VOA慢速英语2013 肯尼亚民众为新矿产的发现而担忧

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AS IT IS 2013-08-11 Kenyan Communities Worry About New Mineral Finds 肯尼亚民众为新矿产的发现而担忧

Hi again. Welcome back to As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

又见面啦，欢迎收听新闻杂志节目。我是Jean Kelly。

Today, we are talking about women’s soccer. One player in Lebanon has a surprising fan.

今天，我们谈论的是女子足球，一个球员在黎巴嫩有一个令人惊讶的粉丝。

“I was really skilled and he was like ‘give her special training session. I want her to get better and better.’”

“我真的很熟练，他喜欢说“给她特殊的训练。我希望她能做的更好。”

But first, we are discussing a topic that we have visited before on this program: improving the economy across Africa. Kenya might have good news on that subject. Oil and rare earth minerals were recently discovered there. Those resources could help improve East Africa’s largest economy. 

但首先，我们讨论一个话题，在非洲改善经济。肯尼亚可能会在这个问题上有好消息。油和稀土矿物最近被发现。这些资源可以帮助改善东非最大的经济体。

But VOA’s Mohammed Yusuf also found that some citizens in Kenya worry that new building projects will hurt local communities. Christopher Cruise has his report. 

但是，美国之音的Mohammed Yusuf还发现，在肯尼亚的一些市民担心，新的建设项目将损害当地社区。Christopher游船有他的报告。

Mining companies in Kenya recently announced they have discovered new mineral deposits near the coast. The companies have also reported the possibility of large amounts of oil in the northern part of the country.

肯尼亚矿业公司最近宣布，他们已经在海岸的附近发现了新的矿藏。该公司还报告在该国的北部有大量石油的可能性。

Mining companies say some of these finds could be worth billions of dollars. And, local communities are hoping to gain from some of those profits.  

矿业公司说，这些发现可能价值数十亿美元。并且希望当地能从这里面获得利益。

But the government has warned companies about making such announcements before they are sure about the finds.

 

Najib Balala is Kenya’s Secretary for Mining. He spoke¹ to reporters in Nairobi this week. He said the government will ask mining companies for details about their findings before announcing them to the public.

“Any public announcement by a mining company, we as a government need to have that notification 21 days before the announcement so we can know what is happening (and) we can go and testify (whether) those finds are genuine or people are playing with stock exchanges overseas to raise funds.”

There may be another problem, too. If the discoveries are real, big mining projects might harm the communities where the resources are found.

For example, rare minerals were recently found in an area called Mirima Hills, near Kenya’s coast.

The mining company Cortec reported a deposit of more than 600 million kilograms of niobium. Niobium is used to make steel and other valuable substances.  The company says the deposit could be worth 50 billion dollars.

But the discovery has already started a disagreement among the mining company, the government, and the community.

Leaders of the Mijikenda ethnic² groups, which live along Kenya’s coast, say the Mirima Hills area is their place of worship. They say they hold religious ceremonies there.

Joseph Mwarandu is the secretary general of Kaya elders.  He says they cannot permit mining to take place in their holy forests.

“We are opposed to the mining of minerals from Mirima Kaya forest or any other forest in the Mijikenda Kaya as a whole.  So our stand is that we appeal to the authorities to be able to save our heritage, because when this forest goes, then we will have nothing to lay our hands on as far as the heritage is concerned.”

The area is important not only to the Kaya elders. It has also been named a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.

Secretary Balala is expected to present a bill in the next government cabinet meeting. The bill will likely suggest that the central government take 70 percent of any mining profits. The local government would get 25 percent. And communities where the mining is happening would get five percent.

But Kaya leader Mwarandu says no amount of money will make them open the forests for mineral exploration.

“Heritage is something that is valueless.  You know, we cannot count heritage in terms of money.”

The Kenyan government is also hoping that mining industry reforms will help make the mining industry tell more about what they do. Currently, the industry does a lot of its business in secret.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

Women's Soccer Is on the Rise in Africa and the Middle East

Women’s soccer is becoming more popular around the world. But in most places, women still have less training and financial support than male players.

A program held every summer in Berlin aims to improve opportunities for women. It is called Discover Football. It brings soccer clubs from Africa and the Middle East to Germany for a week of games and discussions.

Soccer player Aya El Ammour, from Lebanon, won a scholarship to Discover Football. She has played the game for nine years. Who is one of her biggest supporters? She says it is her father.

“He always encouraged me. He actually paid a professional coach in Lebanon. I was really skilled and he was like ‘give her special training sessions. I want her to get better and better.'”

But when Aya grew older, her father had second thoughts.

"He was like 'you've had enough of football, and now you have to look forward to your education. You have to get married.'"

But Aya did not stop. Eventually her father gave in.

Today, Aya El Ammouri is one of her country’s top women players.

She and her teammates attended the Discover Football program this year. It brings together about 100 women every summer. The women play soccer and talk about how to improve football and women’s rights. It is also an opportunity for the next generation of leaders to meet each other.

Nadia Assaf is one of the founders³ of another soccer organization, called Girls Football Academy. It is Lebanon’s first women’s soccer school. She says before she started the school five years ago, women’s soccer was not taken seriously in Lebanon.

"It's like a side thing, just to say that they have a women's quote-unquote 'team.' Actually, they never took us seriously. Women were never the priority. We never really got equipment. We never got fields, proper coaches, etc. etc."

Nadia says she and her co-founder decided⁴ to start a school just for female soccer players. That way, young women could really have the resources they deserved.

And that’s As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.