美國學校的命名

Few US Schools Now Named for People, Especially Presidents

　　This is true especially with presidents. For example, in Arizona, public schools in the past twenty years were almost fifty times more likely to be named after such things as landforms or plants.

　　In Florida, out of almost three thousand public schools, the report says five honor George Washington, the nation's first president. Eleven honor the manatee, an endangered sea animal found in that state.

　　In fact, the study says that today, a majority of all public school districts nationwide do not have a single school named after a president. School officials say they try to choose names that will not offend anyone. For example, a few years ago, the city of New Orleans banned the naming of any school after a person who owned slaves. Other school systems have rules against naming new schools after any person, living or dead.

　　The researchers say naming a school after a person can lead to important debates about democratic values. They call for more research to identify the causes and effects of the changes in school names.

　　「生詞摘錄」

　　Arizona n. 亞利桑那州
　　landform n. 地形
　　endangered adj. （生命等）有危險的 , 有滅絕危險的 , 將要絕種的
　　district n. 區域 , 地方
　　offend vt. vi. 犯罪 , 冒犯 , 違反
　　New Orleans n. 新奧爾良
　　democratic a. 民主的 , 有民主精神的