(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Post war prosperity also led Americans to replace outdated home appliances, buy a new refrigerator, or a television set. "Come closer, sweetheart. Say, I don't think that's fair, because we can't get closer." "Oh, but you could, if you had one of the new Westinghouse television sets with the exclusive Electronic Magnifier that gives you a big close-up image whenever you want it. All you do is turn the Electronic Magnifier knob, and there -- you get the heart of the picture. And see? I'm close enough to say, ‘Hello, good looking!'" Actress Betty Furness was commercial spokeswoman for Westinghouse.
"And every Sunday night, General Electric brings you the finest motion picture stars on TV -- the great names in comedy ... mystery ... romance. Every week, a star, all summer long, on the General Electric Theater." Over at competitor General Electric, actor Ronald Reagan -- later the fortieth president of the United States -- and often referred to as the Great Communicator, was for many years an effective television commercial spokesman every week on the GE Theater. Parents also tried to improve their children's education. In nineteen sixty, parents bought almost three times as many educational books as they did ten years before. Parents also bought millions of dollars' worth of pianos, violins and other musical instruments for their children. It was true that the average number of children per family was increasing. But the total population of the United States did not increase as much during this period as one might have expected.
The reason for this was that fewer immigrants were coming to the United States. In fact, the number of immigrants had been dropping for many years. In nineteen ten, eleven immigrants were coming to America for every thousand Americans already living here. By nineteen fifty, less than two immigrants were coming for every thousand Americans. Where immigrants were coming from also changed. In the past, most came from northern and western Europe. But now, growing numbers of people came to the United States from southern and eastern Europe and from Latin America and Asia. Other changes in the United States population were also taking place. In the nineteen fifties, most Americans still lived in the eastern, central and southern parts of the country. But growing numbers moved west. The population of the western states increased by almost forty percent during the nineteen fifties.
Remember we said the United States population gets counted every ten years? One reason is because populations are used to decide how many members each state will have in the House of Representatives. Population changes can mean changes in the political influence of individual states in Congress. Another population change after World War Two was in life expectancy. An American born in the early nineteen hundreds could only expect to live about forty-seven years. By the nineteen fifties, however, most Americans could expect to live well past their sixtieth birthday. Life expectancy continued to increase with improvements in living conditions and medical care. The United States was a changing country, a nation on the move after World War Two. Next week on our program, we look at political events that shaped the post-war period.
重点解析
1.referred to as 被称为；称作
Our economy is referred to as a free market.
我们的经济被称作自由市场经济。
2.in fact 事实上；总之
In fact, things could get worse in the short run.
事实上，事情在短期内可能会变得更加糟糕。
3.expect to 期望；预期
We expect to see further improvement over the coming year.
我们期望来年会有更进一步的改善。
4.continue to 继续；持续到
The doctor says she should continue to improve.
医生说她还会继续康复。
参考译文
战后的繁荣也让美国人更换过时的家用电器，购买新冰箱或电视机。“靠近点，亲爱的，我觉得这不公平，因为没法再靠近了。”“哦，但你可以的，如果你有一台新的西屋电视机，它那独有的电子放大镜，可以随时给你带来特写大图像。你所要做的就是转动电子放大镜旋钮，然后你就能看到画面的中心了。看到了吗？我离得很近说，‘你好，真漂亮！’”女演员贝蒂·弗内斯为西屋公司代言。
“每个星期天晚上，通用电气都会让你在电视中观看最优秀的电影明星的表演——喜剧大牌……迷幻剧……浪漫剧。整个夏天，每周都有一位明星，就在通用电气剧院。”而在竞争对手通用电气公司，经常被称为伟大沟通者的演员罗纳德·里根（即后来的美国第40任总统），多年来出任极具成效的电视代言人，每周做客通用电气剧院。家长们也努力提高孩子的教育水平。1960年，父母购买的教育书籍几乎是十年前的三倍。父母还为孩子购买价值数百万美元的钢琴、小提琴和其他乐器。的确，每个家庭的平均儿童人数在增加。但在这一时期，美国总人口的增长并没有人们预期的那么多。
原因是来美国的移民越来越少。事实上，移民数量多年来一直在下降。1910年，对于每千名已经住在美国的人来说，有11个移民。到1950年，每千名美国人中只有不到两个移民。移民的来源地也发生了变化。过去，大多数移民来自北欧和西欧。但是现在，越来越多的人从南欧、东欧、拉丁美洲和亚洲来到美国。美国人口也在发生其他变化。在20世纪50年代，大多数美国人仍然生活在东部、中部和南部地区。但越来越多的人向西迁移。20世纪50年代，西部各州的人口增加了将近40%。
还记得我们说过美国人口每十年统计一次吗？一个原因是要用人口数量来确定各州在众议院的议员人数。人口变化意味着，国会中各州政治影响力的变化。二战后人口的另一个变化是预期寿命。一个生于19世纪初的美国人只能活到大约47岁，而到20世纪50年代，大多数美国人都能活过60岁。随着生活条件和医疗保健的改善，预期寿命还在继续增加。美国是一个处于变化中的国家，一个在二战后不断前行的国家。我们在下期节目中，将探讨影响战后时期的政治事件。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
