The Story of Radio

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VOICE ONE:

This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

Satellite technology can broadcast radio anywhere.

And this is Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. You are listening to our program today on a radio. Almost no communication would exist in the world without the electromagnetic waves that make radio possible. Today we explain the history of radio and tell how it works.

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VOICE ONE:

Our story begins in Britain in eighteen seventy-three. A scientist named James Maxwell wrote a mathematical theory about a kind of energy. He called this energy electromagnetic waves. His theory said this kind of energy could pass unseen through the air. Mister Maxwell was not able to prove his idea. Other scientists could not prove it either until German scientist Heinrich Hertz tried an experiment in eighteen eighty-seven.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Hertz’s experiment sounds very simple. He used two pieces of metal placed close together. He used electricity to make a spark jump between the two pieces of metal.

He also built a simple receiver made of wire that was turned many times in a circle or looped. At the ends of the loop were small pieces of metal separated by a tiny amount of space. This receiver was placed several meters from the other device.

Mister Hertz proved that Mister Maxwell’s idea was correct. Electromagnetic waves or energy passed through the air from one device to the other.

VOICE ONE:

Later, Mister Hertz demonstrated the experiment to his students in a classroom. One of the students asked what use might be made of this discovery. But Mister Hertz thought his discovery was of no use. He said it was interesting but had no value. He was wrong. His experiment was the very beginning of every kind of electronic communications we use today. In recognition of his work, the unit of frequency of a radio wave, one cycle per second, is named the hertz.

VOICE TWO:

Radio waves became known to scientists as Hertzian Waves. But the experiment was still of no use until Guglielmo Marconi improved on the device that created Hertzian Waves. He began his experiments in Italy in eighteen ninety-four.

Mister Marconi was soon able to transmit sound across a distance of several kilometers. He tried to interest Italian government officials in his discovery, but they were not interested.

Mister Marconi traveled to Britain. His invention was well received there. In eighteen ninety-seven, he established the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company. The company opened the world’s first radio factory in Chelmsford, England in eighteen ninety-eight.

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VOICE ONE:

Very quickly, people began sending and receiving radio messages across long distances using equipment made by Mister Marconi’s company.

Ships at sea needed the device. Before Mister Marconi’s invention, they had no communication until they arrived in port. With radio, ships could call for help if they had trouble. They could send and receive information.

All of Mister Marconi’s radios communicated using Morse code. It sounds like this. What you will hear are three letters. V---O---A. We will repeat, or send, each group of three letters two times.

(MORSE CODE: V-O-A…V-O-A)

An expert with Morse code could send and receive thirty or forty words a minute. Mister Marconi’s radio greatly increased the speed of communications.

VOICE TWO:

On December twenty-fourth, nineteen-oh-six, radio operators on ships in the Atlantic Ocean near the American coast began hearing strange things. At first it was violin music. Then they heard a human voice. The voice said “Have a Merry Christmas.”

That voice belonged to a man named. He hadbeen working on producing a device

The voice of Reginald Fessenden was the first to be heard on Radio.

that could transmit the human voice or music using radio. He decided to try it for the first time on December twenty-fourth. It was the first time a human voice had been heard on radio.

VOICE ONE:

Improvements in radio technology now came more quickly. Large companies became interested. Broadcasting equipment and radio receivers were improved.

Fourteen years after Mister Fessenden’s voice was heard by radio operators at sea, the first real radio broadcast was transmitted. It came from the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The radio program was transmitted on radio station KDKA on the evening of November second, nineteen twenty. The man speaking on the radio was Leo Rosenberg. He was announcing the early results of the presidential election between James Cox and Warren Harding.

Within a year, the little radio station employed the world’s first full-time radio announcer. His name was Harold Arlin. KDKA in Pittsburgh is still a successful radio station today. Oh…and Mister Harding won the presidential election!

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VOICE TWO:

Those first KDKA broadcasts led to the success of the radio industry. People began buying the first radios. Other companies decided radio could make a profit. Only four years after the first KDKA broadcast, there were six hundred radio stations in the United States. Radio stations also began to broadcast in other countries.

Radio stations began selling “air time” as a way to pay their workers and to pay for needed equipment. A few minutes of air time were sold to different companies so they could tell about their products to the radio station’s listeners. This method of supporting radio and later television is still used today.

VOICE ONE:

Radio changed the way people thought and lived. It permitted almost everyone to hear news about important events at the same time. Political candidates could be heard by millions of listeners. The same songs were heard across the country.

The work by British scientist James Maxwell and German scientist Heinrich Hertz led to the development of modern communications technology. This includes television broadcasts, satellite use, cellular telephones, radio-controlled toys, and much more.

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VOICE TWO:

Now we will explain electromagnetic waves. We will begin with Mister Hertz’s experiment. You can also try this experiment. It is very easy to do. First, move the controls on your radio to an area where no station is being received.

Now, you will need a common nine-volt battery and a metal piece of money. Hold the battery near the radio and hit the top of the battery with the coin. You should hear a clicking noise on the radio.

Your coin and battery are a very simple radio transmitter. This radio will not transmit very far. However, if you know a little of Morse code, you could communicate with this device.

VOICE ONE:

Electromagnetic energy travels almost like an ocean wave – up and down, up and down. It also travels at the speed of light – two hundred ninety-nine million seven hundred ninety-two thousand four hundred fifty-eight meters each second.

Scientists have learned how to separate radio waves into different lengths called frequencies. This permits many radio stations to broadcast at the same time and not interfere with each other.

Most radio frequencies around the world are named after Heinrich Hertz. For example, one popular radio station in Washington, D.C. broadcasts on six hundred thirty kilohertz. This is called a medium wave. The kilo means thousand. The hertz means cycles or waves per second.

VOICE TWO:

You may be hearing our broadcast on what is called short wave. These are frequencies between three thousand and thirty thousand kilohertz. They are often called megahertz. Mega means a million. One megahertz is the same as one thousand kilohertz.

Short wave is good for broadcasting very long distances. The short wave signals bounce off the ionosphere that surrounds the Earth, back to the ground and then back to the ionosphere.

Short wave can be heard for very long distances, but sometimes the signal is not clear. However, radio technology continues to improve. Today, VOA broadcasts to satellites in space that send the signal back to stations on the ground that transmit programs with a clear signal.

It is even possible today to use a computer to link with thousands of radio stations around the world. We think Mister Hertz would be very proud of the little device he thought would never be of any use.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Study Says Breast-Cancer Treatments Increase Survival Rates

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I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

New drugs, diet and exercise can help fight breast cancer.

More than one million new cases of breast cancer are reported every year around the world. But survival rates have increased in recent years in the United States, Britain and some other countries. A new report says drug treatments have played a major part.

Researchers at Oxford University in England led a team that gathered results from nearly two hundred studies. These involved one hundred forty-five thousand women with early breast cancer.

When breast cancer is found early, before it has spread, doctors can operate to remove any disease they find. But some cells may remain that can become cancerous later in life. So additional treatments aim to prevent breast cancer from coming back.

In some cases, the new study found that drugs could reduce by half the risk of death from breast cancer within fifteen years. That is, from the time the cancer is found. This effect was shown in middle-aged women with the most common breast cancer. They began with six months of a combination of chemotherapy drugs. Then came five years of the drug tamoxifen. Tamoxifen helps block the effects of estrogen. Estrogen is the hormone linked to the most common kind of breast cancer.

The researchers found that survival rates were higher fifteen years after treatment than they were after five years. They note that further improvements in long-term survival could result from newer drugs, or from better use of older one. The report also says the risk of dying from the drugs was small.

The report appeared in May in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Two unrelated studies were also in the news. Researchers at Harbor-U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles did one of them. They found some evidence that a low-fat diet can reduce the chances that breast cancer will return within five years.

The second study dealt with exercise among three thousand women with breast cancer. Doctor Michelle Holmes at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston led the study. She says almost any amount of physical activity was linked with a lower risk of death from breast cancer.

She says women who walked three to five hours per week gained the most improvement. They were half as likely to die from the disease as inactive women with breast cancer.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. Our reports are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Gwen Outen.

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June 1, 2005 - U.S. Academic Writing Style, Part 2

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: more of our discussion with Jane Dunphy, director of the English Language Studies Program at M.I.T., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

RS: Our subject is the American style of academic writing, including the traditional five-paragraph essay, and the challenges of academic writing for non-native English speakers.

JANE DUNPHY: "Some cultures graduate students from undergraduate schools without having written basically at all. They have huge classrooms with one authoritative teacher -- and authoritarian both. And they work on translation or they -- they really do learn how to do multiple-choice testing very well, that kind of thing. But they haven't been writing regularly for a real purpose."

RS: "What tips do you have for English language learners who may be listening to this broadcast and want to improve their writing?"

JANE DUNPHY: "Read. I think reading is really essential for acquiring the knowledge to write a language. I think that you develop instincts that are very hard to learn if you sit down and try to memorize or try to learn them through translation.

"For students who are interested in studying, in English, a scientific or technical or business field, I think it's useful to look at publications in those areas. And look at the language, not just look at the content, but really look at the way things are structured, where the main message comes, how paragraphs work, with topic sentences. I think awareness is 90 percent of success."

AA: "Well, let me ask you, I mean, how do you know what constitutes a well-written research article?"

JANE DUNPHY: "Well, the most prestigious journals typically attract the best writing. So any journal that's the hardest to get published in your field is the place to go."

RS: "And perhaps study groups, working with a friend, or bringing these journals into their English language classroom."

JANE DUNPHY: "Yep. I think peer review is a really good idea. It's a lot easier to review someone else's inadequate writing or confusing writing than it is your own after you've spent a lot of time writing."

AA: "And finally, just to get back to the five-paragraph essay again ... "

JANE DUNPHY: [laughs]

AA: "Any final thoughts about that? I mean, that is the model that is taught. What are the pluses or minuses of that model, and is there another alternative that you like to suggest?"

JANE DUNPHY: "I think it's necessary to know how to do it for any kind of standardized test. I think that students that are studying in an American system, in lower grades, not higher education, have to know how to do it.

"I think the best thing they can do when they get out of those situations is unlearn it, because I just don't think it's adequate for almost anything that we do. The whole idea of five paragraphs is based on three main topics you want to develop. Well, that's a silly way to go about writing about something if you automatically have to limit yourself or expand your point to include three main topics."

RS: "Although it is a place to start. It's a way in which to organize your thoughts."

JANE DUNPHY: "Yep, I agree. It does force you to use paragraphs and topic sentences, which are not a universal either."

RS: "And forces you to think, as I'm trying to help my son, who's in ninth grade. [Laughter]"

JANE DUNPHY: "Maybe I'll eventually get your son at M.I.T. and I'll be saying forget everything you ever learned -- "

RS and AA: "From your mother!"

JANE DUNPHY: "About analyzing literature or anything else!"

RS: "Oh, maybe you will."

AA: "Let me ask you, how do you know when to end one paragraph and to begin the next?"

JANE DUNPHY: "Well, you can either do it by content or you can do it by length or you can do it by both. Generally we have unspoken rules in English that we don't have ten paragraphs on a page. That would be quite unusual to see."

RS: "You need the page breaks."

JANE DUNPHY: "There's another unspoken rule that we don't have one [paragraph filling a page]. That would be unusual.

"So you do need a break, for ease of reading. And that's basically what paragraphs are about. They're about ease of reading. We indent them in most areas to make it easy for the reader to find. Often writers go back and put a topic sentence on a paragraph to make it easy to read. They haven't naturally developed a paragraph from topic sentence down, but they go backwards and do it.

"It relates, I think, to the way we read too. Now that could be circular. I don't know if we read because of that, or we write ... I don't know how that works."

RS: Jane Dunphy is director of the English Language Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

AA: You can find the first part of our interview on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

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This Week on AGRICULTURE REPORT, the Buzz About Bees

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I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

More than ninety kinds of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seed crops depend on bees for reproduction. Bees pollinate thousands of millions of dollars worth of crops.

The insects gather nectar liquid from flowers. As they do this, pollen sticks to the bees. Pollen is the reproductive material of flowers. As a bee travels from plant to plant, so does the pollen.

Beekeepers transport their colonies by truck to farms where crops need pollination. Pennsylvania State University estimates that the United States has about one hundred fifty thousand beekeepers.

Bees are good pollinators. But most people know them as producers of honey and wax.

In the United States, the Agriculture Department says more than two and one-half million colonies produced honey last year. Production increased one percent, though the number of colonies decreased two percent from two thousand three.

Honey can be stored, so producers can wait to sell when prices are up. But then prices fall as producers flood the market. That happened last year. Prices fell twenty-two percent after a good production year in two thousand three.

Between two and four colonies are needed to pollinate one hectare of most crops. Bees pollinate almost all almond and apple trees. Vegetables like broccoli, carrots, celery and onions require bee pollination.

Experts say even crops that do not require bee pollination can be increased with the help of bees. The quality of many crops depends on the amount of pollination they receive. Crops like apples can grow unevenly if bees do not provide enough pollen for good reproduction.

Honeybees can be killed by chemical poisons. But they also have a lot of natural enemies. In North and South America, Asia and Europe, mites can destroy hives. These tiny creatures suck the blood of bees. Varroa mites are a serious threat to honeybees. Tracheal mites are also a big problem; they live in the breathing tubes of bees.

Wax moths are insects that eat wax in the hive. Bacterial diseases also affect colonies. The bacteria that cause European and American foulbrood attack and destroy young bees.

Raising bees can be difficult. But many people like to keep bees as a business or simply for pleasure.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Gwen Outen.

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Progress Made in Stem Cell Research

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Bob Doughty. On our program this week, we talk about a way to help lung cancer patients. We also report on a treatment that may return sight to damaged eyes.

VOICE ONE:

But first, we tell about a method to produce stem cells that could be used for disease research.

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VOICE ONE:

Scientists in South Korea have reported major progress in their efforts to copy human embryos. The scientists say they have used the method to produce embryonic stem cells. Stem cells have the ability to grow into other cells, such as heart, nerve or brain cells. So they might offer new ways to treat injury and disease.

The Korean scientists say their recent work resulted in eleven stem cell groups or lines. Each stem cell line is an exact genetic copy of a human patient involved in the experiments.

VOICE TWO:

Hwang Woo-suk and Moon Shin-yong led the research effort at Seoul National University. Maybe you recognize those names. We reported on the two men last year. At that time, they were the first scientists to report success in producing a stem cell line from a human embryo they had copied, or cloned.

Cloning is reproduction by one parent in which an exact genetic copy is created. A similar process happens in nature. It is called asexual reproduction.

In the laboratory, such a process begins with egg cells. Scientists remove the nucleus from each cell. The nucleus contains the complete genetic plan for an organism. The last step is to place the nucleus of an adult cell into the egg.

VOICE ONE:

The South Korean study last year involved eggs from sixteen women. The same women also provided the adult cells to be placed into each of their eggs.

Recently, the scientists used eggs from eighteen women. But, the skin cells they placed into the eggs came from eleven other people. Nine of them have spinal cord injuries. Another has the disease diabetes. And the eleventh has a genetic disorder. The group included men, women and a child as young as two years old.

VOICE TWO:

The scientists developed new methods for their experiments. For example, this time they did not use a needle to pull the nucleus from the egg.

Instead, they reportedly made a small cut in the egg and pressed the genetic material out through the opening. They used the same hole to place the skin cell into the egg.

The result was eleven stem cell lines from the nine of the people who provided skin cells. Scientists have never before produced stem cells that are genetic copies of people with diseases or injuries. Scientists hope stem cells will be helpful in the treatment of diseases and injuries because they can grow into any kind of cell.

VOICE ONE:

Gerald Schatten is a reproductive biologist at the University of Pittsburgh. He advised the Korean scientists and helped to prepare the English language version of their report. He says the study brings science much closer to use of stem cells in medical treatments. He says the scientists showed that stems cell lines can be established through the use of people of different ages, sexes and health conditions.

Not everyone is as happy about the study. There are many political and moral questions about experiments involving cloning. Lawmakers in many areas are not sure how to supervise such science.

Last week, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would ease restrictions on government aid for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill. He says an embryo is human life and should not be destroyed.

VOICE TWO:

Some people have expressed fear that cloning could one day be used to produce babies. Some scientists have already created animals this way. But, most scientists, politicians and clergy say the idea of reproductive cloning of humans is un-acceptable.

Doctor Hwang says the goal of his experiments is limited to finding cures for disease and injury. He says it must continue for this reason only. He says his team has no plan of using the new method for making babies.

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VOICE ONE:

An American research center has reported studies that may some day help return sight to damaged eyes. Scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute say they have repaired a damaged optic nerve connection in mice.

Dong Feng Chen reported on the study. She teaches at Harvard Medical School in the state of Massachusetts. The study was published in the magazine, Journal of Cell Science.

The optic nerve connection links the eye to the brain. It makes sight possible. The optic nerve contains millions of nerve cells. When healthy, the cells carry sight messages from the eye to the brain. The brain makes it possible for a person or animal to see the image sent by the eye.

The eye and the optic nerve are part of the central nervous system. Many body parts are able to repair themselves after injury. But this is not true for nerve cells in the central nervous system.

VOICE TWO:

Doctor Chen and her team want to know why tissue from the central nervous system stops repairing itself. A scientist in Doctor Chen’s laboratory tested two ways to re-start the process in the optic nerve. One way involved a gene called BCL-two. BCL-two normally is not active. The scientists thought this lack of activity was blocking nerve restoration. So they developed a mouse in which the gene is always active.

The scientists also believed scar tissue on the brain helped stop a damaged nerve from repairing itself. The scar was created from a healed wound soon after birth. Specialized cells called glial cells create the scar.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists found that the animals with the active BCL-two gene could quickly repair damaged optic-nerve tissue. But this could happen only when the mice were very young. It could happen only before their glial scars developed. Then the scientists carried out another experiment with mice. They again used animals with active BCL-two genes. But they added a process to the experiment. They reduced the ability to develop a glial scar in these mice. The optic nerves were restored in the mice, even when they were older.

Doctor Chen said the scientists observed that at least forty percent of the optic nerve in the animals had been repaired. But she said a higher percentage probably was repaired than they could observe. They will now attempt to learn if the restored nerves can operate like undamaged nerves. Doctor Chen says she believes their methods might repair optic nerves and other tissue of the nervous system.

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VOICE TWO:

A new study suggests that sunlight and vitamin D may help some people with lung cancer live longer. Lung cancer is the most common cancer around the world, with more than one million new cases each year. It kills more people than any other cancer. About sixty percent of those who get lung cancer die within a year. The major preventable cause is the use of tobacco.

Vitamin D helps build strong teeth and bones. Foods such as oily fish and egg yolks are high in vitamin D. But not many foods naturally have high amounts of the vitamin. So extra vitamin D is often added to milk products. Some people take vitamin D pills. Another way to get vitamin D is from sunshine. The body produces it through the skin from the ultraviolet radiation of the sun.

VOICE ONE:

Scientists from Harvard University led a study of more than four hundred fifty people. These men and women had been treated for lung cancer in Massachusetts. Doctors operated to remove their tumors.

Scientists asked the people what they ate, what vitamins they took and what time of year their operations had taken place. Some took high levels of vitamin D and had their operations during the summer, when there is lots of sunshine. Others had low levels of the vitamin, and were operated on in winter.

VOICE TWO:

The scientists found that thirty percent of the people in this second group were alive five years after their operation. Forty-six percent were disease-free. But patients with the highest vitamin D intake and summer operations had higher survival rates. Seventy-two percent were still alive after five years. And eighty-three percent were disease-free.

The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Other studies are needed to confirm them.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Cynthia Kirk, Jerilyn Watson and Caty Weaver. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.

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Memorial Day: Honoring America's War Dead

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Memorial Day is a national holiday observed on the last Monday in May. Memorial Day honors the men and women who have died in military service to the United States.

VOICE ONE:

This week on our program, we describe several military memorials that people often visit when they come to the nation's capital.

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VOICE TWO:

Part of the tradition of an American military funeral is the playing of a bugle call known as taps. On Memorial Day, taps is played at military burial grounds throughout the country.

Many cities and towns hold Memorial Day parades in which soldiers march. These parades also include high school marching bands and local leaders.

Many events will honor members of the armed forces now in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year, observances in San Francisco, California, and other places will also honor those killed in World War Two. This year is the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the war.

And, for San Francisco, this is the one hundred thirty-seventh Memorial Day observance.

VOICE ONE:

Memorial Day honors those who died in all of America's wars. But the holiday began as a way to honor soldiers killed during the Civil War between the North and the South. On May thirtieth, eighteen sixty-eight, flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.

Today, more than two hundred sixty thousand men and women are buried there. Some fought in the Revolutionary War in the seventeen hundreds. The eighty-hectare cemetery is in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

Up and down rolling hills, lines of simple white headstones mark the graves.

Others buried at Arlington National Cemetery include government officials and Supreme Court justices. Presidents John F. Kennedy and William Howard Taft are buried there.

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VOICE TWO:

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was the idea of a former soldier named Jan Scruggs. He fought in the Vietnam War. The war ended in nineteen seventy-five. Many soldiers came home only to face the anger of Americans who opposed the war. So Jan Scruggs organized an effort to remember those who never returned.

In nineteen eighty, a group of former soldiers announced a competition to design a memorial. The winner, Maya Lin, was twenty-one years old. She was studying architecture at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She designed a memorial made of two black stone walls.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial opened in nineteen eighty-two.

VOICE ONE:

The black stone walls are set into the earth. They are about seventy-six meters long. They meet to form a wide V. Cut into the walls are the names of more than fifty eight-thousand Americans killed or missing-in-action.

Nearby is a statue of three soldiers. They are looking in the direction of the names. Another statue honors the service of women in the war.

Now there are plans for an underground educational center. It will inform the public about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam War.

VOICE TWO:

Each year about one-and-a-half million people visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is one of the most-visited places in Washington.

Almost any time of day, you can see people looking for the name of a family member or friend who died in Vietnam. Once they find it, many rub a pencil on paper over the letters to copy the name.

VOICE ONE:

After the success of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Congress approved a memorial to veterans of the Korean War. The Korean War Veterans Memorial opened in July of nineteen ninety-five near the Vietnam memorial.

The Korean War lasted from nineteen fifty to nineteen fifty-three. The memorial honors those who died, as well as those who survived.

VOICE TWO:

The memorial includes a group of nineteen statues of soldiers. These soldiers appear to be walking up a hill, toward an American flag. The Korean War has been called "the last foot soldier's war."

Artist Frank Gaylord created the statues from steel. Each is more than two meters tall. People who drive along a road near the memorial sometimes think the statues are real.

On one side of the Korean War Veterans Memorial is a stone walkway. It lists the names of the twenty-two countries that sent troops to Korea under United Nations command. On the other side is a shiny stone wall. Sandblasted into the wall are images from photographs of more than two thousand five hundred support troops.

VOICE ONE:

The last part of the memorial is the Pool of Remembrance. This round pool shows the numbers of American and United Nations forces killed, wounded, captured or missing. The total is more than two million. Cut into the wall above the pool is a message: "Freedom is not free."

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VOICE TWO:

One of the least known memorials on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is often called "The Temple." It is a round stone structure, partly hidden behind trees. It honors troops from the District of Columbia who died in World War One.

It was completed in nineteen thirty-one. John Philip Sousa led the band at opening ceremonies for the memorial.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty-six, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation to honor women in the military. Since nineteen ninety-seven, a memorial near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia has done just that. It is called the Women in Military Service for America Memorial.

It recognizes the service of all the women who have taken part in the nation's wars. More than two million women have served or currently serve in the armed forces.

VOICE TWO:

Michael Manfredi and Marion Gail Weiss designed a place of glass, water and light. The memorial has a large wall shaped in a half-circle. In front, two-hundred jets of water meet in a pool.

Inside the memorial, the stories of women in wartime are cut into glass panels. Information can also be found by computer. There are names, pictures, service records and personal statements of about two hundred fifty-thousand military women.

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VOICE ONE:

In Washington, the newest major memorial is the World War Two Memorial. It rises between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument on the National Mall. America entered the war after Japan bombed the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December seventh, ninety forty-one.

Sixteen million men and women served in the American military between nineteen forty-one and nineteen forty-five. More than four hundred thousand died.

VOICE TWO:

The World War Two Memorial stands in the open air. It is built of bronze and granite. In the center, at ground level, is a round pool of water. Except in very cold weather, water shoots from a circle of fountains in the middle.

When the sun is just right, rainbows of color dance in the air. Fifty-six stone pillars rise around the pool. These represent each of the American states and territories, plus the District of Columbia, at the time of the war. On two tall arches appear the names of where it all took place. One says Atlantic; the other says Pacific.

Many older men and women who served during World War Two visit the memorial. One visitor, a former Navy man, once said: "The only good thing about my fighting in the war was that I was too young to be terrified."

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty-six, Congress approved the idea for another memorial on the National Mall. This one is to be called the Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial. The purpose is to honor about five thousand slaves and free black people who fought for American independence.

The Black Patriots Foundation has been collecting money to build the memorial. Its Web site says nine-and-a-half million dollars is needed by September fifteenth, or the group will lose control over the land.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Our programs are online at voaspecialenglish.com. And our e-mail address is special@voanews.com. Please join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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New Head of U.N. Refugee Agency Chosen

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I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Angonio Guterres (Image: www.un.org)

Antonio Guterres, chosen as the new head of the United Nations refugee agency, is a former prime minister of Portugal. Mister Guterres served from nineteen ninety-six to two thousand two. He resigned after heavy losses by his Socialist Party in local elections.

Since nineteen ninety-nine, Mister Guterres has been president of the Socialist International. That is an organization of one hundred sixty-six social democratic, socialist and labor parties around the world. Since two thousand three, Mister Guterres has also advised the board of directors of one of the largest banks in Portugal.

Last week, Secretary General Kofi Annan nominated him to become the tenth U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Approval is required by the General Assembly in New York. Mister Guterres is to begin a three-year term on June fifteenth.

Antonio Guterres is fifty-six years old. He served in the Portuguese parliament from nineteen seventy-six to nineteen eighty-three. Two years later he returned to parliament and served for ten more years. During that time he started the Portuguese Refugee Council.

Former Dutch prime minister Ruud Lubbers resigned in February as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Several women had accused him of sexual harassment. Mister Lubbers denied any wrongdoing. In his resignation letter, he said he had felt insulted by the way he was treated. He suggested that media pressure on Mister Annan had played a part.

Wendy Chamberlin has been the acting head of the U.N. refugee agency. She calls Mister Guterres a "highly respected international statesman with a wealth of experience."

The agency is called the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or U.N.H.C.R. The General Assembly passed a resolution in December of nineteen fifty to establish the office.

The main purpose is to protect the rights and security of refugees. Today, U.N. officials estimate that there are seventeen million refugees and others of concern to the agency, such as asylum seekers.

The U.N.H.C.R. has six thousand employees in one hundred fifteen countries. The agency has won two Nobel Peace Prizes. And it estimates it has helped more than fifty million people.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Our reports are on the Internet at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Gwen Outen.

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Palestinian, Indonesian and Afghan Leaders Visit President Bush

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I’m Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The leaders of Afghanistan, Indonesia and the Palestinian Authority met with President Bush in Washington this week.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited the White House on Monday. He and Mister Bush signed a cooperation agreement that promises continued American support for Afghanistan.

But Mister Karzai failed to gain a promise of greater control over United States military operations in his country. Under current policy, American military officials must only inform Afghan officials about planned operations.

Mister Karzai also asked for control over Afghan citizens suspected of terrorism. He called reports of mistreatment of Afghans held by the American military “displeasing.” But Mister Bush questioned the ability of the Afghan government to house and guard the prisoners.

Also in the United States, Mister Karzai defended his record in fighting the illegal drug trade in his country. He says he hopes Afghanistan will be free of opium poppies in five or six years.

On Wednesday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with President Bush. They discussed economic ties and military cooperation. Later, the United States said it plans to give Indonesia about four hundred million dollars in tsunami aid. That is almost half what the United States has promised to countries struck by the huge earthquake and waves in the Indian Ocean in December. The waves tore across large parts of the Indonesian province of Aceh.

The two presidents also agreed to continue to work to renew normal military relations. In nineteen ninety-nine, Congress ended military aid to Indonesia over human rights concerns. But Indonesia is now involved again in a program that lets Indonesian soldiers study and train in the United States.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Mister Bush on Thursday. The Bush administration offered the Palestinian Authority fifty million dollars in direct aid. The money is to help rebuild housing, roads and bridges. President Bush had never invited the former Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, to the White House.

In recent weeks, Afghanistan, Indonesia and the Middle East have all had protests over a report that appeared in Newsweek magazine. It said Americans had mistreated Korans at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Newsweek later apologized and withdrew the report.

On Thursday, the Defense Department announced findings from a continuing investigation. Defense officials said investigators had found five incidents of "mishandling" of the Islamic holy book. They said some appeared accidental.

The officials did not give details of the five cases. But they said there was no proof for the Newsweek report that a Koran had been flushed down a toilet.

On Friday more protests took place in a number of Muslim countries.

IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English, was written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Steve Ember.

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Barbara McClintock, 1902-1992, Was a Mover in Genetic Research

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(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Barbara McClintock. She was one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century. She made important discoveries about genes and chromosomes.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Barbara McClintock was born in nineteen-oh-two in Hartford, Connecticut. Barbara was the third of four children. Her family moved to the Brooklyn area of New York City in nineteen-oh-eight. Barbara was an active child with interests in sports and music. She also developed an interest in science.

She studied science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Barbara was among a small number of undergraduate students to receive training in genetics in nineteen twenty-one. Years later, she noted that few college students wanted to study genetics.

VOICE TWO:

In the early nineteen-twenties, genetics had not received widespread acceptance as a subject. Only twenty years had passed since scientists re-discovered the theories of heredity. Gregor Mendel proposed these ideas after completing a series of experiments with plants. His experiments helped scientists better understand how genes operate. They showed how genetic qualities are passed to living things from their ancestors.

VOICE ONE:

Barbara McClintock decided to study botany, the scientific study of plants, at Cornell University. She completed her undergraduate studies in nineteen twenty-three. McClintock decided to continue her education at Cornell. She completed a master’s degree in nineteen twenty-five. Two years later, she finished all her requirements for a doctorate degree.

In the late nineteen-twenties, McClintock joined several other students in a group that studied genetics. The students included a future winner of the Nobel Prize, George Beadle. Another was Marcus Rhoades. Years later, he would become a leading expert in genetics.

McClintock said both men recognized the importance of exploring the connection between genes and chromosomes.

McClintock stayed at Cornell after she completed her education. She taught students botany. She also supervised genetic studies of the corn plant, or maize. She studied chromosomes, which are lines of genes. She made several discoveries about genes and chromosomes.

VOICE TWO:

The nineteen thirties were not a good time to be a young scientist in the United States. The country was in the middle of the great economic depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed. Male scientists were offered jobs. But female geneticists were not much in demand.

McClintock received two offers to travel and carry out research projects. The first came from America’s National Research Council. She worked at several places, including Cornell and the University of Missouri in Columbia. Later, a group called the Guggenheim Foundation provided financial aid for her to study in Germany. McClintock went to Berlin, but returned to Cornell the following year. Her skills and work were widely praised. But she still was unable to find a permanent job.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

For years, scientists had been using x-rays to study genetic material in plants and other organisms. They found that x-rays caused genes to change. Sometimes, the x-rays physically broke the chromosome. Genetic researchers looked for changes in the organism. Then they used this information to produce a map linking the changes to a single area of the chromosome.

McClintock became interested in the way genes reacted to unusual events. She formed a successful working relationship with Lewis Stadler of the University of Missouri. He had demonstrated the effects of x-rays on corn.

Stadler sent maize treated with radiation to McClintock. She identified unusual areas she called ring chromosomes. She believed they were chromosomes broken by radiation. The broken ends sometimes joined together and formed a circle, or ring. This led her to believe that a structure at the end of the chromosome prevents chromosomes from changing. She called this structure the telomere.

VOICE TWO:

Stadler got the University of Missouri to offer a permanent position to McClintock in nineteen thirty-six. She became an assistant professor. During her time at the university, she worked with plants treated with x-rays. She also discovered plants with chromosomes that broke without help of radiation. She described this activity as the breakage-fusion-bridge cycle.

University officials and professors recognized the importance of McClintock’s research. Yet she believed that she was not able to make progress in her position. So she decided to leave the University of Missouri.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

An old friend from Cornell, Marcus Rhoades, invited McClincock to spend the summer of nineteen forty-one working at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It is a research center on Long Island, near New York City.

McClintock started in a temporary job with the genetics department. A short time later, she accepted a permanent position with the laboratory. This gave her the freedom to continue her research without having to teach or repeatedly ask for financial aid.

At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, McClintock continued her work with the breakage-fusion-bridge cycle. She found that some corn plant genes acted in an unusual way. They appeared to move from cell to cell during development of corn particles, or kernels. She discovered that the genes moved on and between chromosomes.

VOICE TWO:

McClintock confirmed her discovery and extended her observations for six years. The changes could not be explained by any known theory. So, she developed her own theory. She believed the moveable genes were not genes at all, but genetic controllers or controlling elements. She said they influenced the actions of other genes.

During this period, McClintock was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She was the third woman ever so honored. She also was named president of the Genetics Society of America.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-one, McClintock was asked to present her findings at a conference held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Her report described the movement of genes from one part of a chromosome to another. She used the presentation to discuss her ideas of controlling elements in genes.

The other scientists reacted to her ideas with a mixture of criticism and silence. Most scientists believed that genes did not move. Few people seemed to accept her findings. Yet others argued that her experiments were complex and difficult to explain, even to other scientists. They said she would not have been invited to speak unless conference organizers understood some of the importance of her work.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

For years, many scientists dismissed McClintock’s findings. During this period, she continued doing her own work and reaching her own findings. Beginning in the late nineteen-fifties, she went to Central and South America to study different kinds of maize plants. She examined the development of agricultural maize by native peoples. She also assisted younger scientists and students in genetics.

Her work at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory was recognized in nineteen seventy. She was given the American government’s highest science award – the National Medal of Science.

VOICE ONE:

By the nineteen-seventies, newly developed methods of molecular biology confirmed what McClintock had learned through observation. Her discoveries have had an effect on everything from genetic engineering to cancer research.

McClintock won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in nineteen eighty-three for her discovery of the ability of genes to change positions on chromosomes. She was the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize.

Barbara McClintock remained at Cold Spring Harbor for the rest of her life. She died in nineteen ninety-two. She was ninety years old.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by George Grow. Lawan Davis was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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In a Galaxy Far, Far Away, 'Star Wars' Comes to an End

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(MUSIC)

HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

Award winning country music …

A question from a listener about our Special English announcers …

And a report about the opening of the last Star Wars movie.

Last 'Star Wars' Movie

“Star Wars: Episode Three -- Revenge of the Sith” opened last week around the world. In the United States, it earned more money in its first twenty-four hours than any other movie in history. It sold fifty million dollars worth of tickets in one day. The film also earned more money in the United States in its first four days than any other movie – more than one hundred fifty eight million dollars. It also earned more than one hundred forty-four million dollars in other countries. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS: “Revenge of the Sith” is the last in the series of six “Star Wars” movies. American film director George Lucas produced the first “Star Wars” movie in nineteen seventy-seven. The first three movies in the series told the story of wars among planets that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Those three movies were “Star Wars”, “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Return of the Jedi”. The main characters were Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the evil Darth Vader.

But George Lucas wanted to tell more stories about what happened in the years before the first “Star Wars” movies take place. He wanted to explain more about Darth Vader and his connections to the other characters. Lucas waited for years to make those movies until motion picture technology developed the special effects he wanted.

“Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace” opened in nineteen ninety-nine. It is about Anakin Skywalker, the boy who would grow up to become Darth Vader. Three years later, “Attack of the Clones” continued the story of Anakin Skywalker. It ended with his secret marriage to Padme Amidala.

The new movie, “Revenge of the Sith,” tells how Anakin Skywalker turns away from the good Jedi knights and becomes their enemy, Darth Vader. It explains why his children, Luke and Leia, were separated at birth.

Critics generally said “Revenge of the Sith” is one of the best of the six movies. Some said it is the best one. They especially praised the action in the film and the special effects. However, they said it is more violent than the other “Star Wars” films and is not for young children.

So what will George Lucas do now that the “Star Wars” series is finished? He told Time Magazine recently that he is planning to produce a film about African-American fighter pilots in World War Two. And he wants to make another movie about the action hero he created, Indiana Jones.

Special English Announcers

Our question this week comes from a listener in Kabul, Afghanistan. Inamullah Mohmand asks about the announcers for Special English programs. He wonders if all of them are from the United States. And he asks which American state accent is considered the standard for English pronunciation in the United States and on the program.

These questions are complex! We decided to find out more from our announcers. Gwen Outen is one of the newest voices in Special English. She was happy to tell us a little about her background.

Gwen was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But she was raised in Nashville, Tennessee. That is the traditional home of country music at the Grand Ole Opry. Gwen is the first to admit that she has a Southern, country accent.

But Gwen tries not to speak with an accent when she is on the radio. She likes to present a more neutral sound on air.

However, this does not mean that different accents are unacceptable. Former Special English announcer Mary Tillotson has a clear southern accent. And, Shirley Griffith has a very apparent northern accent that comes all the way from Canada where she was born. Shirley has lived in the United States most of her adult life. But, you can still hear the Canadian accent in words like “house” and “about.”

And, now, a little about me, one of the oldest --- or, let us say, more experienced -- Special English announcers. I come from Milford, Delaware. My accent is referred to as “Eastern Shore.” They call people from my area “hitiders” or “high tiders.” We come from “Delware” or Delaware.

Like Gwen, I try to keep my sound neutral when I broadcast. But, my accent slips in sometimes. There are just some words I do not know how to say any other way, even on air. But, I am not going to tell you those words. I do not want you to notice in the future!

Country Music Awards

The Academy of Country Music Awards celebrated its fortieth birthday last week. The Academy presented its yearly awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gwen Outen tells us about some of the winners.

GWEN OUTEN: Each year, the Academy of Country Music honors the biggest and newest stars in country music. This year, the Academy honored singer Tim McGraw for his hit record, “Live Like You Were Dying.” It was named top single record and best song.

(MUSIC)

Gretchen Wilson won two Academy of Country Music Awards -- for top new artist and best female singer. Her first album was “Redneck Woman.” Here is the title song.

(MUSIC)

The Academy of Country Music’s top award is entertainer of the year. The winner this year was singer Kenny Chesney. We leave you with a song from his latest album, “When The Sun Goes Down.”

(MUSIC)

HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

Our show was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who also was our producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

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U.S. Moves to Limit Chinese Clothing Imports

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I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

For the past ten years, a trade agreement permitted countries to limit imports of textiles and clothing. That agreement ended January first. Now the general rules of the World Trade Organization take its place.

The end of the quota system has meant a big increase in exports of clothing and textile products from China. Some countries say Chinese exports have grown too fast. The United States has acted to place new import limits.

Such actions are the job of a group of government agencies called the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements. On May thirteenth, the committee announced import limits on three products made of cotton and man-made fibers. Later, the group added four more to the list. Other cases remain.

The plan is to limit the growth of imports for the restricted products to seven and one-half percent through the end of this year. The limits take effect on the day that the committee officially asks for talks with the Chinese government. The first request came on Monday.

Terms for Chinese entry into the World Trade Organization permit any W.T.O member to take such action against China. This right to "safeguard" markets is to remain in effect through two thousand eight.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry expressed what it called "firm opposition and strong displeasure" with the American action. But last Friday the Xinhua news agency said China would move to restrict clothing exports. The report said the government would increase export taxes on more than seventy products, most by four hundred percent.

Last year, China had a trade surplus with the United States of one hundred sixty-two thousand million dollars.

The new import limits pleased American clothing makers. The National Council of Textile Organizations says the measures will save thousands of jobs. The group says almost seventeen thousand jobs have been lost already.

Clothing sellers, however, are not pleased. The National Retail Federation says the new limits will mean higher prices at stores. The trade group also says that suppliers will find other low-cost foreign makers. And it argues that the trade measures will do nothing to save American jobs.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Gwen Outen.

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The Guitar: an Instrument for Any Kind of Music

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(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Phoebe Zimmermann with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a very popular musical instrument. Listen and see if you can guess what it is.

(MUSIC: "LITTLE MARTHA" BY THE ALLMAN BROTHERS)

VOICE ONE:

The guitar is an ancient instrument.

If you guessed it was a guitar, you are correct. Probably no other musical instrument is as popular around the world as the guitar. Musicians use the guitar for almost every kind of music. Country and western music would not be the same without a guitar. The traditional Spanish folk music called Flamenco could not exist without a guitar. The sound of American blues music would not be the same without the sad cry of the guitar. And rock and roll music would almost be impossible without this instrument.

VOICE TWO:

Music experts do not agree about where the guitar first was played. Most agree it is ancient. Some experts say an instrument very much like a guitar was played in Egypt more than one thousand years ago.

Some other experts say that the ancestor of the modern guitar was brought to Spain from Persia sometime in the twelfth century. The guitar continued to develop in Spain. In the seventeen hundreds it became similar to the instrument we know today.

Many famous musicians played the instrument. The famous Italian violinist Niccolo Paganinni played and wrote music for the guitar in the early eighteen hundreds. Franz Schubert used the guitar to write some of his famous works. In modern times Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia helped make the instrument extremely popular.

One kind of music for the guitar developed in the southern area of Spain called Adalusia. It will always be strongly linked with the Spanish guitar. It is called Flamenco. Carlos Montoya was a Spanish Gypsy. Listen as he plays a Flamenco song called “Jerez.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen thirties, Les Paul began experimenting with ways to make an electric guitar. He invented the solid body electric guitar in nineteen forty-six. The Gibson Guitar Company began producing its famous Les Paul Guitar in nineteen fifty-two. It became a powerful influence in popular music. The instrument has the same shape and the same six strings as the traditional guitar, but it sounds very different.

Les Paul produced a series of extremely popular recordings that introduced the public to his music. They included Paul playing as many as six musical parts at the same time. Listen to this Les Paul recording. It was the fifth most popular song in the United States in nineteen fifty-two. It is called “Meet Mister Callaghan.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The guitar has always been important to blues music. The electric guitar Les Paul helped develop made modern blues music possible. There have been many great blues guitarists. Yet, music experts say all blues guitar players are measured against one man and his famous guitar. That man is B.B. King. Every blues fan knows that years ago B.B. King named his guitar Lucille. Here B.B. King plays Lucille on his famous recording of “The Thrill Is Gone”.

(MUSIC)

Lucille, B. B. King’s large, beautiful black guitar, is important to American music. Visitors can see King’s very first guitar at the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum is the only permanent exhibit organized by the Smithsonian Institution outside Washington, D.C. and New York City.

VOICE ONE:

Another famous guitar in American music also has a name. It belongs to country music star Willie Nelson. His guitar is as famous in country music as Lucille is in blues music. Its name is Trigger.

Trigger is really a very ugly guitar. It looks like an old, broken instrument someone threw away. Several famous people have written their names on it. A huge hole was torn in the front of it a long time ago. It looks severely damaged. But the huge hole, the names and other marks seem to add to its sound. Listen while Willie Nelson plays “Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Many rock and roll performers are very good with a guitar. One of the best is Chuck Berry. Berry’s method of playing the guitar very fast was extremely popular when rock music began. He still is an important influence on rock and roll music. Listen as Chuck Berry plays and sings one of his hit songs. He recorded it in nineteen fifty-seven. The song is about a guitar player named “Johnny B. Goode.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

There are almost as many different kinds of guitar music as there are musicians. We cannot play them all in one program. So we leave you with one guitar player who often mixes several kinds of music.

His name is Jose Feliciano. Here he plays a song that is based on traditional Spanish guitar music. He mixes this with a little jazz and a little blues and adds a Latin sound. Here is “Bamboleo.”

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Phoebe Zimmermann.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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Study Suggests Laughter Is Good for the Heart

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I’m Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Hey, what's so funny?

Have you heard the old saying that laughter is the best medicine? Then listen to this. Seriously, research has already shown that mental stress can restrict blood flow to the heart. But now a study has linked laughter to increased blood flow. Laughter appears to cause the tissue inside blood vessels to expand. As a result, laughing may be important to reduce the risk of heart disease.

So says Doctor Michael Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center. He led a study of twenty men and women, all healthy. To get them to laugh, they watched part of the movie “Kingpin,” a nineteen ninety-six comedy. To create the opposite emotions, they watched the opening battle in the nineteen ninety-eight war movie “Saving Private Ryan.”

The researchers used ultrasound technology to measure changes in blood flow through an artery in the arm.

Blood flow increased in nineteen of the twenty people after they watched "Kingpin." The increase was an average of twenty-two percent. Doctor Miller says that is similar to the effects of aerobic exercise.

Blood flow decreased in fourteen of the twenty people after they watched "Saving Private Ryan." The decrease was an average of thirty-five percent.

Studies have shown that stress can reduce the body’s ability to fight disease. When the body is under stress, it produces hormones such as adrenalin and cortisol. Cortisol is related to fear; adrenalin prepares the body to react. But too much of these hormones can be harmful.

Doctor Miller noted that the study could not explain how laughter is responsible for the effects observed. Do the effects come from the movement of muscles, or from a chemical release?

The researchers say laughter may cause the body to release pleasure chemicals, just as when a person exercises. Doctor Miller says these endorphins may block the effect of stress hormones and cause the blood vessels to expand. Laughter may also influence the release of nitric oxide, which too expands blood passages.

The results were presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. Doctor Miller does not advise people to replace exercise with laughter. But, based on the results, he does suggest fifteen minutes of laughter each day.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Gwen Outen.

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May 25, 2005 - U.S. Academic Writing Style, Part 1

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: we talk about the American style of academic writing, and the challenges to foreign students.

JANE DUNPHY: "Grad students often come here without ever having had to write a document. Never in English, often in their own language, they haven't had to really write anything."

Jane Dunphy directs the English Language Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

JANE DUNPHY: "I suppose when they're training for the TOEFL [Test of English as a Foreign Language] or something, they'll practice writing essays for the TOEFL with the many practice books that are out there that really produce these useless, canned essays that don't have anything to do with anything. But they haven't had to write up research. They haven't had to write up critical analysis of a text or of a program or of a piece of equipment. So they're really behind conceptually. Even if English wasn't a problem, that would be a problem."

RS: "So where do you start?"

JANE DUNPHY: "That's a good question [laughs]. I start culturally. I talk about how English cultures in general are reading cultures. I talk a lot about that kind of thing, the role of text, because I think it's something that's not necessarily -- well, I know it's not universal. I just know it's not."

AA: "Could you describe the American academic style of writing?"

JANE DUNPHY: "Typically the American academic style, or what most people think of it as, the American academic style, I think comes out of the humanities more than anything else. We were all trained starting in elementary school to say what we're going to say, say it and say what we said, in a five-paragraph essay. That's sort of the classic model."

AA: "Which is good or bad or what?"

JANE DUNPHY: "Oh, I think the five-paragraph model has a place somewhere. In school, maybe? I think if you look at extended essays in journals like The Atlantic Monthly, you do see at the core the same idea. It's not five paragraphs, of course, but you do see the same kind of idea where you introduce your topic, you develop your topic and then you summarize your topic. That's really not the way any kind of professional writing works at all.

"The whole style in professional or academic writing outside the humanities is a very direct approach. You say exactly what your main point is. You don't make anybody wait. When you think about scientific and technical subjects, there's an abstract that provides the key message, and in the introduction often you provide the results of your experiment. So you're constantly hammering home the key message. It's not about the pleasure of the text the way essays are typically seen in a humanistic context. The writer should be invisible in other areas of academic writing. The goal is to make it as easy to possible for your reader to get your key message."

RS: "How do you do this in context in your classes? Do you use the information for the classes that the students are attending?"

JANE DUNPHY: "In a typical class I have between 12 and 18 students. The majority of them are grad students, though I usually have one or two undergrads in the same workshop. So the only way that we can sort of have any kind of quality control is by having them bring a published article from a prestigious journal in their field. And that is each individual student's basis of comparison.

"So everything we talk about, they go back and look at that. When we're talking about grammar, like verb forms, they go back and look at that. When we're talking about relative clause use, we use that as the basis for everything we talk about. Tone, informal/formal, we use those as the bases. I've collected over the years also a ton of examples from students, samples from before-and-after and different formats, from writing for a general audience -- which is how we start, typically -- to writing for a specialist audience and the difference in tone and the difference in length and where you find the key message and all that kind of thing."

RS: "So they can relate it to their own work."

JANE DUNPHY: "So they can relate it to their own field on the one hand and to their own lives on the other, because it's useful for them to see work written by their peers."

AA: More with Jane Dunphy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology next week on Wordmaster. Our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. And our Web site is voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

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Cover Crops Are Good for the Soil (and the Farmer)

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Note correction following the report

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I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Cover crops are an ancient way to help farmers improve their soil, increase their harvests and, these days, save money on chemicals.

Scientists like Aref Abdul-Baki search for new and better cover crops. Mister Abdul-Baki is with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. He works at the Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

Mister Abdul-Baki has found some cover crops to resist groundworms that attack the roots of tomatoes.

Sunn hemp, cowpea and velvet bean are good for warm, humid areas. The soil is plowed to plant the cover crops during the summer months. In the fall, the cover crops are turned over in the soil, then the tomatoes are planted.

In states with moderate climates, like Maryland and Virginia, the cover crops are planted in the fall to grow during early spring. Mister Abdul-Baki tells us that good cover crops are hairy vetch and rye.

To avoid soil loss, the seeds are planted without the use of plowing. In May, the cover crops are cut and the remains are left on the surface. The same method can be used for other summer crops like peppers, sweet corn, green beans and some melons.

After the cover crop is cut, the result is a layer of organic material. This will help the new crop grow and suppress unwanted plants. The cover crop provides extra nutrients to the soil. It also keeps the soil from drying out, and helps prevent the loss of soil.

In hot, dry areas, like in Southern California, cover crops help reduce soil temperatures. They also reduce water loss and erosion. Lana vetch is a good cover crop. It is planted in the fall and breaks down without any assistance. It releases its seeds back into the soil.

Mister Abdul-Baki says farmers who use cover crops no longer need to treat their soil with methyl bromide before they plant tomatoes. Methyl bromide kills many kinds of organisms. But Mister Abdul-Baki notes that the poison also damages the environment and is a health danger. The government restricts the use of methyl bromide. And countries have agreed to a treaty to ban it.

Aref Abdul-Baki says farmers who use cover crops produce as many, or more, tomatoes per hectare as compared to no use of cover crops.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Gwen Outen.

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We received the following letter:

I would like to express my appreciation for the report released on 23 May 2005 entitled “Cover Crops Are Good for the Soil (and the Farmer)”. I am the Research Leader for the USDA-ARS Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab in Beltsville, Maryland. Dr. Aref Abdul-Baki is a member of our laboratory and has been conducting a world-renowned research program on cover crops for many years. We are pleased to see this research reported to a worldwide audience whenever possible.

I would like to suggest changes to two sentences in the ninth paragraph that would improve the accuracy of this report. The sentence “Mister Abdul-Baki says farmers who use cover crops no longer need to treat their soil with methyl bromide before they plant tomatoes” may not be true under many conditions in subtropical climates where parasitic nematodes and fungal pathogens are prevalent; this system has not been adequately tested under these conditions. It would be better to say “Mister Abdul-Baki says farmers who use cover crops may not need methyl bromide before they plant tomatoes if they have low levels of nematodes and pathogens, but the cover crop system needs further testing under high disease pressure.”

In addition, the sentence “But Mister Abdul-Baki notes that the poison also damages the environment and is a health danger” does not represent his opinion. It would be more accurate to delete that sentence and merge the following two sentences to read, "Mister Abdul-Baki notes that world governments have agreed to a treaty to ban methyl bromide because it can contribute to global climate change."

I thank you for reporting on the important research that our lab has performed and that you will continue to highlight ARS research when the opportunity arises.

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Learning From a Volcano, 25 Years After Mount St. Helens Exploded

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Doug Johnson. Twenty-five years ago this month, a volcano exploded in the American state of Washington. On our program today, we tell about the explosion at Mount Saint Helens and how scientists have improved their knowledge of volcanic activity.

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VOICE ONE:

May eighteenth, nineteen eighty, was a beautiful Sunday morning in the small town of Ellensburg, Washington. Fifteen-year-old Scott Johnson was reading a book near his home. His twelve-year-old sister Leslie was playing with a basketball.

As Scott read, he looked up to see a huge, black cloud far away to the west. It might rain, he thought. Soon, he heard what sounded like a big gun. The sound seemed to grow louder. He looked up again. This time, he saw a huge cloud moving quickly across the sky.

The two children watched as the sky grew darker. The cloud began to block light from the sun. Scott again looked at his book. He noticed something unusual on the book. It looked like very fine dust. How strange, he thought. It is raining dust!

Scott and Leslie ran into the house and told their parents about what they saw. They turned on the television. They saw the first reports about the explosion of Mount Saint Helens. The cloud beginning to cover the sky was ash from the volcano. It had quickly reached Ellensburg from the volcano more than three hundred kilometers away.

VOICE TWO:

The cloud had now almost covered the sky. Scott watched the last small part of blue sky slowly disappear. Within moments, it was as black as night. A strong chemical smell was in the air.

Ash fell very quickly and in huge amounts. Scott, Leslie and their parents continued to watch television reports. Experts said they did not know what would happen.

Scott looked outside the house again. The ash now covered the ground. It was a frightening experience. He wondered, “Will the ash bury us?”

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VOICE ONE:

The ash that fell on Scott and Leslie Johnson in Ellensburg began flying through the air at eight thirty two in the morning, local time. Washington State’s beautiful Mount Saint Helens had exploded. The explosion was about three hundred fifty times more powerful than the explosions of the first nuclear bombs.

Fire, rock and volcanic gas flew out of the volcano with a force of four hundred eighty kilometers an hour. A cloud of ash went straight up more than twenty kilometers into the air in less than fifteen minutes. Within fifteen days, ash from the volcano traveled around the Earth in the upper atmosphere.

The explosion caused a landslide on the side of the mountain that became one of the largest such events in recorded history. More than four hundred meters of the top of the mountain disappeared. People near the volcano died immediately. Thousands of animals, birds and fish also were killed.

In just a short period, thirty-five thousand hectares of forest timber was destroyed. The heat was so fierce it killed every living thing in the immediate area, even bacteria.

VOICE TWO:

The Native American Indians in Washington State still call Mount Saint Helens by its Indian name: Loowit. It means “Lady of Fire.” On the morning of May eighteenth, nineteen eighty, the mountain again became a “Lady of Fire.”

The volcano had been giving warnings for three months. These warnings were in the form of many small earthquakes.

On March twenty-seventh, a small explosion blew away the ice and snow at the very top of the mountain. Steam burst from the top of the volcano.

By May seventeenth, more than ten thousand earthquakes had been measured. These earthquakes had caused the north face of the mountain to push out more one hundred forty meters. Volcano experts say this was strong evidence that hot liquid rock had risen high into the volcano. It was the day before the major explosion.

VOICE ONE:

Several weeks earlier, government officials had declared an emergency. They barred people from entering the Mount Saint Helens area. A special permit was needed to travel near the mountain. Officials also forced people who lived near the mountain to leave their homes. Many were angry, and demanded permission to return.

Some people violated government rules and visited the Mount Saint Helens area. They did not think the volcano represented a real danger. Workers who planted trees near the mountain were given documents that permitted them to continue their work. Scientists also were at the mountain, studying the volcano.

Many of these people were killed when the volcano exploded. Fifty-seven people died as a result of the explosion.

VOICE TWO:

The volcano exploded for more than eight hours. Then the explosions slowly began to decrease in force. But Mount Saint Helens was not finished. Five smaller explosions followed during the summer and autumn of nineteen eighty. Each explosion produced ash that rose twelve to fourteen kilometers into the sky.

In the twenty-five years since then, small explosions, earthquakes and other volcanic events were reported at the mountain. The most recent began in October of last year. But none of the events is comparable to the May eighteenth explosion. Still, experts say Mount Saint Helens will explode again sometime in the future.

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VOICE ONE:

The United States Congress created the Mount Saint Helens Monument in nineteen eighty-two. The monument covers a total of forty-four thousand five hundred hectares of the Mount Saint Helens area. It includes the mountain and much of the land around it.

The United States Forest Service supervises the area. But nature controls it. Trees, animals, fish, flowers and plants were left to a natural recovery process. Humans were not permitted to help.

The natural area around Mount Saint Helens that was almost completely destroyed is being rebuilt by nature. Many scientists have studied what happened in this natural laboratory. They found that nature is very quick to heal the wounds caused by the huge explosion.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists have learned much about volcanic activity since Mount Saint Helens exploded twenty-five years ago. More than twenty smaller explosions were observed at the volcano between nineteen eighty and nineteen eighty-six. Scientists also have been watching recent activity there.

One thing they have learned is that a volcano can come very close to exploding without giving any warning. They also learned that volcanic activity can continue for years without any explosions taking place.

The United States Geological Survey is responsible for providing warnings of possible volcanic explosions. It operates five volcano observation centers with the help of government agencies and universities.

VOICE ONE:

Late last month, scientists with the Geological Survey released a report on the nation’s one hundred sixty-nine active volcanoes. The report rates the most dangerous volcanoes in the United States. It also discusses problems with current methods of estimating future volcanic activity.

The scientists proposed a plan to improve volcano observations and provide better information about volcanic activity. They said the system could help prevent unnecessary and costly safety measures when such activity will not result in an explosion. They said it also would help warn airplanes of the possibility of dangerous ash in the atmosphere. Volcanic ash has caused millions of dollars in damage to planes and other aircraft in the past.

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Earlier, we told how Scott Johnson was concerned twenty-five years ago that the ash from Mount Saint Helens might cover his home. That did not happen, although the ash was deep in some parts of town. It had to be removed from streets and from tops of houses. Travel was almost impossible for several days.

Today, Scott Johnson is an engineer in Seattle, Washington. Leslie Johnson is a medical doctor in Portland, Oregon. Both say the Mount Saint Helens explosion was an experience they never will forget.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Paul Thompson and Nancy Steinbach. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for another SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.

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Keeping New Orleans Jazz Alive

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ANNOUNCER:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English.

Preservation Hall (Image: www.preservationhall.com)

This week, come along to the American South, to a special place in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a very small building on Saint Peter’s Street. For more than forty years, musicians who perform there have done their part to continue the tradition of New Orleans jazz. Now, Shirley Griffith and Sarah Long tell the story of Preservation Hall.

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VOICE ONE:

Saint Peter’s Street is in the oldest part of the city of New Orleans. French people built this part of the city. The area is still called the French Quarter. The little building that is home to Preservation Hall was built as a home in about Seventeen-Fifty.

In nineteen sixty-one, Allan and Sandra Jaffe began using the small building as a music hall. Musicians there played traditional New Orleans jazz. Mister and Missus Jaffe named the building Preservation Hall.

VOICE TWO:

The word “preservation” means keeping or protecting for the future. When Allan and Sandra Jaffe opened Preservation Hall in nineteen sixty-one, traditional New Orleans Jazz music was in danger of disappearing.

Young people wanted to hear the music of Elvis Presley and other rock and roll stars. Not many young people wanted to listen to a very old kind of music that was first popular in the early Eighteen-Nineties.

VOICE ONE:

However, many older musicians still liked traditional New Orleans jazz. They often came together and played, sometimes just for their own enjoyment. Allen Jaffe learned about these older musicians. He offered them his small building as a place to play their music.

Each night, when they were done with their other work, these jazz musicians gathered at the small building and played.

Allen Jaffe played with them. He was a tuba player. He also organized the music groups that played in the hall. Much later he organized trips so the bands could play around the United States and in many other countries.

VOICE TWO:

French Quarter

Allen Jaffe was the force behind Preservation Hall until his death in nineteen eighty-seven.

Now we would like to take you to Preservation Hall, in the French Quarter of New Orleans. It is really a very easy thing to do. Just close your eyes and listen.

VOICE ONE:

It is a warm evening in New Orleans. We have just finished eating dinner at one of the famous New Orleans restaurants. We are walking along a very narrow street. Most of the buildings are very old.

Just ahead, people are standing in the street near a small building. Listen closely now. You can hear music coming from the little building at Seven-Sixty-Two Saint Peter’s Street. The music is coming from Preservation Hall.

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VOICE TWO:

Preservation Hall

We can hear the music from outside. A line of people waits to enter the building. When a few people leave the building, a few more are permitted to enter. We take our place in line. It is a nice warm evening and the music is great fun.

As we stand in line we hear the bandleader say softly, “A Closer Walk.” The leader has just told the members of the band what song they will play next.

The full name of the song is “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” This is a traditional church song that jazz bands have played for more than one-hundred years.

The song is slow and sad and very beautiful. It clearly shows the link between church music of black Americans and the beginnings of jazz music. It is the kind of song that the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has helped to pass to the future. Listen. The band is beginning to play.

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VOICE ONE:

As the band finishes this song, many people leave the building. Now there is room for us to go inside. A young man at the door collects the money to enter the building. We pay a few dollars and walk inside. Near the wall a huge white cat sleeps on a chair. We can see pictures on the walls of the Preservation Hall Jazz Bands.

We turn to the left and enter a very small room. About thirty people are in here. There is no room for any more. Most people stand near the walls. A few sit on the floor in front of the band. A few sit on seats made from long pieces of old wood. Preservation Hall is about music, not costly surroundings.

VOICE TWO:

Six men are facing us. One sits at a piano. Another plays drums. One plays a clarinet. Another plays a trumpet. One man plays the tuba and one a banjo. The trumpet player is almost always the leader of these groups. The trumpet player says, “Joe Avery” and the band begins to play another traditional early jazz song.

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VOICE ONE:

There is a funny sign in back of the band. The sign says the band will play songs requested by the people in the hall. The price for a request is one dollar for any traditional jazz song. The sign says other songs cost two dollars. And the sign says it will cost five dollars if anyone requests the song “Saints.”

The sign means the song, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” It is a very traditional song that is closely linked with New Orleans and jazz. People request it so often that the band would really rather play something else.

However, a man sitting on the floor gives the bandleader five dollars and says, “Please play ‘The Saints.’ ” The bandleader takes the money and smiles. He says, “ ‘The Saints’ it is.”

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VOICE TWO:

It is time for us to leave now and permit others to enter Preservation Hall. We look around the small, famous room and move toward the door. The huge white cat is still asleep on the chair, its tail moving slowly. As we reach the door to the outside, the band begins another song. It is a very old Duke Ellington song, “Mood Indigo.”

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VOICE ONE:

As we walk away from Preservation Hall and into the warm evening, a man and woman are dancing in the street to the slow music. They are dancing while they wait to enter the famous little building at Seven-Sixty-Two Saint Peter’s Street, in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Cynthia Kirk. Our studio engineer was Mick Shaw. I’m Sarah Long.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another report about life in the United States on the VOA Special English program This is America.

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