Family Album, 68

Source: FAMILY ALBUM

Carl Sagan (1934-1996) Helped People Understand Our Planet and the Universe

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source: www.manythings.org/voa/people

This is Shirley Griffith. And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program EXPLORATIONS.

Today we tell about American scientist Carl Sagan. He spent much of his life helping make space travel possible far out in the universe. He also helped people understand science.

(MUSIC)

The year is nineteen forty-seven. Twelve-year-old Carl Sagan is standing outside a small house in the eastern city of Brooklyn, New York. It is dark. He is looking up at the sky. After a few minutes, he finds the spot for which he has been searching. It is a light red color in the night sky. Carl is looking at the planet Mars.

Carl has just finished reading a book by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs. It is the story of a man who travels from Earth to the planet Mars. He meets many strange and interesting creatures there. Some of them are very human. The name of the book is "The Princess of Mars." It is just one of many books that Mr. Burroughs wrote about travels to Mars.

In "The Princess of Mars," the man who travels to Mars can make the trip by looking at the planet for several minutes. He then is transported there by a strange force.

Carl Sagan stands watching the red planet. He wishes he could travel across the dark, cold distance of space to the planet Mars. After a while, young Carl realizes this will not happen. He turns to enter his home. But in his mind he says, "Some day. . . Some day it will be possible to travel to Mars. "

Carl Sagan never had the chance to go to Mars. He died in December, nineteen ninety-six. However, much of the work he did during his life helped make it possible for the American Pathfinder vehicle to land on Mars. It landed on July fourth, nineteen ninety-seven. It soon began sending back to Earth lots of information and thousands of pictures about the red planet.

Carl Sagan's friends and family say he would have been extremely happy about the new information from Mars. They say he would have told as many people as possible about what Pathfinder helped us learn.

Carl Sagan was a scientist. He was also a great teacher. He helped explain extremely difficult scientific ideas to millions of people in a way that made it easy to understand. He made difficult science sound like fun.

(MUSIC)

Carl Sagan was born in Brooklyn, New York in nineteen thirty-four. Even as a child he wanted to be a scientist. He said it was a child's science book about stars that helped him decide to be a scientist.

Mr. Sagan said he read a book that told how our sun is a star that is very close to Earth. The book also said that the stars in the night sky were also suns but very far away. Mr. Sagan said that suddenly, this simple idea made the universe become much larger than just Brooklyn, New York.

It should be no surprise to learn that Carl Sagan studied the stars and planets when he grew older. He did this at the University of Chicago. Later he taught astronomy at Harvard University and Cornell University.

In the nineteen fifties, Mr. Sagan helped design mechanical devices for use on some of the first space flights.

He also published two important scientific theories that were later confirmed by space flights. One theory was that Venus is extremely hot. The other was that Mars did not have a season when plants grew as scientists had believed. He said that the dark areas on Mars that were thought to be plants were really giant dust storms in the Martian atmosphere.

Mr. Sagan was deeply involved in American efforts to explore the planets in our solar system. He was a member of the team that worked on the voyage of Mariner Nine to Mars. It was launched in nineteen seventy-one. Mariner Nine was the first space vehicle to orbit another planet.

Mr. Sagan helped choose the landing area for Viking One and Viking Two, the first space vehicles to successfully land on Mars. He also worked on Pioneer Two, the first space vehicle to investigate the planet Jupiter. And he worked on Pioneer Eleven, which flew past Jupiter and Saturn.

Carl Sagan was a member of the scientific team that sent the Voyager One and Voyager Two space vehicles out of our solar system. He proposed the idea to put a message on the Voyager, on the chance that other beings will find the space vehicles in the distant future.

Mr. Sagan worked for many months on what to say in the message. It was an extremely difficult task. When the Voyager space vehicles left our solar system they carried messages that included greetings from people in many languages. They carried the sound of huge whales in our oceans. And they carried the sound of ninety minutes of many different kinds of music from people around the world. Carl Sagan had created a greeting from the planet Earth.

(MUSIC)

Carl Sagan was an extremely successful scientist and university professor. He was also a successful writer. He wrote more than six hundred scientific and popular papers during his life. And he wrote more than twelve books. In nineteen seventy-eight, he won the Pulitzer Prize for one of them. It is called "The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence." He even helped write a work of science fiction in the nineteen eighties. The book is called "Contact." It is about the first meeting between beings from another world and the people of Earth. It was made into a popular movie.

Perhaps Carl Sagan may best be remembered for his many appearances on television. He used television very effectively in his efforts to make science popular. He first became famous in nineteen eighty when he appeared on a thirteen-part television series about science. The show was called "Cosmos." It explored many scientific subjects -- from the atom to the universe. It was seen by four hundred million people in sixty countries. Mr. Sagan wrote a popular book based on his television show.

Millions of people saw Carl Sagan on television in the nineteen seventies and nineteen eighties. He especially liked to talk about science and scientific discoveries on the late night television program "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson." Mr. Sagan said he always tried to accept invitations to "The Tonight Show" because about ten million people watched it, people who were not usually interested in science.

On television, Mr. Sagan was a good storyteller.  He was able to explain complex scientific ideas in simple ways. He believed that increasing public excitement about science is a good way to get more public supporters. He said much of the money for science and scientific studies comes from the public, and people should know how their money is being spent.

Some scientists criticized Carl Sagan because of his many appearances on television. They said he was not being serious enough about science. They said he was spending too much time appearing on television trying to make science popular.

Other scientists valued his efforts to explain science. They said he communicated his message with joy and meaning.

One of Carl Sagan's last books is called "The Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human in Space." Mr. Sagan said he got the idea for the book from a picture taken by the Voyager One space vehicle. As it passed the planet Neptune, Voyager turned its cameras back toward the distant Earth and took a picture of the Earth as a pale blue dot. Mr. Sagan described the Earth this way:

CARL SAGAN: "Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there -- on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam...

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Carl Sagan died December twentieth, nineteen ninety-six in Seattle, Washington. He was being treated at a medical center there for a bone marrow disease. Carl Sagan was sixty-two years old.

(MUSIC)

This Special English program was written by Paul Thompson and Nancy Steinbach. It was produced by Paul Thompson and Mario Ritter.

This is Shirley Griffith.

And this is Steve Ember. You can learn more about Carl Sagan on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

150 Years Later, US Still Debates Issues That Fueled Civil War

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/us-history/150-Years-Later-US-Still-Debate-Issues-That-Fueled-Civil-War-119505304.html

Photo: AP

Dave Chaltas is dressed as Confederate General Robert E. Lee during a re-enactment of the Battle of Aiken in South Carolina

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This Tuesday is the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the opening shots of the American Civil War. On April twelfth, eighteen sixty-one, Confederate soldiers fired on Union troops at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

A total of eleven southern states left the Union. They formed the Confederate States of America. They wanted to continue their economic system based on agriculture and slavery.

The War Between the States continued for four years until the Confederates surrendered. Six hundred twenty thousand Americans died during the war. President Abraham Lincoln was killed shortly after it ended.

One of the first battles took place at what is now Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. Ray Brown from the National Park Service says two percent of the American population died in the Civil War.

AP/Library of Congress

President Abraham Lincoln, center, in Maryland after the Battle of Antietam in 1862

RAY BROWN: "You can imagine the impact that this would have on whole communities throughout the country and why there would be such passions that have been passed on from generation to generation even at the remove of one hundred fifty years."

Marianne Lee brought her children to the historic battlefield for a history class.

MARIANNE LEE: "I think it is important to look back at this particular war, because it is what made our Union. We separated and yet managed to come back together."

David Blight is a historian at Yale University in Connecticut and an expert on the Civil War. He says observances of the fiftieth anniversary centered on the sacrifices of the two sides.

DAVID BLIGHT: "What we did in this country is we suppressed having to talk about what caused that war or what its results or legacies were, focusing largely on honoring the soldier."

Kevin Levin is a history teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, who writes the blog Civil War Memory. He says Americans continued to ignore the issues at the one hundredth anniversary of the war.

KEVIN LEVIN: "Americans, I think, were more interested in remembering a war that united Americans rather than divided Americans."

But in recent years, historians like David Blight at Yale have started to take a new look.

DAVID BLIGHT: "We do not want to sacrifice the military history story. That needs to be understood. But this time, we need to put the story of emancipation at the center of this narrative, because what really transformed the United States, were not those battles. What really transformed the United States was the process by which four million slaves were freed that necessitated a recrafting of our Constitution."

The addition of the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to anyone born in the United States and guaranteed equal protection to all people. And the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed all citizens the right to vote.

But it took the civil rights movement of the nineteen fifties and sixties to enforce many of those promises.

Historian David Blight says Americans are still debating many of the same issues as they were a century and a half ago.

DAVID BLIGHT: "Every time Americans debate the problem of states' rights, the relationship of federal power to state power -- which we are indeed having a roiling debate again -- and every time we debate not only race relations, but the very idea of what it means to be an American, multi-racial, greatly diverse society, we are debating the direct legacies of the Civil War."

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. You can learn more about American history at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Christopher Cruise.

A Mother's History

Recognisably I've been struggled against any kind of violence, racism, Zionists, anything who expresses discrimination. In particular I've been posted since next month a sad history about Ann-Oak who lost her son brutally assassinated, check it out this History and help to promote http://www.knifecrimes.org  

HANDS ACROSS THE SAND Part II, Audio

Source: Speak Up

Speakers: Jason Birmgham and Chuck Rolando

Standard: American Accent

INTERVIEW

IN DEEP WATER

      One of the most dramatic events this year has undoubtedly been the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, better known as the “BP oil disaster.”

      The spill lasted from April 20 to September 19. BP estimates its total cost to rectify the situation as $ 40 billion. According to Wikipedia, it is the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.”

      Not surprisingly, the disaster has given great impetus to the environmental movement and has made people think again about alternative energy sources. On June 26^th a series of events called “Hands Across the Sand” took part. They linked hands across beaches around the country in order to protest against offshore drilling.

      One person who was closely involved in the organization was John Weber, of an environment group, the Surfrider Foundation. He met with Speak Up on a rather noisy beach. As he explained, the Deepwater Horizon Spill is just one of many in a long line of American oil disasters.

John Weber

Standard: American Accent

In  1969 there was an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California and there were many dead seabirds and sea life and it was such that people in California could see the damage right in front of their eyes and many people think that that helped give rise to the modern environmental movement in the United State. So, after that, offshore oil drilling was questioned because in Santa Barbara that was a bad accident. So that was over 40 years ago and then. In 1989, we had the Exxon Valdez oil spill. An I haven’t been there myself, but people say you can go to Prince William Sound in Alaska and dig down a few inches in the dirt, or among the rocks, and there’s still oil there. And Exxon never properly cleaned up there, and they never properly compensated fishermen and people that made their living in such a way. Exxon neverspent more money fighting it in court, on lawyers, than it would have taken just to compensate people properly. 

Family album 67, USA

Source: FAMILY ALBUM USA.

We are the world

WHAT is “We are the world 25 for Haiti”?

It is a remake of the song "we are the world", recorded 25 years after theoriginal one to raise money to help reconstruction in Haiti after the 2010earthquake.

The Author of this posting is credit for Maria Helena Sabadini

Source: http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=4069

EXERCISE ONE: WH

AT DOES THE MESSAGE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VIDEO SAY?

READ THE FOLLOWING AND CHOOSE WHETHER THEY'RE RIGHT OR WRONG

1- it asks us to do more than just watch and to donate for Haiti truefalse

2- it says the original lyrics were by M Jackson alone truefalse

3- it says the original song was written by M Jackson and Lionel Ritchie truefalse

4- it says this video was made to remember M Jackson truefalse

5- it says this video was made to take action to help Haiti truefalse

6- it asks us to reach deep into our hearts and do something to help truefalse

7- it says you must donate big sums of money truefalse

8- it says this isn't a new version of the original song truefalse

9- it says 25 years have passed since the first version of the song was releasedtruefalse

EXERCISE TWO: LISTEN AND CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORDS TO FILL IN THE GAPS

[Justin Bieber]
There comecomes a time
When we heedneed a certain call
[Nicole Scherzinger & Jennifer Hudson]
When the world must come together as onewon

[Jennifer Hudson]
There are people dyingdoing

[Jennifer Nettles]
And it’s time to lend a hand to livelife

The greatest gift of all
[Josh Groban]
We can’t go on
Pretending day by dayevery day
[Tony Bennet]
That someone, somehow will soon make a changemake changes

[Mary J Blige]
We are all a part of
God’s great big family
And the truth, I knowyou know love is all we need


[Chorus]
[Michael Jackson]
We are the world
We are the children
[Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson]
We are the ones who make a brightbrighterday
So let’s start giving
[Barbra Streisand]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lifelives

It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me


[Miley Cyrus]
Well, send them your heart
So they’ll know that someone cares
[Enrique Iglesias]
So their cries  for helpfor helping

 will not bewill be in vain
[Nicole Scherzinger]
We can’t let them suffer
No we cannot turn awayour way

[Jamie Foxx]
Right now they need a helpful handhelping hand
[Wyclef Jean]
Nou se mond la
We are the Children
[Adam Levine]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
[Pink]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving ourour own lives
[BeBe Winans]
It’s true we make'll makea better day
Just you and me


[Michael Jackson]
When you’re down and out
There seems  no hopehope at all
[Usher]
But if you just believe
There’s no way we can fallfeel

[Celine Dion]
Well, well, well, well, let us realize
That a change can only come
[Fergie]
When we stand together as one


[Chorus - All]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
[Nick Jonas]
Got to start giving
[All]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
[Toni Braxton]
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me
[Mary Mary]
We are the world
We are the children
[Tony Bennet]

it's for the childrenit's for any children
[Isaac Slade]
We are the ones who make a brighter day
[Toni Braxton]
So let's start giving


[Lil Wayne]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me


[Chorus - All]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
[Akon]
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we'll make a better day
Just you and me


[T-Pain]
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let’s start giving
[Jamie Foxx imitating Ray Charles]
Choice we're making
Saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day
Just you and me


[LL Cool J, Will-I-Am, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz]
1- We all need somebodysome that we can lean on
2- When you wake up look around and see that your dream's gogone
3- When the earth quakes we'll help youwe help you make it through the storm
4- When the floor breaks a magic carpetmagic car to stand on
5- We are the World unitunited by love so strong
6- When the radio isn’t on you can hear the songssoul

7- A guided light on the dark roarroad you'rewalking on
8- A sign post to find the dream you thought has gonewas gone
9- Someone to help you move the obstacles you stumbled on

10- someone that helps yousomeone to help you  rebuild after the rubble’s gone
11- We are the wordworld connected by a common bond
12- Love the whole planet sing alongsing it logsing it along


[Chorus - All]


[Kanye West]
Everyday citizens
Everybody pitching in


[Singing - Children & Wyclef Jean]
Nou se mond la
Nou se timoun yo


[Will-I-Am]
You and I
You and I
[Kanye West]
Uh, 12 days no water
Whats' your will to live?
[Will-I-Am]
We amplified the love we watching multiply
[Kanye West]
Feeling like the World's end
We can make the World win
[Will-I-Am]
Like Katrina, Africa, Indonesia
And now Haiti needs us, they need us, they need us


[Chorus - All]
[Wyclef Jean]
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha
Haiti, Haiti, Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha

EXERCISE THREE: THERE'S A PART OF THE SONG THAT IS RAPPED: ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS ABOUT IT

1- how many are the people singing?  345

2- what's the number of the line where the lyrics say that friends can help...

- to rebuild 

- to find a lost dream   

- to walk on a dark road 

- when you stumble on something, to remove those obstacles 

- to hear the music even when the radio isn't on