Education Report - Students Try to Cut Federal Budget in Online Game
教育报道 - 学生们在网络游戏中削减预算
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
Some people think of politics as a game. But an online game lets people think of themselves doing one of the hardest jobs in American politics: cutting the federal budget. The game is called Budget Hero.
有些人认为政治就是游戏。但一个在线游戏让人们觉得自己是在做美国政治中最为艰难的工作之一：削减联邦预算。这个游戏被称为《预算英雄》。
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Students in Los Angeles and other cities have been playing it. Budget Hero lets them decide how they want to spend federal tax dollars.
洛杉矶和其它城市的学生一直在玩这个游戏。
STUDENT: "A simplified tax code and a tax code that more fairly and correctly taxes the wealth in this country is obviously preferable."
学生：“简化税法以及对美国富豪公平合理征税显然是更可取的。”
The game uses information from the Congressional Budget Office. It shows what effects each cost-cutting proposal would have.
《预算英雄》让他们决定如何使用联邦税款。该游戏采用了来自美国国会预算办公室的数据，它能显示出每项降低成本的提议会有什么效果。
High school student Dory Bennett says she thinks spending cuts are needed to keep the economy growing and keep the American dream alive.
高中学生多莉·贝内特（Dory Bennett）说，她认为削减开支必须保持经济增长，保证美国梦延续下去。
DORY BENNETT: "I want to grow up, go to college, get a good job, have kids maybe, a dog and a house."
贝内特：“我想要长大，上大学，找到一份好工作，也许再生个孩子，有个房子有只狗。”
The students consider the same issues facing lawmakers in Washington.
学生们认为摆在华盛顿立法者面前的是同样的问题。
The game was developed in two thousand eight. In the newest version, students make decisions about what spending is important to them. Do they want to reduce taxes? Spend more on environmental protection? What should they do about defense spending? Making these decisions helps clarify their goals.
该游戏于2008年开发。在其最新版本中，学生们可以决定什么支出对他们是非常重要的。他们想要减税吗？在环保上花更多钱？他们该怎么处理国防开支？做这些决定帮助学生们明确他们的目标。
A former Democratic representative from California offered students some ideas. Jane Harmon served in Congress for almost twenty years. She now heads the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which helped create Budget Hero. More than one million people have played it so far, she says, and she thinks they have learned at least two things.
一位来自加州的前民主党代表给学生们提供了一些建议。简·哈蒙(Jane Harmon)在国会干了近20年。她现在负责伍德罗·威尔逊国际学者中心，该机构帮助开发了《预算英雄》。她表示，截至目前，已有超过一百万人玩过这个游戏，她认为他们至少学到了两件事情。
JANE HARMON: "One, how hard it is, but two, that it can be done if there's a will to do it."
哈蒙：“第一，它的困难。第二，如果想做就能做到。”
注：这两点都是指指削减预算。
Student Jeffrey Burke agrees.
学生杰弗里·伯克（Jeffrey Burke）对此表示同意。
JEFFREY BURKE: "The hardest thing for us to figure out was the little cuts like the gas money and stuff, increasing taxes on gas, because we felt it would have effects everywhere from the truck drivers shipping our stuff across the country or when you order from [online seller] Amazon or whatever, to you drive when you're going to work. I think we need to look at the little things and realize that just because they're small money doesn't mean they're small effects."
伯克：“对我们来说，最难弄清楚的是像汽油价格及其它，提高汽油税一类上的小削减措施。因为我们觉得它的影响将无处不在，从卡车司机四处运送我们的货物或你在亚马逊之类购物网站上的订单，到你开车去上班。我认为我们需要着眼于这些小事并认识到，金额不大，不意味着影响不大。”
Another student, Harry Kidd, says defense spending caused a lot of debate.
另一名学生哈利·基德（Harry Kidd）说，国防开支引发了很多争论。
HARRY KIDD: "Because at the same time, you've got, 'Oh, we're going to freeze military spending,' but then we're like, 'What is that going to do to jobs?' But then the other half was, 'Oh, we can take troops out of Iraq and we all agreed on that.'"
基德：“因为在同一时间，我们会想，'我们要冻结军费开支。'但随后又会思考，'那会对就业产生什么影响？'但另一方面又是，'噢，我们可以从伊拉克撤军，我们都同意撤军。'”
Joaquin Alvarado at American Public Media, an organization that also helped create the game, says many of the players leave comments.
美国大众传媒（American Public Media）是另一个帮助开发了该游戏的组织，该组织的乔奎因·阿尔瓦拉多（Joaquin Alvarado）表示，许多玩家都做出了评论。
JOAQUIN ALVARDO: "And they will literally in the comments ask that Congress play this game to just get a little rational around the questions that have to be answered."
阿尔瓦拉多：“他们在评论中要求美国国会也玩下这个游戏，在有待解决的问题上获得一些理性。”
Ms. Harmon says the students are having more success than Congress at cutting the budget.
哈蒙女士说，学生们在削减预算上的成功超过了国会。
JANE HARMON: "Kids, and actually adults too who play this game, have open minds. They want to learn what the facts are. And sadly, a lot of Congress is a fact-free universe, and that is tragic for our country, for our country's reputation, and for our economy and the livelihoods of millions of people who are presently out of work."
哈蒙：“玩这个游戏的孩子们和成年人头脑开放。他们想要了解事实真相。而可悲的是，很多立法机构是一个缺乏事实真相的整体，这对我们国家、我们国家的声誉、我们的经济，以及当前失业的数百万人的生计来说是悲剧性的。”
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can watch a video version of this story at voanews.cn. I'm Christopher Cruise.
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Contributing: Mike O'Sullivan |