时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(三月)


英语课
By Brent Hurd
Washington
27 March 2007
 
watch Rural Community Library  


The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has granted one million dollars to the group "Rural Education and Development" or “READ,” a non-government organization that establishes village libraries in rural areas around the world that are managed and funded by local communities. For producer Brent Hurd, VOA's Jim Bertel reports these library community centers often provide a central location for educational and economic development.






Rural Communtiy Libraries, child reading


Nepalese child reading materials provided by READ



High in the Himalayan Mountains, scores of small community libraries are cropping up in some of the most remote villages in Nepal. 


However, these libraries provide more than just books; they also play a vital role in their communities.  Basudev Dhungana is chairman of the Jhuwani Community Library, located in South central Nepal.


"This is not just an educational organization; it is also a center of development activities,” he says. “The library helps us clarify our vision and implement 1 programs efficiently 2.  It is the demands of the people that direct the kind of community development we implement."


More than 30 libraries like the one in Jhuwani provide the space and resources for social services including health awareness 3 seminars, savings 4 and credit programs, women’s group meetings and a public area for discussions of village projects.


In the early 1990s, Rural Education and Development, or READ, began to build such libraries with what the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation calls a pioneering approach to international aid.  Toni Neubauer is the chairperson of READ. 


"READ is a rural community empowerment program that uses libraries as a nexus 5 for educational development through books and literacy training, for economic development, because each READ library has a sustaining project that supports not only the library but generates extra community funds, and as a social development program."


Host communities are involved in all stages of planning and implementing 6 the libraries and they contribute at least 20 percent of the start-up costs.  Then READ helps launch an income-generating enterprise in each community to help pay for the libraries. 


Located in North Central Nepal's mountain district of Mustang, the library of Tukuche village is supported by a local sawmill that READ built. 


Profits from the mill have enabled villagers, not only to sustain and improve the library, but also to build a childcare center and offer scholarships to poor children. Community businesses in other villages include an ambulance service, a printing press and storefront rentals 7.


Dina Bangdel, a READ board member, says these libraries reach people who have the least opportunity for education. “READ brings in a new idea, a new culture and that is the culture of reading, especially in a country like Nepal where education is still not in the mainstream,” she says. “[The] illiteracy 8 rate is very high.”


The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded READ one million dollars to expand the community library to rural areas of other countries including: India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bhutan, Nicaragua, Ecuador and other locations.




n.(pl.)工具,器具;vt.实行,实施,执行
  • Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划,除非你能完成这项计划。
  • The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。
adv.高效率地,有能力地
  • The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
  • Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智
  • There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
  • Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。
n.存款,储蓄
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
n.联系;关系
  • Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
  • Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面,消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。
v.实现( implement的现在分词 );执行;贯彻;使生效
  • -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
  • He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句
n.租费,租金额( rental的名词复数 )
  • In some large hotels, the income derived from this source actually exceeds income from room rentals. 有些大旅馆中,这方面的盈利实际上要超过出租客房的盈利。 来自辞典例句
  • Clerk: Well, Canadian Gifts is on the lower level. It's across from Prime Time Video Rentals. 噢,礼品店在楼下,在黄金时刻录像出租屋的对面。 来自口语例句
n.文盲
  • It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转,这是令人鼓舞的。
  • We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。
学英语单词
abstruseness
accomodation bulkhead
aged egg
amph-
andre malrauxes
anteromedian seta
assch-
audio oscillator
audit capability
bailbond
bass-bar
bilge area
Borel covering theorem
building area quota
CF II
chest leads
circumscribed cylinder
closure system
cobbard
crewel-works
criduchat syndrome
cuckoo-flower
deckboard
depot and warehouse
disease spread
domineering
effect a change
elasto-plastic theory
electro arc depositing
electrochemical corrosion test
electronic energy migration
family Castoridae
feature
flat plate shaped grain
formulate criteria
grit reservoir
Hokurabin
homocholane
inactivated vaccine
income tax accounting
incremental loading
input parameter
ironside
kerwin
krugs
Mansuur
manual-reset relay
mechanical paper tape reader
mesophils
mountain belt
nidls
ning-hsia
oak chestnut
one-nature
one-phase relay
oriental beetles
orium
output low current
overwhelming winner
Palos Heights
peaces out
person-related activities
philistia
pillemers
pinault
polish ... up
portable ph meter
pre-menarcheal
premixings
punniness
radar compartment
residual percentage crimp
ristic
robespierres
scud-cs
seleniscope
simple stack
spot indicator
STAG (steam and gas turbine)
stellite stainless steel
stercus
sterile filling
symbolize
take the offer
those've
to wipe up the ground with someone
toll dialing trunk
total image
typical day
under-training
underlying cause of death
undrinks
union link
unoften
unpaid draft
upen
upward stabilization
USUHS
webvertising
xanthochilus
YERSINIOSES
yttrium aeschynite