English Lessons

Study Raises Questions About Reading Program in US

Wed, 14 May 2008 21:00:01 -0400

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A federal program in the United States called Reading First has received one billion dollars a year for the past several years. The money has gone to school systems to get them to use scientifically based ways to teach reading. The goal is to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade.

The Bush administration's education law, the No Child Left Behind Act of Two Thousand One, established Reading First. Now, the Department of Education has released findings from a study of the program.

On average, teachers using it increased the time they taught reading skills like phonics and vocabulary. But the study also found, on average, little or no effect on test scores in reading comprehension.

Government researchers say they are not sure how to explain the results.

Critics call the program a failure and want Congress to end it. The program also came under attack after Education Department officials were accused of conflicts of interest with reading publishers.

Congress cut the billion-dollar budget by almost two-thirds this year. But federal officials want to continue the program. The study did find improvements in some cases.

The report examined the effects of Reading First grants in seventeen school districts across twelve states and one statewide program. The findings are for two thousand four to two thousand six. A final report with an additional year of research is expected early next year.

Another new report listed the books read most often last year by students in American schools. The Renaissance Learning company based the report on its reading programs used in many schools. Students read books and then take computer quizzes to see if they understood them. There are tests for more than one hundred fifteen thousand books.

The book read most often by first graders was "Green Eggs and Ham" by Doctor Seuss. In fourth grade the top book was, not surprisingly, "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" by Judy Blume.

Three of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books were among the top ten in grades nine through twelve. But the book read most often was "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Others included John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," "A Child Called 'It'" by Dave Pelzer and "Holes" by Louis Sachar.

Also in the top ten were "Night" by Elie Wiesel, "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton and "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer.

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

US History: Adams Avoids War With France, Signs Alien and Sedition Acts

Wed, 14 May 2008 17:25:10 -0400

Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – an American history series in VOA Special English. This week on our program, we continue the story of America's second president, John Adams. Here are Maurice Joyce and Richard Rael.VOICE TWO:

John Adams took office in seventeen ninety-seven. He had served eight years as vice president under President George Washington. Now, state electors had chosen him to govern the new nation.Adams was an intelligent man. He was a true patriot and an able diplomat. But he did not like party politics. This weakness caused trouble during his presidency. For, during the late seventeen hundreds, two political parties struggled for power. He was caught in the middle.VOICE ONE:Adams was a member of the Federalist Party. As president, he should have been party leader. But this position belonged to a man who really knew how to get and use political power, Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton served as treasury secretary under President Washington. Now, he was a private citizen, a lawyer in New York City.Through the Federalist Party, Hamilton continued to have great influence over the national government. Federalists loyal to Hamilton controlled the Congress. Even President Adams' three cabinet ministers were loyal to Hamilton. In fact, they worked together against the new president.

This political situation made Adams' term in office very difficult. Yet strangely, it also led to the end of Federalist Party power.VOICE TWO:Two major issues marked Adams' presidency. One concerned foreign policy. The other concerned the rights of citizens.

The first involved America's relations with France.Federalists, in general, were men of wealth and position. They did not believe in democracy, rule by the people. For this reason, they strongly opposed the revolution in France. They were horrified by the execution of the French king and queen. Federalists wanted an alliance with Britain. Over time, they demanded war with France.(MUSIC)VOICE ONE:American support for France came from the opposition party, the Republicans. The leader of that party was the country's vice president, Thomas Jefferson.France helped America win its war for independence from Britain. The friendship formed during the war continued afterward when Thomas Jefferson served as Minister to Paris. Relations began to turn bad as soon as he returned home.The man who replaced him openly supported the French monarchy -- the losing side in the revolution. After the revolution succeeded, the new French government demanded that he leave.VOICE TWO:Most Federalists did not want good relations with France. They used their power to prevent the government from sending a pro-French representative to Paris. They also searched for any signs of insult, any excuse to declare war.President Adams did not agree with the majority of Federalists. He wanted to improve relations with France through negotiations. Yet he said the United States would strengthen its defenses. We will be ready, he said, if war comes.VOICE ONE:One incident, especially, brought the two nations close to war. It is known in American history books as the "X, Y and Z Affair."President Adams had appointed a committee of three ministers to negotiate with the French government. French officials kept these three men waiting for several weeks. While they waited, they had a visit from three Frenchmen -- later called X, Y and Z. X, Y and Z told the Americans that France would sign an agreement if the United States did three things.It had to lend the French government twelve million dollars. It had to apologize for anti-French statements in a recent message from President Adams to the American Congress. And it had to pay the French foreign minister two hundred fifty thousand dollars.VOICE TWO:

The American ministers were willing to pay. But they wanted to sign the agreement first. The French foreign minister refused. First the money, then the agreement.The Federalists finally had the excuse they were looking for. France had insulted the United States. We must answer the insult. The only answer was war. Federalist newspapers added fuel to the fire by publishing anti-French propaganda. In a few places, pro-war groups became violent.The Republican Party could do little. Even Thomas Jefferson was helpless. He remained in Philadelphia, the capital of the United States at that time. But he had few friends there anymore.(MUSIC)VOICE ONE:Congress quickly passed laws to create a permanent army and navy. It also approved new taxes to pay for them.Two new laws passed by a small vote. But they greatly increased the powers of the national government. The laws were known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. Federalists said they were necessary to protect national security. But, in effect, the Federalists used them to weaken the power of the Republican Party.VOICE TWO:

Under the Alien Act, the president could accuse any foreigner living in the United States of being a threat to national security. He could order that person out of the country.The act also increased the time a foreigner had to wait to become a citizen, from five years to fourteen years.Republicans were furious. Most foreigners, when they became naturalized citizens, joined the Republican Party.Republicans argued that the Alien Act violated the Constitution. They said it gave the government more powers than were stated in the Constitution. Federalists said the act was Constitutional. They said the Constitution gave the government the right to defend the country against foreign aggression.VOICE ONE:The other law, the Sedition Act, barred the publication of anything that might incite public hostility against the government.

Republicans argued that this act violated Americans' Constitutional rights of free speech and a free press. Federalists, once again, defended it as necessary for national security.The Federalists tried to use the Sedition Act to quiet Republican critics of President Adams' administration. About twenty-five persons were charged under the Sedition act. These included several leading Republican newspapermen and a Republican member of Congress.Some of the men were tried and found guilty and sent to prison. But other Republicans took their places in the fight against the act. The Federalist plan to stop criticism did not succeed.VOICE TWO:President Adams had signed the Alien and Sedition Acts into law. He believed they were necessary to protect the United States at a time when war with France was still possible.Then, in early seventeen ninety-nine, Adams received several reports that France was ready to reopen negotiations on improving relations. He immediately nominated a new minister to France. Federalist senators threatened to reject the nomination. In the end, Adams agreed to nominate a committee of three ministers. The Senate approved them.VOICE ONE:It was many months before the three men went to France to negotiate the agreement. And it was many more months before they completed their work. But they did so on September thirtieth, eighteen hundred.After several years of bitter political struggle at home, President Adams finally prevented war with France. Later he wrote: "There is one thing I would like to be remembered for more than anything else. I gave myself the task of making peace with France. And I succeeded."VOICE TWO:The year eighteen hundred was another presidential election year in the United States. The Federalist Party appeared to be dying. It failed in its effort to force the nation into war with France. And it failed to silence its critics through the Alien and Sedition Acts. Party leaders knew the election would be their last chance to keep political power.The Republican Party had more popular support. It also had gained an increasing number of seats in state legislatures and the national Congress. Party leader Thomas Jefferson was sure to be elected president -- unless the Federalists could find a way to change the electoral process.That will be our story next week.(MUSIC)ANNOUNCER:Our program was written by Christine Johnson. The narrators were Maurice Joyce and Richard Rael. Join us again for THE MAKING OF A NATION, an American history series in VOA Special English. Next week our subject will be the election of eighteen hundred. Transcripts, podcasts and MP3s of our programs can be found at voaspecialenglish.com. __

This is program #33 of THE MAKING OF A NATION

A Visit to Two National Parks: Mount Rainier and Valley Forge

Tue, 13 May 2008 19:09:04 -0400

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about two areas that are popular with visitors to the United States. One is a place of fierce beauty. It is Mount Rainier National Park in the northwestern state of Washington. The other is one of the most important places in the history of the American Revolution. It is Valley Forge National Historical Park, in the eastern state of Pennsylvania.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The American Indians who lived in the northwest called the great mountain “Takhoma.” One tribe said it was a female monster that would eat people. Other old stories among the Indians said the mountain could produce huge amounts of fire.

In seventeen ninety-two, British explorer George Vancouver became the first European to see the huge mountain. He named it after a navy friend, Captain Peter Rainier.

Today the people who live in the northwestern city of Seattle call it “The Mountain.” Mount Rainier is almost one hundred kilometers from Seattle. Yet it can be seen from almost any place in the city. The beautiful, snow covered mountain seems to offer the city its protection.

VOICE TWO:

The mountain’s offer of protection is false. Mount Rainier is not just a mountain. It is a sleeping volcano. Steam and heat often rise from the very top of the huge mountain, causing snow to melt. Mount Rainier is four thousand three hundred ninety-two meters tall. Its top is covered in snow all year. More than twenty-five thick rivers of ice called glaciers cover a lot of the mountain. In some areas, these glaciers are more than one hundred meters thick.

VOICE ONE:

Mount Rainier always has been a popular place to visit. Many people go to enjoy the beautiful forests that surround the mountain. Others go to climb the mountain.

Hazard Stevens and Philemon VanTrump became the first people known to reach the top of Mount Rainier. They reached the top in August of eighteen seventy after a ten-hour climb through the snow.

In eighteen ninety, a young schoolteacher became the first woman to reach the top. Her name was Fay Fuller. For many years after her successful climb, she wrote newspaper stories asking the federal government to make Mount Rainier a national park. Many people who visited the mountain also wanted it to be protected forever by the government.

On March Second, eighteen ninety-nine, President William McKinley signed a law that made Mount Rainier a national park. It was the fifth national park established in the United States.

VOICE TWO:

Today, National Park Service experts say about ten thousand people climb the huge mountain each year. But only about half of the climbers reach the top.

The mountain can be extremely difficult to climb. Severe weather is possible at almost any time. Snow and ice cover parts of the mountain all year. More than fifty people have died trying to climb Mount Rainier. Mountain climbing experts often use it as a difficult test for people who want to climb some of the world’s highest mountains.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

You do not have to climb the huge mountain to enjoy Mount Rainier National Park. More than one million people visit the park each year. Many walk on the hundreds of kilometers of paths. The paths lead through flat meadows filled with wild flowers and up through forests of large old trees. Other visitors drive around the park to experience its natural beauty. They often see black tailed deer, elk, and mountain goats.

The park is large. It is almost one hundred thousand hectares. Many lakes, rivers, roads, two hotels and six camping areas are inside the borders of the park.

VOICE TWO:

Experts agree that Mount Rainier will become a very active volcano at sometime in the future. They say the real problem is that they do not know when.

They also agree that the great heat produced by an explosion of the volcano would melt the ice rivers that are part of the mountain. This could happen in only a few minutes. They say the melting ice would produce flowing rivers of mud and rock. People who live in the southern part of Seattle and in the city of Tacoma, Washington would be in danger.

Experts carefully study the great mountain. They hope to be able to warn of any dangerous change. But for now, the great mountain provides a safe and beautiful place to visit in the Northwest area of the United States.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A very different kind of national park is in the eastern state of Pennsylvania. It is called Valley Forge National Historical Park. It is near the city of Philadelphia.

Valley Forge also is a beautiful place. Within the park are many different kinds of trees and flowers. Huge areas of green grass. And a beautiful, slow moving river. You can see many deer. Often you can come very near them. Deer do not run away because they are used to seeing people in the park.

It is not the natural beauty that made Valley Forge a National Historic Park. It is what happened there. Many other places were important in the American War for Independence, but no other place is so filled with suffering. No battle was fought at Valley Forge. Yet, more than two thousand soldiers of the small American army died there. They died of hunger, disease and the fierce cold in the winters of seventeen seventy-seven and seventeen seventy-eight.

It was also at Valley Forge that the men of this small army learned to be real soldiers.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

What happened at Valley Forge began in August of seventeen seventy-seven. A British force threatened to capture the American capital at Philadelphia. The American commander, General George Washington, moved the army to defend the city. A battle was fought at a place called Brandywine and another at Germantown. The British forces won those battles and occupied Philadelphia.

By the month of December, General Washington needed to find a place his small army could easily defend. He chose Valley Forge. More than fifteen centimeters of snow fell only a few days after the army arrived. Ice covered the rivers. The soldiers began building very small wooden houses called log cabins. They built more than one thousand of these small houses.

VOICE ONE:

The fierce winter was only one of the many problems the American army faced. Many of the soldiers had no shoes. Most had no winter clothing. All suffered from a severe lack of food. Then, several diseases struck. Typhus, typhoid, dysentery and pneumonia were among the diseases that spread through the army. Most of the soldiers became sick. Many died.

General Washington wrote letters to Congress asking for help. He asked for money to buy food and clothing. But Congress had no money to give him.

Several things happened to change the small army during that long and terrible winter. General Washington knew the army had been defeated in the past because of a lack of real training. A man named Baron Friedrich von Steuben had recently come from Europe. He was an expert at training soldiers. So, each day during the terrible winter, Baron von Steuben taught the men of the American army to be soldiers. He also taught them something very important. He taught them to believe in themselves.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

As the winter passed, the army slowly changed. New troops arrived. New equipment arrived. An alliance with France brought guarantees of military support. The men who survived that terrible winter were no longer a group of armed citizens. They were well-trained soldiers who no longer feared the enemy.

When the American army left Valley Forge on June nineteenth, seventeen seventy-eight, the soldiers took with them the spirit that had helped them to survive.

The War for Independence would continue for another five years. Terrible battles were yet to be fought. However, the men who had survived the winter in Valley Forge knew they could win. They did.

VOICE ONE:

Today, you can visit the area where Baron von Steuben trained the soldiers of the American Revolution. You can watch a movie about the American soldiers’ struggle to survive that long ago winter. You can see examples of the small log cabins the soldiers built. You can walk on paths along the remains of the defense system and the officers’ headquarters. And you can feel the spirit of Valley Forge.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Need Your Appendix Out? Let Me Reach Down Your Throat

Tue, 13 May 2008 22:50:02 -0400

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Medical researchers keep looking for less invasive ways to perform operations. The aim is to cut less and to reduce pain and recovery time. Some researchers see a future in NOTES.

NOTES is short for Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery.

In simple terms, what this means is the removal of diseased organs through the body's natural openings. For example, a man in California recently had his appendix removed through his mouth.

Twenty-five years ago, having your appendix removed meant staying in the hospital for as long as a week. Patients returned home with an ugly and permanent scar on their abdomen.

But since the late nineteen eighties, laparoscopic surgery has gained popularity. It leaves only small marks where holes were made in the skin. The doctor works with a system called a laparoscope, usually connected to a video camera. Laparoscopic surgery rarely requires a hospital stay.

With the newest kind of surgery, doctors make a small cut in the patient's belly button. A camera is placed through the hole to help guide the surgical instrument.

The operation at the University of California San Diego Medical Center in March lasted three hours. It was done as part of a study to test new methods of minimally invasive surgery. Santiago Horgan, director of UC San Diego's Center for the Future of Surgery, led the medical team.

Doctors used a long robotic tube to pass the instrument down the patient's throat. Then they made a cut in the wall of the stomach. The cut was made to pass the instrument through to the appendix for removal.

The researchers said they believed it was the country's first removal of a diseased appendix through the mouth. They said India was the only other country to report such an operation.

The patient in California, named Jeff Scholz, said he recovered quickly and with little pain.

But some doctors say they are not sure this kind of surgery is worth the possible risks. They say stomach fluids could leak if the hole in the stomach wall is not closed completely. A mistake, they say, could be life-threatening.

The surgical method is still being studied to see if it is better than traditional surgeries.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Brianna Blake. Archives of transcripts and MP3s of our reports can be found at voaspialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Honey Bee Losses Still a Problem in US

Mon, 12 May 2008 20:12:17 -0400

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Honey bees add billions of dollars in value to around one hundred thirty crops in the United States. But since the nineteen eighties, researchers have been concerned about the health of these valuable pollinators.

Worries grew after the winter of two thousand six. Some pollination services reported losses of anywhere from thirty to ninety percent of their hives. The beekeepers did not find dead adult bees as they often do after winter. Instead, the bees were gone. Experts gave a name to this mysterious situation: colony collapse disorder.

A report in Agricultural Research magazine, from the Department of Agriculture, takes a fresh look at C.C.D. It says the disorder is truly a serious problem. But it says there were enough honey bees to provide all the agricultural pollination needed last year.

Still, beekeepers reported losing about thirty-five percent of their hives in the fall and winter of two thousand seven. It two thousand six, it was thirty-one percent.

The United States has almost two and one-half million managed beehives. Experts from the Agriculture Department and the Apiary Inspectors of America did a study involving about one-fifth of them.

One finding was that beekeepers who found no dead adult bees were more likely to have the most severe losses. Also, a virus called I.A.P.V., for Israeli acute paralysis virus, was present in almost half the colonies studied.

But researchers say they do not know if this virus causes a colony to collapse. They say the lack of affected bees to examine makes it difficult to know exactly what the new disorder is.

Losses in honey bee populations can result from a number of causes. A big problem, for example, is the varroa mite, a deadly parasite. And experts keep looking for other answers for the current situation.

Scientists at the University of Virginia recently reported that air pollution may prevent bees from finding flowers to pollinate. They think ozone in the air is keeping bees and other pollinators from smelling the flowers. Bees feed on nectar and pollen from flowers.

Jose Fuentes and his team at Virginia studied how far the scent of flowers travels with the wind. Before the eighteen hundreds, they say, it was more than one thousand two hundred meters. Now, they say, the scent can travel only about three hundred meters at best. Their study is in the journal Atmospheric Environment.

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more about bees, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Faith Lapidus.