Hint:
文中有三處破折號?
Education in any society is a mirror of that society. In that mirror we can see the strengths, the weaknesses, the hopes, the prejudices, and the central values of the culture itself. The great interest in exceptional children shown in public education over the past three decades indicates the strong feeling in our society that all citizens, whatever their special conditions, deserve the opportunity to fully develop their capabilities. “All men are created equal." We've heard it many times, but it still has important meaning for education in a democratic society. Although the phrase was used by this country's founders to denote equality before the law, it has also been interpreted to mean equality of opportunity. That concept implies educational opportunity for all children -- the right of each child to receive help in learning to the limits of his or her capacity, whether that capacity be small or great. Recent court decisions have confirmed the right of all children -- disabled or not -- to an appropriate education, and have ordered that public schools take the necessary steps to provide that education. In response, schools are modifying their programs, adapting instruction to children who are exceptional, to those who cannot profit substantially from regular programs.
任何社會的教育都是反映該社會的一面鏡子。在這面鏡子里，我們可以看到力量、軟弱、希望、偏見以及文化自身的核心價值。過去30年間公共教育對特殊兒童所表現(xiàn)出的巨大關(guān)注表明了存在于我們社會中的那種強烈的感受，即所有公民，不論情況特殊與否，都應(yīng)該得到全面發(fā)展其能力的機會。 “人人生來平等”這句話我們已聽過無數(shù)次，但它對民主社會的教育仍然有著極其重要的寓意。盡管這句話被國家締造者們用來預(yù)示法律面前人人平等，它也被解釋為機會面前人人平等。這一概念暗指所有兒童都有接受教育的機會，即每個孩子都有權(quán)利得到學(xué)習(xí)上的幫助，以助其最大限度地發(fā)展智能，不論這種智能是小是大。最近的法庭裁決已經(jīng)批準了所有兒童——不論殘疾與否——都有接受相適應(yīng)的教育的權(quán)利，并已責(zé)令公立學(xué)校采取必要措施來提供這種教育。作為回應(yīng)，學(xué)校正在調(diào)整課程安排，使授課能夠適應(yīng)特殊兒童，適應(yīng)那些不能從常規(guī)課程中真正獲益的兒童的需要。