造船可以帮助有风险的年轻人改善他们的生活

Building Boats Helps At-Risk Young Adults Improve Their Lives

The art of building small wooden boats is being used to help young, at-risk adults in the United States. These young men and women are being trained and working as apprentices² in a boat building program in Alexandria, Virginia.

The Alexandria Seaport³ Foundation is providing support for the program, which serves the Washington, D.C. area. It aims to help those who have little hope of attending college or finding a good-paying job. The goal is to give young people the skills, state of mind and self-control to change their lives for the better.

The year-round program teaches small groups of people how to build small wooden sailboats and canoes. The apprentices are from 18 to 22 years old.

One apprentice¹ is 19-year-old Chris Adkins from Florida. He is learning what it takes to build boats that are beautiful and useful, with hammers, saws and other tools.

"It's been fun to learn how to use these tools," he said.

Jimmy Gottfried is the head of the boat-building program. He once served as a boat-building apprentice.

"Many of the apprentices in our program have faced many challenges in their life, such as lack of family support, dropping out of school, having run-ins with the law. And they're looking for a way to gain back the confidence they need to go back out into the workforce⁴."

The apprentices are guided by volunteers who teach them how to build the boats, as well as guide the young people in their personal lives.

Some of the apprentices have yet to finish high school. The Alexandria Seaport Foundation works to help them prepare for and pass a series of tests called the GED. Passing the GED is comparable to having completed high school.

Apprentices who struggle with mathematics receive help from a volunteer teacher.

Adkins says he was a good student in high school. But he had to leave school to work because of family issues.

"My mom died when I was 8-years-old, so that’s always something that’s on me. One reason that I came to the program was because they want to help you. I'm not used to someone wanting to help me, or enthusiastic about it..."

Jay Helinski completed the program about one year ago. He speaks of his own experiences as a model for the group.

"And they know that I'm living proof of what hard work, dedication⁵, and just the willpower to succeed gets you to."

Adkins is now more than halfway⁶ through his apprenticeship⁷. He says he feels better about himself. He has passed his high school equivalency and hopes to go to college one day.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Words in This Story

apprentice – n. a person who learns a job or skill by working for a fixed⁸ period of time for someone who is very good at that job or skill

confidence – n. a feeling or belief that you can do something well or succeed at something

run-in – n. an angry argument

enthusiastic – adj. feeling or showing strong excitement about something; filled with or marked by enthusiasm

dedication – n. self-sacrifice

challenge – n. a difficult test or problem

1 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

2 apprentices   

学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were mere apprentices to piracy. 他们干海盗仅仅是嫩角儿。
• He has two good apprentices working with him. 他身边有两个好徒弟。

3 seaport   

n.海港，港口，港市

参考例句：

• Ostend is the most important seaport in Belgium.奥斯坦德是比利时最重要的海港。
• A seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal.轮船能够补充煤炭的海港。

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

6 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

7 apprenticeship   

n.学徒身份；学徒期

参考例句：

• She was in the second year of her apprenticeship as a carpenter. 她当木工学徒已是第二年了。
• He served his apprenticeship with Bob. 他跟鲍勃当学徒。

8 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。