VOA慢速英语20060721b

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Empowered Women International: An American Group Using Art and Business to Help Women Refugees By Shelley Gollust, Karen Leggett and Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Friday, July 21, 2006

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Barbara Klein. On our show this week...

We answer a question about Alaska...

Play some music from Smokey Robinson...

And report about a program to help refugee women in the United States.

Empowered Women International

HOST:

Two creative women work together in the Washington, D.C. area to help immigrant and refugee women in the United States. Faith Lapidus tells us about them and their organization.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Marga Fripp came to the United States four years ago from Romania because her young son needed emergency medical treatment. She stayed in the United States. She started an organization called Empowered Women International, or E.W.I., in Alexandria, Virginia.

Miz Fripp's organization helps immigrant and refugee women meet each other and start their own businesses. The group also holds classes to help these women understand how to start and run a successful business.


Regina Barker-Barzel's "Madonna of Tsunami²" was recently shown at an Empowered Women International event

Empowered Women International organizes events where women sell their own art. In two thousand four, one hundred women took business and personal classes from E.W.I. Thirty artists received business and personal advice.

Many Americans give money and time to help organizations like Empowered Women International. One of them is Kate Campbell Stevenson, an actress and singer. Her performances have provided money for E.W.I. Miz Stevenson's one-woman show is called Women: Back to the Future. She plays the parts of famous American women in history who have succeeded. She says in her opening song that their lives teach lessons to women of today:

(MUSIC)

Your life is a story, it's scripted by you.

By the new things you learn, by the things that you do.

You can reach for the stars. You can help others, too.

You can learn from the past so our futures³ come true.

Miz Stevenson performs stories about women who worked hard to realize their dreams. For example, she talks on stage while she changes the color of her face and puts on the kind of pilot's hat worn by Bessie Coleman. Miz Coleman was a poor, black woman from the southern United States during the nineteen twenties. She wanted to learn to fly an airplane. And she did.

Kate Campbell Stevenson also plays the parts of women like Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin Roosevelt. And Abigail Adams, the wife of President John Adams. Miz Stevenson says her show is a message of hope.

(MUSIC)

So reach for the stars. Let yourself shine.

I know you can do it one step at a time.

Dig deep down inside, polish the glow.

Your story's within you.

Now let it grow.

Alaska

HOST:

Our VOA question this week comes from two listeners. Munna from
Alaska's Mount McKinley

Bangladesh asks if Alaska is a state of the United States. The short answer to that question is yes. Prinya Plabodiwatt from Thailand asks why the United States bought the territory of Alaska from Russia.

The United States bought that land in eighteen sixty-seven, during the administration of President Andrew Johnson. When Russia offered it for sale, Secretary of State William Seward quickly prepared a treaty of purchase.

The United States paid about seven million dollars for the land. It was decided⁴ to call the area Alaska, after the Aleut Indian name for part of the area, Alakshak.

Many Americans at the time criticized the purchase. They said seven million dollars was too much to pay for what they thought was a worthless piece of frozen land. They said the deal was foolish. They called it Seward's Folly⁵.

Those critics were proved wrong. Americans found work in Alaska's salmon⁶ fishing industry and its gold and copper⁷ mines. In later years, Alaska's oil, natural gas, trees, fish and animal skins made the area extremely valuable. Today, history experts consider the sale to be one of the greatest deals any country ever made for territory.

Why did Secretary Seward buy Alaska? He had wanted to buy the area for a long time. American traders and business leaders knew that the area was rich with minerals and animals. They said owning Alaska would improve business in the Pacific coast states. Political leaders said the purchase would be good for the United States because it would end all Russian presence in North America. And they said it would help guarantee friendly relations with Russia.

The people of Alaska first asked to be part of the United States in nineteen sixteen. That request was rejected. They asked again in the nineteen fifties. In nineteen fifty-eight, Congress approved the Alaskan statehood act. Alaskans became American citizens after they voted to accept the measure. The date was January third, nineteen fifty-nine.

Alaska is the largest of all the states in territory. It is above northwest Canada. Alaska and Hawaii are the only states that do not share borders with any other states.

Smokey Robinson

HOST:

Many pop and soul singers have recorded albums of their versions of so-


called standards. These are love songs by great composers like Cole Porter and George Gershwin. These songs were popular more than fifty years ago. The latest to record such songs is Smokey Robinson. Mario Ritter tells us about his new album, Timeless Love.

MARIO RITTER:

Smokey Robinson is best known for the songs he recorded for the Motown record label during the nineteen sixties. At the age of twenty, Robinson started writing and recording⁸ songs as the leader of his group the Miracles, and later alone. He has had more than seventy top hits. And he has written hit songs for others.

Now, at the age of sixty-six, Smokey Robinson is honoring some of the great songwriters who came before him. Twelve of the thirteen songs on his new album, Timeless Love, are his versions of standards. Here is one of them, Night and Day.

(MUSIC)

Smokey Robinson writes about these songs in the notes to his album: This was a labor⁹ of love and joy. I love these songs. I grew up hearing them from as far back as I can remember. Here Robinson sings I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby.

(MUSIC)

We leave you now with another song from Timeless Love by Smokey Robinson: I've Got You Under My Skin.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Barbara Klein. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

Our show was written by Shelley Gollust, Karen Leggett and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver¹⁰ was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, www.unsv.com.

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 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

6 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

7 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。

8 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。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 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。