VOA慢速英语20060324b

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - The Internet Gets Younger as More Teens Turn to BloggingBy Brianna Blake, Jill Moss² and Katy Weaver³

Broadcast: Friday, March 24, 2006

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

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

We play songs by new members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

Answer a question about copying information from websites...

And鈥?eport about teenage bloggers.

Teenage Bloggers

HOST:

Personal Internet Web sites, or blogs, are becoming more and more popular among young people. But the risks to personal privacy are also increasing. Faith Lapidus tells us more.


A student looks through the blog site Facebook. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

ANNOUNCER:

Millions of young people are creating blogs. Millions of others are reading them. The word blog is a short way of saying Web log.

Many popular Web sites now offer free, easy ways to create personal Web pages and fill them with writings and pictures. Web sites called Facebook and MySpace are some of the most popular blog sites for young people. Many young adults use their blogs to write about daily activities and events in their lives. They also provide a place for people to write their ideas and opinions and react to the ideas of others.

Blogs offer young people a place to show their writings and other forms of self-expression. Blogs can also be helpful to connect young people with larger social groups.

But some researchers say the seemingly harmless blogs can become dangerous when read on the Internet by millions of people all over the world.

People are concerned that students are including information in their blogs that create a threat to their own privacy and safety. Recent studies show that young people often provide their name, age and where they live. This personal information puts them at risk of being sought out by dangerous people who want to harm them. Many students do not know about privacy and are surprised to learn that adults can easily read their personal daily records.

Students can also get into trouble when they include information on their blogs that can be seen as a threat to others. In several American states, students have been expelled from their schools or even arrested after their blogs were found to include threats against other students or teachers.

As a result, many schools have banned the use of blogging Web sites on school computers. Many schools have also begun teaching parents about the Web sites. Researchers say parents should know what their children are doing online and should read their blogs to make sure they are not giving out private information.One way to avoid these problems is by using programs that permit blogs to be read by friends only. These blogs permit people to read the website only if they know a secret word chosen by the blogger.

Public Domain⁴

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from a student at Bogazici University in Turkey. Serkan Polat asks if it is legal to download audio and text from the Special English Web site.

Almost all of the audio, video and written materials created by Special English are free for public use. We urge you to visit our Web site and download programs. You can hear our features and read along with the written texts. This is a great way to improve your English.

Special English can provide its material for free because the Voice of America is financed with taxpayer⁵ money. Our programs are not protected by copyright, except for some American Stories adapted into Special English. These may only be broadcast by Special English. They may not be used for any other purposes. We do not place these stories on our Web site. The American Stories that are on our Web site are no longer under copyright protection.

Anyone can request a copyright for his or her creative work. The holder⁶ of a copyright can prevent others from copying that creative work. The United States Library of Congress supervises this process through its Copyright Office. When the terms of the copyright protection end, the work is released into the public domain.

Publicly owned works, such as most Special English programs, are part of the public domain. They may be used by anyone for any purpose. A creative work is considered part of the public domain if there are no laws which restrict its use by the public.

The term public domain is often poorly understood when it is about material on the Internet. It is possible for anyone to post copyrighted material on the Internet freely and easily. So this may be why many people believe that all information on the Internet is in the public domain. This is false. Getting information for free does not mean that someone is free to republish it.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

HOST:

Several famous recording⁷ artists were named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week during a ceremony in New York City. Barbara Klein tells us about the new members and plays music by three of them.

ANNOUNCER:

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors artists at least twenty-five years after the release of their first album. The ceremony this year included a minor⁸ dispute among some winners and a major rejection⁹ by one. The Sex Pistols, a British punk rock band, refused to attend. A note on the group's Web site said: We're not coming. We're not your monkeys.


The Sex Pistols performing in 1978. Remaining members of the group refused to attend the ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (AP Photo)

The Sex Pistols are as anti-establishment as they were when they began in the nineteen seventies. Here is one of the band's most popular songs, Pretty Vacant.

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also honored the punk/pop band Blondie. Band members, including lead singer Debbie Harry¹⁰, played their old hit, Heart of Glass.

However, Blondie refused to let three former band members join in the performance. Listen now to the Blondie hit, The Tide is High.

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also honored the bands Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And it awarded membership to the jazz great, Miles Davis, who died in nineteen ninety-one. The Hall of Fame admits that the trumpet¹¹ player and composer never played rock and roll. But it says many rock and roll fans welcomed his music. And, it says Miles Davis's work was a major influence on rock music. We leave you now with Miles Davis's nineteen sixty-nine recording, Spanish Key.

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HOST:

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

Our show was written by Brianna Blake, Jill Moss and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer.

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 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

3 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。

4 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。

5 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

6 holder   

n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物

参考例句：

• The holder of the office of chairman is reponsible for arranging meetings.担任主席职位的人负责安排会议。
• That runner is the holder of the world record for the hundred-yard dash.那位运动员是一百码赛跑世界纪录的保持者。

7 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。

8 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

9 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 trumpet   

n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘

参考例句：

• He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴，我吹喇叭。
• The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。