VOA标准英语2010年-Former Foster Kids Cook Up Life Skills

Cafe classroom preps young adults for life on their own

Susan Logue Koster | Frederick, MD 25 February 2010

At Moxie Bakery and Cafe, Christina Quinn (L) gets advice from Elin Ross on more than how to bake cupcakes

Related Links
Moxie Bakery and Cafe

Foster children, who are in state custody² because their parents are unable to care for them, can have a difficult time growing up. Unlike children who have a family they can count on if they have difficulty making it on their own, foster children may not have anyone to rely on but themselves. A cafe that opened In October 2009 in Frederick, Maryland, outside of Washington, is helping³ them get started on the right track.

Serving more than coffee and pastries⁴

Moxie Bakery and Cafe seems like many other eateries that offer coffee, pastries and light meals, but it's much more.

"It's a training ground and a classroom," says Elin Ross, executive director of Cakes for Cause, the program behind Moxie. "Cakes for Cause's role is to provide job training and life skills training to youth who have aged⁵ out of the foster care system, who are living in public housing or are otherwise identified as being at risk in the Frederick community."

Christina Quinn, who aged out of foster care, hopes to become a hair stylist after receiving life skills training through 'Cakes for Cause'.

Christina Quinn is about half-way through her six-month apprenticeship⁷. When she turned 18 last year, she says, "I didn't know what to do with my life."

Someone told her about the Cakes for Cause program, and Quinn was eager to apply. "I love baking, so I thought, 'Okay that's really cool.'  And she was like, 'They'll help you with future goals as well, like cosmetology.'  And I said, 'That's so cool.'  And she said, 'Also they are going to pay you to do it.'"

Learning more than how to bake cupcakes

Quinn earns $8 an hour, which is more than minimum wage. And even though she doesn't plan to be a baker¹ or work in the restaurant business, she is learning skills she can use in any career, like how to relate to customers or how to take direction from a supervisor⁸.

"If, at the end of six months, they hate cupcakes, that's fine," says Ross. "They can go into a retail⁹ job, they can go into a customer service job, they can go into a phone bank job. They can go into any number of jobs and have some basic transferable skills that will help them be successful in those positions."

Quinn plans to become a hair stylist, and Ross is helping her by letting her spend part of her apprenticeship at a salon¹⁰ in Frederick.

In addition to Ross, there are two full-time¹¹ staff members at Moxie Bakery.  They are not only professional bakers¹² and chefs, they are also teachers.  And Quinn is really the focus of all of their work.

"The entire staff is my support team, and when I got into our first meeting it was pretty much, 'Okay, Christina, what do you want to accomplish?'  I never had that before and it was a great experience."

Quinn isn't alone. Visit Moxie Bakery and Cafe on other days of the week, and you may meet another apprentice⁶ getting that attention. Elin Ross would eventually like to replicate¹³ the program in other communities.
 

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

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 pastries   

n.面粉制的糕点

参考例句：

• He gave a dry laugh, then sat down and started on the pastries. 杜新箨说着干笑一声，坐下去就吃点心。 来自子夜部分
• Mike: So many! I like Xijiang raisins, beef jerky, and local pastries. 麦克：太多了。我最喜欢吃新疆葡萄干、牛肉干和风味点心。

5 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

6 apprentice   

n.学徒，徒弟

参考例句：

• My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
• The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。

7 apprenticeship   

n.学徒身份；学徒期

参考例句：

• She was in the second year of her apprenticeship as a carpenter. 她当木工学徒已是第二年了。
• He served his apprenticeship with Bob. 他跟鲍勃当学徒。

8 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

9 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

10 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

11 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

12 bakers   

n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三

参考例句：

• The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。