Fred Astaire, 1899-1987: His Acting, Singing and Dancing Changed the American Motion Picture Musical

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Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made nine movies together that people still enjoy today. Transcript of radio broadcast:

ANNOUNCER:

PEOPLE IN AMERICA -- a VOA Special English program about famous Americans of the past. Today, Harry Monroe and Kay Gallant tell the story of dancer and movie star, Fred Astaire.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Fred Astaire

The year is nineteen thirty-two. The United States is suffering the greatest economic depression in its history. Jobs are hard to find.

One young man is attempting to get a job dancing in the movies. Earlier, he and his sister had made a short film showing how they danced and sang. A motion picture company official watches the film. He writes this about the young man: "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little."

Even with this poor report, the young man still gets a job in the movies. And -- in time -- his acting, singing and dancing changed the American motion picture musical. His name was Fred Astaire.

(MUSIC: "I Want to Be a Dancing Man")

VOICE TWO:

Fred Astaire was born in the Middle Western city of Omaha, Nebraska, in eighteen ninety-nine. He was the second child of an Austrian beer maker, Frederick Austerlitz, and his wife, Ann Gelius Austerlitz. Fred and his sister, Adele, learned to dance when they were very young. Their mother took them to New York to study dance. They performed in their first professional show when Fred was ten years old and Adele was twelve. Later, as teenagers, the two danced in many shows throughout the United States.

Their first big success was on Broadway in nineteen seventeen. One critic wrote that Fred danced as if he had no bones.

VOICE ONE:

The Astaires -- as they were known -- quickly became Broadway stars. During the nineteen twenties, they sang and danced in eleven different shows. They also performed in England.

In nineteen thirty-two, Adele Astaire married a British man, and stopped performing. Critics had always considered her a better dancer than her brother. But Fred did not give up. He would go on alone, in the movies. Many years later in the film, "The Bandwagon," he played a man in a similar situation.

(MUSIC: "By Myself, Alone")

VOICE TWO:

One of Fred's first films was called "Flying Down To Rio." It was in this movie that he first danced with a young woman named Ginger Rogers.

Fred and Ginger were not the stars of the picture. But when they danced this dance, The Carioca, everyone knew that something important was happening in the world of movie dancing.

(MUSIC: "The Carioca")

VOICE ONE:

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made nine movies together. Their dancing

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

was considered -- and still is considered -- the best ballroom dancing in the world.

Dance critic Arlene Croce wrote: "Astaire and Rogers became the most popular team the movies have ever known. Their dancing was a vehicle of serious emotion between a man and a woman. It never happened in the movies again."

Many great American songwriters wanted to write songs for Fred and Ginger. Among them were Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George and Ira Gershwin. They liked the way Fred sang a song. He did it simply, with respect for the words. One of these songs was Cole Porter's "Night and Day." Fred sang it to Ginger in the movie "The Gay Divorcee."

(MUSIC: "Night and Day")

VOICE TWO:

Fred Astaire made forty other films. In addition to Ginger Rogers, he danced with many other talented women. Rita Hayworth. Eleanor Powell. Judy Garland. Cyd Charisse. Leslie Caron.

Fred also danced alone in some very unusual places. He danced up walls and on the ceiling in the film "Royal Wedding." He danced on rooftops in "The Belle of New York." He danced on roller skates in "Shall We Dance?" And he danced with firecrackers exploding at his feet in "Holiday Inn."

VOICE ONE:

Fred Astaire made all this look easy. But it was not.

Critics have said his technical skill was the greatest in the histor

Fred Astaire working on a dance

y of the movie musical. He said: "Dancing is a sweat job. You cannot just sit down and do it. You have to get up on your feet. It takes time to get a dance right, to create something memorable. I always try to get to know my dance so well that I do not have to think, 'what comes next?' Everything should fall into line. And then I know I have got control of the floor."

VOICE TWO:

Before each movie was filmed, Fred Astaire and his partner worked for as many as six weeks to plan each step and movement. He also planned how the cameras would photograph them, so that as much dancing as possible could be filmed at one time.

Earlier, movie directors had photographed dancers showing one part of their body at a time as they danced. Fred would not permit this. He wanted moviegoers to see his whole body at all times. And he would not permit any camera tricks to make his dancing appear smoother or faster than it was.

In nineteen forty-nine, Fred Astaire won a special award for his film work from America's Motion Picture Academy. He also won awards from the television industry for a number of his television programs.

VOICE ONE:

Fred stopped dancing in nineteen seventy. He was more than seventy years old at the time. He said a dancer could not continue dancing forever. He said he did not want to disappoint anyone, even himself. He danced again in public only once after that. It was with another great male dancer, Gene Kelly, in the movie "That's Entertainment, Part Two".

Fred did not always appear as a dancing man. He had a dramatic part in the movie "On The Beach" in nineteen fifty-nine. And he starred in a non-dancing television series called "It Takes a Thief".

VOICE TWO:

Fred Astaire and his first wife, Phyllis, raised three children. Phyllis died in nineteen fifty-four. Twenty-five years later, Fred married race horse rider Robyn Smith.

Fred Astaire died on June twenty-second, nineteen eighty-seven. He was eighty-eight years old. He was called the greatest dancer in the world. His dancing was called perfect. And moviegoers everywhere will remember him as a great performer whose work will live forever in his films.

(MUSIC: "I Want to Be a Dancing Man")

ANNOUNCER:

You have been listening to People In America -- a program in Special English on the Voice of America. This program was written by Nancy Steinbach. Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe were the narrators. I'm Shirley Griffith.

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A Recent Study Suggests Most Young Americans Plan to Vote for a Democrat in Next Year's Presidential Election

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Most young Americans consider themselves socially liberal. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

What do young Americans think about the presidential candidates and social issues? A new public opinion study shows that the majority of young people support Democrats over Republicans. The young people also have liberal positions on several social issues.

The results of the study were published earlier this week by the New York Times newspaper. The opinion study was a joint effort by the New York Times, CBS News, and MTV, the music television network. The study was based on telephone calls to six hundred fifty-nine young people earlier this month. They were between the ages of seventeen and twenty-nine.

Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois at a Democratic presidential debate in June.

Fifty-four percent of the young Americans questioned said they plan to vote for a Democratic Party candidate for president in two thousand eight. They appeared to like two candidates the most -- Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The study also found that many more young Americans are paying attention to the two thousand eight presidential race than the last one in two thousand four. They share with the general public a negative opinion of President Bush. Only twenty-eight percent of this group approve of the job he is doing as president.

Almost half of the young Americans questioned feel their generation will be worse off than their parents’ generation. But more than seventy-five percent of them believe the votes of their generation would make a difference in the next presidential election.

The study found that young adults share the same opinions as the general population on some issues. But they have different opinions on several issues. For example, young Americans are more likely than the general public to support a government-controlled health care system for all Americans. The young people are also more likely to support a liberal policy on immigration.

Forty-four percent of the young Americans said they believe couples of the same sex should be permitted to legally marry. Only twenty-eight percent of the general population approve of the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Young Americans are also more likely than the general public to support legalizing the possession of small amounts of the drug marijuana.

When asked about the war in Iraq, young adults appeared to be more hopeful than the population as a whole. Fifty-one percent of the young adults said the United States is likely to succeed in Iraq. This is compared with forty-five percent of the general population.

Young Americans share the same opinions as the general public on the issue of abortion to end a pregnancy. Seventy-five percent said abortion should be available, either as it is or with greater restrictions.

And the majority of young adults agrees with the general population that global warming is a serious problem that should be a top issue for government leaders.

And that’s IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. Our reports can be found on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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World Trade Talks Break Down as the Group of 4 Fail to Reach Agreement

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The United States, European Union, Brazil and India could not reach an agreement on farm subsidies. Now, World Trade Organization talks move to Geneva. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

United States Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns at World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, June 22, 2007.

Talks meant to end disagreement over international trade failed to produce results in Potsdam, Germany last week. The European Union and the United States sought to find common ground with Brazil and India on several trade issues. The group has become known as the G-Four in World Trade Organization negotiations. But neither side could agree and talks ended last Friday, two days earlier than expected.

Brazil and India have been seeking big cuts in aid provided to farmers in industrial countries. The two nations have played the part of spokesmen for many of the least developed nations in the one- hundred-fifty-member W.T.O.

During the talks, the United States offered to limit farm aid, or subsidies, to seventeen billion dollars a year. That is down from twenty-two billion dollars offered in October of two thousand five. But Brazil wants the United States to promise a bigger reduction in farm aid to below fifteen billion dollars. Currently, American farmers receive a total of about eleven billion dollars a year in subsidies.

Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath blamed the United States' position on farm aid for the failure of the talks. But India wants to protect twenty percent of its farm product import taxes from all or most cuts. United States Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said that would leave almost all of India's import taxes in place.

An official at the talks said the EU offered to cut import taxes on its most protected farm products by seventy percent. That is ten percentage points higher than its proposal from October, two thousand five. Products considered especially important would only receive subsidy cuts of twenty-three percent.

The Doha round of W.T.O. negotiations started in November of two thousand one. A main goal was for rich countries to reduce their farm subsidies on important crops like cotton, sugar and corn. In return, developing countries would reduce or end barriers to trade in goods and services from industrial countries.

Now, negotiations of the Doha Round will have to continue in Geneva, Switzerland. United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab said nations want to reach agreement on the Doha development plan. But she admitted that negotiations only among the G-Four nations may not be enough.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.

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Exploring the Meeting Point Between Natural and Mechanical Forms: The Art of Graham Caldwell

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Also: A listener in Hungary asks about Hell's Kitchen in New York City. And hear music from popular singer Chris Daughtry. Transcript of radio broadcast:

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We answer a question from a listener about a place called Hell's Kitchen…

Play music by Chris Daughtry and his new rock group…

And report about a new American artist.

Graham Caldwell

HOST:

Graham Caldwell is a young artist who makes magical and unusual sculptures out of glass and metal. This artist does not want to make glass art that just looks nice. He wants to push the limits of this material. He likes to explore the meeting point of natural and mechanical forms. Critics are praising his imaginative and bold sculptures. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Graham Caldwell makes many of his glass sculptures in his workshop near Washington, D.C.

There, you can watch him put red-hot liquid glass on a metal stick ca

Malocclusus by Graham Caldwell

lled a blowpipe. He expertly forms the glass in different ways by blowing air through the blowpipe opening. He can stretch the glass into long shapes or let it hang down so that gravity does the work. But Caldwell’s art is not usually just one single piece of sculpture. Each work is made up of many similar parts.

Graham Caldwell recently had a show at an art gallery in Washington. One work was made up of pointy glass pieces that looked like the shape of elephant tusks. They were attached to the wall by round metal bases.

Caldwell arranged these sharp, curved pieces in a circle so that all the points were

Untitled by Graham Caldwell

going in the same direction. It looked like the open mouth of an angry sea creature.

Another work was made up of many slightly different silvery glass forms that looked like tear drops coming out of the wall. Each glass drop reflected the silvery shape next to it. When you stood near the rounded forms, you could see yourself and the whole room reflected in the glass.

Graham Caldwell said the piece is about the "intelligibility of reflections." This striking artwork keeps you looking, wondering, and exploring.

Hell's Kitchen

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Hungary. Monika Fogl asks about a neighborhood in New York City called Hell's Kitchen.

Restaurants in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City

Hell's Kitchen is on the island of Manhattan. It is between Thirty-Fourth and Fifty-Ninth Streets west of Eighth Avenue all the way to the Hudson River. Dutch immigrants settled in the area in the late sixteen hundreds. Back then, it had green fields and small rivers. The Dutch called the area Vale of Flowers.

How did the area get the name Hell's Kitchen? There are several possible answers. Some people say it was the traditional name of a building in the area. The building was in bad condition and the people who lived there were very poor.

By the eighteen hundreds the area had become a dangerous place to live. Many poor Irish immigrants lived there. Fights and other crimes were common. People lived in dirty, crowded buildings that the owners did not take care of. The area had many factories, including slaughterhouses, where animals were killed and sold at food markets.

In the eighteen sixties there were riots in Hell's Kitchen to protest the government's order forcing people to serve in the military during the Civil War. White people attacked black people, whom they blamed for the war. Many people were killed during the riots.

Some people think the area was named Hell's Kitchen around that time. It could have come from Americans who knew of a poor and dangerous neighborhood in London, England called Hell's Kitchen.

There is also the story of a police officer named Fred who worked the area in the eighteen seventies. Fred and his partner were watching a fight among people in the neighborhood. The partner said, "The place is hell itself." Fred answered, "Hell's a mild climate. This is Hell's kitchen."

In the nineteen thirties, the Great Depression made the poverty in Hell's Kitchen even worse. Many factories in the area dismissed employees. Port companies and slaughterhouses closed. Many people were forced to live on the streets because they could not pay for housing. Many others left the area.

But new immigrant groups continued to arrive in New York, seeking a better life. Many Puerto Rican immigrants settled in Hell's Kitchen. The nineteen fifty-nine Broadway musical "West Side Story" was set in the area. It told about two young lovers torn by ethnic conflict between their Puerto Rican and white groups.

The area has experienced a renewal over the years. It has many art galleries and restaurants. And it is close to Broadway Theaters. Hell's Kitchen has in fact been home to many young actors. There are also several broadcasting operations for television and radio in the area.

There have been efforts to change the neighborhood's name to Clinton, after a former New York governor. But efforts to keep the name Hell's Kitchen are equal in strength.

Chris Daughtry

HOST:

The television show, “American Idol,” has been the most popular program on American television for the past few years. Young singers perform on the show each week. Three judges comment on their performances. Then the viewers at home vote for their favorite. The singer with the fewest votes leaves the show. The winner gets the title, “American Idol.” But what happens to the singers discovered on the show after the competition ends? Faith Lapidus tells us about one “American Idol” loser who has become a big winner.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Chris Daughtry competed on "American Idol" a year ago. But he was voted off the

Chris Daughtry

show. He is now the lead singer of the rock group called Daughtry. That is also the name of the band’s first album, released last November. It has sold more than two and one-half million copies. Here is the first single from the album DAUGHTRY. It is called, “It’s Not Over.”

(MUSIC)

Chris Daughtry is twenty-seven years old. He was born and raised in North Carolina. He wrote or helped write ten of the twelve songs on the album. Here he sings, “What I Want.”

(MUSIC)

Critics say Chris Daughtry has become the best-selling musician in the United States. This is not bad for a singer who was a loser on “American Idol." We leave you now with another song from DAUGHTRY. It is called, “Home.”

(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 also was 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., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

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

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President Reagan's Main Goal was to Shrink Government. But Budget Deficits Created a Huge National Debt.

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President Ronald Reagan was elected to a second term in nineteen-eighty-four. He won fifty-nine percent of the popular vote. em>Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

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

(MUSIC)

Today, we continue the story of America's fortieth president, Ronald Reagan.

VOICE ONE:

President Ronald Reagan raises his left arm as he is shot while leaving a Washington hotel in 1981.

Soon after Ronald Reagan's presidency began, there was an attempt on his life. A gunman shot him in March, nineteen eighty-one. Doctors removed the bullet. He rested, regained his strength, and returned to the White House in twelve days.

The new president's main goal was to reduce the size of the federal government. He and other conservative Republicans wanted less government interference in the daily lives of Americans.

VOICE TWO:

President Reagan won Congressional approval for his plan to reduce taxes on earnings. Many Americans welcomed the plan. Others were concerned about its affect on the national debt. They saw taxes go down while defense spending went up.

To save money, the Reagan administration decided to cut spending for some social programs. This pleased conservatives. Liberals, however, said it limited poor peoples' chances for good housing, health care, and education.

VOICE ONE:

President Reagan also had to make decisions about using military force in other countries. In nineteen eighty-three, he sent Marines to Lebanon. They joined other peacekeeping troops to help stop fighting among several opposing groups. On October twenty-third, a Muslim extremist exploded a bomb in the building where the Marines were living. Two-hundred forty-one Americans died.

VOICE TWO:

Two days later, Marines led an invasion of the Caribbean island nation of Grenada. Communist forces were rebelling against the government there. Cuban soldiers were guarding the streets. President Reagan said he feared for the safety of American students at Grenada's medical school. He sent the Marines to get them out safely. The Marines quickly defeated the communist forces. Many Americans were pleased. Others were angry. They said Grenada was invaded only to make people forget about what happened in Lebanon.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The next year, Nineteen-Eighty-Four, was another presidential election year. It looked like no one could stop President Reagan. His warm way with people had made him hugely popular. He gained support with the military victory in Grenada. And, by the time the campaign started, inflation was under control. The Republican Party re-nominated Ronald Reagan for president and George Bush for vice president.

VOICE TWO:

There were several candidates for the Democratic Party's nomination. One was the first African American to run for president, Jesse Jackson. He was a Protestant clergyman and a long-time human rights activist.

The candidate who finally won the nomination was Walter Mondale. He had been a senator and had served as vice president under President Jimmy Carter. The vice presidential candidate was Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro. It was the first time a major political party in the United States had nominated a woman for national office.

VOICE ONE:

One of the big issues in the campaign was taxes. Most candidates try not to talk about them. Democrat Mondale did. He said taxes would have to be raised to pay for new government programs. This was a serious political mistake. President Reagan gained even more support as a result.

The two candidates agreed to debate on television. During one debate, President Reagan looked old and tired. He did not seem sure of his answers. Yet his popularity was not damaged. On Election Day, he won fifty-nine percent of the popular vote. On Inauguration Day, the weather was not so kind. It was bitterly cold in Washington. All inaugural activities, including the swearing-in ceremony, were held inside.

VOICE TWO:

President Reagan's first term began with an attempt on his life. Six months after his second term began, he faced another threat. Doctors discovered and removed a large growth from his colon. The growth was cancerous. The president was seventy-four years old. Yet, once again, he quickly regained his strength and returned to work.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

For years, the United States had accused Libyan leader Muammar Kaddafi of supporting international terrorist groups. It said he provided them with weapons and a safe place for their headquarters.

In January, Nineteen-Eighty-Six, the United States announced economic restrictions against Libya. Then it began military training exercises near the Libyan coast. Libya said the Americans were violating its territory and fired missiles at them. The Americans fired back, sinking two ships.

VOICE TWO:

On April Fifth, a bomb destroyed a public dance club in West Berlin. Two people died, including an American soldier. The United States said Libya was responsible. President Reagan ordered bomb attacks against the Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Muammar Kaddafi escaped unharmed. But one of his children was killed.

Some Americans said the raid was cruel. Others praised it. President Reagan said the United States did what it had to do.

VOICE ONE:

The president also wanted to intervene in Nicaragua. About fifteen thousand rebel troops, called Contras, were fighting the communist government there. Reagan asked for military aid for the Contras. Congress rejected the request. It banned all aid to the Contras.

At that same time, Muslim terrorists in Lebanon seized several Americans. The Reagan administration looked for ways to gain the hostages' release. It decided to sell missiles and missile parts to Iran in exchange for Iran's help. After the sale, Iran told the terrorists in Lebanon to release a few American hostages.

VOICE TWO:

Not long after, serious charges became public. Reports said that money from the sale of arms to Iran was used to aid the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Several members of the Reagan administration resigned. It appeared that some had violated the law.

President Reagan said he regretted what had happened. But he said he had not known about it. Investigations and court trials of those involved continued into the Nineteen-Nineties. Several people were found guilty of illegal activities and of lying to Congress. No one went to jail.

VOICE ONE:

Most Americans did not blame President Reagan for the actions of others in his administration. They still supported him and his policies. They especially supported his efforts to deal with the Soviet Union.

At the beginning of his first term, President Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire". To protect the United States against the Soviets, he increased military spending to the highest level in American history. Then, in Nineteen-Eighty-Five, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union.

VOICE TWO:

The two leaders met in Switzerland, in Iceland, in Washington, and in Moscow. Each agreed to destroy hundreds of nuclear missiles. President Reagan also urged Mister Gorbachev to become more democratic. He spoke about the wall that communists had built to divide the city of Berlin, Germany.

RONALD REAGAN:

of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, on June 12, 1987." src="http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/images/AP-Reagan-Berlinwall_27jun0.jpg" vspace="2" width="210" border="0" height="173" hspace="2">

President Reagan after his speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, on June 12, 1987.

"No American who sees first-hand can ever again take for granted his or her freedom or the precious gift that is America. That gift of freedom is actually the birthright of all humanity. And that is why, as I stood there, I urged the Soviet leader, Mister Gorbachev, to send a new signal of openness to the world by tearing down that wall."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Ronald Reagan was president as the American economy grew rapidly. He was president as a new sense of openness was beginning in the Soviet Union. Yet, at the end of his presidency, many Americans were concerned by what he left behind. Increased military spending, together with tax cuts, had made the national debt huge. The United States owed thousands of millions of dollars. The debt would be a political issue for presidents to come.

On our next program, we will discuss some social and cultural issues of the Reagan years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

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

VOICE ONE:

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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School Ends, and So Too Does Our Foreign Student Series

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A look at graduation time in America. All 43 reports in our series on US higher education can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Summer means the end of another school year in America. May and June are graduation season.

A group of Brown University undergraduates before Brown's graduation ceremony in Providence, Rhode Island.

Centuries of tradition explain the special caps and gowns that students and professors wear at commencement ceremonies. Top members of the class and invited guests offer speeches and advice. Finally the time comes for what everyone has been waiting for: one by one, the names of the students are called.

They go to the front and shake hands with school officials. They might receive their official diploma that day or maybe a few weeks later.

Graduations are always emotional events. But in May, at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, a graduate named Nola Ochs received special attention. Her major area of study was history. Nothing unusual about that. But Nola Ochs is ninety-five years old.

That made her the world's oldest graduate for the keepers of the Guinness World Records. Until now they have recognized a ninety-year-old journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma in two thousand four.

Nola Ochs' granddaughter graduated with her. One of the commencement speakers told the students to take a lesson from Nola Ochs and never stop trying.

That is good advice on which to end our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We began in September with the process of applying to an American college or university. We talked about admissions tests, financial aid, online education, student exchange programs, programs for disabled students and a lot more.

All forty-three reports can be found online at voaspecialenglish.com. Many were based on questions from listeners. We invite you to continue writing us with your questions about the American education system. Our Foreign Student Series may be over for now, but we will still try to answer questions on future reports. Our e-mail address is special@voanews.com.

Population experts at the Census Bureau say American colleges and universities will have an estimated eighteen million students this fall. Twenty years ago, there were thirteen million. Today there are not only more college-age Americans, but more going to college, including older people and women. At last report from two years ago, fifty-six percent of undergraduates were women. And women were fifty-nine percent of graduate students.

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

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'Mercury 13' Women Followed a Dream but Could Never Live It

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The story of a group of female pilots who passed tests to train as astronauts in the 1960s, until NASA decided to keep them grounded. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a program in the nineteen sixties to train women as astronauts. Today they are known as the Mercury Thirteen. They never reached their goal of spaceflight. But they led the way for other American women to travel into space.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-nine the United States was involved in a space race with the former Soviet Union. The Soviets had surprised the world by launching the first satellite. Sputnik One was launched into orbit on October fourth, nineteen fifty-seven. Suddenly, the United States appeared to be behind in an important area of technology.

As a result, President Dwight Eisenhower formed the National Aeronautics

The Mercury 7 astronauts

and Space Administration in nineteen fifty-eight.

By April seventh, nineteen fifty-nine NASA introduced the first American astronauts. They were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil Grissom, Walter Shirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. They were known as the Mercury Seven.

VOICE TWO:

In the fall of that year, William Randolph Lovelace was attending a meeting of the Air Force Association in Miami, Florida. Doctor Lovelace was deeply involved in the effort to put Americans into space. He served on NASA's Special Committee on Life Sciences. Astronaut candidates had been put through tests at his medical center in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Doctor Lovelace and Air Force Brigadier General Donald Flickinger wondered if women could be trained as astronauts. General Flickinger had designed the space flight tests for the astronaut candidates. He also knew that the Russians had plans to launch a woman into space.

The two men met with Jerrie Cobb, a twenty-eight year-old pilot. They thought Miz Cobb would make a good female astronaut candidate. They invited her to Doctor Lovelace's medical research center in Albuquerque for tests.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Jerrie Cobb went to Doctor Lovelace's medical center in February of nineteen sixty. She spent one week receiving the same series of tests that the Mercury Seven astronauts faced.

The tests included a general physical examination and X-rays. Some tests involved electric shock. Other tests pushed the body to its physical limits. Yet another test required freezing the inner ear with ice water to test for the condition of vertigo. The doctors also measured brain waves. They performed a total of seventy-five tests on Jerrie Cobb.

VOICE TWO:

Jerrie Cobb in the MASTIF

Jerrie Cobb had one unusual test on a machine called the Multi-Axis Space Test Inertia Facility, or MASTIF. The MASTIF was in NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. This special machine could move a person in three different directions almost at the same time. It was designed to test a pilot's ability to control a spacecraft under severe conditions. Jerrie Cobb passed the test.

VOICE ONE:

During her tests, Jerrie Cobb knew that if she failed the first level of astronaut training no other women would be tested. By August, the results of the tests were complete. Doctor Lovelace was fully satisfied that Jerrie Cobb had scored similarly to the Mercury Seven astronauts. He even noted that Miz Cobb required less oxygen than the average male astronaut. Jerrie Cobb's success meant that more female candidates were needed for more tests.

VOICE TWO:

Jerrie Cobb helped Doctor Lovelace and General Flickinger chose female astronaut candidates. She searched among members of the international woman's aviation group, the Ninety-Nines, based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Cobb with a Mercury capsule

Miz Cobb worked hard to develop a list of good candidates by August, nineteen sixty-one. Twenty-five other women pilots were chosen and tested at Doctor Lovelace's research center. Candidates had to have flown an airplane for more than one thousand hours. Generally, they were required to be in their early thirties. And they had to be in good physical health.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Not all the women invited to Albuquerque passed Doctor Lovelace's tests. After the first level of testing only thirteen remained, including Jerrie Cobb. The youngest among them was twenty-one-year-old Wally Funk who was also a competitive skier. Forty-year-old Jane Hart was the oldest. She was married to Senator Philip Hart of Michigan. She also flew helicopters.

Other members of the group were Myrtle Cagle, twin sisters Jan and Marion Dietrich, Jean Hixson and Gene Nora Stumbough Jessen. Also included were Irene Leverton, Bernice Steadman, Sara Gorelick Ratley, Jerri Sloan Truhill and Rhea Hurrle Woltman.

These women would be known as the Mercury Thirteen. They had passed the first level of tests that the Mercury Seven astronauts faced. They now wanted to progress to the next level.

VOICE TWO:

Not all the Mercury Thirteen women took the next level of testing. For the Mercury Seven male astronauts, psychological and space flight testing took place at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. However, NASA would not permit testing to be done on the women at that base.

Only Jerrie Cobb, Wally Funk and Rhea Woltman would receive special psychiatric testing for space fitness in Oklahoma City.

At the same time, Doctor Lovelace began plans for flight training the candidates. The United States Naval School of Aviation Medicine agreed to test Jerrie Cobb for ten days in Pensacola, Florida.

Jerrie Cobb passed a series of tests meant for Navy pilots and astronauts. She would be the only one of the Mercury Thirteen to successfully complete all the tests that Mercury Seven astronauts took. She would also be the only one who had the chance to do so.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Doctor Lovelace had made plans to test the other women in the group at Pensacola. After a delay, September eighteenth was chosen as the day for flight-testing to begin. But it never took place. The women received telegram messages saying the tests had been cancelled four days before they were to begin.

The Navy wanted NASA to approve the training. NASA resisted the idea. Jerrie Cobb and Jane Hart immediately tried to get the testing restarted. Their efforts led to a committee hearing in Congress. But the women found little support.

Astronaut John Glenn spoke to the committee. He said: "The fact that women are not in this field is a fact of our social order." Glenn later said that he would not oppose a female astronaut program. But he saw no requirement for one.

VOICE TWO:

After two days of hearings, members of Congress had heard enough. They would do nothing to change NASA's decision not to train women for spaceflight.

But the answer about women in space came less than one year after those congressional hearings. On June sixteenth, nineteen sixty-three, Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She orbited the Earth forty-eight times and spent almost three days in space.

VOICE ONE:

The Mercury Thirteen women were never officially part of the NASA space program. But their willingness to undergo testing to be astronauts and their performance in those tests showed that women could go into space.

It was not until nineteen eighty-three that Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. Sixteen years later, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission. She invited the surviving members of the Mercury Thirteen to attend the launch. Seven women were able to attend.

Mercury 13 members, from left, Gene Nora Jessen, Wally Funk, Jerrie Cobb, Jerri Truhill, Sarah Ratley, Myrtle Cagle and Bernice Steadman

On May twelfth, two thousand seven, the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh also honored these women. The university gave honorary Doctor of Science degrees to the eight surviving members of the Mercury thirteen. The university said it was honoring the spirit and efforts of this special group of women.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. 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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How a Handshake Can Say a Lot About You in Business Communication

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AA: I'm Avi Arditti, Rosanne Skirble is away. This week on WORDMASTER, English teacher Nina Weinstein joins me from Los Angeles to discuss business communication in America, including body language -- like the importance of a firm handshake. Business people from Japan, for example, are used to bowing, not shaking hands the way Americans do.

NINA WEINSTEIN: "The firmness of the handshake transmits information. It says that 'I am strong, I am confident and I'm happy to meet you.' Some people want to shake for a long time and really the average handshake is three shakes. So -- "

AA: "Just kind of like one, two, three; reach forward, shake hands three times and ... "

NINA WEINSTEIN: "Exactly. One of the other things we talk about is the issue of men and women in business. Some of my students, actually a lot of my students have learned that you don't shake hands with a woman unless she offers her hand first. And this is a very, very old fashioned rule. What I tell my students is that you shake hands with everyone the same way. And it doesn't matter if she's a woman or a man, doesn't matter."

AA: "And what do you say when you're shaking hands?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "We extend our hands and as we're shaking we say 'nice to meet you.' And there's a kind of rhythm to that that we take for granted, but that is not natural to the students. So I give them a one-two-three: my name first, extending my hand is number two and number three [is saying] 'nice to meet you' as we're shaking hands. And then they can give more information about their background."

AA: "So now moving into the business English part of this here, so you need to make a smooth transition -- right? -- from shaking hands, introducing yourselves. What comes next?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: " Next could be small talk or it could be what we call making people comfortable. So if you're meeting someone in your own office or in your own environment, you might offer them coffee or tea. You might say 'Please have a seat.' You might begin with a little bit of small talk.

"So those things come right after the introduction. And with regard to small talk, that's another lesson, another kind of long lesson. We don't want to get to the business right away. As soon as someone comes into a room, we don't say 'I've called you here because, blah blah blah.' We need to relax."

AA: "And small talk can be pretty difficult to actually, if you're not comfortable with it -- even native speakers aren't always comfortable with small talk. Do you have any advice or tips that you give people?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "I give them some topics that are good in any situation. For instance, if it's Monday, we can always say 'Did you have a nice weekend?' If it's Thursday or Friday we can always say 'What are your plans for the weekend?' So we can talk about weekend or vacation plans with just about anybody. We can always talk about the weather. The topics that are not good would be anything emotional."

AA: "So now we've talked about how to begin a conversation with handshake and greeting and so forth, what about ending a conversation? What do you tell your students?"

NINA WEINSTEIN: "If they have just met the person, then at the end of the conversation they should say 'It was really nice meeting you.' And then if the other person has said that first, then their response would be 'It was really nice meeting you, too.' If it wasn't an introduction, if they just spoke, then 'It was very nice talking to you.' Or the verb will be whatever describes what they were doing: 'It was very nice meeting with you,' 'It was very nice having dinner with you.'"

AA: "And shake hands again."

NINA WEINSTEIN: "And shake hands again. The handshake is used a lot. We also discuss different variations of the handshake. Sometimes when you're shaking hands, the person will put their other hand on top of your hand, and this is a kind of affection and it shows friendship and so forth. So we have to be aware that that's what that is.

"And also, people hug here a lot more than they may in other cultures. My students can be very uncomfortable with that because it's just not something that they're used to. So they may go to a business party and hug someone that they've never actually hugged before -- not that they initiated it, the other person did. And so I always tell them to just make it brief if they feel uncomfortable -- you shouldn't do anything that you're uncomfortable with -- and kind of create as much distance as they can without making the person feel that they're carrying bacteria or a virus or something."

AA "Just kind of give a little hug back."

NINA WEINSTEIN: "Yeah, and then that's it."

AA: Nina Weinstein has taught business English for about thirty years and has written books on this subject and others. You can find her previous WORDMASTER segments and also learn more about the art of small talk at our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster.

And that's all for this week. Our e-mail address is word@voanews.com. I'm Avi Arditti.

AA/rms

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Staying Healthy by Washing Your Hands

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Experts have found that greater use of soap and water could save a million lives a year by reducing the spread of infections. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Hand washing is a powerful way to prevent the spread of disease.

The World Bank, the United Nations and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical

Medicine did a study to urge hand washing around the world. They found that one million lives could be saved each year if people washed their hands with soap often. They said that programs to increase hand washing with soap could be among the most effective ways to reduce infectious disease.

Doctors say many diseases can be prevented from spreading by hand washing. These include pinworms, influenza, the common cold, hepatitis A, meningitis and infectious diarrhea.

Hand washing destroys germs from other people, animals or objects a person has touched. When people get bacteria on their hands, they can infect themselves by touching their eyes, nose or mouth. Then these people can infect other people.

The experts say the easiest way to catch a cold is to touch your nose or eyes after someone nearby has sneezed or coughed. Another way to become sick is to eat food prepared by someone whose hands were not clean.

The experts say that hand washing is especially important before and after preparing food, before eating and after using the toilet. People should wash their hands after handling animals or animal waste, and after cleaning a baby. The experts say it is also a good idea to wash your hands after handling money and after sneezing or coughing. And it is important to wash your hands often when someone in your home is sick.

The experts say the most effective way to wash your hands is to rub them together while using soap and warm water. They say you do not have to use special antibacterial soap. Be sure to rub all areas of the hands for about ten to fifteen seconds. The rubbing action helps remove germs. Then rinse the hands with water and dry them.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are rubbed into the hands and do not require soap and water. Experts say these products must contain at least sixty percent alcohol to be effective in killing most bacteria and viruses.

Experts also say that people who use public bathrooms and dry their hands with a paper towel should use the towel to turn off the water. Then, before throwing it away, use the same paper to open the bathroom door.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. For more news and information about health, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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Banks Look to Expand Microfinance Services

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A nonprofit group, Women's World Banking, is working with lenders to go beyond just offering loans to start businesses. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Officials from some of the world’s leading banks were in the Netherlands last week for a conference on microfinance lending. The Dutch government and the nonprofit organization Women's World Banking organized the two-day meeting.

Mary Ellen Iskenderian is president of New York-based Women's World Banking. She told us from The Hague that people generally think of microfinance only as credit -- a small loan to start a business. But she says her group has found more and more demand for other kinds of services. The organization is working with banks to offer products like, for example, life insurance policies.

She says the question is not if commercial banks can offer microfinance services in a profitable way. The question is how. The bankers discussed things like the use of mobile phone technology in banking, and the ability of banks to offer services in rural areas. Could people do their banking at the point of sale in a village store, for example?

The meeting brought together representatives of the Global Network for Banking Innovation. Women's World Banking formed this network six years ago. It says the aim is to guarantee responsible lending to poor borrowers.

The network is an alliance of twenty-four major banks and microfinance lenders in fifteen countries. Members include Citigroup in the United States, ING and Triodos Bank of the Netherlands, Equity Bank of Kenya and Banco Azteca of Mexico.

Women's World Banking offers support, advice and training to more than fifty microfinance organizations. The group says it has helped twenty-three million people in forty-three countries receive financial services over the last thirty years. Most but not all of the borrowers are women.

As more commercial banks enter microfinance, Mary Ellen Iskenderian says women must continue to be served, to reduce poverty. She says research has shown that for every dollar a female borrower earns from her business, ninety-eight cents is reinvested.

Women use their earnings to educate their children and to improve their homes and communities, she says. A similar male borrower, she says, will reinvest only sixty cents.

The idea for Women's World Banking came out of the first United Nations Conference on Women, held in Mexico City in nineteen seventy-five.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. You can learn more about women's issues at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Valerie Wilson Has a Story to Tell and a Book to Sell, if CIA Will Let Her

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How the CIA leak case led to a prison sentence for a former top official in the Bush administration. Also, a visit to the Sisterhood of Spies area at the International Spy Museum. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. Our subject this week is women in the spy business.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Valerie Wilson before a US congressional committee

Her husband calls her "Jane Bond." Valerie Plame Wilson may not exactly be as famous as the imaginary British secret agent James Bond. But public attention in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case brought an end to her career in the Central Intelligence Agency.

Valerie Wilson has sold her life story for a Hollywood movie project. And she has written a book about her twenty years in the C.I.A. "Fair Game" is supposed to be published in October. But the C.I.A. has moved to block its release.

The agency objects to her listing her dates of service. Officially, they remain classified information even though her employment dates were made public last year by mistake.

VOICE TWO:

At the end of May, Valerie Wilson and her publisher brought a civil action over the issue of the dates. The lawsuit accuses the C.I.A. of violating her constitutional right of free speech. It says the C.I.A. demands that large parts of her work be removed or rewritten to hide her government service before two thousand two.

Valerie Wilson says the issue is politics. The C.I.A. says the issue is national security.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

People have seen the former operative on television, in newspapers and across the pages of magazines. Some people criticize Valerie Wilson and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, calling them attention-seekers. But it was unwanted attention that "outed" her as a C.I.A. officer.

Newspaper columnist Robert Novak wrote about her in July of two thousand three. It happened a week after her husband criticized the Bush administration over the Iraq war.

VOICE TWO:

Joseph Wilson had written in the New York Times about a trip he made to Niger in two thousand two. The C.I.A. sent the retired diplomat to investigate a British intelligence report that Iraq had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Africa. The material can be used to make nuclear weapons.

Joseph Wilson said he did not find any evidence. He suggested that some intelligence was misused to overstate the threat from Iraq's nuclear weapons program and justify an invasion.

VOICE ONE:

After his article appeared, officials within the administration told reporters that Valerie Wilson worked for the C.I.A. The C.I.A. says her employment at that time was classified information.

President Bush ordered an investigation into the leak. No one was ever charged with the crime of identifying an undercover operative. But the investigation led to charges against the top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby

Lewis Libby, also known as Scooter Libby, resigned when he was charged in October of two thousand five. He said in court that he was not guilty.

But in March of this year, after five weeks of trial, a federal jury found him guilty of lying to investigators in an effort to subvert justice. The jury found that he lied about what he had discussed with three reporters concerning Valerie Wilson's employment at the C.I.A.

VOICE TWO:

On June fifth, Judge Reggie Walton sentenced him to thirty months in prison and a fine of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. The judge later ruled that Lewis Libby cannot remain free while his lawyers appeal the case. He may go to prison in several weeks.

His lawyers say he did not purposely make false statements. They say he could not remember details because he had national security concerns on his mind. Also, his lawyers say they believe that the judge wrongly excluded some of the evidence they wanted to present in his defense.

Supporters of Scooter Libby are urging President Bush to pardon him. Others deplore the idea.

VOICE ONE:

After her identity became known, Valerie Wilson moved to another job at the C.I.A. But she told a congressional hearing that being outed had ended her effectiveness as an operative.

She and her husband have moved away from Washington. They now live in the Southwest. But they still have a civil case against Vice President Cheney and, among others, presidential political adviser Karl Rove. The lawsuit accuses them of violating her privacy rights in an effort to punish Joseph Wilson for his criticisms. A judge is considering arguments to dismiss the case.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

Exactly what Valerie Wilson did in her years at the Central Intelligence Agency is not known. But someplace we can learn more about women in espionage is the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

In fact, one of the most interesting objects there is a small silver tube like millions of women carry. Instead of lip color, it contained a bullet. This lipstick gun was a tool of the KGB, the intelligence and security agency in the former Soviet Union.

VOICE ONE:

At the spy museum we learn how two women in the C.I.A., Sandy Grimes and Jeanne Vertefeuille, helped catch Aldrich Ames. He was a traitor within the agency.

Aldrich Ames worked for the C.I.A. for many years. In nineteen eighty-five, he began to sell American secrets to the Soviets. He cost the United States most of its intelligence gathering operations against the Soviet Union.

VOICE TWO:

Sandy Grimes describes how the C.I.A. knew it had a traitor and put together a list of one hundred ninety-eight agents. Each person could have been the mole. But she suspected Ames. He had begun to act differently. He seemed more sure of himself. And his expensive new clothing raised a question: Where was he getting the money?

VOICE ONE:

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation spent months on the case. They arrested Aldrich Ames in nineteen ninety-four. He was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In the Sisterhood of Spies area at the museum, we learn about women in history who spied.

One woman belonged to a team under the command of General George Washington during the American Revolution. She is still known only as Number Three Hundred Fifty-Five. The British caught her in seventeen eighty and she died as a prisoner. Some historians think she came from a family loyal to Britain and probably gathered intelligence at social events.

VOICE ONE:

Belle Boyd is known as the "Cleopatra of the Secession" during the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties. She was a teenager in the South when she started spying for the Confederate states that wanted to leave the Union. She used her beauty to gain secrets from northern soldiers.

As we learn at the spy museum, a Union soldier tried to raise a flag over her family home. Her mother moved to stop him. The soldier pushed her mother and Belle Boyd shot him. A court found her not guilty. After that, she took messages across battle lines to Confederate commanders.

VOICE TWO:

The Union also had its women spies. Sarah Emma Edmonds was an expert at disguise. With different identities, she was able to pass easily through enemy lines to gather information. For example, she dressed like a Union soldier and used the name Frank Thompson. She even fought in battles. But before she could get paid for her war service, she first had to prove that she was Frank Thompson.

VOICE ONE:

Probably the best-known woman spy ever is Mata Hari. Yet the International Spy Museum in Washington says Mata Hari was almost a complete failure as a gatherer of information.

She was born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle in the Netherlands in eighteen seventy-six. She became famous representing herself as an Indian dancer in Paris. Later, when she needed money, European military officers and government officials supported her in return for sex.

Mata Hari decided to spy for Germany during World War One. But she also agreed to spy for its enemy France. The French trapped the double agent and she was executed.

VOICE TWO:

Josephine Baker was a famous African-American dancer who moved to Paris because of racial prejudice at home. After World War Two began, she started working for the French Resistance. She carried orders and maps into German-occupied countries. The orders were written in disappearing ink on the pages of her music. Josephine Baker was never caught. She lived to tell of her life as a secret agent.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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Safety Concerns Put Pressure on US Food and Drug Officials, Congress

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The Senate recently approved a bill that would expand the power of the Food and Drug Administration to enforce drug safety. The House of Representatives is also considering a drug safety bill. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week, we tell about America's Food and Drug Administration.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the federal government. The agency enforces the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and several other public health laws.

The pain medicine Vioxx was removed from the market in 2004 after a study showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

The F.D.A. is responsible for the safety of most food products and medicines. It guarantees that medical devices and biological products are safe and effective. It also guarantees the safety of beauty products and the country’s blood supply.

The F.D.A. supervises feed and drugs given to animals in the United States. It also is responsible for labeling -- the information included with products. All labels describing substances in a product must be truthful.

VOICE TWO:

The F.D.A. has about nine thousand employees. They supervise the manufacture, import, transport, storage and sale of about one million million dollars worth of products each year. This amount represents one-fourth of all money spent by Americans each year.

The agency makes rules for almost ninety thousand businesses in the United States. F.D.A. investigators inspect more than sixteen thousand manufacturing centers and farms each year. The investigators make sure that products are made correctly and labeled truthfully. Often, they will collect products for label inspections or testing by F.D.A. scientists.

VOICE ONE:

The Food and Drug Administration has several choices if a company is found violating any of the laws the agency enforces. F.D.A. officials can urge the company to correct the problem. Or, they can legally remove, or recall, a bad product from the marketplace.

In addition, F.D.A. investigators will seize products if they appear to fail requirements for public use. About thirty thousand shipments of imported goods are seized at American ports every year.

VOICE TWO:

The federal government has not always been responsible for the quality of food and medicines in the United States. In the nineteenth century, individual states were generally responsible for the safety of locally-made food and drugs.

Then, Americans began pressuring the federal government to protect resources and set safety rules. The Bureau of Chemistry was made responsible for the food and drug supply. The chief chemist at the Bureau was Harvey Wiley. For more than twenty years, he called for a federal law to protect the public from unsafe foods.

VOICE ONE:

Finally, in nineteen-oh-six, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Food and Drugs Act into law. The measure became known as the Wiley Act. It banned the transport and sale of unclean or falsely labeled foods, drinks and drugs.

In nineteen twenty-seven, the Bureau of Chemistry was made into two separate agencies. One was the Food, Drug and Insecticide Administration. Later, its name was changed to the Food and Drug Administration. Today, the F.D.A. is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Since the Wiley Act, Congress has passed other laws to help the Food and Drug Administration carry out its work. Yet, it has become harder for the F.D.A. to control medicines within the past few years. One reason is off-label prescriptions. This is when doctors prescribe, or direct, patients to take medicines for unapproved uses.

For example, some patients have been given antibiotic drugs to treat viruses, or anti-depression medicines for pain. It is not uncommon for a drug to effectively treat more than one health disorder. Yet, the F.D.A. usually approves drugs to treat only one disorder.

VOICE ONE:

A recent study investigated the use of off-label drugs in the United States. The Archives for Internal Medicine reported on the investigation.

Researchers studied information about the drugs most prescribed by American doctors in two thousand one. They found that twenty-one percent of those prescriptions were meant to treat medical conditions for which the drugs lacked F.D.A. approval. About three of every four of the prescriptions were for medical conditions for which there were little evidence of the drug’s safety or effectiveness.

VOICE TWO:

Off-label prescriptions are legal. Yet, they carry unknown risks. Several thousand Americans are believed to become very sick every year after taking drugs for unapproved uses.

Some officials blame drug manufacturers for the rise in off-label prescribing. Sales people representing drug makers give free supplies of their products to doctors. The doctors then give them to patients without knowing all the effects the drugs will have.

VOICE ONE:

The F.D.A. does not directly test drugs before approving them for public use. Instead, it depends on drug manufacturers to prove the safety of their medicines. The manufacturers often negotiate with medical schools or private groups to carry out tests. Drug companies reportedly pay millions of dollars to researchers for their results.

The companies argue that they own the information because they paid for the tests. Yet, drug makers often are accused of only reporting findings that make their medicines look good. That means the public may never know about tests that find a drug useless or even dangerous.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The drug industry gives the Food and Drug Administration millions of dollars every year to speed the approval of medicines. Congress reached this agreement in the nineteen-nineties. Yet, critics say this situation makes it difficult for the F.D.A. to effectively supervise drug companies.

The F.D.A. has also faced trouble with some drugs it approved. In two thousand four, drug maker Merck announced a worldwide withdrawal of its pain medicine Vioxx. Merck acted after a study showed that Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

VOICE ONE:

Recently, more questions have been raised about the drug approval process. Researchers in the American state of Ohio reported last month that a drug commonly used to treat diabetes might increase the risk of heart attacks. About seven million people worldwide use the drug, Avandia. Its manufacturer is GlaxoSmithKline.

The report led to a congressional investigation into why the F.D.A. had delayed warnings about Avandia. Officials with the agency had suggested stronger safety warnings for the drug last year. But only recently did the head of the F.D.A. call for stronger warnings for Avandia and a similar diabetes drug, Actos. He also said the agency is examining conflicting studies of Avandia to fully establish its effects on patients.

VOICE TWO:

The Vioxx and Avandia incidents have intensified congressional concerns about the effectiveness of the F.D.A. Last month, the Senate approved a bill that would expand the power of the agency to enforce drug safety.

The bill would give the F.D.A. power to control advertisements and restrict the use of medicines found to increase health risks. The bill would also give the agency power to order changes in labeling. Drug companies currently can delay changes on their labels for months.

VOICE ONE:

The Senate bill would expand the F.D.A.’s ability to require manufacturers to study the safety of medicines after they have been approved. It also would force them to publicly list drug tests and their results. This kind of government-operated list would make it difficult for companies to hide evidence of safety problems.

Parts of the Senate bill are supported in the House of Representatives. Political observers say a drug safety bill is likely to become law later this year.

VOICE TWO:

Some people believe the F.D.A. needs to improve its rules for food safety. Millions of Americans become sick each year after eating unclean food or products containing harmful substances.

Public health concerns increased earlier this year when food products from China sickened and killed some animals in the United States. The products contained an industrial chemical, melamine. Several members of Congress have proposed creation of a single agency responsible for food safety.

VOICE ONE:

These are just some of the issues facing the Food and Drug Administration. The agency is expected to deal with these and other concerns in the months to come.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Jill Moss. Brianna Blake was our producer. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

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

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Growing Rice and a Cholera Vaccine at the Same Time

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Researchers experiment with a plant-based way to protect against the intestinal infection and possibly other diseases. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Someday, rice plants might not only provide food but also a way to prevent cholera and other diseases.

Cholera is a bacterial infection of the intestines. Today it is found mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Current vaccines to protect against cholera must be kept in cold storage. The need for refrigeration limits use in poor countries.

But research in Japan may lead to rice plants that contain a cholera vaccine that does not need to be kept cold. So far, the research has been carried out only on mice. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States published the study earlier this month.

Hiroshi Kiyono of the University of Tokyo and his team experimented with genetic material from the bacterium responsible for cholera. They placed it into the Kitaake rice plant.

Mice ate the genetically changed rice seeds as a powder. The report says the vaccine was not destroyed by stomach acid; instead, the animals developed antibodies against the cholera toxin. The scientists say the vaccine remained active even after being stored at room temperature for more than a year and a half.

People would take the vaccine as a drug that contains the powder.

Cholera is usually spread through water or food, in places where conditions are dirty and drinking water supplies are unsafe. Cholera infections are often mild. But some people develop severe cases. The World Health Organization says half of them will die if they are not treated.

The researchers say the experimental cholera vaccine produced reactions in the immune system and in areas of mucosal tissue. Mucosal surfaces include the mouth, nose and reproductive organs. Cholera as well as viruses like those that cause influenza and AIDS infect these areas.

The scientists have great hopes for rice-based vaccines as a way to protect large populations against mucosal infections. There would be no need for injection, since the vaccine would be taken by mouth.

Yet scientists have tried for some time to make plant-based vaccines. Researchers in the United States have developed one for Newcastle disease in chickens, but so far there are no products for humans. At the same time, scientists have to deal with concerns about genetically engineered plants accidentally mixing with food crops.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson.

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More Words About Clothing: I Am Not Talking Through My Hat

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English expressions that are all dressed up with no place to go. Transcript of radio broadcast:

(MUSIC)

Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Last week, I explained some English expressions about clothes. Everything I told you was true. I did not talk through my hat or say something without knowing the facts.

Everyone knows there are many English expressions about clothes. There is no need to keep it a secret, or to keep it under your hat. In fact, if I keep talking, soon enough you will start to think I am an old hat about this -- a real expert. Do not be fooled, though. My friends sometimes call me a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is someone who acts like a good person, but is really a bad person.

I’m not really a bad person. But I do love clothes. It is always fun to get dressed up. I look great in my best clothes. When I put them on, I feel decked out. You might say when I wear my best clothes, I am dressed to the nines or dressed to the teeth. In fact, my husband says I look dressed to kill. Of course, I would never kill anyone. But, there is something special about putting on clothes that are pleasing to the eye.

My best clothes are not modern or fashionable. Maybe someday they will come into fashion. But I really do not care. They certainly look better on me than my birthday suit. Did you know that everyone has a birthday suit? You wear it when are wearing no clothes at all. Babies are born wearing their birthday suits.

I am very careful with my clothes. I handle them with kid gloves. I try not to get them dirty or torn. Most of my clothes fit like a glove. They fit perfectly. But when I eat too much, I feel like my clothes might burst at the seams. My clothes feel too restrictive and tight.

Some of the clothes I like best are hand-me-downs. My older sister gave them to me when she no longer wanted them. Hand-me-downs are great because clothes often cost too much money. I live on a shoestring. I have a very small budget and little money to spend on clothes. However, my sister has a lot of money to spend on clothes. Maybe someday the shoe will be on the other foot. The opposite will be true. I will have a lot of money to buy clothes and my sister will get hand-me-downs from me.

I admit I dream of being rich. I dream that someday I will be able to live like a rich person. I will know what it is like to walk in another person’s shoes. Some of my friends got rich by riding someone else’s coat tails. They are successful today as a result of someone else being successful. But, I believe you should never criticize others for something you would do yourself. What is said about someone else can also be said about you. Remember, if the shoe fits, wear it.

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Jill Moss wrote this VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I’m Faith Lapidus.

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William Randolph Hearst, 1863-1951: He Created What Was Once the Nation's Largest Newspaper Group

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ANNOUNCER:

Welcome to the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today,

William Randolph Hearst

Steve Ember and Rich Kleinfeldt tell about American publisher William Randolph Hearst. Mister Hearst created what was once the nation's largest newspaper organization. He bought newspapers in many areas of the United States. He spent millions of dollars to gain readers in sometimes shocking ways. He forever changed the American newspaper business.

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VOICE ONE:

William Randolph Hearst was born in San Francisco in eighteen sixty-three. He was the only child of George Hearst and Phoebe Apperson Hearst. His father became rich by developing mines. His mother was a philanthropist who gave her time and money to help others.

William Randolph Hearst had everything he wanted as a child. But, he was a rebel. In eighteen eighty-five, he was expelled from Harvard, one of the best universities in America, for playing a joke on a professor.

George Hearst wanted his son to take control of developing the mines or the land he owned. But William had other desires. He became interested in newspapers while at Harvard. He started working as a reporter for the New York World newspaper owned by Joseph Pulitzer.

VOICE TWO:

George Hearst owned the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. But he was more interested in politics than in newspaper publishing. In eighteen eighty-seven, George Hearst became a United States senator. He gave control of the newspaper to his son William who was twenty-three.

William Randolph Hearst wanted to create a newspaper that people would talk about. He worked long hours and put high energy into his newspaper. He employed some of the best reporters and writers he could find. And, he paid them the highest wages. Mister Hearst improved the appearance of his newspaper and bought modern equipment. He also improved relations with advertisers. Advertisers pay to have their products shown in newspapers to increase sales. Newspapers profit from the money paid by advertisers.

News stories in the San Francisco Examiner were written with force, energy and excitement. Some stories were written to shock readers and affect them emotionally. However, the stories were simple and easy to read.

Mister Hearst believed in doing whatever it took to get readers. His newspaper policy was: make the news complete; print all the news; shorten it if necessary, but get it in. That became the policy in newsrooms across America.

VOICE ONE:

By eighteen ninety-one, the San Francisco Examiner had three times more readers and advertisers than when Mister Hearst took control of the newspaper. In less than five years, William Randolph Hearst made the new San Francisco Examiner a huge success.

Mister Hearst repeated his success in New York City. He borrowed five million dollars from his mother to purchase a second newspaper, the New York Journal. In his first two months, he increased the number of copies sold from thirty thousand to one hundred thousand.

Joseph Pulitzer was a very successful publisher in New York. Mister Hearst shared Mister Pulitzer's excitement and energy about the newspaper business.

During the eighteen nineties, Mister Hearst and Mister Pulitzer began a fierce newspaper war. Mister Hearst hired many reporters from Mister Pulitzer's New York World newspaper. He paid them more than two times as much as they had been earning. He also reduced the price of his newspaper below Mister Pulitzer's.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Hearst won readers by making the news more exciting and entertaining. He created a kind of newspaper reporting known today as "yellow journalism." News events were made to seem greater than they really were. His methods went beyond what would be accepted today in major newspapers. Critics said his newspapers were only for entertainment. Yet many other newspapers tried to copy his methods.

Mister Hearst attacked big businesses and dishonest politicians in his newspapers. There were also reports about sex, murder and other crimes. His newspapers became a voice for working people and the poor. His influence grew across the nation through his newspapers and the magazines he bought or began.

VOICE ONE:

Many experts say Mister Hearst's reporting methods and his battle with Mister Pulitzer for readers led to the Spanish-American War. In eighteen ninety-eight, the United States fought Spain to help the people of Cuba gain independence from Spain.

A Hearst newpaper blames Spain for the sinking of the battleship Maine

Mister Hearst's newspapers had accused Spain of sinking the American battleship Maine and killing two hundred fifty sailors. This increased public support for the war. However, it still is not known how the ship sank.

The war greatly increased readers for the Hearst publications. Mister Hearst's battle with competitors widened after the war. Some newspapers blamed him when President William McKinley was murdered in nineteen-oh-one. The assassination happened after one of the Hearst newspapers seemed to suggest killing Mister McKinley.

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VOICE TWO:

In the early nineteen hundreds, William Randolph Hearst became deeply involved in politics. He represented New York in the United States House of Representatives from nineteen-oh-three to nineteen-oh-seven. In nineteen-oh-four, he unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president. He also failed in his campaigns to become governor of New York or mayor of New York City.

Mister Hearst had hoped to change the way things were being done in New York City. He hoped to defeat dishonest New York City politicians who controlled the city at the time.

Mister Hearst also campaigned against big business. He supported labor unions and government ownership of public utilities, railroads, and other big companies. And, he sought political reform and the return of economic competition in the country.

VOICE ONE:

Mister Hearst's opponents accused him of being disloyal to his country because of his support for Germany during the first years of World War One. He was opposed to American involvement in the war.

Mister Hearst was sharply criticized for his political ideas. Many people refused to deal with him. Some hated him. His newspapers were banned in many communities.

Mister Hearst strongly supported Democrat Franklin Roosevelt for president in nineteen thirty-two. Then he became increasingly conservative and turned against President Roosevelt. He opposed American involvement in World War Two. He also led a fierce campaign against communism during the nineteen thirties.

Through the years, Mister Hearst continued to buy newspapers and magazines across the country and around the world. He also controlled a number of radio and television stations and a movie company.

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VOICE TWO:

William Randolph Hearst and his wife Millicent were married in nineteen-oh-three. They had five sons. She remained married to him until her death. However, Mister Hearst spent almost thirty years of his life with Hollywood actress Marion Davies in San Simeon, California. They met in nineteen seventeen and later lived together at San Simeon. He started a movie company to produce movies for her. Their relationship shocked the nation.

San Simeon

Mister Hearst spent thirty years and thirty million dollars to build a huge home at San Simeon. It has one hundred sixty-five rooms. Mister Hearst and Marion Davies entertained many famous people there. He continually bought costly art objects to fill it.

By nineteen thirty-seven, Mister Hearst's heavy spending threatened to ruin his publishing organization. He was forced to sell much of his property and many art objects. The economic recovery after World War Two saved what was left of his media organization.

VOICE ONE:

When William Randolph Hearst died in nineteen fifty-one, he still owned what was then the largest newspaper company in America. Today, the Hearst Corporation includes more than one hundred thirty separate businesses. They include newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations and business media companies. The communications business William Randolph Hearst began continues to influence and inform people around the world.

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ANNOUNCER:

This Special English program was written by Cynthia Kirk. It was produced by Paul Thompson. Your narrators were Steve Ember and Rich Kleinfeldt. I’m Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.

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A Two-State Solution for the Mideast Finds Itself With Three Pieces

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The Hamas-Fatah leadership split in the Palestinian territories raises new questions for the future of an independent Palestine. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

A Hamas militant holds up a Hamas flag on a watch tower of the Preventive Security headquarters in Gaza City. Hamas captured the compound from Fatah forces.

For a week now, Palestinians have had to deal with a new political reality. Their territories are now split between control by Fatah in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. About one and one-half million people live in Gaza; more than two million live in the West Bank.

Hamas forces took control of Gaza last week in the worst conflict ever between Palestinians. In just a few days the Islamic militants of Hamas defeated the security forces of Fatah.

Fatah is the party of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is supported by Iran and Syria. It was created with an aim of destroying Israel and has killed hundreds of Israelis.

So where does all this leave efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks? The goal is to create an independent Palestine from the territories next to Israel. President Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Monday in Egypt to discuss the situation. They last met in April.

Mister Olmert says he hopes that serious negotiations about a Palestinian state will be able to start soon.

Mahmoud Abbas leads Fatah

President Abbas has moved quickly to dismiss a Hamas-led unity government and establish an emergency government. The new cabinet, sworn in Sunday, is made up of independents and close allies of Fatah. The prime minister is Salam Fayyad, an international economist.

Mister Abbas has received support for his new government from the Arab League as well as the European Union and the United States. President Bush called the Palestinian president "a reasonable voice amongst the extremists" in that area of the world.

The United States and the European Union announced this week that they will restart financial aid to the Palestinian Authority. The aid was suspended for more than a year because the Hamas-led government refused to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Western governments are also offering more money for United Nations humanitarian efforts in Gaza. But some people fear a humanitarian crisis. There are also concerns that a complete boycott of Hamas could turn Gaza into a base for international terrorism.

Israel, the United States and the European Union have declared Hamas a terrorist organization. Yet dissatisfaction with Fatah leaders and what was seen as abuse of power and corruption helped bring Hamas to power.

Hamas began its rise to popularity in the late nineteen eighties, during the first Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. Hamas established social services for Palestinians. Following the Oslo peace agreements in the early nineties, it launched a campaign of suicide bombings against Israel.

Two years ago Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza. Then, early last year, Hamas won Palestinian parliamentary elections. The victory led to fighting between Hamas and Fatah. And that led to the unity government which took office three months ago.

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

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