篇一：VOA常速英语
VOA常速英语:机场狗狗治愈旅客及飞行员疲惫心灵缓解压力 2016-4-14
They came big and small, both dogs and people to Dulles International Airport in Virginia during a busy travel weekend. The pups in their pet parents are volunteers with a Washington therapy group called People Animals Love (PAL). The friendly-behaved canines are cooking up some passengers' days.
“We had a rough morning here in the airport for about, I don't know, five and six hours this morning with a delay, so this is great.” This blonde guy is called Labrador.“It's so big and so gentle and it always draws a crowd.”“Especially parents are always excited to see the dogs because it struck kids a little.”
Like little Aria whose parents are heading to Germany, her dad's station at military base. “When you are traveling, it's very stressful and I think that just sitting here and petting a dog so that we can relieve the stress.”
This woman just arrived from England. “It's a very stressful environment, you're running from gate you know, from one place to another, I think it's quite nice to be able to stop on the way, pet a dog.”
A quick stop to visit the dogs is also helpful to United Airline staff. “This therapeutic is pleasing. It's a great way to brighten your day.” Including for some pilots who got a surprise visit at the office. “It's a boy. I was really stressed until these dogs showed up like the day that right now.”“There's nothing better than having a friendly face, four legs flopping around the office.”
This volunteer says she and her pup also helped provide emotional support for a dog lover. “She had the same kind of dog, a golden doodle, that she lost last month, and she started to cry. And we sat and we chatted a while about her dog and how much she loved her dog, and I think it was a nice moment.” So for people who are being anxiety of hectic travel, the friendly warm from a comforting dog make them stop and smile.
New Words:
1. therapy治疗，疗法
2. therapeutic 治疗的
3. cook up the days 缓解疲劳
4. canine 犬；犬齿的
5. military base 军事基地
6. flop around 扑通落下
7. doodle涂鸦；蠢人
a golden doodle 金贵犬
8. hectic travel忙碌的旅行
Questions：
1. What’s the name of this Washington therapy group with dogs?
2. Why are the dogs so much welcomed at the airport?
3. In what way are the dogs also helpful to United Airline staff?
4. According to a volunteer, what other support do they also provide to dog lovers?
篇二：VOA常速英语
Joe DeCapua
July 28,2014
This week, a U.N. panel opens a three-day meeting on the ageing of the global population. It’s part of a process that could lead to a new international treaty to protect the rights of older persons.
This is the fifth session of the Open-ended Working Group on Aging. Its focus is on human rights, the care of older persons, violence, abuse and legal and financial issues. Its work could lead to a U.N. Convention on the Rights of Older People.
One of the groups driving the process is HelpAge International, which began its Age Demands Action Campaign in 2007.
HelpAge Chief Executive Toby Porter explained why he believes a convention is needed for those 60 years of age and older.
“Elder people around the world still suffer a lot of discrimination, a lot of abuse. There really is a sort of feeling that there have been decades of various commitments, plans of action on ageing, international agreements that more needed to be done for the world’s older people, but it hasn’t really delivered enough change.”
He said when such a U.N. convention was approved for the disabled it brought dramatic changes for the better.
HelpAge has collected nearly 300,000 petition signatures – from 112 countries – in support of a convention for older people. The movement has gained the support of Nobel Laureate Desmond Tutu of South Africa. In a statement, Tutu said, “This is not a minority issue. We are all growing older.”
Porter said it’s important that people’s rights are protected as they age.
“By protecting people’s rights and ensuring they’re not discriminated against in health
services, in the work place, holding property, et cetera, by law, it’s going to benefit society as a whole. Because it’s going to make sure that the contribution of older people can be maximized and to make sure that older people aren’t ignored,” he said.
Porter called the campaign a “real grassroots movement” that includes many people “who’ve suffered a lifetime of poverty, exclusion and discrimination.”
“The world is rapidly ageing. It’s a triumph. It’s an unconditional triumph of international and national development that people are living longer lives. The average age of the population is rising significantly and this is a trend that will increase. It won’t decrease. Older age is hopefully everybody’s future,” he said.
The HelpAge chief executive said society faces the challenge of moving beyond negative stereotypes of aging.
“Older people are actually massive contributors to society, massively contributing to their families. And so I really do feel that population aging is going to become one of the most important themes in the world,” he said.
The U.N. Open-ended Working Group on Aging meets in New York from July 30 through August 1.
Reasey Poch July 28,2014
HANOI — China recently pulled an oil rig from an area of the disputed South China Sea that Vietnam also claims. Despite the action, the incident has had a lingering effect on consumers in Vietnam.
The shelves in this Vietnamese store, like most stores around the country, are filled with Chinese-made products; but, much of it may go unsold, for now, with many Vietnamese consumers still angry over the recent oil rig dispute.
Like she does every year, Phu Lang Huong is taking her children to purchase school supplies.
This time, she says, she will only purchase Vietnamese products.
“China has already withdrawn its oil rig, but my initial thought is, we are Vietnamese. We have to buy Vietnamese," said Huong.
'Vietnamese People Give Priority to Vietnamese Goods' is part of an ongoing nationwide campaign to promote nationalism.
In May, China placed the drilling platform in disputed waters near the Paracel islands. The location for the oil exploration led to clashes between Chinese ships and Vietnamese fishing boats.
Mai Mai, a college student in Hanoi, says she still uses products made in China, but won't buy new ones.
“After this incident, there are so many slogans on the Internet such as 'stop using Chinese goods.' So many people did try to put their Chinese things away," said Mai.
China was Vietnam's largest trade partner in 2013, with bilateral trade worth $50.21 billion, according to the government in Hanoi.
篇三：VOA常速英语
VOA 常速英语:Former Israeli President Convicted of Rape Source: Onion 2010-12-31 English BBS Favorite 迅雷音频高速下载 Download Audio A panel of Israeli judges has found former President Moshe Katsav guilty of rape and other sex crimes against several women. Mr. Katzav, who served from 2000 until 2007, faces a possible sentence of up to 16 years in prison. Former Israeli President Moshe Katzav had turned down a plea bargain and opted instead for a trial that he hoped would clear his name. On Thursday, a panel of judges in Tel Aviv said the former leader's testimony was riddled with lies and declared him guilty on two counts of raping an employee while he was a cabinet minister in the late 1990s. The judges also convicted him of molesting or sexually harassing two other women during his time as president. Following the verdict, his son, Ariel Katzav, told reporters he believes his father is innocent.The younger Katzav called it a difficult hour for the family. He said the family will continue to be proud of their father. He called the trial immoral, and one that was based on emotions. He said the family will continue to proclaim to everyone that Moshe Katzav is "innocent". Israeli women's rights advocates welcomed the verdict. Mr. Katzav, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, left the court without making any comments. The Prime Minister issued a statement calling it a sad day for the Jewish state. Mr. Katzav's conviction Thursday was the latest in a series of highly publicized scandals involving top Israeli officials. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who led the country at the time Katzav was President, currently faces corruption charges. The job of President in Israel is largely ceremonial but highly visible, and many Israelis see Mr. Katsav's conviction on sex offenses a national disgrace. However, Abraham Diskin, a politics professor at Hebrew University, tells VOA the fact that a sitting president was indicted and later convicted says much about the health of the Jewish state's democracy and institutions. "It's definitely I think a very clear sign of the power of the judicial branch in Israel. In order to have a real democracy, too many conditions are necessary and let me say that the first of all these is to be ready to stick to reality and to the truth," said Diskin. The head of the judges' panel that convicted Mr. Katzav is a member of Israel's Arab minority. The former president is due to be sentenced in January. Under Israeli law, rape carries a minimum penalty of four years in prison and a maximum of 16.From: /englishlistening/voaenglish/voastandardenglish/20101231/131901.htmlNewsVOA 常速英语:Remembering Jazz 'Ambassador' Dr. Billy Taylor Source: Onion 2010-12-31 English BBS Favorite 迅雷音频高速下载 Download Audio Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Dr. Billy Taylor died of heart failure December 28 in New York City. He was 89. Dr. Taylor
was also an author, lecturer, radio and television commentator, and an international ambassador of jazz. When he wasn't presenting lectures or producing jazz programs on network television, Billy Taylor spent his free time composing and performing jazz. He appeared on more than 40 recordings, mostly with trios and quartets. He was 67 years old when he released his first album on his own label, Taylor-Made. Billy Taylor was born in Greenville, North Carolina on July 21, 1921. He began taking piano lessons from one of his uncles at age seven. Two of his greatest influences were jazz pianists Fats Waller and Art Tatum. But, Taylor once said it was a little-known musician who had the most impact on his music.Duke Ellington, left, and jazz pianist Billy Taylor shake hands on New York's Jazzmobile during a visit by the Ellington Band to the city's Harlem section in the early 1970s "There was a man named Hey Grant, who was a confidante of Duke Ellington, who was a wonderful pianist and composer who opened the door for me, in terms of understanding the similarities between the impressionistic school of music and some of the things that Duke Ellington and other jazz musicians were doing," Taylor said. Billy Taylor earned a degree in music from Virginia State College in 1942. Two years later, he moved to New York City and landed a job with the house band at the famed Birdland nightclub. He played piano there until 1951 when he formed the Billy Taylor Trio. Members of his trio included bassists Charles Mingus and Oscar Pettiford, as well as drummer Billy Cobham. In 1969, he became the first African American band director for a network television series, "The David Frost Show." In addition to his work as a composer and performer, Billy Taylor was one of jazz's most dedicated supporters. He founded Jazzmobile, an organization that produces inner-city jazz concerts. He also hosted a weekly jazz program on public radio called "Jazz Alive"; he produced stories on jazz for the television magazine news show "CBS Sunday Morning"; and he was the Artistic Advisor for Jazz at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Taylor explained that his love for jazz came from his expertise on the piano and from performing. "Everything that I've done stems from those two things; the fact that I love to play the piano and I love to perform for people," he said. "I also like to write music which other people play." Billy Taylor received "Down Beat" magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award, and he was inducted into the International Association of Jazz Educator's Hall of Fame. He won a Grammy Award, two Peabody Awards, and an Emmy Award for his "CBS Sunday Morning" segment on Quincy Jones. In 1996, he performed in an all-star jazz tribute to his close friend, VOA jazz host Willis Conover.FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2007 file photo, musician Billy Taylor arrives for the 2007 Library Lions Benefit at the New York Public LibraryBilly's gift for teaching earned h
im a Doctorate in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts. Until his death, he was a visiting professor at numerous American universities. He took an active interest in teaching jazz to younger students. He once remarked that today's school children have fewer opportunities to learn music in the classroom. They don't get an opportunity to have access to musical instruments as I did when I was in public school," he said. "They don't have enough music teachers because most communities don't realize that the aesthetic part of the human being, the ability to express oneself through the arts is a very important part of growing up." From: /englishlistening/voaenglish/voastandardenglish/20101231/131900.htmlNewsVOA 常速英语:Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Success or Failure Source: Onion 2010-12-31 English BBS Favorite 迅雷音频高速下载 Download Audio Many analysts credit the CPA with bringing an end to two decades of civil war, which took over two million lives and left four million people homeless. The plan – which had the backing of the international community – was signed in 2005 by the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), based in Juba, and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum. Among other things, the CPA called for the withdrawal of northern troops from the south, national elections, a census and the sharing of oil revenues. It also called for power-sharing and set a timetable for a referendum on independence for southern Sudan. Some say the CPA has fallen short of its promise. Peter Woodward is a professor emeritus of politics at the University of Reading in Great Britain. "The two parties have treated the CPA more like a ceasefire than a solution to their differences," says Woodward. "Far from coming together in a government of national unity, they have tended to go their own separate ways and to have pretty bad relations between them en route." There are several reasons for what observers say is the CPA’s failure to promote unity. They say the CPA addressed the concerns of only the two main parties, the NCP and SPLM, with little input from other political groups or aggrieved regions like the western state of Darfur. Reconciliation Also, several elements of the agreements were not fully supported and others were not enacted. For example, the CPA was designed to promote reconciliation. But critics say the government has not established a commission to investigate human rights abuses.A South Sudanese returnee brushes her teeth on a barge traveling down the Nile, carrying about 650 returnees from North SudanThe Honorable Ezekiel Lol Gatkuouth is the head of mission for the Government of Southern Sudan in Washington. "We have failed to transform Sudan into a better [place] for all of us," says Gatkuouth. "If Sudan is transformed so all of us are first class citizens, there is no reason to divide the country. But for last five years, Sharia is st
ill there. I [as a non-Muslim in Khartoum] have to have a special status and a special commission established to protect me [from Sharia]. Women are being denied their freedom and beaten if you dress inappropriately…. So Sudan has failed to stay together. The only thing we have to do now is make sure we have a peaceful divorce so we can live in peace." Falling short of its goals Critics say the government has also not advanced other CPA-backed efforts to promote reconciliation and national unity. It has not met its goal of setting aside up to 30% of the civil service for southerners and introducing far-ranging legislation to reform land ownership and settle disputes. It has also not settled boundary disputes along the oil-rich Abyei area straddling the north and south.The UN says that two million internally displaced people have returned south but that more remain to be resettled. Elmoiz Abunura, an economic and political consultant on Sudan based in Khartoum and Beirut, says the two sides have failed to demobilize all soldiers and end support for proxy militias meant to destabilize each other. Abunura was a senior economist for the Sudan Ministry of Energy before a military coup led by [current president] Omar al-Bashir in 1989. "At this moment," says Abunurra, "you can see some areas in the north where there is still the presence of SPLM or local militias linked to them and proxy armies in the south supported by the [ruling] NCP. Recently, five or six months ago, two leaders of the SPLM mutinied, and the SPLM claimed both had the support and arms from the central government in the north. So, you can’t say demobilization was successful." Wealth sharing and development The CPA also promised to encourage investment in chronically neglected rural areas outside the capital and main northern cities, including Darfur. Under the CPA, state treasuries would receive development money from Khartoum, including revenues from the sale of oil. In addition, 50% of oil proceeds would go to the Government of Southern Sudan in Juba, the location of most of the country’s oil wells.Members of South Sudanese military escort accompanying returnees from North Sudan as they enter AbyeiRoger Middleton is a consultant researcher for the London-based Chatham House research center. He says support for development has been slow in coming. "There was a Unity Fund set up under the CPA which was to take money from oil revenues to spend on projects to make unity attractive," he says. Many people will tell you most of the activity from the fund has only started the last few months or this year. So there’s been a big missed opportunity [to have development money help build] roads, railways, schools and hospitals to show a benefit of remaining united with Sudan." Distractions Some observers say the international community should have done a better job of monitoring the implementation of the CPA.The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for P
resident Omar al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.Jon Temin is a senior program officer in the Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution at the US Institute of Peace. He focuses on Sudan and leads the Institute's Sudan team. "Everyone recognizes that the international community took its eye off the ball with regards to the CPA for a while when focus shifted toward Darfur," says Temin. "Over the last year or two the focus shifted back to the CPA but a lot of important time was lost." "[For example], so many of the processes described within the CPA fell behind schedule, and there was little attention to trying to keep the parties on schedule, and there was no real pressure to encourage the parties to make unity attractive. That’s why over the last year or two, the international community has found itself in a real scramble to implement the core provisions of the CPA – the elections and the referenda." Leadership Some say the north hesitated to fully support the accords when the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of the President Omar Al-Bashir. According to this line of thought, Bashir would not be likely to cede power to any future government that might hand him over for prosecution.SPLM leader John Garang and first vice president Ali Osman Taha, prominent backers of the Comprehensive Peace AgreementOthers say momentum declined when SPLM leader John Garang died a few months after the signing of the CPA in 2005. Garang enjoyed a close relationship with an influential member of the Government of Sudan, first vice president Ali Osman Taha. They shared a view of a united but decentralized national government. John Ryle is the director of the Rift Valley Institute in Nairobi and professor of anthropology at Bard College in New York. "John Garang was always staunchly a unionist," says Ryle. "His interpretation of the problems of Sudan was that it was not a north-south problem but a center-periphery problem. That’s why the SPLM’s position was never separatist. Even now, it’s not officially separatist…although as we approach the referendum more and more senior SPLM leaders are explicitly saying people should vote for separation. John Garang had a holistic vision of Sudan, one which he could not persuade some Sudanese to share." That may include voters in the south, who are expected to favor independence in January’s referendum. Political observers will be watching to see if the ideals of cooperation and inclusion that are part of the CPA will live on not only between the two governments, but within them as well. From: /englishlistening/voaenglish/voastandardenglish/20101231/131899.htmlVOA 常速英语:Illegal Cuban Cigar Imports on Rise in US Source: Onion 2010-12-31 English BBS Favorite Download Audio In September, President Barack Obama extended a decades old embargo against Cuba. In place since the 1960s, the embargo prohibits U.S. citizens and companies
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