VOA常速英语:Virginia Teacher Takes Remote Classes to a Treehouse Level

Hello, how are you today?
你们好，今天过得怎么样？
Nelle Williams, an elementary school teacher from Fairfax Virginia,
奈尔·威廉姆斯是弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯的一名小学教师，
probably has the most unusual office in the whole school district.
她的办公室可能是整个学区最不寻常的办公室。
My students now say "Oh I want one, I want one."
我的学生现在会说“我想要一个，我想要一个。”
and I said I know its very cool,
我说我知道这很酷，
but you cannot get upset with your parents if you can, if they cannot all build you a tree house.
但如果你的父母不能给你建一个树屋，你不能生他们的气。
The idea to transform a miniature tree house into school office,
把一个微型树屋改造成学校办公室的想法，
didnt come to Williams at the start of the pandemic.At first like thousands of other school teachers, she tried to work from home.
并不是威廉姆斯在疫情之初想到的。起初，像其他成千上万的学校老师一样，她尝试在家工作。
But she was surrounded by her own family and had a hard time concentrating.
但她周围全是自己的家人，很难集中注意力。
There are four of us in the house all doing jobs and distance learning.
我们家里有四个人都在工作和远程学习。
I have two daughters and my husbands home, too,
我两个女儿、我丈夫都在家，
and we have a cat and two quite large dogs and we just acquired a third.
我们养了一只猫和两只很大的狗，我们刚买了第三只。
So its a little distracting.
所以有点让人分心。
It was Williamss friend who drew her attention to the cozy tree house,
是威廉姆斯的朋友让她注意到了这座舒适的树屋，
where Nelles daughters once played when they were smaller.
奈尔的女儿们小时候曾经在那里玩耍。
Our friend Corey Hannah looked up and said, "you know, I think thats should be your classroom for the year."
我们的朋友科里·汉娜抬起头说：“你知道吗，我觉得那应该是你今年的教室。”
And so we kind of thought about it and thought it sounded silly at first,
所以我们考虑了一下，一开始听起来很傻，
but the next day we decided to go to Home Depot and lowes and kind of look around,
但第二天我们决定去家得宝和洛家看看，
and we said "Okay. Lets do it!"
我们说：“好吧。就让我们这么做吧!”
The first thing to go through a transformation was a rope ladder.
首先要做的是一个滑索。
Williams needed something sturdier for her new office.
威廉姆斯的新办公室需要更坚固的东西。
The porch needed to be redone and I stained all of this and I went to pick out colors of stain,
门廊需要重做，我把所有的东西都弄花了，我又去挑与污渍相配的颜色，
and my daughter said "Mom, just get green, so it blends."
我女儿说:“妈妈，买绿色的吧，这样就混搭了。”
And Im an elementary school teacher.
我是小学老师。
I dont want it to blend and I want it to be bright and cheery.
我不想让它混在一起，我希望它是明亮的和快乐的。
Inside the treehouse the ceiling and walls needed to be properly insulated.
在树屋内，天花板和墙壁需要适当地隔热。
The floor was fully changed as well.
地板也完全改变了。
Basically Williams made a full renovation just on a smaller scale.
基本上，威廉姆斯只是在较小的规模上进行了全面的改造。
She even made sure there was internet access.
她甚至确保有互联网接入。
I am hardwired and I plug in every morning.
我是硬连线控制的，每天早上都要插电。
My husband and his friend Alex dug a 150 foot trench to bury the Ethernet cable in pvc piping,
我丈夫和他的朋友亚历克斯挖了一条150英尺长的沟渠把以太网电缆埋在PVC管道里，
and dug drilled a hole into our house and its it.
在我们的房子里挖了个洞，就这样了。
This is literally coming from my home.
这实际上是从我家引过来的。
They worked on the renovation all summer and finished just in time for the new school year.
他们整个夏天都在装修，正好赶上新学年。
Next Williams hopes to repair the old zipline.
接下来，威廉姆斯希望修复旧的滑索。
That way getting into the treehouse will be more fun.
这样进入树屋会更有趣。
When my husband was building the staircase,
我丈夫在修楼梯的时候，
I said "No, no, no.You cant put, you cant build put that piece on,
我说:“不，不，不。你不能把它，你不能把它建起来，
you have to leave that so we can access the zipline."
你必须把它留下，这样我们才能使用滑索。“
Now he still has to build a platform, so we can get on to it.
现在他还得建一个平台，这样我们才能上去。
Williams often has company in her tree house office: her cat and dogs pop by.
威廉姆斯的树屋办公室经常有陪伴：她的猫和狗会顺道来访。
Her students love the innovative space.
她的学生们喜欢这种创新的空间。
And since most of them chose distant learning in the spring semester as well,
由于他们大多数人在春季学期也选择了远程学习，
Williams will spend at least the next six months hard at work up in a tree.
威廉姆斯至少要在接下来的六个月里在树屋里努力工作。
For Licia Pocalypse in Fairfax Virginia Anna Rice VOA news
VOA新闻，Licia Pocalypse撰稿，Anna Rice报道