VOASE0128_This Is America

28 January 2007

Defining a Hero: When the Worst Events Bring Out the Best in People
Stories of bravery, including New York's "Subway Superhero," Wesley Autrey, who risked his life to save a man from being crushed by a train.

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Mario Ritter. Every society has its heroes. This week on our program, we present several stories of heroism in action.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

We start in New York City earlier this month -- January fourth, to be exact. Two friends, Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez, were standing on the street talking. Suddenly, people in a nearby apartment building screamed for help.

A three-year-old boy was hanging from the steps of the fire escape outside the building. Timothy Addo was twelve meters above the ground, and scared.

The men saw that he was going to fall. The two mechanics ran across the street and positioned themselves to catch him.

VOICE TWO:

They got there just in time. Timothy lost his hold and dropped. His feet hit Mister Nevarez and pushed him over onto the sidewalk. But the little boy landed in the arms of Mister Gonzalez, who also fell. Timothy was shaken by the experience, but he was safe.

Experts in human behavior tell us that some situations bring out the best in people. But something made this event all the more newsworthy. Just two days earlier, New York City had another accidental hero.

VOICE ONE:

Wesley Autrey is a ten-year member of the Construction and General Building Laborers union. Construction workers have to think fast: one wrong move and they might fall off a building.

But his act of heroism took place underground. The fifty-year-old former Navy sailor was waiting for a subway train in Harlem. He was with his two young daughters, ages four and six.

Mister Autrey and two women waiting for the train saw that a young man nearby appeared to be having a seizure. They tried to help him, but the man fell onto the tracks.

VOICE TWO:

Wesley Autrey saw the light of an oncoming train. Still, he threw himself down, onto the man, in the space between the rails. It was too late for the train to stop. Several of the cars rolled over them, close enough to Mister Autrey's head to leave a grease mark on his hat.

His two daughters watched in terror as all this happened. But their father and the man he had just saved were safe. And lucky. A little more than a half-meter separated the ground from the underside of the train. In some systems, the trains ride closer to the rail bed.

VOICE ONE:

Wesley Autrey, center, and his daughters react to the medal he received during a news conference at City Hall in New York, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007

Wesley Autrey received the city's highest honor, the Bronze Medallion. Said Mayor Michael Bloomberg: "His courageous rescue of a complete stranger is a reminder of how we are surrounded by everyday heroes in New York City."

Businessman Donald Trump presented Mister Autrey with ten thousand dollars. And there have been other rewards and honors.

But Wesley Autrey says he is not a hero. In his words: "What I did is something that any and every New Yorker should do."

VOICE TWO:

Last Tuesday, the "Subway Superhero" and his two daughters were in Washington. They were among the guests of first lady Laura Bush as the president gave his State of the Union speech to Congress.

Less than two weeks after Wesley Autrey's act of bravery, Daniel Fitzpatrick saved a woman in the New York subway. The woman may have been trying to kill herself.

Daniel Fitzpatrick is an emergency medical technician with the New York Fire Department. But the thirty-eight-year-old rescuer was off duty when he saw the woman walk down a subway catwalk. The catwalk passes close to the trains.

Mister Fitzpatrick followed the woman even though a train was coming. He pressed her against a wall. The woman was large and struggling. He kept hold of her. But there was another problem: his head was in the path of the oncoming train.

VOICE ONE:

Luckily, another man who had been talking to Mister Fitzpatrick ran after him and held his head back, out of the way of the train. The woman was taken to a hospital.

Daniel Fitzpatrick used to be a finance officer in business. He says he decided to change careers when he saw rescuers at work after hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center in two thousand one.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This month was the twenty-fifth anniversary of a plane crash during a snowstorm in Washington, D.C. On January thirteenth, nineteen eighty-two, a passenger plane hit a bridge over the Potomac River.

The plane had just taken off for Florida. With it wings weighed down with ice, the plane failed to climb quickly enough. It crashed into Fourteenth Street Bridge and then dropped into the Potomac. Parts of the river were covered in ice.

Seventy-nine passengers and crew were on the flight. Only five of them survived. Four people on the bridge were also killed.

VOICE ONE:

One of the passengers on the plane came to be called the "unknown hero." He could have been saved, but he repeatedly handed a helicopter rescue line to others. Then, when the helicopter came back for him, he was gone in the icy waters.

The unknown hero was later identified as Arland Williams Junior, a bank examiner. He was the only victim of the Air Florida crash whose death was blamed on drowning.

The bridge was renamed in his honor. And President Ronald Reagan presented the Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal to the family of Arland Williams.

VOICE TWO:

Someone else who received a Gold Lifesaving Medal was Roger Olian, a sheet-metal worker in Washington. Roger Olian jumped into the river with the end of a lifeline that people on shore had made out of clothes and other materials.

Unable to see through the snowstorm, he followed the screams of the survivors. He reached people hanging onto the broken tail of the plane.

The storm and heavy traffic slowed the arrival of emergency services.

VOICE ONE:

Don Usher was a helicopter pilot with the United States Park Police. He flew close to the water and ice, through the blinding snow, to look for survivors. With him was Gene Windsor, a Park Police officer with special medical training.

It was almost impossible to see. But they rescued two people who could hold onto the helicopter lifeline long enough to be pulled to shore. Mister Windsor also jumped into the water to save one woman too weak to hold the line.

The National Transportation Safety Board recognized the actions of the only crew member who survived the crash. Flight attendant Kelly Duncan gave the only flotation device she could find to someone else.

VOICE TWO:

From the side of the river, a federal worker named Lenny Skutnik saw another woman in the water. He jumped into the river, swam to her and got her to shore.

The rescue was filmed and shown on the news. Two weeks later, President Reagan introduced Lenny Skutnik during his State of the Union speech to Congress.

Mister Skutnik received a Gold Lifesaving Medal from the Coast Guard. But to this day, as he told the Washington Post, he says he was not a hero, just someone who helped another human being.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

On January eleventh, at the White House, President Bush presented the Medal of Honor to the parents of Marine Corporal Jason Dunham. The Medal of Honor is the military's highest award for bravery.

Corporal Dunham died in April of two thousand four during a fight with an attacker in western Iraq, near the Syrian border. As they struggled, Corporal Dunham saw a hand grenade that was about to explode.

He jumped on it to save other Marines. He used his helmet and his body to try to contain the explosion. He died of his wounds a week later. But the president said Corporal Dunham saved the lives of two of his men.

VOICE TWO:

Mister Bush also noted that Corporal Dunham had signed on for two extra months in Iraq to stay with the Marines under his command.

Corporal Jason Dunham of Scio, New York, was twenty-two years old. He was the second person to receive a Medal of Honor in the Iraq war. The first was Army Sergeant Paul Smith, killed in two thousand three. He was organizing a defense to protect other soldiers from an attack near Baghdad International Airport.

VOICE ONE:

In two thousand five, Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester became the first woman soldier since World War Two to receive the Silver Star. She earned it as a military police officer in Iraq with the Kentucky National Guard. Sergeant Hester helped lead a defense against a large group of attackers.

That same battle led to a Bronze Star for another woman in the Kentucky National Guard. Specialist Ashley Pullen risked her life to help severely wounded soldiers under fire.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Mario Ritter.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0128_Development Report

28 January 2007

Good Advice From the World Bank -- With Some Exceptions
An independent study, requested by a bank official, found that the bank sometimes ignored research that did not support its policies, especially on globalization.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Bank lends money to developing countries but also considers itself a "knowledge bank." Its advice can influence government policies as well as its own future policies.

An Indonesian woman and her husband searching the trash

The question is, how valuable is that advice? Not even the bank's chief economist, Senior Vice President Francois Bourguignon, could answer that.

So he asked a group of economists, led by Angus Deaton at Princeton University, to do an independent study. They examined all research activities carried out by the World Bank between nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand five.

Last September, they reported finding many valuable studies. But they also found that advice from the bank was not always balanced. They said the bank sometimes gave greater weight to information that supported its positions and ignored other findings.

Professor Deaton tells us this was especially true with research on the relationship between globalization and poverty reduction. He says the bank has a right to defend its own policies. But he says untested research cannot be used as evidence that policies work.

Over the years, the World Bank has been a research leader in measuring poverty and inequality. Still, the economists found some studies poorly organized or based on old research methods. They also found the bank's Web site difficult to use.

Angus Deaton says the bank needs a research-based ability to learn from its projects and policies. Without that, he says, it cannot remain the world's leading development agency.

The report says the World Bank should create an independent research group, protected against any political influences. The bank now spends two and one-half percent of its administrative budget on research. Professor Deaton says this is too low, given all the research the bank has to do. He says the need for high-quality advice will only grow as the world becomes richer, and the need for lending shrinks.

Chief economist Francois Bourguignon says research at the bank is a complex process that requires compromises. Yet even with their criticisms, he noted that the economists rated sixty-one percent of the studies they read as being of higher quality. An additional twenty-eight percent were rated average.

He says the advice in the report will be extremely valuable to the bank.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. For links to the report and the chief economist's response, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0127_People In America

27 January 2007

Madam C.J. Walker, 1867-1919: She Developed Hair-Care Products for Black Women
Her products helped women have a better sense of their own beauty.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

Madame C.J. Walker

And I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Every week, we tell the story of someone important in the history of the United States. Today we tell about Madam C. J. Walker. She was a businesswoman, the first female African American to become very rich.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the early nineteen hundreds, life for most African-Americans was very difficult. Mobs of white people attacked and killed black people. It was legal to separate groups of people by race. Women, both black and white, did not have the same rights as men.

Black women worked very long hours for little wages. They worked mostly as servants or farm workers. Or they washed clothes. Madam C. J. Walker worked as a washerwoman for twenty years. She then started her own business of developing and selling hair-care products for black women.

Madam Walker, however, did more than build a successful business. Her products helped women have a better sense of their own beauty. Her business also gave work to many black women. And, she helped other people, especially black artists and civil rights supporters. She said: "My object in life is not simply to make money for myself or to spend it on myself. I love to use a part of what I make in trying to help others. "

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Madam C. J. Walker was very poor for most of her life. She was born Sarah Breedlove in the southern state of Louisiana in eighteen sixty-seven. Her parents were former slaves. The family lived and worked on a cotton farm along the Mississippi River. Cotton was a crop that grew well in the rich, dark soil near the river.

Most children of slaves did not go to school. They had to work. By the time Sarah was five years old, she was picking cotton in the fields with her family. She also helped her mother and sister earn money by washing clothes for white people.

There was no water or machine to wash clothes in their home. The water from the Mississippi River was too dirty. So, they used rainwater. Sarah helped her mother and sister carry water to fill big wooden containers. They heated the water over the fire. Then they rubbed the clothes on flat pieces of wood, squeezed out the water and hung each piece to dry. It was hard work. The wet clothes were heavy, and the soap had lye in it. Lye is a strong substance that cleaned the clothes well. But it hurt people's skin.

VOICE ONE:

When Sarah was seven years old, her parents died of the disease yellow fever. She and her sister moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi. At the age of fourteen, Sarah married Moses McWilliams. They had a daughter after they were married for three years. They named their daughter Lelia. Two years later, Moses McWilliams died in an accident.

Sarah was alone with her baby. She decided to move to Saint Louis, Missouri. She had heard that washerwomen earned more money there. Sarah washed clothes all day. At night, she went to school to get the education she had missed as a child. She also made sure that her daughter Lelia went to school. Sarah saved enough money to send Lelia to college.

Sarah began to think about how she was going to continue to earn money in the future. What was she going to do when she grew old and her back grew weak?

She also worried about her hair. It was dry and broken. Her hair was falling out in some places on her head. Sarah tried different products to improve her hair but nothing worked. Then she got an idea. If she could create a hair product that worked for her, she could start her own business.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

At the age of thirty-seven, Sarah invented a mixture that helped her hair and made curly hair straight. Some people believe that Sarah studied the hair product she used and added her own "secret" substance. But Sarah said she invented the mixture with God's help. By solving her hair problem, she had found a way to improve her life.

Sarah decided to move west to Denver, Colorado. She did not want to compete with companies in Saint Louis that made hair-care products. For the first time in her life, Sarah left the area along the Mississippi River where she was born.

Sarah found a job in Denver as a cook. She cooked and washed clothes during the day. At night she worked on her hair products. She tested them on herself and on her friends. The products helped their hair. Sarah began selling her products from house to house.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-oh-six, she married Charles Joseph Walker. He was a newspaperman who had become her friend and adviser. From then on, Sarah used the name Madam C. J. Walker.

Madam Walker organized women to sell her hair treatment. She established Walker schools of beauty culture throughout the country to train the saleswomen. The saleswomen became known as "Walker Agents. " They became popular in black communities throughout the United States.

Madam Walker worked hard at her business. She traveled to many American cities to help sell her products. She also traveled to the Caribbean countries of Jamaica, Panama, and Cuba. Her products had become popular there, too.

VOICE TWO:

Madam Walker's business grew quickly. It soon was employing three thousand people. Black women who could not attend her schools could learn the Walker hair care method through a course by mail. Hundreds, and later thousands, of black women learned her hair-care methods. Madam Walker's products helped these women earn money to educate their children, build homes and start businesses.

Madam Walker was very proud of what she had done. She said that she had made it possible "for many colored women to abandon the washtub for more pleasant and profitable occupations. "

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen-oh-eight, Madam Walker moved her business east to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh was closer to cities on the Atlantic coast with large black populations, cities such as New York, Washington, D. C. and Baltimore. Two years later, she established a laboratory and a factory in Indianapolis, Indiana. There, her products were developed and made.

Some people criticized Madam Walker's products. They accused her of straightening black women's hair to make it look like white women's hair. Some black clergymen said that if black people were supposed to have straight hair, God would have given it to them.

But Madam Walker said her purpose was to help women have healthy hair. She also said cleanliness was important. She established rules for cleanliness for her employees. Her rules later led to state laws covering jobs involving beauty treatment.

VOICE TWO:

Madam C. J. Walker became very rich and famous. She enjoyed her new life. She also shared her money. She became one of the few black people at the time wealthy enough to give huge amounts of money to help people and organizations. She gave money to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to churches and to cultural centers.

Madam Walker also supported many black artists and writers. And, she worked hard to end violations against the rights of black people. In nineteen seventeen, she was part of a group that went to Washington, D. C. to meet with President Woodrow Wilson. The group urged him and Congress to make mob violence a federal crime.

In nineteen eighteen, Madam Walker finally settled in a town near New York City where she built a large, beautiful house. She continued her work, but her health began to weaken. Her doctors advised her to slow down. But she would not listen. She died the next year. She was fifty-one years old.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Madam C. J. Walker never forgot where she came from. Nor did she stop dreaming of how life could be. At a meeting of the National Negro Business League, Madam Walker explained that she was a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. "I was promoted from there to the washtub," she said. "Then I was promoted to the cook kitchen, and from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. I have built my own factory on my own ground. "

She not only improved her own life, but that of other women in similar situations. Madam C. J. Walker explained it this way: "If I have accomplished anything in life, it is because I have been willing to work hard. "

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week at this time for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

VOASE0126_In the News

26 January 2007

'America Must Not Fail in Iraq' Is Bush's Warning; 'New Direction' Is Democrats' Call
In his State of the Union speech, the president urges Congress and the American people to give his plan a chance to work. Democrats call for diplomatic efforts to end the war.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

President Bush gave his two thousand seven State of the Union speech to Congress and the American people Tuesday night.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Dick Cheney as President Bush prepares to give his State of the Union address

On the nation's most pressing issue, he said "America must not fail in Iraq." He defended his plan to send more than twenty thousand additional troops there. He warned that if American forces leave Iraq before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi government would fall to extremists.

He said nothing is more important to America right now than to succeed in Iraq and the Middle East.

On other foreign policy issues, Mister Bush said the United States will continue to speak out for freedom in places like Cuba, Belarus and Burma. And continue to call on the world to save the people of Darfur, Sudan.

Mister Bush has two years left in office. This was the Republican president's first speech to a Democratic-controlled Congress.

On policy issues at home, he announced proposals to help more Americans get health insurance. And he called for a twenty percent cut in the nation's gasoline use within ten years, to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

To reach this goal, he said there must be improved fuel economy in cars and higher requirements for renewable and alternative fuels. He said new energy technologies being developed will also help deal with, in his words, "the serious challenge of global climate change."

On other issues, he renewed his call for immigration reform including a temporary worker program. And he said he will propose a budget that would end the federal deficit within five years.

The president faces low public approval ratings and high disapproval of his plan for more troops in Iraq. Democrats and some Republicans in Congress oppose the idea.

The Democratic Party chose newly elected Senator Jim Webb of Virginia to

Senator Jim Webb

give its official reaction to the State of the Union speech. His son is a Marine serving in Iraq. Senator Webb called for a "new direction," including an immediate move toward strong diplomacy to end the war.

On Friday, the Senate confirmed Army General David Petraeus as the new commander of American troops in Iraq. There were no dissenting votes.

But that was two days after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a resolution to oppose a troop increase as not in the national interest. The measure is without legal force. The vote was twelve to nine; the full Senate is expected to debate the resolution next week. A similar one is planned in the House of Representatives.

At the White House, President Bush said Friday that he chose a plan that he thinks is most likely to succeed. "I'm the decision-maker," he said. He told reporters that most of the people in Congress recognize that failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States. Some are condemning a plan before it has even had a chance to work, he said. In that case, Mister Bush says they have a responsibility to put up their own plan.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0125_Economics Report

25 January 2007

Moving Beyond Talk on Climate Change
How companies are feeling the heat to cut greenhouse gases.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

One of the top issues this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was climate change. But the business and political leaders gathered for the yearly event in the Swiss Alps were not the only ones talking about the subject.

President Bush, in his State of the Union message Tuesday, proposed rules to increase production of renewable fuels, like ethanol from corn. He also said new technologies are needed to deal with what he called "the serious challenge of climate change."

California recently passed rules to require industries to release less carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for trapping heat. Some companies believe it is just a question of time before the federal government could do the same. So they are positioning themselves to have a voice in the policy-making.

On Monday, leaders of ten big companies proposed federal rules to limit the release of greenhouse gases. The companies are members of the United States Climate Action Partnership.

One possibility for the country is a trading system like the European Union has. Companies would have permits to release a set amount of greenhouse gases. Businesses that stay within their limits could trade their surplus to bigger polluters.

Since nineteen ninety-five, the United States has had a trading system for sulfur emissions that cause acid rain.

But some companies think other ideas, like new taxes on polluters, are a better way to cut greenhouse gases.

Any new rules would hit some industries harder than others. For example, forty percent of the carbon dioxide from American industry comes from power producers, especially those that burn coal. The United States is the world's biggest producer of carbon dioxide, followed by China.

On February second, in Paris, a scientific group established by the United Nations plans to release a major report on climate change. The report, six years after the last one, is expected to take the strongest position yet about the influence of human activity.

The group is said to be at least ninety percent sure that human activity is the main cause of global warming in the last half-century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change puts most of the blame on the burning of fossil fuels. And the report is expected to say that scientists around the world believe temperatures will continue to rise.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. Transcripts and MP3 files are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Mario Ritter.

VOASE0125_American Mosaic

25 January 2007

Cesar Millan: Famous Dog Trainer, but Not All Experts Follow His Lead

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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 American lawmakers …

Play some music from the North Mississippi Allstars …

.And report about a world famous expert on dogs.

The Dog Whisperer

HOST:

Americans own about seventy-three million dogs. Many people have problems training their animals. Some are turning to dog expert Cesar Millan. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Cesar Millan's television show is called "Dog Whisperer." It is broadcast in several countries, including the United States, Japan and Thailand. Millan has also written a book about his life and ideas about dog training. It is called "Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems."

The TV show and book try to improve the relationships between people and their dogs. Millan also works with difficult dogs at his Dog Psychology Center in Los Angeles, California.

Cesar Millan says dogs are happy and calm when they know and trust their leader. He says dog owners must be the leader or the dog will become confused and act in anti-social ways. The animal might become uncontrollable. It may bark all the time or even bite someone.

Cesar Millan says the best way to train a dog is to prevent this behavior in the first place. He says the owner must be a good leader and provide a lot of exercise to keep the dog happy.

Pet owners call on him when they have a problem. These situations appear on his television show, "Dog Whisperer." Recently, he visited a home where the dog barked loudly when people used some cooking equipment. The dog was afraid of the noise, and its loud barking was interfering with the lives of its owners.

Cesar Millan placed the dog in a small space. Then he operated the equipment very close to the animal until the dog stopped barking. The owners said the dog stopped being afraid of the noise after that.

However, not all dog experts agree with all of Millan's methods. They say it is true that dogs need good leadership and a lot of exercise. But they say it can be cruel and dangerous to force a dog to face its fears as in the example we described. They say the animal might attack. Some dog experts are concerned about people trying the methods they see on television without getting good advice about their own dog.

Cesar Millan has said that his methods are not the only ways to train dogs successfully. He also has said that people should seek professional help when trying to change their pet's behavior. And his television show repeatedly tells people not to try the methods without professional help.

Terms in Congress

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sabuj asks about the difference between the words "senator" and "congressman."

The Capitol building

The United States Congress has two parts: the House of Representatives and the Senate. House lawmakers are called representatives. Those in the Senate are called senators. All of them can be called legislators. They can also be called members of Congress. But not all can be called congressmen. Why? Because some of them are women.

Currently, seventy-one of the four hundred thirty-five members of the House of Representatives are women. In the Senate, sixteen of the one hundred senators are women.

You might hear the media use the title of congressman or congresswoman for members of the House of Representatives. Rarely is a senator addressed this way, although it would not be wrong.

When Congress meets, there are special rules about how members behave. One of the rules deals with what to call a member. In the House of Representatives, members speak of another member as the "gentleman" or "gentlewoman" from the state they represent. They are not permitted to call members by name. Members also may speak of another member as "my colleague", or "my distinguished colleague." This is also true in the Senate.

Members of the House of Representatives must not speak until the speaker of the House calls on them to do so. In the Senate, the presiding officer gives permission for members to speak. Members of both houses of Congress are also barred from using offensive language in meetings.

All these rules deal with what is called congressional decorum. And, like all rules, sometimes they are violated. Punishment differs based on the violation. However, sometimes the worst punishment is unofficial. For example, offensive language on the floor of the House or Senate can seriously harm an elected official's public image.

The North Mississippi Allstars

HOST:

The North Mississippi Allstars play music that combines the sounds of southern blues with rock and roll. Their songs are an energetic mixture of old and new styles. Critics have praised the six albums this group has made over the years. They say the North Mississippi Allstars represent a new kind of musicians. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

North Mississippi Allstars

The North Mississippi Allstars are three musicians. Chris Chew and the brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson are all from the southern state of Mississippi. This is an area with a rich and old tradition of music. But these men do not just recreate music of the past. They have reinvented the sound of the blues into something fresh and different. Listen to “Deep Blue Sea” from their latest album, “Electric Blue Watermelon."

(MUSIC)

The Dickinson brothers grew up in a world filled with musical influences. Their father is a well-known record producer named Jim Dickinson. In fact, he helped the North Mississippi Allstars make this latest record. He says there is a special musical spirit in the Mississippi hill country.

Here is a song the band sings with the country singer Lucinda Williams. It is called “Hurry Up Sunrise”.

(MUSIC)

The North Mississippi Allstars are performing around the United States. People around the country can hear their lively songs and experience a new version of the blues. We leave you now with the title song from an earlier album, "Fifty-One Phantom”.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

It was written by Dana Demange, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. And join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

VOASE0124_The Making of a Nation

24 January 2007

Dewey Defeats Truman in 1948. Oops, Make It Truman Defeats Dewey
Political experts were sure the president would lose to Thomas Dewey, but Harry Truman campaigned fiercely to prove everyone wrong.

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

Presidential elections are exciting events in American politics. Few elections for the White House have been as exciting as the one in nineteen forty-eight. And few have had such surprising results.

VOICE TWO:

President Harry Truman holds up Chicago Daily Tribune declaring "Dewey Defeats Truman," based on early results

Four candidates were nominated for president in the nineteen forty-eight election. One was the man already in the White House, the candidate of the Democratic Party, President Harry Truman. Truman had been the party's successful vice presidential candidate in nineteen forty-four. When President Franklin Roosevelt died a year later, Truman became president.

Truman did not do well during his first few months in office. He made several serious mistakes. He had trouble with the economy and organized labor. His party lost control of the Senate and the House of Representatives in the congressional elections of nineteen forty-six.

Most Americans had little faith in Truman's ability as a leader. They expected that he would lose the presidential election in nineteen forty-eight if he chose to be a candidate.

VOICE ONE:

President Truman chose to run for another term in the White House. And he planned to win. In the months following the democratic defeat in the congressional election, he took several strong steps to show his leadership.

Truman called on the Congress to pass a number of laws to help black people. He took firm actions in his foreign policy toward the Soviet Union. And he began to speak out with much more strength to the American people.

VOICE TWO:

Truman succeeded in winning the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party. "I will win this election," Truman told the Democratic convention that nominated him. "And I will make the Republicans like it!"

The Republicans nominated New York state Governor Thomas Dewey.

Dewey campaign sign

Dewey was a wise and courageous man. He also was very serious. Truman campaigned by telling the voters that Dewey did not understand the needs of the average American. He called Dewey a candidate of rich people.

One day, Dewey got angry at a railroad engineer because his campaign train was late for a speech. Truman charged that this proved that Dewey did not understand the problems of railroad engineers and other working Americans. He tried to make the election a choice between hard-working Democrats and rich Republicans.

VOICE ONE:

Two other men also were candidates for the presidency. Both were from newly created parties.

One was Strom Thurmond of the state of South Carolina. He was the candidate of the States Rights Democratic Party, also known as the Dixiecrat Party. Most of his supporters were white Americans from the southeastern part of the country. They opposed giving full rights to black people.

The other candidate was Henry Wallace of the Progressive Party. His supporters believed that Truman had turned away from the progressive ideas of Franklin Roosevelt.

VOICE TWO:

Both Thurmond and Wallace had broken away from the Democratic Party. Most political experts believed those two candidates would take votes away from President Truman. They believed Republican candidate Dewey surely would win the election. This seemed especially true because President Truman did not have strong public support.

Harry Truman, however, was a fighter. He did not believe the election was lost. He took his campaign to the American people.

VOICE ONE:

"I had always campaigned," said Mister Truman, "by going around talking to people and meeting them. Running for president was no different.

"I just got on a train," Truman said, "and started across the country to tell people what was going on. I wanted to talk to them face to face. When you are standing there in front of them and talking to them, the people can tell whether you are telling them the facts or not."

VOICE TWO:

Truman at the back of a train as he begins his 1948 presidential campaign tour

Truman campaigned with great energy. He made hundreds of speeches as his train moved across the country. He spoke to farmers in Iowa. He visited a children's home in Texas. And he discussed issues with small groups of people who came to visit his train when it stopped in rural areas of Montana and Idaho.

Dewey and the Republicans laughed at Truman's campaign. They said it showed that Truman needed votes so badly that he had to spend his time looking for them in small villages. Truman said the criticism proved that Republicans did not care for the average American.

VOICE ONE:

Dewey also campaigned across the country by train. But he showed little of the fire and emotion in his speeches that made Truman's campaign so exciting. A reporter wrote: "Governor Dewey is acting like a man who has already been elected and is only passing time, waiting to take office. "

Dewey had good reasons to feel so sure of being elected. Almost every political expert in the country said Truman had no chance to win. The Wall Street Journal newspaper, for example, printed a story about what Dewey would do in the White House after the election. And the New York Times said that Dewey would win the election by a large vote.

VOICE TWO:

Truman refused to accept these views. Instead, he spoke with more and more emotion against Dewey. Most Americans still believed that Truman would lose. But they liked his courage in fighting until the end. At the end of one speech, a citizen shouted, "Give them hell, Harry! We will win!" And soon, Truman supporters across the country were shouting, "Give 'em hell, Harry!"

Truman campaigned until Election Day. He made a special appeal to working people, Jews, blacks, Catholics, and other traditional supporters of the Democratic Party. In his final radio speech, he promised to work for peace and a government that would help all people. Then he went to his home in the state of Missouri to wait with the rest of the country for the election results.

VOICE ONE:

Republicans across the country greeted Election Day happily. They were sure that this was the day that the people would choose to send a Republican back to the White House after sixteen years.

Some of the early voting results from the northeastern states showed Truman winning. But few Republicans worried. They were sure Dewey would be the winner when all the votes were counted.

The editor of the Chicago Tribune newspaper also was sure Dewey would be the next president. He published a newspaper with a giant story that said "Dewey Defeats Truman."

VOICE TWO:

The Chicago Tribune was wrong. Everyone was wrong. Everyone, that is, except Harry Truman and the Americans who gave him their votes. Truman went to bed on election night before all the votes were counted. He told his assistant that he would win.

Truman woke early the next morning to learn that he was right. Not only did he defeat Dewey, but he won by a good number of votes. And he helped many Democratic congressional candidates win as well. The Democrats captured both houses of Congress.

Harry Truman would go on to serve four more years in the White House. He would make many difficult decisions as America moved into the second half of the twentieth century.

VOICE ONE:

Many of the decisions were necessary because of America's new responsibilities as leader of the Western world.

Mister Truman would send American troops to South Korea to help the United Nations defend South Korea against aggression from North Korea. He would join other Western leaders in establishing a new alliance, NATO, to provide for the joint defense of Europe and North America. Mister Truman and later presidents would make decisions to send economic and military aid, in huge amounts, to countries all around the world.

VOICE TWO:

These worldwide responsibilities produced many changes in the United States, especially in the policies and actions of the United States government. But the system of the government did not change. It remained the same as that created by the Constitution in seventeen eighty-seven. Only a few details were changed to better protect and represent the people of the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators have been Harry Monroe and Rich Kleinfeldt. Our program was written by David Jarmul. The Voice of America invites you to listen again next week to THE MAKING OF A NATION.

VOASE0124_Explorations

23 January 2007

Older People Go Back to College to Learn New Things, Get Fresh Start
Part three in a series.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

Donald Vitkus, a longtime factory worker, decided to seek a degree in human services at Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, Massachusetts, after losing his job

Like more than 80,000 "nontraditional" students in the US, Emma Ferguson decided to return to school full time to earn a bachelor's degree. The 50-year-old grandmother walks to class as a first-year student at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

And I'm Steve Ember with Explorations in VOA Special English. We continue the series about how older Americans are keeping their minds active. Today we tell about some of the adult education programs offered by colleges and universities.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Martin Feldman was a chemistry professor for forty years. He retired from Howard University in Washington, D.C. about five years ago. Mister Feldman says when he retired he thought he would like to do something he had not done before. Yet, he says, he was not really interested in spending a lot of time as a student in a classroom, writing papers and taking tests.

One day Mister Feldman found a list of classes offered at Montgomery College near his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. The college lets people sixty years and older who live in Montgomery County take classes. They do not have to pay the normal tuition cost, just the cost of supplies.

Mister Feldman decided to try a sculpture class. It teaches students how to make art out of clay, wood, metal and plastic. And it meets only one day a week.

VOICE TWO:

Martin Feldman says he quickly decided he really liked sculpture. So he has continued with the class, experimenting with combining different materials and shapes.

About half of the members of the sculpture class are older adults who live in the area. They take the class for no college credit. The other students are college age. They are taking the class for credit to get a degree and are paying tuition to take it.

VOICE ONE:

Martin Feldman is also taking a class at a private school of art and design as a regular student. His artwork had to be judged good enough for him to be accepted in the class. And he has to pay the full cost.

Mister Feldman is happy he was able to try something completely new when he retired. He has decided to spend a month at an art school in San Miguel Allende, Mexico. He will try something else new while he is there – learning to make sculpture by welding metal.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Most big universities have continuing education programs that offer traditional classes for older adults who want to continue learning. Some provide training programs that give people who complete them a certificate to prove they have gained new skills. The cost for university classes can be high, even for continuing education students.

Many smaller colleges offer traditional classes at lower cost and provide other programs for older adults in their area who have different educational needs. Prince George’s Community College in Maryland is one of them.

Camille Crawford is head of a program called Seasoned Adults Growing Educationally, or SAGE, at Prince George’s Community College. It is part of the Workforce Development and Continuing Education division of the college. The program is thirty years old.

VOICE ONE:

Miz Crawford says SAGE offers more than four hundred classes every four months. The classes are held in about sixty places all around Prince George’s County. About five thousand older adults are taking classes at any one time. They do not have to travel to the college. They can take classes near where they live.

People can take SAGE classes in community centers, retirement communities and religious centers. The cost is very low. For fifty dollars, people over sixty who live in Prince George’s County can take as many classes as they want in a four-month period.

VOICE TWO:

SAGE offers classes in art, computers, finance, heath, history, languages and music. Professors who teach at Prince George’s Community College also teach the SAGE classes. One professor told Miz Crawford that when he started teaching a SAGE class he realized again why he became a teacher. He said the older adults were a joy to teach. They were in the class because they wanted to learn, not because they had to be there to get a college degree.

Miz Crawford says some of the SAGE students never finished high school so they would not have been admitted to most colleges. SAGE classes are open to everyone. Adults who never thought they would have a chance to take college level classes are able to do so in the SAGE program.

VOICE ONE:

Camille Crawford says many of the college’s continuing education classes are related to work. Some of the older adults in the area need to keep working to earn money, even if they have retired from their jobs. So the Workforce and Continuing Education division of Prince George’s Community College has programs to help provide new job skills for older adults. Some of these people moved to the area from another country and do not have the skills needed for jobs in the United States.

Prince George’s County Department of Family Services identifies the people who should be given training for a job. The college provides free training and placement in an internship program with a non-profit organization or a government agency. The adult students are paid a minimum wage while they are in training. The federal government helps support the program.

VOICE TWO:

Camille Crawford says that one of the first questions asked of anyone seeking a job today is: “What computer skills do you have?” So the Workforce and Continuing Education division of Prince George’s Community College combines job preparation skills with computer training. Those who successfully finish the program receive certificates to prove they are trained to work in an office.

Miz Crawford says the training and continuing education programs have provided older adults with new skills. Many who are now working part time feel they are doing something meaningful in their retirement years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The University Continuing Education Association is the oldest organization in the United States of continuing education programs in colleges and universities. It began in nineteen fifteen. The organization now has about four hundred fifty members. These college and universities are in most of the American states and in about thirty countries from Australia to Kuwait.

VOICE TWO:

Timothy Sloate is director of research for the University Continuing Education Association. He says studies have shown that many baby boomers plan to keep working at least part time after they retire. Baby boomers are the large group of Americans born between nineteen forty-six and nineteen sixty-four. The oldest members of the group are just turning sixty and thinking of retiring from their jobs.

Mister Sloate says many baby boomers are planning to learn new things in retirement. Others, he says, are looking for job training. They want to learn new skills to use when they are retired.

Timothy Sloate says the members of the University Continuing Education Association are expanding their learning in retirement programs. One way is through the growth of classes that are offered online. These online classes let adults far from the college or university take a class through their computers in their homes.

VOICE ONE:

The University Continuing Education Association organizes about fifteen conferences a year for its members in different areas of the country. It provides a monthly newsletter. It does research that helps members develop new programs. And it offers professional development for continuing education administrators.

In November, two thousand six, the University Continuing Education Association held a unity conference with the China Continuing Education Association at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

Thirty officials from major American universities and thirty from Chinese universities shared common problems and solutions. One educator from China and one from the United States discussed the continuing education situation in their countries at each meeting during the two days of the conference. They talked about a single subject such as new developments in online teaching for adults or changes in the market for continuing education.

Organizers are planning to hold an American and Chinese continuing education conference each year. The next one will be held later this year at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Marilyn Christiano. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can read other programs in this continuing education series on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Listen again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

VOASE0124_Education Report

24 January 2007

Higher Education in the US: Life as a Teaching Assistant
Many states are trying to make sure that foreign TAs can speak English well enough to communicate with students.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Graduate students often work as teaching assistants while they study in the United States. Teaching assistants may get money or get to take classes for free, or both.

A T.A. usually works about twenty hours each week. In some cases, the professors they assist have big undergraduate classes with hundreds of students. The professor gives one or two lectures a week, and teaching assistants lead smaller discussions at other times.

They also give tests, grade work, provide laboratory assistance and meet with students who need help. And they have their own educations to think about.

Labor unions have been working to organize teaching assistants who feel overworked and underpaid. Some schools have had strikes.

Another issue is the language barrier. Many states have proposed to require that teaching assistants be able to speak English well enough for students to understand them. Universities have increased their efforts to deal with this problem.

Our example school this week is the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles. The Institute of International Education says more foreign students go to USC than any other American university.

The American Language Institute at USC provides training to help international teaching assistants improve their English. The university requires most non-native English speakers to pass a test before they can become a T.A.

Those who went to college in an English-speaking country do not have to take the test. The same is true for those who scored at least twenty-seven on the speaking part of the TOEFL Internet-based test.

The exam at USC is a fifteen-minute spoken test that involves two examiners. Students talk about their education and interest in the school. Then they present some issue or idea from their area of study, and answer questions about it from the examiners.

Those who do not score high enough on the test have to take classes to improve their English. Until their English is better, some departments give them jobs that do not require them to communicate with students.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Listen next week for the next part in our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States.

MP3 files and transcripts of the series are at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a question or comment, write to special@voanews.com, and be sure to include your name and country. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOASE0123_Science In the News

23 January 2007

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Snow
The chemistry of a resource that provides much of the water we use.

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. Today, we tell you everything you ever wanted to know about snow.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Digging out from a blizzard

Winter weather has returned to northern areas of the world. In much of the United States, winter means the return of snow. Snow is a subject of great interest to weather experts. Experts sometimes have difficulty estimating where, when or how much snow will fall. One reason is that heavy amounts of snow fall in surprisingly small areas. Another reason is that a small change in temperature can mean the difference between snow and rain.

VOICE TWO:

Snow is a form of frozen water. It contains many groups of tiny ice particles called snow crystals. These crystals grow from water particles in cold clouds. They usually grow around a piece of dust. All snow crystals have six sides, but they grow in different shapes. The shape depends mainly on the temperature and water levels in the air.

Snow crystals grow in one of two designs -- platelike and columnar. Platelike crystals are flat. They form when the air temperature is about fifteen degrees below zero Celsius. Columnar snow crystals look like sticks of ice. They form when the temperature is about five degrees below zero.

VOICE ONE:

The shape of a snow crystal may change from one form to another as the crystal passes through levels of air with different temperatures. When melting snow crystals or raindrops fall through very cold air, they freeze to form small particles of ice, called sleet.

Groups of frozen water droplets are called snow pellets. Under some conditions, these particles may grow larger and form solid pieces of ice, or hail.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

When snow crystals stick together, they produce snowflakes. Snowflakes come in different sizes. As many as one hundred crystals may join together to form a snowflake larger than two and one-half centimeters. Under some conditions, snowflakes can form that are five centimeters long. Usually, this requires near freezing temperatures, light winds and changing conditions in Earth’s atmosphere.

Snow contains much less water than rain. About fifteen centimeters of wet snow has as much water as two and one-half centimeters of rain. About seventy-six centimeters of dry snow equals the water in two and one-half centimeters of rain.

VOICE ONE:

Much of the water we use comes from snow. Melting snow provides water for rivers, electric power centers and agricultural crops. In the western United States, mountain snow provides up to seventy-five percent of all surface water supplies.

Snowfall helps to protect plants and some wild animals from cold, winter weather. Fresh snow is made largely of air trapped among the snow crystals. Because the air has trouble moving, the movement of heat is greatly reduced.

Snow also is known to influence the movement of sound waves. When there is fresh snow on the ground, the surface of the snow takes in, or absorbs, sound waves. However, snow can become hard and flat as it becomes older or if there have been strong winds. Then the snow’s surface will help to send back sound waves. Under these conditions, sounds may seem clearer and travel farther.

VOICE TWO:

Generally, the color of snow and ice appears white. This is because the light we see from the sun is white. Most natural materials take in some sunlight. This gives them their color. However, when light travels from air to snow, some light is sent back, or reflected. Snow crystals have many surfaces to reflect sunlight. Yet the snow does take in a little sunlight. It is this light that gives snow its white appearance.

Sometimes, snow or ice may appear to be blue. The blue light is the product of a long travel path through the snow or ice. In simple terms, think of snow or ice as a filter. A filter is designed to reject some substances, while permitting others to pass through. In the case of snow, all the light makes it through if the snow is only a centimeter thick. If it is a meter or more thick, however, blue light often can be seen.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Snow falls in extreme northern and southern areas of the world throughout the year. However, the heaviest snowfalls have been reported in the mountains of other areas during winter. These areas include the Alps in Italy and Switzerland, the coastal mountains of western Canada, and the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains in the United States. In warmer climates, snow is known to fall in areas over four thousand nine hundred meters above sea level.

VOICE TWO:

Each year, the continental United States has an average of one hundred snowstorms. An average storm produces snow for two to five days. Almost every part of the country has received snowfall at one time or another. Even parts of southern Florida have reported a few snowflakes.

The national record for snowfall in a single season was set in nineteen ninety-eight and nineteen ninety-nine. Two thousand eight hundred ninety-five centimeters of snow fell at the Mount Baker Ski area in the northwestern state of Washington.

VOICE ONE:

People in many other areas have little or no snowfall. In nineteen thirty-six, a physicist from Japan produced the first man-made snow in a laboratory. During the nineteen-forties, several American scientists developed methods for making snow in other areas. Clouds with extremely cool water are mixed with man-made ice crystals, such as silver iodide and metaldehyde crystals. Sometimes, dry ice particles or liquid propane are used. Today, special machines are used to produce limited amounts of snow for winter holiday ski areas.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Snow is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people in the United States every year. Many people die in traffic accidents on roads that are covered with snow or ice. Others die from being out in the cold or from heart attacks caused by extreme physical activity.

Several years ago, a major storm caused serious problems in the eastern United States. It struck the Southeast in January, ninety ninety-six, before moving up the East Coast. The storm was blamed for more than one hundred deaths. It forced nine states to declare emergency measures.

Virginia and West Virginia were hit hardest. In some areas there, snowfall amounts were more than one meter high. Several states limited driving to emergency vehicles. Most major airports were closed for at least a day or two.

A week later, two other storms brought additional snow to the East Coast. In the New York City area, the added weight of the snow forced the tops of some buildings to break down. Many travelers were forced to walk long distances through deep snow to get to train stations.

VOICE ONE:

People may not be able to avoid living in areas where it snows often. However, they can avoid becoming victims of winter snowstorms.

People should stay in their homes until the storm has passed. While removing large amounts of snow, they should stop and rest often. Difficult physical activity during snow removal can cause a heart attack. It is always a good idea to keep a lot of necessary supplies in the home even before winter begins. These supplies include food, medicine, clean water, and extra power supplies.

VOICE TWO:

Some drivers have become trapped in their vehicles during a snowstorm. If this happens, people should remain in or near their car unless they see some kind of help. They should get out and clear space around the vehicle to prevent the possibility of carbon monoxide gas poisoning.

People should tie a bright-colored object to the top of their car to increase the chance of rescue. Inside the car, they should open a window a little for fresh air and turn on the engine for ten or fifteen minutes every hour for heat.

People living in areas where winter storms are likely should carry emergency supplies in their vehicle. These include food, emergency medical supplies, and extra clothing to stay warm and dry. People in these areas should always be prepared for winter emergencies. Snow can be beautiful to look at, but it can also be dangerous.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by George Grow. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

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.