慢速英语听力 20191030_&_ 图片新闻
AS IT IS
US City Teams with Jaipur, India, to Celebrate Literature
October 30, 2019
An image of decorations and people from the Jaipur Literature Festival in Boulder, Colorado.
India’s artistic and intellectual elite gathered in the U.S. city of Boulder, Colorado last month to celebrate some of the literary world’s most gifted writers.
The Jaipur Literature Festival was launched in Jaipur, India in 2006. It now has nearly 300 speakers and about 500,000 people attending the events every year.
The festival also travels around the world. Its first stop in the United States was Boulder, a city known for its technology industry.
Festival co-director Namita Gokhale told VOA she loves Boulder’s highly-educated community. But her favorite part of Boulder is its natural environment.
“Something about this place reminds me of my hometown in the Himalayas,” she says.
Wherever the festival goes, Gokhale said, it seeks to create a deep feeling of happiness through life experiences.
Happiness, she added, “means extracting a deeper understanding from possibly even the most tragic situations.”
Lighthearted moments
In her book, “Good Talk,” Mira Jacob writes about race and gender struggle in her large family. Speaking at the festival, Jacob told her painful story. But she also created a sense of happiness that made her listeners laugh.
Jacob explained that her Indian-born mother tells her friends, “Mira has her stories, and I know the truth.”
Tragedy and triumph
Izzeldin Abuelaish is a Palestinian-born medical doctor. His book, “I Shall Not Hate,” tells the story of the Israeli bombing of his home 10 years ago. The attack killed his three daughters.
“But I can keep them alive in my heart… It’s with wisdom, with kind, courageous, strong words and with good (acts),” Abuelaish told listeners.
Ethiopian-born writer Maaza Mengiste was another speaker. “The Shadow King” tells of the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia and a tragedy that followed.
Mengiste said her story is not just a story about Ethiopia: it’s about “every woman and every girl who’s had to survive some kind of conflict, whether it’s in war or in the home.”
“Silence in some ways protects us,” she added. “Until we hear someone else’s story, and understand that we’re not alone.”
Mengiste is a Fulbright scholar who uses non-traditional ways to discover stories from the past. She goes on the social networking service Twitter and asks users to send pictures of women during wartime.
With stories like these, the Jaipur Literature Festival asks those who love literature to seek a deeper understanding of the human experience.
I'm Susan Shand.
VOA’s Shelley Schlender reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
elite – n. the most successful or powerful group of people
remind – v. to cause to remember
extract – v. to choose and take out (parts of a written work) for a separate use
gender – n. the behavior, culture of emotions normally linked to one sex
courageous – adj. brave
novel – n. a long written story usually about imaginary events
Fulbright Scholar – n. a program that brings international students to America to study, teach or do research and sends American students overseas to do the same
AS IT IS
Turkey Condemns US House Bills on Sanctions, Armenians
October 30, 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a reception on Republic Day, in Ankara, Turkey, Oct. 29, 2019.
Turkey has objected to legislation passed by the United States House of Representatives.
The Turkish foreign ministry said it called a meeting with the U.S. ambassador in Ankara after the House approved the legislation on Tuesday. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country’s parliament will answer the action, but gave no other details.
One bill is aimed at punishing Turkish officials involved in the decision to send Turkish troops into northern Syria. Supporters of the bill say the Turkish offensive resulted in human rights abuses against ethnic Kurds in the area.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 403 to 16.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey “strongly condemns” the sanctions against Turkish officials and its army.
The other piece of legislation confirms U.S. recognition of the century-old mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as genocide. That resolution passed by a vote of 405 to 11.
Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1923. At the time, Armenians were a Christian minority in the Ottoman Empire.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters after the bills passed that “Turkey has not come to grips that this was a genocide.”
Turkey has long objected to the use of the word genocide to describe what took place to Armenians after World War I. Erdogan said that Turkey does not recognize the non-binding resolution and added that it has no value to the country. He described the measure as “slander.”
Turkey is one of the 29 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Turkish foreign ministry said that the U.S. measures did not agree “with the spirit of our NATO alliance.”
A result of Turkey’s entry into northern Syria
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered U.S. troops to withdraw from northern Syria earlier this month. That move cleared the way for Turkey to send troops into the area with the aim of driving out Syrian Kurdish fighters. The Kurds have been allies of the U.S. military in efforts to fight Islamic State militants. However, Turkey accuses them of being allied with Kurdish separatists, who Turkey considers terrorists.
The U.S. Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act would prevent sales of arms to Turkey for use in Syria. It would punish Turkish financial organizations involved in the military. It also would require the U.S. government to report on Erdogan’s finances.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel is a Democrat from New York State. He says the bill is a way to ensure that Erdogan faces consequences for Turkish actions in Syria.
Earlier this month, the House passed a resolution condemning the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Trump announced that the U.S government had negotiated a permanent cease-fire in Syria last week. He also lifted sanctions on Turkey that were put in place after its troops entered northern Syria.
The Protect Against Conflict by Turkey Act now moves to the U.S. Senate, where it will face a vote. It must be signed by the president before becoming law.
I’m Mario Ritter Jr.
Dorian Jones reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted he story for VOA Learning English with additional reporting from the Associated Press and Reuters. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
sanctions – n. measures taken to force a country to obey international law usually by limiting trade or targeting officials
come to grips – idiom to understand or deal with something in a direct or effective way
non-binding – adj. having no legal force
slander – n. the act of making a false spoken statement that causes people to have a bad opinion of someone
consequence – n. a produce or result
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THE DAY IN PHOTOS
October 30, 2019
October 30, 2019
A look at the best news photos from around the world.
1The 11-meter model of Britain's Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow holding the heads of Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is shown in Edenbridge, Britain.
3A man crosses himself at the memorial, where the victims of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's regime were buried in the woods in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
4Representatives talk near a robot during the Future Investment Initiative forum at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh.
5A man looks at himself in a mirror as he chooses a hat at the clothing market in Minsk, Belarus.
6This long-exposure image shows a tree burning during the Kincade fire off Highway 128, east of Healdsburg, California, Oct. 29, 2019.
7News photographers report on the march of miners supporting Bolivia's President Evo Morales in La Paz, Bolivia.
8A man looks through a space during the art performance "Wall watching — climb the wall together" of the National Theatre Weimar, ahead of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Weimar, Germany.
9Three monkey babies are fed by an adult animal at the Hagenbeck animal park in Hamburg, Germany.
10Tombstones are seen at the old Jewish part of the Zentralfriedhof cemetery ahead of All Saints Day in Vienna, Austria.