少女妈妈学习成为合格母亲的课程

    This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
    这是美国之音慢速英语教育报告。
     
    Parents are a child's first teachers. But some parents never learned from good examples. In New York City, a nonprofit agency called Covenant House tries to help homeless young mothers become good parents.
    父母是孩子的第一任老师,但有些父母从未学到好榜样。在纽约市,一个名为圣约家园(Covenant House)的非盈利性机构试图帮助无家可归的年轻母亲成为好父母。

    The twelve or so teenagers who live at the shelter attend parenting classes four days a week. The class is called Mommy and Me.
    这12位居住在避难所的少女(妈妈)参加了每周4天的亲子班,这个课程被称为“妈妈和我”。

    Teacher Delores Clemens is a mother of five and a grandmother. She teaches basic skills, like how to give a baby a bath and how to dress a baby depending on the season.
    教师德洛利斯·克莱门斯是五个孩子的母亲,她也是一位祖母。她教大家一些基本技能,例如如何给婴儿洗澡,如何根据季节不同为婴儿穿衣。

    She remembers one student who learned from her mother not to pick up a crying baby. The mother said that would only make the child needy and overly demanding.
    她记得一个学生从母亲那学到不要抱起正在哭的孩子。那位母亲说,那样做只会让孩子变得依赖性强,要求多。

    DELORES CLEMENS: "I said 'That's not true. You have to hold your baby! He is crying for a reason. If you never pick him up, he's going to keep crying. Pick your baby up. Cuddle your baby. Hug him! And she started to doing that. They just want a little cuddling and a little love. And it works! [Laughs]"
    德洛利斯·克莱门斯:“我说:'这是不正确的,你必须抱起你的孩子!他哭是有原因的。如果你不抱起他,他会一直哭。抱起您的宝宝,搂着你的宝宝,拥抱他!然后她开始这样做。宝宝们只是想要一个拥抱和一点关爱。这果然有效![笑]“

    Delores Clemens says her students also learn how to be good mothers by letting themselves be mothered.
    德洛利斯·克莱门斯说,她的学生还通过被照料学习如何做一个好母亲。

    DELORES CLEMENS: "I'm doing something for them that never has been done for them before."
    德洛利斯·克莱门斯:“我为他们做一些他们以前从来没有被做过的事情。”

    Around three hundred fifty teenage mothers graduate from Covenant House's Mommy and Me class every year.
    每年大约350名十几岁的妈妈从圣约家园的“妈妈和我”课程毕业。

    In class on this day, with her baby son, is Natasha. She lived on the streets. She is glad not only for the warmth and shelter of Covenant House. As she told reporter Adam Phillips, she is also glad for the help they offer in seeking a more secure life.
    在今天的课程中,带着她的宝宝一起的是娜塔莎。她住过大街。她告诉记者亚当·菲利普斯,她不仅为圣约家园的温暖和庇护感到高兴,她还为这里为追求更安定的生活而提供的帮助而感到高兴。

    NATASHA: "They help you do your resume, your cover letter and everything you need for a job interview, and they help you find a job whatever you're interested in."。
    娜塔莎:“他们帮你做简历,求职信和一切参加面试需要的东西,他们帮你找到任何你感兴趣的工作。”

    REPORTER: "Did you go to high school?"
    记者:“你上过高中吗?”

    NATASHA: "Yes."
    娜塔莎:“是的。”

    REPORTER: "Did you graduate?"
    记者:“你有没有毕业?”

    NATASHA: "No, I didn't. I was in my last year and then, I got pregnant and I got lazy."
    娜塔莎:“不,我没有(毕业)。我读到高中最后一年,然后我怀孕了也变懒散了。”

    REPORTER: "You look like you are willing to accept responsibility for that."
    记者:“你看起来像是愿意接受这种责任。”

    NATASHA: "Yes, I am, and I want to finish."
    娜塔莎:“是的,我愿意,我要完成这种责任。”

    Some teenage mothers wish they themselves could be children again. Eighteen-year-old Placida knows that feeling. She says being a mom is hard.
    一些十几岁的妈妈希望自己能再次成为孩子。 18岁的普拉西达了解这种感觉。她说,作为一个母亲是非常辛苦的。

    PLACIDA: "Because you have to get up every two hours in the middle of the night, and you can't go out and say 'I am going to buy this for myself.' No. I have to buy Pampers, clothes and food. So now it's not only one, Now it's two. So it's very hard."
    普拉西达:“因为你半夜每隔两小时要起床一次,你不能出去,说:“我要为自己买这个。”不,我必须买帮宝适(尿布),衣服和食物。现在你不是一个人,现在是两个人。所以这很艰难。“

    The World Health Organization says the United States has forty-one births for every one thousand girls age fifteen to nineteen. That is higher than other developed countries, as well as some developing ones. By comparison, northern neighbor Canada has fourteen births and southern neighbor Mexico has eighty-two.
    世界卫生组织称,美国每一千名15到19岁的女孩,就有41位生过孩子。这比其他发达国家都要高,和一些发展中国家差不多。相比之下,每一千名女孩分娩的人数,北方邻国加拿大是14位,南方邻国墨西哥是82位。