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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VO-A’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. On our program today, we tell about themost popular books, movies and recordings of the yeartwo-thousand-two.
Most Popular Books of 2002
HOST:
The newspaper U-S-A Today recently listed the most popular booksof last year in the United States. It creates the list frominformation about the number of books sold during the year. ShepO’Neal tells us about a few of these books.
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The most popular book on the list is “Harry Potter and the Gobletof Fire” by British writer Joanne Rowling (ROE-ling). It is thefourth book in an extremely popular series of stories for children.The books tell about an English boy named Harry Potter who learnsthat he has magical powers. They describe the adventures of Harryand his friends at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Harry is usually in danger from anevil wizard, Lord Voldemort. So far, Harry has defeated him eachtime they have met. Joanne Rowling says she will write seven “HarryPotter” books, one for each year he spends at Hogwarts School. Thefifth book is expected to be published later this year.
The second most popular book of two-thousand-two is called “APainted House.” It was written by American legal expert JohnGrisham. Mister Grisham is well known for writing stories aboutlawyers. “A Painted House” is a different kind of book for him. Itis about a family’s ability to survive on a farm in the southernstate of Arkansas in the nineteen-fifties. The story is told byseven-year-old Luke Chandler, who sees a murder on the farm. Criticssay the book includes wonderful descriptions of life on a farm andexamines the relationships between the boy and his parents andgrandparents.
U-S-A Today says the third mostpopular book in the United States last year was “The Lovely Bones”by Alice Sebold. This story is also told by a child, but this childhas been murdered. Fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon tells about herlife and death. The book shows how her family and friends areaffected by her death. Critics say “The Lovely Bones” is about howpeople heal and find a way to connect to each other after a greattragedy.
Most Popular Movies of 2002
HOST:
At the end of the year, the American movie industry reports aboutthe most popular movies of the year. The two most popular movieslast year were fantasy stories about heroes with special powers whobattle the forces of evil.
The movie that earned the most money in ticket sales around theworld last year was “Spider-Man.” It has earned more thaneight-hundred-million dollars since it opened in May.
The movie is about a quiet teenageboy named Peter Parker who is bitten by a genetically engineeredspider. This changes his body. He becomes extremely strong and fast,and has special powers, like a spider. He can climb up walls andjump from one tall building to another. Peter uses these powers tohelp people. He hides this secret from everyone as he battles theevil Green Goblin, who in normal life is the father of his bestfriend.
The second most popular movie around the world intwo-thousand-two opened in December of two-thousand-one. “Lord ofthe Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” also has earned more thaneight-hundred-million dollars around the world, but in a longerperiod of time than “Spider-Man.”
Its story was first told in a bookby British writer J.R.R. Tolkein. The story tells about a placecalled Middle Earth where a battle is about to start between theforces of good and evil. Frodo Baggins, a human-like creature calleda hobbit, is the hero of the story. Frodo must take a magic ringback to where it was made and destroy it so that the forces of evilwill be defeated. “Fellowship of the Ring” is the first of threebooks that tell about his journey. The movie is also the first ofthree that will show the struggles of Frodo Baggins and his alliesto save their world.
Both “Spider-Man” and “Lord of the Rings” were produced by majormovie companies which spent a lot of money to make them. One popularAmerican movie called “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” has earned morethan two-hundred-million dollars so far. It was made by a smallindependent group that did not have much money to spend. It is themost popular independent American movie ever made. “My Big Fat GreekWedding” is a very funny movie about an American girl whose familycame from Greece. It shows what happens when she decides to marry aman who is not Greek.
Movie critics say it is popular because it is one of the fewmovies today that people of all ages can enjoy. People say they likethe movie because the family is similar to everyone’s family,whether they are Greek or not.
Most Popular Recorndings of 2002
HOST:
Each December, Billboard Magazine lists the most popular albums,records and performers of the year. Mary Tillotson tells us about afew of them.
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Billboard magazine says the top album of two-thousand-two wasrecorded by rap music artist Eminem. It is called “The Eminem Show.”Here is a song from that album, “Without Me.”
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Billboard says the male rock group Nickelback recorded the topsingle record of two-thousand-two. Here is that song, “How YouRemind Me.”
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Billboard says the second most popular song of the year wasrecorded by the top female recording artist of two-thousand-two. Weleave you now with that song by Ashanti. It is called “Foolish.”
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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 Nancy Steinbach. Ourstudio engineer was Kwasi Smith. And our producer was Paul Thompson.