Learning English Podcast - February 19, 2025
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Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

On today's program, Ana Mateo tells the story of Mary Kay, an American business leader in the beauty products industry. Andrew Smith and Dorothy Gundy have advice for improving vocabulary. Andrew is back with a story about the aviation industry, followed by the lesson of the day. But first...

Mary Kay Cosmetics is an international company that sells beauty products. One woman started the business in the 1960s with an investment of $5,000. Mary Catherine Wagner was born in the state of Texas in 1918. For much of her childhood, she cared for her sick father.

while her mother worked long hours at a restaurant mary k married ben rogers when she was seventeen years old they had three children before he left home to serve in world war two when he returned their marriage ended mary k looked for a job so she could support her children she began selling different kinds of products

One night, Mary Kay was showing products at the home of Ova Heath Spoonmore. Ms. Spoonmore began giving her guests some homemade skincare products. The products were developed by her father, J.W. Heath. In Arkansas, Mary Kay tried the skincare products and liked them.

She bought the rights to Heath's skincare products and started her own company. She paid $500 for the legal rights to the products, and in 1963, the Mary Kay Cosmetics Company began operating in Dallas, Texas. The idea was to sell skincare products through demonstrations in homes and offices.

Independent sales representatives bought beauty products from the company and sold them at higher prices. Mary Kay decided that each representative who brought other saleswomen into the company would receive part of the new person's earnings. That way, experienced sales representatives would be willing to train new ones.

By 1965, the company was selling almost $1 million in products. Mary Kay Cosmetics became one of the most successful direct sellers of skincare products in America. It continues to have sales offices and representatives in many different countries.

Mary Kay aimed to grow sales based on the idea that it is best to compete against yourself. That means every individual is trying to beat their own sales records. Prizes for high sales marks included special paid holidays and jewelry. Until a few years ago, a pink Cadillac was a top prize.

After her third husband, Mel Ash, died of cancer in 1980, she wanted to help find a cure for the disease. At first, she helped organizations raise money for research. Later, she started the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit group that provides money to support research on cancers affecting women.

In 2001, the company and foundation expanded their goals to help prevent violence against women. Mary Kay Ash also wrote three books. She worked in her business until she suffered a stroke in 1996. She died in 2001.

Sales representatives say Mary Kay developed a way for women to earn money and still spend time with their families. I'm Ana Mateo. Let's look at two English learners. One knows about 500 words and understands how they are used in a sentence.

The other knows about 1,000 words but has some problems with grammar. Which person can understand and communicate more in English? Clearly, it is the person who knows 1,000 words. Some studies have shown that for learners to fully understand a written work,

they need to know 95% or more of the words in it. That means that if there are only five or more words you do not know in a 100-word text, you might not really understand it. In today's program, we will give you some advice for building up your vocabulary.

Vocabulary can mean a single word, two words such as phrasal verbs, or many words together such as an expression. There are two important things to keep in mind when trying to learn new vocabulary. First, connect new words to a story or a situation.

This makes it easier to remember vocabulary than studying words from lists. Second, be active, not passive. Make yourself use the new words. Here are some ways to do that. When you find a new word or expression in a story, repeat the sentence and think of the situation connected to the new vocabulary.

Write down, then repeat in your head three to five more sentences that use the new vocabulary. Make your own short story and include several new words you want to remember. Each time you retell the story, you will review the new vocabulary in your mind. Make yourself explain the new word like you are a teacher.

this is a great way to test how well you understand and can use the vocabulary and if you have a study partner you can explain the new vocabulary like you are a teacher it is better to learn just a few words in a group of related items instead of all the words in the group for example

If you try to learn the names of 12 different birds, you will certainly mix up which name goes with which bird. But if you simply learn the names of two or three birds and then learn a few more at another time, you will remember more easily.

Learn how a word can be used as different parts of speech such as a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. Here are examples of the word "hope" used in four different ways. There is no hope of success. I hope we win the game. Adjective:

The situation is hopeless. Adverb Hopefully, we will win the game. Be sure to learn which suffixes or endings are used for different parts of speech. For example, OUS, IC, FUL, and LESS make adjectives.

while "ion" and "ness" make nouns. Prepositions are among the hardest things for English learners to remember. For example, we say "amused by" and "happy with," but we cannot say "happy by."

So, you should memorize the word and its preposition together as one unit instead of two separate words. Music often makes it easier to remember words or phrases. Sing along with a song, but make sure that you can remember the new vocabulary without the music too.

After all, you do not want to sing every time you try to remember something. Learn the tone of the vocabulary. Tone means the feeling the word carries with it. Tone can be positive or negative and formal or informal. For example, the word idiotic means very stupid.

It has a strong negative feeling and can be used as an insult. And "Howdy" is a very informal use of "Hello". It is hard to learn about tone by yourself. The best way to learn the tone of vocabulary is to ask native speakers about it. There are many apps to help you learn vocabulary.

They use a way of learning called spaced repetition. For example, an app might show you a new word seven times in one day when the word is new, but then show you the word only once a week after you know it better. English in a Minute

Newswords and Words and Their Stories are three programs that center on vocabulary on VOA Learning English. But you can learn vocabulary from any VOA Learning English program. Most of all, remember to be active instead of passive.

Make yourself think and use new words, and you will see your vocabulary grow day by day. I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Dorothy Gundy. European manufacturer Airbus has announced a delay in its development efforts of a hydrogen-powered aircraft.

The company explained that progress on the project has been slower and more complex than expected. Airbus had set a goal to make a zero-emission airplane by 2035. The company has not announced a new target date for the plane's production.

but the french union force ouvrière said some of its aircraft workers were recently told the technology was running five to ten years behind reuters news agency reported

The French news agency AFP reported Airbus also said it had reduced the program's budget by 25%, but was still examining ways to reduce emissions. Our ambition and roadmap towards decarbonizing remain unchanged, an Airbus spokesman told AFP.

In September 2020, Airbus presented three hydrogen-fueled airplane designs, called Zero-E, as part of its efforts to decarbonize. Other airplane manufacturers, however, have centered more on renewable fuels or developing electric-powered planes for short-distance flights.

Airbus noted it has no plans to completely stop developing hydrogen-powered aircraft technology. The company said it sees hydrogen as a revolutionary energy source for aviation.

However, Airbus said in a statement to Reuters, it recognizes that developing systems to produce, transport, and store hydrogen represent a huge challenge requiring global collaboration and investment. Hydrogen motors do not release gases that can warm the Earth's atmosphere.

Instead, they release water. However, much of the hydrogen used for fuel is produced using natural gas or coal. Both of these production methods often release carbon dioxide gas, which can warm the atmosphere. Running renewable electricity through water can produce hydrogen without adding to carbon emissions.

However, this process is generally more costly. Transporting and storing hydrogen also present problems. As a gas at room temperature, hydrogen takes up a very large space. This makes it impossible to use as fuel. It first needs to be turned into a liquid to be transported or stored.

and it needs to be cooled to -253 degrees Celsius to be liquefied. This cooling process requires its own source of energy. Liquefied hydrogen still takes up four times the space of jet fuel.

The Airline Industry Trade Association believes aviation will reach most of its reduction in emissions by using Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF. It believes other technologies, like hydrogen, will take longer to develop.

SAF uses food and plant waste from cities, agricultural and forest wastes, and other non-petroleum sources. This fuel is then added to jet fuel in mixtures of 10 to 50 percent to become SAF.

Airbus says it agrees that SAF can also play an important part in reducing emissions, particularly for medium and long-distance flights. My name is Anna Mateo. My name is Andrew Smith. And I'm Jill Robbins. You're listening to The Lesson of the Day on The Learning English Podcast.

Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our series, Let's Learn English. The series shows Ana Mateo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. On the lesson of the day, we like to help you learn from even small amounts of the language you hear in the Let's Learn English series. Sometimes you can learn a lot from just a little.

Listen now to the beginning of lesson 32 of the series. See if you can notice little expressions Anna uses. First, to show excitement, and then to show that she is worried. Today is a big day. My first children's show is on television. I'm excited and nervous.

Hello, Anna. Hello, Ms. Weaver. Some people are going to watch your children's show. After they watch it, they'll tell me what they liked and what they didn't like. Oh, dear. Oh, dear is what we call an interjection. Those are words, sounds, or phrases we use to quickly show feelings.

Oh dear, shows that Anna is worried about whether people will like her new children's show. Ms. Weaver also looks very serious in the video, so I think Anna is worried about that too. But what interjection did Anna use to show her excitement? Today is a big day! My first children's show is on television! I'm excited! Woohoo is right!

When we get good news or are excited about something, we sometimes use this interjection. It's not really a word. It's more just like a sound. It's an interjection. Interjection, interjection, interjection, interjection, interjection. And what other interjection does Anna often say to show she is excited?

Here's a hint. It begins with the AW sound, and it is also a real word in English. And the interjection is? Awesome! Americans say this expression a lot, but our listeners might be curious to know what other meaning the word has. Awesome is an adjective, and the noun form of the word is AW.

spelled A-W-E. To feel awe is to feel very amazed or even frightened or fearful when you see or experience something big or special. For example, if you are looking at a huge mountain or the world's tallest building or a natural wonder such as the Grand Canyon in the United States,

you might have the feeling of awe. And so, you would say that the mountain or building is an awesome sight or an awesome thing to behold. Behold is sort of a fancy word that just means to see or look at. Jill, Anna said, "Oh dear," because she suddenly felt worried.

What are some other polite interjections we use when we are disappointed, upset, or worried? We say, uh-oh, if we think something is wrong. Like if we've made a mistake or a machine is broken. And if we get bad news or a bad result, we can say polite interjections like darn, rats, shucks, or shoot.

That's right. Believe it or not, we sometimes make mistakes when we're doing this podcast, and we might say something like that. For another example, if you are playing a sport and you make a bad mistake, you might say "rats." Of course, native speakers also say curse words, or words that are not polite, as interjections to express negative feelings such as frustration, anger, or disappointment.

But we'll let our listeners find those on their own. You're darn right we will. I'm Jill Robbins, and you're listening to the Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast. Now, let's go back to the beginning of Lesson 32. Listen to Ms. Weaver again. Some people are going to watch your children's show. After they watch it, they'll tell me what they liked and what they didn't like.

Here's a bit of grammar for our listeners. In her second sentence, Miss Weaver uses what we call a noun clause as the direct object of the verb tell. After they watch it, they'll tell me what they liked and what they didn't like. The noun clause is the words what they liked. A clause has a subject and a verb.

The subject is the pronoun "they" and the verb is "liked." Together, the words "what they liked" act just like a noun because they are the object of the verb "tell." They'll tell me what they liked. One mistake people learning English make is they will say, "What did they like in this situation?" because the word "what" makes it seem like a question.

But it's not a question. It's just a noun object of the verb. That's right. Like if I say, "Tell me the answer," the word "answer" is the object. So the noun clause works the same way. I can say, "Tell me what you think." What you think is the object. But what about the pronoun "me" in the sentence, "Tell me what you think"?

That is called the indirect object. It's like saying, "Tell what you think to me." But in English, we usually put the pronoun before the direct object. We can hear more examples of the indirect object in Lesson 32. Listen as Anna explains the special machine she will use in her children's show.

Hello, I'm Anna. Welcome to the Time Traveling Treehouse. This is not a usual treehouse. It can time travel! That's why it's called the Time Traveling Treehouse. Anna, do not forget me. Of course not. This is my partner, Mindy.

My name means massive information navigation device for you. That means we can travel to many places and learn many things. Kids from all over the world ask us questions. We find them answers. Woohoo! That is right, Anna. Mindy, what is our first question?

Layla asks us this question. We hope you heard the interjection that the machine named Mindy used. And the examples with pronouns as indirect objects placed before the direct object were these: Kids from all over the world ask us questions. We find them answers.

And... Layla asked us this question. On our website at [email protected], you can download for free the lesson plan that goes with Lesson 32 of Let's Learn English. It explains direct and indirect objects and many other things about Lesson 32. And now, here's a little poem that uses many indirect objects.

you gave me your hand and opened your heart you gave us a chance to make a new start i'll tell you my hopes i'll tell you my dreams i'll give you my love and all that it means like rivers that run from hills to the sea we'll flow day by day together and free i offer my words i open my door the day you walk in

I need nothing more. Oh, that's really sweet, Andrew. I hope your girlfriend likes it when you find her. I hope she does, too. And remember that you can ask us questions by writing us at [email protected]. You could also find us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Thanks for listening to the lesson of the day on the Learning English Podcast. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith.

And that's our show for today. But join us again tomorrow to keep learning English on The Voice of America. I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm...