2006年VOA标准英语-Los Angeles Charity 'Children of the Night' Hel

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
12 December 2006

Child prostitutes are escaping life on the streets with help from a Los Angeles charity called Children of the Night. Mike O'Sullivan reports, the group has helped thousands of youngsters in the 27 years since it was founded.

 
Lois Lee
It all started with a research project by Lois Lee, who was pursuing her doctorate¹ in sociology. She studied police reports on prostitution arrests, and monitored court cases. "And in those court cases, I met many young prostitutes, and two were killed by a serial² murderer known as the Hillside Strangler, which just catapulted me into street life," she said.

That was at the height of the 1970s youth culture, when hundreds of thousands of teenagers left home for the big city, and often themselves living on the streets. Some turned to prostitution, or were forced into it by pimps. Survival was difficult, and Lee says there were few social agencies to help them. "And so they would ask me for help and there was no place to put them. There were no programs, and so I allowed them to come to my home. And from 1979 to about 1981, over 250 children came through my apartment," she said.

Lee eventually opened a drop-in center for street kids in Hollywood, where they had come to search for a better life, enticed³ by the glamorous⁴ entertainment industry. Instead, they found poverty, abuse and drug addiction⁵. In 1992, Children of the Night opened a group home in suburban⁶ Los Angeles, where the youngsters could find safety and shelter.

Lee says many of these children were abused at home, often by drug-addicted parents. She adds that others in the community are also responsible for their exploitation, including the adults they dealt with on the streets. "When you look around at the kinds of people who have sex with these children, they are schoolteachers and police officers and lawyers and accountants and priests and rabbis, and I don't want to leave anybody out. Children look around and that's been their experience with their own families and the people that most of us are taught to look up to, to respect. So they think that's what the world wants of them," she said.

 
Sonia Ventura
The children and teens, both male and female, receive counseling and attend classes. Sonia Ventura, the principal and head teacher of the shelter's in-house school, has worked at the school for 13 years, and enjoys the challenge. "I think my primary goal as an instructor⁷ is to get them to believe in themselves. And once they believe in themselves, I have to find what they like, what they enjoy, and mold everything in that direction," she said.

The teacher says the students participate in regional science fairs, and are given the chance to finish school. She says the children, some as young as 11, are accustomed to failure, but are unfamiliar⁸ with praise for their successes. "I remember one time when I commended one of my students, and she just started sobbing⁹. She didn't know what to do with the compliment I had given her. So that's why they stay here, because they see that this place can change their life, they can accomplish things, and they've seen what other kids have done in the past," she said.

There are many success stories here. One former prostitute who came at age 13 is studying at a nearby university.

Lee says others have gone on to become office workers and nurses. Others are less successful and some, unfortunately, end up back on the streets. Lee says thousands of U.S. children are still engaged in prostitution.

She says Americans know of the trafficking of children in other countries, but can be blind to the plight¹⁰ of children on the streets of U.S. cities. "When you're talking about other parts of the world, you're talking about organized crime, you're talking about political corruption¹¹, you're talking about economic dependence¹², sometimes on tourism, and politicians and people that can make change look the other way for the economic security of the country. But child prostitution is America's dirty little secret, too," she said.

 
Lois Lee and children
Between 55 and 300 youngsters stay at the center each year, some for a few months and others until their 18th birthday. Later, they may move in with foster families or into a college dormitory. When conditions are good at home, they may be reunited with their families.

Others get assistance to live independently as they make the transition to adulthood¹³. Lee says the organization maintains ties with the children who have stayed here, providing continued support through their adult years.

1 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

2 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

3 enticed   

诱惑，怂恿( entice的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He enticed his former employer into another dice game. 他挑逗他原来的老板再赌一次掷骰子。
• Consumers are courted, enticed, and implored by sellers of goods and services. 消费者受到商品和劳务出售者奉承，劝诱和央求。

4 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

5 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

6 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

7 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

8 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

9 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

10 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

11 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

12 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

13 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。