VOA Special English -- November 09

老胖

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
Last week, we told you about big losses at the investment bank Merrill Lynch. But the losses may be even bigger at the nation's biggest bank, Citigroup.
Citigroup estimated this week that it would take losses of eight billion to eleven billion dollars on investments in risky housing loans. Many people who bought houses with subprime mortgages are now unable to pay them back.
The estimated write-downs are for the bank's current period, October through December. Citigroup says they represent five to seven billion dollars after taxes. The bank reported six and a half billion dollars in credit-related losses for the third quarter of the year.

Charles Prince

Charles Prince, Citigroup's chief executive officer, resigned under pressure on Sunday. He led the New York-based bank since two thousand three. He took over for Sanford Weill who built Citi into one of the world's largest financial groups.
Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a British and German citizen, will serve as chief executive for now. Former United States treasury secretary Robert Rubin was named chairman of the board. He will help lead the search for a permanent replacement for the C.E.O.
Charles Prince was the second head of a major bank to be forced out in recent days. Last week, Stan O'Neal resigned at Merrill Lynch after his company reported a loss for the third quarter of over two billion dollars. Merrill Lynch had to write-down eight billion dollars in mortgage-related losses.
Citigroup announced that it has fifty-five billion dollars worth of investments directly related to subprime mortgages. Forty-three billion dollars of that is in complex investments called collateralized debt obligations.
A big problem for banks is putting a value on the mortgage-related securities that they hold. Investors are no longer interested in trading these securities. This has frozen the market for them. So banks like Citigroup depend on mathematical models to place a value on these complex investments.
Credit rating agencies reacted to this week's bad news. Moody's Investors Service lowered Citigroup's credit rating one level to its third highest rating. Moody's said the expected write-downs would result in a sizeable quarterly loss for Citigroup.
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. To learn more about the problems with subprime mortgages, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

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老胖

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC, in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I'm Doug Johnson. On our show this week:
We listen to some music from the movie "Into the Wild"...
Answer a question about a famous American landmark...
And report about a special anniversary for Veterans' Day.
Anniversary of the Wall
HOST:
November eleventh is Veterans Day in the United States. It is the day Americans remember those who have fought in the nation's wars. This year is a special one at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. That memorial honors American men and women who served in the Vietnam War. Faith Lapidus has more.
FAITH LAPIDUS:

A Vietnam veteran holds a rose to a name on the memorial

This year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial known as the Wall. The Wall is two large,shiny, black stones built into the ground, forming the letter V. The names of more than fifty-eight thousand Americans are cut into the stone.
These are the names of those who died or who are missing as a result of their service in Vietnam. As part of the anniversary observance, the names of all those listed on the Wall are being read aloud this week.
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The Wall has the power to create strong feelings. The shiny black stone acts like a mirror. It seems to draw in visitors so that they too are part of the Wall. This is especially emotional for those visitors who served in Vietnam and for the family members of those killed there.
Vietnam Veteran Jan Scruggs thought of the idea for the memorial as a way to honor those killed in one of America's most divisive wars. He formed an organization to build the memorial. In nineteen eighty, a competition was held to choose the design. Judges considered more than one thousand designs. They chose the design of a twenty-one-year-old Yale University student, Maya Lin.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was officially opened on November thirteenth, nineteen eighty-two. The design of the memorial caused great debate. Supporters thought it was simple and powerful. But some people said it was not personal enough and did not show the heroic efforts of those who fought in the war.
As a result, other structures were added to the memorial. They are the Three Servicemen Statue and the Vietnam Women's Memorial statue. A special plaque honors those who died later as a result of injuries from the war.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the most visited memorial in the nation's capital. More than four million people visit each year. Some visitors make a copy of one of the names on the Wall. Others leave a special object of love and remembrance. Visitors have left tens of thousands of such objects at the Wall. These include flowers, letters, poems, toys, photographs, baseballs and military medals. These objects are links between those who were killed and those who will always remember them.
The Gateway Arch
HOST:
Our listener question this week comes from Russia. Andrey Lopatin wants to know

The Gateway Arch

about the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri. This famous curved steel structure next to the Mississippi River rises one hundred ninety-two meters in the air. This is the same distance between the arch's two legs. The Gateway Arch is the tallest freestanding federal monument in the United States.
Plans for the arch developed in the nineteen thirties. During this time, the city of Saint Louis decided to build a federal monument to honor the westward expansion of the United States during the nineteenth century. In eighteen oh three, President Thomas Jefferson had bought more than two million square kilometers of land from France, including what would become the state of Missouri.
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States at the time. This famous land deal made it possible for the young American nation to expand and grow. The next year, President Jefferson hired Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this large new area of land. The Lewis and Clark Expedition started just west of Saint Louis. So Saint Louis became known as the Gateway to the West.
The Jefferson National Expansion Park was established in nineteen thirty-five. The federal government and city of Saint Louis agreed to share the building costs. During the nineteen forties, city officials created a national competition among building designers to decide what form the new monument would take.
The Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen won the competition in nineteen forty-eight. Building the arch finally began in nineteen sixty-three was completed two years later. The arch is an example of excellent structural engineering. The shape of the structure is called an inverted catenary curve. This is the form a free-hanging heavy rope or metal chain takes when it is hung between two supports.
Each year, about one million visitors ride special vehicles to the top of the Gateway Arch to enjoy its history and expansive views of Saint Louis.
"Into The Wild"
HOST:

Emile Hirsch plays Christopher McCandless in 'Into the Wild'

"Into the Wild" is a new movie that tells the true story of a young man named Christopher McCandless. In the nineteen nineties, he dropped out of society after college to test himself in the American wilderness. Actor Sean Penn wrote and directed the movie, which is based on a book by Jon Krakauer.
Penn asked his friend, the singer Eddie Vedder, to write the music for this powerful film. The songs help express the inner voice and personal discovery of this brave young man. Barbara Klein has more.
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BARBARA KLEIN:
That was Eddie Vedder singing "No Ceiling." You might recognize his voice. Vedder is the lead singer for the rock band Pearl Jam. This is the first album in which he performs on his own. Vedder says that when he read the book "Into the Wild" and started to write songs for the movie, the story of Christopher McCandless took control of him.
For two years, this young man traveled through deserts, down rivers, and up mountains in the western United States. He traveled all the way to the northern state of Alaska. On the road, he met many people and influenced them with his intense and intelligent personality. Here is the song "Hard Sun."
(MUSIC)
Christopher McCandless did not survive his adventure. Some people have noted that he really was not prepared to survive in the wild. He died of starvation at the age of twenty-four, all alone in the Alaskan wilderness. But the story of his independence and desire to live in the simple beauty of nature lives on.
We leave you with the song "Society." In it, Eddie Vedder imagines the thoughts of Chris McCandless as he says goodbye to the rules and demands of society in order to lively freely on his own.
(MUSIC)
HOST:
I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Dana Demange and Nancy Steinbach. Caty Weaver was our producer. To read the text of this program and download audio, go to our Web site, www.unsv.com.
Send your questions about American life to mosaic@voanews.com. Please include your full name and mailing address. Or write to American Mosaic, VOA Special English, Washington, D.C., two-zero-two-three-seven, U.S.A.
Join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA's radio magazine in Special English.

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