时间:2019-02-05 作者:英语课 分类:VOA常速英语2007年(十一月)


英语课
By Cindy Saine
Washington
16 November 2007


An independent survey on racial attitudes in the United States shows a growing number of African Americans say they are worse off now than they were five years ago, and that they don't expect their lives to improve in the future.  The whites, the survey says, see things differently.   VOA's Cindy Saine reports from Washington.


The survey by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization based in Washington, shows that only one in five African Americans asked said life in the United States is better for them than it was five years ago, and only 44 percent of African Americans said they expect their prospects 1 to brighten in the future.  The Pew Center says this means that blacks are more pessimistic about progress now than at any time since 1983. 


Most white Americans have a different perspective.  Whites are nearly twice as likely as blacks to see blacks gaining ground over the past five years, and 56 percent of whites say life will get better for blacks in this country. 


Telephone interviews for the Pew Research Center survey were conducted among a nationally representative sample of three thousand, 86 adults from September 5 to October 6.  Of the total, 1007 interviews were conducted with blacks, and 388 with Hispanics.


The Executive Vice 2 President of the center, Paul Taylor, says since the passage of civil rights laws in the 1960s and 1970s, African Americans as a whole have done better economically. But, he says there have been increasing prosperity gaps within the black community.


"Overall the black community in absolute inflation-adjusted dollars has done better over the last 40 or so years; there's been a slow but steady progress," he noted 3.  "But when you look inside the community, you see an increasing divergence 4. More blacks now than before are in the middle class or above, taking advantage of the opportunities opened up by the civil rights era, if you will.  But a very significant number are still in poverty."


Taylor said the divergence in economic level within the black community is accompanied by a growing gap in values between poor and middle-class African Americans.


"We asked blacks, 'do you think the values of middle-class and poor blacks have gotten more alike or more different in the past decade.'  By two to one blacks say the values have gotten more different," he added.  "At the same time, a majority of blacks say the values of blacks and whites have become more similar over the past decade."


Most blacks and whites agree that the values held by blacks and whites have become more alike over the years.  Large majorities of both blacks and whites say that rap and hip-hop music are a bad influence on society.  About eight in 10 members of each racial group express a favorable view of the other group.


The survey also rated prominent black Americans according to how favorably they are viewed by members of the black community.  Talk show host Oprah Winfrey came out on top with 87 percent saying she is a good influence, closely followed by entertainer and activist 5 Bill Cosby, with 85 percent. 


Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama also scored high among blacks, with 76 percent saying he is a good influence.




n.希望,前途(恒为复数)
  • There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
  • They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
n.分歧,岔开
  • There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
  • In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之,这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。
n.活动分子,积极分子
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
学英语单词
a. perinealis
accrued charge
acoustic magnetic mine
adlecting
administration of internal affairs
Aflogualnum
ai chi
alternative procedure
ampholite
art and part
artificial caving
assidue
base of petroleum
black cottonwood
blue-green bacterium
bursting speed
cascading down
centricdiatom
cloud-bases
complementary scale
consistorial
conventional-arms
counter-cast
Crista sacralis intermedia
Cynwyl Elfed
Daphne holosericea
departmental arrangement and distribution in commodity stock
Direct Copper Blue 2R
disinflations
drip channel
event oriented simulation
eye-serve
factorization method
facular
Fentathienil
flower
geomagnetic periodic variation
go yachting.
group demodulator filter
harpending
hepatitis sequestrans
information management program
initial overburden pressure
insulation varnish
intrapore
inverse beta process
journal box lid hinge
lanatest
light pressure separator
Lothair
megalodiscs
merry-go-round
monoethanolamine(surfactant)
moving current-weighted Passche indexes
neutralizing water tank
new staff
Nihon-maru
non-specified-time relay
nuclear quadrupole spectrum
oil pressure switch
one-cancels-the-other order
orbit maneuver engine
output transfer function
Pare's suture
plain shank
plant hole
poikilosmotic character
preregeneration
progressive wave
pushback
put somebody up to
RCITR
reducing capacity
reductive alkylation
regional index call warrant
RFRNA
Rhodiola wallichiana
Richardson's ground squirrel
rosette phyllotaxy
semi-tractor
sexlessnesses
sgd.
shell tuck
sickling diathesis
simple deterministic language
spaces out
spantik
spread back
sugarcane top
system of gravitational unit
tea-tree
telephone bills
tiled mode
use test
vendibler
vertical decomposition
voltage and frequency response
wear plate
Y ligament
Yang Shiying
zori