AMERICAN MOSAIC - Einstein's Year / Museums / Grammy Winners

AMERICAN MOSAIC¹ - Einstein's Year / Museums / Grammy Winners
By Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver²

Broadcast: Friday, February 18, 2005

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

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

Some Grammy-winning music ...

A question about American museums ...

And a report about a scientific anniversary.

Einstein's Year

 
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One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein published several papers that caused a revolution in scientific thought. Now physicists⁴ and others are celebrating Einstein's "miracle year." Shep O'Neal has more.

SHEP O'NEAL: The International Union of Pure and Applied⁵ Physics has declared two thousand five the World Year of Physics. The United Nations is honoring the International Year of Physics. And in Einstein's birthplace, Germany, officials have declared this the Einstein Anniversary Year.

In nineteen-oh-five, Albert Einstein began a scientific discussion that continues today. It involves the nature of the universe. Einstein presented ideas that went against hundreds of years of scientific thought.

In his Special Theory of Relativity, he argued that time and space are conditional⁶ properties. They depend on the position of the observer. Observers moving at different speeds, for example, experience space and time differently. Einstein said only the speed of light and the laws of nature are unconditional⁷.

Albert Einstein was just twenty-six years old when he published this theory in nineteen-oh-five. Another of his papers from that year helped prove the existence of atoms. Still another argued that light acts as if made of particles, not waves as scientists thought. Einstein later won a Nobel Prize for that paper.

His ideas about light led to the development of quantum theory. This describes how energy and matter act at the level of atoms and parts of atoms. Quantum theory guides most physics research today.

Events to celebrate the anniversary include the usual, like scientific conferences and museum shows, but also the unusual. In Tokyo, dancers and actors will perform a play about Einstein in Noh, traditional Japanese theater.

This year is also the fiftieth anniversary of Einstein's death. He died on April eighteenth, nineteen fifty-five, in Princeton, New Jersey⁸, his home for many years.

On the night of this April eighteenth, people in Princeton are supposed to turn off their lights. From the darkness, a light is to shine into the sky. This will signal the start of an event called "Physics Enlightens the World." The goal is to create an unbroken signal around the world.

Flashes of light will travel westward⁹ across the United States. Then a signal will go by cable under the Pacific Ocean to East Asia and Oceania. The light will continue to China, then divide into two paths. The northern path will include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The southern path will go through India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary.

The two paths will join again in Austria and go through Switzerland to France. From there, a signal will be sent by cable under the Atlantic to Princeton. The plan is for the signal to arrive exactly twenty-four hours after the relay began.

Organizers say anyone in any country can take part. The aim is to have stations close enough so that each one can see the light of the one before it. People are being urged to think of ways to send a signal with light while obeying local laws and avoiding light pollution.

Internet users can learn more about this and other events during the World Year of Physics at w-y-p2005 dot o-r-g (wyp2005.org).

And to learn more about Albert Einstein, listen Wednesday to the VOA Special English program, EXPLORATIONS.

Museums

DOUG JOHNSON: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Bangladesh. M.H. Mamun Rashid asks about the number of museums in the United States and which one is the largest.

Well, as far as the largest, we could not get an answer, not even from the American Association of Museums. In fact, that organization points out that there is not even a simple answer to the question, "what is a museum?" What museums all have in common, it says, is that they aid the public "by collecting, preserving and interpreting the things of this world." This definition covers many different kinds of places -- including zoos.

The American Association of Museums says it knows of only two attempts to count all the museums in the country. One was in nineteen ninety-eight, the other in two thousand three. Both studies counted between fifteen thousand and sixteen thousand museums.

Another study in two thousand three looked for the most popular kinds of museums in the United States. It found that zoos get the most visitors by far. Next come science and technology museums, followed by arboretums and botanical gardens. At the bottom of the list are history museums.

Grammy Winners

 
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Did you see the Grammy Awards last Sunday? In case you missed the winners in Los Angeles, here is Faith Lapidus with some of the results.

FAITH LAPIDUS: The most Grammys this year, eight, went to "Genius Loves Company," the final album by Ray Charles and friends. He died last June at the age of seventy-three. Honors for "Genius Loves Company" include album of the year and record of the year.

The record of the year is this song performed by Ray Charles and Norah Jones, called "Here We Go Again."

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Among other nominees¹⁰, Green Day won the Grammy for best rock album for "American Idiot."

And members of the National Academy of Recording¹¹ Arts and Sciences gave John Mayer song-of-the-year honors for "Daughters."

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DOUG JOHNSON: I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program this week.

Our show was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver. And for the last time, Paul Thompson was the producer. He will be missed. Our engineer was Efeem Drucker.

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.

Please 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 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。

3 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。

4 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

7 unconditional   

adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的

参考例句：

• The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
• My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。

8 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

9 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

10 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

11 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。