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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm GwenOuten.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Summer is when a lot of Americans taketrips. So today come with us as we travel through seven states infifteen minutes.

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VOICE ONE:

We start in Washington. Not the capital city, but the state ofWashington on the other side of the country. It is in the PacificNorthwest, on the border with Canada. It is the only state namedafter a president. George Washington was the first president of theUnited States.

Washington State entered the union in eighteen-eighty-nine. It isa major shipping port for Asia. Fishing is another big industry. Sois technology. Washington State is home to the biggest maker ofcomputer programs, Microsoft. Boeing still makes airplanes here. Butits headquarters are now in Chicago.

Mountains divide Washington State. The east is heavilyagricultural, but the west gets most of the rain.

VOICE TWO:

Washington is called "theEvergreen State." It has lots of trees that keep their leaves allyear. Those trees are important to the forest products industry.They are also important to the many people who hike through forestsand climb mountains. The highest one here is Mount Rainier, inwestern Washington. It stands almost four-thousand-four-hundredmeters above sea level.

Not too far away is Seattle. It is the largest city inWashington. But the state capital is Olympia.

VOICE ONE:

Washington is one of three states along the West Coast. As weleave Washington, we travel south into Oregon. It became a state ineighteen-fifty-nine. Forests cover a lot of the state. In fact,Oregon leads the United States in wood production.

Visitors enjoy places like Crater Lake National Park. A volcanoformed this deep lake in the mountains. The bright blue water hasappealed to photographers from all over the world. Cities in Oregoninclude Portland, Eugene and the capital, Salem.

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VOICE TWO:

From Oregon, we continue south into California. People from Spainsettled the land in the seventeen-hundreds. Mexico later controlledit, until some of the land became the American state. The capital isSacramento.

Americans captured the California territory during theMexican-American War in the eighteen-forties. The discovery of goldhelped California join the United States in eighteen-fifty.

Many gold miners came through San Francisco. And that is where westop. Visitors like to ride the old cable cars up and down the hillsof the city. They also like to see the Golden Gate Bridge. And, whenthey get hungry, many go for seafood along Fisherman's Wharf.

To the south of San Francisco is the area with a large of numberof computer technology companies -- better known as Silicon Valley.

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VOICE ONE:

And a lot farther south is LosAngeles. Many communities form the city and county of Los Angeles.One of them is Hollywood, the center of the film and televisionindustry.

California has one of the largest economies in the world. It alsohas the largest population in the country, more than thirty-fivemillion people. One-third of them are of Hispanic ancestry. Butpeople come here from all over the world.

These include a growing number from Africa. Populationresearchers say the Los Angeles-Long Beach area has the thirdlargest number of African-born people in the United States. Aboutforty-three thousand live there. About twelve-thousand live farthersouth, in San Diego.

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VOICE TWO:

Now, from Southern California, wetravel east into Arizona. Arizona is known the "Grand Canyon State."Over time, the Colorado River cut through stone and rock to form theGrand Canyon. It is more than one and one-half kilometers deep.Millions of people come to see it.

Arizona is a desert state. People once thought the land wasworthless. But today many people come to Arizona for its hot, dryclimate and its natural beauty. Phoenix is the largest city, and ashipping center for agriculture. It is also the state capital.

Many people who come to Arizona visit Native Americanreservations. Indians who live on these tribal lands must obeyUnited States laws, but they also make their own laws.

VOICE ONE:

To the east of Arizona is New Mexico. Both states are on theborder with the country of Mexico. New Mexico has a rich Spanishhistory. It also has a lot of land – almost three-hundred-fifteenthousand square kilometers. But fewer than two million people livehere.

Lots more come to hunt, fish, or snow ski. They also come toenjoy arts and cultural activities. Santa Fe claims the largestcollection of folk art in the world. Santa Fe is the state capital.But the largest city is Albuquerque.

New Mexico has mines for coal, copper, potash and uranium. And ithas around as many cows as it has people. Cattle growers help keepsome traditions of the Old West alive. But New Mexico is also acenter of scientific research. There are national laboratories. Infact, the first atomic bomb was exploded in the desert here.

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VOICE TWO:

To the east of New Mexico is a state with a tradition of thinkingbig: Texas. Texas has more land than any other state except Alaska.

There are still cowboys with big hats. That is true. But visitorscan also find a rich cultural life in cities like San Antonio,Houston and Dallas. The city of Austin is the state capital.

Texas once belonged to Mexico. Mexican influence remains strong.More than thirty percent of Texans are Hispanic. But many othergroups also live here. Among the more recent arrivals are peoplefrom Africa. About forty-seven thousand live in Houston and Dallas.

VOICE ONE:

One of the places that many people like to visit in Texas is astone building in San Antonio called the Alamo. The American heroDavy Crockett was among those who died in a long battle there. Theywere fighting for independence from Mexico. "Remember the Alamo!"became a battle cry after that.

The Americans lost the battle of the Alamo, but they won theMexican-American war. Texas became a state in eighteen-forty-five.

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VOICE TWO:

From Texas we travel north into Oklahoma, deeper into the centralpart of the United States. Oklahoma is our last stop today. It toohas lots of land but not a lot of people. It became a state innineteen-oh-seven.

Oklahoma is a big producer of fuel and food for the country. Flatareas and low hills make good places to grow wheat and raise cows.

Oklahoma is part of what people call the American heartland.People think of the heartland as a peaceful place. So what happenedin April of nineteen-ninety-five seemed especially shocking. A bombwrecked the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City, thestate capital.

A former soldier angry at the government was executed for theattack. One-hundred-sixty-eight people were killed. A nationalmemorial now stands in place of the building to honor the victims.

VOICE ONE:

So, we have told you a few things about seven of the fiftystates. Visitors leave with memories of wide open spaces, and citieswithout enough space. Forest-covered mountains, and flat, dry landwithout any trees as far as the eye can see. Farmers working intheir fields, and fields with workers drilling for oil and naturalgas. White-topped waves on the Pacific Ocean, and a golden sunsetting over the Grand Canyon.

If you do ever visit, don't forget to bring a camera.

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VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by CatyWeaver. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Gwen Outen. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA,in VOA Special English.