Yuko Haruna

BBC Learning¹ EnglishPeople and PlacesYuko HarunaSIGWilliam: Hello and welcome to People and Places, theprogramme from BBC LearningEnglish that searches the world for interesting people andinteresting stories.
　　TAGWilliam: Today we’re going to be hearing from YukoHaruna from Japan, who I spoketo on the telephone. I’ll let Yuko introduce herself… seeif you can hear what it is that she does…Yuko: My name is Yuko Haruna, I’m from Japan. And… I wantto work for traffic education or traffic safety. I… I was amember of traffic safety association², but I think I need moreknowledge… I quit… I quit the job last year and now I’mstudying for an exam. I want to go to university again.
　　William: Yuko said that she’s studying for an exambecause she wants to go to university again. Yuko was amember of a traffic safety association, or we might say aroad safety association - an organisation³ that campaigns toreduce the number of car accidents.
　　Why did Yuko become involved in road safety?
　　Yuko: To… to tell the truth, I… I myself was hit by a carwhen I was eighteen years old. And when I was twenty yearsold, one of my friends passed away because of a car accident.
　　I couldn’t believe… I still can’t believe! He was, he wasnot twenty, he was nineteen, nineteen years old. It changed mylife… and at that time I decided⁴ I want to work for trafficsafety…William: Yuko said that she was hit by a car herselfwhen she was eighteen, and then when she was twenty, one ofher friends ‘passed away’ because of a car accident. Whatshe means by ‘passed away’ is that her friend died. Deathis very difficult to talk about, so we sometimes use thisexpression, passed away, instead of saying that a person hasdied.
　　Yuko’s friend was only nineteen years old when he passedaway. She said that she still can’t believe it.
　　Yuko: It changed my life… and at that time I decided Iwant to work for traffic safety…William: She said her friend’s passing away changedher life… so, it affected⁵ the rest of her life.
　　This explains how she came to work for a road safetyassociation, trying to educate people in the importance ofroad safety. In the five years that she was working there,Yuko came to believe that there was one aspect of road safetythat was especially important:
　　Yuko: One the most important things is how to reduce thesadness that lots of people who lost their loving child orfriends and they… they’re still suffering from sadness. It’s… it’s… it's difficult, even for me to say how I feltor how sad I was, because… um… I think there was few peoplewho could understand how I really felt…William: Yuko said that one of the most importantthings is reducing the sadness of those people who have‘lost’ a family member or friend.
　　If someone close to you dies, we often say that you have‘lost’ them. And, we call the sadness that you feel whenyou lose someone ‘grief⁶’. There’s also a verb form: ‘togrieve’ which we use with the words ‘for’ and ‘over’.
　　After someone passes away, friends and family grieve⁷ forthem, or we can say, they grieve over their friend’s death.
　　Now Yuko wants to learn how to help other people. She’swriting a children’s book about a moon who loses his littlesister. And, she’s going back to university – to studycounselling for grieving⁸ parents and friends.
　　Yuko: And I was looking for what… what to study… I mean,what kind of skill I need… and I began to study kind ofcounselling, stress management, how to help people.
　　William: Yuko’s story shows how it’s possible toturn tragedy and grief into something positive, that canreally help other people.
　　That’s all for this week, but there’ll be another person,from another place, in next week’s People and Places.
　　Goodbye!

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

3 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 grief   

n.悲伤，悲痛，悲伤的事，悲痛的缘由

参考例句：

• Don't allow yourself to sink into grief,it can do no good.不要使自己陷入悲哀之中，这样一点好处也没有。
• After her mother died,she abandoned herself to grief.母亲死后，她沉浸于悲痛之中。

7 grieve   

vi.（for，over）感到悲痛；vt.(使)伤心

参考例句：

• Be sure and not grieve.一定不要伤心。
• What the eye does not see,the heart does not grieve over.眼不见，心不烦。

8 grieving   

感到悲痛，伤心( grieve的现在分词 )； 使…伤心

参考例句：

• They are still grieving for their dead child. 他们还在为死去的孩子伤心。
• The news brought no solace to the grieving relations. 这个消息并未给悲痛的家属带来什么安慰。