Doctor Ronald Victor

编辑器加载中...The expression also means a great show of noisy anger, or something exciting. For example, a defense lawyer in a court trial may become very emotional in arguing with the government lawyer about evidence affecting the accused. The judge finally stops the loud argument and calls the two lawyers forward. He tells them, "I want no more of these fireworks in my courtroom."

Another kind of fireworks can be any event or activity that is especially exciting. One such event is falling in love. If anything can produce fireworks, it is a sweetheart's kiss or the touch of a lover's hand. Often movie or television cartoons show fireworks to represent the excitement of a kiss.

People use the expression fireworks throughout the year. But if you live in the United States and want to see real fireworks, the best time of the year is about now. The Fourth of July is Independence Day in the United States. Americans traditionally celebrate their nation's freedom with giant public parties and fireworks at night.

In Washington, for example, large crowds gather near the Washington Monument to listen to music and watch a huge fireworks show. In other cities and smaller towns, local people listen to band concerts and watch fireworks explode in a dark sky.

Many other countries around the world also enjoy the tradition of exploding fireworks on special days. In Australia, the city of Sydney begins each new year with a fireworks show at midnight. China is the birthplace of fireworks. Large fireworks shows were held often during earlier times in China. Now, people use small fireworks to help celebrate weddings and birthdays.

France also has a great fireworks tradition. A large fireworks show always takes place on Bastille day which celebrates the beginning of the French Revolution. The French city of Cannes holds an international fireworks competition each year in July and August.

In India, people have been using fireworks for more than five hundred years. A great Indian fireworks show takes place during the religious celebration of Diwali, every autumn.

Fireworks shows are popular around the world. But if I do not end this program right now, there will be fireworks from my producer.

But the traditional barbershop still holds a special place in black culture. A barbershop is a place of trust where men can talk about things they might not want women to hear. This is why black-owned barbershops increasingly offer more than just a haircut. Men also receive health education and testing that could save their life.

Right now a program called the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program is traveling to fifty cities across the United States. A doctor started the program in California in two thousand seven. It tests men for diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions, and provides information about how to stay healthy.

Black men are three times more likely than white men in the United States to die from high blood pressure, also known as hypertension. They are also more likely to get diabetes.

A new study has examined the barbershop health-care model in Dallas, Texas. The study involved about one thousand three hundred customers at seventeen black barbershops.

Researchers had the barbers at eight of the shops continue to just give haircuts. The other barbers learned how to measure blood pressure and offered it with every haircut.

If a customer had a high blood pressure, the barber would intervene. The customer would be urged to see a doctor. If the man did not have a doctor, then a visit to one would be set up. Customers who went to a doctor would get their next haircut free of charge.

The study lasted ten months. All of the men had their blood pressure taken at the start. They also received educational materials about hypertension.

The study found that blood pressure rates decreased at the shops where the barbers intervened and also at those where they did not. But the difference was in the amount.

Twenty percent of the men who were urged to see a doctor got their blood pressure down to a healthy level. So did only eleven percent of the men who just got haircuts.

Researchers from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles did the study, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Doctor Ronald Victor, the study leader, says barbers historically were members of the medical profession. So he thinks it makes a lot of sense for today's barbers to act as "health care extenders" by sharpening their skills.