小孩讨要铅笔激励布劳恩建立206所学校

    From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
    这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。

    Adam Braun established the organization Pencils of Promise in 2008. Its goal is to make sure all children have a chance for education. Six years later, the non-profit group is building a new school somewhere every 90 hours. It has helped more than 22,000 children in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 
    亚当·布劳恩(Adam Braun)于2008年建立了许诺铅笔组织(Pencils of Promise),其目标是确保所有儿童有机会上学。6年后,这家非营利性组织每90小时在某地建立一所新学校,帮助了两万两千多名非洲、亚洲和拉丁美洲的儿童。

    It all started when Adam Braun was a college student. He was visiting India when a boy stopped him on the street, the boy asked for money. Mr. Braun asked the boy what he would want, if he could have anything in the world.
    这一切都始于布劳恩还是个大学生的时候,当时他正在印度游玩,一个男孩在街上挡住他乞讨。布劳恩问这个男孩,如果他能得到世界上任何东西,他最想要什么。

    "I thought the answer was going to be 'a house' or 'a car' or 'a boat'. His answer was 'a pencil'. So I gave him my pencil and he just lit up with joy. I realized he never had been to school before, and that was the reality for 57 million children around the world,” Braun said.
    布劳恩说:“我认为回答会是一座房子、一辆汽车或是一艘船。但他的回答是一支铅笔。所以我把自己的铅笔送给了他,他面露喜色。我意识到他从没上过学,而这也正是全球5700万儿童的现状。”

    Adam Braun started working in finance after he graduated from college. But he never forgot the boy and the problem he represented.
    布劳恩大学毕业后开始在金融行业就职。但他从未忘记那个男孩以及他所代表的现实问题。

    "We live in a world in which every single child can have access to quality education, because we have everything necessary already. We have the capability of educating every child. So I became immensely committed to helping create that world," Braun said.
    布劳恩说:“我们生活的这个世界,每个孩子都有权力接受优质教育,因为我们已经具备所有必要条件,我们有能力教育每个孩子。所以我开始致力于帮助建立那样一个世界。”

    Mr. Braun raised money for his project by using social media. He paid for building the first Pencils of Promise school, in Laos, five years ago. Since then, his group has helped pay for more than 200 schools in rural areas of Laos, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Ghana.
    布劳恩通过社交媒体为他的项目筹集资金。5年前,他在老挝资助建立了第一所许诺铅笔学校。自那时起,该组织已经在老挝、尼加拉瓜、危地马拉和加纳的农村地区资助了超过200所学校。

    He says, his organization works closely with the local education agencies. He says the officials organize the main program of studies. But he says his group provides additional learning materials about health and water and waste systems. Pencils of Promise also works closely with communities.
    他说,该组织和当地教育机构紧密合作。他说,有关官员组织了学习的主要课程。他的组织提供有关健康、水和废物处理这些额外的学习材料。许诺铅笔组织还和社区密切合作。

    Leslie Engle Young is another Pencils of Promise employee. She says local people are willing to combine efforts and resources for children's education.
    莱斯利·恩格尔·杨(Leslie Engle Young)是许诺铅笔组织的另一位工作人员。她说当地人非常愿意为孩子们的教育去融合各种努力和资源。

    "We started saying 'OK, how can we get your 20 percent? What part of the labor can you do? What materials do you have that you can contribute to the project?' And through this really organic conversation, we start building a true partnership with these people," Young said.
    杨说:“我们一开始便问,‘我们如何能得到你们的20%?你能做什么工作?你能向我们的项目提供什么资源?’通过这些系统对话,我们开始和这些人建立真正的伙伴关系。”

    Such support helped Adam Braun decide to expand his organization's work beyond the elementary school level. Pencils of Promise developed financial plans to help students continue on to secondary school and teacher training.
    这类支持促使布劳恩决定将该组织的工作扩大到小学层次之外。许诺铅笔组织制订了财务方案帮助学生们继续接受中学教育和教师培训。

    "We are really rigorous about making sure that the programs are not just beautiful photos and videos of kids, but that we're actually seeing incredible results in the classroom. And if we're not seeing results, then we need to change our programs. That's why our kids in Pencils of Promise schools progress from one grade to the next at two times the national average,” Braun said.
    布劳恩说:“我们在认真确保该项目不仅仅是一些孩子们的漂亮照片和视频,我们在课堂上看到了令人难以置信的成绩。如果我们看不到这些成绩,我们就必须改变我们的项目。这就是为何许诺铅笔学校一年级学生升学比例是全国平均水平的两倍。”

    And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report. For more education stories, go to our website 51voa.com. I'm Christopher Cruise.
    以上就是本期美国之音慢速英语教育报道的全部内容。更多有关教育的报道请访问51voa.com。我是克里斯托弗·克鲁斯(Christopher Cruise)。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利,未经授权请勿转载,违者必究!)