VOA标准英语2008年-CAR Health Workers Blame Bad Parenting, High Pr
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2008年(八月)
Health workers in the Central African Republic are blaming poor family planning as well as high prices for worsening malnutrition 1 in northern parts of the country. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from a feeding center in the small northern town of Bossangoa in this the third part of a series on neglect and challenges in the mostly lawless Central African Republic.
Women prepare food in feeding center's outside courtyard
The market in Bossangoa is full of vegetables, meat, water and fruit, but just a few steps away, free milk distribution is taking place at an overfilled center for malnourished children.
Each child gets a different amount of milk depending on how severe his or her status is.
The center was built for 16 beds, but now there are more than 60 children with their mothers here, forcing most to sleep on mattresses 2 outside.
The surrounding area has lush land and a small population, but at the malnutrition center, it is a cacophony 3 of cries, which is getting worse, according to Action Against Hunger aid worker James Batende.
"It is very hard now because when we started the program in January and February, there were few beneficiaries in the program here and now they have been increasing. They increase every day," he said.
A child is weighed before starting the program
At the entrance of the center, mothers sit on a wooden bench holding their children with distended 4 bellies 5 and tiny wrists and ankles, waiting for them to be measured and weighed to see whether they qualify for the program.
One mother, Leontide, explains to an aid worker she is bringing her fifth child to the center. She is 38, and she says she can only feed her children vegetables from her small plot of land.
Leontide says with higher food prices she cannot afford anything in the market anymore. She says her husband is a retired 6 schoolteacher who left two years ago to go to the capital Bangui to sort out his retirement 7 papers so he could get a pension, but she says he has yet to return.
A local aid worker, Thierry Aurel Issa, tries to talk to a girl, Mouna, six years old, who has just arrived at the center, her eyes glazed 8, flies buzzing around her face, her bones piercing through her angular frame.
Milk is distributed in different quantities
The aid worker explains that since her case seems very serious, she will be given a glass of sugary water and rushed to have a medical consultation 9.
The director at the center, Nicole Kotigbia, says more severe cases are coming in as it is the harvesting season, and she says parents often abandon their children at home while they work in the fields.
She says adults often treat their children like adults, thinking they can survive on very little during hard times, but that is not the case.
She says high prices in markets mean poorer families just save enough money to buy soap and salt but cannot afford anything else.
She also blames bad family planning. She says many mothers come to the center pregnant with another child, even though they cannot feed the children they already have. She says many times they do not know any better. She says they do not know how to count between their menstrual cycles and forget which days they are more susceptible 10 to getting pregnant.
Kotigbia says at a low economic level it is very dangerous to have a child less than two years after the previous one.
Christina is happy her daughter Antoinette is pretty again
Some of the mothers also come from outlying areas where there are road bandits who attack pedestrians 11 and kidnap them, making many people fearful to walk to their fields, compounding an already bad situation.
But there are success stories, here, or at least, stories of hope. A small girl, her cheeks filled up again, uses an empty package of malaria 12 tablets as a toy.
Twenty-year-old widow and mother of two, Christina, says after 15 days at the center her three-year-old daughter, Antoinette, is beautiful again.
As other women start preparing food with donated supplies, in the center's courtyard, Christina adds she is ready to start a new life. She says she knows it will be very difficult, given that life in the Central African Republic is a daily battle for survival, but she says, she will try her best to make sure her daughter is never malnourished again.
- In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
- It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。
- The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
- The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。
- All around was bubbling a cacophony of voices.周围人声嘈杂。
- The drivers behind him honked,and the cacophony grew louder.后面的司机还在按喇叭,且那刺耳的声音越来越大。
- starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童
- The balloon was distended. 气球已膨胀。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- They crawled along on their bellies. 他们匍匐前进。
- starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童
- The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
- Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
- She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
- I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。
- eyes glazed with boredom 厌倦无神的眼睛
- His eyes glazed over at the sight of her. 看到她时,他的目光就变得呆滞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
- The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。
- Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
- We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。
- Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》