VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - Prison Program Aims

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
A program in the eastern United States invites young people into a prison to try to scare them away from prison. The goal is to teach them to avoid bad choices and bad influences that could put them behind bars for life.
Students can take a tour of the prison, in school groups or by themselves. At the end, the young people sit down for a discussion with some of the inmates¹.
The program is called Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy, or PATT. It takes place at the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown, a medium-security prison for men. Sal Mauriello is a case specialist there.
SAL MAURIELLO: "We have a group of eleven inmates who are in the PATT program. They tell the youth what they went through as a child, what their crimes consist of. They try to teach them about peer² pressure. They try to teach them about bad choices."The Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy program also includes an essay-writing contest.
Tomi Dare is a seventeen-year-old student at Hagerstown Community College. She saw an announcement for the contest on her college website. To enter, students had to write about peer pressure and why they do not do drugs. The prize: five hundred dollars for school.
In her essay, Ms. Dare wrote about her own experience growing up as an African-American girl interested in sports.
TOMI DARE: "Drugs and alcohol not only slow a person down, it doesn't make you feel like you are a winner. It doesn't make you feel like you are the best. As an athlete, I'm 6-2 [188 centimeters], so I feel that I should be above peer pressure because I'm bigger than everybody that I’m around.
"So I was talking about that and I was talking about how I consider myself a queen. And if I’m royalty³, I need to not put substances in my body. Drugs and alcohol are not what a queen should be taking."Scholarship winner Tomi Dare speaks to inmates The scholarship is presented by the Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy program.
Prison spokesman⁴ Mark Vernarelli says most teens who visit come to understand what even one bad decision can mean.
MARK VERNARELLI: "A lot of men and women serving life in prison in the state of Maryland didn't pull a trigger⁵ or plunge⁶ a knife into anybody. They were accessories⁷ to a crime. They drove the getaway car. They were with the perpetrator who did the main part of the crime. And yet they got the life sentence as well. "Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy began in nineteen eighty-eight. PATT is one of Maryland's oldest programs to keep young people from a life of crime. But there are also others.
MARK VERNARELLI: "We found that girls really need special sit-down sessions sometimes more than the boys do, so we have a program for girls only. We have a program that travels across the state, which talks about the dangers of gang affiliation⁸.
"We have an excellent program where the inmates actually lead a tour and they have the children eat the meal in the prison cafeteria with the inmates."Mark Vernarelli says the Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy also gain from the program. It offers them a chance to help repay⁹ society for their crimes, and keep others from following in their footsteps.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. I'm Steve Ember.

1 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 peer   

n.同辈，同等地位的人，伙伴，贵族；vi.仔细看，费力地看

参考例句：

• Children are easily influenced by their peer.孩子很容易受同辈影响。
• He is a peer.他是一个贵族。

3 royalty   

n.皇家，皇族

参考例句：

• She claims to be descended from royalty.她声称她是皇室后裔。
• I waited on tables，and even catered to royalty at the Royal Albert Hall.我做过服务生， 甚至在皇家阿伯特大厅侍奉过皇室的人。

4 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

5 trigger   

n.触发器，板机，制滑机；v.触发（事件）

参考例句：

• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again.他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。
• He pulled the trigger but the gun didn't go off.他打了一枪，没有发火。

6 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

7 accessories   

n.附件；附件( accessory的名词复数 )；（衣服的）配饰；从犯；妇女饰品

参考例句：

• a range of furnishings and accessories for the home 各种各样的家居装饰物及配件
• These are indispensable accessories. 这些是不可缺少的附件。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 affiliation   

n.联系，联合

参考例句：

• There is no affiliation between our organization and theirs,even though our names are similar.尽管两个组织的名称相似，但我们之间并没有关系。
• The kidnappers had no affiliation with any militant group.这些绑架者与任何军事组织都没有紧密联系。

9 repay   

v.偿还，报答，还钱给

参考例句：

• I feel honor bound to repay the money I borrowed.我觉得有责任归还我借的钱。
• I must repay her for her kindness.我必须报答她的恩惠。