English expressions related to agriculture. Transcript of radio broadcast: 30 January 2010
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
In the early days of human history, people survived by hunting wild animals, or gathering wild grains and plants for food. Then, some people learned to grow crops and raise animals for food. They were the first farmers.
Since the sixteenth century, the word farm has meant agricultural land. But a much older meaning of the word farm is linked to economics. The word farm comes from the Latin word, firma, which means an unchanging payment.
Experts say the earliest meaning of the English word farm was a yearly payment made as a tax or rent.
Farmers in early England did not own their land. They paid every year to use agricultural lands.
In England, farmers used hawthorn trees along the edges of property. They called this row of hawthorns a hedge.
Hedging fields was how careful farmers marked and protected them.
Soon, people began to use the word hedging to describe steps that could be taken to protect against financial loss.
Hedging is common among gamblers who make large bets. A gambler bets a lot of money on one team. But, to be on the safe side, he also places a smaller bet on the other team, to reduce a possible loss.
You might say that someone is hedging his bet when he invests in several different kinds of businesses. One business may fail, but likely not all.
Farmers know that it is necessary to make hay while the sun shines.
Hay has to be cut and gathered when it is dry. So a wise farmer never postpones gathering his hay when the sun is shining. Rain may soon appear.
A wise person copies the farmer. He works when conditions are right.
A new mother, for example, quickly learns to try to sleep when her baby is quiet, even in the middle of the day. If the mother delays, she may lose her chance to sleep. So, the mother learns to make hay while the sun shines.
Beans are a popular farm crop. But beans are used to describe something of very little value in the expression, not worth a hill of beans. The expression is often used today.
You could say, for example, that a bad idea is not worth a hill of beans.
Language expert Charles Earle Funk said the expression was first used almost seven hundred years ago. He said Robert of Gloucester described a message from the King of Germany to King John of England as altogether not worth a bean.
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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I'm Shirley Griffith.
The building's art and sculpture collections tell a story about the country's history. Transcript of radio broadcast: 26 January 2010
Correction attached
VOICE ONE:
I'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
U.S. Capitol And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is one of the most recognized buildings in the world. Its design was influenced by the classical buildings of ancient Greece and Rome.
The United States Congress meets in the Capitol. The building was created as a physical representation of democracy. But it is also a museum filled with art and sculpture that tell about America's social and political history.
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VOICE ONE:
A drawing of the Capitol dome from 1859 A drawing of the Capitol dome from 1859 Our story begins on the Caribbean island of Tortola during the hot summer of seventeen ninety-two. William Thornton is hard at work on a set of building drawings. Mister Thornton came from a family of wealthy landowners who grew sugar on the island. He was trained as a doctor. But he had many interests including history, mechanics, government and building design. Mister Thornton was working to complete drawings for the design of the United States Capitol.
VOICE TWO:
A few months earlier, the government of President George Washington had started a contest for the best design for the Capitol. William Thornton wanted the building to express the democratic goals of this young country. It would be a physical version of America's constitution. His design was influenced by the Parthenon in Rome, Italy, and the Louvre museum in Paris, France.
William Thornton sent his building design to federal officials in Washington with a letter. "I have made my drawings with the greatest accuracy, and the most minute attention", he wrote. "In an affair of so much consequence to the dignity of the United States," it was his request that "you will not be hasty in deciding."
President Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson selected a later version of Mister Thornton's design for the Capitol. George Washington praised the design for its "grandeur, simplicity, and beauty." (MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Over the centuries, the United States Capitol has had many changes and additions. Many architects have worked on its extensions. But just as important as the building's design are the priceless collections of art and sculpture inside. They tell a detailed story about different events in America's past. And, they provide an interesting commentary on how America's government, people, and artists have chosen to represent their history.
We asked Barbara Wolanin to take us through several important rooms to learn more about the building's art and statue collection. She is the curator for the Architect of the Capitol.
BARBARA WOLANIN: "The Capitol, from the very beginning, the architects envisioned art sculpture for it, paintings for it. They were really built in as part of the architecture in each of the different construction stages of the Capitol."
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VOICE TWO:
The inside of the Capitol dome The inside of the Capitol dome We start in the most beautiful room, the Rotunda. This large circular room inside the Capitol's tall white dome measures over fifty-four meters high. It was completed in eighteen twenty-four.
The room connects the Senate side of the building with the House of Representatives side. So, it is both the physical and symbolic center of the building. Visiting the room is a wonderful experience. The room has a feeling of solidity and permanence, but it also is a celebration of light and airiness. BARBARA WOLANIN: "We're in the Rotunda, right in the center of the United States Capitol, and starting from the top down, the very top is the fresco painting called the "Apotheosis of Washington". It was painted by a Roman-born artist Constantino Brumidi in eighteen sixty-five, at the end of the Civil War."
VOICE ONE:
At the top of the dome is a colorful painting showing groups of people arranged in a circular shape. George Washington sits in the center of the painting, with women representing Liberty and Victory at his sides.
BARBARA WOLANIN: "He's the one in the lavender lap robe. And he's rising up into the heavens. Apotheosis means being raised to the level of an ideal or a god."
VOICE TWO:
The painting at the top of the dome showing George Washington Painting at the top of the dome It might seem strange today to show an American president as a god. But during the nineteenth century, Americans greatly loved and respected President Washington. This included Americans from both the North and South after the Civil War. Several Roman gods are also in the painting. They are holding examples of American technologies of the time.
BARBARA WOLANIN: "They are mixed in with new American technology, the latest inventions. Like Ceres there is sitting on a McCormick reaper, which is the new way for reaping grain quickly. And Neptune with a Trident is helping lay the trans-Atlantic cable which was just being laid when he was painting this."
VOICE ONE:
The artist Constantino Brumidi finished this huge work in only eleven months. He also painted much of the frieze that extends along the Rotunda walls under the room's thirty-six windows. A frieze is a long stretch of surface that has been painted or sculpted. This one tells the history of America. The people in the frieze are painted to look three- dimensional, like sculptures.
Below the frieze, eight huge historical paintings hang on the curved walls. Four paintings tell about the events of the Revolutionary War in the late eighteenth century. The four others show examples of early explorations of the country. These include the landing of explorer Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the Mississippi River.
VOICE TWO:
Sculptures are another important part of the room's decoration. One marble sculpture of Abraham Lincoln was created in eighteen seventy-one, after his death. Vinnie Ream made the sculpture. She was the first woman hired by the government to create a work of art. She was only eighteen years old when she was asked to make the statue.
Another marble statue nearby honors three women who fought for voting rights for women. Adelaide Johnson made this sculpture.
BARBARA WOLANIN: "'Portrait Monument' has just an amazing history too. This is also by a woman artist. And it was commissioned by the National Woman's Party in nineteen twenty after women finally got the vote."
VOICE ONE:
The sculpted forms of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott seem to be coming up out of the huge piece of stone.
Behind them, a fourth form rises out of the uncut stone. Adelaide Johnson said this unfinished area was meant to show that the struggle for women's equality was not over.
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VOICE TWO:
Many of the statues in this room and others throughout the Capitol are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The collection was established in eighteen sixty-four. Congress invited each state to send two statues to the collection.
The statues can represent a very famous person, such as an American president. Or, they can represent someone less well known but historically important. States can also replace an older statue with a new one. It has taken a long time to complete the collection. The one hundredth statue arrived in two thousand five.
VOICE ONE:
Barbara Wolanin takes us into the National Statuary Hall. This large room was a meeting room for the House of Representatives until eighteen fifty-seven.
Huey Long Huey Long BARBARA WOLANIN: "This room, at the time it was built was considered the most beautiful room in the whole country. Benjamin Henry Latrobe was the architect and he really tried to make it as fine as he could. He was very interested in the classical architectures. So he wanted columns and he had these special capitals for the columns carved in Carrara, Italy based on ancient designs."
As you can guess from the room's name, it now houses many statues from the national collection. For example, there is a marble statue of Sam Houston, a leader who fought for independence for the state of Texas. One of the state of Louisiana's statues is a bronze representation of the politician Huey Long.
VOICE TWO:
The newest building extension of the Capitol is the Capitol Visitor Center. These large underground rooms were completed in December of two thousand eight. The goal is to enrich the experience of the more than two million people who visit the Capitol every year.
The Visitor Center is filled with water fountains, skylights, historical exhibits, a restaurant — and more statues. A bronze statue of the Hawaiian ruler King Kamehameha is hard to miss. His clothing is almost completely covered in gold. Every year in June, Hawaiians come to the Capitol to honor this ancient ruler.
VOICE ONE:
Helen Keller Helen Keller The newest statue in the national collection is from Alabama. It shows the deaf and blind activist and writer Helen Keller as a young child. It is also the smallest statue in the collection.
But the biggest statue in the room is not part of the Statuary Collection. It is a plaster form that was used to make the bronze statue of Freedom that stands on the dome of the Capitol high above the city. Freedom is represented as a strong woman wearing the flowing clothing of ancient Rome. She measures over five meters tall.
If you stand under a skylight in the Visitor Center, you can see the bronze statue of Freedom high up on the dome outside. She is watching over the Capitol building as it continues to represent America's history, government and people.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Bob Doughty. Next week, we visit another important art collection, at the Vatican in Italy. You can comment on this and other programs on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
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Correction: This story mistakenly referred to "the Parthenon in Rome." It should have said "the Pantheon in Rome." The Parthenon, of course, is in Athens.
Some teachers blame the Internet for an increase in spelling and grammar errors. But language experts praise it for making communication more expressive. Transcript of radio broadcast: 28 January 2010
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
Web browsers first appeared on computers in the early nineteen nineties. Since then, the Internet has greatly changed the way people communicate. But some teachers think the changes are not all for the better.
Eleanor Johnson is an English professor at Columbia University in New York.
The Internet is adding to vocabulary but, some say, at a cost to spelling and grammar The Internet is adding to vocabulary but, some argue, at a cost ELEANOR JOHNSON: "I think that text messaging has made students believe that it's far more acceptable than it actually is to just make screamingly atrocious spelling and grammatical errors."
She says her students over the past several years have increasingly used less formal English in their writing. She says words and phrases like "guy" and "you know" now appear in research papers.
And she now has to talk about another problem in class, she says -- incorrect word use. For example, a student says "preclude" instead of "precede" when talking about one event coming before another. It sounds like precede but it means prevent.
Professor Johnson suspects a strong link between the rise of instant and casual communication online and an increase in writing mistakes. But she admits there may not be much scientific evidence, at least not yet.
David Crystal is a British linguist who has written more than one hundred books, including the book "Language and the Internet." He says the actively changing nature of the Internet makes it difficult to stay current in studying its effects. But he believes its influence on language is small.
DAVID CRYSTAL: "The main effect of the Internet on language has been to increase the expressive richness of language, providing the language with a new set of communicative dimensions that haven't existed in the past."
Erin Jansen is founder of Netlingo, an online dictionary of Internet and text messaging terms. She says the new technology has not changed existing language but has greatly added to the vocabulary. "Basically it's a freedom of expression," she says.
And what about teachers who find these new kinds of mistakes in spelling and grammar in their students' work. What is her message to them?
ERIN JANSEN: "I always advocate, don't get angry or upset about that, get creative. If it's helping the kids write more or communicate more in their first draft, that's great. That's what teachers and educators want, is to get kids communicating."
But Erin Jansen and David Crystal agree with Eleanor Johnson on at least one thing. Teachers need to make sure students understand the uses and rules of language.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Lawan Davis, with reporting by Rachel Abrams. We want to know what you have to say about the effects of the Internet on language and writing. Post your comments at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.
Congress acted in 1868 after the president dismissed the secretary of war. But the Senate found him not guilty by a single vote. Transcript of radio broadcast:
28 January 2010
Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
The Civil War ended in eighteen sixty-five. After that, tensions grew between Congress and the new president, Andrew Johnson.
The Republican Party was still new. It was formed to oppose slavery. Radical members of the party controlled Congress. They wanted strong policies to punish the southern states that left the Union and lost the war.
Standing in the way of the Republicans was Andrew Johnson, a Democrat. The president opposed radical efforts to force solutions on the South. He vetoed a number of programs that he thought interfered with rights given to the states by the Constitution.
This week in our series, Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe continue the story of President Andrew Johnson.
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VOICE ONE:
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson In the congressional elections of eighteen sixty-six, radicals won firm control of both houses of Congress. They were able to pass a number of bills over the president's veto. But Johnson refused to stand aside in the face of radical attempts to seize all powers of government.
This conflict between Johnson and the Congress caused much bitterness. Finally, the radicals decided to get him out of the way. For the first time in American history, Congress would try to remove the President from office.
Under the United States Constitution, the House of Representatives has the power to bring charges against the president. The Senate acts as the jury to decide if the president is guilty of the charges. The chief justice of the United States serves as judge.
If two-thirds of the senators find the president guilty, he can be removed from office.
VOICE TWO: Thaddeus Stevens speaks during the debate over impeachment in the House of Representatives Thaddeus Stevens speaks during the debate over impeachment in the House of Representatives Radicals in the House of Representatives brought eleven charges against President Johnson.
Most of the charges were based on Johnson's removal from office of his secretary of war. Radicals charged that this violated a new law. The law said the president could not remove a cabinet officer without approval by the Senate.
Johnson refused to recognize the law. He said it was not constitutional.
Radicals in the House of Representatives also charged Johnson with criticizing Congress. They said his statements dishonored Congress and the presidency.
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VOICE ONE:
The great impeachment trial began on March fifth, eighteen sixty-eight. The president refused to attend. But his lawyers were there to defend him.
One by one, the senators swore an oath to be just. They promised to make a fair and honest decision on the guilt or innocence of Andrew Johnson.
A congressman from Massachusetts opened the case for the radicals. He told the senators not to think of themselves as members of any court. He said the Senate was a political body that was being asked to settle a political question. Was Johnson the right man for the White House? He said it was clear that Johnson wanted to overthrow Congress.
Other radical Republicans then joined him in condemning Johnson. They made many charges. But they offered little evidence to support the charges.
VOICE TWO:
Johnson's lawyers called for facts, instead of emotion. They said the Constitution required the radicals to prove that the president had committed serious crimes. Andrew Johnson had committed no crime, they said. This was purely a political trial.
They warned of serious damage to the American form of government if the president was removed for political reasons. No future president would be safe, they said, if opposed by a majority of the House and two-thirds of the Senate.
VOICE ONE:
The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson The impeachment trial The trial went on day after day. The decision would be close. Fifty-four senators would be voting. Thirty-six votes of guilty were needed to remove the president from office.
It soon became clear that the radicals had thirty-five of these votes. Only seven senators remained undecided. If one of the seven voted guilty, Johnson would be removed.
Radicals put great pressure on the seven men. They tried to buy their votes. Party leaders threatened them. Supporters in the senators' home states were told to write hundreds of letters demanding that Johnson be found guilty.
VOICE TWO:
A senator from Maine was one who felt the pressure. But he refused to let it force him to do what others wished. He answered one letter this way:
"Sir, I wish you and all my other friends to know that I, not they, am sitting in judgment upon the president. I, not they, have sworn to do impartial justice. I, not they, am responsible to God and man for my action and its results."
A senator from Kansas was another who refused to let pressure decide his vote. He said, "I trust that I shall have the courage to vote as I judge best."
VOICE ONE:
In the final days before the vote, six of the seven remaining Republican senators let it be known that they would vote not guilty. But the senator from Kansas still refused to say what his vote would be. His was the only vote still in question. His vote would decide the issue.
Now, the pressure on him increased. His brother was offered twenty thousand dollars for information about how the senator would vote. Everywhere he turned, he found someone demanding that he vote guilty.
The vote took place on May sixteenth. Every seat in the big Senate room was filled. The chief justice began to call on the senators. One by one, they answered guilty or not guilty. Finally, he called the name of the senator from Kansas.
VOICE TWO:
The vote of Senator Edmund Ross of Kansas saved the presidency of Andrew Johnson The senator stood up. He looked about him. Every voice was still. Every eye was upon him.
"It was like looking down into an open grave," he said later. "Friendship, position, wealth -- everything that makes life desirable to an ambitious man -- were about to be swept away by my answer."
He spoke softly. Many could not hear him. The chief justice asked him to repeat his vote. This time, the answer was clearly heard across the room: "Not guilty."
VOICE ONE:
The trial was all but done. Remaining senators voted as expected. The chief justice announced the result. On the first charge, thirty-five senators voted that President Johnson was guilty. Nineteen voted that he was not guilty. The radicals had failed by one vote.
When the Senate voted on the other charges, the result was the same. The radicals could not get the two-thirds majority they needed. President Johnson was declared not guilty.
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VOICE TWO:
Radical leaders and newspapers bitterly denounced the small group of Republican senators who refused to vote guilty. They called them traitors. Friends and supporters condemned them. None was re-elected to the Senate or to any other government office.
It was a heavy price to pay. And yet, they were sure they had done the right thing. The senator from Kansas told his wife, "The millions of men cursing me today will bless me tomorrow for having saved the country from the greatest threat it ever faced."
VOICE ONE:
He was right. The trial of Andrew Johnson was an important turning point in the making of the American nation.
His removal from office would have established the idea that the president could serve only with the approval of Congress. The president would have become, in effect, a prime minister. He would have to depend on the support of Congress to remain in office. Johnson's victory kept alive the idea of an independent presidency.
However, the vote did not end the conflict between Congress and the White House over the future of the South.
That will be our story in the next program of THE MAKING OF A NATION.
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ANNOUNCER:
Our program was written by David Jarmul and Frank Beardsley. The narrators were Kay Gallant and Harry Monroe. Transcripts, podcasts and historical images from our series are at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also comment on our programs. And you can follow us on Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- an American history series in VOA Special English.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book,"thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?"
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.
There was nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!" (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT POCKET, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves; here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down a jar from one of the shelves as she passed; it was labelled "ORANGE MARMALADE", but to her great isappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar for fear of killing somebody, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.
"Well!" thought Alice to herself, `after such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs! How brave they’ll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!’ (Which was very likely true.)
Down, down, down. Would the fall NEVER come to an end! `I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time?’ she said aloud.`I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think–’ (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the schoolroom, and though this was not a VERY good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) `–yes, that’s about the right distance–but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I’ve got to?’ (Alice had no idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but thought they were nice grand words to say.)
Presently she began again. `I wonder if I shall fall right THROUGH the earth! How funny it’ll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downward! The Antipathies, I think–’ (she was rather glad there WAS no one listening, this time, as it didn’t sound at all the right word) `–but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma’am, is this New Zealand or Australia?’ (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke–fancy CURTSEYING as you’re falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) `And what an ignorant little girl she’ll think me for asking! No, it’ll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere.’ Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. `Dinah’ll miss me very much to-night, I should think!’ (Dinah was the cat.) `I hope they’ll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I’m afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that’s very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?’ And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy sort of way, `Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?’ and sometimes, `Do bats eat cats?’ for, you see, as she couldn’t answer either question, it didn’t much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and saying to her very earnestly, `Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?’ when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.
Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear it say, as it turned a corner, `Oh my ears and whiskers, how late it’s getting!’ She was close behind it when she turned the corner, but the Rabbit was no longer to be seen: she found herself in a long, low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.
There were doors all round the hall, but they were all locked; and when Alice had been all the way down one side and up the other, trying every door, she walked sadly down the middle, wondering how she was ever to get out again. Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table, all made of solid glass; there was nothing on it except a tiny golden key, and Alice’s first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but, alas! either the locks were too large, or the key was too small, but at any rate it would not open any of them. However, on the second time round, she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high: she tried the little golden key in the lock, and to her great delight it fitted! Alice opened the door and found that it led into a small passage, not much larger than a rat-hole: she knelt down and looked along the passage into the loveliest garden you ever saw. How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains, but she could not even get her head through the doorway; `and even if my head would go through,’ thought poor Alice, `it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only know how to begin.’ For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible. There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, (`which certainly was not here before,’ said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words `DRINK ME’ beautifully printed on it in large letters. It was all very well to say `Drink me,’ but the wise little Alice was not going to do THAT in a hurry. `No, I’ll look first,’ she said, `and see whether it’s marked “poison” or not’; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they WOULD not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger VERY deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked `poison,’ it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. However, this bottle was NOT marked `poison,’ so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * `What a curious feeling!’ said Alice; `I must be shutting up like a telescope.’ And so it was indeed: she was now only ten inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden. First, however, she waited for a few minutes to see if she was going to shrink any further: she felt a little nervous about this; `for it might end, you know,’ said Alice to herself, `in my going out altogether, like a candle. I wonder what I should be like then?’ And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle is like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing. After a while, finding that nothing more happened, she decided on going into the garden at once; but, alas for poor Alice! when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and when she went back to the table for it, she found she could not possibly reach it: she could see it quite plainly through the glass, and she tried her best to climb up one of the legs of the table, but it was too slippery; and when she had tired herself out with trying, the poor little thing sat down and cried. `Come, there’s no use in crying like that!’ said Alice to herself, rather sharply; `I advise you to leave off this minute!’ She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it), and sometimes she scolded herself so severely as to bring tears into her eyes; and once she remembered trying to box her own ears for having cheated herself in a game of croquet she was playing against herself, for this curious child was very fond of pretending to be two people. `But it’s no use now,’ thought poor Alice, `to pretend to be two people! Why, there’s hardly enough of me left to make ONE respectable person!’ Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME’ were beautifully marked in currants. `Well, I’ll eat it,’ said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I’ll get into the garden, and I don’t care which happens!’ She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, `Which way? Which way?’, holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size: to be sure, this generally happens when one eats cake, but Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way. So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.
What environmentalists and others are saying about the recent accord. Also on this week's program, a report on the panda genome. Transcript of radio broadcast: 19 January 2010
VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty. VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. This week, we will tell about an agreement to limit temperatures in Earth's atmosphere. We will tell about an incident that brought attention to climate change disputes. And we will report on a study of China's giant pandas.
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VOICE ONE:
The World Meteorological Organization says two thousand nine was probably the fifth warmest year since eighteen fifty. It also says the past ten years may be the warmest ten-year period ever measured.
Controlling rising temperatures was the subject of an international conference last month in Copenhagen, Denmark. The United Nations called the conference to replace a nineteen ninety-seven agreement, the Kyoto Protocol. The protocol contains measures designed to fight climate change.
VOICE TWO:
Almost two hundred countries were represented at the conference. In the end, only five of them were able to negotiate an agreement. They are Brazil, China, India, South Africa and the United States. The agreement is known as the Copenhagen Accord. It asks major polluting countries to voluntarily reduce gases linked to what scientists call the greenhouse effect.
Scientists say Earth's atmosphere acts like a greenhouse. Carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere trap heat from the sun. They prevent the heat from escaping into outer space. This balanced system makes it possible for plants, animals and people to survive on Earth. However, the balance is changing. Human activities are producing increased amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases. Burning fuels like oil and coal is a major cause. Clearing forests for agriculture is another.
VOICE ONE:
The Copenhagen Accord sets a goal of one hundred billion dollars a year in aid to help poor nations with climate control by twenty-twenty. The accord states that limiting temperature increases to no more than two degrees Celsius is necessary to stop the worst effects of climate change.
Many small nations wanted a stronger agreement. One hundred nations supported a target of keeping temperature increases below one point five degrees. The nations also say they regret that the Copenhagen Accord has no force of law. Instead, it is voluntary.
VOICE TWO:
China vetoed proposals calling for fifty percent cuts in greenhouse gases. It also vetoed eighty-percent cuts by developed countries by the middle of the century. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao praised the accord. He said that his government took an important and helpful part at the conference.
Environmental activists said the accord is a declaration that small and poor countries are not important. The representative from the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu made an emotional appeal for a treaty with legal force. Tuvalu is the world's second smallest country. Rising seas and warming conditions threaten its existence.
Lumumba Di-Aping was the chief negotiator for G-77, a group of mostly poor countries. He said the agreement is, in his words, a suicide pact.
VOICE ONE:
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown criticized the negotiation process at the conference. But both he and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the agreement provides a hopeful beginning.
The administration of President Obama says the Copenhagen Accord represents progress. Some reports say the president was responsible for a compromise that made the accord possible. Without his efforts, the reports say, other countries would have gone home without any agreement.
The United States and China are the biggest producers of greenhouse gases. Some commentators say both sides acted in recognition of political conditions in their countries. For example, President Obama wants Congress to take steps against global warming. But the American economy is weak, and twenty-ten is an election year. Political observers say the idea faces strong opposition.
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VOICE TWO:
Last year, an incident in Britain brought attention to disagreements about climate change. Private e-mails and other documents were hacked from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. The stolen materials included more than one-thousand e-mails and two thousand documents. The information was placed on the Internet. Police are investigating the thefts. The university opened an investigation of the Climatic Research Unit. The head of the C.R.U., Phil Jones, temporarily left his position.
VOICE ONE:
The stolen materials intensified questions about global warming. Are climate changes real? If so, were human activities mainly to blame? Most scientists involved in climate research answer "yes" to both questions. Even opposing scientists say human-influenced global warming has become widely accepted by the scientific community.
Some scientists, however, do not believe the evidence for warming. Or, they say the Earth may be warming, but human activity is not responsible.
Instead, these experts say, our planet is experiencing a normal series of temperature changes. They say such changes are events that have always happened.
VOICE TWO:
American researcher Patrick Michaels questions the evidence supporting human-influenced global warming. He said the stolen e-mails prove that the evidence is not correct.
Critics also noted an e-mail written more than ten years ago by Professor Jones of the C.R.U. In the e-mail, he used the words "trick" and "hide the decline" when writing about a graph showing rising temperatures. The image appeared in several scientific publications.
The critics say his wording showed purposeful misrepresentation. But other experts offered technical explanations of how the wording was not meant to hide a drop in temperatures. They say the word "trick" can mean a shortened and effective way to express complex findings.
VOICE ONE:
A few of the stolen e-mails showed open dislike for scientists who oppose the idea of human-influenced global warming. American scientist James Hansen suggested that some of the e-mails showed poor judgment. But he said such comments should be separated from the scientific research.
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VOICE TWO:
Pandas Finally, an international group of researchers has produced a map of the panda's genetic material. Scientists from the Beijing Genomics Institute led the study. The genetic map, or genome, of the panda is the first for a member of the bear family. And, it is the second genome for a member of the Carnivora group, after dogs. A report about the study was published last month in Nature magazine.
VOICE ONE:
Scientists have long known that giant pandas mainly eat just one kind of plant: bamboo. The animals are also known for a low rate of reproduction.
Pandas are also threatened by a loss of land and illegal hunting. It is estimated that less than two thousand of the animals live in the wild. They are mostly found in southwestern China. Another one hundred twenty pandas live in zoos and research centers, mainly in China. VOICE TWO:
The researchers identified the genetic structure of a three-year old female panda named Jingjing. The study showed that pandas have been in existence for up to three million years. Yet their genetics have caused pandas to develop more slowly than human beings and other mammals.
Pandas are a subspecies of Ursidae, the bear family. But the study showed a high genetic similarity between pandas and dogs. The panda genome is smaller than the human genome. The human one has about three billion base pairs of deoxyribonucleic acid. The panda genome has about two billion five hundred million base pairs.
VOICE ONE:
Another finding was that the panda's genetic material differed in many places. Researcher Jun Wang says this tells scientists that the decrease in the panda population is not a result of inbreeding. Mating by individuals with similar genes was thought to be a problem.
One unusual finding was the structure of the panda's taste gene. This, scientists say, can affect the ability to taste meat and other foods high in protein. Because pandas likely have all the genes needed for breaking down meat, scientists believe an inability to taste meat may have led to their all-bamboo diet.
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VOICE TWO:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson and Brianna Blake, who was also our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And, I'm Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
A new study shows a cut of three grams of salt a day prevent tens of thousands of deaths among Americans Transcript of radio broadcast:27 January 2010
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
Even a small reduction in salt in the diet can be a big help to the heart. A new study used a computer model to predict how just three grams less a day would affect heart disease in the United States. The result: thirteen percent fewer heart attacks. Eight percent fewer strokes. Four percent fewer deaths. Eleven percent fewer new cases of heart disease. And two hundred forty billion dollars in health care savings.
Researchers found it could prevent one hundred thousand heart attacks and ninety-two thousand deaths every year.
The study is in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo at the University of California San Francisco, was the lead author. She says people would not even notice a difference in taste with three grams, or one-half teaspoon, less salt per day. The team also included researchers at Stanford and Columbia University.
Each gram of salt contains four hundred milligrams of sodium, which is how foods may list their salt content.
The government says the average American man eats ten grams of salt a day. The American Heart Association advises no more than three grams for healthy people. It says salt in the American diet has increased fifty percent since the nineteen seventies, while blood pressures have also risen. Less salt can mean a lower blood pressure.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading an effort called the National Salt Reduction Initiative. The idea is to put pressure on food companies and restaurants. Critics call it government interference.
Mayor Bloomberg has already succeeded in other areas, like requiring fast food places in the city to list calorie information. Now a study by the Seattle Children's Research Institute shows how that idea can influence what parents order for their children.
Ninety-nine parents of three to six year olds took part. Half had McDonald's menus clearly showing how many calories were in each food. The other half got menus without the calorie information.
Parents given the counts chose an average of one hundred two fewer calories when asked what they would order for their children. Yet there was no difference in calories between the two groups for foods that the parents would have chosen for themselves.
Study leader Pooja Tandon says even small calorie reductions on a regular basis can prevent weight gain over time. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. What do you think is a government's duty on issues like salt or fats? Let us know at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Faith Lapidus.
Discovery may help engineer better plants. Transcript of radio broadcast: 25 January 2010
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
Scientists have discovered more details about how plants use water. Their findings could help to engineer plants that grow better and more effectively in conditions with higher levels of carbon dioxide.
Plants naturally take in carbon dioxide they need for photosynthesis, the process of changing light energy to chemical energy. The carbon dioxide enters the plants through tiny holes or pores on the surface of leaves.
However, each time a plant takes in one molecule of carbon dioxide gas, it loses hundreds of water molecules.
Scientists say plants lose ninety-five percent of the water they take in through these pores. Some plants' pores can tighten to save water during conditions of high carbon dioxide. Other plants are not able to do this as well. Now, scientists know how these tiny pores tighten in plants.
Julian Schroeder is a professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego. Mister Schroeder says that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are much higher now than they were in the past. However, he says, many plants are not closing their pores in order to hold in more water.
He and his team have identified proteins that control the tightening of a plant's pores. The proteins are enzymes called carbonic anhydrases. The findings were published last month in the journal Nature Cell Biology. Mister Schroeder believes the enzymes could be changed in some plants to increase their ability to store water.
The researchers added carbonic anhydrase genes to plants that do not react to higher levels of carbon dioxide. They observed that for every molecule of carbon dioxide taken in by the plants, they lost forty-four percent less water.
The scientists say the photosynthesis process continued normally in these plants. They say this suggests that changing plants to save more water will not affect plant growth. This method might be used to help engineer food crops that are resistant to extremely dry conditions. The discovery could help farmers meet a growing demand for food as water supplies decrease. However, the scientists say more research is needed.
And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture report, written by Brianna Blake. For transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports, visit us on the Web at voaspecialenglish.com.
The electronics industry saw sales drop by 8 percent last year. This year, smartphones, digital tablets and 3-D TVs could get the public buying again. Transcript of radio broadcast: 25 January 2010
VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we look at the newest devices demonstrated at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show. The show offered a look at what could be the most popular electronic products this year.
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VOICE ONE:
The Consumer Electronics Show is the world's biggest technology trade show. Industry representatives and reporters gather at CES each January to see the next, must-have electronic devices for the coming year.
This year, the show took place between January seventh and tenth in Las Vegas, Nevada. A record three hundred thirty businesses attended for the first time. These can be manufacturers or suppliers who sell products from other companies. In all, there were over twenty thousand new products from more than two thousand five hundred businesses.
The Consumer Electronics Association produces CES. It is the largest trade show of any kind in North America -- with over one hundred thirty thousand square meters of exhibition space.
VOICE TWO:
The electronics industry is hoping a new crop of products will help it recover from an eight percent decrease in sales last year. The biggest attention-getters were the latest 3-Dimensional high definition televisions.
Tara Dunion is a spokeswoman for the CES. She says 3-D televisions promise to bring the intense experience from movie theaters to the home. The huge popularity of 3-D films like "Avatar," "Up" and "Monsters vs. Aliens" has many people willing to buy this costly, developing technology.
Dreamworks Animation made "Monsters vs. Aliens" and the popular Shrek series. The company announced last year that it would only make 3-D films in the future. And, television networks ESPN and Discovery Communications say they plan to operate television channels in 3-D. Big TV manufacturers like LG Electronics, Panasonic, Sony and Samsung have all developed their own products.
CES attendees use 3-D glasses to play a game
VOICE ONE:
If you have seen a 3-D movie, you already know that you need special eyeglasses to watch. Some 3-D TVs do not require special glasses. But experts say it will be years until such technology is ready for the general market.
The latest 3-D TVs work by dividing picture images in two, one for each eye. When each eye sees very similar, but different versions of an image, the brain thinks it is seeing depth, or three dimensions.
Dividing the image can be done in two ways -- both using special eyeglasses. One 3-D technology uses low-cost polarized glasses. Each side of these devices blocks a set of images that appear in a different form of polarized light. So each eye sees a slightly different image, producing the 3-D effect. But TV receivers that use what is called a passive glasses system are costly.
VOICE TWO:
An active glasses system requires electronic glasses that are wirelessly connected to the television. A signal from the TV tells each side of the glasses when to turn on and off, showing each eye slightly different images that create the sense of depth. The switching happens so fast that the images appear continuous.
Active eyeglasses cost more -- about one hundred dollars each. But the technology for such receivers is not too different from current flat screen TVs.
There were examples of both technologies at the twenty-ten International CES. There were even 3-D TVs that require no glasses at all. But 3-D TVs are expected to cost a lot – with one selling for several thousand dollars. Still, the Consumer Electronics Association predicts that more than four million 3-D TV sets will be sold this year.
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A Samsung e-reader on display at CES
VOICE ONE:
Digital tablets and eBook readers could also be popular this year. These easy-to-hold devices let you read and watch media or search the Internet and order products. Dell and Hewlett-Packard exhibited new tablet devices at CES.
Lenovo demonstrated a product that can be used as two computing devices. The IdeaPad U-One Hybrid is a notebook computer, which has a removable screen that becomes a digital tablet. Amazon showed versions of its popular Kindle eBook reader. Barnes & Noble, Samsung, Sony and other companies also showed models of eBook readers.
VOICE TWO:
But Apple made the biggest news when it announced that it would offer its own digital tablet this year. Apple did not show the product at CES, but industry watchers are extremely interested. Media reports say Apple plans to announce the tablet, possibly called the iSlate, later this month.
Like netbooks, tablets are less costly ways to use the World Wide Web and digital information. Some experts think these easily carried devices could represent the future of computing. But their lower price means smaller profits for manufacturers and sellers.
VOICE ONE:
Wireless telephones could be a big part of the electronics industry's return to growth. At the start of CES, Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro made some predictions. He said fifty-two million wireless phones will be sold in the United States this year.
Smartphones represent over thirty percent of the market. They are phones that search the Web, send messages and carry out applications. Their share of all mobile phones is only expected to grow.
VOICE TWO:
Google launched its Nexus One smartphone, which the company calls a "superphone," at CES. This is Google's first attempt to sell its own electronic device. Nexus One will directly compete with Apple's popular iPhone. It uses Google's Android mobile operating system and is meant to work easily with Google's Web-based services.
Nexus One, though, is not the only new smartphone that uses Android. Several big phonemakers are coming out with Android-based mobile phones.
And, there is another group of mobile devices to watch for: Smartbooks. These are smaller and cost less than netbooks, while still having a keyboard. They are meant for looking at Web pages and placing information on Twitter. Manufacturers are still developing smartbooks. But they are products to watch in the future.
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VOICE ONE:
Sustainable technologies have been a growing part of the International Consumer Electronics Show for years. The CES has an area for companies to demonstrate products that save energy, reduce waste and reuse materials.
Show spokeswoman Jennifer Bemisderfer says the Sustainable Planet Tech Zone is four times bigger than last year. Among the products were TVs that use light emitting diodes, or LEDs, to save energy. Some manufacturers are increasingly interested in what has been called cradle to cradle technology. Jennifer Bemisderfer says this involves thinking about a product's whole lifetime:
JENNIFER BEMISDERFER: "When those products are at the end of their useful life, how are they going to be broken down? How are we going to get some of the essential elements out of those products and have them reused in the manufacturing process?"
VOICE TWO:
Many of the products shown at CES require wireless connections to the Internet. Julius Genachowski is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which supervises broadcasting and communications. Mister Genachowski spoke at the show about the technical problems that wireless devices present.
He says they depend on a limited number of radio wavelengths. But he says the problem can be solved. And, he hopes to increase wireless Internet access across the United States.
Mister Genachowski told CES that wireless technology, or broadband, can be an engine of economic growth. And, he noted its importance to the country's social goals.
JULIUS GENACHOWSKI: "Promoting our common goals around education, health care, energy, public safety, and, I think in each of those areas, you actually see on the floor here new innovative ideas to take advantage of this general purposes technology that broadband is, and apply it to provide better services at lower cost in each of these areas."
Mister Genachowski said government has a limited part in technology development. He said most investment is private. But he said his agency hopes to support progress by getting investors interested in new technologies.
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VOICE ONE:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written and produced by Mario Ritter with reporting by Mike O'Sullivan in Las Vegas. I'm Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And, I'm Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
