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AMERICAN MOSAIC1 - You, Too, Can Be a Star: YouTube Finds Success in a World With Video Cameras EverywhereBy Erin Schiavone, Nancy Steinbach and Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Friday, August 04, 2006

HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We answer a question about animals Americans keep as pets ...

Play some award winning rhythm and blues2 music ...

And report about a popular Internet site that shows videos.

YouTube

HOST:

YouTube is a very popular Web site on the Internet. People can make their own short videos and place them on YouTube. Anyone around the world can watch the videos online. Mario Ritter has more.

MARIO RITTER:


Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, creators of YouTube

Chad Hurley and Steve Chen created YouTube last year. The two young men had made a video at their friend's party. They wanted to share the recording3 with other friends online. But they could not find a good Web site to put the video on. So they decided4 to create a Web site where friends can share videos.

Mister Hurley and Mister Chen are both younger than thirty. Both young men had experience working for another Web site. Their creation, YouTube, started small and became very popular.

YouTube says that people watch one hundred million videos on the site every day. Users post about sixty thousand videos on YouTube each day. Fifty million videos are on the Web site at any one time.

There are many different kinds of videos on YouTube. Most of the videos are made by young people under the age of thirty.

Most are only a few minutes long. Some of the videos are funny. They show people singing, or dancing. They show cats doing funny things. Some videos make fun of politicians. Other videos are more serious. American soldiers post videos from the war in Iraq. Recently, people in Israel and Lebanon have posted hundreds of videos of the conflict taking place there.

People can also watch commercial videos on YouTube. These include music videos, interviews from television programs and scenes from new movies.

Anyone can put a video on YouTube. But YouTube cannot show some programs because of copyright protection laws. These laws do not permit YouTube to show television programs without the permission of the television networks. The employees of YouTube work hard to honor these laws. They also remove violent or sexual videos from the Web site.

YouTube is the most popular video Web site, especially among young people. As a result, commercial television stations and film studios want to show their programs on YouTube. You can see what it's all about at YouTube.com.

Americans and Their Pets

HOST:

This week's listener question comes from Iran. Mansour Karami asks about
Cats are America's most popular pet

the popularity of keeping animals as pets in the United States. Pets live in more than sixty-nine million American homes. That is about sixty-three percent of all American homes.

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association did a study of pet owners this year. It said American families have about ninety million cats and seventy-three million dogs. Americans keep one hundred forty-eight million fish and sixteen million birds. They keep eighteen million other small animals like rabbits, hamsters and gerbils.

Americans have eleven million reptiles6 鈥?animals like iguanas7, salamanders and snakes, even poisonous snakes. Other more unusual animals also are gaining popularity as pets. They include pot-bellied pigs, llamas, rare birds, hedgehogs and goats. Yes, I said goats.

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association says Americans are expected to spend more than thirty-eight thousand million dollars this year on their pets.

People buy specially5 prepared food costing a total of more than fifteen thousand million dollars a year. They buy pet supplies, toys and clothing like little sweaters. They buy jewelry8 and clothes for themselves with images of their animals on them. For example, many people 鈥?including adults 鈥?wear T-shirts showing cats or dogs.

Americans spend more than nine thousand million dollars a year for their pets' health care. They take their pets to doctors for animals called veterinarians. The pets get vaccine9 medicines to protect them against diseases. The veterinarians also care for illnesses and broken bones. And they neuter animals to prevent them from reproducing.

Some owners even bury their dead pets in special burial grounds.

The pet dog of a woman who lives in Maryland recently died of old age. The woman missed him so much that within a few weeks, she took in another animal.

Her new dog, Toby, was homeless for a while after getting lost in Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana last year. She says Toby seems happy now, although he acts frightened during storms.

She says, I think we both needed each other.

Rhythm and Blues Foundation Awards

HOST:

The Rhythm and Blues Foundation recently presented its Pioneer Awards at a ceremony in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The organization honors great rhythm and blues performers. It also seeks to continue the influence of rhythm and blues music. The Rhythm and Blues Foundation has honored more than one hundred fifty artists since nineteen eighty-eight. Faith Lapidus tells us about some of the award winners this year.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

The winner of the Foundation's Legacy10 Award was singer Otis Redding. The Foundation says his work is an outstanding example of southern soul music. e recorded what may have been his biggest hitH Perhaps his biggest hit song was this one, Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay:

(MUSIC)

Another Rhythm and Blues Foundation Award winner was The DelFonics. This group won the Performance Group Award. The three group members grew up in Philadelphia. They were one of the first groups to sing what became known as The Philly Soul Sound. Here they sing their hit, La La Means I Love You.

(MUSIC)


Berry Gordy, left, is honored by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation

The winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award was record company official Berry Gordy. Gordy started Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan. He discovered many popular recording artists, including The Four Tops, The Supremes and this group, The Temptations. We leave you now with one of their biggest hits, My Girl.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

Our show was written by Erin Schiavone, Nancy Steinbach and Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver11 was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, www.unsv.com.

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 blues blues     
n.抑郁,沮丧;布鲁斯音乐
参考例句:
  • She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
  • He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。
3 recording UktzJj     
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。
4 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。
5 specially Hviwq     
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地
参考例句:
  • They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
  • The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
6 reptiles 45053265723f59bd84cf4af2b15def8e     
n.爬行动物,爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
7 iguanas becb3e0ccfa8d9d8482868d87293bcc6     
n. 美洲蜥蜴 名词iguana的复数形式
参考例句:
  • Galapagos land iguanas belong to the genus Conolophus, of which there are currently three recognised species. 加拉帕戈斯陆栖鬣蜥属于鬣蜥属,其中目前得到确认的有三个物种。
  • Feral cats in the region could be eating eggs and young iguanas, Gentile speculates. 这一区域的野猫可能正在吃鬣蜥蛋及其幼崽,金泰尔猜测。
8 jewelry 0auz1     
n.(jewllery)(总称)珠宝
参考例句:
  • The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
  • Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。
9 vaccine Ki1wv     
n.牛痘苗,疫苗;adj.牛痘的,疫苗的
参考例句:
  • The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
  • She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。
10 legacy 59YzD     
n.遗产,遗赠;先人(或过去)留下的东西
参考例句:
  • They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
  • He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。
11 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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