GETTING TO THE ROOT OF HOW TO WATER TREES 2

HOW FIREFLIES WORK; LIQUID WATER ON MARS? 3

THE MAN WHO DECLARED HIMSELF EMPEROR OF US 7

ASTRONOMERS STILL LOOK TO HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE 11

JESSE OWENS, 1913- 1980: HE WAS ONCE THE FASTEST RUNNER IN THE WORLD 12

ISLAMIC GROUP IN NIGERIA CLAIMS UN ATTACK 17

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES: MORE CLOTHING EXPRESSIONS 18

LEONARDO DA VINCI: ONE OF THE GREATEST THINKERS IN HISTORY 19

BAT POPULATIONS ARE IMPORTANT FOR AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT 24

FOR LOTS OF PEOPLE GETTING OLDER MEANS GETTING HAPPIER 28

WHO URGES BAN ON BLOOD TEST FOR TUBERCULOSIS 29

MONEY, EDUCATION AND MARRIAGE: THE NEW RELATIONSHIP 31

A CREDIT DOWNGRADE FOR JAPAN, BUT SOME SIGNS OF HOPE 35

AMERICAN MUSIC STUDENTS IN KENYA 36

DALLAS CREATES A PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR BOYS 38

EXPERTS LINK EAST AFRICA DROUGHT TO LA NIÑA IN THE PACIFIC 39

AFRICAN FILM SHOWS TENSIONS BETWEEN BANANA GROWERS, VILLAGERS 41

BIG BANANA TRAILER FROM FRANCK ON VIMEO. 41

STEVE JOBS STEP DOWN WITH APPLE ON TOP 42

Getting to the Root of How to Water Trees
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Some trees can survive a long time without water. Think of trees that grow in the desert. But
other trees may need more moisture than they can get from rainfall or from the air -- from, say,
coastal or mountain fog.

The soil stores moisture during cooler weather. But most of that moisture is gone by the middle
or end of the hottest months of the year.

A white pine tree in Bradford, New Hampshire

Trees and other plants can look thirsty. Leaves can become droopy and hang downward. They
can also turn yellow. Yellowing can be a sign of too much water. But it can also be a warning
sign of too little water.

The Vacaville Tree Foundation is a volunteer community group in California. It has advice for
watering newly planted trees and established trees.

With a newly planted tree, the roots have not yet spread out from the root ball. The root ball can
become dry faster than the dirt around it. So put water on the area of the root ball and the
surrounding soil until the roots become established.

Once a tree is well established, water deeply instead of often. The amount of water needed
depends on the tree and the soil. Clay soils hold water for longer periods while sandy soils hold
less water. During the hottest season, a deep watering may satisfy a tree for anywhere from ten
days to four weeks.

Part of skilled watering is knowing to stop when the soil needs a little time to absorb the water.
Otherwise the water runs off the surface and gets wasted.
Ted Swiecki is a plant scientist in California with the Phytosphere Research company and the
Vacaville Tree Foundation. He says people should not water established trees at the base of the
trunk. This can harm the tree.

Too much water in the soil at the base of a tree can lead to the growth of fungi. If the area is too
wet, harmful organisms have a better chance to invade the tree and cause disease.

Mr. Swiecki says this is true especially in Mediterranean and semi-dry climates. Many trees in
these climates have adapted to having a dry area near their base during the hottest season.

TED SWIECKI: “Water displaces air in the soil. And roots are aerobic; they require oxygen for
the soil to function properly. So if you keep the soil saturated and there‟s no air there, and then
you are basically starving the roots for oxygen.”

And that‟s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more
growing advice, and to learn English, go to voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find us on
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA Learning English. I‟m Bob Doughty.

How Fireflies Work; Liquid Water on Mars?

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I‟m
Christopher Cruise.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I‟m Bob Doughty. Today, we tell about evidence of liquid water on the
planet Mars. We also consider a theory that the Earth once had a small second moon. And we
celebrate summertime with a report about creatures known to light up the night sky.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: An American spacecraft orbiting Mars shows it is possible that the
planet could someday support human life. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found the best
evidence yet that liquid water flows on Mars during the planet‟s warm season.

Charles Bolden heads the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He says NASA‟s
Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing scientists closer to learning if Mars could support
some form of life. He says the program has shown that the planet is an important goal for future
human exploration.

BOB DOUGHTY: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter studied many mountain slopes across the
planet‟s southern hemisphere. The dark lines of mountain sides are said to look like fingers. The
marks appear and disappear with the seasons.
The marks appear when temperatures on Mars rise. They look larger as they go downhill. When
it gets cold, these streaks disappear. But they are seen again on the planet during the next spring,
or warming season.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Alfred McEwen is lead investigator for the orbiter‟s High Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment. He also is a professor of planetary geology at the University of
Arizona in Tucson. Professor McEwen says a flow of briny, or salty, water is the best
explanation for the orbiter‟s observations. Other spacecraft and Martian meteorites have shown
that the Martian surface is salty.

The professor says the water on Mars may differ from that found on Earth. He says the Mars
water might be more like a thick fluid. Science magazine published a report about the orbiter‟s
findings.

BOB DOUGHTY: Professor McEwen and his team believe that water probably flowed across
ancient Mars. But whether water exists as a liquid on the Red Planet can still be debated. The
iron oxide on Mars gives the planet its reddish color.

Philip Christensen is an expert in geological science at Arizona State University. He says

scientists have known for years that ice existed on Mars.

PHILIP CHRISTENSEN: “We know Mars has a lot of ice. But this is the first time we have seen
the potential for liquid water. It might be salty water. But it is still liquid. And I think that is the
real key here. It is not that Mars does not have a lot of ice. But liquid water – certainly to an
organism – is very, very very different than ice.”

Geology expert Lisa Pratt of Indiana University welcomes the research results. She says the
discovery will help scientists plan future travels to look for life signs on present-day Mars.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: “Blue moons, you saw me standing alone.” The cow jumped over the
moons. “Shine on Harvest Moons.” These expressions sound unusual. Why the choice of
“moons” and not just “moon?” There is only one moon, right? Yes, there is only one, but long
ago there might have been two.

American and Swiss researchers say the Earth may once have had a big moon, the one that is still
there, and a little moon. And then, about four billion years ago, they hit each other. The little
moon exploded into rock and dust, and much of it landed on the dark side of the larger moon.
The researchers call it the “big splat.”

Scientists from the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of Bern reported
their findings in “Nature” magazine. The scientists say the little moon was very small, only about
one thousand two hundred kilometers across. They say the little moon and the big moon were
just fine together for one hundred million years. Then something happened and the little moon
lost the battle.
AP

Image from the journal Nature showing four possible stages of a collision between the moon and
a smaller moon about 4 billion years ago

BOB DOUGHTY: The Earth and the moon turn in a way that keeps the dark side of the moon
away from us. From earth, we see only one side. But we know what the other side looks like.
Spacecraft have taken many pictures of the dark side. Those pictures show that the side of the
moon we see is a lot different from its other side.

Our side has ridges or hills, and craters, some of them deep. But it is not nearly so “bumpy” as
the dark side. Researchers think this is because the little moon crashed, fell apart, and landed on
the other side.

They say the dark side has a thick upper layer of soil. It also has much higher mountains than on
the side we see. Some of them are three thousand meters high. And when the little moon hit the
big moon, it caused a bulge.

The other side of the moon sticks out into space more. Think of a children‟s ball that has been hit
or kicked too much. That ball, and our moon, are no longer round. They are lopsided. Pictures of
the dark side clearly show this.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: You may be wondering how our moon got there in the first place.
Scientists think it also resulted from a crash. Billions of years ago, they say, something very
large hit the earth. It may have been as big as the planet Mars. When that happened, part of the
earth was thrown out into space. Over time, these pieces of earth-rock and dust came together,
and formed not one, but two moons.

The American space agency plans to explore the moon further within the next year. That may
help to prove the two-moon crash idea, or maybe offer something completely new. But if the
latest research is correct, what is now one, was once two!

(MUSIC)
JIM TEDDER: Imagine a summer night in America. A father and mother are watching television
or reading the newspaper. Their children are outside the house, playing and waiting for a special
time. Then, just as it starts to get very dark, the magic begins.

CHILD‟S VOICE: “Look, there‟s one over there! And another over there! Look, three more,
near the tree. Let‟s catch „em.”

BOB DOUGHTY: What they would like to catch and put into a glass jar are coleoptera: flying
beetles better known as fireflies or lightning bugs.

Scientists say there are about two thousand kinds of these insects. Most are brown. Each is only
about a centimeter long. Fireflies have wings folded over their backs. When they fly, they do so
in an unusual way. Some people say they fly in the shape of the letter J. That means they fly
horizontally, then drop quickly, only to rise again. But the most surprising thing about these little
creatures is that they make light.

They do this by the process known as bioluminescence. Oxygen mixes with chemicals in the
body of the lightning bug. Then, for a second, its belly lights up. Some produce a flash of yellow
light. Others appear green or red. But why do they do this?

AP

A firefly sitting on a plant

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Entomologists, people who study insects, think the flashing light is
an invitation to have sex. They believe the male firefly is making a signal to a female waiting in
the grass. He is saying, “Look, here I am. Let‟s get together.” If the female agrees, she will
answer with a flash of her own. Studies at the University of Kansas have shown that females like
males who can flash the fastest.

In some parts of the world, fireflies act in an amazing way. Thousands of them flash their light
on and off at the same time. This can often be seen in Malaysian jungles and in the American
states of Tennessee and South Carolina.
Scientists do not know how lightning bugs are able to communicate with each other to do this.
But they think it is either a call for sex, or a warning sign from the bugs to their enemies. Insects
with lights carry chemicals that do not taste good. Some of those chemicals, however, are useful
to people. Health researchers use them in the study of cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis,
and cystic fibrosis.

BOB DOUGHTY: Fireflies live for about three years. Most of that time is spent in the ground as
larvae. Some people call it a “glow worm” before it becomes a flying adult. And yes, glow
worms -- larvae -- do, indeed, glow. Scientists say these little bugs only come out in warm
weather, and only at night. During the day, they hide on the ground or in trees or other plants.

Wherever there is light, there is heat. A common light bulb wastes ninety percent of the energy it
uses in the form of heat. But a lightning bug produces “cold light.” That means that most of its
flash is true light. Only about three percent of its energy comes as heat.

After three years, the life of a lightning bug‟s life is done. The females bury their eggs in the
ground, and the birth and death cycle starts all over again, just as it has for millions of years.

JIM TEDDER: Summertime in America: ice cream, baseball games, and, yes, fireflies at the
close of another day.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson and
Jim Tedder, who you also heard on our program. Our producer was June Simms. I‟m Christopher
Cruise.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I‟m Bob Doughty.Visit us at voaspecialenglish.com, where you can find
transcripts and MP3s of our reports. Join us again next week for more news about science in
Special English on the Voice of America.

The Man Who Declared Himself Emperor of US

BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara
Klein. This week on our program, the man who declared himself emperor of the United States:
Joshua Norton. Here are Steve Ember and Robert Cohen with the story of Emperor Norton.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: The small city of Colma, California is just a few kilometers south of San
Francisco. Many people visit the city each year to see the burial place of one very unusual man
in Colma‟s Woodlawn Cemetery. These visitors come to see a memorial stone placed on his
grave.
The writing on the stone says in large letters , “NORTON THE FIRST, - EMPEROR OF THE
UNITED STATES AND PROTECTOR OF MEXICO.” Under this, in smaller size letters, is,
“Joshua A. Norton Born Eighteen-Nineteen. Died January Eighth, Eighteen-Eighty.

ROBERT COHEN: Anyone who has studied American history knows that the United States is a
democracy. The president and other political leaders of the United States are elected to office by
the citizens. There is no royal family, no king, and no emperor.

Yet, Joshua Abraham Norton declared himself to be Emperor of the United States on September
Seventeenth, Eighteen Fifty-Nine.

He sent an announcement to the newspapers of San Francisco saying he was Emperor Norton the
First of the United States and the Protector of Mexico. The newspapers did not publish it.

STEVE EMBER: Many people in San Francisco knew Joshua Norton. He was born in England
in Eighteen-Nineteen. He moved to San Francisco from South Africa. He arrived with a lot of
money. He later lost all his money in a very bad financial deal. His many friends knew that this
greatly affected him.

Joshua Norton no longer was the same man. Most of his friends believed the shock of losing all
his money had taken away his ability to reason and to live in the real world. Poor Joshua Norton
was not dangerous or violent, but he no longer knew what was real and what was only
imaginary.

(MUSIC)

ROBERT COHEN: Soon after he declared himself to be the Emperor of the United States,
Joshua Norton began wearing blue military clothing. A soldier at the army base in San Francisco
gave him the gold colored buttons and gold cloth. It made his uniform seem as if it belonged to a
general, or perhaps a king, or even an Emperor.

Emperor Norton the First soon became the best known man in San Francisco. He always wore
his uniform and a tall hat. When people saw him they would show the respect given a king…or
emperor. Emperor Norton usually did not have any money. But he did not need any. If Emperor
Norton went to an eating place, he was served a meal - free. If he needed something little from a
store, that was also freely given. Sometimes he paid with his own kind of money. It was paper
money with his picture on it.

Many stores began placing a small sign in the store window. The sign said, “By Appointment to
his Majesty, Emperor Norton the First.” The sign meant the store or eating-place had been
approved by the Emperor of the United States. Stores that had the signs noted that their business
increased.

STEVE EMBER: Emperor Norton began sending royal orders…called decrees…to the
newspapers of San Francisco. The newspapers began publishing them. Many people thought they
were funny. Some people bought the newspapers just to read about the latest decree from the
Emperor of the United States.

Many of the decrees, however, made people think. For example, Emperor Norton said that
Governor Wise of Virginia was to be removed from office by royal decree. Emperor Norton said
this was necessary because Governor Wise had ordered the death by hanging of John Brown.
John Brown was a rebel who had tried to start a war to free slaves.

Emperor Norton‟s decree said John Brown had tried to capture the state of Virginia with only
seventeen men. That was evidence, Emperor Norton said, that John Brown was mentally sick
and should have been put in a hospital for treatment.

Emperor North said John Brown never should have been executed. Many people in San
Francisco agreed with Emperor Norton. The execution of John Brown was one of the many
issues that led to the American Civil War.

ROBERT COHEN: Another Emperor Norton decree had to do with the name of the city. Some
people often use a short name for city of San Francisco. They call it “Frisco.” Emperor Norton
did not like this short name. He decreed that anyone found guilty of using the word “Frisco”
must pay a penalty of twenty-five dollars. Even today many citizens of San Francisco warn
visitors never to call the great city “Frisco."

Perhaps Emperor Norton‟s most famous decree ordered the city government to build a bridge
from the city of Oakland to a small island in San Francisco Bay. It said the bridge should extend
from the little island to San Francisco.

City leaders did nothing about building the bridge. So Emperor Norton ordered them removed
from office. Nothing happened, of course, to the city leaders or about the bridge.

Many years later, after Emperor Norton‟s death, a bridge was built extending from San Francisco
to the city of Oakland. It was placed almost in the exact spot that Emperor Norton had decreed. It
is called the Bay Bridge. Thousands of cars pass over it every day.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: San Francisco has always been home to many Chinese people. It still is today.
One story about Emperor Norton involves the Chinese. In his time many people did not like
Chinese people. One group of people organized an anti-Chinese committee. They believed too
many Chinese lived in San Francisco. They decided to cause violence in the Chinese area of the
city.

Many people knew about the committee‟s plans but no one did anything to stop the planned
violence. One night members of the committee left a meeting and walked toward the area of the
city where most of the Chinese lived. As they got close to the area, one man stood in the street
blocking their way.
He said nothing. He did not move. His head was low on his chest and he seemed to be praying.
The mob of troublemakers stopped. They looked at the old blue uniform with its gold colored
buttons. They said nothing. They did nothing. Slowly, the mob turned and walked away.
Emperor Norton had prevented the planned violence.

ROBERT COHEN: Emperor Norton had two dogs. They were named Bummer and Lazarus.
They were with him all the time. If a San Francisco theater was presenting a new play or
musical, Emperor Norton, Bummer and Lazarus had three seats at it. If the San Francisco
Science Academy was meeting, the three might attend to listen to a discussion of the latest
developments in science.

One night, a new member of the San Francisco police department arrested Emperor Norton. The
young policeman thought anyone who claimed to be the Emperor of the United State might be a
danger to the public. Very soon a judge and the chief of police arrived at the police station. The
judge said, “The Emperor has hurt no one that I know of.” He quickly ordered the Emperor freed
and apologized for the mistake. From that time on, the San Francisco policemen showed respect
to Joshua Norton by giving a military salute.

STEVE EMBER: On January Eighth, Eighteen-Eighty, Emperor Norton was walking along
California Street inspecting his city as usual. People in the area saw him fall down. Several
rushed to his aid. Moments later it was clear that Joshua Norton was dead.

The next day, the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper printed four words in French across the
front of the paper. They were “LE ROI EST MORT.” They mean, “The King is dead.”

The newspaper reported the death of the city‟s most famous citizen. The report said that Joshua
Norton had no real money…not even enough to pay for his burial. Almost immediately, wealthy
members of a San Francisco business group collected enough to pay for the funeral.

Businesses closed in San Francisco the day of the funeral. Newspapers reported that more ten
thousand people attended the burial ceremony for Emperor Norton. One newspaper said that the
world would be a much better place if all kings and emperors were as kind and honest as Joshua
Norton.

ROBERT COHEN: Today, some stores and eating places in San Francisco still have signs which
say, “By Appointment to His Majesty, Emperor Norton the First.” And each year a group of
citizens meets at Joshua Norton‟s burial place to honor the first and only Emperor of the United
States.

(MUSIC)

Our program was written by Paul Thompson and Nancy Steinbach. The narrators were Steve
Ember and Robert Cohen. I'm Barbara Klein. You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our
programs at voaspecialenglish.com. We hope you join us again next week for THIS IS
AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Astronomers Still Look to Hubble Space Telescope
This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

The Hubble Space Telescope continues to make valuable discoveries after more than twenty
years in orbit around Earth.

Hubble recently showed a fourth moon orbiting Pluto. Astronomers temporarily named it P4.
The moon is the smallest to be discovered around the icy dwarf planet.

Astronomers estimate that the moon is from thirteen to thirty-four kilometers across. They first
saw it in a Hubble photo taken on June twenty-eighth.

The American space agency NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in nineteen ninety.
Reaching that day took years of work. Ed Weiler is NASA‟s chief astronomer. Mr. Weiler has
worked closely with the Hubble program since nineteen seventy-nine.

ED WEILER: “The Hubble, when it was launched, represented an increase in capability of other
telescopes on the ground by a factor of ten. The last time in human history in astronomy that we
leaped a factor of ten, in one step, was when Galileo stopped using his eye and put the first
telescope to his eye.”
ulie Taboh

Nancy Grace Roman, 86, was NASA's first chief of astronomy and is considered the mother of
the Hubble Space Telescope

NASA's first chief of astronomy was Nancy Grace Roman. Ms. Roman joined NASA in nineteen
fifty-nine. She led the effort that resulted in the creation of the Hubble Space Telescope.

NANCY GRACE ROMAN: “Astronomers had been wanting to get observations from above the
atmosphere for a long time. Looking through the atmosphere is somewhat like looking through a
piece of old, stained glass. The glass has defects in it, so the image is blurred from that."

The Hubble telescope orbits about five hundred fifty kilometers above Earth. Ms. Roman says
she still remembers the first images that it captured.

NANCY GRACE ROMAN: “I think the image that to me was most striking was the center of a
globular cluster. You could see each star individually, and see their color, and it was just a
fantastic sight.”

The Hubble Space Telescope has helped expand our knowledge of the universe. It helped
scientists estimate that the universe began about fourteen billion years ago. Earlier estimates had
placed it between ten and twenty billion years old.
Ed Weiler says the Hubble telescope also confirmed the existence of black holes. These are
extremely dense masses believed to exist at the center of most galaxies. Their gravitational pull
is so strong, they absorb light.

NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

ED WEILER: “Black holes were science fiction. 'Star Trek,' 'Star Wars.' 'Black holes -- nice
theory but nobody believes in them, right?' Hubble proved they exist.”

The Hubble Space Telescope completed its one millionth scientific observation in July. NASA is
building a new space telescope to look even deeper into the beginnings of the universe.

And that‟s the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms and Julie
Taboh. You can watch a video about the Hubble Space Telescope at voaspecialenglish.com. I‟m
Steve Ember.

Jesse Owens, 1913- 1980: He Was Once the Fastest Runner in

the World
GWEN OUTEN: This is Gwen Outen.V

STEVE EMBER: And this is Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English.
Every week we tell about a person who was important in the history of the United States. Today
we tell the story of athlete Jesse Owens. He once was the fastest runner in the world.

(MUSIC)
GWEN OUTEN: In the summer of nineteen thirty-six, people all over the world heard the name
of Jesse Owens. That summer, Owens joined the best athletes from fifty nations to compete in
the Olympic games. They met in Berlin, Germany. There was special interest in the Olympic
games that year.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany. Hitler and his Nazi party believed that white people --
especially German people – were the best race of people on Earth. They believed that other races
of people -- especially those with dark skin -- were almost less than human.

In the summer of nineteen thirty-six, Hitler wanted to prove his beliefs to the world. He wanted
to show that German athletes could win every important competition. After all, only a few weeks
before the Olympics, German boxer Max Schmeling had defeated the great American
heavyweight Joe Louis, a black man.

AP

Jesse Owens's Olympic victories made him a hero

STEVE EMBER: Jesse Owens was black, too. Until nineteen thirty-six, very few black athletes
had competed in the Olympics for the United States. Owens was proud to be on the team. He was
very sure of his ability.

JESSE OWENS: “I think that this week is very sufficient for the boys on the United States
Olympic team for the simple reason because we have been through a series of preliminary events
in our country. And the training here that we are getting here is just a little tune-up for the
Olympic games. Our hard training is really over. And the rain here is something that is going to
help our team quite a bit because some of the boys has a tendency to work a little bit too hard.
And I think that the rain is doing a good to slack up the training a bit.”

(1936 interview with Jesse Owens for German radio, from archive.org)
STEVE EMBER: Owens spent one week competing in four different Olympic track and field
events in Berlin. During that time, he did not think much about the color of his skin, or about
Adolf Hitler.

Owens said later: "I was looking only at the finish line. I thought of all the years of practice and
competition, and of all who believed in me."

GWEN OUTEN: We do not know what Hitler thought of Jesse Owens. No one recorded what he
said about this black man who ran faster and jumped farther than any man of any color at the
Olympic games. But we can still see Jesse Owens as Hitler saw him. For at Hitler's request,
motion pictures were made of the Berlin Olympic games.

The films show Jesse Owens as a thin, but powerfully-built young man with smooth brown skin
and short hair. When he ran, he seemed to move without effort. When he jumped, as one
observer said, he seemed to jump clear out of Germany.

Jesse Owens won the highest award -- the Gold Medal -- in all four of the Olympic competitions
he entered. In the one-hundred meter run, he equaled the fastest time ever run in that Olympic
event. In the long jump and the two-hundred meter run, he set new Olympic records. And as part
of a four-man team, he helped set a new world record for the four-hundred meter relay race. He
was the first American in the history of Olympic track and field events to win four Gold Medals
in a single Olympics.

AP

Jesse Owens, center, salutes during the presentation of his gold medal for the long jump, after
defeating Nazi Germany's Lutz Long, right, during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Naoto
Tajima of Japan, left, placed third.

STEVE EMBER: Owens's Olympic victories made him a hero. He returned home to parades in
New York City and Columbus, Ohio, where he attended the state university. Businessmen paid
him for the right to use his name on their stores. No one, however, offered him a permanent job.
For many years after the nineteen thirty-six Olympic games, Jesse Owens survived as best he
could. He worked at small jobs. He even used his athletic abilities, but in a sad way. He earned
money by running races against people, motorcycles and horses. He and his wife and three
daughters saw both good times and bad times.

(MUSIC)

GWEN OUTEN: Poverty was not new to James Cleveland Owens. He was born in nineteen
thirteen on a farm in the southern state of Alabama. He was the youngest of thirteen children. His
parents did not own the farm, and earned little money. Jesse remembered that there was rarely
enough food to eat. And there was not enough fuel to heat the house in winter.

Some of Jesse‟s brothers and sisters died while still young. Jesse was a sickly child. Partly
because of this, and partly because of the racial hatred they saw around them, Jesse‟s parents
decided to leave the South. They moved north, to Cleveland, Ohio, when Jesse was eight years
old. The large family lived in a few small rooms in a part of the city that was neither friendly nor
pleasant to look at.

Jesse‟s father was no longer young or strong. He was unable to find a good job. Most of the time,
no one would give him any work at all. But Jesse‟s older brothers were able to get jobs in
factories. So life was a little better than it had been in the South.

STEVE EMBER: Jesse, especially, was lucky. He entered a school where one white teacher,
Charles Riley, took a special interest in him. Jesse looked thin and unhealthy, and Riley wanted
to make him stronger. Through the years that Jesse was in school, Riley brought him food in the
morning. Riley often invited the boy to eat with his family in the evening. And every day before
school, he taught Owens how to run like an athlete.

At first, the idea was only to make the boy stronger. But soon Riley saw that Jesse was a
champion. By the time Jesse had completed high school, his name was known across the nation.
Ohio State University wanted him to attend college there. While at Ohio State, he set new world
records in several track and field events. And he was accepted as a member of the United States
Olympic team.

(MUSIC)
AP

Jesse Owens was one of the world's greatest track and field athletes

GWEN OUTEN: Owens always remembered the white man who helped change his life. Charles
Riley did not seem to care what color a person's skin was. Owens learned to think the same way.

Later in life, Owens put all his energy into working with young people. He wanted to tell them
some of the things he had learned about life, work and success: That it is important to choose a
goal and always work toward it. That there are good people in the world who will help you to
reach your goal. That if you try again and again, you will succeed.

People who heard Owens's speeches said he spoke almost as well as he ran. Owens received
awards for his work with boys and girls. The United States government sent him around the
world as a kind of sports ambassador. The International Olympic Committee asked for his
advice.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: In about nineteen seventy, Jesse Owens wrote a book in which he told about
his life. It was called “Blackthink.” In the book, Owens denounced young black militants who
blamed society for their troubles. He said young black people had the same chance to succeed in
the United States as white people. Many black civil rights activists reacted angrily to these
statements. They said what Owens had written was not true for everyone.

Owens later admitted that he had been wrong. He saw that not all blacks were given the same
chances and help that he had been given. In a second book, Owens tried to explain what he had
meant in his first book. He called it “I Have Changed.” Owens said that, in his earlier book, he
did not write about life as it was for everyone, but about life as it was for him.

He said he truly wanted to believe that if you think you can succeed--- and you really try -- then
you have a chance. If you do not think you have a chance, then you probably will fail. He said
these beliefs had worked for him. And he wanted all young people to believe them, too.
GWEN OUTEN: These were the same beliefs he tried to express when he spoke around the
world about being an Olympic athlete. "The road to the Olympics," he said, "leads to no city, no
country. It goes far beyond New York or Moscow, ancient Greece or Nazi Germany. The road to
the Olympics leads -- in the end -- to the best within us.”

In nineteen seventy-six, President Gerald Ford awarded Jesse Owens the Medal of Freedom.
This is the highest honor an American civilian can receive. Jesse Owens died of cancer in
nineteen eighty. His family members operate the Jesse Owens Foundation. It provides financial
aid and support for young people to help them reach their goals in life.

(THEME)

STEVE EMBER: This program was written by Barbara Dash. It was produced by Lawan Davis.
This is Steve Ember.

GWEN OUTEN: And this is Gwen Outen. Listen again next week for People in America in
VOA Special English.

Islamic Group in Nigeria Claims UN Attack

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

A deadly car bombing at the United Nations building in Abuja has brought more attention to an
Islamic group. The attack happened Friday morning in the Nigerian capital. Later, a man
claiming to represent Boko Haram spoke by telephone with a VOA reporter. He said the group
carried out the attack and warned that "this is just the beginning."

The spokesman said the bombing was in reaction to the Nigerian military's increased presence in
the northeastern state of Borno. Boko Haram is active there. The government sent more troops
after an increase in suspected Boko Haram shootings and bombings.

In the Hausa language, the group's name means "western education is a sin." Boko Haram wants
Islamic law or sharia to be established more widely across Africa's most populous nation.
Western security officials say Boko Haram may have ties to the north African group known as
al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Boko Haram launched a violent uprising in July of two thousand nine. Nigeria's military crushed
that unrest. Since then, Boko Haram has attacked police, politicians and community leaders. The
group claimed responsibility for a major attack on Abuja's police headquarters in June.

Former VOA reporter Josephine Kamara and her husband work at the UN building in Abuja. She
had driven him to work shortly before the explosion. Her husband is safe. She described the
destruction to VOA‟s Joe DeCapua.
JOSEPHINE KAMARA: “Right now, I‟m standing in front of the UN building, Joe and I see the
front part of the main UN building. There are shattered windows. Hardly any of the windows are
left standing. This building is about three floors, plus the ground floor, making it four floors. All
the way up to the top floor, there‟s shattered windows, there‟s debris. There are mangos, iron
rods all over the place. And I see a lot of the UN staffers‟ family members are standing out here.
Also, it looks like the entire Abuja police force has actually come to the UN building, standing
here, trying to get casualties out. Those that are badly hurt have been taken to the hospital.”

In a statement, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan called the attack, "barbaric, senseless and
cowardly." He said his government remains committed to fighting terrorism.

President Obama also called it a "horrific and cowardly attack."

At UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon spoke to the Security

Council.

BAN KI-MOON: "Around eleven o'clock this morning local time, the UN house in the Nigeria
capital, Abuja, was struck by a car bomb. These buildings house twenty-six humanitarian and
development agencies of the UN family. This was an assault on those who devote their lives to
helping others. We condemn this terrible act utterly."

The secretary-general warned that UN offices are increasingly at risk of attacks like the bombing
in Abuja.

BAN KI-MOON: "Let me say it clearly: these acts of terrorism are unacceptable. They will not
deter us from our vital work for the people of Nigeria and the world. This outrageous and
shocking attack is evidence that the UN premises are increasingly being viewed as soft targets by
extremist elements around the world."

In December of two thousand seven, a bombing at UN offices in the Algerian capital killed
seventeen employees. And in August of two thousand three, a suicide bomber struck the UN
headquarters in Baghdad. Twenty-two workers were killed. They included the top UN diplomat
in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil.

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. For the latest news, go to
voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Words and Their Stories: More Clothing Expressions

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Last week, I explained some English expressions about clothes. Everything I told you was true. I
did not talk through my hat or say something without knowing the facts.

Everyone knows there are many English expressions about clothes. There is no need to keep it a
secret, or keep it under your hat. In fact, if I keep talking, soon enough you will start to think I
am an old hat about this -- a real expert. Do not be fooled, though. My friends sometimes call
me a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is someone who acts like a good person, but is really a bad
person.

I‟m not really a bad person. But I do love clothes. It is always fun to get dressed up. I look great
in my best clothes. When I put them on, I feel decked out. You might say when I wear my best
clothes, I am dressed to the nines or dressed to the teeth. In fact, my husband says I look
dressed to kill. Of course, I would never kill anyone. But, there is something special about
putting on clothes that are pleasing to the eye.

My best clothes are not modern or fashionable. Maybe someday they will come into fashion.
But I really do not care. They certainly look better on me than my birthday suit. Did you know
that everyone has a birthday suit? You wear it when you are wearing no clothes at all. Babies are
born wearing their birthday suits.

I am very careful with my clothes. I handle them with kid gloves. I try not to get them dirty or
torn. Most of my clothes fit like a glove. They fit perfectly. But when I eat too much, I feel like
my clothes might burst at the seams. My clothes feel too restrictive and tight.

Some of the clothes I like best are hand-me-downs. My older sister gave them to me when she
no longer wanted them. Hand-me-downs are great because clothes often cost too much money. I
live on a shoestring. I have a very small budget and little money to spend on clothes. However,
my sister has a lot of money to spend on clothes. Maybe someday the shoe will be on the other
foot. The opposite will be true. I will have a lot of money to buy clothes and my sister will get
hand-me-downs from me.

I admit I dream of being rich. I dream that someday I will be able to live like a rich person. I will
know what it is like to walk in another person’s shoes. Some of my friends got rich by riding
someone else’s coat tails. They are successful today as a result of someone else being
successful. But, I believe you should never criticize others for something you would do
yourself. What is said about someone else can also be said about you. Remember, if the shoe
fits, wear it.

(MUSIC)

Jill Moss wrote this VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I‟m Faith
Lapidus.

Leonardo da Vinci: One of the Greatest Thinkers in History

STEVE EMBER: I‟m Steve Ember.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I‟m Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special
English. Today, we tell about one of the greatest thinkers in the world, Leonardo da Vinci. He
began his career as an artist. But his interest in the world around him drove him to study music,
math, science, engineering and building design. Many of his ideas and inventions were centuries
ahead of his time.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: We start with one of Leonardo da Vinci‟s most famous drawings, called
“Vitruvian Man.” This work is a good example of his ever questioning mind, and his effort to
bring together art, math and science.

“Vitruvian Man” is a detailed sketch of a man‟s body, which is drawn at the center of a square
and circle. The man‟s stretched arms and legs are in two positions, showing the range of his
motion. His arms and legs touch the edges of the square and circle.

Detail from the drawing "Vitruvian Man"

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: With this drawing Leonardo was considering the size of the human body
and its relationship to geometry and the writings of the ancient Roman building designer
Vitruvius.

Leonardo wrote this about how to develop a complete mind: “Study the science of art. Study the
art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects
to everything else.”

STEVE EMBER: Leonardo da Vinci spent his life studying and observing in order to develop a
scientific understanding of the world. He wrote down his thoughts and project ideas in a series of
small notebooks. He made drawings and explained them with detailed notes. In these notebooks,
he would write the words backwards. Some experts say he wrote this way because he wished to
be secretive about his findings. But others say he wrote this way because he was left-handed and
writing backwards was easier and helped keep the ink from smearing.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The notebooks show many very modern ideas. Leonardo designed
weapons, machines, engines, robots, and many other kinds of engineering devices. When
disease spread in Milan, Leonardo designed a city that would help resist the spread of infection.
He designed devices to help people climb walls, and devices to help people fly. He designed
early versions of modern machines such as the tank and helicopter. Few of these designs were
built during his lifetime. But they show his extraordinarily forward- thinking mind.

The notebooks also contain details about his daily life. These have helped historians learn more
about the personal side of this great thinker.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Very little is known about Leonardo‟s early life. He was born in fourteen
fifty-two in the town of Vinci. His father, Ser Piero da Vinci, was a legal expert. Experts do not
know for sure about his mother, Caterina. But they do know that Leonardo‟s parents were never
married to each other. As a boy, Leonardo showed a great interest in drawing, sculpting and
observing nature.

However, because Leonardo was born to parents who were not married to each other, he was
barred from some studies and professions. He trained as an artist after moving to Florence with
his father in the fourteen sixties.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: It was an exciting time to be in Florence, one of the cultural capitals of
Europe. Leonardo trained with one of the city‟s very successful artists, Andrea del Verrocchio.
He was a painter, sculptor and gold worker. Verrocchio told his students that they needed to
understand the body‟s bones and muscles when drawing people.

Leonardo took his teacher‟s advice very seriously. He spent several periods of his life studying
the human body by taking apart and examining dead bodies. Experts say his later drawings of the
organs and systems of the human body are still unequalled to this day.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: While training as an artist, Leonardo also learned about and improved on
relatively new painting methods at the time. One was the use of perspective to show depth. A
method called “sfumato” helped to create a cloudy effect to suggest distance. “Chiaroscuro” is a
method using light and shade as a painterly effect. The artist also used oil paints instead of the
traditional tempura paints used in Italy during this period.
nga.gov

Leonardo's first known portrait "Ginevra de‟Benci"

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Leonardo‟s first known portrait now hangs in the National Gallery in
Washington, D.C. He made this painting of a young woman named Ginevra de‟Benci around
fourteen seventy-four. The woman has a pale face with dark hair. In the distance, Leonardo
painted the Italian countryside.

He soon received attention for his extraordinary artistic skills. Around fourteen seventy-five he
was asked to draw an angel in Verrocchio‟s painting “Baptism of Christ.” One story says that
when Verrocchio saw Leonardo‟s addition to the painting, he was so amazed by his student‟s
skill, that he said he would never paint again.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Leonardo once said the following about actively using one‟s mental abilities:
“Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen; even
so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” His mind was so active that he did not often finish
his many projects.

One religious painting he never finished was called “Adoration of the Magi”. He was hired to
make the painting for a religious center. The complex drawing he made to prepare for the
painting is very special. It shows how carefully he planned his art works. It shows his deep
knowledge of geometry, volume and depth. He drew the many people in the painting without
clothes so that he could make sure that their bodies would be physically correct once covered.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Around fourteen eighty-two, Leonardo moved to Milan. There, he

worked for the city‟s ruler, Ludovico Sforza. This ruler invited Leonardo to Milan not as an
artist, but as a musician. Historians say Leonardo was one of the most skillful lyre players in all
of Italy. But he also continued his work as a painter. He also designed everything from festivals
to weapons and a sculpture for Ludovico Sforza.
STEVE EMBER: One famous work from Leonardo‟s Milan period is called “Virgin of the
Rocks.” It shows Jesus as a baby along with his mother, Mary, and John the Baptist also as a
baby. They are sitting outside in an unusual environment. Leonardo used his careful observations
of nature to paint many kinds of plants. In the background are a series of severe rock formations.
This painting helped Leonardo make it clear to the ruler and people of Milan that he was a very
inventive and skillful artist.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Leonardo later made his famous painting “The Last Supper” for the
dining room of a religious center in Milan. He combined his studies in light, math, psychology,
geometry and anatomy for this special work. He designed the painting to look like it was part of
the room. The painting shows a story from the Bible in which Jesus eats a meal with his
followers for the last time. Jesus announces that one of them will betray him.

The work received wide praise and many artists tried to copy its beauty. One modern art expert
described Leonardo‟s “Last Supper” as the foundation of western art. Unfortunately, Leonardo
experimented with a new painting method for this work. The paint has suffered extreme damage
over the centuries.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: In addition to the portrait of Ginevra de‟Benci that we talked about earlier,
Leonardo also painted several other non-religious paintings of women. One painting of Cecilia
Gallerani has come to be known as “Lady with an Ermine” because of the small white animal
she is holding. This woman was the lover of Milan‟s ruler, Ludovico Sforza.

However, Leonardo‟s most famous portrait of a woman is called the “Mona Lisa.” It is now in
the collection of the Louvre museum in Paris. He painted this image of Lisa Gherardini starting
around fifteen-oh-three. She was the wife of a wealthy businessman from Florence named
Francesco del Giocondo. It is from him that the painting takes its Italian name, “La Gioconda.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Lisa Gherardini is sitting down with her hands crossed in her lap. She
looks directly at the painter. She seems to be smiling ever so slightly. A great deal of mystery
surrounds the painting. Experts are not sure about how or why Leonardo came to paint the work.
But they do know that he never gave it to the Giocondo family. He kept the painting with him for
the rest of his life, during his travels through France and Italy.

Leonardo da Vinci died in France in fifteen nineteen. A friend who was with him at his death
said this of the great man‟s life: “May God Almighty grant him eternal peace. Every one laments
the loss of a man, whose like Nature cannot produce a second time.”

STEVE EMBER: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I‟m Steve
Ember.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I‟m Shirley Griffith. You can see some of Leonardo da Vinci‟s
work at our website voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in
VOA Special English.
Bat Populations Are Important for Agriculture and the
Environment
BARBARA KLEIN: I‟m Barbara Klein.

MARIO RITTER: And I‟m Mario Ritter with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
Today, we learn about the environmental and agricultural importance of bat populations. And,
we visit the “Cod Academy,” a training program for fishers in the American state of Maine.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: The United Nations has declared twenty eleven to twenty twelve the Year
of the Bat. The campaign was launched last year as a way to strengthen efforts for protecting the
world‟s only flying mammal.

These creatures can be found in many parts of the world. Bats live in cities, deserts, grasslands
and forests. There are over one thousand two hundred bat species.

MARIO RITTER: The smallest bat in the world is from Southeast Asia. The Bumblebee bat
measures about thirty millimeters in length. The world‟s largest bat, the Giant Golden-Crowned
Flying Fox, has a wingspan of one and a half meters. Most bats eat insects, but many feed on
fruit or nectar from flowers.

Many people think bats are blind, but this is not true. Many species have very good sight. Most
bats communicate and find their way by making “echolocation” noises. They produce high-
frequency noises and can estimate the distance of an object by using the sound echoes that
bounce back to them. So, while bats may travel in total darkness, they “see” using sound.

BARBARA KLEIN: Sadly, bats are widely feared and misunderstood. Most bats come out of
their shelters only at nightfall. Three bat species feed on blood. Because of these qualities, bats
have long been linked in many cultures to death, darkness and vampires.

Yet bats are important for agriculture and our environment. They help pollinate plants and spread
seeds. They also help control insects. Bats eat huge numbers of insects, including kinds that
damage crops.

MARIO RITTER: For example, a brown bat can eat more than one thousand insects the size of a
mosquito in one hour. One report says bats save American farmers billions of dollars every year
by reducing crop damage and limiting the need for chemicals that kill insects. The report was
published earlier this year in Science magazine.

Bats have also proved useful in the medical industry. Some bats carry a substance in their saliva
that has been manufactured and used in medicine to help stroke victims.

BARBARA KLEIN: Over one-fifth of all bat species are under threat. They face disease and the
human destruction of their natural environments. In the eastern United States, a disease called
white-nose syndrome has greatly damaged bat populations over the past five years. The
organization Bat Conservation International says white-nose syndrome has killed more than a
million bats since it was discovered in a New York cave in two thousand six. In some areas, the
disease has killed nearly one hundred percent of bat populations.

White-nose syndrome has now spread to at least nineteen other states and parts of Canada. The
name of the disease comes from a white fungus found on the faces and wings of infected bats.
The disease causes the creatures to awaken more often during hibernation, the period when they
normally rest. Infected bats leave their shelters during winter and can freeze to death. Or they
may use up stored body fat and starve to death.

MARIO RITTER: Leslie Sturges is doing what she can to save bats. She is the director of Bat
World NOVA, a bat protection group in the Washington, D.C. area. She cares for injured bats in
the basement of her home. Then she releases them back into the wild.

LESLIE STURGES: “You hear a lot of people refer to bats as filthy. But they aren‟t. They
groom like cats and dogs do. They use these toes back here to actually comb their fur coat out.”

MARIO RITTER: Ms. Sturges also talks about the importance of bats during visits to schools
and nature centers. Her goal is to support their protection by bringing attention to the good things
that bats provide to people and the environment.

She and her assistant are caring for about thirty injured, sick or orphaned bats this summer.

BARBARA KLEIN: When the bats are healthy, she moves them to a closed off area next to her
home so they can learn once more how to fly.

One of her bats is named Shaggy. She plans to release him, but first wants to make sure he eats
well. When the sun sets, she sets him free. But he does not want to leave just yet.

LESLIE STURGES: “So I think what I am going to do is put him back in and let him nap for an
hour and I am going to try and release him later tonight. Because he has to go. He can‟t live
here.”

BARBARA KLEIN: Ms. Sturges says Shaggy has a good chance of survival because red bats are
common in the area.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: Several fishermen in Maine recently completed a study program at the
country‟s first ever “Cod Academy.” The Maine Aquaculture Association directs the program. It
trains fishermen who usually earn a living fishing in the ocean to be fish farmers. The program is
aimed at helping commercial fishers to find a new way to carry out their trade.

(SOUND)
On a recent morning, a fishing boat left the public dock in the seaside community of Sorrento,
Maine. But the men on the boat were not going fishing … they were going farming.

SEBASTIAN BELLE: “Today we‟re probably going to be moving cages and sorting codfish so
the students will get experience doing that”.

BARBARA KLEIN: That was Sebastian Belle. He is head of the Maine Aquaculture
Association. It operates the new “Cod Academy” in partnership with the University of Maine
and other organizations.

About one and a half kilometers out to sea, the boat finds eight circular pens. A rubber tube
encloses each one. The pens are covered with netting material to keep out seabirds. Inside each
of the fifty-meter wide areas are up to fifty thousand cod. Most of these fish will be served on
dinner tables around the world.

MARIO RITTER: This is the only commercial cod farm in Maine. The operator is Great Bay
Aquaculture, a fish-farming company. It is one of the partners in the Cod Academy.

Mr. Belle says that during a year, students are taught everything they need to know about
operating a floating farm.

SEBASTIAN BELLE: “One of the things we‟ve been teaching the students is how to feed the
fish and not overfeed the fish. So you want to give them enough feed, and not waste any feed and
make it as efficient as possible.”

MARIO RITTER: The fish-farmers in training take turns throwing special fish food into the pen.

(SOUND)

Air bubbles appear as thousands of cod come up to feed. They can be seen from the boat with an
underwater camera.

BARBARA KLEIN: Bill Thompson is one of the Cod Academy‟s four students. He says the
program has showed him that aquaculture, or fish-farming, is a wise choice.
VOA - T. Porter

Farm manager Clayton Coffin of Great Bay Aquaculture, a New Hampshire-based fish-farming
company, is helping retrain commercial fishermen to become fish farmers.

BILL THOMPSON SR: “Even if the wild stocks came back to their fullest capacity they still
wouldn‟t feed the world. So this is the way of the future. And it‟s feasible for a family to run a
business also.”

BARBARA KLEIN: That is why Mr. Thompson‟s son is also a student at the academy. Thirty-
nine year old Bill Thompson Junior has been a working fisherman for much of his life. He earns
a living diving for urchins and fishing for lobster. But he notes that he has a wife and four
children to support, so it was time for a change.

BILL THOMPSON JR: “Well I‟ve seen a depletion of the source of everything I have been
harvesting over the years. I look into the future, I can‟t see my kids set up in what I‟m doing
right now as far as, you know, lobstering, urchining. I don‟t want to see them get a source that‟s
depleting every year.”

MARIO RITTER: Becoming a fish-farmer has its own financial risks. Sebastian Belle says
students need to develop a business plan before they can graduate. They will be expected to raise
about half of the money they would need for any farm they want to create. Mr. Belle says the
“Cod Academy” is based on successful programs started in Japan and Norway more than thirty
years ago. Those programs were created to retrain fishers who once caught tuna and herring.

SEBASTIAN BELLE: “It‟s never been done before in America and we‟re trying to see if it‟s a
model that has some potential.

MARIO RITTER: Mr. Belle says he hopes the program will help people in Maine realize the
huge promise that cod farming holds. He admits aquaculture has its critics. Critics say that
crowding fish together in a farm can spread disease and produce unhealthy fish.
But Mr. Belle says Maine‟s fish farmers have learned from those mistakes. And he says state
inspectors make sure that fish farms obey environmental rules.

The first students of the “Cod Academy” graduated this month. They are now permitted to seek
financial aid from the Maine Aquaculture Association to start their own cod-farms.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange, with reporting
by Tom Porter and Jeff Swicord. I‟m Barbara Klein.

MARIO RITTER: And I‟m Mario Ritter. You can find our programs online with transcripts,
MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com Join us again next week for
EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

For Lots of People Getting Older Means Getting Happier

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for
people worried about getting older.

Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age
of fifty. In fact, they say by the age of eighty-five, people are happier with their life than they
were when they were eighteen years old.

The findings came from a survey of more than three hundred forty thousand adults in the United
States. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in two thousand eight. At that
time, the people were between the ages of eighteen and eighty-five.

The researchers asked questions about emotions like happiness, sadness and worry. They also
asked about mental or emotional stress.

Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University
in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults
between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five.

The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties.

Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The people
least likely to report feeling negative emotions were those in their seventies and eighties.

The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older.
However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.

The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers say they do not know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is
that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control
of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.

Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the
world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.

The researchers also considered possible influences like having young children, being
unemployed or being single. But they found that influences like these did not affect the levels of
happiness and well-being related to age.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Brianna Blake. Tell us what you
think about the relationship between happiness and age. You can post comments on our website,
voaspecialenglish.com, or on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Barbara
Klein.

WHO Urges Ban on Blood Test for Tuberculosis

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The World Health Organization is urging health officials to ban commonly available blood tests
for tuberculosis. WHO officials made the call after two studies found that results from a
commonly used test are undependable and misleading.

The blood tests are low cost and produce fast results. They are widely used in developing
countries, especially India. The Indian government says the country has more than two million
new cases of TB a year.

VOA
Blood being taken for a test

But, researchers say the tests being sold are dangerously inaccurate. They say the results are
wrong in fifty percent of patients.

David Dowdy studies infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He led one of the studies.

DAVID DOWDY: “These tests are actively doing people harm by causing them either to take
medicines that they don‟t need or delaying the diagnosis that they actually do need, to get
better.”

Traditional tests for TB examine the sputum, a material found in a person‟s lungs. Active TB is
identified if certain bacterium grows in the test material. However, these tests take longer to
carry out. Dr. Dowdy says the blood tests are widely used because of the speed of results.

DAVID DOWDY: “What these tests do is they measure antibodies in the blood against TB so
anytime anyone has been infected with TB at any time in their life, they will develop
antibodies. The problem is that one person‟s antibodies are not going to be the same as another
person‟s antibodies. And we don‟t have a test yet that can detect these antibodies across the
board.”

The leader of the other study was Madhukar Pai, an epidemiologist at McGill University in
Montreal, Canada. He says the tests are usually used by private medical centers -- not
government TB control programs.

MADHUKAR PAI: “So these tests are uniformly not used in the developed world. They are
mostly used in countries with weak regulation, and lack of regulation allows these sorts of tests
to be on the market and used freely.”

Experts say the blood tests are a big business in developing countries, worth millions of dollars a
year. The World Health Organization says a million of the tests are done every year. But, the
tests are not approved by any recognized supervisory group.

Dr. Pai also says the WHO is pushing scientists to continue research for a quick test.

MADHUKAR PAI: “Because someday we want a simple dipstick-like test for TB, as we have
for HIV and malaria. But right now we don‟t have such a test for TB for point of care use.”

And that‟s the VOA Special English Health report, written by Caty Weaver, with reporting from
Jessica Berman and Vidushi Sinha. For more health news and to learn English, go to
voaspecialenglish.com. And follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I‟m
Christopher Cruise.
Money, Education and Marriage: The New Relationship
FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith
Lapidus.

BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Back in May, we did a program about untraditional
couples in the United States. Since then there have been some developments.

FAITH LAPIDUS: For example, same-sex couples now have a right to marry in the state of New
York. New York became the sixth and largest state to make same-sex marriage legal. The new
law took effect in late July.

BOB DOUGHTY: And there are new findings about cohabitating couples in America. This week
on our program, we look at some of the reasons why more couples are deciding to live together
without getting married.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And, later, we tell you about another development, although this one
involves a traditional group. More married couples are staying married.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Population experts at the Census Bureau say cohabitation rates jumped
between two thousand nine and two thousand ten. There was a thirteen percent increase in the
number of couples who started living together without getting married first.

What could have caused such a big increase in just one year? The Great Recession -- the worst
downturn in America's economy since the Great Depression in the nineteen thirties. Officially
the recession lasted eighteen months. The economy began to grow again in June of two thousand
nine.

But the Commerce Department now says the recession was even worse than it thought. And the
recovery has been slower than expected. Some economists are warning of the possibility of
another recession, a double dip.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Researchers say the Great Recession played a big part in pushing
cohabitation rates higher. Now, almost one in ten opposite-sex couples in the United States live
together outside marriage.

Increasingly a major difference between couples who get married and couples who do not is
money.

Charlie Pinto married his girlfriend in New Jersey earlier this year. Both of them are twenty-six.
They met in college, dated for a while, then moved in together. Charlie admits the only way they
could pay for the wedding they wanted was with help from their parents.
CHARLIE PINTO: "We wouldn‟t have been able to have a wedding if it wasn‟t for our families
because we just don‟t have the money to spend.”

Charlie works for a start-up Internet company. His wife, Tracey, is a special education teacher.

Charlie says the wedding cost more than twenty-five thousand dollars. That is typical. A popular
wedding website took a survey of American couples. Theknot.com found that in two thousand
nine, the average couple spent almost twenty-seven thousand dollars on their wedding.

For some couples, that price may be out of reach.

Yet no one has to spend that much. A judge or court clerk can perform a marriage ceremony for
as little as twenty-five dollars in some states.

BOB DOUGHTY: The cost of a wedding is not the only financial factor that couples consider in
deciding whether and when to get married. Many people also think about whether they can
afford to take care of a family.

D‟Vera Cohn is a researcher and writer for the Pew Research Center. Her team did an opinion
survey asking people if they thought it was important to be a good provider in order to be
married.

D‟VERA COHN: “Most people say it‟s very important for a man to be able to support a family
in order to marry, and about a third say it‟s important for a woman to be able to support a family
in order to marry.”

Americans may agree that couples should be financially secure before they get married. Yet the
weak economy has made financial security even harder to reach. The unemployment rate
doubled between two thousand seven and two thousand nine. The rate has fallen but still it was
9.1 percent in July.

FAITH LAPIDUS: The difficulty of finding and keeping a job may be one reason why some
couples are choosing not to marry. D'Vera Cohn says it might also be a reason why more couples
are deciding to live together.

D‟VERA COHN: “We asked cohabiters whether household finances played a role in their
decision to move in together. And about a third of them said it did -- of couples who had ever
lived together, people who had ever lived as an unmarried couple. So there are indications that
people are thinking about money when they‟re cohabitating.”

In other words, couples find they can save money by living together. But they may not feel they
have enough money to get married.

Brad Wilcox is a sociology professor at the University of Virginia and head of a pro-marriage
group, the National Marriage Project. He says most Americans today expect to live a
comfortable, middle-class lifestyle after they get married. And that kind of life -- a house, a car,
nice clothes -- is hard for those who do not have much money.

BOB DOUGHTY: Researchers have found something else that increasingly influences decisions
about marriage: a college education. Fifty years ago, about three-fourths of American adults
were married, no matter how much education they had.

Today, only slightly more than half of adults are married. And most of those married people have
college degrees.

Remember Charlie Pinto, the man in New Jersey who got married this year? He and Tracey are
examples of this big change in American society.

REPORTER: "Did you both go to college?"

CHARLIE PINTO: "Yes. We did go to college. She went to college as well as me."

REPORTER: "And graduate school?"

CHARLIE PINTO: "No, but that is probably going to be planned for her at some time in the
future."

FAITH LAPIDUS:This connection between education and marriage seems to be having several
effects. D‟Vera Cohn at the Pew Research Center says the first is that Americans are waiting
longer to get married.

D‟VERA COHN: "In general, college-educated people marry at later ages. Some of that is
associated with waiting for their education to be done and to get established in a career.”

In other words, marriage now often gets delayed until people finish college, then maybe graduate
school, then establish a career.

American women now marry for the first time at a median age of twenty-six. Median means half
are older and half are younger. The median age for men is twenty-eight.

Men and women are getting married five years later than they did in the nineteen fifties, and a
year later than they did twenty years ago.

BOB DOUGHTY: A second effect of education relates again to money. Some people believe
they do not have enough money to get married. But getting married can make a financial
difference.

Pew researchers found that married couples age thirty to forty-four without college degrees
earned about twenty percent more than similar couples who only lived together. Couples in their
thirties and early forties with college degrees earned more than twice as much as unmarried, less-
educated adults of the same age.
D'Vera Cohn says one reason is probably children.

D‟VERA COHN: “What we found was that cohabiters who did not have college degrees were
much more likely than cohabiters who do have college degrees to have children in the household,
maybe from a prior relationship, maybe outside of marriage, and that really affects their ability to
bring in good income.”

In short, unmarried couples without college degrees are more likely to have children to support.
Researchers say couples with college degrees rarely have children unless they are married.

Combined, these factors have reshaped what an American family means. More children than in
the past grow up with only one parent or with adults they are not related to. It might be a
mother's boyfriend or a father's girlfriend. More adults are staying single or staying single longer.
And marriage is becoming less common, at least among people who did not go to college.

Traditional nuclear families -- meaning married parents with children -- are now in the minority.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: Some couples cannot afford to get married. Other couples cannot afford to
get divorced. Sanford Ain says the Great Recession has forced some people to stay together --
and he should know.

Mr. Ain is a divorce lawyer in Washington and a fellow of the American Academy of
Matrimonial Lawyers. He says in the last five years, fewer people have come to his office
seeking a divorce.

SANFORD AIN: "People are just unable to afford to get divorced and create two households.
They‟re forced to remain together, at least for the time being."

As a result, he says, many couples may be trying harder to make their relationship work.

SANFORD AIN: “Whereas before, when people had the economic wherewithal to separate more
easily, they were less inclined to make their marriage work. Now I think people are forced to
make their marriage work for the benefit of themselves and their children."

BOB DOUGHTY: Ending a relationship might seem easier for couples who are unmarried and
unhappy. But Mr. Ain has seen an increase in those who wish they could break up, but do not
know how to split their money fairly.

SANFORD AIN: “We‟re also seeing a rise in disagreements among people who are living
together -- unmarried cohabitants who have built up equity in properties and savings accounts
and other ways that are trying to figure out how to resolve those because there aren‟t laws that
clearly define what the rights are of unmarried cohabitants.”
Saying goodbye is not so simple when you own a house together or have joint finances or other
legal responsibilities as a couple.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Sanford Ain is in his mid-sixties. In his generation, he says, most people got
married right after high school or college. Does he have an opinion about whether waiting is
good or bad?

SANFORD AIN: "I think what‟s important is that people reach a certain level of maturity before
making any commitment, and certainly a commitment as important as marriage."

In nineteen eighty, the American divorce rate was about fifty percent. That only means the
number of couples who got divorced was about half the number who got married that year. That
was right after legal changes around the country made it easier for couples to get divorced.

But some people get married and divorced more than once. So measuring the exact divorce rate
is difficult. But members of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers believe that not as
many couples are getting divorced anymore. And recent census data showed that, compared to
thirty years ago, more younger women are staying married.

One reason might be that many of them grew up with divorced parents and want to try hard to
avoid a repeat.

In two thousand nine, among women who had ever been married, only one-fourth of those in
their twenties, thirties and forties had ever been divorced. But of course, fewer of them had ever
been married to begin with.

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: Our program was written by Kelly Nuxoll and produced by Brianna Blake.
You can find our earlier program about untraditional couples at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob
Doughty.

FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in
VOA Special English.

A Credit Downgrade for Japan, but Some Signs of Hope

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This week, Moody‟s Investors Service lowered its credit rating for Japanese government debt.
The credit rating agency downgraded Japan one step from Aa2 to Aa3.

(SOUND)

Finance Minster Yoshihiko Noda said trust in the economy "will not be shaken" by Wednesday's
action.
Moody‟s said it acted because of Japan‟s large budget deficits and buildup in government debt
since the two thousand nine global recession. Japan's public debt is twice the size of its economy.
Japan has the world‟s third-largest economy.

Moody‟s said another reason was Japan‟s political situation. Japan has already had five prime
ministers since two thousand six. Prime Minister Naoto Kan announced his resignation Friday.

Japan struggled more than many other countries after the worldwide financial crisis. This month,
Japan said its economy shrank at an annual rate of 1.3 percent from April through June. It was
the third quarter of shrinkage in a row.

The earthquake and tsunami in March hurt manufacturing. Shortages of parts led to a big drop in
sales and profit for Toyota, the world's top selling carmaker.

Yet the report on the economy was good news. Economists had expected a bigger decrease
following the disasters and the nuclear crisis that followed.

But there is concern that a rise in the yen could hurt growth. A high exchange value makes
Japanese exports costlier and less competitive. This week, Japan announced a program of one
hundred billion dollars in loans to support business spending. The goal is to help weaken the yen
and lift economic growth.

Bond traders said Moody's downgrade of Japan was not a surprise. The action had the expected
effect of raising borrowing costs for the Japanese government. Still, at about one percent, Japan
enjoys the lowest borrowing costs of any major developed nation.

Earlier this month, another credit rating agency downgraded United States government debt for
the first time. Standard and Poor's blamed the political fight over the nation's debt.

Foreigners hold much of the public debt of the United States and some other countries. But
ninety-five percent of Japan's debt securities are held by Japanese, mostly banks and retirement
funds.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Kan met with American Vice President Joe Biden. Mr. Biden
visited Japan at the end of a trip to Asia.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. For more business news and to learn
English, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Mario Ritter.

American Music Students in Kenya

This is the VOA Special English Education Report. Current and former students from Berklee
College of Music in Boston recently returned to the United States after three weeks in Kenya.
They were part of a cultural exchange program aiming to influence lives through music. They
taught music, performed and donated instruments to a Kenyan community center. They also
learned about traditional Kenyan music.
Music is an important part of life in Kenya.

(MUSIC)

SAM LUTOMIA: “Growing up, I sang a lot in school. And we had competitions and choir and
music every year.”

Sam Lutomia works for the Berklee College of Music. He was born and spent his early years in
Kenya.

SAM LUTOMIA: “When I moved to the States, I get exposed to a higher level of music. And I
was like, „Is there something I can do not that I‟m in the States?‟”

He helped to create a group called Global Youth Groove. Its goal is to bring western music to
young Kenyans, and get them to consider music as a career.

SAM LUTOMIA: “I started talking with students at Berklee College of Music and faculty
members, and they all responded positively. And we started collecting instruments.”

Thirteen Americans made the trip to Kenya in July. They included four high school students
from the Boston area. One of them was Marina Miller.

MARINA MILLER: “We started out in Nairobi. We got a chance to meet with local musicians
and listen to them play.”

Project coordinator Aaron Colverson says the Americans presented a gift during a visit to
Kakamega in western Kenya.

AARON COLVERSON: “We‟ve gathered like 20 instruments. We had some recorders and also
an entire drum kit, lap tops and recording software.”

Many Kenyans attended the activities offered by the group.

(MUSIC)

Berklee student David Chapman says for some of the Kenyans, it was the first time to see and
touch such instruments.

DAVID CHAPMAN: “Their music classes would just be them reading books about western
instruments.”

Aaron Colverson says music can give someone a sense of power.

AARON COLVERSON: “When you put music in front of kids, it seems that their minds open
up. Music gives them a chance to express themselves through songs and writing the songs.”
The American group also performed at a national music festival. During the trip, Aaron
Colverson says, they met with local musicians and listened to them play. They also learned about
traditional Kenyan instruments, dances and songs.

AARON COLVERSON (singing in Swahili): “It‟s pretty music to say nice to meet you, in
Kenya where there are no worries.”

Trip organizer Sam Lutomia says he is happy with the levels of energy the exchange program
has produced. He hopes the trip will take place every year and expand to neighboring countries.
I‟m Bob Doughty.

Dallas Creates a Public School for Boys

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Girls and boys usually attend classes together in American public schools. But there are some
single-sex programs, like a girls public school in Dallas, Texas. It opened in two thousand four.
The students have done well enough that the school system is now opening a school for boys.

The Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy is part of the Dallas Independent School District.
The school year begins Monday. Academy Principal Nakia Douglas has been giving tours to
incoming students and their parents.

NAKIA DOUGLAS: "This wing here will be our electives -- specifically all of our foreign
languages: Latin, Mandarin, Spanish. Our debate will be housed here.”

Mr. Douglas says he was the kind of student that the school is seeking.

NAKIA DOUGLAS: "I was born and raised in south Dallas by a single parent. I was a
neighborhood child. I was that child that -- I would work if I knew the teacher believed in me.
But, at the same time, I had a hunger and desire for more. A lot of our young men have that
hunger, desire and ability now.”

Educational researchers say boys learn in different ways and mature more slowly than girls, and
are more likely to leave school. Being in class with the opposite sex can also take attention away
from learning.

Kendall Keeter thinks the boys school will be good for his son the way the girls school was for
his daughter.

KENDALL KEETER: “Our thought was to also give our son an opportunity that would best
prepare him for college in the same manner she was prepared, and I can‟t imagine any other
option that would have prepared her better.”

Another parent, Madeline Hayes, also likes the idea of a publicly funded school for boys.
MADELINE HAYES: "This is something, as cheesy as it sounds, that I‟ve always dreamed
about, that there will be a boys school that doesn‟t charge twenty-five thousand dollars a year,
but would give the same academics, the same level of interaction and leadership.”

The school is for grades six through nine. It will offer college preparatory classes and leadership
courses even on weekends.

Principal Douglas says the boys will be urged to support one another.

NAKIA DOUGLAS: "Our young men grow together. But all of our young men we call 'brother.'
So it may be Brother Malyk Davis or Brother Samuel Keeter. The young men understand they
are their brother‟s keeper. And so the young men are really learning to be responsible not only
for themselves, but also for their brothers here at the campus.”

Madeline Hayes‟ son Kelvin is twelve. He will be entering the seventh grade.

KELVIN HAYES: "I‟ve always wanted a higher academic purpose, always want somebody to
challenge me when I make my mistakes. I can learn from them. And then they have classes like
science, computer and robotics, and I enjoy especially robotics and building new technology,
because when I grow up I want to be an engineer."

Fourteen year-old Malyk Davis will study cooking, or "culinary arts," at the Obama Academy in
Dallas. He has already learned from a professional chef. However, he was not so sure he wanted
to attend a school only for boys, and he heard bad things about the area.

MALYK DAVIS: “But once I began to looking into more about the options that they were
having, I think I‟m really going to enjoy this. It‟s going to be a long and tough road, but as long
as I‟m graduating in twenty fifteen, that‟s all that matters to me.”

Most students who want to be accepted into the Obama Academy will need to have good grades
and pass a number of tests. But ten to fifteen percent will not have to meet all of the entrance
requirements. Principal Nakia Douglas says they will have to show they have a strong character
and a desire to learn.

And that‟s the VOA Special English Education Report. What do you think of same-sex
education? Tell us at voaspecialenglish.com. I‟m Christopher Cruise.

Experts Link East Africa Drought to La Niña in the Pacific

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

East Africa's drought is the worst in sixty years. Scientists say the dry conditions in the Horn of
Africa are at least partly the result of an event half a world away.

The event is called La Niña, which means "little girl" in Spanish. A La Niña begins when waters
become cooler than normal in the eastern Pacific Ocean near the equator. Changes in wind
currents can then affect weather around the world. A related event, called an El Niño, happens
when the waters become unusually warm.

La Niñas and El Niños happen about every three to five years. The latest La Niña began in July
of last year and ended in May. The conditions can last for up to two years.

Wassila Thiaw studies Africa for the Climate Prediction Center at the National Weather Service
in the United States. With a La Niña, Mr. Thiaw says the easterly winds that are supposed to
bring moisture into East Africa are reduced.

WASSILA THIAW: “There was less moisture coming into East Africa and therefore rainfall is
reduced.”

Starting late last year, rains that were supposed to fall over Somalia, southern Ethiopia and
northern Kenya failed. That part of the Horn of Africa has a second rainy season from March
through May. Mr. Thiaw says that one failed, too, but for different reasons.

WASSILA THAW: “What played out here during the March-April-May season we do not think
that is really La Niña. But it [is] probably mostly due to the atmospheric conditions that
prevailed at that time.”

Mr. Thiaw says La Niña conditions might begin again by the end of this year. And if that
happens, he says, then the October-through-December rainy season could again be dryer than
normal.

Climate researcher Simon Mason at Columbia University in New York says East Africa has been
getting drier over about the last ten years. Mr. Mason says this is at least partly the result of
global warming. Rising temperatures in the Indian Ocean create conditions that pull moisture
away from East Africa.

Claudia Ringler at the International Food Policy Research Institute also points to another issue.
She said by Skype that much of the land in the drought-affected areas is not very productive even
in good times.

CLAUDIA RINGLER: “It will not get any better. Even if we have a bit more rainfall, the
general potential for more food production is not expected to improve dramatically in the
region.”

In the United States, the latest La Niña pushed moisture away from the south, causing severe
droughts. Texas has suffered billions of dollars in agricultural losses. Changes in the winds
pushed the rain toward northern states, causing floods.

And that‟s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson and Steve
Baragona. To find transcripts and MP3s of our programs, or to post comments, visit our website
voaspecialenglish.com. I‟m Karen Leggett.
African Film Shows Tensions Between Banana Growers,
Villagers
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

A movie from Cameroon called "The Big Banana" has come to the United States. It looks at
issues with the banana industry like disputed land rights, food insecurity and pollution.

(SOUND)

This woman in Cameroon says the land belongs to local villagers and they are asking operators
of banana plantations to give it back.

Franck Hameni Bieleu directed the documentary film. He says officials prevented a showing in
Yaounde, the capital. He says making the movie was difficult, and even led to his brief detention.

FRANCK BIELEU: "I got arrested because the chief of that part of the village did not want me
to film because he is being paid by the banana company. You understand, the thing is, everything
around that area is controlled by the company. If you look at the congressman of the region, he is
also the director of public relations of the company. The minister of trade of Cameroon is also
president of the board of directors of the company."

The company, Plantations du Haut Penja, is French and American owned. Representatives would
not talk to the filmmakers. The company and Cameroonian officials did not answer a request for
a VOA interview.

Mr. Bieleu says large parts of fertile land in Cameroon are being used for banana exports. As a
result, local residents have more and more difficulty growing their own food or finding food to
buy.

Big Banana Trailer from Franck on Vimeo.

Also, the use of pesticide chemicals is blamed for polluting water and causing health problems.
Villagers accuse the company of destroying their fields to expand the banana plantations after
getting land leases from the government.

Mr. Bieleu says the problem exists across Africa as foreigners increasingly invest in agricultural
land. He says government corruption is stronger than the people's traditional rights to the land.

FRANCK BIELEU: "When a company arrives and just shows the money, the big cash, what
happens is the government just gives them the land that they want, and these people cannot
defend themselves because they do not have any rights on that land."
Emira Woods with the American-based Institute for Policy Studies helped organize showing the
film in the United States. In her opinion the biggest issue facing Africa this century is what many
activists call the "land grab."

EMIRA WOODS: "The structure of the problem has to be changed so that more and particularly
small- and medium-sized farmers have the opportunities to remain on their land. And at the
moment, because of threats from multinational corporations, from sovereign wealth funds,
whether it is Saudi Arabia or Iran, the list is actually growing of countries that are looking to
Africa as a source of access to land when arable land is becoming much more scarce on this
planet."

The organizers said they hoped Washington policy makers would watch the film to better
understand the need to protect local food production around the world.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. You can watch scenes from "The Big
Banana" at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Karen Leggett.

Steve Jobs Step Down with Apple on Top

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

The chief executive who presented the latest, and coolest, electronics to the world has stepped
down. Steve Jobs announced his resignation as head of Apple in a letter last week.

He wrote: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties
and expectations as Apple‟s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day
has come.”

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started Apple Computer in nineteen seventy-six. The company
sold a new kind of electronic device: the personal computer. Apple Computer grew more quickly
than anyone could have imagined.

In nineteen eighty-five, however, Steve Jobs resigned after disputes with managers who had been
brought in to direct business operations. He soon started his own software company, NeXT, and
bought a computer animation studio. The Pixar movie studio would go on to create movies like
Toy Story and Finding Nemo. They are two of the most successful animated films ever made.

Apple struggled during the nineteen nineties. Many products failed. The company began losing
money and its stock price sank. In nineteen ninety-seven, Apple bought NeXT and brought back
Steve Jobs. Apple used software developed at NeXT to create the Mac OS computer operating
system. The next year, Apple became profitable. And a series of highly successful products
followed. In two thousand one, Apple released the iPod, a digital music player. The iPhone
arrived in two thousand seven.

Apple has also been a leader in online marketing. The iTunes Music Store sells songs for
download. The App Store sells applications for computers and mobile devices.
As Steve Jobs has noted, trial and error has always been part of the Apple model.

STEVE JOBS: "We just try to build products we think are really wonderful and that people
might want. And, sometimes we are right and sometimes we are wrong." (10 sec.)

Steve Jobs is closely linked with the success of Apple. Investors were scared when he announced
he had an operation for pancreatic cancer in two thousand four.

His decision to leave comes as Apple continues to release winning products. Apple sold over
four and a half million iPads in the first three months of this year. The company holds the largest
share of the growing tablet computer market.

On August ninth, Apple first passed Exxon Mobil Corporation to become the most valuable
publicly traded company in the world. Since then the two companies have traded the lead.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.