1-Rosa Parks, 1913-2005: Mother of the American Civil Rights

Movement
I'm Pat Bodnar. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.
Today, we tell about Rosa Parks, who has been called the mother of the American civil rights
movement.

Until the nineteen sixties, black people in many parts of the United States did not have the same
civil rights as white people. Laws in the American South kept the two races separate. These
laws forced black people to attend separate schools, live in separate areas of a city and sit in
separate areas on a bus.

On December first, nineteen fifty-five, in the southern city of Montgomery, Alabama, a forty-two
year old black woman got on a city bus. The law at that time required black people seated in
one area of the bus to give up their seats to white people who wanted them. The woman
refused to do this and was arrested.

This act of peaceful disobedience started protests in Montgomery that led to legal changes in
minority rights in the United States. The woman who started it was Rosa Parks. Today, we tell
her story.

She was born Rosa Louise McCauley in nineteen-thirteen in Tuskegee, Alabama. She attended
local schools until she was eleven years old. Then she was sent to school in Montgomery. She
left high school early to care for her sick grandmother, then to care for her mother. She did not
finish high school until she was twenty-one.

Rosa married Raymond Parks in nineteen thirty-two. He was a barber who cut men's hair. He
was also a civil rights activist. Together, they worked for the local group of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In nineteen forty-three, Mrs. Parks
became an officer in the group and later its youth leader.

Rosa Parks was a seamstress in Montgomery. She worked sewing clothes from the nineteen
thirties until nineteen fifty-five. Then she became a representation of freedom for millions of
African-Americans.

In much of the American South in the nineteen fifties, the first rows of seats on city buses were
for white people only. Black people sat in the back of the bus. Both groups could sit in a middle
area. However, black people sitting in that part of the bus were expected to leave their seats if
a white person wanted to sit there.

Rosa Parks and three other black people were seated in the middle area of the bus when a
white person got on the bus and wanted a seat. The bus driver demanded that all four black
people leave their seats so the white person would not have to sit next to any of them. The
three other blacks got up, but Mrs. Parks refused. She was arrested.

Some popular stories about that incident include the statement that Rosa Parks refused to leave
her seat because her feet were tired. But she herself said in later years that this was false.
What she was really tired of, she said, was accepting unequal treatment. She explained later
that this seemed to be the place for her to stop being pushed around and to find out what
human rights she had, if any.

A group of black activist women in Montgomery was known as the Women's Political Council.
The group was working to oppose the mistreatment of black bus passengers. Blacks had been
arrested and even killed for violating orders from bus drivers. Rosa Parks was not the first black
person to refuse to give up a seat on the bus for a white person. But black groups in
Montgomery considered her to be the right citizen around whom to build a protest because she
was one of the finest citizens of the city.

The women's group immediately called for all blacks in the city to refuse to ride on city buses on
the day of Mrs. Parks's trial, Monday, December fifth. The result was that forty thousand people
walked and used other transportation on that day.

That night, at meetings throughout the city, blacks in Montgomery agreed to continue to boycott
the city buses until their mistreatment stopped.

They also demanded that the city hire black bus drivers and that anyone be permitted to sit in
the middle of the bus and not have to get up for anyone else.

The Montgomery bus boycott continued for three hundred eighty-one days. It was led by local
black leader E.D. Nixon and a young black minister, Martin Luther King, Junior. Similar protests
were held in other southern cities. Finally, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Mrs.
Parks's case. It made racial separation illegal on city buses. That decision came on November
thirteenth, nineteen fifty-six, almost a year after Mrs. Parks's arrest. The boycott in Montgomery
ended the day after the court order arrived, December twentieth.

Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Junior had started a movement of non-violent protest in the
South. That movement changed civil rights in the United States forever. Martin Luther King
became its famous spokesman, but he did not live to see many of the results of his work. Rosa
Parks did.

Life became increasingly difficult for Rosa Parks and her family after the bus boycott.

She was dismissed from her job and could not find another. So the Parks family left
Montgomery. They moved first to Virginia, then to Detroit, Michigan. Mrs. Parks worked as a
seamstress until nineteen sixty-five. Then, Michigan Representative John Conyers gave her a
job working in his congressional office in Detroit. She retired from that job in nineteen eighty-
eight.

Through the years, Rosa Parks continued to work for the NAACP and appeared at civil rights
events. She was a quiet woman and often seemed uneasy with her fame. But she said that she
wanted to help people, especially young people, to make useful lives for themselves and to help
others. In nineteen eighty-seven, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for
Self-Development to improve the lives of black children.

Rosa Parks received two of the nation's highest honors for her civil rights activism. In nineteen
ninety-six, President Clinton honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in
nineteen ninety-nine, she received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.
In her later years, Rosa Parks was often asked how much relations between the races had
improved since the civil rights laws were passed in the nineteen sixties. She thought there was
still a long way to go. Yet she remained the face of the movement for racial equality in the
United States.

Rosa Parks died on October twenty-fourth, two thousand five. She was ninety-two years old.
Her body lay in honor in the United States Capitol building in Washington. She was the first
American woman to be so honored. Thirty thousand people walked silently past her body to
show their respect.

Representative Conyers spoke about what this woman of quiet strength meant to the nation.
He said: "There are very few people who can say their actions and conduct changed the face of
the nation. Rosa Parks is one of those individuals."

Rosa Parks meant a lot to many Americans. Four thousand people attended her funeral in
Detroit, Michigan. Among them were former President Bill Clinton, his wife Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

President Clinton spoke about remembering the separation of the races on buses in the South
when he was a boy. He said that Rosa Parks helped to set all Americans free. He said the
world knows of her because of a single act of bravery that struck a deadly blow to racial hatred.

Earlier, the religious official of the United States Senate spoke about her at a memorial service
in Washington. He said Rosa Parks's bravery serves as an example of the power of small acts.
And the Reverend Jesse Jackson commented in a statement about what her small act of
bravery meant for African-American people. He said that on that bus in nineteen fifty-five, "She
sat down in order that we might stand up… and she opened the doors on the long journey to
freedom."

This program was written by Nancy Steinbach. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Pat
Bodnar. And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA
program on the Voice of America.

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968: He Used Non-Violence and Civil

Disobedience to Gain Equal Rights for Black Americans

PEOPLE IN AMERICA - a program in Special English on the Voice of America.

Today, Warren Scheer and Shep O'Neal begin the story of civil rights leader Martin Luther King,
Junior.

It all started on a bus. A black woman was returning home from work after a long hard day. She
sat near the front of the bus because she was tired and her legs hurt. But the bus belonged to
the city of Montgomery in the southern state of Alabama. And the year was nineteen fifty-five.

In those days, black people could sit only in the back of the bus. So the driver ordered the
woman to give up her seat. But the woman refused, and she was arrested.
Incidents like this had happened before. But no one had ever spoken out against such treatment
of blacks. This time, however, a young black preacher organized a protest. He called on all
black citizens to stop riding the buses in Montgomery until the laws were changed. The name of
the young preacher was Martin Luther King. He led the protest movement to end injustice in the
Montgomery city bus system. The protest became known as the Montgomery bus boycott. The
protest marked the beginning of the civil rights movement in the United States.

This is the story of Martin Luther King, and his part in the early days of the civil rights
movement.

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in nineteen twenty-nine. He was born into a
religious family.

Martin's father was a preacher at a Baptist church. And his mother came from a family with
strong ties to the Baptist religion.

In nineteen twenty-nine, Atlanta was one of the wealthiest cities in the southern part of the
United States. Many black families came to the city in search of a better life. There was less
racial tension between blacks and whites in Atlanta than in other southern cities. But Atlanta still
had laws designed to keep black people separate from whites.

The laws of racial separation existed all over the southern part of the United States. They forced
blacks to attend separate schools and live in separate areas of a city. Blacks did not have the
same rights as white people, and were often poorer and less educated.

Martin Luther King did not know about racial separation when he was young. But as he grew
older, he soon saw that blacks were not treated equally.

One day Martin and his father went out to buy shoes. They entered a shoe store owned by a
white businessman.

The businessman sold shoes to all people. But he had a rule that blacks could not buy shoes in
the front part of the store. He ordered Martin's father to obey the rule. Martin never forgot his
father's angry answer:

"If you do not sell shoes to black people at the front of the store, you will not sell shoes to us at
all. "

Such incidents, however, were rare during Martin's early life. Instead, he led the life of a normal
boy. Martin liked to learn, and he passed through school very quickly. He was only fifteen when
he was ready to enter the university. The university, called Morehouse College, was in Atlanta.
Morehouse College was one of the few universities in the South where black students could
study.

It was at the university that Martin decided to become a preacher. At the same time, he also
discovered he had a gift for public speaking.

He soon was able to test his gifts. One Sunday, Martin's father asked him to preach at his
church. When Martin arrived, the church members were surprised to see such a young man
getting ready to speak to them. But they were more surprised to find themselves deeply moved
by the words of young Martin Luther King.

A church member once described him: "The boy seemed much older than his years. He
understood life and its problems."

Martin seemed wise to others because of his studies at the university. He carefully read the
works of Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian leader and thinker. Martin also studied the books of the
American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau. Both men wrote about ways to fight injustice.
Gandhi had led his people to freedom by peacefully refusing to obey unjust laws. He taught his
followers never to use violence. Thoreau also urged people to disobey laws that were not just,
and to be willing to go to prison for their beliefs.

As he studied, Martin thought he had found the answer for his people. The ideas of Gandhi and
Thoreau -- non-violence and civil disobedience -- could be used together to win equal rights for
black Americans. Martin knew, then, that his decision to become a preacher was right. He
believed that as a preacher he could spread the ideas of Gandhi and Thoreau. Years later he
said:

"My university studies gave me the basic truths I now believe. I discovered the idea of
humanity's oneness and the dignity and value of all human character. "

Martin continued his studies in religion for almost ten years. When he was twenty-two, he
moved north to study in Boston.

It was in Boston that Martin met Coretta Scott, the woman who later became his wife.

Martin always had been very popular with the girls in his hometown. His brother once said that
Martin "never had one girlfriend for more than a year".

But Martin felt Coretta Scott was different. The first time he saw her Martin said: "You have
everything I have ever wanted in a wife. "

Coretta was surprised at his words. But she felt that Martin was serious and honest. A short
time later, they were married. Martin soon finished his studies in Boston, and received a
doctorate degree in religion. The young preacher then was offered a job at a church in
Montgomery, Alabama.

Martin Luther King and his wife were happy in Montgomery. Their first child was born. Martin's
work at the church was going well. He became involved in a number of activities to help the
poor. And the members of his church spoke highly of their new preacher. Coretta remembered
their life as simple and without worries.

Then, a black woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for sitting in the white part of a Montgomery
city bus. And Martin Luther King organized a protest against the Montgomery bus system.

Martin believed it was very important for the bus boycott to succeed -- more important even than
his own life. But he worried about his ability to lead such an important campaign. He was only
twenty-six years old. He prayed to God for help and believed that God answered his prayers.
Martin knew that his actions and his speeches would be important for the civil rights movement.
But he was faced with a serious problem. He asked: "How can I make my people militant
enough to win our goals, while keeping peace within the movement. "

The answer came to him from the teachings of Gandhi and Thoreau. In his first speech as a
leader, Martin said:

"We must seek to show we are right through peaceful, not violent means. Love must be the
ideal guiding our actions. If we protest bravely, and yet with pride and Christian love, then future
historians will say:

"There lived a great people, a black people, who gave new hope to civilization. "

With these words, a new movement was born. It was non-violent and peaceful. But victory was
far from sure, and many difficult days of struggle lay ahead.

You have been listening to the VOA Special English program, PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Your
narrators were Warren Scheer and Shep O'Neal. Our program was written by William Rodgers.
Listen again next week at this time, when we will complete the story of civil rights leader Martin
Luther King, Junior.

Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968: The Civil Rights Leader

Organized the March on Washington, DC in 1963
PEOPLE IN AMERICA, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.

Today, Shep O'Neal and Warren Scheer finish the story of civil right's leader Martin Luther King,
Junior.

Martin Luther King was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in nineteen twenty-nine. He began his
university studies when he was fifteen years old, and received a doctorate degree in religion. He
became a preacher at a church in Montgomery, Alabama.

In nineteen fifty-five, a black woman in Montgomery was arrested for sitting in the white part of a
city bus. Doctor King became the leader of a protest against the city bus system. It was the first
time that black southerners had united against the laws of racial separation.

At first, the white citizens of Montgomery did not believe that the protest would work. They
thought most blacks would be afraid to fight against racial separation. But the buses remained
empty.

Some whites used tricks to try to end the protest.

They spread false stories about Martin Luther King and other protest leaders. One story
accused Martin of stealing money from the civil rights movement. Another story charged that
protest leaders rode in cars while other protesters had to walk. But the tricks did not work, and
the protest continued.
Doctor King's wife Coretta described how she and her husband felt during the protest. She said:
"We never knew what was going to happen next. We felt like actors in a play whose ending we
did not know.

Yet we felt a part of history. And we believed we were instruments of the will of God".

The white citizens blamed Doctor King for starting the protest. They thought it would end if he
was in prison or dead. Doctor King was arrested twice on false charges. His arrests made
national news and he was released. But the threats against his life continued.

The Montgomery bus boycott lasted three hundred eighty-two days. Finally, the United States
Supreme Court ruled that racial separation was illegal in the Montgomery bus system. Martin
Luther King and his followers had won their struggle. The many months of meetings and protest
marches had made victory possible.

They also gave blacks a new feeling of pride and unity. They saw that peaceful protest,
Mahatma Gandhi's idea of non-violence, could be used as a tool to win their legal rights.

Life did not return to normal for Doctor King after the protest was over. He had become well
known all over the country and throughout the world. He often was asked to speak about his
ideas on non-violence. Both black and white Americans soon began to follow his teachings.
Groups were formed throughout the south to protest peacefully against racial separation.

The civil rights movement spread so fast that a group of black churchmen formed an
organization to guide it. The organization was called the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. Martin Luther King became its president.

In his job, Doctor King helped organize many protests in the southern part of the United States.
Blacks demanded to be served in areas where only whites were permitted to eat. And they rode
in trains and buses formerly for whites only. These protests became known as "freedom rides. "
Many of the freedom rides turned violent. Black activists were beaten and arrested. Some were
even killed.

In nineteen sixty-three, the black citizens of Birmingham refused to buy goods from the stores in
the city. They demanded more jobs for blacks. And they demanded to send their children to
white schools. The white citizens were angry and afraid, but they refused to meet the blacks'
demands. The situation became tense. Many protestors were beaten and arrested. Even Doctor
King was arrested. But he was not in prison for long.

The Birmingham demonstrations made international news. Whites soon saw that it was easier
to meet the demands of the protestors than to fight them. Martin Luther King and his followers
had won an important victory in Birmingham. It marked a turning point for the civil rights
movement.

Martin Luther King recognized the importance of Birmingham. It did not mean that racial
separation had ended. Some still remains today. But he felt that the battle was almost won. And
he wanted to call on the nation for its support. So doctor king organized a March on
Washington, D. C.
The March on Washington took place in August, nineteen sixty-three. About two hundred fifty
thousand persons gathered there. They came to demand more jobs and freedom for black
Americans. There were to be many other marches in Washington during the nineteen sixties
and early seventies. But this was the biggest up to that time.

It was in Washington that Martin Luther King gave one of his most famous speeches. The
speech is known as the "I Have a Dream Speech. " It expressed his ideas for the future. Doctor
king said:

Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize in nineteen sixty-four. But he did not live to
see the final results of his life's work. He was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee, in nineteen
sixty-eight.

Doctor King always felt he would die a violent death. His life had been threatened wherever he
went. And he often spoke to his wife about his fears. But he never believed that his life was
more important than the civil rights movement. The night before he died he spoke to his
supporters. He said:

(MUSIC: "We Shall Overcome")

You have been listening to the story of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Junior. This Special
English program was written by William Rodgers. Your narrators were Shep O'Neal and Warren
Scheer. I'm Doug Johnson. Listen again next week at this time for another PEOPLE IN
AMERICA program on the Voice of America.

HEALTH ISSUES
Headaches
This is Sarah Long.

And this is Bob Doughty, with SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, a VOA Special English program about
recent developments in science. Today we discuss treatments for three different kinds of a
common disorder.

Recently, three people working for the same organization began suffering from severe pain in
their heads on the same day. Such pain is known as a headache. In each of the three people,
the cause of the headache was different.

One person had a migraine headache, another had a cluster headache. The third worker had a
tension headache. Several years ago, these three people might have suffered severe pain for
some time before their headaches ended. On this day, however, each one used a different
treatment that either reduced the pain or ended it.

People who get migraine headaches get them repeatedly -- month after month, year after year.
Some of them say they have difficulty seeing before the severe pain begins. Others cannot see
at all when the headaches begin. Some may have difficulty thinking. Others see strange lights in
front of their eyes. Many have upset stomachs and cannot keep food down.
Seventy-five percent of those who get migraine headaches are women. In the United States,
one of every five women gets migraine headaches.

Doctor Glen Solomon is a headache expert at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Doctor Solomon
says migraine headaches cost a great deal in human suffering. He says they also cause major
financial losses because migraine sufferers are unable to work when they get the headaches.
Doctor Solomon says the average migraine patient is between twenty-five and fifty-five years
old.

Carolyn is a person who suffers from migraine headaches. For many years Carolyn's life was
limited because of repeated migraine headaches. Her story is similar to many who suffer such
headaches.

Other members of her family had the same problem. That is true of ninety percent of migraine
patients. Researchers believe that parents can pass the problem of migraine headaches to their
children.

Carolyn had her first migraine headache when she was a young adult. It was so severe that she
remained in bed for sixteen hours. During that time she could not eat. She could not keep food
in her stomach. She says the pain was on one side of her head. It felt as if someone had struck
her with a heavy stick. For a while Carolyn thought she would die.

The next day, Carolyn felt better. Sadly, however, it was only the beginning of her experience
with migraine headaches. She began to have the headaches every month.

Doctors ordered medicines for her that were designed to reduce pain. They also suggested she
make some changes in her life. They told Carolyn to stop eating chocolate and cheese. They
told her to stop drinking alcohol. She was advised not to sleep late in the morning -- even if she
needed more rest. The doctors told her not to look at bright lights. They also told her to avoid
being angry or sad.

The pain medicine helped reduce Carolyn's pain. However, it also made her want to sleep. She
had to plan all her activities around the headaches.

Recently, all that changed for Carolyn. She began taking the drug flurbiprofen (floor-by-'pro-fin).
Now she can eat and drink what she wants. And she can sleep late if she needs more rest.

Doctor Solomon says flurbiprofen provides a new life to those who suffer from migraine
headaches. It can be taken every day to prevent the headaches from starting. Or it can be taken
to reduce pain after the headaches begin. Doctors must order flurbiprofen for their patients with
migraine headaches.

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the first medicine for migraine
headaches that people can buy without a doctor's order. It is called Excedrin Migraine. It
contains the common medicines aspirin and acetaminophen to ease pain. It also contains
caffeine, a substance found in coffee and chocolate.

Doctors believe that most migraine headaches begin when blood passages in the brain begin to
enlarge. Caffeine helps the blood passages reduce to their normal size.
Developments in medicine have not yet helped Richard, who suffers from cluster headaches.
People who get this kind of headache say they almost would choose to die instead of suffering
the pain they experience. However, like Carolyn, Richard is living a more normal life because of
new medicine.

Doctors say cluster headaches most often strike men who are more than thirty years old. About
one person in every thousand people gets the headaches. Richard was thirty-seven when he
had his first cluster headache.

Richard says he felt a terrible pain in his face, around one of his eyes. He says the pain felt as if
someone was stabbing him in the eye with a knife. After several hours the pain stopped. But
soon he had another headache. Then he had another. Some lasted only thirty minutes. Others
lasted as long as three hours.

Like other victims of cluster headaches, Richard had them in a series each time. Sometimes he
had no headaches for months. Then he would have another series of headaches causing
severe pain.

It was suggested that the headaches might be caused by worrying or emotional problems. Yet,
Richard could not find any connection between unpleasant events in his life and the cluster
headaches. He could not link them to anything he ate or drank.

For several years, doctors tried different drugs to treat Richard's headaches. The most effective
treatment was a chemical called capsaicin. Capsaicin is found in red peppers. It gives the
peppers a hot, spicy taste.

Doctor Solomon says that the chemical is partly effective in stopping the series of headaches.
He says the patient places capsaicin in his or her nose when the headache starts. The
treatment causes some brief pain. However, the cluster headaches do stop, and capsaicin does
not cause the possibly harmful side effects of other treatments.

A tension headache is not so severe as a migraine headache or as cluster headaches. Still,

tension headaches interfere with the lives of many Americans especially women. A study says
women are fifteen percent more likely to get tension headaches than men.

Pain from tension headaches usually affects both sides of a person's head. Muscles in the neck,
face, jaws or shoulders may become extremely tight. Common anti-pain medicines often can
reduce the effects of tension headaches. Yet, there is good reason to seek medical help if this
kind of headache continues and is severe.

Doctor Solomon says the cause of tension headaches may be chemical depression.

People who suffer from tension headaches sometimes have difficulty sleeping or remembering
things. They also may feel very sad and have difficulty keeping their minds on what they are
doing. These problems also describe the condition of people suffering from emotional
depression.

For many years, Clare had tension headaches repeatedly. Sometimes they could be cured by
rest and the anti-pain drug aspirin. However, there were times when nothing helped reduce
Clare's headache pain. She had difficulty remembering things, and could work for short periods
only.

Finally, Clare spoke to her doctor about the problem. The doctor ordered tests. After studying
the test results, the doctor suggested she take small amounts of a thyroid substance. The
thyroid is an organ found in the neck. It produces hormones that control the chemical and
physical processes of the body.

The thyroid substance helped reduce the pain of Clare's headaches. Although the headaches
are not completely gone, Clare is now able to work for long periods. Also, her headaches
interfere less with her ability to remember.

Everyone has a headache at one time or another. Pain can be caused by many different
problems. These could be eye difficulties, or blood problems. Headaches also can be the result
of life-threatening conditions such as bleeding in the brain or a cancerous growth in the head.
Doctors say a person should seek medical help if headaches happen often, or are especially
severe.

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written by Jerilyn Watson and Shelley Gollust. This
is Bob Doughty. this is Sarah Long. Join us again next week for more news about science in
Special English, on the Voice of America.

Smoking
This is Sarah Long. And this is Bob Doughty with SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, a VOA Special
English program about recent developments in science

Today, we tell about the health effects of smoking tobacco products. We also offer advice about
how to stop smoking.

For many years, scientists have warned that smoking tobacco is bad for your health. Yet people
around the world continue to smoke. The World Health Organization estimates that almost five-
million people around the world die each year from the effects of smoking. That number is
increasing. W-H-O officials say tobacco use will kill more than eight-million people a year by
two-thousand-twenty if nothing is done to control the problem.

In the United States, more than forty-six-million adults currently smoke. American health experts
say tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. This year, an
estimated four-hundred-forty-thousand Americans will die of diseases linked to smoking.

Smoking tobacco is the leading cause of lung disease. Smoking also has been linked to heart
disease, stroke and many kinds of cancer. The American Cancer Society says smoking is
responsible for about eighty-seven percent of all lung cancers in the United States. The group
adds that smoking is a major cause of cancers of the mouth, esophagus, kidney, bladder and
pancreas. Scientists have identified more than forty chemicals in tobacco smoke that cause
cancer in humans and animals. Smokeless tobacco and cigars also have been linked to cancer.

American government health experts say smoking affects not only the smoker. Women who
smoke cigarettes during pregnancy are more likely to have babies with health problems.
Pregnant women who smoke are at risk of having a baby who weighs less than normal. Low
birth weight babies have an increased risk of early death and may suffer from a number of
health disorders.

Experts say tobacco smoke also affects the health of people who do not smoke. Smokers may
harm the health of family members and people at work when they breathe out smoke from
cigarettes. This is called "second-hand smoke." Tobacco smoke causes an estimated three-
thousand non-smoking Americans to die of lung cancer each year. Tobacco smoke also causes
lung infections in as many as three-hundred-thousand American children each year.

The American Cancer Society says there is no safe way to smoke. It says smoking begins to
cause damage immediately. All cigarettes can damage the body. Smoking even a small number
of cigarettes is dangerous.

Nicotine is the major substance in cigarettes that gives pleasure to smokers. Nicotine is a
poison. The American Cancer Society says nicotine can kill a person when taken in large
amounts. It does this by stopping the muscles used for breathing.

The body grows to depend on nicotine. When a former smoker smokes a cigarette, the nicotine
reaction may start again, forcing the person to keep smoking.

Studies have found that nicotine can be as powerful as alcohol or the illegal drug cocaine. So
experts say it is better not to start smoking and become dependent on nicotine than it is to
smoke with the idea of stopping later.

Most people who smoke have heard about the harmful effects of cigarettes. Some of them
decide to smoke fewer cigarettes. However, most smokers find that is difficult. Experts say
menthol cigarettes are no safer than other tobacco products. Menthol cigarettes produce a cool
feeling in the smoker's throat. People who use menthol cigarettes can hold the smoke inside
their lungs longer than smokers of other cigarettes. As a result, experts say menthol cigarettes
may be even more dangerous.

Other smokers believe that cigarettes with low tar levels are safer. Tar is a substance produced
when tobacco leaves are burned. It is known to cause cancer.

In two-thousand-one, the National Cancer Institute released a report about low tar cigarettes. It
found that people who smoke these cigarettes do not reduce their risk of getting smoking-
related diseases. In fact, some people who use low tar or low nicotine cigarettes often smoke
more. The report found no evidence that changes in cigarette design and production during the
past fifty years have improved public health.

It is not easy to stop smoking permanently. However, doctors say you probably will live longer if
you do stop smoking. You will feel better and look better. You also will protect the health of
family members and others who breathe your smoke.

The American Cancer Society says the sooner smokers stop smoking, the more they can
reduce their chances of getting cancer and other diseases. It says blood pressure returns to
normal twenty minutes after smoking the last cigarette.
Carbon monoxide gas levels in the blood return to normal after eight hours. After one day, the
chance of heart attack decreases. After one year, the risk of heart disease for a non-smoker is
half that of a smoker.

Experts say there are several products designed to help end a smoker's dependency on
cigarettes. There are several kinds of nicotine replacement products that provide small amounts
of the substance. These can help people stop smoking.

For example, smokers can place small, specially treated pieces of material on their skin. They
can chew or swallow other products that contain nicotine. Or they can breathe small amounts of
nicotine through their nose or mouth.

A drug to fight depression has proved effective for many smokers. Depression is the mental
condition that causes extreme sadness and hopelessness. The anti-depressant drug is called
Zyban. It does not contain nicotine. The drug works by increasing levels of the chemical
dopamine in the brain. Dopamine produces feelings of pleasure. Studies have shown that
Zyban reduces the urge to smoke for some people.

There is strong evidence that people who have suffered from depression are much more likely
than other people to smoke. The same is true for people who have brain disorders such as
schizophrenia. Doctors say these people can think better and feel better when they are
smoking. It also is much harder for them to stop smoking than it is for other people.

We have some other ideas to help you stop smoking. The American Cancer Society says there
is not just one right way to stop. It says one method or a combination of methods may be
successful. They include attending self-help programs or following directions in a book. The
group says any way to stop smoking that is legal, moral and effective is worth trying.

To stop smoking, you should carefully plan your actions for at least one week. Try to stay away
from people and situations that might trouble you. Do not go to public places where people are
smoking. If you drink alcohol, you probably will need to stop drinking temporarily. Many people
lose their inner strength when they drink alcohol.

Many experts say it is best to stop smoking completely. Even one cigarette can make you a
smoker again. In the first week or two without cigarettes, you probably will feel terrible. You may
be angry all the time or you may feel sad. You may have a headache or your stomach may feel
sick. Do not lose hope. If you stay away from tobacco, those feelings will go away in a few
weeks. Tell yourself that you will be happier as a non-smoker. Tell yourself that nicotine should
not control your life.

Move around as much as possible. Go for a quick walk or a run at least two times a day.
Walking or running will make you breathe deeply. This will help clear the nicotine from your
body. Also, when you have the urge to smoke, you could chew gum or eat a piece of fruit or
vegetable instead.

For a long time, you will continue to have periods when you really want a cigarette. Yet these
times will come less often. One day, you will recognize that you have won the struggle against
smoking.
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS program was written and produced by George Grow. This is
Sarah Long. And this is Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in
Special English on the Voice of America.

Prostate Cancer: What It Is and How Doctors Treat It

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English HEALTH REPORT.

A listener in Vietnam recently asked what causes prostate cancer and how this disease is
treated.

The prostate gland is part of the reproductive system in males. Scientists are not sure what
causes cancer of the prostate. But they have found things that can influence the development.

Men with fathers or brothers who have had prostate cancer are more likely to get the disease.
Also, the World Health Organization says diet may affect a man's chances. Prostate cancer
appears more common in groups that eat a lot of animal fat, such as red meats and high-fat milk
products.

The W.H.O. says about two hundred fifty thousand men each year die from prostate cancer.
The death rate is about ten times higher in Europe and North America than in Asia. In the
United States, prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men. The first is
lung cancer from smoking.

The American Cancer Society says exercise might help reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is common in older men. The National Cancer Institute says more than seventy
percent of men with the disease are age sixty-five or older.

Most prostate cancers grow slowly. Some never cause any major problems. In these cases, a
doctor might suggest simply watching for changes. In other cases, doctors may want to remove
the prostate. This is a complex operation.

A third kind of treatment involves the use of high energy X-rays to kill the cancer cells. Or a
doctor may place small radioactive seeds in the prostate. Doctors have greater control with this
method, so there is less risk of damage to healthy tissue.

Cancer that has spread beyond the prostate gland may require more aggressive treatment.

An enlarged prostate can be a sign of cancer. But the prostate normally increases in size as
men get older. This can put pressure on the bladder and restrict the flow of waste. It can also
affect sexual ability. And it can cause pain in the lower back and upper part of the legs.

Doctors say one of the most important ways to reduce the risk of death from prostate cancer is
to find the disease early. A doctor can feel the prostate for any hardness or growth. There is
also a blood test to measure levels of a protein that might signal the presence of cancer.

This VOA Special English HEALTH REPORT was written by Caty Weaver. I'm Gwen Outen.
 Words and Their Stories
Idioms, Proverbs, Expressions and Interesting Words

Adjectives

1. Expressions with the Word "Cold"

cold, cold-blooded, cold-blooded killer, get cold feet, cold shoulder, cold fish, cold-hearted, out in the cold
2. Expressions with the Word "Hot"
hot potato, not so hot, hot shot, hothead, hot under the collar, hot line
3. Expressions with the Word "Easy"
as easy as falling off a log, a piece of cake, as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, easy come, easy go, Easy
Street, go easy on a person, an easy touch, a soft touch, take it easy

Animals

4. "Bird" Expressions
for the birds, eats like a bird, a birds-eye-view, birds and the bees, birds of a feather flock together

5. "Cat" Expressions
looks like the cat that ate the canary, play cat and mouse with someone, that looks like something the cat
dragged in, the cat's meow and the cat's pajamas.

6. "Dog" Expressions
lead a dog's life, live in a dog-eat-dog world, work like a dog, dog-tired, sick as a dog, every dog has its day,
you can never teach an old dog new tricks, meaner than a junkyard dog, his bark is worse than his bite, he
is in the doghouse, let sleeping dogs lie, the dog days of summer, rain cats and dogs

7. "Fish" Expressions
a fish out of water, fishing for a compliment, going on a fishing expedition, a red herring, holy mackerel, like
shooting fish in a barrel, green around the gills, packed in like sardines, a cold fish, drinks like a fish, This is
a fine kettle of fish, a big fish in a small pond, there are plenty of other fish in the sea

8. "Horse" Expressions
get off her high horse, hold your horses, stop horsing around, a one-horse town, wild horses could not drag
me away, straight from the horse's mouth, you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink,
beat a dead horse, dark-horse candidate, do not change horses in midstream

9. "Insect" Expressions
as busy as a bee, a beehive of activity, made a beeline, the bee's knees, a bee in her bonnet, that is none of
your beeswax, the birds and the bees, as mad as a hornet, stir up a hornet's nest, have butterflies in your
stomach, have ants in your pants, stop bugging me, put a bug in your ear, snug as a bug in a rug, sleep tight
-- don't let the bed bugs bite

10. "Monkey" Expressions

monkeyshines, monkey around, monkey business, more fun than a barrel of monkeys, monkey suits
11. "Pig" and "Hog" Expressions
"You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig." / "A hog in a silk waistcoat is still a hog." / "You cannot
make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." / in a pig's eye, casting pearls before swine, piggy bank, high on the
hog, hog-wild, "Do not hog the couch.", road hog, earmarks, a lot of pork in a budget proposal, bring home
the bacon, catching a greased pig

12. "Wildcat" Expressions

as fast as a wildcat, putting a tiger in your tank, wildcat congressmen, a wildcat bill, a wildcat bank note,
wildcat banks, wildcat oil wells, wildcat strike, wildcat strikers

Body & Health

13. Expressions with the Word "Eyes"

catch his eye, he sets eyes on her, make eyes at him, give him the eye, get hit between the eyes, stars in
her eyes, the apple of her eye, "I only have eyes for you.", his eyes might be bigger than his stomach, his
eyes might pop out, don't believe your own eyes, all eyes, cause raised eyebrows, see eye to eye, an
eye for an eye, pull the wool over a person's eyes, the evil eye, keep an eye on, have eyes in the back of
his head

14. Expressions with the Word "Face"

face the music, face up to, face-to-face, as plain as the nose on your face

15. Expressions with the Word "Hair"

not a hair was out of place, have a bad hair day, made my hair stand on end, curl your hair, a hair-raising
experience, get in my hair, be ready to pull my hair out, not harm a hair on their heads, put hair on your
chest, a hair's breadth, split hairs, not seen hide nor hair of him, let my hair down

16. Expressions with the Word "Hand"

get a hand, hands down, upper hand, on the other hand, out of hand, hand it to someone, lend a hand,
helping hand, bite the hand that feeds us, a free hand, hand over hand, take a hand in, hand in glove, take it
in hand, throw up our hands, wash our hands

17. Expressions with the Word "Heart" - 1

lose your heart, won your heart, broken heart, hard-hearted, have a heart of stone, pour out your heart, have
a heart, has her heart in the right place, not to wear your heart on your sleeve, my heart bleeds for you,
chicken-hearted, lose heart, strong-hearted, a heart to heart talk, have a change of heart, put your heart at
rest

18. Expressions with the Word "Heart" - 2

get to the heart of the matter, take heart, a heavy heart, break my heart, a heart to heart discussion, from the
bottom of my heart, open up my heart to you, with all my heart, wears her heart on her sleeve, his heart is in
the right place, kind-hearted, have a heart of gold, a change of heart, have a heart of stone, my heart might
stand still or skip a beat, at heart, lose heart, My heart goes out to anyone who ..., cross my heart, had my
heart set on it

19. Expressions with the Word "Mouth"

"Do not bad mouth me." / "I really put my foot in my mouth this time." / "Do not put words in my mouth." /
"You took the words right out of my mouth!" / "I had my heart in my mouth." / word of mouth, left a bad taste
in my mouth, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, live from hand to mouth, a mouthy child, stop
mouthing off, have been running my mouth

20. Expressions with the Words "Nose" and "Ears"

lead other people by the nose, be hard-nosed, pay through the nose, keep their nose out of other people's
business, nose around, be nosey, keeps his nose to the grindstone, keeps his nose clean, that is no skin off
my nose, cuts off his nose to spite his face, look down one's nose at someone, turn up one's nose at
 something, have one's nose in the air, thumb their nose at their teacher, be right under your nose, be all
ears, put a bug in your ear, keep your ear to the ground, lend an ear, play it by ear

21. Expressions That Use (Other) Body Parts

on my back, get off my back, turn my back on her, behind my back, stab in the back, pat on the back, I will
scratch your back if you will scratch mine., straight from the shoulder, on her shoulders, rub shoulders, cold
shoulder, at the top of my lungs, off my chest, save my breath

22. Health Expressions

under the weather, splitting headache, running a fever, blacked out, out cold, bring me around, take a turn
for the worse, be at death's door, come down with a cold, physical, check-ups, the flu, over the worst, go
under the knife, just what the doctor ordered, on the mend, back on my feet, clean bill of health, feel on top
of the world, look like the picture of health

Colors

23. Color Expressions

red hot, in the pink, blues music, look very green, green with envy, greenbacks, black day, blacklisted, a
brown out

24. Green Expressions

green, a greenhorn, have a green thumb, the Green Revolution, green-eyed monster, suffer from the green-
eyed monster, a green light

Jobs, Occupations, Work

25. Expressions That Come From Farming

farm, hedge, hedging, hedging his bet, make hay while the sun shines, not worth a hill of beans,
altogether not worth a bean

26. Military Expressions

doughboy, GI, GI Joe, We GI'd the place, a grunt, leatherneck

27. Sailors Are Responsible for Many Expressions

deep six, give it the deep-six, batten down the hatches, sail under false colors, show one's true colors

28. What American Workers Call Their Employers

the brass, top brass, brass hats, big cheese, a big thing, big leader, works like a Trojan

Money, Finance, Business

29. "Money" Expressions - 1

make money hand over fist, lotteries, windfall, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, hard up

30. "Money" Expressions - 2

loaded, make ends meet, live from hand to mouth, bring home the bacon

31. "Money" Expressions - 3

at all costs, ante up. cold, hard cash, clean up, break the bank

32. Special Terms in the World of Business

sweetheart deal, a blue chip company, banker's hours, cut corners, cold call, hard sell, at a loss, cut backs,
 broke even, (break even), gain ground, sell like hotcakes, in the black, in the red, a big gun, take it public,
strike while the iron is hot, a ball park estimate, bean-counter, crunch the numbers, in black and white, get a
break, got a bang for the buck

33. Stock Market Expressions

stock exchange, Big Board, New York Stock Exchange, bull market, bear market, windfall

34. Financial Words and Expressions Used in Business and the Stock Market
in the red, in the black, run on the bank, day trading

35. Money Talks, It's a Jungle Out There, ...

money talks, it is a jungle out there, bogus, ripped off, get down to brass tacks

36. Talking About Economic Troubles

feel the pinch, be up against it, throw in the towel

37. Get Your Act Together & Cut to the Chase

get your act together, cut to the chase

38. Battle-Axe & Bear the Brunt

battle axe, bear the brunt

Numbers

39. Expressions Using the Number One

on the one hand, I for one, number one, looking out for number one, taking care of number one, the one
and only, pull a fast one, one in a million, one of the boys, one of those days, a quick one, one or two,
one too many, one for the road, one by one, at one with himself, at one time, rolled up into one, one of
these days, for one thing, one of those things, the one that got away, one good turn deserves another,
number would have been up, back to square one

40. Expressions Using Numbers Other Than One

put two and two together, two heads are better than one, there are no two ways about it, be of two minds, in
two shakes of a lamb's tail, kill two birds with one stone, two wrongs don't make a right, two's company,
three's a crowd, the three R's, give three cheers, at sixes and sevens, six of one, half a dozen the other, be
in seventh heaven, be on cloud nine, nine times out of ten, nine-to-five, dress to the nines, a hundred to one
shot, a million to one, catch forty winks, at the eleventh hour, her lucky number came up

People

41. Some People's Names Have Special Meanings in American Expressions

a cup of Joe, an average Joe, did not know Jack, John Q. Public, Jeez Louise, for Pete's sake, be a
doubting Thomas, Joe Blow, a plain Jane, No way, Jose, did not know either of these two people from
Adam, a Jack of all trades, Uncle Sam, sign his John Hancock, Johnny One Note

42. Expressions to Describe People We Think Are Important

bigwig, big wheel, rolled a big wheel, top banana, kingpin

43. Expressions with the Word "Dutch"

A Dutch agreement, Dutch courage, Dutch leave, Dutch treat, in Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch, talk to
someone like a Dutch uncle
 Proverbs

44. Proverbs 1
"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." / "A penny saved is a penny
earned." / "All is fair in love and war." / "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." / "Out of sight, out of
mind." / "Love is blind." / "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach." / "Beauty is only skin deep." /
"Actions speak louder than words." / "All good things must come to an end."

45. Proverbs 2
an apple a day keeps the doctor away, you are what you eat, the early bird catches the worm, a bird in the
hand is worth two in the bush, doo not count your chickens before they are hatched, do not put all your eggs
in one basket, a fool and his money are soon parted, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again, never put off
until tomorrow what you can do today, haste makes waste, honesty is the best policy, there is no use crying
over spilled milk, children should be seen and not heard, hard work never hurt anyone, all work and no play
makes Jack a dull boy, people who live in glass houses should not throw stones

46. Proverbs 3
the apple does not fall far from the tree, good things come in small packages, all that glitters is not gold, do
not judge a book by its cover, do not bite off more than you can chew, two heads are better than one, too
many cooks spoil the broth, two wrongs do not make a right, every cloud has a silver lining, hope for the
best and prepare for the worst, do not cross that bridge until you come to it, an ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

47. Proverbs 4 - Some Listeners' Favorite Sayings

"Where there is a will, there is a way." / "Strike while the iron is hot." / "Birds of a feather flock together." /
"Blood is thicker than water." / "Charity begins at home." / "He who would climb a ladder must begin at the
bottom." / "Tell me who walks with you, and I'll tell you who you are." / "It does not matter the speed you go.
The most important thing is to never stop." / Think twice, act wise." / "Practice makes perfect." / "If you want
something done right, do it yourself." / "If you risk nothing, then you risk everything." / "Your defeat now is
your victory in the future."

Sports, Games, Entertainment and Free Time

48. Expressions That Come From Baseball

on the ball, threw a curve ball, steps up to the plate, pinch hitter, strikes out, goes down swinging, three
strikes and you are out, hit a home run, hit it out of the park, right off the bat, batting one thousand, touch
base, touched all the bases, covered my bases, way off base, out in left field, a ballpark figure, a ballpark
estimate, in the ballpark, we are not in the same ballpark, that is a whole new ballgame

49. Touch All Bases

to touch all bases, play ball

50. Fall Guy, Take a Fall and Receive a Bum Rap

a fall guy, be fixed, take the fall, take the rap, receive a bum rap, be framed

51. Some Unusual Words Describe How People Spend Their Free Time
couch potato, mouse potato, get cabin fever, nesting or cocooning, to have left the nest, empty nest, empty
nester

52. Circus Words and Expressions

circus, the big top, clown around, jumbo
53. Expressions from the Card Game of Poker
ace in the hole, stack the deck, dealing off the bottom, the cards are stacked against you, a poker face,
bluffing, hold your cards close to your vest

State Nicknames

54. State Nicknames, Part 1

Alabama - Hawaii

55. State Nicknames, Part 2

Idaho - Oregon

56. State Nicknames, Part 3

Maryland - North and South Carolina

57. State Nicknames, Part 4

Ohio - Wyoming

Things

58. Expressions with the Word "Apple"

apple pie order, apple of discord, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, one rotten apple spoils the
barrel

59. Expressions with the Word "Bag"

bagman, let the cat out of the bag, be left holding the bag

60. Blizzards, Get Snowed Under & Snow Job

blizzard, snowed under, snow job

61. Expressions with the Word "Chip"

carry a chip on your shoulder, chip off the old block, let the chips fall where they may

62. Expressions About Clothes - Part 1 ... and Shoes

off the cuff, ants in their pants, fly by the seat of their pants, be caught with one's pants down, she wears the
pants in the family, burn a hole in your pocket, tighten your belt, under your belt, take one's hat off to
someone, at the drop of a hat, pull money out of a hat, be too big for their boots, bet your boots, fill their
shoes, be a stuffed shirt, wears his heart on his sleeve, keep his shirt on, lost his shirt, rolls up his sleeves,
have a card up one's sleeve

63. Expressions About Clothes - Part 2 ... and Hats

talk through one's hat, keep it under one's hat, old hat, a wolf in sheep's clothing, dressed up, decked out,
dressed to the nines, dressed to the teeth, dressed to kill, fashionable, come into fashion, birthday suit,
handle them with kid gloves, fit like a glove, burst at the seams, hand-me-downs, live on a shoestring, the
shoe will be on the other foot, walk in another person's shoes, ride someone else's coat tails, if the shoe fits,
wear it

64. Computer Words: Mouse, Cursor, Blog, Spam and Googling

hacker, google something or someone, blog, spam

65. Expressions with the Word "Water"

be in hot water, be in deep water, keep your head above water, water over the dam, hold water, throw cold
water
 Verbs

66. Expressions with the Word "Hang"

hang tight, hang loose, hang around, hang out, let it all hang out, hang-up, a hangover, get the hang of
something

67. Expressions with the Word "Hit"

hit the road, hit the spot, hit bottom, hit the ceiling, hit the nail on the head, hit the hay

68. Expressions with the Word "Kick"

signs of life kicking inside her womb, kick the bucket, kick over the traces, kick back, kick around, kick a
person upstairs, kick the habit

Focusing on One Word or Expression

69. Baloney: It's Just Not True

baloney, blarney, pull the wool over someone's eyes

70. Belittle
It means "to make small, unimportant."

71. A Jazz Buff, A Civil War Buff & A Fire Buff

The word buff has several meanings.

72. Eureka! (It Is an Expletive)

The expletive, eureka.

73. Fireworks
I want no more of these fireworks in my courtroom. / Cartoons show fireworks to represent the excitement of
a kiss.

74. Get Your Act Together & Cut to the Chase

get your act together, cut to the chase

75. Got It by the Grapevine / Heard It on the Grapevine

by way of the grapevine, hush hush, by the grapevine

76. Great Scott (It Expresses Surprise or Shock)

Great Scott!, Holy Mackerel!, Holy Toledo!

77. I Am Afraid I Am Losing It & I Must Be Losing It

"I am afraid I am losing it." / "Am I losing it?" / "I must be losing it."

78. It Panned Out Well & The Critic Panned My Work

panning, pan the work

79. It Will Not Wash

It just will not wash, talking turkey

80. Keep a Person on a Short Leash

people on a short leash, Mickey Mouse
 81. Let's Get Down to Brass Tacks
It means to get serious about something, to get to the bottom of the situation.

82. Like a Rolling Stone

An old saying that has had a big influence on rock-and-roll music.

83. Nuts and Bolts

Nuts and bolts are basic, necessary elements.

84. The Story of the Sign 'Rx' Seen on Medicine Bottles

We see this sign on drug stores.

85. Santa Claus

Christmas

86. Swan Song (It Means a Person's Final Effort)

swan song, the last hurrah, the hurrah boys, his last hurrahs

87. You Do Not Have to Be a Rocket Scientist

"You do not need to be a rocket scientist."

Focusing on Two Words or Expressions

88. To Buffalo & To Bulldoze

Two words that are close in meaning.

More ...

89. American Election Expressions

swing states, battleground states, running mate, front-runner, neck and neck, the home stretch, on the
campaign trail, stump speech, on the stump, grassroots campaign, rank and file, mudslinging, smear
campaign, landslide victory

90. Chickenfeed, Work for Peanuts, ...

chickenfeed, peanut agitators, working for peanuts, peanut gallery

91. Down to Earth, Have a Big Head, ...

down to earth, go to their heads, have a big head, have his nose in the air, have both feet on the ground,
have his head in the clouds

92. Expressions for When There Is Really No Choice at All

Hobson's choice, be caught between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea, on
the horns of a dilemma

93. Nicknames for New York City

The Big Apple, The Capital of the World, Empire City, Gotham, The City So Nice They Named it Twice, The
City That Never Sleeps.

94. Nicknames for Los Angeles

L.A., the City of Angels, the City of Flowers and Sunshine, the Big Orange, the Entertainment Capital of the
World, Tinseltown, La-La Land.
95. Nicknames for Chicago
The Second City, the Windy City, Hog Butcher for the World, The City of the Big Shoulders or City of Broad
Shoulders

96. Where Did 'OK' Come From?

OK, okay, A-OK, okey-dokey, okey-doke, okely-dokely

97. Nicknames for New Orleans and Las Vegas

The Big Easy, The Crescent City. The Birthplace of Jazz, Mardi Gras City, NOLA, The Gambling Capital of
the World, The Entertainment Capital of the World, Sin City, Lost Wages

98. Nicknames for Cleveland and Detroit

Forest City, The Best Location in the Nation, The Mistake on the Lake, The Rock and Roll Capital of the
World, The Motor City, Motown, Hitsville USA

99. Nicknames for Philadelphia and Boston

The City of Brotherly Love, The Quaker City, The Cradle of Liberty, The Birthplace of America, Philly, The
Cradle of Modern America

100. "Mayday" and Other English Words with French Origins

sabotage, laissez-faire, entrepreneur, film noir, avant-garde, résumé, unique, bon appétit, bon voyage

101. Expressions with the Word "Golden"

golden, golden rule, golden ratio, golden mean, Golden Age, golden age, Golden Age of Radio, silence is
golden, good as gold, The Golden Boy, you are golden, Gold digger, gold digger, golden oldies, The Golden
Girls, golden years

Food Expressions

102. Food Expressions - 1 (Vegetables & Fruits)

as cool as a cucumber, in a pickle, two peas in a pod, full of beans, does not amount to a hill of beans,
don’t know beans about something, spill the beans, small potatoes, hot potatoes, couch potato, you
cannot squeeze blood out of a turnip, separating the wheat from the chaff, the cream of the crop,
forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest, go bananas, If life gives you lemons, make lemonade

103. Food Expressions - 2 (Good Things)

the best thing since sliced bread, breadwinner, bread and butter issues, half a loaf is better than none, you
know which side your bread is buttered on, you’re toast, a piece of cake, icing on the cake, you can’t have
your cake and eat it, too, selling like hotcakes, drop him like a hotcake, flat as a pancake, a tough cookie, a
sharp cookie, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, easy as pie, eat humble pie, pie in the sky, taking candy
from a baby

104. Food Expressions - 3 (Misc.)

here is no use crying over spilled milk, a good egg, walk on eggshells, you have to break some eggs to
make an omelet, you are what you eat, meat and potatoes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, the
salt of the earth, pour salt on a wound, take it with a grain of salt, brings home the bacon, cut the mustard,
all drink of water, packed like sardines, out to lunch, there is no such thing as a free lunch, wake up and
smell the coffee, egg on my face, not my cup of tea, ood for thought

More ...

105. Expressions with the Word "Hold"

can’t hold a candle to, hold your tongue, hold out, hold up, hold on, hold the line
 Where Did 'OK' Come From?
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Millions of people all over the world use the word OK. In fact, some people say the word is used
more often than any other word in the world. OK means all right or acceptable. It expresses
agreement or approval. You might ask your brother, "Is it okay if I borrow your car?” Or if
someone asks you to do something, you might say, “Okay, I will.” Still, language experts do not
agree about where the word came from.

Some people say it came from the Native American Indian tribe known as the Choctaw. The
Choctaw word okeh means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers
in the American West spoke the Choctaw language in the nineteenth century. The language
spread across the country.

But many people dispute this. Language expert Allen Walker Read wrote about the word OK in
reports published in the nineteen sixties. He said the word began being used in the eighteen
thirties. It was a short way of writing a different spelling of the words “all correct.” Some foreign-
born people wrote “all correct” as “o-l-l k-o-r-r-e-c-t,” and used the letters O.K. Other people say
a railroad worker named Obadiah Kelly invented the word long ago. They said he put the first
letters of his names -- O and K -- on each object people gave him to send on the train.

Still others say a political organization invented the word. The organization supported Martin
Van Buren for president in eighteen forty. They called their group, the O.K. Club. The letters
were taken from the name of the town where Martin Van Buren was born — Old Kinderhook,
New York.

Not everyone agrees with this explanation, either. But experts do agree that the word is purely
American. And it has spread to almost every country on Earth.

Then there is the expression A-OK. This means everything is fine. A-OK is a space-age
expression. It was used in nineteen sixty-one during the flight of astronaut Alan Shepard. He
was the first American to be launched into space. His flight ended when his spacecraft landed in
the ocean, as planned. Shepard reported: "Everything is A-OK.”

However, some experts say the expression did not begin with the space age. One story says it
was first used during the early days of the telephone to tell an operator that a message had
been received.

There are also funny ways to say okay. Some people say okey-dokey or okey-doke. These
expressions were first used in the nineteen thirties. Today, a character on the American
television series, “The Simpsons,” says it another way. He says okely-dokely.

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our
Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Expressions with the Word "Kick"

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
From birth to death, the word kick has been given an important part in expressing human
experience. The proud and happy mother feels the first signs of life kicking inside her womb.
And that same life -- many years later -- comes to its end in a widely-used expression, to kick
the bucket, meaning to die.

The expression to kick the bucket is almost two hundred years old. One belief is that it started
when an English stableman committed suicide by hanging himself while standing on a pail, or
bucket. He put a rope around his neck and tied it to a beam in the ceiling, and then kicked the
bucket away from under him.

After a while, to die in any way was called kicking the bucket.

Another old expression that comes from England is to kick over the traces, meaning to resist
the commands of one's parents, or to oppose or reject authority. Traces were the chains that
held a horse or mule to a wagon or plow. Sometimes, an animal rebelled and kicked over the
traces.

The word kick sometimes is used to describe a complaint or some kind of dissatisfaction.
Workers, for example, kick about long hours and low pay.

There are times when workers are forced to kick back some of their wages to their employers
as part of their job. This kickback is illegal. So is another kind of kickback: a secret payment
made by a supplier to an official who buys supplies for a government or company.

Kick around is a phrase that is heard often in American English. A person who is kicked around
is someone who is treated badly. Usually, he is not really being kicked by somebody's foot. He
is just not being treated with the respect that all of us want.

A person who has kicked around for most of his life is someone who has spent his life moving
from place to place. In this case, kicking around means moving often from one place to
another.

Kick around has a third meaning when you use it with the word idea. When you kick around an
idea, you are giving that idea some thought.

There is no physical action when you kick a person upstairs, although the pain can be as
strong. You kick a person upstairs by removing him from an important job and giving him a job
that sounds more important. . . But really is not.

Still another meaning of the word kick is to free oneself of a bad habit, such as smoking
cigarettes. Health campaigns urge smokers to kick the habit.

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn
Rice Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I'm Shirley Griffith.

Proverbs 4 - Some Listeners' Favorite Sayings

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a common truth or belief. Many
proverbs give advice about the best way to live.

Recently, we presented a program about proverbs. We asked our listeners to send us their
favorite proverbs. A short time later, we received suggestions from around the world. We heard
from listeners in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

The top proverb among these listeners is this one: "Where there is a will, there is a way."
This means that you can rise above your problems if you have a goal and work very hard.

Some listeners liked another proverb: "Strike while the iron is hot." This means it is best to
take action quickly and at the right time. Another favorite proverb was, "God helps those who
help themselves."

Xu Da-ju from China wrote that his country has thousands of proverbs. Several of them are
also used in the United States. One example is "Birds of a feather flock together." This
means that people who are alike often become friends or spend time together.

Another proverb is "Blood is thicker than water." This means family ties are stronger than
other relationships. A similar proverb states "Charity begins at home." A person should help
his family or close friends before helping others.

Alina from China sent us this proverb: "He who would climb a ladder must begin at the
bottom." That is good advice when working around your home or looking for a job.

Antonio Jose from Brazil says his favorite proverb is "Tell me who walks with you, and I'll tell
you who you are." Didier Vermeulen of France sent us this one: "It does not matter the
speed you go. The most important thing is to never stop."

Wafaa from Egypt says her favorite proverb is, "Think twice, act wise." She also says she is
making an effort to use this saying in her life.

Another favorite proverb among our listeners is "Practice makes perfect." This means you will
become good at something if you keep doing it. Another popular proverb is: "If you want
something done right, do it yourself."

Najeeb from Afghanistan sent us this proverb: "If you risk nothing, then you risk
everything."

And, here is the favorite proverb of Marius Meledje in Ivory Coast: "Your defeat now is your
victory in the future." He says it means you can learn from your mistakes. This will help you
do better when facing similar situations in the future.

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus.

Proverbs 3
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain more proverbs. A proverb is a short, well-known saying that expresses a
common truth or belief. Proverbs are popular around the world. Many proverbs give advice
about how to live. Some proverbs are hundreds of years old, but they are still used today.

For example, my son is just like his father in many ways. We often say the two of them prove
the proverb that the apple does not fall far from the tree.

My daughter is very short. She would like to be taller.But I tell her that good things come in
small packages. The size of something is not always important.Some valuable things are very
small, like diamonds and other jewels. But I also tell my children that all that glitters is not
gold. Do not befooled by appearances. Something may look valuable, but may not really be
valuable. Also, I tell them do not judge a book by its cover. You should not judge something
only by its appearance.

Another proverb is, do not bite off more than you can chew. This means do not try to do
more than you are able to do.

Some times I tell my children to cooperate to solve a problem. After all, two heads are better
than one. Two people working together can get better results. But another proverb says too
many cooks spoil the broth. If too many people try to do something, then the job will not be
done well.

I also tell my children that two wrongs do not make a right. You should not do something bad
just because someone did the same to you.

Some people are pessimists: they always think about how bad things are or will be. Other
people are optimists: they always look on the bright side. They think things will be all right.

Optimists might say that every cloud has a silver lining. They can find something good even
in a bad situation. Other people are both pessimists and optimists.They hope for the best and
prepare for the worst.

Some people often worry about what they will do in a situation that might happen in the future.
We could tell them do not cross that bridge until you come to it.

It is usually much better to prevent a problem from happening than it is to find ways to solve it.
So we say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Finally, I always liked this proverb: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
Honey is sweet while vinegar is not. In other words, you can win people to your side more
easily with gentle persuasion than by hostile actions.

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein.You can
find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Proverbs 2
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain more popular proverbs. A proverb is a short, well known saying that
expresses a common truth or belief. Proverbs are popular around the world.

Many listeners have sent us their favorite proverbs. They give advice about how to live. We
begin with two popular proverbs about staying healthy by eating good food: One is an apple a
day keeps the doctor away. Another is you are what you eat.

Several proverbs about birds also give advice. You may have heard this one: The early bird
catches the worm. This means a person who gets up early, or acts quickly, has the best
chance of success.

Another famous proverb is a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This means you
should not risk losing something you have by seeking something that is not guaranteed.

Here is another piece of advice: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. In
other words, you should not think too much about some future event before it really happens.

Another proverb warns do not put all your eggs in one basket. This means you should not
put all of your resources together in one place because you could risk losing everything at one
time. Many Americans learned this the hard way by investing all their money in stock shares,
which then lost value. Another proverb says a fool and his money are soon parted. This
means someone who acts unwisely with money will lose it.

Here is more advice: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Also, never put off until
tomorrow what you can do today.

You might learn that haste makes waste if you do something too fast, resulting in mistakes.
Most people would agree with this proverb: honesty is the best policy.

Yet another proverb advises us not to be concerned about something bad that you cannot
change. It says there is no use crying over spilled milk.

Do you agree with the proverb that children should be seen and not heard? Maybe you have
told your children that hard work never hurt anyone. But other people say that all work and
no play makes Jack a dull boy. They believe it is not wise to spend all your time working and
never having fun.

Finally, here is one of our favorite proverbs: People who live in glass houses should not
throw stones. This means you should not criticize other people unless you are perfect
yourself.

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. You can
find more proverbs and other WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site,
voaspecialenglish.com.

Proverbs 1
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we talk about proverbs. A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a
common truth or belief. Proverbs are found in most cultures and are often very old.

In American history, Benjamin Franklin was famous for his proverbs. Franklin lived in the
seventeen hundreds. He was a leader of the American Revolution against English rule. He was
also a scientist, inventor and writer.

For many years, Franklin published a book called "Poor Richard's Almanac." He included many
proverbs that he had heard or created. Some of them are still used today. Like this one: "Early
to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Franklin is also remembered for other proverbs like, "A penny saved is a penny earned." This
means that money should not be wasted.

Here are other examples of proverbs that Americans use. The first ones are about love. Some
people say, "All is fair in love and war." They mean that anything you do in a relationship or in
battle is acceptable.

Another proverb about love is, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." This means you love
someone even more when he or she is far away. But other people say, "Out of sight, out of
mind." You may not even think about that person when he or she is not with you. Which of
these proverbs do you think is most true?

Another proverb says "Love is blind." In other words, when you are in love with someone, you
may refuse to see anything bad about that person.

Here is another popular saying about love: "The way to a man's heart is through his
stomach." Some people believe that a woman can win a man's love if she prepares his favorite
foods.

Some people are only interested in having a relationship with someone who is very good-
looking. You might tell them that "Beauty is only skin deep." Your girlfriend may be lovely to
look at, but she may also have some bad qualities. Or the opposite may be true. Your boyfriend
is a wonderful person, but not good-looking. So what a person looks like is not really important.

Another proverb is true in love and war or other situations: "Actions speak louder than
words." It means that what you do is more important than what you say.

Sadly, we have no more time for this program. So we must say, "All good things must come
to an end."

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Barbara Klein. Tell us
about your favorite proverb. You can send an e-mail to [email protected]. Include your
name and where you live. And you can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at
voaspecialenglish.com
 Health Expressions
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Many professions have their own words and expressions. This is true for the medical
profession. Doctors use many technical terms that most people do not understand. But there
are also expressions we use every day to tell about a person's health. Let me explain.

Last month, I was not feeling well. I was under the weather. I thought I had caught a cold. I
had a runny nose, itchy eyes, a sore throat and a cough. I felt tired and run down. I was in
poor condition because I had not been getting enough rest.

My body hurt all over. I also had severe head pains -- a real splitting headache. And I was
running a fever. My body temperature was higher than normal.

At one point, I blacked out. That's right, I was out cold. I lost consciousness and my friend
had to bring me around. He used cold water on my face to restore my consciousness.

I grew concerned that I might take a turn for the worse. I did not want to become sicker
because then surely I would be at death's door.

My friend took me to the doctor. I told the doctor I thought I had come down with a cold.
When the doctor saw me, she immediately wanted to run some tests. She said that medical
tests would help her discover why I was sick. The doctor also asked when I had my last
physical. I do not get yearly check-ups. But I probably should get a medical exam by a doctor
every year.

Then the nurse drew my blood. She used a needle to take a small amount of blood from my
arm. She sent it to a laboratory for tests. The nurse also took my temperature. She used a
thermometer to measure my body temperature.

The doctor told me I had influenza, or the flu. But she told me I would recover soon. She said I
was over the worst of the disease. She told me to rest at home and to stay away from other
people because the flu can spread. It is contagious.

Thankfully, I did not have to go under the knife. I did not need an operation. Instead, I did just
what the doctor ordered. I went home and did exactly what was needed to become healthy
again. Soon, I was on the mend. I was pulling through and recovering from my sickness.

Now, I am back on my feet. I am physically healthy again. Even better, the doctor has given
me a clean bill of health. She says that I am one-hundred percent cured. I am back to normal
and I feel great. In fact, I feel on top of the world. My friends say I now look like the picture
of health.

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss.
I'm Faith Lapidus.
 Expressions that use other body parts – the back, shoulders and
chest.
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

There are many American expressions that use parts of the body. These include the eyes,
ears, nose, mouth and even the heart. Today we will tell you some expressions that use other
body parts – the back, shoulders and chest.

When I am facing a lot of pressure at work, my back and neck will start to hurt. Sometimes, this
tension is the result of too much work. I have too many things to do because my supervisor is
on my back all the time. In other words, my employer is always telling me to do things.

Sometimes, I want to tell my employer to get off my back! I want her to stop criticizing me and
making too many demands on my time. I can not say this, however. I would never turn my
back on her and refuse to help when there is a need. If I did refuse to help, my supervisor
might say bad things about me behind my back. She might criticize me when I am not
present. This would surely be a stab in the back. It is never kind to unfairly harm or say bad
things about other people.

Sometimes, when I am very productive in my job, my employer gives me a pat on the back.
She praises my work. She might even say "I will scratch your back if you will scratch
mine." This means she will do something for me, if I do something helpful for her in exchange.
Such an offer usually comes straight from the shoulder. My supervisor has a very direct,
open and honest way of speaking.

I know that my employer carries a lot on her shoulders. She is responsible for many things at
the office. And because she is so important, she sometimes gets to rub shoulders with the top
officials. She gets to spend time with some very important people.

I believe the top official values my supervisor. He never gives her the cold shoulder. He is
never unfriendly to her. He always treats her like she is an important part of the organization.

I also value my supervisor. In fact, I think she is very effective in her job. Of course, I could yell
my opinion at the top of my lungs, or as loudly as I possibly could. It might even feel good to
get my emotions off my chest. It is always helpful to tell people how you feel so that your
emotions do not trouble you.

But it is not necessary for me to praise my supervisor. Most of my co-workers feel the exact
same way about her. So, I think I will just save my breath. I will keep silent because talking or
repeating myself will not do any good.

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith
Lapidus.

Expressions with the Words "Nose" and "Ears"

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A person's nose is important for breathing and smelling. The nose is also used in many popular
expressions.

Some people are able to lead other people by the nose. For example, if a wife leads her
husband by the nose, she makes him do whatever she wants him to do.

Some people are said to be hard-nosed. They will not change their opinions or positions on
anything. If someone is hard-nosed, chances are he will never pay through the nose, or pay
too much money, for an object or service.

It is always helpful when people keep their nose out of other people's business. They do not
interfere. The opposite of this is someone who noses around all the time. This kind of person
is interested in other people's private matters. He is considered nosey.

Someone who keeps his nose to the grindstone works very hard. This can help a worker keep
his nose clean or stay out of trouble.

One unusual expression is that is no skin off my nose. This means that a situation does not
affect or concern me. We also say that sometimes a person cuts off his nose to spite his
face. That is, he makes a situation worse for himself by doing something foolish because he is
angry.

More problems can develop if a person looks down his nose at someone or something. The
person acts like something is unimportant or worthless. This person might also turn up his
nose at something that he considers not good enough. This person thinks he is better than
everyone else. He has his nose in the air.

In school, some students thumb their nose at their teacher. They refuse to obey orders or do
any work. Maybe these students do not know the correct answers. My mother always told me,
if you study hard, the answers should be right under your nose or easily seen.

I think we have explained the nose expressions. What about ears? Well, I hope you are all ears
or very interested in hearing more expressions. We might even put a bug in your ear or give
you an idea about something. We also advise you to keep your ear to the ground. This
means to be interested in what is happening around you and what people are thinking.

If you are a good person, you will lend an ear to your friends. You will listen to them when they
have a problem they need to talk about. Our last expression is to play it by ear. This has two
meanings. One is to play a song on a musical instrument by remembering the tune and not by
reading the music. Play it by ear also means to decide what to do at the last minute instead of
making detailed plans.

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss.
I'm Faith Lapidus.
 Expressions with the Word "Mouth"
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

People use their mouths for many things. They eat, talk, shout and sing. They smile and they
kiss. In the English language, there are many expressions using the word mouth. But some of
them are not so nice.

For example, if you say bad things about a person, the person might protest and say "Do not
bad mouth me."

Sometimes, people say something to a friend or family member that they later regret because
hurts that person's feelings. Or they tell the person something they were not supposed to tell.

The speaker might say: "I really put my foot in my mouth this time." If this should happen,
the speaker might feel down in the mouth. In other words, he might feel sad for saying the
wrong thing.

Another situation is when someone falsely claims another person said something. The other
person might protest: "I did not say that. Do not put words in my mouth."

Information is often spread through word of mouth. This is general communication between
people, like friends talking to each other. "How did you hear about that new movie?" someone
might ask. "Oh, by word of mouth." A more official way of getting information is through a
company or government mouthpiece. This is an official spokesperson. Government-run media
could also be called a mouthpiece.

Sometimes when one person is speaking, he says the same thing that his friend was going to
say. When this happens, the friend might say: "You took the words right out of my mouth!"
Sometimes a person has a bad or unpleasant experience with another person. He might say
that experience "left a bad taste in my mouth." Or the person might have had a very
frightening experience, like being chased by an angry dog. He might say: "I had my heart in
my mouth."

Some people have lots of money because they were born into a very rich family. There is an
expression for this, too. You might say such a person, "was born with a silver spoon in his
mouth."

This rich person is the opposite of a person who lives from hand to mouth. This person is very
poor and only has enough money for the most important things in life, like food.

Parents might sometimes withhold sweet food from a child as a form of punishment for saying
bad things. For example, if a child says things she should not say to her parents, she might be
described as a mouthy child. The parents might even tell the child to stop mouthing off.

But enough of all this talk. I have been running my mouth long enough.

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith
Lapidus.
 Expressions with the Word "Heart" – 2
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Each week, this program explains the many meanings of English expressions. Today's
expressions include a very important word – heart.

We will try to get to the heart of the matter to better understand the most important things
about WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. So take heart. Have no fear about learning new
expressions. Besides, popular English words can be fun. There is no need for a heavy heart.
Such feelings of sadness would only break my heart, or make me feel unhappy and hopeless.

Now, let us suppose you and I were speaking freely about something private. We would be
having a heart to heart discussion. I might speak from the bottom of my heart, or say things
honestly and truthfully. I might even open up my heart to you and tell a secret. I would speak
with all my heart, or with great feeling.

When a person shares her feelings freely and openly like this, you might say she wears her
heart on her sleeve, or on her clothing. Her emotions are not protected.

If we had an honest discussion, both of us would know that the other person's heart is in the
right place. For example, I would know that you are a kind-hearted and well-meaning person.
And, if you are a very good person, I would even say that you have a heart of gold. However,
you might have a change of heart based on what I tell you. Our discussion might cause you to
change the way you feel about something.

But, let us suppose you get angry over what I tell you. Or worse, you feel no sympathy or
understanding for me or my situation. If this happens, I might think that you have a heart of
stone. And, if you say something to make me frightened or worried, my heart might stand still
or skip a beat.

Yet, even though you may be angry, I would know that at heart, you are a kind person. In
reality, you do care. And any argument between us would not cause me to lose heart or feel a
sense of loss.

My heart goes out to anyone who loses a friend over an argument. It really is a sad situation,
and I feel sympathy for the people involved.

I promise that what I have told you today is true – cross my heart.

I really wanted to play some music at the end of this feature. In fact, I had my heart set on it.
So here it is, "Don't Go Breaking my Heart" by Elton John.

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss.
I'm Faith Lapidus.
 Expressions with the Word "Heart" - 1
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt
with some expressions using the word heart.

People believed for a long time that the heart was the center of a person's emotions. That is
why the word heart is used in so many expressions about emotional situations.

One such expression is to "lose your heart" to someone. When that happens, you have fallen
in love. But if the person who "won your heart" does not love you, then you are sure to have a
"broken heart." In your pain and sadness, you may decide that the person you loved is "hard-
hearted," and in fact, has a "heart of stone."

You may decide to "pour out your heart" to a friend. Telling someone about your personal
problems can often make you feel better.

If your friend does not seem to understand how painful your broken heart is, you may ask her to
"have a heart." You are asking your friend to show some sympathy for your situation. Your
friend "has her heart in the right place" if she says she is sorry, and shows great concern for
how you feel.

Your friend may, however, warn you "not to wear your heart on your sleeve." In other words,
do not let everyone see how lovesick you are. When your heart is on your sleeve you are
showing your deepest emotions.

If your friend says, "my heart bleeds for you," she means the opposite. She is a cold-hearted
person who does not really care about your situation.

In the ever-popular motion picture, The Wizard of Oz, the Tin Man seeks a heart. He wanted to
feel the emotion of love, and was seeking help from the powerful Wizard of Oz to find a heart.

The cowardly lion, in the same movie, did have a heart. But he lacked courage and wanted to
ask the Wizard of Oz to give him some. You could say that the cowardly lion was "chicken-
hearted." That is another way of describing someone who is not very brave. A chicken is not
noted for its bravery. Thus, someone who is chicken-hearted does not have much courage.

When you are frightened or concerned, your "heart is in your mouth." You might say, for
example, that your heart was in your mouth when you asked a bank to lend you some money to
pay for a new house.

If that bank says no to you, do not "lose heart." Be "strong-hearted." Sit down with the
banker and have a "heart to heart" talk. Be open and honest about your situation. The bank
may "have a change of heart." It may agree to lend you the money. Then you could stop
worrying and "put your heart at rest."

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn
Christiano. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.
 Expressions that use hand.
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

The hand has been a symbol through the ages and in many cultures.

There are hundreds of expressions and combinations of words using hand in the English
language. Let us examine some of the expressions that use hand.

We will get a hand in this way. To get a hand in is to begin a job, to begin to know something
about it. When we learn the job completely, it will be easy for us. We will be able to do it hands
down.

If we do the job well, we may end up with the upper hand. And that means to be in control, or
to have gained complete understanding of a situation.

On the other hand, if the situation gets out of hand, then it is out of control. We must act
quickly to regain the upper hand over these expressions.

But, wait. We still do not have the upper hand in this business.

We must consider another way of expressing praise, to hand it to someone. For example: I
must hand it to you for understanding what we have discussed this far.

You can also lend a hand to someone, but without really giving up your hand. You lend a hand
when you help someone. You offer them a helping hand.

If someone is kind enough to lend us a hand, then we surely do not want to bite the hand that
feeds us. We do not want to repay his kindness by treating him badly.

Now, with that out of the way, we have a free hand to continue examining other hand
expressions. To have a free hand in a situation is good. It means you are free to act without
getting permission from someone else.

If we continue moving along, we will make progress hand over fist, or very rapidly. This
expression began in the early seventeen hundreds. It reportedly comes from a sailing
expression hand over hand, the way of quickly raising or lowering a sail.

Maybe you can find a friend who wants to take a hand in our project. It would have to be
someone who is interested in these expressions.

Your friend may want to work hand in glove with us. That is good, because that means he
wants to work as closely with us as a glove covers the hand. Of course there is a danger that
he may look at our project and decide to take it in hand. That means he wants to take it over.

If that happens, we may throw up our hands because the situation seems hopeless. In fact,
we may decide that it is time for us to end this project, to wash our hands of hand expressions.
This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Marilyn
Rice Christiano. Maurice Joyce was the narrator. I'm Shirley Griffith.

Expressions with the Word "Hair"

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A listener named Rita wants to learn about expressions with the word "hair." So we will tell a
story.

Yesterday when I woke up, I looked in a mirror. I looked very neat and organized. Not a hair
was out of place. But today when I woke up, I knew I was going to have a bad hair day. My
hair was standing up in all the wrong places. I thought I would be unhappy all day and things
would not go well. I work at home so I just hoped that my computer would work right and not
have a bad hair day also.

I was very tired because I did not sleep well last night. I made the mistake of watching a horror
movie on television. The movie really made my hair stand on end. It was about a house
possessed by evil spirits. The thought of having to live alone in a house like that was so
frightening it was enough to curl your hair. I will say it another way: watching that movie was a
hair-raising experience.

I prepared a meal for my children but they were behaving badly. I turned on the television so
they would be quiet. I did not want them to be difficult or to get in my hair while I was working
on the computer.

My children were making so much noise that I could not work. I was getting angry. In fact, I
was ready to pull my hair out. I told them to please be quiet or I would punish them. But they
knew I would not harm a hair on their heads.

I decided to make myself some strong coffee so I could work better. But my drink was so strong
that it could put hair on your chest.

Finally, I got back to work. I was writing a proposal for a project. I knew that I was very close to
finishing the proposal. Success was very close – within a hair's breadth. My supervisor called
me to discuss the project. She wanted to argue about very small differences and unimportant
details. But I told her not to split hairs.

Later, I got a telephone call from a friend whom I had not seen in a long time. In fact, I had not
seen hide nor hair of him in months. So I was glad to know that he was all right.

I worked all day and finished my project. So I decided to celebrate, have some fun and let my
hair down. I played some old recordings, and my children and I danced around the room. The
recordings are from my favorite musical, a show called "Hair." It takes place during the nineteen
sixties when many young people wore their hair very long.

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. I'm Faith Lapidus. You can
find other WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.
 Expressions with the Word "Face"
Now, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, a VOA Special English program about American
expressions.

I'm Rich Kleinfeldt with expressions that include the word face.

The first is face the music. It means to accept the results of what you have done.

Here is an example from a Reuters news report: Britain's highest court had ruled that former
Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was legally arrested. Opponents of General Pinochet
welcomed the news. One of them said, "We have waited for years for this man to face the
music."

No one is sure how the expression began. One story is that it came from a military ceremony
held when a soldier was forced out of an army.

The buttons were cut from the soldier's clothing. He was put on a horse, facing the back of the
horse and led away. As he left, he faced the music of a military band and the soldiers he had
served with.

Another story says the expression began in the theater. New actors, shaking with fright, were
told that the only cure was to go out and face the music. The music was played by the orchestra
seated in front of the stage.

A similar expression is face up to. It means to accept something that is difficult or painful. For
example, a man must face up to the fact that he lied about a business deal and will lose his job.
Or, a child must learn to face up to her responsibilities and complete her schoolwork.

Meeting someone face-to-face can be exciting, especially if the other person is famous. It is an
expression one might use after visiting the White House and meeting the president face-to-face.
Or a teacher might ask for a face-to-face meeting with the parents of a student in trouble. It
means to talk to someone in person, not by telephone.

Another expression is as plain as the nose on your face. It means that something is as clear
as it can possibly be.

Shakespeare used the words almost five hundred years ago for a joke in his play Two
Gentlemen of Verona. Valentine secretly loves Lady Sylvia. His servant jokes that Valentine's
love for her is as hard to see as the nose on a man's face. Of course, a man's nose cannot be
hidden.

A more recent use of the expression appeared in a report in Newsday magazine. It was about a
dispute between the United States and Europe over agriculture. The United States had criticized
Europeans for protecting their soybean farmers. The Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development in return criticized the United States for its huge budget deficits. The report
said the OECD seemed to be saying, "For God's sake, it is plain as the nose on your face that
you must raise taxes."
This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Frank
Beardsley. I'm Rich Kleinfeldt.

Expressions with the Word "Eyes"

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today's program is all about eyes. When it comes to relationships, people's eyes can be a
window into their hearts. This means that their eyes can tell a lot about how they feel. We will
tell a story about a man and woman who are teachers at the same school. The woman is
interested in the man. She uses many methods to catch his eye, or get him to notice her.
Once he sets eyes on her, or sees her, she might try to get him interested in her by acting
playful. In other words, she might try to make eyes at him or give him the eye.

Let us suppose that this man gets hit between the eyes. In other words, the woman has a
strong affect on him. He wants to spend time with her to get to know her better. He asks her
out on a date.

She is so happy that she may walk around for days with stars in her eyes. She is extremely
happy because this man is the apple of her eye, a very special person. She might tell him that
he is the only person she wants, or "I only have eyes for you."

On their date, the couple might eat a meal together at a restaurant. If the man is really hungry,
his eyes might be bigger than his stomach. He might order more food than he can eat.
When his food arrives at the table, his eyes might pop out. He might be very surprised by the
amount of food provided. He might not even believe his own eyes. If fact, all eyes would be
watching him if he ate all the food. This might even cause raised eyebrows. People might
look at the man with disapproval.

During their dinner, the couple might discuss many things. They might discover that they see
eye to eye, or agree on many issues. They share the same beliefs and opinions. For example,
they might agree that every crime or injury should be punished. That is, they firmly believe in
the idea of an eye for an eye. They might also agree that it is wrong to pull the wool over a
person's eyes. This means to try to trick a person by making him believe something that is
false. But the man and woman do not believe in the evil eye, that a person can harm you by
looking at you.

The next day, at their school, the woman asks the man to keep an eye on, or watch the young
students in her class while she is out of the classroom. This might be hard to do when the
teacher is writing on a board at the front of the classroom. To do so, a teacher would need to
have eyes in the back of his head. In other words, he would know what the children are doing
even when he is not watching them.

WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, in VOA Special English, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith
Lapidus.

Expressions with the Word "Easy"

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Every people has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions. Some of these
expressions are easy to understand. The words create a picture in your mind.

"As easy as falling off a log" is one such expression. It describes a job that does not take much
effort.

If you ever tried to walk on a fallen tree log, you understand what the expression means. It is
easier to fall off the log than to stay on it.

The expression is often used today. For example, you might hear a student say to her friend
that her spelling test was "as easy as falling off a log."

There are several other expressions that mean the same thing. And their meaning is as easy to
understand as "falling off a log." One is, "easy as pie". Nothing is easier than eating a piece of
sweet, juicy pie. Unless it is a "piece of cake."

"Piece of cake" is another expression that means something is extremely easy to do. A friend
might tell you that his new job was a "piece of cake."

Another expression is "as easy as shooting fish in a barrel."

It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to shoot fish in a barrel. But, clearly, fish in a barrel
would be much easier to shoot than fish in a stream. In fact, it would be as easy as "falling off a
log".

Sometimes, things that come to us easily, also leave us just as easily. In fact, there is an
expression – "easy come, easy go" – that recognizes this. You may win a lot of money in a
lottery, then spend it all in a few days. Easy come, easy go.

When life itself is easy, when you have no cares or problems, you are on "Easy Street."
Everyone wants to live on that imaginary street.

Another "easy" expression is to "go easy on a person". It means to treat a person kindly or
gently, especially in a situation where you might be expected to be angry with him. A wife might
urge her husband to "go easy on" their son, because the boy did not mean to wreck the car.

If it is necessary to borrow some money to fix the car, you should look for a friend who is an
"easy touch". An "easy touch" or a "soft touch" is someone who is kind and helpful. He would
easily agree to lend you the money.

And one last expression, one that means do not worry or work too hard. Try to keep away from
difficult situations. "Take it easy" until we meet again.

You have been listening to the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
I'm Bob Doughty.