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VOA慢速英语 2008 0218b

时间:2008-04-02 01:50:18

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(单词翻译)

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty1.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. In the United States, the third Monday in February is a federal holiday. Federal law calls it Washington's Birthday, honoring the nation's first president. But Americans now commonly know it as Presidents Day. And for this Presidents Day, or Washington's Birthday, we tell you about the presidents' home, the White House.

 
The White House, seen from the South Lawn in April
(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

George Washington supervised the building of the White House. Yet he and his wife, Martha, never had the chance to live there. It was completed after he left office in seventeen ninety-seven.

Since then, America has had forty-two other presidents. All of them have lived at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, in Washington, D.C. George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, have lived there since two thousand one.

This November, Americans will elect a new president. The new first family will meet with White House employees after the election to plan for the move. Then the family will move in on January twentieth, two thousand nine -- Inauguration2 Day.

VOICE TWO:

 
President George W. Bush meets with top advisers3 in the newly-renovated4 Oval Office in 2001
The White House has an East Wing and a West Wing. The Oval Office, the large round room where the president works, is in the West Wing. The first family lives in the East Wing. The official home of the vice5 president is on the grounds of the Naval6 Observatory7 in Washington.

The White House has more than one hundred thirty rooms. It also has collections of more than forty thousand objects. Presidential families often find things in storage that they like when they move in. For example, Jimmy Carter's children found a chair that Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, had bought.

First ladies have all added to the White House in some way. Jacqueline Kennedy, for example, created a colorful garden that is named in her honor.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

George Washington entered office in seventeen eighty-nine. He had great hopes for the house he started. In seventeen ninety, he signed an act of Congress to create an area for the federal government in the District of Columbia, along the Potomac River. President Washington and the French city planner Pierre L'Enfant chose the land for the new presidential home.

VOICE TWO:

A competition took place to find a designer. An architect named James Hoban entered a design similar to where the Irish Parliament meets, Leinster House in Dublin. Hoban was from Ireland. He won five hundred dollars and a piece of land for his winning design.

Grayish white sandstone was chosen for the walls. Work started in seventeen ninety-two, while George Washington lived in Philadelphia.

VOICE ONE:

America's second president was John Adams. He and his wife, Abigail, were the first to live in the new home. They moved in on November first, eighteen hundred. The house was not yet finished.

John and Abigail Adams lived in six rooms and used others to entertain guests. But they lived there for only four months.  

John Adams lost re-election to Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson tried to finish work on the home. So did the next president, James Madison.

But in eighteen fourteen, British forces invaded Washington. They burned the White House. President Madison's wife, Dolly, tried to save valuable objects from the fire as she fled.

She rescued a painting of George Washington.  This famous portrait by Gilbert Stuart hangs in the White House to this day.

VOICE TWO:

After the fire, James Hoban helped rebuild the house he had designed. During this time, it was painted white. Over the years, the White House has been enlarged and almost totally rebuilt.

 
President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush officially open the newly renovated James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House
One of the most recent projects was completed in July of two thousand seven. Workers made about eight million dollars in improvements to the press briefing room. The work included a better look for television, new electrical system, better air conditioning and more comfortable seats. Some of the old ones were broken.

News organizations paid for part of the cost of the work. Reporters moved to temporary offices across the street from the White House while the press room was closed for almost a year.

The room is named in honor of former White House press secretary James Brady. He and President Ronald Reagan were shot and wounded by a man with mental problems outside a Washington hotel in nineteen eighty-one.

VOICE ONE:

The press briefing room is built over Franklin Roosevelt's old swimming pool. Polio disabled his legs, but President Roosevelt still swam. The pool was built in nineteen thirty-three.

Roosevelt was president from nineteen thirty-three to nineteen forty-five. The thirty-second president led the nation through the end of the great economic depression and most of World War Two.

He was elected four times, more than any other president. He died in office. Today, the Twenty-second Amendment8 to the Constitution limits a person to being elected president twice.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen sixty-one, Congress decided9 that furniture of historic and artistic10 value would always be White House property. In effect, Congress made the White House a museum.

As visitors enter the White House, they see pictures of past presidents on the walls.

In another hall on the same floor are paintings of first ladies. A room off this hallway contains a collection of fine dishes. Each presidency11 has added to this collection.

VOICE ONE:

Wide marble steps lead to the next floor. It is called the State Floor. Presidents use rooms here for official duties and to entertain guests.

The largest room on the State Floor is the East Room. News conferences and music performances take place here. But this room has had other uses over the years.

Abigail Adams hung her family’s clothes to dry from the wash. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the thirty-fifth president, John F. Kennedy, rode her tricycle in the East Room.

VOICE TWO:

 
President Bush with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the Blue Room
Other rooms on the State Floor are named for their colors: the Blue Room, the Green Room and the Red Room. The president meets with diplomats12 and other guests in these rooms. They are also used for special events.

The twenty-second president, Grover Cleveland, married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room in eighteen eighty-six. The Green Room held the body of President Abraham Lincoln’s son Willie, who died in eighteen sixty-two.

And the nineteenth president, Rutherford Hayes, took his oath of office in the Red Room in eighteen seventy-seven following a disputed election.

Nearby is the State Dining Room, where big events take place, like official dinners for visiting leaders. The Treaty Room on the second floor is used for meetings. Important documents have been signed there. At different times, this was the cabinet room or the president's office. 

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The next floor of the White House contains bedrooms for guests. One of these is the Lincoln Bedroom, named for the sixteenth president. But Abraham Lincoln never slept there.

Lincoln used the room as an office while he led the country through the Civil War in the eighteen sixties. President Lincoln was murdered days after the war ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee, the Southern general. John Wilkes Booth, a stage actor and supporter of the South, shot Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, not far from the White House.

Over the years, presidents and other people have reported seeing Lincoln's ghost or feeling his presence in the White House.

VOICE TWO:

Long gone are the days when people could simply walk into the White House. In fact, the White House was closed to visitors temporarily after the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two thousand-one.

Information about public tours can be found at whitehouse.gov. Tours are available for groups of ten or more people. Requests for these self-guided tours must be made through a member of Congress. A limited number of tours are available. People can also see inside the White House through virtual tours at whitehouse.gov.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:      

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver13. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Transcripts14 and MP3s of our programs are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.   

 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
2 inauguration 3cQzR     
n.开幕、就职典礼
参考例句:
  • The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
  • Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。
3 advisers d4866a794d72d2a666da4e4803fdbf2e     
顾问,劝告者( adviser的名词复数 ); (指导大学新生学科问题等的)指导教授
参考例句:
  • a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
  • She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。
4 renovated 0623303c5ec2d1938425e76e30682277     
翻新,修复,整修( renovate的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He renovated his house. 他翻修了房子。
  • The house has been renovated three years earlier. 这所房子三年前就已翻新。
5 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。
6 naval h1lyU     
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
参考例句:
  • He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
  • The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。
7 observatory hRgzP     
n.天文台,气象台,瞭望台,观测台
参考例句:
  • Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
  • Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。
8 amendment Mx8zY     
n.改正,修正,改善,修正案
参考例句:
  • The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
  • The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。
9 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
10 artistic IeWyG     
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
参考例句:
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
11 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。
12 diplomats ccde388e31f0f3bd6f4704d76a1c3319     
n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 );有手腕的人,善于交际的人
参考例句:
  • These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
  • The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 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。
14 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
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

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