VOA常速英语2007年-Carter Center Celebrates 25 Years of Promoting

By Kane Farabaugh
New York
05 November 2007
 
One of the hallmarks of Jimmy Carter's American presidency¹ was a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. It brought lasting² peace between two former enemies. The experience encouraged Mr. Carter to spend most of his post-presidential years dedicated³ to promoting peace throughout the world. It is an effort that in 2002 earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. In an interview with VOA's Kane Farabaugh, President Carter spoke⁴ about his non-profit organization the Carter Center, and his new book that documents the center's success.

When Jimmy Carter left the White House in 1981, he returned to his home state of Georgia as a defeated politician, unable to win a second term in office.

Like most former presidents, he planned to focus his efforts on a presidential library. With his wife Rosalynn, they also formed an idea to create a place to resolve international disputes, modeled after the Camp David presidential retreat.

President Jimmy Carter says, "I envisioned it to be a tiny thing, where I would have an office and some nice buildings in Atlanta."

That "tiny thing" evolved into the Carter Center, now known throughout the world for promoting peace, monitoring elections and fighting disease.

President Carter talks about the last 25 years of the Atlanta, Georgia based Carter Center in his 24th published work, Beyond the White House. "We go where people don't want to go, or where the disease is relatively⁵ unknown, or where the trouble is too difficult, or failure is likely, and that has taken us into 71 nations now," he says.

In his interview with VOA, Mr. Carter said he feels able to do more good throughout the world without the constraints⁶ that come with a political office.

He has earned a reputation for fairness and honesty among world leaders, qualities that serve him best when called to monitor troubled elections. But he has also earned a reputation among a larger, and to him a more important group -- the world's poor.

The former president and first lady often travel to remote areas of the world, where they try to educate villagers and stop crippling illnesses. A large part of the Carter Center's current efforts, particularly in Africa, focus on providing treatment for diseases that many in the developed world know little about.

"That's about three-fourths of our total budget now, just dealing⁷ with diseases that are not known in the rich world," he says. "In fact most of our diseases are officially declared by the World Health Organization to be neglected diseases."

They include the eye disease trachoma, parasitic⁸ river blindness and guinea worm disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) says guinea worm disease could be eradicated⁹ within two years. If successful, it would be only the second time in history a disease has been wiped from the planet.

"It would be another demonstration¹⁰ that a disease could be completely eradicated from the face of the earth, once and for all," says President Carter. "So that is a big challenge for us, which we will meet," he adds.

Mr. Carter is 83 years old, but he still is in good health, travels widely and shows little sign of slowing down. He is widely praised for his work, but he is quick to give credit to the Carter Center's medical staff and volunteers. They number in the tens of thousands, and work in the poorest and most remote points on the African continent.

1 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

2 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

3 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

4 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。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

9 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

10 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。