One
DEVELOPMENT REPORT
- UN Study Says Gains Would Outweigh Cost to End Child Labor
By Jill Moss
This is Robert Cohen with the VOA Special English Development Report.
The International Labor Organization says child labor limits economic development. It says educating children instead of forcing them to work would create huge gains for developing countries. The International Labor Organization is part of the United Nations. The agency proposes that child labor be substituted with education by two-thousand-twenty.
A three-year study by the agency compared the costs against the gains from ending child labor. Researchers found that paying for education in developing nations could bring seven times the return on investment.
The researchers also note the other gains that would come from removing the worst forms of child labor. Ending slavery and the sale of children for sex would reduce injuries and sickness.
The International Labor Organization estimates that about two-hundred-fifty-million children are involved in child labor. Of these, it says one out of every eight may be working with dangerous chemicals, breathing poisons or selling sex.
The cost to replace child labor with education is estimated at seven-hundred-sixty-thousand-million dollars. But the U-N agency says the project should be seen as a long-term investment. It says the costs would be higher than returns mostly during the first fifteen years. For example, poor families would have to live at first without the wages earned by their children.
To help balance this problem, the labor agency proposes that governments provide financial help to poor families with school-age children. Several nations including Brazil and Mexico already have support programs in place. The study says governments would also need to invest in new schools, books, equipment, and teacher training.
Juan Somavia is the director general of the International Labor Organization. He says the proposal is not only a good social policy, but also a wise economic plan. He says each additional year of education for an older child adds eleven percent per year to future earnings.
The labor agency says all parts of the world would gain by ending child labor. The study estimates that countries in North Africa and the Middle East would gain more than eight dollars for every one dollar invested. Asian countries would gain more than seven dollars for every dollar invested. And Latin American countries would gain over five dollars.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Robert Cohen.
Two
DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Poor Nutrition in the Developing World
By Jill Moss
I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Development Report.
A new World Bank report warns that children who do not get enough good food in the first two years of life suffer lasting damage. They may be underdeveloped or under weight. They may suffer from poor health or limited intelligence. In addition, poorly nourished children are more likely to drop out of school and earn less money as adultsThe report is called "Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development." It notes that too little food is not the only cause of poor nutrition. Many children who live in homes with plenty of food suffer for other reasons. For example, the study says that mothers often fail to give their newly born babies their first breast milk. This milk-like substance is called colostrum. It is full of nutrients that improve a baby's ability to fight infections and disease.
Severely malnourished children in Niger (WFP photo) The study also links malnutrition to economic growth in poor countries. A lack of nutrition in early childhood can cost developing nations up to three percent of their yearly earnings. Many of these same countries have economies that are growing at a rate of two to three percent yearly. The study suggests that poor countries could possibly double their economic growth if they improved nutrition.
Africa and South Asia are affected the most by poor nutrition. The study says about half of all children in India do not get enough good food. The World Bank study also notes that rates of malnutrition in South Asia are almost double those in central and southern Africa. Other parts of the world are also severely affected, including Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guatemala and Peru.
The study recommends that developing countries change their policies to deal with malnutrition. Instead of directly providing food, the study suggests educational programs in health and nutrition for mothers with young babies. It also recommends cleaner living conditions and improvements in health care.
World Bank nutrition specialist Meera Shekar was the lead writer for the report. She said the
period of life between pregnancy and two years is extremely important. Governments with limited resources should take direct action to improve nutrition for children during this period.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Our reports are online at https://www.doczj.com/doc/744344064.html, I'm Steve Ember.
Three
AGRICULTURE REPORT- Raising Chickens
——By Gary Garriott
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Raising chickens or other birds for their eggs and meat is a popular family and business activity almost everywhere in the world. The birds eat grain, seeds and grasses. They also eat small pieces of food that people throw away. Many of these materials would be wasted if the birds did not eat them. Chicken eggs and meat contain high quality protein and other substances important in the human diet.
For many centuries, chickens were allowed to run free to find food for themselves. Then people used fences to keep small groups of birds from running away. After the chickens were kept inside a fence, people had to provide food for them.
Early in the last century, raising flocks of thousands of birds became a successful business for many people. But the size of these flocks caused some serious problems, including pollution caused by chicken waste.
Disease is one of the biggest problems in large flocks. The birds are kept close together all the time. So if one bird becomes sick, the sickness spreads. All the chickens in a flock can die from a serious disease. Avian flu, for example, can in some cases also spread to humans.
Diseases that affect chickens are different in different areas of the world. One current example in Asia is an outbreak of avian flu in South Korea. Troops have been helping to kill and bury chickens and ducks that became infected at farms in North Chungcheong Province.
To help prevent disease, experts advise these steps: Feed the birds a balanced diet. This will help them resist infections. Do not add adult birds to your flocks. If you must add adult birds, keep them separate from the flock for five to fifteen days to make sure they are healthy.
Cover the floor of the buildings where the chickens are kept with material like straw, rice husks or sawdust. Change this material often.
After you sell the chickens, completely empty the building where they were kept. Clean and wash the building. Then leave it empty for four weeks before putting in new chickens.
Diseases affecting birds are not simple to understand and treat, so expert medical advice is important. You can get more information about caring for chickens and other birds from
V olunteers in Technical Assistance. VITA is on the Internet at v-i-t-a dot o-r-g.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Gary Garriott. This is Steve Ember
Four
ECONOMICS REPORT - Holiday Shopping
This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics Report.
About two-thirds of the economic activity in the United States is created by people who spend money -- consumers. And much of that activity is created this time of year, as consumers buy gifts for Christmas and other holidays. Government economists say big department stores make about fourteen percent of their sales in the month of December. That may not seem like a lot. But December sales are almost twice the monthly average for the rest of the year.
The holiday shopping season traditionally starts the day after Thanksgiving. It is called Black Friday. Storekeepers used to record profits in black ink and losses in red ink. So being "in the black" on the Friday after Thanksgiving means a good thing, a return to profit.
But it also means that people face crowded stores, which is the other idea of a "Black Friday,"
a day they do not like. It used to be the busiest shopping day of the year. In recent years the busiest day has been the Saturday before Christmas.
People who do not like crowded stores have another choice. Americans are buying more on the Internet. The Census Bureau says they bought almost fourteen-thousand-million dollars in goods online in the last three months of last year. Still, that was less than two percent of total retail sales.
The National Retail Federation said it expected holiday sales in the United States to increase by five-point-seven percent over last year. The trade group said it expected sales of about
two-hundred-seventeen-thousand-million dollars.
Another group, the Conference Board, measures how consumers feel about the economy. In November it said its Consumer Confidence Index increased by ten points, to eighty. That was good news for sellers. But it is still below the starting level of one-hundred set in
nineteen-eighty-five.
Holiday shopping is also important to the stock market. Last week, the Commerce Department said retail sales were higher than expected in November. That report helped the Dow Jones Industrial Average to close above ten-thousand for the first time in eighteen months. Last Friday, though, the University of Michigan released its consumer confidence report. The first report for December showed an unexpected decrease in current conditions.
This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.
Five
ECONOMICS REPORT-The Dow Jones Industrial Average
——By Mario Ritter
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
Doctors always measure the heartbeat of a patient when examining the patient's health. The heartbeat of America's stock markets is the Dow Jones Industrial Average（道琼斯工业平均指数）.
No other measure of stock value is as widely known. Sometimes it is simply called the Dow. It is published by the Dow Jones Company, an influential publisher of international financial news.
The Dow Jones Company is a product of Wall Street, the area in New York City that is the financial center of the United States. Three reporters, Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser, started the company in eighteen-eighty-two. At first, they published a handwritten newsletter for financial workers. It was very successful. By eighteen-eighty-nine, the newsletter became the Wall Street Journal newspaper.
The Dow Jones Company began publishing the Dow Jones Industrial Average in
eighteen-ninety-six. The list had twelve stocks. It represented the biggest industries in the American economy at the time. Today, the Dow lists thirty stocks. They are often called
"blue-chip" stocks（蓝筹股）. These stocks represent an ownership share in companies that are considered strong. These well known companies include Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, McDonald's and General Electric.
When you read the Dow Jones Industrial Average, you quickly see that it is not the average price of thirty stocks. For example, the Dow recently increased to more than ten-thousand for the first time in more than eighteen months. Ten-thousand does not seem like the average price of thirty stocks.
In fact, the Dow Jones Industrial Average does not represent a price but a mathematical average. When the Dow goes up, it gains points, not dollars.
The Dow Jones uses what is called a flexible divisor to keep changes in individual stock prices from affecting the whole average too much. The Dow system generally divides stock prices by the flexible divisor. The result is the number we see in newspapers and on television news reports.
Today, the Dow is just one of many stock averages. The Standard and Poor's Five-Hundred Index averages five-hundred stocks. Still others measure foreign stock exchanges.
While stock averages are good research tools, many people consider them the heartbeat of finance. This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter.
Six
Teen Taught by Mom Wins Top Science Competition
Written by Nancy Steinbach I'm Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Education Report.
A sixteen-year-old boy from California (加利福尼亚, 加州) has won first prize in the Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Michael Vis cardi of San Diego does not go to high school. His mother teaches him at home.
His mother has a doctorate in neuroscience (神经系统科学( 指神经病学、神经化学等)); his
father is a software engineer.
Michael does, however, attend advanced math classes at the University of Californ ia, San Diego. He worked on his project with his professor.
The project involved a mathematical problem first developed in the nineteenth cen tury by the French mathematician Lejeune Dirichlet. The winning research shows soluti ons to the problem. One of the judges said the young man’s work could lead to new developments in heat flow and other areas of physics. One possible use is in designing the shape of airplane wings (飞翼).
The Siemens Westinghouse competition awards a top prize of one hundred thousa nd dollars for college to one individual and one team. The team prize this year went t o two students from Arizona (亚利桑那州), Anne Lee and Albert Shieh. They will sha re one hundred thousand dollars in college money.
They improved computer programs used to study large amounts of genetic inform ation. The two did their work at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoe nix (菲尼克斯), Arizona Their research could lead to finding genetic changes that caus e some disorders.
The Siemens Foundation joined with the College Board and six universities to sta rt the competition in nineteen ninety-eight. This year, more than one thousand six hund red students took part.
Experts from the universities judge competitions in six areas of the country. The i ndividual and team winners from those areas then compete nationally. They demonstrate
(示范) their research projects to a group of university professors and scientists. The to p winners were chosen last week.
The Siemens Foundation created the competition to improve student performance i n math and science in the United States. It is open to American high school students who develop independent research projects in the physical or biological (生物学) scienc es or mathematics.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Inte rnet users can read and listen to our reports at https://www.doczj.com/doc/744344064.html, . I’m Faith Lapidu
s.
Seven
Development Report – Young
People Are Subject of World Population Day
Written by Jill Moss
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
The world has more than six thousand million people. Almost half are under the age of
twenty-five. This year's World Population Day on July eleventh dealt with the subject of young people and the problems many face. Poverty, crime, barriers to education and jobs, AIDS -- the list goes on.
A message from the United Nations secretary-general said the lives of
young people are shaped by forces beyond their control. Yet today's
young people also know more about the lives led by others their age
around the world. Kofi Annan says as a result many are demanding
action to narrow the divide between rich and poor.
He says there is a clear need to answer the calls for measures to improve the lives of all. He says information and services related to
sexual and reproductive health are especially important for youth empowerment. He noted that these are often overlooked.
Kofi Annan says providing for young people is not just a moral duty, but an economic necessity.
The United Nations Population Fund has estimated that about half of all unemployed people are between fifteen and twenty-four years old. And it says many young people who do find work are World population is expected to grow by more than 40 percent by 2050
trapped in low-wage jobs with few chances to learn skills.
The Youth Employment Summit Campaign was launched in two thousand two. This ten-year campaign known as YES aims to create programs and polices that lead to more jobs. Young activists lead the campaign with support from the U.N. Population Fund and other organizations.
The next world meeting of the YES Campaign will be held in September in Kenya. About two thousand representatives, from more than one hundred twenty countries, are expected to attend. Half will be young people.
The International Labor Organization says people younger than sixteen should not work. But the I.L.O. also says it recognizes this is not a lways possible. A family’s economic survival may depend on the labor of its younger members.
Still, the U.N. agency reported in May that child labor has decreased worldwide for the first time. The levels fell by an estimated eleven percent between two thousand and two thousand four. The report said the end of child labor is within reach. And it called on countries to work to end the worst forms of child labor within ten years.
With the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss, this is Shep O'Neal.
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture(农业的）Report. Climate change has caused a rise in sea levels. This has increased the amount of salt in fresh water used on coastal farms. As a result farmers are increasingly unable to use fields close to the sea. Scientists call this process "salinization（盐渍化）." The term（术语）comes from the word "saline" （生理盐水）-- which means a mixture of salt and water. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says salinization is reducing the world's irrigated lands by 1 to 2 percent every year. Irrigation is the process of supplying land with fresh water from other areas. As saline water cannot be used for irrigation, a farm in Netherlands has managed to grow healthy and tasty vegetables in soil irrigated with salt water. But a farmer in the Netherlands is now using a mixture of sea and fresh water to grow healthy and tasty vegetables.
1．Three university students in Santiago,Chile have developed a phant-powerd device to charge their mobile phones.The three engineering students got the idea for the device while sitting in their school’s courtyard.Their invention is a small biological circuit they call E-Kaia.It captures the energy plants produce during photosynthesis.Aphant uses only a small part of the energy produced by that process,The rest goes into the soil.E-Kaia collects that energy.The device plugs into the ground and then into a mobile phone.The E-Kaia solved two problems for the engineering studnts,They needed an idea for a class project.They also needed an outlet to plug in their phones.One of the student inventors,CamilaRupcich,says the device charges the energy released from the plant into low-level power to charge phones.The E-Kaia is able to fully recharge a mobile phone in less than two hours.I’m Jonathan Evans. 2．University of Washington researchers say they used a laser to turn hot water into cool water. Five engineers from the university are the first in the 50-year history of the laser to refrigerate liquids under normal conditions with light beams. The group used a simple approach to the experiment. Lasers are known for producing hot temperatures. The University of Washington says they “essentially ran the laser phenomenon in reverse.” The discovery has a future in the computer and medical fields. Computer interiors could be cooled by lasers. In a medical laboratory, individual cells could be cooled to see how they react. “Few people have thought about how they could use this technology to solve problems because using lasers to refrigerate liquids hasn’t been possible before,” said researcher Peter Pauzauskie.The cool laser concept can also be used in manufacturing, telecommunications or national defense.The group has an interest in hearing from businesses or scientists who may have every day applications for the cool laser. The findings were published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. I’m Marsha James. 3．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. In 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 planned to attack a target in the nation’s
2016年6月大学英语四级听力VOA慢速英语练习题（第二十二套） 2016年6月大学英语四级听力VOA慢速英语练习题（第二十二套） Apps to Help Students Do Their Best Work Evernote Application software for computers or mobile devices can do a lot of things for students of all ages. Apps?can help students get better organized, study for tests and prepare research papers. In other words, they can help the user do his or her very best work. Apps can help any users, even those who are not students, get more organized and improve their work. Whether or not you are a student, here are some apps worth considering. Quizlet Quizlet is a study aid app. It is filled with?flash cards?on many subjects to study. Use the cards that come with the app or create your own. Quizlet has links to subjects like: Arts & Literature Languages & Vocabulary Math & Science History & Geography Standardized Tests Professional & Careers The app has a mix of text, images and audio recordings, includingpronunciation?of words in different languages. Quizlet has games to play and tests to take. Cards are available on the app even when you are not connected to the Internet. Quizlet is available as a free app from Apple’s iTunes store. Quizlet for iPhone and iPad Quizlet for Android devices You can learn more at the Quizlet website. EasyBib Sometimes the most difficult part of writing a research paper is creating thebibliography. A bibliography lists all of the publications and other sources used in your research. Getting just the right?citations?to appear in the correct?format?can be difficult and take a lot of time. The EasyBib app can make creating a bibliography easier. The app can help organize the information and find citations for books, websites and more. EasyBib users can simply?scan?the barcode on a book with a mobile phone camera to get the information they need. You can also search for documentation in the app if the book is unavailable at the time. The app offers over 7,000 different citation formats, including the commonly used Modern Language Association, or MLA, style. Users can change the way in which the information is organized and stored within the app. Users can email information from EasyBib to others or to send it to a home
No.1 This is the VOA Special English Education Report. A program in the eastern United States invites young people into a prison to try to scare them away from prison. The goal is to teach them to avoid bad choices and bad influences that could put them behind bars for life. Students can take a tour of the prison, in school groups or by themselves. At the end, the young people sit down for a discussion with some of the inmates. The program is called Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy, or PATT. It takes place at the Maryland Correctional Institution-Hagerstown, a medium-security prison for men. Sal Mauriello is a case specialist there. SAL MAURIELLO: "We have a group of eleven inmates who are in the PATT program. They tell the youth what they went through as a child, what their crimes consist of. They try to teach them about peer pressure. They try to teach them about bad choices." The Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy program also includes an essay-writing contest. Tomi Dare is a seventeen-year-old student at Hagerstown Community College. She saw an announcement for the contest on her college website. To enter, students had to write about peer pressure and why they do not do drugs. The prize: five hundred dollars for school. In her essay, Ms. Dare wrote about her own experience growing up as an African-American girl interested in sports. T OMI DARE: "Drugs and alcohol not only slow a person down, it doesn't make you feel like you are a winner. It doesn't make you feel like you are the best. As an athlete, I'm 6-2 [188 centimeters], so I feel that I should be above peer pressure because I'm bigger than everybody that I’m around. "So I was talking about that and I was talking about how I consider myself a queen. And if I’m royalty, I need to not put substances in my body. Drugs and alcohol are not what a queen should be taking." The scholarship is presented by the Prisoners Against Teen Tragedy program. Prison spokesman Mark Vernarelli says most teens who visit come to understand what even one bad decision can mean. MARK VERNARELLI: "A lot of men and women serving life in prison in the state of Maryland didn't pull a trigger or plunge a knife into anybody. They were accessories to a crime. They
VOA慢速英语听力练习（学案） Most US Front-Line Workers Are Women, Minorities Step 1 Words in This Story front line(s) –n.the most important and active position in a job or field of activity essential–adj.extremely important and necessary pandemic–n.an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people over a wide area or throughout the world invisible–adj.impossible to see delivery–n.the act of taking something to a person or place tendon–n.a tough piece of tissue in your body that connects a muscle to a bone customer(s) –n.someone who buys goods or services from a business insurance–n.an agreement in which a person makes regular payments to a company and the company promises to pay money if the person is injured or dies, or to pay money equal to the value of something (such as a house or car) if it is damaged, lost, or stolen quarantine(d) –v.to keep (a person or animal) away from others to prevent a disease from spreading anxiety–n.fear or nervousness about what might happen pistol(s) –n.a small gun made to be aimed and fired with one hand Step 2 Listen and fill in the missing words. It is becoming clear that the coronavirus crisis has had a major effect on the people working on the front
By VOA 22 July, 2015 From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report. International students and workers must take a standardized test of English to move into higher levels of education and employment. There are three popular tests that universities or employers can use. They are the Test of English as a Foreign Language, TOEFL, the Test of English for International Communication, TOEIC, and the International English Language Testing System, IELTS. In most cases, the choice is clear. A student applying to a school learns which test the program requires. However, some programs or universities will accept scores from any of the international tests of English. Then, a student may choose which test to take. The TOEIC tests workplace communication The Educational Testing Service, ETS, in Princeton, New Jersey, develops and administers both the TOEFL and the TOEIC. It says the TOEIC measures the everyday English skills of people working in an international environment. A TOEFL preparation class The TOEIC test started in the 1970s. The Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry asked ETS to develop a test for corporations to use. They wanted to know if non-native English speakers could carry out business in English. The TOEIC is based on English used in the workplace. But the test does not require knowledge of special business words. The questions come from real situations like attending a company meeting. Organizations sometimes use the TOEIC to measure progress in English training programs. They also use it to consider people for placement at the right level in language programs. ETS says that 14,000 organizations in 150 countries use the TOEIC. The TOEFL tests English used in the classroom There are several versions of the TOEFL. Students take the Internet-based TOEFL, or TOEFL IBT, on a computer. Many U.S. universities require the TOEFL IBT for international student admissions. Another TOEFL is the paper-based TOEFL, or TOEFL ITP. It is part of ETS's institutional testing program. TOEFL ITP is used within institutions for the purpose of placement or to evaluate progress of students. It is not accepted for entrance to universities.
By Dana Demange 2011-10-4 STEVE EMBER: I'm Steve Ember. BARBARA KLEIN: And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. At the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. you might see two cowboy boots. They are painted with a design of clouds and stars. They look like boots that you could wear on your feet. But they are really made out of carefully formed clay material. The artist William Wilhelmi made these ceramic pieces. How did he make these colorful boots? Today, we answer that question as we explore the world of clay art. (MUSIC) Smithsonian American Art Museum William Wilhelmi made "Cowboy Boots" in 1980. STEVE EMBER: Clay is one of the most universal materials known to humans. Throughout history and around the world, people have developed the art of forming clay to make ceramic objects, or pottery. Clay is m ade of water and earth. It is formed into different shapes. The n high levels of heat harden it to produce many kinds of ceramics. Different kinds of clay contain different minerals such as silicon or iron dioxide. The kinds of minerals in clay affect how soft or hard it is to work with. The mineral content of clay also affects the temperature level at which it hardens.
VOA《走遍美国》慢速英语2011-2-10 American History: Hoover Wins in 1928 The presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight gave American voters a clear political choice. The Democratic Party nominated Al Smith. He was the popular governor of the state of New York. The Republican Party chose Herbert Hoover. He was an engineer and businessman who served as secretary of commerce for presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. This week in our series, Rich Kleinfeldt and Harry Monroe tell us about the presidential election of nineteen twenty-eight. RICH KLEINFELDT: Governor Alfred Smith of New York had campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in nineteen twenty-four. But he was defeated at the party convention by a compromise candidate, John Davis. Four years later, however, Smith could not be stopped. He had a strong record as governor of the nation's most heavily-populated state. He campaigned for the presidency on a policy of building new electric power stations under public control. Smith knew that many conservative Americans might be worried by his new ideas and his belief in strong government. So he chose as his campaign manager a Republican industrial leader who had worked with General Motors, DuPont and other major companies. Smith hoped this would prove his faith in the American private business system. HARRY MONROE: Al Smith was a strong political leader and an effective governor. But he frightened many Americans, especially conservative citizens living in rural areas. They lived on farms or in small towns. Al Smith was from the city. And not just from any city, but New York City, a place that seemed big and dirty and filled with foreign people and strange traditions. Al Smith's parents came from Ireland. He grew up in New York and worked as a salesman at the Fulton Fish Market. Smith was an honest man. But many rural Americans simply did not trust people from big cities. Al Smith seemed to them to represent everything that was new, different, and dangerous about American life. But being from New York City was not Al Smith's only problem. He also opposed the new national laws that made it illegal to buy or produce alcoholic drinks. And he had political ties to the New York political machine. But worst of all, in the eyes of many Americans, Al Smith was a Roman Catholic. RICH KLEINFELDT: From George Washington through Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and up to Calvin Coolidge, every American president had been male, white, and a Protestant Christian. Of
VOA慢速英语练听力需坚持 扫除词汇障碍 领会文章大意 这里需要提醒的是，在听的过程中，我们切忌将注意力全部集中在单词上，一个一个单词地去听，这样听的结果很可能是你把每个单词都听明白了，但是整篇文章到底讲了什么却是一头雾水。所以，在听的时候，我们应该以句子为单位，在大脑中将每个句子的关键信息迅速整合，这样才能了解每一句讲了什么、每一段又讲了什么，从而准确领会文章的大意。 反复精听训练 在进行系统的听力训练时，学习者仅仅理解了听力内容的大概是远远不够的，对于文章的诸多细节，比如一些重要的数据、年代和各种史实等，也要尽量准确无误地听出，这就需要通过反复精听来实现。所以科学系统的精听训练对学习者来说非常重要，通过精听训练，对于文章中的每一个语言点，甚至一些语音、语调、语汇的细微差别，学习者都可以努力捕捉和分辨。 因此，反复聆听，掌握每一个句子，是提升英语听力水平的必由之路！2遍、4遍、6遍……要有不听明白誓不罢休的精神。当然学习过程中还会出现这样的问题：单句可以听懂，但是段落、文章又听不懂了！怎么回事？原来反应太慢！这要求学习者根据自己的反应敏锐度来确定句子与句子的间距。 精听学习中需要提醒的是：在听的过程中，我们切忌对照英文原文来听或者是随意地翻看听力书的英文原文。很多同学都有这样的体会，在看英文原文之前，自己无论如何也听不懂，可是一看原文就什么都明白了，其实这样下来不是你“听”懂了，而是“看”懂了。 记住：阅读永远不可能代替听力，我们练习听力的目的就是要锻炼你对声音的瞬间反应、记忆、理解和思维的能力，而不是锻炼阅读能力。所
以这种取巧的方法万万要不得，你要想真正提高自己的听力水平，就一定要克制住自己翻看原文的欲望。 那么什么时候才是我们翻看听力原文的最佳时机呢？一般来说，我们只有在反复听了五遍、十遍还是听不出来的地方，才是英文原文发挥作用的良机。而这些你始终听不明白的地方，多数可能是因为音的连读、爆破、变音、弱读，或者是你反应不出来的词汇等等。在屡听而不懂的情况下翻看，你会在恍然大悟中将他们牢牢记住。并将他们仔细的琢磨，这样下次再遇上，你就会顺利过关。反之，这些难点将会成为你听力中永远的痛，在某个不经意的时刻将你重重阻碍。 VOA英语学习方法三步走 这次讨论的目的在于发现常见的错误的学习方法，总结出一套行之有效的最佳 VOA Special English 学习方法，欢迎大家积极参与讨论！ 最佳实践一：用 VOA Special English 练听力 网站上提供的 VOA Special English 节目文本是配有MP3声音的，声音文件由美国本土资深专业播音员录制，如果想有效提高自己的英语听力，VOA Special English 节目资料将是非常好的听力练习素材。而最快最有效的提高英语听力的方法就是做听写，怎么听呢？下面分几个层次介绍听写的方法。 （一）初级英语水平学生（相当于高中英语水平）做听写的方法 1、下载一个 5 分钟的 report 到电脑里（包括下载report的MP3录音和文本），准备好一本英汉词典或电子词典 2、认真阅读report文本一至两遍，遇到不懂的单词请立即查词典。 3、将文本放在一边，开始听report的MP3录音，并将听到的写下来，就是做听写练习。一直循环播放，尽可能的将自己能听写出来的，全部写出来。 4、将自己的听写稿和原稿对照，找出没有听写出来的词句，并标上记号，这些没有听出来的词句可能很简单，但事实是你没有听写出来，这些就是你听力的盲点，所以要特别留意。 5、再反复地听report的MP3录音，这次不用纸笔听写，而是在脑袋里做听写，就是指当你听到一句的时候，脑袋里把这一句给拼出来，确保听清每一个词句，并留意你在听写时没有写出来的词句的发音。 6、第二天再听上面的report的MP3录音，并采用上面第5点所用的听法。第四天再听上面的report的MP3录音，等到第七天再听几篇，仍采用上面第 5点所用的听法。为什么要反复地听？因为我们之所以听不懂，是因为听的太少了。反复听的目的在于强化，让你形成一种听力条件反射，就是让你拥有一听到某些词句就能立即条件反射式地在脑袋里写出来你所听到的词句。 练习听力有点像练习电脑打字里的盲打，花时间多做练习自然就会盲
V O A慢速英语阅读 Prepared on 24 November 2020
From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture(农业的） Report. Climate change has caused a rise in sea levels. This has increased the amount of salt in fresh water used on coastal farms. As a result farmers are increasingly unable to use fields close to the sea. Scientists call this process "salinization（盐渍化）." The term（术语）comes from the word "saline" （生理盐水）-- which means a mixture of salt and water. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says salinization is reducing the world's irrigated lands by 1 to 2 percent every year. Irrigation is the process of supplying land with fresh water from other areas. As saline water cannot be used for irrigation, a farm in Netherlands has managed to grow healthy and tasty vegetables in soil irrigated with salt water. But a farmer in the Netherlands is now using a mixture of sea and fresh water to grow healthy and tasty vegetables.