American Mosaic - Two New

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Since the three congresswomen are all mothers, they have a lot in common. They work in Washington during the week. On weekends, they travel to their home states to see their families. Ms. Wasserman Shultz says the best thing about living together is the friendship they share each evening. They share the good times as well as the difficult times.
DOUG JOHNSON: Welcome to American Mosaic in VOA Special English.
(MUSIC)
I’m Doug Johnson.
Today, we listen to music by John Prine.
And we answer a question about aircraft pioneer Igor Sikorsky.
In nineteen-oh-three, in the American state of North Carolina, Wilbur and Orville Wright took off, flew through the air, and landed a powered airplane. When a fourteen-year-old boy from Kiev, Russia, heard the news, his life changed. Igor Sikorsky decided he would study aviation.
Igor Sikorsky moved to the United States in nineteen nineteen. Four years later, he opened the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation in New York. For the next fifteen years he built many new kinds of airplanes. His S-38 amphibian flew through the air and then landed on water. His Flying Clipper was the first airplane to fly forty passengers across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The R-4 did not need an airport. It could take off and land almost anywhere. In wartime, it was used to carry troops into battle and to fly injured soldiers to hospitals quickly. Many lives were saved because of this.
In nineteen thirty-eight, Igor Sikorsky began work once again on his “vertical lift machine” -- the helicopter. He built nineteen different models before he found success. Soon his helicopter, the R-4, was being manufactured in great numbers. It was the world’s first mass produced helicopter.
(MUSIC: “Glory of True Love”)
John Prine
DOUG JOHNSON: Singer songwriter John Prine has always seemed to fly a little "under the radar." His folksy, country and soft rock songs are more famous than he is. They have been recorded by artists including Bonnie Raitt, the Everly Brothers, Bette Midler, Johnny Cash, the Seldom Scene and many others. But some fans would argue that no one sings John Prine like John Prine.
Representatives Carolyn Maloney, at left, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Melissa Bean
For Ms. Wasserman Shultz the bad times started in two thousand seven. She was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is cancer free today, but she remembers how important it was to have her roommates for support. Ms. Maloney says she needed the help of her two friends when her husband died last September. He was on a trip to the Himalayas and died on a mountain trail.
John Prine performing during the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Carolyn Maloney, Melissa Bean and Debbie Wasserman Schultz work together in Congress each day. They are all members of the Democratic Party. They represent people in the states of New York, Illinois and Florida. After the work day is over, they all go home -- to the same place. They share a house in Washington, D.C., near the Capitol building, that belongs to Ms. Maloney. They have lived together for five years.
No matter what happens, Melissa Bean says their friendship will continue. She says: “You don’t come to Congress to make friends, because if you do, you’re not coming to be independent and have your own mind. What a great surprise it has been to make such good friends.”
The VS-300, Sikorsky's first successful helicopter
When it failed, he decided he would try to make airplanes. Success came quickly. In nineteen thirteen Igor Sikorsky built the world’s first four-engine airplane. He called it “The Grand.” After that he built a larger plane that was used as a bomber in World War One.
Sikorsky spent the rest of his life designing and building aircraft. He was awarded many prizes for his work. Igor Sikorsky often said: “The work of the individual still remains the spark which moves mankind ahead.”
Carolyn Maloney says she thought of the Founding Fathers of the United States when she bought the home. The first political leaders of the country often lived in rooming houses. They ate dinner together and shared their ideas.
The young man began his studies at the Saint Petersburg Naval Academy. Then he studied engineering in Kiev at the Polytechnic Institute. When he was only twenty years old, Igor Sikorsky designed and built his first helicopter.

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