"IBM's Predictions for a Smarter World" from VOA

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.

Controlling a device with your mind. Powering your home with the energy of your own activities. These are two of the developments that experts at IBM think will become reality within the next five years.

The technology company has released its latest "5 in 5" report. The experts think people will soon be able to control many electronic devices simply by using their minds. Scientists at IBM and other companies are researching ways to do this in a field of science known as bioinformatics.

They say people will soon have a way to just think about calling or e-mailing someone in order to make it happen. Bernie Meyerson is IBM's vice president of innovation.

BERNIE MEYERSON: "[It's a] simple ability to command a system to do something for you without actually doing or saying anything, literally thinking and having something happen as a result that's accurate. Something with really deep capability so that a person, for instance, a quadriplegic, a paraplegic can actually utilize brainwaves to make things happen and basically run their own lives independently."

Another prediction is a way for people to power their homes and offices using energy from activities like walking or running. Bernie Meyerson says this is known as micro-electronic generation.

BERNIE MEYERSON: "For instance, you can have somebody in the third world who has access to a phone or a smartphone but doesn't have access to the power grid, which is a very common thing, and literally in a shoe has something that recovers energy from walking and can charge the battery to enable that person to actually become connected with the rest of the world."

Another prediction: passwords could soon become a thing of the past. IBM says developments in biometric technology could soon make passwords unnecessary. Some of the most common biometrics used to identify people are fingerprints, face and voice recognition, and iris scans. The iris is the colored part of the eye.

Bernie Meyerson says this technology will soon be more widely used by money machines and other devices.

BERNIE MEYERSON: "Imagine that things recognize you. You walk up to an ATM [automated teller machine]. [It] takes one look, says, Yep, you're you."

Another prediction from the experts at International Business Machines: better technology to prevent unwanted e-mail.

BERNIE MEYERSON: "The device, as you act upon it, as you eliminate mail, you don't read it, you just look at it and kill it, after a while it learns your habits and works for you as as your assistant by eliminating stuff you never wanted anyway."

The fifth prediction on IBM's 5 in 5 list is an end to the "digital divide" between those who have technology and those who do not.

BERNIE MEYERSON: "Think about the digital divide today: the haves and the have-nots, people who are and are not connected. We anticipate within five years, better than eighty percent coverage of the world’s populations by cellular to smartphones. At that point, imagine having, for instance, the ability to speak openly with anybody anywhere, anytime and any language -- real time translation. Literally, the old 'Star Trek' idea of the universal translator coming to be, and how the world would change if there were that kind of communication and openness."

And that’s the VOA Special English Technology Report. What are your predictions for the next five years? Share them at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

"Langston Hughes" The Greatest African American Poet, from VOA

I'm Mary Tillotson. And I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about writer Langston Hughes, who has been called the poet voice of African-Americans.

Langston Hughes is usually thought of as a poet. But he also wrote novels, plays, short stories, essays, autobiographies, newspaper columns, children's books, and the words to operas. He also translated into English the works of foreign poets.

Hughes was one of the first black writers who could support himself by his writings. He is praised for his ability to say what was important to millions of black people.

Hughes produced a huge amount of work during his lifetime. He also has influenced the work of many other writers. He wrote for almost fifty years.

Langston Hughes was famous for his descriptions of black American life. He used his work to praise his people and voice his concerns about race and social injustice. His work is known all around the world and has been translated into many languages.

Hughes's poetry had serious messages. He often wrote about racial issues, describing his people in a realistic way. Although his story was not often pleasant, he told it with understanding and with hope.

Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, in nineteen-oh-two. His parents were separated. He spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. She told him stories about their family and their fight to end slavery. Her storytelling filled him with pride in himself and his race. He first began to write poetry when he was living with her.

When he was fourteen, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to stay with his mother and her new husband.

He attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio. Langston was named Class Poet one year. He published his first short stories while he was still in high school.

Walt Whitman

Langston Hughes struggled with a feeling of loneliness caused by his parent's divorce. He developed a love of reading books as a way to deal with the lack of time his parents spent with him. His love for reading grew into a desire to write. He wanted to reproduce the powerful effect other writers had made upon him. Among the early influences on his writing were poets Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg and Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

After graduating from high school in nineteen twenty, Langston moved to Mexico City to live with his father for one year. His father had moved there to escape racism in America. His father did not offer much warmth to his son. Yet, Langston turned the pain caused by his family problems into one of his most famous poems, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers." In this poem, he speaks of the strength and pride of black people in ancient African civilizations and in America.

(SOUND: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers")

Langston Hughes learned a lot about race, and about social and economic conditions while he was in Mexico. His ability to speak Spanish and his brown skin often made it easy for him to appear to be a native. Many of his works, including a play for children, deal with his days in Mexico.

During the time he stayed with his father in Mexico, Langston wrote many poems because he was always unhappy. He once said that he usually created his best work when he was really not happy.

Langston had a troubled relationship with his father from which he never recovered fully. His father did not think he could earn a living as a writer. His mother, however, recognized his need to be a poet.

Langston's father agreed to pay for his college education at Columbia University in New York City, if he studied engineering. Langston arrived in New York when he was nineteen years old. At the end of that first year at Columbia, he left school, broke with his father, and began traveling. Traveling was a lifelong love that would take him throughout the world before he died.

In nineteen twenty-two, Hughes took a job on a ship and sailed to Africa. He would later sail to France, Russia, Spain and Italy. He wrote poems and short stories during his travels. His experiences while traveling greatly influenced his work. He sent a few of his writings back home. They were published, which helped establish him as a professional writer.

Financial problems ended Hughes's travels. He tried to find work on a ship so he could return to the United States. But in Italy, he had problems finding work on a ship because he was black. In the poem, "I, Too", he noted that the American color line even reached all the way over there.

(SOUND: "I, Too")

Vachel Lindsay

In nineteen twenty-four, Langston Hughes returned to the United States to live with his mother in Washington, D.C. The poet Vachel Lindsay ate in a hotel where Hughes was working. Hughes put some poems he had written next to Lindsay's dinner plate. Lindsay gave a poetry reading later that night. He read some of Hughes's poetry, too. Newspapers across the country wrote about Lindsay's poetry reading. Hughes became known as a new black poet.

A year later, Hughes returned to New York. Through the years he lived in many places, but always came back to New York's Harlem area. Harlem was the center of black life in New York City. Hughes's creativity was influenced by his life in Harlem.

Langston Hughes returned to New York during a period called the Harlem Renaissance. It took place during the nineteen twenties and thirties. The Harlem Renaissance was a period of great artistic creativity among black people. For the first time, black artistic expression was being widely recognized. Hughes became friends with other great black writers of the time, such as Claude McKay, Countee Cullen and Zora Neal Hurston. They hoped that great art could change the racist ideas in America about African Americans.

Hughes was considered one of the leading voices of the Harlem Renaissance. He was the first poet to use the rhythms of black music. He often wrote about the everyday experiences of black working people. And he helped bring the movement of jazz and the sound of black speech into poetry.

Langston Hughes experimented with his writing. Other Harlem Renaissance writers wrote traditional poems like those of English classic poets, such as William Shakespeare. Hughes broke free with his writing and helped change literature forever.

Hughes became firmly established as a successful writer in nineteen twenty-six with the publication of a collection of jazz poems called "The Weary Blues." Hughes wrote the poems in a place in Harlem where blues music was played. He loved to write while sitting in clubs listening to blues and jazz. The title poem, "The Weary Blues," was written to be played with musical instruments. The poem perfectly expressed the desire of Langston Hughes to combine black music and speech in his poetry.

"I got the Weary Blues and I can't be satisfied. Got the Weary Blues and can't be satisfied. I ain't happy no mo' and I wish that I had died."

"And far into the night he crooned that tune. The stars went out and so did the moon. The singer stopped playing and went to bed – while the Weary Blues echoed through his head. He slept like a rock or a man that's dead."

Poems in "The Weary Blues" are warm and full of color. They have a sense of freedom, like that of jazz music. Langston Hughes was excited about the new form of poetry he had discovered for himself.

This Special English program was written by Cynthia Kirk. It was produced by Caty Weaver. The poetry was read by Langston Hughes and Shep O'Neal. I'm Mary Tillotson. And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on VOA when we finish the story of the life of Langston Hughes.

COMPREHENSION CHECK

1. Langston Hughes's father moved to Mexico ___________________ .

a: to get away from his marriage
b: to escape the racial prejudice that was common in the States
c: to find a better job
d: to learn about Latino culture and the Spanish language

2. Langston Hughes felt __________________________ .

a: tremendous love and respect for his father
b: total support from his father
c: a large emotional distance from his father
d: that his father was too meddlesome in his life

3. Langston Hughes wrote the poem "Weary Blues". The closest in meaning to the word "Weary" is ___________________ .

a: exhausted
b: worried about danger
c: very influenced by women
d: feeling strange, alienated, lonely

4. Langston Hughes's _______________ taught him about pride in his race and heritage.

a: mother
b: father
c: uncle
d: grandmother

5. Langston Hughes was the first poet who ____________________ .

a: used rhyme in poetry
b: used jazz rhythms in poetry
c: expressed loneliness in poetry
d: used the subject of African-American experience in poetry

6. In addition to being a poet, Langston Hughes was also _________________ .

a: an electrician
b: a playwright
c: an advertising man
d: a professor of literature

7. One kind of writing that Langston Hughes didn't do was _________________ .

a: short stories
b: novels
c: children stories
d: science articles

8. As a child, Langston Hughes developed a love of books in reaction to _______________________ .

a: the lack of love he felt from his parents
b: his ambition to become a poet
c: his desire to become a successful teacher
d: his access to a fine public library

9. Because of his appearance and his ability to speak Spanish, many Mexican people thought he was ___________________ .

a: an American
b: a native
c: an indian
d: a Latin American poet

10. Langston Hughes felt that he created his best poetry when ___________________ .

a: he was listening to the blues
b: he was not very happy
c: he was in love with a sympathetic woman
d: he was in line to give a poetry reading

Three by Langston and a short bio. Blues For Peace. The Weary Blues, Night Funeral in Harlem, Juke Box Love Song

Langston Hughes, Part Two

7/8 Listening Test Two

"Bonjour, Monsieur" by painter Gustave Courbet

The teacher will supply the test booklet and the Scantron card for this test. Please, don't write on the test booklet. Write on the Scantron card only. Choose one answer, marking a, b, c, or d, whichever you think is correct. If you want to change an answer, erase the first one completely. When you're finished, return the test booklet and the Scantron card to the teacher. The teacher will correct your Scantron card and give you your results.

"The Fall of New York" by John Robinson

I'm pleased to present here the first installment of my historical novel about the battle between revolutionary forces under George Washington and General William Howe's overwhelmingly superior military forces. It's June of 1776. New Yorkers will recognize street and place names. Many quotes from the actual correspondence of the principals are used.

1. A POSTURE OF DEFENSE

New York City. New Years Day. Seventeen Seventy Six. The cobblestones are wet from the rain and the sleet. Horse drawn carts loaded with trunks and furniture click to the wharves. The social observances of New Year's Day are canceled. Even the bells of Trinity Church, the Dutch Reformed, and Saint Paul's are silent. Instead, a slow but steady evacuation of women and children is underway. The British men of war are anchored a stone's throw off the East River slips: the Asia, the Phoenix, and The Duchess of Gordon, each with forty to fifty twenty pound cannon aimed at the town. Huge cakes of ice in the river slap their hulls and force them to hug the shore. The Liberty Boys, armed with muskets stolen from Fort George, eye the cannons on the battery that extends from White Hall Slip as far as Beaver Street. Captain Parker, senior naval officer of the Phoenix Man of War, has warned the rebels that if they attempt to remove the cannons from the battery, he'll order his gunners to fire on the city.

Evening. Light fall of snow. White gauze covers the shoulders of the equestrian statue of King George in the bowling green. Little dots of white fill the small gilded crowns that top the wrought iron fence posts surrounding the regal monument. The streets are deserted, except for the piles of baggage and huddled forms of women and children. They're waiting for the Long Island Ferry at the foot of Wall Street to carry them to safety. Ominous clouds close in about the very roofs and chimneys. The peoples' minds are strained and apprehensive. Should the men of war commence cannonading, there will be no defenses against them. Nothing will prevent the British troops landing and overrunning the island.

The landed, wealthy Tories fear the rebels much more than the British troops. To men like Delancy, the low class dubbing itself The Sons of Liberty has been spreading terror through the town since the Stamp Act. Demagogues like that pirate Isaac Sears whipped the leather aproned joiners, carpenters, and chimney sweeps into frenzies. Deluding the mob with promises of liberty, Sears sought only to feather his own political nest. The Tories are loyal to his majesty King George the Third and his minister Lord North. Yes, the taxation policies of the Ministry are somewhat unreasonable, but the colonies have friends in Parliament. No need to sever ties. Why exchange the most benevolent government in the world for this wildly anarchic, tyrannical Congress in Philadelphia? New York City is evenly divided between those loyal to the king and those swept up in the fever of revolution. Then, there are the moderates. The fence sitters. They just want to avoid trouble. They have the majority in the city Committee of Safety. After the Committee ousted the incendiary Isaac Sears, he journeys to Cambridge and wins the ear of Charles Lee. "New York is a hot bed of Toryism!" he confides in the Major-General. Lee concurs with Sears and promises to take the matter up with the commander of the Revolutionary forces, now based in Boston. He writes George Washington, on January fifth.

General Charles Lee with Spada

"The consequences of the enemy's possessing themselves of New York appear to me so terrible, that I have scarcely slept. If the enemy gains control of the North River, they achieve communication with the Lakes, Canada. They cut the colonies in half. They have a base from which to strike anywhere in America within days."

Lee thought the commander leaned on Congress far too much. He added;

"Do not refer every decision you make to Congress. To so is to drown in indecision. It is to you they look up to for direction. Your effectiveness depends on your striking, at certain crises, vigorous strokes without communicating your intention. New York must be protected. But it will never, I'm afraid, be secured by direct order of Congress. I know that no man can be spared from Boston at this time as General Howe's entire force directly threatens that place. But I propose you should detain me in Connecticut and lend your name for collecting a body of volunteers. I shall find no difficulty in assembling a sufficient number for the purposes wanted. This body will effect the security of New York and the suppression of that dangerous banditti of Tories."

Washington wavers. If he immediately adopts Charles Lee's plan, and directs Lee to New York, would it be within his authority? He might exceed his powers and then Congress would disapprove. He was to act only as Congress directed, not otherwise. But New York is vital. He asks top Revolutionary leader John Adam's opinion.

Adams replies, "Yes. As the city and North River are the nexus of the Northern and Southern colonies, no effort to secure it ought to be omitted."

Washington learned that Howe's army planned soon to embark from the port of Boston. They must be destined for the south. To Charles Lee he writes, "You will with the volunteers from Connecticut repair to New York and put that city in the best posture of defense which the season will admit of, disarming all such persons upon Long Island and elsewhere whose conduct and declarations have rendered them justly suspected of designs unfriendly to the views of Congress."

Major General Charles Lee, second in command. Military genius. Charles Lee had been a Major General in the British Army. Led the Russians against the dreaded Turk. Then, on his return to England, he wrote radical pamphlets and insulted King George to his face. Settled in America. Tall, emaciated, soiled clothes, messy hair, dirty fingernails. Had to swallow his pride to serve under that Virginian amateur, Washington. Lee leaves Cambridge for New Haven. By him in his horse drawn chair his dogs. His favorite, Spada, rests his head on Lee's shoulder. Spada a large Pomeranian resembles a tiny bear. The other hounds battle for a position closest to their beloved master. He arrives in Hartford in the evening and calls upon the people of the neighborhood to join his colors to suppress the Tories and secure the town against the ministerial troops. "Not to crush these serpents before their rattles are grown would be ruinous." He is received with enthusiasm. If the bad news of defeats in Canada served to inspire rather than depress, it is because Lee's zeal spurs them. He reaches Stamford, Connecticut the following day. The New Englanders crowd around him. They love Lee's cursing of all authority, his unshaven face. The slovenly fit of an old faded, threadbare scarlet coat on his stretched, thin frame. His ever present dogs join him at the dinner table.

"I must have some object to embrace. When I can be convinced that men are as worthy as dogs, I shall transfer my benevolence to them." And his angry manner earns for him cheers among the growing throng. The Committee of Safety in New York is nervous about the coming of the temperamental Charles Lee. They just finished getting rid of Isaac Sears, now they dread a worse and more dangerous influence is coming to replace him. They write:

"Sir, since our gunpowder quantity is less than three tons, we haven't got a sufficiency to enable you to act hostilely against the ships of war now in port. Since we are unprepared, we cannot provoke the ships of war until at least the month of March when we might be fortunate enough to obtain more powder. So please, sir, stay on the western confines of Connecticut until you can assure us that the entrance of a large body of troops into this city will not involve us in hostilities."

Lee scoffs. "The timid ones are against my plan, merely from the spirit of procrastination, which is the essence of timidity."

As he writes, cursing the New Yorkers, a nagging pain in his fingers nearly stops him. Gout. The gout come back. The pain spreads to his knees, ankles, toes. Wide eyed, unable to sleep, he twists and turns in agony. He could nowhere find comfort. He stays eight more days in hopes the gout attack will pass, but it doesn't. He has to go to New York, gout or not. So, finally, carried on a litter, he is carefully placed on his carriage. Spada tries to soothe his pain by sliding a long consoling tongue across his cheek. But each bump in the road sends burning jolts into his swollen joints. The following day, he crosses Kings Bridge and enters the island. The Post Road leads him by the stately mansions and lovely rolling farm lands, orchards, and graceful stone walls. South, jutting up behind the hills, the spires of the churches rise. Now, descending the hills, Bowery Road becomes Broadway, newly set with cobblestones.

Dutch Reformed Church, NY, 1776

Even in his anguish, Charles Lee can admire the bright, brick houses of the town, topped with curtained dormer windows and graceful balustrades encircling the roofs. Wrought iron fence, lush Dutch gardens, and the Dutch houses with their glazed yellow bricks and stair step gables. Tree lined sidewalks, and the river, sound, and the flight of gulls. The Major General's chair halts at the common where the upper barracks stand and the Montaigne Public House. His litter bearers bring him to his room and he immediately receives the news that the British General Clinton aboard the war ship Mercury has entered the harbor.

"Let the fireworks begin!" Roared Lee." Send word on board the men of war that if they set a single house on fire in consequence of my coming, I will chain one hundred of their friends together and make that house their funeral pile."

"A dangerous provocation!" Protests the Committee of Safety.

"Hysteria!" Returned Lee. "Bring my litter to survey lower Broadway. That fort must go!"

"Fort George? But it is the King's Fort."

"Exactly. Tear down the bastions; north, west and east and the connecting curtain too. The fort can do us no good, but if the enemy gets it, they can use it to subject the town. Tear it down. Take their stores. And take the guns from the battery and move them to the common. Leave three thirty-two pounders in lower Broadway. Those guns will prevent them from rebuilding the fort."

All available carts are pressed to the Major General's service. He barks commands from his litter. The carts squeak and the wheels buckle under the half ton weight of the old cannon.
Seeing the guns roll by, the inhabitants are struck with panic. Quickly trunks are packed and loaded on horse drawn chairs. The Boston Post Road fills with refugees bound for Kings Bridge and beyond. The ferries too. And soon the din of clopping horses and the creak of wheel ceases. Vesey Street and Dey, Cherry Street and Barclay are silent. Houses vacated and boarded up. Inside a week a town of 28,000, down to 5,000. The Committee of Safety pulls its collective hair while Lee laughs off the mass flight.

"Let them go. Their houses shall be barracks for the Continental troops. And as to the threats of ships, I consider their menaces to fire upon the town as idle gasconades."

New York. It's a desert now, is the common lament. But Charles Lee is pleased. Feeding Spada one of Mrs. Montaigne's muffins, he begins to ponder strategy.

"What to do with the city, I confess, puzzles me. It is so encircled with deep, navigable water, that whoever commands the sea must command the town. And they have the world's greatest navy, with the French a close second best. The British will have no problems landing their forces here. But it is possible to make New York a costly battleground for them. They had to pay a lot to bring troops over 3000 miles of ocean. We must entrench ourselves in the Broadway, making our position so heavily defended that for every inch of progress, they will lose expensive lives."

So the eighteen hundred Connecticut volunteers build barricades at every street leading to the Broadway. Using mahogany logs taken from West India cargoes, and the shade trees of Broad and Wall and Nassau that enclose City Hall Park. Barriers rise at the head of Vesey Street, and one at Murray. Another stretches across Beekman Street at the Brick Church. Bulwark at the entrance to Center Street, another crosses Frankfort, and near that one, yet another facing Chatham. Sweat pours, dirt flies, the sound of hammer on wood, the chunk of shovel, the slap of cobblestone on mounting piles. But mostly the dirt. Soap is in short supply. The soap makers left in the panic. So the men on fatigue are constantly grimy. Barracked in the elegant houses, their mud boots streak hard wood floors, white tiled staircases; their hands soil wainscots, walls. The men burn fine European imported furniture for their heat. Cellars reek with their filth. Oh, when the owners return, they will spend years cleaning up after these motley, ragamuffin, vagabond, poor excuse for soldiers.

Back out the next morning, littered Lee drives them on as Spada pants. Horne's Hook battery goes up, and one opposite it at Hallet's point, to keep British ships out of Hell's Gate and
access to the sound. But we are low, grumbles Lee, on entrenching tools: hoes, shovels, axes, picks.

"We need engineers, carpenters. Can't expect to hold these forts with eighteen hundred. We need more men. We need nine thousand on Long Island alone. And we need soap! The Congress neglects this place. They make proclamations from afar. The appoint a mere amateur, George Washington, to command our troops, and don't even consider me! The only experienced officer they've got! Don't they realize the loss of New York is the death of the cause? We need soap!"

But Congress, instead, sends flattery. Good job Charles Lee. They need you in Canada. Canada?? Lee writes the chief: "New York must be secured. But your Congress is miserly, sir. I have torn down Fort George and begun redoubts in the Broadway and Horne's Hook. More than that I could not do as the Congress has not furnished the force which I was told to expect from Philadelphia!"

Lee shocks the lady innkeeper at dinner by quipping:

"If the British Commander, William Howe, and his brother the admiral were caught in bed with the wives of these congressmen, they would look the other way."

As ice blocks melt, The Asia, the Phoenix, and the Duchess of Gordon move out of the harbor taking the immediate threat of cannonade away with them. Charles Lee's attention shifts to
the Long Island Tory problem. Isaac Sears is dispatched to Long Island with orders to force the Tories to take a strong oath. It should be as follows:

"I will take arms in defense of my country if called upon by the voice of the Congress."

The true Tory, he who we shall imprison, will refuse to sign the oath. To promise to take arms against their sovereign would be too impious. Sears confronts them one by one and reports the results of the oath taking to Charles Lee as follows:

"They swallowed the oath hard as if it was a four pound shot they were trying to get down. But many of them, rather than being forced to sign an oath, escaped to the woods and are hiding out there."

Tories hiding in the woods! They're simply waiting for the King's troops to arrive. Then they'll join up against us. "I must confess", Lee says, "I leave this place in its present state with no small anxiety of mind. As there are no measures taken for its security, I tremble lest the enemy should take possession of it."

Lee's original orders state he must go to Canada. But he receives another letter from Congress, a change of assignment. He is to leave for South Carolina instead. Congress had wanted him in Canada, but Charles Lee is the only general South Carolina will accept. From Congress's point of view, it doesn't really matter where Lee is sent. Just get him out of New York where his inflammatory words and actions could cause the British not just to take over the town, but cruelly punish whoever is there left defending it.

Mrs. Montaigne issues Charles Lee the bill for his lodgement. His gout is calmed and he doesn't scream as much at night, but still she isn't sorry to see him go. She won't miss his foul mouth, unwashed person, and the furniture chewing and the rug shedding of his many dogs. She forces a gracious smile, respectfully requesting payment, but he slaps the bill out of her hand. "Why should I pay you, you damned Tory?" he hisses. The animals bare their teeth at her, growl, and follow their master to his horse and chair.

A stream of men, the newly arrived Continentals line Dey Street to watch Charles Lee ride to the Powle's Hook Ferry. They are motley dressed. Some in blue coats and buckskin breeches, white stockings and half boots, others in green short coats with brass buttons and black velvet jackets and breeches, and still others with blue coats and small castor hats set off by a black band and a silver buckle. They cheer their hero, and each dreads abandonment in this dangerous place with a less competent command. Lee is the best they could have.

The British under Howe leave Boston's Port and head for Halifax, Nova Scotia. But, that's only a ruse. New York will be their next object. Washington sends Lord Stirling to take Lee's place in New York and finish the job Lee started according to Lee's plan. Washington himself slips into town on April fifth and takes residence in the mansion of Richmond Hill.

Washington remains aloof, brooding on the losses of Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, shuddering as regards the future of this uneven contest. The men never see him except at Trinity Church. And they wonder at his excellency's emotionless expression as the Anglican minister, Charles Inglis, prays for the well being of the King and sermonizes that changes of government should be left in God's hands alone.

But the fort building picks up. All during April and May the pick and shovel, hammer and saw are busy. In addition to the barricades on the Broadway, redoubts appear on Lispenard's Hill to strike war ships trying to embark on the Hudson side. Freshwater Hill redoubt faces the town, protects the hospital. Verplank's Hill behind Trinity Church aims cannon to the south. Bayard's Hill and Jones Hill have good works and at the ship yard, a strong battery backed by a fort higher up on the hill where the Jewish burial ground sits. Works at Colear's Hook and Rutger's Hill behind it protect the East River and more cannon are placed at Peck's and Beekman's slips, Rodman's Slip, Burnett's Key, Hunter's Key, Kruger's Wharf. Murray's Slip, and Whitehall.

General William Howe, commander in chief of the British, Hessian, and Highlander forces arrives on June 26th in the Greyhound frigate, a man of war sporting forty, twenty pounders. June 29th, forty-five more ships. And by now there are eighty-two. Rumour has it there are around 10,000 professionals out there battle ready. And more on the way. The commander's brother is at sea. Admiral Richard Howe with one hundred and fifty ships and some 22,000 more soldiers. The biggest military build up the British have ever mounted. The much delayed conquest of New York is finally about to happen. Perhaps, when the rebels see they must lose their city, they will abandon their "revolution" altogether. Then the British would be done with this idiocy. They want to finish this thing fast and go back home.

Sketch of Lispenard's Meadows

From his window at Richmond Hill, Abraham Mortier's residence at Varick and Charleston Streets, his excellency is treated to the view of the trees and grasses of Lispenard's Meadow
where all seems at peace. But he's thinking now of the growing forest of ships masts off Sandy Hook.

"The situation calls for the most vigorous exertions. Nothing less will be sufficient to avert the impending blow," writes General Washington to his adjutant, Colonel Joseph
Reed.

Reed reads. "Exertions?" and thinks: "It will take more than words to whip these amateur, motley, ragamuffin soldiers into any kind of shape."

The British General has a certain respect for the rebels. He remembers the The Bunker Hill fiasco. Howe had ordered his soldiers straight at the rebel batteries. A ridiculous frontal attack. He vows he will not repeat that mistake. Fortunate for him the rebels were largely bereft of ammunition, hence searched for "the whites of their eyes" before firing rationed shots. And those eye whites were spotted usually as rebels' chests got skewered. Too few ended up that way. Alas, Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill were largely abandoned before the redcoats got there.

The British regulars are in high spirits and talk of success in New York with some confidence. When the admiral arrives, with a few swift moves New York will be ours.

Washington stands. The sun throws the shadow of his six foot two frame across the length of the room. "I trust", he says, by God's favor and our own best efforts, they will be
disappointed, like they were at Bunker Hill. It is as Charles Lee says, they'll have to wade through much blood and slaughter before they carry our works.

But we need soldiers to defend them. Many of the militia terms are up and farmers are anxious to get home, angry over having missed the spring planting. The city's defenses are built and the men have nothing to do but wait. Increased cases of small pox from bad water lower morale. Two thousand sick men crowd the new hospital on Freshwater Hill.

Marked increase in rum consumption, madeira. Consorting with the whores of "The holy ground" so named because this vicinity of the women of the night surrounds Trinity Church, New York's largest Episcopal church. One soldier, given thirty-nine lashes in punishment for drunkenness, requests another thirty-nine if he can use them as payment for a pint of rum.

Washington broods. This army has problems. Given to gloomy thoughts, always, this large man with deep set eyes and a heavy brow. His father died when he was eleven and his beloved older brother Lawrence, too, in his prime.

These early tragedies never go away. They remain, a subliminal background hum at the center of his busy life. They rise in pitch and volume under stress. But his mood lifts when he receives the news that Congress has passed the Declaration of Independence, an instrument that severs all ties with the mother country. Just the thing to restore morale and discipline to the army.

He calls the troops to parade at six. Before each battalion the famous words are recited:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation."

The soldiers give the declaration their approval with loud cheers and hats thrown skyward. Loyalists are afraid and shrink into the shadows of buildings. Many try to leave the city, knowing their lives are in jeopardy.

George the Third Statue Attack

The rebels are surrounding the equestrian statue of George the Third. You can imagine the lead horse rearing up in fear. Under the Roman armor, the king modeled upon Marcus Aurelius, shivers. His laurel leafed brow sweats. Rebels mount the marble platform, circle appendages of man and horse with rough, thick rope. Toss the ends into the crowd. With cries of heave, the soldiers pull, the leaden forms hold, but crack. Then, man and horse fall. Hammers undo the thin gold leaf that coats the statue. Entrenching tools and picks attack the grounded sovereign. He's pieces now. One blow cuts his head off neck and shoulder. They chip off the laurel leaves and ax his nose off and pound a musket ball into the left temple.

"Send the lead to Litchfield Connecticut", orders his excellency. "The ladies of Litchfield will mold our former king into bullets, cannon shot, canister, and grape shot. New York is without bullet molds."

The motley rebel soldiers gleefully obey. They collect the lead in wagons. Pieces of George Rex to serve our cause. Shoot his toes into his representatives. Kill the Hessian with his greedy fingertips. Bleed Scotsmen with fragments from his spleen. But they fix the head on a spike and plant it in front of Moore's tavern just south of Kings Bridge. Gold from the veneer buys many a round. And they drink toasts to the lead head of fallen Lucifer deep into the night.

Three days later, they're still celebrating. Tearing King's coats of arms off of buildings, rioting. Only now, the enemy is stirring. The oak masts of the Phoenix and Rose are visible in the East River.

Man the batteries. Forty eight Phoenix cannons are spitting at Powle's Hook. We have no reply to their brisk cannonade. They commence investing the Hudson. Where are the defenders of Bayard's Mount? They're far from the works. They're in their cups. They're at the holy ground with the less than holy ladies. New England Puritans murmur against this devil's town, this Babylon. God's wrath will burn it down.

"Three Books About The Human Brain" from VOA

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I’m Shirley Griffith.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we discuss three books that tell about ways the human brain works. One book considers the power of the brain in controlling why some people care about how someone else feels and why others do not. Another book describes how the limitations of the brain can affect our lives. The third book is about how the brain develops in a baby.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Psychology professor and researcher Simon Baron-Cohen wrote a book called “The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Cruelty.” His book asks why it is that human beings are capable of evil behavior towards each other. He says the word “evil” is less helpful in offering a scientific explanation. Instead, he chooses to use the word empathy. We spoke with Professor Baron-Cohen about his book using Skype.

SIMON BARON-COHEN: “If we are trying to do science, we should move away from the concept of evil as an explanation of cruelty and instead use the framework of empathy. Because empathy is something you can measure scientifically. And you can measure it at the psychological level using questionnaires or psychological tests. You can also measure it using the new brain scanning technology, MRI. In that respect, you can also move forward and move deeper.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Simon Baron-Cohen defines empathy as the ability of a person to identify what someone else is thinking or feeling and to react with an appropriate emotion. He says people who do evil acts are showing a lack of empathy. This can be temporary, or part of a more permanent condition.

STEVE EMBER: Professor Baron-Cohen and his research team developed a way to measure individual differences in empathy. They found that most people have average levels of empathy, but some people have extremely low or high levels.

SIMON BARON-COHEN: “In my book I call this the empathy bell curve. And part of what I’m exploring in the book is what determines where an individual scores on this empathy bell curve. Why do some people score much lower or much higher than other people.”

STEVE EMBER: Empathy is linked to physical areas of the brain. Medical imaging technology has identified at least ten parts of the brain that are active when people empathize. And, these areas are less active in people with little or no empathy.

Why would someone lack empathy? Professor Baron-Cohen offers evidence suggesting that zero empathy can be the result of environmental, social and genetic conditions.

The question of empathy is a meaningful one in the field of psychology. Lack of empathy has an influence on borderline personality disorder, narcissism and psychopathy and the developmental disorder autism.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Professor Baron-Cohen says borderline personality disorder, narcissism and psychopathy are described as personality disorders. But he says psychiatric experts could instead define them as empathy disorders. This could open up new ways of studying and treating these disorders. Recognizing the importance of empathy could also change the way legal and psychiatric experts consider and treat people who commit acts of cruelty. But this recognition goes far beyond psychiatry. The writer says empathy is one of the most valuable resources in our world.

SIMON BARON COHEN: “One thing that I think may have been neglected in the past is just recognizing that empathy also has the power to resolve conflicts between people. So if we think about conflicts, it could be a conflict between two people, like two neighbors. It could be a conflict between two nations. For example, nations that go to war.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: That was Professor Baron-Cohen speaking to us with Skype. He says it is important to recognize the value of empathy in areas like politics, education and law, as well as psychiatry.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: Dean Buonomano is a brain specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. He works in the Departments of Neurobiology and Psychology and the Brain Research Institute at UCLA.

His book “Brain Bugs” explores how the human brain is one of the best pieces of technology ever created. But at the same time, he shows how a normal, healthy brain is also built with weaknesses and limitations. Professor Buonomano borrows the word “bug” from computer programming to describe the errors which the brain can make.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: One reason for these ‘bugs’ is evolution. Human brains developed over hundreds of thousands of years to be skilled at finding food, shelter and protection from threats. Yet evolution did not fully prepare the brain for the many demands of the modern world.

So, our brains are very good at doing some things. But our brains sometimes fail us when we attempt to remember long lists of information, or compute large numbers in our head. Our brains are also not always very good at making long-term decisions.

STEVE EMBER: Professor Buonomano discusses how and why the brain can play tricks on us in decisions involving memory, time and judging threats. Sometimes these mistakes can have serious effects, like a victim who wrongly identifies her attacker to police.

At other times, the mistakes are harmless. For example, one study found that most people choose to receive one hundred dollars immediately over receiving one hundred twenty dollars in a month. While waiting could lead to more money, most people would want the payment now. Dean Buonomano says that, for human ancestors, the immediate need for food was more important than the future need. So, our brains often want an immediate action instead of having to wait for a reward.

Professor Buonomano explains the causes of many kinds of brain bugs and gives examples of their everyday results. And, he offers ideas for how understanding our brain bugs can become a tool for improving our mental powers.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: John Medina is a developmental molecular biologist in Seattle, Washington. His book is called “Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five.” The book gives scientific information about how a brain develops from its creation to the age of five years.

Professor Medina says parenting is all about brain development. He says what science tells us about the brain gives parents good information for raising smart, happy children.

STEVE EMBER: Many parents ask the professor what they can do to improve brain function before birth. A mother’s actions have a big effect on how her baby develops. He says one of the most important things is for the mother to avoid severe levels of stress.

JOHN MEDINA: “The maternal stress that is felt, that stress hormone -- one of them is called cortisol -- can actually leach into the womb. And, at certain stages of development can actually go into the brain of the baby and rewire the brain of that baby in such fashion that it now becomes stressed.”

STEVE EMBER: John Medina says it is important for a pregnant woman to gain the right amount of weight and eat healthful foods so that her baby will develop normally.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: His book also discusses the science behind a child’s intelligence after birth. He says one of the best things parents can do for their baby has to do with their own relationship. Studies show marriage conflict increases greatly after a baby is born. This can result from new pressures on the parents and lack of sleep. Professor Medina says what conflict the baby witnesses can be important.

JOHN MEDINA: “If you make up in public, by that I mean in front of your child, with the same frequency that you fight in front of your child, the child’s nervous system develops beautifully. It doesn’t matter how much fighting you guys do. In fact, I would argue that if kids could actually see real live conflict going on that is both frank but also resolvable, it teaches the child to begin to have better conflict resolution.”

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Parents can do other things to help support the mental development of their baby. These include breast feeding and talking and playing with the child. [John Medina says it is wise to avoid television at an early age and not to pressure children to learn.]

STEVE EMBER: As for happiness, Professor Medina says it is important for parents to help children develop language skills to express their emotions.

JOHN MEDINA: “What a parent does when their child’s emotions run hot profoundly influences how that child’s emotional regulation occurs decades later, no kidding.”

STEVE EMBER: He also says parents can help create a healthy emotional life for small children by being watchful and responsive to their needs. He adds that parents need to recognize and not judge the child’s emotions.

Finally, John Medina tells about research that shows the single best predictor of happiness is having friends. He says parents should help children learn to control and understand their emotions because this leads to deeper friendships.

(MUSIC)

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Shirley Griffith.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. Our programs are online with transcripts and MP3s at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can find us at Facebook and YouTube at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

The Diamond Trade - from VOA

I'm Steve Ember. And I'm Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Today we tell about the trade in diamonds, a worldwide business worth billions of dollars.

(MUSIC: "Diamonds Are Forever")

The use of valuable stones like diamonds goes back thousands of years. Rulers of many ancient cultures used gemstones to show wealth and importance. Diamonds still represent power and fame. Rich and famous people around the world wear diamonds. And, most women in the United States receive a diamond ring when they agree to a marriage proposal.

Diamonds are mined from the Earth. They are cut, made to shine and then sold at high prices. The nation of South Africa is famous for its supply of diamonds. For generations, men have gone deep down into the Earth to bring out the rough stones. It is very difficult and dangerous work. But recently, technology has helped.

Diamonds were formed millions of years ago from carbon under extreme heat and pressure more than one hundred kilometers below the Earth's surface. They are found in volcanic "pipes" called kimberlite. The name comes from Kimberley, the place in South Africa were diamonds were found in the nineteenth century.

The DeBeers company bought the Kimberley mine and soon became the biggest mining company in South Africa. DeBeers employed thousands of workers there. In the late twentieth century, it improved working conditions and offered miners a share of the company's profits.

(MUSIC)

All over the world, valuable stones are mined from deep in the ground, from areas near rivers or coasts and in open gravel pits. Botswana is now the largest diamond producer in Africa. The stones are also mined in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia and Sierra Leone. Other major diamond-producing nations include Australia, Canada and Russia.

DeBeers still controls half of the world's diamond production. Most of their rough stones are sent to the company's headquarters in London to be sold to a few dealers. But independent buyers are also part of the process.

One million people work in the diamond industry in India. Shrenuj and Company is one of the main diamond factories in the city of Mumbai. Workers cut and shine, or polish, gemstones there.

Most of the world's diamonds, mostly small stones, are polished in India. The diamonds are examined and sorted by color. The most valued color has really no color. Experts make the rough diamonds appear larger with the help of computers, so they can see how best to cut them.

Diamonds are the hardest natural material. Only a diamond can cut another diamond. So diamond cutters use diamond dust on a device called a polisher's wheel. It is difficult work. One wrong move and a stone can break. Sanjay Kambne has been performing this work for years. He says he has to be very careful while working with the stones.

The history of valuable gems in India goes back many centuries. Sanjay Kothari heads India's Gem and Jewelry Export Promotion Council. He says India has valued diamonds, jewelry and gold since the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Gems became big business in India in the nineteen fifties and sixties. Mr. Kothari says diamond exports from India last year were worth twenty billion dollars.

(MUSIC)

Halfway across the world, Antwerp, Belgium is the world's largest diamond trading center. Philip Claes is secretary-general of the Antwerp World Diamond Center.

PHILIP CLAES: "Eighty percent of all the rough diamonds are traded in Antwerp and fifty percent of all polished diamonds worldwide are traded in Antwerp. In figures, it means that we have a turnover here in Antwerp of more than forty billion dollars each year."

Antwerp has more than one thousand eight hundred diamond companies. That is why George Read comes to the city. He is a senior vice present with Shoregold, a diamond mining company in Canada. He goes to Antwerp to have his diamonds revalued.

Diamonds are weighed and valued in carats. One carat equals two hundred milligrams. In addition to carat weight and color, a gemstone's value is based on its clearness and cut -- the shape of the polished stone.

Antwerp once had about twenty-five thousand people working as diamond cutters and polishers. Now only a few hundred remain. Belgian cutters lost their jobs to workers in India because they are paid less.

(MUSIC)

The international trade in diamonds is worth an estimated eighty billion dollars a year. This has helped some countries develop economically. It has provided jobs for workers in some of the world's poorest countries. However, the diamond trade has also been used to support wars, frighten civilians and keep dictators in power.

The diamond mines in South Africa are clean. Machines are used to help the workers. But this is not true in other parts of Africa. More than one million people search for diamonds in Africa. They dig in pits and near rivers by hand. They earn less than one dollar a day.

In recent years, armed militias and rebels in some countries used diamonds to pay for civil wars. Thousands of civilians were killed and injured in conflicts in places like Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. So these gems are called "conflict diamonds" or "blood diamonds."

Global Witness was one of the first non-governmental organizations to call attention to the issue. Annie Dunnebacke says the group's goal was to show the tragedy of conflict diamonds. She says Sierra Leone was one of the worst cases. Hundreds of thousands of people died as a result of the country's civil war in the nineteen nineties. Rebels cut off the arms and legs of innocent people and forced children to fight. The Revolutionary United Front controlled the eastern part of Sierra Leone. This is where the diamond fields are.

The diamonds were an economic reason for the war to continue. Efforts to report the link between the war and the diamonds were successful.

Two years ago, the movie "Blood Diamond" helped bring more attention to the situation. The movie takes place during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Leonardo di Caprio plays a man who sells arms to the rebels in exchange for diamonds. He is involved in a chase for a rare and valuable pink diamond. But in the end, he gives up the diamond, fights off the rebels and helps others learn about the illegal trade.

Global Witness was an adviser on the film. Annie Dunnebacke says it influenced public opinion.

ANNIE DUNNEBACKE: "I think that bringing the message in sort of Hollywood terms to a much wider audience than possibly our reports get to -- it does have value."

International pressure made the diamond industry take action in an effort to prevent the trade in blood diamonds. In two thousand three, the Kimberley Process was established. It requires member governments to prove that exports and imports do not include blood diamonds.

Tom Tweedy is a spokesman for DeBeers, the world's largest producer of rough diamonds. He says the Kimberley Process is a good step forward.

TOM TWEEDY: "We have a system and however imperfect it may be it is probably the only comprehensive system of its type in the world."

Philip Claes of the World Diamond Center says conflict diamonds represented four to fifteen percent of rough diamonds traded worldwide before the Kimberley Process.

Today, he says conflict diamonds represent only two-tenths of one percent of rough diamonds traded worldwide. However, Annie Dunnebacke says some diamonds are being moved illegally between African countries.

Experts say diamonds are not the only valuable gems that are linked to trouble in the world. For example, more than ninety percent of the world's rubies come from Burma. The military government controls the sale of the country's gems. This trade helps keep the government in power.

Human rights activists are working to increase restrictions against Burmese rubies. Activists are hoping that people will start to ask more questions about the jewelry they buy.

7/8 Listening Test One

"Still Life Volutous" by Cubist Painter, Jay Myers
The teacher will supply the test booklet and the Scantron card for this test. Please, don't write on the test booklet. Write on the Scantron card only. Choose one answer, marking a, b, c, or d, whichever you think is correct. If you want to change an answer, erase the first one completely. When you're finished, return the test booklet and the Scantron card to the teacher. The teacher will correct your Scantron card and give you your results.



Structure Practice. Here is a very good practice exam for TOEFL preparation. You have to choose the correct answer in some questions. Or, your ability to spot mistakes in grammar is tested. This is a timed exam, you have 20 mintues to complete the test. Click on the answer you think is correct, then click "next" and "confirm" to go to the next question. Try it.

TOEFL Structure Practice
TOEFL Vocabulary Test
TOEFL iBT Website