Water: The United Nations urges campaign against waste

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The Environment

Water: The United Nations

urges campaign against waste

Over one billion people worldwide now suffer a shortage of 

drinking water. The United Nations (UN) recommends countries create campaigns against wasting water supplies. This is the first in a series on the issue brought to you by Maganews

On March 22^nd, World Water Day, the UN made a recommendation to every country in the world. It wants them to create campaigns to reduce water consumption and to prevent waste. Our planet has a lot of water, but the problem is that the oceans’ water, comprising 97.6% of all water in the world, is unsuitable for consumption. There remains just 2.4% in freshwater, which can be treated and drunk. However, most of this water is frozen in ice flows. Over one billion people in the world now suffer a shortage of water. The number of people without access to drinking water may double by around 2030, says the UN. Population growth is one of the factors responsible for this shortage, with eighty million people added to the global total every year, according to the UN.  More people means more consumption. Waste, deforestation, pollution and climate change are other factors that contribute to making the problem worse.

Brazil:  awareness in schools

The States of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo are this semester establishing the project Caminho das Águas in public primary schools. The aim is to make 6^th to 9^th grade students aware of the shortage of water and the importance of using it rationally, without waste.  In São Paulo city in 2008 the water company Sabesp set up the program “Pura” (Uso Racional de Água) in 500 municipal schools.  Sabesp checks the amount of water needed by the schools and offers alternatives for them to reduce consumption. Sabesp says the program has resulted in savings of 26% in schools’ water consumption. From March 23^rd another 750 municipal schools in São Paulo have joined the program.

Matéria publicada da edição de abril da Revista Maganews.

Vocabulary

1 to urge – desejar / encorajar (aqui = recomendar / pedir)

2 waste - desperdício

3 shortage – escassez

4 drinking water – água potável

5 unsuitable – inadequada (o)

6 remain (s) - sobra

7 freshwater – água “doce” / potável

8 ice flows – geleiras

9 to double – dobrar

10 deforestation - desmatamento

11 awareness –  aqui = conscientização ( to be aware = ficar ciente / se conscientizar)

12 to set up – iniciar

13 amount – quantidade

13 to join – aderir

Photo - Sabesp

Politics Religion And War

Source: Speak Up

Language level: Upper intermediate

Speaker Justin Ratcliffe British accent

POLITICS RELIGIONS AND WAR

It’s not only pop stars, actors and writers who change their names to make themselves glamorous, sexy, cool, tough, or just memorable. From the dawn of time, political and religious figure have changed their names to grab our attention –or to hide from their opponents.

NICKNAMES

Some names are so complicated that a nickname is easier. Like many Brazilians, Luiz Inácio da Silva grew up with a nickname. Luckily, it makes a memorable name for a president Lula.

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr Von Richthofen found fame in World War I as demon prilot, the Red Baron.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de La Serna used the Argentinian slang word “Che” so often in conversation that it became his own name.

THE X FACTOR

On converting to the Nation of Islam, Malcolm Little took the surname X as a form of protest. He explained “My X replaced the while slave master name of Little, which some blue-eyed devil had imposed on my family.” The Muslim ‘s X symbolized the true African family name the he “couldn’t never know.”

Dutch exotic dancer Margaretha Geertruida Zelle became famous under the stage name Mata Hari, meaning “eye of day,” or “Sun” in Indonesian.

PLAYING POLITICS

Roman politician Octavian realised that his adopted father’s cognomen Caesar was powerful weapon, and so it became a little synonymous with Roman Emperors. He also took the name Augustus, meaning “great” or “venerable.”

Khmer Rouge leader Saloth Sar adopted the names “Brother Number One” and “Pot Pot,” a nickname given to him by Chinese authorities short for “politique potentielle.”

Kim Song Ju of North Korea renamed himself Kim II Sung after a legendary guerilla fighter.

HOLY NAMES

Religious leaders can also benefit from strong names. Rajneesh Chandra Mohan called himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, meaning “Blessed One” and “Master”. Towards the end of his life, he became Osho, which may derive from an ancient Japanese word for master, or from philosopher William Jame’s expression “oceanic experience.”

In ancient times, Siddartha Gautama, whose first name  means“ he who gets success,” became Shakyamuni, but today he is known as Buddha “the enlightened one.”Kung Quiu was known as  K’ung-fu-tzu, or “Master Kong,” this has long been transliterated into western languages as Confucius.

PERSECUTION

The most common reason for political name changes in persecution. German chancellor Willy Brandt was originally Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, before he had to escape from the Nazis.

Vietnamese revolutionary Nguyen Sinh Cung used many pseudonyms before setting on Ho Chi Minh meaning “enlightened will or “bringer of light.”

RUSSIAN REVOLUNTIONARIES

The Soviet leaders chose the most striking names. Vladimir llich Ulyanov was exiled to Siberia, near the river Lena: his adopted name Lenin reminded him of what the suffered in the name of revolution

Iosif Vissarionvich Dzhugashvili, who was sent to Siberia seven times, used many names, but settled on Stalin, “man of still.”

Some think Lev Davidovich Bronstein changed his name to avoid becoming know as a Jew, but Leon Trotsky was only one of the pseudonyms he used to avoid Tsarist Persecution.

THE REAL ADOLF

Another politician who understood the power of names was Hitler. He styled himself the Fuher (leader, or guide), a little as strong as Kaiser or Czar. But Adolf’s father adopted the surname Hitler from his mother’s husband, Johann Hiedler) when he was 39. Would the Nazi salute have been so powerful if it had been Heil Shickgruber?

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Source: www.manythings.org www.voanews.com

This is Steve Ember. And this is Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program,EXPLORATIONS.

Today we tell about a scientist who changed the way we understand the universe, Albert Einstein.

(MUSIC)

In the year 1905, Albert Einstein published some important papers in a German scientific magazine. They included one of the most important scientific documents in history. It was filled with mathematics. It explained what came to be called his "Special Theory of Relativity." Ten years later he expanded it to a "General Theory of Relativity."

Albert Einstein's theories of relativity are about the basic ideas we use to describe natural happenings. They are about time, space, mass, movement, and gravity.

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion's rules.

Albert was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read.

When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction -- to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move.

Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.

Albert did not like school. The German schools of that time were not pleasant. Students could not ask questions.  Albert said he felt as if he were in prison.

One story says Albert told his Uncle Jacob how much he hated school, especially mathematics. His uncle told him to solve mathematical problems by pretending to be a policeman. "You are looking for someone," he said, "but you do not know who. Call him X. Find him by using the mathematical tools of algebra and geometry."

Albert learned to love mathematics. He was studying the complex mathematics of calculus when all his friends were still studying simple mathematics. Instead of playing with friends he thought about things such as: "What would happen if people could travel at the speed of light?"

Albert decided that he wanted to teach mathematics and physics. He attended the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. He graduated with honors, but could not get a teaching job. So he began working for the Swiss government as an inspector of patents for new inventions. The job was not demanding. He had a lot of time to think about some of his scientific theories.

From the time he was a boy, Albert Einstein had performed what he called "thought experiments" to test his ideas. He used his mind as a laboratory. By 1905, he had formed his ideas into theories that he published.

In one paper he said that light travels both in waves and in particles, called photons. This idea is an important part of what is called the quantum theory.

Another paper was about the motion of small particles suspended in a liquid or gas. It confirmed the atomic theory of matter.

The most important of Albert Einstein's theories published that year became known as his "Special Theory of Relativity." He said the speed of light is always the same -- almost three hundred thousand kilometers a second. Where the light is coming from or who is measuring it does not change the speed. However, he said, time can change. And mass can change. And length can change. They depend on where a person is in relation to an object or an event.

Imagine two space vehicles with a scientist travelling in each one. One spaceship is red. One is blue. Except for color, both spaceships are exactly alike. They pass one another far out in space.

Neither scientist feels that his ship is moving. To each, it seems that the other ship is moving, not his. As they pass at high speed, the scientist in each ship measures how long it takes a beam of light to travel from the floor to the top of his spaceship, hit a mirror and return to the floor. Each spaceship has a window that lets each scientist see the experiment of the other.

They begin their experiments at exactly the same moment. The scientist in the blue ship sees his beam of light go straight up and come straight down. But he sees that the light beam in the red ship does not do this. The red ship is moving so fast that the beam does not appear to go straight up. It forms a path up and down that looks like an upside down "V".

The scientist in the red ship would see exactly the same thing as he watched the experiment by the other scientist. He could say that time passed more slowly in the other ship. Each scientist would be correct, because the passing of time is linked to the position of the observer.

Each scientist also would see that the other spaceship was shorter than his own. The higher the speeds the spaceships were travelling, the shorter the other ship would appear. And although the other ship would seem shorter, its mass would increase. It would seem to get heavier.

The ideas were difficult to accept. Yet other scientists did experiments to prove that Einstein's theory was correct.

Ten years after his paper on the special theory of relativity, Albert Einstein finished work on another theory. It described what he called his "General Theory of Relativity." It expanded his special theory to include the motion of objects that are gaining speed. This theory offered new ideas about gravity and the close relationship between matter and energy. It built on the ideas about mass he had expressed in 1905.

Einstein said that an object loses mass when it gives off light, which is a kind of energy. He believed that matter and energy were different forms of the same thing. That was the basis of his famous mathematical statement E equals m-c squared (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). This statement or formula explained that a great amount of energy could come from a small piece of matter. It explained how the sun could give off heat and light for millions of years. This formula also led to the discovery of atomic energy.

In his general theory of relativity, Einstein said that gravity, like time, is not always the same. Gravity changes as observers speed up or slow down. He also said that gravity from very large objects, such as stars, could turn the path of light waves that passed nearby. This seemed unbelievable. But in 1919, British scientists confirmed his theory when the sun was completely blocked during a solar eclipse. Albert Einstein immediately became famous around the world.

In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. It was given to him, not for his theories of relativity, but for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. This scientific law explained how and why some metals give off electrons after light falls on their surfaces. The discovery led to the development of modern electronics, including radio and television.

Albert Einstein taught in Switzerland and Germany. He left Germany when Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933. He moved to the United States to continue his research. He worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Einstein became a citizen of the United States in 1940.

Einstein was a famous man, but you would not have known that by looking at him. His white hair was long and wild. He wore old clothes. He showed an inner joy when he was playing his violin or talking about his work. Students and friends said he had a way of explaining difficult ideas using images that were easy to understand.

Albert Einstein opposed wars. Yet he wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to advise him that the United States should develop an atomic bomb before Germany did.

Einstein spent the last twenty-five years of his life working on what he called a "unified field theory." He hoped to find a common mathematical statement that could tie together all the different parts of physics. He did not succeed.

Albert Einstein died in 1955. He was seventy-six years old. 

Sweet Dreams, The sleep Factor, part II

Source: www.speakup.com.br

SWEET DREAMS 

“Sleep has its own world, “Said the poet Lord Byron. We all sleep. We all dream. We spend around a third of our lives doing it, but still we know little about this strange other world circadian rhythm and the cycles of darkness and light. It is something that humans have in common with most living things: plants, birds and animals. However, what has gone almost unnoticed until recently is that human sleep patterns have undergone significant change.

“Our society has seen a steady decline in the number of hours that people sleep,” says professor Francesco Cappucio head of sleep research at the University of Warvick in England. “Our ancestors used to sleep probably nine hours a night and now we hardly sleep six or seven hours a night.”

THE EDISON DISEASE

The cause, he explains, is not physiological, but a result of changes in our society longer hours at work, more shift work the 24/7 society and what is sometimes called the Edison Disease changes to our biological clocks caused by electricity and artificial lighting.

Sleep is regulated by two key factors. The first is our biological clock, which is located in the centre of the brain and controls the chemicals telling us when to get up and go to sleep. The second is light. Light stimulates the brain and limits the release of melatonin, which goes up when it is dark and triggers falling asleep.

TOUR GOOD HEALTH

No one knows exactly why we need to sleep, but it is clear that it acts as a form of restoration for the functions of the brain and body. Most of us need between six and eight hours sleep pr night to remain healthy. Older people frequently manage with less. However, those getting short sleep, or those oversleeping consistently, risk ill health and a variety of diseases. Major new research carried out by the University of Warwick is collaboration with the Federico II University Medical School in Naples has found that people who sleep for less than six hours each night are 12 per cent more likely to die prematurely six to eight hours.

“Fatigue is the best pillow,” said US founding father Benjamin Franklin. But just being tired doesn’t mean you will sleep, of course. As much as one third one of the UK population suffers from some form of insomnia, a prolonged inability to obtain adequate, uninterrupted sleep Street is a major contributor.

NO LAUGHING MATTER

Sleep loss affects the higher “executive” functions of the human brain and can lead to behavior such as rigid thinking, reduced verbal fluency, impaired working memory and an inability to react to the unexpected. Watch politicians toward the end of long election campaigns and you may recognize some of these symptoms!

Tiredness causes accidents and some of the worst disasters in recent history have been linked to fatigue. The Bhopal gas tragedy in December 1984, the Challenger space shuttle disaster in January 1986, Chernobyl in April, the Exxon Valdez in March 1989 and the Selby rail accident in February 2001 have all been linked to shift work and lack of sleep.

So if the importance of a good night’s sleep is clear, what’s the best way of getting it? “Prepare properly”, says Professor Francesco Cappuccio. Good sleep hygiene includes avoiding heavy meals, cigarettes, caffeine or alcohol late at night it also helps to create a soothing environment. To keep TVs and computers out of bedrooms and to dim the lights before bedtime. Sleep is a vital part of life. Or, as the American author and social commentator Fran Lebowitz once said: “Life is something that happens whey you can’t get to sleep.

THE PROFESSOR

Professor Francesco Cappuccio is a cardiovascular physician and gained his medical degree in Naples before moving to Britain. He heads a multi-disciplinary research group into sleep and its impact on society and has worked at the University of Warwick Clinical Sciences Research Institute since 2005.

Sleep, Health and Society (ISBN 978-019-956659-4 1) by Professor Francesco Cappuccio and others, was published by Oxford University Press in 2010 http://ukcatologue.oup.com/category/academic.do http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/staff/cappuccio

Remembering Hollywood Legend Elizabeth Taylor

Source: www.voanews.com

Photo: AP

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 1969 in Monaco

DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson.

This week, we answer a question about sports terms and play music by blues great Pinetop Perkins, who died Monday.

And we remember another star who died this week: the extraordinary actress and beauty Elizabeth Taylor.

(MUSIC)

Elizabeth Taylor

DOUG JOHNSON: America lost one of its biggest movie stars this week. Elizabeth Taylor died Wednesday in Los Angeles, California. She had been in poor health for many years.

There was no one like Elizabeth Taylor at the height of her fame. She was an extremely beautiful woman. She won two Academy Awards. She also had an interesting and complex private life. Her many loves, her battles with substance abuse and her humanitarian causes kept her name in the news even after she stopped making films.

Katherine Cole takes a look at Elizabeth Taylor’s professional and personal life.

KATHERINE COLE: It started in nineteen forty-four with the movie “National Velvet.” Twelve-year-old Elizabeth Taylor starred as Velvet Brown, a girl in an English country village. She saves a horse and trains him for an important race. Then she rides him to victory.

AP

Elizabeth Taylor in 1944 while filming "National Velvet"

But the real victory was for the young Elizabeth Taylor. Throughout the nineteen forties she played in many movies about families. The nineteen fifty comedy “Father of the Bride” was a major hit. Eighteen-year-old Elizabeth Taylor played the bride.

This was also the year of her first marriage, to Nicky Hilton, of the Hilton Hotels business. But they separated after just nine months.

Elizabeth Taylor married seven more times to six other men. She married actor Richard Burton twice. She had four children by three of her husbands. Her relationships caused her some public image problems, especially her marriage to singer Eddie Fisher. He had been married to Taylor’s best friend and popular actress Debbie Reynolds. Fisher left Reynolds for Taylor in nineteen fifty-nine. The American public was shocked and many were angered by this behavior.

In nineteen fifty-eight she played Maggie in the film version of Tennessee Williams’ play, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Some critics consider it her best movie.

AP

Elizabeth Taylor as "Cleopatra"

She won her first Academy Award for her work in the nineteen sixty film, “Butterfield 8.” She played a sex worker who is involved with a married man. She won another Oscar in nineteen sixty-six for the movie, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Taylor became the highest paid film actress in history. She earned more than one million dollars for her role as “Cleopatra,” in the extraordinary production of the same name, released in nineteen sixty-three.

Elizabeth Taylor made more than sixty movies in all. In the nineteen eighties, she battled drug and alcohol abuse. She entered a medical center for treatment and was very open with the public about it. She also became a leader in the fight against AIDS and HIV. She helped found amFAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. She did this in nineteen eighty-five when many people believed those infected with the disease were immoral.

AP

Elizabeth Taylor at a 1996 AIDS event in front of the US Capitol

The British singer-songwriter Elton John was a good friend of Elizabeth Taylor. He said the world had lost not just a Hollywood giant, but also “an incredible human being.” Elton John said she earned love and respect for speaking out against AIDS when others wanted to bury their heads in the sand.

(MUSIC)

Sports Terms

DOUG JOHNSON: Our question this week comes from the Dominican Republic. Junior Olivares wants us to explain some of the terms used in baseball and basketball.

Baseball is known as America’s “national pastime.” The pitcher throws the ball and the batter tries to hit it on the playing field to get a “base hit.” Then the batter runs to one of the bases, depending on how far he hits the ball. The batter gets a single if he reaches first base safely. A double gets him to second base and a triple gets him to third base. A very good batter may hit the ball out of the playing field and run to all four bases for a “home run.”

A batter can get to first base even if he doesn’t hit the ball. He can “walk” to first base if the pitcher throws four balls that are either too high, too low or too far from the batter. But the batter may also “strike out” if he is unable to hit the ball after three pitches. A base runner may try to “steal” a base by running to the next base while the pitcher is throwing the ball to another player.

A pitcher who is very good may throw a “no hitter” if none of the opposing batters gets a hit. Or the pitcher may even throw a “perfect game” if none of the players from the other team reaches a base.

The game of basketball has different language to describe the action. It all begins with the “tip-off.” It is the first “jump ball” that starts the game. An official throws the ball in the air as a player from each opposing team jumps to gain possession of the ball.

Next the “man-to-man defense” begins. Each defensive player is responsible for guarding one of the opposing team members. A “full court press” happens when the defenders begin guarding the offense in the back court.

Sometimes the pressure is so great that two teammates may join together to guard a single opponent. This is called “double teaming.” It is an illegal defense and may result in a “technical foul.” The opponent may be awarded a “free throw,” a chance to throw the ball into the basket.

If he misses the shot and one his teammates is able to regain control of the ball, it is called an “offensive rebound.” But, the winning team may choose to play a “keepaway game” if the game is close to ending. Players may pass the ball back and forth among themselves until there is no time left and the game ends.

One of the most exciting moves in basketball is the “slam dunk.” Players jump up high and force the ball into the net. The famous former basketball player Michael Jordan is considered to be one of the best “slam dunkers” of all time.

(MUSIC: “Pinetop’s Mambo”/Pinetop Perkins)

Pinetop Perkins

DOUG JOHNSON: Blues pianist Pinetop Perkins died Monday at his home in Austin, Texas. The ninety-seven year old musician was still making great music in his last days. In fact, just last month he won a Grammy Award. Mario Ritter remembers Pinetop Perkins and plays some of his music.

(MUSIC)

MARIO RITTER: The piano player was born Joe Willie Perkins in Mississippi in nineteen thirteen. He lived with his mother and grandmother as a boy. His grandmother was abusive. She finally beat the boy so badly that he left home.

Pinetop Perkins said he started playing guitar when he was ten years old. He taught himself to play by listening to others. Two years later, he started a job repairing pianos and decided to teach himself to play that instrument as well.

(MUSIC: “I Almost Lost My Mind”/Pinetop Perkins)

Perkins began playing music in small clubs and at parties when he was a young man. At one club in Arkansas a woman cut his arm badly with a knife. There was so much damage that Perkins could no longer play guitar. So the piano became his instrument.

Perkins took the name “Pinetop” in honor of an earlier pianist, Clarence “Pinetop” Smith. One of Smith’s songs, “Pinetop Boogie Woogie” is now linked more closely with Pinetop Perkins.

(MUSIC)

In the nineteen forties Pinetop Perkins worked as a band member for two radio programs. One was the famous King Biscuit Time broadcast from Helena, Arkansas.

In the late nineteen sixties, blues great Muddy Waters asked Pinetop Perkins to join his band. The pianist played with Muddy Waters for more than ten years.

In nineteen eighty, Pinetop Perkins and the other Muddy Waters’ band members formed their own group, the Legendary Blues Band. They played Chicago- style blues music.

(MUSIC: “Pinetop’s Blues”/Pinetop Perkins)

The Recording Academy presented Pinetop Perkins with a Lifetime Achievement Award in two thousand five. The Academy honored him with his first Grammy two years later for best traditional blues album. Last month, he won in the same category again. Pinetop Perkins became the oldest performer to receive a Grammy.

Pinetop Perkins told a reporter that performing in his nineties was not the joy it had been when he was younger. But he said he could not stop --- it was all he knew how to do. “I’m just trying to make people happy and make a dollar or two,” he said.

(MUSIC: “Take Your Eyes Off My Woman”/Pinetop Perkins)

I’m Doug Johnson. Our program was written by June Simms and Caty Weaver who was also the producer.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English 
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