【挑战TIME】26期：WhereStudentsCan’tHug

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2008:03:31 12:40:41
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

【Introduction】

美国，伊里诺斯州的一个女孩，上星期被拘留了2次。难道是她攻击别人？不是，因在公共场合拥抱2位朋友违反校规而致。

【Section One】Article

Where Students Cant Hug

Megan Coulter, a Mascoutah, Ill., eighth-grader, served two after-school detentions last week. Her offense? Hugging two friends and therefore violating the Mascoutah Middle Schools ban on public displays of affection.

Coulters case drew dozens of newspaper headlines and landed her on NBCs Today Show.But it also illustrates a key challenge facing Americas schools: When is a hug inappropriate — or "extreme," as its been dubbed by some administrators? And, more broadly, how far should schools go in policing the behavior of a generation that often takes its social cues from Paris Hilton and Britney Spears?

Student-on-student public displays of affection (PDAs) have long been problematic for school administrators and parents. Experts say anti-PDA policies have existed for nearly two decades, although its not known how many schools and school districts have imposed such rules. In 1999, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling held schools responsible for creating environments free of harassment among students. that decision then led many lawsuit-averse administrators to ban most forms of student contact — except, of course, for high-contact sports like football and wrestling. Among the most extreme policies is in Vienna, Va., where the Kilmer Middle School has a blanket "No Contact" rule that bans even high-fives. The Fossil Hill Middle School in Fort Worth, Texas, has banned students from hugging and holding hands. Earlier this year, the Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, banned hugs.

Other schools have a broad ban on "inappropriate displays of affection," or IPDAs. Proponents say it gives school administrators more discretion in interpreting what constitutes "inappropriate" behavior. Yet that same discretion potentially exposes administrators to accusations of unfairly targeting, say, a Latina for braiding a friends hair, or for showing favoritism by failing to reprimand the football teams quarterback who playfully smacks a teammates back after a win.

Practical considerations — like hallway traffic control — are behind some of these no-contact measures. For example, at Iowa City, Iowas South East Junior High School, girls who hadnt seen each other for an entire 42-minute class often stopped to hug each other in hallways during the four-minute break between classes. The hugging clogged the 700-student schools hallways. So Deb Wretman, the principal, developed a "hands-off, or handshake" slogan to limit greetings to a handshake. (She is loath to call it a "policy," and points out that "you wont find anything in our handbook that refers to no hugs or public displays of affection.") While theres no penalty for "violating the slogan," Wretman says the effort has significantly reduced hallway congestion.

Under the most extreme anti-PDA policies, however, even a student who hugs a friend whose parent has just died could potentially face suspension. The lack of nuance in such policies bothers critics like Lisa Graybill, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Unions Texas Chapter. "Preventing harassment and teaching kids to respect each other is important, but having yet another reason for kids behavior to be criminalized is unnecessary," she says. "Its draconian to ban all forms of touch."

Megan Coulters case began in earnest at a sports event a couple of weeks ago. Her parents say her southern Illinois schools vice principal asked her and a male friend to stop hugging. Then, on Nov. 2, Megan stood near a bus in the schools parking lot and put her arm around a male friends shoulder. The vice principal, who did not return calls seeking comment, immediately issued a detention order. Minutes later, as Megan walked across the schools front lawn, a female friend gave her a hug. The vice principal issued the second detention order.

"I honestly think I shouldnt have been punished, because the hugs were nothing inappropriate," Megan, 13, said in a Today show interview, her face expressionless, her brown hair pulled back, one hand clutching her mothers. "There wasnt bodies pressed up against each other."

Now, says her mother Melissa Coulter, Megan is being shunned by friends, whose parents deem her a "bad influence." Yet the Coulters say they still support anti-PDA policies, particularly for teenagers. "I dont want them to be all over each other in the hallways," Melissa Coulter told TIME on Sunday. "We just need to clarify how they apply it. Maybe the administrators werent given enough latitude in using their judgment." The Coulters are waiting to see if Megans school reviews the policy for the next year. If that does not happen, they will take the issue to the school board.

【Section Two】Vocabulary

1. hug GetWord("hug"). n.拥抱
2. detention GetWord("detention"). n.拘留, 禁闭, 阻止, 滞留, 留堂
3. violate GetWord("violate"). vt.违犯, 冒犯, 干扰, 违反, 妨碍, 侵犯
4. problematic GetWord("problematic"). adj.问题的, 有疑问的
5. loath GetWord("loath"). adj.不情愿的, 勉强的
6. penalty GetWord("penalty"). n.处罚, 罚款
7. slogan GetWord("slogan"). n.口号, 标语
8. suspension GetWord("suspension"). n.吊, 悬浮, 暂停, 中止, 延迟
9. nuance GetWord("nuance"). n.细微差别
10. harassment GetWord("harassment"). n.折磨
11. expressionless GetWord("expressionless"). adj.无表情的

【Section Three】Homework

1. Please translate the blue sentence into Chinese.
"Coulters case drew dozens of newspaper headlines and landed her on NBCs Today Show."

2. Was football or wrestling banned as high-contact sports by many lawsuit-averse administrators?

3. Whats happened to Megan? Why she got two detention orders? Do you think it is reasonable?

参考答案:
1. Coulter的这件事成了很多报纸的头条新闻，同时还请她参加NBC当天的节目秀。

2. No, the football or wrestling was not banned. "the decision then led many lawsuit-averse administrators to ban most forms of student contact — except, of course, for high-contact sports like football and wrestling."

3. Free talk, no standard answer.