VOA标准英语2010-Former Boxing Champ Tries to Give Inner C

Former World Lightweight Boxing Champ Keely Thompson is on a mission. He's trying to help "at risk" youth escape the mean streets of inner-city Washington by teaching them self-respect and how to box. VOA introduces you to him in this week's installment¹ of Making a Difference.  

Thompson has a tough job. Teaching boxing and, more importantly, discipline to inner-city youth.  "It focuses them and makes them buckle² down and do the right things in life," he said. 

At 25, Thompson fought his way to become World Lightweight Boxing Champion.  Today, he trains and teaches young people blocks from where he grew up.  It's a rough neighborhood where, he says, he competes against drugs and gangs for attention.

"Most of the kids that come in here are at-risk, gang violence, come from broken homes, no mother, no father, uneducated," he said.    

Thompson says the majority of his young boxers³ read below age level, and often go hungry. They come in search of a better life.

"Every kid that comes in this program wants to change," said Thompson. 

In the ring, Thompson doesn't just teach boxing. He shares personal values and encourages self-respect. He says helping⁴ just one youth can make a big difference. "You start hearing that bad kid telling the next kid, 'That's not the right way,'" he said. The boxing gym unites young people from across Washington.

"Salvador [Jovel] is a Hispanic kid. He told me he's no wimp⁵, but he was crying - I ain't [am not] a wimp, I just want to change," Thompson recalls.  "I would promote this place to any young person that wanted to change themselves and find another option," Jovel said. 

When Leo DeLeon started at the center five years ago, he told Thompson he had dreams. "My mom, it was always her by herself, so I owe her a lot," DeLeon explaines. "I want to give her back something." 

DeLeon says if the youth center closes, many of the participants would turn to crime.

But it's a struggle to keep the center open. "We need new gloves, books. We need teachers," Thompson said. His staff of 13 is now down to just three - all working for free. 

One of them is Rodney McIntyre - a friend of more than 40 years.  He says the young boxers motivate him day after day despite budget cuts.  McIntyre has been working for free.

Today the "Champ" uses his own money to keep working with kids he's heard called "the worst of the worst." 

"Someone asked me, 'Why do you keep doing what you're doing? Why don't you give up on them?'  I say, 'Why do you think that kid keeps coming back?  He wants to change,'" Thompson explained.

Thompson tells them he'll see them again tomorrow - and he will. No one wants to miss a day of training at Keely's Boxing and Youth Center.
 

1 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

2 buckle   

n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲

参考例句：

• The two ends buckle at the back.带子两端在背后扣起来。
• She found it hard to buckle down.她很难专心做一件事情。

3 boxers   

n.拳击短裤；（尤指职业）拳击手( boxer的名词复数 )；拳师狗

参考例句：

• The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boxers slugged it out to the finish. 两名拳击手最后决出了胜负。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 wimp   

n.无用的人

参考例句：

• The more she called her husband a wimp,the more timid he became.她越叫她先生懦夫，他就越胆小怯懦。
• I hate those who get on their high horses in front of wimps.我最恨那些在弱者面前盛气凌人的人。