Money, Education and Marriage: The New Relationship

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus. BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. Back in May, we did a program about untraditional couples in the United States. Since then there have been some developments. FAITH LAPIDUS: For example, same-sex couples now have a right to marry in the state of New York. New York became the sixth and largest state to make same-sex marriage legal. The new law took effect in late July. BOB DOUGHTY: And there are new findings about cohabitating couples in America. This week on our program, we look at some of the reasons why more couples are deciding to live together without getting married. FAITH LAPIDUS: And, later, we tell you about another development, although this one involves a traditional group. More married couples are staying married. (MUSIC) BOB DOUGHTY: Population experts at the Census Bureau say cohabitation rates jumped between two thousand nine and two thousand ten. There was a thirteen percent increase in the number of couples who started living together without getting married first. What could have caused such a big increase in just one year? The Great Recession -- the worst downturn in America's economy since the Great Depression in the nineteen thirties. Officially the recession lasted eighteen months. The economy began to grow again in June of two thousand nine. But the Commerce Department now says the recession was even worse than it thought. And the recovery has been slower than expected. Some economists are warning of the possibility of another recession, a double dip. FAITH LAPIDUS: Researchers say the Great Recession played a big part in pushing cohabitation rates higher. Now, almost one in ten opposite-sex couples in the United States live together outside marriage. Increasingly a major difference between couples who get married and couples who do not is money. Charlie Pinto married his girlfriend in New Jersey earlier this year. Both of them are twentysix. They met in college, dated for a while, then moved in together. Charlie admits the only way they could pay for the wedding they wanted was with help from their parents. CHARLIE PINTO: "We wouldnt have been able to have a wedding if it wasnt for our families because we just dont have the money to spend.

Charlie works for a start-up Internet company. His wife, Tracey, is a special education teacher. Charlie says the wedding cost more than twenty-five thousand dollars. That is typical. A popular wedding website took a survey of American couples. Theknot.com found that in two thousand nine, the average couple spent almost twenty-seven thousand dollars on their wedding. For some couples, that price may be out of reach. Yet no one has to spend that much. A judge or court clerk can perform a marriage ceremony for as little as twenty-five dollars in some states. BOB DOUGHTY: The cost of a wedding is not the only financial factor that couples consider in deciding whether and when to get married. Many people also think about whether they can afford to take care of a family. DVera Cohn is a researcher and writer for the Pew Research Center. Her team did an opinion survey asking people if they thought it was important to be a good provider in order to be married. DVERA COHN: Most people say its very important for a man to be able to support a family in order to marry, and about a third say its important for a woman to be able to support a family in order to marry. Americans may agree that couples should be financially secure before they get married. Yet the weak economy has made financial security even harder to reach. The unemployment rate doubled between two thousand seven and two thousand nine. The rate has fallen but still it was 9.1 percent in July. FAITH LAPIDUS: The difficulty of finding and keeping a job may be one reason why some couples are choosing not to marry. D'Vera Cohn says it might also be a reason why more couples are deciding to live together. DVERA COHN: We asked cohabiters whether household finances played a role in their decision to move in together. And about a third of them said it did -- of couples who had ever lived together, people who had ever lived as an unmarried couple. So there are indications that people are thinking about money when theyre cohabitating. In other words, couples find they can save money by living together. But they may not feel they have enough money to get married. Brad Wilcox is a sociology professor at the University of Virginia and head of a pro-marriage group, the National Marriage Project. He says most Americans today expect to live a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle after they get married. And that kind of life -- a house, a car, nice clothes -- is hard for those who do not have much money. BOB DOUGHTY: Researchers have found something else that increasingly influences decisions about marriage: a college education. Fifty years ago, about three-fourths of American adults were married, no matter how much education they had.

Today, only slightly more than half of adults are married. And most of those married people have college degrees. Remember Charlie Pinto, the man in New Jersey who got married this year? He and Tracey are examples of this big change in American society. REPORTER: "Did you both go to college?" CHARLIE PINTO: "Yes. We did go to college. She went to college as well as me." REPORTER: "And graduate school?" CHARLIE PINTO: "No, but that is probably going to be planned for her at some time in the future." FAITH LAPIDUS:This connection between education and marriage seems to be having several effects. DVera Cohn at the Pew Research Center says the first is that Americans are waiting longer to get married. DVERA COHN: "In general, college-educated people marry at later ages. Some of that is associated with waiting for their education to be done and to get established in a career. In other words, marriage now often gets delayed until people finish college, then maybe graduate school, then establish a career. American women now marry for the first time at a median age of twenty-six. Median means half are older and half are younger. The median age for men is twenty-eight. Men and women are getting married five years later than they did in the nineteen fifties, and a year later than they did twenty years ago. BOB DOUGHTY: A second effect of education relates again to money. Some people believe they do not have enough money to get married. But getting married can make a financial difference. Pew researchers found that married couples age thirty to forty-four without college degrees earned about twenty percent more than similar couples who only lived together. Couples in their thirties and early forties with college degrees earned more than twice as much as unmarried, less-educated adults of the same age. D'Vera Cohn says one reason is probably children. DVERA COHN: What we found was that cohabiters who did not have college degrees were much more likely than cohabiters who do have college degrees to have children in the household, maybe from a prior relationship, maybe outside of marriage, and that really affects their ability to bring in good income. In short, unmarried couples without college degrees are more likely to have children to support. Researchers say couples with college degrees rarely have children unless they are married.

Combined, these factors have reshaped what an American family means. More children than in the past grow up with only one parent or with adults they are not related to. It might be a mother's boyfriend or a father's girlfriend. More adults are staying single or staying single longer. And marriage is becoming less common, at least among people who did not go to college. Traditional nuclear families -- meaning married parents with children -- are now in the minority. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: Some couples cannot afford to get married. Other couples cannot afford to get divorced. Sanford Ain says the Great Recession has forced some people to stay together -- and he should know. Mr. Ain is a divorce lawyer in Washington and a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He says in the last five years, fewer people have come to his office seeking a divorce. SANFORD AIN: "People are just unable to afford to get divorced and create two households. Theyre forced to remain together, at least for the time being." As a result, he says, many couples may be trying harder to make their relationship work. SANFORD AIN: Whereas before, when people had the economic wherewithal to separate more easily, they were less inclined to make their marriage work. Now I think people are forced to make their marriage work for the benefit of themselves and their children." BOB DOUGHTY: Ending a relationship might seem easier for couples who are unmarried and unhappy. But Mr. Ain has seen an increase in those who wish they could break up, but do not know how to split their money fairly. SANFORD AIN: Were also seeing a rise in disagreements among people who are living together -- unmarried cohabitants who have built up equity in properties and savings accounts and other ways that are trying to figure out how to resolve those because there arent laws that clearly define what the rights are of unmarried cohabitants. Saying goodbye is not so simple when you own a house together or have joint finances or other legal responsibilities as a couple. FAITH LAPIDUS: Sanford Ain is in his mid-sixties. In his generation, he says, most people got married right after high school or college. Does he have an opinion about whether waiting is good or bad? SANFORD AIN: "I think whats important is that people reach a certain level of maturity before making any commitment, and certainly a commitment as important as marriage." In nineteen eighty, the American divorce rate was about fifty percent. That only means the number of couples who got divorced was about half the number who got married that year.

That was right after legal changes around the country made it easier for couples to get divorced. But some people get married and divorced more than once. So measuring the exact divorce rate is difficult. But members of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers believe that not as many couples are getting divorced anymore. And recent census data showed that, compared to thirty years ago, more younger women are staying married. One reason might be that many of them grew up with divorced parents and want to try hard to avoid a repeat. In two thousand nine, among women who had ever been married, only one-fourth of those in their twenties, thirties and forties had ever been divorced. But of course, fewer of them had ever been married to begin with. (MUSIC) BOB DOUGHTY: Our program was written by Kelly Nuxoll and produced by Brianna Blake. You can find our earlier program about untraditional couples at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Doughty. FAITH LAPIDUS: And I'm Faith Lapidus. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

How Much Should a Teacher's Job Depend on Test Scores?

This is the VOA Special English Education Report. Students in Washington, DC, will return to classrooms this month to begin a new school year. But at least five percent of their teachers will not return with them. Last month, the District of Columbia public schools told two hundred six teachers that they are not good enough to stay. The school system dismissed seventy-five teachers last year. It was the first year of a new teacher rating system. Experts say such large numbers of dismissals are rare in American schools. But in Washington the rating system is not governed by the labor contract with the teachers union. So school officials have more freedom. The system is called IMPACT. Teachers are observed in the classroom five times a year for at least thirty minutes each time. They are also judged by student test scores. Administrators rated sixty-five of the two hundred six teachers as "ineffective." The others lost their jobs because they were rated "minimally effective" for a second year.

The National Council on Teacher Quality is a research group that works to increase the number of effective teachers. Emily Cohen, a policy director there, says the council supports the IMPACT system. EMILY COHEN: This is an evaluation instrument that is finally able to capture who is highly effective and who is ineffective and who could be doing better and could use some assistance. Most evaluation instruments in the country do not capture teacher performance -all teachers are rated satisfactory. Some Washington teachers say their ratings depend too heavily on test scores. For some teachers, half of their rating is based on how well their students do. But Emily Cohen says test scores are important. EMILY COHEN: "Testing is probably one of the -- its the most objective data that we have on teacher performance. The District also is looking at other things, using master educators to evaluate teachers. So its not just looking at student test performance, it is using other sources of data." Teachers with the highest rating -- "highly effective" -- can receive a performance bonus of up to twenty-five thousand dollars. In addition, they can receive a pay increase. Almost sixty percent of the teachers who were rated "minimally effective" last year stayed in the school system and improved. School officials say these teachers received help to become better. Michelle Rhee created the IMPACT system. She gained national attention for her aggressive reform efforts when she led the troubled school system in the nation's capital. She left last year and her deputy, Kaya Henderson, took her place. The Washington Teachers Union says IMPACT unfairly hurts teachers who work in schools with high rates of poverty. The Washington Post reported that most of the teachers with the highest rating work in schools with lower poverty rates. And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. Im Christopher Cruise.

Students Compete to Find Tech Solutions for World Problems

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report. Hundreds of students from around the world gathered in New York City last week for the Microsoft Imagine Cup finals. They came to present their ideas for using technology to solve world problems. Microsoft education director Suzi Levine says the nine-year-old program began mainly as a competition to create technology.

SUZI LEVINE: "When we realized that students really actually want to have a purpose for what theyre creating, we introduced the idea of inspiring them with the UN Millennium Development Goals and suggesting that they use those for their muse." New sources for ideas this year included intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. SUZI LEVINE: "This past year we also rolled out something called the Imagine Cup Solve This library, where IGOs, NGOs and nonprofits can submit some of the technical challenges that they would like students to consider for their solutions." Microsoft says over three hundred fifty thousand high school and college students registered for this year's competition. Judges chose more than four hundred of them to attend the finals. Ms. Levine says several teams were inspired by current events, including floods last year in Thailand. SUZI LEVINE: One from Thailand [was] called NewKrean, where they created a Windows Phone 7 application that allows you to broadcast your location to your social network of friends so that you can be more easily rescued." The NewKrean team from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand named their app Terra. Suzi Levine says there were also ideas from Egypt inspired by the revolution that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February. SUZI LEVINE: One was to use Bluetooth as sort of a Twitter equivalent so that if the government shuts down the Internet, you actually can still have a massive social distribution. Students competed in nine categories. For example, in software design the top prize of twenty-five thousand dollars went to Team Hermes from Ireland. The students developed a device for cars to collect information on road conditions, driving behavior and traffic incidents. A team from Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University won first place in the embedded development category. They developed a network of wireless devices to help plot the safest escape routes during a fire. Next years awards ceremony will take place in Australia. Registration for Imagine Cup twenty-twelve opened Friday. Also, Microsoft announced plans for a three million dollar program to help Imagine Cup winners further develop their projects. And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report, written by June Simms. You can learn English with our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

How to Do It: Making Paper by Hand

This is the VOA Special English Technology Report. The earliest process of making paper was done almost five thousand years ago in Egypt and the Nile Valley. In those days, paper was made from strips of the papyrus plant. Modern paper-making began in China about two thousand years ago. This process produced paper from cloth, straw, wood or the bark of trees. The raw materials are struck over and over until they become loose. Then they are mixed with water. After the water has been removed, the flat, thin form remaining is permitted to dry. This becomes a sheet of paper. Large machines started to be used for making paper near the end of the sixteenth century. Today, paper-making is a big business. But it is still possible to make paper by hand, since the steps are the same as using big machines. You should use paper with small amounts of printing. Old envelopes are good for this reason. Colored paper also can be used, as well as small amounts of newspaper. Small pieces of rags or cloth can be added. These should be cut into pieces about five centimeters by five centimeters. Everything is placed in a container, covered with water and brought to a boil. It is mixed for about two hours with some common chemicals and then allowed to cool. Then it is left until most of the water dries up. The substance left, called pulp, can be stored until you are ready to make paper. When you are ready, the pulp is mixed with water again. Then the pulp is poured into a mold. The mold is made of small squares of wire that hold the shape and thickness of the paper. To help dry the paper, the mold lets the water flow through the small wire squares. After several more drying steps, the paper is carefully lifted back from the mold. It is now strong enough to be touched. The paper is smoothed and pressed to remove trapped air. You can use a common electric iron used for pressing clothes. There are many other technologies for people making paper using small machines. Internet users can do a search and find directions for making homemade paper. You can also order information about making paper from the website enterpriseworks.org. And thats the VOA Special English Technology Report. Transcripts, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. Im Christopher Cruise.

Caves and the Strange Things That Live Within

BARBARA KLEIN: Im Barbara Klein. STEVE EMBER: And Im Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. This week, we learn about caves and their creatures, visit an archeological dig in Canada, and explore a house powered by the sun. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: For human ancestors, caves were considered places of wonder and mystery. Caves may not be so mysterious today. But they are still filled with unusual creatures and environments that hold great interest for both scientists and visitors. There are millions of caves around the world. They often can be found on the side of a mountain or hill. Caves are home to some of the strangest creatures on earth. These include hydrogen-eating bacteria and insects without eyes. Fred Luiszer is a cave expert and works at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He says that even space scientists are interested in life underground. FRED LUISZER: If they find life on other moons and other planets, life will probably be very similar to what were finding in caves. STEVE EMBER: In dark passageways, scientists have discovered small organisms that show promise in fighting cancer. But other cave life can be deadly. A sulfur cave in Colorado is home to a rare form of poisonous bacteria. Their formations look like mucus, the sticky material that protects breathing passages in the body. Frank Luiszer says their scientific name comes from the common expression for what drips out of your nose -- snot. FRED LUISZER: They are called snottites. I mean, when you look at one of them in the cave, it looks just like snot. Im not kidding you. STEVE EMBER: Snottites get their energy from sulfur in the air. They also produce a poisonous acid. This can make the cave dangerous for people who are not careful. FRED LUISZER: You pass out immediately. And if you stayed in that environment for probably, Im guessing more than an hour or two, it would kill you. BARBARA KLEIN: Not all things in caves are small organisms. Scientists in Colorado recently discovered a small, red scorpion-like creature that is blind. Bats also live in caves. Mark Maslyn is a geologist and caving expert. He says cavers must be careful not to harm bat colonies. MARK MASLYN: Bats are hibernating creatures. And if you wake them up during the wintertime, which is easy to do lights and noise and things like that, then they go outside and their food source, insects, is not available to them, and they die off.

BARBARA KLEIN: Wearing protective clothing, Mister Maslyn walks past visitors in the Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs. He enters a hidden cave he helped discover. MARK MASLYN: This is not on the normal commercial tour. STEVE EMBER: Using a headlamp for light, he opens an environmental door that leads to what he calls an easy tunnel opening. It measures half a meter in width. MARK MASLYN: Thats the tightest were doing today. STEVE EMBER: On the other side of this tunnel is a rock formation that looks like a large crystal flower. Such formations are called anthodites. Mark Maslyn says cavers in the past would take anthodites home with them. He says he always follows this advice for cavers: Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time. This is good advice to make sure that future generations will also enjoy visiting caves and their many natural wonders. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: Many archeologists believe that early humans came to North America by crossing the Bering Strait about fifteen to eighteen thousand years ago. They moved from place to place, hunting and gathering food. Starting about two thousand years ago, some tribes settled in large, permanent villages. An archeology project in western Canada aims to find out why this change took place. Archeologists from Washington State University and the University of British Colombia are studying an early settlement of the Coast Salish people. Colin Grier is head of a ten-member team studying what he says is one of this groups best-protected villages. (SOUND) STEVE EMBER: The dig is taking place in Dionisio Point Provincial Park on Galiano Island in British Colombia. COLIN GRIER: Why did the transformation happen when it happened? Thats probably the most difficult question to answer. When do people start to settle down? STEVE EMBER: Mr. Griers team wants to understand what caused a tribe that moved from place to place to settle and develop a more complex society. In many cultures, the rise of village life is linked with the start of farming. COLIN GRIER: But of course, here no one invented agriculture. STEVE EMBER: Instead, the Salish people depended on fish, clams, wild animals and plants.

BARBARA KLEIN: The archeologists have identified the ruins of six large houses, which formed two neighboring villages. The largest house could shelter as many as ten families. Experts say the buildings were occupied about one thousand five hundred years ago. Professor Grier and his team can study objects in and around the ruins to learn about economic changes in the tribe. They can also learn about how tribe members gathered wealth and established a social class system. One possible theory about why ancient tribes settled down and formed villages is because of population pressures. STEVE EMBER: The researchers have worked closely on this project with a local Indian tribe. Penelakut tribal member Robert Sam says he believes ancestors of his lived in the village. He says he supports the dig. ROBERT SAM: It is really interesting to me to see the work that is being done. It shows more of where we were, all the sites that need to be catalogued for our people, our younger generation. STEVE EMBER: Like other tribes, the Penelakut are concerned that archeological digs could harm human remains. But Mister Sam says there is little risk of that since burial areas were outside the village. Colin Grier has worked in this area off and on since nineteen ninety-seven. He has enough financial support for two more summer seasons. He hopes that is long enough to learn more about the Salish people. (MUSIC) BARBARA KLEIN: College students from all over the world are competing in the United States Department of Energys Solar Decathlon. Their goal is to design and build the most inventive, least costly and good looking solar-powered house. The Department of Energy says the event helps educate students and the public about clean-energy design and its costsaving possibilities. Teams competing for the top prize will be rebuilding their completed projects next month on the National Mall in Washington, DC. STEVE EMBER: One of the teams is from Middlebury College in the state of Vermont. This is the first time that students from Middlebury have taken part in the Solar Decathlon since it was first held nine years ago. (SOUND) Students have been building the small house for months. Middlebury student Addison Godine says that during the summer he worked on the house about ten hours a day. ADDISON GODINE: Yeah, its been a lot of work, but its finally paying off. The house looks as good as we could have hoped just considering were the liberal arts team against Cal

Tech and all sorts of engineering schools like that. Were the underdogs, but we think well do okay. BARBARA KLEIN: The Department of Energy chooses twenty teams for the Solar Decathlon. Each must design and build a house that is one hundred percent powered by the sun. This is the first year the houses will also be judged on their cost effectiveness. Team Germany won the competition in two thousand nine. That year, Middlebury students traveled to Washington to see the winning house and the others. They decided they wanted to create a family home, not a single person home. The Middlebury solar-house is shaped like a traditional New England farmhouse. It includes two bedrooms, one washroom and a large living space. Student Melissa Segil helped create the design. MELISSA SEGIL: People are immediately taken by the amount of light in the house. I think people also really like the kitchen. STEVE EMBER: Students came up with ideas for the house, but had help from professional builders. The Department of Energy gave each team one hundred thousand dollars. But it will cost a lot more to build the house and travel to Washington. So students have raised money for the project. The Middlebury College house is almost finished. Soon, students will have to take it apart, transport it to Washington, and rebuild it. Addison Godine says students at Middlebury learn a great deal about the worlds problems, especially environmental ones. ADDISON GODINE: And this competition is our opportunity to create a solution to these problems. Which is really an amazing opportunity. BARBARA KLEIN: The Solar Decathlon houses will be open to the public from September twenty third to October second. Like the Olympic decathlon, this event is made up of ten events. Houses are judged in ten areas including engineering, building design, communications, and energy balance. The awards ceremony will take place on October first. The Department of Energy has videos from all twenty teams on its website. For a link to that page, visit our website, voaspecialenglish.com. (MUSIC) STEVE EMBER: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange with reporting by Shelley Schlender, Nina Keck, and Tom Banse. Im Barbara Klein. BARBARA KLEIN: And Im Steve Ember. You can find our programs online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

Heat May Be Natures Deadliest Killer

FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. Im Faith Lapidus. BOB DOUGHTY: And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we tell about health problems linked to extreme heat. We tell what experts suggest to prevent and treat these problems. FAITH LAPIDUS: Extremely hot weather is common in many parts of the world. Although hot weather just makes most people feel hot, it can cause serious medical problems -- even death. Floods, storms and other natural events kill thousands of people every year. So does extreme heat. Experts say heat may be natures deadliest killer. Last month, for example, some towns and cities on Americas East Coast set all-time temperature records. Temperatures rose as high as forty-two Celsius. BOB DOUGHTY: Several hot days that follow each other are considered a heat wave. Experts say heat waves often become dangerous when the nighttime temperature does not drop much from the highest daytime temperature. This causes great stress on the human body. Doctors say people can do many things to protect themselves from the dangers of extreme heat. Stay out of the sun, if possible. Drink lots of cool water. Wear light colored clothing made of natural materials. Make sure the clothing is loose, permitting freedom of movement. Also, learn the danger signs of the medical problems linked to heat. FAITH LAPIDUS: The most common health problem linked to hot weather is heat stress. Usually, it is also the least severe. The causes of heat stress include wearing heavy clothing, physical work or exercise, hot weather and high humidity. Humidity is the amount of water in the air. If several of these conditions are present at the same time, a persons body temperature may rise above safe levels. The person loses large amounts of body water and salt in perspiration. Perspiration is one of the bodys defenses against heat. It is how the body releases water to cool the skin. Most people suffer only muscle pain because of heat stress. The pain is a warning that the body is becoming too hot. Doctors say those suffering muscle pain should stop all activity and rest in a cool place. They should also drink cool liquids. Doctors say not to return to physical activity for a few hours because serious conditions could develop. BOB DOUGHTY: Some people face an increased danger from heat stress. They may have a weak or damaged heart, high blood pressure or other problems of the blood system. Severe heat increases problems for small children, older adults and those who have the disease diabetes.

It is also dangerous for people who weigh too much and have too much body fat, and for people who drink alcohol. Hot weather also increases dangers for people who must take medicine for high blood pressure, poor blood flow, nervousness or depression. FAITH LAPIDUS: Untreated heat stress can lead to a more serious problem called heat exhaustion. A person suffering from heat exhaustion loses too much water through perspiration. The person becomes dehydrated. A person suffering heat exhaustion feels weak and extremely tired. He or she may have trouble walking normally. Heat exhaustion may also produce a feeling of sickness, a fast heartbeat, breathing problems and pain in the head, chest or stomach. Doctors say people with such problems should rest quietly in a cool place and drink plenty of water. They also say it may help to wash with cool water. BOB DOUGHTY: Heat exhaustion can develop quickly. It also can develop slowly, over a period of days. Doctors call this dehydration exhaustion. Each day, the body loses only a little more water than is taken in. The person may not even know this problem is developing. If the problem continues for several days, the effects will be the same as the usual kind of heat exhaustion. Experts say even a two percent drop in the body's water supply can cause signs of dehydration. These signs include problems with memory and even simple mathematics. FAITH LAPIDUS: Dehydration limits a person's ability to work and think. Experts say a reduction of only four or five percent in body water leads to a drop of twenty to thirty percent in work ability. The loss of salt through perspiration also reduces the amount of work that muscles can do. The treatment for dehydration exhaustion is the same as for heat exhaustion. Drink plenty of water and rest in a cool place. Even better, doctors say, drink about two liters of water a day so problems with dehydration will not have a chance to develop. BOB DOUGHTY: Heat exhaustion can lead to heat stroke if it is not treated. Heat stroke is the most serious disorder linked to hot weather. It results when the body is not able to control its temperature. The bodys temperature increases and perspiration fails. Generally, the body temperature rises to more than forty degrees Celsius. The body stops perspiring. The skin becomes dry and very hot. A person may become unconscious, not knowing what is happening. Doctors say tissues and organs begin to cook when the body's temperature is higher than forty-two degrees Celsius. Permanent brain damage and death may result. Someone suffering heat stroke requires immediate medical attention. Doctors say such treatment is necessary or the person could die before help arrives. FAITH LAPIDUS: The purpose of immediate treatment is to cool the victim as quickly as possible to stop the body temperature from increasing. Begin by moving the victim out of the sun. Raise the persons feet up about thirty centimeters. Take off the victims clothing. Put cool water on the body. Place pieces of ice in areas where blood passageways are close to the skin. These include the back of the neck and under the arms.

Experts say it is important to know the danger signs of the medical disorders linked to hot weather. It is also important to know what to do if the signs appearin yourself or in someone else. BOB DOUGHTY: Experts say water is important for many reasons. Between fifty-five and seventy-five percent of the body is water. Water in blood carries hormones and antibodies through the body. Water in urine carries away waste materials. Water is needed for cooling the body on hot days, and when we are working or exercising. Water carries body heat to the surface of the skin. There, the heat is lost through perspiration. Health experts say adults should drink about two liters of water a day to replace all the water lost in liquid wastes and perspiration. They say people should drink more than that in hot weather. Experts say it is important to drink before, during and after exercise. They say we should drink water even before we start to feel like we need something to drink. During hot weather, cool liquids are best. Also, avoid sweet drinks and alcohol. FAITH LAPIDUS: We need to add that doctors also say it is possible to drink too much water. Some people, for example, do this if they exercise hard during a heat wave. Experts with the Mayo Clinic say drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia. In this condition, the level of sodium in the blood falls too low. The result is that the amount of water in the body increases. This causes cells to become larger. Mayo Clinic experts say the enlarged cells can cause a person to become sick or restless. They also can interfere with mental ability, make muscles weak and cause pain in the head. In a mild case, simply reducing fluids may be all that the person needs. But medical help is necessary if the condition is more severe. Experts have suggestions for runners and others exercising or working hard in hot weather. They say drinking a sports drink with sodium in it can help prevent the condition. BOB DOUGHTY: Doctors say actions other than drinking water can protect against the health dangers of heat. Stay out of the sun, if possible. Wear loose, lightweight and light colored clothes. Wear a hat or other head covering when in the sun. Eat fewer hot and heavy foods. If possible, cook foods during cooler times of the day. Also, rest more often. Physical activity produces body heat. Experts say these simple steps can prevent the health problems linked to heat. They will prevent sickness, help you feel better and may even save your life. FAITH LAPIDUS: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was June Simms. Im Faith Lapidus. BOB DOUGHTY: And Im Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

America and the Struggle for Jobs

FAITH LAPIDUS: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. Im Faith Lapidus. DOUG JOHNSON: And Im Doug Johnson. This week on our program, we look at the job situation in the United States. There was zero job growth last month. The national unemployment rate was the same as in July, 9.1 percent. That does not even include people who have stopped looking for work or part-time workers unable to get full-time jobs. FAITH LAPIDUS: Coming up, we talk to Don Peck, author of a new book called Pinched: How the Great Recession Has Narrowed Our Futures and What We Can Do About It. And we hear from two people about what they had to do to find a job. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: Americans face different economic issues. Which one worries them most? A Pew Research Center-Washington Post opinion poll asked a thousand people earlier this month. Forty-three percent said the job situation. About half as many said the federal budget deficit. Smaller numbers said rising prices and the financial and housing markets were their biggest economic worries. Three out of four people said additional spending on roads, bridges and other public works would improve the job situation at least a little. Many said the same about cutting business taxes, the federal budget and personal income taxes. But there was no clear agreement about which ideas would do a lot to help. DOUG JOHNSON: Last Thursday night, President Obama spoke to Congress to present his plan for job growth. His proposals include an extension of jobless benefits for workers who have been unemployed for extended periods. The plan also includes tax breaks for companies to hire more workers and money for projects to fix roads and schools. The Labor Department counts about fourteen million workers as unemployed. Millions more are working part time as they try to find full-time employment. The so-called Great Recession officially lasted from December of two thousand seven to June of two thousand nine. Unemployment was five percent at the start. It reached 10.1 percent in late two thousand nine. This year the jobless rate has been stuck around nine percent. There are concerns that the United States -- and the world -- could face another recession. Some economists say a "double-dip" could be more painful for average Americans because the economy is weaker than it was before the first recession. FAITH LAPIDUS: Don Peck is a writer and editor at the Atlantic magazine. In his new book, Pinched, he says economic conditions are limiting opportunities for millions of Americans. He says the generation of young Americans known as millennials -- those now graduating from high school and college -- are especially affected.

DON PECK: The first few years on the job market are extremely important to setting the career track and life path of young people. When young people struggle -- when whole generations struggle in their first few years in the job market -- academic research shows that not only do they start out behind, they never catch up to where they otherwise wouldve been. FAITH LAPIDUS: Mr. Peck says early in the recession, millennials thought any period of unemployment would be short. There was even a name for this kind of thinking: "funemployment." DON PECK: The idea that a few months perhaps of unemployment during the recession, could not only be easily overcome but could be kind of fun. You know, people were getting unemployment checks, they didnt have many financial commitments. "Many of them took that opportunity to reassess career, to take vacations, and I think in part millennials were just trying to make the best of a bad situation. DOUG JOHNSON: But now, he says, young people are thinking differently. DON PECK: That idea that this period is something that can be easily enjoyed and that will not materially affect millennials in the rest of their careers is clearly waning within that generation. I think today you see among millennials much higher job tenure -- theyre clinging to their jobs more tightly, theyve expressed a desire for a single job, a single employer throughout their career rather than the ability to switch careers. So that notion of funemployment which many millennials began the recession with, I think, is long gone today. In todays economy, says Mr. Peck, any work is better than no work. DON PECK: This is a time where young people need to be extremely aggressive and entrepreneurial and have humility. You know, say yes to whatever job offers one gets because its certainly better to be working than have the stigma of unemployment all together. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: Twenty-two year old Jessie Way finished college in less than four years and with honors. She graduated from George Mason University in Virginia with a degree in technical writing in January. After that, she spent three months helping her mother who got sick. Then she spent five months searching for a job. Jessie was lucky. She recently landed a position as a legal assistant with a law firm. JESSIE WAY: "The problem I found myself having was, it's what everyone complains about -- there's jobs that want experience, but nobody wants to give you experience." A demand for experience is not a new problem for young people, of course. But Jessie Way thinks the situation today is more difficult than it was for graduates ten years ago.

JESSIE WAY: "Back then you could say, oh well, Im just out of college, so Im a lot cheaper than these people with experience. So companies could say, OK, we'll hire some college graduates and we'll have to train them a little but the price cut is worth it to them. "Nowadays so many people are out of work and have been let go and all that stuff that they can offer that same salary to somebody who does have five years experience that they used to offer to somebody like me. And it's gotten to the point now where college kids either can't get a job or can't get a job that's actually going to pay the bills." DOUG JOHNSON: Author Don Peck says one way for young job seekers to improve their chances is by moving. DON PECK: I would really encourage people, particularly if theyre living in highly depressed places, to consider taking a leap and moving to a more dynamic region. I think that will help them in the long run. A willingness to move helped Jessie Way find a job. Her new job is more than an hour from where she was living. But she did not have time to find an apartment, so she is sleeping on a friends couch until she can find a place of her own. (MUSIC) FAITH LAPIDUS: Thirty-nine-year-old Norm Elrod of Queens, New York, has been laid off from jobs four times in the past ten years. The last job he lost was with an online marketing agency. He left in two thousand eight. After that, he says, he set out to find a way to make himself a better job candidate. He used online resources to create a website and teach himself new skills in the process. NORM ELROD: Thats how my website came about. I built that and ran it and essentially trained myself, or re-trained myself, taught myself new skills that allowed me to get the job I have now. DOUG JOHNSON: Norm Elrod created a blog called Jobless and Less: The Blog for the Employmentally Challenged. NORM ELROD: I wrote about the one thing I seemed to know, which was at that point being unemployed. [Laughs]" FAITH LAPIDUS: Jessie found her job by answering an online job posting. But Norm says he had no success applying for jobs on the Internet. NORM ELROD: You send your resume out and it goes into a void and one person will get in touch with you for every one hundred to two hundred resumes you send out. And it's not because you're not qualified. It's because they get so many, and oftentimes they're looking for just a certain thing and there's no way to know what that is. His advice to people looking for a job is to learn new skills and meet new people. NORM ELROD: It's very easy to sit at home and send out your resume by clicking buttons on your computer at your dining room table and feel like maybe you're being productive. But

it's much harder to actually get out there and meet the people who may know things or can point you towards things or make that face to face contact. I feel like that is where any job seeker is going to get more traction. His wifes full-time job helped the couple pay their bills. They also used savings, payments from state unemployment insurance and money from projects he worked on while job hunting. It was nearly three years until a contact he met through one of those projects led him to his current job. Norm Elrod works full time creating content for the website of a major media company. (MUSIC) DOUG JOHNSON: The Great Recession was the worst downturn since the Great Depression in the nineteen thirties. Don Peck says the long-term unemployment that many workers have experienced can have lasting effects, and not just on them. DON PECK: "When you have these long periods of unemployment, they can really leave pretty big scars on people, families and communities that are not lost even once the recession is over. When men, in particular, struggle economically, or when they dont have jobs, women simply dont marry them, but they do have children with them. And that creates often the sort of unstable family environment in which children really struggle. FAITH LAPIDUS: What would he do about the employment problems in the United States? DON PECK: One of the main messages of my book 'Pinched' is we can recover from this period faster with concerted public action. In the short term, he thinks the government should invest more in public works to create jobs in manufacturing and construction. DON PECK: But I think in the longer term we also need to really work to build new skills and create more pathways into the middle class for high school students who might not be going to college. That sense of possibility and that concrete sense of how one can move forward in life if one isnt going to a four year college to some extent has been lost in the U.S. over the past twenty or thirty years. One of the things we need to do is rebuild that and give young people an understanding of the ways in which they can build skills and build real careers. (MUSIC) DOUG JOHNSON: Our program was written and produced by Brianna Blake. Im Doug Johnson. FAITH LAPIDUS: And Im Faith Lapidus. You can read and listen to our programs and comment on them at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

American History: In the 1950s, Conflict in Korea

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION American history in VOA Special English. Im Steve Ember. Today, we tell about the Korean War. The biggest problem facing Dwight Eisenhower when he became president of the United States was the continuing conflict in Korea. Eisenhower was elected in November nineteen fifty-two. At the time, the United States had been helping South Korea fight North Korea for more than two years. About twenty other members of the United Nations were also helping the South. The UN members provided troops, equipment, and medical aid. EISENHOWER: I shall go to Korea. During the American presidential election campaign, Eisenhower announced that he would go to Korea. He thought such a trip would help end the war. Eisenhower kept his promise. He went to Korea after he won the election, but before he was sworn-in as president. Yet the fighting did not stop in Korea until July of the next year, nineteen fifty-three. (MUSIC) The war started when North Korean troops invaded South Korea. Both sides believed they should control all of the country. The dream of a united Korea was a powerful one. From nineteen-ten until World War Two, Korea had been under Japanese rule. In an agreement at the end of the war, troops from the Soviet Union occupied the North. They accepted the surrender of Japanese troops and set up a military government. American troops did the same in the South. The border dividing north and south was the geographic line known as the thirty-eighth parallel. A few years later, the United Nations General Assembly ordered free elections for all of Korea. With UN help, the South established the Republic of Korea. Syngman Rhee was elected the first president. On the other side of the thirty-eighth parallel, however, Soviet troops refused to let UN election officials enter the North. The Soviet Union supported creation of a communist government there, called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Kim Il-sung was named premier. Five years after the end of World War Two, the United States had withdrawn almost all its troops from South Korea. It was not clear if America would defend the South from attack. South Korea had an army. But it was smaller and less powerful than the North Korean army. North Korea decided the time was right to invade. On June twenty-fifth, nineteen-fifty, North Korean soldiers crossed the thirty-eighth parallel. The UN Security Council demanded that they go back. Two days later, the Council approved military support for South Korea. The Soviet delegate boycotted the meeting that day. If he had been present, the resolution would have been defeated.

(SOUND) The UN demand did not stop the North Korean troops. They continued to push south. In a week, they were on the edge of the capital, Seoul. Harry Truman, America's president at that time, ordered air and sea support for South Korea. A few days later, he announced that American ground forces would also be sent. Truman wanted an American to command UN troops in Korea. The UN approved his choice: General Douglas MacArthur. Week after week, more UN forces arrived in the South. Yet by August, they had been pushed back to the Pusan perimeter. This was a battle line around an area near the city of Pusan in the southeast corner of Korea. (SOUND) North Korean forces attempted to break through the Pusan perimeter. They began a major attack on August sixth. They lost many men, however. By the end of the month, they withdrew. The next month, General MacArthur directed a surprise landing of American Marines in South Korea. They arrived at the port of Inchon on the northwest coast. The landing was extremely dangerous. Water levels could rise or fall as much as nine meters in a single day. The boats had to get close to the coastline and land at high tide. If they waited too long, the water level would drop, and they would be trapped in the mud with little protection. The soldiers on the boats would be easy targets. The landing at Inchon was successful. The additional troops quickly divided the North Korean forces, which had been stretched from north to south. At the same time, UN air and sea power destroyed the northern army's lines of communication. On October first, South Korean troops entered North Korea. They captured the capital, Pyongyang. Then they moved toward the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and China. China warned against moving closer to the border. General MacArthur ordered the troops to continue their attacks. He repeatedly said he did not believe that China would enter the war in force. (MUSIC) MacArthur was wrong. Several hundred thousand Chinese soldiers crossed into North Korea in October and November. Still, MacArthur thought the war would end by December twentyfifth, the Christmas holiday. This was not to happen. The UN troops were forced to withdraw from Pyongyang. And, by the day before Christmas, there had been a huge withdrawal by sea from the coastal city of Hungnam. In the first days of nineteen-fifty-one, the North Koreans recaptured Seoul. The UN troops withdrew about forty kilometers south of the city. They re-organized and, two months later, re-gained control of Seoul.

Then the war changed. The two sides began fighting in an area north of the thirty-eighth parallel. They exchanged control of the same territory over and over again. Men were dying, but no one was winning. The cost in lives was huge. General MacArthur had wanted to enter China and attack Manchuria. He also had wanted to use Nationalist Chinese troops against the communists. HARRY TRUMAN: If we do have another world war, it would be an atomic war. We could expect many atomic bombs to be dropped on American cities, and a single one of them could cause many more times the casualties than we have suffered in all the fighting in Korea. I do not want to be responsible for bringing that about. When MacArthur disagreed in public with the Presidents policies on Korea -- including the generals statement There is no substitute for victory -- Truman dismissed MacArthur. HARRY TRUMAN: It is with the deepest personal regret In June, nineteen fifty-one, the Soviet delegate to the United Nations proposed a ceasefire for Korea. Peace talks began, first at Kaesong, then at Panmunjom. By November, hope for a settlement was strong. But negotiators could not agree about several issues, including the return of prisoners. The UN demanded that prisoners of war be permitted to choose if they wanted to go home. The different issues could not be settled after more than a year. Finally, in October, nineteen fifty-two, the peace talks were suspended. Fighting continued during the negotiations. As it did, President Truman lost support. This was one reason why he decided not to seek re-election. The new president, Dwight Eisenhower, took office in January, nineteen fifty-three. Eisenhower had campaigned to end the war. He was willing to take strong action to do this. Years later, he wrote that he secretly threatened to expand the war and use nuclear weapons, if the Soviets did not help re-start the peace talks. Such measures were not necessary. In a few months, North Korea accepted an earlier UN offer to trade prisoners who were sick or wounded. The two sides finally signed an armistice agreement on July twenty-seventh, nineteen fifty-three. The agreement stopped the fighting and provided for the exchange of about ninety thousand prisoners of war. It also permitted prisoners to choose if they wanted to go home. (MUSIC) The war in Korea damaged almost all of the country. As many as two million people may have died, including many civilians. After the war, the United States provided hundreds of thousands of soldiers to help the South guard against attack from the north. Half a century has passed since the truce. Yet Korea is still divided. And many of the same issues still threaten the Korean people, and the world.

The Korean conflict increased efforts in the United States to develop a weapon more deadly than the atomic bombs that had been used against Japan to end World War Two. These efforts led to the hydrogen bomb. The Soviets were developing such a weapon, too. They had already developed -- and tested -- an atomic bomb. The nineteen fifties found Americans at home feeling hopeful about the future while also living under the threat of nuclear war. That will be our story next week. You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Im Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.