UNESCO Literacy1 Campaign

 

Broadcast: April 14, 2003
By Jill Moss¹

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
The United Nations has launched a new ten-year campaign to increase literacy around the world. People with literacy skills can read and write. People who are not able to read and write are considered illiterate².
There are currently about eight-hundred-sixty-million illiterate people around the world. That is one out of every five adults over age fifteen. Two-thirds of them are women. In addition, more than one-hundred-thirteen-million children do not attend school and are failing to learn to read and write.
The main message of the U-N campaign is "Literacy as Freedom." Deputy U-N Secretary General Louise Frechette launched the campaign in February during a special ceremony at U-N headquarters in New York City.
She said that literacy is needed for a healthy, fair and successful world. She also noted³ the importance of education for girls and women to improve conditions in developing countries. That is why the first two years of the campaign will be aimed at improving the literacy of females.
The U-N Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will supervise the campaign. UNESCO head Koichiro Matsuura says the push for worldwide literacy is linked to human rights. He believes that literacy can help improve development and economic growth in poor countries.
The wife of President Bush, Laura Bush, was also present to launch the campaign. She said the United States plans to invest more than three-hundred-million dollars to support education in schools around the world. An estimated2 one-hundred-million dollars of that money will be spent in Africa. About seventy percent of the world's illiterate adults live in South and West Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
The United Nations hopes the new campaign will help increase world literacy by fifty percent by the year two-thousand-fifteen. This is just one of six goals set during a world education meeting in Dakar, Senegal in two-thousand. However, officials say seventy-nine countries are currently at risk of not meeting the literacy goal.
The U-N says the literacy campaign will be a huge test. But it will also be an important chance to improve the lives of millions of people around the world.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.
1. literacy [5lIt[r[sI] n. 有文化，有教养，有读写能力
2. estimated [5estImeIt] v/n.. 估计，估算

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

3 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。