VOA慢速英语2009年-THIS IS AMERICA - The National Book Festiv

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:
　
More than one hundred thousand visitors attended the festival on the National Mall

And I'm Barbara Klein. Today we tell about the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. which was held on September twenty-sixth. For nine years this outdoor event organized by the Library of Congress has brought readers, writers and illustrators to the nation's capital. Its aim is to celebrate a love of learning through books.

This year, more than one hundred thirty thousand people gathered on the National Mall to hear top writers and poets talk about their work.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This year's National Book Festival included more than seventy novelists, historians, poets and mystery writers. But some of the most excited visitors of all were the children who came to see their favorite writers.

VOICE TWO:
　
Judy Blume signing books

One favorite writer who attended the festival was Judy Blume. She has sold more than eighty million copies of her popular books for young people. These include "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret", "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" and "Blubber." Her books deal with difficult subjects such as religion, divorce, death, love and sex in a way that young readers can understand. Mizz Blume has also written books for adults.

At the festival, Judy Blume read to a group of children from her own favorite book as a child, "Madeline" by Ludwig Bemelmans. She explained why she chose this book.

JUDY BLUME: "I was afraid of everything. My mother said I was afraid of my own shadow. But I really wanted to be strong and brave like Madeline. So she was my hero, so here is my favorite book from when I was growing up."

VOICE ONE:

Judy Blume is one of the most popular children's book writers. But she is also one of the most banned writers. Since the nineteen eighties, several libraries and parents' groups have tried to ban her books. She has since become a fierce supporter of literary freedom and is part of several organizations that fight censorship.

Her most recent children's book is called "Friend or Fiend? with the Pain and the Great One." It tells about the adventures of a brother and sister, Jake and Abigail.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Rick Riordan was another popular writer who spoke¹ at the festival.

RICK RIORDAN: "My name is Rick Riordan, I write for children and young adults. I write a series about a character named Percy Jackson who is a modern day kid living in New York City, but finds out that like the old Greek heroes Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, all of those guys, Percy's dad is actually a Greek god. And, the Greek gods are still alive and well and living in New York."

We asked Mister Riordan what influenced him to write this series. He said reading to his two sons about ancient Greece was one reason. But his professional background was another influence.

RICK RIORDAN: "My background is a teacher. I taught young adults from, say, age eleven through thirteen for about fifteen years. And I taught them history, I taught them literature. And, mythology³ was always one of my favorite subjects and one of my students' favorite subjects as well."

Mister Riordan says there was only one subject that amazed his students more than ancient Greece--- and that was ancient Egypt. This gave him an idea for his next book.

RICK RIORDAN: "Next spring, I'm going to release a book set in the modern day world -- but a fantasy based on Egyptian mythology, bringing all those old Egyptian gods back to life."

VOICE ONE:

Nikki Grimes is a children's writer and poet whose works include "Jazmin's Notebook" and "The Road to Paris." Here she talks about her deep love of poetry.

NIKKI GRIMES: "I'm all about words. And when it comes to words, poetry is at the top of my list. Whenever I have a smidgen of time to indulge myself, which is rare these days, I love to curl up with a volume of poetry. Poetry feeds my soul. Poetry is comforting and soothing⁴, and it's awe-inspiring as a glimpse of rainbow, which should come as no surprise since poems and rainbows have something in common. They both offer a kaleidoscope of color."

VOICE TWO:

Other children's book writers at the festival included Kate DiCamillo. She is best known for her novel "The Tale of Despereaux" about a little mouse who has some big adventures.

Jeff Kinney was another popular writer who attended this event. His series, called "Diary of a Wimpy⁵ Kid," is about a young boy named Greg Heffley. The book takes the form of a personal journal and includes funny drawings of Greg's school adventures.

(MUSIC)

JAMES PATTERSON: "Outline, outline, outline, outline."

VOICE ONE:

That was the adult and children's book writer James Patterson answering a question about how he writes books. He says this advice is for professional writers as well as school children writing papers. He says creating a plan for the structure of the book listing the main ideas makes writing much easier.

JAMES PATTERSON: "It will go faster, you will write a better piece, you will get a better grade. Outline. So the first step in terms of my writing is outline."

James Patterson's "Maximum Ride" and "Daniel X" series have become best sellers in the United States.

VOICE TWO:

We asked festival visitor Tonya from Beltsville, Maryland what brought her to the event. She said her son Aiden is five, and she wants him to be interested in books. She said she decided⁶ the festival would be a good place to start.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
　
Jodi Picoult

The National Book Festival was also filled with writers of books for adults. Jodi Picoult writes books about families and individuals facing very difficult situations. Her latest book, "Handle With Care," is about a family struggling to survive with a severely⁷ sick child. The parents find a way to pay for their endless medical expenses that requires them to make a very difficult moral decision. Mizz Picoult talked to visitors at the festival about studying creative writing in college. She said she knew there was not much to write about from her personal experiences. So she looked around her to find subjects for her books.

JODI PICOULT: "I realized that if I was going to write, what I was going to have to do instead was to write what I was willing to learn instead of what I knew. And that sort of geared me up for a whole series of novels where I do tons of research, even though I write fiction, which is supposed to be made up, right?"

VOICE TWO:

Many writers at the festival specialize in historical and political events. American presidents were a popular subject. For example, Douglas Brinkley is a history professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas. His latest book is called "The Wilderness⁸ Warrior⁹" about President Theodore Roosevelt. It tells about his efforts to protect America's wilderness by securing huge amounts of land for national parks in the early nineteen hundreds.

VOICE ONE:

James L. Swanson has written a book about the hunt to find the killer¹⁰ of President Abraham Lincoln. His book is called "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer." He also wrote a version of his story for children. It is called "Chasing Lincoln's Killer."

Mister Swanson says his interest in Abraham Lincoln began the day he was born, February twelfth. This was also President Lincoln's birthday. But the writer says it was his grandmother who really got him interested in this subject.

JAMES L. SWANSON: "When I was ten, my grandmother gave me as a gift, not a bicycle, not a baseball mitt¹¹ or a bat, she gave me a framed engraving¹² of the derringer pistol that John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate¹³ the president. And you might find that to be an odd gift for a child, but I didn't."

VOICE TWO:

And, reporter Gwen Ifill has written about a more recent president. Her latest book is called "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama." She examines race, racism¹⁴ and identity during last year's presidential campaign.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
　
A detail of illustrator Charles Santore's poster for the National Book Festival

The Library of Congress used this year's National Book Festival to launch its new Web site aimed at supporting reading for all age groups. There are many different reading activities on this site, Read.gov. For example, one program is called "Letters for Literature." School children are urged to write letters to writers whose books have changed their lives. Winners who write the best letters receive an award. The writers that the students choose do not have to be alive.

For example, one student wrote to the American writer Jack² London to thank him for writing the book "White Fang¹⁵." The student wrote this about the book: "Before I read your book, I was alive and breathing. But after I read your book, I felt it was important to be living and have fun."

VOICE TWO:

Read.gov also includes a children's book that is in the process of being written. It is called "The Exquisite¹⁶ Corpse¹⁷ Adventure" and so far only has two chapters. Every two weeks, a new writer and illustrator will build onto the story that earlier writers and illustrators have created.

The title of the book may seem a bit unusual for a children's story. But the term "exquisite corpse" comes from a game in which a group of people collectively write a story.

Readers will have to wait a year to know the ending of the story. And by then, it will be time for another National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can see pictures of some of these writers on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

4 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

5 wimpy   

adj.懦弱的，无用的，哭哭啼啼的

参考例句：

• I'd rather have a wimpy kid than a dead one, you know? 你知道么？我宁可要一个懦弱的孩子，也不想要一个死的。 来自互联网
• I hate wimpy drinker. 我讨厌酒量差的人。 来自互联网

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

8 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。

9 warrior   

n.勇士，武士，斗士

参考例句：

• The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
• A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。

10 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

11 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

12 engraving   

n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
• Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句

13 assassinate   

vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤

参考例句：

• The police exposed a criminal plot to assassinate the president.警方侦破了一个行刺总统的阴谋。
• A plot to assassinate the banker has been uncovered by the police.暗杀银行家的密谋被警方侦破了。

14 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

15 fang   

n.尖牙，犬牙

参考例句：

• Look how the bone sticks out of the flesh like a dog's fang.瞧瞧,这根骨头从肉里露出来，象一只犬牙似的。
• The green fairy's fang thrusting between his lips.绿妖精的尖牙从他的嘴唇里龇出来。

16 exquisite   

adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的

参考例句：

• I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.我当时正在欣赏镶嵌画的精致做工。
• I still remember the exquisite pleasure I experienced in Bali.我依然记得在巴厘岛所经历的那种剧烈的快感。

17 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。