VOA慢速英语 2008 0201b

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We tell about the state-of-the-art sports center that will hold this year’s Super Bowl ‿/P>

Answer a listener's question about the band Aerosmith ‿/P>

And report on the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah ‿/P>

Sundance Film Festival

HOST:

The Sundance Film Festival takes place each January in and around Park City, Utah.  It is America's top event for filmmakers working without the support of major film studios.  Faith Lapidus has more about the film festival, which ended last weekend.

FAITH LAPIDUS:                                               

The Sundance Film Festival is a big event for independent filmmakers, film companies and people who love movies. Tens of thousands of people attend the film festival each year.  They gather in the cold, snowy mountain town of Park City, along with famous movie stars and many reporters. More than one hundred twenty new films were chosen to be shown during the ten-day event. Many filmmakers show their movies for the first time, hoping that film companies will buy them.  

"Up the Yangtze" by Chinese director Yung Chang was one of the movies purchased at Sundance.  It examines the effect of China's Three Gorges² Dam on the place where the director's grandfather grew up. 
Courtney Hunt won the 2008 Grand Jury³ Prize for her film ''Frozen⁴ River''

Thirty-two American films competed for prizes at Sundance. A five-member group of actors and directors chose the winners.  Two films about people dealing⁵ with personal tragedy won the top prizes.  The film "Frozen River" won the Grand Jury Prize for best American film drama. Courtney Hunt wrote and directed the film. It is about two poor women trying to bring Chinese immigrants illegally into the United States from Canada. 

"Trouble the Water" was named the best American documentary⁶, or true story. A woman and her husband show how they survived Hurricane Katrina and the deadly floodwaters in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Tia Lessin and Carl Deal directed the movie. People who attend Sundance can vote for their favorite films.  The winners receive the Audience Awards.

Sundance is also an important event for international filmmakers.  Thirty-two films from twenty-five countries competed at the festival.  The World Cinema Audience Award for drama went to "Captain Abu Raed," a film from Jordan directed by Amin Matalqa. A man whose real job is to clean the airport tells children magical stories about his make-believe life as a pilot. 

Another foreign film shown at Sundance was "Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey," directed by Sabiha Sumar. Her film explores the chances for democracy in Pakistan.

Aerosmith

HOST:

Our question this week comes from a Chinese listener. Zheyan Jin wants to know 
Aerosmith in concert
about the rock band Aerosmith. This group is one of the best selling hard rock bands of all time. The five musicians have been performing and making records for over thirty-five years. Their intense and energetic music helped define⁷ rock and roll.

The members of Aerosmith are singer Steven Tyler, guitar players Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, bass⁸ player Tom Hamilton, and Joey Kramer on drums. The group formed in nineteen seventy in Boston, Massachusetts. In the notes of their first album “Aerosmith‿ the group described themselves as “third-generation rockers with a desire to create something new.‿Here is their hit song “Dream On‿from that album.

(MUSIC)

During the nineteen seventies, the band made many popular albums, including “Your Wings‿and “Toys in the Attic⁹.‿But their success came at a price. Some members of the band became dependent on illegal drugs. Two members of the band left and were replaced by other musicians.

The original members of Aerosmith came together again in the nineteen eighties. Here is the song “Janie’s Got a Gun‿from the album “Pump.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

More recently, Aerosmith released “Honkin‿on Bobo‿and “Devil’s Got a New Disguise¹⁰.‿They began recording¹¹ a new album in November. Here is the song “Angel’s Eye‿ Aerosmith recorded the song for the movie “Charlie’s Angels.‿/P>

(MUSIC)

2008 Super Bowl

HOST:

The New England Patriots¹² and the New York Giants face each other Sunday in the forty-second yearly American football championship called the Super Bowl.  The Patriots are expected to win. If they do, they will set a new record.  They will have won more games during the season than any other team in history.  The Patriots will not be the first undefeated team, but they will have won the most games. The Super Bowl will be an exciting game. And the stadium where it will be played has the most modern technology in the world.  Barbara Klein has more. 

BARBARA KLEIN:

 
A look from inside the stadium in Glendale, Arizona
The University of Phoenix¹³ Stadium in Glendale, Arizona is home to the Arizona Cardinals¹⁴ football team.  It also holds a yearly college level championship game.  But, this will be the first Super Bowl held there.

Workers began building the stadium in two thousand three.  It was completed about three years and four hundred fifty-five million dollars later.  Unlike most stadiums, it has a roof that fully¹⁵ opens.  It is made of two parts that slide in and out.

This is important because Glendale is near the city of Phoenix, Arizona. This area is called the Valley of the Sun.  It sometimes is a very hot place. The average high temperature in the summer is above thirty-seven degrees Celsius¹⁶. So the roof of the stadium can be closed to permit air conditioning machines to be used.  But the roof can be opened during the cooler months for sporting and other events, like big rock concerts and trade shows.

The stadium has an unusual feature that no other stadium has.  The natural grass playing field rolls in and out of the structure as needed.  The grass grows on an object like a giant tray.  Most of the time the grass is moved outside to get sunshine and rain.  Workers roll it back inside for football games. Officials say this makes the center more usable for non-sporting events.

Architect Peter Eisenman designed the huge stadium.  Its shape represents the barrel cactus¹⁷, a common plant in the area.  The huge metal pieces that form its walls shine brightly in the desert sun.  

On Sunday, Tom Petty¹⁸ and the Heartbreakers will play at the Super Bowl half-time event.  We leave you with that band performing “American Girl.‿/P>

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson.  I hope you enjoyed our program today. Our writers were Shelley Gollust, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver¹⁹ who was also our producer. Transcripts²⁰ and MP3 files of our programs are at 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 gorges   

n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕

参考例句：

• The explorers were confronted with gorges(that were)almost impassable and rivers(that were)often unfordable. 探险人员面临着几乎是无路可通的峡谷和常常是无法渡过的河流。 来自辞典例句
• We visited the Yangtse Gorges last summer. 去年夏天我们游历了长江三峡。 来自辞典例句

3 jury   

n.陪审团，评委会；adj.临时用的；vt.挑选

参考例句：

• These twelve men are believed to compose the jury.据信，陪审团是由这12人组成的。
• The members of the jury were discharged from their duties.陪审员们被解除了职务。

4 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 documentary   

adj.文献的；n.纪录片

参考例句：

• This case lacked documentary proof.本案缺少书面证据。
• I watched a documentary on the Civil War.我看了一部关于内战的纪录片。

7 define   

vt.解释，下定义，阐述，限定，规定

参考例句：

• Please define the words.请解释这些字的意义。
• It's hard to define exactly what has changed.很难解释清楚到底发生了什么变化。

8 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

9 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

10 disguise   

vt.把...假扮起来；n.伪装物，假装，伪装

参考例句：

• He went about in the disguise of a sailor.他伪装成海员到处流窜。
• It is impossible to disguise the fact that business is bad.生意不好这件事无法隐瞒。

11 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

12 patriots   

爱国者，爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Abraham Lincoln was a fine type of the American patriots. 亚伯拉罕·林肯是美国爱国者的优秀典型。
• These patriots would fight to death before they surrendered. 这些爱国者宁愿战斗到死，也不愿投降。

13 phoenix   

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。

14 cardinals   

红衣主教( cardinal的名词复数 )； 红衣凤头鸟（见于北美，雄鸟为鲜红色）； 基数

参考例句：

• cardinals in scarlet robes 身披红袍的枢机主教
• A conclave of cardinals was held to elect the new Pope. 红衣主教团举行了秘密会议来选举新教皇。

15 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

16 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

17 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。

18 petty   

adj.小的，琐碎的，不重要的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• The removal of petty restrictions has made life easier.对一些琐碎规定的取消使生活更自在了。
• It was petty of her not to accept the apology.她气量太小，连道歉也不接受。

19 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。

20 transcripts   

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