AMERICAN MOSAIC - Music by Pink / Question About Mother's Da

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ -May 10, 2002: Music by Pink / Question About Mother's Day / Some Americans Who
Went Back in Time

Broadcast: May 10, 2002
HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC
—
VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today we:
Play some music by Pink ..
.
Answer a question about Mother’s Day ..
.
And report about some Americans who went back in time.

Frontier² House

HOST:

A recent American television program recorded the experiences of three families who traveled back in time to
live in the year eighteen-eighty-three. Sound impossible? Jim Tedder³ explains.
ANNCR:

The American public broadcasting system created the five month long experiment.
It wanted to find out if twenty-first century American families could survive on the
western frontier as it existed in the eighteen-hundreds. Five-thousand families
wanted to take part in such an experiment. Three were chosen.

The largest family group --two adults and four children--was from California. The
second family of two adults and two children lived in Tennessee. The third family
was a newly⁴ married couple from Massachusetts. They all spent five months living
in Montana, far from the modern world.

The television program that came out of this experience was called “Frontier House.
”
For six hours, people
watching television saw the families living the same way as people did who first settled in Montana more than
one-hundred years ago.

The families were given some supplies at the start. And they were taught about how people lived in the American
west in eighteen-eighty-three. Then they had to build their own shelter, take care of animals, grow their food and
prepare it just as if they were living more than one -hundred years ago.

The families talked to a camera during the filming. Each spoke⁵ about the problems and joys of living on a farm
without modern equipment. They found the life extremely difficult. They said all they did every day was work
from the time they got up in the morning until they went to bed.

The experience had a huge effect on everyone. The husband and wife in one family separated at the end of the
experiment. Another family was able to survive the five months only by cheating. They bought extra food and
used a few modern devices⁶ during the experiment. The youngest husband and wife in the group were the most
successful. They worked well together as a team.


It was the children who seemed to learn the most from the experience. After returning to their twenty-first
century lives, each said, in a different way, that living on the frontier taught them a lot about themselves. They
said the experience helped them deal better with modern life.

Mother’s Day

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Vietnam. Nguyen Thi Trang Thao
asks about Mother’s Day.

Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States. Mother’s Day is celebrated⁷ in
many countries around the world, but not always on the same day. Some historians⁸
say the holiday comes from ancient spring festivals in Greece and Rome. A more
modern Mother’s Day began in the seventeenth century in Britain.

The writer Julia Ward⁹ Howe made the first known suggestion for a Mother’s Day
in the United States. That was in eighteen-seventy-two. She said it should be a day
to celebrate peace.

Mother’s Day as it is celebrated today began with a woman named Anna Jarvis. In nineteen-oh-seven, she held
a ceremony to honor¹⁰ her mother at a church in the state of West Virginia. She held the ceremony on the
anniversary¹¹ of her mother’s death. Later, she and others wrote thousands of letters to public officials urging that
the second Sunday in May be declared Mother’s Day.

President Woodrow Wilson and the United States Congress¹² finally agreed in nineteen-fourteen. The second
Sunday in May became a day of public expression of love for mothers throughout the country. It became popular
for people to send gifts of flowers and candy to their mothers on Mother’s Day.

Today, children of all ages still give their mothers special gifts on Mother’s Day. Older children may travel to
visit their mothers. If they cannot, they usually send a special card with a message of love. Or they send flowers.
They also usually call their mothers on the telephone to wish them a happy day. Mother’s Day is one of the
busiest days of the year for America’s telephone companies.

Some families get together on Mother’s Day to honor all the women in the family who are mothers. Many go to
a restaurant for a special Mother’s Day meal.

Pink

HOST:

A popular American singer is known as “Pink.
”
How did she get her name? Is it because of her colorful hair?
Mary Tillotson has that answer and tells us more about her.

ANNCR:

Pink’s real name is Alicia Moore. She is twenty-two years old. People began
calling Alicia “Pink”
because of the natural appearance of her skin. Years later,
she thought it would be funny if “Pink
”
also had pink hair.

Music always has been a part of Pink’s life. She says her father played guitar and
taught her songs. She began singing and dancing when she was a teenager.

By age nineteen, Pink had recorded her first album. It is called “Can’t Take Me
Home.
”
Three of its songs were hits. Here she sings “There You Go.
”

((CUT ONE -“There You Go”))


Pink recently received a Grammy Award for a new recording¹³ of the song “Lady Marmalade”.. (MAR-ma-lahd).
The song was in the movie “Moulin Rouge¹⁴.”It was a hit for the rhythm¹⁵ and blues¹⁶ group LaBelle in the
Nineteen-Seventies. Listen now as Pink, Christina Aguilera, Lil’.. Kim, and Mya sing “Lady Marmalade.”..

((CUT TWO – “Lady Marmalade”))

Pink’s latest album is called “Missundaztood.”.. She helped write most of the songs. We leave you a song
from that album, “Get the Party Started.”..

((CUT THREE – “Get the Party Started”))

HOST:

This is Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. And I hope you will join us again next week for
AMERICAN MOSAIC —.. VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

Remember to write us with your questions about American life. We will try to answer them on future programs.
Listeners whose questions are chosen will receive a Random¹⁷ House Webster’s College Dictionary.

Send your questions to American Mosaic, Special English, Voice of America, Washington, D.C., two-zero-twothree-
seven, USA. Or use a computer to e-mail your question to [email protected]. Please include your
name and postal¹⁸ address. This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Lawan Davis and Nancy
Steinbach. Our studio engineer was Curtis Bynum. And our producer was Paul Thompson.

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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 frontier   

n.国境，边境；尚待开发的领域

参考例句：

• The frontier station was starved for food and water.边防站急需食物和水。
• Areas near the frontier were rough and lawless in the old days. 过去边远地区混乱不堪，而且没有法律。

3 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网

4 newly   

adv.新近，最近；重新，再度；以新的方式

参考例句：

• Have you reviewed for this newly published novel?你给这本新出版的小说写书评了吗？
• It is a newly planted tree and it has not established yet.这是一颗新栽的树，还没有扎下根来。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 devices   

n.设备；装置( device的名词复数 )；花招；（为实现某种目的的）计划；手段

参考例句：

• electrical labour-saving devices around the home 节省劳力的各种家用电器
• modern labour-saving devices such as washing machines and dishwashers 诸如洗衣机和洗碗机之类的现代化省力设备

7 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。

8 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。

9 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

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 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。

12 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。

13 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

14 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

15 rhythm   

n.韵律；节奏

参考例句：

• He has an ear for the rhythm of Irish speech.他对爱尔兰语的节奏很敏感。
• His poem has a pleasing rhythm.他的诗有和谐的韵律。

16 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

17 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

18 postal   

adj.邮政的，邮局的

参考例句：

• A postal network now covers the whole country.邮路遍及全国。
• Remember to use postal code.勿忘使用邮政编码。