VOA慢速英语2010年-AMERICAN MOSAIC - 2009: Best Year for

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.

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I'm Faith Lapidus.

Happy New Year! Before we look ahead to two thousand ten, we want to talk about some of the best movies and books of two thousand nine.

And we play some great music we did not have a chance to play last year.

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Best Movies

HOST:

Two thousand nine was the best year in history for movies in the United States. Movies earned more than ten billion dollars in ticket sales last year. This was helped by the steady increase in movie ticket prices. Shirley Griffith tells us about some of the best movies of last year.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:

Zoe Saldana as Neytiri in "Avatar"

Americans spent a record two hundred seventy-eight million dollars on movie tickets last weekend. The 3-D science fiction adventure movie, "Avatar," was the most popular film that weekend. Reports say "Avatar" cost more than three hundred million dollars to produce. Several film critics called it one of the best movies of last year.

"Avatar" uses special effects that have never been seen before in a movie. It combines live action, motion-capture, animation² and computer-produced images. The movie is about a man who travels to a distant planet about one hundred fifty years in the future.

Several traditional movies also were named among the best of two thousand nine. One is "The Hurt Locker³." It is a tense and exciting movie about American soldiers in Iraq whose job is to find and safely destroy hidden explosive devices.

(SOUND: "Hurt Locker")

"Up in the Air" is also on many critics' list of best movies of the year.

(SOUND: "Up in the Air")

George Clooney as Ryan Bingham in "Up in the Air"

It stars George Clooney as a man who spends most of his life flying around the country to different cities. His job is to dismiss people from their jobs. This movie hits very close to home. It includes people who have really lost their jobs during this time of high unemployment in the United States.

Critics have also praised a movie called "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire⁴." It is about an extremely overweight black teenager in the Harlem area of New York City. Precious suffers horrible sexual⁵ and physical abuse from both her parents. But caring teachers and social workers help her improve her life.

Two other favorite movies of last year are based on children's books. "Where the Wild Things Are" is a live action film based on the popular book by Maurice Sendak. A young boy named Max runs away from his mother and sails to an island full of frightening-looking creatures. And critics also liked "Fantastic Mister Fox" based on a book by Roald Dahl. This stop-motion animation movie was called creative and fun for both children and adults.

Best Books

HOST:

In December, many newspapers and booksellers in the United States publish lists of the year's best books. Steve Ember tells us about several favorites of two thousand nine.

STEVE EMBER:

"A Gate at the Stairs" is writer Lorrie Moore's first book in over ten years. It takes place in two thousand one shortly after the terrorist⁶ attacks on America. It tells about a young girl named Tassie who attends college in the Midwest. She takes a job as a babysitter for a woman and her husband who have adopted a child of mixed race. It is a funny, sad and emotional story about marriage, race, family, terrorism and war.

Critics also praised the latest book by Irish writer Colm Toibin. "Brooklyn" is about a young Irish girl named Eilis. Her family sends her to live in the Brooklyn area of New York City in the nineteen fifties. Mister Toibin describes how she slowly gets used to her new life in America. Eilis soon falls in love with a kind Italian-American young man named Tony. Eilis must return to Ireland because of a family tragedy. She must choose between Tony and her family.

"Cutting for Stone" was written by the medical doctor and writer Abraham Verghese. It is a powerful story about twin brothers born in a Catholic⁷ hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Their mother, an Indian nurse at the hospital, dies in childbirth. Their father, a British doctor, flees as soon as they are born. The brothers are raised by two Indian doctors who live at the hospital. One brother later moves to the United States. This is a story about the extremes of love, family, and medicine.

Other top books include the British historical novel "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel. It is about King Henry the Eighth and his advisor⁸ Thomas Cromwell. Daniyal Mueenuddin's book "In Other Rooms, Other Wonders," was also noted⁹ as one of the best books of last year. It is a collection of linked short stories about the lives of very rich and very poor people in Pakistan.

Critics also praised several non-fiction books. They include Terry Teachout's book "Pops", about the jazz great Louis Armstrong. "Lords of Finance¹⁰" by Liaquat Ahamed tells about the financial crisis¹¹ during the nineteen twenties. And, in "Lit: A Memoir," Mary Karr tells about her struggles with motherhood, marriage and alcohol.

Music We Missed

HOST:

We play a lot of great music on American Mosaic. But there are just not enough shows in a year to play everything. So today we play music from some of the best albums we missed in two thousand nine.

We start with the rapper Fabolous. His two thousand nine album, "Loso's Way," came with a DVD starring the rapper and some of his friends.

Singer Keri Hilson performs with Fabolous on "Everything, Everyday, Everywhere" from "Loso's Way."

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Neko Case

Neko Case is a singer-songwriter who has gained some fame as a member of the indie rock band the New Pornographers. But she also has a career on her own. Last year, she excited music critics with the release of "Middle Cyclone," her fifth studio album. It went to number one on the American indie music charts. The first song on the recording¹² is "This Tornado¹³ Loves You."

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"Veckatimest" is the latest CD from Grizzly¹⁴ Bear, the Brooklyn, New York-based indie rock band. It is on most critics' lists of best rock or indie albums of the year. The album was named for a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. The band spent some time near there recording the album. One of the most popular songs from "Veckatimest" is "Two Weeks."

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Finally, there is Paramore. The five member band got its start in Tennessee in two thousand four. All of the musicians are under the age of twenty-five. Not surprisingly, Paramore's sound is youthful and energetic. We leave you with "Turn it Off," from the Paramore album, "Brand New Eyes."

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HOST:

I'm Faith Lapidus. Our program was written by Shelley Gollust, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver¹⁵, who was also the 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 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

3 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

4 sapphire   

n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的

参考例句：

• Now let us consider crystals such as diamond or sapphire.现在让我们考虑象钻石和蓝宝石这样的晶体。
• He left a sapphire ring to her.他留给她一枚蓝宝石戒指。

5 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

6 terrorist   

n.恐怖主义者，恐怖分子

参考例句：

• Without the gun,I'm a sitting duck for any terrorist.没有这支枪，我就成了恐怖分子下手的目标了。
• The district was put on red alert during a terrorist's bomb scare.这个地区在得到恐怖分子炸弹恐吓后作了应急准备。

7 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

8 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

11 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

12 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。

13 tornado   

n.飓风，龙卷风

参考例句：

• A tornado whirled into the town last week.龙卷风上周袭击了这座城市。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

14 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

15 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。