VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - Three People Making

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

BOB DOUGHTY¹: And I’m Bob Doughty. This week on our program, we tell you about three people who are working to make a difference in the world.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Heidi Kuhn lives in the San Francisco Bay area in California. She decided² to do something special with her life after she was successfully treated for cancer. In nineteen ninety-seven, she started an organization to continue Princess Diana’s work to rid the world of landmines⁴. Roots of Peace does more than help clear landmines. It also works to return the land to agricultural use.

Heidi Kuhn

Heidi Kuhn says landmines must be removed from the earth just as cancer is removed from the body. She began her organization with the idea of changing "mines into vines." The symbol for her group is a grapevine, which can represent a symbol of peace.

BOB DOUGHTY: Her Web site says more than seventy countries have about seventy million buried landmines. Each year they injure or kill about twenty-six thousand people.

Roots of Peace says a landmine³ costs anywhere from three to thirty dollars to produce and place in the ground. But the cost to remove one of the bombs is about one thousand dollars. Metal detectors⁵ cannot be used in many cases because landmines can be made of non-metal materials.

Dogs that are specially⁶ trained to smell landmines can be used to map out minefields. In some cases, remote controlled machines are used to remove the bombs. But in other cases, the mines must be carefully dug out by hand.

Roots of Peace supports the planting of native crops and the employment of landmine victims to farm the cleared land.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Heidi Kuhn’s family is also involved in the effort. Her husband Gary oversees⁷ operations in Afghanistan. Her daughter Kyleigh has organized a campaign that has raised enough money to build a school there. Her son Tucker works with farmers in Vietnam.

Heidi Kuhn has received many awards for her work. Roots of Peace has been recognized by the United Nations, the American State Department, Rotary⁸ International and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, among others.

HEIDI KUHN: Being a cancer survivor⁹, there's no real cure to cancer. There's no real cure to AIDS. But there is a cure to the landmine issue, and that is removal. So this is something that is tangible¹⁰. And as we remove the seeds of hatred¹¹ from the ground, the seeds of terror, and plant agricultural alternatives so that peace and prosperity may lead the next generation forward.”

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY:

Joel Selanikio

Joel Selanikio is a medical doctor in Washington who developed technology that is saving lives in developing countries. The technology is helping¹² public health services collect information to follow the spread of diseases and to better organize their work.

Doctor Selanikio says he first recognized a need when he worked for the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The paper-based way that health workers collected public health information was slow. Analysis of the information could take more than a year.

Doctor Selanikio recognized that handheld computers could improve this situation. For example, they could produce better and faster responses to outbreaks of disease.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Doctor Selanikio and Rosa Donna started DataDyne.org in two thousand three. DataDyne is a nonprofit organization that works to provide sustainable information technologies in poor areas.

The United Nations Foundation and the Vodaphone Foundation provided financial help to develop an open-source data collection tool. The software is called EpiSurveyor. It works much faster than paper-based information collection. EpiSurveyor is free of charge and can be downloaded onto mobile devices.

Doctor Selanikio says there are no barriers to its use.

JOEL SELANIKIO: "Instead of collecting data today to plan for a campaign next year, changing from that to collecting data today to plan for what we do tomorrow, that is a pretty radical¹³ change."

The software can be used with any Web browser¹⁴ and requires no special training. DataDyne’s Web site calls it the most widely used health software in the world.

For example, in Zambia and Kenya, EpiSurveyor has made it easier to organize campaigns to vaccinate¹⁵ children against measles¹⁶. The software has been used as part of a vaccination¹⁷ program that has greatly reduced measles deaths in Africa. EpiSurveyor has also been used in efforts to fight H.I.V. and to help contain an outbreak of polio.

Last year, Joel Selanikio received the Lemuelson-MIT Award for Sustainability for his work in public health and international development. The award recognizes outstanding inventors who create new solutions to real-world problems.

The head of the Lemuelson-MIT Award program says Doctor Selanikio’s work has saved lives and strengthened the global public health system.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY:

Lisa Nesser

Lisa Nesser is an American who lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She operates a school there for children from Burma, the country also known as Myanmar. The school is called Thai Freedom House.

Lisa Nesser is originally from Saint Louis, Missouri. She worked in a Tibetan refugee camp in India before going to Thailand to help Burmese refugees. On the Thai Freedom House Web site, she says she recognized a need for education for Burmese street children in Chiang Mai. She says there was nowhere for them to feel safe and be kids.

LISA NESSER: "They don't have a country. They don't have their family structure here to support them. But if you can give them education and language and ways to express themselves, which is why we focus on the arts, that gives them another kind of freedom that otherwise they wouldn't have."

Most of her students are children of migrant workers form Shan state in Burma. They are not accepted in Thai schools because they are not citizens of the country and do not speak Thai.

LISA NESSER: "I was really trying to get them into regular schools and they just wouldn't take them, even when I offered to sponsor fees."

The children also do not have the time or money for regular school. They have to work to help support their families.

Lisa Nesser says children in her school who are as young as twelve work in construction or in noodle shops.

In the past few years, Thai Freedom House has taught English, Thai and art to about two hundred children. It also teaches them the Shan language. And the school brings in craft workers to teach the children how to make items that they can sell.

Lisa Nesser says her goal is to provide help for displaced people who are poor and have been denied their human rights. Her Web site says the school tries to show them "how to locate and use the resources available to them, within themselves and their communities."

NAM GAO, STUDENT: "I want to say, 'Thank you,' to the teachers [at Thai Freedom House]. If there was no home like this, I would have no place to go to continue my education. Thank you for Freedom House."

FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach with reporting by Daniel Schearf in Chang Mai, Natalia Ardanza in Washington and Eric Bersh in San Rafael, California. Caty Weaver¹⁸ was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I’m Bob Doughty. Transcripts¹⁹, MP3s and podcasts of our programs can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also post comments on our Web site and on our Facebook page at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

　
 

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

4 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

5 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

6 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

7 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

8 rotary   

adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的

参考例句：

• The central unit is a rotary drum.核心设备是一个旋转的滚筒。
• A rotary table helps to optimize the beam incidence angle.一张旋转的桌子有助于将光线影响之方式角最佳化。

9 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

10 tangible   

adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的

参考例句：

• The policy has not yet brought any tangible benefits.这项政策还没有带来任何实质性的好处。
• There is no tangible proof.没有确凿的证据。

11 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

12 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。

13 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

14 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

15 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。

16 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

17 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

18 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

19 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句