20230314 VOA Learning English Broadcast

20230314 VOA Learning English Broadcast

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welcome to learning English a daily 30-minute  program from The Voice of America I'm Ashley   Thompson and I'm Dan Novak this program is  designed for English Learners so we speak a little   slower and we use words and phrases especially  written for people learning English [Music]   today on the program we have a report on the  big winners at Sunday night's Academy Awards   or Oscars ceremony later Mario Ritter Jr presents  this week's health and lifestyle report we close   the show with the next part of our U.S history  series but first everything everywhere all at once   one the best picture Oscar at the academy awards  ceremony Sunday night in Los Angeles California   the unusual movie about a chinese-american  immigrant family won seven Oscars including   three acting awards for Michelle yo  kai Hui Kwan and Jamie Lee Curtis   the malaysian-born yo became the first Asian  woman to win a Best Actress Oscar in the film   she plays the laundromat owner with superpowers  in a different universe for all the little boys   and girls who look like me watching tonight this  is a Beacon of Hope and possibilities the 60 year   old actress said and ladies don't let anybody  ever tell you you're past your Prime yo added   as a boy Kwan starred in the 1984 Indiana Jones  movie and The Goonies in 1985. the 51 year old   said he quit acting for many years because  he saw too few opportunities for Asian actors   on Sunday night Quan won the best supporting  actor Oscar in the film he plays Yo's husband   Juan who was born in Vietnam cried as he gave  his speech Sunday he said my journey started on   a boat I spent a year in a refugee camp somehow  I ended up here on Hollywood's biggest stage   they say stories like this only happen in the  movies he added I cannot believe it's happening   to me this is the American dream the 64 year old  Curtis won best supporting actress for her role as   the tax agent in everything everywhere all at once  in Her speech Curtis looked upward and addressed   her parents Academy Award nominees Tony Curtis  and Janet Lee both of her parents have passed away   I just won an Oscar Curtis told them Daniel  Kwan and Daniel sheinert together one best   director and best original screenplay everything  everywhere all at once was made with a small 14.3   million dollar budget and has brought  in more than 100 million dollars so far   the fourth acting award went to Brendan Fraser who  won best actor for his work in the whale in the   film he plays an extremely overweight man trying  to reconnect with his daughter a German remake of   the world war one story All Quiet on the Western  Front was named best International feature film   the movie which streamed on Netflix shows the  horrors of War Through The Eyes of a Young Man   the movie also won Oscars for music  production design and cinematography   director Edward Berger thanked the film's  young star Felix camera who joined him on stage   this was your first movie and you carried us on  your shoulders as if it was nothing Berger said   navalny won the Oscar for best feature documentary  the movie is about Russian opposition leader Alexi   navalny who was nearly killed by poison and has  been jailed since his 2021 returned to Moscow   Alexi I am dreaming of the day when you will be  free and our country will be free his wife Yulia   navalnaya said at the award presentation  stay strong my love not to not to the song   from the Indian movie RR that created a viral  dance earned an Oscar for best original song thank you the recent kidnapping of four  Americans in Mexico brought attention   to a common practice for many people  in the United States medical tourism   medical tourism is traveling to other countries  to receive medical care that is not available or   too costly at home the four Americans were caught  in a shootout between criminal drug organizations   two were killed and two were held in a remote  area of Mexico a family member said the four were   on a trip from the U.S so that one of them could  get cosmetic surgery from a doctor in Matamoros   experts say people leave the U.S  to get many medical procedures   these include cosmetic surgery Dental Care  cancer treatments and buying medicines   Lydia again is an economist at the  University of North Carolina at Pembroke   she said medical tourism has been  growing in popularity for years   this kind of travel is popular with people  who have no health insurance or health plans   that require them to pay thousands of dollars in  additional costs sometimes companies send people   covered by their insurance to other countries for  medical procedures like hip or knee replacements   some companies also send people to Mexico for  less costly medicines Jonathan edelheit is head   of the medical tourism Association an industry  trade group he told the Associated Press that   medical care costs in countries like Mexico can  be more than 50 percent lower than in the U.S also  

cosmetic surgeries that cost thousands of dollars  are largely not covered by U.S health insurers patients sometimes travel because they can get  Quick Care outside the U.S they also might want   to seek treatment from a doctor who speaks  their language or comes from the same culture   medical tourism magazine the trade group's  publication said over 37 billion dollars was   spent on medical tourism in 2019 around the world  besides Mexico the publication said the top five   countries for medical tourism are Canada Singapore  Japan Spain and Britain other places include Dubai   Costa Rica Israel Abu Dhabi and India in 2019 the  city-state of Singapore received more than 500   000 foreign visitors for its less costly and  high quality Health Care for example heart bypass   surgery could cost 140 000 and the U.S compared  to twenty five thousand dollars in Singapore   in Spain the average cost of cosmetic  surgery such as a facelift could be   five thousand dollars instead of  fifteen thousand dollars in the US the U.S Centers for Disease Control and prevention  or CDC says millions of people from the US travel   to other countries for care each year researcher  Arturo Bustamante estimates that four hundred   thousand people traveled from the U.S to Mexico  each year for care before covid-19 appeared   the University of California Los Angeles  Health policy professor said most of the   people visiting Mexico for care are Mexican  or Latino immigrants living in the U.S  

he said non-latino patients mainly cross the  border to get treatment for their teeth by   prescription drugs or to receive cosmetic surgery  or some Cancer Treatments not covered in the U.S   however the CDC warns medical  tourism could be risky depending   on the country and the medical center  among the risks the health agency says   are infectious diseases quality of care  language difficulties and follow-up care   to reduce risks the CDC advises people to work  with the health care provider or Travel Medicine   provider before making the trip Lydia again of  North Carolina noted that care providers often   have someone pick patients up at the airport  and take them to the Health Center or hotel   the CDC says patients should research  Health Care Providers and health centers   edelheit of the American tourism Association added  that patients should research Care Quality before   considering prices they really need to make sure  they are going with the best of the best he said   once patients choose a country and provider the  CDC advises to bring medical records and to inform   medical workers of any health problems after a  procedure the agency says to get copies of all new   medical records and to plan for follow-up care the  risk for patients may not end after a procedure   if someone has medical problems after  returning home it may be hard for their   doctor to learn the details about the care  received during a trip I'm Mario Ritter Jr you just heard this week's health and lifestyle  report presented by Mario Ritter Jr Mario joins   me now to talk more about the story hi  Mario hi Ashley it's a pleasure to be here   our listeners probably understand tourism to  be travel for fun to interesting and new places   so how is it that the term medical tourism came  about that's a really good question Ashley we   usually think of Tourism as Recreation and  medical operations or anything but Recreation   but for people writing about the practice  tourism means travel not necessarily fun   so traveling for a medical operation or treatment  came to be called medical tourism following up on   that idea the medical tourism Association warns  there are a lot of things that people should   watch out for if they get involved in traveling  to other countries to get Medical Treatments   especially forms of cosmetic surgery those are  operations meant to improve one's appearance and   are not for medical problems yes Ashley the CDC  warns that infectious diseases the quality of the   medical care and possible misunderstandings caused  by language differences can be real problems   a lot of people travel for Medical  Treatments to save money but there are   longer term issues including follow-up care  that might influence the true cost over time   well that's all the time we have for today  but thank you so much for sharing your   thoughts with us today Mario you're welcome  Ashley it's always nice to be on your show [Music] welcome to the making of a Nation American  history in VOA Special English there was one   main issue and America's presidential election of  1916. that issue was war Europe was in the middle   of what is now remembered as World War One it was  the bloodiest conflict the world has ever known   most Americans wanted no part of the struggle in  Europe they supported their country's official   position neutrality this desire was the main  reason President Woodrow Wilson won re-election   people gave Wilson their votes because they hoped  he would continue to keep America out of the war   Larry West and Morris Joyce tell more  about the presidency of Woodrow Wilson like most Americans Woodrow Wilson did not want  war he feared that entering the conflict would   cost the United States many lives Wilson read the  reports from European battlefields the news was   unbelievably terrible by the end of 1916 several  million men had been killed wounded or captured   at the Battle of Verdun French  forces stopped a German attack   the cost was high on both sides more than 700  000 soldiers were killed wounded or captured   the battle of the Somme followed  Britain lost 60 000 men on the first day   by the time the battle was over losses  for both sides totaled more than a million   Germany also was at War on  its eastern border with Russia   losses on that Battlefront too  totaled more than a million men   at the time of America's presidential election  in 1916. Germany seemed to be winning the war   its losses were terrible but the losses  of its enemies the Allies were even worse   German forces occupied much of northern  France and almost all of Belgium   German and Austrian soldiers also held  parts of Russia Italy Romania and Serbia   Germany was winning on the battlefield the  Allies were winning at sea a British blockade   cut off almost all German trade with the rest  of the world even food shipments were blocked   as a result Germany faced Mass starvation it  urgently needed to break the blockade and get food   this situation finally forced Germany to  make the decision that would bring the   United States into the war it decided to use  its submarines to break the British blockade   the submarines would attack any ships that  came near Britain or other parts of Europe   this included ships from neutral  countries like the United States   earlier Germany had made a promise to the United  States its submarines would not attack civilian   ships unless warning was given and the lives of  those on the ships were saved now Germany was   withdrawing that promise it said unrestricted  submarine warfare would begin immediately   German ruler Kaiser Wilhelm said if Wilson wants  War let him make it and let him then have it   President Wilson immediately broke  diplomatic relations with Germany   he still hoped the two nations would not go  to war he left that decision to germinate   if German submarines sank American ships  Wilson would have no choice but to declare war   most American shipping companies  feared attack by German submarines   throughout the early part of 1917  they kept their ships in home ports   they wanted protection so they asked  for permission to arm their ships   at first President Wilson refused to seek such  permission from Congress he did not want to do   anything that might cause Germany to declare  war then he received secret news from Britain   British agents had gotten a copy of a telegram  from Germany's foreign minister to Germany's   Ambassador in Mexico the telegram said Germany was  planning hostile acts against the United States   Wilson acted quickly he began putting guns  and sailors on American Trade ships [Music]   take long for the worst to happen within days a  German submarine sank an unarmed American ship the   Algonquin then three more American ships were sunk  many lives were lost President Wilson no longer   had a choice between War and Peace there would  be War son called a special session of Congress   members of both the Senate and House  of Representatives gathered in one room   they stood as the president  walked quickly to the front   he stood silent for a moment before  speaking this is what he said   fully understanding the serious step I am taking  I advise that the Congress declare the recent   acts of the German government to be in fact  nothing less than war against the United States   it is a fearful thing to lead this  great peaceful people into war   but right is more precious than peace and  we will fight for the things which we have   always carried nearest our hearts for democracy  for the rights and Liberties of small Nations   and for the belief that a worldwide Union of free  people can bring peace and safety to All Nations foreign President Wilson's emotional speech brought  tears to the eyes of many of the lawmakers   they felt the great seriousness of his  request outside crowds lined the street   to cheer Wilson as he returned to the  White House from the Capitol building   he sat in his car and shook his head sadly think  of what it is they are cheering he said my message   today was a message of death for our young  men how strange it seems they would cheer that   on April 6th 1917 Congress approved  a declaration of war against Germany   the Allies Britain France and  Russia welcomed American involvement   the war was going badly for them it had been very  costly in lives money and supplies Allied Shipping   was suffering heavy losses from German submarine  attacks a British Naval blockade had greatly   reduced food shipments to Germany now Britain  itself faced dangerously low supplies of food   Allied Representatives went to Washington  to explain what the Allies needed   they needed supplies especially food immediately  they needed money to pay for the supplies   they needed ships to get the supplies from America  to Europe and they needed American soldiers President Wilson and Congress worked together  to organize the United States for war   Congress gave Wilson new wartime powers  he soon formed a council to build ships   improve industrial production and  control National transportation   he formed an agricultural agency to  increase food production and food exports   and he formed an information committee  to build public support for the war   Wilson's efforts succeeded the Allies quickly  got the ships supplies and money they requested   most important they soon got American soldiers   allied military leaders said only about half  million troops were needed from the United States   but American officials decided  to build a much larger Army   before long large numbers of American  soldiers were crossing the Atlantic Ocean   they would fight the Germans at  the Western battlefronts of Europe   the extra strength they gave the Allies would play  a major part in helping defeat Germany [Music] that's our program for today join us  again tomorrow to keep learning English   through stories from around the world I'm  Ashley Thompson and I'm Dan Novak [Music]

2023-03-21 11:49

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