VOA慢速英语2011--A Cool Place That Welcomes Geeks? Try th

THIS IS AMERICA - A Cool Place That Welcomes Geeks? Try the Public Library

BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise. This week on our program, we tell you about an unusual advertising¹ campaign called "Geek the Library." Plus, we learn about a music education program in New York and a science education program in Vermont.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: Lisa Purcell likes to make science fun for schoolchildren and adults. Here she is, training adult volunteers how to teach kids about owls³.
LISA PURCELL: "Hooh-hoo-hooh-hooo. Hoooohoooooo! So try it again."
VOLUNTEERS: "Hooh-hoo-hooh-hoo. Hoooohoooooo!"
Lisa Purcell worked for years at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science. But then she and several others from the institute decided⁴ to create their own way to support community-based science education.
In two thousand six they started the Four Winds Nature Institute. Four Winds has one thousand five hundred volunteers in four states in the Northeast.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Science educators say hands-on study of natural science often gets less attention in schools than it should. Schools can pay Four Winds to provide training for adults who want to share their interest in nature with children. Lisa Purcell says the programs might include, for example, a puppet show.
LISA PURCELL: "We know that we want kids to be learning hands-on and make discoveries in their own backyard. We’d love it to be something that they’ve walked by for years without noticing it. And then we start thinking about how we’ll get kids excited about that. What will the puppet show need to include for students to understand the life of a goldenrod gallfly, for example?”
BARBARA KLEIN: Kelli Bates, a teacher in Chittenden, Vermont, says the programs are popular with students.
KELLI BATES: "One year we were doing something with trees and the kids were actually parts of the tree. Some would be the trunk, and kids were actually laying on the floor being the roots. And things like that just connect these science theories in a way that they can understand.”
One afternoon a month, Lisa Purcell does science activities with first graders.
(SOUND)
She explains that owls eat things whole, then spit up pellets filled with whatever they could not digest. She has the students examine clean owl² pellets ordered from a website.
LISA PURCELL: "And then in teams of two -- no, they're very clean, look."
CHILDREN: "Oooh!"
LISA PURCELL: "They don't smell bad or anything. We’re going to very carefully pull these apart, OK?"
Seven-year-olds Gracie Stahura and Sophia Husack are looking at the remains⁵ of a very small animal, a vole, that they found in a pellet.
GRACIE STAHURA AND SOPHIA HUSACK: "Do you see those teeth? It’s so cool. I never knew about the pellets. We have a big yard and there’s woods all around us, and I’m going to look under the trees, so if I find them I’m going to get some toothpicks and open it."
Lisa Purcell looks at Gracie and Sophia and smiles a big smile at their excitement about science.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: Public libraries are an important part of American communities. But public services are facing budget cuts as many communities struggle to recover after the recession. Now libraries are hoping to get more attention, and more money, with an unusual advertising campaign.
Paula Baxter is director of the Rutland Free Library in Rutland, Vermont.
PAULA BAXTER: "For this library, we've run at a deficit⁶ for the last two years, and next year we're looking at a larger deficit amount."
Paula Baxter says people still come to the library to borrow books and movies. But now they can also download e-books. And they can find electronic resources to help with things like homework or finding a job. Yet many people have a common reaction to all of the services that the library offers.
PAULA BAXTER: "The eyes light up and click. It happens -- 'I didn't know you had this.'"
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Jenny Johnson is the executive director of marketing⁷ for the Online Computer Library Center. The center is a nonprofit organization that helps libraries around the world. Ms. Johnson says there have been a lot of marketing campaigns to increase the use of libraries, but not to increase the funding of libraries.
JENNY JOHNSON: "We believed from the get-go that it couldn't be something as you know -- pictures of kids in libraries reading books and 'Isn't this lovely'? We knew from the research that we had to get people to think differently about the library."
The Online Computer Library Center set out to change that with six million dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
BARBARA KLEIN: The center hired the advertising company Leo Burnett.
Charley Wickham was part of the team that looked for a way to change the image of libraries.
CHARLEY WICKHAM: "Oh, a library, it’s that quiet place and the newspapers are on those long wooden poles, and there’s rows and rows of books. And whatever -- they kind of have this thing in their mind."
The result: a campaign called "Geek the Library." In the past, people might have taken offense⁸ if someone called them a geek. It meant a person who knew more about books or computers than how to talk to other people. But Charley Wickham says this term is now used with pride.
CHARLEY WICKHAM: "You might put geek and library together -- as yeah, the library’s a place where, like, geeky people go. But when we broke that mental synapse⁹ and said 'No, no, no, the library is a place for cool people to go and get their geek on,' and that's the thing that made it jump off billboards¹⁰ and jump out of posters. That's the way it got people to think about the library different, and it got the really quick reaction."
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: There are several "Geek the Library" posters at the library in Proctor, Vermont, where Lisa Miser¹¹ is a librarian.
LISA MISER: "It’s always exciting when someone takes a word like geek and turns it into a verb."
One says "I Geek Mythology¹²." Another shows the smiling face of a boy who "geeks" worms.
LISA MISER: "Growing up in the eighties, geek was kind of, you know -- we know what geek was. But for someone to say 'Hey, that word can be hip,' there's something very cool about that. The faces, the way the posters are done. And I think it’s cool to lots of different people, and that's what you want to do, is you want to hit everybody."
Rutland library director Paula Baker¹³ says she hopes the attention will get voters to write to local officials. And she knows what she wants them to say.
PAULA BAKER: "We need more hours from that library. We need more children's programs from our library, and we want you to do something about it."
Administrators¹⁴ at the Rutland library made posters with well-known local people. One library user, Malaina Elliott, liked a poster showing a school official who "geeks" penguins¹⁵.
MALAINA ELLIOTT: "It gets your attention. You're like, 'Geek what? I'm sorry, excuse me?' It's really neat. I think it's great the library is pushing so hard to get people back."
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: Carnegie Hall and the Juilliard School in New York City have a training program for young musicians called the Academy. The program is designed to help classical musicians build their careers. Nathan Schram plays the viola. He was a year out of university when he joined the Academy as a fellow last October.
Half the time, fellows perform in concerts around the city. During the other half, they teach in public schools. Nathan Schram was sent to PS 75, an elementary school in Brooklyn.
Last October, he told VOA how he felt about receiving an invitation to join the Academy.
NATHAN SCHRAM: "It sounded like it was going to help me communicate better with audiences. I was going to find a newer audience. I was going to help people that might otherwise not be able to experience this music and maybe I could learn something from them, too."
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: In May, he looked back at the school year that was coming to a close.
NATHAN SCHRAM: "Well, the novelty of me coming here has worn off a little bit. But it's great. It’s nice coming in here and building a relationship, seeing the kids that may be struggling one week all of a sudden are really doing incredibly well the next week."
He and Zelman Bokser, the school's violin teacher, were helping¹⁶ students prepare for the famous Carnegie Hall.
NATHAN SCHRAM: "So they’re going to be playing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony! An arrangement, a little bit of a simplified version of it, where they’re going to be doing 'Ode to Joy' with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s."
Mr. Bokser says the students had to learn seven new pieces of music in just five weeks to perform at Carnegie Hall.
ZELMAN BOKSER: "None of it, for this particular group, none of it is a stretch, technically¹⁷. But learning so much of it in such a short time, that’s a big scramble¹⁸ -- and they have to know it from memory."
BARBARA KLEIN: The students, including this fourth-grader, were excited for the big day.
PETAL¹⁹ JADEO: "My name is Petal Jadeo and I was really surprised, because we never, ever, ever been to play to Carnegie Hall in our lives!"
One week later, she and her classmates were there. The students wore new T-shirts. They shared the stage with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and other schoolchildren. Carnegie Hall was filled with students from all over the area.
(SOUND)
Afterward²⁰, the students from PS 75 went to Central Park to eat some lunch and talk about the concert.
LIZBETH NUNEZ: "Hi, my name is Lizbeth Nunez. I felt very excited, but when I was looking at the people I was like "Whoa!" More than a thousand or one thousand five hundred people were there.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: A week later, the school year was over, and it was time for Nathan Schram to say goodbye to his students.
NATHAN SCHRAM: "I just had my last teaching day today and it was, certainly, bittersweet. It was definitely, hands down, the hardest part of the program."
Throughout the year, as a fellow of the Academy, Nathan Schram got the chance to perform in many different places in New York. And he got the chance to perform with some of the biggest names in classical music. But, unlike his students, he never appeared in the main auditorium²¹ at Carnegie Hall. Nathan plans to keep working on that goal when he completes the second year of his fellowship with the children at PS 75 in Brooklyn.
(MUSIC)
BARBARA KLEIN: You can find transcripts²², MP3s and podcasts of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Barbara Klein with Christopher Cruise, who wrote today's show with reporting by Nina Keck in Vermont and Jeff Lunden in New York.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

2 owl   

n.猫头鹰，枭

参考例句：

• Her new glasses make her look like an owl.她的新眼镜让她看上去像只猫头鹰。
• I'm a night owl and seldom go to bed until after midnight.我睡得很晚，经常半夜后才睡觉。

3 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

4 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。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 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。

8 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

9 synapse   

n.突触

参考例句：

• The chemical floods the synapse, overwhelming the serotonin receptors.这种化学物质湮没了突触，覆盖了5--羟色胺的受体。
• Ecstasy also keeps serotonin from being reabsorbed,further increasing the concentration in the synapse.毒品引起的狂迷还能阻止5--羟色胺的再吸收，进一步增加了突触内5--羟色胺的浓度。

10 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

11 miser   

n.守财奴，吝啬鬼 (adj.miserly)

参考例句：

• The miser doesn't like to part with his money.守财奴舍不得花他的钱。
• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。

12 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

13 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

14 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

15 penguins   

n.企鹅( penguin的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why can penguins live in cold environment? 为什么企鹅能生活在寒冷的环境中？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Whales, seals, penguins, and turtles have flippers. 鲸、海豹，企鹅和海龟均有鳍形肢。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

18 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

19 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

20 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

21 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

22 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