VOA慢速英语20061125a

IN THE NEWS - International Day Aims to Bring Violence Against Women Out of the DarkBy Brianna Blake

Broadcast: Saturday, November 25, 2006

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

For years, activists¹ for the rights of women have marked November twenty-fifth as an important date. It is a day to recognize the goal of ending violence against women.

November twenty-fifth was chosen to honor three sisters in the Dominican Republic. The Mirabel sisters -- Minerva, Patria and Maria Teresa -- were political activists. They were killed on November twenty-fifth, nineteen sixty-one, on orders from dictator² Rafael Trujillo.


Activists light candles Friday in Mumbai, India, to protest violence against women

In December of nineteen ninety-nine, the United Nations recognized the observance. The General Assembly declared November twenty-fifth the International Day for the Elimination³ of Violence Against Women.

The U.N. invited governments and international organizations to plan activities to increase public understanding of the problem.

Women face different forms of violence: physical, sexual⁴ and psychological. Having their property taken away when they have a legal right to it is considered economic violence.

It is difficult for researchers to understand the true extent of violence against women because the problem is often kept hidden. Many cases go unreported. The person responsible may be a stranger, but often it is a husband or someone else close to the victim.

In addition to November twenty-fifth, December tenth is observed each year as International Human Rights Day. The days in between are known as the Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender⁵ Violence. The idea is to make the statement that violence against women is a violation⁶ of human rights.

One of the events planned this week is a march by women and girls in London as part of an observance Saturday called Reclaim⁷ the Night.

In Senegal, organizers put together a four-day film festival in Dakar. Alia Nankoe is a program officer for the United Nations Population Fund in Senegal. She says the idea behind the film festival is to get people to face the issue of violence against women.

She is also working to organize local support systems for victims. She says this means that the police, the justice system and the social and health services are all trained and work together for the long term.

The images shown in the films may be difficult to watch. But the hope is that they will influence people to take action against a form of violence that many find difficult to talk about.

Victims are sometimes told to be quiet about their most horrible experiences. The worry is that they will become victims again -- this time, of the dishonor that may be placed on them by their communities.

The organizers of the film festival hope to make it a yearly event. After Senegal, the films will be translated into other languages and shown in other African countries.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. You can download MP3 files and transcripts⁸ of our programs at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 dictator   

n.独裁者，爱发号施令的人

参考例句：

• We felt quite impotent to resist the will of the dictator.我们感到无力抗拒独裁者的意志。
• A dictator must have a firm hand.独裁者的手段是很厉害的。

3 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

4 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

5 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

6 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

7 reclaim   

v.要求归还，收回；开垦

参考例句：

• I have tried to reclaim my money without success.我没能把钱取回来。
• You must present this ticket when you reclaim your luggage.当你要取回行李时，必须出示这张票子。

8 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句