VOA慢速英语2010年-Education Report - Teaching the Danger

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Car crashes are the top killer¹ of American teenagers. Most of the crashes result from distracted driving -- not paying attention to the road.

Ryan Didone was a fifteen-year-old passenger in a car that hit a tree. He was one of the nation's more than thirty thousand victims of traffic crashes in two thousand eight. Nearly four thousand deaths, about twelve percent, involved drivers age fifteen to twenty.

Ryan's father, Thomas Didone, is a police captain in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Police Capt. Thomas Didone's 15-year-old son died in a distracted driving crash.

THOMAS DIDONE: "It was an inexperienced, immature² driver who felt that he was invincible³, driving at night with a carload of kids. He was distracted, he was going too fast, and it ended up causing one death and some serious trauma⁴ and tragedy for the rest of the community."

Jim Jennings from the Allstate Insurance Company says the number one cause of distracted-driving accidents is the mobile phone. He says talking on the phone or reaching for it is like drinking four beers and driving.

JIM JENNINGS: "If you're texting while driving, you are twenty-three times more likely to get into an accident than somebody who isn't. Reaching for a cell phone when it's going off, you're nine times more likely to get into an accident than normally driving."

Government and private groups are using public service announcements and events to bring more attention to the problem. For example, the insurance industry recently held a safety event near Washington for teen drivers.

Ryan Didone

At first, nineteen-year-old Kevin Schumann easily avoided large, inflatable dolls thrown in front of the car to represent children. He also avoided orange cones⁵ representing the edge of the road. Then, as part of the test, he started texting. He hit several cones and at least one doll.

KEVIN SCHUMANN: "That's what really opened up the experience for me, to prove how bad it is to really text and drive."

Debbie Pickford of Allstate Insurance says teens are especially at risk from distracted driving -- and not just because they lack experience on the roads.

DEBBIE PICKFORD: "What we know from research on teen brain development, is that teens don't really have fully⁶ developed brains until they're twenty-five years old. You put those two things together and you get a much, much higher risk."

New legislation in Congress proposes to require all states to have what is called a graduated driver licensing⁷ system. Graduated means teenagers start with restrictions⁸ like on night driving and numbers of passengers. They could not get a full driver's license⁹ until age eighteen.

Thomas Didone shares the story of his son's death to help educate teens and their families about distracted driving.

THOMAS DIDONE: "We have to start doing things that are going to make a difference to change this behavior, because I really don't want to hear about four thousand more kids dying next year."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can watch a video of this report by Julie Taboh at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember
 

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

3 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

4 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

5 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 licensing   

v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A large part of state regulation consists of occupational licensing. 大部分州的管理涉及行业的特许批准。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• That licensing procedures for projects would move faster. 这样的工程批准程序一定会加快。 来自辞典例句

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

9 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。