Words and Their Stories: Nuts and Bolts

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Mechanical English with a tight fit Transcript of radio broadcast:

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Every machine is held together by its nuts and bolts. Without them, the machine would fall apart. That is also true of an organization. Its nuts and bolts are its basic, necessary elements. They are the parts that make the organization work.

In government, industry, diplomacy -- in most anything -- those who understand the nuts and bolts are the most important. Success depends more on them than on almost anyone else.

In government, the president or prime minister may plan and shape programs and policies. But, it takes much more work to get them approved and to make them successful.

There is a mass of detailed work to be done. The nuts and bolts. This is often put into the hands of specialists. The top leaders are always well-known, but not those who work with the nuts and bolts.

This is equally true in the day-to-day operation of Congress. The majority leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, together with the chairmen of committees, keep the business of Congress moving.

Behind every Senator and Congressman, however, are assistants. These people do all the detailed work to prepare congressmen to vote wisely on each issue.

In diplomacy, the chief ministers are unquestionably important in negotiations. But there are lesser officials who do the basic work and preparations on the different issues to be negotiated.

In a military operation, strategy decisions are important. But much more time is spent on the nuts and bolts -- generally called logistics -- of how to transport and supply an army. It has been said that Napoleon was successful because he knew the field position of every one of his guns. He gave careful attention to the nuts and bolts of his operations.

The extreme importance of nuts and bolts was expressed by the Elizabethan poet, George Herbert. He wrote:

For want of a nail, the shoe is lost

For want of a shoe, the horse is lost

For want of a horse, the rider is lost.

Benjamin franklin carried these lines even further. He wrote:

For want of a rider, the battle was lost

For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost

And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special Englsih program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Christiano. The narrator was Maurice Joyce. I'm Warren Scheer.

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Carl Rowan, 1925-2000: The first black director of the United States Information Agency.

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He was also a respected newspaper reporter, columnist and author. Transcript of radio broadcast:

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Doug Johnson with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about the life of writer and reporter, Carl Rowan. He was one of the most honored reporters in the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Carl Rowan was known for the powerful stories that he wrote for major newspapers. His columns were published in more than one hundred newspapers across the United States. He was the first black newspaper columnist to have his work appear in major newspapers.

Carl Rowan called himself a newspaperman. Yet, he was also a writer of best-selling books. He wrote about the lives of African American civil rights leader, Reverend Martin Luther King Junior and United States Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall.

Carl Rowan also was a radio broadcaster and a popular public speaker. For thirty years, he appeared on a weekly television show about American politics.

VOICE TWO:

Carl Rowan

Carl Rowan won praise over the years for his reports about race relations in America. He provided a public voice for poor people and minorities in America. He influenced people in positions of power.

Mister Rowan opened many doors for African Americans. He was the first black deputy Secretary of State in the administration of President John F. Kennedy. And he was the first black director of the United States Information Agency which at the time supervised the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Carl Rowan was born in nineteen twenty-five in the southern city of Ravenscroft, Tennessee. He grew up during the Great Depression, one of the worst economic times in the United States. His family was very poor. His father stacked wood used for building, when he had work. His mother worked cleaning the homes of white people when she could. The Rowan family had no electricity, no running water, no telephone and no radio. Carl said he would sometimes steal food or drink warm milk from the cows on nearby farms.

The Rowans did not even have a clock. As a boy, Carl said he knew if it was time to go to school by the sound of a train. He said if the train was late, he was late.

VOICE TWO:

Growing up, Carl had very little hope for any change. There were not many jobs for blacks in the South. The schools were not good. Racial tensions were high. Laws were enforced to keep blacks and whites separate.

It was a teacher who urged Carl to make something of himself. Bessie Taylor Gwynn taught him to believe he could be a poet or a writer. She urged him to write as much as possible. She would even get books for him because blacks were banned from public libraries.

Bessie Taylor Gwynn made sure that Carl finished high school. And he did. He graduated at the top of his class.

VOICE ONE:

Carl entered Tennessee State College in nineteen forty-two. He almost had to leave college after the first few months because he did not have enough money. But on the way to catch a bus, his luck changed. He found the twenty dollars he needed to stay in college.

Carl Rowan did so well in college that he was chosen by the United States Navy to become one of the first fifteen black Navy officers. He said that experience changed his life.

Carl served on ships during World War Two. Afterward, he returned to college and graduated from Oberlin College in Ohio. He went on to receive his master’s degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen forty-eight, Carl Rowan became a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune newspaper in Minnesota. He was one of the first black reporters to write for a major daily newspaper.

As a young reporter, he covered racial tensions in the South during the civil rights movement. In nineteen fifty-six, he traveled to the Middle East to cover the war over the Suez Canal. He also reported from Europe, India and other parts of Asia. He won several major reporting awards.

VOICE ONE:

Mister Rowan’s reports on race relations in the South interested President John F. Kennedy. In nineteen sixty-one, President Kennedy appointed Mister Rowan deputy assistant Secretary of State. He served as a delegate to the United Nations during the Cuban missile crisis in nineteen sixty-two. Mister Rowan later was appointed ambassador to Finland.

During his years in President Kennedy’s administration, Carl Rowan got to know Lyndon B. Johnson. Lyndon Johnson became president after President Kennedy was assassinated in nineteen sixty-three.

In nineteen sixty-four, President Johnson named Carl Rowan director of the United States Information Agency. The position made him the highest level African American in the United States government. Mister Rowan said being chosen to head the United States Information Agency and the Voice of America was one of the great honors of his life.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen sixty-five, Carl Rowan left the government and started writing for newspapers. He wrote a column that told his opinions about important social, economic and political issues. It appeared several times a week in a number of newspapers. Radio and television jobs followed.

Mister Rowan often wrote intensely about race relations. Yet, he wrote with more feeling about one subject than any other: that education and hard work will help young African Americans move forward.

Carl Rowan was angered by the ideas of some young blacks. He said they believed that to study hard and perform well in school was “acting white.” He deplored the idea that excellence is for whites only.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty-seven, Mister Rowan created a program called “Project Excellence.” The program rewards black students who do well in school. Over the years, the program has provided millions of dollars to help African American students get money for college.

VOICE ONE:

Throughout his life, Carl Rowan was a strong voice for racial justice in America. Yet, he also demanded excellence from other black Americans. He wrote about wrongdoing within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP fights for the civil rights of African Americans. Mister Rowan’s columns led to the resignation of its chairman and helped speed the organization’s financial recovery.

VOICE TWO:

Carl Rowan lived with his wife, Vivien Murphy, in a large house in Washington, D.C. They had three children and four grandchildren.

He had been a strong supporter of gun control laws. But in nineteen eighty-eight, he was charged for firing a gun that he did not legally own. He shot and wounded a teenager who was on his property illegally. Rowan was arrested and tried. During the trial, he argued that he had the right to use whatever means necessary to protect himself and his family.

The jury failed to reach a decision in the case.

In nineteen ninety-one, Carl Rowan wrote a book about his life called “Breaking Barriers.” Several years later, he wrote a book called “The Coming Race War in America.” The book describes the exploding anger between blacks and whites and the possibility of a future race war. Some people praised the book. Others thought it was harmful and irresponsible.

VOICE ONE:

Carl Rowan was the first black president of an organization of top reporters in Washington called the Gridiron Club. The group does a show every year that makes fun of the American political process. Mister Rowan often performed by singing or leading a comedy act.

Carl Rowan used simple words when he spoke, yet he was very direct. He was criticized sometimes for that. Some people thought that his ideas were too liberal. Others thought he was too moderate. But most people thought his stories generally were very fair.

Mister Rowan talks about his life in his book, “Breaking Barriers”:

CARL ROWAN: "The barriers that were up against blacks getting into the field of communications. When I went in you could count on the fingers of one hand the number of blacks with full-fledged jobs on daily newspapers. Today you've got blacks not only on all kinds of newspapers but on TV screens and on radio, public relations jobs in great corporations, and that is an area of progress that I think I helped to open up a little bit."

VOICE TWO:

Carl Rowan died September Twenty-Third, Two-Thousand, in Washington, D.C. He was seventy-five years old. During the last years of his life, he suffered from diabetes and heart problems. But he never failed to write his newspaper column. He never let bad things slow him down.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Cynthia Kirk. I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Doug Johnson. Listen again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.

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Reports: Abdullah May Boycott Afghan Presidential Runoff

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Abdullah Abdullah, former Afghan FM speaking with journalists after a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, 21 Oct 2009

Sources close to Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah say he may pull out of next week's runoff election against President Hamid Karzai, due to concerns about the credibility of the poll.

Mr. Abdullah had given President Karzai until Saturday to remove the country's Independent Election Commission chief, Azizullah Lodin.

It was one of several conditions that Mr. Abdullah had voiced this week to avoid a repeat of the massive fraud that marred the August 20 presidential election.

As of Saturday, President Karzai had not agreed to his opponent's demands.

Mr. Abdullah is expected to hold a press conference Sunday about the November seventh vote. News reports cite sources close to the former foreign minister as saying Mr. Abdullah may pull out of the runoff.

A spokesman for the Afghan election commission, Noor Mohammad Noor, tells VOA that legally, Mr. Abdullah cannot officially withdraw a week away from the vote.

"Now is too late, according to IEC procedure of the election law, the withdraw time is already done, so they must continue," said Noor.

Speaking from Kabul, the director of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies, Haroun Mir, says a boycott would have a major impact on the public's perception of the country's government.

"If Dr. Abdullah boycotts and we have a very low voter turnout, then President Karzai will be declared winner, but he will not be considered a legitimate president," said Mir.

Mir says that he believes President Karzai would have a hard time asserting his authority in Afghanistan's northern areas, which are the base for Mr. Abdullah's support.

Afghan election officials say they plan to increase the number of voting stations for the runoff, despite concerns that it could lead to more fraud than in the first vote.

The Taliban also has vowed to intensify its attacks leading up to the November seventh election. Several days ago, insurgents launched an attack on a Kabul guest house that killed five United Nations staff members.

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Huge Gaps Ahead as Clinton Pushes for Resumption of Israeli-Palestinian Talks

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Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (L) meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R) in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi, 31 Oct 2009

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The top U.S. diplomat has met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi before shuttling to Jerusalem

U.S. officials have acknowledged early on that bringing the Israelis and Palestinians back to negotiations will be a long and complex process.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton comes to Jerusalem after getting no concessions from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the Palestinians' conditions for returning to talks. They demand that Israel freeze all construction on Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank before any negotiations start.

Mr. Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, told VOA by telephone from Abu Dhabi the Palestinians are not closer to returning to negotiations after Saturday's meeting between Clinton and Mr. Abbas.

"It was an important meeting, but I can tell you there is nothing new," he said. "We didn't achieve anything. The Americans are ready. They are trying all their best. They are exacting all their efforts in order to achieve something on the ground."

The Palestinian official says any compromise by Mr. Abbas on the settlement issue would impede the creation of a viable independent Palestinian state.

"Every single house on the West Bank which was occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, is illegal," he said. "What we are ready for, is for a just peace: Two states living side by side, on a real basis and [under] real conditions."

Israel wants negotiations without preconditions and is ready to offer no more than a partial, temporary freeze on construction in the settlements.

Efraim Inbar, director of Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Israel's Bar-Ilan University is pessimistic about prospects for a breakthrough soon. He says the current U.S. strategy of pushing for a two-state solution is not winning support from Israelis who want to see a partition but are worried about Israel's security with Palestinians running their own state next door.

"They are willing to accept a lot of militias and this is not being solved," said Inbar. "In Gaza, for example, we have Hamas, we have Islamic Jihad, we have al-Qaida armed elements. They have a problem in establishing a state. I think Israelis are ready for partition, for territorial concessions. I think most Israelis agree that the Palestinians are unable to be a real partner in the real future."

Secretary Clinton, who is visiting Jerusalem for the second time since President Barack Obama took office, will gauge Israel's willingness to compromise during her meetings with officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Iranian Lawmakers Give Thumbs Down to Nuclear Deal

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Iran's top lawmakers and its president have expressed disapproval of the United Nations-backed draft nuclear deal with the West, Saturday, offering varying degrees of criticism.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (file photo)

Decision-makers gave thumbs down to the U.N. draft nuclear deal with the West, Saturday, saying that they reject it in its current form. Several key members of parliament have slammed the deal, while President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad expressed displeasure with it, but urged the West to "continue cooperating with Iran."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads the Iranian parliament's powerful national security and foreign affairs committee, told Iranian TV that his committee does not approve of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-backed deal, because Tehran has "no guarantee" that it will "get its uranium back."

Iranian lawmaker Kazem Jalali, who also sits on the national security committee, told Iran's Arabic-language al Alam TV that Tehran has no confidence in the West because of years of previous dealings:

He says that Iran has suspicions about whether the West will respect the terms of the deal. He adds that an eventual deal must be totally transparent and offer guarantees for all parties involved. He stresses that the present deal is against the interests of Iran.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Ahmedinejad, speaking to a group of war veterans in the city of Mashhad, expressed hope that the nuclear talks with the West would continue.

He says that the West should continue to talk with Iran over the nuclear issue and that the best way to deal with the Iranian nation is to respect it and deal with it honestly.

Mr. Ahmedinejad also claimed that Israel is "unhappy over the ongoing talks between Iran and the West," warning the Jewish state "not to make mischief, along with other bullying powers [to derail] the talks."

Iran's powerful parliament speaker Ali Larijani attacked the United States Friday, accusing it of involvement in a recent bloody attack in Sistan-Baluchistan, which killed a number of top Revolutionary Guard commanders.

Analysts say that Larijani's criticism of the U.S. could be a veiled swipe at Mr. Ahmedinejad for continuing nuclear talks with the West. Friction between the Iranian president and some of his erstwhile allies has manifested itself in discord over the recent nuclear negotiations.

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Short Story: ‘The Boarded Window’ by Ambrose Bierce

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A man in the deep woods deals with the death of his wife. Transcript of radio broadcast:

Now, the VOA Special English program AMERICAN STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Our story today is called "The Boarded Window." It was written by Ambrose Bierce. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story.

STORYTELLER:

In eighteen thirty, only a few miles away from what is now the great city of Cincinnati, Ohio, lay a huge and almost endless forest.

The area had a few settlements established by people of the frontier. Many of them had already left the area for settlements further to the west. But among those remaining was a man who had been one of the first people to arrive there.

He lived alone in a house of logs surrounded on all sides by the great forest. He seemed a part of the darkness and silence of the forest, for no one had ever known him to smile or speak an unnecessary word. His simple needs were supplied by selling or trading the skins of wild animals in the town.

His little log house had a single door. Directly opposite was a window. The window was boarded up. No one could remember a time when it was not. And no one knew why it had been closed. I imagine there are few people living today who ever knew the secret of that window. But I am one, as you shall see.

The man's name was said to be Murlock. He appeared to be seventy years old, but he was really fifty. Something other than years had been the cause of his aging.

His hair and long, full beard were white. His gray, lifeless eyes were sunken. His face was wrinkled. He was tall and thin with drooping shoulders—like someone with many problems.

I never saw him. These details I learned from my grandfather. He told me the man's story when I was a boy. He had known him when living nearby in that early day.

One day Murlock was found in his cabin, dead. It was not a time and place for medical examiners and newspapers. I suppose it was agreed that he had died from natural causes or I should have been told, and should remember.

I know only that the body was buried near the cabin, next to the burial place of his wife. She had died so many years before him that local tradition noted very little of her existence.

That closes the final part of this true story, except for the incident that followed many years later. With a fearless spirit I went to the place and got close enough to the ruined cabin to throw a stone against it. I ran away to avoid the ghost which every well-informed boy in the area knew haunted the spot.

But there is an earlier part to this story supplied by my grandfather.

When Murlock built his cabin he was young, strong and full of hope. He began the hard work of creating a farm. He kept a gun--a rifle—for hunting to support himself.

He had married a young woman, in all ways worthy of his honest love and loyalty. She shared the dangers of life with a willing spirit and a light heart. There is no known record of her name or details about her. They loved each other and were happy.

One day Murlock returned from hunting in a deep part of the forest. He found his wife sick with fever and confusion. There was no doctor or neighbor within miles. She was in no condition to be left alone while he went to find help. So Murlock tried to take care of his wife and return her to good health. But at the end of the third day she fell into unconsciousness and died.

From what we know about a man like Murlock, we may try to imagine some of the details of the story told by my grandfather.

When he was sure she was dead, Murlock had sense enough to remember that the dead must be prepared for burial. He made a mistake now and again while performing this special duty. He did certain things wrong. And others which he did correctly were done over and over again.

He was surprised that he did not cry — surprised and a little ashamed. Surely it is unkind not to cry for the dead.

"Tomorrow," he said out loud, "I shall have to make the coffin and dig the grave; and then I shall miss her, when she is no longer in sight. But now -- she is dead, of course, but it is all right — it must be all right, somehow. Things cannot be as bad as they seem."

He stood over the body of his wife in the disappearing light. He fixed the hair and made finishing touches to the rest. He did all of this without thinking but with care. And still through his mind ran a feeling that all was right -- that he should have her again as before, and everything would be explained.

Murlock had no experience in deep sadness. His heart could not contain it all. His imagination could not understand it. He did not know he was so hard struck. That knowledge would come later and never leave.

Deep sadness is an artist of powers that affects people in different ways. To one it comes like the stroke of an arrow, shocking all the emotions to a sharper life. To another, it comes as the blow of a crushing strike. We may believe Murlock to have been affected that way.

Soon after he had finished his work he sank into a chair by the side of the table upon which the body lay. He noted how white his wife's face looked in the deepening darkness. He laid his arms upon the table's edge and dropped his face into them, tearless and very sleepy.

At that moment a long, screaming sound came in through the open window. It was like the cry of a lost child in the far deep of the darkening forest! But the man did not move. He heard that unearthly cry upon his failing sense, again and nearer than before. Maybe it was a wild animal or maybe it was a dream. For Murlock was asleep.

Some hours later, he awoke, lifted his head from his arms and listened closely. He knew not why. There in the black darkness by the side of the body, he remembered everything without a shock. He strained his eyes to see -- he knew not what.

His senses were all alert. His breath was suspended. His blood was still as if to assist the silence. Who — what had awakened him and where was it!

Suddenly the table shook under his arms. At the same time he heard, or imagined he heard, a light, soft step and then another. The sounds were as bare feet walking upon the floor!

He was afraid beyond the power to cry out or move. He waited—waited there in the darkness through what seemed like centuries of such fear. Fear as one may know, but yet live to tell. He tried but failed to speak the dead woman's name. He tried but failed to stretch his hand across the table to learn if she was there. His throat was powerless. His arms and hands were like lead.

Then something most frightful happened. It seemed as if a heavy body was thrown against the table with a force that pushed against his chest. At the same time he heard and felt the fall of something upon the floor. It was so violent a crash that the whole house shook. A fight followed and a confusion of sounds impossible to describe.

Murlock had risen to his feet. Extreme fear had caused him to lose control of his senses. He threw his hands upon the table. Nothing was there!

There is a point at which fear may turn to insanity; and insanity incites to action. With no definite plan and acting like a madman, Murlock ran quickly to the wall. He seized his loaded rifle and without aim fired it.

The flash from the rifle lit the room with a clear brightness. He saw a huge fierce panther dragging the dead woman toward the window. The wild animal's teeth were fixed on her throat! Then there was darkness blacker than before, and silence.

When he returned to consciousness the sun was high and the forest was filled with the sounds of singing birds. The body lay near the window, where the animal had left it when frightened away by the light and sound of the rifle.

The clothing was ruined. The long hair was in disorder. The arms and legs lay in a careless way. And a pool of blood flowed from the horribly torn throat. The ribbon he had used to tie the wrists was broken. The hands were tightly closed.

And between the teeth was a piece of the animal's ear.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

"The Boarded Window" was written by Ambrose Bierce. It was adapted for Special English by Lawan Davis who was also the producer. The storyteller was Shep O'Neal.

You can read and listen to other American Stories on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.

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Gays and Disabled Are Now Protected Under Hate Crimes Law in US

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Conservatives objected to adding sexual orientation. Separately, the U.S. criticizes international efforts by Islamic countries to ban anti-religious speech Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, President Obama signed an expansion of federal law on hate crimes. Such laws provide more investigative resources or longer sentences, or both, for crimes driven by prejudice.

Until now, federal law has covered crimes based on a victim's race, color, religion or national origin. Congress first acted in nineteen sixty-eight after the murder of civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

Now, after years of effort by gay rights groups and others, the law will include sexual orientation. And it will extend protection to those victimized because of their gender or gender identity or a disability.

A 1999 protest in New York against hate crimes, on the first anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death

The newact passed by Congress is named for two victims of hate crimes. Matthew Shepard was a gay college student murdered in Wyoming in nineteen ninety-eight. That same year, three white men in Texas beat a black man, James Byrd Junior, and pulled him to his death behind a truck.

Democrats attached the new hate crimes legislation to a major defense bill that had to be passed. Republicans wanted to consider it separately. John Boehner, the minority leader in the House of Representatives, called it "thought crimes" legislation and "radical social policy."

James Byrd Jr.

In a statement, he said "all violent crimes should be prosecuted vigorously." The legislation, he said, "places a higher value on some lives than others."

Most of the states also have some form of laws of their own dealing with hate crimes. More than seven thousand six hundred incidents were reported nationwide in two thousand seven, the most recent year available. Seventeen percent were linked to sexual orientation.

Frederick Lawrence is a dean at George Washington University Law School. He says the United States has been somewhat of a leader in passing hate crimes legislation. Now such laws are becoming more common internationally.

They take different forms in different countries. For example, some countries ban speech that could incite hatred. Germany bans showing symbols of its Nazi past.

In the United States, free speech is protected by the Constitution. But social and religious conservatives expressed fears that they might now be accused of a hate crime if they denounced homosexuality. Professor Lawrence says the new federal law -- meant to prevent violence -- will not limit free speech rights.

On a separate issue, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week criticized international efforts by Islamic countries to ban anti-religious speech.

HILLARY CLINTON: "The best antidote to intolerance is not the 'Defamation of Religions' approach of banning and punishing offensive speech, but rather a combination of robust legal protections against discrimination and hate crimes, proactive government outreach to minority religious groups, and a vigorous defense of both freedom of religion and expression."

The Organization of the Islamic Conference has been urging the United Nations to approve anti-defamation measures.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. You can find transcripts and podcasts of our programs -- and share comments -- at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

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Golden Orb Spiders Help Produce a Work of Art

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Also: A listener question about New York’s Central Park. And music by the jazz-influenced singer Melody Gardot. Transcript of radio broadcast:

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. This week on our program:

We play music by the jazz-influenced singer Melody Gardot ...

And, answer a question about New York City’s Central Park.

But first, a report about a new exhibit brought to you by spiders.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

Silk is a smooth, shiny and costly natural material. People usually get their silk supply from worms. But spiders make silk, too. In fact, their silk is even lighter and softer than silk from silkworms. But getting silk from a spider might seem more difficult. Especially from a big spider that can bite. Recently, two men in Madagascar proved it can be done with extraordinary results. Mario Ritter has more.

MARIO RITTER:

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has a most unusual object on exhibit. It is a beautiful wall covering made of shiny, bright golden silk. The tapestry is about three meters long and one meter wide. It is light as a feather but strong as steel. The tapestry was woven with silk provided by the golden orb spider.

It took more than a million of them to produce that much silk. Simon Peers is a British art historian and expert in woven materials. He moved to Madagascar about twenty years ago. He started a textile business in that island nation in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa. Nicholas Godley is an American clothing designer. He also had a business in Madagascar making purses.

Both were interested in the idea of making a textile piece from silk of the golden orb spider. These spiders are native to Madagascar as well as many other places. The females make huge webs, sometimes large enough to hang between trees on either side of a rural road. The webs have an intense golden color. The female spiders have a bright yellow splash of color on their bodies and can grow as large as a human hand.

Mister Peers had researched stories of spider silk being used by human weavers. Together he and Mister Godley paid local people to gather about three thousand female spiders daily. They placed twenty-four spiders at a time in a holding device. Each spider produced a line of silk about three hundred fifty meters long. Then, the creatures were released back into the wild.

The tapestry was finished after about four years of gathering the silk and weaving it together. The piece has a traditional Malagasy design woven into it.

Mister Godley and Mister Peers hope the tapestry will help protect the golden orb spider and bring attention to the needy country of Madagascar.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

Our question this week is about New York City. Djamel wants to know about Central Park. This outdoor area is more than three hundred and forty hectares. It was the first public park built in the United States.

Belvedere Castle

In eighteen fifty-eight a design competition was held to find the best idea for planning this huge area in the center of New York City. The winners were two landscape designers, American Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux from Britain.

It was not easy to create this park. It may look like a natural environment of lakes and woodlands, but it was entirely built by human labor.

Workers moved millions of cubic meters of stone and earth to clear the area. They brought in more than fourteen thousand cubic meters of fertile soil from New Jersey to make it possible to grow trees and other plants.

It took fifteen years to complete the project. Central Park was a huge success and helped create a movement across the United States for creating public gardens.

Today, the park is managed by the Central Park Conservancy under an agreement with the city of New York. The Conservancy raises about eighty-five percent of the park’s twenty-seven million dollar yearly budget.

Here are a few facts that help show just how big – and busy – Central Park is. It contains seven kilometers of paths for horseback riding and about ninety-three kilometers of walking paths. When you get tired from all that walking, there are more than nine thousand benches where you can sit down.

There are twenty-one playgrounds for children as well as areas to play basketball, baseball, football and even chess. There is also a zoo. And, every summer, visitors can watch plays by William Shakespeare in an outdoor theater. About twenty-five million people visit Central Park each year to enjoy its many sights and activities.

The park is also important for natural life. It contains more than twenty-six thousand trees. And hundreds of kinds of birds have been sighted in the park which serves as a stopping area for birds as they fly to other places.

This week, Central Park has been a good place to get into the spirit of Halloween. On Tuesday, there was a large party called the Halloween Ball. People attending the event wore wild clothing and took part in a competition for best costume. On Friday, brave children can visit the nineteenth century Belvedere Castle. Park organizers turned the building into a frightening place where families could enjoy both tricks and treats.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

Melody Gardot did not always plan to be a singer and songwriter. She had learned to play the piano as a child. In college, she took classes in art and clothing design. But a severe car accident in two thousand three changed her life. During almost a year of recovery, Gardot turned to music to help her heal both mentally and physically. Critics are praising her expressive voice and songs influenced by jazz and blues music. Barbara Klein has more.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:

That was the song “Some Lessons” from Melody Gardot’s first full length album, “Worrisome Heart.” It tells about her accident and how it taught her a very difficult lesson about life and chance. When Gardot was nineteen, a large car ran into her while she was riding her bicycle in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Melody Gardot

She suffered broken bones and severe head injuries which continue to affect her hearing, sight, and memory. While she was recovering, her doctor suggested musical therapy as a way to heal her brain.

She knew she could no longer sit at the piano without pain. So she learned to play the guitar in bed. And she began writing songs about her experience.

Melody Gardot later produced a short record with some of her songs. They became popular and soon record companies became interested in her music.

Here is the song “Baby I’m a Fool” from her second album, “My One and Only Thrill.”

(MUSIC)

Melody Gardot says after her accident, she could only listen to soft and quiet music such as bossa nova.

She says she does not approve of the word “disabled” to describe her condition. She says she simply can do some things and cannot do others. And she says her near death experience has made her realize what really matters in life.

(MUSIC: “If the Stars Were Mine”)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. Our program was written by Caty Weaver and Dana Demange who was also the producer.

For transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also comment on our programs.

Do you have a question about people, places or things in America? Send it to mosaic@voanews.com and we may answer it on this show.

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

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US Says Economy Grew 3.5 Percent in Third Quarter

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First expansion reported in more than a year; also, the debate over pay for top officials at companies indebted to taxpayers. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Early estimates show that the United States economy began to grow again in July, August and September. The three-and-a-half percent growth was the first expansion in more than a year, and the strongest in two years.

The government said increases in consumer spending and exports and improvements in business investment led the growth. So did increased federal spending and housing investments.

The economy is growing again. But will jobs follow? Job seekers attend a job fair in Little Rock, Arkansas Tuesday.

But high unemployment could limit growth for some time.

President Obama had this reaction to Thursday's report on the gross domestic product -- a wide measure of goods and services in the economy.

BARACK OBAMA: "This is obviously welcome news and an affirmation that this recession is abating and the steps we've taken have made a difference. But I also know that we've got a long way to go to fully restore our economy and recover from what's been the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression."

That downturn was partly caused by bankers and others taking irresponsible risks to earn huge payments. So say their critics. Criticism of Wall Street pay is nothing new. But never before has the government used hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue companies that made risky investments.

In June, the Obama administration appointed lawyer Kenneth Feinberg as the "special master" on executive pay -- also known as the pay czar. Congress gave him power over compensation of the twenty-five highest-paid employees at seven companies most indebted to taxpayers.

This week, he gave lawmakers a progress report.

Kenneth Feinberg

KENNETH FEINBERG: "We greatly reduced the amount of cash that would be made available to these senior officials. We reduced that cash by approximately ninety percent."

The seven companies are in the financial and auto industries. Now Kenneth Feinberg must consider their next seventy-five highest paid officials.

But some management experts warn that limiting pay could make it harder for taxpayers to get their money back. Edward Lawler at the University of Southern California says these companies may now have difficulty getting and keeping high-quality employees.

But he agrees that in recent years, many companies have tied pay to short-term performance, instead of their long-term health. He also says boards of directors need to do more to control pay.

EDWARD LAWLER: "We could have boards that do a much better job of designing compensation plans. If we had good boards, I think they could certainly do a better job of that than the government can."

Last week, the Federal Reserve proposed to examine pay policies at thousands of banks. The central bank would reject policies that it thought might cause bankers to take too much risk.

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

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Write or Wrong: The Death of Handwriting?

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A literacy expert explains why good penmanship is still important in school. Yet most U.S. teachers consider themselves unprepared to teach it. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In this age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out.

We asked a literacy professor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Steve Graham says he has been hearing about the death of handwriting for the past fifteen years. So is it still being taught?

STEVE GRAHAM: "If the results of a survey we had published this year are accurate, it is being taught by about ninety percent of teachers in grades one to three."

Ninety percent of teachers also say they are required to teach handwriting. But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. Professor Graham says one study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say th

STEVE GRAHAM: "And then when you look at how it's taught, you have some teachers who are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for ten, fifteen minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for sixty to seventy minutes a day -- which really for handwriting is pretty much death."

Many adults remember learning that way -- by copying letters over and over again. Today's thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself. Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write.

Professor Graham says handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility, which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency -- writing without having to think about it. The professor says fluency continues to develop up until high school.

But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about one-fourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important anymore because of computers and voice recognition programs.

But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years.

STEVE GRAHAM: "Even with high school teachers, we find that less than fifty percent of assignments are done via word processing or with word processing. And, in fact, if we added in taking notes and doing tests in class, most of the writing done in school is done by hand."

American children traditionally first learn to print, then to write in cursive, which connects the letters. But guess what we learned from a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the SAT college admission test. More than seventy-five percent of students choose to print their essay on the test rather than write in cursive.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. To learn more about handwriting research, and to share comments, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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American History Series: As the Civil War Grows, So Does Opposition

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By 1863, two years into the fighting, many northerners did not support the war policies of President Abraham Lincoln. Transcript of radio broadcast:

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

By eighteen sixty-three, America's northern states and southern states had been fighting a bitter civil war for two years. Both sides felt the pressure of the costly struggle.

The South was beginning to suffer from a lack of supplies and men for its armies. The North was beginning to suffer from a lack of fighting spirit.

This week in our series, Larry West and Tony Riggs describe an anti-war movement that was growing.

VOICE ONE:

Abraham Lincoln

Many Americans in northern states did not support the war policies of Union President Abraham Lincoln. Some said openly that they did not care who won the war. They just wanted to be left alone.

Coal miners in Pennsylvania protested against a law drafting men into the Union army. They rioted and attacked officials who tried to take them. Soldiers were sent to Pennsylvania to put down the riots.

Farmers in Ohio also protested. They refused to be drafted. They attacked soldiers who were sent to arrest them. The worst anti-war riots, however, took place in New York City.

VOICE TWO:

On July thirteenth, eighteen sixty-three, a crowd formed outside a New York draft office. Inside, army officials were choosing the names of men who would be taken into the army.

Each name was written on a separate piece of paper. The papers were mixed together in a big box. The officials then began to remove the papers one at a time. They made a list of the names. These were the men of New York who must go off to fight.

On that day, however, the list was never completed. The crowd outside the draft office became louder. There were shouts of protest against the draft and against the Civil War.

VOICE ONE:

Police struggling to control rioters in New York

Suddenly, a stone crashed through the office window. Then another. And another. The army officials escaped. But a policeman inside could not get away. The rioters beat him badly. Then they set fire to the draft office and several buildings nearby. The riot spread across the city.

The riot began as a political protest against the draft. Poor men opposed the draft, because it permitted rich men to escape military service.

The law said a man who was drafted could stay out of the army by doing one of two things. He could pay the government three hundred dollars. Or he could pay another man to serve in his place. If a drafted man could not do either thing, then he must join the army or be shot as a deserter.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In the wartime economy of the North, prices were rising much faster than wages. Even a man with a good job had a difficult time feeding his family. It was impossible for him to pay the government three hundred dollars or pay someone else to serve for him in the army.

Poor men protested against the law. They said it was unfair. "It's a rich man's war," they cried, "but a poor man's fight. The rich man's money against the poor man's blood."

VOICE ONE:

There was something else that deeply troubled working men in the North. Anti-war activists told them that the war was not being fought to save the Union, but to free Negro slaves.

The activists said the freed Negroes would move north and take jobs away from whites. Many men believed this. They said they would not fight.

VOICE TWO:

An orphanage for black children burns during the riots in New York

Then, on July thirteenth, the angers and fears of working men in New York exploded. Their attack on the draft office that day was just the beginning. The violence lasted three days.

The rioters beat many policemen to death. They beat, burned, and hanged every Negro they could find. They also killed many whites who tried to protect the Negroes. By the time soldiers stopped the rioting, one thousand persons had been killed.

VOICE ONE:

The leaders of the anti-war movement in the north were members of the opposition Democratic Party. They wore on their coats a copper penny showing the head of a Native American Indian. This gave them the name "Copperheads." One important Copperhead was a former congressman from Ohio, Clement Vallandigham.

Vallandigham made a speech criticizing the Union government. He was charged with violating a military law that banned such criticism. He was arrested.

VOICE TWO:

Clement Vallandigham

The former congressman was taken before a military court. He objected. He said if he had broken a law, he should be tried by a civilian court. He demanded this as his constitutional right.

The military judges rejected his argument. They found him guilty. And they sentenced him to remain in a Union military prison until the end of the war.

People throughout the north were angry. Many did not support Clement Vallandigham's ideas. But they supported his right to speak freely.

President Lincoln could approve or reject Vallandigham's sentence. His decision would show which issue was more important: the citizens' right to free speech, or national security.

VOICE ONE:

Lincoln was a good politician and a smart lawyer. He found an unexpected way to deal with the problem. He neither approved nor rejected the sentence. He changed it.

Lincoln ordered Vallandigham to be turned over to the Confederate army. Then he explained that Vallandigham had not been arrested for criticizing the government.

"His arrest was made," Lincoln said, "because he was trying -- with some success -- to prevent men from entering the army. He was urging soldiers already in the army to leave it. Mister Vallandigham was not arrested because he was damaging the political chances of the administration, or the interests of the commanding general, but because he was damaging the army, upon which the life of the nation depends."

The Confederates welcomed the anti-war leader. They helped him get to Canada. Vallandigham continued his anti-war campaign from there.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

President Lincoln was troubled by the anti-war movement and violent opposition to the draft laws. He felt he had to make citizens understand why such laws were necessary. He prepared a speech which explained his thoughts.

"There can be no army without men," Lincoln wrote. "Men can be had only with their permission or without it. We can no longer get enough men willingly, so there is a draft. If you dispute this, and declare that men are still willing to serve in the army, then prove it by volunteering yourselves in large numbers. Then I will give up the draft."

VOICE ONE:

Lincoln never gave this speech. He felt it was too direct. Instead, he gave a different kind of speech to the people of the Union.

"You want peace," Lincoln said, "and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we get it. There are but three ways possible."

"First, to put down the southern rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, then we are so far agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for the Union? If you are, you should say so clearly. If you are not for force, and not for dissolving the Union, there only remains some kind of compromise. I do not believe any such compromise is possible."

VOICE TWO:

Politicians urged President Lincoln to investigate the anti-war protests in New York to learn who had led them. He refused.

Lincoln believed that starting an investigation would be like lighting a barrel of gunpowder. He already was fighting a bitter struggle against rebels in the South. He did not want to fight the people of the North, too.

Southern leaders were pleased with the Copperheads' anti-war movement. Confederate General Robert E. Lee saw it as a sign of weakness in the northern war effort. He also saw it as an opening for a military victory.

That will be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Larry West and Tony Riggs. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are online, along with historical images, at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION - an American history series in VOA Special English.

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Exploring the Art of Jewelry Across the Ages

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Learn about different methods of jewelry making. And meet Susan Sanders, a jewelry designer who lives in Alexandria, Virginia. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Susan Sanders at work

At the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia, you can see the work of jewelry designer Susan Sanders. Her many gold and silver designs have a clean and modern look.

One of her silver rings has a bold geometric design with small smooth stones inlayed into the metal.

How did she make this ring? Today we answer this question as we explore the history and methods of jewelry design.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

People from almost all cultures throughout history have been making and wearing jewelry. Jewelry is valued for its visual quality, the richness of its materials and the expert way it is made. Since ancient times people have worn jewelry like rings, bracelets and necklaces to decorate their fingers, wrists and necks.

Ancient peoples who lived near the ocean used the shells of sea creatures to make jewelry. Other ancient peoples used materials like small colored rocks and animal bones and teeth. Jewelry often was made from whatever material was considered rare and costly. It expressed the wealth and social importance of its wearer.

Later cultures learned how to find and work with gold. One of gold's important qualities is that it is a very soft metal. It can be easily formed or even flattened into extremely thin sheets of metal.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Some of the oldest and finest known jewelry comes from the burial site of the Sumerian ruler Queen Pu-abi. This Mesopotamian culture existed more than four thousand five hundred years ago. In this area that is now Iraq, archeologists discovered fine examples of gold jewelry. Many of the jewelry designs combined the brightness of gold with the intense blue stone called lapus lazuli. This jewelry shows some of the earliest examples of metalworking methods such as filigree and granulation.

Granulation method used on a ring by Luna Felix

Granulation is a technique in which tiny gold balls are placed in a decorative pattern and joined onto a gold surface. Filigree is made by arranging fine gold or silver wires into patterns or images. Filigree work can either be joined onto a metal surface, or left as "openwork." Many cultures have left extraordinary examples of this technique. Examples include the jewelry of ancient Greeks and the eighteenth century Qing period in China.

VOICE ONE:

Several other metal working methods were developed in ancient times and still define jewelry design today. They include cloisonne work and casting. Cloisonné involves forming metal borders to make different contained areas on the surface of the piece of jewelry. These spaces are then filled with different pieces of finely carved precious stones or with small bits of glass that are melted together.

The ancient Egyptians were experts of the cloisonne method. For example, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City you can see a beautiful cloisonne necklace made more than four thousand years ago. More than three hundred small stones make up a detailed image of Egyptian symbols such as birds and snake creatures. The symbols tell about the sun god giving long life to the Egyptian ruler of that time, King Senwosret the Second.

For thousands of years, Egyptian jewelry represented a great tradition of artistic skill. Many of the pieces were not only beautiful, but also believed to be magical. Amulet jewelry was believed to protect people or give them special powers. For example, scarabs in the form of the beetle insect were believed to be the symbol of new life. Jewelers in ancient Egypt made many examples of finely carved scarab rings and necklaces that still exist today.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

One very old technique of metal casting is called the lost-wax method. With this method, an artist carves the shape of jewelry he or she wants to make out of wax material. This shape is placed into a piece of clay, which is heated at high temperatures. The clay takes the form of the ring, but the wax inside melts away because of the heat. This is why the method is called "lost-wax". The original carved wax model is lost, but its form remains in the clay. Hot liquid metal such as gold is placed inside this clay form. As the metal cools and hardens, it takes the form left by the wax.

The rulers of Asante in modern day Ghana wore gold jewelry made with the lost-wax method. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Asante jewelers made beautiful, fine, detailed gold objects. The ruling family and other leaders wore objects as symbols of their importance, wealth, and power.

Granulation, filigree, cloisonne and casting are only a few of the metalworking methods used by jewelers both in the past and today.

VOICE ONE:

Of course, not all jewelry is made by metalworking. Many cultures throughout history used other valuable materials as well. For example, in China, carved jade stone was part of an ancient jewelry tradition. This green stone was beautiful and also thought to have magical powers. In southern Nigeria during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, only the ruling family of Benin had the right to wear jewelry carved of white ivory material. These are only a few examples of the creativity humans have demonstrated with the art of making jewelry. What kinds of jewelry traditions exist where you live?

VOICE TWO:

The methods we have described are still being used by artists today. Modern technology and newer methods have only added to the countless ways that stones, metals and other materials can be formed. Today, jewelry designers combine old and new methods with styles from around the world. Many also use unexpected materials, such as plastics, cotton and wood. The creative possibilities of modern jewelry making are limitless.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A sterling silver ring by Susan Sanders

The Torpedo Factory Art Center is in the old area of Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. Here, on the second floor is a workroom and store called Susan Sanders Design. Let us go back to the modern geometric jewelry we told about earlier.

SUSAN SANDERS: "I'm Susan Sanders. I'm a jewelry designer at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia. I started making jewelry when I was in college but my desire to make things started much earlier than that. My father was a graphics designer and brought me home professional supplies. My original plan was to be a furniture designer, but I like things I can hold in my hand."

VOICE TWO:

Susan Sanders says this ring is not the easiest of her rings to wear. It is more like a finger sculpture. She carved the main sterling silver form of the ring from a piece of hard wax material. With the lost-wax method we told about earlier, she carved the wax model to make the silver form.

Then, she used a milling machine to create a perfect circle opening for a finger. She also used this milling tool to carve out the areas where she placed small pieces of onyx and jasper stone. Once the stones were in place, she ground the surface to a smooth finish.

VOICE ONE:

Susan Sanders' geometric designs

Like most of her work, this ring is very modern and geometric. Susan Sanders says she is not exactly sure where her ideas come from. Some ideas come from subjects she loves such as modern architecture. But the hardest part is choosing an idea for a piece of jewelry since she does not have the time or resources to make every design she imagines.

Susan Sanders sells most of her work in her store in Alexandria. If you visit the store, you can see her hard at work on new jewelry. She has shown her work in countries such as Italy and South Korea.

Listen as Susan Sanders tells about an exciting show she helped put together in Russia.

SUSAN SANDERS: "I have had quite a number of shows in different countries. The most exciting of which was a show that we had in Moscow in Russia that was called Two Capitals which was jewelry designers from the Washington, D.C., area and artists also from the Moscow area. We put together a show and went over there with it. We had a fabulous time. We were entertained by three of the country's best opera singers and one of their top pianists, which was absolutely incredible. We had an opportunity to meet some of the other Russian jewelers and visit their studios, so we feel like we have friends over there even though we had to speak through an interpreter."

VOICE TWO:

Susan Sanders says to be a good jewelry maker you have to enjoy working long and hard on very small details. She says it is not work that goes quickly. Sanders feels lucky to have grown up with the choices she had. Because her father was an artist, he supported her creative goals early on. Many women did not have the same choices. Susan Sanders says she is thankful to be an artist doing work that she loves.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also see pictures of Susan Sanders' jewelry. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

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A Test for Brain Injury Creates Its Own Risks in Children

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A new study shows that many receive unnecessary radiation because of the overuse of CT scans after head injuries. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A concussion happens when the brain is shaken, often in a car crash or a fall or a strike to the head in sports. Concussions can be mild, but doctors may order a CT scan to look for a more serious injury. Computed tomography provides a detailed image of the brain. But a recent study warned that more children than necessary are being exposed to radiation this way.

A doctor looks at a CT brain scan at Children's National Medical Center in Washington

A national team led by two doctors at the University of California, Davis, studied hospital records from thousands of children with head injuries. They found that in many cases, the risk of developing cancer from the radiation outweighed the risk of a serious brain injury.

The study found that one in five children over age two had a low risk of serious injury but received CT scans anyway. The same was true of almost one in four children under two years of age.

The researchers have developed rules to predict if a head injury is serious enough for a scan. For children under two, doctors are advised against it if there is:

• Normal mental activity.
• No swelling in the back of the head.
• No feeling of a broken bone in the skull.
• And no loss of consciousness for more than five seconds.

Doctors should also consider how the child was injured and whether the parents say the child is acting normally.

For patients from two to eighteen, the guidelines are similar -- except there should be no loss of consciousness, no vomiting and no severe headache.

The report appears in the Lancet medical journal.

Earlier this year, the British Journal of Sports Medicine published new guidelines for concussions in children and teens. International experts said they should not return to sports or school until fully recovered. The brain also needs a "cognitive rest," they say, by restricting activities like video games, texting and watching TV.

Young people often take longer than adults to recover from a concussion. The experts say individual progress and not a set time period should always guide a decision to return to play.

More than one million cases of concussion are reported each year in the United States alone.

A congressional committee has called a hearing Wednesday to discuss legal issues related to head injuries in football. Recently there have been concerns about players retired from the National Football League. But professionals are not the only ones getting concussions. There are high school players who have died from brain injuries.

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

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Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks Less This Year

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Also: A team from Germany wins an international solar power competition. And a public observatory opens on the National Mall in Washington. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week, we will tell the latest about sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. We will also tell about an international competition involving solar-powered houses. And, we will tell about a new public observatory in Washington, DC.

(MUSIC)

Arctic sea ice on the Chukchi Sea

VOICE ONE:

The warmest season in the Arctic Ocean could never be described as warm. Yet some sea ice in the Arctic melts each year during summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Then it freezes again in the winter. The total of sea ice is known as the sea ice extent. The ice is important because it helps keep the Arctic cold and reduces extremes in the Earth's climate.

Experts say the Arctic sea ice extent is under threat. But there is some good news about the extent, at least for now. Scientists say a little more ice covered the Arctic in September than in September of two thousand eight. The scientists work for the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

September is the month when the sea ice extent is at its lowest. The scientists say the average Arctic sea ice extent last month was about five million square kilometers. This was more than one million square kilometers more than the record low for September. The record low was set in two thousand seven.

VOICE TWO:

Mike Steele is an ocean expert at the University of Washington in Seattle. He says sea surface temperatures in the Arctic were higher than normal last month. But skies were cloudy during the summer. That caused lower temperatures, which slowed loss of ice. Atmospheric conditions in August and September also helped to spread the ice. They kept the sea ice extent higher.

Still, the National Snow and Ice Data Center says the most recent September measurement was the third lowest since nineteen seventy-nine. The center says September Arctic sea ice is decreasing at a rate of more than eleven percent every ten years. In the winter months, it is falling by about three percent every ten years.

VOICE ONE:

The center's director, Mark Serreze, says it is good to see what he calls, a little recovery. But he says there is no reason to think that the ice levels will return to the levels of thirty years ago. He warns that the Arctic Ocean could be free of ice during future Northern Hemisphere summers.

The report also says the two thousand nine ice cover was thin. This means it might melt in future summers. The scientists say that ice formed less than one year earlier covered almost half of the extent.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

On a cold weekend this month, thousands of people waited in the rain to visit twenty unusual buildings set up in the heart of Washington, DC. They gathered to see buildings that get all the power they need from the sun. But these structures were not just about solar power. They offered visitors a chance to step into the future of home design and household technology.

The houses were entered in the Two Thousand Nine Solar Decathlon. The United States Department of Energy organized the event. It brought together teams representing twenty universities from Canada, Germany, Spain and the United States. The main goal was to create beautiful homes that can meaningfully cut energy use.

VOICE ONE:

The competition was first held in two thousand two and has taken place every two years since two thousand five. Teams sent proposals to the Department of Energy, which accepted twenty for the Decathlon. The Department gave one hundred thousand dollars to each of the accepted teams to start their projects. But there was no spending limit. The final houses cost from about two hundred thousand dollars to over eight hundred thousand dollars to make.

Each house had about two hundred forty square meters of floor space. The idea was to design great places to live. Architecture students developed designs that were imaginative and effective. Some used natural materials like wood on the outside of the house for a pleasing appearance. Others created strikingly modern buildings like Spain's entry. It was covered with a moving roof that kept its solar panels pointed toward the sun.

The winning entry from Germany

VOICE TWO:

The winning entry came from the Technical University of Darmstadt, in Germany. The design of its house stood out from all the others. It looked like a black cube. Tabea Huth helped design the German entry. She shared its secret with us.

TABEA HUTH: "Most of the people who come along here didn't notice that we have solar panels around the façade. They thought it's just glass."

VOICE TWO:

In fact, the outer surface of the German entry was covered with solar panels. Because of this, the house was able to create more electricity than any other design.

VOICE ONE:

Judges rated ten areas of design and use. Entries were judged on their architectural qualities. They were also judged on their marketability, engineering and lighting design. Other areas included how well the teams communicated their ideas.

Each team had to create a design that could keep the inside of the house at a temperature of between twenty-two and twenty-four degrees Celsius. Hot water had to be available throughout the day. Teams were also required to operate appliances like washing machines and dishwashers during the competition.

Each house had an operating home entertainment system. The designs had to show that the sun could power the electronic equipment people depend on for both work and play.

The entry by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

VOICE TWO:

The second place winner came from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This house required less energy and limited waste better than any other design. The walls were built extra thick to save heat and energy-efficient appliances kept energy use low.

Britta Monson is a student at the University of Illinois.

BRITTA MONSON: "I think the most important thing about the house is just how much energy it really does conserve. And how the systems that we have designed for the house and we've used for the house how efficient they are and how little energy they use."

VOICE TWO:

The Illinois team led for much of the competition. But with fewer solar panels, they fell behind the German team on the most important requirement: energy production. Both teams, however, were able to provide more than enough energy to meet the requirements of the competition. They even produced surplus electricity.

Next year, the solar decathlon will be held in Madrid, Spain. Then, in two thousand eleven, the Solar Decathlon will return to Washington.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Finally, there is a new activity on the National Mall in Washington. An observatory opened recently at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. About two thousand people visited the Public Observatory Project in the first two weeks after it opened.

The project honors two thousand nine as the International Year of Astronomy. This year also marks the four hundredth anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo.

Historians say the Italian scientist and mathematician may not have been the first to get a good look at the moon and planets. But he probably was the first to let the world know about it.

The Smithsonian's Public Observatory

VOICE TWO:

The new observatory is the home of a forty-centimeter telescope. The telescope weighs about one thousand three hundred sixty kilograms. It is on loan from the Smithsonian's Astrophysical Observatory for two years.

Some visitors are surprised that the Public Observatory Project operates only during daytime hours. They are even more surprised when they learn how much they can see during the day.

David DeVorkin works for the National Air and Space Museum. He says visitors using the telescope have seen bright stars.

DAVID DEVORKIN: "The nicest thing is you can still see their colors. There's enough contrast so that you can tell the difference between a red star and a blue star and show people that stars have colors. All of that you can do during the day."

VOICE TWO:

Mister DeVorkin says the observatory is meant to appeal to visitors who have not been interested in astronomy before. He says one way of doing so was to provide a fully-equipped telescope. He says he dreamed of placing just such an instrument on the National Mall.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Mario Ritter and Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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With Resistant Crops, Progress Can Raise New Problems

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A new study shows how a gene that protects transgenic squash from viruses also makes the plants a more appealing target for insects. Transcript of radio broadcast:

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Plant breeders and genetic engineers keep working to give crops the strength to resist threats like insects, diseases, droughts or floods.

But before you can resist a threat, you need to understand it.

We told you last week about a newly completed genetic map of the organism that causes late blight. That disease led to starvation in Ireland from potato shortages in the middle of the eighteen hundreds. The new genome could lead to better ways to protect potatoes, tomatoes and other crops.

Science may supply a stronger crop. Yet that does not always guarantee demand.

Nik Grunwald from the United States Agriculture Department worked on the international team that completed the genome. He says it is possible to grow potatoes that resist late blight. But these may not look like Russet potatoes. And most American farmers grow Russets because, as Nik Grunwald puts it, "that is where the demand is."

Another example of scientific progress involves a natural bacterium known as Bt. Bt is used as a pesticide to fight cotton bollworms, corn borers and other pests. Scientists have found a way to grow cotton plants that contain a Bt gene, reducing the need for pesticides. But sometimes, when one problem gets solved, another one appears.

In China, some farmers and researchers blame a decrease in pesticide use for an increase in pests unaffected by Bt. Also, there are concerns that some organisms could begin to resist the plants designed to resist them.

And scientists are reporting this week on what they call the "indirect costs" of a virus-resistance gene in Cucurbita. This is the species of squash that includes pumpkins and gourds. The scientists say virus-resistant transgenic squash are grown throughout the United States and much of Mexico.

The genetically engineered squash are usually larger and healthier than wild squash. But a three-year study showed that beetles like to feed more on the transgenic plants, increasing cases of wilt disease. The report by a team from the United States and China appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers point out that gene flow between crops and their wild relatives is common and difficult to contain. They note concerns that wild plants could, as a result, gain genetically engineered resistances. And these could affect the natural balance in their environment.

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

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