英语听力—环球英语 907 Homes, Clean Water and Health

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Robin² Basselin.
Voice 2
And I’m Liz Waid. 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
February, 2011. A severe³ storm hit the coast of Madagascar. Help was needed. And it came from the aid group Medair. Using airplanes, boats and two-wheeled motorcycles⁴, workers could see the damage. And they began to make a plan.
Voice 2
Today’s Spotlight is on Medair. They work around the world to help people after natural disasters, like storms and earthquakes. They also work in conflict⁶ areas, and other crises⁷.
Voice 1
Medair has been working in Madagascar since 2002. This large island is one of the poorest countries in the world. And every year, serious storms come from the ocean. Medair helps people after these cyclone⁸ storms. But they also help people prepare for the cyclone season.
Voice 2
These cyclones⁹ cause great damage. High winds damage roads, houses and farms. Large amounts of rain cause floods too. And the floods can bring dirty water into wells. This is what the Medair teams saw in February 2011. Heavy rain had flooded 19 villages. And the people in the villages lacked food and clean water.
Voice 1
The team met with leaders in the area. They were concerned about the people in the villages. But they also worried about the future. Dominique Zonarivelo was the leader of some of these villages. He told Medair,
Voice 3
“My first concern is that I have not had talked with anyone from five of my villages.”
“We will need to wait many days for the water level to go down. Then we can know if we have lost our rice crop. We had planted manioc and taro¹⁰ vegetables. But these have also probably been destroyed.”
Voice 2
The Medair team worked with these villages. Medair had experienced¹¹ people and emergency supplies to help after the cyclone. This included medical help, and food. They worked with villages to find the places where people needed help most. But they also offered help for the future. Their WASH programme helps villages find, use and protect clean water. They teach people about the importance of clean water in preventing disease¹².
Voice 1
Madagascar is not the only place Medair is working. The country of South Sudan has experienced much conflict. And the people have suffered greatly as a result. Because of the conflict, many areas are very poor. People have little access to doctors, and other health care. But there is another serious problem. People often have bad information about health and clean water. In this area, Medair supports small village health centres, and clean water projects.
Voice 2
December 2010. Emily Chambers¹³ was speaking to a large village group. She is Medair’s Health Coordinator¹⁴ in the Darfur area. The group was gathered to celebrate breast¹⁵ feeding - a mother’s job in feeding a baby from her breasts¹⁶. Emily spoke¹⁷ about a woman who carried a fat, healthy baby. This baby was four months old. What was the reason that this baby was so healthy? The mother gave her baby breast milk. Emily said that breast milk contained everything a baby needs, including water. Emily talked to the mothers in the group. But she also talked to the fathers and grandmothers. She told them that the whole family needed to encourage and support mothers.
Voice 1
Emily’s speech was broadcast on the radio so that many more people could hear it. She said, “Breast milk is a gift from God.” In South Sudan, many babies die every year. But breast milk can protect babies. Babies fed with breast milk are healthier and stronger.
Voice 2
Medair’s health centres support this message too. They give needed health care. But they also give important information and training, like the training about breast milk. They also teach people how to keep water clean, so that communities can be healthier.
Voice 1
This is also an important message in the country of Haiti. But after the earthquake in 2010, there were even greater need. The earthquake killed many people. And it destroyed most buildings in the quake⁵ area. Medair had not worked in Haiti before the earthquake. But they were experts in recovering after this kind of disaster. So they immediately sent people to help.
Voice 2
These teams helped people rebuild their houses. They also worked with local people, giving important jobs. This also made Medair a part of the community. Roger Sandberg worked in Haiti for six months after the earthquake. He was in the city of Jacmel. He reported that at the end of that time, one third of the people had moved back to their own homes. They did not have to stay in the temporary areas for people without homes. Roger talked about his time in Haiti on the Medair website. He talked about removing rubble¹⁸. This rubble was from the destroyed houses, including large pieces of concrete¹⁹ and other building materials.
Voice 4
“We had two engineers on our team. They taught us all how to safely destroy and remove rubble. The work days were hot, dusty²⁰ and tiring. Sometimes the dust from all the rubble made it almost impossible to breathe. At the end of every day, we would collect our tools. Then we would bring them back to a safe place. One night, on our long walk home, we stood taller and felt proud. This is why. One of the Haitians saw us. He said to the person next to him, ‘That is Medair. They are like us. They work hard.’”
Voice 1
Medair’s work does not end with rebuilding houses. Houses are just the first step! After the earthquake, people also had serious health needs. Like in the other places, Medair is creating health centres. They are also teaching²¹ about clean water, and sanitation²², including toilets.
Voice 2
In this programme, Spotlight has visited three countries with Medair. Medair does this work for a simple reason. Their workers are following the example of Jesus Christ²³. Their goal is to care for each person, with respect and love. Each situation is different, but many of the needs are the same. Health care. Houses. Clean water. Medair is meeting these simple but important needs.
 

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 severe   

adj.严格的，凶猛的，严肃的，严重的，严厉的，朴素的

参考例句：

• The severe storm did for most of the crops.猛烈的暴风雨毁掉了大部分庄稼。
• The pace was too severe to be kept up for long.跟上这步伐太难了，无法持久。

4 motorcycles   

n.摩托车( motorcycle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Twelve guards on motorcycles preceded the president's car. 骑着摩托车上的12名侍卫行于总统车前。 来自辞典例句
• This scooter didn't have a foot pedal to accelerate like the military motorcycles back then. 这台速克达并不像当时的军用摩托车是用脚踏板来加速。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

5 quake   

vi.颤抖，颤动，震动，发抖；n.地震，颤抖

参考例句：

• The earth suddenly began to quake.大地突然摇晃起来。
• The quake was one of the strongest to hit Japan this year.此次地震是日本今年发生的几次最强烈地震之一。

6 conflict   

n.冲突，矛盾，争执；vi.争执，撞斗，冲突，抵触

参考例句：

• Your statement is in conflict with the rest of the evidence.你的陈述同其余证据有矛盾。
• The conflict between them seems ceaseless.他们之间冲突似乎没个止息。

7 crises   

n. 危机；危险期

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
• Great crises often call forth gifted leaders. 危急存亡之际常能产生天才的领袖。

8 cyclone   

n.旋风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• An exceptionally violent cyclone hit the town last night.昨晚异常猛烈的旋风吹袭了那个小镇。
• The cyclone brought misery to thousands of people.旋风给成千上万的人带来苦难。

9 cyclones   

n.气旋( cyclone的名词复数 )；旋风；飓风；暴风

参考例句：

• The pricipal objective in designing cyclones is to create a vortex. 设计旋风除尘器的主要目的在于造成涡旋运动。 来自辞典例句
• Middle-latitude cyclones originate at the popar front. 中纬度地区的气旋发源于极锋。 来自辞典例句

10 taro   

n.芋，芋头

参考例句：

• Main grain crop has taro,corn,banana to wait.主要粮食作物有芋头、玉米、芭蕉等。
• You celebrate your birthday with taro,red bean and butter.用红豆、芋头和黄油给自己过生日。

11 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

12 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

13 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

14 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？

15 breast   

n.胸部；胸怀

参考例句：

• The coat is too tight at the breast.这件衣服胸部太紧了。
• He was wearing a nameplate on his left breast.他左胸前佩带着一张名牌。

16 breasts   

胸肉( breast的名词复数 )； 胸部； 乳房； 前胸部份

参考例句：

• The baby is nursing at its mother's breasts. 那孩子正在吃妈妈的奶。
• They had chicken breasts for lunch. 他们午餐吃鸡胸肉。

17 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。

18 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

19 concrete   

adj.具体的，有形的；n.混凝土 ；v.用混凝土修筑，浇混凝土，凝结

参考例句：

• Could you give us a concrete case?你能不能给我们举个具体事例？
• We should make a concrete analysis of each specific question.对于每个具体问题要进行具体分析。

20 dusty   

adj.积满灰尘的；无聊的，含糊的，粉末状的

参考例句：

• He was pulling dead roots from the dusty earth.他正在从土中拔出枯死的根茎。
• One spring it was very windy and dusty here.有一年春天这里风沙很大。

21 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

22 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

23 Christ   

n.基督，救世主，耶稣

参考例句：

• I regarded him as the Christ.我把他当作救世主。
• Christ preached that we should love each other.基督在布道中说人们应该互爱。