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VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-07-02 President Obama Visits Special High School

时间:2013-07-09 09:22:15

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AS IT IS 2013-07-02 President Obama Visits Special High School

Hello, and welcome once again to “As It Is”, our daily show for people learning everyday American English.

I’m Avi Arditti in Washington.

Today on the program, we tell about a survey of middle and high school teachers in the United States that shows the pluses and minuses of the Internet as a research tool.

“It’s just a lot to learn about how to discern credible1 sources. And it’s something that really has to be taught and paid attention to.”

Then, we go back 49 years to July 2nd, 1964, the day President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act, barring many forms of racial discrimination.

“We can understand without rancor2 or hatred3 how this all happened, but it cannot continue.”

But first, we follow President Obama on a recent visit to a different kind of American high school…

An unusual high school in Texas recently welcomed a special visitor. The visit was part of what the White House called a “Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Tour.”

VOA’s Bob Doughty4 reports.

Manor5 New Technology High School seeks to help prepare students to meet the increasing demand for technology workers. The school has gained national recognition for its program. It focuses less on teacher lectures and more on student projects in so-called STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

Most of the teachers who helped start the school six years ago were graduates of a program called UTeach at the University of Texas in Austin. They are still working at the high school today.

Lawrence Abraham is one of the directors of the UTeach program. He praises the program and the teachers at Manor New Technology High School.                                                  

“They put together the curriculum, which has elevated this school, among all the schools in the new tech network around the country to be the premier6 site.  And we think it is sort of the marriage of the UTeach program, which prepares teachers and encourages teachers to teach in a project-based way, with the new tech curriculum model, which is designed to incorporate that.”

Manor New Technology has 332 students. Sixty-eight percent are from ethnic7 or racial minorities. Fifty-two percent are from poor families. The Texas school sent 97 percent of its graduates to college in 2011 and all of its graduates in 2012.  

Most schools, however, do not have the financial support that Manor New Technology receives. It gets help from private organizations and state and federal funding.

Technology schools are sometimes criticized for not paying enough attention to the arts and social sciences -- subjects like psychology8 and anthropology9. University of Texas history professor Jeremi Suri says the goal of education goes beyond preparation for employment.

“Obviously science and math literacy are crucial. But democratic citizenship10 requires that people have a sense of our historical background as a society, a sense of how our society functions and an understanding of what democracy looks like in theory and in practice.”

Professor Suri says today, more than ever, workplace success depends on good communication and an ability to work well with others as a team.

I’m Bob Doughty.

Teachers say the digital age has had a good influence -- and a not-so-good influence -- on this generation of American teenagers. More than 2,000 middle and high school teachers took an online survey. Researchers also spoke11 with teachers in focus groups.

VOA’s Faith Lapidus reports.

Three-quarters of the teachers said the Internet and digital search tools have had a “mostly positive” effect on their students’ research habits and skills. But 87 percent agreed that these technologies are creating an “easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” And 64 percent said the technologies “do more to distract students than to help them academically.” Many students think "doing research” now means just doing a quick search on Google.

The Pew Internet Project did the survey with the College Board and the National Writing Project. A majority of the teachers came from Advanced Placement classes, which provide college-level work for high school students.

Judy Buchanan is deputy director of the National Writing Project and a co-author of the report. Ms. Buchanan says digital research tools are helping12 students learn more, and learn faster.

“Teachers really embrace these tools because they are ways to make some of learning exciting and engaging. Young people embrace these tools. And the goal is to really help them become creators of content, and meaningful content, and not just sort of consumers.”

But one problem the survey found is that many students are lacking in digital literacy. In other words, they trust too much of the information they find on the Internet. Judy Buchanan says these students have not developed the skills they need to judge the quality of online information.

“It’s just a lot to learn about how to discern credible sources. And it’s something that really has to be taught and paid attention to. It’s like everything else -- in a world in which things can happen quickly, you really do need to have a way to step back, reflect and analyze13 the information you have. And teachers can do a lot to teach that.”

I’m Faith Lapidus.

On July 2nd, 1964 -- 49 years ago -- President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the most-powerful civil-rights legislation in the nation’s history. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 barred racial discrimination in most private businesses, in voter registration14, and in any program that receives federal tax money. The new law also permitted the Justice Department to seek court orders to desegregate public centers including swimming pools, parks and libraries.

President Johnson said racial prejudice was preventing all Americans from enjoying the blessings15 of liberty.

“We can understand without rancor or hatred how this all happened, but it cannot continue. Our Constitution, the foundation of our republic, forbids it, the principles of our freedom forbid it, morality forbids it, and the law I will sign tonight forbids it.”

President Johnson had strongly urged the Congress to approve the law to honor the  memory of President John Kennedy, who had introduced the proposal in 1963. President Kennedy was assassinated16 later that same year.

President Johnson later said signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act was one of the proudest moments of his presidency17.

We hope you enjoyed our program today. And we hope it helped you learn everyday American English.

I’m Avi Arditti, and that’s “As It Is” on The Voice of America.


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1 credible JOAzG     
adj.可信任的,可靠的
参考例句:
  • The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
  • Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法?
2 rancor hA6zj     
n.深仇,积怨
参考例句:
  • I have no rancor against him.我对他无怨无仇。
  • Their rancor dated from a political dogfight between them.他们的积怨来自于他们之间在政治上的狗咬狗。
3 hatred T5Gyg     
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨
参考例句:
  • He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
  • The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。
4 doughty Jk5zg     
adj.勇猛的,坚强的
参考例句:
  • Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质:脾气倔强,性格刚强。
  • The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。
5 manor d2Gy4     
n.庄园,领地
参考例句:
  • The builder of the manor house is a direct ancestor of the present owner.建造这幢庄园的人就是它现在主人的一个直系祖先。
  • I am not lord of the manor,but its lady.我并非此地的领主,而是这儿的女主人。
6 premier R19z3     
adj.首要的;n.总理,首相
参考例句:
  • The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
  • He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。
7 ethnic jiAz3     
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。
8 psychology U0Wze     
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。
9 anthropology zw2zQ     
n.人类学
参考例句:
  • I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
  • Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。
10 citizenship AV3yA     
n.市民权,公民权,国民的义务(身份)
参考例句:
  • He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生,但没有瑞典公民身分。
  • Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后,她选择了澳大利亚国籍。
11 spoke XryyC     
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。
12 helping 2rGzDc     
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。
13 analyze RwUzm     
vt.分析,解析 (=analyse)
参考例句:
  • We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
  • The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。
14 registration ASKzO     
n.登记,注册,挂号
参考例句:
  • Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
  • What's your registration number?你挂的是几号?
15 blessings 52a399b218b9208cade790a26255db6b     
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福
参考例句:
  • Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马,焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
16 assassinated 0c3415de7f33014bd40a19b41ce568df     
v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 );中伤;诋毁;破坏
参考例句:
  • The prime minister was assassinated by extremists. 首相遭极端分子暗杀。
  • Then, just two days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. 跟着在两天以后,肯尼迪总统在达拉斯被人暗杀。 来自辞典例句
17 presidency J1HzD     
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期)
参考例句:
  • Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
  • Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

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