题。未来四年将有两千万名学生入读全国各地的中学，数量比当前高出三分之一，同时还将有一百万名教师退休。另一问题是在职教师的自然流失，三年中流失了20%。

兰迪·威加顿：这种制度存在着问题，而且问题遍及全国：你是否能招到你想要的教师？你是否能留住好的教师而去掉不好的？这当中每一步我们都困难重重。

还有人相信到海外寻求教师有其不足之处：招聘标准宽松，移民条令严格，海外教师被限制只能拿到为期两年的签证。

兰迪·威加顿：他们不会长期留下来，这个办法解决不了纽约市学校的情况。

确实，许多海外招回的教师是无证的，专家们相信此举只能是权宜之计，但依然是正确的做法，只是从长远考虑，应该想办法让教职变得更吸引人。

艾德·尤班斯：没有人当教师是为了要赚钱的。人们教书是为了更好地服务社会，无私地贡献。

注释：

1) certified a. 被鉴定的

2) nearly a quarter of 此处为口误，美国只有两亿多人口，不可能有二点五亿个教职空缺

3) big apple 美国纽约城

4) scour v. 急速走遍

5) attrition n. 磨损

6) winnow v. 扬掉，筛去

7) drawback n. 缺点，不利条件

★★《2003年01月号-第38期-disc01-12》★★

a century of memories (1900-1909)

on the eve of the new century, the sense of 1)boundless possibilities also 2)ignited an explosion of technological 3)innovations that would have 4)profound impact on twentieth-century life. thomas edison's electric 5)light bulb and phonograph, alexander graham bell's telephone. tens of thousands of 6)tinkerers across america were trying to invent the future. among them were two bicycle mechanics in dayton, ohio.

mable griep --

mabel: orville and wilbur, they as young boys, were interested in flying. and they would sit on the 7)porch and watch the birds. and the neighbours all around us say, "i don't know what they think they're going to do. why they will never make an aeroplane?"

mabel griep and her sister loreen lived next door to the wright brothers.

loreen: well, my father found out someway that they were going to try, have a trial flight. so we got in the surrey and we drove out to hoffman prairie.

mabel: i can hear dad turn more than once and say, "look, are you all paying attention to this? now listen to me. you're gonna remember this 'til your last day."

loreen: when that plane took off the ground, people were speechless! it was spectacular! it was unbelievable!

one of the oldest dreams in human imagination had come true. 8)sustained flight in a powered aeroplane.

in 1900, there were only 8,000 cars and less than 10 miles of 9)concrete road in the entire country. but the car was fast seducing americans.

the historian, thomas hughes --

hughes: the automobile gave people a sense of the control of their own destiny. that is, behind the wheel, out on the road, you decided where you were going, what you were doing, and you had a machine at your control.

but early cars were fantastically expensive. the artsburger, made in pittsburgh, and the pierce arrow were really toys for the rich people until one manufacturer in detroit saw it differently: henry ford.

hughes: he saw the automobile as a way to relieve one of the burden of working in nature by the sweat of one's brow. he was motivated by the desire to put the automobile into the hands, first farmers, and then generally into the hands of ordinary people in the population. he wanted to produce many, many, many automobiles in a short, short time.

it was the promise of material abundance and freedom which drew more than thirteen million impoverished europeans to america between 1900 and 1914. it was the greatest free 10)migration in all of human history. the film-maker, martin scorcese's grandparents came from italy.

scorcese: my mother's mother, domenica, was afraid to travel on the boat. and the only way they got her on the boat was, her brother tricked her. he went on the boat with her, said he was going with her. and at the last minute she turned away, he left.

clara hancox --

hancox: my mother came by herself through siberia. she got to the coast, and got on the boat. they were just sitting on the deck. hoards of people 11)huddled over their possessions which consisted of old pillows with feathers and the few pieces of silverware tucked in there and stuff like that, their candlesticks, and sleeping on the deck with one another, next to one another to keep oneself warm. it took weeks and weeks and weeks; it took ages.

alfred levitt remembers his voyage from russia --

levitt: when i crossed the ocean, i never saw such waves in my life. i never knew an ocean existed. approaching the new york harbour, the statue of liberty was there and it give me a free feeling; a feeling of a new nation; a feeling of a new hope for the beautiful life.

光阴的故事（1900-1909）

1903年12月17日，莱特兄弟制造的动力飞行器成功地实现了首次持续飞行。“在莱特兄弟之前，无人有正确的飞行基础。在莱特兄弟之后，无人改动过此基础。”（达勒·科林斯）

20世纪到来前夕，人们认识到没有实现不了的想法，这导引了新科技革命的爆发，并对20世纪的生活产生了深远的影响。托马斯·爱迪生发明了电灯和留声机，亚历山大·格拉罕·贝尔发明了电话。美国各地有数不清的人在尝试未来发明，其中包括俄亥俄州戴顿的两名自行车修理工。

玛宝·格里普--

玛宝：奥维尔和威尔保那时候年纪还小，他们对飞行很有兴趣。他们会坐在前廊观察鸟儿。我们身边所有的邻居都说：“我不明白他们以后想干什么。他们怎么不去造飞机呢？”

玛宝·格里普和妹妹罗琳当时住在莱特兄弟的隔壁。

罗琳：我父亲发现这兄弟俩怎么也要试上一试，他们要试飞。所以我们就坐上马车，去到霍夫曼大草原。

玛宝：我听到爸爸不止一次地说：“你们是不是全力以赴了？那么听我说。一直到死的那天，你们都会记住今天。”

罗琳：当飞机离开地面时，人们鸦雀无声！太壮观了！简直难以置信！

动力飞机的持续飞行，实现了人类最古老的一个梦想。

亨利·福特对美国的转型做出了无价的贡献。说他象征着美国由农业社会转为工业社会是无可厚非的。1879年小亨利离家去闯荡底特律的时候，八个美国人中只有两个住在城市里，而等到1947年亨利去世时，比率增加到八个中有五个。

1900年，全美国仅有八千辆小汽车，水泥公路不足10英里长。可是汽车对美国人的诱惑力实在太大了。

历史学家托马斯·休思--

休思：汽车带给人们一种掌控命运的感觉。也就是说，开着轮子上路，