VOA慢速英语 2008 0418b

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I’m Doug Johnson. Today we play music from Jack² Johnson …

Answer a listener question about the Amish people …

And report on the winner of a major prize for architecture.

(MUSIC)

Pritzker Architecture Prize

HOST:

The Pritzker Architecture Prize is widely considered one of the most important honors a building designer can receive. It is given by the Hyatt Foundation of Los Angeles, California. Every year a jury³ of building experts chooses the winner. This year, the prize went to the French architect Jean Nouvel. Barbara Klein tells us about this inventive architect.

BARBARA KLEIN:

As you walk along the Seine River in Paris, France, you might see a striking⁴ building covered with colorful boxes and walls with growing plants. The Quai Branly Museum houses a large collection of art from different areas of Africa and Asia. The French architect Jean Nouvel designed this building. The Pritzker jury said Nouvel’s work is a brave exploration of new ideas that has stretched the limits of architectural design.
　

Jean Nouvel at his office in Paris

Jean Nouvel has designed two other museums in Paris, the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art and the Arab World Institute. Windows on one side of the Arab World Institute are covered in metal sheets that have been cut with complex designs. The metal surfaces open and close depending on the strength of the sunshine outside. The design is both traditional and modern, beautiful and useful.

Nouvel has said that context⁵ is the most important part of his buildings. He does not design a building just to look good. Instead, he studies the culture, place, and requirements of the building so that it fits in well with its environment and is useful.

More recently, Jean Nouvel designed the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This building has an industrial style that is very modern and inventive. One part of the building extends over the Mississippi River.

Jean Nouvel is currently⁶ working on several new projects. These include a “Tour de Verre” building with many levels in New York City. Another new project is the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in the United Arab Emirates. He will also be building a tall apartment building in the Century City area of Los Angeles, California. Jean Nouvel is expected to accept his Pritzker Prize in June at a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The Amish

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Nigeria. Bayo Ogunsola wants to know about the Amish people and where they came from.
　

Two Amish plowing7 a field

The most current government population studies show there are about two hundred thousand Amish people in the United States. Amish immigrants began arriving from Germany and Switzerland in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. They were expelled⁸ from their home countries or chose to leave because of religious oppression. Most settled in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. Today, Ohio has the largest Amish population. Amish people live in nineteen other American states and in Ontario, Canada.

Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County is known as Pennsylvania Dutch Country. About sixteen to eighteen thousand Old Order Amish live there. Dutch is a name for people from the Netherlands, yet many of the Amish came from Germany. Old stories say they were called “Dutch” because English colonists⁹ could not say the correct word, “Deutsch.” But language experts now say that people in England often used the term Dutch to mean German. The Amish continue to speak a version of German. However, children learn English in their schools.

Many Amish communities live as their ancestors did long ago. They do not use cars, electricity, telephones, televisions or other common devices. They use horses for agriculture and transportation. They heat their houses by burning wood. They get their water from wells.

The Amish Christian¹⁰ religion is based on the idea of total surrender to God. They are pacifists – opposed to violence and war. They do not want to be part of American society, which they call “English.”

Most Amish people are easy to recognize. The women wear long, dark-colored dresses. They cover their hair with white cloth hats. The men wear black clothing and dark hats. They grow long beards.

Most Amish couples have many children. Communities usually have their own small schools and children complete their studies in eighth grade. Most Amish families work together in their fields to grow crops. They also raise farm animals. The Amish make their own furniture and clothing. Amish women are famous around the world for making beautiful bed covers called quilts.

The Amish community works together to build houses or barns for their people. They also gather for religious services. The Amish permit few differences among their own people. They continue to live separate from the world around them.

Jack Johnson

HOST:

Jack Johnson is a singer and songwriter known for his smooth voice and calming songs. His most recent album is “Sleep Through the Static.” It is filled with personal songs about love, family and life. And this new album is also environmentally friendly. Shirley Griffith has more.

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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:
　

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson wrote that song, "Angel," for his wife, Kim. When they met in college, Johnson was not a professional musician. In fact, he used to be a professional surfer who rode ocean waves on a surfboard. Johnson has said that he started writing music and playing the guitar after a surfing accident. He later wrote several songs for a movie he made about surfing. Today, the Johnsons divide their time between homes in California and Hawaii. Here is the song “Go On.” Jack Johnson expresses what it is like to watch his two young sons grow up.

(MUSIC)

Jack Johnson may be a famous musician, but he does not like to lead a very public life. He likes to spend time with his family doing sports outdoors. Johnson is also very involved in environmental activism. Five years ago, he and his wife started the Kokua Hawaii Foundation to provide environmental education to schoolchildren. Jack Johnson’s new album represents another environmental effort. The entire album was made using energy power from the sun in his environmentally friendly recording¹¹ studio.

This spring Jack Johnson will travel around Australia, New Zealand and Japan to perform his music. We leave you with the song “They Do, They Don’t.”

(MUSIC

HOST:

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

It was written Dana Demange and Caty Weaver¹², who was also the producer. For transcripts¹³, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

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 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。

3 jury   

n.陪审团，评委会；adj.临时用的；vt.挑选

参考例句：

• These twelve men are believed to compose the jury.据信，陪审团是由这12人组成的。
• The members of the jury were discharged from their duties.陪审员们被解除了职务。

4 striking   

adj.显著的，惹人注目的，容貌出众的

参考例句：

• There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
• What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。

5 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

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 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

8 expelled   

驱逐( expel的过去式和过去分词 )； 赶走； 把…除名； 排出

参考例句：

• She was expelled from school at 15. 她15岁时被学校开除了。
• After the outbreak of fighting,all foreign journalists were expelled. 战斗开始后，所有的外国记者都被驱逐出境。

9 colonists   

n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Colonists from Europe populated many parts of the Americas. 欧洲的殖民者移居到了美洲的许多地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some of the early colonists were cruel to the native population. 有些早期移居殖民地的人对当地居民很残忍。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 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。

12 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。

13 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句