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Saturday, October 7, 2017

Bicycles Mean Less Demand for Fuel in East Asia

Millions of people in cities across Asia are using phone apps to borrow bicycles for local travel. This kind of technology is made for people who want to leave cars and motorcycles at home, and avoid spending money on a taxi service. The Reuters news agency reports that bicycle sharing has been rising in popularity in places like Beijing, Taipei and Singapore. China’s Ministry of Transport reports that the two-year bike-sharing trend has put over 16 million bikes in China alone. It adds that more than 100 million Chinese have registered for bike-sharing. That has reduced car use and demand for gasoline. Economists have predicted that demand for fuel will likely stop rising by the year 2025. “I often use bike-sharing services because it’s very convenient,” said 36-year-old Wei Zhang, who uses a shared bike several times a week to go to work. “I can find it anywhere and will not worry about losing the bike,” the Beijing native added. No one knows the exact number of bicycles on China’s streets or how much bike-sharing has affected fuel demand. But the government, oil companies and a study by Reuters all found that fewer people are using cars. “Bike-sharing has been crazy since late last year,” said Harry Liu, who works as an advisor for IHS Market. He added that more people are using public transportation because they know they can finish their trip with a shared bicycle. Even before the popularity of bike-sharing, observers were saying that the rising use of electric cars and better fuel efficiency meant an end for gasoline’s big growth story. China’s gasoline demand growth is expected to slow to nearly 4 percent this year, compared with 6.5 percent growth last year. That information comes from Sri Paravaikkarasu, head of East of Suez oil at Facts Global Energy. Asian bikes, Asian cities Last month, a Chinese bike-sharing start-up company opened offices in Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Washington, D.C. The company, called Mobike, was launched in April 2016. Another Chinese company, Ofo, provides a similar service. The two businesses have received more than $2 billion in private investment. Mobike has 7 million bicycles worldwide. Ofo has more than 10 million, and plans to increase the number to 20 million in the next three months. In Taiwan, the government supports a bike-sharing plan. Officials hope to have 12 percent of commuters using bicycles in trips to work by 2020. Five percent of commuters use bicycles now. The Taipei city government hopes to have every citizen just 10 minutes from a bike by 2018. Harry Liu of IHS said that bike-sharing could change the way people think about mobility and could change the transportation business. I’m Susan Shand. The Reuters news agency reported this story. Susan Shand adapted the report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Do you choose riding a bicycle over driving a car? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story phone app – n. a computer program that performs an activity trend – n. something that is currently popular or fashionable convenient - adj. allowing you to do something easily or without trouble crazy – adj. wildly; very excited commuter - n. a person who travels regularly to and from a place

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Learn How to 'Get a Clue'

Now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English. On this program we talk about words and expressions that we use in everyday conversation. Today we are going to talk about mysteries. And, more importantly, how to solve them. So, what are the keys to solving a mystery? If you said clues, you are right. Clues are pieces of information that help you find an answer. The word "clue" has an origin story that may surprise both native English speakers and those learning English. The origin of the word combines a Greek myth, a labyrinth, danger and knitting. That's right, knitting! But first, let’s start with the myth. In this story, a monster called the Minotaur lived in a labyrinth on the island of Crete. From time to time, people were sent inside the labyrinth as sacrifices. They could not find their way out, and the Minotaur killed and ate them. Except for one man. As the story goes, Theseus volunteered to go into the Minotaur's labyrinth. But before going in, Theseus unraveled a ball of yarn. He battled the Minotaur and killed it. Then he followed the yarn back to the opening of the labyrinth and came out alive. You may be saying to yourself, "That is a great story. But what does it have to do with the word ‘clue’?" Well, in the 1590s, a ball of yarn was called a clew, spelled c-l-e-w. Because of this Greek myth about Theseus -- and possibly other stories, too -- the meaning of "clew" began to change. By the 1620s, the word meant something that will lead to a solution. After more time passed, the spelling changed to c-l-u-e, the way we spell it today. "Clue" continued to become even more widely used. By the late 1940s, someone who didn't have a clue meant someone who didn't understand something. Today, we commonly use this "clue" in many expressions. You can use it to talk about someone who doesn't know a specific thing or about someone who is generally ignorant. For example, I am organizing a surprise birthday party for my friend. She doesn’t have a clue what I am planning! When the guests jump out of their hiding places and yell “Surprise!” she will be shocked. That is a friendly use of the expression. But it can also be used in a more critical way. For example, I could say, "I have a friend who was born into a very rich family. I feel uncomfortable when she complains about people who struggle to pay their bills on time. She doesn't have a clue how hard it can be to make a living!" Instead of "didn't have a clue" you could also say “she is clueless” for both of these examples. Here's another example of “clueless” meaning a general state of ignorance. "I can't believe the boss made his son our manager. That kid is so clueless. He has no idea how this company works. We're doomed!" That's an insult. Now, if someone is clueless or doesn't have a clue in the sense that he or she is simply ignorant, you can tell them angrily to get a clue. This like telling them to wake up or to get with it! You can also gently clue them in. This phrase means to let someone know the way something happens. We often use it when something is difficult to understand or see on the surface. So, if you are simply sharing your homemade apple pie recipe with a friend, you probably wouldn't say, "I'll clue you in on how to make this apple pie." I mean, you could say that. But it sounds much too dramatic. But let's say a friend of yours moves into the apartment building where you live. Many strange and difficult people also live in that building. You might want to pull your friend aside and say, "Look, if you want to be happy here, let me clue you in on some of the characters who live here. Never talk directly to the guy who walks his turtle. If you need to say something to him, just say it to the turtle. And don't hang your laundry on your balcony. The woman living above you will shoot at your dry clothes with a water gun. And whatever you do, DO NOT play classical music after 6 p.m. Your next door neighbor was a conductor in an orchestra and misses it terribly. You will hear him crying for hours afterward." Now, I hope you feel a bit clued in on the different ways to use the word "clue." And that's all for this Words and Their Stories. I'm Anna Matteo. Do you have a similar word story for "clue" in your language? Let us know in the Comments Section. Anna Matteo wrote this story for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. The song at the end is Royksopp singing "You Don't Have a Clue." __________________________________________________________ Words in This Story myth – n. a story that was told in an ancient culture to explain a practice, belief, or natural occurrence : an idea or story that is believed by many people but that is not true knit – v. to make (a piece of clothing) from yarn or thread by using long needles or a special machine Minotaur – n. a monster shaped half like a man and half like a bull, confined in the labyrinth built by Daedalus for Minos, and given a periodic tribute of youths and maidens as food until killed by Theseus labyrinth – n. a place that has many confusing paths or passages yarn – n. a long, thin piece of cotton, wool, etc., that is thicker than thread and that is used for knitting and weaving unravel – v. to cause the separate threads of something to come apart specific – adj. relating to a particular person, situation, etc. dramatic – adj. attracting attention : causing people to carefully listen, look, etc. often showing a lot of emotion : tending to behave and react in an exaggerated way turtle – n. a reptile that lives on land, in water, or both and has a toothless horny beak and a shell of bony plates which covers the body and into which the head, legs, and tail can usually be drawn water gun – n. a toy gun made to squirt a jet of water or other liquids — called also water pistol, squirt gun balcony – n. a raised platform that is connected to the side of a building and surrounded by a low wall or railing conductor – n. a person who stands in front of people while they sing or play musical instruments and directs their performance orchestra – n. a group of musicians who play usually classical music together and who are led by a conductor

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English in a Minute: Play it by Ear

Does this expression relate to music? Sort of...

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Friday, October 6, 2017

'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' by Edgar Allen Poe, Part Four

We present the fourth of five parts of the short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," by Edgar Allen Poe. The story was originally adapted and recorded by VOA Learning English. Murder had come to the old house on the street called Rue Morgue! Murder had come and gone and left behind the dead bodies of an old woman and her daughter. It was a perplexing crime scene. The damage to the daughter’s body suggested a killer of superhuman strength. The knife that had killed the old woman, almost separating head from body, was in the room. But the old woman’s body was outside, behind the house. The door and windows to the house all firmly closed, locked on the inside. Voices had been heard. One voice was speaking in French; the other voice had not spoken even one word that anyone could understand. And yet, there was no one in the room when police arrived moments after the attack. My friend Dupin was now explaining to me what he had learned when we visited the scene of the crime. “I knew that what seemed impossible must be proved possible. The killer, and I believe there was just one, escaped through one of these windows. After the murderer had left he could have closed the window from the outside; but he could not have fastened the nail. Yet anyone could see the nails which held the windows tightly closed. This was the fact that stopped the police. How could the murderer put the nail back in its place?” “That’s the problem, Dupin! Perhaps — perhaps if you pulled out the nail…” “Yes! That is just what I thought. Two things seemed clear: first, there had to be something wrong with the idea that the nails were holding the windows closed. Second, if it was not the nails which were holding the windows closed, then something else was holding them closed, something hard to see, something hidden. So, I checked the first window again. I removed the nail. Then I again tried to raise the window. It was still firmly closed. There had to be a hidden lock, I thought, inside the window. I searched the window frame. Indeed, I found a button which, when I pressed it, opened an inner lock. I raised the window with ease. “Now I knew that the killer could close the window from outside and the window would lock itself. But there was still the nail. So, I returned the nail, pressed the button and again tried to raise the window. The nail held the window closed!” “Then…the window could not have been the means of escape!” “That window, no. The killer did not escape through it. But I went again to the other window. The nail there looked the same as the one I had just seen. I moved the bed so that I could look closely. Yes. There was a button here, too. I was so sure I was right that without touching the nail I pressed the button and tried to raise the window. And guess what happened?” I knew the answer but I let Dupin have the satisfaction of reporting. The window went up, he told me. “As the window went up, it carried with it the top part of the nail, the head. When I closed the window, the head of the nail was again in its place. It looked just as it had looked before. The nail was broken but looked whole. And, what is impossible is proved otherwise.” “So the murderer went out that window. Did he arrive in the room by that path as well?" Dupin answered, although it seemed he was speaking more to himself than me. “It was a hot summer night. Would the victim have opened the window to get some fresh night air? Most likely.” “So, the killer found it open and entered, I said.” Dupin nodded. “And, as he came, the window locked when it closed. The lock held the window closed not the nail, as it appeared to investigators. Again that which seemed impossible was actually possible.” Dupin’s eyes were shining with the satisfaction discovery brings. He was analyzing evidence and his unusual reasoning ability had found a great purpose. I suddenly understood:This is why going to the house on the Rue Morgue seemed “pleasing” to Dupin. The use of his sharp mental abilities made him happy. And, I had more work to provide that great brain. “Dupin — the windows are on the fourth floor, far above the ground. Even an open window…” Dupin shook his head up and down slowly. “Yes…yes. That is an interesting question: how did the murderer go from the window down to the ground and vice-versa? But I had looked around carefully outside you recall. And I knew a way. And the answer to this question told me still more about the identity of the killer. Do you remember, friend, the lightning rod attached to the house?” I paused. “Yyy…yes. A metal pole, and quite narrow. It protects the building from lightning strikes. But it is so tall and thin.” “True. It would take great strength and agility to get up the pole. Some kinds of animals might climb it easily, yes? But surely not every man could. In fact, maybe very few men. Those of very special strength and special training. “This helped create a better picture of the murderer. But still not sharp enough to recognize. I still had the question: who? “We know the killer climbed the pole, entered the room through the window, murdered and destroyed all order in the room. He managed to push one body up the chimney. He threw the other, almost headless, out the window. Then he left the way he came. We can answer the how of the crime. But who? Such unspeakable viciousness…what human could do this to another?” Dupin continued, trancelike again, seeming to speak to himself as much as to me. “Perhaps we can come closer to answering the question of who by exploring the question of why.” “But Dupin, the police said the motive must have been robbery.” “But my friend, what was taken? The police said they could not answer the question. They said they did not know what the women had. Maybe clothes and jewelry, the investigators proposed. But neighbors described the women as nearly hermits, rarely if ever, leaving the house. Of what use would fine clothes and costly jewelry be to them?” Dupin’s eyes were glistening, his brows pointing sharply down, as he circled me, thinking aloud. “But, what is more telling than what the killer might have taken is what he left behind…conveniently in bags in the center of the room…” “Of course, the money. You are right, Dupin. It makes no sense. All the money delivered from the bank to the old woman. Right there on the floor. Why would the attacker have passed on the riches? A thief certainly would not.” “So, I want you to forget the investigators’ claim that the killer acted out of a desire for money. They thought this only because they knew the money had arrived just three days before the killings. But that was just chance. If gold was the reason for the murders, the killer must have been quite a fool to forget and leave it there. “No. I think that there was no reason for these killings…except, perhaps, fear. The wild nature of the attack leads me to a motive of fear.” “Hmm, an interesting theory, Dupin. Fear can bring out the crazed beast in a person…” “In any living thing. Now let us look at the murders themselves. A girl is killed by powerful hands around her neck, then the body is placed in the opening over the fireplace, head down. Unusual, even by the standards of the most terrible criminals. Think, also, of the great strength needed to put the body where it was found. It took several men to pull it out! Also the hair pulled from the head of the old woman. You saw it on the floor yourself, and you saw the blood and skin still attached. It takes great force to pull out even twenty or thirty hairs at a time. But this was hair AND scalp! And there was no reason to almost take off the woman’s head just to kill her.” “It is extremely odd, I agree. Especially since there is no evidence that the killer knew the victims. No one could hate a stranger enough to carry out such torture.” Dupin’s eyes narrowed. “Exactly.” Download activities to help you understand this story here. Now it's your turn to use the words in this story. What kinds questions do you ask yourself and others when trying to solve difficult problem? What are things you think of that no one else usually does? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story superhuman – adj. greater than normal human power, size or ability button – n. a small, usually round piece of plastic, glass, metal, etc., that is sewn to a piece of clothing and used for fastening one part of the clothing to another part lightning rod – n. a metal pole often attached to homes or buildings used for attracting lightning pole – n. a long, straight piece of wood, metal or some other material, that is often placed in the ground so that it stands straight up trancelike – adj. to be (or seem to be) in a state where you are not aware of what is happening around you because you are thinking of something else hermit(s) – n. a person who lives in a simple way apart from others especially for religious reasons glistening – gerund. shining with light, as if reflected off a wet surface brow(s) – n. the line of hair that grows over your eye thief – n. a person who steals something scalp – n. the skin on the top of your head where hair grows

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UN: States Increasingly Using Refugees for Political Purposes

For years, people fleeing from war and oppression have sought asylum in nearby countries. Now, the United Nations is warning that countries are increasingly using refugees as tools to support their local and national interests. Filippo Grandi is the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He says many refugees are being used as pawns as traditional guarantees of asylum appear to be breaking down. Grandi spoke at the refugee agency’s annual conference this week in Geneva, Switzerland. The UNHCR reports a record 65.6 million people had been forcibly displaced by war and persecution worldwide by the end of 2016. This includes 22.5 million refugees who had crossed from one country to another. The UNHCR reports that, in 2017 alone, more than two million people have fled their countries as refugees. Grandi told the delegates that in just five weeks, 500-thousand Rohingya fled from violence in Myanmar. During the same period, he noted, more than 50,000 people fled South Sudan, while 18,000 others were escaping clashes in the Central African Republic. Grandi said that in some ways refugees have always been used for political purposes. But he said the problem has worsened in recent years. He said refugees have become a major issue in local and national politics and even in relationships between governments. “Protection is constantly being tested. And, at times, it even seems that refugees have become a commodity, traded between states. Principled leadership has frequently given way to an erosion of refugee rights, driven by confused and sometimes frightened public opinions often stirred up by irresponsible politicians.” Grandi told the conference that immigration and asylum policies have become more restrictive in some countries. He said some countries that welcomed refugees in the past also have their own histories of exile and migration. He added that refugee protection is weakening in many areas, including in industrialized countries. He says protection of refugees is breaking down in traditional countries of asylum in Europe, the United States and Australia. I’m Alice Bryant. Lisa Schlein reported this story from Geneva. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story pawn – n. someone that can be used to carry out the will of another individual annual – adj. once a year persecution – n. punishment; oppression commodity – n. something useful or valued principled – adj. existing or based on beliefs erosion – n. the natural process of breaking down or wearing away

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Remembering Rock Music Star Tom Petty

Americans are remembering rock musician Tom Petty. Petty died on Monday after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, California. He was 66 years old. Petty's family said he was taken to a hospital early Monday, but doctors could not help him. They said he died several hours later "surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends." Petty and his band finished their most recent tour just last week at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. In December, Petty told Rolling Stone magazine that he thought this would be the group's last performances together. He said, "It's very likely we'll keep playing, but will we take on 50 shows in one tour? I don't think so. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was thinking this might be the last big one." Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was a friend of Petty’s. They performed together over 20 years ago in a group called the Traveling Wilburys. In a statement to Rolling Stone magazine, Dylan said Petty’s death was “shocking, crushing news.” The rock star added “He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him." Petty was born on October 20, 1950 in Florida. The New York Times newspaper reported that he had a difficult childhood and did not do well in school. Petty said he first wanted to become a rock and roll star after meeting Elvis Presley while Presley was in Florida filming a movie called “Follow That Dream.” Petty rose to fame in the 1970s with his band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They were known for hits such as "American Girl," "Listen to Her Heart” and "You Got Lucky." The group became members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. But alongside his success, Petty suffered from depression and turned to drugs. A 2015 biography told about his addiction to the drug heroin in the 1990s. Warren Zanes wrote the book “Petty: The Biography.” Zanes told The Washington Post that Petty “had had encounters with people who did heroin, and he hit a point in his life when he did not know what to do with the pain he was feeling.” Petty once told CNN, “Music, as far as I have seen in the world so far, is the only real magic that I know. There is something really honest and clean and pure and it touches you in your heart.” I’m Jonathan Evans. Jonathan Evans wrote this story for VOA Learning English based on reports from Reuters and VOANews.com. George Grow was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in this Story encounter – n. an occasion when you deal with or experience something tour – n. a series of related performances, appearances, competitions, etc., that occur at different places over a period of time cardiac arrest – n. sudden, unexpected loss of heart beat and breathing biography – n. a book about someone’s life

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Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Anti-Nuclear Weapons Group

A group seeking an international ban on nuclear weapons has won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is giving the prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, or ICAN. The head of the committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, made the announcement on Friday. She said, "We live in a world where the risk of nuclear weapons being used is greater than it has been for a long time." The Nobel committee said ICAN won for its work to bring attention to the catastrophic humanitarian effects of any use of nuclear weapons. The statement also praised the group for “its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons." ICAN describes itself as a coalition of non-government groups in more than 100 countries. It began in Australia and was officially launched in Vienna in 2007. ICAN’s main goal is to support enactment of a United Nations treaty banning nuclear weapons. The treaty was approved in New York on July 7, 2017. The agreement, however, did not include nuclear powers, such as Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. The peace prize announcement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened Iran and North Korea over their nuclear activities. President Trump told the U.N. General Assembly last month that he may be forced to "totally destroy" North Korea because of its nuclear program. U.S. officials now say Trump is likely to decertify the international nuclear agreement with Iran. He has called the agreement the "worst deal ever negotiated." The president is expected to announce his plans in a speech next week. The officials expect him to say the deal is not in the U.S. national interest. This would not cancel the 2015 agreement, but instead return it to Congress. Lawmakers would then have 60 days to decide whether to re-establish sanctions that were suspended under the agreement. A decertification could possibly lead to talks on renegotiating the deal, although Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that is not under consideration. I’m Caty Weaver. VOANews.com reported this story. George Grow adapted the report for Learning English. His story includes information from the Associated Press and the Reuters news agency. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story catastrophic – adj. of or relating to a terrible disaster prohibition – n. an order to stop; a ban decertify – v. to withdraw from sanction – n. an action that is taken to force a country to obey international law

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What It Takes: Coach (K) Mike Krzyzewski

00:00:02 OPRAH WINFREY: "Hattie Mae, this child is gifted," and I heard that enough that I started to believe it. 00:00:08 ROGER BANNISTER: If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity, and you don't take it, you may never have another chance. 00:00:14 LAURYN HILL: It all was so clear. It was just, like, the picture started to form itself. 00:00:19 DESMOND TUTU: There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth, darkness over light, death over life. 00:00:27 CAROL BURNETT (quoting CARRIE HAMILTON): “Every day I wake up and decide, today I'm going to love my life. Decide.” 00:00:34 JOHNNY CASH: My advice is, if they're going to break your leg once when you go in that place, stay out of there. 00:00:40 JAMES MICHENER: And then along come these differential experiences that you don't look for, you don't plan for, but boy, you’d better not miss them. 00:00:52 ALICE WINKLER: This is What It Takes, a podcast about passion, vision, and perseverance. I’m Alice Winkler. On each episode of What It Takes, we play you a conversation from the Academy of Achievement’s vault, a conversation with someone phenomenal, someone who's overcome obstacles to make history, someone with stories to tell, whether scientist, musician, world leader, or sports legend. 00:01:19 On this episode, that someone is Mike Krzyzewski, or as he is more affectionately known, “Coach K.” And yes, Krzyzewski starts with a K, for those of you who wouldn’t know a free throw if it hit you in the end zone. 00:01:33 ANNOUNCER: Bam! Mike Krzyzewski becomes the first Division I men's coach to win 1,000 games! 00:01:45 ALICE WINKLER: No one has achieved more in college basketball than Mike Krzyzewski. No one. As of this podcast, he's won five national titles as head coach of Duke University's Blue Devils, a position he’s held for over three decades. He’s also won three Olympic gold medals, so far, with the USA Men’s National Team, and two FIBA gold medals. 00:02:11 That's the International Basketball Association. The list of “firsts” and “mosts” in Coach K’s bio is a long read. The cornerstone of his success, he said in this 1997 interview... 00:02:24 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: The relationships I have with my players are the most important things. It's the most important aspect of my job, and I’m selfish about this. I want to know that I’ve had a positive impact on that young man's life, but I also want him to know that he has an impact on my life. Relationships are not one-way. I think coaching is confused at times as being an arrow that only goes to a player. Those players send arrows back to you, and that's where a relationship is developed. 00:03:00 I don’t make a player. When they go on that court, they're — even though I'm coaching, they're alone out there. In fact, they're in their underwear. I mean, they wear shorts, and they're exposed. They have to know that they can do it. Now, am I there for them? Yeah. But they have to know that they do it, and I tell them, I say, "I'm impressed with how you can do that." 00:03:24 The other thing that I think is really important for kids to understand is that, like, when I come into a locker room before a game, people might anticipate, if they don't know sport that well, that, "Oh, you know, we're going to win one for this, and we're going to do it for Duke, and we're going to” — that's not always the case. Sometimes I go into that locker room, and I'm afraid. And then, all of a sudden I look at Bobby Hurley, or I look at Steve Wojciechowski, or Grant Hill, or kids who've played for me, and I see in their eyes anticipation. 00:03:57 I see ambition. I see a glaze, and all of a sudden I say, "Holy mackerel! I’ve got a chance to coach these guys tonight." 00:04:06 ALICE WINKLER: He also sees in their faces a bit of himself. A little personal background here: Mike Krzyzewski was born into a first-generation Polish family in Chicago. His father was an elevator operator; his mother, a cleaning woman. When he was a kid, he says, he wasn’t much of a books person. He preferred to learn by doing, and he had, by his own description, “ants in his pants.” When he found basketball, he said, it wasn’t just a way to channel his energy, and it wasn’t just something he was pretty good at. It became a piece of him. 00:04:44 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: I liked that. You know? I liked that, well, here’s Mike, he’s a basketball player, and that connection was good. It helped me have confidence in other areas because it wasn't just Mike. It was Mike who's also a good basketball player, and so I worked at it, and I really liked it. It became a friend. When I had troubles, I’d go out — you can — with basketball, you can do it by yourself, too, so you'd go out and shoot, and you'd fantasize. 00:05:13 You have a — you know, your imagination could run wild, and I always won in my imagination. I always hit the game-winning shot, or I hit the free throw, or if I missed, there was a lane violation, and I was given another one. And it helped me become a much more confidant person, and it was much more than a game to me, and always has been. 00:05:35 ALICE WINKLER: But it was just a game to Mike Krzyzewski's parents. 00:05:39 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: At that time, we were in a Polish community in the inner city of Chicago. I was the youngest of a bunch of cousins. Polish families are real big, with cousins and aunts and uncles, and my older brother, who is twice as big as me — he's about 6'6", 250, didn't play sports because being in the band or doing — those were things that you did. They were not frivolous. Playing sports was somewhat frivolous, but I liked it, and I rebelled a little bit and wouldn’t go to music lessons and things like that but would go and play ball. 00:06:14 And then they learned to love it because they saw how much it impacted on me in a positive sense. I had a really bad temper when I was growing up, and sport helped me channel that temper into more positive acts. 00:06:32 ALICE WINKLER: When his parents eventually came around, they embraced the teachers and the coaches who worked with Mike on his game. In high school, there was one coach in particular who had an enormous influence on his life and, to this day, his own approach to coaching — someone who told him he was better than he thought he was, someone who pushed him. 00:06:55 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: His name was Al Ostrowski, and he wasn't even a former basketball player, and had not — he was a younger guy. He was in his twenties, but he really believed in me. He was the first person who taught me not to be afraid of failure. You know, he'd tell me to shoot 25 times a game. I said, "No, I can't do that. Everyone will hate me." "You do it, and you — " you know, even though I didn’t do that all the time, he kept pushing me to get — to be better, and — he saw me — if success or talent were on floors, maybe I saw myself on the fifth floor. 00:07:33 He always saw me on the 20th floor, and as a result, I climbed more floors when I was with him, and I've tried to use that in my way of teaching. And he even helped me choose West Point to go to school, where I was afraid of that, and he felt that that would give me many more floors in my building. And he was right. 00:07:57 ALICE WINKLER: There was another teacher Mike Krzyzewski especially remembers, a teacher who had absolutely nothing to do with sports but who gave him fundamentals he still relies on as a coach. Her name was Sister Lucinda, a nun at the all-boys Catholic school he attended. Sister Lucinda showed him respect, taught him sensitivity to others, and gave him a code of ethics. Because of her, he told the Academy of Achievement, he considered becoming a priest. 00:08:28 Obviously, he chose a different path, but in his own way, Coach K has dedicated his life to ministering to young people — mind and spirit, as well as body. Now take a moment here and picture a post-game TV interview with a major sports figure basking in the glory of victory. The big shout-out is almost always saved for Mom, and so it is with Coach K. 00:08:53 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: The person who’s inspired me the most my whole life is my mom, because she taught me commitment. You know, we're not — we weren’t dirt poor, but we weren’t real rich or anything, and I would always have what I needed. And I would look in her closet, and she'd have two dresses, and she taught me to be outside of yourself, to get outside of yourself, and to connect with — to be committed to somebody. 00:09:24 And it's the same thing that I try to teach, but my mom, throughout my life, has been the person that I have always looked up to, and she never went to high school. She — in an all-Polish way, she said, you know, "Mike, I went to eighth grade twice because the teacher liked me." And she had a very — she had great self-effacing humor and loved life. And my mother, when I used to come back in Chicago in recruiting, I'd always stay with her. 00:09:56 My dad passed away when I was a senior at West Point, and I’d come back. We had already been on TV, and we'd just be sitting there late at night, and she'd say, "Mike, how did — why — how is it you?" — you know, and she wasn't knocking me. It was just that our group of people wasn't supposed to be able to do that. And I would always tell her, I said, "Ma, because of you. And it's because of you." She was a remarkable, remarkable lady. 00:10:30 ALICE WINKLER: So Mike Krzyzewski had a belief in himself fostered by his high school coach, an ethical compass care of Sister Lucinda, and the gift of commitment and humility from his mom. So where did his legendary leadership qualities come from? Gail Eichenthal, who conducted this interview for the Academy of Achievement, asked him that question. Those, it seems, he came by naturally. 00:10:56 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: I knew I was a leader, because everybody — I always organized things. When I grew up there weren’t, in the city, little leagues. Parents worked all the time. They didn’t have time to then take their kids out to play baseball and football and all that. And we understood that as kids, so when we went to a playground, we congregated at a schoolyard, and then, if you had ten people, twenty, six, somebody had to organize, and I was always organizing them. 00:11:31 Not that I thought I was better, but I felt that the game couldn’t start unless I organized it. That may sound so arrogant, but I really — I believed that, and I would try to impose my will all the time in those types of settings, because I found that if you didn't, people would just stand around and do nothing. So I knew that I had that. The other thing I knew I had is that I had a high level of competitiveness. I hated to lose. 00:12:06 And at times, I did probably ugly things, you know what I mean? With my temper and throwing stuff and all that. But I knew that I had those two things, the leadership and a high level of competitiveness, and some of my friends would tell me that. "Well, let's wait until — " At that time I was called Mickey. "Hey, let's wait until Mick comes," or "Mickey will” — you know — “will show us what to do." And it's still something that I think I do now. 00:12:34 I think I lead and I teach, and if we win basketball games from doing that, then that’s great. 00:12:41 ALICE WINKLER: Winning basketball games? Not a problem for Coach K. His original ambition was to become a high school teacher and coach, but he was so good that Bobby Knight, who he’d played under at West Point, hired him as an assistant coach at Indiana. He then got an offer to be head coach at West Point and was finally lured to Duke University, where he has stayed put since 1980. Duke attracts top tier athletes who are also top tier students. Coach K says he loves the depth of these kids, but there are unique challenges. 00:13:17 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: I’m fortunate, now that I coach at Duke University, and we've won a lot. I have some kids who don't — haven't failed that much, but then when they get to college, they’re going to fail, and I think that’s the thing that I can help them the most with. You know, let them fall down. Let me pick them up so that I can develop that relationship where we can do it quicker, you know. And they're not destroyed by it, and I'm going to do some things that put them in tough situations, because they're not going to develop fully by just me patting them on the back or saying, "You're a good boy, and you can do that." 00:14:00 You know, because we're not only trying to build good habits. Sometimes we're trying to destroy bad habits, a bad habit being the fear of failure. I'm going to knock the heck out of fears. Fear of looking stupid. Do you know how many kids don't want to do something because they're afraid of looking stupid to their peers? And that when they do fail, like, that looks stupid, or there comes a time where they start protecting instead of extending. 00:14:33 How do you destroy that? Is there a book on that? Is there one — is there a pill that you take? It's different in every individual. 00:14:43 ALICE WINKLER: As someone who leads by example, Coach K doesn’t often fear failure himself, but he had a revelation during his team’s fifth trip to the Final Four: perhaps he had gotten a little too comfortable with his team’s failure to grab the championship title. 00:15:01 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: To reach the Final Four is like, you're in “la-la land,” you know? You've achieved. You’ve got to have your stamp of approval. Well, my team — my 1986 team did that the first time. Then we did it in '88, '89, and '90, but we did not win the national championship, and I feel that, because of achieving at a high level, I rationalized somewhat at a moment where maybe I could have pushed my team a little bit more. 00:15:34 So in '91, when we did win it — for the first time, we won it — that was the biggest obstacle to me, was so that we made it and we were playing in Nevada, Las Vegas, and they had won 45 in a row, and it was almost like it would be okay to lose. Everybody would say, "Well, that would be all right," and I was most proud of that game because it was the first — not the first time, but maybe the most significant time that, as a leader, I helped my group overcome rationalization at the highest level. 00:16:12 And when we beat them and then beat Kansas for the national championship, it was an amazing accomplishment, for me. I didn't care — everyone was saying, "Boy, you won the national championship," but for me, it was amazing because we got over that final hurdle. Or I did, as a leader and a teacher, and now I know how to do that, and I thought it helped me the next year when we won it a second time. 00:16:37 ALICE WINKLER: Mike Krzyzewski says he didn’t let himself enjoy the first win. He was too focused already on the next year and on the question he often returns to: "What floor of success are we on? Can we go even higher?" Coach K relies on the power of metaphors and carefully chosen words. He says they can sometimes make the difference between winning and losing. 00:17:03 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: I even played a game, a mind game, a word game, with myself, where — after you win, people the next year will say, "You’re defending your national championship," and I prohibited the use of the word “defend.” What I said for that team, I said, "We’ve already got the national championship for that year. We’re going to pursue." And sometimes the difference between “defend,” “protective,” “pursue,” “go after,” I think, was the difference in us winning it the second time. 00:17:40 Now you might ask, "Well, why didn’t you win it the third time?" And I probably didn’t do as good a job of coming up with those words, or someone else did a better job of coming up with their words and talent than I did, but it’s interesting what the human mind can do. That and good players. You need some good talent. 00:17:59 ALICE WINKLER: Oh yeah, good players, but Coach K quickly reminds us that the individual talents of the individual players, no matter how great, are secondary to the team. 00:18:09 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: Teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one, and you become selfless, and the — and you're — even though we want huge individual egos, our collective ego is unbelievable, and the ability of people to throw themselves into that situation, I think is remarkable. It's becoming more and more remarkable as people become so vested in their own interests. 00:18:41 And the ability to give and connect with others, to me, is the single most important thing that we teach. And then the quality that we need to teach the most is trust, to be honest with one another, so that — like, I have a rule on my team: when we talk to one another, we look at each other right in the eye, because I think it's tough to lie to somebody. You give respect to somebody. It's you that I'm talking to right now. And as the result, I know that there are going to be times on that bench where there are two seconds to go or where a kid's having a bad game, and I’ve got look at him and say, "Look, you're playing horrible, but you're not horrible. Now get your head going," and whatever words I might use, and “I believe in you.” 00:19:31 And I may not even say it that way. It might be two seconds, and we have to connect. If we haven't done the work beforehand, you can't wait until those two seconds to do it. Like, I speak on — to a lot of groups about — and with business groups, a lot of them ask about crisis management. "What do you do if — " I say, "Well, the main thing you do with crisis management is trust one another." "Well, how do you get that?" Wow. It takes awhile, you know, but being honest with one another is the very first and most important step. 00:20:04 And so you have to have that trust developed before the crisis. If you — now, if you haven't had it up to that time and you have a crisis, then maybe you can use that crisis — you're going to probably lose during that time, but maybe you can use that as something that will mold your group together, as long as when those things happen you have a thing called collective responsibility. Everybody wants collective responsibility when you win, or a lot of people want individual responsibility during that time. 00:20:38 When you fail, all these fingers are pointing, and I have a thing where I say there — like, the five fingers on your hand, a basketball team, if you can get them all together — we have a fist analogy, and you can — and you start going — like, that's how we — I want you to play. If when we lose, I say, "You didn’t do a good job," there's no fist, so now we're punching like that. 00:21:07 Collective responsibility is the saying — is saying, we lost. Why did we lose, and how can we get better? If we can do that, it's an amazing thing that happens. And with my thing, though, is that it'll happen, and then in March or April, it ends. The — I have a life expectancy of a team from — of about eight months, and then the next year it's a whole new team. 00:21:35 ALICE WINKLER: Coach K’s favorite example of trust, connection, and collective responsibility aligning into the perfect fist of teamwork is the regional final between Duke and Kentucky in 1992. Probably not surprising, if you're a basketball fan, since it is widely considered the single best college basketball game in the history of the sport. In overtime, with 2.1 seconds left in the game, Kentucky scored, moving into the lead 103 to 102. 00:22:09 ANNOUNCER: How did he find the courage to take that kind of shot? 00:22:16 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: The shot that put us behind was a bank shot, right from straight on, and you don't do that. People don't shoot bank shots, so, to me, it was a little bit of a lucky shot, and so I was — I didn’t want to lose that way. 00:22:30 ALICE WINKLER: Coach K was pissed. He called a timeout. As his players approached him on the bench, he threw down a towel. It might as well have been a gauntlet. 00:22:41 ANNOUNCER: Two point one seconds left. No team has repeated as NCAA champions since UCLA did it in 1973. Will the dream die here for Duke? 00:22:57 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: And so I used my anger properly. I met my team, and I told them, "We’re going to win," and I looked into their eyes. Then when they sat on the bench, I looked at them again. I said, "We are going to win," and then I felt we were connected. And then I asked Grant Hill — instead of telling him what to do, I asked Grant Hill, I said, "Grant, can you throw the ball 75 feet?" 00:23:25 And he said, "Yes, I'll throw it," and by saying it already, I think he had already done it. In fact, if you had interviewed him now, he would say, "Well, I gave my word that I was going to do it." I asked Christian Laettner, "Christian, if we bring you up, will you — can you catch?" And he says, "Coach, if Grant throws it, I'll catch it." And all of a sudden there was that — some people would call it bravado or cocky talk, but we had gone from walking off the court scattered, mentally and physically, to now, a minute-and-a-half later, to believing that we were going to win. 00:24:03 And everybody interacted in that — like, Laettner's remark there was like, "Yeah, come on! We'll do it." And Grant threw it, and Christian caught it, and he shot it, and he hit it, and we won. 00:24:15 ANNOUNCER: There's the pass to Laettner. Puts it up! Yes! 00:24:23 ALICE WINKLER: There aren't really any big accolades left for Coach K to win — no prizes, no honors — but Coach K says for him, that was never really the point. 00:24:35 MIKE KRZYZEWSKI: My goals are not to win a national championship. My next big challenge is my next team. What will these kids bring to me? Even the guys who I've had who’ve played for me before, who will they be when they left me in April and came back to me in October? It's amazing what — how will I be able to react to who they are now? And how will I be able to try to put them together to mold a unit that will best make use of their talents? 00:25:07 That, to me, is what I do, and then if people want to watch us do that and get excited about it, then that’s great. I don’t coach for the fans. At Duke University, we have a beautiful cathedral, and in the cathedral there's an altar — and there are a lot of wood carvings, and it's just amazing — and I have to think whatever man or woman, or both, did those things, that if they were just sitting by a lake, making something, that they would make that as good as the one in the altar, because they did it for themselves. 00:25:50 Their standards were so good, and then they allowed other people to share it. That’s how I try to coach my team. 00:25:57 ALICE WINKLER: That's Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of Duke University's Blue Devils, as well as the U.S. Men's National Basketball Team. He is the most successful college basketball coach in history; though, I think I can actually hear fans of John Wooden out there shouting at me through their mobile devices, "But Coach Wooden won a record 10 national championships over a 12-year span at UCLA!" Don't worry, the Academy of Achievement has a fantastic interview with the Wizard of Westwood as well, and we'll be posting that episode sometime during March Madness. 00:26:34 Meanwhile, if your heart lies in the East and you can't get enough of Mike Krzyzewski, otherwise known as Coach K, go to achievement.org. There are extra video excerpts from this interview you've been listening to, and, of course, there are lots of other inspiring stories and life lessons on What It Takes from the Academy of Achievement. So subscribe, send links to your friends, tweet, post reviews, let us know how we're doing. Thanks for listening. I'm Alice Winkler. 00:27:06 Tremendous thanks, as always, to the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation for making What It Takes possible. END OF FILE

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