VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - A Class Where Teens

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Parents are a child's first teachers. But some parents never learned from good examples. In New York City, a nonprofit agency called Covenant¹ House tries to help homeless young mothers become good parents.

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The twelve or so teenagers who live at the shelter attend parenting classes four days a week. The class is called Mommy and Me.

Teacher Delores Clemens is a mother of five and a grandmother. She teaches basic skills, like how to give a baby a bath and how to dress a baby depending on the season.

She remembers one student who learned from her mother not to pick up a crying baby. The mother said that would only make the child needy² and overly demanding.

DELORES CLEMENS: "I said 'That's not true. You have to hold your baby! He is crying for a reason. If you never pick him up, he's going to keep crying. Pick your baby up. Cuddle your baby. Hug him! And she started to doing that. They just want a little cuddling and a little love. And it works! [Laughs]"

A teacher's aid at a day care center at a New York City high school in 2007

Delores Clemens says her students also learn how to be good mothers by letting themselves be mothered.

DELORES CLEMENS: "I'm doing something for them that never has been done for them before."

Around three hundred fifty teenage mothers graduate from Covenant House's Mommy and Me class every year.

In class on this day, with her baby son, is Natasha. She lived on the streets. She is glad not only for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. As she told reporter Adam Phillips, she is also glad for the help they offer in seeking a more secure life.

NATASHA: "They help you do your resume³, your cover letter and everything you need for a job interview, and they help you find a job whatever you're interested in."

REPORTER: "Did you go to high school?"

NATASHA: "Yes. I did."

REPORTER: "Did you graduate?"

NATASHA: "No, I didn't. I was in my last year and then, I got pregnant⁴ and I got lazy."

REPORTER: "You look like you are willing to accept responsibility for that."

NATASHA: "Yes, I am, and I want to finish."

Some teenage mothers wish they could be children themselves again. Eighteen-year-old Placida knows that feeling. She says being a mom is hard.

PLACIDA: "Because you have to get up every two hours in the middle of the night, and you can't go out and say 'I am going to buy this for myself.' No. I have to buy Pampers⁵, clothes and food. So now it's two. It's not only one. So it's very hard."

The World Health Organization says the United States has forty-one births for every one thousand girls age fifteen to nineteen. That is higher than other developed countries, as well as some developing ones. By comparison, northern neighbor Canada has fourteen births and southern neighbor Mexico has eighty-two.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, available online at voaspecialenglish.com and on Facebook at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember
 

1 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

2 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

3 resume   

v.（中断后）继续，恢复；n.摘要，简历

参考例句：

• We'll stop now and resume at two o 'clock.我们现在停下来，到两点再干。
• My resume shows that I have the right qualifications for the job.我的简历表明我正符合这项工作的条件。

4 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

5 pampers   

v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The biggest is Pampers nappies, which collected more than $7 billion last year. 最大的是帮宝适(Pampers)纸尿裤，去年收获超过70亿美元。 来自互联网
• She pampers her own spoiled children and brings Jane up as little better than a servant. 她对她那些被宠坏了的孩子娇生惯养，但对简则有如对待佣仆。 来自辞典例句