These Modern Structures Are Wonders of the World (Third of Three Parts)
We visit the Suez and Panama canals, the Chunnel and the Three Gorges Dam. Transcript of radio broadcast: 15 January 2008
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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today, we finish our series of programs about the Wonders of the World. In earlier programs, we told about ancient structures and beautiful natural places. Today we tell about modern structures that are Wonders of the World.
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VOICE ONE:
Any list of modern wonders should include some of the buildings in the great cities of the world. An example in New York City is the Empire State Building. For many years, it was the tallest building in the world. Today, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia are taller.
These buildings are important to any list. However, the modern wonders we have selected have changed history. They are important because they made life safer or easier or were useful to a great number of people. We begin with two similar structures in two very different parts of the world.
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VOICE TWO:
The Suez Canal
More than three thousand years ago, an ancient king of Egypt ordered that a river be built to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. This kind of man-made river is called a canal.
Ancient evidence shows the work was done and a canal was built. Experts believe it was possible for small boats of that time to travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Some evidence shows the Nile River may have been used for part of the canal. However, the ancient people of Egypt did not keep this canal in use. As years passed, the sands of the great deserts of Egypt closed the small canal.
As the centuries passed, many people thought it would be a good idea to rebuild the canal. The problem was the huge cost. But the cost could not be compared to the cost of a ship that had to sail from ports on the Atlantic Ocean to ports in Asia. Ships had to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, the most southern part of the continent of Africa.
VOICE ONE:
A French engineer planned and directed the modern canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. His name was Ferdinand de Lesseps. Egyptian workers began building the canal in eighteen fifty-nine.
It was opened and named the Suez Canal during a ceremony on November seventeenth, eighteen sixty-nine. The Suez Canal is about one hundred sixty-three kilometers long and about sixty meters wide.
The Suez Canal has been closed several times because of war or political problems. Today, the Suez Canal is still important. Ships pay money to use the canal. That money is important to the economy of Egypt. The canal saves shipping companies a great deal of time and money because it is the fastest crossing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
VOICE TWO:
The Panama CanalOur next Modern Wonder of the World is also a canal -- the Panama Canal. It connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean. Before it was built, ships often had to spend several weeks traveling around Cape Horn at the end of South America. Many ships were lost in great storms in that dangerous area.
Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa and his men were the first Europeans to travel through the thick jungles in Panama from the Atlantic Coast to the Pacific Coast. That was in fifteen thirteen. Panama quickly became a major shipping area for the Spanish. Their ships from the colonies in the Western Hemisphere and from Asia brought treasure to the Pacific Coast. The treasure was taken overland to the city of Portobelo on the Atlantic Side.
The idea of building a way to connect the two great oceans began with the Spanish explorers. They saw the need for a canal to speed up delivery of their cargo. However, it was impossible to build. The machines needed to build something as big as a canal did not exist.
VOICE ONE:
In eighteen seventy-nine, a French Company tried to build a canal across Panama. It failed. The company did not have enough money to complete the project. Also, thousands of men working on the project died of the disease Yellow Fever.
In nineteen hundred, an American army doctor, Walter Reed, and his research team discovered that mosquito insects carried the virus that caused Yellow Fever. They worked on methods to destroy the mosquito population.
This development helped make possible an American effort to build the Panama Canal. Panama and the United States signed treaties in nineteen-oh-three and work began on the canal. More than eighty thousand men worked on the huge effort. They made a canal about eighty kilometers long from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
On August fifteenth, nineteen fourteen, the ship S.S. Ancon became the first ship to sail through the new canal. Today, about thirteen thousand ships pass through the canal each year. That number represents about five percent of the world’s trade. Both the Suez and the Panama Canals are truly modern Wonders of the World. Both make it possible to safely move from one great ocean to another. And, both save huge amounts of time and money.
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VOICE TWO:
The two great canals we have discussed connect oceans. Our next great Wonder of the World connects land.
A train enters the Eurotunnel on the French side
This connecting device is called the Channel Tunnel, or “Chunnel.” It connects the island that is Britain with France. It was one of the largest and most difficult construction projects ever attempted. It is a three-tunnel railroad from Calais, France to Folkestone, England. The tunnels are fifty kilometers long. They were built about forty-five meters below the earth under the English Channel. Two of the tunnels carry trains and one is used for repair work and emergencies.
VOICE ONE:
The idea of a tunnel connecting Britain with other nations of Europe was first proposed to the French Emperor Napoleon in the early eighteen hundreds. However it was never a serious idea. The technology to make such a tunnel did not exist. But people dreamed of such a tunnel. Crossing the English Channel by ship was often a terrible trip because of storms.
Three serious attempts were made to build the tunnel. The first two failed. Political differences between France and Britain stopped the first attempt. Financial problems stopped the second.
VOICE TWO:
The third and successful attempt to build the Chunnel began in nineteen eighty-seven after France and Britain signed an agreement. It took seven years to finish the work. To complete the tunnels, construction workers had to move more than seventeen million tons of earth. The cost was more than thirteen thousand million dollars. The Chunnel opened in nineteen ninety-four.
Today, the Chunnel is very busy. High-speed trains carry cars, trucks and passengers from Britain to France and back again. The trains are famous for their smooth, quiet ride. The money paid for the trip is slowly paying for the huge cost.
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VOICE ONE:
Our last modern Wonder of the World has not yet been completed. It is perhaps the largest construction project ever attempted. It is the Three Gorges Dam Project in China’s Hubei Province. Some experts say it is the largest attempted construction project since the ancient Chinese built the Great Wall of China.
The Three Gorges Dam in December 2004The Three Gorges Dam is being built to produce power and control China’s Yangtze River. The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world. It is famous for the terrible floods it has caused. Some reports say more than one million people have been killed in Yangtze floods in the past one hundred years.
VOICE TWO:
The Three Gorges Dam will not be finished until two thousand nine. Work began in nineteen ninety-three. About two hundred fifty thousand workers are involved in the project. Experts say the huge dam will cost about twenty-five thousand million dollars. When finished it will be about one hundred eighty-one meters high.
The dam will create a huge lake about six hundred thirty-two square kilometers. Some critics say the dam will harm the environment and damage historical areas. More than one million people will have to be resettled before the dam is finished. The completed dam will produce large amounts of electric power. Chinese government officials say it will lead to increased economic development in cities near the dam. And China says the terrible floods caused by the Yangtze will be memories of the past.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.

Going the Distance, Coast to Coast and Border to Border, on America's Highways
A history of road building in the United States, including the Interstate Highway System, launched by an act of Congress. Transcript of radio broadcast: 14 October 2007
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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. On June twenty-ninth, nineteen fifty-six, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public works bill. The act of Congress provided federal aid to build the Interstate Highway System.
I'm Steve Ember. Today Sarah Long and I present a brief history of road building and how it changed America.
National Highway System(MUSIC)
America's national road system makes it possible to drive coast to coast. From the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west is a distance of more than four thousand kilometers. Or you could drive more than two thousand kilometers and go from the Canadian border south to the Mexican border.
VOICE TWO:
You can drive these distances on wide, safe roads that have no traffic signals and no stop signs. In fact, if you did not have to stop for gasoline or sleep, you could drive almost anywhere in the United States without stopping at all.
This is possible because of the Interstate Highway System. This system has almost seventy thousand kilometers of roads. It crosses more than fifty-five thousand bridges and can be found in forty-nine of America’s fifty states.
The Interstate Highway System is usually two roads, one in each direction, separated by an area that is planted with grass and trees. Each road holds two lines of cars that can travel at speeds between one hundred and one hundred twenty kilometers an hour. The Interstate Highway System is only a small part of the huge system of roads in the United States.
VOICE ONE:
To understand the Interstate Highway System, it is helpful to understand the history of roads. Roads in most countries were first built to permit armies to travel from one part of the country to another to fight against an invader.
The ancient Romans build roads over most of Europe to permit their armies to move quickly from one place to another. People who traded goods began using these roads for business. Good roads helped them to move their goods faster from one area to another.
No roads existed when early settlers arrived in the area of North America that would become the United States. Most settlers built their homes near the ocean or along major rivers. This made transportation easy. A few early roads were built near some cities. Travel on land was often difficult because there was no road system in most areas.
VOICE TWO:
In seventeen eighty-five, farmers in the Ohio River Valley used rivers to take cut trees to the southern city of New Orleans. It was easier to walk or ride a horse home than to try to go by boat up the river.
One of the first roads was built to help these farmers return home after they sold their wood. It began as nothing more than a path used by Native Americans. American soldiers helped make this path into an early road. The new road extended from the city of Nashville, in Tennessee to the city of Natchez in the southern state of Louisiana. It was called the Natchez Trace.
You can still follow about seven hundred kilometers of the Natchez Trace. Today, the road is a beautiful National Park. It takes the traveler though forests that look much the same as they did two hundred years ago. You can still see a few of the buildings in which early travelers slept overnight.
VOICE ONE:
The Natchez Trace was called a road. Yet it was not what we understand a road to be. It was just a cleared path through the forest. It was used by people walking, or riding a horse or in a wagon pulled by horses.
In eighteen-oh-six, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation that approved money for building a road to make it easier to travel west. Work began on the first part of the road in Cumberland in the eastern state of Maryland. When finished, the road reached all the way to the city of Saint Louis in what would become the middle western state of Missouri. It was named the National Road.
The National Road was similar to the Natchez Trace. It followed a path made by American Indians. Work began in eighteen eleven. It was not finished until about eighteen thirty-three. The National Road was used by thousands of people who moved toward the west. These people paid money to use the road. This money was used to repair the road.
Now, the old National Road is part of United States Highway Forty. By the nineteen twenties, Highway Forty stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. You can still see signs that say "National Road" along the side of parts of it. Several statues were placed along this road to honor the women who moved west over the National Road in the eighteen hundreds.
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VOICE TWO:
In nineteen hundred, it still was difficult to travel by road. Nothing extended from the eastern United States to the extreme western part of the country.
Several people wanted to see a road built all the way across the country. Carl Fisher was a man who had ideas and knew how to act on them. Mister Fisher built the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway where car races still take place.
In nineteen twelve, Carl Fisher began working on his idea to build a coast-to-coast highway using crushed rocks. He called this dream the Coast-to-Coast Rock Highway.
VOICE ONE:
Carl Fisher asked many people to give money for the project. One of these men was Henry Joy, the president of the Packard Motor Car Company. Mister Joy agreed, but suggested another name for the highway. He said the road should be named after President Abraham Lincoln. He said it should be called the Lincoln Highway.
Everyone involved with the project agreed to the new name. The Lincoln Highway began in the east in New York City’s famous Times Square. It ended in the west in Lincoln Park in San Francisco, California. The Lincoln Highway was completed in about nineteen thirty-three.
VOICE TWO:
Later, the federal government decided to assign each highway in the country its own number. Numbers were easier to remember than names. The Lincoln Highway became Highway Thirty for most of its length.
Today, you can still follow much of the Lincoln Highway. It passes through small towns and large cities. This makes it a slow but interesting way to travel. Highway Thirty still begins in New York and ends near San Francisco. And it is still remembered as the first coast-to-coast highway.
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VOICE ONE:
In nineteen nineteen, a young Army officer named Dwight Eisenhower took part in the first crossing of the United States by Army vehicles. The vehicles left Washington, D.C. and drove to San Francisco. It was not a good trip. The vehicles had problems with thick mud, ice and mechanical difficulties. It took the American Army vehicles sixty-two days to reach San Francisco.
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, created today's Interstate system and was signed by President Eisenhower on June 29, 1956 Dwight Eisenhower believed the United States needed a highway that would aid in the defense of the country. He believed the nation needed a road system that would permit military vehicles to travel quickly from one coast to the other.
In nineteen fifty-six, Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States. He signed the legislation that created the federal Interstate Highway System. Work was begun almost immediately.
VOICE TWO:
Building such an interstate highway system was a major task. Many problems had to be solved. The highway passed through different areas that were wetlands, mountains and deserts.
It was very difficult to build the system. Yet lessons learned while building it influenced the building of highways around the world. Today, the interstate system links every major city in the United States. It also links the United States with Canada and Mexico.
The Interstate Highway System has been an important part of the nation’s economic growth during the past forty years. Experts believe that trucks using the system carry about seventy-five percent of all products that are sold.
Jobs and new businesses have been created near the busy interstate highways all across the United States. These include hotels, motels, eating places, gasoline stations and shopping centers.
The highway system has made it possible for people to work in a city and live outside it. And it has made it possible for people to travel easily and quickly from one part of the country to another.
The United States government renamed the Interstate Highway System at the end of the twentieth century. Large signs now can be seen along the side of the highway that say Eisenhower Interstate System.
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VOICE ONE:
Our program was written by Paul Thompson. My co-host was Sarah Long. I'm Steve Ember. To download a free copy of this show, including a transcript, go to voaspecialenglish.com. And join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

These Places are Natural Wonders of the World
Visiting Angel Falls, Mount Fuji, the Grand Canyon and the Great Barrier Reef. Transcript of radio broadcast: 08 January 2008
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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we bring you the second of three programs about beautiful and unusual places in our world. Last week, we told about structures built hundreds or thousands of years ago. Today we tell about some of the great natural Wonders of the World. We do not have time to visit all these places, but here are a few from several different countries.
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VOICE ONE:
Angel FallsWe begin our program today high in the southeastern mountains of Venezuela. Water falls from a mountain called Auyan-tepui or Devil Mountain. The water falls from a height of nine hundred seventy-nine meters. It ends in an area called Devil’s Canyon. The water begins to fall in a tightly controlled stream. However it ends in a beautiful white cloud of water spray.
This waterfall is the highest in the world. The local native people called it the Churun Meru. It is now called Angel Falls. An American pilot named Jimmy Angel saw the beautiful waterfall for the first time in the nineteen thirties. He was flying alone in a small airplane looking for gold when he saw water falling from a great height. Some time later several friends said the waterfall should be named after Jimmy Angel.
VOICE TWO:
A small airplane is still the best way to enjoy this beautiful sight. You can also visit the area under the falls after a three-and-a-half-hour boat ride and a one-hour walk through the jungle. And you can see Jimmy Angel’s little airplane if you visit Venezuela. It is considered a national treasure.
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VOICE ONE:
Mount FujiFrom a waterfall in Venezuela, we travel to another mountain. This one is in Japan. It is one of the most photographed mountains in the world. It is Mount Fuji on the island of Honshu. The Japanese call it Fujisan and they say it with love and honor.
Mount Fuji is a sleeping volcano about three thousand seven hundred meters high. It is the tallest mountain in Japan. Since ancient times, the Japanese people have considered it a holy mountain. It has also been the favorite subject of thousands of artists. Its picture has even appeared on Japanese money.
VOICE TWO:
Mount Fuji is an almost perfectly shaped volcano. A crown of white snow covers the top of the mountain most of the year. Mount Fuji seems to rise sharply out of the ground into the shape most recognized as a volcano.
A large area is missing from the side of the mountain. This is a result of its most recent explosion in seventeen-oh-seven. But the missing part of the mountain does nothing to decrease its beauty.
Mount Fuji is much easier to enjoy than Angel Falls in Venezuela. On a clear day people can see it from both the major cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. The easiest way to see the famous mountain is on a train from Tokyo to Osaka. Or you could climb the mountain to get an even better look. Thousands of people climb Fujisan each summer.
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VOICE ONE:
Next, we travel to the desert of the southwestern United States. In fifteen forty, Spanish explorer Garcia Lopez de Cardenas was searching this desert area for gold. The desert area is almost flat, like a table.
His exploration team had been traveling north from Mexico for several weeks. Suddenly one morning he and his group came to an area that stopped their exploration. They could not continue. In front of them was a huge hole cut in the ground.
Grand CanyonMost of this canyon was more than one thousand two hundred meters deep. It was more than three hundred kilometers long. This huge deep canyon extended as far as the explorers could see. It was very beautiful. The sunlight made deep shadows and seemed to change the shape of things every minute. The colors also changed with the movement of the sun and clouds. Often, some areas of the deep canyon appeared bright red. Other times they were a deep brown or purple.
The exploration team tried for three days to reach the river far down in the canyon. They failed. They could also see no way to move around the huge canyon. A lack of supplies forced Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas to return to Mexico.
VOICE TWO:
That beautiful deep canyon is the Grand Canyon. It is a National Park that includes an area of almost five hundred thousand hectares. It is one of the most studied natural areas in the world. The high canyon walls are a record of the past written in rock. Explorers have found fossils of ancient creatures near the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
People can see many kinds of animals in or near the great canyon. These include large deer. They do not fear the people who come to visit the Grand Canyon. The canyon, its animals, plants and rocks are protected in this special place.
VOICE ONE:
The Colorado River is at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The river took several million years to cut the deep canyon into the face of the Earth. It is still doing this today.
Visitors today do not have a problem reaching the bottom of the Grand Canyon and the great Colorado River. Many people take long exciting trips in rubber boats on the river.
Millions of people from around the world visit the Grand Canyon National Park each year. Many stay for less than a day. However, people leave with the memory of this beautiful natural wonder that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
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VOICE TWO:
Next we travel across the Pacific Ocean. Our next natural Wonder of the World is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It extends more than two thousand kilometers along Australia’s northeast coast. It is the largest group of coral reefs in the world.
A reef is a limestone formation that is usually under water or just above it. The coral that forms the reef is made of the hardened remains of dead sea animals called polyps. Thousands of millions of living coral polyps and plants are attached to the reef. The coral is many different colors. The water near the reef is usually clear and visitors can see far down into the ocean.
This natural formation supports many different kinds of fish, sea turtles, crabs, giant clams, birds and other wild life.
Millions of visitors from around the world come every year to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. Many people visit in boats that have glass bottoms so they can see the fish and the colorful coral. Others swim among the fish using underwater breathing equipment.
Swimming along the reef is fun. But it can also be dangerous. The huge great white shark is one of the creatures that swims near the reef.
VOICE ONE:
Part of the Great Barrier Reef as seen from spaceScientists believe the Great Barrier Reef is about thirty million years old. However, in recent years, people have caused problems for the reef. Some took coral from the reef. And boats dumped garbage or human waste.
Now the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, an agency of the Australian government. Visitors are told it is against the law to collect any of the limestone or coral or to damage the reef in any way.
Laws prevent oil companies from drilling for oil anywhere near the reef. The Australian government has also worked to make sure nothing is placed in the ocean that would harm the great reef. Scientists are working to make sure that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef remains healthy and a true Wonder of the World for years to come.
VOICE TWO:
We would have liked to have enough time to tell about other great wonders of the world -- Victoria Falls, for example. This huge waterfall in southern Africa is on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Another great waterfall brings visitors to the border area between the United States and Canada. They come to see the famous Niagara Falls.
We also wanted to tell about the huge volcano that exploded near the Island of Krakatoa in Indonesia. And the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest in Nepal, should be on any list of natural Wonders of the World.
It is easy to visit most of these great natural wonders if you have a computer. If your computer can link with the Internet system you too can enjoy these beautiful sights. Have fun exploring.
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VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Jill Moss. This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week when we bring you the third part of our Wonders of the World series on EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Annie Leibovitz Has Been Photographing Famous People for 35 Years
In her new book ''A Photographer's Life'' Leibovitz also includes photographs of her personal life. Transcript of radio broadcast: 07 January 2008
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VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.
VOICE TWO:
Annie Leibovitz with portrait of Susan Sontag in ''A Photgrapher's Life, 1990-2005'' at the Corcoran Gallery of ArtAnd I'm Faith Lapidus. This week we tell about one of the best-known photographers in America today. For more than thirty-five years, Annie Leibovitz has been taking pictures of famous people including politicians, actors and athletes. A current exhibit of the past fifteen years of her work is based on a book she recently published. The book and exhibit show photographs from her personal as well as professional life.
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VOICE ONE:
Annie Leibovitz was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in nineteen forty-nine. Her family moved often because her father was an officer in the Air Force. For college, Annie studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute in California. She discovered her interest in photography during a trip to Japan with her mother. So she took night classes in photography at college.
Leibovitz began her career taking photographs for Rolling Stone magazine in nineteen seventy, shortly after the publication was first launched. Her first project there was to photograph John Lennon, a member of the British band the Beatles. Three years later, she became the chief photographer for the magazine. Leibovitz took pictures of musicians like Bob Dylan, Patti Smith and Bob Marley.
She also traveled with the Rolling Stones rock band in nineteen seventy-five to capture their life on the road while they performed concerts around the world.
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen eighty-one, Rolling Stone magazine asked her to photograph John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono. Leibovitz had imagined photographing the couple without clothes. But Yoko Ono opposed the idea. Leibovitz ended up taking a picture of Yoko Ono in dark clothes with John Lennon lying next to her without clothing. John Lennon was murdered several hours after this picture was taken. It was published on the cover of Rolling Stone. It has since become one of the most famous magazine covers in the world. In two thousand five, the American Society of Magazine Editors named it the best magazine cover published in the last forty years.
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VOICE ONE:
Annie Leibovitz later worked for the magazines Vanity Fair and Vogue. She is known for her colorful photographs of people in wildly inventive or playful settings. For example, Leibovitz photographed the African American actress Whoopi Goldberg in a bathtub filled with milk.
In her portrait of the actor Brad Pitt, he is lying on an orange bed in a bright orange and yellow room. A photograph of former president Bill Clinton shows him happily sitting in the Oval Office of the White House during the first weeks of his presidency.
VOICE TWO:
One of Annie Leibovitz’s most famous and most disputed photographs is of the actress Demi Moore. She was photographed seven months pregnant, wearing nothing but jewelry. At first, Leibovitz did not plan for this picture to be published. But it was such a strikingly beautiful image, that it was put on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. Neither Leibovitz nor Vanity Fair expected the amount of attention the photograph received.The American Society of Magazine Editors listed this photograph of Demi Moore as the second best cover published in the last forty years.
VOICE ONE:
Annie Leibovitz has also worked on several large advertisement campaigns for companies including American Express, Gap, and Disney. For her Disney series, she photographed famous people dressed as characters from popular stories like “Cinderella” and “Alice in Wonderland.”
In one photograph, the actress Scarlett Johansson is dressed as Cinderella. She wears diamond jewelry in her hair and a big blue dress. In the background, you can see her glass shoe and a magical looking palace building in the fog.
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VOICE TWO:
An exhibit of the photographs of Annie Leibovitz opened last October at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It is called "Annie Leibovitz: “A Photographer’s Life, 1990-2005.” The exhibit started in Brooklyn, New York, and will travel around the United States and Europe. The collection of more than two hundred photographs in the show is based on Annie Leibovitz’s book by the same name. She wrote the book after the death of two people she loved very much. Here Leibovitz talks about the book and what it is like to see her pictures again in this traveling exhibition.
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: “This show really came out of this book, 'A Photographer's Life.' It came out of, really a moment in my life. I am very, very proud of this show, but it is a difficult thing to look back at because it came out of a moment when my father died, Susan Sontag died, my children were being born. And it seemed the most important thing at that moment.”
VOICE ONE:
Walking through the Corcoran exhibit, visitors can follow the path of Leibovitz’s career. But, mixed in with these professional photographs, there are many personal images of her parents, family members, children and friends. For example, a series of pictures shows Leibovitz’s mother, father, sisters and brothers enjoying a vacation at the beach. These small black and white images are a nice change from the many large color pictures of famous people. Leibovitz has said that she does not have two lives. She says the show is about one life, and the personal pictures and the professional work are all part of it.
VOICE TWO:
Annie Leibovitz has also worked as a photographic reporter for such events as Hillary Clinton's campaign for the United States Senate in two thousand. She photographed New York City after the terrorist attacks in September of two thousand one. In the early nineteen nineties, she also took many pictures during her visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the war there.
One black and white picture from this series shows a bicycle lying on the road. At first it just seems like a photograph of an object. But when you look more closely, the picture tells a tragic story about the effects of war.
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ: “I was on my way to photograph Miss Sarajevo and a mortar went off just in front of my car and killed this young boy on a bicycle right in front of me. My car took him to the hospital but he died on the way to the hospital. It turned out to be a very strong picture without having to see anything.”
Leibovitz has said that she is not a reporter because a reporter does not take sides. She says she would not want to go through life like that. She says she has a more powerful voice as a photographer if she can express an opinion.
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VOICE ONE:
The exhibit includes many photographs of Leibovitz’s friend, the writer Susan Sontag. Several pictures show trips that the two women took together. Later photographs show Sontag while she was fighting cancer. These images are direct and brave. They tell the story of Sontag's life and death. They also tell about Annie Leibovitz’s love for this woman.
Leibovitz says the photographs have taken on a new meaning since Susan Sontag’s death in two thousand four. In one image, Sontag is shown very small in front of a huge, ancient stone building of Petra in Jordan. At the time, Annie Leibovitz took the picture to show how small a human being was compared to the surroundings. But now, she says the picture represents Susan Sontag’s love of discovery through art, history and travel. She says that making the book “A Photographer’s Life” helped her mourn Sontag’s death.
VOICE TWO:
One room in the exhibit helps show the process Annie Leibovitz used to organize the book. Hundreds of small versions of photographs are on two large walls. Leibovitz had a similar set-up in her studio when she started working on the book. This permitted her to have an overall sense of the story the book would tell.
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VOICE ONE:
This is not the first time that the photographs of Annie Leibovitz have been shown in Washington, D.C. The National Portrait Gallery held a show of her work in nineteen ninety-one. At the time, she was the first woman to have a one-person show in the museum. In nineteen ninety-nine the Corcoran had a show of her work called “Women.”
Leibovitz has also received many honors. For example, the United States Library of Congress and the French government have given her top awards for her work. Last year, she became the first American photographer to make an official portrait of a member of the British ruling family. She photographed Queen Elizabeth the Second at her home at Buckingham Palace in London.
These portraits are the most recent photographs in the exhibit at the Corcoran.
Annie Leibovitz says the book “A Photographer’s Life” tells more about who she is than anything she has ever done. This openness is all the more interesting for a photographer who has made a career out of showing the lives of others.
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VOICE TWO:
This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And I’m Bob Doughty. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3 files at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

From left to right:

1 - The hanging gardens of Babylon

2 -Stonehenge

3- The Pyramids of Egypt

4-The The great wall of China

5 - Abu Simbel

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Plus a Few
The first part of a three-part series about the world's most interesting, beautiful and unusual places. Transcript of radio broadcast: 01 January 2008
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VOICE ONE:
This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we present the first of three programs about some of the most interesting, beautiful and unusual places on Earth. We begin with a list of what have been called the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
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VOICE ONE:
People have always felt the need to create lists. Lists are records of important ideas, places, events or people. About two thousand five hundred years ago a Greek historian named Herodotus is said to have made a list of what he thought were the greatest structures in the world. His list of places became known as the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Herodotus only wrote about places he knew. He did not know much about Asia. North and South America were completely unknown. Six of these ancient places no longer exist. We can only guess what they really looked like. But here is the list of those seven ancient Wonders of the World.
VOICE TWO:
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
We begin with one that existed in what is now Iraq. It was called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar the Second probably built the gardens about two thousand six hundred years ago. Ancient historians say they were a huge system of gardens with trees and flowers.
Also on this list is the Colossus of Rhodes. It was a huge bronze metal statue of the Greek sun god Helios. The Colossus was about thirty-seven meters tall. It was built near the harbor on the Greek island of Rhodes about two thousand three hundred years ago. This ancient statue was destroyed in an earthquake.
VOICE ONE:
Next on our list is the statue of the Greek God Zeus in a temple at Olympia, Greece. It was the most famous statue in the ancient world. Records say it was about twelve meters tall and made of ivory and gold. An earthquake probably destroyed the temple. The statue was removed and later destroyed in a fire.
The Pharos of Alexandria was an ancient lighthouse. A fire burning on the top of the lighthouse made it easier for ships to find the great harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. Records say the lighthouse was about one hundred thirty meters tall. It stood for one thousand five hundred years before it was destroyed by an earthquake.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus is another ancient wonder of the world. It was built to honor a Greek goddess. It was one of the largest and most complex temples built in ancient times. The temple was built in what is now Turkey about two thousand five hundred years ago.
Number six on our list was also built in what is now Turkey. It was the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The huge marble burial place was built for King Mausolus of Caria. It was so famous that all large burial places, or tombs, became known as mausoleums. An earthquake destroyed the structure.
VOICE TWO:
The last of the seven ancient wonders are the oldest. Yet they are the only ones that
The Pyramids of Egyptstill exist today. They are the three Pyramids of Egypt, near the Nile River at Giza. The pyramids were built about four thousand five hundred years ago as burial places for ancient kings. The largest is called the Great Pyramid. It is almost one hundred forty meters high. It covers an area of more than four hectares. The Greek historian Herodotus said more than one hundred thousand men worked for more than thirty years to build the Great Pyramid. The great pyramids of Egypt will probably continue to exist for many years to come.
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VOICE ONE:
Now we will tell about several other ancient wonders that still exist today. We cannot tell about all of the great structures built in ancient times. There are too many. However, if Herodotus had known about the Great Wall of China we feel sure he would have included it on his list of wonders of the world.
The Great Wall of China The Great Wall was begun more than two thousand years ago. It was built to keep out invaders. It extends about six thousand seven hundred kilometers across northern China. Today, the Chinese government is working to repair parts of the wall and protect as much of it as possible. The Great Wall of China is one of the largest building projects ever attempted. It is also the only object built by people that can be seen from space.
VOICE TWO:
One of the oldest structures ever built by people also belongs on a list of ancient wonders. It is a circle of huge stones on the Salisbury Plain in southwestern England. It is called Stonehenge. Experts believe work began on Stonehenge about five thousand years ago. It was added to and changed several times until it became the structure we see today. We know very little about Stonehenge. We do not even know how these huge stones were moved to the area.
Some experts believe the stones were cut from solid rock about three hundred eighty
Stonehengekilometers away in Wales. One of the huge stones weighs as much as forty-five tons. Experts say Stonehenge may have been built as some kind of ceremonial or religious structure. Much has been written about Stonehenge, but experts say they still are not sure what it was used for.
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VOICE ONE:
Another famous ancient structure is the Coliseum in Rome, Italy. It was built almost two thousand years ago. The ancient Roman sports center could hold fifty thousand people who gathered there to watch public events. Experts say it is one of the finest examples of Roman design and engineering.
The city of Machu Picchu in Peru should be on most lists, too. Experts say it includes some of the best stone work ever built. The ancient Inca people built Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains, northwest of the city of Cuzco. Machu Picchu is about thirteen square kilometers.
Historians say it might have been one of the last places of safety for the Incas who were fleeing invaders from Spain.
VOICE TWO:
India is famous for its temples and buildings. The most famous is the Taj Mahal, considered one of the most beautiful buildings every constructed. The fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, ordered it built in Agra in sixteen thirty-one. He built it as a burial place in memory of his wife.
The Taj Mahal has tiny colorful stones inlaid in white marble. The structure seems to change color during different times of the day and night. Experts say it is one of the most perfect buildings ever constructed. They say nothing could be added or taken away to improve the beautiful Taj Mahal.
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VOICE ONE:
Abu SimbelWe will end our program today in Egypt. Any list of ancient places must include the two temples at Abu Simbel. They were built to honor an ancient king of Egypt, Ramses the Second, and his wife, Nefertari.
Abu Simbel was built more than three thousand years ago. It is about two hundred eighty kilometers south of Aswan on the western bank of the Nile River.
It took an army of workmen and artists more than thirty years to cut the huge temple into the face of a rock mountain. In front of the main temple are four huge statues of Ramses the Second. Each statue is about twenty meters high. Nearby is another temple that honors his wife, Nefertari. It too is beautifully carved out of solid rock.
VOICE TWO:
The Nile River has always made life possible in the desert areas of Egypt. However the Nile also made life difficult when it flooded. The modern Egyptian government decided a dam could control the Nile to prevent both floods and lack of water. Work began on the Aswan Dam in nineteen sixty.
However, when plans were made for the dam experts quickly discovered that the great temples at Abu Simbel would be forever lost. They would be under water in the new lake formed by the dam. Egypt appealed to the United Nations agency UNESCO for help. UNESCO appealed to the world.
The governments of the world provided technical help and financial aid to save the great temples. In nineteen sixty-four work began to cut the temples away from the rock mountain. Each large piece was moved sixty meters up the mountain to a safe area. Then the huge temples were carefully rebuilt. The work was finished in nineteen sixty-eight.
Today Abu Simbel is safe. It looks much the same as it has for the past three thousand years. It will continue to honor the ancient king and his queen for many years to come. And it will honor the modern world’s efforts to save a truly great work of art.
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VOICE ONE:
Next week we tell about some of the natural wonders of our world. This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English

Glen Echo Park

Dancers, Artists and Merry-Go-Round Lovers Can All Enjoy This ParkEach year a half-million people visit historic Glen Echo Park along the Potomac River in Maryland.

Transcript of radio broadcast: 21 October 2007

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week on our program we explore the history of Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo, Maryland.

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VOICE ONE:

Glen Echo ParkOn a warm autumn day, men and women of all ages are gathered in the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park near Washington, D.C. Some are dressed like professional dancers. Others are in blue jeans. A few have taken off their shoes.Social dancing is a favorite activity at the park. As the LaSalle Dance Orchestra plays, dancers turn and swing their partners. Some people look as if they have been dancing forever. Others are learners. A few look a little uneasy.Men make a bridge with their arms and their partners step underneath. Some women have on wide skirts that make a swooshing sound as they pass under the bridge. Colors fade and mix as the beat goes on.

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VOICE TWO:

Most of the people brought a partner -- their husband or wife or a friend. A woman is dancing with her young daughter. The woman is beautiful and wears a floor-length dress and long white gloves. The little girl also wears a floor-length dress. She is smiling and laughing. Once or twice the child sits down on the dance floor.

VOICE ONE:

A man steps away from the dance floor to take a break for a few minutes. He explains that he always comes to dance at Glen Echo. But he says he will never compete on any of those dancing shows that have become popular on American television.Beginners in Spanish Ballroom can get help. There are teachers who give lessons. And there are people known as "dance buddies." These are volunteers who can help newcomers keep in step.

VOICE TWO:

Dance bands at Glen Echo play foxtrot, waltzes and tangos.

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There is also square dancing and contra dancing. These are group dances that involve changing partners. And bands often play zydeco, Cajun, rock and roll and salsa.(MUSIC)This New Year’s Eve, twenty-five dollars will buy a lesson, a night of swing dancing and light refreshments. George Gee and the Jump, Jivin’ Wailers will perform.

VOICE ONE:

The Spanish Ballroom has been restored. But with a little imagination, you can still hear the famous musicians who performed long ago. Bandleaders like Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman and Stan Kenton. Bill Haley and His Comets appeared during the early days of rock 'n' roll.

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Dance bands at Glen Echo also play in the Bumper Car Pavilion. This was where drivers crashed little cars into each other during Glen Echo’s amusement park days.

VOICE TWO:

Today the arts are a driving force at Glen Echo Park. Visitors can paint, make pottery or improve their photography. Families enjoy children’s plays at the Adventure Theatre and the Puppet Company. There are also seasonal festivals like "Fall Frolic." This day of crafts, theater performances, Halloween activities and dance is set for October twenty-seventh.Glen Echo Park sits on about four hectares of land along the Potomac River. Each year a half-million people come to the park for events and programs. But some visitors just like to sit in the sun and feed the squirrels.

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VOICE ONE:Two wealthy brothers, Edward and Edwin Baltzley, provided the land for Glen Echo in the nineteenth century. They wanted it to be an education center called a Chautauqua.Chautauqua was a popular movement in the United States at the time. It gave working people in crowded cities a chance to learn and to experience nature.The Glen Echo Chautauqua opened in eighteen ninety-one. There were classes in languages, science and other subjects.

VOICE TWO:

A year later, Glen Echo became a home for traveling shows. Then it grew into a small amusement park, and later a bigger amusement park. But not all of its history was fun and games.For years the park did not admit black people. In nineteen sixty, civil rights activists demonstrated at the park. The next year, Glen Echo opened to everyone.

VOICE ONE:

Five years later, in nineteen sixty-six, there was violence at the park on the day after Easter. Some people called it a race riot.Whatever it was, it did nothing to help a little park that had been losing popularity anyway. In nineteen sixty-eight, the park closed. Many rides and attractions were sold or destroyed.

VOICE TWO:

The federal government became the owner of the Glen Echo land in nineteen seventy. The government along with neighbors of the park wanted to limit development near the Potomac River.The National Park Service now operates Glen Echo in cooperation with a group called the Glen Echo Partnership for Arts and Culture. The park is in Montgomery County, Maryland. The county created the nonprofit group.(*)The partnership manages Glen Echo’s programs, fund raising and marketing. The National Park Service takes care of historical presentation, safety, security, resource protection and grounds keeping.

VOICE ONE:

A good way to picture the early days of Glen Echo is to walk around its historic area. The Spanish Ballroom and the Bumper Car Pavilion are part of that area. But there is also the Yellow Barn, now a center for artists.The Picnic Grove is a popular place for outdoor meals. The Arcade now houses photography projects, art exhibits and theaters instead of games.And there is the historic Clara Barton House. Clara Barton was the nurse who established the American Red Cross.

VOICE TWO:

The Crystal Pool at Glen Echo Park was big enough to hold three thousand people. Now, instead of water and swimmers, the pool is filled with dirt. Weeds and some wildflowers grow out of the top.A tall woman wearing sunglasses remembers that as a small child, she would always ask her mother to let her swim in the pool. But that was at a time when many children were getting sick from polio. Doctors were advising parents to keep their children away from crowds. So her mother always said no.

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VOICE ONE:

Organ music leads visitors to the Dentzel Carousel. Neighbors of Glen Echo Park worked hard to keep it after the park closed. People called it the jewel of the park. A Glen Echo town councilwoman named Nancy Long led a successful drive to buy it back.Supporters organized to restore the carousel. That project took many years and a lot of money. Now it operates on weekends from May through September.On an early fall day, the line for this merry-go-round is not too long. Most of the people waiting are little children. But older riders are excited too. The ticket-taker smiles and says not to worry. She says carousels were really created for adults.

VOICE TWO:

There are four ostriches on the carousel. The birds are finely carved and painted. They share the merry-go-round with horses, rabbits, a giraffe, a deer, a lion and a tiger.The ostriches go up and down as the carousel turns. A few horses away, another adult is riding a rabbit. On a carousel, grabbing the brass ring as you pass it is supposed to win you a prize and a happy future. The man on the rabbit tries to pull the small brass ring but he cannot reach it.(**)You also try. No one can reach it. It is there only for show. But then, you think maybe the visit to Glen Echo Park is the real brass ring.

(MUSIC)VOICE ONE:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can learn more about Glen Echo Park by clicking on a link at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Les hommes font un pont avec leurs bras(armes) et leur pas(étape) d'associés au-dessous. Quelques femmes ont sur les larges jupes qui font un son sifflant comme ils passent sous le pont. Les couleurs s'effacent et le mélange comme le battu continueCette Saint-Sylvestre, vingt-cinq dollars achèteront une leçon, une nuit de danse d'oscillation et allumeront(éclaireront) des rafraîchissements. George eh bien! et le Saut, Jivin ' Wailers exécutera.Les orchestres à l'Écho de Vallée encaissée jouent aussi dans le Pavillon de Voiture de Butoir. C'était où les conducteurs ont effondré petites voitures l'un dans l'autre pendant les jours de parc d'attractions de l'Écho de Vallée encaissée

(*)L'association gère les programmes de l'Écho de Vallée encaissée, le levage de fonds et le marketing. Le Service de Parc national s'occupe de la présentation historique, la sécurité, la sécurité, la protection de ressource et le tenant de raisons(terres)

.--------

(**)Vous essayez aussi . Personne ne peut l'atteindre. C'est là seulement pour l'exposition(le spectacle). Mais alors, vous pensez peut-être la visite au Parc d'Écho de Vallée encaissée est l'anneau réel de cuivre.Le gouvernement fédéral est devenu le propriétaire de la terre d'Écho de Vallée encaissée dans dix-neuf soixante-dix. Le gouvernement avec les voisins du parc a voulu limiter le développement près de la Rivière Potomac.
merry-go-round:merry-go-round = (nm)manègemerry-go-round = (nm)tourbillonmerry-go-round(carousel)=(nm)carrousel
ride (n) = manège

What Is Your Favorite Song About Autumn?

What Is Your Favorite Song About Autumn?Here are some favorite songs about autumn. Transcript of radio broadcast: 28 October 2007

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Autumn leaves in Pennsylvania

VOICE ONE:
Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.
I'm Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Barbara Klein.
It is autumn in the northern part of the world. So it is time to play some of our favorite songs about this season.
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VOICE ONE:
People have written and recorded hundreds of songs about autumn. Many of these songs express sadness that summer is over. The days are shorter. It is getting darker earlier each day. The weather is cooler. The skies are gray. Birds fly south because they know winter is coming. The leaves turn colors of red and gold and then die, falling to the ground. Some songs about autumn also express the sadness of lost love.Mary Dawson, in her Internet Writing Journal, writes that this season influenced songwriters to write some of the greatest songs of all time. Here are some of our favorite songs about autumn.
VOICE TWO:
"September Song" by Kurt Weill is one of the most well known, and saddest, songs about the season. It was introduced back in nineteen thirty-eight in the Broadway musical "Knickerbocker Holiday." Many people have recorded this song. Probably the most famous version is sung by Frank Sinatra.
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VOICE ONE:
Another famous song about this season is "Autumn Leaves." This song also expresses sad emotions. It was first introduced in a French movie in nineteen forty-six. Later, the famous American songwriter Johnny Mercer was asked to write English words to the music. Since then, many artists have recorded it. Here is a lovely version by Eva Cassidy from her album "Songbird."
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VOICE TWO:
The Moody Blues are a British rock band that first became famous in the nineteen sixties. They also recorded a song about fallen leaves, darker days and lost love. It is called "Forever Autumn."
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VOICE ONE:
Here is another sad song about things that happen in autumn. "Wake Me Up When September Ends" is by the band Green Day from their album "American Idiot." The song is about the death of a father.
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VOICE TWO
:The rock group the White Stripes has a song called "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," from their album "White Blood Cells." Jack White sings about a woman who did not wait for him while he was away.
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VOICE ONE:
But not all the songs about autumn are sad. Here is a more hopeful song, James Taylor's "October Road" from his album by the same name. The song is about leaving the big city for the countryside, going home again after a long time away.
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VOICE TWO:
For people who live in New York City, autumn is an exciting time of the year. New plays open in theaters on Broadway. The season also brings the promise of new love. Vernon Duke wrote the song "Autumn in New York" in nineteen thirty-four. Many famous artists have recorded it. We leave you with Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing this famous song.
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VOICE TWO:
Our program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Steve Ember. You can hear other American songs on our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find transcripts and audio archives of our programs. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

What Is Your Favorite Song About Autumn?

Not a Great Lake but Still NiceExploring some of the lakes of New York state, including Lake Champlain.

Transcript of radio broadcast: 16 December 2007

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VOICE ONE:Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:And I’m Steve Ember. This week on our program, we tell you about Lake Champlain and the Finger Lakes in the northeastern United States.

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VOICE ONE:

Iceboarding on Lake ChamplainLake Champlain borders two states, New York and Vermont, and Quebec, Canada. Many people like to vacation at this freshwater lake. They enjoy sailing and fishing, water skiing, swimming, or just sitting at the water’s edge, daydreaming. The waters can look so still and blue, like a painting, though they can also become rough with waves when the wind blows.

VOICE TWO:

Much of the area around Lake Champlain has a country feeling. Nearby are woods where people can hike. In the fall, visitors can watch the sugar maple trees surrender their colorful autumn leaves.Many animals and birds live around Lake Champlain. Road signs warn drivers to watch out for moose, big animals that can walk into the road.Visitors at the lake also keep their eyes open for "Champ." Champ is like an American Nessie, the sea monster that supposedly lives in Loch Ness in Scotland.

VOICE ONE:

Over the years there have been reports of some thing in Lake Champlain. A nineteen seventy-seven photograph only fed the mystery. In the distance it shows what appears to be a large creature in the water. Champ can also be found helping the local economy by appearing on souvenirs like T-shirts and coffee cups.

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VOICE TWO:

Lake Champlain is a long, narrow body of water. The lake is one hundred ninety-three kilometers long and nineteen kilometers at its widest. It reaches a depth of one hundred twenty-two meters.The lake flows north from Whitehall, New York. Over the Canadian border it makes its way into the Richelieu River in Quebec. The Richelieu joins the Saint Lawrence River which feeds into the Atlantic Ocean at the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.Lake Champlain lies in a valley between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York.A number of communities are near Lake Champlain. The largest is Burlington, a city of thirty-eight thousand people in Vermont.

VOICE ONE:

Lake Champlain has more than seventy islands. One island in Vermont, Isle La Motte, is known for its prehistoric geological formations. The Chazy Reef on the island contains coral, like a reef in a warm, tropical ocean.Scientists say this is because when the Chazy Reef began to form hundreds of millions of years ago, it was in the southern half of the world. Then the plates that form the surface of the Earth began to move around and gave the reef a new home.

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VOICE TWO

:Lake Champlain is named for the French explorer Samuel de Champlain who first saw it in sixteen-oh-nine.A ferryboat travels across Lake Champlain as the sun dropsIn the seventeen hundreds, the Champlain Valley became a battleground in the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War. French troops in Canada built a fort to control passage to the lake as a defense against British troops moving north. The French named it Fort Carillon. But in seventeen fifty-nine, the British took control of the fort and renamed it Ticonderoga.Troops from the English colonies that would become the United States supported the British army in the war. But later, during the American Revolution, colonial troops fought against the British at Fort Ticonderoga.And later still, during the War of Eighteen Twelve, the Americans defeated the British in the Battle of Lake Champlain. The defeat not only ended British demands for territory in New England. It also put an end to British hopes of controlling the Great Lakes area.

VOICE ONE:

The Great Lakes are Michigan, Erie, Huron, Superior and Ontario. Champlain is smaller than any of them. But in March of nineteen ninety-eight, it joined the list -- Congress declared Champlain the sixth Great Lake.This was because of efforts by Patrick Leahy, a senator who has represented Vermont for more than thirty years. Senator Leahy was trying to get research money for Lake Champlain from the National Sea Grant Program. This program operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The program pays for water research at universities that border either the oceans or the Great Lakes. So Senator Leahy got the words "Great Lakes including Lake Champlain" into the bill.Many people in Midwestern states that border the Great Lakes were not at all happy. John Glenn, the former astronaut who was then a senator from Ohio, put it this way: "I know the Great Lakes. I’ve traveled the Great Lakes. And Lake Champlain is not one of the Great Lakes."

VOICE TWO:

Still, there are similarities. Lake Champlain has wildlife and rock formations that are similar to or even the same as the Great Lakes. All six were formed from the same huge piece of ice. And all six flow into the Saint Lawrence River in Canada.Lake Champlain also has the same kinds of environmental problems, including pollution and nonnative sea life, as the Great Lakes.VOICE ONE:For people in the Champlain area, having it declared a Great Lake was great news. They saw it as a chance to get more help for the lake’s problems, and more national attention for the area.But the measure that declared Lake Champlain a Great Lake lasted less than three weeks. The angry reaction from the Midwestern states succeeded in killing it. Vermont, however, still won the right for its researchers to ask for money under the National Sea Grant Program.

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VOICE TWO:

Grape vines stand empty of their fruit on a hillside overlooking Keuka LakeIn central New York state, there are five lakes that look like fingers on a map. Their names come from American Indian culture. Seneca. Cayuga. Keuka. Canandaigua, and Skaneateles.These are the five major Finger Lakes. Cayuga Lake is the longest among them. But Seneca Lake is the biggest and the deepest, at almost two hundred meters.Compare that to the nine-meter depth of Honeoye Lake. Honeoye is among what are considered the six minor Finger Lakes in central and western New York. The others are Owasco, Otisco, Canadice,Hemlock and Conesus.

VOICE ONE:

Most of the eleven lakes contain cold water fisheries like trout as well as bass and other warm water fishing.The Finger Lakes area is home to industries and large cities like Syracuse and Rochester. But there are still many farms. And the area has a large number of grape vineyards and wine producers.VOICE TWO:Several colleges and universities are in the Finger Lakes area. They include Ithaca College, Colgate University and Cornell University.Cornell honors Cayuga Lake in its school song, which begins: "Far above Cayuga’s waters / With its waves of blue / Stands our noble alma mater / Glorious to view.”

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VOICE ONE:

The first people to view the beauty of the Finger Lakes were the Indians. The Iroquois believed that the Great Spirit formed the lakes. The Great Spirit was closely linked with nature.VOICE TWO:Science tells us that a large body of ice moved across the land. The last glacier covered large areas of what is now the northeastern United States about twenty thousand years ago. The glacier moved south and then north again.In doing so, it moved through many river valleys. It made the valleys deeper and wider than they were before. Then the ice started melting and moved north again. The glacier left huge amounts of soil and rocks in what scientists call the Valley Heads Moraine. A moraine is a landform created by all the material carried and left by a glacier.

VOICE ONE:

The Valley Heads Moraine prevented old rivers from flowing south, as they had before. This left the valleys filled with water. And this is how scientists say the Finger Lakes came to be.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I’m Steve Ember.

VOICE ONE

:And I’m Barbara Klein. Transcripts and MP3s of our programs can be downloaded at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.