VOA English Program Listening Guide

Author: Yan Wenqing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: VOA, which stands for Voice of America. It is a broadcasting network funded by the U.S. government to broadcast to the world. The VOA English Program Listening Guide is the only textbook in China for many years that introduces the characteristics of VOA English broadcast programs as a starting point for listening practice. We hope it provides English learners with a simple and gradual approach to achieve the ultimate goal of understanding English broadcasts. This book consists of two main parts: The Listening Guide Section and The Listening Practice Section.
The Listening Guide Section starts with examples from VOA news, briefly introduces the latest program framework of VOA, analyzes the main characteristics of VOA English broadcast news, and contrasts the linguistic features of VOA Special English (Special English) and Standard English (Standard English). It also focuses on introducing practical learning methods and listening techniques to help listeners overcome the difficulties they may encounter while listening to VOA English broadcasts.
To assist English enthusiasts in listening to VOA broadcasts through the internet, a new media, we have specially invited Le Sanming, the Executive Editor of the "Voice of English" Learning Website, to write the section "VOA on the Internet." This section primarily introduces the three major VOA websites and the characteristics of VOA broadcast learning websites both domestically and internationally, while also providing tips for listening to online broadcasts and downloading multimedia files.
To enable learners to apply theory to practice and achieve practical results, the Listening Practice Section has carefully selected nearly 100 VOA Global Focus English news reports from 2001 to 2003 (accompanied by three audio cassettes), covering topics such as 9/11 and counter-terrorism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iraq’s weapons inspection, the Columbia disaster, U.S.-China relations, the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, economic globalization, and education and technology.
Following the VOA broadcasting English listening improvement process, the entire book is divided into three collections: "Special English News," "Special English Topics," and "Standard English News." The news reports are organized by categories such as politics, economics, counter-terrorism, military, and technology to help English learners strengthen categorized training, thereby smoothly transitioning from Special English to Standard English and achieving twice the result with half the effort.