VOA标准英语2008年-US Lawmakers Discuss Child Labor, Cocoa Industr

By Naomi Schwarz
Dakar
08 January 2008

U.S. Senators Tom Harkin and Bernie Sanders and Congressman¹ Elliot Engel are in Abidjan, Ivory Coast's commercial capital, for a two-day visit related to child labor² in cocoa production. They are set to meet with the government, industry representatives, aid organizations, and cocoa-producing families in Ivory Coast, before heading to Ghana. Naomi Schwarz has this from VOA's regional bureau in Dakar.

Some American lawmakers say the world needs to look closer at chocolate. They say child labor is giving the industry a bitter taste.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin and New York Congressman Elliot Engel have proposed a plan to help consumers know when their sweet treats were produced without the worst forms of child labor.

Now Harkin and Engel, along with their colleague, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, have come to West Africa, to see how things are going.

Sharon White is a press officer for the American embassy in Ivory Coast, the lawmakers' first stop.

"They want to see firsthand how Cote d'Ivoire is implementing³ its national strategy to monitor and end the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sector," she said.

Ivory Coast, known also by its French name, Cote d'Ivoire, produces some 40 percent of the world's cocoa. Ghana, where the lawmakers head next, is also one of the world's largest cocoa producers.

Over the past decade, there has been increased attention to the cocoa industry, as reports emerged of children forced to work long hours doing hazardous⁴ jobs on cocoa plantations⁵. There have been threats of consumer boycotts⁶.

White says Harkin and Engel's protocol⁷ gives cocoa-producing countries a set of steps to eliminate the worst forms of child labor.

"We believe that there has been progress, but this visit is in part to allow the congressional delegation⁸ to see firsthand what has been done and what needs to be done," she said.

But Acquah Amouan, of the Child Labor Tracing System, set up by the Ivorian government to monitor the cocoa industry, says child labor is not the problem the international community has made it out to be.

She says from a cultural perspective in Ivorian society, child labor is not a big problem, because it is more a question of apprenticeship⁹ than anything else. Amouan says the real problems are education, poverty, and development, which can lead to children having to work on family farms. She says Ivory Coast is working on fixing all of those [problems] as well.

But Mike Davis, an activist¹⁰ with natural resources-watchdog Global Witness, says child labor has historically been a problem in West African cocoa. And he says it is not the only problem.

"If you take Ivory Coast, there you have a trade which has not only been bound up with child labor problems but has also had a very close relationship with the conflict in Ivory Coast which has kept the country cut in half for the past five years," he said.

He says both sides in the conflict used revenues from cocoa to buy weapons and fund the war.

1 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

2 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。

3 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

4 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

5 plantations   

n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Soon great plantations, supported by slave labor, made some families very wealthy. 不久之后出现了依靠奴隶劳动的大庄园，使一些家庭成了富豪。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• Winterborne's contract was completed, and the plantations were deserted. 维恩特波恩的合同完成后，那片林地变得荒废了。 来自辞典例句

6 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

7 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

8 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

9 apprenticeship   

n.学徒身份；学徒期

参考例句：

• She was in the second year of her apprenticeship as a carpenter. 她当木工学徒已是第二年了。
• He served his apprenticeship with Bob. 他跟鲍勃当学徒。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。