An English Learner Is in a Jam Over What to Call Slow-Moving Traffic

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: we answer some listener mail.

RS: Faisal in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is stuck in traffic -- traffic terminology, that is. Faisal is taking an English course. It seems that one day, many of the students were late because of what they referred to as a "traffic jam."

AA: Their British instructor, however, told them they were using the wrong term. She told them to say "traffic congestion." Faisal says: "Now my question is what should I say when there are lots of slow-moving vehicles on the roads?" He wants to know if there is a difference between British and American terms.

RS: Well, we can't speak for the British, but most Americans in causal conversation use the phrase "traffic jam."

AA: Congested roads are such a part of life these days in many communities, people who are late will often just say "traffic," and other people will know what they mean. Traffic congestion" is more formal and more likely heard in news reports.

RS: Our next stop is a question from Noureddine Boutahar, an English teacher in Morocco who has designed a number of activities to teach about the present perfect tense. He says, "But a colleague of mine told me that the following one is not correct:

AA: "I'd like to show my students a picture of the famous Moroccan athlete Said Aouita, who has stopped practicing, and tell them to give sentences in the present perfect about his experience.

RS: He goes on to say that the sentences would be: "He has broken 5 world records. He has worked for Athletics Australia. He has coached many famous athletes. He has played football.' Are these sentences," he asks, "appropriate and correct?"

RS: Well, it depends. Since you point out that Said Aouita no longer trains competitively, then the present perfect might not be the most appropriate tense. The present perfect suggests a lack of completion. Take your example "He has broken 5 world records." That might imply that he is still trying to break world records. A way to avoid that situation is to just use the past tense: "He broke 5 world records."

RS: Now, as with so many things in English, there could be exceptions. If we were writing a report about his accomplishments, then we might say: "In his lifetime he has done many things. He has broken 5 world records, he has coached many famous athletes. But now ... " and you could go on from there.

AA: Noureddine, don't feel bad if you find the present perfect tense confusing, as you tell us. Our friend Lida Baker, the English teacher in Los Angeles, says learning it is something her students always wrestle with.

LIDA BAKER: "One of the basic meanings of the present perfect tense is to talk about things that began in the past and continue up to the moment of speaking. So an example of that would be something like 'I have lived in Los Angeles for 25 years,' 'she's been a teacher since she was 25 years old.' So cases where the action began in the past and continues until this moment, that's one way in which we use the present perfect tense."

RS: Another way is when an event has happened in the past, and there is a good chance that it may happen again. You can find Lida's complete explanation on our Web site, at voanews.com/wordmaster.

A follow-up question from Noureddine: "Sorry for bothering you once again," he says, "but I wonder if you could possibly tell me the difference between the words 'inhumane' and 'inhuman.'"

AA: That's a little easier to explain, although the distinctions between inhumane and inhuman are kind of subtle. Inhuman suggests not human -- either literally or metaphorically. Inhuman would describe a Martian. But it could also be used to describe a person who seems to lack any human kindness.

RS: Inhumane suggests cruel or uncaring, either toward other people or towards animals. For instance, "That farmer treats his animals very inhumanely." In real life, that farmer could get in trouble with an organization that works to promote the protection of animals: the Humane Society of the United States.

AA: Our last question comes from Cassius Abreu in Brazil. "I usually use the words 'I think ...' when I want to express my opinion about some subject. What's the difference between 'I think' and 'I do think'? Is there some rule about it?"

RS: Well, we don't know if there is a rule, but we do know that when you want to make an opinion clear -- or emphasize one position as opposed to another -- then one way you can do that is to say "I do think."

AA: And I do think that's Wordmaster for this week. Our e-mail address is word@voanews.com, and you can find all of our segments posted at voanews.com/wordmaster. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the link for the Lida Baker segments. Her explanation of the present perfect tense aired in August of 2004. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

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Let the Games Begin: Winter Olympics Start Feb. 10 in Turin

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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 Twentieth Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.

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VOICE ONE:

Athletes Village in Turin

The Winter Olympic Games open February tenth. They will continue until February twenty-sixth. An estimated two thousand five hundred athletes and two thousand five hundred officials from about eighty-five countries will take part in the games.

The athletes will compete to win medals in eighty-four events. They will test their skills in seven winter sports: biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing. More than six hundred judges and other officials will supervise the games. About ten thousand reporters and media operators will report on the games. Thousands of people will attend, and millions more around the world will watch the Olympics on television.

VOICE TWO:

This will be the twentieth time the Olympic Winter Games have been held. The last Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States in two thousand two. The next Winter Olympic games will take place in Vancouver, Canada in two thousand ten. The goal of the Olympic games is to bring people together in peace to honor universal moral ideas and the Olympic spirit. The modern Olympics are named after games held in ancient times. The games are said to have started in the ancient Greek city of Olympia, more than two thousand seven hundred years ago.

VOICE ONE:

The first thirteen Olympic games were foot races during celebrations to honor the Greek god, Zeus. Winners were honored with a crown of olive leaves placed around their heads. Greece continued to hold the games every four years for the next one thousand years. The ancient Romans banned them in the fourth century when they ruled Greece. The Romans also destroyed the Olympic centers and sports fields.

VOICE TWO:

The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece in eighteen ninety-six. Athletes from eight countries competed in ten sports. A French diplomat, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, had proposed a world celebration of sports like the ancient games in Greece.

The purpose was to help athletes develop strength and values through competition. And the international event would provide a way for athletes of all nations to become friends.

VOICE ONE:

Today, the Olympics are the world’s most famous sports event. The five rings of the Olympic sign represent this athletic friendship. They represent the linking, through sports, of five parts of the world: Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas. The colors of the rings are blue, yellow, black, green and red. Under the rings is the Olympic saying in Latin: “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” In English, the words mean: “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”

(MUSIC:Olympic Fanfare)

VOICE TWO:

The Turin Winter Olympics will include eighty-four events in seven sports. Some of the sports are well known, like skiing and skating. Others, like luge, are not. Luge is the French word for sled. Luge athletes race by lying on their backs on sleds with steel runners. The athletes control the sleds with their feet as they speed down a track covered with ice. They compete to see who is the fastest. The sleds can reach speeds of up to one hundred thirty kilometers an hour.

Curling is another sport that is not as well known. It began in Scotland. Each athlete on a four-member team slides a stone across the ice toward a circular target. The target is about two meters wide. The object is to slide the stone to the center of the target.

VOICE ONE:

Biathlon was added to the Winter Olympic Games in nineteen sixty. This sport began as a method for survival. Northern Europeans skied to hunt for food. Later they skied with weapons to defend their countries. Today, biathlon is considered a combination of two sports: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.

Snowboarding became an Olympic sport in nineteen ninety-eight. In this sport, the athletes’ feet are attached to a board as they move quickly on the snow. In one event, snowboarders slide up the sides of a huge hole built especially to perform jumps. The athletes are judged on their skills and how high they jump.

VOICE TWO:

Olympic athletes spend many hours training for the games. This can be very costly. In many countries, the government provides them with special trainers, equipment and economic support.In the United States, Olympic athletes do not receive such support from the government. Instead, they depend on help from private groups and companies, or from the United States Olympic Committee. The committee supervises all activities of the United States Olympic teams.

VOICE ONE:

The United States Olympic Committee helps gain money to support American athletes who hope to compete in the Olympics. It does this in several ways. The committee receives most of its money from private companies. The companies pay the committee for the rights to use the Olympic sign to help sell their products.

The committee also earns money by selling sporting goods, clothing and other products with the Olympic sign. Television companies also pay the committee for the right to broadcast the Olympic games around the world.

(MUSIC: Olympic Fanfare)

VOICE TWO:

The Olympics have many traditions. For example, a special Olympic flame always burns at the games. In ancient Olympia, a fire burned for the god Zeus during the Olympic sports competition. Now, runners carry a torch with the flame from Olympia, Greece to the city where each Olympics is held. The torch for this Winter Olympics was lit during a special ceremony in Olympia in late November. It was then transported to Rome, Italy. On December eighth, runners began to carry it to the city of Turin.

For the past two months, more than ten thousand runners have taken turns carrying the flame throughout all provinces and territories in Italy. They have carried the flame a distance of about eleven thousand kilometers. The torch will arrive in Turin on February tenth, just in time for the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games.

VOICE ONE:

Another Olympic tradition is music. Millions of people around the world who watch the Olympics on television know one song called “Olympic Fanfare.” It was taken from “Bugler’s Dream” by Leo Arnaud. The music was first heard during the nineteen sixty-eight Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France.

(MUSIC: Olympic Fanfare)

VOICE TWO:

Some songs were written especially for the games. This one was first heard at the nineteen eighty-eight Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. It became a popular hit record for American singer Whitney Houston.

It describes an athlete’s feelings toward his or her sport. The song is called “One Moment In Time.”

(MUSIC: One Moment In Time)

VOICE ONE:

Finally, we leave you with music by the famous American songwriter John Williams. He has written music for many recent Olympic games. This song is called “Summon the Heroes.” He wrote it for the nineteen ninety-six Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, in the southern United States.

(MUSIC: Summon the Heroes)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

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

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Once-Daily Pill Could Simplify H.I.V. Treatment

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

Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences have combined many H.I.V. drugs into a single pill

Sometimes the best medicine is more than one kind of medicine. Malaria, tuberculosis and H.I.V./AIDS, for example, are all treated with combinations of drugs.

But that can mean a lot of pills to take. It would be simpler if drug companies combined all the medicines into a single pill, taken just once a day.

Now, two companies say they have done that for people just starting treatment for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. The companies are Bristol-Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences.

They have developed a single pill that combines three drugs currently on the market. Bristol-Myers Squibb sells one of them under the name Sustiva. Gilead combined the others, Emtriva and Viread, into a single pill in two thousand four.

Combining drugs involves more than technical issues. It also involves issues of competition if the drugs are made by different companies. The new once-daily pill is the result of what is described as the first joint venture agreement of its kind in the treatment of H.I.V.

In January the New England Journal of Medicine published a study of the new pill. Researchers compared its effectiveness to that of the widely used combination of Sustiva and Combivir. Combivir contains two drugs, AZT and 3TC. The researchers say that after one year of treatment, the new pill suppressed H.I.V. levels in more patients and with fewer side effects.

Gilead paid for the study. Professor Joel Gallant at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, led the research. He is a paid adviser to Gilead and Bristol-Meyers Squibb as well as the maker of Combivir, GlaxoSmithKline.

GlaxoSmithKline reacted to the findings by saying that a single study is of limited value. It says the effectiveness of Combivir has been shown in each of more than fifty studies.

The price of the new once-daily pill has not been announced. But Gilead and Bristol-Myers Squibb say they will provide it at reduced cost to developing countries.

They plan in the next few months to ask the United States Food and Drug Administration to approve the new pill.

There are limits to who could take it because of the different drugs it contains. For example, pregnant women are told not to take Sustiva because of the risk of birth disorders.

Experts say more than forty million people around the world are living with H.I.V.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Scientist Says Restricting Fish in Pregnancy Diet Might Do Harm

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I’m Pat Bodnar.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Bob Doughty. This week on our show: A scientist says eating less fish during pregnancy may do more harm than good ...

VOICE ONE:

Studies say two new vaccines against rotavirus are safe and effective for young children ...

VOICE TWO:

And explaining the ancient Plague of Athens.

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VOICE ONE:

Two years ago, the United States government advised pregnant women to limit fish in their diet to three hundred forty grams a week. Women in some other countries get the same advice. The aim is to reduce the risk that mercury pollution in fish could harm the developing nervous system in children.

But now an American government researcher says women who follow this advice may be harming their children instead of protecting them. Joseph Hibbeln [pronounced HIH-beh-lin] is a medical doctor who works at the National Institutes of Health. He says the value to brain development from the omega-three fatty acids in fish oil outweighs the risk from mercury.

'My belly is not a chemical location' is the message of these pregnant women in Germany, protesting against industrial pollution. Yet a researcher suggests that the risk to fetuses from mercury in fish may be overstated.

On January seventeenth he spoke at a scientific meeting in London to report the findings of new research.

VOICE TWO:

Doctor Hibbeln and British scientists used information about thousands of British children. The information came from a health study known as the Children of the Nineties project, based at the University of Bristol. The research led by Doctor Hibbeln looked at the records of nine thousand pregnant women. The information included the amount of seafood their mothers ate while pregnant.

The researchers compared families that ate plenty of fish against those that ate less than three hundred forty grams per week. They also compared the development of the children at different ages.

They found important differences between the children of women who ate a lot of fish and the children of women who did not. The scientists based their observations on thirty-one different tests.

VOICE ONE:

These are some of the reported findings:

By around two years old, children whose mothers ate no fish had lower scores in tests for motor, communication and social skills. At the age of seven, they had more problems dealing with other children. And by eight they were more likely to do poorly on intelligence tests of language skills.

Mothers who had the most omega-three fatty acids in their diet had the children with the best fine-motor skills at age three-and-a-half.

Doctor Hibbeln has called some of the findings "frightening."

He says those responsible for the health advisory looked only at a study of the effects of eating whale meat with high mercury levels. He says they did not consider the risk of restricting the nutrients that pregnant women can get from fish.

Doctor Hibbeln would not comment further on the study until the findings appear in a scientific publication. First, other scientists must read and approve the report. But he tells us that the Medical Research Council of Britain, the Wellcome Trust and the National Institutes of Health paid for the research.

VOICE TWO:

Nearly all fish contains some amount of mercury. Some kinds contain more than others. Mercury is a metallic element. It gets into the environment from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels. It also comes from the use of mercury in electronics and other products.

The advisory in two thousand four came jointly from the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. They said eating seafood is not a health concern for most people. But they had advice for young children and three groups of women. These are pregnant women, women who might become pregnant and those who breastfeed their babies.

The women and children were advised not to eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.

The agencies said five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. Albacore or "white" tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna.

The women and children were also told to be very careful about the safety of fish caught in local waterways.

VOICE ONE:

Omega-three fatty acids have been in the news for years. Research has shown that some may reduce the risk of heart attacks by reducing the risk of blockages in the blood system. Also, Doctor Hibbeln says countries with the highest rates of eating fish have lower rates of depression, and even lower rates of murder.

Walnuts and seed oils also contain omega-threes. But many researchers say fish oil, or fish oil supplements, are the best way to get them.

There may be limits to the power of fish oil, though. Scientists have just reported that it does not appear to reduce the risk of cancer.

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VOICE TWO:

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

More than two thousand four hundred years ago, a sickness struck Athens. The disease is said to have killed up to one third of all Athenians, including their leader Pericles. The huge loss of life helped to change the balance of power between Athens and its enemy, Sparta, in the ancient world.

Historians say the sickness began in what is now Ethiopia. They say it passed through Egypt and Libya before it entered Greece. Knowledge of the disease has come mainly from the writings of the ancient Greek historian Thucydides, who survived it.

So what caused the fall of Athens? Among the diseases that have been suggested are anthrax, bubonic plague, measles and smallpox. Now, a study based on genetic testing says it was probably typhoid fever.

Greek researchers announced the results. The International Journal of Infectious Diseases published the findings online last week.

VOICE ONE:

Researchers from the University of Athens tested human remains from an ancient burial place in the Greek capital. The researchers collected genetic material from teeth. They say tests found genetic evidence similar to that of the modern-day organism Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi.

Manolis Papagrigorakis led the University of Athens team. He says the findings throw light on one of the most debated mysteries in medical history.

Typhoid fever is a life-threatening disease that is common today in developing countries. Experts say there are more than twenty-one million cases each year.

VOICE TWO:

Typhoid can be spread by food or drink that has been handled by a person infected with the bacteria that causes it. Bacteria expelled in human waste can pollute water supplies. So water used for drinking or to wash food can also spread the infection.

Hand washing is important to reducing the spread of typhoid. And there are vaccines that can help prevent it.

People with typhoid fever usually develop a body temperature as high as forty degrees Celsius. But experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States say typhoid can usually be treated with antibiotics.

Some people recover but continue to carry the bacteria. These carriers can get sick again. And they may continue to infect others. Doctors can do tests to make sure the bacteria has left the body.

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VOICE ONE:

Another disease that is common in developing countries is rotavirus. Babies and young children around the world are affected by this intestinal condition. Yet rotavirus is a leading killer of young children in the developing world. The severe diarrhea it causes can be deadly unless treated. Most of the estimated half-million deaths each year are in poor countries.

But major studies show that two new vaccines are safe and effective in preventing most cases of severe rotavirus in young children. The drug company GlaxoSmithKline makes one of the vaccines, called Rotarix. Merck makes the other one, called RotaTeq.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the studies, which were supported by the makers. Rotarix is already sold in some countries. RotaTeq is not yet for sale.

In nineteen ninety-nine, the drug company Wyeth removed a rotavirus vaccine from the American market. That drug was blamed for some cases of an intestinal blockage. The studies of Rotarix and RotaTeq, however, say the two new vaccines did not show any increase in risk for that condition.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by George Grow and Jill Moss. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Pat Bodnar. Internet users can read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Greater Use of Ethanol Fuel Could Drive New Markets for Corn

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

The American Midwest is known as the corn belt. Most of the nation’s maize is grown along that stretch of the country. The farmers who grow the corn have been very successful. So successful, they now face oversupply and low prices.

Most of the corn goes to feed animals. But some of it goes into cars and trucks as ethanol fuel. Some farmers hope greater use of ethanol will drive new markets for corn.

Ethanol is made from plant matter that contains complex carbohydrates, or starch. Starch breaks down into simple sugars. And yeast organisms break down the sugars into alcohol.

Ethanol has a long history. It is ethyl alcohol, also called grain alcohol, the same kind found in alcoholic drinks.

Corn is not the only crop that can be used to make ethanol. Barley, wheat, even the leaves and stalks of corn, rice and sugar cane can be used.

In some parts of the country, fuel companies are required to add ethanol to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. The United States Department of Energy says many automobiles can run on ten percent ethanol without any need for changes.

The government has supported the development of vehicles with the ability to use a mixture called E-eighty-five. It is eighty-five percent ethanol and fifteen percent gasoline.

Some people may not even know that their cars and trucks have this ability. Many of these vehicles are common models made by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors.

A number of state laws support the use of ethanol. So does federal law. The Energy Policy Act of two thousand five requires the production of fifteen thousand million liters of renewable fuels this year. There are also tax reductions for ethanol makers, farmers and buyers of vehicles that can run on E-eighty-five.

Some experts, however, say they are concerned that using food crops to make fuel is bad policy. Some say it might use more energy than it produces. Others say using a lot of corn for fuel might shrink food supplies. But the process that separates starch to make ethanol, called wet milling, uses only part of the corn.

Plant-based fuels are not new. For many years Brazil has used fuel made with alcohol from sugar cane.

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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WHO Warns Against Misuse of Malaria Drug

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

The World Health Organization is warning people not to use only one drug to treat malaria. That drug is artemisinin. W.H.O. officials say people should take it only in combination with other malaria drugs. The fear is that artemisinin could lose its effectiveness if it is misused.

Doctor Arata Kochi

Arata Kochi is the new director of the malaria department at the W.H.O., the United Nations health agency. He says: "If we lose artemisinin, we will no longer have an effective cure for malaria." And if that happens, he says, it might take at least ten years before a new one could be discovered.

Drug combinations are also used to treat diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis. Experts say combination treatments are not only more successful than single-drug, or monotherapy. They also slow the development of resistance to medicines. The organisms that cause malaria have already developed resistance to many other drugs.

The W.H.O. has called on eighteen drug manufacturers to immediately halt the sale of artemisinin by itself. The companies are in China, India, Vietnam and other countries.

The health agency cannot force them to obey. But there are steps it could take to pressure companies that continue to sell artemisinin as a monotherapy. For example, the W.H.O. could urge the World Bank, the Global Fund and other agencies not to buy drugs from those companies.

Artemisinin comes from a plant called the sweet wormwood. Chinese researchers discovered it more than thirty years ago. The W.H.O. says artemisinin is more than ninety-five percent effective in curing malaria when used correctly with other anti-malarial drugs.

Doctor Kochi says there have been no documented cases yet where treatment failed because of resistance to artemisinin. But he says there is concern about decreased reaction to the drug in Southeast Asia. That area is traditionally where resistance to anti-malaria drugs has first appeared.

Malaria produces high body temperatures and a dangerous loss of fluids. The W.H.O. estimates there are more than three hundred million cases of malaria in the world each year. At least one million people die. Nine out of ten deaths happen in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. Most of the victims are young children.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. This is Shep O'Neal.

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Ride 'em, Cowboys and Cowgirls! Rodeos Keep Old West Spirit Alive

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

Matt Austin rides a bull at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December

And I’m Steve Ember. The spirit of the old American West can still be found at rodeos. Modern-day cowboys compete to stay on wild, jumping horses, or struggle to ride bulls that weigh up to a ton. Cowgirls also compete in rodeos.

VOICE ONE:

Rodeos used to be found mainly in small towns out in the country. But today Americans in big cities also get the chance to shout "ride 'em, cowboy!"

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VOICE TWO:

The first major open-air rodeo of the season is called La Fiesta de los Vaqueros -- Spanish for the Celebration of the Cowboys. And the cowboys will be celebrating February eighteenth to the twenty-sixth in Tucson, Arizona.

Current and former world champions of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association will take part. In all, about seven hundred competitors will demonstrate their skills.

And if that is not enough, there is also the Tucson Rodeo Parade on February twenty-third. Organizers call it "the world's longest non-motorized parade." Who needs a motor when four legs and a horse will do?

VOICE ONE:

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros is one of hundreds of professional rodeos in the United States.

Rodeos have long been a tradition in the West. But the sport is also popular in major cities in the Midwest like Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In fact, rodeos can be found from coast to coast. Georgia and North Carolina are two Eastern states with rodeo programs for high school students.

Some rodeos are held in big sports centers. And some are shown on television. A rodeo might also have related events. In December, the Minneapolis Invitational held parties to celebrate the New Year.

Rodeos have gone from small, local events to big business. For example, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo took place in January in Denver, Colorado. It gave away five hundred thousand dollars in prize money.

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VOICE TWO:

American rodeos developed long ago from the skills that cowboys needed to work with cattle in the West.

Cowboys had to know how to train wild horses. They had to be excellent riders. And they had to know how to use a rope to catch and tie a runaway cow.

By eighteen fifty, cowboys were competing in roping and riding in New Mexico. But Pecos, Texas, is called the "Home of the World's First Rodeo." The event was held in eighteen eighty-three. It took place on July fourth, America's birthday. Other early rodeos took place in Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona.

In nineteen twelve, some wealthy businessmen in Canada agreed to pay for a rodeo in the town of Calgary, in Alberta Province. That rodeo was called the Calgary Stampede. If offered cowboys prize money up to a thousand dollars.

VOICE ONE:

Today, rodeos include events like bull riding, calf and steer roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding and bareback bronc riding.

Bronc is short for bronco. A bronco is a wild horse, or a horse that still acts like one. A steer is a young male cow that has been neutered.

Steer wrestling and bareback bronc riding developed as rodeo sports in the twentieth century.

Saddle bronc riding, however, was a traditional cowboy skill. It developed because of the need to train a wild horse to accept a saddle and rider.

The rider gets on a saddle bronc in a narrow space. But a good saddle bronc hates to be ridden. The horse will buck. It will jump up and down and kick its back legs high in the air. The horse wants to throw its rider.

The door is raised, and the animal and rider burst out in front of the crowd. The cowboy rides the horse as if he is riding an earthquake. He is supposed to stay on the bucking bronco for eight seconds. He also must show good form.

Professional rodeo judges rate each rider. Half the rating depends on how violently the animal bucks. So cowboys hope they get a really lively one.

VOICE TWO:

Cowboys also compete to see who can ride a bull the longest. And they compete to see who can bring a cow under control the fastest.

In one event, the cowboy throws a rope around the neck of a calf, and then has to tie three of the legs of the young cow. In another event, the cowboy jumps off his moving horse to take a full-grown cow by the head. The cowboy has to pull the animal to the ground.

Liz Pinkston competes in barrel racing at the National Finals Rodeo

Cowgirls also compete in professional rodeos, but not to the extent they did a long time ago. In fact, men and women used to compete together in the same events.

Now at mixed rodeos the women take part in timed events in barrel racing. Barrels are big round containers. The cowgirls have to make sharp turns on their horses to race around three barrels. It takes a lot of skill.

There are all-women rodeos. And these are getting more popular. All-women rodeos include the same events that cowboys excite the crowds with.

VOICE ONE:

Not everyone likes rodeos. In fact, some people hate the idea. Animal activists say rodeos are cruel to the animals. Rodeo defenders disagree with that.

There is no question that rodeos can be dangerous for the humans involved. A top competitor can earn thousands of dollars for eight seconds of work. But those seconds are hard on the body. And rodeo performers do not earn the millions of dollars that some athletes do in other sports.

Cowboys can suffer many injuries. Often, though, they simply get up and dust themselves off.

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VOICE TWO:

Now, meet some top rodeo stars. Ryan Jarrett wears the gold belt buckle of the all-around world champion of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. The champion has to win at least one hundred thousand dollars in a season.

Last year, at the age of twenty-one, Ryan Jarrett became the second youngest person ever to earn that title. And he did it in only his second year of championship competition. The youngest was Ty Murray. He was twenty the first time he became all-around champion in nineteen eighty-nine.

Trevor Brazile gave Ryan Jarrett strong competition for the title. Brazile is a three-time national champion. He often appears on television. He also helps advertise a number of products including cowboy hats.

Ryan Jarrett is known for tie-down roping. He won more than eighty thousand dollars in one event. When he is not competing, he helps his father operate a farm in northwestern Georgia.

VOICE ONE:

Among professional cowgirls, Kelly Kaminski holds the current world title in barrel racing. Her horse is named Rocky. As they make the turns, trying to avoid the barrels, Rocky leans far to the side. He is so low to the ground, he looks almost like he is lying down.

Kelly Kaminski, the two thousand five champion, also won the gold buckle the year before. She formerly taught young children to read.

Some rodeo people lead two working lives. When Kappy Allen is not competing, she is a full-time lawyer in Austin, Texas. Kappy Allen won the world title of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in two thousand.

Perhaps the best-known cowgirl in America is Charmayne James. She won ten world championships, nineteen eighty-four through nineteen ninety-three. The first time, she was just fourteen years old.

Charmayne James won an eleventh world championship in two thousand two. The following year, she announced her retirement.

VOICE TWO:

Now Charmayne James is raising and training barrel horses. She has taught barrel racing in the United States and internationally.

Her horse Scamper has an interesting story. No one thought he could be ridden until Charmayne James came along.

Scamper was named to the Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in nineteen ninety-six. That made him the only barrel racing horse ever to win that honor.

VOICE ONE:

Another place to learn about rodeo's colorful past is the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Visitors do even not have to travel all the way to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to see it. Internet visitors just have to go to nationalcowboymuseum -- all one word -- dot o-r-g.

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VOICE TWO:

Ours program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver was our producer. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Faith Lapidus. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 'Great Gatsby': A Great Event in U.S. Literature

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with the Special English program, People in America. Every week, we tell about someone important in the history of the United States. Today, we complete the story of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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VOICE ONE:

In nineteen twenty-five, just five years after his first novel appeared, F. Scott Fitzgerald published “The Great Gatsby.” It was a major event in American writing.

“The Great Gatsby” is a story about success -- American success -- and what one must do to gain it.

It is a story about appearance and reality. It is a story about love, hate, loyalty, and disloyalty. This is how the story begins:

VOICE TWO:

"In my younger years, my father gave me some advice. The ability to do what is good and right is not given out equally at birth. The rich and powerful -- who should have it -- often do not. And those who were born knowing neither good nor right, sometimes know it best. "

VOICE ONE:

Jay Gatsby, the main character in the book, learns this moral lesson. He dies at the end of the story. Yet his spirit survives, because of his great gift for hope. It was the kind of hope, Fitzgerald said, that he had never found in any person. Yet it was hope that used Gatsby and finally, in the end, destroyed him.

Gatsby is a self-made man. Almost everything about his life is invented -- even his name. He was born Jimmy Gatz. As a child, Jimmy Gatz sets a daily program of self-improvement. These are the things he feels he must do every day to make himself a success.

VOICE TWO:

When Jimmy Gatz invents himself as Jay Gatsby, part of his dream of success is the love of a beautiful woman. He finds the woman to love -- as Fitzgerald did -- while training in the army during World War One.

The other part of his dream is to be very rich. That, too, was part of Fitzgerald's dream. In just three years, Gatsby gains more money than he thought possible. All he needs to do now is to claim the woman he loves. In those same three years, however, she has married someone else.

The story of “The Great Gatsby” is told by a narrator, Nick Carraway. When Gatsby seeks to renew his earlier love, Carraway says, "I would not ask too much. You cannot repeat the past. " Gatsby answers, "Cannot repeat the past. Why, of course you can!"

VOICE ONE:

For a brief time, Gatsby seems to succeed. He does not know that he can never succeed completely. The woman he loves, Daisy Buchanan, is part of the very rich world that Fitzgerald found so different. It is a group that does not share what it has with people like jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald wrote:

VOICE TWO:

"They were careless people. They smashed up things and creatures. Then they retreated back into their money, or their great carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together. They retreated and let other people clean up the messes they had made.”

VOICE ONE:

The mess they make in “The Great Gatsby” is a tragic one. They hit a woman with a car, and kill her. Gatsby accepts the blame, so Daisy will not be charged. He, then, is killed by the dead woman's husband.

Not even Gatsby’s few friends come to his funeral. Of all the hundreds of people who came to his parties, no one will come when the party is over. After Gatsby’s death, Nick Carraway, the storyteller, says:

VOICE TWO:

"I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first recognized the green light at the end of Daisy's boat dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn. His dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to hold it. He did not know that it was already behind him . . .

"Gatsby believed in the future that, year by year, moves away from us...

"So we beat on -- boats against the current -- carried back endlessly into the past. "

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VOICE ONE:

“The Great Gatsby” was not the popular success F. Scott Fitzgerald expected. Yet other writers saw immediately how skillful he had become. His first books showed that he could write. “The Great Gatsby” proved that he had become an expert in the art of writing.

The story is told by a third person. He is a part of the story, but he rejects the story he is telling. His answers are like those heard in an ancient Greek play. The chorus in the play tells us what to think about what we see.

“The Great Gatsby” is a short novel whose writing shines like a jewel. The picture it paints of life in America at that time -- the parties, the automobiles, the endless fields of waste -- are unforgettable.

VOICE TWO:

Fitzgerald wrote at great speed to make money. Yet no matter how fast he wrote, he could not stay out of debt. By the end of the nineteen twenties, the Jazz Age had ended. Hard times were coming for the country and for the Fitzgeralds.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-thirty, Zelda Fitzgerald became mentally sick. She lived most of the rest of her life in mental hospitals. Scott Fitzgerald also became sick from drinking too much alcohol. And he had developed the disease diabetes.

F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald honeymoon

In nineteen thirty-one, the Fitzgeralds returned to the United States from Europe. Zelda entered a mental hospital in the state of Maryland. Scott lived nearby in the city of Baltimore. Zelda lived until nineteen forty-seven. She died in a fire at another mental hospital.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen thirty-four, Fitzgerald wrote another novel, “Tender is the Night.” He thought it was his best. Many critics disagreed. They said Fitzgerald no longer recognized what was happening in the United States. They said he did not understand what was important to the country during the great economic depression.

“Tender is the Night” tells the story of a young American doctor and his marriage to a rich, beautiful patient. In the early part of his life, he believes in success through hard work. Slowly, however, his wife's great wealth ruins him. His energy is weakened, his work destroyed. His wife recovers her health while he becomes worse. In the end, she seems to have stolen his energy and intelligence.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen thirty-six, Fitzgerald wrote a book he called “The Crack-Up.” It describes his own breakdown, and how he attempted to put himself and his life together. "It seemed a romantic business to be a successful writer," he said. "Of course. . . You were never satisfied. But I, for one, would not have chosen any other work. "

At the age of thirty-nine, he realized that his life had cracked into pieces.

It became a time for him to look at himself. He realized that he had not taken care of the people and things he loved. "I had not been a very good caretaker of most of the things left in my hands," he said, "even of my own skills. " Out of the wreckage of his life and health, he tried to rebuild himself.

VOICE TWO:

Fitzgerald had always written many stories. Some were very good. Others were not good. He wrote quickly for the money he always needed. After his crack-up, however, he discovered he was no longer welcome at the magazines that had paid him well. So, to earn a living, he moved to Hollywood and began writing for the motion picture industry.

He had stopped drinking. He planned to start writing novels and short stories again. It was too late. His health was ruined. He died in Hollywood in nineteen forty at the age of forty-four. There were few people who could believe that he had not died years before.

VOICE ONE:

Fitzgerald was working on a novel when he died. He called it “The Last Tycoon.”

Fitzgerald's friend from Princeton University, the literary critic Edmund Wilson, helped to get it published. Wilson did the same thing for a book of Fitzgerald's notes and other pieces of writing, called “The Crack-Up.”

These books re-established Fitzgerald's fame as both an observer of his times and a skilled artist. That fame rests on just a few books and stories, but it seems secure.

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VOICE TWO:

Today's program was written by Richard Thorman and produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for another People in America program, in Special English, on the Voice of America.

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The God of His Fathers

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

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Our story this week is called "The God of His Fathers." It was written by Jack London in the year nineteen-oh-one. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.

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Storyteller: Silently the wolves circled the herd of caribou deer. Gray bellies close to the ground, the wolves in the pack surrounded a pregnant deer. They pulled her down and tore out her throat. The rest of the caribou herd raced off in a hundred directions. The wolves began to feed.

Once again the Alaska territory was the scene of silent death. Here, in its ancient forests, the strong had killed the weak for thousands and thousands of years.

Small groups of Indians also lived in this land at the rainbow's end. But their Stone Age life was ending. Strange men with blond hair and blue eyes had discovered the lands of the North. The Indian chiefs ordered their warriors to fight them. Stone arrow met steel bullet. The Indians could not stop the strangers. The White men conquered the icy rivers in light canoes. They broke through the dark forests and climbed the rocky mountains.

One of these men sat in front of a tent, near a river. His name was Hay Stockard. Over the smoke and flames of his fire, he watched an Indian village not far from his own camp.

From inside his tent came the cry of a sick child, and the gentle answering song of its mother. But the man was not concerned now with them. He was thinking of Baptiste the Red, the chief of the Indian village, who had just left him.

"We do not want you here," Baptiste had told him. "If we permit you to sit by our fires, after you will come your church, your priests and your God." Baptiste the Red hated the White man's God. His father had been an Englishman; his mother, the daughter of an Indian chief. Baptiste had been raised among White men.

When Baptiste was a young man he fell in love with a Frenchman's daughter, but her father opposed the marriage. A Christian priest refused to marry them. So Baptiste took the girl into the forests. They went to live among his mother's people. A year later, the girl died while giving birth to her first child.

Baptiste took the baby back to live among the White people. For many years he lived in peace with them, as his daughter grew up -- tall and beautiful. One night, while Baptiste was away, a White man broke into their home and killed the girl. When Baptiste asked for justice, he was told the White man's God forgives all sins. So Baptiste killed his daughter's murderer with his own hands, and returned forever to his mother's people.

"I have sworn to make any White man who comes to my village deny his God if he wants to live," he told Hay Stockard. "But since you are the first, I will not do this if you go and go quickly."

"And if I stay?" Hay Stockard had asked quietly as he filled his pipe. "Then soon you will meet your God, your bad God, the God of the White man!" The Indian chief rose to his feet and left Hay Stockard's camp to return to his village.

The next morning Hay Stockard watched with angry eyes as three men in a long canoe came to the river bank. Two of the men were Indian. The third, a White man, wore a bright red cloth around his head. Hay Stockard reached for his gun, and then changed his mind. As soon as the canoe landed, the White man jumped out and ran up to Stockard.

"So we meet again, Hay Stockard! Peace be with you. I know you are a sinner, but I, Sturges Owen, am God's own servant. I will bring you back to our church.

"Listen to me," Stockard warned, "if you stay here you'll bring trouble to yourself and your men. You'll all be killed and so will my wife, my child, and myself!"

Owen looked up to the sky. "The man who carries God in his heart and the Bible in his hand is protected."

Later that morning, the Indian chief Baptiste came back to Stockard's camp. "Give me the priest," Baptiste demanded, "and I will let you go in peace. If you do not, you die."

Sturges Owen grabbed his Bible. "I am not afraid," he said. "God will protect me and hold me in his right hand. I am ready to go with Baptiste to his village. I will save his soul for God."

Hay Stockard shook his head. "Listen to me, Baptiste. I did not bring this priest here, but now that he is here, I can't let you kill him. Many of your people will die if we fight each other."

Baptiste looked into Stockard's eyes. "But those who live," he said, "will not have the words of a strange God in their ears."

After a moment of silence, Baptiste the Red turned and went back to his own camp. Sturges Owen called his two men to him and the three of them kneeled to pray. Stockard and his wife began to prepare the camp for battle.

As they worked they heard the sound of war-drums in the village.

As Sturges Owen waited and prayed, he began to feel his religious fever cooling. Fear replaced hope in his heart. The love of life took the place of the love of God in his mind. The love of life! He could not stop himself from feeling it. Owen knew that Stockard also loved his life. But Stockard would choose death rather than shame.

The war-drums boomed loudly. Suddenly they stopped.

A flood of dark feet raced toward Stockard's camp. Arrows whistled through the air. A spear went through the body of Stockard's wife. Stockard's bullets answered back. Wave after wave of Indians warriors broke over the barrier. Sturges Owen ran into his tent. His two men died quickly. Hay Stockard alone remained on his feet, knocking the attacking Indians aside.

Stockard held an ax in one hand and his gun in the other. Behind him, a hand grabbed Stockard's baby by its tiny leg and pulled it from under his mother's body. The Indian whipped the child through the air, smashing its head against a log. Stockard turned, and cut off the Indian's head with his ax.

The circle of angry faces closed on Stockard. Two times they pushed up to him, but each time he beat them back. They fell under his feet as the ground became wet with blood. Finally, Baptiste called his men to him.

"Stockard," he shouted. "You are a brave man. Deny your God and I will let you live!"

Two Indians dragged Sturges Owen out of the tent. He was not hurt, but his eyes were wild with fear.

He felt anger at God for making him so weak. Why had God given him faith without strength?

Owen stood shaking before Baptiste the Red. "Where is your God now? " demanded the Indian chief.

"I do not know," Owen whispered.

"Do you have a God?"

"I had."

"And now?"

"No."

"Very good," Baptiste said. "See that this man goes free. Let nothing happen to him. And send him back to his own people so he can tell his priests about Baptiste the Red's land where there is no God."

Baptiste turned to Hay Stockard. "There is no God," Baptiste said. Stockard laughed. One of the young Indian warriors lifted the war spear.

"Do you have a God?" Baptiste shouted.

Stockard took a deep breath. "Yes, he said, "the God of my fathers."

The spear flew through the air and went deep into Stockard's chest. Sturges Owen saw Stockard fall slowly to the ground. Then the Indians put Owen in a canoe. Sturges Owen went down the river to carry the message of Baptiste the Red, in whose country there was no God.

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Announcer: You have just heard the story, "The God of His Fathers." It was written by Jack London and adapted for Special English by Dona de Sanctis. Your narrator was Shep O'Neal.

I'm Susan Clark. Listen again next week for another AMERICAN STORY in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Palestinians Described as 'Simply in Shock' After Hamas Win

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

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh outside his house at the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza

The Islamic group Hamas won seventy-six of the one hundred thirty-two seats in the Palestinian parliament. Hamas defeated the ruling Fatah party.

The majority is enough for Hamas to rule by itself in the Palestinian Legislative Council. Fatah won forty-three seats. Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and his government resigned. On Friday Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, said he will ask Hamas to form the next government.

The group is sworn to the destruction of Israel and has refused to disarm. Hamas has carried out many attacks against Israelis. Israel, the United States and the European Union say they will not work with a government led by Hamas. They call it a terrorist organization.

In Iran, the Foreign Ministry says the election will strengthen resistance against Israel. But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says the results will only make the creation of a Palestinian state more difficult.

On Friday, thousands of Fatah supporters demonstrated in Gaza, burning cars and shooting into the air. They demanded that dishonest officials resign, and that Fatah not form any coalition with Hamas. Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections held Wednesday.

European Union foreign ministers will meet Monday to discuss the situation. E.U. officials say they cannot give money to a government that carries on an armed fight with Israel.

The international group that wrote the so-called road map to peace will also meet Monday. The members are the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union.

Even as many world leaders expressed displeasure at the results, they praised the exercise in democracy. President Bush said the voting was a reminder that democracy "can open up the world's eyes to reality by listening to people."

Mister Bush described the Hamas victory as a "wake-up call" to the leadership in the Palestinian territories. In his words: "The people are demanding honest government. The people want services." But he added that he did not see how a group that supports the destruction of a country can be a partner in peace.

The nineteen ninety-three Oslo peace agreements created the Palestinian Authority to administer the territories. Hamas does not recognize Israel. Yet the Palestinian Authority must deal with the Israeli government in areas like water and power supplies. The agreements also say that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be settled peacefully.

The question is how might Hamas change now that it will control the Palestinian Authority.

Israel will hold national elections at the end of March. Some people think Israel is more likely now to take more steps on its own to separate itself from the Palestinians. Some Israelis say their government never should have given up the Gaza Strip. They say Hamas used the Israeli withdrawal last year for political gain.

Yet many Palestinians say they never expected Hamas to do so well, or Fatah to do so poorly. Palestinian reporter Khalil Assali says: "People are simply in shock."

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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Luck

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

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Our story today is called "Luck." It was written by Mark Twain. Here is Shep O’Neal with the story.

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Storyteller: I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated English military men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant General Lord Arthur Scoresby.

I cannot describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with medals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness. His fame had no effect on him. The hundreds of eyes watching him, the worship of so many people did not seem to make any difference to him.

Next to me sat a clergyman, who was an old friend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he leaned toward me and whispered – “Privately – he is a complete fool.” He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.

This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at him. I could not have been more surprised if he has said the same thing about Nepoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon. But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke the truth. And, his judgment of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.

Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman, and he told me more. These are his exact words:

About forty years ago, I was an instructor in the military academy at Woolwich, when young Scoresby was given his first examination. I felt extremely sorry for him. Everybody answered the questions well, intelligently, while he – why, dear me – he did not know anything, so to speak. He was a nice, pleasant young man. It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles of stupidity.

I knew of course that when examined again he would fail and be thrown out. So, I said to myself, it would be a simple, harmless act to help him as much as I could.

I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Ceasar’s history. But, he did not know anything else. So, I went to work and tested him and worked him like a slave. I made him work, over and over again, on a few questions about Ceasar, which I knew he would be asked.

If you will believe me, he came through very well on the day of the examination. He got high praise too, while others who knew a thousand times more than he were sharply criticized. By some strange, lucky accident, he was asked no questions but those I made him study. Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years.

Well, all through his studies, I stood by him, with the feeling a mother has for a disabled child. And he always saved himself by some miracle.

I thought that what in the end would destroy him would be the mathematics examination. I decided to make his end as painless as possible. So, I pushed facts into his stupid head for hours. Finally, I let him go to the examination to experience what I was sure would be his dismissal from school. Well, sir, try to imagine the result. I was shocked out of my mind. He took first prize! And he got the highest praise.

I felt guilty day and night – what I was doing was not right. But I only wanted to make his dismissal a little less painful for him. I never dreamed it would lead to such strange, laughable results.

I thought that sooner or later one thing was sure to happen: The first real test once he was through school would ruin him.

Then, the Crimean War broke out. I felt that sad for him that there had to be a war. Peace would have given this donkey a chance to escape from ever being found out as being so stupid. Nervously, I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an officer. A captain, of all things! Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such weak shoulders as his.

I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this. I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could. So, I joined up with him. And anyway we went to the field.

And there – oh dear, it was terrible. Mistakes, fearful mistakes – why, he never did anything that was right – nothing but mistakes. But, you see, nobody knew the secret of how stupid he really was. Everybody misunderstood his actions. They saw his stupid mistakes as works of great intelligence. They did, honestly!

His smallest mistakes made a man in his right mind cry, and shout and scream too – to himself, of course. And what kept me in a continual fear was the fact that every mistake he made increased his glory and fame. I kept saying to myself that when at last they found out about him, it will be like the sun falling out of the sky.

He continued to climb up, over the dead bodies of his superiors. Then, in the hottest moment of one battle down went our colonel. My heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby was the next in line to take his place. Now, we are in for it, I said…

The battle grew hotter. The English and their allies were steadily retreating all over the field. Our regiment occupied a position that was extremely important. One mistake now would bring total disaster. And what did Scoresby do this time – he just mistook his left hand for his right hand…that was all. An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved forward and went over the hill to the left. We were over the hill before this insane movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find? A large and unsuspected Russian army waiting! And what happened – were we all killed? That is exactly what would have happened in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But no – those surprised Russians thought that no one regiment by itself would come around there at such a time.

It must be the whole British army, they thought. They turned tail, away they went over the hill and down into the field in wild disorder, and we after them. In no time, there was the greatest turn around you ever saw. The allies turned defeat into a sweeping and shining victory.

The allied commander looked on, his head spinning with wonder, surprise and joy. He sent right off for Scoresby, and put his arms around him and hugged him on the field in front of all the armies. Scoresby became famous that day as a great military leader – honored throughout the world. That honor will never disappear while history books last.

He is just as nice and pleasant as ever, but he still does not know enough to come in out of the rain. He is the stupidest man in the universe.

Until now, nobody knew it but Scoresby and myself. He has been followed, day by day, year by year, by a strange luck. He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for years. He has filled his whole military life with mistakes. Every one of them brought him another honorary title. Look at his chest, flooded with British and foreign medals. Well, sir, every one of them is the record of some great stupidity or other. They are proof that the best thing that can happen to a man is to be born lucky. I say again, as I did at the dinner, Scoresby’s a complete fool.

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Announcer: You have just heard the story "Luck." It was written by Mark Twain and adapted for Special English by Harold Berman. Your narrator was Shep O’Neal. Listen again next week at this same time for another American Story told in Special English on the Voice of America. This is Susan Clark.

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Maryland Law Could Force Wal-Mart to Spend More on Health Care

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I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

A new state law in Maryland says large companies must spend at least eight percent of their total wages on health care. If not, then they will have to pay the difference to the state to help provide health care to the poor. The amount for non-profit employers is six percent.

The new law is called the Fair Share Health Care Fund Act. It will affect only companies with ten thousand or more employees in Maryland. At least four companies are that big. But only one is known not to meet the new requirement: Wal-Mart Stores. The legislation became known as "the Wal-Mart Bill."

Wal-Mart employs about seventeen thousand workers in Maryland, and more than a million nationwide. It has faced a lot of criticism about its employment policies.

The Maryland law is the first of its kind in the fifty states. Labor activists say they will try to get more than thirty other states to pass similar legislation.

America's biggest labor group, the AF.L.-C.I.O., says fewer employers offer health coverage than five years ago. It notes that many workers in low-paying jobs, including some at Wal-Mart, have to be covered by Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health care for the poor.

Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich vetoed the legislation last May. He called it bad policy. He said it sends an anti-business message and does little to deal with the national problem of limited health care for the poor. But earlier this month Maryland's Democratic-controlled legislature voted to cancel the veto by the Republican governor.

Wal-Mart strongly opposed the law. The company told Maryland lawmakers that it spends between 7 and 8 percent on health care. It says less than one-half of one percent of Maryland workers without health insurance work at Wal-Mart.

It says more than three-fourths of its employees have health insurance. And it says every Wal-Mart employee in Maryland can gain health coverage for as little as twenty-three dollars a month.

Wal-Mart and business groups like the United States Chamber of Commerce say the law will hurt companies that create jobs.

Wal-Mart could try to stop the new law in court. It says Maryland lawmakers, in its words, "placed the special interests of Washington, D.C., union leaders ahead of the well-being of the people they serve."

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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Geena Davis Is Not Really a President, but She Plays One on TV

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(MUSIC)

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

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

We hear some music from Madonna’s latest album …

Answer a question about how we answer questions …

And report about a popular new television show.

'Commander in Chief'

Chile and Liberia are welcoming newly elected female presidents. Will a woman ever become president of the United States? It seems the closest the United States has come to a female leader is on television. Faith Lapidus tells us about that show, “Commander In Chief”.

FAITH LAPIDUS: “Commander in Chief” is a television show about the United States’ first woman president, Mackenzie Allen. She is a forty-five-year-old former college professor.

When the show began in September, Vice President Allen took the highest office after the president died. The former president’s supporters wanted her to resign so the Speaker of the House of Representatives would become president. She refused.

Geena Davis plays President Allen. Donald Sutherland is the Speaker of the House, Nathan Templeton. In this scene from the television show, she tells him what she is going to do:

PRESIDENT ALLEN: "I’m going to go out there and I’m going to take the oath of office. I’m going to run this government. And if some Islamic nations can’t tolerate a female president then I promise you it will be more their problem than mine."

SPEAKER TEMPLETON: "Why? Why do you want to be president?

"For the same reason that Teddy Bridges did. Because I believe the people of America deserve to have a president ... "

"No no. In this room where it’s just you and me, just the two of us, the answer that you should be giving me is that you want to be president because you want the power. You want the power to control the universe."

"That’s not me."

"Well, that’s the problem!"

President Allen’s family has faced problems because of their new situation. Living in the White House changed the lives of her children. Her husband had to decide if he would work in or out of her administration. And her mother came to live at the White House.

The new president also has had to deal with dangerous international problems. One story was about the danger of a nuclear war. Another told about important negotiations with Russia.

And President Allen has political problems. She knows the Speaker of the House still wants to be president and is not her political ally.

“Commander in Chief” has been one of the most popular new shows on American television this year. Last week, Geena Davis won a Golden Globe Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as best leading actress in a television drama. It looks like Mackenzie Allen will continue to serve as America’s first female president for a few more years at least.

Sources

HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Iran. Moninre Farhangnia asks where Special English writers find answers to listeners’ questions.

We often use an Internet search engine to find a Web site that will provide information. For example, we answered a question about the Pepsi Cola company. Its Web site provided information about the history of the company. We also found articles in newspapers and magazines. We confirm information with second and third sources to make sure the information is correct. Sometimes we also use an encyclopedia, a set of books containing information on almost any subject. Encyclopedias are written by experts and have been a trusted source of information for years.

Now there is also a free online encyclopedia called Wikipedia. It is written by people around the world. Anyone can edit or add to an article. But this has caused problems.

Last year, a former editor of the paper USA Today discovered wrong information about him on Wikipedia. Someone had written an article that falsely linked him to a political assassination. This wrong information was quickly corrected.

Later, the publication Nature studied Wikipedia and a well-known printed encyclopedia, Britannica, to see which had more mistakes. It found an average of four mistakes in a Wikipedia article, and three in an article in Britannica’s. Wikipedia supporters note that they are able to correct information when they find a mistake. Written publications are not able to do this.

Wikipedia started in two thousand one. The word “wiki” comes from “wiki wiki” which means “quickly” in the Hawaiian language. Reports say it is the largest single source of information in history. It is also one of the fastest growing sites on the Internet.

It offers more than three million articles in more than two hundred languages. Each month, it records more than two thousand million page visits. Jimmy Wales helped start Wikipedia. He says its purpose is to provide all people with a free encyclopedia written in their native language. You can find information on just about every subject on Wikipedia, even about Special English. However, some experts warn people not to believe everything they read online, no matter where they read it.

Madonna

Popular singer Madonna has been making records for more than twenty years. She recently released a new album, “Confessions on a Dance Floor.” The songs represent a new kind of nineteen seventies disco music. Pat Bodnar tells us more.

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PAT BODNAR: That was “Hung Up,” the international hit song from Madonna’s new album. “Hung Up” and the other songs on the album are considered “retro.” Retro is a word used to describe an earlier kind of music that is re-made in a new way. Madonna combines dance music of the nineteen seventies with a new modern beat.

All the songs on Madonna’s new album are continuous. The beat of one song develops into the beat of the next song. This means you never have to stop dancing.

Religious leaders in Israel have criticized one song on the album called “Isaac.” They said it was wrong to use the name of a sixteenth century spiritual leader in a song meant to earn money. Madonna has defended the song. She said it is called “Isaac” because that is the name of the man who sings it with her. If you listen carefully, you can hear the voice of Isaac Sinwani singing in Hebrew. This song also expresses some of Madonna’s own interest in spirituality.

(MUSIC)

Music critics say that this is one of Madonna’s best albums in years. They say it represents what Madonna does best-- getting people onto the dance floor.

We leave you now with the song “Like it or Not”. In this song, Madonna says that she will keep on going, no matter what people think of her.

(MUSIC)

HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.This show was written by Nancy Steinbach and Dana Demange, who was also our producer. Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

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As Demands on Cheerleaders Grow, Injuries Take a Big Jump

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

About three million young people in the United States are involved in cheerleading. People often think of cheerleaders when they think of school spirit. Cheerleaders are a tradition at football games and other sports events. They help get the crowds excited for their team.

In the past, cheerleading at American schools mostly involved shouting cheers and jumping up and down. But cheerleading has grown into a sport of its own. The moves are more physical. Cheerleaders, for example, are often thrown into the air.

The difficulty of modern cheerleading has led to more injuries. A new study shows that the number nationwide increased one hundred ten percent during the years examined. It says hospital emergency rooms treated more than two hundred thousand cheerleaders between nineteen-ninety and two thousand two.

During that same period, the number of students who became cheerleaders increased by eighteen percent.

Two children's medical researchers in Ohio did the study. The report appeared this month in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Almost all of the injured cheerleaders were female. Eighty-five percent of the injuries were in those between the ages of twelve and seventeen.

Leg and foot injuries represented the largest share of cases, thirty-seven percent. Nineteen percent were injuries to the head or neck.

But the study says few cheerleaders were injured seriously enough to be admitted to the hospital. Almost ninety-nine percent were treated and released from the emergency department.

Researchers say cheerleaders often attempt difficult performances before they are physically ready. They are often expected to perform risky moves when they compete for honors against other schools.

Most school sports are played during one season. Cheerleading is done all year. So it is difficult to compare the injury rates to other sports.

In many American schools, cheerleading is not considered an official sport. This means it is not held to the same rules and requirements. Because of this, the adult coaches who direct cheerleading programs are often not required to complete any special training.

In their report, the researchers call for steps to increase the safety of cheerleading. These include required safety training for all coaches.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Brianna Blake. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. This is Shep O'Neal.

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President Roosevelt Decides to Build the Panama Canal

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(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States in nineteen-oh-one. He firmly believed in expanding American power in the world. To do this, he wanted a strong navy. And he wanted a way for the navy to sail quickly between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Roosevelt decided to build that waterway.

I'm Maurice Joyce. Today, Richard Rael and I tell the story of the Panama Canal.

VOICE TWO:

For many years, people had dreamed of building a canal across central America to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The most likely place was at the thinnest point of land: Panama. Another possible place was to the north: Nicaragua. President Roosevelt appointed a committee to decide which place would be better.

Engineers said it would cost less to complete a canal that had been started in the eighteen eighties in Panama. But the United States would have to buy the land and building rights from a French company. The price was high: more than one hundred million dollars.

So, the committee decided it would be less costly, overall, to build a canal in Nicaragua. The proposal went to the United States Congress for approval.

VOICE ONE:

The House of Representatives quickly passed a bill to build the Nicaragua canal. Then the French company reduced its price for the land and building rights in Panama. It decided some money was better than no money at all.

President Roosevelt was pleased. He gave his support to the Panama plan. When the Senate began debate, however, it appeared the Nicaragua plan would win.

Then a volcano exploded in the caribbean area. A city was destroyed. Thirty-thousand people were killed. Soon, reports said another volcano had become active and was threatening a town. The volcano was in Nicaragua. Nicaragua's president denied there were any active volcanoes in his country. But one of Nicaragua's postal stamps showed a picture of an exploding volcano.

That little stamp weakened support for the Nicaragua canal. The Senate passed a bill for a Panama canal, instead. The House of Representatives changed its earlier decision. It approved the Senate bill.

VOICE TWO:

At that time, Panama was a state of Colombia. Canal negotiations between America and Colombia did not go smoothly. After nine months, the United States threatened to end the talks and begin negotiations with Nicaragua. The threat worked.

In January, nineteen-oh-three, Colombia signed a treaty to permit the United States to build the Panama Canal. The treaty gave the United States a canal zone. This was a piece of land ten kilometers wide across Panama. The United States could use the canal zone for one hundred years. In exchange, it would pay Colombia ten million dollars, plus two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year.

The United States Senate passed the treaty within two months. The Colombian Senate rejected it. The Colombian government demanded more money.

VOICE ONE:

President Roosevelt was furious. He saw the issue in terms of world politics...not simply Colombia's sovereignty. He said: "I do not think Colombia should be permitted to bar permanently one of the future highways of civilization." Roosevelt was ready to take over Panama to build the canal.

That was not necessary. A revolt was being planned in Panama to gain independence from Colombia. The United States made no promises to support the rebels. But it wanted the rebels to succeed.

Under an old treaty, Colombia had given the United States the right to prevent interference with travel across Panama. Now, the United States used the old treaty to prevent interference from Colombian troops. Several American warships were sent to Panama.

VOICE TWO:

The local leader of the Panamanian revolt was Manuel Amador. Amador had the support of the French company that still owned the rights to build the Panama Canal. The chief representative of the company was Philippe Bunau-Varilla. He worked closely with an American lawyer, William Cromwell.

Bunau-Varilla and Cromwell provided Manuel Amador with a declaration of independence, a constitution, and money. Amador used the money to buy the support of the Colombian military commander in Panama City, the capital. He also got the support of the governor, who agreed to let himself be arrested on the day of the revolt.

Amador formed a small army of railroad workers and fire fighters.

The rebel army planned to take over Panama City on November fourth, nineteen-oh-three. Just before that date, five hundred Colombian soldiers landed at Colon, eighty kilometers away.

The soldiers could not get to Panama City, however. All but one railroad car had been moved to the capital.

VOICE ONE:

Manuel Amador gave a signal. The revolution began. There was a little shooting, but no one was hurt. Most of the shots were fired into the air to celebrate the call for Panama's independence. Colombian officials were arrested quickly. Then Amador made a speech. He said:

"Yesterday, we were slaves of Colombia. Today, we are free. President Theodore Roosevelt has kept his word. Long live the Republic of Panama! long live President Roosevelt!"

Colombia asked the United States to help it re-gain control of Panama. The United States refused. It said it would oppose any attempt by Colombia to send more forces there. The United States also recognized Panama's independence. And, almost immediately, it started negotiations with the new government on a canal treaty.

VOICE TWO:

The two sides reached agreement quickly. The treaty was almost the same as the one the Colombian Senate had rejected earlier. This time, however, the canal zone would be sixteen kilometers wide, instead of ten. And the United States would get permanent control of the canal zone.

The treaty was signed on November eighteenth, nineteen-oh-three. That was just fifteen days after Panama declared its independence.

VOICE ONE:

Colombia protested. It said the United States had acted illegally in Panama. Many American citizens protested, too. They called President Roosevelt a pirate. They said he had acted shamefully. Some members of Congress questioned the administration's deal with the French canal company in Panama. Several investigations examined the deal.

Theodore Roosevelt did not care. He was proud of his success in getting the canal started. He said: "I took the canal zone and let Congress debate. And while the debate goes on...so does work on the canal."

VOICE TWO:

It took ten years for the United States to complete the Panama Canal. The first ship passed through it in August, nineteen fourteen.

In that same year, the United States signed an agreement with Colombia. The agreement expressed America's regret for its part in the Panamanian revolution. And it provided a payment of twenty-five million dollars to Colombia. Theodore Roosevelt was no longer president when the agreement was signed. But he still had many friends in the Senate. He got them to reject it.

After Roosevelt's death, the United States signed another agreement with Colombia. The new agreement included the payment of twenty-five million dollars. It did not include the statement of regret. The Senate approved the new agreement.

VOICE ONE:

The issue of America's involvement in Panama caused much bitterness in other countries of Latin America. Some did not feel safe from American interference. President Roosevelt said the United States would not interfere with any nation that kept order and paid what it owed.

Roosevelt was worried because some Latin American countries were having difficulty re-paying loans from European banks. He did not want the issue of non-payment used as an excuse for European countries to seize new territory in the western hemisphere.

Roosevelt said the United States was responsible for making sure the debts were paid. His policy led to further United States involvement in Latin America.

That will be our story next week.

(THEME)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators were Maurice Joyce and Richard Rael. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

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Spacecraft Comes Home With Stardust Memories of the Solar System

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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 Pat Bodnar. This week on our show: Star dust memories of our solar system ...

VOICE ONE:

Measuring the effects of world trade on global warming ...

VOICE TWO:

And are frogs feeling the heat from higher world temperatures?

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VOICE ONE:

Lead scientist Donald Brownlee makes a victory sign as material from the Stardust capsule is examined

On January fifteenth, a long-awaited American spacecraft returned safely to Earth. The flight lasted seven years and more than four thousand million kilometers. It carried home a small amount of star dust and space dust from the tail of the comet called Wild-Two.

And yes, the engineers and scientists who waited all these years were wildly happy.

VOICE TWO:

Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington in Seattle is the lead investigator on the Stardust program for the NASA space agency. He described the contents of the capsule as a treasure from the edge of the solar system.

NASA launched the Stardust spacecraft toward the path of Wild-Two in nineteen ninety-nine. In January of two thousand four, the ship came within two hundred forty kilometers of the comet.

Stardust opened a collector to capture material from the comet's tail. Inside the collector was a substance called aerogel to trap particles floating in space. Aerogel weighs almost nothing. It looks a lot like smoke. Scientists call it glass smoke.

VOICE ONE:

Courtesy of NASA Stardust photograph comet" src="http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/NASA_stardust_photograph_co.jpg" vspace="2" width="150" border="0" height="113" hspace="2">

Stardust meets the comet, an artist's version

Comets are often called "dirty snowballs." Scientists say they contain materials left over from the huge cloud of gas and dust that formed into the sun and the planets.

Stardust spent about six months collecting particles. Then the robotic craft moved the collector into a sample return capsule, and headed for Earth.

On January fourteenth, Stardust released the forty-five-kilogram capsule. It happened about one hundred ten thousand kilometers above the Earth. That capsule is what landed at an Air Force testing ground in the desert of the western state of Utah. It shot through the atmosphere at about forty-five thousand kilometers an hour, a record speed for a spacecraft re-entry.

Now, scientists expect to learn more about the birth of the solar system more than four and one-half thousand million years ago. In fact, Donald Brownlee says some of the captured particles are sure to be older than the sun.

VOICE TWO:

The scientists and engineers were tense as they awaited the return of the Stardust capsule. Then they saw long-distance images of an open parachute.

In two thousand four, NASA watched the return of a similar spacecraft, Genesis. It returned with material expelled from the sun. Its parachute, however, failed. Genesis crashed into the Utah desert. It broke open, but scientists have said it could still have some research value.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English from Washington.

A new study finds a direct link between the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere and the loss of some kinds of creatures.

The study involved brightly colored frogs that live in mountain forests of Central and South America. There were about one hundred ten kinds of these harlequin frogs twenty years ago. Now, scientists say, more than seventy have disappeared.

Experts believe that a fungus killed them. The bacterial disease has attacked frogs and other amphibians around the world. Amphibians live on land and in water. They are considered easy victims because of their thin skin.

VOICE TWO:

But the new study found that the losses of harlequin frogs happened in years with sharp increases in world temperatures. American biologist Alan Pounds led the study. He says the timing of the events shows a "very clear relationship." Mister Pounds works at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve and Tropical Science Center in Costa Rica.

Yet the fungus grows best in cooler temperatures. The scientists offer an explanation. They say warmer weather led to more water in the air, which led to more clouds. The cloud cover produced cooler days, though the nights got warmer. The scientists say the conditions helped spread the fungus. They say the recent losses are tied to global warming.

But other scientists are not so sure. Some criticized the new study. They say it did not consider other environmental changes that could have affected the frogs.

VOICE ONE:

Scientists say more than one hundred species of amphibians around the world have disappeared since nineteen eighty. Some say almost one-third of the world's six thousand different frogs, toads and salamanders are threatened.

Ecologist Karen Master took part in the study. She says many ecological systems are at risk from global warming. She says eighteen to thirty-five percent of plant and animal populations could disappear in the next forty-five years.

Researchers say climate change is also a danger to humans. The World Health Organization says higher temperatures are helping to spread diseases tied to insects and water. As a result, it estimates that an additional one hundred fifty thousand people will die this year and five million others will get sick.

VOICE TWO:

Periods of warming and cooling are normal for Earth. But scientists widely believe that human activity is responsible for most of the recent warming. They say carbon dioxide and others gases from factories and vehicles trap extra heat in the atmosphere.

The Earth’s average temperature rose by about six-tenths of one degree Celsius in the twentieth century. A United Nations group has estimated that temperatures could rise one-point-four to five-point-eight degrees by the end of this century.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

C

Another recent study looks at the importance of world trade in the production of carbon dioxide linked to climate change. This one is by two scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.

Shui Bin and Robert Harriss wondered about the growth of the huge trade deficit the United States has with China. What if the United States had produced the goods itself instead of importing them? What effect would there have been on air pollution?

VOICE TWO:

The findings suggest that in two thousand three, the United States would have released six percent more carbon dioxide. But China would have released fourteen percent less had it not made goods for the United States.

The two countries are the biggest producers of heat-trapping gases. The United States is estimated to produce about twenty-five percent of the world total. The scientists say China is responsible for about fifteen percent.

But, in general, China releases more industrial gases on average to make a product than the United States would. The scientists say this is because Chinese manufacturers depend more on coal and technologies that pollute more.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists examined the growth of imports from China between nineteen ninety-seven and two thousand three. They estimate that the trade imbalance added seven hundred twenty million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. That was one percent of the combined amount released by the two nations during that period.

The study found that in two thousand two and two thousand three, releases of carbon dioxide grew eight to nine percent a year in China. In the United States, the rate was about one percent a year.

The scientists note that neither country has approved the Kyoto Protocol. That treaty aims to cut heat-trapping gases.

The National Science Foundation supported the research. The publication Energy Policy published the study online.

Shui Bin urged the United States to increase exports to China of technology for cleaner production. Not only could it help China reduces its pollution, she says. It could also improve the balance of trade between the two countries.

VOICE ONE:

If you have a question about science, send it to special@voanews.com. Be sure to include your name and where you are from.

Or write to VOA Special English, Washington D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A. We might be able to answer your question on our show. But we cannot answer questions personally.

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Caty Weaver, Brianna Blake and George Grow. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. I’m Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Pat Bodnar. Internet users can read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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