在线英语听力室

VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-08-27 Just How Chinese Are America's Chinatowns?

时间:2013-08-28 14:01:04

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

 

AS IT IS 2013-08-27 Just How Chinese Are America's Chinatowns?

From VOA Learning English, welcome to As It Is. I’m Steve Ember.

On today’s program we go to America’s Chinatowns – and tell about how they’ve changed over the years.

Next, we provide some expert suggestions for students writing academic papers from a university teacher and writer.

And, we note the birthday anniversary of an American president.

But first, just how Chinese is Chinatown?

People from China have been in the United States since the middle of the 1800s.  Today, Chinese and other Asians are America’s fastest growing minority.  Almost every major city in the country has an area called “Chinatown.” 

They call it Grant Avenue, San Francisco, California, USA

Looks down from Chinatown, over a foggy bay…

(from “Flower Drum Song”  by Rodgers and Hammerstein)

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote a Broadway musical in the late 1950s called “Flower Drum Song.” It was about generational conflict in Chinese-American families in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In “Grant Avenue,” Pat Suzuki joyfully1 sang of the attractions that brought visitors to the downtown Chinese community.

A western street with eastern manners

Tall pagodas2 with golden banners

Throw their shadows through a lantern glow

You can shop for precious jade3 or teakwood tables…

From San Francisco to New York, people visit Chinatown for restaurants, grocery stores, herbal cures, and other businesses.  But many Chinese have moved out of traditional Chinatown neighborhoods and now live in suburbs just outside the inner city.  For example, one of the largest mainly Chinese suburbs is just outside Los Angeles, California.  But such areas are very different from the old Chinatown.

[Chinese conversation and music]

Steve Wong is acting4 director of the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles.  He says Chinatowns in major American cities are now mainly for tourists.

“If you walk around Chinatown today in Los Angeles and many other big cities, you have these facades5 of Chinese-ness, which sometimes is real.  Sometimes it’s not.  And so you have gift shops, you have Chinese food which is catering6 towards American tastes.  I don’t even call it Chinese food.  I think it’s very American.”

But at one time, Chinatown was the only place where Chinese immigrants could live.  The first Chinese immigrants arrived from southern China in the 1800s as laborers7. Many worked on building America’s first railroads.  Then, in 1882, the United States banned Chinese immigration.  Hostility toward the Chinese led to the creation of Chinatowns.  Steve Wong tells about how the neighborhoods developed. 

“Without being able to bring in families and women, they (Chinese men) weren’t able to develop their communities.  So they had to turn to the outside and create an economy based on tourism.”

Min Zhou is a professor at the University of Southern California Los Angeles.  In the past thirty years, Chinese immigrants from Taiwan, and then China, came to America as students – and then stayed in the United States.  She describes their arrival.

“A lot of them are from middle class, they want to buy or rent houses rather than live in apartments and they also want to find good school districts. So Chinatown is not attractive to them.”

As It Is is coming to you from VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember.

Worried about writing your next college paper?

Next - to the university campus, and some help for students concerned with their ability to write academic papers. 

Do you sometimes worry about writing reports for your school or university? 

Expressing your thoughts can be difficult, especially if you are not writing in your first language. So we have asked some academic writing experts in the United States for advice. From time to time, we will bring you their suggestions, in their own words.

We begin today with Mary Ann Allison. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism9, Media Studies and Public Relations at Hofstra University in New York. She is also a poet and a writer. Ms. Allison says starting to write a paper for school is often the most difficult part. Here is some of her advice. 

“If you have any choice at all of a topic, is to do something that you’re really interested in, because the more you are interested in it naturally, the better you’ll write and the easier it’ll be.”

She suggests first looking at the available information on the topic.

“…to see if there’s enough for me to be able to easily research and write what I want to write. And if there’s not, then I might choose something else to write on.” 

As the next step, she suggests what she calls

“…back-of-the-envelope outline. That’s when I sit down, maybe not at my desk, not at my computer, maybe even at a café, or with a cup of coffee, but where I sit. And I just kind of think about it, and I think about the topic like, what would I say to a friend? And I just write down short notes about whatever – whatever comes to mind. What would I say to a friend about this? Or, what do I want to know about this? And when I have - oh, I don’t know - anywhere between five and 10 points, I stop.” 

Mary Ann Allison says it’s also important to wait for a day and sleep on it.

“…because your brain will work on it while you’re sleeping. And then I take those notes and I make an outline. And then I take the outline and again check how much information is there.  Is there easy information on all these points? And if the signals are all ‘yes’, then I might start writing.”

It’s important also to let your unconscious mind do a lot of the work for you.

“…because if you sit down and try to write it right now, you don’t give your unconscious any time to organize things (or to) bring together other ideas. So do some research, which gives your subconscious10 something to think about. Right?  And then let it rest for a night.  You’ll often find that it’s much easier (to start writing) the next day, letting it seep11.   Also, the more rested you are, the better it will be.

“That works for exams, too, by the way.  If you cram12 all night, you’re much more likely to do worse than if you get sleep.” 

It’s As It Is from VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember.

Remembering an American President...

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Lyndon Baines Johnson. He was the 36th president of the United States.

He was born near Stonewall, Texas on August 27th, 1908.

Johnson served as president during a difficult period for the United States, both at home and abroad. There was racial tension in American cities, and the country was increasingly involved in an unpopular and costly13 war in Vietnam.

LBJ, as he was popularly called, was serving as vice8 president when President John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas Texas, in November of 1963.  Johnson finished Kennedy’s term. The next year, he was elected to a full four-year term as president. He helped to enact14 a series of reforms called “The Great Society.”

President Kennedy had promised to sign a bill that banned unfair treatment based on a person’s race or sex. The measure also ended racial segregation15 – or separation -- in all public buildings.

As president, Lyndon Johnson successfully urged Congress to pass the bill.

“We believe that all men are created equal. Yet, many are denied equal treatment.”

He is widely praised for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Johnson did not seek a second full term in office. He died on January 2nd, 1973.


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 joyfully joyfully     
adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地
参考例句:
  • She tripped along joyfully as if treading on air. 她高兴地走着,脚底下轻飘飘的。
  • During these first weeks she slaved joyfully. 在最初的几周里,她干得很高兴。
2 pagodas 4fb2d9696f682cba602953e76b9169d4     
塔,宝塔( pagoda的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • A dream is more romantic than scarlet pagodas by a silver sea. 梦中的风光比银白海洋旁边绯红的宝塔更加旖旎艳丽。
  • Tabinshwehti placed new spires on the chief Mon pagodas. 莽瑞体在孟人的主要佛塔上加建了新的塔顶。
3 jade i3Pxo     
n.玉石;碧玉;翡翠
参考例句:
  • The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
  • He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。
4 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
5 facades 4181fbc91529cee0be1596dded899433     
n.(房屋的)正面( facade的名词复数 );假象,外观
参考例句:
  • Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
  • Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网
6 catering WwtztU     
n. 给养
参考例句:
  • Most of our work now involves catering for weddings. 我们现在的工作多半是承办婚宴。
  • Who did the catering for your son's wedding? 你儿子的婚宴是由谁承办的?
7 laborers c8c6422086151d6c0ae2a95777108e3c     
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工
参考例句:
  • Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
8 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
9 journalism kpZzu8     
n.新闻工作,报业
参考例句:
  • He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师,可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
  • He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。
10 subconscious Oqryw     
n./adj.潜意识(的),下意识(的)
参考例句:
  • Nail biting is often a subconscious reaction to tension.咬指甲通常是紧张时的下意识反映。
  • My answer seemed to come from the subconscious.我的回答似乎出自下意识。
11 seep rDSzK     
v.渗出,渗漏;n.渗漏,小泉,水(油)坑
参考例句:
  • My anger began to seep away.我的怒火开始消下去了。
  • If meteoric water does not evaporate or run overland,it may seep directly into the ground.如果雨水不从陆地蒸发和流走的话,就可能直接渗入地下。
12 cram 6oizE     
v.填塞,塞满,临时抱佛脚,为考试而学习
参考例句:
  • There was such a cram in the church.教堂里拥挤得要命。
  • The room's full,we can't cram any more people in.屋里满满的,再也挤不进去人了。
13 costly 7zXxh     
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。
14 enact tjEz0     
vt.制定(法律);上演,扮演
参考例句:
  • The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
  • For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。
15 segregation SESys     
n.隔离,种族隔离
参考例句:
  • Many school boards found segregation a hot potato in the early 1960s.在60年代初,许多学校部门都觉得按水平分班是一个棘手的问题。
  • They were tired to death of segregation and of being kicked around.他们十分厌恶种族隔离和总是被人踢来踢去。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。