Some people think of politics as a game. But an online game lets people think of themselves doing one of the hardest jobs in American politics: cutting the federal budget. The game is called Budget Hero.
Students in Los Angeles and other cities have been playing it.
洛杉矶和其它城市的学生一直在玩这个游戏。
STUDENT: "A simplified tax code and a tax code that more fairly and correctly taxes the wealth in this country is obviously preferable."
学生：“简化税法以及对美国富豪公平合理征税显然是更可取的。”
Budget Hero lets them decide how they want to spend federal tax dollars. The game uses information from the Congressional Budget Office. It shows what effects each cost-cutting proposal would have.
DORY BENNETT: "I want to grow up, go to college, get a good job, have kids maybe, a dog and a house."
贝内特：“我想要长大，上大学，找到一份好工作，也许再生个孩子，有个房子有只狗。”
The students consider the same issues facing lawmakers in Washington.
学生们认为摆在华盛顿立法者面前的是同样的问题。
The game was developed in two thousand eight. In the newest version, students make decisions about what spending is important to them. Do they want to reduce taxes? Spend more on environmental protection? What should they do about defense spending? Making these decisions helps clarify their goals.
A former Democratic representative from California offered students some ideas. Jane Harmon served in Congress for almost twenty years. She now heads the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which helped create Budget Hero. More than one million people have played it so far, she says, and she thinks they have learned at least two things.
JANE HARMON: "One, how hard it is, but two, that it can be done if there's a will to do it."
哈蒙：“第一，它的困难。第二，如果想做就能做到。”
注：这两点都是指指削减预算。
Student Jeffrey Burke agrees.
学生杰弗里·伯克（Jeffrey Burke）对此表示同意。
JEFFREY BURKE: "The hardest thing for us to figure out was the little cuts like the gas money and stuff, increasing taxes on gas, because we felt it would have effects everywhere from the truck drivers shipping our stuff across the country or when you order from [online seller] Amazon or whatever, to you drive when you're going to work. I think we need to look at the little things and realize that just because they're small money doesn't mean they're small effects."
Another student, Harry Kidd, says defense spending caused a lot of debate.
另一名学生哈利·基德（Harry Kidd）说，国防开支引发了很多争论。
HARRY KIDD: "Because at the same time, you've got, 'Oh, we're going to freeze military spending,' but then we're like, 'What is that going to do to jobs?' But then the other half was, 'Oh, we can take troops out of Iraq and we all agreed on that.'"
Joaquin Alvarado at American Public Media, an organization that also helped create the game, says many of the players leave comments.
美国大众传媒（American Public Media）是另一个帮助开发了该游戏的组织，该组织的乔奎因·阿尔瓦拉多（Joaquin Alvarado）表示，许多玩家都做出了评论。
JOAQUIN ALVARDO: "And they will literally in the comments ask that Congress play this game to just get a little rational around the questions that have to be answered."
阿尔瓦拉多：“他们在评论中要求美国国会也玩下这个游戏，在有待解决的问题上获得一些理性。”
Ms. Harmon says the students are having more success than Congress at cutting the budget.
哈蒙女士说，学生们在削减预算上的成功超过了国会。
JANE HARMON: "Kids, and actually adults too who play this game, have open minds. They want to learn what the facts are. And sadly, a lot of Congress is a fact-free universe, and that is tragic for our country, for our country's reputation, and for our economy and the livelihoods of millions of people who are presently out of work."
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