Not Just a Man's Game: The First Woman in Baseball’s Hall of Fame

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

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

We play songs by Jamie Foxx …

Answer a question about retirement in America …

And report about the first female member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Woman In Baseball Hall of Fame

Effa Manley

The North American Professional Baseball season opens next week. Earlier this month, Major League Baseball named eighteen people to the Baseball Hall of Fame. They include the first woman ever so honored. Her name was Effa Manley. Faith Lapidus tells us about her.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Effa Manley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in eighteen ninety-seven. She died in nineteen eighty-one. Effa Manley was white. She married a black man and considered herself to be black as well. She and her husband, Abe, owned the Newark Eagles baseball team in New Jersey during the nineteen thirties and forties. The team was part of the Negro League. This was a time when white players and black players played on separate teams. Black players played on the teams of the Negro League.

History experts say Effa Manley used the sport of baseball to improve the civil rights for African-Americans. She campaigned to get as much money as possible for the black players in the Negro League.

The Baseball Hall of Fame says Effa Manley controlled the business part of the Newark Eagles baseball team. She organized the team’s travel, schedule, payroll and daily details from nineteen thirty-six until nineteen forty-seven. The experts praised her efforts to make the Newark Eagles a successful team. The Eagles won the Negro League World Series in nineteen forty-six.

The next year, a baseball player named Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to join a major league baseball team.

Soon other major league baseball teams began hiring Negro League players. Effa Manley worked to get major league owners to pay the Negro League owners for the players they lost. She wrote a book about Negro League baseball in nineteen seventy-three. And she continued to urge the Baseball Hall of Fame to recognize the Negro League and honor its players.

Before this year, eighteen Negro League players had been admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year, it is honoring Effa Manley and sixteen other players and officials from teams in the Negro League and earlier black teams. The ceremony will be held at the Baseball Hall of Fame headquarters in Cooperstown, New York on July thirtieth.

Retirement

HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. Valmecir Jose de Souza asks at what age Americans retire and how many years they work before retirement.

Generally, Americans may retire from their jobs after working a number of years that is decided by the employer. Usually they must work at least twenty years. Then they may receive a pension.

Pension money comes from personal savings, the government’s Social Security program and private plans from the employer. Federal law requires businesses to provide pensions to all people who have worked for the company a set number of years.

The federal government’s Social Security program is the largest pension plan. It was established in nineteen thirty-five. Workers pay a little more than six percent of their wages each month into Social Security. Their employers do the same. Most self-employed workers also pay a percent of their wages into Social Security. People then receive payments after they retire for as long as they live.

To receive Social Security, a person must have worked for at least ten years and be at least sixty-two years old. The amount of money received each month depends on the age at which the person retires. For example, a worker who retires at age sixty-two may receive one thousand dollars a month. If he waits until the age of sixty-five, the amount he receives each month will be larger.

The Social Security program was never meant to fully support retirement. Today, many people cannot live on what they receive from Social Security. These people may also have personal savings or a private pension plan or both.

Most business pensions are paid with money from workers and their employers. Self-employed workers can establish independent plans through banks or insurance companies. Workers pay a percent of money they earn each month into the plan. They receive payments after they retire.

Americans traditionally retire at about the age of sixty-five. However, some find that they do not enjoy retirement. Or they are not getting as much pension money as they need. So they continue working until they are older.

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx has been a successful actor in television and films. Now he has become a popular singer. Pat Bodner tells us more.

PAT BODNAR: Jamie Foxx first became popular in the early nineteen nineties. He appeared on the television shows “In Living Color” and “The Jamie Foxx Show.” The actor is also a skilled singer and musician. He recently released an album called “Unpredictable.” It has sold more than one million copies. Listen as he sings “Extravaganza.”

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Jamie Foxx has been a musician since he was very young. He began learning to play the piano when he was three years old. Jamie was raised by his grandparents. He went to church with them every day. He later became music director at his church. And he studied music in college.

Last year, he combined his acting and music skills. He won an Academy Award for playing the famous singer Ray Charles in the movie “Ray.”

Jamie Foxx says he has gained success because of the life lessons his grandmother taught him. She is no longer living, but he honors her with this song, “Wish You Were Here.”

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Later this year Jamie Foxx will appear in the film “Miami Vice.” He also will star in the film “Dreamgirls,” a version of a musical that played on Broadway. And he is enjoying the success of his new album. We leave you now with Jamie Foxx singing the title song from his album, “Unpredictable.”

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HOST:

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

Our show was written by Lawan Davis and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was the producer. And our audio engineer was Greg Burns.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

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General Motors Moves to Cut Costs

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

To cut costs, General Motors is cutting jobs and selling shares of businesses it owns

General Motors lost almost eleven thousand million dollars last year. Now the cost-cutting efforts of the world's largest automaker are gaining speed.

Last week, talks with the United Auto Workers union resulted in a major deal. G.M. agreed to offer buyouts to one hundred thirty-one thousand factory workers. No one knows how many will accept. The deal affects hourly workers at G.M. and its biggest parts supplier, Delphi.

A buyout is an offer of money, and sometimes other terms, if an employee will agree to leave a job or retire early.

Workers at G.M. who are too young to retire are being offered as much as one hundred forty thousand dollars to accept the buyout. They would lose things like their health care plans. Older workers are being offered smaller payments but the chance to retire early under G.M.'s retirement program.

Buyouts are costly, but G.M. hopes to save money in the long term. Its share of the American car market has been shrinking for years. The offer is part of a plan announced last June to cut thirty thousand jobs through two thousand eight.

The deal with the union does not involve supervisors or others who earn a salary instead of an hourly wage. The company wants to cut up to seven percent of its non-hourly workers this year. On Tuesday G.M. cut several hundred salaried jobs.

G.M. is trying to do something that several steel makers and airline companies have tried but failed to do. It is trying to restructure without seeking bankruptcy court protection from its creditors.

The company is moving to reduce its interests in some businesses it owns or controls. G.M. says it sold seventy-eight percent of G.M.A.C. Commercial Holding on March twenty-third to three investment companies. The deal is worth almost nine thousand million dollars.

G.M. also has agreed to sell its eight percent share in the Japanese carmaker Isuzu.

And the company wants to sell a large share of its financing company that provides loans for cars, homes and businesses. G.M has been in talks to sell fifty-one percent to Cerberus Capital Management in a deal estimated at eleven thousand million dollars.

This week General Motors released its yearly report which had been delayed. The company restated several years of financial results.

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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Students Face New Worry: Wrongly Scored College-Entry Tests

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

About five hundred thousand students took the SAT college-admissions test last October. The College Board, which owns the test, says about five thousand of them received wrong scores.

The problem became known after two students questioned their scores. They asked to have their tests scored again, this time by hand instead of by computer. Further investigation led to more and more wrongly scored tests. Most of the scores were too low.

College Board spokesman Brian O'Reilly says only four students gained three hundred points or more. He says most gained ninety points or less.

A perfect SAT score is two thousand four hundred points.

The College Board is not telling students or colleges about scores that were too high. Mister O'Reilly says students should not be punished for something out of their control.

He says the scores were no more than fifty points too high. He tells us correcting them would not have affected college acceptance decisions.

The tests went to a processing center in Texas. Pearson Educational Measurement has scored the SAT for the College Board since March of last year. The company took the place of E.T.S., the Educational Testing Service.

The College Board says humidity in the air caused the paper to expand and change the position of the answers. It says the problem affected tests with light or incomplete answer marks.

Mister O'Reilly says Pearson has already corrected the problem. He says the company has improved its computer systems and will now scan all answers two times.

The College Board has asked schools to reconsider any students they rejected before their SAT scores were increased. Higher education officials say acceptance decisions are based only partly on test scores. But higher scores can mean more financial aid.

Now, lawyers are reportedly looking to represent people who want to take the College Board to court.

Students are not the only ones who have been affected by testing mistakes recently. E.T.S. has just agreed to pay eleven million dollars to settle cases involving a test for teachers.

Thousands who took the Praxis in two thousand three and two thousand four received scores that were too low. More than four thousand of them were told they had failed when they had passed.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Tribes in California Attempt to Preserve Native American Dialects

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Monica Madrigal shows the materials used for traditional Cahuia basket weaving to schoolchildren as part of California Native American Day in 2000

More than half of the over one hundred native California tongues have disappeared. Many others have only a few, aging speakers. When this last fluent generation dies, languages spoken by Californians over centuries, will also die.

At a recent gathering of some 200 Native Americans struggling to maintain their dialects, Robert Geary remembered driving in his car, listening to a tape of his long-deceased great uncle speaking the native Elem Pomo language.

ROBERT GEARY: "I was listening to this recording and I was so lost hearing my language that I was doing 80 [mph] and I didn't even know it. I got a ticket, yeah, I got a ticket."

Robert decided he had to learn his ancestor's language - and immediately ran into a pervasive problem for California's Native Americans.

ROBERT GEARY: "There is only one speaker left, her name is Loretta Kelsey. With her also not having anyone to speak it to, the language is even getting lost with her."

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At the shoreline of the Pomo reservation on Clear Lake, Loretta Kelsey parts some tule reeds, looks over the blue-green waters to where Mount Konocti reaches for the clouds, then turns toward Robert. It's not a struggle for her to bring back memories of the lake of her childhood; it is a struggle to tell Robert about it, in Pomo.

LORETTA KELSEY: "Amah ko set. Kuchinwallit. Mecha wee hah ket kay. Help me out, Robert."

ROBERT GEARY: "She was saying something about eating tules."

LORETTA KELSEY: "Where we're at now is where I was raised. We'd go down to the water, we'd eat the tules."

Robert and Loretta have spent the last five years recovering the language. Now they teach it to others in their tribe. But it's been an agonizing process. Pomo was never written down, no dictionaries, no materials to teach the language - Robert and Loretta are inventing those as they go.

LORETTA KELSEY: "Now we're just having to do it the way classrooms do it."

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The wind blows off the shore of clear lake as 20 native Americans from 7 to 70 gather along a row of picnic tables, watching Robert write on an old grade-school blackboard.

ROBERT GEARY: "Tichen, aweyah. Eee. Tzama, Tzama."

Sixty-eight-year-old Elizabeth Jean spoke Pomo as a child. She remembers her school days.

ELIZABETH JEAN: "We spoke very poor English when I went to school. We needed to go to the bathroom and we didn't know how to say it in English."

Jean did learn English, and she lost her Pomo. But with only one remaining Elém Pomo speaker, who herself struggles with the language, it may be beyond recovery.

Jocelyn Ahlers, an assistant professor of cultural linguistics at California State University in San Marcos, is here at the class. She's been studying the attempts to revive the Pomo language.

JOCELYN AHLERS: "Most linquists would come to a situation like this and say, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do, in terms of making this a vibrant speaking community again. It's over. I'm sorry."

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In today's class, students struggle to learn greetings and names of foods. If the goal is to revive the language in daily life on this reservation, success may be far away, or impossible. But Professor Ahlers thinks the common bond of learning the language may be enough.

JOCELYN AHLERS: "People tend to define linguistic community strictly as this place where everybody speaks the language all the time, and I think your language community could be the people who share a desire to learn your language with you, people who say hi to you or pray with you."

At dusk, the class winds down and the students gather in the ritual roundhouse to dance and pray.

ROBERT GEARY: "The center of it is a pole that's sticking up. It's kind of like our gateway to God."

Robert says that even the limited Pomo now spoken on the reservation is of value, most of all, in prayers to the spirits.

ROBERT GEARY: "It makes me feel that much more special to be able to talk to the creator in the language that he gave us. That's irreplaceable."

Loretta stands at the shore, amid a tangled mass of tule reeds. When she hears the others speaking Pomo, she feels both ancient burden, and new possibility.

LORETTA KELSEY: "It seems like I haven't carried it on the way I should have. Which was wrong. Because it's not really dying. I refuse to say dying."

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For VOA News Now, from the Pomo Reservation at Clear Lake, California, this is Lonny Shavelson.

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1918: American and German Forces Meet on a Battlefield Near Paris

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VOICE ONE:

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

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I'm Tony Riggs. Today, Larry West and I continue the story of American President Woodrow Wilson.

Woodrow Wilson

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen seventeen, Europe was at war. It was the conflict known as World War One. After three years of fighting, Europe's lands were filled with the sights and sounds of death. But still, the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers continued to fight.

The United States had tried to keep out of the European conflict. It declared its neutrality. In the end, however, neutrality was impossible.

Germany was facing starvation because of a British naval blockade. To break the blockade, German submarines attacked any ship that sailed to Europe. That included ships from neutral nations like the United States. The German submarines sank several American ships. Many innocent people were killed.

VOICE ONE:

German submarine attacks finally forced the United States into the war. It joined the Allies: Britain, France, and Russia.

Like most Americans, President Wilson did not want war. But he had no choice. Sadly, he asked Congress for a declaration of war. Congress approved the declaration on April sixth, nineteen seventeen.

It was not long before American soldiers reached the European continent. They marched in a parade through the streets of Paris. The people of France gave them a wild welcome. They cheered the young Americans. They threw flowers at the soldiers and kissed them.

VOICE TWO:

The Americans marched to the burial place of the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was the French military leader who had come to America's aid during its war of independence from Britain. The United States wanted to repay France for its help more than a hundred years earlier.

An American Army officer made a speech at the tomb. He said: "Lafayette, we are here!"

VOICE ONE:

And so the Americans were there. They were ready to fight in the bloodiest war the world had ever known. Week by week, more American troops arrived. By October, nineteen seventeen, the American army in Europe totaled one hundred thousand men. The leader of that army was General John J. Pershing.

Pershing's forces were not sent directly into battle. Instead, they spent time training, building bases, and preparing supplies. Then a small group was sent to the border between Switzerland and Germany. The Americans fought a short but bitter battle there against German forces.

The Germans knew the American soldiers had not fought before. They tried to frighten the Americans by waving their knives and guns in a fierce attack. The Americans surprised the Germans. They stood and fought back successfully.

VOICE TWO:

Full American participation in the fighting did not come for several months. It came only after another event took place. That event changed the war...and the history of the Twentieth Century. It was the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Its leader was Vladimir Lenin.

The Russian Revolution began in the spring of nineteen seventeen. The people of that country were tired of fighting Germany. And they were tired of their ruler, Czar Nicholas. The Czar was overthrown. A temporary government was established. It was headed by Alexander Kerenski.

President Woodrow Wilson sent a team of American officials to Russia to help Kerenski's new government. The officials urged Russia to remain in the war.

VOICE ONE:

Under Kerenski, Russia did keep fighting. But it continued to suffer terrible losses. Many Russians demanded an end to the war.

Lenin saw this opposition as a way to gain control of the government. So he went to the city of Petrograd. There, he led the opposition to the war and to Kerenski. Night after night, he spoke to big crowds. "What do you get from war." He shouted. "Only wounds, hunger, and death!"

Lenin promised peace under Bolshevik Communism. Within a few months, he won control of the Petrograd Soviet. That was an organization of workers and soldiers. Another Bolshevik Communist, lLon Trotsky, controlled the Soviet in Moscow.

VOICE TWO:

Kerenski's government continued to do badly in the war. More and more Russian soldiers lost hope. Many fled the army. Others stayed. But they refused to fight.

The end came in November, nineteen seventeen. Soldiers in Petrograd turned against Kerenski. Lenin ordered them to rebel. And he took control of the government within forty-eight hours. Russia was now a Communist nation.

As promised, Lenin called for peace. So Russia signed its own peace treaty with Germany. The treaty forced Russia to pay a high price for its part in the war. It had to give up a third of its farmland, half of its industry, and ninety percent of its coal mines. It also lost a third of its population. Still, it did not have real peace with Germany.

VOICE ONE:

The treaty between Russia and Germany had a powerful influence on the military situation in the rest of Europe. Now, Germany no longer had to fight an enemy on two fronts. Its eastern border was quiet suddenly. It could aim all its forces against Britain, France, and the other Allies on its western border.

Germany had suffered terrible losses during four years of war. Many of its soldiers had been killed. And many of its civilians had come close to starving, because of the British naval blockade. Yet Germany's leaders still hoped to win. They decided to launch a major attack. They knew they had to act quickly, before the United States could send more troops to help the Allies.

VOICE TWO:

German military leaders decided to break through the long battle line that divided most of central Europe. They planned to strike first at the north end of the line. British troops held that area. The Germans would push the British off the continent and back across the English Channel. Then they would turn all their strength on France. When France was defeated, Germany would be victorious.

The campaign opened in March, nineteen eighteen. German forces attacked British soldiers near Amiens, France. The Germans had six thousand pieces of artillery. The British troops fought hard, but could not stop the Germans. They were pushed back fifty kilometers. The attack stopped for about a week.

VOICE ONE:

Then the Germans struck again. This time, their target was Ypres, Belgium.

The second attack was so successful it seemed the Germans might push the British all the way back to the sea. The British commander, Field Marshal Douglas Haig, ordered his men not to withdraw. Haig said: "There is no other course open to us, but to fight it out."

The British fought hard and stopped the attack. Losses on both sides were extremely high. Yet the Germans continued with their plan.

VOICE TWO:

Their next attack was northeast of Paris in May. This time, they broke the Allied line easily and rushed toward Paris. The German Army chief, General Erich Ludendorff, tried to capture the French capital without waiting to strengthen his forces. He got close enough to shell the city.

The French government prepared to flee.

Allied military leaders rushed more troops to the area. The new force included two big groups of American marines.

VOICE ONE:

Americans and their captives in the Battle of Belleau Wood

The heaviest fighting was outside Paris at a place called Belleau Wood. The American Marines were advised to prepare for a possible withdrawal. One Marine said: "Withdraw? We just got here!"

The Marines resisted as the Germans attacked Allied lines in Belleau Wood again and again. Then they attacked the German lines. The Battle for Belleau Wood lasted three weeks. It was the most serious German offensive of the war. The Germans lost.

We will continue our story of World War One next week.

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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 Tony Riggs and Larry West. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley.

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Mysterious Creatures: Are Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster Real?

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VOICE ONE:

This is Phoebe Zimmerman.

VOICE TWO:

" src="http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/ap-bigfoot-28mar06-se_0.jpg" vspace="2" width="150" border="0" height="119" hspace="2">

And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Many people in America’s Pacific Northwest believe in the existence of an animal that is half human and half ape. Other people have reportedly seen a huge creature in a famous lake in Scotland. Today we tell about these and several other mysterious creatures.

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VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-eight a young man named Jerry Crew was on his way to work. Mister Crew worked for the Wallace Construction Company in Humboldt County, northern California. Mister Crew drove large construction equipment for the company. It had rained for the past several days and the area where the construction vehicles were kept was very wet and muddy.

VOICE TWO:

As Jerry Crew walked toward the vehicle he would drive that day, he saw something extremely unusual. What he saw frightened him. There, in the mud, were footprints -- footprints that were almost ten times larger than a normal human foot.

Newspaper reporters found out about the huge footprints. They talked to Mister Crew and took pictures of the footprints. They published stories all over California. One newspaper story called the creature that made the prints “Bigfoot.”

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen sixty-seven a man named used a small movie camera to take pictures of an ape-like creature moving from a clear area into a forest. Many people said this proved Bigfoot was real. The movie pictures showed a large ape-like creature walking on two large feet.

Over the years, books and magazine stories were printed about Bigfoot using photographs from Mister Patterson’s film. Large groups of people spent their holiday time searching forests for Bigfoot. Many people worked long hours in an effort to prove that Bigfoot exists.

VOICE TWO:

In two thousand two a man named Ray Wallace died of heart failure. He was the man who owned the Wallace Construction Company where the mystery creature’s footprints first appeared. Soon after Mister Wallace’s death, his family told reporters that Mister Wallace had invented Bigfoot. They told how he had made huge feet out of wood and tied them to his shoes. They said Ray Wallace left the footprints that Jerry Crew found. They said Ray Wallace had done this as a joke.

The Wallace family said the joke became bigger and bigger. They said Ray Wallace just could not stop. He was having too much fun. For example, in nineteen sixty-seven he dressed his wife in a monkey suit with large feet. Ray Wallace and Roger Patterson filmed her walking into the woods. That film became famous among people who really believed the creature existed.

VOICE ONE:

Our story about Ray Wallace and his joke should end here. But the Bigfoot story has not died with Ray Wallace. Many people say the Wallace family is lying. They say Ray Wallace never made the footprints. They say there really is a Bigfoot creature. They say someday someone will find the creature. These people plan to continue their search for Bigfoot. Several organizations of people are still searching for the creature. If you have a computer that can link with the Internet, you can find many stories about Bigfoot.

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VOICE TWO:

People have always been afraid of large areas of water, sometimes with good reason. Crocodiles and alligators have attacked people in rivers and lakes. That still happens in several areas of the world. But many people in many different countries tell of other huge creatures that live in deep lakes. In the United States, some people say a creature called Champ is living in Lake Champlain, in New York State.

These beliefs are not new. More than two hundred years ago reports began about a creature named Selma seen in a lake in Norway. Other reports are very recent. In nineteen ninety-seven someone took video pictures of some kind of creature in Lake Van in eastern Turkey.

But the most famous creature that reportedly lives in a very deep lake is the Loch Ness Monster, called Nessie. Many people believe Nessie lives in Loch Ness in the highlands of Scotland. Loch Ness is the largest freshwater lake in Britain. It is about thirty-seven kilometers long and about two kilometers wide. Special equipment shows it is as much as two hundred fifty meters deep.

The first written record of Nessie appeared in the year five hundred sixty-five. A Catholic religious leader named Saint Columba reportedly made the creature disappear after it threatened several people.

VOICE ONE:

Few people visited the Loch Ness area until the nineteen thirties. In nineteen thirty-three a man and woman claimed to have seen a huge animal in the water. It looked like nothing they had ever seen before.

In nineteen thirty-four Robert Wilson took a photograph of an unusual looking animal he said he saw in Loch Ness. The photograph and a story were printed in the London Daily Mail newspaper. That photograph provided the best evidence of the creature for the next sixty years. It showed an animal with a long neck sticking out of the water. It looked like some kind of ancient dinosaur.Doctor Wilson’s photograph can be seen in books, magazine stories and on many Internet Web sites about the famous Loch Ness Monster.

Over the years, scientists have investigated Loch Ness. They have used special equipment to search the deep lake. These include special underwater cameras and sound equipment. Nothing of great importance has ever been found.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen ninety-three a man named Christian Spurling admitted that he made the monster in the famous photograph. Mister Spurling said this as he was dying. He said it began as a joke with his brother and father. His brother really took the famous photograph. Then they asked Robert Wilson to take the photograph to the newspapers. The Loch Ness Monster became extremely famous after the photograph was printed.

Thousands of people came to Loch Ness each year in hopes that they too would see the famous creature. Each year about one hundred thirty people report that they have seen Nessie or at least something unusual in the lake. Loch Ness has hotels, museums, and boat trips that provide holidays for people hoping to see the Loch Ness Monster.

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VOICE ONE:

Many people believe in the truth of the stories about Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and other creatures. Research scientists say that it is not good science to dismiss all claims of unusual animals. For example, many scientists dismissed reports of an animal we now know as the gorilla until scientists studied one in eighteen forty-seven.

In nineteen twelve reports of a huge, fierce, meat-eating lizard were confirmed. Today we know this to be the famous Komodo dragon that lives on a few islands of Indonesia. It is the largest lizard in the world.

In nineteen thirty-eight fishermen caught a strange-looking fish. Scientists recognized it as a fish they had only seen as a fossil. They thought the fish had disappeared from the Earth millions of years ago. The fish is called a coelacanth [SEE-la-canth]. Coelacanths are unusual but they are still very much alive.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists say reports from people who claim to have seen unusual creatures are interesting. Photographs reportedly taken of such creatures are also interesting. However reports and photographs are not scientific evidence.

Researchers say some claims have led to real scientific research. However, no one has found the body of Bigfoot or Nessie or the many other creatures reported by people around the world.

Scientists must have a live animal or the body of such a creature to prove that animals like Nessie or Bigfoot really exist. Even the bones would be valuable evidence to study. Scientists must take detailed photographs. They must study the blood, hair, teeth, and genetic material of the animal.

VOICE ONE:

So we have no scientific news to report about any of the mysterious creatures that live on land or in deep lakes. If we do find good scientific information about these creatures we will report it. Until then, visiting the northwestern part of the United States or Scotland’s Loch Ness is still a great holiday -- even if you do not see anything unusual.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Caty Weaver. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

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

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Increased Efforts Urged to Fight Tuberculosis

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

Almost two million people every year die from tuberculosis. Almost nine million develop new cases.

Experts say about one-third of the world’s population is infected with TB. People who are infected might never develop an active case. They might never get sick from the infection. But enough do get sick that the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis a worldwide emergency in nineteen ninety-three.

Southeast Asia has the largest number of new TB cases. But southern Africa has the highest rates of the disease, almost two times that of Asia.

Last week the W.H.O. released a progress report for World TB Day, observed each year on March twenty-fourth. The report praises twenty-six countries worldwide for meeting their goals on tuberculosis control. They include Vietnam and the Philippines. Both have high TB rates.

Still, the report says the number of cases worldwide is rising one percent a year as a result of the TB crisis in Africa. TB kills more than five hundred thousand people there every year. W.H.O. officials praised Kenya for emergency measures. But they say African leaders need to invest more to control tuberculosis.

TB is the leading cause of death among people with H.I.V. and AIDS. More than twenty-seven million people in Africa are infected with H.I.V, the virus that causes AIDS. People with H.I.V. lose their natural resistance to disease.

TB is a bacterial infection. It is spread through the air when a person with an active case coughs or sneezes. Possible signs include a bad cough for three weeks or more and pain in the chest. Others are coughing up blood and sweating at night.

Tuberculosis can be cured with medicines. In many countries, though, experts say incorrect or incomplete treatment of TB is creating drug-resistant forms. They say drug-resistant TB is now in almost every country and is hurting worldwide success rates.

In January, the Global Plan to Stop TB was launched. This is a ten-year plan. It calls for countries to invest fifty-six thousand million dollars to help nations identify and treat new cases. Officials say the first new TB drug in forty years could be ready in two thousand ten. The World Health Organization says the Global Plan to Stop TB, if fully supported, could save fourteen million lives.

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

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Preparing for a Bird Flu Pandemic: Waiting, Worrying and Wondering

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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 Barbara Klein. Our subject this week is bird flu.

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VOICE ONE:

There are many kinds of avian influenza. The one that has many people concerned is caused by the virus h-five-n-one. This virus has killed birds in about forty countries. It is highly deadly to chickens, turkeys and other poultry. But birds are not the only ones at risk.

The first known cases in humans appeared in nineteen ninety-seven in Hong Kong. Since two thousand three, the virus has been found in more than one hundred eighty people in at least eight countries. More than one hundred of them have died.

So far, experts say most of the victims have been infected directly from sick birds. But there is concern that the virus could change into a form that spreads easily from one person to another.

VOICE TWO:

Infections have been found in sixty kinds of wild birds. The part that migratory birds play in spreading the virus is still being studied. Experts still do not know exactly how the virus spread from Asia to Europe and Africa.

Migratory birds fly long distances between a winter home and a summer home. Some researchers say these birds are getting too much blame. But American scientist Robert Webster believes ducks are a big part of the problem. He says ducks might not get sick from bird flu but spread the disease easily to chickens.

Some experts think the virus could reach the United States in April or May. They say it could arrive when ducks and other wild birds from Asia reach Alaska. Government scientists are testing thousands of wild birds flying across the state.

VOICE ONE:

Animal health experts say people who want to protect chickens and other birds should keep them in closed areas, away from wild birds. Also, farm birds should not drink from water used by wild birds.

If the virus appears, people with special training and protective clothing should kill all the birds on the farm. The farm must be cleaned completely.

To help prevent an outbreak, people should clean their hands and shoes before and after they visit farms or markets where birds are kept. Washing clothes and equipment after contact with birds is also important.

Any equipment or supplies that are shared with people who keep birds should be cleaned after use. Experts say items made of materials like wood and fiber should not be shared because they are more difficult to disinfect.

VOICE TWO:

In many places, chickens are kept close to or inside people's homes. This can be an infection risk, especially when children play with them.

People should cover their face and hands when they work with farm birds or wild birds. Facial protection will reduce the risk of breathing dust that might carry the infection. To increase the protection, people should not eat, drink or smoke while working with birds.

Birds that get the virus often die within forty-eight hours. Other possible signs are lack of egg production, or eggs with soft shells; lack of energy; swelling in the eyes and neck; and a purple color around the legs.

Any suspected cases should be reported to animal health officials immediately.

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VOICE ONE:

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

In France, the h-five-n-one virus was found in a wild duck about one kilometer from the farm of a man named Daniel Clair. Soon his chickens also had the virus. But he did not believe the duck was responsible.

Mister Clair blamed reporters. He said they brought the virus to his farm on their shoes after they went to where the dead duck was found.

The infection can spread on shoes, tires, farm equipment, clothes and people’s hands. And it can spread whenever birds are transported, either legally or illegally. Illegal trade is a concern because it can sabotage efforts to stop an outbreak.

VOICE TWO:

Products made with bird waste are another concern. Bird waste is often used to make fertilizer. It is also used as food in fish farming. But untreated waste can spread the infection. In some cases wild birds are believed to have been infected by drinking water in fish farms. Experts say the virus can live in water for three weeks.

The World Health Organization says the virus can be killed in poultry products at a heat of seventy degrees Celsius. The W.H.O. also has other rules for food safety: Wash your hands before eating. Disinfect all equipment and surfaces that are used to prepare food. And do not place uncooked meat next to cooked meat.

VOICE ONE:

There are no warnings to avoid countries with cases of bird flu. But officials do advise travelers not to visit bird farms or have other contact with birds before or during their travels.

Public health officials are trying to prevent a human pandemic. A pandemic is a worldwide outbreak of disease. Pandemics happen when people have no resistance to an aggressive new virus.

Flu pandemics happen from time to time. The worst known was the nineteen eighteen Spanish flu. Many researchers estimate the dead at between twenty million and fifty million. Some say the number could be as high as one hundred million.

Many scientists say the next flu pandemic is likely to be caused by the h-five-n-one virus. Others point out that there is no way to know.

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VOICE TWO:

Influenza viruses continually change. Scientists have to make new vaccines each year to protect people. It takes six months or more to develop a new flu vaccine. And even in a normal flu season it takes time to produce enough to meet demand.

Scientists are now working on vaccines to protect people against a possible bird flu pandemic. There is no cure for bird flu, just like other kinds of influenza. Two anti-viral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, might help reduce the severity in some cases if taken very soon after a person gets sick.

But, sooner or later, medicines can lose their effectiveness as viruses and bacteria develop resistance. So doctors are being urged to limit the use of Tamiflu and Relenza now in case they are needed for a pandemic.

VOICE ONE:

The World Health Organization is telling all countries to have a plan in case of a pandemic. A good plan must include information about finding enough hospital space for sick people. There must be information about when to close schools or workplaces. And information about when to require people to stay home, and how to get medicine.

But officials say only about forty countries have a plan.

The United States said in January that it will provide three hundred thirty-four million dollars to help other countries deal with outbreaks.

International health officials have been meeting to work on a plan so all nations get vaccines and anti-viral medicines. About thirty countries are buying large amounts of medicine. But right now the W.H.O. says it believes most developing countries will not have enough supplies to deal with a pandemic.

Some medical experts see little chance that even the United States would have enough to prevent a pandemic within the next three years. Others, though, think people worry too much about the h-five-n-one virus.

VOICE TWO:

So why does the animal virus rarely spread from human to human? New reports in Science magazine and Nature offer an explanation. Two separate teams found that the virus is only able to enter cells deep in the lungs.

Human flu viruses attach to cells in the upper part of the breathing system. People then spread the infection from the nose and mouth when they cough and sneeze. The scientists, in the United States, Japan and the Netherlands, note that genetic changes would be needed for the h-five-n-one virus to cause a pandemic.

VOICE ONE:

Before we go, here are three sites on the Internet to learn more about avian influenza. One is the Web site of the World Health Organization: who.int.

VOICE TWO:

The second is a United States government site: pandemicflu.gov.

VOICE ONE:

And the third is our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can find a link to the latest news about bird flu.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Karen Leggett and produced by Cynthia Kirk. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Pat Bodnar. To send us e-mail, write to special@voanews.com. Listen next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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For Eating or Looking: Wild About Cherries

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

Washington's famous cherry blossoms

There is something hard to resist about cherries. The small red fruit is a popular seasonal food around the world. In northern areas, cherry trees are just beginning to produce flowers.

The cherry is a member of the same family of plants as the rose. It is closely related to the plum. Like cherry trees, plum trees also flower in early spring.

Cherries are thought to be native to western Asia. There are two major kinds of cherries harvested in the world: sweet and sour.

Sour cherries are not eaten fresh because they contain little sugar. Instead, they are processed to make prepared foods like jellies and pies and to make alcoholic drinks. The United States is a major producer of sour cherries. Among the states, Michigan is the top producer.

Russia, Poland and Turkey are other important cherry-producing nations.

Sweet cherries contain much more sugar than their sour relatives and are usually eaten fresh. Washington state is the biggest American producer, followed by California and Oregon.

The United States, Iran and Turkey are major producers of sweet cherries. In the United States, production fell by twenty percent last year after a record harvest in two thousand four.

Fresh cherries do not store well. They must reach market as soon as possible. So they cost more than many other kinds of fresh fruit.

Farmers produce different kinds of cherries through the process of grafting. They take cuttings from existing trees and join them to related trees, known as root stock. The cuttings, called scions [SY-uhnz], grow into the root stock, so the two kinds of trees grow as one.

Cherry trees are also valued for their springtime blossoms.

Cherry blossoms are popular in many parts of Asia and Europe. But Washington, D.C., has some of the most famous cherry trees in the world. Japan gave the United States three thousand cherry trees in nineteen twelve as a gift of friendship. There were twelve different kinds of cherry trees, but most were a kind called Yoshino.

Years later Japan gave another gift of three thousand eight hundred trees. In the early nineteen eighties, the United States provided Japan with cuttings from the Yoshino trees in Washington. These cuttings helped replace Japanese trees lost in a flood.

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

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Poor Nutrition in the Developing World

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

A new World Bank report warns that children who do not get enough good food in the first two years of life suffer lasting damage. They may be underdeveloped or under weight. They may suffer from poor health or limited intelligence. In addition, poorly nourished children are more likely to drop out of school and earn less money as adults.

The report is called “Repositioning Nutrition as Central to Development.” It notes that too little food is not the only cause of poor nutrition. Many children who live in homes with plenty of food suffer for other reasons. For example, the study says that mothers often fail to give their newly born babies their first breast milk. This milk-like substance is called colostrum. It is full of nutrients that improve a baby’s ability to fight infections and disease.

The study also links malnutrition to economic growth in poor countries. A lack of nutrition in early childhood can cost developing nations up to three percent of their yearly earnings. Many of these same countries have economies that are growing at a rate of two to three percent yearly. The study suggests that poor countries could possibly double their economic growth if they improved nutrition.

Africa and South Asia are affected the most by poor nutrition. The study says about half of all children in India do not get enough good food. The World Bank study also notes that rates of malnutrition in South Asia are almost double those in central and southern Africa. Other parts of the world are also severely affected, including Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Guatemala and Peru.

The study recommends that developing countries change their policies to deal with malnutrition. Instead of directly providing food, the study suggests educational programs in health and nutrition for mothers with young babies. It also recommends cleaner living conditions and improvements in health care.

World Bank nutrition specialist Meera Shekar was the lead writer for the report. She said the period of life between pregnancy and two years is extremely important. Governments with limited resources should take direct action to improve nutrition for children during this period.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com I’m Steve Ember.

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Library of Congress Presents 'Song of America' Tour

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Faith Lapidus. This week -- America's cultural history takes to the road.

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VOICE ONE:

The world’s largest library is in Washington, D.C. It has more than one hundred thirty million items in its collection. That includes more than twenty million books. It also includes maps, movies, music recordings and television shows.

The Library of Congress serves as a research center for the legislature. It also serves as a center of cultural history for the American people. Now the Library of Congress is sharing some of that history with people who live far from Washington.

The "Song of America" tour is part of a major program by the library to celebrate creativity across America. The first part of the program celebrates creativity in music. The classical singer Thomas Hampson has been presenting a traveling concert series.

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VOICE TWO:

Thomas Hampson

Thomas Hampson began an eleven-city tour in November. He started in the Midwest, the American heartland. In January he appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York. The final performance is planned in California in June.

One of the historic songs he is presenting around the country is from nineteen fifteen. It was written by an African-American musician, Henry Burleigh, also known as Harry Burleigh. He wrote the music to a poem by Walt Whitman.

"Ethiopia Saluting the Colors" is about a chance meeting between a Union soldier and an old slave woman during the American Civil War. The victory by Union soldiers led to the end of slavery in the South.

The woman wears a cloth around her head in the colors of the Ethiopian flag: yellow, red and green. She salutes the American colors -- the red, white and blue flag -- as the troops of General William Tecumseh Sherman march past.

(MUSIC)

WHO are you dusky woman, so ancient hardly human,
With your woolly-white and turban’d head, and bare bony feet?
Why rising by the roadside here, do you the colors greet?

Who are you dusky woman?

(’Tis while our army lines Carolina’s sands and pines,
Forth from thy hovel door thou Ethiopia com’st to me,
As under doughty Sherman I march toward the sea.)

VOICE ONE:

As Thomas Hampson travels for his Song of America tour, the famous baritone presents master classes to teach local musicians. People can also see old printed music and pictures and listen to recordings from the Library of Congress collection. This way they can learn about a city's musical history.

The library is also continuing its "Stories of America" program as part of the Song of America tour. The stories program has the recorded histories of more than two thousand Americans. The speakers are people who fought in wars, others who were active in the civil rights movement, and just average citizens.

VOICE TWO:

Ted Kooser

The Poet Laureate of the Library of Congress will also travel for the Song of America tour. Ted Kooser will hold readings and organize workshops where poets can get advice about their work.

Ted Kooser is in his second term as America’s official poet. He was chosen by the Librarian of Congress, James Billington. Mister Billington calls him a major poetic voice for the America of small towns and wide open spaces.

Ted Kooser is the first poet laureate from the Great Plains of the Midwest. He won the two thousand five Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his book, “Delights & Shadows.” Here, for Special English listeners, he reads his poem “A Happy Birthday":

TED KOOSER: “This evening, I sat by an open window
and read till the light was gone and the book
was no more than a part of the darkness.
I could easily have switched on a lamp,
but I wanted to ride this day down into night,
to sit alone and smooth the unreadable page
with the pale gray ghost of my hand.”

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VOICE ONE:

The Song of America tour will also send classic films around the nation, to movie houses chosen by Mister Billington. These theaters have machines that are able to show old movies.

The movies in the tour include "The Great Train Robbery," "Yankee Doodle Dandee" and “All Quiet on the Western Front."

"All Quiet on the Western Front" opened in nineteen thirty. It is considered unusually well made for its time. The story comes from the German novel by Erich Maria Remarque. A young German soldier in World War One believes fighting in a war is an honorable tradition of manhood. He comes to understand the terrible suffering in wartime.

VOICE TWO:

Another old film to be shown is “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.” Warner Brothers produced this drama of mystery and adventure in nineteen forty-eight. It was the first movie in which actor Humphrey Bogart and director John Huston worked together.

“Mister Smith Goes to Washington” will also be shown around the country. In this nineteen thirty-nine film, Jimmy Stewart plays a young senator who sees only the good in politics. Others aim to get him expelled from the Senate on false accusations. To save himself, he talks and talks for hours to try to stop a vote on the Senate floor.

JAMES STEWART: “I'm going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause even if this room gets filled with lies like these, and the Taylors and all their armies come marching into this place. Somebody will listen to me ... “

VOICE ONE:

More than four thousand people work for the Library of Congress. The Song of America tour is just one of many activities organized by the library.

Last month, for example, there was a talk by former ambassador Richard Gardner. He discussed and signed copies of his book “Mission Italy: On the Front Lines of the Cold War.”

Peter Schikele is a music expert who likes to be funny. Mister Schikele lectured at the library on the subject “String Quartet: The Dark Horse of Contemporary Music.”

VOICE TWO:

The Thomas Jefferson building of the Library of Congress stands near the Capitol, the building where Congress meets.

There is a round copper top to the Jefferson building. The metal dome is green with age. The building looks like an Italian palace of the fifteen hundreds. This is the heart of the Library of Congress.

Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. He played an important part in the history of the Library of Congress.

VOICE ONE:

That history began in eighteen hundred, when John Adams was America’s second president, after George Washington. Imagine this: the library started with eleven boxes of law books. The books were kept in one room of the Capitol building.

By eighteen fourteen, the collection had grown to about three thousand books. But all of them were destroyed that year as British troops invaded Washington and burned the Capitol building.

VOICE TWO:

Thomas Jefferson was the next president. He offered his own collection of books to help rebuild the library. Jefferson had about seven thousand books in seven languages. His wish to help the library might have made him willing to offer his books. His debts might have also played a part in his decision. In any case, Congress purchased them.

In eighteen ninety-seven, the library moved into its own building, across the street from the Capitol. A second building was opened in nineteen thirty-nine. It was named for President John Adams.

But there was still not enough space for the library. So in nineteen eighty, a third building was completed near the first two. It was named for America’s fourth president, James Madison.

VOICE ONE:

And today there is another place where you can visit the Library of Congress: the Internet, at loc.gov.

(MUSIC)

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

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Faith Lapidus. You can 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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Duke Ellington: His Life Story, Part 2

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Richard Rael.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today, we finish our report about the great jazz musician, Duke Ellington.

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VOICE ONE:

That song is "Take the 'A' Train. " It is like a musical sign that says, "You are listening to Duke Ellington and his orchestra. " Music fans around the world know the song is linked closely to Duke Ellington. Yet they may not know that he did not write it.

Duke Ellington

"Take the 'A' Train" was written by a close friend and orchestra member, Billy Strayhorn. Billy and Duke had a very close working relationship for almost thirty years. Sometimes, it was difficult to tell which man had written a new song for the orchestra. Members of the group often argued about who had written it . . . Duke or Billy Strayhorn.

VOICE TWO:

Duke Ellington always wrote music. Music experts say he may have written as many as two thousand different songs. He wrote music wherever he went. He wrote late at night. He wrote on the train or bus or airplane when the orchestra traveled. Friends say he wrote music even in eating places while he waited for his food.

Listen to this Ellington song, played by Russell Procope. Procope played the clarinet in the Ellington orchestra for many years. In this song, Procope was able to play his part a different way each time. Ellington let individual players create their own parts. This means it is almost impossible today to reproduce the sound of Duke Ellington's orchestra.

The song is called, "Four-Thirty Blues."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Duke Ellington tried many new and different ways to play music. For example, he put different instruments together in groups that no one had tried before. He also was the first song writer to use a human voice as an instrument.

He wrote music for a singer but no words. The song is called "Creole Love Call. " The singer here is Adelaide Hall.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Duke Ellington was one of the most popular musicians in the twentieth century. Yet, music experts and critics say he was much more important as a song writer and orchestra leader than as a piano player. Billy Strayhorn once said, "Duke plays piano. But his real instrument is the orchestra. "

The orchestra was Duke Ellington's first love. In later years, when large orchestras were not popular, Duke often paid his musicians with his own money to keep the group together. To him, the orchestra was everything.

VOICE ONE:

Duke Ellington always was looking for ways to make his orchestra sound better. Like many song writers, he often took old songs, changed them, and made them new again.

Last week, we played a song called "Concerto for Cootie. " In later years, a singer named Al Hibbler joined the Ellington orchestra. Duke added words to the song. Then he changed its name to "Do Nothing ‘Till You Hear From Me. " Both songs were major hits for the orchestra. Listen as Al Hibbler sings, "Do Nothing ‘Till You Hear From Me. "

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Duke Ellington and his orchestra played around the world before millions of people. More than eight hundred musicians played with the Ellington orchestra at one time or another. After doctors told Duke that he had lung cancer, he continued to perform. One of his last concerts was at Westminster Abbey in London. His orchestra performed religious music.

Duke Ellington was honored by people around the world. Former president Richard Nixon give him the presidential medal of freedom -- America's highest civilian honor. Leaders from around the world wrote him letters to thank him for his music.

Duke Ellington died on May twenty-fourth, nineteen seventy-four.

VOICE ONE:

If you really want to know the real Duke Ellington, you must listen to his music. The music he left the world is truly a great gift.

We leave you with Duke Ellington and his orchestra playing like they always did. This recording was made in a room full of people dancing to his music. The place is McElroy's ballroom in the city of Portland, Oregon.

It is near the end of the evening. You can hear the crowd in the big room. The people have been dancing and do not want to stop.

Ellington

Duke Ellington, sitting at the piano, starts another song. It is his signal to the orchestra. Once again, the Duke Ellington orchestra begins to play "Things Ain't What They Used to Be. "

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VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written, produced and directed by Paul Thompson. I'm Ray Freeman.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Richard Rael. Join us again next week at this time for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

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Saving for Retirement, Part 2

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

Many workers depend on plans offered by their employers to help pay for their retirement. There are two major kinds of retirement plans. One is defined by what is paid out, the other by what is paid in.

The first is called a defined benefit plan, or pension. It provides set payments based on the number of years an employee has worked. These plans often pay for health care and other costs. They might also provide money to family members when the pensioner dies.

Pensions, however, can be a big cost to employers. In the United States, the change from a manufacturing economy to a service economy has resulted in fewer and fewer traditional plans.

In nineteen seventy-four, the Employment Retirement Income Act set rules to protect pensions. That law also created a federal agency called the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

On Thursday its executive director announced that he will leave at the end of May. Bradley Belt has led the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for two years. During that period the agency had to deal with a record level of pension plan failures.

As a result, it is now responsible for the current and future pensions of more than one million workers. At the end of last September, it reported a deficit of almost twenty-three thousand million dollars in its single-employer insurance program.

The agency takes control of pensions that do not have enough money to pay claims. It currently guarantees thirty thousand plans. Forty-four million Americans are in these plans. But there are limits to how much they can receive if their pension fails.

The other major kind of retirement plan is called a defined contribution plan. Two things define how much a worker will get at retirement. The first is how much both the worker and the employer paid into the plan. The other is the performance of its investments.

One popular version is a four-oh-one-k plan, named after a part of the tax law. It offers investments for workers to put money into. Their employer usually adds to the savings.

Defined contribution plans can reduce the taxes of workers and employers.

But some plans are very complex. An easier way for small employers to offer retirement savings is through a Savings Incentive Match Plan. It permits contributions of up to ten thousand dollars a year toward retirement.

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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International Criminal Court Calls First Defendant, From D.R.C.

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

The world's first permanent court for war crimes was established in the Netherlands in two thousand two. Since then the International Criminal Court has not had anyone to bring to trial.

This week the court in The Hague called its first prisoner to appear.

Officials say Thomas Lubanga Dyilo led one of the most violent armed groups in the Ituri area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is accused of forcing children under the age of fifteen to take part in hostilities.

Congolese officials have had him under arrest for a year. He was flown to The Hague on March seventeenth.

Mister Lubanga was in court Monday for a pre-trial hearing. It lasted half an hour. He confirmed his identify. He gave his profession as "politician." Details of the charges are to be read at the next hearing, set for June twenty-seventh.

The International Criminal Court was created as a place to seek justice when national systems fail. The court has also sought the arrest of leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. And it has begun investigations into the violence in the Darfur area of Sudan.

One hundred twenty nations agreed to the court at a United Nations conference in Rome in nineteen ninety-eight. But the idea really began after World War Two with the trials of war criminals from Nazi Germany and Japan. The idea gained support more recently during U.N. trials resulting from the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

The Rome Statute is the treaty that created the International Criminal Court. The United States opposes the treaty; it says there are serious problems with the document. The United States signed the treaty, but President Bill Clinton never sent it to the Senate for approval. Finally, President Bush withdrew any support.

American officials say the court could be used against American troops and citizens for political purposes. They argue that because the court is independent, its officials are responsible to no one. Some say it might even violate the Constitution. The Supreme Court is supposed to be America's highest court.

The United States has said it will try any Americans suspected of war crimes.

The International Criminal Court is one of more than one hundred international legal organizations with headquarters at The Hague. Another is the International Court of Justice, known as the World Court.

The United Nations established the World Court in nineteen forty-five. The main purpose is to settle legal disputes between nations.

Another court in The Hague has been in the news lately: the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It spent four years trying Slobodan Milosevic, until the sudden death of the former president earlier this month.

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

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The Internet Gets Younger as More Teens Turn to Blogging

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(MUSIC)

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We play songs by new members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame …

Answer a question about copying information from Web sites …

And report about teenage bloggers.

Teenage Bloggers

A student looks through the blog site Facebook

Personal Internet Web sites, or blogs, are becoming more and more popular among young people. But the risks to personal privacy are also increasing. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Millions of young people are creating blogs. Millions of others are reading them. The word “blog” is a short way of saying Web log.

Many popular Web sites now offer free, easy ways to create personal Web pages and fill them with writings and pictures. Web sites called “Facebook” and “MySpace” are some of the most popular blog sites for young people. Many young adults use their blogs to write about daily activities and events in their lives. They also provide a place for people to write their ideas and opinions and react to the ideas of others.

Blogs offer young people a place to show their writings and other forms of self-expression. Blogs can also be helpful to connect young people with larger social groups.

But some researchers say the seemingly harmless blogs can become dangerous when read on the Internet by millions of people all over the world.

People are concerned that students are including information in their blogs that create a threat to their own privacy and safety. Recent studies show that young people often provide their name, age and where they live. This personal information puts them at risk of being sought out by dangerous people who want to harm them. Many students do not know about privacy and are surprised to learn that adults can easily read their personal daily records.

Students can also get into trouble when they include information on their blogs that can be seen as a threat to others. In several American states, students have been expelled from their schools or even arrested after their blogs were found to include threats against other students or teachers.

As a result, many schools have banned the use of blogging Web sites on school computers. Many schools have also begun teaching parents about the Web sites. Researchers say parents should know what their children are doing online and should read their blogs to make sure they are not giving out private information.One way to avoid these problems is by using programs that permit blogs to be read by “friends only.” These blogs permit people to read the website only if they know a secret word chosen by the blogger.

Public Domain

HOST: Our listener question this week comes from a student at Bogazici University in Turkey. Serkan Polat asks if it is legal to download audio and text from the Special English Web site.

Almost all of the audio, video and written materials created by Special English are free for public use. We urge you to visit our Web site and download programs. You can hear our features and read along with the written texts. This is a great way to improve your English.

Special English can provide its material for free because the Voice of America is financed with taxpayer money. Our programs are not protected by copyright, except for some American Stories adapted into Special English. These may only be broadcast by Special English. They may not be used for any other purposes. We do not place these stories on our Web site. The American Stories that are on our Web site are no longer under copyright protection.

Anyone can request a copyright for his or her creative work. The holder of a copyright can prevent others from copying that creative work. The United States Library of Congress supervises this process through its Copyright Office. When the terms of the copyright protection end, the work is released into the “public domain.”

Publicly owned works, such as most Special English programs, are part of the public domain. They may be used by anyone for any purpose. A creative work is considered part of the public domain if there are no laws which restrict its use by the public.

The term “public domain” is often poorly understood when it is about material on the Internet. It is possible for anyone to post copyrighted material on the Internet freely and easily. So this may be why many people believe that all information on the Internet is in the public domain. This is false. Getting information for free does not mean that someone is free to republish it.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Several famous recording artists were named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week during a ceremony in New York City. Barbara Klein tells us about the new members and plays music by three of them.

BARBARA KLEIN: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors artists at least twenty-five years after the

The Sex Pistols in 1978

release of their first album. The ceremony this year included a minor dispute among some winners and a major rejection by one. The Sex Pistols, a British punk rock band, refused to attend. A note on the group’s Web site said: “We’re not coming. We’re not your monkeys.”

The Sex Pistols are as anti-establishment as they were when they began in the nineteen seventies. Here is one of the band’s most popular songs, “Pretty Vacant.”

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also honored the punk/pop band Blondie. Band members, including lead singer Debbie Harry, played their old hit, “Heart of Glass.”

However, Blondie refused to let three former band members join in the performance. Listen now to the Blondie hit, “The Tide is High.”

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame also honored the bands Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd. And it awarded membership to the jazz great, Miles Davis, who died in nineteen ninety-one. The Hall of Fame admits that the trumpet player and composer never played rock and roll. But it says many rock and roll fans welcomed his music. And, it says Miles Davis’s work was a major influence on rock music. We leave you now with Miles Davis’s nineteen sixty-nine recording, “Spanish Key.”

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HOST:

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

Our show was written by Brianna Blake, Jill Moss and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

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Intel Science Talent Search Winners Announced

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

An eighteen-year-old high school student from Utah has won the top prize in the Intel Science Talent Search in the United States. The winners receive a computer and money for a college education.

More than one thousand five hundred students from across the country entered projects in the competition this year. Their research involved chemistry, medicine, physics, mathematics, engineering, computer science -- almost every area of science.

President Bush speaks to finalists of the 2006 Intel STS in Washington, D.C.

Forty students were invited to Washington, D.C., for the final judging. A group of scientists judged them on their research abilities, critical thinking skills and creativity. The judges also questioned the students about scientific problems before deciding on the winners.

The top winner receives one hundred thousand dollars for college. Shannon Babb of American Fork High School studied the water quality of the Spanish Fork River in Utah for six years.

She found that people have a harmful effect on the river through human activity, including agriculture. And she suggested ways to improve the water quality in the future. These include educating the public not to put household chemicals down storm drains, which lead to the river.

Seventeen-year-old Yi Sun of the Harker School in San Jose, California, earned second place. He won a seventy-five thousand dollar scholarship for new discoveries about a mathematical theory known as random walks. His work could help computer scientists and chemists. Yi Sun was born in China.

The third-place winner was also seventeen and born in China. Yuan "Chelsea" Zhang of Montgomery Blair High School in Rockville, Maryland, won a fifty thousand dollar scholarship. She researched the molecular genetics of heart disease. Her findings could aid the development of new medicines.

The Intel Science Talent Search is the oldest science competition for high school students in the United States. It is sixty-five years old this year. Past winners have gone on to receive six Nobel prizes and other top honors in science and math.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a question about the American education system, send it to special@voanews.com. We cannot answer mail personally, but we might be able to answer your question on our program. I'm Steve Ember.

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'Right Is More Precious Than Peace': U.S. Enters World War One

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VOICE ONE:

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

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Woodrow Wilson

There was one main issue in America's presidential election of nineteen sixteen: war. Europe was in the middle of what is now remembered as World War One. It was the bloodiest conflict the world had ever known.

Most Americans wanted no part of the struggle in Europe. They supported their country's official position: neutrality. This desire was the main reason President Woodrow Wilson won re-election. People gave Wilson their votes, because they hoped he would continue to keep America out of war.

I'm Maurice Joyce. Today, Larry West and I tell more about Wilson's presidency.

VOICE TWO:

Like most Americans, Woodrow Wilson did not want war. He feared that entering the conflict would cost the United States many lives. Wilson read the reports from European battlefields. The news was unbelievably terrible. By the end of nineteen sixteen, several million men had been killed, wounded, or captured.

At the Battle of Verdun, French forces stopped a German attack.

The cost was high on both sides. More than seven hundred thousand soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. The Battle of the Somme followed. Britain lost sixty thousand men on the first day. By the time the battle was over, losses for both sides totaled more than a million.

Germany also was at war on its eastern border, with Russia. Losses on that battlefront, too, totaled more than a million men.

VOICE ONE:

At the time of America's presidential election in nineteen sixteen, Germany seemed to be winning the war. Its losses were terrible. But the losses of its enemies -- The Allies -- were even worse. German forces occupied much of northern France and almost all of Belgium. German and Austrian soldiers also held parts of Russia, Italy, Romania, and Serbia.

Germany was winning on the battlefield. The Allies were winning at sea. A British blockade cut off almost all German trade with the rest of the world. Even food shipments were blocked. As a result, Germany faced mass starvation. It urgently needed to break the blockade and get food.

VOICE TWO:

This situation finally forced Germany to make the decision that would bring the United States into the war.

It decided to use its submarines to break the British blockade. The submarines would attack any ships that came near Britain or other parts of Europe. This included ships from neutral countries, like the United States.

Earlier, Germany had made a promise to the United States. Its submarines would not attack civilian ships unless warning was given and the lives of those on the ships were saved. Now Germany was withdrawing that promise. It said unrestricted submarine warfare would begin immediately.

German ruler Kaiser Wilhelm said: "If Wilson wants war, let him make it, and let him then have it."

VOICE ONE:

President Wilson immediately broke diplomatic relations with Germany. He still hoped the two nations would not go to war. He left that decision to Germany. If German submarines sank American ships, Wilson would have no choice but to declare war.

Most American shipping companies feared attack by German submarines. Throughout the early part of nineteen seventeen, they kept their ships in home ports. They wanted protection. So they asked for permission to arm their ships. At first, President Wilson refused to seek such permission from Congress. He did not want to do anything that might cause Germany to declare war. Then he received secret news from Britain.

British agents had gotten a copy of a telegram from Germany's foreign minister to Germany's ambassador in Mexico. The telegram said Germany was planning hostile acts against the United States. Wilson acted quickly. He began putting guns and sailors on American trade ships.

VOICE TWO:

It did not take long for the worst to happen. Within days, a German submarine sank an unarmed American ship, the Algonquin. Then three more American ships were sunk. Many lives were lost.

President Wilson no longer had a choice between war and peace. There would be war. Wilson called a special session of Congress. Members of both the Senate and house of representatives gathered in one room. They stood as the president walked quickly to the front. He stood silent for a moment before speaking. This is what he said:

VOICE ONE:

President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany, 1917.

'I fully understanding the serious step I am taking, I advise that the Congress declare the recent acts of the German government to be, in fact, nothing less than war against the United States.

"It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war. But right is more precious than peace. And we will fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts -- for democracy, for the rights and liberties of small nations, and for the belief that a worldwide union of free people can bring peace and safety to all nations."

VOICE TWO:

President Wilson's emotional speech brought tears to the eyes of many of the lawmakers. They felt the great seriousness of his request.

Outside, crowds lined the street to cheer Wilson as he returned to the White House from the Capitol Building. He sat in his car and shook his head sadly. "Think of what it is they are cheering," he said. "My message today was a message of death for our young men. How strange it seems they would cheer that."

On April sixth, nineteen seventeen, Congress approved a declaration of war against Germany.

VOICE ONE:

The Allies -- Britain, France and Russia -- welcomed American involvement.

The war was going badly for them. It had been very costly in lives, money, and supplies. Allied shipping was suffering heavy losses from German submarine attacks. A British naval blockade had greatly reduced food shipments to Germany. Now, Britain itself faced dangerously low supplies of food.

Allied representatives went to Washington to explain what The Allies needed. They needed supplies -- especially food -- immediately. They needed money to pay for the supplies. They needed ships to get the supplies from America to Europe. And they needed American soldiers.

VOICE TWO:

President Wilson and Congress worked together to organize the United States for war. Congress gave Wilson new wartime powers. He soon formed a council to build ships, improve industrial production, and control national transportation. He formed an agricultural agency to increase food production and food exports. And he formed an information committee to build public support for the war.

Wilson's efforts succeeded. The Allies quickly got the ships, supplies, and money they requested. Most important, they soon got American soldiers.

VOICE ONE:

Allied military leaders said only about a half-million troops were needed from the United States. But American officials decided to build a much larger army. Before long, large numbers of American soldiers were crossing the Atlantic Ocean. They would fight the Germans at the western battlefronts of Europe.

The extra strength they gave the Allies would play a major part in helping defeat Germany. That will be our story next week.

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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 Larry West. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. Join us again next week at this same time, when we will continue the story of American president Woodrow Wilson.

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