VOASE1107_The Making of a Nation

07 November 2007

American History Series: How a Desire for Religious Freedom or Land, or Both, Led to Colonies
Puritans from England settled Massachusetts. The Dutch settled the area now called New York State. And Quakers, unwelcome in England, settled Pennsylvania.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

VOICE TWO:

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

(MUSIC)

Today, we tell about the movement of European settlers throughout northeastern America. And we tell how the separate colonies developed in this area.

VOICE ONE:

The Puritans were one of the largest groups from England to settle in the northeastern area called Massachusetts. They began arriving in sixteen thirty. The Puritans had formed the Massachusetts Bay Company in England. The king had given the company an area of land between the Charles and Merrimack rivers.

The Puritans were Protestants who did not agree with the Anglican Church. The Puritans wanted to change the church to make it more holy. They were able to live as they wanted in Massachusetts. Soon they became the largest religious group. By sixteen ninety, fifty thousand people were living in Massachusetts.

Puritans thought their religion was the only true religion and everyone should believe in it. They also believed that church leaders should lead the local government, and all people in the colony should pay to support the Puritan church. The Puritans thought it was the job of government leaders to tell people what to believe.

Some people did not agree with the Puritans who had become leaders of the colony. One of those who disagreed was a Puritan minister named Roger Williams.

VOICE TWO:

Roger Williams wrote several documents stating his views on religious liberty

Roger Williams believed as all Puritans did that other European religions were wrong. He thought the Native Indian religions were wrong too. But he did not believe in trying to force others to agree with him. He thought that it was a sin to punish or kill anyone in the name of Christianity. And he thought that only church members should pay to support their church.

Roger Williams began speaking and writing about his ideas. He wrote a book saying it was wrong to punish people for having different beliefs. Then he said that the European settlers were stealing the Indians' land. He said the king of England had no right to permit people to settle on land that was not his, but belonged to the Indians.

The Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony forced Roger Williams to leave the colony in sixteen thirty-six. He traveled south. He bought land from local Indians and started a city, Providence. The Parliament in England gave him permission to establish a new colony, Rhode Island, with Providence as its capital. As a colony, Rhode Island accepted people of all religious beliefs, including Catholics, Quakers, Jews and even people who denied the existence of God.

Roger Williams also believed that governments should have no connection to a church. This idea of separating church and state was very new. Later it became one of the most important of all America's governing ideas.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Other colonies were started by people who left Massachusetts to seek land. One was Connecticut. A group led by Puritan minister Thomas Hooker left Boston in sixteen thirty-six and went west. They settled near the Connecticut River. Others soon joined them.

Other groups from Massachusetts traveled north to find new homes. The king of England had given two friends a large piece of land in the north. The friends divided it. John Mason took what later became the colony of New Hampshire. Ferdinando Gorges took the area that later became the state of Maine. It never became a colony, however. It remained a part of Massachusetts until after the United States was created.

VOICE TWO:

The area known today as New York State was settled by the Dutch. They called it New Netherland. Their country was the Netherlands. It was a great world power, with colonies all over the world. A business called the Dutch West India Company owned most of the colonies.

The Dutch claimed American land because of explorations by Henry Hudson, an Englishman working for the Netherlands. The land the Dutch claimed was between the Puritans in the north and the Anglican tobacco farmers in the south.

The Dutch were not interested in settling the territory. They wanted to earn money. The Dutch West India Company built trading posts on the rivers claimed by the Netherlands. People in Europe wanted to buy goods made from the skins of animals trapped there.

In sixteen twenty-six, the Dutch West India Company bought two islands from the local Indians. The islands are Manhattan Island and Long Island. Traditional stories say the Dutch paid for the islands with some trade goods worth about twenty-four dollars.

The Dutch West India Company tried to find people to settle in America. But few Dutch wanted to leave Europe. So the colony welcomed people from other colonies, and other countries. These people built a town on Manhattan Island. They called it New Amsterdam. It was soon full of people who had arrived on ships from faraway places. It was said you could hear as many as eighteen different languages spoken in New Amsterdam.

In sixteen fifty-five, the governor of New Netherland took control of a nearby Swedish colony on Delaware Bay. In sixteen sixty-four, the English did the same to the Dutch. The English seized control of New Amsterdam and called it New York. That ended Dutch control of the territory that now is the states of New York, New Jersey and Delaware.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Most of the Dutch in New Amsterdam did not leave. The English permitted everyone to stay. They let the Dutch have religious freedom. The Dutch were just not in control any more.

The Duke of York owned the area now. He was the brother of King Charles the Second of England. The king gave some of the land near New York to two friends, Sir George Carteret and Lord John Berkeley. They called it New Jersey, after the English island where Carteret was born.

The two men wrote a plan of government for their colony. It created an assembly that represented the settlers. It provided for freedom of religion. Men could vote in New Jersey whatever their religion. Soon, people from all parts of Europe were living in New Jersey. Then King Charles took control of the area. He sent a royal governor to rule. But the colonists were permitted to make their own laws through the elected assembly.

The king of England did the same in each colony he controlled. He collected taxes from the people who lived there, but permitted them to govern themselves.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

One religious group that was not welcome in England was the Quakers. Quakers call themselves Friends. They believe that each person has an inner light that leads them to God. Quakers believe they do not need a religious leader to tell them what is right. So, they had no clergy.

Quakers believe that all people are equal. The Quakers in England refused to recognize the king as more important than anyone else. They also refused to pay taxes to support the Anglican Church. Quakers believe that it is always wrong to kill. So they would not fight even when they were forced to join the army. They also refuse to promise loyalty to a king or government or flag or anyone but God.

The English did not like the Quakers for all these reasons. Many Quakers wanted to leave England, but they were not welcome in most American colonies. One Quaker changed this. His name was William Penn.

VOICE ONE:

William Penn came to America in 1682. He established Pennsylvania as a place where people could enjoy freedom of religion.

William Penn was not born a Quaker. He became one as a young man. His father was an Anglican, and a good friend of the king.

King Charles borrowed money from William's father. When his father died, William Penn asked that the debt be paid with land in America. In sixteen eighty-one, the king gave William Penn land which the King's Council named Pennsylvania, meaning Penn's woods.

The Quakers now had their own colony. It was between the Puritans in the north and the Anglicans in the south. William Penn said the colony should be a place where everyone could live by Quaker ideas.

That meant treating all people as equals and honoring all religions. It also meant that anyone could be elected. In most other colonies, people could believe any religion, but they could not vote or hold office unless they were a member of the majority church. In Pennsylvania, all religions were equal.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This MAKING OF A NATION program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Paul Thompson. This is Sarah Long.

VOICE TWO:

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

VOASE1107_Education Report

07 November 2007

After 40 Years, Calculators in School Still Add Up to Debate
Teachers say electronic brains can be useful, but young students should know basic operations before they begin using them.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Can you do the math: What is one hundred times four, divided by the square root of a hundred? If you know that, then you know the answer to this: How many years ago did three scientists at Texas Instruments invent the handheld electronic calculator?

The handheld electronic calculator was invented in 1967

The answer is forty. The scientists were Jerry Merryman, James Van Tassel and Jack Kilby. Their first device could add, subtract, multiply and divide. It had twelve bytes of memory -- close to nothing compared to today's powerful calculators. And it weighed more than a kilogram.

But it was powered by batteries. That meant it could be taken anywhere. Other electronic calculators had to be plugged into electricity. Not only that, they weighed close to twenty-five kilograms and were almost as big as typewriters.

In the United States, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics says teachers at every level should support the use of calculators. Students are even permitted to use them when they take college entrance tests. That may surprise parents who still think of the days of paper-and-pencil only.

Yet after forty years, calculators in the classroom still add up to the same old debate.

Some education experts think calculators are used too much. Children, they say, learn to depend on these electronic brains instead of their own. Calculators may not only give students answers to questions they do not really understand, critics argue. They may also keep them from discovering ideas for themselves. The danger? Students who cannot even do simple addition and subtraction.

Other experts, though, say calculators have helped make mathematics more understandable to more students. They say calculators give students more time to understand and solve problems -- and to develop a better sense of what numbers mean. That way, the reasoning goes, they can study higher level ideas than they would otherwise. And they can feel better about their abilities.

What do teachers think? Generally they say calculators can be useful -- especially with more complex math. But they also say that young students should know basic operations before they begin using them.

What do you think of calculators in the classroom? Send your thoughts to special@voanews.com. Tell us about your own experience. And be sure to include your name and where you are from.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE1106_Health Report

06 November 2007

Children’s Doctors Group Calls for Early Medical and Educational Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders
American Academy of Pediatrics urges early treatment for autistic spectrum disorders.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Last week we reported about new advice on autism from the American Academy of Pediatrics. It said doctors should look for signs of the brain disorder when they examine babies at eighteen months and twenty-four months.

At the same time, the medical group provided new guidelines for care and treatment of children once they are identified as autistic. We promised more information on that part of the new guidelines this week.

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

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

The new guidelines include educational interventions, medical care and family support tools.

An autistic 3-year-old studies flash cards held by an instructor

The American Academy of Pediatrics says young autistic children should enter some kind of learning program. It says such children should be actively involved in the program at least twenty-five hours a week all year long. The group also says it is best if there is a small number of students for each teacher. The A.A.P. says autistic children do better with more direct attention from and interaction with their teachers.

The group also calls for interaction between autistic children and non-autistic children of the same age when possible. However, the A.A.P. guidelines note that children with more severe cases of autism spectrum disorder may have serious behavior problems. These could make interactions with other children difficult or even harmful.

The experts advise parents to receive training for dealing with autism. But the A.A.P. warns parents and doctors against several kinds of treatment programs. These include those that claim a high level of success or a cure for the disorder. The guidelines suggest using treatments that are based on results of controlled studies supported by established scientific organizations.

The A.A.P. says autistic children should have the same general health care as other children, including immunizations against disease. It says some autistic children have behavior, social or medical problems that may require treatment with drugs.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. Transcripts and MP3 files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Bob Doughty.

VOASE1106_Explorations

06 November 2007

Worldwide, a Language Dies Every Two Weeks
Over half of the 7,000 languages in the world are in danger of disappearing.

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VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we travel far and wide to learn about some of the rarest languages in the world. Experts say over half of the world’s seven thousand languages are in danger of disappearing. Every two weeks one language disappears.

As the last speakers of a language die off, the valuable information contained within a language also disappears. Join us as we learn about the cultural value of language and why endangered languages must be protected.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

What would happen if you were the only person left who spoke your language? Who would you share stories with, sing songs to, or exchange jokes with? Who would understand your names for local plants, animals and traditions? This is the example David Harrison and Gregory Anderson use to explain the situation of many people around the world whose local languages are disappearing. Mister Harrison and Mister Anderson head Living Tongues, an organization that studies and protects endangered languages.

VOICE TWO:

Sometimes a language disappears immediately when the last person speaking it dies. Or, a local language might disappear more slowly. This happens when an official language is used more often and children stop learning the local language of their parents. This is not a new process. Official languages often represent a form of control over a group of people.

Throughout history, the language spoken by a powerful group spreads across a civilization. The more powerful culture rarely respects the language and culture of smaller ethnic groups. So, smaller cultures lose their local language as the language of the culture in power becomes the stronger influence.

VOICE ONE:

For example, many native languages in the Russian area of Siberia are threatened. This is largely because of the hostile language policies of the former Soviet Union that forced the use of Russian as the official language.

The Internet could be thought of as a new method of language control. The United Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, says that ninety percent of the world’s languages are not represented on the Internet.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Experts say protecting languages is very important for many reasons. Languages contain the histories, ideas and knowledge of a culture. Languages also contain valuable information about local medicines, plants and animals.

David Harrison and Gregory Anderson of Living Tongues say that many endangered languages are spoken by native cultures in close contact with the natural world. Their ancient languages contain a great deal of information about environmental systems and species of plants and animals that are unknown to scientists.

VOICE ONE:

Each language also shows how a culture organizes information. For example, one word in the native language Carrier spoken in British Colombia means “he gives me an object like the fruit blueberries.” In the Nivkh language of Siberia, each number can be said twenty-six different ways based on the object being counted. And, in one language in Botswana, there are three main kinds of plants and animals: edible “eat-things”, harmful “bite-things” and “useless things.”

Here Gregory Anderson talks about why languages are important:

GREGORY ANDERSON:

“Language is in many ways, a window to the mind. What these languages contain are all kinds of ways that we structure the world. Language is a way of storing the history of a people. Languages reflect a different historical contact with other groups, for example, in the form of loan words that get borrowed from one language into another. And, for people that have no written history, language can be one of the ways that that history can be gotten at just by looking carefully at the different layers in the language.”

VOICE TWO:

The Living Tongues group has partnered with National Geographic to create the Enduring Voices Project. The goal of the project is to increase public attention about endangered languages and to study and document them. The project also works to prevent languages from dying out by identifying the most threatened areas where languages are disappearing. These “hotspot” areas include Northern Australia, Central South America, Eastern Siberia and parts of the United States and Canada.

VOICE ONE:

For example, native people in the Northern Territory of Australia speak more than one hundred fifty languages. Many native aboriginal languages are only spoken, so there is no written record of their existence. Within this hotspot, at least eleven languages are extremely endangered. The Living Tongues team traveled to Australia in July, two thousand seven to study and record some of these native languages.

Patrick and Mona Nanudjul, shown with linguist David Harrison, are among the last speakers of Magati Ke

They worked with aboriginal groups to give them ideas on how to protect and teach these endangered languages. Some languages like Magati Ke only have three known speakers. So there is little that can be done to save that language. At the very least, a sound recording of the language will remain. Listen to the words of “Old Man” Patrick Nanudjul speaking Magati Ke.

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

Many languages are also disappearing from the northwestern part of the United States. The languages spoken by native tribes are increasingly endangered as younger generations learn and speak English. One of the most endangered languages is called Siletz Dee-ni.

It was spoken on the Siletz reservation, where the tribe lives on a protected area of land within the state of Oregon. The reservation was created in the nineteenth century to hold people from twenty-seven different native groups. The groups spoke different languages, so they developed Chinook Jargon to communicate with each other. With increased use of Chinook Jargon and English, the number of people speaking their native languages decreased.

VOICE ONE:

Today, only one person on the reservation speaks Siletz Dee-ni. Living Tongues has helped the tribal members create a Siletz Dictionary to preserve knowledge of this language. Here is a recording of several words in the dictionary.

(SOUND)

The Siletz Tribal Council also started an Athabaskan Language Program in two thousand three. The program works to create a dictionary and gives weekly classes to schoolchildren.

(SOUND: Max Chura speaking)

VOICE TWO:

That was an example of the secret mixed language of Kallawaya, spoken by male traditional healers in a small community in southern Bolivia.

Don Max Chura, a Kallawaya language consultant, with linguist Gregory Anderson

Kallawaya is a mixed language. It has some grammar structure and words from several other languages that are unknown or that have disappeared. Kallawaya is an ancient language. Traditional healers spoke the language at least as early as the fifteenth century during the height of the Inca civilization. Why is it a secret language? Kallawaya is passed down within families from father to son as a way of protecting the special knowledge of healers.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Experts say bringing back threatened languages is not easy, but it is very important work. One example takes place in the American state of Hawaii. The United States first claimed Hawaii as a territory in eighteen ninety-eight. Two years before, the use of the Hawaiian language was banned in private and public schools. English became the official language of Hawaii. Slowly, fewer and fewer young natives learned to speak Hawaiian fluently. The language began to disappear.

William Wilson teaches at the University of Hawaii. He says that in nineteen eighty-six fewer than fifty children in Hawaii could speak their native language fluently. That same year, the language ban was lifted after extended protests by native groups. The Hawaiian language began to be taught again in schools. Today, Mister Wilson says about two thousand children now speak Hawaiian. He says that more importantly, many families now speak Hawaiian at home.

VOICE TWO:

In Australia, Living Tongues helped an eighty-year-old woman teach a Yawuru language class to schoolchildren. She is one of only three speakers of this rare language. Gregory Anderson says the children willingly signed up to take her class. He and his team of researchers asked the children why they were in the class. The children said that Yawuru is a dying language and they needed to learn it. They said it was up to them to keep the language alive.

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. You can learn more about Living Tongues and the Enduring Voices Project on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

All sound clips of language examples and photographs are from livingtongues.org.

VOASE1105_Agriculture Report

05 November 2007

Farming Marginal Lands
It is possible to reclaim poor quality land for agriculture, but care is needed.

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This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

An Australian farmer stands on land damaged by lack of rain last year

To call land "marginal" means it is not very good. Farmers have their own way to describe it. Marginal land is the last to be planted under good conditions and the first to be avoided when situations are bad.

Low quality soil is not the only reason why land could be considered marginal. The land might be in an area where rainfall is limited. Or it might be on a hillside that rises too sharply.

Yet there are uses for marginal land. Most often it is used as grassland. Grasses provide excellent feed for grazing animals like cattle, sheep and goats.

A farmer might use native grasses or non-native seed. Either way, it is important to establish good ground cover to avoid the loss of soil through erosion.

Forage crops like clover and alfalfa could be planted. These members of the legume family provide high protein food for grazing animals. They also improve the quality of the soil.

Most plants use up nitrogen. But legumes put nitrogen back into the soil. Forage crops also help limit erosion.

But using marginal land for grazing is not as simple as it might sound. There is a risk of overgrazing. Cattle can damage forage crops by eating down to the roots. Also, the animals crush the soil with their weight. That can make the ground too hard for growing.

A way to reduce the damage is to move animals from one field to another. This method is known as rotational grazing. Agricultural experts say rotational grazing is extremely important for marginal land.

Another use for marginal land is for tree crops. Studies have shown that the white pine and loblolly pine are two kinds of trees that grow well on such land. They grow fast and provide good quality wood. Another kind to consider is the poplar. And there are slower-growing trees like the black walnut that provide wood as well as a nut crop.

Trees help support the soil. They reduce the damaging effects of wind and rain. And they can provide grazing animals with shade from the sun.

Marginal lands need care to protect them. Failing to take that care might only make a bad situation worse. But good planning can turn a marginal resource into a highly productive one.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts and MP3 files of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. If you have a question about agriculture, send it to special@voanews.com. Please tell us your name and where you are from. We might be able to answer your question on our program. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOASE1105_Science In the News

05 November 2007

New Telescope to Search for Life Beyond Earth
Also: Leading scientific publications join together to examine poverty and development.

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VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell about an effort to search for intelligent life beyond our universe. We will tell about a method shown to increase attention and reduce tension. We will also report on new concerns about the health of children in Africa.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California, is being used to search for intelligent life

The search for life in the universe took a step forward last month with the opening of the Allen Telescope Array in Hat Creek, California.

The telescopes were partly made possible by a gift of twenty-five million dollars from Paul Allen. He helped start the computer software company Microsoft. He joined with the Radio Astronomy Laboratory of the University of California at Berkeley and the SETI Institute to provide money for the project. The total cost of the project is already fifty million dollars.

Currently, there are forty-two radio telescopes working at the Hat Creek observatory. The signals they receive are combined to create what is equal to a single, very large telescope.

VOICE TWO:

Objects in space release radio waves that can be collected and studied. Astronomers can make pictures of objects using radio wave information. These pictures can show structures not observed in other wavelengths of light.

The telescope will be used to observe objects like exploding stars, black holes and other objects that are predicted but have not yet been observed. Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute says this is the first telescope whose main purpose is to search for signals from intelligent life in space.

What makes the Allen Telescope Array unusual is that it can collect and study information from a wide area of the sky. In addition, the forty-two telescopes can study information about several projects at the same time. That means studies of large areas of the sky can be made faster than ever before.

VOICE ONE:

The Allen Telescope Array uses parts that are not specially made. But they are easily available, including telecommunications technology. This helps keep the cost down. Each telescope is about six meters across.

Some officials estimate the Allen Telescope Array will be completed in three more years. Three hundred fifty individual radio telescopes are planned.

The SETI institute is based in Mountain View, California. The organization supports the search for other life forms in the universe. The new abilities of the Allen Telescope Array will make searching for stars similar to the sun much faster.

An earlier search by SETI, Project Phoenix, studied about eight hundred stars to a distance of two hundred forty light years. The project ended in two thousand four. With the Allen Telescope Array, astronomers hope to gather thousands of times more information in the search for life beyond our planet.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Students practice transcendental meditation

Recent studies have shown that performing intensive meditation for long periods can help to improve attention. They also showed meditation reduces emotional or mental pressure and makes it easier to deal with difficult activities.

Meditation is a kind of guided thought. People who meditate often spend months or years in training. But an American study found that people can get the same helpful effects in five days if they use a process called integrative mind-body meditation. The process combines rest, controlled breathing, mental imagery and mindfulness training. In earlier studies, such activities have been shown to improve attention, emotion, and social behaviors.

VOICE ONE:

Researchers at the University of Oregon developed integrative mind-body training. The researchers taught it to forty university students in China. They compared the results of the training to the results of deep rest in another group of students.

The study found that the students in the trained group performed better than the others on measures like attention and emotion. The researchers also measured levels of the natural hormone cortisol. Cortisol has been called the worry hormone. The body produces it when we are afraid. The study found cortisol levels were much lower in the mind-body trained group than in the other group.

VOICE TWO:

Michael Posner is an expert on attention at the University of Oregon. He helped to write a report on the study. Professor Posner says he was surprised by the findings. He says he thought they might have resulted from where the study was carried out. He says many people in China are already believers in intensive meditation. But he says Chinese university students have concerns about traditional Chinese medicine.

The report on the gains of short-term mind-body training is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

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

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Health officials in Sudan have launched a campaign to vaccinate eight million children after a case of polio was reported there. United Nations and Sudanese agencies are carrying out the campaign. Sudan had been polio-free since two thousand five. The new case of wild poliovirus was confirmed in South Darfur two months ago.

Health officials also announced in September that Nigeria has had almost seventy new cases of polio since two thousand five. Those cases, however, were caused by the polio vaccine itself.

VOICE TWO:

There are two kinds of polio vaccine. The one given by injection contains killed virus, which cannot cause polio. The one given by mouth contains live but weakened virus. In very rare cases, the virus can change and cause polio.

The way to stop the spread now is more vaccinations. But officials worry that people in northern Nigeria may, once again, fear the vaccine. In recent years, local leaders spread stories that Western nations had poisoned the vaccine with the virus that causes AIDS.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Recently, major science publications around the world produced what was called a "Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development." The Council of Science Editors organized the project. The Council said it involved two hundred thirty-five scientific journals from thirty-seven countries.

The group said the goal was to increase interest and research in the subject and to spread the results as widely as possible. It said the journals published more than seven hundred fifty stories involving eighty-seven countries.

The web site of the Council of Science Editors released a partial list of the stories. The group has urged all journals that published the articles to make them available free to the public.

VOICE TWO:

This is the third time scientific journals have joined together to report on a single issue. The first time was in nineteen ninety-six. That is when thirty-six journals published articles about worldwide threats from diseases. In nineteen ninety-seven, ninety-seven journals joined together to report on the issue of aging.

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

VOICE ONE:

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

America's National Institutes of Health held an event to launch the Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development. Experts from the N.I.H. and the Council of Science Editors chose seven articles for recognition. The subjects included childbirth safety, AIDS, malaria treatment and the effects of influenza on children.

Seven years ago, the United Nations recognized the link between health and development in the Millennium Development Goals. But many experts believe the targets for health improvements will not be reached at current rates of progress.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Soo Jee Han, Mario Ritter and Caty Weaver. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

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

VOASE1104_This Is America

04 November 2007

For Veterans, Pride in Service, and Health Systems Pushed to Limits
As the nation observes Veterans Day, a look at issues facing wounded troops returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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VOICE ONE:

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

Mary Robles (age 5) stands with her father, Master Sgt. Daniel Robles, during a Purple Heart ceremony in San Antonio

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. November eleventh is Veterans Day in the United States. The holiday honors those who served in the military. That describes almost twenty-five million people alive today. This week on our program, we talk about veterans and some current issues they face.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A visitor to the National World War Two Memorial in Washington stands looking at the water rising from the fountains in the middle.

The memorial has an Atlantic side and a Pacific side. The visitor, a man with white hair, walks over to the Atlantic side -- the war in Europe. He looks at the stone block honoring veterans from Massachusetts, his home state.

Fighting in the war was terrible, he says. But being a veteran changed his life.

He explains that he attended college and became an engineer because of legislation passed in nineteen forty-four. The law was known as the "GI Bill of Rights." GI is slang for a soldier.

It provided veterans with money for education. It guaranteed loans for homes and businesses. It helped support veterans who had trouble finding jobs. Today, there is a modern version called the Montgomery GI Bill.

The last military draft ended in nineteen seventy-three. Since then the armed services have been all-volunteer.

VOICE TWO:

Many young veterans today served in Iraq or Afghanistan, or in some cases both.

Military and veterans health systems have faced struggles and criticisms of their ability to meet current needs. Close to thirty thousand American troops have been wounded in Iraq since the war began in two thousand three. Many were severely injured, including lost arms and legs and brain injuries as a result of bomb explosions.

President Bush says the system for managing care is old and needs to be changed.

His proposals are based on suggestions from the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors. Some measures can be taken without legislation; others have to be approved by Congress. The president appointed the commission in March after news reports brought the issue to national attention.

VOICE ONE:

President Bush with member of the National Guard at Walter Reed Army Medical Center Photo: The White House

In February, the Washington Post reported on problems for soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. These included poor living conditions and long delays in decisions about the future of their care and their military service.

The newspaper series raised wider questions and quickly brought promises of improvements.

For example, the Army is developing new teams in an effort to improve case management for wounded soldiers. But the Government Accountability Office recently reported that the Army is having trouble filling positions on these teams. At the same time, long-standing problems remain to be solved.

Last month, Mister Bush proposed legislation to speed up the process for wounded service members. Now, they go through medical tests and complete paperwork for the Department of Defense. They have to repeat the same process for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the V.A.

The legislation calls for the Defense Department to decide if a wounded veteran could return to active duty. Those too badly injured would be moved to the care of the V.A. The V.A. would rule on the extent of their injuries.

VOICE TWO:

Family members caring for veterans would receive six months of unpaid leave from work so they would not lose their jobs.

Also, all Iraq and Afghanistan veterans could get care for post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. They would not have to prove it was connected to their service.

And other measures are being proposed.

The Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission, in its final report last month, called for an immediate increase in disability payments. The group was established in the two thousand four defense budget.

The commission said Congress should increase payments by up to twenty-five percent. This is being called for as a step toward future measures based not just on work-related losses but losses in quality of life.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Almost one and one-half million men and women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over a four-year period doctors reported about sixty thousand people with PTSD or serious brain injuries.

Several drugs and mental health treatments are used for post-traumatic stress disorder. But a report released last month said most of the treatments are unproven.

The report came from a committee of the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academies in Washington. The experts found problems with many studies of PTSD treatments.

They decided that there is not enough evidence to make judgments about any medications. In the words of chairman Alfred Berg from the University of Washington in Seattle: "These therapies may or may not be effective -- we just don't know."

VOICE TWO:

The committee said the same thing about most of the psychotherapies. However, the experts found enough evidence to say that exposure therapies are effective in treating people with PTSD. These forms of therapy expose people to a threat in a safe environment to help them deal with their fears.

Still, the experts said they were not suggesting to discontinue any treatment or only use exposure therapies. Doctor Berg said there is an urgent need for high-quality studies of the best possible care.

The committee found that there is not even a generally accepted definition for recovery from the disorder.

VOICE ONE:

PTSD is the most common service-related mental disorder found in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Almost thirteen percent of those who fought in Iraq, and about six percent in Afghanistan, are believed to have experienced it.

The Institute of Medicine noted that large numbers of Vietnam veterans and veterans of earlier conflicts have also reported PTSD. And most people who suffer from it also have other conditions such as alcoholism, depression, drug use or anxiety disorders.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The V.A. says about one-third of homeless adults in the United States have served in the armed forces, mostly during the Vietnam War.

The department says an estimated one hundred ninety-five thousand veterans are homeless on any given night. And, it says, perhaps twice as many are homeless at some point during any given year.

The V.A. has special treatment programs and services that were established twenty years ago to serve homeless veterans.

VOICE ONE:

Last year there was a documentary film about homeless veterans called "When I Came Home." It tells the story of an Iraq war veteran with PTSD named Herold Noel. In one scene, he talks about living in his automobile in New York.

(SOUND)

HEROLD NOEL: "You want to see my home? You want to see my home? My home is right there. That's my home. You understand? There's my home."

VOICE ONE:

The press materials for the film included a newspaper story about Herold Noel in the New York Post in January of two thousand five. The story said he was seeing a psychiatrist at a V.A. hospital and had been given three different drugs for his PTSD. But he needed housing for his family. He went to an emergency assistance office in the city. The story said he was told there was no more government-assisted housing available.

VOICE TWO:

The documentary shows how his life changes after meets Paul Rieckhoff. Mister Rieckhoff is the founder of an organization called Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. The movie follows Herold Noel as he becomes active and receives media attention. It shows him going to Washington to ask Congress for more help for other veterans.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Three years ago, Illinois Army National Guard pilot Tammy Duckworth was flying in a Black Hawk helicopter near Baghdad. A rocket struck the aircraft. She lost both legs and suffered severe injuries to her right arm.

She says veterans of the Korean and Vietnam wars helped her through her painful recovery with support and advice.

Last year she was a Democratic candidate for Congress. It was her first campaign for public office. She lost the election. But she now serves as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

VOICE TWO:

Another veteran, Joyce Robinson, keeps a book of memories. One of them is a photograph of a young woman in the military. That was her, more than sixty years ago. She served in the Army occupation forces in Japan after World War Two. Joyce Robinson says she is happy she served, and glad to be a veteran.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE1104_Development Report

04 November 2007

Keeping Count of Who Enters the World or Leaves
A campaign is launched to make sure all of the world’s births and deaths are recorded.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Governments may be accused of keeping too many records on their people. But no one seems to argue with recording births, deaths and marriages. This is called civil registration.

Birth and death records help governments count populations and know how long people live and what they die from. This information is important for planning schools, hospitals and other services.

A birth certificate is also important for another reason. That piece of paper is legal proof that an individual exists.

Yet the World Health Organization believes that almost forty percent of all births go unrecorded. It estimates that one hundred twenty-eight million babies are born each year. So one way to look at this is to say that every year close to fifty million people are denied legal identities.

And in the least developed countries the rate could be as high as seventy percent.

The situation is no better for death records. Every year fifty-seven million people die. But perhaps only one-third of these deaths are counted.

The W.H.O., the United Nations health agency, has one hundred ninety-three member states. Yet it receives dependable cause-of-death information from just thirty-one countries.

Researchers say most developing countries have limited civil registration systems or none at all. Now, a partnership supported by the W.H.O., called the Health Metrics Network, will try to improve the situation.

Last week it launched a campaign to register all of the world’s births and deaths. The effort was announced at a conference in Beijing, the Global Forum for Health Research.

The director general of the W.H.O., Margaret Chan, said no single U.N. agency is responsible for making sure births and deaths are recorded. Yet without these numbers, she says, who knows if one hundred twenty billion dollars in official development aid each year is being spent wisely?

The campaign began with four papers published in The Lancet medical journal describing the situation. Also, the Health Metrics Network is launching intensive efforts to help six countries. The group has already started to work with Cambodia, Sierra Leone and Syria. By the end of this year, three more countries will be identified for help to make sure everyone gets counted.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. To learn more about civil registration, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

VOASE1103_People In America

03 November 2007

Maria Callas, 1923-1977: A Beautiful Voice and Intense Personality
She influenced opera more than any other singer of the twentieth century.

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ANNOUNCER:

Welcome to People in America in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus. Today, Shirley Griffith and Ray Freeman tell about one of the most famous opera singers of the twentieth century, Maria Callas.

(MUSIC: March From "Norma")

VOICE ONE:

Opera is a play that tells a story in music. The people in the opera sing, instead of speak, the play's words. Opera is one of the most complex of all art forms. It combines acting, singing, music, costumes, scenery and, sometimes, dance. Often there are many colorful crowd scenes.

Opera uses the huge power of music to communicate feelings and to express emotions. Music can express emotions very forcefully. So most opera composers base their works on very tragic stories of love and death. An opera often shows anger, cruelty, violence, fear or insanity. Opera has been very popular in Europe since it spread through it during the seventeenth century. It also has become popular in the United States.

VOICE TWO:

Maria Callas

Maria Callas was one of the best-known opera singers in the world. During the nineteen fifties, she became famous internationally for her beautiful voice and intense personality. The recordings of her singing the well-known operas remain very popular today.

Maria Callas was born in New York City in nineteen twenty-three. Her real name was Maria Kalogeropoulous. Her parents were Greek. When she was fourteen, she and her mother returned to Greece. Maria studied singing at the national conservatory in Athens. The well-known opera singer Elvira de Hidalgo chose Maria as her student.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen forty-one, when she was seventeen, Maria Callas was paid to sing in a major opera for the first time. She sang the leading roles in several operas in Athens during the next three years.

In nineteen forty-five, Callas was invited to perform in Italy. This was the real beginning of her profession as an opera singer. She performed major parts in several of the most famous operas. In nineteen forty-nine, she married an Italian industrialist, Giovanni Battista Meneghini. He was twenty years older. He became her adviser and manager.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen fifty, Maria Callas performed for the first time at the famous La Scala opera house in Milan, Italy. She sang in the famous opera "Eida" by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. She sang the part of Aida, an Ethiopian slave in ancient Egypt.

(MUSIC: "Ritorna Vincitor" from "Aida"))

VOICE ONE:

During the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties, Maria Callas sang in about forty major operas in the most famous opera houses in the world.

In nineteen fifty-six, she appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She sang the lead in the opera "Norma" by Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini. She was a great success. Norma, a religious leader in the ancient city of Gaul, became one of her most famous parts.

(MUSIC: "Casta Diva" from "Norma"))

VOICE TWO:

During the years, Maria Callas often had problems with her voice. Critics said some of her performances were not her best. Sometimes she had to cancel performances. Her relations with the officials of major opera companies often were tense. Many harmful stories were written about Callas. The stories suggested that people she worked with thought she was difficult. However, many people who worked most closely with her denied this.

When she was not singing in operas, Callas was making recordings. She made more recordings than any other singer of her time.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-nine, her marriage to Mister Meneghini ended. Maria Callas became the lover of a rich Greek businessman, Aristotle Onassis. Callas suffered more problems with her voice. So she sang less. In nineteen sixty-five, she sang in the opera "Tosca" by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini. She was Floria, an Italian singer. It was a part she had sung many times. It was the last time she appeared in an opera.

(MUSIC: "Vissi D'arte" from "Tosca"))

VOICE TWO:

Now that she was no longer singing, Callas wanted to marry Aristotle Onassis and have a child. However, in nineteen sixty-eight, Onassis suddenly said that he was leaving her. He had decided to marry Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of the murdered American president, John Kennedy.

Three years later, Callas decided to teach young opera singers. In the early nineteen seventies, she taught twelve classes at the Juilliard School in New York. Parts of these classes were released as records. Terrence McNally wrote a play about Maria Callas and her opera students called "Master Class."

VOICE ONE:

Maria Callas sang in many cities in Europe, the United States and East Asia in nineteen seventy-three and seventy-four. She performed with opera singer Giuseppe di Stefano. Critics said she was not able to sing as well as she had when she was younger. It is not known if Callas's troubles were caused by a physical problem or because she had not spent enough time training her voice.

Maria Callas died of a heart attack in her home in Paris in nineteen seventy-seven. She was fifty-three.

VOICE TWO:

Many experts say Maria Callas influenced opera more than any other singer of the twentieth century. They say she had the deepest understanding of the traditional Italian opera. Her beautiful voice and intense feeling increased the effect of an opera. One expert said: "Callas sees and hears in the great operas the poetry of music. Others sing notes. She sings meaning. "

People who heard Maria Callas sing say they will not forget the experience. Her voice lives on in the many recordings she made. Some experts say Maria Callas is as popular now as she was when she was performing around the world.

(MUSIC: March From "Norma")

VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America.

庆祝PoEnglish网站PageRank值达到4/10！VOASE10月合辑奉上！

10月合辑制作完毕，包括2007年10月的全部内容，Words and Their Stories的内容也收录其中。
源的地址（需安装 eMule，复制到地址栏）是：
ed2k://|file|VOASE0710.iso|410484736|6CC37BFAAED4D17C8B8765FC1EFDB60D|h=IHRRA6IDWZG5M56SRHQYN7XGNHN3EZZC|/

可能下载贴很快就会给VeryCD贴出来，还在老地方
http://lib.verycd.com/2007/02/07/0000138789.html

刚刚整理网页，发现页面上的Google工具栏PageRank的小绿槽长了点，仔细一看，哈哈，达到4分了，真棒阿！
对于一个个人网页来说，4分是不错的了，更何况在blogger被全面“风沙”的境遇下，网站的流量重要性得到肯定，更让我高兴！
但回顾上月blog的更新情况，只能用糟糕来形容。
为数不多的几次更新，一次更新十几篇，这样补交作业式的更新，我自己也很惭愧。
我上个月确实是忙了点，还生了次病（急性肠胃炎。。。提醒大家注意饮食卫生），但认真检讨下，忙不是造成未能抽出时间及时更新的原因，惰性才是根本原因。
在网站的重要性得到肯定这个积极的鼓励下，我还是要要求自己坚持天天更新天天学习。
英语学习是个长期的积累过程，同样，认真长久地坚持一件事情，也是对个人行事品性最好的锻炼。
坚持！加油！

另外问网友们一个问题，最近我的poenglish@gmail.com邮箱出了错，Gmail Notifier不能成功登陆，读取邮件经常要重新连接，可我的其它Gmail邮箱都正常，究竟导致错误的是什么原因我不明白，有了解的朋友请告知我。谢谢了。

还有就是，我要向那些给我写信的而我未能及时回复的朋友们道歉，因为本人的“懒惰+拖拉+迟钝+愚笨”，常常回信很晚，偶尔一不小心还忘了回复，所以请大家看在我生了那么多毛病的可怜样上，就饶过我吧，我会再仔细复核邮件的，记得还是要给我写信哦 :-)

VOASE1102_In the News

02 November 2007

Fernandez Makes History in Argentina, but Soon Comes the Real Work
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, senator and first lady, is the first woman to be elected president. The country faces energy shortages and high inflation.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

Cristina Fernandez

Senator and first lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner this week became the first woman to be elected president of Argentina. The fifty-four-year-old lawyer and politician received about twice as many votes as her closest opponent, Elisa Carrio.

Cristina Fernandez will take office in December when her husband, President Nestor Kirchner, steps down after one term. She will face difficult issues including Argentina's high inflation rates and energy shortages.

Her support comes mainly from Argentina’s lower classes. Political observers say she could lose that support if she is unable to slow inflation and deal with the energy problems.

Elisa Carrio, a former legislator known for her campaign against corruption, had the strong support of wealthier voters. She won the big cities of Buenos Aires, Cordoba and Rosario.

Argentina has the second largest economy in South America, after Brazil. The economy has grown at more than eight percent a year during Nestor Kirchner's presidency. But the country has a large international debt. And one-fourth of its thirty-seven million people still live in poverty.

President-elect Fernandez has promised to continue her husband’s policies. Many people believe his success in improving the economy helped her rise to the presidency. Argentina suffered a financial crisis in two thousand one and two thousand two.

She says she will work to improve employment, health care, education -- and Argentina’s foreign relations. Her husband has traveled little outside the country during his four years as president. But she has spent recent months meeting with foreign leaders.

Citizens eighteen to seventy living in Argentina are required to vote. Those living outside the country are not required. But Argentine Embassy spokeswoman Danielle de la Fuente in Washington said many came to the consulate to vote in Sunday's election.

Argentina also has a law to support the involvement of women in politics. It requires one-third of legislative candidates to be women.

Cristina Fernandez will join Michelle Bachelet of Chile as the only female presidents in Latin America. But while Argentina will have its first elected female president, she will not be the first woman to lead the country. Vice President Isabel Peron became president after her husband, General Juan Peron, died in nineteen seventy-four.

President Nestor Kirchner

President Kirchner and his wife lead the Peronist party, a movement that grew out of the rule of General Peron. Some people think they will try to exchange the presidency between them for the next twelve years. Argentine law permits a former president to run again after a four-year wait.

Many people compare Cristina Fernandez to American presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Both women are senators and lawyers whose husbands were governors and then presidents.

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

VOASE1101_Economics Report

01 November 2007

Finance: Merrill Lynch CEO O'Neal Is Out After Huge Loss
Stan O'Neal retires under pressure following the company's $2 billion loss after taking an $8 billion charge on mortgage-related investments.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Stan O'Neal

This week, directors of investment bank Merrill Lynch forced out its chief executive officer, Stan O'Neal. He retired less than a week after Merrill reported its first quarterly loss in six years, and the biggest in its ninety-three-year history.

Merrill is the world's largest brokerage company. It lost over two billion dollars in the period from July through September. That was because of more than eight billion dollars in write-downs. A write-down represents a reduction in the value of investments or other assets.

The results were mostly related to subprime mortgages -- housing loans to people with risky credit histories. Merrill has had the largest losses so far of any American bank with investments tied to subprime loans. Many of these investments are complex securities called collateralized debt obligations.

Merrill had almost eight billion dollars in write-downs on C.D.O.s and subprime mortgages. That was even more than the four and one-half billion dollars expected. Its other divisions, however, remained profitable.

Stan O'Neal worked for Merrill Lynch for twenty-one years. He held the top job since two thousand two. Board members were angry at the losses and at reports that he proposed a merger deal with Wachovia Bank without their approval. He chose most of the members of that board.

Critics say he failed to listen to warnings about the risk of subprime debt. Yet his decisions to make riskier investments than chief executives before him helped produce record profits for the company. He also pushed to reduce costs, including thousands of job cuts -- a culture change for a company that was known as "Mother Merrill."

He leaves with about one hundred sixty million dollars worth of stock and retirement pay.

Stan O'Neal was the first African-American to lead a major Wall Street investment bank. He rose out of poverty. As a boy he picked cotton on a family farm in Alabama. Later he was a factory worker at General Motors.

Some market watchers think Merrill Lynch may have to write down an additional four billion dollars in the fourth quarter of the year. But the company was not alone in reporting big third-quarter losses.

In Europe the investment bank UBS said it lost about seven hundred million dollars. It wrote down more than three billion dollars of investments linked to subprime loans. And UBS warned that it could end the year with more losses.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.

VOASE1101_American Mosaic

01 November 2007

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

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We listen to some music from Rufus Wainwright …

Answer a question about American elections …

And report about the Denver Art Museum.

Denver Art Museum

HOST:

Newest extension of the Denver Art Museum

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

FAITH LAPIDUS:

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

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

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

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

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

American Elections

HOST:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rufus Wainwright

HOST:

Rufus Wainwright

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

BARBARA KLEIN:

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

(MUSIC)

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

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

(MUSIC)

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

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

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

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