voa listening materials.docx

1、voa listening materialsThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.A new report says the illegal killing of rhinos for their horns is increasing in Africa and Asia. Rhinoceros poachers are killing an estimated two to three of the rare animals each week.Experts say demand in Asia - especially

2、Vietnam and China - currently drives most trade in rhino horns from southern Africa. The horns are often used to make traditional medicines, or handles for dagger knives.The report is from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and an organization known as Traffic.Most African rhino

3、poaching is in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Experts found that two hundred ten rhinos were illegally killed in South Africa in the last three years.The estimate for Zimbabwe is two hundred thirty-five. The situation threatens gains made in its rhino populations in the nineteen nineties. In the last tw

4、o years, only six people were found guilty of poaching charges out of forty-one arrested.In two thousand one, sixty-eight percent of African rhino horns entering illegal trade were recovered. By this year, nine out of ten were heading to Asian markets without interference.The report says poaching an

5、d illegal horn trade has increased in South Africa even with new measures against it.Adding to the problem, poachers today are more skilled at killing rhinos, and not only with guns. They also use quieter methods, like veterinary drugs, poison and crossbows.An international agreement on protecting e

6、ndangered animals and plants provides for sport hunting of white rhinos in Africa. But the horns often enter illegal markets.Not all the news is bad, however. The report notes that rhino populations are increasing in some areas. These include both white rhinos and black rhinos in the wild in Africa.

7、Africa had an estimated seventeen thousand white rhinos and four thousand black rhinos as of two years ago. Current estimates for Asia are around three thousand rhinos. But even with poaching, growth is reported in some areas of India and Nepal.Wildlife activists are urging governments to do more to

8、 fight rhino poaching.The report was presented to the organization known as CITES. CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The next conference of countries that are parties to the agreement is in March in Doha, Qatar.And thats the VOA Special Eng

9、lish Development Report, written by June Simms. Im Steve Ember.Written by Nancy Steinbach and MarioRitterVOICE ONE:Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Im Steve Ember.VOICE TWO:Numbers arrive, on pedicabs, to be placed atop Times Square in New York for the New Years Eve ball drop welco

10、ming 2010And Im Shirley Griffith. This week on our program, we find out how some people will be welcoming two thousand ten.(MUSIC)VOICE ONE:So what do Americans do New Years Eve? Hillary Huesman is from South Carolina.HILLARY HUESMAN: I get dressed up. I look to go out. Im usually single, and that i

11、s usually not a problem. This year Im still making my plans. I havent quite confirmed them yet, but probably a hotel ballroom-type scenario, black-tie event.At a black-tie event, the men dress in tuxedos or dark suits and the women wear fancy dresses.Hotels in many cities have special deals for New

12、Years Eve: dinner, Champagne and a party. Then people get a room for the night. That way, no one has to worry about drinking and driving home.VOICE TWO:On New Years Eve, some communities in the United States hold what are called First Night celebrations. These are events where no alcohol is served.

13、The celebrations include things like music performances, art displays and fireworks.Boston, Massachusetts, held the first First Night celebration in nineteen seventy-six. Since then the idea has spread internationally.VOICE ONE:Some people might not have firm plans yet for New Years Eve, but others

14、know exactly what they will be doing. Joe is a twenty-one year old student at the University of Virginia.JOE: I dont really do a whole lot. I normally just spend time with family, go out to eat, hang out, wait for the ball to drop on TV.Joe is talking about Americas best known celebration on New Yea

15、rs Eve. Hundreds of thousands of people crowd into Times Square in New York. They count down the final seconds to midnight as they watch a brightly lit ball slide down a pole on top of a tall building.(SOUND)A couple welcoming 2009 in Times SquareThe first New Years Eve ball drop in Times Square too

16、k place more than a century ago. The ball was made of iron and wood and it was lit with one hundred lights. Today the ball is larger and covered in more than two thousand crystals.VOICE TWO:Two other traditions for welcoming the New Year are a midnight kiss and an attempt to sing a song that almost

17、no one knows.Auld Lang Syne, by the eighteenth century Scottish poet Robert Burns, is a song about friends and remembering times long ago.(MUSIC)A new year is a good time to start fresh - and, for some people, a time to seek good fortune in the year ahead.In the American South, for example, people m

18、ight prepare a dish known as Hoppin John. They make it with black-eyed peas and ingredients like bacon, rice and vegetables. Eating it at the New Year is thought to bring good luck.(MUSIC)VOICE ONE:On New Years Day, some families in the United States invite friends and relatives to an open house. Ji

19、ll Cooper from Santa Fe, New Mexico, gave us a description.JILL COOPER: Theyre family parties, big open house-y kind of parties with lots of cookies - too many cookies -and punch and eggnog. And houses are decorated, and you see your friends and you bop from party to party.But that is not all she an

20、d her family like to do to celebrate the New Year.JILL COOPER: We try to do something outside cause we live in Santa Fe and we live right in the mountains. Everybody wants to go for a wonderful hike and start off with fresh air and all the things were going to have in our lives the whole next year.

21、And then we drop in on parties.VOICE TWO:Some families like to take it easy on January first and enjoy a quiet day of rest. Twenty year old Malia is from Virginia.MALIA: I usually sleep in because we stay up late on New Years Eve. And my family, we usually eat the leftovers of the desserts that we m

22、ake for New Years, or New Years Eve and stuff, so. But, just relax, mainly.But New Years Day is anything but a day of rest for John Worster (WOO-ster), who lives in Idaho.JOHN WORSTER: I offer Catholic Mass, cause Im a Catholic priest by profession, and so it is actually the feast day of Mary, Mothe

23、r of God. And so we begin our Catholic way of understanding new year by just thanking God for Jesus mother, Mary. On New Years Day, after church well go out and sit in the goose pit and do some hunting for Canada geese and also ducks.VOICE ONE:University of Illinois cheerleaders and float at the 200

24、8 Rose Parade On New Years morning, millions of television viewers watch the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. The parade includes marching bands and horseback riders. But the parade is most famous for its motorized floats. They come in all shapes and sizes, but they are all covere

25、d with flowers.In Southern California, the weather on New Years Day might be cold. But the skies are usually sunny and dry, even as other parts of the country might experience snowstorms.A local group created the Tournament of Roses festival in Pasadena in eighteen ninety. The festival later expande

26、d to include the parade and a big game in college football.The champion teams from two college athletic conferences play in the Rose Bowl Stadium. This Friday, the Buckeyes of Ohio State University will play the University of Oregon Ducks.(MUSIC)VOICE TWO:Will you be making any New Years resolutions

27、? Hillary Huesman from South Carolina has a few in mind.HILLARY HUESMAN: Id like to solidify my romantic relationship, lose twenty-eight pounds. Id like to travel a lot more in twenty-ten. Two thousand nine was a long year - struggled financially, like most of America. So Im looking for prosperity i

28、n twenty-ten.VOICE ONE:Malia from Virginia does not make too many resolutions. She says she does not want to disappoint herself when she fails to keep them. Joe, the University of Virginia student, is of a similar mind.JOE: Im not a believer in resolutions for New Years. I think that resolutions com

29、e when they need to throughout the year, when you decide that someone needs a change.VOICE TWO:What about John Worster, the Catholic priest?JOHN WORSTER: I make a New Years resolution every year and usually by the third or fourth of January its already been broken, so.(Laughs).REPORTER: What kind of

30、 resolutions are those?JOHN WORSTER: Oh, usually to lead a healthier lifestyle by eating better food and not drinking so much, so . (Laughs)VOICE ONE:Jamar Negron, a high school student from New Jersey, has a few resolutions for two thousand ten:JAMAR NEGRON: Im a fencer, so my New Years resolution

31、is just to become better at fencing. And better in the general sense: become better in schoolwork, become a better person, become a better writer - become as best as I can be in all aspects of my life.(MUSIC)VOICE TWO:Holiday planning can be difficult when business has to come before pleasure.We did

32、 interviews near the Capitol building here in Washington. One of the people we met happened to be the wife of a newly elected senator. Jill Cooper is married to Tom Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico who entered the Senate this past January.When we talked to her earlier this month, their plans for the New Year were still open.JILL COOPER: There was a chance that we would go on a trip to India and Afghanistan, but apparently were not do