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VOA慢速英语 2007 0306b

时间:2007-07-10 01:08:31

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(单词翻译)

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:


David Massey, a student at the West Virginia Autism Training Center at Marshall University, works with Stephanie Hurley, a Marshall senior. New findings about the possible causes of autism appear below.

And I'm Steve Ember. This week, we will tell you what an American satellite discovered under Antarctica. We will also tell about the first woman to win a major award for computer scientists. And, we report on a study that found yet another possible use for the drug aspirin1.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

American space agency scientists say they have discovered large lakes hidden under the ice in Antarctica. The lakes are said to quickly fill with water and empty into surrounding seas.

Research scientists say they found more than one hundred lakes under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Until now, scientists did not know many of these lakes existed. Knowing that they exist will help scientists better understand the effects of climate change on the ice sheet.

The ice above the lakes moves at a speed of about eight tenths of a meter each day. Fast-moving ice streams are one way to estimate climate change. Information from the ice streams can be used to estimate how ice will survive rising sea temperatures.

VOICE TWO:

The researchers say they do not know exactly how the underground lakes affect the melting of ice away from the Antarctic ice sheet. Yet the melting of the ice sheet is one of the greatest fears of climate change scientists. American space agency researchers say Antarctica alone holds about ninety percent of the world's ice. They say the continent also holds seventy percent of the Earth's fresh water.

The Intergovernmental Panel2 on Climate Change recently released a report about climate change. The group warned that melting ice could cause world sea levels to rise up to fifty-eight centimeters by the end of the century.

VOICE ONE:

The discoveries were announced last month at the American Association for the Advancement3 of Science meeting in San Francisco, California.

Satellite images discovered the lakes under about seven hundred meters of ice. The satellite information was gathered from two thousand three to two thousand six. In the past, scientists had to cut deep holes into Antarctic ice to learn about what was happening underneath4. The process only permitted them to study small areas at a time.

VOICE TWO:

The ice streams on top of the lakes move quickly. Scientists say they move about one and one-half meters each day and often drop ice into the sea. Currently5, about twelve ice streams are moving the edges of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet into nearby waters.

Experts say the ice sheet last melted about one hundred twenty five thousand years ago. At the time, Earth's surface temperatures were similar to current temperatures. The American space agency estimates that the moving of ice into the ocean at the time sent sea levels about eighteen feet higher.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

An American study shows that use of the drug aspirin may prevent healthy adults from developing the disease asthma6. Asthma is caused by a condition in the lungs. During an asthma attack, breathing passages become smaller, blocking the flow of air. The disease usually develops during childhood. Some children recover as they get older.

Tobias Kurth led the new study. He works for Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. His team studied information about twenty-two thousand male doctors. The doctors had taken part in a health study during the nineteen eighties. That study was about heart disease, but its records also had information about asthma.

VOICE TWO:

None of the doctors had asthma when the study began. Half of them took an aspirin every other day. The other half took a harmless substance called a placebo7.

After about five years, one hundred forty-five men in the placebo group had developed asthma. But only one hundred thirteen men in the aspirin group had the disease. This represented a twenty-two percent decrease in the risk of developing asthma for those taking aspirin.

The research team reported the results last month in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

The researchers say it is too early to suggest that people take aspirin to prevent asthma. They also say aspirin is not a treatment for asthma. The drug can cause asthma attacks in some people who have the disease.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Another study offers information about the possible genetic9 causes of autism. Scientists already believed that autism is passed from parents to their children. But the study shows there could be many genes10 responsible for the brain disorder11. This is different from other disorders12 that are caused by a single gene8.

Results of the study were reported last month in the publication Nature Genetics. The Autism Genome Project organized the study. The project involves research scientists in nineteen countries. The researchers compared genetic material from almost twelve hundred families. Each family had two or more children with autism.

VOICE TWO:

The researchers used what they called gene chip technology to look for small genetic differences that could be linked to the disorder. They identified a gene called neurexin-one as one possible cause of autism. This gene seems to be linked to communication among brain cells. The study also showed that an area of chromosome13 eleven might influence the development of autism.

Signs of the disorder appear in early childhood, usually by the age of two or three years. Autism affects four times as many boys as girls. Another study released last month suggests that as many as one in every one hundred and fifty children in the United States has an autism disorder.

VOICE ONE:

Autistic children have problems in the development of social and communication skills. They may also have limited interests and repeat the same actions again and again.

One problem with earlier autism research has been that studies are often based on information from a small number of people. In this study, more than one hundred and twenty researchers spent five years working to expand the number of persons studied. Because they shared their information, the researchers had a greater amount of information to work with.

Scientists hope that learning more about the genetic roots of autism will help them to better identify and understand the disorder. They also hope to learn more about developing drugs to treat autism.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:


Frances Allen is the first woman to win the Turing Award

Finally, a computer scientist from the United States has won the two thousand six A.M. Turing Award. The Association for Computing14 Machinery15 named Frances Allen as the winner. The A.C.M. is an international organization for computer scientists and educators.

The A.M. Turing Award has been called the Nobel prize of computing. It is given every year to scientists and engineers who created the systems and theories that have aided the information technology industry. The Turing Award winner receives one hundred thousand dollars. Earlier winners include Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn for helping16 to design the Internet.

The award is named for the British mathematics expert Alan M. Turing. He is considered one of the fathers of computer science. His work helped Allied17 nations learn how the German military passed secret commands and orders during World War Two.

VOICE ONE:

This is the first time that the Turing Award has been given to a woman. The Association for Computing Machinery says it is honoring Frances Allen for improving the performance of computer programs in solving problems. It says her work also helped to speed up the use of high performance computing.

Miz Allen is retired18 from her job with the T.J. Watson Research Center at IBM Corporation. She joined the company in nineteen fifty-seven to teach the computer language FORTRAN to IBM engineers. She was trained as a mathematics teacher but became interested in the power of computers.

Miz Allen has won several awards and honorary college degrees. She told the USA Today newspaper that she wants to use the Turing Award to influence more young women to study computer science. She will receive her award in June at ceremonies in San Diego, California.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Brianna Blake, Dana Demange, Shelley Gollust and Nancy Steinbach. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Doug Johnson. Be listening again next week at this time for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
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1 aspirin 4yszpM     
n.阿司匹林
参考例句:
  • The aspirin seems to quiet the headache.阿司匹林似乎使头痛减轻了。
  • She went into a chemist's and bought some aspirin.她进了一家药店,买了些阿司匹林。
2 panel l4IzD     
n.面,板,专门小组,控制板,仪表盘
参考例句:
  • The unusual control panel on the walls caught our attention.墙上不同寻常的控制板引起了我们的注意。
  • The panel of judges included several well-known writers.评判小组中包括几位知名作家。
3 advancement tzgziL     
n.前进,促进,提升
参考例句:
  • His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
  • The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。
4 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
5 currently SvMzI2     
adv.通常地,普遍地,当前
参考例句:
  • Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
  • Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。
6 asthma WvezQ     
n.气喘病,哮喘病
参考例句:
  • I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
  • Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。
7 placebo placebo     
n.安慰剂;宽慰话
参考例句:
  • The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
  • The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。
8 gene WgKxx     
n.遗传因子,基因
参考例句:
  • A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
  • The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。
9 genetic PgIxp     
adj.遗传的,遗传学的
参考例句:
  • It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
  • Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
10 genes 01914f8eac35d7e14afa065217edd8c0     
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 disorder Et1x4     
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调
参考例句:
  • When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后,他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
  • It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。
12 disorders 6e49dcafe3638183c823d3aa5b12b010     
n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 );凌乱;骚乱;(身心、机能)失调
参考例句:
  • Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告,厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 chromosome 7rUzX     
n.染色体
参考例句:
  • Chromosome material with exhibits of such behaviour is called heterochromatin.表现这种现象的染色体物质叫做异染色质。
  • A segment of the chromosome may become lost,resulting in a deletion.染色体的一个片段可能会丢失,结果产生染色体的缺失。
14 computing tvBzxs     
n.计算
参考例句:
  • to work in computing 从事信息处理
  • Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代(约1980年),他们就创办了软件公司。
15 machinery CAdxb     
n.(总称)机械,机器;机构
参考例句:
  • Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗?
  • Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。
16 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。
17 allied iLtys     
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。
18 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

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