VOA慢速听力【629-631】当埃及建立新首都时，开罗会变成什么样子？
1): 邀你加入->【漂泊者乐园-英语学习群】
【每日一歌】
21 旧金山 San Francisco
歌曲选自《最适合学习英语的英文歌曲80首》
提示：关注漂泊者乐园微信公众号公众号后， 回复 d2 可收听查看所有《As It Is 》文章。
《As It Is 》栏目在本号自2018年4月初开始全马力运行，已经推文 621 篇，每日仍在不断增加中。
亲爱的朋友，如果您能能坚持跟着本号听读，相信不用多久，您的英语听力一定会有极大的提高！
漂泊者乐园微信公众号在线英语学习资料
美国之音特别英语节目：慢速英语听力
学英语的朋友，想提高听力的话，请听下面的音频。
有问题可在【漂泊者乐园-英语学习群】里一起交流，谢谢！
本音频包含不同内容的文章，对应的文本依次附在其后。
*【629】
AS IT IS
Report Blames Equipment and Safety Failures for Lion Air Crash
November 28, 2018
National Transportation Safety Committee investigator Nurcahyo Utomo during a press conference on the committee's preliminary findings on their investigation on the Lion Air crash, in Jakarta, Nov. 28, 2018.
Indonesia’s National Safety Commission says airplane equipment and carrier safety failures are to blame for the deadly Lion Air crash last month. The government report suggests the airplane should have been removed from service because of earlier reports about problems.
The passenger plane crashed into the Java Sea October 28, just a few minutes after leaving Jakarta. All 189 people on the plane were killed.
The plane had been traveling to nearby Banka-Belitung island.
The Commission’s chief said investigators are trying to understand why engineers had judged the plane to be airworthy.
“We need to compare the statements of the engineers with the required procedures,” he said.
Information from the recovered black box showed that the pilots struggled with a safety system that was broken. The system forced the front of the plane to turn down as the pilots fought to keep it up.
Also, the report says the pilots seemed unable to correct several other equipment failures that happened at the same time.
A crash investigator said that pilots seemed unsure about which problem to deal with first.
The plane’s voice recorder is missing.
The report said pilots need to be informed of reports of equipment problems and be better trained for emergencies.
The plane that crashed is the newest type of Boeing’s popular 737 jetliner. One safety system pushes the nose of the plane down if it senses the nose is pointed too high and the plane is in danger.
Problems were noted with that system on reports of earlier flights of the plane that crashed.
Pilots who flew the plane the day before the crash told investigators that the system failed. They said they were able to shut it off and land safely.
The plane experienced technical problems in four earlier flights.
“We need to find out what happened and why the pilots took different actions. That why we really want to have the cockpit voice recorder,” the investigator said.
Boeing said in a statement after the crash that the new model is as safe as any airplane in the sky.
Boeing noted that the investigators’ report said pilots’ actions led to the crash. The statement also spoke of repair work and procedures that had failed to fix the airplane’s problems.
Peter Lemme is a former Boeing engineer who wrote a piece about the crash. He told the Associated Press that the plane’s nose went down and pilots pulled it back up 26 times during its 11 minutes in the air. Lemme said it appears that the pilots failed to understand the problem or the method for dealing with it.
Lemme said he was troubled that the pilots of the plane were not warned about the problems of earlier flights. He also expressed concern that the plane had not been repaired after those flights.
“Had they fixed the airplane, we would not have had the accident,” he said.
The report advised that Lion Air ensure it follows proper operating procedures to improve its “safety culture and to enable the pilot to make proper decisions.” It also advised the airline keep full documentation about technical problems on flights.
I’m Susan Shand.
The Associated Press reported this story. Susan Shand adapted this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
procedure – n. a series of actions that are done in a certain way or order
proper – adj. right or suitable for some purpose or situation
cockpit - n. the area in a boat, airplane, etc., where the pilot or driver sits
*【630】
AS IT IS
Study: Undocumented Immigrants in US Reached Ten-Year Low
November 28, 2018
FILE - Demonstrators with signs on an overpass in Indianapolis, Indiana, protest against people who immigrate illegally July 18, 2014.
On Tuesday, the Pew Research Center reported that the number of immigrants staying in the United States without permission fell to a ten-year low in 2016. Researchers used government data to show that from 2007 to 2016, the number of undocumented immigrants dropped from 12.2 million to 10.7 million.
Pew linked the decrease to a large reduction in the number of Mexicans crossing the U.S. border illegally.
However, the number of immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras trying to cross over from Mexico illegally was up. Central America is the only regionfor which there was an increase in undocumented immigrants during the period of the study.
Arrests of Central Americans at the U.S.-Mexico border have also risen. But Pew researchers said arrests remained well below their highest number in 2014.
Most unauthorized immigrants overstayed their visas
Researchers found that two-thirds of adult unauthorized immigrants have lived in the U.S. for more than 10 years. Most unauthorized immigrants enter the U.S. on legal visas and remain after their visas reach the end of the period of stay they permit.
The latest overstay report showed that more than 700,000 holders of visas whose time limits had been reached should have left in the 2017 fiscal year. Pew said 90 percent of overstays were from countries other than Mexico or Central America.
Deportations
Pew noted that forced expulsions – called deportations – of undocumented immigrants rose during the years when George W. Bush and Barack Obama were president. Deportations reached their highest point in 2013. These deportations could have affected the decrease in the undocumented population.
In the fiscal year 2016, most deportations were of people from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The report showed that based on limited data, deportations appear to have declined since then. It also shows a decline in those arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as an increase in those arrested inside the United States.
I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.
Molly McKitterick reported this story for VOA. Pete Musto adapted it for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. We want to hear from you. How do you think the numbers of undocumented immigrants entering the United States will change over the next ten years? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
_______________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
region – n. a part of a country or of the world that is different or separate from other parts in some way
unauthorized – adj. without permission
visa(s) – n. an official mark or stamp on a passport that allows someone to enter or leave a country usually for a particular reason
fiscal year – n. a 12-month period used by a government, business, or organization to calculate how much money is being earned and spent
deportation(s) – n. to force a person who is not a citizen to leave a country
*【631】
AS IT IS
As Egypt Builds New Capital, What Becomes of Cairo?
November 28, 2018
In this Oct. 23, 2018 photo, people wait for an early morning bus on the ring road, in Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
Cairo, Egypt’s capital, is one of the largest cities in Africa and one of the best known in the world.
For more than 1,000 years, it has stood on the banks of the Nile River, the longest in the world. The Pyramids of Giza sit close to the city’s southwestern edge.
Among the city’s tall structures are over 400 historic buildings from the times of the Roman, Arab and Ottoman empires.
The city’s center was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. The city's Tahrir Square later became known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring movement.
Across Cairo, there are large signs telling its 20 million people of new homes being built in the desert 45 kilometers away.
Often, the signs are in Cairo’s overcrowded neighborhoods, with poorly built homes and dirt roads filled with untreated human waste. The signs are ways to suggest that government employees, foreign embassies and rich people will soon leave Cairo for a new capital city in the desert.
The New Administrative Capital, which still does not have an official name, is the idea of former army general President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi. It is the biggest of several huge projects. Others include new roads, housing projects and the expansion of the Suez Canal.
Egyptian officials often compare the projects built under al-Sissi to monuments like the Giza Pyramids.
Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said, “History will do justice to this generation of Egyptians and our grandsons will remember its achievement.”
But critics call the new capital a vanity project for al-Sissi. They say the money could have been used to help the economy and to rebuild Cairo.
Hassan Nafaa teaches political science at Cairo University. He said, “Maybe al-Sissi wants to go down in history as the leader who built the new capital, but if Egyptians don’t see an improvement in their living conditions and services, he will be remembered as the president who destroyed what is left of the middle class.”
The government argues that Cairo is too crowded and will grow to 40 million people by 2050. The new city is being built on 69,000 hectares, about two times the size of Cairo, at a cost of $45 billion.
The project began in 2016. The first of the expected 6.5 million residents are to move there next year. The city will hold the offices of the president, the Cabinet, parliament and the ministries.
City planners promise to build public parks, an airport, an opera house, sports structures and 20 skyscrapers, including Africa’s highest, at 345 meters.
Madbouly denied that the new capital will only bring wealthy people. However, the smallest apartment, about 120 square meters, in the new city, is expected to cost about $73,000. That price is out of reach for a mid-level government official who makes about $4,800 a year.
No one knows how the new capital will affect Cairo. Many government buildings in the city are large homes taken by the socialist governments in the 1950s and 60s.
Some fear that the empty buildings will fall into disrepair or be torn down.
Sameh Abdallah Alayli is an urban planning expert. He said the building of the new capital should be halted.
He wrote in the Al-Shorouk newspaper, “Historical Cairo must remain the political capital of Egypt.”
I’m Mario Ritter Jr.
Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on an AP report. Mario Ritter Jr. was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
_______________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
heritage –n. the traditions, achievements, beliefs that are part of the history of a group or nation
achievement –n. something that has been done or a goal reached through great effort
vanity –n. something that shows a person has too much pride
residents –n. someone who lives in a particular place
skyscrapers –n. a very tall building
您好！既然漂到这里，就顺便把本文转到朋友圈吧！