CNN News:美国撤军伊拉克计划推迟
This is CNN STUDENT NEWS. Ten minutes of current events for middle and high school classrooms, no commercials. From the CNN Center, I`m Carl Azuz. We are taking you to Afghanistan. Thousands of U.S. troops are serving in the Middle Eastern country. It`s part of the U.S.-led war that began there in 2001. The U.S. government had planned to reduce the number of those troops at the end of this year.
这里是CNN学生新闻，十分钟不含商业广告的时事新闻。这里是CNN新闻中心，我是Carl Azuz。首先我们要谈的是阿富汗。目前有数千名美国军事人员在中东国家执行任务。这是美国自20xx年就开始的军事任务的一部分。美国政府计划在今年年底减少部队人数。
But it announced over the weekend that some U.S. forces wouldn`t be coming home as soon as originally planned.
但是根据上周末的声明，美国军队并不会像计划那样尽早归国。
CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This will remain a delayed withdrawal of up to 1,000 U.S. troops, so that up to 10,800 troops rather than 9,800 could remain in Afghanistan through the end of this year, and for the first few months next year.
这是一个推迟的撤军计划，所以在今年年底将会有10800名美国军事人员停留在阿富汗而不是9800人，并且将会在年初的几个月也将在阿富汗停留。
AZUZ: There`s been a recent increase of attacks in the Afghan capital of Kabul. The Taliban are responsible. They are Afghanistan`s former rulers who support al Qaeda terrorists, but the U.S. says that`s not the reason why American troops are staying. Afghanistan`s previous government didn`t want U.S. troops to stay after this year. It wouldn`t sign an agreement to allow that. But the country`s new government has signed the security agreement. By the end of next year, U.S. troop numbers in Afghanistan are scheduled to be about half of what they are now. The Pentagon says Afghan forces are currently leading about 99 percent of the mission`s they go on.最近在阿富汗首都喀布尔的袭击事件频发，塔利班组织均表示对袭击事件负责。塔利班组织是阿富汗支持基地恐怖分子的前统治者，但是美国方面表示这不是 美国军队停留的原因。阿富汗前政府并不想美国军队在明年仍然停留其国家。双方不会签署驻军协议。但是该国家的新政府却签订了保密协议，称在明年年底之前， 美国军队在阿富汗的驻军数量将会减少一半。五角大楼发言人表示阿富汗军队目前正在领导着99%的作战任务。
The typhoon we told you about last week dragged across the Philippines yesterday. Hagupit means lash in Philippino (sic), and that`s exactly what it did to the Pacific Island nation. Hagupit did lose some power before making landfall. It came ashore at the strength of a category two hurricane
with wind speeds around 100 miles per hour. But the system moved slowly, and because of that Hagupit`s rain threatened severe flooding in
landslides. At least three deaths have been blamed on this storm, more than 900,000 people were affected, most of them evacuating their homes. 上周我们提到的台风昨天席卷了菲律宾境内城市。黑格比在菲律宾文化中象征着鞭打，而这也正是它对这个太平洋岛国的所作所为。黑格比确实比登陆之前风 力减小了许多。台风登陆当时的风力达到了大约每小时100英里的速度，相当于两级飓风等级。但是它的移动速度非常慢，并且台风黑格比带来的降水严重导致了 山体滑坡。目前至少
3人死于此次台风袭击，有超过900000人受到影响，其中大部分人已经撤离家园。Still, it wasn`t as devastating as the typhoon that hit last year. Haiyan killed 6,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.不过这场台风所造成的危害没有去年严重。去年台风“海燕”的袭击导致了6000人死亡，数十万人无家可归。
VOA慢速英语:菲律宾渔民使用玻璃纤维再造新船 这里是美国之音慢速英语科技报道。From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.Last year, a typhoon seriously damaged Leyte Island in the Philippines. More than 7,300 people died or are missing. Four million Filipinos lost their homes, and many of them lost their incomes. 去年，一场台风严重破坏了菲律宾的莱特岛，造成了7300多人死亡或失踪，四百万菲律宾人失去家园，同时还有许多人失去了收入来源。
Many fishermen were among them. They lost their wooden boats. Without them, they had no way to make money.
其中就包括很多渔民。他们失去了自己的木船。如果没有船，他们就无法谋生。 The fishermen used boats called "bancas." These boats were made from wood taken from the island's forests. But the forests were damaged by the powerful storm, making it difficult to quickly rebuild the boats. 这种渔船被称之为班卡船（bancas）。这些船是用源自岛上森林的木材建造的。但森林被这场强风暴所破坏，导致人们难以迅速再造新船。
So a large, non-governmental environmental protection group is helping the fishermen rebuild their boats using a material made of glass and plastic. The material is called fiberglass. The group says fiberglass lasts longer than the wood and plywood materials the fishermen have traditionally used to build their boats.
因此一个大的非政府环保组织正在帮助渔民们用玻璃和塑料重新造船。这种材料被称之为玻璃纤维。该组织表示，这种玻璃纤维比渔民们传统造船所用的木材和胶合板材料更耐用。
Patrick Vincent Co manages the bancas rebuilding project for the WWF. He and his employees are teaching fishermen how to build boats with fiberglass.
帕特里克·文森特（Patrick Vincent）为世界自然基金会（WWF）共同管理这个班卡船重建项目。他和他的雇员正在教渔民们如何用玻璃纤维造船。 "We feel that this is simply the next step forward, both out of necessity and out of practicality to use fiberglass rather than wood and plywood, and also something that is essentially ecologically sound." 文森特说，“我们认为无论是从必要性还是可行性来说，使用玻璃纤维而不是木材和胶合板来造船简直就是以后的发展方向。并且玻璃纤维本质上对生态也是无害的。” Ramon Binamira is a boat-building expert. He says many of the fishermen were worried about using fiberglass to build boats. He says they asked many questions. 拉蒙·本那米拉（Ramon Binamira）是一位造船专家。他说，许多渔民都对使用玻璃纤维造船忧心忡忡。他说，渔民们问了很多问题。 "Is it strong enough? Will it be able to take the day-to-day abuse that the traditional boats have proven to be capable of taking?" “它是否足够坚固？是否能够承受传统船只已经证明有能力承担的那种日复一日的折腾？” The fishermen tested the fiberglass bancas with a heavy tool called a "sledgehammer." The fisherman used it to hit the sides of the fiberglass boats to see if the new boats were as strong as their wooden boats. 渔民们用一种被称之为“长柄大锤”的重型工具来检测这些玻璃纤维班卡船。渔民们用它敲击玻璃纤维船的两侧，看它是否像木船一样坚固。 Norberto dela Torre is a 78-year old fisherman. He says he was surprised by the strength of the fiberglass bancas. 诺伯特·德拉托雷（Norberto dela Torre）是一位78岁高龄的渔民。他说自己对玻璃纤维班卡船的强度感到惊讶。Mr. dela Torre says the fiberglass boats are durable. He says they are stronger in water than wooden boats. And he notes wooden boats get dirty easily. 德拉托雷先生表示，玻璃纤维船坚固耐用。他说这种船在水中比木船更坚固。他还指出，木船容易弄脏。 The new fiberglass bancas are now being used only for small-scale fishing. But the World Wildlife Fund hopes the new boat-building skills that fishermen are learning will help them design and create larger fiberglass boats. The WWF says the technology will help them better-prepare for climate change and reduce the need for wood from forests damaged by Typhoon Haiyan.这种新型玻璃纤维班卡船目前仅用于小规模捕鱼。但是世界自然基金会希望渔民们正在学习的造船新技能能够帮助他们设计和制造更大的玻璃纤维船。世界自然基金会表示，这项技术将会帮助他们更好地准备应对气候变化，并减少对台风海燕破坏的森林的木材需求。 And that's the VOA Learning English Technology Report. For more technology stories, go to our website 51voa.com. I'm Jonathan Evans. 以上就是本期美国之音慢速英语科技报道的全部内容。更多科技新闻请访问我们的网站51voa.com。我是乔纳森·埃文斯（Jonathan Evans）。
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg recently surprised Chinese students when he spoke to them in Chinese. In a talk at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Zuckerberg spoke Chinese for about 30 minutes. Although his Mandarin was far from perfect, students and faculty cheered his effort.
Facebok创始人马克·扎克伯格最近用中文同中国学生交流，把他们都惊呆了。在清华大学的一次演讲中，扎克伯格说了大约30分钟的中文。虽然他的普通话远不够标准，清华师生们都为他的努力喝彩。
Clayton Dube is the head of the U.S.-China Institute at the University of Southern California. He praises Zuckerberg's effort and thinks more American CEOs should learn foreign languages.
克莱顿·杜贝（Clayton Dube）是南加州大学美中学院负责人。他称赞了扎克伯格的努力，并认为更多美国的CEO们应该学习外语。
"To speak Chinese means you begin to think as Chinese people do. You begin to understand how Chinese speakers have the world organized, how they perceive things. And that is a vital step if you're going to be culturally competent."
杜贝说，“说中文意味着你开始按中国人的方式思考。你开始了解中文人士如何让社会组织起来，你开始了解他们如何看待事物。如果你希望具备文化竞争力，这是必不可少的一步。”
Zuckerberg's talk raises a larger question: is Chinese the language of the future? Could it replace English as the world's international language? Mandarin Chinese already has the most native speakers of any language. And, China may soon pass the United States as the world's largest economy. 扎克伯格的演讲引出了一个更大的问题：中文是未来的语言吗？它是否会取代英语成为国际通用语言？以普通话为母语的人数已经超过了任何语言。而且，中国可能很快超过美国成为全球最大的经济体。
The study of the Chinese language is increasing in the United States and around the world. In 2009, about 60,000 American college students were studying Chinese. That is three times as many as in 1990.
学中文在美国和世界各地不断升温。20xx年大约有6千名美国大学生在学中文，是19xx年的三倍。
A small but growing number of American parents are even sending their children to bilingual Chinese immersion schools. Leianne Clements has no cultural connection to China, but her children are learning Chinese at the Yu Ying Public Charter School in Washington D.C. Every other day, classes at this school are 100 percent in Chinese. Ms. Clements thinks knowing Chinese could give her children a competitive advantage. 甚至有为 数不多但数量却不断增长的美国父母把孩子送到双语的中文浸入式教
学学校。莱昂尼·克莱门茨（Leianne Clements）和中国并无文化关联，但她的孩子们正在华盛顿特区的育婴公立特许学校学习中文。这个学校每隔一天全部用中文上课。克莱门茨女士认为，懂 中文会给她的孩子提供一种竞争优势。
"So far, English has kind of been the universal language, but more and more, with Chinese businesses and just the amount of industry that they have there it seems that that would be, you know, logical thing that could be happening or it seems like it would make you a valuable employee if you also spoke Chinese."
她说，“截至目前英语一直是全球通用语言。但中国的企业越来越多，你光看看中国拥有的行业数量，看上去顺理成章的事情可能会发生，如果会说中文，你就会成为更有价值的员工。”
Clayton Dube thinks Chinese will grow in importance, especially for people who want to work and do business in China. But he does not think Chinese will overtake English any time soon.
杜贝认为，中文将变得越来越重要，对那些想在中国工作或做生意的人来说尤其如此。但他并不认为中文能很快超过英文。
"As China rises you can anticipate that more people will adopt the language. But is China(Chinese) going to replace English? I don't think
so--certainly not in my lifetime, probably not in the next two, three, four generations."
杜贝说，“随着中国的崛起，你可以预见更多人会采用中文。但是中文是否将会取代英文呢？我不这么认为。这一幕肯定不会在我的有生之年发生，也可能不会在未来三四十年就发生。”
English rose to prominence through the British Empire in the nineteenth century. American dominance in the twentieth century spread the language even further. Dube says American pop culture is one reason for English's popularity as a foreign language.
英语在十九世纪通过大英帝国得以崛起。到了二十世纪，美国的优势使其传播更广。杜贝表示，美国流行文化是英语作为一门外语得到普及的原因之一。
"American movies, music, television, video games have wide audiences...So far China's success in this realm has been very limited. Chinese films, Chinese television shows, Chinese music doesn't have a huge following outside of China."“美国电影、音乐、电视和视频游戏有着广泛的受众。到目前为止中国在这一领域的成功非常有限。中国电影、电视节目和音乐在海外没有庞大的追随者。”Andres Martinez is the editorial director at Zocalo Public Square and a professor of journalism at Arizona State University. He says that he respects Chinese culture and expects the language to grow. But he says English, with its association with freedom, will remain the global language.安德烈斯·马丁内斯（Andres Martinez）是Zocalo Public Square网站的编辑部主任，也是亚利桑那州立大学的新闻学教授。他说，他尊重中国文化，并预计中文会增长。但他表示，英语与自由的关联使得它仍将是全球通用语言。
"You don't have anybody on the Internet stifling speech in English, censoring speech in English. And most of the dominant English-language
countries internally also have a tradition of freedom of speech." 马丁内斯说，“没人在网上压制、审查英文演讲。而且大多数以英语为主的国家内部都具有言论自由的传统。”
Martinez says that English is seen as a more neutral language than Chinese. Unlike Chinese, it is not associated with one country. He says even the ideas of equality are built into English grammar.
马丁内斯说英语被视为是一种比中文更具中立性的语言。英语和中文不同，和英语相关联的不只是一个国家。他说，平等观念甚至扎根于英语语法中。
"If you study German, if you study Spanish, if you study Russian, there are many languages where the "you" form and how you conjugate verbs is very different depending on whether you're talking to a grandparent or a boss versus one of your children or an employee or a close friend...If I'm talking to President Obama or if I'm talking to my closest friend or my son, its ‘you.'"
“如果你学德语、西班牙语、俄语，还有很多语言，第二人称‘你’以及动词如何变形有很大不同，这完全取决于你交谈的是祖父母、是老板、是孩子、是雇员还是密友。（而在英语中，）我同奥巴马、同密友或我儿子，我都用的‘你’。” Chinese is also a more difficult language to learn. The U.S. Foreign Service Institute estimates it would take a native English speaker 2,200 hours to reach professional fluency in Chinese. That is four times longer than it would take to reach the same level in Dutch, French, or Spanish. While Chinese grammar is much simpler, Chinese has a tone and writing system that is more difficult for adult learners to master.
中文还是一种比较难学的语言。美国外交事务所估计，让英语母语者达到中文专业流利水平需要2200小时。与荷兰语、法语、西班牙语达到同等水平相比，中文所花费的时间要长4倍。然而中文语法要简单得多，中文的声调和书写体系对成人学习者来说更难掌握。
A recent survey by Gallup showed that only one in four Americans is multilingual, or able to speak more than one language. And most
multilingual Americans are immigrants or the children of immigrants. For most Americans, Brits, and Australians, learning a foreign language is a choice, not a necessity. China Daily estimates that 400 million Chinese are studying English. That means China has more English learners than the U.S. has English speakers.
盖洛普最近的一项调查显示，只有1/4的美国人会说多个语种。而且大多数懂多种语言的美国人是移民或移民子弟。对于大多数美国人、英国人和澳大利亚人来说，学习外语是一种选择而不是必要。中国日报估计有4亿中国人在学英语。这意味着中国学英语的人比美国讲英语的人还多。
Last month, China hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in the capital city of Beijing. But the meeting was not in Chinese – or any Asian language. The official language of APEC is English.
上个月，中国在首都北京举办了亚太经合组织会议。但会议并未采用中文或任何一种亚洲语言。亚太经济合作组织（APEC）的官方语言是英语。I'm Adam Brock. 我是亚当·布洛克（Adam Brock)。