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TEXT:Some 200 scientists and other staffers gathered at Fermilab -- at two o'clock in the morning - to watch the announcement from Geneva. Many of them have strong connections to the CERN experiment - using the atom-smashing Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to locate the Higgs boson, including the head of the CMS group, Patricia McBride.

"A lot of the techniques that are being used there were first tried out here. A lot of people did their training here," said McBride.

Scientists have spent hundreds of millions of dollars creating technologically advanced devices that can smash atoms together, and tens of thousands of hours of manpower pouring over the resulting data. But they now believe they have found what looks like the subatomic particle known as the Higgs boson.

Fermilab Staff Scientist Robert Roser says the Higgs boson is a particle that attracts other particles, and explains how matter has mass. This gives clues to how planets, and ultimately life, is formed. But he points out his colleagues at CERN were careful to say they found a "Higgs-like" object, but not the Higgs boson itself.

"It's a subtle difference and so what they will do over the course of the many years, they will start to investigate all of its properties to see if it acts, if it smells, tastes, and behaves the way they expect it to," noted Roser.

Fermilab was home to the LHC's predecessor, the Tevatron Accelerator, which went offline late last year. Roser says the final data produced by the Tevatron is consistent with CERN's findings. He says it all adds up to dramatic changes for scientists.

"The finding of this will change the way science views the world immediately, and will change the way I go to work tomorrow. The way it affects the general public, not so much," Roser added.

While it's not clear yet where the finding will ultimately lead, McBride and Roser say the technology developed to find the Higgs boson has already helped produced technology that we take for granted today.

"So it's not fair necessarily to ask me today what the practical benefits of the Higgs boson is… I think we'll know in the course of time what that is. But that said, mankind has always asked the question "why" and we are one step closer to understanding that," Roser said.

The next step, says Roser, is confirming without a scientific doubt that what they now believe is the Higgs Boson, actually is.

2.VOA慢速
【A Comic Book About Business Finance】

TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

You probably have heard of comic book heroes like Superman, Batman and Spiderman. But what about Tom the motorcycle shop owner, Joe Knight and Karen Berman?
Tom, Joe and Karen all appear in a comic book called “Financial Intelligence.” But Mr. Knight and Ms. Berman are real people. In two thousand six, they wrote a book called “Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean.” It was written for people who need to learn quickly about accounting. The book explains, in simple ways, often-complex methods of keeping financial information. It became a best-seller.

This month, publisher SmarterComics released a comic book that provides the same information in easy-to-understand, picture form. The new book is a combination of a textbook and a graphic novel. It tells the story of Tom, a mechanic who must quickly learn how to direct the motorcycle repair shop his father founded. Tom has no experience with finance, and is struggling with the business. Joe Knight and Karen Berman help him. Artist Dave Wachter made illustrations for the comic book.

Franco Arda is the founder and head of SmarterComics. He formerly worked as an investment banker. He started the company almost three years ago with his own money. He wanted to create educational comics that increase understanding.

FRANCO ARDA: “I think almost everybody understands the phrase that ‘a picture says a thousand words,’ so, I mean, mentally, probably ninety percent of us grew up with comics and they understand that comics or illustrations help learning a concept much quicker than just text alone.” (:21)

Franco Arda says “Financial Intelligence” will help readers quickly understand many of the major areas of accounting.

FRANCO ARDA: “Within an hour, you kind of get the idea of accounting, very quickly and not in a boring way. So you get these illustrations, you get the basics of accounting and you get some balance sheets and cash-flow statements.” (:13)

The new comic book is available in paperback. There will also be versions for iPad and iPhone users.

The website Entrepreneur.com named SmarterComics to its list of 100 Brilliant Companies of 2012. The company has created comic book versions of more than ten other books. These include “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli and “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. Later this year, SmarterComics plans to release a comic book by rapper 50Cent.

You can see some pages from the “Financial Intelligence” comic book on our website, VOASpecialEnglish.com. And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Chris Cruise. I’m Mario Ritter.

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