VOA慢速英语2016 孩子们和“人们最好的朋友”一起学习（在线收听）

AS IT IS 2016-07-25 Kids Learn With 'Man's Best Friend 孩子们和“人们最好的朋友”一起学习

In American English we have an expression: “A dog is a man's best friend.”

在美式英语里有句话是这么说的：“狗是人类最好的朋友。”

A dog can also be a child’s best friend, especially if that child is having difficulty reading.

狗狗也可以是孩子最好的朋友，特别是当孩子有阅读障碍的时候。

An organization called Reading Education Assistance Dogs, or R.E.A.D, has been using dogs to help children learn to read since 1999.

一个名叫“狗狗助力阅读教育（READ）”的组织自1999年起用狗狗来帮助孩子们学习阅读。

The idea is that sharing a book with a kind listener increases the confidence of the students. It can also increase their love of reading.

出发点是和温和的聆听者共读一本书可以增强学生的自信。还可以增强他们对于阅读的热爱。

Listeners include Izzy. Izzy is a cute, scruffy therapy dog and a regular visitor to Public School 57 (P.S. 57) in East Harlem, New York.

这些聆听者中就包括丽兹。丽兹是一只可爱的、毛茸茸的治疗犬，也是纽约东哈林区57公立学校的常客。

Students meet him in the library, pick out a book and sit down on the carpet. Izzy snuggles up to them and gets ready to hear a story.

学生们在图书馆里看见他，拿起一本书然后坐到地毯上。丽兹蜷成一团依偎着他们，准备听故事了。

I love reading to Izzy because he listens to me, and he doesn’t make fun of me when I make a mistake.

“我喜欢给丽兹念故事，因为他会好好听着，我念错了也不会笑话我。”

Nine-year-old Aelane Vasquez is in the third grade. Her parents are from Mexico. She is among the 15 students of Latin American descent at the school who were selected for the program.

九岁的艾莲·瓦斯奎兹正在读三年级。她的父母来自墨西哥。她是该校被选中参加该项目的15名拉丁裔学生之一。

Bridget McElroy teaches English as a Second Language at P.S. 57.

布丽吉特·麦克尔罗伊在57公立学校教授英语外语。

All the students that we worked with in the R.E.A.D. program were behind reading levels at the beginning of the year. Most of them have caught up to where they should have entered, if not surpassed that.

“READ项目里的所有学生都是年初的时候阅读等级不达标的。大多数人都达到了本该达到的水平，即使没有超过的话。”

That achievement is important. Reading at grade level when kids are young is linked to how well they will do in school later. Studies show that kids who can’t read as well as they should when they are nine years old are less likely to graduate high school by the time they are nineteen.

这是很重要的成就。孩子们小时候的阅读等级关系到他们日后在学校的表现。研究表明如果孩子在九岁的时候达不到应有的阅读水平，在19岁的时候就很难高中毕业。

McElroy says she sees a great difference in Aelane and her classmates. The difference is not just in their reading levels. She also sees their increased love and excitement of reading. The teacher calls this phenomenal.

麦克尔罗伊说她看到艾莲和她的同学们有了很大的变化。变化不仅仅是阅读水平上的。她还发现他们对阅读的热爱和兴奋感也增强了。这位老师觉得这很重要。

Not only do the kids have time to practice reading, what we are really seeing is that they are excited to read, and they are motivated to practice even when Izzy is not here. And as a classroom teacher that’s phenomenal because, you know, there is very little I can do to convince a kid to go home and practice reading, where 20 minutes a week with Izzy is all that they need.

“这些孩子们不仅有时间阅读了，我们真正看到的是他们对待阅读的热情，就算丽兹不在身边，他们也有动力去练习。作为一个班主任来说这是很重要的，因为你知道，我不可能看着每一个孩子回家练习阅读，每周丽兹陪读的20分钟就够了。”

The R.E.A.D. teams from New York Therapy Animals work with 175 kids at P.S. 57 and nine other schools. The popular program plans to expand to even more schools in New York City next year.

READ团队来自“纽约治疗动物项目”，与57公立学校的175名学生以及其他九所学校合作。这个受欢迎的项目计划明年和纽约的更多学校开展合作。

Words in This Story

confidence – n. a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something

cute – adj. having a pleasing and usually youthful appearance

scruffy – adj. not neat, clean, or orderly

therapy – n. treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder

carpet – n. a heavy fabric cover for a floor

snuggle – v. to lie or sit close together in a comfortable position

excited – v. to cause feelings of enthusiasm in (someone) : to make (someone) feel energetic and eager to do something : excitement – n.

phenomenal – adj. very good or great : unusual in a way that is very impressive

convince – v. to cause (someone) to believe that something is true