VOA常速英语2008年-American Woman Organizes Knitting for Troops

By George Dwyer
Washington
17 April 2008
 

The colorful knitted blankets known as "afghans" were originally patterned after centuries old textiles from Afghanistan. Hand knitting these wool blankets is an ancient art that is still widely practiced today. VOA's George Dwyer reports on an American woman who has organized hundreds of volunteers to produce handmade "afghans" in gratitude¹ to American service men and women serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

A few people have been gathering² at a home in suburban³ Maryland, just outside Washington, DC, to form a community "knitting circle."

They are all volunteers and they produce handmade afghans, which will then be donated to American armed service personnel serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Deborah Starobin-Armstrong came up with the idea in 2004.

"I got laid off from my job in 2004, spent a lot of time watching the news, and in December I was hearing a lot more of the news about the wounded coming back, how many people had been wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq, and decided⁴ I wanted to do something," she said.

Because she is an accomplished⁵ needleworker, and she knew others who were as well, Deborah set out to organize the enterprise that has now become known as "The Handmade Afghans Project."

"I sent out an e-mail to every person I knew and said, 'Hey, how about this? Do you want to knit and crochet⁶ with me? Do you want to do this?' And that is how it started - one by one by one," Deborah said.

She now has an e-mail list of 550 volunteers across the U.S. and in five other countries, working alone at home alone or at knitting circle events to produce the 15 x 23 centimeter rectangles.

"The way the project is set up is that people knit and crochet six inch by nine inch (15 x 23 centimeter) rectangles in acrylic yarn⁷. They send them all to Maryland. We have these big events - design events we call 'Put Together' events. And at those, we actually design the afghans and pin them for people to crochet together," she added.

Deborah says that thanks to these "Put Together" events, more than 1,300 afghans have been assembled since the project began in 2004. The volunteers say it is a labor⁸ of love.

One volunteer said, "everyone has put their fingers into it, their hands into it, their hearts, their emotions. And you think of all these people who have made the rectangles, and then you think about where the whole completed afghan is going."

Many of them go to the Combat Support Hospital at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Nearly 100 have been sent to date, each one including a 'Thank You' note from the volunteers who made the afghan. Often the soldiers will write to send their thanks in return.

"The families receive them, the soldiers receive them, and you think about that. And you think about how pretty they are, how warm and comforting they are," another volunteer added. Deborah keeps a scrapbook of letters received.

One of the letters read, "To Deborah and the rest of you supporting this project. I wanted to send a small thank you from the parents and staff here at Bagram. Unfortunately we have been busy," the letter continued. "But the patients truly appreciate your generosity⁹. You should see the smiles. Well, hope everything is well on the home front. It is nice to know we are not forgotten over here."

Many of the volunteers say it is letters like that that keep them going. "It just makes you want to grab your crochet hook and keep crocheting¹⁰ all the time, you know, you never want to stop. So [there's] a lot of satisfaction from helping," another volunteer said.

Deborah says she recently received some encouraging feedback from a nurse who observed the affect that the donated afghans had on the troops she tends to.

"And one of the things she told me is it is the first thing that reminds the wounded soldiers of home, because if you look at them, they are not perfect. We do not want them to be perfect. We want them to be handmade and remind people of home. And I think they are doing that," she said.

1 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

2 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

3 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

6 crochet   

n.钩针织物；v.用钩针编制

参考例句：

• That's a black crochet waistcoat.那是一件用钩针编织的黑色马甲。
• She offered to teach me to crochet rugs.她提出要教我钩织小地毯。

7 yarn   

n.纱，纱线，纺线；奇闻漫谈，旅行轶事

参考例句：

• I stopped to have a yarn with him.我停下来跟他聊天。
• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 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。

10 crocheting   

v.用钩针编织( crochet的现在分词 )；钩编

参考例句：

• She sat there crocheting all day. 她整天坐在那里用钩针编织东西。 来自互联网
• The crafts teacher is skillful in knitting,crocheting,embroidery,and the use of the hand loom. 手工艺教师善于纺织、钩编、刺绣和使用手摇织布机。 来自互联网