VOA标准英语2011-New Website Gives Senegalese Easier Acces

Legal scholars in Senegal have a new website that makes the country's laws more accessible and gives Senegalese lawyers an opportunity to contribute their own research. The website is the brainchild of a U.S. law professor.

Tracy Bach, a professor at the Vermont University School of Law, says she wanted to create a one-stop source for Senegalese legal research. She came up with the idea of a website while completing a Fulbright Scholarship in Senegal last year, working alongside law faculty¹ and students.

Bach worked on the project with technicians at Harvard University's Berkman Center, which focuses on ways the Internet can be used to increase the rule of law in developing countries.

In December, Bach's team launched a wiki, a type of website that allows users to contribute their knowledge on specific topics.

"So what a wiki does, and in particular this wiki, helps to develop a community of people, people who are interested in the law and how the law can be used in a democracy, and it not only gives them a place to find these tools, but encourages them to post what they know," Bach said.

Anyone who registers on the site can submit entries or information on Senegalese laws, which is then reviewed by Bach and her colleagues before being published.

Bach said that while in Dakar, she sometimes had to shuttle from office to office to find pieces of law that could not be found online.

"Here in the U.S. we can Google almost anything and find the relevant U.S. law in point," Bach added. "In contrast, in Senegal it's hard just to find the law itself because the printed form is not very accessible. And that's what digitalizing does, it makes it more accessible."

She realized that having easier access to these sources, and having a vehicle to publish analyses and interpretations² of the law, would benefit Senegal's legal scholars.

"Fundamentally, it's not so much to stay abreast³ of dynamic law, though I think that's a good idea," she said. "It really is to build a community of people who want to use the law to improve the rule of democracy in Senegal."

Senegal's democracy, like many African countries, has largely emphasized power through the executive branch.

Bach is hopeful that members within Senegal's government will join the wiki effort and post information from their ministries⁴.

Bach's larger goal is to expand the site from beyond Senegal to other West African countries

1 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

2 interpretations   

n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解

参考例句：

• This passage is open to a variety of interpretations. 这篇文章可以有各种不同的解释。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The involved and abstruse passage makes several interpretations possible. 这段艰涩的文字可以作出好几种解释。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 abreast   

adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地

参考例句：

• She kept abreast with the flood of communications that had poured in.她及时回复如雪片般飞来的大批信件。
• We can't keep abreast of the developing situation unless we study harder.我们如果不加强学习，就会跟不上形势。

4 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。