VOASE1101_American Mosaic

01 November 2007

Rufus Wainwright Aims High With New Album, 'Release the Stars'
Also: A listener in Burma asks about the election process in the United States. And we explore the newest extension of the Denver Art Museum.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We listen to some music from Rufus Wainwright …

Answer a question about American elections …

And report about the Denver Art Museum.

Denver Art Museum

HOST:

Newest extension of the Denver Art Museum

Today we explore the collections of the Denver Art Museum in Colorado. The two main buildings of the museum contain art from many periods and places. The newest extension of the museum opened last year. The tall, silver-colored building was designed by the internationally famous American architect Daniel Libeskind. Faith Lapidus tells us about this interesting museum.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

When you first walk toward the Denver Art Museum, you might not realize the building you are looking at is a museum. The tall North Building looks like a defensive structure built long ago. It was actually built in nineteen seventy-one by the architect Gio Ponti. He once said that “art is a treasure and these thin but jealous walls defend it.” The surface of the building is covered in over one million glass tiles that shine in the bright Colorado sun.

Next to this building is Daniel Libeskind’s bold creation. Its sharp angles and tall extensions are covered in silver-colored titanium metal. Mister Libeskind says the building was influenced by the light and environment of the nearby Rocky Mountains.

The inside of the Denver Art Museum is as interesting as its outside. There are rich collections of modern and ancient art as well as art from Asia, Africa, America and Europe. The American Indian collection includes a finely-made face covering by the Kwakwaka’wakw tribe artist George Walkus. This bold mask has four bird faces painted in red, white and black. It was worn as part of a special dance ceremony.

In its main entry, the new building has an unusual piece of art by the Japanese artist Tatsuo Miyajima. It is made up of eighty mirrored glass circles placed on the walls in different areas. Each circle has a lighted number in its center. The numbers count up and down at different speeds between the numbers one through nine.

The Denver Art Museum recently had an exhibition of works by the abstract expressionist painter Clyfford Still. When he died in nineteen eighty, he gave his collection of work to a city that would build a museum to protect and present his art. The Clyfford Still museum will be built next door to the Denver Art Museum. But we will have to wait until two thousand ten to explore its collections.

American Elections

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Burma. Ko Maw Gyi wants to know about the United States election process and who will win the two thousand eight presidential election.

National elections are held in the United States every two years. Each time, voters elect all members of the House of Representatives for a two-year term, and one-third of Senate members for a six-year term. Many states also choose governors and state legislatures in national elections. Citizens may also vote on different questions of state or local interest.

Two thousand eight is a presidential election year, as well. The Constitution requires the president and vice president be elected every four years. By law, voting is to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Although many Americans may have an opinion about who will win the presidential election next year, it is too early to make any predictions. Presidential candidates have more than one year left to campaign.

A voter gives her 9-year-old daughter a lesson in voting during the Maryland primary elections in 2006

The two major parties in the United States are the Democrats and the Republicans. Every four years, the parties hold national conventions to officially choose their nominees for president and vice president. Many states hold special primary elections to choose delegates to the national conventions. Each presidential candidate lists on state primary ballots a group of delegates who have promised to support the candidate at their party’s convention. Citizens show their choice for the presidential nomination by voting for the group of delegates committed to that candidate.

Off-year elections in American politics are considered general elections held during odd-numbered years. The next off-year election is November sixth. Voters will select mayors, city council members, school board officials and many other local offices. A few states will also hold elections for governor and state legislators on Tuesday.

Rufus Wainwright

HOST:

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright is a musician who comes from a family of folk singers. His fifth album, “Release the Stars,” is musically rich and complex. With his emotional voice, Wainwright sings about deeply personal stories. Some songs are playful, while others are more serious. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Rufus Wainwright recorded “Release the Stars” last summer in Germany. He wanted to create a musically straightforward and simple record. Instead, he ended up writing rich and complex musical arrangements that include fourteen string and horn instruments. The album combines the sounds of popular music with those of opera, classical and cabaret music. Here is the song “Rules and Regulations.”

(MUSIC)

Rufus Wainwright made this album for his mother, the musician Kate McGarrigle. While he was recording the songs, she had to have a serious medical operation. He said her sickness gave him a sense of urgency about the record he wanted to create.

Last year, Rufus Wainwright gave a bold performance at the famous Carnegie Hall in New York City. He recreated the songs from a historic concert given by the American singer Judy Garland in nineteen sixty-one. His performance received great critical praise. But one of his close friends did not attend. Wainwright wrote this song about his friends. “Release the Stars” tells about the old days of movie production studios in Hollywood, California. But Wainwright says the larger message is about letting everything go and being the best person you can be.

(MUSIC)

Rufus Wainwright has also written many songs for movies such as “Shrek”, “Moulin Rouge” and “Brokeback Mountain.” The Metropolitan Opera in New York City has even asked him to write an opera. We leave you now with his song “Slideshow.”

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

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

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

VOASE1031_Education Report

31 October 2007

From the Airwaves to Webcasting, the Many Sounds of College Radio
Students gain experience at stations that each have their own personality.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

The band Coheed and Cambria performing at the WBRU studio

No two college radio stations sound alike.

(SOUND)

Some stations have a low-budget sound and students do all the work. Others, like WBRU at Brown University in Rhode Island, have a professional operation heard throughout their communities.

College stations play all kinds of music, from jazz to hard rock. Many also have news, including national or international programming.

More than three hundred college radio and television stations belong to a group called Collegiate Broadcasters Incorporated. CBI helps organize a National College Media Conference which this year took place in Washington. Hundreds of students, professors and media professionals were at the four-day event last week.

Warren Kozirenski at the State University of New York-Brockport is chairman of CBI. He points to WBRU as an example of a commercial station, meaning it earns money by selling time to advertisers.

The station is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission which polices the public airwaves. For example, the station could be fined if it broadcasts offensive language.

Many colleges and universities operate stations that are also licensed by the F.C.C but do not sell advertising. They raise money other ways, including donations from listeners. Stations like these including KTRU at Rice University in Houston are known as public broadcasters.

(SOUND)

College radio stations may receive money from the student government or their school administration. Warren Kozirenski says a majority have small budgets of less than fifty thousand dollars a year.

Some stations do not broadcast over the public airwaves so they do not have to follow F.C.C. rules. They stream their programming over the Internet or are heard through cable systems. Or they use low-power transmitters heard only on school grounds. Still, many of their adult advisers want the young broadcasters to act professional.

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

VOASE1031_The Making of a Nation

31 October 2007

American History Series: A Clash of Cultures in the New World
Differences over land ownership and religion led to mistrust between European settlers and Indian tribes. The arrival of diseases from Europe further damaged relations.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Ray Freeman with the MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our story today is a sad one. It is the story of a clash of peoples, religions, ideas, and cultures. It is a story of strongly held ideas and a lack of compromise.

It is the story of the relations between Europeans and the natives who had lived for thousands of years in the area we now call North America.

VOICE TWO:

Teton Sioux horse races in South Dakota. Artwork by Karl Bodmer from the 1830s.

Many different Native American groups lived on the East Coast of what would become United States. They spoke many different languages. Some were farmers, some were hunters. Some fought many wars, others were peaceful.

These groups are called tribes. Their names are known to most Americans...the Senecas, the Mohawks, the Seminole, the Cherokee to name only a few.

VOICE ONE:

These tribes had developed their own cultures many years before the first European settlers arrived. Each had a kind of religion, a strong spiritual belief. Many tribes shared a similar one.

The Indians on the East Coast shared a highly developed system of trade. Researchers say different tribes of Native Americans traded goods all across the country.

VOICE TWO:

The first recorded meetings between Europeans and the natives of the East Coast took place in the fifteen hundreds. Fishermen from France and the Basque area of Spain crossed the Atlantic Ocean. They searched for whales along the east coast of North America. They made temporary camps along the coast. They often traded with the local Indians.

The Europeans often paid Indians to work for them. Both groups found this to be a successful relationship. Several times different groups of fishermen tried to establish a permanent settlement on the coast, but the severe winters made it impossible. These fishing camps were only temporary.

VOICE ONE:

The first permanent settlers in New England began arriving in sixteen twenty. They wanted to live in peace with the Indians. They needed to trade with them for food. The settlers also knew that a battle would result in their own, quick defeat because they were so few in number.

Yet, problems began almost immediately. Perhaps the most serious was the different way the American Indians and the Europeans thought about land. This difference created problems that would not be solved during the next several hundred years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Land was extremely important to the European settlers. In England, and most other countries, land meant wealth. Owning large amounts of land meant a person had great wealth and political power.

Many of the settlers in this new country could never have owned land in Europe. They were too poor. And they belonged to minority religious groups. When they arrived in the new country, they discovered no one seemed to own the huge amounts of land.

Companies in England needed to find people willing to settle in the new country. So they offered land to anyone who would take the chance of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. For many, it was a dream come true. It was a way to improve their lives. The land gave them a chance to become wealthy and powerful.

VOICE ONE:

Calender of 37 months, 1889-92, kept on an animal skin by a Kiowa Indian

American Indians believed no person could own land. They believed, however, that anyone could use it. Anyone who wanted to live on and grow crops on a piece of land was able to do so.

The American Indians lived within nature. They lived very well without working very hard. They were able to do this because they understood the land and their environment. They did not try to change the land. They might farm in an area for a few years. Then they would move on. They permitted the land on which they had farmed to become wild again.

They might hunt on one area of land for some time, but again they would move on. They hunted only what they could eat, so the numbers of animals continued to increase. The Indians understood nature and made it work for them.

VOICE TWO:

The first Europeans to settle in New England in the northeastern part of America were few in number. They wanted land. The Indians did not fear them. There was enough land for everyone to use and plant crops. It was easy to live together. The Indians helped the settlers by teaching them how to plant crops and survive on the land.

But the Indians did not understand that the settlers were going to keep the land. This idea was foreign to the Indians. It was like to trying to own the air, or the clouds.

As the years passed, more and more settlers arrived, and took more and more land. They cut down trees. They built fences to keep people and animals out. They demanded that the Indians stay off their land.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Religion was another problem between the settlers and the Indians. The settlers in New England were very serious about their Christian religion. They thought it was the one true faith and all people should believe in it. They soon learned that the Indians were not interested in learning about it or changing their beliefs.

Many settlers came to believe that Native Americans could not be trusted because they were not Christians. The settler groups began to fear the Indians. They thought of the Indians as a people who were evil because they had no religion. The settlers told the Indians they must change and become Christians. The Indians did not understand why they should change anything.

VOICE TWO:

The European settlers failed to understand that the Native American Indians were extremely religious people with a strong belief in unseen powers. The Indians lived very close to nature. They believed that all things in the universe depend on each other. All native tribes had ceremonies that honored a creator of nature. American Indians recognized the work of the creator of the world in their everyday life.

VOICE ONE:

Other events also led to serious problems between the Native Americans and the settlers. One serious problem was disease. The settlers brought sickness with them from Europe. For example, the disease smallpox was well known in Europe. Some people carried the bacteria that caused smallpox, although they did not suffer the sickness itself.

Smallpox was unknown to Native Americans. Their bodies' defense systems could not fight against smallpox. It killed whole tribes. And, smallpox was only one such disease. There were many others.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The first meetings between settlers and Native Americans were the same in almost every European settlement on the East Coast of America. The two groups met as friends. They would begin by trading for food and other goods.

In time, however, something would happen to cause a crisis. Perhaps a settler would demand that an Indian stay off the settler's land. Perhaps a settler, or Indian, was killed. Fear would replace friendship. One side or the other would answer what they believed was an attack. A good example of this is the violent clash called King Philip's War.

VOICE ONE:

Matacom was a leader of the Wampanoag tribe that lived in the
northern-most colonies. He was known to the English as King Philip. Without the help of his tribe, the first European settlers in that area might not have survived their first winter. The Wampanoag Indians provided them with food. They taught the settlers how to plant corn and other food crops. The two groups were very friendly for several years.

As the years passed, however, fear and a lack of understanding increased. Matacom's brother died of a European disease. Matacom blamed the settlers. He also saw how the increasing numbers of settlers were changing the land. He believed they were destroying it.

VOICE TWO:

One small crisis after another led to the killing of a Christian Indian who lived with the settlers. The settlers answered this by killing three Indians. A war quickly followed. It began in sixteen seventy-five and continued for almost two years. It was an extremely cruel war. Men, women and children on both sides were killed. Researchers believe more than six hundred settlers were killed. They also say as many as three thousand Native Americans died in the violence.

VOICE ONE:

History experts say the tribe of Indians called the Narraganset were the true victims of King Philip's War. The Narraganset were not involved in the war. They did not support one group or the other. However, the settlers killed almost all the Narraganset Indians because they had learned to fear all Indians.

This fear, lack of understanding and the failure to compromise were not unusual. They strongly influenced the European settlers relations with Native Americans in all areas of the new country.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This MAKING OF A NATION program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Ray Freeman.

VOICE ONE:

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

VOASE1030_Health Report

30 October 2007

US Doctor Group Urges Autism Testing for All Babies

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says all children should be tested for autism by the age of two.

Ryan Taylor was diagnosed with autism in 2004; he is shown with his father, Craig, at their home in Connecticut

Autism is a general term for a group of brain disorders that limit the development of social and communication skills. Medical professionals call them autism spectrum disorders.

Experts say autism is permanent and cannot be cured. But there are ways to treat it that they say can reduce the severity. The academy says the earlier treatment begins, the better the results.

The medical group released two reports Monday with detailed information to help doctors identify autism. Chris Johnson at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio was one of the authors. She says doctors should look for signs of autism when they examine babies at eighteen months and twenty-four months.

Doctors traditionally consider the possibility of autism only if a child shows delayed speech or unusually repetitive behaviors. These may be clear signs of it, but they usually do not appear until a child is two or three years old.

Doctor Johnson says the medical profession has learned a lot about earlier signs of autism. She says the identification process can begin in the waiting room at a doctor’s office.

Parents could answer a list of written questions about their baby. Then the doctor could perform tests as simple as observing the baby's ability to follow a moving object with its eyes. Experts say failing to watch a moving object may be a sign of autism.

Doctors and parents can also look for behaviors that are normal in babies under one year of age. For example, does the baby appear to respond to a parent’s voice? Does the baby make eye contact? Does the baby wave or point at things?

Young children usually have a favorite soft object like a stuffed animal or a blanket. But children with autism may like hard objects instead, and want to hold them at all times. They may not turn when a parent says their name or when the parent points at something and says "Look at that."

Doctor Johnson says the goal of the new advice is early intervention instead of the traditional "wait and see" method to identify autism.

The second report from the American Academy of Pediatrics deals with management of autism cases. We will discuss that next week.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. Our reports are online at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE1030_Explorations

30 October 2007

How to Build a House With Bales of Straw
Second part of a series of programs on keeping traditional ways alive.

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. We continue our series of reports about efforts to keep alive traditional ways of doing things. Today we tell about building homes out of a simple natural material -- straw.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

It was a cold winter in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the early nineteen eighties. Athena Swentzell was a student in college there. She owned some property. She wanted her own place to live in but she did not have much money to build a house. The usual building materials of wood, concrete and brick were too costly. So she decided to try to build a house using big rectangular bales of straw, the waste material that remains after wheat and other grains are harvested. She covered the outside of the small house with a cement plaster to keep the straw dry.

Miz Swentzell had never seen or heard of a house built of straw. She thought she had invented the idea and was surprised how livable it was. Later she learned that straw bale houses have been built since the late eighteen hundreds after a machine was invented to form the dry straw into bales. And she learned there are straw bale houses in many countries throughout the world.

VOICE TWO:

A straw bale house at the Canelo Project in Arizona

In nineteen eighty-nine, Bill Steen was taking photographs for a small book about straw bale houses. He met Athena Swentzell after he took a picture of the house she had built.

Athena Swentzell and Bill Steen married and she moved to his home in Canelo, Arizona. They decided to hold a workshop. They wanted to teach other people how to make buildings out of straw bales, clay, sand and water -- materials that are available almost everywhere.

VOICE ONE:

The workshop was a success. Through the years more people became interested in learning how to build a house by hand with natural materials. The Steens's first book, "The Straw Bale House," was published in nineteen ninety-four. Miz Steen says interest really increased after that.

The book demonstrated how to use natural materials throughout a house. It showed how people who are not experts can build straw bale houses. It explained how the thickness of the straw walls kept the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And it showed how beautiful these hand-built houses made of natural materials can be.

VOICE TWO:

In recent years, the interest in straw bale building has spread across the United States and in other countries. Workshops and demonstrations of straw bale building are popular. Many books on the subject have been published, including several more by Athena and Bill Steen.

Straw bales are used in large houses and very small ones, in office buildings and in schools. The structures may have metal or wood supports for the roof with straw bales used to fill the walls. Or the straw bales alone may support the roof. Windows and doorways may be round or unusual shapes. Walls may be gently curved.

A plaster made of clay, lime or cement is used to cover the outside of the straw bale

An imaginative doorway in a straw bale structure

walls. The inside walls are covered with clay and then painted with naturally colored paints made of clay, wheat paste and water. The designs are very creative. The resulting structures look very different from modern buildings with their straight walls of wood, cement or brick. Some small straw bale buildings look like works of art.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the nineteen nineties, Bill and Athena Steen started the Canelo Project. It is a small non-profit organization that aims to connect people, culture and nature. It explores natural building methods that are simple, low cost and pleasing to look at.

A small building at the Canelo Project done with mostly local materials

Through the Canelo Project, the Steens work with people to create simple, livable shelters using local and natural materials. They are concerned with balancing the wisdom and skills of the past with modern improvements. Bill Steen says they try to match the materials to the skills of people doing the building. Athena Steen says their goal is to keep the materials and tools simple so people can work with family and friends to build their own homes. This way, she says, they feel a connection to their home that is lost when someone else is the builder.

VOICE TWO:

The Steens hold workshops at their home in Canelo, Arizona, in the spring and autumn. They live in the large old house made of adobe that was on the property. The dried clay and straw adobe mixture is the same building material used by people living in dry areas all over the world.

Now, there are about twelve smaller structures used for storing things or for visitors. Some were built to demonstrate new ideas. The small buildings look like the big adobe house but all have straw bales inside the earth covered walls.

VOICE ONE:

People who attend the workshops are from many places including Australia, South Korea, Japan, South America, as well as the United States and Canada. They learn the methods of building with straw bales by helping build a small structure.

One of the workshops is called Straw Bale Comprehensive. It is for people who are seriously considering building a home out of straw bales and want to do much of the work themselves. This week-long class lets people take part in a group project to design and build a small structure.

People learn the methods of building with straw bales. They learn that the straw must be kept completely dry or it will not last. They learn how to put in electricity and plumbing. And they learn how to build roofs that will keep rain from the walls.

VOICE TWO:

Another week-long workshop is called Artistry in Clay and Lime. The Steens show how natural materials can be used to cover walls and floors, build furniture and create paints.

During the workshop, the Steens teach traditional plastering methods used to cover walls in Japan, Mexico, Germany and the American Southwest. And they demonstrate methods and plaster materials they have developed. People learn how to make clay or earth plasters especially for inside walls and lime plasters that are less affected by the weather.

VOICE ONE:

People using straw bales for their main building material often want to use other natural materials inside the building. So the workshop includes information about natural paints that are easy to make and cost very little. These paints of clay or other earth materials provide beautiful colors – warm rich red, brown and gray. Clay paints can be used over almost any wall surface including wood and cement. The workshop also includes ways to make furniture out of clay, straw and local plant materials.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen ninety-five, the Steens began working in Sonora, Mexico. The organization, Save the Children, invited them to help people living in a poor farming community near the city of Obregon build low cost houses.

Athena Steen says the people in the community were not happy at first with the idea of building new houses with straw and clay. They wanted to use modern materials like cement and brick.

Then the Save the Children organization decided it wanted a new office building in Sonora. The Steens and a team of local women and men were trained by two skilled Mexican builders, Emiliano and Teodoro Lopez. They produced an office building of more than four hundred fifty square meters.

VOICE ONE:

They started with a floor plan so the space would meet the organization’s needs. Yet the building itself was designed as it was built. Bill Steen says they all learned and invented together as the building grew, room by room. They worked as friends and equals.

The office building has outside walls made of straw bales to keep the desert heat out. The inside walls are made of straw and clay blocks. The walls are covered in earth plaster with clay from the area in colors of soft yellow, dark red and rich brown.

VOICE TWO:

Straw bale structure being built on a ranch in Sonora, Mexico

The result is a useful and beautiful office building. The women in the poor Mexican village decided they wanted to build their own small houses of the same materials. They worked with the Steens and others who had taken part in their workshops. It was a cooperative community effort, which is the way houses have been built for centuries. They built twelve one-room houses for about five hundred dollars each.

One owner of a new straw bale house said that she always thought she would have to have a lot of money to have something beautiful. "Now I know that is not true," she said. "You just have to be willing to work for it."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano and produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember. Listen again next month to EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English for another program about efforts to keep traditional ways alive.

VOASE1029_Agriculture Report

29 October 2007

Growing a Big Pumpkin. A Really Big Pumpkin
Joe Jutras of Rhode Island grew this year's world record-setter, at seven hundred sixty kilograms.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Joe Jutras lives in a small state, Rhode Island, but he thinks big. This year he grew a pumpkin weighing seven hundred sixty kilograms.

Joe Jutras and his winner

His pumpkin broke the world record set in two thousand six. Another Rhode Islander, Ron Wallace, grew last year's champion. That one weighed six hundred eighty-one kilograms.

Huge pumpkins like these can sell for ten thousand dollars. Some people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a single seed.

Sue Jutras explained to us how her husband grew his record pumpkin and a few smaller but still really big ones.

He started the seeds indoors in April. When the third leaf appeared, he planted them outdoors under a temporary shelter. He removed the shelter once the root system began to push against it.

He buried the vines so the root system could continue to grow. He fed the plant a mixture containing fish and seaweed. He worked with his record-breaker twenty to thirty hours each week during the main growing season in July and August.

He needed a forklift truck to carry it to the official weighing. The competition took place a few weeks ago at a fair in Topsfield, Rhode Island.

By the way, Joe Jutras is not a farmer. He operates a woodworking business -- that is, when he is not taking care of his pumpkins.

When Americans, especially children, think of pumpkins, they usually think of Halloween on October thirty-first. Pumpkins are a traditional part of the celebration. People like to cut funny or scary faces into pumpkins and put a candle inside.

Fresh pumpkins might end up as jack-o-lanterns at Halloween. But canned pumpkin meat is popular in pies, breads and other baked goods, and pumpkin seeds are eaten as snacks.

Five states produced more than one hundred million dollars worth of pumpkin last year. The top producers by value were Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and California.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts and MP3 files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. We leave you with a song by John McCutcheon called "Pumpkin Man."

VOASE1029_Science In the News

29 October 2007

Study of College Athletes Finds Exercise-Induced Asthma Is Common
Also: Two Americans and a Briton win the Nobel Prize for their work on the duties of individual genes.

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

Researchers at Ohio State University studied exercise-induced asthma among top athletes at the school. Ohio State football players practice earlier this year.

And I'm Faith Lapidus. On our program this week, we will tell about the winners of the Nobel Prize in medicine. We will tell about a health problem resulting from physical exercise. We also report on depression in young people and genetic studies of an ancient animal.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The two thousand seven Nobel Prize in medicine will go to three men who found a way to learn about the duties of individual genes. They discovered how to inactivate, or knock out, single genes in laboratory animals. The result is known as "knockout mice."

Mario Capecchi holds a laboratory mouse

The Karolinska Institute named the winners earlier this month. They are Martin Evans of Britain and two Americans, Mario Capecchi and . They will receive what is officially called the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at a ceremony in Sweden on December tenth. They also will share about one million five hundred thousand dollars in prize money.

VOICE TWO:

In the nineteen eighties, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies both studied cells in mice. They wanted to find how to cause changes in individual genes. But the kinds of cells they independently studied could not be used to create gene-targeted animals.

Martin Evans had the solution. He worked with embryonic stem cells to produce mice that carried new genetic material.

Oliver Smithies

The research greatly expanded knowledge about embryonic development, aging and disease. It also led to a new technology -- gene targeting. This has already produced five hundred mouse models of human conditions. Knockout mice are used for general research and for the development of new treatments.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A new study shows the breathing disorder asthma is common among students who take part in college athletic programs. Researchers studied American college athletes for signs of breathing problems. Athletes need skill and strength to compete in a sport. Yet test results suggested that more than one-third of those studied had a condition called exercise-induced asthma. In other words, physical exercise caused their asthma. This was true even among college athletes who had no history of the disorder.

Exercise-induced asthma happens when exercise restricts the flow of air to the lungs. The narrowing and closing of the airway usually begins just after heavy exercise. One sign of exercise-induced asthma is increased amounts of sticky fluid, or mucus, in the airway. Other signs include difficulty breathing and tightness in the chest. Two dangers of the condition are reduced athletic performance and serious breathing problems.

VOICE TWO:

Researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center organized the study. They examined one hundred seven student athletes at the university. The athletes were from Ohio State’s top sports teams.

Forty-two of those tested showed signs of exercise-induced asthma. Thirty-six members of that group had no earlier history of the breathing disorder. The researchers say the sex of the athlete and the breathing demands of the sport did not affect the rate of exercise-induced asthma.

Jonathan Parsons was the lead writer of the report. He says college students were tested because many of the reported severe cases of asthma after exercise have involved athletes twenty years of age or younger.

VOICE ONE:

Doctor Parsons says the findings suggest that many athletes do not know they have exercise-induced asthma. He says many parents, trainers and even athletes accept signs of the disorder as normal effects of physical activity.

Other athletes in the study showed signs of breathing problems after exercise. But the researchers say they were not common cases of exercise-induced asthma.

Doctor Parsons says the signs of exercise-induced asthma are not always clear. He says linking the condition to all breathing problems tied to exercise will result in wrong findings. This, he says, is why testing is so important.

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VOICE TWO:

You are listening to the VOA Special English program SCIENCE IN THE NEWS. With Bob Doughty, I'm Faith Lapidus in Washington.

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Depression can cause long periods of sadness and hopelessness, feelings of low self-worth, even physical pain. It is the leading cause of suicide. The World Health Organization says more than one hundred twenty million people worldwide suffer from depression. But many people may not know it can start at a young age.

Recently, researchers in the United States reported on a study of more than three hundred young people. All the patients were twelve to seventeen years of age. They suffered from major depression disorder, the most common form of the disease.

The researchers divided them into three groups. One group received the antidepressant drug Prozac. Another received cognitive behavioral therapy. This kind of treatment teaches patients to recognize and deal with the thoughts that can result from depression. The third group received both cognitive behavioral therapy and the antidepressant drug.

VOICE ONE:

The study found that the combination of treatments was most effective. At twelve weeks, the researchers found reduced levels of depression in all three groups. But they say the group receiving the combined treatments had the greatest reduction. This continued through the end of the nine-month study.

The study did not include an untreated control group. So there is no way to know for sure if it was the treatment that eased the depression.

The findings by Duke University researchers appear in the Archives of General Psychiatry. America's National Institute of Mental Health paid for the study.

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VOICE TWO:

An international team of scientists has recovered genetic information from hairs of ancient wooly mammoths. The scientists say the genetic material will provide valuable information about an animal alive today -- the elephant. They say it may also help in the study of mammoths and other ancient animals.

Mammoths lived on Earth thirty thousand to sixty thousand years ago. They are ancestors of modern African and Indian elephants.

Most of the hairs in the study came from a frozen mammoth. Its remains were found in the Siberia area of Russia in seventeen ninety-nine. For the past two centuries, the hair remains were stored at room temperature at the Zoological Museum in Saint Petersburg.

VOICE ONE:

Stephan Schuster was part of the team that made a genetic map from the mammoth hair remains. He works at Pennsylvania State University in the United States.

Professor Schuster says no team member thought it would be possible to get usable genetic material from the hair remains. He says the scientists had thought that removing the hairs from a cold climate would have destroyed every gene. Yet the scientists found genetic information in even the smallest piece of hair.

Professor Schuster notes that scientists are able to collect genes from the bones of dinosaurs. That is how they know about the age and development of the ancient creatures. But he adds that genetic studies of dinosaur bones are costly and difficult. The bones have very small holes. It is difficult to separate the genes scientists want to study from bacteria, plant and other material.

VOICE TWO:

Professor Schuster says genetic testing of hair is simple and does not cost much. He says his team found the bacteria on the outer end of the hair remains. The scientists were able to the outer end whiter while the other end remained undamaged. After removing the bacteria, the scientists were able to observe very pure genetic material from the mammoth.

Professor Schuster says this kind of test can be performed on something as small as a single hair. And he says the scientists found usable genes along the complete hair, not just the hair root closest to the skin.

Professor Schuster says the genetic map will tell scientists a lot about the development of Indian and African elephants. He says it may provide clues about how long it took before they separated and their last common ancestor. A report describing the study was published in Science magazine.

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VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Lawan Davis, SooJee Han and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again at this time next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

VOASE1028_This Is America

28 October 2007

What Is Your Favorite Song About Autumn?
Here are some favorite songs about autumn.

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Autumn leaves in Pennsylvania

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. It is autumn in the northern part of the world. So it is time to play some of our favorite songs about this season.

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VOICE ONE:

People have written and recorded hundreds of songs about autumn. Many of these songs express sadness that summer is over. The days are shorter. It is getting darker earlier each day. The weather is cooler. The skies are gray. Birds fly south because they know winter is coming. The leaves turn colors of red and gold and then die, falling to the ground. Some songs about autumn also express the sadness of lost love.

Mary Dawson, in her Internet Writing Journal, writes that this season influenced songwriters to write some of the greatest songs of all time. Here are some of our favorite songs about autumn.

VOICE TWO:

"September Song" by Kurt Weill is one of the most well known, and saddest, songs about the season. It was introduced back in nineteen thirty-eight in the Broadway musical "Knickerbocker Holiday." Many people have recorded this song. Probably the most famous version is sung by Frank Sinatra.

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VOICE ONE:

Another famous song about this season is "Autumn Leaves." This song also expresses sad emotions. It was first introduced in a French movie in nineteen forty-six. Later, the famous American songwriter Johnny Mercer was asked to write English words to the music. Since then, many artists have recorded it. Here is a lovely version by Eva Cassidy from her album "Songbird."

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VOICE TWO:

The Moody Blues are a British rock band that first became famous in the nineteen sixties. They also recorded a song about fallen leaves, darker days and lost love. It is called "Forever Autumn."

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VOICE ONE:

Here is another sad song about things that happen in autumn. "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is by the band Green Day from their album "American Idiot." The song is about the death of a father.

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VOICE TWO:

The rock group the White Stripes has a song called "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," from their album "White Blood Cells." Jack White sings about a woman who did not wait for him while he was away.

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VOICE ONE:

But not all the songs about autumn are sad. Here is a more hopeful song, James Taylor's "October Road" from his album by the same name. The song is about leaving the big city for the countryside, going home again after a long time away.

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VOICE TWO:

For people who live in New York City, autumn is an exciting time of the year. New plays open in theaters on Broadway. The season also brings the promise of new love. Vernon Duke wrote the song "Autumn in New York" in nineteen thirty-four. Many famous artists have recorded it. We leave you with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing this famous song.

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VOICE TWO:

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

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can hear other American songs on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts and audio archives of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE1028_Development Report

28 October 2007

Science Journals Examine Poverty and Development
Last week, journals around the world joined together to publish articles related to the subject.

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An Afghan begger sleeps on a street in Kabul. By 2015, the United Nations hopes to cut in half the number of people living on less than one dollar a day.

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Last Monday, science journals around the world published what was called a "Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development." Organizers at the Council of Science Editors said the project involved two hundred thirty-five journals from thirty-seven countries.

The council said the goal was to increase interest and research in the subject and to spread the results as widely as possible. It said the journals were publishing more than seven hundred fifty articles involving eighty-seven countries in all parts of the world.

A partial list of the articles is on the Council of Science Editors' Web site. The group has urged all journals that published articles to make them available free to the public.

This is the third time a global theme issue has been published. The first issue in nineteen ninety-six dealt with worldwide threats from diseases. Thirty-six journals published articles. The second issue in nineteen ninety-seven was on aging. Articles appeared in ninety-seven journals.

The editors of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, organized the two earlier issues. JAMA published several articles for the newest one. The research examined how knowledge about effective health interventions can be put to use locally to help the poor.

Other widely read journals that published articles included Science, Nature and The Lancet. The project also included journals on medicine and biology from the Public Library of Science. That nonprofit organization publishes its journals free of charge on the Internet.

The United States National Institutes of Health held an event to launch the Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development. A group of experts from N.I.H. and the Council of Science Editors chose seven articles for recognition. The subjects included childbirth safety, H.I.V./AIDS, malaria treatment and the effects of influenza on children.

The United Nations recognized the link between health and development in the Millennium Development Goals approved in September of two thousand. But many experts believe the targets for health improvements will not be reached at current rates of progress.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. For a link to the list of journals that took part in the global theme issue, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE1027_People In America

27 October 2007

Walt Disney, 1901-1966: It All Started with a Mouse
Disney's popular cartoon movies led to huge and successful entertainment parks.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today, we tell about Walt Disney and the movie company he created.

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VOICE ONE:

Walt Disney

That was the song "When You Wish Upon a Star." It is from Walt Disney's animated movie "Pinocchio." For many people, it is the song most often linked with Walt Disney and his work. The song is about dreams -- and making dreams come true. That is what the Walt Disney Company tries to do. It produces movies that capture the imagination of children and adults all over the world.

VOICE TWO:

Millions of people have seen Disney films and television programs. They have made friends with all the Disney heroes: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan. Millions more have visited the company's major entertainment parks. There is Disneyland in California. Disney World in Florida. Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Euro Disney in France.

Probably no other company has pleased so many children. It is not surprising that it has been called a dream factory.

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VOICE ONE:

Walter Elias Disney was born in Chicago, Illinois in nineteen-oh-one. His family moved to the state of Missouri. He grew up on a farm there. At the age of sixteen, Disney began to study art in Chicago. Four years later, he joined the Kansas City Film Ad Company. He helped make cartoon advertisements to be shown in movie theaters. Advertisements help sell products.

In nineteen twenty-three, Walt Disney moved to Hollywood, California to join his brother Roy. He wanted to be a movie producer or director. But he failed to find a job. So he decided to make animated movies. In them, drawings are made to move in a lifelike way. We call them cartoons. Disney the artist wanted to bring his pictures to life.

VOICE TWO:

A cartoon is a series of pictures on film. Each picture is a little different from the one before. Each shows a tiny change in movement. When we see the movie, the pictures seem to be alive. The cartoon people and animals move. They speak with voices recorded by real actors.

Disney opened his first movie company in the back of an office. For several years, he struggled to earn enough money to pay his expenses. He believed that cartoon movies could be as popular as movies made with actors. To do this, he decided he needed a cartoon hero. Help for his idea came from an unexpected place.

VOICE ONE:

Walt Disney drawing

Disney worked with Ub Iwerks, another young artist. They often saw mice running in and out of the old building where they worked. So they drew a cartoon mouse. It was not exactly like a real mouse. For one thing, it stood on two legs like a human.

It had big eyes and ears. And it wore white gloves on its hands. The artists called him "Mickey." Earlier filmmakers had found that animals were easier to use in cartoons than people. Mickey Mouse was drawn with a series of circles. He was perfect for animation.

The public first saw Mickey Mouse in a movie called "Steamboat Willie." Walt Disney himself provided the voice for Mickey Mouse. The film was produced in nineteen twenty-eight. It was a huge success.

VOICE TWO:

Mickey Mouse appeared in hundreds of cartoons during the years that followed. He became known all over the world. In Japan, he was called "Miki Kuchi." In Italy, he was "Topolino." In Latin America, he was "Raton Miquelito." Mickey soon was joined by several other cartoon creatures. One was the female mouse called "Minnie." Another was the duck named "Donald," with his sailor clothes and funny voice. And there was the dog called Pluto.

VOICE ONE:

Mickey Mouse cartoons were extremely popular. But Walt Disney wanted to make other kinds of animated movies, too. In the middle nineteen thirties, he was working on his first long movie.

It was about a lovely young girl, her cruel stepmother, and the handsome prince who saves her. It was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." "Snow White" was completed in nineteen thirty-seven after three years of work. It was the first full-length animated movie to be produced by a studio. It became one of Hollywood's most successful movies.

VOICE TWO:

Movie experts say Walt Disney was responsible for the development of the art of animation. Disney's artists tried to put life into every drawing. That meant they had to feel all the emotions of the cartoon creatures. Happiness. Sadness. Anger. Fear. The artists looked in a mirror and expressed each emotion. A smile. Tears. A red face. Wide eyes. Then they drew that look on the face of each cartoon creature.

VOICE ONE:

Many movie experts say Disney's art of animation reached its highest point in nineteen forty with the movie "Pinocchio." The story is about a wooden toy that comes to life as a little boy.

Disney's artists drew two-and-one-half million pictures to make "Pinocchio." The artists drew flat pictures. Yet they created a look of space and solid objects. "Pinocchio" was an imaginary world. Yet it looked very real. Disney made other extremely popular animated movies in the nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. They include "Fantasia," "Dumbo," "Bambi," "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan," "Lady and the Tramp," and "Sleeping Beauty." These movies are still popular today.

VOICE TWO:

In addition to cartoons, Walt Disney produced many movies and television programs with real actors. He also produced movies about wild animals in their natural surroundings. Real or imaginary, all his programs had similar ideas. In most of them, innocence, loyalty and family love were threatened by evil forces. Sad things sometimes happened. But there were always funny incidents and creatures. In the end, good always won over evil. Disney won thirty-two Academy Awards for his movies and for scientific and technical inventions in filmmaking.

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VOICE ONE:

Walt Disney with models of Disneyland

In nineteen fifty-five, Walt Disney opened an entertainment park not far from Hollywood, California. He called it "Disneyland." He wanted it to be the happiest place on Earth. Disneyland recreated imaginary places from Disney movies. It also recreated real places -- as Disney imagined them. For example, one area looked like a nineteenth century town in the American West. Another looked like the world of the future.

Disneyland also had exciting rides. Children could fly on an elephant. Or spin in a teacup. Or climb a mountain. Or float on a jungle river. And -- best of all -- children got to meet Mickey Mouse himself. Actors dressed as Mickey and all the Disney cartoon creatures walked around the park shaking hands.

VOICE TWO:

Some critics said Disneyland was just a huge money machine. They said it cost so much money that many families could not go. And they said it did not represent the best of American culture. But most visitors loved it. They came from near and far to see it. Presidents of the United States. Leaders of other countries. And families from around the world.

Disneyland was so successful that Disney developed plans for a second entertainment and educational park to be built in Florida. The project, Walt Disney World, opened in Florida in nineteen seventy-one, after Disney's death.

The man who started it all, Walt Disney, died in nineteen sixty-six. But the company he began continues to help people escape the problems of life through its movies and entertainment parks.

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program in Special English on the Voice of America.