Study Raises Questions About Reading Program in US (1/2) 

A federal program in the United States called Reading First has received one billion dollars a year for the past several years. The money has gone to school systems to get them to use scientifically based ways to teach reading. The goal is to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade.

The Bush administration's education law, the No Child Left Behind Act of Two Thousand One, established Reading First. Now, the Department of Education has released findings from a study of the program.

On average, teachers using it increased the time they taught reading skills like phonics and vocabulary. But the study also found, on average, little or no effect on test scores in reading comprehension.

Government researchers say they are not sure how to explain the results. Critics call the program a failure and want Congress to end it. The program also came under attack after Education Department officials were accused of conflicts of interest with reading publishers.

Congress cut the billion-dollar budget by almost two-thirds this year. But federal officials want to continue the program. The study did find improvements in some cases.

参考译文：

美国一个称为“阅读为先”的联邦项目，在过去几年中，一直接受每年10亿美元的资助。这些钱融入学校系统使它们可以利用以科学为基础的方式教授阅读。其目的是帮助所有的儿童在三年级末可以阅读该年级以及以上水平的内容。

布什政府于2001年出台的教育法--《不让一个儿童掉队法案》建立了“阅读为先”项目。现在教育部公布了一份针对该项目的研究的报告。

平均而言，教师利用它增加了他们教授像看字读音以及单词积累这样阅读技巧的时间。但是，研究也发现，平均上，该项目对阅读理解考试成绩很少或几乎没有影响。

政府研究人员说他们也不确定该如何解释结果。评论家称该项目是失败的，并希望国会可以结束它。继教育部官员被指控与读物出版商的利益间存在冲突，该项目也遭到批评。

今年，国会将10亿美元的预算削减了三分之二。但是，联邦官员想继续该项目。研究表明，在某些情况下也确实发现有所改善。

TAG: voa,voa下载,voa慢速英语,voa英语,voa news,voa english,voa special,voa听力,美国之音