美国国家公共电台 NPR Meet The Teenage Girl Who Wants to Be A Boy Scout

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

According to scout¹ law, Boy Scouts² must be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly. But do they really have to be boys? A teenager in New York City wants the Boy Scouts to grant official membership to girls, including herself. Yasmeen Khan of member station WNYC has this report on the latest challenge to this old organization.

YASMEEN KHAN, BYLINE³: Sydney Ireland, who's 16, has been part of the Boy Scouts since she was 4. She started tagging along with her older brother and became an unofficial but enthusiastic participant. No one seemed to care about having a girl around. Sydney didn't think about it either until she was about 10 or 11.

SYDNEY IRELAND: Because one time I was on a camping trip and somebody said, like - why are you here? - like, why a girl was there. It's fair question. But it was kind of like, I didn't really think about gender⁴ as much until then.

KHAN: And that's around the age when Sydney wanted to earn merit badges, too. She was doing the same activities and mastering the same skills as the boys around her. But as a girl, she couldn't officially earn awards. So for the last few years, Sydney's been asking the Boy Scouts to officially let girls in.

SYDNEY: Right now, they're, like, discriminating⁵ against girls. And I'm just, like - I'm just calling it as it is.

KHAN: The Boy Scouts of America, which is a private organization, doesn't see it this way. And it does have some coed programs. But Sydney specifically wants a shot at becoming an Eagle Scout, the top rank. That's only for boys. She takes scouting⁶ and the skills involved so seriously that she's sought membership outside the U.S.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

SYDNEY: This is a square knot.

KHAN: This is Sydney at 13, tying knots over Skype to a troop in South Africa. Coed scouting is actually common around the world. Sydney also joined a Canadian troop and earned the highest scouting award there. Invariably, people ask Sydney - why don't you just join the Girl Scouts?

SYDNEY: It's like saying, like, just because you're a girl, you should be part of this and this 'cause, like, it's for girls.

KHAN: The Boy Scouts declined an interview for this story. However, the Girl Scouts talked to me.

ANDREA BASTIANI ARCHIBALD: No, we're not the girl equivalent of the Boy Scouts, although we were probably founded to be something similar.

KHAN: Andrea Bastiani Archibald is the chief girl expert - her real title - for Girl Scouts of the USA, which is girl only. She touts⁷ her organization as welcoming to all girls and their interests.

ARCHIBALD: But if it doesn't feel right for them, I really laud⁸ their parents and those girls for finding the space that is.

KHAN: And there are others, like Sydney, who are drawn⁹ to the Boy Scouts and are already participating because local troops let them.

DANELLE JACOBS: I still do hear from people, I'm going to say, once a month, all over the country.

KHAN: Danelle Jacobs, who lives near Santa Rosa, Calif., led a troop of girls a few years back called the Unicorns¹⁰. They wanted to be official members of the Boy Scouts and got some media coverage¹¹ about it. Jacobs now fields occasional calls from parents also frustrated¹² by the boy-only policy coming from the top.

JACOBS: Boy Scouts were chartered in 1916. There's a lot that's changed since then. And so I think, you know, for them to say, well, it was created only for boys is - well, you know, women didn't used to get to vote.

KHAN: New leadership at the Boy Scouts seems to be aware of a need to evolve. Randall Stephenson, the organization's president, gave his first address at the Boy Scouts' national meeting last year.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RANDALL STEPHENSON: Do we want to grow this movement?

KHAN: The Boy Scouts has lost about a million members over the last 15 years. Stephenson said, there has to be a willingness to change.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEPHENSON: We always have to beware when we find our institutions restricting customer choice.

KHAN: If the Boy Scouts do ever decide to let girls join, they'd be guaranteed new customers. Sydney Ireland would likely be one of the first to sign up, and she won't be alone.

For NPR News, I'm Yasmeen Khan in New York.

1 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

2 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

5 discriminating   

a.有辨别能力的

参考例句：

• Due caution should be exercised in discriminating between the two. 在区别这两者时应该相当谨慎。
• Many businesses are accused of discriminating against women. 许多企业被控有歧视妇女的做法。

6 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

7 touts   

n.招徕( tout的名词复数 )；（音乐会、体育比赛等的）卖高价票的人；侦查者；探听赛马的情报v.兜售( tout的第三人称单数 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• Many vouchers are returned for cash, allowing touts and middle men to make a healthy margin. 许多月饼券都被兑换成现金，这让券贩子和中间商赚取了不蜚的利润。 来自互联网
• Spotting prey, the customary crowd of hustlers and touts swarmed around, jostling for my business. 照例有大群的拉客黄牛在寻觅猎物，他们争相过来抢我的生意。 来自互联网

8 laud   

n.颂歌；v.赞美

参考例句：

• Kathy was very pleased to have graduated cum laud in her class.凯西在班上以优等成绩毕业，她为此而非常高兴。
• We laud him a warmhearted man.我们称赞他是个热心人。

9 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

10 unicorns   

n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记

参考例句：

• Unicorns are legendary beasts. 独角兽是传说里的野兽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Assemble50 Elder Druids, 30 Silver Unicorns and10 Green Dragons do defend it. 募集50个德鲁伊长老，30只银色独角兽和10条绿龙用于防御。 来自互联网

11 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

12 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》