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7.08.2007
VOASE0707_People In America
07 July 2007| Clare Booth Luce, 1903-1987: News reporter, Magazine Editor, Member of Congress and Ambassador | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Gwen Outen with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a woman who became famous for her activities in government, the media and the arts. She was a member of Congress and an ambassador. She was a news reporter and magazine editor. And she wrote plays. Her name was Clare Boothe Luce.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Clare Boothe Luce was one of the most influential women in modern American history.
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| Clare Boothe Luce |
While Clare was a girl, her parents ended their marriage. She and her brother stayed with their mother. Their mother did not have a lot of money. Yet she was able to send Clare to very good schools. Her mother then married a doctor from Connecticut. Clare’s stepfather, Albert Austin, later served in the United States House of Representatives.
VOICE TWO:
As a young woman, Clare Boothe was known for her intelligence and good looks. She met her first husband through a family friend. George Tuttle Brokaw was a wealthy man. He also was more than twenty years older than Clare. They were married in nineteen twenty-three and had one child – a daughter. However, her husband had a problem with alcoholic drinks. Their marriage ended after only six years.
Clare developed a serious interest in writing. In nineteen thirty, a friend, the magazine publisher Conde Nast, offered her a job. She wrote comments for pictures published in Vogue, a magazine for women about clothes and fashion. A short time later, she accepted a job at another magazine, Vanity Fair. She wrote reports about social events and famous people in New York. Later these reports were published in a book.
VOICE ONE:
Clare Boothe became a top editor at Vanity Fair. She worked there until nineteen thirty-four. By then, she was also writing plays. One play was called “Abide With Me.” It was about a man who mistreats his wife. “Abide With Me” opened in a theater on Broadway in New York City in nineteen thirty-five. Critics hated it.
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| Clare Boothe Luce with Henry Luce |
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
Clare Boothe Luce returned to writing plays. Her second play, “The Women,” made fun of rich women. It opened on Broadway in nineteen thirty-six. The show was very popular. It was later made into a movie. Another play, “Kiss the Boys Goodbye,” also was a success. So was her next play, “Margin For Error.” All three plays were noted for their use of sharp language and making fun of human failings.
Clare Boothe Luce was known for expressing her opinions. Her most famous saying was: “No good deed goes unpunished.” She often spoke about the problems of women trying to succeed in a world mainly controlled by men. She said: “Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, ‘She doesn’t have what it takes.’ They will say, ‘Women don’t have what it takes.'” She made these comments in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
CLARE BOOTHE LUCE:
"We women are supposed to be a minority. I’ve never understood that myself because we outnumber the men in actual numbers, and we live five years longer. So I’ve never felt like a minority because, as you know, minorities are never supposed to say anything unkind about one another."
VOICE ONE:
In nineteen forty, Clare Boothe Luce traveled to Europe as a reporter for Life magazine, which was published by her husband. She visited a number of countries and later wrote reports about how people were dealing with World War Two. She wrote a book about this called “Europe in Spring.” In the book, she noted that people were living in “a world where men have decided to die together because they are unable to find a way to live together." She also reported from Africa, China, India and Burma for Life magazine.
In nineteen forty-two, her stepfather, Albert Austin, died. Missus Luce agreed to be the Republican Party candidate for his seat in the House of Representatives from Connecticut. She was elected and entered Congress in January, nineteen forty-three.
Missus Luce was a political conservative. She spoke against the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She criticized the Roosevelt administration’s foreign policy. She said it failed to supervise the war effort.
VOICE TWO:
A tragic event affected Clare Boothe Luce in nineteen forty-four. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Ann was killed in an automobile accident. Missus Luce experienced severe emotional problems. She sought help from a number of people, including a Roman Catholic clergyman, the Reverend Fulton J. Sheen. At the time, he was becoming known for his radio broadcasts.
Missus Luce demanded to know why God had taken her daughter. Reverend Sheen said the young woman had died so that her mother could learn about the meaning of life.
Missus Luce recovered and returned to Congress. She remained popular among the voters of Connecticut and was re-elected to a second term in office. However, she did not seek re-election in nineteen forty-six. Missus Luce said she wanted to spend more time with her husband. She also became a member of the Roman Catholic Church.
Missus Luce returned to writing. She also edited a book about people considered holy by the Roman Catholic Church.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Clare Boothe Luce criticized the spread of communism after World War Two. In nineteen fifty-two, she supported the Republican Party’s candidate for president, former General Dwight Eisenhower. He won the election and appointed Missus Luce as ambassador to Italy. She became one of the first American women to serve in a major diplomatic position. Missus Luce served as the ambassador until nineteen fifty-six. She left Rome after becoming sick with arsenic poisoning caused by paint particles in her bedroom.
VOICE TWO:
Three years later, President Eisenhower nominated Missus Luce as ambassador to Brazil. Most members of the United States Senate supported her nomination. However, some senators were opposed. Among them was Wayne Morse, a Democrat from Oregon.
The Senate approved Missus Luce as the new ambassador. After the debate, she said that Senator Morse’s actions were the result of him being “kicked in the head by a horse.” Many Democrats criticized her comment. A few days later she resigned as ambassador.
VOICE ONE:
Missus Luce remained active in politics. In nineteen sixty-four, she supported Senator Barry Goldwater as the Republican Party’s candidate for president. She also announced plans to be the Conservative Party candidate for the Senate from New York. However, Republican leaders disapproved and she withdrew from the race.
Clare Boothe Luce retired from public life. She and her husband moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Henry Luce died there in nineteen sixty-seven. He was sixty-eight years old.
Missus Luce moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. She lived there until the early nineteen eighties. During that period, she served as an advisor to three presidents. She was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
Then Missus Luce moved to Washington, D.C. In nineteen eighty-three, President Ronald Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. That is the highest honor a president can give to an American citizen.
Clare Boothe Luce had a long battle with cancer. She died at her home in nineteen eighty-seven. She was eighty-four years old. She was buried near the remains of her husband in the state of South Carolina.
Experts said Clare Boothe Luce had enough important jobs in government, the media and the arts to satisfy several women. She was often on the list of the ten most important and admired women in the world.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
This program was written by George Grow. Lawan Davis was our producer. I’m Gwen Outen.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Steve Ember. Listen again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.
VOASE0706_In the News
06 July 2007| US High Court Takes a More Conservative Turn With Bush Appointees | |
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DownloadThis is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
Legal experts had a lot to discuss this week. President Bush intervened to keep a former top administration official out of prison. And last week the Supreme Court ended its first full term with two Bush appointees.
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| A demonstrator holds a sign outside the Supreme Court building in December |
John Roberts arrived on the court as chief justice after William Rehnquist died in two thousand five. Justice Samuel Alito joined the court at the beginning of last year. He replaced Sandra Day O’Connor who retired.
In the most recent term, which began in October, the four most conservative justices won twice as many cases as they lost. One-third of all cases were decided by votes of five-to-four. Commentators noted it was the highest share in ten years, though not all split liberal and conservative.
The deciding vote was often Justice Anthony Kennedy. He was in the majority in every five-four decision. Over the years he has voted with conservatives as well as liberals on the court.
In this term, Justice Kennedy sided with the liberals in their most important case. The court ruled that the government has the power to restrict the release of greenhouse gases. But he took the side of the conservatives in their most important decisions.
These included upholding a federal ban on a late-term abortion method. Another decision limited the free speech rights of public school students. And last week the court limited the ability of school systems to consider race in efforts to balance student populations.
On the last day of the term, the Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals by detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The court had denied an earlier request in April. The detainees seek the right to appeal their detainment in federal court.
The administration says they are enemy combatants and should not be given such rights. The Supreme Court will hear the arguments after its next term begins in October.
This week Americans debated another legal issue after President Bush commuted the prison sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby. He was the top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and a presidential assistant.
A jury found he lied in the investigation into who leaked the identity of a Central Intelligence Agency officer married to an Iraq war critic.
The president said a thirty-month term was severe. He said he has not decided about using his constitutional right to also give a pardon. Monday's action came hours after a court refused to delay the prison sentence while Lewis Libby appealed his conviction.
He has already paid a fine of two hundred fifty thousand dollars as part of his sentence. The judge also ordered probation. Now the judge asks how someone could serve two years of supervised release without first going to prison.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.
VOASE0705_American Mosaic
05 July 2007| Live Earth Concerts Aim to Raise the Heat on Issue of Climate Change | |
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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 from a listener about stories called urban legends…
Play music by groups taking part in worldwide Live Earth concerts to fight global warming…
And report about some movie sequels being released this summer.
Summer Sequels
HOST:
A sequel is a movie that continues a story begun in an earlier movie or tells another story using the same characters. This summer, there are a lot of them. Barbara Klein explains.
BARBARA KLEIN:
Movie studio officials say they expect sequels this summer to earn a huge amount of money. They say three such movies released in May earned more than one hundred million dollars each in ticket sales in just one month. The three movies are "Shrek Three," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End" and "Spider-Man Three."
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"Shrek the Third" continues the story of the green cartoon creature and his wife, Princess Fiona. It has earned more than three hundred million dollars in the United States since it opened in May.
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But movie officials are disappointed that the third movies in these series are not doing as well in the United States as the second movies did. They say one reason for this may be that the three movies opened very close to each other. Still, they expect all three movies to do extremely well around the world.
Several other movie sequels were released recently. They include “Ocean’s Thirteen,” "The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," and "Live Free or Die Hard." Still to come this summer: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
Urban Legends
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Taiwan. Sandra wants to know if urban legends are true.
An urban legend is a story that many people believe to be true. Some of these stories may have had some truth to them at one time. But they usually change over time and many are not true anymore. In the past, people read such stories in magazines and newspapers. Today, the Internet spreads them around the world much faster.
Many urban legends warn about something. One very old one is about a woman who tied up her long hair and never washed it. Spiders were said to have made a nest in her hair and killed her by eating her head. Other examples include warnings about eating two different foods or medicines at the same time, like taking an aspirin with Coca Cola.
One urban legend is about ships and planes that mysteriously disappear in an area of the Atlantic Ocean called the Bermuda Triangle. Another is about people in New York City who got rid of their small pet alligators by flushing them down the toilet. These alligators lived in New York's underground waste water system and grew to be huge. Other urban legends involve famous movie stars.
Some urban legends are false, yet are extremely difficult to stop. For example, one story said a major American company gave some of its money to the Church of Satan that worships the devil. Many people who believed this story stopped buying the company’s products even though the story was false.
Some Internet sites investigate the truth of urban legends. One is called Snopes dot com. It lists the twenty-five most popular urban legends. Many are spread through the Internet. The top one is about plastic bottles you can buy that contain water. An urban legend says that these bottles release cancer-causing substances when they are re-used. Snopes says this urban legend is false.
Live Earth
HOST:
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FAITH LAPIDUS:
They are being called "the concerts for a climate in crisis." Producer Kevin Wall, working with former Vice President Al Gore, came up with the idea for Live Earth. Wall has produced concerts for many famous performers including Bob Dylan. He founded SOS, Save Our Selves, to develop events to influence people to fight climate crisis. Wall was also the man behind Live Eight, a series of concerts last year to fight poverty.
Live Earth is taking place on the seventh day of the seventh month of two thousand seven. It represents all seven continents. More than one hundred famous musicians will perform. They include the Police, Madonna and Bon Jovi.
Lenny Kravitz will be the lead act at the concert in Rio de Janeiro. His hits include "American Woman" and "Let Love Rule." Here Kravitz sings "Are You Gonna' Go My Way."
(MUSIC)
The Black Eyed Peas will be among the performers at the show in London. Here lead singer Fergie performs a song from her solo album, "The Dutchess." "Big Girls Don't Cry" is one of the top songs on Billboard Magazine's Hot One Hundred List.
(MUSIC)
If you are near Hamburg, Germany you can see Shakira perform at the Live Earth show there. We leave you with Shakira singing "Illegal."
(MUSIC)
HOST:
I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.
Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver wrote the program. Mario Ritter 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.
VOASE0705_Economics Report
05 July 2007| How Subprime Home Loans Become Risky Investments | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
As the American housing market has cooled, worries about investments based on risky home loans have heated up.
Last month, two hedge funds operated by the investment bank Bear Stearns nearly collapsed under debt. They had borrowed billions of dollars from lenders and invested in securities tied to subprime mortgages.
Bear Stearns agreed to provide over one and one-half billion dollars to rescue one of the funds. Investors in the other could lose everything.
The trouble at Bear Stearns is an example of the risks involved with mortgage-backed securities. These investments have helped drive home ownership rates in the United States to nearly seventy percent. But as interest rates have risen, some homeowners now find it hard to pay their mortgages, and keep their homes.
Americans usually need a mortgage loan to buy a house. Subprime borrowers are people without strong credit histories. Lenders can charge them more because there is a greater chance they will not be able to pay back the loan.
Subprime lenders often depend on credit to make the loans. Once processed, the loan is usually sold to an investment bank. Loans with similar levels of risk are grouped together and then sold to investors worldwide as mortgage-backed securities. The higher the risk, the higher the return.
The Government National Mortgage Association, known as Ginnie Mae, and two other organizations known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac produce most mortgage-backed securities. But investment banks have increased their share, led by Lehman Brothers. Last year, it processed more than fifty billion dollars in securities backed by subprime mortgages.
Being able to sell their loans offers mortgage lenders a way to raise money to make new loans. But being able to spread their risk can also be seen as an invitation to make bad loans.
Last week, federal agencies released the final version of a statement on subprime lending. It provides guidance to lenders to make sure borrowers are able to pay back mortgages with adjustable interest rates. The aim is to avoid payment shock as the rates increase, often after a low starting rate. The agencies also warn against lending activities that harm the interests of homeowners.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts and archives of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
7.05.2007
Freed BBC Journalist Speaks of 'Appalling Experience'
| Jerusalem 04 July 2007 |
DownloadKidnapped BBC Journalist Alan Johnston, freed from captivity in Gaza early Wednesday, has described his experiences in a meeting with the media in Jerusalem. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, his enormous relief is overshadowed by haunting memories.
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| BBC reporter Alan Johnston speaks to the media during a press conference at the British consulate in Jerusalem, 04 Jul 2007 |
"It just is unimaginably good to be free," he said.
He looked and felt like a new man after a haircut, shower and shave.
"Maybe you have to have been a prisoner of some kind for some time to know how good it is just to be able to do the most basic things that freedom allows, not least to get a haircut," said Johnston.
"And you want to do everything at the same time, you know you want to read books, newspapers, go to the movies, go to the beach and sit in the sun and eat and talk and all the rest of it," he added.
So different, he said, than his nearly four months in captivity.
"It was as you can imagine the most appalling experience, like being buried alive and removed from life and sometimes, occasionally quite terrifying, and always frightening in that I just didn't know when it would end or how it would end," he said.
This story had a happy ending, when the shadowy group holding him, the Army of Islam, handed him over to officials of the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza. He said his situation changed when Hamas seized control of Gaza in last month's civil war.
"Hamas is a controversial organization with a lot of problems and so on in terms of relations with the outside world," said Johnston. "But I'm pretty sure if Hamas hadn't come in and stuck the heat on in a big way, I'd still be in that room."
Johnston was the only western journalist based in Gaza. The Gaza Strip has been a no-go zone for western journalists since Johnston was kidnapped, and it is not clear if they will start going back.
UN Agencies Call For 'Green Revolution' in Africa
| Geneva 04 July 2007 |
DownloadThree of the most important international organizations that deal with food, agriculture, and rural development are calling for an African Green Revolution. The World Food Program (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and International Fund for Agricultural Development say they will work together to help African countries increase their food production to overcome hunger and create a more prosperous future. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.
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| An electrical storm lights the night sky above vegetable crops on a farm near Groblersdal, South Africa, 19 Dec. 2006 |
Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, David Harcharik, says a Green Revolution in Africa is not only possible, but necessary. He says the program would be tailored specifically for African conditions.
"If an African Green Revolution is going to be successful, it has to reach as many farmers as possible," he said. "Most of these farmers are subsistence farmers now. I think the Green Revolution has got to find some way to reach out to them and help them increase their agricultural productivity. But, I do not think that that in itself would be sufficient. There has to be a way for farmers to market and sell produce that they produce beyond their own immediate family or village needs."
Harcharik says international trading rules have to be adjusted to give African farmers greater international market access and a fairer chance of exporting their products.
International Fund for Agricultural Development Vice President Kanayo Nwanze says a Green Revolution must be based on African traditions and values.
"It must be a bottom up approach. It must be community based and emphasis must be on rural communities with the targets being women and children given the important role that is played by women in African agriculture," he noted. "We have very clear evidence that investments into women farmers actually increases the chances of better nutrition, better education, better clothing for children."
Nwanze says bad, corrupt governments in Africa are holding back progress. He says African leaders must root out corruption in their political systems and be more transparent if they want to move forward and create a better future for Africa.
The U.N. agencies agree that the amount of Overseas Development Assistance must be increased. But, they say the international community will be more willing to increase their financial commitments to Africa if they see African governments investing more of their national budgets in their own agricultural production.
Russia to Respond if US Rejects Kremlin's Missile-Defense Plan
| Moscow 04 July 2007 |
DownloadRussia's First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov says the term "Cold War" will be forgotten if the United States accepts his country's missile-defense plan for Europe. But Ivanov is also threatening to deploy Russian missiles near Poland if Washington rejects the Kremlin offer. VOA Moscow Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports.
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| Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, wearing sunglasses and First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, background, visit a Command and Control Center in Rostov-on-Don, 29 June 2007 |
Ivanov's statement carries the implied threat of an arms race in response to an American plan to deploy missiles in Poland and a radar installation in the Czech Republic. The United States says the system would guard against a possible attack by Iran. Ivanov says his country's proposal is better for NATO than America's.
Ivanov says that Russia together with the NATO allies can create a system that would defend not just some NATO members, but all of them. He says the American plan will not defend all.
Ivanov's statement follows a proposal made by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his meeting with President Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine. The proposal would add a radar facility in southern Russia to an earlier proposal for a Russian radar facility in Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic that borders Iran.
President Bush said in Kennebunkport that Mr. Putin's proposal is worth considering. But Mr. Bush added that the Czech Republic and Poland need to be an integral part of a NATO missile-defense system.
Ivanov's statement represents a Russian carrot and stick: Accept our proposal, he says, and the term "Cold War" will be forgotten. Reject it, and we will deploy missiles against you.
VOASE0704_Education Report
04 July 2007| Historic Antioch College Faces an Unsure Future | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.
Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a private liberal-arts school with a
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| Antioch College |
Antioch also became one of the first to offer work study programs, so students could gain experience in jobs. And it was among the first to stop using grades to record progress.
A Protestant group known as the Christian Church started Antioch College in eighteen fifty-two. Even in those days it was different from most other American colleges because it admitted women as well as men.
During the nineteen sixties, Antioch students were active in the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War. At that time, the college had more than two thousand students. But times changed.
In nineteen seventy-eight Antioch University was created. Antioch College became the undergraduate residential program.
But it has struggled with a shortage of students and money. School officials say students are rejecting the college because it lacks modern dormitories, wireless Internet or new athletic buildings. The number of students has dropped to only four hundred this past year.
Now, the university Board of Trustees has voted to suspend operations at Antioch College next July. School officials say the goal is reopen the college in two thousand twelve. They say they want to raise enough money to design what they call a twenty-first century campus.
Today Antioch University has five other campuses around the country designed to serve working adults. The closure will not affect the other campuses.
Some people say Antioch's expansion is one reason the college is in financial trouble. But university officials say the other campuses have been helping to support Antioch College. They say the college has been operating at a loss for several years.
Antioch College has been closed and reopened three times already in its history, for financial and other reasons. Teachers and former students have talked about the possibility of legal action to try to stop the new plan. The Antioch College Alumni Association has been collecting money to try to keep the school from closing again -- or at least make sure it reopens.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. To learn more about American education, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.
VOASE0704_The Making of a Nation
04 July 2007| The Nineteen Seventies and Eighties Were A Period of Change in American Society | |
| |
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DownloadVOICE 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. Today, we tell the story about some social and cultural issues of the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties.
VOICE ONE:
An economics professor from the United States was teaching in Britain in the early Nineteen-Eighties. One of his students asked this question: "What is most important to Americans these days?" He said: "Earning money."
Clearly, his answer was far too simple. Still, many observers would agree that great numbers of Americans in the Nineteen-Eighties were concerned with money. These people wanted the good life that they believed money could buy.
VOICE TWO:
In some ways, the Nineteen-Eighties were the opposite of the Nineteen-Sixties.
The Nineteen-Sixties were years of protest and reform. Young Americans demonstrated against the Vietnam War. African Americans demonstrated for civil rights. Women demonstrated for equal treatment. For many, society's hero was the person who helped others.
For many in the Nineteen-Eighties, society's hero was the person who helped himself. Success seemed to be measured only by how much money a person made.
VOICE ONE:
The period of change came during the Nineteen-Seventies. For a while, these years remained tied to the social experiments and struggles of the Nineteen-Sixties. Then they showed signs of what American would be like in the Nineteen-Eighties. There were a number of reasons for the change.
One reason was that the United States ended its military involvement in Vietnam. Another was that the civil rights movement and women's movements reached many of their goals. A third reason was the economy. During the Nineteen-Seventies, the United States suffered an economic recession. Interest rates and inflation were high. There was a shortage of imported oil.
VOICE TWO:
As the Nineteen-Seventies moved toward the Nineteen-Eighties, Americans became tired of social struggle. They became tired of losing money. They had been working together for common interests. Now, many wanted to spend more time on their own personal interests.
This change appeared in many parts of American society. It affected popular culture, education, and politics.
VOICE ONE:
For example, one of the most popular television programs of that time was about serious social issues. It was called "All in the Family". It was about a factory worker who hates black people and opposes equal rights for women. His family slowly helps him to accept and value different kinds of people.
Other television programs, however, were beginning to present an escape from serious issues. These included "Happy Days" and "Three's Company."
Music showed the change, too. In the Nineteen-Sixties, folk music was very popular. Many folk songs were about social problems. In the Nineteen-Seventies, groups played hard rock and punk music, instead.
VOICE TWO:
Self-help books were another sign that Americans were becoming more concerned about their own lives. These books described ways to make people happier with themselves. One of the most popular was called I'm Okay, You're Okay. It was published in Nineteen-Sixty-Nine. It led the way for many similar books throughout the Nineteen-Seventies.
VOICE ONE:
The Nineteen-Seventies also saw a change in education. In the Nineteen-Sixties, many young people expressed little interest in continuing their education after four years of study in college. They were busy working for social reforms. Many believed that more education only created unequal classes of people.
By the middle Nineteen-Seventies, however, more young people decided it was acceptable to make a lot of money. Higher education was a way to get the skills to do this. Law schools and medical schools soon had long lists of students waiting to get in.
VOICE TWO:
Politically, the United States went through several changes during the Nineteen-Seventies. There were liberal Democratic administrations for most of the Nineteen-Sixties. Then a conservative Republican, Richard Nixon, was elected. During his second term, President Nixon was forced to resign because of the Watergate case.
Vice President Gerald Ford became president after Nixon's resignation. About two years later, he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter. The election showed that Americans were angry with the Republican Party because of the Watergate case. But they soon became unhappy with President Carter, too. They blamed him for failing to improve the economy. He lost his campaign for re-election to conservative Republican Ronald Reagan.
VOICE ONE:
The Nineteen-Eighties were called the Reagan years, because he was president for
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| Ronald Reagan |
Observers created several expressions to describe some groups of people at that time. One expression was "the 'me' generation". This described Americans who were only concerned about themselves. Another expression was "yuppie". It meant "young urban professional". Both these groups seemed as if they lived just to make and spend money, money, and more money.
Entertainment in the Nineteen-Eighties showed the interest society placed on financial success. The characters in a number of television programs, for example, lived in costly homes, wore costly clothes, and drove costly automobiles. They were not at all like average Americans. They lived lives that required huge amounts of money.
Two of these television programs became extremely popular in the United States and in other countries. They were called "Dallas" and "Dynasty".
VOICE TWO:
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| Wall Street |
Another form of entertainment became popular in the Nineteen-Eighties. It was the television talk show. People appeared on these shows mostly to talk about themselves: their politics, their families, their sexual relations. They talked in public about things that were once considered private.
Much of the popular music of the time also showed this new openness. Heavy metal rock groups sang about sex and drugs. And then there was the new form of music called "rap". In this form, words are spoken, not sung, over a heavy beat. Many Americans found all these kinds of music to be too shocking, too violent, too lawless, and too damaging to the human spirit.
VOICE ONE:
People may have talked and sung openly about sex and drugs in the Nineteen-Eighties. But as the years went by, many became increasingly careful about their own activities. This was because sex and drugs became deadly. A new disease appeared at that time. It was called AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The disease spread in several ways. One was through sexual relations. Another was through sharing the needles used to take illegal drugs.
VOICE TWO:
A big change in American life during the Nineteen-Eighties came as a result of the computer. Computers were invented forty years earlier. They were large machines and were used only at universities, big companies, and in the military.
By the Nineteen-Eighties, computers had become much smaller. Anyone could learn
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| The IBM personal computer arrived in 1981 |
Such technological improvement -- and a bright economy -- filled Americans of the early and middle Nineteen-Eighties with hope. Many felt there were almost no limits on the good life they could lead.
VOICE ONE:
This program of THE MAKING OF A NATION was written by Jeri Watson and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another V-O-A Special English program about the history of the United States.
7.04.2007
US, Russia Pledge Further Nuclear Weapons Cuts
| State Department 03 July 2007 |
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The United States and Russia vowed Tuesday to pursue further cuts in their strategic nuclear arsenals and to take new steps to limit weapons proliferation. The announcement was a follow-on to the talks between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin Sunday and Monday in Kennebunkport, Maine. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department. 
Russian President Vladimir Putin (l) and U.S. President Bush during a joint press conference at the Bush family compound in northeastern U.S. state of Maine, 02 Jul 2007
Arms control advocates have been critical of the administrations of both Presidents Bush and Putin for allegedly neglecting arms control.
But a joint statement here said the two powers are fully committed to non-proliferation, and intend to reduce their offensive strategic nuclear arsenals "to the lowest possible level" consistent with national security needs and alliance commitments.
The last strategic nuclear arms reduction, or START, treaty between Washington and Moscow, reached in 1991 at the end of the Soviet era and limiting the two sides to six thousand deployed warheads, expires in 2009
A Bush-Putin agreement in Moscow in 2002 commits the two sides to deeper cuts, to no more than 2,200 warheads each, but the deal lacked specifics and compliance has lagged.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed arms issues on the sidelines of the Kennebunkport meetings. They said in the joint statement the sides are ready - upon instructions from the two presidents - to continue talks on a post-START accord "with a view toward early results."
At a press appearance here with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, U.S. Nuclear Non-Proliferation envoy Robert Joseph said talks on the shape of a post-START arms accord are under way but only at an early stage:
"We haven't come to agreement on what will replace START but we are in the process of talking about that. We both want transparency, we both want confidence building measures. We have talked about measures that would involve data exchanges and site visits," Joseph said. "We have, I think, a way to go in terms of our discussion but we are actively working that.
A declaration by Presidents Bush and Putin, also released Tuesday, said the two governments are determined to expand nuclear energy cooperation, and to make such technology available to developing countries, while still limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.
They said expansion of nuclear power around the world is inevitable given the soaring demand for energy, but that it should be conducted in a way that strengthens the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.
President Bush said Monday he and Mr. Putin agreed on the need to send a "common message" to Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Russia has proposed setting up a center to furnish and reprocess nuclear fuel for Iran and other potential nuclear states to prevent diversion of such material for weapons purposes.
In that regard, Deputy Foreign Minister Kislyak defended Moscow's cooperation with Iran on its nearly-completed Bushehr power plant on the Persian Gulf. He said Russia will control fuel for the Bushehr plant, and said if Iran wants a broader nuclear program it should be based on that arrangement:
"Bushehr is going to be continued. It's going to be built. It's fully compliant with all the requirements of the IAEA," Kislyak said. "It's fully under the safeguards agreements. And I would say that the arrangement around Bushehr is an example of what Iran would be well-advised to choose as a method and way of developing its nuclear energy."
Kislyak called the Bushehr plan a win-win proposition for all those concerned. He also dismissed as overly ambitious an Iranian claim this week that the plant will be completed and fueled within two months.
Though it once supported the Russian take-back plan for the Bushehr plant's fuel supply, the Bush administration has more recently urged Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran altogether.
Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, but the United States and European allies believe it has a covert weapons project.
NATO Chief says Taleban, al-Qaida Hide Behind Civilians
| Rome 03 July 2007 |
DownloadNATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says the alliance must do everything in its power to avoid civilian casualties in Afghanistan. But he warned that NATO opponents in Afghanistan cannot be put on the same moral ground as alliance forces. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome.
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| NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (14 Jun 2007) |
"For NATO every single innocent life lost in Afghanistan in one too many," he said.
The NATO chief was addressing reporters following a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on the sidelines of a two-day conference on Afghanistan's rule of law, under way at the Foreign Ministry in Rome.
The secretary-general said no NATO soldier or coalition soldier would ever intentionally kill innocent civilians. He also made clear that no one should forget that NATO and the international community's opponents in Afghanistan cannot be placed in the same moral category as NATO forces.
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| An elderly Afghan woman lies on a bed at a hospital in Herat province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan (File) |
De Hoop Scheffer said that NATO would look at its procedures and coordination with other forces operating in Afghanistan so that the right procedures are in place to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible.
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan has been a sensitive issue for the international military mission there. President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly asked international forces to take better care of Afghan lives.
VOASE0703_Health Report
03 July 2007| New Rules for International Health Emergencies Take Effect | |
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DownloadThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.
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| Avoiding infection during the SARS scare in 2003 |
The first version of the International Health Regulations was passed in nineteen sixty-nine. It was designed to contain threats from serious infectious diseases that spread from one country to another. Those rules dealt with only four diseases : cholera, plague, yellow fever and smallpox.
Back then the International Health Regulations mainly involved the reporting of outbreaks of disease. They also established some controls to stop infected people from crossing borders and spreading disease.
The World Health Assembly passed the new International Health Regulations in two thousand five. The World Health Organization says the new version aims to battle infectious diseases at the source instead of waiting for them to reach borders. The new health rules deal with any disease or health event that could lead to a possible international emergency.
The rules are designed to avoid interference with trade and traffic around the world as much as possible.
The W.H.O. says communication will be greatly improved under the new rules. There will be special points of contacts within nations that will be responsible for reporting information to W.H.O. points of contact.
All World Health Organization member countries must honor these rules. W.H.O. officials say member countries are very likely to honor the rules because they all share an interest in avoiding major health crises. The officials also note that a country that does not obey the rules risks damage to its image inside its borders and internationally.
The International Health Regulations have a method for settling disputes between countries. Conflicts may result from different understandings of the rules or how they are to be carried out.
World health officials say the new health rules will help countries in several ways. The W.H.O. will provide guidance, technical support and help in getting financial assistance for public health emergencies.
And that’s the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. You can find other news about health at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Bob Doughty.
VOASE0703_Explorations
03 July 2007| Amelia Earhart, 1897-1937: First Woman to Fly Alone Across the Atlantic | |
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DownloadVOICE ONE:
This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS. Today, we tell about Amelia Earhart. She was one of America’s first female pilots.
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VOICE ONE:
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Amelia and her younger sister Muriel were lucky. Their parents believed all children needed physical activity to grow healthy and strong. So Amelia and Muriel were very active girls. They rode horses. They played baseball and basketball. They went fishing with their father. Other parents would not let their daughters play with Amelia and Muriel.
VOICE TWO:
The Earharts lived in a number of places in America’s Middle West when the girls were growing up. The family was living in Chicago, Illinois when Amelia completed high school in nineteen sixteen.
Amelia then prepared to enter a university. During a holiday, she visited her sister in Toronto, Canada. World War One had begun by then. And Amelia was shocked by the number of wounded soldiers sent home from the fighting in France. She decided she would be more useful as a nurse than as a student. So she joined the Red Cross.
VOICE ONE:
Amelia Earhart first became interested in flying while living in Toronto. She talked with many pilots who were treated at the soldiers’ hospital. She also spent time watching planes at a nearby military airfield. Flying seemed exciting. But the machinery – the plane itself – was exciting, too.
After World War One ended, Amelia spent a year recovering from the disease pneumonia. She read poetry and went on long walks. She learned to play the banjo. And she went to school to learn about engines.
When she was healthy again, she entered Columbia University in New York City. She studied medicine. After a year she went to California to visit her parents. During that trip, she took her first ride in an airplane. And when the plane landed, Amelia Earhart had a new goal in life. She would learn to fly.
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VOICE TWO:
One of the world’s first female pilots, Neta Snook, taught Amelia to fly. It did not take long for Amelia to make her first flight by herself. She received her official pilot’s license in nineteen twenty. Then she wanted a plane of her own. She earned most of the money to buy it by working for a telephone company. Her first plane had two sets of wings, a bi-plane.
On June seventeenth, nineteen twenty-eight, the plane left the eastern province of Newfoundland, Canada. The pilot and engine expert were men. The passenger was Amelia Earhart. The plane landed in Wales twenty hours and forty minutes later. For the first time, a woman had crossed the Atlantic Ocean by air.
VOICE ONE:
Amelia did not feel very important, because she had not flown the plane. Yet the public did not care. People on both sides of the Atlantic were excited by the tall brave girl with short hair and gray eyes. They organized parties and parades in her honor. Suddenly, she was famous.
Amelia Earhart had become the first lady of the air. She wrote a book about the flight. She made speeches about flying. And she continued to fly by herself across the United States and back.
VOICE TWO:
Flying was a new and exciting activity in the early nineteen twenties. Pilots tested and demonstrated their skills in air shows. Amelia soon began taking part in these shows. She crashed one time in a field of cabbage plants. The accident did not stop her from flying. But she said it did decrease her desire to eat cabbages.
Flying was fun, but costly. Amelia could not continue. She sold her bi-plane, bought a car and left California. She moved across the country to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. She taught English to immigrants and then became a social worker.
VOICE ONE:
In the last years of the nineteen twenties, hundreds of record flights were made. A few were made by women. But no woman had flown across the Atlantic Ocean.
A wealthy American woman, Amy Guest, bought a plane to do this. However, her family opposed the idea. So she looked for another woman to take her place. Friends proposed Amelia Earhart.
VOICE TWO:
American publisher George Putnam had helped organize the Atlantic Ocean flight that made Amelia famous. Afterwards, he continued to support her flying activities. In nineteen thirty-one, George and Amelia were married. He helped provide financial support for her record flights.
On May twentieth, nineteen thirty-two, Amelia took off from Newfoundland. She
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She had become the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone.
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VOICE ONE:
In the next few years, Amelia Earhart set more records and received more honors. She was the first to fly from Hawaii to California, alone. She was the first to fly from Mexico City to New York City, without stopping.
Amelia hoped her flights would prove that flying was safe for everyone. She hoped women would have jobs at every level of the industry when flying became a common form of transportation.
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen thirty-five, the president of Purdue University in Indiana asked Amelia to do some work there. He wanted her to be an adviser on aircraft design and navigation. He also wanted her to be a special adviser to female students.
Purdue University provided Amelia with a new all-metal, two-engine plane. It had so many instruments she called it the “Flying Laboratory.” It was the best airplane in the world at that time.
Amelia decided to use this plane to fly around the world. She wanted to go around the equator. It was a distance of forty-three thousand kilometers. No one had attempted to fly that way before.
VOICE ONE:
Amelia’s trip was planned carefully. The goal was not to set a speed record. The goal was to gather information. Crew members would study the effects of height and temperature on themselves and the plane. They would gather small amounts of air from the upper atmosphere. And they would examine the condition of airfields throughout the world.
Amelia knew the trip would be dangerous. A few days before she left, she gave a small American flag to her friend Jacqueline Cochran, another female pilot. Amelia had carried the flag on all her major flights. Jacqueline did not want to take it until Amelia returned from her flight around the world. “No,” Amelia told her, “you had better take it now.”
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VOICE TWO:
Amelia and three male crew members were to make the flight. However, a minor accident and weather conditions forced a change in plans. So on June first, nineteen thirty-seven, a silver Lockheed Electra plane left Miami, Florida. It carried pilot Amelia Earhart and just one male crew member, navigator Fred Noonan.
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| Amelia Earhart getting out of her airplane in South America |
VOICE ONE:
When they reached New Guinea, they were about to begin the most difficult part of the trip. They would fly four thousand kilometers to tiny Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Three hours after leaving New Guinea, Amelia sent back a radio message. She said she was on a direct path to Howland Island. Later, Amelia’s radio signals were received by a United States Coast Guard ship near the island. The messages began to warn of trouble. Fuel was getting low. They could not find Howland Island. They could not see any land at all.
VOICE TWO:
The radio signals got weaker and weaker. A message on the morning of July second was incomplete. Then there was silence.
American Navy ships and planes searched the area for fifteen days. They found nothing. Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were officially declared “lost at sea.”
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English Program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. It was produced by Paul Thompson. This is Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.
7.03.2007
Britain Remains Prime Terrorist Target
| Washington 02 July 2007 |
DownloadThe abortive car bombings in London and Glasgow have again put the spotlight on Britain as a terrorist target. Two car bombs failed to go off Friday in London, and on Saturday, a blazing car was driven at high speed into the entrance of Glasgow airport. VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, analysts say, if the attacks were the work of Islamic extremists, their goal is consistent with previous attacks in Britain.
Car bombings are nothing new to Britain. The Irish Republican Army and its splinter groups often used them to deadly effect.
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| Forensic officers at the scene of the attack on the terminal building at Glasgow Airport, 01 Jul 2007 |
But recent attacks and attempted attacks in Britain have relied on other means.
The attacks on the London transport system almost exactly two years ago were carried out by Muslim suicide bombers carrying backpacks full of explosives. The plot to blow up flights from London to the United States that was thwarted last year planned to utilize liquid explosives smuggled aboard the aircraft.
Police believe they are dealing with a terrorist cell either linked to or inspired by al-Qaida, in the latest incidents.
Bob Ayers, an intelligence and security specialist at the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, says he believes the attacks are linked to Britain's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"The difference between what we're seeing over the last weekend and what we're seeing last summer is a difference only in tactics, not necessarily in strategic objective," said Ayers. "The purpose of the Islamist attacks on the U.K. has been to force the UK people and government to reassess its role vis-à-vis the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan. Car bombs are a tactical change, but they are not a strategic change."
Counter-terrorism specialists say the weekend car bombs in London lacked the sophistication of the IRA. bombmakers. But Ayers says, while crude, they had the potential to be deadly.
Blair Johannessen, an intelligence analyst at the private Terrorism Research Center, says the amateurish nature of the bombs suggests the perpetrators lacked the zeal of suicide attackers.
"These guys ran from the scene," said Johannessen. "You could chalk it up to fear: 'Aw, I drove the car, it didn't explode, oh my gosh, what am I going to do, I'm going to run away.' But, from what I see, if it was really something that was more professional, they would have stayed the route of the cause, and they would have found a way to make this thing go off the way it should have."
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| Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seen after a meeting of the government's top emergency committee Cobra, 29 Jun 2007 |
"I think what we have got to recognize, that the nature of the threat that we are dealing with is al-Qaida and people who are related to al-Qaida," said Brown.
"And, while I don't want to comment on the police investigation that is ongoing, it is clear that we are dealing in general terms with people who are associated with al-Qaida in a number of incidents that have happened all across the world," he added.
Security analyst Bob Ayers says the term al-Qaida is a brand name that has become generic in the West for any Islamist terrorist group.
"I think the prime minister, being new in [his] post, was using a term that is a shorthand and convenient way to describe this whole genre of Islamic radicals," said Ayers. "Al-Qaida doesn't issue ID cards, and you don't take an oath of office when you join al-Qaida."
"What we have is a group of radicals, who are embracing the philosophy and ideology as espouse by al-Qaida. But they're not necessarily part of a closely coupled, vertically integrated organization, like a military force," he continued.
Early reports say, at least two of the suspects in custody are physicians who were trained in Iraq and Jordan respectively. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith describes the investigation as "fast-moving."
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