【英语语言学习】走出贫困有多难

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty. The success or failure of that war has been debated ever since. As part of our anniversary coverage¹, NPR's Pam Fessler is reporting on the difficulties of living in poverty and on how hard it is to get out. Today, she brings us this story from Steuben County in western New York.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE²: Desiree Metcalf's story is heartbreaking but not unique. There are many Desirees among the 46 million Americans who are poor today. This one is 24 years old, the mother of three little girls - six, four and two. They all have different fathers.

DESIREE METCALF: That about sums me up, I think.

FESSLER: Desiree is sitting on the floor of her two-bedroom apartment in Bath, New York. A fish tank gurgles in the background. A tiny kitten peeks³ out from under the furniture. Her youngest daughter is curled up under a blue blanket, head resting on her mother's lap.

METCALF: Are you shy? No? OK.

FESSLER: Desiree got married two years ago to a man who isn't the father of any of her children but he recently left her for someone else.

METCALF: Oh, I just feel like I get one piece of good news that makes me, hey, life isn't going to be that bad and then here comes 30 things to basically push me right back down in this hole that I've been trying to dig myself out of for the last probably 15 years.

FESSLER: Fifteen years. Desiree did not just become poor. A lot of bad things happened to get her here. Like others who are poor, she doesn't have just one or two problems, but a whole pile of them.

METCALF: A long story.

FESSLER: Desiree was raised by a single mother, also poor. Desiree says they didn't always get along. And things came to a head when she was 12.

METCALF: My mom and I got in a fight and she told me she was going to kill me. And I wrapped a belt around my neck and told her I would do it for her. I ended up in a psychiatric hospital and from there I went to foster care.

FESSLER: And from home to home to home. She attended 26 different schools.

METCALF: Seems I'd just get my bags unpacked⁴ and it was time to move again, so.

FESSLER: Desiree admits she was no saint.

METCALF: I used to be an alcoholic⁵. I used to self-harm.

FESSLER: Which means she cut herself to feel the pain. Today, she has tattoos⁶ on her arms to cover the scars.

METCALF: I smoked cigarettes like a chimney.

MARIAN RECELMAN: I first knew Desiree when she was 15 and I was in a different agency working with her family with the goal of reunification.

FESSLER: That's Marian Recelman, now with ProAction, a local non-profit agency, still trying to help.

RECELMAN: She did come back and graduated from high school and was all set to go to college.

FESSLER: In Florida, with a full scholarship.

RECELMAN: And then turned up pregnant.

FESSLER: Yup, another single teenage mom. But again, not that unusual. Half of all girls in foster care get pregnant by the time they're 19. Desiree knew that her life had taken a detour⁷.

METCALF: That was my ticket out of here, so to speak. So, here I am. Not in Florida.

FESSLER: Like many before her, Desiree carried her poverty into adulthood⁸, doing odd jobs with periods of homelessness and hunger. But here's what's even more disturbing: that poverty is now starting to take its toll⁹ on her children, especially her oldest daughter, who recently tried to run away from home in the middle of the night.

METCALF: She's got some emotional issues. And, I mean, we went through everything from making ourselves puke after we eat to running away to wanting to kill themselves and she's six years old.

FESSLER: Six years old. So, you might be asking yourself, isn't there some help this family can get? Well, yes, there's plenty. The government and charities have spent thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, on Desiree and her family - on food stamps, health care, housing, Head Start - many of the programs that emerged from the war on poverty. But clearly they haven't done the trick, for many reasons. First, Desiree can't get a job, even though the government spent almost $3,000 to train her as a certified¹⁰ nursing assistant.

METCALF: That's something I've always wanted to do.

FESSLER: But her car was recently totaled by someone backing out of a driveway.

METCALF: So, now my vehicle is gone and have no way to get back and forth¹¹ to work reliably and, unfortunately, there's not much in this town as of work and...

FESSLER: Mass transit¹² is virtually nonexistent in this rural area. And with her husband gone, Desiree - like many low-income workers - has something else to worry about.

METCALF: If you get a job and they take you off public assistance, then they don't pay for daycare.

FESSLER: An expense that would likely eat up most of her earnings¹³. And Desiree faces another Catch-22. She knows if she starts making money, other benefits, like food stamps, will be cut or eliminated. Just recently, her family's food stamp benefit dropped from $700 a month to $200 because her daughter started to get big Social Security checks to treat her emotional issues and her husband began working part-time at McDonalds. Of course, now he's gone.

METCALF: I guess the system, to me, seems backward. I mean, they should be more for helping¹⁴ you, not kind of setting you up to fail, so to speak.

FESSLER: And there's one more thing: you might notice that Desiree is sometimes difficult to understand. That's because most of this 24-year-old's top front teeth are missing. Gum disease. Medicaid paid $3,000 for a partial bridge, but now she can't use it because her other teeth are crumbling¹⁵.

METCALF: It doesn't bother me. I got summer teeth - some are here, some are gone, some are somewhere.

FESSLER: But it's probably not helping much with her job search. Social worker Marian Recelman says Desiree could get more dental work using Medicaid, but...

RECELMAN: There are very few providers who will accept it and none in this community. So, you have to find one and then travel to it.

FESSLER: Again, Desiree has no transportation. It's seems there's a roadblock at every turn.

RECELMAN: It's distressing¹⁶ because you have to be so motivated and capable to navigate¹⁷ those systems and come out ahead.

FESSLER: It's a complaint that you hear again and again, not just from those who get government aid but also from providers. Kathryn Muller is the commissioner¹⁸ of social services for Steuben County. She says her office provides many services for struggling families.

KATHRYN MULLER: Really, it's sometimes handholding. It's working with employers and putting case managers with individuals who are starting employment and helping them.

FESSLER: But, she says, sometimes their hands are tied by state and federal law. One example: Welfare recipients¹⁹ can meet their work requirements by going to school but only for one year.

MULLER: One year is great. It's better than what used to be, but you can't get an associate's degree in one year.

FESSLER: Even though, she says, one of the main reasons people can't get work here is a lack of education. Muller says some of the limits are there to prevent people from abusing the system but there's also a misperception about the poor.

MULLER: It's not a chosen lifestyle. Certainly there is abuse out there, there's abuse no matter what it is. But it's not a chosen lifestyle.

FESSLER: Desiree could not agree more. She just wishes it wasn't such a struggle to get help. Amazingly, though, with all she's been through, she still hopes she'll someday get to college.

METCALF: Someday. I haven't given up my dream yet. I just keep putting it on the back burner, until it ain't raining so hard, I guess.

FESSLER: Pam Fessler, NPR News.

1 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 peeks   

n.偷看，窥视( peek的名词复数 )v.很快地看( peek的第三人称单数 )；偷看；窥视；微露出

参考例句：

• A freckle-face blenny peeks from its reef burrow in the Solomon Islands. 奇特的海生物图片画廊。一只斑点面容粘鱼窥视从它的暗礁穴在所罗门群岛。 来自互联网
• She peeks at her neighbor from the curtain. 她从窗帘后面窥视她的邻居。 来自互联网

4 unpacked   

v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等）

参考例句：

• I unpacked my bags as soon as I arrived. 我一到达就打开行李，整理衣物。
• Our guide unpacked a picnic of ham sandwiches and offered us tea. 我们的导游打开装着火腿三明治的野餐盒，并给我们倒了些茶水。 来自辞典例句

5 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

6 tattoos   

n.文身( tattoo的名词复数 )；归营鼓；军队夜间表演操；连续有节奏的敲击声v.刺青，文身( tattoo的第三人称单数 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的胳膊上刺满了花纹。
• His arms were covered in tattoos. 他的双臂刺满了纹身。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 detour   

n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道

参考例句：

• We made a detour to avoid the heavy traffic.我们绕道走，避开繁忙的交通。
• He did not take the direct route to his home,but made a detour around the outskirts of the city.他没有直接回家，而是绕到市郊兜了个圈子。

8 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

13 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

14 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。

15 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

16 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

17 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

18 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

19 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》