VOA慢速英语2011--The Jeep - One of the Most Famous Vehicl

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - The Jeep - One of the Most Famous Vehicles in the World – is Celebrated² at its Birthplace

MARIO RITTER: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
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I'm Mario Ritter. Today, we play music that the television company MTV helped to make popular. We also talk about the history of MTV, which turned thirty this week.
But, first, a report about a famous American vehicle used by soldiers and surfers.
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JEEP FESTIVAL ADVANCER
MARIO RITTER: One of the most famous vehicles in the world got its start in the American state of Pennsylvania. The first “Bantam Jeep” was manufactured seventy years ago in the city of Butler, just north of Pittsburgh.
Butler is marking the anniversary with a first-ever celebration that will last for three days – from August twelfth through the fourteenth. Christopher Cruise spoke³ with a man who created the event.
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CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The American Bantam Car Company designed and built the first American military jeeps. And it did so in record time. In the summer of nineteen-forty, in just a few days the company created a complete design. Forty-nine days after it received a request from the War Department, a complete jeep was ready to go.
These small vehicles helped the Allied⁴ powers during World War Two. Some historians have called the jeep, one of the most powerful weapons of the war. It was used as a combat vehicle and to carry the wounded, among other things.
But the factory in Butler was not big enough to make all the jeeps that the War Department needed. The American Bantam Car Company made about two thousand six hundred jeeps before it lost the manufacturing rights to two bigger companies: Ford⁵ and Willy. The designs that the Bantam had created were given to its competitors.
More than six hundred thousand jeeps were built for the American military during World War Two – far too big a job for the American Bantam Car Company to handle.
Jack⁶ Cohen is the head of the Butler County, Pennsylvania Tourism and Convention Bureau. He says Butler’s part in birthing the jeep should never be forgotten.
JACK COHEN: “Well it’s kind of interesting, when I moved into Butler County I never knew that the jeep was invented here. Finding that information out, I was curious (as) to why no one ever talked much about that history and for probably two or three years I tried to get, to find more interest in it.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: So, Mister Cohen decided⁷ to create the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival to let people know that the jeep came from Butler. He says that on August twelfth, jeeps from many states and four countries will create what he hopes will be the longest jeep parade ever.
JACK COHEN: “We’re setting the world’s record for Guinness’ longest jeep parade. And with this many vehicles right now – somewhere right about a thousand at this moment – we can establish that record as long as we do the things that Guinness has asked us to do.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Mister Cohen believes only about fifty of the original Bantam Jeeps survive today. At least four of them will be in the parade, including one that was once owned by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
We will tell more about the event, and share some pictures, on AMERICAN MOSAIC later this month. We close with Duke Ellington’s “The Jeep is Jumpin’.”
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MTV TURNS 30
MARIO RITTER: The company once known as Music Television marked its thirtieth anniversary earlier this week. Much has changed at MTV over the years. Katherine Cole takes a look at the history of MTV and plays some of the music it helped make famous.
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KATHERINE COLE: That was The Buggles with "Video Killed the Radio Star." It was the first song played on MTV. It came on at one minute after twelve on August first nineteen eighty-one.
MTV was one of the first specialized⁸ television channels in the United States. People could watch artists perform popular songs in videos. The station played music videos all day long.
But at first only a few thousand people could watch MTV. It was offered on cable television only in the state of New Jersey⁹. Even the people who worked at MTV had to go to New Jersey if they wanted to see it on television. Now MTV operates all over the world and broadcasts in more than one hundred sixty countries.
In its early years, MTV was a lot like radio with pictures. Radio stations had DJs, disk jockeys; MTV had VJs, video jockeys.
One of the most famous music videos ever on MTV was a fourteen minute piece from Michael Jackson. He plays a teenager in the nineteen fifties who leads zombies in a dance of the undead.
Hollywood movie director John Landis helped create the video, which was more like a short film. The video of “Thriller” helped make Michael’s Jackson’s record album of the same name one of the best-selling in history.
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KATHERINE COLE: Some musical artists were not happy about MTV and its influence on the music industry. They thought it was too centered on looks and image and not enough on making good music.
One early critic was the band the Dead Kennedys. In nineteen eighty-five, the group’s members expressed their displeasure in the song, "MTV – Get off the Air."
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KATHERINE COLE: Rock stars were not the only people to criticize MTV. Since the beginning, many people saw it as a bad influence on children. They said MTV showed a world without morals or values and full of sex and drugs.
In the nineteen nineties, MTV began to do more about its image. MTV created new programs and campaigns to inform young people about serious issues, like AIDS, poverty, racism¹⁰, and violence at home. It also began to urge young people to vote and expanded its political reporting.
In nineteen ninety-one, MTV began a show called "The Real World." The show brought seven young people to live together in New York and have their lives videotaped. The success of “The Real World” helps explain the current popularity of reality programs on television.
MTV made lots of programming changes in the nineties. It stopped showing mostly videos. It began more reality shows, cartoons and game shows. Today, MTV shows many more hours of these programs than it does of music videos.
But every year MTV honors the best music videos. Last year, the winner was “Bad Romance,” by Lady Gaga.
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KATHERINE COLE: MTV will broadcast its Video Music Awards on August twenty-eighth. There are five nominees¹¹ Video of the Year. We leave you with one of them. Here is the Beastie Boys performing “Make Some Noise.”
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MARIO RITTER: I’m Mario Ritter. Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver¹² and Christopher Cruise. If you have a question about American life, write to [email protected].
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA 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 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

5 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 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。

8 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

9 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

10 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

11 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

12 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。