Colleges Face Limits on Native-American Team Names

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I’m Barbara Klein with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Most American students are back in school by early September and, if they play fall sports, back in action.

This Saturday, for example, the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh will open their football season -- American football. They will play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

The Panthers have someone dressed like a big cat to help lead the crowds. At Notre Dame, the mascot is a little creature of Irish imagination, a leprechaun.

Team names and mascots play a part in school spirit. But a committee of the national organization that governs college sports recently approved a new policy. It bars the use of hostile nicknames, mascots and images related to racial or ethnic groups during the championship season.

More than one thousand schools are in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The decision affected eighteen schools with nicknames or mascots representing American Indians. The N.C.A.A. president says the schools found that some people could be offended.

Several teams are the Indians or Braves. Carthage College in Wisconsin has the Redmen. Southeastern Oklahoma State University has the Savages.

FSU Seminoles

Also on the list are the Seminoles of Florida State University. The university president argued that the name honors the Seminole Indians of Florida. He noted that the tribe has supported the name for years.

The new policy goes into effect in February. Florida State, however, will not have to follow it. Last week the university won an appeal. Appeals by other schools will be considered case-by-case.

The University of North Dakota is home of the Fighting Sioux. Its president also says the name is meant to honor, not insult, Native Americans. He questions why the Fighting Irish are not on the list.

An official of the N.C.A.A. says, "This is not an exercise in political correctness." She says over four years of study went into the new policy. She says the aim is to make sure championship events are free of images and names that different groups see as hurtful.

Yet no one can agree how many Native Americans are offended. Findings conflict. Some mental health experts, however, say such names and images harm Native American children.

Similar disputes face professional teams, like football's Washington Redskins.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.

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Early Country Music: Cowboys Told About Their Lives in Song

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Announcer: THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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Here is Kay Gallant with our program.

Narrator: Last week, we talked about the growth of the cattle industry. This industry started in Texas during the eighteen seventies. With its growth came a new kind of worker -- the man who watched and took care of the cattle. These men who watched the cows and rode with them as they moved across the wild lands were often young. Just boys. And so they were called "cowboys. "

People all over the world have seen all sorts of films about the cowboy. And he is often shown in television shows. But the real life of the cowboy is not often shown. His work has been hard, and his life lonely and full of danger.

The cowboy has told his own story in many songs and ballads. Hundreds of these have come from cowboys whose names are not known. They just sang these songs as they rode on the saddles of their horses across the cattle lands. Or, as they sat at their campfires at night.

They sang about the things that were close to them. Horses and cows and danger and death. Often, they sang about the long ride to the cattle markets where the cows were sold for beef, as in this song called, "Git Along Ltle Dogie."

Dogie is another name for a young cow, especially one which wanders away from the herd. The song tells how the young cowboy keeps driving the dogies forward. He feels sorry for them, because they will soon be sold for meat. But that's their hard luck, not his. And he keeps pushing them on while he sings.

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One of the most famous of cowboy ballads is this one, called "The Chisholm Trail."

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Day and night, the horse was at the cowboy's side. A cowboy was as proud of his horse as he was of his skill in riding him. There is this feeling in the song "I Ride An Old Paint." A paint, or pinto, is a horse of three or more different colors.

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The cattle herds were driven a very long way to the cattle markets and had to be kept and watched on the open trail for many weeks. And the trail took the cowboys over rough country in all kinds of weather. The wild prairie lands were not friendly to men or animals. It was a lonely land. And the howling of wolves and winds at night made it more so.

Across this strange land, no man in the early days of the west knew just where death was waiting for him. A listener hears the mournful feeling cowboys had for the prairie in this song called, "The Dying Cowboy."

He does not want to be buried out in these wild lands -- in the lone prairie -- as the song says. Still, the dying cowboy does not get his wish. There is no choice. He can be buried only in the lone prairie in a narrow grave six by three. . . Six feet deep and three feet wide.

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Announcer: You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrator was Kay Gallant.

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U.S. Scientists Find a Way to Create Embryonic Stem Cells With Adult Skin Cells

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in V.O.A. Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. This week, we tell how blood from crocodiles could help people. We also will describe an experimental treatment for burn victims.

VOICE ONE:

But first, we tell how American scientists turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells.

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VOICE ONE:

Last week, scientists at Harvard University in Massachusetts reported progress in embryonic stem cell research. The scientists said they joined an embryonic stem cell with a normal skin cell to create a new embryonic stem cell. They said their method could provide a way to make embryonic stem cells without having to destroy fertilized human eggs called embryos.

The destruction of human embryos is hotly debated in a number of countries, including the United States. Many people object to experiments using human embryos for religious or moral reasons. American law restricts the use of federal money for research involving embryos.

VOICE TWO:

Stem cells are able to develop into any other kind of cell or tissue. Those taken from embryos are considered the most useful. Researchers believe they could use embryonic stem cells to treat some diseases and even injuries.

The Harvard University said they joined, or fused, a skin cell with an embryonic stem cell. They said the fusing process caused the stem cell to reset the genes in the skin cell. In simple terms, the skin cell was changed into an embryonic stem cell.

Chad Cowan took part in the Harvard study. He says it should be possible to develop replacement cells or even grow organs from the newly created stem cells. But, he and other members of the Harvard team say such possible uses are many years away.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists said they grew embryos from human eggs they received from a private organization. They also said they got similar results in experiments when they used embryonic stem cells federally approved for research. Mister Cowan said he believes most people will find this way of producing embryonic stem cells morally acceptable.

The scientists still face a major problem. The cell contains two groups, or sets, of genetic information. One set is from the skin cell. The other is from the starter embryonic stem cell. For any medical purpose, doctors would only want the genetic material of the patient to remain.

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VOICE TWO:

Scientists in Switzerland say they have used skin cells grown from a fetus to treat burns in children. The scientists say their method can produce a quicker and more complete recovery than current treatments.

The British medical publication, The Lancet, reported the findings.

The burn patients were eight children between the ages of fourteen months and nine years. All eight had either burns of the highest severity or what experts call deep partial-thickness burns. The fetal cells came from a woman whose pregnancy was ended at fourteen weeks. The woman gave the scientists permission to use four centimeters of skin from her fetus.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists let the fetal cells divide in a laboratory. Then they mixed the cells with the protein collagen. Collagen is a substance that enables skin to stretch. The scientists say this process can provide many small pieces of skin tissue.

The scientists placed some of the pieces on top of the wounds of the children. As the tissue cells weakened, they were replaced with other pieces of tissue every three to four days. The scientists say the process was not difficult. They simply covered the wound with a piece of cloth.

VOICE TWO:

Usually, doctors use skin from other parts of a patient’s body to repair damage from burns. However, those skin cells reproduce slowly and sometimes painfully. And, the new skin often looks strange. That process is called grafting.

Patrick Hohlfeld of the University Hospital of Lausanne led the study. He said his team expected the fetal tissue to work much the same way. But, he said they were surprised by how much better it treated the wounds.

VOICE ONE:

The report says the wounds on the young burn patients healed in about fifteen days. Most graft treatments take six times longer. And, the scientists say the repairs were complete. Most patients recovered full use of their damaged body parts. Their progress was observed for up to two years after being treated.

Other researchers say the results of the Swiss experiment still need to be compared to current medical treatments for burns. They noted that no one knows if the burns on the children would have healed on their own without the fetal cell treatment.

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VOICE TWO:

Scientists in northern Australia hope to use blood from crocodiles to develop new medicines for people. The scientists have been collecting blood from live crocodiles after capturing them and tying their mouths closed. They put a small instrument in the back of the animal’s neck to get the blood.

The scientists hope to separate antibodies from the blood and develop drugs for human use. Antibodies are proteins that attack diseases inside the body. The scientists say they hope their work leads to development of antibiotic pills and liquids that you could put on wounds.

VOICE ONE:

Earlier studies found that several proteins in crocodile blood killed bacteria that resist the drug penicillin. Recent tests have shown that the proteins also can kill the virus that causes AIDS.

The scientists say a crocodile’s defense system against disease is much more powerful than that of the human body’s defense system. They say the defense system of the crocodile attacks bacteria immediately when the body is infected. The defense system reportedly joins with the bacteria and tears it apart.

VOICE TWO:

Scientist Adam Britton has been collecting blood from both salt-water and freshwater crocodiles. He says scientists might need years to create any medicine for people because the animal’s defense system is so powerful.

However, other scientists say the human defense system will recognize the crocodile antibodies as foreign and attack them. They say this could cause serious health problems.

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VOICE ONE:

Scientists say they have developed a new cancer drug. They have tested it in only in laboratory animals. The drug is designed to invade and kill cancer cells but not healthy cells. First, the drug enters the cancer and destroys the supply of blood. Then it releases poison to destroy the cancer cells.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge carried out the study. The results appeared in Nature magazine.

VOICE TWO:

Ram Sasisekharan is a professor at M.I.T. He says his team had to solve three problems. They had to find a way to destroy the blood passages, then to prevent the growth of new ones. But they also needed the blood passages to supply chemicals to destroy the cancer.

So, the researchers designed a two-part "nanocell." The cell is measured in nanometers, or one thousand-millionth of a meter. The particle used was two hundred nanometers -- much, much smaller than a human hair.

The researchers say it was small enough to pass through the blood vessels of the cancer. But it was too big to enter normal blood vessels. The surface of the nanocells also helped them to avoid natural defenses.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists designed the cell as a balloon inside a balloon. They loaded the outer part with a drug that caused the blood vessels to fall in on themselves. That cut off the blood supply and trapped the nanocell inside the cancer. Then, the nanocell slowly released chemotherapy drugs to kill the cancer cells.

The team says the treatment reduced the size of the cancer and avoided healthy cells better than other treatments. The scientists say mice with the best current treatments lived thirty days. But they say eighty percent of the mice treated with the nanocells lived more than sixty-five days.

The study involved two different forms of cancer. The team says the treatment worked better against melanoma, a deadly skin cancer, than against lung cancer. However, more studies are needed before the new drug can be tested in humans.

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VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Cynthia Kirk, Nancy Steinbach, and Caty Weaver. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Bob Doughty. Join us again next week at this time for more news about science on the Voice of America.

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Improving on an Ancient Way to Harvest Rainwater

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I’m Faith Lapidus with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A few months ago, we talked about a system to harvest rainwater. The water travels from the roofs of buildings through pipes into a storage tank. Now we describe another system to collect rainwater, this time between mountains.

Jessours in Tunisia

Earth dams capture the water for fields planted on a valley floor. It is an ancient idea, known as a jessour. But scientists and farmers have developed ways to improve on tradition.

A jessour starts with an earth dam high up in the valley. The dam captures rain, and the water pours over a spillway into a field below. Farther down the valley, another earth dam separates the first field from the next. This system of fields, bordered by dams, continues all the way down the valley.

Heavy rains, however, can damage the dams. Also, rocks and soil washed downhill can fill spillways and cause the fields to flood.

Farmers in Tunisia have used jessours since ancient times. The average rainfall in most of the country is less than two hundred millimeters per year. UNESCO has supported studies of efforts to improve jessours in Tunisia. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

It says a solution to weak dams made of earth is to build dams out of concrete for greater strength. Another measure to improve jessours is known as a "buried stone pocket." This is what some farmers do:

First, they dig a planting area. They lay stones in a small circle about forty centimeters below the surface. They leave an opening in the center. The farmers then stand a plastic pipe between the stones and cover the stones with soil.

Next, they plant a young tree in the center. They give the tree water through the pipe. That way, the water goes directly to the roots.

Farmers in Tunisia have traditionally used jessours to grow olive, fig and palm trees. But some farmers have started to grow other kinds of fruits and vegetables. Demand has increased from cities and popular holiday areas. UNESCO says some farmers now have more than ten kinds of fruit trees in their fields.

Farmers have found creative ways to grow apples, pears, peaches, almonds and other crops in jessours. These new ideas have helped make this labor-intensive method of farming more worth the effort.

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

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Language From the Sea, and Still Fresh After All These Years

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SOUND: Seagulls, ship horn

AA: I'm Avi Arditti, with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- the catch of the day, terms from the sea.

Lots of nautical expressions have washed ashore into everyday English. Alan Hartley researches them for the Oxford English Dictionary -- that is, when he's not supervising the loading of grain onto foreign ships in the Great Lakes. We called him at his office in Minnesota, and immediately made headway.

HARTLEY: "When you make 'headway,' you're making progress forward. 'Way' is usually the forward motion of a ship. It could also be rearward motion, and that was called 'sternway.' But there are a lot of analogous terms in English that never made it into the general vocabulary. 'Headway' and 'sternway' are a good example of a pair, one of which made it and the other didn't.'"

AA: Maritime metaphors lend themselves to all kinds of situations on land. Let's say you're making headway on that big project at work, going "full steam ahead." It's all "smooth sailing" toward that big promotion. Or so it seems.

All of a sudden you're "weathering a storm." You reach the "end of your rope" (anchor rope, that is). You look for "safe harbor." You "go overboard" to make things better. The last thing you want is to "scuttle" your career and wind up "on the rocks," all because you've "run afoul" of the boss.

HARTLEY: "If you encountered another ship accidentally, you got too close to it, maybe you got tangled in its anchor cable, in that case you have 'run afoul' of the other ship and had an accident, essentially."

AA: "And today we might talk about to 'run afoul of the law.'"

HARTLEY: "Sure, exactly. It's a very typical case of the extension into everyday English. And it shows that, you know, the word would be kicking around in nautical use for a few decades and gradually it would be picked up in general use."

RS: "Some of these words I find interesting because I didn't even know that they were maritime words."

HARTLEY: "Same for me. 'High and dry,' for instance, is something you say all the time. A ship got stuck on the mud flats or on a reef, the tide went out and the ship was left high and dry."

RS: "Well, here's an expression I never associated with the seas, usually associated with my doctor. When I go to the doctor I really like to come out with a 'clean bill of health.'"

HARTLEY: "Everybody does. And the crew of an old sailing ship would have felt the same way. It didn't mean quite the same thing then, but a ship on arriving at a port would have to be cleared by the local port authorities as having no communicable disease on board. And once they were cleared they got a 'clean bill of health.' Sometimes that took a long time. They would be in quarantine, which was a forty-day period. That's where the 'quarant' comes from."

RS: "Do you have a favorite maritime expression?"

HARTLEY: "The one that's maybe most striking to me is that phrase we use nowadays, the phrase 'to be taken aback.' A person is taken aback if he is surprised in a negative way, and that derives from an old sailing term in which if the ship were headed too close to the direction of the wind, the wind would strike the sails on the forward surface instead of the after -- or rear -- surface.

"So if the wind got around too much toward the bow, toward the front of the ship, it could stop you in your tracks. But also, if you were taken aback hard enough, you could break the entire mast that the sail was suspended from. So it was a very dangerous and startling situation."

AA: Nowadays, don't look to the sea for many new expressions. Alan Hartley points out that we're still using mostly terms from the days of sailing ships.

HARTLEY: "A lot of the vocabulary that's developed since then is very technical, very specific to modern ships. It has very little application in everyday life."

AA: Alan Hartley is a ship-loading superintendent in Minnesota and a researcher for the Oxford English Dictionary. He's put together a list of nautical language for our Web site. That address is voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com

Time to set sail! With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

MUSIC: "Across the Sea"/Bobby Darin

[This segment was first broadcast on August 8, 2002.]

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Emperor Penguins Survive in World’s Most Extreme Climate

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Faith Lapidus with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about a very special bird called the emperor penguin. This bird struggles to survive in one of the most extreme climates in the world.

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VOICE ONE:

There are seventeen kinds of penguins in the world. All of them live in the southern hemisphere. Only a few species live on the continent of Antarctica at the bottom of the world. The emperor penguins are the largest. They are about one hundred centimeters tall and weigh about thirty kilograms. Their special method of mating makes them different from all other penguins.

For thousands of years the emperor penguins have lived on the freezing continent of Antarctica. These black and white birds live in large groups or colonies. There are about forty emperor penguin colonies on Antarctica. In total, there are about four hundred thousand birds.

VOICE TWO:

These birds spend the summer swimming in the ocean in search of food such as fish and squid. Penguins are not able to fly, but they are excellent swimmers. They can dive as deep as four hundred and sixty meters and hold their breath for up to twenty minutes. But when summer ends, so does this easy time spent by the water. The penguins jump out of the water and onto the ice. They know it is time to find a mate and reproduce.

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VOICE ONE:

In order to mate, the penguins must travel many kilometers inland from the ocean. They do this to find a safe area to spend the many months needed to produce and develop an egg. They must find an area with some shelter from the freezing winds.

Hundreds of penguins walk in a single line for up to seventy kilometers to find a mating place. This trip is a long and cold one. Winter is beginning. The days are getting shorter and temperatures are quickly dropping. The trip takes many days. The birds must walk carefully on their short legs through icy areas. When their feet get tired, they slide themselves on their stomachs across the ice.

VOICE TWO:

Once they arrive at the right place, the mating process begins. Males and females walk around and make singing noises as they decide on a mate. They must also memorize their mate’s special song. Penguins are unusual because they stay with the same mate for the entire period of producing a baby penguin or chick.

After the female produces an egg, she must carefully slide it onto her feet. Then she must pass it to her mate. This can be a very difficult act. If the birds are not careful, the egg will fall on the freezing ice. If the egg touches the ice or breaks, the chick will die. All of their hard work will have been wasted. Once the female passes the egg to the male, he places it on his feet and protects it with his body. Both male and female penguins have a special place on their body to protect their young. A piece of skin under their stomachs forms a pocket or pouch where an egg or chick is protected from the cold.

The male penguin incubates the egg for about two months. This means that he keeps it warm while the baby penguin inside the egg develops.

VOICE ONE:

During this time, the mothers must leave the colony and walk many kilometers back to the sea. The females are tired from mating and producing an egg. They are also starving from more than one month without food. During this period, female penguins can lose up to one-third of their body weight. Many do not survive the long walk back to the sea. The ones that do survive dive into the ocean to catch fish. They eat for several months to gain weight. They must also get food for their chicks.

While the mothers are feeding, the hundreds of male penguins work together to survive. They stand very close to one another to form a tight group. This helps them keep warm. They continuously change places. The colder penguins on the outside of the group move to the warmer places on the inside of the group.

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VOICE TWO:

Winters in Antarctica are difficult for the penguins. There are only a few hours of sunlight a day. Temperatures can drop to minus fifty degrees Celsius. Air masses called catabatic winds blow over the continent at speeds of up to two hundred kilometers per hour.

The penguins have developed special bodies to survive such freezing temperatures. They can control their body temperature with a special system of blood exchange. The centers of their bodies keep warm, while the outer parts of their bodies stay almost as cold as the outside temperatures.

Another way they survive the cold is by releasing a special oil from their skin. This oil helps waterproof the feathers that cover their bodies. A layer of air between their skin and the oil provides protection from the cold. Also, they have a thick layer of body fat that further protects them from the cold.

VOICE ONE:

Two months later, the females return to the colony and must find their mates. Many of the chicks have hatched and come out of their eggs. The family is united for the first time. However, the father must leave immediately to go feed in the ocean. He has not eaten for more than three months and has lost a great deal of weight. Before he leaves, though, he must learn the voice of his chick. The chick also memorizes his father’s voice. When the father returns, he must be able to identify his chick in order to bring it food.

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VOICE TWO:

The male and female penguins continue to take turns caring for their chick and bringing back food from the sea. When the chicks are about one month old, they start to spend time outside their parents’ pouch. When they get bigger, the chicks stay together in large groups. Their parents still bring them food. But when they are about five months old, the chicks must feed themselves. They make their first trip to the ocean.

However, not all the chicks survive this long. About twenty-five percent die due to starvation or cold. Some chicks are hunted and killed by large birds called giant petrels. However, if the chicks survive their first year, they generally live through adulthood. When they reach the age of five years, it is time for the young penguins to mate. A new generation begins this special mating process of travel and survival.

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VOICE ONE:

In two thousand five, a French filmmaker named Luc Jacquet released a film about these special birds. The film is called “March of the Penguins.” It beautifully shows how the birds survive in the extreme environment of Antarctica. This rare look at their lives is truly special.

You can see the penguins walking across the white ice of Antarctica. Diving deep into the ocean waters. Moving their egg carefully from the mother’s feet to the father’s feet. Crowding together to keep warm in a snowstorm. Kissing their newly hatched chicks.

VOICE TWO:

“March of the Penguins” is the first full-length film to show the life of the emperor penguin. The crew chose to film a colony of penguins that was near a scientific research center. This way, the filmmakers had a base where they could live. They were also able to cooperate with the nearby Institute for Polar Research.

Producing this film was very difficult. The movie crew had to survive the extreme cold for a whole year of filming. If the weather was too bad, they could not go outside and film. Also, trying to film the birds from very close up was not easy. The filmmakers had to be very careful not to harm the penguins. They made special devices that helped them get close to the penguins without interfering with them. Luc Jacquet even hired a specialist to film the underwater scenes.

VOICE ONE:

“March of the Penguins” was difficult to make for other technical reasons. The crew had to have special cameras made that could work in extremely cold temperatures. Also, they could not watch what they had filmed. This is because they did not have the equipment to develop the film. So, they had to remember the details of every picture they took and hope they turned out well. When they finished filming, they had more than one hundred twenty hours of film.

Director Luc Jacquet says his film crew had to treat the penguins with care and consideration. He says his movie is a story of bravery and excitement. He also calls his movie about the emperor penguins one of the most beautiful love stories on Earth.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

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

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Drug for Other Diseases May Have Use Against AIDS

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Researchers have tested Valproic acid as a treatment for AIDS

I’m Barbara Klein with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Scientists say they were able to decrease levels of the AIDS virus with a drug designed for other conditions.

AIDS suppresses the immune system so the body cannot fight deadly infections. Currently, medicines can reduce the virus to levels low enough to keep people alive. But these drugs are not a cure. Very small amounts of virus hide in what scientists call resting cells in the immune system.

If an infected cell reawakens, the virus becomes active. It begins to copy itself again. So people must continue to take antiretroviral drugs.

The new study involved four patients. They had already taken combinations of AIDS drugs for more than two years. The researchers intensified the effect of the drugs. Then they added one more, valproic acid. Valproic acid is used to control seizures in the treatment of epilepsy. Some people with depression take the drug for bipolar disorder.

But valproic acid has also been shown to block an enzyme that helps H.I.V., the AIDS virus, to hide. The patients took the medicine two times a day for three months.

The researchers say the number of infected cells decreased by an average of seventy-five percent in three of the four people. But the numbers returned to earlier levels when the treatment ended.

Doctor David Margolis led the study at the University of Texas. He just took a new job at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The team reported the results in the Lancet medical journal.

Valproic acid has some serious risks, including to pregnant women. Doctor Margolis says more study is needed into its use against AIDS. But the scientists do say that their early finding suggests that new methods "will allow the cure of H.I.V. in the future." Some other scientists, however, say it is too early to talk of a cure for a virus that is so difficult to destroy.

They say a cure would have to get every last infected cell. And the virus might not hide only in the immune system. Still, in a related commentary, AIDS researcher Jean-Pierre Routy says the early results call for "further urgent study."

H.I.V. is spread through bodily fluids. AIDS is acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Last year, more than three million people died and an estimated five million more became infected.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. Our reports are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Barbara Klein.

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Study Links Custom of Female Cutting to Infertility

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I'm Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Development Report.

New research suggests that the custom in parts of Africa and Asia to cut the sex organs of girls can cause infertility. The study shows that girls who are cut have an increased risk that they will not be able to get pregnant later in life. Researchers believe this is the result of infections that spread to the reproductive organs.

The findings are published in the Lancet. Doctor Lars Almroth of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden led the study. It involved ninety-nine infertile women in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. The researchers made sure the infertility was not because of age, sexual diseases, a past medical operation or an infertile husband.

They say the women were five to six times more likely to have had the most severe form of cutting than women in another group. The study also included one hundred eighty women who were pregnant for the first time.

The researchers linked the risk of infertility to the extent of the cutting. They say the findings should not be used as an argument to support less extensive forms, even if done by a doctor. They say any damage could lead to changes that harm reproductive health.

Infections are not the only risk. Bleeding can lead to shock and death.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than one hundred thirty million females have experienced some form of cutting. Part or all of the genitals are removed. It is done in more than thirty countries. The most severe forms are found most often in northeastern Africa.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has called for an end to female genital mutilation by two thousand ten. Each year, an estimated two million girls reach the age where it might be done.

The age differs from culture to culture. It is usually between four and twelve. The reasons for this tradition also differ, but generally it is seen as a way to make a girl a better wife and mother in the future. Yet the new study shows that it could, in fact, make her infertile.

The Lancet also published a commentary by Layla Shaaban and Sarah Harbison of the United States Agency for International Development. They say there has been a slow reduction in cutting in a number of countries. They say the new study could provide a powerful, additional argument to end this ancient custom.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Our reports are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

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Megachurches in America: Where Bigger Is Better

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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. Big, and growing bigger. That describes our subject this week: megachurches in America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen sixty-one, five families near Washington, D.C., formed a Protestant church in McLean, Virginia. Over time, the church grew, especially after nineteen eighty. That was when a clergyman named Lon Solomon became the new minister.

As he brought in more and more families, the church needed more and more space. Today, as many as twelve thousand people attend services each week. The McLean Bible Church is not just big. It is a megachurch.

VOICE TWO:

Scott Thumma works in the Institute for Religion Research at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. He has started a new project on megachurches with Dave Travis and Warren Bird of the Leadership Network. The researchers define a megachurch as a church where more than two thousand people attend services each week.

The men already have found at least one thousand two hundred megachurches in the United States, higher than earlier estimates. They say up to twelve million people could be members of these churches.

The research has identified huge Protestant churches in forty-five of the fifty states. Most are in Texas, California and Georgia. The Texas cities of Dallas and Houston together have fifty-six megachurches.

VOICE ONE:

Western Christianity is divided mainly between Protestants and Roman Catholics. Megachurches in America are usually Protestant. Many of these are connected with the Southern Baptists. But many others are independent or nondenominational.

Scott Thumma says the United States has about three hundred twenty thousand Protestant churches. Most are far smaller than the less than one-half of one percent identified as megachurches.

Research a few years ago found that less than ten percent of American churches averaged one thousand people at their services. Only fifty or one hundred adults are active in some churches.

VOICE TWO:

Even the smallest church can serve its people well. Yet some lack enough members to provide money for programs.

Many small churches are mainline churches. "Mainline" suggests moderate. But many people are no longer satisfied with the established ways. In the last forty years, most mainline churches have failed to grow or have lost members.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America said its membership last year was less than five million. The church said this was the first time in more than twenty years that membership was that low.

VOICE ONE:

The government does not count people by religion, so there are no official numbers. But estimates show that just over one-half of Americans are Protestant. About one-fourth are Roman Catholic.

Catholics, however, are the largest single religious group in America. That is because Protestants are divided into many denominations.

A two thousand two estimate found that two percent of Americans were Mormon, one percent Jewish and one percent Muslim. Ten percent were members of other religions, and another ten percent belonged to no religion.

VOICE TWO:

Researchers have found that the largest percentage of megachurches identify their congregations as evangelical. Evangelicals say they are guided by the life and teachings of Jesus and his followers, especially as contained in the Gospels. The Gospels are four books of the New Testament in the Christian Bible.

Greg Laurie is an evangelical minister based in California. He travels around and holds huge prayer gatherings called Harvest Crusades. These events try to get more people to become Christians.

VOICE ONE:

Politically, some evangelicals identify themselves as liberal or progressive.

But many other evangelicals share the beliefs of what people call the Christian right -- right of the political center. This movement is strongly conservative on social values and other issues.

Religious conservatives helped elect President Bush in two thousand and again last year. They support his positions against same-sex marriage and the freedom to end unwanted pregnancies. His position against stem-cell research when it destroys embryos is also popular among evangelicals.

And so is the president's nomination of Judge John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Rod Parsley leads a megachurch in Ohio. Reverend Parsley also leads an organization called the Center for Moral Clarity. Its Web site says Judge Roberts will judge laws, not make them. It urges people to sign an electronic petition to support him in his Senate confirmation hearings next month.

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VOICE TWO:

In two thousand one, researchers announced findings of a study called the Faith Communities Today Project, or FACT. The study took place in nineteen ninety-nine. It showed that attendance at megachurches had increased by an average of ninety percent over twenty years.

The researchers received information from one hundred fifty-three of six hundred places identified as megachurches.

The study found that most megachurches are in communities around large cities. People of different races join megachurches. The majority are neither rich nor poor. Many did not belong to any other church before they joined.

Services in megachurches generally use less of the religious language traditionally found in mainline churches. Lon Solomon at the McLean Bible Church in Virginia buys time on local radio. He calls his one-minute messages "Not a Sermon, Just a Thought."

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VOICE ONE:

Now, we look inside one of America’s largest churches. Lakewood Church in Texas holds services where the Houston Rockets used to play basketball. The church spent ninety-five million dollars to redesign a sports center. It can hold sixteen thousand people. Around the building are Internet computer stations and places to play religious video games.

Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria, celebrate the opening of the new home for the Lakewood Church, in the former Compaq Center, on July 16 in Houston

The Lakewood Church started in an empty feed store in nineteen fifty-nine. When the man who started it died, he left the leadership of the church to his son.

Joel Osteen is not schooled in religious studies. In fact, Reverend Osteen left college after one year. People sometimes say he avoids major questions like why good people suffer and what is God like. But he clearly appeals to thousands. People call him a rock star.

VOICE TWO:

Members of some megachurches do not even have to all sit in the same building. Satellite television and the Internet let them watch and pray from other gathering places, from their home or from wherever they are.

Like in any big organization, individuals in a megachurch could feel lost in a crowd. So the churches do what they can. The Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, is a good example. It has two thousand six hundred small groups for people who share common interests. These groups offer a chance to make new friends. There are also chances to help the needy in the community.

VOICE ONE:

Rick Warren leads the Saddleback Church. He also writes books. He has sold millions of copies of “The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?”

This book became even better known earlier this year after a series of events in Atlanta, Georgia. This is what officials say happened: A prisoner armed with a gun fled a courthouse. He killed a judge and three other people. Later, he seized a young woman named Ashley Smith and held her hostage in her home.

She had read “The Purpose-Driven Life.” She shared thoughts from the book with the man. He let her leave, unharmed. Ashley Smith called the police and the suspect surrendered.

VOICE TWO:

We talked to a clergyman in Maryland who is concerned about the lack of growth in his mainline church. This is what he told us: "Our people do not want the church to be extremely large. But megachurches offer people a warm welcome and a feeling of belonging. Mainline churches could borrow some of their methods."

Other countries also have megachurches. And they are not a new idea in America. Some existed here more than sixty years ago. Megachurches are not for everyone. Some say they are too big, too political and too untraditional. But, for others, the appeal today is clearly growing.

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Our programs are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. To send us e-mail, write to special@voanews.com. Please join us next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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High Oil Prices and the World Economy

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I’m Shep O'Neal with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, crude oil traded briefly at a record sixty-eight dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up about fifty percent from last year. With inflation considered, prices are still below what they were in the early nineteen eighties. Then, crude oil sold for well above eighty dollars a barrel.

But, in dollar terms, this is the most that the world's largest economy has ever had to pay. In some areas, prices at fuel stations are almost as high as Americans have ever paid, even with inflation.

The Energy Department said this week that crude oil prices remain very high even though supplies in the United States are growing. Oil supplies generally decrease at this time of year because of seasonal demand. Officials say the recent buildup should keep prices from being as high this winter as they might be without it.

On Friday, central bank chairman Alan Greenspan had praise for the way the economy has dealt with high energy costs. So far, he says, it has handled the sharp rise in prices for oil and natural gas over the past two years "reasonably well."

But economists at the International Monetary Fund in Washington have voiced concerns about the world economy. On Thursday, the managing director warned about the risk to economic growth in Asia. Rodrigo de Rato urged Asian central banks to use monetary policies to fight inflationary pressures caused by high oil prices. He directed his comments especially to Indonesia and the Philippines. The high cost of oil has slowed Indonesia's economic growth.

Many issues can affect oil prices. For example, on Friday, Nigerian officials ordered increases in the price of fuel. There were fears of general strikes. Nigeria is the world's eighth larger exporter of oil.

Terrorism is another concern for oil traders. But even the weather can sabotage the industry. This week, there were concerns about the possible risk to oil production in the Gulf of Mexico from the ocean storm Katrina.

However, industry experts say the biggest concern is the growing world demand for oil. The United States and China are the top two users. A report this week said China imported fifteen percent more crude in July than a year ago. Crude oil becomes fuel and other products.

There are questions about the ability of oil-producing nations to meet growing demand. Some experts believe that Saudi Arabia's oil fields may have reached peak production. This is when more than half of the recoverable crude has already been pumped out. Saudi Arabia denies that. Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund called for more openness to confirm the supplies of the world's top oil producer.

Currently Saudi Arabia produces more than ten million barrels of crude a day. It says it expects to produce more than twelve million barrels daily by two thousand nine.

IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shep O'Nea

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Activist for Women’s Rights Was Known for Her Strong Opinions, and Large Hats

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about Bella Abzug. She was a member of the United States Congress in the nineteen seventies. She also was a well-known activist for civil rights and women's rights.

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VOICE ONE:

Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug was well known for many reasons. She was a lawyer and activist. She represented New York City in Congress. She spoke in a loud voice. And she always wore large hats.

Mizz Abzug supported women's rights and civil rights. She had strong opinions on many issues. She opposed the American involvement in the war in Vietnam. She made public her opinions on most important issues. In fact, she was called one of the most outspoken members of Congress.

Bella Abzug also acted on her beliefs. She wrote legislation to prevent unfair treatment of women. She presented the first bill for equal rights for homosexuals. She often denounced the majority of the members of Congress who were white males. She said they did not know about the lives and problems of most people in America.

VOICE TWO:

Bella Abzug did know about the lives of common Americans. She was born Bella Savitsky in the Bronx area of New York City in nineteen twenty. Her parents had come to the United States from Russia. Her father operated a food store called The Live and Let Live Meat Market.

Bella said she knew from the age of eleven that she wanted to be a lawyer. At the age of twelve, she gave her first public speech. It was in an underground train station in New York.

VOICE ONE:

Bella attended Hunter College and Columbia Law School in New York City. She married Martin Abzug in nineteen forty-four. He was a stockbroker and writer. He had no interest in politics. But he was his wife's best friend and supporter. They had two daughters.

Bella Abzug became a lawyer in the nineteen forties. She represented labor union workers. She also represented people involved in civil rights cases. She often worked for no payment in these cases. In the nineteen fifties, she represented people accused of subversive activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy.

VOICE TWO:

Bella Abzug began wearing large hats when she was a young lawyer. There were very few women lawyers in America then. She told this story about why she began wearing hats: "Working women wore hats. It was the only way they would take you seriously. After a while I starting liking them. When I got to Congress, they made a big thing of it. They did not want me to wear a hat. So I did. "

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VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen sixties, Bella Abzug became an anti-war activist. She organized a group of anti-war women, called Women Strike for Peace. She opposed American involvement in the war in Vietnam. And she opposed testing of nuclear weapons. She led demonstrations in Washington against the war and in support of a ban against nuclear weapons. She became a leader of the movement against President Johnson because of his involvement in the war.

In the early nineteen seventies, Mizz Abzug also became a leader of the growing women's rights movement that was spreading across the country. She helped form the National Women's Political Caucus. In speaking to the group in nineteen seventy-one, she demanded equal rights for women in all areas of American life.

(ABZUG SPEECH)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen seventy, Bella Abzug was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat from New York City. She was fifty years old. She was the first Jewish woman elected to Congress. Her campaign statement was: "This woman belongs in the House." She did not mean her house. She meant the House of Representatives. At the time, there were only ten female members in the House of Representatives.

During her first day as a member of Congress, Mizz Abzug introduced a resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam. The resolution was defeated.

Later in her term, she tried other ways to reach that goal. She forced the administration of President Nixon to surrender documents about the Vietnam War that were known as the Pentagon Papers. She also was the first member of Congress to call for an impeachment investigation of President Nixon.

VOICE ONE:

Mizz Abzug supported many programs to help American families. For example, she wanted national insurance to help pay for health care for all Americans. And, she wanted the government to establish centers to care for young children while their mothers worked. She wanted these programs paid for with money cut from the budget of the Defense Department. She did not succeed in getting this legislation passed in Congress. Yet she kept trying.

VOICE TWO:

Representative Abzug was known for her forceful way of expressing her opinions. Yet House Speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill chose her as one of his assistants. She helped write the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts. These laws restricted the right of the Federal Bureau of Information to withhold information.

Mizz Abzug served in the House of Representatives for six years. In nineteen seventy-six, she gave up her seat in the House to campaign for the Democratic nomination for senator from the state of New York. She lost the election. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City. She also lost two more elections that would have returned her to the House of Representatives.

VOICE ONE:

For twenty more years, Bella Abzug continued to work for women's rights. In nineteen seventy-nine, President Carter appointed her the head of a National Advisory Committee on Women, a non-paying job. Later, President Carter dismissed her when she criticized his decision to cut money for women's programs.

In nineteen ninety, she started the Women's Environmental and Development Organization which works with international agencies. Mizz Abzug was one of the leaders of an international conference of women. Thousands of women attended that conference in Beijing, China, in nineteen ninety-five. They discussed ways for women around the world to gain equal rights.

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VOICE TWO:

Bella Abzug wrote two books. The first is called “Bella! Mizz Abzug Goes to Washington.” It is about her first year in Congress. Her second book was published in nineteen eighty-four. It is called “Gender Gap: Bella Abzug's Guide to Political Power for American Women.”

In her later years, she continued to serve as a delegate to Democratic national conventions. She was leader of the New York City Commission on the Status of Women. And she directed the National Parity Campaign to increase the number of women elected to political office.

VOICE ONE:

Mizz Abzug once said that equal rights for women was at the top of the list of the many issues she supported. She was one of the first leaders of the feminist movement. She defined the word feminist this way: A person who believes that there should be social, economic and political equality for women. She thought that the majority of Americans believed this.

Many women supported Mizz Abzug because of her efforts to gain equality for women. She helped make it easier for other women to be elected to public office.

VOICE TWO:

Yet, Bella Abzug had enemies. Many people did not like her. They thought she was too loud, too aggressive, too independent, too liberal. However, most political experts agree that Bella Abzug should be included on any list of the most influential women in American politics in the twentieth century.

Bella Abzug died in nineteen ninety-eight following a heart operation. She had been in poor health for several years. She was seventy-seven. Many of her friends in the women's movement continue to miss her spirit, her voice, and her hats.

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ANNCR: This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. The announcers were Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith.

I'm Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

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Hidden Treasures: Russian and French Art, at Home in Washington

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HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty. On our show this week:

We hear music from a young singer named Teairra Mari ...

Answer a question from a listener about how Americans get their jobs …

And report about a museum in Washington D.C. that contains a private collection of fine art.

Hillwood Museum

Hidden from the traffic and noise of Washington, D.C., the Hillwood Museum is a special treasure. This beautiful home contains one of the finest private collections of Russian and French art in the world. Barbara Klein tells us more.

BARBARA KLEIN: Hillwood Museum was once the home of Marjorie Merriweather Post. She lived from eighteen eighty-seven until nineteen seventy-three. Missus Post was a wealthy businesswoman. She owned one of the largest food companies in the United States. She also was very interested in collecting beautiful French art and furniture.

She lived in Russia in the nineteen thirties when her third husband, Joseph Davies, was the American ambassador in Moscow. Marjorie Merriweather Post developed a love for Russian art as well. She bought the home in Washington in nineteen fifty-five with the plan of making it into a museum after her death. Many art experts helped Missus Post create its fine collection.

Hillwood has many rooms filled with her treasures. Visitors can see finely made music boxes from the eighteenth century and colorful paintings of European princesses. Experts say the ancient wood and gold furniture from France is some of the finest ever made. Visitors can even look at Missus Post’s jewels and clothes. In her bedroom area they can see photographs of her with her family and friends. Marjorie Merriweather Post knew many important people including world leaders and great thinkers. She invited them to her home for parties.

The museum property also includes several beautiful gardens. One is designed like the gardens in Japan. It has a bridge and carefully arranged rocks. Visitors can watch flowers floating in the garden’s water pond. They can also enjoy the carefully designed garden full of beautiful flowers called roses. Flowers are also grown all year in a special glass building or greenhouse. These flowers are placed in the house throughout the year. The colors and smells of these gardens provide a true celebration for the senses.

After a walk around this large property, visitors can rest at a nearby eating place. They can also buy objects to remember this special museum at its gift store.

How Americans Get Jobs

HOST: Our listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Pham Thanh Si wants to know how Americans find jobs.

The Internet is a good source for gathering information about a lot of subjects. Finding a job is one of them.

Richard Bolles wrote a book about finding a job called “What Color is Your Parachute?” He says there are three things you should do first to find a job. You should write a resume. A resume tells about your education, skills and work experience. Next, Mister Bolles says you should publish your resume on an Internet Web site called a job bank. The Web site also should have job announcements from employers. Usually, job listings will be sent to you by e-mail. If the list includes a job you like, the third step is to call or e-mail the company. The employer may ask you to meet to talk about the job.

Major national Web sites such as monster.com or hotjobs.com are very popular. Experts say you should also use Web sites for the cities where you would like to work. You can search for jobs by industry, location or job title. Also, you can apply for positions online.

Some experts suggest using several different ways to search for a job. These may include attending job fairs, searching newspapers and magazines for job listings and networking.

Job fairs are organized events for employers and people who are looking for jobs. In different areas of a large room, representatives provide information about their companies. You can go to each area to ask questions about the companies. And you can leave a copy of your resume with each one.

You can also go to your local community library. You can find information about companies and job listings by using computers, newspapers and magazines.

Experts say networking is one of the best ways to find a job. Networking is talking to people about your job search. You can talk to people you work with now or worked with in the past. You can also talk to friends and family members.

Experts say networking should be a part of your daily job search. Someone you know may have information about a job that would be perfect for you. There is an American expression that says, “Sometimes it is not just what you know, but who you know.”

Teairra Mari

Last week we played new music from Willie Nelson, one of the most established stars in the music industry. Today, we tell about a new voice in the business. Here is Faith Lapidus with music from singer Teairra Mari.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Teairra Maria Thomas was born seventeen years ago in Detroit, Michigan. Music was a part of her family history. Her grandmother was a back-up singer for Aretha Franklin. Mari clearly has that Motown sound. Her first single quickly went to the top ten of the popular music ratings by Billboard Magazine. Here is “Make Her Feel Good.”

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Mari’s album “Roc-a-Fella Presents Teairra Mari” was released August second. The singer helped write some of the songs. One of them is about growing up without a father. Here is “No Daddy.”

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A year ago, Teairra Mari signed with Roc-a-Fella Records. Successful hip-hop artist and producer Jay-Z is the company’s president and chief executive officer. He apparently has high hopes for the young singer. He has named her “Princess of the Roc.” We leave you now with Teairra Mari singing “Act Right.”

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HOST: I'm Bob Doughty. I hope you enjoyed our program.

Our show was written by Lawan Davis, Dana Demange and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer.

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, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

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Development Banks: Lenders with Interest in Progress

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I’m Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Development banks are international lending groups. They lend money to developing countries to help fuel economic growth and social progress. They are not part of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the United Nations. The money comes from member countries and borrowing on world markets.

Development banks provide long-term loans at market rates. They provide even longer-term loans at below market interest rates. These banks also provide technical assistance and advice.

There are four main ones. The oldest is the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. It began in nineteen fifty-nine. President Juscelino Kubitschek of Brazil had proposed a bank to aid economic growth in the Americas. The Organization of American States agreed.

Today the bank is worth over one hundred thousand million dollars. It holds only four percent of that. The other money is guaranteed by its members.

Forty-seven countries around the world own the bank. The United States owns thirty percent as the largest shareholder. Twenty-six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean borrow from the bank.

The African Development Bank has its roots in an agreement signed in Sudan in nineteen sixty-three. It is based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

There are twenty-four members in the Americas, Europe and Asia in addition to the fifty-three in Africa. The country with the most votes in the bank is Nigeria, followed as of July by the United States, Japan and Egypt.

The Asian Development Bank started in nineteen sixty-six. It is based in Manila, in the Philippines. There are sixty-three members, mostly in Asia. Like all development banks, it is supervised by a Board of Governors.

Traditionally the bank president is Japanese. Japan and the United States were equally the top shareholders at the end of last year, followed by China, India and Australia. The bank says Indonesia has borrowed the most, but China, Pakistan and India have also been major borrowers in recent years.

The newest of the four main development banks is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It opened in nineteen ninety-one as the Soviet Union broke apart. The main office is in London. The United States is the largest shareholder. The bank was formed to support economic growth and democracy in Central Europe.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Bob Doughty.

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Study of a Charter School Project Finds Big Gains on Tests

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I’m Barbara Klein with the VOA Special English Education Report.

Charter schools are independent public schools. They are publicly financed but privately operated. Education reform efforts led to charter schools in the United States in the early nineteen nineties.

Now there are more than three thousand five hundred such schools and more than one million students. These numbers are small, however, compared to traditional schools.

But charter schools have more freedom. They generally do not have to deal with teachers unions. And the local school system cannot tell them how to teach. But charter schools must prove their students are learning.

A recent study examined test scores in the fifth grade last year at a group of charter schools. The researchers say the gains were greater than what is considered normal. The results, in their words, "suggest that these schools are doing something right."

The study by a private group, the Educational Policy Institute, involved KIPP charter schools. KIPP is the Knowledge Is Power Project. Two teachers began this program in nineteen ninety-four to help students from poor families. It has expanded to thirty-eight schools. As many as ten more are expected to open this fall. Almost all KIPP students are black or Hispanic.

The schools start in the fifth grade. Students are in school for more than nine hours a day Monday through Friday, and a half-day on Saturday. They also attend classes for three weeks in the summer.

But the first thing they learn is how to act responsibly. Each week, students get what is called a "paycheck." They can use it to buy things in the school store. Teachers reduce the amount if a student does not finish work or violates rules. Students with high paychecks get to take part in fun activities like trips at the end of the year.

The KIPP Foundation trains its own teachers. The teachers tell students to call them on the phone if there is ever a problem.

But what if schools have a problem? Another new study shows that charter schools often receive a lot less money than other public schools, especially in big cities. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the Progress Analytics Institute released the study this week.

The New York Times published reaction from the American Federation of Teachers. A spokesman for the union noted that traditional public schools often have to provide a lot more services.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. I’m Barbara Klein.

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Gold! How the Search for Riches Drove Development After the U.S. Civil War

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

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Soon after the Civil War ended in eighteen sixty-five, thousands of land-hungry Americans began to move west. The great movement of settlers continued for almost forty years. The great empty west, in time, became completely settled. The discovery of gold had already started a great movement to California.

VOICE TWO:

Men had rushed to the gold fields with hopes of becoming rich. A few found gold. The others found only hard work and high prices.

When their money was gone, they gave up the search for gold. But they stayed in California to become farmers or businessmen or laborers.

Some never gave up the search for riches. They moved back toward the east, searching for gold and silver in the wild country between California and the Mississippi river. Men found gold and silver in Nevada, and then in the Idaho and Montana territories. Other gold strikes were made in the Arizona territory, in Colorado and in the Dakota territory.

VOICE ONE:

Each new gold rush brought more people from the east. Mining camps quickly grew into towns with stores, hotels, even newspapers. Most of these towns, however, lived only as long as gold was easy to find. Then they began to die.

In some of the gold centers, big mining companies bought up all the land from those who first claimed it. These companies brought in mining machines that could dig out the gold from deep underground and separate it from the rock that held it.

These companies needed equipment and other supplies. Transportation companies were formed. They carried supplies to the mining camps in huge wagon trains pulled by slow-moving oxen. Roads were built, and in some places, railroads.

VOICE TWO:

The great wealth taken from the gold and silver mines was usually invested in other businesses: shipping, railroads, factories, stores, land companies. More jobs were created in the west. And living conditions got better. More and more people decided to leave the crowded east for a new life in the west.

But the big eastern cities continued to grow. New factories and industrial centers were built. People moved from the farms to find work in the cities.

VOICE ONE:

The growth of these industrial centers created a big demand for food, especially meat. Chicago quickly became the heart of the meat industry. Railroads brought animals to Chicago, where packing companies killed them and prepared the meat for eastern markets.

Special railroad cars kept the meat cold, so it would remain fresh until sold. As the meat industry grew, the demand for fresh meat increased. More and more cattle were needed.

VOICE TWO:

There were millions of cattle in Texas, but no way to get them to the eastern markets. The closest point on the railroad was Sedalia, Missouri, more than one thousand kilometers away. Some cattlemen believed it might be possible to walk cattle to the railroad, letting them feed on the open grassland along the way.

Early in eighteen sixty-six, a group of Texas cattlemen decided to try this. They put together a huge herd of more than two hundred sixty-thousand cattle and set out for Sedalia.

VOICE ONE:

There were many problems on that first cattle drive. The country was rough; grass and water sometimes hard to find. Bandits and Indians followed the herd trying to steal cattle. Farmers had put up fences in some areas, blocking the way.

Most of the great herd was lost along the way. But the cattlemen believed they had proved that cattle could be walked long distances to the railroad. They believed a better way to the railroad could be found, with plenty of grass and water.

VOICE TWO:

The cattlemen got the Kansas Pacific Railroad to extend its line west to Abilene, Kansas. There was a good trail from Texas to Abilene. Cattlemen began moving their herds up this trail across the Oklahoma territory and into Kansas. At Abilene, the cattle were put on trains and carried to Chicago.

In the next four years, more than one-and-a-half-million cattle were moved north over the Chisholm trail to Kansas. Other trails were found as the railroad moved farther west.

VOICE ONE:

Trail drives usually began with the spring "round-up." Cattlemen would send out cowboys to search the open grasslands for their animals.

As the cattle were brought in, the young animals were branded -- marked to show who owned them. Then they were released with their mothers to spend another year in the open country.

The other cattle were put together for the long drive to Kansas. Usually, they were moved in groups of twenty-five hundred to five thousand animals. Twelve to twenty cowboys took them up the trail.

VOICE TWO:

The cowboys worked hard on a trail drive. They had to keep the herd together day and night and protect it from bad men and Indians. They had to keep the cattle from moving too fast or running away. If they moved too fast, they would lose weight, and their owner would not get as much money for them.

The cowboys would walk the cattle only twenty to thirty kilometers a day. The cattle could feed all night and part of the morning before starting each day. If the grass was good, and the herd moved slowly, the cattle would get heavier and bring more money.

VOICE ONE:

In the early eighteen eighties, the price of cattle rose to fifty dollars each, and many cattlemen became rich. Business was so good that a five thousand dollar investment in the cattle industry could make forty-five thousand dollars in four years.

More and more people began raising cattle. And early cattlemen greatly increased the size of their herds. Within a few years, there was not enough grass for all the cattle, especially along the trails. There was so much meat that the price began to fall.

VOICE TWO:

There were two severe winters that killed hundreds of thousands of cattle. An extremely dry summer killed the grass, and thousands more died of hunger. The cattle industry itself almost died.

Cattlemen also had problems with farmers and sheepmen. Farmers coming west would claim grassland used by the cattle growers. They would put up fences and plow up the land to plant crops. Other settlers brought huge herds of sheep to compete with cattle for the grass, and the sheep always won. Cattle would not eat grass where sheep had eaten.

Violence broke out. Cattle growers fought the farmers and sheepmen for control of the land. The cattlemen finally had to settle land of their own, putting up fences and cutting the size of their herds. They no longer could let their cattle run free on public lands.

VOICE ONE:

By the late eighteen hundreds, the years of the cowboys were ending. But the story of the cowboy and his difficult life would not be forgotten. Even today, the cowboy lives in movies, on television, and in books.

When one thinks of the "wild west" of America, he does not think of the miners who opened the way to the west. Nor does he think of the men who struggled to build the first railroads across the wild land. And one does not think of the farmers who pushed slowly westward to fence, plow, and plant the land.

VOICE TWO:

The words "wild west" bring to mind just one character: the cowboy. His difficult fight to protect his cattle on the long trail was an exciting story. It has been told by many writers. Perhaps the best-known was a young easterner, Owen Wister. He worked as a cattleman for several years, then wrote about the heroic life of the cowboy in a book called "The Virginian."

Another easterner who came west to learn about the cowboy was the artist Frederick Remington. Remington was a cowboy for only two years. But he spent the rest of his life painting pictures of the west and writing about it. His exciting works made the west and the cowboy come to life for millions who never saw a real cowboy.

VOICE ONE:

The cowboy has also lived in music. He had his own kind of songs that told of his problems, his hopes, and his feelings. That will be our story next week.

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VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION.

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Professor Wanted to Learn About Students, So She Became One

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'FRESHMAN' PROFESSOR IDENTIFIED Rebekah Nathan is really Cathy Small, an anthropology professor at Northern Arizona University. Professor Small confirmed her identity in a story in USA Today on August twenty-third. She did so after another newspaper, the New York Sun, suggested that she wrote "My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student.” A reporter said he identified her from details in the book. A Special English report from August eighteenth follows:

See correction

I’m Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Education Report.

A new book is sure to be discussed, and debated, at colleges this fall. The book is called “My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student.” The writer is Rebekah Nathan. That is not her real name. She is in her fifties. She is a professor of anthropology at a university in the United States. Her name for it is "AnyU."

The professor wanted to know why many of her students did not complete their work or ask for help. She decided to do a research project. She got the approval of the university ethics committee. Such groups consider moral and legal issues in studies.

In the spring of two thousand two, she applied to her own university under the name "Rebekah Nathan" and was admitted. [Correction: she applied under her own name.] She lived in student housing. She took five classes during her first term and two in the second semester. She did pretty well, although she got one C, a mark of average. She also played sports.

In "My Freshman Year," she does not identify any students by name. But she does discuss what they told her about their lives.

Rebekah Nathan writes that students do not have enough time to be interested in their classes. They are busy with activities and jobs. They try to learn only as much as they have to. But she says they will read the material if it is directly linked to what is being discussed in class.

The professor says her year as a student changed the way she teaches. She gives less reading now. She asks questions designed to get students to speak more. She offers help. And she says she is no longer offended if a student falls asleep.

Other professors and research experts, however, criticize the experiment. They say she was spying. They say she could have gotten the same information without dishonesty. There have been a lot of angry comments on the Internet. But some people say she tells the real story of student life.

Rebekah Nathan says she did not interview any students without written permission on a statement. It said she was doing research that would be published, but it did not say she was a professor.

She says she decided to tell the truth if someone asked. But very few young people asked her about herself. She heard that students avoided the subject because they thought there might be trouble in her life.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Shep O'Neal.

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If You Could Care Less About Common Errors in English ...

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: "Common Errors in English," from a professor who wrote the book.

RS: Paul Brians began with a Web site. It got so popular, it led to a book called "Common Errors in English Usage." Now there's a calendar of errors for every day of the year, for 2006.

AA: This week he started his 38th year of teaching at Washington State University, in the Pacific Northwest. We asked Professor Brians to name some of the errors he expects to hear on campus.

PAUL BRIANS: "One that is extremely common now, and it is so common now that I could be fighting a losing battle, is the expression 'could care less.' People say 'I could care less' when they mean 'I couldn't care less.' And the original expression is highly ironic. It's a sarcastic saying. 'You know what? I care so little about this, I could not possibly care any less than I do.'

"But people who don't understand what's being said think, 'Oh, I mean this ironically, so I'm going to say I could care less.' And, doing so, they think they're making something neutral into something ironic. But really they're making them sound like they don't know the original expression."

RS: "So how do you react when your son or daughter or student says 'I could care less about that'?"

PAUL BRIANS: "I don't usually say anything. I don't go around correcting people unless they ask me to. I think my job is not to tell people this is absolutely right or this is absolutely wrong, but [to tell them] some people will disapprove or think less of you if you say it this way. And that's just information, and then you do with the information what you want. If you still feel more comfortable saying 'could care less,' then go ahead."

AA: "Then you could -- couldn't care less if they continue to say 'could care less.' So what's another really common error in English."

PAUL BRIANS: "Well, here's another sort of parallel one that's turned up a lot in speech lately. Young people particularly have begun to say 'at all' in very inappropriate ways. You hear it most often from grocery-store checkout clerks. They'll say 'Do you want any help out with that at all?' Well, 'at all' has been traditionally used to offer minimal help, to stress that you don't need much, you're not really offering very much."

RS: "So use it in a sentence -- "

AA: "Correctly."

RS: " -- correctly."

PAUL BRIANS: "Usually it would be something like 'Can't you give me any help at all?" But when you use 'at all' when you're offering help, it makes you sound stingy or lazy. And so it's right up there with saying 'no problem' instead of 'you're welcome' when somebody thanks you for something. That's not an error, but it's not traditional and sounds less polite to people who aren't used to it."

RS: "Isn't this more a question -- let me rephrase that, is this a question of the language evolving?"

PAUL BRIANS: "Yes, but the problem is that as it evolves, you get caught as a user between people who are going with the new pattern and those who know the old pattern and are comfortable with it. And those people are often interviewers for jobs. They're often ... "

AA: "The professor."

PAUL BRIANS: "The professor who's going to grade your paper. There may be a date that you want to impress. So it's good to know that there are people that are bothered by some of these things. Another one that's become very popular is 'build off of.' And this one is used by very well-educated people, too.

"The traditional expression is to 'build on': 'Let's build on our strengths and do something ... ' 'Build off of' doesn't have the same metaphor of creating a tall structure. Instead, it's sort of a ramshackle adding-on to the side of it. Another one similar is 'center around.' Now there are some of the -- "

AA: "Oh yeah! Which one is it , center around?"

PAUL BRIANS: "It's center on!

AA: "Center on, right!"

PAUL BRIANS: "If you center on something, if it's centered, you're on it. You revolve around something."

RS: "You can't center around something."

PAUL BRIANS: "So people are mixing up the two expressions and they've mashed the two together into 'center around.' Now that one has become so common that some usage guides are now saying they accept it. But, again, if you're working with an editor or a teacher or somebody who really cares about language, they're going to raise their eyebrows at it."

AA: So now let's center on what Paul Brians calls the single most common error.

PAUL BRIANS: "I-t-apostrophe-s and i-t-s. 'It is' is abbreviated as it's, and that's the only time there should be an apostrophe in its."

AA: That, and when you want to abbreviate "it has" -- it's also i-t-apostrophe-s. Paul Brians is an English professor at Washington State University in Pullman, and author of "Common Errors in English Usage." He has a free version online at wsu.edu. You can click on a direct link at voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

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Correction: An earlier version of this page said that only "it is" is shortened to "it's." So is "it has."

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Lessons Learned From the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima was one of the few structures left standing after August 6, 1945

And I’m Faith Lapidus with Explorations in VOA Special English. Sixty years ago, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today we tell about those two events that ended World War Two.

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VOICE ONE:

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of people in Japan and around the world marked the sixtieth anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the southern Japanese city of Hiroshima on August sixth, nineteen forty-five. More than seventy thousand people died as a result of the world’s first use of an atomic weapon. Three days later, a second bomb dropped on the city of Nagasaki killed an estimated eighty thousand civilians. Tens of thousands of Japanese died later from radiation poisoning and other atomic-related diseases.

VOICE TWO:

To honor victims of the attacks, more than fifty thousand people gathered in Hiroshima on August sixth. Japanese officials and foreign diplomats also attended the early morning ceremony. All mourners lowered their heads for a moment of silence at the exact moment of the Hiroshima bombing. The mayor of Hiroshima, Tadatoshi Akiba, called on the United Nations to take steps to put an end to nuclear weapons. He criticized the countries with such weapons as threatening human survival. A similar ceremony was held in Nagasaki on August ninth. At both events, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi promised to keep Japan free of nuclear weapons.

VOICE ONE:

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to the end of World War Two. Japan informed the Allied Powers that it would surrender on August fourteenth, nineteen forty-five. One day later, Emperor Hirohito officially announced the surrender on Japanese national radio.

Sixty years after the atomic bombings, historians are still debating if they were necessary to end the war. At the time, fierce fighting in the Pacific continued and United States President Harry Truman was considering an invasion of Japan.

VOICE TWO:

Some historians argue that millions of Japanese and American troops would have died in such an invasion. Retired history professor Robert James Maddox wrote the book “Weapons for Victory: The Hiroshima Decision.” He says America’s use of the atomic bomb was never in question. Instead, President Truman had to decide when the bomb would be dropped.

VOICE ONE:

Other historians, however, question the morality of the decision. Kai Bird wrote a book about American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered the father of the atomic bomb. He says even Mister Oppenheimer questioned the morality of the decision to use the bomb. Some critics believe that Japan was about to surrender when President Truman decided to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They say the real reason for the bombings was to send a message about America’s military strength to the Soviet Union.

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VOICE TWO:

Historians say war survivors in Asia remain angry over Japan’s fierce occupation during World War Two. For almost four years, Japanese forces occupied much of Asia, from China to the Pacific islands. Experts say Japanese soldiers killed many Asians unnecessarily. Soldiers also sexually attacked many Asian women or used others as sex slaves.

Japan argued that its occupation was necessary to regain control of Asia from European and American governments.

VOICE ONE:

Brian Farrell is a historian at the National University of Singapore. He told VOA reporter Heda Bayron that many survivors are still angry at Japan. In addition, Mister Farrell says Japan’s apparent lack of caring about its past cruelty has hurt its relations with other Asian nations.

On August second, the Japanese parliament passed a resolution expressing deep regret for the suffering that Japan caused during the war. Prime Minister Koizumi released a similar statement on August fifteenth, the official day of Japan’s surrender. The statement said Japan caused great damage and pain to the people of Asia through its colonization and aggression. The statement expressed deep sadness and heartfelt apology.

VOICE TWO:

Other recent issues have harmed Japanese ties with Asian nations. Earlier this year, Japan approved new schoolbooks for history classes. Critics say the books do not correctly describe the nation’s actions during World War Two. Tensions have also increased over visits by Japanese officials to the Yasukuni memorial in Tokyo. The memorial honors Japanese soldiers who died during military service. Critics say the memorial includes convicted war criminals.

VOICE ONE:

After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in nineteen forty-five, Japan became a strong anti-nuclear nation. The attacks created a common feeling of opposition against atomic weapons. Since nineteen fifty-six, it has been national policy not to have, manufacture or permit nuclear weapons in Japan.

However, the country has a successful nuclear energy industry. And lawmakers are starting to question whether Japan should create a nuclear defense system. Kazuhiro Haraguchi is a Parliament member from the opposition Democratic Party. He told VOA reporter Steve Herman that North Korea’s nuclear ability may soon force Japan to create its own nuclear weapons.

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VOICE TWO:

The world came very close to a nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis in nineteen sixty-two. For several days, the United States Navy blocked Cuba after discovering the Soviet Union had been shipping nuclear missiles to the country. The crisis led to the nineteen sixty-eight Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Today, about one hundred ninety countries have signed the international agreement. In exchange for giving up nuclear weapons, they have promised to work toward nuclear disarmament.

They also have agreed not to pass nuclear weapons to countries that do not have them. And they have agreed to share nuclear technology for peaceful energy purposes only.

VOICE ONE:

Today, seven nations in the world are known to have nuclear weapons -- Russia, China, India, Pakistan, France, Britain and the United States. Most experts believe that Israel and North Korea also have nuclear weapons.

Many of these nations have reduced their nuclear weapons. They include the United States, Russia, Britain and France. China is working to modernize its weapons program. Libya has ended its program to develop nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency has taken apart Iraq’s program.

VOICE TWO:

But some experts question whether the world is any safer. In two thousand two, North Korea expelled inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. It has since admitted that it has a small number of nuclear weapons. Talks among six nations urging North Korea to end its nuclear program have produced little progress.

The situation in Iran is also tense. Earlier this month, Iran refused to honor international demands that it halt its nuclear program. Iran restarted uranium-processing activities at its Isfahan nuclear center. The International Atomic Energy Agency has called on Iran to suspend its nuclear activities. If it fails to do so, the IAEA could report Iran to the United Nations Security Council, which could order restrictions against the country. Western nations suspect Iran is secretly trying to build nuclear weapons. But Iran says it wants nuclear technology only to produce electricity.

VOICE ONE:

Some experts say the most frightening situation does not involve nations with nuclear weapons. They say it involves terrorists with nuclear material. Experts say terrorists could create a so-called “dirty bomb” with small amounts of radioactive and explosive material. A more dangerous situation would involve a terrorist bomb fueled with a small amount of plutonium or highly enriched uranium.

This kind of weapon loaded into a small truck or boat could destroy a city and kill large numbers of people. Such an event could be like a second Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

These two Japanese cities have been largely rebuilt today. But the lessons learned from their destruction sixty years ago remain. J. Robert Oppenheimer may have described atomic weapons best. He called them a great danger, but also the world’s greatest hope for lasting peace. Only time will tell if he was right.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Jill Moss. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

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

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