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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in SpecialEnglish.
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This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We answer a listener’s question about rainbows …
Play music by singer Kelly Clarkson …
And report about a popular American television show.
Trading Spaces
HOST:
Would you like to re-design a room in a friend’s house? Paint thewalls, build new furniture and maybe work on an art project or two?Would you like to do so even if you knew your friend was changing aroom in your house too? That is what happens on a very popularAmerican television show called “Trading Spaces.” Phoebe Zimmermanntells about it.
ANNCR:
On a recent show, one homeowner jumped on the friend who haschanged her living room. As they both fell to the floor, thehomeowner yelled that she hates the color brown. That is the colorher friend painted on the walls.
Such actions by homeowners on “Trading Spaces” are not unusual.Some people cry, some laugh and some get angry about the changesmade to their homes.
“Trading Spaces” is in its third season on the cable televisionnetwork TLC. American producers took the idea for the show from aBritish program called “Changing Rooms.”
The show works with two teams of homeowners whose houses are verynear each other. The homeowners move into each other’s homes for twodays. The homeowners work with one of the eight “Trading Spaces”designers. They all have very different ideas about home design.
Each team is given one-thousand dollars to spend on the room. Andthey share the help of a carpenter who can build things.
The host of the show is stage performer Paige Davis. She makessure everybody follows the rules. Both rooms must be completed bythe end of the second day. Sometimes the homeowners are forced towork all night to finish the room. Mizz Davis also makes sure thedesigners do not spend more than their budget.
And, Paige Davis often has to play the judge when disputes arisebetween designers and homeowners. And, the arguing can get prettyintense! Listen:
VOICE ONE:
“Are you sure we can’t think of something else? ‘Cause I justthink the girls really were against animal print. And I know it wasnot intended to be animal print.
VOICE TWO:
“It is not an animal print!”
VOICE ONE:
“I know it’s Gottlieb! And, I love you, but I just … I cannotappreciate Gottlieb!”
Sometimes the design results are beautiful. Sometimes they arehorrible. But the show is always surprising. This may be a reasonfor its popularity. The show has about fifteen-million viewers eachweek.
The television network TLC has released a book about the showthat is selling very well. And it produced two videos of oldprograms for viewers who can not wait to see the shows again.
Rainbows
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from China. Liu askshow a rainbow is formed. Is its perfect circle shaped by the air orsunlight?
A rainbow is a circle of colorsthat appears in the sky when sunlight shines on raindrops. Thesunlight and water work together to form rainbows. Think of sunlightflowing out in many lines, called rays. The rays are an equaldistance from each other.
The light energy of the rays acts similar to waves. The lightwaves have different lengths. Sunlight is made up of several wavelengths. People see the mix of lengths as what is called whitelight.
But things change when a ray of white light hits a raindrop. Thatis when the colors that make up white light slow to differentspeeds. The light bends as it enters the raindrop. Shorterwavelengths bend more sharply. This bending separates the whitelight into colors, each color weakening as it moves into the nextcolor. The light rays turn or bend again when they come out of theraindrop. This continuous bending through an area of raindrops iswhat makes the rainbow a perfect circle.
You will not always see a rainbow when it rains while the sunshines. The sun must be in the right position over the horizon. Andremember to turn your back to the sun when you look toward the sky.A rainbow will never appear in the path between you and the sun.
If you are on the ground, you will only see a part of therainbow. This is because the earth blocks the rest of the circle.You can see the whole circle if you are flying high in a plane whena rainbow happens. The shadow of the plane would be in the center.
Rainbows hold an important place in the traditional stories andbeliefs that make up many cultures. For example, in ancient Greekstories, Iris was the goddess of the rainbow. She would travel overrainbows to carry messages from the gods to humans. Other culturessay the rainbow represents a bridge between life and death. Stillothers see the rainbow as a sign of good things to come.
And, there is always the rainbow’s famous “pot of gold.” Thatancient European story says if you can travel to the end of therainbow, you will find gold there. But, of course, that isimpossible! The rainbow is for our eyes only!
Kelly Clarkson
HOST:
Another popular television show inthe United States today is called “American Idol.” It is a search tofind the best new singers. The winner last year recently releasedher first album. Kelly Clarkson’s record “Thankful” quickly becamethe most popular in the country. Shep O’Neal tells us about her andplays some of her songs.
ANNCR:
Kelly Clarkson is twenty years old. She grew up in the westernstate of Texas dreaming of becoming a professional singer. She heardabout a new show where non-professional singers compete for a chanceat a recording agreement. She sang for “American Idol” and got onthe show. Listen now to the voice that won her that chance. Here shesings “A Moment Like This.”
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Kelly Clarkson then sang before millions of television viewersevery week and was judged on her singing ability. She won thecompetition. She also won many fans who are buying her record inlarge numbers.
Here is a song she sings with another “American Idol” competitor,Tamyra Gray. The good friends perform “You Thought Wrong.”
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Kelly Clarkson wrote “You Thought Wrong” and several other songson the album. We leave you now with a song that probably expresseshow Kelly Clarkson has been feeling lately. It is called “Thankful.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. Writeus with your questions about American life. We will try to answerthem on future programs. Listeners whose questions are chosen willreceive a gift.
Write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C.two-zero-two-three-seven, USA. Or send e-mail to mosaic@voanews.com. Pleaseinclude your name and mailing address.
Our program was written and produced by Caty Weaver. Our studioengineer was Rick Barnes. Join us again next week for AMERICANMOSAIC — VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.