VOA标准英语2013--Aspen Ideas Festival Inspires, Engages, Promotes Debate

 

Aspen Ideas Festival Inspires, Engages, Promotes Debate

Xiao Xiao, pianist, technologist and doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, brought to Aspen her insights from piano-playing to human-computer interaction, designing experiences that bridge the digital and the physical.

"One day when I was practicing the piano I was looking at the really pretty reflection that's in front of the keyboard of my hands, and I had this thought of wouldn't it be really beautiful if instead of seeing my own hands there I could see somebody else's hands," Xiao Xiao said.

Dr. Joel Dudley is director of bioinformatics and assistant professor of genetics and genomic sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He shared at Aspen the great strides made in health care, specifically in the field of personal genomics. "A genome for a single individual, for example, will have 6 billion letters in it, so 6 billion with a "B" letters. It's a tremendous amount of information to interpret, and we now have the tools to make it cheap and easy, relatively¹ easy, to interpret that, or at least measure that," he explained.

Patricia McLaughlin is associate vice² president of communications at the Legacy³ Foundation, a leading public health organization working to drive down smoking rates. She is at Aspen to keep media and business leaders engaged with the issue. "We have worked with three different artists who have all taken a position on some of the key issues that we are engaged in around tobacco use, and what they've done is through their art, they're illustrating⁴ the issue for us and helping⁵ drive the conversation with people," she said.

These are just a few of the many ideas presented at Aspen. For more than 60 years, the Aspen Institute has been a gathering⁶ place for leading writers, artists, scientists, public officials, business executives, scholars, economists⁷ and foreign policy experts.

Kitty Boone, vice president of public programs at the Aspen Institute and director of the Aspen Ideas Festival, said the conference gives attendees, who number as many as 4,000, a new appreciation⁸ of important topics. "The goal of an organization like ours and of this type of event is to get people to think, and to understand an issue from multiple perspectives," Boone stated.

From early in the morning to late in the evening,meeting on footpaths⁹ and sidewalks, on the lawn or at coffee bars, with thinkers, artists, musicians and other leaders - in this remote part of the Rocky Mountains to the beautiful music of renowned¹⁰ cellist¹¹ Yo-Yo Ma. 

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 illustrating   

给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• He upstaged the other speakers by illustrating his talk with slides. 他演讲中配上幻灯片，比其他演讲人更吸引听众。
• Material illustrating detailed structure of graptolites has been etched from limestone by means of hydrofluoric acid. 表明笔石详细构造的物质是利用氢氟酸从石灰岩中侵蚀出来。

5 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

6 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。

7 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

9 footpaths   

人行小径，人行道( footpath的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are a lot of winding footpaths in the col. 山坳里尽是些曲曲弯弯的羊肠小道。
• There are many footpaths that wind through the village. 有许多小径穿过村子。

10 renowned   

adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的

参考例句：

• He is one of the world's renowned writers.他是世界上知名的作家之一。
• She is renowned for her advocacy of human rights.她以提倡人权而闻名。

11 cellist   

n.大提琴手

参考例句：

• The cellist's bowing was very sensitive . 那位大提琴手的弓法十分细腻。 来自辞典例句
• World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded The Silk Road Project in 1998. 世界闻名的大提琴家马友友于1998年创建了丝路工程。 来自互联网