名校励志英语演讲 57:拯救世界 拯救儿童

 　　And yet, less than 33% of British children ages two to eight have a regular bedtime story read to them. You may not think much of that until you take into account that 75% of their parents DID have that bedtime story when they were that age.

　　然而英国只有不到33%的2至8岁的孩子能固定地在晚上睡觉前听段故事。如果大家想想75%的家长在那个年龄的时候都能在睡前听故事，那么你们可能就会深思。

　　Clearly, we do not have to ask ourselves where all of this pain, anger and violent behavior comes from. It is self-evident that children are thundering against the neglect, quaking against the indifference¹ and crying out just to be noticed. The various child protection agencies in the US say that millions of children are victims of maltreatment in the form of neglect, in the average year. Yes, neglect. In rich homes, privileged homes, wired to the hilt with every electronic gadget². Homes where parents come home, but they're not really home, because their heads are still at the office.

　　显然，我们没必要问自己所有这些痛苦、愤怒和暴力行为从何而来。显然，孩子们正在对这种忽视发出怒吼，以对抗来自长辈的漠视，他们大声疾呼只是为了引起注意。在美国，各种儿童保护机构表示，平均每年有数百万儿童成为被忽视的受害者。没错，是被忽视的受害者！富有的家庭，享有特权是家庭，完全被电子器件束缚了。父母回到了家里，可是他们的心并不在家里，他们还想着工作上的事情。

　　And their kids? Well, their kids just make do with whatever emotional crumbs⁴ they get. And you don't get much from endless TV, computer games and videos.

　　那孩子们呢？啊，他们只好以所能得到的破碎的爱勉强生活。在无休止的电视节目、电脑游戏和录像带上又能得到多少感情呢！

　　These hard, cold numbers which for me, wrench⁵ the soul and shake the spirit, should indicate to you why I have devoted⁶ so much of my time and resources into making our new Heal the Kids initiative a colossal⁷ success.

　　我觉得，这些扭曲灵魂震撼心灵的冷酷无情的数字正好可以让大家明白，我为什么要花费这么多的时间和资源来使我们新成立的拯救儿童组织一开始就能获得巨大成功。

　　maltreatment

　　n. 虐待

　　eg. Maltreatment of old people, women and children is prohibited.

　　禁止虐待老人、妇女和儿童。

　　to the hilt

　　最大限度地；完全地

　　eg. She's up to the hilt in trouble.

　　她深深地陷入麻烦之中。

　　gadget

　　n. 小玩意；小配件

　　eg. A bottle opener is a kitchen gadget.

　　开瓶器是厨用小器具。

　　crumb³

　　n. 面包屑，碎屑；折磨

　　eg. I failed my exam, and my only crumb of comfort is that I can take it again.

　　我没考及格, 唯一可宽慰的是还能补考。

　　wrench

　　vt. 扭伤；扭曲；折磨

　　eg. The plumber⁸ took out a wrench and tightened⁹ the bolt.

　　管子工拿出一把扳手拧紧了螺栓。

　　colossal

　　adj. 巨大的；异常的，非常的

　　eg. The colossal monument bestrode the harbour.

　　巨大的纪念碑高耸于海港上。

1 indifference   

n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎

参考例句：

• I was disappointed by his indifference more than somewhat.他的漠不关心使我很失望。
• He feigned indifference to criticism of his work.他假装毫不在意别人批评他的作品。

2 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

3 crumb   

n.饼屑，面包屑，小量

参考例句：

• It was the only crumb of comfort he could salvage from the ordeal.这是他从这场磨难里能找到的唯一的少许安慰。
• Ruth nearly choked on the last crumb of her pastry.鲁斯几乎被糕点的最后一块碎屑所噎住。

4 crumbs   

int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式

参考例句：

• She stood up and brushed the crumbs from her sweater. 她站起身掸掉了毛衣上的面包屑。
• Oh crumbs! Is that the time? 啊，天哪！都这会儿啦？

5 wrench   

v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受

参考例句：

• He gave a wrench to his ankle when he jumped down.他跳下去的时候扭伤了足踝。
• It was a wrench to leave the old home.离开这个老家非常痛苦。

6 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

7 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

8 plumber   

n.(装修水管的)管子工

参考例句：

• Have you asked the plumber to come and look at the leaking pipe?你叫管道工来检查漏水的管子了吗？
• The plumber screwed up the tap by means of a spanner.管子工用板手把龙头旋紧。

9 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。