VOA英语听力原文
VOA听力原文
VOA 听写原文(1)Harvad researcher David Rans said the most successful behavior proved to be cooperation. The groups that rewarded the most earned about twice as much in the game as the groups that rewarded the least. And the more a group punish themselves the lower it's earnings. The group with the most punishment earned 25 percent less than the group with the least punishment .The study appeared last month in the Journal Science. The other study involved children .It was presentd last month in California at a conference on violence and abuse. Reseachers used intelligent tests given to two groups, More than 800 children were ages 2-4 the first time they were tested. More than 700 children were ages 5 to 9.(2)Many people think the search for cleaner energy leads only to renewable resources like sun, wind and water. But it also leads to a fossil fuel(化石燃料). Natural gas is considered the cleanest of the fossil fuels, the fuels created by plant and animal remains over millions of years. Burning it releases fewer pollutants（污染物质）than oil or coal. The gas is mainly methane（沼气，甲烷）. It produces half the carbon dioxide （二氧化碳）of other fossil fuels. So it may help cut the production of carbongases linked to climate change. Russia is first in what are called "proved reserves" of natural gas. The United States is sixth. Over the years, big oil and gas companies recovered much of the easily reached supplies of gas in America. They drilled straight down into formations where gas collects. As these supplies were used up, big drillers looked for similar formations in other countries.(3)Two recent studies have found that punishment is not the best way to influence behavior. One shows that adults are much more cooperative if they work in a system based on rewards. Researchers at Harward University in the United States and Stockholm school of economics in Sweden did the study. They had about two hundred college students play a version of the game known as the prisoners dilemma. The game is based on the attention between the interests of individual and group. The students play in groups of four. Each player could win points for the group so they would all gain equally. But each player could also reward or punish each of the other three players and cost to the punisher.(4)But now the industry is taking a new look. Companies are developing gas supplies trapped in shale rock two to three thousand meters underground. They drill down to the shale, then go sideways and inject high-pressure water, sand or other material into the rock. This causes therock to break, or fracture, releasing the gas. Huge fields of gas shale are believed to lie under theAppalachian Mountains, Michigan and the south-central states. Gas shale exploration is being done mainly by small to medium sized companies. Eric Potter is a program director in the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin.I rememberdo u know that i'm okare there things you wanna saythinking of u night and dayhopping you'll come back and stayi remember when u told mei'll be all rightdon't worryi try and try to understandis all this just a sad goodbyethinking of u night and dayno matter if you'll come and stayi remember when u told mei'll be all rightjust hold mei don't wanna close my eyes tonightmissing u make me cryyour love will give me strengths to carry onyou'll always be my heart and mindso i don't wanna close my eyes tonighti know it's just a miss match in time...why..oh why... miss match in timei try and try to understandis all this just a sad goodbyethinking of u night and dayno matter if you'll come and stayi remember when u told mei'll be all rightjust hold meso i don't wanna close my eyes tonightmissing u make me cryyour love will give me strengths to carry onyou'll always be my heart and mindso i don't wanna close my eyes tonighti know it's just a miss match in time...why..oh why... don't wanna close my eyes tonight.。
普特英语每日听力VOA0905文档
普特英语每日听力VOA0905文档From Washington, this is VOA News.Cleaning up after a strong quake in New Zealand, no deaths but a state of emergency in effect; and in Pakistan, burials begin for victims in Friday’s bombings. I’m Marti Johnson reporting from Washington.New Zealand is recovering from a powerful earthquake that cut power and caused significant damage to infrastructure but no deaths. Officials say the 7.1-magnitude quake shook the city of Christchurch on New Zealand’s South Island just before dawn, Saturday. The city’s second largest earthquake on record threw people out of bed and sent frightened residents running into the streets. The quake and its aftershocks ruptured underground lines for natural gas, water and sewage, as well as damaging bridges, power supplies and phone networks.Police in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta have been on high alert as mass burials take place for some victims of a suicide bombing that targeted minority Shiites Friday, killing at least 65 people. Shiite leaders called for a general strike on Saturday to mourn the dead, shuttering schools and businesses and leaving streets deserted. More than 160 others were wounded in Friday’s explosion at a Sh iite rally called to express solidarity with Palestinians. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility. These attacks take place as Pakistan is still reeling from the worst (con口误) flooding in that country in its history. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is urging theinternational community not to turn its attention away from the crisis which he says is far from over. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.The UN refugee agency says despite the floodwaters in some parts of Pakistan receding, the overall humanitarian situation remains serious. Aid workers report conditions are worsening. UNHCR spokesman, Adrian Edwards, says floods still affect almost two million people in Balochistan province including 600,000 who fled from neighboring Sindh."We’re seeing a persistent threat of waterborne disease, shortages of shelter and very limited quantities of food for children."The agency says it is continuing the distribution of shelter supplies. Aid agencies report more than five million people, still, are in desperate need of shelter. Lisa Schlein for VOA News, Geneva.An explosion in Afghanistan’s northern province of Kunduz has killed four police officers and at least one civilian. Officials say several people were wounded in Saturday’s attack in the provincial capital. Authorities say the explosives were planted in a motorcycle.Meantime, the New York Times reports that the US security contractor, Blackwater, has now created thirty subsidiary companies to seek government contracts in the wake of accusations of misconduct against it in Iraq. In the article, theTimes reports at least three subsidiary businesses had deals with the US military and with the CIA. Blackwater has been under intense security since five of its employees were accused of killing unarmed civilians in Baghdad in September, 2007. There’s more on this story on our website at /doc/0c18122980.html,.A top US military officer in the United States says the US has asked Turkey to allow non-combat equipment to be withdrawn from Iraq through Turkish territory. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, speaking in Ankara Saturday, emphasized that there are no plans to transport weapons through Turkey.Three Pakistan cricket players accused of taking part in a betting scandal have been charged by the International Cricket Council under its anti-corruption code. Jennifer Glasse reports from London.The International Cricket Council charged Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir under Article II of its anti-corruption code. The council’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, expressed his extreme disappointment and sadness about the situation.“We will do whatever is necessary to ensure that we maintain integrity in the sport.”The players are suspected in a betting scam after a London newspaper showed video of a cricket agent allegedly acceptingmoney in exchange for information of what the players would do at certain points in the game. The head of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit, Ronnie Flanagan, said the charge is related to one game between England and Pakistan. The three players are suspended from playing until the case is concluded. Jennifer Glasse for VOA News, London.US president, Barack Obama, says building a strong middle class is key to helping the country heal its economic problems. In his weekly address on Saturday, Mr. Obama said this weekend’s Labor Day holiday in the US is a chance to reaffirm a commitment to American workers. The president touted some of his administration’s initiatives includ ing tax cuts for working families and investment in construction projects that he says will create jobs. In the weekly Republican Party address, the US Representative, Geoff Davis, called for greater scrutiny of federal rules and regulations that he said burden small business owners.I’m Marti Johnson, VOA News, Washington.。
voa慢速英语听力原文
美国劳动之歌Most of the world observes Labor Day on May 1. Butthe United States has its workers holiday on the firstMonday in September. Steve Ember and BarbaraKlein have a few songs from the history of theAmerican labor movement.Labor songs are traditionally stories of struggle and pride, of timeless demands for respect and the hopefor a better life.Sometimes they represent old songs with new words. One example is "We Shall Not Be Moved."It uses the music and many of the same words of an old religious song.Here is folksinger Pete Seeger with "We Shall Not Be Moved."Many classic American labor songs came from workers in the coal mines of the South. Mineowners bitterly opposed unions. In some cases, there was open war between labor activistsand coal mine operators.Once, in Harlan County, Kentucky, company police searched for union leaders. They went to oneman's home but could not find him there. So they wai ted outsi de for several days.The coal miner's wife, Florence Reece, remained inside with her children. She wrote this song, "Which Side Are Y ou On?"Again, here is Pete Seeger.Probably the most famous labor songwriter in America was Joe Hill. He was born in Sweden andcame to the United States in the early 1900s. H e worked as an unskilled lab orer.Joe Hill joined the Industrial Workers of the World, known as the Wobblies. More than any otherunion, they used music in their campaigns, urgi ng members to "si ng and fi ght."One of Joe Hill's best-known songs is "Casey Jones." It uses the music from a song about atrain engineer. In the old song, Casey Jones is a hero. He bravely keeps his train running in verydifficult conditions.In Joe Hill's version, Casey Jones is no hero. His train is unsafe. Y et he stays on the job afterother workers have called a strike against the railroad company.Pete Seeger and the Song Swappers sing "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)."Another American labor song is called "Bread and Roses." That term was connected with thewomen's labor movement.The song was based on a poem called "Bread and Roses" by James Oppenheim. The poem waspublished in The American Magazine in December of 1911.The following month there was a famous strike by textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.They won higher pay and better working conditions. Oppenheim's poem gainedmore attention.At that time, conditions in factories were already a national issue. In 1911, a fire at a clothingfactory in New Y ork had taken the lives of 146 people. The victims were mostly immigrantwomen.Here is Pat Humphries with "Bread and Roses."Union activists know that labor songs can unite and help people feel strong. This can be trueeven when the music has nothing to do with unions."De Colores" is a popular Spanish folksong. It talks about fields in the spring, little birds,rainbows and the great loves of many colors.This song is popular with supporters of the United Farm Workers union. We listen as BaldemarV elasquez leads the band Aguila Negra in "De Colores."For many years, folksinger Joe Glazer was a union activist with a guitar. He was also a laborhistorian. Labor's Troubadour was the name of a book he about his life. He believed in organized labor and preserving the musical history of the American labor movement. JoeGlazer died in 2006 at the age of 88.Here is Joe Glazer with "Solidarity Forever," written by Ralph Chaplin.From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
篇简短的voa新闻文本
篇简短的v o a新闻文本 Document serial number【UU89WT-UU98YT-UU8CB-UUUT-UUT108】1VOA新闻听力100篇News Item 1This week, the chairman of America’s nuclear agency said there is little chance that harmful radiation from Japan could reach the United States. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko also said America has a strong program in place to deal with earthquake threats. No new nuclear power centers have been built in the United States since nineteen seventy-nine. That was when America’s worst nuclear accident happened at the Three Mile Island center in Pennsylvania. The accident began to turn public opinion against nuclear energy.News Item 2Most restaurants in the United States offer their customers a glass of tap water at no charge with their meal, but this week many restaurants are asking diners to pay a dollar, or more,for a glass of water. Placards on their tables explain thatthis small amount helps bring clean water to children around the world. It’s called the UNICEF Tap Project.News Item 3Japan has confirmed radiation contamination of someagricultural products near a nuclear power plant crippled by last week’s earthquake and tsunami that is still spewing radiation. Yukio Edano, the chief Cabinet secretary, says high levels of radiation have been detected in milk in Fukushima prefecture and spinach from Ibaraki prefecture have been found to be contaminated. He tells reporters there is no immediate health risk and the government is considering regulating shipments of farm products from the affected area. At the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant efforts continue to try to cool overheating reactor cores and water in tanks containing spent fuel rods.News Item 4Some of America’s brightest students came to Washington for the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science competition. The awards ceremony was the culmination of an intense week during which the 40finalists were queried by judges and the public. They met with scientists, politicians and even President Barack Obama, who welcomed them to the White House. These high achievers were whittled down from nearly 2,000 contestants’ nationwide, representing excellence across many disciplines.News Item 5The billionaire s’ club is growing. Forbes magazine’s annual list shows there are now 1,210 billionaires around the world—that is 199 more than last year. Although the world’s top three earners are unchanged from last year, the newcomers in the list of the world’s richest did not come from the U.S. or Western Europe, but from Russia and the Asia Pacific region. Magazine chairman Steve Forbes says of the 200 new billionaires this year, the majority are from the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India and China.News Item 6Defense attorneys for former Liberian president Charles Taylor say testimony from prosecution witnesses is tainted by cash payments from a special fund provided by the United States. Mr. Taylor’s war crimes trial is drawing to a close after more than three years. Defense attorney Terry Munyard says money “lavished” on prosecution witnesses has polluted “the pure waters of justice.” He told the court that those payments went far beyond the simple reimbursement of expenses and were usedin such a way “as to taint the testimony of some of the prosecution witnesses.”News Item 7Many world leaders are expressing shock and sympathy following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and areoffering to assist the country as it struggles to recover from the disaster. . President Barack Obama pledged assistance for what he called a potentially catastrophic disaster in Japan. Mr. Obama called Japan one of America’s strongest allies and said the U.S. is offering whatever assistance is needed. . Defense Secretary Robert Gates said a preliminary assessment indicates that American troops, ships and military facilities were not seriously damaged by the quake or tsunami.News Item 8Women are joining together all over the world to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8. Women poured through London’s streets on Tuesday singing loudly for women’s rights. The banners they carried trained a spotlighton the range of issues still at hand: health, education, and politics to name a few.News Item 9Food prices continue to rise, threatening to push more and more people into poverty and hunger. A new report from the UN foodagency says one of the best ways to boost agricultural productivity worldwide would be to remove the barriers women farmers face that their male counterparts do not. Studies show when women have financial resources, they are more likely than men to spend them on food, health and educating their children. Women farmers tend to be less productive than men, but there are good reasons for that, says Agnes Quisumbing, an economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute.News Item 10Ronald Reagan’s Hometown Celebrates His 100th Birthday. Though he gained prominence as an actor in Hollywood and later as President of the United States, the people of Dixon, Illinois, remember Ronald Reagan as a hometown hero who saved the lives of 77 people while working as a lifeguard. The town is honoring Reagan’s 100th bir thday this year, with a year-long celebration. The 40th President’s hometown was never very far from his heart.News Item 11The National Football League wrapped up the 2010 season with the biggest football game of the year: Super Bowl XLV—played in a huge stadium in Arlington, Texas. But without the small,Midwestern town of Ada, Ohio—population 5,400—the game would not have been the same. Ada is where the Wilson Sporting Goods company makes footballs. Wilson has been the official football maker of the National Football League since 1941, and many of the 130 employees at its factory in Ada have spent most oftheir lives there—many working for 25 to 45 years.News Item 12Scientists say a common headache medicine dramatically reduces the risk of developing P arkinson’s disease, a physically-disabling brain disorder that mostly strikes elderly adults. In a six-year study of just over 136,000 nurses and health professionals, researchers at Harvard University School of Public Health in Massachusetts found that people who take ibuprofen（布洛芬镇痛药）regularly for headache or other pain reduced their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by nearly 40 percent. Taking one or two pills of ibuprofen two or more times per week was considered regular use. Other non-prescription pain relievers, including aspirin and acetaminophen, did not show a similar protective benefit.News Item 13Insurgents opposed to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi continue to hold two strategic towns along the road to eastern Libya, after unsuccessful attempts by pro-Gadhafi forces to retake them. Libyan warplanes launched new air strikes Thursday against the key eastern oil port of Brega, but the son of embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi says the bombs were only intended to“frighten” rebels warplanes s truck at the rebel-held oilport of Brega on Thursday, a day after anti-government fighters turned back an assault by forces loyal to the country’slongtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.News Item 14A new study of more than million people in six Asian countries finds that, like Westerners, Asians are more likely to die if they are overweight or obese. However, some of the highestdeath rates were seen in people who were severely underweight. Many previous studies have found that the risk of deathincreases as body-mass index increases. Body-mass index, or BMI, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. Thetrouble is, those studies mostly analyzed Europeans and other Westerners. So scientists couldn’t be sure if the results applied to other groups.News Item 15Agriculture is one of the most important economic activities in Africa. In addition to providing employment, agriculture has the potential to transform African societies through the increased export of produce to Western markets. Many agree that transformation will not take place without increased investment in agriculture, including public or private loans to small farmers. Statistics show that Africa has about 12% of the world’s arable land but 80% of it is not in use.News Item 16In July 2012, the world’s largest AIDS conference comes to Washington, D.C. It’s the first time the gathering will be held in the United States since 1990 and preparations are already underway. Despite the massive U.S. financial, medical and scientific contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS, a major issue blocked the conference from being held here. That was a law that prohibited HIV infected people from traveling to the United States. It was passed in 1987 in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Efforts to lift the ban began during President George W. Bush’s second administration. It wasfinally repealed in January 2010 under President Obama.News Item 17As Discovery begins its 39th and final mission into Earth’s orbit Thursday, America’s 30-year space shuttle program comes one step closer to its scheduled end this April. Discovery has been a regular visitor to Earth’s orbit since its maidenflight in 1984. It is the oldest and longest-serving vehicle in the U.S. space agency’s shuttle fleet. Discovery’s finalflight follows several delays due to technical problems and repairs to its external fuel tank, but NASA’s mission launch director Mike Leinbach says the shuttle is still spaceready. News Item 18Not long ago, most professional musicians lived in a world far removed from the nitty-gritty of business management, distribution and promotion. But today, social media, laptop production techniques and fragmented musical tastes havelargely replaced the old relationship between musicians, their audiences and the marketplace, making entrepreneurial savvy more important than ever. A leading U.S. conservatory now teaches students how to create successful careers in this brave new world.News Item 19Egypt’s most famous tourism sites, including the great pyramids and the antiquities museum in Cairo, have reopened after being closed during the popular uprising and political tumult. Egypt’s key industry— tourism—returns after weeks of protests and celebrations, while other countries in the region deal with unrest. The sound of hooves as horses pull jostling carts of people within the Giza pyramids’ complex is the sound of money to the men who make their livings from tourism—a dominant industry in Egypt.News Item 20Demonstrations against long-serving governments continue toroil the Middle East and North Africa Friday from Libya eastward to Bahrain. In Libya, more protests as well as funerals for those killed in recent unrest were held after midday prayers, and witnesses said demonstrators gathered in the port city Benghazi, a bastion of resentment against the government. Human Rights Watch said Friday that 24 people have been killed in recent violence in Libya, many of them in Benghazi. Graphic videos posted on the Internet have shown shootings described as being inflicted by armed forces against protesters.News Item 21The National Park Service says the largest slave village in the Washington region is buried on the grounds. Archeologist Joy Beasley walks across the land now known as Best Farm. But approximately 200 years ago, it was a 300-hectare plantation called L’Hermitage, owned by the Vincendieres, French farmers from Haiti. Their stone home and outbuildings still stand. The National Park Service archeologist says her team discovered evidence of six other homes on the property where slaves were kept. The Vincendieres owned 90 slaves.News Item 22Cameroon’s new mineral research center will begin operations this year. South Korean mining researchers are making trips to Cameroon to determine the overall cost of the facility, to be located in the capital, Yaounde. They say the center will cost several millions of dollars and will ultimately be offered to the Cameroon government as a gift. The Korean investors say the facility will also have geological engineers to help in the design and construction of mines—and economic geologists to determine the commercial feasibility of projects. They willdecide whether there are enough minerals to justify the cost of a mining venture.News Item 23A major study by the World Health Organization shows that most people with high cholesterol levels around the world are not getting the treatment they need, to avoid such serious diseases as heart attacks and strokes. And the authors of the study—the largest ever undertaken—say the problem is especially serious in the developing world. The study was done on 147 million people, and found an increasing incidence of high levels of cholesterol the world over. Even more worrying, the researchers say, is that many of those patients are going untreated.News Item 24A huge crowd has gathered in central Cairo calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The opposition has called for one million people to protest. Crowds headed on foot for Cairo’s Tahrir S quare throughout the day Tuesday. They included women with babies in strollers. Their confidence is boosted after the army, in an official statement, described the demonstrations as legitimate and promised it would not fire ondemonstrators. Army helicopters dropped leaflets calling on demonstrators to keep the protests peaceful.News Item 25The popular revolts roiling Egypt and other Arab countries are being driven by young people clamoring to oust autocratic governments they have known all their lives. The hardscrabble Tunis neighborhood of Ettadhamen provides a representative look at the hardships, and aspirations, of some of the young people behind Tunisia’s so-called Jasmine Revolution.6News Item 26A new study has tracked how low self-control can predict poor health, money troubles and even a criminal record in theiradult years. The study began with 1,000 children in New Zealand. Researchers followed them for decades. They observed the levelof self-control the youngsters displayed. Parents, teachers, even the kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measureslike “acting before thinking” and“persistence in reaching goals.” The children of the study are now adults in their thirties. Terrie Moffitt of Duke University found that kidswith self-control issues tended to grow up to become adults with a far more troubling set of issues to deal with.News Item 27President Barack Obama delivers his second State of the Union Address to the nation on Tuesday, before a joint session ofthe . Congress. President Barack Obama will face a dramatically altered balance of power in the House of Representatives when he addresses Congress and the nation Tuesday in his State of the Union address. Republicans are now in the majority in the House, and they have already approved a repeal of Mr. Obama’s landmark reform of the U.S. health care system. The move was symbolic, since the bill will die in the . Senate, where Democrats and Independents still hold a majority.News Item 28New research suggests a relatively simple blood test might make it possible to predict who is at a higher risk for developing dementia. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease, and currently, it can only be definitively diagnosedin an autopsy, by examining the brain. Beta-amyloid is aprotein that shows up the brains of Alzheimer’s victims. It’salso present in spinal fluid and, in very small quantities, in the blood.News Item 29Health Services in eastern and central Kenya are getting a big boost through a new $100 million dollar program. The U.S. development agency, USAID, has awarded the funds to an international non-profit organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. For the past four years, Jhpiego has led a nearly $34 million program in eastern Kenya called APHIA II. APHIA stands for AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance. The goal is to “empower front-line health workers” with effective, low cost solutions to delivering quality health care.News Item 30Over the past 20 years, the United Nations says the Asia-Pacific population has been growing, but at a slower rate compared to the rest of the world. Asian fertility fell by 39 percent in a 20-year period from the late 1960s while remaining above the population-replacement level of children per woman. By 1990,nearly two-thirds of Asian countries had experienced declines of at least 25 percent.News Item 31President Barack Obama will go to Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday to speak at a memorial service for those killed in Saturday’s shootings. The president will try to help the nation deal with the rampage, which left six people dead and a U.S. congresswoman critically wounded. President Obama and his wife Michelle will cross the country to attend Wednesday night’s memorial service at the University of Arizona.The presidentwill speak there, in an effort to help Americans cope with the tragedy.News Item 32New medical research into a possible cure for Parkinson’s disease is focusing on finding biomarkers in patients so that doctors can start treatment early before tremors and other symptoms start. Actor Michael J. Fox’s recent commitment of$40 million toward finding a cure for Parkinson’s is helpingto fund the new research. The current clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s is based on visible tremors and stiffness o f limbs. But researchers say a more comprehensive diagnosis is needed. News Item 33. President Barack Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to outline the benefits of a tax cut package he signed into law in December. He says the tax cut compromise reached with Republicans will help grow the U.S. economy. Mr. Obama encouraged business owners to take advantage of a new incentive included in the legislation that allows any business to write off the full cost of most of their capital investments for one year.News Item 34A U.S. congress woman is in critical condition and six people are dead after a gunman opened fire in an Arizona parking lot where Representative Gabrielle Giffords was meeting with constituents. The dead include a federal judge. More than a dozen people were wounded, including Giffords. A federal probe has been launched amid a national outpouring of sorrow and outrage.News Item 35Three-dimensional cell phones and batteries that last much longer are just two of the technologies that could become commonplace in the next few years. For the fifth year, IBM has looked at the horizons of research, picked five technologiesand announced them as tomorrow’s innovations. “Individual technologies take different times to matri culate,” says John Cohn, IBM’s Chief Scientist. “But the thing that’s common about them is that we think in 2015, all these predictions will actually be something that we take for granted.”News Item 36The killing of the governor of Pakistan’s most populous province has highlighted the ongoing clash in Pakistani society between secularism and religious radicalism. Some of that radicalism is fueled by resentment against privileged and often secular-minded elite who govern the country.8News Item 37I n India’s main tea-growing region, scientists say tea production is being impacted by climate change. India produces nearly one third of the world’s tea. The rolling Himalayan hills in India’s northeastern state, Assam, are carpeted with lush tea bushes wh ose leaves produce some of the world’sfinest teas. But there are concerns that rising temperatures may be affecting the tea plantations, resulting in decliningproductivity of the brew to which millions of people across the world wake up.News Item 38African leaders are in Abidjan for more talks with Ivory Coast’s rival presidents. The country’s political crisis has sent thousands of refugees into Liberia. Leaders met with defiant Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo Monday, offering him an amnesty deal on condition he cedes power to rival Alassane Ouattara.News Item 39More signs that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction: The . Labor Department says new claims for unemployment benefits declined last week, dropping below400,000 for the first time since July 2008. Other data also shows that businesses expanded in the month of December while home sales grew modestly in November. Despite the encouraging numbers, investors remain cautious as 2010 comes to a close. New estimates show the snowstorm that lashed parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic last week cost retailers about a billion dollars in lost sales.News Item 40The Holy Land enjoyed a flood of visitors last year, which benefited Israelis and Palestinians alike. It was a record year for tourism in Israel thanks to a lull in violence. There were million visitors in 2010, percent more than the previous record two years ago. Mark Feldman, who heads the Israelitravel agency Zion Tours, says tourism is booming. Most of the visitors were Jews and Evangelical Christians. Some 625,000 Americans came, more than any other country.News Item 41Voters in Ivory Coast have official results from only a small number of polling stations outside the country. About 10,000 ballots in an election of more than four million registered voters shows former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara leading President Laurent Gbagbo by about 60 percent to 40 percent. As the wait for domestic results continues, President Gbagbo’s party is already calling on the electoral commission to annul returns from three northern districts. Both the Gbagbo and Ouattara campaigns say some of their supporters were prevented from entering polling stations Sunday.News Item 42Diplomatic cables released by the website Wikileaks indicate the U.S. is concerned about the security of Pakistani nuclear material. They also indicate questions about Pakistan’s commitment to fighting9insurgents along the country’s border with Afghanistan. The New York Times and the Guardian newspapers reported details of the cables today. A French news agency quoted a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman as saying the fears are misplaced. Meanwhile, Interpol has placed Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange on its most wanted list after Sweden issued an arrest warrant for him as part of a rape investigation.News Item 43. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe needs to boost its role in Afghanistan and foster greater economic development throughout the region. Clinton spoke today at the OSCE Summit in Kazakhstan. “Our goal here in Astana should be to move forward on democracy, human rights, economic growth and strengthening our security community. In other words, let’s embrace the vision of Helsinki and apply it faithfully in this newcentury.” The OSCE is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, which gave birth to the OSCE structure. Clinton said insecurity anywhere in Central Asia is a challenge for all members and that protracted conflicts remain dangerously unresolved.News Item 44Russia’s prime minister says his country will have to build up its own nuclear weapons capability if the United States fails to ratify the new strategic arms reduction treaty signedearlier this year. Vladimir Putin told CNN’s Larry King program in an interview to be aired later today that the new treaty is in the United States’ best interest and it would be, in his words, dumb for U.S. legislators to ignore that. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the new START in April. The agreement would cut nuclear stockpiles in the U.S. and Russia by about 30 percent.News Item 45Thai police say they arrested two Pakistani men and one Thai woman this week on forgery charges, as they attempted to flee to neighboring Laos. The three were arrested in cooperation with Spanish authorities, who on Thursday arrested sixPakistanis and one Nigerian in raids in Barcelona. Spanish authorities believe the group supplied fake passports used by Muslim militants who bombed Madrid commuter trains in 2004. They also suspect the group supplied fake passports to al-Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group accused of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.News Item 46The U.S. unemployment rate rose in November while the economy added far fewer jobs than expected. Today’s closely-watched report from the Labor Department says the unemployment rate rose % to %. The economy had a net gain of 39,000 jobs far fewer than the 150,000 most experts had predicted.News Item 47Iranian media reports say officials are calling for the removal of a Star of David painted on the roof of the headquarters of the country’s national airline after the Jewish symbol was revealed in a satellite image. Reports say Internet media company Google took the image of the building which was reportedly built by Israeli engineers who worked in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.News Item 48President Obama is calling a new free-trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea a landmark agreement. Mr. Obama accepted the deal Friday after a three-year stalemate and said it will deepen the two nations’ alliance, and he urged the . Congress to ratify it. President said the agreement will increase U.S. exports by up to $11 billion a year and support at least 70,000 jobs. As part of the deal, South Korea has agreed to let the U.S. keep a % tariff on Korean-built cars for five more years rather than end it immediately.News Item 49The World Food Program is teaming up with the World Meteorological Organization and other agencies to help subsistence farmers increase their crop yields. The WFP says 2010 has been a year with many climate related emergencies which have created a havoc with the agricultural produce of many developing countries.News Item 50Some of the most dramatic, climate-related emergencies include flooding in Pakistan, Haiti, Burma and Burkina Faso. World Food Program spokeswoman Emilia Casella says the number of people affected is expected to reach about 375 million a year by 2015.“We are estimating that by 2020, some countries having their agricultural yields halved by weather&climate emergencies-drought or flood.” Casella says a detailed food insecurity analysis could pinpoint areas that are most at risk. She says WFP is working with the Food and Agriculture Organization to help small subsistence farmers increase their food yields.News Item 51International firefighting teams are battling day three of what officials are calling the worst fire in Israel’s history. Police said Saturday the huge wildfires continued to burn out of control near the northern port of Haifa. The firefighting aircraft are coming in from Russia and have been dropping water on the blaze with additional help from the U.S., France and Britain. Middle East neighbors Jordan and Egypt sent equipment. So far, 41 people, at least, have been killed and thousands have been forced to evacuate from the area.News Item 52A Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites has crashed into the Pacific Ocean after failing to reach orbit. Russian news agencies said the rocket and the satellites wentdown about 1,500 kilometers northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii after veering off course.News Item 53British lawmakers plan to vote on a bill today that would increase university tuition charges. If approved, the college tuition in Britain would jump from just under 5,000 dollars to about 14,000 dollars per year. That proposal has sparked student protests. British authorities say the increase in tuition is necessary to bring a large deficit under control. News Item 54Delegates at the end of a two-week UN climate conference heldin Cancun, Mexico have approved a modest plan to combat global warming. More than 190 nations approved the agreement Saturday, which includes a multi-billion-dollar fund to administer assistance to poor nations. Bolivia was the only country to object the deal, saying the agreement does not go far enough to curb climate change.News Item 55Police in Sweden say a car explosion in what appeared to be a suicide attack killed one person and wounded two others in central Stockholm on Saturday. Police say the first blast。
VOA英语听力材料原文(passage31~40)
Canada was the only (6) non-Asian country in the top five. It rose two percent to fourth place. Almost thirty thousand Canadian students enrolled for the school year that began last (7) autumn.
China has the world's largest number of Internet users. But it also has what is often called the Great Firewall of China. (8) The government restricts political content and blocks some social networking and news Web sites. President Obama said he is a strong supporter of open Internet access.
Japan fell to fifth place. The number of Japanese students in the United States decreased for the fourth year, to just over twenty-nine thousand.
(8) Taiwan also sent fewer students, and the number from Mexico was nearly unchanged.
VOA慢速英语听力长文
最新VOA慢速英语听力长文现在，使用VOA慢速来练习英语听力的人较多，尤其是英语初学者，认为VOA慢速英语听力材料对于听力英语听力有较大的好处。
接下来，为大家送上一篇最新VOA慢速英语听力长文，希望对大家有用。
In developing countries, attending school can be adaily struggle for some children.They may walk several kilometers to school becausetheir families do not have money to send them on buses or other forms of transportation.With schools far away, and little money to pay for transport costs, parents worry about the safety of their children walking to school.So, a number of parents keep their children at home. Or the child drops out of school: they leave without pleting their studies.These and other barriers to school attendance are the reality for many girls in poor countries.But now, programs in two developing countries are helping to change that. The programs are giving girls “pedal power” -- transportation in the form of bicycles.Power of the pedalRural areas of poor countries often have few secondary schools. So, it is mon for students there to travel great distances to attend classes.Bihar is the poorest state in India. Niy percent of the state’s population lives in rural areas.Until xx, too many teenage girls in Bihar were dropping out of school. For Nahid Farzana, her home was 6 kilometers from school. And, her father did not have money for bus fare, she told the Associated Press.But, that same year, the state government beganoffering bicycles to girls to help them get to school. The program has been so effective that three nearby states are now doing the same.And the results are measurable. A xx study found that giving bicycles to teenage girls in India increased their secondary school enrollment by 30 percent. It also helped many of them stay in school long enough to take their final exams.Western Kenya is experiencing suess with a similar program. Until recently, there was a high risk of localgirls dropping out of school and then being pregnant.Loise Luseno is a 16-year-old girl from Kakamega, Kenya. In the past, she had to walk about 10 kilometers to reach school. Last year, she dropped out temporarily because ofthe distance.Members of her family work as subsistence farmers. They earn just about $30 a month -- not nearly enough for food, school costs and transport.But, a few months ago, Luseno went back to school –this time on a bicycle. Her new form of transportation was provided by World Bicycle Relief, an American-based group.Hurdles for girlsChristina Kwauk is an expert on girls’ education atthe Brookings Institution, a research organization in Washington, D.C.Kwauk recently told VOA that, in many countries, girls face a long list of barriers to school attendance.Sometimes, the issue is that a society has firm ideas about what girls “can and shouldn’t do as they bee young women,” including whether they should receive an education.Luseno experienced this. When girls in her munitywalked to school, motorbike riders would stop them on the road. They would offer the girls rides to school. Then,they would try to persuade the girls to drop out.Kwuak says another reason girls may not attend schoolis their family. Parents might believe that losingchildren’s help at home can cause the family to lose money.For example, a poor farming family grows less food without the help of children. Girls are often expected todo this work. In many cases, those household duties include taking care of younger brothers and sisters.There are also direct financial barriers, says Kwauk, such as school fees, books, and meals. So, in places wherefamilies value boys more than girls, and parents havelittle money, the boys are sent to school.The ups and downsEven with the suess of the bicycles programs, there are still problems.Ainea Ambulwa teaches at the Bukhaywa secondary school in Kakamega, Kenya. He belongs to a bicycle supervisory mittee at the school. He makes sure that the riders are keeping their vehicles in good condition.Ambulwa says defeating poverty remains a difficult issue.He says that some families will put heavy things on the bicycles and then they break down. Because the family lacks the money to have the bike repaired, the girl can no longer get to school.World Bicycle Relief is based in Chicago, Illinois. It provides bicycles through another group: World Vision.In xx, the two groups launched a bicycle production factory in Kisumu, Kenya. The cost of the bicycle is around $180. That is too much money for most families in rural Kenya.But with the help of donors, the program has given away about 7,000 bicycles throughout the country. Most of the people receiving the bikes are girls.Bicycles decrease the safety risks for girls because the girls get to school quicker, Kwauk explains. It also helps parents not to lose work time taking their girls to school.Peter Wechuli, the head of the program in Kenya, says the bikes have improved children's lives. But, he says, the factory was built around 100 kilometers from Kakamega. So, getting the bicycles to needy families can be a problem.Yet Kwauk calls the bicycle programs “very promising” and a low-cost solution. She says many organizations in wealthier countries would be happy to provide this kind of resource.。
英语听力原文
英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.When we think of threats to public health, we often think of communicable diseases. But experts say non-communicable diseases -- those that do not spread from person to person -- are the leading killer today. These are often the result of poor diet, environmental influences including tobacco and alcohol use, or genetics.Now, the World Health Organization has released its first Global Status Report on Non-Communicable Diseases. In two thousand eight, they caused sixty-three percent of all deaths. And eighty percent of those deaths were reported in developing countries.These countries are spending billions to treat conditions like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The WHO says the costs of treating non-infectious diseases are pushing millions of people into poverty. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan says: "For some countries it is no exaggeration to describe the situation as an impending disaster ... a disaster for health, society and national economies."Conditions that last for years are also known as chronic diseases. Population changes are driving the increase in cases. Populations in many developing countries are growing quickly and living more in cities. Aging populations also play a part. Chronic diseases become more common as people get older.Dr. James Hospedales is a chronic disease expert at the WHO. He says chronic diseases are a major problem in big countries like the United States, India and China and across Latin America and the Mediterranean. And they are expected to become the leading cause of death in many African nations by twenty-twenty.JAMES HOSPEDALES: "We cannot wait until we have dealt with HIV, dealt with malaria. No, it's upon us. As a matter of fact, one of the major contributors to tuberculosis going up in several countries is because diabetes is going up -- and obesity. So there is a link between diabetes and TB."Dr. Hospedales says some middle- and low-income countries are beginning to recognize that their health policies must deal more with prevention.JAMES HOSPEDALES: "We estimate in WHO that over thirty million lives can be saved in the next ten years by simple measures -- reducing the level of salt by fifteen to twenty percent, reducing the amount of tobacco, and increasing the number of people who are at risk of a heart attack and stroke to be on simple preventive treatment."The WHO is the United Nations' health agency. The General Assembly plans to hold its first high-level meeting on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The meeting will take place in New York this September.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. To read and listen to more health news and for English teaching activities, go to . I'm Steve Ember.___Contributing: Vidushi Sinha英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.For people infected with HIV, the earlier they start treatment, the better -- and better not just for them. A new study shows that early treatment greatly reduces the risk that the partner of an infected person will also get infected. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.Dr. Anthony Fauci is with the United States National Institutes of Health which paid for the study.ANTHONY FAUCI: "Many studies have been showing that the earlier you start, the better it is for the person who is infected. This study shows that not only is it better for the person who is infected, but it helps that person from transmitting to the person that's their sexual partner, heterosexual partner."Researchers cannot say if the results would be the same in men who have sex with men. Most of the couples in the study were heterosexual.The study took place in Botswana, Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, the United States and Zimbabwe. It involved almost two thousand couples divided into two groups.In one group, the infected man or woman began to take a combination of three antiretroviral drugs immediately after being found to have HIV. In the other group, the infected partners began drug treatment only when they started to show signs of getting AIDS.The researchers say both groups received equal amounts of HIV-related care and counseling. That included information about safe sex practices, free condoms and regular HIV testing.The study began in two thousand five. It was supposed to last until twenty-fifteen. But researchers stopped it early because the results were so clear. Only one case of infection was reported in couples where the infected partner began immediate treatment.Dr. Fauci says earlier treatment led to a ninety-six percent reduction in the spread of HIV to uninfected partners.ANTHONY FAUCI: "This is a powerful bit of evidence that will go into the thinking and formulation of guidelines and of global policy, policy by WHO, by UNAIDS, by the international organizations that help to provide drugs in the developing world."The study shows the value in testing and treating HIV before a person even feels sick enough to see a doctor. But in many countries, public health budgets are already stretched thin. In sub-Saharan Africa, the area hardest hit by AIDS, for every person who gets treated, two others go untreated.Antiretroviral drugs suppress the virus. Once people start treatment, they have to continue it daily for the rest of their life.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. To read and listen to our reports, go to . I'm Jim Tedder.___Contributing: Carol Pearson英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.Today we answer a question. Vu Quang Hien from Vietnam wants to know more about hepatitis B. Hepatitis is the name for a group of viral infections that attack the liver. These are called A, B, C and so on.An estimated two billion people are infected with hepatitis B. The rates are highest in China and other parts of Asia. The World Health Organization says most of these infections happen during childhood.Hepatitis B is spread through contact with infected blood or other body fluids. Mothers can infect babies at birth. Unsafe injections and sexual contact can also spread the virus. Experts say it can survive outside the body for at least a week.There are two forms of hepatitis B -- acute and chronic. Acute cases last for several weeks, although recovery can take months. Chronic cases can lead to death from cirrhosis or scarring of the liver and liver cancer.Yet people with long-term liver infections can live for years and not even know they are infected. The ones most likely to develop chronic hepatitis B are young children.In the United States, experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urge medical providers to test Asian-American patients.DR. JOHN WARD: "The bottom line -- since most people of Asian heritage came to the US from endemic countries or were born to parents from these countries, they should be screened for chronic hepatitis B."For acute hepatitis B, patients may receive care to replace lost fluids, but there are no treatments. Doctors can treat chronic cases with interferon and antiviral drugs. But these medicines cost too much for most of the world's poor.A vaccine to prevent hepatitis B has been available for thirty years. The researcher who discovered this vaccine -- and hepatitis B itself -- was an American named Baruch Blumberg. Dr. Blumberg also showed that the virus could cause liver cancer.NASADr. Baruch BlumbergHe and another researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Irving Millman, invented the vaccine in nineteen sixty-nine. But Dr. Blumberg said it took some time to find a drug company willing to produce it.He first became interested in studying infectious disease when he volunteered in Surinam during his medical training.His discoveries with hepatitis B saved many lives and earned him a Nobel Prize in medicine. But he also had other interests -- including the search for life in outer space.In the late nineties, he helped launch the Astrobiology Institute at NASA. He was at a space agency conference in California in April when he died, apparently of a heart attack. Baruch Blumberg was eighty-five years old.And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.Rob Summers of Portland, Oregon, is twenty-five years old and a former college athlete. In July of two thousand six he was hit by a car. Doctors told him he would never walk again.ROB SUMMERS: "I turned to the doctor and said 'Obviously, you don't know me very well. I am going to walk again.'"Mr. Summers learned about experimental research at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Doctors placed small electrodes in his lower back. These send electrical signals to his damaged spinal cord to move his hips, legs and feet. The signals act like the signals that the brain normally sends to produce movement.ROB SUMMERS: "I was unable to move a toe or anything for four years, and on the third day of turning the simulator on, I was able to stand independently."Video from the university shows him even taking steps on a treadmill while supported by a harness. The work is described in a study in the Lancet medical journal. The lead author, Susan Harkema, is a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at the university.SUSAN HARKEMA: "Within that week with support, of the body weight support, we were able to get him to stand without any help at the legs so he was generating enough force to bear his body weight."Mr. Summers can stand for up to four minutes at a time, or up to an hour with assistance. He received extensive physical training. His spinal cord had to be retrained to produce the muscle movements needed to stand and take assisted steps on the treadmill.The treatment has also helped him regain some control over his bladder.Researchers are calling his progress a medical breakthrough. Professor Harkema says there could be a day when Rob Summers and other paraplegics like him will be able to walk again.But there is still a lot more work to do to reach that day.Mr. Summers was completely paralyzed below the chest, but he did still have some feeling. The scientists say they do not know how the treatment would work with patients who have no sensation at all below the injury.Also, the researchers point out that they have studied only one person so far. And Mr. Summers was in extraordinary physical condition before his injury.Money for the research came from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Professor Harkema is director of the Reeve Foundation's NeuroRecovery Network.The eleven-member team also included scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the California Institute of Technology.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. You can watch a video report about Rob Summers and his treatment at . I'm Steve Ember.___Contributing: Carol Pearson英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.Thirty years ago this week, public health officials in the United States reported on the first cases of what came to be known as AIDS. There is growing progress against the epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.But today an estimated sixteen and a half million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. Millions more live with adults who are sick from AIDS.Lucie Cluver from Oxford University in England has studied AIDS orphans and children living with sick adults in South Africa. She says children can be deeply affected by their experiences.LUCIE CLUVER: "And one of the biggest impacts we see is mental health, their psychological health. So, for example, we see that AIDS orphaned children have very much higher levels of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder than children who have a live parent or children whose parents have died of other causes, including homicide or suicide."Lucie Cluver has just written about this problem in the journal Nature. She says children have to live with the stigma, the sense of shame connected to AIDS. Many are bullied at school or excluded from the community.At home, children living with a sick adult are more likely to live in poverty and face physical and emotional abuse. Also, Lucie Cluver says the children often become the caregivers.LUCIE CLUVER: "They're missing school to go and get medication. They're washing the sick person. They're often taking them to the toilet, cleaning their wounds or washing their bedclothes. So these kids find it very stressful and upsetting. They're very worried about the health and feel responsible for the health of the sick person."Close contact with sick adults can sometimes spread tuberculosis or other diseases. And, as Lucie Cluver told reporter Art Chimes, even when the children are in school, paying attention can be difficult.LUCIE CLUVER: "It's constantly on their minds and really making it difficult for them to do well at school."REPORTER: "And the children are telling you this?"LUCIE CLUVER: "Absolutely, it's one of the things that they tell us first. It's one of their greatest concerns."Her research suggests that psychological problems increase as AIDS orphans get older.Writing in Nature, she calls for testing more children for tuberculosis. She also calls for giving more parents the drugs needed to keep them healthy longer with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.There are programs to help children, but Lucie Cluver says there is "far more to be done." She says interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy and support groups are "urgently needed" for those orphaned by AIDS or living with sick adults. But the evidence for which interventions are effective "is still thin," she says.And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.International donors have promised more than four billion dollars to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. That group, known as the GAVI Alliance, held a pledging conference Monday in London.GA VI raised six hundred million dollars more than its target goal. Britain led the donations with 1.3 billion dollars in new pledges through twenty-fifteen. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also promised one billion more over the next five years.Norway promised more than six hundred seventy million dollars. The United States made four hundred fifty million dollars in new pledges.GAVI says a record fifty countries requested money for vaccines during its latest application st week, the group announced an agreement by vaccine makers to cut prices for developing countries. These lower prices, combined with the money raised this week, could protect an extra two hundred fifty million children.Jeffrey Rowland is a GAVI spokesman.JEFFREY ROWLAND: "GA VI's goal over the next five years, by twenty-fifteen, is to immunize millions more children and save an additional four million children's lives, purely by providing basic vaccines against diseases that are basically almost non-existent in rich countries, as well as providing new vaccines against pneumonia, diarrheal diseases and then hopefully HPV and some other vaccine-preventable diseases."HPV is the human papillomavirus, which can lead to cervical cancer. The disease kills two hundred thousand women a year, mostly in developing countries. The Merck company has agreed to offer GA VI the HPV vaccine at five dollars a dose. This is two-thirds less than the current price.Other companies including GlaxoSmithKline and Merck will lower prices for rotavirus vaccines. That virus causes diarrhea that kills about half a million children a year.JEFFREY ROWLAND: "Almost all children in the world get rotavirus. The thing is that in the United States or in Europe children usually have good access to medical care -- so rehydration, antibiotics, hospitalization. Children in poor countries, on the other hand, usually do not. So, by the time a mother brings her child to a clinic after having diarrhea, that child is near death. And oftentimes the antibiotics and the services are not available to save the child's life."A rotavirus vaccine in the United States can cost as much as fifty dollars. Under the new plan, this same vaccine could cost about two and a half dollars in a developing country.The GA VI Alliance says almost two million children a year die from diseases that vaccines can prevent.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. You can read, listen and learn with our programs, and share them with others, at . I'm Jim Tedder.___Contributing: Vidushi Sinha and Lisa Schlein英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.Americans spend more on health care than most other people. Yet a new study shows that life expectancy in the United States is falling behind other developed countries.In two thousand seven an American man could expect to live about seventy-five and a half years. That was less than in thirty-six other countries. Life expectancy for American women was almost eighty-one years. They were also in thirty-seventh place among almost two hundred countries and territories.The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington studied the numbers. Professor Ali Mokdad says increases in life expectancy have slowed in the United States compared to other countries.ALI MOKDAD: "We've seen an improvement almost everywhere in the world. And in countries that are developed, we're seeing a higher improvement, a faster improvement rate, than we are seeing in the United States."Professor Mokdad says the reason is Americans have made less progress in reducing problems like obesity and high blood pressure.The report also identifies wide differences in life expectancy rates within the United States. The researchers created maps of life expectancy in each of the more than three thousand counties.Areas with the shortest expected life spans are largely in the South. Ali Mokdad says researchers know some of the reasons.ALI MOKDAD: "Less education, less income in some of these rural counties, more likely to be smokers, more likely to be obese. They don't have health insurance, or they don't have adequate access to health care, and the quality of medical care is not as good as well."In the United States, many public health matters are local responsibilities. Restrictions on public smoking, for example, differ from community to community. Some communities have more bicycle paths and other chances for physical activity, or more places to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.ALI MOKDAD: "A long-term investment in their community to increase physical activity and improve diet are needed in this country."The study appears in the journal Population Health Metrics. Journal editor Chris Murray says at least one finding was unexpected.CHRIS MURRAY: "It's a real surprise to us in the study that women are faring so much worse than men."Around the country, American women still live longer than men by five to eight years. But their international ranking has been falling since the nineteen nineties. Dr. Murray says women are increasingly taking risks with their health.CHRIS MURRAY: "Women are now smoking more. The obesity epidemic in women is greater than in men. Progress in tackling blood pressure is much worse in women."In other news, the first report on the number of American births in twenty-ten shows another decrease. Births have been decreasing since an all-time high of more than 4.3 million in two thousand seven. Federal officials say state health departments reported just over four million births last year.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url], written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.___Contributing: Art Chimes and Carol Pearson英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.Everyone knows life for refugees and migrant workers can be difficult, dangerous and even deadly. But what happens when they return home? One of the biggest problems for migrants is getting health care as they travel and live in a new place. As a result, they often bring their medical problems home with them.A new report looks at this situation. The report is from specialists at the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland.One of those authors was Haley West. She says migrant workers who get injured on the job may not be able to get treatment in the country where they are working. That lack of access to medical care means they have to deal with medical problems when they rejoin their family.HALEY WEST: "So when they return back home, they've got an occupational health issue that wasn't addressed in the country where they were working. And now, the diagnosis has probably been delayed. So that delay in diagnosis oftentimes leads to worse health issues that could have potentially been preventable if they had been given the access in the country in which they were working."Not all migrants travel for economic reasons. Many are forced from home by natural disaster, war or civil unrest. And not all health care needs are physical. Another author of the report, Rosilyne Borland, says people who have lived through that kind of situation may have psychological injuries.ROSILYNE BORLAND: "There's been some very interesting studies done on people who have been granted refugee status and the sorts of mental health challenges they face years down the road. So someone returning from mass displacement, even though I'm sure [they] are thrilled to be going home, they bring with them all sorts of challenges upon their return."Another problem for returning migrants is that they may not have much to return to.ROSILYNE BORLAND: "If the community was destroyed by the natural disaster or the war, then the health system has also been damaged, and the ability of that community to continue to keep people healthy is also challenged when they get back."Rosilyne Borland, Haley West and the other authors of the article have some suggestions. They call for policies to consider the needs of returning migrants and to make sure they can receive health testing.The report appeared in a six-part series on migration and health in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine. The journal editors say, "If internal and international migrants comprised a nation, it would be the third most populous country in the world, just after China and India."The editors say population mobility is among the leading policy issues of the twenty-first century. They say officials have not given enough attention to policies to protect migrants and global health. And the efforts have been made more difficult by a lack of coordination between countries.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. For more health news, visit our website, . I'm Christopher Cruise.___Contributing: Art Chimes英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.A study says more people are killing themselves in Greece and other countries affected by economic troubles in Europe. David Stuckler, a sociologist at Britain's University of Cambridge, co-wrote the report.DA VID STUCKLER: "For the most part, the countries that have been more severely affected have experienced greater rises in suicides -- Ireland, Spain, the Baltics -- reaching up to sixteen percent in some of the worst affected countries, like Greece."Suicide rates in Europe had been decreasing. But then the international banking crisis hit in two thousand eight.The study looked at reports from ten European countries from two thousand seven and two thousand nine. Nine of the ten countries had a five percent increase in suicide rates between two thousand seven and two thousand nine. In Ireland the increase was thirteen percent.The study found that suicide rates have not increased in countries where governments have helped get people back to work. Examples include Sweden and Finland.DAVUD STUCKLER: "We found that just giving money to people who have lost jobs to replace their income did not appear to help. Instead, giving people a reason to get out of bed in the morning, a hope in terms of searching for a good, meaningful job seemed to be the most beneficial to helping people cope."The findings appeared last week in the Lancet medical journal.Greece is suffering the costs of a huge public deficit. For over a year, the government has cut spending and increased taxes in an effort to improve its finances.Pavlos Tsimas is a journalist based in Greece. He recently made a documentary about the increase in suicides.PAVLOS TSIMAS: "We investigated the case of a small businessman from Herakleion in Crete, who took his car, loaded it with tins of petrol, and first shot himself and then put fire to the whole car."Pavlos Tsimas says some people commit suicide in a public way, like the businessman in Crete.PA VLOS TSIMAS: "We found out that people killed themselves in a very dramatic and sometimes a very violent way, which maybe means that they are trying to make their suicide a statement, want the whole world to understand how badly they feel, how hopeless they have felt."He says Greeks who kill themselves are mostly men. And he says the number has gone up most on the island of Crete.PAVLOS TSIMAS: " ... where social and family life is more traditional, more patriarchic. The father of the family has to be respected as a figure of great strength. And when the economic problems arise, when jobs are lost and businesses are closed down, it is this despair because of the loss of respect, the loss of self-esteem, and the fact that the person feels that his life no longer has meaning, that drives them to this kind of act."And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. For more health news, go to . I'm Jim Tedder.___Contributing: Selah Hennessy英语听力原文：This is the VOA Special English Health Report.Scientists say a study in Africa shows that AIDS drugs can increase life expectancy in patients to nearly normal levels.One of the authors was Dr. Jean Nachega of South Africa's Stellenbosch University and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.JEAN NACHEGA: The overall key finding of our study is that the patient in Africa receiving antiretroviral therapy for HIV can expect to live a near-normal lifespan."The study was released in Rome this week at a conference of the International AIDS Society. The findings appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine.Over the last thirty years, the HIV/AIDS epidemic cut fifteen to twenty years or more from life expectancy rates in Africa. Dr. Nachega says in many countries these rates had risen sharply.JEAN NACHEGA: "All what we've been able to gain in the past with the access to clean water, expanded immunization programs were totally reversed with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. So now we are seeing some good news that investing in antiretroviral programs, those investments are now paying off."The study took place in Uganda. There, life expectancy at birth is an average of about fifty-five years.The study involved twenty-two thousand patients being treated for HIV. The results were promising but were different for men and women.At age twenty, life expectancy for men was another nineteen years. Women could expect to live thirty more years. At age thirty-five, men could expect to live to fifty-seven. Women could expect to live to sixty-seven.Dr. Nachega says men generally start treatment later than women. By then the disease is less treatable.JEAN NACHEGA: "Men spend more time looking for a job and spending more time away from their family to try to find a way to survive, I think may be one of the [reasons]. The second reason is obviously the issue about stigma, which is still quite affecting a majority of people in the community."Also, programs for pregnant women mean that women have more chances to get tested for HIV and to receive treatment.Dr. Nachega says health officials need to deal with this "gender imbalance." He supports the idea of considering treatment for HIV/AIDS as a form of prevention.JEAN NACHEGA: "We should no longer see treatment and prevention totally separately. Treatment, by itself, it is also part of prevention. Because by treating people, and hopefully treating them earlier, they are less likely to transmit the virus to their sexual partner."Studies also show that giving antiretroviral drugs to uninfected people can help protect them from HIV. Two studies released last week found that taking medication daily reduced the risk of infection in heterosexuals. An earlier study showed that it reduced the risk among gay men.And that's the VOA Special English [url=/Health_Report_1.html]Health Report[/url]. I'm Steve Ember.___Contributing: Joe de Capua。
VOA听力原稿翻译
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.现在是VOA特别英语——健康报道The World Health Organization says it has reached a limit in its fight against diseases and disasters.世界卫生组织表示该组织在与疾病和灾难抗争方面已经达到了承受极限。
Director-General Margaret Chan says the agency is "overextended" and faces "serious funding shortfalls."首席执行干事陈女士表示该组织应经超负荷运行，面临严重的资金短缺。
Dr. Chan says the WHO is no longer operating "at the level of top performance that is increasingly needed, and expected.陈女士说WHO不能再以日益期望不断增长的模式进行高负荷运作了。
" She told the agency's Executive Board on Monday that the level of action should not be governed by the size of a problem.她对董事会说，这种行动大小的程度不能再由问题的大小所决定了。
Instead, it should be governed by the extent to which the WHO can have an effect on the problem.相反，应该有WHO在这个问题上所能产生的影响决定。
Dr. Chan said one of the most exciting developments recently is a new vaccine that could end Africa's deadly meningitis epidemics.陈女士最近感到最激动的发展是一种能结束非洲致命传染病的疫苗的生产。
VOA慢速英语听力：英语21世纪的挑战
VOA慢速英语听力：英语21世纪的挑战Thank you. Thank you, President Chen, Chairmen Ren, Vice President Chi, Vice Minister Wei.We are delighted to be here today with a very large American delegation, including the First Lady and our daughter, who is a student at Stanford, one of the schools with which Beijing University has a relationship. We have six members of the United States Congress; the Secretary of State; Secretary of Commerce; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Chairman of our Council of Economic Advisors; Senator Sasser, our Ambassador; the National Security Advisor and my Chief of Staff, among others. I say that to illustrate the importance that the United States places on our relationship with China.谢谢。
陈校长、任书记、迟副校长、韦副部长，谢谢你们。
今天，我很高兴率领一个庞大的美国代表团来到这里，代表团中包括第一夫人和我们的女儿，她是斯坦福大学的学生，该校是和北大具有交流关系的学校之一。
此外，我们的代表团中还包括六位美国国会议员、国务卿、商务部长、农业部长、经济顾问理事会理事长、我国驻华大使参议员尚慕杰、国家安全顾问和我的办公厅主任等。
VOA的慢速英语听力文摘 Mystery at The Ice Castle Inn
VOA的慢速英语听力文摘 Mystery at The Ice Castle Inn VOA的慢速英语听力文摘：Mystery at The Ice Castle Inn VOA慢速是公认的比较适合大部分英语学习者的英语听力材料。
下面是一篇VOA的慢速英语听力文摘，供大家练习。
Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories.On this program we explain how to use mon words and expressions in American English. Today, we are going to celebrate the ing of winter with expressions related tocold and ice. And we will do that with a story … a mystery story.This is part one of a three-part series.Our story begins on a distant mountain-top. It is the dead of winter. Outside the wind is howling.Snow mixed with freezing rain has made the roads unsafe for travel. Even walking outside is dangerous. So, the four characters of our story are stuck indoors at The Ice Castle Inn. Like the name suggests, the inn is an old castle thatis now a vacation spot for bird-watchers.These four people are strangers. The only thing they have in mon is a shared interest in snow birds. But for now, they all have put their bird watching plans on ice. That is to say, they must postpone their plans until the winter storm passes.What they don’t know is the violent storm outside is just the tip of the iceberg. In other words, more danger exists, but they cannot see it.Let’s meet the c haractersBut now, let’s get in out of the cold. As we enter the Ice Castle Inn we meet our group of travelers. They are all having a hot drink as they gather by the fireplace.The TeacherFirst there is the teacher, Madeline. She is in herlate 20s and teaches skiing and cold weather survivalskills at a private school for girls.Her neat, dark hair frames her round, healthy face. Her appearance is plain but she is in great physical shape. She is a quiet woman. When she speaks, her voice is low and uncertain.You may think she is shy. But think again.Underneath her shy exterior, she is calm, cool and collected. If she stares at you with her clear green eyes, you can sense her powerful, extreme calm. Her ability to control her reactions makes people feel afraid: it sends shivers down their spines.The AthleteThen there is the athlete, Vincent. He is in his early 30s. Handsome and active, he talks to anyone and everyone. He has an easy manner and people like him instantly. He’sthe type of man who could sell ice to an Eskimo, meaning he could talk you into anything.At first, he seems to be a very cool, easy-going sportsman. But talk to him more and you realize that something is missing: namely, feelings. Those who know him best say he has ice water running through his veins. Nothing seems to upset or emotionally move him.The ActressNext is the actress, Sylvia. She is in her mid-40s and is extremely attractive. With her ice-blue eyes, pale white skin and fine clothing, she do esn’t seem like the outdoorsy, bird-watching type.Her personality runs hot and cold -- friendly one minute, unfriendly the next. You never know what to expect. The one thing that is constant about her is the gold locket she wears around her long, thin neck. She never takes itoff and often holds it tightly to her chest.The MajorFinally, there is Major Jack, an ex-military man. His age is hard to guess -- perhaps 50-something? He has a strong jaw and thick black hair. The lines on his face make him look older but even more handsome.Some men are just lucky that way. He seems like most military men; strong and silent. William Shakespeare might even call him a cold fish -- unfeeling and unfriendly. Butat the same time every day, as the sun goes down, he stares out the window into the storm with great sadness in his eyes. It is at these times, he seems like a man left out in the cold, ignored and alone.That is our small group of traveling bird-watchers. As the days pass, the snow only falls harder on The Ice Castle Inn. The land line phones no longer work. Neither do cell phones. No rescue vehicles have e to clear the roads.They are truly snowed in.With each passing day, they each bee more and more suspicious of each other. They all wonder the same thing –why are the others really here?Answers will have to wait.I’m Anna Matteo.Join us next week for part 2 of The Mystery at The Ice Castle Inn.Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.。
VOA慢速英语听力：热可能是自然界的头号杀手
LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we tell about health problems linked to extreme heat. We tell what experts suggest to prevent and treat these problems.(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: Extremely hot weather is common in many parts of the world. Although hot weather just makes most people feel hot, it can cause serious medical problems -- even death.Indian villagers sleep in the shade of a tree on a hot summer day in Allahabad, IndiaFloods, storms and other natural events kill thousands of people every year. So does extreme heat. Experts say heat may be nature's deadliest killer.Last month, for example, intense heat was blamed for about eighty deaths in India. About one-fourth of those deaths were said to be in the eastern state of Odisha. One day, temperatures in the Odisha town of Titlagarh reached forty-five degrees Celsius.BOB DOUGHTY: Several hot days that follow each other are considered a heat wave. Experts say heat waves often become dangerous when the nighttime temperature does not drop much from the highest daytime temperature. This causes great stress on the human body.Doctors say people can do many things to protect themselves from the dangers of extreme heat. Stay out of the sun, if possible.Drink lots of cool water. Wear light colored clothing made of natural materials. Make sure the clothing is loose, permitting freedom of movement. Also, learn the danger signs of the medical problems linked to heat.(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: The most common health problem linked to hot weather is heat stress. Usually, it is also the least severe. The causes of heat stress include wearing heavy clothing, physical work or exercise, hot weather and high humidity. Humidity is the amount of water in the air.If several of these conditions are present at the same time, a person's body temperature may rise above safe levels. The person loses large amounts of body water and salt in perspiration. Perspiration is one of the body's defenses against heat. It is how the body releases water to cool the skin.Most people suffer only muscle pain because of heat stress. The pain is a warning that the body is becoming too hot. Doctors say those suffering muscle pain should stop all activity and rest in a cool place. They should also drink cool liquids. Doctors say not to return to physical activity for a few hours because serious conditions could develop.BOB DOUGHTY: Some people face an increased danger from heat stress. They may have a weak or damaged heart, high blood pressure or other problems of the blood system. Severe heat increases problems for small children, older adults and those who have the disease diabetes.It is also dangerous for people who weigh too much and have too much body fat, and for people who drink alcohol. Hot weather also increases dangers for people who must take medicine for high blood pressure, poor blood flow, nervousness or depression.FAITH LAPIDUS: Untreated heat stress can lead to a more serious problem called heat exhaustion. A person suffering from heat exhaustion loses too much water through perspiration. The person becomes dehydrated.A person suffering heat exhaustion feels weak and extremely tired. He or she may have trouble walking normally. Heat exhaustion may also produce a feeling of sickness, a fast heartbeat, breathing problems and pain in the head, chest or stomach. Doctors say people with such problems should rest quietly in a cool place and drink plenty of water. They also say it may help to wash with cool water.BOB DOUGHTY: Heat exhaustion can develop quickly. It also can develop slowly, over a period of days. Doctors call this dehydration exhaustion. Each day, the body loses only a little more water than is taken in. The person may not even know this problem is developing. If the problem continues for several days, the effects will be the same as the usual kind of heatexhaustion.Experts say even a two percent drop in the body's water supply can cause signs of dehydration. These signs include problems with memory and even simple mathematics.FAITH LAPIDUS: Dehydration limits a person's ability to work and think. Experts say a reduction of only four or five percent in body water leads to a drop of twenty to thirty percent in work ability. The loss of salt through perspiration also reduces the amount of work that muscles can do.The treatment for dehydration exhaustion is the same as for heat exhaustion. Drink plenty of water and rest in a cool place. Even better, doctors say, drink about two liters of water a day so problems with dehydration will not have a chance to develop.(MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke if it is not treated. Heat stroke is the most serious disorder linked to hot weather. It results when the body is not able to control its temperature. The body's temperature increases and perspiration fails.Generally, the body temperature rises to more than forty degrees Celsius. The body stops perspiring. The skin becomes dry and very hot. A person may become unconscious, not knowing what is happening.Doctors say tissues and organs begin to cook when the body's temperature is higher than forty-two degrees Celsius. Permanent brain damage and death may result. Someone suffering heat stroke requires immediate medical attention. Doctors say such treatment is necessary or the person could die before help arrives.FAITH LAPIDUS: The purpose of immediate treatment is to cool the victim as quickly as possible to stop the body temperature from increasing. Begin by moving the victim out of the sun. Raise the person's feet up about thirty centimeters. Take off the victim's clothing. Put cool water on the body. Place pieces of ice in areas where blood passageways are close to the skin. These include the back of the neck and under the arms.Experts say it is important to know the danger signs of the medical disorders linked to hot weather. It is also important to know what to do if the signs appear...in yourself or in someone else.(MUSIC)BOB DOUGHTY: Experts say water is important for many reasons. Between fifty-five and seventy-five percent of the body is water.Water in blood carries hormones and antibodies through the body. Water in urine carries away waste materials. Water is needed for cooling the body on hot days, and when we are working or exercising. Water carries body heat to the surface of the skin. There, the heat is lost through perspiration.Health experts say adults should drink about two liters of water a day to replace all the water lost in liquid wastes and perspiration.They say people should drink more than that in hot weather.Experts say it is important to drink before, during and after exercise. They say we should drink water even before we start to feel like we need something to drink. During hot weather, cool liquids are best. Also, avoid sweet drinks and alcohol.FAITH LAPIDUS: We need to add that doctors also say it is possible to drink too much water. Some people, for example, do this if they exercise hard during a heat wave. Experts with the Mayo Clinic say drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia. In this condition, the level of sodium in the blood falls too low.The result is that the amount of water in the body increases. This causes cells to become larger. Mayo Clinic experts say the enlarged cells can cause a person to become sick or restless. They also can interfere with mental ability, make muscles weak and cause pain in the head. In a mild case, simply reducing fluids may be all that the person needs. But medical help is necessary if the condition is more severe.Experts have suggestions for runners and others exercising or working hard in hot weather. They say drinking a sports drink with sodium in it can help prevent the condition.BOB DOUGHTY: Doctors say actions other than drinking water can protect against the health dangers of heat. Stay out of thesun, if possible. Wear loose, lightweight and light colored clothes. Wear a hat or other head covering when in the sun. Eat fewer hot and heavy foods. If possible, cook foods during cooler times of the day. Also, rest more often. Physical activity produces body heat.Experts say these simple steps can prevent the health problems linked to heat. They will prevent sickness, help you feel better and may even save your life.(MUSIC)FAITH LAPIDUS: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was June Simms. I'm Faith Lapidus.BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English.。
voa英语听力中英对照原文
voa英语听力中英对照原文Hello, I'm Jerry Smit with the BBC News.杰里·斯密特为您播报BBC新闻The Greek government has submitted new proposals tosecure a third bailout from its international creditors. The Head of the Eurozone's Group of Finance Ministers, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said the plans would now be assessed in detail. The proposals include tax rises, pension reforms, spendingcuts and promises of privatisation. Tim Willcox in Athenssays this may cause problems for the Greek government希腊政府提交了一份新的改革方案以确保能从其债权国得到第三次财政援助，欧元区金融主席杰洛恩称该项方案将会详细讨论。
这项方案包括提升税收，退休金改革，减少支出和承诺私有化。
下面是威克斯在雅典发回的报道：.“They think, the source I've been speaking to, that the E.U. will take this, but it's going to be very difficult for Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, internally here in Greece, following that referendum last weekend with that massive vote, a NO vote against any more austerity measures.”威克斯称这项方案有可能对希腊政府造成问题。
VOA英语听力原文(passage41~50)
Light-emitting diodes are small glass lamps that use much less electricity than traditional bulbs and last much longer.
Professor Irvine-Halliday used a one-watt bright white L.E.D. made in Japan. He found it on the Internet and connected it to a bicycle-powered (7) generator. He remembers thinking it was so bright, a child could read by the light of a single diode.
In New York, the United Nations secretary-general reacted to a dispute over e-mails stolen from the University of East Anglia in England. Critics say the messages show (9) climate change scientists discussing ways to discredit other theories about global warming. But Ban Ki-Moon said Tuesday that the evidence is "quite clear" that humans are the main cause of temperatures rising faster than expected.
【自己整理的四六级听力】VOA 英语听力原文(1)【标注版】(内含听力下载地址)
world-bank-president-says-ending-extreme-poverty-within-reach听力下载地址：/s/1pJqQB5h【绿色单词为六级词汇，橙色单词为四级词汇】简介：The head of the World Bank says slowing economic growth around the world is hurting the institution’s goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030. While the challenges may be great, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the goal remains within reach - but only if world leaders and emerging financial and development institutions do their part.听力原文：What is extreme poverty? According to the United Nations it’s a condition characterized by a lack of basic human needs, like clean drinking water, food, sanitation（公共卫生）and education.The good news, says World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, is that the world has made some progress.“Over 25 years, we’ve gone from nearly two billion people living in extreme poverty to fewer than one billion," said Kim.Despite inroads, nearly a billion people still live on less than a $1.25 per day.Further complicating the goal of eradicating（eradicate 根除）poverty is the economic slowdown in developed and emerging（新兴的）economies.One solution is to partner with new financial institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank - led by China - and the New Development Bank founded by the so-called BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.“We at the World Bank Group see these development banks as potentially very strong allies in tackling（tackle 处理，解决）the enormous challenge of bringing much needed infrastructure （基础设施）to the developing world," said Kim.Such banking coalition s（联盟，联合政府）could help address the infrastructure spending gap that the World Bank alone can't fill. Amy Studdart is deputy director in Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.“There’s a huge infrastructure gap in Asia. The World Bank itself estimates that it was $2.5 trillion（万亿）worth of investment that needs to happen in South Asia and South East Asia alone," said Studdart.Despite the perceived need for such lending groups, some - including the United States - fear such institutions could further diminish（使减少，使变小）Western influence in Asia.But Jim Yong Kim says influence is not the issue.“The fundamental issue for us is, your enemy cannot be other institutions. Your enemy has to be poverty," he said.The World Bank is expected to address those issues when world leaders come together at the United Nations later this year to establish global priorities. Among them - ending poverty.四六级词汇注释：sanitation/ˌsænɪˌteɪʃən/ CET6+∙ 1.N-UNCOUNT Sanitation is the process of keeping places clean and healthy, especially by providing a sewage system and a clean water supply. (尤指通过提供排污系统和洁净水源的) 公共卫生例：...the hazards of contaminated water and poor sanitation.…污水和不良公共卫生的危害。
VOA 英语听力原稿六篇
AMERICAN STORIES - A Story for Halloween: 'The Boy on Graves-End Road'PAT BODNAR: Now, the VOA Special English program AMERICAN STORIES.I'm Pat Bodnar. October thirty-first is Halloween. In the spirit of this ancient holiday, we present a story written by Special English reporter and producer Caty Weaver. It's called "The Boy on Graves-End Road.NARRATOR: Kelly Ryan was making dinner. Her ten-year-old son Benjamin was watching television in the living room. Or at least she thought he was.KELLY: "Benny-boy, do you want black beans or red beans?"BEN: "Red beans, Mama."Kelly: "Don't do that, Ben. You scared me half to death! You're going to get it now ... "NARRATOR: Ben had come up quietly right behind her.(SOUND)KELLY: "I'll get back to you, stinker!"NARRATOR: Kelly goes to the phone, but as soon as she lays her hand on it, the ringing stops.KELLY: "How strange. Oh, the beans!"NARRATOR: Kelly turns her attention back to cooking. As soon as she does, the phone rings again.KELLY: "Honey, can you get that?"BEN: "Hello? Oh, hi. Yes, I remember. Sure, it sounds fun. Let me ask my mom. Can you hold? She might wanna talk to your mom. Oh, um, OK. See you tomorrow."KELLY: "Ben, your rice and beans are on the table. Let's eat."(SOUND)KELLY: "So, what was that call about?"BEN: "That was Wallace Gray. You know him, from class. He wants to play tomorrow. Can I go home with him after school? Please, Mom? I get bored around here waiting for you after work."KELLY: "But, Ben, I don't even know his parents. Maybe I should talk to them."BEN: "You can't, Mom. He was with his babysitter. He said his parents wouldn't be home until late tonight and they would leave before he went to school in the morning. Please Mom, Wallace lives right over on Graves-End Road. It's afive-minute walk from here. PLEASE,?"KELLY: "Well, OK. What's so great about this guy, anyway? You've got a ton of friends to play with."BEN: "I know. But Wallace is just different. He's got a lot of imagination."NARRATOR: The school week passes, and Ben starts to go home almost every day with Wallace. Kelly notices a change in her son. He seems tired and withdrawn. His eyes do not seem to really look at her. They seem ... lifeless. On Friday night she decides they need to have a talk.KELLY: "Sweetie, what's going on with you? You seem so tired and far away. Is something wrong? Did you and your new friend have a fight?"BEN:"No, Mom. We've been having a great time. There's nothing wrong with us. Why don't you like Wallace? You don't even know him, but you don't trust him."KELLY: "Benjamin, what are you talking about? I don't dislike Wallace. You're right, I don't know him. You just don't seem like yourself. You've been very quiet the past few nights."BEN: "I'm sorry, Mom. I guess I'm just tired. I have a great time with Wallace. We play games like cops and robbers, but they seem so real that half of the time I feel like I'm in another world. It's hard to explain. It's like, it's like ... "KELLY: "I think the word you're looking for is intense."BEN: "Yeah, that's it -- it's intense."KELLY: "Well, tell me about today. What kind of game did you play?"(SOUND)BEN: "We were train robbers. Or Wallace was. I was a station manager. Wallace was running through a long train, from car to car. He had stolen a lot of money and gold from the passengers. I was chasing right behind him, moving as fast as I could. Finally he jumps out of the train into the station to make his escape. But I block his path. He grabs a woman on the station platform. She screams 'No, no!' But he yells 'Let me through, or she dies.' So I let him go."KELLY: "What happened then?"BEN: "Well, that's what was weird and, like you said, intense. Wallace threw the lady onto the tracks. And laughed. He said that's what evil characters do in games. They always do the worst."NARRATOR: Later, after Ben went to bed, Kelly turned on the eleven o'clock news. She was only half-listening as she prepared a list of things to do the next day, on Halloween.KELLY: "Let's see, grocery shopping, Halloween decorating, dog to the groomer, hardware store, clean up the garden ...(SOUND)NEWS ANNOUNCER: "... the victim, who has not been identified, was killed instantly. Reports say it appears she was pushed off the station platform into the path of the oncoming train. It happened during rush hour today. Some witnesses reported seeing two boys running and playing near the woman. But police say they did not see any images like that on security cameras at the station. In other news, there was more trouble today as workers protested outside the Hammond ... "KELLY: "No! It can't be. The station is an hour away. They couldn't have gotten there. How could they? It's just a coincidence."NARRATOR: The wind blew low and lonely that night. Kelly slept little. She dreamed she was waiting for Ben at a train station. Then, she saw him on the other side, running with another little boy.It must be Wallace she thought. The little boy went in and out of view. Then, all of a sudden, he stopped and looked across the tracks -- directly at her.He had no face.NARRATOR: Saturday morning was bright and sunny, a cool October day. Kelly made Ben eggs and toast and watched him eat happily.KELLY: "You know, Benny-boy, a woman DID get hurt at the train station yesterday. She actually got hit by a train. Isn't that strange?"NARRATOR: She looked at Ben.BEN: "What do you mean, Mom?"KELLY: "Well, you and Wallace were playing that game yesterday. About being at a train station. You said he threw a woman off the platform, and she was killed by a train."NARRATOR: Kelly felt like a fool even saying the words. She was speaking to a ten-year-old who had been playing an imaginary game with anotherten-year-old. What was she thinking?BEN: "I said we played that yesterday? I did? Hmmm. No, we played that a few days ago, I think. It was just a really good game, really intense. Yesterday we played pirates. I got to be Captain Frank on the pirate ship, the Argh."Wallace was Davey, the first mate. But he tried to rebel and take over the ship so I made him walk the plank. Davey walked off into the sea and drowned. Wallace told me I had to order him to walk the plank. He said that's what evil pirates do."KELLY: "I guess he's right. I don't know any pirates, but I do hear they're pretty evil!"BEN: "So can I play with Wallace today when you are doing your errands? Please, Mom? I don't want to go shopping and putting up Halloween decorations."KELLY: "Oh, whatever. I guess so. I'll pick you up at Wallace's house at about five-thirty, so you can get ready for trick or treating. Where does he live again?BEN: "Graves-End Road. I don't know the street number but there are only two houses on each side. His is the second one on the left."KELLY: "OK. I can find that easy enough. Do you still want me to pick up a ghost costume for you?"BEN: "Yep. Oh, and guess what, Mom: Wallace says he's a ghost, too! I suppose we'll haunt the neighborhood together."NARRATOR: Everywhere Kelly went that day was crowded. She spent an hour and a half just at the market. When she got home, decorating the house for Halloween was difficult.But finally she had it all up the way she wanted.KELLY: "Oh, gosh, five already. I don't even have Ben's costume."NARRATOR: She jumped into her car and drove to Wilson Boulevard. The party store was just a few blocks away.Kelly finally found a space for her car. The store was crowded with excited kids and hurried parents. But Kelly soon found the ghost costume that Ben wanted. She bought it and walked out of the store.EILEEN: "Hey, Kelly! Long time no see. How's Benjamin doing?"KELLY: "Eileen! Wow, it's great to see you. How's Matt? We've been so busy since the school year started, we haven't seen anyone!"EILEEN: "Matt's good. Well, he broke his arm last month so no sports for him. It is driving him crazy, but at least he's got a lot of time for school now!"EILEEN: "Anyway, Matt was wondering why Benny-boy never comes by anymore. We saw him running around the neighborhood after school last week. It looks like he's having fun, but he's always alone. We don't need to set up a play date. Ben should know that. You just tell him to come by anytime -- "KELLY: "Wait, wait a minute. Alone? What do mean alone? He started playing with a new friend, Wallace somebody, after school, like everyday this past week. Ben hasn't been alone. Wallace Gray, that's it. Do you know him? Does Matt?"EILEEN: "Oh, Kell. Kelly, I'm sure he's a fine kid. I don't know him but don't worry, Ben's got great taste in friends, we know that! I'm sure he wasn't really alone, he was probably just playing hide and seek or something. I didn't mean to worry you. I guess everybody's on edge because of what happened to the Godwin boy this morning."NARRATOR: Kelly suddenly felt cold and scared. What Godwin boy? And what happened to him? She was not sure she wanted to know, but she had to ask.EILEEN: "Frank Godwin's youngest boy, Davey, the five-year-old. You know Frank, we call him Captain. He used to be a ship captain. Well, this morning the rescue squad found Davey in Blackhart Lake. They also found a little toy boatthat his dad made for him. Davey and his dad named it the Argh. Davey must have been trying to sail it. It's so sad."KELLY: "Wait, he's dead?EILEEN: "Yes. Davey drowned."KELLY: "Where's Blackhart Lake?"EILEEN: "It's right off Graves-End Road, right behind that little cemetery. That's why they call it Graves-End. Kelly, where are you going?"Kelly: "I've got to get Benjamin."(MUSIC)NARRATOR: Kelly raced down Main Street. She had no idea who Wallace Gray was or how he was involved in any of this. But she did not trust him and she knew her child was in danger.Finally she was at Graves-End Road.BEN: "Only two houses on each side."NARRATOR: She remembered what Ben had told her.EILEEN: "Right behind that little cemetery."NARRATOR: And what Eileen had told her. Kelly got out of the car and walked down the street. She looked around.BEN: "It's the second one on the left."NARRATOR: She could see the lake. Some fog was coming up as the sky darkened on this Halloween night. But there was no second house. Instead, what lay before her was grass and large white stones. The cemetery. Kelly walked through the gate into the yard of graves.Kelly: "Ben?"NARRATOR: No answer. She kept walking.KELLY: "Ben? Answer me. I know you're here."NARRATOR: Again no answer. But the wind blew and some leaves began to dance around a headstone. Kelly walked slowly toward the grave. Suddenly the sky blackened -- so dark, she could not see anything. She felt a force pushing at her. It tried to push her away from the grave. But she knew she had to stay.KELLY: "Benjamin Owen Orr, this is your mother. Come out this second!"NARRATOR: No one answered, except for the sound of the blowing wind. The darkness lifted. Silvery moonlight shone down directly onto the old gravestone in front of her. But Kelly already knew whose name she would see.KELLY: "'Wallace Gray. October thirty-first, nineteen hundred, to October thirty-first, nineteen hundred and ten. Some are best when laid to rest.'"NARRATOR: Kelly took a deep breath. Then ...KELLY: "Wallace Gray this play date is OVER! Give me back my son. Wallace, you are in TIME-OUT."NARRATOR: Suddenly, the ground shoots upward like a small volcano. Soil, sticks and worms fly over Kelly's head and rain down again -- followed by her son, who lands beside her.BEN: (COUGHING, CHOKING)KELLY: "Ben! Ben!"BEN: (COUGHING, CHOKING) "Mom, Mom! Are you there? I can't see. All this dirt in my eyes."KELLY: "Ben, I'm here, I'm here baby, right here. Oh, sweet Benny-boy. Can you breathe? Are you really ok? What happened? How long were you in there?"BEN: "I don't know, Mom. But I didn't like it. I didn't like where Wallace lives. I want to go home."KELLY: "Oh, me too, Sweetie. C'mon, Ben, put your arm around me. C'mon.(SOUNDS)BEN: "And Mom, one more thing ... "KELLY: "What is it, Ben?"BEN "I don't want to be a ghost for Halloween."(MUSIC)PAT BODNAR: Our story "The Boy on Graves-End Road" was written and produced by Caty Weaver. The voices were Andrew Bracken, Faith Lapidus, Katherine Cole, Shirley Griffith and Jim Tedder. I'm Pat Bodnar.Join us again next week for another American story in VOA Coming to Terms With Academic Titles at US CollegesThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.Not everyone who teaches in a college or university is a professor. Many are instructors or lecturers. In fact, not even all professors are full professors. Many of them are assistant or associate professors or adjunct professors.So what do all of these different academic titles mean at American colleges and universities? Get ready for a short lecture, especially if you are thinking of a career in higher education.Professors usually need a doctoral degree. But sometimes a school will offer positions to people who have not yet received their doctorate.This person would be called an instructor until the degree has been completed. After that, the instructor could become an assistant professor. Assistant professors do not have tenure.Tenure means a permanent appointment. This goal of greater job security is harder to reach these days. Fewer teaching positions offer the chance for tenure.Teachers and researchers who are hired into positions that do offer it are said to be "on the tenure track." Assistant professor is the first job on this path.Assistant professors generally have five to seven years to gain tenure. During this time, other faculty members study the person's work. If tenure is denied, then the assistant professor usually has a year to find another job.Candidates for tenure may feel great pressure to get research published. "Publish or perish" is the traditional saying.An assistant professor who receives tenure becomes an associate professor. An associate professor may later be appointed a full professor.Assistant, associate and full professors perform many duties. They teach classes. They advise students. And they carry out research. They also serve on committees and take part in other activities.Other faculty members are not expected to do all these jobs. They are not on a tenure track. Instead, they might be in adjunct or visiting positions.A visiting professor has a job at one school but works at another for a period of time. An adjunct professor is also a limited or part-time position, to do research or teach classes. Adjunct professors have a doctorate.Another position is that of lecturer. Lecturers teach classes, but they may or may not have a doctorate.And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. You and read and listen to our reports, and get information on how to study in the United States, at . I'm Barbara Klein.EDUCATION REPORT - Early Classes = Sleepy Teens(Duh!)This is the VOA Special English Education Report.Surveys of American teenagers find that about half of them do not get enough sleep on school nights. They get an average of sixty to ninety minutes less than experts say they need.One reason for this deficit is biology. Experts say teens are biologically programmed to go to sleep later and wake up later than other age groups. Yet many schools start classes as early as seven in the morning.As a result, many students go to class feeling like sixteen-year-old Danny. He plays two sports, lacrosse(曲棍球) and football. He is an active teen -- except in the morning.DANNY: "Getting up in the morning is pretty terrible. I'm just very out of it and tired. And then going to school I'm out of it, and through first and second period I can barely stay awake."Michael Breus is a clinical psychologist with a specialty in sleep disorders.MICHAEL BREUS: "These aren't a bunch of lazy kids -- although, you know, teenagers can of course be lazy. These are children whose biological rhythms, more times than not, are off."Teens, he says, need to sleep eight to nine hours or even nine to ten hours a night. He says sleepy teens can experience a form of depression that couldhave big effects on their general well-being. It can affect not just their ability in the classroom but also on the sports field and on the road.Michael Breus says any tired driver is dangerous, but especially a teenager with a lack of experience.So what can schools do about sleepy students? The psychologist says one thing they can do is start classes later in the morning. He points to studies showing that students can improve by a full letter grade in their first- and second-period classes.Eric Peterson is the head of St. George's School in the northeastern state of Rhode Island. He wanted to see if a thirty-minute delay would make a difference. It did.He says visits to the health center by tired students decreased by half. Late arrivals to first period fell by a third. And students reported that they were less sleepy during the day.Eric Peterson knows that changing start times is easier at a small, private boarding school like his. But he is hopeful that other schools will find a way.ERIC PETERSON: "In the end, schools ought to do what's the right thing for their students, first and foremost."Patricia Moss, an assistant dean at St. George's School, says students were not the only ones reporting better results.PATRICIA MOSS: "I can say that, anecdotally, virtually all the teachers noticed immediately much more alertness in class, definitely more positive mood. Kids were happier to be there at eight-thirty than they were at eight."And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can read, listen and comment on our programs at . We're also on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty.___Reporting by Julie Taboh, adapted by Lawan DavisSpecial English.WORDS AND THEIR STORIES - Words and Their Stories: Nicknames forChicagoBroadcast date: 1-10-2010 / Written by Carl SandburgFrom /voanews/specialenglish/Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.A nickname is a shortened version of a person's name. A nickname also can describe a person, place or thing. Many American cities have interesting nicknames. These can help establish an identity, spread pride among citizens and build unity. (MUSIC: "Chicago")Chicago, Illinois was once the second largest city in the United States. So, one of its nicknames is The Second City. Over the years, the population of Chicago has decreased. Today it is the third largest American city.However, another nickname for Chicago is still true today. It is The Windy City. Chicago sits next to Lake Michigan, one of North America's Great Lakes. Language expert Barry Popick says on his website that Chicago was called a "windy city" because of the wind that blows off of Lake Michigan. In the eighteen sixties and seventies, Chicago was advertised as an ideal place to visit in the summer because of this cool wind.But anyone who has ever lived in Chicago knows how cold that wind can be in winter. The wind travels down the streets between tall buildings in the center of the city.Barry Popick says other cities in the central United States called Chicago a "windy city." This meant that people in Chicago liked to brag or talk about how great their city was. They were full of wind or full of hot air. He says newspapers in Cincinnati, Ohio used this expression in the eighteen seventies.Chicago was an important agricultural, industrial and transportation center for the country.In nineteen sixteen, the city gained two more nicknames from a poem called "Chicago," written by Carl Sandburg. Here is the first part of the poem:Hog Butcher for the World,Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;Stormy, husky, brawling,City of the Big Shoulders.Chicago was called Hog Butcher for the World because of its huge meat-processing industry. And, it was called The City of the Big Shoulders or City of Broad Shoulders because of its importance to the nation.There are several songs about Chicago. "My Kind of Town" was made popular by Frank Sinatra in nineteen sixty-four.(MUSIC)This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus.Qs: How many nicknames does Chicago have?The Second city, windy city, hog butcher and the city of the big shoulder. Contrary to popular belief, Sam Walton (the founder of Wal-Mart) was not from Arkansas. He was actually born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. He was raised in Missouri where he worked in his father's store while attending school. This was his first retailing experience and he really enjoyed it. After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1940, he began his own career as a retail merchant when he opened the first of several franchises of the Ben Franklin five-and-dime franchises in Arkansas.This would lead to bigger and better things and he soon opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart specialized in name-brands at low prices and Sam Walton was surprised at the success. Soon a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America.Walton's management style was popular with employees and he founded some of the basic concepts of management that are still in use today. After taking the company public in 1970, Walton introduced his "profit sharing plan". The profit sharing plan was a plan for Wal-Mart employees to improve their income dependent on the profitability of the store. Sam Walton believed that "individuals don't win, teams do". Employees at Wal-Mart stores were offered stock options and store discounts. These benefits are commonplace today, but Walton was among the first to implement them. Walton believed that a happy employee meant happy customers and more sales. Walton believed that by giving employees a part of the company and making their success dependent on the company's success, they would care about the company.By the 1980s, Wal-Mart had sales of over one billion dollars and over three hundred stores across North America. Wal-Mart's unique decentralized distribution system, also Walton's idea, created the edge needed to further spur growth in the 1980s amidst growing complaints that the "superstore" was squelching smaller, traditional Mom and Pop stores. By 1991, Wal-Mart was the largest U.S. retailer with 1,700 stores. Walton remained active in managing the company, as president and CEO until 1988 and chairman until his death. He was awarded the Medal of Freedom shortly before his death.Walton died in 1992, being the world's second richest man, behind Bill Gates. He passed his company down to his three sons, daughter and wife. Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated (locatedin Bentonville, Arkansas) is also in charge of "Sams Club". Wal-Mart stores now operate in Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea, China and Puerto Rico. Sam Walton's visions were indeed successful.Will Computers Replace Human Beings?We are in the computer age today. The computers are working all kinds of wonders now. They are very useful in automatic control and data processing. At the same time, computers are finding their way into the home. They seem to be so clever and can solve such complicated problems that some people think sooner or later they will replace us.But I do not think that there is such a possibility. My reason is very simple: computers are machines, not humans. And our tasks are far too various and complicated for any one single kind of machine to perform.Probably the greatest difference between man and computer is that the former can do things of his own while the latter can do nothing without being programmed. In my opinion, computers will remain nothing but an extension of our human brains, no matter how clever and complicated they may become.Դ: /exam/22608.shtml。
VOA慢速英语听力：第一位独自飞越全世界的飞行员
[导读]VOA慢速英语听⼒：第⼀位独⾃飞越全世界的飞⾏员Wiley Post:The First Pilot to Fly Around the World AloneMARY TILLOTSON: Now the VOA Special English program, Explorations. Today Shirley Griffith and Doug Johnson tell about pilot Wiley Post. He set new records when he flew his own airplane around the world in nineteen thirty-three. (MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: It was nineteen thirty-three. Only six years earlier Charles Lindburgh became famous around the world as the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Now, a young pilot was trying to fly across Russia. He had left Moscow several hours before. All he heard was the sound of the one engine that powered his plane. Hour after hour the same sound. Now the weather was bad. He could not see much ahead, only the fog. Flying in fog is very dangerous. Yet the sound of the engine made everything seem warm and safe. Then, out of the fog he saw a mountain. He had only seconds to bring the airplane up. It was a narrow escape, one of many he would have during his long flight.DOUG JOHNSON: The young pilot was Wiley Post. He was trying to fly around the world by himself. He made the trip in less than eight days. He stopped eleven times for fuel, food and a little sleep.Wiley Post made his famous flight in July, nineteen thirty-three. Not many flight instruments existed that could help him find his way. He was alone, fighting against sleep. If he fell asleep he would die.(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Nothing in Wiley Post's early years suggests that he would become a famous pilot. He was born in Grand Saline, Texas, in eighteen ninety-eight. His family were farmers. In nineteen thirteen, Wiley saw something that forever changed his life -- an airplane. After watching the plane fly, young Wiley waited until most people had left the area. He then began inspecting and studying the plane. He measured different parts of the plane with his hands. Many years later, Wiley Post would say that first airplane was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.DOUG JOHNSON: Wiley Post began to study everything he could find about flying. He began to educate himself about subjects such as mathematics, radio and machinery. His self-education would continue the rest of his life. Post finally rode in an airplane in nineteen nineteen. At the time, many people believed all pilots were special people. They believed it took special skills and courage to fly an airplane. But after his first ride, Wiley Post knew that flying was something he could learn to do.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Wiley Post began his career in flying, not as a pilot, but as a performer who jumps from airplanes using a parachute. He did this with a group that performed flying tricks to earn money. He jumped ninety-nine times in two years with the flying show. When he was not jumping with a parachute, he was being taught how to fly by pilots in the air show. But he could not fly as often as he liked.DOUG JOHNSON: Wiley Post then decided the only way to become a good pilot was to buy an airplane of his own. He needed more money than he earned in the flying show. He went to work in the oil-producing areas of Texas. But he damaged his left eye in an accident. Doctors had to remove his eye. At first, Post thought his days as a pilot were ended. A pilot needs to be able to judge distance. Judging distance is difficult without two eyes. It seems impossible to tell how big objects are and how far away. Wiley Post began teaching himself to judge distance with only one eye. He worked hard at training his eye and brain to tell the correct distance. It took a long time, but he succeeded. He continued to fly and soon became a very good pilot.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen twenty-eight, he got a job flying the plane that belonged to a rich oil producer from Oklahoma. The man's name was F.C. Hall. He bought a new airplane for Post to fly. Mister Hall named the airplane the "Winnie Mae" after one of his daughters.F.C. Hall told Post he could use the plane to enter flight competitions. Post did. In nineteen thirty, he entered the National Air Races. The race called for flying without stopping from Los Angeles in the western state of California, to the city of Chicago, in the middle western state of Illinois. Post won the race. He defeated several well known pilots. It was the first time the public heard the name Wiley Post.DOUG JOHNSON: Post was not really interested in racing airplanes. He wanted to be the first person to fly around the world. Many pilots had talked about trying to make such a flight. But no one had done it.Post believed he would need someone to help him in the effort. He chose an Australian man, Harold Gatty, to do the mathematics that decided the plane's direction. Post would fly the plane. On June twenty-third, nineteen thirty-one, Post and Gatty took off from Roosevelt Field in New York. They returned to Roosevelt Field eight days, fifteen hours and fifty-one minutes later. They had flown around the world.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: At first everyone was very happy. Wiley Post and Harold Gatty were heroes. Then many people began to say that Post was nothing more than an airplane driver because he had no real education. They said Gatty was the real hero. He had guided the flight. Both men knew they had made the flight as a team. Others did not recognize this. This hurt Post. Wiley Post began to plan another flight around the world. This time he would go alone.(MUSIC)DOUG JOHNSON: Wiley Post knew that any effort has a good chance of success if the person planning the task is well prepared. So he worked hard to prepare well. He used the most modern equipment possible. He made sure the engine on the "Winnie Mae" was perfect. And to prepare himself, he went without sleep for long periods of time.On July fifteenth, nineteen thirty-three, Post took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York. His first stop would be Berlin, Germany. He landed in Berlin twenty-six hours later. He became the first person to fly from New York to Berlin without stopping.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: After a little food for himself and fuel for the "Winnie Mae," Post was once again in the air. This time he was headed for Russia. For long hours he flew, listening only to the sound of his engine. Often, the weather was so bad he could not see where he was. At one point he came so close to running out of gas he considered using his parachute. But at the last minute he found a place to land and get gas. The flight across the huge width of Russia was difficult. He made several stops for gas and a few hours rest before flying across the Bering Sea to Alaska.DOUG JOHNSON: By now, he was very tired. To keep himself awake as he flew east during the long night, Post tied a piece of string to one finger. The other end of the string was tied to a heavy aircraft tool. He held the tool in his hand. If he started to fall asleep, the tool would fall from his hand. The string would pull his finger and wake him.From Fairbanks, Alaska, he flew to Edmonton, Canada and then on toward New York. More than fifty thousand people waited at Floyd Bennett Field. Wiley Post gently landed the "Winnie Mae" long after dark. He had flown around the world in seven days, eighteen hours and forty-nine minutes.Thousands of excited people rushed toward the plane. Wiley Post was a hero. He had become the most famous pilot in America.(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen thirty-five, only two years after his around the world record flight, Wiley Post was killed in a flying accident in Alaska. Post and the famous American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's plane crashed on takeoff near Point Barrow.Before Post's death, the government of the United States had bought the "Winnie Mae." The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. owns the plane. You can see it at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.DOUG JOHNSON: Many pilots have flown around the world since Wiley Post made his famous flight. His record was first broken only a few years after his death. Since that time many records for the trip have been made and broken. Yet Wiley Post was the first to fly around the world ... alone.(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written by Paul Thompson and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Shirley Griffith. DOUG JOHNSON: And I'm Doug Johnson. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are all available -- free of charge -- at . Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.。
VOA(听力原文)
The world at 7 billion, and growingCensus Bureau人口普查局Shortage 短缺fertility: 生育力demographic人口统计学的dividend股息; 红利malnourished 营养失调的; 营养不良的听力原文The United Nations estimates that the world reached seven billion people on Monday. No one can be sure. The United States Census Bureau does not expect that to happen until March.Populations are growing faster than economies in many poor countries in Africa and some in Asia. At the same time, low fertility rates in Japan and many European nations have raised concerns about labor shortages.Population experts at the United Nations estimated that the world reached six billion in October 1999. They predict nine billion by 2050 and 10 billion by the end of the century.China's population of one and a third billion is currently the world's largest. India is second at 1.2 billion. But India is expected to pass China and reach one and a half billion people around 2025. India will also have one of the world's youngest populations.Economists say this is a chance for a so-called demographic dividend. India could gain from the skills of young people in a growing economy at a time when other countries have aging populations. But economists say current rates of growth, although high, may not create enough jobs.Also, the public education system is failing to meet demand and schooling is often of poor quality. Another concern is health care. Nearly half of India's children under the age of five are malnourished.听写原文The United Nations estimates that the world reached seven billion people on Monday.Populations are growing faster than economies in many poor countries in Africa and some in Asia.At the same time, low fertility rates in Japan and many European nations have raised concerns about labor shortages.Population experts at the United Nations estimated that the world reached six billion in October 1999. They predict nine billion by 2050 and 10 billion by the end of the century.China's population of one and a third billion is currently the world's largest. India is second at 1.2 billion. But India is expected to pass China and reach one and a half billion people around 2025.India will also have one of the world's youngest populations.Economists say this is a chance for a so-called demographic dividend.India could gain from the skills of young people in a growing economy at a time when other countries have aging populations.But economists say current rates of growth, although high, may not create enough jobs.Also, the public education system is failing to meet demand and schooling is often of poor quality. Another concern is health care. Nearly half of India's children under the age of five are malnourished.Tiger Mother虎妈战歌Comparing American and Chinese Parents 比较中美家长对孩子教育方式差异Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother 《虎妈战歌》Amy Chua蔡美儿Yale Law School耶鲁法学院New Haven纽黑文raise 养大immigrant移民represent代表stuffed animal毛绒玩具insult责骂sleepover外面过夜play date同学聚会school play课外活动makes fun of 嘲弄ease放松low expectation较低期望assume 采取，承担fragility脆弱stirring信号、焦点intense激烈retreat退让Some American parents might think their children need better educations to compete with China and other countries. But how much do the parents themselves need to change?一些美国家长可能认为他们的孩子需要接受更好的教育，来与中国以及其他国家的孩子竞争。
VOA英语听力文本
The United States is marking the 14th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. U.S. officials and many other Americans attended observances Friday to remember those killed and their loved ones.Nearly 3,000 people died on September 11, 2001 when hijackers used four passenger airplanes to carry out suicide attacks in the United States. In addition to the victims, the 19 hijackers also were killed. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his group claimed responsibility for the attacks. U.S. forces killed him in a surprise raid on his hiding place in Pakistan four years ago.Friday morning, President Barack Obama, his wife and White House workers observed a public moment of silence in Washington. They gathered on the White House grounds at 8:46. That was the exact time when a hijacked airplane struck the World Trade Center.US Marks 14th Anniversary of 9/11 AttacksIn New York, families of the victims gathered for a ringing of bells and reading of the names of those killed in the terrorist attacks. Moments of silence were held at 8:46 and 9:03 in the morning, when a second hijacked plane also hit the World Trade Center.Near Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and other officials attended an observance at the Pentagon, the home of the Defense Department. They joined in remembering those killed when a hijacked airplane hit the Pentagon, killing 184 people.Earlier Friday, a large American flag was hung down the side of the Pentagon, where the passenger jet hit.There also was a moment of silence at 10:03 a.m. That was the time when a fourth hijacked plane crashed in western Pennsylvania. All 44 people on the plane were killed. Many Americans believe the hijackers had planne d to attack a target in the nation’s capital.The fourth plane came down in a field in the rural community of Shanksville. Today, a new visitors center there tells the story of the 9/11 attacks. The Flight 93 National Memorial was set up to recognize the passengers and crewmembers who attacked the hijackers.Stephen Clark is with the U.S. National Park Service. It operates the visitors center and surrounding grounds.“It just amazes me that this aircraft was but 18 minutes away from hitting Washington, D.C.”The field was quiet on Friday, very different from the situation 14 years ago.Gordon Felt’s brother Edward was one of the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001.“It is surreal at times. Early on, it became very evident to us very quickly that our loved ones, the events surrounding their deaths, had historical significance to our country.”The last 35 minutes of Edward Felt’s life, and others on the plane, are explained at the new visitors center. Relatives hope visitors to the memorial will understand the full effect of the actions of their loved ones.“They’ll get a sense of who those 40 heroes were, as well as what their collective actions did to help save the Capitol building that morning.”I’m George Grow.This repor t was based on information from VOA’s News Division. George Grow adapted this story for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor.From:/englishlistening/voaenglish/voaspecialenglish/2015-09-12/401739.html surreal – adj. very strange or unusualsignificance – adj. importance; being worthy of attentioncollective – adj. shared or done by a group of people1. remember vt.记着; 纪念例句：For example, it can easily remember such things as:例如，它可以轻易地记住下面这些信息。
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Protests over the English language in Cameroon have grown violent.A strike, called to increase the use of English, has spread to schools and universities in English-speaking areas.Lawyers and teachers, supported by young people, refused to call off the strike as protesters clashed with members of the military.The governor of Cameroon’s No rth-West Region says at least one person has been killed in the clashes. “Investigations are ongoing to establish the responsibilities,” said governor Adolphe Lele L’Afrique Deben Tchoffo.But media reports suggest that as many as four people were killed.The protesters are demanding greater rights for English speakers in a country that has both English and French as official languages.The roots of the strikeThe current strike has created more debate –and caused more concern – among government officials and local rulers than any other issue in recent years.The roots of this strike go deep.English speakers make up about 20 percent of Cameroon's population. The constitution says that English and French –languages that come from the colonial period –should beequally important. However, many official documents are written only in French. Some government ministers give speeches in French, even in English-speaking areas.No English speaker has held an important position, such as minister of defense, finance, or territorial administration, in Cameroon's nearly 60-year history as an independent country.Lawyers and the GovernmentLawyers have been at the front of the strike. Harmony Bogda, spokesperson for the striking lawyers, says that after discussions lasting 72 hours, lawyers left with the idea that the government does not want to listen to them. As such, Bogda says, the strike will continue.Ben Muna is a lawyer and a member of the Cameroon Bar Council Association. He says his colleagues are angry because security forces increased tensions and beat them for demonstrating peacefully.Communication minister and government spokesperson Issa Tchiroma says the government is unable to approve some of the requests. He says the lawyers are responsible for the recent violence in English-speaking areas."Those who are responsible for such abuses must know that nowhere in the world, disorder has ever led to anything constructive. We therefore call on all our compatriots to show proof of reserve, self-control, high sense of responsibility and citizenship in a spirit of dialogue."Schools have remained closed since the clashes started last Monday.。
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Sometimes, the best way to deal with a bad situation is to laugh at it. That's the idea behind "The Adventures of Unemployed Man," a parody of classic superhero comics, written for America's current economic meltdown. In it, writers Erich Origen and Gan Golan send Unemployed Man on a heroic search for work. With the help of other down-on-their-luck superheroes, he wages an epic battle against economic super villains. Will Unemployed Man find a job? Will the villains prevail?Ultimatum is a man with a mission. He teaches the power of positive thinking. If you can believe it, you can achieve it!That's until he meets a woman foraging for food in a garbage dumpster. She explains she has a job and works hard, but is still paid too little and has to go dumpster-diving to survive. When Ultimatum tries to help her, he is fired, and becomes Unemployed Man. Despite his best efforts, he can't find a job.Unemployed Man secretly lives under his former mansion in a cave called Rock Bottom."Unemployed Man lost his house in a fantastic foreclosure," Origen says. "He's living in a cave, Rock Bottom, which is the cave underneath his former mansion," says co-author Origen.Co-author Origen explains that early on in "The Adventures of Unemployed Man," our hero meets his silver-haired sidekick, Plan B, who can't get hired because he's too old."They meet in a job line and of course Plan B has been in the business for decades and can'tafford to go into retirement because the broker made a joke with his 401K."Origen and Golan had fun with the names of their characters, making allusions to real superheroes and puns on terms from financial news headlines. Golan says Unemployed Man and Plan B meet others who also emerged from the economic crisis such as Wonder Mother, who built an invisible jet from pieces of the 'glass ceiling' that often keeps women from being promoted and shadow worker, Fantasma."Fantasma is perhaps one of the first undocumented immigrant superheroes ever in comics," Golan says. "She is from Oaxaca, Mexico. Her family loses their farm due to NAFTA and The Subsidizer is a villain flooding the market with cheap corn. So she comes to the United States to look for work and then finds out that she's starting to become invisible. So like a classic superhero her power is being invisible, only she realizes she can't be seen by the people who employ her and her humanity is not seen either."Our superheroes wrestle with the economic crisis and a group of evil doers who are profiting from it. The villains include Outsource - which is happening to many U.S. jobs - and Pink Slip, the notice that you've been fired.Unemployed Man's sidekick, Plan B, can't get a job because he's too old.Classic American superheroes, like Superman and Batman, appeared in the late 1930's, in the wake of the Great Depression, as symbols of hope and determination. Origen says their out-of-work superheroes were also inspired by the economy. But unlike Superman and Wonder Woman, he says, none of Unemployed Man's friends has any superpower other than the ability to face reality."We really want people to see how super they are in their own lives," Origen explains. "For instance, Wonder Mother is a working mother who is having to fight economic villains at the same time that she's breastfeeding her baby. That's heroic. Getting up and looking for work and have these astounding interviews with the human resource, that's heroic. We want people to see how heroic they are."Origen and Golan also co-authored a political parody of the children's classic, "Goodnight Moon." Their version features the former president and is called, "Goodnight Bush." Golan says this was their first experience with a comic book."Comic books are incredibly complicated medium," he says. "It's almost like making a small film and we had so many amazing artists working with us. Really the most rewarding part was to work with artists who began making comics on the 1950s and 1960s, legendary artists like Ramona Fradon, Rick Vietch, Mike Netzer and the whole group of artists."As "The Adventures of Unemployed Man" ends, our hero is still looking for a job. The authors say they chose this ambiguous ending because they did not want to give readers false hope."A depression is not just an economic term, it's an emotional term," Golan says. "And I think we're providing a kind of comedic stimulus package for the country and for other people who are struggling right now.Golan and Origen hope to provide relief in uncertain times by making people laugh as they confront their troubles.。
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The study compared the mental health of college students to that of non-students the same age. About half of Americans age eighteen to twenty-four attend college.
The information used in the study came from five thousand college-age men and women. They were questioned for a national survey between two thousand one and two thousand two. About two thousand of them were college students.
The questioners were not doctors but trained interviewers. The questions were based on symptoms listed in a book widely used by doctors to identify mental disorders.
The researchers found that twenty percent of college students abused alcohol -- the most common disorder in that group. Personality disorders, like obsessive compulsive disorder, came next. The study says almost eighteen percent of college students appeared to have a personality disorder. That was true of about twenty-two percent of those not in college.
The college students were also less likely to have a drug-use disorder, nicotine dependence or bipolar disorder. And they were less likely to have used tobacco. But their risk of alcohol disorders was greater.
The National Institutes of Health and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention helped pay for the study.
Over all, the study found that almost half of all the college-age individuals showed signs of at least one psychiatric disorder. The researchers say this age group may be especially sensitive to disorders because of the great pressures of entering adulthood. Yet they say only one–fourth sought treatment.
Joseph Glenmullen is a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who believes that psychiatric medications are overused. He told the Bloomberg news agency that the finding of a psychiatric disorder in about half of those studied "seems extraordinarily high."
He says it may represent what he called "a watering down of the diagnostic criteria such that they capture more people with milder symptoms.'' What he is saying is that more people may be told they have a mental disorder because the definitions have been widened.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.。