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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC1, in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

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

We answer a question about an American television show ...

Play some music from a new album by Norah Jones ...

And report about an extremely popular American food.

Hamburger Dispute


What is a hamburger without fries and a chocolate milkshake?

Americans love to eat hamburgers -- chopped or ground beef served on bread. Many restaurants in the United States say hamburgers are their most popular food. But no one really seems to know who made the first one. Barbara Klein has more.

BARBARA KLEIN:

History expert Linda Stradley published a hamburger history on the Web site What's Cooking America. She says sailors who visited the German port city of Hamburg in the eighteen hundreds learned to enjoy ground meat known as Hamburg steak. And German settlers in the United States served ground beef and called it hamburg steak after the German city.

But she says the invention of the modern American hamburger is in dispute. She says one problem is the definition. Is it a hamburger when the meat is placed between two pieces of bread? Or must it be in a kind of bread called a bun? Either way, she tells about a number of people who claim to have served the first hamburger in America. Here are some of them.

The people of Seymour, Wisconsin, say fifteen-year-old Charlie Nagreen sold the first hamburgers in eighteen eighty-five at a local fair. The town holds a yearly hamburger festival to honor him.

People in Akron, Ohio, agree that the hamburger was invented in eighteen eighty-five. But they say the inventors were Frank and Charles Menches. They say the brothers put the meat between two pieces of bread at a traveling fair.

Other claims include the family of Louis Lassen. They are still making hamburgers in New Haven2, Connecticut. And people in Athens, Texas, say Fletch Davis, who owned a restaurant, sold the first hamburger.

The modern hamburger became popular after it was served at the Saint Louis World's Fair in nineteen-oh-four. But the Bilby family in the state of Oklahoma says their grandfather Oscar served the first hamburger thirteen years before that. They claim he was the first to put the meat in a bun.

Because of this claim, the governor of Oklahoma declared the city of Tulsa to be the birthplace of the hamburger. But the Library of Congress has honored Louis Lassen as the inventor of the hamburger.

As recently as last month, language expert Barry Popik wrote about the issue. He says that states should drop claims to be the home of the hamburger because no one really knows who served the first one.

24

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Osaka, Japan. Fumio Nishimoto says the television show 24 is popular in Japan and wants to know more about it.

24 is also still very popular in the United States. The show is now in its sixth year on the Fox Television network. Some critics think more Americans will watch the show this season than ever before.


Kiefer Sutherland as Jack3 Bauer

24 stars Kiefer Sutherland (pictured) as Jack Bauer, an anti-terrorism agent of the United States government. Jack Bauer has fought nuclear threats, suicide bombers4 and kidnappers5 who have seized people he loves.

His work has resulted in the death of his wife and the end of his relationship with his daughter. It also places him in danger and in severe pain.

24 is what is called a concept show. It uses one interesting artistic6 device. Each episode covers one hour in Jack Bauer's life. And the episodes are all connected. So a full season of 24 completes one twenty-four hour day.

Early on, some critics thought the twenty-four hour idea would get tiresome7. But, the show continues to be popular among critics and viewers.

24 deals with current issues and often disputed ones as well. For example, the use of torture as a method for gaining information is a major subject on the show. Other subjects are religious freedom and constitutional rights in the United States. And almost every episode includes some kind of disloyalty or violating a trust.

Imagine Television, Real Time Productions and Fox Television jointly8 produce 24. The show has received many honors, including an Emmy award last year for Outstanding Drama Series. Keifer Sutherland also received a two thousand six Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series. He had been nominated every year since the show began.

Here is a tense moment from 24:

ANNOUNCER: The following takes place between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

MILO PRESSMAN: [Phone rings.] Pressman.

JACK BAUER: They've dumped the car. They must have switched vehicles.

MILO PRESSMAN: From the underpass they could've merged9 directly onto any one of six local roads or highways. There's just no way of tracking them without knowing exactly which vehicle they're in.

JACK BAUER: Damn it, Milo. They could be anywhere. Just find them and get back to me.

Norah Jones' New Album


"Not Too Late," Norah Jones' new album

Jazz and pop singer Norah Jones is the top-selling female artist of the twenty-first century. She has sold more than thirty million records around the world. Now the twenty-seven-year-old singer has released her third album, called Not Too Late. Faith Lapidus tells us about it.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Norah Jones has a voice and singing style that is all her own. It is warm and emotional. Her first two albums were extremely popular. Come Away With Me was released in two thousand two. It sold ten million copies in the United States alone. Her second album, Feels Like Home, was released two years later. Both albums include beautiful songs about love and relationships. Jones or members of her band wrote a few of the songs.

Norah Jones' third album, Not Too Late, is different from her first two. She wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album. The songs are sadder and more serious. This one is called Thinking About You. It is about ending a relationship.

(MUSIC)

Not Too Late is also different from Jones' first two albums because it includes songs that make political statements. This song expresses her unhappiness with the results of the presidential election of two thousand four. It is called My Dear Country.

(MUSIC)

Norah Jones plays piano and guitar on her latest album. She recorded the songs for the album in a studio in her home in New York City. We leave you now with a song from Not Too Late that sounds like the music of New Orleans. It is called Sinkin' Soon.

(MUSIC)

HOST:

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

It was written by Shelley Gollust, Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver10, who also was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, www.unsv.com.

And do 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 haven 8dhzp     
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所
参考例句:
  • It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后,这真是一个安乐窝。
  • The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。
3 jack 53Hxp     
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
参考例句:
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
4 bombers 38202cf84a1722d1f7273ea32117f60d     
n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 );投弹手;安非他明胶囊;大麻叶香烟
参考例句:
  • Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 kidnappers cce17449190af84dbf37efcfeaf5f600     
n.拐子,绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了,没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙,他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 artistic IeWyG     
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的
参考例句:
  • The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
  • These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。
7 tiresome Kgty9     
adj.令人疲劳的,令人厌倦的
参考例句:
  • His doubts and hesitations were tiresome.他的疑惑和犹豫令人厌烦。
  • He was tiresome in contending for the value of his own labors.他老为他自己劳动的价值而争强斗胜,令人生厌。
8 jointly jp9zvS     
ad.联合地,共同地
参考例句:
  • Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
  • She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。
9 merged d33b2d33223e1272c8bbe02180876e6f     
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中
参考例句:
  • Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
  • The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。
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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