词汇大师-- Seeking to Rebuild Lives and Schools in Haiti

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: we meet two English teachers from Haiti. But first, an update on how schools are trying to reopen following the earthquake in January. VOA's Jeff Swicord was there as some students returned to classes Monday in the capital.
(SCHOOL BELL)
JEFF SWICORD: At 8 o'clock on the dot Principal James Polot lines up his students for the start of the school day.
(BAND PLAYING)
Like many schools around the world, the day begins by raising the flag to the national anthem¹. But this is no normal day. For the students of the George Washington School in Port-au-Prince, it is the first day of school since the earthquake that devastated² Haiti more than two months ago.
(PRINCIPAL TEACHING)
Principal Polot told us the Ministry³ of Education has mandated⁴ the curriculum⁵ during the first two weeks be about the earthquake.
Officials acknowledge⁶ that with much of the country still in chaos⁷, there is no way of knowing how many schools can actually open, or if children will be able to attend. Since the earthquake, starting anything in Haiti is a slow cumbersome⁸ process. But for many of Haiti's school children, today was a fresh start.
Jeff Swicord, VOA News, Port-au-Prince.
AA: Recently, I met two Haitian teachers who were in the United States for the annual Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages convention⁹.
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "Herve Francois Alcindor. I'm from Port-au-Prince city."
AA: "And what do you ... "
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "A teacher of English and also a lawyer."
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "My name is Comfort Davis Mingot. I'm an English language teacher in Haiti, Port-au-Prince. I work at the Haitian-American Institute."
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "Well, I was at a public place and I heard a noise like goo-doo-ga-doo-ga-doo. And suddenly the sky became into black. I thought it was the end of the world because the way I saw things, too much time trembling."
AA: "And all the dust just blackened out the sun."
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "Sure, sure, white and black at the same time."
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "I was at home because I was preparing some lectures, and when I looked I just saw my house going right and left, shaking. And I got up and ran and grabbed¹⁰ my daughter. And when I got out of the house, the house collapsed¹¹ and I saw the dust all around the neighborhood. I just see houses down, and I mean I was kind of wow, oh my gosh."
AA: "So where are you living now?"
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "Right now I'm in Maryland with a friend of mine. We're coming after the earthquake because I don't have a home, I don't have anything. So I'm here while waiting for things to improve."
AA: "What happened to your home?"
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "My house is cracked but not down, but this is unsafe. Actually I sleep in a car next door."
AA: "And did you lose students or family members?"
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "Oh, yes, I lost a lot of students, a lot of law colleagues, you know, cousins ... "
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "Yes, I lost a lot of friends. Even the school I work in collapsed. I lost colleagues, students and some of my best friends that used to work at the United Nations too."
AA: "So what do you think in terms of the future, the near-term or longer term, in terms of getting back to -- Herve, you're still in Haiti and you're ... "
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "I'll be back on the fifteenth of April to get going, because I have a mission. I have a mission to keep teaching English, different people now."
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "Yes, I might be returning to Haiti in the first week in May and help with the rebuilding our life process, because life has to go on. And there are a lot of people who need help, so we have to go back and help those people. Inasmuch as we ourselves need help, but we also have to always think about others."
AA: "And how old are your -- were your students, how old are they?"
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "Well, I have students [who are] thirty, forty for the adults program, and for the children's program I have from eight to fourteen years old."
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "I teach secondary school, and the school collapsed, totally collapsed. And fortunately I wasn't there, because on the eve I was, but the next day I wasn't. Thank God I'm here."
AA: "Your school, you were there the night before it collapsed."
HERVE FRANCOIS ALCINDOR: "I was there on Monday, but Tuesday I wasn't. This is the way my schedule works, right?"
AA: "So right now, both your schools were destroyed. Are classes being held someplace else right now?"
COMFORT DAVIS MINGOT: "Oh, no, right now, no, no classes. And even trying to reopen it, we're going to do it under tents. That's why we're appealing to the international community, to the U.S. government, if they could supply more tents to Haiti, that's going to be good, because even schools are going to be starting under tents."
AA: Comfort Davis Mingot and Herve Francois Alcindor, speaking late last month at the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages convention in Boston, Massachusetts. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. I'm Avi Arditti.

1 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

2 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

3 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

4 mandated   

adj. 委托统治的

参考例句：

• Mandated desegregation of public schools. 命令解除公立学校中的种族隔离
• Britain was mandated to govern the former colony of German East Africa. 英国受权代管德国在东非的前殖民地。

5 curriculum   

n.课程，（学校等的）全部课程

参考例句：

• Is German on your school's curriculum?你们学校有德语课吗？
• The English curriculum should stress both composition and reading.英语课程对作文和阅读应同样重视。

6 acknowledge   

vt.承认...的权威，告知，收到，报偿

参考例句：

• With so much evidence against him he had to acknowledge his error.在这么多的证据面前，他不得不承认错误。
• It is ungracious of me not to acknowledge your help.你大力帮助而我尚未表示谢意，十分失礼。

7 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

8 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。

9 convention   

n.惯例，习俗，常规，会议，大会

参考例句：

• How many delegates have checked in at the convention?大会已有多少代表报到？
• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。

10 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

11 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。