VOA双语新闻：美国学校帮助无家可归的学生

　　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.

据估计，美国每年至少有100万孩子过着无家可归的生活，这增加了他们在健康、安全和教育方面出现问题的风险。

Without a fixed 1 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 helping 2 those pupils are overcome the odds 3.

由于家庭经济窘迫，没有固定住址，无家可归的学生在登记入学、到校上课、获得所需用品以及寻找安静的地方做作业等方面都存在困难。美国各地学校都在努力帮助这些孩子。以德克萨斯州达拉斯的阿灵顿公园小学为例，那里有将近一半的学生无家可归，但师生们正克服着困难。

This past summer, single mother Angela Arnold moved halfway 4 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.

去年夏天，单亲母亲安吉拉·阿诺德带着9岁的儿子乔丹，从北卡罗莱纳州搬到德克萨斯州的达拉斯。安吉拉曾经做过抵押贷款放贷员，后来失业。她估计能很快在经济状况比较好的达拉斯找到一份新工作。所以她在一家汽车旅馆以每星期付费的方式租了一间客房。那是6个多月以前的事。

When she enrolled 5 Jordan in her neighborhood school, Arlington Park Learning Center’s counselor 6 told her she was considered homeless.

当安吉拉为儿子乔丹在邻近的阿灵顿公园小学登记入学的时候，学校的咨询员告诉她，她被认为是无家可归者。

"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.’"

安吉拉说：“什么？我看上去像无家可归？我不是无家可归。我以前从来没有过这种经历。咨询员说，因为你没有永久地址，没有固定住所，所以你加入的是一个无家可归项目。最后我想，那行吧。”

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.

阿灵顿公园小学很小，只有246名学生，绝大多数是黑人和拉美裔。学校靠近35号州际公路，附近有县医院、一座妇女庇护所以及几家可长期租住的旅馆。

"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."

校区无家可归教育项目负责人马克·皮尔斯说：“我们有很多孩子都来自35号州际公路附近的旅馆或者汽车旅馆。”

There are at least 5,000 homeless students in Dallas schools. Pierce says families find themselves in that situation for a variety of reasons.

达拉斯的学校至少有5千名无家可归的学生。皮尔斯说，有多种原因导致这些家庭无家可归。

"A family living with another family, because they’ve been evicted 7, 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."

“比如一家人和另外一家人住在一起，要么是他们被赶了出来，要么是因为躲避家庭暴力，要么是因为付不起钱，所以不得不放弃自己的房子，搬到其他人那里住。于是他们成为了无家可归者。”

The school district gives their children breakfast, lunch and weekend snacks, and provides transportation between the hotels, motels and shelters. It helps parents too, by offering free city bus passes.

学校为孩子们提供早餐、午餐和周末点心，在学校和旅馆、汽车旅店或者庇护所之间接送孩子，不仅如此，校区还帮助孩子的家长，为他们提供免费的城市公交乘车卡。

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."

安吉拉·阿诺德很感谢她得到的帮助。她说：“如果不是有这个项目，提供衣服、校服、书包，我真不知道该怎么过。因为我们所有的东西都在库房里呢。”

Her 4th grade son, Jordan, says he loves his new school, but not the hotel.

安吉拉现在上四年级的儿子乔丹说，他喜欢新学校，但是不喜欢住旅馆。

"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."

他说：“我希望我们能住在一个房子里。我喜欢德克萨斯，因为他们有更多的学校，艺术学校。在这里挺好的，因为这里对我真的很好。还有老师们，他们就是想着让你每天都过得好。这就为什么他们对学生很严格的原因。”

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.

阿灵顿公园学校校长尼基亚·史密斯表示，老师们之所以对学生很严格，是因为他们希望孩子们能够获得出色的成绩。她补充说，无家可归不是降低要求和期望值的借口。

"The expectations for learning are still there, and expectations we’ll get them close to the level of proficiency 8 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.

一年级老师杰奎琳·史密斯谈到，无家可归的学生们除了课业之外，还有其它的问题需要面对。

"I needed to adapt, adapting to where I realized I had to go out sometimes and buy the comb, buy the brush, buy the lotion 9. 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."

她说：“我刚来的时候，也需要适应，得惦记着去买梳子，买牙刷，买护肤品。孩子们来上学，有时连头发都没有梳。我得给他们梳头发。我得备好手巾，让他们去洗手间洗脸。从某种意义上说，我成了他们的妈妈。”

Smith expects to stay at Arlington Park until she retires, because she says, these students are like her kids.

杰奎琳·史密斯表示，她会一直在阿灵顿公园学校干到退休。她说，这些学生就像自己的孩子。

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.

她的校长则表示，人性化的关怀正在取得成功。这所学校在德克萨斯州学校当中的排名一直在进步。

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.

尼基亚·史密斯校长指出，家长没有工作、吸毒或者进了监狱，不是孩子的过错。但是家庭环境不应当影响孩子们在学校的学习。她说，在阿灵顿公园小学，每个人都将克服困难，让孩子们发出光彩。