时间:2019-01-31 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(三月)


英语课

By Greg Flakus
Houston, Texas
13 March 2006
 
Watch Flakus report
 
  
  
Cowboys from all over North America are down in Texas this week for the Houston Livestock 1 Show and Rodeo, which is billed as the biggest event of its kind in the world.

But, as big as it is, there are some small things that make it special. VOA's Greg Flakus has more in this report from Houston.

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The Houston Rodeo takes place in one of the biggest stadiums in the world.

  
  
Tens of thousands of people fill the stands of the Reliant Stadium to see events like calf 2 roping, bronco and bull-riding.

The rodeo is a big event with big animals and big cowboys wearing big hats.

But every year, rodeo organizers set time aside for a small event for some small people, called the "Little Rustlers."

Each year, The Houston Rodeo's Special Children's Committee selects 45 children between the ages of four and 12 who have medical conditions or disabilities to experience the cowboy activities up close. Committee Chair Brenda Short says it is a special thrill for the kids.

 
Brenda Short 
  
"Some of them are cancer-stricken, some have cerebral 3 palsy, and it is just the highlight of their life for them," she said. "To watch their parents and see them come alive as they watch their kids out here, it is just a neat experience, very heartwarming."

Coming to an event like this is a new experience for Diane Luna's four-year-old son Gabriel, who is still recovering from a disease that once threatened his life.

"He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was ten-and a-half-months old and he had a bone marrow 4 transplant almost two years ago," she said. "We are still working on his walking, but they expect that he will be walking real soon, so he has come a long way and is doing real good."

 
Nikki Moran 
  
One of the stars of the Houston Rodeo is trick rider Nikki Moran, a native of Canada who has worked with disabled children there as well. She says the chance to interact with a big horse means a lot to these little children.

"We find that these kids just love the horses," she said. "They love getting up there and feeling so tall and riding around and it just makes my day to see them smile like that."

There is a smile painted on the face of professional rodeo clown Leon Coffee, who helps distract angry bulls and horses after a rider has fallen. 


Leon Coffee with a Little Rustler  
  
But, as demanding as his work may be, he takes time every year to work with the Little Rustlers event.

"I know it puts a big smile on my face to see these kids out here having a good time," he said. "We know that they will never be the rodeo athletes that we have out here at the Houston Rodeo, but we need to bring something to them and that is what we are doing."

For many parents and special children, this small event is the biggest and most important part of the yearly rodeo and something they will always cherish.



n.家畜,牲畜
  • Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
  • The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。
n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮
  • The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
  • The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。
adj.脑的,大脑的;有智力的,理智型的
  • Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
  • He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人,措辞谨慎。
n.骨髓;精华;活力
  • It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了,他感到寒冷刺骨。
  • He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。
学英语单词
-kind
acid-resistant sheet material
actualizers
alternate exception action
Ampanihy
Arablinskiy
ariamnes cylindrogaster
armature keeper
Atlantic pomfret
auxiliary device
be enamored with
bechamel-sauce
bring someone into disrepute disrepute on something
brushless machine
Calandagan I.
Cameroon franc
camouflage-print
cartellino
coil type pan
cold roll
cucinas
deminex
durangites
escape pathlength of cosmic rays
federal communication act
Ferula bungeana
first vein
fission-product activity
flanged port
fluted bulkhead
Fricke dosimeter
functional parallelism
gas forming
gripe about
hand-operated vertical hydraulic press
heatley
high impact
historicizations
infrared-sensing
intermediate trend
international rubber hardness degree test
interstitial gas flow
isoporous ion exchange resin
Kaja, Hill
Kaneh, Rūd-e
komlans
long-nosed potoroo
love-lies-bleeding
make no pretence with
management data
microcircular technique
microprogrammed compiler
Mokhovaya, Gora
motorblower
NCITS
non-tangential crossbedding
nondamageable
nonstudying
occursion
ocean bonito
operation manner
overkeeping
pergesa actea
pixels
plagens
playtoy
policy scientist
presentation time stamp
promotion terminology
prydain
reingests
relief paint
retinyl
saudias
scale blower
seasonal weight
self-cleaaing of water
self-digestions
septorial blight of tomato
single-leg manometer
sloping bottom tank
smorg asbord
sulfide core
sun pan
swineries
tableware detergent
tangential wheel
teapotlike
tectonic activization
tendinea inscriptio
thermal fission yield
three-terminal system
tidier-up
to twat
toones
trachyspermum scaberulum(franch.)wolff
trainmen
tripe cambered aerofoil
uncompetitive
unconquering
Villaharta
Young's Schutz's