资源简介

标题：VOA常速英语：Syria Refugee Tide Rises as Strikes Loom
听力内容：
The United Nations said more than two million people have now fled war in Syria. And as families await potential airstrikes from the United States, they are fleeing faster than ever.
At this center in eastern Lebanon, Syrian refugees wait as workers unload bread for distribution. Besam Kazah, who runs the center, said they depend almost entirely on private donations. As the war drags on, he said, donations are getting smaller while the refugee population is getting bigger.
“I feel sorry because, see, we have here very serious problems. Serious problems and nobody is taking care of them. For example we have a lot of women, a lot of them, and they don't have any support,” said Kazah.
Down the road, five Syrian families have moved into an abandoned building.
The second floor is windy, with no windows or doors and the children play in rubble from fallen-down walls.
A woman, who fled Damascus, said the 16 children in the house are already cold. It is still summer in Lebanon.
She said her family left their home last month because she and her husband were afraid the children would be killed.
But the woman and her neighbors said they are also afraid the limited resources for refugees in this area will not be enough to go around if people keep coming.
Aid workers said newcomers have been pouring across the nearby border since U.S. President Barack Obama said he wants to send airstrikes to Syria to punish the regime for an alleged chemical weapons attack.
Khaled Roushdi is a businessman who has been going door to door finding out what families need, and trying to provide it. He says families often come with only the clothes on their backs and need everything else, like food, blankets and cooking gas.
The villages he works in, he said, already have more refugees than residents and they are coming faster than ever. He said if something doesn't change, he doesn't think aid workers will be able to keep up.
“That's my fear," Roushdi said. "That's my fear and we're scared from that. So you help, you help, you help, you help. And after that, you cannot help.”
Khaled said officials have responded to the influx of refugees by refusing some people entry at the border for seemingly arbitrary reasons, like a tear in an identification card.
Refugees said they hope their relatives come soon before it gets even harder to cross. Ministers of Syria's neighbors officially promised this week they will not close their borders. But, along with the United Nations, they issued an urgent plea for more international help.
************标题：VOA慢速英语：The Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington, Virginia and the Famous Photograph that Inspired It
听力内容：
From VOA Learning English, welcome to This Is America. I'm Steve Ember.
Visitors to Washington, DC know about such tourist attractions as the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials...the World War Two Memorial...the Washington Monument. But we'd like to tell you today about a very special monument, just across the Potomac River from Washington, in Arlington Virginia. The Marine Corps War Memorial, also called the Iwo Jima Memorial, is one of the largest free-standing statues in the world. Today we tell you about this memorial and the story behind it.
Visitor from Arlington, Virginia: "It's very overpowering. You can't help but think about all the lives that have been lost for our country."
Our program today is about one moment in time.
[Camera Shutter at 1/400th second]
Really, 1/400th of a second! That is the amount of time it took Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal to capture an historic image on film.
The photograph shows six men and an American flag during a battle in World War II. Joe Rosenthal took the picture on February 23, 1945, on the Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Japanese forces held the island. American Marines were attempting to capture it.
On the fourth day of battle, Marines fought to the top of Mount Suribachi, the tallest mountain on Iwo Jima. A small American flag was sent to the top. The Marines placed the flagpole in the ground, and raised the flag into the air.
But the flag could not be seen clearly far manding officers ordered the Marines to replace it with a much larger one.
Joe Rosenthal was among Marines when they heard there would be a flag ceremony. He wanted to capture the event on film. So he took his camera and climbed slowly up the mountain, avoiding marked landmines. But when he got to the top, it was too late. The ceremony had ended.
He then saw other Marines carrying another flag. Joe Rosenthal backed away from the group. He hoped to get a picture of both flags, one being removed and the other being placed on a pole. But he began talking to another photographer and missed the moment he was waiting for.
A minute later, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. "There it goes!" he said. He swung his camera up, following the movement of the flag, and took his famous photograph.
Four men are clearly seen in the photo. They are Harlon Block, a Marine from Texas; John Bradley, a Navy corpsman from Wisconsin; Franklin Sousley, a Marine from Kentucky; and Ira Hayes, a Marine and American Indian from Arizona.
Behind these men are two other Marines. They are Rene Gagnon of New Hampshire, and Mike Strank. Mr. Strank lived in Pennsylvania, but was born in what was then Czechoslovakia.
The next day, Joe Rosenthal's film went by airplane to the island of Guam, where it was developed and printed. The photographs were given to an Associated Press photo editor. It was the editor's job to decide which ones to send to the United States. They would go on a machine that sent images by radio.
As histories tell it, the editor looked and looked at the first photograph and said, "This is one for all time." Within minutes he sent the picture of the six men raising the flag to the Associated Press headquarters in New York. From there, the photo went to newspapers across the United States. Most decided to print a huge copy on their front page.
Many photo experts will tell you that the picture Joe Rosenthal made is almost perfect. The camera catches the flag as it rises. The flagpole cuts across the photograph. Wind blows against the flag.
The experts also say you must look at the picture as the American public saw it in 1945. The world had been at war for years. Victory was not yet certain. Many people worried about family members. Many had a deep fear of the enemy.
The picture shows strength and courage. It suggests that six young men are working together to defeat the enemy. Joe Rosenthal's photograph seemed to say: the battle may not be over, but we are winning.
It was the very image of a future American victory.
In Washington, D.C., Felix de Weldon saw the photograph in the newspapers. At the time, he was working at an air force base. Born in Austria, he came to the United States and was an artist in the Navy.
Many years later he would say, "When I first saw it I recognized the power of this photograph. I could not take my eyes from it. I looked at the photograph for some hours and then began working."
Felix de Weldon made a small statue of Joe Rosenthal's picture in 72 hours. Within days, members of Congress had seen the small statue. Many began to call for a huge statue. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the Marine Corps to send home the men who had raised the flag.
By then, however, it was too late. Mike Strank, Harlon Block and Franklin Sousley were dead. They were among the more than 6,000 Marines killed on Iwo Jima. Navy Corpsman John Bradley had been severely wounded. But he, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes returned to the United States.
People said they were heroes. The three men said they had done nothing but help put up a flag. But Joe Rosenthal's photograph was so powerful, nothing would change people's minds.
Felix de Weldon soon made a life-size copy of the statue. He carefully copied the faces of the three survivors. He used all the photographs he could find for the three who had been killed.
Joe Rosenthal's photograph became more and more famous. His work earned the Pulitzer Prize.
There was public demand to put the image on a postage stamp. In July of 1945, the government agreed. More than 137 million stamps were produced.
People also demanded a huge statue of the six Marines. So, in 1946 Felix de Weldon started all over again. First he made a statue out of plaster. Then he used the plaster form as a guide to make the final statue out of bronze metal.
It took him nine years to complete the statue. The memorial honors all members of the United States Marine Corps who died in battle since the American Revolution. Each of those battles is mentioned at the base of the statue.
On November 10, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower led dedication ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The burial grounds are across the Potomac River from Washington.
The three surviving marines, Ira Hayes, Rene Gagnon and John Bradley, and photographer Joseph Rosenthal attended the ceremonies. It was their last time together. Ira Hayes died three months later.
In 1994, John Bradley died. He was the last to die of the six men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Felix de Weldon died in 2003. And Joe Rosenthal, in 2006.
Over the years, millions of people have come to see the huge statue that Felix de Weldon made.
Visitor from Madagascar: "It's very impressive. It's a great piece of history."
It stands in a grassy area at the edge of Arlington National Cemetery.
Man from Great Britain: "Fantastic – It's very emotive. It's something that you see on many images from around the world. And, to actually come and see it, it's even more immense than what you imagine it is."
The statue weighs more than 20 tons. Each man is almost 10 meters tall. The men seem about to move. Their bodies push forward as they struggle to raise the flag. Their clothes show the bones and muscles underneath. Their faces show the hard work.
Woman from British Columbia, Canada: "And you saw what a bitter battle it was – a terrible battle. And the bravery of the men. And we'd heard that, even artistically, this was an absolutely beautiful, beautiful monument, and it is. It's very moving. And to see the actual flag moving, that adds a lot, doesn't it, the fact that it's not a sculptured flag, that it's an actual flag."
Many visitors say seeing the statue is an emotional experience. People stand and look up at the six men. And, they take pictures, just as Joe Rosenthal did on Mount Suribachi.
Woman from Great Britain: "It's interesting reading the history of the six men as well, how three of them lived...two of them had quite a good life afterwards, but three of them died on the island. And it makes you wonder what life would have been like, actually, (A) without the Second World War ever happening, and (B) without the success of people like that. It's quite emotional."
Man from Great Britain: "It is, when you look at the photograph that was taken by the photographer. That was a one in a lifetime picture. He could take another million pictures and never get one which would stand out and represent, not humanity, but the success of making people free...Heroism...because you read lots about what people do in war, and some things just go on and above what you would expect, so it's very good to come and see it."
Soon after the photograph from Mount Suribachi was published, some people began to dispute it. They suggested that Joe Rosenthal had placed everyone where he wanted them, and then took the picture. Joe Rosenthal always said that was not true. Many other photographers with him also agreed it was not staged, or posed.
Experts in photography say it is easy to tell that the photo was not posed. They say no photographer would make a picture that hides almost all of the people's faces. And they say no photographer would have two of the people nearly hidden.
Our program was written by Paul Thompson. We had assistance by Kim Varzi and Kelly Jean Kelly.
I'm Steve Ember inviting you to join us again next week for This Is America.
************标题：VOA慢速英语：Storm Season Arrives in the Atlantic
听力内容：
Hello, again, and welcome. I'm Jim Tedder in Washington. Today we are watching for them. And they most certainly are coming. People sometimes call them monsters. But they are not from a horror movie, or from outer space. They are huge storms that form over the Atlantic Ocean this time of year. We will have the latest information about the scientists who will be studying them.
And then, "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" We will visit some ice cream makers to hear how they do it, and what unusual flavors they have discovered.
It's time for more Learning English with As It Is on VOA.
The height of the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season has arrived. More hurricanes are reported at this time of year than during any other period.
The American space agency, NASA, recently announced plans to investigate the storms that form over that Atlantic. So today, we take you to the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington. To learn about a campaign called the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel mission -- HS3 for short.
Tropical storms and hurricanes can mean a mixture of high winds, huge waves, flooding and destruction. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this Atlantic hurricane season probably will be more active than usual. And the memories of Hurricane Sandy are still strong. Last year, that storm killed many people in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean Sea.
NASA is studying storms by taking to the skies above the Atlantic Ocean – in fact, above the storms themselves. Two pilotless Global Hawk aircraft will collect measurements so scientists can learn how hurricanes come into existence.
Scott Braun is a research scientist, a meteorologist, at NASA. He describes the goals of HS3.
"What we're really after, scientifically, is to better understand the relative roles of the environment and those inner-core processes in the formation and intensification of hurricanes in the Atlantic."
Global Hawks can reach a height of almost 20 kilometers. That is about two times as high as a passenger airplane can fly. Special instruments let scientists gather details about storms from high above. The instruments include a device with a long name -- the High Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain Profiler.
The Global Hawks will study the environment near the storms to see how surrounding conditions affect intensity. The airplanes also will collect information about the storms themselves. One plane will deploy dropsounds. These instruments measure temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and wind direction from above the storm down to the surface.
NASA says the Global Hawks are loaded with state-of-the-art equipment. Scott Braun notes that there are good points about using aircraft without pilots in this research.
"With the Global Hawks, we can fly for up to about 28 hours, and because all the crew and the scientists are on the ground rather than on the plane, we can swap out (exchange) shifts. And that just means that you can go much farther or stay out over a storm much longer than you can with a manned aircraft."
Researchers will study the information in depth after the project ends. But Mr. Braun says they also plan to do a quick examination and share that information.
The HS3 mission also is investigating something else that researchers have yet to understand. Mr. Braun says in addition to wind speed and wind direction, the researchers want to know more about temperature in the environment. He says that is especially true of something they call the Saharan Air Layer. It is a very hot, dry, dusty air mass that comes from Africa. Scientists are debating whether Sarahan dust provides material for tropical storms – or even suppresses the development of storms.
Doesn't Everyone Love Ice Cream
Ice cream is a frozen treat usually eaten after a meal. It can be found around the world. In Los Angeles, California, some business owners are preparing ice cream that is similar to the desserts of other countries. Onka Dekker spoons out the sweet story for us.
At the Ice Cream Lab in Beverly hills, the frozen dessert is made to order. People watch as the ice cream makers pour a liquid ice cream base into a bowl. The an odorless smoke appears from the mixture. Tommy Ngan and his business partner Joseph Lifschutz make ice cream with liquid nitrogen. Mr. Lifschutz explains.
"It's used as an instant freezer. It kind of touches everything in the bowl and evaporates, which is why you see the whole smoke show."
Mr. Ngan is from Hong Kong, where he learned this method of making the dessert.
At Blockheads Shavery Company, people do not see smoke. But they do hear the sound of ice cream being made. A block of ice is placed on a machine and then shaved. Supervisor Brian Liang says there are different kinds, or flavors, that include green tea and black sesame.
"We call is snow cream. It's a cross between shaved ice, so it has the light airy texture, and the creamy taste of ice cream. The dessert is actually pretty popular in Taiwan. Basically the owners kind of grew up eating it."
People looking for ice cream with flavors from the Middle East can find it at Mashti Malone's Ice Cream Shop. Iranian American Mashti Shirvani has been making Persian-style ice cream at his store for 34 years.
"I do the old fashioned way when I make any food. I don't measure it. Just my eyes and my hand."
His ice cream creations include ingredients such as ginger, saffron, lavender, orange blossom, and rose water. While many of the flavors are Persian, Mr. Shirvani says his ice cream is not Persian. He explains that in Iran they make ice milk. But he uses cream, which has a higher level of fat.
Even with the differences in what goes into making ice cream, Mr. Shirvani's brother, Mehdi, says ice cream appeals to everyone.
"Ice cream is the most affordable antidepressant. I mean, come on, you're not happy, you eat ice cream ...you become happy. If you're happy, you want to be more happy ...you eat ice cream."
No matter how many flavors of ice cream exist in the world, it seems that people will always create some new version of this popular dessert. I'm Onka Dekker.
I'm Jim Tedder in Washington. There are more Learning English programs straight ahead, and world news at the beginning of the hour on VOA.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Syrian Activists Decry Focus on Chemical Weapons
听力内容：
As the international community acts to neutralize Syria's chemical weapons capabilities, some in the Syrian opposition say the brutality of the conventional war is being ignored.
For Syrian activist Soad Khadeya, there is a semblance of normalcy in her new life near Cairo, though the horrors of her homeland are never far away.
Khadeya lived in Ghouta, fleeing a few months before what the United Nations confirms was a sarin attack August 21 on the Damascus suburb.
'Indifference' to killing
But even with that personal connection, she said the international focus on securing Syria's chemical weapons is far too narrow. Hundreds may have died from chemical agents, she argued, but more than 100,000 others have died in “conventional” violence.
The former journalist says how people are killed does not matter, whether it's through chemicals or shelling, fighter jets or public execution. She said “our children are killed by all sorts of weapons, and the world is watching our killing with silence and indifference.”
Khadeya, who has opened her home to other refugees, is glad the United States is pushing for a military option should diplomacy fail.
She said she does not want the United States to merely punish Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for allegedly using the weapons. She wants him gone.
It is not a popular view among many fellow Arabs. Another member of the household, 20-year-old activist Ayman, said public opinion in the Middle East runs strongly against any type of intervention.
Mideast avoidance to intervention
He calls it “embarrassing” that even with continuous scenes of death before their eyes, many oppose a U.S. strike.
Some in the Middle East fear intervention would launch a wider war. Others worry it would unleash the increasingly powerful jihadi elements among the rebels.
Political theorist Christian Donath of the American University in Cairo said, "There are a lot of extremist's elements in the resistance against Assad, and it is not clear if the U.S. is going to get a much better outcome from those groups compared to the Assad regime."
For moderates like Khadeya, that is okay, even though she said they do not represent the goals of her movement. She said they are different, with different thoughts, but that Syrians need “whoever can defend us. We need whoever can protect us against the world's silence.“
The world is talking now, about chemical weapons. At the same time, the conventional brutality and the extremism it created carry on.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Several Tourist Spots Could Close if Government Shuts Down
听力内容：
Annual funding for the U.S. government will expire on September 30th. It's up to Congress to pass a bill to fund the government past October 1st. But the two major political parties are at odds, and a government shutdown could occur. In that case, only essential government employees would report to work. And many popular tourist spots would close.
Every week after pre-school, Jack walks here to the National Zoo to watch the elephants.
Jack's nanny, Kim Hazelton, doesn't know what they'll do if a government shutdown closes the zoo.
“I'm sure that it would be a total disaster every single day because that's the first thing he asks for. He wants to come and see the animals," said Hazelton.
Should a shutdown occur, none of these people would be seen on the sidewalk here at the zoo. Only essential zookeepers would be allowed in, to feed and take care of the animals.
The National Zoo is part of the world's largest museum complex - the Smithsonian Institution, which is funded by the government. Entry is free - but the Smithsonian relies on concessions for extra money, and they - and the museums - will be closed during a shutdown. The Smithsonians' Linda St. Thomas.
“It will be tough for visitors, particularly ones who don't check in advance and just come and see a sign on a door," said St. Thomas.
Like the shutdown in the mid 1990s, work would continue on national security, air traffic control, food safety, in banking and prisons.
But no visa or passport applications would be processed. There would be no new clinical research. The national parks would close, and millions of tourists would be shut out.
The nation is still recovering from budget cuts called sequestration, when half of all government employees were furloughed for up to six days.
Stephen Fuller directs the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. He says a shutdown would have an added effect on the economy.
“The debt ceiling, what are they going to do about that And, whether the sequester will continue into next year and then you put right in the middle of that, we are going to shut down government too All together this becomes very impactful," said Fuller.
Congress could push to the deadline final action to fund the government after midnight, October first. The Republican-led House of Representatives is seeking a way to defund President Obama's health care reform, which has set up a stand off with the Democratic majority in the Senate.
Francoise Porch from California doesn't have faith in the legislators.
"And we want to show the world how to run a democracy Excuse me! Elect some smarter people," said Porch.
Fuller says the threat of a shutdown already is slowing the economy because consumers are hesitant to buy, too worried that they might not have a job to go to on October 1.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Support for Military Rule Growing Among Egyptians
听力内容：
Opponents of Egypt's new rulers say a carefully orchestrated media and advocacy campaign is underway in Egypt to generate support for the country's military and its leader.
In their luxury chocolate shop in an affluent neighborhood in Cairo, the Bartaw family sells chocolates emblazoned with the face of the man they hope will become Egypt's next president - General Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Shopowner Sherif Bartaw hopes the military leader will reach the stature of a previous national hero, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who died in 1970.
“This is our President Nasser, and the small guy, it's Sissi,” he said, pointing to the chocolates.
Bartaw, who used to work in Cairo's now-decimated tourism industry, says Egyptians are sick of political instability and the economic upheaval that has come with it. He hopes Sissi will be a strong enough leader to end the on-going political and social crisis.
Egypt's interim government took office after the military led by Sissi ousted democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi in July. Subsequent crackdowns reportedly left more than 1,000 protesters dead and at least 2,000 were jailed.
Despite the crackdown, there's an upsurge of pro-military feeling in Cairo and a renewed taste for political strongmen. Rights groups say this is being carefully choreographed though campaigns in the state and private media.
"Since the military is in control, is calling all the shots in Egypt, that's also then allowed them to, through heavy handed military propaganda, frame themselves as the only reliable strong consistent voice in Egypt today,” said Heba Morayef, Egypt Director for Human Rights Watch.
In an office across town, leaders of the group "Complete Your Favor" are collecting 40 million signatures calling for Sissi to run for president. They supported the military action in August clearing the protest camps of supporters of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, despite the numerous casualties.
“It was not a peaceful sit-in, it was an armed sit-in," said the group's spokesman Abd el Nabi Abd Sattar. "The Brotherhood tried to alter and forge the image to the extent that they bought buried corpses to suggest and give the illusion to the Western or international media that the victims are numerous.”
Still, the Brotherhood continues its protests - despite being banned by an Egyptian court earlier this week.
In a Cairo suburb last week, several thousand Brotherhood supporters voiced their continued anger at the ouster of their president and the killings of fellow protesters.
“There are those voices that are calling for an exclusion of the Brotherhood and of political Islam as a fundamental threat to the Egyptian state," Morayef said. "And they then justify that by using a discourse of terrorism, to say that the Brotherhood are terrorists, and therefore should be excluded completely. And I think that's incredibly dangerous, and incredibly destabilizing."
General Sissi says he has no ambitions to run for president and aides say he'll only do so if the Egyptian people demand it. In the current climate, those demands seem to be growing.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Russia’s Reaction Against Gay Rights Starts in St. Petersburg
听力内容：
Kirill Kalugin, a St. Petersburg gay activist, recently tested Russia's new ban on gay rallies. He chose national paratroopers' day, in front of the world famous Hermitage Museum.
Photos of paratroopers manhandling Kalugin circled the globe.
“In general, being openly gay in Russia isn't very safe, but when you're an activist, you get used to feeling unsafe,” Kalugin, age 22, said in an interview later.
Kalugin was protesting Russia's new law that bans “homosexual propaganda.”
He said, “The government showed the people who's the new 'enemy.' They chose one of the weakest groups in society that can't protect its own rights. And the law actually restricts any objective discussion of the issues.”
A few blocks away from the Hermitage, at the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Vitaly Milonov dismisses Kalugin as a publicity seeker. Milonov wrote Russia's first gay propaganda ban. Now, this legislator leads Russia's reaction against gay rights.
“We are not trying to create something new -- we are trying to preserve the natural way of living,” he said in an office decorated with Russian Orthodox religious icons. “We do not have enough authority to call a same-sex couple a family. A family is a man and a woman, it's said by God. The first society exists from two individuals - Adam and Eve, it was the first family.”
Far from the protests, Alla Kuzmina, a St. Petersburg business student, says Russians oppose gay parades.
“You want to be gay, be gay,” said Kuzmina, who adds that she had many gay friends when she lived overseas. Capturing Russian thinking, she continued: “But not by walking in lingerie in front of my window, where my five-year-old kid is looking out the window. Don't influence my family and my kids. Don't give them ideas.”
Outside pressure
Gay rights parades in Europe and the United States increasingly include calls for a boycott of next February's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Moscow Carnegie Center analyst Lilia Shevtsova says the Kremlin underestimated the impact of the gay rights issue.
“Because they couldn't understand that this predatory law that the Duma passed would raise such a scandal outside, such a huge, powerful wave in the Western world,” she said of the protests.
Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin downplayed the controversy in an interview he gave to the American news agency, The Associated Press.
“We have no laws against people with non-traditional sexual orientation,” he told the visiting American journalist. “One can be absolutely sure that Russia will faithfully follow the Olympic principles, which do not admit any kind of discrimination, national, gender or sexual.”
Kalugin, the activist, says that is for foreign consumption.
“I want people to not listen to Putin when he says that we don't discriminate against sexual orientation. This discrimination does exist here,” said Kalugin. “We have a big problem with human rights in Russia, and I think, as long as Putin is in power, this problem won't be solved.”
Obama's thoughts
When U.S. President Barack Obama visited St. Petersburg early this month for the meeting of the G20 heads of government, he took time out to meet with local gay and community activists.
Looking around the room, he said: “The kinds of activities that are represented here are critically important to Russia's development -- and I'm very proud of their work.”
One participant was Olga Lenkova, who works with "Vykhod," or "Coming Out," a local gay rights group.
“We were talking about the abuses of human rights against LGBT people,” she said afterward. “We were talking about hate crimes not being properly investigated and prosecuted. We were talking -- and suggesting to President Obama -- that these issues should be issues of international interest.”
Three months after Russia's gay propaganda ban went into effect, the debate is just heating up -- inside Russia and outside.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Simple Questions Can Help Stop Killer Disease
听力内容：
Diarrheal disease is one of the leading killers of young children in Africa. While more countries are using vaccines to help prevent outbreaks, health officials are often unable to track down the source of outbreaks when they do occur. Now, researchers believe they can change that.
In Botswana's Chobe District – about 1500 kilometers north of the capital Gaborone – there are only five doctors for 23,000 people. So when there's an outbreak of diarrheal disease, doctors and nurses spend most of their time treating the sick, not learning the epidemiology of the outbreak – the who, what, when, where, why and how of the disease.
Kathleen Alexander is an associate professor at Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources -- and has worked in Africa for more than 20 years. She said usually in diarrheal outbreaks health officials have little information.
“Outside of numbers – the number of children that are affected – we generally know very little if anything at all about why they have diarrhea, which agent is responsible. What are the socio-economic circumstances I mean there have been studies that link certain factors to diarrheal disease broadly, but when you start talking about Namibia, Botswana, many places in Africa, and trying to look at why certain diarrheal outbreaks were thought to have occurred, there won't be any information on the patients – other than sex, age and outcome. Were they discharged or did they get hospitalized Did they die ”
But Alexander and her colleagues have discovered that a few simple questions can yield a lot of information – information that can save lives. They developed a short questionnaire for patients at Chobe District's Kasane Primary Hospital, a 29-bed facility built in 1962.
“Understanding where the exposure to water borne pathogens is occurring, or food, or is it flies. There are so many contributing factors that if you can't get to more of that patient-related data you won't really understand where the risk is and then what to do about it,” she said.
If there's a disease outbreak in the United States, the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has experienced staff and the best equipment to locate the source and recommend action. Alexander said things are different in remote, rural Botswana.
“There's this big push to go towards hi-tech tools,” she said, “but at the end of the day they're not going to work in these types of environment. And that's the place that we really need to understand. This place where lots of disease is happening, lots of diarrheal disease, in particular, and we still know nothing about it because we're waiting for more sophisticated studies to happen.”
But if you simply ask patients if they drank water from the river and they say no, then odds are the river water is not the source of the pathogen. If you ask whether they've seen many standing pools of dirty water and they say, yes, that can be a vital clue. Do villages use pit latrines or running water Are only children affected or adults, too Have there been water shortages The patients can provide that information and more.
Alexander said, “In places in Africa where we have larger issues with water quality, those infections can be quite significant. So, for example, in 2006 there was a lot of rain in Botswana and in a period of less than three months over 500 children died related to a diarrheal disease. That's a lot.”
Alexander said using a simple patient survey is an “important starting point”… that “does not require “increased human or economic resources or outside researchers.” She added, “It can give immediate insight into public health threats and disease outbreaks.”
What's more, Alexander said waiting for complex health studies in remote areas only widens the health gap between developing and developed nations.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Skepticism Remains as Iran's Charm Offensive Exits UN Stage
听力内容：
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani and U.S. President Barack Obama spoke by phone Friday, the highest-level contact between the two countries since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. The leaders agreed to work on resolving suspicions that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. The 15-minute conversation was the latest of several steps that may - or may not - indicate a thawing of decades of hostility between Washington and Tehran.
It became a common occurrence in New York - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani walking to the podium, talking about Iran's "real face."
"My government is prepared to leave no stone unturned in seeking a mutually acceptable solution," said Rouhani.
But after a meeting of Iran's foreign minister and world powers, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was still skeptical.
"Needless to say one meeting and a change in tone, which was welcome, doesn't answer those questions yet and there is a lot of work to be done," said Kerry.
Iran's foreign minister called the same meeting constructive while sticking to Tehran's bottom line:
"As we move forward, there has to be removal of sanctions, and, in the end game, there has to be a total lifting of all sanctions," said Javad Zarif.
Getting there is still likely to be tricky. Despite Iran's repeated and renewed denials, many in the West aren't convinced Tehran is ready to give up on acquiring nuclear weapons. And Iran's unveiling of new drones, capable of carrying missiles, isn't likely to ease such concerns.
Reaction in Iran has been reserved - seemingly little disappointment a hoped for meeting between President Rouhani and U.S. President Barack Obama failed to materialize.
"If they [the Americans] take one step forward, we'll take two, so that we can achieve a result," said a resident of Tehran.
"The reason we didn't agree to meet them (Americans) is because of their arrogant nature," said another.
Still, during a news conference Friday, President Rouhani said he was satisfied with how things went.
Ellen Laipson is director of the Stimson Center:
"I think he did what he was supposed to do. He made a conciliatory engagement with the world's public - not just the U.S," said Laipson.
Some analysts say the the two leaders' failure to meet shows Iran sees the nuclear talks and relations with the U.S. as two distinct issues that can be addressed separately -- with the nuclear talks taking top priority.
Any final decision on either still resides with the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"He's going to test the waters. If it works, he wins," said Joe Cirincione, who is with the non-profit Ploughshares Fund. "He shows that diplomacy under his rule has worked. If it fails, he also wins. His view the U.S. can't be trusted."
Hanging over the diplomatic efforts are concerns about Israel, which accuses Iran of using this new outreach to stall for more time to build a nuclear weapon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address the U.N. on Tuesday.
************The United Nations General Assembly, every September, brings together leaders from around the world.
每年九月的联合国大会都会将全世界领导人聚在一起。
The U.N. has turned into a fortress. Streets are blocked off. Police are everywhere, automatic weapons at the ready. But this tough security can cause headaches for New Yorkers.
联合国已经变成一个堡垒。街道被封闭，到处是警察，自动步枪随身准备好。
The New York Police Department and the U.S. Coast Guard are patrolling the waters and skies to make sure the U.N. is safe.
纽约警察局和美国海岸警卫队在水上和天上巡逻维护联合国的安全。
Guy Long, a New Yorker, said it’s been a familiar site all week.
纽约市民盖 隆恩说，这种景象整个星期都常见。
"I live on Roosevelt Island. So I see all the boats and everything, police and Coast Guard. So they really do put a cordon around here,” he said.
盖 隆恩说：“我住在罗斯福岛，所以我看到好多船和很多东西，警察和海警。他们真的在这里拉了一条警戒线。”
Barriers block off sidewalk after sidewalk, and getting around can get pretty confusing if you don’t have the right credentials.
障碍物封锁了一条又一条的人行道，如果没有正确证件，要在四周走动可能令人混淆。
Even with the right paperwork, people still have to navigate the jam-packed streets near the U.N.
即便有正确证件，人们还是要穿行联合国附近拥挤的街道。
“It’s just been kind of madness," one resident said."I know, for the people that take cabs to get around, it’s been almost impossible to get anywhere.”
路人说：“这简直是疯狂。对搭计程车的人来说，他们简直是哪里都去不了。”
But for one group, in New York to represent the Center for Public Health Nigeria, the traffic jams and chaotic sidewalks are a small price to pay.
尼日利亚公共卫生中心在纽约的代表欧库鲁曲库 席凡说，拥挤的交通和混乱的人行道只是一个必须付出的小代价。
“Very tough but I like the security arrangement," said Okorochukwu Cfine. "It’s safe for everybody to get in and also everybody feels secure inside.”
席凡说：“虽然它非常困难，不过我喜欢这种安全措施。它对要进去的人很安全，而且在里面的人也觉得很安全。
Visitors and residents agree that when it comes to security, it’s better to have too much than too little. So the "friendly faces" of New York's NYPD won’t be going away anytime soon.
接受采访的游客和居民都同意，只要涉及安全，他们宁可超过也不要不够。所以纽约警察的“和善面孔”短期内不会消失。
************标题：VOA常速英语：Syria's Neighbors Weigh Fallout of US Strike
听力内容：
The prospect of U.S. military action against Syria highlights the web of regional interests in Syria's conflict, raising troubling questions about how those lined up both for and against the Syrian government might respond.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned that U.S. military action against his country would unleash a regional war.
One flaw in that threat is that, in many ways, the Syrian conflict already is.
Professor Christian Donath, of the American University in Cairo, says regional powers - from Assad opponents like Saudi Arabia to supporters like Iran - are using the war to do battle with other rivals.
"Saudis have seen Syria as an opportunity to push back on the Iranians. And the Iranians see the uprising against the Assad regime as threatening their corridor into Lebanon for their support of Hezbollah," he said. "And I think the Iraqis as well are kind of pulled into two different directions trying to sort of support the Assad regime while they have Sunni fighters going in across the borders in Syria.”
All these players are now calculating the aim of any U.S. strike: from the stated punitive action for alleged chemical weapons use, to attempted regime change.
"I think Iranians will be cautious to see how far Americans will go against Bashar al Assad and then to decide eventually about retaliations," said Mustafa Labbad, the director of the Al Sharq Center for Regional and Strategic Studies. "And they have Hezbollah in Lebanon for indirect retaliations. But in this case Israel will be involved. And if Israelis are involved, Iran will be involved and maybe Israel will launch an air strike against Iran.”
Israel's concerns over Iran stem mainly from Tehran's nuclear program, not the war in Syria. But Professor Donath says a U.S. strike could give Israel cover.
"The Israelis have been really vocal for some years now about potential strikes against Iran and I think one of the things that the administration, the U.S. administration has done, has tried to restrain the Israelis and make it clear that this is not something that the U.S. wants to continue to pursue diplomatic initiatives and I think there would be, I think the U.S. would be very, very nervous to allow the Israelis to strike against Iran,” he said.
Political analyst Labbad points to apparent behind-the-scenes diplomacy between Iran and the U.S. via the Sultan of Oman, to assure Iran that any strike is not aimed at toppling Assad.
"If you look at the surface we can see an agreement between Saudi Arabia and USA on doing something against Bashar [al-Assad], " he said. "Deep inside you will see U.S.-Iranian agreement of no intention from the U.S. to topple Bashar al Assad.”
Labbad argues that despite the uncertainty, regional powers are calculating their response, for now, on a limited U.S. airstrike. If not, he says, all bets are off, and the possibility of “regional chaos” he says, grows.
************As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Western envoys meet with Iran's foreign minister, part of a renewed push to get Iran to agree to a deal on its nuclear program, lawmakers in Washington are watching closely.
美国国务卿克里和西方国家特使和伊朗外长举行会谈，重新促使伊朗同意放弃核项目。华盛顿美国国会议员们正在密切关注会谈的进展。
In the U.S. Capitol, the much-talked about recent Iranian "charm offensive" on the West seems to be falling on deaf ears. Lawmakers, like the Senate Armed Service Committee's James Inhofe are skeptical of Iran's sincerity.
伊朗对西方展开“魅力攻势”，引起广泛议论，可是美国国会却充耳不闻。参议院军事委员会的詹姆斯 英霍夫等议员对伊朗的诚意持怀疑态度。
"They're our enemies. They hate us. And anything that's going to be predicated on our trust of these people isn't going to work," said Inhofe.
他说：“他们是我们的敌人，他们恨我们，任何出于信任而对这些人下的判断，都是行不通的。”
A group of 11 Republican senators has sent U.S. President Barack Obama a letter, urging him to increase pressure on Tehran, warning that despite Tehran's diplomatic softening, "Iran has not changed course."
11位共和党参议员向美国总统奥巴马递交了一封信，敦促他向德黑兰增加压力。他们在信中警告说，尽管德黑兰软化了外交，可是“伊朗的方向没有改变”。
And it's not only members of the Republican Party, often at odds with Obama, who are expressing doubts.
不仅常常和奥巴马总统对立的共和党议员，其他人也表示怀疑。
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's speech this week at the United Nations failed to impress some Democrats, like Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez.
这个星期伊朗总统鲁哈尼在联大上的讲话，也没有给参议院外交关系委员会主席罗伯特 梅嫩德斯等民主党议员留下好印象。
“I heard a lot about peace, which we of course seek to embrace. But it is very hard to be promoting peace when you are rushing to powerful nuclear weapons,” said Menendez.
梅嫩德斯说：“我听到很多有关和平的言论，我们当然欢迎和平，可是如果你急切地寻求强大的核武器，那就很难推动和平。”
Such wariness could be a big problem for Iran as it tries to convince the international community the time has come to ease sanctions - as many U.S. sanctions cannot be undone without Congressional approval.
这种戒心是伊朗面临的一个大问题，伊朗试图说服国际社会，现在应该减缓制裁，可是如果没有美国国会的批准，美国施加的很多制裁条例无法改变。
************标题：VOA常速英语：Syria Weapons Deal Could Change Dynamic of War
听力内容：
Middle East analysts say the agreement to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons is a potential game-changer in the bloody civil war.
The chemical weapons deal has not lessened the furious fighting in Syria's civil war. Analysts say it will have long-term consequences, though, bolstering President Bashar al-Assad, while infuriating rebels trying to oust him.
Steven Bucci, who directs foreign policy studies at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, said, “On the ground, the resistance forces are probably the losers in this, and Bashar al-Assad is clearly the winner. He has now gotten some cover and credibility both from Russia and now from the rest of the international community.”
Appearing on ABC's This Week, President Barack Obama disagreed. “It is hard to envision how Mr. Assad regains any kind of legitimacy after he has gassed or his military has gassed innocent civilians and children.”
The agreement removes the immediate possibility of an American military strike because Assad said he now will give up his chemical weapons.
Rebels who hoped to regain momentum believe they now are facing the likelihood of a government escalation.
The biggest group of rebel fighters is led by General Salim Idris, who said, “We think that the Russians and the Syrian regime are playing games to waste time and to win time for the criminal regime in Damascus.”
Analysts say the deal elevates Russian President Vladimir Putin's standing internationally, while Moscow continues to provide Damascus with weapons.
Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center, said, “Russia has raised its strategic profile. It is on a level with the United States in terms of importance in determining the affairs of the Middle East.”
Shaikh said that could affect America's influence in the region. “President Obama himself may well be projecting a more weaker presidency for having not taken the action he said he would take.”
So while Assad holds court in his palace, human rights groups say his forces kill at an alarming rate.
“I would say he is good for at least a year, year-and-a-half, which is sad because he is a horrific dictator and he has been doing terrible things to the Syrian people and they deserve better than that,” said Bucci.
So while chemical weapons may be taken off the battlefield, conventional weapons will continue to claim a deadly toll as the war in Syria grinds on.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Saudis Shun Diplomacy in Syria Crisis
听力内容：
Saudi Arabia has backed Syria's rebels in a civil war that has directly affected much of the region, but with little transparency in the kingdom, its precise role remains unclear.
While many across the Middle East welcome the diplomatic push for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, Riyadh, one of the strongest supporters of U.S. military intervention against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is not happy about the switch from strikes to talks.
"[The Saudis] estimate that the deal over chemical weapons is, one, not feasible, but, two, makes it even harder to intervene and brings Bashar al-Assad back into the bargaining game, which is their biggest problem," says Emile Hokayem, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "They've spent the past two and half years trying to delegitimize Assad, and that deal turns Assad into a partner."
According to Hokayem, Saudi leaders had wanted an even bigger military campaign against Assad than the limited strikes outlined by the U.S.
It's a dynamic that has played out throughout the conflict: Saudis giving money and weapons to the full spectrum of Syria's rebels, with the U.S. apparently taking a more cautious approach.
Riyadh's logic is partially sectarian, with the kingdom's Sunni leaders arming the mainly Sunni rebels: An offensive against Assad, of the Shi'ite-offshoot Alawite sect, could tip the balance of power in a stalemate that has neighboring countries lined up largely along religious lines.
But political scientist Christian Donath, of the American University in Cairo, thinks current U.S. plans would fail to do that.
"I don't know whether the U.S. strikes are going to have any kind of effect, specifically on the sectarian tension, or whether it essentially will just serve to weaken to some extent the Assad regime's military capacity," he says.
Saudi animosity is not aimed exclusively at Syria's government, but also at Assad's biggest regional backer, Iran, a Shi'ite-led Saudi rival. Syria also receives additional help from Shi'ite Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon.
But political analyst Hokayem says it's not all about religion.
"The regime of Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah have allowed Iran to become a primary power in the Eastern Mediterranean," he says. "And there's a sense that if you win in Syria, you win the entire Levant because Syria is the big power there."
But other analysts say there may be no winning a regional struggle for dominance.
"Saudi Arabia is rich in oil, but their military capability, their soft power and their model is weak," says Mustafa Labbad, director of the Al Sharq Center for Regional and Strategic Studies. "So everyone is ambitious but no single country can play a regional role as it is described in international relations and strategy."
But that hasn't kept Saudi Arabia, or its rivals, from trying.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Syria Moves Put 'Red Lines' in Question
听力内容：
Much has been said and written about "red lines," since Syria allegedly crossed one last month that U.S. President Barack Obama had emphasized a year earlier. Expected U.S. airstrikes did not follow, and now experts wonder whether other international "red lines" will be respected, notably the one on Iran and nuclear weapons.
Iran's new president heads to New York next week for the U.N. General Assembly, where many hope for a new start in the effort to ensure that his country does not build a nuclear weapon. In recent days, President Hassan Rouhani has exchanged conciliatory letters with President Obama, ordered the release of 11 political prisoners and said Iran will never become a nuclear power.
But the international community wants to keep the pressure on Iran, through sanctions and threats of force. And since President Obama decided not to bomb Syria after it allegedly used chemical weapons - crossing what became known as ‘Obama's Red Line' - concerns were raised that Iran might feel freer to move toward nuclear weapons.
"First of all, I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line," said President Obama.
The president was referring to the 1925 Geneva Protocol that bans chemical weapons worldwide.
If the international community, in particular the United States, will not use force to back up that longstanding ban, Iranian journalist Amir Taheri says it will be more difficult to put pressure on Iran to limit its nuclear program.
”The position was already weakened. But the Syria retreat has weakened the U.S. position further," said Taheri.
But not all experts agree that the Syria chemical issue is directly linked to the Iran nuclear issue. The head of London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, John Chipman, says the Syrian attack presented a unique challenge, and the response is not necessarily a precedent.
“You wouldn't necessarily see the way in which the Syrian crisis, especially in the last few weeks, has been handled as ruling the way in which the Obama Administration or any future U.S. administration would face a different security crisis in both the Middle East and the Asia Pacific," said Chipman.
Experts note the potential danger from Iran's getting nuclear weapons is far greater than the concern about chemical weapons in Syria.
And Amir Taheri says Iran would be wise not to test whether President Obama would enforce the ‘red line' on its nuclear program.
“Of course, you know one must not forget that the U.S. remains the major power in the world, and it should never be underestimated," he said.
And some experts say the current plan for Syria to give up its chemical weapons through diplomacy enforces the ‘red line' enough to signal Iran that it, too, would face damaging consequences if it moved to become a nuclear power.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Russian Pressure Moves Ukraine Closer to the West
听力内容：
Since breaking away from the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine has been struggling with its identity, wavering between Russia and the West. However, with the first post-Soviet generation reaching adulthood, pro-European attitudes in Ukraine appear to be prevailing. In November this year, the European Union and Ukraine are scheduled to sign Association and Free Trade Agreements, which would lead Ukraine to move further from Russia's sphere of influence. Russia is trying to prevent this development but some experts say its methods are backfiring.
To sign the Association and Free Trade Agreements with the European Union, the Ukrainian parliament has to adopt legislation to bring the country's laws into compliance with European standards.
Pro-European former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko sees it as Ukraine's last chance.
"We will not have this chance in a year, two or 10," he said. "We have many deficiencies, beginning with the election system, law enforcement, the problems of double standards in the rule of law, unprecedented corruption and many others. But all these problems can be only resolved within the context of moving closer to Europe."
The EU is also demanding an end to politically-motivated prosecutions and the release of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Despite a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that her right to a fair trial was violated, she remains in jail on abuse of power charges.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer says freeing Tymoshenko is crucial.
"If they are not prepared to do something on Tymoshenko, I think it will be very difficult, from what we are hearing now, to see a majority of EU member-states favoring going ahead and signing an Association Agreement," he said.
Meanwhile, Russia, which is striving to keep Ukraine in its orbit, is offering an alternative: joining the Customs Union. Ukraine would not need to fulfill any requirements and will enjoy free trade with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and pay lower prices for Russian natural gas.
In August, Russia blocked imports from Ukraine. Some goods suddenly failed to satisfy Russian safety and quality standards or had other difficulties passing through customs.
Anders Aslund of the Peterson Institute in Washington sees the move as a form of pressure.
"Russia is really showing that the chips are down and since about one quarter of Ukrainian trade is with Russia, Russia has a big impact," he said. "Ukraine has been in recession for four quarters with GDP falling 1-2 percent a quarter, the financial [situation] is in the very poor shape. So, President Putin seems decided to get Ukraine down on its knees."
As a result, Ukrainian politicians called for closer ties with the EU, promising promised to fulfill all requirements as soon as possible.
The Europeans were outraged over Russian actions towards its neighbors who seek partnership with Europe.
"What we have seen during the last few week - brutal Russian pressure against the partnership countries, the sort that we haven`t seen for a very long time," said Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Bildt. "I think to the certain extent they are doing this because all the world attention on Syria, they don`t think that will be that much noticed. That`s why it is important we bring it up here."
Russian influence over Ukraine is not limited to trade. It has a strong political, media and religious presence.
Kennan Institute head Matthew Rojanski believes that Russia will continue to exert its influence over Ukrainian politics even after the Association Agreement is signed.
"It does give me concern that even if Ukraine has an Association Agreement with Europe, even if the Ukrainian economy grows consistently, education becomes more widespread and people have more ties to the West, as well as to the East, that potential to interfere in a destructive way in the development of the Ukrainian nation-state is always going be there, or is going to be there for long enough that that development will be dysfunctional," said Rojanski.
Despite this, many Ukrainians seem ready for their country to move closer to Europe.
According to the most recent poll, 41 percent of Ukrainians support joining the EU and 31 percent are in favor of the Customs Union.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Small 9/11 Protests Highlight Anti-War and Anti-Obama Sentiment
听力内容：
While memorial services were held across the United States to commemorate lives lost during the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks, in Washington D.C. there were also political rallies. Several demonstrations including one by an American Muslim group and another by a group critical of President Obama were held in Washington.
Fewer than 100 demonstrators attended what was billed as the "Million American March." They were protesting what organizers say is ongoing civil rights violations against Muslim Americans and calling for an end to military engagements overseas.
Isa Hodge of the American Muslim Political Action Committee says it's time to end policies enacted as part of the war on terror.
“It's been 12 years, trillions[f dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives overseas, and over here, have been lost. This is the day [September 11] that began the fear mongering that has perpetuated and caused the chain of events," said Hodge.
Thousands of bikers did make it to Washington for what was supposed to be a Two Million Bikers to DC memorial procession. But the group was unable to get a permit to block traffic in the city. So smaller groups circled the Capitol area.
Biker Sam Stefanelli says they have no political agenda.
“The purpose is to remember the people: the firefighters, policemen and civilians who were killed on 9/11. We didn't want that to be forgotten so we are going to continue to do this year after year," saidStefanelli.
Mitchell Mason, founder of Patriots For America, also led a small memorial march for the four Americans who were killed last September 11th in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. He used the occasion to criticize the Obama administration's explanation for what happened that day and to push for further Congressional investigations.
“In a nutshell, we want the truth, whereever that truth leads to is what we're trying to get out there. We are trying to get people more active on finding the truth," said Mason.
Despite the small turnout, both Mitchell and the Million American March organizers say it's appropriate to voice opposition on the day reserved for remembering the victims of the 2001 terror attacks.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Syria Crisis, Iran Will Top Agenda at Annual UN Assembly
听力内容：
On Tuesday, world leaders will convene in New York for their annual gathering at the United Nations General Assembly. The Syrian conflict - and an appearance by Iran's new president - are likely to overshadow the meetings.
This year, leaders will not meet in the tired grandeur of the General Assembly hall, which is undergoing a major renovation. Instead, they will gather for the annual debate in a spacious and modern conference hall that has been outfitted with the familiar green marble dais.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has made clear that Syria will top the international agenda, saying it is the biggest peace, security and humanitarian challenge the U.N. faces.
“Let us be clear: the use of chemical weapons in Syria is only the tip of the iceberg. The suffering in Syria must end,” said Ban.
There will be meetings on the margins of the General Assembly between key players on Syria, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on how to implement a deal for Syria to give up and destroy its chemical arsenal.
Ban will meet with the foreign ministers of the five U.N. Security Council permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. He and his special representative on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, also plan to meet with Kerry and Lavrov, to discuss how they can build momentum toward a political solution of the Syrian crisis.
“So it is my sincere hope that, when we meet, we will be able to set a date for the Geneva II [Roman numeral 2] meeting.”
More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria, and more than 6 million more have been internally displaced or become refugees.
An appearance by Iran's newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani, is drawing pre-meeting buzz.
Many leaders will be keen to hear what Rouhani has to say, and whether he is ready to improve relations with the West and answer outstanding questions about his country's suspect nuclear program.
Speculation has been growing about a possible encounter between U.S. President Barack Obama and Iran's new head of state during the U.N. meetings. However, White House officials say there are currently no plans for the two men to meet.
Rouhani has been on a diplomatic charm offensive, meanwhile, offering interviews to American media and taking a far softer line than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was widely vilified in the West for doubting the Holocaust and questioning Israel's right to exist.
Ahmadinejad's fiery rhetoric at the U.N. often was boycotted by Western and Israeli envoys who staged walkouts.
Obama is scheduled to be the second speaker at the General Assembly's opening session on Tuesday, after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
Rousseff was to have made a state visit to Washington next month, but canceled plans for the trip abruptly this week, following disclosures that the U.S. has spied on the Brazilian government's internal communications. That could make any encounter between the two leaders awkward.
Other high-level meetings in and around the U.N. in the coming days will focus on Afghanistan, Egypt, Mali, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On Thursday, Sudan's President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir may appear at the podium. Since the International Criminal Court indicted him for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur in 2009, and formally charged him with genocide the following year, his international travel has been curtailed.
The Sudanese president has indicated he hopes to attend the General Assembly debate. As the host country of the United Nations, the United States is obliged to grant him a visa to travel here. But if he does take the podium, that will outrage many members of the international community who have called for his arrest.
More than 130 heads of state or their representatives - one of the largest contingents in U.N. history - are scheduled to attend the General Assembly meetings.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Singer/Actor Herb Jeffries Celebrates 100th Birthday
听力内容：
Herb Jeffries earned fame as a singer with Duke Ellington, and as an actor in Hollywood westerns of the 1930s. He turned 100 on September 24.
One night in 1933, Jeffries was singing in a little nightclub in Detroit, Michigan when jazz icon Louis Armstrong walked through the door. In this interview by amateur jazz historian Tad Calcara, Jeffries says Armstrong heard him sing, pulled him aside, and changed his life.
“He said, ‘Well there's a band in Chicago - that's where you should be now. And he said 'I'm gonna write you a letter,'” Jeffries said.
Then Armstrong pulled a cocktail napkin off the table.
“He just wrote down on there, said, 'You want to hear this guy's voice. You'll love him. I do.' And he put down ‘Pops,'” Jeffries said.
Armed with only this special “calling card,” Jeffries took the great man's advice and headed for Chicago where he joined the band led by Erskine Tate.
Soon he was heard and hired by legendary band leader Earl “Fatha” Hines. Singing with Earl Hines, Jeffries traveled to California, where he would land a role and also sing the opening song in the Hollywood western, “Two Gunmen from Harlem.”
With his long frame, rakish mustache and exotic good looks, Jeffries capitalized on two unique styles of film that Hollywood was cranking out at that time: “Race Films” - movies by and for African-Americans - and “singing cowboy” pictures.
On a promotional tour for a film called “The Bronze Buckaroo,” Jeffries found himself in the same theater as Duke Ellington. He was planning to head back to Hollywood that night, but The Duke had other ideas.
For the next two years, Jeffries was lead singer in the Ellington band. He toured the world and starred in “Jump for Joy,” the musical Ellington wrote and staged in Los Angeles.
“Jump For Joy” never made it to Broadway, as Ellington had hoped, but it helped cement Herb Jeffries as a bona fide star. And 72 years later, Jeffries can still belt out that title song with as much verve as ever.
************标题：VOA常速英语：South Korea Goes Green While Promoting Nuclear Energy
听力内容：
South Korea is one of the world's biggest energy consumers and importers. The government is planning to build more nuclear power plants to meet rising demand, but some cities believe renewable, green energy is a better path to energy independence.
Seoul's newly redesigned City Hall is going green. Up on its rooftop are just over 1,000 solar panels that produce electricity and heat the building's water.
Kook Joung-yean heads City Hall's energy division. He said the panels provided 28 percent of the building's total energy needs, but he hoped they had a greater symbolic impact.
“We want to encourage the private sector to invest in renewable energy too. We can show them how the solar panels work here at City Hall in hopes they will follow our lead,” he said.
South Korea has limited natural resources. The World Bank estimates that 82-percent of Korea's total energy consumption comes from foreign imports, mostly coal and petroleum.
Park Ji-young, an energy analyst at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, said developing green technologies was one way to lessen that dependency.
“Renewable energy source is inevitable for Korea to maintain its sustainable development as well as the quality of life for the public," she said.
Park said green energy projects, like those at Seoul's City Hall should be encouraged, but those alone could not satisfy all of the country's needs.
Nuclear power plants produce about one third of South Korea's electricity. There are currently 23 facilities and over the next decade, the government plans to build nine more. The reactors remain a key part of South Korea's roadmap for energy security.
Kim Jong-kyung is president of the Korea Nuclear Society. Despite heightened concerns over nuclear power following Japan's Fukushima disaster, Kim said nuclear reactors were in fact a green technology.
“The CO2 output of nuclear power is only 10 grams per kilowatt hour. Emissions from liquid natural gas for example are 55 times higher. That is why nuclear energy is green energy," he said. "Of course there are safety concerns, but as long as those are resolved, nuclear is the cleanest."
Safety concerns also have risen at some of South Korea's nuclear plants. In the past year, three reactors have been taken off line after faked safety certificates were discovered. And some government officials have been fired or jailed for accepting bribes from parts suppliers.
Back at Seoul City Hall, energy supervisor Kook Joung-yean said those safety and corruption scandals just made solar panels and other green technologies more attractive.
“This technology is developing very fast and we have government support. So I think in the future these types of renewable energies will replace nuclear and other non-renewable sources,” he said.
And Kook added when that happened, South Korea would be truly energy independent.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Study: Warmer Planet Fuels More Wildfires
听力内容：
A warmer planet is helping to fuel more wildfires in the United States, according to a new study.
Environmental scientists at Harvard University predict that by 2050, wildfire seasons will be three weeks longer, up to twice as smoky, and will burn a wider area in the western part of the country.
Fires in the Western United States have gotten worse since the 1970s. Scientists at Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences looked at past weather conditions and wildfires to find out why.
“In some regions, like the Rocky Mountains, really temperature is the driving force, but elsewhere variables like relative humidity can play a role," said Loretta Mickley, an atmospheric chemist and co-author of the study. "If one year is particularly moist, for example, in the Great Basin, Nevada, Utah area, then that will foster a lot of vegetation growth and then the following year all that vegetation can feed wildfires and their spread.”
The scientists then turned to a suite of 15 climate models based on the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for the assessment of global warming. On average, the models predicted increases between 2 and 2.5 degrees Celsius by 2050.
“The finding for rainfall, which can diminish fire activity, and for relative humidity, we found only small changes, with some models predicting small increases and some models predicting small decreases in those variables," Mickley said. "So we found as in the past, temperature is really driving the changes that we predict for the future.”
　
The calculations suggest the probability of large wildfires would increase by factors of two or three, and that by 2050, the more than four-month fire season would be three weeks longer.
“If we just look at one month in the future for example, the area burned in the very forested Rockies could quadruple," Mickley said. "If we look at the whole fire season, we see increases more on the order of say 20 or 30 percent to 100 percent.”
While air quality in the United States has greatly improved in recent decades in response to federal laws, Mickley says air pollution is an unexpected consequence of longer lasting, widespread wildfires.
“These increases in wildfires could totally disrupt our efforts to clean the air," she said. "Last weekend, there was an area the size of some states in the eastern U.S. blanketed with unhealthy air over California and Nevada. And we call this increase in smoke an important climate penalty on air quality.”
That penalty would be air that is twice as smoky as it is today. These findings, Mickley says, underscore the need for better forest management. But also she adds, they send a signal to policy makers and the public to reduce fossil fuel emissions that are warming the planet.
************标题：VOA慢速英语附字幕：兄弟之城和豆城
听力内容：
Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.
现在是美国之音慢速英语《词汇典故》节目。
Almost all American cities have nicknames. They help establish a city's identity. They can also spread unity and pride among its citizens.
美国几乎所有的城市都有别名。别名有助于树立城市形象，还能增进公民的自豪与团结。
Two east coast cities -- Philadelphia and Boston -- were both important in the early history of the United States. Philadelphia is best known as "The City of Brotherly Love."
美国两个东部沿海城市——费城和波士顿在美国早期历史中非常重要。费城是最著名的“兄弟爱之城”。
In 1681, King Charles the Second, of England, gave William Penn a large amount of land to establish a colony. The king named the colony Pennsylvania in honor of Penn's father. William Penn was a Quaker. He brought his beliefs about equality, religious freedom and brotherly love to this new land. Penn was also an expert in Latin and Greek. He established a city and named it Philadelphia, which is Greek for "brotherly love." An ancient city called Philadelphia was also noted in Christianity's holy book, the Bible.
1681年，英国国王查尔斯二世送给William Penn大片土地以建立殖民地。为纪念Penn的父亲，国王将该殖民地命名为宾夕法尼亚。教友派信徒Penn把他的平等、宗教自由及兄弟之爱的信仰带到了这片新土地。Penn还是拉丁语和希腊语的专家。他建立一座城市并命名为费城，在希腊语中是“兄弟之爱”的意思。基督教神圣之书《圣经》中也提到了一个名为费城的古老城市。
Philadelphia became the social, political and geographical center of the American colonies. In the late 1700s, many events that took place in Philadelphia gave birth to the American Revolution and independence. For example, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed in the city. Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the new nation from 1790 to 1800.
费城成为美国殖民地的社会、政治及地理中心。18世纪末费城发生了许多事件，揭开了美国革命与独立。例如，美国独立宣言和宪法都在费城签署。1790至1800年，费城还是这个新兴国家的临时首都。
Some of Philadelphia's other nicknames are "The Quaker City," "The Cradle of Liberty" and "The Birthplace of America." Philadelphia is a long name. So many people just call it "Philly."
费城还被称为“贵格城”、“自由发源地”和“美国诞生地”。Philadelphia这个城市名太长，所以很多人称它Philly。
Boston is another important city. It is one of the oldest cities in the United States. In 1630, Puritan settlers from England established Boston in what would become the state of Massachusetts.
波士顿是另一个重要城市。它是美国最古老的城市之一。1630年，英格兰的清教徒移居者建立了波士顿，此后该地成为马萨诸塞州。
Several major events took place in Boston before and during the American Revolution. You may have heard of the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Bunker Hill.
美国革命前期和革命期间，波士顿发生了几大事件。你可能听说过波士顿大屠杀，波士顿倾茶事件及邦克山战斗。
So, like Philadelphia, Boston is called "The Cradle of Liberty." Another nickname is "The Cradle of Modern America."
因此，类似费城，波士顿也被称为“自由发源地”。另一称号是“现代美国的摇篮”。
However, Boston's most famous nickname is "Beantown." But it was not because the city grew a lot of beans. In the 1700s, Boston was a major trading center. It received a lot of sugarcane from the West Indies. Beans baked in molasses -- a sugar product -- became a favorite food in the city. Today, no companies there make Boston baked beans. Restaurants in Boston rarely serve it. But many Americans eat this tasty dish at home.
但波士顿最著名的别名是豆城。这并不是因为这个城市盛产豆子。18世纪时，波士顿是主要贸易中心，收购大量产自西印度群岛的甘蔗。糖浆烘烤后的豆子成为该市最受欢迎的食物。如今这里没有公司生产波士顿烤豆。波士顿的餐馆也很少供应该食物。但许多美国人在家里享用这道美食。
This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more Words and Their Stories at our website, .
本节目由Shelley Gollust撰稿，我是Barbara Klein。登陆能获取更多《词汇与典故》节目。
************标题：VOA常速英语：The Right Timing for a Thaw in US-Iran Relations
听力内容：
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's new foreign minister, Javid Zarif, are set to talk later this week at the United Nations as part of a meeting of world powers concerned about Tehran's nuclear program. Some analysts believe this may be the first step in a significant thaw in U.S.-Iran relations.
In Iran, memories of the massive celebrations following the election of President Hassan Rouhani remain fresh in the minds of many - as are the hopes that a new beginning with the U.S. and the rest of the world may be within reach.
As he departed Tehran for the U.N. on Monday, President Rouhani stoked those hopes anew when he promised to show the world Iran's "real face."
President Barack Obama has also raised the possibility of a thaw throughout his presidency, and indeed as far back as his first presidential campaign.
But now, as both men head to the U.N, those intentions will be put to the test.
George Perkovich is director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a long-time Iran observer.
“There's a lot of baggage that both sides have to empty in a sense if we are going to start clean," he said. "Americans profoundly distrust Iran. And what I like to say to people here [in Washington] is that the Iranian government distrusts America a thousand times more."
Yet even as much of the world remains suspicious of Iran's true intentions, many observers think this time conditions may be right for change.
Iran's economy has been badly damaged by sanctions and is struggling with soaring unemployment and inflation.
President Obama, already wary of U.S. involvement in Syria, may not want to resort to military force to put Iran's nuclear program out of business.
According to Michael O'Hanlon at the Brookings Institution, "there's a real possibility that if there's a genuine compromise here to be had, that both sides would actually grab it."
The question to be sorted out this week at the U.N. -- very likely behind the scenes -- is whether the beginnings of such a deal are indeed there for the making.
************标题：VOA慢速英语：Scientists Optimistic About New Diabetes Treatment
听力内容：
From VOA Learning English, this is Science in the News. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.
And I'm Avi Arditti. Researchers are reporting progress in treating Type 1 diabetes. Today we will tell you about their findings. We also have a report about the Kepler Space Telescope. American scientists are turning their attention to all the information it has gathered over the past four years. And researchers say extreme weather could be coming our way – from the sun. We will have more about their prediction.
Researchers have come closer to improving treatment for people with Type 1 diabetes. They have successfully placed insulin-producing islet cells from one animal species into another without using anti-rejection medicines. In the future, the transplant operation could provide an unlimited supply of tissue to treat people whose bodies cannot produce insulin.
Insulin is a hormone produced naturally by the pancreas. The hormone carries glucose, a kind of sugar, to the cells for energy. Type 1 diabetes is a disorder of the body's immune system for fighting disease. In most patients, the immune system attacks and destroys the islet cells that produce insulin. Many patients must inject themselves with insulin, simply to survive.
For a long time, scientists have sought to take islet cells from people or even from pigs and place them inside another person. Insulin exchanges from human remains have proved difficult, while animal-to-human transplants have been almost impossible.
Now, that is starting to change. Researchers at Northwestern University have carried out an islet cell transplant from rats to mice without the use of anti-rejection medicines. Xunrong Luo is the head of the Northwestern medical school's human islet cell transplantation program. She says the transplanted rat cells produced insulin in mice for more than 300 days.
"They survived essentially indefinitely. So they continued to produce insulin without the need of any immunosuppression and they just continued to maintain normal glucose levels in these diabetic mice."
The mice were given white blood cells from a rat's spleen, which is part of the immune system. They were bathed in chemicals that put the cells into a sleeping condition known as programmed cell death.
The changed cells were injected into mice. They entered the spleen and liver of the mice, but soon after, they were destroyed by cells called macrophages.
Researchers say the macrophages recognized the sleeping rat cells as waste. In that process, small pieces of the rat spleen cell ended up on the surface of the macrophages. This taught the mouse's immune-system T cells to accept islet cells, which researchers transplanted seven days later.
"So we are pretty excited about that because next step is to see if we can translate this into larger scales, into larger animals."
Xunrong Luo says her team will now try to transplant pig cells into monkeys. She also wants to use what is almost an unlimited supply of pig islet cells for transplants into patients with type 1 diabetes.
New Work May Be Ahead for the Kepler Telescope
The American space agency NASA recently said it has ended efforts to return the Kepler Space Telescope to full working order. NASA scientists are instead studying all the information collected over the past four years during the life of the telescope.
The space agency launched the Kepler spacecraft in 2009. Their goal was to have Kepler find Earth-sized planets in or near a sun-like star where liquid water exists on the surface of the planet.
William Borucki is the chief investigator for the Kepler mission. He says the project has been extremely successful.
"At the beginning of the mission, no one knew whether Earth-sized planets were abundant or rare in our galaxy. Now at the completion of the Kepler observations, we know that our galaxy is filled to the brim with planets. It's likely that when you look up at the sky at night and see the sky covered with stars, most of the stars have planets."
The Kepler Space Telescope discovered 135 planets and over 3,500 possible planets of different sizes and orbital distances. Most of these planets are small like the Earth. The four-year project was extended in 2012.
But it came to an end in August after engineers failed to repair two broken reaction wheels. The reaction wheels are extremely important in keeping the spaceship pointed in the right direction.
Deputy project manager Charles Sobeck says the decision was the right one.
"The results of that show what we expected to see, which is that the wheels are sufficiently damaged that they cannot sustain spacecraft pointing control for any extended period of time."
The Kepler team is now looking into whether the space telescope could be used in a different kind of project. This could include an exoplanet search -- that is, a search for a planet that turns around a star other than the sun. William Borucki says NASA has called on the science community for ideas.
"They are not proposals. They are not asking for funds. They are suggesting ideas and we look at which of these could we do for a reasonable cost "
He says Kepler's scientific mission has yet to end. The team is now working on information collected by the spaceship over the past four years. He expects the search will produce hundreds, if not thousands, of new discoveries.
"And so basically, in the next few years, when we complete this analysis, we will be able to answer the question that inspired the Kepler mission: Are Earths common or rare in our galaxy "
William Borucki says Kepler's work is an important first step in the exploration of our galaxy. NASA is preparing for another mission in 2017. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will look for larger and brighter planets closer to our solar system than Kepler did. It will put its observational instruments on an area 3,000 light years away.
Finally, American scientists are warning that a powerful storm on the sun may create problems on Earth. Researchers say our planet could be a target of a strong solar storm. They note that in 1859, such a storm caused telegraph communications around the world to fail.
Scientists and the insurance company Lloyds of London recently warned that another big storm could cause even more damage. They say it could destroy modern communications and electric power supply grids.
Michael Wiltberger is a scientist with the National Center for Climate Research in Boulder, Colorado. He is developing a computer model to show the effects on Earth's atmosphere as the solar wind changes in shape and intensity. He says strong winds in space can change the direction of the Earth's magnetic field and let more energy enter the upper atmosphere.
Mr. Wiltberger says people have been observing dark areas on the sun, known as sun spots, for a long time. He says these observations have led to an understanding of the solar cycle.
"When Galileo pointed his telescope at the sun, he saw spots on the surface of the sun. And they've been keeping track of the number of spots and the location of the spots since roughly that period of time. So we've got about a couple of hundred years' record of sun spots."
Computer models of the solar cycle are meant to better predict severe weather in space. The geomagnetic solar storm that hit Earth in 1859 was the worst known solar storm. Astronomer Richard Carrington saw it and made pictures. That storm is now known as the Carrington Event.
Since then, less powerful storms have cut electricity and affected telephone service, radio stations and satellites in Earth's orbit.
Lloyds of London has released a report on the expected harm in the event of a severe solar storm. Neil Smith helped write the report. He says the next major storm could be very destructive because the world now depends so much on power supply grids.
"We are estimating that 20-40 million people might be without power from anywhere up to one, even two years."
He also says the number of people without power could result in an economic cost of between $500 million and $2.6 trillion.
The report mainly deals with the effect of a solar storm on North America. But Mr. Smith says that if a storm destroyed electrical transformers in other areas, the loss of electricity would also harm those economies.
Energy released by solar activity races through space at speeds of three million to five million kilometers an hour. These coronal mass ejections reach Earth in less than two days. Scientists like Michael Wiltberger can watch them at the speed of light, less than eight minutes after the sun releases energy into the atmosphere. This observation gives space scientists some time to predict the effects of solar activity.
But Mr. Wiltberger says predicting exactly when and where a storm will hit is much more difficult. He says the computer models help weather scientists watch a storm and improve predictions. He hopes that system can be operating within five years.
In Britain, Neil Smith is calling for greater cooperation before the next big solar storm. He says Lloyds of London needs to work with governments and the power industry to prepare.
"It's not something that any one party could actually solve on their own."
He says such cooperation is extremely important to avoid social and economic disasters if Earth experiences a storm like the Carrington Event.
This Science in the News was written by Milagros Ardin, Onka Dekker and Kim Varzi. Our producer was June Simms. I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.
And I'm Avi Arditti. Join us again next week for more news about science on the Voice of America.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Scientists 95% Certain Climate Change Is Man-made
听力内容：
Scientists are more certain than ever that the planet is warming and that humans are to blame.
That's the finding of a new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The assessment will help inform policy makers and the public as they consider what action to take on climate change.
One hundred and ten governments adopted the scientific consensus that, “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century.”
Wake-up call
At a news conference in Stockholm Friday, World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Michael Jarraud underscored the importance of the finding.
“It should serve as another wake-up call that our activities today will have a profound impact on society, not only for us, but for many generations to come,” Jarraud said.
Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing mass and glaciers continue to shrink, the report says, calling the decrease in Arctic sea ice, “unprecedented.” The report notes the mean rate of sea level rise since the mid-19th century is higher than at any time in the previous 2,000 years.
The international panel also probed the connection between extreme weather events and climate, says Brenda Ekwurzel, senior climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, who has worked with the panel's authors.
“This is a lot of cutting edge research, and the most we can say is that extreme events dealing with coastal flooding and extreme heat, [we have] very high confidence with these events being linked to climate change,” Ekwurzel said.
Climate change deniers have tried to dismiss the science, citing a 15-year slowdown in atmospheric warming. That was downplayed in the report, which called it a natural phenomenon that masks on-going warming. The report reiterates the 2007 assessment that the warming trend is “unequivocal,” according to Ekwurzel.
“The 5th Assessment report has really notched up the confidence level, that greater than 95 percent confidence of the likelihood that the warming that happened on this planet between 1951 and 2010, more than half of it is due to human activities,” she said.
Those human activities include the burning of fossil fuels in factories, buildings and cars, which emit heat-trapping gasses.
Moving forward
Past IPCC reports have set the stage for world agreements like the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 climate treaty signed and ratified by 192 nations that expired in 2012. The United Nation's top climate official says the new IPCC report will help move climate talks forward.
“That policy response will have to end up in a global agreement that is going to be legally based and applicable to all countries and will be adopted in 2015. And for that, governments are already working,” Christiana Figueres said.
While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is sometimes criticized as appearing to be too conservative in its predictions, Figueres says this report is right on the mark.
“Everything that we thought about climate change has been underestimated, that we will have much faster and much more intense effects from the growing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," she said. "So it's a very sobering message that calls for a more invigorated and accelerated policy response to address that.”
Government leaders and climate experts will get an opportunity to do that at the next round of climate negotiations in Warsaw, Poland in November.
Friday's IPCC report will be followed next year by reports on the impact of climate change and what can be done about it.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Russian Conservatism on Gay Issues Provokes Clash With West
听力内容：
Gay marriage is increasingly legal in Europe. Gay parades are massive events in European capitals. So how are gays faring in Russia, sometimes seen as Europe's largest nation
In Russia, Max “The Hatchet” cruises gay Internet dating sites and then lures young gay men for “re-education” sessions at the hands of his “neo-Nazis.”
Max's group, Occupy Pedophilia, has spread to five Russian cities.
Police look the other way.
Levada Center sociologist Maria Plotko says that nearly half of Russians interviewed recently by pollsters say police should not protect gays from attacks.
“Public opinion in Russia shows us that the homophobia, the rate of homophobia, is pretty high. And I think it is the influence of strong propaganda,” says Plotko.
Levada's polls show that Russians became more conservative about homosexuality over the last decade. Over 80 percent oppose gay parades and gay marriage. Two-thirds back President Vladimir Putin's new “anti-gay propaganda law.”
For many gay Russians, the way out is the airport.
Vitaly, a Moscow student, said this of his gay university friends:
"Nearly every [gay] student wants to leave or knows the ways, and in case of emergency we can and we will emigrate to any better country," said Vitaly.
Anton Krasovsky came out as gay on his TV show to protest the anti-gay law. Within hours, he was fired. Now, he gets letters from gays all over Russia.
He says people write about being fired from their jobs, being watched by neighbors, beaten in buses and in apartment building stairwells. He adds that attackers know that Russia's police will not intervene.
Posted on the Internet, many gay attack videos have been seen around the world.
In the United States and Europe, they have sparked anti-Putin protests, like one in Amsterdam in late August, with the city mayor saying that "Love is not propaganda."
But, Alina Alieva, a Russian tourist who was near the demonstration, told a reporter that Europeans should mind their own business.
“They shouldn't do this because it can worsen the situation. We have different countries and we have different situations and different histories between these countries,” said Alieva.
Sochi as test case
To protest Russia's conservatism on homosexuality, gay activists are targeting the Winter Olympics, which will be held next February in Sochi, Russia.
Some are pushing for a boycott.
Anton Krasovsky, the gay television journalist, calls for protests - during the Olympics.
He says the Olympics can be educational. If athletes parade waving rainbow flags, that will be more helpful for Russian gays and lesbians in Russia than a boycott, says he.
Pollster Masha Plotko predicts foreign pressure will backfire.
“If you don't like our law, if you don't respect us, okay you can boycott it. But other countries will come,” says Plotko.
In Moscow, many analysts say that foreign protests play into the hands of President Putin. Foreign pressure will provoke Russians to close ranks with the Kremlin.
************标题：VOA常速英语：Syrian Opposition Fighters Have Varying Motives
听力内容：
As international diplomacy continues on the Syria crisis, the battle in the country between various rebel groups and the Syrian government rages. Rebels are varied and divided among several factions with differing agendas. All have the goal, however, of ousting the government of Bashar al-Assad.
They have sworn allegiance to al-Qaida.
The fighters of Jabhat al-Nusra are among the best trained and armed in Syria.
The U.S. says they are terrorists.
Many fought against American soldiers in neighboring Iraq.
A commander goes by the alias Sheikh Abu Ahmed “People like me used to pray in the mosque five times a day, and before the revolution, the Syrian regime considered this as a crime. Because of this we were arrested, captured many times and tortured by the regime's branches. For this reason we are against the regime from the bottom of our hearts,” he said.
Some al-Qaida links
Jihadi fighters like those from al-Nusra are one of the reasons the U.S. has been reluctant to send weapons to Syria.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said, “This is an imperfect situation. There are no good options here. This is complicated. There is no clarity.”
U.S. officials say there are up to 100,000 Syrian rebels trying to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Between 15 and 25 percent are linked to al-Qaida.
But U.S. officials say moderates make up the largest share of Assad's opposition.
U.S. President Barack Obama said, "The majority of the Syrian people - and the Syrian opposition we work with - just want to live in peace, with dignity and freedom."
Free Syrian Army
Many rebels who fight under the banner of the Free Syrian Army have defected from the Syrian military.
An unnamed commander said, “I was a sergeant-major before I defected. After witnessing tyranny of Assad's gang, I wanted to defend this country until the last drop of my blood, God willing.”
The use of chemical weapons in the conflict seemingly outweighs the U.S. concern about extremists. It's the major reason Obama initially proposed a military strike.
“It's true that some of Assad's opponents are extremists. But al-Qaida will only draw strength in a more chaotic Syria if people there see the world doing nothing to prevent innocent civilians from being gassed to death,” said the president.
Islamists in picture
Some jihadi groups, like Ahrar al-Sham, have staged spectacular attacks - usually with car bombs.
But analysts say most Syrians have no desire to live in a country ruled by Islamic law.
Former CIA officer turned analyst Reuel Marc Gerecht said that is unlikely. “I deeply doubt that small jihadi organizations, even numbering 10 or 20 thousand, are sufficient to dominate in a post-Assad Syria.”
So while diplomats discuss what to do about Syria's chemical weapons,
The deadly and complicated civil war continues.
************Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇掌故节目。
Many cities have interesting nicknames. Nicknames can help establish the identity of a city. They can also spread pride among its citizens.
很多城市都有有趣的别名，别名可以帮助树立城市形象，还可在市民间传递自豪感。
New Orleans, Louisiana probably has more nicknames than any other American city. One web site lists more than twenty nicknames. The most famous is The Big Easy. It describes the gentle, slow and easy-going way of life in New Orleans.
路易斯安那州的新奥尔良市可能比其它任何美国城市拥有更多别名。有家网站列出了该市20多个别名，其中最有名的是大快活（The Big Easy）。这个别名描述了新奥尔良温和、缓慢及悠闲的生活方式。
So how did the city get this nickname In the early nineteen hundreds, there was a dance hall in New Orleans called The Big Easy. But the nickname did not become famous until the early nineteen seventies. That was when a Louisiana newspaper writer began calling New Orleans by this name. She compared the easy-going way of life there to the hurried pace of life in New York City.
这个别名是如何得来的呢？20世纪初，新奥尔良有家舞厅名叫“大快活”。但直到20世纪70年代早期新奥尔良才得此别名，当时路易斯安那一位新闻撰稿人用这个别名称呼新奥尔良，她将新奥尔良轻松的生活与纽约市繁忙的生活作对比。
In nineteen seventy, James Conaway wrote a crime novel called "The Big Easy." The story was set in New Orleans. In nineteen eighty-seven, that book was made into a film which made the nickname even more popular.
20世纪70年代，詹姆斯·科纳韦（James Conaway）写了一本名为“The Big Easy”的犯罪小说，故事发生地被设定在新奥尔良。1987年，这本书被拍成电影，使得这个别名更受欢迎。
New Orleans has other nicknames. One of them is The Crescent City. During the nineteenth century, new neighborhoods expanded out from what is now known as the French Quarter. These areas followed the great curve of the Mississippi River, giving New Orleans the shape of a crescent.
新奥尔良还有其他别名，其中一个叫“新月城”（The Crescent City），在20世纪，新社区从现在的法国街（French Quarter）蔓延开来，这些地区沿着密西西西比河弯曲的流向延伸，这样新奥尔良就看起来像一弯新月。
Another nickname is the Birthplace of Jazz because that kind of music started in New Orleans. It is also called Mardi Gras City for the wild celebrations and parades that take place there every year. And, there is a nickname that uses the short way to write New Orleans and Louisiana. It you do not want to use the complete name, you can call the city NOLA.
另一个别名是爵士乐诞生地（Birthplace of Jazz），因为这种类型的音乐起源于新奥尔良。由于每年举行的狂野庆祝和游戏，它也被称为狂欢之都（Mardi Gras City）。此外，还有一个别名使用了新奥尔良和路易斯安那州的简写，如果你不想用全名，你可以称其为诺拉（NOLA）。
One of America’s most exciting cities is Las Vegas, Nevada. There you can play games of chance all night long. The city’s night clubs are also open all night for eating, drinking and dancing. So it is not surprising that Las Vegas is called The Gambling Capital of the World and The Entertainment Capital of the World.
内华达州的拉斯维加斯是美国最令人兴奋的城市之一，在这里你可以彻夜赌博。该市的夜总会也彻夜提供吃喝和舞蹈娱乐。因此，无怪乎拉斯维加斯被称为世界赌城和世界娱乐之都。
Another nickname for Las Vegas is Sin City because you can find many kinds of adult entertainment there. Many people who come to Las Vegas in hopes of winning lots of money do not know when to stop gambling. They may lose a great deal of their hard-earned money. So the city is also called something that sounds like Las Vegas – Lost Wages.
拉斯维加斯的另一个别名是罪恶之城，你可以在这里找到各种形式的成人娱乐。希望在拉斯维加斯大赢一把的许多人都不知道该什么时候收手，他们可能会输掉大把自己辛苦挣来的钱。因此该市也被称为Las vegas的谐音：Lost Wages。
In nineteen sixty-four, Elvis Presley starred in a movie called "Viva Las Vegas." Here he sings the title song from that movie.
1964年，埃维斯·普里斯利演了电影《赌城万岁》，以下就是他演唱的电影主题曲。
************标题：VOA常速英语：TB Origins Found in Africa
听力内容：
The origins of humans have been traced to Africa. And now, so have the origins of tuberculosis. New research shows the evolutionary trees of both humans and TB have grown side-by-side.
TB bacteria originated in Africa at least 70,000 years ago. That's the finding of a team of researchers led by Professor Sebastien Gagneaux of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. But why study the history of TB
Gagneaux said, “At the end of the day, it's a certain kind of historic question and there have been long discussions about where TB came from originally. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, the idea is that by learning from the past and how infectious disease evolves over time, this potentially could give us some clue about the future of the TB epidemic.”
To trace the origins of TB researchers relied on genetic material, which is relatively easy to come by.
“The trick is to use the genomic information that we can get from bacteria living today. That's an approach which has been used for all kinds of other organisms, including humans, themselves. So we actually are learning a lot from what people are doing with human genetics,” he said.
Gagneaux said that the evolutionary trees of humans and TB probably did more than just grow side by side.
“I think that's a nice way to put it. Maybe you can even say one inside the other. Imagine where the TB bacteria live, which is actually inside of human bodies. Yes, side by side, or one inside the other.”
Humans have bacteria on them and in them all the time. In fact, they help keep us alive. Researchers are trying to determine if tuberculosis bacteria were always harmful to humans.
“That's also something that we're trying to address in this work because there's this striking feature in tuberculosis, which is this phenomena called latency – so-called latent infection -- meaning that people can carry these bacteria. So they're actually infected without having any symptoms of disease. This latency period can last for several decades. Most of the people, who are actually carrying these bacteria, will actually never develop so-called active tuberculosis,” he said.
Studies are trying to determine why only five to ten percent of the estimated two billion people infected with the bacteria actually come down with active tuberculosis.
Another question is whether the bacteria were at one time beneficial to humans
“Obviously, there seems to be something special about these five to ten percent of people who are coming down. Maybe that's just bad luck. We know there are obvious very strong risk factors, such as HIV co-infection or malnutrition. Diabetes is also a factor, which can increase your risk of developing active tuberculosis once you have been infected. But again this idea that maybe carrying these bacteria in this latent form could potentially be beneficial because it might protect against other diseases. Again, that's a very provocative hypothesis, which we, however, cannot completely neglect.”
Gagneaux said TB left Africa when humans did, about 65,000 to 70,000 years ago. Then, about 10,000 years ago, came the Neolithic Demographic Transition. It's the time when people started to develop agriculture and domesticate animals. But it was also a time when diseases jumped from domesticated animals to humans for the first time. Gagneaux says for many years it was assumed that TB took the same path – from animals to humans. However, the research shows that TB in humans pre-dates the domestication of animals. It's particularly adapted to live inside humans and can't really survive on its own in the environment.
There was another important development during the Neolithic Demographic Transition. Humans started to form settlements that were densely populated. It's an ideal situation for the spread of tuberculosis through the air from human to human.
“Because of these changes in these human behaviors and numbers, potentially TB might have become more virulent in the sense of causing disease maybe more quickly or maybe a more deadly disease. It's true that TB is very deadly nowadays. So if you don't treat it, kills up to 50 percent of people who actually have active tuberculosis,” Gagneaux said.
He added that before settlements, in the hunter-gatherer days, perhaps TB was not as deadly.
“Overly deadly would be a bad strategy for any pathogen because you might just kill off all susceptible hosts and you might end up with nobody else to infect. And so only once through this Neolithic transition -- when more and more people were actually living close by -- TB maybe evolved in a way to be able to become more virulent and take advantage, if you will, of this increasing number of susceptible people to infect.”
After humans left Africa, they started to change in appearance as they adapted to their new geographical locations. TB also evolved and now there are many different strains of bacteria that cause the disease. The strain found in South Africa differs from that found in China, for example. Africa, though, still has the greatest diversity of TB strains.
Researchers hope that knowing the evolutionary history of TB will help in the development of new drug treatments and vaccines. Currently, the number of drug-resistant TB cases is growing. The knowledge may also help predict “future patterns of the disease.”
************标题：VOA常速英语：South Africa Youth See New Life Through Photography
听力内容：
There is a growing iniative in Johannesburg, South Africa, that teaches disadvantanged children how to take photographs and sell their prints in high-end parts of the city. The project is called "I was shot in Joburg" -- a word play on the city's violent reputation. The initiative is providing children with a new perspective and is helping to change their lives.
Shooting photographs of people has become a way of life for Pritchard Ndlovu.
Four and a-half years ago, he was living at Twilight Shelter in Hillbrow, one of the most disadvantaged areas of Johannesburg. That's when he met Bernard Viljoen, who enrolled him in his new photography workshop at the shelter.
"Before, I didn't have a vision of photography. I was just in a shelter because I needed maybe to go to school. And after school, I would do something about my life, but I didn't know what. So when Bernard came to the shelter and he introduced photography, that's when I thought, 'Okay, doing things like this in my life maybe can bring some change,'" Ndlovu said.
Viljoen started the workshop four years ago and began with a simple guideline for the teenagers. "I literally said to the guys, 'Take the cameras, walk out the gates, and find beauty where you thought there was none," he said.
In this crime and poverty-ridden neighborhood, Viljoen urged the teenagers to see things in a new way. "I wanted to tell them that with photography, if you see something that you don't like, that does not resonate with you, you just change your eyes and find something else," stated Viljoen.
The challenge intrigued Pritchard Ndlovu. "We had all this life that we were introduced to, a little bit violent and all the stuff. But through photography, we had to see the arty part and be able to meet with people and communicate with people -- get to know about positive things about our city, how to make the place around you a better place," he said.
The project now has its own permanent studio in one of the fanciest places in Johannesburg. The studio employs six former students full-time, including Pritchard, who is now the studio's manager.
"My favorite picture is not mine, but it says something about real life. It's called 'Write the Future.' It says a lot, 'Write the Future.' It's different, inspiring, and makes you curious about what's happening," Ndlovu said. "What will happen tomorrow".
Besides photo prints, the studio sells merchandise made by the teenagers of the Twilight Shelter -- pillows, coasters, refrigerator magnets, cell phone cases -- and the catalog keeps on expanding.
Cathy Williams works for one of the project's sponsoring companies. "For me it was taking street children out of that shelter and giving them an opportunity to earn money. They don't have to be your professors, or your doctors or your lawyers, because not everybody can afford to do that. But by working hard and creating with your hands and getting ideas, you can sell and make money and be productive," Williams said.
The initiative will continue to hold annual exhibits and is now looking at ways to sell the photos and merchandise in retail stores, potentially giving students the chance to start their own businesses.
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