HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today …
We play songs from Alicia Keys …
answer a question about how the American President is protected…
… and, tell about a legal kind of gambling called the lottery.
Lotteries
HOST:
Last month, Americans in twenty-one states and the District ofColumbia were excited about a lottery game called Powerball. It wasworth almost three-hundred-million dollars. People in four stateswere winners and shared the money. Powerball is only one of manylotteries in the world. Shep O’Neal has more.
ANNCR:
The North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteriessays people have been taking part in such games of chance forthousands of years. For example, it says these games were played inancient China as a way to pay for building the Great Wall.
Experts say the word “lottery” comes from the Italian word”lotto”, meaning a force or power that decides what will happen inthe future. Lotteries were held in Italy almost five-hundred yearsago. In Fifteen-Fifteen, Italians picked names to choose who wouldbe elected to the Senate in Genoa. In Fifteen-Thirty, the city ofFlorence held a number lottery with money as prizes.
In the Seventeen-Hundreds, many lotteries were held in theAmerican colonies. Some were used to pay for weapons for theRevolutionary War. Later, lotteries were used to get money forbuilding projects. In the Eighteen-Twenties, people created illegallotteries. State governments considered banning them. ByEighteen-Seventy-Eight, all states but Louisiana had done so.
In Nineteen-Sixty-Four, New Hampshire created the first legalAmerican state lottery in the twentieth century. It was linked tohorse races so it would not violate the anti-lottery laws. Otherstates started lotteries about five years later. Lotteries that wereheld in several states at the same time began inNineteen-Ninety-Six.
The money earned from selling state lottery tickets is used toimprove state government services. For example, Arizona statelottery earnings help pay for education, health, protection andlocal transportation. In a lottery like Powerball, fifty cents ofevery ticket sold goes to the state lotteries that take part in thegame.
Thirty-seven states and the District of Colombia operatelotteries in the United States. There are more than one-hundredlotteries around the world. Some countries have national lotteries.The International Association of State Lotteries lists sixty-threemembers, one on every continent except Antarctica.
The Secret Service
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Hoang PhiHung asks about protection for the American President and formerPresidents.
The agency that protects these important people is the SecretService. Congress created it in Eighteen-Sixty-Five, but its job wasnot protection. The Secret Service was created as part of theDepartment of the Treasury to stop the copying of American money.The Secret Service still does this job today.
However, its main job is to protect the President, his family andother government officials. The Secret Service began protecting thePresident in Nineteen-Oh-One, after the murder of President WilliamMcKinley.
The responsibilities of the Secret Service have expanded greatlysince that time. Secret Service agents examine the President’s food,surroundings and travel plans. When the President travels, SecretService agents arrive before he does. They make sure all areas hewill visit are safe.
The Secret Service also protects the Vice President and hisfamily. Agents also protect presidential and vice presidentialcandidates, those elected to those offices and their families.Former Presidents and their wives are also protected by the SecretService, as are their children under the age of sixteen. AllPresidents elected before Nineteen-Ninety-Seven are protected forthe rest of their lives. Presidents elected after that year areprotected for not more than ten years from the date they leaveoffice.
About five-thousand people work for the Secret Service in officesthroughout the country and the world. More than two-thousand specialagents protect officials and investigate crimes. Morethan-one-thousand others provide security at the White House, theVice President’s house and other buildings in which the Presidenthas offices.
The Secret Service sometimes carries out temporary protectiveduties. For example, it has provided security for historic documentssuch as the Declaration of Independence. And it protects foreignleaders who visit the United States.
Alicia Keys
HOST:
A young singer’s first album became the number one recording inthe United States the day it was released. It has stayed at the topof the most popular music lists for eight weeks. And it has soldmore than two-million copies. That is very unusual. But then,everything about Alicia Keys is unusual. Shirley Griffith has more.
ANNCR:
The first thing to know about Alicia Keys is that she is onlytwenty years old. She sings and plays the piano and most of theother instruments on her new album. It is called “Songs in A Minor.”She wrote the words and music for most of the songs. And she was theproducer and music arranger for most of the songs.
Alicia Keys’ recordings sound a little like traditional rhythmand blues. They also have a strong jazz influence. Mizz Keys uses apiano in most of the songs. That is a little unusual for this kindof music. Her many talents can be heard on the most popular song onher album. It is called “Fallin.'”
(((CUT ONE: FALLIN’ )))
Alicia Keys was trained as a classical musician. You can hearthis in the first song on her album. It is called “Piano and I.” Sheborrowed some of the music from Ludwig van Beethoven.
((CUT TWO: “PIANO AND I” ))
Alicia Keys is not really new to the music business. She has beena serious music student since she was five years old. Critics sayshe should have a long successful career ahead of her. We leave youwith another recording from “Songs in A Minor” by Alicia Keys. Thisone is called “Rock Wit U.”
((CUT THREE: “ROCK WIT U”))
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 andPaul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. And our producerwas Paul Thompson.