VOA常速英语2020--纳瓦霍族妇女领导抗击新冠肺炎

 

Across the desert landscape of two grey hills new mexico, a pickup¹ truck brings food and firewood to a navajo family of seven whose father died of the covid 19 infection hours earlier. Relief workers unload the provisions and leave them at the door for the now quarantined family.We're stepping up for the community members at a time that is so crucial. Kim Smith heads up a volunteer group, made up mostly of Navajo women, who are providing support to a growing number of families quarantined at homes where a relative has died of covid 19，the disease caused by the coronavirus. As big as West Virginia the reservation is a food desert with only 13 small grocery stores and almost 50 percent unemployment. It's really important to get this food out especially for our elders who are more at risk and could be immunocompromised. The pandemic has laid bare stark² inequalities in health care, housing and basic services between the Navajo nation and the states of new Mexico Utah and Arizona. It's just shedding light on the disparities that have already existed and also the lack of federal funding to meet the demand of the health needs.

穿越新墨西哥州两座灰色山丘的沙漠，一辆小卡车为纳瓦霍人的一个七口之家带来食物和柴火。这家人的父亲在19小时前死于冠状病毒感染。救援人员卸下粮食并放在门口，留给现在被隔离的家庭。在这个非常关键的时刻，我们正在加强对社区成员的支持。金·史密斯领导了一个志愿者组织，这个组织主要由纳瓦霍妇女组成。她们正在为越来越多的家庭提供支持，这些家庭由于有亲戚死于新冠肺炎（由冠状病毒引起的疾病）正在接受隔离。这个保护区和西弗吉尼亚州一样大，食物匮乏，只有13家小杂货店，失业率近50%。把这些食物拿出来真的很重要，特别是对于那些感染风险更高，并且可能受到免疫损害的老年人。这场疫情暴露了纳瓦霍民族与新墨西哥州、犹他州和亚利桑那州在卫生保健、住房和基本服务方面的严重不平等。这只是揭示了已经存在的差距，还揭露了联邦政府缺乏满足卫生需求的资金。

Cora Tso, a Navajo woman, who recently graduated from law school in Arizona, lost her grandparents to Covid 19 in May. They started to feel sick and by the end of April they were really bad and they were in the hospital for a couple of weeks. My mom texted me and told me that my grandpa passed on and then in the afternoon my grandma also passed on. So they passed on within hours of each other on the same day. The last time that I talked to them, they were really excited and were looking forward to come to watch me graduate. So says she believes her grandparents' deaths came prematurely³ due to a lack of infrastructure⁴ on the reservation. One of the biggest things that we can do to help combat this virus is to wash our hands and is to stay healthy and stay hydrated. And for a lot of members on the navajo reservation the infrastructure difficulties really exacerbates⁵ the problem. Chris Beecher is a former chairman of the Navajo housing authority. He says covid 19 has exposed the chronic⁶ underfunding of the Navajo nation. The biggest issues we face are not new health disparities, economic disparities, employment educational. All of them relate to chronic underfunding by the US government. Having broadband connectivity across the Navajo nation would also be a huge boon⁷ to the economy he says. And for education. You can see that by not investing in indian country, you put native American children at a disadvantage. What we need is continue sustained increasing funding for native american tribes in order to meet the needs and just to keep up. Until then people who want to help will do what they can to alleviate⁸ suffering where they see it. That's what we're here for ultimately as young people to be able to sacrifice ourselves, sacrifice our wellbeing, So that more of our people don't get sick. Julie Tabo voa news

科拉·索是一位刚从亚利桑那州法学院毕业的纳瓦霍女性，今年5月，她的祖父母由于新冠肺炎去世。他们开始感到不舒服，到4月底，身体状况很糟糕，他们在医院呆了几个星期。我妈妈给我发短信说我爷爷去世了，下午我奶奶也去世了。所以他们在同一天隔了几个小时相继去世了。上次我和他们聊天的时候，他们真的很兴奋，并且期待来看我毕业典礼。所以她说，她相信她的祖父母过早去世，是因为保留地缺乏基础设施。要帮助对抗这种病毒，我们能做的最大的事情之一就是洗手，保持健康，补充水分。对于纳瓦霍保留地的许多成员来说，基础设施方面的困难确实使问题加剧。克里斯·比彻曾任纳瓦霍住房委员会主席。他说，冠状疫情暴露了纳瓦霍长期资金不足的问题。我们面临的最大问题不是新的健康差距、经济差距、就业、教育问题。所有这些都与美国政府长期资金不足有关。他说，在纳瓦霍族全国范围内建立宽带连接，对经济也将是一个巨大的裨益。也是为了教育。你可以看到，不投资印第安地区，你会使美国土著儿童处于不利地位。我们需要的是继续不断增加对美洲土著部落的资助，以满足他们的需要，让他们不落后。在那之前，那些想要帮助的人会尽他们所能来减轻他们所看到的痛苦。这就是我们作为年轻人来这里的最终目的,能够牺牲自己，牺牲我们的福祉，这样我们更多的人就不会生病了。美国之音记者，Julie Tabo，报道

1 pickup   

n.拾起，获得

参考例句：

• I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。

2 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

3 prematurely   

adv.过早地，贸然地

参考例句：

• She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产，肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了，不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 exacerbates   

n.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的名词复数 )v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Stripping the land in these ways allows faster surface runoff and exacerbates flooding. 这些做法终将使土地裸露、地表径流加快，从而加重了洪水的威胁。 来自辞典例句
• This policy exacerbates the gap between rich and poor. 这项政策加剧了贫富差距。 来自互联网

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

8 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。