VOA慢速英语20060118b

EXPLORATIONS - Sustained¹ Dialogue: Solving Conflicts Among People in Africa, and at American CollegesBy Marilyn Christiano

Broadcast: Wednesday, January 18, 2006

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the process of Sustained Dialogue that is being used in Africa and at American colleges.


Ted² Nemeroff speaks to students at the University of Virginia. He has been involved in a sustained dialogue program in South Africa

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VOICE ONE:

Last week, we told about the work of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue. It is helping³ people involved in long term conflicts begin new relationships so they can deal with issues that affect them all. Harold Saunders is president of the organization.

Sustained dialogue is a continuing series of meetings among citizens outside government. It involves the same people meeting again and again. Mister Saunders says that when the same people meet many times they develop a trust in each other and learn to cooperate to solve their own problems.

VOICE TWO:

The Sustained Dialogue process is being used for an Arab-American-European dialogue. Individuals from some Arab countries, from the United States and from Europe are beginning their third year of meetings. The aim of this dialogue is to work together to find ways to end conflicts and move toward better relationships.

The International Institute for Sustained Dialogue is also helping citizen groups in Tajikistan, Russia and Puerto Rico. It often works with other organizations that want to learn to use and teach Sustained Dialogue. The IISD is also helping develop dialogues in South Africa and at American colleges.

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VOICE ONE:

Teddy Nemeroff has been working for two and one-half years at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, known as Idasa. His job is Sustained Dialogue Coordinator⁴. He is organizing the dialogue program at Idasa to be used as a tool for building democracy and peace throughout the southern African area.

Mister Nemeroff explains he was attending Princeton University in New Jersey⁵ when he first became involved with Sustained Dialogue. He met Harold Saunders at that time. After he finished at the university, Mister Nemeroff continued work with Sustained Dialogue programs. In two thousand three, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa decided⁶ it wanted to start a Sustained Dialogue program for southern Africa. Mister Saunders suggested Mister Nemeroff could help.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Nemeroff has designed and helped organize a number of different projects since he arrived in South Africa. He says the ideas came from either local organizations or individuals who recognized the need for dialogue and requested help in organizing them.

One Sustained Dialogue project involves young people in Harare, Zimbabwe. It helped these young people who are in opposing political parties begin to talk to each other. The aim was to reduce youth involvement in political violence. Fourteen Zimbabwean non-government organizations and an Italian organization are in charge of the project. Mister Nemeroff helped design the project and provided training in the Sustained Dialogue process.

Mister Nemeroff says young people who took part in the Sustained Dialogue now are helping mediate⁷ conflicts in their communities. He says people who took part in the organized dialogue groups are developing plans for more Sustained Dialogues in their own communities.

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VOICE ONE:

The Institute for Democracy in South Africa began another Sustained Dialogue project in January, two thousand four to help farming communities in South Africa. Mister Nemeroff says it is helping overcome past political divisions so community members can cooperate in developing plans for economic development. About thirty local leaders from nine villages are now trained to organize their own dialogues. The dialogue groups have worked together to establish new economic development projects in agriculture and home crafts.

Idasa also is involved with the South African Council of Churches to help organize dialogues in local churches to discuss race relations. Mister Nemeroff says they have established six dialogue groups and held two conferences to help improve relations among people of different races.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Nemeroff says people he has worked with identify the process of Sustained Dialogue as a way to solve problems. He has learned that African cultures believe it is important to reach common agreement when making decisions. Yet, he says, South Africans find the dialogue method very different from the usual way decisions are made in official meetings.

He says it takes a while for people to see the value of Sustained Dialogue's unofficial method of problem solving.

In the future, the Institute for Democracy in South Africa is hoping to use the Sustained Dialogue process to improve relations between the citizens and the government. Mister Nemeroff says that Idasa also wants to establish working ties with other organizations in the rest of Africa to help deal with local conflicts.

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VOICE ONE:

Another project of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue involves students in colleges and high schools. It is called the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network, known as SDCN. The organization began in two thousand two to connect students across the country who are involved in Sustained Dialogue. SCDN provides training for students interested in organizing dialogues and for moderators who will keep the discussions going. There are about fifteen universities and high schools connected to the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network.

VOICE TWO:

The first student dialogue took place in nineteen ninety-nine at Princeton University. Some students went to the university officials and said they were concerned about race relations. The officials called Mister Saunders, a Princeton graduate. He helped the students organize Sustained Dialogue groups.

In the nineteen eighties, Mister Saunders and Russia's Evgeny Primakov were chairmen of the longest continuous dialogue between Soviet⁸ and American citizens, the Dartmouth Conference. In the nineteen nineties, Mister Saunders helped organize Sustained Dialogues in places of conflict, such as Tajikistan. His book, A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogue to Transform Racial and Ethnic⁹ Conflicts, is based on his experience with the Dartmouth Conference and in Tajikistan.

Mister Saunders believed the Sustained Dialogue process could be a tool to help students understand individuals who were different from them. He thought that small groups of students meeting several times a month would be able to build new relationships that could have a lasting¹⁰ effect.

VOICE ONE:

Clark Herndonbegan working with Sustained Dialogue when he was a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He says the university has a very active dialogue program. In two thousand four, more than three hundred students took part in twenty dialogue groups led by thirty-five trained student moderators. The groups discussed issues that divide students such as race, ethnic origins and religion.

Mister Herndon now is a program director for the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. He says SDCN is pushing to create organizations at universities and high schools that can operate on their own. He says there is no limit to the possible growth of the Campus Network if it has enough financial support.

VOICE TWO:

Tessa Garcia discovered Sustained Dialogue as a student while trying to find a way to improve race relations at the University of Notre Dame¹¹ in South Bend, Indiana. Now she is a program director for the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network. Miz Garcia says every fall the two SDCN program directors visit all universities and high schools with Sustained Dialogue programs to train student moderators. And in January all schools with active programs send new people to the SDSN headquarters in Washington, D.C., to be trained in the process.

The Sustained Dialogue Campus Network is working to develop ways to measure the success of the dialogues. Mister Herndon says evidence now of the success of Sustained Dialogue is when a student says, I used to think this way. Now I have a new way to think about people around me.

For more information about Sustained Dialogue for students, go to the Web site, www.sdcampusnetwork.org.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Marilyn Christiano and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

1 sustained   

adj.持久的，持续的v.维持( sustain的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；忍受；长期保持

参考例句：

• Without correct leadership, the enthusiasm of the masses cannot be sustained. 没有正确的领导，群众的积极性就不可能持久。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He has sustained a great loss by the death of his father. 他父亲的去世使他蒙受巨大的损失。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

3 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。

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？

5 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

6 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。

7 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

8 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

10 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

11 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。