英语听力—环球英语 756 Schools for Nomads

　　Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Joshua Leo
Voice 2
And I'm Liz Waid. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
When you were young, what was your school like? Did you go to a large building every day or were you taught at home? Did you go to a school with hundreds of students or only a few? There are many different kinds of schools but most work in a similar way. Children travel to one building during the week. The teachers lead rooms of students to learn about many subjects. After many years of school, the students enter the world as adults. They have important knowledge and skills.
Voice 2
These kinds of schools are good for communities that stay in the same place. The children can go to schools near their homes. But what about children who move often? How do they get a good education? Today's Spotlight is on communities in East Africa that are solving this problem.
Voice 1
In Northern Ethiopia, families travel to search for water and food for their animals. For hundreds of years these communities have lived in this way. They travel through the dry areas of the country. When the water or food is gone, the communities must move on. The people in these communities are nomads³. Every season they look for a new home for their sheep, goats, and camels. But this means⁴ that the children of the community must move too. It is difficult for these children to attend school. One season they may live near a school. But the next season they will live somewhere else.
Voice 2
The lives of the nomads depend on their animals. The animals are the base of the community. If the animals do not have food, the community must move. The parents in these communities want their children to care for the animals. Education is not as important. As a result, many of the people do not know how to read or write. The schools in the area do not fit the lives of the nomads. The teachers are often not well trained. They do not speak the language of the nomadic⁵ students. And they use teaching⁶ materials that the nomad² children do not understand.
Voice 1
But the nomads in Ethiopia are not the only nomadic communities. All across East Africa, nomadic communities move from place to place. In Somalia, Sudan, and Kenya children travel and never attend school.
Voice 2
Most of these nomadic children never go to school. But some people are working to change that. These people are making school fit the lives of the nomadic communities.
Voice 1
In Kenya, near the border of Somalia, a group of children sits under a large tree. They speak together words in English. This is their school. It is part of a new government programme. Mohamed Elmi is a government official in Northern Kenya. He told reporter Ashley Seager that he believes that these kinds of schools are important.
Voice 3
"My opinion is that people should not have to choose between the way they live and an education."
Voice 2
Groups and governments in East Africa are helping⁷ to form these "Mobile⁸ schools" across the area. The children in these schools attend classes early in the morning. They study for a few hours and then they care for their animals in the afternoon. Some students may return to the classroom again later in the day.
Voice 1
In one classroom, the teacher attaches⁹ signs to trees. There are no walls. School supplies are very limited. So he uses what he does have. He writes out letters and numbers with the waste of goats. The children walk past the letters and say them out loud.
Voice 2
The teachers in these schools are members of the community. They know the culture of their students. They travel with the children and their families.
Voice 1
Sometimes these communities must travel very far. In some areas of East Africa, the nomadic lifestyle is becoming more and more difficult. In recent years the climate in the region¹⁰ has changed. It has been very dry. Nomads must travel very far to find water and food for their animals. Many of their animals die on these long journeys.
Voice 2
As dry seasons get longer, many nomadic parents are not sure if their way of life can continue. They worry that their children may have to find different ways to survive. This is another reason why education in these communities is so important. If life has to change, the children will be educated¹¹. They will be ready to look for new ways to live.
Voice 1
These new schools are helping the parents of the children to value education more. The parents want their children to have better lives then they did. And now they see education as a way to make this happen. Communities are also starting to value education for girls.
Voice 2
In many communities in East Africa, people think that educating a girl is a waste of time and money. Girls often marry at a very young age. But with these new mobile schools, more boys and girls receive education.
Voice 1
Some people think that this kind of education may threaten the nomadic way of life. When the children receive education, many want to continue going to school. This often means that they must leave the community to attend a university. If too many of the children leave, then the communities cannot exist. But there are many people who do not agree. One person is Zainab Sahal . She told the BBC¹² that she likes these new mobile schools.
Voice 4
"This school is a good idea because we are moving away from lack of knowledge. Education has been brought closer to us. We have to enjoy that. It is good that one of our own people is teaching here and our children are now gaining knowledge. I have no fear of our way of life dying¹³ out. These children are our children. When they go to town they will come back. So as long as we are in the villages wherever they go, they will come back."
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 nomad   

n.游牧部落的人，流浪者，游牧民

参考例句：

• He was indeed a nomad of no nationality.他的确是个无国籍的游民。
• The nomad life is rough and hazardous.游牧生活艰苦又危险。

3 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

5 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

6 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

7 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。

8 mobile   

adj.可移动的，易变的，机动的；n.运动物体

参考例句：

• The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
• She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后，活动量就大多了。

9 attaches   

贴上，系，附上( attach的第三人称单数 )； （有时不受欢迎或未受邀请而）参加； 把…固定； 把…归因于

参考例句：

• Mother attaches a great deal of value to good manners. 妈妈很重视礼貌。
• No suspicion attaches to him. 他无可怀疑。

10 region   

n.地区，地带，区域；范围，幅度

参考例句：

• The students went to study the geology of that region.学生们去研究那个地区的地质情况。
• It is unusual to see snow in this region.这个地区难得见到雪。

11 educated   

adj.受过教育的，有教养的

参考例句：

• She was well educated in literature at a university.她在大学里受到良好的文学方面的教育。
• Children should be educated in a correct way.教育孩子要得法。

12 BBC   

abbr.（=British Broadcasting Corporation）英国广播公司

参考例句：

• She works for the BBC.她为英国广播公司工作。
• The BBC was founded in 1922.英国广播公司建于1922年。

13 dying   

adj.垂死的，临终的

参考例句：

• He was put in charge of the group by the dying leader.他被临终的领导人任命为集团负责人。
• She was shown into a small room,where there was a dying man.她被领进了一间小屋子，那里有一个垂死的人。