AMERICAN MOSAIC - Teddy Bears / Celebrating Christmas / Chri

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Teddy Bears / Celebrating Christmas / Christmas music from Brooks² and Dunn

By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: December 20, 2002
(THEME)
HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC --VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME) This is Doug Johnson. On our special Christmas program today, we play some Christmas music by

Brooks and Dunn...we answer a listener’s question about how Americans celebrate Christmas . and, report
about the one-hundredth anniversary³ of a popular American toy.

Teddy Bear Anniversary

Americans give and receive many gifts during the holiday season. One gift for children has remained popular for
many years. It is the teddy bear. Shep O’Neal explains.

ANNCR:

The American-made teddy bear celebrated⁴ its one-hundredth anniversary last month. In
November, nineteen-oh-two, President Theodore Roosevelt made news when he refused to
shoot a young bear while on a hunting trip. A cartoon of the incident appeared in
newspapers.

Morris and Rose Michtom of New York City saw the report and made a small bear from a
piece of cloth. They called it Teddy’s Bear and put it in the window of their store. Soon,
the huge public demand for the bears helped their store expand into the Ideal⁵ Novelty⁶ and
Toy Company. At the same time, the Steiff toy company in Germany was making toy
bears for sale. The company also called them Teddy’s bears.

An American toy company official saw the bears in Leipzig in nineteen-oh-three and ordered several thousand to
sell in the United States. Soon, the popularity⁷ of these bears spread around the world, and the toys became known
as teddy bears. And they have been popular ever since. Some experts say the teddy bear is the most popular toy
ever produced.

Mental health experts say teddy bears represent good things about people. Children love to play with them and
even talk to them. These experts say that teddy bears can help children who have been hurt or scared. Some
American police departments keep teddy bears in their police cars. Officers give them to children who have
suffered in accidents or fires.

One American group sends teddy bears to needy⁸ children around the world. Operation Teddy Care was started in
nineteen-ninety-five by Barbara Moran and her husband Bob Baker⁹. They asked people in their city, San
Francisco, California, to give bears to send to the children in Kobe, Japan after the huge earthquake there.

A local newspaper and radio station did stories about their appeal. Operation Teddy Care sent ten-thousand bears
to Japan. The group has also sent teddy bears to children in areas of conflict in Europe.

Teddy bears are not only popular with children. Adults love them too. Some people collect them and will pay a
lot of money for them. What is the most money ever spent on a teddy bear? In nineteen-ninety-four, someone
paid one-hundred-eighty-thousand dollars for a historic¹⁰ bear produced by the Steiff company in nineteen-oh-six.

Celebrating Christmas


HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Mongolia. Amarkuu Ayulguisaikhan asks
how Americans celebrate Christmas. Christmas Day is December twenty-fifth. But
Americans who celebrate the holiday begin preparing long before that. They buy gifts for
their families and friends. Many make their homes look special for Christmas. They put
colorful lights in the windows and on the outside of their houses. They put branches from
evergreen¹¹ trees on the doors and tables. Almost every home where Americans celebrate
Christmas has one important decoration
—
a Christmas tree. Some people cut down an
evergreen tree themselves. Others buy one already cut. They put the tree inside the house.
Then they cover it with lights and small objects made of glass, metal, paper or wood.

Tradition says that a kind old man called Santa Claus travels to every house on the
night before Christmas. He leaves gifts of toys and clothing for the children. Family
members leave gifts covered with pretty paper for each other under the tree. Some
Americans open their gifts the night before Christmas. Others wait until Christmas
morning. They may go to church or visit friends and other family members. They
may eat a special holiday meal. Or they may take part in holiday activities for sick
or homeless people.

Christians¹³ celebrate Christmas as the birth of Jesus. Americans of other religions
generally do not celebrate Christmas. However, many send holiday cards or gifts to their Christian¹² friends. Some
Americans do not observe Christmas as a religious holiday, but they decorate their homes with lights and a tree.
Whatever Americans do at this time of the year, they usually wish each other “Merry Christmas” and “Happy
Holidays”.

(MUSIC)

Brooks and Dunn Christmas Album HOST:

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are the members of one of the most popular country
music groups performing today. Brooks and Dunn have sold more than twenty-
million record albums and have had at least eighteen hit records. This year, the
group released¹⁴ a special album of Christmas music. Mary Tillotson has more.

ANNCR:

The new Brooks and Dunn Christmas album is called “It Won’t Be Christmas Without You.” It includes
eleven songs about the winter holiday. One example is this famous song, “White Christmas.
”

(MUSIC)

Brooks and Dunn include some new holiday songs on their album. One of these is sung by Kix Brooks,
“Santa’s Coming Over to Your House.
”

(MUSIC)

Most of the songs on the new Brooks and Dunn Christmas album are traditional. We leave you now as Ronnie
Dunn sings one of these songs. Some people know it as “Chestnuts¹⁵ Roasting on an Open Fire.
”
Others call it
“The Christmas Song.
”

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

This AMERICAN MOSAIC program was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our studio engineer was Glen Matlock.
And our producer was Paul Thompson.

Brooks & Dunn

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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 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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 ideal   

adj.理想的，完美的；空想的，观念的；n.理想

参考例句：

• The weather at the seaside was ideal—bright and breezy.海边的天气最宜人，风和日丽的。
• They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever. 他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。

6 novelty   

n.新奇事物，新奇（感），新颖廉价的物品

参考例句：

• My mother bought a novelty pen for me.我妈给我买了一支新颖的笔。
• At first I enjoyed all the parties,but the novelty soon wore off.起初我喜欢参加一切聚会，但这种新奇感很快就消失了。

7 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

8 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

9 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

10 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

11 evergreen   

n.常青树；adj.四季常青的

参考例句：

• Some trees are evergreen;they are called evergreen.有的树是常青的，被叫做常青树。
• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。

12 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

13 Christians   

n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Christians of all denominations attended the conference. 基督教所有教派的人都出席了这次会议。
• His novel about Jesus caused a furore among Christians. 他关于耶稣的小说激起了基督教徒的公愤。

14 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

15 chestnuts   

n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马

参考例句：

• A man in the street was selling bags of hot chestnuts. 街上有个男人在卖一包包热栗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Talk of chestnuts loosened the tongue of this inarticulate young man. 因为栗子，正苦无话可说的年青人，得到同情他的人了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说