مطالب کوتاه و خواندنی
- شروع کننده موضوع پیرجو
- تاریخ شروع
چند جمله زیبا
چند جمله زیبا
How can you "SM_LE" Without "I"?
How can you be "F_NE" without "I"?
How can you "W_SH" Without "I"?
How can you be "FR_END" without"I"?
"I" am very important!
But this 'I' can never achieve S_CCESS without 'U'
and that makes 'you' more important than 'I'
چند جمله زیبا
How can you "SM_LE" Without "I"?
How can you be "F_NE" without "I"?
How can you "W_SH" Without "I"?
How can you be "FR_END" without"I"?
"I" am very important!
But this 'I' can never achieve S_CCESS without 'U'
and that makes 'you' more important than 'I'
مهسا-جاوید
عضو جدید
mardi grass
mardi grass
MARDI GRAS:
Mardi gras means fat Tuesday in french‚andit is the final day of carnival.
It is a very popular traditional catholic celebration in RIOJaneiro venice‚and new Orleans.
Mardi gras has been celebrated for over three hundred yoursin the united states.
Tourists from many countries travel to new Orleans.
Thay go to the pardesand parties‚especiallyon BOur bon street.
On Mardi Grass‚peoplewear masks of many colors but the official colors of the holiday are gold ‚green‚andpurple.
Thay also wear andexchange bead necklaces
there’s a lot of music‚and people play on the street.
Mardi Gras is beautiful holiday…
mardi grass
MARDI GRAS:
Mardi gras means fat Tuesday in french‚andit is the final day of carnival.
It is a very popular traditional catholic celebration in RIOJaneiro venice‚and new Orleans.
Mardi gras has been celebrated for over three hundred yoursin the united states.
Tourists from many countries travel to new Orleans.
Thay go to the pardesand parties‚especiallyon BOur bon street.
On Mardi Grass‚peoplewear masks of many colors but the official colors of the holiday are gold ‚green‚andpurple.
Thay also wear andexchange bead necklaces
there’s a lot of music‚and people play on the street.
Mardi Gras is beautiful holiday…
مهسا-جاوید
عضو جدید
travel tips for san francisco
travel tips for san francisco
A Travel tips for san Francisco
1-don’t try to predict the weather.bring awarm jaket and sweater so that you’re prepared for changes in thetemperature.even in the summer months of july and august.it gets cold.
2-buy a prepaid phone card.many of the phone boths at San Francisco airport and in the center of the center cityonly accept prepaid cards.
3-pre-arrange your hotel stay-especially in thesummer months.don’t assume that
It will be easy to find a room when you arrive.hotels fill up quicklyin san francicisco all year.particularly in the summer.
4-San franscisco is agreat city for walking –but there are hills!!bring acomfortable pair of walking shoes .
5-there are many wonderful cultural events happening in SanFrancisco year round.
Og online to get apreview of up-to-date date events happening at the time ofyour visit.
baseball is historicallay an american sport.it hasspread to a number of other countries.
many theories existto explain how baseball extended in to latin america from the north in the nineteenth century.
some experts belive that american marines first took it to nicaragua but others say that is was brought to mexico by oil workers or cuba by sailors.
however it happened the region developed a great interest in the game and exportedit farther to neighboring countries such az puerto rico or venezuela.
professional players have speard baseball to asian countries and teams in nationa leagues injapan and korea have many supporters.
دوستان این متن تاریخچه کامل نیس..یه خلاصهای از تاریخچشه..متنشم بسیار سادس...
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travel tips for san francisco
A Travel tips for san Francisco
1-don’t try to predict the weather.bring awarm jaket and sweater so that you’re prepared for changes in thetemperature.even in the summer months of july and august.it gets cold.
2-buy a prepaid phone card.many of the phone boths at San Francisco airport and in the center of the center cityonly accept prepaid cards.
3-pre-arrange your hotel stay-especially in thesummer months.don’t assume that
It will be easy to find a room when you arrive.hotels fill up quicklyin san francicisco all year.particularly in the summer.
4-San franscisco is agreat city for walking –but there are hills!!bring acomfortable pair of walking shoes .
5-there are many wonderful cultural events happening in SanFrancisco year round.
Og online to get apreview of up-to-date date events happening at the time ofyour visit.
baseball is historicallay an american sport.it hasspread to a number of other countries.
many theories existto explain how baseball extended in to latin america from the north in the nineteenth century.
some experts belive that american marines first took it to nicaragua but others say that is was brought to mexico by oil workers or cuba by sailors.
however it happened the region developed a great interest in the game and exportedit farther to neighboring countries such az puerto rico or venezuela.
professional players have speard baseball to asian countries and teams in nationa leagues injapan and korea have many supporters.
دوستان این متن تاریخچه کامل نیس..یه خلاصهای از تاریخچشه..متنشم بسیار سادس...
l[size=medium][/size
آتيش
عضو جدید
♥♥My FrIeNd ♥♥ I loVe yOu♥♥
♥♥My FrIeNd ♥♥ I loVe yOu♥♥
♥♥My FrIeNd ♥♥ I loVe yOu♥♥
♥If one day u feel like crying♥
هكه روژه كێ ژ روژا ته هه ست ب گريێ كر
♥Call me♥
تلفونێ بكه
♥I dont promise that i will make u laugh♥
ئه س سوزێ نا ده مه ته دێ وه ل ته كه م تو بكه يه كه نى
♥But i can cry with u♥
به لێ ئه س دشێم دگه ل ته بكه مه گرى
♥If one day u dont want to listen to anyone♥
هكه روژه كێ ژ روژا ته نه دفيا گوهێ خو ب ده يه كه سه كێ
♥Call me♥
تلفونئ بكه
♥I promise to be there for u but also promise to remain quiet♥
دێ هێمه وێرێ سه ر خاتراته ...به لێ ئه س ژی دێ وه كى ته بيده نك بم
♥But one day if u call♥
به لێ هكه روژه كێ ته تلفون كر
♥And there is no anwser♥
ج جواب نه بو
♥Come fast to see me♥
وه ره زيكا من ببينه
♥Perhaps i need you♥
به لكى ئه س پێدفى ته بم
♥Remember, everyone needs a friend,♥
بزانن هه مى كه س پێدفى هه ڤالينيێ نه .
♥♥My FrIeNd ♥♥ I loVe yOu♥♥
♥♥My FrIeNd ♥♥ I loVe yOu♥♥
♥If one day u feel like crying♥
هكه روژه كێ ژ روژا ته هه ست ب گريێ كر
♥Call me♥
تلفونێ بكه
♥I dont promise that i will make u laugh♥
ئه س سوزێ نا ده مه ته دێ وه ل ته كه م تو بكه يه كه نى
♥But i can cry with u♥
به لێ ئه س دشێم دگه ل ته بكه مه گرى
♥If one day u dont want to listen to anyone♥
هكه روژه كێ ژ روژا ته نه دفيا گوهێ خو ب ده يه كه سه كێ
♥Call me♥
تلفونئ بكه
♥I promise to be there for u but also promise to remain quiet♥
دێ هێمه وێرێ سه ر خاتراته ...به لێ ئه س ژی دێ وه كى ته بيده نك بم
♥But one day if u call♥
به لێ هكه روژه كێ ته تلفون كر
♥And there is no anwser♥
ج جواب نه بو
♥Come fast to see me♥
وه ره زيكا من ببينه
♥Perhaps i need you♥
به لكى ئه س پێدفى ته بم
♥Remember, everyone needs a friend,♥
بزانن هه مى كه س پێدفى هه ڤالينيێ نه .
7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
.Dont let these easy-to-fix spelling and grammar mistakes make you look unprofessional
In business, excellence is indeed worth striving for. Make sure all of your communications hold to high standards, because misspellings and bad grammar can hold you back in your career.
Many brilliant people have some communication weak spots. Unfortunately, the reality is that written communication is a big part of business, and how you write reflects on you. Poor spelling and grammar can destroy a professional image in an instant
Even if your job doesn't require much business writing, you'll still have emails to send and notes to write. And if you're looking for a job, your cover letters and resumes will likely mean the difference between getting the interview or not
Bad grammar and spelling make a bad impression. Don't let yourself lose an opportunity over a simple spelling or grammar mistake
Here are seven simple grammatical errors that I see consistently in emails, cover letters and resumes
Tip: Make yourself a little card cheat sheet and keep it in your wallet for easy reference.
You're / Your
The apostrophe means it's a contraction of two words; "you're" is the short version of "you are" (the "a" is dropped), so if your sentence makes sense if you say "you are," then you're good to use you're. "Your" means it belongs to you, it's yours.
* You're = if you mean "you are" then use the apostrophe
* Your = belonging to you
You're going to love your new job!
It's / Its
This one is confusing, because generally, in addition to being used in contractions, an apostrophe indicates ownership, as in "Dad's new car." But, "it's" is actually the short version of "it is" or "it has." "Its" with no apostrophe means belonging to it.
* It's = it is
* Its = belonging to it
It's important to remember to bring your telephone and its extra battery
They're / Their / There
"They're" is a contraction of "they are." "Their" means belonging to them. "There" refers to a place (notice that the word "here" is part of it, which is also a place, so if it says here and there, it's a place). There = a place
* They're = they are
* Their = belonging to them
They're going to miss their teachers when they leave there
Loose / Lose
These spellings really don't make much sense, so you just have to remember them. "Loose" is the opposite of tight, and rhymes with goose. "Lose" is the opposite of win, and rhymes with booze. (To show how unpredictable English is, compare another pair of words, "choose" and "chose," which are spelled the same except the initial sound, but pronounced differently. No wonder so many people get it wrong!)
* Loose = it's not tight, it's loosey goosey
* Lose= "don't lose the hose for the rose" is a way to remember the same spelling but a different pronunciation
I never thought I could lose so much weight; now my pants are all loose!
Lead / Led
Another common but glaring error. "Lead" means you're doing it in the present, and rhymes with deed. "Led" is the past tense of lead, and rhymes with sled. So you can "lead" your current organization, but you "led" the people in your previous job.
* Lead = present tense, rhymes with deed
* Led = past tense, rhymes with sled
My goal is to lead this team to success, just as I led my past teams into winning award after award
A lot / Alot / Allot
First the bad news: there is no such word as "alot." "A lot" refers to quantity, and "allot" means to distribute or parcel out.
There is a lot of confusion about this one, so I'm going to allot ten minutes to review these rules of grammar
Between you and I
This one is widely misused, even by TV news anchors who should know better
In English, we use a different pronoun depending on whether it's the subject or the object of the sentence: I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them. This becomes second nature for us and we rarely make mistakes with the glaring exception of when we have to choose between "you and I" or "you and me."
Grammar Girl does a far better job of explaining this than I, but suffice to say that "between you and I" is never correct, and although it is becoming more common, it's kind of like saying "him did a great job." It is glaringly incorrect.
The easy rule of thumb is to replace the "you and I" or "you and me" with either "we" or "us" and you'll quickly see which form is right. If "us" works, then use "you and me" and if "we" works, then use "you and I."
Between you and me (us), here are the secrets to how you and I (we) can learn to write better
Master these common errors and you'll remove some of the mistakes and red flags that make you look like you have no idea how to speak
7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
7 Spelling and Grammar Errors that Make You Look Dumb
.Dont let these easy-to-fix spelling and grammar mistakes make you look unprofessional
In business, excellence is indeed worth striving for. Make sure all of your communications hold to high standards, because misspellings and bad grammar can hold you back in your career.
Many brilliant people have some communication weak spots. Unfortunately, the reality is that written communication is a big part of business, and how you write reflects on you. Poor spelling and grammar can destroy a professional image in an instant
Even if your job doesn't require much business writing, you'll still have emails to send and notes to write. And if you're looking for a job, your cover letters and resumes will likely mean the difference between getting the interview or not
Bad grammar and spelling make a bad impression. Don't let yourself lose an opportunity over a simple spelling or grammar mistake
Here are seven simple grammatical errors that I see consistently in emails, cover letters and resumes
Tip: Make yourself a little card cheat sheet and keep it in your wallet for easy reference.
You're / Your
The apostrophe means it's a contraction of two words; "you're" is the short version of "you are" (the "a" is dropped), so if your sentence makes sense if you say "you are," then you're good to use you're. "Your" means it belongs to you, it's yours.
* You're = if you mean "you are" then use the apostrophe
* Your = belonging to you
You're going to love your new job!
It's / Its
This one is confusing, because generally, in addition to being used in contractions, an apostrophe indicates ownership, as in "Dad's new car." But, "it's" is actually the short version of "it is" or "it has." "Its" with no apostrophe means belonging to it.
* It's = it is
* Its = belonging to it
It's important to remember to bring your telephone and its extra battery
They're / Their / There
"They're" is a contraction of "they are." "Their" means belonging to them. "There" refers to a place (notice that the word "here" is part of it, which is also a place, so if it says here and there, it's a place). There = a place
* They're = they are
* Their = belonging to them
They're going to miss their teachers when they leave there
Loose / Lose
These spellings really don't make much sense, so you just have to remember them. "Loose" is the opposite of tight, and rhymes with goose. "Lose" is the opposite of win, and rhymes with booze. (To show how unpredictable English is, compare another pair of words, "choose" and "chose," which are spelled the same except the initial sound, but pronounced differently. No wonder so many people get it wrong!)
* Loose = it's not tight, it's loosey goosey
* Lose= "don't lose the hose for the rose" is a way to remember the same spelling but a different pronunciation
I never thought I could lose so much weight; now my pants are all loose!
Lead / Led
Another common but glaring error. "Lead" means you're doing it in the present, and rhymes with deed. "Led" is the past tense of lead, and rhymes with sled. So you can "lead" your current organization, but you "led" the people in your previous job.
* Lead = present tense, rhymes with deed
* Led = past tense, rhymes with sled
My goal is to lead this team to success, just as I led my past teams into winning award after award
A lot / Alot / Allot
First the bad news: there is no such word as "alot." "A lot" refers to quantity, and "allot" means to distribute or parcel out.
There is a lot of confusion about this one, so I'm going to allot ten minutes to review these rules of grammar
Between you and I
This one is widely misused, even by TV news anchors who should know better
In English, we use a different pronoun depending on whether it's the subject or the object of the sentence: I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them. This becomes second nature for us and we rarely make mistakes with the glaring exception of when we have to choose between "you and I" or "you and me."
Grammar Girl does a far better job of explaining this than I, but suffice to say that "between you and I" is never correct, and although it is becoming more common, it's kind of like saying "him did a great job." It is glaringly incorrect.
The easy rule of thumb is to replace the "you and I" or "you and me" with either "we" or "us" and you'll quickly see which form is right. If "us" works, then use "you and me" and if "we" works, then use "you and I."
Between you and me (us), here are the secrets to how you and I (we) can learn to write better
Master these common errors and you'll remove some of the mistakes and red flags that make you look like you have no idea how to speak
آخرین ویرایش توسط مدیر:
جالب!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
جالب!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
سه جادوگر به سه تا ساعت سواچ نگاه می‌کنند؛ اگر گفتید کدام جادوگر به کدام ساعت نگاه می‌کند؟! الان پیش خودتون می گین خب که چی؟ اینکه چیز جالبی نبود! حالا انگلیسیش رو بخونید: Three witches watch three Swatch watches
Which witch watch which Swatch watch
جالب!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
سه جادوگر به سه تا ساعت سواچ نگاه می‌کنند؛ اگر گفتید کدام جادوگر به کدام ساعت نگاه می‌کند؟! الان پیش خودتون می گین خب که چی؟ اینکه چیز جالبی نبود! حالا انگلیسیش رو بخونید: Three witches watch three Swatch watches
Which witch watch which Swatch watch
LOVE is
LOVE is
Love is…being with someone you can truly believe in.
Love is…being with someone you believe in the truth in,
Love is…being with someone you can trust,
Love is…being with someone who you must,
Love is…standing by them through the dark and the light,
Love is…believing in them, as they fight there dark night,
Love is…Someone you can take into your heart,
Love is…Someone who will be there after the dark,
Love is…Someone who you can help them fight there dark night,
Love is…Someone who can count on all your might,
Love is…Someone you take into your very soul,
Love is…someone who you might very know,
Love is…Someone you can connect with in more than life,
Love is…Someone who you can help, in all there strife,
Love is…Someone who you can say it’s all right,
Love is…Someone you can turn to, when everything has turned to darkest night,
Love is…In this night, and in this cold,
Love is…That this night, is there night and for they have been told,
Love is…That they must overcome this fear,
Love is…That my heart holds you so dear,
Love is…A fear that cannot come true,
Love is…My heart held up high, bleeding in front of you,
Love is…My heart that still bleeds,
Love is…My heart dying, in this time of need,
Love is…That this arrangement that has held us so true,
Love is…That someday I will owe my heart to you,
Love is…That one day I can hold so true,
Love is…My love, that I hope…you hold so dear to you,
For a heart that is truly in the light, it must first have battled the darkest of nights.
LOVE is
Love is…being with someone you can truly believe in.
Love is…being with someone you believe in the truth in,
Love is…being with someone you can trust,
Love is…being with someone who you must,
Love is…standing by them through the dark and the light,
Love is…believing in them, as they fight there dark night,
Love is…Someone you can take into your heart,
Love is…Someone who will be there after the dark,
Love is…Someone who you can help them fight there dark night,
Love is…Someone who can count on all your might,
Love is…Someone you take into your very soul,
Love is…someone who you might very know,
Love is…Someone you can connect with in more than life,
Love is…Someone who you can help, in all there strife,
Love is…Someone who you can say it’s all right,
Love is…Someone you can turn to, when everything has turned to darkest night,
Love is…In this night, and in this cold,
Love is…That this night, is there night and for they have been told,
Love is…That they must overcome this fear,
Love is…That my heart holds you so dear,
Love is…A fear that cannot come true,
Love is…My heart held up high, bleeding in front of you,
Love is…My heart that still bleeds,
Love is…My heart dying, in this time of need,
Love is…That this arrangement that has held us so true,
Love is…That someday I will owe my heart to you,
Love is…That one day I can hold so true,
Love is…My love, that I hope…you hold so dear to you,
For a heart that is truly in the light, it must first have battled the darkest of nights.
پیام های جالب(زبان انگلیسی)
پیام های جالب(زبان انگلیسی)
پیام های جالب(زبان انگلیسی)
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How to Succeed
How to Succeed
How to Succeed
How to Succeed
چگونه موفق شویم
Studyind when they are sleeping
مطالعه کن وقتی که دیگران در خوابند
PLAN while others are playing
برنامه ریزی کن وقتی که دیگران مشغول بازی کردنند
DECIDE while others are delaying
تصمیم بگیر وقتی که دیگران مرددند
PREPARE while others are daydreaming
خود را آماده کن وقتی که دیگران در خیال پردازیند
BEGIN while others are procrastinating
شروع کن وقتی که دیگران در حال تعللند
WORK while others are wishing
کار کن وقتی که دیگران در حال دعا کردنند
SAVE while others are wasting
صرفه جویی کن وقتی که دیگران در حال تلف کردنند
LISTEN while others are talking
گوش کن وقتی که دیگران در حال صحبت کردنند
SMILE while others are frowning
لبخند بزن وقتی که دیگران خشمگینند
PERSIST while others are quitting
پافشاری کن وقتی که دیگران در حال رها کردنند
چگونه موفق شویم
Studyind when they are sleeping
مطالعه کن وقتی که دیگران در خوابند
PLAN while others are playing
برنامه ریزی کن وقتی که دیگران مشغول بازی کردنند
DECIDE while others are delaying
تصمیم بگیر وقتی که دیگران مرددند
PREPARE while others are daydreaming
خود را آماده کن وقتی که دیگران در خیال پردازیند
BEGIN while others are procrastinating
شروع کن وقتی که دیگران در حال تعللند
WORK while others are wishing
کار کن وقتی که دیگران در حال دعا کردنند
SAVE while others are wasting
صرفه جویی کن وقتی که دیگران در حال تلف کردنند
LISTEN while others are talking
گوش کن وقتی که دیگران در حال صحبت کردنند
SMILE while others are frowning
لبخند بزن وقتی که دیگران خشمگینند
PERSIST while others are quitting
پافشاری کن وقتی که دیگران در حال رها کردنند
Shakespeare Said
Shakespeare Said
Shakespeare Said
Shakespeare Said :
شکسپیر گفت
I always feel happy, you know why?
من همیشه خوشحالم، می دانید چرا؟
Because I don't expect anything from anyone,
برای اینکه از هیچکس برای چیزی انتظاری ندارم،
Expectations always hurt ..
Life is short ..
So love your life ..
انتظارات همیشه صدمه زننده هستند ..
زندگی کوتاه است ..
پس به زندگی ات عشق بورز ..
Be happy .. And keep smiling .. Just Live for yourself and ..
خوشحال باش .. و لبخند بزن .. فقط برای خودت زندگی کن و ..
Befor you speak » Listen
قبل از اینکه صحبت کنی » گوش کن
Befor you write » Think
قبل از اینکه بنویسی » فکر کن
Befor you spend » Earn
قبل از اینکه خرج کنی » درآمد داشته باش
Befor you pray » Forgive
قبل از اینکه دعا کنی » ببخش
Befor you hurt » Feel
قبل از اینکه صدمه بزنی » احساس کن
Befor you hate » Love
قبل از تنفر » عشق بورز
That's Life … Feel it, Live it & Enjoy it.
زندگی این است ... احساسش کن، زندگی کن و لذت ببر
شکسپیر گفت
I always feel happy, you know why?
من همیشه خوشحالم، می دانید چرا؟
Because I don't expect anything from anyone,
برای اینکه از هیچکس برای چیزی انتظاری ندارم،
Expectations always hurt ..
Life is short ..
So love your life ..
انتظارات همیشه صدمه زننده هستند ..
زندگی کوتاه است ..
پس به زندگی ات عشق بورز ..
Be happy .. And keep smiling .. Just Live for yourself and ..
خوشحال باش .. و لبخند بزن .. فقط برای خودت زندگی کن و ..
Befor you speak » Listen
قبل از اینکه صحبت کنی » گوش کن
Befor you write » Think
قبل از اینکه بنویسی » فکر کن
Befor you spend » Earn
قبل از اینکه خرج کنی » درآمد داشته باش
Befor you pray » Forgive
قبل از اینکه دعا کنی » ببخش
Befor you hurt » Feel
قبل از اینکه صدمه بزنی » احساس کن
Befor you hate » Love
قبل از تنفر » عشق بورز
That's Life … Feel it, Live it & Enjoy it.
زندگی این است ... احساسش کن، زندگی کن و لذت ببر
چیستان های انگلیسی
چیستان های انگلیسی
.Why was Karl Marx buried at Highgate Cemetery in London?
- Because he was dead!
2. What odd number becomes even when beheaded?
- Seven (Seven - E = even)
3. Why is the letter E like London?
- It is the capital in England.
4. What has four wheels and flies?
- A garbage truck.
5. What kind of running means walking?
- Running out of gas!
6. What stays hot even if you put it in a refrigerator?
- Pepper
7.What can't be used unless broken?
- Eggs!
8. What two words contain thousands of letters?
- Post office.
9. What has nothing but a head and a tail?
- A coin.
10.What did the big chimney say to the little chimney while working?
- You are too young to smoke!
چیستان های انگلیسی
.Why was Karl Marx buried at Highgate Cemetery in London?
- Because he was dead!
2. What odd number becomes even when beheaded?
- Seven (Seven - E = even)
3. Why is the letter E like London?
- It is the capital in England.
4. What has four wheels and flies?
- A garbage truck.
5. What kind of running means walking?
- Running out of gas!
6. What stays hot even if you put it in a refrigerator?
- Pepper
7.What can't be used unless broken?
- Eggs!
8. What two words contain thousands of letters?
- Post office.
9. What has nothing but a head and a tail?
- A coin.
10.What did the big chimney say to the little chimney while working?
- You are too young to smoke!
A little body has often a great soul
اين سخن از گفته هاي بودا است : در تني نحيف و زار انديشه هاي بزرگ مي تواند ماوا گيرد .
اين سخن از گفته هاي بودا است : در تني نحيف و زار انديشه هاي بزرگ مي تواند ماوا گيرد .
Rage starts with madness and ends in regret.
Pythagoras
خشم با ديوانگي آغاز مي شود و با پشيماني پايان مي پذيرد.
فيثاغورث
Pythagoras
خشم با ديوانگي آغاز مي شود و با پشيماني پايان مي پذيرد.
فيثاغورث
If you are kind, People may accuse you , of selfish, ulterior motives; Be Kind anyway.
A “good life” is not any fixed state, it is a process, not a state of being.
A “good life” is a direction not a destination.
A “good life” is a direction not a destination.
زندگي خوب شكل ثابتي ندارد، بلكه يك فرايند است؛ يك مسیر است و نه يك مقصد.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
هر آنچه هم‌اكنون هستيم، نتيجه هر آنچه فكر كرده‌ايم است!
Working hard doesn’t mean you have to be stubborn
It means that you have to be sharp witted, flexible, and inexhaustible
سخت كوشي به معناي آن نيست كه ديوانه وار در پي هدفي باشيم
بلکه باید هوشمند باشیم، منعطف و البته خستگی ناپذیر
It means that you have to be sharp witted, flexible, and inexhaustible
سخت كوشي به معناي آن نيست كه ديوانه وار در پي هدفي باشيم
بلکه باید هوشمند باشیم، منعطف و البته خستگی ناپذیر
Half of our mistakes occur because when we have to think, we feel;
And we think, when we have to feel…
نصف اشباهاتمان ناشی از این است که وقتی باید فکر کنیم، احساس می کنیم و وقتی باید احساس کنیم، فکر می کنیم…
And we think, when we have to feel…
نصف اشباهاتمان ناشی از این است که وقتی باید فکر کنیم، احساس می کنیم و وقتی باید احساس کنیم، فکر می کنیم…
Historical Persian Queens
Historical Persian Queens
Historical Persian Queens
would like to dedicate this section to the brave Persian women that were wisely running the country for thousands of years. In monarchic Persia, women enjoyed a level of gender equality unmatched even to this day! Female emperors ruled over the Sasanian Persian Empire. Many ancient Persian cities and states were ruled by women and had their army totally under control of female commanders in order to insure loyalty. The significant role of women in Ancient Iran both horrified and fascinated the ancient Greek and Roman male-dominated societies. Women in Persia were very valuable beings; they often had important positions in the Courthouse, Ministries, Military, State Department, and other official administrations etc. It is essential for the Persian Women to know and understand their glorious history of the past, because without it, they will not be able to plant their place in the future of Persia. Young Persian ladies shall understand that they were not born as second rate citizens. Persian women had the highest rank of society and were treated as goddesses before the imposition of the dark, backward, and pernicious Arab ideology of Islam upon Persia which destroyed our style of Humane Federalism, Equal Rights, Freedom of speech and Freedom of religion and replaced those factors with central brutal government, prejudice and slavery. I want to end by saying that I am certain that light will overcome darkness/fanaticism, and Persia, alike the legendary bird “Simorgh of Shahnameh”, will once again rise from her ashes and regain her rich history. Persia, has always been home to those who throughout history have fought for the idea of freedom and equality
Pantea Arteshbod was one of the all time greatest Persian commanders during the reign of Cyrus the Great (559 - 529 B.C). She was the wife of General Aryasb (Achaemenid's Arteshbod). She played an important role in keeping law & order in Babylonia after the conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 547 B.C. by Cyrus the Great. Commander Pantea truly was an important and sensitive military commander whose presence on the ancient battlefield made a difference to the outcome of the battle and played a part in building up the tapestry of ancient military Achievement. She was the commander of the elite force of Persian soldiers who performed the dual roles of both Imperial Guard and standing army during the Achaemenid Empire's expansion. They formed the elite core of the Persian army in times of war and the royal guard in times of peace in Achaemenid Persian Empire. The elite force were known as “The Immortals” because they were kept constantly at a strength of exactly 10,000 men, every killed or seriously wounded member was immediately replaced. To insure loyalty, the original members of this “immortal” fighting machine were Persians by bloodline and trained form early childhood (age 7+). Not everyone could become one of the 10,000 since the training was very rigorous and hard both physically and psychologically. They also followed a strict adherence to the religion of the prophet Zarathustra and his teachings. “The Immortals” were mainly used during the last stages of each battle as reinforcement by the order of the King of Kings to shock the enemies strategically. The name “Pantea” means: Strong and immortal
- Apranik was a Persian Sassanid High Ranking Commander of Army and the daughter of Piran (the great General of King Yazdgird III) and she fought gracefully, as a resistance commander, fighting against Arabo-Oppressors. Apranik was more like a TomBoy! Since childhood, she loved military. She was her Father's Right hand, and the amazing Nationalistic Feelings that she developed during her teenage years led her to become a military person. Like her father Apranik decided to become a professional soldier and she climbed the steps of progress, one by one and after her complete education, she managed to rise from a petty officer, to a full commander of the Persian Army. Apranik was a tireless inspiration for her troops in defense of their nation against outside aggressors. The Arab Bandits attacked Persia's south borders at the worst time possible, the continuous centuries of war with the Roman Empire had weakened the Persian Empire economically, militaristically, & spiritually and cost many lives and the last Sassanid king Yazdegard was not paying any attention to the rise of Islam and the invading barbaric arabs in the south at that time. Apranik fully took the command of a major battalion of the Persian Army directly after the full-scale invasion and occupation by Arab armies and she led her devoted warriors against the Arab oppressors even after the loss of the Persian Empire and Sassanid Dynasty. As she got wiser, she found out that “Organized Warfare” with the Arabs or “The Desert Rats” as she refered to them, who invade and hide, and then reinforce and invade again, does not work; therefore, she started a campaign of a treacherous battle against the occupiers. For years to come, Apranik, first fought an official war and later on when all hopes were destroyed, Apranik, started her Hit and Run Rebellious Campaign until death. Apranik's Dedicated Commando Warfare were legendary and relentless. Her white horse has always been a famous symbol of freedom and still is til this day. The name “Apranik” means: Daughter of elder.
- ... Apranik and her Ranks, never surrendered, they have fought an on going bloody battle to the bitter ends. Apranik became a symbol for the “Persian Resistance & Freedom”. Her braveries were so known, that she became the talk of the “Persian Resistance” and Persians created an expression for her! Every time a female soldier would have shown bravery among the resistance, other soldiers would smile and call her: “Apranik”. Apranik's famous words and policy were: “No retreat, no surrender”. Apranik acted as a battery charger for resistances spirit and chose to fight with her soldiers, until the bitter end, she chose to be cut to pieces by the Arab Sword, than to become a whore in the Arab Bed... and eventually Apranik became a legend. The Legend of Apranik, is still living in every female freedom fighter of Iran's heart. May her great spirit rest in peace. Apranik Daughter of renowned general Piran or as they used to call her “Apranik of Piran's” will always be in the “Persian Resistance Hall of Fame”. This is what the Persian women were made of!
Azarmidokht Sassanid was The Empress of Persia and daughter of Khosrow Parviz. She was the twenty-seventh Sassanid Monarch of Persia and she ruled the empire after her sister Purandokht during the Sassanid Dynasty era. The name “Azarmidokht” means: Youthful girl.
Pantea Arteshbod was one of the all time greatest Persian commanders during the reign of Cyrus the Great (559 - 529 B.C). She was the wife of General Aryasb (Achaemenid's Arteshbod). She played an important role in keeping law & order in Babylonia after the conquest of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 547 B.C. by Cyrus the Great. Commander Pantea truly was an important and sensitive military commander whose presence on the ancient battlefield made a difference to the outcome of the battle and played a part in building up the tapestry of ancient military Achievement. She was the commander of the elite force of Persian soldiers who performed the dual roles of both Imperial Guard and standing army during the Achaemenid Empire's expansion. They formed the elite core of the Persian army in times of war and the royal guard in times of peace in Achaemenid Persian Empire. The elite force were known as “The Immortals” because they were kept constantly at a strength of exactly 10,000 men, every killed or seriously wounded member was immediately replaced. To insure loyalty, the original members of this “immortal” fighting machine were Persians by bloodline and trained form early childhood (age 7+). Not everyone could become one of the 10,000 since the training was very rigorous and hard both physically and psychologically. They also followed a strict adherence to the religion of the prophet Zarathustra and his teachings. “The Immortals” were mainly used during the last stages of each battle as reinforcement by the order of the King of Kings to shock the enemies strategically. The name “Pantea” means: Strong and immortal
- Apranik was a Persian Sassanid High Ranking Commander of Army and the daughter of Piran (the great General of King Yazdgird III) and she fought gracefully, as a resistance commander, fighting against Arabo-Oppressors. Apranik was more like a TomBoy! Since childhood, she loved military. She was her Father's Right hand, and the amazing Nationalistic Feelings that she developed during her teenage years led her to become a military person. Like her father Apranik decided to become a professional soldier and she climbed the steps of progress, one by one and after her complete education, she managed to rise from a petty officer, to a full commander of the Persian Army. Apranik was a tireless inspiration for her troops in defense of their nation against outside aggressors. The Arab Bandits attacked Persia's south borders at the worst time possible, the continuous centuries of war with the Roman Empire had weakened the Persian Empire economically, militaristically, & spiritually and cost many lives and the last Sassanid king Yazdegard was not paying any attention to the rise of Islam and the invading barbaric arabs in the south at that time. Apranik fully took the command of a major battalion of the Persian Army directly after the full-scale invasion and occupation by Arab armies and she led her devoted warriors against the Arab oppressors even after the loss of the Persian Empire and Sassanid Dynasty. As she got wiser, she found out that “Organized Warfare” with the Arabs or “The Desert Rats” as she refered to them, who invade and hide, and then reinforce and invade again, does not work; therefore, she started a campaign of a treacherous battle against the occupiers. For years to come, Apranik, first fought an official war and later on when all hopes were destroyed, Apranik, started her Hit and Run Rebellious Campaign until death. Apranik's Dedicated Commando Warfare were legendary and relentless. Her white horse has always been a famous symbol of freedom and still is til this day. The name “Apranik” means: Daughter of elder.
- ... Apranik and her Ranks, never surrendered, they have fought an on going bloody battle to the bitter ends. Apranik became a symbol for the “Persian Resistance & Freedom”. Her braveries were so known, that she became the talk of the “Persian Resistance” and Persians created an expression for her! Every time a female soldier would have shown bravery among the resistance, other soldiers would smile and call her: “Apranik”. Apranik's famous words and policy were: “No retreat, no surrender”. Apranik acted as a battery charger for resistances spirit and chose to fight with her soldiers, until the bitter end, she chose to be cut to pieces by the Arab Sword, than to become a whore in the Arab Bed... and eventually Apranik became a legend. The Legend of Apranik, is still living in every female freedom fighter of Iran's heart. May her great spirit rest in peace. Apranik Daughter of renowned general Piran or as they used to call her “Apranik of Piran's” will always be in the “Persian Resistance Hall of Fame”. This is what the Persian women were made of!
Azarmidokht Sassanid was The Empress of Persia and daughter of Khosrow Parviz. She was the twenty-seventh Sassanid Monarch of Persia and she ruled the empire after her sister Purandokht during the Sassanid Dynasty era. The name “Azarmidokht” means: Youthful girl.
sepideh202
عضو جدید
color and your Birthday
color and your Birthday
color and your Birthday
|
ورژن انگلیسی عمو سبزی فروش
ورژن انگلیسی عمو سبزی فروش
ورژن انگلیسی عمو سبزی فروش
:
uncle vegetable seller؟
oh ye
Do you have vegetable؟
oh ye
... ... i want a lemon
oh ye
i want u alone
oh ye
uncle vegetable seller؟
oh ye
i want a cherry
oh ye
strawberry
oh ye
i want an apple
oh ye
can we be a couple
ورژن انگلیسی عمو سبزی فروش
ورژن انگلیسی عمو سبزی فروش
:
uncle vegetable seller؟
oh ye
Do you have vegetable؟
oh ye
... ... i want a lemon
oh ye
i want u alone
oh ye
uncle vegetable seller؟
oh ye
i want a cherry
oh ye
strawberry
oh ye
i want an apple
oh ye
can we be a couple
خواندنی و شنیدنی های 2012
خواندنی و شنیدنی های 2012
خواندنی و شنیدنی های 2012
This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
About ten percent of spending on primary and secondary education in the United States comes from the federal government. For ten years now, federal law has tied this spending to student performance. States have been required to show progress through yearly testing.
But states say testing tells only part of the story about efforts by schools and students to improve. So the Obama administration has eased the limits on states in measuring performance.
The western state of Colorado, for example, has a new assessment method. This new measurement tool is called the Colorado Growth Model. The idea is to show academic growth, not just achievement on tests. It combines test scores, family income levels, school size, the ethnicity of the student and many other factors.
Bill Bonk is one of the creators of the Colorado Growth Model.
BILL BONK: "A big part of that has been the calculation of academic growth. It’s a very fancy calculation. We’re very proud of it."
The results from schools across the state are shown online on a graph. The graph shows a school’s average score on standardized tests as well as its academic growth.
Josh Smith is principal of a middle school in a network of public charter schools called West Denver Prep. Charter schools are publicly funded but not operated the same as traditional public schools. Mr. Smith says he likes to show his students this graph so they can see their school's progress.
Many of his students have parents who do not speak English. He likes to play word games with his students, like having them expand their vocabulary by finding another way to say "I’m good."
JOSH SMITH: "Good morning, Daisy."
STUDENT: "Good morning, Mr. Smith."
JOSH SMITH: "How are you this morning?"
STUDENT: "Phenomenal."
JOSH SMITH: "Phenomenal! I love it."
Eighth grader Juan Soltero says games like these, and studying hard, have helped raise his expectations for himself. He says he wants to be an electrical engineer.
JUAN SOLTERO: "The teachers, they really want you to learn. They really do love you. They give you support and talk you through things. It’s not just about academics. You have to be comfortable in learning so you can just stick it in your head."
On average, students enter sixth grade at West Denver Prep performing below grade level. But three years later, most are outperforming other students across the state.
The new assessment method shows that, each year, the average West Denver Prep student learns more math than ninety-four percent of all the students in Colorado. Reading and writing scores also show growth.
Josh Smith says perhaps the most important thing they should learn is to believe in themselves.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can watch a video about West Denver Prep and the Colorado Growth Model at voaspecialenglish.com. We also have captioned videos of our reports at the VOA Learning English channel on YouTube. I'm Christopher Cruise.
2
2
And I’m __________. Join us again next week for more EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. JIM TEDDER:
I’m __________.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m __________ with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about an effort to destroy unused spacecraft and other objects floating high above the Earth. We also have news about SETI -- the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
(MUSIC)
JIM TEDDER:
It just may be the world’s most costly vacuum cleaner. The price of “CleanSpace One” is eleven million dollars. But yet, it has a big job to do. Recently, researchers in Switzerland announced plans to build this new cleaning device. The researchers work at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
“CleanSpace One” will not be for use in homes or businesses. It will be shot into space to help remove the thousands of pieces of space junk floating around up there.
VOICE TWO:
Last year, we reported on the problem of space junk. Over time, many unused spacecraft have hit each other far above the Earth. Big pieces break into thousands of small pieces. Sometimes they fall back into the atmosphere and burn up. But when they do not, it creates big problems.
Scientists fear that if something is not done to remove these objects, it may soon become too dangerous to send people and machines into space. There is a large chance that they might crash into some of this junk. So that is why the Swiss researchers are developing the new device.
JIM TEDDER:
“CleanSpace One” is not really a vacuum cleaner. It will not be used to take away space junk. But scientists plan to move it close to an old satellite that is no longer being used. Then a claw-like instrument will seize the satellite, and force it back through the atmosphere. There, the satellite will be destroyed by the heat of friction with the air.
Researchers say that all they need to do is slow down the speed of some of these unwanted objects. Once these items begin to move more slowly, they will fall back to Earth. There is little chance that they will fall through the atmosphere and harm the people or things below. Some space junk has returned to Earth, but it usually causes no harm as it falls into the ocean.
VOICE TWO:
The American space agency NASA and scientific organizations in other countries know that space junk is a serious problem. They are tracking the movement of over twenty thousand unwanted items circling the Earth. Some people have suggested using lasers to push the items into a lower and slower orbit.
NASA recently gave money to a South Carolina company that hopes to make a device called “Eddy”. That is the short name for “ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator.” “Eddy” would work like the Swiss space cleaner. But it would use a net to catch an old satellite like a fish before sending it back through the atmosphere.
JIM TEDDER:
John L. Junkins is an aerospace engineer with Texas A and M University. He says we need to remove five or six large space objects each year to stop what he calls the “cascading effect.” That is what happens when large objects, some as big as a bus, crash together. When they break apart, they create thousands of smaller parts that continue floating around the Earth. Professor Junkins says we would need to remove ten large pieces of space junk each year to stop the damage they might cause.
(Music) Bridge “Space 1”. Sneak under above. Up full, then under and fade out.)
VOICE TWO:
While some scientists are watching things circling the Earth, others are searching the sky for something that is not made by humans. SETI -- the search for extraterrestrial intelligence -- is back on the job. But the question is: for how long? SETI has been searching the stars for nearly thirty years. But its scientists say the group has never had enough money. Last year, SETI suspended operations for a time. But the general public and some very wealthy people have given enough money to re-start the project.
JIM TEDDER:
In February, SETI scientists began asking the public to help them with their research. The scientists are using a website to re-direct radio signals over the Internet. They have asked the public to use home computers, and their ears, to search for anything unusual. They hope the human brain can find things that their automated equipment cannot.
SETI’s telescopes and computers examine many different radio frequencies every day. But they ignore some frequencies because there are just too many radio signals in the air at any one time. The scientists hope that home computers will find an unusual sound “hidden” within sounds made by the technologies we use every day. In other words, they think that an alien radio signal might be covered up by the powerful signal of a local radio station.
VOICE TWO:
Much of SETI’s work involves the Allen Telescope Array -- over forty radio telescopes located in northeastern California. Scientists there point the circular antennas at an area of the sky called “Cygnus.” They are hoping to hear some signal or noise that is being sent into space by intelligent life. They hope to answer perhaps the biggest scientific question: are we alone in the universe? The area of the sky being searched seems large. But it really is a small part of the whole universe.
JIM TEDDER:
For many years, researchers thought our solar system, the sun with Earth and the other planets, was a very special place. But that has changed. Researchers now believe there are billions of stars like our sun with planets orbiting around them. They also think that many of these planets are able to support life as we know it.
Long before SETI, an astronomer named Frank Drake began searching the skies for radio signals. In nineteen sixty, he worked at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia. He is almost sure that we are not alone. Using a mathematical model he created, he estimates that there are ten thousand places in our part of the universe where life exists.
(Music) Bridge “Space 2,” sneak under above. Then up full, under next graph and fade out.)
VOICE TWO:
After looking at millions of stars and listening to radio noise for many years, have scientists ever found anything that suggests there is intelligent alien life? The answer is: maybe. It happened one night in nineteen seventy-seven. A large radio telescope in Ohio heard something that made the scientists say, “Wow.”
The telescope was connected to a computer and a printer. The gathered information usually showed a series of low numbers, ones, twos, and threes. That meant that all the device was hearing was low level “background” noise, similar to the sound you hear when you set your radio between stations. But suddenly, something surprising happened. For a little over one minute, the noise level rose to a level thirty times what was usually heard. For seventy-two seconds, it appeared to some that our distant space brothers and sisters had finally said, “Hello.” When Jerry Ehman, a SETI scientist saw what the printer had produced, he drew a circle on the page in red ink and wrote, “Wow.”
JIM TEDDER:
But just as suddenly as the signal had started, it stopped. And it has never been found again. So, what was it? What might it have been? Those questions have been on the mind of Robert Gray for years. He is an astronomer who recently finished work on a book called “The Elusive Wow.” He says that the information gathered in Ohio in nineteen seventy-seven looks exactly like a radio signal. He also says it is not likely that an airplane or a satellite was the cause.
Mr. Gray found that the “Wow” signal was very close to the number of vibrations per second of hydrogen when it gives off light. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. So some scientists think an intelligent alien would use its “glow frequency” as a radio signal. But why did the signal suddenly appear and then just as quickly disappear?
VOICE TWO:
Robert Gray calls that the “lighthouse effect.” If you were on a ship at sea and saw a lighthouse beam in the distance, it would appear to come and go across the night sky. It would not stay in one place. Mr. Gray says that might describe what aliens would do. They would sweep a radio signal to different parts of the sky, rather than just send it to one place. That way it might be seen, or heard, by more telescopes in many different places.
Mr. Gray thinks that in a hundred years, scientists will have far better equipment to examine the distant stars. We might be able to look at the entire known universe at one time instead of just examining such a small part of it. That should increase the chances that we will hear from our distant neighbors -- if they are out there!
(MUSIC)
JIM TEDDER:
I’m Jim Tedder.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Christopher Cruise. Join us again next week for more EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
2
And I’m __________. Join us again next week for more EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. JIM TEDDER:
I’m __________.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m __________ with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we tell about an effort to destroy unused spacecraft and other objects floating high above the Earth. We also have news about SETI -- the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
(MUSIC)
JIM TEDDER:
It just may be the world’s most costly vacuum cleaner. The price of “CleanSpace One” is eleven million dollars. But yet, it has a big job to do. Recently, researchers in Switzerland announced plans to build this new cleaning device. The researchers work at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
“CleanSpace One” will not be for use in homes or businesses. It will be shot into space to help remove the thousands of pieces of space junk floating around up there.
VOICE TWO:
Last year, we reported on the problem of space junk. Over time, many unused spacecraft have hit each other far above the Earth. Big pieces break into thousands of small pieces. Sometimes they fall back into the atmosphere and burn up. But when they do not, it creates big problems.
Scientists fear that if something is not done to remove these objects, it may soon become too dangerous to send people and machines into space. There is a large chance that they might crash into some of this junk. So that is why the Swiss researchers are developing the new device.
JIM TEDDER:
“CleanSpace One” is not really a vacuum cleaner. It will not be used to take away space junk. But scientists plan to move it close to an old satellite that is no longer being used. Then a claw-like instrument will seize the satellite, and force it back through the atmosphere. There, the satellite will be destroyed by the heat of friction with the air.
Researchers say that all they need to do is slow down the speed of some of these unwanted objects. Once these items begin to move more slowly, they will fall back to Earth. There is little chance that they will fall through the atmosphere and harm the people or things below. Some space junk has returned to Earth, but it usually causes no harm as it falls into the ocean.
VOICE TWO:
The American space agency NASA and scientific organizations in other countries know that space junk is a serious problem. They are tracking the movement of over twenty thousand unwanted items circling the Earth. Some people have suggested using lasers to push the items into a lower and slower orbit.
NASA recently gave money to a South Carolina company that hopes to make a device called “Eddy”. That is the short name for “ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator.” “Eddy” would work like the Swiss space cleaner. But it would use a net to catch an old satellite like a fish before sending it back through the atmosphere.
JIM TEDDER:
John L. Junkins is an aerospace engineer with Texas A and M University. He says we need to remove five or six large space objects each year to stop what he calls the “cascading effect.” That is what happens when large objects, some as big as a bus, crash together. When they break apart, they create thousands of smaller parts that continue floating around the Earth. Professor Junkins says we would need to remove ten large pieces of space junk each year to stop the damage they might cause.
(Music) Bridge “Space 1”. Sneak under above. Up full, then under and fade out.)
VOICE TWO:
While some scientists are watching things circling the Earth, others are searching the sky for something that is not made by humans. SETI -- the search for extraterrestrial intelligence -- is back on the job. But the question is: for how long? SETI has been searching the stars for nearly thirty years. But its scientists say the group has never had enough money. Last year, SETI suspended operations for a time. But the general public and some very wealthy people have given enough money to re-start the project.
JIM TEDDER:
In February, SETI scientists began asking the public to help them with their research. The scientists are using a website to re-direct radio signals over the Internet. They have asked the public to use home computers, and their ears, to search for anything unusual. They hope the human brain can find things that their automated equipment cannot.
SETI’s telescopes and computers examine many different radio frequencies every day. But they ignore some frequencies because there are just too many radio signals in the air at any one time. The scientists hope that home computers will find an unusual sound “hidden” within sounds made by the technologies we use every day. In other words, they think that an alien radio signal might be covered up by the powerful signal of a local radio station.
VOICE TWO:
Much of SETI’s work involves the Allen Telescope Array -- over forty radio telescopes located in northeastern California. Scientists there point the circular antennas at an area of the sky called “Cygnus.” They are hoping to hear some signal or noise that is being sent into space by intelligent life. They hope to answer perhaps the biggest scientific question: are we alone in the universe? The area of the sky being searched seems large. But it really is a small part of the whole universe.
JIM TEDDER:
For many years, researchers thought our solar system, the sun with Earth and the other planets, was a very special place. But that has changed. Researchers now believe there are billions of stars like our sun with planets orbiting around them. They also think that many of these planets are able to support life as we know it.
Long before SETI, an astronomer named Frank Drake began searching the skies for radio signals. In nineteen sixty, he worked at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia. He is almost sure that we are not alone. Using a mathematical model he created, he estimates that there are ten thousand places in our part of the universe where life exists.
(Music) Bridge “Space 2,” sneak under above. Then up full, under next graph and fade out.)
VOICE TWO:
After looking at millions of stars and listening to radio noise for many years, have scientists ever found anything that suggests there is intelligent alien life? The answer is: maybe. It happened one night in nineteen seventy-seven. A large radio telescope in Ohio heard something that made the scientists say, “Wow.”
The telescope was connected to a computer and a printer. The gathered information usually showed a series of low numbers, ones, twos, and threes. That meant that all the device was hearing was low level “background” noise, similar to the sound you hear when you set your radio between stations. But suddenly, something surprising happened. For a little over one minute, the noise level rose to a level thirty times what was usually heard. For seventy-two seconds, it appeared to some that our distant space brothers and sisters had finally said, “Hello.” When Jerry Ehman, a SETI scientist saw what the printer had produced, he drew a circle on the page in red ink and wrote, “Wow.”
JIM TEDDER:
But just as suddenly as the signal had started, it stopped. And it has never been found again. So, what was it? What might it have been? Those questions have been on the mind of Robert Gray for years. He is an astronomer who recently finished work on a book called “The Elusive Wow.” He says that the information gathered in Ohio in nineteen seventy-seven looks exactly like a radio signal. He also says it is not likely that an airplane or a satellite was the cause.
Mr. Gray found that the “Wow” signal was very close to the number of vibrations per second of hydrogen when it gives off light. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe. So some scientists think an intelligent alien would use its “glow frequency” as a radio signal. But why did the signal suddenly appear and then just as quickly disappear?
VOICE TWO:
Robert Gray calls that the “lighthouse effect.” If you were on a ship at sea and saw a lighthouse beam in the distance, it would appear to come and go across the night sky. It would not stay in one place. Mr. Gray says that might describe what aliens would do. They would sweep a radio signal to different parts of the sky, rather than just send it to one place. That way it might be seen, or heard, by more telescopes in many different places.
Mr. Gray thinks that in a hundred years, scientists will have far better equipment to examine the distant stars. We might be able to look at the entire known universe at one time instead of just examining such a small part of it. That should increase the chances that we will hear from our distant neighbors -- if they are out there!
(MUSIC)
JIM TEDDER:
I’m Jim Tedder.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Christopher Cruise. Join us again next week for more EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.
American History: Life in the U.S. After the 9/11 Attacks
American History: Life in the U.S. After the 9/11 Attacks
American History: Life in the U.S. After the 9/11 Attacks
This was program #235. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page.
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
This week in our series, we look at America after the events of September eleventh, two thousand one.
(MUSIC)
DAN RATHER: "A stunning and cowardly strike on the United States. Terrorists send mighty skyscrapers crumbling to the ground. Many innocent people are dead. The president vows the killers will pay for this attack on America."
The United States changed as a result of the September eleventh terrorist attacks. CBS newsman Dan Rather expressed what many Americans were feeling.
DAN RATHER: "You will remember this day as long as you live. A series of coordinated terror strikes today at this country, its people, our freedom. Strikes that came without warning."
(MUSIC)
On the morning of that sunny September day that came to be known as 9/11, the nation came under attack from al-Qaida, an extremist group led by Osama bin Laden. Its targets were world-famous buildings representing America's economic and military power.
Al-Qaida operatives hijacked four American passenger airplanes. The hijackers were from Middle Eastern countries. Each group included a pilot trained to fly two kinds of Boeing airliners, the 757 and the 767.
At eight forty-six on that morning, one group of hijackers flew a Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Seventeen minutes later, another group flew a second 767 into the Trade Center's South Tower.
The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke into the air. The intense heat of the burning jet fuel from the planes caused structural failures that brought down both buildings.
About an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, another group of al-Qaida operatives flew a 757 airliner into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Defense Department, in Arlington, Virginia. The plane exploded against a wall of the huge building where more than twenty thousand people worked.
A fourth group had taken control of another 757. But some of the passengers on that flight, United 93, had heard about the terrorist attacks through phone calls to their families. Several passengers and crew members attempted to retake control of the plane. It crashed near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Investigators later said the hijackers probably planned to attack the Capitol, a major government building in Washington, D.C., where Congress meets.
There was also concern that the White House could have been a target.
The 9/11 attacks saw the worst loss of lives on American soil since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in nineteen forty-one. That attack caused the United States to enter World War Two.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger."
As expressed by President George W. Bush on 9/11, the attacks left Americans in a state of shock and disbelief. But that was soon replaced by anger and a resolve that this would not be allowed to happen again.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they can not touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they can not dent the steel of American resolve."
At Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center destruction, rescue efforts continued into the night. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was asked if Arab-American or Muslim groups in New York might be targeted due to the nature of the attacks.
RUDY GIULIANI: "Just the opposite. They will receive extra protection. Nobody should engage in group blame. The particular individuals responsible, the groups responsible, that's up to law enforcement, and it's up to the United States government to figure out. And citizens of New York should -- even if they have anger, which is understandable, and very, very strong emotions about this -- it isn't their place to get involved in this. Then, they're just participating in the kind of activity we've just witnessed, and New Yorkers are not like that."
And Giuliani spoke of the strength of the spirit of the people of his city.
GIULIANI: "People tonight should say a prayer for the people that we've lost, and be grateful that we're all here. Tomorrow, New York is going to be here, and we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before."
(MUSIC)
On September twentieth, President Bush went before a joint session of Congress to declare a war on terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. [Applause]"
President Bush explained that the war on terror would be different from other wars.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.
"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. [Applause] From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
(MUSIC)
President Bush demanded that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan stop sheltering Osama bin Laden and surrender him. The president also called on the Taliban to close terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
The Taliban refused. They demanded evidence that Osama bin Laden had been involved in the attacks of 9/11. They said that if such evidence was provided, he would be tried in an Islamic court. The United States refused to provide evidence.
(MUSIC)
On October seventh, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against Taliban targets. What became known as the War on Terror had begun.
Tribal groups from the opposition Northern Alliance led a ground attack. But suicide bombers had killed their leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, on September ninth, two days before the 9/11 attacks.
By November, Taliban control began to collapse in several provinces. Taliban forces fled Kabul, the capital. But the ouster of the Taliban government did not mean the end of the war on terror.
Some of President Bush's advisers had long supported an invasion of Iraq. As early as October two thousand one, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that military action against Iraq was possible. Government officials accused Iraq of having links to terrorist groups like al-Qaida. They noted that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons. And they said he was seeking to develop biological and nuclear weapons as well.
(MUSIC)
In October, two thousand one, Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act. This law provided the government with more power to gather information about suspected terrorists in the United States. Critics said the law invaded constitutional rights to privacy. Civil liberties groups said the Patriot Act gave law enforcement and other agencies too much power.
In January two thousand two, President Bush gave his State of the Union report to Congress. He accused some nations of supporting terrorist organizations. He said the United States would not wait to be attacked by such groups. Instead, it would strike first at the countries that sheltered them. The president identified three nations – North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- as supporters of terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
(MUSIC)
In two thousand two, the United States opened a detention center at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Some of the fighters arrested in Afghanistan were sent there. They were not considered prisoners of war. Instead, the detainees were treated as "unlawful enemy combatants." As such, the Bush administration said they did not have the same rights as war prisoners under international treaties.
In the United States, the government also detained some foreign citizens, mostly for violating immigration laws. No terrorism charges were brought against these detainees. Human rights activists and some legal experts protested the detentions.
After 9/11, government agencies were criticized for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks. Critics said the agencies should have been working together to gather intelligence. Government officials said part of the issue involved legal restrictions on the gathering and sharing of intelligence.
(MUSIC)
The attacks of 9/11 had a major effect on the commercial aviation industry. The skies over Washington and other cities became strangely silent.
Washington's busy Ronald Reagan National Airport was closed for several weeks after the attacks. When it reopened, new security measures for inspecting passengers and their belongings were put in place. Similar measures were in force at other airports across the nation.
Fears over safety among the traveling public led to a drop in the number of airline passengers. As a result, the airlines began to use smaller planes. Costly changes were necessary to "harden" the cockpit, to prevent more terrorist attacks.
The increased security led to delays and other problems. But slowly, Americans began to fly again in greater numbers. But airlines had to work hard to win back the trust of the traveling public.
(SOUND: United Airlines commercial)
One carrier, United, ran a low-key television advertising campaign, in which actor Robert Redford, at the end of each ad gently suggested
ROBERT REDFORD: "It's time to fly."
In January two thousand three, the Department of Homeland Security opened for business.
ANNOUNCER: "Maybe you see something suspicious, but you don't want to get involved. It's nothing, you think. Can you be sure?"
There was a lot to do.
ANNOUNCER: "If you see something, say something. Report suspicious activity to local authorities."
Transportation security, immigration, law enforcement, border protection. It represented the biggest government reorganization in more than half a century. All or part of twenty-two federal agencies and departments were combined into the new agency. Its job: to keep America safe in a world that had changed in a single day.
(MUSIC)
The War on Terror, which began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, escalated in March 2003, when a coalition of American-led forces invaded Iraq. The mission, as stated by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people."
The war in Iraq will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
___
Contributing: Jerilyn Watson
This was program #235. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page.
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
This week in our series, we look at America after the events of September eleventh, two thousand one.
(MUSIC)
DAN RATHER: "A stunning and cowardly strike on the United States. Terrorists send mighty skyscrapers crumbling to the ground. Many innocent people are dead. The president vows the killers will pay for this attack on America."
The United States changed as a result of the September eleventh terrorist attacks. CBS newsman Dan Rather expressed what many Americans were feeling.
DAN RATHER: "You will remember this day as long as you live. A series of coordinated terror strikes today at this country, its people, our freedom. Strikes that came without warning."
(MUSIC)
On the morning of that sunny September day that came to be known as 9/11, the nation came under attack from al-Qaida, an extremist group led by Osama bin Laden. Its targets were world-famous buildings representing America's economic and military power.
Al-Qaida operatives hijacked four American passenger airplanes. The hijackers were from Middle Eastern countries. Each group included a pilot trained to fly two kinds of Boeing airliners, the 757 and the 767.
At eight forty-six on that morning, one group of hijackers flew a Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Seventeen minutes later, another group flew a second 767 into the Trade Center's South Tower.
The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke into the air. The intense heat of the burning jet fuel from the planes caused structural failures that brought down both buildings.
About an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, another group of al-Qaida operatives flew a 757 airliner into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Defense Department, in Arlington, Virginia. The plane exploded against a wall of the huge building where more than twenty thousand people worked.
A fourth group had taken control of another 757. But some of the passengers on that flight, United 93, had heard about the terrorist attacks through phone calls to their families. Several passengers and crew members attempted to retake control of the plane. It crashed near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Investigators later said the hijackers probably planned to attack the Capitol, a major government building in Washington, D.C., where Congress meets.
There was also concern that the White House could have been a target.
The 9/11 attacks saw the worst loss of lives on American soil since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in nineteen forty-one. That attack caused the United States to enter World War Two.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger."
As expressed by President George W. Bush on 9/11, the attacks left Americans in a state of shock and disbelief. But that was soon replaced by anger and a resolve that this would not be allowed to happen again.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they can not touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they can not dent the steel of American resolve."
At Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center destruction, rescue efforts continued into the night. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was asked if Arab-American or Muslim groups in New York might be targeted due to the nature of the attacks.
RUDY GIULIANI: "Just the opposite. They will receive extra protection. Nobody should engage in group blame. The particular individuals responsible, the groups responsible, that's up to law enforcement, and it's up to the United States government to figure out. And citizens of New York should -- even if they have anger, which is understandable, and very, very strong emotions about this -- it isn't their place to get involved in this. Then, they're just participating in the kind of activity we've just witnessed, and New Yorkers are not like that."
And Giuliani spoke of the strength of the spirit of the people of his city.
GIULIANI: "People tonight should say a prayer for the people that we've lost, and be grateful that we're all here. Tomorrow, New York is going to be here, and we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before."
(MUSIC)
On September twentieth, President Bush went before a joint session of Congress to declare a war on terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. [Applause]"
President Bush explained that the war on terror would be different from other wars.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.
"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. [Applause] From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
(MUSIC)
President Bush demanded that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan stop sheltering Osama bin Laden and surrender him. The president also called on the Taliban to close terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
The Taliban refused. They demanded evidence that Osama bin Laden had been involved in the attacks of 9/11. They said that if such evidence was provided, he would be tried in an Islamic court. The United States refused to provide evidence.
(MUSIC)
On October seventh, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against Taliban targets. What became known as the War on Terror had begun.
Tribal groups from the opposition Northern Alliance led a ground attack. But suicide bombers had killed their leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, on September ninth, two days before the 9/11 attacks.
By November, Taliban control began to collapse in several provinces. Taliban forces fled Kabul, the capital. But the ouster of the Taliban government did not mean the end of the war on terror.
Some of President Bush's advisers had long supported an invasion of Iraq. As early as October two thousand one, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that military action against Iraq was possible. Government officials accused Iraq of having links to terrorist groups like al-Qaida. They noted that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons. And they said he was seeking to develop biological and nuclear weapons as well.
(MUSIC)
In October, two thousand one, Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act. This law provided the government with more power to gather information about suspected terrorists in the United States. Critics said the law invaded constitutional rights to privacy. Civil liberties groups said the Patriot Act gave law enforcement and other agencies too much power.
In January two thousand two, President Bush gave his State of the Union report to Congress. He accused some nations of supporting terrorist organizations. He said the United States would not wait to be attacked by such groups. Instead, it would strike first at the countries that sheltered them. The president identified three nations – North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- as supporters of terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
(MUSIC)
In two thousand two, the United States opened a detention center at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Some of the fighters arrested in Afghanistan were sent there. They were not considered prisoners of war. Instead, the detainees were treated as "unlawful enemy combatants." As such, the Bush administration said they did not have the same rights as war prisoners under international treaties.
In the United States, the government also detained some foreign citizens, mostly for violating immigration laws. No terrorism charges were brought against these detainees. Human rights activists and some legal experts protested the detentions.
After 9/11, government agencies were criticized for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks. Critics said the agencies should have been working together to gather intelligence. Government officials said part of the issue involved legal restrictions on the gathering and sharing of intelligence.
(MUSIC)
The attacks of 9/11 had a major effect on the commercial aviation industry. The skies over Washington and other cities became strangely silent.
Washington's busy Ronald Reagan National Airport was closed for several weeks after the attacks. When it reopened, new security measures for inspecting passengers and their belongings were put in place. Similar measures were in force at other airports across the nation.
Fears over safety among the traveling public led to a drop in the number of airline passengers. As a result, the airlines began to use smaller planes. Costly changes were necessary to "harden" the cockpit, to prevent more terrorist attacks.
The increased security led to delays and other problems. But slowly, Americans began to fly again in greater numbers. But airlines had to work hard to win back the trust of the traveling public.
(SOUND: United Airlines commercial)
One carrier, United, ran a low-key television advertising campaign, in which actor Robert Redford, at the end of each ad gently suggested
ROBERT REDFORD: "It's time to fly."
In January two thousand three, the Department of Homeland Security opened for business.
ANNOUNCER: "Maybe you see something suspicious, but you don't want to get involved. It's nothing, you think. Can you be sure?"
There was a lot to do.
ANNOUNCER: "If you see something, say something. Report suspicious activity to local authorities."
Transportation security, immigration, law enforcement, border protection. It represented the biggest government reorganization in more than half a century. All or part of twenty-two federal agencies and departments were combined into the new agency. Its job: to keep America safe in a world that had changed in a single day.
(MUSIC)
The War on Terror, which began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, escalated in March 2003, when a coalition of American-led forces invaded Iraq. The mission, as stated by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people."
The war in Iraq will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
___
Contributing: Jerilyn Watson
This was program #235. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page.
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
This week in our series, we look at America after the events of September eleventh, two thousand one.
(MUSIC)
DAN RATHER: "A stunning and cowardly strike on the United States. Terrorists send mighty skyscrapers crumbling to the ground. Many innocent people are dead. The president vows the killers will pay for this attack on America."
The United States changed as a result of the September eleventh terrorist attacks. CBS newsman Dan Rather expressed what many Americans were feeling.
DAN RATHER: "You will remember this day as long as you live. A series of coordinated terror strikes today at this country, its people, our freedom. Strikes that came without warning."
(MUSIC)
On the morning of that sunny September day that came to be known as 9/11, the nation came under attack from al-Qaida, an extremist group led by Osama bin Laden. Its targets were world-famous buildings representing America's economic and military power.
Al-Qaida operatives hijacked four American passenger airplanes. The hijackers were from Middle Eastern countries. Each group included a pilot trained to fly two kinds of Boeing airliners, the 757 and the 767.
At eight forty-six on that morning, one group of hijackers flew a Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Seventeen minutes later, another group flew a second 767 into the Trade Center's South Tower.
The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke into the air. The intense heat of the burning jet fuel from the planes caused structural failures that brought down both buildings.
About an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, another group of al-Qaida operatives flew a 757 airliner into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Defense Department, in Arlington, Virginia. The plane exploded against a wall of the huge building where more than twenty thousand people worked.
A fourth group had taken control of another 757. But some of the passengers on that flight, United 93, had heard about the terrorist attacks through phone calls to their families. Several passengers and crew members attempted to retake control of the plane. It crashed near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Investigators later said the hijackers probably planned to attack the Capitol, a major government building in Washington, D.C., where Congress meets.
There was also concern that the White House could have been a target.
The 9/11 attacks saw the worst loss of lives on American soil since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in nineteen forty-one. That attack caused the United States to enter World War Two.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger."
As expressed by President George W. Bush on 9/11, the attacks left Americans in a state of shock and disbelief. But that was soon replaced by anger and a resolve that this would not be allowed to happen again.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they can not touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they can not dent the steel of American resolve."
At Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center destruction, rescue efforts continued into the night. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was asked if Arab-American or Muslim groups in New York might be targeted due to the nature of the attacks.
RUDY GIULIANI: "Just the opposite. They will receive extra protection. Nobody should engage in group blame. The particular individuals responsible, the groups responsible, that's up to law enforcement, and it's up to the United States government to figure out. And citizens of New York should -- even if they have anger, which is understandable, and very, very strong emotions about this -- it isn't their place to get involved in this. Then, they're just participating in the kind of activity we've just witnessed, and New Yorkers are not like that."
And Giuliani spoke of the strength of the spirit of the people of his city.
GIULIANI: "People tonight should say a prayer for the people that we've lost, and be grateful that we're all here. Tomorrow, New York is going to be here, and we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before."
(MUSIC)
On September twentieth, President Bush went before a joint session of Congress to declare a war on terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. [Applause]"
President Bush explained that the war on terror would be different from other wars.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.
"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. [Applause] From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
(MUSIC)
President Bush demanded that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan stop sheltering Osama bin Laden and surrender him. The president also called on the Taliban to close terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
The Taliban refused. They demanded evidence that Osama bin Laden had been involved in the attacks of 9/11. They said that if such evidence was provided, he would be tried in an Islamic court. The United States refused to provide evidence.
(MUSIC)
On October seventh, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against Taliban targets. What became known as the War on Terror had begun.
Tribal groups from the opposition Northern Alliance led a ground attack. But suicide bombers had killed their leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, on September ninth, two days before the 9/11 attacks.
By November, Taliban control began to collapse in several provinces. Taliban forces fled Kabul, the capital. But the ouster of the Taliban government did not mean the end of the war on terror.
Some of President Bush's advisers had long supported an invasion of Iraq. As early as October two thousand one, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that military action against Iraq was possible. Government officials accused Iraq of having links to terrorist groups like al-Qaida. They noted that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons. And they said he was seeking to develop biological and nuclear weapons as well.
(MUSIC)
In October, two thousand one, Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act. This law provided the government with more power to gather information about suspected terrorists in the United States. Critics said the law invaded constitutional rights to privacy. Civil liberties groups said the Patriot Act gave law enforcement and other agencies too much power.
In January two thousand two, President Bush gave his State of the Union report to Congress. He accused some nations of supporting terrorist organizations. He said the United States would not wait to be attacked by such groups. Instead, it would strike first at the countries that sheltered them. The president identified three nations – North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- as supporters of terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
(MUSIC)
In two thousand two, the United States opened a detention center at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Some of the fighters arrested in Afghanistan were sent there. They were not considered prisoners of war. Instead, the detainees were treated as "unlawful enemy combatants." As such, the Bush administration said they did not have the same rights as war prisoners under international treaties.
In the United States, the government also detained some foreign citizens, mostly for violating immigration laws. No terrorism charges were brought against these detainees. Human rights activists and some legal experts protested the detentions.
After 9/11, government agencies were criticized for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks. Critics said the agencies should have been working together to gather intelligence. Government officials said part of the issue involved legal restrictions on the gathering and sharing of intelligence.
(MUSIC)
The attacks of 9/11 had a major effect on the commercial aviation industry. The skies over Washington and other cities became strangely silent.
Washington's busy Ronald Reagan National Airport was closed for several weeks after the attacks. When it reopened, new security measures for inspecting passengers and their belongings were put in place. Similar measures were in force at other airports across the nation.
Fears over safety among the traveling public led to a drop in the number of airline passengers. As a result, the airlines began to use smaller planes. Costly changes were necessary to "harden" the cockpit, to prevent more terrorist attacks.
The increased security led to delays and other problems. But slowly, Americans began to fly again in greater numbers. But airlines had to work hard to win back the trust of the traveling public.
(SOUND: United Airlines commercial)
One carrier, United, ran a low-key television advertising campaign, in which actor Robert Redford, at the end of each ad gently suggested
ROBERT REDFORD: "It's time to fly."
In January two thousand three, the Department of Homeland Security opened for business.
ANNOUNCER: "Maybe you see something suspicious, but you don't want to get involved. It's nothing, you think. Can you be sure?"
There was a lot to do.
ANNOUNCER: "If you see something, say something. Report suspicious activity to local authorities."
Transportation security, immigration, law enforcement, border protection. It represented the biggest government reorganization in more than half a century. All or part of twenty-two federal agencies and departments were combined into the new agency. Its job: to keep America safe in a world that had changed in a single day.
(MUSIC)
The War on Terror, which began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, escalated in March 2003, when a coalition of American-led forces invaded Iraq. The mission, as stated by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people."
The war in Iraq will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
___
Contributing: Jerilyn Watson
This was program #235. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page.
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
This week in our series, we look at America after the events of September eleventh, two thousand one.
(MUSIC)
DAN RATHER: "A stunning and cowardly strike on the United States. Terrorists send mighty skyscrapers crumbling to the ground. Many innocent people are dead. The president vows the killers will pay for this attack on America."
The United States changed as a result of the September eleventh terrorist attacks. CBS newsman Dan Rather expressed what many Americans were feeling.
DAN RATHER: "You will remember this day as long as you live. A series of coordinated terror strikes today at this country, its people, our freedom. Strikes that came without warning."
(MUSIC)
On the morning of that sunny September day that came to be known as 9/11, the nation came under attack from al-Qaida, an extremist group led by Osama bin Laden. Its targets were world-famous buildings representing America's economic and military power.
Al-Qaida operatives hijacked four American passenger airplanes. The hijackers were from Middle Eastern countries. Each group included a pilot trained to fly two kinds of Boeing airliners, the 757 and the 767.
At eight forty-six on that morning, one group of hijackers flew a Boeing 767 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Seventeen minutes later, another group flew a second 767 into the Trade Center's South Tower.
The planes exploded in fireballs that sent clouds of smoke into the air. The intense heat of the burning jet fuel from the planes caused structural failures that brought down both buildings.
About an hour after the first plane hit the World Trade Center, another group of al-Qaida operatives flew a 757 airliner into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Defense Department, in Arlington, Virginia. The plane exploded against a wall of the huge building where more than twenty thousand people worked.
A fourth group had taken control of another 757. But some of the passengers on that flight, United 93, had heard about the terrorist attacks through phone calls to their families. Several passengers and crew members attempted to retake control of the plane. It crashed near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Investigators later said the hijackers probably planned to attack the Capitol, a major government building in Washington, D.C., where Congress meets.
There was also concern that the White House could have been a target.
The 9/11 attacks saw the worst loss of lives on American soil since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in nineteen forty-one. That attack caused the United States to enter World War Two.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness, and a quiet, unyielding anger."
As expressed by President George W. Bush on 9/11, the attacks left Americans in a state of shock and disbelief. But that was soon replaced by anger and a resolve that this would not be allowed to happen again.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation.
"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they can not touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they can not dent the steel of American resolve."
At Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center destruction, rescue efforts continued into the night. New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was asked if Arab-American or Muslim groups in New York might be targeted due to the nature of the attacks.
RUDY GIULIANI: "Just the opposite. They will receive extra protection. Nobody should engage in group blame. The particular individuals responsible, the groups responsible, that's up to law enforcement, and it's up to the United States government to figure out. And citizens of New York should -- even if they have anger, which is understandable, and very, very strong emotions about this -- it isn't their place to get involved in this. Then, they're just participating in the kind of activity we've just witnessed, and New Yorkers are not like that."
And Giuliani spoke of the strength of the spirit of the people of his city.
GIULIANI: "People tonight should say a prayer for the people that we've lost, and be grateful that we're all here. Tomorrow, New York is going to be here, and we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before."
(MUSIC)
On September twentieth, President Bush went before a joint session of Congress to declare a war on terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our war on terror begins with al-Qaida, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. [Applause]"
President Bush explained that the war on terror would be different from other wars.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.
"Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. [Applause] From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."
(MUSIC)
President Bush demanded that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan stop sheltering Osama bin Laden and surrender him. The president also called on the Taliban to close terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
The Taliban refused. They demanded evidence that Osama bin Laden had been involved in the attacks of 9/11. They said that if such evidence was provided, he would be tried in an Islamic court. The United States refused to provide evidence.
(MUSIC)
On October seventh, the United States and Britain launched air strikes against Taliban targets. What became known as the War on Terror had begun.
Tribal groups from the opposition Northern Alliance led a ground attack. But suicide bombers had killed their leader, Ahmad Shah Masood, on September ninth, two days before the 9/11 attacks.
By November, Taliban control began to collapse in several provinces. Taliban forces fled Kabul, the capital. But the ouster of the Taliban government did not mean the end of the war on terror.
Some of President Bush's advisers had long supported an invasion of Iraq. As early as October two thousand one, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested that military action against Iraq was possible. Government officials accused Iraq of having links to terrorist groups like al-Qaida. They noted that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had used chemical weapons. And they said he was seeking to develop biological and nuclear weapons as well.
(MUSIC)
In October, two thousand one, Congress passed the U.S.A. Patriot Act. This law provided the government with more power to gather information about suspected terrorists in the United States. Critics said the law invaded constitutional rights to privacy. Civil liberties groups said the Patriot Act gave law enforcement and other agencies too much power.
In January two thousand two, President Bush gave his State of the Union report to Congress. He accused some nations of supporting terrorist organizations. He said the United States would not wait to be attacked by such groups. Instead, it would strike first at the countries that sheltered them. The president identified three nations – North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- as supporters of terror.
GEORGE W. BUSH: "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
(MUSIC)
In two thousand two, the United States opened a detention center at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Some of the fighters arrested in Afghanistan were sent there. They were not considered prisoners of war. Instead, the detainees were treated as "unlawful enemy combatants." As such, the Bush administration said they did not have the same rights as war prisoners under international treaties.
In the United States, the government also detained some foreign citizens, mostly for violating immigration laws. No terrorism charges were brought against these detainees. Human rights activists and some legal experts protested the detentions.
After 9/11, government agencies were criticized for failing to prevent the terrorist attacks. Critics said the agencies should have been working together to gather intelligence. Government officials said part of the issue involved legal restrictions on the gathering and sharing of intelligence.
(MUSIC)
The attacks of 9/11 had a major effect on the commercial aviation industry. The skies over Washington and other cities became strangely silent.
Washington's busy Ronald Reagan National Airport was closed for several weeks after the attacks. When it reopened, new security measures for inspecting passengers and their belongings were put in place. Similar measures were in force at other airports across the nation.
Fears over safety among the traveling public led to a drop in the number of airline passengers. As a result, the airlines began to use smaller planes. Costly changes were necessary to "harden" the cockpit, to prevent more terrorist attacks.
The increased security led to delays and other problems. But slowly, Americans began to fly again in greater numbers. But airlines had to work hard to win back the trust of the traveling public.
(SOUND: United Airlines commercial)
One carrier, United, ran a low-key television advertising campaign, in which actor Robert Redford, at the end of each ad gently suggested
ROBERT REDFORD: "It's time to fly."
In January two thousand three, the Department of Homeland Security opened for business.
ANNOUNCER: "Maybe you see something suspicious, but you don't want to get involved. It's nothing, you think. Can you be sure?"
There was a lot to do.
ANNOUNCER: "If you see something, say something. Report suspicious activity to local authorities."
Transportation security, immigration, law enforcement, border protection. It represented the biggest government reorganization in more than half a century. All or part of twenty-two federal agencies and departments were combined into the new agency. Its job: to keep America safe in a world that had changed in a single day.
(MUSIC)
The War on Terror, which began after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, escalated in March 2003, when a coalition of American-led forces invaded Iraq. The mission, as stated by President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, was "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people."
The war in Iraq will be our story next week.
(MUSIC)
You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.
___
Contributing: Jerilyn Watson
This was program #235. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page.
OK, Here's the Story of 'America's Greatest Word'
OK, Here's the Story of 'America's Greatest Word'
Download this story as a PDF
JUNE SIMMS: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I’m June Simms. This week on our program, we have music from Drake ...
We also look at the history of the world's best-known American word ...
But first we tell you about some terms in American English that not even all Americans would know.
(MUSIC)
Dictionary of American Regional English
JUNE SIMMS: In your country, are there terms that only people from your area can understand? Local language may be meaningless to outsiders without a special dictionary, like the Dictionary of American Regional English. As Barbara Klein reports, the fifth and final volume of the dictionary known as DARE has just been published.
BARBARA KLEIN: Joan Houston Hall is the chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. She says DARE includes words, phrases, pronunciations and even grammar and syntax that differ from one part of the country to another.
JOAN HOUSTON HALL: "That strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street can be the parking strip, the parking, the parkway, the berm, the terrace, the tree lawn, the tree belt, the tree box, and the verge and the swale and other things, too. It’s amazing to see the tremendous variety of terms used for the same thing."
BARBARA KLEIN: In some parts of the country, a carbonated soft drink is known as a soda; in others, people call it pop. Some Americans cook with what they call a frying pan; others call it a skillet. And a party where everyone brings food is either a potluck or a pitch-in.
Work on the Dictionary of American Regional English began in nineteen sixty-five under Frederic Cassidy. He was an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and a team of eighty researchers traveled across the United States to document words used by Americans to describe their daily lives.
The first volume, A to C, was released in nineteen eighty-five. The final volume starts with slab, a term for a concrete road, and ends with zydeco, a kind of music popular in Louisiana.
Joan Houston Hall showed the final volume at a meeting of the American Dialect Society in January. Linguist Ben Zimmer writes about language for the Boston Globe and recalls the excitement.
BEN ZIMMER: "People just wanted to touch it like it was the holy relic or something."
BARBARA KLEIN: The Dictionary of American Regional English contains almost sixty thousand words and terms that offer a linguistic tour of America. One word we liked is honeyfuggle. It means to cheat or trick. The earliest uses were found in the eighteen hundreds in the South.
(MUSIC)
The Story of OK
JUNE SIMMS: Next we turn to the story of an American word that began in Boston, Massachusetts, and spread around the world. "OK" started as a joke in eighteen thirty-nine -- and, no, we're not honeyfuggling you.
Our listener question this week comes from Stirlitz, an English teacher in Cuba. She wants to know the true origin of OK. She says, "I have five different versions but I don't know which one to pick."
Well, a couple of years ago, VOA's Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble talked with Allan Metcalf. He wrote the book "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word." And, he says, not just the greatest word.
ALLAN METCALF: "America's most important word. The most successful American export to the rest of the world. And also an embodiment of the American philosophy, the American way of thinking."
AA: "All this, packed into two letters."
ALLAN METCALF: "Yes, that's the beauty of it and that's the economy of it. One of the two aspects of the American view of the world is pragmatism, getting things done. Even if they're not perfect, they're OK. And the nice thing about OK is it doesn't imply that everything is perfect or beautiful or wonderful. In fact, it's a neutral affirmation. When you say 'That's OK' or someone asks you 'How are you?' and you say 'I'm OK,' it doesn't mean that you're in perfect health. But it also doesn't mean that you're sick.
RS: "O-K are just two letters of the alphabet. Do they stand for something?"
ALLAN METCALF: "Well, they do, as a matter of fact. One of the curious things about OK that makes it require a whole book to tell its story is that it began as a joke. It was on March twenty-third, eighteen thirty-nine, in a Boston newspaper, that the newspaper first used 'o.k.' and explained those as an abbreviation for 'all correct.' And, of course, the joke was that 'o' is not the beginning of 'all' and 'k' is not the beginning of 'correct.' So this thing supposedly all correct was not all correct."
JUNE SIMMS: At that time, Boston newspapers were publishing all sorts of abbreviations that were meant to be funny. Most of these disappeared.
ALLAN METCALF: "But it turns out that in the next year, eighteen forty, in the American presidential election of eighteen forty, a man named Martin Van Buren was running for re-election. He happened to come from Kinderhook, New York, and so somebody thought of calling him 'Old Kinderhook' and then thought of founding clubs supporting him throughout the country, called OK Clubs. OK, Old Kinderhook, is OK, all correct or all right. And that suddenly gave continued life and prominence to OK."
JUNE SIMMS: And then a third thing happened.
ALLAN METCALF: "During that presidential election year, Martin Van Buren's predecessor as president had been Andrew Jackson, and so there was an attack on Andrew Jackson by an opponent of Van Buren. The attack said that Jackson couldn't spell, so that Jackson would look at a document and if he approved of it, he would write 'OK' on it, meaning it was all correct. Now it turns out that that was a complete hoax."
JUNE SIMMS: Andrew Jackson never wrote OK on a document, Allan Metcalf says. But as a result of that story, within about twenty years people really began marking OK on documents. People have been doing that ever since. But Allan Metcalf says the idea that OK began as a joke kept people trying to guess where it really came from.
ALLAN METCALF: "The OK-as-Andrew-Jackson's hoax was the first misleading statement of its origins. And then around the eighteen eighties a professor decided that the true origin was from the Choctaw Indian language, where they had an expression like OK which means 'it is so,' and for various reasons that was proposed as the true explanation for OK. They spelled it 'o-k-e-h,' and the only American president ever to have a PhD, Woodrow Wilson, thought that was the correct explanation, so he would mark o-k-e-h on documents."
RS: "How does OK in our vocabulary represent who we are as Americans?"
ALLAN METCALF: "One way that it represents who we are is that it represents the pragmatic sense of getting it done. Maybe not getting it done perfectly, but it's OK. But the other way began with a book published in 1967 by a guy named Thomas Harris. The book is called 'I'm OK -- You're OK.' And the book happens to be about a kind of psychology known as transactional analysis.
"'I'm OK' -- that means I can do what I want. 'You're OK' -- you can do what you want. Maybe we aren't doing the same thing, but that's OK."
JUNE SIMMS: Allan Metcalf is an English professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, and longtime executive secretary of the American Dialect Society.
He's been trying to gather support to celebrate a national OK Day each year on March twenty-third -- the day it first appeared in the newspaper.
(MUSIC)
Drake
JUNE SIMMS: Twenty-five year old Aubrey Drake Graham is best known by his stage name – Drake or Dizzy Drake. His second record album, “Take Care,” was released last November. Christopher Cruise has more.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: “Headlines” was the first single from Drake’s latest album “Take Care.” The song quickly made its way to the number one position on Billboard magazine’s Rap Songs chart. It rose to number eighteen on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. Shortly after the album was released, it appeared at number nine on Billboard’s Hot 100 list.
Aubrey Drake Graham was born in the Canadian city of Toronto on October twenty-eighth, nineteen eighty six. His parents ended their marriage when he was five years old. He lived with his mother in Toronto’s wealthy Forest Hill neighborhood and spent summers with his father.
Aubrey Drake Graham attended high school at the Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting. He left high school before his studies were completed. But he went on to seek positions in acting. In two thousand one, he got the part of Jimmy Brooks in the television show “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” His work on the show ended in two thousand nine, when Jimmy finally graduated from the school.
In two thousand eight, Drake heard from recording artist Dwayne Carter, better known as Lil Wayne. The hip-hop star had heard about Drake’s music and flew him out to Houston for some performances. The two men worked together on many projects. In two thousand nine, Lil Wayne signed Drake to his recording label, “Young Money.”
Under the deal, Drake received two million dollars before recording his first album. He also got total publishing rights for all of his work. “Young Money” only got twenty-five percent on money earned from his music sales.
(MUSIC)
Within months of the deal, Drake released “So Far Gone,” which included the hit single “Best I Ever Had.” The single quickly claimed the number one position on Billboard’s R&B and Hip-Hop Song charts. It also earned two Grammy Award nominations, three Soul Train Award nominations, five BET Hip-Hop Award nominations and an MTV Video music Award nomination.
Drake has released two albums since signing his record deal. We leave you with “Look What You’ve Done,” a song from his album, “Take Care.”
(MUSIC)
JUNE SIMMS: I’m June Simms. We had writing help this week from Arick Simms and Avi Arditti.
Go to voaspecialenglish.com to find transcripts and MP3s of our programs and to post comments on our relationship advice blog. If you want to ask our audience for advice, write to mosaic@voanews.com. Type "relationship" in the subject line. We won't publish your name but please include your age, gender and country.
Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
OK, Here's the Story of 'America's Greatest Word'
Download this story as a PDF
JUNE SIMMS: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I’m June Simms. This week on our program, we have music from Drake ...
We also look at the history of the world's best-known American word ...
But first we tell you about some terms in American English that not even all Americans would know.
(MUSIC)
Dictionary of American Regional English
JUNE SIMMS: In your country, are there terms that only people from your area can understand? Local language may be meaningless to outsiders without a special dictionary, like the Dictionary of American Regional English. As Barbara Klein reports, the fifth and final volume of the dictionary known as DARE has just been published.
BARBARA KLEIN: Joan Houston Hall is the chief editor of the Dictionary of American Regional English. She says DARE includes words, phrases, pronunciations and even grammar and syntax that differ from one part of the country to another.
JOAN HOUSTON HALL: "That strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street can be the parking strip, the parking, the parkway, the berm, the terrace, the tree lawn, the tree belt, the tree box, and the verge and the swale and other things, too. It’s amazing to see the tremendous variety of terms used for the same thing."
BARBARA KLEIN: In some parts of the country, a carbonated soft drink is known as a soda; in others, people call it pop. Some Americans cook with what they call a frying pan; others call it a skillet. And a party where everyone brings food is either a potluck or a pitch-in.
Work on the Dictionary of American Regional English began in nineteen sixty-five under Frederic Cassidy. He was an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and a team of eighty researchers traveled across the United States to document words used by Americans to describe their daily lives.
The first volume, A to C, was released in nineteen eighty-five. The final volume starts with slab, a term for a concrete road, and ends with zydeco, a kind of music popular in Louisiana.
Joan Houston Hall showed the final volume at a meeting of the American Dialect Society in January. Linguist Ben Zimmer writes about language for the Boston Globe and recalls the excitement.
BEN ZIMMER: "People just wanted to touch it like it was the holy relic or something."
BARBARA KLEIN: The Dictionary of American Regional English contains almost sixty thousand words and terms that offer a linguistic tour of America. One word we liked is honeyfuggle. It means to cheat or trick. The earliest uses were found in the eighteen hundreds in the South.
(MUSIC)
The Story of OK
JUNE SIMMS: Next we turn to the story of an American word that began in Boston, Massachusetts, and spread around the world. "OK" started as a joke in eighteen thirty-nine -- and, no, we're not honeyfuggling you.
Our listener question this week comes from Stirlitz, an English teacher in Cuba. She wants to know the true origin of OK. She says, "I have five different versions but I don't know which one to pick."
Well, a couple of years ago, VOA's Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble talked with Allan Metcalf. He wrote the book "OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word." And, he says, not just the greatest word.
ALLAN METCALF: "America's most important word. The most successful American export to the rest of the world. And also an embodiment of the American philosophy, the American way of thinking."
AA: "All this, packed into two letters."
ALLAN METCALF: "Yes, that's the beauty of it and that's the economy of it. One of the two aspects of the American view of the world is pragmatism, getting things done. Even if they're not perfect, they're OK. And the nice thing about OK is it doesn't imply that everything is perfect or beautiful or wonderful. In fact, it's a neutral affirmation. When you say 'That's OK' or someone asks you 'How are you?' and you say 'I'm OK,' it doesn't mean that you're in perfect health. But it also doesn't mean that you're sick.
RS: "O-K are just two letters of the alphabet. Do they stand for something?"
ALLAN METCALF: "Well, they do, as a matter of fact. One of the curious things about OK that makes it require a whole book to tell its story is that it began as a joke. It was on March twenty-third, eighteen thirty-nine, in a Boston newspaper, that the newspaper first used 'o.k.' and explained those as an abbreviation for 'all correct.' And, of course, the joke was that 'o' is not the beginning of 'all' and 'k' is not the beginning of 'correct.' So this thing supposedly all correct was not all correct."
JUNE SIMMS: At that time, Boston newspapers were publishing all sorts of abbreviations that were meant to be funny. Most of these disappeared.
ALLAN METCALF: "But it turns out that in the next year, eighteen forty, in the American presidential election of eighteen forty, a man named Martin Van Buren was running for re-election. He happened to come from Kinderhook, New York, and so somebody thought of calling him 'Old Kinderhook' and then thought of founding clubs supporting him throughout the country, called OK Clubs. OK, Old Kinderhook, is OK, all correct or all right. And that suddenly gave continued life and prominence to OK."
JUNE SIMMS: And then a third thing happened.
ALLAN METCALF: "During that presidential election year, Martin Van Buren's predecessor as president had been Andrew Jackson, and so there was an attack on Andrew Jackson by an opponent of Van Buren. The attack said that Jackson couldn't spell, so that Jackson would look at a document and if he approved of it, he would write 'OK' on it, meaning it was all correct. Now it turns out that that was a complete hoax."
JUNE SIMMS: Andrew Jackson never wrote OK on a document, Allan Metcalf says. But as a result of that story, within about twenty years people really began marking OK on documents. People have been doing that ever since. But Allan Metcalf says the idea that OK began as a joke kept people trying to guess where it really came from.
ALLAN METCALF: "The OK-as-Andrew-Jackson's hoax was the first misleading statement of its origins. And then around the eighteen eighties a professor decided that the true origin was from the Choctaw Indian language, where they had an expression like OK which means 'it is so,' and for various reasons that was proposed as the true explanation for OK. They spelled it 'o-k-e-h,' and the only American president ever to have a PhD, Woodrow Wilson, thought that was the correct explanation, so he would mark o-k-e-h on documents."
RS: "How does OK in our vocabulary represent who we are as Americans?"
ALLAN METCALF: "One way that it represents who we are is that it represents the pragmatic sense of getting it done. Maybe not getting it done perfectly, but it's OK. But the other way began with a book published in 1967 by a guy named Thomas Harris. The book is called 'I'm OK -- You're OK.' And the book happens to be about a kind of psychology known as transactional analysis.
"'I'm OK' -- that means I can do what I want. 'You're OK' -- you can do what you want. Maybe we aren't doing the same thing, but that's OK."
JUNE SIMMS: Allan Metcalf is an English professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, and longtime executive secretary of the American Dialect Society.
He's been trying to gather support to celebrate a national OK Day each year on March twenty-third -- the day it first appeared in the newspaper.
(MUSIC)
Drake
JUNE SIMMS: Twenty-five year old Aubrey Drake Graham is best known by his stage name – Drake or Dizzy Drake. His second record album, “Take Care,” was released last November. Christopher Cruise has more.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: “Headlines” was the first single from Drake’s latest album “Take Care.” The song quickly made its way to the number one position on Billboard magazine’s Rap Songs chart. It rose to number eighteen on the Canadian Hot 100 chart. Shortly after the album was released, it appeared at number nine on Billboard’s Hot 100 list.
Aubrey Drake Graham was born in the Canadian city of Toronto on October twenty-eighth, nineteen eighty six. His parents ended their marriage when he was five years old. He lived with his mother in Toronto’s wealthy Forest Hill neighborhood and spent summers with his father.
Aubrey Drake Graham attended high school at the Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he began acting. He left high school before his studies were completed. But he went on to seek positions in acting. In two thousand one, he got the part of Jimmy Brooks in the television show “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” His work on the show ended in two thousand nine, when Jimmy finally graduated from the school.
In two thousand eight, Drake heard from recording artist Dwayne Carter, better known as Lil Wayne. The hip-hop star had heard about Drake’s music and flew him out to Houston for some performances. The two men worked together on many projects. In two thousand nine, Lil Wayne signed Drake to his recording label, “Young Money.”
Under the deal, Drake received two million dollars before recording his first album. He also got total publishing rights for all of his work. “Young Money” only got twenty-five percent on money earned from his music sales.
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Within months of the deal, Drake released “So Far Gone,” which included the hit single “Best I Ever Had.” The single quickly claimed the number one position on Billboard’s R&B and Hip-Hop Song charts. It also earned two Grammy Award nominations, three Soul Train Award nominations, five BET Hip-Hop Award nominations and an MTV Video music Award nomination.
Drake has released two albums since signing his record deal. We leave you with “Look What You’ve Done,” a song from his album, “Take Care.”
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JUNE SIMMS: I’m June Simms. We had writing help this week from Arick Simms and Avi Arditti.
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Join us again next week for music and more on AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
A ceasefire proposed by the United Nations is supposed to take effect in Syria in the coming days. But Syrian government forces continued to attack opposition targets across the country on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than twenty people were killed -- most of them civilians. Opposition activities say tens of thousands of Syrians took part in anti-government protests.
The Syrian government says it has begun withdrawing its troops from major cities. But on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that Syria's conflict was growing. He said attacks by government forces on civilian areas showed no signs of slowing. He urged President Bashar al-Assad "to show leadership and vision" and keep his promise to end the violence by this Tuesday. The opposition is supposed to do the same within forty-eight hours after that.
Hilal Khashan teaches political science at the American University of Beirut. He thinks President Assad is unlikely to follow the peace plan because that would give the opposition new strength.
HILAL KHASHAN: "This means that Syrians will feel free to demonstrate against the regime with impunity. This is unthinkable. Assad will never allow such developments to occur. Therefore, he will find reasons to defeat the mission of Kofi Annan."
Professor Khashan says he think Mr. Annan's diplomatic efforts represent the "last chance" that Mr. Assad will receive from the international community. The Syrian leader agreed to the U.N. peace plan on March twenty-fifth.
Growing numbers of Syrians fleeing the violence have poured into neighboring Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the U.N. secretary-general on Friday to express concern about the growing number of refugees.
The United Nations says more than nine thousand people have been killed since the uprising against Mr. Assad began thirteen months ago.
Anti-government opposition groups held protests in a number of towns and cities after Friday prayers.
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Opposition videos showed hundreds of protesters demonstrating on Friday in the northern city of Aleppo. Videos also showed large protests in several other areas and in Damascus.
Witnesses reported heavy government shelling in the city of Homs Friday. Parts of Homs have come under government shelling for weeks.
Al Arabiya television reported that government troops stormed Douma outside Damascus and made large numbers of arrests. Government forces have temporarily retaken parts of Douma several times, only to lose control later.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed the peace plan. He said Thursday that there was little progress on ending the conflict. Russia and China, both allies of the Syrian government, have increased pressure on Syrian officials to follow the plan.
Syria blames much of the violence on what it calls "terrorists" supported by "Arab and Western countries." It says terrorist acts increased after the government reached an agreement on Mr. Annan's peace plan.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
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Contributing: Edward Yerenia
A ceasefire proposed by the United Nations is supposed to take effect in Syria in the coming days. But Syrian government forces continued to attack opposition targets across the country on Friday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than twenty people were killed -- most of them civilians. Opposition activities say tens of thousands of Syrians took part in anti-government protests.
The Syrian government says it has begun withdrawing its troops from major cities. But on Thursday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that Syria's conflict was growing. He said attacks by government forces on civilian areas showed no signs of slowing. He urged President Bashar al-Assad "to show leadership and vision" and keep his promise to end the violence by this Tuesday. The opposition is supposed to do the same within forty-eight hours after that.
Hilal Khashan teaches political science at the American University of Beirut. He thinks President Assad is unlikely to follow the peace plan because that would give the opposition new strength.
HILAL KHASHAN: "This means that Syrians will feel free to demonstrate against the regime with impunity. This is unthinkable. Assad will never allow such developments to occur. Therefore, he will find reasons to defeat the mission of Kofi Annan."
Professor Khashan says he think Mr. Annan's diplomatic efforts represent the "last chance" that Mr. Assad will receive from the international community. The Syrian leader agreed to the U.N. peace plan on March twenty-fifth.
Growing numbers of Syrians fleeing the violence have poured into neighboring Turkey. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called the U.N. secretary-general on Friday to express concern about the growing number of refugees.
The United Nations says more than nine thousand people have been killed since the uprising against Mr. Assad began thirteen months ago.
Anti-government opposition groups held protests in a number of towns and cities after Friday prayers.
(SOUND)
Opposition videos showed hundreds of protesters demonstrating on Friday in the northern city of Aleppo. Videos also showed large protests in several other areas and in Damascus.
Witnesses reported heavy government shelling in the city of Homs Friday. Parts of Homs have come under government shelling for weeks.
Al Arabiya television reported that government troops stormed Douma outside Damascus and made large numbers of arrests. Government forces have temporarily retaken parts of Douma several times, only to lose control later.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed the peace plan. He said Thursday that there was little progress on ending the conflict. Russia and China, both allies of the Syrian government, have increased pressure on Syrian officials to follow the plan.
Syria blames much of the violence on what it calls "terrorists" supported by "Arab and Western countries." It says terrorist acts increased after the government reached an agreement on Mr. Annan's peace plan.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
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Contributing: Edward Yerenia