AMERICAN MOSAIC

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹
By

Broadcast: Friday, April 23, 2004

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(THEME)

This is Doug Johnson.

On our show this week, we answer a question about the music you're hearing. And we tell about an unusual celebration this week in Hawaii.

But first, one of the best-known places in America has just had a big birthday party.

Times Square Birthday

HOST:

 
Graphic² Image
Times Square, in the heart of New York City, is one-hundred years old. Mayor³ Michael Bloomberg cut a huge birthday cake to help start the celebrations earlier this month. Faith Lapidus tells the history of Times Square.

ANNCR:

"Times Square is New York." Those are the words of the head of the Times Square Alliance⁴, a coalition⁵ of area businesses. The millions of visitors to Times Square each year would probably agree. The area has one of the most recognizable names in the world. But, Times Square is not really a square. It is the name for the area around where Broadway crosses Forty-Second Street in Manhattan. The Times Square area stretches more than ten blocks north to south. The borders to the east and west are uneven⁶. Some people call the shape of the area a bow tie.

Times Square gets its name from the New York Times newspaper. In nineteen-oh-four, the newspaper began to build its headquarters⁷ in what was then called Long Acre Square. The city's underground train system built a stop under the Times Tower. The city renamed the area Times Square.

On December thirty-first, nineteen-oh-four, the newspaper held a big celebration in Times Square to welcome the New Year. Fireworks lit the sky. Celebrations have taken place every year since then. Now, crowds also watch a big glass ball slide down a pole as the New Year arrives.

Hundreds of businesses are in Times Square. The alliance says twenty percent of all hotel rooms in New York City are in Times Square. It says Times Square also has about six and one-half million square meters of office space. And more is being built.

Times Square used to have a lot of adult businesses and was not considered very safe. But the area has been redeveloped in recent years. In fact, businesses now have to pay a lot for space there.

Times Square is home to famous Broadway theaters. And several television companies have studios there. MTV is one of them. Times Square is probably most famous for its huge colorful signs. The alliance says Times Square is the only place in New York where businesses are required to use them.

Spam Jam

HOST:

Do you know what Spam is? We don't mean the unwanted e-mail that tries to get you to buy something. The real Spam is a meat product that has been made since nineteen-thirty-seven. It is cooked pork sold in a small blue can. The name comes from "spiced ham." Shep O'Neal reports on a celebration of Spam in Hawaii.

ANNCR:

 
Graphic Image
An event called "Spam Jam" will take place near the famous Waikiki Beach April twenty-third and twenty-fourth. This is the second year that Spam has been celebrated⁹ in the Hawaiian Islands.

You probably want to know why the people of Hawaii would choose to celebrate canned meat. That is a good question. Well, you should know that people in Hawaii eat more Spam than any other American state. Almost seven-million cans of Spam are eaten in Hawaii each year. Hawaii is really the Spam capital of the United States.

Some people believe Spam became popular in Hawaii because workers could take the little cans with them into the sugar cane¹⁰ fields. The heat of the fields would not spoil¹¹ the meat. It was protected in the can. Maybe. But no one really knows if this was the reason.

The real question is: what are people in Hawaii doing to celebrate Spam? Cooks from some of the hotels along Waikiki Beach will each try to make great tasting meals using Spam.

A huge street party with singers and dancers will be held. This will continue for two days. Don't laugh. Last year, more than thirty-thousand people attended the party. One lucky person will win a special prize -- a trip to the city of Austin, Minnesota. That is where the Hormel Foods company puts Spam in the little cans. The prize includes a visit to the Spam Museum.

Organizers of Spam Jam also want to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. They plan to build the longest ever musubi (moo-soo-BEE). A musubi is a food made of sticky¹² rice, seaweed and, of course, Spam. It is a favorite in Hawaii.

The organizers say the musubi will be about ninety-one meters long. It will be enough to feed one-thousand-two-hundred people. That... is a lot of Spam.

Mosaic Theme

(MUSIC)

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Osaka, Japan. Toshikatsu Tada asks about the music you are hearing now -- the theme music we play each week on American Mosaic.

 
Bela Fleck¹³
The song is called "Lover's Leap." It is performed by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

We started to use it as the Mosaic theme about two years ago. This song is the third one used since the show began in nineteen-eighty-five.

"Lover's Leap" is on Bela Fleck's record called "Live at the Quick." Let's listen to more:

(MUSIC)

"Lover's Leap" is an unusual song. Bela Fleck has brought together instruments that are usually not heard in combination¹⁴. These include the electric banjo, French horn, oboe, bass¹⁵ guitar, electric drums, clarinet and steel pan⁸. Steel pans¹⁶ or steel drums are commonly used to play music in the islands of the West Indies in the Caribbean.

We leave you as we began -- with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones playing "Lover's Leap."

(MUSIC)

This is Doug Johnson.

I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week for VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

This program was written by Nancy Steinbach, Caty Weaver¹⁷ and Paul Thompson, who was also our producer. And our engineer was Tom Verba.

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 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

3 mayor   

n.市长

参考例句：

• The new mayor said he would clean the city up.新市长说，他要整顿本市。
• The mayor hurried into his office,brushing off the reporters.市长赶快走进办公室，拒不接见记者。

4 alliance   

n.同盟，同盟国，结盟，联姻

参考例句：

• China will not enter into alliance with any big power.中国不同任何大国结盟。
• The new alliance was very much in evidence.新的联盟上星期很引人注目。

5 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

6 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

7 headquarters   

n.司令部，指挥部；总部，总店

参考例句：

• Several great guns from the headquarters are coming to see us today.总部的几个大人物今天要来看我们。
• The bank has its headquarters in Pairs.这家银行的总行在巴黎。

8 pan   

n.平底锅；v.严厉批评

参考例句：

• The water had all boiled away and the pan was burned.水煮干了，锅也烧坏了。
• The eggs were frying in the pan.鸡蛋正在锅里煎。

9 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。

10 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

11 spoil   

n.战利品，赃物，奖品，掠夺，次品；vt.损坏，破坏，溺爱；vi.腐坏，掠夺

参考例句：

• Don't bunch the flowers up so tightly,you'll spoil them.别把花束得这么紧，会弄坏的。
• Overacting will only spoil the effect.表演过火，效果反而不好。

12 sticky   

adj.粘的，闷热的，困难的，令人不满意的

参考例句：

• This paste is not sticky enough.这糨糊不黏。
• Here is a sticky business!这事真难办！

13 fleck   

n.斑点，微粒 vt.使有斑点，使成斑驳

参考例句：

• The garlic moss has no the yellow fleck and other virus. 蒜苔无黄斑点及其它病毒。
• His coat is blue with a grey fleck.他的上衣是蓝色的，上面带有灰色的斑点。

14 combination   

n.组合，合并，联合；

参考例句：

• He carried on the business in combination with his friends.他与朋友们合伙做生意。
• The materials can be used singly or in combination.这些材料可以单独使用也可以混合用。

15 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

16 pans   

n.平底锅( pan的名词复数 )；（天平的）秤盘；马桶；盘状凹地（尤指盆地）

参考例句：

• Pots, pans, kettles and mops are kitchen utensils. 锅、盘、壶及拖把是厨房用具。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She clashed these pans down on the floor. 她将这些盘子哗啦一声摔在地上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 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。