VOA标准英语2015--5.6“大周日”志愿者帮助社区

Volunteers to Help Their US Communities on 'Big Sunday' 5.6“大周日”志愿者帮助社区

LOS ANGELES—

This Friday through Sunday, thousands of people around the United States are gathering¹ at schools, parks and community centers to help out with Big Sunday, a volunteer effort that started on a Sunday but has expanded to three days every year in early May.

Students and parents will be pitching in at Ramona Elementary School in Los Angeles, removing dead vegetation and beautifying the building. School Principal Guillermo George said a donation from Big Sunday organizers provided $500 for supplies, including plants and paint.

“So we are doing a little bit of gardening, putting in some new plants, and also a cleanup for the school," he said. "And we are also doing a little bit of painting.”

For many in Los Angeles, where the annual volunteer celebration got its start, and in other cities around the country, Big Sunday has become an annual tradition of helping² out with community projects.

Hollywood screenwriter David Levinson began the effort in 1999.

“We started as just a single day of service, which was called Big Sunday, and then it became a big weekend of service," he said. "This is the 17th one.  But now this weekend is the culmination³ of a year’s worth of helping, and the kickoff for the next year’s worth of helping.”

Each year on this weekend in May, people find new friends and help their neighborhoods in ways that often continue through the year.  

Ana Lopez, Ramona Elementary's volunteer coordinator⁴, said that "parents who have never really interacted, interact today, and from there, they just get to know each other.”

Some volunteers make their contributions at Big Sunday's Los Angeles headquarters, helping to organize projects at sites in more than 100 U.S. towns and cities.  They keep records and distribute the T-shirts that identify volunteers, each emblazoned with the words "Big Sunday."

All of those who help are making a contribution, Levinson said.

“Whether it is fixing up a school, whether it is cleaning the beach, whether it is taking a group of veterans horseback riding, we find a way for everybody to find what they are really good at, and their way that they can give back,” he said.

Levinson said the volunteer effort is good for the community, and also for the people who get involved.  He said that in a world that is often divided, Big Sunday is a way to bring people in communities together.

1 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。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

4 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？