Beth: When you came to me for the first time

I felt love,

and my heart

began to open like a flower…

Wang Fei: 大家好，欢迎收听《都市掠影》节目，我是王飞。您刚才听到的是 Beth Noble 自写、自读的诗歌。Beth is a self-taught poet. 自学成才的诗人。她的诗歌优雅、清新。在伦敦四月的一个下午，她邀请了很多朋友参加她的诗歌朗诵会。但是，这个朗诵会的目的是为非洲的贫困妇女筹集善款。她为这次募捐行为命名为 "Pennies for Poems" – 听我诗歌、捐你零钱。她觉得她的诗歌与慈善之间有什么共同之处呢？她为什么这么做呢？我们一起听一下。

Beth: (Reading her poem)

Waiting for Spring

You tantalise me with a couple of

dewy, blue-skied, bright-eyed mornings.

The smiling daffodils,

peeking through the cold earth,

reminding me that life still exists

amidst the grey and the struggle…

Beth: A lot of the poetry I’ve written kind of is about our shared humanity and our experience of being human, and the emotional life. And often charities are very… very much about that – empowering people to follow their dreams. I’m very interested in international development and women’s issues, and being a mum myself and a self-taught poet and artist, working with the MicroLoan Foundation is wonderful for me because it’s a chance to share my creativity and also do something great to help other women in Africa to fulfil their dreams.

Wang Fei: Beth 说她的诗歌主要写 shared humanity 共通的人性 and our experience of being human 和人性的经历。And often charities are very much about empowering people to follow their dreams. 而慈善也常常是带给人们追寻梦想的动力。所以她愿意用她的诗歌作为一种慈善手段，和 Microloan Foundation 这个慈善组织合作，to help women in Africa to fulfil their dreams, 帮助非洲贫困妇女实现她们的梦想。那这次活动的目的实现了吗？Has she reached her aim in this event?

Beth: Well, our aim was £250 which I think we have managed to raise. So that’s brilliant. As I said, it’s part of a bigger fundraising effort called the Pennies For Life, which is to raise four million pennies, which is about £40,000. So it’s just a small contribution to that.

Wang Fei: Her aim was 250 pounds. 她的目标是250英镑，and she has managed to raise. 她已经实现了这个目标。But this event is only a small contribution to a bigger fundraising effort Pennies for Life which is to raise four million pennies, 400万枚便士。One pence 是英国最小的硬币单位。1英镑等于100 便士。four million pennies 也就是4万英镑。他们想把这400万枚硬币连成世界上最长的硬币线。The longest line of pennies in the world! 我们请 MicroLoan Foundation 的 CEO Peter Ryan 来解释一下。听的时候请注意一个单词 Sellotape 也就是 sticky tape是透明胶带的意思。

Peter: Yeah, the idea behind the longest line of pennies is taking the smallest coin which exists in the UK – which is a penny, which is a coin which most people don’t value at all – and getting as many people as possible to collect pennies. So over two days we are going to lay the longest line of pennies in the world, which is… comprises over four million pennies, which we are going to stick on to Sellotape. And to achieve it, we need a thousand people who are totally mad, who are prepared to work from six until six, and probably six until nine every night sticking these pennies, which we’re going to do at one of the local schools in London.

Wang Fei: 原来 Peter 发现很多人对一便士的硬币并不在意。 Most people don't value one-pence coins at all. 所以他们收集这些硬币，然后 stick them on to Sellotape and make it the longest line of pennies. 把它们粘在透明胶带上，做成世界上最长的硬币线。这可要花费很多的人力来完成这项壮举！听完今天的节目，你是不是也觉得在进行慈善募捐的时候，也需要很多的 creativity, 创意！好的，在节目的最后，我们再次聆听 Beth 优美的诗歌，她的诗集的名字叫 Evolution: A Creative Journey to Inner Peace 我们下次节目再会！

Beth: (Reading her poem)

Waiting for Spring

You tantalise me with a couple of

dewy, blue-skied, bright-eyed mornings.

The smiling daffodils,

peeking through the cold earth,

reminding me that life still exists

amidst the grey and the struggle…

I start preparing the soil for planting,

and dream again of

sun kissing my bed sheets

and drenching my skin

while I lazily stretch out,

reading a book and

sipping a cup of fresh tea…