HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play songs by Jessica Simpson …
answer a question about the wine-making industry …
and tell about the home of one of America’s first presidents.
Rediscovering James Madison
HOST:
Monday is Constitution Day. It is the anniversary of the day whenthe American Constitutional Convention ended. Delegates to the talkssigned the proposed Constitution of the United States on SeptemberSeventeenth, Seventeen-Eighty-Seven.
This year, special observances in honor of Constitution Day arebeing held at the former home of delegate James Madison. Shep O’Nealhas more about the man called the Father of the Constitution.
ANNCR:
James Madison wrote the first plan for union of the new Americannation. He also was mainly responsible for the first ten amendmentsto the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights. Later, MisterMadison was the country’s fourth President.
The Madison family lived at Montpelier (mont-PEEL-yer), a hugeproperty about one-hundred-thirty kilometers south of Washington,D-C. The property extends over more than one-thousand-one-hundredhectares of land. Today, a private group operates Montpelier.
In recent years, crews at Montpelier have been searching forevidence of past human activities. The project depends mainly on thework of volunteers. Students from nearby James Madison Universitywork at Montpelier in May and June for no pay.
Matthew Reaves is directing the project. He and his crew arestudying objects believed to come from Mount Pleasant, the firstMadison home at Montpelier. Mount Pleasant was destroyed in a firearound Seventeen-Sixty-Five. After that, the area was used asfarmland.
Recently, work crews at Mount Pleasant found the remains of abuilding. The discovery is exciting because crews have been lookingfor the remains of the main house for the past four years.
Matthew Reaves believes the project at Mount Pleasant willcontinue for two to three more years. After that, he wants toexplore some of the areas at Montpelier where slaves lived.
Wine Making in California
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. SilvioUnzer asks about the history of the wine industry, especially in thewestern state of California.
Wine is an alcoholic drink made from grapes. Experts do not knowwhen the first wine was made. They say, however, that people wholived eight-thousand years ago enjoyed drinking wine. Wine was alsoa popular drink among the ancient Greeks. They were the first togrow grapes as a business and to sell their wines to other nations.
Wine was also important to the ancient Romans. Grapes were grownthroughout the Roman Empire. Later, the Catholic Church continued toproduce wines in European countries. Experts say the wine industryappeared in almost every new country settled by Europeans.
That is what happened in the American state of California.Franciscan religious workers from Spain who settled the area madewine to use in religious services. Father Junipero Serra establishedMission San Diego in Seventeen-Sixty-Nine. It was the first oftwenty-one such religious centers. Almost all of the missions grewgrapes and produced wine.
The discovery of gold in California in Eighteen-Forty-Eighthelped establish the wine industry. Thousands of people traveled toCalifornia in hopes of finding gold. But most did not find any. Somany people decided to grow grapes instead. These included peoplefrom other countries who loved wine. They grew European grapes inCalifornia for the first time.
California has a lot of sunshine all year. This helps grapes toripen anywhere in the state. Growing grapes for wine became veryprofitable. The number of vines planted increased quickly. Forexample, in Eighteen-Fifty-Six, more than one-million grapevineswere planted in California. Two years later, there were almostfour-million. By Eighteen-Fifty-Nine, California was producingalmost two-million liters of wine.
That same year, California lawmakers helped the wine industryexpand. A new law permitted grape growers to produce a crop beforehaving to pay taxes. By Eighteen-Sixty-Two, the number of grapevinesin California had reached eight-million.
Today, the California Wine Institute says the United States hasabout one-thousand-six-hundred companies that make wine. More thanhalf of these wineries are in California. The group says the stateproduces ninety percent of the wines made in the United States.
Jessica Simpson
HOST:
Popular American singer Jessica Simpson had great success withher first record album in Nineteen-Ninety-Nine. “Sweet Kisses” soldmore than two-million copies. Here is the title song:
((CUT 1: SWEET KISSES))
Now Jessica Simpson has a new record, “Irresistible.” Bob Doughtytells us about her.
ANNCR:
Jessica Simpson was seventeen years old when she recorded herfirst album. She is twenty-one now. She says her growth shows in thenew songs.
Jessica Simpson says the message of the songs on “Irresistible”is that nothing is impossible if you have an inner strength. Here isthe title song from her new album.
((CUT 2: IRRESISTIBLE))
Jessica Simpson learned to sing in church in her hometown ofDallas, Texas. She first recorded religious songs. Critics say onesong on her new album shows her true spirit. It is one she has beensinging since she was a young girl in church. We leave you now withJessica Simpson singing that song, “His Eye Is On The Sparrow.”
((CUT 3: HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW))
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And Ihope you will join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC-VOA’sradio magazine in Special English.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by George Grow and NancySteinbach. Our studio engineer was Greg Burns. And our producer wasPaul Thompson.