VOA慢速英语2009-Development Report - Sakena Yacoobi and the

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
　
Afghan Institute of Learning

When Sakena Yacoobi was a child in Herat , Afghanistan, she saw many women suffer. They had no education and little or no medical care. Many died in childbirth.

In the nineteen seventies she came to the United States. She became a professor and health consultant¹. But in nineteen ninety-two, she visited Afghan refugee² camps in Pakistan. What she saw persuaded her to return to her homeland.

In nineteen ninety-five she started the Afghan Institute of Learning. The organization began by serving Afghan women and girls in the camps in neighboring Pakistan.

At that time, the Taliban controlled most of Afghanistan. The rulers would not let girls go to school. Sakena Yacoobi risked her life to set up eighty secret schools in Afghan homes. About three thousand girls attended these schools.

American-led forces ousted³ the Taliban from power in late two thousand one, after the terrorist⁴ attacks on the United States.

Today Sakena Yacoobi says her organization avoids the most dangerous provinces. It operates education and health centers and traveling clinics. The institute has trained more than fifteen thousand teachers and has provided health education for half a million women. Seventy percent of its four hundred fifty staff members are women.

The group invites men as well as women to discussions on the Koran's teachings about the equality of the sexes.

In two thousand three, to educate women, the institute established Gawhar Shad University in Peshawar, Pakistan. The university currently⁵ has about one hundred eighty students. Around the same number already have graduated. The university offers degrees in education, business, nursing, health education, math and computer science.

Each year, the Afghan Institute of Learning serves about three hundred fifty thousand women and children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Sakena Yacoobi has received many awards, including this year's two hundred fifty thousand dollar Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership. In accepting the award from Claremont McKenna College in California, she said: "Every day, I see the impact of education, and that's the force that keeps me going on."

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jerilyn Watson, with reporting by Carolyn Weaver⁶.

1 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

2 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

3 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

4 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

5 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

6 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。