EDUCATION REPORT - Helping Poor Students Go to College

EDUCATION REPORT - Helping¹ Poor Students Go to College
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, July 29, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.

More than twenty years ago, a successful American businessman made a promise to a group of twelve-year-old students in New York City. Eugene Lang said he would pay the college costs for each student who stayed in high school and graduated. He urged² the students to dream about their futures³. And he promised to do all he could to help them reach their goals.

The sixty-one students all came from families who were extremely⁴ poor. And Eugene Lang quickly realized that they needed more help than he alone could provide. So he hired a social worker and others to provide the students with services and support they would need. He called the effort the "I Have A Dream" program.

Since then, the "I Have A Dream Foundation⁵" has expanded to include more than thirteen-thousand students in twenty-seven states. Eugene Lang received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work helping young Americans who could not pay for a college education.

Eugene Lang also wanted other successful Americans to provide similar help to poor students. One of these is George Weiss. In nineteeen-eighty-seven, he made the same promise to one-hundred-twelve young students in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Only twenty students from that group graduated from college. But Mister⁶ Weiss did not stop. He has started four similar programs in the past seventeen years. He calls his program "Say Yes To Education."

Now, Mister Weiss is beginning another such program for four-hundred students in five schools in New York City. The students are only five years old. Mister Weiss is providing twenty-million dollars for the effort. He is trying to get businesses to provide thirty-million dollars more. The twenty-million dollars will pay for the students' college costs. The other money is needed to pay for help that will increase the chances that these children will finish high school. This help includes a reading teacher and social worker for each school, and extra summer and after-school programs.

Mister Weiss says he has learned⁷ that poor families have many problems that block their children from higher education. And he says all his programs have been successful because they are helping young people become productive⁸ citizens.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. This is Steve Ember.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 urged   

v.力劝( urge的过去式和过去分词 )；强烈要求；推进；驱策

参考例句：

• She urged him to stay. 她力劝他留下。
• Urged on by the PM the police tried to end the strike. 在首相的敦促下，警方力图终止罢工。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

4 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

5 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

6 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

7 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

8 productive   

adj.能生产的，有生产价值的，多产的

参考例句：

• We had a productive meeting that solved some problems.我们开了一个富有成效的会议，解决了一些问题。
• Science and technology are part of the productive forces.科学技术是生产力。