OneDEVELOPMENT REPORT- UN Study Says Gains Would Outweigh Cost to End Child LaborBy Jill MossThis is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development Report.The International Labor Organization says child labor limits economic development. It says educating children instead of forcing them to work would create huge gains for developing countries. The International Labor Organization is part of the United Nations. The agency proposes that child labor be substituted with education by two-thousand-twenty.A three-year study by the agency compared the costs against the gains from ending child labor. Researchers found that paying for education in developing nations could bring seven times the return on investment.The researchers also note the other gains that would come from removing the worst forms of child labor. Ending slavery and the sale of children for sex would reduce injuries and sickness.The International Labor Organization estimates that about two-hundred-fifty-million children are involved in child labor. Of these, it says one out of every eight may be working with dangerous chemicals, breathing poisons or selling sex.The cost to replace child labor with education is estimated at seven-hundred-sixty-thousand-million dollars. But the U-N agency says the project should be seen as a long-term investment. It says the costs would be higher than returns mostly during the first fifteen years. For example, poor families would have to live at first without the wages earned by their children.To help balance this problem, the labor agency proposes that governments provide financial help to poor families with school-age children. Several nations including Brazil and Mexico already have support programs in place. The study says governments would also need to invest in new schools, books, equipment, and teacher training.Juan Somavia is the director general of the International Labor Organization. He says the proposal is not only a good social policy, but also a wise economic plan. He says each additional year of education for an older child adds eleven percent per year to future earnings.The labor agency says all parts of the world would gain by ending child labor. The study estimates that countries in North Africa and the Middle East would gain more than eight dollars for every one dollar invested. Asian countries would gain more than seven dollars for every dollar invested. And Latin American countries would gain over five dollars.This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Robert Cohen.TwoDEVELOPMENT REPORT - Poor Nutrition in the Developing WorldBy Jill MossI'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Development Report.A new World Bank report warns that children who do not get enough good food in the first two years of life suffer lasting damage. They may be underdeveloped or under weight. They may suffer from poor health or limited intelligence. In addition, poorly nourished children are more likely to drop out of school and earn less money as adultsThe report is called "Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development." It notes that too little food is not the only cause of poor nutrition. Many children who live in homes with plenty of food suffer for other reasons. For example, the study says that mothers often fail to give their newly born babies their first breast milk. This milk-like substance is called colostrum. It is full of nutrients that improve a baby's ability to fight infections and disease.Severely malnourished children in Niger (WFP photo) The study also links malnutrition to economic growth in poor countries. A lack of nutrition in early childhood can cost developing nations up to three percent of their yearly earnings. Many of these same countries have economies that are growing at a rate of two to three percent yearly. The study suggests that poor countries could possibly double their economic growth if they improved nutrition.Africa and South Asia are affected the most by poor nutrition. The study says about half of all children in India do not get enough good food. The World Bank study also notes that rates of malnutrition in South Asia are almost double those in central and southern Africa. Other parts of the world are also severely affected, including Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guatemala and Peru.The study recommends that developing countries change their policies to deal with malnutrition. Instead of directly providing food, the study suggests educational programs in health and nutrition for mothers with young babies. It also recommends cleaner living conditions and improvements in health care.World Bank nutrition specialist Meera Shekar was the lead writer for the report. She said theperiod of life between pregnancy and two years is extremely important. Governments with limited resources should take direct action to improve nutrition for children during this period.This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Our reports are online at I'm Steve Ember.ThreeAGRICULTURE REPORT- Raising Chickens——By Gary GarriottThis is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.Raising chickens or other birds for their eggs and meat is a popular family and business activity almost everywhere in the world. The birds eat grain, seeds and grasses. They also eat small pieces of food that people throw away. Many of these materials would be wasted if the birds did not eat them. Chicken eggs and meat contain high quality protein and other substances important in the human diet.For many centuries, chickens were allowed to run free to find food for themselves. Then people used fences to keep small groups of birds from running away. After the chickens were kept inside a fence, people had to provide food for them.Early in the last century, raising flocks of thousands of birds became a successful business for many people. But the size of these flocks caused some serious problems, including pollution caused by chicken waste.Disease is one of the biggest problems in large flocks. The birds are kept close together all the time. So if one bird becomes sick, the sickness spreads. All the chickens in a flock can die from a serious disease. Avian flu, for example, can in some cases also spread to humans.Diseases that affect chickens are different in different areas of the world. One current example in Asia is an outbreak of avian flu in South Korea. Troops have been helping to kill and bury chickens and ducks that became infected at farms in North Chungcheong Province.To help prevent disease, experts advise these steps: Feed the birds a balanced diet. This will help them resist infections. Do not add adult birds to your flocks. If you must add adult birds, keep them separate from the flock for five to fifteen days to make sure they are healthy.Cover the floor of the buildings where the chickens are kept with material like straw, rice husks or sawdust. Change this material often.After you sell the chickens, completely empty the building where they were kept. Clean and wash the building. Then leave it empty for four weeks before putting in new chickens.Diseases affecting birds are not simple to understand and treat, so expert medical advice is important. You can get more information about caring for chickens and other birds fromV olunteers in Technical Assistance. VITA is on the Internet at v-i-t-a dot o-r-g.This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Gary Garriott. This is Steve EmberFourECONOMICS REPORT - Holiday ShoppingThis is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics Report.About two-thirds of the economic activity in the United States is created by people who spend money -- consumers. And much of that activity is created this time of year, as consumers buy gifts for Christmas and other holidays. Government economists say big department stores make about fourteen percent of their sales in the month of December. That may not seem like a lot. But December sales are almost twice the monthly average for the rest of the year.The holiday shopping season traditionally starts the day after Thanksgiving. It is called Black Friday. Storekeepers used to record profits in black ink and losses in red ink. So being "in the black" on the Friday after Thanksgiving means a good thing, a return to profit.But it also means that people face crowded stores, which is the other idea of a "Black Friday,"a day they do not like. It used to be the busiest shopping day of the year. In recent years the busiest day has been the Saturday before Christmas.People who do not like crowded stores have another choice. Americans are buying more on the Internet. The Census Bureau says they bought almost fourteen-thousand-million dollars in goods online in the last three months of last year. Still, that was less than two percent of total retail sales.The National Retail Federation said it expected holiday sales in the United States to increase by five-point-seven percent over last year. The trade group said it expected sales of abouttwo-hundred-seventeen-thousand-million dollars.Another group, the Conference Board, measures how consumers feel about the economy. In November it said its Consumer Confidence Index increased by ten points, to eighty. That was good news for sellers. But it is still below the starting level of one-hundred set innineteen-eighty-five.Holiday shopping is also important to the stock market. Last week, the Commerce Department said retail sales were higher than expected in November. That report helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average to close above ten-thousand for the first time in eighteen months. Last Friday, though, the University of Michigan released its consumer confidence report. The first report for December showed an unexpected decrease in current conditions.This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.FiveECONOMICS REPORT-The Dow Jones Industrial Average——By Mario RitterThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.Doctors always measure the heartbeat of a patient when examining the patient's health. The heartbeat of America's stock markets is the Dow Jones Industrial Average（道琼斯工业平均指数）.No other measure of stock value is as widely known. Sometimes it is simply called the Dow. It is published by the Dow Jones Company, an influential publisher of international financial news.The Dow Jones Company is a product of Wall Street, the area in New York City that is the financial center of the United States. Three reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser, started the company in eighteen-eighty-two. At first, they published a handwritten newsletter for financial workers. It was very successful. By eighteen-eighty-nine, the newsletter became the Wall Street Journal newspaper.The Dow Jones Company began publishing the Dow Jones Industrial Average ineighteen-ninety-six. The list had twelve stocks. It represented the biggest industries in the American economy at the time. Today, the Dow lists thirty stocks. They are often called"blue-chip" stocks（蓝筹股）. These stocks represent an ownership share in companies that are considered strong. These well known companies include Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, McDonald's and General Electric.When you read the Dow Jones Industrial Average, you quickly see that it is not the average price of thirty stocks. For example, the Dow recently increased to more than ten-thousand for the first time in more than eighteen months. Ten-thousand does not seem like the average price of thirty stocks.In fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average does not represent a price but a mathematical average. When the Dow goes up, it gains points, not dollars.The Dow Jones uses what is called a flexible divisor to keep changes in individual stock prices from affecting the whole average too much. The Dow system generally divides stock prices by the flexible divisor. The result is the number we see in newspapers and on television news reports.Today, the Dow is just one of many stock averages. The Standard and Poor's Five-Hundred Index averages five-hundred stocks. Still others measure foreign stock exchanges.While stock averages are good research tools, many people consider them the heartbeat of finance. This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter.SixTeen Taught by Mom Wins Top Science CompetitionWritten by Nancy Steinbach I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Education Report.A sixteen-year-old boy from California (加利福尼亚, 加州) has won first prize in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Michael Vis cardi of San Diego does not go to high school. His mother teaches him at home.His mother has a doctorate in neuroscience (神经系统科学( 指神经病学、神经化学等)); hisfather is a software engineer.Michael does, however, attend advanced math classes at the University of Californ ia, San Diego. He worked on his project with his professor.The project involved a mathematical problem first developed in the nineteenth cen tury by the French mathematician Lejeune Dirichlet. The winning research shows soluti ons to the problem. One of the judges said the young man’s work could lead to new developments in heat flow and other areas of physics. One possible use is in designing the shape of airplane wings (飞翼).The Siemens Westinghouse competition awards a top prize of one hundred thousa nd dollars for college to one individual and one team. The team prize this year went t o two students from Arizona (亚利桑那州), Anne Lee and Albert Shieh. They will sha re one hundred thousand dollars in college money.They improved computer programs used to study large amounts of genetic inform ation. The two did their work at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoe nix (菲尼克斯), Arizona Their research could lead to finding genetic changes that caus e some disorders.The Siemens Foundation joined with the College Board and six universities to sta rt the competition in nineteen ninety-eight. This year, more than one thousand six hund red students took part.Experts from the universities judge competitions in six areas of the country. The i ndividual and team winners from those areas then compete nationally. They demonstrate(示范) their research projects to a group of university professors and scientists. The to p winners were chosen last week.The Siemens Foundation created the competition to improve student performance i n math and science in the United States. It is open to American high school students who develop independent research projects in the physical or biological (生物学) scienc es or mathematics.This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Inte rnet users can read and listen to our reports at . I’m Faith Lapidus.SevenDevelopment Report – YoungPeople Are Subject of World Population DayWritten by Jill MossThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.The world has more than six thousand million people. Almost half are under the age oftwenty-five. This year's World Population Day on July eleventh dealt with the subject of young people and the problems many face. Poverty, crime, barriers to education and jobs, AIDS -- the list goes on.A message from the United Nations secretary-general said the lives ofyoung people are shaped by forces beyond their control. Yet today'syoung people also know more about the lives led by others their agearound the world. Kofi Annan says as a result many are demandingaction to narrow the divide between rich and poor.He says there is a clear need to answer the calls for measures to improve the lives of all. He says information and services related tosexual and reproductive health are especially important for youth empowerment. He noted that these are often overlooked.Kofi Annan says providing for young people is not just a moral duty, but an economic necessity.The United Nations Population Fund has estimated that about half of all unemployed people are between fifteen and twenty-four years old. And it says many young people who do find work are World population is expected to grow by more than 40 percent by 2050trapped in low-wage jobs with few chances to learn skills.The Youth Employment Summit Campaign was launched in two thousand two. This ten-year campaign known as YES aims to create programs and polices that lead to more jobs. Young activists lead the campaign with support from the U.N. Population Fund and other organizations.The next world meeting of the YES Campaign will be held in September in Kenya. About two thousand representatives, from more than one hundred twenty countries, are expected to attend. Half will be young people.The International Labor Organization says people younger than sixteen should not work. But the I.L.O. also says it recognizes this is not a lways possible. A family’s economic survival may depend on the labor of its younger members.Still, the U.N. agency reported in May that child labor has decreased worldwide for the first time. The levels fell by an estimated eleven percent between two thousand and two thousand four. The report said the end of child labor is within reach. And it called on countries to work to end the worst forms of child labor within ten years.With the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss, this is Shep O'Neal.。