AMERICAN MOSAIC - Beyond History Books: New Museum Tells Lin

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Beyond History Books: New Museum Tells Lincoln's Story
By Nancy Steinbach,Caty Weaver²

Broadcast: Friday, April 22, 2005

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HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

 
Lincoln look-alikes and their wives examine their cell phones before dedication³ ceremonies April 19 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois.
I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

Music to celebrate Jazz Appreciation⁴ Month …

A question from listeners about Abraham Lincoln ...

And a report about Earth Day.

Earth Day and Goldman Prizes

Happy birthday, Earth Day! This April twenty-second is the thirty-fifth anniversary of Earth Day. Former United States Senator Gaylord Nelson started the observance.

Earth Day is a time for individuals to get involved in the health of the planet.

One person might decide to clean up a local park. Another might plant a tree. Someone else might organize a community environmental project. These kinds of activities are known as grassroots efforts.

Each year around Earth Day, an organization in California honors grassroots environmental activists⁵ around the world. Gwen Outen reports on this year's winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize.

GWEN OUTEN: The winner from Europe is Stephanie Danielle Roth, a citizen of both France and Switzerland. Miz Roth is being honored for leading an international effort to stop the building of a gold and silver mine in Romania. She has organized large demonstrations⁶. She has also created a coalition⁷ of non-governmental organizations, scientists and others to take part in the fight.

The winner of the Goldman Prize for South and Central America is Father Jose Andres Tamayo Cortez. The Roman Catholic clergyman has organized protests in an effort to save trees from illegal destruction in central Honduras.

The Goldman winner from North America is also active against illegal logging. Isidro Baldenegro Lopez of Mexico organized protests to save old growth forests in the Sierra Madre Mountains. He was jailed for fifteen months. But the Goldman Foundation says he continues to work for environmental justice and land rights for the Tarahumara people.

Corneille Ewango from the Democratic Republic of Congo is the Goldman Prize winner for Africa. Mister Ewango is a plant scientist. He risked his own safety to protect animals and plants in a rainforest during years of civil war. He is now a graduate student in the United States.

The Goldman winner for island nations is Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of Haiti. He has taught environmentally responsible farming methods for thirty years. The Goldman Foundation says he and his students have planted more than twenty million trees in Haiti.

Finally, the Goldman Environmental Prize for Asia was awarded to a biologist from Kazakhstan. Kaisha Atakhanova led a successful fight against legislation to permit the import and storage of radioactive waste in her country.

Rhonda and Richard Goldman established the prize in nineteen ninety. They wanted to honor individuals who work to protect the environment. Each winner receives one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars.

Abraham Lincoln

HOST: Time for our weekly question from listeners. Ezekiel Adeniran and Martins Ojoiso in Nigeria both ask about the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

Before we talk about his life, we want to tell you about the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Illinois. The museum officially opened this week with a ceremony attended by President Bush and his wife, Laura. There is also an Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library which opened last October.

Abraham Lincoln was born in eighteen oh nine in Kentucky, but he grew up in Illinois. His family was poor and had no education. But Abraham Lincoln taught himself what he needed to know. He became a lawyer. He served in the Illinois state legislature and in the United States Congress. He was elected president in eighteen sixty.

President Lincoln led the United States during the Civil War. He sent Northern forces to battle the slave-holding Southern states to keep them from leaving the Union. Lincoln freed the slaves and helped keep the nation together.

In the end, it cost him his life. On April fourteenth, eighty sixty-five, a Southern sympathizer shot Abraham Lincoln in Ford's Theater in Washington. It happened five days after the South surrendered and the Civil War ended.

Abraham Lincoln wrote some of the most important words in American history. In eighteen sixty-three, he gave what became his best known speech. The Union army had won a major battle at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Ceremonies were held there to honor the dead at a burial place on the battlefield.

President Lincoln spoke⁸ at Gettysburg for only about two minutes. Written copies of his speech differ; without a recording⁹, no one can be sure exactly what he said. But his speech has never been forgotten. Here is Harry¹⁰ Monroe with the last few lines of the version that can be found on a wall of Lincoln Memorial:

HARRY MONROE: It is rather for us to be here dedicated¹¹ to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Jazz Appreciation Month

April is "Jazz Appreciation Month" in the United States. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. began this observance. The aim is to get everyone to take part in jazz in some way: study it, play it or just listen to it. Other countries are also celebrating jazz this month. These include Argentina, Britain, Canada, Germany Japan and Sweden. Shep O'Neal has our report.

SHEP O'NEAL: Jazz is often called America's greatest gift to the arts. It came to life full of the emotions of a people who first arrived as slaves from Africa.

Here is a famous early jazz recording, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band playing "Chimes Blues¹²."

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Today, jazz musicians play all kinds of music. It can sound like swing or bebop, rock and roll or country-western. Or it can sound traditional.

One of the most popular jazz singers in the world today is Cassandra Wilson. Here she is with the Bob Dylan song, "Lay Lady Lay."

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Jazz performers sometimes create new music as they play. They add their own notes to already existing music.

The same song can sound fresh and new each time a jazz musician plays it. Miles Davis was one great jazz musician known for his improvisation¹³. We leave you with the Miles Davis Sextet playing "So What."

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HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program.

Our show was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver, who was also our producer.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, 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 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。

3 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

4 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 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。

10 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

11 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

12 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。

13 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。