Learning English with American English online: questions in the present tense

Questions in the Present Tense (This lesson is new as of today!) 

To make a question in the present tense, use the helping verbs do or does. In the chart below, the main verb is "walk." For questions, the main verb remains in the simple form.

singular	plural
Do I walk?	Do we walk?
Do you walk?	Do you walk?
Does he walk? Does she walk? Does it walk?	Do they walk?

Do you walk to school?

Does she walk to school?

Do students in your city walk to school?

Present tense questions require the helping verb and the main verb--except when the main verb is "be." (See Blue Level Lesson Three.) Note the helping verb, do or does, changes with the subject.

Here are some present tense questions

for the verb "drive."

Do I drive?
Do you drive?
Does he drive?
Does she drive?
Does it drive?
Do we drive?	I +    you
Do you drive?
Do they drive?

Questions in the Present Tense - Negative

do + subject + not + verb

Singular	Plural
Do I not drive?	Do we not drive?
Do you not drive?	Do you not drive?
Does he not drive?	Do they not drive?
Does she not drive?
Does it not drive?

Contractions:

don't + subject + verb

or

doesn't + subject + verb

(This form is much more popular!)

Singular	Plural
Don't I drive?	Don't we drive?
Don't you drive?	Don't you drive?
Doesn't he drive?	Don't they drive?
Doesn't she drive?
Doesn't it drive?

Practice:

1.  ________ he _________ breakfast? (eat) 2.  ________ the car _________? (run) 3.  ________ you __________ time? (have) 4.  ________ it ________ cold here? (get) 5.  ________ you ________ cold? (feel -- negative) 6.  ________ the students _________ books? (have) 7.  ________ we _________ early tomorrow? (leave) 8.  ________ this _________ good? (taste -- negative) 9.  ________ Maria _________ English? (speak) 10. ________ I __________ you? (know -- negative) answers below

click here for a quiz on the present tense

Remember to keep track of your progress with this checklist.

Source: http://www.learnamericanenglishonline.com/

WEBSITE'S TIP: LEARN AMERICAN ENGLISH ONLINE

Today's website tip is really powerful. I love this interative and dynamic website, LEARN AMERICAN ENGLISH ONLINE developed by teacher Paul Lawrence excellent for teachers and students. There are a lot of exercises in different English levels which providing a self-studying. It's really enjoyable and useful website. Remember, you should focus tocus to learn a real English, breathe, read, speak, dream, write do that in English. Keep studying, you will reach your goals. 

Just surf and enjoy this opportunity have a look HERE. 

Sam Houston, 1793-1863: A 19th Century American Statesman, Politician, and Soldier

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Sam-Houston-1793-1863-A-19th-Century-Statesman-Politician-and-Soldier-134178403.html

Photo: loc.gov

Cavalry soldiers line up at Fort Sam Houston, Texas

 

STEVE EMBER: I’m Steve Ember.

NICOLE NICHOLS: And I’m Nicole Nichols with the VOA Special English program, People in America.  Today, we continue the story of Sam Houston, a Texas hero.

(MUSIC)

Have an e-reader? Download this story as a PDF

STEVE EMBER: Last week, we reported on Sam Houston’s problems as commander-in-chief of the Texas army in eighteen-thirty-five.  Texas belonged to Mexico at that time and had not yet become part of the United States.

Several Texas officers organized a small army and planned to attack Mexico without Houston’s permission.  These officers told their men they could have all the riches they could find in Mexico.

Houston believed the planned attack on Mexico was wrong.  So he resigned.  But before he did, he ordered Texans in San Antonio to destroy the old Spanish fort called the Alamo.  Houston did not think the Alamo could be defended against a strong Mexican attack.

NICOLE NICHOLS: In February, eighteen-thirty-six, Texas representatives were preparing to meet.  A few days before the meeting was to open, a message arrived from San Antonio.  A Mexican army, led by President Santa Anna himself, was attacking about one-hundred-eighty Texans at the Alamo.  Houston’s orders to destroy the fort had not been obeyed. Texas soldiers were spread across the area.  There was no help to send to the Alamo.

The representatives decided that they must write a declaration of independence from Mexico.  The declaration was signed on March second.  Two days later, Sam Houston was elected commander-in-chief of the military forces of the Texas Republic.

loc.gov

STEVE EMBER: Houston said he would leave immediately for San Antonio.  In two days, his Texas army grew to five-hundred men.  However, help came too late for the men at the Alamo.  Santa Anna’s forces captured the fort and killed every fighter there.

The Mexican leader said death would be the punishment for every Texan who opposed him.  Texans soon learned he meant what he said.  Santa Anna’s forces captured more than three-hundred Texas soldiers near the town of Goliad.  The soldiers surrendered when the Mexicans offered to treat them as prisoners of war and return them to the United States.  Yet the Texans never saw freedom.  They were marched away from town and shot to death.

NICOLE NICHOLS: Houston’s army continued to grow.  However, few of his men were trained to fight.  Houston decided his only hope was to withdraw until his soldiers were better trained and had more equipment.  He marched his small force east, just ahead of Santa Anna’s soldiers.

Santa Anna and his force of one-thousand-two-hundred soldiers had camped on a flat grassy area near the San Jacinto River. On April twenty-first, eighteen-thirty-six, Houston and his soldiers fought the battle that would decide the future of Texas.

STEVE EMBER: The Texans formed a long line across the north end of the field.  Then, they began moving toward the Mexican camp.  Only a few meters from the Mexican defenses, the Texans fired.  They shouted “Remember the Alamo!” and attacked the Mexican soldiers.

The battle of San Jacinto lasted only about twenty minutes.  The Mexicans were completely defeated. Only six Texans were killed and twenty-four others wounded. One of the wounded was Sam Houston. The Texans killed or captured hundreds of enemy soldiers. But General Santa Anna could not be found.

NICOLE NICHOLS: Houston ordered the Texans to find Santa Anna.  If the Mexican leader escaped, he could lead another army against Texas.  The next day, a group of Texans found a small, sad-looking Mexican soldier.  The Texans almost let him go.  But when they brought this soldier near the other Mexican prisoners, there were shouts of, “El Presidente!”  It was Santa Anna.

Sam Houston in 1848

Many of Houston’s men wanted to kill the Mexican leader.  But Houston knew Santa Anna was more valuable alive than dead.  Santa Anna was ordered to sign an agreement recognizing the independence of Texas. The Mexican leader was returned home. And Sam Houston became a hero. The town of Houston, Texas was named in his honor.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: The newly independent Lone Star Republic elected Sam Houston its first president in eighteen-thirty-six. He began to build a government.  He appointed a cabinet.  His government established courts and a mail service. However, there were many problems. Money had to be found to pay the costs of government.  And there was trouble with the army.  Soldiers were not happy with their food or their pay.  Some threatened to overthrow the new government and attack Mexico.

NICOLE NICHOLS: Houston visited the soldiers.  He told them not to do anything that might hurt Texas.  The soldiers obeyed.  The Texas Congress approved a bill that would let the government borrow one-million dollars.  Houston rejected the bill.  He said only half this much was needed. After two years as president of the Republic of Texas, Houston had secured the safety of the border, established the money system and gained recognition by the United States government.

Houston wanted Texas to become part of the United States.  But northern states opposed statehood for Texas.  They did so because of the dispute with the southern states over the question of slavery.  As a new southern state, Texas would increase the number of states that supported slavery.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: In eighteen-forty, Houston married Margaret Lea.  They later had eight children. The next year, the people of Texas elected Sam Houston president again.  At the time, the republic was deeply in debt.  Houston ordered the Texas navy to return from Mexico. And he established the use of another kind of paper money, whose value was kept high.

Mexican forces entered Texas again.  Houston sent the Texas army against the Mexicans.  The invaders were pushed back across the border.  There was trouble with Mexico for the next several years.

NICOLE NICHOLS: James Polk was elected president of the United States in eighteen-forty-four.  Congress considered a resolution to make Texas a state.  After much debate, the resolution was finally approved and signed into law.  The Republic of Texas became the twenty-eighth state on December twenty-ninth, eighteen-forty-five. Sam Houston went to Washington to serve as one of the state’s first senators.   He served as a United States senator for thirteen years.

loc.gov

An old picture of the entrance to Fort Sam Houston

STEVE EMBER: These were difficult times for the United States.  The question of slavery was bitterly debated in Congress. The northern states demanded that slavery not be permitted in new states that joined the Union. The southern states demanded that slaves be permitted in the new states.   In eighteen-fifty, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed a way to settle the differences.  He urged both North and South to compromise to prevent the nation from being destroyed.  His compromise was approved.

Just four years later, however, Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois proposed a bill that would open all of the West to slavery.  Sam Houston warned of terrible trouble if the bill passed.  But it was approved.  Houston was criticized in Texas for his opposition to it.

NICOLE NICHOLS: In eighteen-fifty-nine, the people of Texas elected Sam Houston governor of the state.  South Carolina proposed a meeting of southern states to discuss withdrawing from the United States.  Most Texas lawmakers supported this action.  However, Houston prevented Texas from sending representatives to the meeting.

In eighteen-sixty-one, Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States.  Many Texans still supported withdrawing from the United States.  But Sam Houston urged his people to wait and see what kind of leader President Lincoln would be.  Not all of them wanted to wait.  Some called for a meeting to decide the future of Texas.

STEVE EMBER: But before that meeting took place, South Carolina and five other southern states withdrew from the United States.  Houston again urged Texas not to withdraw.  But delegates at the meeting voted to leave the Union. Then the delegates declared Texas independent, and voted to make it part of the new Confederate States of America.  They also ordered all Texas officials to declare their loyalty to the Confederacy.  Sam Houston refused.  He said he loved Texas too much to bring civil war and bloodshed to the state.

Houston was removed from office as governor. His public life was ended.  He spent the next few years with his family and friends.  Sam Houston died on July twenty-sixth, eighteen-sixty-three.  The United States was in the middle of a bloody civil war.

(MUSIC)

NICOLE NICHOLS: This Special English program was written by George Grow and produced by Lawan Davis. Our engineer was Sulaiman Tarawaley.   I’m Nicole Nichols.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of America

.

Lena Horne, 1917-2010: A Star Who Broke Racial Barriers

Photo: AP

Singer and actress Lena Horne who broke racial barriers as a Hollywood and Broadway star

Credits: All credits of this entry for VOA SPECIAL ENGLISH, used only Educational purpose. 

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Lena-Horne-1917-2010-A-Star-Who-Broke-Racial-Barriers-131919363.html

BARBARA KLEIN: I’m Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English. Today we remember the singer and actress Lena Horne. She helped break racial barriers by changing the way black women were represented in film. During her sixty-year career performing, Lena Horne electrified audiences with her beauty and rich, emotional voice. She used her fame to fight social injustices toward African-Americans.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: That was Lena Horne singing her most famous song, “Stormy Weather.” She sang this song in a nineteen forty-three musical movie of the same name. In the nineteen forties, Lena Horne was the first African-American in Hollywood to sign a long-term contract with a major movie studio. Her deal with MGM stated that she would never play the role of a servant.

During this period, African-American actors were mostly limited to playing servants or African natives. Lena Horne refused to play roles that represented African-Americans disrespectfully.

AP

Grammy Award winner Lena Horne poses with record producer Quincy Jonesand Dan Morgenstern of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences

STEVE EMBER: But this refusal also limited her movie career. Horne was generally only offered the role of a nightclub singer. Her characters did not interact with white characters in these movies. This way, her part could be cut from the version of the movie that played in the American South. During this time, racial separation laws were in effect in the South.

Lena Horne later wrote that the movie producers did not make her into a servant, but they did not make her into anything else either. She said she became a butterfly pinned down and singing away in Movieland.

BARBARA KLEIN: Lena Horne once said that World War Two helped make her a star. She was popular with both black and white servicemen. She sang on army radio programs and traveled to perform for the troops. During one event, she noted that German prisoners of war were permitted to sit closer to the stage than black soldiers. She criticized the way black soldiers were treated by the army. These experiences led to Lena Horne’s work in the civil rights movement.

LENA HORNE: “When I went to the South and met the kind of people who were fighting in such an unglamorous fashion, I mean, fighting to just get someplace to sit and get a sandwich.  I felt close to that kind of thing because I had denied it and had been left away from it so long. And I began to feel such pain again.”

(MUSIC: “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”)

AP

Lena Horne performs at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1954

STEVE EMBER: Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York in nineteen seventeen. Her mother, an actress, was away for much of Lena’s childhood. Lena’s grandmother helped raise her. Her grandmother was a social worker and women’s rights activist.

At the age of sixteen, Lena found work as a dancer at the famous Cotton Club in New York City. After taking voice lessons, she soon began performing there as a singer.

BARBARA KLEIN: At the age of nineteen, Lena Horne moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and married Louis Jones. Her marriage did not last long. But she had two children, Gail and Edwin.

In nineteen forty, Lena Horne became the first African-American to travel and perform with an all-white jazz band. She also made records and performed at New York City’s Café Society jazz club. This was the first nightclub in the United States without racial separation. Many jazz clubs during this period had black performers. But few allowed black people to watch the shows in the audience.

STEVE EMBER: Lena Horne became very popular. After performing at a club in Hollywood, California, she caught the attention of filmmakers.  She soon began making movies. Lena Horne said that she was able to make movies because she was the kind of black person that white people could accept. But she said this was the worst kind of acceptance. It was for the way she looked, not for how good she was or how hard she worked.

AP

Lena Horne at the 65th Annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, California in 1993

BARBARA KLEIN: In nineteen forty-seven, Lena Horne married Lennie Hayton. He was a music writer for the MGM movie studio and was white. The couple married secretly in Paris, France. They did so because it was illegal at the time for people of different races to marry in the United States. They did not announce their marriage for three years.  Lena Horne later said that she first became involved with Lennie Hayton because she thought he could be useful to her career.  He could help get her into places that a black manager could not. But she says she began to love him because he was a nice man.

(MUSIC: “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man of Mine”)

STEVE EMBER: Lena Horne’s movie career slowed down in the nineteen fifties. But she continued recording and performing live and on television. Her nineteen fifty-seven album, “Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria,” became a best-seller.

She also became increasingly involved in civil rights activities. She protested racial separation at the hotels where she performed. She took action so that she and her musicians would be permitted to stay in those hotels. Black musicians at the time generally stayed in black neighborhoods.

Lena Horne also sang at civil rights gatherings. She took part in the March on Washington protest in nineteen sixty-three. It was during this event that Martin Luther King Junior gave his “I Have a Dream” speech.

BARBARA KLEIN: Lena Horne performed in a strong and expressive way.  One expert said she was not warm and friendly like white, male singers at the time. Instead, she was a fierce, black woman.

AP

The beautiful singer and actress is shown here in 1974 at the age of 57

Lena Horne once said she felt a need to act distant on stage to protect herself. She said when white audiences saw her, they were busy seeing their own idea of a black woman. She chose to show them a woman whom they could not reach. She said: “They get the singer, but they are not going to get the woman.”

(MUSIC: “I Want to Be Happy”)

STEVE EMBER: Lena Horne continued making records throughout the nineteen sixties, seventies and eighties.  In nineteen eighty-one she returned to Broadway in New York with the show “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music.”

The show ran for over a year, before traveling around the United States and Europe. It earned her a Tony Award and two Grammy Awards.

BARBARA KLEIN: Lena Horne died in two thousand ten at the age of ninety-two. At the age of eighty, she said this about her career: “My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free.” She said she no longer had to be a “first” to anybody.

She said she did not have to act like a white woman that Hollywood hoped she would become. She said: “I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.”

(MUSIC: “The Lady is a Tramp”)

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

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts are at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English

.

The greatest sporting festival in the Americas, Pan American

Source: http://www.maganews.com.br Excelente revista accesse o site e assine já. 

Pan-American Games 2011

The greatest sporting festival in the Americas
About 6,000 athletes from 42 countries will take part in the Pan- American Games in Guadalajara. The event will begin on October 14 and Brazil will be sending its best athletes

     The Pan-American Games are like a big party. A party that will begin on October 14 and end on October 30. Only countries from the American continent can take part. About 6,000 athletes from 42 countries will compete for medals in 44 sports. This will be the 16^th edition of the Games. The USA has won first place in themedals table [1] in 13 of the 15 previous [2]  editions (in only two editions did the Americans come in second, in 1951 and 1991). Brazil's performance has improved in the last two Games. In 2003, Brazil won 123 medals - 29 of them gold. In the 2007 Pan-American Games, in Rio, Brazil broke its record for medals, winning 157 in total, with 52 gold medals.  But even so, it ranked third, behind Cuba, which won 59 gold medals.

     Brazil looking for [3] medals in several sports

Brazil is a major [4] world power in sports like volleyball, beach volleyball and soccer, both in men’s and women’s events. However, over the 15 editions of the Pan-American Games, the most successful sports for Brazil have been athletics, swimming, judo and sailing [5]. In addition to these, Brazil has a good chance of winning medals in several other sports. The Brazilian delegation includes some Olympic and World Champions, such as César Cielo, Maurren and Fabiana Murer.  

Foto (Fabiana Murer) – Agência Luz.
Áudio – Julia Constantinides.

Primeira parte da matéria sobre os Jogos Pan-Americanos de Guadalajarao. A edição de outubro da revista Maganews traz a segunda parte desta matéria, com áudio de Thiago Ribeiro.

Vocabulary

1 medals table – quadro de medalhas

2 previous - anteriores

3 to look for – aqui = lutar por / buscar

4 major - importante

5 sailing - vela

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? NIKKA COSTA

Source: http://www.speakup.com.br

Language level: A2 Pre-Intermediate

Standard: British accent

Speaker: Jason Bermingham

Nikka Costa was child pop star during the early 1980s. She seemed to disappear soon after that, but in actual fact she has continued with her professional singing career.

Nikka Costa’s real name is Domenica Costa and she was born in Tokyo on June 4^th, 1972. She came from a musical family: her father, Don Costa was a composer and arranger, and her mother, Terry Ray Costa, was a singer. Her parents were friends with Tony Renis, an accomplished singer and producer who was a big success in Europe. Renis recognised the Costa daughter’s talent and helped launch her career.

INTERNATIONAL HIT

Nikka’s most famous hit came in 1981, when she was just eight years old. “(Out Here) On My Own” was a big hit in Brazil, but also in many other countries. Indeed the only country where it wasn’t a hit was in the United States, where Nikka lived. The single wasn’t released there. This was because Nikka’s parents wanted their daughter to have a normal childhood and not be ruined by success. In the USA the song was recorded by Irene Cara.

A couple of years later tragedy struck: Nikka was only 11 when her father died. Nikka withdrew from music altogether, although she did make a return, as a teenager, at the Sanremo Festival in 1990. As part of a trio she sang “All for the Love.” The 1990s saw only album release, but Nikka seemed to make another comeback in 2001 with the album, Everybody’s Got Their Something. The little track was used for the TV series, Buffy, while another song, “Push & Pull,” was used for the soundtrack of the Johnny Deep Movie, Blow. Her album, 2005’s Can’t Never did Nothin’, was also  well received and featured guest appearances from Prince and Lenny Kravutz. Her latest album, Pebble to a Pearl, was described by the critic David Wild as “her most direct and convincing music statement yet.”

FUNKY LADY

Like many artists today, Nikka Costa has not had a good relationship with record labels. She has said that being with a major label was like being “on the deck on the Titanic.” Today she has her own label and its name refers both to her musical style and to her attitude towards the record industry: it’s called “Go Funk Yourself Records.”

GLOSSARY

In actual fact: na realidade.

Hit: Sucesso

Childhood: Infância

Struck: golpeou, abalou.

Withdrew from music altogether: retirou-se totalmente da música.

The title track: A canção, título.

Soundtrack: Trilha Sonora.

Featured guest appearence: Contava com a contribuição de convidados.

Pebble to a Pearl: “De pedrinha à pérola.

Her most...musical statement yet: sua mais convicente produção musical até agora.

Record labels: Selos gravadoras.

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American History: The Rise of US Influence After World War Two

Photo: americanhistory.si.edu

President Harry Truman signing the European Recovery Act

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/us-history/American-History-The-Rise-of-US-Influence-After-World-War-Two-126735008.html

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

(MUSIC)

Britain was once the most powerful nation in the world. It ruled a wide-reaching empire. This week in our series, we look at how British power gave way to American influence after World War Two.

One can almost name the day when this happened. It was February twenty-first, nineteen forty-seven. British diplomats in Washington called the State Department. They had two messages from their government.

The first was about Greece. The situation there was critical. Greece had been occupied by Germany during the war. Now it was split by a bitter civil war. On one side of the fighting was the Greek royal family supported by Britain. On the other side were communist-led rebels supported by Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

British forces had helped keep Greece from becoming communist at the end of World War Two. A few years later, Britain could no longer help. It needed all its strength to rebuild after the war. So, on that February day in nineteen forty-seven, Britain told the United States it would soon end all support for Greece.

Britain's second message that day was about Turkey. Turkey was stronger than Greece. But the concern was that it, too, could become communist unless it received outside help.

Britain warned the United States that the Soviet Union would soon extend its control all the way across eastern Europe to the eastern Mediterranean. It called on President Harry Truman to provide strong American support to help Greece and Turkey resist the communist threat.

Britain, in effect, was asking the United States to take over leadership of the Western world. The United States was ready to accept this new responsibility.

For months, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union had been growing worse and worse.

(MUSIC)

The two countries had fought together as allies in the Second World War. But Soviet actions after the war shocked the American people.

The Soviet Union wanted to block western political and economic influence in central and eastern Europe. It wanted to extend its own influence instead. So, after the war, it forced a number of countries to establish communist governments.

AP

WINSTON CHURCHILL: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

Britain's prime minister, Winston Churchill, described the situation in a speech in March of nineteen forty-six at Westminster College in the American state of Missouri.

WINSTON CHURCHILL: “Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

Churchill warned that the Soviet Union was trying to expand its power. He described it as an "iron curtain" falling across the middle of Europe. This iron curtain divided Europe into a communist east and a democratic west.

(MUSIC)

The situation was made even more tense by news coming from China. China was a divided nation at the end of World War Two. The forces of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek controlled the southwestern part of the country. Communist forces under Mao Zedong controlled the north.

Both the United States and the Soviet Union expected that Chiang Kai-shek would be able to unite China.

Chiang and the Nationalists won several early victories over the Communists. But Mao and his forces used a growing hatred of the Nationalist government to win support. Slowly, they began to win battles and capture arms.

Early in nineteen forty-nine, communist forces took control of Peking -- now Beijing -- and Tientsin. They captured Shanghai and Canton. By the end of the year, Chiang and his Nationalist forces had to flee to the island of Taiwan.

The fall of the Nationalist government on the mainland caused a bitter political debate in America. Some critics of the Truman administration thought the United States had not done enough to help the Nationalists.

The Truman administration rejected the charges. It said Chiang caused his own defeat by failing to reform and win the support of the Chinese people. Secretary of State Dean Acheson described the defeat this way:

"The unfortunate but inescapable fact is that the ominous result of the civil war in China was beyond the control of the government of the United States. Nothing that this country did or could have done within the reasonable limits of its capabilities could have changed that result; nothing that was left undone by this country has contributed to it. It was the product of internal Chinese forces, forces which this country tried to influence but could not. A decision was arrived at within China, if only a decision by default."

(MUSIC)

The United States was more successful in its policies toward Europe. The British warnings about the communist threat in Greece and Turkey led President Truman to speak to Congress. He said, "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

americanhistory.si.edu

American flour being unloaded in Greece

Truman called on Congress to give him four hundred million dollars in aid for Greece and Turkey. After a brief but intense national debate, Congress agreed. Truman then launched an effort to save the Greek economy and reorganize the Greek army. Soon after that, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union ended their aid to Greek rebels. The civil war in Greece ended.

American help for Greece and Turkey was the first step in what became known as the "Truman Doctrine." The goal of this policy was to stop Soviet aggression anywhere in the world.

Truman was willing to use military force to stop the spread of communism. But he also believed it was equally important to build up western European nations so they would be strong enough to defend themselves.

Europe was suffering terribly after World War Two. There were severe shortages of food and fuel. Crops were destroyed. Many Europeans were beginning to look to the communists -- to anybody -- to save them.

This is one reason why Truman and his advisers developed a plan to rebuild the economies of Europe.

americanhistory.si.edu

Heavy machinery from the United States bound for Austria

After the war, President Truman made George Marshall his secretary of state. Marshall had led American troops as a general in World War Two. Now, as the nation's top diplomat, he proposed the idea for rebuilding Europe. This idea became known as the "Marshall Plan."

President Truman explained why there had to be a Marshall Plan. People were starving, he said. There had been food riots in France and Italy. There was not enough fuel. People were cold and sick. Tuberculosis was breaking out.

As Truman said later, "Something had to be done."

Secretary of State Marshall described the plan during a congressional hearing in Washington.

GEORGE MARSHALL: “Why must the United States carry so great a load in helping Europe? The answer is simple. The United States is the only country in the world today which has the economic power and productivity to furnish the needed assistance. The six and eight-tenths billion proposed for the first fifteen months is less than a single month’s charge of the war.

To be quite clear, this unprecedented endeavor of the new world to help the old is neither sure nor easy. It is a calculated risk. It is a difficult program. And you know, far better than I do, the political difficulties involved in this program.

But there’s no doubt whatever in my mind that, if we decide to do this thing, we can do it successfully. And there’s also no doubt in my mind that the whole world hangs in the balance as to what it is to be.”

(MUSIC)

The United States offered aid through the Marshall Plan to all countries in Europe. The Soviet Union and its allies refused help. Sixteen other countries, however, welcomed the aid.

From nineteen forty-eight to nineteen fifty-two, administrators of the Marshall Plan worked with these countries. The United States spent thirteen billion dollars.

The plan worked. Agricultural production in Marshall Plan countries increased by ten percent. Industrial production increased by thirty-five percent. Production in some industries, such as steel, increased by much more.

There were political results, as well. Stronger economies helped prevent communists from gaining control of the governments in France and Italy.

Some Europeans criticized the Marshall Plan. They said it increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in the years after the war. Yet few could deny that the plan was one of the most successful international economic programs in history.

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Next week, we look at another way the United States provided aid in postwar Europe -- the Berlin Airlift.

You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

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Contributing: David Jarmul

This was program #200. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page

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