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BALD EAGLES: THE BUSINESS LEADER.

I have a passion for the bald eagle or Haliaeetus Leucocephalus
according to his scientific name. I have this passion as long as
I can remember.
A passion for a bird of prey that can be seen in some parts of the World
would be more obvious. But life is full of inexplicable surprises
and left me with this passion for the bald eagle, the national
symbol of the United States of America.
When I read about bald eagles and about the way they live, I
always start thinking about what a businessman can learn from
them in order to become successful and that is what this article
is about.

1. Vision

Bald eagles are birds that can often be found on very high
altitudes. There they soar and with their very sharp eyesight
they have a clear view on the world below them and especially
on the prey they want to catch; fish, that is what they like
most. They can see the milky white spot in the water from a
distance of many miles. In high places they build their nests.
On a rock, on the top of a tree but always on a spot where they
have a good view on the world that surrounds them. And from
their castle they see what is happening around them and that
gives security.

The businessman should also have a clear view on what is
happening in the market. From very far he should recognize his
potential customers and "attack" them at the right moment. At
the same time he should be aware of the dangers that surround
him, anticipate, absorb the environment and be prepared to act
immediately.

2. Knowledge

Bald eagles are confined to their territories. With the seasons
some migrate but you find bald eagles only in a specific habitat
namely forests, mountains and near sea and rivers. You won't
find them in the desert. In their habitat they know what to do,
where they can find prey and which dangers surround them. By
instinct and by learning they have knowledge about the way they
have to conduct their lives and about how they have to behave
in this habitat. They will never go beyond the limitations of this
frame work. If they do, they die.

This holds a lesson for the businessman. He should know
everything about his business and when I say everything, I mean
everything. He should know all about the products he sells from
beginning to end, every detail should be an open book to him.
He can never be surprised with questions on which he has no
answers. He should know about marketing techniques, the
position and plans of competitors etc., etc. And if he doesn't
possess this knowledge by nature, he has to learn it.

3. Enough is enough

When Bald Eagles catch prey, they will catch only one fish at a
time. It is not possible for them to catch more. But they know
precisely how to catch this one fish. Their flying skills, their
strong talons and their eyesight are extremely well developed
and fit for the job. Almost every attempt to catch a prey is
successful.

This phenomenom also holds a wise lesson for the businessman.
He has to restrict himself to a number of products he can handle
and products that matches his skills and abilities. To stay in
the animal world: if you are a cow don't try to jump fences like
a horse. People will only laugh at you. It is better to sell one
product very well than ten without a satisfying result.

4. Courage

Bald eagles mate for life and they are absolutely loyal to each
other. From high altitudes the two birds tumble down in a
dangerous free fall. Mocking the laws of gravity they unite.
Only just above the tree tops they separate and fly wing by wing
to the nest. This spectacular show requires great courage. A
businessman also needs courage to be successful. He has to make
decisions about difficult and uncertain subjects. And he also
needs to know when to stop his free fall. Having courage to make
difficult decisions is not synonymous for being reckless. A
decision that leads to disaster is not a decision, but a wild
guess.

You see....the businessman can learn a great deal from this
majestic bird that embodies not only beauty, strength and
freedom but that possesses also the essential conditions and
abilities to survive.

The beginning businessman as well, who is maybe starting his
business in great uncertainty about the future, can learn from
the bald eagle:

METACOGNITION A WAY OF MASTERING YOUR ENGLISH

METACOGNITION

Is being aware of your thinking as you perform specific tasks and then using this awareness to control what you are doing. The two majors of metacognition are:

- Knowledge and control of self

- Knowledge and control of task.

Both are essential for success in any area (academic or nonacademic)

A. Knowledge and Control of Self

Knowledge and control of self imply:

- Commitment (control)

- Attitudes (control)

- Attention (control)

Commitment: If students are not committed to learning, they probably won’t learn much. Before you begin studying English, ask yourself one question. Why do I want to study English? Is it because you want to, or because someone else wants you to? Like every decision in life, studying English must be something you want to do.

Attitudes are beliefs we have that affect how we perceive things and what we do. Students should see how to change their negative attitudes (this is not any value to me, I can’t do this, I have no control over what is happening here, where am I going to use English? I have studied English for long time, what if I fail? Are they going to chasse me? People will laugh at me if I make mistakes. I have to go to English speaking country…) into positive ones (everything is possible let’s work hard, ask for clarification, seek for a help, working in group…)

Attention (attentive): there are two basic types of attention: automatic and voluntary. Automatic attention is reflexive in nature – a reaction.

Voluntary attention is under conscious control. It is active rather than passive in nature.

B. Knowledge and Control of Task

The second major aspect of metacognition is knowledge and control of task. It involves four components:

- setting goals

- planning

- correcting for error

- evaluating

Setting goals: if you don’t know where you want to go, you probably won’t get there. Setting goals allows you to focus on what is important and ignore what is not. Your actions become more efficient because you know what you are looking for.

Planning: planning involves the deliberate selections of strategies to fulfill specific goals. That is, once you have identified a goal you begin to generate strategies for accomplishment the goal.

Correcting for error: the third aspect of knowledge and control of task is correcting for error. Here the student changes his or her plan based on negative and positive “feed – back” - how close or far way a student is accomplishing the goal. Periodically students may assess their progress toward the goal they have established and then change their behavior if necessary.

Evaluating: evaluating, the final aspect of knowledge and control of task, deals with post – assessment of how well the task went. After students have completed a task, they might ask themselves such questions: - Did I accomplish my goal? How close did I come if it wasn’t totally successful? What did I do that didn’t work?

PARTS OF A HOUSE

HOUSE

Room
balcony
bathroom
bedroom
dining room
living room
sitting room
garage
kitchen
basement
cellar
attic
study
toilet
door
doorbell
doormat
letter box
window
roof
chimney
staircase/stairs
flat (GB)
apartment (US)

DINING ROOM

dining room
living room
table
chair
armchair
sofa
floor
ceiling
rug
carpet
fireplace
radiator
lamp
light
curtain
wall
wallpaper
television

KITCHEN

Kitchen
fridge
oven
microwave oven
dishwasher
washing machine
ironing board
toaster
liquidizer (GB)
blender (US)
mixer
broom
sink
tap
waste bin
worktop
tea towel
frying pan
saucepan
pressure cooker
kettle
bowl
tin opener
corkscrew
fork
knife
spoon
teaspoon
cutlery drawer
cup
glass
saucer
jug
coffeepot
coffee maker
teapot
tablecloth
napkin

BATHROOM

Bathroom
bath
shower
toilet
bidet
washbasin
tap
mirror
soap
soap dish
towel
towel rail
bath mat
toilet paper
sponge
comb
hairbrush
hair drier
shampoo
conditioner

safety razor
electric razor
shaving foam
toothbrush
toothpaste
nailbrush

Nail polish

Lip balm

BEDROOM

Bedroom
bed
bedside table
bedside lamp
wardrobe
chest of drawers
drawers
mattress
pillow
blanket
sheet
duvet
bedspread
alarm clock

QUESTIONS

1.- Which are the parts of our house? Write in your notebook.

2.- Where do you sleep?

3.- Where do you eat lunch or dinner?

4.- Where can you cook?

5.- Where can you have a shower or a bath?

6.- Name some things you can see in your bedroom and in your dining room?

7.- Name some things you can see in your kitchen and in your bathroom?

CLOTHES VOCABULARIES

CLOTHES

· belt

· blouse

· bra

· braces

· boots

· cap

· coat

· collar

· dress

· gloves

· mittens

· earmuffs

· hat

· panties / knickers (BE)

· jacket

· jeans

· jumper

· nightgown

· laces

· pajamas

· pants

· raincoat

· scarf

· shirt

· shoes

· shorts

· boxer shorts

· bathrobe

· skirt

· slacks

· slippers

· socks

· stockings

· suit

· uniform

· sweater

· sweatshirt

· t-shirt

· tie

· knot

· tights

· trousers

· underclothes

· underpants

· undershirt

What size do you wear? Small – medium – large – extra – large

Describing Clothes

She is wearing high – heeled, low – heeled – flat heed shoes

He is wearing a heavy / light jacket

She is wearing a shirt with long / short sleeves ( a long or short sleeved shirt)

He is wearing a tight / loose pants a clean / dirty or new / or sneakers

Narrow / wide shoulders

Checked

Dark / light

Heavy / light

Large / small

Long / short skirt

Low / high

Striped

Taking care of clothes

Fold the clothes

Load the machine

Unload the machine

Put detergent in the machine

Put clothes in the dryer

To iron

To shorten skirt

To lengthen pants

To sew clothes

To hang up clothes

To try on clothes

• scissors
• zipper
• button
• needle
• thread
• hanger

Jewelry

Ring – earring –necklace bracelets

LEARN MORE ABOUT OCCUPATIONS

OCCUPATIONS

Accountant - a person that works with the money and accounts of a company.

Actor /Actress - a person that acts in a play or a movie

Architect - a person that designs building and houses.

Author - They write books or novels.

Baker - They make bread and cakes and normally work in a bakery.

Bricklayer - a person that helps to build houses using bricks.

Bus driver - a person that drives buses.

Butcher - a person that works with meat. They cut the meat and sell it in their shop.

Carpenter - a person that makes things from wood including houses and furniture.

Chef/Cook / er - a person that prepares food for others, often in a restaurant or café.

Cleaner - a person that cleans/tidies an area or place (such as in an office)

Dentist - a person that can fix problems you have with your teeth.

Designer - a person who has the job of designing things.

Doctor - a person you go to see when you are ill or have some type of health problem.

Dustman/Refuse collector - a person that collects trash/rubbish from bins in the street.

Electrician - a person that works with electric circuits.

Factory worker - a person that works in a factory.

Farmer - a person that works on a farm, usually with animals.

Fireman/Fire fighter - a person that puts out fires.

Fisherman - a person that catches fish

Florist - a person that works with flowers.

Gardener - a person that keeps gardens clean and tidy. They take care of the plants in the garden.

Hairdresser - they cut your hair or give it a new style.

Journalist - a person that makes new reports in writing or through television.

Judge - a qualified person that decides cases in a law court.

Lawyer - a person that defends people in court and gives legal advice.

Lecturer - a person that gives lectures, usually in a university.

Librarian - a person that works in a library.

Lifeguard - a person that saves lives where people swim (at a beach or swimming pool).

Mechanic - a person that repairs machines, especially car motors.

Model - a (usually attractive) person that works in fashion, modeling clothes and accessories.

Newsreader - a person that reads the news, normally on television.

Nurse - a person trained to help a doctor look after the sick or injured.

Optician - a person that checks your eyes and try and correct any problems with your sight.

Painter - a person that paints pictures or the interior and exterior of buildings.

Pharmacist - a qualified person that works with and dispenses medicine.

Photographer - a person that takes photos.

Pilot - a person who flies a plane.

Plumber - a person that repairs your water systems or pipes.

Politician - a person who works in politics.

Policeman/Policewoman - a member of the police force. They (try and) prevent crime.

Postman - a person that delivers mail to your house.

Real estate agent - a person that makes money from selling land for development.

Receptionist - a person that is at the reception (entrance) of a company.

Scientist - a person that works in the science industry. They do many experiments.

Secretary - a person employed in an office who types letters, keeps records etc.

Shop assistant - a person that works in a shop or store selling products.

Soldier - a person who works for the army.

Tailor - a person that makes clothes for others, many times producing exclusive items of clothing.

Taxi driver - a person who drives a taxi.

Teacher - a person that passes knowledge to students, usually at school.

Translator - a person that translates from one language to another.

Traffic warden - a person that patrols areas to check that people do not park in the wrong place.

Travel agent - a person that organizes and sells holidays and flights for others.

Veterinary doctor (Vet) - a qualified person that looks after sick animals.

Waiter/Waitress - a person that works in a food outlet, looking after customers and serving food.

Window cleaner - a person that cleans windows, normally the windows of big buildings.

READ TO LEARN. WRITING IS AWAY OF CREATING NEW KNOWLEDGE

Studying in the US: Writing College Papers
Academic writing in America means getting to the point quickly, stating ideas clearly and supporting them with evidence. Transcript of radio broadcast: 29 April 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Today in our Foreign Student Series we discuss writing college papers. Writing a term paper, research paper or essay for a college class is a kind of academic writing. Academic writing among professionals is a way to create new knowledge.

A professor assigns students to write a paper. The students examine an issue, review what is already known, think about what they have learned and come to some conclusion.

This means that each student-writer must present information and also take a position. The student might support an idea, question it or even disprove it. Or the writer could show how the subject may be understood better or in a different way than it has been. And the student must support the position with evidence.

Cultural differences may interfere when international students try to write this way. Writing teachers say students in many countries have learned to write beautiful descriptions about something without ever stating the main idea. American college students are expected to state their main idea at the beginning of the paper.

In other cultures, paragraphs may be organized to build toward the main idea, which is revealed at the end. But in the United States, the main idea of each paragraph should be in the first sentence. Another difference is about writing style. Other cultures may use lots of descriptive words. But American English values short, strong sentences.

Teachers at the writing center at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana work with students to improve their writing. Graduate tutor Lars Soderlund says non-native English speakers generally have some trouble with English grammar.

He says their sentences may be too long. Or they incorrectly use articles such as "a", "an" and "the." He also says non-native speakers generally use too much emotional language and give too many details before getting to the main idea.

The associate director of the writing center, Tammi Conard-Salvo, says international students should look online for materials that explain the kind of writing they will be required to do. They should ask their professors for help. Most colleges have a writing center where they can get free individual help with their work.

Links to writing center materials can be found on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Jim Tedder.

American History Series: Kansas Takes Steps Towards Statehood
Pro-slavery settlers race to gain Kansas for the South. But they face opposition from the man President Pierce appointed governor of the territory, Andrew Reeder. Transcript of radio broadcast: 29 April 2009

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

Now, we continue the story of America's fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce.

Pierce was elected in eighteen fifty-two. He was a compromise candidate of the Democratic Party. He was well-liked. But he was not considered a strong leader.

The eighteen fifties were an increasingly tense time in the United States. Most of the population lived east of the Mississippi River. But more and more people were moving west. As western areas became populated, they became official territories, and then new states.

What kind of laws would these new territories and states have? Would the laws be decided by the Congress in Washington? Or would they be voted on by the people living in them?

The biggest legal question affecting western lands was slavery. This week in our series, Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith tell more about the long disputed issue of slavery and the Kansas-Missouri bill.

VOICE ONE:

Owning another human being was legal in many parts of the United States at that time. Slaves were considered property, like furniture and farm animals.

People who owned negro slaves wanted to take all their property -- including the slaves -- with them when they moved west. People who opposed slavery did not want it to spread. Some of them considered slavery a moral issue. They believed it violated the laws of God. An increasing number of white Americans, however, saw slavery as an economic issue. They wanted new states to be free from slavery, so they would not have to compete with slave labor.

VOICE TWO:

The United States had been established as a democracy. Yet slavery existed. America's early leaders knew that trying to end slavery probably would split the nation in two. So they looked for compromises. They decided it was better to save the Union...even if it was not perfect...than to watch the Union end.

Like other presidents, Franklin Pierce hoped to avoid the issue. He also believed that earlier legislation had settled the debate. In eighteen twenty, Congress had passed the Missouri Compromise. It extended a line across the map of the United States. South of the line, slavery was legal. North of the line, slavery was not legal, except in Missouri.

Thirty years later, another political compromise made the situation less clear.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The compromise of eighteen fifty made slavery a local issue, instead of a national issue, in several western territories. It said the people in those territories had the right to decide for themselves if slavery would be legal or illegal.

Within a few years, that law caused a new debate in Congress. Lawmakers argued: was the peoples' right to decide the issue of slavery restricted only to the territories named in the compromise of eighteen fifty? Or was the right extended to the people of all future territories?

VOICE TWO:

The answer came in eighteen fifty-four. In that year, Congress debated a proposal to create two territories from one large area in the west. The northern part would be known as the Nebraska territory. The southern part would be known as the Kansas territory. Settlers in both new territories would have the right to decide the question of slavery.

President Pierce did not like the Kansas-Nebraska bill. He feared it would re-open the bitter, national debate about slavery. He did not want to have to deal with the results. Tensions were increasing. Violence was increasingly possible.

The Kansas-Nebraska bill had a lot of support in the Senate. It passed easily. The bill had less support in the House of Representatives. The vote there was close, but the measure passed. President Pierce finally agreed to sign it. In exchange, congressional leaders promised to approve several presidential appointments.

Supporters of the Kansas-Nebraska bill celebrated their victory. They fired cannons as the city of Washington was waking to a new day. Two senators who opposed the bill heard the noise as they walked down the steps of the capitol building. One of them said: "They celebrate a victory now. But the echoes they awake will never rest until slavery itself is dead."

VOICE ONE:

The new bill gave the people of Kansas and Nebraska the right to decide if slavery would be legal or illegal. The vote would depend on who settled in the territories. It was not likely that people who owned slaves would settle in Nebraska. However, there was a good chance that they would settle in Kansas.

Groups in the South organized quickly to help pro-slavery settlers move to Kansas. At the same time, groups in the North helped free-state settlers move there, too.

VOICE TWO:

Some of the northern groups were companies called emigrant aid societies. Shares of these companies were sold to the public. The money was used to help build towns and farms in Kansas. Owners of the companies hoped to make a lot of money from the development.

The southern effort to settle Kansas was led mostly by slave-owning farmers in Missouri. They believed that peace in Missouri depended on what happened in Kansas. They did not want to live next to a territory where slavery was not legal.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In Washington, President Pierce announced the appointment of Andrew Reeder to be governor of the Kansas territory. Pro-slavery settlers urged Reeder to hold immediate elections for a territorial legislature. They believed they were in the majority. They wanted a vote before too many free-state settlers moved in. The legislature would have the power to keep the territory open to slavery and, in time, help it become a slave state.

VOICE TWO:

Governor Reeder rejected the demands. He decided to hold an election, but only for a territorial representative to the national Congress. On election day, hundreds of men from Missouri crossed the border into Kansas. They voted illegally, and the pro-slavery candidate won.

The same thing happened when Kansas finally held an election for a legislature. Governor Reeder took steps to make the voting fair. His efforts were not completely successful. Once again, men from Missouri crossed the border into Kansas. Many of them carried guns. They forced election officials to count their illegal votes. As a result, almost every pro-slavery candidate was elected to the new legislature.

VOICE ONE:

The governor ordered an investigation. The investigation showed evidence of wrong-doing in six areas, and new elections were held in those areas. This time, when only legal votes were counted, many of the pro-slavery candidates were defeated. Yet there were still enough pro-slavery candidates to have a majority.

VOICE TWO:

Andrew Reeder was governor of a bitterly divided territory. He wanted to warn President Pierce about what was happening.

Reeder went to Washington. He met with Pierce almost every day for two weeks. He described how pro-slavery groups in Missouri were interfering in Kansas. He said if the state of Missouri refused to deal with the trouble-makers, then the national government must deal with them. He asked the president to do something.

VOICE ONE:

Pierce agreed that Kansas was a serious problem. He seemed ready to act. So Reeder returned home and opened the first meeting of the territorial legislature. The pro-slavery majority quickly voted to move to a town close to the Missouri border. It also approved several pro-slavery measures.

Governor Reeder vetoed these bills. But there were enough votes to reject his veto and pass the new laws.

VOICE TWO:

The Kansas legislature also sent a message to President Pierce. It wanted him to remove Andrew Reeder as governor. Political pressure was strong, and the president agreed. He named a new governor, Wilson Shannon. Shannon supported the pro-slavery laws of the legislature. He also said Kansas should become a slave state, like Missouri.

Free-state leaders were extremely angry. They felt they could not get fair treatment from either the president or the new governor. So they took an unusual step. They met and formed their own government in opposition to the elected government of the territory. It would not be long before the situation in Kansas became violent.

That will be our story next week.

ANNOUNCER:

Our program was written by Christine Johnson. The narrators were Rich Kleinfeldt and Shirley Griffith. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs can be found along with historical images at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.

Maya Lin's Works Are Her Answer to the Beauty of the Natural World
The artist is most famous for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Transcript of radio broadcast: 05 May 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about the work of the American artist and building designer Maya Lin. She is best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. which was completed in nineteen eighty-two. Throughout her career, Lin's monuments, buildings, and sculptures have been influenced by the natural world.

Her art also expresses her interest in environmental activism. This spring, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. opened an exhibit called "Systematic Landscapes." This interesting show features some of Maya Lin's recent works.

VOICE ONE:

The first large sculpture that greets visitors to the exhibit "Systematic Landscapes" is very surprising. A huge form that looks like a hill or wave takes up an entire room of the museum. The work is called "2 x 4 Landscape." It is made of more than fifty thousand pieces of cut blocks of wood. The highest point of the softly curved hill measures about three meters tall, while the lowest point is only a few centimeters thick. Visitors can explore the work from three sides. The sculpture looks like it would be fun to walk on.

VOICE TWO:

At first it might seem very unusual to see a natural form like a hill inside a museum. But this surprise is part of Maya Lin's aim. Her work explores how people experience landscape in a time of increased technological influence and environmental awareness.

VOICE ONE:

"Water Line" is another sculpture that takes up an entire room. It is a line drawing made out of aluminum wire that looks like a wavy net floating in mid-air. The lines represent a mountainous underwater area in the Atlantic Ocean.

Maya Lin worked with ocean scientists to develop a three dimensional image of this part of the ocean. Then, she recreated that image in a smaller sculptural form. The very top of the wire drawing represents the only part of the ocean landscape that can be seen on the surface of the water: It is Bouvet Island, one of the most isolated islands in the world.

VOICE TWO:

But not all of Lin's sculptures are huge. In one room, visitors can see a series of works called "Atlas Landscapes". For this series, Maya Lin turned a series of map books into sculptures. She carefully cut into each page of the book to create small canyons and formations.

Her series called "Bodies of Water" is like an artistic geography lesson. These works are also about unseen underwater landscapes. Maya Lin cut out the shapes of three bodies of water using thin layers of wood.

One work is done in the shape of the Caspian Sea, another in the shape of the Black Sea, and the third takes the form of the Red Sea. The many layers of wood in each sculpture become thinner towards its base, or the area that relates to the deepest part of the sea.

Another series called "Fractured Landscapes" looks like drawings of rivers and streams. But these drawings were made by pressing paper against broken sheets of glass covered in ink.

Maya Lin has also made a sculpture for the United States Embassy in Beijing, China. Her "Pin River-Yangtze" is made of about thirty thousand small metal pins stuck into the wall. The many pins take the shape of one of the longest rivers in the world.

VOICE ONE:

Maya Lin was born in Athens, Ohio in nineteen fifty-nine. Her parents had each fled China in the late nineteen forties. They met and married while living in the United States. Later, both parents taught at Ohio University. Her mother, Julia, was a literature professor. Her father, Henry, was a ceramist, an artist who makes objects out of clay. As a child, Maya would play with clay in her father's studio. She was also influenced by the wooded hills near her home as well as by local Native American burial hills.

VOICE TWO:

Maya Lin studied building design at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. At the age of twenty-one, she won a national contest to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Her design was very different from other war memorials. It was very modern, simple, and expressive. Her design is made up of two long black granite pieces that meet at an angle. The wall is set below ground level. Cut into the wall are the names of the more than fifty-eight thousand Americans dead or missing in the Vietnam War. Maya Lin purposely called for the granite to be shiny. Visitors experience a link with the monument by seeing their reflection in the stone.

VOICE ONE:

Maya Lin has said that death is a private and personal matter. She says this monument is a quiet place for people to come to terms with loss caused by the war. Many people had criticized early plans for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. They thought it was not heroic. But once it was built, family members of the dead, Vietnam veterans, and the general public accepted its beauty and strong emotion. The memorial has become one of the most visited places in Washington.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Maya Lin has designed many other memorials. These structures combine elements of nature such as earth and water with written language to express meaning. Her Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama was completed in nineteen eighty-nine. The black granite sculpture has a circular surface like a table. A thin layer of water runs over this surface. It is cut with a list of important events marking the civil rights movement of the nineteen sixties.

VOICE ONE:

Lin made another "water table" sculpture out of green granite for an outdoor area at Yale University. The surface is cut with numbers representing how many women attended Yale through history. Completed in nineteen ninety-three, the sculpture honors the many women who have studied there.

Maya Lin has said that her work exists on the boundaries -- somewhere between science and art, art and architecture, public and private, east and west. She says that she is always trying to find a balance between these opposing forces to find a place where opposites meet.

VOICE TWO:

Maya Lin has also designed many buildings. In nineteen ninety-nine, the Children's Defense Fund hired her to build a library on a farm it owns in the state of Tennessee. By modernizing an old farm building, she skillfully combined old and new building traditions. She also created an environmentally friendly design. This organization later hired Miz Lin to design its religious center. The building looks like an artist's version of a wooden boat.

Maya Lin also designed a private home known as "The Box House" in Telluride, Colorado. Her aim was to make as simplified a form as possible -- a wooden box. This very modern building was made to give its owners a beautiful view of the nearby forest and mountains.

VOICE ONE:

Maya Lin's "Ecliptic" outdoor area in Grand Rapids, Michigan features water in its three states: liquid, gas and solid. The park has two fountains, one with flowing water and another that releases a fine mist. An ice skating rink has lights built into the floor. The small lights make up the exact pattern of stars in the sky on the day the park opened in two thousand one.

VOICE TWO:

Lin's design for the new Museum of Chinese in America building in New York City is to open this summer. She has said that the design for the building is modern. But the inside space of the museum will have links to traditional Chinese architecture. She says that this is the first building she has worked on that is related to the subject of China. Lin says this project means a great deal to her. And she says it is important to her that her two daughters know about that part of their background.

VOICE ONE:

One of Maya Lin's most recent memorials, "What is Missing?", is to be completed later this year. The project rejects the idea of memorials as a single unmoving object. This memorial will exist in several different places and forms at the same time. The aim of "What is Missing?" is to bring attention to the number of animals and places that have either disappeared or will disappear in our lifetime. The memorial is to exist as a video project, a Web site and as a book.

VOICE TWO:

Maya Lin has said that she does not believe that anything she creates can compare to the beauty of the natural world. But she says her works are her answer to that beauty. Visitors who see her work can enjoy experiencing both the beauty of art and the natural environment.

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. To see pictures of Maya Lin's work, visit our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

'Gone Rural' Project in Swaziland Lets Women Earn Money While Working from Home
Swazi women weavers make household objects sold all over the world. Transcript of radio broadcast: 02 May 2009

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Every three weeks, a truck drives to a rural community in the Kingdom of Swaziland. The purpose of the trip is to buy the hand-made products of local women and place new orders.

The Swazi women make and sell woven baskets, placemats for dinner tables and other objects for the home. The women gained their weaving skills long ago. Traditionally, women in the African nation work with long grasses to make the thatched roofs that cover houses.

The manufacture of goods is important for the women because they can do this at home. Many care for a number of children, including those whose parents died of AIDS. Swaziland is said to have the highest known rate of infection for the virus that causes the disease.

But life is brighter for the women weavers today than it was seventeen years ago. That is when a business project called Gone Rural was launched. Today, more than seven hundred women take their goods to Gone Rural for sale. One of their main materials is Lutindzi grass, which grows only in mountain areas. Gone Rural also has some products available in other materials.

The project now has sales of five hundred thousand dollars worth of goods each year. The goods are sold in more than thirty countries around the world.

Three years ago, Gone Rural started a nonprofit organization called Gone Rural boMake. Its purpose is to provide for the educational, health and social needs of the women and their communities. The parent organization gives Gone Rural boMake at least twenty percent of its profits and helps with administrative costs. The non-profit organization's projects include working to provide communities with clean drinking water.

Lomtanda so Hlope was one of the first seven hundred women to weave for Gone Rural. Years ago, she and other women from her community went to the Gone Rural office in the town of Malkerns. They showed their goods to Jenny Thorne, who established Gone Rural. Miz Thorne happily accepted what they made.

Lomtandaso Hlope and her friends have been selling to Gone Rural ever since. Their community is among thirteen that sell to the group. She has educated her own children and grandchildren with the money earned from her work.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Steve Ember.

Cow Genome Could Improve Milk, Beef Production
Findings of similarities between cattle and humans could also have uses for the drug industry. Transcript of radio broadcast: 04 May 2009

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Researchers from twenty-five countries now have a full genetic map of a cow. Understanding what makes a cow a cow could lead to better milk and meat production.

It could also help drug companies. The cow genome is more similar to humans than to mice or rats. Mice and rats are commonly used to test new medicines. Project scientist Harris Lewin from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign predicts there will be more laboratory cows in the future.

The Bovine Genome Sequencing Project found that the cattle genome contains at least twenty-two thousand genes. Most of these are shared among humans as well as mice, rats and other mammals used for comparison in the study.

More than three hundred researchers studied a female Hereford cow from the American state of Montana. The genome took six years to complete.

A genome is not just a map of the order of genes. It contains information about every position including spaces on the chromosomes on which genes are grouped.

The findings are in the journal Science. A related report looked at genetic changes in cattle over time. The bovine family tree divided into two major groups more than two hundred fifty thousand years ago.

Taurine cattle have no hump on their back. They are mostly found in Europe, Africa and East and West Asia, as well as the Americas. Indicine cattle have a hump and are found in India, South and West Asia and East Africa.

Humans started to domesticate wild cows about eight to ten thousand years ago. Scientists examined several breeds and say the cow genome appears to show evidence of this selective reproduction.

Today more than eight hundred breeds of cattle are raised for different qualities. But some people are concerned that intensive breeding has reduced genetic differences among cattle. This could make it easier for disorders to affect a large number of animals.

The scientists say the current level of diversity within cattle breeds is at least as great as within humans. They also say the new genome will make it possible to better protect genetic diversity.

Yet there may be more questions to settle about what makes a cow a cow. A team led by Steven Salzberg at the University of Maryland also published a cow genome last month in the journal Genome Biology. That team disagreed on some points with the findings published in Science.

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

Studying in the US: Growing Interest in Agriculture?
Area of study with the fewest international students had a big increase during the last school year. Part 33 of our Foreign Student Series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 May 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

In the United States, the area of study with the fewest international students is agriculture. The number was about nine thousand during the last school year. More than ten times as many studied business or engineering.

But the crop of foreign students in agriculture and natural resources was twenty percent bigger than the year before. The Institute of International Education in New York says that was the biggest increase of any area of study. So this week in our Foreign Student Series we look at agriculture programs in the United States.

About one hundred colleges and universities began as public agricultural schools and continue to teach agriculture. These are known as land-grant schools.

In eighteen sixty-two, Congress passed legislation that gave thousands of hectares to each state. States were to sell the land and use the money to establish colleges to teach agriculture, engineering and military science. A congressman from Vermont, Justin Smith Morrill, wrote the legislation.

The state of Michigan already had an agricultural college. But that college was the first to officially agree to receive support under the Morrill Act. It grew into what is now Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Today, Michigan State has more than forty thousand students. More than four thousand of them are international students. They come from one hundred twenty-five countries.

The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University offers sixty programs of study. Richard Brandenburg is the associate dean for graduate programs. He says foreign agriculture students this year are from countries including Japan, the Netherlands, Rwanda, El Salvador, Turkey, Sri Lanka and India.

In all, the college has four hundred thirty-three foreign students in East Lansing. It also has eleven students at a campus in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. The only agriculture program currently offered in Dubai is construction management.

Michigan State opened its Dubai campus in August. It has only about fifty students now, but the university says it has received about ninety applications for admission this fall. We'll talk more about foreign campuses of American universities next week.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

American History Series: The Struggle Over Slavery in the Kansas Territory
Anti-slavery settlers felt they could not get fair treatment from President Franklin Pierce or the territory's new governor. So they formed their own government. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 May 2009

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English.

The most difficult national problem facing the administration of President Franklin Pierce was the situation in Kansas. The territory struggled with the issue of slavery.

Pro-slavery settlers elected a representative to Congress. Then they won a majority of seats in the territorial legislature. An investigation found that people from the neighboring state of Missouri had voted in the elections illegally. Yet the results were accepted.

The new Kansas lawmakers did not like the territorial governor. They demanded that President Pierce dismiss him. Pierce agreed.

This week on our series, Ray Freeman and Steve Ember continue the story of the presidency of Franklin Pierce. And they talk about the presidential election of eighteen fifty-six.

VOICE ONE:

Anti-slavery settlers in Kansas felt they could not get fair treatment from either the president or the new governor. So they took an extreme step. They formed their own government in opposition to the elected government of the territory.

Their political group was known as the Free State Party. Party members wrote their own constitution and chose their own governor.

VOICE TWO:

President Pierce said the actions of the Free State Party seemed revolutionary. He warned against violence. He said if party members attacked any officials or property of the territory or the federal government, party leaders should be charged with treason.

The president gave the pro-slavery governor of Kansas control of troops at two army bases in the territory. Many people feared that the governor would use the troops to arrest the leaders of the Free State government.

VOICE ONE:

Fighting between the two sides almost began when a Free State man was killed by a pro-slavery man. Free State settlers gathered in the town of Lawrence and organized a defense force. At the same time, hundreds of pro-slavery men crossed the border from Missouri. They planned to go to Lawrence and burn it to the ground.

The pro-slavery governor and the Free State governor agreed to hold an emergency meeting. They negotiated a settlement, and the men on both sides went home. The truce did not last long.

VOICE TWO:

In the weeks that followed, a number of attempts were made to stop or arrest the leaders of the Free State government. Pro-slavery officials urged private citizens to help. Once again, hundreds of men -- including many from Missouri -- gathered in Kansas. Once again, their target was the town of Lawrence. This time, however, there was no truce.

The pro-slavery mob attacked and burned several buildings. A number of people were killed. The violence might have ended quickly. But one of the men defending the town believed that the battle against the forces of slavery must continue. And he believed that God had chosen him to lead it. The man was John Brown.

VOICE ONE:

John Brown heard that five Free State men had died in the attack on Lawrence. So he said five pro-slavery men must die in return. He led a group that seized and killed five people.

The civil disorder in Kansas continued. Settlers were forced off their land. Houses were burned. More people were killed. The territory became known as "Bleeding Kansas."

VOICE TWO:

It was clear that there were deep differences between the northern and southern American states. The differences involved their economies, their systems of labor, and their way of life.

The civil disorder caused by these differences was the chief issue in the presidential election of eighteen fifty-six. Three political parties offered candidates: the Democrats, the Republicans and the Know-Nothings.

The Whig Party did not offer a candidate. The party had gone out of existence by then. Its members had split over the question of slavery in the western territories. The split could not be healed. Most southern Whigs joined the Democratic Party. Most northern Whigs joined the Know-Nothing Party.

VOICE ONE:

The Know-Nothing Party began as a secret anti-immigrant organization. It feared that too many people from other countries were coming to live in the United States.

Members did not want to admit that they belonged to the group. When asked, they said, "I know nothing."

And that is how the organization got its name.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Democratic Party was led by President Franklin Pierce. Pierce wanted to run for re-election. Many northern Democrats, however, objected to his support of the pro-slavery legislature in Kansas. Other Democrats did not think he was the strongest candidate. As a result, Pierce faced competition for the party's nomination.

One opponent was Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Douglas had great political ability. He also had many political enemies. He was the man most responsible for gaining congressional approval of the bill that opened Kansas to slavery.

VOICE ONE:

Pierce's other opponent for the Democratic nomination was James Buchanan of Pennsylvania. Buchanan was a northerner who would probably leave the South alone.

"I am not friendly to the idea of slavery," he said. "but the rights of the South -- under our constitution -- should have as much protection as the rights of any other part of our Union. "

VOICE TWO:

The Democratic Party met in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the first time a national political convention was held that far west.

Candidates needed two-thirds of the votes to win the nomination. After several days of voting, no candidate had received enough. So, in an effort to unite the party, Stephen Douglas offered to withdraw. James Buchanan got his votes and the nomination.

VOICE ONE:

The Republican Party was a new political party. Its members opposed slavery for either moral or economic reasons.

Many Republicans were Abolitionists. They wanted to ban slavery everywhere in the United States. The majority of Republicans, however, were not Abolitionists. They had no interest in ending slave labor in the South. They simply did not want slavery to spread to other areas.

The Republican Party held its presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia. For months, party members had spoken of just one man. He was John Fremont. Fremont had explored the American west. He had been a senator from California. He was young and exciting. Republicans thought he was the right man to lead their young and exciting party.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Know-Nothing Party had a divided nominating convention. Northern and southern members agreed on policies that denounced immigrants. But they split on the issue of slavery. Northern members opposed it. Southern members supported it.

Delegates to the convention chose a candidate who seemed to support the party's policies. Yet he was not even a member of the party. He was a Whig, former president Millard Fillmore.

Northern members refused to support Fillmore. They broke away from the Know-Nothing Party and supported the Republican candidate, John Fremont.

VOICE ONE:

John C. Fremont

Fremont could not expect to win any votes in the slave states of the South. He would have to get all of his support in the North. He would have to win the votes of the big states, including Pennsylvania. And Pennsylvania was the home of the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan.

Buchanan had said that the constitutional rights of the southern states should be protected. So he could expect to win some votes there. When all the votes were counted, Buchanan was elected. Now he would have to deal with the problems that presidents before him had not been able to solve.

VOICE TWO:

James Buchanan was sixty-five years old. He had served in the House of Representatives and in the Senate. He had served as secretary of state and as ambassador. He was a good diplomat. But he was not considered a strong political leader.

Buchanan usually supported the southern position in the dispute about slavery. He said the North should stop interfering with the South. He even said the South had good reason to leave the Union, if northern Abolitionists continued their anti-slavery campaign.

As president, Buchanan believed he could solve the slavery question by keeping the Abolitionists quiet. He wanted a cabinet that shared and supported this idea.

We will tell about James Buchanan's administration in our next program.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

Our program was written by Christine Johnson. The narrators were Ray Freeman and Steve Ember. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs can be found along with historical images at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history

Charlie Parker,1920-1955: His Music Influenced Jazz During his Lifetime and Even Today
02 May 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, People in America. Today, we tell about one of America's greatest jazz musicians, Charlie Parker. He influenced the direction of jazz music during his short lifetime. His influence continues today.

VOICE ONE:

Charlie Parker forever changed the performance and writing of jazz music. He developed a new style of jazz called "bebop." It was different from the dance or "swing" style that was popular for years.

Performers of bebop left the traditional musical melody and played a song freely, with the music and rhythm that was felt at the time. So, the same song could be played in a different way each time it was performed. Charlie Parker said: "Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. "

VOICE TWO:

Charlie Parker was born August twenty-ninth, nineteen twenty, in the middle western state of Kansas. He had his first music lessons in the local public schools. His mother bought him a saxophone in nineteen thirty-three.

Two years later, he decided to leave school and become a professional musician. For the next four years, he worked mainly in Kansas City, Missouri, where jazz music had become popular. Charlie developed as a musician by playing with different groups in public eating and drinking places called nightclubs. He also

learned by listening to older local jazz musicians. During this time, Charlie developed serious problems that were to affect him the rest of his life. He became dependent on alcohol and the illegal drug, heroin.

VOICE ONE:

One night in nineteen thirty-six, the young musician decided to take part in a "jam session." Musicians from all over Kansas City would play for fun during these unplanned performances. These jam sessions often became musical battles. The better, the faster, the stronger, the more creative musician would win.

Charlie began to play the saxophone that night. He played well for a while. But he then became lost in the music. The drummer threw down his instrument and brought Charlie to a halt. Charlie later said: "I went home and cried and didn't play again for three months." The incident, however, made Charlie work even harder to improve his playing.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen thirty-nine, Charlie went to New York City. He stayed for almost one year. He was able to get a few paying jobs playing the saxophone. Most of his time, though, was spent playing in unpaid jam sessions. It was during this time that he began to develop his own style of jazz.

He said later that this was when he made a big discovery. He was unhappy playing songs the same way all the time. He thought there had to be another way to play. He said: "I could hear it sometimes, but I couldn't play it." He began working on the song "Cherokee." He used the higher notes of a chord as a melody line and made other changes. He now could play the things he had been hearing.

It was in December, nineteen thirty-nine, that Charlie Parker made this discovery. He later said that with it, he "came alive." Here he is playing "Cherokee":

VOICE ONE:

Charlie Parker's name first appeared in the press reports about music in nineteen forty. During the next five years, he joined different bands. He played with the Earl Hines orchestra and the Billy Eckstine orchestra. He also played with other young jazz musicians who helped make the new sound known. Trumpet players Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, and pianists Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell were some of them. Parker was considered the greatest of the bebop jazz musicians. This song, "Now's the Time," is one of his hits during this time:

VOICE TWO:

Parker's continuing drug habit was affecting him. He often was late for performances. Or he missed them. He had decided he did not like the music of the big bands. He apparently did not feel at ease playing with a big band, even one that followed his own musical ideas.

In nineteen forty-five, he returned to New York City. He had the idea of starting a small jazz group. In New York, he joined Dizzy Gillespie. Their work together was among the greatest in American music history. They enjoyed the support of younger musicians. Yet, they had to fight the criticism of those opposed to any new development in jazz.

That year, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie took the new jazz sound to California. Charlie continued to record and perform in Los Angeles, even after Dizzy returned to New York. It was during this time that Parker recorded "Ornithology:"

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen forty-six, Charlie Parker suffered a nervous breakdown. His dependence on heroin and alcohol led to this severe mental condition. He was sent to a hospital and stayed there for six months.

He returned to New York City in nineteen forty-seven. The following four years are considered his most successful. He formed his own small bands and played with other groups. He visited Europe three times, where he recorded about half of the albums he ever made.

In July, nineteen fifty-one, New York City officials took away his right to play in nightclubs because he used illegal drugs. His debts greatly increased. His physical and mental health began to fail.

VOICE TWO:

Charlie Parker was given a permit to play in New York again two years later. Jobs, though, were difficult to find. He finally got a chance to play for two nights in March, nineteen fifty-five. It was at Bird land, the most

famous jazz nightclub in New York City. Birdland had opened in nineteen forty-nine. It was named after "Bird," as Charlie Parker's followers called him.

Parker knew those performances might be his last chance to re-claim the success he had gained only a few years earlier. His last public appearance was on March fifth, nineteen fifty-five, at Birdland. It was not a success. He died seven days later of a heart attack. He was thirty-four.

VOICE ONE:

Charlie Parker's influence on modern jazz music continues to live. He led many artists to "play what they hear." Jazz musicians continue to perform his music, often copying his sound and style. But, experts say, no one has ever played the same as "Bird".

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Vivian Bournazian. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

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

'Hair' – More Than a Rock Musical
A story using expressions with the word hair. Transcript of radio broadcast: 02 May 2009

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A listener named Rita wants to learn about expressions with the word "hair." So we will tell a story.

Yesterday when I woke up, I looked in a mirror. I looked very neat and organized. Not a hair was out of place. But today when I woke up, I knew I was going to have a bad hair day. My hair was standing up in all the wrong places. I thought I would be unhappy all day and things would not go well. I work at home so I just hoped that my computer would work right and not have a bad hair day also.

I was very tired because I did not sleep well last night. I made the mistake of watching a horror movie on television. The movie really made my hair stand on end. It was about a house possessed by evil spirits. The thought of having to live alone in a house like that was so frightening it was enough to curl your hair. I will say it another way: watching that movie was a hair-raising experience.

I prepared a meal for my children but they were behaving badly. I turned on the television so they would be quiet. I did not want them to be difficult or to get in my hair while I was working on the computer.

My children were making so much noise that I could not work. I was getting angry. In fact, I was ready to pull my hair out. I told them to please be quiet or I would punish them. But they knew I would not harm a hair on their heads.

I decided to make myself some strong coffee so I could work better. But my drink was so strong that it could put hair on your chest.

Finally, I got back to work. I was writing a proposal for a project. I knew that I was very close to finishing the proposal. Success was very close – within a hair's breadth. My supervisor called me to discuss the project. She wanted to argue about very small differences and unimportant details. But I told her not to split hairs.

Later, I got a telephone call from a friend whom I had not seen in a long time. In fact, I had not seen hide nor hair of him in months. So I was glad to know that he was all right.

I worked all day and finished my project. So I decided to celebrate, have some fun and let my hair down. I played some old recordings, and my children and I danced around the room. The recordings are from my favorite musical, a show called "Hair." It takes place during the nineteen sixties when many young people wore their hair very long.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find other WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

President Obama Marks 100 Days in Office
The first three months of the Obama presidency bring changes and government actions. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 May 2009

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. This week we look at President Obama's first one hundred days in office.

The tradition of marking the first one hundred days of a new president began with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was sworn-in as president seventy-six years ago during the Great Depression -- the worst economic crisis in the country's history.

In his first one hundred days in office, President Roosevelt worked with Congress to pass a series of measures. They were designed to re-build trust in the American economy, and help the unemployed and those in danger of losing their homes and farms.

Since then, the first three months of a presidency have been compared to Roosevelt's. Presidents are judged on their ability to quickly demonstrate leadership and win congressional approval of their proposals.

The media and political observers have spent a lot of time examining Mister Obama's first one hundred days in office. But many of them admit the one hundred day mark is a meaningless number. Others say it is too soon to be judging the work of the president.

On Wednesday, Mister Obama marked his one hundredth day by speaking at a school in the state of Missouri. He said he is proud of the successes, but that more has to be done.

BARACK OBAMA: "Now, after one hundred days, I am pleased with the progress we have made. But I am not satisfied. I am confident in the future. But I am not content with the present – not when there are workers who are still out of jobs, families who still cannot pay their bills."

Mister Obama has dealt with many issues since becoming the nation's first African-American president on January twentieth. He has faced economic problems and worked to strengthen relations with other countries. Congress passed his seven hundred eighty-seven billion dollar economic recovery plan. The president has also taken steps to rescue the struggling financial and automotive industries.

Since taking office, Mister Obama has ordered the closure of the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He set a time limit for withdrawal of most American troops from Iraq, while increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan.

Mister Obama also made efforts to improve America's international image. He received criticism from the Republican Party for offering talks with Iran and Cuba. Republicans also criticized him for shaking the hand of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The party opposes his plan to cut taxes for middle class Americans and use of government spending to increase economic activity. Party leaders warn that will result in a huge increase in the national debt.

Yet studies show Mister Obama's public approval rating is above sixty percent. The president also increased his support in the Senate this week. Long-time Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter announced he is leaving the Republicans to join the president's Democratic Party.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

Mothers Through the Eyes, and the Years, of TV and Movie Makers
Some examples of how the mothers created by Hollywood have become more independent. Transcript of radio broadcast: 03 May 2009

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week, our subject is mothers and how their image has changed over the years in film and television.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In the United States and a number of other countries, the second Sunday in May is celebrated as Mother's Day.

Early in the nineteen hundreds, a woman named Anna Jarvis began a campaign to honor mothers in America. She talked to friends and friends of friends. She wrote to congressmen, local leaders, teachers and newspaper publishers.

Finally, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution in May of nineteen fourteen that officially established Mother's Day.

VOICE TWO:

Anna Jarvis thought mothers should be honored with expressions of love and respect.

Professor Robert Thompson at Syracuse University in New York State is an expert on American popular culture. Fifty or sixty years ago, he says, the popular media image of mothers was the so-called perfect mother.

This was a woman who gave all her time to her husband, home and children. Many women in society felt pressure to try to be this kind of mother.

VOICE ONE:

Like many observers, Professor Thompson uses the example of the imaginary June Cleaver, the mother on "Leave It to Beaver." That was a TV series from nineteen fifty-seven to nineteen sixty-three.

The Cleavers were a happy family. June Cleaver always had time and patience for her two sons, Wally and "Beaver." His real name was Theodore. And if there was ever a problem she could not handle, her husband put things right.

The same was true on another nineteen fifties television show. The name said it all: "Father Knows Best."

VOICE TWO:

A different image, though, could be found in films like the nineteen forty-eight motion picture "I Remember Mama." It was set in San Francisco, California, in nineteen ten.

It was about a family that came from Norway. The Hansons were poor and they struggled to make their way in their new land.

Mama Hanson, played by actress Irene Dunne, had little education. But she knew a lot about dealing with people. She guides her family.

VOICE ONE:

Mama hates "going to the bank" -- she means borrowing money. But she also recognizes the importance of staying in school. We listen as Mama and her family are sitting around the table, counting money.

(SOUND)

MAMA: "Yah, is all for this week. Is good. We do not have to go to the bank."
SON: "Mama, mama, I'll be graduating from Valley School next month. Could I -- could I go into high, do you think?"
MAMA: "You want to go to high school?"
SON: "Well, I'd like to, very much, if you think I could."
MAMA: "Is good."

VOICE TWO:

"I Remember Mama" earned Irene Dunne an Academy Award nomination for best actress of nineteen forty-eight.

Two years later, in the lighthearted film "Cheaper by the Dozen," Myrna Loy played Lillian Gilbreth, a mother of twelve. The father is an efficiency expert, an expert in doing things better and faster.

Lillian Gilbreth obeys her husband, or at least appears to. But she also has a mind of her own.

At one point, the husband, played by Clifton Webb, plays a joke on their son Bill. The father honks the horn just as the boy crosses in front of their car. Bill jumps. His father laughs and says the boy jumped six and nine-tenths inches.

VOICE ONE:

A little later, Bill plays the same joke on his father. This time his father does not laugh.

The mother has to save Bill from getting punished and, in the process, she teaches her husband a lesson.

(SOUND)

FATHER: "Who did that?"
BILL: "Uh, that was a good joke on you, Dad."
FATHER: "Listen, young man. There's a time and a place for jokes and a time and place for spankings. And the sooner you learn -- get out. Get out!"
MOTHER: "Mercy Maude, Frank, I'll bet you jumped six and nine-tenths inches that time."
FATHER: "You're right, son. That was a good joke on me. By jingo, I'll bet I did jump six and nine-tenths inches. Oh these kids, these kids."
(HORN SOUNDS AGAIN)
MOTHER: "Excuse me, dear, I did it. It was accidental."

VOICE TWO:

The Gilbreths were a real family. "Cheaper by the Dozen" was the name of a book written by two of the twelve children.

Their mother, Lillian, was a psychologist and herself an expert in the area of industrial management. In fact, Lillian Moller Gilbreth is known as the mother of modern management.

A woman who graduated from a women's college in nineteen fifty-three remembers hearing her as a graduation speaker. She remembers Lillian Gilbreth urging the young women to have full lives, with professions if they wanted them.

When Lillian Gilbreth received her doctorate in psychology, she already had four young children who attended the ceremony.

VOICE ONE:

Over the years, as mothers and American women in general became more independent, more and more of them entered the job market. They did so by choice or because of financial need or both.

Pop culture expert Robert Thompson says the changes could be seen in film and television as well. For example, working women used to be shown mostly as nurses or teachers, because those were the jobs that many held in real life.

But these days, whatever new jobs are written into movies or TV shows, some images of mothers are timeless. One is the image of the overprotective mother who gets too involved in her child's life, even after the child grows up.

Diane Keaton plays just such a mother, a single mom named Daphne, in the two thousand seven films "Because I Said So." Mandy Moore plays her daughter.

Daphne is supposed to be seen as one of those moms who mean well even if they make their kids crazy.

MAGGIE: "Mom, you have to leave her alone."

DAPHNE: "Fine, but I just want you girls to understand something about motherhood. It's the most impossible love. You tell me when it ends. You tell me when it stops!"

VOICE ONE:

For years, almost all leading movie and television stars, male or female, were white. Activists say members of racial and ethnic minority groups are still not well represented enough.

But the social gains that minorities made in the nineteen sixties and seventies led the way to shows like "The Jeffersons." This was a comedy on CBS television from nineteen seventy-five to nineteen eighty-five. It about a newly wealthy black family that moved into a New York Cityhigh-rise with mostly white neighbors.

VOICE TWO:

One of the most popular TV shows ever was "The Cosby Show," on NBC from nineteen eighty-four to nineteen ninety-two. It starred Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad as his wife, Clair.

He was a doctor and she was a lawyer. The Huxtables were presented as a strong, loving, successful African-American family. Still, pop culture expert Robert Thompson notes that Clair Huxtable was often shown more as a wife and mother than as a successful lawyer.

VOICE ONE:

"Mississippi Masala" was a nineteen ninety-one film about an ethnic Indian family exiled from Uganda when Idi Amin comes to power. The family lives in Mississippi, in the American South.

Daughter Meena is in love with a black American named Demetrius, played by Denzel Washington. Their parents strongly disapprove.

The family decides to return to Uganda, but Meena does not want to go. She calls her parents to tell them she is running away with Demetrius. Her mother, played by Sharmila Tagore, recognizes that they have to let their daughter lead her own life.

(SOUND)

MEENA: "Ma, I'm not coming back. I'm sorry, but I can't go to Uganda. What would I do there?"
FATHER: "Are you alone?"
MEENA: "No, I'm with Demetrius. Pa, are you there? Ma, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. Why did he put the phone down?"
MOTHER: "I'll talk to your father."

VOICE TWO:

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

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Transcripts and audio archives of our programs are on the Internet at voaspecialenglish.com. Be sure to join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. We leave you with a song from a classic film from nineteen sixty-seven. It was about a relationship between a recent college graduate and what popular culture today would call a "hot mom" -- a sexy older woman. The young man feels regret, which only grows as he falls in love with her daughter. The actress who played the mother was Anne Bancroft, the lover was Dustin Hoffman and the movie was "The Graduate."

Barbie Not the Only Thing Turning 50
1959 brought the Barbie doll, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, ''the day the music died'' and the birth of Special English. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 April 2009

VOICE ONE:

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

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. This week on our program, we tell you about some fiftieth anniversaries that are being observed this year.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen fifty-nine, an unusual art museum opened in New York City. What was unusual was not so much the art but the museum.

Most museums lead visitors through a series of rooms. But the Guggenheim Museum is round. Spaces flow smoothly from one area to another. In place of steps, a ramp goes round and round past the art on the different levels. The center of the museum is open, so people can look up toward the roof or down toward the ground floor.

VOICE TWO:

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He died six months before it opened. Not everyone liked the unusual design. But it produced one of the most recognizable museums in the world.

A fiftieth anniversary exhibition will honor the architect and his work. From May fifteenth till August twenty-third, the Guggenheim in New York will present "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward."

VOICE ONE:

The exhibition will show sixty-four projects that he designed, including homes, public buildings and religious spaces. More than two hundred of his original drawings will be shown. The Guggenheim says the aim is to celebrate the basic idea behind Wright's architecture -- the sense of freedom in interior space.

VOICE TWO:

The Guggenheim opened in October of nineteen fifty-nine. That same month, the Voice of America began to broadcast special programs for English learners. Some language experts thought the idea would fail. But millions of listeners welcomed Special English.

Special English is read one-third slower than VOA's other English programs. The slower speed is combined with an extra effort to make the writing easy to understand.

Most of the words come from a vocabulary list that gets updated about every ten years. It began with one thousand words. Today it has about five hundred more. But writers can use any other words they need to report a story if the meaning is clear.

VOA Special English is an example of a controlled language. Another example is called Simplified Technical English. This language was developed to make it easier to understand and translate documents used at aircraft repair centers around the world.

VOICE ONE:

Special English is popular because it helps people learn American English while they learn about world news, science, American life and other subjects. The first broadcast was ten minutes of news to Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

There was no special announcement. Announcer Paul Parks just said, "Here is the news in Special English." Feature programs were added later, starting with Special English versions of short stories by famous writers. That program, AMERICAN STORIES, can be heard each Saturday.

VOICE TWO:

Today, Special English writers do a lot more original reporting and the programs are more lively. But one thing has never changed. Special English has a loyal following -- in homes, cars and classrooms throughout the world.

Some people are second-generation fans whose own children are now growing up with Special English. And not just on radio, but also TV and the Web: voaspecialenglish.com is one of VOA's most heavily visited sites.

Visitors can read and listen to programs, write comments, find shows they missed and sign up to receive programs by weekly e-mail. They can download MP3s and podcasts and access the Word Book. And they can watch videos in Special English. There is also voaspecialenglish.com/mobile. And Special English is expanding into social media. The goal, as always, is to follow English learners wherever their interests take them.

VOICE ONE:

This year is the fiftieth birthday of Barbie. The doll first appeared at the toy fair in New York on March ninth, nineteen fifty-nine.

Its creator was Ruth Handler, an American businesswoman. She and her husband Elliott along with Harold "Matt" Matson started the toy company Mattel. She named the new doll after their daughter Barbara. She based the design on a German doll named Bild Lilli.

The first Barbie wore a black and white swimsuit and had her hair in a ponytail. She looked and seemed very grown up. But any concerns that parents would not want to buy it for little girls were soon proved wrong.

Mattel sold three hundred thousand Barbie dolls in the first year at a price of three dollars. Today, a fifty-year-old Barbie in good condition might cost more than twenty-seven thousand dollars.

VOICE TWO:

Barbies have represented fifty different nationalities and are sold in one hundred fifty countries. Mattel says ninety percent of girls in the United States between the ages of three and ten own at least one Barbie doll. It says girls between the ages of three and six own an average of about twelve.

Barbie has faced recent competition from Bratz dolls. Barbie has also faced her share of critics.

A well-known example was when women's education groups objected to a talking Barbie that declared, among other things, "Math class is tough!" Mattel agreed to change it. That was back in nineteen ninety-two, the same year as the first Barbie for President doll. The dolls, though designed in California, were produced in China. Because of that, some people joked that Barbie could not legally become president of the United States.

Saudi Arabia has banned Barbie dolls. And a lawmaker in the American state of West Virginia would like to do the same. Last month, he proposed banning sales of Barbie and other dolls that influence girls to put too much importance on physical beauty.

Some people say Barbie is an unhealthy role model for young girls. Robin Gerber disagrees. She wrote a book about Barbie. She points out dolls like scientist Barbie and race car driver Barbie. She says people who criticize Barbie should tell girls the story of the businesswoman who created her. She says Ruth Handler wanted the dolls to help girls think about what they wanted to do with their lives.

(MUSIC: "That'll Be The Day")

VOICE ONE:

Singer Buddy Holly died in February of nineteen fifty-nine. He was just twenty-two, but he was already being called a musical genius.

Buddy Holly was killed in the crash of a small plane while on a singing tour in the Midwest. The crash also took the lives of the pilot and two other singers -- J.P. Richardson, known as the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens. He had a hit with this song, "La Bamba."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The plane went down after the singers had performed at the Surf Ballroom in the small town of Clear Lake, Iowa.

This year, some of those who performed with them that night gathered at the Surf to remember. The gathering, held over several days, was called "Fifty Winters Later." It included educational programs, dance lessons, speeches and theatrical performances. It also included a ceremony to declare the Surf Ballroom a rock and roll landmark. The events were organized by the Surf Ballroom and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Guests included Buddy Holly's wife, Ritchie Valens' brothers and sisters and the Big Bopper's son.

VOICE ONE:

The day of the plane crash -- February third -- is known in rock and roll history as "the day the music died." We end with a song inspired by that sad day. Here is Don McLean with his number one hit from nineteen seventy-two, "American Pie."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

Computer Terms: Have You Googled Someone Lately?
Terms that come from the world of computers. Transcript of radio broadcast: 18 April 2009

Now, the VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories.

Computer technology has become a major part of people's lives. This technology has its own special words. One example is the word mouse. A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields. It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer. The mouse moves the pointer, or cursor, on the computer screen.

Computer expert Douglas Engelbart developed the idea for the mouse in the early nineteen-sixties. The first computer mouse was a carved block of wood with two metal wheels. It was called a mouse because it had a tail at one end. The tail was the wire that connected it to the computer.

Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called hackers. A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.

Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular "search engine" for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number one followed by one-hundred zeros.

When you "Google" a subject, you can get a large amount of information about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their name appears on the Internet.

If you Google someone, you might find that person's name on a blog. A blog is the shortened name for a Web log. A blog is a personal Web page. It may contain stories, comments, pictures and links to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox. The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called SPAM. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word SPAM very loudly. This interferes with the friends' discussion – just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.

In the Red: When a Business is Losing Money
Some expressions used in business and investing. Transcript of radio broadcast: 25 April 2009

Now, Words and Their Stories, a VOA Special English program about American expressions.

I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with some financial words and expressions used in business and the stock market.

Our first expression is "in the red." It is another way of saying that a business is losing money. In the past, numbers in the financial records of a company were written in red ink to show a loss.

A business magazine recently published a report about a television company. The report said the company was still in the red, but was able to cut its loss from the year before.

A profit by a business is written in black numbers. So a company that is "in the black" is making money. An international news service reported that a private health insurer in Australia announced it was "back in the black with its first profit in three years."

Another financial expression is "run on the bank." That is what happens when many people try to withdraw all their money from a bank. A "run on the bank" usually happens when people believe there is danger a bank may fail or close.

Newspaper reports about a banking crisis in Russia used that expression. They said the government acted because of fears that the crisis would cause a run on the banks. "When a run on the banks was starting, there was not much they could do," said a banking expert.

"Day trading" is a system that lets investors trade directly on an electronic market system. The system is known as NASDAQ, short for The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation. It was the first completely computerized stock market. It sells stocks of companies not listed on any stock exchange. Many high technology companies are listed on it.

Day trading companies provide a desk and a computer system to an investor who wants to trade. Individuals must provide fifty thousand dollars or more to the trading company to pay for the stocks they buy. Thousands of other investors do day trading from computers in their homes.

A day trader watches stock prices carefully. When he sees a stock rise in price, he uses the computer to buy shares of the stock. If the stock continues to rise in price in the next few minutes, the day trader sells the shares quickly to make a small profit. Then he looks for another stock to buy. If a stock goes down instead of up, he sells it and accepts the loss.

The idea is to make a small profit many times during the day. Day traders may buy and sell stocks hundreds of times each day.

Many day traders lose all their money in a week or so. Only about thirty percent succeed in earning enough from their efforts to continue day trading.

This VOA Special English program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Frank Beardsley. This is Rich Kleinfeldt.

The Spoken Word is Still Heard After 35 Years At Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City
This non-profit arts organization is on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Transcript of radio broadcast: 27 April 2009

VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week on our program, we go to New York City to visit the thirty-five year old Nuyorican Poet's Café on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

(Poem)

READER:

I search the chemistry of specific emotions,

a combination of earth and air

that evokes the vital detail,

the phrase that heats the frying pan,

the look that smiles,

offering signals that localize,

where I am, and clarify what I see.

I'm child of the Electronic Frontier.

I learn off the radio waves

of 98.7 Kiss F.M. salsa/disco jams,

that come from a Sony,

bought even though I need a coat,

even though I'm behind on my payments

for the Trinitron Remote Control Color T.V.

that I picked up at Crazy Eddie's last month.

I'm child of the Columbia Space Shuttle,

and I need to know all the electronic gimmicks

invented yesterday

that are already primitive cousins

to those developed today

from eight to five P.M. in Japan.

VOICE ONE:

That poem, "Electronic Frontier," was written by Miguel Algarin. The native of Puerto Rico is a founder of one of New York City's oldest poetry centers -- The Nuyorican Poets Café. Nuyorican is a mix of the words "New York" and "Puerto Rican." It describes Puerto Ricans in America, whether they are in New York or not. The Nuyorican Poets Café is a non-profit arts organization inManhattan.

Miguel Algarin is sitting in his special seat at the end of the bar in the Café. He has a deep warm voice. He appears exactly as a poet should -- dreamy and intellectual, emotional and distant, humorous and dark.

VOICE TWO:

The Nuyorican Poets Café is in the Loisaida neighborhood of Manhattan. Its borders are debated. Generally, however, they stretch from Fourteenth Street on the north side, Avenue A on the west, Houston on the south and the East River. Loisaida is a "Spanglish" term, or English with a Spanish sound. Loisaida means "Lower East Side." The area is also known as Alphabet City, and sometimes considered part of the East Village.

Historically, the Lower East Side has been home to poor immigrant populations. The area has seen German, Jewish, Polish, Italian and Irish populations come and go. In the forties, Puerto Ricans arrived. And this group stayed.

Loisaida was one of New York's most dangerous neighborhoods in the nineteen seventies and eighties. It was filled with illegal drug sellers and users. The drug trade led to other crimes including stealing and violence. The crime became so bad in Loisaida that its lettered avenues got nicknames. Avenue "A" was for assault, "B" was for battery, "C" was for coma and "D" was for death.

VOICE ONE:

Loisaida was poor and dangerous. But the neighborhood was also home to undiscovered poets, playwrights, and musicians. These included Miguel Pinero, writer of the award-winning Broadway play "Short Eyes." He abused drugs and was jailed for robbery by the time he was a teenager. His work speaks to the short, hard life he lived. Mister Pinero died of alcohol-related disease in nineteen eighty-eight at the age of forty-one. He was a co-founder of the Nuyorican.

The Reverend Pedro Pietri was another. A former soldier in the United States Army, the Puerto Rican native wrote protest poems and plays about civil rights issues in America. His work and his performances were always exciting. He wore clothes of a Christian clergy member and called himself "Reverend." He died of cancer at the age of fifty-nine.

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen seventy three, Miguel Algarin opened up his apartment to these men and other artists. They would gather to read their work and discuss social issues. His home became very crowded quickly. And there was another problem.

Miguel Algarin was working as a professor of English at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "The thing about poets," he says, "is they like to stay up and talk until about four in the morning. Well, that is when I would be getting up to get ready for class." He says he realized it was time to find a separate space where the poets could gather and he could still get some sleep.

At first, the Nuyorican moved to a rented space on Sixth Streetin Loisaida. Then Miguel Algarin and the others were offered a nearby building on Third Street between Avenues B and C. Ellen Stewart, an experimental theater founder, owned the building.

This local arts supporter saw the promise the Café held for new poets. So, she sold the building for only one dollar. The Nuyorican Poets Café remains at Two Thirty-Six East Third Street today. However, in two thousand six, New York Cityofficials renamed Third Street in Loisaida "Reverend Pedro Pietri Way."

(MUSIC)

ROLAND LEGIARDI-LAURA:

"The mission of the Café has always been to support and nurture the arts of the spoken word. So poetry, plays, screenplay readings, and we've expanded to music and visual arts. Our deepest concern is to serve the underserved communities; the people who don't normally get access to arts in the city. Poor people, youth, people of color, so we try to keep our prices very, very low. We try to speak to those communities and provide them with artistic experiences that they can relate to."

VOICE ONE:

That is Roland Legiardi-Laura, a poet, filmmaker and member of the Café's board of directors. And he leads many of the Café's educational projects.

One of those he is especially proud of is the Nuyorican Power Writers Program. The year-long program involves at-risk children in troubled New York City schools. Mister Legiardi-Laura, poet and writer Joe Ubiles and arts education expert Amy Sultan founded the program in two thousand one.

The program aims to empower young people by making them masters of language and reading. The Power Writers' motto is: "If you don't learn how to write your own life story, someone else will write it for you." Roland LeGiardi-Laura says life feels out of control for a lot of the children he works with. He says the program can help them take control, make changes and imagine a future. They can become "warriors of words."

VOICE TWO:

Mister LeGiardi-Laura's first Power Writers class was in the Bronx area of New York City. He opened it by telling the children: "The prisons in our country […] are filled with people who can't read or write or speak well. In fact, this is the single most common distinguishing characteristic of an American prisoner -- illiteracy. Not race, not economic background, not an abusive childhood. If you want to have power in this society you must master the three literacies […] this is a class about power, your power."

The Power Writers program is the subject of "To Be Heard," a film that will be released soon. It was paid for by the public television network.

VOICE ONE:

Currently, the Nuyorican Poets Café is best known for its poetry slams. They are held Wednesday and Friday nights. Poetry slams are competitions where poets perform their poems in front of an audience and judges. The poems can be no longer than three minutes and are rated from zero to ten, ten being the best score possible.

Former Nuyorican board member Bob Holman brought slam to the Café from Chicago, Illinois, where it was born. The first slam at the Nuyorican was held in nineteen eighty-nine.

VOICE TWO:

At a slam earlier this month, one poet performed a piece about a girl with a very troubled mother. Here is part of it.

"I used to try on Mommy's jeans, just to see how they'd fit on me. They were always too big for me, but I knew in my heart, that it was Mommy's jeans that help me be the best Mommy that I could be.

But now, Mommy wears my jeans, adorned with glitter belts and shirts that say hottie and sexy. You see, my Mother's not a hottie nor is she sexy. She's more than that. She's beautiful.

I just don't think anyone's ever told her so. She's cocoa brown with the red undertones. She's got the night sky in her eyes, but she wears glitter shirts so she can shine. Not knowing that she's got the shine of the stars and moon in her eyes. Fire on her lips, Cherokee in her blood and Zulu in her hips, she's a Goddess, who has never been told."

VOICE ONE:

The Café also has hip-hop poetry and music events, poetry readings and theatrical productions. And Executive Director Dan Gallant says there is room for expansion. The Nuyorican Poets Café is in a three- level building. Mister Gallant says the two top floors could be turned into rooms for workshops or studios or more performance space.

All in time, he says. Mister Gallant notes that the Nuyorican is very lucky as a non-profit organization to own its own building, especially in a recession. "We don't have to worry about paying rent," he says. "We still can keep our entrance prices low. We don't depend so much on money from donors."

VOICE TWO:

Over the years, Loisaida has changed. It is now a desired place to live. Crime has been reduced. Housing prices have increased.

There are still some public housing apartments for poor people, but many fewer than in the past. Developers have bought a lot of empty properties and have re-built costly apartments. There are many popular restaurants and stores in the area.

The Nuyorican Poets Café looks and feels a lot like it did many years ago. But Dan Gallant did get the Café to modernize one way this past year. "We now accept credit cards," he says proudly.

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. Our reader was Mario Ritter. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for This is America in VOA Special English.

Let Us Plant Lettuce…
Experts say the green vegetable is one of the easiest to grow in your garden. Transcript of radio broadcast: 27 April 2009

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Even in ancient times, people liked to eat lettuce. Egyptians and Romans served the green, leafy vegetable at the end of dinner.

Now, people in some countries start the meal with lettuce as part of a salad. There are hundreds of kinds of lettuce. The main ones include head lettuce, such as iceberg, leaf lettuce, Boston, bibb and romaine.

Experts say lettuce is one of the easiest crops to grow in your garden. The best time to plant the seeds is during cool weather. The University of Illinois Extension advises that the best planting temperature is fifteen degrees Celsius.

Lettuce seeds are small, so do not place them too deep in the ground. If you plant some seeds every week or two, you will have crops ready to eat one after another.

To start the seeds inside, you can use a seed tray in your home or other shelter. This container should be deep enough to hold at least three centimeters of soil or more. There should be about one centimeter of space between the soil and the top of the container. The container should have holes in the bottom so the extra water can flow out.

Drop the seeds over the surface and cover them lightly with soil. If the soil is not already a little wet, give it some water. But do not drown the seeds.

Next, cover the seed tray with paper. When the seedlings have come up far enough to touch the paper, take it off. You can transplant the seedlings into the garden when they are about two to three centimeters tall. Do this when the weather is not too hot and not too cold.

Take out as much soil as you can with the seedlings. Then dig a hole in the ground bigger than the lettuce roots. Water the plants but not too heavily.

Harvest leaf lettuces when the leaves are big enough to eat. Pull the leaves from the outside of the planting so the inside leaves will keep growing. Or, you can cut off the whole plant. Leave about two or three centimeters above the ground so the plant will re-grow. Cut off head lettuces at ground level.

Lettuce is best when served fresh, so make a salad and enjoy. Store the unused part in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. It will last at least a few days, sometimes longer.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can find transcripts, MP3s and pod casts of our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Obama Returns From First Official Trip to Europe
The American president signaled policy changes during trip that included a surprise visit to Iraq. Transcript of radio broadcast: 10 April 2009

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

President Obama returned to the United States this week after his first visit to Europe since taking office in January.

On his way back, the president made an unannounced stop in Iraq. He met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani. He also visited American military troops at Camp Victory, near Baghdad. President Obama offered his thanks and support to a group of cheering troops. He said it is time for the Iraqis to take responsibility for their country. Mister Obama has said the United States will remove most American fighting forces from Iraq by the end of two thousand ten.

Earlier, Mister Obama traveled to Turkey for his first official visit to a mostly Muslim country. He met with university students and with Turkish President Abdullah Gul. He also spoke to the Turkish parliament. He promised to rebuild relations between the United States and the Islamic world.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "Let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam."

Before visiting Iraq and Turkey, the president was in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. He met with European Union leaders and spoke to a crowd of about twenty thousand people. He urged other nations to join in an effort to free the world of nuclear weapons.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:"Today I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

He said all nations with nuclear weapons should be involved.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it."

The president spoke just hours after North Korea launched a long-range rocket. He said the North Korean launch proves the need for nations to cooperate to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and to remove those that already exist. He also described the nuclear goal of Iran as a serious international threat.

Last week, President Obama attended a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on the French-German border. He said he was pleased that the NATO allies supported his new plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan. NATO agreed to provide more manpower and money. It will become heavily involved in training the Afghan military and police. More troops will be sent to help with security leading up to Afghanistan's national elections in August.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the NATO allies are pleased to work with the new American president. He said they trust him, and that he is speaking words they have been waiting to hear.

Mister Obama's trip may also have increased his support at home. New public opinion studies show sixty-six percent of Americans approve of the job President Obama is doing. A CBS News and New York Times study found thirty-nine percent say the country is moving in the right direction, up from fifteen percent in January.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. Transcripts and archives of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Obama Turns Attention to Latin America
President travels to Mexico and Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, after easing some restrictions on Cuba. Cuba reacts with an offer of talks. Transcript of radio broadcast: 17 April 2009

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week, President Obama made his first official visit to Latin America. He arrived Thursday in Mexico City and met with President Felipe Calderon. They discussed the drug war in Mexico, illegal immigration and the world recession. They also announced plans to cooperate in efforts to fight climate change and develop clean forms of energy.

Drug-related violence in Mexico has killed more than seven thousand people since the beginning of last year -- often with guns bought in the United States. The violence is now spreading over the border to American communities. This comes as American officials say Mexican organized crime groups are supplying drugs in a growing number of cities across the United States.

President Obama says the United States must reduce its demand for drugs and do its part to reduce the flow of guns and money to Mexico. Earlier this week, he used a law called the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act to target three Mexican drug organizations. The action will let the Treasury Department block or seize any of their money within reach of United States laws.

Also this week, the Obama administration named a former Justice Department official as so-called border czar. Alan Bersin will supervise efforts to secure the border with Mexico and to slow illegal immigration. He also had that job under Bill Clinton.

President Obama made a campaign promise to begin efforts for immigration reform in his first year in office. He has already met with Hispanic members of Congress and promised to work with them to try to shape a plan.

A new report says Mexicans now represent one-third of all immigrants in the United States -- by far the largest nationality group. The Pew Hispanic Center says more than half of Mexican immigrants are undocumented. They represent about sixty percent of the estimated twelve million illegal immigrants in the United States.

From Mexico, President Obama traveled Friday to the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The meetings bring together leaders of thirty-four countries. The only country not invited was Cuba. But earlier this week, President Obama lifted some restrictions on Cuba.

The actions do not end the nearly fifty year old trade embargo against the island. But Americans with family in Cuba will now be more free to visit and send money to family members. Critics say the money will only help Cuba's communist leaders.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed Cuba's reaction. President Raul Castro said Cuba is willing to discuss "everything" with the United States, including human rights, press freedoms and political prisoners. But he also said Cuba must be treated as an equal.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.

Teacher Sees 'Big Push' to Promote English as a Foreign Language in UAE
03 April 2009

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: meet an English teacher in the United Arab Emirates. She stopped by the VOA Special English booth at the recent TESOL convention, for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. It took place in Denver, Colorado.

AA: "Tell me your name and a little bit about yourself."

LEILA MOUHANNA: "My name's Leila Mouhanna. I'm a teacher at a foundations program at a university in the U.A.E, of Lebanese background, raised in Australia."

AA: "And what age do you teach?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "Nineteen-, twenty-year-old girls."

AA: "Tell me a little bit about English teaching in the Emirates right now, the state of English teaching."

LEILA MOUHANNA: "There's a big push by the government to promote English as a foreign language. So eighty percent of the U.A.E.'s population are foreigners, so there's a big push to get English just for communication purposes. Also, it's becoming -- it's a globalized country, they need it for economic reasons. So it's very important."

AA: "And what about the resources you have, Internet or educational materials, what do you find works? What do you personally have the most success with in teaching English?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "Possibly the best way is probably having an eclectic approach to the resources, the kinds of resources that you use with your students. I don't just focus on using one textbook. It's a variety of different materials from all over the place -- you know, YouTube or Internet resources, textbooks from a variety of places. So, yeah, pretty much everything."

AA: "You mentioned YouTube, the video-sharing Web site. How can English teachers use YouTube in the classroom?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "I've just used it just to build field knowledge about different topics that students need to write about. So, for example, they had to write an essay about nuclear power. So we'd look at different video footage of catastrophes that have happened all over the world using nuclear power and things like that. And that gets them to build their vocabulary, to build knowledge about the field, and then to transfer that knowledge and get them to write about it."

AA: "So it's interesting, you're using video -- it sounds like mostly for listening comprehension, although also for the material. But it occurs to me, you've got sites now obviously like YouTube, millions of videos available. I wonder if the fifth skill would now be visual comprehension. There's reading, writing, listening and speaking, and now, when you have video, does that add kind of a fifth dimension to teaching?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "Well, [there's] critical literacy, the visual literacy, but there's always the time constraints, so you can't really get into it. But I've never really had a big issue with it. My students really love television, really love using the Internet, so they're very technologically savvy."

AA: "And I'm assuming -- do some of your students use Twitter and Facebook and MySpace and sites like that?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "Yes, yes. But I don't venture into any of these Web sites. I think it's a bit iffy, I think it's a bit problematic."

AA: "Well, let's talk briefly about social media sites. I know a lot of teachers use those for English teaching. What do you see as the sort of pluses and minuses of using social media sites as a teaching resources?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "Well, I personally would steer clear away from it, because it can cause a lot of potential problems, especially coming from a very traditional society, working with females. So it could cause a lot of issues to arise that I wouldn't even contemplate initially."

AA: "But do your students, though, find it useful to them in their own learning?"

LEILA MOUHANNA: "I don't think they use it for learning. I think they use it as a social utility."

AA: Leila Mouhanna from the United Arab Emirates is one of the teachers we're introducing you to, from the recent TESOL convention in Denver, Colorado. Tell us what you think about using social networking sites as an English teaching resource. Your comments are welcome at voanews.com/wordmaster.

And you can now follow our weekly segments through Twitter, attwitter.com/voalearnenglish, all one word. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. I'm Avi Arditti.

The Global Snakebite Initiative Is Working to Improve Treatment for Victims
Scientists say the people most often bitten may be the least able to get good treatment. Transcript of radio broadcast: 22 April 2009

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

More than four million people around the world are bitten by snakes each year. At least one hundred twenty-five thousand of these people die. Almost three million others are seriously injured. Doctors and researchers say the world does not provide enough good treatment for poisonous snakebites. To help improve the situation, experts have formed an international project called the Global Snakebite Initiative.

Poisonous snakebites are common in rural areas of many developing countries with hot climates. Many victims are agricultural workers and children in Asia and southern Africa. Shortages of antivenom medicines, the treatment for snakebite, are common there. Existing supplies may not be high quality or developed correctly for local needs.

Ken Winkel directs the University of Melbourne's Australian Venom Research Unit. Doctor Winkel and university scientist David Williams are among the organizers of the Global Snakebite Initiative. Other project leaders are from Britain, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica and Singapore.

The International Society of Toxinology officially supported the Initiative last month at the World Congress of Plant, Animal and Microbial Toxins in Recife, Brazil.

Doctor Winkel says antivenom treatment is too costly for many poor people who need it most. The drugs are developed from the venom of poisonous snakes.

The Global Snakebite Initiative is trying to increase the availability of good quality antivenom treatments and improve medical training for patient care. Another goal is to help manufacturers of antivenom medicines improve their products.

The project also wants communities to learn about snakebites and first aid. It wants more research and reporting systems. And it aims to help national health officials choose antivenoms for their countries' special needs.

The antivenom that cures the bite of one kind of snake may not be effective for another kind of snake. And the medicines for a cobra bite in the Philippines may not work for someone bitten by a similar snake in West Africa.

Experts look forward to improvements in worldwide treatment for snakebite. But they say the best ways to reduce death and injury from snakebites are education and prevention.

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

US Banks See Gains; 'Stress Test' Findings Due May 4
Financial stocks have been rising since early March. Now, government officials plan to announce results of their examinations of 19 big banks. Transcript of radio broadcast: 16 April 2009

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

American officials say they will publish results on May fourth from a special examination of banks. The purpose was to see if the country's nineteen largest banks could survive losses in the event that the recession got even worse.

The Obama administration announced the so-called stress tests in February as part of efforts to rebuild the trust of investors. If banks are told they need more capital, they will have six months to raise the money from private markets or the government.

Some experts think banks have seen the worst of their losses and that the worst of the financial crisis may already have passed. On Thursday JP Morgan Chase rep

orated more than two billion dollars in profit for the first three months of this year. That was better than expected. Earlier, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo also reported strong results.

But the same is not true for the housing market. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the building of new homes fell in March to the second-lowest level on record.

President Obama warned in a speech on Tuesday that economic pain will continue through this year and those losses of jobs and homes will not end soon.

BARACK OBAMA: "But from where we stand, for the very first time, we are beginning to see glimmers of hope."

The president suggested that the economy could have reached the beginnings of a recovery.

One sign is that the Standard & Poor's list of five hundred stocks has risen more than twenty-five percent in the past five weeks. The S&P hit a twelve-year low in early March. Financial stocks have had some of the largest gains.

All nineteen banks are expected to pass the stress tests. But how the results will be presented is not clear. There is debate over whether releasing too much information might cause more harm than good. Some people might rush to withdraw money from weaker banks.

Yet some small banks have already paid back aid from the government.

The eight largest banks in the country have received about one hundred sixty-five billion dollars in aid. Goldman Sachs received ten billion last October from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Now it wants to pay that back.

On Tuesday, the bank sold more than five billion dollars in common stock in an effort to pay back the government. That was a day after it announced better-than-expected earnings. By returning the aid, Goldman Sachs could free itself from government limits on pay for top employees.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. For more business news, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

Visiting Endangered Places Around the World
The book “Disappearing Destinations” explores 37 threatened areas.Transcript of radio broadcast: 22 April 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we travel around the world visiting several endangered natural and cultural treasures. Some places like Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Montana's Glacier National Park are threatened by the effects of climate change. Other places are slowly being damaged by pollution and careless visitors.

The book "Disappearing Destinations" explains more about these endangered places and suggests helpful ways to take action.

VOICE ONE:

Earlier this month, the Obama Administration called for increased protection of the world's most southern continent, Antarctica. Scientists say climate change and human activity have increasingly led to the melting of massive pieces of Antarctic ice. The disappearance of ice will not only affect wildlife in the area such as seals and penguins. The melting will also cause oceans and seas around the world to rise.

VOICE TWO:

This represents a major threat, especially to coastal areas. For example, the ancient city of Venice, Italy has long been threatened by rising sea levels. The situation is made worse by the fact that its ancient buildings, built on a body of water called a lagoon, are slowly sinking. When the city was founded about one thousand six hundred years ago, the level of the Adriatic Sea was almost two meters lower than it is today.

Rising sea levels are not the only threat. The salty water is also destroying Venice's famous buildings and artworks. The Italian government is trying to fix the problem with the construction of a seven billion dollar system of moving flood barriers.

VOICE ONE:

Climate change is also leading to the melting of ice in other areas, such as Mount Kilimanjaro in northeastern Tanzania. It is the highest point in Africa, measuring almost six thousand meters. The mountain supports five vegetation zones and many kinds of animals.

The ice glaciers on the mountain are disappearing very quickly. This will have a bad effect on the mountain's ecosystems and on Tanzania’s travel industry. Also, a valuable record of thousands of years of weather history will also be lost if the ice melts. Scientists study pieces of glacier to understand weather patterns from thousands of years ago.

VOICE TWO:

In the United States, the icy masses in Glacier National Park in Montana may soon completely disappear because of climate change. In eighteen fifty, there were an estimated one hundred fifty glaciers in the more than four hundred thousand hectare park.

There are twenty-six glaciers remaining today. Scientists estimate that the glaciers will be gone by two thousand thirty. Warming temperatures are also threatening the many kinds of plants and animals that live in this mountain ecosystem.

VOICE ONE:

Venice, Mount Kilimanjaro, Glacier National Park and other threatened places are described in detail in a book called "Disappearing Destinations: 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them." Kimberly Lisagore and Heather Hansen published the book last year.

Both women are reporters who write about travel and the environment. Miz Lisagore says they began to notice how rare it was to find travel writing that recognized environmental problems and solutions. So, the two writers made a list of places that people should see before those places disappear.

VOICE TWO:

The writers tell about the good work being done by scientists and activists to protect each place. They wanted the book to be a hopeful call to action. Miz Lisagore says their aim was to give travelers a more meaningful experience by educating them about the places they love to visit.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

"Disappearing Destinations" is organized geographically by continental groupings. Some of the threatened places are very well known. For example, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the largest coral reef system in the world.

Rising sea temperatures are greatly harming the reef. In some areas, healthy yellow, brown and green reefs have become a bleached white color. The coral whitens when it becomes stressed by warmer temperatures and expels the algae organisms it needs to survive. Sick or dying coral affects the entire ecosystem of this special underwater area. Water pollution and visits by careless swimmers and divers also threaten the reef.

VOICE TWO:

The famous Galapagos Islands, more than nine hundred kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, are also endangered. This protected area is known for its rich biodiversity of sea and land creatures. One threat to this area is the introduction of foreign plants and organisms. Foreign plants growing in the area can upset the balanced ecosystems of native plants and animals. In fact, today there are more foreign plant species on the islands than there are native plants. Increasing immigration and visits from travelers are also damaging the health of the islands.

VOICE ONE:

"Disappearing Destinations" also discusses places that face environmental threats that are less well known. For example, theNapa Valley in the American state of California is famous for its fine wines. But rising temperatures are threatening the grape harvest and wine industry in the area. To be made into fine wine, some kinds of grapes must grow in a limited range of temperatures. As temperatures rise in Napa, producers may find it harder to produce wine of the same quality. However, rising temperatures have improved the wine harvest in cooler areas.

VOICE TWO:

In the ancient forests of the Lapland area of Finland, many people in the Sami native group make a living raising reindeer. Sami have been raising reindeer in this area for hundreds of years. But intensive logging in this part of Finland has started to threaten the work and culture of this group. Finland's forestry agency cuts down trees that are very old because they earn the most money.

But this logging also ruins the areas where Sami bring their reindeer to feed. Some experts say only five percent of Finland's old-growth forest remains. Continued logging will not only affect the natural environment of this beautiful northern wilderness. It could also forever change the ancient way of life of the area's native Sami people.

VOICE ONE:

Many endangered places in "Disappearing Destinations" are cultural treasures. For example, hundreds of thousands of people a year visit the ancient buildings of Machu Picchu in Peru. These Incan buildings face severe damage if the number of visitors is not more carefully controlled.

And, in Mali, the famous city of Timbuktu was once a cultural capital of West Africa. But today, the climate is drying out the fertile grasslands. This change of climate threatens the local environment and the livelihoods of people living there. The desertification process also threatens Timbuktu's many ancient earth buildings. These buildings have influenced building designers around the world.

VOICE TWO:

Kimberly Lisagore says that she has been very pleased by the response of people who have read "Disappearing Destinations." She says she and Heather Hansen have heard from readers who no longer think of the places they visit as pictures on postcards that are frozen in time. Instead, the readers see these places as easily damaged and always changing.

VOICE ONE:

Miz Lisagore says some readers have decided to work harder to protect the environment. These people learned that the way they choose to live at home has far-reaching effects on the planet. The book also includes a list of organizations working to protect the endangered places described. So readers can learn more information about the groups that interest them. Readers can also learn more about traveling in ways that do not harm the places they visit.

VOICE TWO:

Kimberly Lisagore says she is starting to see a more balanced travel relationship between tourists and the places they visit. She says Americans often take what a place has to offer and then go back home. Miz Lisagore says it is important for travelers to realize that they are visiting a place that is someone's home. And, she hopes that more travelers of all nationalities will see themselves as ambassadors who have a long term responsibility to the places they visit.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Dana Demange. Mario Ritter was the producer. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. You can see pictures of these endangered places on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also get transcripts and MP3 files. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

The Law of Life
Written by Jack London 26 August 2006

ANNOUNCER: Now, the V.O.A. Special English Program, AMERICAN STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Our story today is called “The Law of Life.” It was written by Jack London. Here is Shep O’Neal with the story.

STORYTELLER: The old Indian was sitting on the snow. It was Koskoosh, former chief of his tribe. Now, all he could do was sit and listen to the others. His eyes were old. He could not see, but his ears were wide open to every sound.

“Aha.” That was the sound of his daughter, Sit-cum-to-ha. She was beating the dogs, trying to make them stand in front of the snow sleds. He was forgotten by her, and by the others, too. They had to look for new hunting grounds. The long, snowy ride waited. The days of the northlands were growing short. The tribe could not wait for death. Koskoosh was dying.

The stiff, crackling noises of frozen animal skins told him that the chief’s tent was being torn down. The chief was a mighty hunter. He was his son, the son of Koskoosh. Koskoosh was being left to die.

As the women worked, old Koskoosh could hear his son’s voice drive them to work faster. He listened harder. It was the last time he would hear that voice. A child cried, and a woman sang softly to quiet it. The child was Koo-tee, the old man thought, a sickly child. It would die soon, and they would burn a hole in the frozen ground to bury it. They would cover its small body with stones to keep the wolves away.

“Well, what of it? A few years, and in the end, death. Death waited ever hungry. Death had the hungriest stomach of all.”

Koskoosh listened to other sounds he would hear no more: the men tying strong leather rope around the sleds to hold their belongings; the sharp sounds of leather whips, ordering the dogs to move and pull the sleds.

“Listen to the dogs cry. How they hated the work.”

They were off. Sled after sled moved slowly away into the silence. They had passed out of his life. He must meet his last hour alone.

“But what was that?” The snow packed down hard under someone’s shoes. A man stood beside him, and placed a hand gently on his old head. His son was good to do this. He remembered other old men whose sons had not done this, who had left without a goodbye.

His mind traveled into the past until his son’s voice brought him back. “It is well with you?” his son asked. And the old man answered, “It is well.”

“There is wood next to you and the fire burns bright,” the son said. “The morning is gray and the cold is here. It will snow soon. Even now it is snowing. Ahh, even now it is snowing.

“The tribesmen hurry. Their loads are heavy and their stomachs flat from little food. The way is long and they travel fast. I go now. All is well?”

“It is well. I am as last year’s leaf that sticks to the tree. The first breath that blows will knock me to the ground. My voice is like an old woman’s. My eyes no longer show me the way my feet go. I am tired and all is well.”

He lowered his head to his chest and listened to the snow as his son rode away. He felt the sticks of wood next to him again. One by one, the fire would eat them. And step by step, death would cover him. When the last stick was gone, the cold would come. First, his feet would freeze. Then, his hands. The cold would travel slowly from the outside to the inside of him, and he would rest. It was easy…all men must die.

He felt sorrow, but he did not think of his sorrow. It was the way of life. He had lived close to the earth, and the law was not new to him. It was the law of the body. Nature was not kind to the body. She was not thoughtful of the person alone. She was interested only in the group, the race, the species.

This was a deep thought for old Koskoosh. He had seen examples of it in all his life. The tree sap in early spring; the new-born green leaf, soft and fresh as skin; the fall of the yellowed, dry leaf. In this alone was all history.

He placed another stick on the fire and began to remember his past. He had been a great chief, too. He had seen days of much food and laughter; fat stomachs when food was left to rot and spoil; times when they left animals alone, unkilled; days when women had many children. And he had seen days of no food and empty stomachs, days when the fish did not come, and the animals were hard to find.

For seven years the animals did not come. Then, he remembered when as a small boy how he watched the wolves kill a moose. He was with his friend Zing-ha, who was killed later in the Yukon River.

Ah, but the moose. Zing-ha and he had gone out to play that day. Down by the river they saw fresh steps of a big, heavy moose. “He’s an old one,” Zing-ha had said. “He cannot run like the others. He has fallen behind. The wolves have separated him from the others. They will never leave him.”

And so it was. By day and night, never stopping, biting at his nose, biting at his feet, the wolves stayed with him until the end.

Zing-ha and he had felt the blood quicken in their bodies. The end would be a sight to see.

They had followed the steps of the moose and the wolves. Each step told a different story. They could see the tragedy as it happened: here was the place the moose stopped to fight. The snow was packed down for many feet. One wolf had been caught by the heavy feet of the moose and kicked to death. Further on, they saw how the moose had struggled to escape up a hill. But the wolves had attacked from behind. The moose had fallen down and crushed two wolves. Yet, it was clear the end was near.

The snow was red ahead of them. Then they heard the sounds of battle. He and Zing-ha moved closer, on their stomachs, so the wolves would not see them. They saw the end. The picture was so strong it had stayed with him all his life. His dull, blind eyes saw the end again as they had in the far off past.

For long, his mind saw his past. The fire began to die out, and the cold entered his body. He placed two more sticks on it, just two more left. This would be how long he would live.

It was very lonely. He placed one of the last pieces of wood on the fire. Listen, what a strange noise for wood to make in the fire. No, it wasn’t wood. His body shook as he recognized the sound…wolves.

The cry of a wolf brought the picture of the old moose back to him again. He saw the body torn to pieces, with fresh blood running on the snow. He saw the clean bones lying gray against the frozen blood. He saw the rushing forms of the gray wolves, their shinning eyes, their long wet tongues and sharp teeth. And he saw them form a circle and move ever slowly closer and closer.

A cold, wet nose touched his face. At the touch, his soul jumped forward to awaken him. His hand went to the fire and he pulled a burning stick from it. The wolf saw the fire, but was not afraid. It turned and howled into the air to his brother wolves. They answered with hunger in their throats, and came running.

The old Indian listened to the hungry wolves. He heard them form a circle around him and his small fire. He waved his burning stick at them, but they did not move away. Now, one of them moved closer, slowly, as if to test the old man’s strength. Another and another followed. The circle grew smaller and smaller. Not one wolf stayed behind.

Why should he fight? Why cling to life? And he dropped his stick with the fire on the end of it. It fell in the snow and the light went out.

The circle of wolves moved closer. Once again the old Indian saw the picture of the moose as it struggled before the end came. He dropped his head to his knees. What did it matter after all? Isn’t this the law of life?

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: You have just heard the American story “The Law of Life.” It was written by Jack London. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. Listen again next week for another American story in V.O.A. Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

Foreign Student Series: TOEFL or IELTS?
In part 15, we look at the two major English language tests accepted by colleges and universities in theU.S. Transcript of radio broadcast: 17 December 2008

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

For the past two weeks, we have talked about the SAT and ACT college admissions tests and the GRE for graduate school. This week in our Foreign Students Series, we move on to English language tests.

Most American colleges and universities accept one or both of the two major tests. One is the Test of English as a Foreign Language, known as the TOEFL. The other is the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS.

The TOEFL is given in one hundred eighty countries. The competing IELTS is given in one hundred twenty-one countries.

One million people each year take the TOEFL, says Tom Ewing, a spokesman for the Educational Testing Service. Same with the IELTS, says Beryl Meiron, the executive director of IELTS International.

She says two thousand colleges and universities in the United States now recognize the IELTS. Schools might accept it only for undergraduate or graduate admission or both.

The IELTS is a paper test, while the TOEFL is given on paper only in places where a computer test is unavailable.

The TOEFL paper test costs one hundred fifty dollars. It tests reading, listening and writing. A separate Test of Spoken English costs one hundred twenty-five dollars.

The computer version is called the TOEFL iBT, or Internet-based test. The price is different in each country, but generally falls between one hundred fifty and two hundred dollars.

The TOEFL iBT and the IELTS both measure all four language skills -- listening, reading, writing and speaking. But with the IELTS, the speaking test is done separately as a live interview. You speak with an examiner who is certified in ESOL -- English for speakers of other languages.

Everyone takes the same speaking and listening tests. But there is a choice of two kinds of reading and writing tests -- either academic or general training.

IELTS International says the test measures true-to-life ability to communicate in English for education, immigration and employment. Institutions in Britain and Australia jointly developed it.

The cost is different in each country. But Beryl Meiron says the price in local currency is generally comparable to about one hundred sixty dollars. The IELTS Web site is ielts.org. The TOEFL Web site is toefl.org.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Studying in the US: Helping Foreign Students Feel at Home
A college or university's international student office is a good place to start getting to know a school and the country. Part 26 of our Foreign Student Series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 18 March 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Being a new student in school can be a little scary. Being a new student in a new country can be even scarier.

A college or university's international student office is a good place to start getting to know the school and the country. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we talk about support services for international students in the United States.

Our example is the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. U.S.C. has had the most international students of any American college or university for the past seven years. So says the Institution of International Education in New York.

U.S.C.'s Office of International Services says the number of students this year is about seven thousand five hundred. The University of Southern California has more than thirty-five thousand students in total.

The Office of International Services helps explain student life at the university. It also organizes programs to help foreign students feel more at ease in their new surroundings. For example, there are trips to explore the Los Angeles area.

Most American colleges and universities have a similar office that helps international students. These offices look for ways to get students involved in school life and make American friends. Their job is not always easy. International students often want to spend their free time with friends from their own country or group.

India, China, South Korea, Japan and Canada sent the most students to the United States during the last school year. Next came Taiwan, Mexico, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Thailand.

The office at U.S.C. also assists family members who come to the United States with international students. The family members can take English classes and go on trips to places like museums.

The Office of International Services also organizes other activities. For example, a State of the World Seminar takes place each semester. A group of international students and a professor discuss current social and political issues and take questions from the audience. The most recent seminar, held earlier this month, dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our series on studying in the United States will continue next week. Earlier reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series. You can write comments and read what other people are saying. I'm Steve Ember.

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week, in part nine of our Foreign Student Series, we talk about getting a student visa to come to the United States.

Just getting accepted to an American college or university does not guarantee that you will get a visa. And getting a visa just lets you arrive in the United States. It does not guarantee that an immigration officer will permit you to enter the country.

Travel documents come from the Department of State. But immigration is the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security.

The State Department has a Web site with all the rules for getting a visa. The address is unitedstatesvisas.gov. United states visas is all one word.

If you are requesting a visa for the first time, you will probably have to go to an American embassy or consulate. You will need to bring a government form sent to you by your American school that shows you have been accepted.

You will also need banking and tax records that show you have enough money to pay for your education. And be prepared to provide evidence that you will return to your home country after your studies end.

All of this is important in satisfying the requirements to get a visa. A consular official will also take your picture and your fingerprints.

Foreign students must contact their local embassy or consulate to request an interview and to get other information. This includes directions about how and where to pay the visa application charge. The cost is two hundred dollars.

You should apply for the visa as soon as you have been accepted to a school in the United States. The government needs time to perform a background investigation.

You cannot receive a visa more than one hundred twenty days before the start of your program. And if you are coming as a student for the first time, you cannot enter the country more than thirty days before classes begin.

Once you come to the United States, you can stay for the length of your period of study. Your school is required to provide the Department of Homeland Security with reports on your status as a student. We will talk more about what that means next week.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online with transcripts, MP3s and helpful links at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Studying in the US: Where To Live?
Housing policies differ from school to school; part 27 of our Foreign Student Series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 25 March 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

March Madness is the name for the busy championship season in American college basketball. But March also means another kind of madness -- the nervous wait for admissions letters from colleges and universities.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we jump ahead to the subject of where to live. Housing policies differ from school to school. Some schools have limited housing or none at all.

Dormitory buildings might house a small number of students or many hundreds. Some dorms have suites. A suite has several bedrooms, a common area and a bathroom. Other dorms have rooms along a common hallway. Two, three or four students might share a room.

Males and females often live on different floors of the same building. Or they might live on the same floor, or in some cases even share a suite if permitted. But single-sex housing is usually also available.

Different groups and organizations such as fraternities and sororities might have their own houses where their members live. And there is often housing for married students.

Some dorms are nice, others are not so nice. But many students say they like the chance to make friends and be near their classes.

Cost is another consideration. Dorms can cost less than off-campus housing. But school-owned housing can also cost more, though the price may include meals.

Here are some questions to ask before making a decision: How much privacy can a student expect? Will the school provide a single room if a student requests one? Will the school provide a special diet if a student needs one? And are any dorms open all year so international students can have a place to stay during long vacations?

Kirsten Kennedy, housing director at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, says all first-year undergraduates there have to live in a dorm. After that, they are free to seek other housing.

Students can apply to become resident assistants after living in the dorms for a year. International students can also apply to become resident assistants after a year in the dorms.

Working as a resident assistant in student housing is one way to help finance an education. At many schools, RAs earn money as well as get their room and meals for free or at a reduced price.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Student Series is online at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Studying in the US: Alcohol on Campus
Policies differ from college to college in the U.S. Part 28 of our Foreign Student Series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 April 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Most American colleges and universities take a spring break. Students might go home to their families -- or spend a week partying on a warm beach with no parents around. That is the popular image, at least.

In the United States, the legal age to drink alcohol is twenty-one -- one of the highest in the world. Americans debate whether it should be lowered, or whether young drinkers would only drink more. In parts of Europe, the legal drinking age for beer, and sometimes hard liquor, is sixteen. Yet France may raise the age limit for beer and wine sales to eighteen, the same as for hard liquor there.

Rules on alcohol differ from college to college in the United States. Many schools require all first-year students to take an alcohol prevention and education program, often given online. Some have a "zero tolerance" policy where alcohol is banned from all buildings. Parents are informed of violations and students may be suspended.

At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, permission is needed to serve alcohol at any event on campus. But alcohol is banned in first-year dorms -- where most students are under twenty-one anyway.

Susan Davis, a university lawyer, says campus police and local police report underage drinking violations to administrators. The university judicial committee decides punishment on a case by case basis. For example, the committee might suspend or expel a student. It might require an alcohol education program. Or it might just give a warning.

Jon Zug is a prosecutor in Albemarle County, where the university is located. He says international students would face the same punishment as American citizens for underage drinking in Virginia. That includes a fine of five hundred dollars or fifty hours of community service. But first offenders might be given a chance to complete an alcohol education program instead.

Schools have to report legal violations by international students to the Department of Homeland Security. International adviser Richard Tanson at the University of Virginia says even minor violations stay on a student's permanent immigration record. He says international students should know that this can affect them in the future if they try to re-enter the United States.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Studying in the US: Four Kinds of Financial Aid
We explain assistantships, scholarships, fellowships and grants in part 22 of our Foreign Student Series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 18 February 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week in our Foreign Student Series, we look at financial aid that comes in ships. Scholarships, fellowships and assistantships.

But first we talk about financial aid of another kind: grants. A grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid.

One of our examples this week is the University of Missouri-Columbia, known as Mizzou (pronounced mah-ZOO). Mizzou is a public university with more than one thousand five hundred international students this school year. The total student population is more than thirty thousand.

Mizzou has a grant program for international students. The Curator's Grant-in-Aid program is for those who get good grades and take part in university activities. Graduate students who receive a grant get nine free credits to take courses. Undergraduates receive between one thousand and five thousand dollars in support.

Students must have attended Mizzou for a year before they can receive a grant. And they must reapply for the awards each semester.

Some grants are called scholarships or fellowships. Scholarships are for undergraduates; fellowships are for graduate students. Awards may be based on financial need or on grades, talents or other requirements. The Global Heritage Scholarship at Mizzou, for example, is only for international undergraduates whose mother or father graduated from there.

The scholarship pays seven thousand five hundred dollars a year for tuition. Full tuition is currently almost nineteen thousand dollars.

Tuition is about the same at another public university, the University of Arizona in Tucson. It offers an undergraduate scholarship for international students who earned high marks in high school. The program is open to all foreign students who have been admitted to the university. Winners receive between two thousand and ten thousand dollars a year to help pay tuition.

Seventy international students are currently receiving the scholarship. The University of Arizona has more than two thousand international students this academic year. The school had close to forty thousand students during the fall term.

Assistantships are jobs paid with money or free classes. Graduate assistants help professors for about twenty hours a week. They may teach undergraduates, grade papers and tests, and assist with research.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. The earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember

Foreign Student Series: Thanksgiving in the US
College and universities may arrange for students far from home to spend the holiday with local families. Part 12 of our series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 26 November 2008

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. Americans traditionally gather for a large holiday meal with family and friends. Most schools are also closed Friday for Thanksgiving break. Some students get all week off.

So where does this leave international students? We asked a few colleges and universities around the country for this week's report in our Foreign Student Series.

In the Northeast, Green Mountain College in Poultney,Vermont, has twenty-nine international students this year out of a student population of about eight hundred. Dick Weis is the director of international programs. He says teachers and coaches invite international students to their homes for Thanksgiving. Professor Weis is having six or seven at his house for the holiday.

In the Southeast, Lelia Crawford is director of international student programs at EmoryUniversity in Atlanta, Georgia. She says school groups organize meals for the more than one thousand five hundred international students at Emory.

Local organizations also get involved, like a group called the Atlanta Ministry with International Students. It arranges for students in the Atlanta area to celebrate Thanksgiving with American families.

The group also has a program called Christmas International House. International students can spend the long winter holiday with families in other parts of the United States.

In the Midwest, Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, has more than one thousand students. Fourteen of them this year are from other countries. International student adviser Nadia Sifri says they are connected with local host families when they first arrive. The families provide a home away from home, she says, and they generally invite the students to spend Thanksgiving with them.

And in the West, Bob Ericksen heads the Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA has more than five thousand international students, and he says they can enjoy not just one but three meals for Thanksgiving.

His office and the Study Abroad Office have a dinner before the holiday. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, local families bring food to a park to share with international students. And that evening, the students can go to another Thanksgiving meal held by a service fraternity.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our Foreign Students Series can be found on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember

Studying in the US: Beware of Essay Mills
We continue our discussion of plagiarism. Transcript of radio broadcast: 22 April 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We continue our discussion of plagiarism. Last week, we said colleges and universities in the United States define plagiarism as representing another person's work as your own. It is considered a kind of cheating.

Professors at American colleges have tried many ways to stop student plagiarism.

Some use online detection services. They also may discuss plagiarism with their students at the start of every term. Some require their students to turn in early versions of term papers, research papers and essays they are writing. This makes it more difficult for students to buy papers from companies that some call "plagiarism mills" or "essay mills."

A recent report in The Chronicle of Higher Education described such businesses. Many can be found on the Internet. They sell newly written papers on many subjects. The cost depends on the difficulty of the subject and how soon the paper is needed. The cost could be from twenty to forty dollars a page.

Such companies say their writers have advanced degrees, and will target the papers to any educational level. Investigators say the writers may be working in countries like India, Nigeria or Indonesia and are poorly paid. Most of these companies say their work should only be used as models and should not be turned in as a finished work. But students do it anyway.

Some students claim that they order such papers as a way to organize their research. But many also say they do not have enough time to do the work themselves and are under great pressure to do well in school.

University of Notre Dame anthropology professor Susan Blum wrote about this in a new book, "My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture." She writes that academic cheating is a result of communication failure between students and professors. And she says international students must be sure they know the rules of the college they are attending.

Plagiarism may also be a problem in other countries. A recent e-mail to us from Iran described an incident in an English class. Students were supposed to research tourist places in Iran. But one student copied information from a book. The student changed "China" to "Iran" but forgot to change the names of the places. When the teacher asked about his research, he said: "One of the most beautiful tourist places in Iran is Shanghai."

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

Foreign Student Series: Answering Your Questions
In part 17, we answer questions about American higher education and about learning English. Transcript of radio broadcast: 14 January 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We answer some questions this week in our series on getting into an American college or university.

The first question has to do with our recent discussion of English language tests. Vo Ngoc Toan from Vietnam would like to know about the TOEIC-- the Test of English for International Communication.

This test is designed to measure skills in English as spoken in the workplace. People may be required to take it if they apply for jobs with companies or other employers. But TOEIC scores are not used for college admission in the United States.

The Educational Testing Service administers the TOEIC. It says the test measures the language skills of people working in an international environment.

American colleges and universities accept scores from the TOEFL and often the IELTS. If you missed our report on these tests, you can find it at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Click on Foreign Student Series.

Tahir Mahmood from Pakistan asks how to improve his English before taking these kinds of tests. Well, you can start by looking for ways to use English as much as you can. Watch American movies and TV shows and read books in English. Look for English speakers to talk to.

The Internet has a lot of free resources for English learners. Visitors to voaspecialenglish.com, for example, can read, listen and watch programs on many different subjects.

The United States Department of Education recently launched a free Web site designed to help immigrants learn English. The site is called USA Learns. The address is u-s-a-l-e-a-r-n-s dot o-r-g.

Next, a question from Turkey: Hasan Eker asks about getting a postdoctoral position in the United States. This is work generally done by a person who recently earned a PhD, or doctor of philosophy degree. The National Postdoctoral Association in Washington, D.C., has information about international postdocs on its Web site. That address is nationalpostdoc -- all one word -- dot org.

And, finally, we have questions from Iran, Afghanistan and Indonesia about how to pay for an education through loans or jobs. There are rules that restrict the kinds of jobs that foreign students can have while studying in the United States. But stay tuned. In the next few weeks, we will discuss financial aid as we talk about the costs of an American education.

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

Foreign Student Series: College, University or Institute?
Part three of our Foreign Student Series explains the different kinds of higher learning institutions in theU.S. Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 September 2008

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Americans use the term "college students" to mean students either in colleges or universities. Not only that, Americans almost never say "going off to university" or "when I was in university." That sounds British. Instead, they say "going off to college" and "when I was in college."

College, university: what's the difference? We answer that this week in part three of our Foreign Student Series on American higher education.

Colleges and universities have many things in common. Both offer undergraduate degrees in the arts and sciences, for example. And both can help prepare young people to earn a living.

But many colleges do not offer graduate studies. Another difference is that universities are generally bigger. They offer more programs and do more research.

Another place of higher education, especially in technical areas, is an institute, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Yet even an institute of technology can offer a wide choice of programs and activities. M.I.T. says that seventy-five percent of freshmen come there with a strong interest and involvement in the arts.

Modern universities developed from those of Europe in the Middle Ages. The word "university" came from the Latin universitas, describing a group of people organized for a common purpose.

"College" came from collegium, a Latin word with a similar meaning. In England, colleges were formed to provide students with places to live. Usually each group was studying the same thing. So college came to mean an area of study.

The first American universities divided their studies into a number of areas and called each one a college. This is still true.

A college can also be a part of a university. For example, Harvard College is the undergraduate part of Harvard University.

Programs in higher learning can also be called schools, like a school of engineering or a medical school within a college or university. You know, learning all these terms is an education in itself.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.

We invite your questions for our Foreign Student Series. We cannot offer any personal advice or assistance. But we might be able to answer a general question during our series.

Be sure to tell us your name and where you are. Write to special@voanews.com or use the Contact Us link at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Foreign Student Series: Admissions Tests
In part 13, we start to discuss entrance exams; plus, a new report warns about the rising costs of higher education in the U.S. Transcript of radio broadcast: 03 December 2008

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Many American colleges and universities require applications for the fall term to be completed by January first. But some have deadlines of December first. So this was a fitting week for a research group in California to release its latest "national report card on higher education." The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education calls it "Measuring Up."

The report says the price of college has increased more than four hundred percent since nineteen eighty-two. Costs have climbed much faster than other prices -- as well as the wages of average families.

The group warns that a continuation of these trends would put higher education beyond the reach of most Americans. And it would mean greater debt for those who do go to college.

The report also expresses concern that the United States is losing its leadership in sending young people to college. Earlier progress can be seen in the percentage of Americans age thirty-five and older who have a college degree. In a comparison of twenty-nine countries, the United States is second, after Canada.

But today other countries are making progress more quickly. The United States is tenth in the percentage of college-educated adults age twenty-five to thirty-four. And it is seventh in the percentage of eighteen to twenty-four year olds in college.

Also, a lot of students drop out. The report says college completion "has never been strength" of American higher education. Among the twenty-nine countries, the United States is fifteenth in college completion rates.

Completing college first requires getting admitted. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we begin a discussion of entrance tests.

Advisers say a student's high school record is the most important consideration. But most American schools require one of the two major college-entrance tests.

The SAT measures reasoning skills in math and language and includes an essay question.

The four-hour test costs forty-five dollars. The international processing charge is twenty-six -- plus an extra twenty-three dollars in India and Pakistan.

Students may also need to take subject tests. Information about the SAT can be found online at collegeboard.com.

Next time, we will talk about the other major test, the ACT-- and about schools that do not require either. And we will discuss the TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language.

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

Foreign Student Series: Paying for School in the US
International students must show they can pay for at least their first year of study. Part 18 of our series. Transcript of radio broadcast: 21 January 2009

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Governments are not the only ones having to re-examine their budgets. The financial crisis has many families concerned about how they will pay for college. This week in our Foreign Student Series, we discuss costs for higher education for international students in the United States.

Prices differ from school to school, but public colleges and universities usually cost less than private ones.

A big state university in the western United States will serve as our example. The University of Colorado at Boulder has one thousand two hundred international students from more than eighty countries.

Tina Tan is the director of international student and scholar services. She says international students are paying a total of forty thousand two hundred dollars for this academic year. The university estimates that the cost for next year will increase by four hundred dollars.

The university does not offer financial aid to international students. This is generally true of American schools, especially at the undergraduate level. Federal and state financial aid can only go to American citizens.

The University of Colorado does, however, offer some help for international students. For example, it guarantees them the same tuition rate for all four years of undergraduate study. And it offers four scholarships for international students with special skills or talents.

Tina Tan says the federal government requires international students to show on their applications how they will pay for their first year of school. This evidence is a signed statement from whoever is paying for it, and confirmation from a bank or lawyer.

Some colleges might require international students to show that they can pay for all four years. But the University of Colorado requires only evidence of financial support for the first year.

Educational advisers say foreign students should keep enough money in a local bank to pay for at least two months of spending. Students have to consider not just tuition but also housing, meals, books and other costs including social activities.

Immigration rules restrict employment for international students in the United States. So what kinds of jobs are they permitted to have? That will be our subject next week.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Transcripts and MP3s of the earlier reports in our Foreign Students Series are at voaspecialenglish.com

Apple Pie Order: When Everything Is Just Perfect
Expressions about apples. Transcript of radio broadcast: 14 March 2009

Correction attached

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we tell about the expression, "apple pie order." It means in perfect order, very well organized.

Nobody is sure where and when the expression apple pie order began. Some say that Scottish and English writers used the expression a long time ago. Others say it first was used in the northeastern American states known as New England.

The housewives of New England cut their apples in even slices. Then they filled pie pans with them in an organized way, row upon row. As one writer said, the women of New England loved to have everything in its place. This perhaps explains why it generally is believed that the expression apple-pie order began in New England.

Another old expression describes the opposite condition – wild disorder. That expression is apple of discord. It comes from ancient mythology.

The myth says that all the gods and goddesses were sitting around the table to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. One of the goddesses, Discord, was a troublemaker. She threw a golden apple on the table to be given as a prize to the most beautiful goddess.

It was not an easy decision to make. How could they choose among Juno, Minerva and Venus. Paris was given the task of deciding. He decided to give the golden apple to Venus. Juno and Minerva were very angry and threatened him. This, the myth says, began the long Trojan war.

At one time, the tomato was called a love apple. That was a mistake. This is how the mistake happened.

In the sixteenth century, Spain imported the tomato from South America after Spanish explorers had landed there. Spain then exported the tomato to Morocco. Italian traders carried it on to Italy. The Italian name for the tomato was pomo di Moro – apple of the Moors.

When French growers imported it from Italy, they thought di Moro meant d'amour, the French word for love. And so pomo di Moro became the apple of love.

People believe many things about the apple. One belief is that it has great powers of keeping people healthy. A very common expression is "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Another belief is based on fact. The expression is "One rotten apple spoils the barrel." When an apple begins to go bad, it ruins all the other apples around it in the container. The expression has come to mean that one bad person in a group can cause everyone to act bad.

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You have been listening to the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Warren Scheer.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Discord as a Greek god; she was a goddess.

Proverbs: Some Listeners’ Favorite Sayings
More expressions about a common truth or belief. Transcript of radio broadcast: 02 March 2009

Correction attached

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Many proverbs give advice about the best way to live.

Recently, we presented a program about proverbs. We asked our listeners to send us their favorite proverbs. A short time later, we received suggestions from around the world. We heard from listeners in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

The top proverb among these listeners is this one: "Where there is a will, there is a way." This means that you can rise above your problems if you have a goal and work very hard.

Some listeners liked another proverb: "Strike while the iron is hot." This means it is best to take action quickly and at the right time. Another favorite proverb was, "God helps those who help themselves."

Xu Da-ju from China wrote that his country has thousands of proverbs. Several of them are also used in the United States. One example is "Birds of a feather flock together." This means that people who are alike often become friends or spend time together.

Another proverb is "Blood is thicker than water." This means family ties are stronger than other relationships. A similar proverb states "Charity begins at home." A person should help his family or close friends before helping others.

Alina from China sent us this proverb: "He who would climb a ladder must begin at the bottom." That is good advice when working around your home or looking for a job.

Antonio Jose from Brazil says his favorite proverb is "Tell me who walks with you, and I'll tell you who you are." Didier Vermeulen of France sent us this one: "It does not matter the speed you go. The most important thing is to never stop."

Wafaa from Egypt says her favorite proverb is, "Think twice, act wise." She also says she is making an effort to use this saying in her life.

Another favorite proverb among our listeners is "Practice makes perfect." This means you will become good at something if you keep doing it. Another popular proverb is: "If you want something done right, do it yourself."

Najeeb from Afghanistan sent us this proverb: "If you risk nothing, then you risk everything."

And, here is the favorite proverb of Marius Meledje in Ivory Coast: "Your defeat now is your victory in the future." He says it means you can learn from your mistakes. This will help you do better when facing similar situations in the future.

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This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. We will present more programs about proverbs in the future. And you can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.