VOA标准英语2012--American Helps Return Trafficked Nepalese Children to Their Families

American Helps Return Trafficked Nepalese Children to Their Families

Eighteen small children were living in the Little Princes Children's Home near Kathmandu. Grennan’s volunteer job was to take care of those children and teach them English.
“I was very worried about it because I never really spent much time with children before," Grennan says. "As soon as I got into that world, I really enjoyed it. We became very, very close by the end of my time there.”
That’s why he decided¹ to return to Nepal a year later in 2006, as the civil war ended.
Grennan soon discovered those little children were not orphans².
“All these children had parents," he says. "They weren't orphans at all. These children had been actually taken because their parents feared that they would be abducted³ by the rebels. Their parents had actually paid these traffickers not knowing that the traffickers intended to sell their children. They thought they would take their children to protect them.”
Instead, he says, the children were sold and then abandoned.
Grennan estimates about 15,000 children were affected⁴ by this problem. That prompted him to embark⁵ on another journey - reconnecting trafficked Nepalese children with their families.
He established a non-profit group, Next Generation Nepal, in Kathmandu, and says the group has reconnected 300 Nepalese children with their relatives .
Nancy Wong has been a volunteer there since last August. She left her life in the United States behind to help make a difference for trafficked children.
Reuniting the children with their families is a process.
“The first step is rescuing these kids from exploitation and securing them into a transit⁶ home," Wong says. "We do that in partnership⁷ with the government of Nepal.”
The second step is searching for the biological family.
“One example is, recently we reconnected a girl who has been separated from her family since she was two," Wong says. "We had no name. We had no idea what part of Nepal she’s from. But our fantastic integration⁸ managers guessed from her facial features that she’s approximately from this area and they literally⁹ went from village to village, from bus stop to tea shop to tea shop to restaurants, asking for any clue. And we finally found her uncle.”
Even after lost children are reunited with their biological families, NGN continues to be involved, monitoring the children's progress, ensuring they are integrating well, are going to school and are not being exploited at home.
Grennan chronicles his Nepal experience in his memoir¹⁰, "Little Princes." He says he wrote the book not only to help raise awareness¹¹ about child trafficking, but also to show that anyone can make a difference.

1 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。

2 orphans   

孤儿( orphan的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The poor orphans were kept on short commons. 贫苦的孤儿们吃不饱饭。
• Their uncle was declared guardian to the orphans. 这些孤儿的叔父成为他们的监护人。

3 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。

6 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

11 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。