2007年VOA标准英语-School For Poor South African Girls Opens to De

By Jim Bertel
Washington, DC
04 January 2007
 
watch Oprah Winfrey school report

 
Oprah Winfrey honors her promise to open a school for poor girls in South Africa
Billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey opened her new school for poor girls this week in South Africa. Winfrey hopes the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy will empower the young students to be the country's leaders of tomorrow. VOA's Jim Bertel reports many of the talk show host's Hollywood friends were on hand for the opening ceremony.

It began as a promise Oprah Winfrey made to former South African President Nelson Mandela seven years ago, a pledge to build a school that would give poor girls a first class education.

"Hello everybody, these are my girls," said Ms. Winfrey proudly.

Many of Hollywood's most popular stars were on hand for this week's opening ceremony -- including singer Mariah Carey, filmmaker Spike¹ Lee, and singer Tina Turner. But the true stars were the 152 poor girls chosen to be the first class of students.

Maureen Kekana is one of them. "I believe that education is an open door to all life, a sustainable bridge to all that is possible. Education is my bridge to self-esteem," she said.

Winfrey -- who referred repeatedly to her own impoverished² childhood -- said the student's stories are her own story and the opening of the school was the culmination³ of a lifelong dream.

"Coming to this place has been not just a journey of charity for me, it has been the journey, the true journey, of my life to be able to be with these girls," said Winfrey.

 
Nelson Mandela encourages the students in a speech
Nelson Mandela thanked Winfrey for building the school, adding that Winfrey is a role model for all children to emulate⁴. "Oprah has shown us that no matter what your background, how impoverished or underprivileged you were, you can become anything in life if you work and study hard for it," said the former president.

Winfrey hopes the school will change the way women are perceived in South Africa and that the young girls educated here will go on to be their country's future leaders.

1 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

2 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

4 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。