20180414: 美国之音(voa)慢速英语 30分钟
美国之音(voa)慢速英语 30分钟
<1>
The democracy monitoring group Freedom House says governments from Central Europe to Eurasia are showing disrespect for independent agencies and open discussion. It adds that the European Union, or EU, and the United States have little time left to stand up to the area’s anti-democratic forces.
Freedom House released the findings in its latest Nations in Transit report, which is called “Confronting Illiberalism.”
The report defines illiberalism as thinking that rejects the need for independent agencies to monitor the government and dismisses the idea of publicly disagreeing with those in power.
Freedom House said that, in 2017, illiberalism established itself as the ‘new normal’ in the former Soviet Union and some of its allies. The U.S.-based group noted attacks on independent media and government critics in a number of countries. And it observed a never-ending push in some areas to combine the ruling party and the state.
Very dramatic changes
Nate Schenkkan is project director of Nations In Transit for Freedom House. He said his group has been speaking out about these issues for a long time in places like Russia, Central Asia and Belarus.
Schenkkan told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that “…increasingly, we see this now in Central Europe, in countries like Hungary and Poland. We see it starting to have an effect at the level of institutions. So, very dramatic changes, especially in Poland," he said.
The report said that 19 out of the 29 nations in the study received lower democracy ratings than last year, the sharpest drop in the project’s 23-year history. It also found that for the second time in two years the number of consolidated authoritariangovernments was higher than that of consolidated democracies.
The report said that Turkmenistan was the area’s worst performer for what the report calls “Eurasia’s entrenched autocracies.” An autocracy is a system of government where one person has unlimited powers.
The report identified entrenched autocracies in five other countries. They are Belarus, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan.
Russia moving towards authoritarianism
The report said that Russian President Vladimir Putin won reelection last month in a political campaign where he faced no real competition. It said his only real opponent, anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny, was barred from being a candidate after he was found guilty of corruption charges. The report questions the believability of the ruling, however.
In addition, the report noted that Russia is facing “economic decay.” It said this has resulted from a lack of structural reforms, its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine, and international actions against Russia for taking control of the Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan have the area’s highest risk of moving into authoritarianism, the report said.
“The window for fundamental reforms may not have closed in Ukraine,” the report said. But it noted political resistance to anticorruption reforms, attacks on civil society, and the media. As a result, the report said Ukraine’s democracy rating was lower for the first time since 2014.
"It was a relatively small decline, but it was meaningful,” Schenkkan said. He added that the main cause is the pressure leading Ukrainian politicians have put on civil society and independent media.
Largest declines
The report said the weakening of democracy was most striking in two Eastern European countries: Poland and Hungary. It noted the two were successful in separating from authoritative systems in the 1980s.
In 2017, the Polish government passed laws that give the ruling party-controlled parliament more influence in choosing Supreme Court members and other judges. In addition, Hungary passed laws in 2017 to limit the freedom of people to publicly critique the government.
Some positive performers
However, not all countries received poor ratings in the new report. It noted progress over the past year in Macedonia and Uzbekistan.
The report has found that since the death of President Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan has made small, but noticeable improvements in the freedoms of civil society and the media.
In addition, Macedonia formed a new government, Schenkkan told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). The new leadership has started on a plan to find peace with its neighbors Bulgaria and Greece. Macedonia hopes to eventually be a candidate for EU membership.
Freedom House is a U.S.-government-financed non-government organization. RFE/RL and VOA are each part of the U.S.-government-supported Broadcasting Board of Governors.
I’m Phil Dierking.
Eugene Tomiuc reported this story Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Phil Dierking adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
How do you feel your country’s democratic performance is? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
Words in This Story
decay - v. to slowly lose strength, health, etc.
decline - v. to become lower in amount or less in number
dramatic - adj. sudden and extreme
confront - v. to oppose or challenge especially in a direct and forceful way
consolidate - v. to join or combine together into one thing
authoritarian - adj. expecting or requiring people to obey rules or laws
entrenched - adj. to place (someone or something) in a very strong position that cannot easily be changed
fundamental - adj. forming or relating to the most important part of something
monitor - v. to watch, observe, listen to, or check (something) for a special purpose over a period of time
<2>
The videos on Love Stories TV website have drama, romance, and beautiful clothes mixed with costly settings and highly technical camera shots.
Is it Hollywood or is it real life? Sometimes the line seems to disappear.
Love Stories TV shows videos of people getting married and taking part in different events leading up to the big moment: their wedding day.
Many modern-day wedding videos now compete for production values with Hollywood movies.
Rachel Silver is the founder and head of Love Stories TV, a website for watching and sharing wedding videos.
Silver says she got the idea for the site from talking to women she worked with. They told her how they had begun to watch wedding videos with their girlfriends one night and could not stop.
Silver remembers looking at some videos herself.
“I was thinking this is the best content I’ve ever seen . . . It’s real people, real stories, but professional production.”
Silver says Love Stories TV now has thousands of wedding films from around the world. Some come from newlyweds. Filmmakers also offer videos to the site.
The videos often include information about the videographers, food, flower providers, clothing makers and other services used. One can watch the videos just for fun. But they also can help people in planning for their own wedding day.
Wedding services information is searchable on the site by subject, including place, religion, and culture.
Karly Carrow got married last December. She said she had no problems sharing her video with Love Stories TV. She said it took 30 seconds to post the film.
Carrow said she wanted to make things easier for others planning a wedding. She said she thinks people struggle about budgeting for a wedding video.
“Hopefully,” she said “they’ll be inspired to spend the money and understand the importance and the value in the long run.”
So who exactly is watching the videos on Love Stories TV? Is there really an audiencefor the wedding videos of strangers?
Rachel Silver said users of the website are mostly young and female.
“Many of our viewers have grown up on reality TV, The Bachelor has been on television their entire lives . . . It’s about the love story. Inevitably in a wedding film, it comes out how you met, how you fell in love . . . they interview the friends and the family members...”
In the future, Silver plans to offer a targeted marketing service for wedding-related businesses. They will be able to pay monthly to reach viewers. Love Stories TV is also partnering with companies, like the menswear business Bonobos.
Critics may dismiss the married couples on Love Stories TV as self-congratulatory. But, Silver argues that posting videos is no different from publishing wedding announcements in The New York Times or Town & Country magazine.
Silver said she wishes she had documented her own wedding like those with videos on Love Stories TV.
“All of their family and friends and the people they love the most are surrounding them and that only happens to you a handful of times in your entire life.”
I’m Caty Weaver.
VOA’s Trina Trinh reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
dramatic – adj. a situation or series of events that is exciting and that affects people's emotions
romance – n. the feeling of being in love
inspire – v. to make (someone) want to do something : to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create
audience – n. the people who watch, read, or listen to something
inevitable – adj. sure to happen
interview – v. to question or talk with (someone) in order to get information or learn about that person
<3>
...
<4>
Our story today is called "Paul's Case." Willa Cather wrote it. Donna de Sanctis adapted it for VOA Learning English. "Paul's Case" will be told in two parts. Here is Kay Gallant with part one of the story.
Paul hated school. He did not do his homework. He did not like his teachers. Paul's father did not know what to do with him. His teachers did not know either. One afternoon, all his teachers at Pittsburgh High School met together with him to discuss his case. Paul was late. When he entered the room his teachers sat waiting for him.
He was tall for his age and very thin. His clothes were too small for him, but they were clean. He had a bright red flower in the button hole of his black jacket. One of the teachers asked Paul why he had come to the meeting. Paul said politely that he wanted to do better in school. This was a lie. Paul often lied.
His teachers began to speak. They had many complaints. One said Paul talked to the other students instead of paying attention to the lessons. Another said Paul always sat in class with his hands covering his eyes. A third teacher said Paul looked out the window instead of looking at her. His teachers attacked him without mercy.
Paul's eyebrows moved up and down as his teachers spoke. His smile never left his face, but his fingers shook as he touched the flower on his coat. At last the meeting was over. Paul's smile got even wider. He bowed gracefully and left the room.
His teachers were angry and confused. The art teacher spoke for all of them when he said there was something about Paul that he didn't understand. "I don't think he really means to be bad," he said. "There's just something wrong with that boy." Then the art teacher remembered one warm afternoon when Paul had fallen asleep in his class. Paul's face was white with thin blue veins under the skin. The boy's face looked tired and lined, like an old man's. His eyebrows moved up and down, even in his sleep.
After he left the meeting, Paul ran down the hill from the school whistling. He was late for his job at the concert hall. Paul was an usher there. He showed people to their seats. He carried messages for them. He brought them their programs with a polite bow. Everyone thought he was a charming boy and the best usher at the hall.
When Paul reached the concert hall that evening, he went immediately to the dressing room. About six boys were already there. Paul began changing his clothes with excited hands. He loved his green uniform with the gold pockets and design.
Carnegie Music Hall
Paul rushed into the concert hall as soon as he had changed clothes. He ran up and down the hall, helping people. He became more and more excited. His face became pink and his eyes seemed larger and very bright. He looked almost handsome. At last everyone was seated. The orchestra began to play and Paul sat down with a sigh of relief.
The music seemed to free something in Paul's spirit. Then a woman came out and began to sing. She had a rich, strong sopranovoice. Paul felt truly happy for the first time that day.
At the end of the concert Paul went back to the dressing room. After he had changed his clothes again he went outside the concert hall. He decided to wait for the singer to come out. While he waited he looked across the street to the large hotel called "The Schenley." All the important people stayed at The Schenley when they visited Pittsburgh. Paul had never been inside it, but he used to stand near the hotel's wide glass doors. He liked to watch the people enter and leave. He believed if he could only enter this kind of a hotel, he would be able to leave school, his teachers, and his ordinary, gray life behind him. . . forever.
At last the singer came out of the concert hall. Paul followed her as she walked to the hotel. He was part of a large crowd of admirers who had waited to see her. When they all reached the hotel, she turned and waved. Then the doors opened and she disappeared inside. Paul stared into the hotel as the doors slowly closed. He could feel the warm, sweet air inside. And for a moment, he felt part of a golden world of sparkling lights and marble floors. He thought about the mysterious dishes of food being served in the hotel's dining room. He thought about green bottles of wine growing cold in silver buckets of ice.
He turned away from the hotel and walked home. He thought of his room with its horrible yellow wallpaper, the old bed with its ugly red cover. He shook his head.
Soon he was walking down the street where he lived. All the houses on Cordelia Street were exactly alike. Middle class businessmen had bought them for their families. All their children went to school and to church. They loved arithmetic. As Paul walked toward his house he felt as if he were drowning in ugliness. He longed for cool colors and soft lights and fresh flowers. He didn't want to see his ugly bedroom or the cold bathroom with its cracked mirror and gray floor.
Paul went around to the back of his father's house. He found an open window and climbed into the kitchen. Then he went downstairs to the basement. He was afraid of rats. But he did not want to face his own bedroom. Paul couldn't sleep. He sat on the floor and stared into the darkness until morning came.
The following Sunday Paul had to go to church with his family. Afterwards, everyone came home and ate a big dinner. Then all the people who lived on Cordelia Street came outside to visit each other.
After supper Paul asked his father if he could visit a friend to get some help with his arithmetic. Paul left the house with his school books under his arm. But he didn't go to his friend's house. Instead he went to see Charley Edwards. Charley was a young actor. Paul liked to spend as much time as he could at the theater where Charley Edwards and his group acted in their plays.
It was only at the theater and the concert hall that Paul felt really alive. The moment he smelled the air of these places he felt like a prisoner suddenly set free. As soon as he heard the concert hall orchestra play he forgot all the ugly, unpleasant events in his own life.
Paul had discovered that any kind of music awakened his imagination.
Paul didn't want to become a musician, however. He didn't want to become an actor, either. He only wanted to be near people who were actors and musicians. He wanted to see the kind of life these artists led.
Paul found a schoolroom even worse after a night at the theater or the concert hall. He hated the school's bare floors and cracked walls. He turned away from his dull teachers in their plain clothes. He tried to show them how little he thought of them and the studies they taught.
He would bring photographs of all the actors he knew to school. He would tell the other students that he spent his evenings with these people at elegant restaurants. Then he would announce that he was going away to Europe or to California, or to Egypt for a while. The next day he would come to school smiling nervously. His sister was ill, he would say. But he was still planning to make his trip next spring.
Paul's problems at school became worse. Even after the meeting with his teachers, things did not get better. He told them he had no time to study grammar and arithmetic. He told them he had to help the actors in the theater. They were old friends of his.
Finally, his teachers went to Paul's father. He took Paul out of school and made him get a job. He told the manager at the concert hall that Paul could not work there anymore. His father warned the doorman at the theater not to let Paul into the place. And Charley Edwards promised Paul's father not to see Paul again.
All the actors at the theater laughed when they heard about the stories Paul had been telling. The women thought it was funny that Paul had told people he took them out to nice restaurants and sent them flowers. They agreed with the teachers and with his father that Paul's was a bad case.
You have just heard part one of the American story "Paul's Case." Willa Cather wrote it. Donna de Sanctis adapted it for VOA Learning English. Your storyteller was Kay Gallant. Now it's your turn. What do you think of Paul? Is there something wrong with him? Write to us in the comments section.
Words in This Story
Pittsburgh - (Placename) a port in SW Pennsylvania; the largest river port in the US and an important industrial centre, formerly with large steel mills.
vein - n. any one of the tubes that carry blood from parts of the body back to the heart
eyebrows - n. the line of hair that grows over your eye
usher - n. a person who leads people to their seats in a theater, at a wedding, etc.
uniform - n. a special kind of clothing that all the members of a group or organization wear
marble - n. a kind of stone that is often polished and used in buildings and statues
wallpaper -n. thick decorative paper used to cover the walls of a room
soprano - adj. relating to the highest female singing voice or the highest voice part in a singing group
LEARNING ENGLISH BROADCAST
推荐：
Congolese Refugees Learn to Live in US with Help, But for...
Argentina’s Farmers, Economy Hit Hard by Drought
More Americans Are Moving to Texas
Laos Fights to Protect Endangered Asiatic Black Bears
Aid Groups Send North Korea a Message, Aid in a Bottle
还没听够看够？关注本公众号（漂泊者乐园微信公众号），定期收听收查看各种精彩内容。跑步入场还不晚哦。
（学习交流微信：littleflute）
特别说明：
A. 如果您想收听全部中级美国英语内容，有两种方法:
(1) 在漂泊者乐园微信公众号回复：zjmgyy 。
(2）点击左下角的 阅读原文 。
B. 本平台（漂泊者乐园微信公众号）会不定期推送各种各样的在线资源，为了不错过收听查看机会，建议广大亲朋好友们关注本公众号（漂泊者乐园微信公众号）。
C. 本平台（漂泊者乐园微信公众号）主要推送以下几类资讯：
（1）各种英语学习资料。
（2）各种音乐学习资料。
（3）各种中国象棋学习资料。
（4）各种计算机学习资料。
（5）各种电子图书。
（6）各种MP3,MP4等音像资源。
D. 本平台（漂泊者乐园微信公众号）诚招合作者。有意者请联系 微信：littleflute。