VOA慢速英语2014 孟加拉国致力预防儿童溺水死亡

 

As It Is - Bangladesh Works to Prevent Child Drowning Deaths 孟加拉国致力预防儿童溺水死亡

On a hot day, several 12-year-olds are learning to swim at a park in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is a rare sight to see an inflatableswimming pool on the grounds of the park.

For the past seven years, local swim instructors¹ have taught about 360,000 children to swim. Many of the boys and girls come from nearby villages.

The swimming program is a service of a non-profit group called the Center for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh. The center says it has taught over 2,700 instructors to obey international swimming guidelines².

Aminur Rahman is director of the International Drowning Research Center in Dhaka. He remembers one tragedywhen a boy attempted to rescue his five-year-old brother from a pond.

“Then the villagers actually tried to search [for] the child and thought  that he could be in the pond. So they use fishing net and unfortunately they got both the child from the water. They rescued the child by that time and both of them were dead. It was assumed they went to the pond for washing hands and feet and maybe the younger one may have fallen down in the pond and the older one who knew swimming but didn't know how to rescue others Maybe tried to rescue his younger, but unfortunately he couldn't do [it]. So it is a pitythat both children drowned.”

Bangladesh sits on one of the world’s largest river deltas³, above the Bay of Bengal. It is a country of ponds and other waterways.

Dr. Rahman says people often do not think of water as a threat because it is so close to many homes.

“Somebody says, we used to swim here, we go for bathing, washing, everything nothing happened. And sometimes they often say that it's God’s will we cannot protect him. If the luck is that he will drown, he'll drown [and we] have nothing to do with that. This kind of misperception actually exists in the community.”

Most drowning deaths happen when unsupervised children fall into ponds within 20 meters of their homes.

In recent years, child health has improved in Bangladesh. Deaths from diarrhea and pneumonia⁴ have dropped sharply⁵. The two are the largest killers⁶ of children in many developing countries. However, there was no reduction in drowning deaths in Bangladesh.

Most drowning victims are from poor, uneducated families in rural areas. Many children walk around nearby fields, roads and ponds on their own.

At a school in Dhaka, 12-year-old Halima Sadia Tina recalled learning to swim.

“Now I can swim. When I went to my village house, I swim in that area and now I can swim better. The children who lived in rural areas they don’t know what is kick, float, glideand other systemic way of swimming.”

Thirteen-year-old Rezul Islam says learning to kick was the most difficult part.

“The first time I was scared but after some time I became normal with the water. Now I can save myself from drowning and also I can save other children’s life.”

A paper in the journal Pediatricsreported that in three years of the program, drownings among children between five and nine years old dropped 48 percent.

With each child who grows confidentin the water, Bangladesh makes progress against a preventable public health threat.

I’m Marsha James.

Words in this Story

inflatable – adj. capable of being filled with air

tragedy- n.a very bad event that causes sadness and often involves someone’s death

pity- n.a strong feeling of sadness or sympathy for someone or something

glide⁷ - v.to move in a smooth way

confident – adj. having a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something

1 instructors   

指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The instructors were slacking on the job. 教员们对工作松松垮垮。
• He was invited to sit on the rostrum as a representative of extramural instructors. 他以校外辅导员身份，被邀请到主席台上。

2 guidelines   

n.指导方针，准则

参考例句：

• The government has drawn up guidelines on the treatment of the mentally ill. 政府制订了对待精神病人的指导方针。
• Planners seem a little uncomfortable with the current government guidelines. 规划师似乎不太接受现行的政府指道方针。

3 deltas   

希腊字母表中第四个字母( delta的名词复数 )； （河口的）三角洲

参考例句：

• Tidal channels, deltas, and washover fans are characteristically associated with offshore bars. 潮汐水道、三角洲和冲刷扇典型地与滨外砂洲伴生在一起。
• I know many of the early civilizations prospered on deltas. 我知道很多古老的文明都是在三角洲上蓬勃发展起来的。

4 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

5 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

6 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

7 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。