高中学生Dory Bennett说，她认为需要削减开支，以保持经济增长和保证美国梦的延续。

DORY BENNETT: "I want to grow up, go to college, get a good job, have kids maybe, a dog and a house."
DORY BENNETT：“我想长大，考上大学，找一份好工作，也许有了孩子，一条狗和一所房子。”

The students consider the same issues facing lawmakers in Washington.
学生们认为华盛顿的立法者面临同样的问题。

The game was developed in two thousand eight. In the newest version, students make decisions about what spending is important to them. Do they want to reduce taxes? Spend more on environmental protection? What should they do about defense spending? Making these decisions helps clarify their goals.
该游戏于2008年开发。在最新的版本中，学生们决定什么的支出对他们是重要的。他们想减少税收吗？在环保上花更多钱？对于国防开支，他们该怎么办？做这些决定帮助学生们明确他们的目标。

A former Democratic representative from California offered students some ideas. Jane Harmon served in Congress for almost twenty years. She now heads the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which helped create Budget Hero. More than one million people have played it so far, she says, and she thinks they have learned at least two things.
一位来自加州的民主党前代表给学生们提供了一些建议。Jane Harmon在国会工作了将近20年。她现在负责伍德罗．威尔逊国际学者中心，他们帮助开发了《预算英雄》。她说，到目前为止已有超过一百万人玩过这个游戏，而她认为他们至少学到了两件事情。

JANE HARMON: "One, how hard it is, but two, that it can be done if there's a will to do it."
JANE HARMON：“第一，它有多困难。而第二点则是，有志者事竟成。”

Student Jeffrey Burke agrees.
学生Jeffrey Burke同意该观点。
JEFFREY BURKE: "The hardest thing for us to figure out was the little cuts like the gas money and stuff, increasing taxes on gas, because we felt it would have effects everywhere from the truck drivers shipping our stuff across the country or when you order from [online seller] Amazon or whatever, to you drive when you're going to work. I think we need to look at the little things and realize that just because they're small money doesn't mean they're small effects."
JEFFREY BURKE：“对我们来说，最难的事情就是要弄清楚像汽油价格之类的，提高汽油税一类上的小削减措施。因为我们觉得它的影响将无处不在，从卡车司机四处运送我们的货物或你在亚马逊之类购物网站上的订单，到你开车去上班。我认为我们需要着眼于这些小事，并且认识到虽然金额很小，不意味着影响很小。”

Another student, Harry Kidd, says defense spending caused a lot of debate.
另一名学生， Harry Kidd，称国防开支引发了很多争论。

HARRY KIDD: "Because at the same time, you've got, 'Oh, we're going to freeze military spending,' but then we're like, 'What is that going to do to jobs?' But then the other half was, 'Oh, we can take troops out of Iraq and we all agreed on that.'"
HARRY KIDD：“因为在同一时间，我们会想，'我们要冻结军费开支。' 然后又会这样想，'对就业会产生什么影响？'但另一方面又是，'噢，我们可以从伊拉克撤军，并且大家都同意撤军。'”

Joaquin Alvarado at American Public Media, an organization that also helped create the game, says many of the players leave comments.
另一个帮助开发了该游戏的组织，美国大众传媒（American Public Media）是的Joaquin Alvarado称，许多玩家都给出了他们的意见。

JOAQUIN ALVARDO: "And they will literally in the comments ask that Congress play this game to just get a little rational around the questions that have to be answered."
JOAQUIN ALVARDO：“而他们在文字评论中要求美国国会也玩下这个游戏，在一些不得不解决的问题上得到一些理性。”

Ms. Harmon says the students are having more success than Congress at cutting the budget.
Harmon女士说，学生们在削减预算上的成功超过了国会。

JANE HARMON: "Kids, and actually adults too who play this game, have open minds. They want to learn what the facts are. And sadly, a lot of Congress is a fact-free universe, and that is tragic for our country, for our country's reputation, and for our economy and the livelihoods of millions of people who are presently out of work."
JANE HARMON：“事实上，孩子们和成年人在玩这个游戏时都是不带偏见的。他们想了解事实真相。而可惜的是，许多立法机构都是一个缺乏事实真相的整体，这对我们国家、我们国家的声誉、我们的经济，以及当前失业的数百万人的生计来说是一个悲剧。”