VOA慢速英语20060727a

EDUCATION REPORT - 'Iron Science Teacher' and More at the ExploratoriumBy Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Thursday, July 27, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.


The Exploratorium is housed in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts

The Exploratorium in San Francisco, California, calls itself the museum of science, art and human perception¹. The museum gets more than five hundred thousand visitors each year. Millions more visit online at exploratorium.edu.

Exploratorium officials say their Web site averages more than eighteen million visitors a year. That makes it one of the most visited museum Web sites in the world.

And millions of people see displays designed by the Exploratorium at science centers around the world.

The museum has a Teacher Institute and is working to help teachers improve science education at all grade levels. There are professional development materials that teachers can download from the Web site at no cost.

The Exploratorium also offers professional development programs for scientists. This is a joint² effort with the University of California, Santa Cruz, and King's College London.

Exploratorium.edu also includes experiments that people can do at home. And it offers many Webcasts -- including a show called Iron Science Teacher.

The idea came from the popular Iron Chef cooking competition on Japanese television. At the Exploratorium, people watch science teachers develop demonstrations³ around everyday objects. The teachers have ten minutes to put together an interesting classroom activity.

The teachers come to the competition already knowing what the object will be. Recently it was fruit. Winners are chosen by the reaction of the audience. The loudest applause⁴ went to a science teacher at Opportunity Charter⁵ School in Harlem, in New York City. Linda Paparella stuck pieces of zinc⁶ and copper⁷ into oranges cut in half.

The oranges acted as a fruit battery. Free electrons naturally stored in the fruit flowed through wires connected to the pieces of metal. There was enough electricity to power a calculator. The teacher also demonstrated with a stopwatch and a buzzer⁸.

Museum officials say the Iron Science Teacher competition started as a joke. It was meant to be just a one-time show, but it was so popular they continued it. The next live Webcast is set for nineteen hours Universal Time on August eleventh.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts⁹ and archives of our reports are at www.unsv.com. You can also find a link to archives of Iron Science Teacher Webcasts. I'm Steve Ember.

1 perception   

n.感知，感觉，觉察(力)；认识，观念，看法

参考例句：

• What's your perception of the matter?你对此事有什么看法？
• He was a man of keen perception.他是一个感觉敏锐的人。

2 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。

3 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

4 applause   

n.鼓掌，喝彩，赞许

参考例句：

• His appearance on the platform was greeted with a burst of applause.他一登上台就博得了一阵热烈的掌声。
• His speech won round after round of enthusiastic applause.他的演讲博得了一阵又一阵的热烈掌声。

5 charter   

n.特许状，执照，宪章；v.特许，发给特许执照

参考例句：

• This new law amounts to a tax evader's charter.这项新法律简直成了为逃税者开的许可证。
• We will charter a steamer to convey the goods.我们将租一艘船运送这批货物。

6 zinc   

n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌

参考例句：

• Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

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 buzzer   

n.蜂鸣器；汽笛

参考例句：

• The buzzer went off at eight o'clock.蜂鸣器在8点钟时响了。
• Press the buzzer when you want to talk.你想讲话的时候就按蜂鸣器。

9 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