This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
Ballou High School in Washington might not seem the mostly likely school to have a lacrosse team.
华盛顿Ballou高中可能看上去不大像有一支长曲棍球队的学校。
But lacrosse has grown beyond the popular image of a sport mainly for wealthy private schools. Ballou is a public school in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city. In the past six years, more than forty students have died violent deaths. Many were the result of drug violence.
但长曲棍球队已经超出了主要存在于有钱的私立学校这一普遍印象。Ballou是位于华盛顿最贫穷的街区之一的一所公立学校。在过去六年里，四十多名学生死于暴力冲突，其中大部分是由于毒品暴力。
Ballou has just had its first year with a lacrosse team. The team is for girls. They lost every game. But their coach, Holly McGarvie, says this was also the first time they ever played.
Ballou刚刚度过拥有一只长曲棍球队的第一年。这是一支女子球队。她们场场比赛都败北。但她们的教练霍莉·麦加维（Holly McGarvie）表示，这也是她们第一次打球。
HOLLY McGARVIE: "You know, I think the goal each year is going to change. This year, I think, just starting and building a foundation that we can build from and create a tradition of women's lacrosse here at Ballou."
麦加维：“你知道，我认为每年的目标都会不同。今年刚刚起步，正在尽力打好基础，并在Ballou创建女子长曲棍球的传统。”
Lacrosse is a fast-moving sport, the modern version of a game played by American Indians. Teams try to make goals with a ball caught and thrown using a net at the end of a stick.
长曲棍球是一项快速移动的运动，它是一种印第安土著游戏的现代版本。各队使用一根顶部带网的球杆来传接球从而完成进球目标。
School officials decided to make changes at Ballou after less than sixty percent of the senior class graduated in two thousand six. Since then the graduation rate has improved by ten to fifteen percent. Rahman Branch, the school principal, says one change was to increase activities after the school day.
在2006年高年级班不到60%的毕业率后，学校官员决定做出改变。自那以后，毕业率提高了10%到15%。学校校长拉曼·布兰奇（Rahman Branch）表示，变化之一是增加了课后活动。
RAHMAN BRANCH: "We decided to take some more approaches to add on to them being comfortable being a kid, to now making sure they are a kid who knows what they want, what it takes to get there, and then has the stamina to go through."
布兰奇：“我们决定采取更多措施来增加孩子们的舒适，来确保他们知道自己想要什么，如何达到目标，然后拥有达到目标的毅力。”
Mr. Branch says Holly McGarvie was a perfect match for Ballou. She was on a national team and a star player at Princeton University. She was in her first year of teaching. She wanted to take the lessons she learned from sports and use them in teaching biology.
布兰奇先生表示，麦加维和Ballou高中是绝配。她曾是国家队成员以及普林斯顿大学的明星球员。这是她执教的第一年。她想要吸取从体育中学到的经验，并将其应用到生物学教学中。
Coach McGarvie says the first practices for the new team were difficult. Some players got angry at one another. She helped them learn to keep their mind on the game.
麦加维教练说，这支新球队的第一次实战是非常困难的。一些球员之间互相埋怨。她帮助她们在比赛中专注投入。
HOLLY McGARVIE: "On our way home from our first game, from Wilson, and we are all talking about it, and the girls are extremely excited. Despite the loss of, I think, maybe eleven to one, you know, they were already in the mindset of what can we do better?"
麦加维：“在我们第一场比赛后从威尔逊回家的路上，我们都在讨论比赛。队员们非常兴奋。尽管比赛输了，我想比分可能是11：1。但你知道，她们已经进入“哪些方面我们能做得更好”的心态中。”
Tylashia Joyner says lacrosse has helped her think more about her future.
特娜西·乔伊纳（Tylashia Joyner）说，长曲棍球帮助她更多地思考未来。
TYLASHIA JOYNER: "I will want to play in college because it will keep me in shape and it will help me stay focused and want to do something. Because if you want to play a sport, you have to have your grades up."
乔伊纳：“在大学里我还想打长曲棍球，因为它让我保持身材，还能帮助我在做事时保持专注与进取心。因为如果你想从事一项体育运动，你必须一直进步。”