VOA标准英语2010年-Radio Station Seeks to Empower Palesti

Palestinian women are hoping to improve their lives by using the air waves.  A group of women in the West Bank this month launched one of the first all-women's radio stations in the Arab world.

Halla Bazzar, an attractive woman in her 20s, begins her afternoon show.  For this young professional, the job is more than just running a show. It is about giving women living in conflict a key to success. "We talk about issues that would inspire women in the future," she said.

Giving women hope for the future is one of the goals of the station, Nisaa FM, which started broadcasting this month from the West Bank town of Ramallah.

VOA - L. Ramirez
Maysoun Odeh

Founder¹ and manager Maysoun Odeh tells VOA the station wants to entertain, but also empower women. "We broadcast success stories of women regionally, internationally, or locally in which they can take example from, and they know that they can do something and they can achieve something regardless of the situation," she said.

The day-to-day situation for many Palestinian women living under occupation involves supporting their children while their husbands are in prison, finding housing after their homes are demolished², and navigating³ their way through Israeli checkpoints.

Wafa Abdel Rahman
Wafa Abdel Rahman, a woman's activist⁴ with the West Bank group Filastiniyat, says Palestinian women also face cultural issues.

"We suffer, as the rest of the women in the Arab world suffer, political Islam - the interpretation⁵ of Islam, which actually, is putting more burden on the women," she said. "It portrays⁶ women as if they are the key to the honor of the family.  If you are a good Muslim or not depends on how is your woman. Is she covered?  Is she following all the instructions, etcetera. This is really hard on women."

Abdel Rahman welcomes the new station.  "We need a radio that brings out all those issues," she said. "But also to take it a step further and think how we can - not only women but also men - how we can together change the status of women and make it better."

The station, whose name "Nisaa" means "woman" in Arabic, began operations this month with the help of Smiling Children, a Switzerland-based humanitarian⁷ foundation.
 

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 demolished   

v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光

参考例句：

• The factory is due to be demolished next year. 这个工厂定于明年拆除。
• They have been fighting a rearguard action for two years to stop their house being demolished. 两年来，为了不让拆除他们的房子，他们一直在进行最后的努力。

3 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

4 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

5 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

6 portrays   

v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The museum collection vividly portrays the heritage of 200 years of canals. 博物馆的藏品让运河200 年的历史再现眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The film portrays Gandhi as a kind of superman. 这部电影把甘地描绘成一个超人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。