VOA常速英语:Trump Praises Teachers Amid Wave of US Teacher Strikes

This year’s award went to English and math teacher Mandy Manning who teaches refugee and immigrant students at the public school in Spokane Washington.
今年的年度国家教师奖授予了担任英语和数学老师曼迪·曼宁。曼迪·曼宁在华盛顿州斯波坎公立学校教难民和移民学生。

To Mandy and all of the amazing educators here today, your tireless dedication doesn’t just inspire your students. It inspires all of us and I can tell you it very much inspires me.
对曼迪和今天在座的所有出色的教育工作者来说，你们的不懈奉献不仅激励了你们的学生。它还激励着我们所有人，包括我。

When this event comes as teachers across the nation strike to protest inadequate funds for public education.The latest wave of strikes started April 26 in the state of Arizona, keeping more than a million public school students out of class.
这一幕发生在全国各地的教师罢工之际，他们抗议公共教育经费不足。最近一波罢工于4月26日在亚利桑那州开始，这导致了100多万公立学校学生无法正常上课。

Teachers pay raise is just one of their demands.Teacher pay raise does not address the materials in the classroom that are outdated.It doesn’t address the fact that we have mice and cockroaches and the fact that there are 40 kids in a class.It doesn’t address the fact that we have one social worker for 800 kids.
加薪只是他们的诉求之一。加薪并不能解决课堂上教材过时的问题。不能解决教室有老鼠和蟑螂，一个班里有40个孩子的事实，也不能解决800个孩子只有一个社工的事实。

I come from a classroom where the chairs are falling apart the tables have edges that can cut kids that I have to tape.The Arizona protests were part of a national teacher uprising that began in West Virginia and spread to other states including Colorado Kentucky and Oklahoma.
我所在的教室里，凳子大多都散落了，桌子的边缘都可以割伤孩子，我不得不用胶带把这些桌子缠起来。亚利桑那州的抗议活动是在西弗吉尼亚州开始的全国教师起义的一部分，并蔓延到其他州，包括科罗拉多州的肯塔基州和俄克拉荷马州。

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been criticized for what some people see as an effort to dismantle the public school system. She has been a staunch supporter of charter and other schools calling them a better alternative to public schools.
教育部长贝特西·德沃斯受到了批判，因为一些人认为这是一种拆除公立学校系统的做法。她一直是特许学校和其他学校的坚定支持者，称它们是相较于公立学校的更好选择。

Where options do exist, students often do better. In Detroit, for example, students who attend charter schools perform twice as well as their traditional public school counterparts on state achievement tests.
确实有学生可以做得更好的选择。像底特律，在国家成绩测试中，特许学校学生的成绩是传统公立学校的两倍。

The Devos said that US public education is built around industrial era thinking and needs and by and large has not moved forward. Her critics say the public funds she is channeling to private schools through vouchers given to parents to pay for them would be better used to improve public school education.
德沃斯说，美国的公共教育是建立在工业时代的思考和需求上的，至今大体上没有什么进展。但批评她的人说，她通过给家长的发放代金券的形式把公款用于私立学校，而这些公款本应该用于改善公立学校。

Zlatica Hoke VOA News News Washington
扎拉提卡·霍克美国之音华盛顿为您报道