英语每日一听 | 每天少于5分钟

My name's Michelle Moon. I'm 54 years old. I'm a housekeeper at Days Inn in Harmarville, Pennsylvania and I've been working for this company for over 20 years.我叫米歇尔·穆恩，今年54岁，是宾夕法尼亚州哈马维尔戴斯酒店的一名客房服务员，在这家公司已经工作了20多年。Quite frankly, I like it here. I like my coworkers, sometimes. Far as the clients go that stays here, some is good, some is bad, some is rotten.说实话，我很喜欢这里。有时候，我也喜欢我的同事们。至于这里的房客，有好有坏，有些烂透了。With some people, I'll be wondering. They trashes a room. Do they treat their houses, their places like that? Because they're nasty. But I just keep on going.看到一些房客，我有时候会想，他们把房间弄得一团糟，也是这样对待自己的房子和住处吗？因为他们太邋遢了，但我只管工作。I had no goals when I was younger, really, not really, just surviving day by day, doing whatever I do, whatever I want, and whatever I can. Just day by day thing.我年轻的时候没有什么目标，只是一天天地熬日子，做我该做的、想做的、能做的，就这样日复一日。I had no regrets. Where I'm at is where I'm at. I have no regrets. I love my children and my grandchildren.我没有遗憾，总是随遇而安，我爱我的孩子和孙辈。They're bad as hell, excuse my language, but I love them just the same.他们有时候很调皮，但我非常爱他们。The only thing I would change would be getting my oldest son back.我唯一想改变的就是让我的长子回来。At the age I had him, I wasn't very good. Well, the state didn't think I was very good at it, so they took him.我生他的时候，情况不太好。州政府认为我没能力抚养他，所以他们带走了他。Every time I had to go visit him, I had to sign a paper, my signature.每次我去见他时，都必须在一份文件上签字。So, one of those days, I signed the paper for my visitation to see him.有一天，我签署了探监文件去见他。Next thing I know, I got my visitation taken as well as my son.接下来，我不仅失去了探视权，连儿子也被带走了。I feel like the case worker I had tricked me on signing the papers.我觉得办案人员骗我签了那些文件。And from that day on, I learned to look before I sign. But despite everything else, my son, Jesse, he's with a very good family.从那天起，我学会了先看文件再签字。但不管怎样，我儿子杰西现在寄养的家庭非常好。Right now, I know he's alright. So, that was my only regret. But anything else, I don't regret. I just don't.我知道他一切都好，这是我唯一的遗憾。除此之外，我别无他憾。

Because our employees are experiencing, you know, 20 to 25 percent a day in downtime, due to the internet speed.每天有20%到25%的时间，我们的员工因为网速慢而停工。They're not, you know, being able to effectively do their work as efficiently as possible. We have been waiting for a year now to have fiber brought to us.他们没办法尽可能高效地开展工作。我们已经等了一年，就等着光纤接入。They just say that we're not within their territory and they don't have to provide us service.他们只是说我们不在他们的辖区内，他们不必为我们提供服务。If it's an issue of giving service that's necessary for public safety, then there's a very strong social argument or public argument.如果提供网络事关公众安全，肯定会有强烈的公众要求或社会要求。So, hospitals, the police, homeland defense, perhaps other emergency services that are provided in the area.这个区域的医院、警察、国土安全部和其他应急服务机构肯定都有网络。It's a little bit more difficult to make an argument that then you also need to subsidize internet service to an individual household.但是如果说每家每户都要能联网，那就很困难了。The total package will probably be around 5,000 dollars by the time it's brought to us, installed, and all the fiber and things are done within the building.联网这一整套服务下来可能要花费5000美元左右，从安装、光纤到建筑内部的设置。I want to say packages are going to be around the 80 to 100 dollar range, depending on what speed you get.等设备运到我们这里、安装完毕，并且楼内所有光纤等设施都铺设完毕后，总费用大概在5000美元左右。We will be able to get up to, I want to say, 100 megabits per second or faster.这样我们就能用上100M的网，甚至更快的。Senator Chuck Grassley, we emailed him with just one time.我们给参议员查克·格雷斯利发过一次邮件。I told him about our dream of pursuing, buying this farm property, building a new home out here,我告诉他我们一直追求的梦想，就是买下这个农场，在这里建一个新家，wanting to work from home but was not able to because the internet provider at that point did not have high speed.渴望在家工作却未能如愿，因为当时的网络供应商没有高速宽带。It will happen, I'm just not sure when. But he said this Connect America funding was made available to internet providers through all of Iowa.我们肯定能用上高速网络，就是不知道什么时候。但他说爱荷华州的每个互联网供应商都使用“连接美国基金”。If we plowed fiber to every one of these, you're probably talking several hundred thousand dollars.如果要在每家每户铺设光纤，可能会花费几十万美元。It could be in the million dollars in some of these exchanges just to serve two, three, four or five customers.有时候给两到五个客户提供服务，费用就可能高达数百万美元。At the end of the day, the customers are going to be paying for that in one way or another. It may be through property tax or it may be through service subscription.归根结底，客户无论如何都得为此买单。可能是通过房产税，也可能是通过服务订阅。Now, if it's only relatively high income people who are the subscribers, they're the ones who are then being subsidized by the people who don't buy the service, who are paying through their property tax.如果现在只有高收入人群订阅网络服务，这些人实际上是在接受那些不购买该服务的人的房产税补贴。We currently use the CAF funding, Connect America funds. We've been in that program for several years, been very active in it.我们目前使用CAF资金，我们参与那个项目已有数年之久，一直非常积极地投入其中。And it helps us fund projects like this. Had we not had that funding, I'm not sure we would have been able to reach out and serve all these rural customers. 这帮助我们为类似的项目提供资金。如果没有那笔资金，我不确定我们是否能够接触并服务所有这些农村客户。

I've been coming to Dyker Heights. Well, this is my first time actually, so he's actually taking me on a tour of Dyker Heights.我一直想来戴克高地。实际上这是我第一次来，他正带我参观戴克高地。Yes and I've been here several years. My parents grew up in Brooklyn. So, you know, everybody knows about it from the surrounding area.我在这里待了好几年了。我父母在布鲁克林长大，周边地区的每个人都知道。Ryan was just telling me about a house that you can see from space, so we're on the hunt to find that house that you can see from space. Hot chocolate. Hot chocolate. Wink wink. It's hot chocolate.瑞安刚才告诉我有一栋房子从太空都能看到，所以我们正在寻找那栋从太空可见的房子。热可可。It's really nice and I like, I think the lights are very beautiful.它真的很漂亮，我认为灯光非常漂亮。It's just really nice how everybody decorates and lets everybody come by their properties and watch the lights.每个人都精心装饰自己的住所，还让大家到他们的房子前观赏灯光，这种氛围真的特别美好。Since I'm a little kid. So, I'm 46. So, it's been a long time. So, Lucy Spata, this is her house.我还是个孩子的时候就是如此。现在我46岁了，时间过得真快。这是露西·斯帕达的房子。Well, supposedly, she started this, you know, doing it in an extraordinary way.据说，她以一种非同寻常的方式开始了这件事。And I guess that tradition sort of caught on in the rest of the block and the surrounding houses.我想这个传统在街区的其他部分和周围的房子里也流行起来了。And then it just started, I guess, expanding to the whole neighborhood. So, it's become a destination now.然后我想，它就开始扩展到整个社区了。现在这里已经成了一个热门去处。We've seen busloads of people. They have those big buses coming and there's loads of people on the buses.我们看到一车又一车的人。那些大型巴士一辆接着一辆开来，车上挤满了人。It's pretty wild to see, because, like he said, we've been coming here for so long since we're little, and then to see these giant buses pull up with tourists to come and now it's a tourist attraction. It's wild.看到这一幕真是让人难以置信，就像他说的，我们从小就经常来这里， 现在却看到这些巨大的巴士载着游客到来，这里如今成了一个旅游景点。太疯狂了。What I heard, a lot of people restrained themselves from decorating this year because they didn't want crowds of people outside and stuff like that. They were afraid. 我听说，很多人今年都克制自己不进行装饰了，因为他们不想在外面有一大群人，他们很害怕。

I relish the day after the burn, when I get to come and clean it up and walk away from a black stain.这里烧过稻草后的第二天，我会过来打扫干净，然后远离那片焦黑的痕迹。It's great. I mean, something happened and there's a tiny black stain on the earth where it happened. Very simply, it makes me happy. I love it.太棒了，有事情发生了，事发地点会在地球上留下一个小小的黑色污渍。简单来说，这让我感到快乐。我爱极了。My name is Joe Pachak. I'm an artist. I love to do sculpture.我叫乔·佩查克。我是一位艺术家。我喜欢雕塑。Every year, I make a very large piece of sculpture and on December 21st, at a very important time, Winter Solstice, the beginning of the astronomical year,每年我都会制作一件很大的雕塑，并在12月21日冬至这个重要时刻，也就是天文年的开端，I set fire to it as a spiritual event connected to the science of our relationship between Sun and Earth.将其点燃，以此作为连接太阳与地球关系的科学精神仪式。When you start a new year like that, your spirit is raised.当你以这样的方式开启新的一年时，你的精神会为之振奋。We're seeing a pecked route out that was done a very long time ago.我们看到的是一条很久以前凿出的路线。And I'm counting one two three four five six seven eight nine pecked steps going up right here.一二三四五六七八九，从这里往上爬。Utah is a very rich place for prehistoric culture. It is right on the crest of the earth everywhere. 犹他州是史前文化非常丰富的地方，它恰好位于地球各处之巅。

They are loving companions. And for the blind, these dogs are a lifeline.狗狗是人类忠诚的伴侣。但对于盲人来说，狗狗就是他们的生命线。Lorri Bernson lost her vision 25 years ago and had her current guide dog named Captain for one year.洛丽·伯恩森25年前失明，她现在的导盲犬名为船长，已陪伴她一年。He is so sweet, and so devoted, and so makes me smile. You know, these dogs, they're not just your eyes.它十分贴心，也很忠诚，还总能逗我开心。这些导盲犬可不只是你的眼睛。I mean they become your heart. They become part of your soul. They become part of your being, Because when they're not with you, you notice the difference.它们会走进你的心里，成为你灵魂的一部分，成为你生命的一部分。因为一旦它们不在你身边时，你会察觉到不同。Many dogs are bred and trained here at Guide Dogs of America outside Los Angeles.许多狗狗在洛杉矶郊外的美国导盲犬协会接受培育和训练。Owners and dogs move in tandem step by step, navigating obstacles, including cars.主人与导盲犬步步同行，绕过车辆等障碍物。If a car gets too close to them, and they have what we call a buffer zone. It's anywhere from ten feet to two feet being a very tight buffer zone.如果一辆车离它们太近，就会有所谓的缓冲区。这是一个非常狭窄的缓冲地带，范围从十英尺到两英尺不等。But if a car were to come and break that buffer zone, and the dog feels some uncomfortable, they're gonna stop.但如果一辆车驶来并打破那个缓冲区域，而狗感到不适，它们就会停下。The dogs bred at this facility are mostly labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, or a mix. They are screened to ensure that they have the right temperament.该机构繁育的犬只多为拉布拉多犬、金毛寻回犬或两者的混种。他它们经过筛选以确保具备合适的性情。Guide dogs are allowed to go where other animals are not, boarding airplanes, for example, and trains.导盲犬可以去其他动物不能去的地方，例如飞机和火车。Pamela Metz's guide dog Franklin has been with her for four years.帕梅拉·梅茨的导盲犬富兰克林已陪伴她四年。We travel a lot together, and he's made it easier to travel independently.我们经常一起旅行，有它在，我独自旅行方便多了。Franklin has kept her spirits up since her husband passed away two years ago.自丈夫两年前去世以来，富兰克林一直都让她能够保持心情愉悦。He made me have to get up in the morning to take care of him and the cats, made me have to get up and move, and stay mobile and keep busy.因为富兰克林， 我会早上起来照顾他和猫，会起床走动，一直活动，保持忙碌。Guide Dogs of America recently merged with another organization that provides service animals, Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs.美国导盲犬协会最近与另一个提供服务性动物的组织“Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs”合并。This assistance dog is working with a trainer and volunteer to learn how to help a child with autism. Other assistance dogs work with disabled veterans.这只辅助犬正在与训练员和志愿者合作，学习如何帮助自闭症儿童。其他辅助犬则服务于残疾退伍军人。Some are trained by and helped prisoners, providing a needed pair of eyes as well as love and companionship有些辅助犬由囚犯训练并向他们提供帮助，从而提供一双所需的“眼睛”以及爱和陪伴。And even in an age when advanced technology is helping the disabled, the role of guide and assistance dogs is only expanding. 即便在先进科技助力残疾人的时代，导盲犬与辅助犬的作用仍在持续扩大。