some New Yorkers are even pushing for the entire area to be off limits to traffic: modeling Times Square after a European plaza.
It has not always been this way. Until a decade or so ago, Times Square had the well-deserved reputation of a seedy neighborhood teeming with prostitutes and drug dealers. A sizeable part of the area's economy came from stores selling pornography or cheap knock-off goods. The city government neglected the area, spending little of its tourism budget on improvements.
But today, theaters, restaurants and upscale stores have replaced the sex shops. A thriving partnership between City Hall and private businesses, such as Disney Company, has revitalized Times Square.
The current mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, has made it a priority to clean up the area. Crime rates have declined and visitors feel a lot safer on the square. Part of that effort has involved the Times Square Business Improvement District and its President, Brendan Sexton.
Mr. Sexton and his colleagues are launching a new line of Times Square clothing and accessories which, they hope, will compete with everything else on offer to visitors to New York. Instead of just passing through Times Square and stopping only to take a picture of all the
flashing lights and neon signs, Mr. Sexton hopes tourists will stop and shop, and bring a little piece of the revitalized Times Square home with them.
Part III Americans love chocolate
Chocolate is one of the most popular holiday gifts. Gifts of chocolate molded into different shapes have become traditional on certain holidays. Chocolate bunnies and eggs are popular on Easter, chocolate coins on Hanukkah, snowmen and other holiday symbols on Christmas, and chocolate hearts or chocolate in heart-shaped boxes on Valentine's Day. Chocolate most commonly comes in dark, milk, and white varieties, with cocoa solids contributing to the brown color. Audioscript：
Chocolate is as big a part of American culture as baseball and apple pie. But its roots run much deeper.
Cheri Friedman knows how much America loves chocolate. She is co-owner of Kron Chocolatiers, a small, gourmet chocolate shop that opened 32 years ago in Washington, D.C.
\melts in your mouth. There's a warm sensation. \
Friedman says she takes pride in the fact that Kron's chocolates are made with the finest ingredients, right on the premises.
Americans' love of chocolate has helped to make it a big business in this country. Mark Sesler is senior vice president of marketing at Russell Stover Candies, one of the largest manufacturers of chocolate in the United States.
According to Sesler, the industry got its start in the early 1900s with small-scale chocolatiers such as Steven Whitman, and Claire and Russell Stover. They started with small stores -- much like Kron -- but soon expanded their business into broader markets -- thanks, Sesler notes, to an important technological advance.
\chocolate very prevalent throughout the United States. I think chocolate has secured its place as a delectable treat for a number of societies and a number of countries. So I think we're just one of many countries who enjoy the delicacy that is chocolate.\
Susan Fussell is spokesperson for the National Confectioner's Association, a trade group that represents virtually everyone who's involved in the production and sale of candy in the United States. And why does Fussell think chocolate is so universally popular \
ingredients in chocolate is cocoa butter. And cocoa butter melts at body temperature. So when you put chocolate in your mouth, it has a mouth feel that's unlike any other food that you eat. It has that
melt-in-your-mouth sensation right there on your tongue, and it is very hard to approximate that with any other food.\ Audioscript：
Chocolate is as big a part of American culture as baseball and apple pie. But its roots run much deeper.
Made from the seed of the tropical cacao tree, chocolate dates back at least 3 000 years to the ancient civilizations of Central and South America, where the cacao tree is native. The Aztec people valued the tree's cocoa beans so much, they used them as currency.
In what is now Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, in the southwestern United States, new archaeological evidence shows that people were eating chocolate here more than 1 000 years ago.
And they're still at it. Today, the average American eats almost 5 kilograms of chocolate each year.
Cheri Friedman knows how much America loves chocolate. She is co-owner of Kron Chocolatiers, a small, gourmet chocolate shop that opened 32 years ago in Washington, D.C.
\melts in your mouth. There's a warm sensation. \
Friedman says she takes pride in the fact that Kron's chocolates are made with the finest ingredients, right on the premises.
Americans' love of chocolate has helped to make it a big business in this country. Mark Sesler is senior vice president of marketing at Russell Stover Candies, one of the largest manufacturers of chocolate in the US.
According to Sesler, the industry got its start in the early 1900s with small-scale chocolatiers such as Steven Whitman, and Claire and Russell Stover. They started with small stores -- much like Kron -- but
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