1、Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.Im June Simms.On our show this week, we play music by The Lumineers.We tell about some happenings in the world of football.But first, how about going for a shopping trip.on a parked truck?Fashion TrucksFor many years, food vendors in American cities
2、have offered meals on wheels - selling food from trucks. Hungry people can find more than just hot dogs or pretzels in these vehicles. Many serve high-quality food from other cultures.Now looking for new clothing is becoming as easy and satisfying as exploring the tasty offerings of food trucks. Kel
3、ly Jean Kelly tells us about a new movement: the fashion truck.Once a month, just after sunset, trucks fill an outdoor parking lot in Los Angeles, California. Some trucks sell all kinds of food products, from sweet ice cream to spicy seafood. Others have clothing or jewelry for sale. These vehicles
4、are known as fashion trucks.Many people have never seen a fashion truck before.When you come in, its kind of like like going into a closet, you know, and you sift through everything. Its really cute.Janelle Shepard is exploring everything inside the J. D. Luxe fashion truck. The back of the truck is
5、 a mini-store. Clothing hangs on one side. Jewelry and purses are on the other side. The store is stylish and looks well organized. There is also a very small room for trying on clothes.Jordana Fortaleza is one of the stores owners.We have a lot of handmade jewelry, handmade clothing, handmade purse
6、s.She says the cost of owning a truck is much lower than making monthly payments for temporary use of store. And there is another reason to use a truck.Youre able to travel to your demographic.In other words, you can take your business to the customers. But Jordana Fortaleza admits there are difficu
7、lties.The biggest challenge is definitely the weather. When its cold, its cold outside and theres no one here.Another issue is keeping the truck in good condition. When a vehicle breaks down, the repairs can take days. Business stops during the repair work. That is what happened to Stacey Steffes fa
8、shion truck. So, for now, she is stuck in the office.We find ourselves in the mechanic shop at least once a year. Things happen. Our little trucks a little older.She says her 38-year-old fashion truck was the first in Los Angeles. That was two years ago. She started the West Coast Mobile Retail Asso
9、ciation after more fashion trucks started to appear in the city. Now the group has a nationwide membership of almost fifty trucks.Stacey Steffe says the weak economy is driving the industry.A lot of people have gone from brick and mortar to a mobile truck because its allowed them to keep their busin
10、ess afloat.Meagan Rogers is a fashion school graduate. She says owning a fashion truck has enabled her to start earning money while her classmates are still working in unpaid positions.The job market is so hard right now.Fashion trucks are giving Internet businesses some competition. California Fash
11、ion Association President Ilse Metchek says impulse purchases were once a big part of in-store sales. Impulse buyers are people who make purchases because of a sudden urge. Now many people make purchases online, where Ms. Metchek says impulse buying is rare. She says American shoppers may be more co
12、mpulsive in fashion trucks.This is a way to attract impulse purchasing. Theres a lot of money out there right now, just a lot of loose change.And there is a lot to purchase with that loose change. Stacey Steffe says business owners are putting more than just nice stores on wheels.Any kind of busines
13、s you can put in brick and mortar, you can put into a vehicle.So, there is a truck that sells flowers, and another that features specialty sportswear. A non-profit group, St. Vincent de Paul, sells used goods from its store on wheels. Such trucks have also attracted the attention of local officials.
14、 Ms. Steffe says she is working with the city of San Francisco to create laws to rule the growing industry.Football NewsAmericans this week have been asking questions about a star football player, Manti Teo.Manti Teo is a linebacker for the University of Notre Dame, a school in Indiana. He helped th
15、e team win all of its twelve games in the 2012 regular season. His team went on to the college footballs national championship game. It lost to University of Alabama.Teo led Notre Dame in tackles and interceptions. He was a nominee for an important honor in college football, the Heisman Trophy.When
16、asked about his performance on the field, Manti Teo said he played well because of his girlfriend, who died recently. He said the girlfriend, Lennay Marie Kekua, was a victim of the disease leukemia. He said she died on the same day that his grandmother died last September.But, there was a problem.
17、The girlfriend never existed. Last week, a sports website, Deadspin, reported that the story was not true. When the website asked Notre Dame about it, university officials said the story was a sophisticated hoax.In a statement, Teo said he had met the woman through the Internet and continued the rel
18、ationship online. He added that the whole incident had been painful and humiliating. Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said Manti Teo told the university about the problem on December 26th. He said a private investigation ordered by the university suggested that the player was a victim of
19、a mean joke.Now, Manti Teo has admitted that he lied - at least, in part. Teo spoke to Katie Couric, a reporter for ABC News. He said he got a call from someone claiming to be Keuka on December 6th. So, Teo said, he realized she was not dead. But he continued with that story publicly.In other footba
20、ll news, the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers are busy preparing for the Super Bowl. They will play for the championship of professional football Sunday, February 3rd.The game should be very memorable. Jim Harbaugh is head coach of the 49ers, while his brother John is head coach for the
21、Ravens. Their father Jack, a former coach, says he is giving his sons the same advice he gives to others in football: Get ahead, stay ahead.The LumineersThe Lumineers is a band based in Denver, Colorado. The group released its first album, The Lumineers, last April. Recently, the record went gold, m
22、eaning 500 thousand copies had been sold.Faith Lapidus has more on the group, The Lumineers, and the album.The most popular song from the album is Ho, Hey. It is number one on three Billboard singles charts: rock, adult pop and alternative. A lot of people think of Ho, Hey as a love song. And, The L
23、umineers say it is. But, lead singer and guitarist Wesley Schultz says it is also about his personal struggles when he was living and working in New York City.The three members of The Lumineers were excited when asked to perform at the Grammy nominations concert. But they were also very surprised wh
24、en they were named as nominees. The band is up for Grammy awards as Best New Artist and Best Americana Album. Drummer Jeremiah Fraites told reporters, We had no idea.Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz grew up in New Jersey and have been playing music together for about eight years. They found celli
25、st Neyla Pekarek, a native of Denver, after they moved to that city.Critics have mostly praised The Lumineers. Some have called the albums sound, expansive, and its songs, inventive.Neyla Pekarek told one reporter that the bands style developed naturally. She said it came from a lot of writing, expe
26、rimenting and making changes to let the lyrics tell the stories they were meant to tell.We leave you with one of those stories. This is Stubborn Love from the album The Lumineers.*更多资料请访问VOA英语学习网（）*VOA慢速英语新闻听力（VOA Special English），每天更新： VOA常速英语新闻听力（VOA Standard English），每天更新： BBC英语新闻听力，每天更新： CNN英语新闻听力，每天更新： CRI英语新闻听力，每天更新： NPR英语新闻听力，每天更新： AP NEWS英语新闻听力，每天更新：