2016年06月四级第2套仔细阅读 Passage 2 原文翻译及答案解析

The most important thing in the news last week was the rising discussion in Nashville about the educational needs of children. The shorthand (简写) educators use for this is "pre-K"—meaning instruction before kindergarten—and the big idea is to prepare 4-year-olds and even younger kids to be ready to succeed on their K-12 journey.

上周新闻中最重要的事情是纳什维尔关于儿童教育需求的讨论日益增多。教育工作者对此使用的简写是“pre-K”——意指幼儿园前的教学——其核心理念是为4岁及更小的孩子做好准备，以便他们在K-12教育旅程中取得成功。

But it gets complicated. The concept has multiple forms, and scholars and policymakers argue about the shape, scope and cost of the ideal program.

但这变得复杂了。这个概念有多种形式，学者和政策制定者就理想项目的形态、范围和成本进行争论。

The federal Head Start program, launched 50 years ago, has served more than 30 million children. It was based on concepts developed at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College by Susan Gray, the legendary pioneer in early childhood education research.

联邦Head Start项目于50年前启动，已服务超过3000万儿童。它基于Susan Gray在范德堡大学皮博迪学院发展的概念，她是儿童早期教育研究的传奇先驱。

A new Peabody study of the Tennessee Voluntary Pre-K program reports that pre-K works, but the gains are not sustained through the third grade. It seems to me this highlights quality issues in elementary schools more than pre-K, and indicates longer-term success must connect pre-K with all the other issues related to educating a child.

一项新的皮博迪学院关于田纳西州自愿pre-K项目的研究报告称，pre-K有效，但这种收益并未持续到三年级。在我看来，这更多地突显了小学的质量问题而非pre-K，并表明长期的成功必须将pre-K与所有其他相关教育问题联系起来。

Pre-K is controversial. Some critics say it is a luxury and shouldn't be free to families able to pay. Pre-K advocates insist it is proven and will succeed if integrated with the rest of the child's schooling. I lean toward the latter view.

pre-K是有争议的。一些批评者认为这是一种奢侈品，不应该对有能力支付的家庭免费提供。pre-K的支持者坚持认为它已被证明有效，如果与孩子的其他学校教育整合，将会成功。我倾向于后一种观点。

This is, in any case, the right conversation to be having now as Mayor Megan Barry takes office. She was the first candidate to speak out for strong pre-K programming. The important thing is for all of us to keep in mind the real goal and the longer, bigger picture.

无论如何，这是在Megan Barry市长就职之际进行的正确对话。她是第一个公开倡导强大pre-K项目的候选人。重要的是我们所有人都要牢记真正目标和更长远、更宏大的愿景。

The weight of the evidence is on the side of pre-K that early intervention (干预) works. What government has not yet found is the political will to put that understanding into full practice with a sequence of smart schooling that provides the early foundation.

证据的分量支持pre-K，即早期干预有效。政府尚未找到的是将这一理解付诸实践的政治意愿，通过一系列智能学校教育提供早期基础。

For this purpose, our schools need both the talent and the organization to educate each child who arrives at the schoolhouse door. Some show up ready, but many do not at this critical time when young brains are developing rapidly.

为此，我们的学校需要人才和组织来教育每一个来到校门的孩子。一些孩子准备好了，但许多在这个年轻大脑快速发展的关键时期并未准备好。