Learning English Podcast - December 22, 2024
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Hello and welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Ana Mateo. And I'm Brian Lynn.

This program is aimed at English learners, so we speak slowly and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English. On today's show, Ana Mateo brings us words and their stories.

Jill Robbins has a story on a hospital in Venezuela where old toys find new life. And we also have the weekly science report. We will end the program with a lesson of the day. This time, Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins discuss how to correctly use the expressions supposed to and ought to.

But first... One by one, volunteers rescue and repair toys that show the marks of use. They sew clothing and brush fur and hair, add filling, and dress the toys. The workers are fixing them to again be given to children. This is the work of the Hospital for Soft Toys, a project in Venezuela's capital, Caracas.

The effort began with a mother's question: What do you do with all the toys once children outgrow them? About 60 volunteers now meet at least twice a week. They work on Barbie dolls, toy bears, and baby dolls that children have left behind. The group estimates it has recycled about 70,000 toys in the past seven years.

Its volunteers work faster around the Christmas holiday. Mirari Acosta is a 63-year-old architect who represents the Hospital for Soft Toys. She said the idea came from a teacher named Lilian Gluck. In 2017, Gluck was looking for something to do with her children's toys as they grew older. She did not want to throw them out or let them fall apart.

She decided to wash them, fix them up, and donate them to children staying in the University Hospital of Caracas. The effort was popular. So, a few months later, she opened the Hospital for Soft Toys at her home. It is a non-profit foundation that also collects and repairs other toys and educational games.

The foundation receives donations from other countries that can include school supplies, diapers, shoes, food, and candy. All have been welcomed in a country that has seen years of economic crisis and renewed political unrest after July's election. Sylvia Heiber has volunteered for almost three years. She is 72 years old.

she said that smoothing a soft toy's fur or fixing a doll's hair for another child to care for is also helpful for the volunteers by doing this all of us who come here are in therapy a therapy of support for one another heiber said mirna morales is a seventy six year old teacher and volunteer she called it one of the best experiences i've ever had

Maria Poleo, who is 84 years old, said the work is not difficult because all the volunteers know how to make or repair clothing. On some days, it seems there are not enough toys to repair, but then someone arrives at the door with more boxes and bags full of toys. The toys are delivered to hospitals and schools in poor areas, but also to homes for older people.

anyone who needs a little bit of affection heiber said each restored doll comes with a message advising its new owner to recycle it when they no longer want it hello i am your new friend it says i am a doll with experience because i played with another girl love me and take care of me and i will do the same with you

When you grow up, give me to another girl who will love me and play with me like you. I'm Jill Robbins. And now, words and their stories from VOA Learning English. In many parts of the world, temperatures are dropping for the winter season.

But even for those in warm weather, our show on the word cold will help your English. Cold is not just an adjective describing temperature. It can also describe stopping something suddenly and surprisingly. It also means starting or doing something without preparation.

These definitions give us several expressions and idioms. When someone or something stops cold, it stops completely, suddenly, and perhaps with surprise. For example, I was surprised when my car stopped cold on a recent trip. I had just had it fixed. With this expression, we often say the thing or person being stopped.

So, in that example, I could say, Engine trouble stopped my car cold. When we stop someone cold, we completely stop them from doing something suddenly or immediately. Here's an example. The sunset was so beautiful, it stopped me cold. Sometimes we add in my tracks to this expression, such as...

The sunset was so beautiful, it stopped me cold in my tracks. Other variations of this expression include "to stop someone dead in their tracks" and "to stop someone on a dime." They all mean the same thing. Something or someone has come to a standstill, and we can use them the same way.

Now let's talk about how we use cold in the business world. Sometimes we need to call someone who does not know us and we do not know them. These are cold calls. A cold call can also be a visit to a person or business. And usually we want to sell something.

For example, a salesperson may have a cold call list to get new business. Cold calls, whether on the phone or in person, are unsolicited. This means that no one asked or requested contact. In business and also in life, if you come to something cold or come into something cold, you are not prepared.

Here is an example. Last week, I came into the meeting cold. I hadn't read any of the materials. However, if you come in from the cold, you are in luck. It means you rejoin a group or a normal society again after being outside.

We often use this expression to describe someone like a spy who was able to come in from the cold and enjoy a normal life. Come in from the cold can also be used when someone or something becomes popular, accepted, or active again after being unpopular, unaccepted, and inactive for a time.

And that's all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. Until next time, I'm Ana Mateo.

The American Space Agency, NASA, says it has found the likely cause of a crash that grounded its Mars helicopter, Ingenuity. The finding comes after NASA said it had carried out the first aircraft accident investigation on another world.

Ingenuity arrived on Mars along with NASA's Perseverance Explorer or rover in February 2021. The experimental helicopter took its last flight, number 72, in January. That flight ended in a hard landing on the Martian surface.

In April 2021, Ingenuity became the first aircraft to complete a powered, controlled flight on another planet. The aircraft was built to test takeoff, short flight and landing operations.

The flights on Mars aimed to support NASA's efforts to build new aircraft that can fly in the atmospheres of other planets. Engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California fully investigated Ingenuity's last flight on Mars.

They found the cause of the crash was linked to the helicopter's navigation system. That camera-based system was not able to collect dependable data on elements of the Martian surface to support a safe landing. A detailed final report on the accident is to be issued in the coming weeks.

But the engineers have already described their main findings in a statement published online. They said the helicopter's last flight saw the aircraft climb to about 12 meters, where it stayed or hovered while capturing images of the Martian surface.

Data records show Ingenuity began its planned descent after about 19 seconds. By 32 seconds, the helicopter was back on the surface and was no longer sending communication signals.

the next day ingenuity team members re-established communications and received images from its last flight the images showed the aircraft suffered severe damage to its rotor blades

NASA explained that Ingenuity's navigation system plays an important part in collecting data about the surface to ensure the aircraft can complete a smooth landing. The helicopter uses a camera that points downward, capturing information about what is below the craft.

In past flights, the engineers said the camera was able to find smooth, suitable landing possibilities. But NASA said during the final flight, the helicopter was traveling in an area with very few surface features for the camera to capture.

This meant the aircraft's navigation system could not find enough of these features to choose a good landing spot. At the time, Ingenuity was operating together with NASA's Perseverance rover in an area of Mars known as Jezero Crater.

The images, recovered from ingenuity, suggested the navigation system's inability to pick up surface features made the helicopter descend too fast. The hard landing on a sand hill is believed to have caused the helicopter to turn over and roll.

The engineers said images showed that all four of Ingenuity's rotor blades broke at their weakest point. The damaged blades also caused the aircraft to shake. Events related to the crash led to increased power demand, which resulted in the loss of communications.

Although the crash ended Ingenuity's flight operations, NASA said it is still able to provide and send back weather information and other kinds of data. The space agency says this information could be helpful in designing future aircraft or other explorers to be sent to Mars.

Teddy Zanettos is Ingenuity's project manager. He said in a statement, one major thing the team learned was that future aircraft designed for space travel do not necessarily need to be large flying machines.

Zanettos added that ingenuity's longevity suggests that not everything needs to be bigger, heavier, and radiation-hardened to work in the Martian environment.

With this in mind, NASA engineers have been testing smaller, lighter flying vehicles with limited electronics in order to produce future helicopters that can make a large number of smaller exploration trips. Zanettos shared details about one aircraft NASA is currently developing,

It is called the Mars Chopper Rotocraft. Zanettos said Chopper is about 20 times heavier than Ingenuity. Developers say it would be built to carry several kilometers of science equipment while self-exploring distant areas of Mars.

Chopper would also have a much longer travel ability, flying up to 3 kilometers in a day. Ingenuity's longest flight was 704 meters. Zanettos said that overall, Ingenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars.

And now it's time for the lesson of the day on the Learning English Podcast. My name is Jill Robbins, and I'm joined by Andrew Smith. Hi, Andrew. Hi, Jill. Our lesson is based on our video series, Let's Learn English. The series shows Ana Mateo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. Here's Ana introducing herself. Hello. My name is Ana Mateo.

In lesson 28 of level 2 of the series, Anna and her friend Kelly are helping with a research project about birds. They are trying to count the number of birds they see and hear in an area near their office. Unfortunately, Anna does not find many birds. Instead, she finds something else. Listen to find out what that is.

And we're going to listen for the expressions supposed to and ought to. And we'll explain different ways native speakers use those expressions. But now, let's listen to the first part of Lesson 28. I am so glad we joined the great city bird count. Aren't you? No. Today has been a bust. A flop.

A bummer! I'm sensing a little disappointment. A little? Well, my official bird watching form is almost full. I've only seen pigeons. Lots and lots of pigeons. But I did write down some other valuable information. Did you find a bird's nest? No.

I found 10 ice cream trucks in this five block area. Their music seems to follow me everywhere. We're supposed to be counting birds, not ice cream trucks. This is important scientific work. My data will be pretty important. Anna only saw one kind of bird, a pigeon.

And the music from the trucks selling ice cream got Anna's attention more than the sound of birds did. That's why she says, Today has been a bust, a flop, a bummer. A bust, a flop, and a bummer.

are all informal ways of saying that something you were trying or hoping to do did not work and was really very disappointing. Anna was disappointed, but there is a good reason she could not count the birds. Her office in Washington, D.C., which, to tell a secret, is the same as our offices here at VOA Learning English, is in an area with many tourists. And tourists get hungry.

So, there are a lot of food trucks in the area, and they play music all day long. And they play the same song all day long, over and over. I used to get so sick of Turkey and the Straw. Yes, they do play the same song over and over. Anna hears this music and sees that many of the trucks are selling ice cream.

It's hard for her to focus on birds instead of ice cream. But she's supposed to focus on birds. We're supposed to be counting birds, not ice cream trucks. This is important scientific work. The modal verb "supposed to" can be used in two ways. In this example, Kelly is saying that the expected behavior is for Anna to find birds.

So, we can use "supposed to" when we want to talk about behavior we expect other people to do. For example, for rules that we generally expect people to follow, we can say something like, "You're supposed to come to class on time." Native speakers also use "supposed to" as a way of saying what is predicted or expected to happen in the future.

For example, we might say, it's supposed to rain tomorrow. That means it is likely to rain. And when you hear someone talking quickly or a child speaking, you might hear, as in, you're supposed to eat all your vegetables. That's right. That's another example of how our pronunciation changes when we're speaking quickly. Now, let's listen to the next part of Lesson 28.

Keep in mind that Anna is also very interested in spies. Spies are people who try to steal secret information from other countries or from other organizations. And listen for when Anna uses the modal verb ought to. No birds. Oh wait, there's another ice cream truck. Anna, focus on birds.

Oh, but that truck has my favorite flavor. Banana. That man is in the way. I can't see the price. I wonder what flavor he's getting. Strawberry. He doesn't seem like a strawberry kind of guy. In fact, he doesn't seem like an ice cream truck kind of guy. That suit looks expensive. Maybe he's a spy.

You know what that means. The ice cream truck driver is a spy too. Genius. It's a perfect disguise. What? The man in the suit left his briefcase at the ice cream truck. I was right. He is a spy. And he just dropped off top secret information. I ought to do something. Something needs to be done. I need to do something. Music

I did it! I took the spy's briefcase. What's that? The ice cream truck. It's following me. It wants the case back. I have to hide. This is my life now. Running. Scared. Alone. It's following me everywhere. Hey, you found my briefcase.

I mean, I caught you. Well, I just want my briefcase. All my poems are in there. Poems? You're a poet? Well, I'm a lawyer, but I write poems, too. So you're not a spy? You look disappointed. No, that's okay. It's not your fault. Poems are nice, too, I guess. Once again, Anna's imagination makes her do something unusual.

In this case, she steals a man's briefcase. He uses it to carry his papers. Ana's lucky she did not get in trouble. And Ana really ought to think more carefully before she acts. Yes, and I think that's good advice for most of us. Now, let's hear that part again where Ana uses the modal ought to. I was right. He is a spy. And he just dropped off top secret information.

I ought to do something. Something needs to be done. I need to do something. The modal ought to can be used in more than one way. As Anna uses it here, she is making a strong suggestion. In this case, it is a suggestion to take action to stop someone from spying. But native speakers also use ought to as a way to make suggestions that are not so strong.

They often use it to just give advice in an informal way. For example, if I see a really good movie, I can suggest that Jill see it. So I can simply say, hey Jill, you ought to see this movie. Did you notice Andrew said oughta because he was speaking quickly? So you can use it to make a strong suggestion and express disapproval at the same time.

For example, if students misbehave and don't listen to their teacher, the teacher might say to them, "You ought to start listening, otherwise you're going to fail this class." In this case, the teacher uses "ought to" as a way of scolding the students. To scold is to strongly tell someone that their behavior is bad. At the end of lesson 28, Anna guesses that the man's favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry.

And then she makes a little joke using an expression about birds. What's your favorite flavor? Banana. Well, my favorite flavor is... Strawberry. How'd you know that? A little bird told me. When we say, a little bird told me, that is an expression that means we have a special or secret way of knowing something about someone.

And in this case, Anna's joke has sort of a double meaning because Anna was spying on the man when he bought the ice cream, but at the same time, she could not find any birds for the research project. There is always a lot of humor and funny situations in the Let's Learn English series. And remember that each lesson comes with a lesson plan you can download for free from our website.

Andrew, you know, this episode reminds me, we made friends with one of the ice cream truck drivers, and he was so nice. Anyway, a little bird is telling me we ought to finish this lesson of the day. What do you say? I say okay. And listeners, remember that you can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Thanks for listening. I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Jill Robbins.

And that's all the time we have for today's show. But join us again tomorrow for another VOA Learning English program. I'm Brian Lynn. And I'm Anamit.