voa标准英语2008-Holistic Healing Center Takes African Healing Up

As African communities develop and modernize¹, proponents² of traditional medicine are evolving new faces of the practice to keep up. Naomi Seck reports from a holistic³ healing center in Senegal's capital, Dakar, where traditional healing practices are infused into luxurious⁴ treatments like pedicures and massage⁵.
　

Flowers bloom in the luxurious Imaalah Center in Dakar

Wind chimes twinkle as a breeze passes through the sculpted⁶ garden of the Imaalah center. An employee wearing a tie-dyed uniform sits under an open-sided tent, with creams and candles on shelves all around, ready to massage the feet and paint the toenails of her clients.

The founder⁷ of the center, Evelina Mertel, points to a lawn in the far corner. She says, when they need people to have contact with nature, she asks them to sit there to take contact with the earth.

Among other services, Mertels's center houses a small shop, where she sells a variety of ointments⁸ and creams.

She says the recipes were passed down to her from her grandmother.

These ointments have a variety of purposes, including ones that purport⁹ to ease medical conditions, such as hemorrhoids.

Products with similar ingredients - aiming to cure similar problems - can be found in many places in Dakar.

Across town, there is a thriving traditional medicine practice, run by Kaoussou Sambou, a botanist¹⁰ and retired¹¹ university professor.

Sambou's assistants bustle¹² busily in the dingy¹³, windowless office. They pour powders directly into plastic bags and package other treatments, made of sticks and roots, into newspaper.

Mertel, a Cape¹⁴ Verdian who trained in France in aromatherapy and and a wide array of Asian massage techniques, says the luxurious surroundings at her center are an important facet¹⁵ of what she offers.

She says her operation is a center for well being. And well-being¹⁶, she says, is in the eyes, what we see, in what we smell, what we feel.

These extra touches - like fancy packaging and all organically grown ingredients - come with a price tag.

Her products range from about $6 to $14. At Sambou's center, a couple of week's worth of treatment for hemorrhoids costs only $4.

Mertel says she wants to see African holistic healing take a prominent place on the world stage, alongside more well-known Asian techniques like Shiatsu and Reiki. She says African methods have a lot to offer, but are not as widespread because African practitioners¹⁷ do not often talk about what they do.

That meant that, even though she grew up knowing about African massage traditions, it was not easy to find someone to teach her the techniques.

She says, when she first asked how to do African massage, she would get no response.

Eventually, she stopped asking direct questions, but learned through observation and by asking about the philosophy that led to the practice.

For instance, she learned that the tradition of massaging¹⁸ infants stems from a belief in the meaning of birth as a separation, in three senses, from the waters of the womb, from the mother, and from the infant's double, the placenta.

She says the massage is intended to heal the baby after the three separations and help him or her accept his new existence.

She hopes to use her center to introduce more people to these African techniques. She is running classes at the center to teach massage therapists.

The African techniques, mixed with the Asian ones Mertel learned in her formal training, are put to use on eight-year-old Mamy.

Mamy's muscular development was damaged when she suffered from meningitis as a baby. Now she is one of several disabled children being treated for free at the Imaalah Center, in the hopes that massage and physical therapy in the center's pool will help her muscles regain¹⁹ strength.

And, as she sings contentedly²⁰ during her massage, it is clear that Mertel's investment in creating a comfortable space has paid off - for Mamy, at least.

When her massage is over, she refuses to go home.

1 modernize   

vt.使现代化，使适应现代的需要

参考例句：

• It was their manifest failure to modernize the country's industries.他们使国家进行工业现代化，明显失败了。
• There is a pressing need to modernise our electoral system.我们的选举制度迫切需要现代化。

2 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

3 holistic   

adj.从整体着眼的，全面的

参考例句：

• There is a fundamental ambiguity in the use of word "whole" in recent holistic literature.在近代的整体主义著作中，“整体”这个词的用法极其含混。
• In so far as historicism is technological,its approach is not piecemeal,but "holistic".仅就历史决定论是一种技术而论，它的方法不是渐进的，而是“整体主义的”。

4 luxurious   

adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的

参考例句：

• This is a luxurious car complete with air conditioning and telephone.这是一辆附有空调设备和电话的豪华轿车。
• The rich man lives in luxurious surroundings.这位富人生活在奢侈的环境中。

5 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

6 sculpted   

adj.经雕塑的

参考例句：

• a display of animals sculpted in ice 冰雕动物展
• The ladies had their hair sculpted by the leading coiffeur of the day. 女士们的发型都是当代有名的理发师做的。

7 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。

8 ointments   

n.软膏( ointment的名词复数 )；扫兴的人；煞风景的事物；药膏

参考例句：

• The firm has been dispensing ointments. 本公司配制药膏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Antibiotic ointments are useful for concurrent bacterial infections. 抗菌素软膏对伴发的细菌感染是有用的。 来自辞典例句

9 purport   

n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是...

参考例句：

• Many theories purport to explain growth in terms of a single cause.许多理论都标榜以单一的原因解释生长。
• Her letter may purport her forthcoming arrival.她的来信可能意味着她快要到了。

10 botanist   

n.植物学家

参考例句：

• The botanist introduced a new species of plant to the region.那位植物学家向该地区引入了一种新植物。
• I had never talked with a botanist before,and I found him fascinating.我从没有接触过植物学那一类的学者，我觉得他说话极有吸引力。

11 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

12 bustle   

v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹

参考例句：

• The bustle and din gradually faded to silence as night advanced.随着夜越来越深，喧闹声逐渐沉寂。
• There is a lot of hustle and bustle in the railway station.火车站里非常拥挤。

13 dingy   

adj.昏暗的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• It was a street of dingy houses huddled together. 这是一条挤满了破旧房子的街巷。
• The dingy cottage was converted into a neat tasteful residence.那间脏黑的小屋已变成一个整洁雅致的住宅。

14 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

15 facet   

n.(问题等的)一个方面；(多面体的)面

参考例句：

• He has perfected himself in every facet of his job.他已使自己对工作的各个方面都得心应手。
• Every facet of college life is fascinating.大学生活的每个方面都令人兴奋。

16 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

17 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

18 massaging   

按摩，推拿( massage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He watched the prisoner massaging his freed wrists. 他看着那个犯人不断揉搓着刚松开的两只手腕。
• Massaging your leg will ease the cramp. 推拿大腿可解除抽筋。

19 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

20 contentedly   

adv.心满意足地

参考例句：

• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
• "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.