VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-07-18 Troubled Teens Get a Fresh Start

 

AS IT IS 2013-07-18 Troubled Teens Get a Fresh Start

Hello!  How are you?   I’m Jim Tedder¹ in Washington with another edition of As It Is on the Voice of America. Today we do not have to travel far from the VOA studios to find out about a program designed to help young people in trouble.  It is called Fresh Start, and I think you will like what you hear. 

Then we’ll talk about flattops, jumbos, and six strings² and maple³ and spruce…yes …guitars …and a special group of women who once made them while the men were away at war.  As It Is …a ten minute tune-up to help you learn English!

Many young people who get into trouble with the law are expelled from school. They may even go to jail. Helping⁴ these teens change their way of life takes a lot of effort.  But it is not impossible.  There is a program in the Washington D.C. area that takes young men, sent there by the courts or social workers, and gives them a new chance at life.

Twelve young men, 16 and 19 years old, attend classes at the program, which is called Fresh Start.  Each one has made some bad decisions.  But they want to turn their lives around, to live a different way. One young man explains how he got into trouble.

“I got into a couple of fights or something and that led to me actually getting detained.”

Terrence Sinclair was 17 at the time.  But instead of being sentenced to prison, as an adult might have been, he was sent to this special program.  He spends his days studying to get his high school diploma, while also learning an occupation.

“I want to come out and get my education.  You got to do it for yourself because I know at the end of the day, if I want to get mine, I have to still sit down and do my work. “

Carpentry instructor⁵ Kenneth Talley says that is difficult for some of his students to recognize.  He says they sometimes start a little reluctantly, not putting all their effort into it.  Then they get creative and start to make their own products.  And that is when they start to get really interested.

Mr. Talley says working in the wood and metal class teaches them other lessons, like following directions and making a plan for whatever they are building.  And they feel good when they finish.

“It gives them patience.  It teaches them how to follow directions and make a plan for constructing whatever they are constructing.  And it also gives them gratification after they finish and complete …they see the end of their work.”

Fresh Start Director Toni Lemons says once they get into the spirit of the work, these young men are eager to learn.

The program also helps them find their way in the job market.  The Workforce⁶ Development class, for example, teaches students how to write a resume and prepare for a job interview.  Ms. Lemons says the young men learn basic skills like how to respond to interview questions and how body language is important when speaking to a possible employer.

Fresh Start’s director says another class, called Life Skills, teaches other things they need to succeed, for a career and in personal life.

“How to tie a tie, which is very important when it comes to going on a job interview.  They learn how to budget, how to be able to maintain their finances.”

Outdoor classes are as important as ones that are held inside.  So are community events where Fresh Start students help guide other young people.  Toni Lemons says that helps them gain a better image of themselves.  Then they can pass on what they have learned -- and help others.

Women Make Music Possible During World War II

During World War Two, as American men went off to war, women filled the jobs they left behind. Women worked in factories, stores and shipyards. There was even a famous painting of a woman rolling up her sleeves and preparing to become “Rosie the riveter⁷.”  It was the kind of job that only men had done in the past.  But one group of women worked with wood and steel, building Gibson guitars. Christopher Cruise picks up the story from there.

John Thomas is a writer and a lover of guitars. He was surprised when he saw a wartime photograph of the Gibson guitar factory in Michigan. Nearly all of the 75 people in the picture were women. Irene Stearns, now age 90, spent several of the war years working at the factory.

"I got out of high school and everybody is looking for a job, and there weren’t any jobs. Then one day, they called and I started at Gibson. I suppose it was because of the war."

Irene Stearns is one of the former Gibson factory workers who John Thomas found in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area. She made guitar strings for some of the thousands of instruments the factory produced in the 1940s.

"All the celebrities⁸ and people who were buying the guitars would come. And they would be on the other side of the wall from where I sat making strings. So, it was really nice in that part. I could hear them playing all these beautiful guitars."

John Thomas calls the women who worked at the Gibson factory, the "Kalamazoo Gals⁹." That is also the name of his new book about the female guitar makers¹⁰. He believes the company kept their work secret because it did not think guitar buyers of the day would use instruments built by women.

Mr. Thomas collected three of the World War II Gibson guitars and borrowed several others to help tell the story. Then a friend told him about Lauren Sheehan, a professional musician who agreed to help.

"Certainly I'm a champion for a story about women excelling at work that is traditionally a man's domain¹¹."

Lauren Sheehan bought a restored Gibson guitar for herself. She says she wanted to own a piece of America’s musical heritage.

I’m Christopher Cruise.

1 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

2 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

3 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

4 helping   

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。

5 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。

6 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

7 riveter   

打铆机； 铆枪； 铆工

参考例句：

• The riveter riveted the metal sheets to the ship's bottom. 铆工把薄金属板铆在船底上。
• The experiment proved that the recoil force of the electromagnetic riveter has reduced greatly. 通过试验表明，优化后铆枪的后坐力明显减小。

8 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

9 gals   

abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail, and singing Buffalo Gals. 这时，吉姆手里提着一个锡皮桶，嘴中唱着“布法罗的女娃们”蹦蹦跳跳地从大门口跑出来。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
• An' dey thinks dey wants mousy lil gals wid bird's tastes an' no sense at all. 他们想要的是耗子般的小姑娘，胃口小得像雀子，一点儿见识也没有。 来自飘（部分）

10 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。