电影《一个都不能少》以其催人泪下的故事反映了我国教育事业在特定历史时期面临的困境，以极强的感染力感动了观众。从此以后，“一个都不能少”成了一个使用频率非常高的词，被应用于各种场合，在百度输入“一个都不能少”检索，有250万个相关网页之多。

        电影《一个都不能少》的片名是怎么翻译成英语的，笔者并不清楚，但是，在GOOGLE搜索的结果发现，这个片名当时好像被译成了Not One Less。在GOOGLE输入Not One Less和Zhang Yimou所获得的检索结果是29，400个相关项。但是，说实话，Not One Less这一译名不很地道，不但不符合语言规律，而且不能清晰地表达出影片内涵，因为这里的not是一个副词，只能用来修饰动词、形容词或其他副词，而根据影片内容，Not One Less这一结构中的One自然应该是一个省略了名词child或student的名词词组的一部分，因此其与not之间的修饰关系不能成立。再者，作为little的比较级，less做限定词的时候只能修饰不可数名词，可这里的学生是可数的，如果我们把one后面的省略词语补充出来，那就是Not One Child Less，根本无法解释less与文中其他词汇之间有什么关系。因此说，当初为电影《一个都不能少》确定的英语译名似乎是不妥的。

        那么，“一个都不能少”这样十分口语化的表达在英语中该怎么说呢？其实英语中有一个很对应的说法，叫做Nobody/No one Left Behind，或者也可以理解为No+一个单数名词+ Left Behind结构，也就是说，这里的No后面可以接上任何单数名词，都是用来表示“一个也不能少”的意思，至于这里是什么样的“一个”，那就要看上下文了。Leave sth./sb. behind这一短语动词的被动式，其意思可以是“忘了带，遗忘”，也可以是“将（某人）抛在后面”，还可以表示“永久地离开某物/某人”。 电影《一个都不能少》说的是学校不能允许少一个孩子来上学，在接受学校教育的问题上，孩子们一个都不能掉队，因此，就可以翻译成No Child Left Behind。在GOOGLE输入No Child Left Behind和Zhang Yimou这两组关键词检索竟然没有获得一个结果，由此可见当时电影《一个都不能少》的片名译者并未了解到英语中有No Child Left Behind这么一个完全对应的地道表达。

        说来巧合的是，电影《一个都不能少》激发了无数中国人对中国教育事业的关注，而这样一个表达在美国教育事业中也有“知音”，因为美国有一部教育法规，用的就是“一个都不能少”这样形象生动的语言，这样的表达也符合英语的语言习惯，即简洁明了，而且又非常口语化，容易让大家接受和记住。美国《不让一个孩子掉队法》（No Child Left Behind Act）是布什总统2002年初签署实施的法案，这个以形象的“不让一个孩子掉队”命名的法案，不是简单意义的“一个都不能少”。它强调教育公平――要让每一个孩子都不掉队；它旨在提高教育质量，使义务教育在新世纪上一个台阶。《不让一个孩子掉队法》从名称到主旨到实施，应该给我国教育以启示。

        《不让一个孩子掉队法》作为1965年以来美国最重要的中小学改革法，内容包括：（1）建立中小学教育责任制；（2）给地方和学校更大的自主权；（3）给孩子父母更多的选择；（4）保证每一个孩子都能阅读；（5）提高教师质量；（6）检查各州学生的学习成绩；（7）提高移民儿童的英语水平。此法是布什政府内务政策的重中之重，布什一直十分重视，为了实施该法，在财政十分紧张的情况下，布什政府还是大幅度增加了中小学教育拨款。2004年度中小学财政预算已增加至500多亿美元，比2001年上升了26％。美国仅是对义务教育的投入，就达到了国内生产总值（GDP）的4%。为了促进义务教育发展公平性的实现，通过联邦资助的方式资助需要的地区：2002年，对低收入地区补贴104亿美元；而此前的2001年预算为88亿美元，2004年又增加到了123亿美元，三年间增加的“涨幅”达到了40%。

         2006年1月10日，我国官方新闻机构新华社刊发了一篇报道称，美国“不让一个孩子掉队”教育法见成效。该报道说，在全美小学中推行的“不让一个孩子掉队”的教育法现已实施了４年并初见成效，美国小学生的考试成绩有所提高。报道说，“不让任何一个孩子掉队”的教育计划旨在到2014年前，确保所有美国儿童具有相应的阅读和数学水平，并要求教育部门“以空前的重视程度”关注贫困家庭和少数族裔儿童。这一计划还规定各州都要对学生进行考试，提高师资水平，向家长提供更多信息。获得联邦政府资助但教学水平没有提高的学校将被罚款。美联社预期布什将在年度国情咨文中建议把“不让一个孩子掉队”的计划推广到更高的年级，并建议在中学进行年度数学和阅读测试，以评估学生取得的进步。此外，2007年7月美国教育部公布的一份重要的独立研究报告显示，自从布什总统于5年前签署了里程碑式的教育法规，美国的学生取得了很好的学业成绩，尤其在阅读和数学测试方面。

        最近，美国国会将开始重新评估《不让一个孩子掉队法》，美联社为此刊发了一篇新闻报道（见下），为了加深对相关背景的了解，顺便学习一些相关英语词汇，我们不妨阅读一下这篇报道：

        No Child Left Behind faces changes

        By NANCY ZUCKERBROD

        AP Education Writer

        2008-4-22

        Unable to push education fixes through Congress, the Bush administration is taking its own pen to the No Child Left Behind law.

        Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says she plans to make a host of changes to the education law through regulations being unveiled Tuesday.

        Among the biggest changes will be a requirement that by the 2012-13 school year, all states must calculate their high school graduation rates in a uniform way.

        States currently use all kinds of methods to determine their graduation rates, many of which are based on unreliable information about school dropouts, leading to overestimates¹.

        States will be told to count graduates, in most cases, as students who leave on time and with a regular degree. Research indicates students who take extra time or get alternatives to diplomas, such as a GED, generally don't do as well in college or the work force.

        While states will no longer be able to use their own methods for calculating grad rates, they will still be able set their own goals for getting more students to graduate. Critics say that allows states to set weak improvement goals.

        The six-year-old education law is President Bush's signature domestic policy initiative. The law requires testing in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school. The stated goal is to get all kids working at grade level by 2013-14.

         Lawmakers recently tried but were unable to pass an updated version of the law due to disagreements over how to judge schools and teachers, among other things. Without a renewal², the existing law stands.

         Spellings has been taking steps in recent months to make changes from her perch³. However, the proposed regulations amount to the most comprehensive set of administrative⁴ changes she has sought so far.

         "The Congress, I guess because of the political and legislative⁵ climate, has not been able to get a reauthorization under way this year," Spellings said in an interview. "I know that schools and students need help now, and we are prepared to act administratively⁶."

         The regulations call for a federal review of every state policy regarding the exclusion⁷ of test scores of students in racial groups deemed too small to be statistically⁸ significant or so small that student privacy could be jeopardized⁹. Critics say too many kids' scores are being left aside under these policies.

         The regulations also call for school districts to demonstrate that they are doing all they can to notify parents of low-income students in struggling schools that free tutoring is available. If the districts fail to do that, their ability to spend federal funds could be limited under the proposal. The department estimates only 14 percent of eligible¹⁰ students receive tutoring available to them.

         An even smaller percentage of kids who are allowed to transfer to higher-performing schools make that switch, in part because they aren't always informed of vacancies¹¹ on time. The regulations require schools to publicize open spots at least 14 days before school starts.

         The administration's proposal also would tighten¹² the rules around the corrective steps schools must take once they've failed to hit progress goals for many consecutive¹³ years.

         The administration is seeking public comments before finalizing¹⁴ the regulations in the fall.

         Regulations can be overturned by a new administration. Spellings said that's unlikely in this case, because the rules she is proposing have widespread support. She said she hoped the ideas would help shape the legislative debate on Capitol Hill whenever the law is revisited there.

         "I think these things will help the law work better in the field ... and I think they are ways for the Congress to have a good jumping-off place when they start on their work," she said.

         Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who chairs the Senate education committee, said the regulations "include important improvements for implementing¹⁵ No Child Left Behind."

        说到这里，令人感到遗憾的是，我们有电影《一个都不能少》，但我们没有《不让一个孩子掉队法》。电影《一个都不能少》是有感召力的，但是很遗憾，电影仅仅是电影。而且，具有讽刺意味的是，《一个都不能少》女主角魏敏芝的母校——河北省赤城县镇宁堡学校，以及电影拍摄地水泉小学，目前处境非常尴尬：前者因教育资源外流陷入困境，“有一半的学生都流失了”；后者则只剩了1名教师和6名学生（2005年11月3日《新民晚报》）。上述新闻报道已过去几年，不知道现在那里的情况是否好转了。