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VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - The Color of Money:

时间:2010-12-09 03:16:37

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BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.
STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Today on our program, we visit the Bureau of Engraving1 and Printing in Washington, D.C. to hear how American dollars are made. In two thousand nine, the Bureau produced about twenty-six million bills a day.
Producing money requires both artistic2 and technological3 skills. Dollar bills are made so that they are interesting to look at but very hard to copy. In total, there are sixty-five separate steps required to make a dollar bill.
(MUSIC)BARBARA KLEIN: Guided tours of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing are a popular activity for visitors to Washington, D.C. These trips are a good way to learn new and interesting facts about the history of money and its complex production methods. It is also exciting to stand in a room with millions of dollars flying through machines.
TOUR GUIDE: "All right, ladies and gentlemen, once again welcome to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. And this is where the color of money begins. The money making process begins when a yearly order sent by the Federal Reserve Board. That order will then be divided in half. Half will be done here in Washington, D.C. and the other half will be done in Fort Worth, Texas.”
STEVE EMBER: Next, the Bureau orders special paper from the Crane Paper Company in the state of Massachusetts. The paper is actually cloth since it is seventy-five percent cotton and twenty-five percent linen4.
This paper is made so that it can last a long time. And, it is made with details that make it hard to copy. For example, bills contain security threads. These narrow pieces of plastic are inside the paper and run along the width of the bill. This special paper is also made with very small blue and red fibers5. Both of these designs make it very hard to copy.
BARBARA KLEIN: The first step in production is called intaglio6 printing. This is done on high-speed presses using printing plates onto which images have been cut. Each plate receives a layer of ink, which gathers in the cut areas of the plate. Then, each piece of paper goes into the press to receive the printing plate. The machine forces about twenty tons of pressure onto the printing plate and paper. One side of a dollar bill is colored with green ink, while the other is printed in black. Each side must dry for about forty-eight hours.
STEVE EMBER: The printing plate used in this process is created from hand-cut engravings called master-dies. Highly skilled artists called engravers copy images on soft steel to make the dies. There are separate dies for the different images on the bill, such as the picture of the president, the lettering and other designs.
BARBARA KLEIN: After each master-die is copied, they are put together to make a printing plate that has thirty-two copies of the bill being printed. A master-die can last for many years. For example, the master-die with the picture of President Abraham Lincoln was made in the eighteen sixties. It was used again in two thousand eight to redesign the five-dollar bill.
Next, the large printed sheets are carefully examined to make sure there are no mistakes on any of the bills. This process used to be done by people. Now, computers do the work.
TOUR GUIDE: "OCIS is an acronym7 for Off-line Currency Inspection8 System and this is where the money from the last phase will be inspected. Now that blue box will take a picture to size of the sheets of the money and compare its cut, color and shape with the master image sent by the Federal Reserve Board. It will take that picture and break it down into over one million pixels. Every single last one has to be absolutely correct."STEVE EMBER: In this part of production, the thirty-two bill sheets are cut into sheets of sixteen. In the next step, a series of identifying numbers and seals are added to the bills.
TOUR GUIDE: “And this is where the money from the last phase will be put to its final state. If you look to the left of the room, ladies and gentlemen, there is a tall machine with green ink at the top of it. That is the machine that will print your serial9 numbers, Federal Reserve seal and Treasury10 seal onto the money.”
BARBARA KLEIN: The serial numbers on the money tell the order that the bills were printed. Other numbers and letters on the bill tell when the note was printed, what space on the printing plate the bill occupied and which Reserve Bank will issue the bill.
STEVE EMBER: Once the money is printed, guillotine cutters separate the sheets into two notes, then into individual notes. The notes are organized in “bricks,” each of which contains forty one-hundred-note packages. The bricks then go to one of twelve Federal Reserve Districts, which then give the money to local banks. Ninety-five percent of the bills printed each year are used to replace money that is in circulation, or that has already been removed from circulation. The Federal Reserve decides when to release this new money into use.
(MUSIC)BARBARA KLEIN: You may know that America's first president, George Washington, is pictured on the one-dollar bill. But do you know whose face is on the two, five, ten, twenty, fifty and one hundred-dollar bills? They are, in order, President Thomas Jefferson, President Abraham Lincoln, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, President Andrew Jackson, President Ulysses Grant and statesman Benjamin Franklin.
STEVE EMBER: During the tour, visitors can learn many facts about money. For example, the average life span of a one-dollar bill is twenty-one months. But a ten-dollar bill lasts only about eighteen months. The one hundred-dollar note lasts the longest, eighty-nine months.
One popular question that visitors ask is about the two-dollar bill. This bill is not made very often. This is because many Americans believe two-dollar bills are lucky, so they keep them. Two-dollar bills do not have to be manufactured often because they do not become damaged quickly like other bills.
People can send their damaged or torn bills to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The Bureau will replace damaged bills with new bills. However, it is illegal to purposely damage United States currency in any way. Anyone found guilty of damaging American money can be fined or jailed.
(MUSIC)BARBARA KLEIN: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing first began printing money in eighteen sixty-one. It operated in a room of the Treasury building. Two men and four women worked together there to place seals on money that was printed in other places by private companies.
Today, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing has over two thousand employees in its two printing centers in Washington and Texas.
STEVE EMBER: The Treasury Department continually works to change the design of bills to make it difficult to copy. One method it uses is called microprinting. For example, what looks like a very thin line around the edge of a picture may actually be the words “The United States of America” in very small letters. Also, many bills now have color-shifting ink that looks like metallic11 paint. In the last five years, the ten, twenty and fifty-dollar bills have been redesigned. All the bills are mostly green. But other colors are added when they are redesigned.
BARBARA KLEIN: The most recent note to be redesigned is the one hundred-dollar bill. This is the highest value bill currently made in the United States. More than ten years of research and development went into its new security features. They offer a simple way to make sure that a new one hundred-dollar note is real. For example, there is a blue ribbon woven into the front of the note.
If you tilt12 the note back and forth13 while looking at the blue ribbon, you will see bells on the note change to hundreds as they move. When you tilt the note back and forth, the bells and the hundreds move from side to side. If you tilt it from side to side, they move up and down.
STEVE EMBER: There is also an image of a bell inside a copper14-colored inkwell on the front of the note. Tilt the note to see the bell change from copper to green. This makes the bell seem to appear and disappear within the inkwell. There are several other security features in the redesigned one hundred-dollar bill.
Last month, the Federal Reserve Board announced a delay in releasing the new one-hundred dollar notes. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing identified a problem with creasing15 of the paper during printing. The new bills were supposed to be released February tenth, two thousand eleven. The Bureau is working to solve the problem.
(MUSIC)BARBARA KLEIN: Our program was written by Dana Demange and Shelley Gollust. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I’m Barbara Klein.
STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Our programs are online with transcripts16 and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can find us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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1 engraving 4tyzmn     
n.版画;雕刻(作品);雕刻艺术;镌版术v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的现在分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中)
参考例句:
  • He collected an old engraving of London Bridge. 他收藏了一张古老的伦敦桥版画。 来自辞典例句
  • Some writing has the precision of a steel engraving. 有的字体严谨如同钢刻。 来自辞典例句
2 artistic IeWyG     
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
参考例句:
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
3 technological gqiwY     
adj.技术的;工艺的
参考例句:
  • A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
  • Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。
4 linen W3LyK     
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的
参考例句:
  • The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
  • Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。
5 fibers 421d63991f1d1fc8826d6e71d5e15f53     
光纤( fiber的名词复数 ); (织物的)质地; 纤维,纤维物质
参考例句:
  • Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上,以硫酸钠为凝固剂,对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝,制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
  • Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。
6 intaglio 7bfzP     
n.凹版雕刻;v.凹雕
参考例句:
  • The picture shows the intaglio printing workshop of this company.图为该企业凹印制版车间。
  • Other anti-counterfeiting features include the use of latent images,pearl ink,and intaglio printing.其他防伪特征,包括隐形图案、珍珠油墨和凹印。
7 acronym Ny8zN     
n.首字母简略词,简称
参考例句:
  • That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说,这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
  • TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理,储存和处置设施的一个缩写。
8 inspection y6TxG     
n.检查,审查,检阅
参考例句:
  • On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查,发现肉变质了。
  • The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。
9 serial 0zuw2     
n.连本影片,连本电视节目;adj.连续的
参考例句:
  • A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
  • Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗?
10 treasury 7GeyP     
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库
参考例句:
  • The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
  • This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。
11 metallic LCuxO     
adj.金属的;金属制的;含金属的;产金属的;像金属的
参考例句:
  • A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
  • He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。
12 tilt aG3y0     
v.(使)倾侧;(使)倾斜;n.倾侧;倾斜
参考例句:
  • She wore her hat at a tilt over her left eye.她歪戴着帽子遮住左眼。
  • The table is at a slight tilt.这张桌子没放平,有点儿歪.
13 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
14 copper HZXyU     
n.铜;铜币;铜器;adj.铜(制)的;(紫)铜色的
参考例句:
  • The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
  • Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。
15 creasing a813d450f5ea9e39a92fe15f507ecbe9     
(使…)起折痕,弄皱( crease的现在分词 ); (皮肤)皱起,使起皱纹; 挑檐
参考例句:
  • "No, we mustn't use that money, Chiu," Feng Yun-ching gasped in horror, creasing his brow. “元丰庄上那一笔存款是不能动的。 来自子夜部分
  • In severe creasing the frictional resistance plays only a minor role in determining the crease resistance. 在严重的折皱作用下,摩擦阻力在织物抗折皱能力中仅居次要地位。
16 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

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