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THIS IS AMERICA - A 'Band of Sisters' Who Fight Fires, and T

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THIS IS AMERICA - A 'Band of Sisters' Who Fight Fires, and Try to Break Through Barriers
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, August 22, 2005

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Our program this week is all about women in the fire service.

(SOUND)

VOICE ONE:

 
 

What you just heard is from newly released emergency radio calls in New York on September eleventh, two thousand one. Islamic terrorists flew hijacked1 passenger planes into the World Trade Center.

(SOUND)

Firefighters and other rescuers ran into the Twin Towers, hundreds to their deaths. Within two hours, two of the world's tallest buildings were mountains of ruin.

At the Pentagon, emergency crews struggled to rescue people from the nation's military headquarters, where a third plane hit. A fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers rebelled. The attacks killed nearly three thousand people.

Firemen, like soldiers, are often called a "band of brothers." But men were not the only ones who risked their lives on September eleventh.

VOICE TWO:

 
 

Many women were among the rescue workers injured that day, and three were killed. There is a book called "Women at Ground Zero: Stories of Courage and Compassion2." It is a collection of stories told by women firefighters, police officers and others who were there.

Brenda Berkman is a captain in the New York City Fire Department command. She was home when she heard about the attacks. She was supposed to be off duty on Nine-Eleven. For the next two months, she worked in the wreckage3 of the World Trade Center. She also provided support to families who lost loved ones.

More than six thousand women in the United States are professional firefighters. Does that sound like a lot? It compares with almost one and one-half million men. Many other firefighters work part time without pay. About forty thousand women are volunteer firefighters.

VOICE ONE:

 
 

Brenda Berkman was responsible for women being hired by the New York City Fire Department. She was an immigration lawyer. She wanted to be a firefighter.

Women could join the department since nineteen seventy-seven. But the physical test kept them out. It demanded great strength.

To Brenda Berkman, the test was unfair. She said it did not really test the skills that firefighters need. A federal court agreed. The test changed.

And Brenda Berkman got her wish. She joined the department in nineteen eighty-two.

VOICE TWO:

Today, America's largest city employs about thirty women among almost eleven thousand firefighters. The department has been criticized over low numbers of women and minorities. Officials say they have expanded efforts to increase those numbers.

Requirements for fire service differ across the country. But all candidates must be able to do things like raise and climb a ladder. They must be able to pull heavy fire hoses and the weight of an injured person.

These days, there are fewer fires to fight, and more calls for medical rescue. The demands of the job have changed. And now there are new demands in a world that has also changed since September eleventh. But tradition is still important in the fire service.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Women in the Fire Service, Incorporated, is a group that helps women gain support from one another.

In nineteen eighty, a firefighter in Ohio named Terese Floren was asked to present a class on women in the fire and rescue service. Nobody was sure how many there were, or where they worked. Terese Floren collected about two hundred names. She wrote to the women. Sixty answered.

Over time, Terese Floren and another firefighter, Linda Willing, added to a list of names.

Women in the Fire Service was established in nineteen eighty-two. Three years later, it held its first national conference in Boulder4, Colorado. The group meets every two years. Firefighters, including men, travel from a number of countries to attend.

VOICE TWO:

Women in the Fire Service says the first known woman firefighter in America was Molly Williams. She was a slave held by a member of Oceanus Engine Company Number Eleven in New York City. In eighteen eighteen, during a severe snowstorm, Molly Williams helped pull a water pumper with ropes through deep snow. Slavery was legal in New York State at that time.

In the eighteen twenties, a French-Indian woman named Marina Betts joined bucket brigades in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Brigade members formed a line to pass along buckets of water to firemen.

If men gathered to watch, but not to help, Marina Betts threw cold water on their heads.

VOICE ONE:

In California, there is a famous story in San Francisco about a wealthy woman named Lillie Hitchcock Coit. This is how it goes:

She was saved from a fire as a child in the eighteen fifties. Later, when she was fifteen, there was a fire on Telegraph Hill. Lillie saw that Knickerbocker Engine Company Number Five did not have enough men to pull their fire engine up the hill. So she helped, and called to others on the street. The engine was the first to arrive.

After that, the young woman went to many other fires. The men of Engine Company Number Five made her an honorary member. All her life she wore a gold fireman's badge that read "Number Five."

In nineteen thirty-three, the Coit Memorial Tower was built on Telegraph Hill with money she left to the city. People have always thought that the design was meant to honor not just her, but also the firefighters of San Francisco. The building is tall and round and looks like part of a fire hose. It seems the designers, however, denied a connection.

VOICE TWO:

One night in eighteen seventy-five, there was a big fire in Atlantic City, New Jersey5. A young woman joined the volunteers from the only fire department in town. Adelheid von Buckow helped pump water on the fire all night. Some years later, after she married a member of the department, the men voted her a member as well.

Over the years, women have formed their own fire departments in America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen forty-one, American troops entered World War Two. Women had to fill many jobs left by men, including volunteer firefighters.

Judith Livers is credited as the first woman in a paid job as a modern American firefighter. She joined the Arlington County Fire Department in Virginia in nineteen seventy-four.

She was married to a fireman. She got interested in the job when he studied fire science. Judith Livers rose to battalion6 chief. She commanded a group of firefighters. She retired7 in nineteen ninety-nine.

VOICE TWO:

The road to a job as a professional firefighter is still not easy. Nor does a job guarantee acceptance. Women may face hostility8 in traditionally male firehouses. Legal actions for unfair treatment are not uncommon9. But, slowly, women have moved into higher-level jobs as firefighters.

The United States has more than thirty thousand fire departments. As of January, at least twenty-five had women as top-level chiefs.

A woman just took command of the Fire Department in Monterey Park, California. It is the third city where Cathy Orchard10 has worked as a firefighter.

In the nineteen eighties, Debra Pryor was the first woman hired by the Fire Department in Berkeley, California. Now she is in her first year as chief.

VOICE ONE:

The states with the most female firefighters are California, Florida, Texas, Maryland and Virginia. At the local level, sixteen percent of the firefighters in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are women. Close behind are Madison, Wisconsin; San Francisco; Boulder; and Miami-Dade County, Florida. Several other departments are about ten percent women.

These numbers all come from the Web site of Women in the Fire Service, Incorporated. The address is wfsi.org.

VOICE TWO:

Another group is the Women Chief Fire Officers Association, at womenfireofficers dot org. It was established in two thousand two for women who are supervisors11 in emergency services.

The president is Lorrie Kalos, assistant deputy chief of the San Francisco Fire Department. She told us there are now close to one hundred members. The goal is to develop more women as leaders in the fire service.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver12. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus.  Please join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 hijacked 54f3e68c506e45e75f9a155a27738c2f     
劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 ); 绑架; 拦路抢劫; 操纵(会议等,以推销自己的意图)
参考例句:
  • The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
  • The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。
2 compassion 3q2zZ     
n.同情,怜悯
参考例句:
  • He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
  • Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。
3 wreckage nMhzF     
n.(失事飞机等的)残骸,破坏,毁坏
参考例句:
  • They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
  • New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。
4 boulder BNbzS     
n.巨砾;卵石,圆石
参考例句:
  • We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲,把大石头搬开了。
  • He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。
5 jersey Lp5zzo     
n.运动衫
参考例句:
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
6 battalion hu0zN     
n.营;部队;大队(的人)
参考例句:
  • The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
  • At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后,队伍解散了。
7 retired Njhzyv     
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。
8 hostility hdyzQ     
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争
参考例句:
  • There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
  • His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。
9 uncommon AlPwO     
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的
参考例句:
  • Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
  • Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。
10 orchard UJzxu     
n.果园,果园里的全部果树,(美俚)棒球场
参考例句:
  • My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
  • Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。
11 supervisors 80530f394132f10fbf245e5fb15e2667     
n.监督者,管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
  • Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句
12 weaver LgWwd     
n.织布工;编织者
参考例句:
  • She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快,而且布的质量很好。
  • The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

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