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Broadcast: May 17, 2002

 HOST:

 Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

 (THEME)

 This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:

 Play some music by Jill Scott ...

 Answer a question about changes in rules for foreigners visiting the United States ...

 And report about a popular new movie. 

Spider-Man

 HOST:

 The latest “Star Wars” movie has just opened in the United States. Movie experts are wondering if it will sell as many tickets as another action movie, “Spider-Man,” that opened two weeks ago. “Spider-Man” earned more money for an opening weekend than any other movie in history. Shep O’Neal has more.

 ANNCR:
 
 

 Critics said there are several reasons for this. They said “Spider-Man” is not as long as other movies and was shown many times a day. They also said “Spider-Man” is a movie for people of all ages. Boys wanted to see it because they like action movies and enjoyed the comic books on which the movie is based. Girls liked the movie because it includes a love story. And adults wanted to see a movie they could enjoy with their children.

 The young actor Toby Maguire stars as “Spider-Man.” He plays a quiet teen-aged boy named Peter Parker. Peter likes a girl in his school, Mary Jane Watson. One day, Peter is bitten by a genetically engineered spider in a laboratory. This changes his body. Peter Parker becomes “Spider-Man.” He becomes extremely strong and fast. And he has special powers. 

For example, he can climb up walls and leap from one tall building to another. He uses these powers to help people and defeat evil. Peter hides this secret life from everyone, including his family and his friends. His main enemy is the Green Goblin. In normal life the Green Goblin is the father of Peter’s best friend, Harry.

 Elika Naraghi (pronounced na-RA-gee; hard "g" like in gear) is twenty-two years old. She saw “Spider-Man” on its opening weekend near Washington, D.C. Elika says “Spider-Man” is fun and exciting. She also praised the actors and the special effects. Elika said she is looking forward to the second “Spider-Man” movie that is planned for two-thousand-four.

 New INS Rules

 HOST:
 
 

 The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service has changed some of its policies for foreign visitors since the terrorist attacks in September. That is because some of the airplane hijackers had come to the United States as visitors and later became students. 

At the time of the attacks, about six-hundred-thousand foreign students were taking classes at American colleges and universities. Government officials have admitted that they did not know where many of these foreign students were. The officials said they would make changes in the system. 

Last month, the I-N-S announced new rules for travel permission documents for students, called visas. Foreigners will no longer be able to take college classes while in the United States on a business or visitor visa. The I-N-S will give student visas only to people who let the agency know their plans before entering the country. 

The reason for this change is national security. It will give federal officials time to do a security investigation on each foreigner who wants to study in the United States.

 Earlier this month, the Bush administration announced the creation of a new committee to investigate foreigners who want to study in American science and technology programs. Officials said the goal is to make sure foreign students do not get training that could be used against the United States. The new group will advise the I-N-S about people who want to study subjects that could give them information or skills that could possibly threaten the United States. These subjects include nuclear and missile technology, information security and aircraft technology.

 There also are rule changes that affect other foreign visitors. These new rules reduce from six months to thirty days the amount of time most foreign visitors can stay in the United States. They limit most business travelers to six months. Visitors may extend their stays only if they can show unexpected or humanitarian reasons such as medical treatment or an important business meeting. 

Officials say the changes reduce the chance that illegal immigrants will establish permanent ties in the United States and will remain in the country illegally.

 Jill Scott

 HOST:

 Poet and singer Jill Scott says a school project changed her life. It led to her serious interest in writing and music. Mary Tillotson tells us more.

 ANNCR:
 
 

 Jill Scott wrote poetry for seven years before she began singing. She took part in spoken-word events in her home city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She wrote the songs for her first album. It is called “Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Volume One.” She mixes words of poetry with sounds of rap, hip-hop, jazz and blues. Here Jill Scott sings “It’s Love.”

 ((Cut One – “It’s Love”))

 Jill Scott says many of the songs on her album are about her life. She recently married her longtime friend Lyzel Williams. Jill has written many songs about Lyzel. She sings about him on the song “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)”.

 ((Cut Two - “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)”))

 Jill Scott’s latest album is called “Experience: Jill Scott. ” It includes songs from live performances and studio recordings. We leave you with a song from this album. It is called “Gotta Get Up.”

 ((Cut Three – “Gotta Get Up”))

 HOST:

 This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

 This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Lawan Davis and Nancy Steinbach. Our studio engineer was Martin Hansberry. And our producer was Caty Weaver.

Broadcast: May 17, 2002

 This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT.
 
 

The migration project is designed to increase the number of whooping cranes. These large, beautiful birds are in danger of disappearing. 

Whooping cranes do not produce many baby birds. That makes it difficult to replace birds killed by hunting, natural events, animals, accidents and disease. Scientists hope the migration effort will lead to increased reproduction among whooping cranes.
 
 

Wisconsin is at the top of the red dotted line, Florida is at the bottom

 The five remaining whooping cranes returned to the Necedah (neh-SEE-dah) National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin on their own last month. The return north was the cranes’ first unassisted migration. They were guided only by their natural abilities.

 Scientists from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the International Crane Foundation have been studying the birds since they began their northern migration. They say their flight back to Wisconsin was quicker than anyone had expected. It took ten days and covered almost two-thousand kilometers.

 Scientists had known that existing wild whooping cranes were able to fly great distances during migration. But they did not know if they could teach young whooping cranes to migrate.

 The scientists will observe these whooping cranes during the summer and as they migrate back south in the fall. Scientists hope the effort will teach them more about how to save the endangered birds. 

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Cynthia Kirk.

Broadcast: May 16, 2002

 VOICE 1:

 THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America. 

(Theme)
 
 

At three-thirty in the morning, the Allied commander, General Dwight Eisenhower, was meeting with his assistants. The storm still blew outside the building. 

General Eisenhower and his generals were discussing whether they should attack the next day. 

VOICE 2:

 A weatherman entered the room. He reported that the weather soon would improve. All eyes turned to Eisenhower. The decision was his. His face was serious. And for a long time he was silent. Finally he spoke. "Okay," he said. "We will go. "
 
 

VOICE 1:

 The German leader, Adolph Hitler, had known the invasion was coming. But he did not know where the Allied force would strike. 

Most Germans expected the Allies would attack at Calais, in France. But they were wrong. Eisenhower planned to strike at the French coast of Normandy, across the English Channel. 

The Second World War was then almost five years old. The Germans had won the early battles and gained control of most of Europe. But in nineteen-forty-two and forty-three, the Allies slowly began to gain back land from the Germans in northern Africa, Italy, and Russia. And now, finally, the British, American, Canadian, and other Allied forces felt strong enough to attack across the English Channel. 

VOICE 2:
 
 

June 6, 1944: General Eisenhower with American paratroopers in England (Library of Congress)

But attack they did. On the night of June fifth, airplanes dropped thousands of Allied parachute soldiers behind German lines. Then Allied planes began dropping bombs on German defenses. And in the morning, thousands of ships approached the beaches, carrying men and supplies. 

VOICE 1:

 The battle quickly became fierce and bloody. The Germans had strong defenses. They were better protected than the Allied troops on the beaches. But the Allied soldiers had greater numbers. Slowly they moved forward on one part of the beach, then another. 

VOICE 2:

 The Allies continued to build up their forces in France. They brought nearly ninety-thousand vehicles and six-hundred-thousand men into France within one week. And they pushed ahead. 

Hitler was furious. He screamed at his generals for not blocking the invasion. And he ordered his troops from nearby areas to join the fight and stop the Allied force. But the Allies would not be stopped. 

VOICE 1:

 In late August, the Allied forces captured Paris. The French people cheered wildly as General Charles de Gaulle and free French forces marched into the center of the city. 

The allies then moved east into Belgium. They captured the great Belgian port of Antwerp. This made it easier for them to send supplies and fuel to their troops. 

Only when Allied troops tried to move into the Netherlands did the Germans succeed in stopping them. American parachute soldiers won battles at Eindhoven and Njmegen. But German forces defeated British "Red Devil" troops in a terrible fight at Arnhem. 

Germany's brief victory stopped the Allied invasion for the moment. But in less than four months, General Eisenhower and the Allied forces had regained almost all of France. 

VOICE 2:

 At the same time, in nineteen-forty-four, the Soviets were attacking Germany from the east. Earlier, Soviet forces had succeeded in breaking German attacks at Stalingrad [Volgograd], Moscow, and Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. Soviet forces re-captured Russian cities and farms one by one. They entered Finland, Poland, and Romania. By the end of July, Soviet soldiers were just fifteen kilometers from the Polish capital, Warsaw. 

VOICE 1:

 What happened next was one of the most terrible events of the war. Moscow radio called on the people of Poland to rise up against the German occupation forces. Nearly forty-thousand men in the Polish underground army listened to the call. And they attacked the Germans. The citizens of Warsaw probably could have defeated the German occupation forces if the soviet army had helped them. 

But Soviet leader Josef Stalin betrayed the Poles. He knew that many members of the Polish underground forces opposed communism as much as they opposed the Germans. He feared they would block his efforts to establish a new Polish government that was friendly to Moscow. 

For this reason, Stalin held his forces outside Warsaw. He waited while the Germans and Poles killed each other in great numbers. The Germans finally forced the citizens of Warsaw to surrender. 

The real winner of the battle, however, was the Soviet Union. Both the Germans and the Poles suffered terrible losses during the fighting. The Soviet Army had little trouble taking over the city with the help of Polish Communists. And after the war, the free Polish forces were too weak to oppose a Communist government loyal to Moscow. 

VOICE 2:

 Adolf Hitler was in serious trouble. Allied forces were attacking from the west. Soviet troops were passing through Poland and moving in from the east. And at home, several German military officials tried to assassinate him. The German leader narrowly escaped death when a bomb exploded in a meeting room. 

But Hitler refused to surrender. Instead, he planned a surprise attack in December nineteen-forty-four. He ordered his forces to move quietly through the Ardennes Forest and attack the center of the Allied line. He hoped to break through the line, separate the Allied forces, and regain control of the war. 

VOICE 1:

 The Germans attacked American troops tired from recent fighting in another battle. It was winter. The weather was so bad that Allied planes could not drop bombs on the German forces. The Germans quickly broke through the American line. 

But the German success did not last long. Allied forces from nearby areas raced to the battle-front to help. And good weather allowed Allied planes to begin attacking the Germans. 

The battle ended by the middle of the following month in a great defeat for Hitler and the Germans. The German army lost more than one-hundred-thousand men and great amounts of supplies. 

VOICE 2:

 The end of the war in Europe was now in sight. By late February, nineteen-forty-five, the Germans were forced to retreat across the Rhine River. American forces led by General Patton drove deep into the German heartland. 

To the east, Soviet forces also were marching into Germany. It did not take long for the American and Soviet forces to meet in victory. The war in Europe was ended. 

VOICE 1:

 Adolf Hitler waited until Russian troops were destroying Berlin. Bombs and shells were falling everywhere. Hitler took his own life by shooting himself in the head. 

One week later, the German army surrendered officially to Eisenhower and the allies. 

VOICE 2:

 The defeat of Germany was cause for great celebration in Britain, the United States, and other Allied nations. But two facts made the celebrations less joyful than they might have been. 

One was the discovery by Allied troops of the terrible German death camps. Only at the end of the war did most of the world learn that the Nazis had murdered millions of innocent Jews and other people. 

The second fact was that the pacific war had not ended. Japanese and American forces were still fighting bitterly. That war in the Pacific will be our story next week. 

(Theme)

 VOICE 1:

 You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators have been Harry Monroe and Jack Weitzel. Our program was written by David Jarmul.

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

 Millions of people around the world cook their food over a smoky fire every day. It is often difficult to find wood for the fire. People who do not have wood must spend large amounts of money on cooking fuel. However, there is a much easier way to cook food using energy from the sun. 

Solar cookers, or ovens, have been used for centuries. A Swiss scientist made the first solar oven in seventeen-sixty-seven. Today, people are using solar cookers in many countries around the world. People use solar ovens to cook food and to heat drinking water to kill bacteria and other harmful organisms.

 There are three kinds of solar ovens. The first is a box cooker. It is designed with a special wall that shines or reflects sunlight into the box. Heat gets trapped under a piece of glass or plastic covering the top of the cooker. A box oven is effective for slow cooking of large amounts of food. 

''Minimum Solar Box Cooker'': Two cardboard boxes, aluminum foil, and a plastic bag in place of glass. (Picture - solarcooking.org)

The third kind of solar oven is a parabolic cooker. It has rounded walls that aim sunlight directly into the bottom of the oven. Food cooks quickly in parabolic ovens. However, these cookers are hard to make. They must be re-aimed often to follow the sun. Parabolic cookers can also cause burns and eye injuries if they are not used correctly. 

You can make solar ovens from boxes or heavy paper. They will not catch fire. Paper burns at two-hundred-thirty-two degrees Celsius. A solar cooker never gets that hot. Solar ovens cook food at low temperatures over long periods of time. This permits people to leave food to cook while they do other things. 

To learn more about solar cooking, you can write to Solar Cookers International. The address is nineteen-nineteen Twenty-First Street, Sacramento, California, nine-five-eight-one-four, U-S-A. Or you can visit the group’s Internet Web site. The address is www.solarcooking.org.

 This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. 

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

 International finance ministers have approved a World Bank plan aimed at educating every child in developing countries. The plan is called “Education for All.” Its goal is to provide an education for all children between the ages of five and eleven by the year two-thousand-fifteen. The announcement came at the close of World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings last month in Washington, D.C. 

(Photo - UNICEF)

(Photo - WHO)

The World Bank plans to launch the new education program in the next three months. Officials will provide money to ten poor countries. They will choose countries that have developed strong education reform plans but lack the money to put them in place. Tanzania, Malawi, Senegal, Bangladesh and India are among the nations being considered for this project. It is expected to cost up to five-thousand-million dollars.

 World Bank President James Wolfensohn hopes the ten countries will be chosen by late June. That is when the world’s seven leading industrial countries will gather in Canada for their yearly economic meeting. Mister Wolfensohn hopes an agreement to fully pay for the “Education for All” program can be reached during those talks.

 In time, the World Bank plans to give money to eighty-eight developing countries that have a large number of uneducated children. The bank says that at least one-fourth of the countries are in southern Africa and South Asia. Latin America and the Middle East are also areas in need of assistance. 

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.