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VOA慢速英语随身听.听力口语双突破
1.5.13 13  China's Tianhe-2 Supercomputer Takes No…1 Rank...
13 China's Tianhe-2 Supercomputer Takes No…1 Ranking on TOP500 List 中国 天河二号 超级计算机荣登世界500强榜首

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仔细听

China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer has just been rated No.1 on the top 500—a respected list of the world's most powerfulcomputers.Experts measured the supercomputer's performance at 33.86petaflop or quadrillion of operations per second.

中国“天河二号”超级计算机荣登世界最强大的500台计算机的榜首。专家估算,该超级计算机每秒的运转次数是33.86千万亿次或33.86千的五次方。

听力破解:measured 的辅音结尾[d]被吞掉,另外,second的辅音结尾[d]也被吞掉。播音员重读了supercomputer,No.1以及powerful computers,强调中国制造的计算机的强大功能。

词汇宝典:respected这里是“受尊敬的、受崇敬的”的意思,如:

A:How's the lecture about global warming?关于温室效应的那场演讲怎么样?

B:Very attractive,because the lecturer is a really knowledgeable and respected professor.相当吸引人了,演讲者是一位博学又备受尊崇的教授。

而respectful则表示“有礼貌的,恭敬的,尊老爱幼的”,如:

A:Did you enjoy yourselves last night?昨晚玩得开心吗?

B:Yes! The host received us with a respectful attitude.

开心!主人很有礼貌地接待了我们。

仔细听

China's National University of Defense Technology developed the supercomputer,which runs twice as fast as the No.2 rated Titan super computer.It belongs to the United States Government's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.Both Tianhe-2 and Titan are part of an ongoing race to make supercomputers faster and more powerful.

So what is a supercomputer?A basic personal computer has one microchip at the center of its operations.This Central Processing Unit,or CPU,executes a set of commands contained in a predesigned program.

这台由中国国防科技大学研发的超级计算机的运行速度,与美国政府位于田纳西州的橡树岭国家实验室研发的世界排名第二的泰坦计算机相比,是其两倍。研发更快、更强的超级计算机已然成为一种竞赛,而天河二号和泰坦都是这场竞赛中的成员。

到底什么是超级计算机?每台基本的个人计算机的操控中心都有一个微芯片。这个中央处理器,简称CPU,可以执行一整套事先设定在程序中的指令。

听力破解:at the被连读浊化为[æðə],set of被连读为[′sedəv]。词汇宝典a set of表示“一套,一组,一副”,如:a set of keys(一套钥匙),a set of white teeth(一口洁白的牙齿),a set of golf clubs(一整套高尔夫球具),a set of furniture(一套家具)等。

仔细听

The first supercomputers had a few more CPUs.That number grew as microprocessors became cheaper and faster.Andrew Grimshaw,a computer science professor at the University of Virginia explains:

“Today,supercomputers are all what we call parallel machines.Instead of one CPU—central processing unit—they have thousands and thousands.And in the case of the Chinese machine,depending on how you count,millions of the central processing units.”

最初的超级计算机只是增加了几个中央处理器。而随着微处理器价格不断走低和速度的不断提升,中央处理器的数目也随之不断增加。弗吉尼亚大学的计算机科学教授安德鲁·格里姆肖解释说:

“现如今,超级计算机就是我们所谓的并行机。它们的中央处理器不止一个——而是数以千计、甚至是万计。就以这台中国的计算机为例,尽管计数方法会有差异,但按我们的方法来看,它有上百万个中央处理器。”

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听力破解:had a被连读为[hædə],另外,采访安德鲁的部分语速较快,吞音现象也较为常见,如:what的清辅音尾音[t]被吞掉;unit的[t]也被吞掉;have的尾音[v]被吞掉;second的辅音结尾[d]也被吞掉;count的尾音[t]也被吞掉,听时需注意。

仔细听

These parallel machines are made up of many individual computers called nodes.They are all positioned in one block.They used a lot of power,create a lot of heat,and require huge cooling systems.They also use programs different from those used by ordinary computers.

这些并行机由许多个被称为节点的单个计算机构成。它们都被安装在一个数据块上。它们耗费大量能源,产生很多热量,因此需要强大的冷却系统。它们使用的程序也与普通计算机的程序不同。

听力破解:made up被连读为[meIdʌp],lot of被连读为[lɒ′təv],听时需注意。另外,播音员重读了nodes和different,表明这些并行机和普通电脑在节点上有所不同。

学着说一说

1.a l ist of一份清单

▶a list of表示“一份清单,一份名单,列表”等,如:

We need a list of guests you want to invite tomorrow.

我们需要你要邀请的客人的一份名单。

▶a list of可与动词make,set,have,give 等搭配,如:

A:What kind of books should be recommended to children?

什么样的书应该推荐给孩子读呢?

B:Wait a moment.I'll make a list of my favorite children's books.

等一下,我把我喜欢的童书列份清单给你。

2.be part of作为……的一部分

▶be part of 表示“是……的一部分,属于……”,如:

Finishing your paper is part of the final examinations.

完成论文是期末考核的一部分。

3.execute command执行命令

▶execute command表示“执行命令,执行指令”,这里的execute也可以用carry out,perform,implement或者是 o替代,如:

A:I don't like this group since the leader always asks us to execute his strict command.

我不喜欢这个小组,因为组长总让我们执行他严格的命令。

B:But you have to hang on,right?That's your job!

但你不得不坚持,不是吗?这是你的工作!

4.in the case of就……来说

▶in the case of表示“至于,在……情况下,就……而言”,如:

In the case of his situation,it's so lucky he can recover.

就他的情况来说,能够康复算是很幸运的了。

▶in case则表示“万一”,可与 in case of互换,如:

Take an umbrella with you just in case.或In case of rain,take an

umbrella with you.以防下雨,带把伞吧。