VOA标准英语2010-Senegalese Children Combat Desertificatio

Villagers gather in front of a dam near the village of Labgar in northern Senegal on 12 Nov 2009. There is little to show for it apart from small acacia shrubs¹, but Senegal's leader believes in a Great Green Wall that will stem desertification across Africa from coast to coast.

Northern Senegal is on the front lines of the fight against desertification. Teachers are enlisting² children to protect their village from the advancing Sahara.

 

The children in this classroom are not reviewing grammar. They are learning how to identify biodegradable garbage, how to make compost, and how to water the trees they have planted in the schoolyard.

It's part of the "eco-school" program in Guédé-Chantier, a village in Senegal's Fouta region along the country's border with Mauritania.

This once fertile river valley is on the front lines of Senegal's fight against desertification. Rivers are drying up, grazing land for cattle is scarce, and the dry soil is hard to farm.

A teacher shows a student how to tend a newly planted tree

Elementary school principal Oumar Sow is director of the eco-school program in Guédé-Chantier.  He says farming methods in the village have to change.

Each year, he says there is a drop in the harvest. He says the soil is worn out, partially³ due to poor crop rotation⁴.  For decades, he says, we have just grown rice and tomatoes, rice and tomatoes.

At the U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen last year, Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade⁵, stressed the importance of planting the "Great Green Wall," a 15-kilometer-wide barrier of trees that would cross 11 countries and halt the spread of the Sahara.

But progress has been slow, and Guédé-Chantier has taken matters into its own hands.

Teachers in the village have been mobilizing children in the fight against the desert's onslaught. Now, small trees dot the once barren schoolyard of a village elementary school, along with special trash cans for biodegradable waste.

As boys water the school's trees, a teacher gives them tips. Children are also encouraged to plant trees at home and teach their families how to compost. Prizes are given for planting the most trees and picking up the largest number of plastic bags.

Program director Sow says this "show, don't tell" philosophy is key to the program's success.

He says he tells his students that they should use manure⁶, which feeds the plants, but does not stop there. That is just theory, he says.  He says he has to go out to garden with them.  He then adds that they spread the manure and watch the plants grow with nothing but the manure.

The hands-on strategy is also applied⁷ to "field schools" for adults already working the land.

But Sow says it's difficult to get adults to change, for example, to stop using pesticides⁸ on their tomatoes and other crops, which he says is a persistent⁹ problem in the village.  He explains that in the long term, chemicals wear out the land, kill animals and cause skin irritations¹⁰ in humans. 

Sow says he would go as far as to say that it is impossible to teach adults. But with children, he says, once they learn something, it can become a reflex.

Watching a man spray insecticides in a tomato field outside the village Aliou Sow, 12, frowned and said he wished farmers understood the damage many are doing.

He says that we need to protect the earth because this land belongs to us as villagers and as Africans. 

Aliou says one day maybe he will be farming these fields. "Eco-school" teachers are counting on it.

 

1 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

2 enlisting   

v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的现在分词 )；获得（帮助或支持）

参考例句：

• He thought about enlisting-about the Spanish legion-about a profession. 他想去打仗，想参加西班牙军团，想找个职业。 来自辞典例句
• They are not enlisting men over thirty-five. 他们不召超过35岁的人入伍。 来自辞典例句

3 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

4 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

5 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。

6 manure   

n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥

参考例句：

• The farmers were distributing manure over the field.农民们正在田间施肥。
• The farmers used manure to keep up the fertility of their land.农夫们用粪保持其土质的肥沃。

7 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

8 pesticides   

n.杀虫剂( pesticide的名词复数 )；除害药物

参考例句：

• vegetables grown without the use of pesticides 未用杀虫剂种植的蔬菜
• There is a lot of concern over the amount of herbicides and pesticides used in farming. 人们对农业上灭草剂和杀虫剂的用量非常担忧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

10 irritations   

n.激怒( irritation的名词复数 )；恼怒；生气；令人恼火的事

参考例句：

• For a time I have forgotten the worries and irritations I was nurturing before. 我暂时忘掉了过去积聚的忧愁和烦躁。 来自辞典例句
• Understanding God's big picture can turn irritations into inspirations. 明了神的蓝图，将使你的烦躁转为灵感。 来自互联网