VOA慢速英语2012 AMERICAN MOSAIC - For Some, Religion is Part of the College Experience

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - For Some, Religion is Part of the College Experience

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I’m Faith Lapidus. Today on our show, we play music from singer Lana Del Rey.
We also answer a question from Burma about the way Americans elect a president.
But, first we go to real college to hear how some students combine religion with their school life.
College Religious Life
FAITH LAPIDUS: Going to college is often a chance for young adults to explore ideas and beliefs different from those they grew up with. As they do, college students are finding new ways to express their beliefs. As we hear from Christopher Cruise, American clergy² say many young people are remaining true to their religious faith.
(SOUND)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: A traditional observance gives Indian students a chance to share their faith and culture with others. Many did that at this recent event, says Chandni Raja of the Hindu Student Organization at the University of Southern California.
CHANDNI RAJA: “Meeting other groups on campus and trying to get that dialogue going, while also maintaining our own communities as a strong place where people can come together.”
Varun Soni works as dean of religious life at the University of Southern California. He says many students keep religion on their own terms.
VARUN SONI: “They’re more interested, I find, in making religion work for them as opposed to working for it. So they interpret their religious and spiritual traditions in a way that makes sense for them.”
Scotty McLennan is dean for religious life at Stanford University in California. He is also seeing a new openness.
SCOTTY MCLENNAN: “I think the most exciting thing that’s happening is that students really are learning how to listen to each other across traditions, and they really are getting more interested in that kind of empathetic listening and presence to each other, hearing each others’ stories.”
Some students use religious traditions to support their beliefs. Others become less observant, but many want to share their faith and culture with others.
Omer Bajwa directs Muslim religious activities at Yale University in Connecticut. He advises Muslim students. He says they have many questions about the importance of faith.
OMER BAJWA: “In a time of increasing religiosity but also increasing secularism³, where are the fault lines, and what are the tensions and what are the areas of conversation? I think we find common questions coming across.”
Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann is senior associate dean for religious life at Stanford University. She says discussions in the classroom and with students from different religious traditions can lead to questions in a student’s faith.
PATRICIA KARLIN-NEUMANN: “The question in my mind is whether that questioning leads to a falling off of commitment or a deepening of commitment. And my experience is that people who claim their religious traditions after having or in the process of being engaged with other people are far more inclined to see what they have as something precious.”
Tahera Ahmad is associate university chaplain at Northwestern University in Illinois. She says interfaith service projects and community discussions are bringing students together at schools all across the country.
TAHERA AHMAD: “What I’ve seen on college campuses is that the young students who are from various faith backgrounds are coming together and not necessarily leaving their faith at the door, but not also wearing their faith on their sleeve, so to say, but finding some kind of balance as to saying, ‘This is who I am. I am a Muslim, I am a Christian⁵, I am a Jew. We’re all coming together towards making the world a better place.’”
These clergymen and women say college students are growing in their faith by meeting and learning from those of other religions.
Electoral College
FAITH LAPIDUS: Our question this week comes from Burma. Ko Maw Gyi wants to know about the Electoral College. This is the name of the system Americans use to elect a president.
The Electoral College is made up of representatives from all fifty states and the District of Columbia. Electors are appointed representatives who promise to vote as the people of the state guide them. Different states have different laws on the appointment of the electors. In some states, the names of the electors appear on the ballot⁶, below the names of the candidates.
The number of electoral votes in each state equals the number of representatives and senators in Congress from that state. This depends on population. So, states with more people have more electoral votes. In all, there are five hundred thirty-eight electoral votes. To become president, a candidate must win a simple majority, at least two hundred seventy.
What this means is that it is possible for a presidential candidate to win the popular vote in the country but lose the election. This has happened four times. The most recent was in two thousand, when George W. Bush was elected to his first term in office. Five hundred thousand more Americans voted for Vice⁴ President Al Gore⁷ for president. But Mister Bush received more electoral votes.
This is because forty-eight of the fifty states have a winner-take-all electoral votes policy. The candidate who wins the highest number of popular votes in a state receives all of that state’s electoral votes.
Critics of the Electoral College say it is undemocratic, difficult to understand and dangerous to the political system. Supporters say it helps to guarantee the rights of states with small populations. They say it also requires candidates to campaign in many states, not just those with large populations.
There have been hundreds of proposals in Congress to end or reform the Electoral College. But amending⁸ the Constitution is a difficult process.
Ko Maw Gyi in Burma also asked about American presidential debates. We will answer that question next week.
Lana Del Rey
FAITH LAPIDUS: Twenty-five year old singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey has an album set for release Tuesday. But, she already has been getting a lot of attention with the release of several singles and music videos. Shirley Griffith has more.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Lana Del Rey’s “Video Games” was first released in June of last year. Her smoky, sexy sound and the somewhat strange song became popular on the World Wide Web. So did her video that went with it. The artist says she made it herself, using film and video clips she found on the Web. The video is an interesting, piece filled with images that bring old Hollywood and new love to mind.
In October, “Video Games” was re-released as a single from her new album “Born to Die.” The album is supposed to come out on January thirty-first. However, it was leaked on the Internet Tuesday.
“Blue Jeans” is another single from the new recording⁹.
(MUSIC)
Lana Del Rey was born Elizabeth Grant in New York City. She grew up in Lake Placid¹⁰, New York, but returned to the city to begin her music career. She told a reporter she often performed in small Brooklyn music clubs on nights when anyone was permitted to get on stage.
We leave you with her performing the title song from her new album, “Born to Die.”
(MUSIC)
FAITH LAPIDUS: I’m Faith Lapidus. We’re thinking about starting a new feature on American Mosaic. It would offer advice to people who have a problem in a relationship. It could be a problem in a romantic relationship, or with a family member or a friend, or at school or work.
We would talk to experts for advice and gather opinions from users of our social media sites. We would give a brief summary of the problem but never identify you. We would give our answer online and on radio during our program AMERICAN MOSAIC.
To test this idea, we need your help. If you have a relationship problem write to us about it. Give us enough details to understand the situation. Make sure you tell us how old you are, whether you’re a man or a woman, and the country you live in.
This program was written by Christopher Cruise and Caty Weaver¹¹, who also was our producer. We had additional reporting from Mike O’Sullivan.
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA 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 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

3 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

4 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。

5 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。

6 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

7 gore   

n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶

参考例句：

• The fox lay dying in a pool of gore.狐狸倒在血泊中奄奄一息。
• Carruthers had been gored by a rhinoceros.卡拉瑟斯被犀牛顶伤了。

8 amending   

改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Amending acts in 1933,1934, and 1935 attempted to help honest debtors rehabilitate themselves. 一九三三年，一九三四年和一九三五年通过的修正案是为了帮助诚实的债务人恢复自己的地位。
• Two ways were used about the error-amending of contour curve. 采用两种方法对凸轮轮廓曲线进行了修正。

9 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。

10 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

11 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。