Words and Their Stories: State Nicknames, Part 3

Source: www.voanews.com

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

Today, we tell about more interesting nicknames of American states.

The mid-Atlantic state of Maryland is called theFree State. A Baltimore newspaper first called it that during the nineteen twenties when the manufacture and sale of alcohol were banned for a time.  Maryland said it wanted to be free from this prohibition.

Mississippi is the Magnolia State. It is named for a tree with big, beautiful white flowers that grows in that hot, southern state.

The midwestern state of Missouri is called the Show Me State. The people of that frontier state were once famous for not believing everything people told them.

If you visit the western mountain and plain state of Montana you will know why it is known as Big Sky Country.

Nebraska is the only state to have a nickname that honors sports teams!  The state university's athletic teams are nicknamed Cornhuskers in recognition of one of the area's chief crops.  The state borrowed theCornhusker nickname from the university.

The western desert state of Nevada is called the Silver State. It was once home to many silver mines and towns that grew up around them. Today, most of them are empty “ghost towns.”

New Hampshire, in the northeast area called New England, is the Granite State because of that colorful rock.

New Jersey is between the big cities of New York, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  It got its nickname, the Garden State, because New Jersey truck farms once provided vegetables to those big cities.

New York, which always thinks big, was called the Empire State because of its natural wealth.  The most famous Manhattan skyscraper got its name from the state.  It is, of course, the Empire State Building.

If you get a chance to see a red sunset over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico, you will know why that southwestern state is called the Land of Enchantment.

North and South Carolina were one colony until seventeen twenty-nine.  South Carolina's nickname is the easier of the two: It is the Palmetto Statebecause of a fan-leafed palm tree that grows there.  North Carolina is theTar Heel State. That is because many of the men who worked to gather substances from trees wore no shoes. They would make turpentine from tar and get the black, sticky tar on the heels of their feet.

Next week, we will finish telling about the colorful nicknames of American states.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Ted Landphair.  I'm Barbara Klein. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at voaspecialenglish.com.

Family Album 29

Source: Family Album

THE SAN JUANS THE VIP ISLANDS

Source: Speak Up

Language level: Intermediate

Standard: American accent

THE SAN JUANS THE VIP ISLANDS

Only a short drive and ferry ride away from the North American mainland, the ancient evergreen forests, quaint farm valleys, romantic coastline and amazing wildlife of the San Juan Islands attract many visitors. From April through October, orca whales can be seen here, but Orcas Island, the largest and most spectacular of the San Juans, did not get its name from the whales. When a Spanish expedition led by the Mexican Viceroy discovery the San Juans in the 18^th century, each of the larger islands was given one of his names –“Horcasitas” was one of them

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

On Orcas, lovers of the old-fashioned lifestyle can stay at Rosario Resort and Spa, which is full of antique teak and mahogany furniture and arts-and-crafts designs. Part of the hotel is now a museum. It was built 100 years ago as a private residence by shipbuilder and former mayor of Seattle, Robert Moran, who moved here after being told by his doctors that he would be dead in two years. In actual fact he lived for another 38 years. In order to celebrate he would wake his guests up at 6 in the morning with a splendid self-playing Aeolian pipe organ, which is still in operation today (sound of organ music).  Moran sounds to have been a luck man; a native New Yorker, he had arrived in Seattle as a penniless 18 year-old in 1875, before going on to build a vast fortune.

THE PIG WAR…

The San Juan Islands may not have that many inhabitants, but they do have a colorful history. In 1859, for example, Britain and the United States, which both had claims to the area, nearly fought “the Pig War” after an American settler shot and killed a British pig. Fortunately peace came about, after mediation by Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm, and the pig was the only victim. More importantly perhaps, the border between Canada (then a British colony) and the USA was subsequently re-drawn.

At the start of the 21^st century, the San Juan Islands face challenges of a different kind. Sandy Playa, who runs the beautiful timbered Spring Bay Inn on the eastern side of Orcas Island (with her husband Carl Burger) explains:

Sandy Playa

(Standard American accent):

Well, I think the big change has been brought on by technology. You know, now the internet and cell phone access has enabled people to live here that would only be able to vacation here in the past. I think all probably remote areas are going through that kind of change. When we first moved here, there were about 2.500 people, and now there’s about 5.000. but even so, that population when we first moved here was mostly mad of retired people, some families, but mostly retired. And then kind of the whole dot com thing, you know, was going, just, bananas and …so lots of people were able to be consultants and live here and work from their home here and then they’d maybe have an apartment in Seattle or whatever city that they were based in.

LOW PROFILE

The dot com bubble has burst, but the islands still has their fair share of famous residents. The co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, owns one of them. Here in the San Juans, however, VIPs can live a quit life, says Carl Burger:

Carl Burger

(Standard: American accent)

Part of the personality, I think of the county is that so many folks are here trying to underplay or downplay of stay below the spotlight. We have some very high-powered people who live here, either full-time or part-time, but who want to be, I was gonna say, recognized just for the people they are, rather than the personalities that they are. So there’s…there are film directors here, from the technological world, there are consultants, there are politicians, but around here, they’re just island residents.

HOW TO GET TO THE SAN JUANS (no audio)

Flight to Seattle/Tacoma International via Miami, Toronto or New York. The Anacortes ferry terminal is a two-hour drive from airport.

WHERE TO STAY ON ORCAS ISLAND:

Rosario Resort & Spa, Eastsound, Tel (+1) 360 376 2222. http://www.rosarioresort.com Spring Bay Inn, Olga tel (+1) 360 376 5531, http://www.springbayinn.com .

Orcas Island Lodging Association, http://www.orcas-loadging.com .

WHAT TO DO:

Wildlife Cycles, 350 North Beach Rd., Eastsound, tel (+1) 360 376 4708, http://www.wildlifecycles.com rent out mountainbikes. A hike up Mount Constitution (730m): the highest point in the San Juans, combines wildlife-spotting with exercises.

A Gants Wildlife Hike can teach you about the edible plants on Orcas Islands and many other things, tel. 1 800 376 6566, http://www.orcasislandwhales.com offers whale watching.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Washington State Tourism http://www.experiencewashington.com  

Rio flood death toll, hits 600

Source: www.maganews.com recommend for Brazilian teachers and students this wonderful magazine, available in CD, for more info, just keep in touch with the site.

Rio flood death toll hits 600

Death toll in the floods in Rio de Janeiro state hits 600. More than 5,000 people have been left homeless. The most affected areas include Teresopolis, Nova Friburgo and Petropolis

State governor Sergio Cabral has declared seven days of mourning for the victims of the disaster.   Local media reported rescuers had to reach worst-hit areas on foot because vehicles cannot cross blocked roads. Mountainous areas north of Rio de Janeiro have been hit by the heaviest downpours in 44 years. The rain caused rivers of mud to rush down the mountains and tear through towns, levelling houses and throwing cars over buildings. Forecasters have warned that the steady rainfall in the area will continue into next week.

Natural disasters:  prevention is the best weapon

Nature alone is not to blame for the large numbers of victims in Rio de Janeiro state.  Brazil has not yet learned how to deal with natural disasters. The best weapon in this case is prevention. Many deaths could have been avoided if the families had not built their houses close to rivers or streams. Local city halls could also contribute by banning house building in areas at risk, such as above or below hillsides that could slide.  

Picture (Nova Friburgo) - Valter Campanato/ABr

Patsy Cline, 1932-1963: Fans Were 'Crazy' About This Young Country Music Star

Photo: patsy_cline_com

Source: www.voanews.com I recommend the VOA special English, in particular for beginners and intermediate learners do not forget to promote this for friends. By the way, promote Education doesn't mean promote Spam, I never do that, do you like to access my blog, simple telling for friends twit me. 

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I’m Shirley Griffith.

DOUG JOHNSON: And I’m Doug Johnson with People in America in VOA Special English.  Today we tell about a young woman named Virginia Patterson Hensley. No one but her family would remember that name. The world remembers her as Patsy Cline.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: That song is called "Walkin' After Midnight." It was Patsy Cline's first big hit record. She recorded it in nineteen fifty-seven. It became number three on the list of country music hit recordings and number twelve on the list of most popular music.

Patsy had worked for many years to make that first successful record. She began singing when she was a young girl in her home town of Winchester, in the southern state of Virginia. Patsy sang anywhere she could. She sang at weddings and dances. She sang at public eating places for eight dollars a night. Those who knew her said she worked hard to improve her singing.

In nineteen fifty-four she won a country music competition near her home. She was twenty-two years old. She was asked to appear on a country music television program in Washington, D.C. She also sang on radio programs in the Virginia area and recorded some records.

DOUG JOHNSON: In nineteen fifty-seven, Patsy Cline appeared on a national television show in New York City. It was on this program that millions of people first heard her sing. She sang "Walkin' After Midnight," a song she had recently recorded. Her appearance on the television program helped make that record a major hit.

Patsy continued to record more songs. Within two years she had another major hit. It was called "I Fall to Pieces.” By this time Patsy's voice had already become something special. She had learned to control not only the sound but the feelings expressed in her songs. It was the slow, sad love songs that her fans enjoyed most, songs like "I Fall to Pieces."

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Patsy Cline's recording of "I Fall to Pieces" became her first number one country music hit. It was also a hit with fans of popular music. Patsy was a major star. She also had begun performing at the country music theater, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

Those who knew her after she became a recording star say Patsy Cline was a very good friend. She liked to help young musicians. Later, many of these young musicians became important stars themselves.  One of Patsy's biggest hit songs also helped two of these young musicians become known. The song is called

"Crazy." It was written by an unknown musician who later became a major country music star. His name is Willie Nelson.

If you listen carefully to Patsy Cline's recording of "Crazy," you can hear the beautiful piano playing of another young musician, Floyd Cramer. He also became a major recording star. Listen to Patsy and Floyd perform Willie Nelson's song, "Crazy."

DOUG JOHNSON: On March sixth, nineteen sixty-three, Patsy Cline was killed in the crash of a small airplane. She was only thirty years old. She was flying home to Nashville. She had taken part in a special concert in Kansas City to raise money for the family of a country music radio performer who recently had died.

Reuters

Patsy Cline's husband and daughter pose with the country music singer's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Patsy Cline was buried near her home town of Winchester, Virginia. Thousands of people came to her funeral. Ten years after her death, she became the first woman performer elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: In nineteen eighty-five, Hollywood producers made a movie about the life of Patsy Cline.  It was called "Sweet Dreams. " Popular actress Jessica Lange played Patsy. No one really could sound like Patsy Cline. So the producers used her old records in the movie. Ms. Lange moved her mouth so she appeared to be singing. People who had never heard of Patsy Cline saw the movie and enjoyed her singing. They began buying her records. Today, her records still sell thousands of copies each year as new fans discover her.

We leave you with a song Patsy Cline recorded only a month before she died. It sounds almost as though she was singing in Special English. The song is called "Faded Love."

DOUG JOHNSON: This program was written by Paul Thompson.  It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Doug Johnson.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: And I’m Shirley Griffith.  Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

Do you Remeber? By Phil Collins

Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=206

Author: Judith Jekkel for more information visit the site and do the exercise and check out the answers.

Now watch the video and do the following exercises.

Choose the words that you can hear.

We never talktalkedhave talkedhad talked about it

But I hear the blame was mymeminemain

I wouldshouldwillcould call you up to say I'm sorry

But I wouldn't want to waistwastevastwaits your time

'Cos I love you, but I can't lakemakefaketake any more

There's a looklucktookbook I can't describe in your eyes

If we wouldshouldcouldwood try, like we tried before

When you kept on tellselltellingselling me those lies

Tell me

Do you remember...?

Match the beginning and the end of the following lines

There seemed no                 A looked it told me

'Cos it seemed                    B let me know

And the way you                 C way to make up

It's a look I know                D over to my side

You could've come               E your mind was set

You could've                       F to see the distance between us

You could've tried                G  I'll never forget

But it seemed                     H too far for you to go.

Tell me

Do you remember...?

Tick the words that you can hear.

Through  though all of my life

In spite of all the paint   pain

You know people are funny sometimes  some times

'cos they just can't weight  wait

To get heard  hurt again

Tell me

Do you remember...?

Write in the words that you can hear. The images may help.

There are things  won't recall

Feelings we'll  find

It's taken so   to see it

Cos we never seemed to have the  

There was always something  important to do

More important to say

But "I  you" wasn't one of  things

And now it's too 

Do you remember...?

Tell me now

Lisa See: The China Sydrome

Source: Speak Up

Standard: American accent

Language level: Intermediate

Even though she has red hair, American author Lisa See is of Chine origin. More importantly perhaps, she has made China the subject of her books. Last year saw the publication of Snow flower and Secret Fan, which became a bestseller in the United States. Set in rural China in the nineteenth century, it tells of the hardships endured by women in a society in which foot-binding was still the norm. The novel also describes the secret language – “nu shu” –that women used for communicating with each other. Yet when Lisa See met with Speak Up, she talked about the China of today. We asked her how many prejudices westerns still had about the country:

Lisa See:

(Standard: American accent)

A lot, I think, a lot! You know, I think people hear, “Oh, this will one day be a superpower, an economic superpower,” but I don’t think people have a concept of what that really means and how much China has changed and how different it is today. Today a city like Shanghai is the most modern city in the world, in the whole world, and yet in the countryside, in some ways it’s still like it was or 100 or 300 years ago. So in one country you have this very old way, but also a very modern way and I think it’s very hard for people outside of China to see how these differences integrate and how they actually have an effect on the outside world.

INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

We also asked her about the contradiction between economic wealth and the lack of political freedom:

Lisa See:

Shoot, you’re exactly right: it’s very hard to reconcile how people there think about human right human, rights and then this great economic freedom, but what I think is happening is that the economic richness that is occurring right now and this huge growth is actually having an effect on individual rights. So, for example, the used to say…or the government says, “no satellite dishes,” but today, in…even small remote villages, there’ll be a satellite dish for the whole village, so that they’re seeing outside images from other parts of China, from other parts of the world, so I think, as much as China sometimes tries to keep closed and keep people separated, that because of television, the internet, cell phones, this kind of communication is going on, not only just within China, but between China, and people in China, and the outside the world…is actually changing how the people think about freedom, individual thought, individual choice and that’s a kind of like a grass roots revolutions.

WELCOME, STRANGER

In conclusion we asked what she liked most about China:

Lisa See:

The countryside is so beautiful, the people –even very, very poor people, these peasants, have so much a kindness to them and an openness and…welcoming so that, you know, I travel to very remote areas and, when I walk into a village, people come out, they want o have me come and have tea, they want to share their food and they have almost nothing. And that…let me just say you would never find that in the United States ever, no-one would ever invite a strange in like that.


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