(MUSIC)
DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
Music from a new album by Patty Scialfa. A listener in Japanwants to know what Americans do on summer vacation. And, we beginwith three Americans who know exactly what they will be doing nextmonth in Athens.
Naturalized American Olympians
The Summer Olympic Games will be held in Athens from Augustthirteenth to the twenty-ninth. Ten thousand athletes from more thantwo hundred countries are expected to take part. Some of theathletes on the American team have competed before in the Olympicsas citizens of other countries. Steve Ember tells us about three ofthem.
STEVE EMBER: The United States team is considered to have a goodchance this year to win a medal in table tennis. One reason isthirty-five-year-old Gao Jun.
She won a silver medal in doublescompetition when she represented China at the nineteen-ninety-twoOlympics. After that, she moved to the United States. She became anAmerican citizen. She has been a member of the United StatesNational Team since nineteen-ninety-seven. She competed in thetwo-thousand Olympics in Sydney.
Last year, Gao Jun reached the quarterfinals of the singlescompetition at the world championships in table tennis. She becamethe first American to do so since nineteen-fifty-nine. Now she hasbeen training in China to get ready for the Olympics in Greece.
Another foreign-born American athlete is swimmer LennyKrayzelburg. He came to the United States with his family from theUkrainian city of Odessa. Lenny Krayzelburg became an Americancitizen in nineteen-ninety-five. He won three gold medals in theSydney Games in two-thousand.
Recently, he has suffered shoulder injuries. He can no longercompete in the two-hundred meter backstroke. But he will swim againfor the United States Olympic team this year in the one-hundredmeter race.
A third American athlete from another country is Colleen DeReuck. The forty-year-old runner was born in South Africa. Nextmonth, she will become the oldest American woman to run an Olympicmarathon.
Colleen De Reuck won the Berlin Marathon in nineteen-ninety-sixas a runner for South Africa. She also competed for her home countryat the Olympics in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney. Colleen De Reuckbecame an American citizen in two-thousand-two.
Summer Vacations
DOUG JOHNSON: Our VOA listener question this week comes fromChiba, Japan. Kimitoshi Hiraoka asks where Americans go on theirsummer vacations.
That is an interesting question. Reports tell us that Americanswork more and vacation less than people in other major industrialcountries. Still, millions of Americans do try to get away from homefor a week or two in the summer months. Some might even have thetime and money to spend longer on vacation.
For example, many retiredAmericans can be found driving around the United States in bigrecreational vehicles, known as R.V.’s. These serve as a home awayfrom home. In fact, it might even be their only home as they see thecountry.
Some American families get in their car and drive to historicplaces like Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. There, they canexperience what life was like for early Americans. If that is notexciting enough, also in Williamsburg is a water park and anamusement park with rides.
Other Americans visit national parks like Yellowstone or Yosemiteout in the West. They want to spend time with nature. Or they taketheir vacation by a lake or the ocean. They might swim or fish. Butmany just want to sit and enjoy the feeling of doing nothing, exceptmaybe read a book.
Some families fly to other countries on vacation. Or they go on acruise ship and stop in different ports. Cruise ships are likefloating cities.
But not everyone goes someplace special on vacation. This mightbe the only time for people to work on things like home improvementprojects. And while they do that, they might think of all the funtheir friends are having.
Patti Scialfa
Patti Scialfa [SKAL-fuh] is a member of Bruce Springsteen’s EStreet Band. She is also married to Bruce Springsteen. Since thenineteen-seventies, she has been a singer, songwriter and musicianin her own right. Patti Scialfa has a new album of songs she wrotecalled “Twenty-Third Street Lullaby.” Shep O’Nealhas more.
SHEP O’NEAL: Patti Scialfa is fromthe state of New Jersey. During the nineteen-seventies, sheperformed with several bands in New York City. Her new album,”Twenty-Third Street Lullaby,” recalls the New York City area calledChelsea. This is where she got her start as a singer and songwriter.She says: “You come to the city and you have a chance to find outwho you really are. You test yourself, find yourself and lose piecesof yourself.”
She tells about this in the song “Young in the City.”
(MUSIC)
Patti Scialfa’s new album includes songs about people from herpast – such as a woman named Rose who served meals at an eatingplace.
(MUSIC)
Patti Scialfa says her new album is about acceptance and how youlearn to think about the past in order to express who you are today.She plans to perform by herself for the first time. She will performtwenty concerts starting in September.
We leave you now with the title song from Patti Scialfa’s newalbum, “Twenty-Third Street Lullaby.”
(MUSIC)
DOUG JOHNSON: This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed AMERICANMOSAIC. Join us again next week for VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
This program was written by Shelley Gollust and Nancy Steinbach.Paul Thompson was the producer. And our engineer was Jim Sleeman.