Voa Book

Teacher Ivan Crespo Phone number: 35 3821 4110
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SECOND EDITION
Introduo Este livro objetiva o aprendizado de Listening e Reading. destinado aos alunos do Pre-Intermediate ao Proficiency. Assim como para alunos do TOEFL, Lets Talk e Sessions. Em casa, voc ouvir os udios e ler os textos. Em seguida, dever fazer um estudo detalhado de meaning (significado de palavras) e depois de entendido far os exerccios de Homework sobre o mesmo. No esquea de entregar parar correo no dia da prova final. Coloque nome e data.
I hope you enjoy it! Teacher Ivan
Mix Caribbean, West African, Pop and Hip-Hop, What Do You Get? Akon
Also: a question from Vietnam about the life stories of Helen Keller and Sally Ride. And we check out the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington. Transcript of radio broadcast: 03 May 2007
HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We answer a question about two famous American women Play music by Akon And tell about a craft show in Washington, D.C. Smithsonian Craft Show HOST: Where can you go to see and buy the work of one hundred twenty of Americas best craft artists? In Washington, D.C. you can visit the yearly Smithsonian Craft Show. For 25 years, some of the finest craft artists have gathered to show their expertly made objects at this special event. These objects include beautiful jewelry, wood, paper, glass, ceramics and more. Faith Lapidus tell us about it.
FAITH LAPIDUS:
The Smithsonian Craft Show is held every year for four days in late April. Going to the craft show is an exciting activity. As you visit the many craft artists' show areas, you feel like you are taking part in a celebration of artistic skill and invention. But not just any artist can take part in this event. More than one thousand people from all over the United States requested to be in the show. But only one hundred and twenty were chosen. They were carefully picked by a jury of craft experts. A ceramic container by Jennifer McCurdy The Craft Show is organized every year by the Smithsonian Women's Committee. The event helps raise money to support education and research programs for the nineteen museums that are part of the Smithsonian Institution. This year, for example, visitors could see the graceful ceramic works of Jennifer McCurdy. Her finely formed white clay containers have a fluid sense of motion. Or, visitors could play with the detailed and imaginative toy machines made by Bill
A work by Joh Ricci Durovchic. Holly Anne Mitchell showed her wonderfully creative jewelry made out of folded pieces of newspaper. Joh Ricci received the Best of Show award for her colorful art objects made by tying thin pieces of cloth cord into detailed forms. And, if you wanted to wear a piece of art, you could buy a hat by Joan Hammerschmidt. Her wildly colorful and inventively shaped hats would make everyone look at you with a smile. Helen Keller and Sally Ride HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The students of Nguyen Thanh Duc at the Marie Curie High School want to know about two famous American women: Helen Keller and Sally Ride.
Helen Keller was born in eighteen eighty in a small town in Alabama. She developed an infection when she was nineteen months old. She lost the ability to see and hear.
Helen Keller When Helen was seven years old, her parents hired a special teacher for their daughter. Anne Sullivan taught Helen the names of things. She formed letters with her fingers in Helens hand to spell out words. She taught Helen sign language, and how to use her voice. Later, Helen Keller learned to read Latin, Greek, French and German. She completed her studies at Radcliffe College with honors in nineteen-oh-four. Helen Keller worked for many years for the American Foundation for the Blind. She met with presidents and traveled to many countries. She wrote books and articles. And she showed other disabled people that they, too, could succeed. Helen Keller died in nineteen
Sally Ride sixty-eight. Her life story has been told in books, plays and movies. Sally Ride grew up near Los Angeles, California. She studied science in college. In nineteen seventy-eight, she was one of the first six women to be trained as an astronaut. She also earned a doctoral degree in astrophysics at Stanford University in California. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. She was the flight engineer on the Challenger space shuttle in nineteen eighty-three. She was thirty-one years old, the youngest American astronaut ever to go into orbit. One year later, she was a crew member on another space shuttle flight. And in nineteen eighty-six, she was a member of the presidential committee that investigated the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle earlier that year.
Sally Ride left NASA to teach at Stanford University. Since nineteen eighty-nine, she has been a professor at the University of California at San Diego. She has also written science books for children and directed education projects designed to interest young people in science. Akon HOST: Senegalese-American singer Akon has a musical sound that is different from current popular artists. He has had several hit songs. Barbara Klein tells us about him.
A man in demand (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: That was Akon singing his hit song "I Wanna Love You" from his latest album, "Konvicted." Akon's real name is Aliaune Thiam. He is the son of Senegalese jazz drummer Mor Thiam. Akon grew up listening to jazz and other kinds of music, but he especially liked hip-hop. When he was a teenager, Akon was arrested and sentenced to three years in jail for stealing cars. During his time in jail, Akon wrote songs. Those songs became part of his first album, "Trouble," released in two thousand four. Akon sings about his arrest and jail experiences in this song, "Locked Up." (MUSIC) Music critics say Akon is popular because his music offers something new. His creative sound combines Caribbean and West African singing with popular music and hip-hop beats. Akon has performed and recorded songs with many kinds of artists. They include rapper Snoop Dogg, singer Gwen Stefani and the South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
We leave you with another hit song from Akons latest album, "Konvicted." This is "Dont Matter." (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Lawan Davis, Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio magazine in Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Translate into Portuguese: a) Craft b) Craft show c) Jewelry
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d) Current 6) Answer the questions: a) Who was Helen Keller? ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______ b) Whos Sally Ride? ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______ c) Whos Akon? ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________
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___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _________ d) Where is Akon from? ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ____
Exercise on vocabulary.
Write the names of the animals into the gaps.
Example:
cat
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10
10)
Exercise on Simple Present

Form positive sentences in Simple Present. 1. the dog / bark 2. Mary / in a musical / dance 3. you / the house / see 4. it / too much / weigh 5. he / cash / pay 6. they / a room / share 7. the boss / the contract / sign 8. he / a coin / insert 9. the clouds / disappear
Academic purpose: leia o texto, sem o auxlio de dicionrio e escreva em portugus cinco linhas explicando o que foi lido. Jamais grife palavras desconhecidas.
Basics of Vegetable Crop Irrigation
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Vegetables are 80 to 95 percent water. Think of them as sacks of water with a small amount of flavoring and some vitamins. Because vegetables contain so much water, their yield and quality suffer rapidly when subjected to a drought. Thus, for good yields and high quality, irrigation is essential to the production of most vegetables. If water shortages occur early in the crop's development, maturity may be delayed and yields reduced. If a moisture shortage occurs late in the growing season, quality is often reduced even though total yields may not be affected. Most vegetables are rather shallow-rooted. Even short periods of two to three days of moisture stress can damage marketable yields. Irrigation is likely to increase the size and weight of individual fruit and to prevent defects, such as toughness, strong flavor, poor tip-fill and pod-fill, cracking, blossom-end rot, and misshapen fruit. On the other hand, too much moisture reduces soluble solids in muskmelons (cantaloupes) and capsaicin (what makes the peppers hot) in hot peppers when it occurs during fruit development. Growers often wait too long to begin irrigation, thinking, "It will rain tomorrow." This often results in a severe stress for that portion of the field that dries out the quickest or receives irrigation last. Another common problem is trying to stretch the acreage that reasonably can be covered by the available equipment. Both of these practices result in all or part of the field being water stressed. It is better to do a good job on some of the acreage rather than a halfway job on all the acreage. Drought stress can begin in as little as three days after a 1-inch rain or irrigation in such crops as tomatoes in soils like those in the Piedmont of Alabama. Thus, frequent irrigation is necessary to maximize yields. Soil moisture requirements differ with each crop and with each particular stage of crop development. Soil moisture availability varies with the amount of water in the soil and with the type of soil. Knowing your soil type is essential in planning for and in using an irrigation system. The critical stage and irrigation needs of various vegetable crops are listed in the table. Up to 1.5 inches of water is needed each week during hot periods to maintain vegetable crops that have a plant spread of 12 inches or more. This need decreases to 0.75 inch per week during cooler seasons. Droplet size and irrigation rate are also important when irrigating vegetable crops. Large droplets resulting from low pressure at the sprinkler head can cause damage to young vegetable plants and can contribute to crusting when the soil dries. Irrigation rate is also important in sandy soils that absorb water more readily than clay soils. However, clay soils have a greater percent of available water. Irrigation rate will depend on soil type; but application rates should not exceed 0.40 inch per hour for sandy soils, 0.30 inch per hour for loamy soils, or 0.20 inch per hour for clay soils. High application rates of water will result in irrigation water running off the field, contributing to erosion and fertilizer runoff. Improving Stands. Most vegetables have small seeds that are planted 3/4 inch deep or less. The upper layer of the soil can dry rapidly, leaving shallowly sown seeds susceptible to drying out. Without enough soil moisture, the seed is left partially germinated. When
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this happens, no stand or, at best, an incomplete stand will result. An irrigation of 0.50 to 0.75 inch immediately after sowing should be applied to settle the soil around the seeds and to begin seed germination. For larger seeded crops, it is desirable that irrigation begins a few days prior to sowing. If seeds are slow in emerging from the soil due to cool temperatures or slow germination, then apply 0.75 to 1 inch of water per acre as needed to encourage emergence. Do this to keep the area around the seed moist until seedlings emerge. Irrigation is a valuable tool in producing a good, uniform stand which will help ensure high yields. Good uniform stands mean uniform harvest dates and greater production efficiency. Vegetable transplants also require good soil moisture. A light irrigation of 0.50 to 0.75 inch per acre will help in the establishment of young transplants by providing a ready supply of water to young, broken roots. In addition to hastening seedling emergence, irrigation at planting time can reduce soil crusting. If 0.50 to 0.75 inch of irrigation is slowly applied, either with low rates or by turning the irrigation system off long enough to allow water to soak in, crusting can be reduced and stands will be improved. Product Development and Fruit Set. Wide fluctuation in soil moisture injures fruit crop vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers (see table). These fruits contain large amounts of water and are dependent on this water for expansion and growth. When soil moisture is allowed to drop below the proper level, fruits do not expand to produce the maximum size before they ripen. Thus their yield is reduced. If moisture is allowed to fluctuate too much, blossom-end rot can occur and fruits are no longer useable. If moisture fluctuation occurs during the fruit expansion stage, fruit cracking will occur. This typically occurs when the application of inadequate water has been followed by heavy rainfall (see table). The best way to prevent fruit cracking is to apply a steady supply of moisture. In addition, it is soil moisture fluctuation that causes secondary growth, or knobs, in Irish potatoes. Rooting Depth. It is important that the soil profile be filled with water during each irrigation event. Otherwise, frequent light irrigation events result in the formation of shallow root systems. Shallow root systems result in plants being stressed even in short periods of water deficit. (See table for crop specifics.) In addition, these plants with shallow root systems are more prone to lodging and nutrient deficiencies (shallow root systems neither explore nor exploit all of the available nutrients in an area). On the other hand, excessive irrigation can leach nutrients from the soil and encourage the development of diseases and nutrient deficiencies. The rooting depth of various vegetable crops is listed in the table. It is important that shallow-rooted crops receive more frequent irrigations. Preferred Minimum Soil Moisture. Soil moisture is measured with a tensiometer or soil block. The former is preferred for sandy soils and the latter for clays and loams. Tensiometers report soil moisture in centibars. Suggested soil tensions for various vegetables are reported below. Soil blocks report available soil moisture (ASM), and the
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table suggests minimum levels for most vegetables. For more information on using tensiometers or soil blocks, consult Extension publication, ANR-467, "Scheduling Irrigation Using Soil Moisture Tension." Amount and Timing. Irrigation amounts and the time between irrigations are critical to efficient irrigation practices. Some suggestions for amount and timing of irrigations are presented in the table. Critical Moisture Periods. Critical periods of water needs can best be defined as that time when soil moisture stress can most reduce yield in an otherwise healthy crop (see table). This is not to say that it is the only time in the life of the crop that moisture stress reduces yield. It is, however, the time when moisture stress will exert its greatest effect. Most vegetable crops are sensitive to drought during two periods: during harvest and two to three weeks before harvest. More than 30 different vegetable crops are grown commercially in the Southeast. Although all vegetables benefit from irrigation, each class responds differently. Leaf vegetables. Cabbage, lettuce, and spinach are generally planted at or near field capacity. Field capacity is the maximum amount of water a field can hold without water runoff or loss due to gravity. Being shallow rooted, these crops benefit from frequent irrigation throughout the season. Since leaf expansion relates closely to water availability, these crops, especially cabbage and lettuce, are particularly sensitive to drought stress during the period between head formation and harvest. Overwatering or irregular watering can result in burst heads. Broccoli and cauliflower, although not grown specifically for their leaves, respond to irrigation much as the leafy vegetables do. Broccoli and cauliflower are sensitive to drought stress at all stages of growth, responding with reduced growth and premature heading. Root, tuber, and bulb vegetables. In sweetpotatoes, Irish potatoes, carrots, and onions, yield depends on the production and translocation of carbohydrates from the leaf to the root or bulb. The most sensitive stage of growth generally occurs as these storage organs enlarge. Carrots require an even and abundant supply of water throughout the season. Moisture stress causes the formation of small, woody, and poorly flavored roots. Uneven irrigation can lead to misshapen or split roots in carrots, secondary growth in Irish potatoes, and early bulbing in onions. Fruit and seed vegetables. Cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and squashes, lima beans, snap beans, peas, peppers, sweet corn, and tomatoes are most sensitive to drought stress at flowering and during fruit and seed development. Fruit set on these crops can be seriously reduced if water is limiting. An adequate supply of water during the period of fruit enlargement can reduce the incidence of fruit cracking and blossom-end rot in tomatoes. For example, after fruit enlargement, irrigation is often reduced as fruit and seed crops mature.
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The plant growth stage also influences the susceptibility of crops to drought stress. Irrigation is especially useful when establishing newly seeded or transplanted crops. Irrigation after transplanting can significantly increase the plant survival rate, especially when soil moisture is marginal and the evapotranspiration rate is high. Irrigation can also increase the uniformity of emergence and final stand of seeded crops. For seeded crops, reduce the rate of application and the total amount of water applied to avoid crusting. If crusting is present, use low application rates and small amounts of irrigation water to soften the crust while seedlings are emerging. Irrigation Methods. Vegetable crops differ in which method of irrigation can be used economically in their production (see table). Three types of irrigation are commonly used in Alabama: sprinkler (Figure 1), big gun (Figure 2), and trickle or drip irrigation (Figures 3a and 3b).
Figure 1. Sprinkler irrigation for sweet corn production
Figure 2. Big gun irrigation over several crops
Figure 3a. Close-up of drip tape used for trickle (or drip) irrigation for pumpkin production
Figure 3b. Typical wetting pattern of drip irrigation tape
Drought Tolerance. Drought tolerance is an indication of a crop's ability to withstand short periods of drought without significantly reducing yield. We have classified vegetables for drought tolerance in the table. Defects From Stress. Most vegetables respond to water deficit with reduced yield and quality. However, most crops also express this stress with growth abnormalities. Many of the common abnormalities are listed in the table. 15
For Linda Blair, Life After 'The Exorcist' Includes Animal Rights Activism
Also: The results are in from the Special English listener contest. And former Shangri-Las singer Mary Weiss returns to music. Transcript of radio broadcast: 23 August 2007
HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We listen to music from Mary Weiss Answer a question about American actress Linda Blair And report about the recent Special English listener contest. Listener Contest HOST: The results of the Special English listener study are in. Many of you might have answered our announcement back in May. If you did, thank you for taking a few minutes to
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communicate with us. The information you provided will help Special English better understand who is listening to us, and how. Barbara Klein has more. BARBARA KLEIN: We asked listeners to tell us when they listen to us and how: shortwave or medium wave radio frequency, by satellite or on the Internet. We received just over one thousand letters and e-mails. They came from ninety-nine countries all around the world. More than three hundred responses came from East Asia. More than two hundred sixty came from Africa. The largest number came from listeners in China, followed by Nigeria. Most of our fans are listening to Special English by shortwave, followed closely by the Internet. Here are quotes from some of the e-mails we received: Orlando in Venezuela told us that he listens to Special English every night on his shortwave radio and also downloads the text of our programs from our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. He says he is learning to write and read and hear in English and each day is better than the day before. Mohsen from Iran wrote that he has been listening to our programs for more than ten years. He is now an English teacher and recommends our programs to his students. He also uses materials from our Web site to teach his students about the culture, history, people and language of the United States. Joanna from Poland told us that she also uses our Web site. I can read the text, check the meaning of the words and I can hear the pronunciation... Thank you very much for very interesting information. We wish we could read on the air all the wonderful messages we received. We also wish we could give every person who responded a shortwave radio. But, only one lucky person wins the radio. That person is Nguyen Kim Vu Bao, an eighteen-year-old student from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Vu Bao wrote a letter saying he has never missed any of our programs since he first discovered our broadcasts on the radio more than a year ago. Twenty other listeners will receive smaller VOA gifts. We want to thank everyone who took part in our study and hope you all will keep listening to Special English. Linda Blair HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. Ivan Crespo wants to know what actress Linda Blair has done since she starred in the nineteen seventy-three movie The Exorcist. 17
In that famous movie, Linda Blair played a child who becomes possessed by the devil. The movie was very successful. The thirteen-year-old actress was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Today, most people know that the scary parts of "The Exorcist" were done with special effects. But Linda Blair says: "You would not believe how often people ask me to make my head spin around." After The Exorcist, she starred in other movies, playing troubled teenagers. She also starred in the sequel to the movie that made her famous, Exorcist Two, the Heretic. But it was not very successful. In the nineteen eighties she was in several other movies that were not very popular. She also dated the singer Rick James. Some people have said that James wrote his popular song Cold Blooded about their relationship. In nineteen ninety, Blair made fun of "The Exorcist" in the movie Repossessed. She
Actress Linda Blair appearing in support of pit bull owners in Sacramento, California, in 2005 also appeared on some television shows. In two thousand one, she hosted the show The Scariest Places on Earth. Linda Blair always loved riding horses. In the nineteen eighties she competed in horse-riding events. She has a long history of helping animals. In fact, as a young girl, she had wanted to become a veterinarian, a doctor who treats animals. She has received many awards from the animal rights organization PETA. The City of Los Angeles honored her for her work with abused and lost animals. She also began the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation. This organization provides animals with health care, food, training and shelter. It also helps people learn how to care for animals, so that fewer of them will be left alone or hurt in the future. Mary Weiss (MUSIC)
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HOST: That was "Leader of the Pack," a nineteen sixty-four hit song by the Shangri-Las. The four girls in this popular group were only about sixteen years old when they started making records in Queens, New York. Their songs expressed the ups and downs of being a teenager. Now, more than forty years later, the bands lead singer Mary Weiss has returned to music. Her new album is called Dangerous Game. Faith Lapidus has more. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS:
That was the albums title song, Dangerous Game. Mary Weiss worked with the music band Reigning Sound to make her record. They did not want to copy the music of the Shangri-Las. Mary Weiss said that nobody wants to go back to the past. But she did want to keep the style of the past in her record. She said her favorite song on her album is Break it One More Time. (MUSIC) Mary Weisss deep, smoky voice has changed a lot since she was a teenager. She says she is always surprised to learn how many people still listen to her old songs. Now, people can listen to her new songs. Mary Weiss has said she learned what kinds of music young people are listening to through the social networking Web site, MySpace. She even created her own MySpace page. We leave you with Cry About the Radio. This song criticizes the workings of the music industry. (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
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It was written by Erin Braswell, Dana Demange and Jill Moss. Caty Weaver was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio magazine in Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know.
5) What does Linda do? a) Teacher b) Actress c) Doctor d) Agronomist e) Cashier

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6) Exercise on vocabulary.
Write the names of the animals into the gaps.
Example:
cat
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
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7)
8)
9)
10)
Exercise on Simple Present

Form negative sentences in Simple Present. 1. we / in London / live 2. I / in ghosts / believe 3. you / your bag / pack 4. The children / about the joke / laugh 5. you / English / speak 6. she / poems / write
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7. he / his leg / hurt 8. they / trees / plant 9. I / gas / smell
Foreign Student Series: Getting a US Visa

In part nine, we talk about the steps needed to come to the United States for study. Transcript of radio broadcast: 05 November 2008 This is the VOA Special English Education Report. This week, in part nine of our Foreign Student Series, we talk about getting a student visa to come to the United States. Just getting accepted to an American college or university does not guarantee that you will get a visa. And getting a visa just lets you arrive in the United States. It does not guarantee that an immigration officer will permit you to enter the country. Travel documents come from the Department of State. But immigration is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security. The State Department has a Web site with all the rules for getting a visa. The address is unitedstatesvisas.gov. Unitedstatesvisas is all one word.
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If you are requesting a visa for the first time, you will probably have to go to an American embassy or consulate. You will need to bring a government form sent to you by your American school that shows you have been accepted.
Chinese visa applicants at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education. And be prepared to provide evidence that you will return to your home country after your studies end. All of this is important in satisfying the requirements to get a visa. A consular official will also take your picture and your fingerprints. Foreign students must contact their local embassy or consulate to request an interview and to get other information. This includes directions about how and where to pay the visa application charge. The cost is two hundred dollars. You should apply for the visa as soon as you have been accepted to a school in the United States. The government needs time to perform a background investigation. You cannot receive a visa more than one hundred twenty days before the start of your program. And if you are coming as a student for the first time, you cannot enter the country more than thirty days before classes begin. Once you come to the United States, you can stay for the length of your period of study. Your school is required to provide the Department of Homeland Security with reports on your status as a student. We will talk more about what that means next week. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online with transcripts, MP3s and helpful links at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully.
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3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Which sentence is not in Simple Present Tense?
a) We talk about getting a student visa to come to the United States. b) I'm Steve Ember. c) You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education. d) This is the VOA Special English Education Report. e) Getting a visa just lets you arrive in the United States. Exercise on Simple Present
Form questions in Simple Present. 1. we / our rooms / clean 2. We / our clothes / change 3. The children / about the joke / laugh 4. the car / at the corner / stop 5. he / his leg / hurt 6. we / tea / drink 25
7. he / the street / cross 8. Jim / his head / cover 9. you / at the door / knock
Vertical Farming: Potatoes? They're on the Fifth Floor

A professor promotes an environmentally friendly way to feed growing cities. Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 November 2008 This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Dickson Despommier is a public health professor at Columbia University in New York City. His area is environmental health sciences. One day nine years ago, he and his students developed an idea. They imagined people in cities growing crops inside a tall building. Tomatoes could grow on one floor of the skyscraper, potatoes on the next, small animals and fish on the floor above. You get the idea.
One design for a vertical farm
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This vertical farm, or "farmscraper," could have space for restaurants and other places that serve food, like schools or hospitals. They could serve foods that are truly locally grown. The building could even produce its own energy. It could have wind turbines on top. But why would anyone want to build a farm indoors in a city? Dickson Despommier believes it will become necessary. The world needs to find places to produce enough food to feed the growing population. Space, he says, is an all-important issue. The professor also points to problems of traditional farms. They use a lot of freshwater. Their fertilizer and animal waste can pollute water resources. And their growing seasons can be limited. But inside the vertical farm, crops could grow all year. And there would be no wind to blow away soil. Farmers would not have to worry about too much or too little rain, or about hot summers, freezing winters or insects. And without insects there would be no need for chemicals to kill them. Farm machines that use fossil fuels, like plows and tractors, would not be needed either. And water could be recycled for drinking. "The vertical farm re-uses everything, so there is no waste," says Professor Despommier. Even buildings could be saved. Old buildings could become new farms and provide jobs. The professor has been actively proposing the idea to cities as far away as Dubai and Canada. But so far it exists only in plans and drawings, and a model at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Critics say building a farmscraper would cost too much, especially considering the price of land in many cities. Dickson Despommier estimates the cost at about twenty to thirty million dollars. But he says the building would not have to be very tall. And his graduate students have found many empty lots and unused buildings in New York City that could provide space. And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For a link to the Vertical Farm Project, go to voaspecialenglish.com. Im Bob Doughty.
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3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Describe a vertical farm: ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________
6) Exercise on vocabulary.
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Write the correct words into the gaps. Example: 0 - _________ Answer: 0 - front wheel
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8)
Exercise on Present Progressive

Form positive sentences in Present Progressive. 1. Anna / the window / open
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2. we / with a family / stay 3. you / the castle / visit 4. she / home / walk 5. you / with me / come 6. she / her best / try 7. she / a circle / draw 8. she / in London / teach
The Law of Life

Written by Jack London 26 August 2006 ANNOUNCER: Now, the V.O.A. Special English Program, AMERICAN STORIES. (MUSIC) Our story today is called The Law of Life. It was written by Jack London. Here is Shep ONeal with the story. STORYTELLER: The old Indian was sitting on the snow. It was Koskoosh, former chief of his tribe. Now, all he could do was sit and listen to the others. His eyes were old. He could not see, but his ears were wide open to every sound. Aha. That was the sound of his daughter, Sit-cum-to-ha. She was beating the dogs, trying to make them stand in front of the snow sleds. He was forgotten by her, and by the 30
others, too. They had to look for new hunting grounds. The long, snowy ride waited. The days of the northlands were growing short. The tribe could not wait for death. Koskoosh was dying. The stiff, crackling noises of frozen animal skins told him that the chiefs tent was being torn down. The chief was a mighty hunter. He was his son, the son of Koskoosh. Koskoosh was being left to die. As the women worked, old Koskoosh could hear his sons voice drive them to work faster. He listened harder. It was the last time he would hear that voice. A child cried, and a woman sang softly to quiet it. The child was Koo-tee, the old man thought, a sickly child. It would die soon, and they would burn a hole in the frozen ground to bury it. They would cover its small body with stones to keep the wolves away. Well, what of it? A few years, and in the end, death. Death waited ever hungry. Death had the hungriest stomach of all. Koskoosh listened to other sounds he would hear no more: the men tying strong leather rope around the sleds to hold their belongings; the sharp sounds of leather whips, ordering the dogs to move and pull the sleds. Listen to the dogs cry. How they hated the work. They were off. Sled after sled moved slowly away into the silence. They had passed out of his life. He must meet his last hour alone. But what was that? The snow packed down hard under someones shoes. A man stood beside him, and placed a hand gently on his old head. His son was good to do this. He remembered other old men whose sons had not done this, who had left without a goodbye. His mind traveled into the past until his sons voice brought him back. It is well with you? his son asked. And the old man answered, It is well. There is wood next to you and the fire burns bright, the son said. The morning is gray and the cold is here. It will snow soon. Even now it is snowing. Ahh, even now it is snowing. The tribesmen hurry. Their loads are heavy and their stomachs flat from little food. The way is long and they travel fast. I go now. All is well? It is well. I am as last years leaf that sticks to the tree. The first breath that blows will knock me to the ground. My voice is like an old womans. My eyes no longer show me the way my feet go. I am tired and all is well. He lowered his head to his chest and listened to the snow as his son rode away. He felt the sticks of wood next to him again. One by one, the fire would eat them. And step by step, 31
death would cover him. When the last stick was gone, the cold would come. First, his feet would freeze. Then, his hands. The cold would travel slowly from the outside to the inside of him, and he would rest. It was easyall men must die. He felt sorrow, but he did not think of his sorrow. It was the way of life. He had lived close to the earth, and the law was not new to him. It was the law of the body. Nature was not kind to the body. She was not thoughtful of the person alone. She was interested only in the group, the race, the species. This was a deep thought for old Koskoosh. He had seen examples of it in all his life. The tree sap in early spring; the new-born green leaf, soft and fresh as skin; the fall of the yellowed, dry leaf. In this alone was all history. He placed another stick on the fire and began to remember his past. He had been a great chief, too. He had seen days of much food and laughter; fat stomachs when food was left to rot and spoil; times when they left animals alone, unkilled; days when women had many children. And he had seen days of no food and empty stomachs, days when the fish did not come, and the animals were hard to find. For seven years the animals did not come. Then, he remembered when as a small boy how he watched the wolves kill a moose. He was with his friend Zing-ha, who was killed later in the Yukon River. Ah, but the moose. Zing-ha and he had gone out to play that day. Down by the river they saw fresh steps of a big, heavy moose. Hes an old one, Zing-ha had said. He cannot run like the others. He has fallen behind. The wolves have separated him from the others. They will never leave him. And so it was. By day and night, never stopping, biting at his nose, biting at his feet, the wolves stayed with him until the end. Zing-ha and he had felt the blood quicken in their bodies. The end would be a sight to see. They had followed the steps of the moose and the wolves. Each step told a different story. They could see the tragedy as it happened: here was the place the moose stopped to fight. The snow was packed down for many feet. One wolf had been caught by the heavy feet of the moose and kicked to death. Further on, they saw how the moose had struggled to escape up a hill. But the wolves had attacked from behind. The moose had fallen down and crushed two wolves. Yet, it was clear the end was near. The snow was red ahead of them. Then they heard the sounds of battle. He and Zing-ha moved closer, on their stomachs, so the wolves would not see them. They saw the end. The picture was so strong it had stayed with him all his life. His dull, blind eyes saw the end again as they had in the far off past.
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For long, his mind saw his past. The fire began to die out, and the cold entered his body. He placed two more sticks on it, just two more left. This would be how long he would live. It was very lonely. He placed one of the last pieces of wood on the fire. Listen, what a strange noise for wood to make in the fire. No, it wasnt wood. His body shook as he recognized the soundwolves. The cry of a wolf brought the picture of the old moose back to him again. He saw the body torn to pieces, with fresh blood running on the snow. He saw the clean bones lying gray against the frozen blood. He saw the rushing forms of the gray wolves, their shinning eyes, their long wet tongues and sharp teeth. And he saw them form a circle and move ever slowly closer and closer. A cold, wet nose touched his face. At the touch, his soul jumped forward to awaken him. His hand went to the fire and he pulled a burning stick from it. The wolf saw the fire, but was not afraid. It turned and howled into the air to his brother wolves. They answered with hunger in their throats, and came running. The old Indian listened to the hungry wolves. He heard them form a circle around him and his small fire. He waved his burning stick at them, but they did not move away. Now, one of them moved closer, slowly, as if to test the old mans strength. Another and another followed. The circle grew smaller and smaller. Not one wolf stayed behind. Why should he fight? Why cling to life? And he dropped his stick with the fire on the end of it. It fell in the snow and the light went out. The circle of wolves moved closer. Once again the old Indian saw the picture of the moose as it struggled before the end came. He dropped his head to his knees. What did it matter after all? Isnt this the law of life? (MUSIC) ANNOUNCER: You have just heard the American story The Law of Life. It was written by Jack London. Your storyteller was Shep ONeal. Listen again next week for another American story in V.O.A. Special English. Im Faith Lapidus.
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3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Exercise on vocabulary.
Write the correct words into the gaps. You can use British or American English. Example: 0 - _________ Answer: 0 - rear window
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11)
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12)

Form negative sentences in Present Progressive. 1. you / a box / carry 2. Tom / with Anny / stay 3. you / your bag / pack 4. my crush / at me / smile 5. my sister / our dog / feed 6. he / the mouse button / click 7. Jim / his head / cover 8. you / a new gadget / develop 9. the boss / a letter / dictate
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Study Looks at Mental Health of College-Age Adults

Researchers in the U.S. say almost half appear to have at least one psychiatric disorder, but few seek treatment. Transcript of radio broadcast: 02 December 2008 This is the VOA Special English Health Report. A new study in the United States says mental disorders appear to be common in collegeage adults, but most do not seek treatment. Researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University in New York City did the study. It appears this month in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study compared the mental health of college students to that of non-students the same age. About half of Americans age eighteen to twenty-four attend college.
The information used in the study came from five thousand college-age men and women. They were questioned for a national survey between two thousand one and two thousand two. About two thousand of them were college students. The questioners were not doctors but trained interviewers. The questions were based on symptoms listed in a book widely used by doctors to identify mental disorders. The researchers found that twenty percent of college students abused alcohol -- the most common disorder in that group. Personality disorders, like obsessive compulsive disorder, came next. The study says almost eighteen percent of college students appeared to have a personality disorder. That was true of about twenty-two percent of those not in college. The college students were also less likely to have a drug-use disorder, nicotine dependence or bipolar disorder. And they were less likely to have used tobacco. But their risk of alcohol disorders was greater. 36
The National Institutes of Health and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention helped pay for the study. Over all, the study found that almost half of all the college-age individuals showed signs of at least one psychiatric disorder. The researchers say this age group may be especially sensitive to disorders because of the great pressures of entering adulthood. Yet they say only onefourth sought treatment. Joseph Glenmullen is a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who believes that psychiatric medications are overused. He told the Bloomberg news agency that the finding of a psychiatric disorder in about half of those studied "seems extraordinarily high." He says it may represent what he called "a watering down of the diagnostic criteria such that they capture more people with milder symptoms.'' What he is saying is that more people may be told they have a mental disorder because the definitions have been widened. And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Highlight the words in past tense. 6) Exercise on vocabulary.
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Write down the what you can see in the pictures. Look at the example.
Example:
two German books
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Form questions in Present Progressive. 1. my friends / me / help 2. we / tea / drink 3. Jamie / the race / win 4. I / postcards / send 5. my sister / our dog / feed 6. We / our holidays / enjoy 7. Harry / trouble again / cause 8. we / in a forum / chat 9. they / the treasure / discover
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More and More Bloggers Are Expressing Their Thoughts and Opinions on the Internet
Also: A question from China about Bobby Fischer. And music by the 18-year-old singer Taylor Swift. Transcript of radio broadcast: 04 December 2008 HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. This week: We listen to music from Taylor Swift Answer a listener question about chess champion Bobby Fischer And report about blogs right here at VOA. (MUSIC) Blogs HOST:
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A blog is short for a Web log. People write blogs to express their opinions and ideas over the Internet. Some people write blogs about political issues. Others use them to share their lives with faraway friends or family. Still other people write blogs to help them deal with sickness, money problems or to choose movies to see or books to read. Bob Doughty has more about the increasing influence of blogs. BOB DOUGHTY: The Center for Media Research recently released a report about blogs. It says all studies agree that blogs are popular around the world. One study found that more than one hundred eighty million people around the world have started a blog. And more than three hundred forty million people around the world read blogs. Another study found bloggers in sixty-six countries on six continents. It found blogs in eighty-one languages. People in many professions, including the entertainment industry and news organizations, are writing blogs. VOA writers are among them. Alex Belida is the chief writer of the VOA news blog. He discusses issues of freedom of the press and VOA programming. He also answers questions, comments and criticism from the public. On a recent blog, Mister Belida wrote about VOA's rules demanding accuracy and objectivity. He wrote that VOA rules state that VOA reporters "do not speak for the United States government." He also wrote that the idea that any government agency can tell VOA what to say is false. To read more of the VOA News Blog go to www.voanewsblog.blogspot.com. For a different blog experience, visit Ted Landphair's America. Mister Landphair has been a VOA reporter for years. His blog is a personal exploration of American life. He takes readers to many places he has visited and written about in the United States. And his wife's pictures help make those places come alive. She is award-winning photographer Carol Highsmith. On a recent blog, Ted visits many beautiful covered bridges found throughout rural America. Ted also discusses many other subjects. Special English listeners might like his "Wild Words" blogs. You can learn some new and unusual American words. Just go to www.voanews.com and click on the link for Ted Landphair's America. Bobby Fischer HOST:
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Our listener question this week comes from China. Wangzijin wants to know more about the chess champion Bobby Fischer. Bobby Fischer was one of the greatest chess players in history. In nineteen seventy-two he became the first American to win the World Chess Championship. Bobby Fischer was born in nineteen forty-three in Chicago, Illinois. He later moved with his mother and sister to New York City. At the age of six, he taught himself how to play chess. At thirteen, Bobby became the youngest player to win the United States junior championship. He then became a United States chess champion. By the age of fifteen, he was the youngest person ever to hold the title of grandmaster. Later, he won twenty straight games against the greatest chess players in the world. Bobby Fischer His most famous game was in nineteen seventy-two in Iceland. Known as the match of the century, Bobby Fischer was to compete against World Chess Champion Boris Spassky from the Soviet Union. This game was about more than just chess. It represented Americas chance to defeat the Soviets who had long held the winning title. At first Bobby Fischer did not want to compete. United States National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger telephoned Fischer and asked him to play for the honor of the United States. Bobby Fischer did compete. He lost the first of three games to Spassky. Fischer surrendered the second game. For the last game, Fischer demanded that he and Spassky play in a very small room that was quieter. Bobby Fischer won the game and became champion. And then, he disappeared for many years. Bobby Fischer was known for playing very aggressively. Chess champion Garry Kasparov once said that Fischer was willing to fight to the death for every game. Fischer could be very difficult. He made demands about the conditions of chess games. He complained about prize money, lighting, and noise from cameras and crowds. He sometimes acted very strangely. Bobby Fischer appeared in nineteen ninety-two to again compete against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia. Once more, Fischer won. But federal charges were brought against Fischer because he broke American laws restricting business dealings with Yugoslavia. He never returned to the United States. Iceland offered him citizenship in two thousand one and Bobby Fischer lived there until he died in January. (MUSIC) 43
Taylor Swift HOST: Eighteen-year-old Taylor Swift writes and performs personal songs about being young and falling in and out of love. Her songs are heavily influenced by the sounds of country music. Taylor Swift's latest album, "Fearless," is already breaking sales records. Critics say Swift is the most remarkable new country artist in recent years. And, they say all the songs on her new album are a pleasure to listen to. Barbara Klein plays three examples. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: "Hey Stephen" is a good example of Taylor Swift's bright and youthful voice. Like many of her songs, it tells a clear story about a personal experience. But there is more to Taylor Swift than her cheerful sound. She is an extremely hard-working musician who has been perfecting her song-writing skills since she was eleven years old. When Taylor was only fourteen, her family moved to Nashville, Tennessee so that she could be at the center of the country music industry. Her hard work writing and performing songs paid off. At the age of sixteen, she released her first album, "Taylor Swift." Two years later, it is still a top-selling album. Taylor Swift One reason for Taylor Swift's success is that her music is popular with country music fans as well as with general audiences. And she has worked hard to connect with young listeners using online social networks like MySpace. Here is the song "Fifteen." Taylor Swift remembers the hopes and fears of being a high school student. (MUSIC) Last month, the Country Music Association nominated Taylor Swift for best female singer of the year. She won the CMA award last year for best new artist. We leave you with the title song of Taylor Swift's new album, "Fearless." (MUSIC) HOST:
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I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Caty Weaver and Dana Demange, who was also the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Whats a blog? ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ __________
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6) Do you have a blog? If No explain why. ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ___________________________________________ __________
Exercise on Simple Past
Form positive sentences in Simple Past. 1. they / postcards / collect 2. you / thirsty / be 3. Betty / her best / do 4. you / the house / see 5. we / her / an apple / give 6. Ruth / the pencil / drop 7. Ben / the fire / light 46
8. she / the chapter / copy 9. they / a hole / dig
Economy May Be Weak, but Thanksgiving Traditions Hold Strong

Also: A question from India about American Indians. And music from the new album by James Taylor. Transcript of radio broadcast: 20 November 2008 HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. This week: We listen to a new album from James Taylor Answer a listener question about native American Indians And talk to some Americans about the Thanksgiving holiday. (MUSIC) Thanksgiving HOST:
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Next Thursday, November twenty-seventh, is the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Americans will gather with family and friends to share a big meal. They might play games, tell stories or watch football on television together. Faith Lapidus reports on a few A U.S. soldier at a Thanksgiving Americans and their Thanksgivings, past and present. lunch at the military base in Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2007 FAITH LAPIDUS: Angelo Rosa has more Thanksgiving memories than most people. The man from Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania is one hundred years old. He lives in the same house where he celebrated a great number of Thanksgivings. But he says it was different when he was a child. Mister Rosa was just three when his family came to America. He says Thanksgiving was not a tradition his family celebrated when he was a child. ANGELO ROSA: "When we were small children, Thanksgiving was never a very big holiday because at the time it was not promoted the way it is today so we actually didn't pay too much attention to it." But, also, he says, his parents faced a language barrier. ANGELO ROSA: "They were from the Naples area of Italy. They spoke very broken English, because they were the first generation that came over here."
Angelo Rosa, 100 years old And the family had little money. There were six Rosa children. Mister Rosa's father was a coal miner in Pennsylvania. The family was not able to have big, costly dinners, especially during the economic depression of the nineteen thirties. But Mister Rosa says Thanksgiving dinners became a tradition in his own family after he married and had children.
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This Thanksgiving, Angelo Rosa will go to the home of his daughter about twenty minutes away. He will celebrate the day with loved ones, including his greatgrandchildren. On the other side of the country, Cathie Dahlstrom will be cutting a lot of cabbage. She has to prepare coleslaw for a group of thirty-five to forty Thanksgiving celebrants in Concord, California. We asked Miz Dahlstrom what she is thankful for this year, with the economy facing severe problems and American forces fighting two wars. Her first answer came quickly: "The election." She said she has a real sense of renewed hope that things can be better in America. She said she also is deeply grateful for her very large family. Miz Dahlstrom has one daughter. She has five younger brothers and sisters. She also has eight step-brothers and sisters. Many of them and their families will be at the Thanksgiving dinner. Lastly, she says she is very thankful that her eighty-two year old mother has a new relationship. Her mother was widowed some years ago. She is now dating a ninety-oneyear-old man who has six grown children. Could Cathie Dahlstrom's Thanksgivings get even bigger and more complex? Maybe. And we would bet she would welcome such change. American Indians HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from India. Nirmal wants to know what happened to the Native American Indians after the Europeans arrived in what is now the United States. The listener from Kerala state wants to know if Native Americans still live in the country. Many Native American tribes are living in the United States today. However, whole groups of Indians died in the years after Europeans arrived and the United States was established. Disease was a major problem. The Europeans brought diseases that were completely new to the natives. They had no natural defenses. The spread of diseases like smallpox sometimes killed whole tribes.
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Differences in religion, culture and ideas about ownership and land rights led to long, bloody battles. Such a war began in sixteen seventy-five between settlers and the Wamponoag tribe in the Northeast. For two years, thousands of Indians and settlers -- men, women and children -- were killed.
A historic drawing of the Narragansett Indians But history experts say the Narraganset Indians were the real victims of that conflict. They did not take part in the war. They did not support one group or the other. But, the settlers killed almost all the Narraganset because they had learned to fear all Indians. Throughout the eighteen hundreds, white settlers pushed west across the country. A United States government policy called the Indian Removal Act forced Native Americans to leave areas where they had lived for centuries. One of the most famous Indian expulsions is known as the Trail of Tears. In the early eighteen thirties, the United States government ordered five tribes to leave their lands east of the Mississippi River. They were told to go to what is now the western state of Oklahoma. Over time, tens of thousands of Indians made the trip. But thousands died along the way. And hundreds of others died while fighting the expulsion. Today, there are about two and one-half million Native Americans and Alaskan Natives living in the United States. The federal government recognizes more than five hundred sixty tribal governments. These are permitted some self-rule powers. The last United States census found that one-third of all American Indians lived in three states: California, Arizona and Oklahoma. (MUSIC) James Taylor HOST: James Taylor has been writing and recording hit songs since the late nineteen sixties. His voice still has a sweet, youthful sound. But as he ages he gets better and better at recording songs made famous by other people. Barbara Klein plays some of these "Covers" from Taylor's new album of the same name.
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(MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN:
James Taylor's cover of "How Sweet It Is (to Be Loved By You)" came out in nineteen seventy-five. It was one of his most popular recordings ever. On the new album, Taylor tries another hit song by the same writers, brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. Here is "(I'm a) Roadrunner." (MUSIC) James Taylor visits country music on this album, too. Here is his version of a beautiful John Anderson song from nineteen ninety-two. It is called "Seminole Wind." (MUSIC) James Taylor is still writing his own music, too. He is currently working on an album of new material. It will be his first since "October Road" in two thousand two. At sixty years old, this artist is still going strong. As proof, we leave you with James Taylor performing the Buddy Holly song "Not Fade Away." (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written and produced by Caty Weaver. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio.

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2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Whats your favorite holiday? Why? 6) Describe Thanksgiving.
Form negative sentences in Simple Past. 1. you / a box / carry 2. Tom / with Anny / stay 3. he / the car / wash 4. she / her best / try 5. I / postcards / send 6. Janet / the bus / miss 7. Jim / his head / cover 8. I / my point of view / defend 9. she / the word / underline
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Dude! Check Out Some of the Most Common Slang in Popular Speech
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: "Slang" that's not necessarily slang. RS: A. C. Kemp teaches international students as a lecturer in English language studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She also runs the Web site slangcity.com and she used to teach a slang class at an adult education center. AC KEMP: "I know when I started teaching this slang class, a lot of my friends said 'Oh, so you're teaching them hip-hop words,' or that sort of thing. And, in fact, the students, what they wanted to learn, were words that most Americans wouldn't consider slang."
AA: "Such as?" AC KEMP: "Like 'cool' or idioms like 'kick someone out,' meaning to force someone to leave, or 'screw up,' to make a mistake. A lot of the things that Americans think are just regular English, they're not taught formally. If you're studying English in another country, in Turkey or Japan, they don't usually teach those kind of words." RS: "What do you consider the most important slang words for those students, those who are either coming to the United States or are learning English in other countries?" AC KEMP: "The most important words, I would say, are the most frequent words. The philosophy these days in teaching English as a second language is that when you look at vocabulary, you want to teach words that are very frequent. And that makes sense, because if you have a text, say, or you're listening to a conversation and you know ninety or ninety-five percent of the words, those words that show up from time to time are going to be a lot easier to guess if you know most of what that sentence means."
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AA: A. C. Kemp did a little research for us: an analysis of terms currently used in popular culture. AC KEMP: "What I did was I made a list of popular television shows like 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'The Office,' 'Desperate Housewives' and '24,' and I took scripts from those and scripts from movies -- and I tried pick a variety, like 'Finding Nemo' and 'Kill Bill' and 'American Pie' -- and I put all of those scripts, which you can get on the Internet, I took those scripts and put them in a file and ran a computer program called a concordancer.' RS: The result? A list of how often eA Ch word in the file was used. AA: A. C. Kemp says linguists usually think of slang as being "insider language:" language that's used by a particular group. But she picked out words that her students would consider slang. A C KEMP: "And the one that I found the most commonly [used] was 'dude.'" AA: "D-u-d-e." AC KEMP: "D-u-d-e, meaning man. And I thought, well, that's kind of strange, why is that so common? And I realized that I had some movies in there and some TV shows that were intended for teenagers. And for teenagers it's not just a word that means man, it's also the way they address each other. So when they say hello, they say 'Hey, dude.' "And the next most common one was 'cool,' which most people know." AA: "And that's been around for decades." AC KEMP: "Oh, that's been around for over a hundred years. But that's one of those things about what is slang, that even though 'cool' has been around for so long, we still think of it as an informal slang word." RS: "What else came up on your list?" AC KEMP: "The third most popular one was 'hot,' meaning sexy or exciting, and 'hottie,' a sexy person. The next one was kind of interesting. That was 'whatever,' used as a sentence. Teenagers say 'whatever' to mean 'I don't care' or 'It doesn't matter to me.'" AA: "And next on the list?" AC KEMP: "'Chick.' That's another word that was really common in the sixties and seventies and it went out of fashion and it came back." RS: "Meaning ... " AC KEMP: "Meaning woman or girl." 54
AA: "And it was a very controversial term in its earlier days, how is it -- because it was seen as very chauvinistic -- " AC KEMP: "Personally, I still see it as a derogatory term but it's -- you know, teenagers, I'm not sure if they see it as a bad thing or not. I suspect many of them do." RS: A. C. Kemp teaches English to international students at M.I.T. and runs the Web site slangcity.com. She will be back with us next time to continue our conversation. AA: And that's all for WORDMASTER this week. Archives on online at voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) What does it mean dude?
Form questions in Simple Past. 1. he / the question / answer 2. we / a mountain / climb 3. Gareth / the bin / empty
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4. they / good / feel 5. my sister / our dog / feed 6. they / in the lake / swim 7. Katy / a lot of money / spend 8. Louis / the ball / throw 9. he / the mouse button / click
Academic purpose: leia o texto, sem o auxlio de dicionrio e escreva em portugus cinco linhas explicando o que foi lido. Jamais grife palavras desconhecidas.
Isolates of Colletotrichum spp. from almond, avocado, and strawberry from Israel and isolates of the pink subpopulation from almond from the United States were characterized by various molecular methods and compared with morphological identification. Taxon-specific primer analysis grouped the avocado isolates within the species C. gloeosporioides and the U.S. almond and Israeli strawberry isolates within the species C. acutatum. However, the Israeli almond isolates, previously identified morphologically as C. gloeosporioides, reacted with C. acutatumspecific primers. Arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction and A+T-rich DNA analyses determined that each population from almond and strawberry was distinct and clonal. Sequence analysis of the complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region (ITS 1
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5.8SITS 2) revealed a similarity of between 97.03 and 98.72% among almond isolates from Israel, C. acutatum almond isolates from the United States, and C. acutatum strawberry isolates from Israel. Similarity of the above populations to that of C. gloeosporioides of avocado was between 92.42 and 92.86%. DNA sequence analysis of the entire ITS region supported the phylogeny inferred from the ITS 1 tree of 14 different Colletotrichum species. Although morphological criteria indicated that the Israeli isolates from almond are unique, this population was grouped within the C. acutatum species according to molecular analyses. Additional keywords: Glomerella, rDNA (ITS 1 to ITS 2) sequence, speciesspecific primers. ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ _____
In New York City, Waterfalls as Public Art (and a Plumber's Dream)

Also: A question from Ukraine about the history of the circus. And new music from the British group Coldplay. Transcript of radio broadcast: 28 August 2008
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Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. Today we play music from the British band Coldplay ... Answer a question about the circus And tell about a wet and wild public art project in New York City. (MUSIC) New York City Waterfalls HOST: Visitors to New York City this summer have the chance to see four special art installations that are making a big splash. The Public Art Fund group hired Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson to create the New York City Waterfalls. Faith Lapidus has more about this interesting public art project in the East River. FAITH LAPIDUS: The four New York City Waterfalls range in height from twenty-seven to thirty-six meters tall. They are made from common industrial materials like scaffolding, pumps and piping. One waterfall is under the Brooklyn Bridge, while another flows between Piers Four and Five in Brooklyn. There is one on Pier Thirty-five in Manhattan, and another on the north side of Governors Island. Together, these waterfalls move one hundred thirty-two thousand liters of water a minute.
Olafur Eliasson's waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge The public art project cost more than fifteen million dollars and took two years to plan. There are several ways to get a good look at the waterfalls. The New York City Department of Transportation organized a bicycle route that suggests riding across the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. Or you can sit and enjoy looking at them from several parks. You can even see some of them while riding some public transportation trains
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between Manhattan and Brooklyn. We decided to take a Circle Line boat tour to fully experience the view from the water. (SOUND) TOUR GUIDE: "Now, here we go into the East River, looking for waterfalls. They are the work of the artist forty-one-year-old Olafur Eliasson, born in Denmark, grew up in Iceland and now works in his studio in Berlin. He heads up a team of thirty. Not just artists but mechanics, architects and even plumbers." Olafur Eliasson chose the form of the waterfall because he says it is easily recognizable. He wanted people to think of the water of the East River as more than just a simple surface surrounded by buildings. He wanted people to have a nature-based experience within a city environment. He said by lifting the water up into falls, he called attention to the physical presence of the water. He wanted people to see the natural forces of gravity, wind and daylight changing the water. At the opening ceremony in June, Eliasson said the waterfalls are about public space and belong to the people of New York City. The falls were carefully built so that they do not harm organisms living in the river. The materials used to make the falls will be reused. And the waterfalls are temporary. Visitors have until October thirteenth to enjoy this unusual public art project. (MUSIC) History of the Circus HOST: Our listener question this week comes from Ukraine. Olga wants to know more about the history of the circus. During the civilization of ancient Rome, the circus was a building for large events. These included horse racing, athletic competitions and wild animal hunts. The eighteenth century British horse expert Philip Astley is often called the creator of the modern circus. He opened a riding school in London where he also performed dangerous tricks for the public. His shows grew to include performances by acrobats, jugglers, clowns and strong men. Circuses are usually performed in a circular area called a ring. In fact, the word "circus" comes from the Latin word for "circle." Circuses became very popular in Europe during the nineteenth century. Some European cities still have circus buildings which date from this period. These include Paris, France; Stockholm, Sweden, and Blackpool, England.
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In the United States, P.T. Barnum developed a circus show that included animals performing tricks and people with unusual skills. P.T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan and Circus began in eighteen seventy. At the time, it was the largest circus in American history. Two years later Barnum was calling his circus "The
A circus performance with Gunther Gebel-Williams Greatest Show on Earth." The two most famous American circuses were Barnum and Bailey and the Ringling Brothers. By nineteen hundred seven, the two companies merged into one. But they performed separately for twelve years. It was a major event when a circus such as Ringling Brothers came to perform in a city or town. During the early twentieth century, this circus required about one hundred railroad cars to carry equipment, one thousand workers and hundreds of animals. Some of Ringling's most famous circus performers included the acrobat Lillian Leitzel, the clown Lou Jacobs and the animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams. Today, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus has two separate shows which travel across the United States by train. Another smaller show travels by truck. Several other groups have reinvented the circus with artistic performances that do not include animals. These include the Cirque du Soleil from Canada, Circus Baobab from Guinea and the Pickle Circus in San Francisco, California. Coldplay (MUSIC)
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HOST:
Coldplay The British rock band Coldplay is making history with its fourth album, "Viva la Vida." The album sold more than seven hundred thousand copies in the United States during the first week it was released in June. It also became the most paid-for downloaded album in history. Barbara Klein plays three songs from this popular record. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: That was the song "Lost." It is a good example of Coldplay's skill in creating dramatic rock melodies that are hard to forget. The lead singer, Chris Martin, often sings in a warm and recognizable high, falsetto voice. The title "Viva la Vida" or "long live life" comes from a painting by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Chris Martin says he has great respect for the boldness of her work. Coldplay said it wanted to try something different with "Viva la Vida." The album includes heavier drum sounds and more serious songs. The band hired the famous record producer Brian Eno to help them with the album. Eno is best known for working with the Irish rock group U2. Here is the song "Strawberry Swing." (MUSIC) Coldplay has used creative methods to advertise the album. For one week, they released the song "Violet Hill" free of charge on the Internet. They also gave free performances in New York City, Barcelona, Spain, and London, England. Coldplay even appeared in an advertisement for the iTunes online music store. We leave you with "Viva la Vida," the title song of Coldplay's best-selling album. (MUSIC) HOST:
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I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written and produced by Dana Demange. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
Exercise on Past Progressive
Form positive sentences in Past Progressive. 1. we / a mountain / climb 2. I / a magazine / read 3. they / a race / run 4. Jeff and Linda / home / cycle 5. The children / about the joke / laugh 6. they / their calculators / use
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7. we / tea / drink 8. they / computers / order 9. she / the word / underline 10. the man / on the floor / kneel
Visiting Seven of America's Natural Wonders

We explore Niagara Falls, the Everglades, the Badlands, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Alaskas glaciers and Hawaiis volcanoes. Transcript of radio broadcast: 18 November 2008 VOICE ONE: I'm Steve Ember. VOICE TWO: And I'm Barbara Klein with Explorations in VOA Special English. We received a special request in a letter from a listener in Nagano, Japan. Atsumi Shimoda asked for a report about what the Special English writers thought were the seven natural wonders of the United States. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE:
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So now we will visit these natural wonders. Some are huge. Some are powerful. And some are even a little frightening! But, we will keep a safe distance. The first stop is a natural wonder that the United States shares with Canada. (SOUND) That thundering crash is the tens of thousands of cubic feet of water that flow each second over Niagara Falls which includes the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. The American Falls in New York State extends more than three hundred twenty meters across part of the Niagara River. The American Falls is more than fifty meters high.
Niagara Falls Canada owns the larger Horseshoe Falls. It is about eight hundred meters wide and almost fifty meters high. It is shaped like the letter U, or a horse's shoe. VOICE TWO: Niagara Falls formed about twelve thousand years ago when huge melting sheets of ice formed the Great Lakes. The land was uneven with several drops in level, some very sharp. Water from Lake Erie began to flow north to Lake Ontario as a result of the loss of the ice barrier. In modern times, several people have gone over Niagara Falls, most of them on purpose. Most also survived. But, we think the beauty and power of Niagara Falls is best experienced from near the water, not in it. Now we travel southeast to the state of Florida. We will visit the area once called "the liquid heart" of that state -- the Everglades. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Hundreds of birds fly in a sunny blue sky. The only sounds are bird calls and the soft noise made by tall grasses as the water slowly moves them. Hidden in the grasses, dark green alligators move at the edge of the water, like part of the Earth come alive.
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This is the Everglades -- a low, watery, partly coastal area that covers ten thousand square kilometers. The area is filled with sawgrass. This plant grows in sharp, thin pieces that are three to ten meters tall. The Everglades is sometimes called "river of The Everglades grass." The area also contains forests of palm, cypress, mangrove and pine. And beautiful plants and sweet-smelling flowers grow in the Everglades. These include several kinds of the highly prized and rare flower, the orchid. Animal species are plentiful. Many colorful birds and butterflies live here. So do snakes, foxes, frogs and even big cats, called Florida panthers. But the Everglades alligators and crocodiles are probably the animals most identified with the Everglades. No other place in the world is home to both. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Now we travel to the north central part of the country. We are in the state of South Dakota. The land is big and mostly flat with many fields of corn, wheat and soybeans. But as we travel west, the cropland gives way to wild grasses. A strong dry wind blows continuously from the west. Suddenly, the land becomes torn and rocky, dry and dusty -- no longer green and gold. It is now a light red-brown color. All around are broken disordered forms. There are hills and valleys of all sizes and strange shapes. VOICE ONE: These are the Badlands. Hundreds of thousands of years ago the area was grassland. But, then, forces of nature destroyed the grass. Water and ice cut into the surface of the Earth. They beat at the rocks, wearing them away. The result is one of the world's strangest sights.
The Badlands also extend into North Dakota All together, the Badlands cover more than fifteen thousand square kilometers. About ten percent is national parkland. The area is a study in extremes. Temperatures in the summer have been as high as forty-six degrees Celsius. In the winter they have dropped to as low as forty-one degrees below zero. Life in the Badlands is difficult. But animals do survive. The most well known is the prairie dog. This small mammal lives in a series of underground passages.
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(MUSIC)
The Grand Canyon VOICE TWO: As we continue west we also take a sharp dive south. We want to see the huge hole in the Earth, called the Grand Canyon in the state of Arizona. The first sight is breathtaking. The Grand Canyon stretches for hundreds of kilometers before us and hundreds of meters below us. It is about twenty-four kilometers across at its widest point. Its deepest point is almost two thousand meters down. The Grand Canyon is a series of deep long cuts in rock. There are many passages and large raised areas. There are forests on the top level and desert areas down below. They provide support for several different ecosystems. The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon. The Canyon offers a lot of information about the physical history of Earth. There is a huge amount of fossil evidence. And its walls provide a record of three of the four major periods of the Earth's geologic time. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Now, we are at the hottest, driest and lowest place in North America. Death Valley is part of the Mojave Desert. It lies mostly in the western state of California although part of it reaches into Nevada. An area called Badwater sits about eighty-six meters below sea level. There is not really any water there. The area gets fewer than five centimeters of rain a year.
Death Valley
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During the summer the temperature in Death Valley can reach fifty-seven degrees Celsius. But, it can be dangerously cold in the winter there, too. And storms in the mountains can produce sudden flooding on the valley floor. In other words, Death Valley is an unforgiving place. The heat has killed people in the past. And it will continue to kill those who are not careful in dealing with the area's extreme climate. Death Valley holds much evidence of nature's past violence. For example, there is Ubehebe Crater. This hole is about one kilometer across and more than two hundred thirty meters deep. It is the remains of a major volcanic explosion about two thousand years ago. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Now it is time to cool off in the far northern state of Alaska. We could probably just call all of Alaska a natural wonder. But of special interest are its glaciers. These huge, slow-moving masses of ice cover about seventy-five thousand square kilometers. About one hundred thousand of these rivers of ice flow down mountains. Some start from thousands of meters up a mountain. They can flow to areas just a few hundred meters above sea level. The largest Alaskan glacier is called Malaspina. It is more than two thousand two hundred square kilometers. VOICE ONE: Most glaciers move very slowly. But sometimes one will suddenly speed ahead for a year or two. These are called surge-glaciers. The most recent surges were in two thousand. The Tokositna glacier and Yanert Glaciers now have deep, narrow cuts on their formerly smooth surfaces. Yanert Glacier dropped ninety-one meters as a result of the surge. It is always very cold on the glaciers. Next we go to a hot spot. Sometimes very hot. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO:
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Welcome to Mount Kilauea, the world's most active volcano. It is on the island of Hawaii. Kilauea is not far from Mauna Loa, the largest volcano in the world.
Steam rising from Mount Kilauea Kilauea has been releasing burning hot liquid rock called lava continuously since nineteen eighty-three. The lava flows down the mountain to the Pacific Ocean. Its fierce heat produces a big cloud of steam when it hits the cold water. Kilauean lava continues to add land to the island. Sometimes visitors are able to walk out near the edge of this new black volcanic rock. VOICE ONE: These seven natural American wonders, from waterfalls to volcanoes, are not the only ones in the United States. What about the Great Salt Lake, the Old Faithful Geyser, the Mammoth Cave and the giant redwood forests? We will have to report about them and other natural wonders another time. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein. VOICE ONE: And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words.
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4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Describe each America's Natural Wonder.
Form negative sentences in Past Progressive. 1. she / down the stairs / rush 2. they / in the lake / swim 3. she / her room / tidy 4. we / house / move 5. the passengers / panic 6. she / the word / underline 7. they / the new student / welcome 8. she / the word / spell 9. his nose / bleed
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'The Simpsons' Turn 20, Though in TV Land They Haven't Aged a Day
A listener question about how Americans teach children about money. And the playful music of Katy Perry. Transcript of radio broadcast: 23 October 2008
HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. This week: We listen to music from Katy Perry Answer a listener question about how parents teach their children about money
But first, we look at the television family "The Simpsons," still funny after a historic number of seasons on air. (MUSIC) The Simpsons HOST: A popular American animated television show began its twentieth season last month. "The Simpsons" now ties the old show "Gunsmoke" in number of seasons broadcast. "Gunsmoke" was a Western dramatic show. It was on television from nineteen fifty-five 70
until nineteen seventy-five. "The Simpsons" was first broadcast in nineteen eighty-nine. It is the longest running situation comedy series on television. Faith Lapidus tells about the show and how it stays current. FAITH LAPIDUS: "The Simpsons" is about a white, working class family in an average American town called Springfield. The mother is the intelligent and responsible blue-haired Marge. The father, Homer, works at the nuclear power center. Homer is lazy, fat, stupid and selfish but still lovable. The Simpson children are Bart, Lisa and baby Maggie. Bart gets into a lot of trouble and does poorly in school. Lisa is an excellent student and deep thinker, as well as a great saxophone player. Maggie does not talk, but expresses herself with the baby pacifier that never leaves her mouth. Cartoonist Matt Groening created "The Simpsons." He has said that Bart is partly based on himself. Groening named some of the Simpson characters after his own family members. The cartoonist has said no one expected "The Simpsons" to become such a huge success. One reason for its popularity is the large number of funny characters in Springfield. They provide a good, if sometimes extreme, representation of America. Another reason is because the show explores current issues in American life. They include freedom of speech, election corruption, rights for homosexuals, environmental destruction and common family problems. The show makes fun of many social, religious, political and cultural issues. Because it is a cartoon show, the Simpsons can go anywhere and do anything, so the writers never run out of ideas. Critics say the show is still interesting, intelligent and funny after almost twenty years. "The Simpsons" has won more than twenty Emmy awards. Critics have called it one of the best American television shows in history. Listen now to a little from "The Simpsons." BART SIMPSON: "Yo. Who's this?" DENNIS LEARY: "Dennis Leary, you little puke. I'm gonna rip out your heart with two fingers. They taught me how to do it for my show." BART: "Which show? The one that got canceled or the one that's gonna get canceled?" DENNIS: "You are so dead." (Bart and friend Milhouse laugh)
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MARGE SIMPSON: "That laughter sounds like the result of misbehavior. Bart! How did you get a cell phone?" BART: "Same way you got me by accident, on a golf course." MARGE: "Mmmph whose phone is this?" BART: "You'll never get it out of me." MARGE: "O.K. Milhouse?" MILHOUSE: "It's Dennis Leary's! I'm sorry, Bart. I'm desperate for any signs of adult approval."
FAITH LAPIDUS: Because of its popularity, hundreds of famous people have been heard on "The Simpsons," playing themselves or other characters. They include actors, athletes, journalists, musicians and even astronauts. Teaching Children About Money HOST: Our listener question this week comes from Chirawan Chidchob who wants to know how American parents teach their children about money. To answer this question, we talked to several parents and a teacher. Many parents said they give their children small amounts of money each week called allowances. Some parents ask their children to do work around the house to earn the money. Having this 72
small income helps children learn about the cost of goods and the value of money. It also helps them learn what it is like to have a job and earn money for doing it well. Many parents give their smaller children "piggy banks." Children collect their coins in these containers and learn about saving money. Suze Orman is a well-known American financial expert. She gives advice about money on television and in her articles and books. She suggests that parents set clear limits with their children when shopping. And she says parents should explain where their money comes from to show children the value of working and earning money. Miz Orman also says it is important for parents to show their children how they pay for living expenses such as energy, telephone and water each month. This will help the child understand what it costs to live. And, she suggests teaching young adults about credit cards and the dangers of owing too much money. Christy Levings has taught elementary school children in the state of Kansas for over thirty years. Her money lessons include teaching students about financial centers like the Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. She also helps her students create imaginary businesses. She gives the children an amount of money for wages. She helps them imagine what it would be like to run a business and plan a budget. She also advises her students to have good habits like counting their change when make a purchase.
Christy Levings says many students have asked their teachers questions about the current financial crisis. She says children hear their parents talk about the failing economy. She says the role of teachers is to be calm and supportive. Miz Levings says teachers are telling students that Americans must make careful choices and help each other during this difficult economic period. Katy Perry HOST: Twenty-three year old singer Katy Perry sings playful and energetic songs about the ups and downs of love. Her album "One of the Boys" has become a hit around the world. This
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singer from southern California says that all of her songs have a sense of humor whether they are happy or sad. Barbara Klein has more. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: That was the hit song "I Kissed a Girl." It is a good example of Katy Perry's smart, funny and often surprising songs. She started her singing career with a much less wild kind of music. The daughter of two religious workers, Katy grew up listening to and singing gospel songs. Her parents did not permit non-religious music. When Katy Perry was staying at a friend's house, she discovered the music of the English rock group Queen. She says she was greatly influenced by their colorful style and musicality. As a teenager, she began writing her own songs with experts in the music industry. At the age of sixteen she even produced an album of Christian music. Here is her new album's title song, "One of the Boys." (MUSIC) Katy Perry is known for her fun clothes. Her clothing is influenced by the styles of the nineteen forties and the bright colors of the nineteen eighties. Many clothing designers have praised her special sense of style. We leave you with the energetic song "Hot N Cold." (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange and Caty Weaver, who was also the producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
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4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Stick a picture of your favorite cartoon and explain why.
Form questions in Past Progressive. 1. you / to the radio / listen 2. you / in the garden / work 3. we / her / an apple / give 4. his head / ache 5. you / your bag / pack 6. she / her best / try 7. We / our holidays / enjoy 8. the cat / the mouse / chase 9. she / the chapter / copy 10. they / a new gadget / invent
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Philo Farnsworth, 1906-1971: The Father of Television

He first thought of the idea of an electronic television when he was only fourteen years old. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 December 2008 VOICE ONE: I'm Phoebe Zimmermann. VOICE TWO: And I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a man who made possible one of the most important communications devices ever created -- television. His name was Philo Farnsworth. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: In nineteen sixty-nine, American astronaut Neil Armstrong climbed down the side of the space vehicle that had taken him to the moon.
Television made it possible for hundreds of millions of people to watch Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the moon As his foot touched the surface of the moon, pictures of the event were sent back to televisions on Earth. The pictures were not very good. It was hard to see astronaut Armstrong clearly. The surface of the moon was extremely bright. And the moon lander vehicle created a very dark, black shadow. But the quality of the television pictures was not important.
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Every man, woman and child who saw the television pictures understood they were watching an important event. They were watching history take place as it was happening many hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. VOICE TWO: For a few minutes, the poor quality television pictures captured the imagination of millions of people throughout the world. Experts believe about six hundred million people around the world watched as Neil Armstrong stepped from the space vehicle to the surface of the moon. In the years since then, people around the world have shared in many events. Television has made it possible for people in distant places to share a single experience. VOICE ONE: A television system changes light and sound waves from a moving picture into electronic signals that travel through the air. The signals are changed back into sound and pictures in a television receiver. Scientists in Britain, Germany, France, Japan, the former Soviet Union and the United States all made important discoveries that led to the development of modern television. Yet it was a young boy living on an American farm who was the first person to invent and design what became television. He first thought of the idea of an electronic television when he was only fourteen years old. His name was Philo Taylor Farnsworth. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Philo Farnsworth was born on August nineteenth, nineteen-oh-six, near Indian Creek in the western state of Utah. The house he lived in for the first few years of his life had no electric power. But Philo read about electricity. He was very excited when his family moved to a new house in Idaho that had electric power. He quickly began to experiment with electricity. He built an electric motor when he was twelve. Then he built the first electric washing machine for clothes that his family had ever owned. Philo Farnsworth attended a very small school near his family's farm. He did very well in school. He asked his teacher for special help in science. The teacher began helping Philo learn a great deal more than most young students could understand. VOICE ONE: One night, Philo read a magazine story about the idea of sending pictures and sound through the air. Anyone with a device that could receive this electronic information could watch the pictures. The magazine story said some of the world's best scientists were 77
working on the idea. It said these scientists were using special machines to try to make a kind of device to send pictures. The story made Philo think. Fourteen-year-old Philo decided these famous scientists were wrong. He decided that mechanical devices would never work. They could never be made to move fast enough to clearly capture and reproduce an electronic picture sent through the air. Philo decided that such a device would have to be electronic, not mechanical. Philo knew electrons could be made to move extremely fast. All he would have to do was find a way to make electrons do the work. Very quickly Philo had an idea for such a receiver. It would trap light in a container and send the light on a line of electrons. Philo called it "light in a bottle." VOICE TWO: Several days later, Philo told his teacher about a device that could capture pictures. He drew a plan for it that he gave his teacher. Philo's drawing seems very simple. But it still clearly shows the information needed to build a television. In fact, all television equipment today still uses Philo's early idea. Philo's teacher was Justin Tolman. Many years later Philo would say Mister Tolman guided his imagination and opened the doors of science for him. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Philo Farnsworth had to solve several problems before he could produce a working television system. One was that he was only fourteen years old. He knew no one would listen to a child. In fact, experts say that probably only ten scientists in the world at that time could have understood his idea. Philo also had no money to develop his ideas. His idea for a working television would have to wait. After only two years of high school, Philo entered Brigham Young University in Utah. But he did not finish his education. He was forced to leave school when his father died. Philo did not give up his idea for creating a television. He began serious work on it when he moved to San Francisco, California a few years later. He was twenty-one years old. VOICE TWO:
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On September seventh, nineteen twenty-seven, Philo turned on a device that was the first working television receiver. In another room was the first television camera. Philo had invented the special camera tube earlier that year.
Philo Farnsworth with his television camera tube and its receiver The image produced on the receiver was not very clear, but the device worked. Within a few months, Philo Farnsworth had found several people who wanted to invest money in his invention. In August, nineteen thirty, the United States government gave Philo patent documents. These would protect his invention from being copied by others. Very soon, however, several other inventors claimed they had invented a television device. One of these inventors, Vladimir Zworykin, worked for the powerful Radio Corporation of America. The RCA company began legal action against Philo Farnsworth. It said Mister Zworykin had invented his device in the nineteen twenties. The big and powerful RCA claimed that it, not the small Philo Farnsworth Television Company, had the right to produce, develop and market television. VOICE ONE: The legal action between RCA and the Farnsworth company continued for several years. RCA proved that Mister Zworykin did make a mechanical television device. But it could not demonstrate that the device worked. At the same time, RCA claimed that Mister Farnsworth had produced his television image tube after Mister Zworykin had developed his. When Mister Farnsworth said he had developed the idea much earlier, RCA said it was impossible for a fourteen-year-old boy to produce the idea for a television device. Company representatives said Mister Farnsworth was not even a scientist. He had never finished college. RCA said Philo Farnsworth should be forced to prove he had invented the television image tube. Philo could not prove he invented it. But his high school teacher could. In court, Justin Tolman produced the drawing that Philo had made for him many years before as a student. At that moment, the legal experts for RCA knew they had lost. Philo Farnsworth won the legal action and the right to own the invention of television. However, he did not have the money or support to build a television industry. It was the
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nineteen fifties before television became a major force in American life. Vladimir Zworykin and David Sarnoff, the head of RCA, became the names connected with the new industry. (MUSIC)
Philo Farnsworth VOICE TWO: Philo Farnsworth continued to invent more than one hundred devices that helped make modern television possible. He also developed early radar, invented the first electronic microscope, and worked on developing peaceful uses of atomic energy. In his last years, Mister Farnsworth became a strong critic of television. He did not like most of the programs shown on television. Yet, as he watched Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon, Mister Farnsworth knew the event clearly showed the power of his invention. Philo Farnsworth died in March, nineteen seventy-one. Today, a statue of him stands in the United States Capitol. He is considered one of the most important inventors of the twentieth century. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann. VOICE TWO: And I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

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2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know
Exercise on Present Perfect Simple
Form positive sentences in Present Perfect Simple. 1. she / home / walk 2. you / in the garden / work 3. we / her / an apple / give 4. my friends / me / help 5. you / early / wake up 6. Benjamin / the rules / break 7. We / our holidays / enjoy 8. we / in a forum / chat 9. the man / on the floor / kneel 10. the parents / their child / spoil
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Is Time Running Out for the National Debt Clock in New York City?
A question from China about the United States Navy and Marine Corps. And music by Eric Benet. Transcript of radio broadcast: 16 October 2008 HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. This week: We listen to a new album from singer songwriter Eric Benet Answer a listener question about the difference between the United States Navy and Marine services But first, is time running out for the National Debt Clock in New York City? (MUSIC) US Debt Clock HOST: There are several so-called debt clocks in cities around the United States. These devices record the increasing amount of money that the United States owes. The most famous National Debt Clock is in New York City (pictured). But, as the debt grows, time runs short for the debt clock. It now needs some extra spaces for numbers. Barbara Klein has our story.
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BARBARA KLEIN: We will start with the clock itself. It hangs on a wall at 1133 Sixth Avenue in the famous area of Manhattan called Times Square. It electronically shows the estimated dollar total of national debt as it increases each second. The clock also shows another dollar amount that represents "Your Family Share" of the national debt. The numbers in both lines are bright red. They continuously change as the debt grows. A successful land and property investor and developer named Seymour Durst created the National Debt Clock in nineteen eighty-nine. At the time, the United States national debt was two-point-seven trillion dollars. Mister Durst was horrified by that amount. He wanted Americans to pay attention to the debt and what it meant to them personally. So he had the clock made and placed on a building he owned. Seymour Durst died in nineteen ninety-five. His family continues to own and operate the clock. Last month, the United States national debt hit ten trillion dollars. That is a one followed by thirteen zeroes. But, the debt clock was created with only thirteen spaces for numbers. Mister Durst's son, Douglas, said his father never would have imagined the debt going as high as ten trillion. Workers solved the problem temporarily by placing a non-digital dollar sign in the same space as the number one. But, the Durst family plans to add two more permanent number spaces by early next year. The family says it also hopes to make some other improvements to the way the clock looks. The United States national debt currently is about ten-point-two trillion dollars. The new clock will be able to record a debt in the quadrillions. But Americans hope it does not have to! (MUSIC) US Navy and Marines HOST: Our listener question this week comes from China. Bin Li wants to know the difference between the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps.
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The United States Navy is the branch of the armed forces that is responsible for naval operations. The American Navy currently has over three hundred thirty thousand workers on active duty. Pentagon photo of U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf The Marine Corps is technically part of the Department of the Navy, but it operates as a separate branch of the military. The Corps is made up of about one hundred ninety-six thousand active duty Marines. Its motto is "Semper Fidelis" which means "always faithful" in Latin. The official colors of the Marine Corps are red and gold. The Navy's colors are blue and gold. The Marines and Navy have a closer relationship than other branches of the military. This relationship is important because the Navy gives transport, operational and combat support to place Marine Corps units in battle. The Navy and Marine Corps share a common naval culture as well as many traditions. Marines and Navy members can be commissioned as officers through Officer Candidates School, the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps or the United States Naval Academy. Marines receive training at the Basic School at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. One saying among Marines is that "every Marine is a rifleman." This means that all Marines receive infantry training no matter what their later role will be.
Marines in the Silent Drill Platoon The Navy operates aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and submarines. It has bases and ports of call on the east and west coasts of the United States as well as several other countries. These include Spain, Japan and Australia. The highest officer of the Marines is the commandant of the Marine Corps, General James T. Conway. He is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reports to the secretary of the Navy. The highest naval officer is the chief of naval operations, Admiral Gary Roughead, who is also on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Marine Corps has several other interesting duties. The Marine Corps Band is called "The President's Own." It performs at official gatherings held by the American president. Marines also guard American embassies and other diplomatic buildings around the world.
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Marines even guard presidential homes including Camp David near Washington, D.C. Naval officers also help to operate Camp David. (MUSIC) Eric Benet HOST: Singer and songwriter Eric Benet released his first album, "True to Myself," in nineteen ninety-six. Music critics and fans welcomed the honesty and emotion in his songs. He recently released his fourth album. Steve Ember has more.
STEVE EMBER: Eric Benet writes songs that are both emotional and meaningful. He says the songs are about his personal experiences, but they are situations many others can relate to. His new album, "Love and Life," deals with his current feelings of peace, happiness and love. Listen as he sings his new hit song "You're the Only One." (MUSIC) Eric Benet says someday he would like to work with famous artists including Al Green and Stevie Wonder. But on his new album he sings with someone who is even more important to him, his sixteen year old daughter, India. She is a backup singer on her father's new album. Here is "Still I Believe." (MUSIC) For the first time Eric Benet was given full creative control of his album by his record company. He wrote songs that show influences of the music he grew up listening to -rhythm and blues, gospel and jazz. We leave you with another song from Eric Benet's new album "Love and Life." This is "Love, Patience and Time." (MUSIC) 85
HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Lawan Davis, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver, who was also the producer. Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
Form negative sentences in Present Perfect Simple. 1. Fiona / her grandma / visit 2. we / fish / eat 3. we / her / an apple / give 4. They / house / move 5. we / in a forum / chat
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6. the secretary / the documents / print out 7. she / the word / underline 8. the child / behind the tree / hide 9. the farmer / out the seeds / sow
Batman Stars, but the Joker Steals the Show in 'The Dark Knight'
Also: A question from Bosnia about American railroad history. And Madonna reinvents her sound, again, on her latest album, ''Hard Candy.'' Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 July 2008 HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. Today, we listen to new music by Madonna Answer a question about the American railroad system
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And report on some big, bright ticket sales for the "The Dark Knight." (MUSIC) "The Dark Night" HOST: Last weekend was a historic one for the American movie industry. It was the biggest three-day weekend in Hollywood history. Movies earned more than two hundred fifty million dollars. The most popular movie last weekend was the long awaited Batman movie, "The Dark Knight." That movie made history too. Faith Lapidus has our report. FAITH LAPIDUS: "The Dark Knight" is now in its second weekend in theaters in America. It had the biggest opening weekend for a film in movie history. By Monday morning it had sold more than one hundred fifty-eight million dollars in tickets. That beat last year's record of one hundred fiftyone million dollars for the movie "Spider-Man 3."
Christian Bale as Batman
Heath Ledger as the Joker "The Dark Knight" is British writer and director Christopher Nolan's second Batman movie. Welsh actor Christian Bale plays the comic book superhero, as he did in Nolan's two thousand five film, "Batman Begins." Batman is a mysterious crime fighter who wears special clothes and a mask to hide his true identity, billionaire Bruce Wayne. Batman's enemy, the Joker, is played by Australian actor Heath Ledger. "The Dark Knight" was the last film Ledger completed before his death in January at the age of twenty-eight. He died from an accidental overdose of medicine. 88
The Joker wears ugly white make-up on his face to cover wounds that shape a permanent and horrible red smile. Critics and co-stars have praised Ledger's performance. There is talk of a possible Oscar nomination for Ledger. The character of the Joker is extremely evil. Movie critic Roger Ebert describes this Joker as "more than a villain." He says the Joker's actions are designed to present his enemies and innocent people with moral tests that appear to have no good answer. Three years ago, "Batman Begins" explored Bruce Wayne's tragic childhood and how he became Batman. "The Dark Knight" is a history of the Joker. Here Christopher Nolan discusses how he and Ledger wanted a fresh representation of the character. CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: "We really focused in on this idea of The Joker as an absolute force of pure anarchy. Somebody devoted to chaos. Somebody who truly does just take pleasure in tearing down the world around himself. That's the fear we wanted to inspire in the audience. That's the threat we wanted underlying everything in the film. And that's something we've not seen from this character before. Heath was able to put together a number of different attitudes for the character. But he never loses sight of the humanity of the character. That the character is a real human being and, therefore, is a real dangerous force."
Christopher Nolan FAITH LAPIDUS:
Many critics praise "The Dark Knight." Other critics say Heath Ledger is the only thing that makes the film worth seeing. As the Joker himself says: HEATH LEDGER: "This town deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to 'em." American Railroad History HOST: Our listener question this week comes from Bosnia. Danijel Djordjic wants to know more about the history of the American railroad and the Museum of the American Railroad. An important event in railroad history took place in eighteen sixty-two. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act. This approved the first transcontinental railroad that would be built from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, California. It would later link the railroads of the eastern United States with California on the Pacific Coast.
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When the transcontinental railroad was completed, the Central Pacific railroad connected to the Union Pacific railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. A gold object was placed in the ground in eighteen sixty-nine to mark the completion of the railroad. Some consider this Golden Spike ceremony to be the first live mass media event in American history. Telegraph machines Completion in 1869 of the communicated that the railroad had been finished to transcontinental railroad people from the east to west coasts. The creation of the first transcontinental railroad made travel easier for Americans. Instead of taking six months to travel from one side of the country to the other, it now took only one week. Until about nineteen twenty, almost all people traveling from one city to another used trains for transportation. However, in the nineteen forties, cars became a more common way to travel. In the nineteen fifties, airplanes became popular. Still, the train was able to stand the test of time. Today, the government-owned company called Amtrak is the largest operating passenger train system in the United States. It provides rail service in forty-six states and carries about twenty-five million passengers a year. Many museums have been created to teach people about the history of trains. The Museum of the American Railroad, in Dallas, Texas, is one of the largest. It contains parts of many trains from different time periods. Visitors can walk through the trains to get an idea of what train travel was like. People continue to use trains today to enjoy the beauty of America. Madonna HOST: Madonna has been reinventing her sound and image for over twenty-five years. Her latest record, "Hard Candy," is her eleventh studio album. "Hard Candy" is filled with dance beats influenced by hip-hop music. Pat Bodnar tells us more. (MUSIC: "Beat Goes On") PAT BODNAR:
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That was the song "Beat Goes On" which Madonna performs with the rap artist Kanye West. When she was ready to make a new album, Madonna was not sure what kind of music she wanted to make. So she thought about the records she was listening to that she loved. She decided she wanted to work with Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, and Justin Timberlake to create Madonna the new sound of her album. Here is "Candy Shop," a sexy song that makes you want to dance. It is a good example of the kind of music that has made Madonna a star. (MUSIC) Madonna has been working on several other projects. She will be performing throughout Europe and the United States starting next month. She recently finished working on a documentary film about parentless children with AIDS in Malawi. The film "I Am Because We Are" has a personal connection for the singer. She recently adopted a young son from Malawi. We close with a song that expresses another form of social concern. In "4 Minutes" Justin Timberlake and Madonna have only a short amount of time to save the world. This bestselling song is filled with the energy of two skillful artists who enjoy making musical magic together. (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Caty Weaver, Elizabeth Stern and Dana Demange, who was also the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
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3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know.
March 24, 2002 - 'Kangaroo Court,' 'Big Apple'

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- we explore the origins of two terms that listeners have recently asked us about: "Big Apple" and "kangaroo court." RS: English teacher Dianne Gray writes from Moscow: "Last week at the English Club in which I work one of the attendees asked me why New York City is called 'The Big Apple.' I probably should know as I am an American, but I really don't know. Is there someone there who can tell us?" AA: Yes, there is. That someone is a New Yorker named Barry Popik [PAH-pik]. He is a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary -- a word hunter. In stalking the "Big Apple," he started off from clues found by Gerald Cohen, a professor at the University of Missouri. The trail led to a newspaper writer who covered horse racing in New York in the 1920s. His name: John J. Fitz Gerald. POPIK: "At the beginning of the racing season, Fitz Gerald would write: 'Racing returns to the Big Apple.' We knew he used 'Big Apple' about six times, at least -- that's what Gerald Cohen found -- and then I said, wait a minute, did Fitz Gerald coin the term, did he not coin the term? And then I went through every single Fitz Gerald column for over a dozen years, and he wrote every single day. It was very labor intensive. He admitted twice that the Big Apple was his, that he heard it from an African American stable hand in New Orleans at the Fairgrounds Racetrack in about 1920, and that it referred to the big time in horse racing."
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RS: Barry Popik reads an excerpt from one of those columns: POPIK: "The Big Apple, the dream of every lad that ever threw a leg over a thoroughbred and the goal of all horsemen. There's only one Big Apple, that's New York." And then he explains it in the second paragraph. He said, "Two dusky stable hands" -- 'dusky' was African American -- "were leading a pair of thoroughbreds around the cooling rings of adjoining stables at the fairgrounds in New Orleans and engaging in desultory conversation. "Where are you all going from here," queried one. "We're heading for the big apple," proudly replied the other.'" RS: It's possible that the choice of fruit in this metaphor was influenced by the fact that apples are a treat for horses. AA: In any case, Barry Popik says that pretty soon the term "big apple" started to take on other meanings. In 1927, the radio commentator Walter Winchell said Broadway -- the street with many famous New York theaters -- was the big apple. POPIK: "Then in 1928 the New York Times mentioned the Big Apple and it referred to movies -- the movie people said New York is the Big Apple. Then in the 1930s the jazz musicians picked it up." And then in 1937 it really became a big hit because it became a big song-and-dance." MUSIC: "The Big Apple"/Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven ... Everybody's learning how to do the Big Apple. (Chorus: "The Big Apple.") And it isn't very hard to do the Big Apple. ... POPIK: "And then it faded away, because no one could dance the Big Apple dance. It required a lot of people, it was like the Lindy Hop, it was very strenuous, and there was a war, there was World War Two, and people kind of forgot about the Big Apple a little bit." AA: Until the early nineteen-seventies, when the president of the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau was looking for ways to polish the city's rough image. RS: He was looking for a "clean, wholesome symbol," Barry Popik says, and chose a shiny red apple. AA: Now fast-forward to the nineteen-nineties. Armed with his findings, Barry Popik set out to get the city to honor sportswriter John J. Fitz Gerald and the unknown African American stable hand who used the term "big apple." POPIK: "I didn't want to keep it secret, I wanted to tell New Yorkers. So I wrote away to all the newspapers, and no one believed me."
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RS: It took about five years, but the city finally established a "Big Apple Corner." It's at West 54th Street and Broadway, where John J. Fitz Gerald lived for thirty years. AA: Juhani [you-HA-nee] Vasankari from Helsinki, Finland, writes to us about another matter. He is curious about the origins of the expression kangaroo court, which he heard on VOAs Encounter program. Barry Popik explains. POPIK: "It's defined as unauthorized, irregularly conducted, something that's on the frontiers of establishment of law. Sometimes it's called a mock court." RS: Barry Popik says "kangaroo court" comes not from Australia, home of kangaroos, but from Texas in the eighteen-hundreds: POPIK: "Supposedly people were bound up, and all they could do was jump and down in the court. There are various explanations like that, but I think the alliteration is probably the good one." AA: -- that is, the allure of having two words begin with the same sound, like "kangaroo court." RS: When he's not busy hunting words, Barry Popik is himself a judge, in New York City's Parking Violations Bureau, where he assures us he gives everyone a fair hearing. AA: We'd like to hear from you! If you're on the Internet, visit our new Web site -- it's www.voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.
Form questions in Present Perfect Simple. 94
1. she / a bag / carry 2. they / their clothes / change 3. we / him / follow 4. you / English / speak 5. she / poems / write 6. the dinner / a fortune / cost 7. We / our holidays / enjoy 8. he / the street / cross 9. he / his doubt / express 10. she / her boyfriend / kiss
Marlon Brando, 1924-2004: One of the Greatest Actors of All Time

Many actors say he influenced them more than any other person in the film industry. Transcript of radio broadcast: 14 November 2008 VOICE ONE:
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I'm Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: And, I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about actor Marlon Brando. Many critics say he was the greatest actor of all time. And many actors say he influenced them more than any other person in the film industry. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: There was no public service to honor Marlon Brando when he died in two thousand four at the age of eighty. The actor's sister, Jocelyn Brando, said he would have hated such an event. The family held a small private ceremony instead.
Marlon Brando Brando did not seek public attention when he was alive. He protected his private life. But he was a huge star. This, combined with his personal tragedies and his politics, made him a special target of the press. VOICE TWO: Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska in nineteen twenty-four. He was named after his father, a salesman, but his family called him Bud. His mother, Dorothy, was an actress in the local theater. He had two older sisters. Marlon Brando's childhood was not happy. His parents drank too much alcohol and argued often. Dorothy Brando blamed her husband for the failure of her acting career. The older Marlon Brando did not have a good relationship with his son. In a book about his life, the actor wrote that his father never had anything good to say about his son. VOICE ONE: The Brandos moved many times when Marlon was young. His parents separated when he was eleven, but they re-united after two years. Young Marlon was always getting into trouble at school. His father decided to send him to a military school in Minnesota.
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Marlon did not do well in classes there. But he did find support for his interest in theater. A drama teacher urged him to begin acting in plays there and he did. But he was expelled from the school for getting into trouble. VOICE TWO: Marlon Brando moved to New York City when he was nineteen years old in nineteen forty-three. He took acting classes at the New School for Social Research. One of his teachers was Stella Adler, who taught the "Method" style of realistic acting. The Method teaches actors how to use their own memories and emotions to identify with the characters they are playing. Marlon Brando learned the Method style quickly and easily. Critics say he was probably the greatest Method actor ever. One famous actress commented on his natural ability for it. She said teaching Marlon Brando the Method was like sending a tiger to jungle school. Marlon Brando appeared in several plays. He got his first major part in a Broadway play in nineteen forty-seven, at the age of twenty-three. He received great praise for his powerful performance as Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams play, "A Streetcar Named Desire."
Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire" His fame grew when he acted the same part in the movie version, released in nineteen fifty-one. Brando plays an angry working-class man. His wife's sister, Blanche, comes to visit them in New Orleans, Louisiana. Blanche's family used to be rich landowners but they lost all their property. Now she is mentally unstable. Stanley treats Blanche unkindly and insults her. Here, he tells Blanche what he thinks about women. STANLEY: "I don't go in for that stuff." BLANCHE: "What stuff?" STANLEY: "Compliments to women about their looks. I never met a dame yet didn't know if she was good-lookin' or not without bein' told. And there's some of them that give themselves credit for more than they've got. I once went out with a dame who told me, 'I'm the glamorous type'she says 'I am the glamorous type.' I says 'so what?'"
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BLANCHE: "And what did she say then?" STANLEY: "She didn't say nothin'. I shut her up like a clam." VOICE ONE: "Streetcar" was Brando's second film. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the
In "On the Waterfront" performance. He was nominated for Oscars for his next two films as well. In nineteen fifty-two he played Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata in the movie "Viva Zapata." The following year he played Marc Antony in "Julius Caesar." Marlon Brando did not win an Oscar for Best Actor until nineteen fifty-four for the movie "On the Waterfront." Many critics consider it his finest performance. The film's director, Elia Kazan, said it was the best performance by a male actor in the history of film. Brando plays Terry Malloy, a failed boxer. He informs on organized crime leaders, including his brother, Charlie. His brother had made him lose fights on purpose so Charlie could make money gambling on the fights. But now, Terry expresses his regrets about losing the fights. TERRY MALLOY: "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a bum which is what I am. Let's face it." VOICE TWO: Marlon Brando acted in about forty movies. He was nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards. In his movies, he played a Japanese translator, a German Nazi military officer and the father of Superman. He even sang in a movie musical called "Guys and Dolls." His real life was as colorful as his many movie characters. His love life was especially active. He married actress Anna Kashfi in nineteen fifty-seven. The marriage had problems from the start. Their child, a son named Christian, was born a few months after they married. They separated the next year. 98
In nineteen sixty, Brando married Movita Castenada, a Mexican-American actress. They had two children before they separated in nineteen sixty-two. The same year, he married a Tahitian actress, Tarita. The two had met while filming the movie "Mutiny On the Bounty." Brando's marriage to Tarita lasted ten years. But his love of Tahiti never ended. In nineteen sixty-six, he bought a small island near Tahiti. Brando divided his time between his island and his home in California for the rest of his life. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Critics say Marlon Brando began to suffer professionally during and after his work on "Mutiny on the Bounty." Hollywood directors and producers considered him difficult to work with. Some critics said the actor appeared to be tired of acting. But that changed in nineteen seventy-two when Brando appeared in "The Godfather." At first, the film studio officials did not want Brando in the movie. But the director, Francis Ford Coppola, chose him for the part. The film was a major critical and financial success. Brando was praised for his performance as the Godfather, Vito Corleone, the powerful head of a criminal organization in New York City. He speaks to a man who wants the Godfather to have someone killed. VITO CORLEONE: "If you'd come to me in friendship then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you." VOICE TWO: Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for "The Godfather." But he rejected it. He sent a woman named Sasheen Littlefeather to speak for him at the Academy Awards ceremony. She said that Brando could not accept the award because of the way the American film industry treated Native Americans. The people at the Academy Awards ceremony did not like the speech. But some experts think the action helped change the way American Indians were shown in movies. Marlon Brando was also active in the civil rights movement. He spoke out against racism often and forcefully. He marched in demonstrations. And he gave money to civil rights groups. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE:
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Marlon Brando had two family tragedies. In nineteen ninety, his son, Christian, shot and killed a Tahitian man at the family's home in California. The victim, Dag Drollet, was the boyfriend of Brando's daughter, Cheyenne. Christian Brando said the killing was accidental. He was found guilty of responsibility in the death and served almost five years in prison. During the trial, Marlon Brando told the court that he and Anna Kashfi had failed Christian as parents. He also apologized to the Drollet family and said he wished he could trade places with their son. VOICE TWO: In nineteen ninety-five, Marlon Brando's daughter Cheyenne killed herself. She had struggled with mental problems and was still depressed about the killing of her boyfriend. Marlon Brando never made public statements about the death of his daughter. But reports said he blamed himself. He did not attend his daughter's funeral in Tahiti. VOICE ONE: In the following nine years, he made just four more movies. And the parts he played were small. But his influence on the American film industry was huge. When Marlon Brando died, many famous actors expressed regret. One of them said simply: "He was the best." (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember. VOICE ONE: And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another People in America in VOA Special English.
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4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Describe Marlon Brando. 6. Whichs your favorite Brandos movie?
Exercise on Present Perfect Progressive
Form positive sentences in Present Perfect Progressive. 1. we / in the park / wait 2. she / her teeth / brush 3. Christine / her home / decorate 4. my friends / me / help 5. we / on the lake / sail 6. they / their calculators / use 7. the children / on the floor / sleep 8. we / tea / drink 9. they / in the lake / swim 10. his mother / dinner / cook
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Foreign Student Series: Admissions Tests

In part 13, we start to discuss entrance exams; plus, a new report warns about the rising costs of higher education in the U.S. Transcript of radio broadcast: 03 December 2008 This is the VOA Special English Education Report. Many American colleges and universities require applications for the fall term to be completed by January first. But some have deadlines of December first. So this was a fitting week for a research group in California to release its latest "national report card on higher education." The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education calls it "Measuring Up." The report says the price of college has increased more than four hundred percent since nineteen eighty-two. Costs have climbed much faster than other prices -- as well as the wages of average families. The group warns that a continuation of these trends would put higher education beyond the reach of most Americans. And it would mean greater debt for those who do go to college.
The report also expresses concern that the United States is losing its leadership in sending young people to college. Earlier progress can be seen in the percentage of Americans age thirty-five and older who have a college degree. In a comparison of twenty-nine countries, the United States is second, after Canada. But today other countries are making progress more quickly. The United States is tenth in the percentage of college-educated adults age twenty-five to thirty-four. And it is seventh in the percentage of eighteen to twenty-four year olds in college. Also, a lot of students drop out. The report says college completion "has never been a strength" of American higher education. Among the twenty-nine countries, the United States is fifteenth in college completion rates. 102
Completing college first requires getting admitted. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we begin a discussion of entrance tests. Advisers say a student's high school record is the most important consideration. But most American schools require one of the two major college-entrance tests. The SAT measures reasoning skills in math and language and includes an essay question. The four-hour test costs forty-five dollars. The international processing charge is twentysix -- plus an extra twenty-three dollars in India and Pakistan. Students may also need to take subject tests. Information about the SAT can be found online at collegeboard.com. Next time, we will talk about the other major test, the ACT-- and about schools that do not require either. And we will discuss the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.
Form negative sentences in Present Perfect Progressive. 1. we / in the park / wait
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2. they / a race / run 3. she / her teeth / brush 4. the teacher / our homework / check 5. we / our rooms / clean 6. Christine / her home / decorate 7. you / the car / repair 8. the children / on the floor / sleep 9. they / in the lake / swim 10. the cat / the mouse / chase
Looking for Energy in Algae

A Seattle company harvests wild algal blooms in search of natural gas and biochemicals. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 December 2008
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
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Blue-green algae earlier this year in China The search for new fuels has led some researchers to algae. Algae is a name for thousands of different organisms. They include single-celled plants as well as kelp and other large plants. Kenneth Bruland is an ocean sciences professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He says many experts also consider plant-like bacteria to be a form of algae. These bacteria make food from the sun like plants do. Algae grow quickly and some contain a lot of oils. Most algae-to-energy researchers are growing algae in huge tanks. But one company, Blue Marble Energy in Seattle, Washington, uses algae already growing along coastlines. Workers pump it into bags on a boat. They have to be careful not to suck up young fish or other small creatures. Blue Marble says its work could help prevent harmful algae blooms. A bloom is when a dense area of algae forms and spreads. Some blooms can harm people, animals or the environment. Warmer water can cause blooms, and some scientists think global warming is adding to an increase in large ones. Nutrients from sewage and agricultural fertilizers also help algae grow. Blue Marble is a start-up company with private investors. It also has a contract with Washington state to collect the algae called ulva, or sea lettuce, in parts of Seattle's Puget Sound waterway. In Puget Sound, big blooms of sea lettuce often break down in Dumas Bay. This process of rotting uses up oxygen and kills marine life. And when the sea lettuce washes up on the beach, it smells terrible. Blue Marble President Kelly Ogilvie says his company has collected almost four thousand kilos of algae in two harvests. The next step is to use bacteria to break down the algae into natural gas and different chemicals. Most companies doing algae-to-energy research are creating liquid biofuels for cars or airplanes. But some people have concerns about harvesting wild algae. University of Washington researcher Kevin Britton-Simmons says removing the algae does not solve the problem. He says keeping fertilizer and other pollutants out of the water would prevent a lot of unnatural blooms. 105
He also says it is difficult to tell the difference between natural algae blooms and those caused by human activity. He says removing natural blooms would remove valuable food for marine life. And that's the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE Report. I'm Steve Ember.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Is it possible to get energy from Algae? How?
Form questions in Present Perfect Progressive. 1. John / money / collect 2. he / the car / wash 3. she / her teeth / brush 4. the teacher / our homework / check 5. we / our rooms / clean 6. Jeff and Linda / cycle
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7. they / their calculators / use 8. they / in the lake / swim 9. his nose / bleed
Kennedy Center Honors Six Artists for Life's Work

This year's honorees are Morgan Freeman, Barbra Streisand (pictured with Dustin Hoffman), George Jones, Twyla Tharp, and Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 December 2008 VOICE ONE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Im Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO: And Im Steve Ember. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is a major cultural center in America. For the past thirty years, the center has presented awards to honor artists for their lifetime of work. On Sunday, December seventh, it will honor six outstanding performers. (MUSIC: "Dont Rain On My Parade") VOICE ONE:
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That voice is one of the most recognizable in the world. It belongs to Barbra Streisand. At the age of nineteen, Barbra Streisand won her first part in a Broadway musical. The year was nineteen sixty-two and the character was Miss Marmelstein in the play, I Can Get It for You Wholesale. The part was small but Streisand earned a Tony nomination and lots of attention. Barbra Streisand, shown with Dustin Hoffman in the 2004 movie ''Meet the Fockers'' Her first recording, The Barbra Streisand Album," came out in nineteen sixty-three. It won two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.It made her a star. Many albums followed. Fifty went gold, selling at least a half-million copies. Barbra Streisand also has thirteen platinum albums, those that sold at least one million copies. VOICE TWO: In nineteen sixty-eight Barbra Streisand made her first movie. It was the film version of the Broadway musical, Funny Girl. The movie was a huge hit. Barbara Streisand won an Academy Award for Best Actress. (MUSIC: "People Who Need People") VOICE ONE: The singer/actress continued to make albums and movies. She also began to produce and direct movies.In nineteen eighty-three, Barbra Streisand became the first woman to write, direct, produce and star in a major film. The movie, Yentl, won great critical praise. Barbra Streisand has won many awards in her long career. (SOUND: March of The Penguins) VOICE TWO: The next Kennedy Center honoree also has an unmistakable voice. The deep, warm sound of seventy-one year old actor Morgan Freeman has been heard in more than fifty movies and documentaries. But, you might not know this serious dramatic actor spent many years in children's television.Freeman was a performer on the show The Electric Company for much of the nineteen seventies. Morgan Freeman
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VOICE ONE: In nineteen eighty-nine, two movies changed Morgan Freemans career forever. In Glory, he starred as an officer in the first all-black volunteer group of federal troops in the American Civil War. In Driving Miss Daisy, he became friends with his employer, an old, independent, difficult woman. Morgan Freeman got his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for that movie. But he did not win one until two thousand four. That was for his performance as a former professional fighter in the Clint Eastwood movie, Million Dollar Baby. (SOUND: Million Dollar Baby) Morgan Freeman recently returned to live theater in a Broadway production of the Clifford Odets play, The Country Girl.
George Jones (MUSIC: "Why Baby Why") VOICE TWO: George Jones first sang that unforgettable song in nineteen fifty-five. The following year Billboard magazine named him the most promising country music singer. It was right. He has had one of the most hit-filled careers in country music. The seventy-seven year old singer was born in Texas. He began singing on the streets of Beaumont as a child. He was a teenager when he left home to seek musical fame and riches. But first he served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: That song, White Lightning, was Jones first to hit number one on Billboards country music charts. The year was nineteen fifty-nine and he was twenty-eight.
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The Kennedy Center notes that while Jones is often called cool, his style of singing is extremely personal. It says George Jones always means every note and word he sings. His feelings are real and the music is true. VOICE TWO: George Jones married country singer Tammy Wynette in nineteen sixty-nine. She was his third wife. They made some of the greatest country duets ever. Here is one, Were Gonna Hold On. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The Silver-Haired Possum, as he is called, has held on through a lot of hard times. His father was dependent on alcohol. George Jones also developed the disease and was dependent on the drug cocaine. He suffered financially and professionally as a result. He became known as no-show Jones for missing performances. He has since recovered. George Jones was admitted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in nineteen ninety-two. President Bush presented him with a National Medal of Arts ten years later. (MUSIC: Movin Out)
Twyla Tharp VOICE TWO: American dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp was born in Indiana and raised there and in California.Her mother, a piano teacher, realized that Twyla had a musical gift when she was still a baby. Twyla started dancing lessons when she was just four. She says dancing is how she most enjoyed spending time as a child. And she says it was the way she always identified herself. Tharp moved to New York City and studied art history at Barnard College. She also studied dance under famous teachers like Martha Graham and Paul Taylor. VOICE ONE:
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Twyla Tharp graduated from Barnard in nineteen sixty-three. Two years later, Twyla Tharp Dance opened. From the start her work was different. For example, she used a lot of jazz music.Sometimes she mixed it with classical pieces. She also used completely new dance movements. There might be a sudden, playful lift and drop of the shoulders, or the dancers might hop around. Tharp often combined ballet with common movements like walking, running or sliding. Her dances were often playful, edgy, humorous and always daring. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Twyla Tharp started to work with major ballet companies. The Joffrey Ballet first performed her work, Deuce Coupe, set to the music of the Beach Boys. Twyla Tharp also choreographed for films, starting with Milos Formans movie version of the Broadway musical, Hair. She also wrote two books, produced dance specials for television and developed and directed several Broadway dance musicals. She won a Tony Award for Movin Out, which was set to the music of pop rocker Billy Joel. At sixty-seven, Tharp has won many awards. They include the National Medal of Arts and a MacArthur Fellowship. (MUSIC: "Who Are You?") VOICE ONE: They are Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, thats who. They are the driving force of the British rock band The Who. Both men were born in London. Daltry is sixty-three. Townshend is sixtyfour. But they were still teenagers in separate bands when they met. Pete Townshend played rhythm guitar and Roger Daltry sang. Joined by Pete Entwhistle on bass and Keith Moon on drums, The Who formed in nineteen sixty-four. Roger Daltrey, left, and Pete Townshend Pete Townshend became the main songwriter for the band early on. He gained fame for his extremely energetic performances, which sometimes ended with Townshend destroying his guitar on stage. (MUSIC: My Generation) VOICE TWO: 111
Their first album, My Generation, was released in nineteen sixty-five after their first hit single, I Cant Explain. Hit after hit followed throughout the nineteen sixties. The Who experimented. In nineteen sixty-seven they put out an album that played like radio programming. It contained commercials and station identifications and talk. A short time later came the rock opera Tommy. VOICE ONE: Roger Daltry became Tommy in the extraordinary concert performances that followed its creation. Later, he earned critical praise for his work in the movie, Tommy. Daltry apparently liked acting. He has continued to do so, on stage and television. The Who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has received many other music awards and honors. (MUSIC: "I Can See For Miles") VOICE TWO: This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. Im Steve Ember. VOICE ONE: And Im Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Exercise on Past Perfect Simple
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Form positive sentences in Past Perfect Simple. 1. she / me / ask 2. she / her teeth / brush 3. you / your English / practise 4. you / a new gadget / develop 5. he / his doubt / express 6. the secretary / the documents / print out 7. he / to our question / refer 8. Jane and Michael / their presents / swap 9. he / the dice / cast 10. the woman / a cardigan / knit
Henry Loomis, 1919-2008: Director of VOA Had Idea to Create Special English
He also created the VOA Charter to establish VOAs goals. Transcript of radio broadcast: 29 November 2008 VOICE ONE:
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I'm Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: And I'm Bob Doughty with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the research scientist and broadcasting leader Henry Loomis. Mister Loomis held many interesting communications positions over his long career. He served as director of the Voice of America for seven years starting in nineteen fiftyeight. Mister Loomis played an important role in creating the Special English service. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Henry Loomis was born in nineteen nineteen in Tuxedo Park, New York. His father was Alfred Lee Loomis, a wealthy New York City businessman. Unlike many businessmen at the time, Alfred Loomis protected his wealth during the financial crash of nineteen twenty-nine. He later withdrew from the world of business in order to spend more time working as a scientist. Henry Loomis and his brothers Lee and Farney grew up spending time in the private laboratory their father built. This scientific background and the people who worked with his father would have a big influence on Henry's life. Alfred Loomis taught traditional values to his sons and stressed the importance of education and hard work. VOICE TWO: Alfred Loomis invited the top scientists in the world to his Loomis Laboratory, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi and Niels Bohr. Alfred Loomis and members of his lab team made important discoveries and inventions. They studied many subjects, including the measurement of time, or chronometry, and electroencephalography, or the measurement of electrical activity produced by the brain. Henry Loomis even took part in his father's experiments on measuring brain activity. VOICE ONE: In an interview six years ago, Henry Loomis remembered an experiment he took part in when he was about seventeen years old. Henry slept in a sound-proof room with electrode devices attached to his head. Alfred Loomis was nearby with a microphone device. He told his son in a soft voice that Henry's favorite object, his boat, was on fire. Henry Loomis jumped out of bed to save the boat. This experiment and others helped Alfred Loomis show how emotional upset could change human brain waves.
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Alfred Loomis later helped open the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Radiation Laboratory. His work helping to develop the new technology of radar would be used by the United States and Britain to defeat Germany during World War Two. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Henry Stimson was related to the Loomis family. He was also an advisor and close friend. Among other positions, Mister Stimson had served as secretary of state under President Herbert Hoover. He told Henry Loomis that he and his brothers were very lucky in life and that they should serve their country as a way to give thanks. Henry Loomis took these words very seriously. VOICE ONE: In nineteen forty, Henry Loomis dropped out of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts to join the United States Navy. He was able to put to good use his knowledge of radar technology that he had learned about because of his father's work. After graduating at the top in his naval training class, Henry Loomis became a teacher at the Navy's radar training school in Hawaii. In December of nineteen forty-one, Japan bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This event marked the United States' official entry in World War Two. VOICE TWO: By the end of the war, Henry Loomis had received many honors for his service, including a Bronze Star and an Air Medal. He left the Navy in nineteen forty-six to begin graduate studies. That year, he married his first wife, Mary Paul MacLeod. Mister Loomis studied physics at the University of California at Berkeley. He worked as an assistant to Ernest Lawrence, the director of the university's radiation laboratory. Mister Lawrence had won the Nobel Prize in nineteen thirty-nine for his work in nuclear physics.
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VOICE ONE:
Henry Loomis Henry Loomis later moved to Washington, D.C. to begin another stage of his career in public service. He held positions in the Department of Defense and other agencies. Mister Loomis also directed the Office of Intelligence and Research at the United States Information Agency. In nineteen fifty-eight, he became director of the Voice of America under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. VOICE TWO: During his travels around the world, Mister Loomis saw that English was becoming an important international language. He believed that it was important to make English easier to understand by listeners of VOA broadcasts whose native language was not English. So Mister Loomis asked VOA program manager Barry Zorthian to develop a way to broadcast to listeners with a limited knowledge of English. VOICE ONE: The result of this effort was Special English. The first Voice of America broadcast in Special English took place on October nineteenth, nineteen fifty-nine. Critics at the time said the Special English method of broadcasting at a slower rate with a limited vocabulary would never work. American embassies demanded that the program be cancelled. But Mister Loomis supported the program. Soon, VOA began to receive hundreds of letters from listeners praising the program. Special English programs became some of the most popular on VOA. We are pleased to say that our programs still are.
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VOICE TWO:
An early VOA newsroom Henry Loomis made other important improvements at VOA. He expanded VOA's broadcasting ability by setting up transmitter devices in countries including Liberia and the Philippines. He also decided that VOA needed a charter document to make its goals and rules clear. Such a charter would also officially state VOA's independence from other government programs. The charter states that VOA has to win the attention and respect of its listeners. It lists VOA's goals: to produce correct, balanced and expansive broadcasts. And to show the many sides of America's society, thoughts and organizations. President Eisenhower approved the charter before he left office. It was later signed into law by President Ford in nineteen seventy-six. Henry Loomis compared the VOA charter to the United States Constitution. He said he believed the charter represented the realities of the world and the moral code of the country. VOICE ONE: Henry Loomis resigned from VOA in nineteen sixty-five over disagreements with the government about how to report on America's involvement in the Vietnam War. Mister Loomis believed VOA should report about the war honestly, without censorship from the Administration of President Lyndon Johnson. He gave a farewell speech at VOA headquarters in which he talked about his time working here. HENRY LOOMIS: "How has the Voice changed in these seven years? In my judgment, the most important changes are the codification of the mission of VOA in our charter" VOICE ONE: Mister Loomis also talked about program changes he helped make. HENRY LOOMIS: "English broadcasts have been tripled and diversified. A new language, Special English, has been created to reach those with limited knowledge of, and a desire to learn, the language." VOICE ONE: Henry Loomis said that he believed VOA serves the world poorly if it is asked to change its news and programs to serve government policy interests. 117
HENRY LOOMIS: "I believe VOA serves the national interest well if it reflects responsibly, affirmatively and without self-consciousness that ours is a society of free men who practice what they preach. To do this effectively, we must do it at all times. Freedom is not a part-time thing." VOICE ONE: Mister Loomis talked about government control of the press for political reasons. HENRY LOOMIS: "To sweep under the rug what we don't like, what does not serve our tactical purpose, is a sign of weakness." VOICE ONE: But he said that to recognize forces and opinions that disagree with government policies is a sign of strength. At the end of his speech, Mister Loomis said goodbye to VOA workers. HENRY LOOMIS: "It has been a privilege to have served with you, to have learned from you, to have had fun with you." VOICE TWO: In nineteen seventy-two, Henry Loomis became president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This organization was created by Congress to provide money for public television stations. Around this time he married his second wife, Jacqueline Chalmers. Mister Loomis later retired to private life. He remained active in his favorite sports -sailing and hunting. VOICE ONE: Henry Loomis died in two thousand eight in Jacksonville, Florida. He was eighty-nine years old. He had a life-long career of valuable service in science and communications. And we honor him with a special thank you for helping to make this and other Special English programs possible. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Bob Doughty. VOICE ONE:
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And I'm Faith Lapidus. You can learn more about famous Americans on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.
Form negative sentences in Past Perfect Simple. 1. they / us / call 2. Betty / her best / do 3. the teacher / our homework / check 4. we / our rooms / clean 5. we / at the gym / meet 6. he / a coin / insert 7. they / a new gadget / invent 8. they / to my question / react
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Neurologist Oliver Sacks Writes About Patients With Unusual Conditions

His descriptive stories give a personal side to medical writing. Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 November 2008 VOICE ONE:
Oliver Sacks This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein. VOICE TWO: And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we tell about the doctor and writer Oliver Sacks. He has spent most of his adult life treating patients in New York City. He also teaches neurology and psychiatry at Colombia University. But Doctor Sacks is most famous for his books about people with disorders of the brain and nervous system. The stories he writes explore the science of the brain and the way it works. But they also tell a very human story about the experiences of real people struggling to live with unusual conditions. (MUSIC)
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VOICE ONE: Imagine a person who has no memory of the past twenty years of his life and still thinks he is a young man. The patient suffers from Korsakov's syndrome, a brain disorder that leads to memory loss. He remains trapped in a distant past because his memory of recent activities only lasts a few minutes. VOICE TWO: Or imagine a man who learns to control the repeated movements and shouts that are signs of Tourette's syndrome. His doctor gives him medicine to take during the week to control the disorder. But on the weekends, the man decides to enjoy the signs of Tourette's because they are a part of his identity and personality. VOICE ONE: These are examples of stories about patients as described in Oliver Sacks' book, "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." Published in nineteen eighty-five, the book became a huge success. Doctor Sacks' earlier book, "Awakenings," told about his work with post-encephalitic patients at a hospital in New York City. Signs of this sickness include loss of speech and movement. In the nineteen sixties, Doctor Sacks gave the then-new drug L-Dopa to the patients. The drug gave them an explosive and sudden awakening to a temporary experience of active life. VOICE TWO: When Oliver Sacks began treating patients, a traditional case history might be a detailed scientific description of a person's disorder. Doctor Sacks has expanded what he calls mechanical neurology to include the effects of the disorder on a patient's identity and personality. In most cases, there is nothing Doctor Sacks can do to heal his patients. His aim is to help them find a way to live with and accept their conditions as well as is possible. His stories describe a patient's disorders in detail. But more importantly, the stories express the patient's humanity as he or she struggles to survive in a world that has been changed by sickness. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Oliver Sacks was born in nineteen thirty-three in Britain to a family of doctors and scientists. His mother and father were doctors. His grandfather was an inventor. Doctor 121
Sacks wrote a book, "Uncle Tungsten," about his uncle -- a scientist who made light bulbs with pieces of tungsten wire. As a child, Oliver had a deep love of chemistry. His childhood heroes included the British chemist Humphry Davy and the French chemist Marie Curie. Oliver's questioning mind later led him to study medicine and neurology. Oliver Sacks moved to the United States in the early nineteen-sixties. VOICE TWO: One expert who had a great influence on Doctor Sacks' work was the Soviet neuropsychologist Alexander Luria. Doctor Luria believed that the study of the brain and nervous system could not just be about facts and information. He urged neurologists to have a more "personalistic" method that included an understanding of the patient's self and identity. He also believed that patients could be taught to adapt, or get used to, their conditions as fully as possible even if they remained sick. Shortly before he died, Alexander Luria urged Oliver Sacks to combine scientific investigation with literary observation. VOICE ONE: Oliver Sack's story "To See and Not See" gives a good example of his writing. This story is one of several in "An Anthropologist on Mars," a work published in nineteen ninetyfive. It tells about Virgil, a fifty-year old man who had been blind since he was a child. Doctors believed that his blindness resulted from a genetic condition. Virgil visits a doctor who believes he may not be permanently blind. The doctor successfully operates on one eye. But after the eye heals, Virgil has trouble seeing and understanding the light and images moving in front of him. VOICE TWO: Doctor Sacks explains that people with eyesight have spent a lifetime learning how to see. So, they know how to judge distance and depth. He says they understand new experiences and sights based on similar, past experiences. Virgil had an active, but partly damaged retina and optic nerve. Yet his brain did not know how to deal with the information coming from these areas of the eye. VOICE ONE: As a blind man, Virgil had a rich life. He could enjoy great freedom because of his excellent sense of touch, hearing, and smell. But with sight, he was unable to understand the visual world around him.
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Doctor Sacks explains that the brain's cortex in people like Virgil who become blind adapts to its new situation. By regaining sight, Virgil's nervous system had to undo its specialized adaptations. Doctor Sacks also noted that such a big change made Virgil more fearful about his condition. The story Doctor Sacks tells is medically descriptive and informative. But it also remains personal and respectful of Virgil's special situation. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Doctor Sacks has written books on many subjects. In "Migraine", he explores severe head pain to further understand the way neurons in the brain operate. In "The Island of the Colorblind," Doctor Sacks writes about a community living on an island in the Pacific Ocean. These islanders all suffer from colorblindness. They describe their world to Doctor Sacks in terms of lightness, darkness, and pattern. In "Oaxaca Journal," Doctor Sacks explores his interest in pteridology, or the study of ferns. Ferns are some of the oldest plants on earth. They have not changed much over millions of years. In this book, he explores the ferns native to Oaxaca, Mexico and the cultural history of the area. VOICE ONE: In his latest book, "Musicophilia," Oliver Sacks describes the effect music has on the brain by studying the experiences of many people with unusual conditions. OLIVER SACKS: " 'Musicophilia' means love of music. And this is a very general word. But I think this is almost universal among people. And the width of the title has really allowed me to embrace dozens and dozens of different musical experiences and sensations." Music is an interesting subject for neurologists because many parts of the brain work together to listen to and make music. Music activates even more areas of the brain than language. And, music is very powerful. Even people with severe brain damage can still react to and even find healing in music. VOICE TWO: For some people, music can actually change the structure of the brain. Researchers have found that an area of the brain called the corpus callosum is enlarged in professional musicians.
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Another part of the brain is enlarged in musicians with absolute pitch. A person with absolute pitch can identify or recreate a musical note without the help of a musical instrument. Researchers also believe that the younger a musician begins training, the greater the changes in his or her brain. VOICE ONE: One part of the book "Musicophilia" is about people with synesthesia. OLIVER SACKS: "The word 'synesthesia' has been around for a century, a little bit more. It was introduced in the eighteen nineties for people who would perhaps see colors when they heard music. Or in whom generally, one sensation would give rise to another sensation." VOICE ONE: For example, one person Doctor Sacks writes about is a musician who experiences color with every musical note. The note G minor is a yellowish color, while D major is blue. Another person with synesthesia sees colors, shapes, and light when she listens to music. VOICE TWO: Modern brain imaging has helped medical experts understand conditions like synesthesia. Brain images show that synesthetes have activity both in the area of the brain that sees and in another area that reacts to music. OLIVER SACKS: "I think of the book as sort of a treasury of stories and information which other people and in particular neuroscientists and others will be able to use and make sense of. But also, it's a fun book." VOICE TWO: After the publication of "Musicophilia", Doctor Sacks received hundreds of messages from people with examples of the conditions he described. A second version of the book includes information about their cases. Doctor Sacks has once again provided his readers with a rich exploration of the complex workings of the human mind. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE:
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This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Dana Demange, who was also our producer. I'm Barbara Klein. VOICE TWO: And I'm Bob Doughty. Listen again next week for more news about science, in Special English, on the Voice of America.
Form questions in Past Perfect Simple. 1. Mary / in a musical / dance 2. we / the door / open 3. it / a lot / rain 4. we / fish / eat 5. she / in a play / act 6. we / the bill / pay
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7. he / his leg / hurt 8. the dinner / a fortune / cost 9. he / cash / pay 10. they / to my question / react
Serious Songs Give Bite to Death Cab for Cutie's Sixth Album
Also: A listener in Indonesia asks about the first man to step on the moon, Neil Armstrong. And hear how satellite radio is changing the way Americans listen to the radio. Transcript of radio broadcast: 04 September 2008 (MUSIC) HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. Today we play music from the band Death Cab for Cutie ... Answer a question about American astronaut Neil Armstrong And report on an interesting satellite radio program. (MUSIC) 126
Satellite Radio HOST: Radio listeners in the United States often say that local stations broadcast too many advertisements. So, many people are willing to pay money to listen to satellite radio. The two competing satellite radio companies in the United States, XM and Sirius, joined together in July. Barbara Klein tells us what satellite radio listeners are paying to hear. BARBARA KLEIN: Jeffrey Yorke writes for the industry Web site, radioandrecords.com. He says that ten years ago industry leaders questioned whether satellite radio would succeed. Who would want to pay to hear the radio, they thought? Today, more than eighteen million people in the United States pay about thirteen dollars a month for the service. Part of the reason for this growth, says Mister Yorke, is the huge choice in programming. The new Sirius XM Radio company will offer listeners several hundred channels to choose from. Most of them are free of advertisements. These channels present news, sports, humor, traffic and weather, political shows, talk shows, cooking shows and every kind of music. Rock musician Bob Dylan, for example, presents a program every week called "Theme Time Radio Hour." The twohour show is repeated several times a week. On each show, Dylan plays music based on an idea or subject, like trains, summer, New York City or coffee. Between songs, the rock star talks about the music, the singers, his opinions and anything else. Let's listen. (SOUND) Lifestyle expert Martha Stewart and comedian Jamie Foxx also present shows on satellite radio. So do Howard Stern and Bob Edwards, who used to have popular shows on other radio stations. Mister Yorke says satellite radio could become even more popular in the future if new and different personalities are invited to create programs. Neil Armstrong HOST: Our VOA question this week comes from Indonesia. Mohammed Sholeh asks about American astronaut Neil Armstrong and what he is doing now.
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NEIL ARMSTRONG: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong stepping onto the surface of the moon HOST: That was Neil Armstrong speaking on July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine as he became the first person to set foot on the moon. Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched or listened to the moon landing. The United States Space Agency's Apollo Eleven mission was an extraordinary scientific, engineering and public relations success. And the astronaut quickly became an American hero. Neil Armstrong was surely born for the space adventure. But he was never quite at ease with the fame that followed. Neil Alden Armstrong was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio, in nineteen thirty. When he was sixteen, he learned to fly a plane and got his pilot's license. After high school, Neil joined the Navy and was accepted in a special program that paid for his college education. He
Neil Armstrong went to Purdue University in Indiana. It had a strong flight engineering program. But the start of the Korean War delayed his studies. He was a pilot and carried out seventy-eight air operations. He returned to complete his studies at Purdue after the war ended in nineteen fifty-two. Neil Armstrong was working as a test pilot when NASA chose him to become an astronaut. His first trip to space was with the Gemini program in nineteen sixty-six. Three years later he was named commander of the Apollo Eleven flight.
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After the trip to the moon, he resigned from the astronaut program and from NASA in nineteen seventy-one. He went back to Ohio and taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Armstrong helped lead the government's investigation of the deadly explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in nineteen eighty-six. He has served on the boards of directors of many corporations. Over the years, both major American political parties asked Mister Armstrong if he was interested in seeking public office. But he always said no. A few years ago, the private man became a little more public. He worked with writer James Hansen on a book about his life. "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong" was published in two thousand five. Reporters asked him if he would be interested in going back into space. Armstrong laughed and said he did not think he would get the chance but that he was available. Death Cab For Cutie HOST: Death Cab for Cutie has been making music for ten years. The popular rock group recently released its sixth full-length album, "Narrow Stairs." The group's guitar player, Chris Walla, describes the album as "having teeth." The serious songs on the album show that Death Cab for Cutie continues to develop its sound in new and interesting ways. Faith Lapidus tells us more. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: That was the song "Grapevine Fires." Ben Gibbard sings about how watching a spreading fire becomes a lesson about the impermanence of life.
Death Cab for Cutie The name Death Cab for Cutie comes from a song written by a British band from the nineteen sixties.
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Death Cab for Cutie recorded most of "Narrow Stairs" in the studio of the band's drummer, Jason McGerr. McGerr built the professional studio in Seattle, Washington so the band could have a pleasant place in which to spend several weeks recording together. The album was recorded with the band facing each other as they played their music. This calm environment helps give the songs a natural sound, as though they were part of a live performance. Here is the song "I Will Possess Your Heart." This eight-and-a-half-minute song starts with a long musical introduction. (MUSIC) Death Cab For Cutie has been performing music around the United States, Canada and Europe this summer. Here they play "Pity and Fear." This song skillfully expresses one person's thoughts on feeling sad and alone. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange, Jill Moss and Caty Weaver, who was also the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
Exercise on Future I Simple will
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Form positive sentences in Future I Simple will. 1. you / a question / ask 2. Mary / in a musical / dance 3. Anna / the window / open 4. the teacher / our English / test 5. you / hungry / be 6. you / the house / see 7. we / her / an apple / give 8. they / a sound / hear 9. my sister / our dog / feed 10. she / her boyfriend / kiss
Growing Crops With Less Water

Researchers are developing plants that use less water or use it better, or both. Transcript of radio broadcast: 17 November 2008 This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
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Scientists are working to develop crop plants that can reduce the amount of water used for agriculture. Almost sixty percent of the world's freshwater withdrawals from rivers, lakes and other water resources go toward irrigating fields. Scientists are using biotechnology as well as traditional breeding methods to develop water-saving crops to feed a growing world. Thomas "Tommy" Carter is a plant scientist in North Carolina. He works for the Agricultural Research Service in the United States Department of Agriculture. He leads Team Drought, a group of researchers at five universities. They have been using conventional breeding methods to develop soybeans that can grow well under dry conditions.
Thomas Carter Tommy Carter started working on drought-resistant soybeans in nineteen eighty-one. His research has taken him as far as China, where soybeans have been grown for thousands of years. Farmers in the United States, however, have grown soybeans for only about a century. Tommy Carter says the soybeans they grow are for the most part genetically similar. More differences, or diversification, could better protect crops against climate changes that can reduce production. Those changes include water shortages which could increase from global warming. The Agriculture Department has a soybean germplasm collection, a collection of genetic material passed from one generation to the next. Members of Team Drought studied more than two thousand five hundred examples from the collection. They looked at ones from the ancestral home of soybeans, Asia. They searched for germplasms that could keep plants from weakening and wilting during hot, dry summers in the United States. Tommy Carter says they found only five. But these slow-wilting lines, he says, produce four to eight bushels more than normal soybeans under drought conditions. The yield depends on location and environment. The team is now doing field tests. The first breeding line is expected to be released next year for use by private seed companies and public soybean breeders. Scientists are also working on other plants that either use less water or use it better, or both. For example, companies like Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta are developing corn with reduced water needs. Monsanto expects to be ready in four years to market its first corn seeds genetically engineered to resist drought. 132
And thats the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Im Doug Johnson.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Write a summary of the text.
Exercise on Past Perfect Progressive
Form positive sentences in Past Perfect Progressive. 1. the dog / bark 2. we / in the park / wait 3. Christine / her home / decorate 4. the children / on the floor / sleep 5. we / tea / drink 6. they / in the lake / swim 7. Boris / English / learn
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8. We / our holidays / enjoy 9. she / her room / tidy 10. we / a new territory / explore
Need Soap? Make Your Own

A simple way to make soap from oil, water and potash. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 December 2008 This is the VOA Special English Development Report. One of the best ways to protect yourself and other people from getting sick is to wash your hands with soap. To make soap, you need three main things: oil, water and lye. The oil can come from animal fat or plant sources like avocado, coconut or sunflower. Lye can be found at markets and other stores that sell cleaning products. Lye -- spelled ly-e -- is also called sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Be very careful. Lye can cause serious burns. It can also blind a person if it gets into the eyes. Do not breathe lye and do not let small children near it. And do not store lye in containers made of aluminum. The lye will eat through the metal.
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But the owner of a soap making business in California says on her blog that there is no lye present in the finished soap. Diane Longacre says the lye and oil molecules combine and chemically change into soap and glycerin. Her blog is at frontierangelsoap.blogspot.com. Some people make soap with potash lye. You boil ashes in water until only dry black salts remain. Once the salts melt, a gray-white substance is left. This is potash. One simple way to make soft soap requires nine kilograms of potash. You also need twelve kilos of any kind of oil and twenty-six liters of water. Mix the potash well with the water. Add it to the oil in a wooden bucket. For the next three days, mix the materials well with a wooden stick or spoon. Do this several times a day for about three minutes at a time. Then let the soap sit in the wooden bucket for about a month. After that, it will be ready to use. In Mali, women's groups make and sell soap produced with jatropha seeds. In Rwanda, a group of people living with H.I.V./AIDS began making soap from local materials like palm oil and avocados. They developed a business with a loan from the aid organization Africare. Healthier members of the group meet four times a week to mix the soap and cut it into pieces. An American organization called InterAction says the soap makers produce one thousand pieces each day. The soap is sold to the local health center, to a prison and to people in the community. And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Karen Leggett. More information about the soap making process can be found at practicalaction.org. Click on Practical Answers and enter "soap" as a search term. We will post helpful links at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Mario Ritter.
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5) Have you ever made soap? Why?

Form negative sentences in Future I Simple will. 1. John / stamps / collect 2. you / high / jump 3. we / fish / eat 4. they / their calculators / use 5. Benjamin / the rules / break 6. You / flowers / bring 7. the boss / the contract / sign 8. We / our holidays / enjoy 9. you / me / love 10. she / the chapter / copy
Foreign Student Series: Thanksgiving in the US

College and universities may arrange for students far from home to spend the holiday with local families. Part 12 of our series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 26 November 2008 136
This is the VOA Special English Education Report. This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Americans traditionally gather for a large holiday meal with family and friends. Most schools are also closed Friday for
Campus farm at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont Thanksgiving break. Some students get all week off. So where does this leave international students? We asked a few colleges and universities around the country for this week's report in our Foreign Student Series. In the Northeast, Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont, has twenty-nine international students this year out of a student population of about eight hundred. Dick Weis is the director of international programs. He says teachers and coaches invite international students to their homes for Thanksgiving. Professor Weis is having six or seven at his house for the holiday. In the Southeast, Lelia Crawford is director of international student programs at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She says school groups organize meals for the more than one thousand five hundred international students at Emory. Local organizations also get involved, like a group called the Atlanta Ministry with International Students. It arranges for students in the Atlanta area to celebrate Thanksgiving with American families. The group also has a program called Christmas International House. International students can spend the long winter holiday with families in other parts of the United States. In the Midwest, Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, has more than one thousand students. Fourteen of them this year are from other countries. International student adviser Nadia Sifri says they are connected with local host families when they first arrive. The
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families provide a home away from home, she says, and they generally invite the students to spend Thanksgiving with them. And in the West, Bob Ericksen heads the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA has more than five thousand international students, and he says they can enjoy not just one but three meals for Thanksgiving. His office and the Study Abroad Office have a dinner before the holiday. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, local families bring food to a park to share with international students. And that evening, the students can go to another Thanksgiving meal held by a service fraternity. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Students Series can be found on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Form questions in Future I Simple will. 1. I / the question / answer 2. they / us / call 3. Fiona / her grandma / visit
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4. the teacher / our homework / check 5. we / on the lake / sail 6. they / a sound / hear 7. I / postcards / send 8. he / his father / embarrass 9. they / computers / order 10. she / the word / pronounce
When It Ain't Right to Use 'Ain't' in English, and When It Is

Written by Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach 16 December 2005 (MUSIC) HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We hear music from a new CD to help hurricane victims Answer a question about the use of an English word And report about the opening of a new center that honors a champion. 139
Ali Center A new museum has opened in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. It honors the life and work of former boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Bob Doughty has more. BOB DOUGHTY: The Muhammad Ali Center opened last month, although it will not be completely finished for another year. The center was built in Louisville because it is where Muhammad Ali was born.
The center is meant to be an educational and cultural international gathering place. The six-level building is a place to learn about Muhammad Ali and to help visitors discover ways to increase understanding among people. The center is also an attempt to help the world find ways to prevent war and violence. Muhammad Alis wife Lonnie said the center will be a place where people can work for peace and understanding. She said her husband did not want the museum to be only about him and his boxing. Exhibits in some areas show Alis boxing successes. Other areas remember the days of racial separation in the American South when the young Cassius Clay was growing up. He later became a Muslim and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. The civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties is the subject of one exhibit at the center. Muhammad Ali has worked for many years to improve human rights, ease conflicts and provide food for the poor. The fifth level of the building is divided into six areas that show the values in Alis life. They include believing in yourself, giving and spirituality. Interactive experiences show how Ali stood up for what he believed. Center officials say its aim is to use Alis life as an example that will help visitors recognize that they too can make a difference.
Muhammad Ali at the center's opening
Muhammad Ali is now sixty-three years old. He is battling Parkinsons syndrome. It affects his speech and movement. Ali and his wife are considering moving back to live in Louisville so that they can spend more time at the center. Aint HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. Joao Ademir dos Santos asks about the use of the English word aint.
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The dictionary says that aint is an example of nonstandard English. Standard English follows rules of grammar and usage that people learn in school. Nonstandard English includes words or expressions that violate these rules. Aint is an attempt to combine the words am and not in a way similar to the way that dont combines the words do and not. Experts say it first appeared in English in seventeen seventy-eight. They say people in that time period also developed the use of dont and wont. Later, grammar experts criticized the use of aint because it was used by uneducated people. In the nineteenth century, it was criticized because it was not a combination of two words. The meaning of aint also expanded to include is not, has not and have not, as in the expression I aint got any. Grammar experts and teachers continue to criticize the use of aint. They say it is slang and should not be used in conversation. Yet sometimes it seems to be the right word to use for informal speech. It has been used in many expressions such as You aint seen nothing yet, Say it aint so and Aint that the truth! People also use it in a joking way. However, it is not used in writing unless the writer is trying to express a kind of informal relation among a group of people. The book Understanding English Grammar says aint is an issue about manners, not grammar. The writer says ideas about the word would change quickly if television news reporters and the president of the United States used the word. One language expert said that teachers, news reporters and presidents do not avoid aint because it is nonstandard English. It is nonstandard English because such people do not use it. Katrina Relief Music HOST: The city of New Orleans, Louisiana, has influenced many musicians over the years. Now, it is time for musicians to help New Orleans. Hurricane Relief is a new CD that many musicians, producers and record companies came together to create. Faith Lapidus tells us more.
FAITH LAPIDUS: Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now is the full name of this special new CD. This collection of music includes many new and old songs. It includes many kinds of music. Some of the songs are about New Orleans. The CD is not only important for its music, however. It also represents a high level of cooperation among many people in the music industry. Their goal was to come together to create an album that could raise money for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
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(MUSIC) That was Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton. Sixteen famous musicians took part in the recording. If you listened carefully you could hear the voices of musicians such as Ringo Starr and Mary J. Blige. The musicians and producers who made this album did not want to earn money from it. Instead, each time the CD is purchased, almost all of the profits will go to a relief organization. These organizations include the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity and the MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund. Here is City Beneath the Sea by Harry Connick, Junior. It describes the music, sights and sounds of New Orleans. Connick should know -- he grew up in that city. (MUSIC) We close with the song Come Together Now which was written by the actress Sharon Stone and other songwriters. More than twenty musicians such as Natalie Cole and Celine Dion came together to make this special recording. This song expresses the idea of the whole album. It tells about the importance of uniting to help people and a city in need. (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program. Our show was written by Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was our producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio magazine in Special English.
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4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) What does it mean the contraction aint?
Exercise on Future I Simple going to
Form positive sentences in Future I Simple going to. 1. you / cards / play 2. you / the castle / visit 3. we / fish / eat 4. Gareth / the bin / empty 5. the teacher / the tenses / explain 6. she / a friend / phone 7. Janet / the bus / miss 8. he / the problem / discuss 9. they / the girl / rescue 10. they / the new student / welcome
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StoryCorps in Action | Naming American Kids | Remembering Soraya

Written by Dana Demange, Caty Weaver and Nancy Steinbach 16 June 2006 (MUSIC) HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We answer a question about how Americans name their children Play some music from singer Soraya And report about a project that is recording the stories of many Americans. StoryCorps HOST: The StoryCorps project is helping to record and keep the personal stories of everyday Americans. Mario Ritter tells us more about this digital recording experiment that shows how listening can be an act of love.
Catherine and Scott Kohanek talked about how they met Mario Ritter: A radio producer named Dave Isay developed the StoryCorps project in two thousand three. He wanted to create a way for Americans to record and keep the stories of their friends and families. He saw that recording interviews between loved ones could produce 144
rich experiences. Mister Isay wanted to be able to protect these important memories and teach people the importance of listening closely. StoryCorps started in New York City three years ago in a small recording studio in Grand Central train terminal. At a set time, people visit the recording studio. With the help of a StoryCorps professional, they ask each other questions. They record stories about their lives and experiences or those of family members. Afterwards, they can keep a copy of the interview. StoryCorps sends another copy to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. where the recordings are safely preserved. The recordings are also posted on the StoryCorps Web site. StoryCorps has become very popular. It opened another small recording studio in New York City and started visiting other cities. Last month, it celebrated the one-year anniversary of its two movable recording studios. These studios are built inside trailers that attach to cars so they can travel around the country. The trailers started their road trip from the Library of Congress. They stayed for several weeks in each place. One trailer traveled to western cities. The other trailer traveled to eastern cities and has now returned to Washington. So far, StoryCorps has helped people capture more than seven thousand stories. They are stories about love, death, friendship and family. These stories represent a rich spoken history of Americans from many races, ages, and backgrounds. To listen to these recordings on the Internet, visit www.storycorps.net. And remember to listen closely. Naming Children HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from China. Liu Jia Hai asks if there are any rules about how Americans name their children. American parents generally can choose any name they want for their children. They may choose a name because it honors a family member. Or they may choose a name just because they like it.
Thor ... Ulysses? A Web site called Baby Center lists some unusual names given to American babies born last year. Some were named for characters in old stories, such as Hero, Thor and Ulysses. Other people named their babies after kinds of food, like actress Gwyneth Paltrow did in two thousand four. She named her daughter Apple. Other people named their babies Banana, Pumpkin and Cookie.
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Still other babies born last year were named for places. These include Brazil, India and Rome. Some parents used names of famous people from history such as Newton and Hannibal. Other parents named their babies after flowers or the weather. These babies were named Buttercup, Iris, Sunshine and Thunder. Recording artists and movie actors influence some parents choices of names. Babies were named Beyonce, Charlize, Reba, Pierce, Shakira and Whitney. Movie actors themselves often give their babies unusual names. For example, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt recently named their baby daughter Shiloh. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes named their little girl Suri. Some American parents do not want unusual names. They want their babys name to honor their religious faith. Such names include Abraham for boys or Sarah for girls. And many people give their babies the same name as a family member or good friend. The United States Social Security Administration published a list of the most popular names for American girls and boys born last year. Many of the top ten boys names are from the Jewish and Christian Bibles. They are Jacob, Michael, Joshua, Matthew and Ethan. Also Andrew, Daniel, Anthony, Christopher and Joseph. The top ten girls names are Emily, Emma, Madison, Abigail and Olivia. Also, Isabella, Hannah, Samantha, Ava and Ashley. Soraya HOST: Hundreds of thousands of women develop breast cancer each year. Latina musician Soraya was among those women who bravely battle the disease. However, last month, her fight ended.
Soraya But her story, and her work to educate women about breast cancer, will help others for years to come. Barbara Klein remembers the singer and songwriters life and plays some of her music. Barbara Klein: Soraya Lamilla was born in the state of New Jersey in nineteen sixty-nine. Her parents had come to the United States from Colombia.
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Soraya discovered her interest in music early in life. She began studying guitar when she was five. She was playing the violin at age eight. Her family traveled often between Colombia and the United States. Sorayas music was a mix of those cultures. In fact, she released both Spanish and English versions of her first two albums. Listen to the title song from her first album En Esta Noche. She wrote it to honor her mother who died of breast cancer. The disease also killed her grandmother and aunt. (MUSIC: "En Esta Noche") Soraya discovered her breast cancer during a self-examination six years ago. She began treatment and was cancer free for several years. She spent much of that time spreading the message of the importance of breast examination and treatment. She also kept making music, much of it about hope. Like this song, Casi, or in English, Almost. (MUSIC) Soraya won a Latin Grammy and other awards during her short career. Her last album, "El Otro Lado Di Mi," was nominated for a Grammy. We leave you with a song from that recording. Here is Como Seria. (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.This show was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver who was the producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio agazine in Special English.
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4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know.
Form negative sentences in Future I Simple going to. 1. they / us / call 2. she / the match / watch 3. you / hungry / be 4. I / the postcards / send 5. Louis / the ball / throw 6. Mary / the door / shut 7. he / the problem / discuss 8. he / his father / embarrass
What Is the Best Place to Visit in the United States? A Few Opinions
Also: The story behind the century-old song ''Take Me Out to the Ballgame.'' And music by performers at the JVC Jazz Festival taking place in New York. Transcript of radio broadcast: 26 June 2008
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HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) Im Doug Johnson. Today we play music from performers at a jazz festival in New York City Answer a question about the best place to visit in the United States And celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame (MUSIC) ''Take Me Out To The Ballgame'' HOST: It is believed to be the third most popular song that Americans sing. It is one hundred years old. And people sing it at baseball games. Barbara Klein tells us what it is.
BARBARA KLEIN: Experts say there are probably more than one thousand songs about baseball, America's national sport. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" is the most popular. Jack Norworth wrote the song in nineteen-oh-eight. He was a young actor who had never been to a Major League baseball game. But one day, he saw a sign about baseball in an underground subway train in New York City. He wrote the words to the song. When he got to work, his partner, Albert Von Tilzer, put the words to music. Von Tilzer had never been to a baseball game, either. This is the first recording of that song. (MUSIC) 149
Tim Wiles is head of research at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He is one of the writers of a new book, "Baseball's Greatest Hit: The Story of Take Me Out to the Ballgame." He says Jack Norworth wrote the song about a young woman who tells her boyfriend she does not want to go see a show on Broadway. She wants him to take her to a baseball game. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" became very popular in nineteen-oh-eight. And it has been played at American baseball games ever since. But it was not until the mid nineteen seventies that it became a popular sing-along tradition. Near the end of the game everyone is tired of sitting on the hard seats. So at a special time, everyone stands up and stretches their legs. This tradition is called "the seventh inning stretch." At most baseball stadiums, everyone sings "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." (MUSIC) Only two other songs are reportedly sung more often in the United States than "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." They are "Happy Birthday to You" and the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." Oh, the Place You Will Go HOST: Our listener question this week comes from Guatemala. Julio Rolando Pineda Cordn asks where to go for the best educational and cultural experience if you could only visit one place in the United States. We talked to people from different parts of the country to get their opinions. Jenny Franchina is a mother and homemaker in Beverly Hills, California. It is an area of Los Angeles that has big houses, costly stores and many movie stars. But it is not the place Jenny suggests for your visit. She says the answer to the question is three words --New York City. She says New York has it all, including a mix of many cultures. Huge numbers of immigrants settled and continue to settle in different areas of the city. Chinatown is one example. You can find Chinese food, movies, bookstores, as well as special Chinese medicines, art and toys. Other great ethnic neighborhoods include Little Italy and Spanish Harlem. New York City
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There is also a major Greek community in Astoria, and a large South Asian population in Jackson Heights. You can find the food, music, art and other cultural treasures from many countries. But New York is not the place Connie and Jim Birmingham would visit. They own a farm in Marion, Iowa. Jim is a cattleman. Connie is retired. They agree that a big city is a good choice. But, the Birminghams vote for Chicago, Illinois. Connie says it has all the culture you can find in New York. And, she thinks the building design in Chicago is even
Washington, D.C. more exciting. She says Chicagos skyline along the huge, blue Lake Michigan is one of the most beautiful sights in America. Rick Gulino lives in Wilmington, Delaware. He is a lawyer and father of two girls. He says the place to visit is Washington, D.C. He says it is especially interesting as the capital of the United States. He loves the many monuments and memorials. And he notes that the city is close to both mountains and ocean beaches. He also says he likes the people of Washington. One note from us: The United States is not just a country of big cities. It offers great spots for nature lovers, too. There are deserts, canyons, volcanoes, rivers and swamps, just to list a few. Another program, perhaps? JVC Jazz Fest HOST: The JVC Jazz Festival takes place in cities around the United States and Europe. The JVC electronics company has been organizing major jazz festivals since nineteen eighty-four. Faith Lapidus tells us about the one being held in New York city. FAITH LAPIDUS: The JVC Jazz Festival New York opened June fifteenth. The shows are taking place at several theaters, clubs and music centers. This closing weekend includes a show Friday
Al Green
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featuring Al Green and Dianne Reeves at Carnegie Hall. Here Reeves sings the title track of her latest album, When You Know. (MUSIC) Al Green will surely perform some songs from his just released album, Lay It Down.
Herbie Hancock Here he sings Take Your Time, with British artist Corinne Bailey Rae. (MUSIC) The great composer and pianist Herbie Hancock performed at Carnegie Hall last week. Here is his famous piece, Watermelon Man. (MUSIC) Some of the musicians at the JVC Jazz Festival New York are not as famous as others. For example, a three-member group called The Bad Plus has been performing for eight years. Critics say they are very popular with young jazz fans. We leave you with a song from their latest recording, Prog. Here is Giant. (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Shelley Gollust and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio magazine in Special English.

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2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) In your opinion, whats the best place to visit in the USA? And in Brazil?
Form questions in Future I Simple going to. 1. Jenny / the door / lock 2. he / the car / wash 3. we / at the airport / arrive 4. the teacher / our homework / check 5. they / their car / sell 6. I / my point of view / defend 7. the clouds / disappear 8. he / his father / embarrass 9. the snowman / in the sun / melt 10. he / his goals / reach
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Ray Kroc, 1902-1984: The Man Who Made McDonald's Popular Around the World
He helped develop the fast food industry. Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 November 2007 VOICE ONE:
Ray Kroc Im Phoebe Zimmermann. VOICE TWO: And Im Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Ray Kroc, the man who helped make the fast food industry famous. He expanded a small business into an international operation called McDonalds. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: You probably know what fast food is. It is cooked food that is ready almost as soon as you enter a public eating place. It does not cost much. It is popular with most Americans and with many people around the world. Some experts say that at least twenty-five percent of American adults eat fast food every day. Most fast food restaurants offer ground beef sandwiches called hamburgers and potatoes cooked in hot oil called French fries. Other fast food places serve fried chicken, pizza or tacos. 154
VOICE TWO: You see fast food restaurants almost everywhere in the United States. The names and the designs of the buildings are easily recognized Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and of course, McDonalds. Most are chain restaurants. That means each one is part of a huge company. Each restaurant in the chain has the same large, colorful sign that can be recognized from far away. Each offers its own carefully limited choice of foods. Each kind of hamburger or piece of chicken tastes the same at every restaurant in the chain. VOICE ONE: The fast food industry began with two brothers in San Bernardino, California in the nineteen forties. Mac and Dick McDonald owned a small, but very successful restaurant. They sold only a few kinds of simple food, especially hamburgers. People stood outside the restaurant at a window. They told the workers inside what they wanted to eat. They received and paid for their food very quickly. The food came in containers that could be thrown away. The system was so successful that the McDonald brothers discovered they could sell a lot of food and lower their prices. VOICE TWO: Ray Kroc sold restaurant supplies. He recognized the importance of the McDonald brothers idea. He saw that food sales could be organized for mass production -- almost like a factory. Mister Kroc paid the McDonald brothers for permission to open several restaurants similar to theirs. He opened the first McDonalds restaurant near Chicago, Illinois, in nineteen fifty-five. Soon, more McDonalds were opening all across the United States. Other people copied the idea and more fast food restaurants followed. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Raymond Albert Kroc was a very wealthy businessman when he died in nineteen eightyfour. But he had not always been successful. Ray was born in Illinois in nineteen-oh-two. His parents were not rich. He attended school in Oak Park, near Chicago. Ray never completed high school, however. He left school to become a driver for the Red Cross in World War One. He lied about his age to be accepted. He was only fifteen. The war ended before he could be sent to Europe. VOICE TWO: After the war, Ray became a jazz piano player. He played with famous music groups. He got married when he was twenty. Then he began working for the Lily Tulip Cup 155
Company, selling paper cups. He kept trying new things, however. He attempted to sell land in the southern state of Florida. That business failed. Ray Kroc remembered driving to Chicago from Florida after his business failed. He said: I will never forget that drive as long as I live. The streets were covered with ice, and I did not have winter clothing. When I arrived home I was very cold and had no money. VOICE ONE: Ray Kroc went back to being a salesman for the Lily Tulip Cup Company. He was responsible for product sales in the central United States. His life improved when he started a small business that sold restaurant supplies. He sold a machine that could mix five milkshakes at one time. In nineteen fifty-four, he discovered a small restaurant that was using eight of his machines. He went there and found that the owners of the restaurant had a good business selling only hamburgers, French fries and drinks. At first, Mister Kroc saw only the possibility for increasing the sales of his mixers to more restaurants. Then he proposed an agreement with the McDonald brothers to start a number of restaurants. Under the agreement, the McDonald brothers would get a percentage of all sales. VOICE TWO: The first McDonalds restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, in nineteen fifty-five. Ray Kroc was fifty-two years old -- an age when many people start thinking about retirement. He opened two restaurants. Soon he began to understand that the real profits were made in selling hamburgers, not the mixers. He quickly sold the mixer company and invested the money in the growing chain of McDonalds restaurants.
Ray Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955
In nineteen-sixty, Mister Kroc bought the legal rights to the restaurants from the McDonald brothers. By then, the chain had more than two hundred restaurants. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Fast food restaurants spread quickly in the United States because of franchising. Franchising means selling the legal right to operate a store in a companys chain to an
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independent business person. If the company approves, the business person may buy or lease the store for a period of years. Many people want to own a McDonalds restaurant, but only a few are approved. Each restaurant buys its supplies at a low cost from the parent company. Each restaurant also gives the company about ten percent of the money it earns in sales. Today, about seventy percent of McDonalds restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent businessmen and women. VOICE TWO: Ray Kroc was good at identifying what the public wanted. He knew that many American families wanted to eat in a restaurant sometimes. He gave people a simple eating place with popular food, low prices, friendly service and no waiting. And all McDonalds restaurants sold the same food in every restaurant across the country. Ray Kroc established rules for how McDonalds restaurants were to operate. He demanded that every restaurant offer quality, service and cleanliness. People lucky enough to get a franchise must complete a program at a training center called Hamburger University. They learn how to cook and serve the food, and how to keep the building clean. More than sixty-five thousand people have completed this training. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: McDonalds began to expand around the world in nineteen sixty-seven. Ray Krocs business ability made McDonalds the largest restaurant company in the world. There are now more than thirty thousand McDonalds restaurants on six continents. The company operates in about one hundred twenty countries. Every day, McDonalds restaurants around the world serve about fifty million people. VOICE TWO: In later years, Ray Kroc established the Kroc Foundation, a private organization that gives money to help others. He also established a number of centers that offer support to families of children who have cancer. They are called Ronald McDonald houses. Many people praised Ray Kroc for his companys success and good works. But other people sharply criticized him for the way McDonalds treated young employees. Many of the workers were paid the lowest wage permitted by American law. Health experts still criticize McDonalds food for containing too much fat and salt.
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In the nineteen seventies, Ray Kroc turned his energy from hamburgers to sports. He bought a professional baseball team in California, the San Diego Padres. He died in nineteen eighty-four. He was eighty-one years old. VOICE ONE: That first McDonalds restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois, was torn down. It was replaced by a store and visitors center that attempts to copy what was in the original building. Another museum in nearby Oak Park describes the life of Ray Kroc. Ray Krocs story remains an important part of McDonalds history. And his way of doing business continues to influence fast food restaurants that feed people around the world. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This program was written by George Grow. Lawan Davis was the producer. Im Steve Ember. VOICE ONE: And Im Phoebe Zimmermann. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program in VOA Special English.
Exercise on A Little / A Few
Decide whether you have to use a little or a few.
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The Empire State Building Turns 75

Written by Caty Weaver 30 April 2006
(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Im Steve Ember. VOICE TWO: And Im Faith Lapidus. One of the best known buildings in the world is having a birthday. This famous building in New York City is seventy-five years old. And it is our subject this week. 159
(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The ground was broken on January twenty-second, nineteen thirty. Workers dug a hole about seventeen meters deep for the foundation. In March, work began on the steel structure. It grew taller and taller. By November, well ahead of plans, the stonework on the outside of the building was finished. On May first, nineteen thirty-one, President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C. On went the lights of, at that time, the worlds tallest building. The Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan was open for business. VOICE TWO: The Empire State Building is just over four hundred forty-three meters tall. That includes the sixty-two meter tall lightening rod on top. There are one hundred three floors. And if you want to reach them all on foot, just know there are more than one thousand eight hundred sixty stairs. Runners compete in a yearly race to the top. If even the thought of that makes you tired, then you might want to ride an elevator instead. The building has seventy-three of them. The Empire State Building sits on more than seven thousand square meters of land. The building has five entrances and six thousand five hundred windows. And, last but not least, it has two hundred fifty workers who take care of the building. VOICE ONE: The Empire State Building holds a special place in the hearts of Americans. For one thing, it was the tallest building in the world for more than forty years.
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But the Empire State Building is also a big player in the cultural history of New York City. One reason is its light shows. The first took place in nineteen thirty-two. A searchlight was lit on top of the building to honor the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president. New York is known as the Empire State, and Roosevelt was its governor. In nineteen fifty-six, four large searchlights were added to the building. They were called Freedom Lights. They were meant as a way to send a message of welcome and hope to immigrants. The Freedom Lights were also meant to signal the hopes of Americans for peace. People at that time worried about the threat from the Soviet Union. VOICE TWO: More lights were added in nineteen sixty-four. But a big surprise came in nineteen seventy-six. The Empire State Building shined in red, white and blue. The colors of the flag celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of American independence. Ever since then, the owners of the Empire State Building have observed holidays and special events with color. For example, on February fourteenth, the building glows red for Valentines Day, the day for love. On Saint Patricks Day, March seventeenth, the Empire State Building turns green to honor the patron saint of Ireland. And on April twenty-second, it shines a combination of green and blue to mark Earth Day. There are also special colors to mark the independence days of several countries and to honor campaigns against diseases. There are even light shows to celebrate the birthdays of cartoon characters like Popeye and Betty Boop. Sometimes the building goes dark as a remembrance, as it did in two thousand four after the death of former President Ronald Reagan. VOICE ONE: Even if you have never visited New York, there is a good chance you have seen the Empire State Building. It has been photographed countless times. It has even played parts in movies. In nineteen thirty-three the Empire State Building was one of the stars of King Kong. A huge ape climbs to the top, fighting off airplanes and holding in his hand a screaming woman, played by Fay Wray.
1933 film King Kong
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//ACT 1 -- King Kong// Attention all stations. King Kong is going west. He is making for the Empire State Building. Standby for further reports. If he goes up there what can we do? We wont be able to get near him. "Kong is climbing the Empire State Building. He is still carrying Ann Darrow. That is all. That licks us. Theres one thing we havent thought of. What? Airplanes. If he should put Ann down and they can fly close enough to pick him off without hitting her Youre right! Planes! Call the field Oh boy, what a story VOICE ONE: In nineteen fifty-seven the Empire State Building appeared in the love story "An Affair to Remember." Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr play a man and a woman who meet and fall in love on a ship. They are looking at the New York City skyline from the ship when they plan a future meeting. //ACT 2-- An Affair to Remember// Nicky Oh, I was so worried that you I didnt have time to get dressed. I didnt get to bed until five I didnt sleep at all OhNow listen carefully Yes
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if everything goes right, Yes and I mean for both of us, in six monthshere I started to write it out Should I read it now? Mmm-hmm Alright Darling--- thats me? Mmm-hmm You have a date my beloved, July the first at five oclock. But you dont say where Well you name the place and Ill obey. I dont knowI cant thinkHow about the top of the Empire State Building? Oh, yes, thats perfect. Its the nearest thing to heaven we have in New York. The 102nd floorand dont forget to take the elevator No, I wont VOICE ONE: He goes there, but she has an accident that prevents her from meeting him. He waits and wonders what has happened to her. VOICE TWO: More recently, in "Sleepless in Seattle," two people in love agree to meet at the Observation Deck on Valentines Day. Both do arrive, but one is a little later. They almost miss each other. The makers of that film made a small mistake. They should have lit the tower in red. In the movie "Independence Day" the Empire State Building is destroyed by creatures from space. But there is one motion picture in which the main character IS the Empire State Building. The Pop artist Andy Warhol made the nineteen sixty-four movie Empire.
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He and a crew set up a camera in an office high up in another tall building. They filmed the Empire State Building through an evening into night. The camera never moved. The result is a silent film eight hours long in black-and-white. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: In the early nineteen seventies, the Empire State Building lost its place as the tallest building in New York. People in the city now had the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center to look up to. Tragically that all changed the morning of September eleventh, two thousand one. Members of al-Qaida crashed hijacked passenger airplanes into the Twin Towers and destroyed them. The Empire State Building again became the city's tallest building. The Empire State Building survived a plane crash. In nineteen forty-five, a large military plane hit the building at the seventy-ninth floor. The pilot had gotten lost in foggy conditions. The pilot and two passengers were killed. The crash also killed eleven people in the building. Yet a woman survived a drop of seventy-five floors in an elevator after the cable lines broke as a result of the crash. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Many people say the Empire State Building looks like a giant pencil. They may be right. John Jacob Raskob was the business leader mainly responsible for the Empire State Building. The story goes that Raskob held up a pencil in front of the architects and asked them how high they could build it. VOICE ONE: Raskob chose the architects at Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Associates to design the building. They planned for the top of the building to serve as a port for airships. But that never happened. The winds were too strong at that height. Still, the height of the building was useful for another purpose. NBC, the National Broadcasting Company, placed a television tower on the building in nineteen fifty. It was the most powerful transmitter in the world. Antennas on the Empire State Building still serve many communication needs. VOICE TWO: 164
More than one hundred million people have visited the Empire State Building since it opened in May of nineteen thirty-one. It is very popular with people who visit New York City. But the building never became as popular with large companies as the developers had hoped. Today the building has about nine hundred tenants. Small businesses are the main occupants. The Empire State Building opened during the Great Depression. At that time few people were willing or able to pay for office space there. But the depression did cut in half the expected cost of putting up the building. The structure alone cost about twenty-five million dollars. The cost of the land brought the price to more than forty million. VOICE ONE: The Web site of the Empire State Building offers a virtual tour and use of cameras on top of the building to see New York City. The Web site is e-s-b-n-y-c dot com. Again, the Empire State Building is on the Internet at esbnyc.com. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. Read and listen to our shows at voaspecialenglish.com. Im Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: And Im Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Now we leave you with music that George Gershwin wrote for the opening of the Empire State Building in nineteen thirty-one. Here is "Rhapsody in Rivets." (MUSIC)
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3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Exercise on vocabulary.
Write the correct word into the gap. Example: 0 - _______ Answer: 0 - lettuce
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Exercise on A Little / A Few

Decide whether you have to use a little or a few. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. bread ideas water luck friends chairs coffee children work men
Walt Disney, 1901-1966: It All Started with a Mouse

Disney's popular cartoon movies led to huge and successful entertainment parks. Transcript of radio broadcast: 27 October 2007 167
VOICE ONE: I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO: And I'm Ray Freeman with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today, we tell about Walt Disney and the movie company he created.
Walt Disney (MUSIC: "When You Wish Upon a Star) VOICE ONE: That was the song "When You Wish Upon a Star." It is from Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio." For many people, it is the song most often linked with Walt Disney and his work. The song is about dreams -- and making dreams come true. That is what the Walt Disney Company tries to do. It produces movies that capture the imagination of children and adults all over the world. VOICE TWO: Millions of people have seen Disney films and television programs. They have made friends with all the Disney heroes: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan. Millions more have visited the company's major entertainment parks. There is Disneyland in California. Disney World in Florida. Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Euro Disney in France. Probably no other company has pleased so many children. It is not surprising that it has been called a dream factory.
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(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois in nineteen-oh-one. His family moved to the state of Missouri. He grew up on a farm there. At the age of sixteen, Disney began to study art in Chicago. Four years later, he joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company. He helped make cartoon advertisements to be shown in movie theaters. Advertisements help sell products. In nineteen twenty-three, Walt Disney moved to Hollywood, California to join his brother Roy. He wanted to be a movie producer or director. But he failed to find a job. So he decided to make animated movies. In them, drawings are made to move in a lifelike way. We call them cartoons. Disney the artist wanted to bring his pictures to life. VOICE TWO: A cartoon is a series of pictures on film. Each picture is a little different from the one before. Each shows a tiny change in movement. When we see the movie, the pictures seem to be alive. The cartoon people and animals move. They speak with voices recorded by real actors. Disney opened his first movie company in the back of an office. For several years, he struggled to earn enough money to pay his expenses. He believed that cartoon movies could be as popular as movies made with actors. To do this, he decided he needed a cartoon hero. Help for his idea came from an unexpected place. VOICE ONE: Disney worked with Ub Iwerks, another young artist. They often saw mice running in and out of the old building where they worked. So they drew a cartoon mouse. It was not exactly like a real mouse. For one thing, it stood on two legs like a human.
Walt Disney drawing It had big eyes and ears. And it wore white gloves on its hands. The artists called him "Mickey." Earlier filmmakers had found that animals were easier to use in cartoons than people. Mickey Mouse was drawn with a series of circles. He was perfect for animation.
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The public first saw Mickey Mouse in a movie called "Steamboat Willie." Walt Disney himself provided the voice for Mickey Mouse. The film was produced in nineteen twenty-eight. It was a huge success. VOICE TWO: Mickey Mouse appeared in hundreds of cartoons during the years that followed. He became known all over the world. In Japan, he was called "Miki Kuchi." In Italy, he was "Topolino." In Latin America, he was "Raton Miquelito." Mickey soon was joined by several other cartoon creatures. One was the female mouse called "Minnie." Another was the duck named "Donald," with his sailor clothes and funny voice. And there was the dog called Pluto. VOICE ONE: Mickey Mouse cartoons were extremely popular. But Walt Disney wanted to make other kinds of animated movies, too. In the middle nineteen thirties, he was working on his first long movie. It was about a lovely young girl, her cruel stepmother, and the handsome prince who saves her. It was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." "Snow White" was completed in nineteen thirty-seven after three years of work. It was the first full-length animated movie to be produced by a studio. It became one of Hollywood's most successful movies. VOICE TWO: Movie experts say Walt Disney was responsible for the development of the art of animation. Disney's artists tried to put life into every drawing. That meant they had to feel all the emotions of the cartoon creatures. Happiness. Sadness. Anger. Fear. The artists looked in a mirror and expressed each emotion. A smile. Tears. A red face. Wide eyes. Then they drew that look on the face of each cartoon creature. VOICE ONE: Many movie experts say Disney's art of animation reached its highest point in nineteen forty with the movie "Pinocchio." The story is about a wooden toy that comes to life as a little boy. Disney's artists drew two-and-one-half million pictures to make "Pinocchio." The artists drew flat pictures. Yet they created a look of space and solid objects. "Pinocchio" was an imaginary world. Yet it looked very real. Disney made other extremely popular animated movies in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. They include "Fantasia," "Dumbo," "Bambi," "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan," "Lady and the Tramp," and "Sleeping Beauty." These movies are still popular today. VOICE TWO: 170
In addition to cartoons, Walt Disney produced many movies and television programs with real actors. He also produced movies about wild animals in their natural surroundings. Real or imaginary, all his programs had similar ideas. In most of them, innocence, loyalty and family love were threatened by evil forces. Sad things sometimes happened. But there were always funny incidents and creatures. In the end, good always won over evil. Disney won thirty-two Academy Awards for his movies and for scientific and technical inventions in filmmaking. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: In nineteen fifty-five, Walt Disney opened an entertainment park not far from Hollywood, California. He called it "Disneyland." He wanted it to be the happiest place on Earth. Disneyland recreated imaginary places from Disney movies. It also recreated real places -- as Disney imagined them. For example, one area looked like a nineteenth century town in the American West. Another looked like the world of the future.
Walt Disney with models of Disneyland
Disneyland also had exciting rides. Children could fly on an elephant. Or spin in a teacup. Or climb a mountain. Or float on a jungle river. And -- best of all -- children got to meet Mickey Mouse himself. Actors dressed as Mickey and all the Disney cartoon creatures walked around the park shaking hands. VOICE TWO: Some critics said Disneyland was just a huge money machine. They said it cost so much money that many families could not go. And they said it did not represent the best of American culture. But most visitors loved it. They came from near and far to see it. Presidents of the United States. Leaders of other countries. And families from around the world. Disneyland was so successful that Disney developed plans for a second entertainment and educational park to be built in Florida. The project, Walt Disney World, opened in Florida in nineteen seventy-one, after Disney's death. The man who started it all, Walt Disney, died in nineteen sixty-six. But the company he began continues to help people escape the problems of life through its movies and entertainment parks. (MUSIC)
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VOICE ONE: This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO: And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program in Special English on the Voice of America.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Who was Walt Disney? Put details.
Exercise on much and many
Decide whether you have to use much or many. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. cars music pictures flowers milk numbers money tea
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Oh, Say, You Can See the Star-Spangled Banner Again in Washington
In part nine, we talk about the steps needed to come to the United States for study. Transcript of radio broadcast: 05 November 2008 HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. This week: We listen to music from the Cold War Kids Answer a listener question about basketball superstar Michael Jordan And, report about a grand old flag's new home. Star-Spangled Banner (MUSIC) HOST: Ten years ago, first lady Hillary Clinton launched the Save America's Treasures campaign. America's famous flag, the Star-Spangled Banner, was at the center of the effort. The flag flew over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore, Maryland, in eighteen fourteen. The United States was at war with Britain. The sight of the flag still flying in the early morning after the battle led Francis Scott Key to write his famous poem, "The Star Spangled Banner," to celebrate the American victory. The poem later 173
became America's national song. Shirley Griffith tells about the flag's history, how it was repaired and where it is now. SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The commander of Fort McHenry, George Armistead, said he wanted a flag so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance. A local flag maker, Mary Pickersgill, was chosen for the project. Four teenage girls -- her daughter, nieces and a servant -- helped sew the giant flag. It measured about nine by thirteen meters. A year later, it flew as bombs and rockets burst over Baltimore Harbor. In nineteen twelve, the flag was given to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. One hundred years of wear and tear showed on the flag. Restoration expert Amelia Fowler sewed a material backing onto the flag to make it stronger for hanging. The flag was hung in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in nineteen sixty-four. Then in nineteen ninety-eight officials removed it for a major restoration.
The Star-Spangled Banner went to a special conservation laboratory. A wide moving bridge was built. It floated right above the flag. Restorers could lie on the bridge to work on every part of the flag. Experts also studied the cloth and condition of the flag to decide exactly what environment would be best for it. When all the repairs were complete, the Star-Spangled Banner was moved to its new home. The flag no longer hangs but lies on a table in a partly darkened room. A huge glass window provides a good view. Brent Glass, director of the museum, said: "The Star-Spangled Banner is one of our nation's most treasured objects." He said its new surroundings are part of a plan to guarantee the long-term protection of the flag and help future generations experience what it means to be an American. Visitor Scott Cook of Burke, Virginia, praised the flag project: SCOTT COOK: "The Star-Spangled Banner was getting in really bad shape hanging up there vertically all those years. It was falling apart. That's a great exhibit. It's very nicely done."
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Michael Jordan (MUSIC) HOST: Our listener question this week comes from Turkey. Erkut wants to know more about the basketball star Michael Jordan. Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time. He is most famous for playing for the Chicago Bulls, but later in his career he played briefly for the Washington Wizards. Michael Jeffrey Jordan was born in the Brooklyn area of New York City in nineteen sixty-
Michael Jordan three. He went to high school and college in the state of North Carolina. He played basketball in college for the North Carolina Tar Heels before being chosen to play for the Chicago Bulls in nineteen eighty-four. Michael Jordan played for the Bulls for thirteen years. During this time, the team won six championships. Jordan became one of the highest scoring players in the National Basketball Association. He averaged thirty points a game during the regular season. He was recognized as the NBA's most valuable player five times during the regular season. Michael Jordan became famous for the way he jumped through the air to score points. This skill earned him the nicknames "Air Jordan" and "His Airness." Jordan also became known around the world for appearing in advertisements for companies including Nike, Gatorade and Coca Cola. Michael Jordan also won gold medals in nineteen eighty-four and nineteen ninety-two representing the United States basketball team during the summer Olympic Games. Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls in nineteen ninety-four to play minor league baseball for one season. He retired from the team permanently in nineteen ninety-nine. He played briefly for the Washington Wizards starting in two thousand one. Michael Jordan is currently an owner of the Charlotte Bobcats professional basketball team. He has given his name to many other businesses. There are several Michael Jordan restaurants. There is also a Michael Jordan Motor Sports group that races motorcycles. 175
Michael Jordan has given large amounts of money to many groups that help young people. These include the James R. Jordan Boys and Girls Club and Family Life Center in Chicago, Illinois. This community center was named in honor of his father, who was murdered in nineteen ninety-three. The Jordan name is not leaving the basketball court anytime soon. Michael Jordan's twenty year old son Jeffrey now plays basketball for the University of Illinois. Cold War Kids (MUSIC) HOST: Cold War Kids is a young rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Their popularity has grown mainly on the Internet and from many live performances. Bob Doughty tells about the group and plays some of its music. BOB DOUGHTY: Nathan Willett is the lead singer for Cold War Kids. He also plays guitar and piano. Jonnie Russell sings, plays guitar and percussion instruments. Matt Maust plays bass guitar and Matt Aveiro is the drummer. The band's first album, "Robbers and Cowards," was released in two thousand six. Here is "Hang Me Up To Dry," from that album.
Cold War Kids (MUSIC) Nathan Willett has said that the British band Radiohead was a big influence on Cold War Kids. Other reported influences include The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan and Billie Holiday. Maybe you can hear some of their sounds in this next song from "Robbers and Cowards." It is called "Robbers."
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(MUSIC) Cold War Kids has been performing in Europe for several months. They released their second album, "Loyalty to Loyalty," in September. We leave you now with a song from that recording. Here is "Mexican Dogs." (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Caty Weaver and Dana Demange, who was also the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.
Exercise on much and many
Decide whether you have to use much or many. 1. She has so friends! 2. Too cooks spoil the broth. 3. Hurry up. I don't have so time.
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4. We went to a dairy yesterday. I had never seen so cows before. 5. It's also quite amazing how milk these cows produce every day. 6. You have too money. Won't you share it with me? 7. There are so poor people in the world. 8. There are too children in the house. 9. My father doesn't drink coffee. 10.How of you have ever been to London?
Foreign Student Series: Colleges and Degrees

In part five, we discuss how students can save money by attending a community college for their first two years of study. Transcript of radio broadcast: 08 October 2008
This is the VOA Special English Education Report. We answer questions from two students this week in part five of our Foreign Student Series on American higher education. Sylla Hamed in Ghana wants to know the difference between a university and a community college. And Marcelo Porto Nicola in Brazil asks about the difference between an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree.
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Undergraduates are students in the first four years of higher education, or what Americans call college. In the United States, that means the four years after twelfth grade.
But the work does not all have to be done at the same college. For example, a student may first attend a two-year school, also called a community college or junior college. Students who complete a two-year course of study earn an associate degree. Starting at a community college can save a lot of money if students want to go on to a four-year college or a big university. Many four-year schools will accept this work as the first two years toward a bachelor's degree. To earn a bachelor's degree, students usually take general subjects during their first two years. After that they take classes in their major area of study. Students who major in a scientific area receive a bachelor of science degree, known as a B.S. Students in the arts and humanities get a B.A. -- a bachelor of arts. Schools may also offer specialized degrees, like a bachelor of music. After students have a bachelor's degree, they may go on to earn a graduate degree -- either a master's degree or a doctorate. A master's degree generally takes two to three years of full-time study. A master of business administration, for example, takes about two years to complete. A doctorate can take much longer. It is the highest degree offered in graduate school. Some programs require six years of study or even longer after college.
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A student may earn a doctor of philosophy degree, known as a PhD, or a professional degree in an area like medicine, law or education. We will talk more about graduate programs later in our series. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series can be found online at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a general question, write to special@voanews.com or use the Contact Us link at voaspecialenglish.com. Please tell us your name and where you are. We might answer your question in our reports. I'm Steve Ember.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Do a research about the differences in degrees between Brazil and the USA. 6) Translate the words into Portuguese.
arm eye eyebrow belly leg
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breast thumb elbow fist finger foot (plural: feet) ankle buttocks hair neck hand wrist hip chin knee head lip mouth nose nostril upper arm thigh ear bottom, bum back underarm, forearm lower leg shoulder forehead waist calf (plural: calves)
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cheek eyelash, lash tooth (plural: teeth) toe tongue
Foreign Student Series: What SEVIS Means to You

In part 10, we discuss the government system for collecting information on foreign students and exchange visitors in the U.S. 12 November 2008 This is the VOA Special English Education Report. We are now ten weeks into our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. So far we have talked about planning for school and about subjects like online education and diploma mills. Last week the subject was getting a travel visa. Today we discuss something else that every foreign student needs to know about: SEVIS. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. More than nine thousand American colleges, universities and exchange visitor programs are required to use this electronic system. It links them with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in the Department of Homeland Security. The terrorist attacks in two thousand one led to the creation of the department. But SEVIS was being developed even before the attacks as a way to improve record keeping on foreign students in the United States. Some of the September eleventh hijackers entered the country on student visas.
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With SEVIS, a school enters information about a student. The system lets the school know when the student has arrived. The school must then provide reports on whether or not the student is attending classes. Students who violate the terms of their visa can be expelled from the country and may be denied future entry. Two examples of violations are failing to begin classes by the required date and working at a job without permission. Other violations are not attending classes full time and not leaving the country after completion of studies. SEVIS currently lists more than one million active, nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors and their dependents. Students and exchange visitors are charged fees to help pay for the system. The fee for students increased to two hundred dollars in September. This is the visa application charge we talked about last week. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the fee must be paid before going to an embassy or consulate for the visa interview. All the information you need to know about SEVIS can be found on the Internet at ice.gov. That's i-c-e dot g-o-v. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Next week: how to begin applying for admission to an American college or university. All of our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on the Foreign Student Series link at the bottom of the page. I'm Steve Ember.
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Exercise on Body Parts Face
Can you name the parts of the face?

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Jessica Tandy, 1909-1994: She Performed in More Than 100 Plays and Movies
The actress is best known for winning an Academy Award in 1989 for her part in the movie ''Driving Miss Daisy.'' Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 September 2008 VOICE ONE: I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO: And I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with the Special English program, People in America. Today, we tell the story of Jessica Tandy who died in nineteen ninety-four. She won many awards for her acting during the almost seventy years she performed. 184
(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Jessica Tandy probably is best known for winning an Academy Award in nineteen eighty-nine for the movie "Driving Miss Daisy. " She was the oldest person to have won the award. But for many years, she had received praise for her great performances.
Jessica Tandy in "Driving Miss Daisy" Tandy appeared in more than one hundred stage shows, twenty-five movies and on many television programs during her sixty-seven years of acting. Most of her performances were in the United States, although she did not become an American citizen until nineteen fiftyfour. VOICE TWO: Jessica Tandy was born in London, England in nineteen-oh-nine. Her father died when she was twelve years old. Her mother taught and took other jobs at night to make extra money for her three children. Jessica's older brothers showed an interest in the theater. They would put on shows in their London home. Jessica said later that she was terrible in all of them. But she said taking part in those plays as a child created a desire in her to be someone else. VOICE ONE: Jessica loved going to the theater. And she loved British writer William Shakespeare. Years later, she acted in many of Shakespeare's plays, with great actors like John Gielgud and Lawrence Olivier. This love of the theater led her to attend an acting school in nineteen twenty-four. When she was eighteen years old, she performed in her first play. It was called "The Manderson Girls." She did not earn enough money to pay for the five different dresses she had to wear in the play. She solved the problem by sewing them herself. (MUSIC)
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VOICE TWO: Jessica Tandy always thought she was plain-looking. So did most theater professionals. She said people in the theater knew she was a good actress, but did not believe she was pretty enough to be a success. She noted that they said: "She is plain but on the stage she looks all right. " Pictures of Jessica Tandy do not suggest that this is true. She just looked different from the leading women actors of the day. Later, she said that it was good that she was not considered pretty. She said she got more interesting parts that way. VOICE ONE: In nineteen thirty-two, critics in London recognized her great acting skill in her performance in the play "Children in Uniform." That part gave her what she said was one of the moments she loved most in the theater. She said at one performance, people watching were so moved they continued to sit quietly when the play ended. That same year, she married actor Jack Hawkins. They had a daughter, Susan. Tandy continued to work in the theater in London. By nineteen forty, her marriage was ending. So she took her daughter and moved to the United States to escape World War Two. In New York City, she met a young actor named Hume Cronyn. Two years later they married and moved to Hollywood. By nineteen forty-five, they had two children. VOICE TWO: In California, Hume Cronyn was getting good parts in movies. But Tandy was not. She got only small parts, when she got them at all. She said the producers in Hollywood did not take her seriously as an actress. She began to feel like a failure. Jessica Tandy was considering not acting anymore. But then her husband did something that changed her life. He gave her the lead part in a play he was directing in Los Angeles. It was "Portrait of a Madonna" by Tennessee Williams. She played a lonely woman. Critics praised her. Tennessee Williams came to Los Angeles from New York just to see her in the show. He said later that he knew he had found the actress to play the lead in his new play, "A Streetcar Named Desire. " That play opened in New York in nineteen forty-seven. Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter were the stars. It won a Pulitzer Prize and many other awards. Tandy won the first of her four Tony awards for best actress in a play. One director said that she was full of surprises. He said that she always did things better than expected. (MUSIC)
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Tandy and Cronyn in the play "The Fourposter" VOICE ONE: During the nineteen fifties, Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn began working together in theaters in New York City. Their first appearance together in a major Broadway theater was the hit play "The Fourposter. " Through the years, they appeared together in nine other plays on Broadway, including "A Delicate Balance," "The Gin Game" and "Foxfire. " Their last Broadway appearance together was in "The Petition" in nineteen eighty-six. Tandy also worked with her husband in local theaters across the United States. They liked doing it because they had a chance to play parts in the older well-known plays. In nineteen sixty-three, for example, Miss Tandy played Gertrude in Shakespeare's "Hamlet," Olga in Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters," and the wife of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman." She also acted in plays in the Shakespeare festivals in Stratford, Connecticut and in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. VOICE TWO: Jessica Tandy said she hated seeing herself in the movies. She said she never was as satisfied making movies as she was working in the theater. But she thought it was important to accept the acting jobs that were offered. It helped pay expenses when she performed in small theaters for less pay. Tandy played Hume Cronyn's wife in four movies during the nineteen eighties, including "Cocoon" and "Batteries not Included." In nineteen ninety-two, she played an old woman in the movie, "Fried Green Tomatoes. " But she never really thought of herself as a movie actress. Perhaps that was because of her experience earlier when she was not accepted in Hollywood. Even after her success in the play "A Streetcar Named Desire," Hollywood producers did not choose her to be in the movie. Vivien Leigh replaced her in the part of Blanche Dubois. Tandy said she was surprised when she won the Academy Award for "Driving Miss Daisy." She said then that the wonderful part she had made up for her lack of experience in movies. (MUSIC) 187
VOICE ONE: Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn were married for fifty-two years. During their years of acting together, they won almost every cultural award possible. In nineteen eighty-six, they won the Kennedy center lifetime achievement award. In nineteen ninety, President George Bush presented the National Medal of Art to them. A few months before she died, Tandy and Cronyn were honored with a special Tony Award for their work in the Broadway theater. Reporters always were asking them how they were able to work so closely together for so long. Tandy said they never discussed their work at home. She said they always honored each other's ideas if they did not agree about something.
Tandy and Cronyn together in the television movie "Foxfire" (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Jessica Tandy suffered from stage fright that became worse as she grew older. It made her feel sick before a performance. Yet her husband said she was at her best when she was working. She was in great demand as she grew older. Tandy took good parts and bad ones. She always said a person is richer for doing things. If you wait for the greatest part, you will wait a long time and your skills will decrease, she said. You cannot be an actor without acting. Tandy was an actor until the end. She had problems with her eyes and her heart. Yet they did not slow her down. In nineteen eighty-eight, she won an Emmy Award for a television movie of the play "Foxfire. " Three years later, Jessica Tandy had a cancer operation. But she continued working. She did not let her pain lessen the effectiveness of her performance. She appeared in more television movies in the years before her death. And she made several movies that were released after she died September eleventh, nineteen ninety-four. She was eighty-five.
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VOICE ONE: Jessica Tandy said as an actor her job was getting the best out of what the writer expressed in the play or movie. The critics said she did. They said she always was able to show deep meaning in the people she played. One critic wrote that she was such a good actor that only poets, not critics, should be permitted to write about her. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This Special English program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt. VOICE ONE: And I'm Shirley Griffith. Listen again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Now lets remember the time. Just read it!
What's the Time in English?
Explanation There are two common ways of telling the time.
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Formal but easier way Say the hours first and then the minutes. Example: 7:45 - seven forty-five For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the '0' as oh. Example: 11:06 - eleven (oh) six More popular way Say the minutes first and then the hours. Use past and the preceding hour for minutes 01 through 30. Use to and the forthcoming hour for minutes 31 through 59, but . Example: 7.15 - fifteen minutes past seven Example: 7.45 - fifteen minutes to eight Another possibility of saying '15 minutes past' is: a quarter past Another possibility of saying '15 minutes to' is: a quarter to Another possibility of saying '30 minutes past' is: half past Example: 5:30 - half past five
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Watch
Note Use o'clock only at the full hour. Example: 7:00 - seven o'clock (but 7:10 - ten past seven) In English ordinary speech, the twelve-hour clock is used. Beispiel: 17:20 - twenty past five For times around midnight or midday you can use the expressions midnight or midday / noon instead of the number 12. Beispiel: 00:00 - midnight Beispiel: 12:00 - midday or noon To make clear (where necessary) whether you mean a time before 12 o'clock noon or after, you can use in the morning,
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in the afternoon, in the evening, at night. Use in the morning before 12 o'clock noon, after 12 o'clock noon use in the afternoon. When to change from afternoon to evening, from evening to night and from night to morning depends on your sense of time. Example: 3:15 - a quarter past three in the morning OR a quarter past three at night More formal expressions to indicate whether a time is before noon or after are a.m. (also: am - ante meridiem, before noon) and p.m. (also: pm - post meridiem, after noon). Use these expression only with the formal way of telling the time. Example: 3:15 - three fifteen a.m. It is not usual to use a.m. and p.m. with past/to. Example: 3:15 - fifteen minutes past three OR a quarter past three American English Beside past Americans often use after. Example: 06:10 - ten past/after six But: in time expressions with half past it is not usual to replace past by after. Beside to Americans often use before, of or till. Example: 05:50 - ten to/before/of/till six
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Paul Newman, 1925-2008: Actor, Activist and Racecar Driver

His acting skills and blue eyes captured the attention of generations of movie lovers. Transcript of radio broadcast: 11 October 2008 VOICE ONE: I'm Bob Doughty. VOICE TWO: And I'm Shirley Griffith with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the award-winning actor Paul Newman. He was known for his striking good looks and clear blue eyes. Newman starred in over sixty-five movies during his more than fiftyyear career. Some of his most famous roles were in the movies "The Hustler", "Hud", "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Verdict." Paul Newman was also a social activist, racecar driver and businessman. (MUSIC) COOL HAND LUKE: "I know I'm a pretty evil fellow. Killed people in the war and I got drunk and chewed up municipal property and the like. I know I got no call to ask for much, but even so you gotta admit, you ain't dealt me no cards in a long time. It's beginning to look like you got things fixed so I can't never win out. Inside, outside all them rules and regulations and bosses. You made me like I am! And just where am I supposed to fit in?" VOICE ONE: That was a scene from the nineteen sixty-seven movie "Cool Hand Luke." In this movie set in a jail, Paul Newman plays the role of Luke Jackson, a smart but rebellious prisoner who gets in trouble for doing things his own way. 193
VOICE TWO: The movie gives a good example of Paul Newman's intelligent style of acting. He was known for playing characters who were imperfect but very likeable. He expressed an emotional complexity and thoughtfulness in his characters that seemed effortless. VOICE ONE: Paul Leonard Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in nineteen twenty-five. His father, Arthur Newman, ran a successful sporting goods store. His mother, Theresa Newman, loved the theater. She influenced her son Paul to act in school plays. During World War Two, Newman served as an airplane radio operator. He later studied at Kenyon College in Ohio. There, he played football and continued performing in plays. VOICE TWO: Arthur Newman did not think that acting was a sensible kind of job. But, he agreed to support his son for a year while Paul performed with small theater companies. In nineteen fifty, Paul Newman returned to Cleveland with his new wife, Jacqueline, to manage the family store after his father's death. But the couple soon left Cleveland so that Paul Newman could study theater at Yale University in Connecticut. VOICE ONE: A few years later, Paul Newman received a role in the Broadway play "Picnic." The play ran for fourteen months. It was while working on this play that he met the actress Joanne Woodward. During this period, Paul Newman also found roles on television shows. He studied at the Actors Studio in New York with actors who would also become famous, including James Dean and Marlon Brando. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Paul Newman's first movie, "The Silver Chalice," came out in nineteen fifty-four. He later said that it was the worst movie ever made. Critics agreed. But his nineteen fifty-six movie, "Somebody Up There Likes Me," was a success that brought him increased public attention. Newman made many movies during the late nineteen fifties. These include "The Rack", "The Left-Handed Gun" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", which starred Elizabeth Taylor. VOICE ONE:
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Paul Newman married Joanne Woodward in nineteen fifty-eight after divorcing his first wife the year before. They made ten movies together. The first was "The Long, Hot Summer." The movie is based on stories by the American writer William Faulkner. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward on their wedding day Newman plays a strong, good-looking, young man named Ben Quick. He arrives in a small town in Mississippi after being kicked out of another town because he is accused of burning a barn. He gets a job with Will Varner, who owns just about everything in the town. Varner likes Quick so much that he arranges for him to marry his daughter, Clara, a schoolteacher. But Clara, played by Joanne Woodward, has other ideas. CLARA: " I gave up on him when I was nine years old and I gave up on you the first time I ever looked in those cold, blue eyes." BEN: "You got the color right." CLARA: "I've got everything right, Mister Quick." BEN: "Well, I can see you don't like me, but you're gonna have me. It's gonna be you and me." CLARA: "Not the longest day I live." BEN: "Yes, sir. They're gonna say, 'There goes that poor old Clara Varner, whose father married her off to a dirt-scratching, shiftless, no-good farmer who just happened by.' Well, let 'em talk. I'll tell you one thing, you're gonna wake up in the morning smiling." VOICE TWO: Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward decided not to live in Hollywood, California like most other film stars. They lived a very private life in Westport, Connecticut. They would remain married for fifty years. They raised three daughters. Newman had three other children with his first wife. Paul Newman continued making successful movies. "The Hustler" came out in nineteen sixty-one. EDDIE:" How should I play that one, Bert? Play it safe? That's the way you always told me to play it, safe, play the percentage. Well, here we go, fast and loose. One ball, corner pocket. Yeah, percentage players die broke too, don't they, Bert?"
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In this movie, Newman plays a pool player named Fast Eddie Felson who competes for money against the expert player Minnesota Fats. EDDIE: "I'm mean, it's not enough that you just have talent, you gotta have character too. Four ball." VOICE ONE: Two years later, he played the title role in "Hud." The movie is about a man who lives and works on his father's cattle farm. Newman said people were supposed to hate his character, Hud. But instead he said he created a folk hero. Paul Newman starred with Robert Redford in two very popular movies, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting." He directed his wife, Joanne Woodward, in several movies that were praised by critics. These include "Rachel, Rachel" which came out in nineteen sixty-eight and "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" four years later. VOICE TWO: Over his career, Newman was nominated for ten Academy Awards. He won for his performance in the nineteen eighty-six film, "The Color of Money". This movie continues the story of Fast Eddie that began with "The Hustler." In nineteen eighty-two, Newman starred in "The Verdict". FRANK GALVIN: "You know, so much of the time we're just lost" The movie is about an alcoholic lawyer named Frank Galvin who finds a chance to make up for his failing career in a medical case. Newman's performance during his character's closing argument to the jury is very powerful. FRANK GALVIN: "But today you are the law. You are the law, not some book, not the lawyers, not a marble statue, or the trappings of the court. See, those are just symbols of our desire to be just." (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Paul Newman was not only a movie star. He was a political activist who fought for liberal causes. In nineteen sixty-eight, he campaigned for the Democratic Party presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy. Newman protested the Vietnam War in front of the American Embassy in London. He expressed great pride that he was named on President Richard Nixon's list of enemies. VOICE TWO: 196
Paul Newman also worked on social issues important to him. In nineteen seventy-eight, his twenty-eight year old son Scott died of an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol. In response, Paul Newman created the Scott Newman Center to help educate children and families on preventing drug abuse. VOICE ONE: In the nineteen eighties, Newman decided to start selling a salad dressing he had created and given to many friends as gifts. The "Newman's Own" company he started with his friend A. E. Hotchner became a huge success selling different food products. Over the years, more than two hundred fifty million dollars in company profits have been donated to social causes and organizations. VOICE TWO: One of these is the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, started by Paul Newman in nineteen eighty-eight. Its aim is to provide a free summer camp experience to children with cancer and other serious diseases. There are now camps in the United States and several other countries. Newman said that he started the organization as a way to honor the role that luck has played in his life. He said that the camps are a way to help children who are unfairly affected by luck's cruelty. VOICE ONE: Paul Newman discovered his love of racing cars while making the nineteen sixty-nine movie "Winning." He even began racing professionally. In nineteen ninety-five, at the age of seventy, Newman competed and won at the Daytona races in Florida. The Guinness Book of World Records listed him as the oldest winner in his race class. VOICE TWO: In the nineteen nineties he continued to act in movies, including "Mister And Missus Bridge", "Message in a Bottle" and "Nobody's Fool." And, in two thousand two he returned to Broadway one last time to perform in "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder. Paul Newman died in two thousand eight of cancer. He was eighty-three years old. He was a true star both as an actor and a human being. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Bob Doughty. VOICE TWO:
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And I'm Shirley Griffith. You can learn more about famous Americans on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Describe Paul Newman. 6) Do the test.
Write the past forms of the irregular verbs.
1. leave 2. sell 3. bring 4. shut 5. spend
Complete the table in simple past.

positiv They shared a room. negativ Marc did not cook. Was Betty thirsty? Louis did not throw the ball. Did Henry build houses? Frage
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Put the sentences into simple past.

1. We move house. 2. They catch the ball. 3. He crosses the street. 4. They do not sell furniture. 5. Does she practise her English?
Write sentences in simple past.

1. Janet / the bus / miss 2. she / her room / tidy 3. not / Rupert / the number / dial 4. she / a friend / phone 5. not / Andy / the ball / pass
Was or Were?
1. The book 2. You 3. He 5. The cars on the table. very clever. in trouble. the first US president. new.
4. George Washington
Ask for the bold part of the sentence.

1. My friends swam in the lake. 2. He paid the bill. 3. The teacher pointed to the board. 4. They felt good. 5. He hurt his leg because he was not careful. Before submitting the test, check the following:

Got the spelling right? Put in the full stop or question mark where required? Used the correct key to type the apostrophe (Shift and #)?
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In the test we cannot give you a second try. Such careless mistakes would therefore cost you valuable points.
The Making of One of Jazz's Most Influential Recordings

17 November 2008 Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Shirley Griffith. If one album had to explain jazz, a strong candidate would be "Kind of Blue" by the trumpet player and bandleader Miles Davis. This week on our program, Steve Ember and Gwen Outen tell the story of "Kind of Blue." (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: "Kind of Blue" has influenced musicians for more than forty years. It is also a favorite of listeners. The Recording Industry Association of America marked the sale of three million copies in the United States as of two thousand two. (MUSIC) Like many other albums, "Kind of Blue" was made in two recording sessions. These took place for Columbia Records in New York City in March and April of nineteen fifty-nine. VOICE TWO: Stories about the making of "Kind of Blue" say there was nothing unusual about the project. When the musicians arrived, Miles Davis gave them some short, simple descriptions of the music they would play. He is said to have written these notes just a few hours earlier. His piano player, Bill Evans, helped him write some of the music that would get the musicians started.
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Miles Davis did not want to tell them too much about what to play. He wanted the music to flow naturally. Such improvisation was nothing new for musicians. Yet the five songs on "Kind of Blue" represented a perfect mix of improvisational talent and musical experimentation. The first song is called "So What." (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Miles Davis played trumpet and led the group. Julian "Cannonball" Adderley played alto saxophone; John Coltrane played tenor saxophone. Paul Chambers was on the bass, and James Cobb played drums. (MUSIC) Miles Davis had a talent for bringing together great musicians. But it also meant that he had to form new bands again and again. Band members would become successful enough as individuals to form their own groups. The band that Miles Davis put together for "Kind of Blue" was no different. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: This song is called "Freddie Freeloader." On this song, Wynton Kelly plays the piano; he replaced Bill Evans. Listen to how the band works as a team, but also how the musicians play individually over the music. Listen especially to the competing saxophones of John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Miles Davis and his band were experimenting with a new kind of sound on "Kind of Blue." This is the sound of a traditional jazz chord progression: (MUSIC) But Miles Davis designed the music on "Kind of Blue" around a modal form. This kind of system permitted the musicians more freedom. After "Kind of Blue," jazz musicians used the modal form more and more.
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Here is another song from "Kind of Blue." This one is called "Blue in Green." (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Miles Davis and his band were not the only artists testing new ways to do things. There was, for example, the painter Jackson Pollack. His experiments in form and color were playful but went against tradition, just like "Kind of Blue." Pianist Bill Evans himself saw similarities between the music and a form of Japanese art. Some compared the album to the ideas of Zen Buddhism. At that time, a lot of Americans were becoming interested in Asian spirituality. This song is called "All Blues." Listen how naturally the music appears to develop from one point in the song to the next. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Miles Davis was born into a wealthy family in Illinois in nineteen twenty-six. He received a trumpet for his thirteenth birthday and began jazz lessons. In nineteen forty-four, he moved to New York. He entered the Julliard School of Music. But he left the school the next year to work with great musicians like Billy Eckstine and Charlie Parker. In nineteen forty-nine Miles Davis released "Birth of the Cool." This recording also had a big influence on jazz. At that time, listeners were used to the often forceful, fast-moving beats of Louis Armstrong and others. Cool jazz became especially popular on the West Coast. VOICE TWO: In the nineteen fifties and sixties, the civil rights movement grew in the Untied States. Here was a tall, talented, good looking -- and very strong-willed -- African American man. He wore Italian suits and drove European cars. There were many women in his life, although he was violent with women. Still, many people saw Miles Davis as someone who stood up to a system that often kept African Americans from economic success. VOICE ONE:
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Miles Davis died in nineteen ninety-one in California, at the age of sixty-five. He is remembered most as one of the best trumpet players ever. Miles Davis played more softly than many of those who came before him. He also did not work as hard to hit as many high notes or low notes. He found his unmistakable sound somewhere in the middle. There was also his sense of timing and the use of silence in his music. Miles Davis had a talent especially for sad love songs. This one is called "Flamenco Sketches," the final song on "Kind of Blue." ANNOUNCER: Our program was written by Robert Brumfield and read by Steve Ember and Gwen Outen. Internet users can download MP3 files and transcripts of our shows at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shirley Griffith, hoping you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Exercise: Summarize the text into one paragraph.
Mouth Expressions: The Experience Left a Bad Taste in My Mouth

English expressions using the word mouth. Transcript of radio broadcast: 22 November 2008 Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories. (MUSIC) People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word mouth. But some of them are not so nice. For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say
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Do not bad mouth me. Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because hurts that persons feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell. The speaker might say: I really put my foot in my mouth this time. If this should happen, the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the wrong thing. Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other person might protest: I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth. Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between people, like friends talking to each other. How did you hear about that new movie? someone might ask. Oh, by word of mouth. A more official way of getting information is through a company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government-run media could also be called a mouthpiece. Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to say. When this happens, the friend might say: You took the words right out of my mouth! Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say that experience left a bad taste in my mouth. Or the person might have had a very frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say: I had my heart in my mouth. Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an expression for this, too. You might say such a person, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food. Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off. But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough. (MUSIC) WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. Im Faith Lapidus.

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2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Do the test.
Write the participle form of the following verbs.
1. go 2. sing 3. be 4. buy 5. do
Complete the table in present perfect simple.

positive He has written a letter. negative They have not stopped. Have we danced? She has worked. Andy has not slept. question
Write sentences in present perfect simple.

1. they / ask / a question 2. he / speak / English 3. I / be / in my room 4. we / not / wash / the car 5. Annie / not / forget / her homework -
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Write questions in present perfect simple.

1. they / finish / their homework 2. Sue / kiss / Ben 3. the waiter / bring / the tea 4. Marilyn / pay / the bill 5. you / ever / write / a poem -
Ask for the information in the bold part of the sentence.

1. They have talked about art at school. 2. Jane has got a letter. 3. Oliver has cooked dinner. 4. Caron has read seven pages. 5. You have heard the song 100 times. Before submitting the test, check the following:

Dog Talk: Every Dog Has His Day
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A look at dog-related expressions. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 December 2008 Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories. Americans use many expressions with the word dog. People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well. They take their dogs for walks, let them play outside and give them good food and medical care. However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of life. The expression, to lead a dog's life, describes a person who has an unhappy existence. Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard. Such hard work can make people dog-tired. And, the situation would be even worse if they became sick as a dog. Still, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things. Some people are compared to dogs in bad ways. People who are unkind or uncaring can be described as meaner than a junkyard dog. Junkyard dogs live in places where people throw away things they do not want. Mean dogs are often used to guard this property. They bark or attack people who try to enter the property. However, sometimes a person who appears to be mean and threatening is really not so bad. We say his bark is worse than his bite. A junkyard is not a fun place for a dog. Many dogs in the United States sleep in safe little houses near their owners' home. These doghouses provide shelter. Yet they can be cold and lonely in the winter. Husbands and wives use this doghouse term when they are angry at each other. For example, a woman might get angry at her husband for coming home late or forgetting their wedding anniversary. She might tell him that he is in the doghouse. She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes. However, the husband may decide that it is best to leave things alone and not create more problems. He might decide to let sleeping dogs lie. Dog expressions also are used to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs. (MUSIC)
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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Do the test.
Write the past participle (3rd form) of the following irregular verbs.
1. speak 2. catch 3. eat 4. understand 5. begin -
Complete the sentences in Past Perfect Simple (positive).

1. I lost the key that he (give) 2. She told me that she (see) 3. I went downstairs because I (hear) 4. When they came home, Sue (cook) to me. a ghost. a noise. dinner already. our address
5. We could not send you a postcard because we (forget) book.
Complete the sentences in Past Perfect Simple (negative).

1. The waiter served something that we (not / order) .
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2. He went to Alaska where he (not / be) 3. She put on the red dress, which she (not / wear) 4. He (not / play) tennis before that day. 5. His mother was angry because he (not / help)
before. for ages. her with the shopping.
Complete the questions in Past Perfect Simple.

1. (you / finish) 2. (why / you / clean) 3. (you / have) 4. (she / find) 5. (where / she / live) your homework before you went to the cinema? the bathroom before you bathed the dog? breakfast before you came here? a place to stay when she went to Boston? before she moved to Chicago?
Before submitting the test, check the following:

Health: Keeping Ears Clean

Advice from experts about what to do -- and not to do -- to remove wax. Transcript of radio broadcast: 18 November 2008 This is the VOA Special English Health Report. 209
Some people's ears produce wax like busy little bees. This can be a problem even though earwax appears to serve an important purpose. Experts say it protects and cleans the ear. It traps dirt and other matter and keeps insects out. Doctors think it might also help protect against infections. And the waxy oil keeps ears from getting too dry. So earwax is good. It even has a medical name: cerumen. And there are two kinds. Most people of European or African ancestry have the "wet" kind: thick and sticky. East Asians commonly have "dry" earwax. But you can have too much of a good thing. The glands in the ear canal that produce the wax make too much in some people. Earwax is normally expelled; it falls out of the ear or gets washed away. But extra wax can harden and form a blockage that interferes with sound waves and reduces hearing. People can also cause a blockage when they try to clean out their ears -- but only push the wax deeper inside. Earwax removal is sometimes necessary. But you have to use a safe method or you could do a lot of damage. Experts at N.I.H., the National Institutes of Health, suggest some ways to treat excessive earwax yourself. They say the wax can be softened with mineral oil, glycerin or ear drops. They say hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide may also help. Another way to remove wax is known as irrigation. With the head upright, take hold of the outer part of the ear. Gently pull upward to straighten the ear canal. Use a syringe device to gently direct water against the wall of the ear canal. Then turn the head to the side to let the water out. The experts at N.I.H. say you may have to repeat this process a few times. Use water that is body temperature. If the water is cooler or warmer, it could make you feel dizzy. Never try irrigation if the eardrum is broken. It could lead to infection and other problems. After the earwax is gone, gently dry the ear. But if irrigation fails, the best thing to do is to go to a health care provider for professional assistance.
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You should never put a cotton swab or other object into the ear canal. But you can use a swab or cloth to clean the outer part of the ear. The experts agree with the old saying that you should never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear. And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For more health news, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Is it important to keep the ears clean? Why? 6) Do the test.
Bewley's Oriental Cafs Fill the gaps with the correct tenses.
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Bewley's (be) an old Irish tea house chain. 2. The history of the famous Bewley's Oriental Cafs (begin) in 1835 when Charles Bewley (import) over 2000 chests of tea directly from the Chinese province of Canton to Dublin. 3. It (not / look) like a great deal today, but back then it (be) a coup: no man before (dare) to import tea directly into Ireland. 4. Bewley's initiative (put) an end to the East India Trading Company's tea monopoly which before 1835 (force) the Irish to import their tea from London. 5. Samuel Bewley's son Joshua also (become) a tea merchant. 6. Like his father, he (import) tea into Ireland. 7. The Irish (like) the idea of not having to import old tea from London. 8. A tea expert (notice) that even the poorest Irish people (buy) only the finest tea. 9. By the end of the 19th century a tea culture (develop) in Ireland. 10. In 1894, Joshua's son Ernest Bewley (want) to stimulate the market for a product that (be) rather unknown that far: coffee. 11. In the back of his shop in Dublin's George's Street, he (begin) to run coffee making demonstrations. 12. His wife (bake) scones to go with the coffee, and the couple soon (find out) that their idea (be) extremely popular among customers.
1. 212
13. That
(mark) the beginning of the first Bewley's Oriental Caf. 14. In Dublin's Grafton Street, Ernest Bewley (open) another Bewley's Oriental Caf in 1927, on which he (spend) nearly 60,000 Pound. 15. Still now the interior furnishings and wonderful stain glass (provide) a very special oriental flair. 16. During World War II, Bewley's (must restrict) the supply of tea to an ounce per head, and many customers (switch) to coffee. 17. Today, Bewley's (be) Ireland's leading supplier of quality coffees and teas. 18. It (create) a catering service for larger customers such as Trinity College and it (open) cafs in book stores and Dublin Airport. 19. Bewley's Clipper Gold Tea and Espresso Prima (win) Gold Awards in the London Great Taste Awards.
Young American Voters Could Decide This Years Presidential Election

A question from Iran about the actor Paul Newman. And music by the singer-songwriter Conor Oberst. Transcript of radio broadcast: 09 October 2008 HOST: 213
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. This week: We tell about the growing importance of young voters in the presidential election next month ... Listen to new music from Conor Oberst ...
A Rock the Vote worker helping to register a young voter And answer a question about the actor, race car driver and humanitarian Paul Newman who died two weeks ago. (MUSIC) Youth Vote HOST: Political experts are predicting a record number of voters in the American presidential election next month between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Many believe this increase is partly because of the number of young people who will be voting. Both candidates have made big efforts to reach out to the more than forty million Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty. Barbara Klein has more. BARBARA KLEIN: In the past, many young Americans did not think it was important to vote in elections. Experts say candidates and their political parties ignored young voters. But young people are becoming more politically active.
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For example, in the election of two thousand four, twenty million young people voted. This was an increase of two million voters from the election of two thousand. Political expert Larry Sabato predicts high numbers of young voters next month. LARRY SABATO:"They are going to equal their percentage of the population and I think that is remarkable. They had been well below their percentage of the population at least since that early period when young people got the vote in the early nineteen seventies." Across the United States, students at colleges and universities are helping their classmates complete the documents necessary to vote. Jessica White is a twenty-one year old student at the University of Virginia who is helping students register to vote. JESSICA WHITE: "I have seen a lot of enthusiasm in a lot of the first-years coming in for orientation sessions here at school, and they seem really excited." Stephanie Young works for the organization Rock the Vote. She says this year's election is based on issues that are very important to young people. Miz Young says these include the economy, the war in Iraq and health care. She says young people are unhappy with the direction the country has been going. And she says many young people agree with Senator Barack Obama's call for change on these issues. A recent study by the Harvard University Institute of Politics shows that fifty-five percent of young voters support Senator Obama. Thirty-two percent support Senator McCain. Mister Obama's campaign has been built around paying attention to these young voters. Organizations like Rock the Vote and Declare Yourself are using technology to get young people interested in the political process and to help them register to vote. They use Web sites like Facebook and MySpace to connect with large numbers of young people. People from these organizations also travel to schools and colleges to meet with young people. The candidates also are using these Web sites to stay connected to the young voters who may decide the election on November fourth. (MUSIC) Paul Newman HOST:
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This week's listener question comes from Iran. Mohamed Firouzi wants to know about the actor Paul Newman, who died last month.
Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' Paul Newman was one of the most famous, well respected and good- looking actors in American movies. He often played rebellious characters who were very likeable and real. During his more than fifty-year career he made over sixty-five movies. Some of his most famous roles were in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "Cool Hand Luke" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." "The Hustler" came out in nineteen sixty-one. Paul Newman plays the role of Fast Eddie Felson who plays the game of pool against other players to gain money. Eddie: "How should I play that one, Bert? Play it safe? That's the way you always told me to play it, safe, play the percentage. Well, here we go, fast and loose. One ball, corner pocket. Yeah, percentage players die broke too, don't they, Bert?" Paul Leonard Newman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in nineteen twenty-five. During high school and college, he enjoyed acting in plays. After serving in World War Two, Newman continued acting in small professional theater companies. He also studied theater at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Paul Newman acted in television plays and on Broadway in New York City before finding work in the movies. His first movie, "The Silver Chalice" was not successful. But Paul Newman made up for a bad start with a series of great movies that have become favorites around the world.
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Paul Newman met his second wife, Joanne Woodward, while he was acting in New York City. They married in nineteen fifty-eight and appeared in several movies together. Newman also directed several movies starring his wife, including "Rachel, Rachel" and "The Glass Menagerie."
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward on their wedding day During his career he received ten Academy Award nominations. He won for his performance in the nineteen eighty-six movie "The Color of Money." This movie continues the story of Fast Eddie Felson from "The Hustler." Paul Newman was not only a great actor. He was also a skilled racecar driver. And he was a political activist who fought for liberal causes. But what Paul Newman would probably most like to be remembered for was his social activism. The "Newman's Own" food company has donated more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars in profits to humanitarian causes. He helped create the Hole in the Wall Gang Camps in the United States and several other countries. This organization provides free summer camp experiences for children with serious sicknesses like cancer. Paul Newman died on September twenty-sixth of cancer. He was eighty-three. He was a star both in the movies and in real life. You can learn more about Paul Newman on the Special English program People in America on Sunday. (MUSIC) Conor Oberst
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HOST:
Conor Oberst Conor Oberst has been making music since he was thirteen years old. The twenty-eight year old musician from Omaha, Nebraska is best known for his band, Bright Eyes. Conor Oberst released his latest album under his own name. His aim was to create simplified songs with only a few musicians. These songs tell about love, death and traveling. Bob Doughty has more. (MUSIC) BOB DOUGHTY: That was the song "Moab" from the album "Conor Oberst." It expresses the ways in which travel can be healing. Oberst and his Mystic Valley band would know. They recorded this album in Mexico. Oberst said he did not feel like being in a studio while making this new album. He wanted to be somewhere warm, beautiful and far away. Here is the song " I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)." It may sound like a sad song. But Oberst says it is a "jailbreak song." Oberst's seventy-five year old friend told him that he was not afraid of dying, but did not want to die in the restricted space of a hospital. The friend wanted to be outside under the stars instead. He told Oberst to help him escape if he ever became stuck in a hospital. (MUSIC) Critics have praised Conor Oberst as a musician and songwriter. He is often compared to the great musician Bob Dylan. And, Rolling Stone magazine named Oberst one of the best songwriters of this year. This fall Oberst and his band will travel in Australia and the United States performing their music. We leave you with the poetic song "Cape Canaveral." (MUSIC) HOST:
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I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written and produced by Dana Demange. To read and listen to our programs online, go to voaspecialenglish.com. Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English. CORRECTION: In the story about Paul Newman, the text should have read: "The 'Newman's Own' food company has donated more than two hundred fifty million dollars in profits to humanitarian causes."
Positive Sentences
Put the verbs into present progressive.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
The dog (to attack) the cat. I (to draw) a picture. My mother (to wave) at me. They (to choose) a cheap airline. Listen! Tom (to make) a phone call.
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Rewrite the sentences using the short forms (where long forms are given) or the long forms (where short forms are given). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. He is eating. I am driving. We are not riding. You're telling great jokes. She's not hurrying. -
Rewrite the sentences using the negative forms. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. She's selling fruit. We are travelling in an old van. I'm getting ready for school. The thieves are robbing the bank. My father is smoking a cigarette. -
Questions with Question Words Ask for the information given in bold print. 1. Matthew is making a mistake. 2. Linda is knocking at the door. 3. They are flying to Rome. 4. I'm making the new tree house at the moment. 5. She is driving the Porsche carefully. Signals 1. Which of the following words can be a signal word for an arranged action taking place in the near future. every Monday next Monday last Monday
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2. Which of the following words is a signal word for an action taking place in the moment of speaking? now next week often 3. Which of the following words is not a signal word for an action taking place in the moment of speaking? at the moment Listen! never 4. Which of the following words cannot be a signal word for an arranged action taking place in the near future? tomorrow last night this evening 5. Which of the following words is a signal word for an action taking place in the moment of speaking? Look! two days ago every Friday
Out of a World of Darkness and Silence, Helen Keller Brought Hope to Millions
Helen Keller proved people could overcome disabilities. Transcript of radio broadcast: 08 October 2006 VOICE ONE: I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE TWO:
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And I'm Ray Freeman. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. This week we tell about Helen Keller. She was blind and deaf but she became a famous writer and teacher. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The name Helen Keller has had special meaning for millions of people in all parts of the world. She could not see or hear. Yet Helen Keller was able to do so much with her days and years. Her success gave others hope. Helen Keller was born June twenty-seventh, eighteen eighty in a small town in northern Alabama. Her father, Arthur Keller, was a captain in the army of the South during the American Civil War. Her mother was his second wife. She was much younger than her husband. Helen was their first child.
Helen Keller
Until she was a year-and-one-half old, Helen Keller was just like any other child. She was very active. She began walking and talking early. Then, nineteen months after she was born, Helen became very sick. It was a strange sickness that made her completely blind and deaf. The doctor could not do anything for her. Her bright, happy world now was filled with silence and darkness. VOICE TWO: From that time until she was almost seven years old, Helen could communicate only by making signs with her hands. But she learned how to be active in her silent, dark environment. The young child had strong desires. She knew what she wanted to do. No one could stop her from doing it. More and more, she wanted to communicate with others. Making simple signs with her hands was not enough. Something was ready to explode inside of her because she could not make people understand her. She screamed and struggled when her mother tried to control her. VOICE ONE: When Helen was six, her father learned about a doctor in Baltimore, Maryland. The doctor had successfully treated people who were blind. Helen's parents took her on the train to Baltimore. But the doctor said he could do nothing to help Helen. He suggested the Kellers get a teacher for the blind who could teach Helen to communicate. A teacher arrived from the Perkins Institution for the Blind in Boston. Her name was Anne Sullivan. She herself had once been almost completely blind. But she had regained her sight. At Perkins, she had learned the newest methods of teaching the blind. VOICE TWO: 222
Anne Sullivan began by teaching Helen that everything had a name. The secret to the names was the letters that formed them. The job was long and difficult. Helen had to learn how to use her hands and fingers to speak for her. But she was not yet ready to learn. First, she had to be taught how to obey, and how to control her anger. Miss Sullivan was quick to understand this. She wrote to friends in Boston about her experiences teaching Helen. (MUSIC) VOICE THREE: The first night I arrived I gave Helen a doll. As she felt the doll with one hand I slowly formed the letters, d-o-l-l with my fingers in her other hand. Helen looked in wonder and surprise as she felt my hand. Then she formed the letters in my hand just as I had done in hers. She was quick to learn, but she was also quick in anger. For seven years, no one had taught her self-control. Instead of continuing to learn, she picked up the doll and threw it on the floor. She was this way in almost everything she did. Even at the table, while eating, she did exactly as she pleased. She even put her hands in our plates and ate our food. The second morning, I would not let her put her hand on my plate. The family became troubled and left the room. I closed the door and continued to eat. Helen was on the floor, kicking and screaming and trying to pull the chair out from under me. This continued for half an hour or so. Then she got up from the floor and came to find out what I was doing. Suddenly she hit me. Every time she did this I hit her hand. After a few minutes of this, she went to her place at the table and began to eat with her fingers. I gave her a spoon to eat with. She threw it on the floor. I forced her to get out of her chair to pick the spoon up. At last, after two hours, she sat down and ate like other people. I had to teach her to obey. But it was painful to her family to see their deaf and blind child punished. So I asked them to let me move with Helen into a small one-room house nearby. The first day Helen was away from her family she kicked and screamed most of the time. That night I could not make her get into bed. We struggled, but I held her down on the bed. Luckily, I was stronger than she. The next morning I expected more of the same, but to my surprise she was calm, even peaceful. Two weeks later, she had become a gentle child. She was ready to learn. My job now was pleasant. Helen learned quickly. Now I could lead and shape her intelligence. We spent all day together. I formed words in her hand, the names of everything we touched. But she had no idea what the words meant. As time passed, she learned how to sew clothes and make things. Every day we visited the farm animals and searched for eggs in the chicken houses. All the time, I was busy forming letters and words in her hand with my fingers. Then one day, about a month after I arrived, we were walking outside. Something important happened.
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We heard someone pumping water. I put Helen's hand under the cool water and formed the word w-a-t-e-r in her other hand. W-a-t-e-r, w-a-t-e-r. I formed the word again and again in her hand. Helen looked straight up at the sky as if a lost memory or thought of some kind was coming back to her. Suddenly, the whole mystery of language seemed clear to her. I could see that the word wa-t-e-r meant something wonderful and cool that flowed over her hand. The word became alive for her. It awakened her spirit, gave it light and hope. She ran toward the house. I ran after her. One by one she touched things and asked their name. I told her. She went on asking for names and more names. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: From that time on Helen left the house each day, searching for things to learn. Each new name brought new thoughts. Everything she touched seemed alive. One day, Helen remembered a doll she had broken. She searched everywhere for the pieces. She tried to put the pieces together but could not. She understood what she had done and was not happy. Miss Sullivan taught Helen many things -- to read and write, and even to use a typewriter. But most important, she taught Helen how to think. VOICE TWO: For the next three years, Helen learned more and more new words. All day Miss Sullivan kept touching Helen's hand, spelling words that gave Helen a language. In time, Helen showed she could learn foreign languages. She learned Latin, Greek, French and German. Helen was able to learn many things, not just languages. She was never willing to leave a problem unfinished, even difficult problems in mathematics. One time, Miss Sullivan suggested leaving a problem to solve until the next day. But Helen wanted to keep trying. She said, "I think it will make my mind stronger to do it now. VOICE ONE: Helen traveled a lot with her family or alone with Miss Sullivan. In eighteen eighty-eight, Helen, her mother and Miss Sullivan went to Boston, Massachusetts. They visited the Perkins Institution where Miss Sullivan had learned to teach. They stayed for most of the summer at the home of family friends near the Atlantic Ocean. In Helen's first experience with the ocean, she was caught by a wave and pulled under the water. Miss Sullivan rescued her. When Helen recovered, she demanded, "Who put salt in the water? " VOICE TWO:
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Three years after Helen started to communicate with her hands, she began to learn to speak as other people did. She never forgot these days. Later in life, she wrote: "No deaf child can ever forget the excitement of his first word. Only one who is deaf can understand the loving way I talked to my dolls, to the stones, to birds and animals. Only the deaf can understand how I felt when my dog obeyed my spoken command. " Those first days when Helen Keller developed the ability to talk were wonderful. But they proved to be just the beginning of her many successes. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: You have been listening to the first part of the story of Helen Keller. It was written by Katherine Clarke. Your narrators were Sarah Long, Ray Freeman and Shirley Griffith. Listen again next week at this time to People in America, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
Write the ing-form of the following verbs.
1. cry 2. prepare 3. lie 4. win 5. dial
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Choose the correct form: have or has and since or for.

1. Emma 2. My friends 3. I 5. Carol 4. Ross and Gavin been learning English been living here been waiting for Danny been exercising in the gym five years. 2003. 20 minutes. six weeks. 2 o'clock.
been travelling around Australia
Write sentences in present perfect progressive.

1. Kevin / read 2. you / TV / watch / all day 3. Paul / to the radio / listen / not 4. the men / cards / play 5. the girls / cycle / not
Write questions in present perfect progressive.

1. Carol / shout 2. you / dance 3. Kevin / run 4. they / on the phone / talk / how long 5. these books / lie / on the floor / how long Before submitting the test, check the following:

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Helen Keller, 1880-1968: 'I Try to Make the Light in Others' Eyes My Sun'
Second of two parts about the life story of the famed activist for the disabled. Transcript of radio broadcast: 15 October 2006 VOICE ONE: I'm Ray Freeman. VOICE TWO: And I'm Shirley Griffith with People in America - a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Every week we tell about someone who was important in the history of the United States. This week we finish the story of a writer and educator, Helen Keller. She helped millions of people who, like her, were blind and deaf.
(MUSIC) VOICE ONE: We reported last week that Helen Keller suffered from a strange sickness when she was only nineteen months old. It made her completely blind and deaf. For the next five years she had no way of successfully communicating with other people. Then, a teacher -- Anne Sullivan -- arrived from Boston to help her. Miss Sullivan herself had once been blind. She tried to teach Helen to live like other people. She taught her how to use her hands as a way of speaking. 227
Miss Sullivan took Helen out into the woods to explore nature. They also went to the circus, the theater, and even to factories. Miss Sullivan explained everything in the language she and Helen used -- a language of touch -- of fingers and hands. Helen also learned how to ride a horse, to swim, to row a boat and, even to climb trees. Helen Keller once wrote about these early days. VOICE TWO: "One beautiful spring morning I was alone in my room, reading. Suddenly, a wonderful smell in the air made me get up and put out my hands. The spirit of spring seemed to be passing in my room. What is it? I asked. The next minute I knew it was coming from the mimosa tree outside. "I walked outside to the edge of the garden, toward the tree. There it was, shaking in the warm sunshine. Its long branches, so heavy with flowers, almost touched the ground. I walked through the flowers to the tree itself and then just stood silent. Then I put my foot on the tree and pulled myself up into it. I climbed higher and higher until I reached a little seat. Long ago someone had put it there. I sat for a long time ... Nothing in all the world was like this. VOICE ONE: Later, Helen learned that nature could be cruel as well as beautiful. Strangely enough she discovered this in a different kind of tree. VOICE TWO: "One day my teacher and I were returning from a long walk. It was a fine morning. But it started to get warm and heavy. We stopped to rest two or three times. Our last stop was under a cherry tree a short way from the house. "The shade was nice and the tree was easy to climb. Miss Sullivan climbed with me. It was so cool up in the tree we decided to have lunch there. I promised to sit still until she went to the house for some food. Suddenly a change came over the tree. I knew the sky was black because all the heat, which meant light to me, had died out of the air. A strange odor came up to me from the earth. I knew it -- it was the odor which always comes before a thunderstorm. "I felt alone, cut off from friends, high above the firm earth. I was frightened, and wanted my teacher. I wanted to get down from that tree quickly. But I was no help to myself. There was a moment of terrible silence. "Then a sudden and violent wind began to shake the tree and its leaves kept coming down all around me. I almost fell. I wanted to jump, but was afraid to do so. I tried to make myself small in the tree, as the branches rubbed against me. Just as I thought that both the 228
tree and I were going to fall, a hand touched me ... It was my teacher. I held her with all my strength then shook with joy to feel the solid earth under my feet."
Anne Sullivan with Helen Keller (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Miss Sullivan stayed with Helen for many years. She taught Helen how to read, how to write and how to speak. She helped her to get ready for school and college. More than anything, Helen wanted to do what others did, and do it just as well. In time, Helen did go to college and completed her studies with high honors. But it was a hard struggle. Few of the books she needed were written in the Braille language that the blind could read by touching pages. Miss Sullivan and others had to teach her what was in these books by forming words in her hands. The study of geometry and physics was especially difficult. Helen could only learn about squares, triangles, and other geometrical forms by making them with wires. She kept feeling the different shapes of these wires until she could see them in her mind. During her second year at college, Miss Keller wrote the story of her life and what college meant to her. This is what she wrote: VOICE TWO: "My first day at Radcliffe College was of great interest. Some powerful force inside me made me test my mind. I wanted to learn if it was as good as that of others. "I learned many things at college. One thing, I slowly learned was that knowledge does not just mean power, as some people say. Knowledge leads to happiness, because to have it is to know what is true and real. "To know what great men of the past have thought, said and done is to feel the heartbeat of humanity down through the ages."
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VOICE ONE: All of Helen Keller's knowledge reached her mind through her sense of touch and smell, and of course her feelings. To know a flower was to touch it, feel it, and smell it. This sense of touch became greatly developed as she got older. She once said that hands speak almost as loudly as words. She said the touch of some hands frightened her. The people seem so empty of joy that when she touched their cold fingers it is as if she were shaking hands with a storm. She found the hands of others full of sunshine and warmth. Strangely enough, Helen Keller learned to love things she could not hear, music for example. She did this through her sense of touch. When waves of air beat against her, she felt them. Sometimes she put her hand to a singer's throat. She often stood for hours with her hands on a piano while it was played. Once, she listened to an organ. Its powerful sounds made her move her body in rhythm with the music. She also liked to go to museums. She thought she understood sculpture as well as others. Her fingers told her the true size, and the feel of the material. What did Helen Keller think of herself? What did she think about the tragic loss of her sight and hearing? This is what she wrote as a young girl: VOICE TWO: "Sometimes a sense of loneliness covers me like a cold mist -- I sit alone and wait at life's shut door. Beyond, there is light and music and sweet friendship, but I may not enter. Silence sits heavy upon my soul. "Then comes hope with a sweet smile and says softly, 'There is joy in forgetting one's self. And so I try to make the light in others' eyes my sun ... The music in others' ears my symphony ... The smile on others' lips my happiness." (MUSIC) VOICE ONE:
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Helen Keller was tall and strong. When she spoke, her face looked very alive. It helped give meaning to her words. She often felt the faces of close friends when she was talking to them to discover their feelings. She and Miss Sullivan both were known for their sense of humor. They enjoyed jokes and laughing at funny things that happened to themselves or others. Helen Keller had to work hard to support herself after she finished college. She spoke to many groups around the country. She wrote several books. And she made one movie based on her life. Her main goal was to increase public interest in the difficulties of people with physical problems. The work Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan did has been written and talked about for many years. Their success showed how people can conquer great difficulties. Anne Sullivan died in nineteen thirty-six, blind herself. Before Miss Sullivan died, Helen wrote and said many kind things about her. VOICE TWO: "It was the genius of my teacher, her sympathy, her love which made my first years of education so beautiful. "My teacher is so near to me that I do not think of myself as apart from her. All the best of me belongs to her. Everything I am today was awakened by her loving touch." VOICE ONE: Helen Keller died on June first, nineteen sixty-eight. She was eighty-seven years old. Her message of courage and hope remains. (MOVIE) VOICE TWO: You have just heard the last part of the story of Helen Keller. Our Special English program was written by Katherine Clarke and produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith. VOICE ONE: And I'm Ray Freeman. Listen again next week to another People in America program on the Voice of America.
Exercises:
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1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Write one paragraph talking about Helens life. Put details. (Minimum of 25 lines) 6) Do the test.
A) Have or has? 1) I 2) you 3) you 4) he thrown grown sold taken
B) Rewrite the phrase into Present Perfect. Example: he cries - he has cried 1) you bought 2) they clean 232
3) you finish 4) I run C) Negate the sentences. 1) They have stolen the lipstick. 2) Jeff has made pizza. 3) The twins have broken the window. 4) They have gone to the park. D) Which answer is correct? 1) In which sentence is the Present Perfect put in correctly? Liam has drawed a picture. Liam has drawn a picture. Liam have drawn a picture. 2) In which sentence is the Present Perfect put in correctly? They has met at the airport. They have meeted at the airport. They have met at the airport. 3) In which sentence is the Present Perfect put in correctly?
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We has left for Edinburgh. We have leaved for Edinburgh. We have left for Edinburgh. 4) In which sentence is the Present Perfect put in correctly? He has forgetted his homework. He has forgotten his homework. He have forgotten his homework. E) since or for? 1) 2) 3) 4) 12 o'clock Sunday 1997 a few minutes
F) Which answers are correct? 1) Which verb forms are used with the Present Perfect? had + infinitive + -ed had + past participle has + past participle have + infinitive + -ed have + past participle infinitive + -ed
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2) Which verb forms are used with the Present Perfect? had had had has has had have had 3) What are typical signal words for the Present Perfect? already at the moment ever just last night usually yet
We Profile Five Special People Who Died This Year

Written by Katherine Gypson and Caty Weaver 17 December 2005
(THEME) VOICE ONE:
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Im Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: And Im Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about five special people who died during the past year. We start with Johnny Carson. For millions of Americans, Johnny Carson was the last voice they heard before going to sleep at night. (THEME) VOICE ONE: That was the music of the popular late night television show called The Tonight Show. Johnny Carson became host of the show in nineteen sixty-two. Carson was almost thirty-seven years old when he took over the show. But he had been entertaining people since he was a child. He was born in Corning, Iowa in nineteen twenty-five.As a young boy, Johnny discovered he was good at telling stories. He also became interested in magic. He performed his first public magic show when he was fourteen. He called himself The Great Carsoni. Johnny Carson Johnny Carson began his career in television in his twenties. He worked at local stations in Nebraska. Several years later, he moved to Los Angeles, California. He was the host on several comedy shows during the nineteen fifties. VOICE TWO: But it was The Tonight Show that made Johnny Carson famous for thirty years. He became the most popular star of American television. He was called the king of late night. Critics said Americans from all parts of the country liked him and felt they knew him. Carson seemed to be more like the people who watched his show than the actors, singers and other famous people who appeared on it. He did not take his fame seriously. For example, when asked how he became a star, he answered: I started in a gaseous state and I cooled. Carsons special skill was his sense of humor. Audiences laughed at the jokes he made at the beginning of his show. However, sometimes they laughed even harder at the jokes that failed. He was the most powerful performer on television. Many comedians and singers became successful after appearing on The Tonight Show.
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Johnny Carson retired in nineteen ninety-two. He received many awards during his life. Carson died in January at the age of seventy-nine. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The Last of the Mohicans is a famous nineteenth century historical novel. It ends with the death of the last Native American from the Mohegan tribe. Gladys Tantaquidgeon, the most honored member of the tribe, let people know that the book was just a story. In fact, her tribe has about one thousand seven hundred members. No one did more to protect the traditions and beliefs of the Mohegans than Tantaquidgeon. She was born in eighteen ninety-nine in Uncasville, Connecticut. Gladys was educated in traditional Native American ways. The oldest members of the tribe taught the young girl herbal medicine, crafts and stories about Mohegan history. Tantaquidgeon went on to study anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. She wrote books about Native American medicine and traditional beliefs. VOICE TWO: In nineteen thirty-one she started the Tantaquidgeon Indian Museum in Connecticut. Today, it is the oldest museum in the country operated by Native Americans. Many schoolchildren have learned about Native American history at the museum. Gladys Tantaquidgeon collected the tribal documents that helped the Mohegan regain official recognition from the federal government in nineteen ninety-four. Tantaquidgeon also served as the tribes medicine woman. She was only the third woman to do so since eighteen fifty-nine. Gladys Tantaquidgeon died in November at the age of one hundred six. Leaders from many Native American tribes said she was a great woman who carried out her goal of making sure that the history and culture of the Mohegan tribe survived. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: John H. Johnson was born in nineteen eighteen to a poor family in the state of Arkansas. He later owned the worlds largest black-owned publishing company. And he was one of the richest African-American businessmen in the country. He died in March at the age of eighty-seven. People of all races mourned the man who had given African-Americans a voice by creating several very successful magazines.
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John Johnsons mother believed that her son would grow up to be a great man. She moved the family to Chicago, Illinois so he could get a better education. Johnson attended the University of Chicago and went to work at an insurance company.
John H. Johnson VOICE TWO: In nineteen forty-two when he was just twenty-four years old, Johnson had an idea for a new kind of magazine, the Negro Digest. It would give African-Americans news about political, business and social issues. He used a five hundred dollar loan to start the magazine and worked hard to make it popular. Johnson believed that African-Americans needed to see positive images of themselves in the American media. He later started two other successful magazines, Ebony and Jet. Johnson published books, owned radio stations and other companies. He also operated an organization that raised millions of dollars to help African-American students attend college. John Johnson believed that his life was proof that hard work could overcome almost any problem and open almost any door. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: That was Missus Robinson a song about a character from the popular nineteen sixtyseven movie The Graduate. Anne Bancroft played Missus Robinson, a woman who starts a sexual relationship with a young man. She often said she was surprised that people remembered that one role when she had acted in more than fifty movies and plays. Her Italian immigrant parents named her Anna Maria Louisa Italiano when she was born in the Bronx, New York in nineteen thirty-one. From an early age, Anna knew that she wanted to become an actress. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
VOICE TWO: Anne Bancroft went to Hollywood, California in nineteen fifty. The head of a movie studio changed her last name to Bancroft. She starred in a series of low budget movies. She also appeared in plays on Broadway in New York City. One of them was The Miracle Worker.She played the teacher of the famous writer Helen Keller. In nineteen
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sixty-three, Bancroft won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film of The Miracle Worker. Anne Bancroft was one of the most honored actresses of her time. She died in June at age seventy-three. The director Mike Nichols praised her intelligence, humor, honesty and sense. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Writer and historian Shelby Foote wrote a series of best-selling books about the American Civil War. His storytelling skills brought the Civil War to life for millions of readers. He died in June at the age of eighty-eight. Foote had mixed feelings about the American South. He was troubled by discrimination against African-Americans but also felt a great loyalty to his Southern ancestry. Shelby Foote was born in Greenville, Mississippi in nineteen sixteen. He loved reading and listening to stories about his ancestors who fought in the Civil War. He served in the United States Army and worked as a reporter. Then Foote wrote several fiction novels about American Southern life. In the nineteen fifties, Shelby Foote began writing a three-book history of the Civil War. He wrote quickly, using an old-fashioned pen dipped in ink. It took him twenty years to complete the books. Together, they had more than one million words. VOICE TWO: Readers loved his way of writing about famous historical American leaders and generals as though they were characters in a novel. He became even better known in nineteenninety when he appeared in Ken Burnss popular television series about the Civil War. Foote had a strong southern accent. He told stories about Civil War battles as though he himself had been there. At the end of his life, Foote was one of the most famous historians in the United States. When asked if he liked being famous, Foote answered: Its funbut Im dead set against all the hoo-rah. (THEME) VOICE ONE: This program was written by Katherine Gypson and Caty Weaver. It was produced by Dana Demange. Im Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: 239
And Im Steve Ember. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.
Live Earth Concerts Aim to Raise the Heat on Issue of Climate Change
Also: a listener in Taiwan asks if urban legends are true. And this summer's crop of sequel movies. Transcript of radio broadcast: 05 July 2007 HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. (MUSIC)
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I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We answer a question from a listener about stories called urban legends Play music by groups taking part in worldwide Live Earth concerts to fight global warming And report about some movie sequels being released this summer. Summer Sequels HOST: A sequel is a movie that continues a story begun in an earlier movie or tells another story using the same characters. This summer, there are a lot of them. Barbara Klein explains. BARBARA KLEIN: Movie studio officials say they expect sequels this summer to earn a huge amount of money. They say three such movies released in May earned more than one hundred million dollars each in ticket sales in just one month. The three movies are "Shrek Three," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" and "Spider-Man Three." "Spider-Man Three" continues the story of the superhero who fights evil in New York City. The movie earned more than one hundred fifty million dollars in its first three days of release. Reports say movie officials expect it to earn about nine hundred million dollars around the world.
"Shrek the Third" continues the story of the green cartoon creature and his wife, Princess Fiona. It has earned more than three hundred million dollars in the United States since it opened in May.
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"Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End" is the third story about pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. He was captured by the evil Davy Jones in the earlier movie. In the latest one, his friends rescue him from death on the high seas. The latest "Pirates" movie earned one hundred fifty million dollars in the United States on its opening weekend. And it earned more than two hundred forty million dollars outside the United States during that same period.
But movie officials are disappointed that the third movies in these series are not doing as well in the United States as the second movies did. They say one reason for this may be that the three movies opened very close to each other. Still, they expect all three movies to do extremely well around the world. Several other movie sequels were released recently. They include Oceans Thirteen, "The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," and "Live Free or Die Hard." Still to come this summer: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Bourne Ultimatum. Urban Legends HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Taiwan. Sandra wants to know if urban legends are true. An urban legend is a story that many people believe to be true. Some of these stories may have had some truth to them at one time. But they usually change over time and many are not true anymore. In the past, people read such stories in magazines and newspapers. Today, the Internet spreads them around the world much faster. Many urban legends warn about something. One very old one is about a woman who tied up her long hair and never washed it. Spiders were said to have made a nest in her hair and killed her by eating her head. Other examples include warnings about eating two different foods or medicines at the same time, like taking an aspirin with Coca Cola. One urban legend is about ships and planes that mysteriously disappear in an area of the Atlantic Ocean called the Bermuda Triangle. Another is about people in New York City who got rid of their small pet alligators by flushing them down the toilet. These alligators lived in New York's underground waste water system and grew to be huge. Other urban legends involve famous movie stars. Some urban legends are false, yet are extremely difficult to stop. For example, one story said a major American company gave some of its money to the Church of Satan that
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worships the devil. Many people who believed this story stopped buying the companys products even though the story was false. Some Internet sites investigate the truth of urban legends. One is called Snopes dot com. It lists the twenty-five most popular urban legends. Many are spread through the Internet. The top one is about plastic bottles you can buy that contain water. An urban legend says that these bottles release cancer-causing substances when they are re-used. Snopes says this urban legend is false. Live Earth HOST: On Saturday, musicians around the world will perform a series of concerts to raise attention to global warming. The twenty-four hours of music will take place in New York, London, Tokyo, Shanghai and Johannesburg; also Hamburg, Germany, and Sydney, Australia. On Thursday a Brazilian judge ruled that the concert in Rio de Janeiro could go on as planned. She accepted security guarantees from organizers, but the decision may not have been final. The Live Earth shows will be broadcast on television, radio and the Internet in more than one hundred countries. Faith Lapidus tells us more about the events. FAITH LAPIDUS: They are being called "the concerts for a climate in crisis." Producer Kevin Wall, working with former Vice President Al Gore, came up with the idea for Live Earth. Wall has produced concerts for many famous performers including Bob Dylan. He founded SOS, Save Our Selves, to develop events to influence people to fight climate crisis. Wall was also the man behind Live Eight, a series of concerts last year to fight poverty. Live Earth is taking place on the seventh day of the seventh month of two thousand seven. It represents all seven continents. More than one hundred famous musicians will perform. They include the Police, Madonna and Bon Jovi. Lenny Kravitz will be the lead act at the concert in Rio de Janeiro. His hits include "American Woman" and "Let Love Rule." Here Kravitz sings "Are You Gonna' Go My Way." (MUSIC) The Black Eyed Peas will be among the performers at the show in London. Here lead singer Fergie performs a song from her solo album, "The Dutchess." "Big Girls Don't Cry" is one of the top songs on Billboard Magazine's Hot One Hundred List. 243
(MUSIC) If you are near Hamburg, Germany you can see Shakira perform at the Live Earth show there. We leave you with Shakira singing "Illegal." (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver wrote the program. Mario Ritter was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio magazine in Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Whats Live Earth? 6) Have you been to any Live Earth? 7) Whats the importance of Live Earth? 8) Do the test.
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can, could, to be able to - Exercise

Explanation: can, to be able to Write the phrases in brackets in their correct forms into the gaps. Example: Yesterday I _____________ a film, today I can't. (can/to watch) Answer: Yesterday I could watch a film, today I can't.
1) Last week we 2) Maybe the Smiths 3) If you try hard, you 4) When I was five, I 5) Dennis
swimming, this week we can't. (can/to go) a new house next year. (can/to build) your examinations. (can/to pass) . (not/can/to swim) the trumpet after four months. (can/to play) a car. (can/to drive)
6) Luke has passed his driving test, now he 7) For three weeks I 8) Alex do) 9) They were so busy, they 10) Lisa
to him on the phone. (not/can/to speak) his homework when his desk is in such a mess. (not/can/to me a text message. (not/can/to write) her dress. She can wear it again. (can/to clean)
New Seven Wonders of the World Are Announced After Voting Campaign
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And the winners are: Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Petra, the Colosseum and the Taj Mahal. Transcript of radio broadcast: 10 July 2007 VOICE ONE: Im Steve Ember. VOICE TWO: And Im Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Two thousand five hundred years ago, the Greek historian Herodotus is believed to have made a list of what he thought were the most extraordinary structures in the world. His list became known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. People all over the world recently voted to create a new list. Join us as we explore the New Seven Wonders of the World. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: There was nothing wrong with the list of ancient wonders that Herodotus made. The list included places such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in what is now Iraq. This was a huge system of gardens with trees and flowers. The Colossus of Rhodes is also on the list. It was a thirty-seven meter tall metal statue of the Greek sun god Helios. The statue was built on the Greek island of Rhodes. VOICE TWO: But this wondrous list only included structures near the Mediterranean Sea. This was the only area of the world known to the ancient Greeks. Only one of the seven places still exists today. The Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt were built about four thousand five hundred years ago as a burial place for an ancient ruler. For thousands of years, they were the tallest structures in the world. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The Swiss explorer Bernard Weber decided the list of seven wonders needed updating. But he says he did not want one person to decide on the new list. He wanted everyone to vote for the world's cultural treasures. He knew that with the modern technologies of the Internet and cell phones everyone in the world could vote. In two thousand one Mister Weber started an organization called the New Seven Wonders Foundation. He later invited people around the world to vote on places they thought 246
belonged on the new list. A group of building experts later reduced the list to twenty-one places. These experts included Japanese architect Tadao Ando and Iraqi-born British architect Zaha Hadid. VOICE TWO: From two thousand six until last Friday, people around the world voted on their favorite places by using the Internet and cell phones. The group says it received about one hundred million votes. But the group admits it did not check for repeat voting. The results were announced on July seventh in a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal. Here is the new list of world wonders. (MUSIC)
Chichen Itza VOICE ONE: is a temple city built by the Mayans over one thousand years ago in what is now Mexico. Its name means at the mouth of the well of the Itza people. The many large stone structures at Chichen Itza were built during different periods with different styles. One holy building is a triangular shaped step pyramid called the Temple of Kukulcan. This huge structure has a staircase on each of the four sides that leads to the religious altar at the top. There are many other temples and even a large court area where the Mayans played ball games. VOICE TWO:
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is a large religious statue on a hill overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Catholic religious leaders in the city started planning the project in the nineteen twenties. This thirty-eight meter statue of Jesus was completed in nineteen thirty-one. It is made of concrete and soapstone materials. Christ the Redeemer was designed by the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and the French sculptor Paul Landowski.
Christ the Redeemer
The Great Wall of China VOICE ONE: is one of the largest building projects ever carried out. This wall extends for over seven thousand kilometers and was built to defend against foreign invaders. The oldest parts of the wall were built over two thousand six hundred years ago. More recent parts were built about five hundred years ago. The ruler Qin Shi Huang Ti created the first unified China about two thousand two hundred years ago. This ruler connected the many different parts of the wall into one huge system. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: The ancient ruins of Machu Picchu sit high in the Andes Mountains of what is now Peru, eighty kilometers northeast of Cuzco. Experts believe the many stone buildings were built around the middle of the fifteenth century by the Incan ruler Pachacutec Yupanqui. The buildings include homes, burial places, religious centers, storage areas, and watch towers. In one area is the famous Intihuatana, or the Hitching Post of the Sun. This ancient stone sun clock shows astronomical events such as the spring and fall equinox when night and day are equal
Machu Picchu
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length. Experts do not know the exact role of the ancient city of Machu Picchu. It might have been built for ceremonial reasons or as a home for the Incan ruler. VOICE ONE:
Petra Petra was another ancient city built about two thousand years ago in what is now Jordan. It was the capital of ancient Nabataea and was famous for its trade industry and water engineering systems. The area is also famous for the beautiful buildings carved into huge walls of solid red sandstone rock. "Petra means rock in Greek. The monuments, burial places and religious buildings at Petra combine ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian styles of building. One of the most well known buildings is called al-Khazneh which is Arabic for the treasury. The building was really a burial place for a ruling family. But long ago some people falsely believed treasures were stored inside. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: The Colosseum in Rome, Italy was built about two thousand years ago by the Flavian rulers. This huge circular stone and concrete building could hold about fifty thousand people. For hundreds of years, people gathered there to watch games. They included fights between professional gladiator soldiers and naval battles between ships. Each of the first three levels of the Colosseum has eighty large rounded arch openings. The Colosseum was badly damaged over the centuries by a fire and a series of earthquakes. Starting in the thirteenth century, fallen The Colosseum stones from the Colosseum were taken to be used for other building projects. But the building has since been carefully repaired. The circular form of this building has influenced many modern sports buildings. VOICE ONE:
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The Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal in Agra, India was built by the Mogul ruler Shah Jahan in the seventeenth century. The building is famous for its beautiful white marble surface inlaid with small pieces of colorful stones. It is also a symbol of Shah Jahans love for his wife. He built this monument as a burial place for her. She is said to have asked him to build a monument in her memory. More than twenty thousand workers built the Taj Mahal. It beautifully combines the styles of Indian, Persian and Islamic building. (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Fourteen other buildings did not make the list of the new seven wonders of the world. These include Angkor Wat in Cambodia; the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France and the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. They also include the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia; the Sydney Opera House in Australia and the Statue of Liberty in New York City. This new list of wonders has its critics. The Egyptian antiquities expert Zahi Hawass says the list has no value because masses of people do not write history. The Egyptian government expressed its anger when the New Seven Wonders voting began. Egypt believed its pyramids should not need to be voted on since they have always been listed as a world wonder. The New Seven Wonders group gave the pyramids an honorary position on the list. So there are actually now eight wonders of the world. VOICE ONE: The United Nations cultural program UNESCO released a statement on the subject this week. UNESCO made it very clear that it had no link with the New Seven Wonders group. The statement says Bernard Weber wanted to work with UNESCO, but the group refused. UNESCO has said its goal is to protect places of cultural value and simply making a new list does not help their aim. UNESCO added that the new list of wonders shows the opinions of some people who have Internet and not the opinion of the entire world. (MUSIC) 250
VOICE TWO: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. Im Barbara Klein. VOICE ONE: And Im Steve Ember. You can see pictures of these world wonders at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts and audio archives of our programs. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Have you ever been to Rio de Janeiro? 6) How did you like Christ The Redeemer? 7) Do the test.
Put in was or were into the gaps. 1) I 2) We 3) Tina 4) He in Canberra last spring. at school last Saturday. at home yesterday. happy.
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5) Robert and Stan 6) You 7) They 8) I 9) She
Garry's friends.
very busy on Friday. in front of the supermarket. in the museum. in South Africa last month. late for school.
10) Jessica and Kimberly
Colds, Flu and Folk Advice

A public health expert in California examines some popularly held beliefs. Transcript of radio broadcast: 21 October 2008 This is the VOA Special English Health Report. Autumn and winter are cold and flu season -- when people are most likely to catch the viruses that cause influenza and the common cold.
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Is the old advice true that dressing warmly will help prevent a cold? Or if you do get sick, should you follow the old saying, "Feed a cold and starve a fever"?
And what about that fever? Should you take medication to reduce your temperature, or is it better to let the body treat the infection itself? Everyone seems to have an answer. But how much value is there in popular wisdom? Doctor Alvin Nelson El Amin knows a lot about cold and flu season in California. He is medical director of the immunization program for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Doctor Nelson El Amin says research may be just starting to provide evidence for longheld beliefs. For example, scientists for years dismissed the idea that getting cold and wet might cause colds or flu. But recent studies have shown that cold temperatures cause stress on the body. That stress can create conditions more inviting to viruses. So maybe it does make sense to wrap up warmly before going outside. And what about the advice to feed a cold and starve a fever? Doctor Nelson El Amin says if you have a cold and are hungry, you should eat. But a fever, especially a high one, suggests a more serious problem. He says people are usually not hungry anyway when they have a high fever. Eating might even cause a person to vomit. But drinking plenty of liquids is important. A fever can easily dehydrate the body. Finally, when should you treat a fever? Doctor Nelson El Amin says a fever should be treated if it stays at forty degrees centigrade or above for a day or more. A temperature that high can damage brain cells. The doctor also believes in treating a fever if it prevents a person from sleeping. Aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen can all be used to reduce pain and fever. But aspirin should not be given to children because it can cause a rare condition. One belief that Doctor Nelson El Amin wanted to make clear is wrong is that influenza vaccine can cause the flu. It cannot. Sometimes people get the flu from another person soon after they get vaccinated, so they blame the vaccine, he says. But, flu vaccines do not protect everyone who gets them. Still, even if a person does get sick, the vaccine can limit the effects of the virus. And that's the VOA Special English Health report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Bob Doughty.
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Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Whats the difference between the flu and cold? 6) Do the test.
Put in do or does into the gaps. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) Peter live with his father? you learn Spanish? Andrew and Martin ride their bikes to school? they play in the garden? Sandy's hamster live in a cage? the cats sit on the wall? we work in front of the computer? you play the drums? Steve wear pullovers? I clean the bathroom?
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From San Diego to San Francisco, Visiting the Beautiful Missions Along the Coast of California
Spanish settlers built the Catholic churches in the 1700s. Transcript of radio broadcast: 12 February 2008 VOICE ONE: Im Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: And Im Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about the first attempts to settle what is now the western state of California. These attempts began with Spanish settlers who built twenty-one Catholic churches called missions. Our report is about those churches -- the missions of California. (SOUND)
Mission San Juan Capistrano VOICE ONE: Our story begins in seventeen sixty-eight in Madrid, Spain. The king of Spain, Charles the Third, had recently received reports that worried him. The reports said Russian explorers were in the northern part of the territory called California. Spain had claimed most of that area more than two hundred years earlier. But Spain had no settlements in California. King Charles knew if the Russians began to settle the area, Spain might lose control of California forever.
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VOICE TWO: King Charles decided the best way to keep the Spanish claim to California was to build settlements there. California had good harbors for Spanish ships, good weather and good farmland. King Charles decided to order the creation of a series of small farming communities along the Pacific Ocean coast of California. The settlements would provide trade and grow into larger cities. Spanish citizens might want to settle there. Then the Spanish claim to California would be safe. VOICE ONE: But there was no one on the coast of California to begin the work. King Charles and his advisors decided that the farming settlements would begin with churches called missions. Missions were places where Roman Catholic religious leaders converted people to the Christian religion. They taught the religion to people who wanted to become members of the church. King Charles decided Roman Catholic priests would build the missions and settlements with the help of Native American Indians. The priests would teach the native people the Christian religion, the Spanish language and how to farm. A religious group within the Catholic Church called the Franciscans would build the settlements. The Franciscans chose a young priest named Junipero Serra to begin the work. VOICE TWO: Many history experts say the Spanish government and the Catholic Church could not have chosen a better person for the task than Junipero Serra. Junipero Serra was born in seventeen thirteen on the island of Mallorca, Spain. After he became a Franciscan priest, he taught at a university in Mallorca. Father Serra had always wanted to be a missionary. In seventeen forty-nine he sailed to Mexico to begin his life as a missionary. He spent several years studying the languages and customs of native people in Mexico. In seventeen sixty-eight he was given the job of building the first of the California missions near the present day city of San Diego. (SOUND) VOICE ONE:
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Mission San Diego de Alcala began on July sixteenth, seventeen sixty-nine. But before the mission was completed, Father Serra decided to move it. He did not like the way Spanish soldiers mistreated the Native Americans. He wanted to keep them separate. He moved the mission to an area that is still called Mission Valley. The design of Mission San Diego de Alcala was similar to each of the missions that were built later. There was a large church building. A long wall formed a large square to the side and behind the church. Large rooms inside and along the wall served as bedrooms, cooking areas, workshops, and classrooms. Usually, the center of the large square was left open. A garden with flowers was planted there. VOICE TWO: Junipero Serras plan for the missions along the California coast was simple. Each would be about the same distance from each other. Members of the Franciscan religious group did not ride horses or travel in wagons. They walked. The missions were built about one days long walk from each other. This made it easier to travel, trade goods and share information. The missions begin with San Diego de Alcala in the south. They end with San Francisco Solano about one thousand fifty kilometers to the north. In time, the road from mission San Diego de Alcala to mission San Francisco Solano was given a name. The Spanish name is still used today. It is El Camino Real. It means the The Royal Highway or The Kings Highway. Most of that old road is now part of the California highway system. Millions of people use the road every day as they drive from San Diego to San Francisco. (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: Many people have criticized the mission system of settlement because it changed the way of life for the Native Americans in California. Critics say many Native Americans were forced to work at the missions. They say many were forced to become members of the Christian religion. And many were treated badly by Spanish soldiers and died because of mistreatment or disease. However, other experts say that Junipero Serra demanded that the priests and soldiers treat the Native Americans with respect. Many of the Native Americans accepted the Christian religion, learned to farm and helped the missions become valuable settlements. Many other Native Americans did not. Some did not want to change the way they lived so they moved away from the missions. Many Native Americans believed they would be forced into a new way of life. In seventeen seventy-six, a group of Indians attacked the
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San Diego mission and burned it. Eight months later, the mission was rebuilt where it still stands today. VOICE TWO: King Charless plan was a success. Settlements grew from the missions along the California coast. Some of those along El Camino Real became major cities -- San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose, and San Francisco, to name only a few. Junipero Serra was responsible for building nine of the missions. One of these was Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo in the present city of Carmel. It became his headquarters and the headquarters for all of the California missions. In seventeen eighty-four, Junipero Serra died of tuberculosis at mission San Carlos. He was buried in the floor of the Mission San Carlos Church.
Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo (MUSIC) VOICE ONE: The missions of California faced difficult times during the eighteen hundreds. In eighteen twenty-two, California became part of Mexico, which had just won its independence from Spain. But the Mexican government could not pay the cost of keeping the missions. In eighteen thirty-four, the Mexican government sold much of the mission land and some of the buildings. Several missions remained part of the communities they helped to build. But many became little more than ruins. Some of the land and the missions were returned to the Catholic Church. In the eighteen forties, Mexico had trouble controlling the American settlers in California. In eighteen forty-six, the settlers declared California a republic. Less than two years later, the United States gained control of California during the Mexican War. During this period, the Catholic Church tried to keep control of the missions. They were only partly successful. However, in eighteen sixty-three President Abraham Lincoln signed a law that said all twenty-one missions in California would be returned to the Catholic Church. They have remained so ever since.
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VOICE TWO: Today, the people of California consider the missions a treasure. Eighteen of the twentyone are still active Catholic churches. All of the missions are museums that teach the early history of California. Many visitors come to the missions to see the beautiful buildings. Several of the missions have become famous. One example is the Mission San Juan Capistrano. It was planned and built by Junipero Serra. Each year, on the same day, at almost the same hour, thousands of birds called swallows return to the mission. They return from their winter homes thousands of kilometers to the south. The swallows arrive on March nineteenth. They build nests and raise their young in the old mission. They leave on October twenty-third. One story says the birds have been late only once because of a storm at sea. Everyone agrees that Junipero Serra would have loved the beautiful swallows of Capistrano. (MUSIC: "When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano") VOICE ONE: This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. Im Faith Lapidus. VOICE TWO: And Im Steve Ember. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.
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5) Do the test.
Put in the auxiliaries do or does into the gaps. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) you write with a pencil? your father often make breakfast? your teachers always check your homework? you and your sister feed the pets? you send text messages? your friend visit museums? your cats climb trees? you learn to cook at school? your sister play badminton? your grandparents go on holiday in winter?
'Modern Times': Bob Dylan Returns to the Top of the Music World
14 September 2006 HOST:
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Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week: We answer a question about the Statue of Liberty Play some new music from Bob Dylan And report about agricultural fairs across the country. State Fairs (MUSIC) HOST: That was a song from the movie State Fair. It is about one familys experiences attending an agricultural fair. Almost all fifty American states hold such events. They usually take place in August, September or October. Shirley Griffith has more. Shirley Griffith: American agricultural fairs were traditionally held to honor the work of local farmers. Farmers and their families came to the fair to show their crops and animals and compete for prizes. Today, there are hundreds of state and local county fairs. Millions of people visit them. Some fairs last up to three weeks.
Indiana State Fair One of the most famous state fairs takes place every summer in the state of Iowa. The Iowa state fair began in eighteen fifty-four. Today, one million people visit the Iowa state fair each year. A popular competition at state fairs is the cooking contest. People prepare food such as pies. Expert judges decide which ones are the best. Winners receive prizes. Other people take part in food eating contests. They try to eat the most food in a short period of time. The Georgia state fair takes place later this month. Its program lists a hot dog eating contest, a pizza eating contest, a donut eating contest, a corn-on-the-cob eating contest and a chicken wing eating contest!
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People who visit a fair enjoy watching such contests. They can also see dogs guiding sheep together into herds. They can examine new home products and farm equipment. At some fairs, they can watch cars race or crash into each other at events called demolition derbies. They can attend live music shows with performances by famous entertainers. Children can go on rides. And, of course, everyone can eat many different kinds of food. Anyone who has been to an agricultural fair knows that there is no reason why anyone should go home hungry. Statue of Liberty Our VOA listener question this week comes from Iran. Amir Hossein asks about the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty represents a woman holding a torch of fire. It stands on an island at the entrance to the New York City harbor. It is almost ninety-three meters tall, one of the tallest statues ever built. Its complete name is Liberty Enlightening the World. The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the people of the United States from the people of France. It was an expression of the friendship and liberty shared by the people of both countries. The idea for the statue came from a French history expert in eighteen sixty-five. Six years later, artist Frederic Bartholdi traveled to the United States to seek support for building the statue. He decided it should stand on an island in New York harbor. Bartholdi began designing the statue when he returned to France. He designed the statues face to look like his mothers. French officials organized a group to raise money and supervise the project. The French people gave four hundred thousand dollars to build the statue. In eighteen seventy-seven, the Americans established a similar committee to raise money needed to build the statues base. The statue was built in France. Bartholdi had hoped it would be ready on the one hundredth anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence in eighteen seventysix. But it was not. France officially presented the statue to the United States minister to France in Paris on July fourth, eighteen eighty-four. The statue was then taken apart and sent to the United States. Liberty Enlightening the World was completed in the United States in eighteen eighty-six. New York City celebrated with a huge parade. President Grover Cleveland and other American and French officials attended the ceremonies. Since then, the Statue of Liberty has been a symbol of freedom for people all over the world. Its meaning is expressed in the famous poem by Emma Lazarus that is written on the statues base. Here is part of that poem.
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"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Bob Dylan's Modern Times HOST: Bob Dylans new album, Modern Times, was released at the end of last month. Critics loved the collection of songs. It soon became the top selling album in the United States. This is Dylans first Number One album in thirty years. Mario Ritter has more. MARIO RITTER: Bob Dylan is one of the worlds most influential songwriters. Over the past forty years, Dylan has sold almost one hundred million records. He has performed in thousands of shows around the world. His new album, Modern Times, shows that Dylan, now sixty-five years old, still has a lot to say. Modern Times starts off with this song, called Thunder on the Mountain. Some of the words are about singer Alicia Keys. (MUSIC) Bob Dylan started as a folk singer in the nineteen sixties. He wrote several famous protest songs about very serious issues. The songs in Modern Times are not as serious. There is a feeling of playfulness in the words of the songs. Dylan sings about the economy, relationships, aging and regret. Here is an example: Workingmans Blues Number Two. (MUSIC) Bob Dylans record company says Modern Times is the last in a series of three albums. The first was Time Out of Mind in nineteen ninety-seven. Love and Theft followed in two thousand one. At an age when other people are retiring, Bob Dylan is still very active. He performs more than one hundred times a year in what he calls his neverending tour. He worked with film director Martin Scorsese on a movie about his life. He has a weekly program on American satellite radio. He is writing the second part of his book of memories. And in a few months, his music will be presented in a dance show on Broadway in New York City.
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We leave you now with this love song, Spirit on the Water, from Bob Dylans new album, Modern Times. (MUSIC) HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. This show was written by Shelley Gollust, Nancy Steinbach and Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver was the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOAs radio magazine in Special English.
Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio. 2) Read the text again, very carefully. 3) Read the text and as you read it circle the new words. 4) Read the text again and as you read it underline the words that you already know. 5) Talk about Bob Dylan. 6) Describe the Statue of Liberty. 7) Do the worksheet. Write the correct words into the gaps. You can either use the singular or the plural form of the words.
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Example: 0 - _________ Answer: 0 - strawberry
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10)
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Exercise on Simple Present

Figure 1. Sprinkler irrigation for sweet corn production

Figure 2. Big gun irrigation over several crops

Figure 3b. Typical wetting pattern of drip irrigation tape

5) What does Linda do? a) Teacher b) Actress c) Doctor d) Agronomist e) Cashier

Exercise on Simple Present

7. he / his leg / hurt 8. they / trees / plant 9. I / gas / smell

Foreign Student Series: Getting a US Visa

Vertical Farming: Potatoes? They're on the Fifth Floor

One design for a vertical farm

Exercise on Present Progressive

The Law of Life

Exercise on Present Progressive

Study Looks at Mental Health of College-Age Adults

two German books

Exercise on Present Progressive

8. she / the chapter / copy 9. they / a hole / dig

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(MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN:

Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio.

In New York City, Waterfalls as Public Art (and a Plumber's Dream)

Visiting Seven of America's Natural Wonders

Philo Farnsworth, 1906-1971: The Father of Television

Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio.

Christian Bale as Batman

Christopher Nolan FAITH LAPIDUS:

March 24, 2002 - 'Kangaroo Court,' 'Big Apple'

Marlon Brando, 1924-2004: One of the Greatest Actors of All Time

Foreign Student Series: Admissions Tests

Looking for Energy in Algae

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Kennedy Center Honors Six Artists for Life's Work

Neurologist Oliver Sacks Writes About Patients With Unusual Conditions

Growing Crops With Less Water

Need Soap? Make Your Own

5) Have you ever made soap? Why?

Foreign Student Series: Thanksgiving in the US

When It Ain't Right to Use 'Ain't' in English, and When It Is

Muhammad Ali at the center's opening

StoryCorps in Action | Naming American Kids | Remembering Soraya

Exercises: 1) Read the text and listen to the audio.

Ray Kroc's first McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955

The Empire State Building Turns 75

1933 film King Kong

Exercise on A Little / A Few

Walt Disney, 1901-1966: It All Started with a Mouse

Walt Disney with models of Disneyland

Foreign Student Series: Colleges and Degrees

cheek eyelash, lash tooth (plural: teeth) toe tongue

Foreign Student Series: What SEVIS Means to You

Exercise on Body Parts Face

Can you name the parts of the face?

Explanation There are two common ways of telling the time.

Paul Newman, 1925-2008: Actor, Activist and Racecar Driver

Complete the table in simple past.

Put the sentences into simple past.

Write sentences in simple past.

Ask for the bold part of the sentence.

The Making of One of Jazz's Most Influential Recordings

Exercise: Summarize the text into one paragraph.