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VOA标准英语2016--国际女童日关注通婚和教育

时间:2016-10-17 23:03:03

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AS IT IS 2016-10-15 21 International Day of the Girl Brings Attention to Child Marriage, Education 国际女童日关注通婚和教育

The International Day of the Girl was observed in the United States and a number of other countries earlier this week.

Last Tuesday, President Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, led an event at the White House. She held discussions on the need to expand girls’ education.

The United Nations General Assembly established the day in 2011 to bring attention to the rights of girls. The observance takes place each year on October 11.

The aid group, Save the Children, also released a report on Tuesday. It dealt with child marriage and other issues facing girls and young women.

The Best and Worst Places for Girls

Save the Children’s report, called “Every Last Girl: Free to live, free to learn, free from harm,” discusses the realities of child marriage.

The group says child marriage is among the most severe issues facing female children today. Each year, 15 million girls are married before the age of 18. Some of them are as young as age 10.

Save the Children estimates that 700 million women alive today married in childhood. The group’s president, Carolyn Miles, describes child marriage as a very serious problem.

“One girl under 15 is married every seven seconds. And it’s a big piece of what’s holding girls back. What happens when a girl gets married at a young age is she drops out of school. She will probably have a baby very shortly after getting married at 13 or 14.”

Miles says many child marriages result from a deal between the parents of the girl and the husband’s family.

She adds that having babies at a young age is dangerous. The mortality rate for young mothers is much higher than for older women. The death rate for the child of a young mother is also high.

The report rates the best and worst places to be a girl. Out of 144 countries, Sweden received the top rating2. The United States was rated 32nd.

At the bottom of the list is Niger. The report said the lowest-ranked countries suffer from high poverty, political unrest or conflict. Some have recently ended civil wars. Save the Children said such conditions are especially dangerous for girls.

Among the other issues used to rank countries were years of school completed and the number of women in high government positions.

Rwanda has the world’s highest percentage of women in parliament -- 64 percent. However, Qatar has no female lawmakers. Having women in high positions of power helps to influence policy decisions that benefit women and girls, the group said.

A Need for Education and Leadership

The West African nation of Sierra Leone appears close to the bottom of the list in the report. However, it also has a woman in a powerful position. The nation’s First Lady, Sia Nyama Koroma, is leading a campaign against child marriage and violence toward girls.

In Washington, another First Lady, Michelle Obama, held an event to mark the International Day of the Girl. The event helped publicize an international campaign called Let Girls Learn. Its aim is to provide education for girls who currently3 are not in school.

At the event, Mrs. Obama spoke4 directly to four young girls.

“Time and again, we have seen that, whether it’s a head of state, a corporate5 CEO, or a teenage girl here in the U.S….when people hear your stories, the stories of girls who aren’t in school, they’re moved. And they’re outraged6. And better yet, they want to help.”

Mrs. Obama visited Liberia and Morocco last summer. She said many young girls in the two countries struggle to receive an education.

The four young girls at the White House event described having to walk several kilometers to attend school. But the girls understand through education that they have the same value and abilities as boys.

One of the girls said to the audience: “We have a girl in our group from Morocco who does mechanical stuff. I mean, she’s going to start operating her garage, which is something we thought only boys do,” she said.

In an opinion piece for CNN.com on Tuesday, Michelle Obama called the issue of education for girls a personal one. She wrote that, as a child growing up in Chicago, neither her parents nor most of her neighbors, attended college. Financial aid helped her to pay for a college education at two of the world’s most respected universities.

Let Girls Learn is a campaign launched by Barack and Michelle Obama in 2015. The United States is investing more than one billion dollars in the programs. The World Bank will invest more than 2 billion dollars over the next five years.

Words in This Story

drop out v. to stop going to school, college, et cetera, before finishing

mortality - n. the quality or state of being a person or thing that is alive and therefore certain to die : the quality or state of being mortal1

benefit – v. a good or helpful result or effect

corporate – adj. involving or associated with a corporation

CEO - title. a Corporate Executive7 Office (CEO) is the highest person in a company or organization

outraged – v. to make someone very angry

mechanical - adj. of or relating to machinery8

garage - n. a shop where vehicles are repaired


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1 mortal Hj8yA     
adj.终有一死的,致命的,不共戴天的;n.人
参考例句:
  • He received a mortal wound soon after the battle began.战争开始后不久,他就受到了致命的重伤。
  • They are our mortal enemies.他们是我们不共戴天的仇敌。
2 rating 5kYzDZ     
n.级别,等级,额定值,责骂,收视率
参考例句:
  • It is a ship with a rating of 500,000 tons.这是一艘五十万吨级的船。
  • The opinion polls gave the president a high rating.民意测验显示人民对总统的支持率很高。
3 currently SvMzI2     
adv.通常地,普遍地,当前
参考例句:
  • Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
  • Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。
4 spoke XryyC     
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 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
6 outraged VmHz8n     
a.震惊的,义愤填膺的
参考例句:
  • Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
  • He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。
7 executive Ymlxs     
adj.执行的,行政的;n.执行者,行政官,经理
参考例句:
  • A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
  • He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。
8 machinery CAdxb     
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
参考例句:
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

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