VOA慢速英语2013 全球幼儿死亡率降低

 

AS IT IS 2013-10-03 Deaths Among Young Children Decrease Worldwide 全球幼儿死亡率降低

Hello, again, and welcome. I’m Jim Tedder¹ in Washington. Have you ever heard anyone say, “I hate listening to the news. It’s always bad!” Well, today we are happy to tell you that the news is good.

Three agencies concerned with world health have announced good news.Their joint² report says worldwide deaths among children under age five is almost half that of 22 years ago. We’ll have the details.

Then we will hear about a law professor from Iraqi Kurdistan who recently visited some of the best law schools in the United States. We find out what he learned, and what ideas he took home with him. Those are the two main topics of conversation today as you learn English with As It Is on VOA.

Number of Child Deaths Decreases Worldwide

The United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization and the World Bank say about 6.6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday in 2012.  That compares with 12 million children who died in 1990. 

Elizabeth Mason is with the World Health Organization, called WHO. She says the first 28 days of life are extremely important for a child’s survival. Ms. Mason says survival is linked to the care the mother receives during pregnancy³. Most importantly, she says it is connected to care during labor⁴, childbirth and the baby’s first hours.  She says good care can save premature⁵ babies -- those born too soon.

“We have new low-cost solutions that can reduce deaths of pre-term babies by up to three-quarters.”

For example, she says mothers can receive injections to prevent labor that starts before the child is ready to be born. Kangaroo-mother care is another method of saving babies who arrive too soon. In this method, the baby is put into a pouch⁶ -- a special small bag -- next to the mother’s chest. The pouch helps keep the baby warm and provides closeness to breast milk.

The leading causes of death among children under five include premature birth, lack of oxygen, diarrhea and malaria⁷. WHO says about 45 percent of children under five worldwide die because of lack of healthful food.

Only five nations represent half of the deaths of children under five worldwide. The countries are China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Nigeria and Pakistan.  The report says Africa below the Sahara Desert has the world’s highest child death rate. Ninety eight of 1,000 children born alive in the area do not survive to their fifth birthdays.

Children born in sub-Saharan Africa face more than 16 times the threat of dying before the fifth birthday than a child born in a wealthy country. But the yearly rate of deaths there has slowed down greatly since 1990.

Mark Young is a top health advisor⁸ at the United Nations Children’s Fund, called UNICEF. He says economic development helps reduce child deaths. But he says poor countries that have a good plan can make major gains. For example, Mr. Young notes that Niger is one of the poorest countries in West Africa. Still, it has cut its rate of deaths of children under age five by almost sixty-six percent in the last twenty years.

He said Niger has done this through a series of actions led by the government and supported by UNICEF. 

”They instituted a free health care policy for women and children, abolished user fees. ….They expanded geographic⁹ access (availability) by establishing a series of rural health posts.”

He says they also organized campaigns to provide a number of preventative interventions¹⁰ to the people.

A Middle Easterner Observes the American Law System

There is an organization here in the United States that believes in letting foreigners get a first-hand look at democracy at work. Christopher Cruise tells us what one Middle Easterner saw when he came to observe the American legal system. 

A law professor from Iraqi Kurdistan recently had a chance to tour some of the top law schools in the United States. The visits were part of a program at Syracuse University in New York. The Civic¹¹ Education and Leadership Fellows program, or CELF, is funded by the State Department. Academics in the social sciences from the Middle East and North Africa spend a few months at the Maxwell School for Citizenship¹² and Public Affairs at Syracuse.

The academic program offers course work and individual development of projects to help deepen understanding of democracy and democratic reform. The program at Syracuse is aimed at encouraging greater involvement in civic life.

Nasir Khalil Al-Assaf is an associate professor in the College of Law and Politics at Salahaddin University in Erbil.

While visiting the law schools, he said, he was impressed by the amount of educational materials available to students.

“When I visited Yale Law School -- which is one of the biggest law schools in USA -- one of the professors took me to the library and show me the library in this school, which is more than seven floors and contains more than one million books.” 

During the visits, Professor Al-Assaf also observed legal clinics in which law students work with people who need legal aid. Some legal education experts would like to see law schools in the United States increase practical work experience like this for their students. The professor says law education in Iraq focuses more on reading and theory than on practical work.

“After my visit to the more than 10 best law schools in USA, I observed that these schools focus on practical subjects through legal clinics. The clinics in [the] USA law schools make the students more qualified¹³ and make them ready to practice the law when they graduate from law schools."           

He said Iraqi law students often face difficulties when they graduate because they lack practical experience. He noted¹⁴ a big difference between reading the law and practicing it.

At Syracuse, Nasir Kahlil Al-Assaf said he has developed new ideas about legal education. He created a project for when he returns home. He wants to create a bridge between the law school and the local community in Kurdistan.

The project calls for students and professors to volunteer in the community. He said he wants to adopt the example of law students working in legal clinics. That way, he says, poor people can get legal help at the same time students get more chances to practice being a lawyer.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

1 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

2 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

3 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

6 pouch   

n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件

参考例句：

• He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
• The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。

7 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

8 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

9 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

11 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

12 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

13 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

14 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。