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Welcome to Learning English,
a daily 30 minute program
from the Voice of America.
I'm Ashley Thompson.
And I'm Mario Ritter junior.
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.
Today
you will hear stories from Bryan Lynn
and John Russell.
Later, Jill Robbins
presents an everyday grammar lesson
that centers on one punctuation mark
the possessive apostrophe.
Finally, Caty Weaver
and I take you on a journey
to Crater Lake National Park.
But first.
An international group
of astronomers has joined efforts
seeking to establish
a separate time zone for the moon.
The French based
International Astronomical Union
IAU recently
approved a resolution on the matter
during the group's General Assembly
meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.
The resolution calls
on space organizations around the world
to cooperate on establishing
a standard UD clock for the moon.
The Moon's orbital movements around Earth
make one day on the lunar surface equal
to 29.5 Earth days,
and because the moon has less
gravity compared to Earth,
time moves slightly
faster there, about 58.7
microseconds quicker each day.
Susan Stewart is an astronomer
with the US Naval Observatory.
She helped create the resolution
at the IAU conference.
Stewart told the Associated Press
the aim of the measure is quite simple
to work together
to establish a standard time.
Currently, moon operations
run on the time of the country
that is launching spacecraft.
But supporters
of creating a separate time zone
say this method will have to change
more countries and private space companies
are starting to launch
their own moon missions.
Last year, the European Space Agency
ESA pushed for the creation
of a lunar clock.
And earlier
this year, the white House directed
the US space agency, NASA
and other agencies
to come up with a timekeeping plan
for the moon
by the end of 2026.
As noted, communication
and navigation systems built for the moon
will perform much better
if they use the same timescale.
In addition, a separate time zone
will support the many other crewed
and uncrewed missions
planned for the future, ESA said.
In the past,
NASA also considered establishing
a separate time zone
for the International Space Station.
I.s.s., but the agency decided against it.
Instead, the I.s.s.
runs on Coordinated Universal Time or UTC,
which is based on time
capped by atomic clocks.
NASA officials say this system helps ease
the time difference between NASA
and the Canadian Space Agency,
as well as other space partners
in Russia, Japan and Europe.
The international
team looking at establishing
a lunar time zone
has said it is still deciding
whether a single organism mission
should be chosen to set
and keep time on the moon.
Vagina's paddler is a physicist at the US
Commerce Department's
National Institute
of Standards and Technology.
He told the AP that astronomers
are still deciding
on how a lunar clock would work.
Pat La said,
I think the community has realized
that this needs to be done,
and this is the beginning.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
A plan to build a huge
solar farm in Australia is a step closer.
After the Australian government
gave environmental approvals
for the $19 billion project.
Recently.
Australian company Sun Cable plans
to build a 12,400 hectare solar
farm in a remote
area of northern Australia.
The farm will
send electricity to the city of Darwin via
an 800 kilometer overhead
transmission line.
Then the power will be transported
to large industrial customers in Singapore
through a 4300 kilometer submarine cable.
The Australia Asia Power Link project
aims to deliver up to six gigawatts
of green electricity each year.
Such a project.
Australian Environment Minister
Tanya Plibersek suggested, would help
turn Australia into a renewable energy
superpower
and boost its economy.
Plibersek said in a written statement
it will be the largest solar precinct
in the world.
The project was first backed
by Australian mining businessman Andrew
Forrest
and Atlassian co-founder
Mike Cannon-Brookes.
The plans were discussed
during a state visit
by then Singapore Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong and Australian
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,
as part of a green
economy agreement in 2022.
In January 2023,
the project collapsed
when Sun Cable was involved
in a financing dispute
between Forrest and Cannon-Brookes.
By May of that year, a group
led by Cannon-Brookes
Grok Ventures acquired the company,
finalizing the takeover.
In September 2023.
Sun Cable Australia's
managing director, Cameron Gardens
Worthy, said it was pleased
to have cleared a major legal issue.
He added that the company will now
put its efforts into the next stage
of planning to work towards
a final invest decision
targeted by 2027.
The company said electricity supply
would begin in the early 2030s.
Energy
has been a politically charged issue
for nearly 20 years in Australia.
The country depends on coal and gas,
as well as money from exporting
those fuels to help support its economy.
This dependance on
fossil fuels has historically made it
one of the world's worst
greenhouse gas emitters.
On a per capita basis.
Australia's main opposition party in June
announced plans to build the country's
first nuclear power plants
as early as 2035.
The announcement ensures
the major parties will be divided on
how to reduce Australia's
greenhouse gas emissions
at elections due within a year.
The parties have not gone to an election
with the same carbon
reduction policies since 2007.
I'm John Russell.
The battle for the white House is set.
As Vice President Kamala Harris
officially accepts the Democratic Party
nomination on Thursday
to run against former President
Donald Trump.
The Republican nominee.
However, another fight is just starting
among grammar
nerds over where to put the possessive
apostrophe after her name.
Is it Harris apostrophe
or Harris apostrophe? S?
Eric Turk quits.
A New York lawyer called the debate
Apostrophe Hill on the social media
website X.
It has since received
more than 2 million views.
The Associated Press Stylebook
says use only an apostrophe
for singular proper names
ending in the letter S, such as Dickens's
That's Dickens Apostrophe book.
Hercules is Hercules apostrophe.
Labor's, or Jesus's
Jesus apostrophe.
Life.
So for Harris, it is Harris,
followed by an apostrophe,
as in Harris's policy.
The AP Stylebook is widely
used as the standard
by American news organizations.
But not everyone agrees.
Three large U.S.
newspapers,
The New York Times, The Washington
Post, and The Wall Street Journal all use.
Harris followed by an apostrophe
and the letter
S, as in Harris's policy,
adding to the confusion.
They all agree that the singular
possessive for Harris's running mate.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is Walz.
Apostrophe s.
As for the plural possessive,
it is Harris's
apostrophe or Harris's.
As in Harris's family home.
And w alcs apostrophe
s in Walz's cats.
Benjamin Dreyer is a retired
editor who worked for the publisher
random House.
He wrote Dreyer's English and Utterly
Correct Guide to Clarity in Style.
He told the AP
there is widespread agreement
that the lazy apostrophe s is correct.
But many flooded him with questions
about what to do with the apostrophe.
After Harris
added the apostrophe and the letter
S, Dreyer said
to set the apostrophe S
is just simpler, and then you can take
your valuable brain cells
and apply them to more important things.
The American Dictionary publisher,
Merriam Webster, joined
the debate with this reminder for names
that end in an S or Z sound.
You can either add apostrophe s
or just an apostrophe.
Going with apostrophe s
is the more common choice.
The car that belongs to Jones,
John s apostrophe s car,
or John s apostrophe car.
Amanda Barrett is AP's vice
president for news
standards and inclusion.
She said while the AP style
has evolved over the years,
there are no plans to change the guidance
on the possessive apostrophe. S
Barrett added we do know
that the conversation is out there
and people make different choices
when it comes to grammar
and that's all fine.
Everyone makes a choice that works
best for them.
Timothy Pouliot teaches linguistics
at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
He said
that until the 17th or 18th century,
the possessive of proper names
ending in the letter S,
such as Jesus or Moses, often
was simply the name
itself, with no apostrophe
or additional s.
Eventually, the apostrophe
Jesus apostrophe or Moses apostrophe
was added to mark the possession,
although the pronunciation remained
the same.
That became kind of the standard
that I was taught and adhered to,
even though in retrospect I don't think
it's a great standard, he said.
Pulu expects
most people will use the apostrophe
followed by the letter S form over time.
As long as people are communicating
successfully,
we say language is doing
what it's supposed to be doing, he said.
If you can read it whichever
way is written, then it seems
like it's working for people.
Michael Dukakis of
Massachusetts
was the last US presidential candidate
whose name ended with the letter S.
Dukakis told the
AP that he does not remember
any similar discussion
when he was a Democratic nominee,
but he agrees with the AP.
It sounds to me
like it would be s apostrophe
and that's it, he said.
If Harris wins in November,
she would become the fourth US president,
with a last name ending in the letter S
and the first since Rutherford B Hayes,
who was elected in 1876.
The Harris campaign has yet
to take a clear position.
Press releases issued by
the campaign talked about Harris's.
That's with an apostrophe
s puzzle division
and Harris's S apostrophe.
Seventh trip to Nevada.
I'm Jill Robbins.
Jill Robbins is here now
to talk more about that everyday
grammar lesson.
Hi, Jill. Thanks for being here.
I'm always happy to talk with our podcast
listeners.
I was wondering
if we could talk a bit more
about the punctuation
question in this week's Everyday Grammar?
Sure.
It is a question that has come up
because the Democratic nominee
for president and vice president
both have names that end with a sound
that's similar to our possessive
in English. Yes.
So that would be Kamala
Harris and Tim Walz.
And we usually add an apostrophe,
a little mark next
to the last letter of a name
and the letter
S to show possession.
Exactly.
The problem is you end up with two sounds
that are the same next to each other.
Take my name Jill Robbins.
Using my first name is okay.
Jill's book is easy.
Jill apostrophe s,
but add the apostrophe after my last name
and you get Doctor Robbins's class.
I'd write that Robbins apostrophe.
I noticed you added another sound
after your name.
Robbins is.
The issue is, how do you write that?
We used to follow the rule
that you just add
the punctuation, mark the apostrophe,
and when you say it,
you add the reduced vowel
sound up before the s sound.
But now
people have started applying the rule
where you write
another s after the apostrophe.
So it would be written r o b b
I and s apostrophe s.
That's it.
Similar to how I said I'd
write my first name with an apostrophe s.
Jill's book.
It's just another example of how language
changes
and people start to make new rules.
Well,
thanks for being with us today, Jill,
and thanks for explaining the possessive
apostrophe.
It's always a pleasure.
Ashley.
On our national parks journey,
we travel to the northwestern state
of Oregon.
Here you will find a huge deep lake.
Its waters seem impossibly blue.
It is the deepest lake in America.
And one of the deepest lakes in the world.
Its water is among the clearest
and purest found on earth.
Around the lake runs the
wall of an extinct volcano.
In the middle of the lake,
a small island rises over
230m above the surface.
Welcome to Crater Lake National Park.
The lake's beauty inspires artists,
photographers and nature lovers.
That beauty was born
from the violent burst of Mount Mazama,
about 7700 years ago.
Hot liquid, called magma
rose from deep under the mountain,
causing it to collapse.
The powerful burst
destroyed the surrounding area.
Huge amounts of ash fell on the land.
The burst also left an enormous
circular hole in the mountain's center.
Scientists call this a caldera.
Over the next hundreds of years, rain
and snow filled the hole with water.
Rainfall and snowfall
are the lake's only source of water.
It has no connections to the rivers
and streams around it.
That is what keeps its waters so pure.
As water collected,
plants began to grow in the area again
and animals returned,
science to say it took about 250 years
for the lake to rise to its current water
level.
Crater Lake is 592m deep.
It is one of the ten deepest on Earth.
But its depth is not
the only remarkable quality.
People are odd by its water
color and clarity.
Crater Lake is so clear that on most days
you can see nearly 30m below the surface.
The lake takes on its intense
blue color because of the water's clarity.
Sunlight reaches deep into the water.
Crater Lake gets its name from.
Geology.
A crater is a large bowl
shaped area on top of a volcano.
The crater that formed the lake
sits within the larger caldera.
Native Americans were in the area
even before the lake's formation.
Researchers have found artifacts
buried under layers
of ash and dust from Mount Mazama.
Huge eruption following the burst,
Native Americans considered Crater
Lake to be a holy place.
Ancient Native American stories
describe the eruption of Mount Mazama.
European explorers and settlers
did not arrive in the area
until the middle 1800s.
In 1865,
a hunter became one of the first non
Native Americans
to reach the shores of Crater Lake.
In 1870,
a boy in Kansas read a newspaper article
about the strange lake in Oregon.
The story about Crater Lake
fascinated the young William
Gladstone Steele.
He promised himself he would one day
see this lake.
In 1872,
Steele's family moved to Portland, Oregon.
About 375km north of the lake.
13 years later,
Steele honored his promise
and visited Crater Lake.
Its beauty moved him greatly.
He began a 17 year fight
to preserve the area as a public park.
Steele was a writer.
He described one of his first visits
to Crater Lake in 1886.
In the west shore Magazine.
Not a foot of the land about the lake
has been touched or claimed.
And over mastering conviction came to me
that this wonderful spot must be saved,
wild and beautiful,
just as it was for all future generations.
His proposal of creating a national park
did not please nearby
sheepherders and miners.
But his efforts succeeded anyway.
On May 22nd, 1902,
Crater Lake became the country's
fifth national park.
It remains the
only national park in Oregon,
and William Gladstone Steele
is called the father of Crater Lake.
Crater Lake National Park
covers 740km².
The lake itself makes up
less than 10% of the park.
It also includes surrounding
mountains and thick forests.
The trees shelter many kinds of animals,
from black bears to elk to spotted owls.
About 480,000 people
visit Crater Lake National Park each year.
They explore by car, bicycle or on foot.
Roads
that encircle Crater Lake usually are open
from July through October,
depending on whether
they provide breathtaking displays
of the lake's unusual blue color,
as well as the forests around it.
Crater Lake National Park
also has more than 140km of hiking trails.
The Clete Wood Cove
Trail drops more than 200m
down to the edge of Crater Lake.
It leads to a spot
where swimming is permitted.
The water is extremely cold.
Most swimmers cannot stay in
for more than a few minutes.
Crater lake's average water temperature
is just three degrees Celsius.
In summer, the lake's surface warms
to about ten degrees Celsius.
Visitors can also catch a boat
from the end of Clete Wood Cove Trail.
Park rangers lead visitors
on boat rides around the lake.
Visitors can also take boats
to Wizard Island.
The piece of land sits
in the western part of the lake.
Volcanic eruptions formed Wizard Island.
It rises over 760m
above the lake floor.
However, most of the island
about 500m is underwater.
At Wizard Island, visitors can hike,
swim, and fish.
It is also a wonderful place
to relax and enjoy nature.
But such extraordinary places
can be found all over the park.
Discovering one's own is part of the magic
to experience
at Crater Lake National Park.
I'm Ashley Thompson.
And I'm Caty Weaver.
And that's our program for today.
Join us again tomorrow to keep learning
English through stories
from around the world.
I'm Ashley Thompson.
And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.
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