Expert: Michael - 4/28/2004

Question
Hi Michael,

I'm a Venezuelan translator, and I´m working now with a text on how fast children growth. I would appreciate if you can help me with the following sentence:

"I'm greatly looking forward to the end of the spring term, when our seven-year-old can stop pretending he likes going to Beavers and we can stop pretending that it's so handy being able to rush him there five minutes after his tennis lesson and five minutes before our 13-year-old's keyboard class"

I cannot catch the meaning of the sentence because I don't know what the author is talking about when mentioning "Beavers". Is it something from England? A baseball club, or something like that?

THanks a lot!

Patricia

Answer
Hello Patricia,

Thanks for your question. I can completely understand why 'Beavers' caused such confusion!

It is in fact a branch of the boy scout movement. Beavers, orb Beaver Scouts as they are more properly known are young boys aged between 6 and 8 who are preparing to join 'cubs' and then 'scouts' later on. You can read more about them on the UK scouting website at
http://www.scoutbase.org.uk/6to25/beaver/intro.htm

I hope this information helps you in your work.

Michael