US Children's Literature Gets National Ambassador (1/2)

Jon Scieszka, previously an elementary school teacher and now a bestselling children's book author with over 25 titles, has been given a title of his own. For the next two years, he will be the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The U.S. Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council, a nonprofit trade association for children's book publishers, recently created the position to help promote literacy and the joy of reading in young people.

John Cole of the Library of Congress was in New York, the center of the U.S. publishing industry, to announce the appointment of the first ambassador. He said that as different forms of entertainment compete for their attention, children are reading less and he is concerned with the falling numbers.

"It gets severely worse as kids hit about the fourth grade and fifth grade, and that's where we're really talking about this as an ambassador for young people's literature because part of this is to take that initial enthusiasm and to continue it."

Cole says promoting reading among young people is pertinent to the health and creativity of a democratic society and he wants to give kids more options and motivate them to become life-long readers.

参考译文：

乔恩·查斯卡，以前是位小学教师，现在是一位儿童畅销书作家，出版了超过25部作品。他自愿接受了一项称号，成为明后两年的全国青年文学大使。儿童读物委员会是非盈利性的儿童读物出版行业协会，近期，该协会同美国国会图书馆设立该项职务，意在增强青少年的读写能力，培养阅读兴趣。

国会图书馆的约翰·科尔在美国的出版行业中心——纽约宣布第一任大使正式上任。他说，由于孩子们被各种不同形式的娱乐方式吸引，阅读量也越来越少，对此，他深表忧虑。

“当孩子们升入四五年级时，情况会越来越糟。这是我们谈到青年文学大使真正要做的事，就是可以适当地提高并保持孩子们最初的阅读热情。”

科尔还说，增加青少年阅读量同民主社会的健康和创造力息息相关。他希望能给孩子们提供更多的选择，促使他们终生热爱读书。

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