VOA慢速英语 2007 0129b
时间：2018-12-07 作者：英语课 分类：VOA慢速英语2007年（一）月
英语课
VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Mario Ritter. Every society has its heroes. This week on our program, we present several stories of heroism 1 in action.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
We start in New York City earlier this month -- January fourth, to be exact. Two friends, Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez, were standing 2 on the street talking. Suddenly, people in a nearby apartment building screamed for help.
A three-year-old boy was hanging from the steps of the fire escape outside the building. Timothy Addo was twelve meters above the ground, and scared.
The men saw that he was going to fall. The two mechanics 3 ran across the street and positioned themselves to catch him.
VOICE TWO:
They got there just in time. Timothy lost his hold and dropped. His feet hit Mister Nevarez and pushed him over onto the sidewalk. But the little boy landed in the arms of Mister Gonzalez, who also fell. Timothy was shaken by the experience, but he was safe.
Experts in human behavior tell us that some situations bring out the best in people. But something made this event all the more newsworthy. Just two days earlier, New York City had another accidental hero.
VOICE ONE:
Wesley Autrey is a ten-year member of the Construction and General Building Laborers 5 union. Construction workers have to think fast: one wrong move and they might fall off a building.
But his act of heroism took place underground. The fifty-year-old former Navy sailor was waiting for a subway train in Harlem. He was with his two young daughters, ages four and six.
Mister Autrey and two women waiting for the train saw that a young man nearby appeared to be having a seizure 6. They tried to help him, but the man fell onto the tracks.
VOICE TWO:
Wesley Autrey saw the light of an oncoming train. Still, he threw himself down, onto the man, in the space between the rails. It was too late for the train to stop. Several of the cars rolled over them, close enough to Mister Autrey's head to leave a grease 7 mark on his hat.
His two daughters watched in terror as all this happened. But their father and the man he had just saved were safe. And lucky. A little more than a half-meter separated the ground from the underside of the train. In some systems, the trains ride closer to the rail bed.
VOICE ONE:
Wesley Autrey, center, and his daughters react to the medal he received during a news conference at City Hall in New York, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007
Wesley Autrey received the city's highest honor, the Bronze Medallion. Said Mayor Michael Bloomberg: His courageous 8 rescue of a complete stranger is a reminder 9 of how we are surrounded by everyday heroes in New York City.
Businessman Donald Trump 10 presented Mister Autrey with ten thousand dollars. And there have been other rewards and honors.
But Wesley Autrey says he is not a hero. In his words: What I did is something that any and every New Yorker should do.
VOICE TWO:
Last Tuesday, the Subway Superhero and his two daughters were in Washington. They were among the guests of first lady Laura Bush as the president gave his State of the Union speech to Congress.
Less than two weeks after Wesley Autrey's act of bravery, Daniel Fitzpatrick saved a woman in the New York subway. The woman may have been trying to kill herself.
Daniel Fitzpatrick is an emergency medical technician with the New York Fire Department. But the thirty-eight-year-old rescuer was off duty when he saw the woman walk down a subway catwalk. The catwalk passes close to the trains.
Mister Fitzpatrick followed the woman even though a train was coming. He pressed her against a wall. The woman was large and struggling. He kept hold of her. But there was another problem: his head was in the path of the oncoming train.
VOICE ONE:
Luckily, another man who had been talking to Mister Fitzpatrick ran after him and held his head back, out of the way of the train. The woman was taken to a hospital.
Daniel Fitzpatrick used to be a finance 11 officer in business. He says he decided 12 to change careers when he saw rescuers at work after hijacked 13 planes hit the World Trade Center in two thousand one.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This month was the twenty-fifth anniversary of a plane crash during a snowstorm in Washington, D.C. On January thirteenth, nineteen eighty-two, a passenger plane hit a bridge over the Potomac River.
The plane had just taken off for Florida. With it wings weighed down with ice, the plane failed to climb quickly enough. It crashed into Fourteenth Street Bridge and then dropped into the Potomac. Parts of the river were covered in ice.
Seventy-nine passengers and crew were on the flight. Only five of them survived. Four people on the bridge were also killed.
VOICE ONE:
One of the passengers on the plane came to be called the unknown hero. He could have been saved, but he repeatedly handed a helicopter rescue line to others. Then, when the helicopter came back for him, he was gone in the icy waters.
The unknown hero was later identified as Arland Williams Junior, a bank examiner. He was the only victim of the Air Florida crash whose death was blamed on drowning.
The bridge was renamed in his honor. And President Ronald Reagan presented the Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal to the family of Arland Williams.
VOICE TWO:
Someone else who received a Gold Lifesaving Medal was Roger Olian, a sheet-metal worker in Washington. Roger Olian jumped into the river with the end of a lifeline that people on shore had made out of clothes and other materials.
Unable to see through the snowstorm, he followed the screams of the survivors 14. He reached people hanging onto the broken tail of the plane.
The storm and heavy traffic slowed the arrival of emergency services.
VOICE ONE:
Don Usher 15 was a helicopter pilot with the United States Park Police. He flew close to the water and ice, through the blinding snow, to look for survivors. With him was Gene 4 Windsor, a Park Police officer with special medical training.
It was almost impossible to see. But they rescued two people who could hold onto the helicopter lifeline long enough to be pulled to shore. Mister Windsor also jumped into the water to save one woman too weak to hold the line.
The National Transportation Safety Board recognized the actions of the only crew member who survived the crash. Flight attendant 16 Kelly Duncan gave the only flotation device she could find to someone else.
VOICE TWO:
From the side of the river, a federal worker named Lenny Skutnik saw another woman in the water. He jumped into the river, swam to her and got her to shore.
The rescue was filmed and shown on the news. Two weeks later, President Reagan introduced Lenny Skutnik during his State of the Union speech to Congress.
Mister Skutnik received a Gold Lifesaving Medal from the Coast Guard. But to this day, as he told the Washington Post, he says he was not a hero, just someone who helped another human being.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
On January eleventh, at the White House, President Bush presented the Medal of Honor to the parents of Marine 17 Corporal Jason Dunham. The Medal of Honor is the military's highest award for bravery.
Corporal Dunham died in April of two thousand four during a fight with an attacker in western Iraq, near the Syrian border. As they struggled, Corporal Dunham saw a hand grenade that was about to explode.
He jumped on it to save other Marines. He used his helmet and his body to try to contain the explosion. He died of his wounds a week later. But the president said Corporal Dunham saved the lives of two of his men.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Bush also noted 18 that Corporal Dunham had signed on for two extra months in Iraq to stay with the Marines under his command.
Corporal Jason Dunham of Scio, New York, was twenty-two years old. He was the second person to receive a Medal of Honor in the Iraq war. The first was Army Sergeant 19 Paul Smith, killed in two thousand three. He was organizing a defense 20 to protect other soldiers from an attack near Baghdad International Airport.
VOICE ONE:
In two thousand five, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester became the first woman soldier since World War Two to receive the Silver Star. She earned it as a military police officer in Iraq with the Kentucky National Guard. Sergeant Hester helped lead a defense against a large group of attackers.
That same battle led to a Bronze Star for another woman in the Kentucky National Guard. Specialist Ashley Pullen risked her life to help severely 21 wounded soldiers under fire.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver 22. I'm Mario Ritter.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Barbara Klein. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Mario Ritter. Every society has its heroes. This week on our program, we present several stories of heroism 1 in action.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
We start in New York City earlier this month -- January fourth, to be exact. Two friends, Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez, were standing 2 on the street talking. Suddenly, people in a nearby apartment building screamed for help.
A three-year-old boy was hanging from the steps of the fire escape outside the building. Timothy Addo was twelve meters above the ground, and scared.
The men saw that he was going to fall. The two mechanics 3 ran across the street and positioned themselves to catch him.
VOICE TWO:
They got there just in time. Timothy lost his hold and dropped. His feet hit Mister Nevarez and pushed him over onto the sidewalk. But the little boy landed in the arms of Mister Gonzalez, who also fell. Timothy was shaken by the experience, but he was safe.
Experts in human behavior tell us that some situations bring out the best in people. But something made this event all the more newsworthy. Just two days earlier, New York City had another accidental hero.
VOICE ONE:
Wesley Autrey is a ten-year member of the Construction and General Building Laborers 5 union. Construction workers have to think fast: one wrong move and they might fall off a building.
But his act of heroism took place underground. The fifty-year-old former Navy sailor was waiting for a subway train in Harlem. He was with his two young daughters, ages four and six.
Mister Autrey and two women waiting for the train saw that a young man nearby appeared to be having a seizure 6. They tried to help him, but the man fell onto the tracks.
VOICE TWO:
Wesley Autrey saw the light of an oncoming train. Still, he threw himself down, onto the man, in the space between the rails. It was too late for the train to stop. Several of the cars rolled over them, close enough to Mister Autrey's head to leave a grease 7 mark on his hat.
His two daughters watched in terror as all this happened. But their father and the man he had just saved were safe. And lucky. A little more than a half-meter separated the ground from the underside of the train. In some systems, the trains ride closer to the rail bed.
VOICE ONE:
Wesley Autrey, center, and his daughters react to the medal he received during a news conference at City Hall in New York, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007
Wesley Autrey received the city's highest honor, the Bronze Medallion. Said Mayor Michael Bloomberg: His courageous 8 rescue of a complete stranger is a reminder 9 of how we are surrounded by everyday heroes in New York City.
Businessman Donald Trump 10 presented Mister Autrey with ten thousand dollars. And there have been other rewards and honors.
But Wesley Autrey says he is not a hero. In his words: What I did is something that any and every New Yorker should do.
VOICE TWO:
Last Tuesday, the Subway Superhero and his two daughters were in Washington. They were among the guests of first lady Laura Bush as the president gave his State of the Union speech to Congress.
Less than two weeks after Wesley Autrey's act of bravery, Daniel Fitzpatrick saved a woman in the New York subway. The woman may have been trying to kill herself.
Daniel Fitzpatrick is an emergency medical technician with the New York Fire Department. But the thirty-eight-year-old rescuer was off duty when he saw the woman walk down a subway catwalk. The catwalk passes close to the trains.
Mister Fitzpatrick followed the woman even though a train was coming. He pressed her against a wall. The woman was large and struggling. He kept hold of her. But there was another problem: his head was in the path of the oncoming train.
VOICE ONE:
Luckily, another man who had been talking to Mister Fitzpatrick ran after him and held his head back, out of the way of the train. The woman was taken to a hospital.
Daniel Fitzpatrick used to be a finance 11 officer in business. He says he decided 12 to change careers when he saw rescuers at work after hijacked 13 planes hit the World Trade Center in two thousand one.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This month was the twenty-fifth anniversary of a plane crash during a snowstorm in Washington, D.C. On January thirteenth, nineteen eighty-two, a passenger plane hit a bridge over the Potomac River.
The plane had just taken off for Florida. With it wings weighed down with ice, the plane failed to climb quickly enough. It crashed into Fourteenth Street Bridge and then dropped into the Potomac. Parts of the river were covered in ice.
Seventy-nine passengers and crew were on the flight. Only five of them survived. Four people on the bridge were also killed.
VOICE ONE:
One of the passengers on the plane came to be called the unknown hero. He could have been saved, but he repeatedly handed a helicopter rescue line to others. Then, when the helicopter came back for him, he was gone in the icy waters.
The unknown hero was later identified as Arland Williams Junior, a bank examiner. He was the only victim of the Air Florida crash whose death was blamed on drowning.
The bridge was renamed in his honor. And President Ronald Reagan presented the Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal to the family of Arland Williams.
VOICE TWO:
Someone else who received a Gold Lifesaving Medal was Roger Olian, a sheet-metal worker in Washington. Roger Olian jumped into the river with the end of a lifeline that people on shore had made out of clothes and other materials.
Unable to see through the snowstorm, he followed the screams of the survivors 14. He reached people hanging onto the broken tail of the plane.
The storm and heavy traffic slowed the arrival of emergency services.
VOICE ONE:
Don Usher 15 was a helicopter pilot with the United States Park Police. He flew close to the water and ice, through the blinding snow, to look for survivors. With him was Gene 4 Windsor, a Park Police officer with special medical training.
It was almost impossible to see. But they rescued two people who could hold onto the helicopter lifeline long enough to be pulled to shore. Mister Windsor also jumped into the water to save one woman too weak to hold the line.
The National Transportation Safety Board recognized the actions of the only crew member who survived the crash. Flight attendant 16 Kelly Duncan gave the only flotation device she could find to someone else.
VOICE TWO:
From the side of the river, a federal worker named Lenny Skutnik saw another woman in the water. He jumped into the river, swam to her and got her to shore.
The rescue was filmed and shown on the news. Two weeks later, President Reagan introduced Lenny Skutnik during his State of the Union speech to Congress.
Mister Skutnik received a Gold Lifesaving Medal from the Coast Guard. But to this day, as he told the Washington Post, he says he was not a hero, just someone who helped another human being.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
On January eleventh, at the White House, President Bush presented the Medal of Honor to the parents of Marine 17 Corporal Jason Dunham. The Medal of Honor is the military's highest award for bravery.
Corporal Dunham died in April of two thousand four during a fight with an attacker in western Iraq, near the Syrian border. As they struggled, Corporal Dunham saw a hand grenade that was about to explode.
He jumped on it to save other Marines. He used his helmet and his body to try to contain the explosion. He died of his wounds a week later. But the president said Corporal Dunham saved the lives of two of his men.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Bush also noted 18 that Corporal Dunham had signed on for two extra months in Iraq to stay with the Marines under his command.
Corporal Jason Dunham of Scio, New York, was twenty-two years old. He was the second person to receive a Medal of Honor in the Iraq war. The first was Army Sergeant 19 Paul Smith, killed in two thousand three. He was organizing a defense 20 to protect other soldiers from an attack near Baghdad International Airport.
VOICE ONE:
In two thousand five, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester became the first woman soldier since World War Two to receive the Silver Star. She earned it as a military police officer in Iraq with the Kentucky National Guard. Sergeant Hester helped lead a defense against a large group of attackers.
That same battle led to a Bronze Star for another woman in the Kentucky National Guard. Specialist Ashley Pullen risked her life to help severely 21 wounded soldiers under fire.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver 22. I'm Mario Ritter.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Barbara Klein. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
1 heroism
n.大无畏精神，英勇
- He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
- Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。
2 standing
n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的
- After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
- They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
3 mechanics
n.力学，机械学；结构
- The mechanics of fixing a car are very long.修理一部汽车的过程很长。
- The mechanics of the machine are very old.这台机器的机件非常老。
4 gene
n.遗传因子，基因
- A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
- The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。
5 laborers
n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工
- Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
6 seizure
n.没收；占有；抵押
- The seizure of contraband is made by customs.那些走私品是被海关没收的。
- The courts ordered the seizure of all her property.法院下令查封她所有的财产。
7 grease
n.动物脂，油脂，润滑脂；v.抹油，润滑
- He puts grease on his hair to make It'shiny.他往头发上擦油，使之发亮。
- You have a grease spot on your shirt.你的衬衣上有块油斑。
8 courageous
adj.勇敢的，有胆量的
- We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
- He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。
9 reminder
n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示
- I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
- It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。
10 trump
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。
11 finance
n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金
- She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
- A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。
12 decided
adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的
- This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
- There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
13 hijacked
劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）
- The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
- The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。
14 survivors
幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )
- The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
- survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者
15 usher
n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员
- The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
- They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。
16 attendant
n.随从，跟班，出席者，服务员；adj.伴随的，出席的，注意的，在场的
- She was interrupted by the entrance of an attendant.服务员进来，打断了她的话。
- We met the officer attendant on the general.我们见到了随从将军的副官。
17 marine
adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵
- Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
- When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。
18 noted
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。
19 sergeant
n.警官，中士
- His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
- How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？
20 defense
n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩
- The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
- The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。