VOA慢速英语 2007 0906b

VOICE ONE:

This is Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.  Today, we tell about the first term in office of President George W. Bush.  Mister Bush dealt with the most deadly terrorist attack against the United States in history.

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VOICE ONE:

George W. Bush became the nation's forty-third president on January twentieth, two thousand one. He and his vice¹ president, Dick Cheney, were sworn in on the steps of the Capitol building.  George Bush's father, George Herbert Walker Bush, had served as the forty-first president.

The inauguration² marked only the second time in American history that the son of a former president also became president.  More than two hundred years ago, John Adams was elected the second president of the United States. His son, John Quincy Adams, later served as the sixth president.

VOICE TWO:

 
President Bush at the World Trade Center with a firefighter
George W. Bush had been in office for fewer than eight months when the most important event of his first term took place on September eleventh, two thousand one.  Americans call the event Nine-Eleven.  On that morning, nineteen Islamic extremists hijacked³ four American passenger airplanes. 

The planes were flying from the East Coast to California. The hijackers were from Middle Eastern countries. Each group included a trained pilot.

American Airlines Flight Eleven had left Boston, Massachusetts, when three terrorists seized control of the plane.  Shortly before nine o’clock in the morning, they crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. 

Another group seized United Airlines Flight One Seventy-Five and crashed it into the World Trade Center's South Tower a few minutes later.  The two giant skyscrapers⁴ stood in the heart of America's financial center.

The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke pouring from the skyscrapers.  Wreckage⁵ and ashes flew into the air.  On that morning, each tower held between five thousand and seven thousand people.  Thousands of people were able to escape from the buildings.  

The South Tower of the World Trade Center fell shortly before ten o'clock.  The North Tower collapsed⁷ about thirty minutes later.  Within an hour the ruins of the two buildings were being called Ground Zero.

VOICE ONE:

 
Damage caused by a hijacked airplane that hit the Pentagon
Other hijackers on United Airlines Flight Seventy-Seven crashed the plane into the Pentagon, the Department of Defense⁸ headquarters near Washington, D.C.  The plane exploded against a wall of the huge five-sided building where more than twenty thousand people worked.  

 

The hijackers also seized United Airlines Flight Ninety-Three.  Some passengers found out about the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington through cell phone calls to their families.  Several passengers and crew members tried to retake control of the plane.  It crashed near the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Investigators⁹ later said the hijackers probably planned to attack the Capitol building or the White House in Washington. 

The terrorist attacks on Nine-Eleven were the most deadly in American history. Almost three thousand people died.  Most of the victims worked in the World Trade Center. They included many citizens of other countries. The victims also included three hundred forty-three New York City firefighters and twenty-three city police officers.  They died trying to save others.

VOICE TWO:

Search and rescue operations began immediately. Hundreds of rescue workers recovered people and bodies from the wreckage.  Aid was organized for victims and their families.  President Bush stood in the wreckage of the World Trade Center and promised that the attacks would be answered.

It took workers eight months to complete the cleanup of Ground Zero.  Every day, thousands of people visited the area to see where the attack took place and to honor those who died there.             

Near Washington, D.C., people left flowers and messages near the heavily damaged wall of the Defense Department headquarters. One hundred eighty-four military service members and civilians¹⁰ died there.

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VOICE ONE:

New York City changed forever on that day. The attack destroyed a major part of the financial center of the city.  It had a huge economic effect on the United States and world markets.  The New York Stock Exchange was closed until September seventeenth.  When it reopened, American stocks lost more than one trillion dollars in value for the week.

For days after the attacks, most planes stopped flying. When normal flights began again, many people were too afraid to travel by air.  The airline and travel industries suffered. Thousands of hotel workers and others lost their jobs.  Many other businesses suffered as well. When people started flying again, they found it much more difficult because of increased security at airports. 

People across America experienced great shock, fear, sadness and loss. They could not understand why anyone would attack innocent Americans.  They also felt a renewed love for their country. They put American flags on their houses, cars and businesses.

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VOICE TWO:

President Bush said Osama bin¹¹ Laden¹² and terrorists linked to his al-Qaida group plotted and carried out the attacks on Nine-Eleven. On September twentieth, the president declared a War on Terror.  The goals were to find and punish Osama bin Laden and to use economic and military actions to prevent the spread of terrorism.

PRESIDENT BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there.  It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

VOICE ONE:      

 
Osama bin Laden
American officials said the Taleban administration in Afghanistan was sheltering Osama bin Laden.  They said al-Qaida terrorists operated a training camp in Afghanistan under Taleban protection.  President Bush demanded that the Taleban close the training camp and surrender Osama bin Laden.  The Taleban refused. American and British airplanes launched attacks against the Taleban in Afghanistan on October seventh. The goals were to oust¹³ the Taleban, capture Osama bin Laden and destroy al-Qaida. 

VOICE TWO:

The bombers¹⁴ struck in and around the Afghan capital, Kabul.   Ethnic¹⁵ tribal¹⁶ groups of the Afghan Northern Alliance then led a ground attack. By November the Taleban began to collapse⁶ in several provinces.  Taleban forces fled Kabul and the city of Kandahar.  The military offensive defeated the Taleban and ousted¹⁷ them from power. It also captured a number of Taleban fighters and al-Qaida terrorists.  But the war in Afghanistan was not over. And the leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, had not been captured.

VOICE ONE:

Some enemy fighters seized in Afghanistan were sent to a United States Navy detention¹⁸ center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The United States government did not identify them as prisoners of war.  Instead, the detainees were called "unlawful enemy combatants." As such, they lacked some of the rights provided by an international treaty on conditions for war prisoners.

The United States government also detained hundreds of foreign citizens.  Most of these people had violated immigration laws.  No terrorism charges were brought against them.  Human rights activists¹⁹ and some legal experts protested the treatment of the prisoners.  The activists said holding people in secret without trial violated the United States Constitution.

VOICE TWO:

In October, Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot²⁰ Act. It provided the government with more power to get information about suspected terrorists in this country.  Critics said the legislation invaded citizens' rights to privacy.  Civil liberties groups charged that it gave law enforcement and other agencies too much power. 

After Nine-Eleven, government agencies were criticized for not cooperating to gather intelligence that might have prevented the terrorist attacks.  In two thousand two, a new Department of Homeland Security was created to strengthen defenses against terrorism. 

Twenty-two agencies were combined into a new department of about two hundred thousand employees.  The Department of Homeland Security was one of the major changes brought about by the attacks of Nine Eleven.  Many Americans believed the attacks had changed their lives, their country, and the world, forever.

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VOICE ONE:

This program, The Making of a Nation, was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Jill Moss²¹. This is Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember.  Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 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。

4 skyscrapers   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• A lot of skyscrapers in Manhattan are rising up to the skies. 曼哈顿有许多摩天大楼耸入云霄。
• On all sides, skyscrapers rose like jagged teeth. 四周耸起的摩天大楼参差不齐。

5 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

6 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

11 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

12 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

13 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

14 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

16 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

17 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

18 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

19 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

21 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。