时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:2010年VOA慢速英语(十)月


英语课

President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton each released video messages this week on the problem of bullying 1. Both messages centered on abusive behavior toward homosexuals.


BARACK OBAMA: "Like all of you, I was shocked and saddened by the deaths of several young people who were bullied 2 and taunted 3 for being gay, and who ultimately took their own lives. As a parent of two daughters, it breaks my heart. It’s something that just shouldn’t happen in this country. We’ve got to dispel 4 the myth that bullying is just a normal rite 5 of passage -- that it's some inevitable 6 part of growing up. It's not."



President Obama speaks in support of the It Gets Better Project


One recent victim was an eighteen-year old student at Rutgers University in New Jersey 7. Tyler Clementi was a first-year student and a promising 8 musician. In late September he jumped to his death from a bridge over the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York. Three days earlier, his roommate had secretly used a webcam to broadcast live images of him in a sexual encounter with another man.


Law enforcement officials have charged the roommate and another student with invasion of privacy.


Last month, writer Dan Savage 9 started the It Gets Better Project. The purpose is to help LGBT -- lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender -- young people. President Obama recorded his message to show support for that project.



A candlelight vigil in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to remember Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi, who killed himself


BARACK OBAMA: "I don't know what it's like to be picked on for being gay. But I do know what it’s like to grow up feeling that sometimes you don’t belong. It’s tough. And for a lot of kids, the sense of being alone or apart -- I know can just wear on you. And when you’re teased or bullied, it can seem like somehow you brought it on yourself -- for being different, or for not fitting in with everybody else. But what I want to say is this. You are not alone."


Secretary Clinton released her message earlier in the week.


HILLARY CLINTON: "Like millions of Americans, I was terribly saddened to learn of the recent suicides of several teenagers across our country after being bullied because they were gay or because people thought they were gay. Children are particularly vulnerable to the hurt caused by discrimination and prejudice and we have lost many young people over the years to suicide. These most recent deaths are a reminder 10 that all Americans have to work harder to overcome bigotry 11 and hatred 12."



Hillary Clinton's video message


She said opportunities will only increase:


HILLARY CLINTON: "Just think of the progress made by women just during my lifetime by women, or ethnic 13, racial and religious minorities over the course of our history — and by gays and lesbians, many of whom are now free to live their lives openly and proudly."


The videos come as the government and the courts try to settle the future of the military policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Under federal law, gays and lesbians can serve, but not openly. No one may ask about a person's sexual orientation 14. But service members can be discharged if they are found to be homosexual.


Congress and President Bill Clinton approved the law in nineteen ninety-three as a compromise. Now a federal judge in California has ruled it unconstitutional.


Last week she ordered a halt to all dismissals of gay service members. But on Wednesday an appeals court let the administration temporarily continue the policy.


President Obama says he wants to end the policy, but he wants Congress and not the courts to do it.


In July, the Defense 15 Department e-mailed a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" opinion survey to four hundred thousand service members. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expects the results by December first.


 



1 bullying
v.恐吓,威逼( bully的现在分词 );豪;跋扈
  • Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
  • All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 bullied
adj.被欺负了v.恐吓,威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )
  • My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
  • The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 taunted
嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 ); 嘲弄; 辱骂; 奚落
  • The other kids continually taunted him about his size. 其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
  • Some of the girls taunted her about her weight. 有些女孩子笑她胖。
4 dispel
vt.驱走,驱散,消除
  • I tried in vain to dispel her misgivings.我试图消除她的疑虑,但没有成功。
  • We hope the programme will dispel certain misconceptions about the disease.我们希望这个节目能消除对这种疾病的一些误解。
5 rite
n.典礼,惯例,习俗
  • This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
  • Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。
6 inevitable
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
7 jersey
n.运动衫
  • He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
  • They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致,都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。
8 promising
adj.有希望的,有前途的
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
9 savage
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人
  • The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
  • He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。
10 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。
11 bigotry
n.偏见,偏执,持偏见的行为[态度]等
  • She tried to dissociate herself from the bigotry in her past.她力图使自己摆脱她以前的偏见。
  • At least we can proceed in this matter without bigotry.目前这件事咱们至少可以毫无偏见地进行下去。
12 hatred
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨
  • He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
  • The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。
13 ethnic
adj.人种的,种族的,异教徒的
  • This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏,这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
  • The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。
14 orientation
n.方向,目标;熟悉,适应,情况介绍
  • Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
  • The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。
15 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。
学英语单词
a blanket of sth
acetogeneses
after twelve
alignment diagnostic
ambulance corps
angiologies
antiradical
antiulcerogenic
Apractognosia
aster ericoidess
blenderizes
Bourdon pressure gage
breast bone saw
catalog management
Chasseral
chip curl
Cineform
communities
Coragoxin
count down
crown-of-thorns
de jong and bouman photographs
decussroium
deliberate maiming
deterministic finite tree automaton
divvied
dune belt
effective Hall Parameter
elastic theory
electric machine for tropical use
electric-shocks
electricity system
electro-chemical reactor
exhilarate
Faliero
Ffs
floating pontoon wharf
foot rests
foreshore
Gempei War
generalized polynomials
gigamp
handywomen
hemophilus ducrevi
hernial covering
heterophone
induced radioactive nuclide
janking
land tax collected in kind
Las Peňas
late fee
lee-boot effect
Lefini
looping structure
low-growth
macrocryst
Madrid interband offered rate
managerial goals
marbletopped
mcanarney
McKnight L.
mentsch
Met.E
microphytophagous mites
nanolaminates
Nazirite
net shaker
nitroanilide
nonlinear parametrization
Ollerton
outfinessed
p-(p-toluoyl)benzoic acid
para-site
periblast
play a waiting game
pogostemon cablins
pollution,contamination
precaudal plate
presentation model
pro fanity
red bayberries
redundancy check
retzina
Rhamnus croceus
roller bin gate
secancy
send someone off
side frequency
slipped his wind
soal
steel plate galvanized
sto gate dielectric
Stop loss limit
traffic surveillance and control system
trifoveolate
tursiopss
TV-ad
unturns
Utta
Valle del Cauca
vernalised
vrindi