Learning English Podcast - February 28, 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 this program, Andrew Smith answers a listener's question about the word "appeal." Katie shares listeners' messages about their birthdays on Everyday Grammar. John Russell has a story about the discovery of an ancient structure in Denmark. Then, the final part of Rappaccini's Daughter on American Stories. But first,

This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer the following question from a listener. Dear teacher, could you please say more about the meaning of appeal? Thank you. Like many words in English, appeal has more than one meaning. It can also be more than one part of speech.

a part of speech means the grammatical function a word has such as a noun verb adverb or adjective let's look at the many ways we can use the word appeal as a verb appeal means to make a request often in official situations or involving important things

Generally, we do not use appeal for normal, everyday requests. For example, we would not say, "I appeal for you to get some milk at the store." But we would say something like, "The earthquake victims appealed to the government for more aid."

we can change the meaning of appeal by making it an adjective one way to do this is to use the ing ending this forms the word appealing which describes something that has a pleasing quality consider the following examples that job is really appealing to me her dress looks really appealing

The nice weather makes that city so appealing. That argument is appealing to many voters. As shown in these examples, we can use the adjective appealing to describe many different things. The word appeal can also be used as a noun.

One meaning as a noun describes a formal or urgent request, as shown in the following examples: Their appeal for help was not answered. The employees made an appeal to reduce the number of hours of work. The second example above shows that we often use the verb "make" before the noun "appeal."

the word appeal can also be used as a noun to describe a quality that creates interest sympathy or attraction here are some examples of that usage the museum's design has a lot of appeal the appeal of that music is its simplicity using appeal in the law

Appeal is also often used in legal matters, both as a noun or a verb. As a noun, it means a formal request to a court to review a decision by another court. If one court accepts the other's request, we can say the court granted the appeal.

if the court rejects the appeal we can say the court denied it the following example shows appeal being used as a verb in legal english the defense team will likely appeal the decision an adjective form of appeal is also used in the legal system the adjective appellate

describes a kind of court that deals with cases that have been appealed for our readers and listeners what are your questions about american english was this lesson appealing to you we want to hear your thoughts send us an email at learning english at voanews dot com and please let us know where you are from too

And that's Ask a Teacher. I'm Andrew Smith. Our readers and listeners wrote many lovely messages about their birthdays. We have been reading all of them. Most messages are happy. You wrote about gifts you received, the people who celebrated with you, or where and how you celebrated.

Some messages seemed sad. Some of you do not get to celebrate your birthdays. Other messages were a mix of sad and happy. In this week's Everyday Grammar, we are looking at Farhana's message about her birthday. She wrote, My birthday was on last 23 March. This was my 27th birthday.

In my birthday, no one wished me except my younger sister. And actually, there was no devise for this day. I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day. Sometimes I felt sad, and sometimes I wasn't. Let us start at the beginning. Farhana writes, My birthday was on last 23 March.

We suggest changing this sentence to the present tense to say when your birthday is. My birthday is March 23rd. In American English, the usual order for dates is month, day, year. So instead of 23 March, Americans usually say March 23rd. You used the past tense in this sentence.

This was my 27th birthday. Another way we can say how old we are is to use the past tense of the verb "turn." I turned 27 this year. Here, "turn" means to reach or pass into a new age. Next, Farhana wrote this: In my birthday, no one wished me except my younger sister.

We can change the word order of this sentence to make it clearer. No one wished me happy birthday, except my younger sister. Instead of a prepositional phrase, "in my birthday," we can just start the sentence with "no one." "No one" is an indefinite pronoun, meaning "no person." You could also use the pronoun "nobody."

On to the next sentence. And actually, there was no devise for this day. Devise is a verb meaning to plan or think up something. You were close, but in this sentence, we need a noun. And we find it in the definition of devise. Plan. Actually, there was no plan for the day.

If you wanted to use the word devise however, you could. It would come right after plan in the sentence. Actually, there was no plan devised for the day. Farhana's next sentence is, I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day. We should make a few changes to this sentence.

AS and LIKE are both used to make comparisons between nouns. AS is an adverb and LIKE is a preposition. We only need one of these to make the comparison. We can say, "I spent my whole day like it was a normal day." Let us look now at Farhana's last sentence.

Sometimes I felt sad and sometimes I wasn't. We suggest changing this sentence to Sometimes I felt sad but other times I didn't. Now the two parts of the sentence agree in verb use. Also, we always capitalize the pronoun "I" in sentences.

We used the conjunction but with other times only to create more contrast. It is also correct to write, sometimes I felt sad and sometimes I didn't. Now, let's hear the revised message about Farhana's birthday. My birthday is March 23rd. I turned 27 this year.

No one wished me happy birthday, except my younger sister. Actually, there was no plan for the day. I spent my whole day like it was a normal day. Sometimes I felt sad, but other times I didn't. Thank you, Farhana, for your message. We would like to wish you a happy birthday early for next year. I'm Katie Weaver.

Danish researchers have announced the discovery of a collection of wooden pieces placed in a circle that are believed to date back thousands of years ago. The team says the wood pieces and some other objects were found during building work in the northwestern Danish town of Ars.

the discovery led the researchers to suggest the people who placed the wooden pieces might have been linked to a group who built britain's famous stonehenge stone structure a total of forty-five ancient wood pieces were discovered underground last week during building or construction work

the pieces formed a circle about thirty metres across in an email to the french news agency afp sidsall walen of the town's west himmerlands museum described the discovery as a once in a lifetime find the circle points to a strong connection with the british henge world she added

the british museum says on its website the first stones placed at stonehenge in southern england are believed to have started arriving there around three thousand b c the danish researchers said they were also looking to see whether an inner circle might also exist where the wooden pieces were found

wallen noted that in the past other wood circles had been found on the danish island of barnholm in the baltic sea but wallen said the circle in ours was the first one of this larger type that we can properly investigate

Archaeologists working at the building site also found an ancient settlement that included a leader's grave and a bronze sword. Wallen said her team was still carrying out detailed work in the area in an effort to estimate the age and purpose of the materials.

in particular the archaeologists are now searching for religious connected materials known as ritual deposits these might include flint arrowheads and small knives or daggers wallen said the researchers will continue looking for links between the ars site and other groups such as those who built stonehenge

She added the influence of other groups had already been found in some objects and graves found in Denmark. I'm John Russell. Now, the Special English Program, American Stories. Today we complete the story, Rappaccini's Daughter. It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Here is Kay Gallant with the second and final part of Rappaccini's Daughter. Many years ago, a young man named Giovanni Guasconti left his home in Naples to study in northern Italy.

He took a room in an old house next to a magnificent garden filled with strange flowers and other plants. The garden belonged to a doctor, Giacomo Rappaccini. He lived with his daughter, Beatrice, in a small brown house in the garden. From a window in his room, Giovanni had seen that Rappaccini's daughter was very beautiful.

But everyone in Padua was afraid of her father. Pietro Baglioni, a professor at the university, warned Giovanni about the mysterious Dr. Rappaccini. "He is a great scientist," Professor Baglioni told the young man, "but he is also dangerous. Rappaccini cares more about science than he does about people."

He has created many terrible poisons from the plants in his garden. One day, Giovanni found a secret entrance to Rappaccini's garden. He went in. The plants all seemed wild and unnatural. Giovanni realized that Rappaccini must have created these strange and terrible flowers through his experiments.

Suddenly, Rappaccini's daughter came into the garden. She moved quickly among the flowers until she reached him. Giovanni apologized for coming into the garden without an invitation, but Beatrice smiled at him and made him feel welcome. "'I see you love flowers,' she said, "'and so you have come to take a closer look at my father's rare collection.'"

While she spoke, Giovanni noticed a perfume in the air around her. He wasn't sure if this wonderful smell came from the flowers or from her breath. She asked him about his home and his family. She told him she had spent her life in this garden. Giovanni felt as if he were talking to a very small child.

Her spirit sparkled like clear water. They walked slowly through the garden as they talked. At last, they reached a beautiful plant that was covered with large purple flowers. He realized that the perfume from those flowers was like the perfume of Beatrice's breath, but much stronger.

The young man reached out to break off one of the purple flowers, but Beatrice gave a scream that went through his heart like a knife. She caught his hand and pulled it away from the plant with all her strength. Don't ever touch those flowers, she cried. They will take your life. Hiding her face, she ran into the house. Then...

Giovanni saw Dr. Rappaccini standing in the garden. That night, Giovanni could not stop thinking about how sweet and beautiful Beatrice was. Finally, he fell asleep. But when the morning came, he woke up in great pain. He felt as if one of his hands was on fire.

It was the hand that Beatrice had grabbed in hers when he had reached for one of the purple flowers. Giovanni looked down at his hand. There was a purple mark on it that looked like four small fingers and a little thumb. But because his heart was full of Beatrice, Giovanni forgot about the pain in his hand. He began to meet her in the garden every day.

At last, she told him that she loved him, but she would never let him kiss her or even hold her hand. One morning, several weeks later, Professor Baglioni visited Giovanni. "'I was worried about you,' the older man said. "'You have not come to your classes at the university for more than a month. Is something wrong?'

Giovanni was not pleased to see his old friend. 'No, nothing is wrong. I am fine, thank you.' He wanted Professor Barlioni to leave, but the old man took off his hat and sat down. 'My dear Giovanni,' he said, 'you must stay away from Rappaccini and his daughter. Her father has given her poison from the time she was a baby.

"'The poison is in her blood and on her breath. "'If Rappaccini did this to his own daughter, "'what is he planning to do to you?' "'Giovanni covered his face with his hands. "'Oh, my God!' he cried. "'Don't worry,' the old man continued. "'It is not too late to save you, "'and we may succeed in helping Beatrice, too. "'Do you see this little silver bottle?'

It holds a medicine that will destroy even the most powerful poison. Give it to your Beatrice to drink. Professor Baglioni put the little bottle on the table and left Giovanni's room. The young man wanted to believe that Beatrice was a sweet and innocent girl, and yet Professor Baglioni's words had put doubts in his heart.

It was nearly time for his daily meeting with Beatrice. As Giovanni combed his hair, he looked at himself in a mirror near his bed. He could not help noticing how handsome he was. His eyes looked particularly bright, and his face had a healthy, warm glow. He said to himself, At least her poison has not gotten into my body yet.

As he spoke, he happened to look at some flowers he had just bought that morning. A shock of horror went through his body. The flowers were turning brown. Giovanni's face became very white as he stared at himself in the mirror. Then he noticed a spider crawling near his window. He bent over the insect and blew a breath of air at it. The spider trembled and fell dead.

I am cursed, Giovanni whispered to himself. My own breath is poison. At that moment, a rich, sweet voice came floating up from the garden. Giovanni, you are late. Come down. You are a monster, Giovanni shouted as soon as he reached her. And with your poison, you have made me into a monster too, Giovanni.

"'I am a prisoner of this garden.' "'Giovanni,' Beatrice cried, looking at him with her large bright eyes, "'why are you saying these terrible things? "'It is true that I can never leave this garden, "'but you are free to go wherever you wish.' "'Giovanni looked at her with hate in his eyes. "'Don't pretend that you don't know what you've done to me.'

A group of insects had flown into the garden. They came toward Giovanni and flew around his head. He blew his breath at them. The insects fell to the ground dead. Beatrice screamed, I see it! I see it! My father's science has done this to us. Believe me, Giovanni, I did not ask him to do this to you. I only wanted to love you.

Giovanni's anger changed to sadness. Then he remembered the medicine that Professor Baglioni had given him. Perhaps the medicine would destroy the poison in their bodies and help them to become normal again. "'Dear Beatrice,' he said, "'our fate is not so terrible.' He showed her the little silver bottle and told her what the medicine inside it might do. "'I will drink first,'

She said, ''You must wait to see what happens to me before you drink it.'' She put Baglioni's medicine to her lips and took a small sip. At the same moment, Robert Schinney came out of his house and walked slowly toward the two young people. He spread his hands out to them as if he were giving them a blessing. ''My daughter,'' he said, ''you are no longer alone in the world.''

Give Giovanni one of the purple flowers from your favorite plant. It will not hurt him now. My science and your love have made him different from ordinary men. My father, Beatrice said weakly, why did you do this terrible thing to your own child? Rappaccini looked surprised. What do you mean, my daughter? He asked.

"'You have power no other woman has. "'You can defeat your strongest enemy with only a breath. "'Would you rather be a weak woman?' "'I want to be loved, not feared,' Beatrice replied. "'But now it does not matter. "'I am leaving you, father. "'I am going where the poison you have given me will do no harm. "'Good-bye to you, Giovanni.' "'Beatrice dropped to the ground.'

She died at the feet of her father and Giovanni. The poison had been too much a part of the young woman. The medicine that destroyed the poison destroyed her as well. You have just heard the story, Rappaccini's Daughter. It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and adapted for special English by Donna DeSantis. Your storyteller was Kay Gallant.

This is Shep O'Neill. 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...