VOA慢速英语20060526b

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Springsteen Sings the Songs of SeegerBy Shelley Gollust, Daniel Kirch and Jill Moss²

Broadcast: Friday, May 26, 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 answer a question about the Internet ...

Play some new recordings⁴ of folk songs by Bruce Springsteen ...

And report about a few movies being released this summer.

Summer Movies

HOST:

Summer is the most popular season for Hollywood movies. Faith Lapidus tells about three movies that opened recently.

FAITH LAPIDUS:


United 93 from Universal Pictures

One of the most talked-about movies is called United Ninety-three. It tells about one of the planes that Islamic terrorists hijacked⁵ in the United States on September eleventh, two thousand one. The movie shows how several of the passengers tried to gain control of the plane from the terrorists. The target of the plane was thought to be either the White House or the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. However, the plane crashed in a field in the state of Pennsylvania, killing⁶ everyone.

United Ninety-three was directed by Paul Greengrass, who is British. There are no famous actors in the film. In fact, several people who took part in the events of that day play themselves in the movie.

Many critics praised United Ninety-three as realistic. However, some Americans refuse to see it because they say it presents a tragic⁷ event for entertainment purposes.

The first big adventure movie of the summer is Mission: Impossible Three. It is the third in a series of movies based on a popular American television program of the nineteen sixties. Tom Cruise again stars as secret government agent Ethan Hunt. In this movie, he must rescue another secret agent. Later, he must rescue the woman he marries in the film. And he must stop a dangerous weapons dealer⁸, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Mission: Impossible Three has exciting car crashes, helicopter chases and explosions. Tom Cruise even jumps between tall buildings in Shanghai, China. This is the first motion picture directed by J.J. Abrams, who created two popular television series.

The Da Vinci Code opened last Friday. It is based on the book by Dan Brown that has sold more than forty million copies. The movie stars Tom Hanks as a professor who must solve a murder mystery involving art history and religion. Some of the movie was filmed in the Louvre Museum in Paris where parts of the story take place.

Some Catholic officials around the world have urged people not to see The Da Vinci Code. They say it presents theories about Jesus that insult the Christian⁹ religion. However, director Ron Howard said people should remember that this is supposed to be entertainment.

Early reports said The Da Vinci Code had an estimated two hundred twenty-four million dollars in ticket sales worldwide during its first three days in theaters.

Internet Connections

Our listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Tran Khanh Linh wants to know how a dial-up Internet connection, a DSL connection and an ADSL connection are different.

A dial-up connection is where the computer connects to the Internet over a traditional telephone line. With dial-up service, users enter a phone number into their computer and wait until the connection is set up. Dial-up connections are slow. That means it can take a long time to load Web sites.

Until a few years ago, dial-up connections were the only way most people could use the Internet. New and improved technologies offer much faster connections.

In the United States, the use of dial-up service is less and less common. Today, most Americans who use the Internet have a high-speed connection, also known as broadband. With broadband, the computer always stays connected to the Internet.

Several kinds of technologies provide high-speed connections. Among them are DSL and ADSL.

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber¹⁰ Line. With DSL connections, Internet users have much faster download speeds than with a traditional phone line. The download speed is how long it takes to see a Web page or save a music file or an e-mail attachment¹¹.

Another kind of DSL is ADSL. It stands for Asymmetric¹² Digital Subscriber Line. Asymmetric means unequal. With ADSL, the upload speed is slower than the download speed. That means it takes longer to send information from a computer to the Internet than to receive information from the Internet.

ADSL connections cost less than other DSL service. People usually have ADSL because they do not need to upload large amounts of information like a business would. To them it is more important to have fast download speeds.

Other ways to get fast Internet are by cable modem¹³, fiber¹⁴ optic connection and satellite. People can also find wireless¹⁵ service in more and more public places. And some lucky people have high-speed service on their cell phones.

Springsteen Plays Seeger

HOST:


Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band

Rock and roll musician Bruce Springsteen has released a new album. It honors folk music singer Pete Seeger. The collection of thirteen traditional folk songs can be described as music to listen to loudly. Barbara Klein tells us more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Springsteen's new record is called We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Springsteen and a new group of musicians performed some of the songs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival last month. The city is still recovering from damages caused by Hurricane Katrina last August.

The Seeger Sessions is Springsteen's first album of cover songs. They are Springsteen's version of folk music made popular by Pete Seeger. Seeger is a musician, songwriter and social activist¹⁶.

He was a leader of the political folk music movement of the nineteen fifties and sixties. For example, Seeger recorded this song in nineteen sixty-three. He was performing at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

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Here is Bruce Springsteen with the same song.

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Bruce Springsteen says he got the idea for the album in nineteen ninety-seven. At that time, Springsteen was recording³ music for a different album in honor of Pete Seeger. Springsteen says that experience sent him looking for a new band. He says he wanted a special sound 鈥?the sound of people just sitting around playing music. This song from We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions represents just that sound. It is called Old Dan Tucker.

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HOST:

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

Our show was written by Shelley Gollust, Daniel Kirch and Jill Moss. Caty Weaver¹⁷ was 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 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。

4 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

5 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

8 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 subscriber   

n.用户，订户；（慈善机关等的）定期捐款者；预约者；签署者

参考例句：

• The subscriber to a government loan has got higher interest than savings. 公债认购者获得高于储蓄的利息。 来自辞典例句
• Who is the subscriber of that motto? 谁是那条座右铭的签字者？ 来自辞典例句

11 attachment   

n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附

参考例句：

• She has a great attachment to her sister.她十分依恋她的姐姐。
• She's on attachment to the Ministry of Defense.她现在隶属于国防部。

12 asymmetric   

a.不对称的

参考例句：

• Most people's faces are asymmetric. 大多数人的脸不对称。
• We have made no reference to asymmetric carbon atoms. 我们未曾涉及不对称碳原子。

13 modem   

n.调制解调器

参考例句：

• Does your computer have a modem?你的电脑有调制解调器吗？
• Provides a connection to your computer via a modem.通过调制解调器连接到计算机上。

14 fiber   

n.纤维，纤维质

参考例句：

• The basic structural unit of yarn is the fiber.纤维是纱的基本结构单元。
• The material must be free of fiber clumps.这种材料必须无纤维块。

15 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

16 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

17 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。