好了，03月的下载贴整好了，地址还是老地方
http://lib.verycd.com/2007/02/07/0000138789.html
前些日子我这破地方又给风沙了，感觉有被人重视，我究竟该是抱有一种什么心情呢，已经说不清了。。。
月底的时候blogger也好像又给风沙了，不过现在好像好了，这事情不是一次两次了，哎，早习惯了。
汉语真的非常艺术，你看“风沙”一词多很有趣，大风这么一刮，沙尘暴这么一吹，大家都窝在家里，没法打照面了
天有不测风云。所以，乘天好时，大家要为天不好时多做点工作，关于网络问题多问问Google老师就可以了
PS：
VOA News的记者遍布世界各地，各地的新闻基本都是当地记者播报的，所以基本上都有浓郁的地方特色，当然都说的是英文。
今天的VOA News有一条来自印度，有一条来自澳大利亚，发音是相当标准的（地方性而言）。。。
贴这些不是想让大家学他们的口音（不是说他们英语po，其实就英语水平要比我好得多），只是让你对世界多份了解。
口音方面，大家还是要学英语普通话，这里是VOA专区，自然美音是标准。
昨天，有一非洲记者的播报，那口音实在是。。。我就不忍贴了
PoEnglish问下各位，如果口音实在太地域化，你说我是贴还是不贴？
PS again：
听过往期材料的朋友，应该对潘基文的口音记忆犹新吧，有点怀念安南了。。。
4.02.2007
今年VOA月合辑第三弹发布！
3月合辑制作完毕，包括2007年3月的全部内容，Words and Their Stories的内容也收录其中。
源的地址（需安装 eMule，复制到地址栏）是：
ed2k://|file|VOASE0703.iso|305463296|FD96738DB48C8ABB4DA8D25E2C2ED7DC|h=U6EVU2ZNNCYYSKASCSRWNNYPZXDDP7TQ|/
大家开始下吧，分流工作开始，还等着VeryCD上加精哪！
Sons of Former Sports Stars Shine in Final Four
| Atlanta, Georgia 02 April 2007 |
DownloadTwo sons of past sports stars have made headlines for themselves in U.S. men's college basketball this season. Now they are set to face one another in the Division One national championship game Monday night in Atlanta, Georgia. VOA Sports Editor Parke Brewer is there and has the story.
Defending champion Florida and Ohio State University will meet for this season's title after victories here in the Final Four Saturday night.
Key players in each starting line-up have fathers who made names for themselves internationally in different sports.
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| Joakim Noah |
Mike Conley Jr. is a freshman guard while Joakim Noah is a 2.10-meter junior and plays forward and center. Noah was part of Florida's national championship team last season and many thought he would opt for a lucrative professional contract instead of returning to college. But he and two other star teammates decided to return to school to try to repeat.
Noah says that has put a lot of pressure on them.
"People would always talk to us about expectations and that was probably the word I heard the most after we won the national championship, and we decided to come back," said Joakim Noah. "I mean it's one thing to talk about expectations, but I think we really experienced it. And I feel like this year, that's why it's almost more satisfying because I feel like we had to go through so much more just being under the microscope."
Noah, an American citizen who grew up in New York, said he learned how to deal with it from his French father Yannick, who experienced the same things after winning the 1983 French Open tennis championship. He said his father also taught him his work ethic.
"I feel like my father worked really, really hard at what he did," he said. "I was able to live and see that growing up as a kid, so it kind of came normal to me to just work hard and be one of the hardest workers."
Joakim said he was a terrible tennis player so he opted for basketball.
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| Mike Conley Jr. |
He says his Olympic champion father had no objections.
"My dad never put much pressure on me to run track and he always was very open and let me do what I wanted to do," said Mike Conley Jr. "And I felt like I've never ever really had a lot of pressure to play any other sport. And, you know, I thank him for that because it could have been different. And I'm just blessed and fortunate to be in the situation that I'm in now."
Mike Conley Jr. will try to help Ohio State win the prestigious national college basketball championship for the first time since 1962, while Joakim Noah aims to help Florida become only the second school in the last 33 years to repeat as champion.
Indian Court Blocks Government Quota Plan
| New Delhi 01 April 2007 |
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An Indian court has put on hold a controversial government plan to raise the number of college seats set aside for lower caste Hindus. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, the government had introduced the measure to fulfill its pledge to assist disadvantaged groups. 
Supporter of Bahujan Samaj Party, which outlawed discrimination based on caste, holds a statue of Bhim Rao Ambedkar, founder of BSP, Allahabad, India, 23 Mar 2007
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court has asked the government to provide more accurate data on the educational and economic status of India's lower castes, for which the government wants to set aside nearly half the seats in federally funded educational institutions. The court says the government has used 70-year-old data to justify its plan.
The plan was to take effect this year. It would have doubled the percentage of seats, from about 25 percent to 50 percent, that Indian public colleges have reserved for lower caste Hindus under an existing affirmative action program.
Hinduism divides people into many castes, and those in the lower ranked castes face discrimination. The government says it wants to increase the quotas to give social and economic opportunity to those in what are known as the "backward classes."
But the plan triggered widespread controversy, and angry street protests by students who say entrance to universities should be based on merit alone.
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| Doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences celebrate Supreme Court's decision in New Delhi, 29 March 2007 |
Independent political analyst Mahesh Rangarajan notes that the court has not yet ruled against the quotas, or "reservations," as they are known.
"There is no doubt that the tone of the judgment was critical of reservations as a practice and an idea, but they stopped short of ruling it as unconstitutional," he said. "The court has leaned against the way in which reservation policy is being implemented: in particular, they have objected to the way in which the groups who are classified as eligible for this benefit are being chosen."
Government ministers who spearheaded the plan say they will press ahead with the affirmative action program, and are confident that the court will finally allow its implementation.
Opponents of the plan say it will lower standards in the top professional colleges, which have produced some of the country's most skilled doctors, engineers and managers.
Supporters say quotas are essential to give the lower castes a better chance at quality education, and ensure that more of the population is included in the country's surging economic development.
Sydney Turns Off Lights for 'Earth Hour'
| Sydney 01 April 2007 |
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Parts of Australia's biggest city, Sydney, plunged into near darkness for an hour to raise awareness of global warming. The local government, environmental groups and businesses united in support of "Earth Hour" - when the city turned off the lights to save power and cut emissions that contribute to global warming. From Sydney, Phil Mercer tells us more. 
Difference of switching many of the city's lights is shown in this combo taken one week apart in Sydney, on 24 Mar 2007, above, and 31 Mar 2007, below
Sydney was not completely blacked out Saturday evening, but organizers of "Earth Hour" say they are delighted with the response.
Lights on the city's iconic Harbor Bridge were switched off for the hour along with most of those on the famous Sydney Opera House. Tens of thousands of suburban homes joined in. So did hundreds of businesses. Many tower blocks have spent the evening in almost total darkness.
The event has had high-profile support to raise awareness about how to combat global warming. Australian actress Cate Blanchett says Earth Hour shows small changes can make a big difference in climate change.
"It's massive [climate change]. It's very difficult to grasp in all its magnitude and complexities," she said. "So I think that the potency of tonight is that it's about a very simple beginning, you know, turning off a switch."
Every day millions of lights and computers are left on in deserted offices, apartments and houses.
Environmental activists say that simply switching them off could cut Sydney's greenhouse gas emissions by five percent over the next year.
Per capita, Australia is one of the world's largest producers of carbon dioxide and other gases that many scientists believe are helping to warm the Earth's atmosphere, causing climate upset.
This Australian, observing Earth Hour in Sydney, says he hopes the event will spur the national government into greater action.
"We're one of the worst, if not the worst, for carbon emissions and it's good to see this effort tonight," he said. "So hopefully the government will see it and make some changes."
Prime Minister John Howard has refused to sign the international Kyoto Protocol to halt global warming, saying it does not address key issues between developed and developing nations and hurts Australia's coal-driven economy. But he argues Australia is meeting its international emissions obligations in other ways.
A long-standing drought and serious water shortages in Australia have focused much attention on climate change in this election year. Some experts warn higher temperatures could leave this nation of 20 million people at the mercy of more severe droughts and devastating tropical cyclones.
VOASE0401_This Is America
01 April 2007| Sports Programs Where a Disability Is No Barrier to Having Fun | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember. This week on our program, we have the last of our four-part series on living with a disability in America. Last month we talked about assistive technology. Before that, it was education and employment. Today, in Part Four, our subject is sports and recreation for people with disabilities.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
In August of two thousand eight, athletes from the United States and around the world will compete in the Beijing Olympics. But did you know that in September of next year, disabled athletes will compete in the Paralympic Games in Beijing?
The Olympics and the Paralympics are separate movements. But they have always been held in the same year. And since nineteen eighty-eight, they have also been held in the same city. The International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee signed an agreement in two thousand one to secure this connection.
The next winter games will take place in Vancouver, Canada, in two thousand ten.
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| Paralympics skiing training |
The Paralympic Games grew out of a sports competition held in nineteen forty-eight in England. A doctor named Ludwig Guttmann organized it for men who suffered spinal cord injuries in World War Two. Four years later, it became an international event as competitors from the Netherlands took part.
Then, in nineteen sixty, the first Paralympics were held in Rome. Four hundred athletes from twenty-three countries competed. By two thousand four, the Paralympic Games in Athens had almost four thousand athletes from one hundred thirty-six countries.
Athletes may have physical or mental limitations; they may be blind or in wheelchairs. Yet sometimes they perform better than athletes without disabilities.
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen sixty-eight, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the sister of former President John F. Kennedy, started the Special Olympics. These games are just for children and adults with mental limitations. The Special Olympics Web site says programs currently serve more than two million people in one hundred sixty countries.
This past November, in Mumbai, India, teams competed in the First Special Olympics International Cricket Cup. In addition to India, there were men's teams from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies. There were also women's cricket teams from India and Pakistan.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
There are many organizations in the United States that help people with disabilities play sports.
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| A game of wheelchair-basketball in Florida |
Special wheelchairs for athletes are lightweight and designed for quick moves. For people who want to go really fast in their chairs, there is a Power Wheelchair Racing Association.
VOICE ONE:
In the state of Utah there is a place called the National Ability Center. It teaches all kinds of sports to people with all kinds of physical and mental disabilities. It even gives friends and family members a chance to try a sport as if they were disabled.
A reporter from the Washington Post wanted to know what it would be like for a blind person to use a climbing wall. So, protected by a safety line, the newspaper reporter closed his eyes and started to feel for places to put his hands and feet. Trainers on the ground urged him on: "Take your time. You can do it." Finally he reached the top.
VOICE TWO:
At the National Ability Center people can learn to ride horses and mountain bikes. They can try winter mountain sports, and learn scuba diving and other water activities.
The center also prepares athletes for the Paralympics.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
These days, the first place many people go when they want to travel is the Internet. On the Web they can get information about hotels, transportation and services like tour companies. The Internet can also help travelers find special services for the disabled. For example, there are groups that help young people with disabilities travel to different countries.
Susan Sygall leads an organization called Mobility International USA. She has traveled to more than twenty-five countries to talk about the rights of people with disabilities. She herself uses a wheelchair. People with disabilities are all members of a global family, she says. She says working together across borders is the most powerful way of making changes.
VOICE TWO:
Another American organization is called Wilderness Inquiry. This group leads camping trips to places in Kenya, Norway, Australia and the American state of Alaska. The man who started Wilderness Inquiry, Greg Lais [pronounced lays] likes people with and without disabilities to travel together.
One family came on a trip with two sons. One boy was in a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy. Greg Lais says the other children on the camping trip accepted the boy and included him in games. "People are accepted for who they are," he says.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Another outdoor sport that may be available to people with disabilities is hunting. Several national wildlife refuges in the United States organize special hunts. One of them is a refuge in South Carolina where Bobby Harrell goes deer hunting every year with other people with disabilities.
Bobby Harrell became disabled in nineteen ninety-three. He enjoys, in his words, "seeing people get back into doing things that they used to do but didn't think they could."
In some places there are trails that can be used by hunters in wheelchairs. Some disabled hunters use specially designed guns that are fired by blowing air through a tube.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Today there are more and more choices of entertainment for people with disabilities.
Theaters may offer wireless earphones to make the sound louder for people with limited hearing. Some provide a visual interpreter to describe a performance or a play for a person who is blind or has limited sight.
And some movie theaters offer a new device called MoPix, for Motion Picture Access. For a person unable to hear the movie, it shows the words the actors are saying. For a person unable to see the movie, it provides a spoken description of what is happening.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
For disabled people interested in yoga, there are special stretching exercises. Matthew Sanford knows about these. He has been in a wheelchair ever since a car accident when he lost the ability to move his legs. He was thirteen years old at the time. That was almost thirty years ago.
Matthew Sanford says he has had two lives: one before he was thirteen and the other after. He had to learn to live with a new reality. For many years, he was told to build up the strength in his arms and forget about his legs.
But he says yoga enabled him to reconnect with the thirteen-year-old boy who loved his body. He says the exercises and special breathing of yoga let him connect his body and mind again.
Now Matthew Sanford teaches yoga at his studio in the state of Minnesota. He also travels to talk to people about living with a disability. He says feeling connected to our body is a powerful part of living -- whether we have a disability or not.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
The earlier reports in our series on living with a disability in America can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. Our four-part series was written by Karen Leggett and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
VOASE0401_Development Report
01 April 2007| 'Phones for Health' Campaign Targets AIDS in Africa | |
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| Bangladeshi woman answers her mobile phone |
Recently we talked about Voxiva, a provider of information technology systems for health workers in poor countries. This Washington-based company has been working for three years with the government of Rwanda. Voxiva created a system that uses mobile phones and other devices for health workers to report and share information on HIV/AIDS.
That same technology will now be used in a wider effort to fight the deadly virus in other African countries. A campaign launched by a partnership of public and private organizations aims to use cell phones to improve HIV/AIDS care.
The ten-million-dollar campaign is called "Phones for Health." Health workers will use mobile phones loaded with special software to enter information into a central computer system. The workers will also be able to use the Motorola handsets to receive treatment guidelines, order medicines and get training materials.
Phones for Health was announced in February at the GSM World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. GSM is the global system for mobile communications, a cellular technology used for voice and data services.
In addition to Voxiva, other partners include the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, started by President Bush, and the GSM Association. This is a trade group that represents more than seven hundred mobile phone operators in two hundred eighteen countries.
MTN, the leading operator in Africa, is another partner in the effort, as are Motorola and the Accenture company.
The chairman of Voxiva, Paul Meyer, says the program will start in Rwanda and Nigeria. It will then spread to eight other countries over the next several years. The campaign is currently working to identify which African countries will be included, he says.
The campaign will work closely with health ministries, international health groups and others. In the future, the Phones for Health program could be expanded further in Africa and to parts of Asia.
Paul Meyer says the technology offers a way for countries to bring together separate information systems for diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS. As a result, he says, limited health resources could be used more effectively.
And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. Transcripts and audio archives of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Faith Lapidus.
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