[ti:You Do Not Have to Be a Rocket Scientist]
[ar:Phil Murray]
[al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:10.29]Hello. I'm Phil Murray  
[00:14.57]with WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, 
[00:16.61]a program in Special English.
[00:19.64]"You do not need 
[00:21.60]to be a rocket scientist." 
[00:24.14]Americans hear these words often. 
[00:28.27]People say them in schools, 
[00:30.61]offices and factories. 
[00:33.05]Broadcasters on radio 
[00:35.49]and television use them.
[00:38.03]This is how you might 
[00:40.72]hear the words used.
[00:42.71]Workers in an office 
[00:45.39]are afraid to try to use 
[00:48.43]their new computer system. 
[00:50.92]Their employer tells them 
[00:53.47]not to be foolish. 
[00:55.21]"You do not need to be 
[00:57.74]a rocket scientist 
[01:00.43]to learn this," he says.
[01:02.02]Or, high school students 
[01:04.81]cannot seem to understand 
[01:07.70]something their teacher 
[01:09.39]is explaining. 
[01:10.88]"Come on," she says. 
[01:12.87]"You do not need 
[01:14.96]to be a rocket scientist 
[01:17.15]to understand this."
[01:19.39]Or, a company that makes soap 
[01:23.62]is trying to sell its product 
[01:26.76]on television. 
[01:28.65]"You do not need to be 
[01:31.09]a rocket scientist to see 
[01:33.48]that our soap cleans better," 
[01:36.41]the company says.
[01:38.15]These words send a strong message. 
[01:42.20]They say that you do not need 
[01:45.63]to be extremely intelligent 
[01:49.01]to understand something.
[01:51.41]How did the expression begin?
[01:54.85]No one seems to know for sure. 
[01:58.53]But an official of the American 
[02:02.16]space agency, NASA, 
[02:06.22]says the expression just grew. 
[02:09.85]It grew, he says, because 
[02:13.15]rocket scientists probably 
[02:16.00]are the most intelligent 
[02:18.84]people around.
[02:20.29]Not everyone would agree.
[02:23.22]Some people might 
[02:25.66]be considered 
[02:26.61]more intelligent 
[02:28.30]than rocket scientists. 
[02:30.14]For example, a person who speaks 
[02:33.52]and reads fifteen languages, 
[02:37.01]or a medical doctor 
[02:39.40]who operates on the brain.
[02:41.68]Still, many people would agree 
[02:45.42]that there is something special 
[02:49.05]about scientists who build rockets. 
[02:52.73]Maybe it has to do 
[02:55.38]with the mystery of space travel.
[02:58.47]Moving pictures from before 
[03:01.40]World War Two showed a man 
[03:04.59]named Buck Rogers landing 
[03:07.47]on the planet Mars. 
[03:09.41]He was a hero who could defeat 
[03:12.75]any enemy from outer space.
[03:16.14]The rocket scientist 
[03:18.63]is a different kind of hero.
[03:21.27]He or she makes space travel possible.
[03:26.10]Rocket scientists, however, 
[03:29.08]can have problems 
[03:30.77]just like anyone else.
[03:32.91]A Washington rocket scientist 
[03:36.55]tells about a launch that was 
[03:39.88]postponed many, many times. 
[03:42.57]Finally, everything seemed right. 
[03:46.65]Mechanical failures 
[03:48.89]had been repaired. 
[03:50.13]The weather was good.
[03:52.63]The scientists had planned 
[03:55.22]that part of the rocket would fall 
[03:58.30]into the ocean after the launch. 
[04:01.79]All ships and boats within 
[04:05.27]many kilometers of the danger area 
[04:08.46]had been warned. 
[04:09.65]But in the last few seconds 
[04:12.84]a small boat entered the area. 
[04:16.32]Once again, the launch was postponed.
[04:20.90]When the work goes well, 
[04:23.19]most rocket scientists 
[04:25.43]enjoy their jobs. 
[04:27.77]One scientist said, 
[04:29.86]"As a child I loved to build rockets. 
[04:34.14]Now I am grown. 
[04:36.37]I still love to build rockets. 
[04:39.71]And now I get paid for it."
[04:42.99](MUSIC)
[04:45.62]This program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, 
[04:51.30]was written by Jeri Watson. 
[04:54.44]I'm Phil Murray.