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美国国际开发署拨款逾2亿资助五国女童教育

Hollywood stars Alicia Keys, Jennifer Garner¹ and 30 others have voiced their support for a U.S.-backed initiative called Let Girls Learn.  The $231 million program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, is aimed at ensuring public and quality education for girls worldwide. The new program will focus on five countries in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

好莱坞明星艾莉西亚?凯斯（Alicia Keys ）、珍妮弗?加纳（Jennifer Garner）同其他30位名流对美国政府支持并发起的“让女孩学习” （Let Girls Learn）项目表示拥护。美国国际开发署（USAID）为这个项目资助2亿3千1百万美元，目的是保障世界范围的女童能够得到高质量的公共教育。这个项目主要集中在非洲、南亚、拉美和中东共计五个国家中实施。

“In Nigeria, hundreds of young girls were kidnapped as they prepared for their final exams at a boarding school, in Pakistan, a girl was shot,” says an USAID add.

The U.S. Agency for International Development partners with celebrities² to call attention to the importance of education for girls worldwide.

美国国际开发署与名人联手，呼吁公众关注全球女童受教育问题的重要性。

“For them to be motivated by Malala, for them to be motivated by the kidnapping of the girls in Nigeria ... that means we have a whole new group of people that we can educate,” said Christie Vilsack, a USAID senior advisor³ for international education.

“（巴基斯坦少女）玛拉拉、尼日利亚女孩被绑架事件，这些都推动人们关注这项问题。这都意味着我们有着一群全新的受众去接受教育。”

Today, the agency reports that 62 million girls are not in school, and some who insist on getting an education risk their lives.

据开发署介绍，今天，仍有6千2百万女孩没有机会上学，另有一些女孩在冒着生命危险坚持读书。

In Pakistan, teenage activist⁴ Malala Yousafzai was shot two years ago for her campaign against Taliban efforts to deny girls an education.  On September 12, Pakistani authorities announced the arrest of 10 people believed to be responsible.

在巴基斯坦，维权少女玛拉拉?尤萨法扎伊两年前开展运动，反对塔利班禁止女孩接受教育，她遭受枪击。9月12日，巴基斯坦官方宣布逮捕了据信为此负有责任的10名嫌疑人。

Meanwhile in Nigeria, hundreds of school girls are still missing after being kidnapped by the Islamist militant⁵ group Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is a sin" in the local Hausa language.

同时在尼日利亚，有数百名女学生被伊斯兰武装组织“博科圣地”绑架后下落不明。“博科圣地”组织的名字在当地豪萨语里的意思是“西式教育是罪孽”。

But Ugandan Mandela Fellow Cyrus Kawalya says education is key to reaching one's full potential. “Education helps you open up your mind.  Once you open up your mind, then you choose what information works for you and how you are going to work with it," Kawalya explains. "Without education you cannot open up your mind, then what would you do.”

但是，乌干达2014年曼德拉奖学金获得者赛勒斯?卡瓦里亚说，教育是实现个人所有潜能的关键。他说：“教育帮助你打开心扉。一旦开放了你的思想，那么你就可以选择那些你喜欢的知识，和如何利用这些你喜欢的知识。没有教育，就没有思想的开化，你就做不成事。”

USAID recently announced it will provide $231 million to fund programs for primary and secondary schools in Afghanistan, Jordan, Guatemala, South Sudan and Nigeria.

美国国际开发署最近宣布他们会提供2亿3千1百万美元来资助阿富汗、约旦、危地马拉、南苏丹和尼日利亚的中小学教育项目。

“In Nigeria, part of those resources would go for training quality teachers and that is really an important part of it too," Vilsak states. "About 250,000 girls will be affected⁶.”

美国国际开发署的维萨克说：“在尼日利亚，一部分资金会用于培训有高素质的教师，这也是这个项目非常重要的一部分。将会有大约250万女孩因此受益。”

While a lot progress has been made in getting children to schools in general, a recent report by the World Bank shows that in a number of countries, about 70 percent of students in the second and third grades could not read a simple paragraph.  Christie Vilsack, says her agency uses a new system to assess students. “I was in Pakistan and got to see the children taking this 10 minute test that very quickly evaluates their fluency⁷, their ability to recognize letters, to name and pronounce the sound of them," she said.

虽然总体而言，推动儿童教育的努力已取得不少进展，但世界银行最近的一份报告显示，在一些国家，大约70%的二、三年级学生连一段文字都不能阅读。维萨克说，这次美国国际开发署将会启用新系统来评估学生们的能力。她说：“我当时在巴基斯坦，有机会看到那里的孩子们花费10分钟做这份测验，这份测验可以快速评价他们认字的流利程度、能否明白字词的意思，并把它们念出来。”

She says the agency is working hard to train teachers to make sure the children are not just memorizing, but truly understanding what they are studying.

她还说，美国国际开发署正在努力培训教师，确保学生在学习的时候不是死记硬背，而是真正理解了他们所学的知识。