听力

1.原文:The United States has announced a plan to fight the quickly growing threat
from cyber spies and Internet attackers known as hackers. America's Attorney
General Eric Holder recently said that ever-improving technology is making it
easier for people and countries to strike at the United States.Mr. Holder said the Justice Department is fighting back aggressively. He said it is working with
various states and government agencies to find and bring to justice those
involved in cyber theft and cyber espionage. And, the attorney general called for increased co-operation with private companies. He described the importance of keeping trade secrets a secret.The new policy also calls for fines and trade
actions against individuals and countries that target American trade secrets.
翻译:美国宣布了一项计划，以打击来自于迅速增长的网络间谍以及黑客的威胁。

美国司法部长埃里克·霍德最近表示日益进步的技术正在使公民和国家能更容易地攻击美国。

霍德先生表示司法部门正用尽全力反击。

他表示司法部门正在与各州及政府部门共同
致力于侦破网络盗窃和间谍活动，并将罪犯绳之于法。

同时，司法部长还呼吁加强与
私人公司的合作，并指出保守商业秘密的重要性。

新的政策同时也呼吁对那些盗取美
国商业秘密的个人以及国家采取罚款和贸易制裁。

2.原文:The plan was announced the day after the American information security
company Mandiant published the findings of its investigation of cyber-attacks. It reports that more than 140 companies have been attacked since 2006. The
targets include some of the biggest companies in the United States, companies like Apple Computer, Facebook, Lockheed Martin, CocaCola and many others.In addition to companies and banks, the hackers are also reported to strike state, federal and international agencies and organizations. Among the areas targeted are satellites, information technology, telecommunications, aerospace, public
administration and scientific research.
翻译:该计划公布于美国网络安全公司Mandiant发表关于网络攻击调查报告的次日。

据报告称，自2006年以来美国已有超过140家公司遭到黑客攻击，其中不乏各类行
业巨头，如苹果电脑、脸谱社交、美国军火巨头洛克希德·马丁公司、可口可乐等.报告还称，除了公司和银行外，州、联邦及国际机构和组织的网络系统也难逃黑客魔掌。

受害对象涉及卫星、信息技术、通讯、航空航天、公共事业管理和科学研究等领域。

3.原文:A new study found that women who took folic acid supplements in early
pregnancy were less likely to have a child with autism. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps the body build and repair cells. The study did not prove that folic acid can prevent childhood autism, but the findings suggest a connection. The
researchers called for examining whether folic acid is associated with a reduced risk of other brain disorders in children.Children with autism have problems
communicating and socializing with other people.Researchers at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health looked at records of more than 85,000 children born
between 2002 and 2008.The study asked mothers to describe their diets,
including vitamins and other nutritional treatments, before and during their
pregnancies.Research leader Pal Suren and his colleagues compared the women who took folic acid supplements to those who did not.He says the best time to take folic acid to reduce the risk of autism seems to be from four weeks before to eight weeks after the start of pregnancy. The researchers found that taking folic acid halfway through pregnancy had no effect.
翻译:新的研究发现，怀孕早期服用叶酸补充剂的孕妇，其所生小孩患自闭症的可能性更小。

叶酸是维生素B的一种，可以帮助人体构建和修复细胞。

研究并未证实叶酸可以预防儿童自闭症，但结果表明二者存在关联。

研究人员呼吁对叶酸是否可以降低儿童患上其他大脑障碍的风险进行调查。

患有自闭症的儿童在与人交流及社交方面存在挪威公共卫生研究所研究人员查看了85000多名在2002年至2008年间出生的儿童的记录。

该研究要求母亲们描述自己在孕前及孕期的饮食状况，包括维他命以及营养的摄入情况。

研究负责人帕尔·苏伦和他的同事们对服用和不服用叶酸补充剂的妇女进行了比较。

他表示孕前四周到孕期第八周是服用叶酸降低自闭风险的最佳时期。

研究人员发现在孕期半途中服用叶酸没有任何效果。

4.原文:After the babies were born, investigators followed up with the children
through the end of March 2012. They wanted to find out how many developed any form of autism. 270 of the children had some form of autism. The study
found no reduction in the risk of some forms of autism. But it did find a lower risk for the most severe form. There were not enough children with a milder form known as Asperger's syndrome to make any findings.The cause of autism is not known, but several genes may play a part.Folic acid has been linked to the
development of a protective covering called the neural tube in a fetus. Women who do not get enough folic acid are at risk of giving birth to infants with part of their spinal cord or brain exposed. This disabling condition is called spina
bifida.Ezra Susser of Columbia University in New York City was a co-author of the new study of folic acid.Dark leafy vegetables, asparagus, broccoli and citrus fruit are rich sources of folate. Folate is the naturally occurring form of folic acid.
Folate is also found in peas, lentils, beans, eggs, yeast and liver.Studies have shown that many pregnant women get less folate in their diet than they need to prevent neural tube defects. So folic acid supplements are commonly
recommended for pregnant women.
翻译:婴儿出生后，调查人员一直跟进研究至2012年3月，他们想了解到底有多少孩子患上自闭症。

调查数据显示，有270名儿童患上某种形式的自闭症。

研究发现某些自闭症的发病风险没有降低，但最严重的那类的发病风险确实有所下降。

但现知的已患上其中艾斯伯格综合症（一种轻微自闭症）的病童数量不够，尚未能使研究定下结论。

自闭症的发病原因仍未明确，但有几种基因或许会在其中推波助澜。

叶酸与胎儿体内名为神经管的保护层的形成有关，那些没有摄取足量叶酸的孕妇，其产下的婴儿可能有部分脊柱或脑部外露。

这种疾病被称为“脊柱裂”。

纽约哥伦比亚大学的埃兹拉·萨瑟教授是这份有关叶酸的最新研究的合著者。

深绿色叶类蔬菜、芦笋、西兰花和柑桔属水果都富含叶酸盐，这是自然形式的叶酸。

豌豆、扁豆、蚕豆、鸡蛋、酵母和肝脏里也均含有叶酸盐。

另外，研究表明，许多孕妇饮食中含有的叶酸不足以预防神经管缺损。

因此，我们强烈建议孕妇服用叶酸补充剂。

5.原文:Pope Benedict gave his last public blessing this week to tens of thousands
of people in Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican, the church's administrative
center. The resignation of the leader of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church took effect Thursday.On Wednesday, the 85-year-old leader took one final ride through the square in his open vehicle. He stopped at times to bless a baby.
Later he told the crowd that he has been through some moments that were "not
easy." The pope said, "To love the church also means having the courage to take difficult decisions." Some observers said the comment was a reply to his
surprising decision to resign.Benedict recognized that his decision was not
expected. He told Catholic believers that he made the move with what he called "profound serenity of spirit." The most recent papal resignation was almost 600 years ago when Pope Gregory the Twelfth stepped down.Father Thomas Rosica, the director of a Catholic television network in Canada, was among those
listening to Benedict's final address. Father Rosica says the pope's decision to
resign is a way of teaching Catholics about surrender.Benedict said the church had troubles and "stormy waters" during his eight-year leadership. But, he said God will not let the institution sink. He urged all Catholics to always put the good of the Catholic Church before their own personal desires.
翻译:本周，教皇本笃十六世在教会行政中心梵蒂冈圣彼得广场最后一次向数万信众发表祝福演讲。

这位世界罗马天主教会领导的辞呈于周四生效。

周三，这位85岁高龄的教皇最后一次乘着他的敞篷车驶过广场。

期间他会偶尔停下来为婴儿祈福。

随后他告
诉信众，做出这样的决定，他也经历了一些艰难时刻。

他说道，“热爱教会也意味着
要有勇气做出艰难决定”。

一些观察人士表示，此番言论是对其突然递交辞呈的答复。

教皇本笃十六世承认他的决定出人意料。

他告知天主教会信徒，他以一种“深刻的精
神的宁静”做出这个决定。

上一次罗马教皇主动退位距今近六百年，当时教皇格里高
利十二世提出辞职。

神父托马斯·罗斯卡是加拿大一个天主教会电视网络的负责人，他也聆听了本笃十六世的最后一次布道。

他表示，教皇决定辞职是以另一种方式教诲天
主教徒要学会放下。

本笃十六世称在他八年任职期间，罗马教会经历了风雨飘摇的艰
难时期。

但是他说，上帝不会让教会沉沦。

他督促所有天主教徒始终将天主教会的利
益置于个人欲望之上。

6.原文:The pope has had to answer accusations of corruption and sexual abuse by
Catholic clergy members. He has dealt with the leak of thousands of private
documents that reportedly show dishonor in the church. And, there has been a decrease in the Catholic faith within Europe.Before leaving on Thursday, Benedict said goodbye in private to Roman Catholic cardinals. He urged these high-level officials to unite as they prepare to choose the next pope among their
number.Pope Benedict will now be called "pope emeritus" and continue to wear the white clothing he wore while serving as pope. Many people have criticized
the decision to let him stay in the Vatican. They say his presence could create
tension with the new ruling pope. Pope Benedict has said he plans to live quietly in prayer and meditation in his words, "hidden to the world." He also promised to show "unconditional reverence and obedience" to the next pope.The Pope left
the Vatican Thursday by helicopter and arrived at his new temporary home,
Castel Gandolfo, south of the Vatican. He will return to the Vatican and live in
what is called a convent in a few months.In a final message on his official Twitter account, the leader of the world's more than 1 billion Catholics thanked his
followers for their "love and support." He also wrote, "May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the center of your lives."
翻译:教皇不得不回应关于天主教神职人员腐败和性侵的指控。

他也疲于应付上千份私人文件外泄问题，据称文中披露了教内丑闻。

目前欧洲天主教信众正在减少。

周四离
职前，本笃十六世曾私下向罗马红衣主教告别。

他敦促这些高层人员团结一致，在成
员内部选出下一任教皇。

教皇本笃十六世将被称为“荣休教皇”，仍能穿在担任教皇
期间穿着的白色服装。

许多人批评让他待在梵蒂冈的决定，他们表示，他的存在可能
造成局势紧张，威胁到新任教皇的统治。

教皇本笃说，他打算静静地祈祷和冥想，用
他的话来说，就是“远离尘世”。

他还承诺“无条件的尊重和服从”下一任教皇。

教
皇本笃十六世周四搭乘直升飞机离开梵蒂冈抵达临时新家，位于南梵蒂冈的冈多菲堡。

他将在几个月后返回梵蒂冈，住在被称为修道院的地方。

据他的官方推特帐户的最新
消息显示，这位在全世界有10多亿天主教徒的领袖对追随者们的“爱与支持”表示感谢。

他还写道，“愿你们能经常体验到把基督放在生活中心所带来的喜悦”。

7.原文:Some of the most exciting information comes by way of the grapevine.That
is so because reports received through the grapevine are supposed to be secret.
The information is all hush-hush. It is whispered into your ear with the
understanding that you will not pass it on to others.You feel honored and excited.
You are one of the special few to get this information. You cannot wait. You must quickly find other ears to pour the information into. And so, the information --
secret as it is -- begins to spread. Nobody knows how far.The expression by the grapevine is more than 100 years old.The American inventor, Samuel F. Morse, is largely responsible for the birth of the expression. Among others, he
experimented with the idea of telegraphy -- sending messages over a wire by
electricity. When Morse finally completed his telegraphic instrument, he went
before Congress to show that it worked. He sent a message over a wire from
Washington to Baltimore. The message was: "What hath God wrought?" This was on May 24th, 1844.
翻译:有些最激动人心的信息是小道传播的（by way of the grapevine）。

这是因为小
道消息本该是秘密的，信息是完全保密的。

有人对着你的耳朵轻声说出时，认为你不
会把它传播给别人。

你感到既荣幸又兴奋。

你是那得到信息的特别的少数人。

你迫不
及待，必须马上找到其他人把信息告诉给他们。

因此，信息虽然是秘密的，但是开始
传播，而且没有人知道会传到多远.“By the grapevine”（秘密传播，通过小道消息
传播）这个短语有超过一百年的历史。

美国发明家塞缪尔·芬里·莫尔斯与这个短语的诞生有很大关系。

和许多人一样，他也针对电报（即用电通过金属线发送信息）这个想
法做了实验。

莫尔斯终于完成了电报发送器时，他在国会议员面前展示机器可以用。

他用电线从华盛顿发送一条消息至巴尔的摩。

这条消息是“上帝做了何等大事？”消
息的发送日期是1844年5月24日。

8.原文:Quickly, companies began to build telegraph lines from one place to another.
Men everywhere seemed to be putting up poles with strings of wire for carrying telegraphic messages. The workmanship was poor. And the wires were not put up straight.Some of the results looked strange. People said they looked like a
grapevine. A large number of the telegraph lines were going in all directions, as crooked as the vines that grapes grow on. So was born the expression, by the
grapevine.Some writers believe that the phrase would soon have disappeared
were it not for the American Civil War.Soon after the war began in 1861, military commanders started to send battlefield reports by telegraph. People began
hearing the phrase by the grapevine to describe false as well as true reports from the battlefield. It was like a game. Was it true? Who says so?Now, as in those
far-off Civil War days, getting information by the grapevine remains something of
a game. A friend brings you a bit of strange news. "No," you say, "it just can't be
true! Who told you?" Comes the answer, "I got it by the grapevine."You really cannot know how much, if any, of the information that comes to you by the
grapevine is true or false. Still, in the words of an old American saying, the
person who keeps pulling the grapevine shakes down at least a few grapes.
翻译:很快的，各个公司开始在各地铺设电报线路。

各地的人都在撑起电线杆以传递电报信息。

由于当时的施工技术比较差，电报线路并没有被拉直。

其中有些线路看起来很奇怪，人们说这些线路看起来像葡萄藤。

因为很多电报线向四面八方延伸，就像生长葡萄的藤蔓一样弯弯曲曲，很快便诞生了“by the grapevine”这种说法。

一些作家认为，如果不是因为美国南北战争的话，这个习语可能很快就会消失。

在1861年南北战争开始之后，军队指挥官开始使用电报传递战地情况。

人们也开始使用“by the grapevine（通过小道消息）”这句话来形容战场上传来的或真或假的消息。

这就像一场游戏。

这是真的吗？这是谁说的？如今，在南北战争早已远去的今天，通过小道消息得到信息仍然具有一定的游戏性质。

你的一位朋友告诉你了一点奇怪的消息，你对他说：“不，这不可能是真的！谁告诉你的？”他会回答：“这是我听说的小道消息。

”你完全无法知道你得到的小道消息（如果有的话）有多少是真，多少是假。

但是，正如同一句古老的美国谚语说的那样，一直在摇晃葡萄藤的人至少能摇下几个葡萄。

9.原文:South Sudan fought for years to win independence from Sudan. South
Sudanese women are facing a similar struggle for their rights. As we hear from June Simms, fighting may have ended in the new nation, but violence and sexual abuse are still problems. Domestic or family violence is hard to discuss in a
nation where many people consider it normal for a woman to be beaten and
strange for a wife to leave her husband. Rape is also a problem. The
International Rescue Committee operates a clinic for sex-based violence in Lakes State. Abendego Mabior Nyinde is a medical worker. He says knowledge about diseases such as AIDS has led more women to report rape. But he says many do not speak out for fear that admitting such an attack will lower their value as a future wife. In South Sudan, a woman's family can request a large number of cattle for her to be given in marriage. But Mary Ayei Yai, a mother of eight
children, says the deal often leaves women trapped and open to abuse. Jenny Becker works for the International Rescue Committee. She says getting women out of abusive situations is a duty that officials have trouble dealing with. Officials say there are laws in South Sudan to protect the rights of women. But many say the reality is that traditional law and a male-dominated culture most often win out.
翻译:经过多年的内战，南苏丹终于脱离苏丹赢得了独立，但南苏丹女性争取权利的“战争”仍在继续。

从琼·西姆斯的报道中我们得知，在这个刚独立的国家，战火虽已平息，但家庭暴力和性侵犯仍旧是严重的社会问题。

在这个将殴打妇女视作平常的国家里，家庭暴力是个难以探讨的问题，许多人甚至认为妻子离开丈夫才是怪异现象。

性侵犯问题也亟待解决。

国际救援委员会在湖泊州开办了一家救治性侵犯受害者的诊所。

Abendego Mabior Nyinde是这里的一名医护工作者。

他说，通过对许多疾病（如艾滋病）知识的普及，越来越多强奸受害者勇敢地前来寻求帮助。

但很多女性还是羞
于启齿，因为她们担心承认被强奸的事实会影响将来出嫁的“价值”。

在南苏丹，女
方的家庭可以通过嫁女儿换取大批牛群。

但身为8个孩子母亲的Mary Ayei Yai说这种买卖婚姻通常使女性不仅自由被限制或剥夺，甚至还遭受到公然的虐待。

珍妮·贝克尔
也是国际救援委员会的一名员工。

她说如何将妇女从遭受虐待的困境中解救出来是一
项棘手的工作。

委员会的官员们认为，南苏丹虽然也有保护妇女权益的相关法规，但
在一个传统法规和男权主义根深蒂固的国家里，维护女性权益可谓举步维艰。

10.原文:The Austin, Texas-based music and media festival, South by Southwest
opens March 8th. The ten-day long festival brings hundreds of artists,
entertainers and media interests to town. Christopher Cruise plays music from
some of this year's guests.That is the band Green Day performing "Oh, Love"
from last year's hit album "Uno." Green Day is performing at South by Southwest for the first time ever.Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt formed the band in
1987. They were 15-year-old Californians at the time. Now, the band has 11
albums, five Grammy awards, and three American Music Awards. Their albums have sold millions and millions of copies.Also performing at South by Southwest this year is the very popular musical team Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Their
song "Thrift Shop" is currently No.2 on Billboard magazine's Hot One Hundred
singles list.The American rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs will also play at the festival this year. Their third and most recent album, "It's Blitz!" was released in 2009.
However, the band is expected to release another called "Mosquito" next month.
We leave you with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs performing, "Runaway," from "It's Blitz." 翻译:在德克萨斯奥斯汀举办的音乐媒体艺术节西南偏南大会（SXSW/South by Southwest）于3月8日开幕。

为期10天的音乐节为该小镇引来了数百名的艺术家、
演艺人员以及媒体爱好者。

克里斯多夫·克鲁斯播放了一些今年受邀嘉宾的音乐。

你现
在听到的是Green Day演奏的其去年主打专辑《Uno》中的《Oh, Love》。

这是Green Day首次在SXSW上参加演出。

时年15岁的加利福尼亚人比利·乔·阿姆斯特朗和麦克·迪恩特于1987年创建该乐队。

如今，这支乐队发行了11张唱片，获得过5次格莱美奖，3次全美音乐奖。

他们的唱片已经售出了好几百万张。

同样于今年在SXSW上
演出的还有非常受欢迎的乐团Macklemore and Ryan Lewis。

他们的歌曲《Thrift Shop》目前位列《公告牌》杂志100首热门单曲榜单的第二位。

美国摇滚乐队Yeah Yeah Yeahs今年也将在音乐节上表演。

他们的第三张专辑也是距今最近的一张专辑《It’s Blitz!》还是在2009年发行的。

不过该乐队有望于下个月发行另一张名为《Mosquito》的新专辑。

节目最后，来听听Yeah Yeah Yeahs在专辑《It’s Blitz》中演唱的《Runaway》。