Lil Pond English Language Resources for Teachers and Students

Topic 7 : Arnold Schwarzenegger

Our VOA listener question this week comes from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Pham Hong Hai asks about the new governor of California. Let's start at the beginning.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Graz, Austria, in nineteen-forty-seven. At the urging of his father, he began weightlifting at the age of fifteen. Five years later, he won the Mister Universe bodybuilding competition. This was his first of thirteen world bodybuilding championships. Others included Mister Olympia and Mister World.

When he was twenty-one, Arnold Schwarzenegger moved to the United States. He was interested in business. His first business was laying bricks for homes. He earned a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Wisconsin. He did this through a special program while living in California. And he invested in property in Santa Monica, California.

Mister Schwarzenegger also became interested in movies. In nineteen-seventy-seven, he appeared in "Pumping Iron," a documentary about the Mister Olympia competition. This film led to his first major Hollywood part. He starred as “Conan the Barbarian.”

He went on to appear in other action films. These included “The Terminator,” “Predator,” “Total Recall,” and “True Lies." He has also starred in comedies, including the nineteen-ninety movie "Kindergarten Cop."

Mister Schwarzenegger has supported efforts to get more money for children's programs in California. He helped expand the Los Angeles Inner-City Games to fifteen cities. This is a sports program for children threatened by violence and drugs. He also serves as world ambassador to the Special Olympics.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver started the Special Olympics, for people with disabilities, in nineteen-sixty-seven. She is the sister of President John F. Kennedy. She is also the mother of Maria Shriver, whom many Americans know as a television reporter. Maria Shriver was next to Mister Schwarzenegger as he took office last month. Not as a reporter, but as his wife and now the first lady of California.