Sorry...

因意外因素，有两天不能上网，没有更新blog内容，对不住关注PoEnglish的各位网友。

所以，我在这郑重道歉，今后尽量避免再出此类问题。

不能上网的两天。。。真的很痛苦阿。。。

4月的合辑即将制作，我得把4月内容等齐，肯定会尽快发布的，所以不要催魂哪

最后祝大家51快乐！

说真的，出去玩外面人太多了，所以肯定玩不爽，还是在家睡睡觉得了，当然记得每天来PoEnglish做作业哦

Anti-American Protests Follow Deadly Raid in Afghanistan

By Benjamin Sand Islamabad 29 April 2007

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An Afghan boy cries after his parents were allegedly killed during a raid in Bati Kot area of Nangarhar province, in Afghanistan, 29 Apr 2007

Hundreds of outraged protesters chanted anti-American slogans in eastern Afghanistan after U.S. and Afghan forces accidentally killed two female civilians. From VOA's South Asia news center in Islamabad, Correspondent Benjamin Sand reports the U.S.-led raid was targeting a suspected car-bomb cell.

U.S. officials say they launched the raid early Sunday after receiving a tip that militants in the eastern province of Nangarhar were planning a series of suicide attacks in the next few weeks.

Major William Mitchell says the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces came under attack as they approached the militants' compound and returned fire, killing four militants.

"Unfortunately an adult woman and a teenager were also killed in the crossfire between militants and Coalition forces," he said. "A young child and a teenage female were wounded during the firefight and are being treated at a Coalition medical facility."

He says coalition forces found multiple AK-47 machine guns and bomb-making materials inside.

U.S. officials also released a written statement expressing concern over the loss of civilian lives. They accused the militants of endangering innocents by hiding among their families.

The incident provoked a massive protest in the area. Hundreds of local men chanted "death to Bush" and temporarily blocked the region's main highway.

This is the second time in recent weeks that U.S. led forces are being blamed for civilian casualties in Nangarhar, one of the key battleground states in the fight against the five year old Taleban insurgency.

On March 4, U.S. Marines killed 12 people after being attacked by a suicide car bomber.

Local eyewitnesses say the American forces fired indiscriminately into groups of Afghan cars and pedestrians as they tried to escape the ambush.

The U.S. military subsequently determined the Marines used excessive force in the incident and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission recently accused the Marines of violating international humanitarian law.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly denounced U.S. and coalition military action that harms civilians, which is a major point of concern for Afghans following more than three decades of foreign invasion and civil unrest.

Lebanon War Inquiry Brings Calls for Olmert's Resignation

By Robert Berger Jerusalem 29 April 2007

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is seen as he chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem, 29 Apr 2007

Israel's embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing growing calls for his resignation before the publication of an official inquiry into last year's war in Lebanon. But despite expectations of a highly critical report, the prime minister's aides say he has no intention of stepping down. Robert Berger reports from the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.

Parliamentarians across Israel's political spectrum are demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resign, after an official inquiry reportedly describes his handling of the Lebanon War as a failure.

The five-member Winograd Commission will publish its interim report on Monday. According to portions of the document leaked to Israeli media, the panel concludes that Mr. Olmert made hasty and ill-advised decisions from the outset of the war.

"The political level, the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, they carry the major burden of the fiasco of the Second Lebanese War. They should resign," said former Defense Minister Moshe Arens of the opposition Likud party.

Mr. Olmert's office declined comment until official publication of the report on Monday. But his aides say he will not resign.

"I am sure that the commission's report will not prevent him from leading the country and leading the government," said Tzachi Hanegbi, who is from the Prime Minister's Kadima party.

Hanegbi, who heads the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, also denies allegations that Mr. Olmert mishandled the war.

"I am convinced that the decisions that he made were the right ones. I am convinced that he made those decisions based on the data, on the information given to him by the chief of staff and by the generals, the head[s] of the army," he said.

The inquiry commission sees things differently. It reportedly concludes that Mr. Olmert failed to question the army's battle plans, publicly stated his war aims without ensuring that they were attainable and did not have an exit strategy.

Israeli forces entered Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas began firing thousands of rockets into Israel. Despite a 34-day air and ground assault, the Israeli army failed to defeat about 5,000 guerrillas in southern Lebanon. In addition, reserve soldiers returning from the battlefield complained of poor preparations and a lack of food and ammunition.

Media reports say the commission does not recommend that the prime minister resign. But if he stays in power, analysts believe he will be weak and ineffective.

Hollywood Celebrates 30 Years of "Star Wars"

By Alan Silverman Hollywood 29 April 2007

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For even the most popular movies, fame is often fleeting; but every so often - perhaps once or twice in a generation - a film transcends entertainment to become part of the culture. That is certainly the case for an outer space adventure that premiered in May 1977. The film's writer-director recently joined many of his technical experts and cast members for a special anniversary event at the Motion Picture Academy. Alan Silverman has more on 30 years of "Star Wars."

Mark Hamill, who starred as Luke Skywalker in the first three "Star Wars" films, poses in May 2005 in front of an actor dressed as Darth Vader

Just about anyone old enough to remember 1977 can hear the fanfare that introduces a Twentieth Century Fox film and almost instinctively recall that thrilling moment when the blackened screen lit up with blue letters reading "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..."

"Star Wars" was an old-fashioned adventure, borrowing liberally from the traditional western, but, un-traditionally, was set in outer space:

It gave us Jedi knights dueling with light sabers, spacecraft that made the jump to hyper-space (once the navi-computers were set), a long-haired and volatile Wookiee co-pilot, eccentric 'droids' or robots, white-armored storm troopers and a spiritual concept called "The Force:"

Screen veteran Sir Alec Guinness played venerable Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, the guide and mentor to fresh-faced young Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill. The characters are well-known today, but writer-director George Lucas admits until opening weekend 30 years ago, he was not sure that many people would get to see them. "We were in 32 theaters. I felt that science fiction usually does pretty well in the first week so we were kind of expecting to do okay; but then it just went crazy. There were lines around the block and people trying to get in. They immediately had to start releasing it in more theaters just because there was such a demand for it," he says.

Subtitled "Episode Four: A New Hope," it was the first in a cycle that would span six films; and Lucas says it succeeded in creating what he calls 'a modern mythology'. "It makes me feel very good. The whole idea was to create a modern myth that families could watch together and provoke certain questions between kids and their parents that would allow them to ask some of the more interesting questions in life and have some enjoyment - give a young person some inspiration and something to feel good about," he says.

"A lot of it was just happy circumstance, you know ...like anything else that clicks on levels you did n-o-t expect," says Mark Hamill, who was 25 when he first played Luke Skywalker, one of his first feature film roles. His career since spanned movies, TV and the Broadway stage; but Hamill says "Star Wars" scenes like the rowdy cantina at Mos Eisley Spaceport ("a wretched hive of scum and villainy") stood out even amid the costumed chaos of the film set. "It 'pops' in the screenplay. People forget that it was all on the page ...everything was. You talk about that cantina sequence: it immediately arrests you in the screenplay because it's one of those movies where you're waiting for 'the monster' and then out of nowhere you go through a door and it's not just one monster, it's thousands of monsters."

"It did not behave itself, that movie ...it was a great script," says Carrie Fisher, who co-starred as spunky Princess Leia. Her career path took her behind the scenes to become a leading Hollywood screenwriter and, in the anniversary panel discussion at the Motion Picture Academy, she recalls wondering how Lucas would be able to film his "Star Wars" vision. "I read it out loud with a friend of mine who is an actor, Miguel Ferrer, and it was extraordinary and I wanted to do it ...I wanted to play Han Solo, but since that part wasn't available, I wanted to do it to see how he would do that. I'd never seen anything like what the script was talking about. I thought it would be a film I would really like to see and that is all I knew. I thought 'I'll want to see this and it will be like this groovy cult film.'

Far, far away from suffering the fate of a midnight 'cult' favorite, that original "Star Wars" became the second-highest grossing film in history ("Titanic" is number one). It also helped make George Lucas very, very wealthy and he believes its unexpected success has had a lasting effect on film entertainment. "It diversified the audience for films. They used to make films for a very small group of people and now they realize that there is room for movies for all ages. They kind of relegated children's films to Disney, but now all of the studios are doing it. We now have art films that we never had when we were doing "Star Wars." I think it has broadened the whole arena of cinema in the United States," he says.

The thirtieth anniversary screening and discussion of "Star Wars" launched this year's edition of the Motion Picture Academy series titled "It's Great To Be Nominated," spotlighting films that received the most Oscar nominations, but did not win Best Picture. At the 1978 ceremony that Award went to "Annie Hall." "Star Wars" had ten nominations and won six Academy Awards, including one to John Williams for his original musical score.

Cambodia Publishes First History of Khmer Rouge Regime

By Rory Byrne Phnom Penh 28 April 2007

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The first textbook written by a Cambodian on the history of the Khmer Rouge has been published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia. Previous accounts of the Khmer Rouge era have all been written by foreign scholars and reporters. The book aims to educate Cambodians about the rise and fall of the genocidal regime that killed almost 2 million people in the late 1970s. Rory Byrne reports from Phnom Penh.

Skulls of Khmer Rouge regime victims are displayed at the Choeung Ek Killing Fields memorial in Choeung Ek

Very little is taught about the Khmer Rouge here, in large part because the subject is sensitive among political groups and other high-profile people once associated with the genocidal Maoist movement.

Even those Cambodians who lived through the regime don't know the whole story, and more than 70 percent of the population has been born since the Khmer Rouge was ousted in 1979.

The new book is entitled A History of Democratic Kamphuchea, the name the Khmer Rouge gave the country after taking power in 1975.

The book is published by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group that documents Khmer Rouge crimes. It relies heavily on first-hand testimony of survivors and perpetrators of Cambodia's genocide.

The book's author, Khamboly Dy, says propaganda and differing interpretations of events have clouded people's understanding of the regime itself, and of the Vietnamese-led action that drove it from power.

"That part of history is very political, and so far we don't have the common agreement on the content of [that] history, because there are a lot of interpretations on the history of the Khmer Rouge, like the 1979 event - whether it is the invasion, or the liberation of Cambodia," he explained. "So there are a lot of interpretations."

The book was written for high school teachers and their students. It is part of a wider process being conducted by various private groups aimed at helping Cambodians to better understand the history of the "Killing Fields" era. The book was published as United Nations-backed trials of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are approaching.

Khamboly Dy says the aim is to present the plain facts, as opposed to trying to interpret them.

"We introduce the facts about the Khmer Rouge - we don't use the interpretation, we don't use propaganda, we use facts. And we try to balance, to make the book neutral, not to take sides," he added. "That is very important, to know exactly what happened in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, and the real events: not the propaganda, not the hatred, because from now on we need to focus on peace and reconciliation, and justice, not on hatred or any propaganda."

Cambodia's Education Ministry has approved the book as a "core reference" guide for history textbooks, but not yet as part of the official school curriculum. However, there are discussions about producing a condensed version of the book's material, to be included in future textbooks.

VOASE0429_This Is America

29 April 2007

Queen Elizabeth to Mark 'America's 400th Anniversary' at Jamestown
Her visit this week is part of an 18-month series of events in Virginia to show how England's first permanent settlement in the New World changed the world.

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Next month is the four hundredth anniversary of Britain's first permanent settlement in America. Today, we tell the story of Jamestown.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Artist's rendering of James Fort

In sixteen-oh-seven, three ships loaded with explorers and supplies crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. On May fourteenth the men landed at a small island at the southern end of the Chesapeake Bay.

In all, there were one hundred four men and boys. They immediately began work on a settlement on the shores of the James River. They named it Jamestown.

King James the First in England had agreed to let the explorers from the Virginia Company establish a settlement in North America. They were told to find gold and a way to sail to the Orient.

The four hundredth anniversary of Jamestown is being honored with eighteen months of cultural and educational programs around Virginia. They began in May of last year and are meant to show how a struggle for survival changed the world. Many parts of the Jamestown story are being retold to mark what the organizers call "America's 400th Anniversary."

VOICE TWO:

The Jamestown Settlement that people visit today is a re-creation of the colony and a nearby Powhatan Indian village. The state of Virginia built the Jamestown Settlement in nineteen fifty-seven to celebrate the three hundred fiftieth anniversary.

Visitors can stop at the Jamestown Settlement, or drive down the road to a place called Historic Jamestowne on Jamestown Island. The National Park Service and a Virginia historical group jointly operate the island.

Archeological discovery of James Fort

Historic Jamestowne is where the English built their colony. But fifty years ago there was not much to see.

VOICE ONE:

Several months after arriving in America, the colonists built a three-sided fort along the edge of the island. For years, researchers believed that the structure had worn away into the James River.

But in nineteen ninety-four, archeologists began a project called Jamestown Rediscovery. They discovered part of the fort. Since then, they have located the positions of all three sides, along with several deep wells.

More than one million objects dating back to the first colonists have come out of the ground. These include tobacco seeds and plant remains. Many of the artifacts can be seen in a new museum called the Archaearium on the grounds of Historic Jamestowne.

VOICE TWO:

Jamestown Church in Historic Jamestowne

Past where the fort was built is the old colonial church on Jamestown Island. The first representative legislature in America met at the Jamestown Church in sixteen nineteen. During this meeting, a plan of self-government was established for all future colonies in America.

The colonists built the church out of wood in sixteen seventeen. Then, in sixteen thirty-nine, they replaced it with a church made of stone.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second came to Jamestown for the three hundred fiftieth anniversary in nineteen fifty-seven. It was her first visit to the United States as queen.

A memorial cross was raised on the eastern coast of Jamestown Island. It marked the difficult first few years of life at Jamestown. The colonists did not have enough food. They suffered from diseases. They also fought with the Native Americans who lived in the area.

VOICE TWO:

Archaearium at Historic Jamestowne

Now, fifty years later, Queen Elizabeth will return to the former colony to observe the four hundredth anniversary of Jamestown.

Kevin Crossett works for a Virginia agency that is helping organize Jamestown events with local, state and national groups. He says officials have taken special care to include all the cultures involved in the earliest years of the settlement.

Past anniversaries at Jamestown have mainly centered on the European experience. But with this anniversary, Kevin Crossett says, each culture gets to tell its own story in its own words.

American Indian groups are involved in the anniversary events. But, as Kevin Crossett notes, they do not consider the observance a celebration. After all, the Native Americans lost land and people when the English arrived.

The idea of a "celebration" might not appeal much to black Americans either. The first black people to arrive in Jamestown were slaves from Africa.

VOICE ONE:

Artifacts seen in the Archaearium at Historic Jamestowne

The Jamestown observance began last May when a copy of the ship Godspeed sailed up the East Coast. This is a modern version of one of the three ships that carried the first settlers to Jamestown Island. The other two, which have also been re-created, were the Susan Constant and the Discovery.

Last week, a historical re-creation called "Journey Up the James" began at Virginia Beach. When the three ships first arrived in America, they landed at Virginia Beach before heading farther up the James River.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, plan to be in Virginia on May third and fourth. This will be the queen's first visit to the United States in sixteen years.

But the main event of the Jamestown observance, a three-day anniversary weekend, begins Friday, May eleventh. Organizers have invited President Bush to speak. The honorary chairwoman for the events is former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The weekend will include music and cultural performances. Artists will demonstrate glass-making from the seventeenth century.

Earlier events for the Jamestown anniversary have included Indian and African-American cultural programs. There was also an educational program called "Jamestown Live." This was a one-hour Internet broadcast in November involving history experts and others. Organizers say more than one million students around the world took part in the program.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The first settlers at Jamestown imagined that it would become a great city. In fact, after less than a century, it burned to the ground in a rebellion led by a colonist named Nathaniel Bacon. The colony never recovered and the capital of Virginia at that time moved to Williamsburg. Still, England had established a permanent presence in North America.

VOICE TWO:

As part of the Jamestown observance, a special program will take place in September in Williamsburg. The gathering will examine the role of democracy in world politics. Leaders and students from around the world have been invited to discuss the future of democracy in the developing world.

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jill Moss and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. For a link to the Jamestown anniversary Web site, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts and audio archives of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0429_Development Report

29 April 2007

Clearing a PATH to Better Health in Developing Countries
The Seattle-based Program for Appropriate Technology in Health is 30 years old and has programs in 65 countries.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

This year is the thirtieth anniversary of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, or PATH. PATH is a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington.

A Young HIV positive orphan lies in his cot at the Nyumbani children home, a hospice for AIDS orphans in Nairobi, Kenya

It was created to deal with technology needs for world health, especially reproductive health. Since then, it has expanded into other areas including vaccine research and prevention of AIDS and malaria.

It has programs in sixty-five countries. PATH works with local partners to design and test new technologies. It also works with companies to manufacture and sell them.

One of its products is called the BIRTHweigh scale. This is used to identify babies who have a dangerously low birthweight, less than two and one-half kilograms.

The scale was designed for health workers with low reading skills. At first it used colors to show different weight levels. But tests in Indonesia found that it also had to be readable in low-light situations, like at night in a house without electric power. The handheld scale was redesigned so a person could feel a button sink into the handle if a baby is a healthy weight.

Now the scale is being designed to provide a guide to the right amount of nevirapine to give a baby. Nevirapine is a drug that can prevent the spread of H.I.V. from an infected mother to her child. H.I.V. is the virus that causes AIDS.

Teresa Guillien at PATH says the group will spend about one hundred sixty million dollars on its programs this year. PATH gets money from the United States government and other countries and international agencies. Donations also come from companies, individuals and foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Last Wednesday, on Africa Malaria Day, PATH marked the first year of an expanded campaign to prevent malaria in Zambia. The aim is to provide protective bed nets to about eighty percent of the population.

PATH has also developed a nutritionally enriched grain called Ultra Rice. Ultra Rice is being used in Colombia, Brazil and India.

Among other projects, PATH is trying to make sure the new cervical cancer vaccine is available in developing countries. And, in the future, Teresa Guillien says PATH hopes to work more on strengthening health systems in those countries.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. To learn about other groups working in the developing world, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Shep O'Neal.

VOASE0428_People In America

28 April 2007

Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867-1959: The greatest American building designer of the twentieth century
One critic said Wright's ideas were 50 years ahead of his time.

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Phoebe Zimmerman.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program People in America. Today we tell about the life and work of the greatest American building designer of the twentieth century, Frank Lloyd Wright.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings for more than seventy years. He did most of his

Frank Lloyd Wright

work from nineteen hundred through the nineteen fifties. He designed houses, schools, churches, public buildings, and office buildings.

Critics say Frank Lloyd Wright was one of America's most creative architects. One critic said his ideas were fifty years ahead of the time in which he lived.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Frank Lloyd Wright was born in eighteen­ sixty‑seven in the middle western state of Wisconsin. He studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin. In eighteen eighty‑seven, he went to the city of Chicago. He got a job in the office of the famous architects, Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.

Several years later, Wright established his own building design business. He began by designing homes for people living in and near Chicago. These homes were called "prairie houses."

VOICE ONE:

Prairie houses were long and low. They seemed to grow out of the ground. They were built of wood and other natural materials. The indoors expanded to the outdoors by extending the floor. This created what seemed like a room without walls or a roof.

In nineteen-oh-two, Wright designed one prairie house, called the Willits House, in the town of Highland Park. The house was shaped like a cross. It was built around a huge fireplace. The rooms were designed so they seemed to flow into each other.

VOICE TWO:

Robie House

Visitors to Chicago can see another of Wright's prairie houses. It is called the Robie House. It looks like a series of long, low rooms on different levels. The rooms seem to float over the ground. Wright designed everything in the house, including the furniture and floor coverings.

Wright's prairie houses had a great influence on home design in America. Even today, one hundred years later, his prairie houses appear very modern.

VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen thirties, Wright developed what he called "Usonian" houses. Usonia was his name for a perfect, democratic United States of America. Usonian houses were planned to be low cost. Wright designed them for the American middle class. These are the majority of Americans who are neither very rich nor very poor.

Frank Lloyd Wright believed that all middle class families in America should be able to own a house that was designed well. He believed that the United States could not be a true democracy if people did not own their own house on their own piece of land.

VOICE TWO:

Usonian houses were built on a flat base of concrete. The base was level with the ground. Wright believed that was better and less costly than the common method of digging a hole in the ground for the base. Low‑cost houses based on the Usonian idea became very popular in America in the nineteen fifties. Visitors can see one of Wright's Usonian homes near Washington, D. C. It is the Pope-Leighy House in Alexandria, Virginia.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Frank Lloyd Wright believed in spreading his ideas to young building designers. In nineteen thirty‑two, he established a school called the Taliesin Fellowship. Architectural students paid to live and work with him.

During the summer, they worked at his home near Spring Green, Wisconsin. Wright called this house "Taliesin." That is a Welsh name meaning "shining brow." It was built of stone and wood into the top of a hill.

During the winter, they worked at Taliesin West. This was Wright’s home and architecture office near Phoenix, Arizona. Wright and his students started building it in nineteen thirty-seven in the Sonoran Desert.

VOICE TWO:

Taliesin West is an example of Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas of organic architecture taking

Taliesin West

root in the desert. He believed that architecture should have life and spirit. He said a building should appear to grow naturally and easily from its base into its surroundings. Selecting the best place to put a building became a most important first step in the design process.

Frank Lloyd Wright had discovered the beauty of the desert in nineteen twenty-seven when he was asked to help with the design of the Arizona Biltmore hotel. He continued to return to the desert with his students to escape the harsh winters in Wisconsin.

Ten years later he found a perfect place for his winter home and school. He bought about three hundred hectares of desert land at the foot of the McDowell Mountains near Scottsdale, Arizona.

Wright said: “ I was struck by the beauty of the desert, by the dry, clear sun-filled air, by the stark geometry of the mountains.” He wanted everyone who visited Taliesin West to feel this same sense of place.

VOICE ONE:

His architecture students helped him gather rocks and sand from the desert floor to use as building materials. They began a series of buildings that became home, office and school. Wright kept working on and changing what he called a building made of many buildings for twenty years.

Today, Taliesin West has many low stone buildings linked together by walkways and courtyards. It is still very much alive with activity. About seventy people live, work and study there. Guides take visitors through what is one of America’s most important cultural treasures.

VOICE TWO:

Falling Water

In nineteen thirty‑seven, Wright designed a house near the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is a fine example of his idea of organic architecture. The house is called "Fallingwater." It sits on huge rocks next to a small river. It extends over a waterfall. From one part of the house, a person can step down a stairway over the water.

"Fallingwater" is so unusual and so beautiful that it came to represent modern American architecture. One critic calls it the greatest house of the twentieth century. Like Taliesin West, "Fallingwater" is open to the public.

VOICE ONE:

Frank Lloyd Wright also is famous for designing imaginative public buildings. In nineteen‑oh‑four, he designed an office building for the Larkin Soap Company in Buffalo, New York. The offices were organized around a tall open space. At the top was a glass roof to let sunlight into the center.

In the late nineteen thirties, Wright designed an office building for the Johnson Wax Company in Racine, Wisconsin. It also had one great room without traditional walls or windows. The outside of the building was made of smooth, curved brick and glass.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen forty‑three, Frank Lloyd Wright designed one of his most famous projects: the Guggenheim Museum of Art in New York City. The building was completed in nineteen sixty, the year following his death.

The Guggenheim is unusual because it is a circle. Inside the museum, a walkway rises

The Guggenheim Museum in New York

in a circle from the lowest floor almost to the top. Visitors move along this walkway to see the artwork on the walls.

The Guggenheim museum was very different from Wright's other designs. It even violated one of his own rules of design: the Guggenheim's shape is completely different from any of the buildings around it.

VOICE ONE:

When Wright was a very old man, he designed the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California, near San Francisco. The Civic Center project was one of his most imaginative designs. It is a series of long buildings between two hills.

Frank Lloyd Wright believed that architecture is life itself taking form. “Therefore,” he said, “it is the truest record of life as it was lived in the world yesterday, as it is lived today, or ever will be lived.”

Frank Lloyd Wright died in nineteen fifty-nine, in Phoenix, Arizona. He was ninety‑one years old. His buildings remain a record of the best of American Twentieth Century culture.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust and Marilyn Christiano. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Our studio engineer was Max Carroll. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Phoebe Zimmerman. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

VOASE0427_In the News

27 April 2007

Yeltsin Remembered: Russia's First Freely Elected Leader, but a Mixed Record
Experts say history will remember Boris Yeltsin as a democratic leader in some ways but not in others. They also say his Russia was more open than it is now.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, Russia buried its former president with full honors in Moscow. Boris Yeltsin died Monday at age seventy-six. He served from nineteen ninety-one to nineteen ninety-nine. He will always be remembered as Russia's first democratically elected leader. But his record is seen as a mix of good and bad for the country.

A farewell ceremony in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow

Boris Yeltsin rose within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. But in nineteen eighty-seven he rebelled against the Soviet system. He called for more reform. Within a month, he was dismissed as party chief in Moscow.

He became a leader of Russia's political opposition. In nineteen eighty-nine, he was elected to the Soviet parliament. Two years later he was elected president of the Russian republic -- at that time, the Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic. Mikhail Gorbachev was president of the Soviet Union.

That same year, nineteen ninety-one, a group of plotters from the military, Communist Party and KGB secret police tried to seize power. Leaders of the attempted overthrow detained Mister Gorbachev. But Mister Yeltsin climbed onto an army tank in Moscow to urge people to resist. The coup attempt failed.

Boris Yeltsin and Mikhail Gorbachev

Four months later, in December, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned and the Soviet Union collapsed.

Yet in the years that followed Boris Yeltsin's heroic moment, his popularity fell. In October of nineteen ninety-three, he ordered the army to shell the parliament building to end an occupation by his opponents.

The next year, he ordered troops into Chechnya to crush a separatist rebellion. The war that followed resulted in more than seventy-five thousand deaths, mostly civilians.

Yet Mister Yeltsin's presidency also led to open elections in Russia. It led to private property rights and the right to free speech. He pushed for economic reforms. But critics said those policies went too far, leaving millions of Russians in poverty. They said the restructuring gave too much economic power to a small number of very wealthy business people, known as oligarchs.

Boris Yeltsin had a history of heart problems and heavy drinking. He suffered a heart attack between the first and second rounds of balloting in the nineteen ninety-six presidential election. His condition, though, was kept hidden. In nineteen ninety-nine, six months before the end of his second term, Mister Yeltsin resigned.

To take his place, he chose his prime minister, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy. Mister Putin was then elected president in two thousand and re-elected four years later. This week he remembered Mister Yeltsin as a man thanks to whom "a new democratic Russia was born."

Political scientists say history will remember Boris Yeltsin as a leader who was democratic in some ways but not in others. They say Russia under Mister Yeltsin was a far more open place than it was during Soviet times -- and more open than it is now.

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

Senate Approves War Funding Bill, Timeline for Iraq Troop Pullout

By Deborah Tate Washington 26 April 2007

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The U.S. Senate, following the lead of the House of Representatives, has approved a compromise bill that funds military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. But it also sets a goal of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq by early next year - a provision that President Bush says will force him to veto the measure as soon as he receives it. VOA's Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

The Democratic-led Senate voted largely along party lines to approve the legislation, which is a compromise between earlier bills passed by the House of Representatives and Senate.

The measure includes about $95 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 30. It also calls for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq beginning in October or earlier, if President Bush determines the Iraqis have not met certain benchmarks, including disarming militias and taking steps toward a unity government.

The bill sets a non-binding goal of completing a withdrawal of combat troops by April first of next year.

It would allow for the continued deployment of some non-combat forces who are pursuing terrorist networks or training Iraqi troops.

Many Democrats used debate on the bill to reiterate their criticism of President Bush's handling of the war.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. right, questions a witness during a hearing as Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., listens (File)

"The president has failed in his mission to bring peace and stability to the people of Iraq," said Senator Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat.

The Democratic-led chamber approved the measure despite President Bush's vow to veto it, and personal appeals a day earlier by the top army general in Iraq, David Petraeus, to allow more time for a recent U.S. troop surge in Iraq to make progress.

Senate Republicans, including Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, said setting a timetable for a troop withdrawal sends the wrong signal.

"Just wait months, our enemies are told, and the place is yours. When the going gets tough, can you really count on the Americans to see it through in a responsible way? This is the wrong message at the wrong time," said Lott.

Senator John Warner of Virginia, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, expressed concern about the impact the timetable withdrawal would have on the military mission in Iraq:

"This measure places undue constraints on the utilization of our brave military, together with our allies working with us, and indeed on the utilization of the Iraqi military, which likewise has followed through with a brave performance with our forces," he said.

But Democrats argued they were siding with most Americans, whom public-opinion polls show favor setting a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

"President Bush should be listening to the American people and working with Congress to bring this tragic war to an end. Instead of continuing to defy the will of the American people and Congress by threatening to veto the legislation, he should be putting the Iraqis on notice," said Senator Ted Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat. "He must make it clear to the Iraqi government that it is time for them to take responsibility for their country and resolve their political differences. The American military will not police Iraq's civil war indefinitely."

Democrats hope to send the bill to President Bush as early as Monday, the day before the fourth anniversary of the president's speech aboard an aircraft carrier when he declared the end of major combat operations under a banner that said, "Mission Accomplished".

After the expected veto, lawmakers would have to rewrite the legislation, as the Democratic-led House and Senate lack the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto. Both chambers are expected to approve legislation funding the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan before the current funding runs out by June or July.

US General Says Iran-Linked Group Attacked US Troops

By Al Pessin Pentagon 26 April 2007

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The top U.S. commander in Iraq says an Iraqi group affiliated with an elite Iranian force carried out an attack last year in which five U.S. soldiers were killed near the Iraqi town of Karbala. The statement by General David Petraeus follows months of suspicion about Iranian involvement in the incident, but the general says he cannot directly connect Iranian agents to the attack. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

General David Petraeus at the Pentagon, 26 Apr 2007

General Petraeus told a Pentagon news conference that his conclusion about the Karbala attack comes from the results of interrogations of the leaders of an Iraqi insurgent group affiliated with Iran called the Khazali Network.

"Iranian involvement has really become much clearer to us and come into much more focus during the interrogation of the members, the heads, of the Khazali Network and some of the key members of that network that have been in detention now for a month or more," said General Petraeus.

General Petraeus says the network received money and weapons from Iran, and that some of its members were trained inside Iran. He says a computer captured with some members of the organization contained a document proving its involvement in the Karbala attack, but he says there was no indication that Iranian agents were directly involved.

"We discovered, for example, a 22-page memorandum on a computer that detailed the planning, preparation, approval process and conduct of the operation that resulted in five of our soldiers being killed in Karbala," he said.

In the January incident, insurgents attacked a building in Karbala. One U.S. soldier was killed during the attack and four others were kidnapped. Three were later found handcuffed together and shot to death. The other had a bullet wound in his head and died as U.S. forces were taking him to a hospital.

General Petraeus says the Iraqi group responsible for the attack is linked to Iran's elite Quds Force, which conducts special operations abroad. But he could not say whether senior Iranian leaders are involved in the Iraq operations.

"We do not, at least I do not, know of anything that specifically identifies how high it goes beyond the level of the Quds Force commander Soliman," noted General Petraeus. "Beyond that, it is very difficult to tell. We know where he is in the overall chain of command. He certainly reports to the very top. But, again, nothing that would absolutely indicate, again, how high the knowledge of this actually goes."

General Petraeus also criticized Syria for allowing foreign fighters to enter Iraq through its territory. He says the foreigners carry out 80 to 90 per cent of the suicide bombings in Iraq, which have killed hundreds of Iraqi civilians in recent weeks. The general says al-Qaida organizes those bombings, and he called the group "Public Enemy Number One" in Iraq.

In spite of the bombings, General Petraeus says some progress is being made toward establishing security in Iraq. He cited a sharp drop in sectarian killings in Baghdad, and increased cooperation from Sunni leaders, especially in al-Anbar Province. Still, he acknowledged that U.S. and Iraqi casualties remain high and there is much work to do.

"Because we are operating in new areas, and challenging elements in those areas, this effort may get harder before it gets easier," he said.

The general says the surge of U.S. forces in Iraq will not be completed until mid-June, and he will not be able to make even a preliminary assessment of its success until September.

He said that assessment will be based on the security situation, but also on economic development, progress on key political issues and whether there are improvements in the Iraqi legal system. He also said Shiite militias must be brought under control for Iraq to have long-term stability.

General Petraeus tried to steer clear of the political debate in Washington, in which Congress, under the control of the Democratic Party, is trying to set a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. But he did answer a question about what might happen in Iraq if a U.S. withdrawal were to begin in October, as the Democrats want.

"My sense is that there would be an increase in sectarian violence, a resumption of sectarian violence, were the presence of our forces and Iraqi forces at that time to be reduced and not to be doing what it is that they are doing right now," said David Petraeus.

He said as bad as the situation in Iraq is now, it could get "much, much worse."

General Petraeus said Washington works on what he called an "American Clock" regarding the Iraq war, a clock that runs fast because of frustration over the length of the conflict and the number of U.S. casualties. He said that, in Baghdad, what he called the "Iraqi Clock" runs more slowly because of the sharp political divisions.

VOASE0426_Economics Report

26 April 2007

Teaching the Student Loan Industry a Lesson
Conflicts of interest between lenders and colleges are investigated in US.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Imagine this: An official in a position of trust helps you choose a company for a service important to your future. You expect that the advice will be in your best interest.

What you do not know is that the person's office has a financial relationship with that company. The official may have received gifts likes trips or stock options, or money for professional advice.

Would you wonder, then, just whose interest was being served?

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

This is what some American states are investigating in connection with the student loan industry. They are examining possible conflicts of interest when schools direct students to lists of so-called preferred lenders.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says colleges and universities often fail to tell about their ties to banks and other finance companies. His office has already settled cases including with two big lenders.

Sallie Mae, the nation's biggest education lender, agreed to pay two million dollars. And Education Finance Partners agreed to pay two and one-half million. Neither of them admitted any wrongdoing. The money will go to educate students about loans.

In some cases, when students call a school for loan advice, they talk to a lending company employee. But they are not always told that.

Andrew Cuomo wants financial aid offices and lenders to follow a set of rules, a College Loan Code of Conduct. These would end financial ties between lenders and schools, including gifts and trips.

At the same time, lawmakers are seeking changes in the student loan system. Mister Cuomo was at a hearing Wednesday in the House of Representatives. He criticized the Department of Education for not doing enough to control the student loan industry.

A day earlier, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced a committee to study federal student loan programs. And last week, her department temporarily restricted the use of a national system of financial records on millions of students. She said officials were concerned about an increase in usage of that government database by lenders and other companies.

In another development, Sallie Mae, officially the SLM Corporation, has agreed to a buyout offer. Two banks and two private equity companies are offering shareholders twenty-five billion dollars. The deal is unusual. Loan companies generally do not produce enough profit to finance a sale based largely on borrowed money.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0426_American Mosaic

26 April 2007

Not Enough Room for a Tiger in Your Home? A Toyger May Be Answer
Also: A question from Pakistan about cowboys. And Cajun music by the Pine Leaf Boys.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We answer a question about cowboys ...

Play music by the Pine Leaf Boys ...

And tell about a new kind of cat.

Toyger Cats

Breeder Judy Sugden with Warwhoop, a top toyger

Have you ever seen a tiger and wished you could have one as a pet? Well, the largest member of the cat family now comes in a smaller version. American cat breeders have worked for years to develop the toyger. This new kind of house cat looks just like a toy tiger. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

A professional breeder named Judy Sugden developed the toyger cat by selecting and mating other cats. Toygers are large-boned cats with orange-gold colored fur and black markings. A perfect toyger also has small rounded ears and a white stomach. A toyger is usually a very playful and intelligent pet that behaves more like a dog than a cat.

Miz Sugden’s mother is a cat breeder as well. Jean Mill studied genetics in college and put her skills to work in creating the Bengal cat. This cat looks just like a small leopard. Judy Sugden decided that she would create a tiger look-alike to go with her mother’s leopard breed cat.

To do this, she mated a Bengal cat with a tabby cat that had special marks on its fur. Over many years she worked to mate cats that had the size and appearance that she was looking for. In two thousand, the International Cat Association accepted the toyger as a new breed of cat.

Over time, toyger breeders may try to change the current appearance of the cat. They may work to bring out qualities such as its round ears and a straighter nose.

But owning this small cat can come at a high price. Baby cats that have the right qualities to be prize-winning toygers can cost thousands of dollars. Kittens that are sold just to be pets can still cost from five hundred to one thousand dollars.

Also, purebred cats often have genetic health problems. And some animal doctors question the morality of creating new cat species. Many homeless cats are put to death in animal shelters because of overpopulation.

Still, it is hard not to like these energetic and beautiful toyger cats. Judy Sugden says that in breeding toygers she is helping to save the spirit of wild tigers. These larger cats may be disappearing from the wild. But it is still possible to have a smaller version to play with at home.

Cowboys

HOST:

Bull riding is a rodeo event

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Pakistan. Tayyab Ajmal asks about the American cowboy.

History experts say the traditional American cowboy became important after the American Civil War in the eighteen sixties. People who owned cattle ranches hired these men to control large groups of cattle over large areas of land. For twenty years, thousands of cowboys drove millions of longhorn cattle from Texas to the new railroads in Kansas and Colorado.

Experts say that men came from all over the United States to work as cowboys in the West. Cowboys were excellent horse riders. They trained wild horses. They used rope to catch and tie runaway animals. The work that cowboys did was difficult and dangerous. The pay was low. And their lives were lonely. Cowboys were brave and independent. They wore special clothing for the needs of the job. The cowboy became the symbol of the American West.

After about nineteen hundred, the need for cowboys decreased. Many books, movies and television shows continued to tell stories about cowboy heroes.

The rodeo was invented to prevent the cowboy lifestyle from disappearing. Rodeos today include most of the same skills used by cowboys one hundred years ago. These include riding wild horses and bulls. Pulling steers to the ground by their horns. And using ropes to catch and tie the legs of a cow.

Cowgirls also take part in rodeo competitions. One event for women is called barrel racing. The cowgirl must ride her horse around each of three large containers, then ride back to the starting area.

The winners of these rodeo events receive money as prizes. Rodeos are big business, earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Some take place in large indoor centers. Many of the rodeo performers are professional rodeo cowboys. They may enter as many as one hundred or more rodeos a year to earn a living. They travel from one rodeo to another to take part in a dangerous sport.

A cowboy can earn thousands of dollars for an eight-second ride on a wild horse. Or he might break his neck.

The Pine Leaf Boys

The Pine Leaf Boys are five musicians who are bringing new energy and life to the old traditions of Cajun and Creole music. These young men live in the southern state of Louisiana. Their skillful performances and deep love of music shine in their two albums. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Cajun music is the sound invented by French people who settled in southern Louisiana in the eighteenth century. Many of these traditional songs are in a version of French spoken in Louisiana. The Pine Leaf Boys all grew up listening to this music. Here is the fast beat of the "Pine Leaf Boy Two-Step." It is sure to make you want to start dancing.

(MUSIC)

Wilson Savoy is one of the band's members. He sings and plays the fiddle and accordion. Wilson grew up in a family with a rich musical history. His father, Marc Savoy, is well known across America for his finely made button accordion music instruments. His mother, Ann Savoy, sings and plays the guitar. She recently released the album "Adieu False Heart" which we told about in a story last September.

Wilson says that one reason Cajun music has survived is because it is dance music. He says Cajuns need to go out dancing and have a good time. Here is "La Belle Josette" sung by Cedric Watson.

(MUSIC)

The Pine Leaf Boys perform often in Louisiana and all around the United States. Wilson Savoy says that if they were not performing on stage they would be at home playing for themselves and their friends. This summer they will perform in England and France.

Their performances are filled with great energy. It is not unusual for them to trade instruments in the middle of a concert. We leave you with "Ma Petite Femme" from their newest album "Blues de Musicien."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

It was written by Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was the producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

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

US House Passes Iraq Withdrawal Timetable

By Dan Robinson Washington 26 April 2007

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The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has approved a war funding bill that includes a timetable for the eventual withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq. VOA's Dan Robinson reports, the vote was 218 to 208. The Senate will consider it Thursday, but President Bush plans to veto the final product reaching his desk.

Debate on the conference report for the measure, containing about $95 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan military operations, featured familiar arguments from both sides of the political aisle.

Democrats said setting a specific deadline reflects American's desire to bring U.S. troops home and wind down U.S. involvement in Iraq, while asserting new controls over the president.

Republicans accused Democrats of telegraphing to al-Qaida terrorists, and those fanning sectarian strife, that the U.S. is giving up.

Congressman David Dreier asserted Democrats are also withdrawing support from the troops. "While this political charade plays out, our troops will be left waiting for the funding that they need to do their jobs, and our country trapped in a political quagmire created by the Democratic leadership in this Congress," he said.

Democrats pointed to what they call the president's failed policies in Iraq, as Congressman Jim McGovern referred to the president's veto threat. "If he does so, then this president will make perfectly clear to the American people that the only way this war is going to end, the only way our troops will every come home to their families and loved ones, the only way Iraqis will ever be held accountable for governing their own country and ending their sectarian violence, will be if Congress finds a way to end it," he said.

The measure sets a non-binding goal of withdrawing most U.S. combat forces by April of 2008, with the first movements beginning as early as October of this year. Some would remain for diplomatic protection and counter-terrorist operations.

It also contains provisions requiring that military units be fully battle-ready, and limits the duration of deployments, although the president could waive these requirements.

Nancy Pelosi

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the legislation also contains benchmarks for the Iraqi government that the president has endorsed. "Benchmarks endorsed by the Iraqi government, and by President Bush. They are his own benchmarks," she said.

Earlier, lawmakers attended a classified briefing with Iraq commander General David Petraeus.

Democrats said it buttressed their argument that Congress must impose a timetable, while Republicans came away more convinced than ever that this would be a mistake.

General David Petraeus

General Petraeus said that while inroads have been made against al-Qaida and sectarian extremists, it's clear more work needs to be done. "We are actually ahead of where I wanted to be in some areas, and probably behind where we might have hoped to be in some other areas," he said.

House passage sets up Senate consideration on Thursday, and if approved there, the measure goes to the president.

A veto would send it back to Congress, forcing Democrats to re-craft the legislation, which would have to be voted on again in both chambers.