VOA慢速英语 2008 1107b

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. This week:

We listen to music nominated for Country Music Awards …

Answer a listener question about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac …

And report about efforts to protect a huge rare desert plant in the Southwest.

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Saguaros and Microchips

HOST:

A saguaro is a giant cactus² found only in the Sonoran Desert of the southwestern United States and Mexico. A saguaro can live about two hundred years and grow to a height of fifteen meters. More than one million of these cacti³ are in Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona. Chief Ranger⁴ Bob Love says the purpose of the park is to protect these rare plants. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

It is illegal to remove any plants from a national park in the United States. Arizona law bans removing saguaros from any public or private land without government permission.

Rangers⁵ at Saguaro National Park say many people in the Southwest want a saguaro in their yard. And they are willing to pay more than one thousand dollars for one. So people have been stealing these plants to sell to homeowners. The thieves usually take young plants that are only about one or two meters tall and can fit into a truck. They dig up the plant and take it away at night. Last year, seventeen saguaros were taken at one time.
　
Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona

Saguaro National Park recently decided⁶ to take action to stop this theft. It is planning to place microchips in some of its saguaros. A microchip is an extremely small electronic marker placed in a plant, animal or object. Each chip in the park will contain the saguaro's location, elevation⁷, height, weight and general health. Waving a special stick near the chip permits it to show this information.

Officials say the microchips could help them discover if a saguaro found outside the park has been stolen. But Chief Ranger Bob Love says the real purpose of the project is to stop anyone from stealing the plants. He also says the chips will help officials follow the health changes and learn more about the growth of each saguaro.

Microchips are already protecting cacti in another national park, the Lake Mead⁸ National Recreation Area in Nevada. Officials there began placing the chips in barrel cacti in nineteen ninety-nine. Public Affairs Officer Andrew Munoz says the electronic chips have reduced the number of cactus thefts and have made it easier for officials to study the life changes of the cacti in the park.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

HOST:
　
The Fannie Mae building in Washington, D.C.

Our listener question this week comes from China. Peggy Guan wants to know the difference between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The short answer is that there is not much difference between the two so-called government sponsored enterprises. Fannie Mae is a nickname for the Federal National Mortgage Association. It was created as a federal agency in nineteen thirty-eight. At the time, the economic depression had greatly weakened the nation's housing market. Banks were not lending much money to people so they could buy houses. Fannie Mae was designed to provide banks with federal money so they could make home loans. Home ownership slowly increased.

In nineteen sixty-eight, Congress re-established Fannie Mae as a private company owned by shareholders⁹. Two years later, Congress established the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or Freddie Mac.

Both companies buy home loans, or mortgages, from banks. Then they either keep them as investments or resell them as securities to investors¹⁰.

No law requires that the federal government guarantee either company's financial activities. However, their positions as government sponsored enterprises strongly suggest such support. They also were given permission to operate under easier rules than other financial companies. In the past several years, lawmakers, officials and activists¹¹ have pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help more Americans buy homes. These include people with low or moderate incomes.

Until recently, the federal government provided no financial support to Fannie and Freddie. However, in September, the United States Federal Housing Finance Agency seized control of both companies as a result of the collapse¹² of the nation's housing market. The Treasury¹³ Department also promised to provide billions of dollars to the companies as part of a rescue plan.

At the time of the collapse, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac owned or guaranteed almost half of all home loans in the United States. They held almost five and one-half trillion dollars worth of guaranteed mortgage backed securities and debt at the time. Fannie and Freddie's market share was falling. American officials decided the companies could no longer operate safely on their own. So the government took control of them to protect the larger American economy.

Country Music Awards

HOST:

On Wednesday, country music performers, producers and fans will gather in Nashville, Tennessee for "country music's biggest night." The Country Music Association will give Country Music Awards to some of the brightest, biggest and newest stars in the industry. Barbara Klein plays some of the nominated music.

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BARBARA KLEIN:
　
Sugarland

That was "Don't Blink " by Kenny Chesney. It is competing for Single of the Year. Chesney has the most nominations¹⁵ this year. His seven nominations include Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year. Close behind him, with six nominations, is Jennifer Nettles¹⁶, half of the singing group Sugarland. Here the group performs "Stay." It is nominated for both Song and Single of the Year.

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Alison Krauss was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year along with four other singers. Krauss released an album with British rock and roller Robert Plant late last year called "Raising Sand." The Country Music Association honored the two artists with a Musical Event of the Year nomination¹⁴ for one of the album's songs. We leave you with "Gone, Gone, Gone."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

It was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver¹⁷, who was also our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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

 

1 mosaic   

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 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

3 cacti   

n.（复）仙人掌

参考例句：

• There we could see nothing but cacti.那里除了仙人掌我们什么也看不到。
• Cacti can survive the lack of rainfall in the desert.仙人掌在降水稀少的沙漠中也能生存下去。

4 ranger   

n.国家公园管理员，护林员；骑兵巡逻队员

参考例句：

• He was the head ranger of the national park.他曾是国家公园的首席看守员。
• He loved working as a ranger.他喜欢做护林人。

5 rangers   

护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员

参考例句：

• Do you know where the Rangers Stadium is? 你知道Rangers体育场在哪吗？ 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Now I'm a Rangers' fan, so I like to be near the stadium. 现在我是Rangers的爱好者，所以我想离体育场近一点。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

6 decided   

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。

7 elevation   

n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高

参考例句：

• The house is at an elevation of 2,000 metres.那幢房子位于海拔两千米的高处。
• His elevation to the position of General Manager was announced yesterday.昨天宣布他晋升总经理职位。

8 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

9 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

14 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

15 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

16 nettles   

n.荨麻( nettle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I tingle where I sat in the nettles. 我坐过在荨麻上的那个部位觉得刺痛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This bleak place overgrown with nettles was the churchyard. 那蔓草丛生的凄凉地方是教堂公墓。 来自辞典例句

17 weaver   

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。