AMERICAN MOSAIC - Whitehouse.gov / Question About America's

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Whitehouse.gov / Question About America's Longest River / Music by Vivian Green

By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: December 27, 2002
(THEME)
HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC --VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Steve Ember. On our program today, we play some music by Vivian Green ... answer a listener’s

question about the Mississippi River ... and, report about a computer visit to the White House in Washington,
DC., WhiteHouse.gov.

HOST:
How would you like to visit the White House in Washington, D-C, and have the President of the United States
show you his home? You can, if you have a computer. The Web site address is WWW.WhiteHouse.gov. Sarah
Long has more.

ANNCR:

 

The White House Web site lets the computer user² visit the most famous home in
America. One visit begins with President Bush. The President takes visitors on a
seven-minute tour around his office, called the Oval³ Office. If your computer can
play the video it is almost like having a private visit with the President of the United
States.

If your computer can not play the video, you can still visit the Oval Office. You can
see all of the office using your computer. You can make your computer point the
camera at famous paintings on the wall of the Oval Office or at the President’s

desk. You can also see other rooms in the White House: the Blue Room, the Red Room, the State Dining Room
and many more.

The Web site also offers a collection of famous pictures taken in the White House. Many are older photographs
that show former Presidents when they lived in the White House.

White House officials say President Bush made the video recording⁴ last summer. Other videos were made more
recently. The most recent ones show the White House decorated for the Christmas holiday. In one video, Laura
Bush tells about the decorations in different rooms, including a small White House made from gingerbread. One
funny video is called the Barney Cam. It follows Mister⁵ Bush’s dog Barney as he runs through the White House
decorated for the holidays.

The Web site and the recordings⁶ are part of the celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary⁷ of the part of the
White House known as the West Wing. The West Wing includes offices used by members of the Administration⁸
who work with the President every day.

So if you would like to visit the White House, the computer address is w-w-w dot whitehouse dot g-o-v. White
House is all one word. The address again is w-w-w-w dot whitehouse dot g-o-v.

The Mississippi River

HOST:


Our VOA listener question this week comes from Guatemala. Alejandro Mata asks about the biggest river in the
United States, the Mississippi.

The Mississippi River flows from near the northern border of the United States
south into the Gulf⁹ of Mexico. It flows for four-thousand kilometers through the
center of the country. The Mississippi is one of the longest rivers in the world. Only
the Amazon in South America and the Nile in eastern Africa are longer.

The name Mississippi came from the Chippewa Indians. They lived in what is now
the north central part of the United States. They called the river “maesi-sipu.
”
This meant “river of many fishes” in the Chippewa language. The word was not easy for European explorers
to say. So they began calling it the Mississippi instead.

The Mississippi River has always been important for the American economy. Large cities were established along
the river. Two of these are found on the northernmost part of the river that is deep enough for trade ships to
travel. They are Minneapolis and Saint¹⁰ Paul, Minnesota. The cities today are important centers for business and
agriculture.

About two-thousand kilometers south along the river is the city of Saint Louis, Missouri. It is just a few
kilometers from where the Missouri River joins the Mississippi. A French trader first established a business there
in seventeen-sixty-four. A few years later settlers named their new town after the thirteenth century French king,
Louis the Ninth, who had been made a Christian¹¹ saint. The city of Saint Louis was a popular starting point for
settlers travelling to the American West.

Perhaps the most famous city on the Mississippi is at the river’s southern end. It is the port city of New Orleans,
Louisiana. The French explorers who first settled there named the town after the French city of Orleans (or-lay
onh). New Orleans was always an important trade center. A great battle was fought there between British and
American forces during the War of Eighteen-Twelve. Today, New Orleans is probably most famous for its
culture, music and food, and for its place at the end of the great Mississippi River.

Vivian Green

HOST:

Singer and songwriter Vivian Green has experienced¹² good and bad love relationships. The songs on her first
album tell those stories. Here is Shep O’Neal with more about this young singer.

ANNCR:

Vivian Green is twenty-three years old. She has been singing and writing songs
professionally since she was fifteen. Vivian wrote all of the songs for her first
album, “A Love Story”. It was released¹³ last month.

“A Love Story” tells about a relationship gone wrong. It is about learning¹⁴ to love
yourself and then finding¹⁵ true love. The song “Emotional¹⁶ Rollercoaster” tells
about being in a bad relationship and not knowing how to end it.

(MUSIC)

When Vivian was a child her mother sang different kinds of songs to her. You can hear the influence of popular
jazz in this song. It is called “No Sittin’ by the Phone.
”

(MUSIC)
Vivian Green says she can write a song very quickly. She wrote some of her songs the same day she recorded
them. We leave you now with one of those songs. Here is “Superwoman” from the album “A Love Story.
”

(MUSIC)
HOST:


This is Steve Ember. 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 Oliver Chanler, Lawan Davis, Nancy Steinbach and Paul
Thompson. Our studio engineer was Jim Harmon. And our producer was Paul Thompson.

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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 user   

n.用户，使用者

参考例句：

• The company is the biggest user of oil.该公司是最大的石油用户。
• The umbrella keeps the rains off the user.雨伞使撑伞人免受雨淋。

3 oval   

n. 椭圆，椭圆形跑道；adj. 卵形的，椭圆形的

参考例句：

• She has a lovely oval face.她长着一张可爱的椭圆脸。
• The shape of the earth is an oval.地球的形状是个椭圆形。

4 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。

5 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”。

6 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

7 anniversary   

n.周年(纪念日)

参考例句：

• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。
• Today is my parents'30th wedding anniversary.今天是我父母结婚30周年纪念日。

8 administration   

n.经营，管理；行政，行政机关，管理部门

参考例句：

• Who is in charge of the administration of your company?你们公司的行政工作由谁负责？
• The teachers are responsible to the school administration.教师向学校行政负责。

9 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

10 saint   

n.圣徒；基督教徒；vt.成为圣徒，把...视为圣徒

参考例句：

• He was made a saint.他被封为圣人。
• The saint had a lowly heart.圣人有谦诚之心。

11 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。

12 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

13 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

14 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

15 finding   

n.发现，发现物；调查的结果

参考例句：

• The finding makes some sense.该发现具有一定的意义。
• That's an encouraging finding.这是一个鼓舞人心的发现。

16 emotional   

adj.令人动情的；易动感情的；感情(上)的

参考例句：

• Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
• This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。