LISTENINGPagina web: http://www.saberingles.com.ar/listening/index1.html#10 - Study Says High Calorie Snacks Are to Blame for Obesity Epidemic

CONTENIDOTabla de contenidoLISTENING.....................................................................................................................................................................1

LECTURAS CON AUDIO -LISTENING WITH READING......................................................................................................3

#01 - Not All Carrots Are Orange...............................................................................................................................3

#02 - McDonald's Targets Starbucks.........................................................................................................................4

#03 - Coyotes Eyeing the Sheep? Employ a Guard Llama..........................................................................................5

#04 - Petroleum: A Short History of Black Gold.........................................................................................................6

#05 - Want to Stay Warm in Winter? Think COLD.....................................................................................................7

#06 - Schools Look to Save Money With Four-Day Week..........................................................................................7

#07 - 'Summer Work/Travel' Brings Many Students to US........................................................................................9

#08 - Among Vitamins, D Seems Short for 'Does a Lot'...........................................................................................10

#09 - Farming Techniques That Will Feed a Family.................................................................................................11

#10 - Food Safety After a Flood...............................................................................................................................12

#11 - Australia Aims for Cleaner Coal......................................................................................................................13

#12 - Finding Uses for Marginal Lands....................................................................................................................15

#13 - Got Milk? How to Make Yogurt......................................................................................................................16

#14 - Teens, Television, and Depression.................................................................................................................17

#15 - Making a Solar Water Heater.........................................................................................................................18

#16 - Rural Areas of Kenya Get Connected to the Web...........................................................................................19

#17 - Home Gardening: What to Do About Lead.....................................................................................................20

#18 - Going Digital: The Future of College Textbooks?............................................................................................21

#19 - Study Finds More Trees on Farms Than Was Thought...................................................................................23

#20 - In the US, the New Look of Gas Exploration...................................................................................................24

#21 - Two Studies Give a Lift to Running Barefoot..................................................................................................25

#22 - Some Advice on Choosing a College...............................................................................................................26

#23 - Deforestation Decreased Over the Past 10 Years...........................................................................................27

#24 - National Standards for US Schools Gain Support From States.......................................................................28

#25 - Farming in the City: Joys of Growing Food.....................................................................................................29

#26 - Pretty Flowers Lead Two Scientists to a Discovery.........................................................................................31

#27 - PC Recycler Strikes Gold in Old Computer Chips............................................................................................32

#28 - Taking a Closer Look at the Future of Video Conferencing.............................................................................33

#29 - Looking to Robots and Other Technology to Improve Health Care................................................................34

#30 - A Fatter World, Yet Fewer Cases of High Blood Pressure...............................................................................36

#31 - Living in a World With Facial Recognition......................................................................................................37

#32 - How a Small Change in Teaching May Create Better Readers........................................................................38

#33 - Worried That People Are Laughing at You?....................................................................................................39

#34 - Tomato's Genetic Secrets Are Peeled Away...................................................................................................41

#35 - What Is the Relationship Between Age and Happiness?................................................................................42

#36 - Golden Gate Bridge Still Shines After 75 Years...............................................................................................43

#37 - In the Garden: Growing Onions......................................................................................................................44

#38 - Mobile Telephones Changing Lives in Africa..................................................................................................45

#39 - A Flower in Winter: The Story of the Poinsettia.............................................................................................46

#40 - Making Friends Not Always Easy for Foreign Students...................................................................................47

#41 - Secret to Life? Dance, and Don't Procrastinate!.............................................................................................49

#42 - Cameras Capture Pictures of Mysterious Bush Dog.......................................................................................49

Exercises with video:...................................................................................................................................................50

#01 - Desert Museum in Arizona Exhibits Native Plants and Animals.....................................................................50

#02 - Roof Top Gardening is a Growing Trend in New York City..............................................................................51

#03 - Moroccan Villagers Make Their Desert Bloom...............................................................................................51

#04 - London Museum Unveils Medieval, Renaissance Treasures..........................................................................52

#05 - Powered Parachute Gives US Rural Police Departments Eye in the Sky.........................................................52

#06 - Washington Struggles to Recover from Massive Snowstorm.........................................................................53

#07 - More US Companies Refuse to Hire Smokers.................................................................................................53

#08 - Pressure Mounts in US to Restrict Salt Levels in Processed Foods.................................................................54

#09 - Researchers Finding Babies Smarter Than Previously Thought......................................................................54

#10 - Study Says High Calorie Snacks Are to Blame for Obesity Epidemic...............................................................55

LECTURAS CON AUDIO -LISTENING WITH READING

#01 - Not All Carrots Are Orangehttp://www.saberingles.com.ar/listening/102.htmlThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Carrots are grown on farms and in family gardens throughout the world. Carrots are easy to raise and easy to harvest. They taste good. And they contain a lot of carotene, which the body makes into vitamin A.

When people think of carrots, they usually picture in their mind a vegetable that is long, thin and orange in color. But carrots come in many different sizesand shapes. And not all carrots are orange.

For example, Paris Market carrots are about five centimeters around. Imperator carrots are thin and about twenty-five centimeters long. And Belgian White carrots are, as their name suggests, white.

For the best results, carrots should be grown in sandy soil that does not hold waterfor a long time. The soil also should have no rocks.

To prepare your carrot garden, dig up the soil, loosen it and turn it over. Then, mix in some plant material or animal fertilizer.

Weather, soil conditions and age will affect the way carrots taste. Experts say warm days, cool nights and a medium soil temperature are the best conditions for growing carrots that taste great.

Carrots need time to develop their full sugar content. This gives them their taste. If they are harvested too early, they will not have enough sugar. But carrots loose their sweetness if you wait too long to pull them from the ground.

The best way to judge if a carrot is ready to be harvested is by its color. Usually, the brighter the color, the better the taste.

Most people do not know that carrots can be grown during the winter months. If the winter is not cold enough to freeze the ground, you can grow and harvest carrots the same way as during the summer months.

If the ground does freeze in your part of the world, simply cover your carrot garden with a thick layer of leaves or straw. This will prevent the ground from freezing. You can remove the ground cover and harvest the carrots as they are needed.

Carrots are prepared and eaten many different ways. They are cut in thin pieces and added to other vegetables. They are cooked by themselves or added to stews. Or, once they are washed, they are eaten just as they come out of the

ground.And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. For more agricultural advice, along with transcripts and archives of our reports, go to voaspecialenglish.com. And our e-mail address is special@voanews.com. I'm Steve Ember.

#02 - McDonald's Targets Starbucks

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

McDonald's, the fast-food company, is heating up competition with the Starbucks Coffee Company. McDonald's plans to put coffee bars in its fourteen thousand restaurants in the United States. Fewer than a thousand now offer specialty coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos.

Just like Starbucks, each coffee bar would have its own barista, the person who makes and serves the drinks. Company documents reported by the Wall Street Journal said the plan would add one billion dollars a year in sales.

McDonald's has enjoyed several years of strong growth. The company had almost twenty-two billion dollars in sales in two thousand six.

Still, the move to compete against Starbucks carries some risk. Some experts say it could slow down service at McDonald's restaurants. And some people who are happy with McDonald's the way it is now may not like the changes.

As early as two thousand one the company tested McCafes in the United States to sell specialty coffee at McDonald's restaurants. But the drinks were not available at the drive-through windows that provide two-thirds of its business. McDonald's thinks its new plan has a greater chance of success. Starbucks, on the other hand, has faced slower growth and increasing competition. Its stock has lost about half its value since last January.

Starbucks has about ten thousand stores in the United States. Its high-priced coffee drinks have names like Iced Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha and Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino. Lately Starbucks has added more foods, including breakfast foods, and put drive-through windows in some stores.

This week, the company replaced its chief executive officer, bringing back former C.E.O. Howard Schultz. He remains chairman of the board. He joined Starbucks in nineteen eighty-two, when it had just four stores. He is credited with building the Seattle company into an international success story.

But a year ago he warned that its fast growth had led to what he called the watering down of the Starbucks experience. Some neighborhoods have a Starbucks on every block or two. Now, Starbucks will speed up its international growth while slowing its expansion in the United States.

Millions of people have a taste for Starbucks. But last

year, McDonald's Premium coffee got some good press. Testers from Consumer Reports thought it tasted better than Starbucks, and it cost less.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

#03 - Coyotes Eyeing the Sheep? Employ a Guard LlamaThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

(SOUND)

When Americans think of where coyotes live, they probably think of desertstates in the Southwest like Arizona. But over time, these wild dogs have spread all the way to the East Coast.

Some farmers have guards to protect their sheep from coyotes. These guards are llamas. Llamas are South American animals usually raised in the United States for their fiber or for show or as pets. But farmers and ranchers noticed that llamas get along well with sheep. They also noticed that over time, coyotes were killing fewer sheep. So they chose llamas for guard duty.

Llamas do not need any training. Farmers usually place only one with a group of sheep. Llamas are social animals. Two llamas together will not pay attention to the sheep. A lone llama has no choice.

In the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, farmer Leo Tammi has several hundred sheep. His dogs help him control and protect the flock of sheep. But the dogs are not always available. So he uses llamas.

Whenever anything enters the fields, they know about it. He says their natural interest, and willingness to face almost anything that comes near, is enough to scare away a shy animal like a coyote.

Their size also helps. Llamas can weigh as much as one hundred thirty-six kilograms. And they look something like a small horse -- a funny looking horse with a lot of fine, soft fur. Llamas are not vicious animals. However, if they are not around people at a very young age, they will not like to be touched. In many ways a llama is just as defenseless

as a sheep. But llamas have a secret weapon. They spit.

When they get angry, they spit out the contents of their stomachs. The result looks and smells terrible.

Llamas really know how to make a statement. In fact, you can find examples of llama sounds on the Internet -- just remember that llama is spelled with two Ls, L-L-A-M-A. If they sense a threat, they make an alarm sound. This is what a male sounds like:

(SOUND)

And this is a female alarm call.

(SOUND)

Llamas are New World camelids along with alpacas, vicunas and guanacos. Camelids are a family of animals that also include the camels and dromedaries of Africa and Asia.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. To see a video report about llamas, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.#04 - Petroleum: A Short History of Black Gold1. Petroleum was used in ancient times for making roads.cars.rolls.

2. Petroleum comes from the remains of ancient times.plants and animals.dinosaurs and other animals.

3. Oil can also contain a lot of sulfur. True.False.The author doesn't say.

4. The modern history of oil started in 1800.1850.1980.

5. Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well in the US in 1815.1829.1859.

6. John D. Rockefeller entered the oil business in the early 1816.the early 1860s.1870.

7. The company Standard Oil was divided into 24 companies.34 companies.54 companies.

#05 - Want to Stay Warm in Winter? Think COLD1. Frostbite mainly happens on the legs.the lips.the ears.

2. If blood vessels are damaged, people can suffer an infection.remove fingers and toes.suffer hypothermia.

3. In the C.O.L.D. steps, the C stands for Cover.Cold.Caution.

4. Wet clothes and cold weather are a bad mix. True.False.The author doesn't say.

5. Wearing one layer on top of another is better than a single heavy layer of clothing. True.False.The author doesn't say.

6. Snow can enter through the legs.the wrist areas.the arms.

7. Eating snow is a good idea. True.False.The author doesn't say.

#06 - Schools Look to Save Money With Four-Day WeekThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.

As we said last week, American schools are looking for ways to save money on bus transportation because of high fuel

prices. More children may have to walk, ride their bikes or find other ways to get to school.

But, as another effect of the high prices, they may not have to go to school as often.

Some schools, especially in rural areas, are changing to a four-day week. That means longer days instead of the traditional Monday through Friday schedule.

Beginning in the fall, students in the Maccray school district in Minnesota will be in school Tuesday through Friday. Each school day will be sixty-five minutes longer.

Superintendent Greg Schmidt says the district expects to save about sixty-five thousand dollars a year in transportation costs. The district has about seven hundred students living in an area of nine hundred square kilometers.

State officials have approved the plan for three years. They may change their mind before then if learning suffers.

In Custer, South Dakota, students have been going to school Monday through Thursday since nineteen ninety-five. Superintendent Tim Creal says the change has saved an estimated one million dollars over just the past eight years.

But he sees other benefits, too. Students get more instructional time. And activities that used to interfere with classes are now held on non-school days.

He says that in the future, the growth of online classes could make it possible to require even fewer days in school. High fuel prices are driving college students to take more online classes. And in some states, high school students can take them, too.

A four-day school week sounds like a great idea for students and teachers. But working parents may have to pay for child care for that fifth day. In agricultural areas, though, it can mean an extra day of helping on the family ranch.

In New Mexico, the first school district changed to a four-day week in nineteen seventy-four because of the Arab oil boycott. Now, seventeen out of eighty-nine districts use it.

The Lake Arthur School District has just one hundred sixty students. Lake Arthur used a four-day schedule

for twelve years. But a few years ago it went back to five days.

Michael Grossman heads the district. He says two studies there failed to show any real educational improvement using the four-day week. And he says not much instruction was taking place during the last hour of school, because teachers and students were too tired.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.#07 - 'Summer Work/Travel' Brings Many Students to US

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

This week, we answer a question from a student in Odessa, Ukraine. Marushka wants to know about a program that lets foreign students work in the United States during their summer vacations.

The program is called Summer Work/Travel. The State Department administers it for full-time college or university students who speak English well.

Students come on a J-one exchange visa. They can work for up to four monthsduring their school break. They generally work in service jobs in stores, resorts, hotels, restaurants and amusement parks. But summer internships are also permitted.

"Summer" in this case means summer in the student's country. Those from south of the equator come to the United States during the northern winter.

Students cannot work as housekeepers in private homes or be involved in patient care. And they are supposed to be paid the same as Americans.

Congress created this popular program under a nineteen sixty-one law, the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act. Last year, one hundred fifty thousand students came to the United States this way.

Students can do the Summer Work/Travel program more than once.

Sally Lawrence heads the State Department office responsible for the program. She says students should begin to gather information a year before they want to travel.

More than fifty organizations are approved to act as sponsors. Sally Lawrence advises students to avoid unapproved groups offering services, and to research a few different sponsors.

Sponsors must confirm the English language ability of students and make sure they are currently in school. But sponsors do not all charge the same price for their services.

Another difference: some sponsors arrange employment and housing for students before they leave home. Others permit students to find their own jobs after they arrive.

Sally Lawrence says the first thing to do is to find the list of sponsors on the Web page for J visa exchange programs.

The address is a little long, but here it is: exchanges.state.gov/education/jexchanges. Click on Designated Sponsor List, then choose Summer Work/Travel under Category Description. For more information about the program, go to the main page and click on Private Sector Programs.

To make it easier, we'll post a link at voaspecialenglish.com. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

#08 - Among Vitamins, D Seems Short for 'Does a Lot'This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Vitamin D helps bones and muscles grow strong and healthy. Low levels of vitamin D can lead to problems such as rickets, a deformity mainly found in children. Osteoporosis, the thinning of bone, is a common problem as people, especially women, get older.

But more and more research is suggesting that vitamin D might also help prevent many diseases.

The easiest way to get vitamin D is from sunlight. The sun's ultraviolet rays react with skin cells to produce vitamin D. But many people worry about getting skin cancer and skin damage from the sun. As a result they cover their skin or wear sunblock or stay out of the sun.Also, darker skinned people produce less vitamin D than lighter skinned people. Production also decreases in older people and those living in northern areas that get less sunlight.

Not many foods naturally contain vitamin D. Foods high in this vitamin include oily fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel, and fish liver oils.

Boston University researchers reported last year that farmed salmon had only about one-fourth as much vitamin D as wild salmon.

Small amounts of D are found in beef liver, cheese and egg yolks. And some people take dietary supplements containing the vitamin. But most of the vitamin D in the American diet comes from foods with D added, like milk.

In nineteen ninety-seven, the United States Institute of Medicine established levels for how much vitamin D healthy people need. It set the daily amount at two hundred international units from birth through age fifty. It set the level at four hundred I.U.s through age seventy, and six hundred for age seventy-one and over.

But some groups say these amounts are not high enough. They are hoping that the new research findings will lead to new recommendations.

Research in the last several years has shown that low levels of vitamin D may increase the risk of heart attacks in men and deaths from some cancers. Other studies have shown that people with rheumatic diseases often have low levels of vitamin D.

More doctors are now having their patients tested for their vitamin D levels. But as research continues, some experts worry that if people take too much vitamin D, it might act as a poison. Also, skin doctors warn people to be careful with sun exposure because of the risk of skin cancer.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.#09 - Farming Techniques That Will Feed a Family

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that poor countries will spend up to one hundred seventy billion dollars this year to import food. This is an increase of forty percent from last year. The United Nations agency says the rising price of food over the past year is a serious problem because most hungry people also live in poverty.

A humanitarian organization based in Washington, D.C. has a new anti-hunger project. Women for Women International is teaching poor women in Sudan and Rwanda a new food production system called commercial integrated farming. The women are trained to grow

crops that not only feed their families, but also earn them a profit.

Pat Morris is program director at Women for Women International. The group launched its commercial integrated farming program in Rwanda. Female farmers receive information about what kind of seeds to use, how to farm without chemicals and when to harvest. The program also provides business skills training. Mizz Morris says women being trained in Rwanda could more than triple the amount of money they earn from farming.

With integrated farming, the women raise animals and different crops on one piece of land. Animal waste provides fertilizer. Some of the crops can be used as animal feed. In Rwanda, the women have been able to grow traditional crops like bananas and sorghum grain along side higher-value crops, such as pineapples. A hectare of farmland in Rwanda used to earn about four hundred twenty dollars a year. But a family using integrated farming techniques on the same piece of land can earn as much as three thousand five hundred dollars a year.

Women for Women International works with local community partners to design and carry out its integrated farming program. Grace Fisiy is an agricultural business expert working in Rwanda and Sudan. She says the local media in both countries have helped educate people about integrated farming.

Women for Women International plans to train at least three thousand women in Sudan and Rwanda. Mizz Fisiy hopes the program will expand to other countries as well.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. You can learn about the efforts of other groups working in developing countries at voaspecialenglish.com.

#10 - Food Safety After a FloodThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

People can get sick if they eat food touched by floodwaters. Floodwater may contain human and animal wastes, and other pollutants like agricultural and industrial chemicals.

After a flood, throw away anything not stored in a waterproof container if there was a chance of contact. That is the advice of food safety specialists at the United States Agriculture Department.

Food containers that are not waterproof, they say, include those with screw caps, snap lids, pull tops and crimped caps. Also throw away boxes of juice,

milk or baby formula if they have come into contact with floodwater.

The Minnesota Department of Health says to throw away anything in soft packaging. And the Extension Service at North Dakota State University says not to save plastic bags of food even if boxes and containers inside the bags appear dry.

Also, do not eat fresh produce from the garden if it has come in contact with floodwater. To be safe, have the soil tested.

The Extension Service also says to throw away screw-topped or crimp-topped jars and bottles even if they have never been opened.

Glass jars and bottles of home-canned foods should be thrown out as well. Experts say the containers cannot be effectively cleaned after a flood.

Throw away damaged metal cans or hard plastic containers. Do not use cans that are swollen or leaking, or that are rusted or crushed.

But experts say that some unopened, undamaged all-metal cans can be saved. First, remove any labels. The paper may contain dirt and germs from the floodwater. Wash the cans with soap and water, and brush or wipe away dirt. Use hot water and water that is safe for drinking if they are available.

Next, place the cans again in water and heat the water to one hundred degrees Celsius. Boil the cans for two minutes.

Another way to disinfect them is in a freshly made solution of chlorine bleach. Use one tablespoon of unscented liquid bleach for every four liters of water. Use drinking water or the cleanest, clearest water available. Place the cans in the solution for fifteen minutes.

Once cans are clean, let them air-dry for at least one hour before opening or storing them. Relabel them with a marking pen to list their contents and any dates when they are best used by. Experts advise using the cans as soon as possible.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.

#11 - Australia Aims for Cleaner CoalThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Australia wants to show that existing power stations can be refitted to burn coal in a much cleaner way. A demonstration project will seek to develop new technology over the next four years that makes it easier to capture carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the main gas that many scientists say helps cause global warming.

In traditional coal-fired power stations, the coal is burned in air in a big furnace and the carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. In the new system, the coal is burned in pure oxygen instead of air. The captured carbon dioxide gas is then made into a liquid and buried deep underground. The process is called geo-sequestration. The operators of the project in the northern state of Queensland say it is the first of its kind in the world. Australian and Japanese companies are supporting the project, and the Australian government is paying for part of it.

Geoff Wilson is the mines and energy minister in Queensland. He says the new system will sharply reduce the amount of carbon released from the coal-fired process and make it easier to store.

The International Energy Agency has said that clean coal technology could help reduce the release of greenhouse gases by one-fourth. But a spokeswoman for the environmental group Friends of the Earth says the technology has very limited promise to cut emissions in the short term.

Critics say the technology is unproven. And they say it will not guarantee that Australia will be able to reduce emissions in the future. Australia releases more greenhouse gases per person than almost any other country in the world. Its emissions come mainly from coal burned for electricity.

On November fifteenth, thousands of Australians in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities joined a yearly protest called "Walk Against Warming." They called for renewable energy.

Scientists warn that the Australian continent could suffer more severe dryperiods, floods and storms as a result of climate change.

For years the government refused to sign the Kyoto treaty limiting greenhouse gas emissions. But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the protocol as his first act in office following his election last year. He has made action on climate change an important part of his environment policy.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report. Transcripts and MP3s of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

#12 - Finding Uses for Marginal LandsThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

We have a question from Jonah Ojowu in Benue State, Nigeria, about a subject we have discussed in the past. Jonah is a postgraduate student in soil and watermanagement at the University of Agriculture in Makurdi. He would like information about the management of marginal lands. "Marginal" lands might have lowquality soil. Or they might be on a hillside that rises sharply. Or they might be in an area that gets limited rainfall. In any case, they are the last to be planted under good conditions and the first to be avoided under bad conditions.

But there are uses for marginal lands. Most often they are used as grasslands for cattle, sheep or goats. A farmer might use native grasses or non-native seed. Either way, it is important to establish good ground cover to avoid the loss of soil through erosion.

Forage crops like clover and alfalfa could be planted. These members of the legume family provide high protein food for grazing animals. They also improve the quality of the soil.

Most plants use up nitrogen. Legumes put nitrogen back into the soil. Forage crops also help reduce erosion of the soil.

But using marginal land for grazing is not as simple as it might sound. Cattle can damage forage crops by eating down to the roots. Also, their weight crushes the soil. That can make the ground too hard for growing.

A way to reduce the damage from overgrazing is to move animals from one field to another. Experts say rotational grazing like this is extremely important for marginal land. We will talk more about rotational grazing next week.

Another use for marginal land is for tree crops. Trees help support the soil. They reduce the damaging effects of wind and rain. And they can provide grazing animals with shade from the sun.

Studies have shown that the white pine and loblolly pine are two kinds of trees that grow well on marginal land. They grow fast and provide good quality wood. Another kind to consider is the poplar. And there are slower-growing trees like the black walnut that provide a nut crop as well as wood.

Marginal lands need care. Failing to take that care might only make a bad situation worse. But good planning can

turn a marginal resource into a highly productive one.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Mario Ritter. Archives are at voaspecialenglish.com, where you can also contact us with questions that we might be able to answer on our program. I'm Steve Ember.

#13 - Got Milk? How to Make YogurtThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Yogurt is a healthy food that can be made at home. One way to make it is to first buy some yogurt from a store or purchase dry yogurt culture. Add two small spoonfuls of the yogurt to two cups of milk. This will be the starter for your own yogurt. A cup in the United States is two hundred forty milliliters.

When making yogurt, it is very important to have clean equipment, clean hands and good temperature control.

Pour eight cups of milk into a large cooking pot. Heat the milk to eighty-five degrees Celsius. Then cool the milk quickly to forty-three degrees. To do this, you can put the cooking pot in cool water.

Keep the yogurt at forty-three degrees and add one-half cup of the starter. The remaining starter can be kept for later use. If you want a thicker yogurt, you can also add one-third of a cup of dry milk.

Cover the pot and keep it at a temperature of forty to forty-five degrees Celsius for four to six hours. After that, your homemade yogurt is ready. It can be left at room temperature for up to twelve hours if you like a stronger taste.

You can add fruit, nuts, honey or spices.

Yogurt can be made with milk from cows or other animals including goats, sheep, water buffalo and camels. It can be spelled y-o-g-u-r-t or y-o-g-h-u-r-t. More information on yogurt making can be found at Web sites such as practicalanswers.org.

Now, from yogurt, we move on to another ancient and related food -- cheese.

Parmigiano-Reggiano is the king of Italy's cheeses. People worldwide use it on pasta and other foods. The traditional Italian cheese is produced on several hundred

farms around the northern city of Parma.

Cheese makers age it for at least twelve months in large rounds called wheels.

Parmigiano-Reggiano producers say now they are struggling with the financial crisis. Sales of the cheese and a lower-priced version, Grana Padano, are down in Italy. Prices for producers have dropped. And low-priced copies are on the market.

Now comes a rescue plan for the industry. Italy's government has made available enough money to buy two hundred thousand wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Charitable organizations then will give the cheese -- more than sixty million dollars' worth -- to poor people.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Karen Leggett with additional reporting by Sabina Castelfranco in Parma.

#14 - Teens, Television, and DepressionThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A new study suggests that the more teenagers watch television, the more likely they are to develop depression as young adults. But the extent to which TV may or may not be to blame is a question that the study leaves unanswered.

The researchers used a national long-term survey of adolescent health to investigate the relationship between media use and depression. They based their findings on more than four thousand adolescents who were not depressed when the survey began in nineteen ninety-five.

As part of the survey, the young people were asked how many hours of television or videos they watched daily. They were also asked how often they played computer games and listened to the radio.

Media use totaled an average of five and one-half hours a day. More than two hours of that was spent watching TV.

Seven years later, in two thousand two, more than seven percent of the young people had signs of depression. The average age at that time was twenty-one.

Brian Primack at the University of Pittsburgh medical school was the lead author of the new study. He says every extra hour of television meant an eight percent increase in the chances of developing signs of depression.

The researchers say they did not find any such relationship with the use of other media such as movies, video games or radio. But the study did find that young men were more likely than young women to develop depression given the same amount of media use.

Doctor Primack says the study did not explore if watching TV causesdepression. But one possibility, he says, is that it may take time away from activities that could help prevent depression, like sports and socializing. It might also interfere with sleep, he says, and that could have an influence.

The study was just published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

In December, the journal Social Indicators Research published a study of activities that help lead to happy lives. Sociologists from the University of Maryland found that people who describe themselves as happy spend less time watching television than unhappy people. The study found that happy people are more likely to be socially active, to read, attend religious services and to vote.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. For archives of our reports, go to voaspecialenglish.com.

#15 - Making a Solar Water HeaterThis is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Solar water heaters are devices that use energy from the sun to heat water. Solar water heating is used around the world.

The solar water heater described here is based on a design developed some years ago in Afghanistan. Since then, it has been built and used in many countries. It can heat seventy liters of water to sixty degrees Celsius. It can do this between sunrise and noon on a clear day with an average outside temperature of thirty-two degrees Celsius.

There are two parts to the solar water heater. One part is made of a sheetof metal painted black. This metal surface, placed in contact with the water, will heat the water. Black-painted surfaces that receive the sun's heat become hotter than surfaces of any other color.

The black metal plate is called a collector. There are several kinds of metal sheets that can be used for the collector. Metal sheets that have raised sections will work very well. These corrugated sheets often are used to make the roofs of houses.

Once the water is heated, it is kept hot with material called insulation. This allows the water to stay warm

for a long time.

The second part of the solar water heater holds the water for the system. This storage tank can be a container that holds about one hundred liters. Two rubber pipes are attached to the water storage tank. One pipe lets water flow into the system. The other lets water flow out.

When the water heater is working correctly, water will flow from the storage tank to the collector and back again. You can use the hot water at the top of the tank for washing and cleaning. You can change the flow of water so that the temperature is hot or warm as desired.

This solar water heater is easy to build and operate. It will last about two years before the rubber pipes need to be replaced.

There is also something else you will need to make the solar water heater work -- the sun. As you might expect, the heater will heat water only on sunny days.

You can get more information about projects like solar water heaters from EnterpriseWorks/VITA. This nonprofit group works to fights poverty in many countries. The Web site is enterpriseworks.org. Choose the link for News & Resources, then click on Publications.

Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report. I'm Steve Ember.#16 - Rural Areas of Kenya Get Connected to the Web

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Some young engineers from the United States have brought the Internet to several areas of rural Kenya.

Their idea was to connect the communities to the Web by satellite. But there was a problem. The areas are not even connected to Kenya's electric power supply. The answer: solar panels. Energy from the sun powers the satellite dishes and computers that link the areas with the world outside.

Kelly Moran, Joan Ervin and Trisha Donajkowski spent ten days in Kenya in November. The women recently earned master's degrees in space systems engineering from the University of Michigan.

Another engineer, Drew Heckathorn, did not go to Africa but worked on parts of the project.

Kelly Moran says there was excitement when the team would arrive to connect communities to the Internet. People would sometimes run alongside the car carrying the engineers to welcome

them. And local residents would offer to help the team build the Internet stations.

People now have access to educational, medical and all kinds of other information. Farmers, for example, can easily find weather, crop and price information online.

The project began back at the college of engineering in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in two thousand seven. That was when twenty-five students in a class taught by Thomas Zurbuchen first talked about the idea.

The goal was to test whether Internet stations could be set up, how much they would cost, and how long they could operate. But the engineers also had to consider others things -- like social needs. Students from the public health and business schools offered advice.

The young engineers also had to design the equipment to survive the heat in Africa. Professor Zurbuchen praises his former students for "making something work in a different climate far away from home."

Google paid for the final design of the equipment. The company is also supporting the costs of the satellite bandwidth needed for the connections. Google has invested in a new company that wants to put up a system of satellites over Africa. The availability of more satellites would reduce the costs.

Just five percent of Africans have Internet connections. The International Telecommunication Union says one-third of Kenyans have mobile phones. But mobile phones may or may not work well with the Internet.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts and MP3s of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

#17 - Home Gardening: What to Do About LeadThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Soil naturally contains harmless amounts of lead, along with other metals. Because of pollution, however, the amounts are higher the closer you get to cities and towns. But experts say this should not stop gardeners from growing food if they take safety measures.

David Johnson is a chemistry professor in the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He explains that lead can enter the ground from leaded paint and leaded fuel and from industry.

And once lead gets into the soil, it stays a long time

. It remains an environmental threat especially to children. Lead can harm mental and physical development even in babies before they are born.

If a test finds that soil has too much lead, you might be advised to remove the soil or cover it with sod grass. Different countries have different levels that they consider acceptable.

Carl Rosen of the University of Minnesota Extension notes that concerns about lead have increased now that more people are planting gardens. But Professor Rosen says plants generally do not absorb much lead. He says there is likely more risk from lead dust on plants or from playing in the soil than from the plant itself.

Still, some plants do absorb more than others. Experts say good choices for the garden include tomatoes, peppers, beans and okra. Among the plants that can absorb more contaminants, they say, are root crops, leafy vegetables and herbs. If you grow carrots, for example, you might want to peel them. Dirt may be harder to remove from some crops than from others. But all produce should be washed.

Gardens should be planted away from roads and structures, especially old buildings. Home gardeners should plant away from the foundation of their house. And lead amounts can be especially high near industrial areas and waste dumps.

Soil should also be tested for its pH level, a measure of the acid and alkaline balance. Experts say the ability to take up lead is reduced when the pH level is above six and a half. Adding organic material such as compost to soil can also make lead less available to plants.

Some people attempt a process called phytoremediation. They try to remove lead from soil by growing certain plants that collect it. But Professor Rosen says the process is complex and may not work.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more gardening information, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

#18 - Going Digital: The Future of College Textbooks?This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

The average college student in America spent an estimated seven hundreddollars on textbooks last year. The National Association of College Stores reported more than five billion dollars in sales of textbooks and course materials.

Association spokesman Charles Schmidt says electronic textbooks now represent just two to three percent of

sales. But he says that is expected to reach ten to fifteen percent by two thousand twelve.

Online versions are now available for many of the most popular college textbooks. E-textbooks can cost half the price of a new print textbook. But students usually lose access after the end of the term. And the books cannot be placed on more than one device, so they are not easy to share.

So what do students think of e-textbooks? Administrators at Northwest Missouri State University wanted to find out. Earlier this year they tested them with five hundred students in twenty classes.

The university is unusual. It not only provides laptop computers to all seven thousand of its full-time students. It does not require students to buy their textbooks either. They rent them to save money. The school aims to save even more by moving to e-textbooks.

The students in the survey reported that downloading the books from the Internet was easy. They liked the idea of carrying lighter backpacks. And fifty-six percent said they were better able to find information.

But most found that using e-textbooks did not change their study habits. And sixty percent felt they read more when they were reading on paper. In all, almost half the students said they still liked physical textbooks better.

But the survey found that cost could be a big influence. Fifty-five percent said they would choose e-textbooks if using them meant their textbook rental fee would not increase.

Roger Von Holzen heads the Center for Information Technology in Education at Northwest Missouri State. He tells us that administrators are disappointed with the e-textbooks now available because the majority are not interactive.

He thinks growth will come when more digital books include video, activities, games and other ways to interact with the information. The technology is improving. But for now, most of the books are just words on a screen.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. What do you think of e-textbooks? Share your thoughts at voaspecialenglish.com, where you can also find our reports. I'm Steve Ember.

#19 - Study Finds More Trees on Farms Than Was ThoughtThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Farmers, especially in developing countries, are often criticized for cuttingdown forests. But a new study suggests that many farmers recognize the value in keeping trees.

Researchers using satellite images found at least ten percent tree cover on more than one billion hectares of farmland. That is almost half the farmland in the world.

The World Agroforestry Center in Kenya led the study. The findings were reported last week in Nairobi at the second World Congress of Agroforestry.

Earlier estimates were much lower but incomplete. The authors of the new study say it may still underestimate the true extent worldwide.

The study found the most tree cover in South America. Next comes Africa south of the Sahara, followed by Southeast Asia. North Africa and West Asia have the least.

The study found that climate conditions alone could not explain the amount of tree cover in different areas. Nor could the size of nearby populations, meaning people and trees can live together.

There are areas with few trees but also few people, and areas with many trees and many people. The findings suggest that things like land rights, markets or government policies can influence tree planting and protection.

Dennis Garrity heads the World Agroforestry Center. He says farmers are acting on their own to protect and plant trees. The problem, he says, is that policy makers and planners have been slow to recognize this and to support such efforts.

The satellite images may not show what the farmers are using the trees for, but trees provide nuts, fruit, wood and other products. They provide windbreaks and shade from the sun. They also help prevent soil loss and protect water supplies. Even under drought conditions, trees can often provide food and a way to earn money until the next growing season.

The important thing, says one expert, is to find the right tree for the right place for the right use.

Some trees act as natural fertilizers. They take nitrogen out of the air and put it in the soil. Scientists at the Agroforestry Center say the use of fertilizer trees can

reduce the need for chemical nitrogen by up to three-fourths. And they say it can double or triple crop production.

Trees also capture carbon dioxide, a gas linked to climate change.

Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She says the study shows that trees are critical to agricultural production everywhere.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Jim Tedder.#20 - In the US, the New Look of Gas Exploration

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Many people think the search for cleaner energy leads only to renewable resources like sun, wind and water. But it also leads to a fossil fuel. Natural gas is considered the cleanest of the fossil fuels, the fuels created by plant and animal remains over millions of years.

Burning it releases fewer pollutants than oil or coal. The gas is mainly methane. It produces half the carbon dioxide of other fossil fuels. So it may help cut the production of carbon gases linked to climate change.

Russia is first in what are called "proved reserves" of natural gas. The United States is sixth. Over the years, big oil and gas companies recovered much of the easily reached supplies of gas in America. They drilled straight down into formations where gas collects. As these supplies were used up, big drillers looked for similar formations in other countries.

But now the industry is taking a new look. Companies are developing gas supplies trapped in shale rock two to three thousand meters underground. They drill down to the shale, then go sideways and inject high-pressure water, sand or other material into the rock.

This causes the rock to break, or fracture, releasing the gas. Huge fields of gas shale are believed to lie under the Appalachian Mountains, Michigan and the south-central states.

Gas shale exploration is being done mainly by small to medium sized companies.

Eric Potter is a program director in the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin.

ERIC POTTER: "The types of opportunities that are left for natural gas exploration in the U.S. have changed. So it's a different class of resource -- not as easy to develop, and not even recognized as something worth pursuing, say, twenty years ago."

He says more than half the gas in the United States is now coming from these new reserves.

But hydraulic fracturing can also produce debate and anger over the risk of groundwater pollution. This method of drilling is not federally supervised under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Some in Congress want to end that exemption from the law.

Natural gas provides Americans with about one-fourth of their energy. And, unlike oil, most of it is produced in America. Gas producers invested heavily in reaching new supplies when prices were high. But prices are down sharply now because the recession cut demand for energy. So energy expert Eric Potter says it is too early to know how the new gas shale reserves will affect the market.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.#21 - Two Studies Give a Lift to Running Barefoot

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Two new studies suggest that modern running shoes could increase the risk of injuries to runners.

One study involved sixty-eight healthy young women and men who ran at least twenty-four kilometers a week. The runners were observed on a treadmill machine. Sometimes they wore running shoes. Other times they

ran barefoot.

Researchers from the JKM Technologies company in Virginia, the University of Virginia and the University of Colorado did the study.

They found that running shoes create more stress that could damage knees, hips and ankle joints than running barefoot. They observed that the effect was even greater than the effect reported earlier for walking in high heels.

The study appeared in the official scientific journal of the American Academy of Physical Medicine.

The other study appeared in the journal Nature. It compared runners in the United States and Kenya. The researchers were from Harvard University in Massachusetts, Moi University in Kenya and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

They divided the runners into three groups. One group had always run shoeless. Another group had always run with shoes. And the third group had changed to shoeless running.

Runners who wear shoes usually come down heel first. That puts great forceon the back of the foot. But the study found that barefoot runners generally land on the front or middle of their foot.

That way they ease into their landing and avoid striking their heel.

Harvard's Daniel Lieberman led the study. He says the way most running shoes are designed may explain why those who wear them land on their heels. The heel of the shoe is

bigger and heavier than other parts of the shoe, so it would seem more likely to come down first. Also, the heel generally has

thick material under it to soften landings.

But the researchers do not suggest that runners immediately start running barefoot. They say it takes some training. And there can be risks, like running when your feet are too cold to feel if you get injured.

The study was partly supported by Vibram, which makes a kind of footwear that it says is like running barefoot. The findings have gotten a lot of attention. But the researchers say there are many problems in the way the

press has reported on their paper. So they have tried to explain their findings on a Harvard Web site. For a link, go to

voaspecialenglish.com.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.#22 - Some Advice on Choosing a College

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Last week, we told you that the number of foreign students in the United States had reached an all-time high. More than six hundred seventy-one thousand foreign students attended an American college or university during the last school year. So says the latest report from the Institute of International Education.

Many international students choose large schools. But a growing number of them are attending smaller ones.

Douglas Bennett is the president of Earlham College, a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana, that actively seeks foreign students.

DOUGLAS BENNETT: "We're a small college, just twelve hundred students. But about fifteen percent of our undergraduates come from homes outside the United States, which is astronomically high for an American college or university."

Doug Bennett has written several articles aimed at helping students choose a college that best fits their needs. He says one of the important things to consider is the size of a school. He says Earlham College is small for a reason.

DOUGLAS BENNETT: "We aren't that small because we couldn't be bigger. We're that small because we think we educate much more effectively and much more powerfully because we stay small. It stretches everyone more. It draws everyone into more different kinds of activities."

Of course, there are also good arguments for attending a larger school. Many big schools are widely recognized. And in some cases that might lead to more job interviews than a degree from a lesser known college. Larger schools also have more money, which can mean more resources for education, recreation and research.

In addition to size, Douglas Bennett says there are other important things to consider. For example: Which programs at the school are the strongest? Some schools have stronger programs in the sciences. Others are stronger in the liberal arts.

Also, what do the school's top students go on to do after they graduate? What kinds of activities are offered that might add to the educational experience? Are there sports teams? What about a radio station or newspaper?

Something else to consider is the kinds of services that a school offers for international students.

But Earlham College President Douglas Bennett says one choice tops all others.

DOUGLAS BENNETT: "The most important choice you make in going to college is who you choose to be yourself. If you're prepared to bring your best self to college, then it hardly matters where you go to college. On the other hand, if you choose not to be very motivated, not to be very responsible, not to be prepared to work very hard, you probably won't get a good education."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by June Simms. You can find transcripts and MP3s of our reports -- including our Foreign Student Series -- at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can follow us on Twitter and YouTube at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

#23 - Deforestation Decreased Over the Past 10 YearsThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says deforestation has decreased over the past ten years. But it still continues at a high rate in many countries. Deforestation is mainly caused by the cutting down of tropical forests to provide land for agriculture. The world's total forest area is just over four billion hectares. About thirteen million hectares of forest were cut down or lost through natural causes each year in the last ten years. This compares with about sixteen million hectares per year during the nineteen nineties.

The FAO study covers two hundred thirty-three countries and areas. The study found that Brazil and Indonesia have reduced their deforestation rates. The two countries had the highest loss of forests in the nineteen nineties. In addition, the study noted tree-planting programs in countries such as China, India, Vietnam and the United States. These programs, along with natural

expansion of forests in some areas, have added more than seven million hectares of new forests each year.

South America and Africa had the highest yearly loss of forests during the last ten years. South America lost four million hectares. Africa lost almost three and a half million hectares. However, Asia gained more than two million hectares a year in the last decade. In North America and Central America, the forest area remained about the same. In Europe, it continued to expand, but at a slower rate than earlier.

Eduardo Rojas is assistant director-general of F.A.O.'s Forestry Department. He said for the first time, the rate of deforestation has decreased around the world. This is the result of efforts taken at local and international levels. Mister Rojas said countries have improved their forest policies and legislation. They have also provided forests for use by local communities and native peoples and for the protection of biological diversity. He said this is a welcome message in 2010 – the International Year of Biodiversity.

However, Mister Rojas said the rate of deforestation is still very high in many areas. He said countries must strengthen their efforts to better protect and manage their forests.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can find transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and captioned videos at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty.

#24 - National Standards for US Schools Gain Support From StatesThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Americans have never had national education standards. Goals for what publicschools should teach are set by state and local school boards. Their members are often elected.

But some Americans say the lack of national standards is wrong in a competitive global economy. Former president Bill Clinton said it was as if somehow school boards "could legislate differences in algebra or math or reading."

President George W. Bush and Congress expanded federal intervention. His education law, still in effect, required states to show yearly progress in student learning as measured by the states' own tests.

Now, the Obama administration supports what are known as the Common Core State Standards. These were developed in a year-long process led by state governors and chief state school officers. Texas and Alaska were the only states not to take part.

The standards are in two subject areas, English-language arts and mathematics. They establish goals for each year from kindergarten through grade twelve. The aim is for students to finish high school fully prepared for college and careers.

The developers considered standards in other countries, along with almost one hundred thousand public comments.

One way the Education Department is trying to persuade states is with money. States are competing to share in almost three and a half billion dollars as part of a school reform competition. They will earn extra points in the Race to the Top if they approve the standards by August second.

States are trying to recover from the recession. There are concerns that some could accept the standards and then lack the money to follow them.

The final standards were released June second. A new report say about half the states have approved them already.

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is an education group in Washington. It says the standards are clearer and stronger than those used in three-fourths of the states. But the comparison also found that existing English standards are "clearly stronger" in California, Indiana and the District of Columbia.

States that approve the new standards have a right to add up to fifteen percent of their own.

In California, the State Board of Education plans to vote on August second to accept or reject a new set of standards. These are based largely on the common core, but also existing California standards.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Avi Arditti. I'm Bob Doughty.#25 - Farming in the City: Joys of Growing Food

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

For many years, people in American cities have depended on farmers in rural areas to grow fruits and vegetables. But now a new generation of farmers is planting crops in urban areas.

Sean Conroe is a college student. Amber Banks is a teacher. They both grew up farming and gardening. Sean Conroe and Amber Banks wanted to start a farm in the middle of Seattle, Washington.

AMBER BANKS: "There are a lot of neighborhoods that don't have access to healthy, fresh produce. And if they do, it can be very expensive. So we see unused space as a great place to grow food that will make it more accessible for people."

Sean Conroe created a website to get volunteers and donations. Within a week, they were offered a plot of land between two houses. He says twenty volunteers worked for six weekends to turn the grassy land into a farm. They call their project Alleycat Acres.

SEAN CONROE: "We have spinach, onions, radish, lettuce and chard that's all ready to be harvested right now."

There are also carrots, green onions, peas, beans and turnips.

SEAN CONROE: "Broccoli, tomatillos and cucumbers which are all starting to pop up. And then strawberries."

The Alleycats have harvested about ninety kilograms of produce so far. They have donated most of it to local food banks that feed hungry people in Seattle.

Bridget Barni is sitting in the dirt picking lettuce. She is one of eighty people who are volunteering at this urban farm. Like a lot of the volunteers, she does not have much gardening experience.

One of the goals of the urban farm is to show city people the joys of growing food. The Alleycats invite school groups to the farm to help out. And Amber Banks says they want the same people who get food donations to learn how to work the soil.

Sean Conroe says Alleycat Acres is expanding to other empty areas of Seattle. So are a lot of other urban farming groups.

SEAN CONROE: "We'd like to expand as much as we can where there are empty lots that have ample amounts of sunlight, that have access to water and that have a community rallying around projects such as this."

Seattle has declared two thousand ten "The Year of Urban Agriculture." But the growth of these farms is limited. That is because Seattle, like a lot of other cities, has restrictions

on urban farms. The City Council is now considering changing those laws.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, by Ann Dornfeld. Support came from the Park Foundation, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation and the Great Lakes Fishery Trust. You can find more stories -- and post your comments -- at environmentreport.org. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty.

#26 - Pretty Flowers Lead Two Scientists to a DiscoveryThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Not all research begins with a plan. Some studies begin by accident. Meredith Schafer says that is what happened with her and Cynthia Sagers.

Cynthia Sagers is a biology professor at the University of Arkansas. Meredith Schafer is a graduate student.

They were traveling in the state of North Dakota on a project. They noticed pretty yellow flowers.

They recognized them as canola. Farmers grow canola for seeds to make cooking oil. Canola is also used for animal feed and biofuel.

But the canola plants they saw were not growing in farm fields. They were growing along the road.

The researchers decided to test the plants. They had brought along special testing papers for the project they were working on. They crushed some of the leaves in water and added the test strips.

The results showed that the weedy canola plants contained genetic changes. If a plant is genetically modified, that means its genes have been changed to produce desired qualities.

This summer, the researchers from Arkansas went back to North Dakota. This time they went on a road trip to find canola. They traveled more than five thousand kilometers.

They stopped about every eight kilometers to count plants and take samples to test in their vehicle.

What they found, they say, was the first discovery in the United States of wild canola plants with modified genes.

Meredith Schafer presented the findings at a recent meeting of the Ecological Society of America.

The scientists found canola plants in almost half of the places they investigated. They tested a total of two hundred eighty-eight plants. They found that eighty percent of those plants contained genes from genetically engineered canola.

Some crop plants are modified to resist damage from the chemicals that farmers spray to kill weeds. There are two proteins that can give canola the ability to resist two commonly used herbicides. One protein gives resistance against glyphosate. The other protein gives resistance against glufosinate.

Two of the plants growing in the wild showed resistance to both kinds of weed killers. Professor Sagers says canola varieties with these genetic qualities have not been released on the market. This suggests the result of wild populations reproducing on their own.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. You can read and listen to all of our programs and get podcasts at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Mario Ritter.

#27 - PC Recycler Strikes Gold in Old Computer ChipsThis is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

Each year, Americans throw away millions of tons of electronic devices. That means business is good for a small electronics recycler in Chantilly, Virginia.

Company President Jeremy Faber established PC Recycler. He spoke to us from the floor of his company's processing center. Workers were busy taking apart televisions, cell phones and computers -- anything electronic.

Jeremy Faber says the flow of discarded electronics is only increasing.

JEREMY FABER: “Electronics recycling is the fastest growing waste stream in the United States right now.”

Recycling electronic waste is not a single job. Newer devices can be rebuilt and resold. Breaking down electronics into small parts for refiners to melt and purify is another part of the business. Operations Manager Andrew Portare says computer circuit boards are rich resources.

ANDREW PORTARE: “Boards have the highest scrap value in them so you can actually see on the back you're looking at different types of metals. This one is a really good example. Some of the older ones are mainly all gold.”

Gold now sells for more than one thousand three hundred dollars an ounce. Twenty-five percent of PC Recycler's sales come from selling parts to refiners.

Refining companies pay more than ten dollars a kilogram for computer boards. PC Recycler can also lift profits by holding metal-rich parts until prices rise.

ANDREW PORTARE: “If copper's up one day, we can ship all of our copper extract and capitalize on the market.”

Computers also hold private or secret information. And securing that data is the fastest growing part of PC Recycler's business. Completely removing data from a computer hard drive is not easy. PC Recycler can remove data magnetically or completely destroy and recycle the drives.

Discarding waste in a way that meets government environmental protection rules is also important. Old TVs can contain over a kilogram of lead as well as cadmium -- both highly poisonous.

PC Recycler supports the Basel Action Network, which seeks to limit harmful waste and technology. The company says it does not export electronics to China, India or Africa where environmental rules are weak.

Jeremy Faber says PC Recycler has been in business since two thousand three, expanding from waste management to other, more technical services.

JEREMY FABER: “There really isn't a lot of industries out there that are like this. There's either the scrap industry where they're shredding cars and shredding tires and there's the refurbished PC market and we're sort of sit right in between both of those.”

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report. Go to voaspecialenglish.com and click on the Classroom to explore our new English teaching activities. I'm Mario Ritter.

#28 - Taking a Closer Look at the Future of Video ConferencingThis is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

High-quality systems used in video conferencing are called telepresence systems. The images are life-size yet not truly lifelike. They lack the depth that people would normally see if they were in the same room together. But this could change in the future with new kinds of three-dimensional telepresence systems.

Last week, we told you about a 3-D system at the University of Arizona. Researchers can send a moving image over the Internet and show it on a special screen in close to real time. People would not have to wear special glasses like they often need to watch 3-D movies.

The system uses a lot of cameras to take pictures of a person from different positions

. Lasers reproduce the pictures combined into three-dimensional images, or holograms. The image appears more realistic with the more cameras that are used and the more pictures that are taken.

Howard Lichtman is president of the Human Productivity Lab. His company advises other companies on buying and using telepresence systems. Mr. Lichtman also publishes Telepresence Options, which reports on the industry.

He says this latest development would have done wonders for the "Star Wars" movie with the famous "Princess Leia" hologram scene.

HOWARD LICHTMAN: "For Princess Leia to talk, Princess Leia needs to move and her mouth needs to move, etc. And you haven't been able to do that with a regular hologram because the hologram would only be fixed in one spot. What they're able to do is, they're able to refresh that image so that the image changes the same way a person changes when they talk."

The researchers in Arizona say their 3-D system is still years away from completion. Even then, Howard Lichtman says it may have trouble competing with systems already on the market.

Most telepresence systems are two-dimensional. But Mr. Lichtman says the images are very realistic.

HOWARD LICHTMAN: "It's a 2-D image, but it's crystal clear, photo realistic, fluid movement, accurate flesh tones, and you would swear you were in the same physical space with people who might be thousands of miles away."

He says prices for telepresence systems are going down as more people use the technology.

HOWARD LICHTMAN: "It's pushing down to everybody as these environments are becoming publicly available or you can rent them by the hour, and at the same time that you're getting very high quality, high definition video conferencing showing up on mobile devices and in the home delivered through the set-top box or through the PC."

A new eighteen-million-dollar project aims to create eleven telepresence centers for federal employees around the United States. The government is working with the AT&T company to save money and reduce pollution by reducing the need for travel.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. I'm Steve Ember.#29 - Looking to Robots and Other Technology to Improve Health Care

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

An organization called the World Future Society publishes a yearly report about how technology, the economy and society are influencing the world. Tim Mack heads the World Future Society. He says medicine is one area of growth.

TIM MACK: “I was surprised by the enormous growth in medical technology.”

Mr. Mack says the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology are working together to create new ways to help patients. These include better ways to provide medicine and identify disease without invasive operations.

Mr. Mack also says developments in artificial intelligence could lead to a future where disabled patients could be cared for by a voice-activated robot.

The World Future Society also publishes The Futurist magazine. Every year it examines developments in technology and other areas to predict the future. The magazine released the top ten predictions from the Outlook 2011 report.

Several of the predictions dealt with technology. The report said Internet search engines will soon include both text and spoken results. It said television broadcasts and other recordings could be gathered using programs developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis.

Outlook 2011 also examined refuse collection. It said industrial nations will send much more waste to developing countries. This will cause protests in those countries. In about fifteen years, developing countries will stop accepting foreign waste. This will force industrial nations to develop better waste-to-energy programs and recycling technologies.

The report also had a prediction about education. It said young people use technologies for socializing as well as working and learning. So they solve problems more as teams instead of competing. In this way, social networking is supporting different kinds of learning outside the classroom.

The World Future Society also predicts that robots will be able to carry out mental commands from human beings. Scientists have shown that individuals can type by using their brains without physically touching computer keyboards. In the near future, experts say brain e-mailing and “tweeting” will become more common.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report. You can find scripts and audio of our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. We are also on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at VOA learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

#30 - A Fatter World, Yet Fewer Cases of High Blood PressureThis is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Last week a study of one hundred ninety-nine countries and territories confirmed what many people may have already noticed. People around the world are getting fatter. The study found that obesity has almost doubled since nineteen eighty.

Majid Ezzati at Imperial College London led the research team. He says the results show that obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are no longer just found in wealthy nations. These are now worldwide problems.

The study appeared in the Lancet. It shows that in two thousand eight, almost ten percent of men were obese. That was up from about five percent in nineteen eighty. That same year, almost eight percent of women were obese. By two thousand eight, the rate of obesity among women was almost fourteen percent.

Obesity is commonly measured by body mass index, or BMI. This is a measure of a person's weight in relation to height. A person with a BMI of twenty-five to twenty-nine is considered overweight. The World Health Organization defines obesity as a body mass index of thirty or more.

Pacific island nations have an average BMI of around thirty-five -- the highestin the world.

But the study found that the United States had the single highest average among wealthy countries. Men and women had an average BMI of over twenty-eight. New Zealand was next. Japan had the lowest, at about twenty-two for women and twenty-four for men.

The report had some good news, however, about high blood pressure,. The percentage of people with this major cause of heart attacks and strokes has fallen since nineteen eighty. Dr. Ezzati credits improved testing and treatment in wealthy countries. He says a decrease in the use of salt and unhealthful fats probably also helped.

In the United States, new guidelines urge Americans to reduce salt, sugar and fatty meats and to eat more fish and whole grains. People are being urged to choose water over sugared drinks and to make fruits and vegetables half of a meal. But whatever they eat, Americans are being urged to follow new advice from the government: eat less.

Lynn Goldman, dean of public health at George Washington University, praised the dietary guidelines released last week.

LYNN GOLDMAN: "This is a call to go back to older ways of eating, to eating whole foods, whole grains, fruits and

vegetables, more healthy foods. And hopefully these guidelines will be noticed worldwide and people will take steps to both increase their physical activity and to eat healthier."

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Steve Ember.#31 - Living in a World With Facial Recognition

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

A new study looks at privacy in a world where computers can increasingly recognize faces in a crowd or online. Alessandro Acquisti at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, led the study.

Professor Acquisti says social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn represent some of the world's largest databases of identities. He sees increasing threats to privacy in facial recognition software and cloud computing -- the ability to store huge amounts of information in data centers.

ALESSANDRO ACQUISTI: "The convergence of all these technologies -- face recognition, social networks, cloud computing -- and all these advances in statistical re-identification techniques and data mining are creating this world where you can blend together online and offline data. You can start from an anonymous face and end up with sensitive inferences about that person.”

Recognition systems measure things like the size and position of a nose, the distance between the eyes and the shape of cheekbones. The software compares lots of images to try to identify the person. This is what the professor means by "statistical re-identification techniques."

Facial recognition programs are used in police and security operations. But the software is increasingly popular in other uses, including social media sites.

For the study, the Carnegie Mellon team used software from Pittsburg Pattern Recognition, or PittPat. Google bought that company last month. The software can recognize faces in photos and videos.

The researchers did three experiments. First, they collected profile photos from a dating website. Its users try to protect their privacy by not listing their real name. But comparing their photos to pictures on Facebook identified one out of ten

people.

In the second experiment, the Carnegie Mellon researchers asked permission to take pictures of students on campus. They compared these to photos on Facebook. This time they correctly identified one-third of the students.

In the third experiment, they tried to see how much they could learn about people just from a photo. They found not only names but birthdates, personal interests and even locations, when people listed them. And Professor Acquisti says the technology is only improving.

ALESSANDRO ACQUISTI: “Because face recognizers keep improving accuracy, because cloud computing keeps offering more power, and because more and more images of ourselves are going to be online, we are getting really close to this future where what we did as a proof of concept will be possible to do by anyone on a massive scale.”

In June, Facebook launched a facial recognition system to help users "tag" or list the names of people in photos. Germany last month became the first country to declare this software an illegal violation of privacy.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. Share your thoughts about privacy and technology at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

#32 - How a Small Change in Teaching May Create Better ReadersThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to preschool children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.

The two-year study compared children who were read to this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.

Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most preschool teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read storybooks in class. The only difference would be increasedattention to the printed text.

Ms. Piasta says if you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling. But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.

The report appears in the journal Child Development.

More than three hundred children age four and five were observed in classrooms in Ohio and Virginia. The children came from poor families and were below averagein their language skills. This put them at risk for reading problems later.

For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR, for Sit Together And Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to preschool children in their classrooms.

Laura Justice at Ohio State was an investigator for the study. She heads the Preschool Language and Literacy Laboratory. She says one of the areas that interests researchers is known as the "locus of learning."

LAURA JUSTICE: "Where is it that a child learns something? Where is that space? We think we have identified it pretty well in terms of fostering some children's knowledge about print."

Professor Justice says this knowledge can be gained by having focused discussions when reading a book to a child.

LAURA JUSTICE: "We think we understand how information about print is transmitted from the adult to the child. And we think we have centered on this intervention that really helps adults center in on the things that children need and want to learn."

There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word: "This is 'dog.'" They can discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print -- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Bob Doughty.#33 - Worried That People Are Laughing at You?

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Imagine this situation. You pass a group of people. The people are talking

to each other. You cannot hear what they are saying. But suddenly they start laughing. What would you think? Would you think they were laughing at something funny that one of them said? Or -- be honest with yourself -- would you think they were laughing at you? Yes, you.

Being laughed at is a common fear. But a major study published in two thousand nine found that this fear is not the same around the world. It differs from culture to culture.

People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Less than ten percent of Finns in the study said they would think that, compared to eighty percent of people in Thailand.

Some people in the study said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations but hid their feelings of insecurity. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before.

The study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia were more likely to be in the first group. They would hide their feelings of insecurity if they were around other people's laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan were more likely to try to avoid such situations if they felt they had been laughed at before.

Shy people often avoid situations that would force them into close contactwith other people. They worry that something they say or do will make other people laugh at them. But some people worry much more than others. They may have a disorder called gelotophobia. Gelos is a Greek word. It means laughter. Phobia means fear. This fear of laughter can be truly sad for those who live with it. It can affect how they lead their lives.

In the study, a team from the University of Zurich led more than ninetyresearchers from around the world. They wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another purpose of the study was to compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures. The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people in forty-two different languages. The findings appeared in the scientific journal Humor.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. Is shyness a serious problem for you or someone you know? It was for a university student who asked people in our audience for advice on how to deal with it. You can find out

what they said at voaspecialenglish.com -- where you can also read, listen and learn English with our stories. I'm Faith Lapidus.

#34 - Tomato's Genetic Secrets Are Peeled AwayThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Scientists have made a genetic map of the tomato. Tomatoes are second only to potatoes as the world's most valuable vegetable crop. Eight years of work went into making the map, or genome. Three hundred scientists around the world took part in the project to sequence the tomato's DNA code. Giovanni Giuliano, a researcher in Italy, is part of the Tomato Genome Consortium.

GIOVANNI GIULIANO: "We started as ten countries and we now are fourteen."

Mr. Giuliano says having the tomato's genetic map will help growers who are always trying to produce a better tomato.

GIOVANNI GIULIANO: "And of course, this will be facilitated now by the fact that we now know not only what genes are there, but their order."

Researchers published the genome of a tomato used by Heinz, the American food company famous for its tomato ketchup. The thick sauce is used on hamburgers, hot dogs and other foods.

Heinz's research manager, Rich Ozminkowski, says the company knows what it wants in a tomato.

RICH OZMINKOWSKI: "Traits like sugars and, for Heinz, viscosity, or the juice thickness, and the redness of the tomatoes are all very critical traits for us, for our products. Those are all controlled by a lot of different genes within a tomato naturally."

Mr. Ozminkowski says genome sequencing takes away much of the guesswork for breeders of tomatoes or other crops that have been mapped.

RICH OZMINKOWSKI: "By having the genome information, we can pick out those tomato plants that have more of those genes."

Until the late nineteen sixties, the tomatoes that Heinz used to make ketchup often cracked open on the vine after a heavy rain.

RICH OZMINKOWSKI: "Heinz had set about trying to put together a variety of tomatoes that would resist that cracking."

Breeders used the traditional methods of mating generations of different varieties

. The tomatoes they were trying to develop not only had to resist cracking. They also had to resist disease. And they had to be easy to harvest mechanically.

Finally the company came up with the tomato it wanted, called the Heinz 1706. Mr. Ozminkowski says the job would have been much easier if there had been a genetic map to follow.

RICH OZMINKOWSKI: "The tools available back when 1706 was developed, it was all very, very conventional breeding. There were no genetic tools. You could not look at sequences. You could not do comparisons. And that is what makes the genomic project and the technologies that have spun off of that so interesting."

But the work is not just about making better ketchup. Climate change may force many crops to adjust to new conditions. And Mr. Ozminkowski says researchers are already using the new genetic tools to help fight new plant diseases.

RICH OZMINKOWSKI: "And so this is going to give us even more, because there are new diseases that are becoming problems within California and around the world."

Researchers published the tomato genome in the journal Nature.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. You can read, listen and learn English with our stories and more at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find more information about tomatoes. I'm Jim Tedder.

#35 - What Is the Relationship Between Age and Happiness?1. Researchers found that by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were at 18.True.False.It's not said on the text.

2. They found that the most stressed people arebetween the ages of 18 and 22.between the ages of 22 and 25.between the ages of 50 and 60.

3. According to the report, the happiest people were the youngest adults andthose in their early 60s.those in their early 70s.those in their early 80s.

4. Men and women have similar emotional patterns as they grow older.True.False.It's not said on the text.

5. Having children affects the level of happiness related to age.True.False.It's not said on the text.

#36 - Golden Gate Bridge Still Shines After 75 YearsThis is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

The Golden Gate Bridge is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary. The bridge opened to vehicle traffic on May twenty-eighth, nineteen thirty-seven. Since then, more than two billion vehicles have crossed the world famous structure between San Francisco and Marin County, California. As many as one hundred twelve thousand cars make the trip each day.

The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension span in the world, at the time it was built. The suspended roadway stretches one thousand two hundred eightymeters between the bridge's two tall towers. Today it still rates among the top ten longest bridge spans in existence.

Mary Currie works for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. She says the bridge is one of the most extraordinary engineering projects of all time.

MARY CURRIE: “The Golden Gate Bridge is an engineering marvel certainly, and it gets award after award after award for what it means in civil engineering and structural engineering. It's also a place where things happen first. For example, we were the first suspension bridge to have to change the roadway deck.”

The Golden Gate Bridge is named after the Golden Gate Strait. That narrow passage of water connects the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge project. Work began in nineteen thirty-three. The project took four years to complete.

The bridge is two thousand seven hundred eighty-eight meters long from one end to the other. It is twenty-seven meters wide. Two large cables pass over the top of the bridge's towers. These structures stand two hundred twenty seven meters above water and one hundred fifty two meters above the road. Each cable holds more than twenty-seven thousand five hundred strands of wire.

Two hundred fifty pairs of vertical suspender ropes connect the support cables to the suspension bridge. This is part of what enables the bridge to move up and down by nearly five meters.

The Golden Gate Bridge weighed eight hundred eleven million five hundred thousand kilograms when it was completed in nineteen thirty-seven. The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper called the finished project, “a thirty-five million dollar steel harp!”

Architect Irving Morrow gets credit for the bridge's bright orange color. The Navy wanted the bridge painted in yellow and black. The Air Force had suggested red and white.

MARY CURRIE: “But we were fortunate that Irving Morrow knew that that color would blend with the environment, it would contrast with the ocean and the air above, and it would also allow the art deco styling to really stand out.”

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.

#37 - In the Garden: Growing OnionsThis is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Onions come in different sizes, shapes, colors and flavors, from mild and sweet to hot and strong. A full-grown onion plant has roots, bulbs and leaves. The leaves are long, thin and hollow. They stand straight up and thicken at the bottom to form a bulb.

Onions are biennials; their life cycle is two years long. But they are usually picked during their first year before flowers form and the bulbs stop growing.

Onions grow best in loose, fertile soil. They can grow in many different climates. In cooler climates, onions may need fourteen to fifteen hours of daylight to start forming bulbs. In warmer climates, onions can begin developing bulbs with fewer hours of daily sun.

Barbara Fick is an extension agent at Oregon State University, in the northwestern United States. She says a faster way to grow onions is to plant what are called sets.

BARBARA FICK: "Onion sets are actually small plants, versus starting with a seed. So when you have a set, onion set, it actually is, you know, the small bulb.

Organic material like compost or leaf mulch can help onions grow in heavy soil.

The bulbs can be pulled from the ground once their tops have dried and fallen over. Onions can be stored for months. But Barbara Fick says stored onions need to be cured first.

BARBARA FICK: "Curing is a way of making sure those leaves on the outside are nice and dry."

Here are some directions from editors at the National Gardening Association.

First, dry the onions in the sun for a day or so. Then bring them out of

directsun for two to three weeks. Spread them out in any warm, airy place that is covered. Or cover the onions with a light cotton sheet held in place with stones along the edge.

The sheet will keep the sun from burning the bulbs. Don't worry about rain. And do not use a plastic or canvas sheet. Heavy coverings will trap moisture and keep the onions from drying fully.

Turn the bulbs a couple of times to help them dry evenly.

After curing the onions, you can hang them indoors in mesh bags to dry even more. There should be no wet spots on the onions when they are put in storage. Editors at the National Gardening Association say the longer onions are cured, the better they will keep.

Some people cut off the top leaves before curing onions. If you do that, do not cut the leaves any closer than two and a half centimeters from the bulb.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. For more stories about gardening, including more advice about growing onions, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bod Dodey.

#38 - Mobile Telephones Changing Lives in AfricaFrom VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report in Special English.

The World Bank estimates there are about 650 million mobile phone users in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. That is greater than the number of users in the United States and European Union.

Samia Melhem works for the World Bank to increase information technologies in Africa. She says mobile phones are the fastest growing technology on the continent.

SAMIA MELHEM: "Faster than TV, definitely faster than electricity. More people have access to mobile phones and hence communication. More people have internet access today in Africa than they have access to water, clean water, or even sanitation. So we can say that this has been the most significant revolution in terms of changing the African landscape and how people live their daily life."

CNN television recently named seven ways of life it says have been revolutionized because of mobile phones. They include political activism, education, entertainment, disaster management, agriculture and health.

Another area is banking. Reports say half or more of the adults in Gabon, Kenya and Sudan use mobile money. Rene Mendy sells goods in the streets of Dakar, Senegal. But he never had enough money to open a bank account.

Now he uses a mobile phone banking service called Orange Money. With his telephone, he can add or take out as little as one dollar. He can make payments and send money to family members who live far away.

Orange Money says it serves four million customers in ten countries. The World Bank's Samia Melhem notes that the French company is facing competition from other mobile banking services.

SAMIA MELHEM: "The mobile banking is a huge trend. And people in the West don't understand it, because most people have bank accounts and they have credit cards. It [mobile banking] is the instantaneous acquisition of cash at a much lower cost. The cost is the cost of sending an SMS, which is almost nothing compared to what traditional transfer agents, like Western Union, would charge - 10 dollars or more for a particular money transfer."

In education, the United Nations agency UNESCO is holding its second Mobile Learning Week in Paris later this month. Conference delegates are to discuss how mobile phone use can increase the number of people who read. Other issues include how mobile technologies can support teachers, and make it easier for girls and women to receive an education.

And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by Karen Leggett. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

#39 - A Flower in Winter: The Story of the PoinsettiaFrom VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report in Special English.

Poinsettias are the best-selling potted flowering plant in the United States. Red poinsettias are a traditional part of Christmas celebrations, which is why almost all of them are sold at wintertime. The Department of Agriculture estimates that Americans bought $ 250 million worth of poinsettias last year.

The poinsettia is native to Central America and needs warmth to grow. Bright red poinsettias are the best known. But there are about one hundred different kinds, in colors including white, pink, yellow and purple.

The flowers of the poinsettia are very

small. Around the flowers are colorful leaves called bracts. These bracts are what give the plants their beauty.

The poinsettia is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett from South Carolina. In 1825 President John Quincy Adams appointed him as the United States' first minister to Mexico. Poinsett had an interest in plants. He saw the colorful plants growing in the wild. Wild poinsettias can grow up to four meters tall. He liked them so much that he sent some cuttings back to the United States.

The botanical name for the plant is Euphorbia pulcherrima. In Latin, that means "most beautiful euphorbia." There are hundreds of related plants, including rubber trees, trees that produce castor and tung oil, and the cassava, a root crop.

People who are allergic to the latex produced by rubber trees can develop a mild skin rash from poinsettia plants. Babies and pets that chew on poinsettias can get sick. But experts say the plant is not as poisonous as some people think.

In the 1920s, Albert Ecke and his son Paul became interested in the poinsettia's ability to flower in winter. Paul Ecke thought it would be a good plant to display at Christmastime.

They started a farm near Encinitas, California. At first, Paul Ecke, and later his son, grew large plants in fields. Then they sent them to growers by train. Growers would divide the large plants into cuttings, to raise smaller ones in greenhouses until the holidays.

In the 1960s came poinsettias that grew best in containers. The Eckes started to sell cuttings from these new plants. Today Ecke Ranch remains a major supplier in the United States and around the world. In August, Paul Ecke's grandson announced that the company was joining the Dutch-based Agribio Group.

#40 - Making Friends Not Always Easy for Foreign StudentsThis is the VOA Special English Education Report.

A recent story in the Chronicle of Higher Education said many foreign students report feeling lonely or unwelcome in Australia. Those feelings are among the reasons why Australia is taking a close look at its international education industry. The government has formed an advisory council to help develop a five-year national strategy for the future of international education in Australia.

But wherever international students go, making friends may not always be easy. The Journal of International and Intercultural Communication recently published a study done in the United States.

Elisabeth Gareis of Baruch College in New York surveyed 454 international students. They were attending four-year colleges and graduate schools in the American South and Northeast.

Students from English-speaking countries and from northern and central Europe were more likely to be happy with their friendships. But thirty-eightpercent of the international students said they had no close friends in the United States.

And half of the students from East Asia said they were unhappy with the number of American friends they had. Professor Gareis says thirty percent said they wished their friendships could be deeper and more meaningful.

ELISABETH GAREIS: "Students from East Asia have cultures that are different on many levels from the culture in the United States. But then there's also language problems, and maybe some social skills, such as small talk, that are possibly not as important in their native countries, where it's not as important to initiate friendships with small talk."

She says many East Asian students blamed themselves for their limited friendships with Americans.

ELISABETH GAREIS: "The vast majority blames themselves, actually for not speaking the language well enough, not knowing the culture well enough. There were also some comments about the college environment, like many of them were in the natural sciences or worked in labs where they were surrounded by other East Asians."

VOA's Student Union blogger Jessica Stahl did her own survey to find out how American students and foreign students relate to each other. More than one hundredstudents, about half of them American, answered her online questions.

Half of the international students and sixty percent of the Americans said they related as well or better to the other group than to their own group.

Eighty-five percent of the Americans said they have at least one international friend. But only about half said they have more than two international friends.

Among the foreign students, seventy-five percent said they have more than two American friends. But ten percent said they have no American friends.

Not surprisingly, Professor Gareis says students who make friends from their host country return home happier with their experience.

ELISABETH GAREIS: "International students who make friends with host nationals

are, overall, more satisfied with their stay in the host country. They have better language skills, they have better academic performance and they have better attitudes toward the host country. So when they return home, and often fill leadership positions, they can foster productive relations with the former host country."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. I'm Jim Tedder.#41 - Secret to Life? Dance, and Don't Procrastinate!

1. Where was this lady born?India.England.USA.

2. How old is she?87.93.97.

3. She has been teaching yoga, full-time, since _____.1957.1963.1967.

4. Even when she was ___, she won dance competitions.65.75.85.

5. What is she going to do when she retire?She will not retire.She will travel around the world.She will write a book.

#42 - Cameras Capture Pictures of Mysterious Bush Dog

Scientists say they have captured photographs of one of the most mysterious known animals: bush dogs.

Bush dogs live in Central and South America. They are a rarely seen and threatened species. But the photos suggest they may be more common than scientists thought.

Scientists used cameras that take photos in the forest when an animal passes by. Photos of the bush dogs were taken in wild areas of Panama. The traps can be found across the country from its Costa Rican border to its border with Colombia.

Ricardo Moreno is a research associate for the Smithsonian Institution. He and a team of biologists from Yaguará, Panama are studying large, wild mammals in that country. He says, "The bush dog is one of the rarest species that we photograph."

The researchers describe the animals as "short-legged and stubby, standing only about a foot (30cm) tall at the

shoulder."

Like other dogs, bush dogs hunt in packs of up to 10. They are known to communicate to each other using "high-pitched whines." They eat mostly large forest rodents.

The bush dog is so elusive that photos of the animal were made only 11 times over 32,000 camera days. That is the number of cameras multiplied by the days in operation.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature says bush dog populations have dropped by up to 25 percent over the past 12 years. It is considered a "near-threatened" species.

Humans do not hunt or directly threaten bush dogs. But, habitat loss is affecting their numbers. They live mainly in rainforests. Scientists think the animals may require large forest spaces to survive. It is estimated that Panama lost 15percent of its rainforest from 1990 to 2010.

I'm Kathleen Struck.

Exercises with video:#01 - Desert Museum in Arizona Exhibits Native Plants and Animals

1. The mountain lion is ____________ cat native to North America.the smallest.the wildest.the largest.

2. More than 300 animal species and _____ types of plants are found along 3 kilometer-long paths.120.1200.12000.

3. The prairie dog is _________ that lives in underground tunnels.a dog.a worm.a rodent.

4. The black bear is the only bear species in Arizona.True.False.It's not said on the video.

5. Bird Trainer Dillon Horger says the birds don't fly away because ________________________________________________.they consider the Desert Museum their territory.they are trained to come back.they are in cages.

#02 - Roof Top Gardening is a Growing Trend in New York City1. What started as an interest in sustainability has become a rooftop oasis, complete with tomatoes, cucumbers, ________ and herbs.apples.lettuce.carrots.

2. The couple learned how to make soil, grow plants, capture __________, and trap urban heat.air.rainwater.clients.

3. "Also, with so many people on the planet, we can't all have ____ acres," Kusmenko says.10.100.1000.

4. Roberta's Pizzeria bought two old railway cars and planted vegetables on top of them.True.False.It's not said on the video.

5. Rooftop farms can provide ________ produce.cheaper.faster.more expensive.

#03 - Moroccan Villagers Make Their Desert Bloom1. They received donations to drill a well.True.False.It's not said on the video.

2. "Last year, I sold ___________ kilos of green peas," Lamine said.4 to 5.40 to 50.400 to 500.

3. "Tomatoes, watermelon, _________, carrots, turnips, peppers -- we've got all vegetables here," Baiach said.potatoes.lettuce.pumpkins.

4. The farmers pay to keep the pump running.True.False.It's not said on the video.

5. In the past, they used to work as their fathers did.True.False.

It's not said on the video.#04 - London Museum Unveils Medieval, Renaissance Treasures

1. The Victoria and Albert Museum is believed to house the finest collection of Italian __________ outside of Italy.culture.paintings.sculpture.

2. Wonderful ___________, wonderful textiles, gold and silver, enamel and jewelry.paintings.tapestries.sculptures.

3. The medieval and renaissance collections are now being displayed chronologically across ____ new galleries.8.10.12.

4. The sculpture by Donatello was being used as an ashtray.True.False.It's not said on the video.

5. The project took almost a decade to complete and cost $53 million.True.False.It's not said on the video.

#05 - Powered Parachute Gives US Rural Police Departments Eye in the Sky1. The parachute offers an expensive way to patrol from the air.True.False.It's not said on the video.

2. This powered parachute costs just ____ an hour to fly.$3,50.$35.$100.

3. The parachute weighs ____ kilos.18.180.188.

4. The parachute is used by ______ agencies in the US.seven.seventeen.seventy.

5. The parachute can fly as slowly as ___ kilometers per hour.40.24.

14.

#06 - Washington Struggles to Recover from Massive Snowstorm1. Washington received more snow in ___ hours than it usually sees in an entire winter.16.26.36.

2. Flights to and from Washington were canceled.True.False.It's not said on the video.

3. The person says: I have been in Washington for maybe ___ years.20.30.40.

4. A massive snowball fight was organized at Dupont Circle.True.False.It's not said on the video.

5. More snow is forecast for ______________________.Tuesday and Wednesday.Thursday and Sunday.Tuesday and Friday.

#07 - More US Companies Refuse to Hire Smokers

1. The federal law that prohibits smoking in public buildings was passed ____ ago.6.8.10.

2. Memorial Hospital gives check-ups to prospective employees.True.False.It's not said on the video.

3. Medical care and the loss of productivity cost in average around _______ annually for each smoker.$300.$3,000.$3,300.

4. How many U.S. states have laws that protect the right of smokers?21.29.50.

5. At least five million smokers die every year from smoking-related causes in the world.

True.False.It's not said on the video.

#08 - Pressure Mounts in US to Restrict Salt Levels in Processed Foods1. We should not eat more than _____ milligrams of sodium daily.223.230.2300.

2. One major risk factor is a diet filled with _____________.fat and salt.fat.salt.

3. When the Food and Drug Administration does issue new limits on salt, the changes are made immediately.True.False.It's not said on the video.

4. Reducing salt in the food supply needs to be a ________ process.hard.fast.gradual.

5. Some food manufacturers have already begun reducing the sodium content.True.False.It's not said on the video.

#09 - Researchers Finding Babies Smarter Than Previously Thought1. At Northwestern University, researchers recently concluded that well before babies start to ______, they recognize words and can link them to the things they represent.walk.cry.speak.

2. The Northwestern study indicates that one of the best things parents can do is _____________________.talk to their babies.sing to their babies.play with their babies.

3. Researchers think babies begin developing language skills while they are in the _____.bed.crib.womb.

4. Even before they are born, babies pick up the _________ of language.words.phrases.melodies.

5. Babies who are frequently talked to will be more intelligent.True.False.It's not said on the video.

#10 - Study Says High Calorie Snacks Are to Blame for Obesity Epidemic1. The study says American children eat an average of _____________ a day on top of three regular meals.three snacks.five snacks.six snacks.

2. Desserts and candy are the major source of calories from snacks.True.False.It's not said on the video.

3. Childhood obesity has ________ over the last 30 years.remained.doubled.tripled.

4. The federal government is encouraging schools to make more time for physical activity.True.False.It's not said on the video.

5. The Centers for Disease Control wants the government to put taxes on sugary drinks and junk food.True.False.It's not said on the video.