AMERICAN MOSAIC - Question About the Electric Guitar / Calif

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - October 25, 2002: Question About the Electric Guitar / California Man's Unexpected²
Boat Trip / 2002 MacArthur Fellows

HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC --VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play electric guitar music ..
.
Tell about prizes given to creative people ..
.
And report about a man whose short boat trip lasted much longer than he expected.

Richard Van Pham

HOST:

Richard Van Pham recently returned from a long trip at sea. It lasted for more than three months and almost cost
him his life. Shep O’Neal explains.

ANNCR:

Richard Van Pham lived on his little sail boat, named the Sea Breeze³. In May, he planned to sail from the town of
Long Beach in Southern California to the island of Santa Catalina. It was a trip of forty kilometers that should
have taken part of a day and one night.

However, during that night, a heavy wind broke the pole that held the boat’s sail. And the small radio on his
boat would not work. Mister⁴ Pham had little water and almost no food.Slowly, the little boat began to move south
with the ocean. Mister Pham saw no other boats and no land. Soon he was without food or water.

Mister Pham often used the boat for fishing. Now, to stay alive, he caught as many fish as possible. He used some
of the fish to catch sea birds that came near his boat. He caught several and cooked them. To get water, he
trapped rain with his useless sail. Day after day, week after week, the little boat kept moving south.

He later told reporters, “I saw no tree, no people, nothing. I thought it was the end of my life.
”

He saw an airplane on September seventeenth. Within two hours, a United States Navy⁵ ship arrived. The ship
was searching for people carrying illegal drugs. It found Richard Van Pham near the coast of Costa Rica, more
than four-thousand kilometers from Long Beach, California.

The sailors on the ship were shocked when they found Mister Pham and his little boat. The crew could not save
his boat. But they collected money to pay for an airplane ticket so Mister Pham could return to California.

Richard Van Pham said he was very sorry to lose his boat. It was also his home. When reporters asked him if he
would ever go to sea again he said, “Yes, maybe some day. I love the ocean because God made it and gave it
to the people. It is beautiful.
”

MacArthur Fellows

HOST:


How would you like to win a lot of money just for doing your job? That happened to twenty-four people in the
United States last month. They won awards presented by a group called The MacArthur Foundation⁶. Each winner
will receive five-hundred-thousand dollars in unrestricted financial aid over the next five years. Mary Tillotson
has more.

ANNCR:

The MacArthur Fellowship⁷ is a program that honors⁸ individual men and women for their creativity. American
businessman John MacArthur used his own money to establish the MacArthur Foundation in nineteen-seventy. It
began to operate after he died eight years later.

To be considered for the award, a person must be nominated⁹. All nominees¹⁰ must be American citizens or live in
the United States. They may not hold elective or appointed office in government.

Each year, several hundred people are appointed to propose¹¹ nominations¹². Each nominator¹³ is urged to identify
men and women who demonstrate¹⁴ great creativity in their work.

A twelve-member committee studies information about those nominated and proposes¹⁵ winners to the
foundation’s directors. The foundation does not require or expect reports from individual winners. It also does
not ask them how the money will be used.

Six-hundred-thirty-five MacArthur Fellows have been named since the program started in nineteen-eighty-one.
Between twenty and thirty winners are named each year.

The twenty-four winners this year work in many different areas. They include scientists, writers, and musicians.
Liza Lou of Los Angeles, California is an artist. She creates large, colorful works¹⁶ of art with pieces of glass and
other materials. Another MacArthur Fellow is Daniela Rus, a professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
She is a computer scientist who develops robots that change shape to deal with changes in their environment.

Brian Tucker of Palo Alto, California is another winner. Mister Tucker is an earthquake expert. He is president of
a not-for-profit group called GeoHazards International. His group works with local officials in developing
countries to make their areas safer against earthquakes. Mister Tucker says that being recognized as a MacArthur
Fellow will make a huge difference for his company.

Electric Guitar Music

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Long Quang Bui asks
about the musical instrument called the electric guitar.

Music experts say the guitar is probably the most popular musical instrument around
the world today. It is used to play many different kinds of music.

The electric guitar was one result of efforts by musicians to use electricity to create
louder string instruments. They were not able to solve some of the technical
problems until the nineteen-thirties. Les Paul was among the first to play an electric
guitar. Listen to one of his hit recordings¹⁸, “Meet Mister Callaghan."

(MUSIC)

In its early years, music experts debated the idea of the electric guitar being a true instrument. Some claimed it
did not produce a real musical sound. But country and jazz musicians defended the music made by the electric
guitar.

One of these defenders¹⁹ was jazz man Charlie Christian²⁰. Music experts say he created the sound of the electric
guitar that led to the modern electric guitar music of today. Listen to a recording¹⁷ of Charlie Christian playing
with the Benny Goodman jazz group in nineteen-thirty-nine. The song is “Flying Home.
”

(MUSIC)

(Photo - Eric Long/Smithsonian
Institution)

One modern electric guitar player who followed Charlie Christian is the world famous blues²¹ musician B.B. King.
He calls his guitar “Lucille”. We leave you now with B.B. King and Lucille playing their famous recording,
“The Thrill Is Gone.
”

(MUSIC)

HOST:

This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us again next week for
AMERICAN MOSAIC -- VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by George Grow, Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson. Our
studio engineer was Curtis Bynum. And our producer was Paul Thompson.

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 unexpected   

adj.想不到的，意外的

参考例句：

• I always keep some good wine in for unexpected guests.我总保存些好酒，用来招待不速之客。
• His promotion was unexpected.他的升迁出人意料。

3 breeze   

n.微风；轻而易举的事；vi.来去匆匆，急速走

参考例句：

• A little breeze is blowing in from the window.微风从窗户里吹进来。
• The clouds are pale and a light breeze is blowing.云淡风轻。

4 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

5 navy   

n.海军，海军人员，海军军力，藏青色

参考例句：

• My brother is in the navy.我兄弟在海军服役。
• He has transferred from the army to the navy.他从陆军转到海军。

6 foundation   

n.[pl.]地基；基础；基金会；建立，创办

参考例句：

• The foundation of the university took place 600 years ago.这所大学是600年前创办的。
• The Foundation gives money to help artists.那家基金会捐款帮助艺术家。

7 fellowship   

n.伙伴关系，团体，奖学金，研究员职位

参考例句：

• You'll lose your fellowship if you do that.你如果做那件事就会丧失研究员职位。
• It looks that they'll be admitted to the fellowship.看来他们要被吸收入会了。

8 honors   

n.礼仪；荣典；礼节； 大学荣誉学位；大学优等成绩；尊敬( honor的名词复数 )；敬意；荣誉；光荣

参考例句：

• He aims at honors. 他力求名誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We did the last honors to his remains. 我们向他的遗体告别。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 nominated   

adj.被提名的，被任命的 动词nominate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She has been nominated for the presidency. 她已经获得了董事长职位的提名。
• The movie was nominated for an Oscar. 这部电影获奥斯卡金像奖提名。

10 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

11 propose   

v.提出，建议；提名，推荐

参考例句：

• Did he propose marriage to you?他向你求婚了吗？
• I propose resting for an hour.我建议休息一小时。

12 nominations   

n.提名，任命( nomination的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Nominations are invited for the post of party chairman. 为党主席职位征集候选人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Much coverage surrounded his abortive bids for the 1960,1964, and 1968 Republican Presidential nominations. 许多消息报道都围绕着1960年、1964年和1968年他为争取提名为共和党总统候选人所做努力的失败。 来自辞典例句

13 nominator   

提名者，任命者，续任者

参考例句：

14 demonstrate   

vt.论证，证明；示范；显示；vi.示威游行

参考例句：

• Let me demonstrate to you how this machine works.我给你演示一下这台机器的运转情况。
• How can I demonstrate to you that my story is true?我怎样才能向你证明我的话是真实的呢？

15 proposes   

v.提议，建议( propose的第三人称单数 )；打算；提供（解释）；提出（行动，计划或供表决的方案等）

参考例句：

• He proposes a short rest before we continue the work. 在继续这项工作之前，他建议暂休一会儿。 来自辞典例句
• Aristotle proposes to cure such hardships by means of equity. 亚里士多德提出用衡平的方法来解决这样的困难。 来自辞典例句

16 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

17 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

18 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

19 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

21 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。