AMERICAN MOSAIC

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹
By

Broadcast: Friday, August 27, 2004

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY²: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

This is Bob Doughty. On our show this week:

Music from the group Seven Mary Three ...

A question about presidential term limits ...

And a report about an action sport that Olympic fans haven't seen in Athens, except maybe on the local streets.

Skateboarding

 
It's not just for kids: An employee known as Dr. Skateboard demonstrates a 
The Summer Olympics end Sunday in Athens. Over the years, new sporting events have been added to the Games. Others have been taken away. It all depends on popularity³. But one popular activity that is not in the Olympics -- at least not yet -- is skateboarding. Phoebe Zimmermann has our story.

PHOEBE ZIMMERMANN: Skateboards were developed in Southern California in the early nineteen fifties. Children, mostly boys, built their boards themselves. They attached four clay or metal wheels to a long, narrow piece of wood.

The earliest versions were said to have been about thirty centimeters wide and close to two meters long. They would have looked much more like surfboards than modern skateboards. In fact, the first skateboarders were probably surfers. Back then, skateboarding was called "sidewalk surfing."

Skateboarding was popular through the early sixties. There was even some competitive⁴ skateboarding. But the boards were relatively⁵ slow and difficult to turn, and the ride was rough. By the end of the sixties, skateboards took a bad fall in sales.

All that changed in nineteen seventy with a young man named Frank Nasworthy. He was a skater in Virginia. He discovered that wheels made of a plastic called urethane created a faster, smoother ride. Soon all skateboards had urethane wheels and the number of fans began to grow again.

Today, skateboarding is popular internationally. Skaters from Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands and other countries competed last year in the X-Games Global Championship in San Antonio, Texas. X, as in "extreme" -- maybe too extreme for Olympic traditionalists.

But skateboarding has grown up in the past thirty years. Many skaters now wear helmets and other protective equipment. Also, there are parks built especially for their sport. These parks usually include smooth concrete hills, bowl-shaped areas and jumps. In fact, a skate park is being built right now in the area where Frank Nasworthy often skated. The local government in Arlington, Virginia, plans to open it in October. And as for Frank, we understand he is now an engineer … in California.

Presidential Terms in Office

BOB DOUGHTY: Our VOA listener question this week comes from two places: Mysore, India, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Mohamud Abdi and Vincent Nguyen both want to know why American presidents cannot serve more than two terms in office.

This is a good time to answer that question. The Republican⁶ Party opens its presidential nominating⁷ convention⁸ on Monday in New York City. Delegates⁹ will nominate¹⁰ President Bush and Vice¹¹ President Dick Cheney for a second term in the elections in November.

The United States Constitution never said anything about how many times a president could be re-elected. The idea of serving only two four-year terms began with the first president, George Washington. He chose not to campaign for a third term. The presidents who followed him did the same. But there was no law that would have stopped them from serving longer, had they sought more terms.

 
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Roosevelt did not follow this tradition. He served longer than any other president, from March of nineteen thirty-three until April of nineteen forty-five. Political opponents criticized his elections to a third term and a fourth. They said no one person should have so much power for so long. But others believed his leadership and experience were needed during the Great Depression and World War Two.

Franklin Roosevelt died during his fourth term. After his death, Congress proposed to amend¹² the Constitution to limit the number of years a president could serve. States approved the change in nineteen fifty-one.

The twenty-second amendment¹³ to the Constitution says no one may be elected president more than two times. It also says no one who has served as president for more than two years of someone else's term may be elected more than once.

All this guarantees that no American will serve as president for more than eight years, unless the Constitution is ever changed again.

Seven Mary Three

HOST:

 
From left: Giti Khalsa, Casey Daniel, Jason Ross and Thomas Juliano.
A new school year means a new chance to make friends -- and maybe even start a band. The group Seven Mary Three started that way. Gwen Outen has more.

GWEN OUTEN: Three of the four current members of the band met in nineteen ninety-two at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. They started with a fourth member who also went there.

The name of the band comes from a television show from the late nineteen seventies. It was a police show about California Highway Patrol¹⁴ officers on motorcycles. The show was called "CHiPs." But one of the actors used the radio call sign "Seven Mary Three."

Seven Mary Three released its first album with a record company in nineteen ninety-five. The album was called "American Standard." It included this single, "Cumbersome¹⁵."

(MUSIC)

In two thousand one, the band released an album called "Economy of Sound." One of the songs was used in the movie "Crazy/Beautiful." The name of the song is "Wait."

(MUSIC)

The members of Seven Mary Three live in Orlando, Florida. But they travel a lot. In fact, drummer Giti Khalsa asked his father to take care of his dog for a little while, which has stretched into ten months.

Last month, Seven Mary Three appeared in a show during Major League Baseball's All Star Week in Houston, Texas. They performed two songs from "Dis/Location," their newest album. We leave you with one of those songs, "Settle Up."

(MUSIC)

BOB DOUGHTY: This is Bob Doughty. Send your questions about American life to [email protected]. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, USA.

Please include your name and postal¹⁶ address. We'll send you a gift if we use your question.

Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver¹⁷. Paul Thompson was our producer. And our engineer was Jim Sleeman.

I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week for VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

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 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

3 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

4 competitive   

adj.竞争的，比赛的，好竞争的，有竞争力的

参考例句：

• Some kinds of business are competitive.有些商业是要竞争的。
• These businessmen are both competitive and honourable.这些商人既有竞争性又很诚实。

5 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。

7 nominating   

提名…为候选人( nominate的现在分词 )； 任命； 挑选； 指定（时间、日期、名称等）

参考例句：

• The nominating committee laid its slate before the board. 提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
• The Nominating Committee shall select a nominee for each open Board position. 提名委员会应当为每一个公开的董事职位选择一位被提名者。

8 convention   

n.惯例，习俗，常规，会议，大会

参考例句：

• How many delegates have checked in at the convention?大会已有多少代表报到？
• He sets at naught every convention of society.他轻视所有的社会习俗。

9 delegates   

代表，代表团成员( delegate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The conference was attended by delegates from 56 countries. 此次会议有来自56个国家的代表出席。
• Delegates expressed strong opposition to the plans. 代表强烈反对这些计划。

10 nominate   

vt.提名，推荐，任命

参考例句：

• I nominate Tom to make the tea.我指派汤姆去沏茶。
• The EU would nominate two members to the committee.欧盟将为该委员会指定两名成员。

11 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

12 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

13 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

14 patrol   

v.巡逻，巡查；n.巡逻，巡查，巡逻队

参考例句：

• They attacked two soldiers on patrol.他们袭击了两名正在巡逻的士兵。
• Policemen patrol the streets.警察在街上巡逻。

15 cumbersome   

adj.笨重的，不便携带的

参考例句：

• Although the machine looks cumbersome,it is actually easy to use.尽管这台机器看上去很笨重，操作起来却很容易。
• The furniture is too cumbersome to move.家具太笨，搬起来很不方便。

16 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。

17 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。