【每日阅读训练——速度越障6系列】【6-1】

抓抓sandra

童鞋们~到6系列啦，小分队越来越庞大了，群早都满了加不进人了><，希望我们的阅读练习能帮助到更多的人~~大家一起加油！


【速度6-1】
Chicago Architect Jeanne Gang Named MacArthur Fellow for her ‘Striking Structures'
By Dana Demange, Jeri Watson and Caty Weaver
http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/Striking-Structures-43223.html


计时1
DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I'm Doug Johnson. Today we listen to new music from the Red Hot Chili Peppers...
And we visit an unusual New York City park that lies more than seven meters above the island of Manhattan.
But, first we tell about a building designer who just one a big prize.
(MUSIC)
Jeanne Gang
DOUG JOHNSON: This week, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named its MacArthur Fellows for twenty-eleven. Winners of this honor will receive five hundred thousand dollars over the next five years. The Foundation says its Fellows program honors explorers and risk-takers for doing interesting and inventive work.
Among the winners is building designer Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang. The MacArthur Foundation praised the Chicago-based architect for a "wide range of striking structures." Faith Lapidus has more about Jeanne Gang and her work.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Forty-seven-year-old Jeanne Gang is one of the few women among major architects of today. She is famous for her skill at tying together beautiful design with serviceability. Jeanne Gang also is known for her environmentally safe and sensible development. Her goal is to work with and improve the natural surroundings in which she works.
Jeanne Gang studied architecture at Harvard University. She continued her education at the ETH Swiss Federal University of Technical Studies in Zurich Switzerland. She also worked with Dutch architect Rem Koolhaus in Rotterdam before opening her own company.
Jeanne Gang's most famous structure to date is Aqua, in Chicago, Illinois. The eighty-two floor building was completed in two thousand ten. It includes more than one hundred seventy-six million square meters of floor space. Aqua has both homes and offices, and even a hotel.
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计时2
The building is shaped like a rectangle that has been stretched in places. The areas sticking out are actually balconies. They are a mix of sizes and curvy shapes. These outdoor spaces create a waviness that looks like water.
However, the wavy design also helps ease the effects of Chicago's winds. The shape helps to keep the building stable in high winds.
Studio Gang has launched other projects in Illinois, Kentucky and South Carolina. And the company is working with developers around the world. There are plans for projects in Canada, Germany, India and Taiwan.
Jeanne Gang says she became interested in architecture after seeing ancient cliff shelters in the mountains of Colorado. She says another major influence was her parents. Her father was a civil engineer who would take the family to see interesting bridges. Jeanne Gang says seeing her mother work with cloth also was an important influence.
Ms. Gang says architecture explores the use of materials for different purposes. She told the Chicago Tribune newspaper that before starting a project, she thinks about the materials that will be used first.
(MUSIC)
High Line Park
Astronomers of all ages plan to gather on Tuesdays next month at an unusual public park in New York City. Members of the Amateur Astronomers Association will be studying the planet Jupiter from the High Line, a park on the west side of Manhattan. But they will be a little closer to their subject than many other New Yorkers.
The High Line was built on a former railroad line. It sits more than seven and one half meters above the ground.
The astronomers will be among thousands of people enjoying the park-above-the-streets this autumn. High Line visitors take walks, see sights, take pictures and enjoy flowers and plantings. Or they might just sit and rest while they look at the nearby Hudson River.
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计时3
The High Line is almost two–and-one-half-kilometers long. The area was once home to freight trains. They carried meat, milk, produce and other goods to upper-level loading areas at factories and storage centers.
Ten years ago, it appeared that the old rail line would be torn down. New York's mayor at the time, Rudolph Giuliani, wanted to improve the neighborhood. His administration did not think what remained of the old railroad area was worth keeping.
But activists worked hard for permission to create a public park. And today visitors can walk the High Line by factories, restaurants, hotels, huge signs and crowded streets. They also can see tracks from the old rail line.
The line opened in the nineteen thirties. But it was rarely used after the middle of the last century. An arts administrator and train lover bought part of the over-the-street structure during the nineteen seventies. Peter Obletz paid the railroad company Conrail ten dollars for a piece of the line. He wanted to redevelop it for railroad use.
Mister Obletz spent five years attempting to do that. But he lost legal battles with governments and courts. He died in nineteen ninety- six without meeting his goal. But some people praise him for wanting to save some of the former rail line – a piece of New York history.
People from the community later worked to develop another goal. In nineteen ninety-nine, activists formed a group to develop the land as a park. They succeeded in getting New York City to take control of the line six years later.
The group, Friends of the High Line, is a non-profit organization that provides seventy percent of the park's yearly operating budget.
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计时4
Work to develop the first part of the park began in April of two thousand six. The space included the land from Gansevoort Street to Twentieth Street. It opened in two thousand nine. The second area that was developed is between Twentieth and Thirtieth streets. It opened in June.
A woman from Illinois recently walked on the Hi Line. She said she was especially interested in the many wild flowers. She said, "I feel like I'm on a floating garden."
(MUSIC)
Red Hot Chili Peppers
DOUG JOHNSON: The Red Hot Chili Peppers is an old band with a new sound. The group recently released its tenth studio album, called "I'm With You." Lead singer Anthony Kiedis says the new album shows the Red Hot Chili Peppers have become a new band. He uses words like "different chemistry" and "different experience" to describe the group. Much of this change, he says, has to do with the band's new guitarist. Christopher Cruise has more.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: That was "Factory of Faith" from the Red Hot Chili Peppers new album "I'm With You." The band has been recording music since nineteen eighty-four. But five years have passed since the group's last album.
The band's members have faced many changes since two thousand six. Singer Anthony Kiedis had a son. Bass player Flea used his time off to take musical theory classes at the University of Southern California. And guitarist John Frusciante left the group in two thousand nine.
The band's new guitarist is thirty-one year old Josh Klinghoffer. He has worked with Beck and other performers, including Gnarls Barkley, and P.J. Harvey.
Anthony Kiedis describes the Red Hot Chili Pepper's new sound as more complex, layered and dreamy. Here is "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie."
(MUSIC)
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计时5
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are performing this week in Brazil. They will spend the next few months traveling around Europe to perform their new music. We leave you with "Monarchy of Roses."
(MUSIC)
DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Dana Demange, Jeri Watson and Caty Weaver. If you have a question about American life, send it to mosaic@voanews.com or click on the Contact Us link at 51voa.com. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English.
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(100,就当放松下啦~)




【越障6-1】

Strife in Yemen
No easy way out of a bloody mess
The Arab world’s poorest country is suffering another bout of violence—with no end to the turmoil in sight


Sep 24th 2011 | CAIRO | from the print edition
http://www.economist.com/node/21530103


CONTINUING clashes in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, have left at least 70 dead and hundreds injured. But the sudden upsurge in violence has not brought the stricken, impoverished country at the heel of the Arabian peninsula any closer to ending eight months of tense political stalemate. The scale of the bloodshed, plus persistent unrest elsewhere in the country, is instead amplifying fears that its stalled revolution may slide into all-out civil war.
The protracted stand-off has pitted the ruling party, backed by army units led by clansmen of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, against a motley coalition that includes thousands of youths inspired by revolutions elsewhere in the Arab world, secular opposition parties, Islamist groups and defectors from the national army. Since March, when snipers loyal to Mr Saleh killed 52 unarmed demonstrators in a single day, protests had been confined mainly to limited areas of Sana’a while negotiators sought to coax the president into retirement. Mr Saleh, who seized power in 1978, has so far balked, despite narrowly surviving a bomb in June that left him severely burned and forced him to fly for medical treatment in Saudi Arabia, where he remains.


The latest violence erupted on September 18th when protesters marched towards areas of Sana’a controlled by Mr Saleh’s elite guards. Loyalist units, commanded by the president’s son and two nephews, responded with intense fire, deploying snipers, anti-aircraft guns and mortars, some of which crashed into the protesters’ encampment. Unarmed protesters, joined by defecting soldiers and armed tribesmen, fought back in different parts of the capital over the next two days, overrunning at least one base of the Republican Guard and forcing the airport to close briefly for the first time since the unrest began. On September 21st Mr Saleh’s men reportedly sealed roads into the capital, in an ominous sign of preparation for a showdown.
The protesters’ decision to try to break the stalemate, despite diplomatic talk of a looming breakthrough in negotiations, reflected various frustrations. These include anger over a deteriorating economy, worry at signs that the president’s men have been extensively rearming and suspicions that foreign powers, including Saudi Arabia and the United States, still back Mr Saleh because of his declared opposition to jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda, which remains active in parts of southern Yemen. Opponents have long accused Mr Saleh of using the al-Qaeda threat to win foreign sympathy. His troops recently declared success in chasing jihadists from the southern town of Zinjibar, which they had occupied since June (see map).
Well before the outbreak of protests eight months ago, Yemen was spiralling into chaos. It has rising rates of child malnutrition and alarming declines in reserves of its two main resources, oil and water. Intractable rebellions gnawed at its fringes even as factions wrestled for power at the centre, letting al-Qaeda terrorists thrive amid the disorder. Mr Saleh stood accused of amassing power and wealth for his immediate family, nimbly wielding oil revenues and foreign aid to perpetuate his 33-year-long hold on the state.
In February there was initial optimism when thousands took to the streets demanding Mr Saleh’s resignation, erecting a tent city in Sana’a’s Change Square that is still in place. Following the sniper attacks in March, the 20,000-man First Armoured Brigade, commanded by General Ali Mohsen, long a close comrade of Mr Saleh, joined the rebels. The president lost another ally in May, when the powerful Ahmar clan, which combines extensive business interests with populist Islamist politics, switched sides amid running battles that culminated in the shelling of the family’s main compound. Many assumed that the near-miss attempt on Mr Saleh’s life would put paid to his ambitions to hang on. Many also reckoned the Saudis, who see Yemen as their backyard, would stop Mr Saleh going home.
But Mr Saleh, a former tank commander famed for his wily survival tactics, has continued to insist on his constitutional privileges. This reflects not just stubbornness but confidence in his control of Yemen’s air force and elite army corps that have benefited from anti-terrorist training and equipment supplied by Western donors. Three times he has refused at the last minute to sign a deal, brokered by the six-country, Saudi-led Gulf Co-operation Council and endorsed by Western governments, that calls for his exit in exchange for immunity from prosecution for himself and his family, followed by early elections. Earlier this month he appeared to inch closer to accepting it, authorising his vice-president, Abd Rabbo Mansour, to sign on his behalf. The opposition saw this as just another delaying tactic.
There is no easy way out of Yemen’s mess. Even if Mr Saleh and his family depart peacefully, which seems unlikely, they will leave behind a country torn by division and suspicion. Many street revolutionaries are wary of the old political elite, seeing the likes of General Mohsen and the Ahmars as meddlers who aim to profit from Mr Saleh’s downfall. General Mohsen’s past association with extremist Sunni factions makes him anathema to Houthi rebels in the north, who adhere to the Zaydi branch of Shia Islam and fought a bloody six-year war mainly spearheaded by his First Armoured Brigade. Southern separatists, meanwhile, tend to see the strife in distant Sana’a as a power struggle between northern warlords. With electricity flickering, food prices rising and fuel scarce, it is no wonder that the UN is warning of a looming humanitarian disaster.

bananazoo

1'17
1'26
1'13
1‘22
16s
这两天头疼~
呜呜，偷懒，越障清醒时补上~
抓老大~

抗争的诗人

1‘32
1’48
1‘40
1’29
0‘26

fox0923

1'06"
1'05"
1'10"
1'05"
10"

抓抓真好，知道狐狐喜欢建筑，嘿嘿~~谁要highline的照片阿？我这里可有呢！之前在那边跑步的呢，景色很漂亮，尤其是design没的说，就连椅子都独出心裁，绝对运用了green park的特点还有节能等等，狐狐超爱！

南瓜0729

各种经历不集中啊
1'17
1'29 精神涣散
1'30
1'10恢复正常了
没有计时。。
越障还没读。。

fox0923

压抑不住内心的激动，忽然好像回去跑步~~发几张highline照片算是给大家在紧张之余一点小放松吧~~


highline的座椅，椅子下面的灯光都是LED的






这是狐狐的最爱，因为每次跑步经过都会感觉自己像在theater里看电影，但实际上是下面的highway。那个台阶设计有种让人坐在电影院的感觉。




传说中的highline全景~~
喜欢得不得了，建筑和园艺的杰作~~
---------------------------------------------------------------------
抓抓，借你的地盘放几张图片哈~~

daisyの小夢想

67s
75s
58s
58s
6s

看着也喜欢 谢谢糊糊的美图^^ 第三次看它的介绍了，有机会一定要去走走。

daisyの小夢想

7:48
1. The recent violance in Yeman
a. the disorder in Yeman has never gotten to an end. the situation may even be worse. Many people have died.
b. the recent event:
9.18 the opponents marched tho the control area of the president S. the opponents consist of....
9.21 the army sealed roads into capital
2. the development of the whole event
a. continuing negociation, but do not seem to be passive.
b. in Frebruray, opponents held the parade.
c. ...a series of events... forgotten
3. the conflicts between the S military force and the opponents
a. analysis of the S's power:
supported by elite and strong army. hard to be defeated
b. the irritation from foreign countries.
If the S family departs, the benefits are .... But the country will still be surfering.
c. If S do departs, the vice president will succeed.
And the conflicts will still exist.
d. different opinions towards this issue.

>,< 混乱。

bananazoo

看来糊糊昨晚的激动是因为这个~呵呵~
很漂亮的设计~
光影下效果很好~
闭眼，感受糊糊说的~
然后，然后。。。。
就要补作业了~

fox0923

看来糊糊昨晚的激动是因为这个~呵呵~
很漂亮的设计~
光影下效果很好~
闭眼，感受糊糊说的~
然后，然后。。。。
就要补作业了~

-- by 会员 bananazoo (2011/9/25 1:14:17)

哈哈，其实不是拉，是因为狐狐的生日了~~zzz，不过了，专心看书~~