2011年笔译练笔：新闻英语(13)

2011年笔译练笔：新闻英语(13)
 

用新闻练习笔译，这是一种好方法。

U.S. School Graduation Rate Is Rising

Dec.1st 2010

From New York Times

The nation’s high school graduation rate, which declined in the latter part of the 20th century, may have hit bottom and begun to rise, according to a report to be issued Tuesday by a nonprofit group founded by former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

“The United States is turning a corner in meeting the high school dropout epidemic,” General Powell and his wife, Alma J. Powell, wrote in a letter introducing the report.

The report cites two statistics. The national graduation rate increased to 75 percent in 2008, from 72 percent in 2001. And the number of high schools that researchers call dropout factories — based on a formula that compares a school’s 12th-grade enrollment with its 9th-grade enrollment three years earlier — declined to about 1,750 in 2008, from about 2,000 such schools in 2002.

But the report notes that progress in some states and school districts had not been matched in others. Tennessee and New York made “breakthrough gains,” sharply raising their graduation rates from 2002 to 2008, the report says. In Arizona, Utah and Nevada, graduation rates dropped significantly.

美国高中辍学率有所下降

根据一个非盈利组织周二发布的报告所显示，二十世纪下半叶，美国高中毕业率曾处下降态势，但如今已经触底反弹。这个非盈利组织是由前国务卿科林•鲍威尔所创建的。

鲍威尔上将及他的夫人阿尔玛•鲍威尔在介绍这份报告的信中称：“美国的高中辍学率已经到了下降的转折点。”

报告引用了两个数据。2001到2008年间，全国的高中毕业率从72%上升至75%。以一所学校9年级与三年后的12年级的注册率为比较标准，那些在学者们口中素有“辍学制造所”的学校在2002至2008年间也从2000所左右下降至约1750所。

但报告也指出州与州、学区与学区之间的辍学率下降程度还存在一定差距。田纳西州与纽约取得了“突破性的进展”，这两个地区的毕业率在2002年2008年间有显著的上升;相反地，亚利桑那州、犹他州与内华达州的高中毕业率却有大幅度的下降。

Tips：

Colin L Powell

科林·卢瑟·鲍威尔 (Colin Luther Powell)1937年4月5日出生于美国纽约，父母是牙买加移民，父亲是码头的搬运工，母亲是缝纫工。鲍威尔的大学时代是在纽约市立学院度过的，1958年获地理学学士学位。

为四星上将，指挥了海湾战争，并取得了战争的胜利。

2001年1月至2005年1月任国务卿，是美国历史上第一位黑人国务卿。