今天PoEnglish的两个外链都挂了，感觉像被人盯上了。。。
现在不设代理，是绝对访问不了PoEnglish的。
我知道这样下去肯定没戏，我没办法克服这力量。
我决定停止PoEnglish的更新，原因很简单——你通过代理访问到这里，就可以直接去逛VOA和wiki了，这里的发布就变得没意义了。
仔细想了想我办PoEnglish的初衷，是想好好学习英语。通过blog，每天做些作业，感觉真的不错，时间长了，有种难以割舍的感觉。
对，坚持下去，Blog还要继续，所以我决定做PoEnglish二世。PoEnglish二世将不会包含任何大陆禁止的链接，我只想学好英语，不想再招惹什么是非了，所以请看不见的手高抬贵手。
关于VOA，VOASE的每月合辑我还是要做的，但不会做每天发布了，通过电驴，大家可以在每个月月初下载上月合辑。VOA News和wiki是肯定不会再做了，大家自己想想办法吧，恕我无能为力。。。
感谢两个多月以来关心支持PoEnglish的朋友们，英语学习学无止尽，让我们相距在http://poenglishv2.blogspot.com/
3.28.2007
Senate Backs Timetable for US Troop Withdrawal from Iraq
| 27 March 2007 |
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| (From left) Democratic Senators Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden after Iraq vote |
The Senate, by a 50-48 vote, rejected a Republican-sponsored amendment to strip the funding measure of the provision that calls for U.S. troops to start pulling out of Iraq within four months, with a goal of completing withdrawal by March 31 of next year.
The vote came just hours after White House spokeswoman Dana Perino renewed President Bush's vow to veto the bill if it contained the timetable for withdrawal. "The legislation would substitute congressional mandates for the considered judgment of our military commanders. The bill assumes the failure of the new strategy even before American commanders in the field are able to fully implement their plans," she said.
Many Senate Republicans, including Senator John McCain of Arizona, echoed Perino's comments. "If you announce to the enemy that you are leaving, it is a recipe for defeat," he said.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, noted that public opinion polls show a majority of Americans favor a timeline to bring the troops home. He said the time had come to send the president a message. "This is a civil war. It has turned into an intractable civil war. The president must change course, and this legislation will allow him to do that," he said.
It is the first time the Senate has signaled its support for a timetable for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, having rejected the idea several times this year.
Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, was among those who rejected a resolution calling for a timeline for a troop pullout just two weeks ago, only to back the idea now. "America finds itself in a dangerous and isolated position in the world. We are perceived as a nation at war with Muslims. This debilitating and dangerous perception must be reversed as the world seeks a new center of gravity for this new century. The United States must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq. The cost of combat in Iraq in terms of lives, dollars and world standing has been devastating for our country," he said.
The House of Representatives last week passed its own version of the spending bill for the military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, including a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by August 31 of next year.
Once the Senate approves the overall legislation, a move that could come as early as Wednesday, the measure will have to be reconciled with the House bill before it is sent to President Bush for his expected veto.
The House and Senate would then have to redraft the legislation, as they would lack the two-thirds majorities needed to override the veto.
The overall bill includes 96 billion dollars to continue funding the military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also includes money to strengthen port and mass transit security.
The Pentagon says it needs the funding soon, as money for its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan will run out next month.
Defense Chief: US Open to Higher-Level Talks With Iran
| Washington 27 March 2007 |
DownloadU.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the United States is open to higher-level talks with Iran, but is warning against having any illusions about Tehran's intentions in the Persian Gulf region. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has details from Washington.
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| Robert Gates (file photo) |
"Iraq's neighbors will need to play a constructive role going forward, even if they haven't done so in the past, especially in encouraging political reconciliation and a reduction in violence within Iraq. This is certainly the case with Syria and Iran, who have not been helpful," he said. "The regional talks recently held in Baghdad were a good start toward improved cooperation, and our government is open to higher-level exchanges."
The defense secretary's remarks came as the U.S. Navy is conducting its largest demonstration of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The war games, which involve two aircraft carriers, hundreds of planes and thousands of troops, are taking place days after the United Nations Security Council imposed more sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program and Iran seized 15 British Navy personnel it says entered its waters illegally.
Britain and Iraq say the 14 men and one woman were operating in Iraqi waters when they were seized.
In his speech, Defense Secretary Gates said while he advocated U.S. dialogue with Iran before taking his job at the Pentagon, one has to be realistic about the regime in Tehran.
"We should have no illusions about the nature of this regime, or about their designs for their nuclear program, their intentions for Iraq, or their ambitions in the Gulf region," he said. "Still, at this time, Iran and all the actors in the region, friends and adversaries alike, are invested and involved to some degree or another in what is happening in Iraq."
Secretary Gates says the new surge of U.S. and Iraqi troops in Baghdad is designed to provide basic security and a decent quality of life for the population.
Gates says there are encouraging signs of a drop in sectarian violence, but he says it is too early to call them trends.
VOASE0327_Health Report
27 March 2007| Chest Compressions May Be Most Important Part of CPR | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.
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CPR combines breathing into the victim's mouth and repeated presses on the chest. CPR keeps blood and oxygen flowing to the heart and brain.
However, a new Japanese study questions the usefulness of mouth-to-mouth breathing.
The study was published in the British medical magazine, The Lancet. Doctors in Tokyo led the research. It examined more than four thousand people who had suffered cardiac arrest. In all the cases, witnesses saw the event happen.
More than one thousand of the victims received some kind of medical assistance from witnesses. Seven hundred and twelve received CPR. Four hundred and thirty-nine received chest presses only. No mouth-to-mouth rescue breaths were given to them.
The researchers say any kind of CPR improved chances of the patient's survival. But, they said those people treated with only chest presses suffered less brain damage. Twenty-two percent survived with good brain ability. Only ten percent of the victims treated with traditional CPR survived with good brain ability.
The American Heart Association changed its guidelines for CPR chest presses in two thousand five. It said people should increase the number of chest presses from fifteen to thirty for every two breaths given.
Gordon Ewy is a heart doctor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson. He wrote a report that appeared with the study. Doctor Ewy thinks the CPR guidelines should be changed again. He said the heart association should remove rescue breaths from the guidelines.
He argues that more witnesses to cardiac arrests would provide treatment if rescue breaths are not a part of CPR. He says this would save lives. Studies show that many people do not want to perform mouth-to-mouth breathing on a stranger for fear of getting a disease.
Cardiac arrest kills more than three hundred thousand people in the United States every year. The American Heart Association says about ninety-five percent of victims die before they get to a medical center.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOASE0327_Explorations
27 March 2007| Arizona's Grand Canyon: Stepping Out Over a True Wonder of the World | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Barbara Klein with Explorations in VOA Special English.
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| A tribe member looks at the new Grand Canyon West Skywalk built by the Hualapai Indians. Critics say it harms the natural beauty of the canyon. |
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The canyons of America's Southwest are deep, ancient openings in the earth. They look as if they formed as the earth split apart. But the canyons did not split. They were cut by rivers.
The rivers carried dirt and pieces of stone that slowly ate away at the surrounding rock. For millions of years, the rivers turned and pushed. They cut deeper and deeper into the earth. They left a pathway of great rocky openings in the earth that extend for hundreds of kilometers.
VOICE TWO:
The Grand Canyon in Arizona is one of the largest and most beautiful of all canyons. It extends four hundred fifty kilometers.
The surrounding area does not make you suspect the existence of such a great opening in the earth. You come upon the canyon suddenly, when you reach its edge. Then you are looking at a land like nothing else in the world.
VOICE ONE:
Walls of rock fall away sharply at your feet. In some places, the canyon walls are more than a kilometer deep. Far below is the dark, turning line of the Colorado River.
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| Two rainbows form at Hopi Point at Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona |
On the other side, sunshine lights up the naked rock walls in red, orange, and gold. The bright colors are the result of minerals in the rocks. Their appearance changes endlessly -- with the light, the time of year, and the weather. At sunset, when the sun has moved across the sky, the canyon walls give up their fiery reds and golds. They take on quieter colors of blue, purple, and green.
VOICE TWO:
Hundreds of rocky points rise from the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Some are very tall. Yet all are below the level of an observer on the edge, looking over.
Looking at the Grand Canyon is like looking back in time. Forty million years ago, the Colorado River began cutting through the area. At the same time, the surrounding land was pushed up by forces deep within the Earth. Rain, snow, ice, wind, and plant roots rubbed away at the top of the new canyon. Below, the flowing river continued to uncover more and more levels of ancient rock.
Some of Earth's oldest rocks are seen here. There are many levels of granite, schist, limestone, and sandstone.
VOICE ONE:
The Grand Canyon has several weather environments. The top is often much different from the bottom. On some winter days, for example, you may find cold winds and snow at the top. But at the bottom, you may find warm winds and flowers.
Several kinds of plants and animals are found in the canyon and nowhere else on Earth. Because the canyon's environments are so different, these species did not spread beyond the canyon, or even far within it.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Native American Indians occupied the Grand Canyon three thousand years ago. Evidence of their existence has been found in more than two thousand five hundred places so far. Bones, hair, feathers, even the remains of plants have been found in deep, dry caves high in the rock walls.
The Hopi, the Paiute, the Navajo and other Native American tribes have all been in the area for at least seven centuries. However, much of what we know today about the Grand Canyon was recorded by John Wesley Powell. In eighteen sixty-nine, he became the first white American to explore much of the canyon.
VOICE ONE:
John Wesley Powell and his group traveled in four boats. They knew very little about getting over the rapid, rocky waters of the Colorado River. In many areas of fast-flowing water, a boat could be turned over by a wave as high as a house.
Soon after starting, Powell's group lost some of its food and equipment. Then three members of the group left. As they walked up and out of the canyon, they were killed by Indians. The rest of the group was lucky to survive. Starving and tired, they reached the end of the canyon. They had traveled on the Colorado River for more than three months.
John Wesley Powell's reports and maps from the trip made him famous. They also greatly increased interest in the Grand Canyon. But visitors did not begin to go to there in large numbers until nineteen-oh-one. That was when a railroad reached the area.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Today, the Grand Canyon is known as one of the seven wonders of the natural world. About five million people visit the canyon each year. Most visitors walk along paths part way down into the canyon. It takes several hours to walk to the bottom. It takes two times as long to get back up. Some visitors ride mules to the bottom and back. The mules are strong animals that look like horses. They are known for their ability to walk slowly and safely on the paths.
America's National Park Service is responsible for protecting the Grand Canyon from the effects of so many visitors. All waste material must be carried out of the canyon. All rocks, historical objects, plants, and wildlife must be left untouched. As the National Park Service tells visitors: "Take only photographs. Leave only footprints. "
VOICE ONE:
There are several other ways to visit the Grand Canyon. Hundreds of thousands of people see the canyon by air each year. They pay a helicopter or airplane pilot to fly them above and around the canyon.
About twenty thousand people a year see the Grand Canyon from the Colorado River itself. They ride boats over the rapid, rocky water. These trips last from one week to three weeks.
VOICE TWO:
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| The Skywalk is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation |
The Hualapai Indian Tribe built the Skywalk at a cost of more than forty million dollars. The tribe owns almost four hundred thousand hectares of land in the canyon. The Hualapai built the Skywalk to gain money by getting more people to visit its reservation. The tribe says the area, called Grand Canyon West, will include a large visitors' center, restaurants, and possibly hotels in the future.
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| Among the first guests on the Skywalk were former astronauts Buzz Aldrin and John Bennett Herrington, a Native American |
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VOICE ONE:
Many writers have tried to describe the wonder of the Grand Canyon. They use words like mysterious, overpowering, strange. Yet writers recognize that it is impossible to put human meaning in such a place. The Grand Canyon exists in its own space and time.
Some visitors say they feel so small when measured against the canyon's great size. One writer who has spent a lot of time in the Grand Canyon finds it a peaceful place. He says the almost overpowering silence and deepness of the Grand Canyon shakes people -- at least briefly -- out of their self-importance. He says it makes us remember our place in the natural world.
VOICE TWO:
We close our program with music from a record called "Canyon Lullaby" written by Paul Winter. Mister Winter said it was his first attempt to translate the spirit of the canyon into sound.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember .
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Barbara Klein. You can find scripts and download audio at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.
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