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[Vahed]

ENVIRONMENT REPORT
January 4, 2006
Tornadoes
This is the VOA Special English Environment Report.
Every year in the United States people watch for dangerous windstorms called tornadoes. A tornado is a violently turning pipe of air suspended from a dense cloud. It forms when winds blowing in separate directions meet in the clouds and begin to turn in circles. Warm air rising from below causes the wind pipe to reach toward the ground. It is not officially a tornado unless it has touched the ground. A tornado can destroy anything in its path.


Tornadoes come in many sizes. They can be thin pipes with openings on the ground just a few meters across. Or they can be huge pipes that stretch as far as one-and-a-half kilometers. A tornado's size is not linked to its strength. Large tornadoes can be very weak, and some of the smallest can be the most damaging. No matter how big or small, however, the strongest winds on Earth are in tornadoes.
Tornadoes are most common in the central part of the United States called “Tornado Alley.” This area stretches south from western Iowa down to Texas.
Weather experts have done a lot of research in Tornado Alley. They have discovered that unlike severe ocean storms, tornadoes can strike without warning. Usually weather experts can report days before a severe ocean storm hits. However, tornadoes can form within minutes. There is almost no time for public warnings before they strike.
The force of a tornado is judged not by its size, but by the total damage caused to human-made structures. The Fujita Scale is the device used to measure tornadoes. It is named after Ted Fujita. He was a University of Chicago weather expert who developed the measure in the nineteen-seventies. There are six levels

An F4 tornado hit the town of La Plata, Maryland, on April 28; three people died. (VOA photo - Rosanne Skirble)
on the measure. Tornadoes that cause only light damage are an F-zero. The ones with the highest winds that destroy well-built homes and throw vehicles more than one-hundred meters are an F-five.
In the nineteen-sixties, about six-hundred-fifty tornadoes were reported each year in the United States. Now, more than one-thousand tornadoes are seen yearly. Weather experts do not think the increase is caused by climate changes. Instead, they say Americans are moving away from cities into more open farming areas. This means that they see and report tornadoes more often.

[Vahed]

EDUCATION REPORT - August 8, 2006: Magnet Schools

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
Many American students attend public schools called magnet schools. They are called magnet schools because they include students from all areas of a city or community. Students can choose to attend a magnet school instead of the school closest to their home if they meet the requirements.

Arkansas magnet school students (Photo - magnet.edu)
Magnet schools offer programs designed for students with special abilities or needs. For example, a sixteen-year-old boy has unusual abilities in science and technology. He attends a magnet school that places special importance on these subjects. Another boy, eleven years old, cannot hear. This child attends a magnet school for the deaf.
There have been schools like these in the United States for more than one-hundred years. However, the Performing and Visual Arts School in Houston, Texas probably was the first to call itself a magnet school in the early nineteen-seventies.
At that time, American courts were ordering public schools to end racial separation. The law required public school children to attend schools so that there would be a racial balance. Then came a legal decision about school attendance in Detroit, Michigan. It added a choice. The decision gave students a chance to attend a magnet school.
Today, magnet schools operate throughout the nation. Like traditional public schools, they receive government support. Magnet programs are based on special subjects. They include communications, international studies, the arts, and mathematics and science.
For example, one of America's best known magnet schools is the Bronx High School of Science in New York City. It began in nineteen-thirty-eight. Its first students were three-hundred young men. Today, about three-thousand male and female students attend Bronx Science, as it is called.
Thousands of students from all areas of New York City take competitive examinations to attend the school. To be chosen, students must show excellence in mathematics and reading and writing skills. Students at Bronx Science must study all the sciences, mathematics, English, world and American history and a foreign language.
Many students at Bronx Science later have become successful scientists, doctors, lawyers and writers.

[Vahed]

EDUCATION REPORT - November 28, 2006: Foreign Student Series #11>Health Insurance

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
We continue our series of reports about how foreign students can study at an American college or university. This information also can be found on the Special English Web page at w-w-w dot voaspecialenglish dot com.
Last week, we told about the costs of attending an American college or university. Today, we tell about one cost that foreign students may not know about - health insurance.
Foreign students may not know about the requirement for health insurance, especially if they do not need it in their own countries. However, Americans are responsible for their own medical costs. These can be extremely high in cases of serious illness or accidents. The purpose of health insurance is to make sure that these costs will be paid for.
Most full-time students at American universities must have health insurance. This is because colleges are not able to pay the high costs of medical care if a student suffers a serious accident or sickness.
Many American colleges have health centers where doctors and nurses treat students' medical problems. This service may be included in the cost of attending college. Health insurance is usually needed for extra services.
Students may already be protected under their family's health insurance plan. If not, many colleges offer their own insurance plans.
For example, students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor are treated without charge for minor medical problems at the university health center. But the university suggests that students buy its health insurance plan to pay for other health services. The cost is about one-thousand-three-hundred dollars a year. Such health insurance plans generally pay for hospital services, emergency room care and visits to doctors. They usually do not pay for care of the teeth or eyeglasses.
The University of Michigan requires international students to buy the university health insurance, or have private insurance that is approved by the university. Students can buy an independent insurance policy from insurance companies. The details of each policy are different. Usually, insurance pays for visits to doctors and hospital costs. Officials at American universities generally want to be sure that any possible health costs of their international students will be paid.

[Vahed]

The Key

Each time that I hold you, your eyes fill with fear,
You can't lose control now, the price is too dear,
But love, I have heard you crying in the dark,
And the tears on your pillow came bleeding, weeping from your heart.

Oh sinner, you're losing all that you had,
Your day is in peaces, your night has gone mad,
And love cannot touch you, the search has no end,
And the one you've forgotten was really your only friend...

Then your soul flies to Heaven,
You reach out for me,
But the door will not open,
You've thrown away the key;
No the door will not open,
You've thrown away the key...

Oh stranger beware the life that you lead,
Is filled with the warnings you can or will not read;
Your castle has fallen, it lies in the sand,
I heard your voice calling, I thought I felt the brush of your hand...

Oh gambler remember the love that you lend,
Will never come back for the game has no ending;
The smiler is calling, you turn for the deal,
And the aces keep falling with every spin of the wheel;

Then you gather your winnings,
You're ready to leave,
But the door will not open,
You've thrown away the key,
Oh there's no point in staying,
So don't wait to see,
For the door will not open,
You've thrown away the key...

[shahrzad2006]

dear vahed
don't you think it would be much better if you send the audio(voa) .then we can improve our listening
thanks buddy
bbye

[Vahed]

dear vahed
don't you think it would be much better if you send the audio(voa) .then we can improve our listening
thanks buddy
bbye

Yes! you are right , but how i can upload or send audios to forum? i cant upload files because i didn't allowed to upload.
but i can put audios download address to use, that i was put it many days ago!
the address is: [ برای مشاهده لینک ، با نام کاربری خود وارد شوید یا ثبت نام کنید ]

[Vahed]

And for persons that have the web filtering problem! use this address: [ برای مشاهده لینک ، با نام کاربری خود وارد شوید یا ثبت نام کنید ]

[misagh_uk]

hey there guys. How is things? I am fine thanks for asking just wanted to see is this the new idea to follow the articles and news on VOA ? I see now all of you look really into it

[Vahed]

Hi dears...where are you, why you dont but your words and why you dont speak (in English) we need you

[amintnt]

Well, It's not necessary to upload files urself. Just put the download links and if u have a high-speed connection upload it on rapidshare.com or other webhostings.