VOA慢速英语 2007 1123b

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹, in VOA Special English.

(THEME)

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

We listen to some music from the group Green Day‿/P>

Report about an art show by some very special young artists‿/P>

And explain why the day after Thanksgiving has a special name.

VSA arts

HOST:

VSA arts is an organization that works² to give people with disabilities a chance to learn about and enjoy the arts.  For six years, the group has partnered with the automobile³ company Volkswagen of America to create a competition to support artists with disabilities.  The artists are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five. This year, over two hundred artists entered the contest. A group of art experts chose fifteen winners. The artists received a total of sixty thousand dollars in prize money. Steve Ember has more.

STEVE EMBER:

Every year, the VSA arts competition chooses a subject for its art competition. This year, the theme and name of the exhibition is “Driven.‿The artists were asked to make works that show what forces and ideas move them to create.

Twenty-one year old Jacolby Satterwhite from Baltimore, Maryland 
Jacolby Satterwhite's ''Remission and Resilience'' received first prize in the VSA arts competition 
won the twenty thousand dollar first-prize for his painting “Remission and Resilience.‿This large and colorful painting shows six people doing different activities. Behind them is an expressive⁴ blue and orange sky.

Jacolby started making art at the age of three. But by age eleven, he developed bone cancer and had to have parts of his right arm removed. This disability did not stop him from creating his art. He says continuing to make art with these limits is a way of winning over a dark period in his life.

Laurel Ebenal from the state of Washington won second prize for her “Faun‿ photograph of a person wearing a theatrical⁵ face covering. Laurel is influenced by an imaginary⁶ world of dreams and stories. Although she has lost half of her hearing, she says her art permits her to express herself in ways that words cannot.

E. Brooke Lanier from Chicago, Illinois won third prize for her painting called “Staring.‿Her art expresses what it is like for an artist to go blind. The painting has a white background with bold⁷ black letters. It looks like the picture an eye doctor uses to test a person’s eyesight. The letters start big, then get smaller towards the bottom. The letters say: “I cannot see you but I know you are staring at me.‿

Green Day

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Russia. Viacheslav wants to know about the rock group Green Day. This band is considered to have brought punk-rock style music to a wider audience of listeners.

 
Members of Green Day, left to right, Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt
Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt from Berkeley, California formed the band in nineteen eighty-seven when they were fifteen years old. The two friends gave their first performance at the restaurant where Billie Joe’s mother worked.

Billie Joe and Mike later asked Tré Cool to replace Green Day’s first drummer who left the group to attend college. The band’s first two full-length albums were called ‿,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours‿and “Kerplunk.‿Their first album with a large record company came out in nineteen ninety-four. “Dookie" sold over ten million copies around the world. It also earned the group a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Group. Here is the hit song “Basket Case‿from that album.

(MUSIC)

In nineteen ninety-five, Green Day released⁸ the album “Insomniac‿which had a darker and more intense⁹ sound. Two years later, the group released “Nimrod.‿nbsp; The album “Warning‿earned Green Day eight California Music awards, though it was not one of their best selling albums. Here is the song “Minority‿from that album.

(MUSIC)

Green Day later began making a new album, but the recordings¹¹ of the songs were stolen from the band’s music studio. Green Day decided¹² not to recreate the same album. They decided to do something different. In two thousand four they released “American Idiot‿which became an international best seller¹³. The songs criticize¹⁴ American policy over the war in Iraq.  Billie Joe Armstrong said that he knew the album could be a risky¹⁵ choice for the band. But he felt it was worth the risk to be able to honestly voice the band’s political beliefs.

This year Green Day recorded a song for an album made by Amnesty International. The aim of the recording¹⁰ is to increase attention about the humanitarian¹⁶ crisis¹⁷ in Darfur, Sudan. We leave you with Green Day’s version¹⁸ of “Working Class Hero‿written by John Lennon.

(MUSIC)

Black Friday

HOST:

Yesterday, November twenty-second, was Thanksgiving in the United States.  It was a day for family members to get together, share a meal and express thanks for the good things in the past year.  The day after Thanksgiving also has its own tradition. Barbara Klein explains.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Today, the day after Thanksgiving, is considered the first day of the holiday shopping season in the United States.  It even has a name -- “Black Friday.‿nbsp; The name comes from the idea that this is the day when store owners begin to show a profit for the year. 
Shoppers on ''Black Friday'' in 2006

In the past, before calculators¹⁹ and computers, workers recorded the profits and losses of American businesses in special books.  They used red ink to record losses. They used black ink to record profits.  They used the term “in the red‿to mean losing money. "In the black‿meant making a profit.  So “Black Friday‿was the day when the store owners moved from being “in the red‿to “in the black.‿/P>

Many people consider “Black Friday‿to be the busiest shopping day of the year.  But that is probably false.  Researchers say it may be the day when the largest number of people go to stores. But it is not necessarily²⁰ the day when shoppers spend the largest amount of money.  Some experts say Americans just want to get out of the house the day after Thanksgiving. And many stores reduce some of their prices on “Black Friday.‿nbsp;

However, experts say that many people wait until much closer to Christmas, December twenty-fifth, hoping to find even lower prices. They say the busiest day of the year in terms of the amount of shoppers and sales is usually the Saturday before Christmas. 

A marketing²¹ services company carried out a public opinion study about shopping last month. It asked almost one thousand Americans about their gift buying plans. One-third said they plan to go to stores to shop on the day after Thanksgiving.

The study found that these shoppers are mainly young people, probably because older people do not want to deal with huge crowds.  In fact, business leaders say many older Americans are doing their shopping at home -- on the computer. They say the day most people shop online is the Monday after “Black Friday.‿nbsp; They even have a name for it -- "Cyber Monday.‿nbsp;

HOST:

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

 

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 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。

3 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

4 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

5 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

6 imaginary   

adj.想象中的，假想的，虚构的，幻想的；虚数的

参考例句：

• All the characters in this book are imaginary.此书中的所有人物都是虚构的。
• The boy's fears were only imaginary.这小孩的恐惧只是一种想象。

7 bold   

adj.果敢的，冒险的，无畏的；冒失的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• Her words were so bold that people caught their breath.她的话太大胆了，使人们都倒抽了一口气。
• The room was decorated in bold colours.房间的色调布置得鲜明醒目。

8 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

9 intense   

adj.认真的，专注的；强烈的；紧张的；热情的

参考例句：

• Susan was an intense young lady.苏珊是一个热情的年轻姑娘。
• The quarrel caused her intense unhappiness.争吵令她极其不快。

10 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。

11 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

12 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。

13 seller   

n.售货者，畅销品

参考例句：

• I hope for this book to become a best seller.我希望这本书会成为一本畅销书。
• She drove a hard bargain with the seller.她狠杀卖主的价。

14 criticize   

vt.批评；批判，指责；评论，评价

参考例句：

• Whenever you criticize him,he always has an excuse.你批评他，他总有说头儿。
• You are free to criticize my work.你可以随意批评我的工作。

15 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

16 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。

17 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

18 version   

n.版本；型号；叙述，说法

参考例句：

• His version of the events is pure supposition.他对这件事的说法纯属猜测。
• What is your version of this matter?你对这件事情的看法 怎么样？

19 calculators   

计算器( calculator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Don't rely on pocket calculators." 不要靠袖珍计算器。” 来自中级百科部分
• The sale of hand-held electronic calculators has increased at a significant rate. 袖珍电子计算器的销售量增加很快。

20 necessarily   

adv.必要地，必需地；必定地，必然地

参考例句：

• More work does not necessarily call for more men.增加工作量不一定就要增添人员。
• A voter must necessarily be no younger than eighteen.选民必须在18岁以上。

21 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。