2006年VOA标准英语-US Reading Program Honored as Exemplary Charity

By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles
28 November 2006

A California charity is being praised for its efforts in helping¹ U.S. military families. Family Literacy Foundation is linking military parents and their children through literature.

The charity based near San Diego uses technology to let moms and dads who are stationed overseas read books to their children at home.

Soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen read stories to their youngsters that are recorded on DVD. The disks are sent home, where the children can watch them over and over.

Betty Mohlenbrock, founder² and president of the Family Literacy Foundation, says the idea grew out her experience during the Vietnam War, when her husband was in the Navy, away from the family. "We were separated for 10 months. He was deployed³, and we had a two-year-old [girl]. And when he returned, she did not recognize him," she said.

In 1989, she created a foundation to promote reading in the home, and started the military effort a 1 1/2 years later.

More than 140,000 families have been helped through the project, called United Through Reading. Mohlenbrock says it accomplishes two goals, helping families emotionally and offering children an early start in their education. "We believe that reading aloud to children is one of the best ways to communicate with them. And additionally, research states that it is the single best predictor of their future success in reading, if you read aloud to them regularly," she said.

The project was recently honored by the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. The foundation received the Peter F. Drucker Award for non-profit innovation, which carries a cash prize of $25,000. The school's dean, Ira Jackson, says the award continues the tradition of management guru Peter Drucker, who died last year. Drucker was noted⁴ for his pioneering work in studying corporations, and was one of the first business professors to recognize the importance of the non-profit sector⁵.

Jackson says that sector now includes 44,000 transnational NGOs, or non-government organizations. They focus on health, education, economic development and other needs and issues. "They are growing more rapidly than multinational⁶ corporations. There is an explosion of citizen action, of social entrepreneurship at the local level. In part, I think it is a reflection of the recognition that governments have their hands full just doing their day-to-day job, and civil society is too important to be left to the government," he said.

The United States has long been noted for its civic⁷ associations, and Jackson says the nation's one million charities represent between 10 and 20 percent of the U.S. economy. Many groups are small and are run by volunteers. The largest employ thousands. But management guru Peter Drucker said the best are highly efficient. He cited the Girl Scouts⁸ as an example.

The dean of the Drucker School says non-profit organizations are expanding in many places, and are an important component⁹ of any country's development.

"We need honest and efficient governments. We need a thriving private sector. And, perhaps most importantly, beyond the rule of law, we need the glue of a civil society, and a not-for-profit sector that is beholden to neither the government nor owned by business, which brings legitimacy¹⁰ to that society," he said.

He says the best charities, including the Family Literacy Foundation, can leverage¹¹ limited resources and make a difference in people's lives. The San Diego group receives corporate¹² donations, and works with the military, in its effort to build strong relationships between absent parents and their children.

1 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。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 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。

5 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

6 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

7 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。

8 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。

9 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

10 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

11 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

12 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。