VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - Peace Corps Volunte

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Next year, the Peace Corps¹ will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. Peace Corps volunteers are Americans who teach and work on projects in developing countries.

The United States created the Peace Corps during the cold war with the Soviet² Union. Today, technology has changed how the volunteers do their work and stay connected with friends and family back home.

In the early nineteen eighties, Gordy Mengel served in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Letters from home would take weeks, or months.

As a result, he socialized more with people in the local community. He lost contact with friends and family back in the States.

Today, Gordy Mengel is a Peace Corps programming and training officer in Rwanda.

GORDY MENGEL: "These days with the advent³ of the Internet and cell phone service and so forth⁴, I still see volunteers having some of that experience. But again, when they go back to their homes, instead of turning out the kerosene⁵ light and going to bed, they can get on Skype or they give a quick call to Mom and Dad back at home. And that part of the experience, I guess, has changed."

(SOUND: Call on Skype)

SONIA MORHANGE: "Hey!"
FRIEND: "What's going on? I'm connecting my webcam."
SONIA MORHANGE: "Oh, awesome⁶, I'll get to see you as well."
FRIEND: "I look like a mess right now. I was gonna get ready, but ... "
SONIA MORHANGE: "Did you just wake up?"
FRIEND: "Can you see me?"
SONIA MORHANGE: "Yeah, I can see you."

Technology helps Peace Corps volunteer Sonia Morhange, seen here in Rwanda, stay in touch with family and friends back in the United States.

Sonia Morhange is one of about one hundred Peace Corps volunteers in Rwanda. She talks with a friend in California on Skype, an Internet calling service. She talks with her mother on the phone and e-mails her father.

SONIA MORHANGE: "I can't imagine having been a Peace Corps volunteer in the seventies or the eighties or even the early nineties. I'm just so used to everyone having a cell phone that works internationally. I'm very, very lucky in the fact that where I live I have wireless⁷ Internet and that makes it a lot easier."

Peace Corps volunteers receive a living allowance and other benefits in return for twenty-seven months of training and service.

John Reddy is the country director in Rwanda. He says fairly easy access to the Internet means that volunteers can do more than just call home.

They can research subjects to help their communities. And, through the Peace Corps Partnership⁸ Program, they can get donations online for their projects.

But John Reddy admits he sometimes misses the old days, before the Internet and good phone service. He says volunteers had more independence.

JOHN REDDY: "It's not always helpful to Peace Corps staff. If a volunteer is telling their family they're having a bad day or a bad week, and then the family member calls Peace Corps Washington and Peace Corps Washington calls me and I have to find the volunteer and see what the problem was."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, available online at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

4 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

5 kerosene   

n.(kerosine)煤油，火油

参考例句：

• It is like putting out a fire with kerosene.这就像用煤油灭火。
• Instead of electricity,there were kerosene lanterns.没有电，有煤油灯。

6 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

7 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

8 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。