【慢速听力 3 篇 】Sudanese Women Chase Soccer Dream
No.1
AS IT IS
Sudanese Women Chase Soccer Dream
January 11, 2020
Fans react during Sudan's first women's league soccer match at the Khartoum stadium, Khartoum, Sudan, Sept. 30, 2019.
All her life, Elham Balatone wanted to play soccer like her brothers.
However, in Sudan, where she lives, women could be arrested and beaten for putting on soccer clothing in the strict Muslim country.
She played anyway.
“There’s nothing in this world that I love more than soccer. Please let me play,” she said she told her family.
For years, she and other women played secretly.
Until now.
Recently, Sudan’s sports minister watched the women play in a sports center in the capital Khartoum where the country celebrated a new, official women’s soccer league.
Even Balatone’s family was happy about it.
The new league is about more than a game. Sudan is trying to move away from 30 years of leadership that followed Shariah, a strict understanding of Islamic law that limits what women can do.
Officials are making changes after the ouster of former President Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. In November, officials canceled a “public order” law that, activists say, had been used to discriminate against women.
But not everyone is happy. Some extreme religious conservatives are pushing back.
Preacher AbdulHay Yousif and others have said permitting women to play soccer will “destroy religion and morals.”
“What manhood would allow a Muslim woman to appear before men...with her arms, legs…exposed and then run before them?” Yousif asked religious followers in October just as the league began.
He also said Sudan’s minister for sport and youth, a woman, “doesn’t believe in what we believe in. He called her “an apostate.” This has resulted in legal action between them.
Another pro-Shariah group called on preachers to “expose the government’s secularization plots.”
Critics argue that some conservatives are using the methods of the former president al-Bashir. They say he criticized political enemies using religious language to control women and stop change.
Yousif’s words have not affected the league. But Taghreed Awoda, an official for one of the teams, said the argument was a part of the greater fight for change.
Awoda said “to have a women’s soccer league play in Sudan,” destroys the world al-Bashir created.
Under al-Bashir, laws that controlled women and their clothing targeted the poor, uneducated and political activists, Awoda said. Women players were usually left alone if they played quietly although one group of women was arrested for a short time.
“Now the moment has come when they can show people that women could play just like men,” said Amany Anas, a player for the al-Tahadi team.
The players said there is no conflict between their religion and soccer.
“I pray and I perform my Islamic duties. I see no problem,” Anas said.
I’m Susan Shand.
The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
soccer – n. a game (more commonly called football) played between two teams of 11 players in which a round ball is moved toward a goal usually by kicking
strict – adj. demanding that people obey rules or behave in a certain way
league – n. a group or club
preacher – n. one who teaches religious views
allow –v. to permit, to let happen
expose – v. something that is open for everyone to see
apostate – n. someone whose beliefs have changed and who no longer belongs to a religious or political group
secularization – n. the process of removing religion from something
No.2
AS IT IS
Facebook Angers Small Oregon Town with Plan for Undersea Cable
January 11, 2020
Patricia Rogers, left, and Jeff Bryner pose during an interview on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020, with the Facebook lot behind them, in Tierra Del Mar, Oregon.(AP Photo/Andrew Selsky)
People in a small town with no stoplights or mobile phone service are trying to keep out one of the world’s largest technology companies.
The battle is taking place in the town of Tierra del Mar in American state of Oregon.
Locals there are trying to stop Facebook from developing property in their quiet coastal community. The company wants to build a landing site for an undersea cable connecting the United States with Asia.
The cable will link many U.S. sites with Japan and the Philippines. The connection also will help meet an increasing demand for internet services worldwide, the company says.
Facebook officials say Tierra del Mar is one of the few places on the U.S. West Coast with the right qualities for the high-speed cable.
But locals say underground movements from drilling to bring the cable to this coastal village might damage homes and waste systems. They also note that maps and government records identify Tierra del Mar as a residential area. If state and local officials permit the project, they say, more development will come.
“This is a huge precedent. Once you open the shores to these companies coming anywhere they want to, Oregon’s coast is pretty much wide open season,” said Patricia Rogers, who lives in Tierra del Mar. She made the comments to county officials in a written statement.
The Tillamook County Board of Commissioners voted in support of the project after considering Rogers' and others' statements on Thursday.
Locals plan to appeal the ruling to Oregon state officials.
Tierra del Mar is home to a mix of working professionals and retirees. Locals share a love for the town’s quiet coastline and for the deer, bald eagles and rare seabirds that call the area home.
The town has only two businesses. It has no mobile phone service. Providers seemingly do not consider it profitable enough to offer service there.
Locals worry the Facebook project will bring cell phone towers and additional cable sites.
Facebook representatives told county officials that the drilling project would last about a month. They said they carefully chose the Tierra del Mar site to avoid areas where fishermen use huge nets to catch fish. They also noted they went around federally protected fish habitats.
The company did not offer additional details about the project. But it told The Associated Press in a statement: “With more people using the internet, existing internet infrastructure is struggling to handle all the traffic. These new cable projects help people connect more efficiently.”
Internet use worldwide has reached 4.1 billion people, or 54 percent of the world's population. That is up from 1.6 billion people in 2008. Those numbers come from the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency.
Almost all of that messaging and internet use goes through fiber optic cables instead of satellites, said Kristian Nielsen. She is vice president of Submarine Telecoms Forum, a Virginia-based trade magazine.
When data -- including phone calls -- go between North America and other continents, undersea fiber optic cables are used 99 percent of the time, Nielsen said.
Undersea cables have around 800 landing points around the world, the Submarine Telecoms Forum reports. Opposition to them, Nielsen said, is rare.
I’m Ashley Thompson.
The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
cable - n. a group of wires, glass fibers, etc., covered in plastic or rubber and used to carry electricity or electrical signals
drill - v. to make a hole in something with a drill
residential - adj. containing mostly homes instead of stores, businesses, etc.
habitat - n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows
infrastructure - n. the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region, or organization to function properly
efficiently - adv. capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy
fiber optic - n. the use of thin threads of glass or plastic to carry very large amounts of information in the form of light signals
No.3
HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
Study: Vitamin Supplements May Harm Breast Cancer Treatment
January 11, 2020
FILE - A radiologist uses a magnifying glass to check mammograms for breast cancer in Los Angeles, California, May 6, 2010.
A new study suggests that patients with breast cancer who take additional vitamins during chemotherapy treatment may face increased risks.
Researchers said the use of dietary supplements that increase levels of antioxidants, iron, vitamin B12 and omega-3 fatty acids appeared to lower the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Researchers reported their findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Christine Ambrosone is the head of cancer prevention and control at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. She said, "From this study and others in the literature, it seems that it may not be wise to take supplements during chemotherapy."
"It's thought that antioxidants might interfere with the ability of chemotherapy to kill cancer cells," Ambrosone said.
Some doctors have been advising patients for a number of years not to take antioxidants during chemotherapy. "But there was no strong empirical data for that recommendation," Ambrosone said.
So, Ambrosone and other researchers decided to study whether supplement use might affect chemotherapy's effectiveness. They looked for evidence in an earlier study on diet, exercise, lifestyle and cancer results.
In the earlier research, people who took part were asked about their use of supplements at the beginning of and during treatment, and about their lifestyle, diet and exercise.
The researchers studied 1,134 patients who filled out the surveys and followed them for a median of six years. Their supplement use was much lower than usual, Ambrosone said. About 20 percent of patients were taking supplements before starting chemotherapy and 13 percent during the treatments.
The researchers searched for other possibilities that might increase the risk of the disease reappearing or of death. They found that patients who took any supplements at the beginning of and during chemotherapy were 41 percent more likely to have their breast cancer return than those who did not. In addition, the supplement takers were 40 percent more likely to die later on compared to patients using no supplements. The supplements included vitamin A, C and E.
Vitamin B12 and iron
Those taking vitamin B12 and iron supplements were at greater risk of cancer returning, the researchers said. Women taking vitamin B12 were 83 percent more likely to experience a return of their disease and 22 percent more likely to die from it than those not taking those supplements. Those taking omega-3 supplements were 67 percent more likely to have the disease return. That percentage rose to 79 for those taking iron supplements.
Amy Tiersten is a professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She said she was pleased with the research.
"For years we have been cautioning patients about the use of vitamins, in particular antioxidants, during chemotherapy for breast cancer," Tiersten said.
In an email to Reuters news service, she said that she “always told patients on chemotherapy that the best way to get their vitamins is through a well-balanced diet, and will continue to do so given these data."
I’m Mario Ritter, Jr.
Mario Ritter Jr. adapted this Reuters story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
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Words in This Story
supplement –n. an additional amount of something (like vitamins or minerals)
literature –n. books and articles about a particular subject
empirical –adj. based on testing or experience
recommendation –n. a suggestion for someone to do something
habit –n. a usual way of behaving, something done in a repeated way
survey –n. an activity in which people are asked questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think
median –adj. the middle value in a series of numbers
recurrence –n. when something happens again or returns
caution –v. to warn or tell (someone) about a possible danger, problem, etc.
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