VOA常速英语:When Words Have the Power to Change Life

TV Ramakrishna knows how a good education can open doors to a better life. Growing up poor, he was lucky to have caring adults around him who helped him pursue an education.He eventually came to the United States, received his doctorate degree in civil engineering. When he retired, he returned to Bangalore with his wife Vijaya and in 1998 founded the noNPRofit Sahasra Deepika foundation for education.
罗摩克里希纳知道良好的教育能够打开通往更好生活的大门。他出身贫寒，幸运的是身边有帮助他求学的有爱心的成年人。他最终来到美国，获得了土木工程博士学位。退休后，他和妻子维贾亚回到班加罗尔，并于1998年创建了非盈利的Sahasra Depika教育基金会。

His daughter, Sarva Rajendra serves as president. Sahasra Deepika is a Sanskrit word that means a thousand lights. And my father looks at it as a thousand lights of hope, love and compassion for children in need.
他的女儿萨瓦·拉金德拉担任校长。Sahasra Depika是一个梵语单词，意思是一千盏灯。我父亲把它看作是对需要帮助的孩子们的一千盏希望、爱和同情之灯。

Over the past 20 years, the foundation has helped hundreds of impoverished children, especially girls.In 2009, it expanded its programs to reach even more children in government schools and help them improve their English language skills.Bangalore is a very cosmopolitan city, if you don’t know English and you only know the native language of Canada, you’re at a disadvantage to get a good job, even as a driver or anything like that.
在过去的20年里，基金会帮助了数百名贫困儿童，尤其帮助了很多女孩。2009年，该项目得到扩展，以帮助更多在政府学校的儿童，并帮助他们提高英语语言技能。班加罗尔是一个非常国际化的城市，如果你不懂英语，只懂母语，那么你就很难找到一份好工作，即便是要成为一名司机或其他类似的工作也很受限制。

The foundation introduced a spelling bee competition. Each year, around 2,500 students participate. Winners get college scholarships and other prizes and opportunities offered by the sponsoring corporations.The scholarship to college is a really really important prize for that child because they do come from the lowest rungs of society.To be able to get through and get the scholarship to the next stage is a really springboard for their future success.To celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary, Rajendra asked filmmaker Monica Sam Tommy to produce a documentary about it.Her film Be the Future follows several students as they compete.So we chose them randomly and we chose them before the spelling bee took place because we wanted to see the process that they were going through.
基金会发起了一场拼写比赛。每年约有2500名学生参加。获奖者可获得大学奖学金和赞助公司提供的其他奖品和机会。上大学的奖学金对这些孩子来说是一个非常重要的奖励，因为他们来自社会的最底层。获得奖学金进入下一学习阶段是一个非常好的跳板，有助于他们在未来取得成功。为了庆祝该项目成立10周年，拉金德拉请制片人莫妮卡山姆汤米制作了一部关于它的纪录片。她的电影《未来》讲述了几个学生在比赛中的表现。我们随机选择了几名学生，这是在拼写比赛之前就选择完毕的，因为我们想看到他们所经历的过程，

Practicing at school, practicing at home, early in the morning, late at night.One of those random kids was the winner.She’s a girl that says to herself, only through me making this happen.Am I not only gonna get myself a better future, but also my family, and then community. Program organizers hope the documentary will inspire more children to embark on the exciting journey that spells success for their future.
包括在学校里练习，在家里练习，早晚不停地练习。这些孩子中，有一个孩子成为了获奖者。这个女孩对自己说，只有我才能让这一切实现。我不仅会给自己一个更好的未来，我还会给我的家人、我的社区带来更好的未来。节目组织者希望这部纪录片能激励更多的孩子踏上这段令人兴奋的旅程，为他们的未来带来成功。

For writer Faiza el-masri. I’m Faith Lapidus VOA news
撰稿人Faiza el-masri，美国之音记者Faith Lapidus报道