VOA慢速英语--医务人员从越南志愿者那里得到口罩

Vietnamese women in and around Seattle are making face masks for health care workers who face a shortage of protective equipment in Washington state.

Katie Nguyen is a tailor from Spanaway, Washington. She decided¹ to start sewing masks when state officials ordered nonessential businesses like hers to close. The order was part of the public health effort to contain the new coronavirus.

Now, with the help of a few volunteers, Nguyen has made thousands of masks.

Phung Vo works in the pharmacy² at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland, Washington. He received about 200 masks directly from one of the volunteers, Loan Ngo, a few days ago.

Vo estimates he and his co-workers use about 20 masks a day.

"I showed the masks to my supervisor⁴ who said ‘Perfect,'" he told VOA Vietnamese. Vo added he and others at the pharmacy are required to wear masks and are "so grateful for the cloth mask donation. Our Evergreen³ hospital is the most crowded with COVID-19 patients in the state."

Washington has suffered more than most states from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The first COVID-19 case in the United States was confirmed there on January 21. The patient had recently returned from Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus was first identified last year.

The first U.S. COVID-19 death took place in Kirkland, a city near Seattle. One day later, Washington Governor Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency.

The virus spread at a speed that would surprise many people. As the crisis grew, Katie Nguyen and her friends cut pieces of cotton cloth and sewed the pieces into face masks.

"We have answered pleas from hospitals, doctors and nurses who are so desperate for personal protective equipment amid the coronavirus pandemic," Nguyen told VOA's Vietnamese language service.

She turned the workshop in her home into a mask-making center that followed health guidelines for social distancing. Members of the Vietnamese community dropped off supplies, and friends in Vietnam sent fabric⁵. Volunteers who did not know how to sew "came here to learn and later they did it on their own at home," Nguyen said.

Late in March, she told the volunteers to stop working in her home because of Washington's stay-at-home order. The volunteers continued sewing and making masks, but from their own homes.

Loan Ngo and An Lam, both from Seattle, live together and continued to sew together. "We're still heathy, we need to do something," said Ngo. "A mask is still better than nothing, right? And our doctors, nurses and health care workers are on the front lines of the battle."

"I delivered masks to Valley Medical Center in Renton," Ngo told VOA. "Sitting in my car with masks on my hands, I cried when I saw medical workers and ... ambulances." She said these workers are the most likely to get infected.

Two weeks ago, Lam set up a Facebook page so Vietnamese women could share information about where to get fabric that can be used for hospital masks. Now Vietnamese volunteers in California, Texas, Oregon and Georgia are sewing masks.

"My neighbor and I have made over 200 masks so far," said Lam, who came to the United States from the Mekong Delta⁶ area.

"I feel happier to know that health care workers wear my masks," Lam told VOA while operating her sewing machine.

Nguyen said that she and her group have made and donated more than 10,000 face masks.

She added that as long as the supplies keep coming, the group will keep sewing.

"We may stop when hospitals in the region receive enough masks from [the] federal government's medical supplies," she said.

Words in This Story

tailor – n. a person who makes and adjusts clothing for people

sewing – n. to use a needle and thread to make or repair fabric such as clothes

nonessential – adj. not necessary

pharmacy – n. a place in a hospital or a store where drugs and medicines are prepared and given out

grateful – adj. feeling or showing thanks, being thankful

fabric – n. a material that is woven or knitted, cloth is an example

desperate – n. having a strong need or desire for something

ambulance – n. A vehicle equipped for taking sick or injured people to and from the hospital

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

3 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

4 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

5 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。