VOASE0930_This Is America

30 September 2007

Seeing the Sights (the Ones Above Water, at Least) for an Afternoon on the Chesapeake Bay
Natural beauty, colorful history, a huge bridge, a restored island and even a leaning lighthouse.

Download
Download

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. This week on our program, we take you to the East Coast for a boat trip on the Chesapeake Bay.

(SOUND)

VOICE ONE:

Ten passengers ease themselves carefully from the wooden dock into the sightseeing boat. They have come to learn about the bay, or maybe just to enjoy an afternoon on the water under a bright blue sky.

The Chesapeake Bay is about three hundred twenty kilometers long. It passes through Maryland and Virginia. These along with four other states and the District of Columbia all have rivers and other bodies of water that flow into the bay.

Floodwaters from the Susquehanna River have sent trees, branches, road barriers and tires into the upper Chesapeake Bay.

VOICE TWO:

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. An estuary is a coastal area that has one part that opens to the ocean and contains both saltwater tides and freshwater. The Chesapeake opens into the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia.

Some of the rivers that feed the bay have American Indian names like Potomac, Susquehanna and Rappahannock. The bay supported native societies for thousands of years. The name Chesapeake comes from an Algonquin Indian word often defined as "great shellfish bay."

VOICE ONE:

The sightseeing boat this afternoon is called Sharp’s Island. The captain is Mike Richards. As he pilots the boat away from Tilghman Island in Maryland, it glides by beautiful homes near the water. Some of the homes have yachts and other very nice boats tied a short walk from their back door.

The sun is warm but the water is cool. A young man laughs as he leans over the side of the boat into the wind and gets wet.

PASSENGER: "Just one, just one wave got me!"

The boat is moving quickly now. The wind, the motor and the sounds of the water against the sides are loud but also calming.

Ducks and Canada geese call out. Cormorants and blue herons raise their wings against the afternoon sky, then settle on wooden posts in the water. Some of these large birds are ready for a meal. Rockfish hang from their mouths.

VOICE TWO:

Someone on the boat comments that these are the same waters that Captain John Smith sailed long ago. Next year will be the four hundredth anniversary of when the British explorer mapped this bay.

The first mate for today's trip, Kate Richards, daughter of the captain, points at a long, empty piece of land. She identifies it as Poplar Island. Several passengers say they cannot see any poplars -- or any trees.

The passengers listen carefully as she explains that the island had been falling into the bay. Wind, storms and tides destroyed it.

KATE RICHARDS: "You will notice that there are no trees on Poplar Island at all. And that’s because this is brand-new."

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen ninety-six, government agencies approved a twenty-five-year project to save the island. An agreement directed the Baltimore District of the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild Poplar Island. Many other agencies and the state of Maryland are also taking part. So are many volunteers.

The project is costing hundreds of millions of dollars. The federal government agreed to pay seventy-five percent of the costs.

To rebuild the island, workers bring sand and other dredge material from the bottom of ship channels leading to the Port of Baltimore. The entrances to the port are being deepened, so heavier ships can come and go.

A Osprey flies off with a fish from the Chesapeake Bay

Today, Poplar Island is home to turtles and birds. The island has gained new life as a wildlife refuge. Eagles, herons, osprey and egrets have their young there.

VOICE TWO:

Poplar Island has a colorful history. A settler named Daniel Cugley is said to have kept pigs on the island in sixteen thirty-two. Five years later, Indians killed the family of another settler, Richard Thompson. He was away at the time, traveling to trade fur.

The early eighteen hundreds were comparatively quiet, although British troops occupied the island during the War of Eighteen Twelve.

Next to occupy the island were black cats. In eighteen forty-four, a man bought the island to keep one thousand cats there. Historical records say he wanted to trade in black cat fur. Happily for the animals, the bay froze over in December. The cats escaped to the mainland.

VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen twenties, during the Prohibition era, the United States banned alcohol. Poplar Island was used to produce it illegally. But this did not last. A local lawman poured the alcohol into the bay.

By this time, a lot of Poplar Island had dropped into the bay. The erosion formed a small island that was named Jefferson Island. A clubhouse was built there. During the nineteen thirties it became a favorite weekend place for Democratic Party politicians and businessmen. The clubhouse burned down in nineteen forty-six.

The visitors to Jefferson Island included presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

A passenger on the sightseeing boat catches sight of something floating in the distance. It looks huge and bright orange. A sea monster, someone jokes. No, a ship. When the ship is close enough, the sightseers read the company name: Wallenius Wilhelmsen. Captain Richards confirms it.

CAPTAIN RICHARDS: "Yeah, Wallenius Wilhelmsen. The ship is designed specifically for carrying automobiles. That ramp falls down and they drive them off six cars abreast."

So thousands of shiny new cars are on their way to the Port of Baltimore. And the ten passengers on the sightseeing boat are on their way to see more of the Chesapeake Bay.

VOICE ONE:

They get close looks at several lighthouses. One of them, within a kilometer and a half of shore, is called Bloody Point Bar Light. It was first lit on October first of eighteen eighty-two. Very soon, however, it began to lean to one side. Repeated attempts were made to balance it.

In eighteen eighty-five, for example, workers dropped hundreds of tons of stone around the tower. But even today, it looks a little like Italy’s leaning Tower of Pisa.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen sixty a fire at the lighthouse nearly killed two members of the Coast Guard. They escaped. But the whole structure exploded. The fire began in an equipment area and reached the gas tank for the light.

Later, the light was redesigned to operate by itself. It still shines without the need for a human keeper. In the winter, it also sounds a horn to warn about fog, so ships do not get too close to the shore.

Over the years, time and nature have made changes to the lines of the Chesapeake shore. Humans also had an influence on the bay as Indian settlements grew into the cities of today. Pollution from farms and factories also found its way to the great Chesapeake.

VOICE ONE:

Traffic moves along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

From the water, the steel of the bridge over the Chesapeake Bay near Annapolis, Maryland, glows like silver in the sunlight. The bridge is officially named the William Preston Lane Junior Memorial Bridge, after a former Maryland governor. But most people call it the Bay Bridge.

It joins the eastern and western shores of Maryland. The bridge is about seven kilometers long. It was the largest continuous over-water steel structure in the world when it opened in nineteen fifty-two.

VOICE TWO:

The Chesapeake Bay is also known for something that the sightseers this afternoon will not be able to see unless they dive into the water.

The bay is famous for its fish and shellfish, including oysters and blue crabs. People come from far away to enjoy it fresh. Scientists come to study the rich marine environment. The bay has three hundred fifty kinds of fish alone.

But pollution and too much fishing have led to restrictions on the watermen who work on the Chesapeake. They are still known as watermen even though they include women.

Many people are interested in the future of the Chesapeake, and not just the watermen. A big program is working to clean up the bay.

VOICE ONE:

Last spring, twelve history fans set out to repeat much of John Smith’s travels on the Chesapeake four centuries ago. Their four-month trip took place in an open wooden boat like Captain Smith’s.

The hope is that in another four hundred years, the bay will still be beautiful and productive. That means future generations will still be able to enjoy an afternoon of sightseeing on the Chesapeake.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in Special English.

VOASE0930_Development Report

30 September 2007

Project Aims to Raise Demand for Laptops for Poor Children
A "give one, get one" marketing campaign will seek donations from Americans and Canadians for two weeks in November.

Download
Download

Computer used in the One Laptop per Child program

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The project known as One Laptop Per Child has a new campaign to bring its computers to children in developing countries.

The campaign will urge people in the United States and Canada to spend just under four hundred dollars for two laptops. One will go to a child in a poor country. The other will go to the buyer.

The "Give One, Get One" campaign will start on November twelfth for two weeks only. Project officials think the donations may help persuade governments of developing countries to buy more.

The green-and-white machines are specially designed for children in the developing world. The laptop, called the XO, does not use very much power. And if no electricity is available, users can charge the battery by hand by turning a crank.

The computer uses the free, open-source operating system Linux. The color display can change to a black-and-white image so users are able to see it even in bright sunlight.

Also, the laptops are able to connect wirelessly to each other, as well as the Internet if local service is available. They have a camera. And they are built to resist dirt and moisture.

Mass production is expected to begin in October, once a final design is approved. The XO laptop is currently being tested in Cambodia, Thailand, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uruguay, Brazil and Peru.

Walter Bender is head of software and content for the nonprofit One Laptop Per Child project. He says officials hope to establish a process through the United Nations for countries to make proposals to get free laptops.

Donations may be necessary to launch a laptop program in some poor countries, he says, but governments are needed to keep it going. Partnerships between nations could also help. Italy, for example, has agreed to buy fifty thousand laptops for Ethiopia.

The project is led by Nicholas Negroponte, the founding director of the Media Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was waiting for three million orders, but so far that has not happened.

In two thousand five he announced the idea for a computer that would cost one hundred dollars. Right now, the cost is almost one hundred ninety dollars.

Several countries in Africa and South America have already placed orders. Walter Bender says countries that buy laptops could still receive others through donations.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE0929_People In America

29 September 2007

Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895: He Fought for Freedom and Equality for African Americans
Born a slave, he became one of America's greatest leaders.

Download
Download

VOICE ONE:

I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Frederick Douglass. He was born a slave, but later became one of America’s greatest leaders. He was an activist, a writer, a powerful speaker and an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass suffered severe physical and mental abuse during his many years as a slave. He dreamed of one day learning to read and being free. He believed knowledge would lead the way to freedom. Douglass wrote several books about his life as a slave. In eighteen forty-five he wrote "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave." It became an immediate best seller and remains popular today.

VOICE TWO:

Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey was born around eighteen eighteen in Tuckahoe, Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay. Many slaves lived on large farms owned by white people. Each plantation was like a small village owned by one family who lived in a large house on the property.

Frederick and his mother, Harriet Bailey, were slaves on a huge plantation owned by Colonel Edward Lloyd. Their slave owner was a white man named Captain Aaron Anthony. Frederick knew very little about his father, except that he was a white man. Many believed Captain Anthony was his father.

Frederick did not know his mother well. Harriet Bailey was sent to work on another plantation when Frederick was very young. She was able to visit him only a few times. She died when Frederick was about seven years old.

VOICE ONE:

Frederick then lived with his grandparents, Betsey and Isaac Bailey. He said that his grandparents had a loving home and were respected by other slaves in the area. Because of this, he did not realize at first that someone owned him and the others---that they were slaves.

It was not unusual for African-American families to be separated, often never seeing each other again. Slaves were not treated as human beings. Slave owners bought and traded them as if they were animals or property. Frederick had to leave his grandparents’ home when he was six years old. He later wrote about that day. He said being forced to leave was one of the most painful experiences in his life. He said he began to understand the evil and oppressive system of slavery.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen twenty-six, Frederick was sent to work for Hugh Auld, in Baltimore, Maryland. Mister Auld’s wife, Sophia, was very kind to Frederick. She treated him as if he were a member of her family. Missus Auld soon began to teach Frederick to read. Her husband became extremely angry and ordered her to stop immediately. Slaves were denied education. Mister Auld said if slaves could read they would rebel and run away.

Sophia Auld stopped teaching Frederick to read. But he learned to read from white boys he met in the city. The boys also told Frederick he had the right to be free.

VOICE ONE:

Mister Auld sent Frederick to work for a poor farmer, Edward Covey, who beat him often. In eighteen thirty-six, Frederick made an attempt to escape. But he failed and was arrested. He was sent back to the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld home in Baltimore.

He met and fell in love with a free black woman named Anna Murray. Miz Murray had a job cleaning other people’s homes. She gave Frederick money to help him escape by getting on a train to New York City.

VOICE THREE:

"My free life began on the third of September, eighteen thirty-eight. On the morning of the fourth of that month, I found myself in the big city of New York, a free man. For the moment the dreams of my youth and the hopes of my manhood where completely fulfilled. The bonds that held me to “old master” were broken. No man now had the right to call me his slave or try to control me."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

When Frederick Bailey reached New York he changed his name to Frederick Douglass to hide his identity from slave capturers. Anna Murray joined him and they were married. They settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts and had five children.

Frederick Douglass became one of the most important leaders of the abolitionist movement to end slavery in the United States.

In eighteen forty-one, he attended the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society meeting in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Douglass was unexpectedly asked to give a speech to describe his experiences as a slave. He had not prepared a speech but he spoke to the huge gathering of people anyway. Most of the supporters were white. He spoke with great emotion in a deep and powerful voice. The crowd praised him.

VOICE ONE:

After that speech, The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society asked Douglass to travel to cities throughout the North. He continued to tell about his cruel and oppressive life as a slave. He told how slave owners beat slaves everyday. How slaves were given very little food to eat. How they worked all day in the fields during dangerously hot weather. How they slept on cold floors and had very little clothing.

Many who heard his story challenged its truthfulness. They refused to believe that Frederick Douglass was ever a slave. Instead, they thought he was an educated man who created the entire story.

In eighteen forty-four, Douglass began writing his life’s story. "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave" was published the following year. He later published expanded versions of his book.

VOICE TWO:

Frederick Douglass wrote his first book partly to prove that he had lived through the horrible situations he described in his speeches. He was asked to speak at the Independence Day celebration in Rochester, New York in eighteen fifty-two. He noted the differences of how blacks and whites considered Independence Day.

VOICE THREE:

”The purpose of this celebration is the Fourth of July. It is the birthday of your National Independence, and of your political freedom… This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may celebrate. I must mourn…What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him more than all other days in the year, the horrible discrimination and punishment to which he is the everyday victim…There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States at this very hour."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen sixty-one the American Civil War began. Frederick Douglass and many others saw slavery as the cause of the war. Douglass wanted blacks to be permitted to join the Union Army. However, Northern whites, including President Abraham Lincoln, were against it. They said black soldiers would harm the spirit of white soldiers. They believed black soldiers were not intelligent.

Two years later, blacks were permitted to join the Union Army, but they were not treated as soldiers. Although they showed bravery they were given less important jobs. Douglass met with President Lincoln in Washington to discuss the issue. Douglass urge that black soldiers be treated equal to white soldiers. Although President Lincoln agreed, he said there could be no immediate change.

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen sixty-five, the Civil War ended. The Union forces had defeated the South. A few months later President Lincoln was killed. And later that year, slavery was ended.

Frederick Douglass went on to hold several positions in the government, including United States Marshall of the District of Columbia. He never stopped his efforts to gain equality for all people. Historians say Douglass gave two thousand speeches and wrote thousands of articles and letters. His work as an activist also included women’s rights. On February twentieth, eighteen ninety-five, he gave a speech at the National Council of Women. Later that day, he returned to his home in Washington and died of heart failure at the age of seventy-eight.

Frederick Douglass ended his "book My Bondage, My Freedom" with these words:

VOICE THREE:

"I shall labor in the future as I have labored in the past, to work for the honorable, social, religious, and intellectual position of the free colored people; while Heaven lends me ability, to use my voice, my pen or my vote to support the great and most important work of the complete and unconditional freedom of my entire race."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Lawan Davis. The writings of Frederick Douglass were read by Shep O'Neal. You can download this program and others from our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0928_In the News

28 September 2007

Fukuda Takes Office in Tokyo, and First Issue Is the Crisis in Burma
Yasuo Fukuda, a moderate, will try to rebuild support for Japan's weakened ruling party. He faces a fight with the opposition over his wish to continue assistance for U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Download
Download

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Image from a video released by the Democratic Voice of Burma shows Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai after being shot in Rangoon. He later died.

Japan's new prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, took office this week -- and quickly faced a crisis. The unrest in Burma claimed the life of a Japanese cameraman. Kenji Nagai was shot Thursday as security forces moved to crush anti-government demonstrations.

Mister Fukuda rejected the idea of immediate economic sanctions. He directed a Foreign Ministry official to go and push the government for a full explanation.

Japan provides aid but not as much since the military in Burma violently suppressed protests for democracy in nineteen eighty-eight. The next year, the generals ruling Burma changed its name to Myanmar, a name the United States and Britain do not recognize.

Mister Fukuda spoke Friday by phone with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao about the situation in China's neighbor. He said he asked that China, given its close ties, exercise its influence and that "Premier Wen said he will make such efforts."

Yasuo Fukuda

Mister Fukuda of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party easily won election Tuesday in the lower house of parliament. The upper house rejected him. Opposition parties won control of the upper house in July. But the L.D.P. still controls the lower house. And the vote of the lower house decides the winner in such a split.

This was the first split vote of this kind since nineteen ninety-eight. Mister Fukuda's closest competitor was main opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa.

The new prime minister is seen as politically moderate. He says one of his goals will be to repair public trust in the ruling party. The L.D.P. has recently faced a series of investigations of financial wrongdoing involving cabinet members.

Mister Fukuda has kept much of Shinzo Abe's cabinet. Nobutaka Machimura, the foreign minister under Mister Abe, will serve as chief cabinet secretary. Former defense minister Masahiko Komura will serve as foreign minister.

Mister Abe resigned on September twelfth after only one year as prime minister. He has apologized for resigning suddenly. He said he did so only because of health reasons.

Mister Fukuda is seventy-one years old. He is the eldest son of former prime minister Takeo Fukuda. And he served as chief cabinet secretary under Junichiro Koizumi.

His success could depend on his ability to find a way to work with the opposition. An early test will involve Japan's naval refueling operations in support of American-led forces in Afghanistan.

The mission began in two thousand one. Legislation supporting it will end on November first unless Japan extends it. Mister Fukuda supports the idea. But opposition parties are expected to resist an extension.

He also faces a high government debt and a longtime budget deficit. Japan has the world's second largest economy after the United States.

Japanese newspapers found that more than half the public supported the new prime minister and his cabinet. He gives a policy speech next week.

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