VOA慢速英语:In Africa, New Technologies Help Teach Women to Read

More and more Africans are using text messages, e-mail and social media to communicate. In Senegal, educators are using new technologies to teach women to read. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, launched the program in Senegal two years ago. But UNESCO officials are now expanding it to as many as six other African countries.
越来越多非洲人开始使用短信、电子邮件和社交媒体进行沟通。在塞内加尔，教育工作者开始利用新科技教女性阅读。联合国教科文组织两年前在塞内加尔推出了这一课程。不过，联合国教科文组织官员现在开始将它扩大到非洲其它六个国家。

Mariama Daffe sits in front of a television at her home in a community near Senegal's capital Dakar. She is learning to write and work with numbers. Ms. Daffe started this home-study program a year ago. She was 39 years old at the time.
Mariama Daffe坐在家里的电视机前。她家位于塞内加尔首都达喀尔附近的一个社区。她正在学习写和算术。达菲女士于一年前开始就读这个家庭学习课程。当时她39岁。

The Ministry of Education joined with UNESCO to create these training modules for literacy -- reading and writing. The program appears daily on state television. Women taking part say these lessons have made them more independent.
塞内加尔教育部联同联合国教科文组织创建了这个读写培训模块。该课程每天在国家电视台播出。参加该课程的妇女称，这些课程让她们更加独立。

Mariama Daffe says, "These days I have my mobile telephone, and I can read messages and I can send messages, too."
Mariama Daffe称，“这些天我有了手机，我会看短信，也会发短信。”

Ms. Daffe finishes her lesson and starts preparing dinner for her husband and three children. She says the TV programs are convenient. She studies three modules a week, yet she has a full-time job and travels two hours by bus every day.
Daffe女士上完课后开始准备她丈夫和三个孩子的晚餐。她说，电视课程节目非常方便。她每周学习三个模块。然而她有一份全职工作，每天要坐两小时公交。

At-home study programs are easy to operate and not costly. That makes them especially useful for a place like Senegal, which has limited money to teach literacy.
在家学习课程操作简单，成本不高。这对塞内加尔这种国家尤其有效，塞内加尔教人们读写的资金有限。

But some women prefer the classroom experience.
但有些女性喜欢课堂体验。

Ten minutes down the road from Mariama Daffe's home, women write on a chalkboard at the local elementary school. Thirty-nine-year-old Astou Keita says it is never too late to learn.
从Mariama Daffe家顺着马路走十分钟，妇女们在当地小学的黑板上写字。39岁的Astou Keita表示，活到老学到老。

She says, "My kids laugh at me. They think it is funny that I started learning at this age."
她说，“我的孩子笑话我。他们认为我这个年级才开始学习很搞笑。”

Mamadou Diallo is a teacher. He uses a laptop computer and a projector to prepare an interactive display wall. The students use the wall while a class in mathematics is taught.
Mamadou Diallo是一位教师。他使用笔记本电脑和投影仪准备了一面互动展示墙。学生们在上数学课时要用到这面墙。

Mr. Diallo says the first time the women saw the interactive display wall, they became very interested. They could not wait to try it. He told them, "First, we need to work on the chalkboard before we can start the math."
Diallo先生称，妇女们第一次看到这面互动展示墙时大为感兴趣，她们迫不及待想要尝试。他告诉她们，“我们在开始上数学课前,首先来做黑板上的题。”

He asks a student to read a word problem and do the work with numbers.
他叫了一名学生读一道应用题然后计算。

She then answers the mathematical problem on the wall.
然后她回答了墙上的数学题。