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《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

原文链接:https://forum.iask.ca/threads/94288/

angelonduty : 2007-01-22#1
第3季度上导读:
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a014-a018:http://post.iask.ca/canadameet/topic/94288&page=3
a019-a020;b001-b003:http://post.iask.ca/canadameet/topic/94288&page=4
b004-b009:http://post.iask.ca/canadameet/topic/94288&page=5
b010-b012;c001-c010:http://post.iask.ca/canadameet/topic/94288&page=6
c011-c026:http://post.iask.ca/canadameet/topic/94288&page=7

2006 Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma Showcases Dance and Art

It is one of the largest cities in the Great Plains Region of the U.S., with the Oklahoma River winding through it and impressive skyscrapers towering in its downtown business district. Oklahoma City is home to the Red Earth Festival. The festival has been voted in the Top 100 events in North America by the American Bus Association.

Members of nearly 100 tribes from throughout North America gathered at the festival to celebrate and share the richness and diversity of their heritage. Dance contestants enter the festival site in a kaleidoscope of color, sound and movement.

Some 600 dancers from all over North America came here to compete. There are different dance categories. Prairie Chicken Dance is a new category for this year.
Dancer Rod Atcheynum comes from Canada. "What a person is supposed to be doing in a chicken dance is imitating the mating dance of a prairie chicken. We dance to celebrate life. You are happy that you are alive. You dance on mother earth so that your people will be more fertile and produce more children."

Native Americans use the word "regalia" for traditional clothing worn for ceremonial occasions. Each tribe is identified with its unique clothes, headdresses and ornamentations.

"When you put your regalia -- your traditional outfit -- on, you are dressing up your spirit. And when you get out on the dance floor, the drum, the singing, it makes your spirit dance. So it is not really you out there dancing, it's your spirit."

Regalia are not only bright and beautiful; they are meaningful for Native Americans. "The longer hair is porcupine hair. The shorter hair is deer tail. And the feathers on top are eagle feathers. Porcupine is very powerful. You put it high on your body for honor and respect for that animal, therefore he will then go and help you out. This is pretty much old style. The ottor -- it is revered highly by native people because it lives at two different worlds."

The dance competition at Red Earth is one of the rare occasions when dancers from America's northern and southern tribes can be seen together in one venue.
Tyrone Galey judges the dancing. "The northern, you would probably say you would slow down on the steps. The southern speeds up on the steps. You will see the difference where the bustle, the ropes. That has a lot to do with it."
Judges consider many factors when evaluating the dance routines. Galey expresses the judging criteria. "The steps, some are dancing better to the drum. How pretty you look, how the colors and rhythms work along with the regalia."

Some 250 Indian artists display their creations in the art market area of the Red Earth Festival. Mary Howard is one of them. "Red Earth is very unique. There is a feel that I do not really feel at other Indian art shows. Red Earth is very mystical somehow I think."

Eric Oesch is the public relations director for the festival. "The Red Earth Festival is an event to highlight and showcase Native American art and culture. One of the main things we like to do is to share cultures with everybody. So the Red Earth Festival invites people of all cultures to come to the event."

There are activities, art and storytelling for children throughout each festival day. Mothers and daughters can enter their own category of dance competition. Each year since 1987, the Red Earth Native American Cultural Festival has attracted 25,000 visitors to Oklahoma City from around the world.

Elaine Lu, VOA news.[FONT=宋体] [/FONT]


[FONT=宋体]¤注解¤[/FONT]:


1. skyscraper [5skaIskreIpE(r)] n. [FONT=宋体]摩天楼[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]高丛的烟囱[/FONT]
2. contestant [kEn5testEnt] n. [FONT=宋体]竞争者[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]争论者[/FONT]
3. kaleidoscope [kE5laidEskEup] n. [FONT=宋体]万花筒[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]时时变化的鲜明景色[/FONT]
4. porcupine [5pC:kjupain] n. [[FONT=宋体]动[/FONT]] [FONT=宋体]豪猪[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]箭猪[/FONT]

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watercumt : 2007-01-23#2
正在下呢,太慢了,谢谢了

angelonduty : 2007-01-23#3
突发奇想:要是俺有个网络硬盘,俺不是可以把全部内容拷贝上去与大家分享吗?

鸟语花香 : 2007-01-23#4
谢谢楼主,期待下一段。

shine : 2007-01-23#5
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

shine : 2007-01-23#6
加过分分了!

tonyga1 : 2007-01-23#7
谢谢

kewilson : 2007-01-23#8
谢谢:)下载了!

angelonduty : 2007-01-23#9
不确定是否大家想听或是想看,所以没有继续。那俺就再贴一段被~

A Wine Country Tour to Understand the Process of Winemaking

The wine country tour starts with Bouchaine Winery. Remi Cohen manages this 40-hectare vineyard. "Welcome to Bouchaine Vineyards, we are located in the south of Napa valley, one of the regions that's known as Carneros. Carneros is the first sub-appellation of the Napa valley, one hundred acres of land here, 45 of which are planted to chardonnay grapes."

Chardonnay grapes grown in the vineyard are much smaller in size than those sold in the grocery stores, and much more intense in flavor. The growth of the grapes is strictly controlled to ensure vines receive the right amount of water in the right soil.

"With the drip irrigation, we can put a known amount of water on the vines. We know exactly how much water we are putting on the vine on a given day."

Nord Estate Winery is a family-owned business. Julie manages the winery with her father and two sisters. By marrying into the Nord family, the three women's husbands also married the winery.

Grape picking starts at the crack of dawn. Latinos are the main workforce in the vineyard. They are busy -- they are paid by the amount they pick.

The Robert Craig Winery sits on a hill overlooking the valley, a location conducive to growing grapes. "The land is so steep, that you have tremendous drainage. Any water, rain, just runs right off. We also have real good drainage in the soils. That's the most critical factor."

Selecting the optimal time to harvest grapes is another crucial part of winemaking. At Robert Craig's lab, the countdown to harvest is well underway. Wine makers are closely monitoring the degrees Brix, a measurement that indicates the percentage of sugar in the grapes. As grapes mature, the sugar increases, acidity decreases, and flavors become more intense. Tasting the first batch of wine from this meticulous process is a great joy, says Lynn Craig. "It's bright and fresh, and clean, and it's really yummy."

Spring Mountain Vineyard began in the 1870s, and is known for its distinctive red wines. The century-old cellar has been expanded and furnished with modern ventilation equipment. Jack Cole is the chief winemaker at Spring Mountain. He has previously worked in several other prestigious wineries in the Napa Valley before. "I think the most important thing is having good palate, good senses. It's like a surgeon having a steady hand. It's a good thing to have, but most importantly you have to care a great deal. Put the time and effort in to make sure everything is good."

After the grapes are harvested, the process of winemaking starts with crushing and pressing. Grape juice is then sent to a huge tank for the next step of fermentation, a process that requires between 10 days and a month or more.

Sugar is converted to alcohol. How dry or sweet a wine turns out depends on how much sugar is converted. It is an intentional decision on the part of the winemaker. It's an art -- Jack Cole says that is true of the entire process. “…It's a very creative environment. I am involved in making decisions that determine the quality and the style of the wine, from the very planting of the grapes, to the choosing of the corks that go in the bottle."

Barrel aging is the last step before the wine is bottled for market. Spring Mountain Winery purchases many of its oak barrels from France, each coasting $900.

Wineries have been in this sunny and picturesque valley area since the 1800s. The rich heritage of this wine country continues to be savored in many glasses of wine enjoyed in the United States and around the world.

Elaine Lu, VOA news.

¤注解¤:

1. irrigation n. 灌溉, 冲洗
2. conducive n. 有益于
3. drainage n. 排水, 排水装置, 消耗
4. crucial adj. 至关紧要的
5. prestigious adj. 享有声望的, 声望很高的

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白桦林 : 2007-01-23#10
谢谢分享。

angelonduty : 2007-01-23#11
现在对移民进程的说法很多,没人知道什么时候自己能熬出头。对我们这些排在队伍后部的人来说,最好的办法是把英语整得明明白白的,一旦机会来了,我们可以做出快速反应,尽快、尽好投入新生活。多学点不吃亏的。

chengcheng : 2007-01-23#12
谢谢

leefe01 : 2007-01-24#13
Thank you and add SW to you.

leefe01 : 2007-01-24#14
Sorry, seems that I can't add SW to you today, it is said that I have added SW to you before. What a pity! Anyway, your kind sharing is highly appreciated!

1766good : 2007-01-24#15
要不你试试这个网络快递吧。
我没用过。但是我朋友给我东西,如果传输太慢的时候,或者下载太慢的时候,都是放在这个上面。

www.1001m.net

angelonduty : 2007-01-25#16
要不你试试这个网络快递吧。
我没用过。但是我朋友给我东西,如果传输太慢的时候,或者下载太慢的时候,都是放在这个上面。

www.1001m.net
谢谢你的链接,让我研究研究怎么使用这个网络快递。

At 80, Tony Bennett Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

Tony Bennett, who recorded "The Best Is Yet To Come" more than 45 years ago, might be the first to ask, "Where did the time go?"
It seems like only yesterday when Bennett sang on the very first television broadcasts of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and The Merv Griffin Show. The years have rolled by since singing with the U.S. Army military band under the name Joe Bari in 1945.
It wouldn't be the first time Tony Bennett changed his name for the stage. Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in New York city, Tony listened to the great pop and jazz artists of the day: Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong. He studied music and painting in high school, but dropped out to help support his family. After World War II, he pursued a singing career and landed a spot on tour with Bob Hope. It was Hope who suggested he change his name to Tony Bennett.
Tony Bennett had a string of hits on Columbia Records, earning top billing with "Because Of You," "In The Middle Of An Island," "The Autumn Waltz," and his signature song "I Left My Heart In San Francisco." It was one of the biggest pop hits of 1962, and garnered two Grammy Awards. Today it's ranked as one of the most historically significant recordings of the 20th century.
With The Beatles and the British invasion came less and less work for pop crooners and jazz stars. Tony Bennett's career wavered for the better part of 20 years before he staged one of the greatest comebacks of all time. Resigned to Columbia in 1986, he hit the chart for the first time in 14 years with his album The Art Of Excellence. Coinciding with the revival of the Great American Songbook was the release of his 1994 live album MTV Unplugged. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and helped introduce Bennett to a new generation of fans.
The past 10 years have been played to near perfection, and Tony Bennett wouldn't want it any other way. He's continued to record almost an album a year, tours frequently, and when there's time, he turns to his other love, painting. His works have been exhibited in numerous galleries around the world and many are published in his art book "Tony Bennett: What My Heart Has Seen."
In honor of Bennett's 80th birthday, Sony Records plans to release a new album of duets in late-September. In addition, U.S. television will air an hour-long tribute, "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," featuring performances by Elton John, Stevie Wonder and K.D. Lang.
I’m Doug Levine.


[FONT=宋体]¤注解¤[/FONT]:

1. roll [rEul] v. [FONT=宋体]滚动,(时间)流逝[/FONT]
2. invasion [in5veiVEn] n. [FONT=宋体]入侵[/FONT]
3. comeback [5kQmbAk] n. [FONT=宋体]恢复[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]复原[/FONT]
4. gallery [5^AlEri] n. [FONT=宋体]美术陈列室[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]画廊[/FONT],
5. tribute [5tribju:t] n. [FONT=宋体]贡品[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]礼物[/FONT]


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yangyang2005 : 2007-01-25#17
thanks
支持楼主继续上传资料

angelonduty : 2007-01-26#18
British Foreign Secretary Urges Cooperation for Global Challenges


Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett says, in an increasingly interdependent world, nations' individual well-being cannot be separated from the health of the global community as a whole.

In today's world, national security must be founded on strong international security, and be inspired by our values: fairness, justice, democracy.

Beckett, Britain's first female foreign secretary, was speaking at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

She said the rewards of collective action almost always outweigh those of individual or bilateral initiatives. She said this is particularly true when it comes to energy usage and climate change, both of which she argued have a major impact on national and international security.

Beckett pointed out that technologies designed to cut emissions of so-called "greenhouse" gases have the added bonus of reducing dependency on fossil fuels. But she said advanced industrialized nations will have to lead the way, if the world is to shift toward more environmentally-friendly forms of energy consumption.

Most of the global warming to date has been caused by developed countries like our own. So, if we are going to convince developing countries to adopt these technologies, we ourselves all need to move in that direction.

Beckett said, in order to further the long-term well-being of the global community, individual nations must be willing to make sacrifices that may not appear to be in their immediate self-interest.

She said this is particularly true when it comes to international trade, and made an impassioned plea for a concerted effort to make sure that global trade talks do not end in failure.

Allowing developing countries to trade their way out of poverty is the most effective route to rapid and sustainable growth. But look at the situation today. Agricultural tariffs and subsidies reduce developing countries' earnings [from trade] by $75 billion a year - 50 percent more than they earn in aid. That is a tragedy for the world's poorest. They will pay the heaviest price. But it will be a cost to us [developed nations], too.


After her address, Beckett was asked if her criticism of unilateral action was aimed at the Bush administration, which pulled the United States out of the 1997 Kyoto treaty aimed at reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases.

The foreign secretary replied that she was simply stating her views and those of the British government.

Michael Bowman, VOA News, Washington.


¤注解¤:

1. bilateral adj. 两面的, 双边的
2. emission n. (光、热等的)散发, 发射, 喷射
3. concerted adj. 商议定的, 协定的
4. unilateral adj. 单方面, 单边的

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watercumt : 2007-01-26#19
下了,再次谢谢,希望继续

开心果 : 2007-01-26#20
:wdb11: :wdb10: :wdb6: :wdb9:

angelonduty : 2007-01-27#21
Coping with Terror in the U.S. Heartland

Five years after the September 11th terrorist attacks on American soil, the United States is in many ways a fundamentally different nation. The memory of the loss on that day is still a national scar that has not healed. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on how the nation’s heartland has changed.

The peaceful, quiet farmlands of Iowa seem far removed from the war on terror. But even here, five years after the September 11th terrorist attacks, life has changed.

"People meet us on the street and express their sympathies and condolences, even now." Betty and Doug Haviland live in Des Moines, Iowa. Their son Tim worked in the World Trade Center and was one of the approximately 3 thousand people from more than 26 countries who died on September 11, 2001.

"He went to work early, as usual, and the planes crashed. His desk was, as near as we can figure, probably where the plane went in. So we like to think he was killed instantly."

Small gestures from the community that shares their grief have helped. A tree has been planted in Tim's name and a scholarship fund established. While the pain never goes away, Doug Haviland says to cope he had to let go of his anger and hold on to his core beliefs.

"I felt from the beginning that this was a test of faith in many ways. Either we stood for reconciliation and trying to bring some healing out of this tragic event or we were simply failing in our profession of Christian faith."

Many Muslims in America feel that September 11th has cast a shadow of suspicion on their faith. "What happened in New York, this is not Islamic. We must put this in mind, but of course, unfortunately, everybody accuses us." Ibrahim Dremali is the Imam of the Islamic Center of Des Moines. He says back in 2001 he was the Imam of a mosque in the southern state of Florida. After September 11th, he was invited to speak at a local Christian church as a gesture of solidarity and reconciliation. But before he could go, he was attacked by two men.

"I stopped my car. And suddenly the door is open and somebody with a shotgun and boom [he hits me] in my chest. When I am going back he hit me again. Of course, I have two bruises that the police took the picture. And I am supposed to go the second day and speak at a church. And he said, 'If we see you in church you are a dead man!’"

Ibrahim Dremali says the threats and harassment continued, and forced him to leave Florida and eventually to find refuge in Iowa. Still whenever Imam Dremalai travels, he says he still feels like he is being targeted. At airports, he says he is constantly being pulled out of line and detained.

"When I come from international flight, my son and I, last time we came, 12 hours in the airport, and in the end, 'Oh sorry, sorry for the delay.' Twelve hours and sorry for the delay?"

Imam Dremali may be a casualty of heightened security measures imposed since September 11th, but preventing another terrorist attack has been the government's top priority.

And here in a state where there are more pigs and cattle than people, this means protecting America's farms from possible agro- or bio-terrorist attacks.

"September 11th and the anthrax attacks pointed out that there are people out there who want to do harm to this country and will go to great lengths to do that." Professor James Roth is director of the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Since September 11th, he says, the federal government has developed a national animal health laboratory network of veterinarians. This rapid response team works to prevent the introduction of deadly diseases into the livestock population and stands ready to act if food security is threatened.

"In Iowa, we have about 250 veterinarians who have signed up as volunteers to be called up, essentially on a moment's notice, to respond under the direction of state veterinarian to go in and help with the diagnosis and eradication steps."

Five years later, the ongoing threat of terrorism, the heightened ethnic tensions, the debate over civil liberties versus public security, and the still raw memories of those lost on September 11th have changed almost everyone, everywhere in America.

For focus, I’m Brian Padden.

¤注解¤:

1. scar n. 伤痕, 疤痕
2. condolence n. 哀悼, 吊唁
3. imam n. [伊斯兰]阿訇, 教长
4. harassment n. 折磨

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yazuilong : 2007-01-27#22
谢谢,加声望。

angelonduty : 2007-01-27#23
谢谢,加声望。
谢谢你的物质鼓励!
Examining America's Role in Global Affairs

Ever since the United States emerged as the world's sole superpower at the end of the Cold War, its international role has been scrutinized both and home and abroad.
Almost four hundred years ago, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote that peace and security among human beings are impossible without a government to enforce them.
In his new book, A Case for Goliath: How America Acts as the World's Government in the 21st Century, Michael Mandelbaum, a political analyst at The Johns Hopkins University, writes that in the wake of the Cold War, the United States has played an important role in maintaining world order. "It offers reassurance. That is, its military presence suppresses suspicions in Europe and Asia that may otherwise be felt and could lead to unhappy political outcomes. And the United States leads the effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous regimes or groups."
According to professor Mandelbaum, the United States also provides these services to the international economy. "It provides a secure framework for international transactions where the United States provides the world’s most frequently used currency -- the dollar -- where the United States has acted as the so-called 'lender of last resort,' acting through the International Monetary Fund, and where the United States has also been the consumer of last resort."
Overall, Mandelbaum concludes, America's international role is beneficial because it provides public goods without controlling the politics and economics of other societies.
So why do so many people in the U.S. and abroad criticize this benign Goliath? Political interests, disagreements about specific policies and cultural differences are among the reasons Mandelbaum offers. But some analysts disagree.
Benjamin Barber, a professor of civil society at the University of Maryland, argues the United States often acts as a hegemonic power, rather than as a government. "American hegemony obviously brings some benefits to people. It can provide some policing and some security, and provide some aid money and some banking facilities and so forth. But it does those things at the cost of liberty, at the cost of autonomy, at the cost of social justice and at the cost, actually, of allowing people to participate in governing their own destiny, which is the very meaning of democracy."
Professor Barber says U.S.-led regime changes in Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of America imposing its will on other countries. He adds that U.S. foreign aid often is granted on the condition that recipient countries adopt America's economic model even if it may not always fit.
What the world needs, says Professor Barber, is a multi-national governing body to deal with global issues such as energy supplies, pollution, natural disasters, epidemics and conflicts.
But some analysts, including Robert Lieber, a professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown University, argue that multi-national organizations have been ineffective in times of crisis. “I would cite such cases as the Rwanda genocide, Bosnia and the Srebrenica massacre, and the mass murder and ethnic cleansing that goes on as we speak in Darfur. So the liberal internationalists have altogether too fanciful and exaggerated a notion of what international institutions and 'global governance' can achieve in today's world, not least because it remains a world of sovereign states."
Robert Lieber says there is no alternative to America's role in global affairs because it is the only state willing to use so much money and its military power to help other nations. He also points out that no alliance is forming to topple the United States, because most countries realize they need its help.
But U.S. services to the rest of the world are not cheap. According to the Congressional Research Service, for example, the U.S. cost of war and reconstruction in Iraq is approaching 200 billion dollars. The United States gave more than 16 billion dollars in aid to developing countries in 2003, almost twice as much as the next biggest donor, Japan. And in 2004, the U.S. budget deficit exceeded 400 billion dollars, reaching an all-time high. So the question for many observers is whether America can continue to afford its leadership role in world affairs.
Robert Guest, Washington Bureau Chief for The Economist magazine, suspects it may not. "There is nothing unforeseen about this whatsoever. When empires run out of money, they either run out of the will to fight or they tend to retreat into themselves. And the looming gap that you see with the retirement of the 'baby boomers' [i.e., Americans born between 1946 and 1964], bringing Medicare, Social Security and, to a lesser degree, Medicaid fairly rapidly into bankruptcy is the single greatest threat to American global hegemony."
Many analysts agree that the most serious threat to U.S. global leadership may develop at home, not abroad. Meanwhile, rising regional powers such as China or the European Union are striving for greater international influence. But so far none has the economic power, the political will or the military strength to generate an international consensus to assume leadership in the world community. So if the United States were to decrease its role in international affairs, most analysts warn, the world could become a more dangerous and less prosperous place.
For focus, I’m Zlatica Hoke.
[FONT=宋体]¤注解¤[/FONT]:

1. scrutinize [5skrutinaiz] vt. [FONT=宋体]细察[/FONT]
2. benign [bi5nain] adj. [FONT=宋体]仁慈的[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]和蔼的[/FONT]
3. hegemonic [7hi:))^i5mCnik] adj. [FONT=宋体]支配的[/FONT], [FONT=宋体]霸权的[/FONT]
4. genocide [5dVenEu7said] n. [FONT=宋体]有计划的灭种和屠杀[/FONT]

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WilliamF : 2007-01-27#24
:wdb17: :wdb6: 谢谢,支持,

yingxuan1_1 : 2007-01-28#25
:wdb11: :wdb10: :wdb17:

angelonduty : 2007-01-28#26
Excess CO2 Threatens Marine Life

The chemistry of the world's oceans is changing with increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of the burning of fossil fuels in cars and power plants. A report released recently by the National Center for Atmospheric Research says the change in the air is putting marine life and ecosystems at great risk.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is predicted to double or triple by the end of the century. Lead author Joan Kleypas with the government-funded National Center for Atmospheric Research says absorption of CO2 by the ocean used to be considered an environmental plus. "Right now the estimates are that the oceans have absorbed about one-third of all the extra CO2 that humans have put into the atmosphere. So, it is a sponge. It is basically soaking up a lot of the CO2, which is good because it sort of slows down this whole process of greenhouse gas warming."
But the report documents the negative impact that excess CO2 is having on the world's oceans. Kleypas says increased levels of CO2 make the ocean more acidic and put sea organisms in danger. "Particularly those organisms which secrete calcium carbonate shells."
This is a class of creatures that includes corals, clams, snails, starfish and sea urchins. "They will be less able to secrete their shells and that ability to secrete their shells will continue to decrease as long as we continue to add CO2 to the atmosphere. It [CO2] also increases the rate at which this calcium carbonate, which is already formed in the oceans, starts to dissolve. So, it [has] this corrosive effect."
This could mean slower growth in the world's corals reefs, which are already stressed and dying from the warmer ocean temperatures associated with increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. "Our bones are not calcium carbonate, but they are similar. And people have things like osteoporosis. That is bone loss. This is sort of a similar type of thing that happens with these organisms."
Kleypas says added CO2 has the potential to alter the biodiversity and productivity of the ocean. Coral reefs protect coastlines and are a nursery ground and habitat to 25 percent of all marine life. "So you can imagine that if you take that whole food supply away, it is going to propagate through the food chain and food webs so that we might see our fish stocks decline."
Kleypas adds that many calcifying organisms, including common marine plankton such as pteropods, a kind of snail, are directly threatened by the rising CO2 levels. But pteropods are food for important commercial fish species like salmon, mackerel, herring and cod, so these animals would also be threatened.
Kleypas says scientists are only beginning to understand the complex interaction between large-scale chemistry changes and marine ecology. The report outlines research priorities to determine how changes in ocean chemistry affect the health of marine ecosystems.
Thomas Lovejoy, president of H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, says the report is a wake-up call for serious action on global warming. "We need a crash program worldwide to find an energy base that does not essentially pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases. That will be a combination of energy sources, things like energy efficiency and energy conservation. It may well include nuclear for a portion of time and exploration of technologies that we are not using now."
Lovejoy says implementation of such policies will take political will and leadership on a global scale. He says the report is a clear signal that the oceans can no longer be regarded as a kind of utility sink for industrial emissions, and that continuing to treat them as such could have devastating consequences for the life of the planet.
I’m Rosanne Skirble.


¤注解¤:
1. ecosystem n. 生态系统
2. absorption n. 吸收
3. negative adj. 否定的, 消极的
4. starfish n. 海星
5. osteoporosis n. 骨质疏松症
6. propagate v. 使蔓延
7. implementation n. 执行

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watercumt : 2007-01-29#27
感谢,加声望了

angelonduty : 2007-01-30#28
Fads: Why We Embrace Them

Pop-culture fads come and go. Experts say fads have different shapes and sizes. Yet, they are quite similar in their life cycle. They catch on fast, then quickly fade away. And while some fads are harmless and fun to adopt, others can be costly and even dangerous when they come as the next hot novelty in management, education, science or medicine.
When Joel Best was a child in the late 1950's, every kid in his neighborhood had to have one of those hot new toys known as hula-hoops.
"The hula hoop was a popular toy in the United States. They sold millions of the things. They arrived on the scene and disappeared in a period of 4 or 5 months. It's sort of the prototypical fad. It involves children, it's inexpensive and it doesn't last very long."
As a sociologist, Joel Best has always been interested in studying the fad phenomenon. The author of Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads says even experts can't predict what trend or product is significant and what's just a craze.
"You can look at history and see all sorts of examples where people guessed really wrong. They can say that something is just a fad, and it turns out to be a permanent change. In the 1950s, people said Rock and Roll music will never last. Or the wristwatch, people said the wristwatch is just a fad and of course it turned to be very, very, popular and to have lasted for a long time."
"The 8-track tape recorder or CB radio, things like that, that people at the time thought were going to be important changes, and it turned out that they didn't last very long at all."
It's not hard to see how some fads get started, according to Columbia Business Professor Eric Abrahamson. Imitating celebrities is a major reason behind their quick spread. "So a star might wear something, then the people who really follow stars might wear it. It might go down to people who look at the people who really follow stars. Another reason is just that people have a tremendous appetite for modernity and novelty. They are always looking for the next cool nice special thing."
Abrahamson says you can see fads almost everywhere. "There has been recently, what I'd say is really faddish language among kids. One kid starts using a word, then it starts spreading and a lot of people use the word. You have fads in medicine, sometimes. For instance, everybody starts diagnosing a particular disease, or using a particular medicine. It spreads from doctor to doctor. There are the financial fads, for instance, everybody starts to buy a certain kind of stock."
Some highly-touted educational programs and policies have turned out to be just fads without lasting value. Abrahamson says the same is true for some business and management innovations. "For instance, Quality Control Circles or TQM - Total Quality Management, that largely come from the auto industry. When it becomes a fad, it starts spreading across all kinds [of businesses], so military adopts it, and even churches start adopting Total Quality Management."
"Something that worked in the car industry may not very well work in churches. So it gets over-adopted. Sometimes, it's purposeful. A CEO might just need new marching song, new idea to get the firm going. So sometimes, very deliberately, they'll pick something even though they know it's a fad, just to get people to focus and to get change in the organization. It can be good but it's like a dose of caffeine: it wears off and you have to jump to another one. So, it's not clear that it's a great way to manage organizations."
According to sociologist Joel Best, these institutional fads go through the same three stages that pop-culture fads do, as they rise and fall. "I call them emerging, surging and purging. In the emerging stage, somebody has an idea. They promote, package it, and it begins to take off. A few people begin to adopt it. Then, the surging stage is when lots of people begin to climb up on the bandwagon. There is often a great deal of excitement at this stage. People don't want to be left behind. They want to be part of this important new thing. Then, it peaks at the some point, and the purging begins. That's when people begin to abandon the fad. They decide this really wasn't worth doing."
People usually start to abandon institutional fads when they start costing money rather than serving as an economic stimulus. But Business Professor Eric Abrahamson says they may have already done damage. "Downsizing American corporations, for instance, follows a faddish dynamic. It affects millions of people, sometimes very severely. None of the research afterwards suggested that it helped firms. So lots and lots of firms started these mass firings because other firms were doing mass firings."
Experts say it's important to acknowledge that institutional fads occur, so new programs or management schemes will be approached with caution. They say executives should examine such ideas carefully, and get evidence that they work before jumping on the bandwagon simply because everyone else is doing it.
I’m Faith Lapidus.

¤注解¤:

1. novelty n. 新颖, 新奇的事物
2. phenomenon n. 现象
3. wristwatch n. 手表
4. faddish adj. 趋于时尚的, 风行的

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silver699 : 2007-01-30#29
Thanks! SW has been added!

watercumt : 2007-01-30#30
又下载了,真是谢了

angelonduty : 2007-01-31#31
Global Refugee Numbers at 26-Year Low


For the fifth year in a row, global refugee numbers have declined. Since 2001, the U.N. reports, refugee numbers have fallen by 31 percent, with decreases occurring in all five regions in the world.

The report finds the largest reductions, or 19 percent, were recorded in West Africa, Central Asia, Southwest Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. UN refugee spokesman, Ron Redmond, explains there are fewer refugees in these regions because millions have voluntarily returned home with the help of the UNHCR.

Nevertheless, he says these areas still host about two-thirds of the world's refugees. He says last year, the number of refugees in Europe fell by 15 percent. The region currently hosts about one-quarter of all refugees.

It is also interesting to note that the movements of new refugees into neighboring countries is now at its lowest level since 1976. In other words, you are not seeing the huge numbers of mass movements of refugees fleeing conflict into neighboring countries that we once saw.

Last year, Redmond says 136,000 people crossed into 19 asylum countries. That, he says is a 46 percent decline on the previous year when more people were fleeing conflict.

The UN refugee agency estimates between 20 and 25 million people are internally displaced. This is almost three times more than the number of global refugees. Redmond says the number of internally displaced people has gone up dramatically because the nature of conflict has changed.

In the 60's, 70's and 80's, you had superpower rivalries playing out in various countries and continents and there were large numbers of people crossing international borders in those days. Today, we see a lot more internal conflict-civil wars and so on. Look at places like the Democratic Republic of Congo with millions of internally displaced. The same as Darfur in Sudan as well as southern Sudan where there have been millions of internally displaced.

Refugees are people who have crossed an international border fleeing for safety. They are covered by the 1951 Refugee Convention, which entitles them to protection and assistance. People who are internally displaced have no such rights because they have not left their countries. Nevertheless, they face the same problems as refugees.

United Nations agencies are working together to help these people. Each agency has a different responsibility depending on the kind of work it does. So the World Food Program takes care of the hungry. The U.N. Children's Fund is responsible for water and sanitation. The UNHCR deals with protection, setting up camps and providing emergency shelter.

This is Schlein, for VOA News, Geneva.


¤注解¤:

1. voluntarily adv. 自动地, 以自由意志
2. asylum n. 庇护, 收容所
3. internally adv. 内在地, 国内地
4. rivalry n. 竞争, 竞赛, 敌对

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等待ME : 2007-01-31#32
顶!

angelonduty : 2007-02-02#33
Handful of Documentaries Hit Theatres for Summer Season

Wordplay takes the audience into the world of puzzlers at the most competitive level: the national tournament held every year in Stamford, Connecticut for the past three decades. The film also introduces a range of people for whom the daily crossword puzzle is a passion: from workaday commuters to show business celebrities and world leaders.
"I find it very relaxing and I really found it relaxing in the White House because, just for a moment, you take your mind off whatever you're doing." Former President Bill Clinton. He is among puzzle enthusiasts interviewed in the film.
"Sometimes you have to go at a problem the way I go at a complicated crossword puzzle. Sometimes I'd pick up the Saturday New York Times crossword puzzle and I'd go through way over half the clues before I'd know the answer to one. Then you start with what you know the answer to and then you just build on it. Eventually you can unravel the whole puzzle.
"I like puzzle people. They're smart, interesting, well-read, cultured people." puzzle-master Will Shortz who is at the center of Wordplay. He founded and runs the national tournament, but Shortz is best known as editor of the daily New York Times puzzle.
"My all time favorite clue that I wrote was for the answer 'spiral staircase' and my clue was 'it may turn into a different story. You see a clue like that. It leads you down the garden path, you're thinking of the narrative, and when the correct answer hits you finally, because you start to get it from the crossing answers, you smack your forehead and say 'of course!' I enjoy coming up with those and, obviously, solvers like those too."
Wordplay is directed by Patrick Creadon.
An environmental effort that failed or, depending on your perspective, was not allowed to succeed is the subject of the documentary Who Killed The Electric Car.
The film chronicles the history of a recent California clean air policy that required a certain percentage of all cars sold in the state be "zero emission vehicles." Manufacturers responded with electric cars, notably the innovative EV1 from General Motors; but director Chris Paine says his interviews with drivers, engineers and officials showed that the automakers, oil companies and even government agencies put up roadblocks.
"Almost no one knows there were electric cars sold in the United States. The short story is California made car companies make these cars. They made several thousand - all of them: Ford, GM, Toyota - and they were probably the most advanced cars ever developed with their all-electronic design, they have no internal combustion engine - all of the things that the movie talks about. Then I think when the car industry, the oil industry and various people saw what was really at stake for them, they dismantled this program, dismantled the law and went after it very hard. The irony, or tragedy, of it is they would say 'consumers never wanted the electric car; they were disappointing and never made it in the marketplace.' Well, the marketplace never got to really try them out."
As Who Killed The Electric Car shows, almost all of the EV1 electric cars were destroyed by the manufacturer, even while owners were clamoring to buy them back.
A high school girl’s basketball team from Washington State and its unconventional coach are the stars of the uplifting story in The Heart of the Game.
"I can honestly, from my heart, say that I could care less about winning and losing. However, winning is more fun."
Bill Resler a tax law professor who decided to coach high school basketball out of love for the game and the hope that he could help the girls at Seattle's Roosevelt High succeed. They did, but coach Resler says he was surprised when filmmaker Ward Serrill asked to document the real-life sports drama:
"When he came and said he wanted to film the way I coached, my thought was 'what an odd thing to do. I could see no reason for him to do such; and then he was around all the time, filming every little detail, and I would constantly be thinking 'what is he thinking about? What does he think he has here?' When I finally saw the movie, I was stunned. I could not believe the way he captured the emotion of what those teenage girls go through."
That is most evident in the story of Darnelia Russell, a standout player who leaves school when she becomes pregnant, but then returns to complete her studies and battles to regain a place on the team. Russell says watching the film made her realize what a powerfully positive force this teacher had been in her life.
"He always would tell me that I was smart and whatever, but I never would believe him because if I'm so smart, how come I can't pay attention or just do right. I don't understand, if I'm so smart, how come I just can't do it. Then after a while I figured maybe he is telling the truth and not just saying that because I'm a good basketball player and he wants me on his team. Maybe he really does see that I'm smart and I can do it. After I realized that, it's when I started doing better just thinking positive about everything.
The Heart of the Game is narrated by actor and rap music star Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as it follows the changes in the Roosevelt High team and its players over the course of four years.

Alan Silverman for the Voice Of America in Hollywood.


¤注解¤:
celebrity n. 名声, 名人
spiral adj. 螺旋形的
perspective n. 观点, 看法
roadblock n. 障碍, 障碍物
combustion n. 燃烧

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angelonduty : 2007-02-02#34
坚持下去,对大家的听力和词汇一定有帮助.

Hollywood's Role in the War on Terror

Terrorism has become a popular subject in the entertainment media, from books to movies to television shows. VOA’s Mike O'Sullivan reports nearly five years after the 2001 terror attacks on the United States, Hollywood is focusing on terrorism.
After the terror attacks of September 2001, filmmakers were reluctant to tackle the subject of terrorism, says Anne Thompson, Deputy Film Editor for The Hollywood Reporter newspaper.
"Whenever there's a really tough disaster that upsets people a lot, it takes a while for filmmakers in Hollywood to catch up. And sometimes they're afraid that audiences won't be ready. But for whatever reason, this year, 2006, we're seeing 'United 93,' which opened and is moving its way out of theaters already, despite very, very good reviews."
Four planes were hijacked on September 11, 2001. Three of them reached their targets in New York and Washington. The film "United 93" is the story of the fourth, which crashed in Pennsylvania.
Jonathan Taplin of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California says the crop of current films aims at realism. Mr. Taplin knows Hollywood well. He is a producer who has worked on such films as "Mean Streets," "The Last Waltz" and "To Die For."
"Whether a movie like 'Munich' or a movie like 'Syriana,' even most recently 'United Flight 93', all attempt to portray the terrorists with a little bit of nuance, in a way that you understand that they have their own reasons for doing what they're doing, and it's not such a cliched caricature as it used to be."
But can filmmakers go too far in creating understandable characters? Some critics say Steven Spielberg did that in his recent film "Munich," which shows Israel's retaliation for the murders of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Israeli agents set out to track down and assassinate those responsible.
Jonathan Taplin says Spielberg was criticized for showing the motivations and human costs on both sides of the story.
"But I think it was an important attempt on his part to show the two sides of the question, that both sides were filled with a sense of resolve and a sense of purpose."
Analysts say that terrorists use violence, and the media, to get across a message, and their goal is political change. Some feel the media should not make the terrorists' job easier. Others say law enforcement can also profit from what the media does.
Lieutenant John Sullivan of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is Director of the National Terrorism Early Warning Resource Center.
"Terrorism at its core is political violence, is designed to send a message and develop a following. The media is important in understanding what the terrorists are trying to communicate, and what the appropriate level of government response is."
He says political violence is not new, and that history teaches that terrorists are seldom able to topple society.
"Terrorism is a weapon of the weak. The media can allow people to put terrorism into the proper balance. Terrorism only causes great political change when there's overreaction or improper reaction by governmental authorities."
Producer Jonathan Taplin says films such as "United 93" can convey in a paradoxical way the differing perspectives of the terrorists and their victims.
"The scene that was most striking for me in 'United 93' is a scene at the very height of the crisis, where you cut between the Americans praying to their god in the cabin as the plane is plunging downward and the Arabs who have taken over the plane praying to their god. And it's literally cutting back and forth between these two sets of prayers." He says, ironically, they are praying to the same god.
Hollywood films are not meant to educate. Studios want to make money and writers and directors want to tell a story. But terrorism expert John Sullivan says movies can inform, and still make a profit.
"I don't think that making money, educating and assessing the issues, and entertaining are necessarily mutually exclusive. You can do all of them at the same time. I suspect to truly educate in a democratic society, it needs to be entertaining, so people will be engaged and watch it."
Anne Thompson of The Hollywood Reporter says Hollywood will continue addressing difficult topics, including terrorism. "And it's to their credit that they're doing it. I really disagree with critics who suggest that the subject of 9 11 is not something that filmmaking should be a part of, as if it were somehow protected from view."
She says the subject of terrorism requires a dialogue that Hollywood is helping to foster.
For focus, I’m Mike O'Sullivan in Los Angeles.
¤注解¤:

1. reluctant adj. 不顾的, 勉强的, 难处理的
2. nuance n. 细微差别
3. retaliation n. 报复, 报仇
4. paradoxical adj. 荒谬的

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watercumt : 2007-02-02#35
真是谢了,都保存了,慢慢听

angelonduty : 2007-02-02#36
Hurricane Katrina Survivors Thank New York Volunteers


They rebuild flattened houses, walk abandoned pets, read books to schoolchildren or counsel the emotionally scarred. Volunteers in the areas hit by Hurricane Katrina are as diverse as the world itself. According to Stephen Richer, the executive director of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau, they vary in everything from their skills to their politics to their religion.

People are there from just about every faith you can imagine. Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, the Mennonites, the Catholic Charities. People are staying in churches, either sleeping on the floor or in sleeping bags, or sleeping on pews in sleeping bags. It's been really interesting.

Thousands of these volunteers are from New York City.

Many people have been there multiple times. There's one young lady from New York, she came early after the hurricane like in September, then she came back in November, December, then she came back in January. She was so personally enriched by helping, at no compensation by the way, that she quit her job here in New York City, gave up her lease on her apartment and is in the Biloxi area until problems are resolved. And she's not the only one.

New Yorker Virginia Pfeiffer volunteered for five days last May in Pearlington, Mississippi. The tiny hamlet of fewer than 1,700 residents, which has no mayor, only a fire department for local government, was in the eye of the hurricane. For ten days the community was virtually forgotten. A month later the New York Times newspaper compared the area to the primitive tent city Cité Soleil in Haiti. Before arriving in Pearlington with seven other women, Pfeiffer, a 58-year-old retiree, was warned to get ready for some heavy lifting.

One of my thoughts going down there is you know I mean go to the gym to try to keep your stability, so might as well do it by doing something useful. You know so I was carrying a lot of weight, and I had wondered whether I would be able to do as much but I was. I was you know very pleased with how successfully I was able to lift things and carry them. And I expected to be absolutely exhausted by the end of the day and I wasn't.

At night Pfeiffer and others slept in plastic tents without indoor toilets. Each day they received their assignment from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. One task involved emptying the entire contents of a house with no standing walls so that it could be cleaned of toxic mold. Pfeiffer recalls how anxious the owner was about strangers moving her only belongings.

At first she was very hesitant to have us do this. I guess they'd been working with her several months to have her agree to do this. But as the time went by, she saw us being careful with her things and trying to organize them in a logical way. We basically put them all out on the driveway on tarps. She was very social with us at the end. I think we somehow got her over the hump of this overwhelming thing - it looked overwhelming to us, too - of getting this stuff out of the house. And she seemed to connect with us.

Pfeiffer was most touched by the victims of Katrina who wanted to help the volunteer efforts. One woman, for instance, rescued from a tree with her neighbor and eight dogs, still had no home but she delivered meals to her neighbors.

There was this black church and the women of the church who had lost everything of their own had decided when all these volunteers started coming down that they would cook lunch everyday for the volunteers. So they served at the Baptist church, there they served lunch to the volunteers everyday. You know that was just so heartwarming. You know these women who needed help were actually coming to help people who were helping.

A cultural exchange took place between the Southerners and their New York visitors.

I think perhaps we were sort of surprised by how friendly everybody was because New Yorkers have, people think of us as being unfriendly, and it is more that people mind their own business. People are always shocked when they meet New Yorkers and find they are very friendly.

Pfeiffer says she looks forward to returning to visit her new friends in the Gulf Coast.

I would be willing to go back on these trips, although you know it is the kind of thing where it was such a good experience you are sort of afraid to go because it might not be as good experience the next time. But yeah I would definitely like to go back to Pearlington and see the progress and see how things are going.

This demonstration of good will between New York and the Gulf Coast shows no signs of ending any time soon.

Gini Sikes, VOA News, New York.

¤注解¤:

1. counsel vt. 劝告, 忠告
2. compensation n. 补偿, 赔偿
3. virtually adv. 事实上, 实质上
4. Baptist n. 施洗者, 浸信会教友

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angelonduty : 2007-02-02#37
Indonesia Opens Conference Aimed at Halting Bird Flu

At least 39 people in Indonesia have died of bird flu since 2003 - 28 of them just this year. With the outbreak continuing, Jakarta has turned to international experts for help in fighting the virus.

Indonesia has the second-highest number of human cases-51 and deaths from the H5N1 virus. Only Vietnam, with 93 cases and 42 deaths, has more.

But experts are worried because Vietnam has virtually halted human cases this year, not a single one so far, while in Indonesia, the numbers keep rising.

A three-day meeting that began Wednesday in Jakarta is meant to bolster the country's efforts to contain the H5N1 virus.

The conference aims to address criticism from international donors of Indonesia's plans for fighting the disease. The country has appealed to aid organizations and other countries for 900 million dollars to pay for bird vaccines, public education, and mass poultry culling programs. The World Bank recently said it needed to see a detailed plan before it would commit funding.

However, there are some areas where Jakarta is making progress. Paul Gully is a WHO senior adviser at the conference. He says Indonesia is providing good surveillance for the disease, and has been able to report outbreaks quickly.

There are actions being taken locally in terms of controlling avian influenza poultry, and investigation in humans, but I think everyone would agree a lot more needs to be done.

The H5N1 virus spreads mainly in poultry, most human victims got the disease from handling sick birds. Many experts advocate killing all birds exposed to the virus, even those that are still healthy to contain the virus.

But Indonesia has resisted mass culling because of the cost of compensating the birds' owners, who often depend on their poultry for income or family meals.

Scientists at the Jakarta meeting will also look into possible changes in the virus that would allow it to spread easily from person to person. Experts fear such viral changes could lead to a flu pandemic that could kill millions of people.

Indonesia has seen several cases in which the virus may have spread from person to person. The WHO's Gully says, however, it does not appear that the virus has changed significantly.

If avian influenza continues, human cases will continue to occur, and then if the right circumstances exist, then probably human to human cases will again continue to occur. Doesn't necessarily mean that we're in a different pandemic state, or that the virus has changed. It's just a question of if the circumstances are right, then probably it will happen.

The group is scheduled to meet through Friday, and is expected to draft a joint assessment of the country's anti-bird flu measures and a list of recommendations on how the country can strengthen its efforts.

Chad Bouchard, VOA News, Jakarta.

¤注解¤:

1. Vietnam n. 越南
2. bolster v. 支持
3. surveillance n. 监视, 监督
4. poultry n. 家禽

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angelonduty : 2007-02-02#38
大家喜欢的话我会逐渐把剩下的部分贴上来.我自己每天5课已经接近尾声了.每天晚上花2个小时啥都不干,专门听,听差不多了看看文章有没有什么特别要记忆的东西.然后第二天上班再带上耳机把这5课反复听听,然后跟老外聊天的时候用英语讨论讨论这些话题.再跟同事拉拉这方面的家常.这样下来自己的英语复述能力和中文翻译准确能力都大大提高.

capricornus : 2007-02-03#39
支持

yingxuan1_1 : 2007-02-03#40
楼主很有毅力呀!佩服加努力学习中……

yangyang2005 : 2007-02-03#41
good job,thanks
支持楼主也开班,正好可以两个班(你、我的班)一起学习
建议楼主在每帖都增加标题(如第一课的标题为:Lesson a001——2006 Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma Showcases Dance and Art)

yangyang2005 : 2007-02-03#42
报告:第1-13课已经下载完毕(感觉比新概念英语难度要高不少,大汗)
我需要加强练习听力,继续跟楼主学习

angelonduty : 2007-02-03#43
报告:第1-13课已经下载完毕(感觉比新概念英语难度要高不少,大汗)
我需要加强练习听力,继续跟楼主学习
要想融入英语环境,听懂英语广播是最基本的呀! 毕竟那些hosts 发音标准口齿清楚.生活中的英语还有些些的难度. 慢慢来吧,边训练语速边扩大词汇.

angelonduty : 2007-02-03#44
good job,thanks
支持楼主也开班,正好可以两个班(你、我的班)一起学习
建议楼主在每帖都增加标题(如第一课的标题为:Lesson a001――2006 Red Earth Festival in Oklahoma Showcases Dance and Art)
好建议,我改进!

yangyang2005 : 2007-02-03#45
ok

angelonduty : 2007-02-05#46
<美国之音>第3季度上-014-Jazz Singer Karrin Allyson Leaves "Footprints"

Jazz Singer Karrin Allyson Leaves "Footprints"

It's not often you hear someone singing songs by Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. In fact, you might wonder if it's ever been done at all.
Until now, jazz vocalists have kept to the straight-and-narrow, singing songs from the Great American Songbook or trying out new material that never strayed too far from the pop mainstream. Until now, jazz vocalists were more or less content singing the tried, the true, and the time-honored songs that audiences love to hear. That is, until Karrin Allyson.
Karrin Allyson came along at just the right time. In an age of sensory overload, Allyson figured out that the best way to cut through all the noise was to make the music less noisy. And with jazz being one of the most demanding genres in terms of its constant need for attention, well, the simpler the better.
Interestingly, it was classical piano that first drew Karrin Allyson to music. Later, with an overwhelming desire to sing, she tried '70s pop, then funk-rock, and finally jazz at a nightclub in downtown Kansas City.
A string of successful albums now finds Allison living and working in New York City, where great studio musicians are readily available. It only makes senses to have the best when improvising jazz by Horace Silver, Nat Adderly, Wayne Shorter and Oscar Brown, Junior.
Listen to Karrin Allyson as she shifts into high gear on "Everybody's Boppin'" from her new album "Footprints," featuring guest vocalists Jon Hendricks and Nancy King.
I’m Doug Levine.


¤注解¤:

1. vocalist n. 声乐家, 歌手
2. mainstream n. 主流
3. sensory adj. 感觉的, 感官的
4. overwhelming adj. 压倒性的, 无法抵抗的
5. available adj. 可利用的, 有用的

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angelonduty : 2007-02-05#47
SW指标用完!

yangyang2005 : 2007-02-05#48
good
下载完毕

rong : 2007-02-05#49
还没来得及下载呢,先排个队~~

watercumt : 2007-02-05#50
刚下了,thank you

angelonduty : 2007-02-06#51
美国之音第三季度上015-Pesticides May Increase Men's Risk of Parkinson's

Pesticides May Increase Men's Risk of Parkinson's

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota have found that using pesticides increases men's risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a debilitating neurological condition that affects movement. Dr. Jim Maraganore matched about 150 Parkinson's patients with a group of the same age and gender without the disease. He compared their histories, looking for exposure to insecticides and herbicides.

These were people who were reporting exposures… regular exposures to pesticides either at work or outside of work.

Scientists already know that men are more likely to get Parkinson's disease than women. But Maraganore found a more significant difference between the sexes in his study.

Women who were exposed to pesticides, whether at work or outside of work, had no increased in their risk for Parkinson's disease. But by contrast, men who were exposed to pesticides at work or outside of work had more than a doubling in their risk for Parkinson's disease.

Maraganore says the gender difference raises interesting ideas about the causes of Parkinson's disease. He says one possibility is that women's sex hormones might protect their nervous systems. Another might be the fact that the female body can suppress problems on one of their X-chromosomes, and use genes from their second X-chromosome. But men have only one X-chromosome.

So one possibility is that to get Parkinson's disease, you have to not only be exposed to pesticides, but you have to be genetically predisposed. And if that genetic predisposition is X-linked, then men may be more likely to be vulnerable when exposed than women.

Maraganore says that Parkinson's is a complex disease with no single cause. He estimated that pesticide exposure accounts for only 10 to 15% of cases.

I'm Rose Hoban.

¤注解¤:

1. pesticide n. 杀虫剂
2. neurological adj. 神经学上的
3. Parkinson n. 帕金森症
4. gender n. [语法] 性, <口>性别

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angelonduty : 2007-02-07#52
美国之音第三季度上016-Producer Arif Mardin Remembered as Man with Golden Musical Touch

Producer Arif Mardin Remembered as Man with Golden Musical Touch

Arif Mardin had a knack for knowing what audiences wanted. He was also a natural at matching just the right artist with just the right song. And nobody topped his sense of timing. When the Bee Gees hit a rut in the early '70s, Mardin encouraged the group to take a disco direction. Under Mardin's wing, the "reinvented" Bee Gees had their first Number One hit in four years with "Jive Talkin'," setting the stage for more hits in the years to come.
Arif Mardin came to United States from his native Turkey in 1958. Although he held degrees in commerce and economics from the University of Istanbul, his passion for American jazz drove him toward a career in music. He enrolled in the Berklee College Of Music before moving to New York to test his skills at Atlantic Records. It was at Atlantic, working with the legendary team of Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd, that Mardin made his mark.
Arif Mardin was instrumental in crafting some of Atlantic's biggest hits, including Aretha Franklin's soul smash "Respect." He produced Number One singles for The Young Rascals and Average White Band.
Boundaries never limited Mardin. He collaborated with everyone from Willie Nelson and John Prine to Brook Benton and Bette Midler, as well as Barbra Streisand, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Phil Collins, Anita Baker and George Benson. He also produced jazz for Dianne Reeves and Herbie Mann, and even crossed over into television, film and Broadway.
Mardin retired from Atlantic Records in 2001, but re-emerged as an executive with EMI's Blue Note label, where he co-produced Norah Jones' Grammy-winning debut album Come Away With Me. During his 40 years in the music business, Mardin earned 11 Grammy Awards and more than 50 gold or platinum albums. He was inducted into the Recording Academy's Hall of Fame in 1990.
Famed producer and arranger Arif Mardin died of cancer June 25 in New York. He was 74.
I’m Doug Levine.


¤注解¤:
1. reinvent vt. 彻底改造, 改头换面
2. enroll v. 登记, 参加
3. legendary adj. 传说中的
4. instrumental adj. 作为手段的
5. platinum n. 白金

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yoyocomeback : 2007-02-07#53
如数下载,感谢楼主的辛苦劳动!

rong : 2007-02-07#54
虽然我跟不上它的语速,但我觉得很好听,很柔美的感觉~

Cherrys : 2007-02-07#55
多谢楼主的分享,十分感激!!!

angelonduty : 2007-02-07#56
如数下载,感谢楼主的辛苦劳动!
Is it so nice to save these things for yourself? it's all free hahaha.

angelonduty : 2007-02-07#57
虽然我跟不上它的语速,但我觉得很好听,很柔美的感觉~
You've got to keep up with the speed, try your best, for obtaining your listening skills if you do want to live in an English environment someday.

angelonduty : 2007-02-08#58
美国之音第三季度上017-Putin Calls for Talks with US on New Disarmament Treaty

Putin Calls for Talks with US on New Disarmament Treaty


President Putin has proposed launching new talks to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, as a 2009 expiration deadline nears.

The treaty signed by the United States and then Soviet Union in 1991 requires both sides to significantly reduce their strategic nuclear arsenals.

Mr. Putin expressed concerns that disarmament efforts have, in his words, effectively stagnated. Through no fault of Russia's, he adds. And he urged the United States to return to the negotiating table.

His comments were carried during a rare television broadcast of President Putin addressing Russian diplomats. He laid out a vision of a foreign policy based on, what he called, equal footing and universal principles of international law.

The Russian president said he is convinced that dialogue, not isolation of one state or another, is what resolves crises like that now playing out in the West over Iran's nuclear program.

A key economic ally of Iran, Russia has resisted Western pressure to back U.N. sanctions against Tehran if it does not reveal the full nature of its nuclear program and guarantee to halt controversial uranium enrichment. Washington fears Tehran could use such enrichment to build a nuclear weapon.

President Putin told the diplomats that ultimatums only serve to push situations to a dead-end.

He also urged the diplomats to keep the Middle East and the whole of the Asia-Pacific region within their sights.

The Russian leader is urging a foreign policy of equality and mutual respect with the United States. Several times during the past few years, President Putin has suggested that Russia is often lectured to by the West, rather than respected or heard.

That frustration was again evident when the president sought to downplay recent criticism over Russia's decision to switch to market-based settlements for gas with its neighbors, like Ukraine.

Mr. Putin says the criticism is politically motivated and based on, as he put it, outdated perceptions and prejudices of Russia. Not everyone is ready for Russia to restore its economic health so quickly, he adds.

The president addressed the diplomatic corps a little more than two weeks to go before the upcoming G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg, which Russia is hosting for the first time.

Lisa McAdams, VOA News, Moscow.

¤注解¤:

1. strategic adj. 战略的, 战略上的
2. arsenal n. 兵工厂, 军械库
3. disarmament n. 裁军
4. controversial adj. 争论的, 争议的

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rong : 2007-02-08#59
顶下,在下载前面的~

angelonduty : 2007-02-09#60
美国之音第三季度上018-Smokey Robinson has "Timeless Love" for Pop Standards

Smokey Robinson has "Timeless Love" for Pop Standards

One of Smokey Robinson's earliest musical memories was of listening to his mother's collection of B.B. King, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstein records. But, Smokey was also drawn to the golden era of swing, a time when a singer was called a crooner, the song was king, and composers George Gershwin and Cole Porter were all the rage.
By the time Smokey Robinson arrived at Motown Records in 1959, he was already well-versed in pop songwriting, a talent that impressed Motown founder Berry Gordy, Junior, so much he appointed Smokey Vice President of the rising Detroit label. At age 20, Smokey embarked on a career that has produced more than 70 Top 40 hits as both a soloist and as the leader of The Miracles. Over the course of five decades he's written thousands of songs, earning him the title "America's poet laureate of love."
After all these years, Smokey Robinson decided it was time to pay tribute to some of his favorite composers and the songs that made him eager to perform. "Tea For Two" was one of those songs. "You Go To My Head" was another.
Smokey Robinson interprets a dozen pop classics on his album Timeless Love, leaving room for one original titled "I Love Your Face." Maybe someday it will included in the Smokey Robinson Songbook.
I’m Doug Levine.


¤注解¤:
1. crooner n. 低声唱歌的人或歌手
2. impress vt. 留下印象
3. soloist n. 独奏者, 独唱者
4. laureate n. 戴桂冠的人
5. interpret v. 解释, 口译, 通译,演绎

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rong : 2007-02-09#61
You've got to keep up with the speed, try your best, for obtaining your listening skills if you do want to live in an English environment someday.
I WILL. THANK YOU~~

midoculiao : 2007-02-09#62
:wdb10:

watercumt : 2007-02-09#63
xie xie

angelonduty : 2007-02-10#64
美国之音第三季度上019-UNICEF Announces Recovery Plan for Pakistan Earthquake Zone

UNICEF Announces Recovery Plan for Pakistan Earthquake Zone


Pakistan's earthquake killed more than 70,000 people and left another 3.5 million homeless. Almost 10,000 schools were damaged or destroyed. Hospitals, roads, water systems, telecommunications and other infrastructure were knocked out.

The United Nations figures it will take at least a decade to fully reconstruct the earthquake zone.

The U.N. Children's Fund is one of several U.N. agencies participating in Pakistan's recovery effort. UNICEF says it will focus on education and the restoration of public health facilities. It says plans are under way to construct 500 earthquake-resistant schools, 70 rural health centers and 1,000 water supply systems.

UNICEF Spokesman, Damien Personnaz, says the agency will seize this opportunity to build schools in places where none existed before.

Some of the areas there are basically stuck during the winter. It is extremely difficult for young kids to go from their home to the school during the day. So they need to have a kind of semi-boarding schools and that is also something where UNICEF would like to work on. It poses some problems in terms of logistics. The main aim is to bring the schools where the people are and not the opposite.

UNICEF says it has extensive plans to raise the level and extent of education, health care and hygiene awareness. It plans to provide clean water and sanitation.

Personnaz says UNICEF expects the schools and health facilities that will be built in remote villages to become centers where a number of important activities will be provided.

They can go to these specific health centers to get all kinds of immunization activities. They also can be trained. They also can get some school supplies. They also can get some basic medicines. It is very important for the local community, for the lives of these remote villages to know that there is a place where you can get a lot of basic social services.

Personnaz says training will be provided to around 20,000 teachers and 4,000 community health workers, including women health workers. He says this is particularly important because many women will not go to men with their health problems.

He says UNICEF aims to have about 500,000 children enrolled in primary school by mid-2008. He says this will include all the children who went to school before the earthquake struck, plus an additional 30 percent of children who never attended school. He says a big effort will be made to get girls enrolled.

Lisa Schlein, for VOA News, Geneva.

¤注解¤:

1. infrastructure n. 基础下部组织
2. restoration n. 恢复, 修补, 重建
3. hygiene n. 卫生, 卫生学
4. sanitation n. 卫生, 卫生设施

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galaxy : 2007-02-10#65
LZ辛苦了,谢谢了!

rong : 2007-02-11#66
UP~~~~~

ammylv24 : 2007-02-11#67
谢谢LZ!!

angelonduty : 2007-02-13#68
美国之音第三季度上020-Women's Life Behind Bars: Punishment or Reform?

Women's Life Behind Bars: Punishment or Reform?

The fastest growing population in the American prison system is women; over 950,000 women are currently under some form of correctional supervision. Some prison reform advocates say time behind bars may pay their debt to society, but society is the loser in the long run because of the often devastating effect incarceration has on female prisoners' families.

After finishing a book on a last chance high school in New York City for troubled teen girls, journalist Christina Rathbone set her sights on the next stop for many of those young women: prison. She spent the next five years interviewing female inmates at MCI Framingham prison in Massachusetts.

"MCI Framingham prison, where I did my research, is the oldest running prison for women in America. It was the perfect location to spend some time because I could tell, through spending time there, the whole history of women in prison in this country, as well as some of the stories of women who are in prison today."

Rathbone says she found many aspects of life behind bars familiar. "Like any building being lived in by 500 to 600 women, it was really a space of women getting together, trying to help each other, perhaps falling into rather bitter cliques. But certainly not a place where women were attacking each other or threatening each other, the way so often happens in men prisons. This comes from the reality that almost none of them are violent offenders. More than two-thirds of men are incarcerated for crimes against people and property, like theft, assault, murder and so forth. The same amount of women, more than two-thirds, are incarcerated for crimes that have to do with bringing pain and injury only to themselves, crimes related to sex abuse and drug abuse."

She was surprised to learn that most of the women at Framingham were the primary caretakers of their children. "The fact that they have been locked up for often long sentences for these minor, nonviolent crimes means that their children are left without any caretaker at all. So not only are we punishing the mothers for their questionable choices, but we're also punishing the generation after them."

In her book, A World Apart: Women, Prison, and Life Behind Bars, Rathbone puts a human face on the statistics and provides often heart-breaking portraits of the women she came to know. "The main character in my book, a woman I call Denise, had a 9-year-old son when she was sent away. And he was 14 by the time she was released. When she was sent away, he was a normal little boy who loved Beanie Babies and ice hockey. By the time she got out, he had been abused by his father, with whom he went to live, removed from his father's care and placed in foster care. There, he was moved around from place to place, and abused, and stolen from, until finally, in a desperate bid for attention, he started to shoplift. By the time Denise finally got out for her five years for her non-violent first-time offense, her own son was in the juvenile facility serving time for shoplifting himself."

"What really concerns me more than anything is the ability to take care of their children." Massachusetts State Representative Kay Khan is a strong advocate for protecting inmates' mother-child relationships.

She has been working on a number of bills that would provide female inmates with the knowledge and means they need to stay in touch with their children. "While they are in prison, the children could have the opportunity to stay with their mothers, and mothers can learn how to bond with their children and how to take care of them, and learn the things that are needed in order to continue to care for their children when they leave the prison. This, I think, can help them recognize what they might need to be doing and thinking about in the future, rather than going back to the life they were in before they came into the criminal justice system."

Author Christina Rathbone says sometimes, something as simple as a free phone call can make a huge difference for children. "Most people in prison can only make collect calls from prison. That means that if their child is in the foster care system, they can never call their children because no state agency accepts collect calls. Many of the children I met and spoke with didn't really understand why it was that their mothers couldn't come home. And more troubling, didn't understand why their mothers couldn't call them on their birthday or at holidays."

Rathbone says while it's crucial to maintain the bond between mothers behind bars and children outside prison, any effort to reform the current criminal justice system must look beyond the end of the women's sentences. "Too large a segment of our population believes that offering education to people in prison is a waste of money, when it has actually been proven time and time again in studies that it costs infinitely less money to educate someone in prison and then have them released and not return to prison than to do nothing with them in there and have them just come right back because it costs an average of about $40,000 a year to hold someone in prison in this country. $40,000 a year! That's more than it costs to go to Harvard and we're getting nothing for it, not even a high school diploma."

Rathbone says these women came into prison under-employed, but if they're given the appropriate educational and training opportunities, they will leave prison with options for making a decent living - and life - for themselves and their children

I’m Faith Lapitus.


¤注解¤:

1. devastating adj. 破坏性的, 全然的
2. clique n. 私党, 小圈子
3. incarcerate vt. 把...关进监狱, 监禁, 幽闭
4. decent adj. 相当好的, 象样的

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rong : 2007-02-15#69
又下载了,THANKS A LOT~~~

positive2006 : 2007-02-15#70
谢谢楼主

都下载了,感谢热心的楼主 。不好意思,太LOW TECH, 不知道怎么加分分,不过真的十分感谢

yingxuan1_1 : 2007-02-21#71
期待新的!

yangyang2005 : 2007-02-26#72
好帖子,我置顶了
大家继续跟楼主学习啊

angelonduty : 2007-02-26#73
谢谢领导支持!
这里俺休息了几天,留给大家一些时间消化这些听力及其原文.

yangyang2005 : 2007-02-27#74
谢谢领导支持!
这里俺休息了几天,留给大家一些时间消化这些听力及其原文.
不客气
我的班在春节期间也休息了一段时间,今天准备继续上课了 :wdb6:

liyouyou : 2007-02-27#75
thanks a lot

angelonduty : 2007-02-27#76
《美国之音》2006第3季度上001b-City Slickers Learn Ranching Skills...

City Slickers Learn Ranching Skills at 40th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Dylan Biggs is no Hollywood cowboy. He says the movie version of ranchers on horseback roping frenzied cattle is not his style.
"I am able to get the cattle to do what I want them to do without the use of force and fear, just by virtue of my position, my movement and my energy and my motion. It is a matter of being in the right place, at the right time in the right manner. And ultimately you have to take all that direction from the cattle."
Biggs practices what he calls low-stress livestock handling. He says it is simply good stockmanship.
"Instead of having to run around chasing cattle, I can very calmly ask the cattle to get up, start walking exactly where I want them to go and they actually get there. So, it takes a lot less effort on my part."
Biggs demonstrates with a few gentle cows trucked in from a farm in nearby rural Maryland. The cows seem unfazed by the tourists in the bleachers or by Biggs who walks determinedly among them.
"I want to teach them to start, speed up, slow down, turn left, turn right and stop, just by virtue of my movement and my position."
No need to prod or whip. Biggs says cows are not stupid animals.
"Cattle learn very quickly. In anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half, you can have a herd of 150 cattle …you can have them softened up and [you can] put them where you want them without any fuss."
Calm cows walk with heads down below their shoulders like they are trailing in for a drink of water. Biggs says keeping them that way is good for the cattle and good for the pocketbook.
"Happy, healthier contented animals are healthier animals. They gain better. They have less sickness, less disease. Their immune system is healthier. It saves me medicines. It saves me on death loss..."
Biggs says low-stress handling is gaining attention as more consumers make choices based on how cattle are raised. His humane approach engaged tourists unaccustomed to seeing cows downtown.
"You can see the intelligence in the animals come out…"
"I usually thought that moving them around was something that meant you had to resort to violence or roping or what you see in the cowboy movies. These were very interesting techniques for getting cows to do things they want to do."
Biggs says his methods are similar to what old-time cowboys did on the range before the rise of large factory farms. Biggs uses his skill back on his family ranch in Alberta, Canada, but he also conducts private workshops in low-stress livestock management all across Canada and the United States.
Rosanne Skirble, VOA news.

¤注解¤:

1. rancher n. <美>牧场主, 农场工人, 牛仔
2. livestock n. 家畜, 牲畜
3. pocketbook n. 笔记本, 皮夹, 经济来源
4. immune adj. 免疫的

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angelonduty : 2007-03-02#77
《美国之音》2006第3季度上002b-Congress Debates Free and Open Internet

Congress Debates Free and Open Internet

At an Internet café in downtown Washington D.C, consumers enjoy the benefits of a free and unfettered World Wide Web. Up on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are debating something called Net neutrality, a provision of the new telecommunications bill that would keep network owners from controlling the content and services that flow over their network.
Ben Scott is Policy Director for Free Press, a consumer organization that advocates Net neutrality. "Net neutrality is a simple concept that lays at the base of communications law for the Internet. It is, simply put, non-discrimination. It means that if you own a network, you can't discriminate against the content or services that flow over your network."
But network owners, such as Verizon, Comcast, and A.T.&T. don't see it that way. Under Net neutrality they would have to continue charging all customers the same rate for use of their networks. They argue the marketplace should dictate cost -- and want the option to charge content companies at any rate they see fit, just as different banks set A.T.M. fees as they see fit. The network owners see Net neutrality as corporate welfare for Internet content companies such as Microsoft, Google and E-bay.
Scott Cleland is with Net Competition.org, a lobbying organization that represents network owners. "They want a special deal for just a few companies. And we don't think that is smart or the way to run the Internet. The best way to guard a free and open Internet is free and open competition, not regulating the Internet."
But the networks are not getting much support form the public. All the major U.S. consumer groups have endorsed Net neutrality. They say the network owners' opposition to Net neutrality has nothing to do with free market competition. Ben Scott says they are more interested in being able to selectively discriminate what they charge content providers. "You can make a pile of money if you can force every content provider on the Internet to pay you a double toll. Once to get on the Internet and once to reach customers at a guaranteed quality of service."
The consumer groups say if content providers are forced to pay more to network owners, they would have no choice but to pass those costs on to Internet users.
Scott adds, the cost will be borne by consumers. "If you want to guarantee that your site downloads then you are going to have to pay an extra fee. Are Google and Amazon and Yahoo just going to swallow hard and take that hit, take that money out their pocket and give it to Verizon? Of course not, they are going to pass those costs along to the consumer."
Convergence is another issue on the Net neutrality battleground. Both network owners and service provider companies are looking to expand into the other's businesses. The network owners want to get involved in e-commerce and compete with companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and E-bay. Likewise, the content providers want to move into the communications field by providing phone, television and movie services over the web.
Scott Cleland -- who represents the network owners -- argues that Net neutrality would regulate his clients out of the e-commerce business. "Right now Microsoft, Yahoo, and E-Bay, they are converging into the communications sector. What they want is regulation that prevents competition the other way that broadband companies shouldn't be able to converge, integrate and compete with e- commerce. We think that is a classic double standard and Americans can see that."
Consumer groups don't buy that argument either. They say what the network owners really want is the ability to control the marketplace as they move into e-commerce and compete with the big web content providers.
Scott says, "The Internet is already a free market. It is already doing its thing for consumers. What they are talking about is changing the free market into a market that has a gatekeeper. And the gatekeeper will be the network owner. The network owner will decide which websites work better and which don't. That is not a free market. That is a market dictated by the owner of the network. That's a monopoly market much like cable TV."
A Senate committee has rejected the Net neutrality provision as part of the larger telecom bill. Analysts say it is unlikely the full Senate will have a chance to vote on the bill before the summer recess.
What is at stake is the business model and structure of the Internet, as we know it. Web companies around the globe are watching what happens in the U.S., looking at the new Internet business model network owners are developing and contemplating whether it will be profitable for them.
Jeff Swicord, VOA NEWS.

¤注解¤:

1. unfetter v. 解放
2. neutrality n. 中立, 中性
3. endorse v. 在(票据)背面签名, 签注认可
4. convergence n. 集中, 收敛

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qipeng : 2007-03-03#78
非常感谢,收入囊中,好人好报!

angelonduty : 2007-03-03#79
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b003-Despite Progress in Fight Against AIDS, Challenges Remain...

Despite Progress in Fight Against AIDS, Challenges Remain Even in US

An unusual report in a medical journal published 25 years ago last month gave the first scientific description of the disease we now know as AIDS. Experts say that while great strides have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of this global malady, there is still widespread public ignorance about AIDS and how to prevent its spread.
In 1981, doctors for the first time identified symptoms of the virus that caused AIDS in a group of five homosexual men in California who had developed a rare form of pneumonia. Their mysterious symptoms were initially called GRID - short for gay-related immune disorder. Doctors continued to use the term GRID until the late 1980's when the name was changed to HIV, short for Human Immuno-deficiency Virus. Today, there are 40 million people in the world living with HIV and the syndrome illness it spawns, known as AIDS.
Dr. Alan Greenberg is a physician and professor at the George Washington University Medical School in Washington, D.C. "Twenty-five years is a long time, and it's a great time of reflection in the medical community about some of the successes that have occurred in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but also about the challenges facing us in the years ahead." Dr. Greenberg has seen some of these successes first-hand at the George Washington University Hospital, where he treats AIDS patients as a volunteer physician.
Scientists developed the first AIDS treatment program in the late 1980's, but only a cocktail of drugs discovered in 1996 has been able to control the virus and prolong the life of HIV-positive individuals. Challenges remain, including finding a cure.
In the 1980s the medical community had thought it would be able to cure AIDS in just a few years. Philippe Chiliad is the medical director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C., which treats 2,000 HIV-positive patients in the nation's capital. "The big disappointment is to see how difficult it has been really to control the disease and probably how difficult it will be to find a cure."
The Washington area has one of the highest rates of new HIV infections in the United States. The privately-funded Whitman-Walker Clinic is on the front lines of the city's fight against AIDS. The clinic opened as a gay and lesbian health center three decades ago, treating sexually transmitted diseases. After AIDS hit the gay community in the 1980s, the clinic expanded its work to HIV treatment and prevention. Today its services also include counseling, food and legal services.
The Whitman-Walker clinic offers educational programs and is supporting efforts by the Washington, D.C. government to have all city residents tested. Dr. Chelliade says that as many as one in three HIV-positive people in Washington, D.C. don't know they carry the virus. That number is close to the national percentage.
Chelliade adds that other patients who know they are HIV positive don't get medical attention. "We need to better understand why people who are aware that they are HIV positive do not enter care. Lots of these issues, like people not getting tested, are related to issues of poverty and access to health care in general. This is the area where not a lot has been done."
Thomas Milburne was diagnosed with HIV in 1985 and has had full-blown AIDS since February 1994. He refused to get diagnosed until his body began to succumb to the virus. "I was scared because I didn't know what to expect. At that time it was sort of like: just prepare yourself to die because there weren't that many options."
Milburne says two things kept him going: a positive attitude, and the latest medications. "It was not as bad as you thought. If you take your medication and you take care of yourself and you pay attention to what your doctors tell you, it's not the end of the world. You can deal with it and you can have a normal and happy life."
The number of HIV infections and related deaths reached a peak in the mid 1990s. The rate has dropped steadily since 1996.
Dr. Alan Greenberg of George Washington University says there is reason to be hopeful that the disease can be conquered. But he says finding a cure and eliminating AIDS will require sustained moral, political and financial commitments from governments around the world. "The scientific community has realized that without the larger support, political will and financial commitment of government, there is a limit to what medicine can do."
Ten years ago, the international community responded to the AIDS epidemic. It formed UN-AIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, which coordinates the global responses and resources of ten U-N system organizations. The organization works to prevent and treat AIDS in 75 countries around the world.
U.N. efforts, increased private philanthropic support for the fight against AIDS, and a steady stream of medical advances, have all helped slow the spread of the virus, and extend and improve the lives of those who have been infected. No one can say yet when, or if, AIDS will be cured. But the quest continues.
I am Ana Hontz Ward in Washington.

¤注解¤:

1. stride v. 大步走(过), 跨过, n. 步幅
2. diagnosis n. 诊断
3. pneumonia n. [医] 肺炎
4. lesbian n. 女性同性恋者

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阳光下的梦 : 2007-03-03#80
谢谢楼主!辛苦了!我都收藏了慢慢学习。

angelonduty : 2007-03-04#81
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b004-Folklife Festival Focuses on New Orleans Music

Folklife Festival Focuses on New Orleans Music

Lonnie Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, sat with the audience at the Folklife Festival enjoying the sunny day after a week of torrential rains had soaked the capital city. Smiling and tapping his foot to the pure New Orleans sound of the Original Liberty Jazz Band, Bunch mused on how Hurricane Katrina may have changed what some have called America's classical music.
"What strikes me is that there is another layer now on top of the music that wasn't there a year ago. A layer of urgency, a layer of immediacy, layer that says 'this has survived. So let's continue to celebrate!'"
It's taken a while for Michael White to feel like celebrating. He's the leader of the Original Liberty Jazz Band, and one of America's foremost jazz scholars. The flooding destroyed White's huge collection of original jazz manuscripts, vintage musical instruments and historical photographs, many dating back to jazz's earliest days. Still, White says the disaster deepened his sense of artistic purpose.
"As important as New Orleans music was to me before, there is even a great sense of urgency in terms of performing and spreading the message of the music because it is sort of like the local version of universal human passions and emotions. It's fun. It's danceable. It's happy. It's sad. There is a grace and a beauty in the music and it comes from the human soul and the spirit and when you go through tragedies like Katrina, it just intensifies those feelings that go into the music. And that spirit will go on."
The spirit of both modern and traditional New Orleans music derives from many sources - including the church, the sounds of black and Native American Caribbean, and African tribal drumming brought to New Orleans by slaves. Those rhythmic influences can be heard in the song, "Search My Heart" performed at the festival by The Friendly Travelers, a popular New Orleans gospel and rhythm group.
At the Festival's opening ceremony, The Friendly Travelers also performed a song in a traditional a cappella style, without accompaniment.
"The a cappella aspect incorporates the Negro spiritual part, as well as the gospel heritage that was done in Congo Square where the slaves actually were brought to New Orleans. This music and gospel music itself speaks about the suffering of slavery. It's not necessarily something we like to dwell on or think about, but it's something that happened!"
No one can deny the catastrophic impact last year's storms and floods have had on New Orleans and New Orleanians. But Friendly Traveler member Floyd Turner believes some good has come from the disaster.
"…I think it's made a lot of people stronger in their belief in God because you can work all your life to achieve goals (and) gain material things. And you can just see in the twinkling of an eye, everything was gone that you worked so hard for! But God still spared your life. New Orleans is coming back. Little by little, neighborhood by neighborhood. So you've got to look at the whole picture."
Some say only those who live in New Orleans can really understand the joy residents feel about their home city, or the sorrow they felt when Katrina scattered them across the country. But Friendly Travelers' lead singer, Alfred Pens, says anyone with ears can hear both the sorrow and the joy.
"Come on! Man! Music! That is the nucleus! Because music is the universal language. People look at your eyes and the heart. So if you do it from your heart, it becomes universal. People understand that."
The endowing music of New Orleans Louisiana after hurricane Katrina feature this year at the Smithsonian Institution's Folklife Festival on the National Mall.
In Washington, this is Adam Phillips reporting.
¤注解¤:

1. torrential adj. 奔流的
2. vintage adj. 古老的, 最佳的, 过时的
3. Caribbean n. 加勒比海
4. catastrophic adj. 悲惨的, 灾难的

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lynn_li : 2007-03-04#82
多谢LZ啦!

peninsula : 2007-03-04#83
LZ真是好人,谢谢!

angelonduty : 2007-03-05#84
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b005-Immigrants in US Justice System: Low Numbers, High Image

Immigrants in US Justice System: Low Numbers, High Image

There are about 120,000 non-citizen inmates in state, local and federal prisons in the United States. Many are simply waiting for deportation; others are there for felonies that include murder, rape, robbery and drug smuggling.
However, the number can be misleading if they are not placed into context, according to Allen Back who oversees correction statistics at the Justice Department.
"About 20 percent of Federal inmates are not from the United States. That is about 35,000 inmates in the federal system. About half of them are there for immigration violations, the other half for criminal violations and typically drug offenses."
Back says the available figures do not differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants and they do not compare rates of incarceration with the general population.
"I think it is important to understand that the immigrant population is not a growing population in the criminal justice system. The growth in our nations' prison and jails is not largely attributed to the growth in the immigrant population, the non-citizen's population."
The Migration Policy Institute in Washington has completed a study about immigrants and the justice system, based on a micro sample from the 2000 National Census.
Kathleen Newland is the director. "Contrary to a lot of erroneous public perceptions, immigrants actually have the lowest rate of incarceration for criminal offenses of any population group in the country."
Newland says about 3.5 percent of the U.S. population is incarcerated at any given time. As a group, African Americans have the highest incarceration rate while among immigrants; the proportion is about 1.3 percent, considerably lower than any other group.
Kathleen Newland says those most likely to be incarcerated are males with low education, usually high school dropouts. That pattern does not hold for the immigrant population.
“Some of the lowest educated immigrant groups on average like Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, have an incarceration rate of about half of one percent. They are lower even than the general immigrant population."
However, Newland notes that this changes with the children of immigrants.
"While the foreign born have very low rates of incarceration compared to the U.S.-born people, the rate rises the longer someone has been in the United States and for the second generation, that is the children of immigrants, the rates of incarceration multiplied compared to their parents, the first generation of immigrants, in some cases by five, six, seven, eight times."
Some anti-immigration groups insist that many immigrants already have criminal records when they come to the United States.
"We know very little about that in statistical terms. If it is true, then there is a remarkable amount of reform among those who immigrate after they committed crimes in their home country because we see these very low rates of incarceration."
Experts estimate that about 12 million people are in the United States illegally. Immigration violations are part of civil law, not criminal law. Illegal immigrants may be detained prior to being deported, but that is not a criminal offense. Currently, a bill passed by the House of Representatives would criminalize illegal immigrants. If approved by the Senate, the measure would turn those 12 million illegal immigrants into felons.
Melinda Smith, VOA news.
¤注解¤:

1. deportation n. 移送, 充军, 放逐
2. felony n. [律]重罪
3. incarcerate vt. 把...关进监狱, 监禁, 幽闭
4. detain v. 拘留, 留住, 阻止

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angelonduty : 2007-03-06#85
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b006-India's 'Hugging Saint' Embraced by America

India's 'Hugging Saint' Embraced by America

The American media have dubbed her the "hugging saint." This 53 year-old south Indian woman named "Amma" - the word means "mother" in Sanskrit - is actually a religious guru known for the hugs she gives those who seek an audience with her. She is reported to have millions of devoted followers in her native India. But Amma also has a following as well in the United States, where tens of thousands of Americans already sold on the healing power of yoga and meditation, have lined up to see and experience Amma on her annual North American tours.
The large open auditorium at the Manhattan Center is a swirl of sound and color on the first day of Amma's visit to New York, as vendors sell intricate Indian silks and religious objects, as well as photographs of Amma, and tout her many large-scale charitable projects - from tsunami relief, to support for universities, hospitals and orphanages. Chanting and sitar music add to the atmosphere.
But the absolute focus in the room is chubby, dark-skinned Amma herself. Hour after hour, wearing flowing white traditional dress, she sits at the foot of the stage, hugging those who have lined up for her embrace, whispering holy blessings, offering them candy, fruit and extra prayers.
"I am here for love, Amma's divine love. Amma's message is compassion. And I think we have such a need for that, especially in New York where everything gets so hectic and we are so busy trying to pay the bills, and we have so many problems. And we come to Amma and we feel that sense of peace."
Many, like Tracy from suburban New Jersey, learned about Amma only recently, and decided to come see her in the hope that Amma might sooth the emotional pain she feels. "…I've got to get better within myself," she says. When asked whether she has been hugged yet, she smiles. "Not yet. I can't wait. I'm going to cry like a baby. All the bad stuff. She's gonna get it out of me. "
Amma's background and style are Hindu, yet she does not ask others to adopt that path. Indeed, she encourages people to look more deeply into their own religious traditions, whatever they are. At the root of all authentic teachings, Amma says, are love and compassion, which she tries to convey through the nurturing mother image she projects.
That was an effective form of communication for "Janini," Amma's archivist. She says that when she first saw Amma, she was a university professor -- and a deep skeptic. "And I kept watching for the slip, the flaw, the little thing that would give it away as a hoax. I never saw it. And the more I sat there, the more she seemed to me to be the real thing. … So I had this reflection. I thought 'Look, if God, or the Divine is gonna break through in our universe in these days, this is the face of God we need to see. We need God the Mother. We don't need to have the Judge, and we don't need the Lawgiver right now. We've got lots of laws and we just break them. We need love.'"
A tea merchant named Lee says that, over time, Amma's love has brought positive change to his life. "My experience with her has made me more tolerant and more compassionate. So my life gets better because I am better to the people around me."
Amma is often compared to Mother Teresa or Gandhi in her devotion to the poor, whom she believes we are duty-bound by God to serve. But the people coming to see her on her North American tour are relatively affluent Americans. When asked why she comes to the West to embrace them, Amma says through a translator that material wealth is no indication of true riches.
"Even if you have a good house, a good car, enough money, enough food, still life is not complete. There is something lacking. So even if they have air-conditioned houses, they cannot sleep if there is no peace of mind. There are even people who commit suicide in their air-conditioned homes. Why? Without peace, without love, everything is empty."
Janini adds that there are two types of poverty that Amma addresses. "One is a poverty of the heart, and one is a poverty of physical goods such as food and shelter and so on. She said if we can just solve the poverty of the heart, the other will take care of itself," and explains that physical poverty will be taken care of "by those whose hearts have come alive. There is a starvation for love. Not to be loved, but to be loving. She's trying to help us get there."
To judge from the large crowds Amma has attracted on her North American tour that help seems to be deeply appreciated.
I’m Adam Phillips, reporting from New York.
¤注解¤:

1. Sanskrit n. 梵语 adj. 梵语的
2. auditorium n. 听众席, 观众席, <美>会堂, 礼堂
3. chubby adj. 丰满的, 圆胖的
4. authentic adj. 可信的

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rong : 2007-03-06#86
又有好些了,谢谢~~~

watercumt : 2007-03-06#87
年后的都下了,再次感谢

gdpingping : 2007-03-06#88
thx

沿路美景 : 2007-03-07#89
LZ是大好人!!衷心感谢您!!!

yoyocomeback : 2007-03-07#90
感谢!

angelonduty : 2007-03-07#91
美国之音》2006第3季度上b007-

Nathaniel Philbrick Looks at Little Known Legacy of the Pilgrims in 'Mayflower'

Until now, American author Nathaniel Philbrick has been known for his books about ocean voyages, including an award-winning shipwreck saga called In the Heart of the Sea. His latest best-seller also begins with a sea journey, but it's mostly an epic account of life in a new land. In Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War (Viking Penguin), Philbrick describes how the Pilgrims came to be among America's earliest permanent English settlers, and how they established an alliance with the Indians that helped set the course for the country's future.
Nathaniel Philbrick has been fascinated by the history around New England's Nantucket Island since moving there 20 years ago. That fascination eventually led him back to the Pilgrims, whose history he thought he already knew. Like generations of American schoolchildren before him, he had grown up learning how the Pilgrims arrived in the New World on the Mayflower in 1620, and a year later celebrated a feast of Thanksgiving with the Indians. "The more I got into it. The more I realized - no, so much more happened. And instead of being this inspiring tableau of cooperation, there was a much more complex, interesting and important story when it came to relating to what America would become."
“So you have found a lot of myths around in this story?” "A lot of myths. For example, one of the things I had been taught was that the Pilgrims sailed to the New World in search of religious freedom, and what you quickly come to realize was that the Pilgrims did not believe in religious freedom. They believed their religion was the right religion, and did not mean to tolerate others who wanted a different religion. These were not prototypical patriots. These were separatist Puritans, and their beliefs were everything."
Nathaniel Philbrick traveled the path of the Pilgrims from England to Holland to the New World, where they sought to practice a faith stripped down to the bare essentials of early Christianity. He also studied first person accounts from the time--accounts that put a human face on the 102 passengers who arrived what is now known as Provincetown Harbor in November of 1620. Already weakened by a horrific two-month voyage, they arrived just as winter was about to begin. They were greeted, in the words of their future governor, William Bradford, by a "hideous and desolate wilderness."
"Their first impressions were of sheer terror. There were very few trees, very low and sandy land. They saw no evidence of any people. In the three years when they were preparing to sail across the Atlantic, the Native Americans in southern New England were hit by a series of devastating plagues. And in some cases it killed 90 percent of the Native Americans. When the Pilgrims got there it was empty, with only the whitened bones of the dead along the shoreline, and it was here the Pilgrims planned to start a new life."
In addition to the terrible physical challenges that new life would present, the Pilgrims were beset by rivalries and tensions with those they called the Strangers, the secular settlers who accompanied them on the Mayflower.
There were also early conflicts with the surviving Indians in the region, until the Wampanoag chief Massasoit set out to forge an alliance with the newcomers. His people had been decimated by disease, and he wanted a line of defense against his powerful Indian rivals. "It would enable his people to maintain their independence, and for the English, it was an essential ally. Without Massasoit's advice, and worked with other Indian groups, they never would have lasted the first winter or very long into the decade. So for 55 years, there would be peace in Plymouth Colony, and that's unprecedented when you look at the subsequent history of not only New England, but America."
Even with the help of the Indians, half the English settlers died that first winter. The survivors observed their first anniversary in the New World with a feast of Thanksgiving, but not quite the feast of popular American myth. "It was not called a Thanksgiving by the Pilgrims and it was not so much an English celebration, although it may have been their idea, but a native celebration. The Pilgrims were outnumbered two to one by the Indians, who showed up in great numbers with five deer to add to the feast. And this is amazing when you think about the year all of them had been through."
But as the expanding English population sought more land, and the Indians who occupied it felt increasingly threatened, new sources of conflict began to arise. In 1675, Massasoit's son Philip launched a strike against the settlers that would come to be known as King Philip's War. "It quickly spread beyond Plymouth Colony and soon all of New England was up in flames. Half the towns in the region would be burned or abandoned. This conflict was only fourteen months, but it had a devastating impact on the region. More than 5,000 people were killed when the population of New England was only 70,000, making it even bloodier than the Civil War, which most of us look to as the bloodiest conflict on American soil. The English were supposedly triumphant, but it wasn't a triumph at all. By pushing the Indians too hard, they had destroyed their forefathers' way of life."
But while that peaceful and cooperative way of life didn't survive, Nathaniel Philbrick says the early example set by the settlers and the Indians left a positive legacy. "They didn't necessarily understand each other or like each other that much, but to maintain peace they had to negotiate. The second generation became a little complacent, a little greedy, and lost sight of this lesson. I think this is where the story of the Mayflower and the Pilgrims does have something to teach us. That isn’t all negative. I mean it is possible for two very different peoples to make it work. It just takes a lot of effort."
The Pilgrim legacy includes another lesson about survival as well. Armed with little more than religious zeal, they came to a new land ill-prepared for many of the physical challenges they would face. But Nathaniel Philbrick says it was their faith that enabled them to persevere. Strengthened by their beliefs and bonded by their strong sense of community, they turned a fragile settlement into a permanent home.
This is Nancy Beardsley.

¤注解¤:
1. shipwreck n. 船只失事, 海难, 遇难
2. Christianity n. 基督教
3. plague n. 瘟疫, 麻烦,灾祸
4. rivalry n. 竞争, 敌对, 敌对状态
5. triumphant adj. 胜利的, 洋洋得意的

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benkok : 2007-03-07#92
斑竹是大好人!!衷心感谢您!!!

yangyang2005 : 2007-03-07#93
好帖,继续顶

yangyang2005 : 2007-03-07#94
恭喜angelonduty荣升英语斑竹

angelonduty : 2007-03-08#95
美国之音》2006第3季度上b008

Native Americans Reach for the Stars

To many star-gazers, the ladle-shaped cluster circling the North Star is The Big Dipper. For others, it's a great bear. But the Ojibwa Indians of America's Upper Midwest see a fisher, a weasel-like animal featured in many of their legends, tumbling through the sky.
The Native American perspective of the night sky isn't widely known in the astronomy community, largely because so few Indians choose science as a career. But some Wisconsin professors are out to change that, by associating modern science with tribal traditions.
Inside Madison's old Washburn Observatory, a fat little engine rumbles away, pulling a series of gears that creak open the facility's shutter. Cool air billows into the dome as the shutter slides back, revealing the sky. University of Wisconsin astronomer Sanjay Limaye readies a large brass and steel telescope that towers over the old hardwood floors and furniture.
He says star-gazing is especially popular with visiting high school students. "They love to see the rings of Saturn, or the moons of Jupiter. Students who have had no other explicit interest in science, they go there and [say] 'Cool!’ Now that's something exciting to hear from a 15- or 16-year old!"
Among the Observatory's recent visitors were some kids from the La Courte Oreille Indian reservation of northern Wisconsin. Limaye says he'd like to see some of them come back, as astronomy students. "The challenge still is that very few Native Americans go into the careers that the nation needs. NASA, the engineers, the technicians, information processing, writing, communications...all sorts of areas."
According to a survey by the National Science Foundation, between 1990 and 2002, barely 1/2 of one percent of undergraduate engineering students were Native American. Limaye and his colleague, Patty Loew, want to raise those numbers. Loew, a Life Sciences professor at UW- Madison, and a member of the Bad River Band of Ojibwa, says there are many ancient, yet sophisticated examples of native astronomy across the Americas.
"Just as you might find Stonehenge in England, there are 'woodhenges' here which were giant calendars. We have medicine wheels that not only have cultural meaning, but also have astronomical meaning, ways that indigenous people told time and knew when to plant. If you look at some of the mounds around Chichén Itzá [in Mexico] and Tikal [in Guatemala], you find 366 steps and 52 platforms." This ancient astronomical knowledge is also demonstrated in a stone circle recently discovered in the Brazilian jungle, which scientists think served as an observatory.
Patty Loew adds that early native people were also experienced geneticists, plant biologists, and wildlife ecologists. She says today's Indian youth can study science and math, without compromising their culture.
Other native educators agree. Nancy MaryBoy is of Cherokee-Navajo descent and president of the Indigenous Education Institute, based in Bluff, Utah. She says highlighting the connection between native culture and science is vital if more Indians are to become astronauts, scientists, and technicians. "As kids begin to learn their own astronomy and feel a sense of self-identity, pride, self-esteem, this often encourages them to go on into space science."
Professors Sanjay Limaye and Patty Loew are on the case. Recently, they visited the Milwaukee Indian School. Inside the activity center, several dozen teens, sporting parkas, sweatshirts and ponytails, listened as Loew retold the native legend of how Fisher brought the Sun to the World.
In the story, Fisher and some friends take the Sun away from the Sky Village, so that the Earth can enjoy light and warmth. But the Sky People give chase. Fisher climbs a tree to distract the pursuers.
"And Fisher had really strong medicine and he had only one vulnerable spot at the tip of his tail. And eventually the arrows found their mark. And as he tumbled off the pine tree, Creator took pity on him and turned him into the constellation that we know today as The Big Dipper…"
Loew and Limaye take turns, telling stories and then explaining their scientific context. And while a few kids fidget and yawn, most seem pretty excited by the presentation. "I like the sky stories. When I was growing up, my Dad told me a lot about sky stories. And this got me more thinking about being a scientist."
"'…When Otter and Wolverine Went Up and Took the Sun.' Tried to take it."
"The Big Dipper, like I don't think I'm going to look at it the same way, either." And he admits that a career in science could be in his future. "Maybe not like an astronaut, maybe a scientist that studies astronomy or something…"
Loew and Limaye plan to continue their traveling program, to schools on and off Wisconsin's Reservations and produce an astronomy textbook for middle schools. Rosalyn Pertzborn, Director of Space-Science Education at UW-Madison, says it's a great educational venture. "This is certainly a rich cultural background that every American should be familiar with. This is part of our heritage as a broad community."
More insight will come from a special conference between tribal elders and space scientists, scheduled for January of next year. Organizers hope their efforts will inspire residents of "Indian Country" to literally reach for the stars.
I’m Brian Bull in Madison, Wisconsin.

¤注解¤:

1. ladle n. 杓子, 长柄杓
2. explicit adj. 外在的, 清楚的, 直率的
3. calendar n. 日历, 历法
4. geneticist n. 遗传学者

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steven : 2007-03-09#96
一不小心坐了b008的沙发,谢谢楼主!!!期望继续~~~~

steven : 2007-03-09#97
马上开始消化吸收................

angelonduty : 2007-03-09#98
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b009

Rattlesnakes, Golfers Co-exist at New Arizona Development

Developers and environmentalists are not usually seen as natural allies, but an ongoing U.S. study suggests the two groups do not always have to be adversaries. University of Arizona scientists are tracking the fates of rattlesnakes and other wildlife in a 6-year-old golf club community near the southwestern city of Tucson, Arizona. Their initial findings point to possible ways that natural environments can be altered to benefit both wildlife and people.
As the sun sets over the rocky, cactus-covered hills surrounding the Stone Canyon Golf Club, the area still looks much like the desert wilderness it once was. But even at dusk, you can hear the sounds of a golf cart winding along the trails. The driver is University of Arizona herpetologist Matt Goode, setting off on another round of nocturnal snake hunting.
"We started out here because we were interested in looking at how development might affect things like snakes and lizards. The Sonoran Desert is a very diverse area, with a really large array of amphibian and reptile species, and this was a good place because it was slated to be developed, but had not been yet. So that way we could get data on what the populations of different snakes and lizards were like and then track that through time as the development came in."
“And what’s happened since the development began? And how did these things to be affecting the wildlife?”
"Well, this is a long-term study, but, because with the development came a lot of additional water that increased the amount of vegetation out here dramatically, and with that water came a lot more small mammals, rodents and birds, and of course things like snakes, that eat those, also came in. So at this point, the development bodes well for things like snakes we're studying out here, in some ways probably drawing them in from surrounding dry desert areas."
Not only are the snakes increasing in number, but they tend to be larger and reproduce more than in drier areas, says Matt Goode. He notes that as more houses are built in the area, bringing added traffic, wildlife could be exposed to new hazards. Still, he says the study suggests ways in which environmentalists and developers can narrow the gap that separates them. "We're finding some fairly fertile ground here and certain situation so we can actually work together, and things like wildlife around a community can even be considered an amenity. Now rattlesnakes aren't high on the list of what most people consider an amenity, but I think if we can get people to care about rattlesnakes, we can get them to care about anything."
For Matt Goode the rattlesnake is called not for alarm, but excitement. Matt Goode and his team of researchers spot as many as a dozen snakes a night, representing some 20 different species. Those they have not seen before are taken back to their laboratory, measured, tested and surgically implanted with a radio telemeter. Then they are returned to the golf course, where their movements can be tracked with a beeper.
That means their habits have become well known over time to wildlife scientists like Melissa Amarello, who is also part of the University of Arizona research group. While making her regular rounds of the golf course, beeper in hand, she comes across a familiar female snake.
On this night, the University of Arizona researcher, Melissa Amarello, spots a familiar female snake which was established to familiar pattern over time. "She pretty much stays in this area in the eight tee boxes and the cart path around the seven green. In the wintertime she sort of heads off course about a hundred meters, and as soon as it warms up she's right back here, just a meter or two from where all the golfers drive by."
Melissa Amarello spends long days and nights at Stone Canyon, and she has gotten to know the residents as well as the wildlife. She has even been called on from time to time to remove snakes from local yards. Her fellow researcher Jeff Smith says the team is sponsoring a variety of educational programs to help residents live with the wildlife.
"There are interpretive signs that we've had a local artist and herpetologist come up with that give some background information on some of these critters that aren't that well understood, like the rattlesnakes. We'll be giving talks to the neighborhood association out here, and we're also holding a workshop for golf course personnel on issues that wildlife presents and how golf courses can benefit from touting wildlife."
Stone Canyon Golf Director Todd Huizenga sees the collaboration as an opportunity for developers as well. "I think the perception is they drive away the wildlife, and I think we've hopefully been able to demonstrate that everybody can work hand in hand, and we can all coexist."
And how are the golfers seem to feel about golfing in a place where there is so much wildlife, including rattlesnake?
"Oftentimes our members say 'Hey, we saw a beautiful rattlesnake on the fourth hole.' You know, whether it's the javelina, the bobcat, the mountain lion, deer, anything along those lines, oftentimes, it's kind of a nice sightseeing adventure as well.”
In fact, Todd Huizenga worries golfers will become too comfortable with the wildlife and forget there could be dangers involved. Researchers have words of caution as well -- about the dangers facing wildlife as more people move into the area. They have done studies on older golf courses that suggest some species may adapt better to development than others. And even the amenities that seem to help wildlife flourish could have a downside. Matt Goode points to a golf course waterfall and pond as an example:
"Desert breeding toads are not used to having standing water available. And now they have a lot of standing water. If toads are using this to breed, are there chemicals in the water that might cause problems? That would be a really good example of what you might refer to as an ecological trap, where all the things an animal needs to promote its survival are there, but if the standing water has some chemicals in it, pesticides for the golf course or whatever, and it disrupts the eggs, then they're not going to reproduce."
Still, Matt Goode says the study's encouraging findings suggest possible solutions to a conflict that is becoming increasingly critical. "In Arizona development is enormous. But I think by working together rather than just fighting with each other which hasn’t work in the past, then we have a way to sit down at the table and try to meet the needs of both groups. That's going to require a change in the way that developers think and a change in the way environmentalists think. And I think the key for understanding and predicting what that change will be is science. And that's what we're out here trying to do."
There are signs that other parts of the United States may be learning from the University of Arizona study. Matt Goode and his team of researchers were recently invited to speak at a national gathering sponsored by the United States Golf Association and the wildlife group, Audubon International.
This is Nancy Beardsley.
¤注解¤:

1. ongoing adj. 正在进行的
2. nocturnal adj. 夜的, 夜曲的
3. amphibian adj. 两栖类的, 水陆两用的
4. rattlesnake n. <美> [动] 响尾蛇
5. collaboration n. 协作, 通敌

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yangyang2005 : 2007-03-09#99
最近落了不少,需要补课

angelonduty : 2007-03-09#100
最近落了不少,需要补课
你以考试为第一出发点的话,可以每天花一小点时间听这个,不必精听,培养语速就可以了.
我听VOA和BBC当享受了,呵呵.

angelonduty : 2007-03-09#101
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b010

US Soldier's Radio Plea Saves Young Iraqi Girl

Doctors in Knoxville, Tennessee say a young Iraqi girl is steadily improving after surgery to repair her spine. Gufran Alayass was born with a serious deformity known as spina bifida. She lived with the condition for 10 years, unable to walk. But one day, her father took her to see an American soldier serving in Baghdad. And her life hasn't been the same since.
Spina bifida is a birth defect in which the spinal column doesn't close completely while the baby forms in the womb. In the United States, doctors can usually stabilize the spine within the first few months of a baby's life. But growing up in Iraq, Gufran Alayass didn't have that luxury. Somehow, though, she managed to survive with a piece of her spine sticking out of a 10- to 12-centimeter hole in her lower back. Knoxville pediatrician Rick Glover says it is amazing that she is still alive. “There’s no good explanation for why she is still alive. She had a defect on her back that's been there for 10 years and it's never gotten infected. [She] never got meningitis from that. Her spine is exposed to the world. How that's happened… her parents have provided tremendous care for her and I think God smiled on her."
If God smiles on Gufran, she's quick to smile back. Gufran loves to smile. It's one of the first things you notice about her. That, and brightly colored drawings that paper the wall around her bed. "This is the fish, and this Snow White, if you know her. This is the sun. And then beneath the sun is the flowers. Yeah."
Gufran's English is one part Iraq, one part East Tennessee. The fact that she speaks any English at all shows how much her life has changed in recent months. Last year, she spoke no English and Iraqi doctors were preparing her parents for her inevitable death. That's when her father took her to some American soldiers and asked if they could help his daughter. One of them sent his request over the air to a country music radio station in Knoxville.
Maj. Mark Sharber was serving in Iraq with the Tennessee national guard. During WIVK's Voices from the Front segment, Sharber passed up the chance to say 'hi' to his family and friends, and instead, made a plea to save Gufran's life. "I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to try to plead with the people in your audience, any kind of charitable organizations, a church, anybody that would have any kind of influence or financial backing that would maybe help us to get some surgery that she desperately needs."
The response was immediate. Gunner recalls he got a phone call from his wife. "She said, 'Did you hear that?' and I said, 'Yeah, I was listening' and she said 'You've got to do something.' And I realized through it that the hope he was looking for and the person that could help him was me, on the other side of the microphone."
Gunner was able to enlist the help of military and government officials to clear the way for Gufran and her parents to come to the United States. The Faith Welch Fund, a Knoxville charity which helps foreign children in need of medical care, offered to pay for Gufran's hospital expenses. Local surgeons and doctors offered their own services for free. And in January, Gufran and her father were on an airplane headed to Tennessee.
The trip reminded Abdul Alayass of the promise he had made to climb the highest mountain to save his daughter. "I remember in the airplane between Jordan and New York when I see the mountains and I remember this, my promise, and I thank my God."
At East Tennessee Children's Hospital, doctors reinforced Gufran's spine and have been working to cover the hole in her back. Gufran's mother came to the United States after the surgery, and the three are staying with Dr. Rick Glover in Knoxville. But the family's other children are still in Iraq living with grandparents. And their father worries about their safety. As Dr. Glover explains, Abdul Alayass's dealings with American soldiers can easily be misinterpreted as some kind of collaboration. And in Iraq, that can be deadly. "He's here to try to help his child. Period. That's what he came for. He's not here to be an American, he's not here to help an American, he's here to receive medical care that we offered to help his child."
Abdul and Zeinab Alayass say they've been overwhelmed by the care, acceptance and love Gufran has found in America. But with her progress coming slowly, the only thing she now needs is something nobody can give her: patience.
For VOA news now, I’m Matt Shafer Powell in Knoxville, Tennessee.

¤注解¤:

1. deformity n. 残缺, 畸形, 畸形的人或物
2. meningitis n. [医]脑膜炎
3. misinterpret vt. 曲解
4. overwhelm vt. 覆没, 受打击, 制服, 压倒

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yangyang2005 : 2007-03-09#102
你以考试为第一出发点的话,可以每天花一小点时间听这个,不必精听,培养语速就可以了.
我听VOA和BBC当享受了,呵呵.

:wdb11:
thanks :wdb17: :wdb6:

Assaas : 2007-03-10#103
:wdb25:谢谢楼主,在网上无聊时突然发现这个东东,觉得很好,花了时间把它下下来了,:wdb19: 谢谢啊

angelonduty : 2007-03-11#104
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b011

What Makes Reality TV so Popular?

Would you eat worms? Live on a deserted island with a group of strangers who want you off the island? Sing - off-key - in front of the entire world? Tens of thousands of people would… all for a chance to be on reality TV. The drama of dealing with the real and unexpected challenges makes these shows appealing to the participants and increasingly popular with viewers.
Fifteen 21st century adventurers traveled back in time to post civil war Texas, where they spent a summer learning to rope, ride and ranch like the cowboys of 1867 - with no modern conveniences. "For me, it was a once in a lifetime experience to live probably every American man's dream, to go out and play cowboy for a summer." But Jared Ficklin the 30 year-old computer programmer soon realized it was going to be more work than play. "The typical day for a cowboy was wake up before the sun, with the rooster's crow. Go feed the cattle, which is uplifting about 250 pounds of hay, running about 50 gallons of water, saddling up and riding for 8 to 10 hours."

A typical day on the reality television serials--Texas Ranch House. Who would sign up for such a grueling experience? About 10,000 people applied. Program producer Luis Barreto chose 15. "I really tried to pick people that were relatable to a wide range of individuals watching the show. Of course the big challenge was to get the ranch running because it was an abandoned ranch. And just to survive the whole thing."
Survival is the ultimate goal of contestants on all reality TV shows, whether it's being the last comic standing, or the apprentice who gets hired, or the treasure hunter who ends up with all the treasure. There are hundreds of these shows, airing around the globe. For media researchers, like Jonathan Gray of Fordham University, the reality is - we're more alike than we think. "There have been different versions of shows like Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the Pop Idol phenomenon which people here know is American idol, Survivor, Temptation Island, et cetera. But, they are nearly always localized, produced with contestants from the country where it's airing. There are a few exceptions, like American Idol. It's played relatively well in Australia. But largely, even when it's global, it's sort of global-slash-local."
For example, Texas Ranch House follows the same format as the BBC's 1800 House, but is set in the American past rather than 19th century London. England's Pop Idol has spawned similar contests in 30 other countries… including the wildly popular American Idol. There are versions of Big Brother, which originated in the Netherlands, in more than three-dozen countries, including Russia, Thailand and Ecuador. Japan's Iron Chef is still cooking on US television.
Professor Gray says while the highly produced competitions became popular only 5 or 6 years ago, the genre has existed in some forms since the early days of television. "If you go back to the long line of game shows, there's a large amount there, the sort of, strange set ups with rules, flashing lights when you get things right and so forth. I think reality TV added a much more physical element to this. If you think of things like Survivor, or the Amazing Race, there is something appealing to many people about the idea of taking part in a big game, a sort of large scale game."
Although it may seem odd to call programs from such unrealistic settings "reality" TV, the paradox apparently doesn't bother participants or viewers. Gray says participants feel like the center of attention, and viewers can see themselves in the ordinary people onscreen. And these shows are so popular, Jonathan Gray suggests, because they are so unrealistic.
"A lot of television seems to take itself so seriously, or deals with serious issues, even when it's something fictional and supposedly a break from everyday life. And the fantastical element of reality shows -- being in a house that's set 100 years in the past, or being on a desert island and having to vote people out, or racing around the world -- I think all of these fantastical premises make themselves very playful and so there can be something very fun about watching them."
Even if the viewers' interest in reality shows starts to wane, Gray says, TV production companies will still make them, because of a very compelling economic reason. "They are remarkably cheap to make. Once you got a bunch of no names, you didn't even deal with agents, you're getting not only very cheap labor, you're getting non-unionized labor. Reality TV has also become wonderful for product placement. When you look at Survivor, for instance, the prize this week is beer and Pringles. It's such blatant product placement that you know there is a lot of money funding this cultural trend."
And that bottom line is something that makes the reality game show a winner for the entertainment industry, anywhere in the world.
I’m Faith Lapitus.
¤注解¤:

1. participant n. 参与者, 共享者 adj. 参与的
2. apprentice n. 学徒 v. 当学徒
3. localize v. (使) 局部化, (使) 地方化
4. paradox n. 似非而是的论点, 自相矛盾的话

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angelonduty : 2007-03-11#105
《美国之音》2006第3季度上b012

Youth Drawn to Social Networking Web Sites

Sitting in the offices of their college newspaper with their work, these students are engaged in another popular collegiate pastime, reading about each other on social networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace.
"'Do you really work at the library?” asked Erie, as she looked at Ryan’s online profile.
“Yeah, I really do,” Ryan replied.
“What do you do there?” asked Erie.
“I work in periodicals,” said Ryan.

Erie Meyer
“See, I'm finding things out about you right now! Our relationship has more depth now,” exclaimed Erie.
“But people should communicate this to each other. They shouldn't go on the computer and go, 'Uh, I know about this person.'”
“See, that's the thing,” said Erie. “People think MySpace and Facebook are some sort of alien form of interaction. In reality, it's just another depth of the communication we already use."
For millions of young people in the United States, MySpace and Facebook offer a new way to communicate.
MySpace says about 230,000 new members join each day, and more than 80-million people have created free profiles.
Facebook has almost eight-million members who share information, pictures and interests.
The process is as simple as logging on, writing a bit about yourself and what you do, e-mailing your friends asking them to visit your profile, and before you know it, you're interacting with your friends, your friends' friends, and even people you've never met -- all by sitting solo at your computer.
John Hiler is the co-founder of a similar social Web site, called Xanga. He says young people today experience a different social reality.
"When I was a kid, we would sit on my front door stoop, and chat with our friends, and we'd go to the swimming pool and hang out. That's no longer the sole experience. What we're seeing now is that people are choosing to live online, and they're choosing to wake up an hour early, before they go to school and they sign on to instant messenger, and they chat with their friends and they come home from school and they get back on to the Internet, and check their e-mail and spend all their time in cyberspace."
Xanga allows people to publish online, otherwise known as blogging. That gives users a chance to have their thoughts read by anyone with Internet access.
Facebook was designed to connect people who attended college together, allowing them to post pictures and send short messages.
MySpace is a more open forum, designed to connect people of all ages, interests and backgrounds.
People visit sites to find new connections, to plan events and often to revisit old friends and past parties. Erie Meyer is a student at the American University in Washington D.C.
"Particularly on a Monday, after a weekend of taking pictures on Facebook, I like to have it up to see what pictures are being posted of me. In true college tradition, weekends are crazy and on Monday morning there are hundreds and hundreds, sometimes thousands of photos uploaded of that weekend."
Users such as Erie check-in on people they haven't physically seen in a day or even a year.
"I worked in Spain over the summer and I've been able to keep in touch with people I met there through this. It's less formal than sending an e-mail with an update about my life."
Babak Balakhanlou, who was born in Iran, knows that social Web sites are not just an American phenomenon.
In addition to keeping up with college friends on Facebook. He also has a profile on a site run by Google called Orkut.
Orkut says some 350,000 Iranians have profiles, and it is also wildly popular with Brazilians, Indians, and Pakistanis.
"Orkut, I use mostly for keeping in touch with my Persian friends. I have a lot of Persian friends on there, as a matter of fact. I may have two or three non-Persian friends on there."
The online connection helped Babak reconnect in reality.
"I was able to locate a bunch of my friends that I hadn't kept in touch with in 10 years, using Orkut. I pretty much looked up the last name, or they looked up my last name or my name, and they found me, or I found them and it was good. And I actually ended up visiting them, visiting a couple of friends in Canada, after such a long time and it's good."
Musician Will Smith uses MySpace to reach out to people he does not already know.
A jazz musician and professor of music at American University. He is one of almost two million artists who use MySpace profiles to build their fan bases and make industry connections.
"(It's) one of the perfect tools to use, because it's basically free promotion. (It) allows you to connect with people you wouldn't normally connect with, such as people in the industry, even outside the industry. People around the world that you normally wouldn't have contact with."
The professor emphasizes the networking aspect of the social networking sites.
"I remember spending a whole night looking for DJs -- anyone that had a name with DJ in it, I was going to their page because part of the deal is to get your music heard by the people."
Visitors can listen to Will's songs on his MySpace profiles. That's one way his music made it across the ocean.
"I was able to hook up with a DJ in the UK and I e-mailed him an mp3 of one of my tracks and he's spinning it in the clubs right now.” “And how did he find you? Through MySpace?” “Through MySpace. He found me, and said 'I like the music, please send an mp3,' and I said, 'OK,' so he gave me his off-MySpace e-mail and I e-mailed it to him."
In addition to The WES Group, Will plays in a band called Miles Long. Its lead singer is Malcolm Jamal Warner, an actor and musician.
Malcolm learned about MySpace from a 14-year-old relative who came for a visit -- and spent a lot of time visiting the site.
"I was like, 'Dude, what are you doing? What is this MySpace? Get off my computer.' And sure enough a bunch of artists were telling me how MySpace is a great networking tool for artists. A great promotional vehicle to get your stuff heard, and that's what impressed me most about MySpace “
Millions of new users each week are heeding the call of these sites -- showing that it is possible to meet, work, explore, connect and reconnect, while sitting alone in front of a computer monitor.
Suzanne Presto, VOA news.

¤注解¤:

1. collegiate adj. 学院的
2. periodical n. 期刊, 杂志
3. phenomenon n. 现象
4. vehicle n. 媒介物, 传达手段

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angelonduty : 2007-03-12#106
休息一天,第3季度上还有一些课,稍候再传.

angelonduty : 2007-03-13#107
第3季度上--c001

16 Million New Cancer Cases Expected by 2020 Worldwide

Cancer will kill more people in the world this year than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Details about this epidemic are described in The Cancer Atlas which was released, along with its companion book, The Tobacco Atlas, at the International Union Against Cancer's World Congress, held recently in Washington.
The twin atlases are comprehensive guides stuffed with statistics, maps and graphics that illustrate the global problem of cancer and tobacco use. Lead author Judith Mackay says the numbers tell an alarming story of cancer's threat. "We are looking at about 1 billion [cancer] deaths this century if present trends continue. We have 1.3 billion smokers today. By 2030 that 1.3 will be 1.64 billion and that is principally because of population expansion. The prevalence may come down a bit, but the numbers will actually increase."
Currently one billion men and 250 million women smoke cigarettes. According to The Tobacco Atlas, tobacco is the only consumer product that kills more than half of its regular users. American Cancer Society President John Seffrin says smoking-related cancers can be largely avoided. "Literally one-third of all human cancer could be prevented if we could just solve the tobacco addiction problem. Other kinds of cancers can also be avoided. If people get more exercise and eat properly, avoid tobacco, don't have excess exposure to sun, we can prevent most lethal cancers during a normal human lifespan."
The global burden of cancer is shifting from developed to developing countries. By 2030, The Tobacco Atlas reports, 85 percent of all smokers will live in the developing world. Judith Mackay says the trend threatens to further impoverish poor countries. "The Third World is singularly unable and unprepared to cope with that both in financial terms -- the cost to the government, the cost to the smoker -- as well as in health terms for the smoker and indeed their family. We also think that families are spending less money on food, on clothing, and on education, because they are spending money to buy cigarettes. So it has a huge impact on poverty worldwide."
But many nations are taking a stand against tobacco; 131 countries have ratified the United Nations Treaty on Tobacco Control, a public health agreement that would ban tobacco promotion, require health warnings on cigarette packets and offer smoke-free public places. The United States has signed but not yet ratified the Treaty. But Mackay says that even with the treaty's principles widely in force, many nations still pursue policies based on what she calls faulty economic thinking. "Many governments think that if they put up a tax, or a health warning on [a pack of cigarettes] or whatever they do, their revenue will drop and people will be out of work. What we need in the world today in developing countries [are] health economists to show the government that yes, this amount of money is coming in, but this huge amount of money is going out. And ministers of finance often look at the tax revenue, but don't look at the enormous costs of medical and health costs, social costs, costs to the environment."
This is the first edition of The Cancer Atlas and the second of The Tobacco Atlas. Mackay hopes these reference books help to raise awareness among both policy makers and laymen about cancer and the steps needed to reduce its deadly impact.
I’m Rosanne Skirble.


¤注解¤:

1. tuberculosis n. 肺结核
2. atlas n. 地图, 地图集
3. prevalence n. 流行,疾病的流行程度
4. ratify vt. 批准, 认可
5. enormous adj. 巨大的, 庞大的,

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midoculiao : 2007-03-13#108
你以考试为第一出发点的话,可以每天花一小点时间听这个,不必精听,培养语速就可以了.
我听VOA和BBC当享受了,呵呵.
:wdb17:

angelonduty : 2007-03-14#109
VOA第3季度上-c002

Brain-Damaged Victim Regains Speech After Almost 20 Years

Terry Wallis was 16 years old in 1984 when his car veered across the road and dropped 15 meters [50 feet] into a riverbed. He defied the odds by coming out alive. But he had significant brain damage and was unable to speak or move. He lived in a nursing home for years.
Terry Wallis began speaking again in 2003. His mother, Angilee Wallis, says she was amazed when he spoke. "He just said 'Mom.' His eyes opened wide, you know, and then said it again. That was just marvelous."
Neurologist Nicholas Schiff says there has been improvement since then. "He was able to grunt, but only inconsistently. Now he can talk to you. He can joke. He can tell you how to fix a Chevy engine."
Medical experts say the odds of Terry Wallis' recovery were one in 300 million. Brain images show that most of his normal nerve connections were destroyed in the accident. But Terry Wallis' brain has grown new connections in a less damaged area. There has recently been new growth in the part of the brain that controls movement.
Doctors hope they have learned things from this case that will help others.
Dr. Michael Williams of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine says patients must be at least minimally conscious. Those in a permanent vegetative condition are not likely to see change. "We would hope that we could develop ways to help the brain recover along those lines. All we know now is that it can happen."
The Wallis family says Terry has continued to get better. And while no one knows how much more improvement he will show, he has already beaten incredible odds.
Melinda Smith, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. defy vt. 不服从, 公然反抗, 挑衅, 违抗
2. neurologist n. 神经学者, 神经科专门医师
3. conscious adj. 有意识的, 有知觉的
4. vegetative adj. 植物的, 生活呆板单调
5. odds n. 可能的机会, 几率

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angelonduty : 2007-03-14#110
VOA第3季度上-c003

Chinese-Thai-Burmese Dam Projects Raise Humanitarian, Environmental Concerns

The Salween forms one of the last free-flowing river systems in Asia, traveling 2,800 kilometers from the mountains of Tibet to the Gulf of Martaban, which lies between Burma and Thailand.
Sinohydro Corporation, China's largest hydropower company, agreed last month to partner with Thailand's Electricity Generating Authority, or EGAT, in building a $1 billion hydroelectric plant at Hutgyi in Burma.
The Hutgyi plant, about 30 kilometers from the Thai border, is the first of five to be built along the lower Salween by the partnership, which also includes Burma. The dams will generate 10,000 megawatts of power.
Thailand's energy minister has said the projects are necessary to cut his country's dependence on fossil fuels and lower energy costs.
Jean-Pierre Verbiest, Thailand country director for the Asian Development Bank, or A.D.B., describes Thailand's energy needs.
"There is no doubt that if you look at Thailand's energy production and consumption - first the margin between peak production and peak consumption is narrowing - so there is additional investment needed in energy production."
Burma also is desperate for electricity. Power cuts are common, and businesses rely on small diesel generators, which are noisy and dirty.
And China needs energy to fuel its fast-growing economy. Beijing is planning 13 dams or diversions along the river in its territory, in addition to the joint projects with Thailand and Burma.
However, the hydropower projects have generated fierce criticism from environmentalists, who warn the dams will destroy the unique environment of the Salween - home to a wide variety of rare or endangered plants and animals.
In China, where it is known as the Nu River, the Salween forms part of the United Nations's Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Site because of its contribution to the area's biodiversity.
Pianporn Deetes is a spokeswoman for the Salween Watch Coalition, an environmental umbrella group. She says some communities in Burma will suffer because the dams will flood their land, affect fish supplies and disrupt the river's flow.
"Those affected the most are the ethnic minorities along the Salween River - especially from Shan State, Karenni and Karen state."
The A.D.B.'s Verbiest says such environmental and social issues need to be taken into account.
"This production from the Salween power plants would (be) one of the ways of diversifying. The other aspect - the environment, the impact on the people - would all be very important. Probably more important than the commercial aspect."
The A.D.B., which is a non-profit development lender based in Manila, is not involved in financing the Salween projects, although it has helped finance the construction of other dams.
According to the Karenni Development Research Group, one of the dams in Karenni state is expected to flood 640 kilometers of land, inundate 28 towns and villages including the historical Karenni capital of Bawlake, and displace 30,000 people.
Moe Moe Aung of the Karenni Development Research Group, which studies regional social issues, says the damage to communities forced off their land will not only be economic.
"The Karenni people, they have lived for a long time in the land; so we like to keep our land. This is our home, already our home, so we don't want to move to the other place."
Environmentalist Pianporn says a lack of information makes it difficult to assess the dams' effects. She accuses the Thai electricity authority, EGAT, of withholding details of its deals with the reclusive Burmese government.
"It is obvious that the degree of transparency for the project along the Salween River is extremely low. EGAT always refuses to disclose the relevant project documents."
EGAT and the construction company working on the dams declined to be interviewed about the project and its possible environmental and social ramifications. The Thai government has made few comments about the projects. In one report carried by the French news agency AFP, construction company officials said that some villagers had to be relocated but the company would push for their resettlement "under international standards."
Rights groups are concerned that Burma's military is using the dams as an excuse to move minority groups living around the Salween in a bid to end their fights for independence.
Some of Burma's ethnic minorities have resisted government rule for 50 years. As a result, more than 140,000 people have been forced to refugee camps along the Thai border.
The United States, the European Union and others have imposed sanctions on Burma for human rights violations. But the sanctions have been undermined by deals Burma has signed with neighboring countries eager to tap its energy resources.
Debbie Stothardt, spokeswoman for the rights group Alternative ASEAN Network, says such projects could backfire on Thailand.
"The Salween projects involves displacing tens of thousands of people out of that area just to generate electricity that can be sold to Thailand. Thailand is the biggest beneficiary of the Salween dam project and Thailand will suffer the worst consequences as more and more displaced people flee to Thailand because they are oppressed by the military regime."
If all the projects go ahead, the Salween will become one of the world's most heavily dammed river systems, with all the dislocation to people and wildlife that entails.
Ron Corben for VOA news, Bangkok.


¤注解¤:

1. hydropower n. 水力发出的电力
2. hydroelectric adj. 水力电气的
3. megawatt n. 兆瓦特
4. transparency n. 透明, 透明度
5. relocate v. 重新部署
6. beneficiary n. 受惠者, 受益人

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midoculiao : 2007-03-15#111
I just want to sleep when I hear these news.:wdb24:

angelonduty : 2007-03-25#112
VOA第3季度上-c004

Crews of Shuttle Discovery, International Space Station Link Up

With broad smiles, the crews exchanged greetings and then set about connecting cables and other equipment between Discovery and the space station, so that the two vessels can operate as one. Much work lies ahead, including the unloading of several tons of supplies and equipment brought by the shuttle, perhaps most importantly a new oxygen generator. At least two space walks are planned. One Discovery crewmember, Mission Specialist Thomas Reiter of Germany, will stay behind when the shuttle departs.
Earlier, having "chased" the space station for two days at speeds exceeding 28,000 kilometers per hour, Discovery performed a 360-degree "backflip" rotation before docking with the space station. It was a carefully choreographed maneuver that NASA officials described as "perfect" in execution.
At a press briefing, Shuttle Flight Director Tony Ceccacci was asked how he feels about the mission so far.
"Extremely pleased. I am very happy with how things are going. Today, talking to the crew, you can see them on TV. They are all pumped up [energized] and ready to go. And I think they are going to be on an adrenaline rush until touchdown on [re]entry day."
The summersault executed by Discovery prior to docking allowed space station crewmembers to take pictures of the orbiter's underbelly, to check for possible damage to heat-resistant tiles. The procedure is part of an exhaustive in-mission safety review process implemented after the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Columbia broke up upon re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, and heat-shielding tiles damaged during lift-off were blamed for the tragedy.
Wednesday, Discovery's crew used the orbiter's robotic arm to take photographs of the shuttle's wings and nose cap. NASA officials say nothing of major concern has been detected.
Among the primary goals for Discovery's mission is to demonstrate that major safety concerns stemming from the Columbia disaster have been addressed, and that the shuttle program can go forward with a series of missions in support of the completion of the International Space Station by a target date of 2010. At that point, the shuttle fleet is to be retired.

Michael Bowman, VOA news, Washington.


¤注解¤:

1. maneuver n. 操纵
2. execution n. 实行, 完成, 执行
3. underbelly n. 物体的下方, 易受攻击的地带
4. exhaustive adj. 无遗漏的, 彻底的, 详尽的
5. stemming n. 填塞物, 堵塞物

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yangyang2005 : 2007-03-25#113
good job

angelonduty : 2007-03-25#114
VOA第3季度上-c005

Developing Robots that can Perform Dangerous Military Tasks

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of casualties among the US and its allies is mounting: thousands of coalition troops, and as many as 30,000 Iraqi forces, have been killed since 2003 as insurgents develop new methods, such as improvised explosive devices.
"We're trying to keep the American troops out of harm's way.” Emmanuel Collins is leading a project at Florida State University, which is developing robots that can perform some tasks currently carried out by humans on the battlefield.
“They do reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition, so what we're trying to do is develop the technology to replace the soldier in those particular tasks".
And it is hoped the technology could reduce the carnage. One robot has taken years to develop. It is able to make its way through complicated terrains -- without being accompanied by a human -- using cameras, lasers and acoustic sensors.
"So we're replacing a soldier driving a vehicle with a robotic vehicle. They're performing very similar tasks but now, of course, the soldier is no longer directly in the line-of-fire for the enemy."
With the toll on U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the pressure is on to develop this technology quickly. But scientists say it could be 10 years before unmanned ground robots are used in actual war situations, because complex technology takes time to perfect.
"We start with simulation, just computer simulation. But the problem with computer simulation is it's difficult to take into account a lot of the factors that actually occur when you actually implement things in hardware. Then our next step is to implement them in our own lab in our own robots, which are simpler, smaller robots than the Army is using for these tasks. Then once we have it mastered in our own lab then we transfer it to an Army vehicle that's used specifically for that purpose and then they put it through a gamut of tests."
The military is spending half a million dollars a year at this university developing an unmanned ground vehicle that uses similar technology to aircraft drones already in use. In 2004, the U.S. government spent more than $60 billion on this kind of research and development.
"In my view, sitting where I'm sitting, the military has some of the most developed technology in our society, certainly our world. I would say the military is very high-tech and very reliant on its technology for its success".
But for the time-being, the most dangerous jobs in war zones continue to be performed by troops.
Steve Mort for VOA news, Tallahassee, Florida.


¤注解¤:

1. coalition n. 合并, 联合, 联盟
2. explosive adj. 爆炸(性)的, 爆发(性)的
3. surveillance n. 监视, 监督
4. simulation n. 模拟
5. gamut n. 整个范围,全部

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angelonduty : 2007-03-27#115
VOA第3季度上-c006

Emotional Stress Linked to Childhood Stuttering

There is no cure for stuttering and no one really knows what causes it, even though it's believed heredity, and now emotional temperament, play a part. The International Stuttering Foundation estimates that as many as 60 million people around the world have this speech disorder.
These children shown in a video provided by the Stuttering Foundation of America talk about their difficulty communicating with others.
The inability to interact leads to frustration and anger and sometimes withdrawal, says Professor Edward Conture of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "You simply can't communicate when you want, what you want, to who you want, and how you want. And that can be -- anyone can relate to that -- because that's frustrating."
Dr. Conture studied 111 children aged two to five. That's the age group when stuttering becomes most apparent. While this study was done in the United States, children experience the same routine of play, school and hard work elsewhere in the world. Boys are three times more likely to stutter than girls.
While there is a genetic link in families, Dr. Conture also found that many of these young stutterers typically became more excitable in the give-and-take of what seems like a normal playtime situation. They often took more time to settle back down once they were upset. Their emotional reactions then triggered the stuttering.
Dr. Conture says parents and teachers can help by providing a relaxed environment, which gives the child plenty of chance to speak. Refrain from criticizing or getting angry when he or she can't get the words out, and seek the help of a speech therapist who can work with the child. By doing this, hopefully, the child will grow out of it.
Melinda Smith, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. stutter n. 口吃, 结结巴巴 v. 口吃着说
2. frustration n. 挫败, 挫折, 受挫
3. excitable adj. 能被激动的, 易兴奋的, 易激动的
4. trigger vt. 引发, 引起, 触发

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angelonduty : 2007-03-27#116
VOA第3季度上-c007

Heat, Pollution Trigger Health Problems

It is so hot in many parts of the U.S. that officials are cautioning people to stay indoors. Even short exposure to high temperatures can cause serious health problems.
Professor Larry Kalkstein from the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Delaware, "Many more people die of the heat in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago than they do in Phoenix, New Orleans or Miami, because they are not used to the heat up there."
Heat is not the only danger factor. Hot weather with little or no wind can lead to high levels of air pollution, especially ozone. The elderly and people with respiratory or pulmonary disorders are especially at risk.
Last year researchers in Boston analyzed pollution rates in nine major U.S. cities. They found the risk of stroke was one percent higher on days with relatively higher air pollution. Scientists say while this increase may seem small, it has a huge effect, since the number of people living in pollution-prone cities is so great.
It is not known exactly how pollution affects our bodies or how it enters the brain. Researchers say pollution particles in the air may enter the body through the lungs and irritate the walls of blood vessels, encouraging clots that travel to the brain.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have recently shown a direct relationship between fine particle air pollution and risk for hospitalization from heart attack and respiratory diseases. The Hopkins scientists found these fine particles can reach the small airways and the air sacks in the lungs.
A study from the Harvard School of Public Health found a link between fine particles in air pollution and risk of death. It also found that reducing exposure to air pollution decreased the number of deaths associated with pollution.
The next step for scientists -- finding out which specific components of air pollution are the most toxic.
Carol Pearson, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. exposure n. 暴露, 揭露, 暴光
2. climatic adj. 气候上的
3. respiratory adj. 呼吸的
4. pulmonary adj. 肺部的
5. vessel n. 脉管

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angelonduty : 2007-03-28#117
C008

Minimally Invasive Surgery is New Trend

When tests showed Brenda Voulgarides had a lump on her thyroid, she went to her doctor, who decided it needed to be removed. Doctor Glenn Peters, a head and neck surgeon at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, recommended a minimally invasive surgery rather than a traditional surgical procedure.
"The minimally invasive [surgery] involves an incision that is about an inch long in the lower neck and it’s usually oriented within natural skin lines of the neck, so that it blends in with the creases that go across the neck."
Minimally invasive procedures were first done a half-century ago for head and neck surgery. The technique has been expanded for almost everything from an appendectomy to gall bladder surgery, ligament repair, even some areas of the heart.
Surgeons insert thin tubes, called trocars, into small incisions. Then carbon dioxide gas is pumped to inflate the abdomen and create a working space between the organs and skin. Surgeons use a tiny camera to see what needs to be done. Minimally invasive procedures have some advantages over conventional surgery -- less recovery time and less pain for the patient, plus a shorter hospitalization and less small scarring.
Tests showed the nodule on Brenda Voulgarides's thyroid was not cancerous. She went home the same day as the surgery. The scar is barely visible a few weeks after surgery.
"I have peace of mind now that that nodule's gone."
Minimally invasive procedures are not for everyone. Patients who are obese are not good candidates. Neither are those with previous abdominal surgery, or people who suffer abnormal bleeding in the operating room.
The majority of minimally invasive procedures are done in American medical centers. But it has become increasingly popular elsewhere in the world.
Melinda Smith, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. invasive adj. 入侵的
2. incision [ n. 切割, 切开, 切口
3. appendectomy n. 阑尾切除术
4. ligament n. 系带, 韧带
5. hospitalization n. 医院收容, 住院治疗

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ABCGROUP : 2007-03-28#118
谢谢前辈,谢谢.

angelonduty : 2007-03-29#119
VOA第3季度上-c009

NASA Technology Aids Water Purification Efforts in Iraq

Concern for Kids is a non-profit organization that has been operating in and around northern Iraq since 1992. President Todd Harrison learned of an urgent need for clean water in the village of Kendala, and he had an idea.
"The water situation was pretty desperate. The population of the village had dwindled. The well that they were drawing water from was right near where the sheep would come to get water as well. They would have to take the water from the well and we were told that they would have to take it back to their homes and actually filter it or strain it."
Harrison turned to his sister, NASA engineer Robyn Carrasquillo. "NASA's water purification technology developed for the shuttle and the international space station has been adapted by a commercial company, Water Security Corporation, out of Reno, Nevada, and with the aid of a non-profit organization called Concern for Kids, out of Atlanta, and the U.S. Army; [it] has been deployed in northern Iraq in the Kurdish area to help the Kurdish people get clean water."
Volunteers from NASA went to Kendala. With help from citizens and U.S. Army personnel, they installed an adapted water pumping system, bringing safe drinking water to villagers for the first time in years.
U.S. space engineers have been designing and improving a water and recycling system for shuttle astronauts and the international space station for decades.
"The water recovery system developed for the international space system is a combination of a urine processor and a potable water processor which takes the astronauts urine, and all the other waste waters that condensates from the atmosphere and recycles it to clean water.”
NASA is completing an air and water recycling system for the space station that is about the size of two refrigerators. It is planned for installation in 2008. Developers say it will dramatically reduce the need for re-supply missions from Earth.
Paul Sisco, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. dwindle v. 缩小
2. purification n. 净化
3. astronaut n. 太空人, 宇航员
4. processor n. 处理机, 处理器
5. installation n. 安装, 装置

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angelonduty : 2007-03-29#120
VOA第3季度上-c010

New Forest Fire-Fighting Technology

It is hot and dry in the western United States and that means wildfires. In North America, the season has begun with unusual intensity. Max Fratus battled a recent wildfire here in the Sierra Mountains of California that destroyed a thousand homes.
"I talk to people that have been in the fire service their entire career, and not only this fire, but fires in preceding years -- because of the drought, because of the fuel conditions -- they've produced fire behavior, flame links, intensities that we had never really experienced before. Everything that we had to throw at it we did, and it just seems to burn right through it. I've never seen a fire come through here of anything of that magnitude."
The first defense against forest fires is early detection. In Northern California computerized cameras are replacing traditional lookouts and fire towers. The camera system is called Fire Hawk. Dale McGill of the California Forest Service said, “On the very first day it was activated we found a fire and about 30 seconds later the phone rang."
It has been the first alert on several fires, according to McGill. "Right away we can tell whether it's going to be a very active fire or it’s going to be a fire that perhaps is not anything at all."
The camera detects smoke by day and heat at night, spinning 360 degrees every four minutes. When it spots something the computer instantly maps the exact location. The system is proving effective and efficient, and more are being installed. Also in California, the U.S. space agency, NASA, is working with Forest Service researchers to convert drones, officially called "UAS", or unmanned aerial systems, into fire-fighting tools.
NASA, Vince Ambrosia, "A fire manager on a wildfire condition, who doesn't know where his fire is going, could launch an unmanned aerial vehicle and with the imaging capabilities on-board the platform can ascertain where the fire is, how fast it's moving; does he have any resources or personnel that might be in danger."
They'll relay thermal images and data to portable communication stations on the ground. None too soon. More than one million hectares have already burned this year in the hot dry western United States, and firefighters are currently battling a major wildfire in North Central Arizona.
Paul Sisco, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. intensity n. 强烈, 剧烈, 强度
2. magnitude [] n. 大小, 数量, 巨大, 广大, 量级
3. activated adj. 有活性的
4. drone n. 雄蜂, 嗡嗡的声音, 懒惰者, 靶标
5. hectare n. 公顷

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angelonduty : 2007-03-30#121
VOA第3季度上-c011

One Man's Dream Helps Rebuild New Orleans' Hardest Hit Neighborhood

"This Is my life and my world, right here. And this is my future of education in the community, the future House of Dance and Feathers."
Ronald Lewis left his house on Tupelo Street just before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans last year. Floodwater almost five meters deep devastated his neighborhood in the mostly black Lower Ninth Ward. Now he's one of the first to rebuild.
Volunteer students from Kansas State University are repairing his house and replacing the small private museum he had that was called the House of Dance and Feathers. It housed a collection of artifacts and costumes associated with the African-American way of celebrating Mardi Gras. Most of it was lost. The retired transit worker and community leader is intent on re-creating his museum.
"You know, it's not just about the artifacts. It's about the education of the culture of New Orleans."
Lewis' passion for preserving New Orleans' culture came to the attention of Patrick Rhodes, Assistant Professor of Architecture at Kansas State University. He and his students designed the new House of Dance and Feathers.
Professor Rhodes runs a non-profit group that creates community buildings with money from private donors. Thousands of volunteers like him and his students have been helping cleanup and rebuild New Orleans in cooperation with private community action groups. "The idea was that this would hopefully serve as a catalyst for this neighborhood. And that we can -- I don't know if inspire is the right word -- but if we can show people that things are happening down here."
Mardi Gras is the defining annual event in New Orleans, part of the Christian custom of Carnival. Elaborate costumes have long been a feature of the general celebration. African-Americans make fantastic feathered costumes called Mardi Gras Indians for parades in their own neighborhoods.
"So the idea of this museum here in the backyard of Ronald's house is that it also served as a kind of ad hoc community center. You understand his kind of dedication to passing on the traditions to the youth of the neighborhood. It touched a chord in all of us and we felt like we needed to do it."
Lewis and his wife are staying in an apartment about an hour away, but he says that his heart is on Tupelo Street. His friend Henry Faggen --also driven away by the storm and living in Texas -- came to visit today and wonders when he, too, can return.
"We love our community. As you see, there are trailers coming up on Tupelo Street. That's several neighbors coming back. (There are) trailers down in this block. Most of the houses on this street have been gutted out. And those that have not, we're working to assist them."
More affluent areas of New Orleans had less damage or have been able to get insurance money for repairs. Lower income families often had little or no insurance and many lived in rental housing. At least half the city's population has not returned, many because they have no place to live.
There are complaints about slow government aid, no electricity in some areas, and doubts about rebuilding in low lying sections. Yet private and community action groups are pushing hard for resettlement and helping people like Lewis.
"…We've seen a lot of activity on this block, just since we've been working here. They are on a deadline. If people don't move back and get things started, they are going to find that they don't get the public assistance they need and it's going to become infinitely harder for them to do what they have to do to get back home."
"I'm working my way back home. The life I live here in New Orleans to me is second to none. New Orleans is me... the life, the culture, everything. I'm here to show people of my community that through this tragedy we can have a new beginning, a new life. And that's what I'm working towards."
Celebration in New Orleans is not just for Mardi Gras. Parading goes on now in the recovered French Quarter despite the destruction in other parts of the city. Lewis looks to the day there can be parading again on his streets in the Lower Ninth Ward.
I’m Margaret Kennedy, VOA news, New Orleans.


¤注解¤:

1. devastate vt. 毁坏
2. volunteer n. 志愿者, 志愿兵
3. catalyst n. 催化剂
4. fantastic adj. 幻想的, 奇异的, 稀奇古怪的
5. dedication n. 贡献, 奉献
6. trailer n. 拖车

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angelonduty : 2007-03-30#122
VOA第3季度上-c012

Osteoporosis Drug Reduces Breast Cancer Risk

The drug Tamoxifen can reduce a woman's risk of breast cancer by about half, but it now has a challenger. A nationwide U.S. study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds a similar breast cancer benefit from a drug used to reduce the risk of brittle bones.
"What we found was that the osteoporosis drug, raloxifene, was equally effective to the breast cancer treatment drug tamoxifen at reducing the risk of life-threatening breast cancer."
University of Pittsburgh physician Victor Vogel cites the main finding of a study of nearly 20,000 women who had reached menopause and were at high risk of breast cancer. Besides finding that raloxifene is as useful as tamoxifen, Vogel's team also found it safer.
"Compared to tamoxifen, raloxifene was safer in terms of causing fewer uterine cancers and fewer life-threatening blood clots."
Raloxifene also caused fewer cataracts, the clouding of the lens in the eyes.
But there were side effects with both drugs, which the doctors assessed in a second study of the same women. Those on tamoxifen had more leg cramps, and gynecological and bladder control problems. Women on raloxifene had more muscle and bone aches, pain during sexual intercourse, and weight gain.
Vogel's University of Pittsburgh colleague, Dr. Stephanie Land, says they asked the women how these unintended consequences affected them.
"What women are telling us is that although there are side effects with both of these treatments, that the side effects did not impact their overall quality of life in a negative way."
One of the raloxifene users was Marion Taube, who took it for five years as part of the two studies.
"I do not think I had any side effects - possibly leg cramping, but I do not know if that was related to the raloxifene or unrelated."
Researcher Stephanie Land says the studies are good news for women. She expects U.S. government drug regulators to approve raloxifene for breast cancer in about one year.
"The overall and exciting news from this study is that women will have two choices."
But Dr. Vogel says for older women, raloxifene may become the drug of choice.
"We concluded from the study that for postmenopausal women who were at increased risk, raloxifene was probably a better, safer choice for reducing the risk of life-threatening breast cancer."
David McAlary, VOA news, Washington.


¤注解¤:

1. brittle adj. 易碎的, 脆弱的
2. tamoxifen n. [药] 三苯氧胺,它莫西芬
3. menopause n. [生理] 绝经期, 更年期
4. cataract n. 白内障
5. gynecological adj. 妇产科医学的
6. postmenopausal adj. [医] (妇女) 绝经后的

附件


angelonduty : 2007-03-30#123
VOA第3季度上-c013

Paralyzed Man Operates Computer, TV Just by Thinking

26-year-old Matthew Nagle of Weymouth, Massachusetts, is paralyzed below the shoulders because he was stabbed in the neck during a fight. But his inability to move his limbs does not mean that he and others like him will forever be unable to perform some of the daily activities the rest of us do.
Brown University nerve scientist John Donoghue and colleagues give new hope to such patients in a paper in the journal Nature.
"The paper is about the technology that we've developed to help a paralyzed person communicate with the outside world again, to be able to use their thoughts to control devices."
Such patients might never be able to levitate a fork to feed themselves, but under Donoghue's supervision, Nagle was able to do things just as exciting. With a tiny electronic sensor implanted in his brain, he was able to use a television, a robot arm, and even a computer.
"We have the patient imagine that he's tracking a cursor on a screen. The patient is able to just think about moving and the cursor will move pretty much in the motion that the hand would take, if you were to imagine, say, moving left or right."
Nagle opened e-mail, changed the volume on a television, opened and closed a prosthetic hand and performed basic actions with a multi-jointed robotic arm.
The implanted brain sensor making this possible had an array of electrodes that recorded nerve activity in an area typically involved in arm movement. This is the first demonstration that such brain activity persists in paralyzed people. The information recorded by the electrodes was decoded and processed by a computer, allowing nerve firing patterns to be translated into movement commands that drove the devices.
But John Donoghue told Nature magazine, the movements are not yet smooth.
"The motion of the cursor by thought is wobbly and unstable. What that means is that, at least, we haven't found out how to exploit the brain's plasticity. So, we need to change the computer to make the control signal better. We're doing that, and actually having some good success."
A way to improve performance is described in a second Nature paper by Stanford University researchers. Nerve scientist Krishna Shenoy and colleagues implanted sensors in monkey brains that recorded nerve activity further ahead in the circuit involved in arm movement, not near the nerve cells controlling the movement itself, but those involved with the intention to move.
"These cells relate to how you wish to move your arm and through mathematical algorithms we're able to interpret those neurosignals to predict, which way one would wish to move their arm."
This is how the signal sounds.
The scientists were able to predict the intended location of movements before the monkeys made them.
Both sets of researchers say the implants are better than previous experiments with electrodes attached outside the scalp. The internal electrodes record nerve signals for specific movements, whereas the scalp electrodes sense activity throughout the brain.
Krishna Shenoy's Stanford University colleague, spine specialist Stephen Ryu, says the research could help improve the quality of life for paralyzed people.
"But, in order to actually translate this to something, which will be helpful to people, we're going to have to take it to another level, where we can show that they're both safe, and that they're effective, and can replace function that's already been previously lost."
A major issue is that the brain implants still require a lot of equipment. Ryu says that, to become practical, the devices will need to be much smaller and automated.
"I think it is only a matter of time before we really start to see some true promise from these things."
David McAlary, VOA news, Washington.


¤注解¤:

1. paralyze vt. 使瘫痪, 使麻痹
2. levitate v. (使) 轻轻浮起, (使) 飘浮空中
3. prosthetic adj. 修复术的
4. decode vt. 解码, 译解
5. scalp n. 头皮

附件


angelonduty : 2007-03-30#124
VOA第3季度上-c014

Prison Physician Weighs His Role in Executions

Capital punishment has been outlawed by 85 countries, including most of the major western nations, but the United States allows execution as a punishment for murder.
Some executions are carried out with a lethal dose of sedative drugs administered intravenously, which means medical professionals must be involved in the process. But doctors and nurses take a professional oath to "do no harm," and many ethicists have questioned whether ending the life, even of a violent felon, violates their oath.
Carlo Musso is a physician in Georgia who provides health care to inmates. After years of working in the correctional system, Musso says he got a request to participate in the execution of a condemned prisoner. "My original thoughts were how horrible it must be for a physician to take care of an inmate on death row and then after years participate in the execution of his patient."
Musso told a New England Journal of Medicine interviewer that the first thing he did was witness an execution, an event that made him very sad. That was until he realized the execution was an end-of-life issue. "And at that point I felt that it was my duty to make sure if someone was going to die, that he die or she die in the most humane way possible, with the least amount of pain and suffering. And that this overwhelming duty that I felt outweighed any other issue or conflict I had in my mind at that time."
Musso's role in the few executions he has been involved in has been in pronouncing an inmate's death.
Nurses fill syringes with the lethal drugs and insert intravenous tubes. Prison employees administer the drugs that cause death. Musso says he would do anything except inject the drugs. "I feel that it is my duty that if this patient is going to die, my duty is to make sure that if he dies, he dies in a painless manner. However, I would not play the role of the executioner. I would not actually be the causation of his death."

Jessica Berman,VOA news, Washington.


¤注解¤:

1. outlaw v. 宣布...为不合法
2. ethicist n. 伦理学家
3. physician n. 医师, 内科医师
4. intravenous adj. 静脉内的
5. inject vt. 注射, 注入
6. executioner n. 死刑执行人, 刽子手

附件


angelonduty : 2007-03-30#125
VOA第3季度上-c015

Robot Digitizes Literature, Broadens Access to the Public

The speed-reading robot is making a major contribution to the digital revolution, turning pages and scanning more than 1,100 pages an hour. Stanford librarian Michael Keller said, "My goal is to see how much of these eight million volumes we have gathered here we make accessible and more available because they've been digitized."
Converting books into digital data used to be a tedious job, limiting the number of complete books available on the Internet. Bill Lefurgy of the Library of Congress says robots have revolutionized the process. "…What this machine does is make digital copies much, much more quickly…"
Lefurgy manages the library's Digital Initiatives Project. "There is tremendous pressure in cultural heritage collections all over the world to be able to get more of their materials digitized and online."
"The internet presents us now with a way to make them more broadly available and more deeply available."
Using a search engine, or Stanford's website, the public can sample digitized materials from Stanford's library and other collections. Lefurgy says digitizing is gaining momentum. "It's a very popular activity, because it enables, being able to put information -- which up to this point has been on shelves, or in drawers or somehow preserved within libraries -- and make it available on the Internet…"
Another site, EBRARY.com, offers subscribers books, maps, scientific papers and sheet music. EBRARY'S Christopher Warnock is searching for “love.” "…If we search for every occurrence of 'love' within this document, we can find it much more quickly and efficiently than if we had to go through and read the entire book."
Even at 1,100 pages an hour, the scanning project at Stanford will continue for years, but eventually is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of books to the Internet.
Paul Sisco, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. accessible adj. 易接近的, 可到达的, 可理解的
2. digitize v. [计] 将资料数字化
3. tremendous adj. 极大的, 巨大的
4. momentum n. 动力, 要素
5. subscriber n. 订户, 签署者, 捐献者

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angelonduty : 2007-04-01#126
VOA第3季度上-c016

Southeast Asian Nations Step Up Bird Flu Assistance

More than 130 people have died from the H5N1 avian virus in the past three years, most of them in Southeast Asia.
Vietnam has recorded 42 human deaths, making it one of the hardest hit countries. Thailand has had 14 fatalities. However, they have reported no human cases so far this year.
Flu experts say that record is the result of new surveillance programs and education campaigns in both countries. These are relatively low-cost and effective ways of teaching farmers how to prevent bird flu and how to spot outbreaks quickly.
Peter Cordingley, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman, says these programs show what developing countries can do to fight avian flu.
"Thailand have pretty well mastered the situation at home although not complete control, but they're doing very, very well. Vietnam is doing relatively well. These countries have developed the expertise are now beginning to help countries that don't have the resources."
The H5N1 virus is most deadly to poultry, it has killed or led to the culling of tens of millions of chickens, ducks and geese on three continents since it reappeared in Southeast Asia in 2003. Most human victims contracted the virus from sick birds. However, international experts fear the virus will mutate and begin to spread easily among humans, which could lead to a pandemic that would kill millions of people.
To protect their people and their poultry industries, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Cambodia have agreed to raise their cooperation in the fight against avian flu.
The agreement hopes to build on the experience of Thailand and Vietnam.
This may be crucial for Laos, Burma and Cambodia - three of the poorest and least developed countries in Asia. International experts, including from the WHO, have warned they are the least prepared to fight bird flu. And, since the five countries share borders, containing the virus in one will be key to containing it throughout Southeast Asia.
Cordingley says Cambodia and Laos in particular need support.
"Laos is an example of a country that is struggling. Cambodia needs a lot of help as well. So we're looking to see a much higher level of information exchange and assistance."
Virachai Plasai is a director general of international economic affairs with Thailand's Foreign Ministry. He says the five countries' bird flu strategy concentrates on small communities.
"We focus on how we respond to any possible outbreak based on surveillance, community-based methods, village volunteer system, but also early detection through setting up of mobile laboratories and subsequently national laboratories."
Under the regional agreement, Thailand will train people from Laos, Cambodia and Burma on how to create village volunteer systems to find bird flu outbreaks and will help them provide "transparent and updated" information to all the countries. Virachai says this particularly is crucial if the prevention program is to succeed.
So far, Laos has reported no human deaths from the virus, although in 2004, there was a modest outbreak among poultry.
The U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization representative in Laos, Leena Kirjavainen, says since then the international community has built up surveillance programs in Laos and animal health facilities.
For instance, the United States has given $1.5 million to teach Lao farmers to report sick birds and warn them not to eat birds that die of illness. Many human victims have contracted H5N1 by handling and eating sick birds.
Despite the international support, Kirjavainen says serious challenges remain. The first problem is that most farmers in Laos, like millions across Southeast Asia, let chickens and ducks wander freely around their homes. That increases the risk the birds will catch the virus and spread it to humans.
"It's free range and it's very much household backyard production. And poultry production - it's mainly women and children who take care of the backyard poultry and so their awareness building and understanding what to do is critical."
The next problem is the sheer difficulty of travel in many parts of Laos, which has poor roads and communications systems.
"We have had cases in the northern part when we have sent a team. You have to drive first with the car maybe a couple of days and then you go by boat, and the rest of the way by walking to the villages. It is a big challenge."
And, she says, once investigators get to isolated areas, it takes days to get tissue samples back to a laboratory to determine whether birds died of flu or other diseases.
Experts say it is crucial to get new systems in place in Laos, as well as Cambodia and Burma soon. The peak flu season comes at the end of the year, when the weather cools, and having the right tools now could well prevent serious outbreaks then.
Ron Corben for VOA news, Bangkok.


¤注解¤:

1. fatality n. 命运决定的事物, 不幸, 灾祸, 天命
2. surveillance n. 监视, 监督
3. expertise n. 专家的意见, 专门技术
4. mutate v. 变异
5. poultry n. 家禽
6. representative n. 代表

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angelonduty : 2007-04-01#127
A第3季度上-c018

Stroke Prevention Tips

Bill Witherspoon is in better health at age 66 than he was in his 50s, when he suffered the first of his three strokes. "My strokes got my attention, telling me that I had to make a change in my life. But I don't understand why I had to wait for a stroke to make that decision."
One decision he made was to exercise regularly. People cannot change certain risk factors -- age, race or family history, but they can change their lifestyles.
The American Stroke Assocation recently updated its guidelines for preventing a first stroke.
The recommendations include using statins to treat diabetes patients. Drugs such as Zocor, Lipitor and others can lower cholesterol.
Dr. Larry Goldstein is with the American Stroke Association "We knew for some time that tight control of blood pressure in diabetics decreases their risk of stroke. We now also know that treatment with a certain class of drugs, the lipid lowering drugs -- cholesterol drugs like statins -- can significantly decrease the risk of stroke in diabetics."
Doctors say blacks have a greater risk of stroke than other racial groups.
One of the new guidelines recommends ultrasound screening for children with sickle cell disease, which predominantly affects people of black African descent.
Again, Dr. Goldstein. "We can now identify children with a test called 'the transcranial Doppler', which is a sound picture of the blood vessels of the brain identifying children who may be at increased risk of stroke related to sickle cell. And we now have ways of reducing that risk through transfusion therapy."
Dr. Goldstein says another recommendation concerns people who suffer from sleep apnea -- a common sleep disorder that puts them at increased risk for stroke. "Sleep apnea is associated with high blood pressure and treatment of sleep apnea reduces blood pressure. That alone is an important reason. "
An episode of sleep apnea can cause a person to stop breathing, decreasing the oxygen supply to the brain. Dr. Goldstein says this increases the risk of stroke.
The new guidelines include some well-known prevention measures -- control high blood pressure, do not smoke or allow yourself to be exposed to other people's smoke, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, and losing weight, if you are overweight.
Bill Witherspoon lost 75 pounds after having his strokes. "I feel outstanding today, and, yes, I feel that I have done everything that I can do and what the doctors have told me to do to prevent another stroke."
The American Stroke Association also warns people to avoid saturated fats and trans fatty acids. Trans fat raises cholesterol levels. It is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil. It can be found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods.
The association also recommends that people with an irregular heartbeat or other heart problems see their doctors for treatment.
Carol Pearson, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. stroke n. (心脏病) 突然发作
2. diabetes n. [医] 糖尿病, 多尿症
3. cholesterol n. 胆固醇
4. transfusion n. 注入, [医] 输血, 输液
5. apnea n. 无呼吸, 呼吸暂停
6. margarine n. 人造黄油

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linn : 2007-04-02#128
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

感谢lz!加声望了!!!
先下载,这个对我来说可是听天书了,但要向lz学习,坚持哦!

rill : 2007-04-02#129
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

感谢ing

angelonduty : 2007-04-02#130
A第3季度上-c017

Space Shuttle Discovery Lands Safely in Florida

Discovery's safe landing is an obvious relief to NASA, which was forced to halt assembly of the half-built space station more than three years ago when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the atmosphere.
Discovery, roaring like any other airplane, glided smoothly onto a runway at the Kennedy Space Center.
After landing, shuttle commander Steve Lindsey inspected the spacecraft and declared it free of damage, after its nearly nine million-kilometer journey.
"This is my fourth flight, and I've done four walk-arounds, and I've never seen a vehicle that looked as clean as this one did."
That is important to NASA, because it worked more than three years to ensure that shuttles suffer as little damage as possible from the kind of launch debris that doomed Columbia. That orbiter burned up when searing atmospheric gases entered a hole in its wing, caused by hard foam insulation that broke away from the external fuel tank during liftoff and hit it.
As a result, NASA removed or reshaped several areas of tank foam, installed an array of ground cameras to monitor launches, and put new cameras and sensors on shuttles to detect possible launch debris strikes or hits by micro-meteoroids while in orbit.
NASA chief Michael Griffin attributes Discovery's near-pristine condition to these new measures and a bit of luck.
"This is as good a mission as we've ever flown, but we're not going to get overconfident. We have to take it flight by flight."
During Discovery's two-week flight, two spacewalking astronauts tested new procedures to make repairs in orbit to the shuttle's fragile heat shield. The orbiter also transported a third crew member to the space station, which had only two since Columbia's accident. Station manager Mike Suffredini says it also hauled up new supplies and equipment, and its crewmembers made repairs to station systems critical to resuming the outpost's construction.
"So with this flight, in our minds, we are ready to get on with assembly, and we will do just that."
Station assembly restarts late next month, when the shuttle Atlantis is to deliver a pair of solar energy panels, new batteries and a truss segment on which to mount other components.
NASA chief Griffin points out that shuttle flights are always risky and that station assembly missions are the most complicated that shuttles fly. He says only 16 shuttle flights remain before the fleet is retired in 2010, and more orbiter troubles could be ruinous for the space station's construction schedule.
"We don't have any slack [leeway]. We have just enough shuttle flights left to do the job. So, we can't afford to mess up."
Griffin thanked America's international partners in the space station program for their patience and support, while NASA took time to make shuttles safer to fly.
David McAlary, VOA news, Washington.


¤注解¤:

1. atmospheric adj. 大气的
2. insulation n. 绝缘
3. debris n. 碎片, 残骸
4. shield n. 防护物, 护罩, 盾
5. component n. 成分

附件


angelonduty : 2007-04-02#131
A第3季度上-c019

Study: American Parents Using TV as an Electronic Babysitter

Katie Weaver has her hands full. Four children in her kitchen ... two of them are hers ... all of them are under the age of six ... and thirsty at the same time.
It's enough to get on the nerves of any adult. Like many of the 1,000 parents surveyed in a Kaiser Family Foundation study, Katie admits she sometimes uses TV as a pacifier when her children are overly-excited ... and it usually works.
"I don't use it as a babysitter because they don't watch enough or long enough for that, but if they are very hyped up ... sometimes I'll use TV to calm 'em down."
While there has been some concern that watching too much television fosters obesity in children, the long-term effects of parking a very young child in front of the 'tube' are not clear.
Child psychologist Stanley Greenspan is worried that some parents are taking the easy way out.
"A lot of them are two-parent working families, so we're talking about having very little time with the children, and if that time is used in front of a screen, rather than interactively ... it's compromising the way these children are learning to pay attention ... the way they're learning to problem-solve ... and most importantly, the way they're learning to think and use language."
Katie Weaver's two children - five-year-old Andrew and three-year-old Daisy -- watch an average of an hour a day, five days a week. It is the same for friend Jack and brother Carter who are visiting.
In the survey, parents of children much younger ... up to a year old ... report viewing averages of an hour per day. For kids one to two years, it's close to an hour and a half.
Greenspan believes babies and children under the age of two should not be watching at all and he's worried that some parents are concealing the real truth.
"If anything, it's an underestimation, because people would be aware that for kids under one, it's not the greatest thing in the world, so they would tend to ... if a kid's watching two hours, they might say an hour ... so I think what we're getting is a minimal estimate."
Television programming for very young children has been increasing. Yet one researcher involved in the Kaiser study says there is still no evidence that children up to the age of two learn anything of value from television. Katie Weaver says her kids have too much physical energy to sit and watch television for very long. In warmer weather, they're more often outside.
Melinda Smith, VOA news.


¤注解¤:

1. survey vt. 调查
2. foster vt. 养育, 抚育, 培养, 形成
3. obesity n. 肥胖, 肥大
4. compromise v. 妥协, 折衷

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dopod568 : 2007-04-02#132
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

感谢楼主的无私分享,尤其是对于我们这些刚踏上这条未卜道路的新人。再次感谢!

angelonduty : 2007-04-03#133
VOA第3季度上-c020

Tigers Threatened by Human Poaching and Development

These tigers at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. will never go hungry or be poached for their body parts. But the same cannot be said for wild tigers that populate the forests of India and Southeast Asia.
"A world without tigers is a world without hope. It's like a clear night sky without stars."
Scientists from various environmental organizations gathered recently at the zoo to present their findings from a decade-long study. They warn that tiger populations worldwide are declining faster than had been predicted.
Jeff Trandahl is executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. He says the tiger habitat range once extended from the Korean Peninsula to the Black Sea. Trandahl says 90 percent of that range has been lost in the last 150 years. "Tiger habitat range is down to only seven percent of its original range. We're losing habitat every day. We're losing animals in the wild. So we're at a critical point in terms of responding to the crisis."
The crisis was created by the expanding human populations in India and Southeast Asia. People encroach on tiger habitat, kill tigers illegally, and hunt the game that tigers prey upon.
John Seidensticker is senior scientist at the National Zoo. "Many of the forests of Asia are devoid of prey. Tigers need large deer, wild pigs. In India they eat gaur, which is a large wild cattle. And it's loss of prey that's actually one of the biggest things that threatens tigers."
Tigers are poached for their valuable parts. Tiger skin is in great demand from an increasingly affluent Asian population. Tiger bone has been used in traditional medicine for hundreds of years. The poaching goes on despite laws in most countries making trafficking in tiger parts illegal. India has even established parks for the protection of tigers, but the trend continues.
"The hard part is you have very poor populations surrounding many of those parks. And suddenly poaching a tiger is very attractive because you can earn more by poaching one animal than you could by working a full year."
Trandahl says there is hope, thanks to more private and public funding. "The study gives us both good news and bad news. The good news is, we looked at our investments over the last 11 years, and we find that those targeted populations that we've been investing in are not only stable but some are actually expanding."
Some of those stable and expanding populations can be found in the Russian Far East and on the border between Nepal and India. Scientists say with proper funding, education and government protection more areas can become habitable and help secure the long-term survival of these majestic animals.

¤注解¤:

1. poach vt. 侵入偷猎, 窃取vi.偷猎
2. habitat n. (动植物的) 生活环境, 产地, 栖息地
3. encroach vi. (逐步或暗中) 侵占, 蚕食
4. habitable adj. 可居住的

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angelonduty : 2007-04-03#134
VOA第3季度上-c021

Twentieth Century Visionaries On View in New York

Buckminister Fuller never completed a university degree, but became a 20th century icon as a designer, architect, and inventor. He was also a mathematician, engineer and poet. He is perhaps best-known for his work developing geodesic domes: spherical structures without internal supports that enclose far greater interior areas than traditional post-and-beam constructions. Fuller hoped such structures would ease housing shortages.
Isamu Noguchi led a less-public life, experimenting with materials such as stainless steel, bronze, sheet aluminum and even water to create streamlined sculptures, gardens, parks, and set designs.
Shoji Sadao, a business partner to both men, put together an exhibit dedicated to them at the Noguchi Museum in New York. He says Fuller and Noguchi were both independent thinkers who wanted to use their talents to improve lives. "They both wanted to work to better society, Bucky through science and technology and Isamu though his art. Bucky was, I think, concerned more about the physical well-being of people, the standard of living and so forth. Isamu was interested more in the aesthetic and intellectual well-being, psychological. Their common philosophy in terms of very egalitarian point of view, in terms of human kind and bettering mankind's existence on earth is what got them together."
The two men first met in 1929. Fuller had already established himself as a futurist with his 1927 Dymaxion House, an inexpensive, technically advanced house that could be assembled on-site from a kit. Sadao says his early interests in environmental issues, aerodynamics and social well-being set him apart. "At the very beginning many people thought that he was a crank or a nut because some of his ideas seemed to be so outlandish. But he was 50 or 100 years ahead of his times in terms of the concepts or things that he was proposing like the Dymaxion House and the Dymaxion car exhibited here."
"Noguchi was immediately influenced by Fuller's ideas about space and habitat. He sculpted a chrome-plated bronze bust of Fuller in seven sittings, which is on exhibit in the show. In 1932, Fuller asked Noguchi to create a three-dimensional plaster model for his fuel-efficient Dymaxion car."
The two men continued to collaborate throughout their long lives, with Noguchi often creating models of Fuller's ideas. In 1986, three years after Fuller's death and just two years before his own, Noguchi created a monumental, 30-meter sculpture based on Fuller's view that the basic building block of the cosmos was the tetrahedron, a solid having four triangular faces.
"He was experimenting with these kinds of structures and Isamu was very perceptive and he saw the potential of it being a very beautiful piece of sculpture. This is the Challenger monument that was dedicated to the astronauts that perished in the Challenger crash."
The exhibit contains photographs and a model of the Challenger 7 Memorial, which is located in a Miami, Florida park designed by Noguchi and Shoji Sadao.
The exhibit offers a new generation of visitors a chance to become acquainted with the genius of Buckminster Fuller and his vision. Shoji Sadao calls him a true renaissance man. "He was described at one time as even the Leonardo da Vince of the 20th century. His knowledge was broad and expansive and he was very much of a humanitarian too. Very warm, very easy to get to know. He never talked down to anyone, even to young children. He would talk to them as though they were equals and his peers."
Visitors can also see some of the more than 1,000 sculptures that Noguchi completed in his life, which are on view throughout the museum and its garden. The peaceful setting invites visitors to reflect on the creativity and collaboration of two 20th century geniuses.

¤注解¤:

1. mathematician n. 数学家
2. stainless adj. 纯洁的, 无瑕疵的, 不锈的
3. aesthetic adj. 美学的, 审美的, 有审美感的
4. aerodynamics n. 空气动力学, 气体力学

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angelonduty : 2007-04-03#135
VOA第3季度上-c022

UN Says HIV-AIDS Could Slow India's Economic Growth

The report says the potential economic costs of HIV-AIDS in India could be huge, cutting economic growth by close to one percent over the next 10 to 15 years. India's economy has been growing at nearly eight percent in recent years.
The study was done jointly by the United Nations Development Program and India's National Council of Applied Economic Research - a body funded by the Indian government.
Despite the large number of HIV-AIDS sufferers in India, they are still a small percentage of the overall population. But the author of the report, Suman Bery, says the numbers will become large enough to affect India's labor supply and productivity, if the disease continues to spread unchecked.
"Even for a giant country like India, which currently has low prevalence, it could end up being significant in affecting the overall growth rate. The reason it has this impact is that this is a disease that affects people in their prime working age, and even though India has lots and lots of people at the skilled and semi-skilled level, that sort of loss in the labor force can have an aggregate impact."
The report says the increase in spending on health by both individuals and government will result in a decline in savings, slowing growth and investment.
But the government agency in charge of halting the spread of HIV-AIDS, the National Aids Control Agency, says the findings of the report represent a worst-case scenario. Sujata Rao, the head of the agency, says efforts are in progress to cut transmission of HIV in the country's worst-hit areas by targeting groups most affected by the disease: sex workers and migrant laborers.
"It is not difficult. They are getting empowered. They are getting to understand, after all they also love their lives. If we really have a saturation strategy in place in the next five years, I am positive we will make an impact."
The agency is also backing demands for homosexuality to be legalized. Volunteer groups argue current laws drive homosexuals - a high-risk group - underground, making it difficult to reach them with AIDS-prevention campaigns. A local AIDS charity has petitioned a court to throw out the law making homosexuality illegal.
Anjana Pasricha for VOA news, New Delhi.

¤注解¤:

1. sufferer n. 受害者
2. productivity n. 生产力
3. prevalence n. 流行
4. empower v. 授权与, 使能够

附件


angelonduty : 2007-04-04#136
VOA第3季度上-c023

US ‘Wounded Warriors’ Learn Water Sports Without the Use of Their Limbs

The war in Iraq is something Dean Schwartz will live with for the rest of his life.
"We were fixing a hole from a roadside bomb that killed two soldiers the week before, and just kind of stayed out too long, and a guy came with an RPG [Rocket Propelled Grenade] and shot it in my truck, and my leg came off instantly."
But don't call Schwartz's amputation a disability. Not here in the waters off Breezy Point in New York. And not during this water sports festival hosted by the Wounded Warriors Project, the New York City Fire and Police departments, and the Adaptive Sports Foundation, where Kim Seevers works.
"Instead of looking at the amputation as a disability, we just find their abilities, you know, work around whatever is not happening, try to find what we can use and help them see what is going to be successful and you can pretty much get anybody doing whatever they want to do."
What most veterans want to do is to live a normal life after the war. While it's harder with an injury and especially without a limb, the water sports festival is one of the first steps in opening the doors to possibilities for those still coping with a life-changing loss.
For Dean Schwartz, living without a leg is a war he continues to fight, even on summer vacation from college -- two years after he served in Iraq.
"My philosophy is if I let it keep me down, they win -- the insurgent that shot the RPG into me -- he wins, so I try to live my life normally and just stay happy."
"A lot of the folks who are here have been in Walter Reed (Army Medical Center), and this is their first opportunity to really get out and see, ‘Now I can still do that and I can still do this,’ and yeah, I definitely think it's a gateway to bigger and better things."
Those bigger and better things begin with the empowerment that comes from the small victories right here on the water… Like water skiing on one leg.
"Seeing someone come out here and be successful and seeing how much joy it gives them to be able to do something, to find out if they can water ski again or wakeboard or whatever, that's the cool thing."
Surrounding the wounded veterans is a community of volunteers. Many have donated time over their summer vacations to improve the quality of life for those struggling to adapt to life on the homefront.
"People care tremendously about this, and if you watch an event like this for five minutes and it doesn't touch your heart, there's something wrong."
Kane Farabaugh, VOA news, New York.

¤注解¤:

1. amputation n. 切断手术
2. veteran n. 老兵, 老手
3. gateway n. 门, 通路, 网关
4. donate v. 捐赠, 赠予

附件


angelonduty : 2007-04-04#137
VOA第3季度上-c024

US Scientists Work on Computer Model to Detect Earthquakes

It is a common bond shared by countries around the world - the likelihood that natural disasters, such as earthquakes, can strike at any time. But what is uncommon is that some countries have installed underground sensors to detect an earthquake and send out early warnings to prepare people.
The system works because electronic signals can be sent to a computer much faster than the shock waves that move through the earth.
Such systems are in place in Japan, Mexico, Taiwan and Turkey. In the United States, scientists at the California Institute for Technology are also working on ways to warn people just before a quake.
Tom Heaton, an earthquake engineer at Cal Tech, says the system is still years away. "We have about 150 sensors that are appropriate for this task out in southern California at the moment. To really run this correctly, my guess is it would take more like 600 sensors."
Work on the early warning software is just beginning, but researchers believe within five to 10 years, warnings could be transmitted to cell phones. Heaton hopes the new computer system can give residents a warning of at least 30 to 60 seconds. While that is not a lot of time, Heaton describes a scenario in which a short warning could make a big difference.
"I don't know about you, but I don't want to be stuck in an elevator in an earthquake, so the elevator would go to the closest floor and open the door."
But in southern California, fault lines are everywhere, making it a challenge for the sensors to detect an earthquake. "In many of those instances, you'll be near the epicenter and this system won't help you at all. You'll just feel the earthquake as severe shaking."
Scientists hope the new model will prepare them in case of another massive earthquake like the one that hit San Francisco in 1906, killing 3,000 people. The U.S. Geological Society is also using computer models to recreate the ground motions from the 1906 quake, to better understand the distribution of shaking and damage along more than 480 kilometers of the San Andreas fault. The results of these investigations could help U.S. scientists develop early warning systems like those of other countries.
I’m Anthony Stokes, VOA news.

¤注解¤:

1. likelihood [ n. 可能, 可能性
2. sensor n. 传感器
3. scenario n. 想定
4. epicenter n. 震中, 中心

附件


angelonduty : 2007-04-04#138
VOA第3季度上-c025

US Shuttle Astronauts Make "Highwire" Spacewalk

Like a circus highwire act, astronauts Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers stood 340 kilometers above Earth, bouncing, twisting, and bending forward and backward at the end of the 30 meter boom.
The boom is an extension of the shuttle's original robot arm. It was designed to hold a camera to inspect potential damage to the fragile heat shield on the shuttle's underside. NASA developed the orbital inspection procedure as the result of the disintegration of the shuttle "Columbia," whose heat shield was punctured by hard insulating foam that had broken away from the external fuel tank during launch.
NASA wanted to know if the spindly boom is stable enough to hold people in case human inspection and emergency orbital repairs are necessary beneath the shuttle.
Fossum gave his opinion to U.S. Mission Control in Houston. "The boom's motion itself if smooth, very smooth."
The astronauts' other task during their seven hour outing was to replace a cable to the space station's rail car, which positions the outpost's mechanical arm during construction. The cable was accidentally severed last year by a cable cutter, so the two crewmen also locked the cutter to prevent a recurrence.
But, work was not the only thing on their mind. Before floating out of the hatch into space, Sellers asked mission control what countries will face each other in Sunday's World Cup football championship. They launched Tuesday before the finalists were known.
[Sellers] "We never found out. We've been too busy. Maybe Houston knows."
[Mission Control] "It's France and Italy. They are still in it. The final game is tomorrow."
[Sellers] "Oh, okay. Thanks. [We've] got to pick a side."
This was Sellers' fourth spacewalk, but the first for Fossum. Like all novices, he marveled at the view below and picked out several geographical points, including South America's Andes mountains, Ireland, England, and the Caspian Sea. "I'm in a dream. Nobody wake me up!"
He and Sellers will make take two more spacewalks during the shuttle's two-week visit to the space station. It is the first shuttle mission in almost one year. One purpose is to replace space station supplies and deliver German astronaut Thomas Reiter as a third crewmember. But it is also a mission to test shuttle repair techniques and changes NASA has made to the orbiter's external tank to ensure it never again sheds pieces of foam large enough to endanger a shuttle.
David McAlary, VOA news, Washington.

¤注解¤:

1. fragile adj. 易碎的, 脆的
2. disintegration n. 瓦解
3. recurrence n. 复发, 重现, 循环
4. finalist n. 参加决赛的选手

附件


angelonduty : 2007-04-04#139
VOA第3季度上-c026

Vietnam Tries to Limit Online Game Playing

Over the last three years, the market for on-line games has exploded in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government is worried that kids are now spending too much time in Internet cafes, battling each other with virtual swords and lasers.
A new government regulation requires gaming companies to make it harder for players to receive bonus points, or "level up", after they have been on-line for three hours, and to stop giving them points after five.
Vu Xuan Thanh, chief inspector at the Ministry of Culture and Information, says the government is responding to its own concerns, and those of many parents.
"Some kids play so long they collapse right on their keyboards. If your child played for 10 hours straight, he asked, would you be pleased with him?"
At one on-line gaming cafe in Hanoi, the kids admitted they tended to play for long sessions.
Trung, 15, was playing a game called Space Cowboy. He said the longest he has played at one sitting was five hours.
"No," said his friends, "it was 24 hours."
The new regulation took effect July 1, but neither the players nor the owner of this cafe had heard of it.
The owner, who asked that her name not be used, says that limiting the players' time would not work. She would have to record their ID numbers, and if she did that, she says, no one would come to her cafe.
American Bryan Pelz is the CEO of Vinagame, which markets Swordsman, the number one on-line game in Vietnam. Pelz says the government consulted extensively with the industry before issuing the regulation.
"Vinagame, FPT, VAFP, and maybe a couple of other online game providers were contacted, early on. And then I think that they met with gamers themselves, cafe owners, game operators, a variety of different groups, to discuss."
But Mr. Pelz says that implementing the regulation may be difficult.
"There's a technical implementation issue. How do we make sure that after three hours they don't level up as quickly, and after five hours they're cut off? We don't actually write the games ourselves, we actually license them from abroad. So we have to go to our partners abroad and have them make modifications."
Mr. Pelz says he is glad the government issued the regulation, since it provides the industry with a legal framework, and he says his company will comply. But some in the industry take a harder line.
Tran Vu Hai is the director of VDIG, the company that sells the scratch-off pre-paid cards used to play games like MU and Space Cowboy.
Hai says the restrictions are meaningless, because players can set up multiple accounts to evade the controls. He says trying to forbid things usually has the opposite effect, and says the government needs to build more sports facilities for young people, so they have something safe to do besides playing on-line games.
Vietnam is hardly the only country concerned about children spending too much time with on-line games. But the effort to limit on-line playing time does have a particularly Vietnamese flavor.
Just 15 years ago, Vietnam was still a tightly controlled society, where the government kept tabs on people through their neighborhoods, their places of work, or their families. But as the Internet becomes a part of life, Vietnam is starting to get used to one of the signal qualities of cyberspace: anonymity.
"Anonymity is one of the fascinating things about an on-line game, because it allows anybody to be whoever it is they want to be, in the game. And that's one of the reasons why people play the games. But yet at the same time, it's a double-edged sword. As a game operator, we really don't know who they are."
That anonymity will make it hard for Vietnam to keep its kids from playing till they drop.
Matt Steinglass for VOA news, Hanoi.


¤注解¤:

1. Vietnam n. 越南
2. Gaming n. 赌博, 赌胜负
3. implement vt. 贯彻, 实现 v. 执行
4. modification n. 更改, 修改, 修正

附件


angelonduty : 2007-04-04#140
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

The end.

yangyang2005 : 2007-04-04#141
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

厉害!
我们还是留在英语版吧,外面风大雨大,怕受不了,哈哈

angelonduty : 2007-04-04#142
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

洋洋,现在第3季度上、下都上传完了,你看第4季度按哪个方式进行呢?
大家意见呢?

yangyang2005 : 2007-04-04#143
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

洋洋,现在第3季度上、下都上传完了,你看第4季度按哪个方式进行呢?
大家意见呢?

:wdb17:
还是按这种形式吧,挺好的
:wdb6:

yangyang2005 : 2007-04-04#144
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

做个标记:“第3季度上”下载完毕

angelonduty : 2007-04-04#145
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

:wdb17:
还是按这种形式吧,挺好的
:wdb6:
Yes, Madam!

yangyang2005 : 2007-04-04#146
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

可能“上+下”的形式更好:
先在首帖把文本打包上传(方便打印)
再在每帖都分别上传文本(方便在办公室边听边看文本)和MP3

OK?

angelonduty : 2007-04-04#147
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

It's perfectly alright!

yangyang2005 : 2007-04-04#148
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

OK.
Thanks again!

topee : 2007-04-06#149
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

ths

dopod568 : 2007-04-06#150
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

关注并支持angelonduty!

angelonduty : 2007-04-06#151
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

关注并支持angelonduty!
希望这些东东对你有帮助!

aussiok : 2007-04-07#152
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

谢谢,从听学起!

yangyang2005 : 2007-06-20#153
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

好帖继续顶

LittleLion : 2007-10-06#154
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

好贴顶起来

ivyivy : 2007-12-06#155
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

第一次来这里,找到很多有用的,多谢了!:wdb6:

yangyang2005 : 2007-12-07#156
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

第一次来这里,找到很多有用的,多谢了!:wdb6:
Welcome! :wdb6:

若然2007 : 2008-01-16#157
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

谢谢LZ!!!

ssbear : 2008-02-11#158
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

感谢楼主

Priscilla : 2008-02-15#159
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

谢谢斑竹分享教程!

sarahfox : 2011-04-18#160
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

追寻天使的足迹。。。。。。。

sarahfox : 2011-11-30#161
回复: 《美国之音》2006下半年新闻合辑MP3及文本-第3季度上

现在才开始听voa,呵呵,一天5课啊,2小时啊,刚发现天使是这样听的,加油。。。等候的日子,继续提高英语。。。。。。。。。