VOA慢速英语2018--成千上万的女孩加入美国童子军

 Thousands of Girls Join Boys Scouts² of America

Thousands of girls have now joined the Boy Scouts of America, or BSA, across the United States.

The previously³ all-male organization announced last year it would begin permitting girls to join the Cub⁴ Scouts in 2018. The Cub Scouts is a similar group for younger children.

The BSA also plans to create a new program next year for older girls wishing to join the organization.

The Cub Scout¹ program officially begins nationwide later this year. But the BSA gave local councils the choice to get started earlier than planned. About two-thirds of U.S. councils chose to begin early, with about 3,000 girls accepted into the Cub Scouts so far.

The new plans call for smaller Cub Scout groups to be either all-boys or all-girls. Larger Cub Scout groups will have the choice to remain single gender⁵ or welcome both boys and girls.

When the new program for older girls begins, it will let them earn the highest level of scouting⁶ in the BSA, the rank of Eagle Scout.

BSA spokeswoman Effie Delimarkos said the organization had received a clear message that many girls could not wait to join. “We heard from our families, ’OK, you’ve made the decision. Can you please give us a way to do this right now because we’ve got families and daughters that are just really excited about it,” she said.

Delimarkos added that the Boy Scouts have received many reports that girls have been warmly welcomed by leaders and the boys themselves.

Tuck⁷ Pescosolido is a Cub Scout leader in Durham, New Hampshire. He told the Associated Press some of the new female members are friends the boys suggested, while others are sisters of Scouts.

One of his recent projects involved the Cub Scouts building wooden toolboxes. Pescosolido said the only difference he saw was that some girls remained a little calmer than the boys. He added that the girls were just as active in the project as the boys, but did not become as easily distracted⁸ by other things.

Boy Scouts of America officials have said the decision to admit girls was made, in part, to make things easier for busy families. But the move was criticized by the country’s other major scouting organization, the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Girl Scout officials have suggested the change was driven partly by a need to raise money because of BSA’s financial problems.

The leader of the Girl Scouts in the New Hampshire area, Patricia Mellor, said the BSA’s decision should also not have been made just to make things easier for families.

“You’ve made the choice for your son based on what you thought was best for him, and the daughter should be getting a similar decision,” Mellor told the Associated Press. “We know facts prove that the Girl Scout program is the better program for the girls and young women we serve,” she added.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

council – n. a group of people who elected or chosen to give advice or make decisions

gender – n. the state of being male or female

distracted – adj. unable to think clearly or carefully pay attention

1 scout   

n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索

参考例句：

• He was mistaken for an enemy scout and badly wounded.他被误认为是敌人的侦察兵，受了重伤。
• The scout made a stealthy approach to the enemy position.侦察兵偷偷地靠近敌军阵地。

2 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

3 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。

4 cub   

n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人

参考例句：

• The lion cub's mother was hunting for what she needs. 这只幼师的母亲正在捕猎。
• The cub licked the milk from its mother's breast. 这头幼兽吸吮着它妈妈的奶水。

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 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分

7 tuck   

n.缝摺，船尾突出部下方，食品，鼓声；vt.打摺，卷起，挤进，畅饮；vi.缝褶裥，缩拢，畅饮

参考例句：

• It was nip and tuck as to which boat would reach port first.两条船中哪一条先进港都很难说。
• Tuck your shirt into your trousers.把你的衬衫下摆掖进裤腰里。

8 distracted   

a.注意力分散的，思想不集中的

参考例句：

• When working, one should concentrate and not allow oneself to be distracted. 工作时要集中精力，不要分心。
• Noise outside distracted her mind from her studies. 门外的噪音使她心神不宁，无法集中注意力学习。