时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2010年(五)月


VOA标准英语2010年-Overcrowding, Stalled Reform Keep Guin - 英语课
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  1. 1 VOA标准英语2010年-Overcrowding, Stalled Reform Keep Guin 英语课
英语课

Children sit in an overcrowded classroom at Dixin Centre 2 primary school in Conakry, Guinea, 6 May 2010


Guinea's Political Parties Debate Deposit to Run in Next Month's Presidential Poll

In Guinea, the number of children attending school has dropped since 2007, due to overcrowding and political turmoil 1, but aid workers are hopeful that newly awarded international funding will usher 2 in education reform.


 


Adama Sow, 10, shares her two-person desk with three other girls at Dixin Elementary school in Conakry.  There are 80 students in her class, typical for this urban school.


The classroom is hot, Adama says.  With four of us in a desk, it is too cramped 3 to write.  She says there are too many students, and the classroom is small.


Teacher, Fatimata Camara, said the tight quarters make it difficult for students to concentrate.


She says it is difficult to teach 85 children at once and make sure they each understand the lesson.  But these are important years, she says, when children are learning to read and write.  Correcting the homework of so many students is also overwhelming, and she says 30 would be a more manageable class size.


Once Camara's morning shift of students goes home at lunch time, as many as 85 more students will come for afternoon classes.  There is an average of 150 students to each teacher at Dixin Elementary.


But U.N. Children's Fund's representative to Guinea Julien Harneis says UNICEF is just as concerned about the growing numbers of children who are not in these crowded classrooms.


"There has been a lack of investment in the education sector 4 in this country for several years now, and so as a result, the percentage of children who go to school has dropped over the last two years, which is very unusual for anywhere in the world and is particularly unusual for this country, which has had rising education for the last 20 years," he said.


He said the political crisis that has racked Guinea since 2008 has blocked funding and stalled much-needed reform to the education sector.


"It is not that the children do not want to come," he added.  "It is not that the parents do not want to send their children to school.  It is [that] there is not enough classrooms.  There is not enough classrooms, there is not enough benches for kids to sit on.  There is not enough teachers to train them."


At Dixin Elementary, three classrooms sit empty.  Their roof blew off in a storm in 2006 and has yet to be replaced.  There are no desks and chairs for another classroom so it sits unused as well.  There are no bathrooms, cafeteria or clean drinking water for students.


But there are signs of hope.  Last week in Washington, D.C., the Catalytic Fund of the international Fast Track Initiative "Education for All" campaign, managed by the World Bank, approved the disbursement 5 of $64 million to Guinea.


Of that money, $24 million will be managed by UNICEF, during a two-year period, to build as many as 1,000 classrooms, train teachers and improve curriculum in Guinea.


Visiting Dixin Elementary last week, UNICEF Goodwill 6 Ambassador and celebrated 7 American actress, Mia Farrow, crouched 8 in the crowded rows of students to listen to them read.




UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow meets with children in a third grade class at the Dixinn Centre 2 primary school in Conakry, Guinea, 6 May 2010




"I sense that I am seeing the best this morning, and the best is not good enough for the kids," said Farrow.  "I understand that this is a time of transition, so money is scarce, but it is tragic 9 when a scarcity 10 of funds is taken out on the children, who are, of course, the future of Guinea."


The school was one of Farrow's first stops on a five-day visit to highlight the education and health-care needs of Guinea's children before next month's presidential poll.

 



n.骚乱,混乱,动乱
  • His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
  • The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。
n.带位员,招待员;vt.引导,护送;vi.做招待,担任引座员
  • The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
  • They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。
a.狭窄的
  • The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤,但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
  • working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形
  • The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
  • The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
n.支付,付款
  • Marine bill of lading showing any disbursement charges marked COLLECT not acceptable. 海运提单上显示的任何费用标明“到付”将不予接受。
  • This makes the disbursement of 51 channel is very convenient. 这就使得51的支付渠道非常方便。
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉
  • His heart is full of goodwill to all men.他心里对所有人都充满着爱心。
  • We paid £10,000 for the shop,and £2000 for its goodwill.我们用一万英镑买下了这家商店,两千英镑买下了它的信誉。
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的
  • He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
  • The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )
  • He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
  • The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身,准备猛扑。
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的
  • The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
  • Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。
n.缺乏,不足,萧条
  • The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
  • The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。
学英语单词
acropora gemmifera
alpha tricalcium phosphate
blot out of one's memory
branglers
bust chops
Camp X-ray
chrome nickel steel
clistocarp
co-pilot
coating property
cobaltous chromate
Colchagua
columnists
come in peace
connection vector
de-creations
desmorrhexis of joint
drastically removing blood stasis and resolving static blood
Eaton,Theophilus
electron stripper
emergency call button
enterogenous tuberculosis
existing preferential tariff
follow - up studies
genus fuscoboletinuss
gravisparsison
grignano
gwynneth
hair-removal
hallowly
hard-wire
haul down
haulage box
henological
high-speed reducing valve
hypernova
IMC International Maritime Committee
in grasses and dicotyledons
inapprehensible
Itzstedt
karyosphere
keyseating slotting machine
Langhko
life-holy
Lindores
loss on clearing warehouse
low option
MDPI
metapodeon
molding machine with top sand frame
nanlingensis
newswriters
nucleinotherapy
old flint
oleuropeine
one-families
opisthocoelus vertebra
optical light filter
oxathiins
oxezepam
P'yǒngsan-ri
parecio
peripheral circulatory failure
polyurethane resin adhesive
ponderosa pines
prosociality
public defender
reservoir temperature
resistive d.c.voltage drop
rhabdosomes
rimule
roches moutonnee
sealynges
sectiones thalamencephali
semiconducting glaze
semimajor axes
sewage disposal works
shore-dwellings
silicate bonded brick
stacked interrupt
Strathcarron
sublunar point
suede cloths
sulfamidobarbituric acid
Tai languages
take a grasp on
tapes up
tensile test curve
Tetranychus autumnalis
thei
theileriosis
toppest
tricolpates
tropical pedocalic soil
turbinata
veil-like
wall sensor
wing-side car
woodstain
wound field motor
yeast tub
zufoli