VOA标准英语2011--Bakery Cooks Up a Sweet Future

Bakery Cooks Up a Sweet Future

 

Step inside the kitchen of Sunflower Bakery and you’ll notice the typical sights, sounds and smells of a professional kitchen in action. But there is one thing that sets this bakery apart from others in the area: its special training program.

Five days a week, two professional pastry² chefs work one-on-one with young adults from the community who have developmental or other cognitive³ disabilities. Their goal is to teach them basic skills so they can become proficient⁴ enough to get jobs in the baking industry.

During the 12-month training program, students spend about six months receiving professional instruction at Sunflower followed by a six-month internship⁵, either in-house or at a local bakery.

Sweet Dream

Sara Portman Milner and Laurie Wexler founded the non-profit enterprise in 2009.

Tiffany Yanaway, 19, (r) and Katara Tyler, 17, are trainees7 at Sunflower Bakery, which helps people with learning disabilities find jobs in the baking industry.

Before launching Sunflower Bakery, Milner worked at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington developing their special needs program.

Wexler had almost two decades of experience in program delivery and fundraising for non-profit organizations.

"As a social worker, I met Laurie and she said to me one day, ‘What do you think about this idea of starting a bakery that would train people with disabilities to work in a bakery?’" Milner recalls, "and I said, ‘I’m all about that. I love baking, I love working with people with special needs to give them opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise, let’s try it.’”

They started the bakery as a pilot program, and it grew from there.

Perfect career choice

Most of their trainees, who range in age from 18 to 27, are transitioning from school to the workplace. Sunflower is there to help ease that journey.

After going through its training program, Verred Joharie (center in yellow) is now employed at Sunflower Bakery and hopes to have a career in the baking industry.

They have a variety of disabilities, from language processing difficulties to attention deficit⁸ hyperactivity disorder⁹, and bi-polar disorder to mild intellectual deficits¹⁰.

Because of their challenges, it usually takes them longer to learn and process information. Milner says that’s why baking can be a perfect career choice, since it involves a lot of structure and repetition.

“This provides a socially acceptable way to get a job that you learn skills that are valued and needed, and you get paid with the structure built in,” says Milner.

Gaining confidence

Rachel Easterling, 23, has been working at the bakery on a part-time basis since April of this year and says working with the bakery staff has helped her gain confidence.

“The way I am, they’re so patient with me. I feel like I will learn more here than anywhere else because they take their time with you, they’re not too busy, it’s like one-on-one with you. But if I go somewhere else everybody’s just too busy.”

Treats baked by trainees at Sunflower Bakery

Trainee⁶ Verred Joharie, 21, has a mild form of Asperger’s Syndrome¹¹, a disorder on the autistic spectrum¹². People with the disorder often have difficulty interacting with other people and adapting to new environments.

But Joharie says her training at Sunflower has taught her to be more self-assured.

“At the beginning I was unsure. I was confused, I was anxious. Now, since they’ve helped me, it’s like I can open my eyes to the world and see what I want to do, how the world works, including working environments. I want to put myself out there, but I know it’s going to take a little bit more time for me.”

Into the workforce¹³

Joharie was one of five students to graduate from Sunflower’s training program this past September - the first group to complete the program since it began.

Sunflower Bakery's desserts are boxed and ready to be delivered.

The aspiring¹⁴ young baker¹ did so well that Sunflower hired her - for pay - right after she completed her internship at a local caterer¹⁵.

The other graduates also have promising¹⁶ futures¹⁷ in the baking industry.

Milner says the training program has been life changing for many of her students.

“When we started Sunflower bakery, we knew we wanted to try to give people opportunities," she says. "We had no idea how phenomenal the impact would be on trainees. And we’ve had people who’ve turned their lives around.”

Milner says she hopes to be able to expand her bakery from the industrial setting where it’s currently located and add another site, with a full storefront and café, where trainees can further develop their culinary skills.

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 pastry   

n.油酥面团，酥皮糕点

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry.厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• The pastry crust was always underdone.馅饼的壳皮常常烤得不透。

3 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

4 proficient   

adj.熟练的，精通的；n.能手，专家

参考例句：

• She is proficient at swimming.她精通游泳。
• I think I'm quite proficient in both written and spoken English.我认为我在英语读写方面相当熟练。

5 internship   

n.实习医师，实习医师期

参考例句：

• an internship at a television station 在电视台的实习期
• a summer internship with a small stipend 薪水微薄的暑期实习

6 trainee   

n.受训练者

参考例句：

• The trainee checked out all right on his first flight.受训者第一次飞行完全合格。
• Few of the trainee footballers make it to the top.足球受训人员中没有几个能达到顶级水平。

7 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

8 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

9 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

10 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

11 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

12 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

13 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。

14 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

15 caterer   

n. 备办食物者，备办宴席者

参考例句：

• My wife went to a lot of trouble; she called a caterer. 我太太花了很多心血，她找了专办派对的人来。
• The wedding reception has been organized by an outside caterer. 婚宴由外界的饮食公司承办。

16 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

17 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。