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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This week, the National Association of Realtors reported that sales of existing homes in the United States increased almost three percent in February. It was the first increase since last July.

But fueling that increase was a drop in prices. The S&P/Case-Shiller index of twenty major markets showed that home prices fell almost two and a half percent in January. Prices were down almost eleven percent from a year before.

And still another report this week showed that sales of new single-family houses fell in February. Sales were down almost two percent from January, to a thirteen-year low. The Commerce Department estimated there was a ten-month supply of newly built houses waiting to be sold.

Experts say prices in many markets will have to fall further before more people are willing or able to buy.

Prices went up and up in recent years, before the housing bubble burst. Many buyers now struggling to make payments took out loans that were too big. They thought prices would keep rising and they could sell their home for a nice profit.

Rising values meant that people could also take out home equity loans and lines of credit. They used their home as a cash machine by borrowing against its value.

Now, as those values fall, some people owe more than their home is worth. Many buyers, often with risky credit histories, took out adjustable-rate mortgages, which started out low but later reset to higher rates.

About two percent of all home loans are in foreclosure. Of course, that means ninety-eight percent of homes are not being reclaimed by lenders. Still, this is the highest rate since the Mortgage Bankers Association began keeping records in nineteen seventy-nine.

The weak housing market is largely responsible for an economic crisis that is leading to new government steps in the financial system.

Last week, the Federal Reserve pushed through a deal for J.P. Morgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns for two dollars a share. Bear, the nation's fifth-largest investment bank, was near collapse after big losses on its mortgage-backed securities. To help make the deal, the Fed agreed to take responsibility for up to thirty billion dollars in those securities.

But J.P. Morgan faced a rebellion by Bear shareholders, so this week it increased its offer to ten dollars a share. It also agreed to take responsibility for one billion dollars of Bear's hard-to-sell securities.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.


西村順式あがり症克服講座の評判・レビュー・口コミ
片頭痛大革命（偏頭痛）の原因と治療法・対策・対処法
なかば兄やんのグローバルＦＸ 裏マニュアルの口コミ・評判

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#VOICE ONE:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Bob Doughty.

#VOICE TWO:
And I'm Barbara Klein. On our program this week, we will tell about an international appeal to reduce smoking rates. We will also tell about an American effort to find signs of climate change in spring flowers. And, we will report on a product that can repair itself after breaking.

#(MUSIC)
#VOICE ONE:
The World Health Organization is urging countries to follow six policies to prevent millions of deaths linked to tobacco use. The six policies are known as MPOWER, spelled M-P-O-W-E-R.
The letter M means monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies. The P is for protecting people by establishing smoke-free areas. O is for offering services to help people stop smoking. The letter W means warning people about the dangers of tobacco. E is for enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and other forms of marketing. And R is for raising taxes on tobacco.

#VOICE TWO:
A World Health Organization report says raising taxes is the single most effective way to reduce tobacco use. A study found that governments now collect an average of five hundred times more money in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on control efforts.

The report says tobacco now causes more than five million deaths a year. It predicts this number will rise to more than eight million by the year two thousand thirty. By the end of the century, it says, tobacco could kill one billion people -- ten times as many as in the twentieth century.

The large majority of these deaths will take place in developing countries. More than twenty-five percent of all smokers in the world are Chinese. India, Indonesia, Russia and the United States, in that order, follow China in tobacco use.

#VOICE ONE:
The W.H.O. found that only five percent of all people live in countries with protections like national legislation on smoke-free areas or bans on tobacco marketing. Forty percent of countries still permit smoking in hospitals and schools.

An international treaty on tobacco control came into force in two thousand five.

Tobacco companies face increasingly restrictive marketplaces in many wealthier countries. The industry is now aiming at the developing world, especially young women. The report says large numbers of people do not yet know the dangers of smoking.

#VOICE TWO:
W.H.O. Director General Margaret Chan notes that tobacco hurts economies in two ways. One is through reduced productivity among workers who get lung cancer or other diseases linked to tobacco use. The other way is through high health care costs for treating those diseases.

The W.H.O. report was released in New York City. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has worked hard to restrict smoking in America's largest city. His aid group, Bloomberg Philanthropies, helped pay for the study.

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#VOICE ONE:
You are listening to the VOA Special English program SCIENCE IN THE NEWS. With Barbara Klein, I'm Bob Doughty in Washington.

#(MUSIC)
Volunteers across the United States have begun searching for clues about rising temperatures on Earth. A nationwide study is seeking volunteers to look for changes in flowers and flowering plants. They are being asked to keep records of their observations in a database on the Internet. Study organizers say the information will give scientists a better understanding of climate change.

#VOICE TWO:
The study, called Project Budburst, is to continue all year. This will permit the observation of all plants in different parts of the country. Plant lovers, students and other people in every state are welcome to take part.

The goal of the study is to help people of all ages understand the changing link between climate, seasons and plants. It also gives them a way to share their findings with others through the Internet.

The University Corporation of Atmospheric Research is supervising Project Budburst. The group says thousands of people in twenty-six states recorded their observations during the project's first launch last year. Scientists received information about hundreds of different kinds of plants. Volunteers provided details about the appearance of their plant's first bursts of growth for the season.

#VOICE ONE:
This is how Project BudBurst works. Each volunteer agrees to watch one or more plants, usually a flower, plant or tree. Volunteers can get help from the project's Web site. It suggests more than sixty trees and flowers with information about each of them. Volunteers can also add their own choices.

Next, they begin examining their plants at least one week before the usual time when the new flower, or bud, bursts and leaves begin to form. This is known as budburst. Volunteers continue to observe their plant or flower for events following budburst. They look for the first leaf, first flower and later, the spreading of seeds. When volunteers record their findings on the Web site, they can see maps of other results across the United States.

#VOICE TWO:
Sandra Henderson is project coordinator for Project BudBurst. She says climate change may be affecting our communities in ways that we do not notice.

Many different kinds of plants and animals are affected by climate change. Rising temperatures cause some plants to extend their growing periods. Many insects reproduce and develop because of increasing sunlight instead of temperature. This can cause a difference between the behavior of insects like bees and flowers that open much earlier than the insects expect. This problem has already been reported across many parts of the world.

#(MUSIC)
#VOICE ONE:
Broken rubber bands and flat tires requiring replacement could soon be a thing of the past.

French researchers have developed a new kind of rubber that can repair itself when broken. The new rubber is made from widely available materials including vegetable oil and a common industrial chemical. All the materials are considered safe to the environment and can be easily reused.

The best part is the new rubber can be repaired and used again and again without losing its strength or ability to stretch. When cut, the rubber can be made new again, simply by pressing the two broken ends back together.

The product can be repaired at room temperature, around twenty degrees Celsius. Other self-healing materials require higher temperatures for repair.

#VOICE TWO:
Traditionally, rubber substances are made from huge molecules connected by strong chemical links, or bonds. The new rubber is made of smaller molecules. The molecules are linked together using hydrogen bonds. When connected in this way, the molecules act like one long molecule, forming what is called supramolecular networks. When the rubber is cut or breaks, the molecules attempt to connect with whatever molecule is near them. When pressed together, the molecules are able to repair themselves at the molecular level, making the repaired rubber like new.

However, time is an important element in the process. If the broken ends are not brought together quickly, a repair is not possible. This is because molecules will form bonds with molecules on their own side. The inventors say the surfaces of the rubber can be repaired within a week of being separated.

#VOICE ONE:
The rubber is the creation of scientists at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Education Institution in Paris. The organization is part of France's National Center for Scientific Research. The new material is described in greater detail in the research publication Nature.

The possibilities for the new rubber seem endless. It could lead to clothing that fixes its own tears and children's toys that can be repaired. It also could lead to inflatable products that do not leak, at least not for long. A chemical company, Arkema, is already working on using the new rubber in its products. Products made with the rubber could be available within one or two years.

#(MUSIC)
#VOICE TWO:
This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake, Lawan Davis and Caty Weaver. Brianna Blake was also our producer. I'm Barbara Klein.

#VOICE ONE:
And I'm Bob Doughty. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

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This is VOA Special English by Kinder VOA. You can get VOA episodes everyday. These episodes contain the transcript. You can see it with your iPod or iTunes.

#VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

#VOICE TWO:

And I'm Frank Oliver with People in America, a Special English program about people who were important in the history of the United States. Today, we tell about the life of writer Ernest Hemingway.

(Theme)

#VOICE ONE:

"A writer is always alone, always an outsider," Ernest Hemingway said.

Others said that of the many people he created in his books, Hemingway was his own best creation.

Ernest Hemingway was born in eighteen ninety-nine. He grew up in Oak Park, Illinois, near the middle western City of Chicago. He was the second child in a family of six. His father was a doctor. His mother liked to paint and play the piano.

Each summer the family traveled to their holiday home in northern Michigan. Ernest's father taught him how to catch fish, hunt, set up a camp and cook over a fire.

At home in Oak Park, Ernest wrote for his school newspaper. He tried to write like a famous sports writer of that time, Ring Lardner. He developed his writing skills this way.

#VOICE TWO:

In nineteen seventeen, Hemingway decided not to go to a university. The United States had just entered World War One and he wanted to join the army. But the army rejected him because his eyesight was not good enough.

Ernest found a job with the Kansas City Star newspaper in Kansas City, Missouri. He reported news from the hospital, police headquarters, and the railroad station. One reporter remembered: "Hemingway liked to be where the action was. "

The Kansas City Star demanded that its reporters write short sentences. It wanted reporters to see the unusual details in an incident. Hemingway quickly learned to do both.

He worked for the newspaper only nine months before he joined the Red Cross to help on the battlefields of Europe. His job was to drive a Red Cross truck carrying wounded away from battle.

#VOICE ONE:

The Red Cross sent him to Italy. Soon he saw his first wounded when an arms factory in Milan exploded. Later, he was sent to the battle front. He went as close to the fighting as possible to see how he would act in the face of danger. Before long, he was seriously wounded.

The war ended soon after he healed. Hemingway returned to the United States. Less than a year had passed since he went to Europe. But in that short time he had changed forever. He needed to write about what he had seen.

#VOICE TWO:

Ernest Hemingway left home for Chicago to prove to himself, and to his family, that he could earn a living from his writing.

But, he ran out of money and began to write for a newspaper again. The Canadian newspaper, the Toronto Star, liked his reports about life in Chicago and paid him well.

#VOICE ONE:

In Chicago, Hemingway met the writer Sherwood Anderson. Anderson was one of the first writers in America to write about the lives of common people. Hemingway saw that Anderson's stories showed life as it really was, the way Hemingway was trying to do.

Anderson gave Hemingway advice about his writing. He told Hemingway to move to Paris, where living was less costly. He said Paris was full of young artists and writers from all over the world.

In return for Anderson's kindness Hemingway wrote a book called "The Torrents of Spring." It makes fun of Anderson and the way he wrote. There was something in Hemingway that could not say "thank you" to anyone. He had to believe he did everything for himself, even when he knew others helped him.

#VOICE TWO:

Hemingway decided to move to Paris. But before he did he married a woman he had

recently met. Her name was Hadley Richardson.

Paris was cold and gray when Hemingway and his new wife arrived in nineteen twenty-one. They lived in one of the poorer parts of the city. Their rooms were small and had no running water. But the Toronto Star employed him as its European reporter, so there was enough money for the two of them to live. And the job gave Hemingway time to write his stories.

#VOICE ONE:

Hemingway enjoyed exploring Paris, making new friends, learning French customs and sports. Some new friends were artists and writers who had come to Paris in the nineteen twenties. Among them were poet Ezra Pound, and writers Gertrude Stein, John dos Passos, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. They quickly saw that Hemingway was a good writer. They helped him publish his stories in the United States. He was thankful for their support at the time, but later denied that he had received help.

As a reporter, Hemingway traveled all over Europe. He wrote about politics. He wrote about peace conferences and border disputes. And he wrote about sports, skiing and fishing. Later he would write about bull fighting in Spain. The Toronto Star was pleased with his work, and wanted more of his reports. But Hemingway was busy with his own writing.

He said: "Sometimes, I would start a new story and could not get it going. Then I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think. I would say to myself: 'All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence you know.' So finally, I would write a true sentence and go on from there. It was a wonderful feeling when I had worked well. "

#VOICE TWO:

Hemingway's first book of stories was called "In Our Time." It included a story called "Big Two-Hearted River," about the effect of war on a young man.

It tells about the young man taking a long fishing trip in Michigan. Hemingway had learned from his father when he was a boy about living in the wild.

The story is about two kinds of rivers. One is calm and clear. It is where the young man fishes. The other is dark. It is a swamp, a threatening place.

The story shows the young man trying to forget his past. He is also trying to forget the war. Yet he never really speaks about it. The reader learns about the young man, not because Hemingway tells us what the young man thinks, but because he shows the young man learning about himself.

"Big Two-Hearted River" is considered one of the best modern American stories. It is often published in collections of best writing.

#VOICE ONE:

After the book was published in nineteen twenty-five, Hadley and Hemingway returned to the United States for the birth of their son. They quickly returned to Paris.

Hemingway was working on a long story. He wanted to publish a novel so he would be recognized as a serious writer. And he wanted the money a novel would earn.

The novel was called "The Sun Also Rises." It is about young Americans in Europe after World War One. The war had destroyed their dreams. And it had given them nothing to replace those dreams. The writer Gertrude Stein later called these people members of "The Lost Generation. "

#VOICE TWO:

The book was an immediate success. At the age of twenty-five Ernest Hemingway was famous.

Many people, however, could not recognize Hemingway's art because they did not like what he wrote about. Hemingway's sentences were short, the way he had been taught to write at the Kansas City Star newspaper. He wrote about what he knew and felt. He used few descriptive words. His statements were clear and easily understood.

He had learned from earlier writers, like Ring Lardner and Sherwood Anderson. But Hemingway brought something new to his writing. He was able to paint in words what he saw and felt. In later books, sometimes he missed. Sometimes he even looked foolish. But when he was right he was almost perfect.

#VOICE ONE:

With the success of his novel, Hemingway became even more popular in Paris. Many people came to see him. One was an American woman, Pauline Pfeiffer. She became Hadley's friend. Then Pauline fell in love with Hemingway.

Hemingway and Pauline saw each other secretly. One time, they went away together on a short trip. Years later, Hemingway wrote about returning home after that trip: "When I saw Hadley again, I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her. She was smiling and the sun was on her lovely face. "

But the marriage was over. Ernest Hemingway and Hadley separated. She kept their son. He agreed to give her money he earned from his books.

In later years, he looked back at his marriage to Hadley as the happiest time of his life.

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE TWO:

This People in America program was written by Richard Thorman. I'm Frank Oliver.

#VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for the final part of the story of Ernest Hemingway in Special English on the Voice of America.

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The guitar has always been important to blues music. The electric guitar Les Paul helped develop made modern blues music possible. There have been many great blues guitarists. Yet, music experts say all blues guitar players are measured against one man and his famous guitar. That man is B.B. King. Every blues fan knows that years ago B.B. King named his guitar Lucille. Here B.B. King plays Lucille on his famous recording of "The Thrill Is Gone".

#(MUSIC)

Lucille, B.B. King's large, beautiful black guitar, is important to American music. Visitors can see King's very first guitar at the Rock and Soul Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum is the only permanent exhibit organized by the Smithsonian Institution outside Washington, D.C., and New York City.

#VOICE ONE:

Another famous guitar in American music also has a name. It belongs to country music star Willie Nelson. His guitar is as famous in country music as Lucille is in blues music. Its name is Trigger.

Trigger is really a very ugly guitar. It looks like an old, broken instrument someone threw away. Several famous people have written their names on it. A huge hole was torn in the front of it a long time ago. It looks severely damaged. But the huge hole, the names and other marks seem to add to its sound. Listen while Willie Nelson plays "Angel Flying Too Close To the Ground."

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE TWO:

Many rock and roll performers are very good with a guitar. One of the best is Chuck Berry. Berry's method of playing the guitar very fast was extremely popular when rock music began. He still is an important influence on rock and roll music. Listen as Chuck Berry plays and sings one of his hit songs. He recorded it in nineteen fifty-seven. The song is about a guitar player named "Johnny B. Goode."

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE ONE:

There are almost as many different kinds of guitar music as there are musicians. We cannot play them all in one program. So we leave you with one guitar player who often mixes several kinds of music.

His name is Jose Feliciano. Here he plays a song that is based on traditional Spanish guitar music. He mixes this with a little jazz and a little blues and adds a Latin sound. Here is "Bamboleo."

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE TWO:

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann.

#VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

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This is VOA Special English by Kinder VOA. You can get VOA episodes everyday. These episodes contain the transcript. You can see it with your iPod or iTunes.

#VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO.

And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we will tell about a device that makes electrical power from something as simple as walking. We will tell about a common disease many people have never heard of. And, we report on a study linking all blue-eyed people in the world.

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE ONE:

Electrical devices could soon use power made by human energy. Scientists say they have developed an experimental device that produces electricity from the physical movement of a person walking. A report on the device was published recently in Science magazine.

Max Donelan is an assistant professor of kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Colombia. He and other scientists in Canada and the United States developed the device.

Mister Donelan says the goal of the study was to store energy from walking in a way that can get electricity without having to increase effort.

#VOICE TWO:

The device connects to a person's knee. As the person walks, the device captures energy each time the person slows down. To do this, the device assists with the slowing down movement of the leg. The movements of the person walking push parts of a small machine that produces electricity.

Using the device, an adult walking quickly could produce thirteen watts of electricity in just a minute. Mister Donelan says walking at that speed could produce enough power to operate a laptop computer for six minutes.

#VOICE ONE:

There are several possible uses for the device. Developers say it could help people who work in areas without electricity to operate small computers or wireless telephones. The device could also be used to operate life-saving health devices like heart pacemakers. It could even be used to assist in the movement of robotic arms and legs.

The experimental version of the device currently weighs about one and a half kilograms. It is too costly for most people to buy. But the researchers hope to make a lighter, less costly version.

Mister Donelan says an improved version should be ready in one year. The researchers also hope that soldiers could use the device. The machine could supply power to electronic devices with a battery that would re-gain power as the soldier walked.

#VOICE TWO:

The developers also hope the device will one-day help developing countries. Nearly twenty-five percent of people around the world live without electric power.

A similar product was invented in two thousand five by Larry Rome of the University of Pennsylvania. He created a bag carried on a person's back that also produces power from walking. The knee device does not produce as much electricity as the bag. But the bag requires the walker to carry a load of twenty to thirty kilograms.

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE ONE:

You are listening to the VOA Special English program SCIENCE IN THE NEWS. With Bob Doughty, I'm Barbara Klein in Washington.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or C.O.P.D., affects more than two hundred million people around the world. The World Health Organization says at least five million people died from it in two thousand five. Ninety percent were in developing countries.

In the United States, C.O.P.D. is the fourth leading cause of death. But even with these numbers, many people have never heard of it.

#VOICE TWO:

The Canadian Lung Association says C.O.P.D. is the new name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These are the two most common forms of it. Many people with C.O.P.D. have both of them.

The result is progressive and incurable lung damage. The tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs become partly blocked. This makes it difficult to breathe and often produces a cough that will not go away.

People with C.O.P.D. often have swelling that causes the airways to narrow. And they often produce more mucus than normal. This oily substance protects the airways, but too much of it blocks them.

#VOICE ONE:

Smoking is the most common cause of C.O.P.D. Nonsmokers can get the disease from breathing other people's tobacco smoke.

Air pollution can also cause the disease. Miners and others who work around some kinds of dust and chemicals are at higher risk. Children who repeatedly suffer lung infections have a greater chance of developing the disease as adults. Genetics may also be involved.

Doctors can perform a quick breathing test with a machine called a spirometer that can help diagnose C.O.P.D. But experts say people are often not tested or treated correctly for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

#VOICE TWO:

Patients may not consider a continuous cough serious enough to seek medical attention. Or doctors may mistakenly identify it as asthma or another infection.

Some of the early warning signs are a cough that will not go away and an increase in mucus production. Another sign is difficulty breathing after minor activity like walking up stairs.

There are ways to slow the progress of the disease. Doctors say the most important thing is to stop smoking. There are medicines that can reduce inflammation and open air passages. Also, exercise is often advised. If the disease is severe, a doctor may order oxygen treatment or even operations to remove damaged lung tissue.

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#VOICE ONE:

Researchers in Denmark say all human beings had brown eyes until a change in genetic orders produced the first blue eyes. The researchers also say people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. They found that blue-eyed people are genetically linked to the first person ever to have blue eyes. That person is said to have lived six thousand to ten thousand years ago.

The University of Copenhagen research team reported its findings in Human Genetics magazine.

#VOICE TWO:

Team members examined genes of blue-eyed individuals from countries like Denmark, India, Jordan and Turkey. They found that most people with blue eyes had changed genetic orders near a gene called OCA Two. More than ninety nine percent of those studied had the same difference in their genetic material. Team member Hans Eiberg said they all have the same change at exactly the same place.

The researchers say the result of the changed orders is a lack of brown in the iris of the eye. They say the orders stop production of melanin in the eye. Melanin is a substance that gives color to eyes, skin and hair.

#VOICE ONE:

The researchers say the first person with the changed genetic orders did not have blue eyes. That is because eye color results from genes passed from both the mother and the father. Blue eyes do not appear unless both parents pass the same gene for it to a child. So a child with one gene for brown eyes and one for blue will have brown eyes.

The first blue-eyed person was the product of two people with brown eyes. But they both had one brown-eyed gene and the changed gene for blue eyes. Those blue-eyed genes came together in the first person to have blue eyes.

#VOICE TWO:

The Danish researchers say that person probably lived in an area northwest of the Black Sea. They say this would explain why blue eyes are mainly found in people from northern Europe and southern Russia.

The researchers say they do not yet know why the blue-eyed gene was able to survive and spread. They estimate that the changed gene is now found in about three hundred million people. And, they say that about eight percent of all the people today have blue eyes.

We leave you now with a song that Crystal Gayle made famous thirty years ago: "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue."

#(MUSIC)

#VOICE ONE:

This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake and Nancy Steinbach. Our producer was Brianna Blake. I'm Barbara Klein.

#VOICE TWO:

And, I'm Bob Doughty. Read and listen to our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.