Listening Comprehension. Explorations

EXPLORATIONS - Isaac Newton: One of History’s Greatest Scientists

October 18, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

This is Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

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VOICE ONE:

Much of today's science of physics is based on Newton's discovery of the three laws of motion and his theory of gravity. Newton also developed one of the most powerful tools of mathematics. It is the method we call calculus.

Late in his life, Newton said of his work: "If I saw further than other men, it was because I stood on the shoulders of giants. "

VOICE TWO:

One of those giants was the great Italian scientist, Galileo. Galileo died the same year Newton was born. Another of the giants was the Polish scientist Nicholas Copernicus. He lived a hundred years before Newton.

Copernicus had begun a scientific revolution. It led to a completely new understanding of how the universe worked. Galileo continued and expanded the work of Copernicus.

Isaac Newton built on the ideas of these two scientists and others. He found and proved the answers for which they searched.

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VOICE ONE:

Isaac Newton was born in Woolsthorpe, England, on December twenty-fifth, sixteen forty-two.  He was born early. He was a small baby and very weak. No one expected him to survive. But he surprised everyone. He had one of the most powerful minds in history. And he lived until he was eighty-four.

Newton's father died before he was born. His mother married again a few years later. She left Isaac with his grandmother.

The boy was not a good student. Yet he liked to make things, such as kites and clocks and simple machines.

VOICE TWO:

Newton also enjoyed finding new ways to answer questions or solve problems. As a boy, for example, he decided to find a way to measure the speed of the wind.

On a windy day, he measured how far he could jump with the wind at his back. Then he measured how far he could jump with the wind in his face. From the difference between the two jumps, he made his own measure of the strength of the wind.

Strangely, Newton became a much better student after a boy kicked him in the stomach.

The boy was one of the best students in the school. Newton decided to get even by getting higher marks than the boy who kicked him. In a short time, Newton became the top student at the school.

VOICE ONE:

Newton left school to help on the family farm.

It soon became clear, however, that the boy was not a good farmer. He spent his time solving mathematical problems, instead of taking care of the crops. He spent hours visiting a bookstore in town, instead of selling his vegetables in the market.

An uncle decided that Newton would do better as a student than as a farmer. So he helped the young man enter Cambridge University to study mathematics.

Newton completed his university studies five years later, in sixteen sixty-five. He was twenty-two years old.

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VOICE TWO:

At that time, a deadly plague was spreading across England. To escape the disease, Newton returned to the family farm. He did more thinking than farming. In doing so, he found the answers to some of the greatest mysteries of science.

Newton used his great skill in mathematics to form a better understanding of the world and the universe. He used methods he had learned as a boy in making things. He experimented. Then he studied the results and used what he had learned to design new experiments.

Newton's work led him to create a new method in mathematics for measuring areas curved in shape. He also used it to find how much material was contained in solid objects. The method he created became known as integral calculus.

VOICE ONE:

One day, sitting in the garden, Newton watched an apple fall from a tree. He began to wonder if the same force that pulled the apple down also kept the moon circling the earth. Newton believed it was. And he believed it could be measured.

He called the force "gravity. " He began to examine it carefully.

He decided that the strength of the force keeping a planet in orbit around the sun depended on two things. One was the amount of mass in the planet and the sun. The other was how far apart they were.

VOICE TWO:

Newton was able to find the exact relationship between distance and gravity. He multiplied the mass of one space object by the mass of the other. Then he divided that number by the square of their distance apart. The result was the strength of the gravity force that tied them to each other.

Newton proved his idea by measuring how much gravity force would be needed to keep the moon orbiting the Earth. Then he measured the mass of the Earth and the moon, and the distance between them. He found that his measurement of the gravity force produced was not the same as the force needed. But the numbers were close.

Newton did not tell anyone about his discovery. He put it aside to work on other ideas. Later, with correct measurements of the size of the Earth, he found that the numbers were exactly the same.

VOICE ONE:

Newton spent time studying light and colors. He used a three-sided piece of glass called a prism.

He sent a beam of sunlight through the prism. It fell on a white surface. The prism separated the beam of sunlight into the colors of a rainbow. Newton believed that all these colors -- mixed together in light -- produced the color white. He proved this by letting the beam of rainbow-colored light pass through another prism. This changed the colored light back to white light.

VOICE TWO:

Newton's study of light led him to learn why faraway objects seen through a telescope do not seem sharp and clear. The curved glass lenses at each end of the telescope acted like prisms. They produced a circle of colored light around an object. This created an unclear picture.

A few years later, Newton built a different kind of telescope. It used a curved

Light reflected from the surface of the mirror, instead of passing through a curved glass lens. Newton's reflecting telescope produced much clearer pictures than the old kind of telescope.

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VOICE ONE:

Years later, the British astronomer Edmund Halley visited Newton. He said he wanted Newton's help in finding an answer to a problem no one had been able to solve. The question was this: What is the path of a planet going around the sun?

Newton immediately gave Haley the answer: an egg-shaped path called an ellipse.

Halley was surprised. He asked for Newton's proof. Newton no longer had the papers from his earlier work. He was able to recreate them, however. He showed them to Halley. He also showed Halley all his other scientific work.

VOICE TWO:

Halley said Newton's scientific discoveries were the greatest ever made. He urged Newton to share them with the world.

Newton began to write a book that explained what he had done. It was published in sixteen eighty-seven. Newton called his book “The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.” The book is considered the greatest scientific work ever written.

VOICE ONE:

In his book, Newton explains the three natural laws of motion. The first law is that an object not moving remains still. And one that is moving continues to move at an unchanging speed, so long as no outside force influences it.

Objects in space continue to move, because nothing exists in space to stop them.

Newton's second law of motion describes force. It says force equals the mass of an object, multiplied by the change in speed it produces in an object.

His third law says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

VOICE TWO:

From these three laws, Newton was able to show how the universe worked. He proved it with easily understood mathematics. Scientists everywhere accepted Newton's ideas.

The leading English poet of Newton's time, Alexander Pope, honored the scientist with these words: "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night. God said, --'Let Newton be!' - and all was light. "

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Marilyn Christiano and Frank Beardsley. This is Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember. Listen again next week for another Explorations program on the Voice of America.

EXPLORATIONS - More Than Two Centuries Later, Mozart's Music Remains Full of Life

The Austrian composer wrote 600 works; he died on December 5, 1791, at the age of 35. Transcript of radio broadcast:
05 December 2006

VOICE ONE:

I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.  This year, the world marked the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of the birth of Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  There have been celebrations of the composer's work all year long.

On December fifth, music houses around the world observed the anniversary of the composer's death.

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VOICE ONE:

That music is from Mozart's "Requiem," a work the composer did not complete before his death.  A requiem is music written in honor of someone who has died.  Many people consider the music and its subject matter to add to the mystery surrounding Mozart's death.  Could it be that the composer sensed his approaching death from fever and wrote “Requiem” in his own honor?  There is no doubt, however, that the music of Mozart has more to do with life and happiness than with sadness or mystery. 

VOICE TWO:

Mozart wrote and performed music in the second half of the eighteenth century.  During this period, European musicians performed for kings, queens and other royalty.  Musicians often depended on wealthy people called patrons to support them. 

Mozart, along with his friend Joseph Haydn, became the best example of the classical style -- the important performance music of his time.  Today, people often use the word "classical" to describe other kinds of music written for and performed by an orchestra. 

Some music critics consider Symphony Twenty-Five in G Minor to be the first work showing Mozart's full ability.  He was seventeen when he wrote it.  See what you think of this young man's skills.

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VOICE ONE:

The word "effortless" is often used to describe the musical compositions of Mozart.  Music came so naturally to the child born in Salzburg, Austria, in seventeen fifty-six.  He was given the name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart shortly after his birth.  But he liked to be called Amadeus, or Amadé, meaning "beloved of God."

Wolfgang was the last of seven children born to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertl.  Five of the children died while babies.  Only Wolfgang and his older sister, Maria Anna, survived.  Both were extremely gifted musicians from a very young age.  The children traveled with their parents and performed across Europe.

Wolfgang's father was a well-known violin teacher.  The year Wolfgang was born, Leopold published a popular book on violin playing.  Soon Wolfgang started to show an unusual command of many instruments.

By the age of eight, he played the piano -- sometimes with his eyes covered.  He also played the organ and violin very well.  He showed an understanding of music of a much older person.

VOICE TWO:

Travel enriched the education of the young Mozart.  His father worked in many of the great cities of eighteenth century Europe.  The family visited London, Munich, Vienna, Prague and Paris. 

Tragedy struck the family in seventeen seventy-eight while young Mozart was seeking work in Paris with his mother.  His mother became sick and died.  Far away in Salzburg, Leopold felt helpless.  He blamed his son for his wife’s death. 

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VOICE ONE:

Mozart’s family kept a home in Salzburg during his early years.  He would later be appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of the city.  Mozart's job was to write new pieces of music for religious ceremonies and other events.  He also played several instruments, including the organ.  But Mozart fought with his employer who, he felt, mistreated him.  He was released from service to the archbishop in seventeen eighty-one.

Only after Mozart left Salzburg permanently and went to Vienna did his work reach its highest level.  Vienna was the home of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph the Second.  Musicians came from all over Europe to perform for him. 

VOICE TWO:

Mozart married Constanze Weber in the Austrian capital in seventeen eighty-two.  He described his wife as having “plenty of common sense and the kindest heart in the world.”  Constanze had six children but only two survived.  They were happy together, although their life was sometimes difficult.

In Vienna, Mozart wrote his greatest operas -- musical plays performed with an orchestra.  His works were performed in other cities as well.  His “Marriage of Figaro” was so popular in Prague that he was asked to write an opera especially for a music house there.

The opera he composed was “Don Giovanni,” considered by many to be his best.  The opera is based on the story of the lover and fighter, Don Juan, by the Spanish writer Tirso de Molina.  In this scene, the spirit of a man Don Giovanni had killed long ago returns to the world of the living to seize him and drag him down to hell.

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VOICE ONE:

Events have been held all over Europe and in the United States to celebrate the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of Mozart's birth.  Salzburg alone held about five hundred events to celebrate the famous composer. Vienna spent about sixty million dollars in public and private money for its Mozart celebration.

In reality, there is an ongoing Mozart celebration all the time.  Mozart’s music is performed around the world.  And his music can be heard in more than three hundred films, from Jean Renoir’s “The Rules of the Game” to Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut.”

Peter Shaffer’s nineteen eighty-four film, “Amadeus,” was generally based on the life of the composer.  The film won eight Academy Awards.  But historians point out that the film is not correct in showing Italian composer Antonio Salieri as an evil force behind Mozart’s death.  Salieri was a friend who taught Mozart’s son.

VOICE TWO:

Mozart died on December fifth, seventeen ninety-one. He was only thirty-five.  He had composed more than six hundred pieces of music. Some experts consider Mozart the greatest composer of all time.

Near the end of his life, Mozart composed the Forty-First Symphony.  After his death, it came to be known as “Jupiter,” possibly in praise of its style and expression.  Critics consider it one of Mozart’s truly great works and a beautiful expression of the classical style that he helped to define.  Listen, and consider that what you have heard on our program represents just a few of Mozart’s best works.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written and produced by Mario Ritter.  I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Barbara Klein. You can read and listen to this program on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.Join us again next week for Explorations in VOA Special English.

EXPLORATIONS - The History of English: How a Language Grew

Written by Paul Thompson
28 December 2005

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VOICE ONE:

This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO: 

And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, EXPLORATIONS.  Today we present the second of our two programs about the history of the English Language.

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VOICE ONE:

Last week, we told how the English language developed as a result of several invasions of Britain.  The first involved three tribes called the Angles, the Jutes and the Saxons.  A mix of their languages produced a language called Anglo-Saxon, or Old English.  It sounded very much like German.  Only a few words remained from the Celts who had lived in Britain.

Two more invasions added words to Old English.  The Vikings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden arrived in Britain more than one thousand years ago.  The next invasion took place in the year ten sixty-six.  French forces from Normandy were led by a man known as William the Conqueror.

The Norman rulers added many words to English.  The words “parliament,” “jury,” “justice,” and others that deal with law come from the Norman rulers.

VOICE TWO:

Over time, the different languages combined to result in what English experts call Middle English.  While Middle English still sounds similar to German, it also begins to sound like Modern English.

Here Warren Scheer reads the very beginning of Geoffrey Chaucer’s great poem, “The Canterbury Tales” as it was written in Middle English. 

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Chaucer wrote that poem in the late thirteen hundreds.  It was written in the language of the people.  The rulers of Britain at that time still spoke the Norman French they brought with them in ten sixty-six.

The kings of Britain did not speak the language of the people until the early fourteen hundreds.  Slowly, Norman French was used less and less until it disappeared.

VOICE TWO:

The English language was strongly influenced by an event that took place more than one thousand four hundred years ago.  In the year five ninety-seven, the Roman Catholic Church began its attempt to make Christianity the religion of Britain. 

The language of the Catholic Church was Latin.  Latin was not spoken as a language in any country at that time.  But it was still used by some people.

Latin made it possible for a church member from Rome to speak to a church member from Britain.  Educated people from different countries could communicate using Latin.

Latin had a great affect on the English language.  Here are a few examples.  The Latin word “discus” became several words in English including “disk,” “dish,” and “desk.”  The Latin word “quietus” became the English word “quiet.”  Some English names of plants such as ginger and trees such as cedar come from Latin. So do some medical words such as cancer.

VOICE ONE:

English is a little like a living thing that continues to grow.  English began to grow more quickly when William Caxton returned to Britain in the year fourteen seventy-six.  He had been in Holland and other areas of Europe where he had learned printing.  He returned to Britain with the first printing press.

The printing press made it possible for almost anyone to buy a book.  It helped spread education and the English language.

VOICE TWO:

Slowly, during the fifteen hundreds English became the modern language we would recognize.  English speakers today would be able to communicate with English speakers in the last part of the Sixteenth Century.

 It was during this time period that the greatest writer in English produced his work.  His name was William Shakespeare.  His plays continue to be printed, acted in theaters, and seen in motion pictures almost four hundred years after his death.

VOICE ONE:

Experts say that Shakespeare’s work was written to be performed on the stage, not to be read.  Yet every sound of his words can produce word pictures, and provide feelings of anger, fear, and laughter.  Shakespeare’s famous play “Romeo and Juliet” is so sad that people cry when they see this famous story. 

The story of the power hungry King Richard the Third is another very popular play by Shakespeare.  Listen as Shep O’Neal reads the beginning, of “Richard the Third.”

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VOICE TWO:

The development of the English language took a giant step just nine years before the death of William Shakespeare.  Three small British ships crossed the Atlantic Ocean in sixteen-oh-seven.  They landed in an area that would later become the southern American state of Virginia.  They began the first of several British colonies.  The name of the first small colony was Jamestown.

In time, people in these new colonies began to call areas of their new land by words borrowed from the native people they found living there.  For example, many of the great rivers in the United States are taken from American Indian words.  The Mississippi, the Tennessee, the Missouri are examples. 

Other Native American words included “moccasin”, the kind of shoe made of animal skin that Indians wore on their feet. This borrowing or adding of foreign words to English was a way of expanding the language.  The names of three days of the week are good examples of this.  The people from Northern Europe honored three gods with a special day each week.  The gods were Odin, Thor and Freya.  Odin’s-day became Wednesday in English, Thor’s-day became Thursday and Freya’s-day became Friday. 

VOICE ONE:

Britain had other colonies in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and India.  The English language also became part of these colonies.  These colonies are now independent, but English still is one of the languages spoken.  And the English language grew as words from the native languages were added.

For example, the word “shampoo” for soap for the hair came from India.  “Banana” is believed to be from Africa. 

Experts cannot explain many English words.  For hundreds of years, a dog was called a “hound.”  The word is still used but not as commonly as the word “dog.”  Experts do not know where the word “dog” came from or when.  English speakers just started using it.  Other words whose origins are unknown include “fun,” “bad,” and “big.”

VOICE TWO:

English speakers also continue to invent new words by linking old words together.  A good example is the words “motor” and “hotel.”  Many years ago some one linked them together into the word “motel.”  A motel is a small hotel near a road where people travelling in cars can stay for the night.

Other words come from the first letters of names of groups or devices.  A device to find objects that cannot be seen called Radio Detecting and Ranging became “Radar.”  The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is usually called NATO.

Experts say that English has more words that explain the same thing that any other language.  For example, the words “large,” “huge,” “vast,” “massive,” and “enormous” all mean something really “big.”

VOICE ONE:

People often ask how many words there are in the English language.  Well, no one really knows.  The Oxford English Dictionary lists about six hundred fifteen thousand words.  Yet the many scientific words not in the dictionary could increase the number to almost one million.

And experts are never really sure how to count English words.  For example, the word “mouse.”  A mouse is a small creature from the rodent family.  But “mouse” has another very different meaning.  A “mouse” is also a hand-held device used to help control a computer.  If you are counting words do you count “mouse” two times?

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VOICE TWO:

Visitors to the Voice of America hear people speaking more than forty different languages.  Most broadcasters at VOA come from countries where these languages are spoken.  International organizations such as VOA would find it impossible to operate without a second language all the people speak.

The language that permits VOA to work is English.  It is not unusual to see someone from the Mandarin Service talking to someone from the Urdu Service, both speaking English. English is becoming the common language of millions of people worldwide, helping speakers of many different languages communicate.

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written and produced by Paul Thompson.  This is Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO: 

And this is Shirley Griffith.  Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program, on the Voice of America.

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VOICE ONE:

This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, Explorations. Join us today as we travel along the Potomac River in the eastern United States.  The Potomac is one of America’s most historic waterways.

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VOICE ONE:

The Potomac River flows more than six hundred kilometers from the Allegheny Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay, on the Atlantic Ocean coast. The river flows through West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. It also flows through the United States capital, Washington, D.C. 

The Potomac is the wildest river in the world that flows through a heavily populated area.  It supplies water for more than eighty percent of the four million people who live in the Washington area. Millions of people use the river and the land nearby for recreational activities. These include boating, fishing, hiking and bird watching. The area is home to important birds such as the great blue heron and the American bald eagle.

The Potomac River has played an important part in American history. For example, America’s first President, George Washington, lived for many years along the Potomac in Virginia.  He urged that the river be developed to link Americans with the West.

VOICE TWO:

We will explore the Potomac River in a small boat called a canoe that we move through the water using sticks called paddles.  Our trip will take seven or eight days. The boat has only enough space for two or three people.  But we will not be alone on the water. Other canoes float nearby.

We start in the calm waters of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A guide in the boat next to us says people lived here fifteen thousand years ago. The Potomac River was a meeting place for American Indians long before Europeans arrived.  The Indians gathered to trade food and furs. Today, people often find objects that the Indians left behind.  

VOICE ONE:

We work hard to paddle our canoe, and are happy to stop and rest at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. During the nineteenth century, this village was an important transportation center for the river, a smaller waterway and a railroad. At Harpers Ferry, the Potomac flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Here it meets the Shenandoah River. From our boat we can see the water flowing toward huge rocks.  Green trees cover the mountains on either side.  Round white clouds hang low against a blue sky. It looks very peaceful.

VOICE TWO:

But this area is not known for peace.  In eighteen fifty-nine, the United States was close to civil war between the northern and southern states. The federal government had a weapons center at Harpers Ferry.  John Brown, a militant who was against slavery, decided to raid it.  Historians believe he did this to provide slaves with weapons for a rebellion.

John Brown and eighteen of his supporters captured the weapons center.  However, federal troops recaptured the center the next day.  John Brown was later hanged. But his name was made famous forever by American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Emerson wrote that although Brown had died, his spirit would march on.

VOICE ONE:

Harpers Ferry became a national historical park in nineteen forty-four.  Today the park welcomes visitors who come to learn about life along the river. The park also operates a program to restore an important bird, the peregrine falcon, to the area. About fifty years ago, the use of the insect-killing chemical DDT had almost killed all these large birds. DDT was banned in nineteen seventy-two.  Wildlife experts now bring baby peregrines from the Chesapeake Bay area.  Then they place the birds in rocky areas high above the Potomac River near Harpers Ferry.

The baby birds wear a device that sends signals telling where there are. The devices let wildlife experts follow the birds’ movements.  They hope that before too long, many peregrines again will fly in these skies.

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VOICE TWO:

Most of the time we paddle smoothly over the Potomac.  But sometimes the river is wild. George Washington understood that the Potomac was difficult to travel on, even for much bigger boats than ours.  He proposed a waterway to avoid dangerous places on the river.  But he did not live to see it built. Washington died in seventeen ninety-nine. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was built more than twenty-five years later.

VOICE ONE:

Over the years, continued flooding from the Potomac damaged the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.  Today it no longer carries goods.  Instead, the C and O Canal is a national park. Kayaks and barges float on the waterway, passing through devices called locks.  The locks close off the canal and use special gates to raise or lower the boats.  They do this by raising or lowering the water level.

The area between the Potomac River and the canal is called a towpath.  The towpath extends about three hundred kilometers from Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland.

Today we see families walking their dogs along the towpath.  Other people are running or riding their bicycles.  Still others are fishing.

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VOICE TWO:

Now we are getting close to Washington, D.C.  Here the river begins to look dangerous.  Signs warn boats away from the twenty-four kilometers of the Potomac Gorge. So we leave our canoe to walk along the towpath.

Water moves fast in the gorge.  There are many rocks and waterfalls.  The gorge begins above a large waterfall called Great Falls.  Here the water drops to sea level. The gorge then extends to Theodore Roosevelt Island, named for America’s twenty-sixth president.  Here we get a quick look at a blue heron.  This beautiful bird stands for a minute on a rock on one long, thin leg.  An eagle spreads its wide wings in the sky, but does not land. 

VOICE ONE:

We take land transportation to follow the river into America’s capital.  Washington, D.C. was built on a low wetland area in eighteen hundred.  The British burned the city in eighteen twelve.  But Americans soon rebuilt it.

While in Washington, we decide to continue our trip on the Potomac River in a larger boat for visitors. This will take us past George Washington’s home in Virginia.  He helped design the big white house, called Mount Vernon. George Washington and his wife, Martha, are buried on the property.

Today we see sheep and goats eating grass on the hill between the back of the house and the river.  This sight probably looks about the same as it did when George Washington supervised his beautiful riverside farm.

After passing Mount Vernon, we end our trip on the Potomac River as it flows toward the Chesapeake Bay.  By now, we have a deep feeling for the beauty of the river. But the beauty always exists under threat.

VOICE TWO:

Over the centuries, industry, agriculture and human development severely damaged the environment of the Potomac River.  By the nineteen seventies, people described the river’s condition as sickening.  Then Congress passed the Clean Water Act in nineteen seventy-two. 

The river has been improved greatly since then.  Still, coal mines in West Virginia drop harmful acids into the water.  Waste material from the Anacostia River floats on the Potomac. Sediment material that falls to the bottom prevents traffic on some areas of the river.  Pesticides and fertilizers pollute the water.  Many environmental activists worry especially about the building of new homes and businesses along the Potomac.

VOICE ONE:

The Potomac River faces many environmental problems as a result of population growth and its resulting pressures on land and water resources.

The river flows through land controlled by developers, private owners and state and local governments.  These groups often have conflicting ideas about what is good and bad for the river. Several organizations work to protect and improve the Potomac River and the land near it. The Potomac Conservancy is one of them. It carries out a land protection program, develops land and water restoration projects, and provides education programs for adults and young people.

VOICE TWO:

We have enjoyed our trip on the Potomac River. The trip was sometimes peaceful and sometimes exciting. We learned a lot about the river and its history.  We hope that Americans will always take good care of their historic Potomac River. 

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VOICE ONE:

This Special English program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Paul Thompson.  This is Mary Tillotson.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Steve Ember.  Join us again next week for another Explorations program on the Voice of America.