VOA慢速英语2015 美国学生抗议高昂的教育成本

Students Protest High Cost of Education 美国学生抗议高昂的教育成本

For VOA Learning English, this is the Higher Education Report.

来自VOA学习英语，这里是高等教育频道

Thousands of protesters marched through London on Wednesday to express anger about the rising cost of higher education.

周三，数千名学生抗议者在伦敦反对逐步提高的高等教育支出

The UK joins a growing list of countries that saw angry crowds of students taking to the streets over the past year. South Africa and Chile both had large protests of the cost of higher education in the last few months.

现在，英国也加入了被抗议高等教育收费过高的国家。前几个月，南非、智利都曾经被许多抗议者抗议过这个问题

A plan to cut government money that supports full-time 1 university students is the reason for the London protests. This money, called maintenance 2 grants, helps full-time higher education students with the cost of living. Students do not have to pay the money back to the government.

政府削减了对大学生的资金支持是这次伦敦抗议的主要原因。这些钱是用来帮助在校大学生用以生活支出的。毕业后不用把这笔钱还给国家

British Member of Parliament George Osborne announced in June that maintenance grants would no longer be available. Osborne said that starting in 2016, the government will offer maintenance loans instead. These loans will need to be paid back.

英国议员George Osborne7月宣布，英国政府将不再提供大学生补助。计划将从2016年起实施，但是会提供生活贷款。这些贷款将来是需要还给政府的

Cuts to supports for students will affect low and middle income students the most, critics say.

批评人士指出，这项计划只会影响到那些来自低收入或者中等收入家庭的孩子

The problem of higher education costs for poorer people was also at the center of the South African demonstrations 3. The University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg announced that it would increase fees by 10.5 percent in 2016. Student protests then caused the university to stop all activity on October 14.

南非国内，低收入家庭孩子对于高等教育学费负担不起的问题也很严重。约翰内斯堡Witwatersrand大学宣布，从2016年起，学费上涨10.5%。然后学生开始抗议，10月4日，学校一切活动被迫停止

Demonstrations spread to several other universities across the country as well as outside parliament. The protests quickly became the largest in the country since the end of Apartheid in 1994. Apartheid was the social system in South Africa that began in 1948. During the period of Apartheid, black people and people of other races did not have the same rights as white people.

示威活动在几所大学的校园里以及议会外面举行。很快成为了自1994年南非种族隔离接受以来最大规模的示威游行。南非种族歧视政策始于1948年，当时是南非的一项社会制度，从开始到废除期间，黑人和其他种族无法享受到和白人一样的待遇

South African President Jacob Zuma declared on October 23 there would be no increase to university fees. However, the protests still have not ended. Income inequality and racism 4 are also issues protesters want the government to recognize.

南非总统祖玛10月23日宣布不允许大学涨学费。但是抗议活动还没有终止，因为他们还想让政府解决收入不平衡和种族歧视问题

The University of Witwatersrand recently released a study of these issues. The results of that study show 60 percent of the country's black African workers live in poverty.

最近Witwatersrand大学发表了关于这些问题的一项调查，结果显示南非有60%的黑人工人生活在贫困线以下

Chile's protests throughout this year are part of a longer struggle as well. The Confederation of Chilean Student Federations 5, or CONFECH, is an organization that fights for change to the country's education system. CONFECH began organizing university students in 2011. Their goal was to get the government to improve the public education system.

今年，智利学生也在高等教育问题上做了很久的斗争。智利学生联盟，简称CONFECH是专门为国家大学教育权益斗争的组织。从2011年起，由智利大学生发起。他们的目标是帮助政府提高公共教育系统效率

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's promises to change the education system helped her win the 2013 election. Bachelet signed a bill on Monday giving control of the entire public education system to the central government. This bill would share resources in all schools equally.

2013年总统大选的时候，当时智利总统许诺要对智利教育系统进行改革。周一，Bachelet签署了由中央政府对所有公共教育进行管理的文件。这将使得所有学校都能得到同等待遇的资源共享

But, many of the protesters say the President has not done enough. Protesters include in their demands free university education for all people. Bachelet has promised free university education for 70 percent of the country's poorest people.

但是还有反对者表示总统做的还不够。因为他们还要去向所有人开放免费的大学教育。Bachelet已经保证将对国内70%的贫困人口提供免费教育

Demonstrations continue, though, as it is not clear how the country will pay for free higher education.

抗议还在继续，但是目前还不是很清楚国家是不是真的会为人们的大学教育买单

An important quality uniting these protests around the world is the use of social media. The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, or NCAFC, is a London-based organization that fights tuition 6 fees and education cuts. NCAFC created the hashtag #GrantsNotDebt to spread information about Wednesday's protests over the Internet.

全世界这些反对者有一个共性就是他们广泛使用了社会媒体的力量。伦敦方面，组织抗议活动的组织者就在推特上标注了一个#要生活费不要贷款的标签，并在学生中间广泛传播

Organizers in South Africa used the hashtag #FeesMustFall.

南非的组织者用的是#降低大学费用

Chilean protesters use Twitter and Facebook to share photos and stories of what is happening in the streets.

智利反对学生用推特和FB在网上直播街上游行动态

Violence has also been present at some of the protests. South African police used water cannon 7 and stun 8 grenades on protestors in the city of Pretoria. A property owner shot and killed two young men in the Chilean city of Valparaiso in May. The young men were hanging a sign on the side of the property owner's building.

在一些抗议活动中已经出现了一些暴力事件。南非警察使用水枪和催泪弹对付抗议学生。一名房主开枪打死智利两名年轻学生，因为两名学生在房主的屋子上挂横幅

Groups in all three countries continue working to make education cheaper and easier to access. The NCAFC has plans for another march on November 17. British Labor 9 Party member John McDonnell voiced his concerns at the march on Wednesday.

3个国家的各个组织都在为降低大学费用和门槛努力。NCAFC已经计划在11月17日举行又一次游行。英国劳动党成员对周三游行表示担忧

"Education is a gift from one generation to another," he told marchers. "It is not a commodity 10 to be bought or sold."

“教育对于每一代人来说都是礼物，而不是可以用来讨价还价的日用品”

Ralph Mathekga studies politics in South Africa. He told VOA

Ralph Mathekga在南非学习政治，他告诉VOA

that these protests could mean major changes in the African National Congress, or ANC. The ANC will have local elections next year. Mathekga believes that the protests show a change in the way people will vote.

这些反对者可能会导致南非国会发生很大改变。南非国会在下一年将举行地区选举。Ralph Mathekga相信反对活动会影响人们的投票

"What we have seen is actually the [growing] power of the middle class in South Africa," Mathekga said. "And the question is: how far is this going to go?"

“我们现在看到的是南非越来越强大的中产阶级力量，以及，抗议活动能够带来多大程度的改变”

The cost of higher education is a major issue in the United States as well. The Institute for College Access and Success is an organization that studies the cost of education. The organization released a report on Tuesday about debt from student loans in the US. The report shows that 69 percent of higher education students used loans to pay for school in 2014. The average loan debt among those students is $28,950.

在美国，高等教育收费过高也是很严重的问题，大学教育机会和成功研究所就是一家专门研究教育花费的机构。周二，该组织发表一项关于美国学生贷款的问题。2014年，美国有69%的大学生使用学生贷款来支付学费，每个学生平均贷款金额为2.895万元

Next week we will look at ways some students avoid debt and find cheaper ways to get an education.

下周，我们将介绍一些避免学生贷款，用更便宜的方式获得教育资源的方法

Words in This Story

income – n. money that is earned from work, investments or business

inequality – n. an unfair situation in which some people have more rights or better opportunities than other people

racism – n. poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race

tuition – n. money that is paid to a school for the right to study there

hashtag – n. a word or phrase beginning with a hash or pound sign (#) and used to identify messages on a specific topic

cannon – n. a large gun

stun grenade(s) – an object that is used to cause a sudden, loud, and violent release of energy, making a person unable to move or think clearly, without injury

cheaper - adj. costing less money

commodity – n. something that is bought and sold