时间:2018-12-01 作者:英语课 分类:VOA慢速英语2007年(十二)月


英语课

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.


Books are a high cost of higher education. But the Global Text Project hopes to create a free library of one thousand electronic textbooks for students in developing countries.


 
The Global Text Project aims to fill a Web-based library with 1,000 books
The aim is to offer subjects that students may take in their first few years at a university. The books could be printed or read on a computer or copied onto a CD or DVD.


Two professors in the United States are leading the Global Text Project.


Richard Watson is the acting 1 head of the department of management information systems at the University of Georgia. And Donald McCubbrey is a professor of information technology and electronic commerce at the University of Denver, in Colorado.


Professor Watson tells us that the idea for this project goes back several years. He was teaching a computer programming class but did not have a good textbook. So he asked his students to each write part of a book that he would organize and edit.


By the end of the term, Professor Watson had a finished product. Since then he has used it for other classes. Now, Professors Watson and McCubbrey are seeking volunteers to supervise the creation of books for the library. They are looking for professors or other professionals.


The Global Text Project is similar in technology to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 2 that anyone can edit on the Internet. But only one or two people will be able to make the final edits in texts.


The project includes a committee of scholars, mostly from developing countries, to advise on required textbooks and their content.


Globaltext.org has a link to the Prototype Global Text Library, with two books on information systems and economic analysis. Other free texts on subjects including linear algebra 3 and oceanography are also available at globaltext.org.


The group’s first book on information systems is being tested in Ethiopia and Indonesia. Professor Watson says the plan is to offer about ten free books within the next year, including an English grammar text.


Project organizers also want to offer textbooks in Arabic, Chinese and Spanish. They are working with a translation company in the United States. And Professor Watson says students could also get involved.


For example, a student learning English in an Arab country could translate part of a book into Arabic. Then another student and the class professor could check the translation. 


And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss 4. For a link to the Global Text Project, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Bob Doughty 5.


 



1 acting
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
2 encyclopedia
n.百科全书
  • The encyclopedia fell to the floor with a thud.那本百科全书砰的一声掉到地上。
  • Geoff is a walking encyclopedia.He knows about everything.杰夫是个活百科全书,他什么都懂。
3 algebra
n.代数学
  • He was not good at algebra in middle school.他中学时不擅长代数。
  • The boy can't figure out the algebra problems.这个男孩做不出这道代数题。
4 moss
n.苔,藓,地衣
  • Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
  • He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。
5 doughty
adj.勇猛的,坚强的
  • Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质:脾气倔强,性格刚强。
  • The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。
标签: voa 慢速英语
学英语单词
a poon
A tent
absorption water
actuarial table
Alasin
alicycle
amidrazone
apogranite
attribution model
autocatalysts
avian-flu
bastard fount
Beaconsfield
bench-drill
boat bearer
bolillos
bresaolas
Bupleurum longicaule
cage hydraulic press
carbide insert bit
Catcher in the Rye
centimoes
channel decoder
comma construction
contact reliability inspection
cotton-enamel covered wire
course
Critesion
crystal tea
decontraction
demolition of property
Deuteronomic, Deuteronomical
deviation of borehole
DIIC
distance of relative movement
distesol
dividend payout ration
duquesnel
equivalent bar
error status register
family Rhinolophidae
gang seeder
general recursive predicate
geographic proximity
gridpoints
GVE
have a peep ab sb
have something on one's shoulders
hereditary predisposition
HF-24
high pressure turbine bypass
hobnail
icker
ignition residue
intermediate preference targets
irenina malloticola
Kannose-gawa
lameller tearing
leave one's card upon someone
left-click
level of organization
library member
man of quality
mangadom
mesomeric theory
miniaturizes
moneymaking
moral duty
moving speed of table
noise level
north land (severnaya zemlya)
Orroroo
outdoor motor
ovonic threshold switch
partial solid solution
partner's capiatl
perissus asperatus
personal computing conference
photoelectric photometer
pillar shaping machine
placentotrophy
Planchonella obovata
plex structure
primary safety valve for inner container
project production
rekles
sample pulse phase
Shentoo's line
sinaed
spring for air pump
stewed
suck-boy
takehome
thermal decomposition method
transmission standards
ultrasonic test method
UNRPR
UVPROM
uvular diastematia
walkback
weirty
workcentre