[00:00.00] Chapter 16 Current affairs
[00:12.90]Unit 16 Current Affairs
[00:18.36]Conversations
[00:21.71]part 1
[00:25.08]Tow students are discussing some cocial problems.
[00:30.43]With the rapid developmets,more and more problems are coming out.
[00:37.20]Just think of the population explosion.
[00:41.64]If that continues at the present rate,we'll all be starving in future.
[00:47.60] Oh,don't say that .
[00:51.44]Most countries are developing family planning programs now.
[00:57.81]At least there is a solution to the population explosion.
[01:03.76] It's all very well to say that population growth will be controlled,
[01:09.83]but I don't think the figures show any real improvement yet,
[01:14.87]and all the people alive now obviously want to have children.
[01:20.51] You may be right.But there are other things that need controlling.
[01:26.67]Take pollution for example,as the population increases,it waste materials;
[01:35.92]and industry waste a lot of pollution.
[01:41.56]Yes,because industry is using up the world's natural resources faster and faster,
[01:48.23]especially energy.
[01:51.60] Do you know millions of tons of oil are spilt into the sea every year?
[01:59.33]It's terrible!
[02:02.78]Yes,I agree,oil is a dreadful problem.
[02:09.02]Let's hope the scientists can develop new sources of energy.
[02:14.77]Tang and his foreign teacher Victor are exchanging ideas about the science of clone.
[02:24.61] I read from the paper that an American physicist said
[02:31.28]he was ready to clone a human being
[02:35.85]and hoped to produce the first human duplicate within the next 18 months.
[02:43.00]You have read a lot.
[02:46.95]The scientist also said that if the United States does outlaw human cloning,
[02:53.79]he would set up his operation elsewhere.
[02:58.16]I first learnt about the clone from the cloning of Dolly,
[03:03.80]a sheep created using genetic material from an adult cell.
[03:10.28]It's said that the difference between that
[03:14.82]and cloning a human being was not that great.
[03:19.58] Many experts said that is was not a fear of science
[03:25.14]but of how to control the technology.
[03:29.50]Yes,I agree.
[03:33.16]And it seems to me that is touches on a central theme--search for immortality.
[03:40.24]Huh,huh,quite right.
[03:44.68]Everybody seems to believe that you'd just be a younger version of who you are today
[03:50.84]and could use all your experience and shape your life
[03:55.99] because you now know better.
[03:59.54]But the reality is that you'd go through another likfe and it wouldn't be you.
[04:06.02]So it's hard to see the future of teh human cloning.
[04:11.35]True.In fact,technology is neither good nor evil.
[04:17.10]It's just the use of it.
[04:20.26]part 3
[04:23.50]Sarah and Matthew are talking about problems related to the equality of women and men.
[04:31.65]It strikes me that here in Britain
[04:36.69]women have already got as much freedom as they could possibly want.
[04:42.75]They've got the vote,they can go to university,
[04:47.71]they can compete with men in the professions on equal terms.
[04:53.04] I agree,but not many.
[04:57.61]Most of them are still housewives.
[05:02.37]Can you imagine the monotony,the boredom,the frustration?
[05:08.53] I can imagine it easily enough.
[05:12.79]But don't forget that a lot of men have equally boring jobs
[05:18.25]and less freedom to do them in their own way.
[05:22.90]Most housewives,in my experience,are content to be housewives.
[05:28.83]Take my wife Lisa for example,she's not bored or frustrated;
[05:34.99]She finds her life quite satisfying;she cleans,cooks,gardens...
[05:40.64]Oh,I'm aware of that.
[05:44.89]That's becuase over the centuries men have trained
[05:50.25]and educated women to consider themselves inferior and to accept their position.
[05:57.69]You men they've been conditioned to accept an inferior position?
[06:02.84] Exactly,they've been brainwashed.
[06:07.57]It's the job of the women's Lib Movement to open their eyes
[06:13.45]to the way they have been fooled and dominated and exploited all these years.
[06:20.71]I believe the housework and the bringing up the children should be shared equally.
[06:27.87]Well,I do that at my house;
[06:31.71]and I fill up the stove and mow the lawn and dig the garden.
[06:37.17]Anyway I do quite a lot of the shopping.
[06:42.34]Fancy that!
[06:45.58]And in my time I've bathed a few babies,changed nappies and washed them.
[06:51.82]Well,all I can say is you must be pretty unusual.
[06:57.41]My husband's never touched a nappy in his life.
[07:02.87]part 4
[07:05.93] On Free Birth Control.
[07:09.98] Peter,what sections of the population do you think
[07:15.75] free birth control techniques should be available to ?
[07:20.79]They should be... available to all sections fo the community,er...
[07:27.27]things are getting to such a pitch taht I personally think that...
[07:32.91]er...not only should birth control methods be available to all sectilons of the community,
[07:40.17]but indeed should be compulsory.
[07:44.33]There should be some kind of law
[07:48.09]which says that a family should not have more than three children,
[07:53.55]a complete maximum of three children,
[07:58.22]if they have three children,then they must be lbliged by law,
[08:04.18]almost to use birth control,
[08:07.84]if not have er...various kinds of operation which...
[08:13.90]um... make conception impossible.
[08:18.16]But surely this is very er... explosive in social terms.
[08:24.61]It's very...it's a very totalitarian notion,but the alternative...
[08:30.56]if we look around us in the world outside is millions of people starving to death in places,
[08:37.12]and people suffering from malnutrition in ...
[08:41.48]in other parts of the underdeveloped world
[08:46.52]and indeed even in parts of the so-called developed world.
[08:52.38]Passage China Scare,Is It Real?
[08:59.14] America's love-hate relationship with China develops speedily.
[09:06.22]The latest setback in the bilateral relation is another fearsome "China Scare".
[09:14.48]Actually,though ,in America it is nothing new.
[09:20.12]The United States' politics seems to need a "China Scare" from time to time.
[09:27.56] Recall that nearly a storm started around the book
[09:33.52]The Coming Cnflict with China in 1997.
[09:38.87]Its author was two US journalists frmerly working i Beijing.
[09:46.14]The debate was anything but positive about the Sino-US relationship.
[09:53.58]It is true that China's strategic aims in Asia
[09:59.54]are not completely the same with those of the US.
[10:05.00]However,the authors seemed to worry far too much
[10:11.06]by putting much emphasis on China's military strength.
[10:16.93] American interest groups are afraid of competing with Chinese imports,
[10:23.88]because more and more American consumers
[10:28.74]bigin to find Chinese goods an much cheaper choice.
[10:34.62]So they held this political view
[10:39.19]that China's rapid growth is not a blessing for all concerned.
[10:45.54]Instead it was being thought
[10:49.80]as a force threatening other Asia economies and America's too.
[10:56.46] President George W.Bush "encourages the transfer of money,
[11:03.90]industrial capacity and technology to China
[11:09.47]that will help its development but sill threaten the US and its allies",
[11:16.60]charges William Hawkins,a supporter for protecting US business and industry.
[11:24.43]Then there's also people saying that China's gain
[11:30.47]is basically on every one else's loss.
[11:35.30]An increasingly globalized and modernized nation of 1.3 billion
[11:42.67]is not a win-win for almost everyone.
[11:47.53]It's a losing situation for everyone,but for China.
[11:53.87] That's absurd,I think.
[11:58.45] Sure,China's neighbors in Asia are worried about Chinese competition
[12:05.29]and they know they have to work harder in order to compete with China.
[12:11.64]However,it si unnecessarily sending scare
[12:18.17]by imagining that economic growth will be greatly reduced,
[12:24.05]domestic stock markets will get fuined and employment levels will become lower.
[12:31.41]Certainly,China's economic progress will cause some tense moments.
[12:38.67]But,on the whole,
[12:42.44]Asia and the rest of the world will benefit from China's success.
[12:48.99] Surely,China's entry into World Trade Organization
[12:55.55]and its globalization will not be botally smooth.
[13:01.79]Some people on the mainland who want to protect Chinese industries
[13:08.35]would interfere to slow down market opening.
[13:13.52]On the other hand,
[13:16.76]the Bush administration's decision to cut down
[13:21.52]on import quotas on foreign steel brought about world wide anger.
[13:28.78]That decision has made US strategic and economic allies in Asia
[13:36.14]and Europe angrier at America than at anything China has done lately.
[13:43.69]So who is the greater threat--China or the United States
[13:50.82]--to the world economy?
[13:54.38]Let's just say that what continues to be needed in America's relationship with China
[14:01.53]is not another "red scare",
[14:06.39]but the three facts all too often missing:
[14:12.17]common sense,political maturity and intellectual honesty.
[14:19.90]Words and Expressions
[14:23.74]speedy setback bilateral
[14:26.42]adj.快速的 n.挫折 adj.双边的
[14:29.09]fearsome scare recall
[14:31.42]adj.可怕的 n.恐慌 v.回想
[14:33.74]conflict author journalist
[14:36.53]n.冲突 n.作者 n.记者
[14:39.31]formerly debate positive
[14:41.79]adv.从前，以前 n.辩论 adj.乐观
[14:44.27]strategic emphasis military
[14:47.09]adj.战略的 n.强调 adj.军事的 n.军队
[14:49.91]compete import consumer
[14:52.43]v.竞争 n.进口 n.消费者
[14:54.96]concern transfer charge
[14:57.79]v.关系，关于 n.转让 v.指责
[15:00.62]globalize modernize absurd
[15:03.29]v.全球化 v.现代化 adj.荒谬的
[15:05.95]competition domestic stock
[15:08.62]n.竞争 adj.国内的 n.股票
[15:11.28]entry globalization interfere
[15:13.87]n.进入 n.全球化 v.干涉
[15:16.45]administration quota maturity
[15:19.33]n.政府，政权 n.配额 n.成熟
[15:22.20]intellectual honesty
[15:24.38]adj.知识的;理性的 n.诚实，真诚
[15:26.56]Exercises Section I Listening Comprehension
[15:32.60] Listen to the record.
[15:36.36]Answer each question by choosing A,B,C or D from the four possible choices.
[15:45.42]A 1.This bike doesn't have brake,and paintings on it have come off.
[15:54.57]It's not worth buying at all.
[15:58.12] That's not a bad-looking bike.
[16:02.56]I'd like to have it so long as it can run.
[16:07.31]What's in the headlines today?
[16:12.96]It says here that one war is ending in the Middle East
[16:18.23]And that another one is starting in Africa.
[16:22.67]Most couontries are developing family planning programs now.
[16:30.04]It's all very well to say that population growth will be controled,
[16:36.21]but I don't think the figures show any real improvement.
[16:41.77]I first learnt about the clone from the cloning of Dolly,
[16:48.82]a sheep created using genetic material from an adult cell.
[16:55.80]It's said that the difference between that
[17:00.06]and cloning a human being was not that great.
[17:05.10]So it's hard to see the future of the human cloning.
[17:11.94]True.In fact,technology is neither good nor evil.
[17:17.79]It's just the use of it.
[17:21.45]B I heard that the country o f Saudi Arabia
[17:27.12]is suffering from energy shortages just like we are here in China.
[17:32.87]I heard that,too.
[17:36.63]Who would eve thought that Saudi Arabia would have an energy shortage?
[17:43.39]That country produces more oil than any other antion in the world.
[17:50.37]Their energy shortage is lack of electricity.
[17:55.64]It has been reported that new office buildings
[18:00.29]and homes have stood empty for months waiting for power hookups.
[18:06.35]I heard that a member of the royal family paid $30 000
[18:13.62]in order to get a power hookup in his new home.
[18:18.58]The solution to problem seems simple.
[18:23.41]Why don't they just build more power plants and use that enormous supply of oil they have?
[18:30.47]I guess they have found the solution to be more complicated than that.
[18:36.94]It seems that cash is tight and the demand for electricity
[18:43.29]is growing three times as fast as the economy.
[18:48.75]For a long time the Saudis have resisted outside control of sensitive industries,
[18:55.83]but now they are hatching plans for private utilities
[19:01.11]with some foreign participation to help supply electricity.
[19:06.36]It seems that problems and solutions are the same the world over.
[19:13.52]That's true.
[19:17.07]One of the princes who is pushing a private utility plan has an interesting slogan,
[19:23.91]"To the market,for the market,by the market."
[19:29.58]C Are you worried by the rising crime rate?
[19:36.03]If you are,then you probably know that your house,
[19:41.10]possessions and person are increasingly in danger of suffering
[19:47.16]from the tremendous rise in the cases of burglary and assault.
[19:53.22] Figures indicate an ever-increasing crime rate
[19:58.55]but it is only too easy to imagine
[20:03.10]"It will never happen to me".
[20:07.17]Unfortunately statistics show that it really can happen to you and,
[20:13.41]if you ive in large city,you run twice the risk of being a victim.
[20:19.66] Fortunately,there is something definite which you can do.
[20:25.12]Protect Alarms can help you to protect your house
[20:30.79]with a burglar alarm system which is effective,
[20:35.51]simple to operate and easily affordable.
[20:40.16] You must remember that possessing a burglar alarm
[20:44.84]is no indication that your house is packed with valuable possessions.
[20:50.72]It quite simply indicates to unwelcome wivitors
[20:55.58]that they will not break into the house easily,
[21:00.30]so they carry on to an unprotected house where their job is made a lot easier.
[21:06.57] Send now for our free leaflet
[21:11.22]telling you how we can Protect Alarm your house quickly,easily and cheaply.
[21:17.99]Complete and tear off the slip below and post it to us.
[21:23.55]Postage is free.
[21:27.00]Alternatively,telephone us at 3276721
[21:33.35]where we have a round-the-clock answering service.
[21:38.70]It costs nothing to find out about Protect Alarms.
[21:44.16]Supplementary Reading
[21:47.72]Human Activity Threating Mount Qomolangma
[21:53.78] Asenior scientist warned on Sunday that human carelessness
[22:00.54]is putting the delicate ecological balance of Mount Qomolangma in peril.
[22:07.99] China Association for Scientific Expedition President
[22:14.23]Gao Dengyi revealed an alarming that 615 tons of waste
[22:22.17]were dumped by visitors to the peak between 1921 and 1999.
[22:30.22] Gao asked the central government to establish a national station
[22:37.48]to strengthen environmental monitoring and research on the world's highest peak.
[22:45.03] "The effort will not only benefit China but the rest of the world,"said Gao,
[22:52.40]Adding that data collected on the mountain
[22:57.44]could shed more light on global environmental and climate change trends.
[23:04.70] Gao,whose team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences
[23:10.86]has researched the mountain since the 1960s,
[23:15.91]said:"We need the government's backing to continue the effort."
[23:22.25] Further activities are required to increase environmental awareness
[23:29.20]and cut pollution on the mountain.
[23:33.75] The greater popularity of the mountain is taking its toll,
[23:39.70]with its snow becoming increasingly contaminated by DDT and lead.
[23:47.64]"We have monitored more and more poisonous elements on the mountain,"Gao said.
[23:55.01]"The waste left behind has resulted in a worse environment there,"warned Gao.
[24:03.06] Gao,who has also been conducting environmetal research on the Qinghai-
[24:09.90]Tibet Plateau since the 1960s,
[24:15.15]said that the hole in the ozone layer
[24:19.80]over the plateau has not expanded in recent years.
[24:25.86] "Ozone depletion over the plateau was not caused by human activity,
[24:33.23]so it didn't change much during previous years,"said Gao.
[24:39.71] "In fact,there is no 'hole' over the region
[24:45.48]and the amount of ozone is just less that other parts of the world,
[24:51.83]excluding the Antarctic and Arctic," Gao said.
[24:57.71] "So far,the ozone layer above the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
[25:04.47]can ward off ultraviolet radiation," said Gao.
[25:10.11]"But the ozone holes above the North and South poles are extending,"said Gao.
[25:19.07]Each spring,when the sun rises over Antarctica,
[25:25.32]chemical reactions involving chlorine and bromine from man-made CFCs
[25:33.47]and bromine-containing compounds occur in the stratosphere and destroy ozone,
[25:41.51]causing the ozone hole.
[25:45.88]This also happens over the Arctic.
[25:50.60] "But the ozone depletion area over China's sky
[25:56.48]is caused by meteoric and geological factors."
[26:02.54]The low ozone area over the plateau has been formed by atmospheric convergence
[26:10.90]and divergence near the plateau's surface and in the sky,
[26:17.07]scientific data has shown since 1987.
[26:22.81] Despite that,China has been working with international community
[26:29.76]to protect the world's ozone layer for many years.
[26:35.32] With the help of funds donated by the international community
[26:41.70]and measures taken by the Chinese government,
[26:46.84]the country has achieved a great deal in stopping the roduction
[26:53.51]and consumption of ozone depleting substances.
[26:59.88] For example,figures from the State Environmental Protection Administration
[27:07.32]whow that the production of CFCs in China
[27:12.60]now stands at nearly 30 000 tons a year,down from 45 000 tons in 1999,
[27:22.55]when the country started to phase out CFC production.
[27:28.51]By 2010--- as agreed by the Montreal Protocal--
[27:35.28]China will have ended CFC production.
[27:40.74] China has received US $ 450 Million from the Multilateral Fund
[27:48.99] for the Implementation of Montreal Protocol
[27:54.03]since 1992 and more than 200 projects have been started.
