天使在人間

她是一個(gè)普通的弱女子，一所普通小學(xué)——惠特尼小學(xué)的校長(zhǎng)。如果你站在學(xué)校的墻外遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地望著她，你肯定覺(jué)得此人并無(wú)任何特別之處;但如果你踏進(jìn)了那所學(xué)校，你將看到那副瘦弱的肩膀正擔(dān)負(fù)著無(wú)數(shù)孩子的夢(mèng)想。

一所被無(wú)人管教的貧困生塞滿的學(xué)校，一位勢(shì)單力薄的女校長(zhǎng)，她將如何帶領(lǐng)孩子們度過(guò)難關(guān)？讓我們拭目以待……

Im Sherrie Gahn and Im the principal of Whitney Elementary School. Whitney is very unique because we service very high needs population.

We had a lot of homeless children here， more than 85﹪ of our students are free and reduced lunch and a lot of those 85﹪ are homeless. When they leave here on the daily basis， sometimes we dont know where they are going. Their environment changes everyday： somedays they may live in their apartment; somedays they live in a hotel motel; somedays they may be in the streets. We dont know where theyre gonna go.

When I first came to Whitney and I was in the lunch room and walking around helping the kids， and they kept pocketing their ketchup， putting them in their pocket. When I asked my staff what were they doing， they told me that they do that often because they needed to. It was their…its gonna be their dinner， its ketchup soup. Theyre gonna go home and make ketchup soup with it， because they had no food.

My goal was if I can take that off their play. If I can make them come to school and feel safe and warm and they have clothes， and just like any other child. And they are under same level playing field as any other child in school. Then they can learn. I guess its sort of like that fairy tale that， you know， you go to school， you get new backpack， you get new clothes， Christmas you get presents and birthday you get a present and a cake， and these kids dont get that. Its huge...its huge self-esteem， its who you are. So I decided to do it， I decided to get them those things.

I made a deal with the…the families. I ask them that if you give me your child， I will give you whatever you need， your…like Ill pay your electrical bill， your utilities， Ill give you food or clothes whatever you need as long as you give me your child. And then help raise that child as a person of character.

Its started out with me actually going to every person I knew， and calling them up and saying “Hey， I have this school and I need help，” thats how I started the donations. Almost everyone who donates to Whitney is an individual or a small business. We take everything. We take everything because when youre in poverty， you need everything.

My biggest motivator are the kids， and that thought and the whole that they dont have to live in this existence when they grow up， that they break the cycle. Thats my biggest motivator， and their hugs when hug me.

When I was four years old， I told my mother that I was gonna be a teacher， and I have teachers who changed my life， and I didnt even want to be a principal， and then I walked in Whitney and I thought this is my purpose， this is what I meant to do. This does not define who they are， they can be better. And if I can give them that and teach them that and show them that， then…then Ive done my job.

我叫雪莉·佳恩，我是惠特尼小學(xué)的校長(zhǎng)。惠特尼小學(xué)非常特別，因?yàn)槲覀優(yōu)闃O其需要幫助的人們服務(wù)。

我們學(xué)校有很多無(wú)家可歸的孩子，85%以上的學(xué)生都享用免費(fèi)或低價(jià)午餐，而且在這85%當(dāng)中的許多孩子還無(wú)家可歸。每天當(dāng)他們學(xué)完功課離開(kāi)學(xué)校后，有時(shí)候我們也不知道他們會(huì)去哪里。他們的生活環(huán)境每天都在變：有時(shí)候他們可能住在租賃的公寓;有時(shí)候住在汽車(chē)旅館;有時(shí)候他們可能流落街頭。我們不知道他們能去哪兒。

我初到惠特尼時(shí)，我會(huì)在午餐室忙著幫忙照顧孩子們，而我看到孩子們一直在收集番茄醬，把自己那份裝進(jìn)口袋。當(dāng)我問(wèn)起我的員工孩子們?cè)诟陕锏臅r(shí)候，他們告訴我孩子們經(jīng)常那么做是因?yàn)樗麄冃枰敲醋觥Ｄ切┓厌u將是他們的晚餐，煮番茄湯用的。他們要用那些番茄醬回家煮湯，因?yàn)榧依镆呀?jīng)沒(méi)有食物了。

我的目的就是看能否讓他們結(jié)束那樣的生活。如果可以，我希望他們都能上學(xué)，感到安全和溫暖，并且有衣服穿，就像其他孩子一樣。讓他們與其他讀書(shū)的孩子一樣享有同樣的機(jī)會(huì)。那樣他們就可以安心學(xué)習(xí)了。我想那有點(diǎn)兒像童話故事，你上學(xué)了還可以有新書(shū)包、新衣服，圣誕節(jié)你會(huì)收到禮物，生日有禮物和蛋糕，這些孩子沒(méi)有那些。這很重要……重要到關(guān)乎自尊，這讓你肯定自己。所以我下定決心要讓他們擁有那些東西。

我跟那些家庭達(dá)成協(xié)議，我請(qǐng)求他們：如果把孩子交給我，我會(huì)提供你們所需要的一切，比如你們的……比如我會(huì)支付你們的電費(fèi)、生活雜費(fèi)，我會(huì)提供你們需要的所有食物和衣服，只要你們把孩子交給我。然后幫襯著將孩子養(yǎng)育成為一個(gè)品格高尚之人。

一開(kāi)始我給每個(gè)我認(rèn)識(shí)的人打電話，并跟他們說(shuō)：“嘿，我有所學(xué)校，我需要幫助”，那是我最初獲得捐贈(zèng)的方式。幾乎所有給惠特尼捐贈(zèng)的都是個(gè)人或者小企業(yè)。我們什么都收。我們什么都收，是因?yàn)槿绻阆萦谪毨В銜?huì)需要一切。

我最大的動(dòng)力是孩子們，而且想想這一切，孩子們長(zhǎng)大后不用再過(guò)這樣的生活，他們可以打破這個(gè)惡性循環(huán)。這就是我最大的動(dòng)力，還有他們給我的擁抱。

在我四歲的時(shí)候，我告訴母親長(zhǎng)大后我要當(dāng)一名老師，我遇到了幾位改變了我人生的老師，我從未想過(guò)成為一名校長(zhǎng)，但當(dāng)我走進(jìn)惠特尼的時(shí)候，我覺(jué)得這就是我的人生目標(biāo)，這就是我該做的事。現(xiàn)狀并不能定義他們會(huì)是什么樣的人，他們可以變得更好。如果我能教給他們或是讓他們知道這一點(diǎn)，那么……那么我便是盡到自己的職責(zé)了。

實(shí) 情

The swimsuit issue of a magazine that displayed a model wearing a skimpy bikini on its cover was occupying the attension of? a? wide-eyed? man.? Disturbed，his? wife? said，"That's shameful！If I looked like that I wouldn't leave my house！”

有個(gè)男人出神地盯著一本雜志的封面。那上面是一位穿著緊身比基尼泳裝的女郎。他的妻子很生氣，說(shuō)：“真不像話，如果我穿的像她一樣，我絕不出家門(mén)。”

“To tell you the truth，” the husband replied，“if you looked like that neither would I.”

“說(shuō)句實(shí)話，”那男人說(shuō)，“如果你像她那樣，我也不會(huì)出家門(mén)的。”