1What America’s Top Schools Have in Common
Four public high schools named as the best in the United States have much in common.
美国四所最佳公立高中有很多共同之处。
All four high schools have high academic requirements for students interested in admission.The four also offer a mix of challenging courses.And they all have a large percentage of Asian-American students.
四所高中对提出申请的学生都有较高的学术要求。四所学校还都开设了一些挑战性的课程。并且亚洲裔美国学生都占很大比例。
The top schools were chosen by the Niche.com website.Niche.com says it examined nearly 24,000 U.S. public high schools.It rated the schools based on quality of their education programs and teachers, as well as student and parent comments.
四所最佳公立高中由Niche.com网站评出。该网站表示已经对近24,000所美国公立高中进行了研究。其排名依据是学校教学项目的质量、教师的素质以及学生和家长的评价。
The top four schools are: Stuyvesant High School in New York City; High Technology High School in New Jersey; Staten Island Technical High School in New York City; and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia.
这四所公立高中分别是纽约市史岱文森高中、新泽西高科技高中、纽约斯塔滕岛技术高中以及弗吉尼亚托马斯杰斐逊科技高中。
The fifth best high school is Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Illinois, according to Niche.com.Stevenson is the only school among the top five that does not limit admissions.The school is open to all students in its community, near Chicago.
据Niche.com报道，排名第五的最佳高中是伊利诺斯州阿德莱·E·史蒂文森高中。史蒂文森高中是前五所最佳学校中唯一一所不限制入学的。该学校向芝加哥附近社区的全部学生开放。
Enrollment of Asian-Americans at the top high schools continues to grow.
最佳高中录取的亚洲裔美国学生数量不断增加。
At Stuyvesant, 73 percent of students are Asian-Americans.The rate is 63 percent at Thomas Jefferson, 52 percent at High Technology, 41 percent at Staten Island Technical and 21 percent at Stevenson.
史岱文森高中有73%的学生是亚洲裔美国人。托马斯杰斐逊高中有63%的学生是亚洲裔美国人，高科技高中有52%，斯塔滕岛技术高中有41%，史蒂文森高中则有21%。
At the top four schools, officials say there is only one reason for so many students being Asian-American.They say the Asian-American students are getting much better test scores.
官员表示，四所最佳学校中有这么多亚洲裔美国人的原因只有一个。他们表示亚洲裔美国人的考试分数较高。
At Stuyvesant, Staten Island Technical and High Technology, students are chosen based on how they do in mathematics and verbal admission tests.At Jefferson, students are asked to take a test and write a paper.
史岱文森高中、斯塔滕岛技术高中以及高科技高中选取学生的依据为学生的数学成绩以及口语入学考试成绩。在托马斯杰斐逊高中，学生要参加考试并写一篇论文。
Only a small percentage of the boys and girls get accepted.At Stuyvesant, 28,000 students apply for 935 openings.
只有很少比例的少男少女能够顺利录取。就史岱文森高中而言，28,000名学生竞争935个名额。
Eliza Noh teaches at California State University in Fullerton.She talked about the success of Asian-American students with VOA.
Eliza Noh在富勒顿加利福尼亚州立大学教学。接受VOA采访时，她谈论了亚洲裔美国学生的成功。
“If Asian-American parents emphasize education, it has more to do with their perception that education can help them overcome existing barriers in the labor market,” she said.
“如果亚洲裔美国人父母强调教育，主要是因为他们认为教育能够帮助克服劳工市场现存的难题。”
The children who get into these top schools have many advantages.For example, classes at Stuyvesant are similar to “those of a small college,” according to InsideSchools.org.The website reports on New York City’s public schools.
能被这些顶级学校录取的学生都有很多优势。比如，据InsideSchools.org报道，史岱文森高中开设的课程与大学类似。该网页就纽约市的公立学校进行了报道。
InsideSchools says Stuyvesant offers sights of New York Harbor and has a large swimming pool.
InsideSchools表示在史岱文森高中能看到纽约港，这里还有很大的游泳池。
“Stuyvesant has long been known as a math-science school, but its English and social studies classes are among the school’s strongest,” it says.
“史岱文森高中一直以数学和科学著称，但其英语和社会研究课程也是学校的强势学科。”
Going to school with so many gifted students can push teenagers to do their best.But it can also put students under a lot of pressure to keep up.
跟这么多天才学生一起上学能够促进少年们努力做到最好。但同样也会给学生带来很大的压力。
“Stuyvesant is a hard place for a ‘B’ student, ”wrote InsideSchools. “A” is the top grade at many schools.“F” is the lowest.
InsideSchools表示，B等生很难在史岱文森高中找到一席之地。很多学校中，A表示最优。F表示最差。
Harvey Blumm is a guidance counselor at Stuyvesant.He says the school works directly with students to help them deal with pressure.
Harvey Blumm是史岱文森高中咨询顾问。他表示学校直接与学生沟通，帮助学生解决压力的问题。
Sometimes, he says, school officials “have to ask” parents not to put too much pressure on their children.
他表示有时候，学校官方不得不请求家长不要给学生施加太大压力。
“I tell them that if their child gets a 92 (out of 100) in a test, that it is very good and they should not criticize,” Blumm said. “They should offer praise. Ninety-two is a very good grade.”
“我告诉它们如果在满分为100的考试中，孩子考了92分，这样的结果就非常好，父母不应批评他们。”Blumm说道。“他们应当对孩子提出表扬。92分是很好的成绩。”
Elise Hauptman has three children at Stevenson High School in Illinois – the number five rated public high school, according to Niche.com.
据Niche.com 报道，Elise Hauptman有三个孩子在名列第五位的公立高中——伊利诺斯州史蒂文森高中就读。
What she likes about Stevenson is that the school’s counselors and teachers “work hard” to serve all students, “not just those with the best grades.”
她喜欢史蒂文森高中的一点是该校的顾问和老师都努力工作为全体学生服务，而不是只为那些分数最高的学生服务。
“It is not just the top students or those facing the most challenges,” Hauptman tells VOA.“They don’t want students in the middle to get lost.”
“他们不仅关注尖子生或者那些面临最大挑战的学生，” Hauptman接受VOA采访时说道。“他们不想那些中等生落下。”
The quality education offered at Stevenson makes Hauptman question why some parents choose to spend a lot of money to send children to private schools.
史蒂文森高中提供的素质教育让Hauptman提出疑问：为什么一些家长选择花很多钱把孩子送到私立学校学习。
I’m Bruce Alpert.
Bruce Alpert为您报道。
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