M: Now both the government and the opposition party agreed that state schools are not good enough.
男:现在,政府和反对党都认为公立学校不够好。
M: And the Opposition is coming up with some new proposals of their own to improve them.
男:反对派也提出了一些新的建议来改善公立学校的情况。
M: But is their approach really all that different from the government's?
男:但他们的方法真的与政府不同吗?
M: Today we have Theresa May, the shadow education secretary from the Opposition with us on the radio show.
男:今天,反对党的影子内阁教育大臣,特蕾莎·梅来到了我们节目中。
M: Good afternoon, Theresa.
男:下午好,特蕾莎。
W: Good afternoon.
女:下午好。
M: Can I remind you of what John Major said only a few years ago when he was Prime Minister?
男:还记得约翰·梅杰几年前担任总理时所说的话吗?
M: He said we should give people opportunity and choice.
男:他说我们应该给人们机会和选择。
M: We don't mean some people. I mean everyone, opportunity for all. Well, that is precisely what the present government is saying, opportunity for all.
男:我们不是指某些人。我是说每个人都有机会。这正是当前政府所说的,为所有人提供机会。
W: The hallmark of this government is that what they say and what they actually do is always different. And that's no different in education.
女:当今政府的一大特点就是说一套做一套,在教育方面也是这样。
W: What we see from the present government is that they may talk about opportunity for all,
女:我们经常看到现在的政府谈到为所有人提供机会。
W: they may talk about choice, but actually they are cutting opportunity and reducing choice.
女:谈到让人们有更多选择,但是其实他们正在减少机会和选择。
W: And what I think is most damaging is that actually they are giving a message
女:我认为最具破坏性的是实际上他们在传递这样的信息:
W: Don't bother. If you are from a state school, there are barriers to be put in your place. But this is far from the truth.
女:不用挣扎了。如果你上了一所公立学校,那么你一定会遇到障碍。但这远非事实。
W: Universities have been doing a very great deal to encourage state school pupils to apply.
女:许多大学一直在做大量工作来鼓励公立学校的学生申请。
W: The point is that we still haven't got enough state school pupils applying to our leading universities.
女:问题是,申请一流大学的公立学校学生还不是很多。
M: But your government had 18 years to get more of them into Oxbridge.
男:可是反对党政府18年中都未能有效增加牛津剑桥里公立学校学生的比例。
W: And indeed we increased the number of young people in this country going to university, from one in eight to one in three.
女:事实上,我们提高了年轻人是大学入学比例,从八分之一提高到三分之一。
W: The number of state pupils being accepted by Oxford and Cambridge and other leading universities, the proportion of state pupils has actually increased.
女:被牛津、剑桥等一流大学录取的公立学校学生数量实际上增加了,比例也在提高。
W: But there is a problem in many of our secondary schools - of expectations.
女:但我们的许多中学都有一个问题——期望。
W: And it is the present government that has been leveling down expectations rather than raising them.
女:现在的政府是在降低人们的期望,而不是提高期望。