HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC – VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play some electric guitar music …
tell about an unusual baseball season …
and report about the new popularity of the American flag.
The American Flag
HOST:
Millions of Americans have been flying their national flag sincethe terrorist attacks in the United States last month. They aredoing so to support their country and remember the victims of theattacks. Shirley Griffith tells us about it.
ANNCR:
Manufacturers of American flags have been working many additionalhours lately. Workers in factories from China to the American stateof Florida are trying to make enough flags to satisfy Americanpublic demand. Record numbers of people in the United States arebuying the red, white and blue flags. Sales have increased by atleast two-hundred percent since the terrorist attacks on SeptemberEleventh.
In the past, many Americans only flew the flag outside theirhomes on national holidays, like the Fourth of July and MemorialDay.
Now, people are flying these flags everywhere. Americans haveplaced the flags on trucks, cars, boats and bicycles. They have hungthe flags from office buildings, homes and stores. Flags are wavingover theaters, concert halls, private clubs and hotels.
Some Americans were surprised to learn that there are lawsgoverning the flag. For example, it should not be flown at nightunless it is lighted. The flag should not hang outside in badweather unless it is made of protective material. It should never beworn on clothes.
After the terrorist attacks, President Bush ordered the Americanflag flown at half-staff. This meant that flags on poles were flyingat half the distance to the top. This position is a sign ofmourning.
The American flag has a long and interesting history. Americabegan as thirteen British colonies. Each colony had its own flag.However, the American colonists fought under a common flag duringthe Revolutionary War against Britain. It had thirteen red and whitestripes to represent the thirteen colonies. A blue square area inthe upper left corner contained the British flag. The currentAmerican flag still has the stripes. Fifty white stars in the bluearea now represent the fifty states in the union.
Recently, sixty graduates of the United States Naval Academyhonored those killed and injured in the terrorist attacks in anunusual way. They formed teams of runners. They carried an Americanflag about three-hundred-sixty kilometers from Washington, D-C, toNew York City. They carried the American flag from the Pentagon tothe ruins of the World Trade Center.
A Record Baseball Season
HOST:
The North American professional baseball season ended on Sunday.Perhaps no other sport has deeper roots in American life thanbaseball. Famous players are as well-known to Americans as thecountry’s great scientists, writers and political leaders.
Ray Freeman has more about a most unusual baseball season.
ANNCR:
Millions of people have been following Major League Baseballsince the first games played in early April. Yet this year will beremembered for being far different from all others.
The terrorist attacks on September eleventh delayed the end ofthe baseball season. After the attacks, Major League officialspostponed all games for one week. The postponed games were added tothe end of the normal season.
This baseball season will be remembered for the many records set.Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants set a record for the mosthome runs in a season. He hit seventy-three home runs this year. Theold record was seventy home runs, set by Mark McGwire three yearsago.
Bonds became the oldest player to lead Major League baseball inhome runs. He is thirty-seven years old. Bonds also set a record forthe most walks in a season. He reached first base without a hit moretimes than any other player.
Rickey Henderson of the San Diego Padres also was busy settingrecords this year. In April, he established a record for totalnumber of walks by a player. He also set a record for the most runs.Also, on Sunday, Henderson made his three-thousandth hit. That isnot a record. But only twenty-five other players have had that manyhits.
Two of those players retired at the end of the season. Tony Gwynnplayed his final game Sunday after twenty years with the San DiegoPadres. Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles also retired. For morethan seventeen years, Ripken played in every Orioles’ game. Thatalso is a record.
Baseball is a game of records. However, many Americans began tore-think the importance of it and other sports after the terroristattacks. The baseball season ended on the day that American andBritish forces attacked targets in Afghanistan.
Major League Baseball’s top teams are now competing for the rightto play in the World Series. The first team to win four Series gameswill be the new champion of North American baseball.
Electric Guitars
HOST:
Our listener question this week comes from Iran. BehrouzKhashayar asks about the history of electric guitars and the mostfamous electric guitar player.
No one really knows who first decided to link electricity with aguitar. Most reports say this took place in the lateNineteen-Thirties or early Nineteen-Forties.
However, one man did a great deal to make the electric guitarpopular. His name was Les Paul. He was the most popular guitarist inthe Nineteen-Fifties. Les Paul also helped invent several differentdevices used with electric guitars. The most famous of these was aguitar that had a solid wood body. The Gibson Guitar Company latermade these guitars.
Listen to Les Paul with his Gibson Guitar play a song he madepopular. It is called “Meet Mister Callaghan.”
((CUT ONE: “MEET MISTER CALLAGHAN”))
There are too many great guitarists today to even guess who mightbe the best. There are great country and western guitarists, bluesguitarists, and rock music guitarists.
However, most people would agree that blues artist B-B King isone of the top electric guitar players today. His music is famousaround the world. So is his guitar, named Lucille. B-B King’s famousguitar is made by the same Gibson Company that made Les Paul’selectric guitars. We leave you with one of B-B King’s most famoussongs, “The Thrill is Gone.”
((CUT TWO: “THE THRILL IS GONE”))
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.
Remember to write us with your questions about American life. Wewill try to answer them on future programs. Listeners whosequestions are chosen will receive a Random House Webster’s CollegeDictionary.
Send your questions to American Mosaic, Special English, Voice ofAmerica, Washington, D.C. two-zero-two-three-seven, USA. Or use acomputer to e-mail your question to “Mosaic at V-O-A news dot com”.Please include your name and postal address. This AMERICAN MOSAICprogram was written by George Grow, Paul Thompson and JerilynWatson. Our studio engineer was Tom Verba. And our producer was CatyWeaver.