FAMILY ALBUM, USA 75

Source: Family Album.

Buckminster Fuller, 1895-1983: Building Designer, Inventor, Poet

Source: Voice of America Special English

www.manythings.org/voa/people 

I'm Phoebe Zimmermann. And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA.  Today we tell about an unusual man who had many abilities.

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Building designer. Engineer. Inventor. Thinker. Poet. Not five people. Just one: Richard Buckminster Fuller.  "Bucky" Fuller, as he was known, was one of the most unusual thinkers of the twentieth century. His aim in life was to make the human race a success in the universe.

Bucky Fuller spent most of his life searching for new ideas. He also searched for unusual connections between existing ideas. He described himself in these words: "A complete, future-thinking design-science explorer."

Fuller believed deeply in technology. Through technology, he said, people can do anything they need to do.

R. Buckminster Fuller died in nineteen eighty-three at the age of eighty-seven. During his long life, he discussed his idea about technology and human survival. He called his idea "dymaxion." It came from three words. Dynamic, meaning a force. Maximum, meaning the most. And ion, which is an atom or group of atoms with an electrical charge.

Fuller explained the word dymaxion as a method of doing more with less. Everything he did was guided by this idea. He designed a dymaxion car, a dymaxion house, and a dymaxion map of the world. But he probably is known best for another invention -- the geodesic dome. A geodesic dome is a round building made of many straight-sided pieces.

Talking about R. Buckminster Fuller means using strange words. This is because Fuller himself invented words to describe his ideas and designs. His designs were way ahead of his time. They still are.

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R. Buckminster Fuller was born in Milton, Massachusetts, in eighteen ninety-five. Bucky could not see clearly, because his eyes did not point straight ahead. So, his world was filled with masses of color without clear shapes.

When he was four years old, he got eyeglasses to correct the problem. Suddenly, he could see the shapes of people's faces. He could see stars in the sky and leaves on the trees. He never lost his joy at the beauty he discovered in the world.

As a child, Bucky Fuller questioned everything. He was a very independent thinker at an early age. His refusal to accept other people's ideas and rules continued as he grew older. One result was that he never completed his university studies. He was expelled two times from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He thought his time was better spent having fun than studying.

Yet Bucky Fuller was very serious about learning. He proved this when he joined the American Navy during World War One.

In the navy, he learned all about navigation, mathematics, mechanics, communications and electronics engineering. He loved this world of modern technology. Soon after he joined the Navy, he designed new rescue equipment. It helped save the lives of some pilots during training. Fuller's good Navy record won him a short-term appointment to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was there he first developed two ideas that were important for the rest of his life.

While studying warships, Fuller realized that they weighed much less than buildings, yet were able to do much more. He decided better designs could also help humans do more, using fewer materials.

In nineteen seventeen, Bucky Fuller married Anne Hewlett. Their daughter, Alexandra, was born about a year later. Bucky was a very emotional man, as well as an intellectual one. He loved his little daughter. She was the wonder of his world. Then Alexandra became very sick. The medicine to cure her had not been invented yet. She died at the age of four.

Bucky Fuller blamed himself, although he had done everything he could to save her. His sorrow overcame him. He began to drink too much alcohol. Yet he continued to work hard.

Fuller was head of a company that made a light-weight building material. He was not a successful businessman, however. And the company began to fail. He was dismissed by the owners.  It was nineteen twenty-seven. His wife had just given birth to another baby girl. They were living in Chicago, Illinois. He had no job and no money. He felt he was a complete failure.

Bucky Fuller walked through the streets of Chicago along lake Michigan. He stood silently on the shore. He considered killing himself. Then, as he explained later, he realized he did not have the right to kill himself. He said he had felt something inside him that day. He called it the Greater Intelligence or God. It told him he belonged to the universe. So Bucky Fuller decided to live. And he would live the way he thought best. He promised to spend his remaining years in search of designs that could make human existence on Earth easier. This began his great creative period.

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Fuller's first design was the dymaxion house. It was not built at the place it would stand. It was built in a factory, then moved. It did not cost much to build. And it did not look like a traditional house in America. Its roof hung from a huge stick in the center. Its walls were made of glass. It contained everything needed for people to live. Power came from the sun. Water was cleaned and re-used.

Fuller then designed and built the dymaxion car. It looked a little like the body of an airplane. It had three wheels instead of four. It could go as fast as one hundred eighty kilometers an hour. It carried up to twelve passengers.

Several companies were interested in building and selling Fuller's house and car. But his designs were so different, so extreme, that banks were not willing to lend money for the projects. So the dymaxion house -- which could have provided low-cost housing for everyone -- was never built. And the dymaxion car -- which could have provided safe, pollution-free transportation using little gasoline -- was never produced.

Bucky Fuller did not give up his idea of doing more with less. He had an idea for another building design. It would provide the most strength with the least amount of material. He began looking for the perfect shape.

Fuller found it in nature. It appeared in the shapes of organic compounds and metals. The main part of his design is a four-sided pyramid. To create a building, many pyramids are connected to each other. The connecting piece has eight sides.

Together, these two shapes create a very strong, light-weight rounded structure. The structure can be covered with any kind of material. And it can stand without any supports inside. Fuller named this structure the geodesic dome. It covers more space with less material than any other building ever designed.

After a number of experimental geodesic domes were built, industry began to understand the value of the design. Today, there are about one hundred thousand different large and small geodesic domes in use around the world. However, no one yet has acted on one of Fuller's ideas for the geodesic dome.

There are no limits to the size of a geodesic dome. So Fuller proposed using them over cities or over areas that had severe weather. A geodesic dome that size would make it possible to have complete control over the environment inside it.

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Most of Bucky Fuller's inventions did not earn him much money. A lot of what he did earn he spent travelling around the world. He told anyone who would listen about his ideas for human life on this planet.  He called the planet "Spaceship Earth." Humans, he said, are astronauts on Spaceship Earth. They are travelling one hundred thousand kilometers an hour around the sun. He said the Earth is like a large mechanical device that will survive only if people living on it know how to operate it correctly.

People must live on Earth just as astronauts live in a spaceship. They must use their supplies wisely, and re-use them. Buckminster Fuller said humans are able, through planning and wise use of natural supplies, to feed and house themselves forever.

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This VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA, was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. It was produced by Lawan Davis. Our studio engineer was Sulaiman Tarawaley.  I'm Phoebe Zimmerman. And I'm Steve Ember.  Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.

Contextualising

One of the most important thing for Students of English as a Second Language is CONTEXTUALISING. It's acceptable that lack of vocabulary is another common problem, but the most important to understand a text is contextualising it, understand the meaning and explore the grammar on the text. Definitely it's the major problem for students around the world, in particular understanding the complexity of the grammar structure. I recommend, (my own experience) practising English through LYRIC SONG and as well as exploring the grammar structure in the text, you can do that using the lyrics, both you should analysing the contextualisation, of course as much as you practise, you'll get it as soon as possible. 

As a Self-Taught and practising English a long time, now I can contextualising and understand clearer a text and a Lyric Song.

In conclusion it's impossible memorising 20 thousand words, but you can get it during a conversation, in the classroom, a self-studying, reading, etc, but the most important to overcome the barriers of the Language. Do not forget, practise makes perfect. 

COWBOY FOR A DAY, PART II (AVALIABLE ON AUDIO)

INTERVIEW

Source: Speak Up

Language level: C1 Advanced

Speaker: Chuck Rollando

Standard: American accent

HEY, DUDE!

TODD Larsen is a cowboy. He and his wife Cindy run a working cattle ranch near Belle Fourche in South Dakota. It’s called “Crow Creek” and they also operated it as a “guest” or “dude” ranch, where visitors can come and try the cowboy life. We asked him why he decided to open a guest ranch:

Todd Larsen

(Standard American accent)

I have a buddy that was doing it and it looked like he was enjoying himself and it was a learning experience, with people from cross seas. It looked like it was something that could be real interesting in doing, you know, teaching other people how to do the cowboy stuff that we do, and in with the ranching. And I see people really enjoy it, and he had a lot of fun teaching them. It is a sideline income, but it’s a full-time job.

 We then asked Todd what makes a good cowboy:

Todd Larson:

You’ve got to be dedicated to your work. You’ve got to know what you’re doing. You’ve got to have patience. It’s just something that you’ve got to have in you, to do it. It’s probably not for everybody!

DOING YOUR OWN THING

And, in conclusion, we asked him what he enjoyed most about the life of a cowboy:

Todd Larsen:

Well, it’s kind of nice just to be your own boss, do your own thing, something that you like to do, you know. When the work’s out there to do it you’ve got to go do it and then, when you’re caught up, you can take a break, but you’re not punching a time clock for anybody. You’re doing the…the cowboy thing, you’re doing your own thing. You know, it’s not getting in your car, going to work every day. You might have to go saddle your horse ever day!

THE RAIN

Successful ranching increasingly depends on the weather. In recent years persistent drought has been a problem for ranchers in South Dakota and neighbouring states. There’s no shortage of r rain, however, at the Bar M Ranch near Pendleton, Oregon. Located at an elevation of over 650 metres, bar M is surrounded by mountain streams and green, forested landscape.

AT THE END OF THE DAY

Bar M is a guest ranch rather than working ranch, with horse-riding, hot springs and tranquil surroundings for guests to relax and escape from the pressures of everyday life. Built in 1964, this historic log building was once an important stagecoach stop. The mountains here are very steep so the stagecoach journey must he been like a rollercoaster ride!

The ferns and waterfalls or Bar M are a long ride from the sun-burnt fields or Crow Creek, where Todd Larsen and his cowboys have finished a long day’s work. But it’s the same world. As the sun begins to set behind the guest lodge, the air becomes colder and clearer and the first starts begin to show. Sitting out on the veranda of the guest lodge, the wide open landscape looks timeless: this is just as the first cowboy’s would have seen it.

IF YOU GO

A week at Crow Creek Guest Ranch near Belle Fourche,  South Dakota (the nearest international airport is Denver International Airport), will cost you around $ 1.150 (3 nights $575): www.crowcreekguestranch.com  you can obtain detains of further dude ranches from South Dakota Tourism at www.travelsd.com and via the official Dude Ranchers’ Association website at www.duderanch.org .

FAMILY ALBUM, USA 74

SOURCE: FAMILY ALBUM, USA

Learn English by Watching YouTube Videos!

Of course I've been promoting a lot of useful English websites, definitely Hello Channel is a NGO that it provides a free-training English with useful videos and excellent Teachers, everything is for free, check it out this link and getting started right now, but do not forget to advertise it for friends http://hellochannelenglish.org

Village People

    It's a wonderful and colourful magazine, I recommend it for Students and Teachers from Brazil, the content is bilingual Portuguese/English for more info please check it out http://www.maganews.com.br and take out the subscription, affordable price.

Source: MAGANEWS.  

Village People

When people think of England, many automatically think of London. Here Andrew Fox takes a look at life in a typical English village

   There are many times when people ask me, an Englishman, why I came to Brazil. It is a reasonable question, but normally the way it is asked gives the impression that I did something either very adventurous, or just weird. The real question seems to be, “Why on earth did you want to leaveEngland?”

   I cannot answer that question here, but I can tell you that I did not leave a life of high-energy excitement in the center of London. Many people equate England with London, but this is like thinking that Brazil and the Amazon are one and the same.

    Last April I went back to England for the first time in over seven years. I stayed in Clarborough, a very small village a few miles outside a very small market town called Retford, in the north ofNottinghamshire County.  Let me tell you a bit about life in a place like this.

Things to do

Not much. Activities are limited to walking the dog, running around fields, or going to either the pub or church (or one, then the other). Churches and pubs are the main focal points of village life, often being found near to each other. Clarborough has the Chesterfield canal running through it, so you can sit next to that and feed the ducks and swans, and take in the air. Relaxation is an art that has to be practiced.  

Traffic and Transport

Not a problem. Villages do not have very large populations – Clarborough is home to 1,100 people – so even in the rush hour, it does not get very busy. Having said that, cars are almost indispensable, as bus services tend to be irregular.  

Housing

You will not find any apartments in Clarborough, or any villages like it. England in general is not part of the apartment culture, and people live predominantly in houses of varying sizes and descriptions. A typical house will have 3 bedrooms and is 76 square meters in area. Of course, there are large variations.

 People

All village people are the same: cautiously friendly. Crime is not a huge problem, but it certainly does exist and the days of leaving front doors open and people being happily carefree about personal security are long-gone. There are “Neighborhood Watch” areas in which neighbors are constantly keeping their eyes open for strangers. This is the result of sparse police numbers in rural areas, making neighbors more reliant on each other for early signs of possible problems. One thing is for sure, if you are new in a village, it does not take long for the local residents to hear about you. 

Article and Pictures – by *Andrew Fox -

www.maganews.com.br

(*Andrew nasceu na Inglaterra e vive no Brasil há mais de 12 anos, onde trabalha como professor, tradutor e também como redator, revisor e colaborador da Revista Maganews)

Vocabulary

1 reasonable - razoável

2 weird - estranho

3 to equate – aqui = igualar uma coisa com outra coisa

4 a few miles – a algumas milhas

5 county – região

6 pub – típico bar inglês

7 church – igreja

8 Chesterfield canal – rio

9 duck – pato

10 swan – cisne

11 to take in the air - respirar

12 housing – habitação / moradia

13 bedroom – quarto

14 square meter – metro quadro

15 cautiously friendly – cautelosamente amigável

16 front door – porta da frente

17 carefree – tranquilo / despreocupado

18 long-gone – exp.idiom. – há muito tempo (já é passado)

19 neighborhood watch – vigilância do bairro

20 sparse – escasso / pouca (o)

21 reliant - confiante