VOA慢速英语:Vietnamese Man Wants a “Book Revolution” in his Country

A Vietnamese man hopes to raise the quality of education in his country by building “parent libraries” in rural schools. Nguyen Quang Thach provides libraries to the schools so books are more available in farming communities. He works with publishers in Hanoi to get the books at reduced rates for teachers and their students.
一名越南人希望通过在乡村学校建立“父母图书馆”来提高越南教育水平，Nguyen Quang Thach为学校建设图书馆，这样农村人就可以有书看。他与河内的出版公司合作，以优惠价向教师和学生们提供书本。

Mr. Thach says most schools have enough textbooks. But he says many poor families have few books at home and do not visit school libraries. He learned this by talking with farmers, workers and students.
Thach说，大多数学校的教材充足，但很多贫困人家家里书很少，也不去学校图书馆。他通过与农民、工人和学生交谈了解到这些情况。

More than 90 percent of Vietnam’s population can read and write. But academic performance in the schools remains low compared to other Southeast Asian nations. Corruption is a big part of the problem. Vietnamese media often have stories about teachers giving high grades in exchange for money.
越南有90%以上的人能读会写，但学业表现与东南亚其他国家相比还较低。腐败是一大问题，越南媒体经常报道教师以高分数收取贿赂。Some experts criticize teaching methods that depend heavily on dictation. They say asking students to repeat everything a teacher says to the class harms their ability to think for themselves. 
有的专家批评过于依靠口授的教学方法，称让学生反复教师所讲的知识只会损害其独立思考的能力。

Nguyen Quang Thach says he wants people to invest money in books for a better future. To date, almost 1,000 parent libraries have been built in Thai Benh Province. Hundreds of books are in each one. Several other provinces have copied this model.
Nguyen Quang Thach说，他希望人们为了更好的未来能花钱买书，到目前为止，Thai Benh省已有近1000座父母图书馆。每座图书馆都有数百本书，其他省份也效仿了这一做法。

For each school, Mr. Thach helps build libraries for up to four classes. Other people then follow his example. Parents of school children pay three dollars each for the first year and one dollar in other years.
Thach为每个学校的四个班级建造了图书馆，也有人在向他学习。学生家长第一年花3美元，以后每年交1美元。

The head of the AnDuc secondary school, Pham Duc Duong, told reporter Marianne Brown that Mr. Thach’s work has improved the quality of education.
AnDuc中学校长Pham Duc Duong告诉记者玛丽安•布朗，Thach的努力提高了教育质量。

“He says students have been doing better in competitions, especially in social science.”
“他说学生的竞争力提高了，尤其在社会科学方面。”

Duong Le Nga heads the school youth group. She says that after the libraries were built, students started asking teachers more questions. The students also set up debating teams. She thinks Mr. Thach’s example helps student think more creatively -- “outside the box.”
Duong Le Nga管理学校青年组，她说图书馆建立后，学生开始问老师很多问题。学生们还成立了辩论小组，她认为Thach的做法使学生能“跳出盒子”创造性地思考。

The deputy head of the school, Uong Minh Thanh, says many students there will work in factories. But after seeing the influence of the new libraries, he hopes the children will set high goals for themselves.
学校副校长Uong Minh Thanh说，许多学生在工厂工作。但看到新图书馆带来的新气象后，他希望这些孩子能为自己设定更高目标。