HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play music by Josh Groban…
Answer a listener’s question about how many Americans vote ingeneral elections …
And tell about a former Special English writer who died recently.
Richard Thorman
HOST:
The Voice of America has lost a good friend. Former SpecialEnglish writer, editor and broadcaster Richard Thorman died recentlyat a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He was seventy-seven yearsold. People who listen to VOA Special English programs heard RichardThorman’s work for many years. Mary Tillotson remembers him.
ANNCR:
Richard Thorman was born on LongIsland in the state of New York. He graduated from Williams Collegein Williamstown, Massachusetts and studied literature at ColumbiaUniversity in New York City. During World War Two he served in thearmed forces. For many years he worked as a broadcaster in New YorkState. He joined VOA Special English in nineteen-eighty-four andretired in nineteen-ninety-seven.
During those years, Richard wrote and edited news programs forSpecial English. He wrote about science. He told about the lives ofimportant Americans. Some of his programs described American writerslike Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Heespecially enjoyed writing about fiction writers because he himselfwrote books. Among his works are a novel, “Bachman’s Law” and”Hardly Working”, a collection of short stories.
One of Richard Thorman’s stories was adapted for Special English.”The Stradivarius” told about a man who believed he had an extremelyvaluable violin. Part One of “The Stradivarius” will be broadcastSaturday on the Special English program “American Stories.”
Our listeners came to know Mister Thorman’s speaking voice aswell as his writings. For several years, Richard wrote and read aseries of his comments on the air. “One Man’s Thoughts” told aboutmany subjects. Listen to Richard Thorman as he remembers thehappiest day of his life. It took place in Paris, France, when hewas a young man. He was walking to a hotel to meet friends.
RICHARD THORMAN: “Children played in the public gardens. Oldpeople sat in the park enjoying the afternoon sun. Lovers walkedalong the edge of the River Seine.
“I felt something in my throat that made it hard for me toswallow. Before I could stop myself, I jumped into the air and hitmy heels together. I knew I would be happy again in some otherplaces and at some other times. But it would never, never be exactlylike this.”
Midterm Elections
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. AndercleyRodrigues Santos asks how many Americans vote on Election Day.
That is a good question to answer just a few days after thegeneral election in the United States. General elections are held inthe United States every two years. Americans voted on Tuesday,November fifth in what is known as a midterm election.
Midterm elections are held in the middle of the term of thepresident. President Bush was elected in two-thousand to a four-yearterm in office. The results of midterm elections often show howAmericans feel about the policies of the president and the Congress.The results of the congressional races affect the ability of apresident to govern for the rest of his term.
On Tuesday, Americans voted for members of Congress and state andlocal officials. Voters in thirty-six of the fifty states elected agovernor. Voters elected all four-hundred-thirty-five members of theHouse of Representatives. They also elected thirty-four of theone-hundred members of the Senate.
An independent group, the Committee for the Study of the AmericanElectorate, estimated that seventy-seven-million Americans voted onTuesday. This is only about thirty-nine percent of the voting-agecitizens. Fewer Americans generally vote in midterm elections thanin presidential elections. Fifty-one percent of American voters tookpart in the presidential election in two-thousand.
Americans give several reasons for not voting. Many say they aretoo busy to vote. Others say emergencies prevented them from gettingto the voting place on election day. Still others say they are notinterested in politics. This situation has led some people to saythere should be a law that would require all Americans to vote. Thishas not been seriously considered. But some private organizationsare trying to get more people to vote, especially young people.
One such group is called “Rock the Vote”. It has been working forthe past twelve years to increase the number of young people whovote in elections. “Rock the Vote” has reported some progress. Thegroup’s leaders say that this year they influencedone-hundred-thousand young people to become new American voters.
You can find out the results of the November fifth midtermelection on the Special English program “In the News” on Saturday.
Josh Groban
HOST:
Josh Groban is a young singer who performs classical and popularsongs. His record album has sold more than one-million copies. ShepO’Neal tells us about him.
ANNCR:
Josh Groban is twenty-one yearsold. He lives with his family in Los Angeles, California. He wasdiscovered by a record company official when he performed at theinauguration of California Governor Gray Davis innineteen-ninety-nine. His first recording was a song in the movie”A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” with Lara Fabian. The song is called”For Always.”
(MUSIC)
Josh Groban released his own record album last year. It is called”Josh Groban.” He calls it pop music with classical influences. Hesings songs in English, Italian and Spanish. One of the most popularsongs on the album is this one, “To Where You Are.”
(MUSIC)
Josh Groban sang at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympicsearlier this year in Salt Lake City, Utah. He has appeared on manyAmerican television shows. He is also planning to perform his musicacross the United States. We leave you now with Josh Groban singinganother song from his album. This one is sung in Spanish and iscalled “Alejate” (al-e-HOT-ay).
(MUSIC)
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 andJeri Watson. Our studio engineer was Glen Matlock. And our producerwas Paul Thompson.