VOA慢速英语2012 THIS IS AMERICA - Taiwanese-American Basketball Hero Creates ‘Linsanity’

THIS IS AMERICA - Taiwanese-American Basketball Hero Creates ‘Linsanity’

FAITH LAPIDUS:Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY¹: And I'm Bob Doughty. This week on our program: "Linsanity" -- why people in Taiwan are going crazy for a basketball player in New York. Also, we hear about a Cambodian-American singer and her first album. And we visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in Alabama.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: In recent weeks, Jeremy Lin has gotten a lot of attention for his performance as a point guard in the National Basketball Association.
Fans in the United States are not the only ones who have cheered his surprising success. Jeremy Lin was born in the United States but his parents came from Taiwan.
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BOB DOUGHTY: On a recent day, people at a Taipei sports bar cheered as they watched Jeremy Lin make a three-point shot. It won the game for the New York Knicks.
The Knicks added him to their starting lineup earlier this month. He began averaging more than twenty points a game and leading the team to a rare series of wins.
Jeremy Lin is twenty-three years old and 1.9 meters tall. A Christian², he says his belief in God has been a big part of his success.
But he had to work hard to find that success.
He went to Harvard University after playing at Palo Alto High School in California. He played on the Harvard team but failed to get an athletic³ scholarship.
He graduated in twenty ten but no NBA team chose him. Late that year he signed with the Golden State Warriors⁴ in California. He became the first American of Taiwanese or Chinese origin to play for an NBA team.
But he rarely played, and was moved to the NBA's minor⁵ league. Then in early February the New York Knicks gave him a chance to prove himself. He did that by helping⁶ launch the team on a winning streak⁷.
FAITH LAPIDUS: His unlikely path has made him even more likeable to Taiwanese fans in search of more sports heroes. Major League Baseball pitcher⁸ Wang Chien-ming from the Washington Nationals and number-one ranked female golfer Yani Tseng are both from Taiwan.
The island has a population of twenty-three million people and a well-developed economy. Taiwanese college students usually work toward careers in business and technology. Most countries in the world do not recognize Taiwan diplomatically. China considers Taiwan part of its territory.
Monica Wang is a thirty-year-old interior designer in Taipei. She took a day off from work to cheer for Jeremy Lin.
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She feels extremely proud of him, she says. He had once underperformed, but suddenly he showed what he was worth and a coach gave him a chance.
The excitement among Jeremy Lin fans is known on both sides of the Pacific as "Linsanity."
BOB DOUGHTY: George Hou teaches communication studies at I-Shou University in Taiwan.
GEORGE HOU: "Basketball usually is a sport for American people, European people or African people, because Asian people are not as tall as people from other continents. Through his working hard, he gets the recognition of the fans of basketball, so the Asian people like to feel this story because it kind of compensates⁹ their inability to win."
Jeremy Lin's popularity is likely to give basketball another chance at becoming a major sport in Taiwan. Baseball is the most popular sport locally, both on the field and on television. But a local professional basketball league has been growing since two thousand three.
That league had started to change local opinions about basketball even before Jeremy Lin became popular. The Chinese Taipei Basketball Association says one in four Taiwanese already follow basketball.
NBA games are broadcast in Taiwan during the off-season in baseball. The NBA has even held marketing¹⁰ events in Taipei to increase its fan base.
Today young players can be found shooting hoops¹¹ on any Taiwanese school ground with a basketball court. Chen Sheng-hong, a former basketball reporter and editor-in-chief of Esquire Taiwan, says some of them hope to be the next Jeremy Lin.
CHEN SHENG-HONG: "Why he's so popular in Taiwan, as a Taiwan basketball journalist for many years I think Jeremy Lin is a dream come true for anyone, because we can see he is not very tall or very strong or very quick. Actually he is just of a mediocre¹² basketball player build, but he still can earn a place in the NBA. That's why people here are so crazy about him."
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FAITH LAPIDUS: Cambodian-American singer and songwriter Bochan Huy grew up in Oakland, California. She has just released her first album, called "Full Monday Moon."
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For this song, Bochan Huy began with a Cambodian classic, "I Am 16." The original song came from the Cambodian rock music of the nineteen sixties and seventies. That was before the communist Khmer Rouge¹³ took control of the country.
Her version of the song is something completely new, she says.
BOCHAN HUY: "I kind of describe 'Chnam Oun Dop Pram¹⁴ Mouy' as sort of like a new culture. It's a melting pot of everything that I've absorbed: from living in Oakland, from being Cambodian, and from being American. It's Cambodian-American."
The song is included on "Full Monday Moon." Bochan Huy says she wrote the album after the death of her father. He had been a refugee and a musician who loved classic Cambodian songs.
BOCHAN HUY: "The only way that I felt that he was still around was to do music. That was something the Khmer Rouge did not take away from him. He was able to bring that from Cambodia to here."
BOB DOUGHTY: She produced the album in a New York studio for an independent record label. She says much of Cambodia's own music industry favors new recordings¹⁵ of classic songs and avoids experimentation¹⁶.
BOCHAN HUY: "I think it's because so many Cambodians have held on to that generation, you know. That's when things were good. It was before the Khmer Rouge war. And so it's going to be a challenge to kind of get people to let go of that and go, 'OK, you know, I think we're ready to move on.'"
She says ideas about Cambodian identity have changed and evolved as Cambodians have settled in different countries.
BOCHAN HUY: "We've landed in all parts of the world, we've been able to kind of adapt, adjust and recreate, and we're forming something new for ourselves. And that's to me what it means to be Cambodian."
Bochan Huy just went to Cambodia for the first time since nineteen ninety-nine. She went to promote her album and to get ideas for new material.
You can watch a video about Bochan Huy and her new album at voanews.cn.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: February is Black History Month, a time to honor people and events that have shaped the African-American experience.
Some of those events took place in Birmingham, Alabama, during the civil rights movement of the nineteen fifties and sixties.
Martin Luther King Jr. and others led peaceful demonstrations¹⁷ there as part of the struggle for equality. But some marches turned violent when police used fire hoses and dogs against the demonstrators. Many people were injured and thousands were arrested.
Images from Birmingham only strengthened support for efforts to end laws in the South that allowed racial discrimination.
Nearly fifty years later, people come to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to learn about the events of that time. William Revill recently traveled several hours to see the museum.
WILLIAM REVILL: "Black people need to know the price that our people paid for us to be where we are today. It came with a price. Unfortunately what that price meant was that a lot of our people died."
BOB DOUGHTY: Lawrence Pijeaux is president of the museum. He points to the jail cell door that once kept Martin Luther King behind bars.
LAWRENCE PIJEAUX: "This is an extremely important artifact at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute."
Mr. Pijeaux says Dr. King wrote his famous "Letter From Birmingham Jail" locked behind that door.
LAWRENCE PIJEAUX: "It's important that we have this institution here so that people not only in this country but people come from around the world to learn about what happened in Birmingham."
Multimedia¹⁸ presentations, photographs and artifacts are used to document the civil rights struggle. Ann Marie Wilson visited the museum from London.
ANN MARIE WILSON: "We have heard Alabama has been very significant in the integration¹⁹ process but also had a lot pain along its journey. I wanted to see what I could learn from that to see how peaceful demonstrations can enable a diverse population to live side by side in harmony."
Vernon Roberts from New Jersey²⁰ says the museum brings back powerful memories.
VERNON ROBERTS: "It kind of got emotional for me, and it gave me the opportunity to want to bring more of my family especially to have my children here so they can see the struggle that took place here."
You can watch a video about the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute at voaspecialenglish.com.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was produced by Brianna Blake with reporting by Ralph Jennings, Chris Simkins and Brian Calvert. I'm Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Read, listen and learn English with this and other programs and activities at voanews.cn. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 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。

3 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

4 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

5 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

8 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

9 compensates   

补偿，报酬( compensate的第三人称单数 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The company compensates her for extra work. 公司因她的额外工作而给她报酬。
• A vertical spring compensates for the weight of the sensing element. 用一根垂直弹簧补偿敏感元件的负荷。

10 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

11 hoops   

n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓

参考例句：

• a barrel bound with iron hoops 用铁箍箍紧的桶
• Hoops in Paris were wider this season and skirts were shorter. 在巴黎，这个季节的裙圈比较宽大，裙裾却短一些。 来自飘（部分）

12 mediocre   

adj.平常的，普通的

参考例句：

• The student tried hard,but his work is mediocre. 该生学习刻苦，但学业平庸。
• Only lazybones and mediocre persons could hanker after the days of messing together.只有懒汉庸才才会留恋那大锅饭的年代。

13 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

14 pram   

n.婴儿车，童车

参考例句：

• She sat the baby up in the pram. 她把孩子放在婴儿车里坐着。
• She ran in chase of the pram. 她跑着追那婴儿车。

15 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

16 experimentation   

n.实验，试验，实验法

参考例句：

• Many people object to experimentation on animals.许多人反对用动物做实验。
• Study and analysis are likely to be far cheaper than experimentation.研究和分析的费用可能要比实验少得多。

17 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

18 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

19 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

20 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。