Bald Eagle, Blue Ghost, Knitting at Movies, Feedback

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 today's program, Ana Mateo tells the story of America's national bird, the bold eagle, on All About America. Years ago, the bird of prey seemed like it might disappear, but today it has recovered and is no longer threatened. Next, Brian Lynn reports on the successful moon landing of a private spacecraft operated by Firefly Aerospace in the state of Texas. Then, Ana is back with a story about how knitting has become popular in many places in the world as people mix the industrious pastime with movie-watching in groups. Then, Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith talk about feedback on Lesson of the Day. But first, we hear from Ana. The bald eagle is a symbol of the United States. An image of the bird is on the flag and seal of the U.S. President, the seal of the U.S. Supreme Court, military insignia, as well as the dollar bill. Even so, the bird has had its ups and downs. At one time, the bald eagle was at risk of permanent disappearance or extinction. Later, however, its numbers recovered. In the early 2000s, the federal government removed the bird from its endangered species list. Culturally, too, the raptors are doing well again. In December 2024, before leaving office, Joe Biden signed legislation officially making the bald eagle the national bird of the United States. The bald eagle has a long, complex story of species weakness and recovery. An insect-killing chemical called DDT played a major part in that story. DDT is a chemical used to kill insects. The substance also proved harmful to eagle eggs. American officials banned DDT in 1972, but the use of the chemical had already caused severe damage to eagle populations. For example, in the 1980s, there was only one nesting pair of eagles in the state of New Jersey. Now there are about 300 pairs. To rebuild the number of eagles across the U.S., researchers wanting to save them imported the birds from places where their population numbers were secure, including Canada. Early on, they also removed eggs from their nests so they could safely hatch with scientists, before being returned to their parents to raise. Explained Kathy Clark. She is the head of New Jersey's Endangered and Non-Game Species Program. Clark has worked with the birds for many years. This includes the time when New Jersey had very few bald eagles, and they only lived in areas far from people. Clark said that she will always remember that feeling of not knowing if the species will survive. Maya Edwards is the science director at the American Bald Eagle Foundation in Alaska. She says the species represents one of the few conservation success stories of animals that came close to disappearing permanently from America. I think now it's really important to make sure people know that story and learn from it, she said. Clark said the eagles have taught officials some lessons. One is that the raptors are good at changing to fit their environment. The birds now live in parts of New Jersey that are dense with people. But the birds still face dangers in such areas. Jillian Fazio is director of the Essex County Turtleback Zoo in northern New Jersey. She said the zoo rescues a number of birds hit by cars. The zoo is also home to Freedom, a bald eagle named by the caretakers. Freedom was rescued hanging from a tree in Minnesota after he got caught in some rope. He was injured so badly that he cannot be returned to the wild, Fazio said. A lack of eagle habitat and prey also threatens the species. Bald eagles feed heavily on fish, so they require clean, open water in which to hunt. Disease outbreaks, such as avian influenza or bird flu, are another serious threat to the birds. The birds are highly respected by several Native American cultures as symbols of strength, especially in the Pacific Northwest, says Paul Apodaca. He is a retired university professor who specializes in stories and storytelling from different cultures. The position of eagles as symbols of the U.S. adds to their protection. Americans are always going to have that sort of personal relationship with bald eagles, said Clark, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection official. Dan Day is a birder. He has seen bald eagles about 50 times in recent years, both on nature walks and while driving around. He said it really elevates your day to see a bald eagle. I'm Anna Mateo. A private spacecraft carrying several science experiments has successfully landed on the moon. The lander, called Blue Ghost, was built by the American company Firefly Aerospace. The spacecraft touched down March 2 on the part of the moon's near side called Mare Criseum. The near side of the moon is the side facing Earth. Officials at Firefly's Mission Control Center near Austin, Texas, confirmed the successful landing. The chief engineer for the Blue Ghost mission, Will Coogan, announced to excited workers, we're on the moon. The officials said the spacecraft landed in the right position and was operating normally. The successful touchdown makes Firefly the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or having a major problem. Only five countries can claim successful moon landings. Russia, the United States, China, India, and Japan. Blue Ghost is named after a rare kind of firefly found in the U.S. The four-legged lander is 2 meters tall and 3.5 meters wide. It launched in mid-January from Florida, carrying 10 experiments for the American space agency, NASA. In a statement, NASA said the 10 experiments are designed to operate on the surface of the moon for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days. The Associated Press reported that NASA paid $101 million for the spacecraft and $44 million for the equipment it carried. It was the third mission under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, CLPS, program. The program aims to turn over the country's major space missions to private companies to reduce costs. Several other companies are part of the program. Another lander, called Athena, is set to attempt a moon landing on March 6. That 4-meter-tall spacecraft was built and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines. It will land on another part of the moon about 160 kilometers from the lunar south pole. A third lander from private Japanese company Icebase will attempt a moon landing in about three months. The lander, called Resilience, shared its rocket ride with Blue Ghost. But it took a longer path to the moon. The company is also attempting to land on the moon for the second time. Its first lander crashed in 2023. NASA has said it aims to have two private landers launch to the moon each year, realizing some missions will fail. The space agency's top science officer is Nikki Fox. She told the AP the latest launches open up a whole new way for us to get more science to space and to the moon. In the past, NASA's successful moon landings involving astronauts cost billions of dollars. But Firefly chief Jason Kim said the private companies now building and launching spacecraft have a limited budget and the spacecraft operate robotically. Kim said everything went just as planned with Blue Ghost's landing. We got some moon dust on our boots, he added. I'm Brian Lynn. Nearly 200 people in Vienna, Austria, gathered recently to enjoy two fun activities at the same time. They worked with needles and yarn. And they watched a movie together called The Devil Wears Prada. It sounds a bit like a grandmother, but it's relaxing. And what's wrong with letting the grandmother in us express herself, joked Austrian Alexander Koch. He is a 28-year-old who crochets. Knitting or crocheting while watching movies has gained popularity in Europe. Louisa Palmer was one of the organizers of the event. Palmer said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people started knitting during the lockdown alone at home. Palmer launched the knitting evenings once a month at Votiv Kino, a place to watch movies in the center of the Austrian capital. Now we need to find ourselves in real life, the 30-year-old told the French news agency, AFP, before the event. People are knitting, eating, or even breastfeeding babies while watching a movie. This movement is the latest attempt to add different things to the movie-watching experience, said Lisa Stoltz. She is a spokesperson for Votiv Kino, the movie house. To avoid knitting mistakes, a soft light remains on during the movie. This also helps to increase exchanges between the attendees. Organizers based their event on similar ones in the United States, Northern Europe, Germany, and France. Since launching in December of 2024, the movie events in Vienna are usually full. I usually knit while watching movies or listening to podcasts at home, so movie theaters are the perfect place for this activity. said Kaja Fospenik. She is a 23-year-old fashion student. As the movie plays, the colorful projects take shape. The film takes a back seat, meaning it is less important than the work of knitting or crocheting. Everyone shows off their work. Experienced knitters and crocheters help beginners learn new skills. You can come alone and knit in silence to relax. But if you are looking for company, this kind of event seems to me to be the right choice. said Judith Haslova. She is another organizer of the event. People attend the events for several reasons. Some say the events let them reconnect with something real that is not on a computer. Others say they can slow down a little. Palmer said doing something with your ten fingers is still more rewarding than working at a computer all day. She added that picking the right movie is also important. Palmer likes to watch a good cozy comedy that she has already seen. She joked that it is best to avoid scary movies. They can make you jump, causing you to lose your place in your knitting. I'm Anna Mateo. VOA Learning English has launched a new program for children. It is called Let's Learn English with Anna. The new course aims to teach children American English through asking and answering questions and experiencing fun situations. For more information, visit our website. My name is Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. 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 series, Let's Learn English. This series shows Anna Mateo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. In Lesson 41 of the Let's Learn English series, Anna is going to receive a review of her work from her boss, Ms. Weaver. A work review often lets an employee know what they are doing well and what they could improve. That means Ms. Weaver will give Anna some feedback. Andrew, I think feedback is an important word to know, especially as it relates to work or job performance. I agree. And you can get feedback about almost any kind of thing you are working on. For example, if you write a paper for school, or if you write a song or draw a picture, another person can tell you what they think about your paper, song, or picture. When we give someone feedback, we usually point out what we think they have done well and some things we think they could change to make it better. At the end of today's lesson, we're going to ask you to write us and tell us about advice or feedback you have received. And we'll also invite you to give advice about ways people can improve their English. But first, let's see what Ms. Weaver tells Anna. Anna. Hello. Sit down. As you know, at the start of a new year, we have a work review. Yes. It's time for mine. Yes. Anna, this chart shows the audience of the time-traveling treehouse. If you look at it, you will see something bad. Your audience is going down, down, down. Ms. Weaver, I think the chart is upside down. Here, let's flip that around. Now it's right side up. If you look at this chart, you will see something good. Your audience is big. Good, but not big enough. Not good. I want to see these numbers go up and up and up. It sounds like Ms. Weaver is very ambitious. That's spelled A-M-B-I-T-I-O-U-S. Ambitious means she has a strong desire to do more and see more improvement. Yes, even after Anna flipped the chart around, Ms. Weaver said the audience numbers needed to increase more. And let's talk about this word, flip. We can flip things around in a physical sense, but we also talk about flipping ideas around. When you flip an idea around, that means you try to think about things in a different way, or an opposite way. Right. For example, many people might think that living in a big house would be better than living in a small house. But we can flip this idea around and say that living in a small house would be better because a small house costs less and there is less work to do to keep it clean and perhaps for some other reasons. We flip something over like a piece of paper or like flipping an egg over to cook it on both sides. And when we flip something around, that means we rotate or turn it the way Anna turned her chart. And if something is upside down, we turn it to make it right side up. And here's where we have another expression. We can talk about the world being turned upside down. If your world has been turned upside down, that means there have been some very big changes in your life. And when we talk about the kind of changes that turn your world upside down, we usually refer to changes that are unexpected, unwanted, or difficult to deal with. Now, let's return to Anna's work review. Ms. Weaver told Anna, If you look at it, you will see something bad. Ms. Weaver is saying something she is sure about. So, she uses the modal will before the verb see. But notice that the clause, You will see something bad, depends on something else happening first. It depends on a certain condition. And that condition is expressed by the if clause. If you look at it, In this example, the verb in the if clause is in the simple present tense. We call the combination of an if clause in the simple present, followed by another clause with the modal will, the future real conditional. A future real conditional just means if something happens, then something else will really happen in the future. Like in this example, If we stay up all night, we will be tired the next day. I'm Jill Robbins, and you're listening to the Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast. You can find more examples and ways to practice the future real conditional by going to our website at learningenglish.voanews.com and downloading the lesson plan that comes with Lesson 41 of Let's Learn English. We can use the real future conditional to give advice. For example, Jill can give people learning English advice like this. If you learn more vocabulary, you will understand more English. And if you use a new word several times, you will be more likely to remember it. OK, listeners, now it's your turn. What advice can you give to help people learn English? Send us your answers using the future real conditional at learningenglishatvoanews.com. And as Dr. Jill said earlier in today's Lesson of the Day, we'd also like you to tell us about a time that you received feedback. And be sure to tell us how the feedback was or was not helpful to you. Write to us at learningenglishatvoanews.com. OK, before we go, we should check back on Anna's work review. Listen carefully. What does Anna notice about the posters that Ms. Weaver shows Anna? I want to see these numbers go up and up and up. How, Ms. Weaver? I have something. Idea posters. You really ought to think seriously about them. I like this one. Read it, please. If at first you succeed, you will be a success. Well, it's a cute cat. Here's another one. I like it. Working hard looks hard because it really is hard. I see. It's another cute cat. This is my favorite. Oh, teamwork works best with a team. A team of cats. Look at all those cats. So, Anna, do you understand what I want? Yes, Ms. Weaver. I understand. Do you think Anna really understands what Ms. Weaver wants? What animal did Anna notice? And what do you think Anna will do next? You can bet it's going to be silly. To find out, go to learningenglishatVOANews.com and watch Lesson 41 of Let's Learn English. And remember that you can find us on Facebook, YouTube, 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 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.