杂乱的书桌

欢迎来到“杂乱的书桌”每天准时为你带来的VOA听写，本期的慢速VOA是环境问题的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是美国大选的新闻的第二部分。还犹豫什么，赶紧和Hugh一起加入到学习英语，锻炼听写的队伍中来吧！

今天到了晚上才开始听写, 本来是想把明天的一起听写了的, 因为后面几天的听写都没法按时完成了. 明天去荷兰找同学玩, 到三号才回来, 正好明天是荷兰的女王节, 去看看到底是什么样子.

其实最近还是很忙的, 正好抽劳动节休息一下, 回来就要搞定美国的签证, 打算把在瑞典签证的经过写写, 好像还没看到有朋友介绍过, 我先去探路了. 这个月的博客总结估计也写不了了, 如果明天可能的话借同学的电脑试试. 提前祝大家节日快乐!

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题目: Seven Win Goldman Environmental Prize (1/2)

原文

This Tuesday is Earth Day. On April 22, 1970, millions of Americans took part in activities to bring attentions to the environment. Senator Gayler NilsonGaylord Nelson from Wisconsin had calledcalls for a huge protest against pollution and other threats. And environmental movement was born, and Earth Day is now observed around the world. Last week, the seven winners of this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize were announced in San Francisco, California. Winners are chosen from each part of the world. The winners of the Goldman Prize for South and Central America are Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza in Ecuador. The two men are leading a major legal case against the Chevron Oil Company. It involved petroleum pollution in the Ecuadorian Amazon between 1964 and 1990. The case was brought against Texaco, Chevron bought that company in 2001. The winner of this year’s Goldman Prize for Africa is Feliciano dos Santosin Mozambique. He, and his band Massukos, use traditional music to educate villagers about the importance of clean water. He also works to bring better sanitation to poor villages.

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题目: Clinton Challenges Obama to Debate (1/2)

原文

Clinton is trailing Obama in delegates and in the popular vote, and she has been putting pressure on him to hold more debates before the May 6 primary elections in Indiana and in the southern state of North Carolina. On Saturday, Clinton called for a 90-minute debate without a moderator.
“I hope we will be able to have a good old-fashioned Lincoln-Douglas debate right here in Indiana, so that you can see for yourself to make the decision about who our next president should be.”
The style of debating where each side presents an argument gets its name from the 1858 debates in Illinois between US Senate Candidates Abraham Lincoln and Steven Douglas. Obama’s campaign aidsaides say they are studying the debate request. Obama has complained thatin the last debate on April 16th, the moderators focused too much on political trivia, and too little on real issues. Clinton told thea crowd in South Bend, Indiana Saturday she is focusing on the substance of the issues while Obama is relying on style.
“I have been veryspecific, across Indiana and America to talk about solutions. Because my campaign is about solutions, not speeches. It is about working to make the changes that we know we must have.

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欢迎来到“杂乱的书桌”每天准时为你带来的VOA听写，本期的慢速VOA是女性领袖的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是环境问题的新闻的第二部分。还犹豫什么，赶紧和Hugh一起加入到学习英语，锻炼听写的队伍中来吧！

今天的慢速VOA前些天听过一次类似的内容，不过应该是在标准VOA当中，我不确定自己的记忆力是不是足够好。除了一些国家和人名之外，没有任何困难，相信大家在听多了写多了的情况下，这些名字也不成为问题了。

标准VOA听写的倒是不差，就是很多小的问题，比如单词的大小写，听写的时候确实顾不上这个，而且有的内容确实也不知道到底是应该大写还是小写。对于amounts to确实没有听出来，也没想到是这个词，继续坚持！

昨天休息了一天，没有听写，周末是应该稍微休息一下，否则真的很难一直连轴转，试着坚持保持一种很忙的状态，但是大概半个月之后会很疲劳，与其这样还不如定期让自己休息一下。比如多休息一会。

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题目: Five Women Honored in Washington for Global Leadership (1/2)

专有名词: Argentina, Burma, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Poder Ciudadano, Laura Alonso, Charm Tong, Mariane Pearl, Daniel Pearl

原文

Five women were honored last week in Washington for their efforts to increase the economic and political progress of women. Vital Voices, an international nonprofit organization, presented its Global Leadership Awards to the winners from Argentina, Burma, France, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. L AlonsoLaura Alonso heads a group in Argentina called P CPoder Ciudadano, or Citizen Power. Its members work to make the government more open. They investigate corruption, observe elections and watch for government influence over the media. They also educate citizens about their rights. Burmese activist Charm Tong received Vital Voices’ human rights award, presented by first lady Laura Bush. Charm Tong co-founded the Shan Women’s Action Network. In a report six years ago, the group detailed how the Burmese military uses rape as a weapon against women and girls. Charm Tong also helped establish a school for ethnic Shan young people whose families live in exile in Thailand. Author and journalist Mariane Pearl of France was recognized for writing about women who work for change in their countries. She also wrote a book about the death of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. He was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002.

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题目: Bush Sets New Targets for Curbing Growth in Gas Emissions (2/2)

专有名词: Barbara Boxer, Kyoto Protocol

原文

They note Congress is about to start work on new legislation dealing with the environment, and they stressed the 17 leading industrialized countries taking part in the Paris Negotiations this week hope to have an agreement by the end of next year, meaning the groundwork must be laid now. The president’s proposals fall far below European goals to reduce emissions and environmental activists say the position taken by the President amongstamounts to too little, too late. Senator Barbara BucksterBoxer, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, calls his approach the hedge of irresponsibility. But Mr. Bush defends it as realistic. The president warns climate change is a global problem and US action alone is not enough. He says other countries must come up with their own goals for cutting greenhouse gases. The Paris Talks on Thursday and Friday will address possible steps to protect the planet after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The United States is the only major industrialized country that did not ratify the protocol, although emits more greenhouse gases than any other country.

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欢迎来到“杂乱的书桌”每天准时为你带来的VOA听写，本期的慢速VOA是美国数学教育的新闻第二部分，标准VOA则是教皇访美的新闻的第一部分。还犹豫什么，赶紧和Hugh一起加入到学习英语，锻炼听写的队伍中来吧！

今天又晚了！不过今天看到了两个朋友的留言，都说不要放弃应该坚持下去，谢谢你们的支持！我想自己是不会放弃的，不过由于最近感觉事情确实多，有点疲劳，不过VOA是一定会继续下去的。另外就是要坚持First Things First的原则，其实早上还是有时间能完成听写的，所以以后起来先做这件事情，新闻往后拖拖再看。

今天的标准VOA还是有不小的难度的，什么时候标准能听好了估计进步就不错了。准备继续坚持每天听写标准和慢速，最起码在这个月当中，下个月看看是不是把慢速换成别的什么内容来听写。另外，继续第八天没有发表任何文章……

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题目: Searching For Better Ways to Teach Math in US (1/2)

词汇: N/A

原文

Schools are urged to prepare more students to take algebra by the eighth grade. Many people think math success depends largely on natural talent or ability; the experts say it depends on effort. Studies have shown that children improve in math when they believe that their efforts to learn make them “smarter. ” The report also calls for strengthening the math preparation of elementary and middle school teachers. And it urges publishers to shorten math textbooks, which are often up to a thousand pages long. The panel (says)said math books are much smaller in many nations where students do better in math than American children. Publishers say American textbooks have to meet the goals of different states for what should be taught in each grade. The report also calls for more research on the effects of using calculators. Many algebra teachers expressed concern about their use in the lower grades. And the report says gifted students who can move through the material much faster than others should be permitted to do so. The math panel says the educational system needs major changes. If not, it warns that the United States will lose the mathematical leadership it possessed during most of the twentieth century.

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题目: Pope Benedict Begins US Visit(1/2)

词汇: Pope Benedict（罗马教皇）, pedophile（恋童）, Monsignor Kevin Irwin, mortification, pilgrim

原文

Pope Benedict arrived at Andrews Air Force base outside Washington having directly addressed one of the toughest issues facing him during his first papal visit to the United States. On the flight from Rome, Benedict said the scandal involving sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests has caused great suffering for the church in America and for him personally. The pope says he is deeply ashamed by the scandal and the pedfilesthat pedophiles will be banned from ministry. The church has paid at least two billion to victims of abuse and hundreds of priests have been removed. (Athonier)Monsignor Kevin Irwin, the dean of the school of Theology at Catholic University, says it will take a long time for wounds to heal.

“No one (consult)can solve that crisis. It is gonna to be a lot of time and a lot of wounds and a lot of prayer and a lot of mortification. In one sense this crisis has brought the church back to its origins. We have to be a humble, pilgrim church. ”

President and Mrs. Bush along with their daughter Jenna made the unusual gesture of greeting Pope Benedict at the Air Force base, the first time the president has welcomed a foreign leader there.

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欢迎来到“杂乱的书桌”每天准时为你带来的VOA听写，本期的慢速VOA是中年腹部肥胖的新闻第二部分，标准VOA则是韩国总统访美的新闻的第一部分。还犹豫什么，赶紧和Hugh一起加入到学习英语，锻炼听写的队伍中来吧！

今天对照慢速VOA，看过去竟然没有红色的字，哈哈，实在是很开心。以往经常会出现一点小错误，或者其实不算做错误的错误，所以自己的一些听写习惯也在逐渐改变，比如说数字尽量按照英文敲出来，其实这样比我脑袋反应出数字快，也许脑袋太笨了。

至于标准VOA，有些地方挺郁闷的，韩国人的英语也有点奇怪，而且这段采访的声音偏小。对于the Republic of Korea，我怎么就听成above the Korea了呢。还有一些其他的地方，需要改进啊。已经有一周的时间没有写过别的内容了，就像上次说的，事情有些混乱，过几天写写感想。

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题目: Study Links Midlife Belly Fat to Higher Risk of Dementia (2/2)

专有名词: Neurology, dementia, Rachel Whitmer, Kaiser Permanente,

原文

Those with the highest belly measurements had almost three times the risk of dementia compared to those with the lowest. Belly size appeared to make a difference even in patients with normal body weight. Belly size is linked to a kind of fat that grows around organs and produces harmful substances.

Experts believe that belly fat is more dangerous than other kinds of fat cells that grow just under the skin. The researchers say this is the first study to demonstrate a link between midlife belly fat and the risk of dementia. Still, it is possible that this apparent connection could be the result of a complex set of health-related behaviors. The findings appeared in the journal Neurology.

Rachel Whitmer from the Kaiser Permanente research division led the study. She says the findings do not explain why belly fat may be linked to dementia. But she says the study should send a warning. Other research has shown that brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease might begin as early as young adulthood. And another study showed that belly fat in old people was tied to increased loss of brain cells.

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题目: S.Korean President Leaves For Summits Aimed At Better Ties With US, Japan

专有名词: Han Seung-soo, Lee Myung-bak

原文

South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo told reporters Monday in Seoul that President Lee Myung-bak’s summit trip to Washington is about “re-energizing” and “reconsolidating” the alliance between the two countries. He also (cautions to)cautioned North Korea not to attempt to exclude South Korea from any deal aimed at ending the North’s nuclear weapons programs.

“Our relationship with the United States is very strong. We’ve been (alliance)allies for many, many years. So (boycott)going to the United States over the shoulder of Korea, (above)the Republic of Korea, will not succeed.”

Han’s words echoed those of President Lee himself, who held a nationally televised news conference Sunday before departing Monday for the United States. Mr. Lee says North Korea will be a key topic in his talks with President Bush at the Camp David retreat in Maryland. He says (compare)compared to previous South Korean administrations, his government will be more active in closely coordinating policy on North Korea with the United States. Some experts have criticized Mr. Lee’s two most recent predecessors for seeking engagement and peaceful economic cooperation with the North at the expense of the alliance with the United States.

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