VOA慢速英语:Helping Women Continue Their Education After Prison

Some women’s prisons in the United States offer classes for college credit. But when the women gain freedom, they do not have much chance to continue their education. They must follow the terms of their parole. They live outside prison during that period, but still have to obey government rules. They usually have to find work and a place to live.
美国一些女子监狱提供大学学分课程。但是，当这些妇女获得自由时，她们不会有太多机会继续接受教育，她们必须遵循她们的假释条件。她们住在监狱外，但仍必须遵守政府的规定，她们通常不得不找到工作和住所。

In two thousand, a woman named Barbara Martinsons started a program to help the former prisoners. She established the College and Community Fellowship, or CCF.
两千年时，一隔名为Barbara Martinsons的女子开办了一个帮助曾入狱人们的项目。她建立了学院和社区奖学金，或称为CCF。

Ms. Martinsons taught at Manhattan Marymount College in New York City. And she has taught college courses at a New York state women’s prison. She believes that women should get higher education. She also believes freed prisoners should continue that education.
Martinsons女士在纽约市曼哈顿玛利曼学院任教。她曾任教于在纽约州立女子监狱的大学课程。她认为，妇女们应该获得高等教育。她还认为，出狱人员应该继续接受教育。

CCF provides advice to former prisoners. It also helps them gain admission to college. That process can be very difficult for anyone, let alone a person with a prison record. The group also provides financial aid to members attending college.
CCF为曾入狱的人们提供咨询意见，还帮助她们进入大学。这个过程对任何人来说都很难，更不用说是有入狱记录的人。该组织还为进入大学的成员提供经济援助。

Today, CCF Fellows, as members are called, have earned college degrees, including masters’ degrees and a doctorate. About seventy percent of those taking part in the program work full-time while studying.
现今，被称为CCF伙伴的CCF成员已经获得大专以上学历，其中包括硕士学位和博士学位。她们中约有70%在学习期间参加了该项目的全职工作。

Nationally, one in three women who has been in prison returns to jail for committing crimes. Or, they have violated the terms of their parole. By comparison, almost no CCF fellows go back to jail.
在全国范围内，1/3曾入狱的女性因为犯罪或违反假释条件而重回狱。通过比较，几乎没有CCF的成员重回监狱。

A Christian minister heads CCF. The Reverend Vivian Nixon once spent prison time for falsifying documents. She says the group helps people reclaim the goals they had for their lives before going to jail.
一位基督教牧师领导CCF。Vivian Nixon牧师曾因伪造文件而入狱。她说，该组织帮助人们在入狱之前重拾她们的生活目标。

VIVIAN NIXON: “What was missing for me, and what I think was missing in the world, was an organization that tapped into what was left of people’s hopes and dreams, that said it is okay for you to want to be something. You don’t have to just accept any job, you know, at a fast-food restaurant or cleaning up a hotel, or cleaning up the streets of New York City. You can still have desires and goals, and we are going to help you meet those desires and goals.”
VIVIAN NIXON：“我所缺失的，以及我认为这个世界所缺失的，是一个挖掘人们剩下的希望和梦想的阻止，并告诉人们她们可以成就所想。你不必接受任何工作，你知道，在快餐店或打扫酒店，或打扫纽约市的街道。你仍然可以有愿望和目标，我们将帮助你实现这些愿望和目标。”

The group holds meetings for the about two hundred seventy people who take part. There are talks about subjects like finance and developing a career, and there is a social hour.
该组织主持了约有270人参加的会议。会议谈论经济和职业发展等主题，还有一个小时的社交时间。

Selina Fulford spoke to a recent meeting. Ms. Fulford has earned a master’s degree and is working on her second. She is now an adjunct professor at the College of New Rochelle.
Selina Fulford在最近的一次会议上发言。Fulford女士已获得硕士学位，正从事她的第二个工作。她现在是新罗谢尔学院的兼职教授。

Vivian Nixon says that society in general is happiest when the women do not go back to jail. But she says her greatest hope is that CCF’s members are setting high goals for themselves and their children.
Vivian Nixo称，一般来说，这些妇女不重回监狱，就是社会最幸福的时刻。但是她说，她最大的愿望是CCF的成员为自己和子女设定更高的目标。