环球英语 — 577：Peace and Progress
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight, I'm Mike Procter.
Voice 2
And I'm Nick Page. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Many years ago a man received a prize. It was a bottle of wine. It was very special because the wine had been put into the bottle almost one hundred years before! He said that he would drink it when he had something to celebrate, for example, when there was no fighting in any place in the world.
Voice 1
We do not know if that man has drunk that bottle of wine. But now there is a day each year when people all over the world stop fighting. That day is the 21st of September, the International Day of Peace. In another programme, we told of the origins of this 'day without fighting'. We told how it was the dream of a film-maker and actor named Jeremy Gilley. We told how he made a film to spread the idea - to make it known. We told how, in 2001 the countries in the United Nations decided to make the 21st of September a day when all fighting would stop.
Jeremy Gilley started an organisation called 'Peace One Day'. 'Peace One Day' supports the International Day of Peace by encouraging famous people, companies, and people everywhere to do something for peace on this special day.
Voice 2
In our other programme we told how Peace One Day uses sport to bring communities together in peace. In this programme we consider another side to Peace Day. It is not just the fact that people stop fighting that makes the day special. When fighting stops, help can happen. Help can reach people in areas normally cut off by fighting. In this programme we tell two stories from Peace One Day. They both show how a day of peace can help fight disease and poverty.
Voice 1
Afghanistan is a country that has known very little peace in recent years, and yet Peace Day has made a difference, even here.
Voice 2
It started with Peace Day 2007. Over a million children in the south and the east of the country received vaccinations – medicines that would prevent them from getting polio. In the west, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Red Crescent organised a peace walk through the city of Herat. Young people were encouraged to think about ways of making peace work. And a large area of land that had been cleared of bombs was returned to the community.
Voice 1
The following year, the number of security incidents fell by seventy percent on and around Peace Day. And one-and-a-half million more children were vaccinated against polio. So more lives were saved.
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On the 21st of September 2009, it seemed that peace had come to Afghanistan, if only for one day. The United Nations Assistance Mission had organised peace programmes on television and radio during the month before so that people would know about Peace Day. In Kabul happy people waved Peace Day flags as they waited for famous Afghan singers to perform their favourite songs. The United Nations Children's Fund organised games and other activities for children. Government soldiers stopped fighting for the day and the Taliban promised not to stop or harm the fourteen thousand health workers who were travelling round the country. The health workers could go to parts of Afghanistan that are most difficult to reach, such as Helmand, Kandahar, and Uruzgan. Over one million children were vaccinated against polio.
Voice 1
In the Peace Day events of those three years, over four million children received protection from polio.
Voice 2
Our other story comes from West Africa. In some places here, the lack of clean water is a severe problem. There are not enough wells. Wells have often been destroyed during fighting. People can die through drinking unclean water.
In Liberia, an organisation called Pump Aid did a wonderful thing on Peace Day, 2009. Pump Aid sent workers to a village called Johnsonville to help the villagers to build a water pump. It took just one day to make the pump work.
Voice 1
You have probably heard stories about water pumps before. You may ask what links this particular pump to Peace Day. One answer concerns the Pump Aid workers who built the well. They were former child soldiers. They were forced to be fighters when they were children. They had seen war. They had seen death. But by 2009 there was peace - and Pump Aid had trained these young people to build water pumps to help people. One young man said that helping to build the pump helped him and the other child soldiers to return to a normal life. He said that while he was a soldier he had been made to kill and injure people. He hoped that those whom he had hurt would be able to forgive him. The work he did in building the pump is now helping to save lives.
The close link between peace and progress works both ways. When fighting stops, help can happen, progress can happen. But it is also true that when basic human needs are met, peace can grow.
Voice 2
Ten years ago, the United Nations agreed to a set of 'Millennium Goals'. These are eight targets that the international community promised to meet before the year 2015. The Millennium Goals concern issues such as poverty, health, human rights and the environment. This year, world leaders are meeting to improve progress towards the Millennium Goals. The meetings last from the 20th to the 22nd of September. Peace Day is the 21st, right in the middle of these meetings. This is not an accident. It is designed to show how peace and progress go together. The UN Secretary General is Ban Ki-moon. He said:
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"This year, the International Day of Peace is at the same time as our meetings working towards the eight Millennium Development Goals. Achieving the goals is very necessary for ending armed conflict and building lasting peace."
Voice 1
So, world leaders are meeting on this International Day of Peace. Organizations like Peace One Day are trying extra hard on this special day. But Peace One Day wants every one of us to do something for peace today. It says:
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"Make your own personal promise to do something for Peace Day. It could be bringing your family together, saying sorry or holding an event. Be as creative as you can."
