VOA慢速英语2015 米歇尔·奥巴马在亚洲宣传女童受教育的必要性

AS IT IS 2015-03-19 Michelle Obama to Publicize Need for Girls’ Education in Asia 米歇尔·奥巴马在亚洲宣传女童受教育的必要性

The wife of President Barack Obama is on a five-day trip to Asia. First Lady Michelle Obama is visiting Japan and Cambodia to help publicize an Obama administration program called “Let Girls Learn.” Administration officials set up the campaign to support the education of millions of girls worldwide.

Before her trip, Mrs. Obama and her husband noted¹ the inability of an estimated 62-million girls to attend school. They said educating the girls should be a foreign policy goal.

This week, “The Wall Street Journal” newspaper published an opinion piece by First Lady Michelle Obama. Her piece criticized the fact that tens of millions of girls are not receiving a satisfactory education.

Mrs. Obama wrote that this failure to educate girls is more than “a tragic² waste of potential.” She said it is both a serious public health issue and a problem for the economic health of nations and the world. She also said it was “a threat to the security of countries around the world.”

The First Lady noted that by 2012, every part of the developing world was educating both girls and boys in primary schools. But she said this is not the case in secondary education. Mrs. Obama wrote that, in some areas, girls face “the cultural values and practices that define and limit the prospects³ of women in their societies.”

The Obama administration launched the “Let Girls Learn” campaign earlier this month. At the time, Mrs. Obama noted plans to involve the U.S. Peace Corps⁴, the volunteer development agency.

“This effort will draw on the talent and energy of the nearly 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers serving in more than 60 countries. Through this effort, Peace Corps will be supporting hundreds of new community projects to help girls go to school and stay in school. And, I want to emphasize that these programs will be community-generated and community-led. They will be based on solutions devised by local leaders, families and yes, even the girls themselves.”

President Obama spoke⁵ at the same White House event. He said the campaign is important to his administration.

“We know that, when girls are educated, they’re more likely to delay marriage. Their future children, as a consequence, are more likely to be healthy and better nourished. Their future wages increase, which, in turn, strengthens the security of their family, and national growth gets a boost as well. From a political standpoint and a security standpoint, places where women and girls are treated as full and equal citizens tend to be more stable, tend to be more democratic. So, this is not just a humanitarian⁶ issue. This is an economic issue and it is a security issue, and that’s why it has to be a foreign policy priority.”

Mrs. Obama’s first stop on her Asian trip is Japan. The Peace Corps and a similar group in Japan -- called “Overseas Cooperation Volunteers” -- will work together on the campaign.

From Japan, Mrs. Obama travels to Cambodia. Evan Medeiros is the senior director for Asia affairs at the U.S. National Security Council in Cambodia. He says during her visit, Mrs. Obama plans to note the need for an open political system. She will also talk about the need to let civil society have a say in good governance.

Phil Robertson is the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch. He says Cambodia has much work to do to ensure all of its girls are educated.

“And, in fact, we just released a report last week about the women and girls in the garment sector⁷, which is the major export industry of Cambodia and over 92-percent of the workers in that industry are women and girls. We found that there're systematic⁸ abuses taking place in the garment factories in Cambodia. Their sending products to the likes of Gap and others (corporations) overseas, and the problem that we found was girls are going into these factories that, for all intents and purposes, is the end of their education.”

Phil Robertson says many of the girls are driven to the factories because of a lack of food at home. The rights report says many young women may face sexual pressure on the job and discrimination if they become pregnant.

Cambodia is one of 11 countries partnering in the Let Girls Learn Campaign. The others are Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo and Uganda.

Words in This Story

tragic – adj. involving very sad or serious issues

gender⁹ – n. the state of being a male or female

devise – v. to invent or plan (something that is difficult or complicated); to develop

consequence – n. result or results

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

3 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

4 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

8 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

9 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。