voa实用材料

亚洲阿富汗 Afghanistan 喀布尔 Kabul 孟加拉国 Bangladesh 达卡 Dhaka不丹 Bhutan 廷布 Thimphu 缅甸 Burma 仰光 Rangoon柬埔寨 Cambodia 金边 Phnom Penh中国 China 北京 Beijing/香港 Hong Kong/台湾 Taiwan/澳门 Macau印度 India 新德里 New Delhi 印度尼西亚 Indonesia 雅加达 Jakarta日本 Japan 东京 Tokyo 老挝 Laos 万象 Vientiane马来西亚 Malaysia 吉隆坡 Kuala Lumpur马尔代夫 Maldives 马累 Male (Maale) 蒙古 Mongolia 乌兰巴托 Ulaanbaatar尼泊尔 Nepal 加德满都 Kathmandu 朝鲜 North Korea 平壤 P'yongyang巴基斯坦 Pakistan 伊斯兰堡 Islamabad 菲律宾共和国 Philippines 马尼拉 Manila新加坡 Singapore 新加坡 Singapore 韩国 South Korea 首尔 Seoul斯里兰卡 Sri Lanka 科伦坡 Colombo 泰国 Thailand 曼谷土耳其 Turkey 安卡拉 Ankara 越南 Vietnam 河内 Hanoi文莱 Brunei Darussalam斯里巴加湾市 Bandar Seri欧洲奥地利 Austria 维也纳 Vienna 比利时 Belgium 布鲁塞尔 Brussels保加利亚 Bulgaria 索非亚 Sofia 丹麦 Denmark 哥本哈根 Copenhagen芬兰 Finland 赫尔辛基 Helsinki 法国 France 巴黎 Paris德国 Germany 柏林 Berlin 希腊 Greece 雅典 Athens匈牙利 Hungary 布达佩斯 Budapest 冰岛 Iceland 雷克亚未克 Reykjavik爱尔兰 Ireland 都柏林 Dublin 意大利 Italy 罗马 Rome卢森堡 Luxembourg卢森堡 Luxembourg 摩纳哥 Monaco 摩纳哥 Monaco荷兰 Netherlands 阿姆斯特丹 Amsterdam 挪威 Norway 奥斯陆 Oslo波兰 Poland 华沙 Warsaw 葡萄牙 Portugal 里斯本 Lisbon罗马尼亚 Romania 布加勒斯特 Bucharest 俄罗斯 Russia 莫斯科 Moscow西班牙 Spain 马德里 Madrid 瑞典 Sweden 斯德哥尔摩 Stockholm瑞士 Switzerland 伯尔尼 Bern 南斯拉夫 Yugoslavia 贝尔格莱德 Belgrade 大不列颠联合王国 United Kingdom 伦敦 London大洋州澳大利亚 Australien 堪培拉 Canberra 新西兰 Neuseeland 惠灵顿 Wellington美洲阿根廷 Argentina 布宜诺斯艾利斯 Buenos Aires 巴哈马 The Bahamas 拿骚 Nassau伯利兹 Belize 贝尔莫潘 Belmopan 百慕大群岛 Bermuda 哈密尔顿 Hamilton玻利维亚 Bolivia 拉巴斯 La Paz 巴西 Brazil 巴西利亚 Brasilia加拿大 Canada 温哥华 Ottawa 智利 Chile 圣地亚哥 Santiago哥伦比亚 Colombia 巴哥达 Bogota 哥斯达黎加 Costa Rica 圣约瑟 San Jose古巴 Cuba 哈瓦那 Havana 多米尼加 Dominican Republic 圣多明各 Santo Domingo厄瓜多尔 Ecuador 基多 Quito 格陵兰 Greenland Nuuk (Godthab)格林纳达 Grenada 圣乔治 Saint George's 圭亚那 Guyana 乔治敦 Georgetown海地 Haiti 太子港 Port-au-Prince 牙买加 Jamaica 金斯敦 Kingston墨西哥 Mexico 墨西哥城 Mexico City 尼加拉瓜 Nicaragua 马那瓜 Managua巴拿马 Panama 巴拿马城 Panama 巴拉圭 Paraguay 亚松森 Asuncion秘鲁 Peru 利马 Lima 波多黎各岛 Puerto Rico 圣胡安 San Juan苏里南 Suriname 帕拉马里博 Paramaribo美国 United States华盛顿 Washington,DC 乌拉圭 Uruguay 蒙得维的亚 Montevideo 委内瑞拉 Venezuela 加拉加斯 Caracas非洲阿尔及利亚 Algeria 阿尔及尔 Algiers 安哥拉 Angola 罗安达 Luanda 贝宁 Benin 波多诺夫 Porto-Novo 博茨瓦纳 Botswana 哈伯罗内 Gaborone布隆迪 Burundi 布琼布拉 Bujumbura 喀麦隆 Cameroon 雅温得Yaoundé中非 Central African Republic 班吉Bangui 乍得 Chad 恩贾梅纳 N'Djamena刚果共和国 Congo Rep. 布拉柴维尔 Brazzaville 埃及 Egypt 开罗 Cairo埃塞俄比亚 Ethiopia 亚的斯亚贝巴 Addis Ababa 摩洛哥 Morocco 拉巴特 Rabat冈比亚 The Gambia 班珠尔 Banjul 加纳 Ghana 阿克拉 Accra几内亚 Guinea 科纳克里 Conakry 肯尼亚 Kenya 内罗毕 Nairobi利比里亚 Liberia 蒙罗维亚 Monrovia 利比亚 Libya 的黎波里 Tripoli马达加斯加 Madagasca 安塔那利佛 Antananarivo马拉维 Malawi 利隆圭 Lilongwe 尼日尔 Niger 尼亚美 Niamey 尼日利亚 Nigeria 拉各斯 Abuja刚果民主共和国（扎伊尔）Republic of the Congo 金沙萨 Kinshasa卢旺达 Rwanda 基加利 Kigali 塞舌尔 Seychelles 维多利亚 Victoria 塞拉里昂 Sierra Leone 弗里敦 Freetown 索马里 Somalia 摩加迪沙 Mogadishu南非 South Africa 比勒陀利亚Pretoria 苏丹 Sudan 喀土穆 Khartoum 乌干达 Uganda 坎帕拉 Kampala 赞比亚 Zambia 卢萨卡 Lusaka。

★英语听⼒频道为⼤家整理的voa英语听⼒下载材料：汇丰银⾏规模⼤削减，供⼤家参考。

更多阅读请查看本站频道。

One of the world's biggest banks, HSBC, has announced the first details of a major cost-cutting exercise. It's to sell its businesses in Brazil and Turkey, reduce its asset base and shrink its investment bank. Kamal Ahmed reports.世界上的银⾏之⼀汇丰银⾏宣布节省公司运营成本的具体细节。

它出售巴西与⼟⽿其业务，减少资产基数，缩减投资银⾏规模。

下⾯是艾哈迈德发回的报道：“Europe's largest bank has announced that it wants to be significantly smaller. HSBC has revealed that its UK operations will be hit hard as it battles to find over 3.2 billion pounds of cost-savings. Stuart Gulliver, the bank's executive, said that it was time to recognize the world had changed, and the growth in Asia had to be the new focus. The bank is selling businesses in Turkey and Brazil, and will have to reduce the value of its risk assets by 290 billion pounds. HSBC also said that it will make a decision on whether it will retain its headquarters in London by the end of the year.”欧洲的银⾏宣布要⼤幅度削减规模。

1VOA新闻听力100篇News Item 1This week, the chairman of America’s nuclear agency said there is little chance that harmful radiation from Japan could reach the United States. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko also said America has a strong program in place to deal with earthquake threats. No new nuclear power centers have been built in the United States since nineteen seventy-nine. That was when America’s worst nuclear accident happened at the Three Mile Island center in Pennsylvania. The accident began to turn public opinion against nuclear energy.News Item 2Most restaurants in the United States offer their customers a glass of tap water at no charge with their meal, but this week many restaurants are asking diners to pay a dollar, or more, for a glass of water. Placards on their tables explain that this small amount helps bring clean water to children around the world. It’s called the UNICEF Tap Project.News Item 3Japan has confirmed radiation contamination of some agricultural products near a nuclear power plant crippled by last week’s earthquake and tsunami that is still spewing radiation. Yukio Edano, the chief Cabinet secretary, says high levels of radiation have been detected in milk inFukushima prefecture and spinach from Ibaraki prefecture have been found to be contaminated. He tells reporters there is no immediate health risk and the government is considering regulating shipments of farm products from the affected area. At the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant efforts continue to try to cool overheating reactor cores and water in tanks containing spent fuel rods.News Item 4Some of America’s brightest students came to Washington for the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science competition. The awards ceremony was the culmination of an intense week during which the 40 finalists were queried by judges and the public. They met with scientists, politicians and even President Barack Obama, who welcomed them to the White House. These high achievers were whittled down from nearly 2,000 contestants’ nationwide, representing excellence across many disciplines.News Item 5The billionaires’ club is growing. Forbes magazine’s annual list shows there are now 1,210 billionaires around the world—that is 199 more than last year. Although the world’s top three earners are unchanged from last year, the newcomers in the list of the world’s richest did not come from the U.S. or Western Europe, but from Russia and the Asia Pacificregion. Magazine chairman Steve Forbes says of the 200 new billionaires this year, the majority are from the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India and China.News Item 6Defense attorneys for former Liberian president Charles Taylor say testimony from prosecution witnesses is tainted by cash payments from a special fund provided by the United States. Mr. Taylor’s war crimes trial is drawing to a close after more than three years. Defense attorney Terry Munyard says money “lavished” on prosecution witnesses has polluted “the pure waters of justice.” He told the court that those payments went far beyond the simple reimbursement of expenses and were used in such a way “as to taint the testimony of some of the prosecution witnesses.”News Item 7Many world leaders are expressing shock and sympathy following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and are offering to assist the country as it struggles to recover from the disaster. U.S. President Barack Obama pledged assistance for what he called a potentially catastrophic disaster in Japan. Mr. Obama called Japan one of America’s strongest allies and said the U.S. is offering whatever assistance is needed. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said a preliminary assessment indicates that American troops, ships andmilitary facilities were not seriously damaged by the quake or tsunami. News Item 8Women are joining together all over the world to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day on March 8. Women poured through London’s streets on Tuesday singing loudly for women’s rights. The banners they carried trained a spotlight on the range of issues still at hand: health, education, and politics to name a few.News Item 9Food prices continue to rise, threatening to push more and more people into poverty and hunger. A new report from the UN food agency says one of the best ways to boost agricultural productivity worldwide would be to remove the barriers women farmers face that their male counterparts do not. Studies show when women have financial resources, they are more likely than men to spend them on food, health and educating their children. Women farmers tend to be less productive than men, but there are good reasons for that, says Agnes Quisumbing, an economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute.News Item 10Ronald Reagan’s Hometown Celebrates His 100th Birthday. Though he gained prominence as an actor in Hollywood and later as President of the United States, the people of Dixon, Illinois, remember Ronald Reagan as a hometown hero who saved the lives of 77 people while working as alifeguard. The town is honoring Reagan’s 100th birthday this year, with a year-long celebration. The 40th President’s hometown was never very far from his heart.News Item 11The National Football League wrapped up the 2010 season with the biggest football game of the year: Super Bowl XLV—played in a huge stadium in Arlington, Texas. But without the small, Midwestern town of Ada, Ohio—population 5,400—the game would not have been the same. Ada is where the Wilson Sporting Goods company makes footballs. Wilson has been the official football maker of the National Football League since 1941, and many of the 130 employees at its factory in Ada have spent most of their lives there—many working for 25 to 45 years. News Item 12Scientists say a common headache medicine dramatically reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a physically-disabling brain disorder that mostly strikes elderly adults. In a six-year study of just over 136,000 nurses and health professionals, researchers at Harvard University School of Public Health in Massachusetts found that people who take ibuprofen（布洛芬镇痛药）regularly for headache or other pain reduced their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by nearly 40 percent. Taking one or two pills of ibuprofen two or more times per week was considered regular use. Other non-prescription pain relievers,including aspirin and acetaminophen, did not show a similar protective benefit.News Item 13Insurgents opposed to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi continue to hold two strategic towns along the road to eastern Libya, after unsuccessful attempts by pro-Gadhafi forces to retake them. Libyan warplanes launched new air strikes Thursday against the key eastern oil port of Brega, but the son of embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi says the bombs were only intended to “frighten” rebels there.Libyan warplanes struck at the rebel-held oil port of Brega on Thursday, a day after anti-government fighters turned back an assault by forces loyal to the country’s longtime leader Moammar G adhafi.News Item 14A new study of more than 1.1 million people in six Asian countries finds that, like Westerners, Asians are more likely to die if they are overweight or obese. However, some of the highest death rates were seen in people who were severely underweight. Many previous studies have found that the risk of death increases as body-mass index increases. Body-mass index, or BMI, is a measure of body fat based on height and weight. The trouble is, those studies mostly analyzed Europeans and other Westerners. So scientists couldn’t be sure if the results applied to other groups.News Item 15Agriculture is one of the most important economic activities in Africa. In addition to providing employment, agriculture has the potential to transform African societies through the increased export of produce to Western markets. Many agree that transformation will not take place without increased investment in agriculture, including public or private loans to small farmers. Statistics show that Africa has about 12% of the world’s arable land but 80% of it is not in use.News Item 16In July 2012, the world’s largest AIDS conference comes to Washington, D.C. It’s the first time the gathering will be held in the United States since 1990 and preparations are already underway. Despite the massive U.S. financial, medical and scientific contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS, a major issue blocked the conference from being held here. That was a law that prohibited HIV infected people from traveling to the United States. It was passed in 1987 in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Efforts to lift the ban began during President George W. Bush’s second administration. It was finally repealed in January 2010 under President Obama.News Item 17As Discovery begins i ts 39th and final mission into Earth’s orbit Thursday, America’s 30-year space shuttle program comes one stepcloser to its scheduled end this April. Discovery has been a regular visitor to Earth’s orbit since its maiden flight in 1984. It is the oldest an d longest-serving vehicle in the U.S. space agency’s shuttle fleet. Discovery’s final flight follows several delays due to technical problems and repairs to its external fuel tank, but NASA’s mission launch director Mike Leinbach says the shuttle is still spaceready.News Item 18Not long ago, most professional musicians lived in a world far removed from the nitty-gritty of business management, distribution and promotion. But today, social media, laptop production techniques and fragmented musical tastes have largely replaced the old relationship between musicians, their audiences and the marketplace, making entrepreneurial savvy more important than ever. A leading U.S. conservatory now teaches students how to create successful careers in this brave new world.News Item 19Egypt’s most famous tourism sites, including the great pyramids and the antiquities museum in Cairo, have reopened after being closed during the popular uprising and political tumult. Egypt’s key industry—tourism—returns after weeks of protests and celebrations, while other countries in the region deal with unrest. The sound of hooves as horses pull jostling carts of people within the Giza pyramids’ complex is thesound of money to the men who make their livings from tourism—a dominant industry in Egypt.News Item 20Demonstrations against long-serving governments continue to roil the Middle East and North Africa Friday from Libya eastward to Bahrain. In Libya, more protests as well as funerals for those killed in recent unrest were held after midday prayers, and witnesses said demonstrators gathered in the port city Benghazi, a bastion of resentment against the government. Human Rights Watch said Friday that 24 people have been killed in recent violence in Libya, many of them in Benghazi. Graphic videos posted on the Internet have shown shootings described as being inflicted by armed forces against protesters.News Item 21The National Park Service says the largest slave village in the Washington region is buried on the grounds. Archeologist Joy Beasley walks across the land now known as Best Farm. But approximately 200 years ago, it was a 300-hectare plantation called L’Hermitage, owned by the Vincendieres, French farmers from Haiti. Their stone home and outbuildings still stand. The National Park Service archeologist says her team discovered evidence of six other homes on the property where slaves were kept. The Vincendieres owned 90 slaves.News Item 22Cameroon’s new mineral research center will begin operations this year. South Korean mining researchers are making trips to Cameroon to determine the overall cost of the facility, to be located in the capital, Yaounde. They say the center will cost several millions of dollars and will ultimately be offered to the Cameroon government as a gift. The Korean investors say the facility will also have geological engineers to help in the design and construction of mines—and economic geologists to determine the commercial feasibility of projects. They will decide whether there are enough minerals to justify the cost of a mining venture.News Item 23A major study by the World Health Organization shows that most people with high cholesterol levels around the world are not getting the treatment they need, to avoid such serious diseases as heart attacks and strokes. And the authors of the study—the largest ever undertaken—say the problem is especially serious in the developing world. The study was done on 147 million people, and found an increasing incidence of high levels of cholesterol the world over. Even more worrying, the researchers say, is that many of those patients are going untreated.News Item 24A huge crowd has gathered in central Cairo calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The opposition has called for one million peopleto protest. Crowds headed on foot for Cairo’s Tahrir Square throughout the day Tuesday. They included women with babies in strollers. Their confidence is boosted after the army, in an official statement, described the demonstrations as legitimate and promised it would not fire on demonstrators. Army helicopters dropped leaflets calling on demonstrators to keep the protests peaceful.News Item 25The popular revolts roiling Egypt and other Arab countries are being driven by young people clamoring to oust autocratic governments they have known all their lives. The hardscrabble Tunis neighborhood of Ettadhamen provides a representative look at the hardships, and aspirations, of some of the young people behind Tunisia’s so-called Jasmine Revolution.6News Item 26A new study has tracked how low self-control can predict poor health, money troubles and even a criminal record in their adult years. The study began with 1,000 children in New Zealand. Researchers followed them for decades. They observed the level of self-control the youngsters displayed. Parents, teachers, even the kids themselves, scored the youngsters on measures like “acting before thinking” and “persistence in reaching goals.” The children of the study are nowadults in their thirties. Terrie Moffitt of Duke University found that kids with self-control issues tended to grow up to become adults with a far more troubling set of issues to deal with.News Item 27President Barack Obama delivers his second State of the Union Address to the nation on Tuesday, before a joint session of the U.S. Congress. President Barack Obama will face a dramatically altered balance of power in the House of Representatives when he addresses Congress and the nation Tuesday in his State of the Union address. Republicans are now in the majority in the House, and they have already approved a repeal of Mr. Obama’s landmark reform of the U.S. health care system. The move was symbolic, since the bill will die in the U.S. Senate, where Democrats and Independents still hold a majority.News Item 28New research suggests a relatively simple blood test might make it possible to predict who is at a higher risk for developing dementia. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s Disease, and currently, it can only be definitively diagnosed in an autopsy, by examining the brain. Beta-amyloid is a protein that shows up the brains of Alzheimer’s victims. It’s also present in spinal fluid and, in very small quantities, in the blood.News Item 29Health Services in eastern and central Kenya are getting a big boost through a new $100 million dollar program. The U.S. development agency, USAID, has awarded the funds to an international non-profit organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. For the past four years, Jhpiego has led a nearly $34 million program in eastern Kenya called APHIA II. APHIA stands for AIDS, Population and Health Integrated Assistance. The goal is to “empower front-line health workers” with effective, low cost solutions to delivering quality health care.News Item 30Over the past 20 years, the United Nations says the Asia-Pacific population has been growing, but at a slower rate compared to the rest of the world. Asian fertility fell by 39 percent in a 20-year period from the late 1960s while remaining above the population-replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. By 1990,nearly two-thirds of Asian countries had experienced declines of at least 25 percent.News Item 31President Barack Obama will go to Tucson, Arizona, Wednesday to speak at a memorial service for those killed in Saturday’s shootings. The president will try to help the nation deal with the rampage, which left six people dead and a U.S. congresswoman critically wounded. President Obama and his wife Michelle will cross the country to attend Wednesday night’s memorial service at the University of Arizona.The president willspeak there, in an effort to help Americans cope with the tragedy.News Item 32New medical research into a possible cure for Parkinson’s disease is focusing on finding biomarkers in patients so that doctors can start treatment early before tremors and other symptoms start. Actor Michael J. Fox’s recent commitment of $40 million toward finding a cure for Parkinson’s is helping to fund the new research. The current clinical diagnosis of Parki nson’s is based on visible tremors and stiffness of limbs. But researchers say a more comprehensive diagnosis is needed. News Item 33U.S. President Barack Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday to outline the benefits of a tax cut package he signed into law in December. He says the tax cut compromise reached with Republicans will help grow the U.S. economy. Mr. Obama encouraged business owners to take advantage of a new incentive included in the legislation that allows any business to write off the full cost of most of their capital investments for one year.News Item 34A U.S. congress woman is in critical condition and six people are dead after a gunman opened fire in an Arizona parking lot where Representative Gabrielle Giffords was meeting with constituents. The dead include a federal judge. More than a dozen people were wounded,including Giffords. A federal probe has been launched amid a national outpouring of sorrow and outrage.News Item 35Three-dimensional cell phones and batteries that last much longer are just two of the technologies that could become commonplace in the next few years. For the fifth year, IBM has looked at the horizons of research, picked five technologies and announced them as tomorrow’s innovations. “Individu al technologies take different times to matriculate,” says John Cohn, IBM’s Chief Scientist. “But the thing that’s common about them is that we think in 2015, all these predictions will actually be something that we take for granted.”News Item 36The kill ing of the governor of Pakistan’s most populous province has highlighted the ongoing clash in Pakistani society between secularism and religious radicalism. Some of that radicalism is fueled by resentment against privileged and often secular-minded elite who govern the country.8News Item 37In India’s main tea-growing region, scientists say tea production is being impacted by climate change. India produces nearly one third of the world’s tea. The rolling Himalayan hills in India’s northeasternstate, Assam, are carpeted with lush tea bushes whose leaves produce some of the world’s finest teas. But there are concerns that rising temperatures may be affecting the tea plantations, resulting in declining productivity of the brew to which millions of people across the world wake up.News Item 38African leaders are in Abidjan for more talks with Ivory Coast’s rival presidents. The country’s political crisis has sent thousands of refugees into Liberia. Leaders met with defiant Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo Monday, offering him an amnesty deal on condition he cedes power to rival Alassane Ouattara.News Item 39More signs that the U.S. economy is moving in the right direction: The U.S. Labor Department says new claims for unemployment benefits declined last week, dropping below 400,000 for the first time since July 2008. Other data also shows that businesses expanded in the month of December while home sales grew modestly in November. Despite the encouraging numbers, investors remain cautious as 2010 comes to a close. New estimates show the snowstorm that lashed parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic last week cost retailers about a billion dollars in lost sales.News Item 40The Holy Land enjoyed a flood of visitors last year, which benefited Israelis and Palestinians alike. It was a record year for tourism in Israel thanks to a lull in violence. There were 3.45 million visitors in 2010, percent more than the previous record two years ago. Mark Feldman, who heads the Israeli travel agency Zion Tours, says tourism is booming. Most of the visitors were Jews and Evangelical Christians. Some 625,000 Americans came, more than any other country.News Item 41Voters in Ivory Coast have official results from only a small number of polling stations outside the country. About 10,000 ballots in an election of more than four million registered voters shows former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara leading President Laurent Gbagbo by about 60 percent to 40 percent. As the wait for domestic results continues, President Gbagbo’s party is already calling on the electoral commission to annul returns from three northern districts. Both the Gbagbo and Ouattara campaigns say some of their supporters were prevented from entering polling stations Sunday.News Item 42Diplomatic cables released by the website Wikileaks indicate the U.S. is concerned about the security of Pakistani nuclear material. They also indicate questions about Pakistan’s commitment to fighting9insurgents along the country’s border with Afghanistan. The New York Times and the Guardian newspapers reported details of the cables today. A French news agency quoted a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman as saying the fears are misplaced. Meanwhile, Interpol has placed Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange on its most wanted list after Sweden issued an arrest warrant for him as part of a rape investigation.News Item 43U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe needs to boost its role in Afghanistan and foster greater economic development throughout the region. Clinton spoke today at the OSCE Summit in Kazakhstan. “Our goal here in Astana should be to move forward on democracy, human rights, economic growth and strengthening our security community. In other words, let’s embrace the vision of Helsinki and apply it faithfully in this new century.” The OSCE is celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, which gave birth to the OSCE structure. Clinton said insecurity anywhere in Central Asia is a challenge for all members and that protracted conflicts remain dangerously unresolved.News Item 44Russia’s prime minister says his country will have to build up its own nuclear weapons capability if the United States fails to ratify the new strategic arms reduction treaty signed earlier this year. Vladimir Putintold CNN’s Larry King program in an interview to be aired later today that the new treaty is in the United States’ best interest and it would be, in his words, dumb for U.S. legislators to ignore that. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the new START in April. The agreement would cut nuclear stockpiles in the U.S. and Russia by about 30 percent.News Item 45Thai police say they arrested two Pakistani men and one Thai woman this week on forgery charges, as they attempted to flee to neighboring Laos. The three were arrested in cooperation with Spanish authorities, who on Thursday arrested six Pakistanis and one Nigerian in raids in Barcelona. Spanish authorities believe the group supplied fake passports used by Muslim militants who bombed Madrid commuter trains in 2004. They also suspect the group supplied fake passports to al-Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based group accused of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.News Item 46The U.S. unemployment rate rose in November while the economy added far fewer jobs than expected. Today’s closely-watched report from the Labor Department says the unemployment rate rose 0.2% to 9.8%. The economy had a net gain of 39,000 jobs far fewer than the 150,000 most experts had predicted.News Item 47Iranian media reports say officials are calling for the removal of a Star of David painted on the roof of the headquarters of the country’s national airline after the Jewish symbol was revealed in a satellite image. Reports say Internet media company Google took the image of the building which was reportedly built by Israeli engineers who worked in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.News Item 48President Obama is calling a new free-trade deal between the U.S. and South Korea a landmark agreement. Mr. Obama accepted the deal Friday after a three-year stalemate and said it will deepen the two nations’ alliance, and he urged the U.S. Congress to ratify it. President said the agreement will increase U.S. exports by up to $11 billion a year and support at least 70,000 jobs. As part of the deal, South Korea has agreed to let the U.S. keep a 2.5% tariff on Korean-built cars for five more years rather than end it immediately.News Item 49The World Food Program is teaming up with the World Meteorological Organization and other agencies to help subsistence farmers increase their crop yields. The WFP says 2010 has been a year with many climate related emergencies which have created a havoc with the agricultural produce of many developing countries.News Item 50Some of the most dramatic, climate-related emergencies include flooding in Pakistan, Haiti, Burma and Burkina Faso. World Food Program spokeswoman Emilia Casella says the number of people affected is expected to reach about 375 million a year by 2015. “We are estimating that by 2020, some countries having their agricultural yields halved by weather&climate emergencies-drought or flood.” Casella says a detailed food insecurity analysis could pinpoint areas that are most at risk. She says WFP is working with the Food and Agriculture Organization to help small subsistence farmers increase their food yields.News Item 51International firefighting teams are battling day three of what officials are calling the worst fire in Israel’s history. Police said Saturday the huge wildfires continued to burn out of control near the northern port of Haifa. The firefighting aircraft are coming in from Russia and have been dropping water on the blaze with additional help from the U.S., France and Britain. Middle East neighbors Jordan and Egypt sent equipment. So far, 41 people, at least, have been killed and thousands have been forced to evacuate from the area.News Item 52A Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites has crashed into the Pacific Ocean after failing to reach orbit. Russian news agencies said therocket and the satellites went down about 1,500 kilometers northwest of Honolulu, Hawaii after veering off course.News Item 53British lawmakers plan to vote on a bill today that would increase university tuition charges. If approved, the college tuition in Britain would jump from just under 5,000 dollars to about 14,000 dollars per year. That proposal has sparked student protests. British authorities say the increase in tuition is necessary to bring a large deficit under control. News Item 54Delegates at the end of a two-week UN climate conference held in Cancun, Mexico have approved a modest plan to combat global warming. More than 190 nations approved the agreement Saturday, which includes a multi-billion-dollar fund to administer assistance to poor nations. Bolivia was the only country to object the deal, saying the agreement does not go far enough to curb climate change.News Item 55Police in Sweden say a car explosion in what appeared to be a suicide attack killed one person and wounded two others in central Stockholm on Saturday. Police say the first blast occurred in a car near a busy shopping street and left two people dead. Moments later, there was a second explosion 200 meters away. Police found an injured man at that scene. The man later died. Swedish authorities say it’s possible the。

Nearly 2,000 widows who have been abandoned by society and their families live in government shelters lacking basic amenities in India's northern city Vrindavan. The Supreme Court last year said the women should be given the resources and support they need to live their lives with dignity. One organization is trying to make that ruling a reality.在印度北部城市温达文，将近2000名寡妇被社会和家人抛弃，生活在政府开设的缺乏基本设施的收容所里。

去年，印度最高法院表示，应该给妇女资源和帮助，让她们过上有尊严的生活。

一家机构正在努力履行法院的裁决。

Arati Mistry had almost given up on life. Married at 16 and widowed just two years later, the now 55-year-old recalls how she could barely make ends meet.阿拉迪·米斯特里曾经想过轻生，她16岁结婚，2年后就成了寡妇，现在55岁的米斯特里回忆起她是如何艰难度日的。

“I used to wonder, how can I survive? I went through hardship. I used to ask for food, work in people’s homes. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I came here,” she recalled.米斯特里说：“我曾经想，我是怎么活下来的？我非常苦，我要过饭，当过佣人，我再也受不了了，我就来到这里。

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College is a time when many young people experiment and learn more about themselves. Some may have romantic relationships and even engage in sexual activity for the first time.But experimenting with sex has risks. Sex without a condom can lead to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report in October on the spread of STDs in the United States. The CDC is the main government agency dealing with public health in the U.S.The CDC report showed cases of gonorrhea in the U.S. increased by 13 percent between 2014 and 2015. Cases of syphilis rose by 19 percent. And the number of cases of chlamydia grew to 1.5 million -- the highest level the CDC has ever recorded.The report showed the majority of cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea were among people age 15 to 24. Most college students in the U.S. are between 18 and 25 years old.Eloisa Llata is a medical researcher working on STD prevention for the CDC. Llata says throughout history, STDs have affected people between the ages of 15 and 24 more than any other group in the U.S.But she says the college environment does create unique risks. Llata notes that a student can come from a smallcommunity with a limited number of sexual partners to an area with a larger population.She also says the college experience can lead young people to engage in risky behavior."These folks tend to be unmarried, have maybe more than one partner at a time, and college might be an area where things like binge drinking and drug use might play a larger role."The CDC reported in April that the pregnancy rate among women age 15 to 19 in the U.S. reached an all-time low. Llata says this change is because more young people are using contraceptive methods such as the birth control pill. The pill is a type of medicine women must take every day to prevent pregnancies.But the pill does not prevent the spread of STDs.Llata says getting an STD has serious consequences. STDs can affect a woman’s ability to have children and may put people at greater risk for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Why have STD rates gone up?Laura Lindberg, a research scientist with the Guttmacher Institute, says the rise in STD rates is not yet a major cause for concern. The Guttmacher Institute is a noNPRofit organization that studies sexual health and policy in the U.S.Lindberg argues that a major reason the number of reported cases of STDs has gone up is because more people now have access to healthcare.People do not know they have an STD unless they get tested for STDs, she says. And most people do not go to the doctor because they believe they have an STD. Lindberg notes people most often get an STD test while they at the doctor for anotherreason.She argues sexual activity among young people has not gone up in ways doctors can measure. And condom use has decreased only a little. So, Lindberg says, the increase in STDs shows only that more young people are getting tested.Also, the increase is not enough information to prove the STD rate among young people will continue to increase, she adds.Why aren’t young people more careful?But Lindberg admits there is a problem: many young people do not think about the consequences of risky sexual activity. She says they are embarrassed about discussing sexual health. And, she says, they worry that if they get tested their parents will learn they are sexually active.Lindberg notes that the only people not at risk for STDs are those in long-term relationships with a single partner. She says most relationships in college are newer and those involved may not limit themselves to one partner. This means sexually active college students should get tested regularly.But Lindberg says young people face a bigger problem than just embarrassment: education."Today’s college students are part of a generation whose sex education that they received prior to college has been very weak. Many of them did not receive comprehensive sex education. They did not receive instruction and information about birth control. Instead, what they got was some version of an 'abstinence until marriage program' which left out key information about using condoms and contraception to protect themselves. So today’s college students need information. They need medically accurate information. They need honest information. And they need complete information."A 2015 CDC report found fewer than half of the high schools in the U.S. taught all the suggested topics in their sex education classes. For example, Lindberg says, many young people may not know that most STDs can be treated. And they may not know that the birth control pill prevents only pregnancies. Couples may be risking STDs by not using condoms.Lindberg adds that STDs are a much bigger problem for young people who are not attending college. Often these young people live in communities with less money. This means they have less access to healthcare and STD testing.Also, the American Medical Association, the American College Health Association and over 100 other organizations say sex education programs that only teach about waiting for sex until marriage do not work.Still, colleges can do a great deal to help their students, says Debby Herbenick. Herbenick is a professor at Indiana University in Bloomington. She is also the director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion in the university’s School of Public Health.Herbenick and others in the center teach classes about human sexuality and gender. She says young men and women need to learn about how to respect each other and their own bodies."They don’t always know that sexual pleasure is a good thing and that it’s something that, in fact, adults do expect them to explore and be experienced in. Some of them have been really shamed and just been taught that sex is bad. I think that many young people are just trying to figure out how to create sexual lives that are respectful, that are healthy. And they are looking to adults to support them in that."Herbenick says schools can support students by providingSTD testing and sexual health counseling in their health centers. If they do not have the resources to do so, schools should direct the students to other places that can help.She also suggests that schools can invite speakers to talk about healthy relationships and sexual activity. And most of all, Herbenick believes schools should require students to take at least one class about sexuality.As Laura Lindberg at the Guttmacher Institutes notes, there should never be just one conversation about sexual health.。

Words and Their Stories:When the Cat's AwayNow, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.Cats are the m ost popular pets am ong Am ericans. So i t is not surprising that there are m any expressions about cats. Som e cats like to catch sm all birds, like canaries. If som eone looks very proud or satisfied with him self, we say he looks like the cat that ate the canary.Som etim es, a cat likes to play with a sm all anim al it catches.So if you play cat and mouse with someone,you change between different kinds of behavior when dealing with another person. For exam ple, a child m ight offer som ething sweet to her little brother and then take it away when he reaches for i t.A cat will often catch a sm all anim al and present i t to i ts owner. The saying that looks like something the cat dragged in describes som ething in bad condition.Two old and funny expressions describe som ething that is the best or finest. Am ericans m ight say that something is the cat's meow and the cat's pajamas.Children m ight call a child who is easily frightened a fraidy cat or a scaredy cat. A copycat is som eone who acts just like som eone else or copies another person's work. A fat cat is a person with a lot of m oney.You m ay have known that cats spend m ost of their tim e sleeping. Som etim es people sleep for a short tim e during the day. This is called a cat nap.If you tell about som ething that was supposed to be a secret, we say you let the cat out of the bag. If you are not able to speak or answer a question som eone m ight ask if the cat has got your tongue.Have you ever watched children in a classroom when their teacher leaves f or a few m inutes? When the cat's away, the mice will play m eans people som etim es misbehave when there is no supervision.You m ay have heard this expression: curiosity killed the cat.This m eans being too concerned about things that are not your business m ight cause problem s.If your hom e is very sm all, you might say there is not enough room to swing a cat. But you probably should not try this at hom e!If you ever had cats as pets, you know it is difficul t to train them or to get them to do som ething. Cats are not like sheep or cows that can be m oved in a group. So we say a difficult or im possible job is like herding cats. We leave you wi th a song from the m usical play, "Cats."(MUSIC)This VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus.现在是VOA特别英语，词语典故时间。

身处浮躁的社会如何培养品德Yesterday, in the House of Commons, CharlesKennedy’s parliamentary colleag ues gave movingtributes to his life. There is never a rush, of course,to speak i ll of the dead, but these tributes had theclear ring of sincerity. David Camero n said his“character and courage inspired us all”, and NickClegg that he alwa ys put people before politics. Outside the commons, colleagues and friendsha ve spoken repeatedly of Kennedy’s compassion, decency, and principled n ature as well asof his ongoing battle with human frailty in the form of alcohol ism.It seems Charles Kennedy displayed what the New York Times Columnist Davi d Brooks wouldcall “eulogy virtues”. In his most recent book “The Road to Ch aracter”, Brooks contrasts eulogy virtues like kindness, faithfulness and hu mility with what he calls resume virtues -the kind of things we put on our CV. He’s convinced that both eulogy virtue s and resume virtues take work to develop, and is worried that western societ y pushes us to put our effortsinto the ones that will help improve our careers, not our characters.It's the age old question-what makes a good life? How do we go deeper amongst the clamourof a cult ure that monetises status anxiety and defines us by what earn, own or look like?David Brook’s call for us to do the hard work of developing character, to culti vate self-restraint and self-suspicion in the age of the selfie stick, isn't really controversial. It's obvio us, when we stop to think about it, that the real legacies of our lives aren’t jo b titles,twitter followers or cellulite free thighs. But how do we develop the eu logy virtues, when the gravitational pull of the self is so strong?Christians would be the first to acknowledge that these virtues don't come n aturally. Thechurch’s hunch is that change happens through vulnerable, co mmitted relationships. To overcome the tyrant self we must confess our fr ailty and darkest tendencies - first to God,and then to others.Behavioural science is beginning to add evidence to what religions have long understood -virtue develops best in relational communities. Not short term communities o f self interestmade up of “people like us”, but awkward, diverse, grace filled communities, established forthe long term. The New Testament encourage s Christians to be part of communities like these,to encourage one another, bear with each other and create space for the hard conversations.To keep re minding each other of the virtues that matter and the things that last. These kind ofcommunities aren't of course unique to Christianity, and they are ofte n far from perfect, but ifwe want to be remembered not for our fleeting achi evements but our depth of character, theymight be the best hope we have.In the news,Chinese authorities are working quicklyto reach survivors still tra pped under a passengership that capsized -- or turned over --in theYangtze River late Monday. More than 450passengers and crew were o n board the ship whenit went down. Most of the passengers were elderlyChine se tourists.Only 15 people are known to have gotten out alive.More than 400 passengers are still missing. ThePeople's Daily website reported late Tuesday threebodie s were found 50 kilometers from the wreckagesite.Boko Haram attacks MaiduguriBoko Haram militants have again attacked the Nigerian city of Maiduguri. The city is set to bethe new base of government operations aimed at defeating th e group.Reports from the city said fighters used grenades in Tuesday's attack but wer e unable toadvance beyond the city limits.Later, a suicide bomber attacked a cattle market in Maiduguri. Early reports said up to 20people died in the explosion.Nine NGO employees shot dead in AfghanistanPolice in northern Afghanistan said Tuesday unknown gunmen have shot dea d at least nineemployees of an aid agency. The attack took place in Balkh pro vince. The victims were from thenon-governmental organization, People in Need.The United Nations warned last month that the Afghan conflict has caused a record rise in civilian deaths in the first few months of 2015, compared to the same period in 2014.No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's killings of aid workers in Balkh. US Senate votes on spy programsThe US Congress completed action Tuesday to end the government's huge pr ogram ofcollecting telephone call data designed to help stop terrorist attacks. American telephonecompanies will take over the task in six months.The Senate voted 67-32 in favor of legislation already approved by the House ofRepresentatives. It was then sent to President Barack Obama for his signature. Mr. Obama say she will quickly sign the legislation. He says the new rules protect both civil andnational security.新加坡前总理李光耀逝世Lee Kwan Yew is credited with leading Singapore intofull independence and prosperity.李光耀领导新加坡走上了全面自由和复兴之路。

VOA1.Some popular expressions are a mystery. No one is sure how they developed. One of these is the expression, carry a chip on your shoulder. A person with a chip on his shoulder is a problem for anybody who must deal with him. He seems to be expecting trouble. Sometimes he seems to be saying, "I‟m not happy about anything, but what are you going to do about it?"Carry a chip on your shoulder（准备随时吵嘴、打架的样子）。

这种随时准备干仗的人对任何必须要和他打交道的人来说都是个问题。

他似乎在等着找麻烦。

有时他的样子看上去就像在说，“我就是对什么都不爽，但你又能怎样吧？”A chip is a small piece of something, like a chip of wood. How did this chip get on a person‟s shoulder? Well, experts say the expression appears to have been first used in the United States more than one hundred years ago.One writer believes that the expression might have come from an old saying. The saying warns against striking too high, or a chip might fall into your eye. That could be good advice. If you strike high up on a tree with an axe, the chip of wood that is cut off will fall into your eye. The saying becomes a warning about the dangers of attacking people who are in more important positions than you are.人们袭击比自己位置更重要的人的危险警告。

专四英语听力VOA常速练习辅导材料专四英语听力VOA常速练习辅导材料勤奋学习，在成绩面前永不满足，不断追求更进一步的理解，扩展更广泛的课外积累，不断对自己提出更高的学习目标。

以下是店铺为大家搜索整理的专四英语听力VOA常速练习辅导材料，希望能给大家带来帮助!Presidential Election Campaigning Underway in IowaAlthough the November 2016 presidential election is over a year and half away, campaigning to choose party nominees is already underway in Iowa - a key state because it holds a party caucus early in the election season.Though Cedar Falls, Iowa has a population just over 40,000, right now it is the epicenter of the race for the White House. Republican party presidential hopefuls are pressing the flesh (shaking hands with people) and answering voters' questions on issues ranging from immigration reform to marriage equality.“My biggest concern as a voter is that America has to come back to God," said Linda Morris.Republican voter Linda Morris was among a group attending a breakfast with candidate and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.“We have gone down the wrong path for the last eight years," she said.Conservative voter Curtis Bartlett agrees. He wants a president that can reverse escalating racial tensions in America.“I don’t understand why whites and blacks can’t get together and sit down and talk over what one person wants, the other person wants too," said Bartlett.Bartlett’s list of concerns also includes the debate oversame-sex marriage.It’s an issue that attracted dozens of protestors outside Cedar Falls High School. Inside, Huckabee joined fellow presidential hopeful former Senator Rick Santorum on stage to speak with conservative voters who oppose same-sex marriage.“I don’t think it’s that big of an issue," said Lynn Brant.As a Democrat, Lynn Brant supports same-sex marriage. In his party, the leading presidential contender is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also visited Cedar Falls to interact with potential supporters.“It looks like Hillary might be a shoo-in, but I hope not. I hope that there is a debate that she will have to defend herself and the Democrats will have a choice," said Brant.Iowa matters for these candidates because it is the first state to hold an election, called a caucus. The results can either boost or sink aspirations for the White House early in an election year depending on who wins or loses.For Republicans this year, Iowa is the place where they can build name recognition and momentum ahead of the caucus. But the growing field of candidates all vying for attention and campaign funding concerns Curtis Bartlett.“Because are you going to wipe out somebody who could be a good candidate right away because they can’t get the finances?" Asked Bartlett.More finances means more advertising, and in an election expected to break all previous records for money spent, every dollar counts.词汇解析immediate难度：3星常用词汇，属常用6000词英汉解释adj.直接的;最接近的;立即的';目前的参考例句用作形容词 (adj.)The evidence has no immediate bearing on the case.该证据与本案无直接关系。