DirectorЂTimBurton"s Strange Art on Exhibit in New York 

Fill in the blanks with the word you hear.
Tim Burton makes strange and creative ________. They are influenced by his love of old
________and science-fiction films. Some of his most famous movies ________ “Beetlejuice”,
“Edward Scissorhands,” “Mars Attacks!” and “Corpse Bride.” Visitors to New York City can
see more of Tim Burton’s ________ work at an exhibit at the ________ ________ ________
________. Steve Ember tells us more.
Space creatures, body ________, deformed faces and ________ yet funny stories. This is a good
________ of Tim Burton’s creative style. He is best known for his dark and ________ movies.
But he ________ his career as an artist. The ________ ________ ________ ________ has
gathered over 700 of Tim Burton’s drawings, ________ and other works.
Tim Burton made ________ of the drawings when he was very young growing up in Burbank,
________.
In high school, he ________ a local competition to design an ________ for an anti-trash
campaign. This was the first public ________ of his growing artistic skills. Later, he attended the
California Institute of Arts. Then he worked for ________ ________ ________ for 4 years.
Visitors to the exhibit can see the many drawing ________ he made during this ________. He
explored ________ expressions, body types and ________. And they can see the development of
his unmistakable ________ style that has a dark playfulness.
One room is very dark. Special lighting makes a series of ________ on cloth glow in the dark.
Another ________ is a long black and white ________. Television screens show Tim Burton’s
strange ________ about a character called “Stainboy.”
Detailed drawings show how he ________ the characters in his films. These ________ the Red
Queen from “________ ________ ________” which opens in the United States this ________.
Several art critics say the ________ in the show are not ________ as interesting and skillful as
Tim Burton’s films. But ________ seem to think otherwise. ________ of people a day have seen
the ________, which is often sold out.

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All the numbers in this report are wrong. As you listen, make the corrections.
Religion in America
Our question this week comes from Indonesia. Sholeh wants to know which religions have the
most followers in the United States, including Islam.
America was established by people escaping religious oppression. It is a big country with a
history of welcoming immigrants. As a result, the United States is a nation where many spiritual
beliefs are represented.
The United States has almost 390,000,000 people. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
did a study in 2006 on major religious traditions in the United States.
The researchers questioned more than 350,000 adults. It found that Christianity is the largest
religion in the United States. About 68% of adults are Christians. Among those, about 58% are
Protestants. Catholics are about 12% of the adult population.
About 60% of Americans say they have no religion. This group has been growing faster than
any of the religious groups in America over the past 12 years.
The study found that Jews are less than 12% of the adult population of the United States.
Buddhists are less than 12%. Muslims are also less than 21% of the population. However, the
total number of Muslims in the population differs according to different groups. The Pew
Research Center says there are 25,000,000 Muslims in the United States. Other estimates are
between 5 and 6,0000,000 Muslims.
The study also found that more than 3/4 of American adults have left the religion in which they
were raised. They now follow another religion or no religion at all.
What may be more important to most Americans than religion among their fellow citizens is a
government free of it. The first amendment to the United States Constitution reads “Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof…” The idea is to keep governmental powers independent from private religious beliefs.

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ANSWERS

Fill in the blanks with the word you hear.
Tim Burton makes strange and creative movies. They are influenced by his love of old horror and science-fiction
films. Some of his most famous movies include “Beetlejuice”, “Edward Scissorhands,” “Mars Attacks!” and
“Corpse Bride.” Visitors to New York City can see more of Tim Burton’s artistic work at an exhibit at the Museum
of Modern Art. Steve Ember tells us more.
Space creatures, body parts, deformed faces and tragic yet funny stories. This is a good description of Tim
Burton’s creative style. He is best known for his dark and inventive movies. But he began his career as an artist. The
Museum of Modern Art has gathered over 700 of Tim Burton’s drawings, paintings and other works.
Tim Burton made several of the drawings when he was very young growing up in Burbank, California.
In high school, he won a local competition to design an advertisement for an anti-trash campaign. This was the first
public recognition of his growing artistic skills. Later, he attended the California Institute of Arts. Then he worked
for Walt Disney Studios for 4 years.
Visitors to the exhibit can see the many drawing books he made during this period. He explored facial expressions,
body types and stories. And they can see the development of his unmistakable artistic style that has a dark
playfulness.
One room is very dark. Special lighting makes a series of paintings on cloth glow in the dark. Another room is a
long black and white tunnel. Television screens show Tim Burton’s strange cartoon about a character called
“Stainboy.”
Detailed drawings show how he created the characters in his films. These include the Red Queen from “Alice in
Wonderland” which opens in the United States this week.
Several art critics say the drawings in the show are not nearly as interesting and skillful as Tim Burton’s films. But
visitors seem to think otherwise. Thousands of people a day have seen the exhibit, which is often sold out.

All the numbers in this report are wrong. As you listen, make the corrections.
Religion in America
Our question this week comes from Indonesia. Sholeh wants to know which religions have the most followers in the
United States, including Islam.
America was established by people escaping religious oppression. It is a big country with a history of welcoming
immigrants. As a result, the United States is a nation where many spiritual beliefs are represented.
The United States has almost 309,000,000 people. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life did a study in 2007
on major religious traditions in the United States.
The researchers questioned more than 35,000 adults. It found that Christianity is the largest religion in the United
States. About 78% of adults are Christians. Among those, about 51% are Protestants. Catholics are about 24% of
the adult population.
About 16% of Americans say they have no religion. This group has been growing faster than any of the religious
groups in America over the past 20 years.
The study found that Jews are less than 2% of the adult population of the United States. Buddhists are less than 1%.
Muslims are also less than 1% of the population. However, the total number of Muslims in the population differs
according to different groups. The Pew Research Center says there are 2,500,000 Muslims in the United States.
Other estimates are between 5 and 7,000,000 Muslims.
The study also found that more than 1/4 of American adults have left the religion in which they were raised. They
now follow another religion or no religion at all.
What may be more important to most Americans than religion among their fellow citizens is a government free of it.
The first amendment to the United States Constitution reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” The idea is to keep governmental powers
independent from private religious beliefs.

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Document Outline

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