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【速度1-13】继续提前贴明天的练习~
<span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><font face="宋体">计时</font>1</span><br /></span><br /><span style="color:#666666;"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> 04July 2011</font></font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font size="6"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Game Over for Limits on Violent VideoGames</font></font></span><br /><font size="3"><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">America's video game industry was the winner in a decision lastweek by the United States Supreme Court.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The justices rejected a law in California that banned the saleor rental of violent video gamesto people under eighteen. They said the two thousand five law violated the freespeech guarantee in the First Amendment to the Constitution. The vote was sevento two.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The court decided that video games are a protected form ofcreative expression like books, plays and movies. Paul McGreal, dean of theUniversity of Dayton law school in Ohio, says California did not see gamingthat way.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> AUL McGREAL: “The state of California tried to argue that thiswas not speech, it was more of an activity because children interact and playwith the video games, and so it’s not traditional speech like a book or like amagazine.<em>”</em></font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">California lawmakers argued that violent games were especiallyharmful to children. But the court said they were no more harmful than theviolence in other forms of media. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majorityopinion. He pointed to the violence in fairy tales like "Snow White"and "Cinderella" and in cartoons.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> rofessor McGreal says the court sees its job as only to decidewhat is and is not legally protected speech.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> AUL McGREAL: “The Supreme Court said we’re going to decide whatcounts as speech and then leave it up to private individuals, not thegovernment, to decide what speech they want to see and want to view. We don’twant to get the Supreme Court into making fine distinctions about what isbetter than others, because that will lead us down a slippery slope. Once youstart deciding that, what’s to stop the government from saying that, for example,Grimm’s fairy tales themselves are too violent, or that particular books shouldbe banned?”</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(308 words)</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></span><br /><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><font face="宋体">计时</font>2</span><br /></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">In fact, from nineteen fifteen to nineteen fifty-two, theSupreme Court permitted censorship of movies for fear they could be "usedfor evil."</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Today the film and music industries have voluntary ratingsystems, and so does the video game industry. For example, extremely violentgames are rated "M" for mature. Abby Halloran, a manager at aGamestop store in Clinton, Maryland, says these are meant for ages seventeenand older.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">ABBY HALLORAN: “If there is blood and gore, intense violence,strong language, strong sexual content -- anything like that, use of drugs andalcohol -- those are all M-rated.<em>”</em></font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Only five percent of the more than sixteen hundred games ratedlast year were rated M. Still, Ms. Halloran says M-rated games like Call ofDuty, Halo and Fallout are the most popular games in the store. Children need aparent’s permission to buy them.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">ABBY HALLORAN: “If they don’t have a parent with them they can’tbuy it. If their parent says it’s okay we’re obligated to sell it to them. Butwe’re obligated to ask the parent and explain to them all of the reasons whyit’s a more mature rated game. And if they still agree with it then we’ll sellit to them. But the majority of the time when we tell them what’s in it, theydon’t.<em>”</em></font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written byJune Simms. I'm Steve Ember.</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(236 words)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></span><br /></font><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><font size="3"><font face="宋体">计时</font>3</font></span><br /></span><br /><span style="color:#666666;"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">04 July 2011</font></font></span><br /><font size="5"><strong><span style="color:#333333;"><font size="6"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">A Visit to the BiltmoreEstate in North Carolina</font></font></span></strong></font><strong><span style="color:#333333;"><font size="2"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></font></span></strong><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"></font></span><font size="3">FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA SpecialEnglish. This week, Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith are your guides as wetake you to the Biltmore Estate. This huge home was built more than a centuryago near the mountains of North Carolina.<br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(MUSIC)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: An estate isa property, usually large, owned by one person or a family. The man who ownedthe Biltmore estate in North Carolina was George Vanderbilt.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">He was born in eighteen sixty-two and died in nineteen fourteen.His father and grandfather were two of the richest and most powerfulbusinessmen in America. They made their money in shipping and railroads.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">When his father died, George Vanderbilt received millions ofdollars. He chose to spend a good deal of that money building his home in NorthCarolina. More than one thousand people began the work on it in eighteeneighty-nine.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The structure was ready six years later in December eighteenninety-five. Biltmore is now open to the public. It is well worth a visit. So,close your eyes and imagine you are going there.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(MUSIC)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">RICH KLEINFELDT: Our car has just turned off one of the mainroads in the city of Asheville, North Carolina. We have entered a private roadthat leads to the main house on the Biltmore Estate. The sides of the road arelined with trees.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">When we leave the car, we walk through a wooded area. The air isclean. The trees are dark and very large. They block us from seeing anything.At last we come to an open area and turn to the right. The main house isseveral hundred meters in front of us.</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(280 words)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></span><br /><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><font face="宋体">计时</font>4</span><br /></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Biltmore is huge. It looks like a king'spalace. It measures two hundred thirty-eight meters from side to side. It isthe color of milk, with maybe just a little chocolate added to make it lightbrown.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">As we walk closer, it seems to grow bigger and bigger. It hashundreds of windows. Strange stone creatures look down from the top. They seemto be guarding the house.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Two big stone lions guard the front door. Biltmore really hastwo front doors. The first is made of glass and black iron.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">We pass through it to a second door. This one is made of richdark wood. Both doors are several meters high. The opening is big enough forperhaps six people to walk through, side-by-side.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">RICH KLEINFELDT: A book has been written about the Biltmoreestate. It includes many pictures of the house, other buildings, gardens andthe Vanderbilt family. The book says the house has two hundred fifty rooms. Wecannot see and count them all.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">One room that can be seen looks like a garden. It is alive withflowers. In the center is a statue with water running from it. When we look up,we see the sky through hundreds of windows. Eight big lights hang from the top.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Then we come to a room in which dinner can be served to manyguests. The table is large enough for more than sixty people. The top of thisroom is more than twenty-one meters high. The walls are covered with clothpictures, flags, and the heads of wild animals.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Each room at Biltmore is more beautiful thanthe last. Many include paintings by famous artists, like French artistPierre-Auguste Renoir and American artist John Singer Sargent. The chairs, beds,and other furniture were made by artists who worked in wood, leather, glass,marble and cloth.</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(313 words)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></span><br /><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><font face="宋体">计时</font>5</span><br /></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">One room was designed for reading. It contains more thantwenty-three thousand books in eight languages. Stairs on the side of the roompermit visitors to reach books that are kept near the top. The paintings inthis reading room are beautiful, too.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">RICH KLEINFELDT: Later, we visit rooms below ground level. Thepeople who worked for the Vanderbilt family lived in this lower part.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The Vanderbilts employed about eighty people to take care of thehouse. This included cooks, bakers, and house cleaners. Other workers took careof the many horses the Vanderbilts owned. Many of these workers lived in themain house, but some lived in the nearby town.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">One of the biggest rooms below ground level is the kitchen. Andthere are separate rooms for keeping food fresh and cold, and for washing theVanderbilt's clothes.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> ast these rooms we find an indoor swimming pool. This area hasseveral separate small rooms where guests could change into swimming clothes.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: We finally come back to the front door of thehouse. Yet there is still much to see at the Biltmore estate.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">To the left of the front door, about fifty meters away, is wherethe Vanderbilt family kept its horses. It is no longer used for horses,however. It now has several small stores that sell gifts to visitors. Visitorscan also enjoy a meal or buy cold drinks and ice cream.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">RICH KLEINFELDT: In addition to seeing the main house atBiltmore, you can walk through the gardens. Hundreds of different flowers growthere. A big stone and glass building holds young plants before they are placedin the ground outside.</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(277 words)</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> </font></span><br /><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><span style="background-color:#4f81bd;"><font face="宋体">计时结束</font></span><br /></span><br /><span style="color:red;">以下自由阅读</span><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">~</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"> ast the gardens is the dark, green forest. Trees seem to groweverywhere. The place seems wild. At the same time, there is a feeling of calmorder.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">There was once a dairy farm on the Biltmore estate. It is gonenow. The milk cows were sold. Some of the land was planted with grapes. And thecow barn was turned into a building for making wine.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: As we continue to walk, we come to an unusualhouse in the forest. The road on which we are walking passes through the house.The house was used many years ago by the gatekeeper.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Visitors traveled from this gate house to the main house. Thedistance between the two is almost five kilometers. The trees surroundingBiltmore look like a natural forest.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Yet all of the area was planned, built, and planted by the menwho designed the estate. None of it is natural.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Now you may have begun to wonder about the history of Biltmore.Who designed it? How did they plan it? How and why was it built?</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(MUSIC)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">RICH KLEINFELDT: The Biltmore estate was the idea of GeorgeVanderbilt. The buildings were designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Mr. Hunt wasone of the most famous building designers of his day.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">He designed and helped build several other big homes in theUnited States. Several of them were for other members of the Vanderbilt family.Mr. Hunt also designed the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Another famous man of the time designed thegardens at Biltmore. He was Frederick Law Olmsted. He is most famous fordesigning central park in New York City and the grounds around the capitolbuilding in Washington, DC.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">One of Mr. Olmsted's first projects at Biltmore was to plant andgrow the millions of flowers that would be used for the gardens there.</font></span><br /><span style="color:red;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(317 words)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">RICH KLEINFELDT: Another man, named Gifford Pinchot, was alsopart of the team that designed Biltmore. While there, he started the firstscientifically managed forest in the United States. He cut diseased or deadtrees and planted new ones.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">He improved the growth of many kinds of trees. It is because ofhis work that the wild forest at Biltmore has an ordered and peaceful look.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Gifford Pinchot left Biltmore to start the school of forestry atYale University. Later he helped to establish the United States Forest Service.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Biltmore is surrounded by more than one thousand eight hundredhectares of forest. The forest provides a wood crop that helps pay the costs ofoperating the estate. It was the work begun by Gifford Pinchot that makes thispossible.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(MUSIC)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Today, Biltmore belongs to the grandchildrenof George Vanderbilt. However, it is no longer used as a private home.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Many years ago, the family decided to open it to the public.Visitors help pay the cost of caring for and operating it.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">Biltmore employs more than six hundred fifty people who work inthe house and gardens.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">The family says George Vanderbilt liked to have guests atBiltmore. They say he enjoyed showing it to others. Now, each year, about sevenhundred fifty thousand people visit the Vanderbilt home in Asheville, NorthCarolina. The family says their grandfather would have liked that.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">(MUSIC)</font></span><br /><span style="color:#333333;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif">FAITH LAPIDUS: Our program was written by Paul Thompson and readby Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith. I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.</font></span><br /><span style="color:#fe2419;"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"></font>(268 words)</span></font> |
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