VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-06-15 American Leaks Details of Secret Government Programs

 

AS IT IS 2013-06-15 American Leaks Details of Secret Government Programs

Hi, there—nice to have you with us on As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly. Today, we are talking about a 29-year-old American who leaked details of top-secret government programs.

Edward Snowden has been the subject of much debate this week in the United States and in many other places. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, says Mr. Snowden has betrayed his country.

“He’s a traitor¹. The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries² what our capabilities³ are, and it’s a giant violation⁴ of the law.”

Other Americans, like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked government secrets in 1971, believe Mr. Snowden is more like a hero.

“I think that he gives me hope that we may actually regain⁵ our Bill of Rights.”

Mario Ritter explains exactly what secret programs he made public.

This month, Edward Snowden told The Guardian⁶ newspaper that the American government has been secretly collecting millions of telephone records. The program gathers only limited data about phone calls, such as where a call is made, to what number, and how long it lasts. National security officials and President Obama have stated that the government does not have information about what the callers are saying.

“Nobody is listening to your telephone calls. That’s not what this program is about.”

Later, The Guardian and The Washington Post reported that the government is also gathering⁷ a huge amount of online information. The newspapers said the government can examine Internet users’ private emails, photographs and computer files. Reporters say at least nine major companies are taking part in the government program. They include Facebook, Google, Skype, YouTube, Hotmail, and Apple.

The program is called Prism. President Obama says Prism is directed mainly at people living outside the United States. If the government wants information about an American citizen or someone in the United States, officials must have permission from a special national security court.

But even foreign Internet date flows through the United States because its computer servers can carry information quickly and at low cost. Intelligence officers watch this communication to look for connections to known or suspected terrorists. They also look for data patterns that might show something about planned attacks.

President Obama says the intelligence-gathering programs have helped prevent terrorism. And, both programs are legal. They are protected under a measure Congress passed after the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. The law is called the Patriotic⁸ Act. It was designed to discover threats and prevent terrorist attacks.

In 2006, Congress re-confirmed parts of the law, including the telephone and Internet surveillance programs. Both have been used for over five years, and many lawmakers have known about them.

I’m Mario Ritter.

The surveillance programs may have been legal, but they were top-secret. Their existence was known mainly to lawmakers and officials in the National Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation⁹.

But Edward Snowden is not a lawmaker or  government employee. He was a computer technician for private companies. The companies did contract work for the National Security Agency, and Mr. Snowden worked with the agency’s computers. It is not clear how he learned about the surveillance programs. But, he had permission to see top-secret information.

Mr. Snowden told The Guardian that he made public secret documents to protect “basic liberties for people around the world.”

“Over time, the awareness¹⁰ of wrongdoing sort of builds up and you feel compelled to talk about it, and the more you talk about it the more you are ignored, the more you are told it’s not a problem, until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined¹¹ by the public, not by somebody who was simply hired by the government.”

Shortly before telling the media about the programs, Mr. Snowden left his home in Hawaii and went to Hong Kong. The American has said he hopes Hong Kong will not send him back to the United States for trial.  

A spokesman for President Obama says publicizing the programs has made it harder for the United States to fight terrorism.

“Leaks of sensitive classified information—they cause harm to our national security interests are a problem, a serious problem. And they are classified for a reason.”

Some lawmakers want to charge Mr. Snowden with spying. His employer has already dismissed him from his position.

But Mr. Snowden has plenty of supporters. They say the information-gathering programs violate people’s privacy—and the public needs to know about them.

Emma Carr is with the British campaign group Big Brother Watch.

“A mass communications data being piled into one place and being fished through just in case somebody’s been committing a crime, or retrospectively they can look through if someone’s committed a crime. That’s not okay and that’s not what democratic societies have been based on.”

And, a blogger in Beijing named Michael Anti says news about the American programs could help China.

 “The government will say, we told you, every government did the same thing about Internet control, and all the criticism you once made to us about Internet freedom, basically is very hypocritical.”

In the United States, most people appear not to share Edward Snowden’s concerns. A recent survey found that 62% of Americans said it was more important for the government to look for possible terrorist threats than to protect personal privacy.  

And that’s As It Is.

What do you think the right balance is between security and privacy? Send an email to [email protected]. Or go to our website at learningenglish.voanews.com and click on “Contact Us.”

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly, and that is our show for today. Remember, you can also listen to VOA World News at the top of the hour, Universal Time.

1 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。

2 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

3 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

5 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

6 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

7 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

8 patriotic   

adj.爱国的，有爱国心的

参考例句：

• His speech was full of patriotic sentiments.他的演说充满了爱国之情。
• The old man is a patriotic overseas Chinese.这位老人是一位爱国华侨。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。