Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Mario Ritter Jr. This program is designed for English

learners so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning

English. On today's program you will hear stories from Katie Weaver and Andrew Smith.

Later, Anna Mateo presents this week's Health and Lifestyle Report.

We close the show with the lesson of the day, from Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins.

But first.

Former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter is turning 100 on October 1st. The 39th President is celebrating the Century Mark at his home in Plains, Georgia, where he was born in

1924. He is currently in Hospice Care. Carter's small southern town is much like it was when he was a boy.

But America and the world overall has seen major changes over his long life.

The U.S. population is almost three times larger than it was in 1924.

America grew from about 114, 13 million people to about 330 million today.

The world population grew even faster from 1.9 billion to more than 8.1 billion during the same period.

That great increase has not reached Plains Georgia however.

The town of 500 people in the 1920s now has closer to 600.

Much of its local economy revolves around Carter,

its most famous son.

Jimmy Carter first ran for President in 1976

against then President Gerald Ford.

That election marked the first time the Television Network NBC

started using a red and blue electoral map to cover the election results.

The colors have since become a permanent part of the American political language.

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