VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - These Jazz Students

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

(MUSIC)

Each year, George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, presents a jazz concert. Around one thousand two hundred people attended this year's concert in October.

Yet when the program first started, the student musicians played to an almost empty theater. Ed Weiner was one of the few people in the audience when the school held the first jazz concert ten years ago.

ED WEINER: "The quality of the performance was outstanding, but I was shocked to see the poor attendance¹."

So he did something about it. He found a way not only to increase attendance, but also to raise money for the community.

Ed Weiner is a lawyer. He organized the concerts into a program called Jazz 4 Justice. The performers include students and employees from the university, along with guest musicians.

The concert raises money for the Fairfax Law Foundation². The local group uses some of that money to provide free legal services to people in the community.

Jazz 4 Justice concerts raise money for local legal services and for music scholarships at Virginia's George Mason University

The foundation also supports programs to help young people learn about the legal system. These include courthouse tours and education about the legal and health effects of drug and alcohol³ abuse⁴.

Foundation officials say the yearly⁵ concert brings in about fifteen thousand dollars. Five thousand of that goes to George Mason University for scholarships for students in the jazz studies program.

Jim Carroll directs that program. He says Jazz 4 Justice grew slowly, each year becoming larger and larger. And he says all the credit⁶ really goes to Ed Weiner.

JIM CARROLL: "He has done so much to help this program. He is the guy who is out there on the streets selling tickets, building our audience, so on and so forth⁷."

Mr. Weiner says the idea is to provide a meaningful experience for the young musicians.

ED WEINER: "We want to keep the focus on the students. This is part of their education and they really see that their talents can be turned into very good projects and doing good for the entire community."

Trombone player Amy Loudin agrees.

AMY LOUDIN: "It's all for a good cause, so I feel glad to be a part of that."

Ed Weiner says he hopes Jazz 4 Justice can be copied in other communities in Virginia and across the country.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. Join us online at voaspecialenglish.com and on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA Learning⁸ English. I'm Doug Johnson.

1 attendance   

n.出席，出席人数，护理，照料

参考例句：

• The attendance of this class never dropped off.这个班的出席人数从未下降。
• The young man danced attendance on his rich aunt.这个年轻人小心侍候他有钱的姑妈。

2 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

3 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。

4 abuse   

vt.滥用；辱骂；诋毁；n.滥用；恶习；弊端

参考例句：

• You can't make personal abuse on her.你不可对她进行人身攻击。
• She screamed abuse at me.她尖声责备我。

5 yearly   

adj.每年的，一年一度的；adv.一年一次地

参考例句：

• The flower show is a yearly event in our town.我们镇上的花展一年举行一次。
• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。

6 credit   

n.信用，荣誉，贷款，学分；v.归功于，赞颂，信任

参考例句：

• I credit him with a certain amount of sense.我认为他有一定的见识。
• He got the credit,and we did the dirty work.他得荣誉，我们做不讨好的工作。

7 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

8 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。