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1.VOA常速
【World's Economy Still Focused on Europe】
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TEXT:New reports out Friday show German business confidence declined in June.
Chinese manufacturing continues to shrink.
And the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits hit a nine-month high.
Expectations were naturally high on Friday as leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain met in Rome. Despite announcing general agreement on a $160 billion plan to revive economic growth, analysts say fixing what ails Europe will require more than money.
Thanos Veremis is a Greek political historian:
"If you want to save the euro, you have to do much more than just hand out money around, you need to create a ministry of the exchequer - or whatever you call it in England - or a minister of finance or a common fiscal policy, which we don't have in Europe," said Veremis.
Structural reforms from a European banking consortium to jointly issued euro-bonds are just a few of the ideas gaining momentum - especially after formation of a new coalition government in Greece failed to ease concerns about the deepening fiscal crisis.
With the world's major economies slowing down, some investors were eager to see stimulative action from the U.S.
But financial markets were ultimately disappointed Wednesday after U.S. central bank chairman Ben Bernanke announced only the extension of an earlier program to maintain interest rates at record lows.
Experts say the Fed still has a few options, including expanding its balance sheet to make more U.S. dollars available, but market strategist Stephen Wood says the Federal Reserve may be conserving its fire power.
"I think in some ways the Federal Reserve, like the European Central Bank - they want to keep a little bit of their powder dry just in case the financial situation in Europe gets out of control."
Despite agreement on the need to bolster economic growth, European leaders remain at odds over how to do it.
Among the thorny issues likely to come up at the European Summit in Brussels on Thursday, June 28 is a proposal to use Europe's existing bailout funds to buy debt from ailing economies in Spain, Italy and Greece.
2.VOA慢速
【Getting a Better Picture of Student Success】一种衡量学生学术成长的新方法
TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
About ten percent of spending on primary and secondary education in the United States comes from thefederal government. For ten years now, federal law has tied this spending to student performance. States have been required to show progress through yearly testing.
美国中小学教育10%左右的开支来自联邦政府。十年来，联邦法律将这项开支与学生表现联系到一起，各州需要通过年度考试展示出教育进展情况。
But states say testing tells only part of the story about efforts by schools and students to improve. So the Obama administration has eased the limits on states in measuring performance.
但各州表示，考试只能展示出学校和学生提高的部分成就。因此，奥巴马政府已经在绩效衡量上放宽了对各州的限制。
The western state of Colorado, for example, has a new assessment method. This new measurement tool is called the Colorado Growth Model. The idea is to show academic growth, not just achievement on tests. It combines test scores, family income levels, school size, the ethnicity of the student and many other factors.
美国西部的科罗拉多州有一个新的评估方法。这一新的衡量工具被称为“科罗拉多增长模型”。其理念是不仅仅是通过考试成绩来展示出学术的增长，而是结合了考试分数、家庭收入水平、学校规模，学生种族及许多其它的因素。
Bill Bonk is one of the creators of the Colorado Growth Model.
比尔·邦克（Bill Bonk）是“科罗拉多增长模型”的创建者之一。
BILL BONK: "A big part of that has been the calculation of academic growth. It’s a very fancy calculation. We’re very proud of it."
邦克：“它是一种非常别出心裁的计算方法。我们对此非常骄傲。”
The results from schools across the state are shown online on a graph. The graph shows a school’s average score on standardized tests as well as its academic growth.
全州各学校的分数都显示到一张在线的图表上。该图表显示了一所学校在标准化测试及学术增长上的平均分数。
Josh Smith is principal of a middle school in a network of public charter schools called West Denver Prep. Charter schools are publicly funded but not operated the same as traditional public schools. Mr. Smith says he likes to show his students this graph so they can see their school's progress.
乔什·史密斯（Josh Smith）是一所中学的校长，该学校是属于一个名为西丹佛预备学校（West Denver Prep）的公立特许学校网络。特许学校由政府资助，但运作方式和传统公立学校不同。史密斯先生表示，他喜欢把他的学生们展示到这张图表上，这样他们就能看到自己学校的进展情况。
Many of his students have parents who do not speak English. He likes to play word games with his students, like having them expand their vocabulary。
八年级学生胡安·索特洛（Juan Soltero）说这类游戏，以及努力学习已经帮助他提高了自我期望。他说自己想成为一名电气工程师。
Eighth grader Juan Soltero says games like these, and studying hard, have helped raise his expectations for himself. He says he wants to be an electrical engineer.
八年级学生胡安·索特洛（Juan Soltero）说这类游戏，以及努力学习已经帮助他提高了自我期望。他说自己想成为一名电气工程师。
JUAN SOLTERO: "The teachers, they really want you to learn. They really do love you. They give you support and talk you through things. It’s not just about academics. You have to be comfortable in learning so you can just stick it in your head."
索特洛：“老师们真的想要我们学习，也确实很爱我们。他们给我们支持，并贯穿事例来教育我们，而不仅仅是空谈。你必须领在学习上适应，这样才能把它们牢记到脑海里。”
On average, students enter sixth grade at West Denver Prep performing below grade level. But three years later, most are outperforming other students across the state.
平均而言，西丹佛预备学校进入六年级的学生的表现低于年级水平。但3年后，大多数学生表现要优于全州其他学生。
The new assessment method shows that, each year, the average West Denver Prep student learns more math than ninety-four percent of all the students in Colorado. Reading and writing scores also show growth.
这种新的评价方法表明，每年西丹佛预备学校的学生平均比94%的科罗拉多州的学生学习了更多的数学知识。阅读和写作分数也呈现增长。
Josh Smith says perhaps the most important thing they should learn is to believe in themselves.
史密斯表示，也许他们应该学习的最重要的事情是相信自己。
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
