英语听力—环球英语 870 Women Taxi Drivers

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Robin² Basselin.
Voice 2
And I'm Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
The city of New Delhi, India is known for traffic. The sounds of engines and car horns fill the streets. It is common to see New Delhi streets crowded with buses, small cars, and other kinds of small vehicles. And many of the street's vehicles are taxis. These taxis are cars driven by trained drivers. They drive paying riders all over the city. Taxis are a major business in New Delhi.
Voice 2
While taxis are common in New Delhi, women taxi drivers are not. Almost all paid and trained drivers in New Delhi are men. However, an organization called the Azad Foundation³ is trying to change that. Today's Spotlight is on this new program. It is giving women power through driving.
Voice 1
New Delhi is a very large city - more than 12 million people live in it. And like many big cities, parts of New Delhi suffer from poverty and violence. New Delhi is an especially dangerous place for women. It has the highest rate of violence against women of all India's cities.
Voice 2
This violence and poverty negatively affects many women in New Delhi. Wealthy women in New Delhi can safely travel around the city. They can buy their own cars and pay private drivers. However, poorer women can only travel using taxis and other lower cost forms of transportation. Often, the fear of danger keeps these women from travelling around the city. This limits the kind of jobs a woman can have. And it can also keep her from completing her education.
Voice 1
Meenu Vadera recognized these problems. She decided⁴ to find a solution. Now Meenu is the leader of the Azad Foundation. This non-governmental organization "seeks to provide 'good jobs' for young women from poor communities." When the foundation began, the leaders decided that taxi driver training would be a good way to do this. So, in 2008, the Azad Foundation began seeking women for their program. The program had three purposes. One, to help answer the need for more taxi drivers in New Delhi. Two, to provide a safe way for women and visitors to travel around the city. And three, to support disadvantaged women through job training and education.
Voice 2
Meenu explained more about the foundations⁵' goals when she talked with Panos London's writer Diya Chaundhri. Meenu said,
Voice 3
"Our goal is to work with disadvantaged women to help them move from thinking 'I cannot' to 'I can.'"
Voice 1
The foundation helps the women make the move from 'I cannot' to 'I can' through both job training and education. The women receive training at a drivers' school run by India's largest car manufacturer⁶, Maruti Suzuki India. This training takes four months. During this time, the women also receive English training and self-defense classes. Most importantly, the foundation teaches the women about their legal rights. Many of the women who seek training with the Azad foundation do not have any legal papers. Without such papers, they are unable to identify themselves or prove that they even exist.
Voice 2
Meenu told Panos London news,
Voice 3
"When the women arrive at Azad, most of them have no real documents – no card or paper to identify them, no education papers. One of the women from our first training said to me, 'If I had died on the road in an accident no one would have known who I was'. With a driving license⁷ the women are becoming recognized citizens of their country."
Voice 1
The Azad program is giving new hope and recognition⁸ to many kinds of women. Some women in the program are uneducated mothers. They are trying to earn more money for their husbands and families. Other women at Azad come from bad marriages and families. Some women were abused⁹. They were continually¹⁰ hurt by their husbands or families. And Azad is providing all these women with a new way to support themselves in a safe environment.
Voice 2
Shanno Begum is one of these women. At age 32, she is a widow¹¹. In 2009, Shanno spoke¹² with the French Press Agency¹³ or AFP about her situation. She said,
Voice 4
"My husband died three years ago. I had to support three children and my husband's parents. As a private medical care worker, I used to earn ninety dollars a month. I worked all day every day. Now, I will earn the same amount working eight hours and I can devote more time to my children."
Voice 1
The Azad program provides hope for the women. But the process it is not always easy. Many of the women say that male drivers try to make their driving more difficult. They say that men honk¹⁴ at them. Sometimes men pull their cars quickly in front of the women just to be mean.
Voice 2
Azad has also found that fewer people will choose a female¹⁵ driver. So it can be more difficult for female drivers to find work. Many people still think women drivers are not as good as men drivers. Meenu tries to explain that this is not true. She told AFP,
Voice 3
"Even though I explain, they decide against women drivers. They do this even after I explain the fact that records show women are more careful than male drivers -- women obey traffic rules, they do not drink and drive, and they do not get into fights on the road."
Voice 1
It may be difficult at times, but Azad is succeeding. The program is changing women's lives for the better. It is also changing the way society sees and treats women. And Meenu has yet another goal for the future. Her goal is to not only train the women, but help them start their own business - a company owned and managed by the women. And Meenu is sure Azad will succeed. In fact, she hopes to have a fully¹⁶ trained and well managed female taxi service by October 2010. This will be in time for the Commonwealth¹⁷ Athletic¹⁸ Games competition in New Delhi.
Voice 2
Change is not always easy. But change for the better is worth the struggle. The women of the Azad Foundation taxi program know this well. And Meenu has seen this change happen again and again. She recently told Panos London news,
Voice 3
"The change in the women during the training is so huge. You can see it in their body language, in their speech, in the way they negotiate¹⁹. I think it is a small step into a very different world. Learning²⁰ to drive is like learning to swim: once you are over the early fear, it makes you feel powerful..."
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

3 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

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 foundations   

n.地基

参考例句：

• The builders are now beginning to lay the foundations of the new school. 建筑工人正开始给新校舍打地基。
• The house is unsafe since the foundations were undermined by floods. 这栋房子不安全，因为地基被洪水损坏了。

6 manufacturer   

n.生产厂商，制造公司，厂主

参考例句：

• A manufacturer can amplify the demand of a product by advertising widely.厂商能用大做广告的方法来扩大人们对产品的需求。
• Prices are laid down by the manufacturer.价格是由厂商制定的。

7 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。

8 recognition   

n.承认，认可，认出，认识

参考例句：

• The place has changed beyond recognition.这地方变得认不出来了。
• A sudden smile of recognition flashed across his face.他脸上掠过一丝笑意，表示认识对方。

9 abused   

v.妄用( abuse的过去式和过去分词 )；虐待；辱骂

参考例句：

• All the children had been physically and emotionally abused. 所有这些儿童的身心都受到了摧残。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This rule was brought into being because the old law was abused. 由于旧的法律遭到滥用，这条规则便应运而生。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 continually   

adv.不间断地，不停地；多次重复地

参考例句：

• The other kids continually taunted him about his size.其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
• The US is continually building up its armed forces.美军正持续加强它的三军。

11 widow   

n.寡妇

参考例句：

• Martha was a very rich young widow.玛莎是个很有钱的年轻寡妇。
• All this money was appropriated for the support of his widow.所有这些钱作为给他的遗孀的抚养费。

12 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

13 agency   

n.经办；代理；代理处

参考例句：

• This disease is spread through the agency of insects.这种疾病是通过昆虫媒介传播的。
• He spoke in the person of Xinhua News Agency.他代表新华社讲话。

14 honk   

n.雁叫声，汽车喇叭声

参考例句：

• Don't honk the horn indiscriminately.不要乱鸣喇叭！
• While passing another vehicle,you must honk your horn.通过另一部车时必须鸣按喇叭。

15 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

16 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。

17 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

18 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

19 negotiate   

v.洽谈，协商，谈判，顺利通过，成功越过

参考例句：

• I'll negotiate with their coach on the date of the match.我将与他们的教练磋商比赛的日期问题。
• I managed to negotiate successfully with the authorities.我设法同当局进行了成功的协商。

20 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。