2007年VOA标准英语-Senegalese Woman Provides Food for Poor Workers

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
05 April 2007
 
Watch Corner Kitchen report
According¹ to most poverty² indicators³, almost half the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is living on less than one dollar a day.  One Senegalese food stand owner shows how far a dollar goes in this part of the world.  Her aluminum-sided, cardboard-roofed sandwich and coffee stand in Dakar has become the community kitchen for hundreds of people, mostly men who come from far away to work in the city.  For a little over one dollar, diners can afford breakfast, lunch, hot coffee, plus a helping⁴ of morning news. Phuong Tran has more from Dakar, Senegal.

Every morning, before the sun rises, 47-year-old Astou Diaw and her daughter Yoni are already awake, getting ready for work at her food stand a bus ride away. Fighting sleepiness, and guided only by dim⁵ streetlights, the two slowly make their way to the corner bus stop.

Her first expense is 100 French CFAs, or 20 cents, for her and her daughter's fare.  Diaw takes out her coin purse, which stays close to her side all day.

“It is so tiring to take these buses.  I would much rather take a taxi, but they cost five times as much," she says.

The 10-minute bus ride takes Diaw to her husband's metal shop.  Once the sun rises, the lot filled with welding⁶ tools and leftover⁷ scrap⁸ metal becomes her kitchen.  The two [women] heat water for the coffee, and prepare bean fillings for morning sandwiches.

They carry food, coffee, coal stand and utensils⁹ to their stand on the opposite side of the street.  Mother and daughter work quickly to set up: bread and butter in place, Diaw takes her seat for the morning rush.

“I am always nervous at the start of the day.  I never know if I can make enough to cover my expenses for the food and coffee, about six dollars,” Diaw says.

Mamadou Dieng is a security¹⁰ guard who works¹¹ nearby.  He was one of Diaw's first customers when she started four years ago.  He comes every morning for the café touba, a heavily sugared, frothy local drink that tastes like a spicy¹² mix of coffee and tea.

“I come really early from 30 kilometers away,” Dieng says.  “If it were not for this place, I could not afford such good home cooked food.  And Astou is so nice that if we do not have money, she lets us pay later."

For a just over one dollar, Dieng gets the coffee and the best-selling sandwich: spicy lentils served over baguettes delivered every day from the bakery.

Dozens of customers and four hours later, Diaw counts her change.  It is not enough to cover what she spent on beans, butter, bread and coffee.  She prepares to go home, leaving her daughter to work the lunch shift¹³.

“Mondays are the hardest for me.  A lot of people do not have money yet to pay.  But I still feed them and hope they can pay me soon.  Maybe tomorrow," Diaw says.

And with that, Diaw takes a lentil sandwich with mayonnaise and waits for the bus to go home.

In a country where $700 is the average annual¹⁴ income, Diaw made almost $2,000 last year from her food stand.  Despite her day-to-day worries, she hopes to expand her corner kitchen as soon as she can save enough money.

1 according   

adj.按照，根据

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• We must cut our coat according to our cloth this year.今年我们必须学会量入为出。

2 poverty   

n.贫穷， 贫困， 贫乏， 缺少

参考例句：

• We must continue to war against poverty and disease.我们一定要继续同贫穷和疾病作斗争。
• He showed his poverty in his knowledge of agriculture.他表现出缺乏对农业知识的了解。

3 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

4 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。

5 dim   

adj.昏暗的；朦胧的；v.(使)暗淡，(使)模糊

参考例句：

• The light is too dim for me to read easily.光线太暗，我很难阅读。
• I was so tired that my eyesight grew dim.我太累了，眼睛有点发花。

6 welding   

n.焊接法，定位焊接；粘结vt.熔接；锻接；使结合vi.焊牢，能被焊接v.焊接( weld的现在分词 )；熔接；锻接；使紧密结合

参考例句：

• The welding is so smooth that you can hardly see where the sections of pipe are joined together. 这管子焊接得很光滑，你很难看出什么地方是焊接的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The welding conditions should always be neutral or slightly oxidizing. 焊接气氛必须永远保持中性或微氧化。 来自辞典例句

7 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

8 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

9 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

10 security   

n.安全，安全感；防护措施；保证(金)，抵押(品)；债券，证券

参考例句：

• A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
• There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时，机场的保安措施很严密。

11 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

12 spicy   

adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的

参考例句：

• The soup tasted mildly spicy.汤尝起来略有点辣。
• Very spicy food doesn't suit her stomach.太辣的东西她吃了胃不舒服。

13 shift   

n.交换，变化，移动，接班者；vt.更替，移转，变声；vi.改变，定责，更衣

参考例句：

• Lend me a hand to shift this box,will you?来帮一下忙，把这箱子搬开，好吗？
• A sudden shift in the wind warned of the coming storm.风向的突然改变预示暴风雨来临。

14 annual   

adj.每年的；一年的；（植物）一年生的 n.年刊；一年生植物

参考例句：

• It's an annual report.这是年度报告。
• The kind of plant is a hardy annual.这种植物是耐寒的一年生植物。