时间:2019-01-03 作者:英语课 分类:2018年VOA慢速英语(七)月


英语课

Call-to-Listen Radio Helps Immigrants 2 Stay Connected with Home


Every Wednesday night, Boubacar Ba goes to a radio production studio in New York City and prepares for his show.


The program, called Radio Mali USA, is a show by Malians for Malians around the world.


With a tall glass of water and a few news stories in hand, Ba readies for whatever may happen in his open-ended conversations with listeners. It is a few minutes after the normal start time, and he has yet to say a word. But there are already a hundred or more listeners waiting to speak with him.


“My show, sometimes it goes to three hours, because the cab 3 drivers, they don’t want it to end.”


His radio station broadcasts in Fulani and Bambara, two languages of Mali.


In the United States, many immigrants speak in languages that are rarely spoken across the country. So, staying connected to local news and culture can be hard. In many immigrant 1 communities, call-to-listen radio programs are designed to fill this need. You call a local telephone number or use a mobile 4 phone app to hear the programs.


Such programs offer a brief escape from day-to-day struggles facing immigrants, including the ones without legal documents.


Ba is one 7,000 world broadcasters allied 5 with Zeno Media. The company offers diaspora populations the chance to connect to news from their home countries in their home languages. The company says it has listeners in over 150 countries.


‘I would be lonely’


Baruch Herzfeld is the founder 6 and president of Zeno Media. He says its programs are designed for immigrants whose jobs require them to spend a lot of time alone.


“If I was a security 7 guard in a building, and I didn’t have that much human interaction 8, I was thinking, ‘What can I provide to this person to entertain them or to make their day better?’ I thought to myself, ‘If I was doing this, I would be very, very lonely.’”


Without the issue of limited phone data plans, Herzfeld says the company provides listeners with more hometown news. And, he says, the program format 9 leads to honest conversation.


Zeno Media says an average program lasts about 90 minutes. It claims that all the shows produced in 2017 added up to 10.5 billion minutes of programming.


“Their world exists in a geography that’s 3,000 miles from where they’re from,” Herzfeld said about listeners. “We try and build technology that decreases the limits that geography previously 10 put on staying connected.”


A form of relief


Boubacar Ba became a political news broadcaster in 2009. He says news of Mali is most important for his listeners. Second are U.S. immigration issues.


After President Donald Trump 11 ordered immigration policies like the travel ban, Ba says, there has been a sharp increase in interest in the subject. He says the interest has grown the most among undocumented listeners. Sometimes, he brings in lawyers or other specialists, and also offers his own advice.


“Mainly, try to stay underground. That’s the main advice we tell those who don’t have papers. Don’t expose yourself too much.”


Ba also tells them to avoid illegal activities.


His work as a community leader and broadcaster are often connected. Without a station like his, he says, many immigrants might not have a place to express their opinions.


The discussions 12 that Zeno Media’s programs make possible, he says, are helpful, a way to “pull back from all the noise.”


On Monday, his show deals with civics. On Tuesdays, he offers a language class on how to say English terms in Bambara. On Thursdays, the subject is religion and on Fridays, culture. The weekend is for music and sports.


Joseph Kwesi Kwentsir is a broadcaster from Kumasi, Ghana. His program, which has about 1,600 listeners, also can be heard through Zeno Media. He says his listeners like hearing news about Ghana.


Although he and Ba have different listeners, Kwentsir says their programs let people take part meaningfully from any part of the world.


Herzfeld said that, when listeners in one country get involved in the programs, people in their home country can hear them and “That’s really, really exciting.”


I’m Alice Bryant.


Words in This Story


studio – n. a place where radio or television programs are broadcast


conversation – n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people


app – n. a computer program that performs a special function


diaspora – n. a group of people who live outside the area in which they had lived for a long time or in which their ancestors lived


interaction – n. the act of talking or doing things with other people


entertain – v. to provide or be entertainment for someone


data – n. information that is produced or stored by a computer


format – n. the form, design, or arrangement of something, such as a book or television or radio program


geography – n. (informally) place or location


underground – adv. in or into a place that is hidden or secret



adj.(从国外)移来的,移民的;n.移民,侨民
  • Life in the USA was very hard for almost every new immigrant.美国的生活几乎对每一个新移民都很艰难。
  • I'd like to obtain some information about applying for an immigrant visa.我想取一些申请移民签证的资料。
n.移民( immigrant的名词复数 )
  • Illegal immigrants were given the opportunity to regularize their position. 非法移民得到了使其身份合法化的机会。
  • Immigrants from all over the world populate this city. 这个城市里生活着来自世界各地的移民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.计程车,出租车,出租单马车;vi.乘出租马车
  • The cab drove over his legs.马车从他腿上碾过。
  • Shall we walk or take a cab?我们步行还是坐出租车?
adj.可移动的,易变的,机动的;n.运动物体
  • The old lady sits on a mobile chair every morning.那位老妇人每天上午坐在一把可携带使用的椅子上。
  • She's much more mobile now that she's bought a car.自从她买了汽车后,活动量就大多了。
adj.协约国的;同盟国的
  • Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
  • Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。
n.创始者,缔造者
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
n.安全,安全感;防护措施;保证(金),抵押(品);债券,证券
  • A security guard brought him down with a flying tackle.一名保安人员飞身把他抱倒。
  • There was tight security at the airport when the President's plane landed.总统的专机降落时,机场的保安措施很严密。
n.交流;相互作用,相互影响,合作
  • The interaction of the two groups produced many good ideas.两个组的相互交流产生了许多好主意。
  • Price is determined through the interaction of demand and supply.价格在供需的相互作用中形成。
n.设计,版式;[计算机]格式,DOS命令:格式化(磁盘),用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据;v.使格式化,设计,安排
  • Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
  • The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。
adv.以前,先前(地)
  • The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
  • Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿,解释原先发生了什么。
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
n.讨论( discussion的名词复数 );商讨;详述;论述
  • Discussions are held on an informal basis within the department. 讨论限于在本部门内非正式地进行。
  • Her specialist input to the discussions has been very useful. 她在这些讨论中提供的专家建议很有助益。
学英语单词
abortiva variola
allegan
amblyeleotris periophthalma
animal husbandry
application for drawback
autoselecting
basic atomic group
be a scorn to
bear-trap
beechy
bepraising
brans-dicke
break-even point
British Radio Communication
broglies
Brumado
Buendia, Embalse de
can-carrier
catch lever
cinoas
clathtate
clowning around
copper stripping electrolysis
Crotalus viridis
decking level
deconjugations
dennisonite (davisonite)
Derrick City
differentiabilities
diplococcus of Morax-Axenfeld
double-current method
El Bejuco
end-of-field marker
equity-warrants
finds oneself
flash of wit
force due of viscosity
gate current degradation
give tongue
glooming
half yearly account
hexaferrite
huskershredder
inertinites
inomyxoma fibromyxoma
Isonin
kerak
kolstad
lay of rope
Lena Trough
limit position of a link
lining method
mafes
malonyl thiourea
megalithic age
methidium
mixed sleep apnea
modem connection
mushroom cloud
notacaphylla chinensiae
occipitoiliac
older sisters
one bath two stage process
overpraises
pay honor to
pentamethazene
Phospatidylcholine
play close to the vest
premonitory pains
primary productivity
proxy attribute
psychic deafness
quarter wave length
queue type
reheating cycle
rim blight
Sabbathesque
sagueiro
sand shell moulding
sand stargazer
saracenis
sillenite
simultaneous prosperity
softball
spread oneself
Stellaria irrigua
stellasteropsis colubrinus
strategic communication
student experience
succinanilide
sunnyside up
take-up bearing
terminal wire
turbo fan
twin engined
unpathetic
vibration ramming
virtual disk system
wack
woodburners
zero power level
zero-water