Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The first broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word was on a hot summer afternoon in the Tabernacle on Temple Square, July 15, 1929. The announcer climbed a ladder to speak into the radio station's one and only microphone, suspended from the ceiling. He stayed perched on the ladder throughout the half-hour program. An audio engineer was alerted by telegraph when to start. Hand signals cued the announcer. He began, "From the crossroads of the West, we welcome you to a program of inspirational music and spoken word."
Those words, first spoken eight decades ago, still open the program, Today Music and the Spoken Word is the world's longest continuing network broadcast, carried on more than 2,000 radio and television stations and cable systems. It has been broadcast from locations across the country and around the world. Through all the ups and downs, twists and turns of four generations, this broadcast has lifted spirits, comforted souls, and brought millions closer to the Divine. Every week since 1929, listeners young and old have tuned in to a familiar station and found a trusted friends-the Choir's broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word.
Vocabulary
broadcast = ออกอากาศ
announcer = ผู้ประกาศ
suspended = แขวนอยู่
perch = อยู่บนที่สูง
crossroad = ทางแยก
inspirational = ที่บันดาลใจ
decade = ทศวรรษ
ups and downs = ชีวิตขึ้นๆลงๆ
twist and turn = หมุนไปหมุนกลับ
generation = ยุค

Boston

Boston, the capital and the largest city of Massachusetts, is one of America’s oldest cities. Rich in economic and social history, Boston is regarded as the unofficial ‘Capital of New England’ for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region.  Boston has become the economic and cultural hub of New England with over 617,000 residents and many institutions of higher education. In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18^th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Many cultural tourist sites attract a great number of visitors every year, including the Freedom Trail, Prudential Tower, Paul Revere House, Harvard University and Fenway Park. 

Freedom Trail

The Freedom Trail is a red brick or painted path through downtown Boston which connects sixteen nationally significant historic sites. Originally conceived in 1958 by local journalist William Schofield, the 2.5 mile trail stretches from the Boston Common to the bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. It is one of America's first historic walking tours; tells the story of the American Revolution and beyond. 

Prudential Tower

Prudential Tower is called 'the Pru' by many Bostonians. This 52-story skyscraper is home to the world famous Top of the Hub Restaurant and Skywalk Observatory. The tower was designed by architect Charles Luckman and Associates for Prudential Insurance. Completed in 1964, the tower is the 26th tallest building in the US as of 2008.

Paul Revere House at 19 North Square is one of the few remaining homes from colonial America. This distinctive wooden structure stands out among all the tall brick buildings that populate this North End neighborhood. Paul Revere, best known for his midnight ride to warn of the British troops' march on Concord, owned the home from 1770 to 1800. 

John Harvard Statute,
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the US. It is also the first and oldest corporation in North America. 

Fenway Park is the world-famous home of the Boston Red Sox, located on Yawkey Way in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. Built in 1912, it is the oldest ballpark in all the major leagues. There are several unique features inside this ballpark, including Peksky's Pole, the manual scoreboard, the Lone Red Seat, and the 37 foot-high left field wall known as the Green Monster. 

 Vocabulary
economic = ทางเศรษฐกิจ, regarded as = เปรียบเสมือน, unofficial = ไม่เป็นทางการ, impact = ผลกระทบ, hub = จุดศูนย์กลาง, resident = ผู้อยู่อาศัย, institution =  สถาบัน, puritan = ผู้เคร่งครัดในหลักศีลธรรมจรรยา, colonist = นักล่าอาณานิคม, massacre = การฆาตกรรมหมู่


downtown= ในเมือง, significant = สำคัญ, journalist =นักข่าว, trail = ทางเดิน, monument = อนุเสาวรีย์, Bostonian = ชาวบอสตัน,  skyscraper = ตึกระฟ้า, observatory = หอสังเกตุการณ์ , architect = สถาปนิก, distinctive = โดดเด่น


wooden structure = โครงสร้างที่เป็นไม้, stand out =  ยื่นออกมา, midnight ride = การขีม้าตอนกลางคืน, march = เดินแถว, legislature = สภานิติบัญญัติ, neighborhood = บริเวณใกล้เคียง, league = กลุ่มที่รวมตัวกันเพื่อการแข่งขัน, manual = ที่ทำด้วยมือ, scoreboard = กระดานคะแนน, monster = สัตว์ประหลาด

Independence Day

The Fourth of July or variously known as Independence Day has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941. In June 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies fought in the revolutionary war and declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain with the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It has been celebrated as the birth of American independence and is commonly associated with firework, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs, picnics, concerts, baseball games, family reunions, political speeches and ceremonies.  Independence Day is the national day of the United States. 

Vocabulary

federal holiday = วันหยุดของสหพันธรัฐ

representative = ตัวแทน

colony = อาณานิคม

Revolutionary War =  สงครามปฏิวัติ(อเมริกัน)

adoption = การรับเอา

Declaration of Independence = การประกาศอิสรภาพ

celebrate =  เฉลิมฉลอง

associate with = เกี่ยวข้องกับ

firework = ดอกไม้ไฟ

family reunion = การมารวมกันของครอบครัว

Norman Rockwell Museum

Norman Rockwell Museum houses the world’s largest and most significant collection of original Rockwell art. Highlights include enduring favorites from Rockwell’s Saturday Evening Post covers, the powerful Four Freedoms, and the nostalgic Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas. The Norman Rockwell Archive contains more than 100,000 photographs, letters, and other rare mementos.
A visit to the Museum is an uplifting experience. Founded in 1969 with the help of Norman and Molly Rockwell, the Museum is dedicated to the enjoyment and study of the work of America’s favorite artist. The Museum’s changing Norman Rockwell exhibitions present an illustrated chronicle of American life and showcase our nation’s ideals of kindness, tolerance, democracy, and freedom, as interpreted through the artist’s spirit, wisdom, and gentle humor.

Find more information about Norman Rockwell, please visit..

http://www.nrm.org/about-2/about-norman-rockwell/
http://www.nrm.org/about-2/the-museum/

Vocabulary
uplifting = ที่ยกระดับจิตใจให้สูงขึ้น
dedicate = อุทิศ
exhibition = การจัดแสดงผลงาน
illustrated = ที่แสดงเป็นตัวอย่าง
chronicle = เหตุการณ์ในอดีต
tolerance = การยอมรับความคิดเห็นของผู้อื่น
interpret = ตีความ
spirit = จิตวิญญาณ
wisdom = ปัญญา ความรู้
humor = อารมณ์ขัน

Emily Dickinson

My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –

In Corners – till a Day

The Owner passed – identified –

And carried Me away –

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) wrote nearly 1,800 gem-like poems, only a handful of which were published during her lifetime. The world that inspired her to write about life, love, nature, and eternity was a small one centered on two Dickinson family homes in the center of Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Homestead

Emily Dickinson was born at the family’s Homestead in Amherst and spent most of her life there. From her second-floor bedroom she had views of the busy Main Street, the family meadow, the town center, and her brother’s home next door. In this room she polished the poetry so well-known today. 

Vocabulary
gem-like = ดุจดั่งอัญมณี
poem = บทกวี
handful = หนึ่งกำมือ
publish = ตีพิมพ์
lifetime = ช่วงชีวิต
inspire = บันดาลใจ
eternity = นิรันดร
homestead = บ้านที่พัก
polish = ขัดเกลา
poetry = การประพันธ์บทกวี

Pocumtuck Homelands

Pocumtuck Homelands and Lifeways

The central Connecticut River Valley has  been a homeland for Native peoples of at least 10,000 years. Over time, Native people adapted their lifeways to new plants, animals and changing environments. They knew precisely which seasonal resources to use for food, shelter, and medicine. The forests were a managed wilderness; planting lands were cleared and cultivated, and forest underbrush was periodically burned to encourage the growth of useful plants to generate new growth to feed deer herds, and to ease travel. 

Local resources included a wide variety of foods and medicines from animals, fish, birds, berries, roots, barks, leaves, and saps. About 3,000 years ago, Native people here began to cultivate seeds ad roots from plants like sunflower and goosefoot. About 800 years ago, they began growing and storing large quantities of corn. Common food mixtures included pemmican, dried meat and berries; yokeag, ground parched corn mixed with maple sugar; and succotash, a stew of corn and beans.

Pocumtuck people lived in a large homeland that included seasonal hunting territories, fishing areas, gathering places, ad sacred sites. Native homes, known as wigwams, were covered with woven mats or bark that could be easily moved to different locations. Temporary fishing and traveling camps where built alongside the river, and more permanent homesites and food storage places were on elevated lands above the floodplains. Networks of trails ad waterways connected different extended kin groups and nations.

Vocabulary
adapt = ปรับตัว
precisely = อย่างแม่นยำ
shelter = ที่อยู่อาศัย
cultivate = เพาะปลูก
periodically = อย่างเป็นช่วงๆ
generate = ผลิต
native people = ชนพื้นเมือง
territory = ดินแดน
sacred site = สถานที่ศักดิ์สิทธิ์
kin = ญาติ

America..here I come..

 What a long journey!! It took me 31 hours of traveling on FOUR planes to get to Amherst, Massachusetts. However, I must say that I am very fortunate to arrive here according to my schedule. All the planes I boarded were very on time and landed a bit earlier than scheduled.

My very first flight from Bangkok to Narita, Japan was at 6.05 am; therefore, I needed to get up as early as 3 am to get there on time. Thanks for the scholarship that provided me an accommodation at Novotel Airport for me. Staying overnight there was so convenient for me; otherwise, I would have been very panic traveling to the airport. I stepped on the plane at around 5.30 and found out that there was no television screen in front of my seat. OMG..what would I do then? There was a big television screen in the middle of the plane which is not so far from where I sat. There were also two tiny televisions hanging on the ceiling of the plane. I thought to myself that perhaps this is only the short flight to Japan so there is no such a fancy facility. Therefore, my six hours of traveling was not as pleasant as I thought.

My second flight, taking 9 hours, was from Japan to San Francisco. Still, there is no TV screen!!! But this time I'd got a good company. It was a 24 year old Singaporean heading to Denver for a military training for two years. He was also disappointed because there was no TV screen so we had to relied on programs in the larger TV screen. San Francisco airport was rather large and houses as many as three terminals. It was not hard to direct myself into the right domestic terminal. There I decided to spend my first dollar in a cup of small cappuccino as I got so sleepy (It was 2 am in Thailand) and a box of salad as food is not free in domestic Untied Airline flights. Flight from San Francisco to Chicago took 7 hours. Surprisingly, there was a tiny screen for in-flight entertainment for passengers. I really don't understand why TV screen didn't exist on international flight, but domestic one. My last flight was from Chicago to Hartford, taking two hours. It was a very small plane as I expected. The plane arrived safely at 10.45 pm local time or 9.45 am Thailand time. In Hartford, I have to wait for ITD staff to pick me up. As soon as I found Utama, an Indonesian staff of ITD, I also met with some participants from other countries, i.e. Anne and Anniken from Norway, Soon from Mali, Reka from Hungary, and Dorisbel from Dominican Republic. We were extremely tired and ready to sleep but we still needed to wait for other participants who arrived at around that period. I found out that some only half of participants had already arrived, the other half hadn't, one participant got stuck in New York because his flight was cancelled, one didn't get her visa on time so she postponed her flight to Monday and one got turned down, which means the immigration of the US did not let him in the country because of some reasons. I was so glad that I decided to fly over the Pacific, otherwise, I might be stuck in the airport in New York like one of the participants. America is such a big country with so many people and cultural background. After 31 hours and 17,224 kilometers of travelling, I am here in America!


Vocabulary List for M.2 and M. 3
1.journey = การเดินทาง, fortunate = โชคดี, schedule = ตารางเวลา, board = ขึ้นเครื่อง, accommodation = ที่พัก, convenient = สะดวกสบาย,  otherwise = มิฉะนั้น, panic = ตื่นตะหนก, step = ก้าว,  seat = ที่นั่ง
2. tiny = เล็ก, perhaps = บางที, facility = สิ่งอำนวยความสะดวก, pleasant= รื่นรมณ์, company = เพื่อน, heading to= ไปยัง, military training = การฝึกทหาร, disappointed = ผิดหวัง, rely on = ขึ้นอยู่กับ, rather = ค่อนข้าง
3. terminal= อาคารผู้โดยสาร, direct=หาทิศทาง, domestic= ในประเทศ, surprisingly= อย่างน่าประหลาดใจ, in-flight= ภายในเครื่อง, entertainment= ความบันเทิง, exist = มีอยู่,  postpone = เลื่อน, immigration= ตรวจคนเข้าเมือง, cultural background = ภูมิหลังทางวัฒนธรรม