20180424: 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)How US Travel Restrictions Are Affecting Families
Radad Alborati's wife is stuck in war-torn Yemen after his years-long effort to bring her to the U.S. ended last month. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
The Supreme Court of the United States is preparing to hear arguments involving President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
The court meets Wednesday to consider whether Trump’s 2017 restrictions on travel and immigration from some countries are legal. The measures mostly affect people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Visitors from North Korea and Venezuela also were affected, but the two countries are not part of the case.
Whatever the high court decides, the restrictions have already shaped the lives of many people.
From Yemen to New York
Radad Alborati came to the United States from Yemen over 20 years ago, when he was a teenager. He became a U.S. citizen in 2010.
Today, Alborati lives in New York City and works at night in a small store. But his wife remains in Yemen. She and her husband have known each other since they were children. For years, he has tried to bring her and their three sons to New York.
Last autumn, when U.S. courts temporarily blocked the travel restrictions, Alborati was able to get visas for his sons. The boys came to New York. But his wife was not permitted to travel with them. The U.S. embassy in Yemen said in a letter that she was not eligible for a visa. And, it said, the decision could not be appealed. In other words, she should not ask again.
Now, the family is waiting to hear what the Supreme Court says. The boys, ages 10 to 16, live with three separate sets of family friends because Alborati worries about them being alone while he works.
Alborati also worries about his wife. She is back in Yemen, where more than 10,000 people have died in fighting over the past three years.
Alborati says he understands that U.S. government policymakers want to keep the country safer. But he says, “Separating families – that is sick.”
U.S. policymakers
The president’s goal for the travel ban was not to separate families. Trump said he aimed to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out” of the country.
Other people connected to Trump’s administration have made similar comments. James Carafano helped the administration in its early days. He is a national security expert at the Heritage Foundation, a public policy group based in Washington, DC.
Carafano says the travel restrictions resulted from concerns that Islamic State fighters could target the United States.
He said the threat was real, and policymakers were answering the risk. He said: “What do we need to do to protect the nation, and what do we need to do to help people who need help, and what is the balance? We do the best we can.”
State Department officials have said that the restrictions aim to urge foreign governments to share information, and to protect the U.S. until they do.
But critics of the ban say the policy is a form of illegal discrimination based on religion and nationality. They point out that most people affected by the restrictions are from countries that are mostly Muslim. And they recall Trump’s words while he was a candidate for president. He called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
From Iran to California
U.S. officials will not discuss any individual cases, but the restrictions are felt by individuals.
Payam Iafari is another example. He is from Iran, but had a student visa to study at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
Iafari says that he wanted to visit his family in Tehran last summer and celebrate earning his master’s degree in filmmaking. But he did not make the trip. He said he could not risk going home in case the immigration policy changes again. He is still in California, seeking a career in the film industry, but missing his family.
The separation and uncertainty is especially hard on his mother. In an email, she wrote, “Waiting for what will happen in the end – this is very difficult for a mother.”
His sister noted “Politics treats everyone in the world’s lives like toys. We all get burned in the end.”
I’m Jonathan Evans.
Jennifer Peltz reported this story for the Associated Press. AP writers Amy Forliti, Josh Lederman, and Lee Keath provided information for the story. Kelly Jean Kelly adapted the report from VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
teenager – n. someone between 13 and 19 years of age
eligible – adj. worthy of being chosen
radical – adj. extreme; very different from the traditional
shutdown – n. the suspension of an activity
master’s degree – n. a recognition that is given to someone who completes a study program of one or two years after attending a college or university
uncertainty – adj. something that is unknown
toy – n. a play thing
expire – v. to come to an end; no longer legal after a period of time
(2)
A Lifetime of Exercise Slows Aging Process
These people are doing a traditional form of Chinese exercise in a Beijing park, 2008. (Reuters/Grace Liang)
From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.
If you have been meaning to add more exercise to your daily routine, you may want to start sooner rather than later.
A 2018 study has found that a lifetime of regular exercise and activity can slow down the aging process.
Researchers at Britain’s University of Birmingham and King's College London say that getting older should not necessarily mean becoming more weak or sick. Their research shows that a commitment to a life of movement and exercise may help us live not only longer, but also healthier.
The study
For their study, the researchers looked at two groups.
The first group was made up of 125 non-professional cyclists between the ages of 55 to 79. This group included 84 healthy men and 41 healthy women. We will call this group the “cyclists.”
Researchers then found 130 people to make up a second group. Within this group, 75 people were aged 57 to 80. The other 55 were between the ages of 20 and 36. The people in this group were also healthy, but they did not exercise regularly. We will call this group the “non-exercisers.”
Smokers, heavy drinkers of alcohol and people with other health issues were not included in the study.
Then, researchers gave both groups a series of tests. They tested their muscle mass, muscular strength, percentage of body fat, cholesterol levels and the strength of their immune systems. And male participants had their testosterone levels checked.
Then the researchers compared the results of the two groups.
Results showed that the cyclists did not experience body changes usually equated with a normal aging process. For example, they did not lose muscle mass or strength. Also, their body fat and cholesterol levels did not increase with age.
The male cyclists’ testosterone levels had also remained high. Researchers say this may mean that they avoided at least one major symptom of male menopause.
Surprising find of the study
The researchers also found something they had not expected. The study showed that the immune systems of the cyclists did not seem to age either. For this, they looked at an organ called the thymus. The thymus makes immune cells called T-cells.
The University of Arizona’s biology department explains on its website that T-cells are a type of white blood cell and are made in our bone marrow.
As the article says: “There are two types of T-cells in your body: Helper T-cells and Killer T-cells. Killer T-cells do the work of destroying the infected cells. The Helper T-cells coordinate the attack.”
Starting at about the age of 20, the thymus of most people starts to get smaller. It also starts to make fewer T-cells.
However, in this study, the T-cell production by the thymuses of the cyclists had not slowed down with age. They were making as many T-cells as those of a young person.
Advice for us all
Janet Lord is director of the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham. In a press statement, she offers the words of Hippocrates, often called the “father of medicine.”
She writes: "Hippocrates in 400 BC said that exercise is man's best medicine, but his message has been lost over time and we are an increasingly sedentary society.”
Professor Stephen Harridge is director of the Centre of Human & Aerospace Physiological Sciences at King's College London. He addressed the common question of what came first -- the chicken or the egg? In this case, the question became, “Which came first -- the healthy behavior or the good health?"
When talking about the findings of the study, he said “the cyclists do not exercise because they are healthy, but that they are healthy because they have been exercising" for such a large portion of their lives.
The researchers advise us all to find an exercise that we like and to make physical activity a priority in our lives.
They published their findings in Aging Cell. The study is part of ongoing research by the two universities.
And that’s the Health & Lifestyle report. I’m Anna Matteo.
How do you get your exercise? How much do you get a week? Let us know in the Comments Section!
Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
Words in This Story
commitment – n. a promise to do or give something
cyclist – n. someone who rides a bicycle
participant – n. a person who is involved in an activity or event
testosterone – n. medical : a substance (called a hormone) that occurs naturally in men and male animals
symptom – n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present
male menopause – n. age-related changes in male hormone levels
coordinate – v. to work or cause to work together smoothly
sedentary – adj. not physically active
chicken-and-egg – adj. used to describe a situation in which it is difficult to tell which of two things happened first
portion– n. a part of a larger amount, area, etc.
priority – n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first
(3)The Making of a Nation
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