今天是PoEnglish的生日，我非常开心！因为收到的最好的生日礼物是——发在VeryCD上的《美国之音特别英语2007年01月合辑 》发布帖被加精，这都是网友们支持的结果。
该贴地址是http://lib.verycd.com/2007/02/07/0000138789.html 提供Voice of America Special English - January Collection即美国之音特别英语2007年01月合辑的下载。
有网友写信支持鼓励表扬我做的工作，我很受鼓舞！PoEnglsih会继续做好VOA Special English的发布工作。
还有网友希望我能做VOA Standard English即VOA标准英语，这个我以前就考虑了，只是我比较笨，还没有弄明白VOA官网关于Standard English的一些细节，所以暂时这个栏目不会出来。不过，今后破英语PoEnglish会增加一些新的英语节目，主要偏重新闻，偏美式英语那也是一定的。
还有，我对 Friends 也很有兴趣，发掘 Friends 的台词背后的语言文化背景也是件很有趣的工作，当然也是相当有挑战性和辛苦的工作，有喜欢 Friends 的朋友并对此有研究的朋友可以给我来信提供些关于制作该栏目的想法和建议。当然我最近比较忙可能会无暇顾及，所以在恳请大家谅解的同时也敬请大家期待。
OK，下面就请潜水的都出来冒泡，祝我生日快乐吧！我的前半段人生也是很破败不堪的，所以给点祝福吧。。。
2.07.2007
VOASE0207_Health Report
07 February 2007| For Some Patients, Brain Damage Cures Cigarette Addiction | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.
 |
Scientists at the University of Southern California and the University of Iowa studied thirty-two former smokers. All of the men and women had brain injuries as a result of strokes.
Half of them reported that they were able to give up cigarettes quickly and easily after they suffered the brain damage. Magnetic resonance imaging showed that twelve of those sixteen patients had suffered damage to a part of the brain called the insula.
The insula is found near the ear. Experts believe it somehow brings together emotional experience and sensory information with some activities like breathing. Experiments have suggested that the insula has a lot to do with the experience of pain and some basic emotions like fear, anger and happiness.
The patients in the study had all smoked at least five cigarettes a day for two years. One of the sixteen who reported that they quit smoking immediately and without effort had smoked as many as forty a day.
Antoine Bechara was one of the leaders of the study. He and co-author Hanna Damasio work at the Brain and Creativity Institute, a new center at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The other authors of the study were Nasir Naqvi and David Rudrauf of the University of Iowa.
Antoine Bechara says the insula is not the only area of the brain involved in cigarette addiction. He says many parts of the brain are connected with substance dependency. But he says damage to the insula does seem to destroy a necessary link in the smoking addiction.
The patients did not lose all dependencies -- they still had a normal desire for food, for example. This may suggest that the insula is more responsible for dependencies that come from a learned pleasure, like smoking. And the researchers say their discovery may point to a weak spot in smoking addiction.
They say it could lead to better ways to help people stop smoking -- but much more research is needed. The findings appeared in Science magazine.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. You can find transcripts of our reports and audio files at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOASE0206_Explorations
06 February 2007| New Interests Help Older Adults Keep Mentally Active and Learn About the World | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
I'm Doug Johnson.
VOICE TWO:
Art Workshops in Guatemala offers students a chance to learn about art while experiencing Guatemalan culture
And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today in our series about continuing education for older adults we tell about organizations that provide different kinds of learning experiences throughout the world.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Liza Fourre was a professional photographer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She traveled to many countries taking pictures. She fell in love with the people and culture of Guatemala and began living there part of the year.
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| Art Workshops in Guatemala offers a chance to learn about art and experience the local culture |
Eleven years ago she started a program called Art Workshops in Guatemala. She says she is happy she is able to give others a chance for a life-changing experience of living and learning in another culture.
Miz Fourre believes that when you experience a culture different from your own you expand your world artistically and in other ways. She says the goal of Art Workshops in Guatemala is to open peoples’ eyes to another way of living.
VOICE TWO:
The program offers workshops in weaving, photography, art and culture. Some of the teachers are local. For example, a native woman teaches backstrap weaving, a Mayan Indian tradition. Others are expert writers, artists or photographers who want to help people gain new skills while learning about Guatemala.
Most of the art workshops are held in Antigua, a small, beautiful city. The Spanish built the city in the highlands of Guatemala in the fifteen hundreds. Colonial style buildings are painted in soft colors of green, blue and pink.
The workshops usually are eight days long. The cost includes a room in a small central hotel and a big breakfast every day. The cost also includes transportation to other places in Guatemala including Lake Atitlan, which is surrounded by volcanoes.
VOICE ONE:
Liza Fourre organizes fifteen to twenty workshops each year. There are no more than ten people in each workshop. They get a chance to meet and interact with people who live in Guatemala.
Many people who take the workshops are older than sixty. Some are in their eighties and nineties. Miz Fourre says the older adults who take workshop classes are very independent. They do not like to travel with a large group. They want to experience a different culture, not just travel through a country. They are retired and have time to learn a new skill, or improve an old one.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
A woman in her early sixties was thinking about retiring from her job as a writer. She found out about Art Workshops in Guatemala. She had a new camera and wanted to learn more about photography. So she signed up for a workshop where she would spend days taking pictures of the light and color of Guatemala.
There were only a few people in the class. The members of the group worked separately in the early morning hours. They photographed the colorful buildings and the activities in the market and central plaza area. They met for breakfast with members of a larger workshop group. These people were learning about different kinds of weaving done by the native people of Guatemala.
VOICE ONE:
During the middle of the day, the photographers met to discuss methods and look at the pictures they had taken the day before. Later they took more pictures of the buildings in Antigua or the villages around Lake Atitlan. They also photographed the native people in their colorful traditional clothes.
Suggestions and advice from the teacher and other students helped the beginning photographer improve her work. The effects of the workshop have lasted. Now that she is retired, she is spending time producing photographs instead of words to express the way she sees the world. And she has returned to Guatemala to learn more about the people and their culture.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Many people who retire from their jobs immediately start to make plans to travel. They now have the time and energy to explore new places. Yet many older adults are looking for more than just visiting famous places in a country. They want to experience another culture and learn another language. So they sign up for a language immersion school to learn a language where it is spoken.
AmeriSpan is an organization that offers language learning in many different countries. It began in nineteen ninety-three offering a few Spanish classes through established language schools in Latin America. It now offers language classes through independent schools in about thirty-five countries, from Arabic in Morocco to Chinese in Shanghai. You can learn by yourself with a teacher or as part of a group. Most classes are four hours a day. Students usually stay for one to four weeks or longer.
VOICE ONE:
Beth Klemick is vice-president of AmeriSpan. Miz Klemick says older learners are important because they have the time and resources to spend on learning a language. Some of them are considering retiring in another country and want to try living there for a short time. AmeriSpan calls itself a bridge between cultures. It offers a chance for the language learner to stay with a family. During a homestay, students have to continually speak the language they are learning as they eat and spend time with the family. This means people learn the language much faster than if they were only hearing and speaking it in a classroom. It also means that they often become life-long friends with the family members.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Earthwatch Institute students work with scientists on research projects throughout the world
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| Earthwatch Institute students work with scientists on research projects around the world |
Earthwatch began in nineteen seventy-one. Since then it has supported almost one thousand five hundred projects in about one hundred twenty countries. More than eighty thousand people from hundreds of countries have paid for their own travel and shared in the costs of the research projects. Volunteers pay from a few hundred dollars to more than four thousand dollars to take part in projects that last from two days to twenty-one days.
VOICE ONE:
Philip Johannsen is editor of Earthwatch Institute. He says about twenty percent of Earthwatch volunteers are at least sixty years old. Mister Johannsen says the older volunteers are interested in all kinds of projects. For example, they take part in teams digging in archeology projects or observing and recording the activities of endangered animals. The research teams include people of all ages from sixteen to more than eighty years old.
Mister Johannsen says Earthwatch is expecting the number of volunteers to increase as the baby boomers born after World War Two retire. He says there are no limits on the number of people that are needed. Earthwatch Institute is always beginning new research projects as environmental issues develop around the world.
VOICE TWO:
In two thousand six, Earthwatch supported more than one hundred fifty research projects in about fifty countries. Volunteers paid more than four million dollars to support the projects.
Earthwatch volunteers can choose from many different kinds of research throughout the world. Many projects are in Africa. In Kenya, for example, volunteers map where water holes are and test the quality of the water supply used by people and animals. Or they talk to the native Samburu people to find out about their use of plants for medicine and then help identify and record the plants. Or they gather information about the movement and food supply of the black rhinoceros whose numbers have dropped from twenty thousand to five hundred in thirty years.
In Thailand, volunteers dive underwater to help record the condition of the coral reefs in the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea. An archeology project in Thailand involves helping dig up the buried ruins of an ancient settlement.
VOICE ONE:
Earthwatch says about thirty percent of the volunteers return to work on another project. Some have taken part in more than fifty projects. Older adults say that taking part in an active research project is an exciting way to continue learning while doing something that makes a difference in the world.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This program was written by Marilyn Christiano. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Barbara Klein.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Doug Johnson. You can read scripts and download audio of our programs at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Listen again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
每月飘过必经之帖
1月合辑制作完毕，包括2007年1月 的全部内容，Words and Their Stories的内容也收录其中。
决定把合辑在电驴上发布，所以早在几天前就给VeryCD写了封“自吹自擂＋诚意恳切”的账号申请函。一连两天都没回应，我以为又像几年前不睬我（当时我写的申请理由是“偶要下载XXX”）。皇天不负有心人，VeryCD看了我改头换面后，终于发给我一封邮件账号审核通过，偶这才得以好好改造，重新做人。从今以后要做个好人阿～往后每月初，我会制作发布上月合辑，请大家支持。
源的地址（需复制到地址栏，需安装eMule）是：ed2k://|file|VOASE0701.iso|336232448|BFEE0D3803A4A18E921292D31CB8FB68|h=64Y7EB4AVJVXX7V32ID2Q47PLJZUPOMH|/
正期待VeryCD上的帖加精。。。
最近学习任务很忙，身边牛人的表现让我颇受打击，人比人吓死人，偶要刻苦了，所以Today in History可能不多更新了，虽然这是Blog上我最喜欢的一部分（读上一遍，歧意自现。老实说，翻得真破。。。）。
还有，你要是对这张帖的简写标签动什么歪脑筋的话，就拿脑袋往墙上拍拍吧。。。
2.06.2007
VOASE0205_Science In the News
05 February 2007| New Blood Test Can Show Patient's Risk of Heart Attack or Stroke | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
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(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
American 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 researchers say the test measures levels of a protein in the blood. They say people with high levels of the protein are at high risk of heart attack, heart failure or stroke.
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California in San Francisco led the team of researchers. They studied almost one thousand patients with heart disease for almost four years. During that time, more than two hundred fifty of the patients suffered a heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Some of them died.
VOICE TWO:
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.
The researchers considered other ways to identify someone with an increased risk of heart disease. They found that patients with high levels of the protein were still more likely to have a health problem involving the heart.
VOICE ONE:
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 true for women.
They also say the patients with the highest levels of NT-proBNP were older and had other problems, like diabetes or high blood pressure. Such patients were more likely to be already taking medicine for their heart.
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 would be able to reduce the patient's chance of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Measles is one of the most infectious viruses known. It spreads through the air when people infected with the disease expel the virus through the nose or mouth. Children in wealthier countries are usually given a vaccine to protect against measles.
A campaign called the Measles Initiative was launched in two thousand one to vaccinate children in developing countries. The aim was a fifty percent reduction in deaths linked to measles by two thousand five.
VOICE ONE:
Last month, organizers of the Measles Initiative announced that the final numbers showed a sixty percent drop in deaths. There were eight hundred seventy-three thousand deaths in nineteen ninety-nine, the year used for comparison. Six years later that number had dropped to three hundred forty-five thousand.
The organizers say more than two million lives have been saved, mostly in Africa. Health officials report a seventy-five percent drop in deaths in Africa linked to measles.
VOICE TWO:
Measles itself is usually not a direct cause of death. Deaths are commonly the result of infections like pneumonia or severe diarrhea. Those who survive can suffer brain damage, blindness or other disabilities.
The first sign of infection is usually a high body temperature for as long as a week. Patients may develop a runny nose, cough, red and watery eyes and white spots inside the mouth. After several days, areas of skin may change color, first usually on the face and upper neck.
A case of measles can be just a mild and unpleasant part of childhood. But severe cases are more likely in children with poor diets or weakened defenses from diseases like AIDS. Children under the age of five and adults over the age of twenty are more likely to suffer severe cases. People who recover from measles can never get it again.
VOICE ONE:
The Measles Initiative includes the American Red Cross, the World Health Organization and UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund.
The campaign has cost almost four hundred million dollars. Officials say about five hundred million more will be needed to meet a new goal by two thousand ten. The goal now is to reduce measles deaths worldwide to less than ten percent of the rate in the year two thousand.
The campaign will now center its efforts in Asian countries, especially India. Each year, about one hundred thousand Indian children die as a result of measles.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This year is the tenth anniversary of the invention of the cell phone camera. Some people say the device began a kind of revolution in everyday life.
It all started at a hospital in the United States. Philippe Kahn was there with his wife. She was preparing to give birth to their daughter Sophie. Mister Kahn wanted to take pictures of the baby and share them with family and friends around the world. He thought about placing electronic versions of the pictures on an Internet Web site.
Mister Kahn said he spent two days working on the project. When Sophie was born, he had connected a camera to his cellular telephone. The unusual device could also put the pictures on the Internet.
VOICE ONE:
At the time of his invention, Philippe Kahn was already a successful businessman. He started Borland International shortly after moving to the United States from France. Borland International became the third largest computer software company in the world. Mister Kahn had also started other businesses. So he formed a company to produce and sell camera phones. The first ones were sold in Japan in nineteen ninety-nine.
Today, camera phones are almost everywhere. The newspaper USA Today says four hundred sixty million of the devices were sold last year alone. Sales are expected to increase to more than one billion by two thousand ten.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
A new study has rated the environmental friendliness of top colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. A research group called the Sustainable Endowments Institute was responsible for the study. The group is part of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a non-profit organization that helps aid agencies.
Last month, the group released a report called the College Sustainability Report Card. It used the definition of the word sustainability provided by Business Week magazine. That definition is "meeting humanity's needs without harming future generations." The report attempts to measure the steps taken by higher education toward this goal.
VOICE ONE:
The report rates one hundred public and private colleges and universities in North America on their environmental and investment policies. The colleges and universities included in the study are those with the largest amounts of money invested for future growth. The report says these one hundred schools hold more than two hundred fifty billion dollars in investments.
The study used information provided by ninety of the one hundred schools. Researchers looked for evidence of sustainable development in twenty-six different areas. They included improving energy use and officially working toward sustainability as a goal. Other areas were serving locally grown food and having buildings that cause little harm to the environment.
VOICE TWO:
The researchers also studied the investment policies of the one hundred colleges and universities. They considered who helps decide what kinds of companies the schools invest in and how school officials control information about those investments.
The researchers compared the answers, and rated the colleges and universities across seven groups. Each school then received a final rating. Just four schools received the report's top rating. The four are Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Stanford University and Williams College.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was our producer. I'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Learn more about science, and download transcripts and MP3 files of our programs, at voaspecialenglish.com. The Web site also has an Internet link to the full report by the Sustainable Endowments Institute. Listen again next week at this time for more news about science in SPECIAL ENGLISH on the Voice of America.
VOASE0205_Agriculture Report
05 February 2007| A Natural Way to Control a Costly Parasite in Chickens | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
 |
Infected chickens lose weight from the disease. Less body weight means economic losses for producers. The disease spreads from bird to bird through infectious droppings. Sometimes infected chickens die from the disease. The infection causes diarrhea, and infected animals may not want to eat. Other kinds of animals, including cows, also get coccidiosis.
But research by Hyun Lillehoj and her team could offer a new way to reduce losses from the disease. Hyun Lillehoj is an immunologist in the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. She works in the Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. She led a team of scientists from research centers in South Korea.
She says many producers traditionally use drug treatments and live parasite vaccines against coccidiosis. But the coccidia parasite is increasingly resistant to drug treatment. Also, some of the drugs used to treat the disease are antibiotics. Many people are concerned about antibiotics in animals because of the increasing problem of drug resistance in humans.
The new method uses proteins from mushrooms. The proteins are called lectins. The lectins cause an animal's own defense system to release chemicals that fight the parasites. Mushroom lectin is injected into chicken embryos. The lectin is also added to drinking water for chickens.
The team used a lectin from a mushroom found mainly in the stumps of black locust trees. The researchers injected the lectin into eighteen-day-old embryos. When the chickens came out of their eggs, the scientists infected them with parasites to test the treatment. The team reported in Poultry Science magazine last year that the treatment protected the chickens against weight loss. It also reduced the number of live parasites in their waste.
Hyun Lillehoj and her team are seeking patent protection for the natural control method they developed. She tells us that she and her team are also looking for companies to work with to further develop it.
This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts and audio files are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
2.05.2007
VOASE0204_This Is America
04 February 2007| Living With a Disability in America -- and Earning a Living | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Last month we began a series of reports on living with a disability in America. We started with education. Today, in Part Two, we look at employment.
(SOUND)
VOICE ONE:
To go to work, you need a way to get there. Around the nation's capital, many people take subway trains to their jobs.
Federal law says public transportation systems in the United States must be accessible. What does that mean? It means that trains, buses and planes must be designed for use by people with physical disabilities.
In Washington's Metrorail system, for example, lights go on and off as a signal to those who cannot hear a train arriving. Raised bumps on the ground serve as a warning to those who cannot see they are close to the edge of the platform.
And there are elevators in the station, so people in wheelchairs have a way to get from one level to another.
But in transit systems, like anyplace else, life is not always easy. Things like broken elevators, or no elevator at all, only create more barriers for the disabled.
(SOUND)
VOICE TWO:
Accessible public transportation is just one of the requirements of a nineteen ninety law called the Americans with Disabilities Act. This major law, known as the A.D.A., also affects the design of public buildings. And it affects employment.
Under the law, employers have to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.
The United States has three hundred million people. Estimates differ about the number of them living with disabilities. One commonly repeated estimate is that forty-nine million people are disabled.
VOICE ONE:
A physical or mental disability can be measured in terms of how much it affects a person's quality of life. Yet even people with severe disabilities can lead successful lives in many different kinds of jobs.
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| New York State Lt. Gov. David Paterson is sworn ino office, on Jan. 1, 2007. |
David Paterson, a state senator in New York until now, was successful in his campaign. Kristen Cox was not. She became Maryland’s first secretary of disabilities when that cabinet-level position was created in two thousand four.
Marco Midon is an engineer with NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He has been blind since birth, but has always loved sounds. He now uses his understanding of radios in his work at the space agency.
Max Cleland was severely wounded as a soldier in the war in Vietnam. He lost both legs and his right arm. He later served as head of the government agency responsible for services to military veterans. In recent years he served a term as a United States senator from Georgia.
VOICE TWO:
Many people with disabilities have jobs. But as many as sixty percent do not. Many of them have to receive public assistance or depend on their families to support them.
Marian Vessels directs an office in Rockville, Maryland, that provides information to employers and to people with disabilities. She works hard to help these people get the assistance they need to find and keep a job. She points out that the Americans With Disabilities Act has its limits.
MARIAN VESSELS: "What it's designed to do is level the playing field, it's designed to guarantee basic civil rights for people so that it allows you to compete with everyone else for the job."
VOICE ONE:
Marian Vessels says that some employers still do not understand that people with disabilities can often do many different tasks. She talks to employers about changes or other measures that could make it possible for a person with a disability to do a job. She explains to employers that many accommodations do not cost a lot, but they give a person a chance to work.
Marian Vessels herself requires an accommodation. She needs enough room in her office to move around easily in her wheelchair.
In another job, she taught health classes to firefighters. Her employer let her teach the class at the back of a fire truck. The back of the truck was a perfect table for her while she sat in her wheelchair. Her employer did not have to buy anything or change anything. He just had to understand that she needed to use a different space to teach her classes.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
People with disabilities can go to court if they think an employer is denying them fair treatment.
A group of deaf employees at United Parcel Service wanted the right to take a truck driving test that the company would not let them take. A federal appeals court ruled in October that U.P.S. was violating the Americans With Disabilities Act. The court said the company could not refuse to let a group of people take the test just because they are deaf.
The ruling said U.P.S. must consider each candidate’s personal ability to drive a truck. U.P.S., however, says there could be safety problems with drivers who are deaf. The company is continuing to appeal the case.
VOICE ONE:
But to people with disabilities, even courts may seem unfair sometimes.
Several university professors recently did a study. They said it was the first study to compare protections under the A.D.A. law for people with either mental or physical disabilities.
The researchers found that thirty-seven percent of people with mental disabilities won their court cases. The same was true of forty-nine percent of people with physical disabilities. The researchers said people with mental disabilities believed they were treated less fairly by the courts than people with physical conditions.
VOICE TWO:
But most people do not want to have to go to court at all -- they just want a job.
There are many organizations in the United States that try to help people with disabilities find and keep jobs. A program called Emerging Leaders provides summer jobs to college students with disabilities. These students receive training to become leaders in many kinds of work.
The United States Chamber of Commerce has a program for employers to help people with mental disabilities. Employers are told that many of them are very hard workers who want to do a good job.
Since nineteen seventy-nine, Purdue University in the state of Indiana has had a program called Breaking New Ground. The goal is to help people who have been disabled by injuries to return to work in agricultural production. Even people with severe disabilities, it says, can return to work with training, assistive technology and family support.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
There are also special programs to help young people with disabilities to find jobs as scientists, engineers and mathematicians.
A chemist named John Gavin became deaf as an adult. He worked for several drug manufacturers. Later, Mister Gavin looked for ways to help people with disabilities get more chances to work in science. Too often, he said, there is a mistaken belief that people with disabilities are not intelligent even if their disability affects them only physically.
In the nineteen seventies, the American Association for the Advancement of Science had a special program just for women and minorities. The purpose was to encourage more of them to become scientists and engineers. Mister Gavin urged the association to include people with disabilities.
The association now has such a program for young people, called Entry Point. The association also keeps a list of public speakers who are available to discuss their experiences as scientists and engineers with disabilities.
VOICE TWO:
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| Horse trainer Dan Hendricks works from his office in his barn at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California |
People with disabilities will also be able to borrow money from the government to buy equipment that will help them work from home. This type of equipment is often called assistive technology.
VOICE ONE:
Sometimes a person with a disability may be successful with the aid of technology. But Marian Vessels, the employment specialist in Maryland, says there is no substitute for hard work.
MARIAN VESSELS: "And, there were times I'd go home and think, 'I can’t do this. I can't possibly do this.' And then I'd think no, I have to do this. How can I do it?"
VOICE TWO:
And believing you can do a job is not enough either, she says. You also have to make an employer believe it.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Karen Leggett and produced by Caty Weaver. Next month, in Part Three of our series on living with a disability in America, the subject will be assistive technology. Our first report, on education, can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. We hope you can join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
VOASE0204_Development Report
04 February 2007| Entrepreneurs Who Measure Their Return in 'Social Value' | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.
The traditional definition of an entrepreneur is a person who organizes and accepts the risks of a new business. Entrepreneurs may have a new product or service to offer. Or they may have ideas for new ways to do business.
But an entrepreneurial spirit does not have to be limited to the business world. Lately we hear more and more about social entrepreneurs. What they do is similar; they might even act like business entrepreneurs. They might invest money in projects or get others to support them.
But social entrepreneurs say they are not guided by a desire for profits. Their most important goal, they say, is to create social value. They organize and support programs that aim to improve conditions in communities.
Social entrepreneurs say they look for solutions to needs without leaving them to government or industry to solve. And they say they try to spread the solution. In other words, to change the system, they try to get whole societies to change.
There are many historical examples of people who might be called social entrepreneurs. Susan B. Anthony, for example, fought for women's rights in the United States. Vinoba Bhave created the Land Gift Movement to help India's poor and landless.
Britain's Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing, established a school for nurses and fought for better hospital conditions. And Mary Montessori of Italy improved teaching methods for early childhood education.
These are some of the examples given by Ashoka, a nonprofit group in the United States.
Over the past twenty years, there has been extraordinary growth in social entrepreneurship. Some students coming out of the best business schools now seriously consider it as a career. And one organization that has helped fuel this growth is Ashoka.
Bill Drayton started the group in nineteen eighty. Ashoka says it works on three levels. It supports individual social entrepreneurs, both financially and professionally. It also helps them connect with others around the world, so they can spread their ideas and build long-term support. And, thirdly, Ashoka says it helps build the financial systems needed to support the growth of social entrepreneurship.
And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. You can find a link to the Ashoka Web site at voaspecialenglish.com, along with transcripts and audio files of our reports. I’m Steve Ember.
2.04.2007
VOASE0203_People In America
03 February 2007| W.E.B. Du Bois, 1868-1963: He Fought for Civil Rights for Black People | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today we tell about W.E.B. Du Bois. He was an African-American writer, teacher and protest leader.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
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| William Edward Burghardt Du Bois |
William Du Bois was the son of free blacks who lived in a northern state. His mother was Mary Burghardt. His father was Alfred Du Bois. His parents had never been slaves. Nor were their parents. William was born into this free and independent African-American family in eighteen sixty-eight in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
VOICE TWO:
William's mother felt that ability and hard work would lead to success. She urged him to seek an excellent education. In the early part of the century, it was not easy for most black people to get a good education. But William had a good experience in school. His intelligence earned him the respect of other students. He moved quickly through school.
It was in those years in school that William Du Bois learned what he later called the secret of his success. His secret, he said, was to go to bed every night at ten o'clock.
VOICE ONE:
After high school, William decided to attend Fisk University, a college for black students in Nashville, Tennessee. He thought that going to school in a southern state would help him learn more about the life of most black Americans. Most black people lived in the South in those days.
He soon felt the effects of racial prejudice. He found that poor, uneducated white people judged themselves better than he was because they were white and he was black. From that time on, William Du Bois opposed all kinds of racial prejudice. He never missed a chance to express his opinions about race relations.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
William Du Bois went to excellent colleges, Harvard University in Massachusetts and the University of Berlin in Germany. He received his doctorate degree in history from Harvard in eighteen ninety-five.
His book, "The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study," was published four years later. It was the first study of a black community in the United States. He became a professor of economics and history at Atlanta University in eighteen ninety-seven. He remained there until nineteen ten.
William Du Bois had believed that education and knowledge could help solve the race problem. But racial prejudice in the United States was causing violence. Mobs of whites killed blacks. Laws provided for separation of the races. Race riots were common.
The situation in the country made Mister Du Bois believe that social change could happen only through protest.
VOICE ONE:
Mister Du Bois's belief in the need for protest clashed with the ideas of the most influential black leader of the time, Booker T. Washington.
Mister Washington urged black people to accept unfair treatment for a time. He said they would improve their condition through hard work and economic gain. He believed that in this way blacks would win the respect of whites.
Mister Du Bois attacked this way of thinking in his famous book, "The Souls of Black Folk." The book was a collection of separate pieces he had written. It was published in nineteen-oh-three.
In the very beginning of "The Souls of Black Folk" he expressed the reason he felt the book was important:
VOICE THREE:
"Herein lie buried many things which if read with patience may show the strange meaning of being black here at the dawning of the Twentieth Century. This meaning is not without interest to you, Gentle Reader; for the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line. "
VOICE TWO:
Later in the book, Mister Du Bois explained the struggle blacks, or Negroes as they then were called, faced in America:
VOICE THREE:
"One ever feels his twoness -- an American, a Negro: two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideas in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. ... He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of opportunity closed roughly in his face."
VOICE ONE:
W.E.B. Du Bois charged that Booker Washington's plan would not free blacks from oppression, but would continue it. The dispute between the two leaders divided blacks into two groups – the "conservative" supporters of Mister Washington and his "extremist" opponents.
In nineteen-oh-five, Mister Du Bois established the Niagara Movement to oppose Mister Washington. He and other black leaders called for complete political, civil and social rights for black Americans.
The organization did not last long. Disputes among its members and a campaign against it by Booker T. Washington kept it from growing. Yet the Niagara Movement led to the creation in nineteen-oh-nine of an organization that would last: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Mister Du Bois became director of research for the organization. He also became editor of the N.A.A.C.P. magazine, "The Crisis."
VOICE TWO:
W.E.B. Du Bois felt that it was good for blacks to be linked through culture and spirit to the home of their ancestors. Throughout his life he was active in the Pan-African movement. Pan-Africanism was the belief that all people who came from Africa had common interests and should work together in their struggle for freedom.
Mister Du Bois believed black Americans should support independence for African nations that were European colonies. He believed that once African nations were free of European control they could be markets for products and services made by black Americans.
He believed that blacks should develop a separate "group economy." A separate market system, he said, could be a weapon for fighting economic injustice against blacks and for improving their poor living conditions.
Mister Du Bois also called for the development of black literature and art. He urged the readers of the N.A.A.C.P. magazine, "The Crisis," to see beauty in black.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen thirty-four, W. E. B. Du Bois resigned from his position at "The Crisis” magazine. It was during the severe economic depression in the United States. He charged that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People supported the interests of successful blacks. He said the organization was not concerned with the problems of poorer blacks.
Mister Du Bois returned to Atlanta University, where he had taught before. He remained there as a professor for the next ten years. During this period, he wrote about his involvement in both the African and the African-American struggles for freedom.
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen forty-four, Mister Du Bois returned to the N.A.A.C.P. in a research position. Four years later he left after another disagreement with the organization. He became more and more concerned about politics. He wrote:
VOICE THREE:
"As...a citizen of the world as well as of the United States of America, I claim the right to know and think and tell the truth as I see it. I believe in Socialism as well as Democracy. I believe in Communism wherever and whenever men are wise and good enough to achieve it; but I do not believe that all nations will achieve it in the same way or at the same time. I despise men and nations which judge human beings by their color, religious beliefs or income. ... I hate War."
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen fifty, W. E. B. Du Bois became an official of the Peace Information Center. The organization made public the work other nations were doing to support peace in the world.
The United States government accused the group of supporting the Soviet Union and charged its officials with acting as foreign agents. A federal judge found Mister Du Bois not guilty. But most Americans continued to consider him a criminal. He was treated as if he did not exist.
In nineteen sixty-one, at the age of ninety-two, Mister Du Bois joined the Communist party of the United States. Then he and his second wife moved to Ghana in West Africa. He gave up his American citizenship a year later. He died in Ghana on August twenty-seventh, nineteen sixty-three.
His death was announced the next day to a huge crowd in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of thousands of blacks and whites had gathered for the March on Washington to seek improved civil rights in the United States. W. E. B. Du Bois had helped make that march possible.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This Special English program was written by Vivian Chakarian and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Sarah Long.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week to another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
2.03.2007
VOASE0202_In the News
03 February 2007| Super Bowl Coaches Make History Before First Pass Is Thrown | |
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DownloadThis is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
This Sunday is the biggest sporting event of the year for Americans: the Super Bowl. More than ninety million people in the United States watched the National Football League championship game on television last year. That was several million more than voted in the November elections.
There are thirty-two teams in the league. They battle each other through a sixteen-game season, and then playoffs. This year the Chicago Bears face the Indianapolis Colts for the championship. The Colts are favored to win.
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| Lovie Smith, left, head coach of the Chicago Bears and Tony Dungy, head coach of the Indianapolis Colts |
Bears head coach Lovie Smith and Colts head coach Tony Dungy are both black. They are close friends known for their calmness on the field and respectful treatment of their players. Both men also share a strong Christian faith, which they often talk about with reporters.
Lovie Smith has said he looks forward to the day when it is no longer news that a Super Bowl team is coached by an African-American.
This year the Super Bowl is in Miami, Florida. But the state that profits most will likely be Nevada. Nevada is the only state where widespread betting on sports is legal. And more bets are placed on the Super Bowl than any other single sports event.
The State Gaming Control Board estimates that more than one hundred million dollars could be bet in Nevada casinos on this year's game. That would top last year's record-setting ninety-four and a half million.
Most Internet gambling is illegal in the United States. And the government has succeeded in making it more difficult for Americans to use foreign gambling sites.
But experts believe that five to six billion dollars is bet illegally on the game in the United States. That includes small bets with friends or at work, but it also includes bets placed with a local bookmaker. Hundreds of different kinds of bets are made on the Super Bowl, way beyond simply trying to guess which team will win.
CBS television will broadcast the game this year. People watch the Super Bowl -- or at least parts of it -- not just to see the players, but also the famous performers at halftime. Even the specially produced commercials throughout the game are popular. Advertisers can pay two and a half million dollars or more for thirty seconds of airtime.
Some people think it is not enough that Super Bowl Sunday has become a national celebration. There is an online petition campaign by a group of men in North Carolina to make it a national holiday, followed on Monday by a "day of observation."
IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.
2.02.2007
VOASE0201_Economics Report
01 February 2007| Computers: A New Windows, and a New Way to Make Processors | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
 |
| Events for the launch of Vista included dancers on the wall of a New York building |
This is the first new version since Windows XP in two thousand one. But the long-delayed release did not create nearly as much excitement as there was twelve years ago for Windows 95.
Vista is designed to make it easier to search for files on a computer. The appearance has also been improved. And Microsoft says the new system offers better security. Just how much better remains to be proven.
Most PCs use Windows. But people who may want to buy the new version for an existing computer first have to make sure that the machine can support it. This is true especially if a computer is older than a year or two.
Apple plans to release its new operating system, called Leopard, this spring. But many industry experts say the future of software may be in providing services over the Internet, the way Google does now. That means a move away from loading lots of programs onto individual computers.
Vista is not the only news in computer technology right now. Engineers have discovered how to use new materials to make the brains of a computer.
On January twenty-seventh, Intel announced the biggest change in forty years in the way processors are made. The company says the transistors in its next generation of processors will be made using hafnium, a kind of metal, instead of silicon. Intel says it will also use a secret combination of metals.
Transistors control the flow of electrical current. The new transistors will be the smallest yet, just forty-five nanometers, or forty-five billionths of a meter. Two thousand of them could fit across a human hair. Hundreds of millions will go onto the new processors.
Intel says the new technology will increase performance and use less power. It says it expects to begin production in the second half of this year.
Intel's new design uses what is known as "high-k metal gate" technology. But IBM made a similar announcement on the same day as Intel.
IBM said it has developed such technology for use in chip circuits as small as forty-five nanometers. The company worked with Intel's biggest competitor, AMD, along with Sony and Toshiba. IBM says products with the new technology will go on sale in two thousand eight.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.
VOASE0201_American Mosaic
01 February 2007| Lemonade Stands Carry on Girl's Effort to Raise Money to Fight Cancer | |
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DownloadHOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
We answer a question about popular American states…
Play some music recorded to help women in Darfur, Sudan…
And report about a little girl's efforts to find a cure for cancer.
Alex's Lemonade Stand
HOST:
Six years ago, four-year-old Alexandra Scott started selling a lemon drink in front of her house near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She wanted to earn money to give to childhood cancer research. Alexandra suffered from a kind of cancer called neuroblastoma. She died in two thousand four. But the effort she started is still raising money for cancer research. Barbara Klein has more.
BARBARA KLEIN:
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| Alexandra Scott |
The program that young Alexandra started is called Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Its Web site says that more than four thousand lemonade stands have been held throughout the United States to raise money for cancer research. Children, families, retired people, and college students organize these events.
Alex wanted to raise one million dollars to help find a cure for children’s cancers. When she died in two thousand four, she knew that her goal was near. Her charity had raised more than nine hundred thousand dollars. Earlier this month, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation announced that it had given more than ten million dollars to help children with cancer.
The foundation supports cancer research in thirty hospitals throughout the United States. It provides money to develop improved cancer treatments for children. Money goes to experienced researchers working on cancer cures as well as new researchers with promising ideas.
Much of the money collected by Alex’s lemonade stands is in small amounts and comes from children. Alex’s mother and father lead the Foundation today. They told reporters one reason for its success is because children feel good when they can help other children. And they say that no amount is too small to help the more than twelve thousand children in the United States who are found to have cancer every year.
Popular American States
HOST:
Our listener question this week comes from of Moscow, Russia. Kirill Lelin wants to know which American states are the most popular to live in. In general, the states that have warm weather are the fastest growing in population. Many people who retire from their jobs want to live in an area that has nice weather.
The United States Census Bureau takes an official count of the nation's population every ten years. But it also takes estimates of population growth within states each year.
The Census Bureau released its most recent estimates in December of last year. The estimates show that the western state of California still has the largest population. It has more than thirty-six million people. The western state of Texas has more than twenty-three million people. About nineteen million people live in the eastern state of New York. And about eighteen million people live in the southern state of Florida.
The Census Bureau's recent estimates show that the western part of the country has been growing the fastest. The South was next.
Texas gained more people than any other state between July of two thousand five and July of two thousand six. Texas gained almost five hundred eighty thousand people. Florida had the second highest increase. And California had the third. Both Florida and California gained more than three hundred thousand people.
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| Phoenix is the capital of Arizona, America's fastest-growing state |
Some of the nation's population movement was caused by Hurricane Katrina. That storm in August, two thousand five, hit the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It caused many deaths and major destruction. Louisiana lost more than two hundred thousand people during the one-year period. That number represents a loss of almost five percent of the state's total population before the hurricane.
Music To Help Women in Sudan
(MUSIC)
HOST:
In recent years there have been many aid efforts to help the people of the Darfur area of Sudan. Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts offers its help through a new album. Faith Lapidus tells us more.
FAITH LAPIDUS:
During the nineteen eighties, humanitarian worker Linda Mason operated an aid program in Sudan. Last year, she returned to Sudan with a group called Mercy Corps to investigate war crimes in Darfur. They spoke to women who were victims of war. And they gave the Sudanese women music written by students at the Berklee College of Music. Miz Mason's husband, Roger Brown, is president of the college.
 |
It is a collection of jazz, country, gospel and spoken word. Money from the sale of the CD will help women and children in Darfur. Here Abria Smith performs her song “Love Myself Instead.”
(MUSIC)
During Linda Mason’s trip to Sudan, she recorded Darfurian women singing their traditional songs. Michael Conrad heard their emotional singing and used some of it in his song. The words in “Side by Side” mean “Sing with me, stand with me, so that we can create world peace.”
(MUSIC)
We leave you with another song from “We Are All Connected: Berklee College of Music Reaches Out to the Women of Darfur.” Here is “Women of Darfur,” written by Dave Weigert.
(MUSIC)
HOST:
I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
It was written by Brianna Blake, Lawan Davis and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.
And join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
2.01.2007
VOASE0131_The Making of a Nation
31 January 2007| From Europe to Asia to Washington, Truman Faced Communist Fears, Real or Imagined | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
This is Doug Johnson.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
And this is Phil Murray with THE MAKING OF A NATION, a VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
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| Harry Truman, then vice president, right, with President Franklin Roosevelt in November 1944. Five months later, Roosevelt died. |
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen forty-eight, Harry Truman had been America's leader for more than three years. The people now voted for his return to office. They chose him over Republican Party candidate, Thomas Dewey, governor of New York. The voters also elected a Congress with a majority from Mister Truman's Democratic Party.
The president might have expected such a Congress to support his policies. It did not, however, always support him. Time after time, Democrats from the southern part of the United States joined with conservative Republicans in voting. Together, these lawmakers defeated some of Truman's most important proposals. This included a bill for health care insurance for every American.
VOICE ONE:
Fear of communism was a major issue during Truman's second term. After World War Two, Americans watched as communists took control of one east European nation after another. They watched as China became communist. They watched as the leader of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin, made it clear that he wanted communists to rule the world.
At this tense time, there were charges that communists held important jobs in the government of the United States. Many citizens accepted the charges. The fear of communism, real or imagined, threatened the American legal tradition that a person is innocent until proven guilty.
VOICE TWO:
A Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, led the search for communists in America. In speeches and congressional hearings, he accused hundreds of people of being communists or communist supporters. His targets included the Department of State, the Army and the entertainment industry in Hollywood.
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| Senator Joseph McCarthy |
Some people denounced as communists lost their jobs. Some had to use false names to get work. A few went to jail briefly for refusing to cooperate with him.
Joseph McCarthy continued his anti-communist investigations for several years. By the early nineteen fifties, more people began to question his methods. Critics said he had violated democratic traditions. In nineteen fifty-four, the Senate voted to condemn his actions. Soon after, he became sick with cancer, and his political life ended. He died in nineteen fifty-seven.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
In addition to the problems caused by the fear of communism at home, President Truman had to deal with the threat of communism in other countries.
He agreed to send American aid to Greece and Turkey. He also supported continuing the Marshall Plan. This plan had helped rebuild the economies of Western Europe after World War Two. Historians agree that it prevented Western Europe from becoming communist.
VOICE TWO:
The defense of Western Europe against communism led president Truman to support the North Atlantic Treaty. This treaty formed NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in nineteen forty-nine. In the beginning, NATO included the United States, Britain, Canada, France and eight other nations. More nations joined later.
The NATO treaty stated that a military attack on any member would be considered an attack on all of them.
Truman named General Dwight Eisenhower to be supreme commander of the new organization. General Eisenhower had been supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe in World War Two.
VOICE ONE:
President Truman believed that other problems in the world could be settled by cooperative international efforts. In his swearing-in speech in nineteen forty-nine, he urged the United States to lend money to other countries to aid their development. He also wanted to share American science and technology.
Months later, Congress approved twenty-five thousand million dollars for the first part of this program.
In nineteen fifty-one, President Truman asked Congress to establish a new foreign aid program. The aid was for some countries in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, East Asia and South Asia, and Latin America. These countries were threatened by communist forces. President Truman believed the United States would be stronger if its allies were stronger.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Harry Truman supported and used military power throughout his presidency.
On June twenty-fifth, nineteen fifty, forces from North Korea invaded South Korea. Two days later, the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution on the conflict. It urged UN members to help South Korea resist the invasion. President Truman approved sending American planes and ships. Then he approved sending American ground forces.
The president knew his decision could start World War Three if the Soviet Union entered the war on the side of North Korea. Yet he felt the United States had to act. Later, he said it was the most difficult decision he made as president.
VOICE ONE:
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| President Truman honors General Douglas MacArthur with a Distinguished Service Medal in October 1950. Six months later, the president dismissed him. |
In late November, however, troops from China joined the North Koreans. Thousands of Chinese soldiers helped push the UN troops south. General MacArthur wanted to attack Chinese bases in Manchuria. President Truman said no. The fighting must not spread outside Korea. Again he feared that such a decision might start another world war.
VOICE TWO:
General MacArthur believed he could end the war quickly if he could do what he wanted. So he publicly denounced the American policy. In April nineteen fifty-one, the president dismissed him.
Some citizens approved. They believed a military leader must obey his commander in chief. Others, however, supported General MacArthur. Millions greeted him when he returned to the United States.
VOICE ONE:
Most of the fighting in the Korean war took place along the geographic line known as the thirty-eighth parallel. This line formed the border between the North and South. Many victories were only temporary. One side would capture a hill. Then the other side would recapture it.
Ceasefire talks began in July nineteen fifty-one. But the negotiations failed to make progress. By the time the conflict ended two years later, millions of soldiers on both sides had been killed or wounded.
VOICE TWO:
Nineteen fifty-two would be a presidential election year in the United States. Harry Truman was losing popularity because of the Korean War. At the same time, the military hero of World War Two, General Dwight Eisenhower, was thinking about running for president.
The need to make difficult choices had made Harry Truman's presidency among the most decisive in American history. In March, he made another important decision. He announced that he would not be a candidate for re-election.
Truman said: "I have served my country. I do not think it my duty to spend another four years in the White House."
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Doug Johnson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Phil Murray. Join us again next week for another VOA Special English program about the history of the United States.
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