http://voaspecialenglish.com/ 2010-07-29T20:59:18Z en-us VOICE OF AMERICA VOA News: Top Stories VOA News: Top Stories Up to the minute news from Voice of America Up to the minute news from Voice of America VOA Podcasts - Voice Of America - English - Special English voanews@voanews.com http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/An-Air-Show-for-Showing-Off-West-Banks-Speed-Sisters-99576279.html 2010-07-29T20:59:18Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/An-Air-Show-for-Showing-Off-West-Banks-Speed-Sisters-99576279.html VOICE OF AMERICA An Air Show for Showing Off; West Bank's Speed Sisters This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. One of the largest air shows in the United States is also one of the largest trade shows in the aircraft industry. AirVenture is taking place this week at an airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Ron Wagner is from the Experimental Aircraft Association, which holds the event each year. RON WAGNER: "Nearly every major manufacturer is represented and a lot of minor, smaller ones." Visitors can find everything from old passenger planes to new unmanned aircraft, like the Predator drone. But Ron Wagner says the spirit of the event is best represented by the pilots and engineers who build their own aircraft. RON WAGNER: "Much of the modern innovation has come from the home builder community. We are really and truly very fortunate here in the United States. We have a lot of freedom to build and design airplanes for our own use and build them and fly them." AirVenture ends Sunday in the American Midwest. This year there is greater interest in electric-powered aircraft. But if you are more interested in fast cars, here is a new turn in the world of motorsports. (SOUND) Suna AweidahMembers of the Speed Sisters The Speed Sisters are a racing a team of eight Palestinian women in the West Bank. The team is a dream come true for Suna Aweidah, the captain. But not everyone was happy to see her in the driver's seat of the BMW race car she drives. She says her family thought motor racing was not safe and mainly for men. But she says there is no sport that is especially for men or especially for women. SUNA AWEIDAH: "I think that driving -- many of the people think that driving is just for men. I don't think that. I think that driving is driving for women, for men. It's a sport. And we can compete [with] men in all kinds of sports." In June, the Speed Sisters became the first all-female racing team to compete in the Speed Test, a popular race in the West Bank. They faced some mechanical problems. But one of them finished in the top ten. The team includes Muslims and Christians, mothers, a librarian, a business student and a woman who competed in a beauty pageant. Two of the drivers were born into racing families. The Speed Sisters received money from the British Consulate in Jerusalem to buy a race car. They also received driving lessons and guidance from two British women in motorsports, Helen Elstrop and Sue Sanders. Ms. Sanders says she knew right away they had the drive to succeed. SUE SANDERS: "When Suna particularly said to me 'I really want to be best,' it was just such an instant affinity. And it really didn't matter whether we had the same language or the same culture, but we actually had the same passion and the same desires to achieve things." And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, with reporting by Kane Farabaugh and Leslie Hollis. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember. no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/For-Profit-Colleges-in-US-May-Face-Tests-on-Federal-Student-Aid-99510249.html 2010-07-29T02:07:29Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/For-Profit-Colleges-in-US-May-Face-Tests-on-Federal-Student-Aid-99510249.html VOICE OF AMERICA For-Profit Colleges in US May Face Tests on Federal Student Aid This is the VOA Special English Education Report. President Obama wants the United States to have the world's highest rate of college graduates. But his administration also wants stronger rules for colleges that operate for profit. Career colleges receive billions of dollars from taxpayers through student loans. The Education Department says some of that goes to waste and leaves students in debt for educations of little or no value. To receive federal aid, career colleges must prepare students for what the law calls "gainful employment" in a recognized occupation. Two tests are proposed to see if they do. One would measure the relationship between debt loads and how much students earn after they complete a program. The other would measure the rate at which all students repay their loans, whether they complete the program or not. Programs that fail these tests could be restricted or blocked from federal student aid. The Education Department says for-profit colleges and training programs are important. In two thousand eight they had close to two million students -- nearly three times more than in two thousand. Last year, the five largest received more than three-fourths of their money from federal student aid. And that amount did not include other forms of government aid. Yet officials say for-profit colleges may be less supervised than other schools. They also point to reports of highly aggressive marketing. For every one hundred graduates of for-profit colleges, eighteen fail to repay their federal student loans. That compares to five graduates of public colleges and universities. The department is now collecting public comments on a number of negotiated rules. Some would require career colleges to release their graduation and job placement rates. The goal is to publish a final rule by November. The Career College Association called the debt-to-earnings proposal unwise, unnecessary, unproven -- and unlawful. The group says it has found that students in higher priced programs are more likely, not less likely, to repay their students loans. It says the move could eliminate programs serving three hundred thousand students. Female and minority students would face the most harm, it says, as they are more likely to attend career colleges. The association also points to shrinking budgets for community colleges. Its president, Harris Miller, says "Students need more information, not fewer choices." And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Avi Arditti. I'm Steve Ember. no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/American-History-Occupation-of-Philippines-Makes-US-a-Major-Power-in-the-Far-East-99498574.html 2010-07-28T21:38:28Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/American-History-Occupation-of-Philippines-Makes-US-a-Major-Power-in-the-Far-East-99498574.html VOICE OF AMERICA American History: Philippines Occupation Makes US a Major Power in the Far East Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English. The war between the United States and Spain in eighteen ninety-eight was one of the shortest in American history. The fighting lasted about three months. Yet that short war led to long-term changes for America. Victory made the United States an increasingly important world power. This week in our series, Larry West and Shep O’Neal tell about those developments. LARRY WEST: The United States received several of Spain's island colonies as part of the peace agreement. The most important was the Philippines. Many Americans thought the United States should not have overseas territories. But President William McKinley thought the Philippines were unprepared for independence. He decided to keep the islands and prepare the people for self-government in the future. A Filipino nationalist group led by Emilio Aguinaldo rejected American control. Aguinaldo declared the formation of a Philippine republic. And he started a guerrilla war against the occupying forces. SHEP O'NEAL: The rebellion in the Philippines became a major issue in America's presidential election of nineteen hundred. The Republican Party renominated William McKinley as president. And it nominated a hero of the Spanish-American War, New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt, as vice president. The Democratic Party, for the second time, nominated Congressman William Jennings Bryan as president. It nominated a former vice president, Adlai Stevenson, as vice president again. LARRY WEST: William Jennings Bryan campaigned against the American takeover of the Philippines. He received support from a new group, the Anti-Imperialist League. Members included leading American politicians, businessmen, and writers. President McKinley did not campaign much. He let vice presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt do it. Roosevelt spoke of America's success as a new economic and political power in the world. He said the Republican Party was responsible. The majority of voters liked what Roosevelt said. They elected the Republican candidates. SHEP O'NEAL: The Republican victory destroyed the hopes of many nationalists in the Philippines. With William McKinley in the White House again, they saw little chance of gaining independence. Nationalist leader Emilio Aguinaldo, however, refused to surrender. As long as he remained free, the guerrilla war would continue. For months, American forces tried without success to find him. Finally, with the help of a tribe of Filipino mercenary soldiers called the Maccabebe Scouts, they captured him. Aguinaldo signed an agreement to support the United States. With this agreement, the rebellion ended on the island of Luzon. But it continued for more than a year in the southern Philippines. Hostilities ended officially on July fourth, nineteen-oh-two. LARRY WEST: American occupation of the Philippines made the United States a major power in the Far East. As such, it began to develop new policies toward Asia. Especially a new policy toward China. Americans had been trading with China for years, but not heavily. As the American economy grew, however, businessmen saw China -- with a population of four hundred million people -- as a great market for American products. Other countries were interested in this market, too. Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia all claimed special rights in parts of China. They began to divide the country into areas called spheres of influence. It seemed these areas could become foreign colonies. Then the United States would be cut off from trading directly with China. To prevent that from happening, American Secretary of State John Hay proposed what became known as the "Open Door" policy. SHEP O'NEAL: Secretary Hay asked the nations involved to agree to equal trading rights for all countries in all parts of China. No nation, he said, should interfere with the rights or powers of any other nation in China. No one welcomed the proposal. But no one rej ... no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/On-Mars-Day-the-Red-Planet-Takes-Center-Stage-99434279.html 2010-07-28T02:36:31Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/On-Mars-Day-the-Red-Planet-Takes-Center-Stage-99434279.html VOICE OF AMERICA On Mars Day, the Red Planet Is Center Stage VOICE ONE: I’m Doug Johnson. VOICE TWO: And I’m Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Mars Day at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington is a celebration of our solar system’s most famous planet. The event, on July sixteenth, was a rare chance for planetary scientists to share with the public the mysteries of Mars. (MUSIC: "Mars"/Gustav Holst) VOICE ONE: Of all the planets, none has captured the world’s imagination like Mars. Its reddish color and changes in brightness over time make the planet an unforgettable sight. In “Cosmos,” the television science series from the nineteen eighties, scientist Carl Sagan talked about some traditional ideas about Mars. Some of these ideas are from the English science fiction writer H.G. Wells’ “The War of the Worlds.” Others are from the mistaken science of Percival Lowell, the American astronomer who believed intelligent beings lived on Mars. Wells described Martians as threatening. Lowell imagined them as the hopeful engineers of great works. Carl Sagan said that both ideas influenced the public deeply. VOICE TWO: Today, Mars continues to excite -- not as the object of science fiction but of scientific study. Space scientists have collected a wealth of information from spacecraft that have orbited, landed on and dug into the Martian surface. The Smithsonian’s Mars Day offered a chance for people of all ages to touch Mars, or at least a piece of it. Allison and Alycia from Silver Spring, Maryland, brought their children, Grace, Sam, Ryan and Emma. They heard about Mars and its geology from experts. They could see a test version of the Viking landers that reached Mars in July of nineteen seventy-six. They also saw meteorites known to have come from the red, or reddish, planet. Eight-year-old Sam learned that the ancient description of Mars as red is not exactly right. SAM: “ It’s actually really orangish more than it’s red and it’s also kind of brown too. It’s not really red.” Emma is six. She found out about the volcanic activity that has shaped the surface of Mars. EMMA: “That the closest thing to Mars—the stuff—is from volcanoes mostly.” VOICE ONE: Orbiting spacecraft have shown a huge mountain on Mars called Olympus Mons. It is over twenty-five kilometers high and the largest known volcano in the solar system. Volcanoes on Mars suggest to Sam that the same kinds of processes that take place on Earth happen on other worlds. SAM: “You’ll find something on Earth as close to what is pretty much on Mars. Like the volcanic rocks because I actually think those are very interesting.” Mars Day offered Allison and Alysia’s children a chance to learn more about a world that humans may set foot on within their lifetimes. Emma is already looking forward to that day. EMMA: “There are all sorts of rovers and stuff up there that are waiting to be discovered when people go up there.” (MUSIC) VOICE TWO: Can a space rock be a rock star? Meet Allan Hills 84001. American scientists discovered this meteorite in Antarctica in nineteen eighty-four. But it formed on Mars long before that. Scientists believe it is more than four billion years old. Mario RitterA piece of Allan Hills 84001 Allan Hills 84001 is as close as any meteorite comes to being world famous. Visitors to Mars Day crowded around a piece of the meteorite in the huge Milestones of Flight Gallery. They were listening to an expert who is in charge of meteorites at the Smithsonian. CARI CORRIGAN: “I’m Cari Corrigan. I’m a geologist over at the Natural History Museum. I curate the Antarctic meteorite collection at the museum, so we have about nineteen thousand six hundred seventy-five to be, you know, really vague.” VOICE ONE: Cari Corrigan does research on meteorites from Mars and the moon. She says the best places to find meteorites are very cold or very dry places. CARI CORRIGAN: “They fall all over the Earth, not just Antarctica, but the best places f ... no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Marking-the-20th-Anniversary-of-the-Americans-With-Disabilities-Act-99379884.html 2010-07-27T22:50:46Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Marking-the-20th-Anniversary-of-the-Americans-With-Disabilities-Act-99379884.html VOICE OF AMERICA Marking the 20th Anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act This is the VOA Special English Health Report. Twenty years ago this week, President George H. W. Bush signed a civil rights law that Americans call the ADA. GEORGE H. W. BUSH: "I now lift this pen to sign this Americans with [Disabilities] Act and say let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down." Congress passed the law to bar discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities. The ADA governs employers, transportation systems and public places, including hotels and other businesses. (MUSIC) In New York, the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities co-hosted a celebration Monday to mark the anniversary. Hip-hop artist Rick Fire says conditions are far better than they were twenty years ago. But he says being in a wheelchair is still often a problem in his neighborhood in the Bronx area of the city. RICK FIRE: "There's a lot of hills and there's a lot of places where I can't go. There's still buildings where I can't go because they've got steps. But overall, it's good. Thanks to the ADA, we are being more accepted, like having a disability. People still look at you weird, but it's like, 'All right, he's disabled now, but it's kind of OK now.'" Matthew Sapolin is commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, and he is blind. His job is to try to improve life for disabled New Yorkers. MATTHEW SAPOLIN: "If we are going to build something -- how we build it, how we construct it, so that it would be accessible to people of all types of disabilities. Whether we talk about a ramp or whether we talk about a doorway or a handrail, things like Braille on elevators and signage and things like that." Bobbi Wailes developed polio before a vaccine became available in the nineteen fifties. She was twelve years old. Schools then were not designed for wheelchairs. She had to be tutored at home three days a week. After high school, she got a job in one of the few workplaces with wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. She worked at a hospital for thirty years, mostly as an administrator. Bobbi Wailes also fought for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. BOBBI WAILES: "Let me tell you something, disability doesn't care if you're young, old, rich, poor, black, white, green or purple. Disability will always be here, unfortunately. So it behooves all of us to make it a world that everybody can live in." Even with the ADA, a lot of work remains to reach the goal of equality for the disabled -- and not just in America. Marca Bristo heads a group called the United States International Council on Disabilities. She was paralyzed at the age of twenty-three. She broke her neck diving into a lake. MARCA BRISTO: "People with disabilities are living in the streets in some countries. It's deemed you have been possessed by the devil, or put out on the street, a shame to your family and really left to live very subhuman lives." And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, with reporting by Adam Phillips and Laurel Bowman. To watch a TV report on the twentieth anniversary of the ADA, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember. no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Extreme-Heat-99260454.html 2010-07-27T00:58:04Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Extreme-Heat-99260454.html VOICE OF AMERICA In Hot Weather, Know the Warning Signs of Heat Disorders FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus. BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we tell about health problems linked to extreme heat. We tell what experts suggest to prevent and treat these problems. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: Extremely hot weather is common in many parts of the world. Although hot weather just makes most people feel hot, it can cause serious medical problems, even death. Floods, storms and other natural events kill thousands of people every year. So does extreme heat. Experts say heat may be nature’s deadliest killer. For example, Indian officials blamed extreme heat for killing more than two hundred people in late May. Temperatures reached almost fifty degrees Celsius in several Indian states. BOB DOUGHTY: Several hot days that follow each other are considered a heat wave. Experts say heat waves often become dangerous when the nighttime temperature does not drop much from the highest daytime temperature. This causes great stress on the human body. Doctors say people can do many things to protect themselves from the dangers of extreme heat. Stay out of the sun, if possible. Drink lots of cool water. Wear light colored clothing made of natural materials. Make sure the clothing is loose, permitting freedom of movement. Also, learn the danger signs of the medical problems linked to heat. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: The most common health problem linked to hot weather is heat stress. Usually, it is also the least severe. The causes of heat stress include wearing heavy clothing, physical work or exercise, hot weather and high humidity. Humidity is the amount of water in the air. If several of these conditions are present at the same time, a person’s body temperature may rise above safe levels. The person loses large amounts of body water and salt in perspiration. Perspiration is one of the body’s defenses against heat. It is how the body releases water to cool the skin. Most people suffer only muscle pain because of heat stress. The pain is a warning that the body is becoming too hot. Doctors say those suffering muscle pain should stop all activity and rest in a cool place. They should also drink cool liquids. Doctors say not to return to physical activity for a few hours because serious conditions could develop. BOB DOUGHTY: Some people face an increased danger from heat stress. They may have a weak or damaged heart, high blood pressure or other problems of the blood system. Severe heat increases problems for small children, older adults and those who have the disease diabetes. It is also dangerous for people who weigh too much and have too much body fat, and for people who drink alcohol. Hot weather also increases dangers for people who must take medicine for high blood pressure, poor blood flow, nervousness or depression. FAITH LAPIDUS: Untreated heat stress can lead to a more serious problem called heat exhaustion. A person suffering from heat exhaustion loses too much water through perspiration. The person becomes dehydrated. A person suffering heat exhaustion feels weak and extremely tired. He or she may have trouble walking normally. Heat exhaustion may also produce a feeling of sickness, a fast heartbeat, breathing problems and pain in the head, chest or stomach. Doctors say people with such problems should rest quietly in a cool place and drink plenty of water. They also say it may help to wash with cool water. BOB DOUGHTY: Heat exhaustion can develop quickly. It also can develop slowly, over a period of days. Doctors call this dehydration exhaustion. Each day, the body loses only a little more water than is taken in. The person may not even know this problem is developing. If the problem continues for several days, the effects will be the same as the usual kind of heat exhaustion. Experts say even a two percent drop in the body's water supply can cause signs of dehydration. These signs include problems with memory and even simple mathematics. FAITH L ... no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/human-wildlife-conflict--99254589.html 2010-07-27T00:38:03Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/human-wildlife-conflict--99254589.html VOICE OF AMERICA Got Baboons in Your Crops? Offer Them a Snake Sandwich This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. When farmers and wild animals share land, conflicts can be hard to prevent. But the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is trying to help. The FAO and other groups are developing what they call the Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation Toolkit. This toolkit is a collection of advice and information that farmers in southern Africa have been testing. Wild animals are considered a top problem for the physical and economic security of rural populations in Africa. FAO official Rene Czudek says the main aim is to provide low-cost methods to deal with wild animals without harming them. For example, some farmers in Kenya use donkeys to guard against lions and cheetahs. In Zambia and Mozambique, crocodiles are blamed for more deaths than any other animal. Nile crocodiles kill an estimated three hundred people each year in Mozambique alone. Strong fencing at watering points can offer protection. And people should always enter the water several at a time, in groups armed with weapons like sticks and stones, axes and spears. But the FAO also points out that crocodile attacks are less likely in places that have not been overfished. The toolkit also has ideas to control baboons. These large monkeys raid crops and they can kill sheep and other livestock. One suggestion is to remove the center from a loaf of bread and hide a snake inside -- a live one if possible. Baboons have a fear of snakes. They also have good memories. Rene Czudek at the FAO says a baboon frightened by a snake sandwich will probably not come back. Another animal with a good memory -- the elephant -- often raids field crops, especially maize and cassava. Mr. Czudek says the loss of a maize crop can mean the loss of a family's food supply for a year. Did you know elephants hate chili pepper? Farmers can grind pepper, mix it with elephant waste and form bricks. The idea is to burn these bricks around the edges of fields to keep elephants away. Farmers can also grow fields of chili peppers -- and sell the surplus. Another way to control elephants is with a plastic gun called the Mhiripiri Bomber. It fires balls that burst and release a chili solution when they hit the elephant's skin. You might also be able to stop an elephant or a hippopotamus by shining lights in their eyes. The FAO toolkit is supposed to be available online soon. People will be able to comment on the suggestions and offer their own. And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I’m Bob Doughty. no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Poker-and-the-November-Nine-Steinbrenner-and-the-Price-of-Winning-99208164.html 2010-07-26T02:12:50Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Poker-and-the-November-Nine-Steinbrenner-and-the-Price-of-Winning-99208164.html VOICE OF AMERICA Poker and the 'November Nine'; Steinbrenner and the Price of Winning FRITZI BODENHEIMER: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Fritzi Bodenheimer with Mario Ritter. This week on our program, we deal with the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Nevada. MARIO RITTER: We also talk about the defending champions of baseball's World Series, the New York Yankees. We look at the effects that team owner George Steinbrenner had on the business of sports. (MUSIC) FRITZI BODENHEIMER: More than seven thousand players competed this month in the World Series of Poker Main Event. To enter, they had to pay ten thousand dollars. For thirteen days, player after player competed in games of no-limit Texas Hold 'em. Finally, in the early morning of July eighteenth, only nine remained. These card players -- all men -- will return to Las Vegas in November for the final table. The winner will leave with almost nine million dollars and the title of two thousand ten world poker champion. The winner also gets a World Series of Poker gold bracelet. But none of the so-called November Nine will leave empty-handed. The first finalist to lose will receive eight hundred thousand dollars. The winnings go up from there. For example, the player who finishes in fourth place will still take home more than three million dollars. MARIO RITTER: Last year, the World Series of Poker produced its youngest champion yet. Joe Cada of Michigan was just twenty-one last November when he won the main event. This year a twenty-two-year-old from Quebec, Canada, is the leader going into the final table. Jonathan Duhamel has never finished above the top ten before. He says "I don't have much tournament experience but I'm confident in my game." He says he is going spend the next few months playing in European poker events but also having fun with his friends and family. Twenty-four-year-old John Dolan of Florida is in second place going into the final table in November. He is a successful online player, but so far his biggest win in live tournament play was eighty-two thousand dollars. His mother and father spoke to reporters last week after he became one of the November Nine. They said they were not sure about his decision to withdraw from university studies to play poker. But now, his father says "He's a student of the game and obviously he’s good at it." FRITZI BODENHEIMER: Organizers of the World Series of Poker tournament in Las Vegas say attendance was up twenty percent from last year. Jack Effel is tournament director of the World Series of Poker. He says the many websites for online poker help card players sharpen their skills. JACK EFFEL: "I think poker has spread like wildfire. Obviously the ability to play online, to learn more about the game, you know, from the comfort of your own home [has] definitely, probably increased it more than anything else." MARIO RITTER: Poker also gets a lot of attention on TV and from stars who play, like Ben Affleck, Jennifer Tilly, Jason Alexander and Shannon Elizabeth. (MUSIC) FRITZI BODENHEIMER: George Steinbrenner was called "The Boss." He owned the New York Yankees. His desire to win at all costs produced not only the most powerful team in Major League Baseball. It produced one of the most valuable sports teams in the world. Forbes magazine estimates the Yankees are worth a billion and a half dollars. APGeorge Steinbrenner, New York Yankees chairman and principal owner, with his daughter Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal at a spring training game at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida, on March 8 Mr. Steinbrenner died July thirteenth at the age of eighty. He had a heart attack at his home in Florida after several years of failing health. With his death, the Yankees remain under ownership of the Steinbrenner family. MARIO RITTER: George Steinbrenner led a group of investors to buy the Yankees for ten million dollars in nineteen seventy-three. At that point, they had not been American League or World Series winners since the early nineteen sixties. Since then, they have won eleven Ame ... no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Film-Captures-Risky-Work-of-Doctors-Without-Borders-99207024.html 2010-07-26T01:26:57Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Film-Captures-Risky-Work-of-Doctors-Without-Borders-99207024.html VOICE OF AMERICA Film Captures Risky Work of Doctors Without Borders This is the VOA Special English Development Report. "Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders" is a documentary by movie director Mark Hopkins. It tells the story of four doctors and their volunteer work in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The award-winning film was first shown at the two thousand eight Venice Film Festival. It opened in the United States last month. Doctors Without Borders is a humanitarian organization also known by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres. It handles emergencies caused by war, infectious disease and natural disasters. The group says this was the first time it gave a documentary crew unrestricted access to its field operations. Mr. Hopkins and his crew filmed the doctors working under some of the most extreme and dangerous conditions imaginable. Scene from ''Living in Emergency" The director says "Living in Emergency" is a story about how things are, not how you wish things were. Doctor Tom Krueger from the United States volunteered in Liberia in two thousand three, after two civil wars. TOM KRUEGER: "It was pretty much of a shock when I got here. I mean, if you're going to talk to some of your friends about some of the stuff you saw -- and you can't describe the smells, the feeling of the heat on your body and the sweat running down your back. The smell of the pus that hits your nose, and of unwashed bodies in a closed room. You know, the circulation, and the smell of your own panic, you know, when you're not sure what to do." Another doctor in the film, Australian Chris Brasheer, has been with Doctors Without Borders for nine years. He has served in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spent time in Liberia. He describes some of the conditions he faced. Chris Brasheer: "No water, no electricity, no food -- pretty apocalyptic really." Doctors Without Borders was established in nineteen seventy-one by doctors and journalists in France. Today, the group provides humanitarian medical aid in nearly sixty countries. On an average day, it says, almost twenty-seven thousand doctors, nurses and others work in teams of local and foreign aid workers. Doctor Chiara Lepora from Italy also appears in the film. She spent several years working with the group, and told VOA's Penelope Poulou that she will probably return. CHIARA LEPORA: "There are a lot of doctors who are willing to volunteer once, but not many doctors who are willing to repeat their experience." Doctors Without Borders is structured as an international movement. It has organizations in nineteen countries, including the United States. Ninety percent of its money comes from private sources. In nineteen ninety-nine the group received the Nobel Peace Prize. And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember. no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Winslow-Homer-1836-1910-Americas-Painter-99052589.html 2010-07-24T17:04:27Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Winslow-Homer-1836-1910-Americas-Painter-99052589.html VOICE OF AMERICA Winslow Homer, 1836-1910: America's Greatest Painter of the 19th Century STEVE EMBER: I’m Steve Ember. BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Winslow Homer, considered to be the greatest American artist of the nineteenth century. Homer created pictures that showed the relationship between humans and nature. The strong, clear images he drew and painted matched the wild, developing and proud United States of the late eighteen hundreds. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: Winslow Homer was the second of three sons of Henrietta Benson and Charles Savage Homer. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in eighteen thirty-six and grew up in Cambridge. His father was an importer of tools and other goods. His mother was a painter. Winslow got his interest in drawing and painting from his mother. But his father also supported his son’s interest. Once, on a business trip to London, Charles Homer bought a set of drawing examples for his son to copy. Young Winslow used these to develop his early skill. BARBARA KLEIN: Winslow’s older brother Charles went to Harvard University in Cambridge. The family expected Winslow would go, too. But, at the time, Harvard did not teach art. So Winslow’s father found him a job as an assistant in the trade of making and preparing pictures for printed media. At age nineteen, Winslow learned the process of lithography. This work was the only formal training that Winslow ever received in art. APWinslow Homer's "Blackboard" STEVE EMBER: Winslow did this work for about two years. Then the young man decided to become an independent illustrator, someone who makes drawings and pictures for a living. He worked in Boston for a few years, drawing illustrations for stories in several newspapers. He also did work for a magazine that was different from any other of the time. Harper’s Weekly, in New York City, needed good illustrations and had lots of space for them. The young Winslow began to establish himself as an artist in demand. BARBARA KLEIN: In eighteen fifty-nine, Winslow Homer moved to New York City to work for Harper’s Weekly. Homer also started to paint seriously. He hoped to go to Europe to study painting. But, something would intervene that would change the direction of Winslow Homer’s artistic work. Harper’s magazine would send him to draw pictures of the biggest event in American history since independence. It was the Civil War between the Union and the rebel southern states. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: Winslow Homer went to Washington, D.C., in eighteen sixty-one. He drew pictures of the campaign of Union Army General George McClellan the next year. His pictures of the war showed the many ways that conflicts affect people. In one illustration, he showed Union soldiers on horses advancing heroically. The Southern Confederate soldiers are shown forced under the feet of the horses, while the horsemen hold their swords high. The illustration is called “The War for the Union, 1862 -- A Cavalry Charge.” BARBARA KLEIN: In another famous illustration, “The Army of the Potomac — A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty,” Homer showed a different side of war. A soldier sitting in a tree is holding a rifle. He is aiming at a target far in the distance. Many critics say the picture shows the cold, mechanical nature of warfare, bringing death to the unsuspecting. APWinslow Homer's "Home Sweet Home" Winslow Homer also made a famous painting called “Home, Sweet Home.” It shows two soldiers listening to music played by military musicians. This was common during the Civil War. At the end of the day, musicians on both sides would play to raise the spirits of soldiers. Often they would play the song “Home, Sweet Home.” Homer painted two Union soldiers preparing a meal. The musicians are in the distance. The two soldiers appear to be stopped in the middle of their preparations by thoughts of home and family. (MUSIC: “Home, Sweet Home”) STEVE EMBER: Critics widely praised Homer’s work during the Civil War. His work gained h ... no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Its-a-Good-Idea-to-Be-Careful-When-You-Write----Oops-Make-That-Its-99330759.html 2010-07-27T17:57:56Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Its-a-Good-Idea-to-Be-Careful-When-You-Write----Oops-Make-That-Its-99330759.html VOICE OF AMERICA Its a Good Idea to Be Careful When You Write -- Oops, Make That It's AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Charles Harrington Elster, author of "The Accidents of Style: Good Advice on How Not to Write Badly."RS: It's full of examples, such as this common error. Carmen Elster CHARLES ELSTER: "What you need to remember is that 'its' indicates possession, without an apostrophe, i-t-s, and i-t-apostrophe-s is a contraction of it is. So if you realize that you are writing or saying 'it is' you need the apostrophe. When you do not intend to write 'it is,' then no apostrophe, it's the possessive pronoun its."RS: "The problem with its and it's also is that they sound the same, as 'your' and 'you're' and 'there' and 'their.' What is your suggestion for words that may sound alike but are spelled differently and have very different meanings?"CHARLES ELSTER: "Unfortunately you have to learn them by rote. You have to memorize or perhaps use a mnemonic device, a memory aid. I offer some sentences as mnemonic devices in the book so that you can remember that t-h-e-r-e indicates a place, 'over there,' and that t-h-e-i-r indicates possession, 'their feelings,' and t-h-e-y-apostrophe-r-e, whenever you see that apostrophe in the middle of a word, you know it's a contraction, so it's got to be 'they are.'"AA: "What about the confusion between infer and imply? A lot of people get that wrong."CHARLES ELSTER: "A lot of people do confuse infer and imply. The best way to remember that distinction, I think, is to remember that when you imply you are making a suggestion. You are like the baseball pitcher throwing something out, you're hinting or suggesting -- you're pitching the baseball. When you infer, you come to a conclusion or you make a deduction. Therefore you are like the baseball catcher. You are catching that suggestion or that statement and you are making a deduction or a conclusion from it."RS:     Another common error, says Charles Elster: irregular verbs that are misconjugated.CHARLES ELSTER: "I can't tell you how often I hear college-educated native speakers of English, even advanced degree people, lawyers, say 'I could have ran,' 'I should have went,' 'I would have drank.' They know that you 'run' in the present and that you 'ran' in the past, so they try to regularize the verb a little bit and say 'I have ran' as a past participle when it still needs to remain irregular and has to be 'I have run.' I drink, I drank and I have drunk, not 'I have drank.'"RS: "Then there's the confusion between affect and effect.'CHARLES ELSTER: "You have to remember that affect with an a is chiefly the verb. That's going to be the verb you need most of the time. When something has an effect on something else, it affects, with an a. Effect with an e is chiefly a noun. So when something has an effect, it's going to have an effect. So affect, a, verb. Effect, noun, e. Occasionally effect with an e will be used as a verb. You 'effect change.' That's with an e. But that's much less common than affect the verb with an a."AA: "And tell us what you have against irregardless."CHARLES ELSTER: "Irregardless is probably the most famous, what you might call non-word in the language. Of course, it is a word because lots of people have used it, and so you'll even find it in English dictionaries -- hopefully labeled nonstandard, which means not good to use. All you have to say is regardless."RS: "Do you have a particular something in your book, or the accident, every time you see it that just makes you cringe?"CHARLES ELSTER: "If I had to choose one accident that grates more than any other, it's when people say, thinking they're being hypercorrect, 'between you and I' or 'for you and I.' That 'I' is wrong. It should not be a nominative pronoun. It should be the objective pronoun, 'between you and me,' 'for you and me.' Nobody would say 'for you and I.' It's 'for me' and 'between you and me.'"AA: Charles Elster is the author of "The Accidents of Style: Good Advice on How Not to Write Badly." RS: And t ... no http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/How-Will-Kosovo-Affect-Other-Separatist-Movements---99140424.html 2010-07-23T22:10:44Z http://www1.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/How-Will-Kosovo-Affect-Other-Separatist-Movements---99140424.html VOICE OF AMERICA How Will UN Court Ruling on Kosovo Affect Other Separatist Movements? This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. In February of two thousand eight, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. Now the top United Nations court says Kosovo's declaration was legal. Hisashi Owada, president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, read the opinion. HISASHI OWADA: "The court considers that general international law contains no applicable prohibition on declarations of independence." Kosovo's Foreign Minister Skender Hyseni called the ruling on Thursday great news, and not just for Kosovo. SKENDER HYSENI: "This is a great news for the peace and stability in the region of western Balkans. This is a great news for Europe." Serbia had asked the court for its opinion. Now Serbia is sending diplomats to fifty-five countries. Their job: try to block efforts by Kosovo to gain further recognition. Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic says the ruling will not change his country’s position. VUK JEREMIC: "Serbia will never under any circumstances recognize the unilateral declaration of independence of the so-called Republic of Kosovo." Ian Bancroft is the co-founder of TransConflict, a humanitarian organization working in the western Balkans. Speaking from Belgrade, he said the ruling sends a message about international law. APSerbian President Boris Tadic speaks to the media after the announcement by the International Court of Justice Thursday IAN BANCROFT: "Therefore, any secessionist movement, no matter where it is in the world, will look towards this and gain some encouragement that they too can pursue this path." But Kurt Volker, former American ambassador to NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is not so sure what will happen. KURT VOLKER: "I don't think this is going to have that big an effect on either side, whether it's the states who want to maintain their territorial integrity against the aspirations of some of their own indigenous people or, for that matter, movements that want to seek their own independence and freedom." Mr. Volker says "those desires are already going on," and will continue independent of the decision. The judges on the International Court of Justice, sometimes called the World Court, voted ten to four. The ruling is non-binding; it does not have legal force. Sixty-nine countries have already recognized Kosovo. These include the United States, Japan and most of the European Union. Serbia's main ally Russia has recognized the self-declared independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia. But Russia does not recognize Kosovo. Nor does another permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China. In Washington, the State Department welcomed the ruling. It urged Europe to "unite behind a common future." But spokesman P.J. Crowley said it is too soon to discuss withdrawing the NATO-led international security force in Kosovo. Kosovo was a Serbian province that became a United Nations protectorate in nineteen ninety-nine. That followed seventy-eight days of NATO bombing against Serbia. The campaign ended a two-year war between Serbia and the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo. The advisory opinion from the court will go to the United Nations General Assembly. A debate on Kosovo is expected in September. On Friday, in a separate development, police in Kosovo arrested the head of the country's central bank. The arrest was part of a continuing series of corruption investigations of officials. And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. What effect do you think the Kosovo ruling will have around the world? You can comment at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember. ___ Includes reporting by Stefan Bos in Budapest and David Gollust and Andre de Nesnera in Washington no