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AMERICAN MOSAIC1 - Not Just a Man's Game: The First Woman in Baseball's Hall of FameBy Nancy Steinbach and Lawan Davis

Broadcast: Friday, March 31, 2006

(MUSIC)

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We play songs by Jamie Foxx 鈥?nswer a question about retirement2 in America 鈥?nd report about the first female member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Woman In Baseball Hall of Fame

The North American Professional Baseball season opens next week. Earlier this month, Major League Baseball named eighteen people to the Baseball Hall of Fame. They include the first woman ever so honored. Her name was Effa Manley. Faith Lapidus tells us about her.


Effa Manley

FAITH LAPIDUS: Effa Manley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in eighteen ninety-seven. She died in nineteen eighty-one. Effa Manley was white. She married a black man and considered herself to be black as well. She and her husband, Abe, owned the Newark Eagles baseball team in New Jersey3 during the nineteen thirties and forties. The team was part of the Negro League. This was a time when white players and black players played on separate teams. Black players played on the teams of the Negro League.

History experts say Effa Manley used the sport of baseball to improve the civil rights for African-Americans. She campaigned to get as much money as possible for the black players in the Negro League.

The Baseball Hall of Fame says Effa Manley controlled the business part of the Newark Eagles baseball team. She organized the team's travel, schedule, payroll4 and daily details from nineteen thirty-six until nineteen forty-seven. The experts praised her efforts to make the Newark Eagles a successful team. The Eagles won the Negro League World Series in nineteen forty-six.

The next year, a baseball player named Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to join a major league baseball team.

Soon other major league baseball teams began hiring Negro League players. Effa Manley worked to get major league owners to pay the Negro League owners for the players they lost. She wrote a book about Negro League baseball in nineteen seventy-three. And she continued to urge the Baseball Hall of Fame to recognize the Negro League and honor its players.

Before this year, eighteen Negro League players had been admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This year, it is honoring Effa Manley and sixteen other players and officials from teams in the Negro League and earlier black teams. The ceremony will be held at the Baseball Hall of Fame headquarters in Cooperstown, New York on July thirtieth.

Retirement

HOST: Our VOA listener question this week comes from Brazil. Valmecir Jose de Souza asks at what age Americans retire and how many years they work before retirement.

Generally, Americans may retire from their jobs after working a number of years that is decided5 by the employer. Usually they must work at least twenty years. Then they may receive a pension.

Pension money comes from personal savings6, the government's Social Security program and private plans from the employer. Federal law requires businesses to provide pensions to all people who have worked for the company a set number of years.

The federal government's Social Security program is the largest pension plan. It was established in nineteen thirty-five. Workers pay a little more than six percent of their wages each month into Social Security. Their employers do the same. Most self-employed workers also pay a percent of their wages into Social Security. People then receive payments after they retire for as long as they live.

To receive Social Security, a person must have worked for at least ten years and be at least sixty-two years old. The amount of money received each month depends on the age at which the person retires. For example, a worker who retires at age sixty-two may receive one thousand dollars a month. If he waits until the age of sixty-five, the amount he receives each month will be larger.

The Social Security program was never meant to fully7 support retirement. Today, many people cannot live on what they receive from Social Security. These people may also have personal savings or a private pension plan or both.

Most business pensions are paid with money from workers and their employers. Self-employed workers can establish independent plans through banks or insurance companies. Workers pay a percent of money they earn each month into the plan. They receive payments after they retire.

Americans traditionally retire at about the age of sixty-five. However, some find that they do not enjoy retirement. Or they are not getting as much pension money as they need. So they continue working until they are older.

Jamie Foxx

Jamie Foxx has been a successful actor in television and films. Now he has become a popular singer. Pat Bodner tells us more.

PAT BODNAR: Jamie Foxx first became popular in the early nineteen nineties. He appeared on the television shows In Living Color and The Jamie Foxx Show. The actor is also a skilled singer and musician. He recently released an album called Unpredictable. It has sold more than one million copies. Listen as he sings Extravaganza.

(MUSIC)

Jamie Foxx has been a musician since he was very young. He began learning to play the piano when he was three years old. Jamie was raised by his grandparents. He went to church with them every day. He later became music director at his church. And he studied music in college.

Last year, he combined his acting8 and music skills. He won an Academy Award for playing the famous singer Ray Charles in the movie Ray.

Jamie Foxx says he has gained success because of the life lessons his grandmother taught him. She is no longer living, but he honors her with this song, Wish You Were Here.

(MUSIC)

Later this year Jamie Foxx will appear in the film Miami Vice9. He also will star in the film Dreamgirls, a version of a musical that played on Broadway. And he is enjoying the success of his new album. We leave you now with Jamie Foxx singing the title song from his album, Unpredictable.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today.

Our show was written by Lawan Davis and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver10 was the producer. And our audio engineer was Greg Burns.

Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mosaic CEExS     
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 retirement TWoxH     
n.退休,退职
参考例句:
  • She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
  • I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。
3 jersey Lp5zzo     
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。
4 payroll YmQzUB     
n.工资表,在职人员名单,工薪总额
参考例句:
  • His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
  • I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。
5 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
6 savings ZjbzGu     
n.存款,储蓄
参考例句:
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
7 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
8 acting czRzoc     
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的
参考例句:
  • Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她,她只是假装的。
  • During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代,她的表演生涯黯然失色。
9 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
10 weaver LgWwd     
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。

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