燕园小西
2014-4-6From VOA Learning English, welcome to This is America. I'm Steve Ember. April is National Poetry Month, and this week, Kelly Jean Kelly brings us some of the poems that Americans like best. Come along with us, on a journey through rhyme!April is National Poetry Month in the United States. The Academy of American Poets started the celebration in 1996. The goal was to help more Americans add poetry to their lives.The academy chose April as National Poetry Month because of a line in a poem. T.S. Eliot called April “the cruelest month” in his poem “The Waste Land.” And many Americans think April is the cruelest month. They must pay their income taxes by April 15th.National Poetry Month brings together publishers, booksellers, poetry groups, libraries, schools and poets around the country. They encourage people to write, read, and listen to poetry. In the southern state of Florida, the O, Miami Poetry Festival tries to bring a poem to every one of the 2.5 million people who live in the area. The group has dropped poems out of airplanes, sewn them into clothes, and put them on every bus in the city.Poetry is very popular in the United States. America even has a chief poet, known as the Poet Laureate. Robert Pinsky was the Poet Laureate from 1997 until 2000. He started the Favorite Poem Project, to find out which poems Americans liked best. Thousands of Americans wrote to Mr. Pinsky about their favorite poems. He chose 200 poems by poets from the United States and from many other countries. The poems are included in a book called “Americans’ Favorite Poems.” It was edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz. We will read five of poems from the book by American poets.
中国神运
'The Interview' Raises Tension between US, North KoreaBy VOA02 January, 2015Millions of Internet users have paid almost six dollars each to watch an online movie called"The Interview." The film has deeply angered North Korea. It also has led many Americans to debate what actions to take when facing threats to free expression.The controversial film is a product of Sony Pictures of Burbank, California. In the movie, two American journalists get a chance to meet with North Korean President Kim Jong Un. The Central Intelligence Agency asks the two to kill Mr. Kim, and they agree.The Americans join forces with a woman officer in the Korean People's Army and shoot down the president's helicopter. This takes place just as he is preparing to launch nuclear missiles.Some people criticize the film for plotting the violent death of a government leader. Others have said the film's storyline and situations are not at all serious. They say they are meant only to be funny. Still others praise "The Interview" because it shows the freedom of expression that American moviemakers enjoy.The North Korean government was not pleased when it learned about the film. The government began to object publicly last June, months before "The Interview" was to open in theaters. North Korea called the movie "an act of war." It threatened what it called "merciless" reaction.But could the film plant seeds of doubt about the North Korean government among North Korean citizens? Observers wonder if the freedom demonstrated in the movie could lead some North Koreans to question the tight controls of life in their country.I'm Bob Doughty.VOA's Steve Herman reported this story. Jeri Watson adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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