VOA慢速英语20060904a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Together, Sister Cities Build Friendships and MoreBy Jill Moss¹

Broadcast: Monday, September 04, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.


Atlanta is a sister city to Brussels, Belgium, and Lagos, Nigeria.

Sister Cities International is an organization that brings together communities from different areas and different cultures. Sister-city relationships can help communities learn from each other and solve problems together.

Often these partnerships² are based on special projects or exchanges. People share their knowledge in areas like education, government, business or technology.

Building sister-city relationships was one of the ideas for the People-to-People program created by President Dwight Eisenhower. He established the program at a White House conference held on September eleventh and twelfth, nineteen fifty-six.

President Eisenhower wanted to connect citizens who shared an interest in other cultures. He wanted to increase international understanding and friendship through educational, cultural and humanitarian³ activities. He believed that citizen diplomats⁴ could help build peace.

Sister Cities International is a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. The group is involved with programs in one hundred thirty-four countries.

Today, seven hundred American communities have partnerships with almost one thousand eight hundred communities in other countries.

Atlanta, Georgia, for example, has eighteen sister-city partnerships. One is with Brussels, Belgium. Another is with Lagos, Nigeria. These two relationships have existed for more than thirty years. The areas they involve include economic development and trade.

Matthew Corso works⁵ for Sister Cities International. He says that within the past fifteen years, more American cities have created partnerships in developing countries. Projects have involved water quality, health care and good government, for example. In Africa, projects might also deal with AIDS and HIV.

Mister⁶ Corso says that sister-city partnerships usually result from local connections. Local governments also become involved and may provide some leadership. But, generally, citizen groups are responsible for organizing and supporting partnerships.

Some sister-city relationships are fifty years old. And now there are even cyber sister cities -- partnerships created over the Internet.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. Sister Cities International is on the Web at sister-dash-cities dot o-r-g. And if you would like to download transcripts⁷ of our reports along with audio⁸ files, go to 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 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

3 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

4 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

7 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

8 audio   

n./adj.音频(响)(的)；声音(的)，听觉(的)

参考例句：

• Often,the meeting is recorded on audio or video media for later reference.通常这种会议会以视频或者音频形式记录下来，供以后查阅。
• You don't even have to pay for audio programs.你大可不必为自己听这些节目付费。