时差N小时:双语教育 Bilingual Education

Bilingual Education, a work in progress—Today onCongressional Moment. By the time the 13 Britishcolonies declared their independence, over twomillion people had immigrated across the ocean fromEurope. Many were British, but many more werefrom other countries, and spoke other languages. Itwas not long before bilingual education became anissue. By the mid 1800s, various states wereconducting classes in languages such as French,German, Dutch and Greek.

今日国会时刻——双语教育，仍在发展的事业。到英国13个殖民地宣布独立时，已有超过200万人穿越海洋从欧洲移民。很多人来自英国，但更多人来自其他国家，他们讲其他语言。不久之后双语教育便应运而生。到19世纪中期，各州均开设了用法语，德语，荷兰语以及希腊语讲授的课程。

Non English-speaking students received some protection under the 14th Amendment's EqualProtection Clause, ratified in 1868, and over a hundred years later, in 1968, the BilingualEducation Act was created. It was the first official federal legislation recognizing the specificneeds of students with limited English-speaking ability.

第十四条修正案的平等保护条款于1868年批准生效，这为母语为非英语的学生提供了更多保护，且在100后的1968年，国会通过了《双语教育法》。这条法案以联邦法律形式成立，它的重要意义在于认识到英语能力差的学生的特殊需求。

It gave assistance to many local districts to establish bilingual education programs. Duringthe 1980s and 90s, Congress amended the Act several times, reflecting new challenges,changing priorities and new teaching techniques.

这条法律协助了各地机构建立双语教育项目。在20世纪80年代至90年代，国会屡次修改这条法案，修改内容反应了新的挑战，不断变化的优先事项以及新式教学技巧。

The issue was, and still is, hotly debated at the grass roots level, with children coming to ourschools speaking more than 200 languages. Congress continues to wrestle with the importantissue of how best to help students from non-English speaking families move into themainstream of American life. The Bilingual Education Act is clearly a work-in-progress, andrelated issues are likely to be found in the media and on the ballots for many years to come.

进入美国学校读书的学生所说的语言超过200种，这个问题曾是并仍然是民间热议的话题。如何帮助来自非英语家庭的学生融入进美国主流生活，国会将继续设法解决这一问题。显然，双语教育仍是有待发展事业。未来许多年内媒体，竞选宣传仍会持续报道、提及相关问题。