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是清洁型厨灶的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是关于美国总统候选人的新闻的第一部分。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！

今天的慢速VOA难度也不是很大，除了象equity这个词确实听了也不知道是什么，其他地方还是时态以及单复数的问题，有一个值得注意的就是will和would好像总是搞错，很奇怪，也不知道为什么！

今天的标准VOA当中可能比较困难的就是，采访对象的英音依然有些不适应，不过播音员的语音也够可以的了。第二段采访的should是怎么也没听出来，总觉得有个单词，可是就是不知道是什么。还是需要继续加强，感觉这个听力问题任重道远啊！

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题目: Sales Down for New US Homes, but Up for Existing Ones (1/2)

专有名词: S&P/Case-Shiller,

重点总结: equity（权益，产权）, housing bubble burst

原文

This week the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes in the United States increased almost 3 percent in February. It was the first increase since last July.

But fueling that increase was a drop in prices. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of 20 major markets showed that home prices fell almost two and a half percent in January. Prices were down almost 11 percent from a year before.

And still another report this week showed that sales of new single-family houses fell in February. Sales were down almost 2 percent from January to a 13-year low.

The Commerce Department estimated there was a ten-month supply of newly built houses waiting to be sold. Experts say prices in many markets will have to fall further before more people are willing or able to buy.

Prices went up and up in recent years, before the housing bubble burst. Many buyers now struggling to make payments took out loans that were too big . They thought prices would keep rising and they could sell their home for a nice profit. Rising values meant that people could also take out home equity loans and lines of credit. They used their home as a cash machine by borrowing against its value.

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题目: Britain Delays Iraq Troop Withdrawal (2/2)

专有名词: Nuri al-Maliki, Baghdad（巴格达）, Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Basra

重点总结: recruit（征募新兵）, overstate, pull out

原文

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in Baghdad the operation was a success and 10,000 additional police and army troops will be recruited to keep order in the southern city. In London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Britain still plays a vital role in supporting the Iraqi troops.

“We want to the Iraqi people and particularly the Iraqi forces to take more responsibility in policing and for security and to make that possible we are helping train 30,000 of the Iraqis’ own armed forces in the south of the country.”

Britain’s opposition Conservative party leader, David Cameron, said Mr. Brown should not have overstated the drawback when he announced it in October.

“What governments must not do is over-promise and then under-deliver and I think that Gordan Brown said more than perhaps he should have done in autumn.”

The Defense Secretary did not give a timetable for the delay in pulling out British troops, but officials say if the Iraqi armed forces are strengthened and security improves in Basra, British troops will be able to return home.

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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是学校奖学金的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是关于气候行动计划的新闻的第三部分。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比较简单，只是这个activist没有听出来，其实也没有想到，还有比较奇怪的地方是把system听成了assistant，怎么也没想明白。其他的地方都很简单，几乎不会犯什么错误。

标准VOA中还是错了很多地方，主要是两段采访当中都有不少的地方没听准确。其实真的很迷惑，只是听的话，可能意思理解的差不多，写就总是错。而且采访内容，也就是非播音员的听起来确实难度大一些，继续适应提高。

今天决定不翻译文章了，很多人建议听写之后都应该好好翻译，相信一直坚持一样会有提高。Hugh的想法的听写完了之后看一遍，明白就好了，对于特别的短语，词汇弄明白，整体翻译起来确实需要的时间久一些，决定不花这些时间了。

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题目: In Some Schools, Learning Is Not Enough of Its Own Reward (1/2)

专有名词: New Mexico, Baltimore, Maryland, New Jersey, Robert Schaefer

重点总结: activist（激进主义分子）

原文

Some American schools pay teachers more if their students improve on tests. Now there is a growing movement to pay the students. In some cases, even just for coming to class.

Students at one school in New Mexico can earn up to 300 dollars a year for good attendance. A program in New York City pays up to 500 dollars for good attendance and high test scores.

In Baltimore, Maryland, high scores on state graduation tests can be worth more than 100 dollars. And a New Jersey school system plans to pay students 50 dollars a week to attend after-school tutoring programs. Schools that pay students can be found in more than one fourth of the fifty states. Other schools pay students with food or other rewards.

Robert Schaefer is public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing and activist group. He says paying may improve performance in the short term, but students develop false expectations for the future. He sees a lack of long term planning in these programs because of pressure on schools to raise test scores.

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题目: Candidates Challenged to Make Global Warming Priority (1/3)

专有名词: Jonathan Shrier, post-Kyoto, Bill Becker,

重点总结: reduction（应该听出来）, viable（有活力的）, in the extreme（非常，极端）, a talent pool

原文

“The G-8 countries would commit 2% reductions on average a year between 2010 and 2020, and then the 5 largest developing countries would kick in the 2% reductions all the way to 2050 and then eventually mid-century the smaller developing countries would be obligated to begin cutting as well.”

Jonathan Shrier says within the president’s first 6 months, a plan must be readied for next round of climate negotiations that will set a post-Kyoto agenda.

“The thought that a new administration again of either party would be able to hit the ground running and radically change the course of the international negotiations is unlikely in the extreme. So we really have to make this a viable kind of arrangement that is gonna work regardless of who’s in the White House after this administration.”

Bill Becker says that can happen if the transition planning starts earlier even before the election. Becker says the president climate action project he directs has already identified the climate sensitive positions that need to be filled and a talent pool ready to take those jobs for the new president.

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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是血吸虫疾病的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是气候变化的新闻的第一部分。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！

今天的慢速VOA听得相当不好，大家可以听听看，不知道是不是因为自己感觉比较疲劳
的原因，错的稀里哗啦，哎，真是服了！该听出来的听不出来，像enzyme这个词，在那看到我也认识，就是没听出来，那些不认识的就更不用说了，错的数目都可以和标准VOA相媲美了，可是要说重点倒真没看到什么。

标准VOA感觉上比慢速VOA还简单，不过也许是因为慢速实在听的太差了，今天的标准VOA几个生词之外，就是最后一段听起来比较费劲。第一句话，连听带猜，也没有写对，另外最后一段的表达也应该学一学，用we do nothing来开始，然后讲we do… 强调效果不错，而且翻译这种句子也应该注意。

今天网络又挂了一会，不知道怎么了，多亏我还宣称自己网络多好呢！昨天的还是没有补上，昨天下午和晚上把时间都用在那该死的随机过程上了，以后还是一定早上完成！

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题目: New Drug Show Promise Against Worm Disease (1/2)

专有名词: schistosomiasis（血吸虫病）, schistosoma（血吸虫属）, oxadiazoles（呋二唑）, Illinois, flatworm（扁形虫）, David Wlliams

重点总结: larva/lava（记混了）genomics,

原文

Scientists think they are a step closer to a new drug to treat schistosomiasis. More than 200,000,000 people suffer from this parasitic worm disease.Most live in developing nations in tropical climates. About ten percent of victims become seriously disabled from internal bleeding, iron loss, organ damage or other effects.

A team in the United States found that chemical compounds, known as oxadiazoles, can target and enzyme needed for the survival of schistosoma. This is the group of flatworms that cause Schistosomiasis. The scientists tested oxadiazoles on laboratory mice. They found that one compound killed the parasite at every level of development from larva to adult.

The study also showed that the compound was active against all three major species of Schistosoma worms that infect humans. The National Institutes of Health supported the research. Scientists from Illinois State University and the Chemical Genomics Center at N.I.H reported their findings in the journal Nature Medicine. Biology professor David Williams led the research. He says the Schistosoma parasite needs oxygen to survive.

译文

科学家认为，他们离研制治疗血吸虫病的新药物更近了一步。超过2亿的人患有这种寄生性疾病。他们大多数生活在位于热带地区的发展中国家。大约10%的患者因为内出血、铁流失、器官损伤或其他症状而导致重度残疾。

美国的一个研究小组发现，被称为oxadiazoles的化合物可以摧毁血吸虫生存所需的酶。这是一组可以引起血吸虫病的扁形虫。科学家在实验室的老鼠身上测试oxadiazoles。他们发现有一种化合物在寄生虫从幼虫到成虫的任何阶段，都能将其杀死。

研究还表明，这种化合物可以有效作用于三种主要引起人类感染的血吸虫。国家健康研究所赞助了这项研究。来自Illinois州立大学和N.I.H.的化学基因组中心的科学家们在《Nature Medicine》杂志上发表了研究成果。生物学教授David Williams领导了这项研究。他表示血吸虫需要氧气才能存活。

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题目: Candidates Challenged to Make Global Warming Priority (1/3)

专有名词: Bill Becker, Colorado, Roger Ballentine

重点总结: advocate immediate（想了会才听出来）, subsidy（听加上猜）, partisan（党派）, coalition（联盟）, subsidy（补助，津贴）

原文

A new US president takes office on January 21st 2009. Delegates attending the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference earlier this month, offered some advice for the incoming chief executive on renewable energy and other environmental priorities.

Bill Becker has a plan for Day One. Becker heads the Presidential Climate Action Project at the University of Colorado, a non-partisan coalition that calls for bold political action on climate change.

“Our mission in this project is to provide the next president with a plan to act within the first 100 days and get as much accomplished as we can, both legislatively but also with presidential executive authorities.”

The plan advocates immediate steps to reduce emissions, increase fuel efficiency, end subsidies on fossil fuels and create laws that put a price on carbon.

Roger Ballentine is a former official with the Clinton White House. He says climate change should be a top priority for the next president but is uncomfortable with the 100-day action model. Ballentine advises the new president to take a pragmatic approach for getting things done.

“Purely from the environmental perspective, the worst outcome is doing nothing, and every day that we do nothing, we increase the magnitude and risk, and ultimate cost of the problem.”

译文

新一届美国总统将在2009年1月21日上任。参加华盛顿国际可再生资源会议的代表们在本月初的会议上向新总统提出了关于可再生能源和其他环境要务的建议。

Bill Becher有一个首要计划。Bill Becker是科罗拉多大学“总统气候行动项目”的负责人，这是一个无党派团体，他们呼吁对气候变化采取大胆的政治措施。

“我们这个项目的任务是向新总统提供任职前100天的行动计划，尽可能通过法律和总统的执行权威来完成计划。”

这个计划提倡尽快采取措施减少废气排放，增加燃料效率，终止化石燃料补助，立法提高碳的价格。

Roger Ballentine是前克林顿政府的官员，他说气候变化确实是新任总统的首要任务，但是他对100天行动模型并不认同。他建议新总统采取更加实际的办法来解决问题。

“单纯从环境的角度出发，最坏的结果就是毫无收获，除了增加问题的严重性和风险程度，以及增加最终成本之外，我们没有解决任何问题。

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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是关于学习障碍的新闻第二部分，标准VOA则是关于粮食短缺的新闻的第一部分。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！

慢速VOA现在的突破重点就在于，尽可能避免出错，包括时态一类的错误；缩短听写时间；提高打字速度。毕竟慢速VOA当中没有太多的难点，今天一个时态错误，一个就是”offer financial aid”当中的offer第一遍没有听出来，亏了自己还申请学校，这么重要的词都没听出来，offer算是白拿了！

今天的标准VOA感觉比以往的要难一些，听的也就差一些。第一是这个播音员似乎说话不断句，而且这次的新闻里总是很长很长的句子，听着真费劲。听完了新闻最起码意思是明白了，不过真到听写就完全不同了。第二是里面的生词相对来说也较多，不过都是很有用处的词，像skyrocketing，说是生词其实一看就知道是什么意思，还有irate, anamoly, ethanol等等。可以好好总结一番。总觉得今天的文本有些小问题，如果大家发现了不妨留言探讨一下。

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题目: Three Schools for the Learning Disabled (2/2)

专有名词: Shelton School, Landmark college, Vermont,

重点总结:

原文

Serving intelligent students with learning differences is the slogan of the Shelton School in Texas. Its website says the school has 850 students in all 12 grades and one teacher for every sixe students.

The Shelton School also says its goal is to prepare students to return to regular classes, although some do finish high school there. The website says Shelton graduated 44 students in 2006. And it says they received acceptances from a total of 77 colleges and universities.

Landmark College in Vermont is a college for students with learning difficulties. It offers a two-year program that prepares students to continue their studies in a four-year school. Each student has an advisor and an individual learning program. Landmark has international students this year from South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

All three schools offer financial aid. Hillside cost about 17,000 dollars a year. Shelton costs between 10,000 and 21,000 depending on the grade level. Shelton and Hillside students live at home. Landmark college cost about 50,000 dollars a year which includes housing.

译文

“为不同学习能力的学生服务”是得克萨斯的Shelton School的口号。根据网站上的信息，该学校在全部的12个年级里面有850名学生，大约每6m名学生配备一名老师。

Shelton School称虽然一些学生在这里一直到高中毕业，但他们的目标是让学生们为返回到普通课堂做准备。网站上的信息表明2006年共有44名学生毕业，他们一共收到了来自77所院校的录取通知。

Vermont的Landmark College是一所为有学习障碍 的学生服务的学院。它提供了一个为期两年的课程，以此为那些想继续在4年制学习的学生打好基础。每个学生有一个指导老师和个人学习计划。今年Landmark College还录取了来自南美、欧洲、亚洲、中东和非洲的国际学生。

这3所学校都提供经济补助。Hillside School一年的花费大约17，000美元。Shelton School根据年级的不同一年花费大约在10，000-21，000美元之间，Hillside和Shelton的学生都是住在家里的走读生，Landmark College包括住宿在内的一年花费大概是50，000美金。

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题目: Food Prices Spike Worldwide (1/3)

专有名词: Philippine, Indonesian, Egyptians, Lester Brown

重点总结: irate（愤怒，发怒）, anomalies（反常）, ethanol（乙醇）

原文

Recent weeks have seen Philippine authority scramble to augment rice stocks in the country, Indonesian officials warn of a possible social unrest due to skyrocketing prices for basic foodstuffs, irate Egyptians protesting bread shortages and International Food Aid Programs unable to buy enough goods to meet their food distribution targets for vulnerable populations.

These cases should not be viewed as isolated anomalies but rather as indicators of a global phenomenon, according to Lester Brown of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute.

“In seven of the last eight years, world grain production has fallen short of consumption. We have been pulling down world grain stocks until they are now at the lowest level on 34 years.”

Experts say several factors are to blame: a growing world population, under-investment and agriculture technology, high petroleum prices, housing and business development crowding out farmlands, droughts and floods made more severe by climate change and growing demand for a limited supply of fresh water.

In addition, grains like corn once grown exclusively to feed humans and lifestock are now being diverted into programs to generate ethanol and other so-called bio-fuels as an alternative to oil and gasoline.

译文

最近的几周，菲律宾当局仓促决定在全国提高粮食储量，印尼官员警告说由于基础粮食价格暴涨可能会造成社会动荡，愤怒的埃及人抗议面包短缺，国际粮食援助项目无力购买足够的粮食来达到援助弱势人群的目标。

来自华盛顿的土地政策协会的Lester Brown认为，这些不应该看作是个别的反常现象，而应该看作是对全球现象的暗示。他说：“过去8年中有7年，世界粮食产量供不应求，我们不断降低世界粮食储备以致当前的粮食储备达到了34年以来的最低水平。”

专家说这是由多种原因造成的：不断增长的世界人口，对农业技术的投入不足，石油价格上涨，居住和商业用地侵占耕地，由于气候变化而加重的旱涝灾害以及供过于求日益严重的淡水问题。

此外，原本专门用于粮食储备的玉米等现在用于生产酒精和其他所谓的“生物燃料”，用来作为石油和天然气的代替品。

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