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1.VOA常速
【Iranian Homosexuals Speak Out About Persecution】伊朗同性恋者大谈遭受迫害
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TEXT:Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says they do not exist. And in Iran, merely trying to be themselves is a crime that brings shame on their families. But now, Iranian homosexuals are starting to speak out about what it means to be gay and about the lengths to which they have gone to escape persecution.
The day begins as normal for Arash and Nima. But for them, just walking out the door is a reminder they are no longer at home in Iran.
"“The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgendered people) are a part of vulnerable class of the Iranian society," Arash explained.
Arash left Iran for Turkey nine months ago. He now works as a filmmaker and shot a video to help document his new life.
Iran’s conservative Islamic laws leave little room for homosexuality. United Nations experts and rights groups have criticized the Iranian government for criminalizing all homosexual acts, making certain acts punishable by death. Iran has also come under fire for subjecting those suspected of homosexuality to arbitrary arrest and torture.
The issue is one that Iranians are slowly being forced to confront - often through film. Such films, though, are not being made in Iran.
And at least at the highest levels, denial is the rule - as evidenced by comments Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made to students at New York’s Columbia University in 2007:
“In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country. In Iran we do not have this phenomenon, I don't know who has told you that we have it," Ahmadinejad declared.
Farid, another Iranian exile living in Turkey, said on YouTube the feeling of oppression permeates Iran's everyday life.
“When you walk down the street, you feel you are being assaulted from all sides," he said. "We [gay people] are being looked at like a third gender."
One place gay Iranians have found refuge is the United States, where despite controversy, some states and even Washington D.C., have been extending more rights to homosexuals, including the right to get married.
Mali Kisagari was born in Iran in 1958… and in 2004 she married her partner, Elizabeth Kristen, in California.
“In the U.S., people’s rights are respected," she noted. "When I entered the U.S., I found this is a place I can be myself.”
Such attitudes are a long way from being accepted in Iran. Still, from the Iranian diaspora, singers like Shohreh are pushing back - as in her music video.
“The reason why I used the homosexual flag in my video was to support these people,” she explained. “Families should know that their children should not be blamed for being homosexual. They have been homosexual since childhood."
For now, couples like Arash and Nima can only wonder what it would be like to live as themselves in their home country.
“I want to bring their face in front of [documentary] movie camera, so that the heterosexual class understands the gays better; so that a day may come that the two classes of people may coexist,” Arash said.
To many gay Iranians, that day still seems a long way off.
2.VOA 慢速
【Teaching Coffee Farmers About the Birds and the Bees】鸟儿和蜜蜂，咖啡种植者的好帮手
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TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
The University of Georgia is a respected research university. Thirty-five thousand students attend the main campus in Athens, Georgia, and extended campuses around the state. And among its areas of research is agriculture.
UGA has a center in San Luis de Monteverde in Costa Rica. This center is for students and visitors who want to learn more about farming and living in environmentally friendly ways.
Some students take a class called "Coffee: From Bean to Cup." Coffee is one of the most widely traded products in the world, and the most important agricultural product for Costa Rica.
Professor Valerie Peters teaches the class. Her students help her study coffee farms in an area called Finca la Bella. Farmers in this area agreed to grow their coffee sustainably , using methods that do less harm to the environment.
Most coffee farms in Costa Rica have one or two different kinds of trees to help shade the coffee plants from the sun. In Finca la Bella most farms have at least twenty kinds of trees. Many of the farmers have also planted more flowers. When there are more flowers and more kinds of trees, more bees will come to pollinate the coffee plants. Coffee plants can pollinate themselves, but bees help increase the harvest.
Professor Peters is working with her students to help teach farmers about the importance of bees and having more trees and flowers. "Many of the farmers commented that they never even thought of bees as having a role in their coffee production," she says.
Having more species of trees on coffee farms also provides more places for birds to live. If farmers have at least ten different kinds of trees per hectare, they may be able to have their coffee certified as "bird-friendly." This is done by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in the United States. Bird-friendly coffee can sell for a higher price.
The University of Georgia is also helping farmers in Costa Rica increase their income through tourism. Professor Quint Newcomer directs this program. He says students help design tour routes through coffee farms.
QUINT NEWCOMER: "These farmers become our teachers. They are sharing their local knowledge about how to work the land in a really sustainable way, and they become the teachers. But then our students can also help provide them with ideas and recommendations about how to improve their tour. And the more they improve it, the more people want to go."
UGA Costa Rica, as the center is called, also plans to increase the amount of locally produced food it buys. The goal is to buy at least fifty percent locally by twenty-fifteen.
And when the center needs wood for building, it buys only wood grown locally without artificial chemicals.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. You can find more stories about coffee at 51voa.com, where you can also find texts and MP3s of our programs. I'm Karen Leggett.
参考译文：这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
乔治亚大学是一所受人尊敬的研究型大学，有3.5万名学生在乔治亚雅典主校区和该州其他分校区就读，其研究领域之一便是农业。
乔治亚大学哥斯达黎加的San Luis de Monteverde有一处中心，该中心是为那些想了解环境友好型农业和生活而建立的。
有的学生上一门名叫“咖啡：从咖啡豆到咖啡杯”的课程，咖啡是全球交易最广的产品之一，也是哥斯达黎加最重要的农产品。
Valerie Peters教授讲授这门课程，她的学生帮她研究Finca la Bella地区的咖啡农场，该地区的农民同意用对环境危害小的方式进行可持续的咖啡种植。
哥斯达黎加大部分咖啡农场都有一到两种树木来为咖啡树遮阴，而在Finca la Bella，大多数农场至少有20种树。许多农民还种了很多花，花和树木的种类越多，就有更多蜜蜂来为咖啡树授粉。咖啡树可自己授粉，但蜜蜂授粉可提高产量。
Peters教授和学生们让农民们明白蜜蜂的重要性，让他们多种树木和花儿。“许多农民说，从未想过蜜蜂对咖啡产量起作用。”
在咖啡种植园种更多种类的树木也能为鸟儿提供更多栖息地，如果农民的在每公顷土地上至少种植10种树木，他们的咖啡就可得到“鸟类友好”认证，这是由美国史密森迁徙鸟类中心颁发，获得此认证的咖啡能卖更高价钱。
乔治亚大学也帮助哥斯达黎加农民通过旅游创收，Quint Newcomer教授指导该项目的实施，她说，学生们帮助设计咖啡农场旅游线路。
Quint Newcomer：“这些农民们就是我们的老师，他们与我们分享当地如何可持续种植的知识，这样就成了老师。但学生们帮他们在改善旅游上出点子想建议。改善得越多，就有越多人想来。”
哥斯达黎加的乔治亚大学还计划当地食物的采购量，目标是在2015年之前至少购买当地食物的50%。
该中心还需要建筑用的木材，购买的是当地产的无人造化学品种植的木材。
注：本VOA慢速译文由可可英语Sunny提供
