0:04 Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30 minute program from the Voice of America.
0:12 I'm Bryan Lynn.
0:14 I'm Anna Matteo.
0:16 This program is made for English learners, so we speak a bit slower and we use words and sentences, especially written for people learning English.
0:33 Here are the stories we have for you on today's program.
0:37 Mario Ritter Jr.
0:39 Brings us a story about an important place in U.S.
0:43 history. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
0:47 I'll return later with a science story.
0:51 Then I will bring you words and their stories.
0:54 Today I talk about power couples and we finish the program with the lesson of the day.
1:03 Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith talk about words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings.
1:14 But first, here is Mario Ritter, Jr.
1:18 The Gettysburg National Military Park is in the small town of Gettysburg in the eastern state of Pennsylvania.
1:27 Much of the area around Gettysburg still looks like it did in the 1860s during the American Civil War.
1:37 The town is in the middle of good farmland.
1:42 Roads pass through Gettysburg that lead to Baltimore, Washington, D.C.
1:48 and other Eastern cities.
1:51 It is hard to believe that two huge armies fought there.
1:57 One fighting force was the United States Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George Meade.
2:06 The other was the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, led by General Robert E Lee.
2:14 Lee's troops had moved north into Pennsylvania from Virginia.
2:21 Lee believed that a southern win of a battle on northern land would force a negotiated settlement of the Civil War and mean independence for the Confederate states.
2:36 The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1st, 1863.
2:42 About 170,000 soldiers fought for three days.
2:49 When it ended on July 3rd, more than 50,000 soldiers were dead, wounded or missing.
2:58 Lee's army lost the battle.
3:02 Many visitors start their visit to Gettysburg.
3:06 At the Gettysburg Museum of the Civil War, the museum has a large collection of Civil War objects.
3:16 The museum has more than 1 million artifacts from soldiers, private notebooks and clothing to maps of the battlefield.
3:28 The museum also houses the Gettysburg Cyclorama Painting.
3:34 This kind of artwork completely surrounds the people looking at it.
3:39 The painting shows the artist's vision of the final major attack of the battle on July 3rd, 1863.
3:51 Over time, it has come to be called Pickett's Charge.
3:57 George Pickett was one of several Confederate commanders ordered to make the charge.
4:05 The Confederate soldiers reached a point close to the northern lines and headquarters.
4:13 Today, the point is called the high water mark.
4:18 Northern forces then turn the Confederates back.
4:23 The charge failed.
4:26 Southern forces would never again reach so far north.
4:31 Soon after the battle, people began to visit Gettysburg to try to understand what happened there.
4:40 One of those visitors on November 19th, 1863, was President Abraham Lincoln.
4:49 He was invited to help dedicate a burial ground for union soldiers killed in the battle.
4:57 Lincoln spoke for just 2 minutes, but his speech, known as the Gettysburg Address, is one of the most famous pieces of American oratory.
5:12 I'm Mario Ritter, jr.
5:22 And now words and their stories.
5:26 From voa learning English in American English, we use many expressions to describe when two people have a lot of similarities or are very close.
5:45 Here are some examples.
5:48 If we say to people who are joined at the hip, they are nearly always together.
5:55 If we describe individuals as thick as thieves, it means they are very close.
6:03 People considered two peas in a pod have many things in common and we use the term kindred spirits to describe people who often share the same opinions and interests.
6:20 These expressions can represent people who grew closer for different reasons.
6:26 Maybe they complemented each other well in certain ways.
6:32 Or maybe their situations brought them together for the purpose of completing something important or meaningful.
6:42 But today we are going to discuss a very special kind of relationship, one that involves two people who are romantically involved and very successful people in such relationships can be described as power couples.
7:04 There are many examples of famous power couples include successful movie stars, musicians and others in the performing arts.
7:16 But power couples can exist in many other industries and communities as well.
7:24 And the two people do not have to work in the same industry.
7:30 If they do, however, that can make them even more powerful.
7:36 For example, a well-known architect who builds homes could be partnered with a famous designer who decorates them, or one person in a power couple may be a music producer while the other is a famous singer.
7:56 Even though power couples involve highly successful people.
8:01 One person could describe their partner as their better half.
8:07 This is a way to complement their other half in the relationship.
8:12 For example, one might say during a meeting with a friend, Hello, how are you?
8:18 And more importantly, how is your better half?
8:23 Now let's hear two friends use some of these expressions.
8:28 Oh, hey, I'm not used to seeing you alone.
8:32 Where's your sidekick, huh? Who are you talking about?
8:37 Bend.
8:39 You guys have been joined at the hip for weeks.
8:42 Looks like you're thick as thieves.
8:44 Well, the project is pretty important for the company, so we're putting in a lot of hours.
8:52 Are you becoming kindred spirits from working so much together?
8:56 No, it's just keeping us both very busy.
9:00 Busy trying to become the new power couple in the office.
9:04 What are you talking about?
9:07 We're not thick as thieves or kindred spirits, and we're definitely not a power couple.
9:17 We are just working hard on the same project.
9:22 And that's all the time we have for those words and their stories.
9:26 Until next time I'm Anna Matteo.
9:57 A new study suggests an asteroid strike on the moon billions of years ago left two huge valleys about the size of Earth's Grand Canyon.
10:13 Researchers from the United States and Britain said their research shows the two steep valleys or canyons likely formed in less than 10 minutes.
10:29 They noted the crash or impact happened near the South Pole on the far side of the moon.
10:37 That is the side of the moon, which always faces away from Earth.
10:44 The area is known as the Schrodinger Impact Basin.
10:50 The speed of the incoming object, which the team said might have been a comet, was estimated to be around 55,000 kilometers per hour.
11:04 The strike likely happened about 3.8 billion years ago.
11:10 The researchers used data collected by a spacecraft EFT operated by the American Space Agency Nasser.
11:21 That vehicle, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, has been capturing lunar data since entering orbit around the moon in June 2009.
11:34 One main goal of the orbiter's mission was to create a highly detailed three dimensional or 3D map of the moon.
11:46 The data has been used by Nassr to learn more about lunar resources and to plan for future missions.
11:57 The agency noted that the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter had already collected as much data as all other planetary missions combined.
12:10 The team studying the canyons used the orbiters, mapped data to simulate the path of the incoming object, as well as material that was displaced by the crash.
12:25 The scientists recently published a study describing their results in nature communications.
12:34 The group's simulations suggested the space rock passed over the South Pole before hitting it, then created a huge basin and launched rocky materials at speeds up to one kilometer per second.
12:53 The research authors said material was sent flying and struck the lunar surface like missiles.
13:02 This resulted in the creation of the canyons.
13:07 The team said the canyons appear comparable in size to the Grand Canyon in the US state of Arizona.
13:17 The study's lead writer was David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
13:26 He told the Associated Press that findings suggest the asteroid strike was a very violent geologic process.
13:37 Kring and his team estimated the asteroid was 25 kilometers across.
13:46 They estimated that the energy needed to create the two canyons would have been more than 130 times greater than the power of all the world's current nuclear weapons.
14:02 Kring said most of the rock and debris was thrown in a direction away from the South Pole.
14:11 That finding is good news for Nassr, which plans to land astronauts in that area in the future.
14:20 Kring noted it should improve the exploration possibilities of future astronauts because debris from the Schrodinger impact was jettisoned away from the Lunar South Pole.
14:37 Ancient rocks in the polar region will be at or close to the surface, Kring told Reuters news Agency.
14:47 This should make it easier for future American astronauts to collect them.
14:54 NASA's future lunar exploration plans are known as the agency's Artemis program.
15:04 The program aims to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
15:16 The agency's current plan is to send astronauts on a trip around the moon next year.
15:25 That would be followed a year or so later by a landing attempt on the lunar surface.
15:32 The researchers said older rocks in the area can help scientists gain a better understanding of the moon's path history.
15:44 They could also help answer questions about the formation of Earth.
15:50 Kring noted It is currently not clear whether the two huge canyons are permanently shadowed, like some of the craters at the moon's south Pole.
16:04 That is something that we're clearly going to be reexamining, he said.
16:12 I'm Bryan Lynn.
16:38 Hello.
16:39 My name is Ana Mateo.
16:42 My name is Andrew Smith.
16:45 And I'm Jill Robbins.
16:48 You're listening to The Lesson of the Day on the Learning English podcast.
16:54 Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our series Let's Learn English.
17:02 The series shows Onomah Teo in her work and life in Washington, DC.
17:16 What do those two sounds you heard have in common?
17:20 Today's lesson is about some fun and we hope, interesting ways.
17:24 English connects words, spelling and sounds, or maybe about the ways their spellings don't seem to connect to sounds since English spelling can be difficult.
17:38 But don't worry, this is not going to be a spelling lesson.
17:43 Think of it more like a sound lesson.
17:53 We'll have more to say about that phrase, a sound lesson a little later.
17:58 But now let's join Ana in lesson 26 of the series.
18:02 As we explained in another podcast, listen, Ana is playing a game on her phone.
18:08 It's a scavenger hunt where she tries to learn more about U.S.
18:12 history. Let's join her.
18:15 When you find an American symbol, you win points.
18:19 And a fun fact about a U.S.
18:22 president.
18:25 Yay! I found Uncle Sam, and I won 40 points.
18:30 What is the fun fact?
18:32 Franklin Roosevelt was the first to fly in a plane as president.
18:38 I didn't know that.
18:40 This is a really beautiful memorial.
18:44 This is the Lincoln Memorial where is the symbol for?
18:51 I found it, the Statue of Liberty.
18:54 Please give me my fun facts.
18:57 Abraham Lincoln was a great wrestler.
18:59 I didn't know that Lincoln wanted freedom for all people.
19:04 So the Statue of Liberty works well, and I won 20 points.
19:11 Time to find the next symbol.
19:14 You heard the word symbol three times in that exchange.
19:20 When you find an American symbol, you win points.
19:24 And a fun fact about a U.S.
19:28 president.
19:29 This is the Lincoln Memorial.
19:31 Where is the symbol?
19:35 And I won 20 points.
19:38 Time to find the next symbol.
19:42 A symbol is a shape object sign.
19:45 In short, any visual thing that represents an idea.
19:49 We use symbols all the time, such as the plus sign in mathematics to represent addition.
19:59 And we use symbols to represent many, many kinds of ideas in the scavenger hunt game.
20:08 Ana and Dan are looking for a very important symbol in American history and culture.
20:15 It's so important that it's worth 100 points in their game.
20:20 Here's Dan and Ana in lesson 25 of the series.
20:24 What symbol are you looking for now?
20:27 I am looking for the bald eagle.
20:29 That is 100 points.
20:32 It should be near the Washington Monument.
20:37 Yes, the bald eagle.
20:39 It is a large bird that hunts small animals and fish when it is older.
20:46 The feathers on its head turn white.
20:49 That's why they call it bald.
20:51 Which means having no hair on your head.
20:54 Oh. Like me?
20:56 Yeah, kind of.
20:57 But let's not digress or move away from the main idea of our lesson.
21:03 Many Americans see the bald eagle as symbolizing freedom and strength.
21:09 Symbolize is the verb form of the noun.
21:14 Symbol and symbol.
21:16 Alec is the adjective.
21:19 And that sound you heard earlier.
21:26 Well, that's the sound a bald eagle makes.
21:30 But what about that other sound?
21:36 That's the sound of a symbol.
21:39 Hey, wait.
21:39 Are you trying to confuse our listeners?
21:42 Ha, ha. A little bit.
21:45 But here's the idea.
21:47 The bald eagle is a symbol that's spelled syimb0l.
21:57 But there is also an object used in music called a symbol.
22:04 That's spelled c. Y.
22:08 B. A l.
22:11 Two words that make exactly the same sound in English are called homophones.
22:18 And there are many of them.
22:20 Here are a few examples.
22:23 Cell is spelled seal.
22:25 L like the cells in your body or like a cell phone.
22:31 And cell C. L l.
22:35 That means to take money for something.
22:39 And we have flower spelled fl0ur, which we use for making bread and flour.
22:50 F. L.
22:51 O. W. E. R.
22:53 The colorful blooms on plants such as a rose, daisy or sunflower.
23:00 Jill, why do you think English has so many homophones?
23:05 It's because English developed as a combination of different languages.
23:10 As a result, it mixed the spelling system of the languages.
23:14 Which is why we have several ways of spelling the same sound.
23:18 That makes it interesting, but also difficult for people learning English.
23:24 That's true.
23:25 There are spelling rules for English that a learner can follow.
23:29 But there are also a lot of words that break the rules.
23:34 And of course, many English words have letters that are not pronounced at all.
23:40 We call these silent letters, and now the silent letters.
23:57 Actually, we're going to talk about only one silent letter today.
24:01 But let's get there by listening to honor in lesson 26 of the Let's Learn English series.
24:07 When you find an American symbol, you win points.
24:11 And a fun fact about a U.S.
24:14 president.
24:17 Okay.
24:17 I found Uncle Sam and I won 40 points.
24:22 What is the fun fact?
24:24 Franklin Roosevelt was the first to fly in a plane as president.
24:30 I didn't know that.
24:32 This is a really beautiful memorial.
24:36 This is the Lincoln Memorial.
24:39 Where is the symbol?
24:43 I found it.
24:44 The Statue of Liberty.
24:46 Please give me my fun facts.
24:49 Abraham Lincoln was a great wrestler.
24:52 And how do we spell that last word?
24:55 You just heard wrestler for.
25:00 It sounds like the letter R.
25:03 The word has the letter R, but it has a silent letter before it.
25:08 Listeners, What letter do you think that is?
25:12 Here's a hint.
25:14 You can write someone an email.
25:17 How do you spell that verb?
25:19 I just said the verb.
25:21 Right.
25:23 That's right. Oh, I mean. That's correct.
25:25 You spell it w r i t e and wrestler is spelled w r e s t l e. R.
25:37 Wrestling is a sport where you try to hold your opponent onto the ground.
25:44 Here are three pairs of words that are homophones and where one of the words in each pair begins with the silent w.
25:53 When you hear each pair, see if you can think of the two words that match the sound but are spelled differently.
26:01 Ready? Listen.
26:04 Right.
26:06 Right.
26:08 Rest.
26:10 Rest.
26:12 Wrote.
26:14 Wrote.
26:16 You already know what it means to write your name, but right.
26:22 REIT means a traditional or religious ceremony.
26:29 You know what it means to rest when you are tired, but rest.
26:33 W r AEST means to grab something or take something from somebody else, often with some difficulty.
26:42 Yesterday Jill wrote her name but wrote r0te is doing or learning something just by repeating it over and over without thinking much or understanding much about it.
27:00 We usually put the preposition by before the noun wrote, right, and that's our IGF.
27:11 For example, we can say the student studied only by rote.
27:19 There's the sound of that American symbol again.
27:22 Which brings us back to the phrase a sound lesson.
27:27 The word sound is most commonly used as a noun, but we can also use the word as an adjective.
27:37 With a different meaning.
27:39 If something is sound, that means it is done correctly.
27:43 The adjective sound can also describe a building or structure that is strong and without important defects.
27:53 So we hope this lesson of the day has been a sound lesson for you.
27:59 And since we've talked a lot about sounds.
28:01 If we use the noun, we can call today's lesson a lesson in sound.
28:08 Now, let's see if Ana and Dan found the bald eagle.
28:13 Let's listen to more of lesson 26.
28:16 This game is a lot of fun.
28:19 What's your name? Dan.
28:21 What's yours? Ana.
28:23 Like Americana?
28:25 Yeah, I guess so.
28:27 Did you find any symbols?
28:29 Yes, I found three.
28:31 And I won 120 points.
28:36 Me, too.
28:37 But did you find the bald eagle? No.
28:42 Did you know first one to find it wins.
28:49 Hey, Ana, look out for that tree.
28:54 I learned a lot about presidents with this game, but I ought to be more careful.
28:58 Till next time?
29:00 Until next time.
29:02 Means it's also time for us to go.
29:05 Keep listening and reading for homophones in English.
29:09 And remember that you can learn more on our web site.
29:13 Learning English.
29:14 Dot VOA News.com.
29:18 You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
29:24 Thanks for listening to the Learning English podcast.
29:27 I'm Jill Robbins.
29:29 And I'm Andrew Smith.
29:31 And that's all the time we have for today's show.
29:36 Thanks for listening.
29:39 And don't forget to join us again tomorrow when we will have more stories from around the world aimed at helping you learn English.
29:50 I'm Anna Matteo.
29:52 And I'm Bryan Lynn
