VOA标准英语2013--移动诊所为南非农村带来医疗保障

 

Mobile Clinics Bring Health Care to South Africa Countryside 移动诊所为南非农村带来医疗保障

MOKOPANE, SOUTH AFRICA — South Africa has a serious lack of healthcare facilities in rural areas. In many cases, people must walk for kilometers to reach the closest clinic. But some new solar-powered mobile clinics are changing that.

MOKOPANE,南非,南非农村地区严重缺乏医疗保健设施。大多数情况下，人们必须步行数千米才能到达最近的诊所。但是一些新型太阳能移动诊所却正在改变这一情况。本台记者艾米莉·约布追随着一辆这样的移动拖拉机诊所为我们带回报道。

Women have been waiting outside a seven-meter-long trailer since the early hours of the morning to register with this portable medical clinic.  Once they do, they can get free tests and check up on their health. In a mother and baby unit, women can learn their pregnancy¹ status and have an ultrasound, as well as getting tests for blood pressure and diabetes².

Nchaupe Mathosa is a member of a partner NGO and is volunteering today. "Most people travel for miles to the clinics or looking for assistance, so basically once you bring a unit like this toward the rural people or the people who are in need, it would be very important to have it close-by."

The mobile clinic is an initiative by Samsung Electronics. The company has funded four solar-powered mobile clinics, each of them specialized³ for health needs such as eye care, dental care or malaria⁴ testing.  

The solar panels, combined with batteries, allow the trucks to operate 24 hours a day - in theory.

Kea Modimoeng, Samsung Africa's corporate⁵ citizenship⁶ manager, said, "In some instances, you have a clinic which is well run by an NGO, but they lack these kind of specialized services. We then bring in the trucks to give it as an add-on service, which is very integral to the healthcare provision."

The company partners with various aid groups, universities and local governments to know where to position its trucks. The project is still in its infancy⁷, though, and sometimes misunderstandings happen. Like today, when neither Samsung nor the partner NGO brought medical gloves or stethoscopes.

"The unit is quite good. It's got a lot of things. It's got solar… but some of the basic things like gloves, working material was not actually readily available," said Mathosa.

For Annah Mushwena, it was worth waiting. She initially⁸ went to the clinic to find out her pregnancy status, but she also got tested for diabetes, which she knew little about before.

"I just heard about it, but to be honest, the detail, how does it work, how does it prevent it, I was not even sure about it. But as from today, I can even explain to you how it works," she said.

The project will be fully⁹ launched at the beginning of next year with two trucks touring in South Africa and others visiting countries across Africa. Samsung hopes to reach one million people in the rural parts of Africa by 2015. 

1 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

2 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

3 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

4 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

7 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

8 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

9 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。