HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play songs by Vanessa Carlton …
Answer a listener’s question about America’s national game …
And report about the American sisters who are the best tennisplayers in the world.
The Williams Sisters
HOST:
Recently, two young American women played against each other forthe top prize in professional tennis — the Women’s Championship atWimbledon, England. The two women are sisters. Shep O’Neal tells usabout Serena and Venus Williams.
ANNCR:
Venus Williams is twenty-two years old. Serena is twenty. Earlierthis month, Serena defeated Venus to win the championship atWimbledon. That victory is perhaps the most important event inprofessional tennis. And it was only one of many victories in thepast three years. Serena had already won the French Open tennischampionship before her win in England.
Serena’s recent victories mean that one of the Williams sistershas won seven of the last twelve major international tennistournaments. Venus won the Wimbledon Championship in two-thousandand two-thousand-one. She also won the United States Openchampionship both of those years. And the two sisters also won thewomen’s doubles match at Wimbledon earlier this month.
Tennis experts say Richard Williams is the main reason that hisdaughters are the two top players in women’s professional tennis. Hetaught them how to play the game and he taught them well. Both womensay their father is the reason for their success. About fifteenyears ago, he told Venus that she was going to be one of the besttennis players in the world. He then told Venus and Serena that oneday they would compete for the championship of professional tennisat Wimbledon.
No one would have believed Richard Williams at the time. TheWilliams family lived in a poor area of Los Angeles, California. Andonly one other African-American woman had ever won the championshipat Wimbledon. That was Althea Gibson in the nineteen-fifties.
Critics say the two sisters do not play their best tennis againsteach other. The Williams sisters deny this. But they say that theyknow each other’s game extremely well because they have playedagainst each other since they were children.
Sports reporters say the two Williams sisters are not only greattennis players. They are also intelligent and strong young women.One reporter asked Serena if Venus was upset or angry about losingto her sister. Serena looked a little confused. Then she said, “No,Venus is not angry. She is happy for me. We will always be familyfirst, and then tennis players.”
America’s National Game
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from India. RanveerJayani asks what is the national game of the United States.
Americans enjoy playing and watching many sports, includingfootball, soccer, basketball and hockey. But if you ask mostAmericans what is the national game, they would probably answerbaseball.
Perhaps no other sport is asdeeply rooted in American life. None has created so many populartraditions. These include poems, songs, books and movies. Famousplayers of the past and present are as well-known to Americans asthe country’s great scientists, writers and political leaders.Baseball words have even become part of the language. For example,Americans may admit to “striking out” when failing at something.
Part of the reason Americans love baseball is that they have beenplaying it for more than one-hundred-fifty years. No one knows forsure when the modern game began. Many people believe it developedfrom a game called “rounders” that was played in theeighteen-hundreds.
Some history experts say Abner Doubleday invented baseball ineighteen-thirty-nine. Others say it was Alexander Cartwright ineighteen-forty-five. He developed a list of rules and formed thefirst baseball team, the New York Knickerbockers.
Today, Americans of all ages play baseball. Thousands of teamsare organized across the country — school teams, company teams andteams supported by religious groups. And millions of Americansattend professional baseball games and watch them on television.
More than three-hundred-fifty-thousand people travel each year tothe Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. TheHall of Fame explains the history of baseball. It also honors greatplayers of the past and present. This year, the museum has puttogether a traveling show called “Baseball as America.” The showincludes more than five-hundred baseball objects. It explores therelationship between the game of baseball and American culture.
Vanessa Carlton
Host:
Singer and songwriter Vanessa Carlton released her first albumearlier this year. Mary Tillotson tells us about her and her music.
ANNCR:
Vanessa Carlton’s first album is called “Be Not Nobody.” Listenas she sings “A Thousand Miles.”
((CUT ONE – “A THOUSAND MILES”))
Vanessa Carlton is twenty-one years old. She was born in a smalltown in Pennsylvania. Vanessa began playing the piano at age two.She wrote her first song when she was eight years old.
Yet Vanessa Carlton wanted to be a professional dancer. At theage of fourteen she was accepted at the School of American Ballet inNew York City. She became one of the top students. But she was veryunhappy with the intense training that is required to become aballet dancer.
Instead, she found a piano at her school and started playing andwriting songs. After completing high school, Vanessa decided to be asinger instead of a dancer. Here is another of her songs. It iscalled “Unsung.”
((CUT TWO – “UNSUNG”))
Music experts are saying good things about Vanessa Carlton’smusic. They praise her voice. They say her training as a pianoplayer can be heard in her songs.
We leave you now with a song from her album “Be Not Nobody.” Hereis Vanessa Carlton performing “Ordinary Day.”
((CUT THREE – “ORDINARY DAY”))
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 Lawan Davis, NancySteinbach and Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Keith Holmes.And our producer was Paul Thompson