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英语四级考试听力的备考没有别的诀窍，就是要每天听音频练习，只有多听，才能掌握语感，攻克英语四级考试听力题型。下面，我们一起来练习一下吧!看你听懂了多少!
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听力材料：
On the show today, we play music from somesinging nuns.
We also learn about a program that helps troubledwomen start new lives.
But first, we go Detroit, Michigan where some cityresidents are worried about the future of theirfamous art museum.
Art Lovers Worry About Detroit Museum Collections
The Detroit Institute of Arts museum in Michigan is home to valuable paintings, sculptures andancient objects from around the world. But the collections belong to the city of Detroit. The cityhas requested bankruptcy court protection. Many people are concerned that the artscollections could be sold to pay some of the city's debts. Avi Arditti reports.
Inside its huge rooms, more than 60,000 objects make up the Detroit Institute of Arts, or DIAfor short. It is one of the most respected art collections in the United States.
Visitors to the museum can see Vincent Van Gogh's brush strokes up close on his painting"Self Portrait." They can also examine William-Adolphe Bouguereau's "Nut Gatherers." The workis so finely detailed, it looks more like a photograph than a painting.
But that is not what brought Virginia-based airline pilot Terrence O'Toole from Virginia to theDIA. He wanted to take a look at Diego Rivera's large wall paintings of the Detroit automobileindustry.
"And I thought it was interesting to come in here and see the murals depicting the diversity ofthe plant."
Throughout the museum, many of the signs that describe each object share the same fourwords: "City of Detroit Purchase."
That is what makes the DIA different from most other major museums in America. The city ofDetroit owns the DIA building and most of its collections.
Kevyn Orr is Detroit's emergency manager. He asked about the DIA's collections before he filedfor bankruptcy protection for the city. The art world and many residents of Detroit wereshocked and angered.
"It's a slam against all the citizens of this city and a slam against the citizens of the whole areahere."
That is bookseller John King. He has lived in Detroit all his life. He remained in the city even asits population shrank. Mr. King says the DIA is important to what is left of Detroit's spirit. Hesays he hopes those owed money by Detroit do not force the sale of the collection.
"It's sad they're even talking about going after that asset. I mean they have other assets theycould go after, and they shouldn't really be touching the Detroit Institute of Arts."
Amiyatosh Purnanandan is a finance professor in the Ross School of Business at the Universityof Michigan. He says the total value of the DIA's collection is far below the amount Detroitowes.
"You're looking at $18 billion of debt. The art museum will fetch you one to two billion dollars.Even if you sell that, it's not going to solve your problems."
Pilot Terrence O'Toole adds that selling the collection would hurt tourism, the very thingDetroit needs rights now.
"It brings visitors, it brings cash flow to this community, which this city is in desperate needof some cash flow."
The nonprofit group ArtServe Michigan says the state earned $2 billion from tourism in 2011.Visitors spent it mostly on cultural institutions, like the Detroit Institute of the Arts. Expertssay selling the collection would harm more than just tourism. They say a flood of rare andimportant art onto the market could weaken Detroit's ability to get the best price for theworks.
"A Beautiful Place to Be"
Baltimore, Maryland, has one of the largest numbers of homeless people and substanceabusers in the United States. About one-third of the city's more than 4,000 homeless arewomen with drug abuse problems.
One organization that seeks to help those women is a place called Marian House. It has providedhelp toward recovery, including treatment and housing assistance, for more than 30 years.
"Heroin, cocaine, pills, whatever that would take me out of my own head, I had hit rock-bottom.Marian House is a beautiful place to be."
Robin is one of the more than 1,000 women Marian House has helped to rebuild their lives. Thecenter was established first as a temporary program for women coming out of prison. Today,it provides a helping hand for other women. Executive Director Katie Alston calls it a refuge.
"A home for women who are in need in the things that they've suffered through: Rape,domestic violence, sexual attack, mental illness, addiction. All of those things. A term thatwe've been using lately is a therapeutic recovery community."
Cassaundra says she got to Marian House after a long struggle with drugs and alcohol. Shetells what happened to her.
"Ultimately, I ended up in bad relationships, domestic violence. My last relationship ... endedup with 29 stitches to the face, from the eyebrow down around to the neck."
Cassaundra says it is hard to get into the center. Women are questioned before they can beadmitted. They need to show that they are willing and ready to do something different.Cassaundra says when she did this, she had, in her words, "nothing left...absolutely nothing."She says she needed Marian House desperately.
Katie Alston describes life at Marian House as like living in a dormitory for college students. ButMs. Alston says the center has strong rules.
"We have curfews, we have restrictions on visitors. We have an expectation, the first weekthey are on blackout. They can't leave the building. After the first week, they have earliercurfews than they will later on."
She says the women are expected to be involved in all required parts of the program. If they failto attend a counseling meeting, they receive a written warning from a counselor.
Ms. Alston is happy about the women who complete the Marian House program. She says theprogram requires a great deal of bravery. She says some women often give up all of the lifethey have known.
Ms. Alston says there are thousands more women -- in the United States and overseas -- whoneed such a refuge but cannot find it. She says some women might not know a place likeMarian House exists, while others might not be ready for such a program.
But she hopes that someday, women in need of help will find a place – and especially that thosenearby will find Marian House.
The Singing Dominican Sisters
Marian House was begun by two groups of Roman Catholic nuns. Now, Christopher Cruiseintroduces you to some nuns who make music to better the world.
The choir is the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. It just released its first CD. "Mater Eucharistiae" is filled with holy music.
Mater Eucharistiae means "Mother of the Eucharist" in Latin. The Eucharist is somethingCatholics eat during a service. It usually starts as a piece of round, flat bread. Then a priestprays over the bread. Catholics believe this turns the bread into the body of Christ.
Here the religious workers sing "Adoro Te" which means I adore you.
The Dominican Sisters are perhaps the most famous Catholic religious workers in the UnitedStates. They have appeared on television several times, including two visits to the OprahWinfrey Show.
They say they recorded the CD to "unite their voices to glorify God and the beauty of His holyCatholic Church."
"It's an opportunity to go into people's homes and to go into their cars, you know, to, tobring some of what we are to them."
Sister Joseph Andrew is a leader of the group. She supervised the project, played the organ onsome of the songs and wrote two, including this one, "Holy Mary Mother of God."
The CD was recorded live at the group's chapel in the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan. SisterJoseph Andrew told VOA the music represents the sisters' Dominican spirituality, which they saythey want to share with the popular culture.
"We've put a lot of ongoing prayer behind this. And, it would be our prayer that everyone whohears this is brought closer to God, has a more open heart for God's love for each individual." |
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发表于 2016-7-28 21:08:50