VOA标准英语2011--Homeless Students Pushed to Succeed

At least one million children in the United States experience homelessness each year, putting them at increased risk for problems with their health, safety and education.
Without a fixed¹ address and with their family facing financial problems, homeless students often have difficulty registering for school, getting to class, having the proper supplies and finding a quiet place to do homework. But a school district in Dallas, Texas, where nearly half the students are homeless, is helping² those pupils are overcome the odds³.
This past summer, single mother Angela Arnold moved halfway⁴ across the United States, from North Carolina to Dallas, Texas, with her 9-year-old son Jordan. A veteran mortgage lender who'd been laid off, she expected to quickly find a new job here, where the economy's better. So she rented a room by the week in an extended-stay motel. That was more than six months ago.
When she enrolled⁵ Jordan in her neighborhood school, Arlington Park Learning Center's counselor⁶ told her she was considered homeless.
"I'm like, 'Homeless? What do you mean homeless? I'm not homeless,'" says Arnold. "And, like I said, 'I've never been put in a situation such as this.' He said, 'Well it's a homeless program you're in because you don't have a permanent address, you don't have a residency. I thought ‘Wow, OK.'"
Arnold is still looking for work while managing with her unemployment check. She is one of more than 100 Arlington Park parents considered homeless. The small school with 246 mostly black and Hispanic students sits close to Interstate 35, a busy highway. The county hospital, a women's shelter and several extended-stay hotels, where the rooms have small kitchens, are also nearby.
"We have a lot of children coming from the hotels and motels out on 35," says Mark Pierce, who runs the school district's homeless education program, including the one at Arlington Park. "So we have a lot of kids there. Every single day we get new kids from the hotels and motels."
There are at least 5,000 homeless students in Dallas schools. Pierce says families find themselves in that situation for a variety of reasons.
"A family living with another family, because they've been evicted⁷, because they're fleeing from domestic violence, because they just weren't able to afford their housing anymore, and just gave it up and moved in with somebody, they're homeless."
The school district gives their children breakfast, lunch and weekend snacks, and provides transportation to and from the hotels, motels and shelters. It helps parents too, by offering free city bus passes.
Arnold is grateful for the help she receives. "If it wasn't for the program they have here, with the clothes, the uniforms they provide, the book bags, because all our things are in storage."
Her 4th grade son, Jordan, says he loves his new school, but not the hotel.
Arlington Park Learning Center
Jordan Arnold, a 4th grade student, loves his new school but wishes he lived in a house rather than a hotel.
"I wish we were going to have a house to go in. I like Texas better because they have more schools, art schools. It's kind of good here, because it's so, it's so just good to me. It's all good to me in every way. And then all the teachers, they just want you to have a good day. That's why they're so hard on you."
They're ‘hard' on the students, says Arlington Park Principal Nikia Smith, because they want them to excel, adding that homelessness is no excuse for low expectations.
"The expectations for learning are still there, and expectations we'll get them close to the level of proficiency⁸ for testing as any of our students who've been here all year is still a very big thing we have to deal with," says Smith.
But homeless students have more than academic issues to deal with, says first-grade teacher Jacqueline Smith. It's difficult for their parents to worry about school supplies when they're not sure where their next meal is coming from.
"I needed to adapt, adapting to where I realized I had to go out sometimes and buy the comb, buy the brush, buy the lotion⁹. Have it in my drawer," she says. "They come and their hair wasn't combed. I had to comb their hair. I had to have wipes, 'Go in the bathroom and wash your face.' In a way, I became mom."
Smith expects to stay at Arlington Park until she retires, because she says, these students are like her kids.
That personalized attention might be paying off. The school's rank among Texas schools - based on student performance on math and reading tests - keeps improving.
Principal Nikia Smith says it's not the child's fault a parent is out of work, on drugs or in jail. But their home situation shouldn't affect what happens at school. At Arlington Park, she says, students will learn and everyone will defy the odds so they can shine.

1 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

2 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。

3 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

4 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

5 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。

7 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

8 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

9 lotion   

n.洗剂

参考例句：

• The lotion should be applied sparingly to the skin.这种洗液应均匀地涂在皮肤上。
• She lubricates her hands with a lotion.她用一种洗剂来滑润她的手。