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!
简单总结,今天的慢速VOA中,没有太多的困难,我想很长时间以来,慢速VOA的难度都没有太大,所以以后应该考虑在听写的正确率以及实践上面进行提高,另外学习里面的一些表达也很重要。今天的标准VOA当中,主要是关于美国大选总统候选人的问题,所以了解候选人的名字,以及一些词汇是应该从这里学到的东西,像总统候选人提名一类的词语。另外在这种标准语速下听写,经常出现认识的词听不出来,应该想想是自己平时发音的问题,还是听力确实不好。动词的时态,单复数经常出现问题。
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题目: Building a Better Cook Stove for the World’s Poor(1/2)
专有名词: Envirofit, Shell Foundation, Martha Kohlhagen, Colorado
重点总结: pilot project(试点工程)
音频下载: 下载地址(来自沪江论坛)
原文
Breathing smoke from cooking stove or open fires is a comman cause of lung infections in developing coutries. Indoor air pollution is blamed for an estimate 4000 deaths everyday, mostly woman and children. A non-profit group based in the American state of Colorado is working to save lives. Researchers at Envirofit International have developed an clean-burning cook stove that uses less fuel and reduces smoke.
They say it cuts the smoke and dangerous gases by up to 80% compared to open fires or simple traditional stoves. The cook stove was designed to produce the greatest amount of heat in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of fuel. It can burn wood, animal waste or crop waste.
The Shell Foundation has formed a partnership with Envirofit to market the cook stoves. The British Charity established by the Shell group in the year 2000 has invested 10,000,000 dollars in a pilot project for India.
Martha Kohlhagen at Envirofit tells us as many as 10,000,000 stoves will be sent to southern India by the end of this year. She says the stoves are being manufactured in China and will begin arriving in May.
译文
在发展中国家,吸入烹饪或者明火产生的烟雾是导致肺部感染的常见病因。据估计,室内空气污染每天会导致4000人死亡,其中主要是妇女和儿童。成立于美国科罗拉多州的一个非赢利性组织正在努力挽救生命。Envirofit International的研究人员发明了一种能够节省燃料,同时减少烟雾的清洁型厨灶。
他们表示相对于明火和传统的厨灶,这款厨灶减少了高达80%的油烟和有害气体。它能够用最少的燃料,在最短的时间内产生最多的热量。燃料可以是木材、动物排泄物以及农作物废物。
Shell Foundation与Envirofit合作出售这款厨灶。由Shell Group在2000年建立的British Charity已经为印度的一个试点工程投资了1000万美元。
来自Envirofit的Marth Kohlhagen告诉我们多达1000万的厨灶将在今年年底被送往印度南部。她表示这些厨灶是在中国生产的,将从五月开始运达印度。
==================================================
题目: State Department Acknowledges Presidential Candidates’ Passport Files Breached (1/3)
专有名词: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oregon, John Macain, Sean McCormack
重点总结: reprimand(谴责,惩戒), presidential nominee,
音频下载: 下载地址(来自沪江论坛)
原文
The State Department first announced that the passport file of Senator Barack Obama had been breached three time since January this year. The department said that two contract workers were dismissed in connection with those incidents, and a third was reprimanded.
A department spokesman later acknowledged that Senator Hillary Clinton’s file had also been breached last year. Campaigning in Oregon, Obama told reporters that he expects a full and thorough congressional investigation.
“One of the things the American people count on in their interactions with any level of government is that they have to disclose personal information that is, that stay personal and stay private.”
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also said that one of the contract workers who had accessed Senator Obama’s file had also improperly breach the file of the presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee, Senator John Macain.
Macain was travelling in France and said the breach incidents requires an apology and a full investigation. “United States of America values everyone’s privacy corrective action should be taken.
Spokesman McCormack said that State Department’s offce of inspector general is already investigating the incidents and where they were politically motivated.
译文
美国国务院首次宣布自今年1月起,参议员Barack Obama的护照档案被侵入三次。国务院称参与该事件的两名合同工已被开除,另一名已被惩戒。
一位国务院发言人不久后承认,参议员Hillary Clinton的护照档案在去年也被侵入。Obama正在奥勒冈州参加竞选活动,他向记者表示,他希望就此事件有一个全面完整的国会调查。
“美国人民关心的其中一件事是,在他们与各级政府机构的互动中,是否需要透露个人信息,而这些信息应该保证是个人的隐私的。”
国务院发言人Sean McCormack也表示,一位侵入议员Obama档案的合同工也不正当地侵入了可能成为共和党总统候选人的参议员John McCain的档案。
McCain正在法国旅行,他表示这次档案侵入事件需要道歉和彻查。“美国重视每个公民的隐私,因此必须采取纠正措施。”
发言人McCormack称国务院检查长办公室已就此事展开调查,并确定涉案人员是否有政治动机。
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 发表评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
自从开始博客的时候,介绍了那篇《Ubuntu下安装Matlab过程》之后,就再也没有写过Matlab的内容,因为自己不想把这里写成一个关于Matlab的技术学习博客,哈哈!今天是因为找到了Matlab 2008a的下载地址,所以决定分享出来,大家一起来加速吧!
话说Mathworks现在每年都会推出a,b两个版本,大概是在3月和9月的样子,今年也是在3月推出了非常重要的一个新版本Matlab 2008a,也叫做Matlab 7.6,在这个版本当中加入了一些重要的功能。大家不妨先看看一些新功能的介绍,以下应用了大牛林达华的博客-笑对人生,傲立寰宇中的一些介绍。
1、完全实现面向对象编程。其实,在MATLAB的早期版本里面,也有class的概念,不过大家如果使用过的话,可能知道那是一种不太好的设计。功能不强,过程繁琐,而且,很多很tricky的地方,尤其是重载numel, subsref这类函数的时候。而新的设计抛开了历史包袱,现在写出来的类和在python里面写的长得差不多,舒服多了。这套设计,吸取(或者“抄袭”)了Python和C#的优点,除了支持封装(encapsulation),继承(inheritance),和多态(polymorphism) 这些基本特性以外,还支持了一些新兴的特性,包括属性(property),事件(event),和静态方法(static method)。
2、支持Handle类型——用另外一种说法,就是支持函数调用传引用。以前matlab传递参数只有一种方法,copy on write。就是说,当你传一个东西进去,如果它要发生改变,那么,这个东西会整个copy一份,然后修改会在副本上生效。这使得实现动态数据结构变得非常困难。比如一个列表,如果每添加一个元素,都要拷贝整个列表一次,将是什么效果呢?因此,传统上matlab擅长于以矩阵为基础的算法,但是对于以经典动态数据结构为基础的算法,比如动态列表,哈希表,搜索树,图等,就力不从心了。这个新版本终于引入了对引用的支持,这将使MATLAB实现经典数据结构和算法变得前所未有的轻松。现在,数值和统计算法与经典算法越来越多地合流,很多应用都需要同时使用两方面的算法,MATLAB的这个变化正好适应了这种需求。
3、引入了名空间的管理。以前,MATLAB所有的函数都在同一个global的名空间下面。比如两个工具包里面出现了同名函数,解决起来很麻烦。比如现在有两个算法叫LDA,一个是Latent Dirichlet Allocation,一个是Linear Discriminant Analysis,在一个应用中需要同时用到两个算法,而写这两个算法的人各自把它们命名为lda.m,那么问题就出来了。一种naive的方法是改名字,不过会直接破坏掉那些toolbox里面对那个函数的依赖。而这个版本,它借鉴其它高级语言的经验,终于引入了namespace,给这个问题一个很好的解决。
在林达华的博客上还有一些包括工具箱的介绍,有兴趣的话可以去看看。不过要是真想体验2008a的话,相信还是自己下载来的实在。 现在网上有2008a的破解出现,地址分别是:Mininova以及 TPB,有兴趣的朋友可以赶紧去看看。不过Linux下的破解版本应该还没有出现,毕竟是破解的,所以版权问题大家自己斟酌就好了。
更新两个下载地址,但是有一定限制,在smth上面看到的:
1、水木上一个哥们做的公网分流,因为服务器承受能力原因,所以有一定限制,大家看看rp吧,一般连不上,呵呵!
ftp地址:ftp://alpher.cn
用户名: temp
密码: temp
限速150k,最大链接数5 users, 2 users/ip
有效期:两周之内
2、清华晨光bt,一样有限制,估计只有清华的ip可以访问,亦或教育网ip,具体情况不得而知,大家可以试试。
地址:http://thubt.cn
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 共有4条评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
从3月3号开始尝试VOA听写到今天,已经过去了半个月的时间了。也许经常去看这个内容的朋友会知道Hugh已经有4天的时间没有更新VOA听写了。从刚开始VOA听写的时候,Hugh自己就在想一些事情,过了这么多天其实还是在想。其实这半个月以来想了很多的事情,今天是想稍微整理整理自己脑子里零乱的思路,同时也希望看到的朋友可以说说你们自己的看法。
关于VOA听写
一个很好的想法,一次很好的尝试,至少对于我自己来是这样的。但是还是有一些话想说出来,对于进行了短短11天的VOA听写。
- 我会继续坚持VOA的听写,这几天因为朋友要走,外加自己过生日还有一些其他的事情,很多事情都被耽误了,就连自己养成的5点起床的习惯也一起破坏掉了。不过相信很快都会恢复正常的,包括VOA的听写,还是会在每天早上完成。之所以要继续做下去的理由有很多:我相信要看到效果,至少也要个半年一年的样子才可以;我不相信自己没有意志力去完成这件事情;有的时候话说出来了,就很难有退路了,这也算是把目标放在博客上的一个好处吧,哈哈,逼着自己要好好干!
- 不知道把每天的内容更新在博客上面好不好?其实对于这个问题我没有任何答案。对于自己来讲,更新到博客上大概只需要几分钟的时间,把修改后的听写内容稍微整理排版,添加音频文件地址就差不多了。只是觉得这种每天一篇的英语听写,对于很多朋友也许没有任何意义,反而造成了很多的不便。并不是为了别人而写,但是如果能给大家带来方便那是最好的了,如果没有任何意义,还不如自己好好的听写,做好自己的事情呢!
- 也许每周或者每个月把自己的听写文本弄成pdf文件,给大家一个下载链接,同时如果有地方可以储存这些mp3文件最好,因为Hugh都下到自己电脑里,每天会再听几遍,所以连同mp3打包一起放出来,也许这样对于需要泛听或者听写的朋友更加方便呢?其实我也不知道,如果你一直关注了VOA听写这些内容,希望你能说说你的想法。
- 每天看英语新闻不难,难的是一年如一日的看英语新闻,听写也是这样,如果能坚持下去,相信收获是能看得见的。所以无论如何听写我都一定会坚持下去,只是其他的,希望听到大家的想法。当然,如果很不幸,没有朋友留言的话,就当作是大家对于这种形式没有什么兴趣,那么Hugh就改用一周或者一月的方式更新了,当然大家最好推荐几个好用的网络硬盘,用来放这些mp3,比如box.net之类的。
关于生活
除了听写之外,还有一些生活,学习,将来的事情需要思考。本来很多的事情都是可以放到月底的总结当中去的,而现在随便的写写,可以把这些话当作一个阶段的结束,当然,更重要的是,当作一个新的阶段的开始,这才是真正重要的事情。
- 自己在有些事情上面迷惑了很久,前两天的一次长谈,让自己明白了许多。想的再多永远不如做起来实在,现在啥也不想,抓紧时间搞定毕业设计是真。
- 对于自己的申请也可以告一段落了,同时自己今后5年的生活基本上也有个一个基调。申请了5所学校,除了还没有结果的Austin和Caltech,拿到了UMD的offer,Stanford和Brown的rejection。感受是挺多的,过几天写个申请的总结,也算是对于自己经历的一个记录。决定从了UMD,学自己最喜欢的方向,不再继续等下去了,尽管很是想去Caltech。
关于博客
- 这些日子,看到了几个朋友的离开。sofish以及Jimmy都选择暂时的离开,值得高兴的是Jimmy选择了回来。让我再次想起了“博客有害健康”这句话,不知道是不是这样呢?
- 看到了别人的离开,忍不住再考虑自己的事情。我也会问自己,我会离开吗?答案很坚定的是,我不会……尽管在这里我要比平时用更多的时间,可是既然选择了开始,又怎么能轻易结束呢?
- 最后就是这个该死的模板!尽管很不想换模板,而且在新年计划里也说到了这个事情,不过实在有些忍受不了了。Garland这个模板是好看,不过问题也是相当之多。每次ol编号的时候都会出问题,还有其他很多的问题,自己是没有这个能力去改了,还不如找个不错的,完善而又没有毛病的稍微改几个地方呢!
乱七八糟的说了很多东西,其一算是这几天来没有更新VOA听写的一个小解释;其二,也算自己静下来整理整理思路的一个机会。没有兴趣的朋友可以直接跳过,不过还是希望你们能说点你们的看法,我也可以开阔一下自己想问题的思路。
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 发表评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
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是垃圾堆变葡萄园这一新闻的第二部分,标准VOA则是关于不发达地区的音乐教育的新闻的第三部分。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!
今天是听写的第11天。今天的慢速VOA中,由于是将葡萄酒相关的内容,出现了几个葡萄的品种;同时还有几个意大利的地名以及人名。这些当中能记住Pisa(比萨)就差不多了。没有什么明显的难点。今天的标准VOA当中,依然是口音的问题,不过经过昨天的练习之后今天已经适应多了。如果有心的话不妨记住Irish Jigs这个舞蹈,还有Xhosa这种语言。这篇听写的难点还是在一些小词,连读的地方。听写中不认识的词今天处理的不错,基本上没有打扰正常的听写感觉。
Hugh已经将第11天的任务完成了,相信看到这篇文章的时候,国内的朋友已经是在下午了,大家赶紧行动起来,开始今天的听写吧!
题目: Home of Closed Landfill Now Aims for Smell of Fine Wine (2
of 2)
地名: Staten Island, Tuscany, Crespina, Ithaca,Cornell University, University of Pisa,
人名: Henry Salmon, Piergiorgio Casterllani,
其他: sauvignon, merlot, sangiovese(三者均为葡萄的品种)
来源: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-475667.htm
Several years ago, four business leaders decided to do
something about it. They formed the Founders' Group. One of
them, Henry Salmon, recalls growing grapes on a friend's farm
while growing up on Staten Island.
Last November, to get ideas, the group went to Italy. They visited
a winemaking town in Tuscany. Crespina, with about four thousand
people, became a sister city to Staten Island. And Tuscan
winemaker, Piergiorgio Casterllani, become a technical advisor to
the project.
Advices has also come from others, including experts at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York and the University of Pisa in Italy.
The grapes chosen for the Staten Island climate and soil include
sauvignon, merlot, and sangiovese.
Plans call for 2000 vines on land that Henry Salmon says was once
used for a retirement home for sailors. The vineyard will be
organic. No chemical pesticides will be used. Compost made from
leaves and organic materials, collected from City Parks will serve
as fertilizer.
If all goes well, the Tuscan Garden Vineyard Project on Staten
Island should have its first wines ready in a few years , The wine
will not be sold, plans for using it as tasting and special
events.
译文:几年前,有4个企业家决定做点什么。他们成立了“创始人团体”,Henry Salmon便是其中之一,他回忆起以前在Staten Island长大时在一个朋友家的农场里种植葡萄的情景。为了取经,该团体于去年11月前往意大利。他们参观了Tuscany的一个酿酒小镇,这个有着4000人口的Crespina成了Staten Island的姐妹城市,并且Tuscan的酿酒师Piergiorgio Castellani也成为该项目的技术顾问。他们同时也得到了其他的专家建议,其中包括来自于纽约伊萨卡岛的康奈尔大学的专家和意大利比萨大学的专家。被选择出来适合Staten Island气候和土壤的葡萄有sauvignon, merlot, 以及sangiovese。按照计划在这块地上将种植2000株葡萄树,据Henry Salmon称,该地曾计划用来为海员建立一个“退休之家”。葡萄园将实行有机肥耕作,不使用任何化学杀虫剂。混合肥料都取自于树叶和其他从城市公园收集来的可以用作肥料的有机材料。如果一切进展良好,Staten Island的“Tuscan 葡萄园项目”将在几年内酿造出第一批葡萄酒。这些酒不会销售,而是用于品尝以及一些特别场合。
题目: Disadvantaged Student Near Cape Town Excel in Music Program (3
of 3)
地名:Hout Bay
人名:Vuyisani, Luyanda,
其他:Irish Jigs(爱尔兰快步舞), Tango, Xhosa(a Bantu language closely related to Zulu)
重点:upbringing(没听出来),
来源: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-475358.htm
“We play a whole mix of, a huge range of music, from
classical to African, to Irish Jigs to Tango. We really explore
musical territory.”
The children seem very much involved and enjoy what they are
doing. The goal of the project is to provide opportunities to
children from poorer communities.
The aim is for them to express their communities and ethnic groups
through music and the performing arts. They perform most of songs
in Xhosa, songs that talk about their cultures and upbringing. Some
of the children such Vuyisani are as young as seven years old. “My
name is Vuyisani. I am playing drums.” “I am Luyanda, I am fifteen.
I play the cello and I am the lead singer.”
The project has gained enormous support from Hout Bay community.
It earns fees from increasing number of performances, foreign
donors and local donors.
The Hout Bay music project currently practices at the community
hall. But that might change as a private funder is planning to
build them a musical school. The project also plans to tour other
parts of South Africa, and also release a CD this year or early in
2009.
译文:“我们演奏各种音乐,古典的,非洲的,爱尔兰快步舞曲,探戈舞曲等等,真正的探索了音乐的多个领域。”孩子们似乎乐在其中。项目的目的是为在贫穷社区生活的孩子提供机会。目标是通过音乐和艺术表演的形式来展现他们所在的群体。他们表演的大多数歌曲是Xhosa语言的,描写了他们的文化以及成长。很多像Vuyisani一样的孩子只有7岁。(……省略一段采访内容……)项目得到了Hout
Bay社区的广泛支持。这个项目通过不断增加的演出次数和国内外的捐助来维持运作。HBMP现在在社区的礼堂排练,但因为一个私人基金计划为他们建立一所音乐学校,这种情况可能会改变。他们还计划去南非的其他地方,并在今年或明年年初发行CD。
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 共有2条评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
相信正在使用Firefox的朋友们都有自己喜欢的扩展,今天Hugh介绍给大家的这10款扩展,相信很多朋友都没有用过。按照统计的数据来看,访问“杂乱的书桌”的朋友里面大概有20%使用Firefox,所以希望大家能够喜欢这些并不出名的扩展。
1. Snap Links - 下载地址
很多时候我们都需要打开多个链接,尤其是当我们使用Google或者Baidu进行搜索的时候。如果有10个链接你想打开看看,而你需要一个接一个的去操作的时候,你一定会觉得很郁闷。Snap Links就是专门为此设计的,你可以非常方便的使用一次操作打开多个链接,相信你尝试之后一定会喜欢上这个扩展。

在你安装了这个扩展之后,你需要打开多个链接的时候,只需要像上面的图中所展示的那样,有鼠标的右键,注意是右键选中多个链接,当你松开之后这些链接就可以被打开了。同时这款扩展还有很多其他的操作,比如Alt,Ctrl,Shift,Esc键都有相关的操作。大家可以自己去查看。
2. Menu Editor - 下载地址
当你安装了多个Firefox的扩展之后,所有的这些东西都会出现在你的右键菜单中,这对于我们找到我们想使用的那一项造成了极大的麻烦。如果你想整理一下自己的邮件菜单,那么Menu Editor这个扩展就可以大显身手了。

使用这个扩展,你可以按照自己的习惯和想法重新安排你的右键菜单,就算你想把某些条目放到一起都可以。
3. Reminder Fox - 下载地址
如果你每天会长时间的使用Firefox,或者你还没有开始运用任何的时间管理方式的话,你应该尝试使用一下这个扩展。

Reminder Fox可以用来设置提醒,包括生日,纪念日,约会等等,同时还可以设置你的to-do list。如果你还没有尝试GTD或者其他时间管理方式的话,不妨从这个小小的扩展开始,也许会让你的生活更加有序!
4. Littlefox - 下载地址
如果你安装了过多的扩展或者工具栏的话,像Google工具栏,Stumble工具栏,del.ico.us工具栏等等,那么浏览器的上方一定显得十分拥挤,同时也占用了你原本用来浏览网页的空间。可是很多时候你有不想删除这些工具栏,也不想隐藏显示这些工具栏,那么你就应该试试Littlefox。

如果你也觉得该整理点空间出来了,那么Littlefox会让所有的元素都以更小的方式来展示,帮助你节省空间。要是你装了三个或者更多工具栏的话,一定要试试这个扩展才行。
5. Tab Effect - 下载地址
不知道多少朋友使用过compiz-fusion呢?Hugh还是对它在ubuntu下面切换虚拟桌面时的3D效果念念不忘,主要是可以耍帅,哈哈!你有没有想过当你在Firefox中切换标签页的时候也可以如此呢!

这样当你在切换标签页的时候,就可以看到这个漂亮的3D效果了,快去试试看吧!
6. Tab Scope - 下载地址
印象里面opera是有这个功能的,不过不太确定了,当你把鼠标停在标签页上的时候,就可以对这个页面进行预览了。
更夸张的是,你可以在这个预览的缩略图当中进行滚动,放大,缩小以及打开链接等操作呢!
看完了Hugh的介绍,是不是也想赶紧试试看呢,如果你还没有使用过Firefox,赶紧去下载吧!如果你恰好是blogger,不妨去看看Moon曾经介绍过的《 7个对blogger有帮助的Firefox插件》。
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 共有1条评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
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是关于可持续发展的第二部分,标准VOA则是关于不发达地区的音乐教育的新闻的第二部分。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!
今天是听写的第9天。今天的慢速VOA中,无论是片段的理解还是单词的辨识上,都没有什么难点。不过仍然建议大家记住麻萨诸塞州的拼写Massachusetts,很多人知道MIT,可是估计很多人不能把这个词正确的拼写出来。今天的标准VOA感觉还是比较难听的,主要还是因为口音的问题,无论是主持人还是新闻里被采访的对象,他们的发音都造成了不少的麻烦。大家不妨听听看,很多地方其实很简单,就是听不出来,哎……水平不行啊!
第9天的任务完成,相信看到这篇文章的时候,国内的朋友已经是在下午了,大家赶紧行动起来,开始今天的听写吧!
Title: Questioning a Popular Approach to Lasting Development
(2 of 2)
Hints: Rachel Glennerster, Abdul Latif Jameel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Key Points: N/A
Source: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-475042.htm
Rachel Glennerster runs the Abdul Latif Jameel poverty
action lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The
research lab does development and poverty studies. Its goal is to
improve the effectiveness of anti-poverty programs in the United
States and other countries.
Ms. Glennerster tells us that several studies by the research
group’s economists have proven that small price changes have a big
influence on the number of people who use a product. A price change
will reduce the total amount of use of the product as well, she
says. The economists have also found no evidence that the very act
of paying for something changes how people use it.
Finally some development experts argue that pricing is useful when
targeting a product among special populations. When it comes to bed
nets, Ms. Glennerster says research shows no evidence of this.
People are just as likely to use a bed net if they paid for it or
not.
Title: Disadvantaged Student Near Cape Town Excel in Music
Program (1 of 3)
Hints: Hout Bay(地名), Cape Town(地名), Leanne Dollman(人名), Imizamo Yethu, Xhosa(a language closely to Zulu)
Key Points: shack, magnificent, reside
Source:
http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-475356.htm
Hout Bay is a beautiful place, fifty miles outside of Cape
Town. Today it has all kinds of social economic groups and many
cultures living together. A little bay with harbours, mountains and
magnificent beach views.
Extremely wealthy people live close to the mountains, while the
middle class resides in the valley. Lower income people live closer
to the beach, with a poor residing in townships full of wooden
homes and shacks.
One such community is the informal settlement call Imizamo Yethu,
which is Xhosa for” Our Own Efforts”. Imizamo Yethu is home to many
of the children who take part in the Hout Bay music project.
Leanne Dollman is the head of the efforts. “I knew that township
kids don’t access to art education, and there’s just no way to
develop talent, especially music. If it requires an instrument very
difficult for the kids to get hold of instruments. So when I moved
to Hout Bay, I knew that was what I wanted to do, to try to get
some instruments and give some children the opportunity to enjoy
their music.”
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 发表评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
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是关于可持续发展的第一部分,标准VOA则是关于社区安全的新闻的第三部分。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!
今天是听写的第8天了,今天慢速VOA当中还是在一些小词上面除了问题,像第一句当中的will that,听了两遍就是没有想出来是什么。另外就是认识了一个很常用的单词,bad net,呵呵,就是蚊帐的意思,以前从来也没想过蚊帐到底是什么。今天的标准VOA当中出现了一些生词,尤其是动词,像我在Key Points里面写的一样,另外像catastrophe这个应该是在GRE单词里面背过,印象不深了,所以说词汇量还是很重要的。
第8天的任务完成,相信看到这篇文章的时候,国内的朋友已经是在下午了,大家赶紧行动起来,开始今天的听写吧!
Title: Questioning a Popular Approach to Lasting Development
(1 of 2)
Hints: William Easterly, Kenya, malaria
Key Points: will that person(will that的辨识)
Source: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-475041.htm
If you give something to someone for free, will that person
evaluate it and use it? Development experts have debated this
question for decades. Some say the act of paying causes people to
value something and use it more. Others argue that selling
necessary healthy treatment may deny them to the people who need
them the most.
Consider, for example. chemically treated bed nets. These bed net
kill mosquitoes and protect people against malaria when they are
sleeping. New York University economist William Easterly says this
is one example of development gone wrong. In a recent book, Prof.
Easterly suggests bed nets given freely in Africa are often used
for the wrong purpose.
Yet, the world health organization recommends bed nets be given
out freely and used by whole communities. The success of a large
free bed nets campaign in Kenya let the WHO to announce this
recommendation last August.
The debate will likely influence social programs in the developing
world. Many non-governmental organizations support the creation of
self-sustaining programs in poor countries. Goods and services are
sold for a price to help these programs survives.
Title: Los Angeles Officials Say Community Groups Can Help
in Pandemics, Other Disasters (3 of 3)
Hints: Doctor Fielding, Spanish Influenza
Key Points: 一些动词:rewire, re-plumb 一些名词:hygiene, catastrophe, 一些形容词: sprawling multi-ethnic
Source: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-474785.htm
Church members volunteered their labors to create a hospital in an
abandoned shopping center.“We had to rewire the building, re-plumb
it. Then we have to clean it and then divide it up into the various
functions that are required in a hospital and then equip it.”
They got help from Federal Officials, but mostly relied on their
own ingenuity and personal contacts. In little more than 24 hours,
the volunteers had 500-bed hospital running.
Doctor Fielding says personal hygiene is important in any
catastrophe, and simple measures such as hand-washing can limit the
spread of disease. He says hygiene is vital in a flu pandemic,
which could infect from 25 to 50 of the US population. Public
health official knows that three pandemics occurred in the last
century, including the serious outbreak of Spanish Influenza in
1918.
Fielding says pandemics and other disaster are unavoidable and in
a sprawling multi-ethnic region like L.A. community group can play
a vital role in helping people get through the disaster.
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 共有5条评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
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是关于好莱坞的,标准VOA则是关于社区安全的新闻。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!
今天是听写的第7天了,今天的慢速VOA中没有遇到什么困难,基本上比较顺利的听写了下来,除了aim to那个地方一下子没反应出来是啥。所以现在感觉听写的时候很多小词不容易写出来,可能是词短,发音也就短,不像那种长一点的词容易辨识。今天的标准VOA当中,理解整体意思没有任何问题,主要的地方还是和标准一样,小词的辨识需要提高。而且另外一点就是听写经常弄出一堆语法就说不过去的错误,如果只是写可能倒不会,就是因为速度快了就注意不了这些问题了。这可能也是需要提高的地方。
第7天的任务完成,相信看到这篇文章的时候,国内的朋友已经是在下午了,大家赶紧行动起来,开始今天的听写吧!
Title: Hollywood Looks Overseas for Talent and Profit (2 of
2)
Hints: Motion Picture Association of America, Blu-ray, Sony, Toshiba
Key Points: N/A
Source: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-474783.htm
Hollywood also faces competition from illegally copied
movies, a major issue to the Motion Picture Association of America.
The trade group estimated more than 18 billion dollars in worldwide
losses from piracy in 2005.
Hollywood reporter Allen Silverman says piracy has influenced how
American movies are released. In the past, Hollywood studios waited
months after the American release of a film to release it in
foreign markets. Now, many aim to release the same time around the
world.
Foreign markets may also influenced how people get their movies.
Different nations have different levels of technology. Efforts to
settle on the next generation DVD got a lot of attention recently.
Sony’s Blu-Ray technology for high definition television won the
competition with Toshiba’s HD DVD format.
Yet, DVD sales have dropped in recent years. This maybe a sign
that people are increasingly getting their movies off the internet.
The internet is another front in Hollywood’s war on piracy. But
more than that, it presents complex business questions for an
industry built on DVD and tickets sales.
Title: Los Angeles Officials Say Community Groups Can Help
in Pandemics, Other Disasters (2 of 3)
Hints: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Thomas Ray,
Key Points: spring into action to do,
Source: http://www.hjbbs.com/thread-62-474784.htm
A community responder from Baton Rouge. Louisiana spoke
about his church's work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
which displaced hundreds of thousands residents in New Orleans and
Golf Coast in 2005. Thomas Ray, a building contractor and ordained
minister, is on the staff of a church called “the Chapel” on the
campus of Louisiana State University.
His church and others sprang into action to help victims of the
hurricane by cooking food, collecting supplied and finding shelter
and helping the injured get medical treatment. The church had no
plan in place beforehand, but 5 days after the disaster, got
together to coordinate their efforts.
“We had one church that was really equipped, because of their
daycare, and there are school, to handle moms who were pregnant and
who had small children. So from that point on, everybody who showed
up that was pregnant with a small child went to that particular
church as a shelter. And we set resources that they would require
to that church. So they were the storehouse for diapers and
formula.”
杂乱的书桌© 2008 | 共有2条评论 | 订阅FEED | 版权声明
作者: Hugh 原文出处: 杂乱的书桌 版权所有。欢迎转载,请参考版权声明,并以链接形式注明作者和原文出处。Related posts
