VOASE0221_The Making of a Nation

21 February 2007

History: 1950s Popular Culture Helps Take Americans' Minds Off Fears of Nuclear War
It was also a time of growth in suburban living, rock and roll, and a rebellion in literature and art.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Phil Murray.

VOICE TWO:

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

(MUSIC)

Today, we tell what life was like in American during the nineteen fifties.

VOICE ONE:

Imagine that you are visiting the United States. What would you expect to see?

In the nineteen fifties, America was a nation that believed it was on the edge of nuclear war. It was a nation where the popular culture of television was gaining strength. It was a nation whose population was growing as never before.

在上世纪五十年代，美国正被核战的阴云所笼罩着。而电视则正逐渐引领着当时的文化潮流。同时这个国家的人口也正经历着前所未有的增长高峰。

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Josef Stalin

After the terrible suffering of World War Two, Americans thought the world would be peaceful for awhile. By nineteen fifty, however, political tensions were high again. The United States and the Soviet Union, allies in war, had become enemies.

在逃离了第二次世界大战的浩劫之后，美国人民正期盼着和平年代的到来。但在进入五十年代之后，国际政坛再次出现了紧张的局面。原本在二战时作为盟友的美国和苏联在战后开始相互对峙。

The communists had taken control of one east European nation after another. And Soviet leader Josef Stalin made it clear that he wanted communists to rule the world.

苏联已先后将东欧各国纳入其共产主义阵营中，而其领导人约瑟夫·斯大林的目标则是要让共产主义掌管整个世界。

The Soviet Union had strengthened its armed forces after the war. The United States had taken many steps to disarm. Yet it still possessed the atomic bomb. America thought it, alone, had this terrible weapon.

苏联在战后扩充了国家的军备力量。而美国则在逐步削减兵力，但他们的手中依旧握有原子弹，并且他们认为这件可怕的武器只属于美国。

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen forty-nine, a United States Air Force plane discovered strange conditions in the atmosphere. What was causing them? The answer came quickly: the Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb.

1949年，一架美国空军的飞机注意到了大气层中所出现的奇怪现象。人们开始对这个问题产生质疑，但答案很快就浮出水面：苏联试射了一枚原子弹。

The race was on. The two nations competed to build weapons of mass destruction. Would these weapons ever be used?

这激发了两国之间的军备竞赛。双方都不断地努力制造大规模杀伤性武器。这些武器真的有一天会被使用吗？

The American publication, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, always showed a picture of a clock. By nineteen forty-nine, the time on the clock was three minutes before midnight. That meant the world was on the edge of nuclear destruction. The atomic scientists were afraid of what science had produced. They were even more afraid of what science could produce.

在美国出版的《原子能科学家公报》上经常可以看到一张时钟的图片。在1949年，钟上的时间离午夜只差三分钟，它的寓意是这个世界正处在核战崩溃的边缘。这些科学家们为科学所带来的这一切而深感忧虑，他们更不敢想象科学以后会给这个世界带来什么。

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen-fifty, North Korea invaded South Korea. The Korean conflict increased efforts in the United States to develop a weapon more deadly than an atomic bomb. That was the hydrogen bomb. The Soviets were developing such a weapon, too.

Many Americans were afraid. Some built what they hoped would be safe rooms in or near their homes. They planned to hide in these bomb shelters during a nuclear attack.

VOICE ONE:

Other Americans, however, grew tired of being afraid. In nineteen fifty-two, the military hero of World War Two, Dwight Eisenhower, was elected president. The economy improved. Americans looked to the future with hope.

Dwight Eisenhower

One sign of hope was the baby boom. This was the big increase in the number of babies born after the war. The number of young children in America jumped from twenty-four million to thirty-five million between nineteen fifty and nineteen sixty. The bigger families needed houses. In ninetee fifty alone, one million four hundred thousand houses were built in America.

Most new houses were in the suburbs, the areas around cities. People moved to the suburbs because they thought the schools there were better. They also liked having more space for their children to play.

VOICE TWO:

Many Americans remember the nineteen fifties as the fad years. A fad is something that is extremely popular for a very short time one fad from the nineteen fifties was the Hula Hoop. The Hula Hoop was a colorful plastic tube joined to form a big circle. To play with it, you moved your hips in a circular motion. This kept it spinning around your body. The motion was like one used by Polynesian people in their native dance, the hula.

Other fads in the nineteen fifties involved clothes or hair. Some women, for example, cut and fixed their hair to look like the fur of a poodle dog. Actress Mary Martin made the poodle cut famous when she appeared in the Broadway play, "South Pacific."

VOICE ONE:

In motion pictures, Marilyn Monroe was becoming famous. Not everyone thought she was a great actress. But she had shining golden hair. And she had what was considered a perfect body. Marilyn Monroe's success did not make her happy. She killed herself in the nineteen sixties, when she was thirty-six years old.

Another famous actor of those days was James Dean. To many Americans, he was the living representation of the rebellious spirit of the young. In fact, one of his films was called, "Rebel Without a Cause." James Dean died in a car accident in nineteen fifty-five. He was twenty-four.

VOICE TWO:

The nineteen fifties saw a rebellion in American literature. As part of society lived new lives in the suburbs, another part criticized this life. These were the writers and poets of the Beat generation, including Gregory Corso, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. They said life was empty in nineteen-fifties America. They described the people as dead in brain and spirit.

Jackson Pollock's action painting method

Jackson Pollock represented the rebellion in art. Pollock did not paint things the way they looked. Instead, he dropped paint onto his pictures in any way he pleased. He was asked again and again: "What do your paintings mean?" He answered: "Do not worry about what they mean. They are just there ... like flowers."

VOICE ONE:

In music, the rebel was Elvis Presley. He was the king of rock-and-roll.

(MUSIC)

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley was a twenty-one-year-old truck driver when he sang on television for the first time. He moved his body to the music in a way that many people thought was too sexual.

Parents and religious leaders criticized him. Young people screamed for more. They could not get enough rock-and-roll. They played it on records. They heard it on the radio. And they listened to it on the television program "American Bandstand."

(MUSIC)

This program became the most popular dance party in America. Every week, young men and women danced to the latest songs in front of the television cameras.

VOICE TWO:

During the nineteen forties, there were only a few television receivers in American homes. Some called television an invention for stupid people to watch. By the end of the nineteen fifties, however, television was here to stay. The average family watched six hours a day.

Americans especially liked games shows and funny shows with comedians such as Milton Berle and Lucille Ball. They also liked shows that offered a mix of entertainment, such as those presented by Arthur Godfrey and Ed Sullivan.

VOICE ONE:

People from other countries watching American television in the nineteen fifties might have thought that all Americans were white Christians. At that time, television failed to recognize that America was a great mix of races and religions.

Few members of racial or religious minorities were represented on television. Those who appeared usually were shown working for white people.

A movement for civil rights for black Americans was beginning to gather strength in the nineteen fifties. Many legal battles were fought to end racial separation, especially in America's schools. By the nineteen sixties, the civil rights movement would shake the nation.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Dwight Eisenhower was president for most of the nineteen fifties. He faced the problems of communism, the threat of nuclear war, and racial tensions. He had a calm way of speaking. And he always seemed to deal with problems in the same calm way. Some citizens felt he was like a father to the nation.

With Mister Eisenhower in the White House, they believed that even in a dark and dangerous world, everything would be all right.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And this is Rich Kleinfeldt. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

中文翻译由Carl提供 PoEnglish感谢致敬！

VOASE0221_Education Report

21 February 2007

Once You Get Into a US College, Where Should You Live?
Advice about what to consider, and what questions to ask, in Part 25 of our Foreign Student Series.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our Foreign Student Series on higher education in the United States. We have talked all about the college admissions process. Now we move on to college life once you get accepted to a school. The first thing you need is a place to live. That is our subject this week.

Slusher Tower, a dormitory at Virginia Tech

Housing policies differ from school to school. Students might be able to choose whatever housing they can find. Or they might have to live in a dormitory, at least for the first year.

Dorms come in all sizes. A building may house a small number of students or many hundreds. Some have suites. Each suite has several bedrooms, a common living area and a bathroom. Six or more students may live in one suite.

Other dorms have many rooms along a common hallway, usually with two students in each room.

Many students say dormitories provide the best chance to get to know other students. Also, dorms generally cost less than apartments or other housing not owned by the school.

Most colleges and universities offer single-sex dorms, but usually males and females live in the same building. They might live on the same floors and share the same common bathrooms. But, in most cases, they may live in the same room only if they are married.

At many schools, male students can join fraternities and females can join sororities. These are mainly social organizations but members may also be able to live at their fraternity or sorority house.

Edward Spencer is the associate vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. He says it is important to understand the rules of the building in which you will live.

He advises students to ask questions before they decide about their housing. For example: If a student requires a special diet, will the school provide for it? How much privacy can a student expect? Will the school provide a single room if a student requests one?

And what about any other special needs that a student might have?

Virginia Tech, for example, had a ban against candles in dorms. But it changed that policy to let students light candles for religious purposes.

The university also has several dorms open all year so foreign students have a place to stay during vacation times.

Our Foreign Student Series continues next week. Transcripts and audio files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.

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

鞭炮声中补写作业

2月17日的节目VOASE0217_In the News （←点击可进入）广播音频MP3已补上，需要的去该贴下吧。
窗外鞭炮轰隆，财神同学真的听得见吗？

VOASE0221_Health Report

21 February 2007

Test May Show Heart Patients' Risk | Napping to a Healthier Heart?
Researchers think a protein level can tell if a person with heart disease is likely to suffer a heart attack. Also, a study says afternoon sleep may cut the risk of dying from a heart attack.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Researchers say they have developed a simple test that can tell if a person with heart disease is likely to suffer a heart attack. The test measures levels of a protein in the blood. The researchers say people with high levels of this protein are at high risk of heart attack, heart failure or stroke.

有研究者声称他们开发了一种能简易测试心脏病患者是否容易急性发作的方法。这项技术检测的是病人血液中某种蛋白质的含量。他们说这项指标较高的心脏病人会更容易出现急性心脏病发作、心力衰竭或中风。

Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California in San Francisco led the team. For about four years, they studied almost one thousand patients with heart disease.

这项研究是由旧金山加州大学Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo所领导的科研小组开展的。在四年的研究过程中，他们共分析了将近一千位心脏病患者。

The researchers tested the heart disease patients for a protein called NT-proBNP. Patients with the highest levels were nearly eight times more likely than those with the lowest levels to have a heart attack, heart failure or stroke.

他们检测了这些患者血液中一个叫做NT-proBNP蛋白的含量。他们发现含量最高的那些病人的发病率要比最低的患病者高出将近八倍。

The researchers say the presence of high levels of the protein in the blood shows that the heart muscle is under pressure in some way. The study involved mostly men, so the researchers could not say for sure that the results are also true for women.

研究者认为这种蛋白质在血液中的高含量出现意味着患者的心肌处于某种受迫状态。这项研究所选取的对象主要集中于男性患者，因此研究者目前还无法确定这种检测方法是否同样适用于女性患者。

They say the patients with the highest levels of NT-proBNP were older and had other problems like diabetes or high blood pressure.

研究者还指出NT-proBNP含量最高的那些患者年龄都偏大，而且他们的身体状况还会存在一些其他异常，例如患有糖尿病，或是高血压。

Other researchers say more studies are needed to confirm if knowing the protein levels of a heart patient should affect that person's treatment. They also would like to know if more aggressive treatment could reduce the patient's chance of a heart attack or stroke.

一些其他的研究者认为他们需要更多的研究来确定在对心脏病患者的治疗过程中是否有必要参考这项蛋白的指标。他们还想知道高强度的治疗方法是否有助于降低患者出现心脏病发作或中风的机会。

The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Could a little sleep during the middle of the day reduce the risk of a heart attack? An unrelated study earlier this month in the Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that the answer may be yes.

In countries like the United States, afternoon naps are mostly for children. But they are common for adults in Mediterranean countries. And these countries generally have lower rates of heart disease. So scientists in the United States and Greece wondered if naps could play a part.

Twenty-three thousand healthy adults took part in the study by Harvard University and the University of Athens. Those who took thirty-minute naps three times a week had a thirty-seven percent lower risk of death from heart problems than people who did not take naps.

The researchers say napping may improve heart health by reducing stress. They say the research suggests that naps are especially good for working men. But they say not enough female subjects died during the study to judge the benefits for women.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. I'm Steve Ember.

中文翻译由Carl提供 PoEnglish感谢致敬！

VOASE0220_Explorations

20 February 2007

Eye to Eye With an Elephant, and Watching for Hungry Crocs, on Safari in Africa
''Safari'' comes from the Swahili and Arabic words for a trip or journey; come along and experience the sights and sounds of the wild.

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

Safari explorers on the Chobe River

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we go on safari to experience the sights and sounds of Africa’s rich wildlife. The word “safari” comes from the Swahili and Arabic words for a trip or journey. Tourists from all over the world go to Africa to enjoy the excitement and wonder of safari explorations.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Imagine climbing into an open sided four-wheel drive vehicle early in the morning.

(SOUND)

Going on safari in a four-wheel drive vehicle

Your expert guide drives you through the entrance to Chobe National Park in Botswana. All around, you can see the huge pink sky at sunrise. The trees and thick grass move slightly in the wind. Then, suddenly you hear the movement of leaves nearby. A few meters away a huge elephant walks out of the green bushes. He is so close you can see his white ivory tusks and the deep lines in his gray skin. He seems to look right at you, then moves on to continue his search for more food. Welcome to Africa and the excitement of safari.

VOICE TWO:

There are many national parks and game reserves in Africa where you can go on safari. For example, many tourists visit Kruger National Park in the northeastern area of South Africa. This park was established in nineteen twenty-six in an effort to protect the wildlife of South Africa. It has a surface area of almost twenty thousand square kilometers. Many kinds of plants and animals live in Kruger, including the famous “Big Five.” The Big Five are five large animals: the elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros and buffalo.

Big game hunters created the term Big Five. For hunters, these five animals were some of the most difficult and dangerous to catch. Many tourists think mainly about seeing the Big Five while on safari. But there are many other interesting, and much smaller, animals as well.

VOICE ONE:

Kruger National Park represents a good example of the many kinds of safaris that are available to visitors. For example, in parks including Kruger, you can rent a car and drive around some areas on your own. There are also wilderness trails for safaris where you walk on a path to see the animals. A guide or ranger comes with you to keep you safe and tell about the animals. There are also mobile safaris where you sleep in a tent. The campsite moves with you as you travel through the park.

Private hotel companies operate some areas of parks such as Kruger. These hotels can be very costly. But many people think it is worth the cost to enjoy fine food and service. After all, it is not every day you can look out of your bedroom window and see a monkey or elephant standing outside.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

There are several general rules to follow when traveling on safari. For example, most people wear light-colored clothing such as light brown or tan. This is because lighter colors take in less of the strong heat of the sun than dark colors do. Darker color clothes are also more likely to attract mosquitoes. It is also important to wear a hat and sunscreen lotion to protect your skin from being burned by the very hot African sun. Binoculars are also very helpful for seeing animals that are far away.

VOICE ONE:

When you are out in nature it is important to speak softly so as not to frighten the animals away. Also, never try to feed or go near one of the animals. And, if you are in a boat, keep your arms and legs out of the water. You might want to touch the water to cool off. But you never know if a hungry crocodile or other creature is nearby. By following these guidelines you can enjoy a safari that is both safe and exciting.

VOICE TWO:

Tanzania is another country with many parks and game reserves. People who like chimpanzees can visit Gombe Stream National Park on the western border of the country. This is an area of thick forests, ancient trees, and beautiful lakes. Animal expert Jane Goodall made the chimpanzee populations in this area famous. She spent many years studying the behavior of these endangered animals.

A guide can take you deep into the forest. As you sit waiting, you might hear the screams and calls of the chimps coming closer. Chimpanzees share about ninety eight percent of their genes with humans. Their actions and noises can seem very human. Being able to watch these animals playing, eating and communicating with each other in the wild is a special experience to treasure.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Chobe National Park in Botswana is another popular place for safari travel. This park is home to one of the largest elephant populations in the world. Mist Setaung is a professional safari guide who often takes visitors through Chobe. Listen as he tells about himself and how he got this exciting job.

MIST SETAUNG: “My name is Mist Setaung and I was born and raised in Botswana, a place called Maun which is a gateway to the Okavango delta. To become a guide you actually go through a course. There’s a six-month course of the Department of Wildlife, which is run by the government. Then, after this course you take an exam.

"My father offered me a job as a trainee guide and I went into the bush. Slowly and surely I started learning and eventually it got into my blood, and I just got devoted to it.”

VOICE TWO:

A hippopotamus eating lunch

With a guide like Mist you are guaranteed to see new animals and learn a great deal. One excellent way to see the wildlife of Chobe is by boat. Mist can take you on a boat ride up and down the river so you can see the animals as they come to drink or play in the water. Hippopotamuses like to stand in the grass and eat most of the day. Or, they enter the water to stay cool. In fact, a hippo can stay under water for up to six minutes. They are very good at hiding in the water. If you look carefully, you can see their two eyes looking out of the water at you. You know they are near when you hear the strange deep noise they make with their nose.

(SOUND)

These animals look too big and fat to be dangerous. But they can be very aggressive and protective of their territory.

VOICE ONE:

A paradise whydah

If you do not see any big animals near the river, Mist can tell you about birds instead. He can point out the male paradise whydah with its unusually long black tail feathers. Or, he might show you one of many guinea fowl, which he jokingly says are also called “Chobe chickens.” He can even make noises that sound just like the birdcalls.

VOICE TWO:

There are also many smaller animals to watch for. Antelopes of all kinds live in the park. There are gnus or wildebeests with their flat wide faces. Fine-boned impalas walk around as gracefully as dancers. Solid warthogs explore the bush on their short little legs. These strange-looking wild pigs are dark with long yellow tusks coming out of their mouth. They are not very pretty animals. Mist says "they have a face only a mother could love."

Mist can also tell you about conservation efforts to protect wild animals. Some animals such as the black rhinoceros have almost been destroyed because poachers illegally hunt and kill them. Many parks across Africa have had trouble with poachers. In Chobe there is an army camp with workers who make sure that poachers stay away.

VOICE ONE:

It might surprise you that there are too many of some other animals. For example, in parts of Chobe the large elephant population has actually harmed the environment. When elephants eat huge quantities of leaves and grasses, other animals have trouble finding enough food to eat. And, elephants are not gentle eaters. They can tear out trees and bushes as they feed. In the dry season these dead plants can increase the danger of fires.

VOICE TWO:

Chobe elephants at sunset

If you are lucky, you can enjoy sunset while floating down the Chobe River. Yellow and orange colors fill the sky at this hour and are reflected in the water. The sun slowly starts to slip behind the trees. But before it is dark, you see a large movement of gray bodies. Three families of elephants have come to the water's edge.

More than thirty elephants are quietly drinking and eating. There are huge old elephants with large tusks. There are the mothers who lead each family group. Then, there are the babies who play and run around the thick legs of the adult elephants. The elephants look up and watch as your boat turns away and you head back to camp at the end of another day on safari in Africa.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

VOASE0220_Science In the News

20 February 2007

Scientists Study Children Who Feel No Pain
Recent findings from research into pain, including a British study that shows that women may feel pain more than men.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Today we tell about some recent studies of pain, and new possibilities for controlling it.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Have you ever wished you could not feel pain? There are people in the world with this ability. They do not know when they are hurting. If you have ever broken a leg or given birth, this might sound good to you. But a person unable to feel physical pain can be in danger and not know it.

Last year, Nature magazine published a report about six children who have never suffered pain. C. Geoffrey Woods of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research in England and his team wrote the report.

VOICE TWO:

The six children come from three families from northern Pakistan. The research team found the children after hearing about a boy who apparently felt no pain. The boy stood on burning coals and stabbed his arms with knives to earn money. He died in a fall before the researchers could meet him.

But the team was able to find members of the boy's extended family. They also seemed unable to feel pain.

These children were six to fourteen years of age. They sometimes burned themselves with hot liquids or steam. They sat on hot heating devices. They cut their lips with their teeth, but felt no pain. Two of the children bit off one-third of their tongue. Yet they could feel pressure and tell differences between hot and cold.

VOICE ONE:

Doctor Woods and his research team studied DNA -- deoxyribonucleic acid -- from the children. They also examined DNA from the children's parents. The team found that all had a gene with a mistake, or fault. Except for the genetic fault, the children had normal intelligence and health. The researchers found that each child received a faulty version of the gene from a parent.

The gene is called SCN9A. It gives orders to a protein that serves as a passageway for the chemical sodium. All nerve cells have such passages. This is how pain signals from a wound or injury are communicated to the spinal cord and brain.

VOICE TWO:

Two years ago, investigators at Yale University in the United States discovered something important about SCN9A. They linked it to a rare condition in which patients suffer painful burning in their feet or hands. The problems of these patients were nearly opposite to those of the children who felt no pain. In patients with the burning hands and feet, SCN9A was too active.

The findings of the British and American groups may mean better medical help for pain. Doctor Woods' team says this could happen if medicine can be developed to control the faulty gene. That would be welcome news to people whose pain resists current medicines.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Another report says many Americans believe they are suffering more pain now than in earlier years. The National Center for Health Statistics released the report last November. The center is an agency of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Twenty five percent of American adults said they had a full day of pain in the month before they were questioned. Ten percent were more deeply affected. Their pain continued for a year or more.

Amy Bernstein was lead research writer for the study. Miz Bernstein said pain is rarely considered as a separate condition. Yet she said costs linked to pain overload the health care system.

VOICE TWO:

The study found that lower back pain was a big problem. More than twenty five percent of adults who were asked said they had lower back pain in the past three months.

Painful knees caused the most trouble of the body's joints. But some victims of knee pain are doing something about it. They are having operations to replace the painful joint. Their replacement knees are man-made, or artificial.

Starting in nineteen ninety-two, rates of hospital stays for knee replacement rose almost ninety percent among older Americans. The patients were sixty-five years of age or older.

VOICE ONE:

Americans also reported head pain. Fifteen percent of adults said they suffered a migraine or other severe headache in the past three months. This pain affected young people three times as much as older adults.

Reports of severe joint pain increased with age. Women said they had painful joints more often than men.

The study showed that painful conditions caused increased use of narcotic drugs. Narcotics can be strong painkillers. The study compared two periods. One period lasted six years and ended in nineteen ninety-four. The other began in nineteen ninety-nine and ended four years ago. Between those periods, the percentage of adults who said they used a narcotic for pain in the past month rose from three to four percent.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Doctors usually order opiates for patients with severe pain. Opiates include morphine, codeine and methadone. Most of these drugs come from the poppy flower. Doctors have used one opiate, opium, to treat pain for more than two thousand years. A newer drug, oxycodone, is called an opioid. An opioid is similar to an opiate. Doctors use it to control moderate to severe pain over a long period.

For example, a woman from Rockville, Maryland, has a painful back. Her doctor says he cannot operate on it without putting her in danger of losing the use of her legs. The woman was in severe pain much of the time until the doctor ordered a form of oxycodone. She still has pain at some times of day. But she is able to work at home and take part in at least some of the activities she loves.

VOICE ONE:

Many doctors order, or prescribe, narcotic drugs for patients with continuing severe pain like that of the Maryland woman. Narcotic drugs may help to decrease pain, but can make many people sleepy. They also can be addictive. The user may need increasing amounts to get the same effect.

Some doctors have prescribed more narcotic drugs than are medically necessary. Doctors face possible arrest and jail sentences if they knowingly order narcotics for other than medical reasons.

VOICE TWO:

Non-medical use of oxycodone and similar drugs has killed many Americans. Some people break them up and mix them with other drugs.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an increase in the number of accidental deaths from prescription drugs. C.D.C. officials say the number increased more than sixty percent between nineteen ninety-nine and two thousand four. That made accidental drug-poisoning the second largest cause of accidental death in the United States. Only traffic accidents rated higher.

VOICE ONE:

The C.D.C. got its information from official death reports. The reports do not always clearly state which drugs are involved. But researchers say they believe painkillers ordered by doctors caused the increase.

Clearly, strong painkillers can be dangerous, but many patients need them. To meet this need, some doctors and hospitals today provide special services for such patients. For example, doctors who teach at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine in Ohio offer advice and treatment for several kinds of pain.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

As you hear this program, research into pain continues around the world. Recently, an English study suggested that women feel pain more than men. Psychologist Ed Keogh says the study found that women also feel pain in more body areas than men. It also found that women suffer pain more often and for longer periods than men.

In the study, several people at the University of Bath held one arm in warm water. Then they put the arm in icy cold water. Both men and women were told to think about the physical nature of the pain. They were not to think about their emotional reactions to it. Using this psychological trick, men said they felt less pain than women.

VOICE ONE:

Mister Keogh says many explanations of these differences depend on genetic and hormonal influences. But he says psychological and social reasons also are important.

One medical worker who has cared for hundreds of people says it is never fair to say someone is making too much of their pain. She adds that no one can ever know what other people are feeling.

VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was Brianna Blake. This is Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE0220_Agriculture Report

20 February 2007

Insect Threatens Ash Trees in US
Invasion of the emerald ash borer raises fears that the popular tree could be lost, so experts are collecting seeds for preservation.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A beetle invasion in the United States has killed at least twenty million ash trees. The invasion of the emerald ash borer was first discovered near Detroit, Michigan, in two thousand two. Experts believe the small green insects arrived in the nineteen nineties in shipments of goods from China.

An ash tree in Ohio with its bark cut away to look for signs of the emerald ash borer

The emerald ash borer has destroyed trees in the Midwest and as far east in the United States as Maryland. The insects have also spread as far north as Ontario, Canada.

Ash trees are popular. They grow well in heavy clay soils, and they can survive ice storms well. They produce many leaves, so they provide shade protection from the sun. And in the fall the leaves turn a beautiful gold and purple.

Ash trees can resist many diseases. But they cannot resist the emerald ash borer. It lays eggs on the bark. Then the young larvae drill into and feed on the inner bark. This harms the ability of the tree to transport water and nutrients.

The insect is attacking tree farms and can also spread when logs and firewood are transported.

The United States Department of Agriculture is working to save the ash tree. So are agriculture departments and university extensions in a number of states.

In some places, farmers are using "detection trees." These have an area where bark has been cut away. The area circles the tree and is called a girdle. The girdling process weakens the trees. It makes them easier targets for borers, and shows if the insects are nearby.

Efforts to stop the spread of the emerald ash borer include cutting down affected trees. A tree farmer in Maryland, for example, recently faced the loss of hundreds of trees.

There are worries that the ash tree might disappear unless the invasion is controlled. To prepare for such a possibility, a government laboratory is collecting seeds from ash trees.

David Burgdorf works in East Lansing, Michigan, for the Natural Resources Conservation Service; the service is part of the United States Department of Agriculture. He is asking people to send in ash seeds. The laboratory examines and x-rays the seeds to make sure there are no living borer embryos.

The best seeds are then sent for storage in a seed bank in Fort Collins, Colorado. There, they are dried and frozen at the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation. Should the seeds ever be needed, the hope is that scientists might someday develop an ash tree that could resist the little green attackers.

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

VOASE0218_Development Report

18 February 2007

Tree-Growing Campaign Makes for a Greener Niger
How one nation's campaign has saved three million hectares from becoming desert in the Sahel.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The Sahel is the area of Africa that lies between the Sahara desert to the north and more fertile land to the south. The dry plains of the Sahel are mostly treeless. Yet in Niger, one of the nations along the Sahel, millions of trees are now growing.

Researchers have been studying the progress of a re-greening campaign in Niger. Chris Reij is a scientist from the Netherlands. In a message at frameweb.org last February, he described how, in some places, "densities are so high that you almost look at a wall of trees."

A United Nations news service reported in October that Niger's government said the campaign had already reclaimed three million hectares. Teams of workers have used simple methods such as planting trees and protecting natural vegetation to save land from being lost to desert.

Ten to twenty times more trees were reported in parts of southern Niger in two thousand five than there were thirty years earlier.

Some reclaimed land can now be farmed again. The land became infertile during the nineteen seventies and early eighties. But about twenty years ago, local farmers recognized that their once-productive soil was being carried away by severe winds.

Farmers plow their land in Niger

Trees were traditionally cut down for firewood or cleared for agriculture. Instead of clearing trees, farmers began to let them grow among their crops. At the same time, rainfall levels began to rise after a long dry period. Today, the rate of desert expansion in Niger is dropping and the amount of harvested crops is up.

All this was described earlier this month in the New York Times.

Niger is one of the world's poorest countries and its population is growing quickly. Being able to grow more food is important. The trees hold soil in place. They also help keep the ground from getting too dry. And they offer the possibility of extra money from selling branches, leaves and fruit.

Most of the trees are a kind of acacia that people in Niger call the gao tree. The trees are being grown mostly in densely populated areas. As the Times noted, this goes against the traditional thinking that population growth means a loss of trees and destruction of land.

The success of the effort also suggests that earlier damage to the Sahel may not have been permanent. And some say it could put Niger in a better position to deal with whatever effects climate change might bring.

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

VOASE0218_This Is America

18 February 2007

Academy Awards: The Night When the Stars Come Out in Hollywood
Next Sunday is the big night for people who make movies and for people who watch them.

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

Academy Awards ceremony, which takes place Sunday in Los Angeles, California. It is the most exciting event of the year for people who make movies and for people who love to watch them.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

On February twenty-fifth, actors, directors, producers and other filmmakers will gather in Hollywood, California, the center of the American film industry. They will receive Academy Awards for the best acting, directing, writing, editing, music and other work on movies released last year.

The winners will receive an award called an Oscar. This statue is shaped like a man. It is made of several metals covered with gold. The Oscar is only about thirty-four centimeters tall. It weighs less than four kilograms. But the award is extremely valuable for the people who receive it. People who win an Oscar can become much more famous. They can get offers to work in the best movies. They can also earn much more money.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Sharon Leal (l), Beyoncé Knowles, and Anika Noni Rose

The musical "Dreamgirls" received eight Academy Award nominations, the most of any movie released last year. "Dreamgirls" is a film version of a Broadway musical play. It tells about a group of three female singers who became famous during the nineteen sixties. The film's nominations include three for best song and two for acting.

VOICE ONE:

However, many people were surprised that "Dreamgirls" was not nominated for best motion picture. Five others were. They are "Babel," "The Queen," "The Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima" and "Little Miss Sunshine." The directors of the first four of these movies also received Academy Award nominations.

"Babel" received seven nominations. It tells three powerful stories that take place in Morocco, Mexico, the United States and Japan. The actors speak five languages. "Babel" shows the terrible results of people not being able to communicate with each other. It was directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

"The Queen," directed by Stephen Frears, received six nominations. It combines fact with fiction to tell the story about how the British royal family reacted to the death of Diana, the Princess of Wales, in nineteen ninety-seven.

VOICE TWO:

Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in scene from The Departed

"The Departed" was also nominated for best picture. Directed by Martin Scorsese, it tells a violent story about men divided by power and loyalty. Some of the characters are criminals and others are members of the police force.

"Letters From Iwo Jima" tells about the Japanese soldiers, and their commander, who tried to defend the island from the invasion by United States forces during World War Two. Clint Eastwood directed the Japanese actors, who speak in their native language in the film. Eastwood also directed a movie in English about the American forces fighting on that same island.

"Little Miss Sunshine" is the fifth nominated movie and is the only funny one. It tells about six members of a family with many problems. They travel from Arizona to California so that the seven-year-old daughter can compete in a beauty contest. The members of the family learn to support and trust each other along the way.

A movie about the September eleventh terrorist attacks on the United States, called "United Ninety-three," was not nominated for best picture. But its director, Paul Greengrass, did receive a nomination.

VOICE ONE:

Five actors were nominated for best performance in a leading role. Forest Whitaker was nominated for playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland." Leonardo DiCaprio played a man searching for a rare gem in Africa in "Blood Diamond." Ryan Gosling was a teacher with a drug problem in "Half Nelson."

In the movie "Venus," Peter O'Toole played a very old actor interested in a very young woman. And Will Smith was a homeless father who gets a job in the financial industry in "The Pursuit of Happyness," a movie based on a true story.

VOICE TWO:

Meryl Streep

Five actresses were nominated for best performance in a leading role. For Meryl Streep, it was her fourteenth nomination. She is the most-nominated actor ever and is a two-time Oscar winner. She played a demanding magazine editor in "The Devil Wears Prada."

British actress Helen Mirren was nominated for her role as Queen Elizabeth in "The Queen." Two other British actresses were also nominated. Judi Dench played a teacher in "Notes on a Scandal." Kate Winslet was a woman who has a sexual relationship with a neighbor in "Little Children." And Spanish actress Penelope Cruz was nominated for the Spanish-language movie "Volver." She played a woman dealing with some unusual family crises.

VOICE ONE:

A total of twenty actors and actresses were nominated for leading and supporting roles. Among them are five black actors and actresses, two Hispanic actresses and one Japanese actress. Experts say this is the most ethnically diverse group ever nominated for Academy Awards.

In addition, critics highly praised three directors from Mexico. Their movies received a total of sixteen nominations. They are Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who was nominated for directing "Babel," Guillermo del Toro and Alfonso Cuaron.

Del Toro directed the Spanish-language film "Pan's Labyrinth," which received six nominations. It deals with the political situation in Spain after that country's civil war. And it shows a young girl's fearful adventures with magical creatures. Cuaron directed "Children of Men," a frightening vision of the future where women are unable to have babies.

All three movies deal with serious subjects in creative ways. The directors are very good friends and often work on each other's movies. One critic called the three directors "the future of movies."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Film poster of 'An Inconvenient Truth'

Five movies were nominated for best documentary feature, a movie about real people or events. They are about serious issues that have gotten a lot of media attention. Former vice president Al Gore's film about global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth," was one of the movies nominated.

Two of the others are about the war in Iraq: "My Country, My Country" and "Iraq in Fragments." Another nominated documentary is "Jesus Camp," a close-up look at a summer camp for Christian children. And the last nominated documentary is "Deliver Us From Evil." It is about a former priest found guilty of sexually abusing children.

VOICE ONE:

More than twenty Academy Awards will be presented Sunday night.

The people who wrote the best screenplays and did the best film and sound editing will receive awards. So will the people who designed the best costumes, makeup and special effects. The composers who wrote the best song and music from a movie will also be honored.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the Oscars each year. Almost six thousand people who work in the movie industry belong to the Academy. They nominate candidates for Academy Awards from their own professions.

For example, actors nominate actors. Directors nominate directors. Designers nominate designers. All Academy members vote to choose the final winners.

VOICE TWO:

The Academy Awards are presented in the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Important people in the movie industry attend the ceremony. Crowds of people wait outside the theater. They watch the famous movie stars as they arrive.

The women wear beautiful dresses and costly jewelry provided by famous designers. Camera lights flash. The actors and actresses smile for the photographers and television cameras.

During the Academy Awards ceremony, famous actors and actresses announce the names of the nominees and the winners. Then the winners go up onto the stage. They thank all the people who helped them win their golden Oscar. Hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the world will watch them on television Sunday night.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can read our scripts and download audio on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0217_People In America

17 February 2007

Jerome Kern, 1885-1945: The Father of American Musical Theater
Singers still perform Kern's songs today.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about and play music by songwriter Jerome Kern. He was the man who helped invent the modern musical play.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Jerome Kern

Jerome Kern is often called the father of American musical theater. Kern is remembered for the hundreds of songs he wrote for musical plays and movies. Music historians say that Kern gave artistic importance to American popular music for the first time. And, they say, he led the development of the first truly American theater music.

VOICE TWO:

Jerome Kern was born into a middle-class family in New York City in eighteen eighty-five. Jerome’s mother, Fanny, loved the piano. She began to teach Jerome how to play when he was very young. He became a fair piano player but not so good that anyone expected him to become a great musician.

Jerome was a quiet boy and not a top student. When he completed high school, his father said he would have to work in the family’s store. Mister Kern said his son could never make money writing music. But he later came to believe that Jerome might do better in music than in business after all. So he let the boy go to Europe to study music, as almost all serious young musicians did at the time.

VOICE ONE:

Jerome Kern began his career as a songwriter in theaters in London and New York City. Success came quickly. By the early nineteen twenties, Kern was a successful young composer for Broadway musical comedies. In one three-year period alone, he wrote music for nineteen shows.

Other people wrote the words for Kern's songs. Kern wrote only the music. And he worked with each song until he was satisfied that the music was perfect. He almost never changed his music to fit the words. One of Kern's best-loved songs is "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," sung by Dinah Washington.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Although Kern's songs are easy to remember after hearing a few times, they are not simple. His melodies -- the musical line of the song -- are always inventive, even demanding. An example of his inventiveness is the song "All the Things You Are." Several composers say they consider it the greatest song ever written. Singers continue to like Kern songs because they can be sung in many different ways. The melody remains the same. But different singers can change the feeling of the song completely.

Here are two versions of "All the Things You Are" sung in very different ways by Ella Fitzgerald and Willie Nelson.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Jerome Kern once said he was trying to bring modern art to music. One critic wrote this about his music: Kern's songs are like black and white drawings. They need no color, no decoration. A Kern song is always in balance, perfect in form and pleasing in design. Here is an example, "Why Do I Love You?" played by Andre Previn and friends.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

All but one of Kern's songs were written for musical plays. American musical plays at that time were still usually copied from European ones. Often the stories seemed foolish and the people in them did not seem real. Songs and dances often had no connection to the story.

Kern wanted to try something completely new. He thought a musical play should be a real work of art, not just a collection of songs and dances. He thought songs should help move the action of the play along, by showing a person’s feelings. Kern wanted to do a truly American musical, with real American characters and real situations.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen twenty-seven, he found the story he wanted. It was the book “Show Boat” by American writer Edna Ferber. "Show Boat" takes place in the eighteen eighties on a passenger steam boat that travels along the Mississippi River. The boat is called a show boat because singers and dancers entertain the passengers. The captain of the show boat has a daughter who is a singer on the boat. She falls in love with a man who earns his money by gambling with cards.

VOICE TWO:

The story dealt with some unusually serious issues for a musical. It showed the hard lives of African-Americans in the South. And it showed marriage between people of different races, which was against the law at that time. Although serious in places, “Show Boat” was not a tragedy.

The public and critics loved it. "Show Boat" became the greatest work of American musical theater. Music critics said Kern's effect on musical theater was revolutionary. It was Kern's music that made the show a great success. Perhaps his most famous song was written for "Show Boat." It is called "Ol' Man River. "

It is about what life was like for black people who worked along the Mississippi River. Edna Ferber later remembered her excitement when Kern first played the melody for her. She said her hair stood up, and tears came to her eyes. Listen as Paul Robeson sings the song.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Edna Ferber said it was great music -- music that would live forever. Kern died in nineteen forty-five at the age of sixty. But “Show Boat” has been performed thousands of times all over the world.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Lawan Davis. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. You can read scripts and download audio from our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

VOA也过春节吗？

郁闷了。。。昨天的材料VOA官网上没有 广播MP3，等到今天也没有，今天VOA也没放节目，难道老美也过春节去了？
PoEnglish不放假，春节期间继续发布工作，当然前提是建立在VOA不放假的基础上。。。
PoEnglish在此恭祝大家新年快乐！

VOASE0217_In the News

17 February 2007

Harvard Gets a Female President, but Progress Slows at Other Colleges
Drew Gilpin Faust is an expert on the history of the American South; also, an education group releases a study of presidents in US higher education.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Drew Gilpin Faust will be the first president since 1672 without a Harvard degree

On July first, America's oldest university will get its twenty-eighth president but, most notably, its first female president. Historian Drew Gilpin Faust was named this week to lead Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard is three hundred seventy-one years old.

Professor Faust has written several books on her specialty, the history of the American South and the Civil War. She is fifty-nine and attended Bryn Mawr College and the University of Pennsylvania. She arrived at Harvard six years ago as the founding dean of its Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

She will replace Lawrence Summers who resigned last June after five years as president. His aggressive leadership style was unpopular with professors.

He was widely denounced for comments he made in a speech in two thousand five. He was discussing possible reasons for the small number of women in top jobs in science and mathematics. He suggested that one area that should be considered was the possibility of biological differences between men and women.

He later apologized for his comments. He also asked Professor Faust to help lead committees that were set up to increase the number of female science professors at Harvard.

She will be the first president of Harvard since sixteen seventy-two who did not earn a degree there.

Professor Faust was born Catherine Drew Gilpin. She says her mother told her "this is a man's world" and that the sooner she learned it, the better.

She grew up in a wealthy white family in Virginia. But she rebelled against the way blacks were being treated in the South. As a nine-year-old girl she even wrote to President Dwight Eisenhower urging him to end racial discrimination.

With Professor Faust, women now head four of the eight highly competitive private universities in the Northeast known as the Ivy League.

More women and members of ethnic or racial minority groups hold top positions in American colleges and universities than in the past. In nineteen eight-six, ninety percent of presidents were male and ninety-two percent were white.

But a new report this week says growth in the percentage of women and minority presidents has been slow, especially in the last ten years. The American Council on Education says eighty-six percent of presidents last year were white; seventy-seven percent were male.

The group says women were most likely to head two-year colleges.

But the study also found that on average, presidents have been getting older and staying in their jobs longer. Researchers say the findings suggest that many will soon retire. They say that might, or might not, mean more women and minorities taking their place.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. To learn more about American higher education, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE0215_Economics Report

15 February 2007

US Presses Japan on Farm Imports and India on World Trade Talks
Japan is warned that American companies could take their business elsewhere; India is urged to do more to help restart WTO negotiations.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The United States has put new pressure on Japan to import more farm goods from American companies. The American ambassador to Japan said if Japan does not open its markets, then "we will just put our resources in other places."

Thomas Schieffer

Ambassador Thomas Schieffer gave that warning in a speech Wednesday to business leaders in Tokyo.

He also urged the Japanese to permit more foreign investment. Among the most developed countries, Japan still has the lowest level of foreign direct investment in relation to the size of its economy.

Food prices in Japan are among the highest in the world as a result of efforts to protect Japanese farmers. Japan imports more than half of its food. But it places high customs and other restrictions on many products, especially rice, fruit and beef.

Ambassador Schieffer said he recognizes the emotions involved in the debate over widening the market for agricultural imports. He noted that many Japanese still remember when Japan did not produce a lot of food after World War Two.

But he also noted that the average age of a Japanese farmer is seventy. He said Japan will someday have no choice but to accept more imports.

The American ambassador said the dispute over agricultural trade is blocking greater economic cooperation with Japan. But international farm trade was also the main issue that led to the suspension of World Trade Organization talks last year.

This week, American Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was in New Delhi to urge Indian officials to do more to help restart those talks. The United States is India's largest trading partner. But India's governing coalition depends on support from two communist parties that oppose trade liberalization.

Also, developing nations want the United States, the European Union and countries such as Japan to make more cuts in farm protections. They say these give farmers in rich nations an unfair position. The commerce secretary said the United States is willing to compromise. But in return, he said, developing nations must do the same on trade in manufactured goods and services.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that the United States had another record trade deficit last year, for the fifth straight year. The deficit in goods and services was more than seven hundred sixty billion dollars. Exports rose faster than imports, but high oil prices added to the deficit. And almost one-third of it was a record trade imbalance with China.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Steve Ember.