HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Bob Cohen. On our program today:
We will announce the names of the winners in our listener survey…
play some music by Eden’s Crush …
answer a question about place names …
and, tell about the world’s highest flying airplane.
Helios Aircraft
HOST:
If you wanted to fly to the very edge of space, how would you doit? Once you got there, how long do you think you could stay? Anaircraft powered by the sun might be able to stay near the edge ofspace for several days or maybe several months. Shep O’Neal hasmore.
ANNCR:
On August Thirteenth, an unusual looking aircraft of ProjectHelios set a new record during a test flight above the Americanstate of Hawaii. It flew higher than any other aircraft in theworld. It reached an altitude oftwenty-nine-thousand-four-hundred-thirteen meters.
The Helios aircraft is an American space agency support projectbuilt by the Aerovironment Company of Monrovia, California. It hasno pilot. It is controlled from the ground by radio. It looks like ahuge wing without a tail. The wing is a little more thanseventy-five meters long. That is longer than the wings on mostlarge passenger airplanes. Fourteen electric motors turn fourteenpropellers. The motors are powered by sixty-six-thousand solar cellsthat make electricity from sunlight.
NASA research scientists say this huge flying wing will have manyuses in the future. They hope that a future Helios aircraft will beable to fly at extreme altitudes for several weeks or months.
These aircraft could serve several purposes. These might includenew and advanced methods of telling what the weather will be. Forexample, Helios could be used to observe the movement of huge oceanstorms. It could fly high above their fierce winds. It could also beused as an advanced method of communications. It might also be usedto observe the environment.
NASA scientists say this kind of aircraft will cost a great dealless than a satellite placed in space. And it will be able to domuch of the same work. Scientists say this kind of aircraft mightalso be used to explore the planet Mars. They say it could fly longdistances through the thin atmosphere and send pictures back toEarth.
Place Names
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes in an e-mail fromLithuania. Ramunas Chomskis asks a question concerning the names ofsome American cities and towns. It seems that many cities have thesame names as those in other parts of the country and the world.
There are several explanations for this. One is that the firstwhite people to settle an area named it after the place where theywere born. For example, the city of Argyle, Minnesota has the samename as a county in western Scotland. A town in the northeasternstate of Maine was also named after the Scottish county. A man namedSolomon Comstock was born in Argyle, Maine, in Eighteen-Forty-Two.He later moved to Minnesota. He proposed that the new town be namedArgyle after the one where he was born.
Some American cities were named after famous cities in othercountries. An example of this is two American towns named Rome.Rome, Georgia was named in Eighteen-Thirty-Four. It was given thatname because it was in a hilly area which was similar to the sevenhills of ancient Rome in Italy.
Rome, New York got its name in Eighteen-Nineteen. History expertssay that many American settlements at that time were named afterancient cities. Perhaps that also explains the naming of Athens,Georgia and Athens, West Virginia for the ancient city of Athens,Greece.
Other American cities are linked by language and geography. Anexample of this is two cities named Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada isfamous for its games of chance and entertainment. It was establishedin Nineteen-Oh-Five. Its name comes from the Spanish words meaning”the meadows.” The city of Las Vegas, New Mexico is older, but notso well known. It was established in Eighteen-Thirty-Five. It wasfirst called “Nuestra Senora de los Dolores de Las Vegas Grandes.”That is Spanish for “Our Lady of the Sorrows of the Great Meadows.”Its name was shortened over the years to “Las Vegas.”
There are many other same-name cities all over the world. We canthink of Moscow, Idaho and Russia… Saint Petersburg, Florida andRussia… Syracuse, New York and Italy… Olympia, Washington andGreece… Odessa, Texas and Ukraine… Rochester, New York andMinnesota… Charleston, South Carolina and West Virginia… Dover,Delaware and New Hampshire…
Eden’s Crush
HOST:
The singing group Eden’s Crush was created by the producers of aweekly television show. The group includes five young women. ShirleyGriffith tells us more.
ANNCR:
Eden’s Crush can be seen on the television series “Popstars.”Every week, that television program shows events that take place asEden’s Crush becomes a successful singing group.
The group’s first album was released in May. It is called”Popstars.” Here is the first hit song from the album. It is called”Get Over Yourself.”
((CUT ONE: “GET OVER YOURSELF”))
The songs on the album were written before the members of thegroup were chosen. The young women had only a few months to learnthe songs and record them before the album’s release date. HereEden’s Crush sings another song from the album, “Love This Way.”
((CUT TWO – “LOVE THIS WAY”))
Eden’s Crush recently completed a tour with the male singinggroup ‘N Sync. They are currently traveling with singer JessicaSimpson. We leave you now with another song by Eden’s Crush. Thisone is called “No Drama.”
((CUT THREE – “NO DRAMA”))
HOST:
This is Bob Cohen. 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.
Special English would like to thank all the people who answeredour recent listener survey. The frequency information you providedhas been very helpful. As promised, three people have been chosen toreceive a short wave radio. They are Latiha Nelson (La-tee-haNelson) in Ethiopia, Pradeep Deb (Pra-deep Dayb) in India, andTetsuo Tanabe (Tet-sue-oh Tana-Bay) in Japan. Congratulations to ourthree winners and thanks again to all Special English listeners whotook part in the survey.
This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Lawan Davis, NancySteinbach and Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Dan Crafton.And our producer was Paul Thompson.