新西兰英语 567 First Deaf MP

 　　Mojo Mathers is New Zealand’s first deaf Member of Parliament. She is a list MP for the Green Party. She has been profoundly deaf since her birth but lip-reads well and can use New Zealand sign language. She also speaks clearly.

　　In spite of her hearing disability, Ms Mathers has an Honours degree in Mathematics and a Masters degree in Conservation Forestry¹. She has worked as a senior policy advisor² for the Greens since 2006. She has been very active in environmental matters, especially water rights. She helped to stop the building of a dam to provide water for dairy farmers.

　　Parliament has provided her with a laptop computer and software at her desk in Parliament to help her understand what other MPs are saying. However, there are some problems with the software and she wants Parliament to pay for a person to take notes for her. The Speaker of the House said the Green Party should pay for this person. Mojo says that the Party funding is to help with Party work. For example, this money pays for office staff.

　　Louise Carroll from the National Foundation for the Deaf said that it would be helpful to many deaf people if Parliament TV had written captions³ on the screen. She also asked why New Zealand Sign Language is not used in Parliament. It is our third official language along with English and Maori.

　　Tomorrow, Mojo Mathers will give her first speech in Parliament which will be translated by sign-language interpreters.

　　Listen to May 4th 2009 to hear more about New Zealand Sign Language.

　　Vocabulary

　　list MP – the Green Party got 11.1% of the vote in the elections which gave them 14 seats. Mojo Mathers was number 14 on their list.

　　profoundly deaf – cannot hear even loud noises

　　conservation – keeping forests

　　policy – ideas and actions for the Party

　　water rights – ownership of water

　　Questions

　　?Do you think Parliament should provide equipment or facilities for disabled MPs, for example wheelchair access if needed?

　　?Should a Party choose to put a disabled person on their list? Who should pay for someone to take notes for a deaf MP – the Party or Parliament?

1 forestry   

n.森林学；林业

参考例句：

• At present, the Chinese forestry is being at a significant transforming period. 当前, 我国的林业正处于一个重大的转折时期。
• Anhua is one of the key forestry counties in Hunan province. 安化县是湖南省重点林区县之一。

2 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

3 captions   

n.标题，说明文字，字幕( caption的名词复数 )v.给（图片、照片等）加说明文字( caption的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I stared, trying to grasp the point of the picture and the captions. 我目不转睛地看着漫画，想弄清楚漫画和解说词的意思。 来自辞典例句
• Indicates whether the user or the system paints the captions. 指示是由用户还是由系统来绘制标题。 来自互联网