Buffett's Gift: Starting a New Page in the History of Giving to Charity

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

Americans gave an estimated two hundred sixty thousand million dollars to charity last year. That was an increase of six percent over two thousand four. The Giving USA Foundation says about half the increase resulted from giving after natural disasters. Hurricane Katrina and other severe storms hit the Gulf Coast. There was the earthquake in Pakistan, and the effects of the Indian Ocean tsunami.

The United States has more than one million philanthropic organizations, including churches and other religious groups. Individual giving is the single biggest way American charities get money. More than three-fourths of their money last year came from individuals.

Warren Buffett

But no one has ever given more than Warren Buffett is about to give. The seventy-five-year-old investor is worth an estimated forty-four thousand million dollars. This week he announced he will give most of that away.

The majority is to go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to improve health and education around the world. In all, five organizations will receive shares in his Berkshire Hathaway holding company in Nebraska.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy calls Mister Buffett's gift "the largest in philanthropic history." The newspaper says Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, held the record until now.

The word philanthropy comes from Greek and Latin. It means a love of humankind, especially as shown through an act like giving to charity.

One early American philanthropist was Benjamin Franklin. When he died in seventeen ninety, he left some of his wealth to the cities of Philadelphia and Boston.

Another was Andrew Carnegie. The Carnegie Steel Company made him the world’s richest man. But in the early nineteen hundreds he gave away most of his money. He gave money to build more than two thousand public libraries. He started organizations to further scientific research and other knowledge and to support international peace.

Today, American philanthropists include the Hungarian-born George Soros. His Open Society Institute supports activities in more than fifty countries. But he is also known for his activism in American politics.

Another modern-day philanthropist is the media personality Oprah Winfrey. Her Oprah’s Angel Network supports non-profit groups.

Still another is Larry Ellison, chief of the software company Oracle. He was in the news this week -- not for giving, but for taking back an offer.

Mister Ellison had offered one hundred fifteen million dollars to Harvard University to create a global health foundation. He has now cancelled the gift after the resignation of Harvard President Larry Summers. Reports say he is expected to make another offer in the near future.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. To learn more about Warren Buffett's gift, go to voaspecialenglish.com and listen Monday at this time to the DEVELOPMENT REPORT. I’m Steve Ember.

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Blacks Set Out in Search of a Better Life in 1920s American Society

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VOICE ONE:

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

(MUSIC)

The early years of the twentieth century were a time of movement for many black Americans. Traditionally, most blacks lived in the Southeastern states. But in the nineteen twenties, many blacks moved to cities in the North.

Black Americans moved because living conditions were so poor in the rural areas of the Southeast. But many of them discovered that life was also hard in the colder Northern cities. Jobs often were hard to find. Housing was poor. And whites sometimes acted brutally against them.

The life of black Americans forms a special piece of the history of the nineteen twenties. That will be our story today.

VOICE TWO:

The years just before and after nineteen twenty were difficult for blacks. It was a time of racial hatred. Many whites joined the Ku Klux Klan organization. The Klan often terrorized blacks. Klan members sometimes burned fiery crosses in front of the houses of black families. And they sometimes beat and murdered blacks.

The Ku Klux Klan also acted against Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreigners. But it hated blacks most of all.

VOICE ONE:

Smoke over Tulsa, Oklahoma, during 1921 race riots

The United States also suffered a series of race riots in a number of cities during this period. White and black Americans fought each other in Omaha, Philadelphia, and other cities. The worst riot was in Chicago. A swimming incident started the violence. A black boy sailing a small boat entered a part of the beach used by white swimmers. Some white persons threw stones at the boy. He fell into the water and drowned.

Black citizens heard about the incident and became extremely angry. Soon, black and white mobs were fighting each other in the streets.

The violence lasted for two weeks. Thirty-eight persons died. More than five-hundred were wounded. The homes of hundreds of families were burned.

The violence in Chicago and other cities did not stop black Americans from moving north or west. They felt that life had to be better than in the South.

VOICE TWO:

Black Americans left the South because life was hard, economic chances few, and white hatred common. But many blacks arrived in other parts of the country only to learn that life was no easier. Some blacks wrote later that they had only traded the open racism of the rural Southeast for the more secret racism of Northern cities.

Blacks responded to these conditions in different ways. Some blacks followed the ideas of Booker T. Washington, the popular black leader of the early nineteen hundreds.

Washington believed that blacks had to educate and prepare themselves to survive in American society. He helped form a number of training schools where blacks could learn skills for better jobs. And he urged blacks to establish businesses and improve themselves without causing trouble with whites.

Other blacks liked the stronger ideas of William Du Bois.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Du Bois felt that blacks had to take firm actions to protest murders and other illegal actions. He published a magazine and spoke actively for new laws and policies to protect black rights. Du Bois also helped form a group that later became the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The N.A.A.C.P. became one of the nation's leading black rights organizations in the twentieth century.

VOICE ONE:

Probably the most important leader for black Americans in the nineteen twenties did not come from the United States. He was Marcus Garvey from the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Garvey moved to New York City in nineteen sixteen. He quickly began organizing groups in black areas.

His message was simple. He said blacks should not trust whites. Instead, they should be proud of being black and should help each other. Garvey urged blacks to leave the United States, move to Africa, and start their own nation.

Marcus Garvey organized several plans to help blacks become economically independent of whites. His biggest effort was a shipping company to trade goods among black people all over the world.

Many American blacks gave small amounts of money each week to help Garvey start the shipping company. However, the idea failed. Government officials arrested Garvey for collecting the money unlawfully. They sent him to prison in nineteen twenty-five. And two years later, President Coolidge ordered Garvey out of the country.

Marcus Garvey's group was the first major black organization in the United States to gain active support from a large number of people. The organization failed. But it did show the anger and lack of hope that many blacks felt about their place in American society.

VOICE TWO:

Blacks also showed their feelings through writing, art, and music. The nineteen twenties were one of the most imaginative periods in the history of American black art.

Claude Mckay, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen were three of the leading black poets during this time. Mckay was best known for his poems of social protest. Hughes produced poems about black life that experts now say are among the greatest American poems ever written.

Black writers also produced longer works. Among the leading black novelists were Jessie Faucet, Jean Toomer, and Rudolph Fisher.

VOICE ONE:

The nineteen twenties also were an exciting time for black music. Black musicians playing the piano developed the ragtime style of music. Singers and musicians produced a sad, emotional style of playing that became known as the blues. And most important, music lovers began to play and enjoy a new style that was becoming known as jazz.

Louis Armstrong

Jazz advanced greatly as a true American kind of music in the nineteen twenties. Musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Eubie Blake played in gathering places and small theaters. White musicians and music experts from universities came to listen. Soon the music became popular among Americans of all kinds and around the world.

VOICE TWO:

Blacks began to recognize in the nineteen twenties their own deep roots in the United States. They began to see just how much black men and women already had done to help form American history and traditions.

The person who did the most to help blacks understand this was black historian Carter G. Woodson. Woodson received his training at two leading universities: Harvard in Massachusetts and the Sorbonne in France. He launched a new publication, The Journal of Negro History, in which he and other experts wrote about black life and history. Historians today call Woodson the father of the scientific study of black history.

VOICE ONE:

The nineteen twenties also were a period in which a number of blacks experimented with new political ideas and parties. The difficult social conditions of the period led many blacks to search for new political solutions.

Two leftist parties -- the Socialists and the Communists -- urged blacks to leave the traditional political system and work for more extreme change. Two leading black Socialists, Chandler Owen and A. Philip Randolph, urged blacks to support Socialist candidates. However, they gained little popular support from blacks.

Communists also tried to organize black workers. But generally, black voters showed little interest in communist ideas.

The most important change in black political thinking during the nineteen twenties came within the traditional two-party system itself. Blacks usually had voted for Republicans since the days of Abraham Lincoln. But the conservative Republican policies of the nineteen twenties caused many blacks to become Democrats.

By nineteen thirty-two, blacks would vote by a large majority for the Democratic presidential candidate, Franklin Roosevelt. And blacks continue to be a major force in the Democratic Party.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English on the Voice of America. Your speakers have been Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant. Our program was written by David Jarmul. The Voice of America invites you to listen again next week to THE MAKING OF A NATION.

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New Study Disputes Idea of a Boy Crisis in U.S. Schools

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

As we discussed last week, there have been a lot of reports that boys are in trouble in American education. Some people say efforts to improve education for girls, especially in math and science, have resulted in a crisis for boys.

That belief has led to what a new report calls a growth industry of experts advising how to make schools more "boy friendly." Yet that report, released this week, suggests that the truth is far different from what people might think.

It says American boys in most cases are doing better than ever. "But girls have just improved their performance on some measures even faster," it says. As a result, girls have narrowed or closed differences with boys in some areas and moved farther ahead of them in others.

The report is by Sara Mead at Education Sector, an independent research group launched in January in Washington. She bases her arguments on tests used since the early nineteen seventies for a national measure of educational progress.

The report does agree that some groups of boys are in trouble. It says this is true especially of Hispanics and blacks and those from poor families. But it says closing racial and economic differences would help them more than reducing differences between boys and girls.

Another concern is the large number of boys being identified with learning and emotional disabilities. Also, the report says policymakers now recognize the need to reform public high schools. Such changes should help boys as well as girls.

But the report questions what it calls "simplistic" proposals to fix problems for boys in American schools. One example given is expanding single-sex schooling.

In nineteen ninety-eight, only a few public schools offered any kind of single-sex learning environment. Today, there are more than two hundred. The majority normally teach boys and girls together but offer some single-sex classes. Findings on the success of the idea have differed.

The Education Sector report calls for more study into the differences between boys and girls and into the culture of schools. It says the research will help teachers and parents better understand why gains for boys are not rising as fast as for girls. But the report also advises the public not to worry too much, and to be careful not to harm the gains that girls have made.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts and audio can be downloaded at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Poet Laureate Donald Hall | 'Da Vinci Code' | Anthony Hamilton's Music

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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 answer a question about “The Da Vinci Code”…

Play some music from Anthony Hamilton…

And report about America’s new poet laureate.

New Poet Laureate

HOST:

Donald Hall has been named the new poet laureate of the United States. Faith Lapidus tells us about him.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

The poet laureate is responsible for increasing interest among Americans in reading and writing poetry. The poet laureate serves for at least one year. Donald Hall is the fourteenth poet laureate of the United States. He is seventy-seven years old. Mister Hall lives in the northeastern state of New Hampshire. He lives in a two hundred year old farmhouse that his grandparents owned for many years.

Donald Hall has written fifteen books of poetry. He has also written other books, short stories, plays and children’s books. He has been honored with many awards. A documentary film was made about Mister Hall and his wife, the poet Jane Kenyon. The film was called “A Life Together.” Here is Shep O’Neal reading part of Mister Hall’s poem “An Old Life.”

SHEP O'NEAL:

Snow fell in the night.
At five-fifteen I woke to a bluish
mounded softness where
the Honda was. Cat fed and coffee made,
I broomed snow off the car
and drove to the Kearsarge Mini-Mart
before Amy opened
to yank my Globe out of the bundle.
Back, I set my cup of coffee
beside Jane, still half-asleep,
murmuring stuporous
thanks in the aquamarine morning.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Mister Hall has written many poems about nature and about his wife. Jane Kenyon died of leukemia, a cancer of the blood, in nineteen ninety-five. She was forty-seven.

Mister Hall has written many different kinds of poems. Here is part of his poem “Baseball”:

SHEP O'NEAL:

Well, there are nine players on a baseball team, so to speak, and
there are nine innings, with trivial
exceptions like extra-inning games
and games shortened by rain or darkness,
by riot, hurricane, earthquake...

FAITH LAPIDUS:

As the new poet laureate, Donald Hall has many goals. He hopes to have more radio broadcasts of poetry on public radio stations. He would also like to see more television programs about poetry. The last poet laureate, Ted Kooser, writes a weekly column about poetry that is printed in newspapers around the country. Mister Hall says he would also like to write a newspaper column about poetry. And he says he wants to work to protect Americans’ freedom of speech.

The Da Vinci Code

HOST:

Our listener question today comes from Vietnam. Mai Lien wants to know if the story in the movie “The Da Vinci Code” is true.

"Da Vinci Code" director Ron Howard (right) with Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou

Ron Howard directed the film, “The Da Vinci Code.” It is based on a book of the same name by Dan Brown. Both men say the story is fiction, a work of imagination. But some of the history, places and events in the story are real. So it is not hard to see why people are arguing about the truth, or lack of it, in “The Da Vinci Code.”

People have bought more than sixty million copies of the book in three years. The movie is also very popular. In its first weekend alone, the movie earned more than two hundred twenty million dollars around the world.

The story tells about a dangerous search for the Holy Grail. The Grail usually has been thought of as a cup, a container used during the last meal of Jesus and his followers. The Grail also is said to have held the blood of Jesus as he died on the cross.

But “The Da Vinci Code” is based on the idea that one of Jesus’ followers, Mary Magdalene, was also his wife. The story says she and Jesus had a baby daughter. The film says Mary Magdalene herself is the Holy Grail. The story says Mary and her daughter fled to France after Jesus was killed. It says their descendants are alive today.

Critics say this idea attacks the central beliefs of the Christian religion. They say it unfairly charges that the Roman Catholic Church has been suppressing the truth. Some Catholic officials have called on Catholics to boycott the movie.

Most experts on the Bible, the Christian holy book, say there is no evidence that Jesus was ever married. Others say no evidence exists that he was not married.

In the film, actors struggle to discover the secret of the Grail. Tautou’s character’s grandfather knew the secret. But he is found dead in the Louvre museum in Paris, France. This is the home of the famous “Mona Lisa” painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. The story says that Da Vinci’s artworks contain clues about where the body of Mary Magdalene is buried. But a number of real-life art experts dispute the idea.

Anthony Hamilton

HOST:

Singer Anthony Hamilton is one of today’s most popular performers of rhythm and blues music. But there was a time when it seemed he would not become a widely known singer. Mario Ritter tells us about him.

MARIO RITTER:

In two thousand three, Anthony Hamilton gained praise from music critics with his album “Comin’ From Where I’m From.” The album sold more than one million copies. Before the success of that album, Hamilton had recorded songs with two other record companies. But in both cases the companies failed before his albums were released.

Anthony Hamilton recently released another album. It is called “Ain’t Nobody Worryin’.” Here he sings the title song from the album.

(MUSIC)

Anthony Hamilton has been compared to some of the best soul singers including Al Green and Bill Withers. Hamilton’s voice is natural and easy. His writes and sings songs that are filled with emotion. That combination works well in the love song “Can’t Let Go.”

(MUSIC)

Hamilton says he writes songs about real life issues including his personal experiences. We leave you with the song “Pass Me Over” from Anthony Hamilton’s album “Ain’t Nobody Worryin’.”

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

This show was written by Lawan Davis, Erin Schiavone and Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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

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Warren Buffett Gives Huge Gift to Gates Foundation

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

Bill and Melinda Gates with Warren Buffett

In the past, investor Warren Buffett was known for making money, not giving it away. On June twenty-sixth, Mister Buffett changed all that when he announced a huge gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mister Buffett said he would give away about eighty-five percent of his stock in Berkshire Hathaway, the company he has built for more than thirty years.

The value of the gift is based on the price of Berkshire stock. It is currently estimated at about thirty-seven thousand million dollars. Mister Buffett says he plans to give a total of ten million class B shares in his company to the Gates Foundation. Five percent of those shares will be given each year starting this month. This year’s gift is about one point five thousand million dollars.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was formed in two thousand. Bill Gates is well known as the world’s wealthiest man. He started and is the largest shareholder of Microsoft, the largest computer software company in the world.

The Gates Foundation currently holds more than twenty-nine thousand million dollars. It gave away about one point three thousand million dollars last year. The foundation mainly gives money to solve world health problems, ease poverty and increase technology among people in developing countries.

Mister Buffett announced his gift at the New York City Public Library. He said he believed in giving something back to society. He said he thought the Gates Foundation could do a better job of giving his money away than he could. He said he thought Bill and Melinda Gates could take on large projects that could help all of humanity.

Mister Buffett’s gift is unusual not only for its size. It also comes with several conditions. First, either Bill or Melinda Gates must remain alive and active in running their foundation. The foundation must continue to be a non-profit group that does not pay taxes. And, the foundation must spend five percent of its total money each year, including all of Mister Buffett’s yearly gift.

Mister Buffett has also promised large gifts to four other foundations established by him and his wife.

Warren Buffett is one of the world’s most successful investors. Berkshire Hathaway is a holding company, designed to hold stock of other companies.

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

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How a Child's Ability to Learn Language Figures Into the Immigration Issue

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: age and the economics of learning English.

RS: Our guest is Hoyt Bleakley, an economist at the University of Chicago. He and Aimee Chin at the University of Houston have studied the effects of age on the earnings of immigrants to the United States.

HOYT BLEAKLEY: "We found when we looked at people who had come to the country, when they were brought as children by their parents, that it had a substantial impact -- on the order of, using our design, looking at numbers like ten, fifteen, twenty percent differences between people who were brought early enough that they could acquire English at essentially a native level, versus people who were brought later.

"The idea is that before puberty, certain maturation changes happen in your brain that makes it more difficult to learn language, makes it sort of almost impossible to get, to acquire the language to the point where you have no accent, but even difficulty in understanding the grammatical structures and acquiring vocabulary. And, as I say, this happens sometimes before puberty, different ages for different people, but maybe nine, ten, eleven isn't such a bad number."

RS: "What message, would you say, does this have for the public policy debate about the teaching of English as a foreign or second language in our public schools?"

HOYT BLEAKLEY: "When you consider that a difference of five or so years makes a difference of five to ten to fifteen percent in your wages and also, in effect, makes that person a first-generation instead of a second-generation immigrant -- then policies that can accelerate the process by which families with children can come into the country at younger ages I think are worth considering.

"So I would suggest that a lot of the people who are here who haven't really been able to learn, it's maybe because it's very difficult for them to do so. Why else would they apparently leave this money on the table and not decide to learn it facing these big incentives?"

RS: "The incentive is there, but if they can't speak the language, they can't get the jobs."

HOYT BLEAKLEY: "That's right. And so part of the kind of compact or bargain that traditionally we've had with regard to immigrants is that their children will be given a fair shot. And so a lot of people come maybe even accepting that their own status is going to be relatively low, but on the other hand their children will have these terrific opportunities.

"That actually ties into the second study that we've done which is actually looking at the group that we mentioned before, the sort of early and late … arrivers, and looking at their children. And the idea being: Is there something about being in a household that has a strong English speaker versus a weak English speaker which actually helps children in their realization as well, both educationally and in terms of integration into the language and culture of the U.S.?"

AA: "And what did you find there?"

HOYT BLEAKLEY: "There we find that even though these children are natives, of course a lot of their language environment comes from the home, and so they're enrolling in school with language deficiencies. And that's certainly an issue, maybe not in preschool or kindergarten where you're perhaps not learning anything besides social interaction. But once you start learning hard skills like arithmetic and reading and so forth in primary school, it's very important to really be up to speed on the language."

RS: Hoyt Bleakley is a professor in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. The second study he mentioned is not yet published, but the first appeared in the Review of Economics and Statistics.

AA: Now to follow up on our recent segment about what to call people who are in the United States without following immigration laws -- which is currently classified as a civil rather than a criminal offense. We talked to linguist Otto Santa Ana at the University of California, Los Angeles. He says "illegal immigrant" is a biased political term, and that a neutral term like "undocumented immigrant" is better.

RS: Listener James Metcalf in Durban, South Africa, disagrees. He writes: "It's a long time since I heard such specious arguments, but it's the kind of thing one expects from left-of-center liberals from U.S. universities. It is illegal to enter the U.S. (or any other country) without proper permits. Ipso facto, they are therefore illegal immigrants."

AA: And that's Wordmaster for this week. If you have a comment, or a question, we'd love to hear it. Write to word@voanews.com. And you can download all of our segments at voanews.com/wordmaster. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

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Scientists Say Anger Disorder 'Much More Common' Than Believed

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

Lots of people get angry in traffic. But some people get really angry. This hostility can lead to aggressive actions or, in some cases, violence. Angry drivers have been known to pull out a gun or cause a crash. For years people have called it road rage. Now we are hearing a medical name.

Experts say that in some cases, these actions are linked to a deeper problem: intermittent explosive disorder, or I.E.D. It means that from time to time people explode in anger. They may attack others or damage property. Medical experts say this disorder is caused by an imbalance in brain chemicals.

The National Institute of Mental Health recently paid for a study of intermittent explosive disorder. Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and at the University of Chicago did the work.

The researchers used information from a study of more than nine thousand adults in the United States. They found that intermittent explosive disorder is "much more common" than has been recognized. They say it affects as many as seven percent of adults at some point in their lifetimes, depending on how widely it is defined.

The study suggests that the condition affects up to sixteen million Americans. It generally appears around the age of fourteen, and is more common in men than in women.

Doctors say it usually begins with incidents of extreme anger directed at family members. They say the problem is made worse for some by stress from bad drivers, long travel times, crowded roads and busy lives. They say a small traffic problem can cause the person to become uncontrollably angry.

Mental health specialists say the study is important because not many people know about intermittent explosive disorder. They say the anger can be controlled with medication and therapy. The findings are published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

More than eighty percent of the people with the disorder also had depression, anxiety or problems with drugs or alcohol. But the researchers say less than thirty percent were ever treated for their anger. They suggest that early treatment of anger might prevent some of the other disorders.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Brianna Blake. You can find this report online at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Route 66 at Age 80: Taking a Drive on the Historic 'Mother Road'

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(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

A motorist travels west on U.S. Route 66, near Riverton, Kansas

And I'm Steve Ember. The historic Route Sixty-Six from Chicago to Los Angeles is eighty years old this year. This week, we go for a ride through the colorful history of a road that has been called "the Main Street of America.”

(MUSIC: "Route 66”/Rosemary Clooney)

VOICE ONE:

The idea for Route Sixty-Six started in Oklahoma. Citizens there wanted to link their state with states to the east and west. By the nineteen twenties, federal officials wanted to connect state roads to provide a shorter, faster way across the country. So a plan was developed to connect existing state roads into one long national highway.

United States Highway Sixty-Six was established on November eleventh, nineteen twenty-six. It was one the first federal highways. It crossed eight states. It was three thousand eight hundred kilometers long.

Route Sixty-Six became the most famous road in America. It passed through the center of many cities and towns. It crossed deserts, mountains, valleys and rivers.

VOICE TWO:

In the nineteen thirties, people suffered through the Great Depression. In Oklahoma, many poor families lost their farms because of dust storms. So they traveled west to California on Route Sixty-Six in search of a better life.

In nineteen thirty-nine, John Steinbeck wrote about these families in "The Grapes of Wrath."

VOICE ONE:

In his book, Steinbeck wrote: "66 -- the long concrete path across the country, waving gently up and down on the map ... over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich California valleys.”

Steinbeck wrote: "66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land … 66 is the mother road, the road of flight."

VOICE TWO:

Bobby Troup at a parade in Duarte, California, in 1996 to mark the 70th anniversary of Route 66

In nineteen forty-six, the songwriter Bobby Troup and his wife drove across the country to Los Angeles. He wrote a song about traveling on Route Sixty-Six. The song told people they could have fun, could get their kicks, on that drive.

In Los Angeles, Bobby Troup took the song to Nat King Cole, who recorded it. It became a huge hit.

(MUSIC: "Route 66"/Nat King Cole)

VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen fifties, holiday travel brought more and more families out West to explore. Route Sixty-Six represented the spirit of movement and excitement.

In the nineteen sixties, Americans watched a popular television series called "Route Sixty-Six." It was the story of two young men driving across the country.

The show was filmed in cities and towns across America. Yet only a few shows were filmed on the real Route Sixty-Six.

VOICE TWO:

In real life, people were getting fewer and fewer kicks on Route Sixty-Six. By nineteen sixty-two, parts of the road were closed because they were in poor condition.

The federal government was building bigger highways. Cars and trucks could travel at higher speeds. People started driving on these new interstate highways instead of the old Route Sixty-Six.

Finally, in nineteen eighty-five, Route Sixty-Six was officially removed from the national highway system.

In Lebanon, Missouri, the historic Munger Moss Motel, which calls itself 'Your Home Away From Home on Route 66'

People have formed groups to save parts of the old Sixty-Six and many of the interesting places to eat, stay and see along the way.

VOICE ONE:

Award-winning writer Michael Wallis is an expert on the historic highway. He is the author of "Route Sixty-Six: The Mother Road."

Michael Wallis was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, right off the highway. He has lived in seven of the eight states along its path. His Web site, michaelwallis.com, has information and stories about the history of the Mother Road.

(MUSIC: "Route 66"/Chuck Berry)

VOICE TWO:

Now it is our turn to take a trip on Route Sixty-Six. We will have to search for it at times. Many parts of the road have new names or numbers. Some parts of it are included in other interstate highways.

Our trip begins in the Midwest, in Chicago, Illinois. Almost three million people live there. Chicago is America’s third largest city.

From Chicago, the road goes southwest through many small towns in Illinois. One of them is Springfield, the home of America’s sixteenth president, Abraham Lincoln.

Now we cross into Missouri. We drive through Saint Louis, the city known as "the Gateway to the West." More than three hundred thousand people live there.

There are many natural wonders to see in Missouri. One of the most famous along Route Sixty-Six is Meramec Caverns in Stanton.

VOICE ONE:

Inside the cave, visitors see beautifully colored stalagmites and stalactites. These are mineral formations. Stalagmites rise from the floor; stalactites hang from the ceiling.

Long ago, local Indian tribes used the Meramec Caverns for shelter. A French miner named Jacques Renault discovered saltpeter in the caverns in the seventeen hundreds. The material was used to produce gunpowder.

Later, the outlaw Jesse James is said to have used the caverns as a hiding place.

VOICE TWO:

From Missouri, our drive takes us for a very short time through the state of Kansas. Then we enter Oklahoma. Oklahoma may well be the heart and soul of Route Sixty-Six. That is because there are more kilometers of the road in Oklahoma than in any other state.

In Claremore, Oklahoma, a statue honors a famous American, Will Rogers. Will Rogers was born in Claremore. He became a popular actor, radio broadcaster and newspaper writer in the nineteen twenties and thirties.

We pass through many historic towns in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma City, we can visit the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center.

And in Clinton, we can stop at the Route Sixty-Six Museum. This official museum tells the complete history of the road and its importance to America.

(MUSIC: "Route 66"/Depeche Mode)

VOICE ONE :

Now we drive through the northern part of Texas. The area is called the Texas Panhandle. We stop near the city of Amarillo to look at some unusual art that celebrates Route Sixty-Six. Welcome to Cadillac Ranch.

A Cadillac is a large, costly automobile. Cadillac Ranch has ten of them half buried in the ground. A wealthy farmer and art collector named Stanley Marsh created Cadillac Ranch to honor America’s roads.

Continuing west, we travel through the states of New Mexico and Arizona. We pass through some of the most beautiful country in the Southwest.

Petrified Forest National Park is one of the natural wonders of Arizona. Trees that are millions of years old have turned to stone in unusual shapes.

North of Route Sixty-Six is a desert known for its red and yellow sand and rocks. Its name is the Painted Desert.

(MUSIC: "Route 66"/John Mayer)

VOICE TWO:

We continue on our trip, driving on a winding road up and down the Black Mountains. We arrive at Oatman, Arizona. Long ago, Oatman was a rich gold-mining town. Everyone left the town when the mining ended. Today Oatman still looks like it did in the past.

Now we enter California. We pass through the Mojave Desert, some mountains and several interesting towns. The old highway gets lost among the modern road systems of Los Angeles.

The Santa Monica Pier, where Route 66 ends

Finally, we arrive at the Pacific Ocean in the city of Santa Monica. Our trip ends. We watch the tide come in, and thank Route Sixty-Six for the ride.

(MUSIC: "Route 66"/Buckwheat Zydeco)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and Shelley Gollust. Caty Weaver was our producer. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can listen to this show and read a transcript at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also get the names of all the artists you just heard singing versions of "Route Sixty-Six." And we hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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Report: Aid, Economic Growth Fail to Cut Poverty in Poorest Nations

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

A new report says an increase in development aid has improved health and education levels in some of the world's poorest countries. But the United Nations report says poverty rates in these countries are not improving overall.

Development aid has increased since two thousand two. Still, the report says severe poverty continues to worsen, in part because of H.I.V./AIDS. Environmental conditions also add to poverty. The report says climate change already affects many low-lying and island nations, and more problems are likely in the years to come.

The report does show some areas of progress, however, which it credits to direct aid. For example, there are signs of improvement in many countries in elementary education and adult-reading levels. Other social measures including equality between males and females are also improving, but remain the lowest in the world.

Many of the fifty countries rated as least developed have had strong economic growth in recent years. More than half recorded average yearly growth rates of four percent or more between two thousand and two thousand four. The report notes the effects of economic reforms, and the gains that oil producing countries have made from high oil prices.

But in eighteen of the least developed countries, the economies shrank between nineteen ninety and two thousand four. And seven of these nations also saw a drop in their life expectancy, often because of AIDS.

Free H.I.V. tests are given in Lesotho to mark World AIDS Day 2005

For example, the life expectancy of people in Lesotho dropped sharply between nineteen ninety and two thousand five. It fell from fifty-eight years to thirty-six.

The report says that in many of the poorest countries, high birth rates are reducing the effects of economic improvements. So is a lack of equality when it comes to who gets resources.

The report is for a meeting this September of the U.N. General Assembly. Delegates will discuss progress halfway through a ten-year Program of Action for the Least Developed Countries.

Of the fifty, thirty-four are in Africa south of the Sahara. Fifteen are in Asia and the Pacific. And one is in the Caribbean: Haiti. Anwarul Chowdhury, the U.N. High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, called on the world to continue to help them.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Brianna Blake. If you would like to read and listen to all of our reports online, go to voaspecialenglish.com I'm Shep O'Neal.

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Protections Increased for Waters of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

A blue parrotfish swims by a coral on a reef near Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

And I'm Pat Bodnar. This week: The world's largest protected marine area ...

VOICE ONE:

And the search for some very old objects stolen in the American South ...

VOICE TWO:

But first a report on "monster tumors."

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VOICE ONE:

Researchers are studying the qualities of an unusual kind of cancer called a teratoma. They hope to use teratomas for stem cell experiments, without the need for human embryos. Scientists are experimenting with stem cells to try to develop medical treatments.

Embryonic stem cells are able to grow into the different kinds of cells and tissues in the body. But the stem cells can be collected only when an embryo is destroyed. Opponents of such research say it destroys human life.

VOICE TWO:

Teratoma cells form a large mass in the body. The cells develop like a fertilized egg. The name teratoma comes from a Greek word for monster. Like some frightening creature, teratomas can grow hair, teeth and skin. But they can also produce stem cells.

Some researchers think teratomas offer a better way to see how cancer drugs will act in humans than tests on mice.

But mice could be a way to produce a supply of teratomas to use for testing medicines. A recent report in the New York Times described work by researchers in Israel. They injected stem cells from human embryos into the legs of the mice. The animals developed teratomas.

The researchers then put laboratory-grown cancer cells into the same areas. The cancer cells quickly spread through the teratomas, producing what the scientists think is a fertile place to test drugs.

Teratomas can produce many different kinds of human tissue, so drugs could be tested on different kinds of cells. But some researchers think they may be most valuable for their stem cells.

Teratomas that develop from egg cells lack the biological programming of embryos. So their stem cells could be used for research, but could not develop into human beings.

VOICE ONE:

Growths on the lower back, called sacrococcygeal teratomas, are common in children. Teratomas generally do not become malignant, the most serious form of cancer. Still, they can be dangerous. In fetuses, a teratoma can grow large enough to cause heart failure. But doctors may be able to remove it while the baby is still inside its mother.

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VOICE TWO:

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

The Pacific Ocean now has the world’s largest protected area for sea life. Earlier this month, President Bush established the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. It extends for more than three hundred sixty thousand square meters.

The area is home to about seven thousand kinds of sea life. Many are found nowhere else. Ten islands, atolls and other landforms are in the newly protected area northwest of the main islands of Hawaii. The president noted that the area is larger than forty-six of the fifty states.

He said the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will now receive the nation's highest form of marine environmental protection. The action calls for an end to commercial fishing in those waters over a five-year period.

VOICE ONE:

The declaration will limit visitors in most areas, but will provide for educational and scientific activities. It will also provide for cultural activities by Native Hawaiians. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will enforce the rules.

Other presidents over the years have taken steps to protect the area. Almost one hundred years ago, Theodore Roosevelt declared much of Hawaii a national wildlife refuge. And, in recent times, Bill Clinton ordered additional protections.

President Bush used a law passed by Congress a century ago. The National Antiquities Act lets the president take immediate action to protect important cultural or natural resources.

VOICE TWO:

A plan to declare the area a national marine sanctuary could have taken a year. And sanctuaries do not ban fishing except in special areas.

Mister Bush signed the measure during a ceremony at the White House. The guests included Jean-Michel Cousteau. His father was the undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau.

Mister Bush had seen a film that the son produced about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and their environmental threats. He says it helped him decide to take the action he did.

Millions of seabirds live on the islands. So do the last of the severely endangered Hawaiian monk seals and most of the state's threatened green sea turtles.

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VOICE ONE:

Has anyone seen a large collection of very old earthen containers? They were stolen from the Moundville Archeological Park in Alabama in nineteen eighty. Two hundred sixty-four bowls, bottles and broken pieces of pottery are missing. Some objects date back to prehistoric times.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has tried to find the artifacts. Not one piece of the collection is known to have been offered for sale. That leads some experts to believe all the objects are still together. Some people believe the artifacts have been taken out of the country.

VOICE TWO:

The Moundville archeological area is along the Black Warrior River in central Alabama. The Native Americans who lived there made their pottery of earth hardened by fire. Some of the containers have handles. Some have artwork. Animals are shown on some of the artifacts. The animals are thought to have had religious meaning.

The stolen pottery represented twenty percent of the complete Moundville collection. The Alabama Museum of Natural History kept the artifacts in the Erskine Ramsay Archeological Repository. Experts say the best artifacts were stolen.

VOICE ONE:

The area is called Moundville because people built twenty-six small hills of earth around a large public square. One mound, known as Mound A, may have supported the home of the chief. The chief ruled the city-state apparently with total control.

Experts say the settlement was occupied from one thousand years ago to five hundred fifty years ago. Archeologists discovered public buildings and many small houses. People were buried under some of the floors.

The community was a political and religious center overlooking the river and protected by huge wooden walls. About ten thousand people are believed to have lived in the settlement and nearby areas.

VOICE TWO:

The warm climate and spring flooding in the lowlands of the Black Warrior River made the land fertile for growing maize.

The first archeology at Moundville did not result from work by a trained scientist. Instead, the first investigator was a wealthy man from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

For twenty years, Clarence Moore explored the southeastern United States in his steamboat. He explored the Black Warrior River area in nineteen-oh-five. A year later, he returned with a crew and began to dig.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen thirty-eight, the Civilian Conservation Corps unearthed the major discovery of the Moundville community. The Corps was one of the New Deal programs created by President Franklin Roosevelt.

Many people had no jobs during the Great Depression. President Roosevelt put some to work on projects like saving historic places.

From the findings at Moundville, scientists learned that the people did artistic work in pottery, stonework and copper.

VOICE TWO:

Vernon Knight works for the Alabama Museum of Natural History. He says the Moundville society seemed to do well until about six hundred fifty years ago. At that time, Mister Knight says, Moundville stopped looking like a community. But it still was used as a political and ceremonial center. After that, however, the society seemingly lost importance.

Moundville was largely unoccupied by the fifteen hundreds. No one knows why. So two mysteries remain. What happened to the people? And where are their stolen artifacts?

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach, Erin Schiavone and Jerilyn Watson. If you missed any of our show, you can read a transcript and download audio at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

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

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Correction: An earlier version of this page contained the sentence: "What works in humans does not always work in animals." It should have read: "What works in animals does not always work in humans."

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Japan Awaits Final Tests Before End to Ban on U.S. Beef

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

Japan agreed last week to import beef from the United States again. But first, Japanese officials will inspect American meat processors as a final step to be sure the beef is safe.

The Japanese government banned American beef in December of two thousand three. At that time, the United States reported its first case of mad cow disease. The official name is bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or B.S.E. Scientists link the brain disease in cows to a rare version in humans.

The Japanese government eased its import ban last December, after two years. But the discovery in January of backbone material in a shipment of meat led officials to renew the ban. Experts say spinal cords may spread B.S.E.

To reduce the risk of B.S.E., beef products exported to Japan must come from cattle twenty months or younger.

Under the new agreement, Japanese experts will inspect all thirty-five American meat-processing centers permitted to export to Japan. The teams are expected to finish their work by July twenty-first.

In the future, Japanese officials will be able to join American inspectors for surprise inspections. Also, Japan has agreed to consider steps like the rejection of individual shipments instead of a complete ban.

The agreement followed long negotiations by agricultural and trade officials. Lawmakers in Congress have proposed to punish Japan with high customs if it does not open its market by August thirty-first.

The United States was one of the largest exporters of beef until the finding of B.S.E. in a cow in Washington state in two thousand three. After that, exports dropped by more than eighty percent. A second infected cow was found in Texas last year.

But exports have started to recover. The government says it expects American farmers to export more than four hundred thousand metric tons of beef this year. Still, that is less than half the levels in two thousand three.

The United States is the world's largest producer and user of beef, as well as the biggest importer. Japan is the second biggest importer. But until two thousand three, it was the top market for American beef. That year, Japan imported more than one thousand million dollars worth. Since then, Australia and New Zealand have increased their beef exports to Japan.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. If you would like to read and listen to our report online, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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Correction: Officials have announced three cases of mad cow disease in the United States, not two; the third was reported in Alabama in March.

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American Red Cross Founder Clara Barton: Life of Caring for Others

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Ray Freeman.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the 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 tell about a woman who spent her life caring for others, Clara Barton.

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VOICE ONE:

Clara Barton was a small woman. Yet she made a big difference in many lives. Today her work continues to be important to thousands of people in trouble.

Clara Barton was an unusual woman for her time. She was born on Christmas day, December twenty-fifth, eighteen twenty-one. In those days, most women were expected to marry, have children and stay home to take care of them. Barton, however, became deeply involved in the world.

By the time of her death in nineteen twelve, she had begun a revolution that led to the right of women to do responsible work for society. As a nurse, she cared for thousands of wounded soldiers. She began the American Red Cross. And, she successfully urged the American government to accept the Geneva Convention. That treaty established standards for conditions for soldiers injured or captured during wartime.

VOICE TWO:

Clara Barton really began her life of caring for the sick when she was only eleven years old. She lived with her family on a farm in the northeastern state of Massachusetts. One of her brothers, David, was seriously injured while helping build a barn. For two years, Clara Barton took care of David until he was healed.

Most eleven-year-old girls would have found the job impossible. But Clara felt a great need to help. And she was very good at it. She also seemed to feel most safe when she was at home with her mother and father, or riding a horse on her family's land.

As a young child, Clara had great difficulty studying and making friends at school. Her four brothers and sisters were much older than she. Several of them were teachers. For most of Clara's early years, she was taught at home. She finished school at age fifteen. Then she went to work in her brother David's clothing factory. The factory soon burned, leaving her without a job.

VOICE ONE:

Clara Barton decided to teach school. In eighteen thirty-six, she passed the teacher's test and began teaching near her home in North Oxford, Massachusetts. She became an extremely popular and respected teacher.

After sixteen years of teaching, she realized she did not know all she wanted to know. She wanted more education. Very few universities accepted women in those days. So Clara went to a special school for girls in Massachusetts. While in that school, she became interested in public education.

VOICE TWO:

After she graduated, a friend suggested she try to establish the first public school in the state of New Jersey. Officials there seemed to think that education was only for children whose parents had enough money to pay for private schools.

The officials did not want Barton to start a school for poor people. But she offered to teach without pay for three months. She told the officials that they could decide after that if she had been successful. They gave her an old building with poor equipment. And they gave her six very active little boys to teach.

At the end of five weeks, the school was too small for the number of children who wanted to attend. By the end of the year, the town built her a bigger, better school. They had to give her more space. She then had six hundred students in the school.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Within a year, Clara Barton had lost her voice. She had to give up teaching. She moved to Washington, D.C., to begin a new job writing documents for the United States government.

Clara Barton started her life as a nurse during the early days of the Civil War in eighteen sixty-one. One day, she went to the train center in Washington to meet a group of soldiers from Massachusetts. Many of them had been her friends. She began taking care of their wounds.

Not long after, she left her office job. She became a full-time nurse for the wounded on their way from the fields of battle to the hospital.

Soon, Barton recognized that many more lives could be saved if the men had medical help immediately after they were hurt. Army rules would not permit anyone except male soldiers to be on the battlefield. But Barton took her plans for helping the wounded to a high army official. He approved her plans.

VOICE TWO:

Barton and a few other women worked in the battle areas around Washington. She heard about the second fierce battle at Bull Run in the nearby state of Virginia. She got into a railroad car and traveled there.

Bull Run must have been a fearful sight. Northern forces were losing a major battle there. Everywhere Barton looked lay wounded and dying men.

Day and night she worked to help the suffering. When the last soldier had been placed on a train, Barton finally left. She was just in time to escape the southern army. She escaped by riding a horse, a skill she gained as a young girl.

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VOICE ONE:

For four years, Clara Barton was at the front lines of the bloodiest battles in the war between the North and the South. She was there at Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Charleston. She was there at Spottsylvania, Petersburg, and Richmond. She cleaned the wounds of badly injured soldiers. She eased the pain of the dying. And she fed those who survived.

When she returned to Washington, Clara Barton found she was a hero. She had proved that women could work in terrible conditions. She made people understand that women could provide good medical care. She also showed that nursing was an honorable profession.

After the war ended, Barton's doctor sent her to Europe to rest. Instead of resting, she met with representatives of the International Red Cross. The organization had been established in eighteen sixty-three to offer better treatment for people wounded or captured during wars. She was told that the United States was the only major nation that refused to join.

VOICE TWO:

Barton began planning a campaign to create an American Red Cross. Before she could go home, though, the war between France and Prussia began in eighteen seventy.

Again, Clara Barton went to the fields of battle to nurse the wounded. After a while her eyes became infected. The woman of action was ordered to remain quiet for months in a dark room, or become blind.

When she returned to the United States she again suffered a serious sickness. She used the time in a hospital to write letters in support of an American Red Cross organization.

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VOICE ONE:

In eighteen eighty-one, Barton's campaign proved successful. The United States Congress signed the World's Treaty of the International Red Cross. This established the American Chapter of the Red Cross. Clara Barton had reached one of her major goals in life.

The next year she successfully urged Congress to accept the Geneva Convention. This treaty set the international rules for treatment of soldiers wounded or captured in war.

For twenty-five years, Clara Barton continued as the president of the American Red Cross. Under her guidance, the organization helped people in all kinds of trouble. She directed the aid efforts for victims of floods in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and Galveston, Texas. She led Red Cross workers in Florida during a outbreak of the disease Yellow Fever. And she helped during periods when people were starving in Russia and Armenia.

VOICE TWO:

Clara Barton retired when she was in her middle eighties. For her last home, she chose a huge old building near Washington, D.C. The building had been used for keeping Red Cross equipment and then as her office. It was made with material saved from aid centers built after the flood in Johnstown.

In that house on the Potomac River, Clara Barton lived her remaining days. She died after a life of service to others in April, nineteen twelve, at age ninety.

She often said: "You must never so much as think if you like it or not, if it is bearable or not. You must never think of anything except the need --- and how to meet it."

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Jeri Watson. I'm Ray Freeman.

VOICE TWO:

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

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Benito Cereno, Part Two

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ANNOUNCER: Now, the V.O.A. Special English program, American Stories.

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Today, we continue the story "Benito Cereno." It was written by Herman Melville.

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Last week, we told how African slaves on a Spanish ship rebelled in seventeen ninety-nine. They killed most of the Spanish sailors. Only the captain, Benito Cereno, and a few others were left alive.

The leader of the rebellion was a slave named Babo. He ordered Captain Cereno to sail the ship back to Senegal, the slaves' homeland. But food and water were low. So the ship stopped at an island off the coast of Chile to get the needed supplies.

When it arrived, an American ship was in the harbor. The American captain, Amoso Delano, thought the Spanish ship might be in trouble. He would offer help.

Babo decided to remain close to Captain Cereno and act as if he were the captain's slave. Babo would kill him if he told Captain Delano the truth about what happened.

Now, here is Shep O'Neal to continue our story.

STORYTELLER: As Captain Delano came up in his whale boat, he saw that the other ship needed scraping, tarring and brushing. It looked old and decayed. He climbed up the side and came aboard. He was quickly surrounded by a crowd of black men. Captain Delano looked around for the man who commanded the ship. The Spanish captain stood a little away off against the main mast. He was young looking, richly dressed but seemed troubled and tired with the spirit gone out of him. He looked unhappily toward his American visitor. At the Spanish's captain side stood a small black man with a rough face.

Captain Delano struggled forward through the crowd, went up to the Spainard and greeted him. He offered to help him in any way he could. Captain Benito Cereno returned the American's greeting politely, but without warmth. Captain Delano pushed his way back through the crowd to the gangway. He told his men to go and bring back as much water as they could, also bread, pumpkins, sugar and a dozen of his private bottles of cider. The whale boat pushed off.

Left alone, Captain Delano again observed with fresh surprise the general disorder aboard the ship. Some of the men were fighting. There were no deck officers to discipline or control the violent ones. And everyone seemed to do as he pleased. Captain Delano could not fully understand how this could have happened. What could explain such a break down of order and responsibility? He asked Don Benito to give him the full story of his ship's misfortunes. Don Benito did not answer. He just kept looking at his American visitor as if he heard nothing.

This angered Captain Delano, who suddenly turned away and walked forward to one of the Spanish seamen for his answer. But he had hardly gone five steps when Don Benito called him back. "It is now a hundred and ninety days," Don Benito began, "that the ship sailed from Buenos Aires for Lima with a general cargo. Pedigree, tea, and the like, and a number of negros, now not more than a hundred and fifty as you see, but then numbering over three hundred souls. The ship was officered and well-manned, with several cabin passengers. Some fifty Spaniards in all.

Off Cape Horn we had heavy gales." Captain Cereno coughed suddenly and almost collapsed. He fell heavily against his body servant. "His mind wanders," said Babo. "He was thinking of the disease that followed the gales. My poor, poor master. Be patient senor, these attacks do not last long. Master will soon be himself."

Don Benito recovered, and in a broken voice continued his story. "My ship was tossed about many days in storms off Cape Horn. And then there was an outbreak of scurvy. The disease carried off many whites and blacks. Most of my surviving seaman had become so sick that they could not handle the sails well. For days and nights we could not control the ship. It was blown north-westward. The wind suddenly left us in unknown waters with oppressive hot calms. Most of our water was gone.

And we suffered terribly, especially after a deadly fever broke out among us. Whole families of blacks and many Spaniards, including every officer but myself, were killed by the disease."

Don Benito paused. He looked down at the black man at his side. Babo seemed satisfied. The Spanish captain saw him take his hand from the knife hidden under his shirt.

Captain Delano saw nothing. His mind was filled with the terrible tale he had just heard. Now he could understand why the other captain seemed so shaken. He took Don Benito's hand and promised to give him all the help possible. He would give him a large permanent supply of water, and some sails and equipment for sailing the ship. And he also promised to let Don Benito have three of his best seamen for temporary deck officers. In this way, the San Dominick could without delay start for Concepcion. There the ship could be fixed and prepared for its voyage to Lima.

Don Benito's face lighted up. He seemed excited by Captain Delano's generous offer. But, Babo appeared troubled. "This excitement is bad for master," Babo whispered, taking Don Benito's arm and with soothing words gently drawing him aside. When Don Benito returned, Captain Delano observed that his excitement was gone.

Captain Delano decided to talk of other matters. But the Spanish captain showed no further interest. He answered Captain Delano's questions with sharp words and suddenly with an angry movement he walked back to Babo.

Captain Delano watched the two men whispering together in low voices. It made an ugly picture, which Captain Delano found so extremely unpleasant that he turned his face to the other side of the ship. Their actions made Delano suspicious of Captain Cereno. He began to wonder about him. His behavior. His coughing attacks. His weakness. His empty wild looks. Was he really half mad or a faker playing a part? One moment Captain Delano had the worst suspicions of Don Benito. But the next he would feel guilty and ashamed of himself for having such doubts about the man.

Presently, Don Benito moved back toward his guest, still supported by his servant. His pale face twitched. He seemed more nervous than usual. And there was a strange tone in his husky whisper as he spoke. "May I ask how many men you have on board, senor?" Captain Delano became uneasy, but answered. "About twenty-five all total." "And at present, senor, all on board?" "All on board," Captain Delano answered. "And will be tonight, senor?"

At this last question, Captain Delano looked very seriously at Don Benito, who could not return the look but dropped his eyes to the deck. Captain Delano could think of only one reason for such a question. But no, it was foolish to think that these weak and starving men could have any idea of seizing his ship. But still he remained silent. "And will they be aboard tonight?" Again the question from Don Benito. Captain Delano decided to answer truthfully. Some of his men had talked of going off on a fishing party about midnight. And he told Don Benito this.

As he answered, Captain Delano again looked straight at Don Benito. But the Spanish captain refused to meet his eyes. Then as before, he suddenly withdrew with his servant. And again the two men began whispering to each other in low voices. Captain Delano tried to push the worry from his mind. But what were those two strange men discussing? That will be our story next week.

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ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the V.O.A. Special English program, American Stories. Your narrator was Shep O'Neal. We invite you to listen again next week for the final part of "Benito Cereno" by Herman Melville. I'm Jim Tedder.

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U.N. Human Rights Council Opens; Annan Sees 'Great New Chance'

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

Kofi Annan speaks Monday to the opening meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The meeting in Geneva will last until June 30.

This week, in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Human Rights Council met for the first time. The new council is the result of a U.N. decision last September to replace the Commission on Human Rights. That larger group was considered ineffective. Critics said it was too easy to gain membership for nations with poor human rights records.

In March of this year, a General Assembly resolution created the Human Rights Council. And in May, the General Assembly elected the members. Sixty-three nations were candidates for the forty-seven seats on the council.

To be elected, they needed a majority vote from the General Assembly. All the candidate nations promised to work toward the aim of the new council. That is, to improve and protect human rights in their own lands and others around the world.

Some candidate nations that are criticized on human rights did not receive enough votes, such as Iran and Venezuela. But others did. These include China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Critics express worry that these members could harm the work of the new council. But others note changes that they say will make the council more effective than the commission it replaced.

For example, the commission met once a year for six weeks. The new group will meet for ten weeks throughout the year. And the rules for the new council make it easier to call special meetings to deal with crises.

Another change is that the council will have the power to examine the human rights records of all one hundred ninety-one U.N. members.

Former commission members that did not seek election to the new group included Congo, Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan and Vietnam.

Another nation that did not try to join the Human Rights Council is the United States. It will take part as an observer this year. Ambassador John Bolton explained the reasons in March in a statement to the General Assembly.

He said the United States was not sure the council will be any better than the commission. He expressed support for the aims of the council, but also regret at the lack of support for some proposals.

One would have required council members to be elected by a two-thirds majority. Another listed conditions designed to keep human rights violators off the council.

A State Department spokesman said in April that the United States will cooperate with members to make the council as strong and effective as possible. He also said the United States might seek election to the council next year.

At the first meeting this week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: “This council represents a great new chance for the United Nations, and for humanity, to renew the struggle for human rights." He made an appeal not to let that chance be lost.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I’m Steve Ember.

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A Turn to the Right: Conservatism Grows in America in the 1920s

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VOICE ONE:

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

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Americans experimented with many new customs and social traditions during the nineteen twenties. It was a time filled with new dances, new kinds of clothes and some of the most imaginative art and writing ever produced in the United States.

But in most ways, the nineteen twenties were a conservative time in American life. Voters elected three conservative Republican presidents: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. And they supported many conservative social and political policies.

VOICE TWO:

One such policy concerned immigration. Most Americans in the nineteen twenties had at least some ties through blood or marriage to the first Americans who came from Britain. Many people with these kinds of historic ties considered themselves to be real Americans, true Americans.

Americans traditionally had welcomed newcomers from such western European countries as Britain, France, or Germany. But most of the people arriving in New York City and other harbors in the nineteen twenties were from the central, eastern and southern areas of Europe.

Some Americans became afraid of these millions of people arriving at their shores. They worried that the immigrant newcomers might steal their jobs. Or they feared the political beliefs of the immigrants.

VOICE ONE:

Pressure to control immigration increased following the world war. Congress passed a bill that set a limit on how many people would be allowed to enter from each foreign country. And, the Congress and President Calvin Coolidge agreed to an even stronger immigration law in nineteen twenty-four.

Under the new law, limits on the number of immigrants from each foreign country depended on the number of Americans who had families in that country. For example, the law allowed many immigrants to enter from Britain or France, because many American citizens had families in those countries. But fewer people could come from Italy or Russia, because fewer Americans had family members in those countries.

The laws were very difficult to enforce. But they did succeed in limiting the number of immigrants from certain countries.

VOICE TWO:

A second sign of the conservative feelings in the nineteen twenties was the nation's effort to ban the sale of alcoholic drinks, or liquor. This policy was known as Prohibition, because it prohibited -- or banned -- alcoholic drinks.

Many of the strongest supporters of Prohibition were conservative Americans living in rural areas. Many of them believed that liquor was evil, the product of the devil.

A number of towns and states passed laws banning alcohol sales during the first years of the twentieth century. And in nineteen nineteen, the nation passed the eighteenth amendment to the federal constitution. This amendment, and the Volstead Act, made it unlawful to make, sell, or transport liquor.

VOICE ONE:

Prohibition laws failed terribly from the start. There was only a small force of police to enforce the new laws. And millions of Americans still wanted to drink liquor. It was not possible for the police to watch every American who wanted to buy a drink secretly or make liquor in his own home.

Not surprisingly, thousands of Americans soon saw a chance to make profits from the new laws. They began to import liquor illegally to sell for high prices.

Criminals began to bring liquor across the long, unprotected border with Canada or on fast boats from the Caribbean islands. At the same time, private manufacturers in both cities and rural areas began to produce liquor. And shop owners in cities across the country sold liquor with little interference from local police.

By the middle of the nineteen twenties, it was clear to most Americans that Prohibition laws were a failure. But the laws were not changed until the election of President Franklin Roosevelt in nineteen thirty-two.

VOICE TWO:

A third sign of conservatism in the nineteen twenties was the effort by some Americans to ban schoolbooks on modern science. Most of the Americans who supported these efforts were conservative rural Americans who believed in the traditional ideas of the Protestant Christian church. Many of them were fearful of the many changes that had taken place in American society.

Science became an enemy to many of these traditional, religious Americans. Science seemed to challenge the most basic ideas taught in the Bible. The conflict burst into a major public debate in nineteen twenty-five in a trial over Charles Darwin's idea of evolution.

VOICE ONE:

British scientist Charles Darwin published his books "The Origin of the Species" and "The Descent of Man" in the nineteenth century. The books explained Darwin's idea that humans developed over millions of years from apes and other animals.

Most Europeans and educated people accepted Darwin's theory by the end of the nineteenth century. But the book had little effect in rural parts of the United States until the nineteen twenties.

William Jennings Bryan led the attack on Darwin's ideas. Bryan was a rural Democrat who ran twice for president. He lost both times. But Bryan remained popular among many traditional Americans.

Bryan told his followers that the theory of evolution was evil, because it challenged the traditional idea that God created the world in six days. He accused scientists of violating God's words in the Bible. Bryan and his supporters called on local school officials to ban the teaching of evolution. Some state legislatures in the more conservative southeastern part of the country passed laws making it a crime to teach evolution theory.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen twenty-five, a young science teacher in the southern state of Tennessee challenged the state's new teaching law. The teacher -- John Scopes -- taught Darwin's evolution ideas. Officials arrested scopes and put him on trial.

Some of the nation's greatest lawyers rushed to Tennessee to defend the young teacher. They believed the state had violated his right to free speech. And they thought Tennessee's law againt teaching evolution was foolish in a modern, scientific society. America's most famous lawyer, Clarence Darrow, became the leader of Scopes' defense team.

Bryan and other religious conservatives also rushed to the trial. They supported the right of the state of Tennessee to ban the teaching of evolution.

The trial was held in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. Hundreds of people came to watch: religious conservatives, free speech supporters, newsmen and others.

The high point of the trial came when Bryan himself sat before the court. Lawyer Clarence Darrow asked Bryan question after question about the bible and about science. How did Bryan know the Bible is true. Did God really create the earth in a single day. Is a day in the Bible twenty-four hours. Or can it mean a million years.

VOICE ONE:

Bryan answered the questions. But he showed a great lack of knowledge about modern science.

The judge found Scopes guilty of breaking the law. But in the battle of ideas, science defeated conservatism. And a higher court later ruled that Scopes was not guilty.

The Scopes evolution trial captured the imagination of Americans. The issue was not really whether one young teacher was innocent or guilty of breaking a law. The real question was the struggle for America's spirit between the forces of modern ideas and those of traditional rural conservatism. The trial represented this larger conflict.

VOICE TWO:

American society was changing in many important ways during the early part of the twentieth century. It was not yet the world superpower that it would become after World War Two. But neither was it a traditional rural society of conservative farmers and clergy. The nineteen twenties were a period of growth, of change and of struggle between the old and new values.

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VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English on the Voice of America. Your narrators were Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant. Our program was written by David Jarmul. The Voice of America invites you to listen again next week to THE MAKING OF A NATION.

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Thanks in Part to 'Soccer Moms,' Game Grows in the U.S.

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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 answer a question about Americans and the game of soccer …

Play some music from a Tony award winning musical play …

And report about a new cellular telephone ringtone that some people cannot hear.

Ringtone

HOST:

Cellular phones are extremely popular in the United States and around the world, especially among young people. Now, teenagers are using a cell phone ringtone that many adults cannot hear. Mario Ritter has more.

MARIO RITTER:

The sound that the cell phone releases is a very high frequency, or pitch. Many older people are not able to hear the ringtone. Teenagers are using it to communicate during school classes. Students are supposed to have their cell phones turned off during classes. But some students use the ringtone so they can send text messages to each other during class without their teachers knowing.

For example, the frequency of normal talking is as high as eight kilohertz. The frequency of the ringtone is said to be about seventeen kilohertz. Over time, most adults over the age of forty or fifty lose their ability to hear high frequency sounds. So most young people can hear the ringtone but many older people cannot.

A British security company first created the sound and called it the Mosquito. The Mosquito device is a small black box that sends out sounds at a very high frequency. The device was used to solve a problem for British storeowners. Many teenagers gathered in stores without buying anything. Storeowners used the Mosquito sound to make the teenagers leave the store.

The Mosquito sound was reinvented as a ringtone for cell phones. Teenagers in the United States found the ringtone on the Internet. Some students downloaded the ringtone onto their cell phones and sent it to their friends. The ringtone quickly spread among teenagers in the United States and in other countries.

Many people from around the world have written about the ringtone on Web sites. Some people over forty years old said they could hear the ringtone, too. And some young people found the ringtone to be painful to hear. They said it hurt their ears and gave them headaches. Here is the ring tone. Can you hear it? Here it is again!

Soccer

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from South Korea. Byoung-Lip Ha asks why the game of soccer is not as popular in the United States as in other parts of the world.

That is a good question to answer right now as the World Cup is being played in Germany. Most of the world is very interested in this series of football games. In fact, it is the world’s most popular sport. Reports say as many as one thousand million people around the world are expected to watch the championship game on July ninth. Still, most people in the United States have little interest in the World Cup, even though the United States team is taking part.

Many sports experts say the American public has never shown much interest in the game called soccer in the United States. However, they say this is only true of older Americans. These adults did not play soccer when they were children. They did not grow up with the sport as people in other countries have. Sports like American football, baseball and basketball have always been more popular in the United States than soccer.

The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association says more than seventeen million people have played soccer at least once this year. That makes soccer one of the most popular team sports in the country.

Experts say children are making soccer more popular in the United States

A soccer mom -- and coach

because almost anyone can play the game. There are teams for girls, boys, older children and young adults. Some Americans have become interested in soccer because their children play. This has produced a new American expression, “soccer mom.” This is a mother who spends a lot of time driving her children to soccer games and watching them compete.

The experts say soccer is increasing in popularity among Americans. The United States national team has qualified for four World Cup competitions. The new Major League Soccer organization has been making progress since it began about ten years ago.

The increased use of the Internet is permitting American soccer fans to communicate with those in other parts of the world. And more television stations are broadcasting soccer games. Still, most Americans say they would rather play soccer than watch it on television.

Tony Awards

HOST:

Last week, the American Theater Wing presented its sixtieth yearly Tony Awards. The Tony awards honor work on the Broadway stage in New York City. Barbara Klein plays music from one of the winning musical plays.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Tony Awards are given to people who work in all areas of Broadway stage productions. These include actors, writers, directors and designers. One of the top awards is presented to the best musical play of the year.

The un-real "Four Seasons"

The winner this year is the show “Jersey Boys.” It is the story of the Four Seasons rock and roll group that was popular in the nineteen sixties. It tells how the four young men from New Jersey got together, became successful and then broke up.

The Four Seasons wrote their own songs and created their own special sound. They sold one hundred seventy-five million records around the world. Maybe you remember the group. Here are the real Four Seasons singing their big hit, “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”

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Theater critics praised the actors in “Jersey Boys” for their versions of the Four Seasons music. Listen now to the actors in the musical sing that same song.

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“Jersey Boys” won several Tony awards last week. Christian Hoff won the Tony for featured actor in a musical for his work as Four Seasons member Tommy DeVito. And John Lloyd Young won the Tony for best actor in a musical. He plays Four Seasons lead singer Frankie Valli. We leave you now with John Lloyd Young singing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

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HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. Our show was written by Erin Schiavone and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was our producer.

Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., 20237, U.S.A.

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

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