VOA常速英语2008年-Bush Pressures US Congress to Boost AIDS Fundin

By Scott Stearns
Accra
20 February 2008

President Bush is in Ghana where American money is helping¹ slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, Mr. Bush is again pressing the Congress to double AIDS funding over the next five years to $30 billion.

Ghanaian President John Kufuor, speaking at a joint² news conference with President Bush, says the prevalence of HIV continues to decline in Ghana, from 2.6 percent in 2006 to 2.2 percent of the population last year. 

"I believe that is considerable, and perhaps some of the credit should be given to the extension of help in terms of resources including the antiretroviral drugs that we get from development partners like the United States of America," Mr. Kufuor said.

Fifty-thousand Africans were on antiretroviral drugs when President Bush took office. Now more than 1.2 million people receive those medicines.

Mr. Bush, speaking alongside Ghana's president, said that is a good start, but only a start. He wants U.S. lawmakers to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, known as PEPFAR, at twice its current levels, raising the total to $30 billion over the next five years.

"One of the reasons that I was motivated to put forth³ a significant request to our Congress for a comprehensive program to deal with HIV/AIDS is that I felt it was unacceptable to stand by and watch a generation of folks be eradicated," Mr. Bush said.

PEPFAR supports training for peer educators in Ghana's military to slow new infection rates, especially among troops serving as African peacekeepers. It funds antiretroviral treatment at 37 military hospitals with training for laboratory technicians, virologists, pharmacists, and nurses.

The U.S. AIDS program also works with faith-based organizations, which the World Health Organization says provide as much as 70 percent of health care in sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Mark Dybul is the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator⁴. He spoke⁵ in Tanzania during an earlier stop on the president's trip.

"They are the ones in the communities," Dybul said. "They are the ones with reach and credibility in their own communities. It's unfortunate that most people don't listen to government officials, like myself, when we tell them to act in a certain way. But they will listen to their leaders - particularly young people - and that involves faith leaders, community leaders, traditional leaders."

The president's calls for a doubling of AIDS funding has renewed the debate over PEPFAR's insistence⁶ that one-third of the 20 percent of funding for prevention must focus on abstinence.

"There are a bunch of divisive issues in the reauthorization about abstinence, reproductive health, needle exchange, and there are ongoing⁷ debates about whether PEPFAR is too much and too predominant and too exceptional and whether it's crowding out other worthy⁸ health and developmental initiatives - child survival, water, maternal⁹ health, family planning," said Stephen Morrison, co-director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private policy research group in Washington..

Victor Barnes is the director of the HIV/AIDS program at the U.S. Corporate¹⁰ Council on Africa, a private group promoting trade and investment between the United States and Africa.

He says development groups in the field have adapted to PEPFAR politics.

"When you are dealing¹¹ with sexually-active adults, abstinence-only portfolios¹² are irrelevant," Barnes said. "They have a very important place, particularly with youth and particularly with delaying the onset¹³ of sexual activity, which is a critical intervention¹⁴. But the reality is that it has to be in conjunction with behavior-change interventions¹⁵ and strategies for working with sexually-active adults as well as making condoms available, both male and female."

The president is doing long-distance lobbying on this Africa trip by urging American taxpayers¹⁶ to encourage Congress to double AIDS funding. He says Africans should not be left guessing whether or not the generosity¹⁷ of the American people will continue. 

1 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。

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 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。

4 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

7 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

8 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

9 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

10 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

11 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。

12 portfolios   

n.投资组合( portfolio的名词复数 )；（保险）业务量；（公司或机构提供的）系列产品；纸夹

参考例句：

• Price risk arises in non-trading portfolios, as well as in trading portfolios. 价格风险中出现的非贸易投资，以及在贸易投资组合。 来自互联网
• How do we fatten our portfolios and stay financially healthy? 我们怎样育肥我们的投资结构和维持财政健康呢？ 来自互联网

13 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

14 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

15 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

16 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

17 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。