VOA慢速英语2013 Does ‘Star Trek’ Really Influence Science and Technology?

 

Does ‘Star Trek¹’ Really Influence Science and Technology?

Welcome to American Mosaic² from VOA Learning English.

I’m June Simms.

A new “Star Trek” movie is out! Today, we talk about the influence of the popular television and movie series.

We also play music from the latest album by Vampire³ Weekend.

And we go to California to learn what’s happening to the dirty Los Angeles River.

The Power of “Star Trek”

Another movie based on the television show “Star Trek” recently opened in theaters. “Star Trek Into Darkness” has led to new discussion about the show’s influence on science, technology and society. Christopher Cruise has more.

Star Trek’s spaceship is well-known to people who have watched the TV series. And those who did not can still see the first model of the Enterprise. It can be seen at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

The imaginary spacecraft led to the name of the American space agency’s first space shuttle, says museum official Margaret Weitekamp.

“Well, the very first space shuttle was actually named Enterprise as a result of a write-in campaign organized by Star Trek fans of the 1970s.”

That is just one sign of Star Trek’s influence. Ms. Weitekamp recently spoke⁴ about the subject in a group discussion at the museum. She notes that the series was first broadcast in the late 1960s, when women and minorities were pressing for equal rights.

“Star Trek has been a really important vision not only of what future space flight could look like, but also a reflection of what the hopes were, especially in the 1960s, for what human society could look like. So, very importantly in 1966, it’s a mixed sex, racially integrated, multinational⁵ space crew that even includes an alien.”

The first Star Trek series also showed technologies that have become reality, says Pace University Professor Nancy Reagin. She served as editor of the book “Star Trek and History.”

“You see the first depiction⁶ of a plasma⁷ screen TV; you see the first depiction of what would call a cell phone. I mean the communicators – they sort of flip⁸ open just like the first cell phone that I ever had. You see the first example of Bluetooth technology, where Uhura is wearing the little Bluetooth in her ear. You see the first use of tablets, you know, where they’re using the multi-touch pads.”

Star Trek still excites engineers, says Mike Gold of Bigelow Aerospace⁹. The company is developing next-generation spacecraft.

“I’d like to think that our entire program is again very much in keeping with the spirit of Star trek, which is to push the boundaries for human exploration.”

He says the Bigelow Expander Activity Module¹⁰ will be tested on the International Space station in 2015. The module, called BEAM for short, is yet another example of Star Trek’s influence. The show made famous the words, “Scotty, beam me up.” This was the command given to the engineer who controlled teleportation of crewmembers.

The new film appeals to Star Trek fans old and new. Fans and astronauts, and the stars and writers of “Star Trek Into Darkness,” discussed the appeal of the series on a Google Hangout.

Astronaut Kjell Lindgren said Star Trek fuels the imagination.

“That’s one of the real fun things about these movies and science fiction in general: it’s just that opportunity to imagine what the future could be like and what technology is going to be like.”

Star Trek has been a part of popular culture for almost 50 years. And with yet another movie being planned, the series will continue to inspire people to think about space, the final frontier.

To Clean A River

The Los Angeles River is a man-made water passage. It collects dirty water from storm drains. Sadly, it has become a place where much of the city’s waste collects. But as Katherine Cole reports, the river is being cleaned up thanks to volunteers.

Thousands of volunteers appeared on a recent weekend to remove the waste from the Los Angeles River. The amount of trash has been growing as a result of winter rain storms.

Engineers added a concrete lining¹¹ to the bottom of the waterway in the 1930s after years of periodic flooding. Volunteer Carol Henning says it now looks like a river again, at least in some places.

“Well, it’s beginning to look a little better. My memory of the river was people having drag races in the LA River on the cement bottom.”

 Part of the LA River was used for filming a car race in the 1978 movie, “Grease.” Today parts of the river have been turned into a recreation area. There are plants growing along the water, and some of the birds, fish and other wildlife have returned.

Los Angeles poet Lewis McAdams launched the group Friends of the LA River in 1986. He says the waterway is no longer considered the city’s ugly back yard.

“Now it is increasingly the front yard of the city. People don’t ignore it. More and more people come down. This is the 24th annual LA River clean-up. We figure at this point we have cleaned up and taken out about a million pounds (450 kilograms) of trash out of the LA River.”

Some objects found in the clean-up surprise the volunteer clean-up crew. John Dubler is a volunteer from the Disney Company.

“We find snack bags and clothing. It is amazing what you see. Little CDs.”

There are food store carts, building materials and floor coverings.

Volunteer Jack¹² Lebic says there is one very common object.

“Tons and tons of plastic bags. I think that is the number one. And they are buried underneath¹³ here.”

It is a yearly effort that is paying off -- with a river that is, once again, starting to look like a river.

Vampire Weekend’s Number One Album

“Modern Vampires¹⁴ of the City” is the latest album from New York City-based band Vampire Weekend. This week it entered “Billboard¹⁵” magazine’s Top 200 albums chart at number one. The group’s most recent album, “Contra”, was a Billboard number one in 2010. But the similarity ends there.

Vampire Weekend has reformed its sound. “Modern Vampires of the City” seems a more simple production than “Contra” and the song lyrics¹⁶ feel more serious. Much of the music has religious themes or subjects.

“Ya Hey” is a good example. It sounds a lot like Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God. And band member Ezra Koenig sings about Zion, Babylon and a saint, or holy person, in the first verse.

This is the third album for Vampire Weekend. Its first, called “Vampire Weekend”, came out in 2008. The four members of the band met while they were attending Columbia University in New York City. The four still live in the New York area.

Vampire Weekend usually produces its own albums. But, on “Modern Vampires of the City,” band members tried something new. They asked for help from producer Ariel Rechtshaid. He is known for his work with Usher¹⁷, Kylie Minogue and Plain White Ts.

The band also worked with actor Steve Buscemi, who directed a live webcast of its performance last month at the Roseland Ballroom¹⁸ in New York.

Vampire Weekend performed on the American television show, “Saturday Night Live”, earlier this month. We leave you with one of the songs they played. Here is “Diane Young.”

I’m June Simms. Our program was written by Christopher Cruise and Caty Weaver¹⁹, who was also the producer. Suzanne Presto²⁰ and Mike O’ Sullivan provided additional reporting.

1 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

2 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。

3 vampire   

n.吸血鬼

参考例句：

• It wasn't a wife waiting there for him but a blood sucking vampire!家里的不是个老婆，而是个吸人血的妖精！
• Children were afraid to go to sleep at night because of the many legends of vampire.由于听过许多有关吸血鬼的传说，孩子们晚上不敢去睡觉。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

6 depiction   

n.描述

参考例句：

• Double rhythms, resounding through the lyric depiction and connecting with each other, indicate the thespian place of mankind and the cognition of the writer to this thespian place. 这双重旋律互为表里，表明了人类的某种悲剧性处境以及作家对这种悲剧性处境的感受和认识。
• A realistic depiction of scenes from everyday domestic life. 日常家居生活的写实画。

7 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。

8 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

9 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

10 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

11 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

12 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

13 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

14 vampires   

n.吸血鬼( vampire的名词复数 )；吸血蝠；高利贷者；（舞台上的）活板门

参考例句：

• The most effective weapon against the vampires is avampire itself. 对付吸血鬼最有效的武器就是吸血鬼自己。 来自电影对白
• If vampires existed, don`t you think we would`ve found them by now? 如果真有吸血鬼，那我们怎么还没有找到他们呢？ 来自电影对白

15 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

16 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

17 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

18 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

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 presto   

adv.急速地；n.急板乐段；adj.急板的

参考例句：

• With something so important,you can't just wave a wand and presto!在这么重大的问题上，你想挥动一下指挥棒，转眼就变过来,办不到！
• I just turned the piece of wire in the lock and hey presto,the door opened.我把金属丝伸到锁孔里一拧，嘿，那门就开了。