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TEXT The future of Iraq lies to a large extent with is abundant oil, but years of war, neglect and sanctions have crippled the industry and drastically reduced output. VOA’s Ed Warner reports some views of how to revive an operation crucial not only for Iraq but for a world ever more dependent on oil.There is no denying Iraq’s oil potential, says Frank Verrastro, a senior analyst at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Iraq’s reserves are second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of oil,” he says, “and there is probably another 50 to 80 billion barrels that you could find because there has been little to no exploration over the last 25 years. The problem is going to be an aging infrastructure, restoring electricity because the pumps, the pipes are all controlled by electric power, and then making sure that security is put back in place so that you can get investment.” Security is an every day problem with pipelines a favorite target of insurgents, says Keith Crane, a senior economist at Rand, who served as an adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. That’s the way to get at Americans as well. “A big problem was that the Americans have definitely shifted from the good guys into the bad guys,” he says. “There is an impression, especially among young Iraqis, that shooting an American or blowing up a pipeline is something that one should do for patriotic reasons in some cases.” But Iraqis suffer the most from this sabotage, says Matt Simmons, chairman of Simmons and Company, an energy investment banking firm. “Unless they can basically get their oil flowing, it is going to be a very complicated task restoring the economy,” he says. “If you were an insurgent wanting to topple any part of that, it is pretty obvious what you do. You keep going after the oil installations. That is tricky guarding those when you have pipelines stretching all over the country.” As a result of the continuing attacks on an already eroded infrastructure, oil production has not begun to approach the levels anticipated before the war. Iraq is producing only a little over one million barrels a day. Matt Simmons says he warned of this. “It was only a year and a half ago that you had all of these oil pundits who were certain that if we had a quick resolution of the war, Iraq would quickly be producing six million barrels a day,” he says. “I would read and hear these guys, and I would say these guys have no earthly idea of what they are talking about.” But all is by no means lost. Repair is possible and doable, says Keith Crane. Granted Iraq is in greater danger than other countries faced with insurgencies. Still, these show what can be done. “A number of countries, Colombia being a case in point, actually do function with frequent punctures of the oil pipeline,” he says. “They are just very good at fixing those holes. Crude, if it is heavy, does not flow that quickly. So if you detect a leak on the pipeline and get a crew in there pretty quickly, you do not lose an awful lot. You can get the flow back up fairly quickly.” Mr. Crane says local communities, properly motivated, can do this job, especially as Americans withdraw from the scene. Over the years, there has been serious degradation of infrastructure even if it is spared attack. Mr. Simmons, among others, is concerned about the condition of underground reservoirs with unknown quantities of water seeping in. Reserves are not so certain in a system that has been overworked and under maintained. In this case, he adds, how can you say the United States went to war for oil, especially since the CPA is anxious for Baghdad to control it. The problems should not be exaggerated, says Mr. Crane. Let’s not forget what oil means for Iraq. “What CPA found is that the capital stock is in much poorer condition than had been expected, and they had not expected a lot,” he says. “However, of all the sectors in the economy - water, electric power - oil is by far in the best shape because it really has been the life-blood of the economy and the source of all government revenues.” And Iraqi oil matters in a world demanding more of it, says Mr. Verrastro. “If there is no upheaval in Venezuela or Nigeria or Saudi Arabia, the world right now can get by without Iraqi oil,” he says. “But as supply and demand get tighter with new demand in India and China and in the United States, we are going to need production from everywhere. So at some point in the next few months, additional Iraqi production would be very helpful in terms of oil prices and supply.” What is good for Iraq, says Mr. Verrastro, is good for the world.
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c. This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. In many parts of the world, people 1. burn wood and other 2. agricultural products for cooking and heating. However, as populations increase, materials for burning can be more difficult to find. One way to make better use of such materials is to 3. press them together into a solid fuel. This is called briquetting. The objects that are burned are 4. called briquettes. Briquettes are usually no bigger than a person's hand. They can be any shape Charcoal is a common form of briquetting material. It is 5. found throughout the world. Charcoal burns with a higher heat energy value per kilogram than wood. Charcoal briquettes are 6. made from specially 7. treated wood. Briquettes can also be made from many other kinds of materials. These include rice coverings, paper, food wastes, fish wastes, and wastes from processing coconuts and coffee. In general, anything that burns but is not 8. found in an easy-to-use size can be used to makes briquettes. The first step in briquetting is to collect a large amount of the material. Then the material is cut or 9 crushed to make it smaller. Next it is 10 combined with a small amount of water and a substance called a binder. A binder keeps the material from falling apart when the pressure is 11 taken away. Clay, mud, cement and starch are commonly used binders. At this point the material and binder may be partly 12 dried. Finally, the substance is_13. pushed together under high pressure in a machine. The machines used for families or in small briquetting businesses are often 14 operated by hand. They shape the material into briquettes that can be 15 burned immediately or stored and sold later. The same machines that make blocks and bricks from mud and straw can be used for briquetting. An example of such a machine is a Cinva Ram. Machines with electric motors can also be used. A twenty horsepower motor can be used for briquetting with rice husks. Two workers using such a machine can produce one-hundred-fifty kilograms of briquettes every hour. The machine can operate twenty-four hours a day. You can get more information about briquetting from the group Volunteers in Technical Assistance. VITA is on the Internet at v-i-t-a dot o-r-g. This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Gary Garriott. This is Steve Ember. By Gary Garriott Broadcast: June 22, 2004 Chapter 65 YARRENDER 2003 TEXT In _1_October, the first treaty to fight organized _2_criminal groups around the world became part of international law. About one-hundred-fifty nations signed the agreement. It includes a measure making work in organized criminal groups illegal. Also this year, South Korean doctor Jong Wook Lee was named the new director-general of the World Health Organization. One of his main _3_goals is to fight health problems in Africa, especially AIDS and the H-I-V virus that causes it. The United Nations estimates about forty-million people have the virus. W
orld AIDS Day on December first _4__supported international efforts to _5_fight the disease. The W-H-O announced a new plan to provide three-million AIDS patients in developing countries with medicine by the end of two-thousand-five. This program also calls for _6_training more than one-hundred-thousand community health workers. They will work at the local level, _7_ providing anti-retroviral drugs and supervising patients. However, the three-million AIDS patients is still only half of the number of people considered in immediate need of the drugs. The W-H-O estimates five-and-one-half-thousand-million dollars will be needed to carry out its program. The cost would have been higher if not for a recent agreement negotiated by the Clinton Foundation to_8_reduce drug prices for poor nations. Former President Bill Clinton _9_negotiated the agreement with three drug companies in India and one in South Africa. The companies produce low-cost _10_versions of drugs protected by legal _11_permits, or patents. They will sell these medicines to Rwanda, Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa and twelve Caribbean countries. The Clinton Foundation agreement was made possible by a World Trade Organization ruling in September. The W-T-O gave its _12_approval for poor countries threatened by killer diseases to import _13_patented drugs. Under the agreement, international patent laws will be eased to permit drug companies in countries like India and Brazil to sell copies of medicines to poor nations. The agreement also calls for special measures to _14_prevent copied drugs from being_15_ illegally transported back to wealthy nations. This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Robert Cohen. By Jill Moss Broadcast: December 29, 2003 Chapter 66 AntI-DopIng Agency Seeks to Ban Four Top Runners TEXT This is Steve Ember with In the News, in VOA Special English. T
His lawyers say the evidence against him is weak. They say the agency is treating him _13_unfairly and wants to ruin him. The San Francisco Chronicle reported this week that he told an investigating grand jury last year that he used _14_performance drugs. Tim Montgomery is the boyfriend of Marion Jones, the runner, who has won three Olympic gold medals. Marion Jones is also under investigation. But she has not been charged. She has strongly _15_denied using illegal substances. Last month, Olympic runner Kelli White admitted to such use. She accepted a two-year suspension. She also lost her world _16_championship titles in the one-hundred and two-hundred meter races. All this comes as Americans follow the issue of _17_performance drugs in professional sports. Some top baseball players have been named as part of the BALCO investigation. This has increased pressure to ban the use of such drugs by professional players. In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Steve Ember. By Cynthia Kirk Broadcast: June 26, 2004 Chapter 67 Apple Computer a.
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c. TEXT This is Bob Doughty with the VOA Special English Economics Report. One of the most _1 powerful tools ever developed is the P.C., the personal computer. One of the companies important to the history of the P.C. is Apple Computer. Apple is based in Cupertino, California. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs started the company in nineteen-seventy-six. Mister Wozniak _2-designed an early personal computer, the Apple One. At that time, people who wanted to work with computers often_3 built their own, or used larger systems. Early personal computers had _4-limited uses. Users had to write commands. This was true of the Apple One. But other Apple computers operated with a system known as a graphical user interface. Users chose from little pictures _5 called icons. Researchers at Xerox designed such a system. But Apple was the first to make it popular. Today most personal computers use icons. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs tried to sell their ideas to other companies. They were rejected. But soon they _6- found investors. Apple began to sell shares to the public in nineteen-eighty. The company became worth more than one-thousand-million dollars. In nineteen-eighty-one, International Business Machines _7-began to sell a personal computer that many people bought. I.B.M. was the biggest computer company in the world. But Apple was known for its creativity. In nineteen-eighty-four, it _8-released the first Macintosh. These computers were simple to use. Over the years, Apple _9-gained a following of loyal users. But then lower-priced computers appeared. These used the Windows operating system made by Microsoft. Most personal computers today use Windows. Apple does not _10- compete with makers of low-cost computers. Many of its computers are designed for _11-special uses like video and music production. The brain of a computer is the processor. For years, Apple used processors made by Motorola. In two-thousand-three, Apple _12_ joined with I.B.M. to create a faster processor. But Apple still has only a small share of the computer market. Now, one of its most popular products is the iPod. This is a small music player. It can _13_ store up to one-thousand songs. Apple says it sold more than eight-hundred-thousand iPods in the three months ending in March. Apple _14_reported a profit of forty-six million dollars for the period. It says the iPod greatly helped sales. This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. There are sixty-eight million _1_hectares of genetically engineered crops. This is about five percent of all cropland in the world, and _2_expanding. But debate over how best to use this biological technology continues. Experts compare the rise of biotechnology to the period of change in the nineteen-sixties and seventies. The Green Revolution produced the modern systems and chemicals of agriculture. _3_Productivity increased in many countries. Today, the United Nations and others are calling for a Gene Revolution. Experts say the world must find new ways to fight _4_hunger and feed its growing population. But, unlike the Green Revolution, biotechnology has been supported mainly by private _5_investment. Businesses are unwilling to share trade secrets with countries that do not recognize their property rights. Companies also want to earn a profit, so they develop crops for large markets. Ninety-nine percent of genetically _6_engineered crops are either soybeans, corn, cotton or canola. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says little research has been done on food crops like _7_wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava. An F.A.O. report last month expressed concern that _8__biotechnology is not helping developing nations. Six countries grew ninety-nine percent of all biotech _9_crops last year: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, South Africa and the United States. Almost all these crops have special genes to _10__resist damage by insects or by chemicals used to kill unwanted plants. The F.A.O. says there is little research on biotech plants that could resist crop _11_failure in poor countries, or provide extra vitamins. Director-General Jacques Diouf says scientists generally agree that foods made from genetically engineered crops are safe to eat. But he adds that little is known about their long-term effects. He also says there is less scientific _12_agreement on the environmental effects, so each product must be carefully observed. Public opinion is a big issue in the debate. Opponents say there may be unknown health dangers. Some poor nations have refused any food aid that contains genetically engineered products. Yet the industry has had some successes _13_recently. Last month the European Union ended a six-year suspension of approval for new biotech foods. And Brazil has been moving to let farmers plant genetically engineered soybeans. This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember. By Mario Ritter Broadcast: June 1, 2004
Chapter 69 Bush Announces New Steps to Aid… TEXT This is Steve Ember with In the News in VOA Special English. President Bush this week announced more steps to help Afghanistan. He met at the White House Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. At a news conference, they spoke of _1__progress toward democracy. Mister Bush said Afghanistan is no longer, in his words, "a terrorist factory sending thousands of killers into the world." He offered American _2_training for Afghan politicians. Other steps include more schools for Afghan children, as well as training and aid for businesswomen. And Mister Bush said the two countries plan to seek a _3_trade agreement and expand an education exchange program. Afghanistan was formerly ruled by the Taliban group which provided _4__refuge for al-Qaida. After al-Qaida attacked the United States on September eleventh, two-thousand-one, American-led forces ousted the Taliban. Since then, international efforts have helped _5 improve schools, health care and roads. Afghanistan has a new _6 constitution. Women have more rights. And the country is preparing for elections in September. But officials are worried about violence in the _7_provinces and threats from the Taliban and allied Islamic groups. This week, Al Jazeera television showed what it said were new images of al-Qaida members training in Afghanistan. But the American commander there and a terrorism _8 expert said the tape was likely made somewhere else. The Afghan government has limited control outside Kabul. Parts of the country are still controlled by local leaders and militants. President Karzai has promised to disarm the groups. Late this week, local _9 commanders took control of the capital of Ghor province. Officials said ten men died in fighting. The governor _10 fled. The United States has about twenty-thousand troops in Afghanistan. They face almost daily attacks blamed on fighters _11 loyal to the Taliban and al-Qaida. In Washington, members of Congress have expressed concern about progress toward an Afghan National Army and police force. Opposition Democrats have said the _12 invasion of Iraq last year took away resources from Afghanistan. President Karzai spoke to a joint meeting of Congress. He thanked the United States for its support. He also honored American soldiers killed or _13 injured in Afghanistan. Mister Karzai noted strong economic growth in his country. But he said there is still "a long road ahead." He said Afghanistan needs more investment to help its economic _14 recovery. And he called for NATO to do more. NATO's __15 current duties include commanding the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul. President Karzai also _16 appealed for American help to stop the spread of drug crops in Afghanistan. He said profits from the illegal trade _17 threaten his government and finance terrorism and _18 extremism. In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk. This is Steve Ember.
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education Report. For some educators, there is nothing wrong with fun and games. A group called the Education Arcade recently _1_held a conference in Los Angeles to discuss the future of educational games. The Education Arcade brings together international game designers, publishers, teachers and _2_policymakers. They say they want to lead change in the way the world learns through computer and video games. The conference was part of E-three, the Electronic Entertainment Exposition. This is a yearly trade show where companies _3_show off new games and educational products. The Education Arcade started at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, near Boston. Professors worked with the Microsoft Company to create what they called the Games-to-Teach Project. The group began to _4_explore ways to use technology in teaching and learning. They worked with game designers to develop ideas about how mathematics and science could mix with game playing. The Education Arcade is the research part of this Games-to-Teach Project. The group recently _5_announced that a “Games for Learning” statement will be placed on some products. This should begin to _6_appear in American stores in about six months. The goal is to help people find games that are fun but will also teach. The Education Arcade says it also wants to get businesses to produce more games that teach. The Entertainment Software Association says fifty _7_percent of all Americans age six and older play computer and video games. Sales of such games in the United States grew eight percent last year, to seven-thousand-million dollars. The industry group says the average age of a game player is twenty-nine years old. And it says thirty-nine percent are women. Experts say developing a successful computer game can take millions of dollars and years of work. They say many companies are not _8_willing to invest that much money and time in educational games when other kinds sell better. Still, companies have been creating systems like hand-held educational _9_devices made by LeapFrog. And new _10_educational role-playing games are being developed. M.I.T. and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia are developing a game called “Revolution.” Players will get to experience the American Revolution online. This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach. This is Steve Ember. By Nancy Steinbach Broadcast: May 27, 2004 
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