NPR边听边练33:迪拜港口收购案又惹国家安全话题

 　　【NPR边听边练】致力于提供新鲜有趣、饶有意味的时讯资料，致力于通过精听的方式促进听力提高，致力于不断开阔眼界和深入了解美国观点。

　　精听建议：

　　先完整地把一条新闻听一到三遍，争取掌握大意。然后，一句一句精听，力争每句话都听明白。遇到实在不懂的地方，再听写。

　　下面的文本材料中空缺部分里面要填的词都很简单，不过是一些值得注意的连读或者典型的美式发音哦，有些语速比较快。试试看，你能不能全部写对？

　　（参考文本，欢迎指出错误^^）

　　Okay. The controversy¹ over the port deal raises concern about foreigners owning all kinds of pieces of America, ___1___ in places. As NPR's Eric Weiner reports, it's not for the first time.

　　Close you eyes and ___2___ your mind back to a ___3___, an ancient time that's difficult for modern man to fathom²: 1988. Japan is an economic juggernaut, swallowing pieces of America like so much tekka-maki: Rockefeller Center, Universal Studios, Pebble³ Beach. "Where will Japan Strike Next?" screams a typical headline.

　　Well, we now know that those fears were unfounded. Japan turned out to be a toothless tiger. But in the years since, something funny happened, something that doesn't usually make headlines. Other countries have been slowly buying up pieces of America. Clyde Prestowitz is president of the Economic Strategy Institute. "The supermarkets in the US are owned in Holland, and a lot of the hotels in the US are owned in the UK, and a lot of the semi-conductor industry in the US is in foreign ownership. ___4___, it's very ___5___."

　　参考答案：

　　1. at least

　　2. cast

　　3. bygone era

　　4. I mean

　　5. extensive

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

3 pebble   

n.卵石，小圆石

参考例句：

• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。
• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。