2009年9月 中級口譯筆試部分 閱讀

Section 2 passage ３

這篇文章于2008年4月18日刊登于<The Times>上, 原題為 “Despair of the runaway children”, 是一篇事關民生的佳作,其中講到了許多有關于孩子離家出走的問問題。由于兒童問題一直是社會的熱點，根據新東方的多年教學經驗，考生應該對這類問題比較熟悉，難度相對也就適中。

文章的第一段講述了現在的問題的嚴重性，離家出走的孩子人數之多，而我們能幫助的人數之少，由此形成鮮明對比，在后面的第11題中就是簡單的詞匯題，只要結合上下文，sanctuary的意思顯而易見。

文章的第二段到第四段都是有關用于社會團體和社工是如何通力合作，想盡辦法為出走的兒童群策群力創造拯救條件，在第12，13，14題中也是針對救助措施進行發問。文章的第五和第六段是有關于孩子們出走的原因和社工們讓兒童回歸家庭得到照顧的心愿，而第15題就是針對社工心聲的表述。

我們發現，文章整體難度不高，話題熟悉，題目也大多是Fact Questions， 所以考生應該是應對自如，穩操勝券的。

1 It's estimated that every year 100,000 children aged 16 and under run away from home. The London Refuge, an unremarkable house on an unremarkable street, is the only place in Britain that will give them a bed. Last year it gave sanctuary to 238 children, of whom the youngest was 11. What happened to the other 99,762? Nobody knows, although it's a fair bet that some of them ended up on the streets, that some fell into inappropriate and dangerous company, that some didn't survive. “The mere fact that they're running away puts them at risk,” says Lorna Simpson, the refuge's deputy manager. “On the streets they'll mix with other young people. They're so naive; they don't understand that people who are nice to them will want payback. Our job is to make them safe.”

2 Simpson, a former social worker, is a calm woman of great warmth. The refuge has six beds and has been open since 1993, often with the threat of closure hanging over it. The problem has nothing to do with the quality of its service – Ofsted ranks it as outstanding - and everything to do with funding. A week's placement costs ?2,278 and three successive governments have argued that the annual running costs of ?720,000 should be locally funded. But because it is used by children from many parts of London, and beyond, local authorities are reluctant to contribute.

3 The Government has now agreed to work on a strategy to support runaway children in England and Wales, which is rich after its withdrawal of funding from the refuge in December. Since then the NSPCC(英國)全國防止虐待兒童學會, which runs the refuge in conjunction with St Christopher's Fellowship, has financed it through a donation from an individual, but that money will last only until late next year. “Without this facility there's nothing; children who run away are on the street,” says Nasima Patel, the assistant director of the NSPCC. “One of the strengths of the refuge is that children who have left home can ring up directly and will get a bed and supportive staff without having to go through a process of assessment. That's hard to re-create in statutory法定arrangements and if you're on the run you need somewhere to go and someone to talk to. We're convinced that direct access will always be needed.”

4 The refuge accommodates six children plus staff. Many of the admissions are at night and children can stay up to 21 days in three months, although most stay for three to five days. They find it through social services, through Child Line (although the number is given only to children who have already left home) and through word of mouth; only when they arrive do staff discover their circumstances. Simpson recalls the injured young boy who ran four miles without shoes after his dad had beaten him.

5 “They're running away from everything you can think of,” she says. “Arguments with step-parents, sexual abuse, alcoholic parents, being left to bring up their younger siblings, neglected children who have been failed by social services, girls who have been trafficked. We get doctors' and lawyers' children who run away because they want more pocket money, or want to stay out later than their parents allow. They've been given everything, they get to 15 and no one thinks to pull the reins in. By that time it's too late; they rebel.”

6 Most of the children are from families known to social services, and for them the refuge's ordered regimen生活規則is a welcome contrast to the chaos they know. Staff listens without judging and without encouraging dependency, trying to establish why the children have run away. The aim is to get them home or into the care of social services and, after discharge from the refuge, a family support worker is available.