Last night I hosted the meeting of a group I belong to. The group is called AAUW2, or The American Association of University Women2. To be a member of the organization, a woman must be a graduate of an accredited3 college or university; the main goal of the organization is to promote4 lifelong learning and interest in issues5 important to women. In addition, our local group sponsors6 the annual UNICEF collection7 for needy children in different areas of the world. Each year I am asked to write an article for our local paper, encouraging our local citizens to contribute to the annual drive8. I will be submitting9 the following article to our newspaper and it will be accompanied10 by a group of local school children putting together the boxes11 that they will be carrying when they collect door to door12.
The tradition of “Trick or Treat for UNICEF began in 1950 in the United States when Philadelphia13 school children first went door to door at Halloween collecting money in decorated milk cartons to help the world’s children. They raised a grand total14 of $17, kicking off15 a campaign16 that has since brought in more than $188 million to provide medicine, better nutrition, cleaner water, emergency relief17 and other support for children in more than 160 countries.
Millions of children now participate each year in Halloween-related18 fund-raising campaigns in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Hong Kong. This has included the public school children of Pella for well over fifty years. When they go door to door after school on October 25-27 this year, the children and the members of the Pella Branch of the American Association of University Women, the sponsoring agent19 for this event, hope that townspeople will remember how excited they felt when collecting for UNICEF and will be generous with their pennies and dollar bills20. The traditional one day of collecting has been extended to three days in order that children will have more opportunity to find people at home.
For most children in the USA, “Trick or Treat for UNICEF” provides them with their first experience of volunteerism21. They learn the importance of the money they collect. Seven cents can buy crayons for a class; $1 can immunize22 a child against polio23; $10 can buy biscuits24 for a month for three children; and $150 can provide clean water for a whole village. UNICEF workers tell a true story about a little girl in a drought-stricken25 area of Ethiopia26 where there was a terrible famine27 recently. When asked by a UNICEF worker what she would like to be when she grew up, the little girl answered, “Alive28.” With the aid of food and clean water provided by UNICEF funds, she’ll have a much better chance of that desire coming true.
As usual, the Pella school children will be carrying the little orange boxes, so when you open your door and see one, think of the child in some impoverished29 or drought-stricken land who might know a trick or two but has never enjoyed a treat30.
Notes:
1. UNICEF stands for United Nations International Children’s Foundation (联合国儿童基金会), an organization affiliated with the United Nations Organization, specifically given the responsibility for raising funds to support needy children in underdeveloped countries.
2. AAUW stands for The American Association of University Women (美国妇女大学毕业生联合会), an organization whose members are graduates of colleges or universities that meet certain requirements. Originally the membership of the organization was restricted to women because at that time it was difficult for women to compete in education, which was male-dominated. Now its membership includes males, even though the word “Women” still appears in the name of the organization because many of the issues of interest to the members of the organization are typically those that women find of interest, such as the needs of children world-wide, education, women’s rights etc.
3. accredited (公认信得过的): officially recognized or approved; when applied to educational institutions, this means that the institution maintains standards that qualify the graduates for admission to higher or more specialized institutions or to professional organizations.
4. promote something: help or encourage something to happen (有助于，促使).
5. issues: problems
6. sponsor: 负责
7. collection (募捐): gathering of money for a specific purpose; in this case in support of needy children in the world.
8. annual drive: a yearly event or activity relating to collection of money in support of a designated activity, i.e. support of needy children of the world (每年为全世界贫困儿童的募捐活动).
9. submit (递交): formally send a proposal, report, request, etc. to someone.
10. be accompanied by…: exist or occur in association with something else (同时还有……).
11. boxes (箱): containers, small or large, often made of colored paper and folded to form a rectangular shaped box with an open slot into which money may be deposited. Collection boxes often have photographs and prominent names of the fund raising organization which clearly identifies the purpose for which money is being collected.
12. door to door: 挨家挨户
13. Philadelphia：费城，在美国的宾西法尼亚州
14. a grand total: the final amount 总共
15. kicking off: starting a process or procedure, in this case, a fund raising program by UNICEF.
16. campaigns (运动): a connected series of events or activities designed to bring about a desired result, in this case the collection of money for UNICEF.
17. emergency relief (紧急救援): timely support to individuals or groups who have suffered a catastrophic event such as a famine, flood, tsunami, earthquake etc.
18. Halloween (万圣节)-related: associated with the holiday celebrated on October 31st. It’s a day when children dress up in costumes and masks and go from house to house hoping to receive candy or other treats from those living there. Traditionally they have said, “Trick or treat,” meaning “Give us a treat or we might play a trick on you.”
19 sponsoring agent: a person or organization that pays for or plans and carries out a plan or activity. As the sponsoring agent for the UNICEF collection, AAUW pays for the boxes, organizes the children who make the collections, and then sends the money to UNICEF.
20. generous with their pennies and dollar bills: 慷慨解囊
21. volunteerism: the act or practice of doing volunteer work in community service (自愿在社区做的服务工作).
22. immunize: make a person highly resistant to a disease (使人对某疾病具有免疫功能).
23. polio (小儿麻痹症): the common way of referring to the disease known as poliomyelitis, a severe infectious viral disease characterized by fever, muscular paralysis, and often the loss of the use of skeletal muscles.
24. biscuits：饼干
25.drought-stricken (旱情严重的): lacking rain for a long time, resulting in widespread crop damage and general lack of water.
26. Ethiopia: an ancient nation in northeast Africa bordering on the Red Sea (埃塞俄比亚).
27. famine: an extreme and widespread scarcity of food (饥荒).
28. “Alive”: the condition of not being dead (活着). This unexpected answer stresses the harshness of the little girl’s life. Usually when children are asked what they want to be when they grow up they name a profession such as becoming a teacher, doctor, fireman etc. In the case of this little girl, she hopes above all that famine or disease will not kill her before she has the chance to grow up.
29. impoverished: extremely poor (极度贫困)
30. who might know a trick or two but has never enjoyed a treat: 该小孩也许知道一、二个捉弄人的把戏，但从未有人给过他任何东西。