AMERICAN MOSAIC - How Many Americans Vote? / Music by Josh G

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - November 8, 2002: How Many Americans Vote? / Music by Josh Groban /
Remembering Our Friend Richard Thorman

HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC --VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play music by Josh Groban..
.
Answer a listener’s question about how many Americans vote in general elections³ ..
.
And tell about a former Special English writer who died recently.

Richard Thorman

HOST:

The Voice of America has lost a good friend. Former Special English writer, editor and broadcaster Richard
Thorman died recently at a hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He was seventy-seven years old. People who listen
to VOA Special English programs heard Richard Thorman’s work for many years. Mary Tillotson remembers
him.

ANNCR:

Richard Thorman was born on Long Island in the state of New York. He graduated from
Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and studied literature at Columbia
University in New York City. During World War Two he served in the armed forces. For
many years he worked as a broadcaster in New York State. He joined VOA Special
English in nineteen-eighty-four and retired⁴ in nineteen-ninety-seven.

During those years, Richard wrote and edited⁵ news programs for Special English. He
wrote about science. He told about the lives of important Americans. Some of his
programs described American writers like Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway and F.
Scott Fitzgerald. He especially enjoyed writing about fiction writers because he himself
wrote books. Among his works⁶ are a novel, “Bachman’s Law” and “Hardly

Working”, a collection of short stories.

One of Richard Thorman’s stories was adapted for Special English. “The Stradivarius” told about a man who
believed he had an extremely valuable violin. Part One of “The Stradivarius” will be broadcast Saturday on the
Special English program “American Stories.
”

Our listeners came to know Mister⁷ Thorman’s speaking voice as well as his writings. For several years, Richard
wrote and read a series of his comments on the air. “One Man’s Thoughts”
told about many subjects. Listen
to Richard Thorman as he remembers the happiest day of his life. It took place in Paris, France, when he was a
young man. He was walking to a hotel to meet friends.

RICHARD THORMAN: "Children played in the public gardens. Old people sat in the park enjoying the
afternoon sun. Lovers⁸ walked along the edge of the River Seine.

“I felt something in my throat that made it hard for me to swallow. Before I could stop myself, I jumped into the
air and hit my heels together. I knew I would be happy again in some other places and at some other times. But it
would never, never be exactly like this.
”


Midterm Elections

HOST:

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. Andercley Rodrigues Santos asks how many Americans
vote on Election² Day.

That is a good question to answer just a few days after the general election in the United States. General elections
are held in the United States every two years. Americans voted on Tuesday, November fifth in what is known as
a midterm election.

Midterm elections are held in the middle of the term of the president. President Bush was elected in two-thousand
to a four-year term in office. The results of midterm elections often show how Americans feel about the policies
of the president and the Congress⁹. The results of the congressional races affect the ability of a president to govern
for the rest of his term.

On Tuesday, Americans voted for members of Congress and state and local officials. Voters in thirty-six of the
fifty states elected a governor¹⁰. Voters elected all four-hundred-thirty-five members of the House of
Representatives. They also elected thirty-four of the one-hundred members of the Senate¹¹.

An independent group, the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate¹², estimated¹³ that seventy-sevenmillion Americans voted on Tuesday. This is only about thirty-nine percent of the voting-age citizens. Fewer
Americans generally vote in midterm elections than in presidential elections. Fifty-one percent of American
voters took part in the presidential election in two-thousand.

Americans give several reasons for not voting. Many say they are too busy to vote. Others say emergencies
prevented them from getting to the voting place on election day. Still others say they are not interested in politics.
This situation has led some people to say there should be a law that would require all Americans to vote. This has
not been seriously considered. But some private organizations are trying to get more people to vote, especially
young people.

One such group is called “Rock the Vote”. It has been working for the past twelve years to increase the
number of young people who vote in elections. “Rock the Vote” has reported some progress. The group’s
leaders say that this year they influenced one-hundred-thousand young people to become new American voters.

You can find out the results of the November fifth midterm election on the Special English program “In the
News” on Saturday.

Josh Groban

HOST:

Josh Groban is a young singer who performs classical and popular songs. His record album has sold more than
one-million copies. Shep O’Neal tells us about him.

ANNCR:

Josh Groban is twenty-one years old. He lives with his family in Los Angeles,
California. He was discovered by a record company official when he performed at
the inauguration¹⁴ of California Governor Gray Davis in nineteen-ninety-nine. His
first recording¹⁵ was a song in the movie “A.I.: Artificial¹⁶ Intelligence” with Lara
Fabian. The song is called “For Always.
”

(MUSIC)

Josh Groban released¹⁷ his own record album last year. It is called “Josh Groban.
”
He calls it pop music with classical influences. He sings songs in English, Italian

and Spanish. One of the most popular songs on the album is this one, “To Where You Are.
”

(MUSIC)


Josh Groban sang at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics earlier this year in Salt Lake City, Utah. He
has appeared on many American television shows. He is also planning to perform his music across the United
States. We leave you now with Josh Groban singing another song from his album. This one is sung in Spanish
and is called “Alejate” (al-e-HOT-ay).

(MUSIC)

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.

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

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version

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 election   

n.选举，选择权；当选

参考例句：

• There is no doubt but that he will win the election.毫无疑问，他将在竞选中获胜。
• The government will probably fall at the coming election.在即将到来的大选中，该政府很可能要垮台。

3 elections   

n.选举，当选，推举( election的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Republicans got shellacked in the elections. 共和党在选举中一败涂地。
• He emerged victorious in the elections. 他在竞选中脱颖而出获得胜利。

4 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

5 edited   

编辑( edit的过去式和过去分词 )； 剪辑（电影、录音磁带、无线电或电视节目、书等）； 主编（报纸、杂志等）

参考例句：

• I know that this draft text will need to be edited. 我知道这篇草稿需要校订。
• All references to the scandal were edited out of the tape. 所有涉及这件丑闻的内容都从录音带中删去了。

6 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

7 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”。

8 lovers   

爱好者( lover的名词复数 )； 情人； 情夫； 情侣

参考例句：

• They were off-screen lovers. 他们是真实生活中的情侣。
• Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet 罗密欧和朱丽叶这一对莎士比亚笔下命运多舛的恋人

9 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。

10 governor   

n.统治者，地方长官(如省长，州长，总督等)

参考例句：

• The governor was an expert at fencing with reporters.这位州长是搪塞新闻记者的能手。
• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。

11 senate   

n.参议院，上院

参考例句：

• They feel deeply the honour of belonging to the Senate.他们为作为参议院的成员而深感荣幸。
• His unsuccessful senate run was his last hurrah.这次失败的参议员竞选是他最后的尝试。

12 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

13 estimated   

adj．根据估计的

参考例句：

• She estimated the breadth of the lake to be 500 metres. 她估计湖面大约有500米宽。
• The man estimated for the repair of the car. 那人估算了修理汽车的费用。

14 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

15 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。

16 artificial   

adj.人工的，人造的，人为的；做作的，假装的

参考例句：

• The new dam will form a large artificial lake behind it.新筑的水坝将会在后面形成一个人工湖。
• We don't use any artificial flavourings in our products.我们的产品不使用任何人工调味剂。

17 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。