VOA慢速英语2013 Lucky Livestock Go to Maryland Animal Sanctuary

 

Lucky Livestock¹ Go to Maryland Animal Sanctuary²

Welcome to American Mosaic³ from VOA Learning English.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

On the show today, we play music on a new album from Sean Kingston.

We also answer a question about casinos in the United States.

But first we go to Poolesville, Maryland, where some farm animals have found a safe home.

Poplar Springs Animal Sanctuary

More and more Americans are raising chickens, pigs and other food animals at their homes in urban and suburban⁴ areas. Many of these people are doing the job responsibly. But others are not. As a result many farm animals are being found abused, alone or dead. Steve Ember tells about a safe place for mistreated livestock.

Ali Mirsky raises chickens in a quiet suburban neighborhood near Washington. But she is not a traditional farmer.

She is among a growing number of Americans who call themselves homesteaders. They choose to raise their own food in a city environment.

“I like the idea of seeing and caring for animals but also having access to fresh, healthy produce like eggs or meat.”

Ms. Mirsky says she uses common sense methods in caring for her backyard chickens.

“For me it’s providing fresh water, fresh food that’s nutritionally balanced and healthy and also access to the outdoors. So it is a commitment and it is a responsibility when you care for a living thing.”

But not all urban farmers are as responsible.

Terri Littlejohn is an official with the Prince Georges County, Maryland, government. She is with the Animal Management Division.

In addition to dogs and cats, Ms. Littlejohn says her department is getting more and more calls for farm animal rescues.

“We’ve picked up pigs that are in someone’s backyard, we’ve picked up goats, we’ve picked up chickens, we’ve picked up hens. We’re seeing a lot of animals that have been abused and a lot that have been neglected.”

The animal shelter where she works is not set up for farm animals. So Ms. Littlejohn has been sending animals to a 160 hectare refuge in rural Maryland.

The Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary is for abused and uncared for animals. Littlejohn has just brought pigs to the center. They will live out their natural lives here along with 200 other saved farm animals.

Terry Cummings and her husband Dave established the center in 1996.

Ms. Cummings knows every one of the animals by name.

In addition to the pigs, the refuge is home to other animals urban farmers tried to raise.

“People don’t know all the responsibilities and all the time and money that really goes into properly caring for these animals and it really ends up being an abusive situation for the animals because they don’t have the knowledge or the desire to do it properly.”

And it is a growing problem she says.

“There’s been this whole back-to-the-land movement and so there’s been a real increase in this over the last few years and we’ve seen more and more problems associated with it.”

But for these lucky new arrivals, Poplar Farm is a chance at a new beginning.

American Casinos

Today we answer a question from China about casino development in the United States.

A casino is a place where people can win -- or lose -- a lot of money. They do this by gambling⁵ -- playing cards, dice⁶ or other games of chance. They could also win money by predicting the results of horse races, football games and other activities.

Gambling has a long history in the United States. Even in colonial times, the government permitted lotteries⁷. In a lottery⁸ a person buys a chance to win money or other prizes. Money raised in this way helped support the development of the colonies.

Experts say the first casinos in America were saloons.  People went to saloons to buy alcoholic⁹ drinks. But some of these businesses let people play card games or throw dice for money. Later, gamblers began to use riverboats, especially on the Mississippi River, to play games for money.

It seems that Americans have always had concerns about gambling. Some thought it was a sign of moral corruption¹⁰. Gambling was also often blamed for increasing crime. Others worried that the financial risks people took when gambling would ruin the economic future of the country.

There have been bans on gambling and periods of legal gambling in the United States. In the 1800s, most states banned many kinds of gambling. However, the discovery of gold in the west renewed the activity. And many states eased their gambling laws during the Great Depression of the 1930’s.

Today Hawaii is the only state to ban all forms of gambling. The most popular places for legal gambling are casinos. The most famous casino city is Las Vegas, Nevada. Illegal crime organizations from New York were responsible for developing much of Las Vegas in the early to middle 20th century.

Now, Las Vegas is filled with casino/hotels of all sizes.  Many are beautifully designed and offer many services. An example is the Luxor, a huge, black pyramid-shaped building. It is named for the ancient city in Egypt.

The Luxor has thousands of gambling machines, four large swimming pools, almost thirty stores and a chapel¹¹ where people can get married. A thirty-four meter tall reproduction of Egypt’s Great Sphinx of Giza stands in front of the pyramid.

The Bellagio in Las Vegas has even more to offer. The Bellagio has its own man-made lake, more than three hectares in size. Huge fountains light up the property. The water jumps up and down, and is programmed to move to music.

The hotel is home to a big, beautiful chandelier. This special lighting¹² fixture¹³ was hand-blown by the famous glass artist Dale Chihuly. The Bellagio also has its own art gallery and, for plant lovers, a botanic garden.

Many Las Vegas casinos also offer shows that include famous singers like Celine Dion and Elton John. Broadway plays and musicals that can be seen during the next year include “The Book of Mormon,” “War Horse” and “Once.” And Cirque du Soleil is very big in Las Vegas. The company currently has eight shows on offer in the city.

“Back 2 Life” for Sean Kingston’s Career

Reggae hip-hop artist Sean Kingston has released his first album since a serious accident almost took his life two years ago. Avi Arditti tells about “Back 2 Life” and plays some songs from the album.

Sean Kingston suffered several broken bones, water in the lungs and a torn aorta¹⁴ in the 2011 boating accident near Miami Beach, Florida. Doctors said he was lucky to survive.

Kingston has said that he feels God gave him a second chance. He said the experience inspired the title song of his new album.

The 23-year-old musician was born in Miami but raised in Jamaica. His first big hit was the song “Beautiful Girls” from his 2007 album “Sean Kingston.”

On his new album, Sean Kingston sings “Rum and Raybans,” a song about the party life of the young and famous. Rum is an alcohol linked to the Caribbean islands. Raybans are a very popular and costly¹⁵ kind of sunglasses.

Several other artists provide guest performances on “Back 2 Life,” including T.I., Wale and 2Chainz. We leave you with Sean Kingston performing “Beat It” featuring Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly. Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver¹⁶.  Julie Taboh provided additional reporting.

Do you have a question about American life, people or places? Send an e-mail to [email protected]. We might answer your question in a future show. You can also visit our website at learningenglish.voanews.com to find transcripts¹⁷ and audio of our shows.

Join us again next week for music and more on American Mosaic from VOA Learning English.

1 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

2 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

3 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。

4 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

5 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

6 dice   

n.骰子；vt.把（食物）切成小方块，冒险

参考例句：

• They were playing dice.他们在玩掷骰子游戏。
• A dice is a cube.骰子是立方体。

7 lotteries   

n.抽彩给奖法( lottery的名词复数 )；碰运气的事；彩票；彩券

参考例句：

• Next to bullfights and soccer, lotteries are Spain's biggest sport. 除了斗牛和足球以外，彩票是西班牙最热门的玩意儿。 来自辞典例句
• Next to bullfight and soccer, lotteries are Spain's biggest sport. 发行彩票在西班牙是仅次于斗牛和足球的最大娱乐活动。 来自辞典例句

8 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

9 alcoholic   

adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者

参考例句：

• The alcoholic strength of brandy far exceeds that of wine.白兰地的酒精浓度远远超过葡萄酒。
• Alcoholic drinks act as a poison to a child.酒精饮料对小孩犹如毒药。

10 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

11 chapel   

n.小教堂，殡仪馆

参考例句：

• The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
• She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午，她在小教堂的演出，可以说是登峰造极。

12 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

13 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。

14 aorta   

n.主动脉

参考例句：

• The abdominal aorta is normally smaller than the thoracic aorta.腹主动脉一般比胸主动脉小。
• Put down that jelly doughnut and look carefully at this aorta.放下手头上的东西，认真观察这张大动脉图片。

15 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。

16 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。

17 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