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Posted On Monday, February 15, 2010 at at 4:38 PM by Varaman

At the Vatican, Some of the World’s Greatest Art
Each year, millions of people visit the Vatican Museums to see works by artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Transcript of radio broadcast: 02 February 2010

BARBARA KLEIN:

I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. The Vatican in Rome, Italy, is the world headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. But the Vatican is more than a religious center. Over the centuries, church leaders gathered priceless objects including cloth textiles, books, documents, paintings and sculptures. Come with us now as we join the millions of people every year who explore the Vatican Museums.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:

The doors to the Vatican Museums by Cecco Bonanotte

As you enter the Vatican Museums, you pass through large sculptured doors. When the light shines just the right way, bronze squares in the doors seem to catch fire. The artist Cecco Bonanotte created the doors in nineteen ninety-nine. He produced them for the opening celebration of the new entrance to the Vatican Museums in two thousand. But other works here are much older.

There are containers with beautiful artwork created more than two thousand years ago. Statues and paintings show heroes of ancient Troy and Athens. Paintings and cloth textiles reproduce the world of the sixteenth century.

Sometimes experts remove objects to repair and restore them. And some objects may be loaned to other museums. But there are always many interesting and beautiful objects to see at the Vatican Museums.

STEVE EMBER:

The Gallery of the Maps

It is almost impossible to visit all the Vatican collections in one day. There are more than twenty museums and public art centers. Today we tell about a few of the most interesting works of art.

The Gallery of the Maps is a good place to start. Forty wall areas contain maps of the world as Italians believed it looked like in the sixteenth century. Ignazio Danti of Perugia painted the maps in the fifteen hundreds.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Another museum, the Gallery of the Tapestries tells picture stories in wall hangings. These tapestries are made of the materials silk and wool. They were designed from drawings by the artist Raphael and possibly his students. Works by Raphael deeply influenced painters of the Italian Renaissance. The period represented a rebirth of artistic development. There are more works by Raphael in other Vatican areas.

But at this moment, a border tapestry by Flemish artist Pieter van Aelst picturing the four seasons captures your interest. The artist represents spring with two young people in love. A woman holding wheat is summer. Van Aelst sees fall as small boys climbing grape vines. The image of a seated person almost fully hidden by clothing captures the cold and loneliness of winter.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER:

Roman Catholic Church leaders established several of the Vatican Museums during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For example, Pope Gregory the Sixteenth established the Vatican Egyptian Museum in eighteen thirty-nine. Objects created long ago fill its nine rooms. The artworks were found in and around Rome. They had been brought from Egypt.

The first room in the Egyptian museum welcomes visitors to the world of the pharaohs who ruled ancient Egypt. You see a statue of Ramses the Second. He sits on a throne, a king's chair. He looks very much like a powerful ruler. A very tall statue of the mother of Ramses looks over another room in the Egyptian museum.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Mars of Todi dates to about 2,400 years ago

The Vatican Museums also exhibit objects from an ancient land called Etruria. This area is now in northern Italy. Most historians believe that Etruscan society reached its height more than two thousand five hundred years ago. The Etruscans created fine art with terra cotta, or baked clay.

Pope Gregory the Sixteenth established the Etruscan Museum in eighteen thirty-seven. The collection includes containers called vases and objects of bronze and gold. It also includes statues of full human bodies and sculptures of heads. In addition, you can see objects that added beauty to the Etruscan religious centers, called temples. For example, a horse with wings once guarded a temple. The horse still shows some of the colors the artist created so long ago: red, black and yellow.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER:

Augustus of Prima Porta

Next we visit the Chiaramonti Museum, established by Pope Pius the Seventh Chiaramonti. This museum contains almost one thousand ancient works of art, including statues of Roman gods. We see a statue called "Augustus of Prima Porta." The Roman ruler holds his right arm high in the air. Art experts say the Emperor Augustus was making a victory sign. Or, the statue may have once held a weapon. The statue was found in eighteen sixty-three in the ancient home of Livia, the wife of Augustus.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Now we are in the Pio-Clementine Museum, founded by Pope Clement the Fourteenth in seventeen seventy. It is filled with Greek and Roman sculptures. One interesting statue is the Laocoon. The subject of the statue is from the "Aeneid" by Virgil, the most famous poet of ancient Rome. The poem is about the ancient war between Greece and Troy. The sculpture shows the Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons being crushed to death by sea snakes. The artists have made the terrible pain of the dying man and boys look very real.

STEVE EMBER:

Some visitors believe the works of Raphael are the most beautiful in the Vatican Museums. In fifteen-oh-eight, Pope Julius the Second asked Raphael to cover the walls and ceiling of some of the Pope's private living areas.

Detail from Raphael's "The School of Athens"

One of Raphael's most famous paintings is "The School of Athens." It shows famous Greek thinkers and scientists. Raphael painted these people teaching and learning around the philosophers Plato and Aristotle.

Some experts say Raphael painted the image of the artist Michelangelo into this work. That may be true. Michelangelo was clearly in Raphael's thoughts at times. In a way, the two men competed. Pope Julius probably understood that the competition incited each man to the height of his greatness.

Julius so liked the work of Raphael that he told the artist to remove earlier paintings in the Pope's living areas. But Raphael understood the value of the work of others. He saved the work of great artists including Perugino.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:

We have saved the best for last. We enter the official private church of the popes, called the Sistine Chapel. It is the most famous part of the Vatican Museums. Pope Sixtus the Fourth had it built in the fourteen seventies. Major events involving Roman Catholic Church leaders take place in the Sistine Chapel. For example, in April of two thousand five, top church officials held a historic meeting in this center for prayer. They chose a new pope, Benedict the Sixteenth. But the chapel also is home to some of the finest paintings ever created.

STEVE EMBER:

Detail showing God's face in Michelangelo's panel "Creation of the Sun and Moon" in the Sistine Chapel

On the side walls are paintings by the greatest Italian artists. But when we enter the Sistine Chapel, we look up to see the most beautiful ceiling in the world. In fifteen-oh-eight, Pope Julius the Second asked Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The result was a series of paintings called "The Creation of the Universe" and the "History of Humanity."

The ceiling is an artistic wonder. Michelangelo made more than fifty paintings that show more than three hundred people. The paintings show God creating Adam, the first man. They also show stories from the Christian holy book, the Bible. It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling. He painted it while lying on his back.

BARBARA KLEIN:

The inside of the Sistine Chapel

Almost twenty-five years later, Pope Paul the Third asked Michelangelo to paint the wall of the Sistine Chapel above the altar. This is the structure where religious ceremonies are carried out. Between fifteen thirty-six and fifteen forty-one, he painted "The Last Judgment." This huge painting includes three hundred people. Christ is shown as the supreme judge of good and evil. The painting shows some good people rising to heaven. But bad people are condemned.

They are shown falling or being dragged by ugly creatures into hell where they are tortured forever. Some people find this work beautiful. Others find it frightening.

But many people believe that the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the "Last Judgment" are the most famous works of art ever created.

STEVE EMBER:

Now it is time to come back to the world of the twenty-first century. There are many other wonderful works in the Vatican Museums. But they will still be there on another day, and many days to come.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:

This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER:

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

Learning English MP3

A Museum Better Known as the US Capitol
The building's art and sculpture collections tell a story about the country's history. Transcript of radio broadcast: 26 January 2010

VOICE ONE:

I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., is one of the most recognized buildings in the world. Its design was influenced by the classical buildings of ancient Greece and Rome.

The United States Congress meets in the Capitol. The building was created as a physical representation of democracy. But it is also a museum filled with art and sculpture that tell about America's social and political history.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A drawing of the Capitol dome from 1859

Our story begins on the Caribbean island of Tortola during the hot summer of seventeen ninety-two. William Thornton is hard at work on a set of building drawings. Mister Thornton came from a family of wealthy landowners who grew sugar on the island. He was trained as a doctor. But he had many interests including history, mechanics, government and building design. Mister Thornton was working to complete drawings for the design of the United States Capitol.

VOICE TWO:

A few months earlier, the government of President George Washington had started a contest for the best design for the Capitol. William Thornton wanted the building to express the democratic goals of this young country. It would be a physical version of America's constitution. His design was influenced by the Pantheon in Rome, Italy, and the Louvre museum in Paris, France.

William Thornton sent his building design to federal officials in Washington with a letter. "I have made my drawings with the greatest accuracy, and the most minute attention", he wrote. "In an affair of so much consequence to the dignity of the United States," it was his request that "you will not be hasty in deciding."

President Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson selected a later version of Mister Thornton's design for the Capitol. George Washington praised the design for its "grandeur, simplicity, and beauty."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Over the centuries, the United States Capitol has had many changes and additions. Many architects have worked on its extensions. But just as important as the building's design are the priceless collections of art and sculpture inside. They tell a detailed story about different events in America's past. And, they provide an interesting commentary on how America's government, people, and artists have chosen to represent their history.

We asked Barbara Wolanin to take us through several important rooms to learn more about the building's art and statue collection. She is the curator for the Architect of the Capitol.

BARBARA WOLANIN: "The Capitol, from the very beginning, the architects envisioned art sculpture for it, paintings for it. They were really built in as part of the architecture in each of the different construction stages of the Capitol."

(SOUND)

VOICE TWO:

The inside of the Capitol dome

We start in the most beautiful room, the Rotunda. This large circular room inside the Capitol's tall white dome measures over fifty-four meters high. It was completed in eighteen twenty-four.

The room connects the Senate side of the building with the House of Representatives side. So, it is both the physical and symbolic center of the building. Visiting the room is a wonderful experience. The room has a feeling of solidity and permanence, but it also is a celebration of light and airiness.

BARBARA WOLANIN: "We're in the Rotunda, right in the center of the United States Capitol, and starting from the top down, the very top is the fresco painting called the "Apotheosis of Washington". It was painted by a Roman-born artist Constantino Brumidi in eighteen sixty-five, at the end of the Civil War."

VOICE ONE:

At the top of the dome is a colorful painting showing groups of people arranged in a circular shape. George Washington sits in the center of the painting, with women representing Liberty and Victory at his sides.

BARBARA WOLANIN: "He's the one in the lavender lap robe. And he's rising up into the heavens. Apotheosis means being raised to the level of an ideal or a god."

VOICE TWO:

Painting at the top of the dome

It might seem strange today to show an American president as a god. But during the nineteenth century, Americans greatly loved and respected President Washington. This included Americans from both the North and South after the Civil War. Several Roman gods are also in the painting. They are holding examples of American technologies of the time.

BARBARA WOLANIN: "They are mixed in with new American technology, the latest inventions. Like Ceres there is sitting on a McCormick reaper, which is the new way for reaping grain quickly. And Neptune with a Trident is helping lay the trans-Atlantic cable which was just being laid when he was painting this."

VOICE ONE:

The artist Constantino Brumidi finished this huge work in only eleven months. He also painted much of the frieze that extends along the Rotunda walls under the room's thirty-six windows. A frieze is a long stretch of surface that has been painted or sculpted. This one tells the history of America. The people in the frieze are painted to look three- dimensional, like sculptures.

Below the frieze, eight huge historical paintings hang on the curved walls. Four paintings tell about the events of the Revolutionary War in the late eighteenth century. The four others show examples of early explorations of the country. These include the landing of explorer Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the Mississippi River.

VOICE TWO:

Sculptures are another important part of the room's decoration. One marble sculpture of Abraham Lincoln was created in eighteen seventy-one, after his death. Vinnie Ream made the sculpture. She was the first woman hired by the government to create a work of art. She was only eighteen years old when she was asked to make the statue.

Another marble statue nearby honors three women who fought for voting rights for women. Adelaide Johnson made this sculpture.

BARBARA WOLANIN: "'Portrait Monument' has just an amazing history too. This is also by a woman artist. And it was commissioned by the National Woman's Party in nineteen twenty after women finally got the vote."

VOICE ONE:

The sculpted forms of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Lucretia Mott seem to be coming up out of the huge piece of stone.

Behind them, a fourth form rises out of the uncut stone. Adelaide Johnson said this unfinished area was meant to show that the struggle for women's equality was not over.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Many of the statues in this room and others throughout the Capitol are part of the National Statuary Hall Collection. The collection was established in eighteen sixty-four. Congress invited each state to send two statues to the collection.

The statues can represent a very famous person, such as an American president. Or, they can represent someone less well known but historically important. States can also replace an older statue with a new one. It has taken a long time to complete the collection. The one hundredth statue arrived in two thousand five.

VOICE ONE:

Barbara Wolanin takes us into the National Statuary Hall. This large room was a meeting room for the House of Representatives until eighteen fifty-seven.

Huey Long

BARBARA WOLANIN: "This room, at the time it was built was considered the most beautiful room in the whole country. Benjamin Henry Latrobe was the architect and he really tried to make it as fine as he could. He was very interested in the classical architectures. So he wanted columns and he had these special capitals for the columns carved in Carrara, Italy based on ancient designs."

As you can guess from the room's name, it now houses many statues from the national collection. For example, there is a marble statue of Sam Houston, a leader who fought for independence for the state of Texas. One of the state of Louisiana's statues is a bronze representation of the politician Huey Long.

VOICE TWO:

The newest building extension of the Capitol is the Capitol Visitor Center. These large underground rooms were completed in December of two thousand eight. The goal is to enrich the experience of the more than two million people who visit the Capitol every year.

The Visitor Center is filled with water fountains, skylights, historical exhibits, a restaurant — and more statues. A bronze statue of the Hawaiian ruler King Kamehameha is hard to miss. His clothing is almost completely covered in gold. Every year in June, Hawaiians come to the Capitol to honor this ancient ruler.

VOICE ONE:

Helen Keller

The newest statue in the national collection is from Alabama. It shows the deaf and blind activist and writer Helen Keller as a young child. It is also the smallest statue in the collection.

But the biggest statue in the room is not part of the Statuary Collection. It is a plaster form that was used to make the bronze statue of Freedom that stands on the dome of the Capitol high above the city. Freedom is represented as a strong woman wearing the flowing clothing of ancient Rome. She measures over five meters tall.

If you stand under a skylight in the Visitor Center, you can see the bronze statue of Freedom high up on the dome outside. She is watching over the Capitol building as it continues to represent America's history, government and people.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Next week, we visit another important art collection, at the Vatican in Italy. You can comment on this and other programs on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

___

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this report incorrectly referred to the Pantheon in Rome as the Parthenon.

Learning English MP3

From 'Dracula' to 'Twilight,' Vampires Evolve With the Times
In books, movies and TV shows, why does the public love to sink its teeth into a good vampire story? Transcript of radio broadcast: 19 January 2010

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we get to know more about a famous creature known for its pale skin, pointy teeth and big hunger for human blood. Vampires have held an important place in the popular imagination since ancient times.

Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) face facts in "Twilight"

More recent versions of vampires are in many books, movies and television series. The "Twilight" series of books and movies has increased the popularity of vampires around the world.

EDWARD: "I'm a killer."

BELLA: "I don't believe that."

EDWARD: "It's because you believe the lie. It's a camouflage. I'm the world's most dangerous predator. Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell. As if I would need any of that. As if you could out run me."

VOICE ONE:

That was a scene from the two thousand eight movie, "Twilight." It tells the story of a teenager named Bella Swan who falls in love with an unusual high school classmate named Edward Cullen. She knows there is something very special about him. He is very strong, very pale, and very cold to the touch. She soon discovers that Edward is a vampire.

BELLA: "I'm not afraid of you. I'm only afraid of losing you. I feel like you're going to disappear."

VOICE TWO:

Edward lives with a vampire family that has chosen to drink the blood of animals instead of humans. His family helps Bella when she is threatened by a more dangerous vampire.

The movie stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. It is based on a best-selling book by the American writer Stephenie Meyer. Her "Twilight" series includes four novels: "Twilight", "New Moon", "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn." Miz Meyer says that the idea for the first book came from a dream. She dreamt about a young girl and a vampire having an intense discussion while standing in a forest. She wrote down all the details of her dream and developed it into a full story.

VOICE ONE:

Bella finds a new friend in "New Moon"

The second movie in the series, "New Moon," was released in November. It sold more tickets in its first day than any other American movie in history. It earned over seventy-two million dollars in its first day in theaters. American ticket sales the first weekend it was released made "New Moon" the third best-selling movie on record.

"New Moon" continues the love story between Bella and Edward. But Edward can no longer safely live in the same town as Bella. She is very lonely and sad without Edward. She becomes close friends with a young man who competes for her love and attention.

VOICE TWO:

Long before the "Twilight" series, writer Anne Rice created another popular series of vampire books. Her novel "Interview with a Vampire" has sold millions of copies and was also made into a movie.

Amy Smith teaches English at the University of the Pacific in California. She is an expert on vampires in film and literature. We asked Professor Smith why vampires are so popular in the United States. Professor Smith says that Americans love to see themselves as changeable and inventive. She says these two qualities also define vampires in movies and literature.

Amy Smith says vampires can change from human to animal forms. And if they do not have a traditional coffin to sleep in during the day, they can find other answers, such as using a car.

VOICE ONE:

Amy Smith says vampires also adapt to the many local differences across the United States. She says there are city vampires like in the movies "The Addiction" and "Nadja." And, there are sunny California vampires like in the former American television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

She says vampires also adapt well to many kinds of movies and books: those that are funny, sad, adventurous, scary or for young people.

Professor Smith says one reason the "Twilight" series of books and movies is so popular is that they are not just about finding love. They are about finding never-ending love. Bella has found someone who will love her forever.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The "Twilight" series is not the only source for good vampire watching these days. The movie "Daybreakers" was released in the United States earlier this month. It stars Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe. This story is set in the future. A virus turns much of the human population into vampires. As humans begin to disappear, the vampires must come up with a way to guarantee their future food supply.

Other recent vampire movies include the American film "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant", the Swedish film "Let the Right One In" and the Korean film "Thirst."

VOICE ONE:

The American television show "True Blood" tells a more adult version of vampire love than "Twilight." It is about a young woman named Sookie Stackhouse who lives in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. She falls in love with Bill Compton, a vampire who lives in the town.

The vampires are not treated very well in this television program. They are fighting for equal rights with humans. In the first season of the show, Sookie's friends are not very happy that she is interested in a vampire.

Anna Paquin plays Sookie Stackhouse in the TV series "True Blood"

SAM: "Sookie, you're being a very stupid girl."

SOOKIE: "Who asked you? I can take care of myself."

SAM: "I don't think so. Matt could have seriously cut you up last night."

SOOKIE: "How do you know what Matt would have done?"

SAM: "Now you're setting up a date with a vampire! What do you have, a death wish?"

SOOKIE: "No, I don't have a death wish. I just happen to think that judging an entire group of people based on the actions of a few individuals within that group is morally wrong."

SAM: "Well, I will not let you put yourself or this bar in danger. I won't."

VOICE TWO:

"True Blood" has completed its second season on the cable channel HBO. Critics say the show has helped reinvent HBO. The channel was struggling to find television shows as popular as its former series, "The Sopranos."

Alan Ball created "True Blood." He has suggested one reason the show is so popular: men and women each find something they like in it. He says women like the storytelling and love scenes. And he says men like the large amount of sex and violence.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

More than one hundred years ago, vampires became popular after the publication of Irish writer Bram Stoker's book "Dracula." It was first published in Britain in eighteen ninety-seven. Mister Stoker did not invent the idea of a vampire. Cultures around the world have their own versions of these blood-sucking creatures. And, Mister Stoker was not the first person to write a story about a vampire. But his book defined one tradition of the vampire story.

Mister Stoker is thought to have based his evil Count Dracula character on a ruler who lived in fifteenth century Romania. Vlad the Impaler was said to have killed tens of thousands of people, including invading members of the Ottoman Empire.

VOICE TWO:

Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is told through the personal writings and letters of its characters. The story begins with the daily observations of a young English lawyer named Jonathan Harker.

He is sent to Transylvania to help a man named Count Dracula settle a property purchase in Britain. But his visit does not go as planned. Harker becomes a prisoner in the vampire's large home. After meeting Dracula's vampire brides, Harker barely escapes alive. The horror story continues when Dracula travels to England. Soon, Jonathan Harker's wife Mina becomes one of his victims.

VOICE ONE:

For many years, Bela Lugosi was everyone's idea of a vampire

Experts say the book explored different social subjects that were especially meaningful to English readers in the late nineteenth century. These include colonialism, immigration, folk culture versus modernity, and women's sexuality.

Count Dracula has been recreated in many plays and movies. One of the most famous, and in some ways the most frightening, is the nineteen twenty-two film "Nosferatu." This silent film was made by the German director F.W. Murnau. The vampire character in this movie, known as Count Orlak, is tall and thin with long pointy fingers.

The famous actor Bela Lugosi played Count Dracula first in the theater, then in a nineteen thirty-one movie version of the book.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Nina Auerbach is a literature professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Her book "Our Vampires, Ourselves" offers another explanation for the continued popularity of vampires. Professor Auerbach describes how the evolution of vampires tells a great deal about a culture's fears, which change over generations.

She shows how vampire stories help express people's cultural, social and political beliefs. Professor Auerbach says these creatures help people escape from the boredom and pressure of life. And she says they are very important because they tell us about our times and ourselves.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. You can comment on this and other programs on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

How Culture Affected Shakespeare, and He Affected Culture
Many of his works were influenced by earlier writings. For example, in his play ''The Comedy of Errors'' he borrows certain structural details from the ancient Roman playwright Plautus. Second of two parts. Transcript of radio broadcast: 12 January 2010

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we complete our story about the influential English writer William Shakespeare. He wrote plays and poems during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. They remain very popular today.

VOICE TWO:

Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes in 'Shakespeare in Love'

Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes in the 1998 film ''Shakespeare in Love''

Last week, we talked about Shakespeare's history, his plays, and his poems. Today, we talk about the events and cultural influences that affected Shakespeare and his art. We also discuss the countless ways his works have influenced language and popular culture.

VIOLA: "Master Shakespeare ...

[Dancing]

Good sir, I heard you are a poet ...

[Shakespeare smiles, silent]

But a poet of no words?"

VOICE ONE:

That was part of a dancing scene from the popular nineteen ninety-eight movie "Shakespeare in Love." The film suggests one way in which Shakespeare might have been influenced to write "Romeo and Juliet:" because of his relationship with a brave and lovely woman. The movie is only very loosely based on real events, but it is a wonderful story.

VOICE TWO:

Many of Shakespeare's works were influenced by earlier writings. During this time, students would probably have learned several ancient Roman and Greek plays. It was not unusual for writers to produce more current versions of these works. For example, in his play "The Comedy of Errors" Shakespeare borrows certain structural details from the ancient Roman playwright Plautus.

VOICE ONE:

James the First

For his tragic play "Macbeth," Shakespeare most likely used a work on Scottish history by Raphael Holinshed for information. It is also no accident that this play about a Scottish king was written a few years after James the First became King of England in sixteen-oh-three. This new ruler was from Scotland and London was alive with Scottish culture. Shakespeare may have borrowed from other writers, but the intensity of his imagination and language made the plays his own.

VOICE TWO:

Shakespeare was also influenced by the world around him. He describes the sights and sounds of London in his plays. His works include observations about current political struggles, the fear of diseases, and the popular language of the city's tradesmen and other professionals.

Shakespeare's knowledge of the English countryside is also clear. His works include descriptions of deep forests, local flowers, and the ancient popular traditions of rural people.

VOICE ONE:

Shakespeare became a well-known writer during a golden age of theater. His years of hard work paid off. Over the years, he invested income from his acting company by purchasing land and other property. He retired to the countryside a wealthy man. William Shakespeare died in his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon in sixteen-sixteen at the age of fifty-two. While many plays by other writers of his time have been forgotten, Shakespeare and his art live on.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which Shakespeare's works have influenced world culture. But we can give a few important examples. The first example would have to include his great effect on the English language. During his time, the English language was changing. Many new words from other languages were being added.

VOICE ONE:

A famous, but disputed, portrait of William Shakespeare at the National Portrait Gallery in London

Shakespeare used his sharp mind and poetic inventiveness to create hundreds of new words and rework old ones. For example, he created the verb "to torture" and the noun forms of "critic," "mountaineer" and "eyeball." Many common expressions in English come from his plays. These include "pomp and circumstance" from "Othello," "full circle" from "King Lear" and "one fell swoop" from "Macbeth."

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is the home of the largest collection of Shakespearean materials in the world. For example, it contains seventy-nine copies of the first printed collection of Shakespeare's plays. The First Folio was published in sixteen twenty-three, after his death. It contained thirty-six of his plays. Without this important publication, eighteen of Shakespeare's plays would have been lost.

The Folger also has more than two hundred examples of Shakespeare's Quartos. These earlier publications of the plays were smaller and less costly to print.

You might be wondering which versions of Shakespeare's plays are read today. Scholars who work on publishing many of the plays make careful choices about whether to use words from the First Folio, or the Quartos.

The Folger Library also holds exhibits about the Renaissance period and Shakespearean culture.

VOICE TWO:

The list of cultural creations influenced by Shakespeare is almost endless. From paintings to television to music and dance, Shakespeare is well represented. For example, the nineteenth century "Otello" by Giuseppe Verdi is an opera version of the tragic play "Othello." It is about a ruler who believes wrongly that his wife has been with another man. One famous song from this opera includes the wife, Desdemona, mournfully singing "Ave Maria."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Over a century later, the American songwriter Cole Porter transformed the Shakespeare comedy "The Taming of the Shrew" into the musical play "Kiss Me Kate." The musical was later made into a movie. Songs like "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" are popular favorites.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen fifty-seven the famous jazz musician Duke Ellington released "Such Sweet Thunder." In the song "The Telecasters" Duke Ellington musically recreates the three witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth." Ellington uses three trombone instruments. His use of silent breaks adds a special tension to the song.

(MUSIC: "The Telecasters")

VOICE ONE:

Natalie Wood in "West Side Story"

Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim worked together on a modern version of "Romeo and Juliet." Their popular musical play took place on the West Side of New York City. The opposing groups are a gang of young people and a group of new immigrants. The award-winning movie version came out in nineteen sixty-one. Here the main character Maria sings about the happiness of being in love in "I Feel Pretty."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

It is not just new versions of the plays that live on in popular culture. Shakespeare's plays have been translated into every major language in the world. All across the United States, the plays are performed in schools, theaters and festivals. There are over one hundred Shakespeare festivals and many permanent theaters that perform his works. In Washington, D.C., alone two theaters perform the plays of Shakespeare and other writers of his time.

We leave you with words of praise by Ben Jonson, a playwright who lived during Shakespeare's time. Mister Jonson knew long ago that the works of Shakespeare would hold their magic through the ages.

(MUSIC)

VOICE THREE:

"Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show

To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.

He was not of an age, but for all time!"

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Our reader was Shep O'Neal. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Shakespeare Was a Producer and Actor and, Oh Yes, a Writer
William Shakespeare's writings have influenced culture all over the world for more than four centuries. First of two parts. Transcript of radio broadcast: 06 January 2010

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

William Shakespeare

And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about one of the most influential and skillful writers in the world. For more than four hundred years, people all over the world have been reading, watching and listening to the plays and poetry of the British writer William Shakespeare.

JULIET: "Ay me!"

ROMEO: "She speaks:

O, speak again, bright angel!"

JULIET: "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

VOICE ONE:

You just heard part of a famous scene from a movie version of "Romeo and Juliet." This tragic play remains one of the greatest, and perhaps most famous, love stories ever told. It tells about two young people who meet and fall deeply in love. But their families, the Capulets and the Montagues, are enemies and will not allow them to be together. Romeo and Juliet are surrounded by violent fighting and generational conflict. The young lovers secretly marry, but their story has a tragic ending.

"Romeo and Juliet" shows how William Shakespeare's plays shine with extraordinarily rich and imaginative language. He invented thousands of words to color his works. They have become part of the English language. Shakespeare's universal stories show all the human emotions and conflicts. His works are as fresh today as they were four hundred years ago.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

William Shakespeare was born in fifteen sixty-four in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon. He married Anne Hathaway at the age of eighteen. The couple had three children, two daughters and a son who died very young. Shakespeare moved to London in the late fifteen eighties to be at the center of the city's busy theater life.

Most people think of Shakespeare as a writer. But he was also a theater producer, a part owner of an acting company and an actor. For most of his career, he was a producer and main writer for an acting company called the King's Men.

VOICE ONE:

In fifteen ninety-nine Shakespeare's company was successful enough to build its own theater called the Globe. Public theaters during this time were usually three floor levels high and were built around a stage area where the actors performed. The Globe could hold as many as three thousand people. People from all levels of society would attend performances.

The poorer people could buy tickets for a small amount of money to stand near the stage. Wealthier people could buy more costly tickets to sit in other areas.

Often it was not very important if wealthy people could see the stage well. It was more important that they be in a seat where everyone could see them.

VOICE TWO:

It was difficult to light large indoor spaces during this time. The Globe was an outdoor theater with no roof on top so that sunlight could stream in. Because of the open-air stage, actors had to shout very loudly and make big motions to be heard and seen by all. This acting style is quite different from play-acting today. It might also surprise you that all actors during this period were men. Young boys in women's clothing played the roles of female characters. This is because it was against the law in England for women to act onstage.

Shakespeare's theater group also performed in other places such as the smaller indoor Blackfriars Theater. Or, they would travel around the countryside to perform. Sometimes they were asked to perform at the palace of the English ruler Queen Elizabeth, or later, King James the First.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Shakespeare is best known for the thirty-nine plays that he wrote, although only thirty-eight exist today. His plays are usually divided into three groups: comedies, histories and tragedies. The comedies are playful and funny. They usually deal with marriage and the funny activities of people in love. These comedies often tell many stories at the same time, like plays within plays.

VOICE TWO:

"Much Ado About Nothing" is a good example of a Shakespearian comedy. It tells the story of two couples. Benedick and Beatrice each claim they will never marry. They enjoy attacking each other with funny insults. Their friends work out a plan to make the two secretly fall in love.

Claudio and Hero are the other couple. They fall in love at once and plan to marry. But Claudio wrongly accuses Hero of being with another man and refuses to marry her. Hero's family decides to make Claudio believe that she is dead until her innocence can be proved. Claudio soon realizes his mistake and mourns for Hero. By the end of the play, love wins over everyone and there is a marriage ceremony for the four lovers.

VOICE ONE:

Shakespeare's histories are intense explorations of actual English rulers. This was a newer kind of play that developed during Shakespeare's time. Other writers may have written historical plays, but no one could match Shakespeare's skill. Plays about rulers like Henry the Fourth and Richard the Third explore Britain's history during a time when the country was going through tense political struggles.

VOICE TWO:

Many Shakespearian tragedies are about conflicting family loyalties or a character seeking to punish others for the wrongful death of a loved one. "Hamlet" tells the story of the son of the king of Denmark. When Hamlet's father unexpectedly dies, his uncle Claudius becomes ruler and marries Hamlet's mother. One night a ghostly spirit visits Hamlet and tells him that Claudius killed his father.

Hamlet decides to pretend that he is crazy to learn if this is true. This intense play captures the conflicted inner life of Hamlet. This young man must struggle between his moral beliefs and his desire to seek punishment for his father's death. Here is a famous speech from a movie version of "Hamlet." The actor Laurence Olivier shines in this difficult role.

HAMLET: "To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?"

VOICE ONE:

Shakespeare also wrote one of greatest collections of poems in English literature. He wrote several long poems, but is best known for his one hundred and fifty-four short poems, or sonnets. The English sonnet has a very exact structure. It must have fourteen lines, with three groups of four lines that set up the subject or problem of the poem. The sonnet is resolved in the last two lines of the poem.

If that requirement seems demanding, Shakespeare's sonnets are also written in iambic pentameter. This is a kind of structure in which each line has ten syllables or beats with a stress on every second beat.

VOICE TWO:

Even with these restrictive rules, the sonnets seem effortless. They have the most creative language and imaginative comparisons of any other poems. Most of the sonnets are love poems. Some of them are attacks while others are celebrations. The sonnets express everything from pain and death to desire, wisdom, and happiness.

Here is one of Shakespeare's most famous poems. Sonnet Eighteen tells about the lasting nature of poetry. The speaker describes how the person he loves will remain forever young and beautiful in the lines of this poem.

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometimes declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE

Next week, we will explore the many ways that Shakespeare's work has influenced world culture over time. This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

2009: A Year of Discovery and Promise in Space
Scientists found water on the moon and methane gas on Mars. NASA also tested a new rocket that could help humans reach both of those places in the solar system. Transcript of radio broadcast: 29 December 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Mario Ritter.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. This week, we tell about some of the biggest space stories of two thousand nine. First, there was the American space agency's discovery of water on the moon. We also talk to a NASA expert about the discovery of methane gas on Mars. And we hear about the test flight of NASA's newest rocket.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

An artist's picture of the LCROSS spacecraft nearing the moon

An artist's picture of LCROSS

Possibly the biggest space story this year was the discovery of water on the moon. The best evidence was provided by a dramatic experiment carried out on October ninth. NASA used its Lunar Crater Observing and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, to look for water deep beneath the lunar surface.

To get below the ancient lunar rocks, NASA crashed a rocket into the moon's south pole. The crash caused soil to be expelled many kilometers above the lunar surface. LCROSS studied the soil before it too crashed into the moon. The experiment pushed the search for water several meters below the lunar surface—much deeper than had been possible before.

VOICE TWO:

LCROSS scientists Anthony Colaprete and Kim Ennico study early results from the lunar impact experiment

In November, Anthony Colaprete, a leading scientist with the LCROSS project, spoke about information gathered by the spacecraft. He said about one hundred kilograms of water had been found in the material ejected by the moon crash. Water has now been confirmed in amounts much greater than had been thought.

In September, NASA scientists had announced the discovery of water molecules mainly in the moon's extreme northern and southern areas. They noted, however, that they could also be seeing evidence of another molecule, hydroxyl.

VOICE ONE:

Instruments on three separate spacecraft gathered that evidence of lunar water. NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper made the most recent observations. It was one of eleven scientific devices carried by the Chandrayaan-One spacecraft of the Indian Space Research Organization.

The Mapper is a spectrometer, which measures reflected light wavelengths. The device shows scientists what an object is made of from great distances. Similar devices on NASA's Cassini and Epoxi spacecraft also reported water.

But those observations were made years ago. NASA scientists had not trusted the results without clear confirmation.

The Moon Mineralogy Mapper could only examine lunar soil to a depth of a few millimeters. And the amount of water found in that layer was very small. Now, LCROSS has shown that large amounts of water could exist on the moon. And it raises even more questions.

Was water brought to the moon by space rocks and icy bodies called comets? Or could processes deep within the moon produce water? If that is the case, it may be possible that the moon could hold enough water for future explorations or even colonies.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

An image showing methane on Mars

The presence of water on the moon was not the only major solar system discovery NASA made this year. In January, a team of NASA and university scientists announced that they had found methane gas on Mars. The group used NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility and the W.M. Keck telescope. Both instruments are in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Methane is better known as natural gas. On Earth, it is mainly produced by processes linked to biology.

This raises the exciting possibility that life may have existed in the past on Mars. Or it may still exist deep below the surface. Michael Meyer is lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program in Washington. He spoke to us about the finding.

MICHAEL MEYER: "It really means that the planet is more active than we thought, and more active--and that can be geologically or maybe even biologically."

VOICE ONE:

On Earth, biological activity is very effective in making methane. But Michael Meyer notes that methane also can come from a purely non-biological process called serpentinization. He says the methane discovery presents scientists with a mystery because it is still not clear how the gas is being produced.

Martian methane is also unusual because it is not evenly spread over the planet. It can become concentrated in small areas and then disappear. This suggests processes that both supply and remove methane from the atmosphere in certain places. Currently, the best explanation for the loss of methane is that it chemically reacts with dust in the atmosphere. The gas may then turn into something else such as carbon dioxide.

VOICE TWO:

An artist's picture of how methane could be formed under the Martian surface

NASA plans to send the Mars Science Laboratory to the red planet in the autumn of two thousand eleven. The exploration vehicle will be able to measure methane even at very low levels in many places on the surface.

Michael Meyer also says NASA is developing an orbiter with European scientists. It will be able to measure small amounts of many different gases. The orbiter could finally provide evidence about how methane on Mars is created and destroyed. Michael Meyer says planetary scientists often study processes that are very different from ones on Earth. But he says understanding these differences can help discover how some complex processes on our own planet really work.

(SOUND: NASA Rocket Launch)

VOICE ONE:

The Ares 1-X launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida

On October twenty-eighth, NASA took an important step into the future. The agency carried out a test flight of its next-generation launch vehicle for astronauts.

NASA is developing two separate rockets for the Ares program. Phil Sumrall is the Ares Project Office Advanced Planning Manager. He says this was done for safety reasons.

The loss of the space shuttle Columbia in February of two thousand three led to an investigation by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The group recommended that human life must not be risked simply to send equipment into space. The result was a design in which safety was the top concern.

PHIL SUMRALL: "We designed the Ares One to be the absolute safest possible vehicle that we could conceive."

VOICE TWO:

Space scientists designed Ares One with a system that would rescue astronauts whether there was a failure of the rocket in the launch area or during flight. Mister Sumrall says NASA estimates the new Ares One will be twenty to thirty times safer than the Space Shuttle.

The other Ares launch vehicle is the huge Ares Five rocket. It will be the biggest rocket ever built. The Ares Five will be one hundred sixteen meters tall and weigh three point seven million kilograms. It will be able to lift nearly forty percent more than the Saturn Five rocket that sent Apollo astronauts to the moon.

VOICE ONE:

Much of the Ares technology has been developed from existing vehicles. Versions of the solid fuel rockets that are used on the Space Shuttle today will serve as the first stage of the Ares One and booster rockets on the Ares Five. An engine first developed for the Saturn Five moon rocket has been updated to be used on Ares.

Existing manufacturing technologies are also being used in new ways on Ares. The tanks of the Ares rockets will be made of aluminum lithium. This is a strong and light metal alloy that has been used on the Space Shuttle. But Ares will use new methods in metal-working science such as friction stir welding. This method uses heat and pressure to join pieces of metal together. Friction stir welding can be used to make complex curved and domed structures out of aluminum lithium and similar alloys. And, friction stir welding uses fewer workers at less cost than other methods.

Scientists developed the new welding technology at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Montgomery, Alabama. It will be used when Ares is built at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.

VOICE TWO:

Phil Sumrall says NASA's estimate to keep the Ares program going forward as planned calls for three billion dollars in additional spending a year.

He says if money is available, Ares Five could be ready for a test flight by two thousand seventeen. We asked Phil Sumrall how NASA expects to use Ares in its space exploration plans.

PHIL SUMRALL: "It's not just for going to the moon or near Earth objects. It's what we'd use to go to, eventually, to Mars or to the moons of Mars."

NASA named the new rocket system Ares, the Greek name for Mars. The name suggests the goal for a future generation of space explorers. They may be the first humans to set foot on another planet.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

I'm Steve Ember with Mario Ritter who also wrote and produced our program. You can find links to the NASA Web site at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Eleanor Creesy: She Guided One of the Fastest Sailing Ships
In 1851 the Flying Cloud set a record for sailing from New York City to San Francisco, California. Transcript of radio broadcast: 22 December 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about Eleanor Creesy. She helped to guide one of the fastest sailing ships ever built.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A painting of the Flying Cloud

The name Eleanor Creesy is almost unknown today. But in the middle eighteen hundreds she was a famous woman. Those were the days of wooden sailing ships. It was a time before ships had engines. Cloth sails were used to catch the wind to move a ship through the water.

A ship that sailed from New York to San Francisco had to travel around the bottom of South America. Such a trip could take two hundred days to complete. Not all ships completed the trip. The high winds and angry seas in this area of the world created deadly storms. Ships often sank. No one could survive the freezing waters in this dangerous area if the ship went down.

VOICE TWO:

One hundred fifty years ago, women did not receive much education. Most women were expected to learn to read and write. But they almost never held positions of great responsibility.

Eleanor Creesy was different. She was the navigator for a ship. A navigator is responsible for guiding a ship safely from one port to another.

Eleanor's father taught her to navigate. She wanted to learn this difficult skill because she liked the mathematics involved. A navigator also had to know how to use a complex instrument called a sextant. It was used to gather information about the sun, moon, and some stars to find a ship's position at sea.

Eleanor married a captain of a ship, Josiah Perkins Creesy, in eighteen forty-one. It was not unusual for a ship captain to take his wife with him on long trips. A captain's wife often acted as a nurse, which Eleanor did. But she did a lot more. Josiah Creesy quickly learned that his wife was an extremely good navigator.

Eleanor was the navigator on each ship that Josiah commanded during all their years at sea. They were husband and wife, but they also enjoyed working together.

VOICE ONE:

Eleanor and Josiah Creesy are forever linked to one of the most famous ships in American history. That ship is the Flying Cloud. It was designed and built at the shipyard of Donald McKay in the eastern city of Boston. Grinell, Minturn and Company bought it. Captain Creesy worked for Grinell, Minturn. Company officials chose him to be the captain of the new ship.

The Flying Cloud was a new kind of ship. The front was very narrow and sharp. This helped it cut through the water. The ship itself was narrow and long. This also added to its speed. A New York newspaper wrote a story about the ship when it was new. The paper said it was extremely beautiful. The world soon learned it was one of the fastest sailing ships ever built.

The large number of sails the Flying Cloud could carry increased the speed of the ship. It usually carried at least twenty-one large sails. The crew often added many more to increase the speed.

VOICE TWO:

It was the second day of June, eighteen fifty-one. Goods and passengers had been loaded on the Flying Cloud. The ship quietly sailed out of New York City on its way to San Francisco.

Very quickly it became evident the ship was special. Part of Eleanor Creesy's work was to find out how far the ship had traveled each day. This involved doing complex mathematics and usually took Eleanor several hours. The first time she completed her work, she could not believe the results. She did the mathematics again, carefully looking for mistakes. There were none.

The ship had traveled almost four hundred eighty kilometers in twenty-four hours. This was an extremely fast speed. Few ships had ever sailed this fast.

VOICE ONE:

The captain of a ship keeps a written record of each day's events when a ship is at sea. This record is called a ship's log. On May fifteenth, just seventeen days after leaving New York, Captain Creesy wrote this in the Flying Cloud's log:

"We have passed the Equator in two days less time than ever before. We have traveled five thousand nine hundred and nine kilometers in seventeen days!"

As the Flying Cloud sailed south, each day was extremely exciting. As it neared the South Atlantic, however, storms began to cause great concern.

For Eleanor Creesy to learn the correct position of the ship each day, she had to be able to see the sun, the moon or stars. This was impossible when the ship entered an area of storms. It was then that her greatest skill as a navigator became extremely important.

VOICE TWO:

When bad weather prevented navigators from seeing the sun, moon or stars, they had to use a method called "dead reckoning" to find the ship's position.

Dead reckoning is not exact. A navigator would take the last known position of the ship, then add the ship's speed. The navigator also had to add any movement of the ship to the side caused by waves or the wind. But this information was only a guess. Even a good navigator could be wrong by many kilometers.

If a ship was sailing in the middle of the ocean, a navigator could make mistakes using dead reckoning and no harm would be done. However, when a ship was near land, dead reckoning became extremely dangerous. The ship might be much closer to land than the navigator knew. In a storm, the ship could be driven on to land and severely damaged or sunk. Using dead reckoning near the southern most area of South America called for an expert.

The Flying Cloud was near land at the end of the South American continent. Eleanor Creesy used all her skill to find a safe path for the huge ship.

VOICE ONE:

Captain Creesy was responsible for the safety of the Flying Cloud, the passengers and crew. He would be blamed for any serious accident. Most captains did their own navigating. Perhaps no other captain sailing at that time would think to have a woman do this extremely important work. However, Josiah Creesy never questioned his wife's sailing directions.

He would often stand on the deck of his ship, in the cold rain and fierce winds. He would shout below to Missus Creesy and ask for a new sailing direction. She would quickly do the work required for a new dead reckoning direction and pass the information to her husband. Captain Creesy would give the orders to turn the big ship.

VOICE TWO:

The storm began to grow. The crew put out the fires used for heat and cooking. Fire was a great danger at sea. No fires were ever permitted on a ship during a storm. Not even lamps were lit. Everyone ate cold food. The temperatures were now near freezing.

Hour after hour Eleanor Creesy worked to find the ship's dead reckoning position.

When the storm ended, the crew of the Flying Cloud could see the very southern coast of South America -- a place called Tierra del Fuego. They could see the snow-covered mountains and huge amounts of blue ice. It was an area of deadly beauty. And, it was only eight kilometers away. Eleanor Creesy had guided the ship perfectly.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Flying Cloud sailed north toward San Francisco traveling at speeds no one thought possible. On July thirty-first, the ship traveled six hundred and one kilometers in only twenty-four hours. No ship had ever sailed that far in one day. The Flying Cloud had set a world record. That record belonged to the ship, the crew, the captain and the navigator.

On August thirty-first, the Flying Cloud sailed into San Francisco Bay. The Flying Cloud had set a record for sailing from New York to San Francisco. It made the trip in eighty-nine days, and twenty-one hours. Newspapers across the country spread the news. Josiah and Eleanor Creesy were famous. Newspapers wrote stories about them and their beautiful ship. People wanted to meet them. But soon the two were back at sea.Two years later Captain Creesy and his wife again took the Flying Cloud from New York to San Francisco.

This time they made the trip in eighty-nine days, eight hours. This record would stand unbroken for more than one hundred years.

VOICE TWO:

Josiah and Eleanor Creesy went on to sail in other ships. They continued to work as a team until they left the sea in eighteen sixty-four. They retired to their home in Massachusetts.

Captain Josiah Creesy died in June of eighteen seventy-one. His wife lived until the beginning of the new century. She died at the age of eighty-five, in August of nineteen hundred.

Eleanor Creesy is remembered by anyone who loves the history of the sea. She is honored for her great skill as navigator of the Flying Cloud, one of the fastest sailing ships the world has ever seen.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Cynthia Kirk. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. You can read scripts and download audio on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Visiting the Galapagos and the Unusual Creatures That Live There
The islands off the Ecuadoran coast are threatened by too many invasive species, including humans. Transcript of radio broadcast: 15 December 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the unusual creatures that live there.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Bartolome Island

The nineteen islands that make up the Galapagos lie along the equator one thousand kilometers west of Ecuador. The islands are named for the giant tortoises that live there. Galapagos has been called "a living museum and showcase of evolution." The animals on the islands influenced British nature scientist Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution by natural selection.

In nineteen seventy-eight, the islands were the first place named to the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In two thousand seven UNESCO added the islands to its World Heritage in Danger list. The main reason is the increase in the number of visitors to the islands.

The World Heritage Committee said increased tourism, immigration and invasive species threaten the animals of the Galapagos. Many of these animals are found nowhere else in the world. The committee noted that the number of days spent by passengers on ships in the area has increased by one hundred fifty percent in the last fifteen years. More than one hundred seventy thousand people visited the islands last year.

VOICE TWO:

Increased tourism has brought thousands of workers from Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands to seek jobs. Some workers have brought non-native animals like dogs, cats, pigs and goats. These animals compete for food with the islands' native animals. Some also attack the native animals. And the waste produced by the islands' growing human population places an increased threat on the wildlife.

The Ecuadorian government has tried to enforce severe limits on the number of Ecuadorians who move to the islands. But many Ecuadorians have criticized the government's efforts. They feel they have the right to live on the islands to make a better living.

VOICE ONE:

A new report in the journal Global Change Biology says the ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands has changed forever. This destruction is due to human activity in addition to warming water temperatures and overfishing.

Researchers who wrote the report say at least forty-five species are now extremely threatened. And they say that it is likely that two species are probably gone forever. These are the Galapagos damsel fish, and the twenty-four rayed sunstar.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Mystery always has been part of the Galapagos Islands. In fifteen thirty-five, a ship carrying the Roman Catholic Bishop of Panama came upon the Galapagos accidentally. Tomas de Berlanga named the Galapagos group the Enchanted Isles. He was surprised to see land turtles that weighed more than two hundred kilograms and were more than one meter long.

He said they were so large each could carry a man on its back. Bishop Berlanga also noted the unusual soil of the islands. He suggested that one island was so rocky it seemed like stones had rained from the sky.

VOICE ONE:

Charles Darwin as a young man

Ecuador took official possession of the islands in eighteen thirty-two. The British nature scientist Charles Darwin is mainly responsible for the fame of the Galapagos Islands. He visited the islands in eighteen thirty-five. He collected plants and animals from several islands. After many years of research, he wrote the book "The Origin of Species" in eighteen fifty-nine. He developed the theory of evolution that life on Earth developed through the process of natural selection.

The book changed the way people think about how living things developed and became different over time. Darwin said the Galapagos brought people near "to that great fact -- that mystery of mysteries -- the first appearance of new beings on earth."

One hundred years later, in nineteen fifty-nine, the Ecuadorian government declared almost all of the islands a national park. The Charles Darwin Foundation was formed the same year to study and protect the plants and animals on the islands.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

More than one hundred twenty-five landmasses make up the Galapagos. But only nineteen are large enough to be considered islands. Scientists have been wondering for years about the position of the Galapagos in the Pacific Ocean. Scientists used to think that the islands were connected to the South American mainland and floated out to sea slowly.

Today, most scientists think the islands were always where they are now. But they think the islands once were a single landmass under water. Volcanic activity broke the large island into pieces that came to the surface of the sea over time.

VOICE ONE:

But scientists wonder how animals arrived on Galapagos if the islands were always so far from the mainland. Scientists think most Galapagos plants and animals floated to the islands. When rivers flood in South America, small pieces of land flow into the ocean. These rafts can hold trees and bushes. The rafts also can hold small mammals and reptiles. The adult Galapagos tortoise clearly is too big for a trip hundreds of kilometers across the ocean. But, turtle eggs or baby turtles would be small enough to float to the islands.

VOICE TWO:

Marine iguana

The Galapagos Islands are home to many unusual birds, reptiles and small mammals. Some of the animals live nowhere else on Earth. The tortoise is the most famous Galapagos reptile. But the marine iguana is also unusual. It is the only iguana in the world that goes into the ocean. It can dive at least fifteen meters below the ocean surface. And it can stay down there for more than thirty minutes.

In two thousand nine scientists confirmed the discovery of a new species of iguana. This pink iguana is believed to be a more ancient form of the species than other known iguanas on the islands. This newly discovered iguana has a pink head with black stripes on its body.

Several strange birds also live on the Galapagos. One of them is the only penguin that lives on the equator. Another is the frigate bird. It has loose skin on its throat that it can blow up into a huge red balloon-like structure. It does this to attract females that make observation flights over large groups of males.

VOICE ONE:

The Galapagos also are noted for a bird that likes water better than land or air. The cormorant is able to fly in all the other places it lives around the world. But the Galapagos cormorant has extremely short wings. They cannot support flight. But they work well for swimming.

The islands also have a large collection of small birds called Darwin's finches. Charles Darwin studied the finches carefully when he visited the Galapagos in eighteen thirty-five. He separated the birds by the shapes of their beaks. He discovered that finches that lived in different places and ate different foods had different shaped beaks.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Lonesome George

But the most famous animals on the Galapagos Islands are the thousands of giant tortoises. And the most famous of these is the one that scientists call Lonesome George because he is the last of his kind.

He has been called the rarest creature on Earth. At one time, the islands were home to about fifteen different kinds of land turtles. The largest island, Isabela, has five different kinds of tortoises. But, Lonesome George is not one of them. He comes from a smaller island called Pinta.

Scientists found George in nineteen seventy-one. Humans and non-native animals had caused much damage to the environment on his island. Some animals and plants had disappeared. Lonesome George was the only tortoise found on Pinta.

VOICE ONE:

Scientists took the tortoise to the Charles Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz Island. They wanted to help him find a female tortoise for mating to produce baby tortoises. The scientists had been successful in similar efforts for thousands of other tortoises.

The researchers placed George in the same living area as females from the nearby island of Isabela. Scientists thought George would be more closely related to the females from Isabela than to other Galapagos tortoises. In two thousand eight, George surprised scientists by mating for the first time in thirty-six years.

Scientists took the eggs to a laboratory where they could be protected and closely observed. Unfortunately, the eggs were later found to be infertile. But new eggs have appeared in two nests over the past year. Although he is between ninety and one hundred years old, George may yet become a father. So, there is still hope that in the near future, George will not be quite as "lonesome" anymore.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Transcripts and archives of our shows are at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Cliffhanger: Rock Climbing as Sport and Art
There are several kinds of climbing. The activity takes strength, control and good balance. A recent study found an increase in climbing injuries between 1990 and 2007. Transcript of radio broadcast: 08 December 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

Climbing in the Adirondack Mountains in New York State

And I'm Bob Doughty with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Some people say the higher you climb, the harder you fall. But those people probably would not be rock climbers. The sport, science and art of rock climbing is our subject this week.

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VOICE ONE:

An estimated nine million people rock climb in the United States. Millions more take part in the activity around the world. Some do it just for personal satisfaction. Others compete. Rock climbing can be dangerous. But there are many methods and protective devices that can increase a climber's safety.

Climbing takes strength, control and good balance. Climbers have to pull themselves straight up the face of very high rocks or walls. So they have to be strong enough to carry their own weight. And climbers sometimes have to hold on to rocks by only their fingers or toes.

VOICE TWO:

There are several kinds of rock climbing. Traditional rock climbing is done outside. Climbers wear ropes and attach devices to the rocks as they climb many hundreds of meters up. They also connect their ropes to the devices. If a climber slips, a rope can stop him from falling.

Sport climbing is similar. However, in those cases the protective devices are permanently placed in the rock. There is also indoor climbing. Rock walls made of wood or concrete have places for the climber's hands and feet.

Ice climbing is exactly as it sounds. People climb glaciers or frozen waterfalls instead of rocks. They use special equipment for the ice.

And then there is bouldering – climbing rocks between three and seven meters high. It is a quicker and more intense kind of climbing. Many climbers like bouldering because they can use less equipment. Climbers often need only special shoes and chalk. All climbers use chalk to keep their hands dry.

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VOICE ONE:

Most rocks have cracks and holes and parts that stick out. Climbers use these for footholds and handholds. Sometimes the rock curves into an overhang. Then a climber has to try to move sideways as she moves forward to try to avoid hanging completely upside down.

A climber uses a hand hold

Climbers use their legs to climb. They try not to pull themselves up with their hands or arms. Arms and hands are for position and balance. Climbers often need to lock their bodies to the rock with one small finger hold.

People almost always climb in groups of two or more. Climbing alone, or "solo climbing," is very dangerous. Expert rock climbers say only the very best in the sport should do it.

VOICE TWO:

In a group climb, the first climber is the lead climber. He has a rope attached to his harness. The harness goes around the middle of the climber's body and in between his legs. The second climber is called the belayer. The lead climber's rope goes through a belay device. It is attached to the belayer's harness. The belayer then gives more rope up to the lead climber as he moves up the rock.

The lead climber attaches his rope to devices in the rock as he climbs up. If he falls, he is protected by the rope connected to the devices and the belayer. But, the lead climber can only do this for about twenty-five meters, the length of the climbing ropes. If the lead climber were injured in a fall from any higher up, the belayer could not get him down. Later, the lead climber and the belayer change places. They meet where the first climber has stopped. Then they start to climb again.

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VOICE ONE:

Sarah Bowman is a twenty-six-year-old rock climber in Alexandria, Virginia. She started climbing a year and a half ago. Her first experience with the sport probably was not the usual kind. It was during a visit to Alaska.

SARAH BOWMAN: "So, I ran a marathon and two days later I went ice climbing on a glacier. And, then I decided to come back home and see if there was a gym, so…"

She says she fell in love with the sport.

SARAH BOWMAN: "It's sort of like a world on its own. There's no other sport where you're really going up and down. Everything else is across the ground. In basketball you go up a little bit, but not anywhere near as cool. So I think most people love it or hate it. There's really no in between."

Miz Bowman continued her training.

SARAH BOWMAN: "So, I'm also now a wilderness EMT so it's totally a good thing to have when you're out rock climbing."

VOICE ONE:

A Sportrock member climbing

Miz Bowman works at an indoor climbing center. She says all climbers go to these centers in the winter when it is too cold to climb outdoors. At indoor centers, climbers have many different paths they can use to get to the top of the walls. The possibilities are marked by tape of different colors. If you start a path of one color you must continue to use only toe and handholds marked with that color. The different paths have different levels of difficulty. While our reporter was there, Sarah Bowman succeeded at a personal best.

VOICE TWO:

The Sportrock Climbing Center is busy even at nine-thirty on a Monday night. An equal number of young men and women crowd around several different climbing walls. Climbers stretch their bodies in ways that do not seem possible while hanging in positions that do not seem to obey the laws of physics. They try to move as silently up the wall as they can. Sarah Bowman says being quiet is considered an important climbing skill. However, fans on the ground cheer them on as they climb up the wall.

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VOICE ONE:

This past summer the rock climbing world mourned the loss of one of its greatest stars. John Bachar was fifty-two years old when he fell from Dike Wall near his home in Mammoth Lakes, California. He was doing what he was famous for -- free-solo climbing. This is climbing without protection and alone.

John Bachar was born in Los Angeles and became famous in Yosemite Valley in California. That area of Yosemite National Park is the traditional international center of rock climbing.

Mister Bachar started free-solo climbing in the nineteen seventies. He was a member of a group of climbers called the Stonemasters. Another climber, John Lang, suggested Bachar free-solo an area called Double Cross, in Joshua Tree National Park, California. John Bachar accepted the dare and never looked back.

By nineteen eighty-one, John Bachar proposed a dare himself. He offered ten thousand dollars to anyone willing to follow him on a one-day climb without a rope. No one accepted.

VOICE TWO:

Dean Fidelman is a professional rock climber who was a close friend of John Bachar. We spoke to Mister Fidelman as he was climbing. He said John Bachar often compared himself to a dancer who was always working on his dance. Mister Bachar was known for his slow, smooth and controlled movements while climbing.

Dean Fidelman said that he believes a climber's ego can be his worst enemy on a rock. He said rock climbing is a high risk sport in which many people overestimate their abilities and underestimate the rock.

VOICE ONE:

A recent study found an increase in climbing injuries between 1990 and 2007

A recent study shows a sharp increase in rock climbing injuries between nineteen ninety and two thousand seven. The Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio did the study. It was published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. The study found a sixty-three percent increase in the number of people treated for rock climbing injuries in American hospitals.

The study said forty thousand people were treated in emergency rooms. The most common injuries were broken bones and sprains in legs and feet. The ankle was the most common body part to be injured.

Climbers in the study were from ages two to seventy-four. The average age was twenty-six. Fifty-six percent of the injuries were to people twenty to thirty-nine years old. Women made up twenty-nine percent of the injured population. That is more than in past rock climbing studies.

VOICE TWO:

Like many other sports, rock climbing can be dangerous. But many people think it is worth it. John Bachar said rock climbing felt like being on another planet. Dean Fidelman says it is a continual challenge and a beautiful form of movement. And, for Sarah Bowman, she has just started her way up the rocks.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Caty Weaver and Marisel Salazar. Dana Demange was the producer. I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty. You can download podcasts and comment on our programs at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Somewhere a Language Dies Every Two Weeks
Over half of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 December 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we travel far and wide to learn about some of the rarest languages in the world. Experts say over half of the world's seven thousand languages are in danger of disappearing. Every two weeks one language disappears.

As the last speakers of a language die off, the valuable information contained within a language also disappears. Join us as we learn about the cultural value of language and why endangered languages must be protected.

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VOICE ONE:

Greg Anderson, left, and David Harrison with Patricia Ahchoo one of the last speakers of both the Bardi and Jawi languages in Australia

Greg Anderson, left, and David Harrison with Patricia Ahchoo, one of the last speakers of both Bardi and Jawi in Australia

What would happen if you were the only person left who spoke your language? Who would you share stories with, sing songs to, or exchange jokes with? Who would understand your names for local plants, animals and traditions? This is the example David Harrison and Gregory Anderson use to explain the situation of many people around the world whose local languages are disappearing. Mister Harrison and Mister Anderson head Living Tongues, an organization that studies and protects endangered languages.

VOICE TWO:

Sometimes a language disappears immediately when the last person speaking it dies. Or, a local language might disappear more slowly. This happens when an official language is used more often and children stop learning the local language of their parents. This is not a new process. Official languages often represent a form of control over a group of people.

Throughout history, the language spoken by a powerful group spreads across a civilization. The more powerful culture rarely respects the language and culture of smaller ethnic groups. So, smaller cultures lose their local language as the language of the culture in power becomes the stronger influence.

VOICE ONE:

For example, many native languages in the Russian area of Siberia are threatened. This is largely because of the hostile language policies of the former Soviet Union that forced the use of Russian as the official language.

The Internet could be thought of as a new method of language control. The United Nations cultural organization, UNESCO, says that ninety percent of the world's languages are not represented on the Internet.

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VOICE TWO:

Experts say protecting languages is very important for many reasons. Languages contain the histories, ideas and knowledge of a culture. Languages also contain valuable information about local medicines, plants and animals.

David Harrison and Gregory Anderson of Living Tongues say that many endangered languages are spoken by native cultures in close contact with the natural world. Their ancient languages contain a great deal of information about environmental systems and species of plants and animals that are unknown to scientists.

VOICE ONE:

Each language also shows how a culture organizes information. For example, one word in the native language Carrier spoken in British Colombia means "he gives me an object like the fruit blueberries." In the Nivkh language of Siberia, each number can be said twenty-six different ways based on the object being counted. And, in one language in Botswana, there are three main kinds of plants and animals: edible "eat-things", harmful "bite-things" and "useless things."

Here Gregory Anderson talks about why languages are important:

GREGORY ANDERSON: "Language is in many ways, a window to the mind. What these languages contain are all kinds of ways that we structure the world. Language is a way of storing the history of a people. Languages reflect a different historical contact with other groups, for example, in the form of loan words that get borrowed from one language into another. And, for people that have no written history, language can be one of the ways that that history can be gotten at just by looking carefully at the different layers in the language."

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VOICE TWO:

The Living Tongues group has partnered with National Geographic to create the Enduring Voices Project. The goal of the project is to increase public attention about endangered languages and to study and document them. The project also works to prevent languages from dying out by identifying the most threatened areas where languages are disappearing. These "hotspot" areas include Northern Australia, Central South America, Eastern Siberia and parts of the United States and Canada.

VOICE ONE:

Speakers of the Maka language studied by Enduring Voices in Paraguay

Speakers of the Maka language in Paraguay

Enduring Voices recently travelled to Paraguay, a country with many different languages in addition to the main language, Spanish. Very few of these languages have been recorded and scientifically documented. The Enduring Voices team studied three rare languages: Ishir, Toba Qom, and Maka. They made sound recordings of the language and took extensive photographs. Their documentation can be used in the future as a study tool and for language protection efforts, if needed. They also provided a member of the Ybytso Ishir community with training and a Language Technology Kit. With a computer, recorder, and camera, this language activist can work toward creating a dictionary of the Ishir language.

VOICE TWO:

Many languages are also disappearing from the northwestern part of the United States. The languages spoken by native tribes are increasingly endangered as younger generations learn and speak English. One of the most endangered languages is called Siletz Dee-ni. It was spoken on the Siletz reservation, where the tribe lives on a protected area of land within the state of Oregon. The reservation was created in the nineteenth century to hold people from twenty-seven different native groups.

The groups spoke different languages, so they developed Chinook Jargon to communicate with each other. With increased use of Chinook Jargon and English, the number of people speaking their native languages decreased.

VOICE ONE:

Today, only one person on the reservation speaks Siletz Dee-ni, but others are learning. Living Tongues has helped the tribal members create a Siletz Dictionary to preserve knowledge of this language. Here is a recording of several words in the dictionary.

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VOICE TWO:

Here is an example of the secret mixed language of Kallawaya, spoken by male traditional healers in a small community in southern Bolivia.

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Don Max Chura, a Kallawaya language consultant, with linguist Gregory Anderson

Don Max Chura, a Kallawaya language consultant, with linguist Greg Anderson

Kallawaya is a mixed language. It has some grammar structure and words from several other languages that are unknown or that have disappeared. Kallawaya is an ancient language.

Traditional healers spoke the language at least as early as the fifteenth century during the height of the Inca civilization. Why is it a secret language? Kallawaya is passed down within families from father to son as a way of protecting the special knowledge of healers.

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VOICE ONE:

Experts say bringing back threatened languages is not easy, but it is very important work. One example takes place in the American state of Hawaii. The United States first claimed Hawaii as a territory in eighteen ninety-eight. Two years before, the use of the Hawaiian language was banned in private and public schools. English became the official language of Hawaii. Slowly, fewer and fewer young natives learned to speak Hawaiian fluently. The language began to disappear.

William Wilson teaches at the University of Hawaii. He says that in nineteen eighty-six fewer than fifty children in Hawaii could speak their native language fluently. That same year, the language ban was lifted after extended protests by native groups. The Hawaiian language began to be taught again in schools. Mister Wilson says about two thousand children now speak Hawaiian. He says that more importantly, many families now speak Hawaiian at home.

VOICE TWO:

This past summer, the Voice of America held a discussion among experts called "Endangered Languages: Saving Voices Before They Are Lost." Portland State University language expert Tucker Childs attended the event. Mister Childs is currently working on documenting Bom and Kim, two endangered languages in Sierra Leone. His brother, Bart Childs, is a VOA reporter.

Bart Childs made a series of videos that show Tucker Childs and his research team at work trying to save these endangered African languages. The videos show that any hope for protecting languages can be found in children and their willingness to learn. It is these young people who can keep this form of culture alive for future generations.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can learn more about Living Tongues and the Enduring Voices Project and find a link to Bart Childs' videos on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Global Hip-Hop Music with a Message
Hip-hop artists sing about important social issues for young people. Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 November 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we tell about more hip-hop music artists who are spreading their messages around the world.

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VOICE ONE:

Hip-hop music is popular around the world. Hip-hop artists created their own Declaration of Peace that is recognized by the United Nations. Socially conscious hip-hop artists spread messages of peace, security, unity, forgiveness and happiness. Often, their songs teach young people about human rights and fighting for their freedoms so they can have a better future.

VOICE TWO:

DAM

DAM is known as the first Palestinian group to sing hip-hop. Members of the group are Tamer Nafar, his younger brother Suhell and Mahmoud Jreri. They lived in the poor area of Lod, just outside Tel Aviv. It is a town where both Israeli Jews and Arabs live.

The group's music is influenced by the Israeli and Palestinian conflict as well as social issues that affect people's freedoms. In an interview with Time Magazine, Tamer Nafar said that the conflict is their life and their window; whatever they see, they write about. They also sing about issues such as terrorism, violence linked to illegal drugs and women's rights. The group sings in Arabic, English and Hebrew.

DAM hopes to teach young people about their history and rights. They tell children not to be influenced by other people, but to learn on their own what is right and what is wrong. Children sing with them on the song Ng'Ayer Bukra, which means Change Tomorrow. The children sing that they want education and the ability to change tomorrow.

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VOICE ONE:

Hadag Nahash

The Israeli group Hadag Nahash also sings about the Palestinian and Israeli conflict in some of their songs. Other songs deal with issues like racism, women's rights, Israeli economics, class divisions and politics. They want young people to question the issues that affect them and the future of Israeli society. Their political songs have caused public debates in Israeli newspapers, radio and television stations, and even Israel's parliament.

In the thirteen years the group has been together, Hadag Nahash has produced five CDs and has performed around the world. Many people have become interested in the band because of their song called "The Sticker Song."

The song includes words from stickers that are placed on cars in Israel. These bumper stickers are usually about political issues.

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VOICE TWO:

Socially conscious hip-hop has become a popular form of music around the world. It is possible that every country has at least one or two socially conscious hip-hop singers or groups. However, sometimes it is not easy to learn about these artists. Their music is suppressed in countries where freedom of expression is limited. These artists fear that they will get in trouble with the government if they sing about political issues. Some musicians do sing about political and social issues in suppressed societies. However, these musicians often sing in secret and their music is not widely known.

VOICE ONE:

In China, rap or hip-hop has become a popular form of music. The musicians sing in Cantonese, Mandarin or other local languages. Many artists sing about issues that affect them and their Chinese listeners.

Young Kin

Some artists sing about social issues, but they do not sing about political issues or the government. Andreas Hwang, also called Young Kin, told VOA that he is at ease with performing or singing songs that include political and social issues. He said that if his musical career in China were to end, he could continue it somewhere else.

Young Kin was born in Switzerland, but moved to China at a young age. In the past, he has said that making political statements in music could result in the end of your job as a singer, being put in jail or being forced to leave the country. Young Kin believes that the socially conscious hip-hop movement will become more widespread in China after Chinese society goes through changes.

VOICE TWO:

In Brazil, artists use hip-hop to express social inequalities and racial issues. In the largest city, Sao Paulo, one of the oldest hip-hop groups is Racionais MC's. They started their music group in nineteen eighty-eight. Their songs are about social injustices in the city, including police violence against young people.

Many of their songs are about people living in poor areas called favelas. The members, Mano Brown, Ice Blue, Edy Rock and DJ KL Jay, all lived in favelas. The singers are also activists for the work and goals of their songs. In nineteen ninety-two Racionais MC's joined forces with Brazil's Ministry of Education. They visited schools to teach people about life in the favelas, including issues related to drugs, police violence, poverty and racism. They have also used their music to earn money for health clinics, youth sports programs and schools. In two thousand nine they released their sixth album called Ta Na Chuva.

VOICE ONE:

Marcelo D2

In Rio de Janeiro, a famous hip-hop artist called Marcelo D2 also lived in a favela. However, when he turned thirteen he left the area to work. Some of his friends who remained in the favelas were killed in gun battles with criminal groups. His first productions in hip-hop were in nineteen ninety-five in a group called Planet Hemp. Three years later he left the group and produced his own album. His songs are about his life experiences. Marcelo D2 became famous when he created a new form of hip-hop by mixing it with the Brazilian music called samba.

Marcelo D2 has performed with famous American hip-hop artists such as will-i-am from the Black Eyed Peas. He has also performed with the famous Brazilian musician Sergio Mendes.

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VOICE TWO:

Wyclef Jean is one of the top socially conscious hip-hop artists in the world. Wyclef was born in Haiti. At the age of nine he moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York and later to New Jersey. He was a member of the hip-hop group called the Fugees with Lauryn Hill and Prakazrel Samuel Michel, also known as Pras.

Wyclef has since released seven of his own CDs and will have an eighth coming out in January. Wyclef's songs are a mix of social and political issues as well as entertainment. Many of his songs are about the life of refugees or immigrants in the United States. Wyclef brings attention to the injustices some immigrants experience in the United States.

VOICE ONE:

In two thousand five, Wyclef formed the Yeli Haiti Foundation.

Wyclef Jean

The foundation works on issues such as education, health, environment and community development. It also works with the World Food Organization and the Pan American Development Foundation to help Haitians, especially after the food shortage riots last year. In two thousand seven, Haitian President Rene Preval appointed Wyclef a traveling ambassador to represent the country. Recently, Wyclef travelled to Haiti with former President Bill Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon .

This past summer, the Black Entertainment Television network, BET, honored Wyclef with its Award for Humanitarian Work. And Wyclef was named hip-hop's unofficial multicultural conscience.

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VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Kim Varzi and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Doug Johnson. You can download podcasts and comment on our programs at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Jane Goodall: Still Hard at Work for the Chimps
Today, she continues her efforts through her foundation and her new book. Transcript of radio broadcast: 17 November 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Doug Johnson.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Jane Goodall is one of the most well known scientists in the world. She has spent most of her career studying wild chimpanzees in a protected area of Tanzania called Gombe National Park. Over the past fifty years, she has made very important discoveries about the social behavior of chimpanzees.

Today, Miz Goodall spends most of her time traveling around the world speaking about wildlife protection and working to build support for her foundation. She recently wrote a book about endangered animals.

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VOICE ONE:

Ever since she was a child growing up in England, Jane Goodall dreamed of working with wild animals.

JANE GOODALL: "As long as I can remember, it was animals, animals. Even before I could talk, I was watching earthworms and things, reading Doctor Doolittle books, wanting to learn the language of animals. Then finding the books about Tarzan, falling in love with Tarzan."

When she was about eleven years old, she decided that she wanted to go to Africa to live with and write about animals. But this was not the kind of thing young women growing up in the nineteen forties usually did.

JANE GOODALL: "Apart from my mother, everybody laughing, she would say if you really want something, you work hard, you take advantage of opportunity, you never give up, you find a way. So, eventually a school friend invited me to Africa."

VOICE TWO:

In nineteen fifty-seven, Jane Goodall traveled to Africa. She soon met the well-known scientist Louis Leakey and began working for him as an assistant. He later asked her to study a group of chimpanzees living by a lake in Tanzania. Very little was known about wild chimpanzees at the time. Mister Leakey believed that learning more about these animals could help explain the evolutionary past of humans.

JANE GOODALL: "That led to this extraordinary opportunity to study, not just any animal, but chimpanzees. I wouldn't have aspired to that. I mean, I had no degree. I wasn't qualified, I thought. He thought differently."

VOICE ONE:

Louis Leakey thought Jane Goodall would be a perfect candidate for the job. She had spent much of her time reading and writing about animals. And, she was not a trained biologist. He believed this would keep her mind open to new discoveries.

Observing chimps was not easy work. They were very shy and would run away whenever Miz Goodall came near. She learned to watch them from far away using binoculars. Over time, she slowly gained their trust. She gave the chimps human names such as David Graybeard, Flo and Fifi.

VOICE TWO:

Giving the chimps human names was a very unusual method. Most researchers would have identified the animals using numbers instead of names. But Miz Goodall believed that to understand animal behavior, the observer had to see the animals as individuals, not as interchangeable objects. Watching the chimps, she learned that they have very different personalities, with complex family and social relationships.

Jane Goodall in 1964

Early on in her work at Gombe Miz Goodall made some very important and surprising discoveries. For example, many people then believed that chimpanzees only ate vegetables and fruits. But she observed that they were also meat eaters and skilled hunters. A few weeks later, she made an even more surprising discovery. She saw chimps making and using tools to help them trap insects.

JANE GOODALL: "I suppose the first really significant thing that the world heard about was chimpanzees using and making tools. It was thought that only humans did this and that this set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom."

VOICE ONE:

Jane Goodall wrote Louis Leakey to tell him about her discovery. He responded by saying: "Now we must redefine 'tool', redefine 'man', or accept chimpanzees as human."

Up to this point, Jane Goodall still did not have a degree. She returned to England to begin working towards a doctorate in animal behavioral science. She received her degree from Cambridge University in nineteen sixty-five.

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VOICE TWO:

Jane Goodall spent many years studying chimps in this area of Tanzania. Today, the research program at Gombe represents one of the longest continuous wildlife studies in the world.

Miz Goodall has written many books for adults and children about wild chimpanzees. Her scientific research was published in the book "The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior."

It explains her discoveries about chimp behavior, including the extremely close relationship between mother and child. She describes the chimps' intelligence, their hunting activities and their sometimes extremely aggressive behavior.

VOICE ONE:

Baby chimpanzees are cared for at the Jane Goodall Institute's Tchimpounga sanctuary

Although she has spent her life trying to protect chimps in their natural environment, these animals are still very much in danger. Miz Goodall says when she began working in Tanzania, there were between one and two million chimps in the wild. Today, she says there are about three hundred thousand at the most.

JANE GOODALL: "It's different in different countries. Chimps are in twenty-one nations. In countries like Tanzania, it's simply habitat destruction. But when we come to where the large significant populations are, which is the Congo basin, then we find that it's the bush meat trade that's the commercial hunting of wild animals for food. And, it's made possible by the logging companies, foreign logging companies, opening up the forest with roads."

VOICE TWO:

The destruction of the chimp's natural environment led Miz Goodall to give her full attention to protection efforts. She spends about three hundred days out of the year traveling around the world to discuss her many projects and goals. She talks about the efforts of the Jane Goodall Institute which she started in nineteen seventy-seven. Its aim is to increase public understanding of great apes through research, education, and activism.

The group teaches local communities how to manage their resources in ways that help them economically and protect the environment. It also has a sanctuary where baby chimps whose parents have been killed by hunters can receive treatment and protection.

VOICE ONE:

Jane Goodall and Roots & Shoots members plant trees

The Institute's "Roots and Shoots" program is aimed at getting young people interested in environmental activism and leadership. The group has helped connect young people who are interested in working to save animals and the environment.

JANE GOODALL: "Hundreds of thousands of young people around the world can break through and make this a better world for all living things. Main message? Each one of us makes a difference every single day we impact the world around us and if we would just think about the consequences of the little choices we make -- what we eat, wear, buy, how we interact with people, animals, the environment --then we start making small changes and that can lead to the huge change that we must have."

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VOICE TWO:

Jane Goodall's most recent book is called "Hope for Animals and Their World." It tells about efforts to save several species of endangered animals.

JANE GOODALL: "I think the one story that inspired this book was meeting a wonderful man called Don Mertin in New Zealand and he explaining to me how he had saved a species of bird called a Black Robin when there were just seven individuals left in the world of which only two were female and only one of whom was fertile."

VOICE ONE:

Some of the species Miz Goodall discusses in the book have completely disappeared in the wild, and are only alive because they have been bred in captivity.

The California condor is another such example. This huge bird used to live along the West Coast of North America. By the nineteen eighties, there were only a few condors left in the wild. In a disputed decision, officials took the wild condors into captivity so that their breeding could be supervised and protected. The goal of such programs is to later place the species back into the wild. But preparing the captive bred condors to live in the wild again has not been easy. Threats the condors face in the wild include lead poisoning and mistaking trash for food.

VOICE TWO:

Other species in the book still exist in the wild, but are endangered. One example Jane Goodall discusses is the Golden Lion Tamarin. She tells about the hard work of a group of researchers who have successfully released these monkeys back into protected areas of Brazil. Her book shows what is possible when people come together to work cooperatively to save animals.

VOICE ONE:

Jane Goodall has said that it is often easy to feel upset about the destruction of the natural world. But her overall message has always been one of hope.

She says her hope comes from her belief in four things: the human brain, the human spirit, nature's strength and the energy of young people. She says people are starting to use their minds to solve the world's many problems and make wiser and more responsible choices. And, she believes in the strength of the human spirit which allows people to reach goals which might otherwise seem impossible.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Doug Johnson. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

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On the Great Lakes, Not Just the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Weather and accidents have sunk even the biggest ships sailing on these important waterways between the U.S. and Canada. Transcript of radio broadcast: 10 November 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

This week, we tell about the biggest system of freshwater lakes in the world, the Great Lakes between the United States and Canada. They are busy shipping paths. They are also known for fierce and deadly storms. Today, we tell about the lakes and some famous shipwrecks.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

A painting of Etienne Brule by F.S. Challener

Even before European explorers first saw the Great Lakes, they provided Native Americans with a way to transport goods. Probably the first European to see and explore the Great Lakes was Frenchman Etienne Brule in the early sixteen hundreds. He lived among the Huron Indians. All but one of the Great Lakes has a name from Native American languages: Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario. The biggest lake, Superior, was named by the French. But the Ojibwe Indians knew it as Gitchigumi, or "big water."

VOICE TWO:

The Great Lakes are part of a waterway that extends from the Atlantic Ocean to the center of North America. Ships can enter the Saint Lawrence River on the east coast of Canada and travel to Chicago, Illinois or Duluth, Minnesota.

Vessels on the Great Lakes are not called ships, but boats. However, boats on the lakes can be huge. The newest of the lake freighters is over three hundred meters long.

The Griffin was the one of the first sailing vessel on the Great Lakes and also among the first shipwrecks. French explorer and trader Rene-Robert Cavelier De La Salle, built it in sixteen seventy-nine. The boat set sail from an island in northern Lake Michigan. La Salle reached what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. He sent the boat back home with a load of animal fur. No one ever saw the Griffin again. The loss of the Griffin established a long tradition of danger and mystery linked to Great Lakes travel.

VOICE ONE:

A boat entering the Soo Locks

Trade on the lakes increased. Soon, settlers came to the area. They grew crops and harvested wood, sending products to markets by boat. Then, expanding communities needed coal which was also shipped.

In the eighteen forties, iron ore was discovered in the Marquette Mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Iron ore, the main raw material of steel, changed the lakes area and the nation.

In eighteen fifty-five, the first canal connecting Lake Superior with Lake Huron was completed at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The Soo Locks linked iron mines near Lake Superior with the cities of Detroit, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio and Chicago, Illinois. Today, the Soo Locks are the world's busiest.

VOICE TWO:

Passenger travel also grew on the Great Lakes. Big steamboats carried hundreds of people between cities. But the threat of fire came with the new steam technology. The worst fire disaster happened on Lake Erie in eighteen fifty.

The G.P. Griffith was traveling from Buffalo, New York to Chicago with about three hundred men, women and children. Many were immigrants from England, Ireland and Germany.

Not far east of Cleveland, a fire broke out. As the flames spread, passengers and crew panicked. More than a hundred people jumped into the lake and drowned. Others burned. Only a few strong swimmers survived. But not a single child and only one woman was saved.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The Lady Elgin

With thousands of boats on the lakes, collisions became a real danger. The deadliest took place in eighteen sixty in southern Lake Michigan. The steamer Lady Elgin was carrying passengers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Chicago to hear a speech by Democratic presidential candidate Stephen Douglas. As many as five to six hundred people were on board, many of Irish ancestry.

A storm blew up on the return trip to Milwaukee. The Augusta, a boat carrying wood, was sailing south at high speed. It struck the Lady Elgin. But the Augusta's Captain D.M. Malott continued on to Chicago, failing to help victims on the passenger boat.

Captain Jack Wilson struggled to save the Lady Elgin. But the boat soon sank. Hundreds of passengers struggled to hold on to the floating wreckage. Powerful waves crashing against a rocky coast drowned many people. The captain fought to save as many people as he could until he too was lost.

Northwestern University student Edward Spencer was another hero. He swam from shore and rescued seventeen people. The wreck of the Lady Elgin remains the worst loss of life on open water in the Great Lakes. Recent studies say four hundred or more people died that night.

VOICE TWO:

The boat William H. Truesdale in a storm on Lake Erie in the 1930s

The William H. Truesdale in a storm on Lake Erie in the 1930s

As the nation's need for steel grew, bigger ships were built to carry iron ore. They sailed on the lakes until late November. Shipping in the upper Great Lakes mostly stops in late fall because of ice. But November storms can be deadly.

The worst weather disaster on the lakes happened in nineteen thirteen. The early November winds reached hurricane force and caused waves eleven meters high. By the time the storm eased, eight big boats were lost on Lake Huron alone. They included the Canadian freighter James Carruthers which disappeared with twenty-two men. Its wreck has never been found. The storm, sometimes called the "Big Blow," killed more than two hundred fifty people.

VOICE ONE:

Some of the biggest boats to ever sail the lakes have been lost in sudden November storms. In nineteen fifty-eight, the Carl D. Bradley was heading home at the end of the shipping season. It first launched thirty years before. At the time, it was the biggest boat on the Lakes. But during a storm on Lake Michigan, the Bradley split in two. Only two of its crew of thirty-five survived.

The Edmund Fitzgerald was launched the same year the Bradley sank. The Fitzgerald was two hundred twenty meters long. It was the biggest boat on the lakes when it entered service. It would become the most famous shipwreck of all.

Canadian folksinger Gordon Lightfoot told the story of the tragedy in "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The Edmund Fitzgerald

On November tenth, nineteen seventy-five, the Fitzgerald was sailing on Lake Superior. It was struggling through a dangerous storm that the old sailors called a "November witch." It had lost its radar and the old lighthouse at Whitefish Point, Michigan was not operating.

Captain Ernest McSorley radioed another freighter, the Arthur Anderson, that his boat was taking on water. He was making for the safety of Whitefish Bay. But that night the weather got worse. The Anderson reported winds of about one hundred forty kilometers an hour and waves ten meters high.

Captain McSorley told the Anderson: "We are holding our own." But that was the last anyone heard from the Edmund Fitzgerald. The boat and twenty-nine men disappeared into Lake Superior minutes later.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Exhibits inside the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point

Tom Farnquist is executive director of the Great Lakes Historical Shipwreck Society. In nineteen ninety-five, he was part of an effort to recover the Fitzgerald's bell. The bronze bell is now preserved at the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Michigan. Each year on November tenth, a ceremony is held there to remember the crew members of the Fitzgerald.

Tom Farnquist knows as much about shipwrecks on the Great Lakes as anyone.

TOM FARNQUIST: "The lakes are very treacherous. There's over six thousand and some estimate as high as anywhere to ten to twelve thousand shipwrecks on the Great Lakes."

VOICE TWO:

Today, thousands of people dive at shipwreck preserves all around the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Historical Shipwreck Society works to preserve and explain the history and importance of the area's wrecks. The group was established in nineteen seventy-eight. It has grown to over one thousand seven hundred members.

Each year, tens of thousands of people visit the shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point. Great Lakes shipwrecks continue to capture the imagination of Americans from all over the country.

Tom Farnquist says shipwrecks are exciting because they preserve a detailed picture of maritime life that can be hundreds of years old. He says Lake Superior may be one of the most interesting places for this kind of exploration.

TOM FARNQUIST: "It's quite a cross-section of American maritime history frozen in time on the Great Lakes. There's probably the best selection of shipwrecks anywhere in the world waiting to be found in Lake Superior."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find a link to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

Learning English MP3

Getting a Feel for Textile Arts Around the World
We visit the studio of B.J. Adams, a fiber artist in Washington. Transcript of radio broadcast: 30 October 2009

VOICE ONE:

I'm Doug Johnson.

B.J. Adams in her studio

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. At craft shows and corporate headquarters across the United States, you might see works by the artist B.J. Adams. She makes extremely detailed wall coverings that often show flowers, trees, and hands made from thread.

Her work "Variations on H" is made up of different colors of finely made hands connected together to form a flowing cloth. How did Miz Adams make this work? Today we answer this question as we explore the world of textile art.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

For thousands of years, people have developed creative ways to produce textiles. A textile is a piece of cloth that has been formed by weaving, knitting, pressing or knotting together individual pieces of fiber. Yarn is a general term for long pieces of interlocked fibers. Yarn can be made from natural materials such as cotton, linen, silk and wool. Or it can be made from manufactured materials such as nylon, acrylic and polyester. The paints that give color to yarn are called dyes.

Many people today might not think much about the shirt, pants, or socks they are wearing. Manufacturing cloth is now a very low cost process. But this was not always the case.

VOICE TWO:

Until the nineteenth century, all cloth was made by hand. It took a great deal of time and effort to gather fibers from plants or animals to make into yarn which could then be made into cloth. Humans probably first made textiles to meet important needs. These include textiles for keeping warm, creating shelter, and holding goods. But cultures around the world also developed methods of making cloth that were artistic, creative, and beautiful.

Weaving is one way to produce cloth.A set of threads called the warp form the base of the cloth.Other threads called the weft are placed over and under the warp. The device used to weave together warp and weft threads is called a loom. If you look down at a piece of fabric as though it were a map, the warp threads would go in a north-south direction. The weft goes in an east-west direction.

VOICE ONE:

A tapestry is a special kind of weaving method in which the weft does not go continuously through the whole width of the fabric. A weaver uses the weft threads to create individual areas of color. The designs and images on the surface of a tapestry are woven into the cloth as opposed to being only on the surface of the cloth.

Some famous examples of wall tapestries were produced in Europe, starting around the fourteenth century. These include the seven Unicorn Tapestries that are part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

These extraordinarily fine tapestries were made in the early sixteenth century.They were thought to have been designed in Paris and woven in Brussels, then part of the Netherlands.They are so detailed they look more like paintings than weavings. The textiles tell a story about a group of hunters and wealthy people searching for a magical creature.During this period, wealthy people used finely made tapestries to bring color and warmth to their large houses.

VOICE TWO:

Kilims are a kind of tapestry made across North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and the Caucasus. Kilims were often made by tribes that moved from place to place. Kilims were made to cover the floors of tents or to hold goods. In these nomadic cultures, women were usually the weavers. A mother would pass down weaving traditions to her daughter. Kilims are woven with many bright patterns and complex geometric forms. Each tribe or area has its own kilim traditions.

Another method for making floor coverings involves tying pieces of yarn onto the warp. Unlike kilims, these "pile" carpets are not flat, they are deep and soft because their surfaces are covered with the ends of thousands of pieces of yarn. These carpets are often called "Oriental" or "Persian" carpets. The National Gallery in Washington, D.C. has several fine examples of pile carpets from Iran. One red and gold carpet from the seventeenth century has complex patterns and animal designs.

VOICE ONE:

There are more methods for producing artistic textiles than we have time to discuss. For example, in the United States the tradition of making quilts has a long and rich history. Quilts are made by piecing together layers of cloth to make colorful coverings. The Amish religious group is well known for their inventive and bold quilt patterns.

Part of the Bayeux Tapestry

There also many different ways to change the appearance of the surface of a textile.Embroidery work involves using colored yarn and a needle to create designs on the surface of cloth. One famous example of embroidery work is called the Bayeux Tapestry. This eleventh century work is not actually a tapestry. It is a seventy meter long cloth covered in embroidery stitches.

The images sewn on the cloth tell about the events leading up to the Norman invasion of England in ten sixty-six. The work includes hundreds of soldiers, horses, boats, and weapons.

There are also many methods for coloring fabrics with dyes. In Indonesia, the batik method of dying fabric involves using wax to make complex patterns. In Japan, the shibori method involves tieing cloth in different ways so that some areas of it receive the dye. What kind of textile traditions exist where you live?

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

These textile traditions are ancient. Modern artists use these methods and others in creative and inventive ways to make new and exciting work.Artists who make art from textiles are often called fiber artists. We visited the studio of B.J. Adams in Washington, D.C. to see a fiber artist at work.

Double click for full-size

B. J. Adams uses a sewing machine and thread like a painter uses color. She guides the cloth she is working on so that the machine makes stitches and slowly colors the work. This is called free-motion embroidery.

B.J. ADAMS: "I started out with drawing and painting in school. And, I always made all my own clothes. And one time, in nineteen sixty, I started to see contemporary embroidery. And I'd never seen any embroidery except what the Girl Scouts show you. And it was so good and so interesting, I thought it was combining two things I love, art and sewing."

VOICE ONE:

Miz Adams is always testing new ideas and methods. For example, she recently used heat transfers to copy images of paintings she made years ago onto cloth. Usually, she will cover the lines of her drawings using a straight stitch on her sewing machine. But for this series, she is experimenting with a zig-zag stitch that looks like a line made up of angles.

B.J. ADAMS: "I'm doing the whole thing in zig-zag. Just trying something new."

(SOUND)

"Catching the Moment"

VOICE TWO:

Many of her works are influenced by nature, trees, and flowers. Some have a dreamy, surreal look. Others are very realistic. One work shows a large embroidered white magnolia flower sewn onto a painted surface. It is so detailed that unless you look up close, you would think it was a painting.

B.J. ADAMS: "This is one from my drawings of the magnolia, which we have in our backyard. The magnolias die so quickly when you bring them in, so I had to draw it quickly before I started in on the stitching."

VOICE TWO:

Below the flower, Miz Adams embroidered leaves in a range of colors to show how they change as they dry.

"Rebound"

B.J. ADAMS: "They started out this kind of dark kelly and then they go to yellow, green, and brown. It's called "Catching the Moment" because they die so quickly."

VOICE ONE:

Many works by B. J. Adams are abstract. This means there is no image, just an arrangement of forms and colors. One series is based on her time teaching in New Zealand. She used very dense stitches that are very close together to make flowing lines of bright colors.

B.J. ADAMS: "Now that one and this one are both results of bungee jumping in Queenstown. And that's called "Bungee Attitude" and that's called "Rebound."

VOICE TWO:

Other works are influenced by gallery shows that have a set theme.

B.J. ADAMS: "This one is "Variations on K", because this is the word kiss in every language, including sign language. And it was made for a show that had the theme of kiss. And they required this size piece, so that was the one I created."

A detail of "Variation on H" by B.J. Adams

VOICE ONE:

Earlier, we discussed the work "Variations on H." It hangs on a window in her colorful studio. It is made up of about forty drawings of Miz Adams' hands. She made each hand as an example to students while she was teaching a class on drawing using free-motion embroidery. She decided to piece together the hands into one work.

B.J. Adams sewed the drawings onto special fabric which melted away after she washed it. What is left is pure embroidery. This complex work honors the artist's most important tool, her hands. And, it gives a good example of the endless creative possibilities of fiber art.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Doug Johnson.You can see pictures of B. J. Adams' fiber art on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

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