VOA慢速英语 2007 0402b

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week on our program, we have the last of our four-part series on living with a disability in America. Last month we talked about assistive technology. Before that, it was education and employment¹. Today, in Part Four, our subject is sports and recreation for people with disabilities. 

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VOICE ONE:

In August of two thousand eight, athletes from the United States and around the world will compete in the Beijing Olympics. But did you know that in September of next year, disabled athletes will compete in the Paralympic Games in Beijing?

The Olympics and the Paralympics are separate movements. But they have always been held in the same year. And since nineteen eighty-eight, they have also been held in the same city. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee signed an agreement in two thousand one to secure² this connection.

The next winter games will take place in Vancouver, Canada, in two thousand ten.

 
Paralympics skiing training
VOICE TWO:

The Paralympic Games grew out of a sports competition held in nineteen forty-eight in England. A doctor named Ludwig Guttmann organized it for men who suffered spinal³ cord⁴ injuries in World War Two. Four years later, it became an international event as competitors from the Netherlands took part.

Then, in nineteen sixty, the first Paralympics were held in Rome. Four hundred athletes from twenty-three countries competed. By two thousand four, the Paralympic Games in Athens had almost four thousand athletes from one hundred thirty-six countries.

Athletes may have physical or mental limitations⁵; they may be blind or in wheelchairs. Yet sometimes they perform better than athletes without disabilities.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen sixty-eight, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of former President John F. Kennedy, started the Special Olympics. These games are just for children and adults with mental limitations. The Special Olympics Web site says programs currently⁶ serve more than two million people in one hundred sixty countries.

This past November, in Mumbai, India, teams competed in the First Special Olympics International Cricket⁷ Cup. In addition to India, there were men's teams from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. There were also women's cricket teams from India and Pakistan.

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VOICE TWO:

There are many organizations in the United States that help people with disabilities play sports.

 
A game of wheelchair-basketball in Florida
Wheelchair tennis is a popular sport. So is basketball. In fact, there are more than one hundred professional teams playing wheelchair basketball.

Special wheelchairs for athletes are lightweight and designed for quick moves. For people who want to go really fast in their chairs, there is a Power Wheelchair Racing⁸ Association⁹.

VOICE ONE:

In the state of Utah there is a place called the National Ability Center. It teaches all kinds of sports to people with all kinds of physical and mental disabilities. It even gives friends and family members a chance to try a sport as if they were disabled.

A reporter from the Washington Post wanted to know what it would be like for a blind person to use a climbing wall. So, protected by a safety line, the newspaper reporter closed his eyes and started to feel for places to put his hands and feet. Trainers on the ground urged him on: "Take your time. You can do it." Finally he reached the top.

VOICE TWO:

At the National Ability Center people can learn to ride horses and mountain bikes. They can try winter mountain sports, and learn scuba¹⁰ diving and other water activities.

The center also prepares athletes for the Paralympics. 

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VOICE ONE:

These days, the first place many people go when they want to travel is the Internet. On the Web they can get information about hotels, transportation and services like tour companies. The Internet can also help travelers find special services for the disabled. For example, there are groups that help young people with disabilities travel to different countries.

Susan Sygall leads an organization called Mobility¹¹ International USA. She has traveled to more than twenty-five countries to talk about the rights of people with disabilities. She herself uses a wheelchair. People with disabilities are all members of a global family, she says. She says working together across borders is the most powerful way of making changes.

VOICE TWO:

Another American organization is called Wilderness¹² Inquiry¹³. This group leads camping trips to places in Kenya, Norway, Australia and the American state of Alaska. The man who started Wilderness Inquiry, Greg Lais [pronounced lays] likes people with and without disabilities to travel together.

One family came on a trip with two sons. One boy was in a wheelchair because of cerebral¹⁴ palsy. Greg Lais says the other children on the camping trip accepted the boy and included him in games. "People are accepted for who they are," he says.

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VOICE ONE:

Another outdoor sport that may be available to people with disabilities is hunting. Several national wildlife refuges¹⁶ in the United States organize special hunts. One of them is a refuge¹⁵ in South Carolina where Bobby Harrell goes deer hunting every year with other people with disabilities.

Bobby Harrell became disabled in nineteen ninety-three. He enjoys, in his words, "seeing people get back into doing things that they used to do but didn't think they could."

In some places there are trails that can be used by hunters in wheelchairs. Some disabled hunters use specially¹⁷ designed guns that are fired by blowing air through a tube.

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VOICE TWO:

Today there are more and more choices of entertainment for people with disabilities.

Theaters may offer wireless¹⁸ earphones to make the sound louder for people with limited hearing. Some provide a visual interpreter to describe a performance or a play for a person who is blind or has limited sight.

And some movie theaters offer a new device¹⁹ called MoPix, for Motion²⁰ Picture Access. For a person unable to hear the movie, it shows the words the actors are saying. For a person unable to see the movie, it provides a spoken description of what is happening.

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VOICE ONE:

For disabled people interested in yoga, there are special stretching exercises. Matthew Sanford knows about these. He has been in a wheelchair ever since a car accident when he lost the ability to move his legs. He was thirteen years old at the time. That was almost thirty years ago.

Matthew Sanford says he has had two lives: one before he was thirteen and the other after. He had to learn to live with a new reality. For many years, he was told to build up the strength in his arms and forget about his legs.

But he says yoga enabled²¹ him to reconnect with the thirteen-year-old boy who loved his body. He says the exercises and special breathing of yoga let him connect his body and mind again. 

Now Matthew Sanford teaches yoga at his studio in the state of Minnesota. He also travels to talk to people about living with a disability. He says feeling connected to our body is a powerful part of living -- whether we have a disability or not.

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VOICE TWO:

The earlier reports in our series on living with a disability in America can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. Our four-part series was written by Karen Leggett and produced by Caty Weaver²². I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:   

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 employment   

n.雇用；使用；工作，职业

参考例句：

• A large office requires the employment of many people.一个大办事处需要雇用好多人员。
• The state of employment in this city is improving.这个城市就业状况正在改善。

2 secure   

adj.无虑的，安心的，安全的；adj.牢靠的，稳妥的；vt.固定，获得，使...安全；vi.(海上工作人员)停止工；vi.(船)抛锚，停泊

参考例句：

• He found a secure foothold and pulled himself up.他找到了一个稳固的踏脚处并爬了上去。
• Extra men are needed to secure the camp against attack.需要增加兵力以保护军营免受攻击。

3 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

4 cord   

n.绳，线；纺织品；小电线；腱

参考例句：

• I wear a safety cord all the time.我一直带着安全绳索。
• I pulled the cord,and I felt a strong jerk.拉住绳索，我强烈的恐惧。

5 limitations   

n.局限，不足之处

参考例句：

• The team's technical limitations were exposed by the Italians. 意大利人使这个队的技术缺陷暴露无遗。
• He knows his limitations as a writer. 他知道自己作为一个作家的局限性。

6 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

7 cricket   

n.蟋蟀，板球运动；adj.公平的

参考例句：

• The England cricket team scored quite a useful total.英格兰板球队得分总数令人满意。
• We could hear the shrill of the midsummer cricket.我们可以听到仲夏时节蟋蟀的尖叫声。
• Your behaviour isn't cricket.你的行为不光彩。

8 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

9 association   

n.联盟，协会，社团；交往，联合；联想

参考例句：

• Our long association with your company has brought great benefits.我方和贵公司的长期合作带来了巨大的利益。
• I broke away from the association ten years ago.我10年前就脱离了那个团体。

10 scuba   

n.水中呼吸器

参考例句：

• I first got hooked on scuba diving when I was twelve.12岁时我开始迷上了带水中呼吸器潜水。
• While on honeymoon in Bali,she learned to scuba dive.她在巴厘岛度蜜月时学会了带水肺潜水。

11 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

12 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

13 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

14 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

15 refuge   

n.避难（处），庇护（所）；v.庇护，避难（所）

参考例句：

• They took refuge in a cave yesterday.他们昨天是在一个洞里避难的。
• We took refuge in the lee of the wall.我们在墙的背风处暂避。

16 refuges   

n.避难（所，处）( refuge的名词复数 )；避难所；庇护者；慰藉

参考例句：

• But, anyhow, there will be two refuges left for civilization. 但无论怎么说，世界还会给文明留下两个庇护之所。 来自名作英译部分
• In the summer heat these refuges must be especially grateful. 在炎热的夏天，这些避暑的地方一定特别受人欢迎。 来自辞典例句

17 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

18 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。

19 device   

n.器械，装置；计划，策略，诡计

参考例句：

• The device will be in production by the end of the year.该装置将于年底投入生产。
• The device will save much time and effort for us.这种装置会使我们节省大量时间和气力。

20 motion   

n.打手势，示意，移动，动作，提议，大便；v.运动，向...打手势，示意

参考例句：

• She could feel the rolling motion of the ship under her feet.她能感觉到脚下船在晃动。
• Don't open the door while the train is in motion.列车运行时，请勿打开车门。

21 enabled   

adj.激活的v.使能够，提供做…的权利[措施]( enable的过去式和过去分词 )；使可能

参考例句：

• His photographic memory enabled him to tuck away yards of facts. 他过目不忘的记忆力使他能记下大量事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Long practice enabled that American to speak fluent Chinese. 长期的练习使得那个美国人能讲一口流利的汉语。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 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。