This is a song millions of Americans will hear this New Year's Eve. It is called “Auld Lang Syne(《友谊地久天长》)”. It is the traditional music played during the New Year's celebration. Auld Lang Syne is an old Scottish poem. It tells about the need to remember old friends.

    The words “auld lang syne” means “old long since”. No one knows who wrote the poem first. However, a version (译本) by Scottish poet Robert Burns was published in 1796. The words and music we know today first appeared in a songbook three years later.

    The song is played in the United States mainly on New Year's Eve. The version you are hearing today is by the Washington Saxophone Quartet. As we end our program with “Auld Lang Syne”, I would like to wish all of our radio friends a very Happy New Year! This is Buddy Thomas.

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Conversation 1

Policeman: Excuse me,what's your name?

Lim: My name is Lim Brown.

Policeman: Is this your dictionary?

Lim: Yes,it is.Thank you.

Policeman: Are these your keys?

Lim: No,they aren't.I think they are Mike's.Is that yours,Mike?

Mike: Yes,they are my keys. 

Policeman: What's your last name?

Mike: Smith.

Policeman: Ok.What's your telephone numbers?

Mike: My telephone number is 329-0769 and Lim's is 568-8215.

Conversation 2

Rick: Excuse me,sir,I lost my ID card.

Policeman:What's your first name?

Rick: Rick.

Policeman:What's your last name?

Rick: Cooper.

Policeman: How do you spell Cooper?

Rick:C-O-O-P-E-R.

Policeman:And your telephone number?

Rick: 678-0987

Policeman:Yes,it's your ID card.

    Larry is going to be a pilot. He wants to fly an airplane. But Larry is not a rich man. He doesn't have an airplane. He has only a chair. Larry ties 45 big balloons to his chair and then sits in the chair. The chair goes up.

    For a few minutes, everything is fine. The view from the chair is beautiful. Larry can see houses and trees below him. He is happy. He is flying!

    The chair goes up very high. Larry is afraid. “I don't want to go very high,” Larry thinks. “I want to go down a little.” With a small gun, Larry shoots 10 balloons. Then something terrible happens. Larry drops the gun, and it falls to the ground. Larry can't shoot more balloons. The chair goes up and up.

    Larry is three miles above the ground. Airplanes are flying over him. Larry has a small radio. “Help! Help!” he says into the radio. “I'm flying in a chair, and I want to come down!” People hear Larry, but they can't help him.

    Larry flies in the chair for 45 minutes. Then the balloons begin to lose air, slowly the chair comes down, and Larry is back on the ground. He is not hurt.

All Together Now!

    Have you ever heard of homemade music? That's right-homemade music. Music that is made at home can be lots of fun. And all of the family can take part in it. You don't have to have good voices. And you don't need to buy a musical instrument. What a family needs is the willingness to make music.

A singing game my family like is Crazy Voices. Each person sings a different song. But everybody sings at the same time! We do sound a little crazy. But the tunes (曲调) all fit together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Then we just hum the songs. Or we put our hands over our ears. Then we try it again. And crazy voices fill the air. We really have homemade music when we play the Tap-a-Glass. Why? We make the instrument- that's the Tap-a一Glass. This takes some time. First, we hunt for drinking glasses that have a good ring to them. We tap them with a spoon to find out. We need eight glasses- one for each tone (音调) of the scale. How do we get different tones? By putting different amounts of water in the glasses. The more water, the lower the tone. After a while, we have all eight tones of the scale. Now the Tap-a-Glass is ready. One person takes the spoon and taps out a simple tune. We always give the player time to practice a little bit first. Then we try to guess the name of the song.

    Sometimes we do echo (回声) singing. In echo singing, we sing the same song. We pick a simple tune. One person begins to sing. Then a second person starts-right after the first singer! Sure enough, we have homemade music with a homemade echo!

    My family have fun with homemade music. We enjoy the time being together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Sometimes we have to stop because we are laughing s0 hard. But more importantly, we can make music ourselves. To us, it sounds great.

    It's rare to see a team earn 11 straight wins (连胜) in a tournament (锦标赛). However, the Chinese Women's volleyball team has done it!

    On Sept 29, China took the Women's Volleyball World Cup Trophy(奖杯) in Japan. The team didn't lose any of its games during the tournament. It was also the team's 10^th world title (冠军).

    "The trophy is the best gift to celebrate the 70^th birthday of New China," People's Daily said in an article.

    The Chinese Women's volleyball team has long been the pride of Chinese athletics. In the 1980s, the team won five world titles in a row (连续), which raised people's confidence at the time. Since then its fighting spirit has encouraged generations (一代代) of people, both within the team and across the country.

    Working hard was the key to the team's success. The World Cup was played in several different cities and the team didn't have much time to train. The girls had to squeeze in (挤出) training time when they could. On Sept 25, for example, they arrived in Osaka at 2:30 pm and started training only an hour later.

    Never giving up, especially during difficult times, is also the key to getting success, according to head coach Lang Ping. Many of the team's members kept on playing even after being hurt.

    With their latest win, the girls are ready to prepare for next year's Tokyo Olympics.