Drowning Causes Concern over Child Safety in Summer

　　The recent children drowning accident leads many people to consider the issue of child safety in China's rural areas. [Photo: ngnews.cn]

 

　　Three children recently drowned in a village in Central's China's Jiangxi Province. Their deaths have brought tremendous pain to their family but also led many people to consider the issue of child safety in China's rural areas. For more on this topic, here is our reporter Laiming.

 

　　Child safety is an issue which becomes more pronounced during the summer. The schools are closed but parents are still working, so there is no one to look after the children at home. This problem is serious in China's rural areas, where unattended children often play in treacherous¹ rivers and ponds.

 

　　According to the Hunan Provincial² Education Department, 178 primary and secondary school students drowned in Hunan in 2012. Drowning is the biggest cause of unnatural³ deaths amongst school children.

 

　　On June 26, an accident devastated⁴ a family in Wenqing Village, Jiangxi Province, where two brothers and their sister drowned at the same time in a nearby pond. The accident occurred when the adults were out doing farm work.

 

　　One villager commented on the unexpected nature of the accident.

 

　　"The parents don't allow their children to go near the pond, but since they were working on the farmland, they didn't know their kids were playing there."

 

　　The children's parents are migrant workers in South China's Zhuhai City. Upon returning home, they were hospitalized as a result of their grief. According to rough estimates by local official Zou Jingbo, 50 to 60 percent of children in the village are left behind at home when their migrant worker parents go out to find employment.

 

　　To prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future, Lianqiao Village in Fuyang, Zhejiang Province built their own swimming pool. Sun Jianyuan is head of the village.

 

　　"We built the pool to teach children how to swim, so they can protect themselves when accidents happen. The maintenance cost for the swimming pool is more than 30,000 yuan a year."

 

　　Children from the 800-strong village can swim here for free; the Fuyang Municipal authorities even send in coaches to teach them. But with an income of 200,000 yuan a year, the village is finding it hard to keep the thousand-square-meter pool running.

 

　　In contrast, children in cities are much luckier. In Shanghai's Minhang District, all third-grade students attend swimming lessons for free. Gu Wenxiu is the Principal of Qibaomingqiao Primary School:

 

　　"We have specific requirements for the students. In case they are thrown into water without time to prepare, without a swimming suit, they must be able to save themselves."

 

　　Previously⁵, the students and the schools pay for the training fees together, but now the expense is covered by the Shanghai Municipal government. So far, more than 11,000 students from 60 primary schools have learnt to swim in Minhang District, Shanghai.

 

　　However, governmental assistance is yet to reach children in rural areas. According to figures from the population census⁶ carried out in 2010, China now has 61 million children who are left behind by migrant worker parents; that's one in every five children throughout the country. Ultimately, their well-being⁷ will affect the future of this nation.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Laiming.

1 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

2 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

3 unnatural   

adj.不自然的；反常的

参考例句：

• Did her behaviour seem unnatural in any way?她有任何反常表现吗？
• She has an unnatural smile on her face.她脸上挂着做作的微笑。

4 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

7 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。