Scientists Find No Evidence of Yeti

For decades, a large creature called a Yeti has been talked about in Western popular culture. It has appeared in films, cartoons, video games and more. The yeti is large and hairy and walks on two feet. Some people claim they have seen a yeti in the Himalayan Mountains in Asia. It has a fearsome reputation. Consider a scene from the American cartoon show, Scooby Doo: -Apparently every restaurant that's ever opened here closed down immediately -- under suspicious circumstances. -Let me guess: Yeti-related circumstances? -You got it.   New genetic research suggests that this huge beast may, in fact, exist in the Himalayas. But it’s probably just a bear. A team of scientists said this week that they had studied the DNA of nine samples from museums and private collections. All of the samples were said to have come from the yeti. They found that eight of the nine samples came from bears – Asian black bears, Himalayan brown bears and Tibetan brown bears, to be exact.  The one remaining sample came from a dog, the researchers found. Charlotte Lindqvist studies bear genetics at the State University of New York at Buffalo.  She is one of the writers of the yeti report published recently in the scientific journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society B." She said the report’s findings “strongly suggest” that the legend of the yeti is connected closely to bears that live in the mountainous area. Lindqvist called the study the most detailed research to date of so-called yeti specimens. While the recent study did not identify a yeti, it did give scientists information about the area’s bear populations. The brown bears living high in the Tibetan Plateau and the western Himalayan Mountains appear to belong to two separate bear populations, researchers found. Despite living fairly close to each other, those two populations have been separated for thousands of years, Lindqvist said. I'm John Russell.    Will Dunham reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   decade – n. a period of 10 years cartoon – n. a film or television show made by photographing a series of drawings : an animated film or television show reputation – n. the common opinion that people have about someone or something: the way in which people think of someone or something fecal – adj. solid waste that is released from the body  specimen – n. a small amount or piece of something that can be tested or examined DNA – n. a substance that carries genetic information in the cells of plants and animals — often used before another noun  

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Jailed Uyghur Scholar Earns Freedom Award

  A jailed Uyghur professor was honored Thursday at a ceremony in the Netherlands.   Ilham Tohti was named the winner of Liberal International’s Prize for Freedom. Liberal International gives the award once each year to a person whom it says has worked to improve human rights and political freedoms.   A rights group fighting for Tohti’s release from prison accepted the prize in his place. Tohti, an economics professor, has spoken repeatedly about what he considered religious and cultural persecution of the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic minority in China’s northwest. A Chinese court charged Tohti in September 2014 with promoting ethnic separatism. He was sentenced to life in prison after a two-day trial. Following his jailing, the United States, European Union and the United Nations called for his release. Liberal International, or LI, is a group of 100 liberal and progressive parties. It was formed in 1947. LI Human Rights Committee chair, Markus Loening, said at the ceremony that Tohti had fought for democracy and rule of law in China. “The Chinese government should feel ashamed,” Loening said. “It is not protecting the rights of its citizens but instead putting them behind bars as soon as they speak up for human rights.” Marie Holzman helped to set up the Ilham Tohti Initiative following his jailing. She said on Thursday that receiving the award in his place was, in her words, “confirmation that the Chinese government can no longer sustain the pretense that no one cares about Ilham Tohti.” Tohti’s daughter, Jewher Ilham, spoke by video to the gathering at Thursday’s ceremony. She described her father as a man “known for his moderate positions and his desire to see different ethnic groups living together peacefully.” Jewher lives in the American state of Indiana. In October 2016, Tohti received the Martin Ennals Award. The prize is a joint project of 10 rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The United Nations’ human rights chief attended the ceremony honoring Tohti. China protested the attendance, saying the UN chief had “confused right and wrong” and “blatantly supported terrorists” by going to the event.   Radio Free Asia reported this story. VOA Learning English adapted the report with additional information from the Associated Press. George Grow was the editor. RFA and VOA are each part of the U.S. government-supported Broadcasting Board of Governors. ____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   persecution - n. ​unfair or cruel treatment, especially because of race or religious or political beliefs​ promote - v. ​to help (something) happen, develop, or increase​ initiative - n. ​a plan or program that is intended to solve a problem sustain- v. ​to show that (something) is true or correct​ blatantly - adv. very obviously and offensively

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Santas Sharpen Their Skills at Michigan School

  As soon as the Thanksgiving holiday is over, Santa Clauses start appearing everywhere – in shopping centers, supermarkets and other places.   It takes more than red clothing and a white beard to be a professional Santa. In fact, many aspiring Santas attend special classes. The CW Howard Santa School is in Midland, Michigan.  It is the longest continuously running Santa Claus School in the world. This year, it is celebrating its 80th anniversary.   VOA recently visited the school. More than 250 Santas have gathered at the CW Howard Santa School to prepare for their seasonal work. Charlie W. Howard was the Santa Claus in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for 17 years. He started the school in 1937. Tom Valent is the school's current leader.  "At that time, there was a great need for good Santas, better Santas. Santas didn't portray the image that we want. Santa Claus stands for all good things and some of the gentlemen that were portraying that image weren't up to par then." The three-day Santa workshop teaches people “Santa sign language,” facts about reindeer and clothing and make-up style. The future Santas also become familiar with the newest wish list toys, gain interview experience for radio and television and even get advice on how to do their business taxes.  Robert Davis has played Santa for 30 years. He has attended the school several times. "I think no matter how good you are at whatever you choose to do, you can always be better. And not only does the school teach you so much, but when you interact with 250 fellow people who love the same thing you do, you learn something new every year." The student Santas’ headquarters is the Santa House. Tom Valent designed the house in 1986 to look like those made of gingerbread, a Christmas tradition. Conservative estimates suggest about 15,000 students have graduated from the Santa School. They come from all over North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia to study.  This year, the school welcomed Santas from all 50 states as well as Canada, Denmark, New Zealand and Norway.  Fred Ostaer is the only Norwegian Santa at the school this year. He is known as Oslo Santa. It is his eighth time at the school. "I have been Santa this Christmas 65 years. I started to be a Santa when I was 12."  The Santas never claim to be the one and only "real" Santa. Instead they describe themselves as "the spirit of Christmas."  At the school's opening-night activity, Santa Walk, they tell visiting children they are the "cousins of Santa."   Robert Davis says they also never promise children anything. Instead they say they will "try their best." "Anywhere I go, I try to make my contact and exchange with that child the very best that it can be because that could be that child's best five minutes of the year." After all, as founder Charles W. Howard liked to say, "He errs who thinks Santa enters through the chimney. Santa enters through the heart."      Erika Celeste reported this story for VOA News. Caty Weaver adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. ____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story beard - n. the hair that grows on a man's cheeks and chin​ aspiring  - adj. desiring and working to achieve a particular goal ​ portray - v. to describe (someone or something) in a particular way​ up to par - expression at an expected or usual level or quality.​ interview - n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information​ err - v. to make a mistake​

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'Benito Cereno,' by Herman Melville, Part One

  We present the first of three parts of the short story "Benito Cereno." It was written by Herman Melville. Here is Shep O'Neal with the story. Captain Benito Cereno hurried aboard his ship. It was ready to sail. A bright sun and a soft breeze promised good weather ahead. The ship's anchor was raised. And the San Dominick -- old but still seaworthy - moved slowly out of the harbor of Valparaiso, on the west coast of Chile. It was carrying valuable products and slaves up the Pacific coast to Callao, another Spanish colonial port near Lima, Peru. The slaves, both male and female, slept on deck. They were not chained, because their owner, Don Alexandro, said they were peaceful. The San Dominick moved steadily forward under a clear sky. The weather showed no sign of change. Day after day, the soft breeze kept the ship on course toward Peru. Slave traffic between Spain's colonial ports in this year of seventeen ninety-nine had been steady. But there were few outbreaks of violence. What happened, therefore, on board the San Dominick could not have been expected. On the seventh day out, before daybreak, the slaves rose up in rebellion. They swept through the ship with handspikes and hatchets moving with the fury of desperate men. The attack was a complete surprise. Few of the crew were awake. All hands, except the two officers on the watch, lay in a deep untroubled sleep. The rebels sprang upon the two officers and left them half dead. Then, one by one, they killed eighteen of the sleeping crew. They threw some overboard, alive. A few hid and escaped death. The rebels tied up seven others, but left them alive to navigate the ship. As the day began to break, Captain Cereno came slowly, carefully up the steps toward the chief rebel leader, Babo, and begged for mercy. He promised to follow Babo's commands if he would only put an end to the killings. But this had no effect. Babo had three men brought up on deck and tied. Then, the three Spaniards were thrown overboard. Babo did this to show his power and authority -- that he was in command. Babo, however, promised not to murder Captain Cereno. But everything he said carried a threat. He asked the captain if in these seas there were any Negro countries.* "None," Cereno answered. "Then, take us to Senegal or the neighboring islands of Saint Nicholas." Captain Cereno was shaken. "That is impossible!" he said. "It would mean going around Cape Horn. And this ship is in no condition for such a voyage. And we do not have enough supplies, or sails or water." "Take us there, anyway," Babo answered sharply, showing little interest in such details. "If you refuse, we will kill every white man on board." Captain Cereno knew he had no choice. He told the rebel leader that the most serious problem in making such a long voyage was water. Babo said they should sail to the island of Santa Maria near the southern end of Chile. He knew that no one lived on the island. But water and supplies could be found there. He forced Captain Cereno to keep away from any port. He threatened to kill him the moment he saw him start to move toward any city, town or settlement on shore. Cereno had to agree to sail to the island of Santa Maria. He still hoped that he might meet along the way, or at the island itself, a ship that could help him. Perhaps -- who knows -- he might find a boat on the island and be able to escape to the nearby coast of Arruco. Hope was all he had left. And that was getting smaller each day. Captain Cereno steered south for Santa Maria. The voyage would take weeks. Eight days after the ship turned south, Babo told Captain Cereno that he was going to kill Don Alexandro, owner of the slaves on board. He said it had to be done. Otherwise, he and the other slaves could never be sure of their freedom. He refused to listen to the captain's appeals, and ordered two men to pull Don Alexandro up from below and kill him on deck. It was done as ordered. Three other Spaniards were also brought up and thrown overboard. Babo warned Cereno and the other Spaniards that each one of them would go the same way if any of them gave the smallest cause for suspicion. Cereno decided to do everything possible to save the lives of those remaining. He agreed to carry the rebels safely to Senegal if they promised peace and no further bloodshed. And he signed a document that gave the rebels ownership of the ship and its cargo. Later, as they sailed down the long coast of Chile, the wind suddenly dropped. The ship drifted into a deep calm. For days, it lay still in the water. The heat was fierce; the suffering intense. There was little water. That made matters worse. Some of those on board were driven mad. A few died. The pressure and tension made many violent. And they killed a Spanish officer. After a time, a breeze came up and set the ship free again. And it continued south. The voyage seemed endless. The ship sailed for weeks with little water on board. It moved through days of good weather and periods of bad weather. There were times when it sailed under heavy skies, and times when the wind dropped and the ship lay be-calmed in lifeless air. The crew seemed half dead. At last, one evening in the month of August, the San Dominick reached the lonely island of Santa Maria.  It moved slowly toward one of the island's bays to drop anchor. Not far off lay an American ship. And, the sight of the ship caught the rebels by surprise. The slaves became tense and fearful. They wanted to sail away, quickly. But their leader, Babo, opposed such a move. Where could they go? Their water and food were low. He succeeded in bringing them under control and in quieting their fears. He told them they had nothing to fear. And they believed him. Then, he ordered everyone to go to work, to clean the decks and put the ship in proper and good condition, so that no visitor would suspect anything was wrong. Later, he spoke to Captain Cereno, warning him that he would kill him if he did not do as he was told. He explained in detail what Cereno was to do and say if any stranger came on board. He held a dagger in his hand, saying it would always be ready for any emergency. The American vessel was a large tradeship and seal hunter, commanded by Captain Amasa Delano. He had stopped at Santa Maria for water. On the American ship, shortly after sunrise, an officer woke Captain Delano, and told him a strange sail was coming into the bay. The captain quickly got up, dressed and went up on deck. Captain Delano raised his spy glass and looked closely at the strange ship coming slowly in. He was surprised that there was no flag. A ship usually showed its flag when entering a harbor where another ship lay at anchor. As the ship got closer, Captain Delano saw it was damaged. Many of its sails were ripped and torn. A mast was broken. And the deck was in disorder. Clearly the ship was in trouble. The American captain decided to go to the strange vessel and offer help. He ordered his whale boat put into the water, and had his men bring up some supplies and put them in the boat. Then they set out toward the mystery ship. As they approached, Captain Delano was shocked at the poor condition of the ship. He wondered what could have happened. . . And what he would find. That will be our story next week. Download activities to help you understand this story here. What do you think of this story? Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ QUIZ ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story suspicion - n. a feeling that something bad is likely or true handspike - n. a wooden rod with an iron tip, used as a lever on board ship and by artillery soldiers. hatchet - n. a small ax that has a short handle authority - n. the power to give orders or make decisions intense - adj. very great in degree; very strong disorder - n. a confused or messy state; a lack of order or organization ​

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Air Pollution Affecting Homeless in India’s Capital

  Thousands of homeless people in the Indian capital are among the hardest hit victims of the city’s air pollution, which becomes worse in winter. Living on the streets, homeless individuals cannot escape from pollution, such as dust from building projects and automobile emissions. The pollution released by cars has been shown to cause respiratory disorders. Karan Gandhi lives on the streets of New Delhi. He says, “I used to sleep on one sheet (of cloth) but I have to use it to cover myself now. When I wake up, I have a problem in breathing.” Years ago, winter was a season of cool, clear winds in the Indian capital. People enjoyed going for walks, or eating in the open air under a blue sky. Today, dirty smog and falling temperatures have forced some Indians to seek out homeless shelters operated by the city government. Milan Adhikari has no place to live. He says the air quality can be really bad. “I get breathless, then I have pain, I cannot walk properly. That is the reason I don’t go to work,” he says. Arjun Kumar, also homeless, told VOA “The doctors tell me my lungs have been damaged, that is why I have breathing problems.” Even with the smog and the colder air, many individuals shun the shelters, finding insects in the bedding. “In the shelters, the blankets sometimes have bugs, tiny white bugs, and so they (homeless individuals) prefer to sleep outside to escape being bitten by them,” said Irtiza Quraishii of Marham, an aid group. He added that the shelters can get crowded, pushing people outside, into the open air. This is the second consecutive year that pollution levels in New Delhi have risen to 30 times the safe amount set by the World Health Organization. Doctors tell people not to walk outside when the air quality is bad. But for many of the homeless, staying inside can be difficult. I’m Jonathan Evans.   Anjana Pasricha reported this story for VOANews.com. Susan Shand adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   emission – n. something released, such as a gas respiratory – adj. of or relating to breathing or the organs of the body that are used in breathing smog – n. a cloud of dirty air from cars and factories that is usually found in cities shun – v. to avoid (someone or something) consecutive – adj. following each other without stopping

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What It Takes - Lauryn Hill

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.   00:00:32     CAROL BURNETT (quoting CARRIE HAMILTON): “Every day I wake up and decide, today I'm going to love my life. Decide.”   00:00:35     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.   00:00:53     MUSIC: SUPERSTAR   00:00:53     Yo hip hop, started out in the heart Uh-huh, yo Now everybody tryin’ to chart Say what?   00:00:59     ALICE WINKLER: This is What It Takes from the Academy of Achievement. I’m Alice Winkler. In the mid-1990s, this voice arrived like a revelation to a whole generation coming of age as the millennium was about to turn.   00:01:16     MUSIC: SUPERSTAR   00:01:16     Come on baby light my fire Everything you drop is so tired Music is supposed to inspire How come we ain't gettin’ no higher?   00:01:37     ALICE WINKLER: The voice, Lauryn Hill’s, was powerful, deeply soulful, with a perfect dose of grit. Miss Hill fluidly switched between rapping and singing. She was stylish and beautiful — which never hurts — but more than that, she had beautiful things to say, and funny things, and profound, political things. But, of course, it’s always hard to put a finger on exactly why a particular artist and a particular cultural moment collide in some kind of harmonic convergence to become a phenomenon, but Lauryn Hill was a phenomenon, and she was just 23.   00:02:18     MUSIC: SUPERSTAR   00:02:18     I cross sands in distant lands              Made plans with the sheiks Why you beef with freaks as my album sales peak? All I wanted was to sell like five hundred And be a ghetto superstar since my first album, Blunted I used to work at Foot Locker They fired me and fronted Or I quitted, now I spit it — however do you want it? Now you get it! Writing rhymes, in the range, with the frames Lightly tinted Then send it to your block To have my full name cemented (Lauryn Hill) And if your lines sound like mine I'm taking a percentage (Ka-ching!) Unprecedented and still respected when it's finished I'm serious   00:02:51     ALICE WINKLER: Then just as quickly as she’d risen to international superstardom, Lauryn Hill backed out of the music business, out of public life, shut it down. She was like the J.D. Salinger of hip hop, but at 25, soon after her retreat began, Miss Hill was inducted into the Academy of Achievement and made a rare appearance to speak to a group of students at their annual Summit. She was also interviewed for their archive by journalist Gail Eichenthal.   00:03:21     In the past couple of years, Lauryn Hill has begun to resurface, some, and she’s gone through big transformations, but in this episode of What It Takes, you’ll hear Lauryn Hill as she was undergoing an earlier transformation. It was June of 2000, just two years after the release of her first and only solo studio album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. So sit back and enjoy the music and the words of a truly original artist, at the crossroads.   00:03:53     LAURYN HILL: I’ll be very honest with you. As a musician today, I’m not in the studio right now, and everybody in my world thinks I’m crazy. "What’s going on? You need another album out. You know, the time is running out. You have a window, a certain window to make music!" And for a little while I listened to that, and I was, like, in the studio working real hard trying to get it done. And, you know, music was created, definitely music that I think people will appreciate, but it wasn’t my best, and it wasn’t my best because there was no substance.   00:04:26     And there was no substance because there was no experience, and the only reason why The Miseducation was the album it was, was because of a myriad of experiences that took place before the production part, before the creation.   00:04:39     MUSIC: EX-FACTOR   00:04:41     I keep letting you back in How can I explain myself? As painful as this thing has been I just can't be with no one else See I know what we've got to do You let go, and I'll let go too   00:05:15     LAURYN HILL: I mean, my whole life, at a certain point, was studio, hotel, stage, hotel, stage, studio, stage, hotel, studio, stage, you know. And — you know, and I was expressing everything from my past. You know, you have to go back to the well in order to give someone something to drink, you know. I felt like a cistern, dried up and like there was nothing more, you know.   00:05:42     And it was so beautiful because... normalcy. I returned to a normal situation, with my children running around, screaming, and it was wonderful! And I walked down the street, and I went grocery shopping, and I loved it. Every minute of it I love.   00:06:07     I find, you know, even when it’s raining, I just go outside, and I look outside, and I’m just so blessed to see it and to experience it because for such a long time I was just indoors.   00:06:17     MUSIC: EX-FACTOR   00:06:17     There for me, there for me Said you'd be there for me Cry for me, cry for me You said you'd die for me Give to me, give to me Why won't you live for me Care for me, care for me   00:06:28     Life is peaks and valleys, and some people think that that — some people explain that as good times, bad times, but I actually think it’s learning, or let’s say, learning mastership. Learning mastership, okay? Or study mastership. Study mastership. Now, right — I went from the top of one mountain. I mastered something.   00:06:50     I had mastered something, and people appreciated it, but you know, once you’re on top of that mountain, you have to go this way, but in hip hop, everybody’s like, "I’m not moving. I’m the master. I’m great. I’m dope. I’m hot. I’m here. I’ve arrived. I’m not going anywhere." And that’s when you stay stuck on top of one — on one hill, one mountain, when God’s intention is that we study and master a bunch of different things.   00:07:14     And so here I am descending this hill, and everybody’s like, "Where’re you going? You know, we — we're supposed to be on the top of the hill." But it’s exciting times. It’s definitely an exciting time for me because I’m at the foot of another hill. So, I would just encourage everybody, never be afraid of not knowing. Never be afraid of not knowing. Find out, because that’s how you get to mastership. Let’s not be mediocre in our greatness. You know what I mean? Like, think big. Think big.   00:07:50     ALICE WINKLER: I want to take you through some of the experiences that set Lauryn Hill on the path that got her to where she was in 2000 when she spoke these words. Lauryn Hill grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, a diverse middle-class suburb near Newark, that taught her an openness to different cultures, something you can certainly hear in her music. She was steeped, she said, in the Jewish community, the Asian community, the West Indian community, the Cuban community.   00:08:20     Her father was a computer consultant, and her mother a teacher. “Failure in school was not an option,” she said, so she did well academically but got just as much of an education from her environment and from her family. As she spoke to students at the Academy of Achievement event, one of them asked her what her mother did that gave her so much self-confidence.   00:08:44     LAURYN HILL: Oh, let me not even say that. My mother is standing — she's right there, and I was going to say, "The belt!" No, I’m only kidding.   00:08:49     No, it's not — I'm only kidding. I'm only, only kidding. Honest, I’m joking.     00:08:58     Every time I say that, my mother thinks that I make her look so bad, but it — no, there was just — you know, a friend of mine put it this way. My mother used to make me sandwiches, and not physical sandwiches, but spiritual sandwiches, okay? She would give me bread, and the bread was encouragement and love, and then the meat was the correction, okay?   00:09:23     And then there was another piece of bread, which was the encouragement and the love. So that worked, you see? She just dealt with me in truth at all times. Well, no, no, no, no. Wait! Let me go back. Wait a minute. That’s not true because there was this one time — do you guys remember those plastic shoes, jellies?   00:09:40     Listen, I wanted them so bad. My mother told me I couldn’t have them because they would melt on my feet.   00:09:45     And I was like, you know — and you grow up now and you realize what are you — you said — and that’s why I have on plastic shoes right now, because I wanted those jellies.   00:09:52     And then there was — you remember those raincoats, the clear ones? She told me that I would suffocate if I wore one of those.   00:09:59     Ma, you didn't — but, you know — no, I'm serious. But she dealt — she dealt with me in love. There was a certain amount of — there was a — actually, there was a huge level of freedom in our relationship because we exercised choice from an early age, but at the same time, there was discipline, you know what I mean? There were parameters, but we could choose, you know. I remember her telling me stories about when I was five years old.   00:10:24     Every Saturday — of course it wasn’t a school day, but Saturdays and Sundays she would allow me to dress myself, and of course, I would put on, you know, my cowboy boots, like, some crazy skirt, a Flashdance sweater, you know. Ridiculous — just looking real crazy — but at that point, from five years old she was allowing me to be an individual, allowing me to be unique. We just had a very nonconformist family, a very loving — love is so important — a loving environment.   00:10:55     You know, I really — I — to this day, I can’t tell you how blessed I am to know how much love — and let me tell you, because when you get out there and you realize — see, I grew up in a big family. My grandmother had 13 kids, and it was always a lot of us, and we just — you know, we just thought everybody’s family is like this, until I met other people who were scarred. My fiancé — it’s so funny, when two people meet in a relationship, you know, everybody has baggage.   00:11:24     You know, we all bring baggage to every situation and every relationship, but the good part is that when you find someone that you think you have something in common with, you recognize the bags. You know, you’re like, "Oh, that’s Samsonite. I got that.”   00:11:37     “That’s a toiletry bag. You put a toothbrush in there. Uh-huh.”   00:11:40     But when I met my fiancé, I had my little travel kit, and he had, like, U-Hauls, and I was like, "Whoa!"   00:11:47     I was like, "What goes in there?"   00:11:50     ALICE WINKLER: This happens a lot with Lauryn Hill. She starts telling one story, and it leads her to ideas that veer wonderfully into another story. But to get back to the chronology for a moment, we were talking about her childhood and the early influences in her life. She remembers from a very young age being intent on achieving, period, at whatever it was she put her mind to: acting, dancing, singing.   00:12:17     At 13, she appeared on the amateur hour at the Apollo. She sang Who’s Loving You Now and was actually booed. It was devastating but didn’t deter her. She just loved singing too much. During this interview, journalist Eichenthal wondered what music Lauryn Hill fell asleep to each night when she was a child. And remember, it was well before the era of digital music.   00:12:44     LAURYN HILL: Oh boy, I think What’s Going On, Marvin Gaye.   00:12:47     I just remember, like, playing the first side over and over again, you know. It was one of those old record players. After I moved up from the little suitcase record player, there was a bigger record player that my grandmother had given to me, and it was one of those old arms that “rrr,” you know. When you pressed the repeat, it turned and went down, and I used to play my records aloud until one night my mother was like, "This is too loud. I’m not having it," and so I put on headphones.   00:12:47     But in order for me to listen to the records, you know, the headphones didn’t stretch all the way to my bed from the record player, so I had to sleep on the floor in order to hear the records, and that’s where I slept until college. I slept on the floor right next to the record player until I was probably 19 years old, really. I mean I’ve just started sleeping in a bed again, because my records, you know, that was their space, the bed, and I just stayed on the floor listening to this music.   00:13:39     Actually, to be very honest with you, I don't listen to a lot of music at all anymore, anymore at all. I think that's very bizarre, too, because it was such a comfort zone for me, but I don't know if I had my fill, you know. But I don't listen to a lot of music anymore because I’m creating it now. You know, everything takes place in a season. There was a season when that’s all I did was listen, and now I’m just in a place where I don’t listen, I create. And if I do listen, you know, there are specific things that I listen to and for specific reasons.   00:14:08     I'm no longer listening for the — I rarely — I don't want to say I no longer, but I rarely listen for the sheer pleasure. I'm listening for the tool. I'm listening for the instrument. I’m listening for the art. I’m listening for, “Boy, that was crazy what they just did.” 00:14:21     ALICE WINKLER: She was intent on creating something original and something that steered away from where hip hop, by the 1990s, had gone, namely commercial, swaggering, and increasingly violent.   00:14:34     MUSIC: LOST ONES   00:14:34     Now, now how come your talk turn cold? Gained the whole world for the price of your soul Tryin’ to grab hold of what you can't control Now you’re all floss, what a sight to behold Wisdom is better than silver and gold   00:14:47     LAURYN HILL: I think we all have a certain corner to hold. We — earlier this year, Curtis Mayfield passed away, and we — there was a memorial, and they asked me to sing at the memorial, and I was realizing that what Curtis represented in the '60s and '70s, you know, it’s like, there’s a season, and it’s not really about the messenger, per se. It’s more about the message and how he had a time where he had to hold it because there —   00:15:17     You know, other people were singing love songs and other things, you know. He had a very political, spiritual message, and even though it was entertaining and you enjoyed it and you could dance to it, you know, there was this very heavy value. And I — and as I listened to his eulogy, and as I listened to the music — I mean, music that I grew up listening to — it just dawned on me that our generation’s no different, you know. Someone has to hold it.   00:15:42     When everyone else is being indulgent and doing whatever they want to do, someone has to be responsible so that that music reaches and touches, you know, a specific chord. And that may not be me! I might lose my mind tomorrow, and — but it’s got to be somebody.   00:15:55     MUSIC: LOST ONES   00:15:55     Now don't you understand, man, universal law?              What you throw out comes back to you, star   00:15:58     ALICE WINKLER: It was her, at least for a time. I’ll pick back up with the story of Lauryn Hill’s rapid rise to fame, which is important to review to understand what came next. By the end of high school, Miss Hill had joined a band that would eventually become The Fugees, the word “fugee” a slur for refugees. The Fugees launched Lauryn Hill’s career as a singer and rapper.   00:16:23     Their second album, The Score, was equal parts reggae, rap, and soul, with infectious laid-back beats and often political lyrics about injustice. Many critics consider it one of the best hip hop albums ever made.   00:16:38     MUSIC: READY OR NOT   00:16:39     Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide Gonna find you and take it slowly Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide Gonna find you and make you want me Now that I escape, sleepwalker awake   00:17:03     ALICE WINKLER: The Score won the Grammy for Best Rap Album of the Year and sold millions of copies worldwide. During the 2012 presidential race, Barack Obama listed Ready or Not, the song you’re hearing, as his number one favorite song. One of the other huge hits on the album was a cover version of the song Roberta Flack made famous in the '70s, Killing Me Softly. It rose to number one on the pop Billboard chart. And basically, I just said that so I’d have an excuse to play it, and can you blame me?   00:17:36     MUSIC: KILLING ME SOFTLY   00:17:36     I heard he sang a good song I heard he had a style And so I came to see him, to listen for a while And there he was, this young boy A stranger to my eyes Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song   00:18:42     ALICE WINKLER: Just as The Fugees were taking a victory lap, the band broke up, partly the result of a romantic relationship gone wrong between Hill and her bandmate Wyclef Jean. But Lauryn Hill talked about the other factors that led her to begin working furiously on a solo album.   00:19:00     LAURYN HILL: There’s a time for everything. There’s a time to be in a group, and there’s a time to be solo, at least there was for me. If I had had it my way, I would have been in the group forever. I enjoyed the group atmosphere. I thought, you know, it was so good to have two guys on stage backing you up, but the interesting thing about entertainment is that when you’re struggling, everybody goes in with the same goals, you know, but somewhere along the success area you start to look at everyone around you and go, "Wait a minute. Where are you going? And where are you headed, because I’m going this way. Wait, what happened? I thought we were all on the — "   00:19:38     Sometimes success can do that. Sometimes it really illuminates creative differences, spiritual differences, emotional differences, and I, you know, just like a young person would, think that, you know, the friends that you — my fifth grade friends are going to be my friends forever, you know. Throughout high school, throughout — and it’s not that they cease being your friends, but sometimes you just mature to a place, and some people get there faster, some people don’t, and hopefully, ultimately, everyone catches up.   00:20:08     But it's really interesting, because I didn't actually make a decision to be solo. It really just happened. I promise you that. It's hard to explain, but, you know, I had intended to be in the group forever until I found myself in circumstances where I felt the inner desire to express myself, freely and openly without any constraint, without anybody saying, "Hey, that's — you can’t say that. That's not fly. You can't say that. People won't — " you know what I mean? So the only way I could have done that was in doing a solo release.   00:20:47     MUSIC: EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING   00:21:08     Everything is everything What is meant to be, will be After winter, must come spring Change, it comes eventually   00:21:28     ALICE WINKLER: Lauryn Hill’s 1998 solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was met with euphoria by both fans and critics. At the Grammys that year, Lauryn Hill won Best New Artist, and Miseducation won Album of the Year, as well as three other Grammys, and its power hasn’t waned. In 2015, it was selected for the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. The title, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was in large part an homage to Carter Woodson, a black historian who was one of the first scholars to study African American history.   00:22:09     One of his groundbreaking books, on Lauryn Hill’s parents’ bookshelves, was The Miseducation of the Negro.   00:22:17     MUSIC: EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING   00:22:18     Who made these rules? (Who made these rules?) We're so confused (We're so confused) Easily led astray Let me tell you that   00:22:28     LAURYN HILL: You know, “miseducation,” every day it means something more to me, actually. People automatically thought, you know, she must have done — you know, maybe her teachers didn’t teach anything, but that wasn’t it. The meaning behind it was really sort of a catch in me learning that, you know, when I thought I was my most wise, really not wise at all, and in my humility and in those places that most people wouldn’t expect a lesson to come from, that’s where I learned so much.   00:22:58     MUSIC: EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING   00:22:18     I begat this Flipping in the ghetto on a dirty mattress You can't match this rapper slash actress More powerful than two Cleopatras Bomb graffiti on the tomb of Nefertiti MCs ain't ready to take it to the Serengeti My rhymes is heavy like the mind of Sister Betty (Betty Shabazz) L-Boogie spars with stars and constellations Then came down for a little conversation Adjacent to the king, fear no human being Roll with cherubims to Nassau Coliseum Now hear this mixture, where hip hop meets scripture Develop a negative into a positive picture Now everything is everything   00:23:31     LAURYN HILL: I mean, it was personal. I think that's probably the only reason why I put my name in the title. You know, because it was — I’ll just say that I had gone through a lot, a huge emotional and spiritual battle, prior to the creation of that album, and the funny thing is that while I was going into battle, I couldn’t see my hand to spite my face. I mean I really couldn’t see anything because I was so emotionally entangled in everything that I’d gone through.   00:24:00     But it was like, once I was delivered from that situation and once I got the perspective, I was able to look back at heartache and look back at pain and disappointment.   00:24:09     MUSIC: EVERYTHING IS EVERYTHING   00:24:09     Let's love ourselves and we can't fail To make a better situation   00:24:18     LAURYN HILL: For some reason, it all was so clear. The picture started to form itself. The songs started to create themselves. I was able to look back and be a narrator of my own situation.   00:24:33     ALICE WINKLER: And what was the cause of all that heartache and disappointment that led to the creation of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill?   00:24:40     LAURYN HILL: You know, it was about a young woman in the music industry, and the pitfalls, the snares, the traps, and they don’t stop. They keep coming. I think that, because I grew up in such a loving family structure, I thought that everybody did, and therefore I thought that everybody reaped the benefit of that love — and a pretty naïve way to think. And so I learned very important lessons about people and their voids and how, when you have voids, you know, like, a black hole just sucks, you know, and consumes everything into it.   00:25:18     And I met a lot of those people. Met a lot of black holes, a lot of people with a lot of deep, deep, painful voids who found it easy to take advantage and to manipulate and to deceive someone, with me who just, you know, all I want to do is love.   00:25:34     MUSIC: FORGIVE THEM FATHER   00:25:34     Beware the false motives of others Be careful of those who pretend to be brothers And you never suppose It's those who are closest to you To you They say all the right things, to gain their position Then use your kindness as their ammunition To shoot you down in the name of ambition, they do Oh Forgive them father for they know not what they do   00:26:26     LAURYN HILL: A lot of that was unconscious creation, unconscious creativity, because I was so overwhelmingly emotional. You know, it was just, like, I couldn’t — I just had to write about this. Because every time that God navigates my ship, there’s nothing cerebral going on. It’s very little, you know — there’s very little thought. It’s almost as if I have the directions. It's all there, and it's clear. These are your orders. Just go forth and carry them out.      00:26:57     ALICE WINKLER: Lauryn Hill talked a lot about taking directions from a higher source in this interview and about how she read the Bible every day for sustenance. "If the entire week is a battlefield," she said, "The Bible is a parachute, with a box of reserves, like the ones that come in the middle of a war with food, water, and a toothbrush."   00:27:21     LAURYN HILL: So I was going to say, what I’ve consciously decided to do was be patient and wait for those instructions again, as opposed to the instructions from the record company.   00:27:29     ALICE WINKLER: Lauryn Hill was patient, waiting for her instructions — her fans, not so much. With the exception of an MTV Unplugged live event, released as an album in 2002, Lauryn Hill has not recorded another album of her own music, and I give that qualifier because in summer of 2015, she did have six songs on a tribute album to Nina Simone, called Nina Revisited. I’ll play you a bit of that before the podcast is over. But in the intervening years, since Miseducation, her fans, millions of them, have been despondent and often disappointed, even angry, on the few occasions Miss Hill has surfaced.   00:28:14     She’s been famously late, for instance, to her own concerts, sometimes hours late. Back in 2000, when she appeared before students at the Academy of Achievement Summit, this is how Lauryn Hill described what she was struggling with as a mega-celebrity uncomfortable with her new stature.   00:28:34     LAURYN HILL: The music industry is just a microcosm of the world. So whenever you stand for something and you stand for goodness and truth, you will always get resistance. That’s period, whether you’re in pharmaceutical — the pharmaceutical industry, the record industry, or whatever. Whenever you stand for truth and for the service — you know, the service of others — see, I could make money very easily. I could make records that are self-indulgent and, you know, basically self-promote me. I could do that.   00:29:03     I could do that. Promote myself. That was redundant, but you know what I mean.   00:29:06     You know, just do those things. It’s very easy. As a matter of fact, you know, lyrically, as an MC, that stuff comes easy. But in order to promote something higher — I mean, I feel now, at the ripe old age of 25, that the only thing that I could do is serve others. And because there are people who have not reached that point in their walk, you know, yes, there’s a little anger. There’s a little resentment because you raise a standard, you know.   00:29:38     You — especially when you do it and you make some noise, you know. And you do it and people actually listen to what you have to say and, like, your record is bumping on the radio, and you’re saying something that holds a mirror up to a lot of the negativity and self-indulgent things and messages that a lot of other people — you know, but we're all young. I mean, I have a hard time being so hard on the music world, especially hip hop, because most of them come out of the hood, 17 years old, having no clue or concept of what life really is.   00:30:14     I'm telling you. I'm so blessed to have reached this place where, you know, five years ago I was so thin-skinned. Whatever anybody said would just, "Oh, my God. They don’t like this rhyme, and oh, my songs, and oh — " you know. And then one day I woke up, and it was like my skin was just — it was so thick, it was impenetrable by those fiery darts. It just — they just had no effect, and I realized that that was a strength and a confidence that only came from a higher source.   00:30:42     MUSIC: DOO WOP (THAT THING)   00:30:43     The second verse is dedicated to the men More concerned with his rims And his Timbs than his women Him and his men, come in the club like hooligans Don't care who they offend, poppin’ yang (Like you got yen!) Let's stop pretend The ones that pack pistols by they waist men Cristal by the case men Still in they mother's basement The pretty face men Claiming that they be the big men Need to take care of they three or four kids And they face a court case When the child support late Money taking and heart breaking Now you wonder why women hate men The sleepy, silent men The punk, domestic violence men Quick to shoot the semen Stop acting like boys and be men How you gonna win, when you ain't right within? How you gonna win, when you ain't right within? How you gonna win, when you ain't right within? Uh-uh, come again   00:31:21     LAURYN HILL: For me now, I'm learning that it’s more important to be righteous than to be right. I’ve tried to be right. You know, “This is right. This is an injustice. This is a travesty. I’m right.” But I’ve been very unrighteous and still right. Oh, my God, you know, because you can attack someone, completely right, but it doesn’t resolve anything. So I understand now that the battlefield, and that the war, is so much greater than what we see before us. You know, I live in this physical body. This is like my address, like 22 Eder Terrace. I just gave everybody my address, but that’s my address.   00:31:58     Fight me. No. Well, this is where I live, you know. But there is something much deeper. Who I am, you know, has nothing to do with, you know, the hair and the shoes and stuff, even though I like shoes.   00:32:12     But, you know, it has nothing to do with that. So, I pray for the people who don’t understand me, and I tell you — to be honest with you, I pray more now to understand than to be understood. I pray now to know — to learn how to love more than to be loved because God has given me an abundance. You understand what I'm saying? Our enemies are not — you know, they're not flesh and blood, and our problems are not flesh and blood, even though we think they are.   00:32:40     I don't mean to sound ethereal, because of what I'm saying — I'm telling you, it’s heavy as bricks. It's very concrete. Sometimes it can sound like doo-doo-doo-woo, you know?   00:32:47     But it's not that. You know, it’s like — who saw the movie The Matrix? Okay.   00:32:54     Okay. Good. Then we can start from a point of reference. Matrix was a banging movie to me, and the reason why I appreciated it so much was because, do you remember at the end when Neo, like, realized his potential? He started to see the binary code?   00:33:10     You remember that? The whole world? Well, I’m — that’s where I’m trying to be spiritually. I’m trying to see the word of God in the whole world. So every time that agent throws a punch, I’m, like, “I see you.”   00:33:21     "Oh, okay." You know, I’m just catching his punches, but the — but here's the trick. Here's the trick.   00:33:26     Here’s the trick, is that you have to remember that sometimes you can be an agent. You can be an agent to yourself. You can be an agent against someone else and not even realize that you’re being used. That’s “the matrix.” In order to be used by God, you have to really be used. You know, we always want to be used for the glorious jobs. “God, put me on the stage in front of the people in the Grammy show with a nice dress on. Let me just praise your name.”   00:33:56     But that’s not being used. Sometimes in order to be used, you also have to be humiliated. You have to be humiliated sometimes. You have to be kicked and beaten. Let me tell you another thing about “the matrix.”   00:34:09     Going back to “the matrix,” is that I was always confused about it. I always thought that, you know, “the matrix” was battling the enemy out there, picking them out. "I’m going to find those enemies and I’m going to get that enemy," until I realized that until you conquer the enemy in yourself, you can’t deal with anyone.   00:34:27     ALICE WINKLER: And so, whatever Lauryn Hill was battling, inside and out, she stepped away from the music business that had given her both fame and fortune and got back to living, back to raising what would eventually be her six children, waiting, as she said earlier, for new experiences, new wisdom, and new direction from above.   00:34:51     Just last year, as I said earlier, Lauryn Hill recorded six songs made famous by Nina Simone, another utterly original artist. It may not be the comeback Lauryn Hill fans were waiting for, but it’s Lauryn Hill on her own terms, and that, her fans can applaud.   00:35:11     MUSIC: FEELING GOOD   00:35:12     Sun in the sky, you know how I feel Breeze drifting on by, you know how I feel   It's a new dawn, it's a new day It's a new life for me   It's a new dawn, it's a new day It's a new life for me And I'm feeling good   00:35:47     ALICE WINKLER: Lauryn Hill, speaking to the Academy of Achievement. Go ahead and tweet it out. If you’re a fan, you know your friends want to hear this. I’m Alice Winkler, and this is What It Takes.   00:35:59     MUSIC: FEELING GOOD   00:35:12     You know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel It's a new dawn, it's a new day It's a new life for me And I'm feeling good   00:36:19     ALICE WINKLER: Funding for What It Takes comes from the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation.   00:36:24     MUSIC: FEELING GOOD   00:35:12     Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean              Don't you know Butterflies all having fun, you know what I mean Sleep in peace when day is done, that's what I mean And this old world is a new world And a bold world for me

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English @ the Movies: 'A Few Tricks Up Her Sleeve'

In the movie Spectre, British secret agent James Bond is at it again. His fancy sports car might have a few tricks up her sleeve. Listen to find out what it means.

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December 1, 2017

A look at photos from around the world.

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President Trump, First Lady Light the National Christmas Tree

The tradition of lighting of the National Christmas at the White House tree began in 1923 with President Calvin Coolidge. This year, President Trump and First Lady Melania light the tree for the first time.

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Trump's Former Adviser Pleads Guilty to Lying to FBI

The United States’ former national security adviser pleaded guilty Friday to making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI. Michael Flynn is the first official from President Donald Trump’s administration to plead guilty in an investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The special counsel is examining possible ties between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign in 2016. Flynn admitted to lying about his contacts with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak before Trump’s inauguration. Court papers make clear that Flynn knows the identities of members of Trump’s transition team that had detailed knowledge of his outreach to Russia. U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said Flynn is cooperating with the investigation. The judge added that the government will decide how effectively Flynn is cooperating as part of a plea agreement. In a statement, Flynn said, “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country.” Trump did not respond to shouted questions from reporters Friday as he welcomed Libyan Prime Minister Fayez Serraj to the White House. White House lawyer Ty Cobb said, “Nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.” Cobb noted that Flynn only worked in the White House for 25 days. Flynn was an early Trump supporter for the Trump campaign. And the president had previously referred to Flynn as a “wonderful man.” Flynn was forced to resign in February. White House officials said he had misled them about the meeting with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Former FBI Director James Comey was leading the investigation into possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. After his dismissal in May, Comey testified before Congress that Trump told him that he “hoped” he would cancel an investigation into Flynn’s possible connections to Russian officials. But the White House has denied that was the case. Comey’s dismissal led to the appointment of Mueller as special counsel. In October, the grand jury indicted Paul Manafort, who served as Trump’s campaign chairman and Rick Gates, also a top campaign official. George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy advisor for the campaign, also admitted to lying about his contacts with Russian nationals.  

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AP_RR_Q2

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