Is the Human Brain Still Evolving? Some Scientists Think So

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. On our program this week -- new thinking about the brain ...

VOICE ONE:

Good news for coffee drinkers ...

VOICE TWO:

And the secret of water-climbing insects.

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VOICE ONE:

Two studies suggest that the human brain continues to change through the process of evolution. The findings conflict with a common belief that the brain has evolved about as much as it ever will. Scientists say modern humans developed about two hundred thousand years ago.

Bruce Lahn of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Chicago led the studies. The findings appeared in Science magazine.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists looked at changes in two genes related to the size of the brain. These two genes do not work right in people with microcephaly. Microcephaly is a rare condition in which people are born with a brain that is much smaller than normal. Some scientists believe this is what the brain of early humans might have looked like.

In the new studies, the scientists looked at different versions of the two genes. They studied genetic material from people of different ethnic groups. They found that one version of each gene appeared again and again.

The scientists say the changes appear to have spread because they improved the brain in some way. They say the new versions are so common, they cannot be considered an accident.

VOICE ONE:

Instead, the scientists suggest there was pressure to spread through natural selection. Natural selection is a process in which genetic changes that are helpful to a species survive and spread quickly.

The scientists found that the new versions of the two genes evolved much faster in apes than in mice and rats. They decided that these changes might have had an important part in human evolution. The scientists studied how often the changes appeared in the genes of many different populations.

VOICE TWO:

They found that a version of the gene called Microcephalin formed only about thirty-seven thousand years ago. This version appears today in about seventy percent of humans. The scientists say it is more common outside of southern Africa.

The second gene is called ASPM. The studies showed that a version of this gene developed just about six thousand years ago. Today it is found in about thirty percent of all people. It is more common in people from Europe and areas including North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

VOICE ONE:

Different populations make use of different genetic changes. Genes must react to the pressures of many environments and threats such as disease.

The scientists who did the studies now want to see if the two genes only act on brain size or also perform other duties. They point out that the genetic changes took place around the same time as important cultural changes. These include the development of things like art and religion and, more recently, civilizations.

Scientists do not know, however, if the two genes are connected to intelligence or problem-solving abilities. Such questions about the mind produce debate. Some scientists are concerned that the new findings might be used to claim that not all groups are created equal.

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VOICE TWO:

Some insects can climb what seem like walls of water without moving their legs. They might do this to leave their eggs on land or to avoid attackers. Now, researchers in the United States have found how the insects are able to use this special skill.

John Bush and David Hu are mathematicians at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Mister Bush is a professor; Mister Hu is a graduate student. For the past four years, they have been studying how small insects travel on the surface of lakes and other areas of water.

The two men used a video camera to make high-speed images of three kinds of insects. Nature magazine reported the results of their study.

VOICE ONE:

They describe how the insects are able to climb areas where the water meets land or another surface, such as a plant. Such areas are called menisci [meh-NIH-sky].

Menisci are common in the environment. They can even be found in a glass of water, where the edge of the water rises to meet the side of the glass.

Mister Hu says most people do not recognize them because menisci are only a few millimeters high. But to small insects, he says, they are like mountains.

The two men found that the insects were unable to climb menisci with their usual movements. The insects climbed halfway up after a running start, but then slid back down. So the insects changed their body position to create forces that helped to pull them up.

VOICE TWO:

Two kinds of water treaders have claws at the end of their legs that can pull back, or retract. This helps the insects hold onto the surface of the water and pull it up and out of shape. As a result, the insects are able to ride on small areas in the water that can support their body weight.

Professor Bush says the insects produce extremely small menisci with their front and back legs. One meniscus creates a pulling force on another. The combined effect with the meniscus of the water pulls the insect up and over the edge of the surface.

The larva of a waterlily leaf beetle prepares to go onto a leaf

Another insect deals with the problem another way. The larva of the waterlily leaf beetle forms a rounded shape with its back. This action creates menisci at each end, and produces the same effect as with the other insects.

The two researchers also found that the insects climbed up menisci at speeds of up to thirty body lengths a second. The fastest human runners can move about five body lengths a second.

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VOICE ONE:

Scientists are finding that coffee does more than help you stay awake. Researchers in the American state of Pennsylvania say coffee has high levels of antioxidants. Antioxidants have been shown to help prevent cancer, heart disease and other conditions.

Joe Vinson is a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton. He says Americans get more antioxidants from coffee than any other food or drink. He reported the findings at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society.

The body produces chemical substances that cause oxidation. Atoms and molecules called free radicals are involved. Oxidation damages cells and tissues. Experts say this damage causes many of the health problems common in older people.

VOICE TWO:

Antioxidants reduce or prevent oxidation. In recent years, other studies have shown the health value of drinking red wine and tea. Both are known to be high in antioxidants.

Professor Vinson said he and his team compared the antioxidant levels of more than one hundred different foods. They examined everything from fruits and vegetables to oils and popular drinks.

Next, the team compared its findings with information from the United States Department of Agriculture. This information showed what Americans eat and drink and in what amounts. The researchers found that coffee won in both comparisons.

Americans drink large amounts of coffee. And, coffee rated among the very best in antioxidants. One kind of fruit, the date, is actually higher in antioxidants in each serving. However, in the United States, drinking coffee is more popular than eating dates.

VOICE ONE:

Professor Vinson warned that having a diet high in antioxidants is not always a good idea. This is because the body cannot always use these compounds. Scientists do not yet fully understand how the body takes in and uses the substances.

Also, too much caffeine may cause nervousness and other problems.

Professor Vinson said that one to two servings of coffee a day is fine. He also suggested that people eat more fruits and vegetables. They contain not only antioxidants but also high levels of substances such as minerals and fiber.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Katherine Gypson, George Grow and Dana Demange. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Our programs are online at voaspecialenglish.com. To send us e-mail, write to special@voanews.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Pumpkins: Not Just for Halloween

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

Many Americans celebrated Halloween on Monday by placing pumpkins outside their homes. A Halloween tradition is to cut a face into the big, round squash.

Pumpkins are also an important part of the Thanksgiving holiday in late November. Tradition says early settlers ate pumpkin pie, or something similar to it, with the Native Americans during the first celebration.

Pumpkins are members of the gourd family. They are related to melons, cucumbers and squashes. They are, like all of their relatives, fruit, not vegetables. Pumpkins have firm flesh, seeds in the center and a shell that is usually orange. And they contain more vitamin A than almost any other fruit.

Pumpkins have been grown for thousands of years in North and Central America. They have been grown for so long, in fact, it is unclear what wild relative the plant has. Pumpkins grow on vines or bushes. Most pumpkins weigh a few kilograms, but some have reached well over four hundred fifty kilograms.

Pumpkin flowers are usually fertilized by bees. The insects carry reproductive material called pollen from the male to the female flowers. No fruit will grow if the female flower is not pollinated at the right time.

Closely related squashes and gourds can also fertilize pumpkins. This cross-pollination will show itself not in the current year’s pumpkins, but in seeds grown the following year.

Pumpkin is used in pies, breads, cakes and other baked goods. Baked pumpkin seeds are also a popular food. Pumpkin filling for pies is produced industrially.

Pumpkins are very low in acid, unlike many fruits. This makes canned pumpkin a place where the bacteria that causes botulism food poisoning can grow. For this reason, experts say it is not a good idea to can crushed pumpkin at home. Whole pumpkins, however, store well in cool, dark places for weeks.

Less than one percent of the American pumpkin supply is imported or exported. Most pumpkins are used in the states where they are grown. Prices can be very different from place to place.

American farmers grew over four hundred fifty million kilograms of pumpkins last year. The crop was valued at about one hundred million dollars.

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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Halloween Is a Good Time to Celebrate the Stories of Edgar Allan Poe

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Faith Lapidus with PEOPLE IN AMERICA from VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Edgar Allan Poe, a nineteenth century American writer. His stories and poems were some of the most frightening and strange ever written.

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VOICE ONE:

Americans celebrate Halloween on October thirty-first. It is mostly a holiday for children, who like to be frightened. Yet many grown people observe Halloween, too. Those who love the writings of Edgar Allan Poe think Poe is most famous for his stories and poems of strangeness, mystery and terror.

VOICE TWO:

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe died in the city of Baltimore, Maryland in eighteen forty-nine. Now, in that city, an unusual party takes place every Halloween. In the dark of night, visitors go to the grounds of Westminster Presbyterian Church where Poe is buried. Everything is quiet. Then a voice calls out. It is Poe! No, it is just an actor, reading Poe's work.

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VOICE ONE:

Reading stories was one of the most important forms of enjoyment in Edgar Allan Poe's time. Poe created many of these "short stories.” They appeared in different publications.

Horror stories already were popular when Poe began writing. Critics say he wrote the perfect horror story. Poe also wrote detective stories. These were mysteries about crimes, such as murder. An investigator called a detective solves the mysteries. The detective is able to find important, hidden meanings in facts. The horror and detective stories Poe created remain popular in books and movies.

VOICE TWO:

Edgar Allan Poe's work is not easy to read. His language is difficult to understand today. And most of his writing describes very unpleasant situations and events. His story "The Pit and the Pendulum," for example, is about the mental torture of a prisoner. Each time the prisoner saves himself from death, a new and more horrible form of death threatens him.

Another story is "The Masque of the Red Death." In it, a terrible disease -- the Red Death -- has killed half the population of a country. The ruler of the country shuts his castle against the disease. He and his wealthy friends are inside. They pass the time by having parties. They believe the Red Death will not find them. But it does.

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VOICE ONE:

Edgar Poe was born in eighteen-oh-nine in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were actors. At that time, actors were not accepted by the best society. Edgar was a baby when his father left the family. He was two years old when his mother died. He was taken into the home of a wealthy businessman, John Allan. He then received his new name -- Edgar Allan Poe. John Allan never officially made Edgar his son. In fact, he came to dislike him strongly.

Poe Medallion

Edgar attended schools in England and in Richmond, Virginia. As a young man, he attended the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He was a good student. He was a member of the Jefferson Literary Society. But he liked to drink alcohol and play card games for money. Edgar was not a good player. He lost money he did not have.

John Allan refused to pay Edgar's gambling losses. He also refused to let Edgar continue at the university. So, Edgar went to Boston and began working as a writer and editor for monthly magazines. He also served in the army for two years.

VOICE TWO:

Edgar Allan Poe worked hard. He became a successful editor. He published three books of poetry. He also began writing stories. Five of his stories were printed in a publication in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in eighteen thirty-two. Yet he was not well paid. His life was difficult. He was poor, and he was troubled by sicknesses of the body and mind. Poe suffered from depression. He feared he was insane. He drank alcohol to escape his fears. The alcohol had a very bad effect on him.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen thirty-five, Poe began editing the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia. The following year, at the age of twenty-seven, he married Virginia Clemm. She was the daughter of his father's sister. She was only thirteen years old.

Poe and his wife moved often as he found work at magazines and newspapers in Philadelphia and New York.

For a time, it seemed that Poe would find some happiness. But his wife was sick for most of their marriage. She died in eighteen forty-seven. After his wife’s death, Poe’s problems with alcohol increased. He died two years later, at the age of forty. He was found dead in Baltimore after days of heavy drinking.

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VOICE TWO:

Through all his crises, Edgar Allan Poe produced many stories, poems, and works of criticism. Some of his stories won prizes. Yet he did not become famous until eighteen forty-five. That was when his poem "The Raven" was published.

There is no question that Poe suffered from emotional problems. One critic said Poe's spirit was torn. He said Poe's stories were often about his own divided nature. Each person in his stories showed a different side of the writer. There is a question, however, about Poe's importance. Some critics said he was one of America's best writers. Others disagreed.

VOICE ONE:

One critic said Poe discovered a new artistic universe -- a universe of dreams. It was a place where the line between reality and unreality is extremely thin.

Even those who praised Poe agreed that there are many difficulties in his work. These difficulties place Poe's writing outside the main body of American literature. Most American writing is realistic. Poe's interests and way of writing were not realistic at all.

Poe's work has been praised most in France. He had a great influence on many French writers.

Poster representing a play based on Poe's "The Raven."

VOICE TWO:

Poe's best-known poem is "The Raven." Some people love it. They say it is like music. Others hate it. They say it sounds forced and unnatural -- like bad music.

"The Raven" is about a man whose great love, Lenore, has died. She is gone forever. But the man cannot accept that all happiness is gone. He sits alone among his books late at night. He hears a noise at the window. Here is the beginning of the poem:

READER:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore --

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping -- rapping at my chamber door.

"’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door --

Only this and nothing more."

VOICE TWO:

The man looks out the window and sees only blackness.

READER:

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,

And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"

This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"

Merely this and nothing more.

VOICE TWO:

But there is something at the window. It is a large black bird -- a raven. It comes into the room like the spirit of death and hopelessness. It sits on a small statue above the door. The raven can speak just one word: “nevermore” -- meaning “never again”.

READER:

But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only

That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.

Nothing further then he uttered; not a feather then he fluttered --

Till I scarcely more than muttered, "Other friends have flown before –

On the morrow he will leave me, as my Hopes have flown before."

Then the bird said, "Nevermore."

VOICE TWO:

The man becomes frightened. He does not know if the raven is just a bird or an evil spirit. We know the raven will never leave the man's room.

READER:

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting -- still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a Demon that is dreaming,

And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted – nevermore!

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Our poetry reader was Richard Rael. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for People in America from VOA Special English.

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International Migration Reduces Poverty, but at a Price

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I'm Steve Emberwith the VOA Special English Development Report.

A new World Bank study says international migration helps reduce poverty in developing nations. At the same time, however, many countries that are small and poor lose highly skilled workers.

Migrants are people who move from place to place in search of work. The study shows that families with migrant workers in other countries have higher earnings than those without migrants.

Economist Maurice Schiff Photo: World Bank/Simone D. McCourtie

Economists at the World Bank studied the effects of the money that migrant workers send to their families back home. Economist Maurice Schiff says the findings show that remittances reduce poverty and increase spending on education, health and investment.

The findings are based on information from families in three countries: Guatemala, Mexico and the Philippines. Mister Schiff says further studies are being done in other countries.

The World Bank estimates that two hundred million people are migrants living outside their native country. It also estimates that about two hundred twenty-five thousand million dollars will be paid in remittances this year. In many countries, remittances supply more foreign exchange than anything else.

The study also found that migrant workers are more likely to move to a rich nation near their home country. Most migrants in Europe come from Africa and the Middle East. In the United States, migrant workers are generally from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

But international migration also means the problem of "brain drain." Many of the skilled workers needed to bring their countries out of poverty move to wealthier ones instead.

The study examined research from member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The economists found, for example, that eight out of ten Haitians and Jamaicans with college educations live outside their countries. In southern Africa, skilled workers are just four percent of the workforce. Yet they are forty percent of the migrants from the area.

The World Bank study says developing countries should try harder to get skilled workers to stay. It also suggests cooperation between sending and receiving nations.

The study is called “International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain."

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

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Grand Ole Opry Celebrates Its 80th Anniversary on Radio

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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. Today we tell you about a program that Americans have been hearing on radio since nineteen twenty-five.

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VOICE ONE:

The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating its eightieth anniversary on the radio this year. Americans have heard this program longer than any other radio show.

The Grand Ole Opry broadcasts country music live on Friday and Saturday nights from Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is famous as America’s country-music capital.

The Opry has aired more than four thousand one hundred shows. The Saturday night show still comes from the medium-wave station, WSM, that began broadcasting it. But now, two million people each week listen to the program on satellite radio, cable television and the Internet as well as WSM.

VOICE TWO:

The first programs were broadcast from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Many years later, shows came from the program’s own Grand Ole Opry theater. Some current listeners are the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the first listeners.

VOICE ONE:

At first, the show was called "The WSM Barn Dance." A newspaper writer, George Hay, established the program and was its first director. Hay later changed the name to the Grand Ole Opry. The new name was meant to show that the program was a kind of country opera.

The earliest days of the Opry presented “hillbilly music” played by local musicians. Hay hired eighty-year-old Uncle Jimmy Thompson to play this folk music of the American South on his fiddle, or violin. People loved the show.

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SOUND: “Presenting the Grand Ole Opry. Let her go, boys!"

VOICE TWO:

People kept listening to the Grand Ole Opry through the Jazz Age in the nineteen twenties. Then came the great economic depression of nineteen twenty-nine and the nineteen thirties. People still kept listening to the Grand Ole Opry. They also listened as the darkness of World War Two fell on the world.

By the nineteen forties, the Grand Ole Opry had become the most important country-music radio show in America. Comedian Minnie Pearl made people laugh. And Roy Acuff was perhaps the most popular Opry artist of that time. Here are Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys with “Wabash Cannonball.”

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VOICE ONE:

Rock star Elvis Presley sang on the Grand Ole Opry in nineteen fifty-four. He performed his own version of a song by Bill Monroe, who was present. The show’s historian says Elvis was nervous about the reaction, but Bill Monroe told him he liked it. Yet Elvis never came back.

Johnny Cash started on the program during the nineteen fifties. Cash met his future wife, June Carter, at the Grand Ole Opry.

Singer Patsy Cline joined the show in nineteen sixty. Here is Patsy Cline with “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

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VOICE TWO:

As the years passed, more great stars appeared on the Grand Ole Opry. Ceremonies were held in nineteen seventy-four for its new performance center. The Grand Ole Opry House theater opened on the edge of Nashville. President Richard Nixon played “God Bless America” on the piano at the event.

The new center gave many entertainers a chance to develop their fame. They included people like John Conlee, Lorrie Morgan, the Gatlins, Ronnie Milsap and Barbara Mandrell. Here, John Conlee sings “Rose Colored Glasses.”

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VOICE ONE:

The Grand Ole Opry of today takes place much as it did eighty years ago. Performers march across the stage. They sing and play a song or two. Then they leave, and the next performers play. At least thirty entertainers usually appear in a single show.

Some of the most famous stars of country music appear at the Grand Ole Opry. People like Marty Stuart, Tim McGraw and Martina McBride. Listen as Martina McBride sings “Wrong Again.”

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VOICE TWO:

Other members or guests of the Grand Ole Opry include famous names like Alan Jackson, Charley Pride, Ricky Scaggs, Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley and Chely Wright. The list goes on.

Here are Brad Paisley and Chely Wright with a song about the life of a married traveling singer. The song is called “Hard to Be a Husband, Hard to Be a Wife.”

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VOICE ONE:

The Grand Ole Opry has been celebrating its eightieth year with a number of special events. Diamond Rio, Ralph Stanley and Travis Tritt performed during a long celebration weekend earlier in October. Garth Brooks appeared although he is retired from performing. Listen now as Diamond Rio performs “Meet in the Middle.”

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VOICE TWO:

The Grand Ole Opry will present a special show at Carnegie Hall on November fourteenth. Opry members set to take part in that performance and celebration include Bill Anderson, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, and Alison Krauss and her group Union Station.

We sign off now with Alison Krauss and Union Station as they present a Grand Ole Opry favorite, “Oh Atlanta.”

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver was our producer. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Our programs can be found on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. Please join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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Wilma Adds to the Damage of a Record Hurricane Season

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

People in the American state of Florida are trying to recover from the twenty-first powerful storm to develop in the Atlantic Ocean this year.

The hurricane called Wilma hit the southeastern state on Monday. At least twenty-seven people died. Officials say Wilma also caused at least twelve deaths in Haiti, four in Mexico and one in Jamaica.

About six million people in South Florida lost electric power as a result of the storm. Many remain without electricity. Officials say it could take at least until late November to get the power situation back to normal.

More than four thousand people in the southern part of the state have not been able to return to their homes.

Key West, Florida

Experts say the storm damage to Florida could total about ten thousand million dollars. That would make it one of the ten most costly storms in United States history.

But Wilma was only the latest in a series of damaging storms to hit the American South in the past few months. Hurricane Katrina in August was one of the worst natural disasters in American history. It killed more than one thousand people. Government officials estimate that it caused at least one hundred twenty-five thousand million dollars in damage.

Floodwalls around the city of New Orleans failed. The flooding that resulted caused destruction. Officials in the city are now trying to get people who left to return. Mayor Ray Nagin says the city’s population will be reduced to nearly half its number from before the storm. As many as two hundred fifty thousand houses still cannot be lived in, and many areas still lack basic services.

Some businesses in the city have re-opened. But city officials say they have had to travel outside Louisiana to urge many people to return. They say their biggest problem is providing places for people to live.

In September, Hurricane Rita damaged the coasts of Louisiana and Texas. The loss of life and damage estimates were much lower than for earlier storms. Officials say that was because people learned from what had happened to New Orleans and left the area before the storm hit.

But the hurricane season is not yet over. The official period continues until the end of November. The National Hurricane Center says this is the busiest Atlantic season on record. After Wilma, weather experts did not have any more storm names left for the season. So they named the next two tropical storms with letters of the Greek alphabet: Alpha and Beta.

Weather experts say the number of storms began to rise in about nineteen ninety-five. They say the increase in the number of hurricanes is a result of an increase in water temperatures. The director of the hurricane center told Congress earlier this year that this increased storm activity could continue for another ten years.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Sacred Harp: One of America's Oldest and Purest Musical Traditions

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

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

We hear some music known as Sacred Harp…

Answer a question about daylight saving time.

And report about the upcoming holiday of Halloween.

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Monday, October thirty-first, is Halloween in the United States. On that night, many people will dress in clothes to make them look like frightening creatures like monsters or ghosts. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

FAITH LAPIDUS: The traditions of Halloween grew out of Celtic beliefs in ancient Britain. The Celts thought spirits of the dead would return to their homes on October thirty-first, the day of the autumn feast. The Celts built huge fires to frighten away evil spirits released with the dead on that night.

People from Scotland and Ireland brought these ideas with them to America. Some people still believed that spirits played tricks on people on the last night of October.

History experts say many of the Halloween traditions today developed from those of ancient times. For example, they say that burning a candle inside a hollow pumpkin recalls the fires set many years ago in Britain. And they say that wearing a mask to hide a person’s face is similar to the way ancient villagers covered their faces to force evil spirits away.

On Halloween night, American children dress in special clothing and go from house to house shouting “trick or treat!” If the people in the houses do not give them candy, the children might play a trick on them. Americans spend a great deal of money buying Halloween costumes to wear. They also buy pumpkins and frightening objects to place outside their homes.

Adults enjoy Halloween, too. Many go to parties dressed as monsters or famous people. We know of two people who got married on Halloween and had their wedding guests dress in such costumes.

The National Retail Federation did a study on what people will wear on Halloween. The group released a list of the most popular Halloween costumes this year. It says the most popular choices for children are princess, witch, monster and characters from popular movies. And it says adults want to dress as a witch, vampire, monster or famous actor.

Daylight Saving Time

HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from France. Sylvain Restelli asks about the system of time in the United States.

Standard time is a worldwide system of time areas. It is based on longitude. Longitude is the distance on the Earth that measures east or west of the first longitude line at Greenwich, England. Each time area is fifteen degrees longitude wide.

Under standard time, the time kept in each area is that of its central longitude line. These lines are fifteen degrees, thirty degrees and so on east or west of the first line in England. The difference in time between each nearby area is exactly one hour.

The continental United States is divided into four time areas. The most eastern area uses eastern time. The next time area to the west is central time. The next area is mountain time and the farthest west is pacific time. For example, when it is ten o’clock in New York City, it is nine o’clock in Chicago, Illinois. It is eight o’clock in Denver, Colorado and seven o’clock in San Francisco, California.

In the summertime, most Americans move their clocks ahead one hour for daylight saving time. But some states do not. They are Hawaii, Arizona and parts of Indiana. The use of daylight saving time saves energy by providing an additional hour of daylight in the early evening.

Many countries first used daylight saving time during wartime. After World War Two, American states established some kind of daylight saving time. But this was confusing. So, in nineteen sixty-six, Congress established it for the nation. It began the last Sunday in April and ended the last Sunday in October. Congress extended the time period in the nineteen seventies when a reduction in Arab oil exports caused a fuel shortage.

In nineteen eighty-six, legislation changed the start of daylight saving time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April. Earlier this year, Congress again passed a law extending daylight saving time. Starting in two thousand seven, daylight saving time will begin the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November.

Until then, daylight saving time begins the first Sunday in April and ends the last Sunday in October. That is why most Americans will set their clocks back one hour this Saturday night.

Sacred Harp

Sacred Harp singing is one of the oldest and purest musical traditions in America. Yet, it has nothing to do with the musical instrument called the harp. These performers use only their voices to sing both religious and non-religious traditional songs Pat Bodnar tells us more.

PAT BODNAR: Sacred Harp singing has existed in America since the eighteenth century. It started when singing teachers traveled around the country to improve the quality of church music.

Here is an example. An African-American group, called the Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers, performs a song written in the late seventeen hundreds. It is called “Coronation.”

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The term “Sacred Harp ” refers to a book published in the eighteen forties. It contains more than five hundred songs that are important to the history of Sacred Harp singing. The book is still being published today.

This song was written in eighteen-oh-three. It is based on a Christian Bible story in the Book of Luke. The Alabama Sacred Harp Convention performs the song called “Sherburne.”

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Sacred Harp singers get together at day-long events called “sings”. Groups of men, women and children come together to celebrate in song. The people arrange their chairs in a square and face one another. Then they divide into four groups based on their singing voice. Each group makes up one side of the square. Every person takes a turn choosing a song and leading the group.

We leave you now with a song performed by a professional group of singers called the Word of Mouth Chorus. This song was written in nineteen fifty. “Peace and Joy” is a more modern example of the Sacred Harp tradition.

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

This show was written by Nancy Steinbach and Dana Demange 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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Bush Nominates Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve Chairman

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

President Bush this week nominated economist Ben Bernanke [ber-NAN-key] to become the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The Senate is expected to confirm Mister Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan. Mister Greenspan has held the position at the central bank for eighteen years. He is expected to leave at the end of January.

Mister Bernanke currently serves as chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers. President Bush appointed him in June. Mister Bernanke served as a governor of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank from August of two thousand two until this year.

But, Mister Bernanke has mainly been a university professor for much of his working life. He headed the Economics Department at Princeton University in New Jersey before he was confirmed as a Federal Reserve governor.

Mister Bernanke says he does not plan big changes for the central bank. He says his first job will be to continue what he called "the policies and policy strategies established during the Greenspan years."

However, Mister Bernanke has supported the idea of the Federal Reserve announcing a target rate for inflation. Some nations, mainly in Europe, already do this. Alan Greenspan started announcing target interest rates for money controlled by the central bank. But he has not supported the idea of stated targets for inflation.

Mister Greenspan is seventy-nine years old. He has won praise for his guidance of the world's largest economy. He became Federal Reserve chairman in August of nineteen eighty-seven. Two months later, the stock market faced the worst day in its history. The Dow Jones industrial average lost almost one-fourth of its value. Since then, Mister Greenspan has led the central bank through two recessions, but also a long period of economic expansion.

Mister Bernanke was born in Augusta, Georgia, and is fifty-one years old. He studied at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If confirmed, Mister Bernanke will be the fourteenth chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. And, unlike the current one, the president noted that Mister Bernanke has been praised for giving speeches in "clear, simple language."

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

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Two U.S. Businesses Aim to Help Students Prepare for Science Jobs

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I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report.

The United States Department of Labor says jobs requiring science and technology training will increase fifty-one percent through two thousand eight. It says this could lead to six million future jobs for those with skills in science. Now, two companies have announced plans to help American students prepare for this future.

The General Electric Company announced it will invest one hundred million dollars to increase the number of students who go to college. The move is an expansion of its education program known as College Bound.

The College Bound program aims to increase the number of students going to college from more than twenty high schools around the country. The latest school district to receive this help is in the state of Kentucky. The Jefferson County Public Schools and up to four other districts will receive the money over the next five years.

The money will pay for creating new ways to teach math and science, professional development for teachers and a study of the project. Also, company officials will help carry out the project goals in the schools.

Jefferson County school officials praised General Electric for its program. Officials say the gift will help support the schools to prepare students for the increasingly technical jobs of the future.

Earlier in September, the I.B.M. company announced a program to increase the number of mathematics and science teachers in the United States. I.B.M. said the program will make it possible for some of its workers to become teachers after they leave the company.

Company officials say many workers who are experts in science and math have expressed the desire to teach after they retire from I.B.M. So the company developed the program called Transition to Teaching. The program will pay each worker up to fifteen thousand dollars while they learn to teach.

About one hundred I.B.M. workers across the country will be the first to take part in the program. I.B.M. says that if they are successful, the program will expand to other areas and maybe even to other companies as well.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports can be found on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. Do you have a question about the American education system? We might be able to answer it on our program. Send it to special@voanews.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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American Lawmakers React to Flood of Immigrants in Late 1800s

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VOICE ONE:

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

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View from Ellis Island in New York Harbor

In our last program, we told how the flow of immigration to the United States began to change in the eighteen eighties. Before then, most of the immigrants came from central and northern Europe. From Britain, Ireland, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries.

The largest number came from Britain. They found it easy to settle in the United States. They shared with the Americans the same language and many of the same traditions. Some of these early immigrants were skilled workers who found good jobs in American industry. Others were farmers who came to America for free land.

VOICE TWO:

After eighteen eighty, the flood of immigration from northern and central Europe began to fall. Now, most immigrants were coming from eastern and southern Europe. From Russia, Poland, Romania, Italy, Greece.

Italian family picking berries in Delaware, 1910

These new immigrants were different from those who came earlier. Most did not speak English. Most were poor farmers who had few special skills. Most had little or no education.

They were, however, good workers. They did not protest working long hours for low pay. They did not demand better working conditions. They usually refused to join labor unions or take part in strikes.

VOICE ONE:

American factory owners were pleased with the new immigrants. They gave them jobs formerly held by higher-paid American workers. The owners asked the new workers to write letters to friends still in the old country, urging them to come to America.

And they came by the hundreds of thousands to take jobs in steel factories in Pennsylvania and the coal mines of West Virginia. They worked in the lumber camps of Michigan and in the stockyards and the meat-packing plants of Chicago.

American workers then began to protest, as their jobs were filled by immigrants who were happy to work for less money.

VOICE TWO:

The protests were especially bitter on the pacific coast where thousands of Chinese immigrants were settling in California.

The Chinese arrived there after eighteen fifty to help build western railroads. After the railroads were completed, these Chinese new-comers turned to other jobs. More came every year. By the eighteen seventies, California's political leaders were demanding an end to further immigration from China.

In eighteen eighty-two, Congress passed a law that barred Chinese immigration for ten years. The law was extended for another ten years, then made permanent.

VOICE ONE:

The immigration law of eighteen eighty-two put other limits on immigration. It closed the country to criminals, the mentally ill, and persons who could not support themselves. Later, others were added to this list. Persons with diseases. Anarchists. Alcoholics.

This, however, did not greatly reduce immigration from eastern and southern Europe. And opponents of immigration demanded stronger action.

Some proposed a literacy test. Immigrants would have to show that they could read and write. An immigrant who could not, would not be permitted to enter the country.

Henry Cabot Lodge

VOICE TWO:

Senator Henry Cabot lodge of Massachusetts urged Congress to pass such a law. In a Senate speech, lodge said:

"if we care for the welfare, the wages, or the standard of life of American workingmen, we should take immediate steps to limit foreign immigration. There is no danger to our workingmen from the coming of skilled workers or of trained and educated men. But there is a serious danger from the flood of unskilled, ignorant foreign labor.

"This labor not only takes lower wages, but accepts a standard of living so low that the American workingman cannot compete with it."

Senator Lodge continued.

"A literacy test will bear very lightly, if at all, upon English-speaking immigrants or Germans, Scandinavians, and French. The races which would suffer most under a literacy test would be those with which the English-speaking people have never united, and who are most different from the great majority of the people of the United States."

Congress passed the proposal. President Cleveland, however, vetoed it. He said the nation had nothing to fear from immigrants who could not read or write. He said there was greater danger from some of the educated immigrants who urged violence and anarchy.

It took a number of years before Congress was able to pass a law demanding a literacy test for immigrants.

VOICE ONE:

Another problem troubled President Cleveland. High tariffs -- taxes on imports.

Soon after his election, Cleveland decided to learn what he could about the tariff. "I'm sorry to say," said Cleveland, "but the truth is, I know nothing about the tariff."

President Grover Cleveland

Cleveland studied all the information he could find about the tariff. He found that the tariff was used not only to get money for the government, but to protect American industry from foreign competition. The tariffs had been raised so high that they were producing more money than the government needed.

Cleveland decided that high tariffs were wrong. He told other democratic leaders that he would try to get them reduced.

The politicians warned him not to try. They said he would only lose the support of businessmen. They said he would need campaign money from business if he expected to be elected president again. But Cleveland rejected their advice. He said, "What is the use of being elected or re-elected, if you don't stand for something."

VOICE TWO:

So, late in eighteen eighty-seven, Cleveland sent a tariff message to Congress.

He said it was wrong to raise more tax money than the government needed. When this happens, he said, money is withdrawn from the people's use and kept in the public treasury, where it does no good. It threatens the economy and invites dishonest attempts to use the money for private interests.

The government, he said, received most of this unnecessary tax money from tariffs. He said the present tariff laws were vicious, unfair, and illogical. He said they raised the prices of all imported goods which could be taxed. They also led American manufacturers to raise their prices as high as those charged for imported goods.

Cleveland said some men had become rich, because protective tariffs let them charge high prices. He noted that American businessmen like to talk about the strength and success of American industry. But he said that when the question of the tariff is raised, businessmen claim that industry is weak. They say they cannot compete with low-priced foreign products.

VOICE ONE:

Cleveland said he did not propose that all tariffs be ended. He said some were needed to raise money for the government. And he said some industries could not exist unless they were protected by tariffs. But he said tariffs should not let some industries make huge profits.

Cleveland warned that it would be far better to make safe, careful, and intelligent changes in the tariff laws now. Otherwise, he said, there might come a time when an angry public would demand radical and sweeping changes.

VOICE TWO:

The House of Representatives moved quickly to pass a moderate bill that would reduce many of the tariffs. The legislation -- called the Mills Bill -- was exactly what Cleveland wanted. But the bill ran into trouble in the Senate, where Republicans had control.

Senator William Allison, a Republican from Iowa, proposed a different tariff bill. It was one that would increase tariffs...not reduce them.

The Senate debated the tariff question for months. And since it was eighteen eighty-eight -- a presidential election year -- the tariff became an important election issue.

The Democrats promised low tariffs that would mean lower prices for the people. The Republicans defended high tariffs, which they said were necessary to protect American industry and labor.

The Democrats nominated Grover Cleveland for another four-year term. The Republicans held their nominating convention two weeks later.

That will be our story next week.

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VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THE MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Robert Bostic and Jack Weitzel. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

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More Than Half of All Languages in the World Are in Danger of Disappearing

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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 the loss of languages and attempts to save them.

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VOICE ONE:

About six thousand languages are spoken in the world today. But experts estimate

Many American Indian langauges are among indigenous languages threatened around the world

that more than half of them are in danger of disappearing. The endangered languages are spoken by some older members of native groups, but not used for everyday life by younger members. As the old people die, the language dies with them.

VOICE TWO:

Until recently, most people were not worried about the loss of languages. There was much more concern about the loss of different kinds of plants and animals. Now, scientists, cultural experts and many other people are concerned about protecting the different languages in the world. They know that when a language is lost, the culture and much of the knowledge of the native community may be lost with it.

Languages are the means by which people seek to explain the world they live in. Information about the natural world, such as plants that can be used to heal, often is lost when the language dies. Some experts say the death of any language is a loss for everyone, not just for the native people who once spoke it.

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VOICE ONE:

During the last century, government suppression of native languages was common around the world, including the United States. In eighteen sixty-eight, President

President Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant appointed a federal committee to try to make peace with American Indian tribes. The tribes were fighting to protect their lands.

The committee decided that language differences were the problem. It said that all people in the United States should speak the same language so they would think the same way. It said American Indian children should be taken from their homes and sent to live in government boarding schools where they would speak only English.

The federal government established its first boarding school for American Indian children in eighteen seventy-nine. Children were punished if they spoke their native languages. For fifty years, thousands of Native American children were sent to these schools to live, work and be educated in English. By the late nineteen thirties, many of the schools had closed. But their effects on American Indian languages continued.

VOICE TWO:

In the nineteen sixties, interest in saving native cultures and languages grew. Government policies changed. By nineteen sixty-eight, the American government helped start some of the first tribal language programs in the public school system.

In nineteen ninety, a Native American organization reported to Congress about the importance of saving and using tribal languages. It said information about the past and about spiritual, ceremonial and natural worlds is passed on through spoken language. Without the language, the group said, a culture can be damaged beyond repair.

That year the United States Congress passed the Native American Languages Act. It established a federal policy aimed at saving the languages of American Indian tribes. But the years of government attempts to force American Indians to speak English meant many tribal languages were in danger or dead.

VOICE ONE:

Government suppression is not the only reason languages are lost around the world. Younger people leave their native communities to get jobs in cities where they use only the language of the majority. Wars, floods, lack of rain, or loss of land to development can force members of a community to leave their traditional homelands. They flee to other countries to live with speakers of other languages. And in recent years, television, movies and the Internet have made English a worldwide language of communication.

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VOICE TWO:

The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization is trying to solve this problem. It has been taking steps to develop international policies to support native cultures and save endangered languages. In two thousand one, Unesco passed the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. It has several goals: To protect all languages. To support the use and teaching of native languages at all levels of education. And to help provide other languages on the Internet.

VOICE ONE:

Unesco has a new project to help save languages. It is called the Register of Good Practices in Language Preservation. It is collecting reports of successful experiences of communities in creating new speakers of their languages. These include developing school programs, training teachers, creating pride in a community and developing computer programs in a native language. The information gathered will be shared through the Internet.

VOICE TWO:

The Indigenous Language Institute is a center in the United States for efforts to save native languages. It began in nineteen ninety-two. The headquarters of the institute is in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Inee Slaughter is the director of the organization. Miz Slaughter says the guiding principle of the institute is to help create speakers of native languages. Miz Slaughter says a language is not a living language unless it is spoken. She says the Indigenous Language Institute must act quickly because within ten years it may be impossible to save many of the languages. Speakers of native languages are dying faster than new speakers are learning the language.

VOICE ONE:

The Indigenous Language Institute has worked with about one hundred tribes to help them find ways to keep their languages alive. Miz Slaughter says the institute is reaching out to all tribes through its Internet Web site, www.indigenous-language.org. On the Web site, there are examples of successful language programs, reports about conferences and links to other organizations working to save languages.

VOICE TWO:

One of the Indigenous Language Institute’s projects is the publication of a series of books called “Awakening Our Languages.” A team of tribal language experts visited fifty-four tribes in the United States. The team wanted to find out how many members of the tribe spoke the native language and what was being done to increase the number of speakers. Information about successful programs and methods of teaching languages are included in the series.

Another project is the Language Materials Development Center. Experts are developing and testing language materials as models for communities to use. The institute is also providing technical training so Native language speakers can use computers as tools for teaching languages.

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VOICE ONE:

Experts are trying many methods to increase speakers of endangered languages. Some projects are small. For example, a language speaker and a learner meet every day for an hour to talk. Other projects are large, such as schools where students are taught only in their native language.

Miz Slaughter says that one success story is in the American state of Hawaii. In nineteen eighty-three Native Hawaiians began to teach their own language to very young children. They started creating an immersion school where only the Hawaiian language would be used. The idea was based on a school established by the Maori people in New Zealand.

VOICE TWO:

Hawaii’s Punana Leo or “language nest” project began with a group of young children in pre-school. Now there are eleven pre-schools in the Punana Leo project. And there are several schools where students from ages three to eighteen are taught all subjects in Hawaiian. When the project began, fewer than fifty children in Hawaii spoke Hawaiian.

Today, almost two thousand children are able to speak their native language. Parents of the students are very involved in the Punana Leo schools. Some of them are learning the language along with their children so they can speak Hawaiian at home. Miz Slaughter says family involvement is important so the language is used outside of the school walls. A language needs to be used and spoken in all activities of everyday life to be alive in the future.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Marilyn Christiano. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

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

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Bartleby

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Announcer: Now, the Special English program, AMERICAN STORIES.

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Our story this week is called “Bartleby." It was written by Herman Melville, one of America’s best-known writers. Here is Shep O’Neal to tell you the story in Special English.

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Storyteller: I am an old lawyer, and I have three men working for me. My business continued to grow and so I decided to get one more man to help write legal papers.

I have met a great many people in my days, but the man who answered my advertisement was the strangest person I have ever heard of or met.

He stood outside my office and waited for me to speak. He was a small man, quiet and dressed in a clean but old suit of clothes. I asked him his name. It was Bartleby.

At first Bartleby almost worked himself too hard writing the legal papers I gave him. He worked through the day by sunlight, and into the night by candlelight. I was happy with his work, but not happy with the way he worked. He was too quiet. But, he worked well…like a machine, never looking or speaking.

One day, I asked Bartleby to come to my office to study a legal paper with me. Without moving from his chair, Bartleby said: “I do not want to.”

I sat for a short time, too surprised to move. Then I became excited.

“You do not want to. What do you mean, are you sick? I want you to help me with this paper.”

“I do not want to.”

His face was calm. His eyes showed no emotion. He was not angry. This is strange, I thought. What should I do? But, the telephone rang, and I forgot the problem for the time being.

A few days later, four long documents came into the office. They needed careful study, and I decided to give one document to each of my men. I called and all came to my office. But not Bartleby.

“Bartleby, quick, I am waiting.”

He came, and stood in front of me for a moment. “I don’t want to,” he said then turned and went back to his desk.

I was so surprised, I could not move. There was something about Bartleby that froze me, yet, at the same time, made me feel sorry for him.

As time passed, I saw that Bartleby never went out to eat dinner. Indeed, he never went anywhere. At eleven o’clock each morning, one of the men would bring Bartleby some ginger cakes.

“Umm. He lives on them,” I thought. “Poor fellow!” He is a little foolish at times, but he is useful to me.

“Bartleby,” I said one afternoon. “Please go to the post office and bring my mail.”

“I do not want to.”

I walked back to my office too shocked to think. Let’s see, the problem here is…one of my workers named Bartleby will not do some of the things I ask him to do. One important thing about him though, he is always in his office.

One Sunday I walked to my office to do some work. When I placed the key in the door, I couldn’t open it. I stood a little surprised, then called, thinking someone might be inside. There was. Bartleby. He came from his office and told me he did not want to let me in.

The idea of Bartleby living in my law office had a strange effect on me. I slunk away much like a dog does when it has been shouted at…with its tail between its legs.

Was anything wrong? I did not for a moment believe Bartleby would keep a woman in my office. But for some time he must have eaten, dressed and slept there. How lonely and friendless Bartleby must be.

I decided to help him. The next morning I called him to my office.

“Bartleby, will you tell me anything about yourself?”

“I do not want to.”

I sat down with him and said, “You do not have to tell me about your personal history, but when you finish writing that document…

“I have decided not to write anymore,” he said. And left my office.

What was I to do? Bartleby would not work at all. Then why should he stay on his job? I decided to tell him to go. I gave him six days to leave the office and told him I would give him some extra money. If he would not work, he must leave.

On the sixth day, somewhat hopefully, I looked into the office Bartleby used. He was still there.

The next morning, I went to the office early. All was still. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Bartleby’s voice came from inside. I stood as if hit by lightening. I walked the streets thinking. “Well, Bartleby, if you will not leave me, I shall leave you.”

I paid some men to move all the office furniture to another place. Bartleby just stood there as the men took his chair away.

“Goodbye Bartleby, I am going. Goodbye and God be with you. Here take this money.” I placed it in his hands. It dropped to the floor; and then, strange to say, I had difficulty leaving the person I wanted to leave me.

A few days later, a stranger visited me in my new office. “You are responsible for the man you left in your last office,” he said. The owner of the building has given me a court order which says you must take him away. We tried to make him leave, but he returned and troubles the others there.

I went back to my old office and found Bartleby sitting on the empty floor.

“Bartleby, one of two things must happen. I will get you a different job, or you can go to work for some other lawyer.”

He said he did not like either choice.

“Bartleby, will you come home with me and stay there until we decide what you will do?”

He answered softly, “No, I do not want to make any changes.”

I answered nothing more. I fled. I rode around the city and visited places of historic interest, anything to get Bartleby off my mind.

When I entered my office later, I found a message for me. Bartleby had been taken to prison.

I found him there, and when he saw me he said: “I know you, and I have nothing to say to you.”

“But I didn’t put you here, Bartleby.” I was deeply hurt. I told him I gave the prison guard money to buy him a good dinner.

“I do not want to eat today, he said. I never eat dinner.”

Days passed, and I went to see Bartleby again. I was told he was sleeping in the prison yard outside.

Sleeping? The thin Bartleby was lying on the cold stones. I stooped to look at the small man lying on his side with his knees against his chest. I walked closer and looked down at him. His eyes were open. He seemed to be in a deep sleep.

“Won’t he eat today, either, or does he live without eating?” the guard asked.

“Lives without eating,” I answered…and closed his eyes.

“Uh…he is asleep isn’t he?” the guard said.

“With kings and lawyers,” I answered.

One little story came to me some days after Bartleby died. I learned he had worked for many years in the post office. He was in a special office that opened all the nation’s letters that never reach the person they were written to. It is called the dead letter office. The letters are not written clearly, so the mailmen cannot read the addresses.

Well, poor Bartleby had to read the letters, to see if anyone’s name was written clearly so they could be sent. Think of it. From one letter a wedding ring fell, the finger it was bought for perhaps lies rotting in the grave. Another letter has money to help someone long since dead. Letters filled with hope for those who died without hope.

Poor Bartleby! He himself had lost all hope. His job had killed something inside him.

Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!

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Announcer: You have heard an AMERICAN STORY called "Bartleby." It was written by Herman Melville. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. This is Shirley Griffith.

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Studies Support Wider Use of a Drug for Some Breast Cancers

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

Three studies show that a drug used to treat an aggressive form of breast cancer after it has spread also can treat it earlier.

Results of the studies involving the drug Herceptin have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. They show that in some cases it cut by about fifty percent the chance that the cancer would reappear.

The drug targets the kind of breast cancer known as H.E.R. two, or HER-two, positive. Women who produce too much of the HER-two protein have a cancer that is especially fast-growing.

Researchers say about fifteen to twenty-five percent of women with breast cancer have this kind. Doctors can remove the cancer, but it is more likely than others to return.

More than eight thousand women took part in the studies in Europe and North America. All had early HER-two positive breast cancer.

The European study followed the progress of women for up to two years. The researchers say the cancer returned in twenty-three percent of those not receiving Herceptin. Only fourteen percent of the women who received the drug experienced a return of the cancer.

The other two studies involved women who were treated with an operation, chemotherapy drugs and, in some cases, Herceptin. Thirty-three percent of the women who did not receive Herceptin had their cancer return within four years. This happened to only fifteen percent of those treated with Herceptin.

Herceptin is an antibody that attaches itself to the HER-two gene on cancerous growths. It slows or stops the cancer from growing. Treatment must continue for one year. It costs about forty-eight thousand dollars.

The studies showed possible heart-related risks. About four percent of the women who took Herceptin along with other drugs suffered serious heart problems. The rate was only about half of one percent when patients took Herceptin within one year of completing other drug treatment.

The researchers are not sure why these heart problems appeared. They say more and longer studies are needed to answer this and other questions about the drug. American doctors are being urged to treat early HER-two breast cancer with Herceptin. But some say it will take years to prove that these results can be repeated with all HER-two breast cancer patients.

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

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U.N. Report Disputes Link Between Forests and Floods

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(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Do forests prevent major floods? A United Nations report says no.

VOICE ONE:

Building houses powered by the sun ... but what happens when it rains?

VOICE TWO:

And, later, we tell about a possible new way for many people with diabetes to take their daily insulin.

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VOICE ONE:

A deadly landslide after Hurricane Stan hit Guatemala

People often blame the destruction of forests when rains lead to severe flooding. Such blame followed recent floods in Central America and East Asia, for example. But a new report disputes this idea.

It says there is no scientific evidence to link severe floods to the loss of forests. The report is the work of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Center for International Forestry Research.

Patrick Durst is a forestry official for the F.A.O. office in Bangkok. He says government officials, aid groups and the media are often quick to blame flooding on deforestation caused by small farmers and tree cutters. He says such ideas have, in the past, led some governments to force poor farmers from their lands and away from forests. Mister Durst calls such actions misguided.

VOICE TWO:

The new report says forests can help to reduce the flow of rainwater, or runoff, that causes floods in local areas. However, it says there is no evidence that the loss of trees is a major cause of severe widespread flooding. The report came out this month in the same week as major flooding caused by a powerful storm in Central America.

The report says the flood-reducing effects of forests depend heavily on the structure and depth of the soil. The amount of water in the soil is another influence. Even at the local level, the report says, the effects do not depend just on the presence of trees.

David Kaimowitz is director-general of the Center for International Forestry Research. He says planting trees and protecting forests can be good for the environment in many ways. But, he adds, preventing large floods is not one of them.

Mister Kaimowitz notes that thick forests were more plentiful a century ago. But he says the rate of what he calls "major flooding events" has remained the same over the past one hundred twenty years.

VOICE ONE:

Economic and human losses from floods have increased over the years, however. The report says that is mainly because more people live and work in areas where floods are common.

Pal Singh of the World Agroforestry Center says people need to stop blaming floods on those who live and work in and around forests. He says people should instead consider the effects of many different land-use issues. In some cases, he says, these issues can include poor methods of tree removal.

The report says people have believed since the nineteenth century that forests prevent floods by capturing heavy rainfalls. But it says major floods blamed on deforestation almost always happen after many days of rains. The water then has nowhere to go but into rivers, which flood quickly.

VOICE TWO:

Here are some other things said in the new report from the United Nations:

There can be a political interest not to dispute the traditional beliefs about forests and flooding. Governments can act to ban the removal of trees. Such policies give the appearance of strong action. But the effect is to force poor farmers from their lands and leave many people unemployed. International agencies might also have an interest because the traditional beliefs lead to aid for reforestation projects.

David Kaimowitz at the Center for International Forestry Research says: "Politicians and policymakers should stop chasing quick fixes for flood-related problems."

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VOICE ONE:

You are listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The United States Department of Energy held the Solar Decathlon earlier this month. The event is a chance to see which team from a college or university can build the best solar-powered house.

Eighteen houses powered by energy from the sun formed a "solar village" on the National Mall here in Washington. Hundreds of students traveled from around the country as well as Puerto Rico, Canada and Spain. They built their houses on the grassy open space between the Capitol building and the Washington Monument.

VOICE TWO:

The teams were made up of students who want to be engineers, scientists and architects. Some of them spent almost two years working on their projects.

Each house had to collect as much energy as a family of four would need to heat their home, cook, wash clothes and do other tasks.

The houses had to be energy-efficient. The systems had to waste as little energy as possible.

The teams also designed their homes so that they would be pleasant to live in. Many of the houses in the solar village had gardens or walls that could move to create outdoor living spaces.

Each team competed in ten different competitions to decide the winner.

VOICE ONE:

For most of the eight-day competition, the students faced an additional challenge. Clouds covered the sun, and rain fell on the specially designed roofs of their houses. On a sunny day, these roofs take in the heat of the sun and change it into electrical energy. Tiles on the floors of the houses store additional heat for use when the weather becomes cold.

The more solar panels each house had on its roof and walls, the more energy the house could collect during breaks in the rain. Batteries stored the energy for later use.

The team from the University of Madrid was able to collect enough energy to power a computer and to heat several gallons of water. A gallon is almost four liters. But the students had trouble with another one of the ten events. They could not collect enough energy to win a race of cars powered by solar batteries.

VOICE TWO:

At the end of the week, the rain had not stopped. But it was time to take down the houses. Some of the teams said that they would ship the homes back to their schools and use them for educational purposes. Other teams said they planned to give their houses to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

2005 winning design

The team from the University of Colorado won the first Solar Decathlon in two thousand two. And they did it again this time. Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, finished second. California Polytechnic State University finished third.

The Energy Department plans to hold the Solar Decathlon every two years from now on.

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VOICE ONE:

There may be an easier way for many people with diabetes to take insulin to control their blood sugar levels. Diabetics who now need daily injections may one day be able to take their insulin by mouth. They would breathe it as a powder into their lungs, through a mouthpiece device.

The inhaled insulin is called Exubera. The drug companies Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis and Nektar Therapeutics developed it. They say it is generally as effective as the injected form in controlling blood sugar levels. But they say it should not always be used in place of longer-lasting injections of insulin.

VOICE TWO:

Last month, an advisory committee of the United States Food and Drug Administration urged the agency to approve Exubera. The committee voted seven-to-two to support approval for both type one and type two diabetes. The F.D.A. generally follows the advice of its committees, but does not have to.

Some members of the committee expressed concern about possible safety risks, especially to people with lung disease. Smokers would probably not be able to use the inhaled insulin. But there are questions about the safety for people who breathe a lot of tobacco smoke in the air. The drug makers have proposed to study the long-term effects until two thousand nineteen.

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VOICE ONE:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by George Grow and Katherine Gypson. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. Our programs are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. If you have a science question that we might be able to answer on our program, send it to special@voanews.com. And listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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It's Apple Season in America

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I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Apples are the second most valuable fruit crop in the United States, after oranges. Autumn is a time when fresh apples are everywhere. They are not native to the country. Research shows that apples came from Central Asia. But they are believed to have been grown in America since the early sixteen hundreds.

Washington State, in the Pacific Northwest, produces the country’s biggest apple crop. New York and Michigan are also big producers. Among nations, China is the biggest grower followed by the United States and Turkey.

This year, American growers expect to harvest nearly four thousand five hundred million kilograms of apples. That is a little less than last year’s record harvest.

Apples are a member of the rose family. Apples come in reds, greens and yellows. About two thousand five hundred kinds grow in the United States. Three times that number are grown around the world.

The University of Illinois Extension service says one hundred varieties are grown most commonly in the United States. The most popular are the Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji and Granny Smith.

In the United States, three fourths of apples are eaten fresh. Some are made into sweet foods like apple pie. The rest are processed to make products such as apple juice, apple cider, apple sauce and vinegar.

A popular saying goes: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Apples are a healthy food. For one thing, they are high in fiber, mainly in the skin.

Apple trees flower in late spring. Late blossoming avoids freezing weather. So farmers can grow apples farther north than most other fruits. In North America, apples can be gown in all fifty states and Canada.

Johnny Appleseed was born in Massachusetts in seventeen seventy-four. He grew apple trees on land he owned in Ohio and Indiana. He traveled with settlers as they moved West. He supplied them with apple seeds and young trees and, it is said, religion.

Johnny Appleseed was an early American hero. His real name was John Chapman. Americans might not know the story of John Chapman, but almost everyone has heard of Johnny Appleseed.

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

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New Vaccine Aids Fight to End Polio

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This is Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Development Report.

A new kind of vaccine is being used to stop the spread of polio. World health officials say the vaccine is an important tool for the final part of the campaign to end the disease.

Experts met in Geneva, Switzerland, earlier this month to discuss the progress. They say polio could be gone within six months everywhere except Nigeria, which has the most new cases. The experts say at least another year of work is needed there.

Doctor Steven Cochi is with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He says, “There is no reason why polio should continue to exist anywhere in the world after next year.”

Until now, the vaccine used to prevent polio has combined three different medicines. That is because there are three different polio viruses. But only two of them still exist: type one and type three. Type three exists in parts of Nigeria, Afghanistan and India. Type one is more common.

The recently developed vaccine is known as monovalent oral polio vaccine. It protects only against the type one virus. World health officials say it appears to work faster than existing vaccines. They say it should now be used worldwide.

These officials say the new vaccine appears to have stopped the spread of polio in Egypt and most parts of India. Children in Yemen received the vaccine three times this year after a new outbreak there. Health officials say the number of new cases is dropping quickly now.

In a separate development, several children in an Amish community in the American state of Minnesota have polio. The Amish are a small religious group that does not believe in vaccinations. Now some parents have decided to vaccinate their children.

These are the first known polio cases in the United States in five years. State health officials said the infected children did not show signs of paralytic polio. They say the general public is not at risk because most children have been vaccinated.

Polio affects mostly children under five years old. It spreads through human waste. The virus attacks nerve cells. About one out of two hundred cases leads to permanent paralysis. Usually the victims cannot move their legs. But some of them die. There is no cure for polio.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Karen Leggett. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shep O'Neal.

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PETA at 25: Animal Rights Activists Are Defended, Deplored

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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. Our subject this week is activism for animals.

VOICE ONE:

Pet animals live in millions of American homes. People keep cats, dogs, birds, fish, gerbils, guinea pigs, mice -- even snakes. People spend thousands of millions of dollars every year on animal food, health care, equipment and toys. Some Americans care so deeply for their pets that they brave hurricanes and floods to stay with these animals.

PETA activists protest in August in Taipei, Taiwan

Animal welfare organizations operate throughout the nation. They provide services for all kinds of creatures, both owned and wild.

But some people believe that improvements are needed in the treatment of animals.

For this reason, two activists named Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco decided in nineteen eighty to establish an animal rights organization. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, usually called PETA, has headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia. It marks its twenty-fifth anniversary this year.

VOICE TWO:

Some animal lovers praise PETA. They say its work has saved and improved the lives of millions of animals. But the group angers other people. It performs secret investigations and targets individuals for sometimes shocking demonstrations. These actions have caused strong criticism and even legal action.

Still, PETA has survived and grown. Today, it claims more than eight hundred fifty thousand members internationally. PETA says it is the largest animal rights group in the world.

VOICE ONE:

The group became the subject of dispute soon after its formation. In the early nineteen eighties, PETA secretly placed an investigator in a Silver Spring, Maryland, research laboratory. Mister Pacheco offered to work without pay in the laboratory of scientist Edward Taub. He did not tell Mister Taub his reason.

The scientist’s research involved cutting nerves in one forepaw, or arm, of monkeys. The short-term goal was to see if the monkeys could be taught to re-use the arm without feeling. The long-term goal was to help human patients unable to move parts of their bodies. Mister Taub wanted to find out if people could learn to re-use these areas after brain injuries or other damage.

While the scientist was away, Mister Pacheco took pictures in the laboratory. It looked dirty. Some of the monkeys seemed to be suffering.

VOICE TWO:

Police raided the laboratory when Mister Taub returned from a vacation, and he was arrested. He was found guilty of cruelty to animals. The media made public the pictures. They were shown in Congress. The federal government suspended financing of Mister Taub’s research.

He denied any wrongdoing. He accused PETA of planning the pictures and police raid to gain public notice. He said that while he was away, Mister Pacheco purposely let the laboratory get dirty.

All judgments of guilt against Edward Taub later were canceled on appeal. In recent years, he has won several highly valued scientific awards. He won honors for the research he was working on in Maryland. It has resulted in development of a method now being tested by some victims of strokes.

VOICE ONE:

The incident involving Mister Taub’s laboratory became known as the “Silver Spring Monkey Case.” It made PETA well known. Many Americans who had never thought about treatment of laboratory animals began to do so.

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VOICE TWO:

PETA disapproves of the use of animals for medical research. But many research scientists say this position could prevent development of treatments and cures for serious and deadly diseases.

Wesley Smith is a lawyer allied with the Discovery Institute, a nonprofit educational group. He has written extensively about science and ethics.

Mister Smith points to the Silver Spring Monkey Case as an example of harmful policy. Last year, he wrote on the subject for the online publication of the National Review. His article was called “A Monkey for Your Grandmother.”

He noted the suffering of victims of Alzheimer’s disease. This disease strikes mainly older people. It steals their ability to think and care for themselves. Animals are often used in research on such brain diseases.

VOICE ONE:

The American Veterinary Medical Association is an organization of doctors who care for animals. The A.V.M.A. agrees with some positions taken by animal rights groups. But the association also says it cannot accept policies that conflict with what it calls responsible animal use for human purposes. It says this includes using animals for research on both human and animal disease. But the A.V.M.A. says conditions and care for laboratory animals must be humane.

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VOICE TWO:

PETA also concerns itself with other issues besides animals in medical research. It also disapproves of using animals for experiments for beauty and personal care products. It opposes hunting, fishing, trapping and what is calls harmful uses of animals in sports.

For example, it criticizes the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Dog teams pull sleds about one thousand eight hundred kilometers in this yearly race in Alaska.

PETA criticizes the use of animals for entertainment, as in the circus. And it wants to stop the killing or causing of pain to animals for their skin or fur. PETA has organized demonstrations against the wool-growing industry in Australia over the treatment of sheep.

PETA protest in Washington in 2001

Some of PETA's best-known campaigns involve protesters in almost no clothes. The campaign against the fur industry is known as "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."

VOICE ONE:

Years ago, model Elle Macpherson promised not to be photographed in sales messages for fur clothing. But in July, the marketers of Blackglama furs announced that Miz Macpherson had agreed to appear in an advertising campaign. She changed her plans again after she received a letter from a PETA official.

It is not clear at this time if Elle MacPherson has succeeded in canceling her agreement with Blackglama. But she is trying.

VOICE TWO:

The letter said Miz MacPherson was making herself a top target of PETA and animal activists around the world. It asked her to think about what has happened to actress and singer.

Jennifer Lopez has a clothing company called Sweetface. Some Sweetface designs use fur. PETA members have demonstrated at the openings of Miz Lopez’s films and other public events.

In March, protestors demonstrated outside an eating place that she owns in California. They showed pictures of animals being skinned alive.

People often react strongly to PETA statements and actions. A group official has stated that eating meat is murder. Some people say animals are the equals of humans. Others disagree. And they deplore the actions that groups like PETA have taken against industry and scientific research.

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VOICE ONE:

In addition to activist groups like PETA, the United States also has many traditional animal welfare organizations. These groups provide shelters, health care and other animal services.

The Humane Society of the United States seems a combination of both kinds of groups. The society calls itself America’s largest animal protection agency. It performs traditional animal care. And it also takes positions on issues.

Humane Society workers operate a center in Dallas, Texas. Animals there are neutered so they cannot reproduce. Humane Society veterinary doctors, students and other workers also provide a traveling health service for animals in poor areas away from cities. They serve in places from the American state of Kentucky to the countryside of Bolivia.

VOICE TWO:

The Humane Society also is supporting legislation in Congress proposed by Representative Tom Lantos of California. The measure would require a plan for removing animals as well as people from endangered areas.

Supporters point to the fact that many people chose to stay in New Orleans, Louisiana, during the recent Hurricane Katrina. They say that some remained behind because there was no government plan to rescue pet animals. The storm killed some of these people.

The society estimates that tens of thousand of animals were left behind in New Orleans. But under very difficult conditions, the Humane Society of the United States rescued about six thousand animals.

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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. Please join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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