VOA慢速英语 200707160045

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, come along to a high school reunion in Illinois.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A warm sun shines on Scammon Garden on the South Side of Chicago. Under the shelter of a tent, a crowd is gathered for a jazz brunch¹. The men and women enjoy the food, the music and the memories as they talk about old school days. Some of them have not seen each other in fifty years.


Former students at University of Chicago Laboratory High School

The event is part of a reunion of the University of Chicago Laboratory High School. People call it U-High or Lab. This lab was created for experiments with education.

VOICE TWO:

The University of Chicago recently invited alumni to a special weekend where several U-High classes held reunions. These included the class of nineteen fifty-seven. About forty of the one hundred or so graduates attended the reunion. Some came with their husbands and wives.

The former classmates are now in their upper sixties. Some are retired². Others are still working. There are lawyers, professors, writers, social workers, scientists, economists⁴ and business people. But on this bright afternoon, their thoughts return to a time when so much of their lives was still ahead.

Ginger⁵ Spiegel Lane says there is feeling in the air of being teenagers again. The feeling is so strong, she can almost touch it. Yet something is different. She notices that her former classmates now talk much more openly than they would have as young people.

VOICE ONE:

Some in the class of fifty-seven grew up together. They knew each other as children when they attended other University of Chicago laboratory schools. Some also went on to attend the university.

There are four laboratory schools. These are independent college preparatory schools operated by the University of Chicago.

John Dewey established the first laboratory schools at Chicago in eighteen ninety-six. He was a leading educational theorist. He imagined a place where future teachers could work with young students and test progressive ways of teaching.

Dewey knew that educators traditionally placed the most importance on memorizing and repeating information. In his laboratory schools, Dewey thought that the child should be the most important thing.

VOICE TWO:

In terms of being socially progressive, the Chicago laboratory schools have brought together students from different racial and ethnic⁶ groups. In nineteen forty-three a political activist⁷ launched a successful campaign to get the laboratory schools to admit black students.

Her name was Marian Alschuler Despres. Several years earlier she had received a doctorate⁸ from the University of Chicago.

Marian Alschuler Despres died in January of this year at the age of ninety-seven. She was married to Leon Despres, a well-known politician in Chicago who served for many years on the City Council.

The University of Chicago Magazine, in reporting on her death, noted⁹ her efforts to get African-American students into the laboratory schools. Today their population of minority and international students is about forty percent -- still not enough to satisfy some critics, though.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Some members of the U-High class of nineteen fifty-seven still live in the Chicago area. Others have moved away but came for the fiftieth anniversary reunion, including Robert Despres, the son of Marian and Leon.

A number of members from the class of fifty-seven attended a special event honoring a member of the class of nineteen eighty-two. Arne Duncan is chief executive officer of the Chicago public schools, the third largest school system in the United States.

Many graduates of the University of Chicago Laboratory High School are in public service. A nineteen seventy-nine graduate, Leslie Hairston, is on the Chicago City Council. A member of the class of nineteen thirty-seven is on the United States Supreme¹⁰ Court. John Paul Stevens is often called the most liberal justice on the court.

VOICE TWO:

One area where members of the class of nineteen fifty-seven have done well is education. Paul Schultz is a nationally known economist³ at Yale University and the son of a Nobel Prize winner.

Another graduate, Sydney Spiesel, is an expert in children's medicine, also at Yale. Doctor Spiesel also writes for the Internet magazine Slate¹¹.

VOICE ONE:

Bert Cohler from the class of fifty-seven is still in the U-High neighborhood. He s a professor of psychology¹² and psychiatry¹³ at the University of Chicago.

Mary Deems Howland teaches English literature at the United States Naval¹⁴ Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

And Allan Metcalf at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, is an English language expert. His latest book is Presidential Voices: Speaking Styles from George Washington to George W. Bush. He is now working on a book about the word OK.

Another member of the class of fifty-seven, Tappan Wilder, has become a strong voice for the literature of Thornton Wilder. Thornton was his father's brother. He was a playwright¹⁵, novelist and short-story writer who won three Pulitzer Prizes. He wrote the classic play Our Town. Tappan Wilder is responsible for the republication of some of his uncle's work.

VOICE TWO:

A visitor at the reunion commented that the U-High class of nineteen fifty-seven had enough mental energy to light a city.

Many high school reunions are centered on a dance. But the members of the class of fifty-seven made a different choice. They met for a discussion in one of their former classroom buildings.

They talked about good memories of high school. But one man urged them not to glamorize the past too much. He said time often makes days long ago seem happier than they really were.

VOICE ONE:

So the former students also talked about how they sometimes formed social groups that excluded others. Yet one of those who took part in the discussion, Elizabeth Hughes Schneewind, says they still found something good to say. They agreed that at least these cliques¹⁶ did not form along religious, racial or ethnic lines, the way they sometimes do in schools.

Ginger Spiegel Lane says the former students also remembered the many aptitude¹⁷ tests they were given. Graduate students in education administered them. The tests were designed to see what the students might do with their lives. She says that for a number of people the results proved correct.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Gathering¹⁸ classmates from fifty years ago is a big job. But class members Mary Morony of Chicago and John Keohane [koh-HANE] of Austin, Texas, worked hard. Mister Keohane is a mathematics teacher but one of the people he found called him an excellent detective.

VOICE ONE:

Mary Deems Howland, for example, had moved several times. She had also changed her name when she got married. But John Keohane remembered reading the name of her sister's husband in a University of Chicago publication. He followed that clue and found the brother-in-law, and that led him to his former classmate.

She could not attend the reunion. But she renewed several school friendships because of it. She and classmate Mary Morony held their own reunion -- on the telephone. They talked for an hour.

VOICE TWO:

Allan Metcalf says he came to know classmates he had not really known when they were in school fifty years ago. And he says e-mails and calls are continuing after the reunion.

A former classmate from the University of Chicago Laboratory High School told one woman she looked young for her age. The woman smiled and explained why: the reunion, she said, had taken away fifty years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁹. To learn more about American life, and to download transcripts²⁰ and audio archives of our programs, go to www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 brunch   

n.早午餐

参考例句：

• They eat much the same thing for brunch every day.每天早午餐他们总是吃同样的东西。
• What did you have for your brunch?你早午饭都吃些什么？

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

4 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

6 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

7 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

8 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

11 slate   

n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢？

12 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

13 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

14 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

15 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

16 cliques   

n.小集团，小圈子，派系( clique的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All traitorous persons and cliques came to no good end. 所有的叛徒及叛徒集团都没好下场。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They formed cliques and carried arms expansion and war preparations. 他们拉帮结派，扩军备战。 来自互联网

17 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

18 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

19 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。

20 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