美国青少年在华盛顿“联合国模式”会议中模拟国际争端

U.S. Teens Simulate International Debate at Model U.N. Conference in Washington D.C.

美国青少年在华盛顿“联合国模式”会议中模拟国际争端

 

The so-called "model" United Nations conference is essentially¹ a simulation of the way the real U.N. handles international disputes. Usually organized by colored students, "model" U. N. is being held since 1920^th, even before the United Stations established. About 400-thousand high school students take part in some 200 model U.N.conferences each year in the United States. But the most recent one, held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., drew nearly 600 students.

 

17-year-old Katie Spoke², from the town of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, explained her role in the diplomatic simulation.

 

Katie Spoke: My role is China. And our issues We're talking about the Darfur region in Sudan and how there's just been just a lot of Arab attacks on the people and one of the goals for that is to see if genocide is being committed and making sure the right people are paying for the crimes.

 

Katie's mother Sandra traveled with her.

 

Katie Spoke: For the kids to be aware of the issues in the world - I think it's very important. They get very involved.

 

Many high school social studies teachers attended the conference with their students. Jean Leslie, from Avon Grove³ High School in West Grove, Pennsylvania, said her students did more than study to get ready. There was hard work to be done to earn the two-thousand dollars needed to pay for the bus trip.

 

Ms. Leslie: We did fundraising - car washes and the like. We also hosted a 'diversity dinner' at our school for our community, student performances, choir⁴ performances - just celebrating the diverse culture we come from in our area. We have a large Hispanic community.

 

Ms. Leslie said that when she and her group of 12 teenagers arrived at the Washington conference, the young people expressed some ambivalence⁵ about their role at the event: organizers wanted them to defend some Middle Eastern countries traditionally hostile to the United States. Jean Leslie told them that that's what the model U.N. is all about.

 

Jean Leslie: They feel torn between representing the country that they're supposed to be - sticking true to the simulation -- and also getting behind an argument that, as Americans, they don't agree with. It's hard to play that middle ground. I think that's a great opportunity because here are all these foreign diplomats⁶ Americans, who have to take that role. It's fun to watch them when they have to go out and eat meals together because they have been arguing so heatedly in these committees and conference groups. Then they walk out to lunch and they're high school kids again, having a good time, meeting new people.

 

As hundreds of high school students filled a conference hall at George Washington University during the recent opening session, chief organizer Paul Hrebenak, said the students would be learning history, geography, diplomacy⁷, and negotiation⁸ skills. But Mr. Hrebenak, a senior at George Washington University, says grown-ups have something to learn, too, from these young people.

 

Mr. Hrebenak: To see that these kids, over 600 kids are interested in topics that adults might think kids don't care about -- but that's not true. Six hundred kids are willing to come to Washington, D.C., just to talk about the [refugee plight] situation in Darfur [Sudan], the [controversy over] E.U. [European Union] accession of Turkey, any countless⁹ number of issues. It's so counter to what society makes us think, younger children today that they don't care about the world around them.

 

Indeed, many students said the model U.N. was inspiring, and made them think seriously about helping¹⁰ people around the world. Wisconsin high-schooler Katie Spoke said she's already thinking about a career in international affairs.

 

Katie Spoke: I'm thinking about being an interpreter, or like assistant to an ambassador -- some work in another country where I'm working in peace dealings in another country -- and something like that.

 

Her sister Courtney foresees a career in medicine in an area of the world where medical care is badly needed.

 

Courtney: I want to become a doctor and go to different countries. This [model UN] helps. I'm not just thinking about myself but also about other people.

And Brian Fisher of Sleepy Hollow, New York, had confided¹² to friends that he was "afraid to get up and talk" around older teenagers at the event. But he later decided¹³ to speak out on issues like child labor¹⁴ and women's rights in Sri Lanka. Though it was only a "model" U.N. conference, for Brian Fisher and many other teenagers, it was also a valuable real-life experience.

 

I’m Andrew Baroch.

 

注释：

simulation [ 7simju5leiFEn ] n. 仿真，模仿

diplomatic [ 7diplE5mAtik ] adj. 外交的，老练的

genocide [ 5dVenEu7said ] n. 有计划的灭种和屠杀

ambivalence [ Am5bivElEns ] n. 有矛盾心理的

counter [ 5kauntE ] adv. 相反的

confide¹¹ [ kEn5faid ] v. 倾诉

1 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 grove   

n.林子，小树林，园林

参考例句：

• On top of the hill was a grove of tall trees.山顶上一片高大的树林。
• The scent of lemons filled the grove.柠檬香味充满了小树林。

4 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

5 ambivalence   

n.矛盾心理

参考例句：

• She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
• She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。

6 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

8 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

9 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

10 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。

11 confide   

v.向某人吐露秘密

参考例句：

• I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
• He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。

12 confided   

v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等）

参考例句：

• She confided all her secrets to her best friend. 她向她最要好的朋友倾吐了自己所有的秘密。
• He confided to me that he had spent five years in prison. 他私下向我透露，他蹲过五年监狱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 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。

14 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。