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聲音檔 Sanrio, the Japanese company that defines cute , is 50 years old. Its products include Hello Kitty. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports that a new generation of artists is reinterpreting Sanrio's images. MANDALIT DEL BARCO: There's just something about the simple, yet classic Hello Kitty. Ms. CICI CORTES: Meow. DEL BARCO: Just ask five-year-old Cici Cortes about the sweet cartoon character , a Japanese bobtail cat 短毛貓 who loves baking cookies and was a UNICEF ambassador. Ms. CORTES: She has bows in her hair, she wears cute clothes and she has cute little whiskers . She doesn't have a mouth. DEL BARCO: So she can't talk to you. Ms. CORTES: Meow, meow, meow. DEL BARCO: Hello Kitty is the most recognizable of Sanrio's marketing sensations . Since 1974, her image has adorned everything from small plastic coin purses and pencils, to toaster ovens and TV's, with the sunny philosophy that small gifts create big smiles. But she's not just for young girls. T

聲音檔 Two big commercial movies open this week. "The Green Hornet" is screenwriter and star Seth Rogen's update of the old pulp radio and TV show 美國三零至五零年代有聲音特效的電台劇 about a masked hero and his kung fu sidekick. 搭檔 "The Dilemma" is a comedy, starring Vince Vaughn as a man who discovers a secret about the wife of his best friend, played by Kevin James. Film critic David Edelstein has a review of both films. DAVID EDELSTEIN: "The Green Hornet" and "The Dilemma" are big-budget male buddy pictures: The first is a semi-satirical action movie, the second, a comedy that turns serious. Both are well made, and both are tiresome. Folks, the bromance motif, in which grown men wrestle with their masculinity while acting like juveniles, has been wrung dry. 擰乾 意味著乏味老梗 "The Green Hornet" at least is likable, and a refreshing change from all those heavy, angst-ridden superhero movies. The director is Michel Gondry of "Eternal Sunshine of the

聲音檔 If you want to start a food fight, just ask people what are the world’s great cuisines? Culinary lore 傳統民間知識 identifies three. Two seem obvious. The third is a bit of a puzzle . WEEKEND EDITION's food commentator Bonny Wolf explains. BONNY WOLF: Chinese and French, right? Right. What’s the third great cuisine? It’s not Indian, Japanese or even Italian . It’s Turkish. Think about it: the Ottoman Empire 奧圖曼帝國 covered three continents for 600 years. They controlled the spice trade. In Istanbul, the sultans 蘇丹土耳其皇帝 huge palace kitchens at Topkapi housed up to 1,300 staff preparing - sometimes for thousands - poached chicken with walnut sauce, rice pilaf 土耳其肉飯 with eggplant and meatballs , salads with rose petals. Ottoman rule extended from Budapest to Baghdad and much of the Mediterranean basin. Turkish nomads had been moving through central Asia toward the Middle East for a few thousand years. Then, at the end of the 13th century, one group the Ottomans set up permanen

聲音檔 This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Michele Norris. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel. Scientists exploring the Gulf of Mexico have discovered a patch of dead and dying coral. It is seven miles from the site of the blown-out 瓦斯或油井噴出 BP oil well 英國石油油井 , and the scientists suspect the coral was harmed by the spill . NPR's Richard Harris has the story. RICHARD HARRIS: Researchers set out on a government research vessel in October to continue a four-year-long study of corals in the Gulf of Mexico. Chuck Fischer from Penn State University was on the trip. Mr. CHUCK FISCHER (Researcher, Penn State University): For most of this cruise , what we saw were healthy coral communities at depths from 500 to 2,500 meters , all over the Gulf of Mexico. HARRIS: Or all under the Gulf of Mexico because at these great depths, we're not talking about reefs teeming with 充滿了 colorful fish but corals that live in the dark, on the sea floor . 海床上 Fischer says

聲音檔  And now we're going to hear about raw milk, the milk that comes straight from the cow. It's illegal to sell in many states, but some people find a way to buy it because they think raw milk is better for them. NPR's April Fulton has the story. APRIL FULTON: It's three o'clock in the afternoon on a sweltering summer day in Bowie, Maryland, and the Reitzig kids are ready for their snack. Ms. LIZ REITZIG: Good job, Buddy. Good job. FULTON: That's stay-at-home mom Liz Reitzig. She helps her youngest son, Duncan, who's almost two, pour the milk into his bowl of freshly sliced peaches. Ms. REITZIG: Mmm. FULTON: But Duncan's milk is practically contraband 違禁品 because it's illegal to sell raw milk in Maryland. Raw milk isn't pasteurized 低溫殺菌 , and it's hard to get. The stuff you buy at the store is usually pasteurized, which means it's super heated to kill harmful germs. But there are some people willing to take that risk with raw milk,

聲音檔 PATTI NEIGHMOND : I'm Patti Neighmond. As we age, our appetites may not change, but that can mean weight gain . Just ask Shirley. We can't use her last name because of privacy issues at UCLA, where she's taking part in a study. But Shirley has something to say that might sound familiar. SHIRLEY: Weight is a very hard thing to lose . It's easier to gain it than it is to lose it. And I'm - I probably have never been as heavy as I am now. NEIGHMOND: At 73 years old, Shirley says she is overweight , which is why when her doctor suggested she take part in a yoga study for seniors , she happily agreed. A few months later, she says, she saw big changes. SHIRLEY: I had more endurance . I felt invigorated . When I left that class and I walked to my car, it was like the sun was shining and everything was terrific . So it made me feel very good. NEIGHMOND: And she lost weight. You’ve heard it all before: Exercise is even more important as we age because of the biolog