AMERICAN MOSAIC - May Day in America: Mostly a Time to Celeb

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - May Day in America: Mostly a Time to Celebrate Nature's Labor²
By Ed Stautberg,Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Friday, April 29, 2005

HOST: Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:

Music by The Shins …

A question from a listener about May Day ...

And a report about the recent anniversary³ of a famous fast-food company.

McDonald's Anniversary

 
Recognizable in any language: a McDonald's in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.(VOA Photo - Laurie Kassman)
What business that began with one eating place in the American Midwest now has thirty thousand fast-food restaurants all over the world? The answer is McDonald's, which celebrated⁴ its fiftieth anniversary earlier this month. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN: Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois, near Chicago, on April fifteenth, nineteen fifty-five. Before starting McDonald's, Mister⁵ Kroc sold machines that mixed milk and ice cream to make a popular drink called a milkshake. The new restaurant sold hamburgers and fried⁶ potatoes called French fries also. McDonald's workers prepared this food very quickly. People waited only a few minutes for their food.

That first McDonald's was torn down in nineteen eighty-four. The company built a copy of it in the same place to serve as a McDonald's Museum. It contains the equipment used to prepare food during the restaurant's first days of operation.

On the bottom floor of the museum, visitors can see early advertisements, other McDonald's objects and a short movie about the company. The museum does not sell food, however. Visitors can go across the street to eat at a modern McDonald's.

Today, thirty thousand McDonald's restaurants in more than one hundred countries serve food to almost fifty million people each day. But McDonald's has many critics. They say the company pays its workers too little. They also say the restaurants serve food that is not healthy because it contains too much fat and sugar.

Last year, an American filmmaker ate nothing but McDonald's food for one month. He made a movie about his experience called "Super Size Me". Doctors who examined the young man found that eating McDonald's food had damaged his health. The food caused weight gain, increased blood pressure and cholesterol⁷ and damage to his liver⁸.

After the movie's release⁹, McDonald's announced that it would stop selling extremely large meals. During its fifty years, McDonald's has added more kinds of foods. It still sells milkshakes, French fries and hamburgers. But it has added salads, chicken sandwiches, yogurt, and breakfast food.

May Day

HOST: Now it is time for a listener question. Ngoc Toan of Vietnam asks about the meaning of May Day in the United States.

This Sunday, May first, is May Day. Many countries honor¹⁰ workers and the labor movement on May Day. But the United States celebrates Labor Day on the first Monday in September. May Day events in America are mostly a celebration of nature.

May Day is one of the oldest holidays around the world. Experts say many ancient peoples chose May first to celebrate the re-birth of nature in springtime. The Romans held a festival of flowers on the first day of May. Their celebrations became tradition in Britain, Ireland and Scotland¹¹. May Day celebrated the beauty of spring after a long, cold winter.

In Ireland and Scotland, May Day was one of the most important holidays of the year. On May first, people gathered flowers before sunrise. They sang and danced as they returned home. Then they decorated their houses with the flowers.

In England, villagers picked flowers and then gathered in the center of town. They chose a young woman as May Queen. She sat in a special area surrounded by flowers. The people performed for her. They sang, held competitions, sports events and parades. They placed flowers on a tall piece of wood called a Maypole. They placed the pole in the ground and danced around it.

In early America, Puritan settlers from England did not approve of such activities. So they did not celebrate May Day. But settlers from other countries in Europe brought May Day traditions to America.

In some parts of the country, children still dance around a Maypole. They collect flowers and give them to friends and family members.

Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania has been holding May Day celebrations since nineteen hundred. Students at the all-female college gather flowers early in the morning. They attach long colorful pieces of cloth to the top of a Maypole. They dance around the Maypole holding the ribbons. Later in the day, the students hold a more modern event to celebrate freedom and equality for women. They release thousands of flower petals¹² into the air.

The Shins

 
(Photo - theshins.com)
An American band called The Shins has created its own kind of pop rock music influenced by the songs of the nineteen sixties.

The four young men in the group are from the state of New Mexico. They have been together since nineteen ninety-seven. Faith Lapidus has more.

FAITH LAPIDUS: The Shins have had two successful record albums. This song is from their album "Chutes Too Narrow." It is called "So Says I."

(MUSIC)

The band mixes independent rock with popular music to make its own kind of sound. This song mixes country music and modern pop. It is called "Gone for Good".

(MUSIC)

The members of the group now live in Portland, Oregon. They are performing around the United States through most of this year.

The Shins became more popular after their music was in a recent movie called "Garden State." In the movie, two of the characters listen to the band's music in a hospital waiting room. We leave you now with that song, "Caring is Creepy".

(MUSIC)

HOST: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

This show was written by Ed Stautberg, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver¹³, who was also our producer. The audio¹⁴ engineer was Carl Starling.

Send your questions about American life to [email protected]. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 anniversary   

n.周年(纪念日)

参考例句：

• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。
• Today is my parents'30th wedding anniversary.今天是我父母结婚30周年纪念日。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

6 fried   

adj.油煎的；油炒的

参考例句：

• I ate everything fried.所有油炸的我都吃。
• I prefer fried peanuts.我选择炸花生。

7 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

8 liver   

n.肝；肝脏

参考例句：

• He has a weak liver.他的肝脏不好。
• The largest organ in the body is the liver.人体最大的器官是肝脏。

9 release   

vt.发布，发表，发行；释放，放开

参考例句：

• After my examination I had a feeling of release.考完试后我有如释重负之感。
• This medicine will give you release from pain.这药吃后会解除你的疼痛。

10 honor   

n.光荣；敬意；荣幸；vt.给…以荣誉；尊敬

参考例句：

• I take your visit as a great honor.您的来访是我莫大的光荣。
• It is a great honor to receive that prize.能拿到那个奖是无上的光荣。

11 Scotland   

n.苏格兰

参考例句：

• He has been hiking round Scotland for a month.他围着苏格兰徒步旅行了一个月。
• Scotland is to the north of England.苏格兰在英格兰之北。

12 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

14 audio   

n./adj.音频(响)(的)；声音(的)，听觉(的)

参考例句：

• Often,the meeting is recorded on audio or video media for later reference.通常这种会议会以视频或者音频形式记录下来，供以后查阅。
• You don't even have to pay for audio programs.你大可不必为自己听这些节目付费。