Broadcast: February 21, 2003
(THEME)
HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC -- VOA¡¯s radio magazine
in Special English.
(THEME)
This is Doug Johnson. On our program today:
We play some music nominated for a Grammy Award ...
Tell about a new study of Internet use in the United States
...
And report about the winners of two awards for the best children¡¯s
books.
Newberry & Caldecott Award Winners
HOST:
Each year, the American Library Association presents awards
for the best books for children. The Newbery and Caldecott awards
honor excellence in writing and art in children¡¯s
literature. The winners were announced at a meeting of the association
last month. Shep O¡¯Neal tells us about them.
ANNCR:
A thirteen-year-old boy living in fourteenth century England
is the hero of the book that won the Newbery Award for writing.
The book is called ¡°Crispin: The Cross of Lead.¡±
Crispin is accused of murder and must run away from his village.
A juggler becomes his protector and teacher. Crispin was a teenager
seven-hundred-years ago. Yet he was searching for freedom like
many young people today. The head of the committee that names
the Newbery Award winner says readers can ¡°see, hear,
smell, taste and feel¡± Crispin¡¯s world.
The book was written by Avi, a popular American writer who
uses only one name. Avi is from New York City. He says he was
not a good student in school. He did not start writing stories
for children until he had children of his own. He says it takes
about one year for him to write one book. Avi urges his young
readers to ¡°Listen and watch the world around you.
Do not be satisfied with answers others give you. Work to get
answers on your own. Understand why you believe things.¡±
The Caldecott Medal for the best artwork in children¡¯s
books in the United States went to Eric Rohmann. Mister Rohmann
wrote and drew the pictures for the book ¡°My Friend
Rabbit.¡± In the story, a mouse shares a new toy
airplane with his friend the rabbit. The airplane lands in a
tree. So the rabbit gets an elephant, a crocodile and a hippopotamus
to help rescue the plane. All of these animals fall on and off
the pages in a very funny story for young children.
Mister Rohmann made the pictures for the story with woodcuts.
To make a woodcut, the artist cuts designs or pictures in wood.
The artist prints the pictures on paper and then paints them.
The head of the Caldecott Award committee says the pictures
show a lot of energy and bright colors. One group of children
said the eyes of the animals tell a lot of the story.
UCLA Internet Study
HOST:
A recent university study asked more than two-thousand Americans
who use computers where they get most of their information.
The answer may surprise you. Mary Tillotson has more.
ANNCR:
The University of California at Los Angeles did the study.
It says about sixty-one percent of the people said the Internet
was their most important source of information. The other answers
were books, newspapers, television, radio and magazines.
Jeffrey Cole is the Director of the UCLA Center for Communications
Policy. He says the Internet has become the most popular information
source after existing for only about eight years as a communications
tool. Mister Cole says this is the third year that UCLA has
done the study. It is the first time the Internet was the top
answer.
Mister Cole said people are able to gather information much
quicker now than in the past. He said this may be the main reason
for the increased use of the Internet as an information-gathering
tool.
However, the UCLA study also showed a decrease in the number
of people who trust the information they find on the Internet.
Two years ago, fifty-eight percent of those questioned said
they believed the information on the Internet was true. In the
latest study, only about fifty-three percent of the people said
they would trust information from the Internet.
Mister Cole says this could be a problem for Internet information
in the future. How long will it be before people no longer value
what they learn on the Internet?
The study showed the Internet is extremely popular and is continuing
to grow. About seventy percent of Americans now use the Internet.
Sixty percent of them are linked to the Internet at home. That
is an increase of more than thirteen percent in only two years.
The study also showed that almost thirty percent of Americans
do not use the Internet. Their main reason is not understanding
the technology. Some people say they are afraid to try using
the Internet.
The UCLA report also showed that the Internet continues to
grow as an important business and professional tool. It said
that most Internet users are happy with it. The users said they
are most satisfied to be able to communicate with other people
very quickly.
The Grammy Awards
HOST:
Our VOA listener question this week comes from Nigeria. Dare
Omosowon wants to know about the Grammy Awards that will be
presented on Sunday.
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has presented
Grammy Awards every year since nineteen-fifty-eight. The awards
recognize excellent recordings and those who create them. The
award is a small statue shaped like the early record player
called a gramophone. The word ¡°Grammy¡±
is a short way of saying gramophone.
Eighteen-thousand members of the Recording Academy choose the
best work each year. Awards are given for spoken word albums
and for many kinds of music, including jazz, classical, country,
rap, and rhythm and blues.
One of the most important Grammy Awards is for ¡°Album
of the Year¡±. The award goes to the recording
artist and to the album¡¯s producers and engineers.
This year, the Dixie Chicks¡¯ album ¡°Home¡±
is nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy. Here is a song
from that album, ¡°Long Time Gone.¡±
(MUSIC)
Another album nominated for this Grammy Award is ¡°The
Eminem Show¡± by Eminem. A third nominated album
is ¡°Come Away with Me¡± by Norah Jones.
Here is a song from that album, ¡°Shoot the Moon¡±.
(MUSIC)
The fourth nominated album is by Nelly. It is called ¡°Nellyville.
And the final album nominated for ¡°Album of the Year¡±
is by Bruce Springsteen. We leave you now with the title song
from the album, ¡°The Rising.¡±
(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 Karen Leggett,
Nancy Steinbach and Paul Thompson. Our studio engineer was Jim
Harmon. And our producer was Paul Thompson.
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This Science Report is published courtesy
of VOAnews.com
