VOICE ONE:
Chicago, Illinois, is a major center of business and the arts.Almost three-million people of many races and ethnic groups live inthis middle western city. I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Sarah Long. Today we visit the city with the thirdlargest population in the United States on our VOA Special Englishprogram, THIS IS AMERICA.
((INSTEAD OF THEME, “CHICAGO”))
VOICE ONE:
Steel factories and tall oil storage containers are part of theChicago skyline. Hills of iron and limestone lie along many roads,looking like small mountains. Huge containers of grain appear toreach for the clouds. Smoke rises from many factories.
Chicago, however, offers much more than heavy industry. It isalso a center of music, art, theater and museums. It has hundreds ofchurches, temples, mosques and other religious centers. The city’smany parks offer rest, games and sports among crowded business andliving areas.
People of many races and ethnic groups have settled in Chicago.Some people say that more Polish people live in the city than inWarsaw. Germans, Irish, Italians, Ukrainians, Slovaks and Russianslive in the city. So do Pakistanis, Indians, Afghanis , Chinese andKoreans. An increasing number of people from Spanish-speakingcountries have moved to Chicago in recent years.
VOICE TWO:
Chicago extends about forty kilometers along the southwest shoresof Lake Michigan. The lake is the largest body of fresh water in theUnited States. Some of the city’s most valuable property lies alongthe lake. In some areas tall buildings of metal and glass seem togrow along shore.
Historians believe American Indians lived around the lakefive-thousand years ago. Explorers probably reached the area duringthe Sixteen-Hundreds. A black trader named Jean Baptiste Point duSable established a trading center along the Chicago River in thelate Seventeen-Hundreds. This business became the center of apermanent settlement of the city. By Eighteen-Seventy-One, hundredsof thousands of people had settled in Chicago.
VOICE ONE:
In October, Eighteen-Seventy-One, the Great Chicago Fire almostcompletely destroyed the city. The fire spread quickly and burnedfor twenty-four hours. Thousands of people fled into Lake Michigan.At least three-hundred died. Chicago was left in ashes.
The city soon rose from the ashes. Chicago continued to grow. Itnow covers more than five-hundred-ninety square kilometers of land.
((SFX: BOAT NOISES))
VOICE TWO:
Chicago is one of America’s busiest ports. It became a seaportwhen the Saint Lawrence Seaway opened in Nineteen-Fifty-Nine. Thisseaway links the Great Lakes and the Atlantic waterway.
The lake provides millions of dollars worth of trade andbusiness. It also provides fun. People fish, swim, water-ski andsail in Lake Michigan. During the warm seasons the sails of smallboats look like tiny clouds against the blue water.
The roads along Lake Michigan lead to some of Chicago’s mostinteresting places and events. Visitors can follow the edge of thelake to visit the city.
VOICE ONE:
The Museum of Science and Industry seems a good place to start.This huge white building is along the lake in Jackson Park, on thesouth side of Chicago.
Two exhibits in the museum are extremely unusual. One is a coalmine, about one-hundred-eighty meters under the building. Itdemonstrates the mining process
Visitors to the mine learn about mining methods inNineteen-Thirty-Three and in modern times. A museum official saysworking conditions have improved. But a trip to the mine makes itclear that the life of a coal miner still is difficult.
The elevator that carries people down into the mine looks like ananimal cage. Dark spaces cut out of real coal lie at the bottom. Aguide demonstrates the machines that cut the coal. She also showsseveral devices that miners have used over the years to protectagainst methane gas. This dangerous gas has caused many deadly mineaccidents.
VOICE TWO:
The Museum of Science and Industry also has a German U-boat. Thissubmarine was captured during World War Two. People wait in longlines to walk through the captured submarine, the U-Five-Oh-Five.Sixty German sailors crowded into this extremely hot, noisy underseaboat during World War Two. The fighting ended for the U-Five-Oh-Fivecrew on a hot afternoon in June, Nineteen-Forty-Four.
The boat was near the coast of French West Africa when the UnitedStates Navy ship Guadalcanal seized it. The Americans did not knowwhether the submarine would explode. A young man from the Chicagoarea was among the first to enter U-Five-Oh-Five. This was the onlytime since Eighteen-Fifteen that the American Navy has captured anenemy warship at sea.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE ONE:
Further north along the lake is Grant Park. This area has severalpoints of interest. One is the Field Museum of Natural History. Ittells about prehistoric people and animals. It shows the mostcomplete set of bones of a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur in the world.Nearby is the John G. Shedd Aquarium. It has more thanseven-thousand fish and other water animals.
A short distance from the museum and aquarium is the AdlerPlanetarium and Astronomy Museum. Visitors can see the night skiesin the planetarium theater. They say “oooh” as the theater darkensand the stars and planets light up above their heads.
VOICE TWO:
Two lion statues await visitors on the steps of the Art Instituteof Chicago, also on the lakefront in Grant Park. The lions seem toinvite people to see the many permanent collections inside. Artexperts especially praise the exhibit of Chinese, Japanese andKorean art. Some of these sculptures and other objects were madethousands of years ago.
Officials of the Art Institute of Chicago also plan temporaryexhibits. For example, works of Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Goghare being shown until January. The exhibit examines their privatelives as well their art.
((MUSIC BRIDGE ))
VOICE ONE:
Thousands of people recently listened to classical music underthe stars in Grant Park. People in the Petrillo Band Shell heardmusic including “The Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky. Suchprograms are free. So are Chicago Jazz Festival programs. This worldfamous concert series takes place each year. Dave Brubeck, the GregOsby Quartet and the Salty Dogs were among the most recentperformers.
Hundreds of other festivals are held in Chicago each year. Theseevents take place at all seasons. Some are musical events, like thejazz festival. Others are ethnic or artistic celebrations.
VOICE TWO:
One of the largest yearly festivals is called “Rock the River.”It takes place in late summer. Most of its events are held onMichigan Avenue, on the Chicago River near the lake. Visitors to themost recent festival heard rock music and watched Irish dancing.They ate Chinese food and watched Chinese boats race on the river.
The Chicago River is unusual. It has flowed backwards for morethan a century. In Nineteen-Hundred, engineers changed its naturalflow. They did this to prevent wastes from getting into LakeMichigan. The lake supplies the city’s water.
((BRIDGE MUSIC))
VOICE ONE:
Visitors to Chicago usually enjoy walking down Michigan Avenue.This street has some of the city’s best known stores, hotels andbusinesses. People also can walk a short distance west from theavenue to see other major sights of the city.
The central downtown area of Chicago is called the Loop. TheChicago Transit Authority offers free tours of the Loop on itstrains. The name “Loop” comes from the way these trains travel. Theyoperate above the ground in a shape that is partly a circle, or aloop.
The trains stop at LaSalle Street, Chicago’s financial center.That area contains the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board ofTrade and large banks. In the Bank One Plaza, people like to restbeside walls of colorful works by artist Marc Chagall.
VOICE TWO:
Chicago also has a sculpture by artist Pablo Picasso. The steelstructure stands in the government center. The center is calledRichard J. Daley Plaza. The name honors the nationally knownpolitician who served as the city’s mayor for more than twentyyears.
Richard J. Daley died in Nineteen-Seventy-Six. One of MayorDaley’s sons has carried on the family tradition. Richard M. Daleyis now mayor of Chicago.
The Picasso sculpture in the Rihard J. Daley plaza standseighteen meters tall. It weighs many tons. It looks huge. Still,perhaps it is just the right size for Chicago, a city of so manypeople and so many strengths.
(THEME))
VOICE ONE:
This VOA Special English program was written by Jerilyn Watson.I’m Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Sarah Long. Join us again next week for another reportabout life in the United States on the VOA Special English program,THIS IS AMERICA.