VOA慢速英语20060512b

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - America Remembers Its Space Travelers at the Astronaut Hall of FameBy Lawan Davis and Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Friday, May 12, 2006

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

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I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We answer a question about Elvis Presley and play some of his music鈥?eport about an unusual American language鈥?nd tell about a Hall of Fame that honors American space heroes.

HOST:

Most people have heard of the Baseball and Football Halls of Fame. But they may not know about the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. It is at the Kennedy Space Center in the state of Florida. Last week, the Hall of Fame honored three more space heroes. Barbara Klein explains.


The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame

BARBARA KLEIN:

The idea for the Astronaut Hall of Fame began in nineteen eighty-four. The six surviving members of America's first group of astronauts and the widow of the seventh had the idea. They wanted to create a place where astronauts could be honored and remembered. The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame opened in nineteen ninety.

The former astronauts also wanted to help support America's leadership in science and technology. So the group began providing money to American students to help pay for their college educations.

In nineteen ninety-five, they established the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Each year, it provides almost two hundred thousand dollars to help American students attend college to study science. It also helps supervise the choice of the astronauts to be honored each year.

Members of the Astronaut Hall of Fame must have made his or her first flight at least twenty years before. They must be retired² at least five years. They must be United States citizens who have trained at the American space agency. And they must have orbited the Earth at least once.

On May sixth, three former space shuttle commanders became the newest members. Charles Bolden flew on four shuttle flights and was the pilot on the trip that deployed³ the Hubble Space Telescope. He also commanded the first joint⁴ American-Russian Space Shuttle flight.

Henry Hartsfield flew on three space shuttle trips and piloted the shuttle Columbia's final test flight. He also commanded the first space flight of the Shuttle Discovery.

Brewster Shaw flew on three space shuttle trips. His first space trip carried the European-built Spacelab and the first international shuttle crew. He also served on the committee that investigated the space shuttle Challenger explosion in nineteen eighty-six.

Sixty-three space explorers are honored at the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame. They include Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Sally Ride.

HOST:

The Gullah people of the southern United States have honored their language and culture for more than one hundred years. Many people are making efforts to keep the Gullah traditions alive. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

The Gullah people are an African-American population. They live mainly in the Sea Islands and coastal⁵ areas of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.


A fisherman repairs his net

The Gullah people have a rich culture including their own language. It is a Creole language created by slaves who came to the United States from West Africa in the eighteen hundreds. It combines West African languages with English.

For many years efforts have been made to save the Gullah language and culture. One project began in nineteen seventy-nine. The goal was to translate the New Testament⁶ part of the Christian⁷ holy book, The Bible, into Gullah. Experts say it was a difficult process. Gullah is not a written language. It is a spoken language only.

A team of Gullah speakers began working on the translation to make The Bible easier to understand for those who spoke⁸ Gullah as their main language. The Gullah version is called De Nyew Testament. It is written in English on one side of the page. Next to it is the Gullah translation.

De Nyew Testament was published by the American Bible Society. The project also received help from the Summer Institute of Linguistics⁹, Wycliffe Bible Translators, the United Bible Societies and the Penn Center.

Experts believe the translated Bible is a major step in saving the Gullah language and traditions. Robert Hodgson of the American Bible Society worked on the project. He says this is more than a Bible translation. He says De Nyew Testament raises the Gullah language and culture to a new level. The language had been dishonored as a lesser¹⁰ form of English.

Ardell Greene is a member of the translation team. She calls the book a treasure. She says the Gullah version of the Bible will be read in churches and will help young people keep the Gullah language alive.

You can learn more about the Gullah traditions and language at this Web site: www.knowitall.org. That is spelled k-n-o-w-i-t-a-l-l. Click on Gullah Net.

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Burma. Ko Maw gyi asks about popular singer Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley may be the most popular recording¹¹ artist in history. More than one thousand million of his recordings¹² have sold throughout the world. He was a success in many different kinds of music鈥攑opular, country, religious and rhythm and blues¹³. People everywhere still enjoy his recordings and films.


Elvis Presley

One of Elvis Presley's most popular records was this one, Hound Dog. It sold five million copies when it was released in nineteen fifty-six.

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Elvis Presley was born in the southern town of Tupelo, Mississippi in nineteen thirty-five. His family was extremely poor. He was working as a truck driver when he recorded his first record in nineteen fifty-three. It led to a series of local shows, new recordings and television appearances. One of these new recordings was Heartbreak Hotel.

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Elvis Presley became a movie actor in the nineteen fifties. He acted in thirty-one movies. He served in the United States Army, then returned home to perform in shows and on television. In the nineteen seventies, he began taking drugs to help him sleep and to control his weight. He also suffered from the emotional sickness, depression. He died in nineteen seventy-seven. Medical tests showed many drugs in his body. Experts say they probably caused his death.

Hundreds of thousands of people still visit Graceland, Elvis Presley's home in Memphis, Tennessee every year. And fans continue to buy his music. We leave you now with another of Elvis' huge hit records, Love Me Tender.

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HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

Our show was written by Lawan Davis and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver¹⁴ was our producer.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

7 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

10 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

13 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

14 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。