VOA慢速英语20061106a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Inside the Clinton FoundationBy Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Monday, November 06, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

President Bill Clinton left office in January of two thousand one. Since then, he has been leading a private foundation active on a number of world issues. These include H.I.V/AIDS, health security and climate change. Other projects involve poverty reduction, leadership development and working toward racial, ethnic² and religious understanding.

The Clinton Foundation forms partnerships³ with individuals, organizations and governments. For the past two years, in New York, the former president has held a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Each invited guest must make a promise to work toward one of the foundation's goals. The idea is that the foundation will then observe the progress made toward the commitment over the next year.


Richard Branson (l) with Bill Clinton

The second Clinton Global Initiative meeting took place for three days in September. At the end, the foundation announced commitments worth more than seven thousand million dollars. These included a three thousand million dollar commitment by Richard Branson to fight global warming. Mister Branson is chief executive officer of Britain's Virgin⁴ Group.

The Clinton Foundation says more than one thousand leaders of business, government and nongovernmental organizations attended this year. They were joined by almost fifty current and former heads of state. Last year, more than two thousand million dollars worth of commitments were made.

One of the major programs that Mister Clinton has launched is an H.I.V./AIDS campaign. For example, he has negotiated lower prices for H.I.V. tests and AIDS drugs in developing countries.

On the issue of climate change, the Clinton Foundation has a program for large cities to work together to buy energy-saving products. The goal is to reduce the amount of pollution released into the atmosphere. The cities also receive technical assistance from experts.

Bill Clinton and his foundation are also active on other issues. There is even a campaign to work with schools and food companies to reduce the problem of overweight children in America.

The Clinton Foundation has offices in New York City and Little Rock, Arkansas. Mister Clinton was the governor of Arkansas. His wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is now one of the two United States senators who represent the state of New York.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. Internet users can download transcripts⁵ and MP3 files of our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

4 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

5 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句