2006年VOA标准英语-The National Basketball Association Unites

By Kane Farabaugh
New York City
05 June 2006
 
watch UNICEF AIDS report

There are about 2.8 million children under the age of 15 living with HIV. Two million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. The National Basketball Association and UNICEF together are trying to raise awareness¹ about those numbers. 

---------------------------------------------------

Children living with HIV are dealing² with a problem that is as heartbreaking as it is deadly.

 

 
Kimberly Canady
  

"My mother contracted AIDS through drug use,” said 19-year-old student Kimberly Canady. “Due to that, I had to live with my grandmother my whole life.” 

Kimberly added, “My mother died when I was nine, and that's when I found out that I was HIV positive.  I thought that my life was going to end and I was going to die."

Kimberly Canady kept her diagnosis³ secret throughout high school until the burden became too much for a teenager to carry alone. Now getting ready to start college, Canady seeks to overcome her own obstacles by helping⁴ others. 

She is a spokesperson for the HIV positive, and one of the millions of reasons the National Basketball Association is joining with UNICEF to help children living with AIDS.

Dikembe Mutumbo
  
  
AIDS is an international issue, close to the heart of Houston Rockets center and Congo native Dikembe Mutumbo.

"Myself being from the continent that's been touched by this epidemic⁵, where we have more than 20 million people die from HIV and AIDS, and we have more than 40 million people living with the virus alone, and we have many, many children that have been left behind as orphans,” Mutumbo said, “I have engaged myself in this fight."

Mutumbo has established a hospital in his name in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He's also using the airwaves to help spread the word about HIV and AIDS.

Mutumbo is joined by NBA and WNBA stars in public service announcements which debut⁶ in June during the NBA Finals.

If the athletes seem larger than life to some of these kids, height has something to do with it. 

As they tower above the fans, they also raise the NBA's effort to spread the word about a problem not fully⁷ appreciated by a younger generation, the main target of the television advertisements.

 
Dr. Peter Piot 
  
Dr. Peter Piot, Undersecretary General of the United Nations said, “To reach young people, there are two major ways.  That’s sports and music.”

Piot added, “This is going to go a very long way, and I know it's also going to have an impact outside the United States."

The commercials will be translated to air in other countries, where NBA games reach a global audience of more than 700 million households, including the home countries of many of the game's international stars.

David Stern
  
  
"We are going to do nine different spots in five languages -- English, Mandarin⁸, Spanish, Russian and German -- that will be produced for the campaign,” said league commissioner⁹ David Stern. “The NBA games being seen in 215 countries, wherever these can be inserted in whatever the appropriate language is, this will be done.

The "Unite for Children - Unite against AIDS" campaign comes on the 25th anniversary of the recognition of AIDS as a disease in the United States. Today, more people are living with the disease, if they can afford treatment.

One of the main goals of the current campaign is to get more pediatric AIDS treatment. According to UNICEF's research, less than five percent of HIV-positive children who need that treatment have access to it.

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

6 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

9 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。