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A-Community-Helps-Burmese-Refugees-Learn-English This is the VOA Special English Education Report.About eighteen thousand refugees from Burma have come to the United States each year since two thousand seven.Some have settled in Howard County, Maryland, between Baltimore and Washington.A local school began teaching English to the children of the refugees.But while the children learned the language, their parents did not.That makes communication with teachers difficult.Burmese children in cla in Howard County, MarylandCurrently almost fifty Burmese youngsters attend Bollman Bridge Elementary School.Laurel Conran is a teacher there.LAUREL CONRAN: “The main idea is the global idea.” She teaches English to speakers of other languages.LAUREL CONRAN: “Today we were doing text structures.I wanted them to know the vocabulary, the language of text structures, so when they go back into the claroom and work with their peers, they can do this succefully in the claroom.” One of her students is Tha Neih Ciang.Another student is Tha Neih's mother, Tin Iang.Ms.Conran practices English with Tin Iang at the mother's workplace.Many Burmese refugees work at Coastal Sunbelt Produce, a supplier of fruits and vegetables to restaurants and other businees.Laurel Conran started claes at the company to help refugees from the country also known as Myanmar learn English.LAUREL CONRAN: “The program is a six-week seion.It's once a week, on every Wednesday, from twelve to one o'clock.So every Wednesday I go to Coastal Sunbelt.” As the Burmese workers eat lunch, they also practice their new language skills.They sit in small groups with an English-speaking volunteer.Lisa Chertok has a child at Bollman Bridge.She is also a manager at Coastal Sunbelt.She helped Ms.Conran develop the leons, which she says have really helped.LISA CHERTOK: “Well, when the Burmese employees got here, they were very, very shy.Now I find that they are more responsive as employees.They're more communicative.They're also, as parents, they are more involved in their children's school.” Jonathan Davis is the principal of Bollman Bridge Elementary School.JONATHAN DAVIS: “I really see it as the beginning of a great partnership between a busine and a school, and we've just begun to scratch the surface with how that could benefit, really, the greater community.” Mr.Davis hopes the leons will help Burmese parents feel better about communicating with the school.JONATHAN DAVIS: “Even as simply as making a phone call to say that their son or daughter is sick, even if that's the amount of English that they have gotten from the program, that truly will help us.” SPEAKER: “Please welcome Laurel Conran and Lisa Chertok.” For their work, the two women received a Community Builders Award from Howard County.LAUREL CONRAN: “I love this program.As a community we want to work together, collaboratively, because when everybody works together it is a win-win situation.” And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.You can read, listen and learn English and much more with our programs and activities at tingvoa.com.You can watch a video about the Howard County program on our website.And you can find captioned videos at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube.I'm Steve Ember.Contributing: June Soh
Death-in-the-Family-May-Cause-Real-Heart-Break SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.I'm SHIRLEY Griffith.MARIO RITTER: And I'm Mario Ritter.Today, we tell about an American study of heart attack survivors.We tell about a scientist recognized for his work in plate tectonics.And we tell how modern-day musicians rated some of the most famous instruments ever made.(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Learning about the death of a loved one can be among life's most streful events.A recent study showed that the risk of heart attack increases in the days and hours after getting news of such a death.Researchers studied nearly two thousand heart attack survivors.The subjects were asked whether someone close to them had died in the six months before their heart attack.Elizabeth Mostofsky is with Beth Israel Deacone Medical Center in Boston, Maachusetts.ELIZABETH MOSTOFSKY: “We found that the risk of having a heart attack was twenty-one times higher in the day following the lo of a loved one, compared to other times.And that risk remained elevated in the subsequent days and weeks.” MARIO RITTER: Elizabeth Mostofsky says earlier research explored the risk of dying from any cause over a year or more after the death of a husband, wife or child.The earlier research did not include the death of other close family members or friends.Ms.Mostofsky and her team studied information from the days immediately after receiving the news.She says several things could explain why the intense feelings after the death of a loved one could lead to a heart attack.ELIZABETH MOSTOFSKY: “Grief causes feeling of depreion, anger, and anxiety, and several studies have shown that these emotions can cause increased heart rate, higher blood preure, and blood clotting.And those in turn, can increase the chances of having a heart attack.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Ms.Mostofsky says the family and friends of those mourning for a loved one should know about the increased risk of heart attack.ELIZABETH MOSTOFSKY: ”People should be making sure that the bereaved person is taking care of himself or herself, including taking regular medications, because they are at that heightened level of vulnerability at this time in their life.“ Her research paper was published in ”Circulation,“ the journal of the American Heart Aociation.(MUSIC)MARIO RITTER: A few weeks ago, we talked about the science of plate tectonics.Plate tectonics explains why the Earth's surface moves.It also tells how?those changes cause earthquakes and volcanic activity.?Today, we tell about a scientist who helped prove the theory of continental drift.Walter C.Pitman, the third, is an adjunct profeor of geophysics at Columbia University.Now in his eighties, he works at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: When Walter Pitman was a teenager, he enjoyed visiting his father's workplace at Bell Labs research center.He remembers asking the researchers about their work.WALTER PITMAN: ”I worked there in the summertime sweeping floors but I was in amongst all these people.It was wonderful.“ Walter PitmanWalter Pitman studied electrical engineering and physics in college.He then went to work for an electronics company.He was not excited about the work, until one project – doing research on submarines – fueled a love for oceanography.Mister Pitman returned to school.For his doctoral studies, he went back to sea on a research veel.He hoped to gather evidence that all the continents had once been joined.He thought they had been moving apart on large plates for hundreds of millions of years.MARIO RITTER: Walter Pitman helped prove the idea that Earth's continents move.He did this by recording and studying magnetic patterns at the bottom of the ocean.WALTER PITMAN: ”It was electrifying.I didn't imagine ever being involved in anything so astonishing and so very, very important to the geologic sciences at such a young age in my career.I was very fortunate to be there when it all happened.“ The science of plate tectonics explains how the continents move around the oceans.It also explains how continents can strike each other and break apart, creating earthquakes and mountain chains.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Later, Mr.Pitman turned his attention to the surface of the ocean, and sea level changes.He and William Ryan, another Columbia University geophysicist, proposed what is known as the Black Sea Deluge Theory.They suggested that the Black Sea was once a landlocked freshwater lake.Then about seven thousand five hundred years ago, melting ice from glaciers raised water levels in the Mediterranean Sea.WALTER PITMAN: ”You're talking about a huge ma of water coming in to fill a very small basin.And that water as it would come through the Bosporus is going to cut the Bosporus deeper.The deeper it cuts, the faster it flows.The faster it flows, the faster it cuts.There is a feedback mechanism.So soon you start with a trickle and within a very short period of time, it's a roaring, raging flume of water and we're very sure that's what it(the Biblical flood)was, you know.“ MARIO RITTER: Mr.Pitman and other researchers are currently studying the climate of the Arctic Ocean.And they are exploring its effects on water cycles over the past two million years.Their research could help scientists predict the effects of climate change, which is causing sea levels to rise.WALTER PITMAN: ”I've had an incredible, incredibly good time at this kind of endeavor.There are bad spots, of course there are bad spots.But the science is always fascinating.You might, you know, stop reading for the day or something like that and say, ‘Wow, that was so great.I learned something about how the Earth works.' That is really pure pleasure.“(MUSIC)SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This is the sound of the greatest violin ever made.(violin music #1 in full then fade gently out completely)Or maybe it is this one.(violin music #2 in full then fade)It could be a Stradivarius, or an Amati, or a Guarneri made hundreds of years ago.But it might also have been made just last year by someone whose name is not nearly so famous.And that leads us to ask the following.Can you tell, just by listening, which is the best violin? If so, what makes it great? MARIO RITTER: It all began over three hundred years ago in the town of Cremona in northern Italy.If you wanted to buy a really good musical instrument, you probably visited Antonio Stradivari, Girolamo Amati, or Andrea Guarneri.Many people said they made the best violins that money could buy.Today, many still think of those violins as the greatest of all time.Those that still exist can sell for millions of dollars.Itzhak Perlman playing a Stradivarius violin from the year 1714For years, scientists and musicians have sought to discover the secrets of the master violin makers.They know that most of the time, spruce, willow or maple wood was used.Some people have thought that chemicals like borax were added to the wooden parts.Others have said that honey, or even the white of an egg was painted on the parts before they were put together.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Still other researchers say that a special kind of glue was used to connect the parts.Some think the secret is in the varnish, the nearly clear liquid that was used as a final cover to protect the wood.Or maybe the wood was special because it grew at a time when the weather was colder than it is today.In the end, no one knows for sure.And some people say we should not spend a lot of time thinking about the materials and procees used long ago.They instead think that some modern violins sound just as good and cost a lot le.Claudia Fritz at the University of Paris is one of those people.She led a study that was published in ”The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.“ At a musical competition in Indiana, she asked twenty-one really good violin players to test six different instruments.She did not tell them that only three of the violins were very old and costly.Together, the three were worth about ten million dollars.The other three were made by modern luthiers, or instrument makers, and cost a hundred times le.MARIO RITTER: Ms.Fritz asked each of the players to wear welders' goggles, thick, dark eyeglaes, so they could not see the instruments very well while holding them.She thought that some people might be able to identify an old violin by its smell.So she put a little sweet-smelling perfume on the part of the instrument that fits under a player's chin.The test began in a hotel room.All the subjects in the experiment were permitted to play all six violins, and then say which one they would like to own.Then each player was given only two violins to test.One was very old.The other was modern.They were asked which of the two sounded better.The results of the test led Ms.Fritz to believe that there is no secret to how the old, great violins were made.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Of the twenty-one players, only eight chose an old violin as the best.Even a recently made violin was judged to be much better sounding than the world famous Stradivarius.Ms.Fritz says the difference between the old and new instruments is only in the mind of the player.Modern luthiers were happy that she found what they believed.But some profeional musicians think the test had little value.One noted that violins are meant to be heard in a concert hall, not a hotel room.MARIO RITTER: Researchers have performed tests like this many times in the past.But Ms.Fritz says those tests asked average listeners to try to predict which violin was made by a master.Her test was given to concert violinists who play at the highest level.They are the ones you would expect to have the best ”ear“ for great sound.There is an old saying that, ”beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.“ If that is true, then perhaps your opinion of how an instrument sounds to your ear is really what matters.SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake and Jim Tedder.June Simms was our producer.I'm SHIRLEY Griffith.MARIO RITTER: And I'm Mario Ritter.Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.A-Goal-for-2012-Learning-English This is the VOA Special English Education Report.这里是美国之音慢速英语教育报道。
Did you make a New Year's resolution? Some of you shared your goals at the VOA Learning English page on Facebook.And, no surprise, many of you said at least one of your goals for twenty-twelve is to speak English better.Daniel Kwon even went so far as to declare: I'm definitely going to try to study English at least an hour a day.你下新年决心了吗？一些听众在美国之音Facebook页面上分享了自己的目标。而且毫无疑问，很多听众都表示，至少2012年的目标之一是把英语说得更好。Daniel Kwon甚至宣布：我一定要试着每天至少学一小时的英语。
Jose Antonio Velarde says: My first resolution is to speak English as fluently as my Spanish.And Tuti Riel says: My New Year's resolution is to be able to speak English and Mandarin fluently, and be a better person.Jose Antonio Velarde说：我的第一个决心是把英语讲得像我的西班牙语一样流利。而Tuti Riel则说：我的新年决心是能讲一口流利的英语和普通话，成为一个更优秀的人。
Juwita Zulmi says she wants to improve her English and get a scholarship to study overseas.Another goal for twenty-twelve: a new boyfriend.Juwita Zulmi表示她想要提高自己的英语水平，并获得一份奖学金去国外留学。另一个2012年的目标是认识一个新男友。
Derly Johanna Barreto has these two resolutions: to speak English fluently and to get a job.Jiseon Kim also has two goals: to lose weight and improve speaking English.And Katie Chekalina has these resolutions: Don't eat meat.I'll take it easy.Then, to learn Spanish or Italian, and find my real love.The last ones will be the most difficult, she thinks.Derly Johanna Barreto有这么两个决心：讲好英语，找到一份好工作。Jiseon Kim也有两个目标：减肥和提高英语口语。而Katie Chekalina有三个决心：不吃肉，这事我会放轻松的。然后，学英语或意大利语，并且找到我的真爱。她认为最后一点将是最困难的。
Rafa Mtz's main goal is finishing high school and getting into a university.Lola Wazqito Oktobrata says: I am going to get married and finish my undergraduate study with good results.And Uma Cherif is ready for the next step this year: a master's degree.Rafa Mtz的主要目标是完成高中学业进入大学。Lola Wazqito Oktobrata说：我将要结婚，也将以好成绩完成本科学业。而Uma Cherif已经为今年的下一步做好了准备：读一个硕士学位。
Handri Permana has this resolution: Be more meaningful before my time's up on earth.And Handri has this advice for others: Have fun seriously in life!Handri Permana的决心如下：活得更有意义。而Handri对他人建议说：开心生活。Dionel Paguirigan has fun playing the video game Defense of the Ancients, or DotA.Dionel says: My New Year's resolution is I want to spend more time on my studying than playing DotA.Dionel Paguirigan喜欢玩视频游戏远古守卫（Defense of the Ancients）。Dionel说：我的新年决心是在学习上花更多时间。
Refky Aditya's resolution is to not be lazy about studying anymore.And Nur Chanifah says: I want to be the best in my national examinations, to be a braver girl, and to take a scholarship abroad.Refky Aditya的决心是在学习上不要在懒惰了。而Nur Chanifah表示：我要在全国统考中做到最好，做一个勇敢的女孩，拿到一份奖学金出国
Sharah Radinka offered this comment: My resolutions are to pa vocational school, get a scholarship and visit Singapore and Malaysia.And Sita Ayudha is thinking of Australia in twenty-twelve: I wish I could have a career abroad in my dreamland of Oz.And let's see, as I'm an optimist, I'm gonna make it real this year, hahaha.Sharah Radinka写下了这样的评论：我的决心是从职业学校毕业，获得奖学金，并到新加坡和马来西亚游览。而Sita Ayudha在2012年正考虑澳大利亚：我希望可以到我的心仪之地澳大利亚工作。我们来看看，因为我是一个乐观主义者，今年我要把它实现，哈哈。
AIDS-Study-Called-2011-Breakthrough
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
The journal Science chose an AIDS study as the twenty-eleven ”Breakthrough of the Year.“ The study found that antiretroviral drugs can greatly lower the risk of spreading HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.It showed that infected people with early treatment were ninety-six percent le likely to infect their partners.《科学》杂志评选一项艾滋病研究作为2011年的“年度突破”。该研究发现，抗逆转录病毒药物可以极大地降低艾滋病毒传播的风险。这表明，接受早期治疗的感染者感染其性伴侣的几率要低96%。
The study was a clinical trial known as HPTN 052.Myron Cohen led an international team that began the study in two thousand seven and announced the results last May.But Dr.Cohen says the work really began twenty years ago.该研究是一项被称为HPTN 052的临床试验。迈伦·科恩（Myron Cohen）领导的一个国际研究小组于2007年开始了这项研究，并于去年5月宣布了研究结果。科恩表示，这项研究工作真正开始于20年前。
MYRON COHEN: ”We had a strong suspicion based on all the biological studies we had done that when we treat people and lower the concentration of HIV in the blood and secretions, we were rendering them le contagious.But we didn't understand the magnitude of the benefit.It blows a gigantic wind behind the idea that treatment will serve as prevention.“ 科恩：“我们强烈怀疑，基于我们在治疗病人和降低血液及分泌物中艾滋病毒的浓度时所做的所有生物实验，我们降低了它们的传染性。但我们不清楚其受益程度。它让我们突发想象：治疗可以用作预防。”
Dr.Cohen is director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases paid for the study.科恩博士是北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校全球卫生和传染病研究所所长。美国国立过敏和传染病研究所为该研究提供资金。
The study involved heterosexual couples in nine countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.The results have already had an effect on government policies.Those changes include treating HIV-infected people when their immune systems are still relatively healthy.该研究涉及了生活在非洲、亚洲和美洲9个国家的异性伴侣。研究结果已经影响到政府的政策。这些变化包括在艾滋病病毒感染者的免疫系统仍相对健康时对他们进行治疗。
MYRON COHEN: ”This particular 052 study in the last six months has generated policy changes at the level of the United States and the World Health Organization and UNAIDS.And it's inspired new community-based clinical trials that are just about to be launched that apply the scientific discovery.So when you do a single study and it receives so much recognition, and then seems to inform policy in a dramatic way, you think, OK, this was twenty years well-spent.“ 科恩：“过去6个月，052这一特殊研究已经在美国、世界卫生组织和联合国艾滋病规划署这一层面上产生了政策变化。它也启发了正要推行的应用了科学发现的基于社区的新临床试验。因此当你从事一项单一研究并得到这么多的认可，然后似乎又以一种戏剧性方式影响到政策，你就会认为这20年功夫没白费。”
Dr.Cohen says the study results will be wasted unle they are linked to other areas of HIV treatment and prevention.科恩博士表示，如果不和其它方面的艾滋病病毒治疗和预防相结合，这一研究结果就将被浪费。
MYRON COHEN: ”So the 052 study kind of lends itself to understanding that if we don't know who's positive and negative, there's no benefit.If people aren't linked to care, there's no benefit.If they aren't provided drugs, there's no benefit.If they receive the drugs but don't take the pills, there's no benefit.So this cascade is now the focus of our attention.“ 科恩：“052研究有点儿便于理解，如果我们不知道谁是阴性和阳性，如果人们不与治疗挂钩，如果不给他们提供药物，如果他们得到了药物却不吃，都不会从中受益。所以这一系列问题是我们现在关注的焦点。”
AIDS activist Mitchell Warren was among those who welcomed the results.艾滋病活动家米切尔·沃伦（Mitchell Warren）是欢迎这一研究结果的人士之一。MITCHELL WARREN: ”Treatment is prevention.And that becomes a fundamentally different conversation because for many years debates have waged whether we should do treatment or prevention.And the results of the HPTN 052 study actually affirm once and for all that treatment is prevention.“ 沃伦：“治疗就是预防，这成为了一种本质不同的对话。因为多年来一直辩论我们是否应该进行治疗和预防。HPTN 052研究的结果实际上彻底肯定了治疗就是预防。”
Science also recognized nine other scientific developments last year.You can find the list at tingvoa.com.They include progre on a malaria vaccine and research on the DNA of our ancient ancestors.They also include a study of cells that have stopped dividing.It found that clearing them from the bodies of mice can delay some of the effects of aging.《科学》杂志还表扬了去年的另9项科技发展。你可以在tingvoa.com网站上找到该名单。这其中包括疟疾疫苗以及我们远古祖先的DNA研究的进展。还包括一项已经停止分裂的细胞的研究，该研究发现，从老鼠身体中清除这种细胞后，可以延缓衰老。
Amelia-Earhart-First-Woman-to-Fly-Acro-the-Atlantic-Alone MARY TILLOTSON: This is Mary Tillotson.STEVE EMBER: And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS.Today, we tell about Amelia Earhart.She was one of America's first female pilots.(MUSIC)MARY TILLOTSON: Amelia Earhart was born in eighteen ninety-seven in the middle western state of Kansas.She was not a child of her times.Most American girls at the beginning of the twentieth century were taught to sit quietly and speak softly.They were not permitted to play ball or climb trees.Those activities were considered fun for boys.They were considered wrong for girls.Amelia and her younger sister Muriel were lucky.Their parents believed all children needed physical activity to grow healthy and strong.So Amelia and Muriel were very active girls.They rode horses.They played baseball and basketball.They went fishing with their father.Other parents would not let their daughters play with Amelia and Muriel.STEVE EMBER: The Earharts lived in a number of places in America's Middle West when the girls were growing up.The family was living in Chicago, Illinois when Amelia completed high school in nineteen sixteen.Amelia then prepared to enter a university.During a holiday, she visited her sister in Toronto, Canada.World War One had begun by then.And Amelia was shocked by the number of wounded soldiers sent home from the fighting in France.She decided she would be more useful as a nurse than as a student.So she joined the Red Cro.MARY TILLOTSON: Amelia Earhart first became interested in flying while living in Toronto.She talked with many pilots who were treated at the soldiers' hospital.She also spent time watching planes at a nearby military airfield.Flying seemed exciting.But the machinery – the plane itself – was exciting, too.After World War One ended, Amelia spent a year recovering from the disease pneumonia.She read poetry and went on long walks.She learned to play the banjo.And she went to school to learn about engines.When she was healthy again, she entered Columbia University in New York City.She studied medicine.After a year she went to California to visit her parents.During that trip, she took her first ride in an airplane.And when the plane landed, Amelia Earhart had a new goal in life.She would learn to fly.(MUSIC)STEVE EMBER: One of the world's first female pilots, Neta Snook, taught Amelia to fly.It did not take long for Amelia to make her first flight by herself.She received her official pilot's license in nineteen twenty.Then she wanted a plane of her own.She earned most of the money to buy it by working for a telephone company.Her first plane had two sets of wings, a bi-plane.On June seventeenth, nineteen twenty-eight, the plane left the eastern province of Newfoundland, Canada.The pilot and engine expert were men.The paenger was Amelia Earhart.The planed landed in Wales twenty hours and forty minutes later.For the first time, a woman had croed the Atlantic Ocean by air.MARY TILLOTSON: Amelia did not feel very important, because she had not flown the plane.Yet the public did not care.People on both sides of the Atlantic were excited by the tall brave girl with short hair and gray eyes.They organized parties and parades in her honor.Suddenly, she was famous.Amelia Earhart had become the first lady of the air.She wrote a book about the flight.She made speeches about flying.And she continued to fly by herself acro the United States and back.STEVE EMBER: Flying was a new and exciting activity in the early nineteen twenties.Pilots tested and demonstrated their skills in air shows.Amelia soon began taking part in these shows.She crashed one time in a field of cabbage plants.The accident did not stop her from flying.But she said it did decrease her desire to eat cabbages.Flying was fun, but costly.Amelia could not continue.She sold her bi-plane, bought a car and left California.She moved acro the country to the city of Boston, Maachusetts.She taught English to immigrants and then became a social worker.MARY TILLOTSON: In the last years of the nineteen twenties, hundreds of record flights were made.A few were made by women.But no woman had flown acro the Atlantic Ocean.A wealthy American woman, Amy Guest, bought a plane to do this.However, her family opposed the idea.So she looked for another woman to take her place.Friends proposed Amelia Earhart.STEVE EMBER: American publisher George Putnam had helped organize the Atlantic Ocean flight that made Amelia famous.Afterwards, he continued to support her flying activities.In nineteen thirty-one, George and Amelia were married.He helped provide financial support for her record flights.On May twentieth, nineteen thirty-two, Amelia took off from Newfoundland.She headed east in a small red and gold plane.Amelia had problems with ice on the wings, fog from the ocean and instruments that failed.At one point, her plane dropped suddenly nine hundred meters.She regained control.And after fifteen hours she landed in Ireland.She had become the first woman to fly acro the Atlantic Ocean alone.(MUSIC)MARY TILLOTSON: In the next few years, Amelia Earhart set more records and received more honors.She was the first to fly from Hawaii to California, alone.She was the first to fly from Mexico City to New York City, without stopping.Amelia hoped her flights would prove that flying was safe for everyone.She hoped women would have jobs at every level of the industry when flying became a common form of transportation.STEVE EMBER: In nineteen thirty-five, the president of Purdue University in Indiana asked Amelia to do some work there.He wanted her to be an adviser on aircraft design and navigation.He also wanted her to be a special adviser to female students.Purdue University provided Amelia with a new all-metal, two-engine plane.It had so many instruments she called it the ”Flying Laboratory.“ It was the best airplane in the world at that time.Amelia decided to use this plane to fly around the world.She wanted to go around the equator.It was a distance of forty-three thousand kilometers.No one had attempted to fly that way before.MARY TILLOTSON: Amelia's trip was planned carefully.The goal was not to set a speed record.The goal was to gather information.Crew members would study the effects of height and temperature on themselves and the plane.They would gather small amounts of air from the upper atmosphere.And they would examine the condition of airfields throughout the world Amelia knew the trip would be dangerous.A few days before she left, she gave a small American flag to her friend Jacqueline Cochran, another female pilot.Amelia had carried the flag on all her major flights.Jacqueline did not want to take it until Amelia returned from her flight around the world.”No,“ Amelia told her, ”you had better take it now.“(MUSIC)STEVE EMBER: Amelia and three male crew members were to make the flight.However, a minor accident and weather conditions forced a change in plans.So on June first, nineteen thirty-seven, a silver Lockheed Electra plane left Miami, Florida.It carried pilot Amelia Earhart and just one male crew member, navigator Fred Noonan.Amelia Earhart in front of a map of her proposed trip around he world Amelia and Fred headed south toward the equator.They stopped in Puerto Rico, Surinam and Brazil.They croed the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, where they stopped in Senegal, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia.Then they continued on to India, Burma, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.MARY TILLOTSON: When they reached New Guinea, they were about to begin the most difficult part of the trip.They would fly four thousand kilometers to tiny Howland Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.Three hours after leaving New Guinea, Amelia sent back a radio meage.She said she was on a direct path to Howland Island.Later, Amelia's radio signals were received by a United States Coast Guard ship near the island.The meages began to warn of trouble.Fuel was getting low.They could not find Howland Island.They could not see any land at all.STEVE EMBER: The radio signals got weaker and weaker.A meage on the morning of July second was incomplete.Then there was silence.American Navy ships and planes searched the area for fifteen days.They found nothing.Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were officially declared ”lost at sea.“(MUSIC)MARY TILLOTSON: This Special English Program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano.It was produced by Paul Thompson.This is Mary Tillotson.STEVE EMBER: And this is Steve Ember.Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the VOICE OF AMERICA.American-History-Life-in-the-1970s-and-80s STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION--American history in VOA Special English.I'm Steve Ember.This week in our series, we look back at some of the social iues and cultural changes in America in the nineteen seventies and eighties.(MUSIC)In some ways, the nineteen eighties seemed like the opposite of the nineteen sixties.The sixties were years of protest for social justice and change.Many Americans demonstrated against the Vietnam War.Blacks demonstrated for civil rights.Women demonstrated for equality.Many people welcomed new social programs created by the government.By the nineteen eighties, however, many people seemed more concerned with themselves than with helping society.To them, succe was measured mainly by how much money a person made.People wanted to live the good life, and that took money.The changes started to become evident during the nineteen seventies.For a while, these years brought a continuation of the social experiments and struggles of the sixties.But then people began to see signs of what society would be like in the eighties.There were a number of reasons for this change.One reason was the end to America's military involvement in Vietnam after years of war.Another was the progre of civil rights activists and the women's movement toward many of their goals.A third reason was the economy.During the nineteen seventies, the United States suffered a receion.Interest rates and inflation were high.A shortage of imported oil as a result of tensions in the Middle East only added to the problems.As the nineteen seventies went on, many Americans became tired of economic struggle.They also became tired of social struggle.They had been working together for common interests.Now, many wanted to spend more time on their own interests.This change appeared in many parts of society.It affected popular culture, education and politics.ARCHIE BUNKER(CARROLL O'CONNOR): ”Let me hear your idea again.“ MICHAEL(ROB REINER): ”OK, I want us to watch Jack Lemmon and a group of famous scientists discu pollution and ecology on channel thirteen.“ ARCHIE: ”Good.And I wanna watch football highlights on channel two.Now gue what's gonna happen.“(MUSIC)One of the most popular television programs of that time was a comedy series that often dealt with politics and serious social iues.The show was called ”All in the Family.“ The family was led by a factory worker named Archie Bunker.Carroll O'Connor played Archie, and Jean Stapleton played his wife, Edith.The Bunkers lived in a working-cla neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City.Archie represented the struggles of the blue-collar working man against the social changes in America.He loved his country and was socially conservative--in the extreme.ARCHIE: ”What about John Wayne? And before you say anything, lemme warn you –-when you're talking about the Duke, you ain't just talking about an actor;you're talking about the spirit that made America great.“ MICHAEL: ”Are you kidding?“ His opinions on subjects like race and women's equality were always good for an argument with his liberal daughter and even more liberal son-in-law.MICHAEL: ”Good.I can mail my letter today and it'll get to Washington by Monday.“ EDITH(JEAN STAPLETON): ”Washington--are you writing to Washington? GLORIA(SALLY STRUTHERS): “That's right.Michael wrote the president.” ARCHIE: “Write to the president, about what?” GLORIA: “All the things we've been talking about – the pollution of our air, the pollution of our water, the way us housewives have no protection from foods without nutrition, how they make products with harmful things in them.Like you saw what happened to Michael from that shirt.” ARCHIE: “You, Michael Stivic, Meathead, you have the nerve to write to the president of the United States about your rash?” Edith would always try to make peace.EDITH: “Maybe he knows a good skin man [dermatologist].”(MUSIC: “Happy Days” theme)Another popular program, “Happy Days,” about family life in the nineteen fifties, offered an escape from the social iues of the day.(MUSIC)Music also changed.In the nineteen sixties, folk music was popular.Many of those folk songs were about social problems.But in the nineteen seventies, there was hard rock and punk.TV HOST: “Here is Wonder Mike, Hank and Master G--the Sugarhill Gang.” And in nineteen seventy-nine a group called the Sugarhill Gang brought rap music to national attention with a hit called “Rapper's Delight.”(MUSIC: “Rappers Delight”)In bookstores, the growing number of self-help books offered another sign of social change.These books advised people about ways to make themselves happier.One of the most popular self-help books was “I'm OK--You're OK” by Wayne Dyer.It was published in nineteen sixty-nine and led the way for many other popular psychology books throughout the seventies.(MUSIC)Politically, the United States went through several changes during the nineteen seventies.For most of the sixties the nation was governed by liberal Democratic administrations.Then in nineteen sixty-eight a conservative Republican, Richard Nixon, was elected president.Nixon won a second term four years later, but had to resign in nineteen seventy-four because of the Watergate scandal.Nixon's vice president, Gerald Ford, took his place.Two years later, Ford was defeated by Jimmy Carter, a Democrat who until then was little known nationally.The election showed that Americans were angry with the Republican Party because of Watergate.But they soon became unhappy with President Carter.They blamed him for failing to improve the economy and for failing to end a crisis involving American hostages in Iran.He lost his re-election campaign to Ronald Reagan.RONALD REAGAN: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”(MUSIC)Michael Douglas in “Wall Street”Reagan, a Republican, won two terms and led the nation during most of the nineteen eighties.For many people, the Reagan years offered a renewed sense of economic opportunity.Reagan reduced taxes, which increased his popularity.But the national debt grew as he raised military spending to put preure on the Soviet Union.(MUSIC)The self-centeredne of many people in the seventies and eighties gave rise to terms like the “me” generation.“ And there was the rise of ”yuppies“--young urban profeionals remaking older neighborhoods in cities, often displacing poorer people.Popular entertainment at that time was often about financial succe.ANNOUNCER: ”Premiering Sunday, April second, 'Dallas,' where money buys power and paion breeds conflict...“(MUSIC: ”Dallas“ theme)”Dallas“ was a TV drama about a Texas oil family with more money, and more problems, than they knew what to do with.It became a hit not just in the United States but around the world.Actor Larry Hagman played JR.JR EWING(LARRY HAGMAN): ”Your daddy lacked the killer instinct.He forgave those who transgreed against him.People just weren't afraid of him.And he overlooked ol' JR's golden rules.CASEY(ANDREW STEVENS): “And what might they be?” JR EWING: “Don't forgive and don't forget.And do unto others, before they do unto you.And, most especially, keep your eye on your friends, 'cause your enemies will take care of themselves.Oh, and one other thing – the oil busine is a little bit like a poker game.It's good to get caught bluffing early on, 'cause, after that, somebody's gonna call you when you've got a winning hand.”(MUSIC)“Dynasty” was another popular series about rich people behaving badly.One of its stars was veteran actor John Forsythe.BLAKE CARRINGTON(JOHN FORSYTHE): “Those banks are going to find out that they've got more than they can handle.Denver-Carrington [company] is Blake Carrington, and they'll come begging to me to run the company again.I know they will.And I'll make them get down on their knees when they come begging.” There was also “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” a series about real-life wealthy people, hosted by Robin Leach.ROBIN LEACH: “Our bustling capital city combines the chic with the freak, the 'Oh, God' with the avant garde.So let's go 'upper deck' with a couple of my good friends, and run away with the rich and famous...” And at the movie theater, there was the nineteen eighty-seven film “Wall Street.” GORDON GECKO(MICHAEL DOUGLAS): “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.Greed is right.Greed works.” Michael Douglas played a character named Gordon Gecko, who earns his wealth by raiding companies and illegally trading on inside information.President Reagan during a news conference at the White House on March 19, 1987GORDON GECKO(MICHAEL DOUGLAS): “Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the eence of the evolutionary spirit.Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind.And greed – you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A.Thank you very much.[Applause]”(MUSIC: “Rambo” theme)Good triumphed over evil in the “Rambo” action films starring Sylvester Stallone.He played a troubled hero who had fought in Vietnam.The films were violent.But they represented a more positive view than society had shown in the past toward veterans of that unpopular war.In the nineteen eighties people came to fear a new disease that could be spread by sex or blood.It was the rise of the AIDS epidemic.At the same time a new drug--crack cocaine--started a wave of violence in American cities.Technology was also on the rise.ANNOUNCER: “You don't have to be a genius to use a computer.Let Computer Land show you how easy it is to manage your own small busine or home finances with the Atari 800.Record keeping, information, communication, and a world of new ideas from Atari.” Personal computers appeared in more and more offices, schools and homes.Michael Jackson performs with his brothers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on December 3, 1984The nineteen eighties brought stardom to young entertainer Michael Jackson.(MUSIC: “Beat It”/Michael Jackson)And no history of the eighties would be complete without noting the rise of Music Television--better known as MTV.(MUSIC: “Money for Nothing”/Dire Straits)You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at tingvoa.com.You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English.I'm Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION--American history in VOA Special English.__ Contributing: Jerilyn Watson This was program #225.
