VOA慢速英语20060320a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Honoring¹ People Who 'Stick Their Necks Out'By Karen Leggett

Broadcast: Monday, March 20, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Development Report.

An organization based in the United States honors² people who, in its words, stick their necks out for the common good. That means they take a risk. The organization is named for the animal with the very long neck. The group is called the Giraffe Project.


Giraffe Project

Phil Borges is among recent Giraffe Heroes. He is a doctor who fixes people's teeth, but he is also a photographer. Mister³ Borges started an organization called Bridges to Understanding. It sends photographers to small villages to give cameras to children and teach them how to take pictures.

Bridges to Understanding has sent photographers to Peru, the Arctic⁴, Kenya, Nepal and India as well as a Native American village in Arizona. Mister Borges has also taken his camera to Afghanistan. He took pictures of women helping⁵ to improve the lives of other women and children.

The Giraffe Project says Mister Borges stuck his neck out to connect children all over the world with photography.

Two other Giraffe heroes are Azim Khamisa and Plez Felix. They live in California. Members of a street gang⁶ robbed and killed Mister Khamisa's son Tariq. He was twenty years old.

The young man who killed him was Mister Felix's fourteen-year-old grandson, Tony. He is now in prison. Plez Felix apologized to the Khamisa family for the actions of his grandson. He and Mister Khamisa now work together to tell young people that killing⁷ and violence do not solve problems.

Since nineteen eighty-two, the Giraffe Project has named more than nine hundred heroes. These Giraffes, as they are also known, do not receive money. Instead, they are presented as examples for others to follow. Their stories are told through the news media, schools and the Internet.

Anyone can nominate⁸ a Giraffe hero. There are Giraffe heroes all over the world.

Ann Medlock is the woman who started the Giraffe Project. She says it is easy to think that a problem is too big to be solved. Miz Medlock says the non-profit group helps people understand that they can start with small actions to solve small parts of a problem.

The group is based in the northwestern state of Washington. The Web site is giraffe-dot-o-r-g.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Karen Leggett. Read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 honoring   

v.尊敬，给以荣誉( honor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They sat in silence, honoring the clan Jordache for a moment. 他们默默地坐了一会儿，对乔达虚家族表示了一番敬意。 来自辞典例句
• Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check. 美国没有履行这项神圣的义务，只是给黑人开了一张空头支票。 来自辞典例句

2 honors   

n.礼仪；荣典；礼节； 大学荣誉学位；大学优等成绩；尊敬( honor的名词复数 )；敬意；荣誉；光荣

参考例句：

• He aims at honors. 他力求名誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We did the last honors to his remains. 我们向他的遗体告别。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

4 Arctic   

adj.北极的；n.北极

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• The sort of animal lived in the Arctic Circle.这种动物生活在北极圈里。

5 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。

6 gang   

n.一伙，一帮；结伴的朋友

参考例句：

• The gang live abroad,beyond reach of the British police.这帮匪徒住在国外，英国警方鞭长莫及。
• Some gang came in and shot the place up.有股匪帮进来对这个地方开枪扫射。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 nominate   

vt.提名，推荐，任命

参考例句：

• I nominate Tom to make the tea.我指派汤姆去沏茶。
• The EU would nominate two members to the committee.欧盟将为该委员会指定两名成员。