2007年VOA标准英语-Africa's Sex Workers Have Hard Time Leaving Str

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
13 February 2007

Even in African countries with overall¹ low HIV infection rates, sex workers are many more times likely to carry the virus. In this second part of a five-part series on the most vulnerable² groups to HIV infection in Africa, Phuong Tran reports from Dakar on one woman's search for a way to get out of sex work and the money that keeps her in it.

Marie and other sex workers choose their sections of a popular street corner in Dakar to find customers.

"This is against the law to pick up customers on the street," she says. "But it is worth it for me to take the risk the police might pick me up because this is where the money is."

Marie is 41 years old, and says she can make up to $100 a month, on good months. She has worked as a full time sex worker for almost 20 years after she left an abusive marriage with no money.

She turned to what she says was easy money in sex work.

Ndeye Astou Diop, president of Aboya, a non-profit that works³ with HIV positive women, says this economic desperation makes sex workers even more powerless in the fight against AIDS.

"Sex workers have told us that when they ask a client⁴ to use a condom, he offers to double the price to have sex without the condom. These women are trying to provide for their children and families, so they take the offer," Diop says.

About 20 percent of Senegal's sex workers are HIV positive despite the government's annual HIV testing requirement for sex workers ages 21 and over.

She knows the risks, but Marie says it is hard to turn down money and leave the streets.

"We know a lot of about sexually-transmitted diseases⁵ and about AIDS," Marie says. "We are all afraid that one day we will become HIV positive or sick from AIDS. We would love to get out of this work, but we do not have the money to walk away."
 
Marie works two days a week at Awa, a non-profit that provides health services to sex workers.

But she says the money is not enough to leave sex work completely.

1 overall   

n.工作服，工装裤；全面的，全体的

参考例句：

• The shop assistant was wearing a white overall.那店员穿着白色的工作服。
• How much will it cost overall?一共多少钱？

2 vulnerable   

adj.易受伤的，脆弱的，易受攻击的

参考例句：

• He volunteered to protect her as she looked so vulnerable.她看上去很脆弱，他就主动去保护她。
• The company is in an economically vulnerable position.该公司目前经济状况不稳定。

3 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

4 client   

n.委托人，当事人，顾客

参考例句：

• She can't come to the telephone;she's serving a client.她不能来接电话，她正在接待一位顾客。
• The lawyer produced a clever defence of his client.律师机智地为委托人辩护。

5 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。