VOA慢速英语 2007 0608b

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We answer a question from a listener about Jim Carrey‿/P>

Play music from Miranda Lambert‿/P>

And report about a national spelling contest.

National Spelling Bee

HOST:

Every year, the best young English language spellers from around the world gather in Washington, D.C. for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. They spell complex words that most English speakers have never even heard of. Last week, more than two hundred eighty children gathered to compete in this event. It was the largest group of spellers in the eighty-year history of the bee. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

 
Evan O'Dorney and his mother, Jennifer, celebrate his victory
The national spelling bee takes place over two intense³ days of competition in a large hotel meeting room. The spellers sit together in front of several judges. Each speller stands when it is his or her turn. When the judge calls out the word, spellers can ask for help. They can ask for the definition⁴ of the word or for it to be used in a sentence. They can also ask which language the word came from. This can often help them decide how it is spelled.

Students who spell the word correctly remain in the competition. But if the speller makes a mistake, a bell rings and the child must leave the group.

The spellers are very supportive of one another. They show their happiness when a speller gets a word right. The Canadians especially added to the spirit of the event by waving flags and cheering even louder for all Canadian spellers.

Many people thought that Samir Patel would be the winner this year.  This thirteen-year-old boy from Texas has competed in the spelling bee five times.  This is the last year he can compete. But his spelling bee career ended with the word "clevis." Samir later said that he should have taken more time to think about the word but instead made a stupid mistake.

Two boys, a Canadian and an American, made it to the last part of the competition. Both Evan O'Dorney and Nate Gartke were able to spell difficult words like "videlicet" and "Zoilus."  But Evan won the competition with the word “serrefine," a kind of tool used in medical operations.

After the event, the thirteen-year-old from California talked to reporters. He said he does not really like spelling. He likes math and music more. Spelling, Evan said, is just memorization. His advice to spellers is to study the dictionary. And, he said he always eats a tuna fish sandwich the night before competing.

Jim Carrey

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Burma.  Tharr Naing wants to know more about the actor and funny man Jim Carrey.

 
 
Jim Carrey’s skill for comedy came early.  As a boy, he was given time at the end of each school day to perform for his class. Carrey says he also sent a letter requesting a part on a popular American television comedy show when he was just ten years old.

Jim Carrey was born in nineteen sixty-two in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.  He was a good student until his teen years when his family experienced⁵ financial problems and had to move to Toronto, Canada.  Jim worked in a factory every day after school and his grades suffered as a result.

Carrey moved to Los Angeles, California in nineteen seventy-nine. He worked with the famous comedian⁶ Rodney Dangerfield. And he began to make appearances on the Late Night with David Letterman television show. 

His first major movie was “Earth Girls Are Easy,‿in nineteen eighty-eight. He played the part of a funny creature from another planet⁷.  He was involved in the development of a new television comedy show, “In Living Color.‿nbsp; It gave Carrey his first chance to show the whole country his unusual characters. 

Carrey’s first huge movie success was starring in the film “Ace² Ventura: Pet Detective‿in nineteen ninety-four.  Critics hated the movie. But Jim Carrey’s very physical comedy was a hit with moviegoers.  The movie earned more than seventy million dollars in the United States alone.  A follow-up movie came out the next year. "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" earned more than one hundred million dollars.

Jim made two other very successful films in nineteen ninety-four: “Dumb and Dumber‿and “The Mask.‿nbsp; In nineteen ninety-five he was offered twenty million dollars to star in  “The Cable⁸ Guy.‿nbsp; It was the highest amount of money ever offered to a comedy actor.  The movie came out the following year and did not do great business.  But Jim Carrey’s power in Hollywood remained. 

In the years since, Carrey has shown that he can do more than comedy. He has starred in several critically praised dramatic⁹ movies.  These include “The Truman Show‿and “The Eternal¹⁰ Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.‿nbsp; Jim Carrey won Golden Globe Awards as Best Actor for both films.

Miranda Lambert

HOST:

The Academy¹¹ of Country Music presented its yearly¹² awards last month in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The winner of the New Female¹³ Vocalist award was singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert.  Katherine Cole tells us about her.

KATHERINE COLE:

 
 
Miranda Lambert has been singing professionally since she was in high school in the state of Texas.   In two thousand three, she finished third in the Nashville Star television talent show.  Her performance there led to a recording¹⁴ contract.  Her first major album was released¹⁵ in two thousand four, when she was twenty-one years old. She wrote or helped write ten of the eleven songs on the album, called “Kerosene.‿nbsp; The first single was “Me and Charlie Talking.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

Miranda Lambert says her latest album is better than “Kerosene.‿She says “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‿shows the effects of two years of personal and professional growth. She sang the first hit from the new album on the Country Music Association¹⁶ awards show.  It is “Famous in a Small Town.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

Miranda Lambert says her songs talk about real things -- things that have happened to her, family members and friends. Critics say the songs on her new album mix the pain and power of heartbreak.  We leave you now with the title song from Miranda Lambert’s new album, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson.  I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange,  Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver¹⁷, who also was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio¹⁸, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. 

Send your questions about American life to [email protected].  Please include your full name and mailing address.  Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. 

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 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

3 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。

4 definition   

n.定义；限定，确定；清晰度

参考例句：

• The book attempts a definition of his role in world politics.该书要阐明的是他在世界政局中的作用。
• I made a definition for this word.我给这个字下了定义。

5 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

6 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

7 planet   

n.行星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun. 海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Rubbish, however, is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. 然而, 垃圾只是我们这个星球的污染问题的一个方面。

8 cable   

n.缆绳，索；电缆；电报；vt.电汇，打电报

参考例句：

• Don't forget to cable us as soon as you arrive.别忘了一到就给我发个电报。
• The worker attached a cable.工人连接电缆。

9 dramatic   

adj.引人注目的；戏剧的；演戏的

参考例句：

• She plays a very dramatic woman with flashing eyes.她饰演一位双眼闪光的引人注目的妇人。
• His speech was dramatic.他的演说激动人心。

10 eternal   

adj.永久的，无休止的，永恒的，永不改变的

参考例句：

• Stop this eternal chatter!不要唠叨个不停！
• Rome has been called the Eternal City.罗马一向被称为不朽之城。

11 academy   

n.(高等)专科院校；学术社团，协会，研究院

参考例句：

• This is an academy of music.这是一所音乐专科学院。
• I visited Chinese Academy of Sciences yesterday.我昨天去访问了中国科学院。

12 yearly   

adj.每年的，一年一度的；adv.一年一次地

参考例句：

• The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。

13 female   

adj.雌的，女(性)的；n.雌性的动物，女子

参考例句：

• We only employ female workers.我们只雇用女工。
• The animal in the picture was a female elephant.照片上的动物是头母象。

14 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。

15 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。

16 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

17 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。

18 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。