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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.

On today's program,

John Russell tells of a train trip to less popular places in Italy.

Jill Robbins and I report on how disasters affect U.S.

counties. Bryan Lynn reports on U.S.

congressional efforts to protect kids,

followed by the lesson of the day.

So let's get started.

As it moves across central Italy,

an old train pulling carriages from the 1930s and 1950s crosses

the forests of the Mariella National Park and the Abruzzo

highlands, across 100km.

The Park railway, also known as the Italian Trans-Siberian,

travels through valleys and tunnels and over old bridges called viaducts.

It offers visitors a view of small rural

and hidden villages in the country.

It was the first of some 1000km of rail

line to have reopened under a project

by Fondazione Efes,

part of the state controlled National Rail company.

The project, called Timeless Tracks,

aims to take visitors to forgotten parts of Italy.

Instead of the popular cities,

these are tracks that have lived through different eras.

They have carried soldiers to the front, cows to pasture.

They were mistakenly considered unproductive

during the 1960s and 70s, but are now once again of value

to Luigi Canter, Messer, who heads Fondazione

Efes, told Reuters.

Inspired by train travel in Switzerland,

the project now carries 45,000 visitors

a year across its 13 lines.

Fondazione Efes

expects to open two new ones by 2026,

both in the southern area of Sicily.

What were considered to be the dry

branches of Italy's train network

have now proved to be the green shoots counter, Messa added.

Naama Pajot

is a 28 year old from Florence, Italy,

traveling on the train with two friends.

Bugatti said people are used

to cities and places like Florence that everyone knows,

but then there are other areas that need to be discovered.

This is the right kind of tourism

that does not spoil the authenticity of places.

Laura Colla Preti, a local guide,

said the trains draw Italians and foreigners, families and children.

The Train Siberians first stop

is in Paulina, a hilltop town known for its beautiful views

over the national park.

The train helps several small towns around here.

This line was a dead line before, said Gino Topi, 60,

as he helped his wife with food stand in the small station.

Milan's Bocconi University recently estimated that

for every dollar spent by passengers on tickets,

as much as three more are spent on food tours and other purchases.

I'm John Russell.

When

it comes to disasters in the United States, most people

think of major storms and earthquakes

that hit coastal areas.

But a study from the nonprofit Rebuild

by Design and New York University

says disasters happen everywhere across the country.

The study looks at information

on hundreds of federally declared disasters

from 2011 to about 2021.

It also examines the $60 billion

that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA,

gave state and local governments.

The study finds that eight of the nine counties

with the most federally declared disasters

since 2011 are in Kentucky.

One is in Vermont.

These counties have several times the number of disasters,

as the national average of three.

In the past 13 years.

A federal disaster is declared

when a bad, natural event is so costly

that local government officials do not believe they can recover.

So the governor of the state

asks the president to declare a disaster,

which frees federal money set aside for this purpose.

Amy Chester is director of Rebuild by Design.

She said California and Louisiana.

And I would say now even Texas.

Florida for sure.

They soak up all the oxygen.

When you hear about these giant storms,

Chester added.

But what you're not hearing about are these storms that are happening

all the time, and that's just becoming regular to places like Vermont.

Chester also noted Tennessee, Oklahoma,

Mississippi, Iowa and Alaska

as having a lot of disasters.

We want to show that climate change is already here,

Chester said of the data, which covers

2011 to 2023.

It does not include heat waves,

lack of rain or diseases like Covid 19.

Before she studied the data,

Chester said she thought Vermont would be safe from climate change.

Instead, it has many disasters.

It's awful, Chester said.

It just keeps happening to them.

Vermont recently flooded again because of heavy rain from Hurricane Beryl.

In July 2022.

At least 40 people died and 300

homes were damaged when a flood struck.

Floyd County in eastern Kentucky.

It was the 13th time in 12 years

that the federal government declared the rural county a disaster.

Judge Robbie Williams is the administrator

of the county with about 35,000 people.

He said after that flood, I had 500 homeless people looking at me.

Judge.

What are we going to do?

Williams added it's overwhelming

and it's just a matter of time before it happens again.

Then in 2023,

Floyd County was declared a disaster again

for the 14th time since 2011.

But Floyd County is not the nation's

most disaster prone county.

Neighboring Johnson County has had 15 disasters

declared by FEMA.

Floyd County's government

received more than $35 million

in FEMA disaster aid since 2011,

but that is not a lot of money

compared to other counties hit by hurricanes.

Five counties received

more than $1 billion in FEMA aid.

Three of them are in New York State.

They are led by Manhattans New York County,

which got $8.9 billion

after being struck by hurricane Sandy

in 2012.

FEMA notes that flooding is the most common disaster

in the US since 2011.

FEMA has paid more than $41 billion in aid

following hurricanes, the most of any kind of disaster.

Susan Cutter

is with the hazards, Vulnerability and Resilience Institute

at the University of South Carolina.

Cutter said, what the data tell us is that the frequency and severity

of disasters at local, state scales

is increasing, with rural, suburban

and urban places being affected nationwide.

She was not involved in Chester's research,

but she added more needs to be done.

In Floyd County, Judge Williams said

geography and government regulations

make it tough for the area.

The county is in the mountains.

People live in the narrow valleys, he said.

When it rains, the creeks and rivers overflow.

We're seeing historic levels of flooding, Williams said.

It's only getting worse.

Environmental regulations bar

local officials from dredging the creeks.

Silt from the mountains keeps building up.

Williams said

some creeks were about

six meters deep but are now shallow enough to walk across.

He said

the problem is there is nowhere for the rain to go.

Williams said

Samantha montano is a professor of emergency management

at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Montano said what is more important

is how state and local policies

create or reduce the risk of future disasters

in Floyd County.

But local government is using FEMA money

to buy the homes of 150 residents

to move them out of a flood area.

But some do not want to leave, Williams said.

Until we get those homes out of these flood

ways, we're still going to have these issues.

Williams added.

I'm Jill Robbins.

And I'm Mario Ritter, junior.

The US Senate has approved

the nation's first major legislation

aimed at protecting children from internet harms.

Two bills passed the Senate by a vote of 91 to 3 on Tuesday.

But the measures will also need to be passed by the U.S.

House of Representatives to become law.

It is currently unclear whether the House will approve the bills in the future.

One bill is known as the Kids

Online Safety Act, or Kazaa.

The other is called the Children's Online

Privacy Protection Act, or Coppa 2.0.

The Kosa bill requires technology companies

to take steps to provide a duty

of care to protect young users.

This legal term covers a range of steps businesses

need to take in an effort to prevent

and mitigate harm to children.

Such harms include bullying and violence,

as well as online information related to suicide,

eating disorders, and substance and sexual abuse.

The bill, known as Coppa 2.0, is designed to increase

privacy rules related to children.

The bill bans some targeted

advertising to kids online.

It also bars data collection on children

without their knowledge or approval.

And it gives parents and young users the ability

to remove personal information, even from social media services.

In addition, the bills would require companies

to permit minors to opt out of product

tools that use activity history

to predict and suggest additional content

to keep users online for long periods.

The bill empowers state attorney general representatives

to enforce most parts of the laws.

However, the duty of care part

cannot be enforced by state attorneys general.

That change was made after

concerns were raised that some states may seek to block information

related to LG Gbtc issues

or reproductive rights.

Wider enforcement will be dealt with by the Federal Trade Commission

FTC, which will help decide what kinds of content

is harmful to children.

Causer and Coppa 2.0

are being supported by a wide range of nonprofits.

Technology accountability organizers, actions

and parental rights groups.

In addition, the bills have been supported by major groups

representing American doctors and teachers.

Some well known technology companies, including Microsoft,

ECS and Snap, have also expressed support.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram

and WhatsApp, has not publicly expressed strong support

or opposition to the measures.

Meta has said in the past it is not completely

against some government regulation of social media.

Some technology industry groups and the American Civil Liberties

Union, ACLU have criticized the measures.

They have suggested that differing definitions of what is considered

harmful to children could result in minors

being blocked from important information.

Such information could include LGBTQ issues,

reproductive rights, or vaccines.

Some changes were made earlier to the legislation

in an effort to overcome these concerns.

But some critics said those did not go far enough.

They made improvements, but not enough, said

Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.

He was one of three senators who voted against the bills.

He recently told reporters, I still think it is

going to harm a lot of LGBTQ kids because of the way

it's going to make it difficult for them to get information.

Josh Golin is executive

director of Fair Play, a nonprofit group working to protect children

from online marketing and other possible harms.

He told The Associated Press before the Senate vote that he is

very hopeful the bills will eventually

be passed by both houses of Congress.

The reason it has not come to a vote yet

is that passing legislation is really hard,

particularly really, when you're trying to regulate one of the,

if not the most powerful industry

in the world, Garland said.

I'm Bryan Lynn.

And now Bryan Lynn

joins me to talk more about his technology report.

Thanks for being here, Bryan .

Sure. Mario, thank you for having me.

This week, you reported on new legislation passed in the US Senate

that aims to protect children from online harms.

As was mentioned in the report.

These two measures would still need to pass

the House of Representatives to become law.

What are the chances that it will be

passed by both houses of Congress?

So this is a very interesting question for sure,

but one that is also difficult to answer at this point.

One positive sign for supporters of these bills

is that they passed the Senate with near unanimous support.

Only three lawmakers voted against them.

So if that same support exists in the House, the bills

have a very good chance at being approved as they're currently written.

Okay.

And what has been the reaction so far among House members

and the leadership to these bills passing in the Senate?

So there have been some House

members who have been very supportive of these measures in public.

And House speaker Mike Johnson is the one who would be responsible

for putting the legislation to a vote on the House floor.

And so far, he has not spoken directly to that issue.

But in recent days, Johnson did tell reporters he was committed to working

with House members to, in his words, find consensus on the measures,

meaning that at least he's open to trying to make them work.

And at this point, legislative experts are saying that the passage in the Senate

could make it possible that these could be approved in the House

before the end of the current session, which ends in January.

Okay.

Thanks again for joining me, Bryan .

You're welcome. Mario. Thank you.

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 uneven tale in her work

and life in Washington, D.C..

Here's Anna introducing herself.

Hello.

My name is Anna Matteo.

Lesson 27 of level two of this series

shows a few ways to make friendly and informal invitations.

We'll listen to those examples,

and we'll listen to some expressions and show you how to use them.

Okay, in our first example, Anna's boss, Miss Weaver,

invites Anna to a dinner at a restaurant.

Hello, miss Weaver.

Oh, Anna,

I've invited some people to dinner Saturday.

We're going to that new seafood restaurant.

Fish? Anna dish.

Why don't you join us? My treat.

We can't say the three words.

Why don't you?

At the beginning of an invitation,

it means the same thing as.

Would you like to?

We use.

Why don't you?

With friends, or when we do not want to sound too formal?

Jill, why don't you explain the expression?

My treat.

All right.

I will listen to Miss Weaver again.

Why don't you join us?

My treat.

My treat simply means that

Miss Weaver will pay for dinner.

For example, if you are at a restaurant with a few friends or family members

and you want to pay for everyone,

you can take the bill and say, my treat.

Another way of saying my treat

is to say it's on me.

If I say it's on me,

that means I want to pay for it.

But if I say dinner's on me,

that might mean that I spilled my plate in my lap.

Hahaha.

Yes, in the literal physical sense, that's true.

After Miss Weaver asks Anna to dinner,

Anna politely says that she cannot join her to do this.

She simply begins with the word.

Thanks.

Thanks, Miss Weaver, but I already have plans.

My friend has invited me to her houseboat

house. Really?

That's unique.

Yes it is.

In fact, I'm thinking of

living on a houseboat.

The word unique means very special.

Or being the only one of its kind.

And notice how Anna talks about the future

by using the present progressive tense.

Yes it is.

In fact, I'm thinking of living on a houseboat.

When we say the three words.

I'm thinking of.

And then add an ING verb.

That means we are considering or planning a future action.

Right?

So, for example, I'm sitting at my desk right now,

but I'm thinking of going for a walk with my friend later today.

Sounds like a good idea.

Now let's hear Miss Weaver's reaction to Anna.

Yes it is.

In fact, I'm thinking of,

living on a houseboat.

Aren't you

too tall and klutzy to live on a houseboat?

I am not too tall.

Sorry.

This weaver uses the adjective klutzy.

That means someone who does not have good control of their body.

And tends to have little accidents.

Oh, you mean like me?

For example, if you are klutzy, you might drop a glass

or knock over some object like a desk lamp or bump into something.

Klutzy is spelled k l u t y.

In the video, Anna knocks over

two signs in the hallway at work.

Just after she says she is not too tall.

The noun form of klutzy is the word klutz,

and a synonym of klutzy is clumsy.

That's spelled clumsy.

Andrew I notice the two words sound similar.

They do sound similar, but you know one is spelled with a k

and the other with a c, and the other has a z and one has an s.

So there are some differences. There.

and the words have different

origins or language roots.

Klutzy comes from Yiddish

and clumsy from an older form of English.

Now let's hear Anna arriving at her friend's houseboat.

Her friend's name is Fanny.

Listen for the way Fanny asks her son to show up for the boat.

Oh, no. I'm so glad you did come.

Hi, Fanny. Hi.

This is my son, Phoenix. Hi, Phoenix. Hello.

How about you give on a tour and I will make some lunch?

Fanny, use the informal expression of the two words.

How about to ask her son Phoenix

to show on to the boat

during Anna's visit on the boat?

She starts to feel seasick.

We sometimes get seasick because of the movement of a boat on the water.

We say the boat rocks back and forth.

Can you

stop this boat from rocking for a minute?

The problem for Anna is that the boat continues to rock.

Later, Fanny notices that Anna does not feel well.

Are you feeling okay? Yeah. Yeah.

you know, I just need some fresh air.

Let me open a window for you.

No, I need some fresh land. Air?

I mean, I need to breathe air on land.

Oh, is that the time?

I should really be going.

Thanks for lunch, Fanny.

And a tour of your houseboat.

It's given me a great idea.

You're going to live on a houseboat?

Sort of. Thanks again.

At the end of the video, we see the idea Anna was talking about.

She invites Mrs.

Weaver to hang out or spend time on a boat.

Hi. How would you like to hang out on my boat?

Great.

See you then.

This time, Anna uses the more formal expression.

Would you like to?

However, by adding the word hao at the beginning,

she makes it sound just a little bit less formal.

Listen again. Hi.

How would you like to hang out on my boat?

Just. Great.

See you then. At the end of the video.

We see Anna and Mrs.

Weaver sitting in a small boat on the grass.

And Anna zade.

And Mrs.

Weaver does not look too excited about it.

No she doesn't.

But, hey, at least she doesn't have to worry about getting seasick.

I've been seasick before, and I can tell you it's not fun.

Yeah, but I've heard acupuncture is helpful.

Or just pinching on your ears when you feel seasick.

Well, I wish I had known that at the time.

Well, before our listeners

get sick of listening to me, let's remind them that each lesson

of the Let's Learn English series has a lesson plan

that they can download for free from our website.

The plans can be helpful for both students and teachers.

And remember that you can 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 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, junior.

Please choose the correct answer for each question below: