VOA慢速英语2010年-Development Report - Using Paper Beads

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, as the old saying goes. But some women are finding a lot to like about colorful beads² from Uganda made of recycled paper. The beads are sold by a nonprofit organization in the United States called BeadforLife.

BeadforLife began as a chance meeting between three American women on a trip to Uganda and a local jewelry³ maker⁴. Millie Grace Akena was rolling paper beads near her home. She worked at a rock quarry⁵. She made paper beads as a hobby. But there was no real market for them in her country.

Torkin Wakefield says she, her daughter Devin Hibbard and Ginny Jordan brought some of the beads back to the United States.

TORKIN WAKEFIELD: "Immediately people started admiring the beads. 'Oh, I like this. Where did you get this? It's so pretty.'"

The three Americans launched BeadforLife in two thousand four. Nearly seven hundred women have taken part.

The group says its beaders earn an average of more than two thousand dollars a year in the program. This is five times what they earned before. Torkin Wakefield says the women spend up to eighteen months in the program.

Nearly 700 women have taken part in the BeadforLife program launched in Uganda by three Americans in 2004

TORKIN WAKEFIELD: "During that time she can make regular income and she has a savings⁶ account and she begins to study and plan for launching a business, which is her business and which will sustain her once she graduates from BeadforLife. And the program includes a microfinance grant, money that she has actually made by selling us beads that she gets at one time, so that she can make a big enough step into a business that is going to be sustainable."

The beads are sold across Uganda and at the BeadforLife headquarters in Boulder⁷, Colorado. They are also sold online and at jewelry shows called bead¹ parties.

TORKIN WAKEFIELD: "Because they have meaning, because these are gifts that help people, folks in America and beyond, when they buy our beads they feel a sense of generosity⁸. They feel a direct connection, like they can really participate in eradicating⁹ poverty."

Acrylic plastic is used to harden the paper. The jewelry costs between five and thirty dollars. BeadforLife reported sales in its last budget year of more than three and a half million dollars. It says for every ten dollar necklace sold, the beader gets two dollars and forty-three cents in money or materials.

It says more than ninety percent of earnings¹⁰ are reinvested in community development projects in Uganda. Torkin Wakefield estimates that BeadforLife has helped more than eight thousand people this way.

So what about Millie Grace Akena, the jewelry maker? Mrs. Wakefield says she has gone on to organize a small group of women who work with her, and they sell their beads to a religious group.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 bead   

n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠

参考例句：

• She accidentally swallowed a glass bead.她不小心吞下了一颗玻璃珠。
• She has a beautiful glass bead and a bracelet in the box.盒子里有一颗美丽的玻璃珠和手镯。

2 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

5 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

7 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

8 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

9 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。

10 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。