– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Welcome to Learning English,

a daily 30 minute program

from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

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.

Coming up on the show,

we have reports from John Russell and Bryan Lynn.

Jill Robbins presents the Everyday Grammar Report,

and we close the show with the lesson of the day.

But first, here's Bryan.

The European Space Agency,

ESA, is reportedly in talks with America's

Space X to cooperate in efforts

to reduce the growing amount of space junk.

The talks, reported by Reuters news

agency, aim to get the California based space company

to join an international agreement

that pushes for policies to fight space debris.

It has been

estimated that Space X satellites

represent about two thirds of spacecraft

currently in low Earth orbit.

Space debris is anything that humans

have put into space that is no longer in use.

This could include satellites, equipment,

parts of rockets or spacecraft.

Space junk orbits hundreds of kilometers above Earth.

It can circle Earth at speeds of about

25,000km/h in low-Earth orbit,

and it can cause major damage if it hits a space station,

satellite or spacecraft.

The international agreement

that ESA wants space X to join

is called the Zero Debris Charter.

It seeks to stop any new orbital

junk from being created by 2030.

The 22 members of ESA have been seeking new members

to join the agreement since the agency announced it in 2023.

ESA Director General Joseph Aschbacher

told Reuters that more than 100

countries and organizations

have so far joined the agreement.

When asked about Space X's possible involvement,

Aschbacher said ESA was in discussion

with the company to possibly sign up.

Ash Barker did not provide further details,

but he said that work on the charter

is moving forward and ESA is continuing

raising the issue of space junk

with nations and organizations.

Reuters reported that Space X did not respond

to a request for comment on the matter.

The news agency said that out of about

10,300 active satellites in space,

an estimated 6300

are part of Space X's fast

growing Starlink internet service system.

Reuters said that information came

from the US Space Force.

Other organizations and nations

are also launching their own large satellite collections.

China has done so in an attempt to compete with Space-X.

Reuters reported.

In addition, American based Amazon

expects to launch more than 3000 satellites

for its Kuiper Internet service

over the next ten years.

Jonathan McDowell is a Harvard University astronomer

who follows such objects.

He has estimated there are nearly 19,000

pieces of trackable space junk in orbit.

McDowell said he thinks it is important

to have members of industry publicly support

this kind of charter.

So I'm glad to know Space-X

is considering it, he said.

There are no international laws on space debris,

but in recent years, countries have begun to create plans

and national rules for fighting the problem.

We are not a regulatory body,

we are a technical space agency, Ash Parker said.

But the fact that we have put the charter around the table,

which was elaborated with all the other partners

and that they signed up to it, is very encouraging.

He added I'm Bryan Lynn.

Researchers in Mexico

have discovered a large, lost Mayan city.

The major urban settlement named Valery

Yana, is hidden deep in the southern forest of competition.

The discovery adds to existing knowledge

about ancient Mayan settlements.

Valery Yana was discovered by chance thanks to lidar

or light detection and ranging.

It is a technology that uses lasers

to map the Earth's surface.

The data used for the study

came from around 122km²

of high quality lidar data

collected in 2013.

The work, led by The Nature Conservancy in Mexico,

was part of a forest monitoring project called Alianza.

The project aimed to reduce emissions from tree

cutting or deforestation and land damage,

researchers wrote in the

study, published by Cambridge University Press,

that the discovery of valerian

highlights the fact that there are still major gaps

in our knowledge of the existence or absence of large sites

within, as yet unmapped areas

of the Maya lowlands.

LiDAR technology revealed a major settlement

filled with buildings and agricultural infrastructure.

The classical era Maya civilization

dates back to around 1800

to 1100 years ago.

At the time, the Maya civilization

grew its control over present day southern Mexico

and what are now Belize, El Salvador,

Guatemala and Honduras.

In the study, the researchers identified

a total of 6764 structures,

suggesting a populous ancient city.

The researchers will carry out further

detailed study of the data set,

both remotely and in the field.

Their discovery serves as a way to better understand

ancient Mayan urbanization and settlements.

I am John Russell.

VOA Learning English

has launched a new program for children.

It is called Let's Learn English with Ana.

The new course aims to teach children American English

through asking and answering questions

and experiencing fun situations.

For more information, visit our website.

Learning English dot VOA News.com.

For VOA Learning English.

This is everyday grammar.

Have you ever been in the conversation

and wanted to check your understanding?

That is the time to use a tag question in English.

A tag question is a short question

added to a statement.

The tag includes a pronoun

and its matching form of the verb

or auxiliary verb.

If the tag question is negative, we shorten the phrase

or use a contraction with the auxiliary verb.

Here's an example.

I was visiting a friend and saw a photo on the wall.

I said,

that's a picture of your grandson, isn't it?

My friend answered.

Yes it is.

That picture is from when he was two.

He's a lot taller now.

In the example I wanted to confirm something I thought was true.

So I started with a positive statement.

That's a picture of your grandson.

Then I added a negative

tag question, isn't it?

My friend said I was right.

The picture was of his grandson.

English speakers use tag questions

to encourage a listener to respond.

You will often hear teachers using tag questions.

You remember the history lesson from last week, don't you?

Some language researchers say that men use

tag questions more often than women.

They think it might show that men have more power

in the conversation, and use tags

to ask for information or agreement.

Others say women use a certain kind of tag questions

to make the conversation run more smoothly.

Whatever your gender,

when you use a tag question,

you expect an answer.

The form of that answer

depends on the type of tag question.

Let's look at the two types of tag questions.

We'll talk first about tag questions

that follow a positive statement with the verb be.

They use a reduced form or contraction.

Make the tag question with the form of the verb

be combined with the negative not and the pronoun.

The verb be has to match the number

and person of the pronoun.

Take a look at these examples.

They are walking to school, aren't they?

She is taking the bus, isn't she?

I am supposed to be sitting here, aren't I?

You are the math teacher, aren't you?

In these examples, you reverse the order of the pronoun

and verb in the tag question.

They are becomes, aren't they?

And she is.

Becomes, isn't she?

If the

statement uses another verb instead of B,

the tag question uses an auxiliary verb

such as do or have.

For example, in the song A Little Time,

the singing duo Beautiful South ask the question

me love over your big head, don't you?

Don't you?

And they spin. Looking like a close person.

It happening.

If you ask a negative tag question,

you expect a positive answer.

Question.

It's raining out, isn't it?

Expected answer.

Yes it is.

Now let's look at tag questions that follow a negative statement.

These are in the affirmative.

You can use this to confirm

that what you are thinking is true,

and you expect a negative answer.

Question.

You don't eat all the cake.

Do you?

Expected answer. No, I don't.

Negative sentences with positive

tag questions are not as frequent as our first type.

They use the same form with reversed word order.

Tag questions are an example of a big difference

between British and American English language.

Researchers using computer data

found that British English speakers use tag questions

nine times as often as American English speakers,

an understanding and using English grammar.

Betty Azar says that the intonation

or change in pitch shows the purpose of a tag question

if the speaker is trying to confirm

information, the tone rises.

Adam works at VOA, doesn't he?

Speakers saying something that they are almost certain

the listener will agree with.

Use a falling intonation.

It's a nice day, isn't it?

I'm Jill Robbins.

And I'm Jim Tedder.

Now it's your turn.

Write a sentence with a tag question in the comments.

We'll give you feedback.

On. We just heard

the weekly Everyday Grammar report.

Today it was all about tag questions.

Now Jill Robbins joins me to talk a bit

more about the story.

Can we talk a bit about the word tag?

Sure.

It is a word we use to talk about

something added on to another thing.

Like a tag question is added on

to a declarative sentence.

Exactly.

When you go into a store, you might find a small piece of paper

that tells you the cost of a product.

A price tag.

You've got it.

And in the US, we call the number plate

on the car a tag two.

I think I've also heard it in relation

to computers and the internet.

That has a similar meaning of a little addition

in social media nowadays.

We also use it to mean a short description

added on to describe the content,

and on a blog post or a website.

There are tags in each page that help you

when you search for a certain topic.

Tags seem to be everywhere.

I just remembered another one.

The children's game. Right?

We call it playing tag.

When we run around and try to touch someone,

then they have to touch another person and say

tag, you're it.

Thanks for joining us today, Jill.

It's always fun talking with you and our podcast

listeners.

Hello.

My name is Ana 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 video series.

Let's learn English.

This series shows Ana Mateo

in her work and lives in Washington, D.C..

Lesson 51 of the series is called A Good Habit.

Today we're going to talk about habits and about fitness.

A habit is something you do on a regular basis.

On a regular basis means something that you do,

or that happens repeatedly and frequently.

For example, if you brush your teeth every day,

you do that on a regular basis.

So that means it is a habit.

And fitness is a noun.

It means the state of having a strong and healthy body

that can do a lot of exercise.

And the word fit is the adjective form of fitness.

To be fit, you need to exercise on a regular basis.

And the expression to be in shape

means the same thing as to be fit.

Over the last 50 years,

running has become a popular way for people to stay fit or get in shape.

And a big goal for many runners

is to run a marathon in less than 51.

I don't think she can run a marathon too.

Let's listen.

D.C. is a popular city for marathons.

A marathon is a long race.

Many marathons raise money for charities.

You know good works.

A marathon is a good fitness goal, too.

I want to challenge myself in a marathon

and maybe win a medal.

Hey! There's Ashley.

Ashley, wait for me! Donna.

Ashley. Ashley!

Ashley!

Ashley, are you okay?

I just ran from over there.

Whew.

Running is really, really hard.

Do you want to sit down?

Oh, no. Whoa!

Do you want some water? Oh! Ooh!

Oh, no.

Thanks. You keep it. Thanks.

I didn't know you like to run.

I love running.

In fact, this weekend I will run in my first marathon.

I meet two really?

You are running in a marathon?

Yeah.

In a couple of days.

Why do you ask like that?

What do you know about running in a marathon?

I know

that there's a lot of running,

and sometimes you can win a medal.

And how long have you been training?

I started today.

I've been training for an hour.

Know an hour and seven minutes.

Anna has only been training for about an hour.

But to run a marathon, most people need to train for at least a few months.

Or a year to train or to get in shape.

Is an activity that takes place over a period of time.

That's why Ashley and Anna use

the present perfect continuous tense.

And how long have you been training?

I started today.

I've been training for an hour.

Let's talk a bit more about marathons.

The word marathon comes from a town

in Greece named marathon.

According to tradition,

a Greek runner named Pheidippides

ran from marathon to the city of Athens

to deliver some important news.

The news was that the Greek military had defeated

the powerful Persian military at the Battle of Marathon,

and the distance from Marathon

to Athens was about 40km.

After the marathon was added to the modern Olympic sports competition,

the official distance of the race

became just over 42km.

And speaking of the modern event,

in 2023, a 23 year

old man from Kenya named Kelvin Kiptum

set a new world record for the fastest marathon ever run.

He ran the Chicago Marathon

in a time of two hours and 35 seconds.

Whoa, whoa.

I read that the average time for most people is around 4.5 hours.

So that means Kiptum was running more than twice as fast as the average runner.

Many people wonder if anyone will ever be able

to finish a marathon in under two hours.

Well, Kiptum is getting pretty close.

Now let's get back to Anna.

She has made the mistake of underestimating

how long it takes to train for a marathon.

To estimate is to make a guess about something.

And to underestimate

means to guess an amount that is too small.

And how long have you been training?

I started today.

I've been training for an hour.

Know an hour and seven minutes on it.

Training a little every day is a good habit to get into.

Not all at once.

Her friend Ashley is right to get fit.

You need to get into the habit of exercising.

To get into the habit of doing

something means to start doing something on a regular basis

and to develop a good habit.

It sometimes helps to have a goal.

Jill, do you have any fitness goals

or things you want to get into the habit of doing?

I swim regularly.

I try to swim at least three times a week,

and every day I do yoga and walk about three miles with my dog.

How about you, Andrew?

Right now, I think my problem is that

I don't have a specific fitness goal,

but I do exercise on a regular basis.

But you know what?

I have a friend who says I don't drink enough water.

So maybe I can just get into the habit of drinking more water.

Well, anyway, I think

drinking water should be an easy habit to get into.

I've been reading a book lately about the habits of successful people.

One of them is to start with the end in mind, or have a goal,

which is good for language learning to.

For example, you could say, I want to get in the habit

of listening to English at least 30 minutes a day

with the voice of America Learning English podcast.

And Andrew, your goal is to get in the habit of drinking enough water.

Listeners, did you notice that if we say the habit of

we use the ING form of the verb after it?

For example, we say the habit of drinking more water.

The habit of exercising.

The habit of reading, the habit of walking, and so on.

After the preposition of,

just remember to use the ING form.

Ana is not in the habit of running,

so she is definitely not going to be able to finish a marathon.

But luckily for her,

the race she wants to run in is only for children.

I'm here to enter the race.

But ma'am, you can't enter the race.

What?

How am I going to meet my goal?

Ma'am, this race is for children.

You can't run with the children.

Children? Children.

That's perfect.

I just might win.

No, ma'am.

You really can't run with the children.

I'm sorry.

Of course I was only thinking of my goal.

Well, you could help us with our goal, which is to raise money for sick children.

Would you like to help us?

Ana gets a new goal to help the race

raise money for sick children.

At the end of the video, she helps the children

and tells them they have done a good job.

I've just found my new goal and I get to wear a medal.

Good job.

Do you have any fitness goals or new habits you want to get into?

Send us an email at Learning English at VOA News.com and let us know.

And remember,

you can also find us on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

Thanks for listening.

I'm Andrew Smith.

And I'm Dr.

Jill.

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 Mario Ritter Jr.

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
marathon /ˈmærəθɑn/ B2	noun - a long-distance running race with a standardized distance.
habit /ˈhæbɪt/ B1	noun - a regular tendency or pattern of behavior.
fitness /ˈfɪtnəs/ B1	noun - the condition of being physically fit and healthy.
training /ˈtreɪnɪŋ/ B1	noun - the process of preparing for a physical or mental task.
charities /ˈtʃærɪtiz/ B1	noun - organizations that collect and distribute money to those in need.
infrastructure /ˌɪnfrəˈstrʌktʃər/ C1	noun - the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
discovered /dɪˈskʌvərd/ B1	verb - to find something unexpectedly or while looking for something else.
technology /tekˈnɑlədʒi/ B2	noun - the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.
monitoring /ˈmɑnɪtərɪŋ/ B2	noun - the observation and recording of a process or activity.
emissions /ɪˈmɪʃənz/ C1	noun - the production and discharge of something, especially gas or radiation.
deforestation /ˌdiːfɒrɪˈsteɪʃən/ C1	noun - the clearing of forests.
identified /aɪˈdentɪfaɪd/ B1	verb - to recognize or establish as being a particular person or thing.
structures /ˈstrʌktʃərz/ B1	noun - arrangements of and relations between parts that make up a whole.
urbanization /ˌɜːrbənaɪˈzeɪʃən/ C1	noun - the process of making an area more urban.
settlements /ˈsetlmentz/ B1	noun - a place where people have come to live permanently.
launched /lɔːntʃt/ B1	verb - to start or set something in motion.
service /ˈsɜːrvɪs/ A2	noun - an action that someone does for someone else.

Key Grammar Structures

• That's a picture of your grandson, isn't it?

  ➔ Tag Question

  ➔ A tag question is added to a statement to seek confirmation. Here, "isn't it?" is the tag.

• I've been training for an hour.

  ➔ Present Perfect Continuous

  ➔ Used to describe an action that started in the past and continues to the present. "Have been training" indicates ongoing action.

• To get into the habit of doing something means to start doing something on a regular basis.

  ➔ Infinitive of Purpose

  ➔ The infinitive "to get" is used to express purpose. It explains why the action is performed.

• The habit of exercising is good for health.

  ➔ Gerund after Preposition

  ➔ After the preposition "of," the gerund form "exercising" is used. This is a common grammar rule.

• She is supposed to be sitting here, aren't I?

  ➔ Tag Question with 'be'

  ➔ The tag question uses the verb 'be' in its negative form to match the subject. Here, "aren't I?" is incorrect; it should be "isn't she?"