As someone who works with children in a very poor environment, you know, John Steinbeck used to write about the fact that his stories are about the gap between what the American dream is and where we're really at, and that gap.

約翰-斯坦貝克（John Steinbeck）曾經寫道，他的故事講述的是美國夢與我們實際處境之間的差距。

My job is to open doors and close the gap.

我的工作就是打開大門，縮小差距。

There is no way a child growing up in poverty has the same opportunity as a child who has two wealthy parents who went to Stanford.

一個在貧困中長大的孩子，不可能和一個父母都是斯坦福大學富豪的孩子擁有同樣的機會。

It's not equal, and America is supposed to be the land of equal opportunity. The role I have as a teacher is to level the playing field.

這是不平等的，而美國本應是機會均等的國度。作為一名教師，我的職責就是創造公平的競爭環境。

I don't begrudge the children who are born with good fortune - that's great, but I want my students to have the same opportunity.

我並不吝惜那些天生幸運的孩子--這很好，但我希望我的學生也能擁有同樣的機會。

And by understanding language well, it levels the playing field.

而且，通過充分理解語言，還能創造公平的競爭環境。

That's the key reason.

這就是關鍵原因。

It's one of many reasons, but the real reason that my students get to the top schools - they are fabulous readers and they read all the time.

這是眾多原因之一，但我的學生能夠進入名校的真正原因是--他們是出色的讀者，他們一直在閱讀。

For them, reading is not a subject, it's something we do. One more thing about the way I teach reading, I don't give homework, we don't have projects.

對他們來說，閱讀不是一門學科，而是我們要做的事情。關於我教授閱讀的方式，還有一點，我不佈置家庭作業，也沒有項目。

When we read To Kill a Mockingbird, you don't have to go home and make a diorama of Boo Radley's house or do 50 pages of worksheets, which bore the kids to death.

當我們讀《殺死一隻知更鳥》時，你不必回家做一個布-拉德利家的透視模型，或者做 50 頁的作業紙，這些都會讓孩子們厭煩至極。

That has nothing to do with reading.

這與閱讀無關。

Our reading is just reading - hours and hours and hours - and having a lot of fun. The role of a teacher is to make learning fun and to show the children the relevance of the reading to their own life.

我們的閱讀就是閱讀--幾個小時、幾個小時、幾個小時地閱讀--而且樂趣無窮。教師的職責就是讓學習充滿樂趣，並向孩子們展示閱讀與他們自己生活的關聯性。

That a great book, as I always tell the children, is not about the characters in the book, it's about you.

我總是對孩子們說，一本好書不是關於書中的人物，而是關於你自己。

When Huck Finn goes down the river, it's not Huck's trip down the and the moral decisions you will have to make in figuring out who you are.

當哈克-費恩順河而下時，這不是哈克的順河之旅，而是你在弄清自己是誰的過程中必須做出的道德抉擇。

That's the teacher's role - connecting the work and making it relevant to the children's lives.

這就是教師的職責--將作品與孩子們的生活聯繫起來。