History Series: A Freeze Hits US-Soviet Relations After World War Two

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The Cold War was a major force in world politics during much of the 20th century. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

This is Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Phil Murray with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

(MUSIC)

Today, we tell about the period known as the Cold War.

VOICE ONE:

The Cold War began after World War Two. The main enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union.

The Cold War got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other directly. In such a "hot war," nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly. They supported conflicts in different parts of the world. They also used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced each other. Or they tried to make each other look foolish.

VOICE TWO:

Over the years, leaders on both sides changed. Yet the Cold War continued. It was the major force in world politics for most of the second half of the twentieth century.

Historians disagree about how long the Cold War lasted. Some believe it ended when the United States and the Soviet Union improved relations during the nineteen sixties and early nineteen seventies. Others believe it ended when the Berlin Wall was torn down in nineteen eighty-nine.

VOICE ONE:

The Cold War world was separated into three groups. The United States led the West. This group included countries with democratic political systems. The Soviet Union led the East. This group included countries with communist political systems. The Non-Aligned group included countries that did not want to be tied to either the West or the East.

Harry Truman

VOICE TWO:

Harry Truman was the first American president to fight the Cold War. He used several policies. One was the Truman Doctrine. This was a plan to give money and military aid to countries threatened by communism. The Truman Doctrine effectively stopped communists from taking control of Greece and Turkey.

Another policy was the Marshall Plan. This strengthened the economies and governments of countries in Western Europe.

VOICE ONE:

C-47s unloading at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

A major event in the Cold War was the Berlin Airlift. In June nineteen forty-eight, the Soviets blocked all ways into the western part of Berlin, Germany. President Truman quickly ordered military planes to fly coal, food, and medicine to the city.

The planes kept coming, sometimes landing every few minutes, for more than a year. The United States received help from Britain and France. Together, they provided almost two and one-half million tons of supplies on about two hundred-eighty thousand flights.

VOICE TWO:

The United States also led the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in nineteen forty-nine. NATO was a joint military group. Its purpose was to defend against Soviet forces in Europe. The first members of NATO were Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States.

The Soviet Union and its east European allies formed their own joint military group -- the Warsaw Pact -- six years later.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-three, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died. His death gave the new American president, Dwight Eisenhower, a chance to deal with new Soviet leaders.

In July, nineteen fifty-five, Eisenhower and Nikolai Bulganin met in Geneva, Switzerland. The leaders of Britain and France also attended.

Eisenhower proposed that the Americans and Soviets agree to let their military bases be inspected by air by the other side. The Soviets later rejected the proposal. Yet the meeting in Geneva was not considered a failure. After all, the leaders of the world's most powerful nations had shaken hands.

VOICE TWO:

Cold War tensions increased, then eased, then increased again over the years. The changes came as both sides actively tried to influence political and economic developments around the world.

For example, the Soviet Union provided military, economic, and technical aid to communist governments in Asia. The United States then helped eight Asian nations fight communism by establishing the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

In the middle nineteen fifties, the United States began sending military advisers to help south Vietnam defend itself against communist North Vietnam. That aid would later expand into a long and bloody period of American involvement in Vietnam.

VOICE ONE:

The Cold War also affected the Middle East. In the nineteen fifties, both East and West offered aid to Egypt to build the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. The West cancelled its offer, however, after Egypt bought weapons from the communist government of Czechoslovakia.

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser then seized control of the company that operated the Suez Canal. A few months later, Israel invaded Egypt. France and Britain joined the invasion.

VOICE TWO:

For once, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed on a major issue. Both supported a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

The Suez crisis was a political victory for the Soviets. When the Soviet Union supported Egypt, it gained new friends in the Arab world.

VOICE ONE:

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, left, with President Dwight Eisenhower

In nineteen fifty-nine, Cold War tensions eased a little. The new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, visited Dwight Eisenhower at his holiday home near Washington. The meeting was very friendly. But the next year, relations got worse again.

An American military plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Eisenhower admitted that such planes had been spying on the Soviets for four years. In a speech at the United Nations, Khrushchev got so angry that he took off his shoe and beat it on a table.

VOICE TWO:

John Kennedy followed Eisenhower as president in nineteen sixty-one. During his early days in office, Cuban exiles invaded Cuba. They wanted to oust the communist government of Fidel Castro. The exiles had been trained by America's Central Intelligence Agency. The United States failed to send military planes to protect them during the invasion. As a result, almost all were killed or taken prisoner.

In Europe, tens of thousands of East Germans had fled to the West. East Germany's communist government decided to stop them. It built a wall separating the eastern and western parts of the city of Berlin. Guards shot at anyone who tried to flee by climbing over.

VOICE ONE:

During Kennedy's second year in office, American intelligence reports discovered Soviet missiles in Cuba. The Soviet Union denied they were there. American photographs proved they were.

The Cuban missile crisis easily could have resulted in a nuclear war. But it ended after a week. Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles if the United States agreed not to interfere in Cuba.

VOICE TWO:

Some progress was made in easing Cold War tensions when Kennedy was president. In nineteen sixty-three, the two sides reached a major arms control agreement. They agreed to ban tests of nuclear weapons above ground, under water, and in space. They also established a direct telephone line between the White House and the Kremlin.

Relations between East and West also improved when Richard Nixon was president. He and Leonid Brezhnev met several times. They reached several arms control agreements. One reduced the number of missiles used to shoot down enemy nuclear weapons. It also banned the testing and deployment of long-distance missiles for five years.

VOICE ONE:

A major change in the Cold War took place in nineteen eighty-five. That is when Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev held four meetings with President Ronald Reagan. He withdrew Soviet forces from Afghanistan. And he signed an agreement with the United States to destroy all middle-distance and short-distance nuclear missiles.

VOICE TWO:

By nineteen eighty-nine, there was widespread unrest in eastern Europe. Gorbachev did not intervene as these countries cut their ties with the Soviet Union.

The Berlin Wall, the major symbol of communist oppression, was torn down in November. In less than a year, East and West Germany became one nation again. A few months after that, the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The Cold War was over.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

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Getting in Tune With Spoken English Means Thinking in Thought Groups

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- English teacher Lida Baker in Los Angeles talks about improving English pronunciation by understanding the idea of thought groups.

RS: Thought groups are something we don't even think about as native speakers of English. It's a way to break long sentences into shorter pieces, separated by slight pauses, to help listeners organize the meaning.

AA: But English learners need help to develop this skill when they study pronunciation. Lida says over the last twenty years, many teachers of English have come to focus not just on vowels and consonants, but also on stress and intonation.

LIDA BAKER: "So we're talking about the way that the voice moves up and down and where we pause and things of that sort. This is a much more authentic way of learning about spoken language."

RS: Take a sentence like: "I took the milk from the table and I put it in the refrigerator."

BAKER: "This is not right: [robotic monotone] 'I took the milk from the refrigerator and I put it on the table.' Nobody talks like that."

AA: "You sound like a robot."

LIDA BAKER: "That's right. But that's not how we speak English. What we do is, the voice moves up and down, and there's also an alternation between syllables that are stressed and pronounced clearly, and syllables that are unstressed and therefore are reduced and spoken very quickly. So 'I took the milk' becomes 'I took the milk,' puh-PAH, puh-PAH, OK?

"So within each thought group you will also find that there are these variations in pitch, with the voice moving up and down, and then syllables that are pronounced more clearly, syllables that are reduced and pronounced unclearly. So you get this effect of 'I took the milk,' puh-PAH, puh-PAH, 'from the table,' puh-puh-PAH-PAH, 'and I put it,' da-da-DAH-DAH, 'in the refrigerator,' puh-puh-PAH-puh-puh-puh."

AA: "You've got a hit there!"

LIDA BAKER: "Funny you should say that, because one of the easiest ways to learn about thought groups is to listen to popular music. And it happens that my daughter is absolutely crazy about the Beatles and she plays the guitar, so yesterday she was singing 'Can't Buy Me Love.'"

MUSIC: "Can't Buy Me Love"

Can’t buy me love, love,
Can't buy me love
I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend if it makes you feel alright
I’ll get you anything my friend if it makes you feel alright
'cause I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love ...

LIDA BAKER: "First of all 'can't buy me love,' that's a thought group right there. 'I'll buy you a diamond ring, my friend,' -- so, 'I'll buy you,' 'a diamond ring, 'my friend.' That's three thought groups right there."

RS: "What about for those who speak English as a foreign language, are there some rules, or do they have to learn by doing."

LIDA BAKER: "Well, I can't give you any rules, but I can give you some guidelines. Generally speaking, the pauses occur, they sort of correspond to grammatical units such as phrases and clauses and things like the complete subject of a sentence. So if you have a sentence like 'a big black cat sat on a tall white fence.' So the subject there is 'a big black cat,' and that's a thought group. 'A big black cat sat on a tall white fence,' 'on a tall white fence is also a thought group, and that's a prepositional phrase.

"Now pop music isn't the only way to learn this. A great way to learn this, I'm going to put in a plug here for the Voice of America -- is to go the Special English broadcasts and look at the transcripts and then listen to the announcers. Because on Special English the language is slowed down, it's a wonderful way for learners to pick up on the way sentences are broken down into thought groups.

"Another way is to use a video cassette recorder and tape any television program and do something called tracking. You tape a segment of a show and then you play it back and what you try to do is to imitate what they're saying, just one beat behind them. And incidentally it doesn't have to be done with television. It can be done with radio as well."

RS: "Anywhere there's sound going on in English."

LIDA BAKER: "That's right!"

AA: Lida Baker teaches at the American Language Center at the University of California at Los Angeles. She also writes and edits textbooks for English learners. And, by the way, those Special English programs she mentioned are all available online at voaspecialenglish.com.

RS: You can also find a link from our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

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Wind Farming Spreads in US

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Some farmers earn money by providing land to turbine owners, or by becoming energy producers themselves. Transcript of radio broadcast:

Correction attached

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

For centuries, farmers have used windmills to pump water, crush grain and perform other tasks. Today, farmers can earn money with high-powered wind turbines that produce electricity. Wind power has become big business, especially in Europe.

Wind turbines in California

In the United States, less than one percent of electricity is produced from wind energy. But production increased one hundred sixty percent between two thousand and two thousand five. So says Keith Collins, the chief economist at the Department of Agriculture, in a statement he prepared for a Senate committee last month.

An even greater increase is expected between two thousand five and two thousand ten. Farmers and ranchers are providing land to turbine owners or, in some cases, owning the equipment themselves.

Mister Collins says one reason for the increase is high prices for natural gas. Another is a federal tax credit for wind production. The credit is almost two cents per kilowatt hour for the first ten years of production for a project.

The production tax credit for renewable forms of energy was supposed to end this December. But Congress has extended it through two thousand eight.

Other reasons for the expansion include improved turbine technology and lower production costs. They also include policies that make it easier for wind power producers to sell their electricity. And they include the growth of markets for "green power" -- energy that does not create pollution.

California is the leading state for wind power. But Mister Collins says production is also growing in Minnesota and other Midwestern states, all the way down to Texas. And he says many states in the West and Midwest have the wind resources to produce much more wind power.

Wind power offers farmers a way to earn money for use of their land or, if they want, to operate their own turbines. Wind is free, of course. Not only that, the land under the turbines can usually be farmed. And farmers may be able to earn extra money by charging visitors to see their wind farm.

But wind farms are not perfect. Keep in mind that there has to be enough wind to earn a profit. Also, the turbines can kill birds. And people sometimes object to the development of wind farms. They consider them ugly and noisy.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts and audio files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

---

Correction: Based on a January statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief economist, this report says California is the leading state for wind power. However, the American Wind Energy Association says Texas for the first time pulled ahead of the historic leader California during 2006.

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Polar Research to Look for Answers About Climate Change

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Scientists prepare for explorations during the International Polar Year. Also, the Virgin Earth Challenge. How hypothermia kills. And the risk of heart disease from air pollution. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

Crabeater seals lying on the ice in Paradise Bay, Antarctica, in a 2005 photo

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, an American study shows a link between air pollution and heart disease. We will tell you about it. We also will tell about preparations for the International Polar Year. And, we tell about a competition to fight climate change.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A new study shows that air pollution may be more of a risk for heart disease than scientists have thought. The research involved more than sixty-five thousand women in the United States.

Kristin Miller was the lead writer of the study. She says the study showed that disease risk was linked not just to which city a woman lived in, but also where in a city.

The study found that estimates of the effects of air pollution were often larger within cities than between cities. Yet averages between cities have served as the main measure of the long-term effects of pollutants.

The findings lead some experts to suggest that current pollution limits may not be strong enough.

VOICE TWO:

The research team examined rates of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular events in women with long-term exposure to air pollution. The cardiovascular system is the heart and all of the passages that carry blood throughout the body.

The study involved women who had no sign of cardiovascular disease at the start of the research. All of the women were more than fifty years of age. The study followed them for as long as nine years to see how many developed cardiovascular problems.

The researchers used information from a government project, the Women's Health Initiative.

VOICE ONE:

The researchers also examined levels of fine particles in the air in thirty-six areas across the country. That information came from the Environmental Protection Agency. The small particles come from industrial smoke and traffic. They also come from things like wood-burning fireplaces in homes.

In the study, every ten-microgram increase in pollution was linked to a twenty-four percent increase in the risk of a cardiovascular event. But it was linked to a seventy-six percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Winter has brought severe weather to parts of the United States. The weather has already resulted in several deaths. One of the major concerns during cold weather is hypothermia. Hypothermia is a condition that happens when the body’s inner temperature drops below thirty-five degrees Celsius. The lowered body temperature leads to loss of mental and physical abilities.

Hypothermia can also lead to death. The condition kills hundreds of Americans each year. Late last year, a thirty-five year-old father of two died of hypothermia in the state of Oregon. James Kim died while attempting to find help for his family after their car became stuck in a mountain snowstorm. Weeks later, three Oregon mountain climbers were caught in a severe snowstorm. Only one man’s body was recovered. The other men are believed dead.

VOICE ONE:

There are two kinds of hypothermia. The first kind is called primary hypothermia. It happens when cold air, water or wind causes harm to a healthy, but unprotected individual during an extended period.

The second kind of hypothermia is called secondary hypothermia. This happens when existing conditions interfere with the body’s natural ability to stay warm. Two such conditions are drug use and lack of food. Health problems that have been linked to hypothermia include infection, diabetes, spinal cord injury or stroke.

The first signs of hypothermia are usually cold, light-colored skin and shaking. Other signs include unclear thinking, tiredness, slowed speaking, and slowed reactions.

VOICE TWO:

Babies and older adults are at risk of hypothermia because their bodies can lose heat and drop in temperature quicker. Others at risk are people who take part in outdoor activities like hiking, fishing and climbing. If clothing becomes wet, hypothermia can result even in mild temperatures.

Anyone who appears to be suffering from hypothermia should receive medical help immediately. Hypothermia victims must be slowly warmed. It is important to move the person out of the cold and remove any wet clothing.

Medical experts advise covering the person with dry, warm clothing. Sharing body heat by lying next to the person can help if warm clothing is not found. Experts say hot objects should not be used on a hypothermia victim. Keep the victim awake and avoid moving them. If possible, give the victim something warm to drink. Do not give the person drinks containing alcohol or caffeine. Such drinks can increase heat loss.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

America's National Academies has announced plans for more than two hundred scientific explorations in the Arctic and Antarctic. The explorations are to be part of the International Polar Year, which begins in March.

The National Academies represents the National Academy of Sciences and three other organizations. They give advice on scientific issues to the American public and federal government.

The National Academies says the polar research is expected to answer important questions about climate change and the environment. They say scientists from more than sixty nations will cooperate on many research activities.

VOICE TWO:

The scientists will examine many physical, biological and social research issues. They include studying changes in the permanently frozen ground and observing sea life near the North and South Poles.

Many public education and information programs are also being planned. The coming International Polar Year will be the fourth in history. Other polar years took place in eighteen eighty-two, nineteen thirty-two and nineteen fifty-seven.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

British businessman Richard Branson and former American vice president Al Gore recently announced a competition. They are seeking a way to remove at least one billion tons of carbon dioxide each year from Earth's atmosphere. Mister Branson is offering twenty-five million dollars to the developer of such a technology.

Last year, he offered to invest three billion dollars to fight climate change. The money would come from profits from his companies, including Virgin Atlantic Airlines.

The new competition is called the Virgin Earth Challenge. The winner of the contest must develop a plan to remove industrial gases from the atmosphere without causing harm. The first five million dollars would be paid to the winner immediately. The rest of the money would be paid only after the prize-winning technology had worked successfully for ten years.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Branson and Mister Gore announced the contest in London earlier this month. They said that some scientists are working on technologies to capture carbon dioxide at power stations and other industrial centers. But no one has developed a way to remove industrial gases already released into the atmosphere. Many scientists say those gases are causing an increase in temperatures around the world. They say continued warming will have serious results in the future.

Mister Branson said the warming caused by industrial gases is threatening the existence of human beings. He said he believes that people are able to find answers to problems that they have created.

VOICE ONE:

The former vice president said people are facing an emergency. Last year, Mister Gore made a documentary film about climate change. The film has helped him become one of the world's leading experts on climate change issues.

Mister Gore and Mister Branson noted a report released last month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The group included hundreds of scientists from more than one hundred countries.

The report said that human activity is warming the Earth at a dangerous rate. It said Earth's temperatures could increase by as much as six degrees centigrade by the end of this century. This could result in sea levels around the world rising by five meters.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Brianna Blake, Shelley Gollust and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week at this time for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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Hoover Dam: Controlling the Colorado River and Sending Power to Millions

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The dam was the largest and most difficult structure of its kind when work started in 1931. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

This is Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Hoover Dam. It was the largest and most difficult structure of its kind ever built when work started in nineteen thirty-one.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our report today about Hoover Dam must begin with the Colorado River. This river made the dam necessary. The Colorado River begins high in the Rocky Mountains. It begins slowly, during the dark months of winter. Heavy snow falls on the Rocky Mountains.

The snow is so deep in some areas that it will stay on the ground well into the hot days of summer. But the snow does melt. Ice cold water travels down the mountains and forms several rivers -- the Gila River, the Green River, the Little Colorado, the San Juan, the Virgin and the Gunnison Rivers. These rivers link together and form the beginnings of the Colorado River. The Colorado River flows through, or provides water for, the states of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. Then it crosses the border into Mexico.

VOICE TWO:

The Colorado River has always been extremely powerful. The river created the huge Grand Canyon. The violent water cut hundreds of meters deep into the desert floor of Arizona. The Grand Canyon is proof of the power of this great river.

The Grand Canyon was cut into the desert floor beginning thousands of years ago. But the power of this river has been demonstrated in more modern times.

Between nineteen-oh-five and nineteen-oh-seven, the Colorado River caused great amounts of flooding in parts of Arizona and California. Huge amounts of water ran into a low area in the dry, waterless desert that had once been an ancient lake. In two years of flooding, the Colorado River filled the ancient lake. That lake is called the Salton Sea. Today, it is about fifty-six kilometers long by twenty-five kilometers wide. It is even larger in years of heavy rain.

VOICE ONE:

The flooding that created the Salton Sea also flooded homes, towns and farming areas. Many people were forced to flee their homes. Government leaders knew they had to do something to prevent such floods in the future. In nineteen eighteen, a man named Arthur Davis proposed building a dam to control the Colorado River. Mister Davis was a government engineer. He said the dam should be built in an area called Boulder Canyon on the border between the states of Arizona and Nevada.

VOICE TWO:

Building the dam would not be a simple matter. The people of seven states and the people of Mexico needed and used the water of the Colorado River. Much of that area is desert land. Water is extremely important. Without water from the Colorado River, farming is not possible. Without water, life in the desert is not possible.

On November twenty-fourth, nineteen twenty-two, officials signed a document in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That document is called the Colorado River Compact. The document tells how the seven states would share the water of the Colorado River. It was agreed this could be more easily done with the aid of a dam. Later an agreement was signed with Mexico to supply it with water from the Colorado River.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The area chosen for the dam was called Black Canyon. The walls of Black Canyon rise almost two hundred forty-three meters above the river. An ancient volcano formed the rock in Black Canyon. Engineers decided the rock would provide a good strong support for the proposed dam.

However, the area also presented problems. The nearest railroad was sixty kilometers away. There was no electric power. And, in the summer, the temperature in the desert in Black Canyon could reach as high as forty-eight degrees Celsius.

A great deal of work was done before operations started on the dam. Workers built a town called Boulder City to house employees working on the dam. They built a large road from Boulder City to the area of the dam. They built a railroad from a main line in Las Vegas, Nevada to Boulder City. They built another railroad from Boulder City to the dam area. And they built a three hundred fifty kilometer power line from San Bernadino, California. This provided electric power to the area where the dam was being built.

VOICE TWO:

The work on the dam began in April of nineteen thirty-one. Workers called “high scalers” were some of the first to begin building the dam. They were suspended from ropes as they used heavy air-powered hammers to break any loose rock away from the face of the canyon walls. When they could not use hammers, they used dynamite. One high scaler became very famous. His name was Arnold Parks. He caught another worker who had fallen off the top of the canyon.

Mister Parks held the worker to the wall of the canyon until others came to help. Today, visitors can see a statue of the men who worked as high scalers to build Hoover Dam.

The high scalers worked on the sides of the canyon. Other workers dug huge tunnels deep in the floor of the canyon. This was done to permit the Colorado River to flow away from the construction area. This had to be done so the floor of the dam could be built.

On June sixth, nineteen thirty-three, workers poured the first load of a building material called concrete. Men in two special factories worked day and night to make the concrete building material for the dam.

Huge equipment moved millions of tons of rock and sand. In the summer months, the terrible desert heat slowed the work but did not stop it. Men who worked at night on the dam suffered less, but the heat was still as high as thirty degrees Celsius.

VOICE ONE:

Slowly the great dam began to rise from the floor of the canyon. From the canyon floor it reaches two hundred twenty-one meters high. Workers poured the last of the concrete on May twenty-ninth, nineteen thirty-five. They had used almost four million cubic meters of concrete in the dam. Workers also used more than twenty million kilograms of steel to strengthen the concrete in the dam.

VOICE TWO:

The work was dangerous for the more than five thousand men who worked on the structure. The extreme temperatures, falling objects and heavy equipment caused accidents. The workers were provided with medical care and two emergency vehicles to take them to a new hospital in Boulder City. However, ninety-six men lost their lives during the building of the great dam.

The companies building the dam had been given seven years to complete the work. They did it in only five. The dam was finished on March first, nineteen thirty-six.

Other work now began. This work would make the dam into one of the largest producers of electric power ever built. The dam was built to control the powerful Colorado River. But it was also meant to use the river to produce large amounts of electric power.

Today, seventeen huge machines use the river’s power to produce electric power. The states of Arizona and Nevada share the power. So do many cities in California, including Los Angeles, Burbank, and Pasadena.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

When the Hoover Dam was finished in nineteen thirty-six, it was the largest dam in the world. It was also the tallest. And it was the largest power producer that used water power to make electricity. Today this is no longer true. Taller dams, larger dams and a few that produce more power have been created. But Hoover Dam is still a huge and interesting place.

Visitors to Hoover Dam drive on a small road that passes Lake Mead. They enter a special visitors' center to learn about the dam and the men who built it. They ride high-speed elevators that go deep inside the dam. They see the huge machines that produce electric power.

Many visitors say they thought the name of the huge structure was Boulder Dam. They are told that Hoover Dam is often called Boulder Dam. However, it is named after former President Herbert Hoover.

Before he was president, Mister Hoover worked for many years to make the construction of the dam possible. It was officially named to honor him in nineteen forty-seven.

Visitors leave the great dam with an understanding of how difficult the project was. They learn that it still safely controls the great Colorado River. And it also provides water and electric power to millions of people in the American southwest.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.

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Circumcision May Lower Men's HIV Risk by More Than First Reported

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New results show that circumcised men could lower their risk of infection by as much as 60 percent. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

In December, we told you about two important studies of circumcision and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Scientists had reported that circumcised men in Africa reduced their risk of HIV infection from sex with women by about half.

Now, researchers are saying the reduction in risk may be greater than that.

The studies took place in Kenya and Uganda. The National Institutes of Health in the United States halted the work early. Officials said the results were so clear, it would have been wrong not to offer circumcision to all the men in the study groups.

Last week, the British medical magazine The Lancet published the final results of the two studies. The report also included findings from another study that took place earlier in South Africa. The researchers say the new results showed that circumcision could lower a man's HIV risk by as much as sixty percent.

Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin from the penis. Researchers have noted that HIV rates are generally lower in areas of the world where circumcision is common in babies or young boys. This fact alone does not prove anything. The studies were an attempt to confirm a direct link between circumcision and a reduced risk of HIV.

But how might circumcision reduce the risk? The experts at the National Institutes of Health say no one knows for sure, but there are several theories.

First, defensive cells on the surface of the foreskin may be less able to resist an attack by HIV than other cells. Also, the foreskin may serve as a barrier that prevents expulsion of HIV. And the environment of the foreskin may provide good conditions for the virus to spread.

Health experts involved in the studies say they hope circumcision will become one of the basic ways to fight AIDS. But they say it may be difficult to get men to have it done, especially if circumcision conflicts with their cultural beliefs. Other issues are cost and the availability of high-quality medical care. Since HIV can be passed through blood, unclean medical conditions might spread the virus.

Health experts also warn that while circumcision may reduce the risk of HIV, it does not offer complete protection.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com and our e-mail address is special@voanews.com. Please be sure to include your name and country. I'm Mario Ritter.

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How to Help Foods Keep Their Cool

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How to build an evaporative cooler. Also, how to prepare fruits and vegetables for cold storage. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Before refrigerators, homes usually had ice boxes. But another way to keep food cool without the need for electricity is to use an evaporative cooler. This is easy to make and does not even use ice.

A common design is a tall box with food placed on several shelves inside. The shelves are pieces of metal with many small holes through them. The sides of the box are covered with pieces of thick cloth.

Containers of water are placed at the top and bottom of the cooler. The ends of each piece of cloth lie in the water so the cloth stays wet.

Put the cooler in the open air but not in the sun. Air will pass through the wet cloth. The inside of the box will stay several degrees cooler than the outside air temperature. And this may be cool enough to keep foods fresh at least for a short time.

Cold storage in a freezer, however, can keep foods in good condition for months after the growing season. Yet foods can be damaged if they are kept too cold.

The British development group Practical Action says the best way to prepare foods for storage is at harvest time while still in the field. Use a sharp knife to avoid damage.

Place the harvested items on a clean surface or directly into storage containers. Do not put them on the ground.

Use clean water to remove dirt, and keep the water clean. Usually it is better not to remove outer leaves from fruits and vegetables before storage. Without the leaves, food can become dry.

Fruits and vegetables must be cool from field heat before they are put into storage. If they are placed in cool water, however, it can spread fungus throughout the food. A better idea is to harvest foods either early or late in the day, then leave them to cool naturally.

Some fruits and vegetables must be stored at zero to four degrees Celsius. Any colder, and they might be damaged. Others need four to eight degrees. And still others must be stored above eight degrees.

Wet the fruits and vegetables so they do not become too dry. The best time to do this is before storage. Cover the items in plastic once they reach the right "critical temperature" for storage. Most fruits and vegetables need the relative humidity in storage to be kept between eighty-five and ninety-five percent.

Finally, leave space between the food containers and the walls of the storage area so air can flow. Keep the space clean. And try not to open the doors too often.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report. I'm Steve Ember.

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In Charleston, Southern Friendliness Meets American History

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A beautiful city with a most interesting story. The Civil War began at its waterfront. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

Houses along South Battery Street in Charleston

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember with Shirley Griffith. This week, come along to one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the United States - Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War began at its waterfront.

Charleston is on a piece of land in the southeastern United States that points like a finger to the Atlantic Ocean. Rivers flow by either side of the city. They are the Ashley and the Cooper rivers. The people of Charleston will smile and tell you the Ashley and the Cooper rivers join to form the Atlantic Ocean.

They know this is not true, but they like to tell the story anyway. It shows how proud the people of Charleston are of their city.

(MUSIC)

Charleston has a very rich history. It is the only city in the United States that can claim to have defended itself from American Indians, fierce pirates, Spanish ships, French soldiers, and British forces. It was first in many things. Charleston had the first continual train service in the United States. It built the first museum and the first public flower garden in America.

And the first battle of the American Civil War took place on a very small but important island in its port. Charleston has some of the most beautiful and unusual homes in America. One critic has called Charleston the most friendly city in the United States. Charleston is all of these things and much more.

VOICE TWO:

Plan your visit to Charleston for early spring, late autumn or the winter months. The citizens of Charleston will tell you their lovely city is not fun in the summer. It is extremely hot. The summer heat is important to the history of Charleston.

Early settlers owned huge farms called plantations. In the seventeen hundreds, these farms produced a plant called indigo which is used to make cloth the color blue. Many plantation owners forced slaves to do the work needed to grow indigo in the extreme heat. Slavery became important to the economy of Charleston. The plantations, indigo and slavery are part of the history of the city.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

At least three Indian tribes were living in the area that became Charleston when Spanish explorers arrived in fifteen twenty-one.The Spanish explorers, and later, French explorers tried to establish settlements near that area but none lasted. English settlers first came to the area in sixteen seventy. They established a town.

They called it Charles Town in honor of the English King, Charles the Second. The people of the city changed its name to Charleston in seventeen eighty-three.

VOICE TWO:

Historic picture of South Battery

Many people came to live in Charleston because it produced indigo and had a good port. The people who settled the area were hard working and independent. They considered themselves citizens of England. Still, they did not like some of the laws declared by the English government.

The colonists successfully defended their city many times in the early seventeen hundreds. They defended it against both French and Spanish forces, and against raids by Yamasee Indians and by pirates. In seventeen nineteen, the citizens of Charleston rebelled against the group of English men who controlled their colony.

They wanted more self-government. Britain's King George agreed. This change gave the people of Charleston a feeling of independence.

VOICE ONE:

Charleston is still proud of its part in the war for independence. The city provided several political and military leaders during the American Revolution. British forces attacked it two times, but were defeated by the people of Charleston. The third time, the British captured the city and held it for more than a year.

Charleston continued to grow after the American colonists had won their independence from England. The new federal government knew that the city was important. Workers began building a strong base to guard Charleston in eighteen twenty-eight. This base was on a small island in Charleston Harbor.

It was named Fort Sumter. It was designed to guard the city from any future enemy.

VOICE TWO:

There were no thoughts of war or future enemies while Fort Sumter was being built. The plantations near Charleston had began to plant new crops like rice and cotton. With the help of slave labor, cotton became extremely important to the economy of Charleston and much of the South.

Many people in the northern United States began to think that slavery was very wrong, however. Slave owners in the South wanted things to remain as they had always been. They believed the federal government had no right to tell them what they could or could not do.

VOICE ONE:

A national crisis began when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in eighteen sixty. The people of South Carolina believed he would try to end slavery by force. They voted to leave the United States. They were quickly followed by other southern states.

These southern states soon created the government of the Confederate States of America. Federal troops controlled Fort Sumter when South Carolina voted to leave the Union. The people of Charleston demanded the federal troops leave.

The Union commander refused. On the morning of April twelfth, eighteen sixty-one, a cannon was fired at Fort Sumter. It was the first shot of America's long Civil War.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Charleston suffered a lot of damage during the Civil War. Several major battles were fought there. Late in the war another battle for control of Fort Sumter continued for almost two years. Much of Charleston had been destroyed by the time the war ended.

Rebuilding the city was a long and slow process. The people of Charleston tried to save the historic buildings from the seventeen hundreds. They wanted to keep those buildings they felt were an important part of their city.

The huge plantations near Charleston were also in need of rebuilding. Many owners failed in their efforts because they could no longer use slave labor. Their farms became much smaller.

VOICE ONE:

The historic buildings of Charleston were affected by weather as well as wars. Through the years, ocean storms have severely damaged the city. A major storm struck Charleston in September nineteen-eighty-nine. It killed eighteen people and caused more than three-thousand-million dollars in damage.

The huge storm had winds of more than two hundred seventeen kilometers an hour. It caused high waves that severely flooded city streets.

VOICE TWO:

Headquarters of the Preservation Society of Charleston

The federal, state and city governments and individual citizens have spent millions of dollars to rebuild and repair historic areas. So in some places, Charleston looks a lot like it has for several hundred years.

In the center of the city are stores in small one-hundred year old buildings. The same family has owned one of the stores for almost one hundred fifty years.

Fine eating places throughout the city serve southern food. The people of Charleston will tell you they have some of the best eating places in the United States. Many visitors agree.

VOICE ONE:

Beautiful, old buildings are a major reason thousands of people visit Charleston each year. One of the famous buildings is the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon. It was built in the early seventeen hundreds. It was a jail that held the famous English pirate Stede Bonnet and his crew before they were hanged.

Several of the old plantation farms near Charleston also are open to visitors. One is called Boone Hall Plantation. It is still a working farm. Boone Hall Plantation looks much like it did before the American Civil War. It has been used as the setting for a number of movies and television programs about the American South and the Civil War.

VOICE TWO:

From almost anywhere along the waterfront in Charleston, you can see a large American flag flying over the small island that still holds Fort Sumter. Most visitors go to the historic fort during their time in Charleston.

Several companies provide boat rides to the fort. Much of the fort was destroyed during the Civil War. But what remains of Fort Sumter is protected by the National Park Service. Park workers meet each boat and explain about the battles that took place.

VOICE ONE:

Charleston has many interesting places to visit. However the people who live in the city really make it special. They are extremely friendly in a way that is part of the culture of the American south.

The people of Charleston continue to keep their city beautiful using modern technology to protect their historic past.

(MUSIC)

Our program was written by Paul Thompson and produced by Lawan Davis. Internet users can read and listen to our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. With Shirley Griffith, I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA SpecialEnglish.

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Ida Tarbell, 1857-1944: She Used Her Reporting Skills Against One of the Most Powerful Companies in the World

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Tarbell charged that Standard Oil was using illegal methods to hurt or destroy smaller oil companies. Transcript of radio broadcast:

ANNOUNCER:

People in America, a program in Special English on the Voice of America. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman tell about reporter Ida Minerva Tarbell.

Ida Tarbell was one of the most successful magazine writers in the United States during the last century. She wrote important stories at a time when women had few social or political rights.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Ida Tarbell

Ida Tarbell used her reporting skills against one of the most powerful companies in the world. That company was Standard Oil. Ida Tarbell charged that Standard Oil was using illegal methods to hurt or destroy smaller oil companies.

She investigated these illegal business dealings and wrote about them for a magazine called McClure's. The reports she wrote led to legal cases that continued all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Ida Tarbell was born in the eastern state of Pennsylvania in November, eighteen fifty-seven. Her family did not have much money. Her father worked hard but had not been very successful.

When Ida was three years old, oil was discovered in the nearby town of Titusville. Her father entered the oil business. He struggled as a small businessman to compete with the large oil companies.

Ida's mother had been a school teacher. She made sure that Ida attended school. She also helped the young girl learn her school work.

Ida wanted to study science at college. Most people at that time thought it was not important for young women to learn anything more than to read and write. Most people thought educating women was a waste of money.

Ida's parents, however, believed education was important -- even for women. They sent her to Allegheny College in nearby Meadville, Pennsylvania. She was nineteen.

VOICE ONE:

Those who knew Ida Tarbell in college say she would wake up at four o'clock in the morning to study. She was never happy with her school work until she thought it was perfect. In eighteen eighty, Ida finished college. In August of that year, she got a teaching job in Poland, Ohio. It paid five hundred dollars a year.

VOICE TWO:

Miss Tarbell learned that she was expected to teach subjects about which she knew nothing. She was able to do so by reading the school books before the students did. She was a successful teacher, but the work, she decided, was too difficult for the amount she was paid. So she returned home after one year. A small newspaper in the town of Meadville soon offered her a job.

Many years later, Ida Tarbell said she had never considered being a writer. She took the job with the newspaper only because she needed the money. At first, she worked only a few hours each week.

Later, however, she was working sixteen hours a day. She discovered that she loved to see things she had written printed in the paper. She worked very hard at becoming a good writer.

VOICE ONE:

Miss Tarbell enjoyed working for the newspaper. She discovered, though, that she was interested in stories that were too long for the paper to print. She also wanted to study in France. To earn money while in Paris, she decided she would write for American magazines.

Ida Tarbell found it difficult to live in Paris without much money. She also found it difficult to sell her work to magazines. The magazines were in the United States. She was in Paris. Some of her stories were never used because it took too long for them to reach the magazine. Yet she continued to write.

Several magazines soon learned that she was a serious writer.

VOICE TWO:

A man named Samuel McClure visited Miss Tarbell in Paris. He owned a magazine named McClure's. Mister McClure had read several of her stories. He wanted her to return to the United States and work for his magazine. She immediately understood that this was a very good offer. But she said no. She proposed that she write for McClure's from Paris.

Ida Tarbell wrote many stories for McClure's. She did this for some time before returning to the United States. Her writing was very popular. She helped make McClure's one of the most successful magazines of its day.

One of her first jobs for the magazine was a series of stories about the life of the French Emperor Napoleon. The series was printed in McClure's Magazine in eighteen ninety-four. It was an immediate success. The series was later printed as a book. It was very popular for a number of years.

VOICE ONE:

Her next project was a series about the life of American President Abraham Lincoln. She began her research by talking with people who had known him. She used nothing they told her, however, unless she could prove it was true to the best of her ability.

McClure's Magazine wanted a short series about President Lincoln. But Ida Tarbell's series lasted for one year in the magazine. Like her series about Napoleon, the President Lincoln stories were immediately popular. They helped sell more magazines. She continued her research about President Lincoln.

Through the years, she would write eight books about President Lincoln.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Miss Tarbell's reports about the Standard Oil Company are considered more important than any of her other writings. Her nineteen-part series was called The History of the Standard Oil Company. McClure's Magazine published it beginning in nineteen-oh-two.

Her reports showed that Standard Oil used illegal methods to make other companies lose business. One method was to sell oil in one area of the country for much less than the oil was worth.

This caused smaller companies in that area to fail. They could not sell their oil for that low a price and still make a profit. After a company failed, Standard Oil would then increase the price of its oil. This kind of unfair competition was illegal.

VOICE ONE:

Miss Tarbell had trouble discovering information about the Standard Oil Company. She tried to talk to businessmen who worked in the oil business. At first, few would agree to talk.

They were afraid of the Standard Oil Company and its owner, John D. Rockefeller. He was one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.

Miss Tarbell kept seeking information. She was told by one man that Rockefeller would try to destroy McClure's Magazine. But she did not listen to the threats. She soon found evidence that Standard Oil had been using unfair and illegal methods to destroy other oil companies. Soon many people were helping her find the evidence she needed.

VOICE TWO:

Ida Tarbell's investigations into Standard Oil were partly responsible for later legal action by the federal government against the company. The case began in nineteen-oh-six. In nineteen eleven, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against Standard Oil because of its illegal dealings. The decision was a major one. It forced the huge company to separate into thirty-six different companies.

John D. Rockefeller never had to appear in court himself. Yet the public felt he was responsible for his company's illegal actions. The investigative work of Ida Tarbell helped form that public opinion. That investigative work continues to be what she is known for, even though some of her later writings defended

American business. She died in nineteen forty-four.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A picture has survived from the long ago days when Ida Tarbell took on the giant Standard Oil Company. It shows John D. Rockefeller walking to his car. It was taken after his company had lost an important court battle. He is wearing a tall black hat and a long coat. He looks angry.

Several people are watching the famous man from behind the car. One is a very tall women. Mister Rockefeller does not see her.

If you look closely at the picture, you can see the face of Ida Tarbell. She is smiling. If you know the story, her smile clearly says: "I won."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

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

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week at this time for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program, on VOA.

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Britain to Withdraw 1,600 Troops in Iraq, and More May Follow

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Tony Blair says cuts are possible because of the increased readiness of Iraqi forces to take control. The White House calls the move a ''sign of success.'' Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced this week that one thousand six hundred British troops will leave Iraq in the coming months.

Britain has more than seven thousand troops in Iraq. The forces to be withdrawn are in the Basra area in the south. Most of those remaining will be located at Basra air base. Their tasks will include training and supporting Iraqi forces and securing the border with Iran.

Mister Blair said the withdrawal was possible because of the increased readiness of Iraqi forces to take control. He said he hopes to reduce British troops levels to below five thousand later this year. He says British forces will stay in Iraq into two thousand eight as long as they are wanted and have a job to do.

Tony Blair has said he will leave office by September after ten years as prime minister. The Labor Party leader has lost popularity and has decided not to seek a fourth term.

Britain has been the biggest ally of the United States in Iraq. Britain deployed forty thousand troops for the invasion in two thousand three. That number fell to about nine thousand two years ago.

A spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House had this reaction to the announcement:

"President Bush sees this as a sign of success and what is possible for us once we help the Iraqis deal with the sectarian violence in Baghdad."

The British announcement came as the Bush administration is increasing American troop strength in the Baghdad area. The president recently announced an increase of more than twenty thousand troops in Iraq, raising the number above one hundred fifty thousand.

Baghdad remains the center of violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Mister Blair said the situation in the capital cannot be compared to Basra, a Shiite city where attacks are aimed largely at coalition forces.

In addition to the British, about four hundred sixty Danish soldiers under British command in southern Iraq will be withdrawn by August. And Lithuania says it is considering withdrawing its fifty-three troops in southern Iraq.

Britain will remain the second largest foreign military presence in Iraq. South Korea is third. South Korea has deployed more than two thousand troops in the Kurdish-controlled north. But it plans to withdraw half of them soon.

Others with hundreds of troops in Iraq include Georgia, Poland, Romania, Australia and El Salvador. Countries that have already withdrawn include Italy, Spain, Ukraine, Japan and New Zealand.

Vice President Dick Cheney said this week in Japan that terrorists would see it as weakness if American troops left Iraq too soon. Sixty-three percent of Americans in a recent opinion study said they support a withdrawal by two thousand nine.

On Friday, British media reported that Britain is about to announce an additional one thousand troops for Afghanistan. Taleban forces are expected to launch a spring offensive.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.

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Making Art Out of Common Materials: The Boxes of Joseph Cornell

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A question from Vietnam about the Florida Everglades. And listen to some of the music nominated for this year's Academy Awards. Transcript of radio broadcast:

Correction attached

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 Everglades …

Play some music nominated for an Academy Award …

And report about an artist who builds boxes.

Joseph Cornell

Have you ever heard of art in a box? Joseph Cornell was an important artist best known for his beautifully constructed boxes. A large collection of his interesting artwork was shown recently at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Faith Lapidus tells us more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

"Untitled (Cockatoo with Watch Faces)," circa 1949, from the Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection. Photo copyright, Cornell Memorial Foundation/VAGA

You could say that Joseph Cornell became an artist because of his love of collecting. Cornell used to spend his free time exploring the street life of New York City in the nineteen twenties. He soon started collecting old books, prints, postcards and even three-dimensional objects that he found in stores that sold used books.

Cornell also attended many museum shows, gallery openings and dance performances. He was influenced by a group of artists called the Surrealists who combined images in unusual and often strange ways.

Joseph Cornell started making his own works by cutting out different pictures and putting them together in creative and magical combinations. Soon, he started making boxes inside of which were carefully arranged pictures and objects. He worked on his art at night after finishing his day job. Later, when his boxes and images started selling and receiving public recognition, he worked on his art full time.

Joseph Cornell died in nineteen seventy-two.The Smithsonian exhibit showed almost two hundred works made during his forty-year career. One work is called “Soap Bubble Set.” A box with a glass window shows a map of the moon, several pictures of sea creatures, two glass cups and two white pipes for smoking. In another box, Cornell combines an image of a cockatoo bird with a music box and watch faces.

Joseph Cornell once said his art was based on everyday experiences. He said that with his art he showed “the beauty of the commonplace.” Visitors who came to this special exhibit found magic in regular objects - and even saw beauty in a box.

The Everglades

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Nguyen Thanh Duc wants to know about the Everglades National Park in the southern state of Florida.

Part of the Everglades

The Everglades National Park is the third largest national park in the mainland United States. President Harry S. Truman officially established the national park in nineteen forty-seven. He placed almost two hundred thousand hectares of land in the area under federal control.

The parkland has since been expanded several times. The United States now protects more than six hundred thousand hectares of the Everglades. This is only about twenty percent of the Everglades ecosystem.

The Everglades was the first national park established to protect only biological resources. The wetlands are famous around the world for their diversity of wildlife. The United Nations has called the area "a world biological treasure."

The Everglades is really a slow-moving, extremely shallow river that flows south to the ocean. It is filled with sharp, thin sawgrass. This is why the Everglades is sometimes called the River of Grass. The area was also once called the "liquid heart" of Florida.

Forests of palm, cypress, mangrove and pine are also a part of the Everglades. It is home to beautiful plants and sweet-smelling flowers. These include several kinds of the highly prized and rare flower, the orchid.

Many kinds of animals live in the Everglades. Many colorful birds and butterflies live there. So do snakes, frogs, foxes and even big cats, called Florida panthers. But the alligators and crocodiles are probably the animals most identified with the Everglades. No other place in the world is home to both.

However, the Everglades is one of the most endangered national parks in the United States. Human activities and development around the edges of the park threaten the area's health and future. Many of the animals are in danger of disappearing.

More than one million people visit the Everglades National Park each year. The park will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary next December.

Oscar Nominated Songs

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present its seventy-ninth yearly Academy Awards on Sunday. These awards are known as the Oscars. They honor writers, directors, actors and others who helped create the best motion pictures last year. They also honor songs written for those movies. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

One of the five nominated songs was written by Randy Newman for the animated movie "Cars." It is called "Our Town," and is performed by James Taylor.

(MUSIC)

'Dreamgirls,' from left, Sharon Leal, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose

A second nominated song was written by Melissa Etheridge. It is called "I Need To Wake Up." It is from the documentary about global warming called "An Inconvenient Truth."

The final three nominated songs all were written by Henry Krieger for the musical movie “Dreamgirls.” The movie is about a group of female singers who become famous during the nineteen sixties. One of the songs is called “Listen.” Beyonce sings it in "Dreamgirls." This song is called "Patience." Eddie Murphy sings it in the movie.

(MUSIC)

We leave you now with the third song nominated from the movie "Dreamgirls." Jennifer Hudson sings "Love You I Do."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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.

---

Correction: An earlier version of this page provided incomplete title information for the Joseph Cornell work pictured.

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Maker of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Stops Pushing to Require It for Girls

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Merck says criticism of its lobbying campaign was interfering with its efforts to gain widespread use of Gardasil. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This week, the drug company Merck announced that it would end a lobbying campaign for Gardasil, its new vaccine for girls and women.

The vaccine is designed to protect against four kinds of human papillomavirus, or HPV. These cause about seventy percent of cervical cancers and ninety percent of genital warts.

The development of the vaccine has been widely praised. But Merck faced growing criticism for its push for states to require schoolgirls to be vaccinated with Gardasil. The company says the criticism was interfering with its goal of widespread use of the vaccine.

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Gardasil last June for females age nine to twenty-six.

At least twenty of the fifty state legislatures have begun to consider some form of Gardasil requirement. In Texas, Governor Rick Perry has ordered that beginning in two thousand eight, girls eleven and twelve years old must be vaccinated with Gardasil. But parents could choose not to, if they object for religious or other reasons.

Critics said politicians were moving too fast. And they accused Mister Perry of being too close to Merck. The company had given money to his re-election campaign. And his former chief of staff is now a Merck lobbyist in Texas.

Critics said the lobbying campaign for required use of Gardasil created a conflict of interest for Merck. Gardasil is a lot more costly than other childhood vaccinations. The vaccine is given as three injections over a six-month period; the complete series cost more than three hundred fifty dollars.

There were also objections on legal and moral grounds. Some parents argued that since HPV is passed during sex, required use of Gardasil might lead to greater sexual activity among young people. Others say required use would violate privacy rights.

Other critics called for more study of Gardasil, especially in younger girls. They note that during studies of the vaccine, ninety-five percent of the subjects were females sixteen and older.

Cervical cancer rates have been dropping in the United States. On average three thousand seven hundred women die from it each year. But cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women in poor countries.

In December, Merck said it would work toward providing Gardasil to those countries at a lower price.

Merck competitor GlaxoSmithKline is expected to request federal approval of its own cervical cancer vaccine in April.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

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Test May Show Heart Patients' Risk | Napping to a Healthier Heart?

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Researchers think a protein level can tell if a person with heart disease is likely to suffer a heart attack. Also, a study says afternoon sleep may cut the risk of dying from a heart attack. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Researchers say they have developed a simple test that can tell if a person with heart disease is likely to suffer a heart attack. The test measures levels of a protein in the blood. The researchers say people with high levels of this protein are at high risk of heart attack, heart failure or stroke.

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California in San Francisco led the team. For about four years, they studied almost one thousand patients with heart disease.

The researchers tested the heart disease patients for a protein called NT-proBNP. Patients with the highest levels were nearly eight times more likely than those with the lowest levels to have a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.

The researchers say the presence of high levels of the protein in the blood shows that the heart muscle is under pressure in some way. The study involved mostly men, so the researchers could not say for sure that the results are also true for women.

They say the patients with the highest levels of NT-proBNP were older and had other problems like diabetes or high blood pressure.

Other researchers say more studies are needed to confirm if knowing the protein levels of a heart patient should affect that person's treatment. They also would like to know if more aggressive treatment could reduce the patient's chance of a heart attack or stroke.

The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Could a little sleep during the middle of the day reduce the risk of a heart attack? An unrelated study earlier this month in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that the answer may be yes.

In countries like the United States, afternoon naps are mostly for children. But they are common for adults in Mediterranean countries. And these countries generally have lower rates of heart disease. So scientists in the United States and Greece wondered if naps could play a part.

Twenty-three thousand healthy adults took part in the study by Harvard University and the University of Athens. Those who took thirty-minute naps three times a week had a thirty-seven percent lower risk of death from heart problems than people who did not take naps.

The researchers say napping may improve heart health by reducing stress. They say the research suggests that naps are especially good for working men. But they say not enough female subjects died during the study to judge the benefits for women.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.

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US History: 1950s Popular Culture Helped Take Minds Off Nuclear Fears

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It was also a time of growth in suburban living, rock and roll, and a rebellion in literature and art. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

This is Phil Murray.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Rich Kleinfeldt with THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

(MUSIC)

Today, we tell what life was like in American during the nineteen fifties.

VOICE ONE:

Imagine that you are visiting the United States. What would you expect to see?

In the nineteen fifties, America was a nation that believed it was on the edge of nuclear war. It was a nation where the popular culture of television was gaining strength. It was a nation whose population was growing as never before.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Josef Stalin

After the terrible suffering of World War Two, Americans thought the world would be peaceful for awhile. By nineteen fifty, however, political tensions were high again. The United States and the Soviet Union, allies in war, had become enemies.

The communists had taken control of one east European nation after another. And Soviet leader Josef Stalin made it clear that he wanted communists to rule the world.

The Soviet Union had strengthened its armed forces after the war. The United States had taken many steps to disarm. Yet it still possessed the atomic bomb. America thought it, alone, had this terrible weapon.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen forty-nine, a United States Air Force plane discovered strange conditions in the atmosphere. What was causing them? The answer came quickly: the Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb.

The race was on. The two nations competed to build weapons of mass destruction. Would these weapons ever be used?

The American publication, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, always showed a picture of a clock. By nineteen forty-nine, the time on the clock was three minutes before midnight. That meant the world was on the edge of nuclear destruction. The atomic scientists were afraid of what science had produced. They were even more afraid of what science could produce.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen-fifty, North Korea invaded South Korea. The Korean conflict increased efforts in the United States to develop a weapon more deadly than an atomic bomb. That was the hydrogen bomb. The Soviets were developing such a weapon, too.

Many Americans were afraid. Some built what they hoped would be safe rooms in or near their homes. They planned to hide in these bomb shelters during a nuclear attack.

VOICE ONE:

Other Americans, however, grew tired of being afraid. In nineteen fifty-two, the military hero of World War Two, Dwight Eisenhower, was elected president. The economy improved. Americans looked to the future with hope.

Dwight Eisenhower

One sign of hope was the baby boom. This was the big increase in the number of babies born after the war. The number of young children in America jumped from twenty-four million to thirty-five million between nineteen fifty and nineteen sixty. The bigger families needed houses. In ninetee fifty alone, one million four hundred thousand houses were built in America.

Most new houses were in the suburbs, the areas around cities. People moved to the suburbs because they thought the schools there were better. They also liked having more space for their children to play.

VOICE TWO:

Many Americans remember the nineteen fifties as the fad years. A fad is something that is extremely popular for a very short time one fad from the nineteen fifties was the Hula Hoop. The Hula Hoop was a colorful plastic tube joined to form a big circle. To play with it, you moved your hips in a circular motion. This kept it spinning around your body. The motion was like one used by Polynesian people in their native dance, the hula.

Other fads in the nineteen fifties involved clothes or hair. Some women, for example, cut and fixed their hair to look like the fur of a poodle dog. Actress Mary Martin made the poodle cut famous when she appeared in the Broadway play, "South Pacific."

VOICE ONE:

In motion pictures, Marilyn Monroe was becoming famous. Not everyone thought she was a great actress. But she had shining golden hair. And she had what was considered a perfect body. Marilyn Monroe's success did not make her happy. She killed herself in the nineteen sixties, when she was thirty-six years old.

Another famous actor of those days was James Dean. To many Americans, he was the living representation of the rebellious spirit of the young. In fact, one of his films was called, "Rebel Without a Cause." James Dean died in a car accident in nineteen fifty-five. He was twenty-four.

VOICE TWO:

The nineteen fifties saw a rebellion in American literature. As part of society lived new lives in the suburbs, another part criticized this life. These were the writers and poets of the Beat generation, including Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. They said life was empty in nineteen-fifties America. They described the people as dead in brain and spirit.

Jackson Pollock's action painting method

Jackson Pollock represented the rebellion in art. Pollock did not paint things the way they looked. Instead, he dropped paint onto his pictures in any way he pleased. He was asked again and again: "What do your paintings mean?" He answered: "Do not worry about what they mean. They are just there ... like flowers."

VOICE ONE:

In music, the rebel was Elvis Presley. He was the king of rock-and-roll.

(MUSIC)

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was a twenty-one-year-old truck driver when he sang on television for the first time. He moved his body to the music in a way that many people thought was too sexual.

Parents and religious leaders criticized him. Young people screamed for more. They could not get enough rock-and-roll. They played it on records. They heard it on the radio. And they listened to it on the television program "American Bandstand."

(MUSIC)

This program became the most popular dance party in America. Every week, young men and women danced to the latest songs in front of the television cameras.

VOICE TWO:

During the nineteen forties, there were only a few television receivers in American homes. Some called television an invention for stupid people to watch. By the end of the nineteen fifties, however, television was here to stay. The average family watched six hours a day.

Americans especially liked games shows and funny shows with comedians such as Milton Berle and Lucille Ball. They also liked shows that offered a mix of entertainment, such as those presented by Arthur Godfrey and Ed Sullivan.

VOICE ONE:

People from other countries watching American television in the nineteen fifties might have thought that all Americans were white Christians. At that time, television failed to recognize that America was a great mix of races and religions.

Few members of racial or religious minorities were represented on television. Those who appeared usually were shown working for white people.

A movement for civil rights for black Americans was beginning to gather strength in the nineteen fifties. Many legal battles were fought to end racial separation, especially in America's schools. By the nineteen sixties, the civil rights movement would shake the nation.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Dwight Eisenhower was president for most of the nineteen fifties. He faced the problems of communism, the threat of nuclear war, and racial tensions. He had a calm way of speaking. And he always seemed to deal with problems in the same calm way. Some citizens felt he was like a father to the nation.

With Mister Eisenhower in the White House, they believed that even in a dark and dangerous world, everything would be all right.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Phil Murray.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Rich Kleinfeldt. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

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Once You Get Into a US College, Where Should You Live?

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Advice about what to consider, and what questions to ask, in Part 25 of our Foreign Student Series. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We have talked all about the college admissions process. Now we move on to college life once you get accepted to a school. The first thing you need is a place to live. That is our subject this week.

Slusher Tower, a dormitory at Virginia Tech

Housing policies differ from school to school. Students might be able to choose whatever housing they can find. Or they might have to live in a dormitory, at least for the first year.

Dorms come in all sizes. A building may house a small number of students or many hundreds. Some have suites. Each suite has several bedrooms, a common living area and a bathroom. Six or more students may live in one suite.

Other dorms have many rooms along a common hallway, usually with two students in each room.

Many students say dormitories provide the best chance to get to know other students. Also, dorms generally cost less than apartments or other housing not owned by the school.

Most colleges and universities offer single-sex dorms, but usually males and females live in the same building. They might live on the same floors and share the same common bathrooms. But, in most cases, they may live in the same room only if they are married.

At many schools, male students can join fraternities and females can join sororities. These are mainly social organizations but members may also be able to live at their fraternity or sorority house.

Edward Spencer is the associate vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He says it is important to understand the rules of the building in which you will live.

He advises students to ask questions before they decide about their housing. For example: If a student requires a special diet, will the school provide for it? How much privacy can a student expect? Will the school provide a single room if a student requests one?

And what about any other special needs that a student might have?

Virginia Tech, for example, had a ban against candles in dorms. But it changed that policy to let students light candles for religious purposes.

The university also has several dorms open all year so foreign students have a place to stay during vacation times.

Our Foreign Student Series continues next week. Transcripts and audio files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

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Eye to Eye With an Elephant, and Watching for Hungry Crocs, on Safari in Africa

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''Safari'' comes from the Swahili and Arabic words for a trip or journey; come along and experience the sights and sounds of the wild. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

Safari explorers on the Chobe River

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we go on safari to experience the sights and sounds of Africa’s rich wildlife. The word “safari” comes from the Swahili and Arabic words for a trip or journey. Tourists from all over the world go to Africa to enjoy the excitement and wonder of safari explorations.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Imagine climbing into an open sided four-wheel drive vehicle early in the morning.

(SOUND)

Going on safari in a four-wheel drive vehicle

Your expert guide drives you through the entrance to Chobe National Park in Botswana. All around, you can see the huge pink sky at sunrise. The trees and thick grass move slightly in the wind. Then, suddenly you hear the movement of leaves nearby. A few meters away a huge elephant walks out of the green bushes. He is so close you can see his white ivory tusks and the deep lines in his gray skin. He seems to look right at you, then moves on to continue his search for more food. Welcome to Africa and the excitement of safari.

VOICE TWO:

There are many national parks and game reserves in Africa where you can go on safari. For example, many tourists visit Kruger National Park in the northeastern area of South Africa. This park was established in nineteen twenty-six in an effort to protect the wildlife of South Africa. It has a surface area of almost twenty thousand square kilometers. Many kinds of plants and animals live in Kruger, including the famous “Big Five.” The Big Five are five large animals: the elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros and buffalo.

Big game hunters created the term Big Five. For hunters, these five animals were some of the most difficult and dangerous to catch. Many tourists think mainly about seeing the Big Five while on safari. But there are many other interesting, and much smaller, animals as well.

VOICE ONE:

Kruger National Park represents a good example of the many kinds of safaris that are available to visitors. For example, in parks including Kruger, you can rent a car and drive around some areas on your own. There are also wilderness trails for safaris where you walk on a path to see the animals. A guide or ranger comes with you to keep you safe and tell about the animals. There are also mobile safaris where you sleep in a tent. The campsite moves with you as you travel through the park.

Private hotel companies operate some areas of parks such as Kruger. These hotels can be very costly. But many people think it is worth the cost to enjoy fine food and service. After all, it is not every day you can look out of your bedroom window and see a monkey or elephant standing outside.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

There are several general rules to follow when traveling on safari. For example, most people wear light-colored clothing such as light brown or tan. This is because lighter colors take in less of the strong heat of the sun than dark colors do. Darker color clothes are also more likely to attract mosquitoes. It is also important to wear a hat and sunscreen lotion to protect your skin from being burned by the very hot African sun. Binoculars are also very helpful for seeing animals that are far away.

VOICE ONE:

When you are out in nature it is important to speak softly so as not to frighten the animals away. Also, never try to feed or go near one of the animals. And, if you are in a boat, keep your arms and legs out of the water. You might want to touch the water to cool off. But you never know if a hungry crocodile or other creature is nearby. By following these guidelines you can enjoy a safari that is both safe and exciting.

VOICE TWO:

Tanzania is another country with many parks and game reserves. People who like chimpanzees can visit Gombe Stream National Park on the western border of the country. This is an area of thick forests, ancient trees, and beautiful lakes. Animal expert Jane Goodall made the chimpanzee populations in this area famous. She spent many years studying the behavior of these endangered animals.

A guide can take you deep into the forest. As you sit waiting, you might hear the screams and calls of the chimps coming closer. Chimpanzees share about ninety eight percent of their genes with humans. Their actions and noises can seem very human. Being able to watch these animals playing, eating and communicating with each other in the wild is a special experience to treasure.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Chobe National Park in Botswana is another popular place for safari travel. This park is home to one of the largest elephant populations in the world. Mist Setaung is a professional safari guide who often takes visitors through Chobe. Listen as he tells about himself and how he got this exciting job.

MIST SETAUNG: “My name is Mist Setaung and I was born and raised in Botswana, a place called Maun which is a gateway to the Okavango delta. To become a guide you actually go through a course. There’s a six-month course of the Department of Wildlife, which is run by the government. Then, after this course you take an exam. My father offered me a job as a trainee guide and I went into the bush. Slowly and surely I started learning and eventually it got into my blood, and I just got devoted to it.”

VOICE TWO:

A hippopotamus eating lunch

With a guide like Mist you are guaranteed to see new animals and learn a great deal. One excellent way to see the wildlife of Chobe is by boat. Mist can take you on a boat ride up and down the river so you can see the animals as they come to drink or play in the water. Hippopotamuses like to stand in the grass and eat most of the day. Or, they enter the water to stay cool. In fact, a hippo can stay under water for up to six minutes. They are very good at hiding in the water. If you look carefully, you can see their two eyes looking out of the water at you. You know they are near when you hear the strange deep noise they make with their nose.

(SOUND)

These animals look too big and fat to be dangerous. But they can be very aggressive and protective of their territory.

VOICE ONE:

A paradise whydah

If you do not see any big animals near the river, Mist can tell you about birds instead. He can point out the male paradise whydah with its unusually long black tail feathers. Or, he might show you one of many guinea fowl, which he jokingly says are also called “Chobe chickens.” He can even make noises that sound just like the birdcalls.

VOICE TWO:

There are also many smaller animals to watch for. Antelopes of all kinds live in the park. There are gnus or wildebeests with their flat wide faces. Fine-boned impalas walk around as gracefully as dancers. Solid warthogs explore the bush on their short little legs. These strange-looking wild pigs are dark with long yellow tusks coming out of their mouth. They are not very pretty animals. Mist says "they have a face only a mother could love."

Mist can also tell you about conservation efforts to protect wild animals. Some animals such as the black rhinoceros have almost been destroyed because poachers illegally hunt and kill them. Many parks across Africa have had trouble with poachers. In Chobe there is an army camp with workers who make sure that poachers stay away.

VOICE ONE:

It might surprise you that there are too many of some other animals. For example, in parts of Chobe the large elephant population has actually harmed the environment. When elephants eat huge quantities of leaves and grasses, other animals have trouble finding enough food to eat. And, elephants are not gentle eaters. They can tear out trees and bushes as they feed. In the dry season these dead plants can increase the danger of fires.

VOICE TWO:

Chobe elephants at sunset

If you are lucky, you can enjoy sunset while floating down the Chobe River. Yellow and orange colors fill the sky at this hour and are reflected in the water. The sun slowly starts to slip behind the trees. But before it is dark, you see a large movement of gray bodies. Three families of elephants have come to the water's edge.

More than thirty elephants are quietly drinking and eating. There are huge old elephants with large tusks. There are the mothers who lead each family group. Then, there are the babies who play and run around the thick legs of the adult elephants. The elephants look up and watch as your boat turns away and you head back to camp at the end of another day on safari in Africa.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

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