VOA慢速英语2011--AMERICAN MOSAIC - A Super Bowl Special

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ in VOA Special English.
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I'm Doug Johnson.
On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers face each other for the championship of the National Football League. This week’s show is all about Superbowl Sunday -- the teams, the cities and the arty stadium where the players will meet.
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The Cities
DOUG JOHNSON: Millions of Americans will settle down for a few hours of television on Sunday night. Or maybe settle down is the wrong term. Most Americans will be jumping up and down, cheering loudly or crying out threats and denunciations. All will be yelling directly at the television as if it can answer their appeals.
Can you guess what Americans will be watching this weekend? Of course! It is Super Bowl Sunday. Christopher Cruise has more about the competing teams and the cities they represent.
Green Bay Packers' A.J. Hawk² (50) stretches with teammates during practice, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, in Dallas. Green Bay will face the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL football Super Bowl XLV Sunday.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The Green Bay Packers come from a city with a population of about one hundred thousand people. It is on the Fox River which feeds into the Green Bay of Wisconsin. The state is in the central part of the country.
Wisconsin produces beer, cars and machinery³. But it is best known for making a lot of cheese. It is the second largest cheese producer in the country, after California. As a result, Wisconsin natives are known as “cheeseheads.” Sports teams from the state of Illinois first used the name as an insult. But the people of Wisconsin welcomed the “cheesehead” title. They use it with honor.
In fact, Green Bay Packers fans wear large representations of that name at football games. At the Super Bowl this Sunday, Packers fans will be wearing bright yellow, triangular-shaped pieces of foam⁴ on their heads. The foam has holes all over it and looks like a big piece of cheese.
Henry Moser, 5, of McKinney, Texas, tries on a Green Bay Packers' "cheesehead" at the NFL Shop inside the NFL Experience Saturday, Jan. 29, 2011 in Dallas.
Packers Backers are some of the fiercest fans in American football. But the same can be said for supporters of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh is in western Pennsylvania. More than two million people live in the Pittsburgh area. Three hundred eleven thousand live in the city itself.
The Steelers were named after the industry that built the city -- steel. For many years, Pittsburgh was considered the steel capital of the world. But a recession in the nineteen seventies closed steel mills in Pennsylvania.
Now, Pittsburgh’s economy depends mainly on its technology, education and healthcare industries.
And like Packers Backers, the Steelers fans have their own game-day tradition. The “Terrible Towel” is about 40 by 58 centimeters of bright yellow and black cloth, Steelers colors. “Terrible Towel” is written on it. Fans wave the towel around at games.
Pittsburgh Steelers fans wave their "Terrible Towels" as their team beat the Baltimore Ravens⁵ in the NFL AFC championship football game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009.
A radio announcer for the Steelers invented the “Terrible Towel” in nineteen seventy-five. Now Steelers fans have taken the towel all over the world. There are photographs of the towel at the top of Mount Everest, in war in Iraq and Afghanistan and even in space.
Two years ago, astronaut Michael Finke waved the “Terrible Towel” from the International Space State.
But it can also be found in great numbers in Green Bay Packers land. The McArthur Towel Company of Baraboo, Wisconsin makes the Steelers’ “Terrible Towel.”
Cowboys Stadium
DOUG JOHNSON: Now on to Arlington, Texas, home of Cowboys Stadium where the two teams will face each other Sunday in the Super Bowl. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team, started thinking about building the stadium in the nineteen nineties. But, it did not open until May of two thousand nine. Cowboys Stadium is the largest domed⁶ stadium in the world. It is also the only stadium that exhibits museum-quality modern art. Faith Lapidus has more.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Cowboys Stadium cost more than one billion dollars to build. The huge stadium has a roof that opens and closes. It is also home to exciting works of art.
In this photograph taken on Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, Stephan Ackermann paints red on a mural by his brother the artist Franz Ackermann titled "Coming Home (Meet me) At the Waterfall" in the Southwest Monumental Staircase at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Two of them are by Danish Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. “Moving stars takes time” hangs in the main concourse. It is made of stainless⁷ steel, glass mirror, color effect filter glass, steel cable and other materials. It is a mobile, a moving sculpture. It looks like the Earth’s solar system except shinier, smoother and sharper. But it is incomplete. There are just six floating objects.
Eliasson did this purposely. He wants to force the observer to stop and study the strange sight. He wants visitors to spend some time thinking and enjoying all that surrounds them everyday.
Some of the art works are clearly linked to football. One of these is “Coin Toss,” by Texas-based artist Annette Lawrence.
This large installation of stranded⁸ cable spreads high across the main concourse. It looks like cables you find across the top of a bridge. They are shaped like an hourglass. Lawrence says the shape is linked to the promising⁹ moment at the start of the football game. The idea is of a circle turning over in space from one side of the room to the other.
Another sports-linked work is Mel Bochner’s “Win!” The New York City-based painter used acrylic paint on a cement block wall. In large, bold, black letters he wrote words of battle like “vanquish,” “conquer” and “clobber.”
Cowboys Stadium may seem like a strange setting for art but this could be a sign of the future. New artists may have to seek unusual supporters as art museums and galleries find it increasingly difficult to raise money.
There are twenty-two works of art at Cowboys Stadium. You can find a link at our website, voaspecialenglish.com.
DOUG JOHNSON: And finally, Super Bowl Forty-Five. The big show and show down. How did the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers play in the two thousand ten football season? And what can viewers expect to see during the game that will be broadcast to much of the world?
The Green Bay Packers regular season record was ten wins and six losses. However, all their losses were in extremely close games.
This will be the Packers’ sixth visit to the Super Bowl. They won the championship three times.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been to the Super Bowl seven times before. They have been the National Football League Champions six times. The last victory was in two thousand nine.
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Farrior (51) stretches during practice on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, in Fort Worth, Texas. The Steelers will play the Green Bay Packers in NFL football Super Bowl XLV Sunday, Feb. 6.
Super Bowl Forty-Five will be broadcast live around the world. Last year, an estimated one hundred six million people in the United States watched the championship game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. Broadcasting experts said it was the most-watched program of any kind in American television history. Advertisers paid at least two and one-half million dollars for a thirty-second commercial broadcast during the game.
This year the cost of commercials has risen. A thirty-second ad will cost at least three million dollars. But marketers say it is worth it. They say the ads have a popular culture appeal. Many of them are very funny and entertaining. Some people turn on the game for the commercials alone.
The hip-hop band Black Eyed Peas will perform during the Super Bowl’s half-time break. The group released its latest album, “The Beginning,” in November. Here is “The Time (Dirty Bit)” from that album.
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Reporter Caty Weaver¹⁰ talked to some people on the streets of Washington to find out what they will be doing on Super Bowl Sunday.
We start with Thomas. He will be watching the game at his home with family and about fifteen friends.
THOMAS: “Oh yeah, we having a Super Bowl party. We gonna' cook and eat, I mean we gonna' party…”
So what is on the menu?
THOMAS: “A little bit of everything. Chili¹¹, you got ribs¹², chicken, potato salad, greens, macaroni, a nice buffet…”
And he says there will be a lot of shouting and cheering. There is opposition¹³ in the group, he says.
THOMAS: “See, I’m Pittsburgh and my sister and them, they’re Green Bay.”
Cat Austin is from Woodbridge, Virginia. She also plans to have several couples over for the Super Bowl. She says she will put out wine and cheese.
Cat Austin says she does not care about football.
CAT AUSTIN: “I don’t watch football except to be able to come to the office and talk about it with the guys.”
However, she says her guests will get excited.
CAT AUSTIN: “The football culture is the football culture. It’s all fun, friends and family getting together eating and yelling and just having fun.”
Christina Aguilera will sing “The Star Spangled Banner” before the game begins. We leave you with the singer performing “Bionic” from her latest album of the same name.
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DOUG JOHNSON: I’m Doug Johnson. Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver.
Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

3 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

4 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

5 ravens   

n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Wheresoever the carcase is,there will the ravens be gathered together. 哪里有死尸，哪里就有乌鸦麇集。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A couple of ravens croaked above our boat. 两只乌鸦在我们小船的上空嘎嘎叫着。 来自辞典例句

6 domed   

adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• I gazed up at the domed ceiling arching overhead. 我抬头凝望着上方弧形的穹顶。
• His forehead domed out in a curve. 他的前额呈弯曲的半球形。

7 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

8 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

9 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

10 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

11 chili   

n.辣椒

参考例句：

• He helped himself to another two small spoonfuls of chili oil.他自己下手又加了两小勺辣椒油。
• It has chocolate,chili,and other spices.有巧克力粉，辣椒，和其他的调味品。

12 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。