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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC1, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

We answer a question from a listener about stories called urban legends...

Play music by groups taking part in worldwide Live Earth concerts to fight global warming...

And report about some movie sequels being released this summer.

Summer Sequels

HOST:

A sequel is a movie that continues a story begun in an earlier movie or tells another story using the same characters. This summer, there are a lot of them. Barbara Klein explains.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Movie studio officials say they expect sequels this summer to earn a huge amount of money. They say three such movies released in May earned more than one hundred million dollars each in ticket sales in just one month. The three movies are Shrek Three, Pirates3 of the Caribbean: At World's End and Spider-Man Three.


Spiderman 3

Spider-Man Three continues the story of the superhero who fights evil in New York City. The movie earned more than one hundred fifty million dollars in its first three days of release. Reports say movie officials expect it to earn about nine hundred million dollars around the world.

Shrek the Third continues the story of the green cartoon creature and his wife, Princess Fiona. It has earned more than three hundred million dollars in the United States since it opened in May.


Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is the third story about pirate2 Captain Jack4 Sparrow. He was captured by the evil Davy Jones in the earlier movie. In the latest one, his friends rescue him from death on the high seas. The latest Pirates movie earned one hundred fifty million dollars in the United States on its opening weekend. And it earned more than two hundred forty million dollars outside the United States during that same period.

But movie officials are disappointed that the third movies in these series are not doing as well in the United States as the second movies did. They say one reason for this may be that the three movies opened very close to each other. Still, they expect all three movies to do extremely well around the world.

Several other movie sequels were released recently. They include Ocean's Thirteen, The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Live Free or Die Hard. Still to come this summer: Harry5 Potter and the Order of the Phoenix6 and The Bourne Ultimatum7.

Urban Legends

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Taiwan. Sandra wants to know if urban legends are true.

An urban legend is a story that many people believe to be true. Some of these stories may have had some truth to them at one time. But they usually change over time and many are not true anymore. In the past, people read such stories in magazines and newspapers. Today, the Internet spreads them around the world much faster.

Many urban legends warn about something. One very old one is about a woman who tied up her long hair and never washed it. Spiders were said to have made a nest in her hair and killed her by eating her head. Other examples include warnings about eating two different foods or medicines at the same time, like taking an aspirin8 with Coca Cola.

One urban legend is about ships and planes that mysteriously disappear in an area of the Atlantic Ocean called the Bermuda Triangle. Another is about people in New York City who got rid of their small pet alligators9 by flushing10 them down the toilet. These alligators lived in New York's underground waste water system and grew to be huge. Other urban legends involve famous movie stars.

Some urban legends are false, yet are extremely difficult to stop. For example, one story said a major American company gave some of its money to the Church of Satan that worships the devil. Many people who believed this story stopped buying the company's products even though the story was false.

Some Internet sites investigate the truth of urban legends. One is called Snopes dot com. It lists the twenty-five most popular urban legends. Many are spread through the Internet. The top one is about plastic bottles you can buy that contain water. An urban legend says that these bottles release cancer-causing substances when they are re-used. Snopes says this urban legend is false.

Live Earth

HOST:


Preparing for Live Earth on a once-in-a-century day

On Saturday, musicians around the world will perform a series of concerts to raise attention to global warming. The twenty-four hours of music will take place in New York, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Johannesburg; also Hamburg, Germany, and Sydney, Australia. On Thursday a Brazilian judge ruled that the concert in Rio de Janeiro could go on as planned. She accepted security guarantees from organizers, but the decision may not have been final. The Live Earth shows will be broadcast on television, radio and the Internet in more than one hundred countries. Faith Lapidus tells us more about the events.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

They are being called the concerts for a climate in crisis11. Producer Kevin Wall, working with former Vice12 President Al Gore13, came up with the idea for Live Earth. Wall has produced concerts for many famous performers including Bob Dylan. He founded SOS, Save Our Selves, to develop events to influence people to fight climate crisis. Wall was also the man behind Live Eight, a series of concerts last year to fight poverty.

Live Earth is taking place on the seventh day of the seventh month of two thousand seven. It represents all seven continents. More than one hundred famous musicians will perform. They include the Police, Madonna and Bon Jovi.

Lenny Kravitz will be the lead act at the concert in Rio de Janeiro. His hits include American Woman and Let Love Rule. Here Kravitz sings Are You Gonna' Go My Way.

(MUSIC)

The Black Eyed Peas will be among the performers at the show in London. Here lead singer Fergie performs a song from her solo14 album, The Dutchess. Big Girls Don't Cry is one of the top songs on Billboard15 Magazine's Hot One Hundred List.

(MUSIC)

If you are near Hamburg, Germany you can see Shakira perform at the Live Earth show there. We leave you with Shakira singing Illegal.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver16 wrote the program. Mario Ritter was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, www.unsv.com.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mosaic CEExS     
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。
2 pirate F23z9     
n.海盗,每盗船
参考例句:
  • The pirate chief commanded that the prisoners should be shot.海盗头子下令枪毙俘虏。
  • The shore batteries fired at the pirate boat.海岸炮兵向海盗船开火。
3 pirates cbb038d74db4fd0e22ac501524f92158     
n.海盗( pirate的名词复数 );剽窃者;侵犯版权者;非法播音的人(或组织)
参考例句:
  • Children dressed (themselves) up as pirates. 孩子们假扮成海盗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The pirates treated their captives with barbarity. 海盗们残暴地对待他们的俘虏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4 jack 53Hxp     
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。
5 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
6 phoenix 7Njxf     
n.凤凰,长生(不死)鸟;引申为重生
参考例句:
  • The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
  • The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。
7 ultimatum qKqz7     
n.最后通牒
参考例句:
  • This time the proposal was couched as an ultimatum.这一次该提议是以最后通牒的形式提出来的。
  • The cabinet met today to discuss how to respond to the ultimatum.内阁今天开会商量如何应对这道最后通牒。
8 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。
9 alligators 0e8c11e4696c96583339d73b3f2d8a10     
n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Two alligators rest their snouts on the water's surface. 两只鳄鱼的大嘴栖息在水面上。 来自辞典例句
  • In the movement of logs by water the lumber industry was greatly helped by alligators. 木材工业过去在水上运输木料时所十分倚重的就是鳄鱼。 来自辞典例句
10 flushing d24ea2499acc8341840f9aa56b6cae23     
脸红
参考例句:
  • The police succeeded in flushing the criminal from their secret meeting place. 警察成功地把这名罪犯从秘密据点赶出来。
  • He turned away embarrassed, his face flushing red. 他难为情地扭过头去,羞红了脸。
11 crisis pzJxT     
n.危机,危急关头,决定性时刻,关键阶段
参考例句:
  • He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明,在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
  • The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。
12 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。
13 gore gevzd     
n.凝血,血污;v.(动物)用角撞伤,用牙刺破;缝以补裆;顶
参考例句:
  • The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
  • Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。
14 solo ywpw8     
n.独奏,独唱;adj.单独的;adv.单独地;v.放单飞,单独表演
参考例句:
  • Tara is currently working on a solo album.塔拉眼下正忙着制作个人专辑。
  • There's wonderfully lyrical flute solo in the middle of this symphony.在交响乐中间有一段奇妙的抒情长笛独奏。
15 billboard Ttrzj     
n.布告板,揭示栏,广告牌
参考例句:
  • He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
  • Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。
16 weaver LgWwd     
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。

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