VOA标准英语2011--South African Singer Starts Black Education Fund

South African Singer Starts Black Education Fund

 

In March 2011 Simphiwe Dana embarked¹ on a tour of rural and township schools to increase awareness² of the dire³ state of public education, and to identify key problems such as the lack of libraries, science laboratories, high failure rates and teacher shortages in rural areas.

“I spoke⁴ to the learners, I spoke to the teachers, I spoke to the parents and even to the chiefs to try to get their perspective on what the problem is,” Dana says.

According to Dana she learnt so much she realised how complex the problem was.

“I realised that we as a community need to understand that we have gone through a lot in this country. It’s too big for us to just say ‘government is going to fix it’ – we as a community of South Africa need to get involved hands-on,” Dana asserts.

After the tour Dana forwarded to government and interested donors⁵ a report highlighting problems in the schools she’d visited.

Her new project, which was sparked by Twitter and Facebook on-line chats with her fans, is the establishment of what she calls a stokvel, or rotating fund, for black education.

Simphiwe Dana is an award-winning musician and activist6 based in Cape7 Town, South Africa

According to Dana for a stokvel, people get together monthly and put money together and every month that money goes to one of them. And then the next month it goes to another and then it keeps rotating like that.

“I thought that idea would work for education too. People get together – they put together this money, but instead of it going to one of them monthly, it goes to resourcing the schools,” Dana explains. .

The stokvel is still in its planning phase.

The first meetings were held in Cape Town and Johannesburg in September with hundreds of people, ranging from local celebrities⁸, businessmen and other interested South Africans who pledged their support. Members of the stokvel are required to contribute approximately $80 each per month.

So far Dana has used her own music money to fund the public education tours and the stokvel initiation⁹ meetings. She envisions the fund to start at the beginning of 2012.

Funds raised will be used to develop poorer community school libraries and build science laboratories for needy¹⁰ schools. Besides money, members of the stokvel will be able to volunteer their time with reading groups and after-hour tutoring at schools.

The education project has not stopped Simphiwe Dana’s from singing – this year she released her first music concert DVD, while last year she released her third album, Kulture Noir.

The album has already earned two South African MetroFM awards, and reached the top of two world music charts, reaching number three for one measuring sales across Europe and number one another registering sales only within Germany.

Dana plans to move to Johannesburg, where she will continue her singing career and further her work on the black education stokvel.

1 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

2 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

3 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

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 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 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。

8 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

9 initiation   

n.开始

参考例句：

• her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
• It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。

10 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。