英语视听说文稿合集

(1) A Success Story for Malaria ControlThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.Every year, malaria sickens about five hundred million people. More than one million of them die, mostly young children and pregnant women in Africa.For several years in sub-Saharan Africa, the Global Fund and other groups have been paying for bed nets treated with long-lasting insect poison. Malaria is spread by mosquito bites. The groups have also invested in antimalaria drugs for A.C.T., artemisinin-based combination therapy.Recently, a team from the World Health Organization visited Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda and Zambia. These countries were the first to distribute the bed nets and medicine. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria requested a study to see if the interventions were helping.The researchers found that the answer is yes. They looked at records of children under five. They found that malaria deaths fell by sixty-six percent in Rwanda between two thousand five and two thousand seven. Deaths fell by fifty-one percent in Ethiopia, thirty-four percent in Ghana and thirty-three percent in Zambia.The team reported that limited supplies of bed nets could help explain the more limitedeffects in Zambia and Ghana. But the findings in Ghana were more difficult to explain, because deaths from causes other than malaria fell more sharply. The report says this was in keeping with general improvements in health services.The full report can be found at who.int, on the page for the global malaria program.In another new study, researchers reported that vitamin A and zinc treatments might also help protect young children from malaria. Scientists in Burkina Faso found that malaria reinfection rates fell by thirty-four percent in a group of children treated with vitamin A and zinc.The findings appear in Nutrition Journal, an open access publication that can be read free of charge at .Now, we turn from a disease that kills a million people a year to a behavior that kills more than five times that many: smoking.A new report from the World Health Organization estimates that tobacco killed one hundred million people in the twentieth century. And it says the number this century could reach one billion.We will talk more about this major report next week, and new efforts to control tobacco.And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news go to . I'm Faith Lapidus.¤注解¤:1. malaria n. 疟疾, 瘴气2. therapy n. Treatment of illness or disability. 治疗3. distribute vt. T o divide and dispense in portions. 分发, 分配, 散布4. vitamin n. 维他命, 维生素(13) On the Web, College Classes With No ChargeThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.Knowledge is free on the Internet at a small but growing number of colleges and universities.About one hundred sixty schools around the world now offer course materials free online to the public. Recent additions in the United States include projects at Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Berkeley.Berkeley said it will offer videos of lectures on YouTube. Free videos from other schools are available at the Apple iTunes store.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology became an early leader with its OpenCourseWare project, first announced in two thousand one. Free lecture notes, exams and other resources are published at . Many exams and homework assignments even include the answers. The Web site also has videos of lectures and demonstrations.Today, OpenCourseWare offers materials from one thousand eight hundred undergraduate and graduate courses. These range from physics and linear algebra to anthropology, political science -- even scuba diving.Visitors can learn the same things M.I.T. students learn. But as the site points out, OpenCourseWare is not an M.I.T. education. Visitors receive no credit toward a degree. Some materials from a course may not be available, and the site does not provide contact with teachers.Still, M.I.T. says the site has had forty million visits by thirty-one million visitors from almost every country. Sixty percent of the visitors are from outside the United States and Canada.There are links to materials translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Thai. OpenCourseWare averages one million visits each month, and the translations receivehalf a million more.Students and educators use the site, including students at M.I.T. But the largest number of visitors, about half, are self-learners.Some professors have become well known around the world as a result of appearing online. Walter Lewin, a physics professor at M.I.T., is especially popular. Fans enjoy his entertaining demonstrations.M.I.T. OpenCourseWare now includes materials for high school. The goal is to improve education in science, technology, math and engineering.And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Let us know if you have taken any free online courses through an American college or university. Tell us what you liked or disliked about your experience.I'm Bob Doughty.¤注解¤:1. demonstration n. The act of showing or making evident. 示范, 实证2. algebra n. 代数学3. anthropology n. 人类学4. scuba n.水中呼吸器(11) Microsoft's Play for Yahoo | Hollywood Writers Back to WorkThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.The competition between Microsoft and Google took a new turn on February first. Microsoft made a public offer to buy the Internet company Yahoo. Microsoft says the combined companies would be in a better position to compete against Google in the online services market.This week, Yahoo rejected the offer. Its board of directors said the price undervalued the company. The offer was worth almost forty-five billion dollars in cash and stock, or thirty-one dollars per Yahoo share. Yahoo is said to want forty dollars a share.Microsoft says it offered a full and fair price. It says moving forward quickly with the deal would be in the best interest of shareholders. Yet since February first, the value of Microsoft's offer has fallen to twenty-nine dollars a share because of a drop in its stock.Microsoft thinks it could better compete against Google with Yahoo's expert knowledge. Microsoft could attempt a hostile takeover. But that is not the way it normally does business, and there is risk of angering Yahoo's employees.In the last two weeks, Yahoo has discussed possible combinations with other companies,including the News Corporation, AOL and Google. But Yahoo may not be able to avoid a buyout by Microsoft. The latest reports are that some big Yahoo shareholders would support a deal if Microsoft raised its offer.The purchase would be the largest ever by the world's leading software maker. Yet Microsoft has made little progress in its Internet search abilities and in the growing business of online advertising. Google, the leading Internet search company, is the strongest competitor for those advertising dollars.Microsoft is based in Redmond, Washington. Yahoo and Google are in California's Silicon Valley.Internet technology was also at the heart of the television and movie writers strike, which ended this week. Writers voted in Los Angeles and New York to return to work after one hundred days on strike. A proposed new contract would pay them for the first time for creative material that appears online and in other new media.Members of the Writers Guild of America are expected to approve the three-year deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Now the producers need to negotiate a new agreement with the Screen Actors Guild or risk another strike. The current contract with the actors union ends June thirtieth.And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty.¤注解¤:1. undervalue [7QndE5vAlju:] v. To assign too low a value to; underestimate. 低估2. shareholder [5FZEhEuldE] n. One that owns or holds a share or shares of stock; a stockholder. 股东3. buyout n. The purchase of the entire holdings or interests of an owner or investor. 全部买下（市上产品）4. propose [prE5pEuz] vt. To put forward for consideration, discussion, or adoption; suggest: 计划, 建议(5) College Athletes: Students First, Athletes Second?This is the VOA Special English Education Report.One of our listeners has a question about college athletes in the United States. Amni Garcia in Mexico would like to know how much they study.Well, we suppose that like any other students, there are those who study a lot, those who study just enough and those who struggle. But this question touches on a hotly debatedsubject.College sports, especially football and basketball, are a big industry. Nationally rated teams and television broadcast rights can be worth millions of dollars.This could be seen as a good deal all around. Colleges invest in their players and, in return, the schools earn money and attention. The athletes often get a free education. And they gain experience that might lead to a chance to play professionally.But critics question the morality of a situation where college athletes may seem valued more as athletes than as college students. Praise is heard for recent improvements in graduation rates. Yet critics say that some players who finish college never really learn anything except their sport.Getting back to the question of how much college athletes study, a better answer would be: it all depends. The expectations and pressures on athletes differ from school to school and sport to sport.The National Collegiate Athletic Association governs college sports in the United States. For the past few years, this organization has been increasing requirements for student athletes. That includes high school students who want to compete on Division One teams -- the top division in college sports.College athletes are required to make continual progress toward earning their degree. New reforms aim to punish Division One schools that do not graduate enough of their athletes.Yet finishing college is not always a goal for students who are good enough to play professionally. Is this short-term thinking? A sports career may not last very long, or lead to the wealth and fame that young players may dream of. But there are always exceptions.Fans of American football may remember the retired New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath. Last weekend, he graduated from the University of Alabama. He left that school forty-two years ago to play for the Jets. Now he is sixty-four, but he went back -- in part, he says, because he had promised his mother to finish his education.And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Next week, more on the subject of college athletes. I'm Steve Ember.¤注解¤:1. struggle [5strQ^l] vi.To exert muscular energy, as against a material force or mass: 努力, 奋斗, 挣扎2. morality [mR5rAlItI] n.The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct.道德3. division [di5viVEn] n. (军事)师4. quarterback [5kwC:tE7bAk] v. T o direct the offense of. 【橄榄球】指挥…的进攻(9) How a Movement Disorder Can Affect a Child's LifeThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.We continue our series on learning disabilities with a look this week at a condition called dyspraxia.Dyspraxia is a movement disorder. The World Health Organization says about six percent of children show some sign of it. The majority are male.The National Center for Learning Disabilities says people with dyspraxia have trouble planning and completing fine motor tasks. The brain has trouble sending messages to the body to do what the person wants. Something as simple as waving goodbye may be difficult.There are different levels of severity, and the effects can change over time. Babies may not try to crawl or roll over. They may have difficulty moving just their eyes instead oftheir heads.As they get older, children may have trouble walking or holding a cup, riding a bicycle or throwing a ball. Trouble with letter formation or slow writing can interfere with school work.People with dyspraxia may even have trouble speaking. So imagine the difficulty in learning a sport. Adults can have problems driving a car, cleaning the house, or washing and dressing themselves. Social skills are another issue. People with dyspraxia can have trouble making friends.Like other learning disabilities, it cannot be cured. Children might be laughed at by other children. Teachers might think they are slow. The problem is not with intelligence but with motor skill development. Yet experts say the result of these reactions can be depression and other emotional problems.This is one reason why early intervention is important. Children might feel a lot better about themselves if they understand why it takes longer for them to learn to do things.Experts say it is important for parents to provide help and support to dyspraxia children from an early age. Helping them learn easy physical activities that develop coordination can build their trust in themselves. And simple activities can progress toward morecomplex tasks. Working with occupational, speech and physical therapists can lead to further improvements.A person with dyspraxia might also have other learning disabilities such as dyslexia or dysgraphia, which affect reading and writing. You can learn about these disorders at . We have transcripts and MP3s of our series on learning disabilities. Next week the subject is dyscalculia, a disorder involving mathematical abilities.And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Bob Doughty.¤注解¤:1. dyspraxia [dis5prAksiE] n. 运动困难, 运用障碍2. severity [si5veriti] n. The state or quality of being severe. 严肃, 严格, 严重, 激烈3. coordination [kEu7C:di5neiFEn] n. The state of being coordinate; harmonious adjustment or interaction. 同等, 调和4. dyscalculia [9dIskAl`kjU:lIE] n. Impairment of the ability to solve mathematical problems, usually resulting from brain dysfunction.[医](脑伤或疾病所致的)计算困难, 计算障碍(14) Project Seeks Free E-Books for Colleges in Developing NationsThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.Books are a high cost of higher education. But the Global Text Project hopes to create a free library of one thousand electronic textbooks for students in developing countries.The aim is to offer subjects that students may take in their first few years at a university. The books could be printed or read on a computer or copied onto a CD or DVD.Two professors in the United States are leading the Global Text Project.Richard Watson is the acting head of the department of management information systems at the University of Georgia. And Donald McCubbrey is a professor of information technology and electronic commerce at the University of Denver, in Colorado.Professor Watson tells us that the idea for this project goes back several years. He was teaching a computer programming class but did not have a good textbook. So he asked his students to each write part of a book that he would organize and edit.By the end of the term, Professor Watson had a finished product. Since then he has used it for other classes. Now, Professors Watson and McCubbrey are seeking volunteers to supervise the creation of books for the library. They are looking for professors or other professionals.The Global Text Project is similar in technology to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit on the Internet. But only one or two people will be able to make the final edits in texts.The project includes a committee of scholars, mostly from developing countries, to advise on required textbooks and their content. has a link to the Prototype Global Text Library, with two books on information systems and economic analysis. Other free texts on subjects including linear algebra and oceanography are also available at .The group’s first book on information systems is being tested in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Professor Watson says the plan is to offer about ten free books within the next year, including an English grammar text.Project organizers also want to offer textbooks in Arabic, Chinese and Spanish. They areworking with a translation company in the United States. And Professor Watson says students could also get involved.For example, a student learning English in an Arab country could translate part of a book into Arabic. Then another student and the class professor could check the translation.And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. I’m Bob Doughty.¤注解¤:1. commerce [5kCmE(:)s] n. The buying and selling of goods, especially on a large scale, as between cities or nations. 商业2. supervise [5sju:pEvaiz] v. To have the charge and direction of; superintend. 监督, 管理, 指导3. analysis [E5nAlisis] n. The separation of a substance into its constituent elements to determine either their nature (qualitative analysis) or their proportions (quantitative analysis). 分析, 分解4. oceanography [7EuFiE5nC^rEfi] n. The exploration and scientific study of the ocean and its phenomena. 海洋学。