1、标题：voa慢速英语:宗教进入课堂,但存在限制对应音频：1224a.mp3听力内容：Letting Religion Into the Classroom,but Setting LimitsThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.Public schools in the United States have to be neutral about religion, even though they close for holidays like Christmas. The Constitution separates relig
2、ion from government. Researcher Charles Haynes explains what it says.CHARLES HAYNES: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . Those sixteen words provide the framework for how we deal with religion in our public schools.Those word
3、s are part of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of expression and other rights. Charles Haynes is a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, a group that studies free expression issues.In the last generation or so, different groups have encouraged public schools to celebrate diversi
4、ty and cultural differences. At the same time, courts have ruled against any publicly supported celebrations of one religion over another.Charles Haynes thinks the schools are generally doing a good job.CHARLES HAYNES: So public schools now I think understand that their role is to expose students to
5、 learning about different religions in a fair way, an objective way. Their role is to protect the religious liberty rights of students; if they want to express their faith, they may do so. But school officials under the First Amendment may not take sides in religion.Hollie Jones teaches six year old
6、s at a public school in Loudon County, Virginia. Each December, she has her students make posters about their own celebrations at home and present them to the class. The posters are discussed and then shown on the walls at the school. And what celebrations have been represented?HOLLIE JONES: Four ye
7、ars looking back, weve had some students will do Hanukkah, some Kwanzaa, some Christmas. Some weve had in the past do the Chinese New Year. This year I had a student whose father was from Iceland, and he did the Icelandic Elf School, and talked about all the different elves that are represented and
8、their names and their meanings.Some children come from families with more than one religion.HOLLIE JONES: I have had many students who come from a blended culture family who perhaps the mother celebrated Hanukkah and the father celebrated a different holiday, and so they really do both within their
9、home.Hollie Jones says the children always ask lots of questions about the traditions of other families.HOLLIE JONES: And its really interesting because for many children, especially in first grade, they are very unaware that these different things go on in other homes. So its not necessarily imposi
10、ng other religions on them, but just kind of creating a sense of awareness in celebration of how different and diverse just within our classroom we are.And Charles Haynes says that is one of the purposes of public education in America.这里是VOA特别英语教育报道。美国的公立学校必须在宗教方面保持中立，尽管他们在圣诞节这样的节日也会放假。宪法规定宗教与政府分离。研
11、究员Charles Haynes解释了宪法的规定。Charles Haynes：“‘国会无权立法尊重某种宗教的设立，也无权禁止有关宗教的自由活动。’这些文字为我们处理公立学校宗教问题提供了框架。”这些文字是宪法第一修正案的部分内容，修正案保障了言论自由和其他权利。Charles Haynes是研究言论自由问题组织第一修正案中心的高级学者。大约在上一代，不同的组织曾经鼓励公立学校庆祝多样性和文化差异性。同时，法院反对对任何特定宗教的公开支持。Charles Haynes表示，总体来说，学校做得比较好。Charles Haynes：“我认为，公立学校理解自己的作用是使学生以
12、公平，客观的方式学习不同的宗教。他们的作用是保障学生的宗教自由权利。如果他们希望表达自己的信仰，他们可以这样做。但是按照第一修正案，学校官员在宗教方面不能表明自己的立场。”Hollie Jones在佛吉尼亚劳登郡做了六年的老师。每年12月份，她都让学生制作关于自己家宗教庆祝活动的海报并在班级中展览。学生们对这些海报进行讨论，然后张贴在学校的墙壁上。那么，这些庆祝仪式都代表了哪些宗教呢？Hollie Jones：“回顾过去四年，有些学生展现的是犹太光明节，有一些是非裔美国人的宽扎节，还有一些是圣诞节。过去还有人描述过中国的新年。今年，有一个学生的父亲来自冰岛，他制作的海报是关于冰岛精灵学校。他讲
13、述了他们所代表的不同的精灵，他们的名字以及意义。”有些孩子的家庭包含多种宗教。Hollie Jones：“我有许多学生来自混合文化家庭，可能他们的妈妈庆祝犹太人光明街，而父亲庆祝另外一个不同的节日，所以，学生本人在家什么样的节日都庆祝。”Hollie Jones说，孩子们经常询问关于其他家庭的传统的问题。Hollie Jones：“这真的非常有趣，因为对于许多孩子，尤其是一年级的学生来说，他们不知道其他家庭发生着不同的事情。所以，不必要将其他宗教施加在他们身上，但是在我们的课堂上，我们只是要让学生意识到各种宗教庆祝节日的差异和多样性。”Charles Haynes说，这就是美国公立教育的目标之一。
