VOA慢速英语2012 THE MAKING OF A NATION - American History: The 1990s

THE MAKING OF A NATION - American History: The 1990s 

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

This week in our series, we take a look at life in the United States during the last decade of the twentieth century.

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For most of the nineteen nineties, the nation was at peace. The Soviet¹ Union collapsed² in nineteen ninety-one, bringing an end to years of costly³ military competition.

During the nineties the American economy recovered from a recession and grew strong. Inflation and unemployment were low. There were new developments in medicine and technology. The Internet began to evolve from a defense⁴ project mainly linking researchers into a new way for the world to communicate.

America grew by almost thirty-three million people during the nineteen nineties -- the largest increase of any decade in its history. By the end of the nineties more than two hundred eighty-million people were living in the United States.

During the decade of the nineties, there was a large increase in immigration from Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. For the first time in seventy years, one in ten Americans was born in another country.

At the same time, the population was getting older. That added to the nation's health care costs. America's new president, Bill Clinton, promised to reform the health care system. But in the end, like other presidents before him, Clinton failed to win support for that idea in Congress.

Divorce rates in the United States had begun to grow sharply in the nineteen seventies. By the nineties those rates were starting to drop. But there were millions of children living with only one parent, or with their grandparents. Single-parent families are more likely to be poor.

In nineteen eighty, single-parent households represented about twenty percent of all households in the United States with children. By nineteen ninety that number had reached twenty-four percent, and was continuing to rise.

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In nineteen ninety-one, a black man named Rodney King led police in Los Angeles on a high-speed chase. After the chase, officers tried to arrest him.

PETER JENNINGS (ABC NEWS): “Now, the story that might never have surfaced if someone hadn’t picked up his home video camera. We’ve all seen the pictures of Los Angeles Police officers beating a man they had just pulled over.”

A man living nearby videotaped officers striking King repeatedly with their sticks and kicking him on the ground. The officers later said King had resisted even after they shocked him with an electric stun⁵ gun. The man took the eighty-one-second video to a local television station. Soon people all over the country were watching it.

The beating led to criminal charges against four white police officers. The trial was moved out of Los Angeles. Their lawyers argued that the officers might not receive a fair trial there.

On April twenty-ninth, nineteen ninety-two, a mostly white jury in a community north of the city returned its findings. The jury found the officers not guilty of assaulting Rodney King.

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Anger at the jury's verdict soon led to rioting that began in the largely poor black neighborhoods of south-central Los Angeles.

ANNOUNCER: “Don’t go near this area -- South Central Los Angeles at Florence and Normandy, because there is still no police presence there, and a lot of people trying to get through that intersection⁶ have been assaulted with rocks and bottles and sticks.”

More than fifty people died in days of violence before police and troops brought the unrest under control. Many more were injured and hundreds of buildings were destroyed by fire. It was some of the worst rioting in American history and received worldwide attention.

The following year, a federal jury found two of the officers who had beaten Rodney King guilty of violating his civil rights. They were sent to prison.

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Another case in Los Angeles that received international attention also involved a racial element.

O.J. Simpson, a black former football star and actor, was charged with murdering his white former wife and a male friend of hers. They were stabbed to death in nineteen ninety-four.

Many legal experts believed the case against Simpson was strong. So did many more whites than blacks in public opinion surveys.

JOHNNIE COCHRAN: “The day Mr. Darden asked Mr. Simpson to try on those gloves, and the gloves didn’t fit. Remember these words: If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit⁷.”

Simpson’s lead defense attorney, Johnnie Cochran.

DEIRDRE ROBINSON (JUDGE'S CLERK): “We, the jury, in the above-entitled action, find the defendant⁸ Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder.”

A mostly black jury found Simpson not guilty. But later, in a civil case brought by the victims' families, a mostly white jury found him responsible for the killings⁹ and ordered him to pay damages.

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In nineteen ninety, researchers launched the Human Genome Project. This was a government-supported effort to identify and map all of the genes¹⁰ in the body. The Human Genome Project raised hopes for new medical treatments and cures for diseases.

The project lasted thirteen years, until two thousand three. In two thousand, President Clinton announced the completion of a "working draft" of the genome.

BILL CLINTON: “It will revolutionize the diagnosis¹¹, prevention and treatment of most, if not all, human diseases. In coming years, doctors increasingly will be able to cure diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes¹² and cancer.”

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During the nineteen nineties, personal computers became more and more a part of everyday life. And more and more people were going online over a network linking computers around the world. The Internet would grow into an easy way to send e-mail, find information and buy products over the World Wide Web.

In music, many Americans in the early nineties were listening to a new sound from the Pacific Northwest. It became known as grunge rock.

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The capital for grunge bands was Seattle, in Washington state.

One of the best known bands was Nirvana. Their nineteen ninety-one album "Nevermind" contained some of their most successful songs, including "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Kurt Cobain helped define the grunge sound. He was Nirvana's lead singer, guitar player and songwriter. But in April nineteen ninety-four that voice was silenced. Officials said he killed himself with a shotgun. Kurt Cobain was twenty-seven years old, the husband of singer Courtney Love, and one of the most influential¹³ musicians of his day.

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On television, millions of people watched shows like "ER" a drama series about a busy hospital emergency room. Many fans tuned¹⁴ in to watch George Clooney play a young doctor on the show.

DOUG ROSS (GEORGE CLOONEY): “What’s going on?”

MARK GREENE (ANTHONY EDWARDS): "Mr. Abbott asked us to try to resuscitate¹⁵ his son.”

DOUG ROSS: “He shouldn’t have made it through the night.”

MR. ABBOTT: “Who the hell are you?”

DOUG ROSS: “I’m Dr. Ross. Look, he was in my care.”

"E-R" first went on the air in nineteen ninety-four and lasted fifteen years.

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"Law & Order" was a crime drama, but it took a different path, involving the interactions of police, lawyers and judges.

The popularity of the series set in New York led to several related “Law and Order” spinoff series.

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For laughs, millions of people watched shows like "Seinfield" and "Friends."

The "Friends" were Ross, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey and Chandler, six young New Yorkers.

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"Seinfeld" was also set in, you guessed it, New York. It starred comedian¹⁶ Jerry Seinfeld playing himself. The series was hugely popular and won many awards. TV Guide magazine put it at the top of its two thousand two list of the "50 Greatest Shows of All Time."

JERRY: “I’m sorry. Excuse me one second. [Picks up phone] Hello?”

TELEMARKETER: “Hello, would you be interested in switching over to TMI long-distance service?”

JERRY: “Oh, gee¹⁷, I can’t talk right now. Why don’t you give me your home number and I’ll call you later.”

TELEMARKETER: “Uh, I’m sorry, we’re not allowed to do that.”

JERRY: “Oh, I guess you don’t want people calling you at home.”

TELEMARKETER: “Uh, no.”

JERRY: “Well, now you know how I feel. [Laughter]"

"Seinfeld" was, in the words of its creator, a "show about nothing." But Jerry and his friends Elaine, George and Kramer managed to find plenty of humor in life's everyday problems and situations.

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Another popular show in the nineties was the animated¹⁸ series "The Simpsons," which like "Seinfeld" premiered in nineteen eighty-nine. New episodes of "The Simpsons" -- Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie -- continued into the twenty-first century.

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ELDERLY SURVIVOR¹⁹: “Titanic²⁰ was called the ship of dreams. And it was; it really was.”

JACK²¹ DAWSON (LEONADO DiCAPRIO): “All right, open your eyes.”

The nineteen ninety-seven film "Titanic" became the first movie to reach one billion dollars in ticket sales at theaters worldwide.

JACK DAWSON: “You never know what hand you’re going to get dealt next. You learn to take life as it comes at you.”

ROSE BUKATER (KATE WINSLET): “When the ship docks, I’m getting off with you.”

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet played young lovers on the famous ship that sank in April nineteen twelve, after hitting an iceberg²² in the North Atlantic.

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ALAN GRANT (SAM NEILL): “How fast are they?”

JOHN HAMMOND (RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH): “Well, we clocked the T-Rex at thirty-two miles an hour.”

ELLIE SATTLER (LAURA DERN): “You said you’ve got a T-Rex?”

JOHN HAMMOND: “Uh-huh.”

ALAN GRANT: “Say again?”

JOHN HAMMOND: “We have a T-Rex. Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler, Welcome ... to Jurassic Park.”

Another popular film was "Jurassic Park," released in nineteen ninety-three. In it, dinosaurs²³ from prehistoric²⁴ times are brought back to life, with disastrous²⁵ results.

SOUND: “We’re gonna make a fortune with this place.”

In sports, baseball players went on strike in nineteen ninety-four. The World Series championship was cancelled that year.

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In basketball, millions of fans were watching Michael Jordan lead the Chicago Bulls to championships.

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As the nineties came to a close, people around the world were preparing to celebrate the arrival of the year two thousand. It was a big event. But there were also concerns about the "millennium²⁶ bug²⁷" or "Y2K" issue.

This was the worry that older computers might not be able to recognize the calendar change. Lots of activity went into making sure things would go smoothly²⁸ after midnight on December thirty-first, nineteen ninety-nine.

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In two thousand, Americans elected the first president to lead the nation in the new millennium. But the election of George W. Bush resulted in a dispute that divided the nation. That will be our story next week.

You can find our series online with transcripts²⁹, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voanews.cn. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember, inviting³⁰ you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

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Contributing: Jerilyn Watson

This was program #232. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation³¹ marks in the search box at the top of the page.

1 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

4 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

5 stun   

vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹

参考例句：

• When they told me she had gone missing I was totally stunned.他们告诉我她不见了时，我当时完全惊呆了。
• Sam stood his ground and got a blow that stunned him.萨姆站在原地，被一下打昏了。

6 intersection   

n.交集，十字路口，交叉点；[计算机] 交集

参考例句：

• There is a stop sign at an intersection.在交叉路口处有停车标志。
• Bridges are used to avoid the intersection of a railway and a highway.桥用来避免铁路和公路直接交叉。

7 acquit   

vt.宣判无罪；(oneself)使(自己)表现出

参考例句：

• That fact decided the judge to acquit him.那个事实使法官判他无罪。
• They always acquit themselves of their duty very well.他们总是很好地履行自己的职责。

8 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

9 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

10 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

11 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

12 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

13 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

14 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 resuscitate   

v.使复活，使苏醒

参考例句：

• A policeman and then a paramedic tried to resuscitate her.一名警察和一位护理人员先后试图救活她。
• As instructed by Rinpoche,we got the doctors to resuscitate him.遵照仁波切的指示，我们找来医生帮他进行急救。

16 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。

17 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

18 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

19 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

20 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

21 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。

22 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

23 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

24 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

25 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

26 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

27 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

28 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

29 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

30 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

31 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。