(THEME)
HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our show this week: music by singer andsongwriter Jen Chapin. We answer a question about a famousastronaut. And, we report about some wild creatures of the sportsworld…
(THEME)
Sports Mascots
HOST:
The calendar says April, but March Madness continues in theUnited States. March Madness is the name for the yearly championshipseries in college basketball. And as the teams play, some strangelooking creatures perform for the crowds. Gwen Outen explains.
ANNCR:
A diamondback turtle larger than a man runs across the basketballcourt. Really, a man dressed as a turtle. He is not one of theplayers. He is Testudo, the official mascot of the Terrapins, theteam from the University of Maryland.
A terrapin is a kind of turtle.There is a saying at the University of Maryland: “Fear the turtle.”But basketball supporters love Testudo.
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines mascot as aperson, animal or object used to represent a group, especially tobring good luck. The word dates back centuries to masca, Latin forwitch.
Many schools have mascots. For example, teams at PennsylvaniaState University are called the Nittany Lions. Crowds try to makethe sound of a mountain lion roar when the Nittany Lion mascotappears.
People get very attached to their mascots. Consider the case ofWestern Kentucky University. The school in Bowling Green, Kentucky,is taking international legal action to protect its mascot. Itsmascot is a red, roundish creature called Big Red. It looks verymuch like a red, roundish creature called Gabibbo. Gabibbo appearson a television comedy in Italy. The university says the Italianmedia company that owns the show stole the idea.
That company, Mediaset, denies any wrongdoing. Italian PrimeMinister Silvio Berlusconi owns Mediaset. Western Kentucky wantstwo-hundred-fifty-million dollars for the use of Gabibbo — or BigRed as the school sees it.
Neil Armstrong
HOST:
Our listener question this weekcomes from Vietnam. Nguyen Trong Tuyen wants to know about theAmerican astronaut Neil Armstrong and the famous words he spoke innineteen-sixty-nine.
Neil Alden Armstrong was born in nineteen-thirty in Wapakoneta,Ohio. He became interested in flying when he was a young boy. He hadhis first airplane ride when he was six years old although he told areporter he had no memory of it. Ten years later, Neil had learnedto fly a plane and got his first pilot’s license. After high school,Neil joined the Navy and was accepted in a special program that paidfor his college education. He went to Purdue University in Indiana.It had a strong flight engineering program. However, the start ofthe Korean War delayed his studies there. He fought in Korea andreturned to complete his studies at Purdue after the war ended innineteen-fifty-two.
Neil Armstrong was working as a test pilot when the Americanspace agency chose him to become an astronaut. His first trip tospace was with the Gemini program in nineteen-sixty-six. Three yearslater he was named commander of the Apollo Eleven flight. This wasthe first attempt to land humans on the moon. Apollo Eleven leftEarth on July sixteenth, nineteen-sixty-nine.
A few days later, hundreds of millions of people around the worldwatched or listened to the Apollo Eleven landing on the moon. OnJuly twentieth, the door of the lunar module Eagle opened. There wasNeil Armstrong with astronaut Buzz Aldrin behind him. Neil Armstrongstepped on to the moon. Here is what he said:
(SOUND)
Neil Armstrong later served as a NASA official, a collegeprofessor, a writer and speaker. He is considered an American heroof flight. In two-thousand-one, Neil Armstrong spoke with historiansas part of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. One ofthe reporters asked Mister Armstrong if he would like to return tospace. He answered, with a laugh, that he would like to lead amission to Mars. Neil Armstrong will be seventy-four in August.
Jen Chapin
HOST:
Jen Chapin is a singer and songwriter from New York City. Shereleased her first album on a national record label in February.Shep O’Neal tells about the musician and plays some of the songsfrom her album, called “Linger.”
ANNCR:
Jazz Times magazine has called Jen Chapin an excellent storyteller. Her songs discuss many different issues. They includepolitical activism, the music business, and the busy but meaninglesslives some people lead. But, of course, a number of songs also talkabout love, like this one called “Me Be Me.”
(MUSIC)
Jen Chapin is a political and social activist as well as amusician. In this way she follows in the footsteps of her latefather, singer and songwriter Harry Chapin. Jen Chapin is head ofthe board of directors of the non-profit group her father helpedestablish in the nineteen-seventies. World Hunger Year works to endhunger mainly through community-based solutions.
One of Jen Chapin’s songs seems like an appeal for political andsocial activism. Here is “Passive People.”
(MUSIC)
Jen Chapin says she loves New York City and feels linked to itspeople. But she also says she sometimes desires a quieter life. Weleave you now with the first song on “Linger.” It is called “LittleHours.”
(MUSIC)
HOST:
This is Doug Johnson.
Our program was written by Caty Weaver. Paul Thompson was ourproducer. And our recording engineer was Audreus Regis.
I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week forVOA’s radio magazine in Special English.