介绍： VOA special English
A Fresh Start to The Making of a Nation-TMON001
192K MP3
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09/05/2012
American History: A Fresh Start
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.
Read, listen and learn English with this story. Doub...

介绍： VOA special English
A Fresh Start to The Making of a Nation-TMON001
192K MP3
------------------
09/05/2012
American History: A Fresh Start
The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.
Read, listen and learn English with this story. Double­ click on any word to find the definition in the Merriam ­Webster Learner's Dictionary.
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A
Today we start our series again from the beginning. The last time we started over was in October of two thousand seven.
(MUSIC)
THE MAKING OF A NATION is one of the most popular programs in VOA Special English.
It started in May of nineteen sixty­nine. Some longtime listeners can remember when THE MAKING OF A NATION was on the radio twice a week. People who grew up listening to it are old enough now to listen with their own children, or even their grandchildren.
The series tells a story. You can think of it not just as a series of programs about the history of America and its people, but a series of lessons. The subjects include exploration, revolution, civil war, social and political change, the rise of industry and modern technology, and more.
As time adds to the story of American history, we add to our series. We finished in May at program number two hundred forty. The subject was the Great Recession and the presidential election of two thousand eight.
Over the last year, we took our series in a new direction. We added more sound from the people who made history in the twentieth century ...
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT: "Yesterday, December seventh, nineteen forty­one, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America ... "
President Richard M. Nixon and his wife Pat Nixon
PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON: "Throughout the long and difficult period of Watergate, I have felt it was my duty to persevere – to make every possible effort to complete the term of office."
More sound from popular culture and entertainment ...
(SOUND: Dialogue from the movie "Gone with the Wind," with Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara)
RHETT BUTLER: "That’s what’s wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how."
SCARLETT O’HARA: "Oh, and I suppose you think you’re the proper person." (SOUND: Larry Hagman as J.R. from the television series "Dallas")
J.R: "Your daddy lacked the killer instinct ­­ he forgave those who transgressed against him. People just weren’t afraid of him.
(SOUND: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo from the TV series "I Love Lucy") LUCY: "Ah, what’ll I have to do?"
RICKY: "You gonna get me back on the television show."
LUCY: "How?"
RICKY: "I don’t know how, but if you don’t ..."
LUCY: "I will, Ricky. I’ll get you back on the show. Don’t even think of what you’ll do if I don’t."
(SOUND: Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko from the film "Wall Street")
GORDON GECKO: "The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works."
And more sound from the events that defined the times.
(SOUND: General Dwight Eisenhower after the D­Day invasion on June 6, 1944)
DWIGHT EISENHOWER: "People of Western Europe: a landing was made this morning on the coast of France by troops of the Allied Expeditionary Force."
General Dwight Eisenhower.
DWIGHT EISENHOWER: "This landing is part of a concerted United Nations plan for the liberation of Europe."
One of our programs, on the D­Day invasion during World War Two, was a finalist for most creative radio feature in the twenty­eleven Association for International Broadcasting Media Awards:
(SOUND: Excerpt from Nation #193]
On June fifth, nineteen forty­four, a huge Allied force waited for the order to invade German­occupied France.
All eyes turned toward Eisenhower. The decision was his. His face was serious. And for a long time he was silent. Finally he spoke. "OK," he said. "We will go."
(MUSIC)
In a sense, THE MAKING OF A NATION is living history. Our programs are still broadcast on radio. But now ­­ thanks to one of the defining events in modern history, the invention of the Internet ­­ they are also available online.
(MUSIC)
So how was the nation made? Why did people rebel against one nation and start their own? THE MAKING OF A NATION answers these and other questions about American history.
We will tell the story of how a group of farmers, businessmen and lawyers wrote a document they called the Constitution of the United States. On September seventeenth, seventeen eighty­seven, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met one last time to sign it.
The Constitution became a guide not just for Americans, but also for other governments in creating democracies.
We will explore why the writers of the Constitution included guarantees of freedom of speech and religion, and the right to a fair and public trial.
We will also talk about the reasons for the American Revolution. One of the most important reasons was the idea that citizens of a country should have a voice in its decisions.
British citizens in the American colonies paid taxes but had no representatives in the British Parliament. Taxation without representation would lead to growing anger in the American colonies.
Some of the first assault troops to hit the beach of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944 take cover behind enemy obstacles to fire on German forces as others follow the first tanks through the water toward the German­held shore during World War II
Suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
history.
The leaders of the revolt made important changes. For example, all free men who owned land and paid taxes were permitted to vote. Not until nineteen twenty, however, did the Constitution guarantee women the right to vote.
Later, another change lowered the voting age for Americans from twenty­one to eighteen.
Our programs will explain the thinking behind these and other rights. They will also tell the story of each presidential election and presidency in American
THE MAKING OF A NATION explores the good and the bad in American history. For example, how could slavery exist in a nation whose people declared that "all men are created equal" and
with a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Many of our programs explore the ideas and issues that have shaped the United States. But most importantly, they talk about the people.