37 研究表明2500万年前流星曾碰撞过地球
DATE=4-18-01
TITLE=SCIENCE REPORT - Meteor Collision With Earth
BYLINE=Jill Moss
(Start at 59")This is the VOA Special English Science Report.
American researchers have discovered new (1) evidence that suggests a huge space (2) rock crashed into Earth two- hundred- fifty- million years ago. The discovery was published in Science magazine. Luann Becker of the University of Washington led the study. She estimates the space rock, or meteor, was between six and twelve kilometers across. She also says the energy released by the (3) meteor could have equaled an earthquake measuring twelve on the Richter Scale.
Researchers believe the force of the crash may have caused (4) volcanoes to explode and spread liquid rock. Huge clouds of dust and dirt probably flew into the air. Researchers say this likely caused chemical acid rain and a warming of the Earth's atmosphere.
The researchers also believe the changes caused by the crash killed almost all the plants and animals on Earth. The researchers estimate ninety percent of all ocean life was killed and seventy percent of all land animals disappeared. They say this mass extinction happened within one- hundred- thousand years. The researchers also suspect this mass extinction marks the separation of two early periods in Earth's history. Scientist had long believed that the end of the (5) Permian period and beginning of the Triassic period began with a meteor crash. However, there has been little evidence of this until now.
In their study, the researchers found carbon (6) molecules trapped in rocks dating back to the Permian period. The molecules are called Fullerenes, or Buckyballs. They contain gases that are found only in space. Mizz Becker says buckyballs form under extreme pressure, such as when a meteor hits the Earth's surface. Based on her research, she says the force of the meteor hitting the Earth spread buckyballs around the planet. Scientists found these molecules in rocks from China and Japan.
No huge hole has been found to mark where the meteor crashed. Some scientists think it happened in Western Australia. Mizz Becker disagrees. She says the event happened so long ago that any hole made by a meteor has been smoothed back into the Earth's surface.
Researchers say the Buckyball molecules should ease any disbelief that a mass (7) extinction happened more than two hundred-fifty million years ago.
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Bill White.
注释：
(1) evidence[ ???????? ]n.明显,根据, [物]证据, 证物
(2) rock[???? ]n.岩石, 暗礁,v.摇摆
(3) meteor[ ????????]n.流星, 大气现象
(4) volcano[ ?????????? ]n.火山
(5) permian [????????] a.[地]二叠纪的n.二叠纪
(6) molecule[ ????????????????? ]n.[化]分子, 些微
(7) extinction[???????????? ]n.消失, 消灭 [物]消光
38 信息和通讯技术的发展使人们广泛运用互联网成为可能
DATE=4-23-01
TITLE=DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Community Broadcast Radio
BYLINE=Gary Garriott
(Start at 59")This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Computers and connecting to the Internet computer system have become important in recent yeas. Information and （1）communication technologies make this happen. Through some of these Special English reports, we have been exploring ways in which （2）information and communication technologies can permit more people to use the Internet.
Many organizations believe that everyone, even poor people, should be able to use information and communication technologies. However, people must know how to read and write in order to use (3) computers. In many countries, more than half the adult population cannot read or write.
Now a United Nations agency has an idea about how to bring information from the Internet to people who cannot read or write. The agency is UNESCO - the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. UNESCO has projects that combine two information and communication (4) technologies.
One technology is community (5) broadcast radio. The radio station you are listening to now, the Voice of America, has big powerful （6）transmitters set up around the world. But it is also possible to use small transmitters operating at low power. Broadcasts from these stations reach only a few (7) square kilometers. But many people can listen to the radio within this area.
Community broadcast radio is combined with computers and the Internet at a multi-media community center. For example, farmers can go to the center and ask a question about a farming problem. Then workers at the center search the Internet for an answer. They broadcast the answer to the whole community over the radio station.
Many groups are experimenting with this idea. One is Radio Kothmale in Sri Lanka. People from （8）community radio stations all over the world met in Kothmale at a meeting supported by UNESCO. They learned what has made Radio Kothmale a success. And they learned how to use the Internet in their own programs to help people who cannot read or write.
You can get more information about Radio Kothmale and UNESCO at the Internet address, www.unesco.org. Or you can write to Special English, Voice of America, Washington, D-C Two-Zero-Two-Three-Seven, U-S-A.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Gary Garriott.
注释：
（1） communication[???????????????? ]n.传达, 信息, 交通, 通讯
（2） information[ ???????????? ]n.通知, 报告
（3） computer[??????????? ]n.计算机, 电脑
（4） technology[???????????? ]n.工艺, 科技, 技术
（5） broadcast[ ??????????? ]n.广播, 播音v.播撒(种子)
（6） transmitter[ ?????????? ]n.转送者, 传达人, 传导物
（7） square[???????]n.正方形, 广场adj.正方形的, 四方的adv.成直角地, 正直地
（8） community[ ??????????? ]n.公社, 团体
39 脂肪中的茎细胞有助于治疗糖尿病
DATE=4-26-01
TITLE=SCIENCE REPORT- Stem Cells in Fat
BYLINE=Nancy Steinbach
(Start at 59")This is the VOA Special English Science Report.
American medical researchers say they have discovered （1）stem (2) cells in human fat for the first time. Stem cells are able to develop into other kinds of cells, including nerve, bone and muscle cells.
Scientists have been studying the use of stem cells to treat and possibly cure many diseases. These stem cells have the power to grow into new heart muscle for people with heart disease. Or the stem cells can become new insulin-producing cells for people (3) suffering （4）diabetes.
Researchers have collected stem cells from the brain, bones and fetal tissue from unborn babies. Getting these stem cells for research purposes is difficult. And many people are opposed to using fetal tissue for research. The new discovery means that it might be easier to get stem cells for research and treatment of diseases.
Researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Pittsburgh carried out the study. They reported the results in the publication "（5）Tissue Engineering." The researchers took fat from the stomachs and legs of healthy adults in an operation known as liposuction. About six- hundred- thousand such operations are done in the United States every year. People choose to have liposuction to remove unwanted body fat.
The researchers treated the fat with a (6) substance that separated out the stem cells. They found that about two- hundred grams of fat could produce as many as fifty- million to one- hundred- million stem-like cells. Then they used different chemicals to change those cells into bone cells, cartilage cells and muscle cells.
This is the first study to show that a person’s own stem cells in fat might someday be used to treat disease or repair injured body parts. This would solve the problems of rejection by the body because no foreign tissue would be used.
However, researchers say many questions must be answered first. For example, must the stem cells be treated in the laboratory before they are given to patients? Do the stem cells form （7）tumors? Do the stem cells change back to fat cells?
Scientists are working to confirm the findings of this experiment. They are testing the stem cells in animals. If this is successful, researchers say human testing could begin in about five years.
This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.
注释：
(1) stem[ ???? ]n.干v.滋生, 阻止
(2) cell[ ????]n.单元, 细胞
(3) suffering[??????????]n.苦楚, 受难adj.受苦的, 患病的
(4) diabetes[????????????????????? ]n.[医] 糖尿病, 多尿症
(5) tissue[?????????]n.薄的纱织品, 薄纸[生]组织, 连篇
(6) substance[ ??????????]n.物质, 实质
(7) tumor[ ????????]n.瘤
40 国际技术援助志愿者
DATE=4-30-01
TITLE=DEVELOPMENT REPORT - VITA
BYLINE=Gary Garriott
(Start at 1'01")This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Volunteers are people who do things to help others without being paid. Some groups are called private (1) voluntary organizations or P-V-Os. They also use volunteers to perform special activities. One such P-V-O is Volunteers in Technical (2) Assistance or VITA.
VITA was established in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine. It was started by a group of engineers and scientists. They believed information and (3) technology are important for improving the lives of people in developing countries. VITA helps people in developing countries in several ways. It provides information, (4) strengthens local communities and develops improved technologies. It supports new businesses. And it supports the (5) exchange of technical information among people and groups.
VITA uses people with important skills and (6) experience, such as engineers, businessmen and farmers. These people volunteer to solve technical problems in developing countries, especially those in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
By using volunteers, VITA is able to do more work than it could if it had to pay everyone. VITA’s volunteers are happy to do this work during their (7) extra time. They usually work at home on weekends or evenings to answer questions from people who have technical problems.
In the past, people asked questions in letters mailed to VITA. Now many people use computers to send questions by electronic mail over the Internet. Sometimes VITA volunteers travel to foreign countries to work on projects that began when someone asked a question. VITA has produced publications from the answers to the most popular questions.
VITA is also using the Internet to find volunteers to answer questions. For example, if someone from Africa writes about a problem, VITA places the question on its Internet Website. Volunteers can provide answers to the questions. This service is free.
VITA has worked with volunteers for a long time. So it can also help others work with volunteers in their own countries. For example, in (8) Ukraine and Moldova, VITA is helping the (9) Citizens Network for Foreign Affairs train farmers in business skills. Local volunteers in those countries are doing most of the training.
You can get more information on VITA from its Internet address, www.vita.org .
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Gary Garriott.
注释：
(1) voluntary[??????????????????????]adj.自动的, 自愿的
(2) assistance[ ????????? ]n.协助, 援助
(3) technology[?????????????]n.工艺, 科技, 技术
(4) strengthen[ ??????????]v.加强, 巩固
(5) exchange[ ??????????? ]v.交换, 调换n.交换, 调换
(6) experience[ ???????????? ]n.经验, 体验
(7) extra[ ??????? ]adj.额外的adv.特别地, 非常
(8) Ukraine [????????????] n. [国名] 乌克兰
(9) citizen[???????? ]n.市民, 公民
