Lesson 35: Let’s Make Dinner!

Summary In this lesson, Anna and Marsha are planning a dinner party. But Anna comes home from the store with some unusual foods for dinner. Speaking In this video, learn about using measure words, like "jar of" and "bag of." Pronunciation Use this video to learn about the reduced pronunciation of the word "of" before measure words. Conversation   Anna: Hi there! Washington, D.C. has many fun places to eat. But, sometimes it's more fun to cook. In fact, tonight Marsha and I are cooking for friends. Well, she is cooking. I am doing the shopping. (phone rings) It’s Marsha. Hi, Marsha. Marsha: Hi, Anna. Do you have the shopping list? Anna: Yes, I told you: I have the shopping list. Can you hear it? Marsha: Okay, good. I hear the list. Anna, please buy all the ingredients on the list. Anna: Yes, Marsha, I will. Marsha: And do not spend too much time shopping. Anna: No, Marsha, I won’t. See you later. Anna: Sometimes, Marsha worries too much. I love shopping! And, I did not spend too much money. Oh, no! But I did spend too much time! I have to return home now! Marsha: Anna, what took you so long? Our guests will be here soon! Anna: Don’t worry, Marsha. I bought everything on the list. Marsha: Let me see. You bought a bunch of bananas, a box of pancake mix, a bag of coffee … Anna, this is all wrong! Anna: What do you mean wrong? I bought a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread … no, wait … two loaves of bread. Marsha: Anna, these are the wrong ingredients! Anna: These ingredients are all on the list! I took this list from the counter. Marsha: Anna, this is the shopping list for breakfast. I said, take the shopping list - on the refrigerator - for dinner! Anna: Marsha, there was no shopping list - on the refrigerator - for dinner! Marsha: Oh no! It’s on the floor!! Anna/Marsha: Ahh!!! Ahh!!! Marsha: What are we going to do? Anna: When do our guests arrive? Marsha: They arrive in 30 minutes! Anna: I can fix this. Do you trust me? Marsha: Do I have to? Anna: Yes. (The story continues next week) Writing Do you like shopping for food? What do you like to make for a dinner with guests? Write to us by email or in the Comments section. Click on the image below to download the Activity Sheet and practice talking about foods and measure words.​ Learning Strategy Learning Strategies are the thoughts and actions that help make learning easier or more effective. The learning strategy for this lesson is Cooperate.  When we work together to meet a goal we are cooperating.  In this lesson, Anna and Marsha are planning a dinner party. They cooperate to share the work. Anna says, "In fact, tonight Marsha and I are cooking for friends. Well, she is cooking. I am doing the shopping.​" We can also cooperate by practicing English language skills with a friend or classmate. How do you use this cooperating strategy in your study of English? Write to us about it in the Comments section or send us an email. Teachers, see the Lesson Plan  for more details on teaching this strategy. Quiz Listen to short videos and test your listening skills with this quiz. ______________________________________________________________ New Words banana - n. a long curved fruit with a thick peel that is yellow when it is ripe bought - v. past tense of buy: to get (something) by paying money for it box - n. a container that is made of a hard material (such as wood, metal, or cardboard) and that usually has four straight sides bread - n. a baked food made from a mixture of flour and water bunch - n. a group of things of the same kind that are held or tied together or that grow together counter - n. a long, flat surface on which food is prepared in a kitchen floor - n. the   part of a room on which you stand ingredient - n. one of the things that are used to make a food or product jar - n. a glass container that has a wide opening and usually a lid loaf - n. an amount of bread that has been baked in a long, round, or square shape (plural: loaves) mix - n. a dry mixture of ingredients that is sold in one package and used for making something (such as a type of food) pancake - n. a thin, flat, round cake that is made by cooking batter on both sides in a frying pan or on a hot surface peanut butter - n. a creamy food made from peanuts shopping list - n. a list of things to be bought at a shop or store told - v. past tense of tell: to give information to (someone) by speaking or writing trust - v. to believe that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, or effective ______________________________________________________________ Free Materials   Download the VOA Learning English Word Book for a dictionary of the words we use on this website. Each Let's Learn English lesson has an Activity Sheet for extra practice on your own or in the classroom. In this lesson, you can use it to practice talking about foods and measure words. For Teachers ​ See the Lesson Plan for this lesson for ideas and more teaching resources.Send us an email if you have comments on this course or questions. Grammar focus: Partitives (measure words); Count/Non-count Nouns (review) Topics:Giving reasons for concern Learning Strategy: Cooperate Speaking & Pronunciation Focus: Reduced​ “of” before consonants and vowels (in partitives)   ____________________________________________________________ Now it's your turn. Send us an email or write to us in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page to let us know what you think of this lesson.

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Don't Be MIA! Improve Your English With These Military Words

  Now the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories. On this show, we explore the origin and uses of common expressions in American English. Today, we talk about some words that began life in the military. In the United States, Veterans Day is a national holiday held on November 11. On that day in 1918, all sides in World War I stopped fighting. Americans originally called this holiday Armistice Day. The name changed to Veterans Day in 1954. A Veteran’s Day kind of veteran is a current or former member of the armed services. However, “veteran” also describes civilians. A veteran is someone who has a lot of experience in a particular activity, skill or job. The opposite of a veteran is a novice or a beginner. But let’s get back to military veterans. People in the military like to use acronyms. An acronym is a word formed from the first letters of each word in a phrase. For example, the acronym NATO stands for “North Atlantic Treaty Organization.” But now people just call it “NATO.” Some other military acronyms have crossed over into civilian language. Radar, for example, is short for “RAdio Detecting and Ranging.” Radar is a device that sends out radio waves for finding the position and speed of a moving object such as a spy plane. This war term first came into use in 1941. We use "radar" in a couple useful expressions. To fall off the radar means to disappear. For example, let’s say I am too busy to play the ukulele. When a friend asks if I’ve been playing, I can say, “Playing the ukulele has kind of fallen off my radar. I’m just too busy these days.” The opposite of that is to be on someone's radar. When something is on your radar you are thinking about it or considering it. For example, let’s say I have moved to a new city. I have a new job and a new apartment. Then, someone asks me if I have joined a ukulele group yet. I answer, “Not yet. But it is on my radar.” In other words, I am actively looking for one. But let’s leave the ukulele and go back to war. If you are pilot of a spy plane, you want to fly under the enemy’s radar. This way they will not detect you on their radar screens. And that is how we use this expression in everyday conversation. When you fly under the radar you want to be invisible -- unseen, undetected. You disappear. If you disappear from a battle in a war, you are MIA. This acronym stands for “missing in action.” In civilian use, MIA often refers to a person dropping out of an activity. For example, if I miss a lot of ukulele practices my band mates might describe me as MIA. AWOL is a very different kind of military disappearance. "AWOL" stands for “absence without official leave.” This means a soldier is missing from duty without permission. A solider found guilty of an AWOL charge can suffer serious punishment. In civilian life, it has a similar meaning. AWOL means you were supposed to be somewhere but were not. For example, if my friend offered to help at my ukulele concert but did not show up, she is AWOL.   Military people have great acronyms to describe a situation that has gone terribly wrong. FUBAR means something severely disorganized, damaged or ruined. Some say it stands for “fouled up beyond all repair.” Other say it stands for “fouled up beyond all recognition.” SNAFU has a similar meaning. This acronym stands for “situation normal: all fouled up.” In other words, things are not going well, as usual. We should note, the soldier who invented these acronyms may not originally have used the word “fouled.” They may have used a more offensive word that means the same thing. But that is just not VOA Learning English style. I’m Anna Matteo. I am not MIA or AWOL. I am reporting for duty from Washington, D.C.  Here is the United States Army Field Band and Soldier's Chorus performing "Stars and Stripes Forever." Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver edited the story. What acronyms do you in your language? Do you use military words in everyday conversations? Please share in the Comments Section. __________________________________________________________ Words in This Story novice – n. a person who has just started learning or doing something fouled – v. placed in a situation that impedes physical movement Detecting – v. to discover or notice the presence of (something that is hidden or hard to see, hear, taste, etc. Ranging – v. to place among others in a position or situation origin - n. the point or place where something begins ukelele - n. a musical instrument with four strings conversation - n. a discussion involving two or more people band - n. a group of musicians who perform together concert - n. a musical performance

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Two Belarusian Men Invent Simple Prosthetic Arm

Accidents in which people lose an arm or leg often take place in communities with large numbers of poor people. In such areas, victims may not have enough money to pay for costly prosthetic replacements. But two men from Belarus have used simple and easily available materials to make a prosthetic arm. Almost anyone can build one of the limbs at home. Oleg Galtsev was four years old when his father Sergei lost his arm in an explosion on a military firing range. At the time, Sergei Galtsev was an army captain in the former Soviet Union. Almost 30 years later, he is using a prosthetic arm designed by his son and another engineer. He says “They gave me the prosthesis to test for three weeks. I used it to saw firewood, cut the grass and to do many other things in the field.” The mechanical arm looks nothing like the new prosthetics available in industrial countries. But it is easy to make, has a low cost, and does not need much maintenance. Oleg Galtsev says the device is designed for people who do not feel at ease with electronics. Galtsev says it took two years to design the prosthesis. They used a 3-D printer to create some parts and bought others online. The creators did not ask for a legal patent to control ownership of the device. In fact, they have published directions on how to make it online. They say it costs just one-tenth of the price of other mechanical prostheses. Sergei Galtsev says he can now perform many outdoor activities, including using a chain saw to cut tree limbs. “I am proud that my son decided to tackle this problem. There are many people who really need this device in their daily lives.” Oleg Galtsev says many people have watched videos of his prosthetic arm invention on YouTube. He says he hopes his work will influence others to invent new prosthetic devices.   I’m Jill Robbins.   VOA Washington Correspondent Zlatica Hoke reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   prosthetic – n. an artificial device that replaces a missing or injured part of the body range – n. a place where people can practice shooting guns saw – n. a tool that has a blade with sharp teeth and that is used to cut through wood, metal and other hard material maintenance – n. the act of maintaining something or someone, such as the act of keeping property or equipment in good condition by making repairs, correcting problems, etc. 3-D – adj. having the quality of being three-dimensional patent – n. an official document that gives a person or company the right to be the only one that makes or sells a product for a certain period of time chain saw – n. a tool that cuts wood with a circular chain that is driven by a motor and made up of many connected sharp metal teeth tackle – v. to deal with (something difficult)  

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Does Technology Belong in College Classrooms?

  Modern technology has a strong influence on many things we do. In fact, technology is shaping almost every part of our day-to-day existence, including education. Ashok Goel is a professor with the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Goel says he uses the Internet in almost all of the classes he teaches. Every term over 300 graduate students take his class on artificial intelligence (AI). The students never meet in person. All of the classes take place online -- through a website. The site lets students ask questions and complete their work from anywhere in the world. Having hundreds of students in a class means Ashok Goel has to answer thousands of questions. He has eight teaching assistants to help him. But even that is not enough to give all the students the help they need. So, in January, Goel had an idea. First, he noted that each term his students were asking many of the same questions. Then he decided to try an experiment. At the start of the spring 2016 semester, he added a new member to his teaching team: Jill Watson. She was able to answer questions faster than most other teaching assistants. And she was available 24 hours a day. It was only at the end of the semester that Goel’s students learned Watson’s secret: she was not a real person like the other teaching assistants. Jill Watson is an AI computer program. Goel says only two students came close to predicting Watson’s true identity. He was worried about telling his students because he thought they would not like being part of the experiment. But once they learned Watson’s identity, they became very excited. "Then, you know what happened? They not only asked that question about Jill. ‘Is she an AI?’ Once the identity of Jill was revealed they also asked if I was an AI." Goel now uses Watson in two other classes, but still does not tell his students which of his teaching assistants is a computer program. He hopes this technology will make it easier for teachers to create their own programs to use in and outside the classroom. And it appears stories like his will only become more common. A website called Campus Technology publishes stories about how colleges and universities use new technology. In August, the site published a survey of over 500 professors and their use of technology. Fifty-five percent of the professors said they ask students to use study materials online before coming to class. And, more than 70 percent said they combine online materials and face-to-face teaching in their classrooms. Ashok Goel says the new kinds of technology becoming available will increase the availability of learning all over the world. But there are some concerns about how well the technology works. SRI International is a non-profit organization that researches many different issues. In April, the group released the results of a survey of educational technology at 14 colleges. The study measured the effect of online classwork and special programs that measured student progress and made suggestions about educational resources. The study found that the technology did little to help student performance. Louise Yarnall is a senior research social scientist at SRI International. She says there are two major problems. First, she says, the technology has yet to reach a level that proves how useful it can be. Second, there is no system to make sure the technology is used the same way. Yarnall notes that students and teachers all use the special programs in different ways. This means they may not be using the technology as best they can. "Just like in school when teacher says, ‘Do your homework,’ we have found that students who do their homework tend to do pretty well in school and students who don’t do their homework often don’t do so well in school. And the same idea applies here with adaptive learning. If you don’t use it, you don’t progress." Yarnall worries that once more technology enters classrooms, teachers and students will be more concerned about the technology than anything else. Jose Bowen goes even further. Bowen is the president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. He wrote a book arguing against the use of technology in classrooms. It is called “Teaching Naked.” Bowen admits that technology does improve the availability of information. But he notes technology is not free. It still mostly goes only to people that have money to pay for it. Bowen also warns that giving students more information through the internet or social media does not help them understand how to use that information. He says the job of a college is to teach people how to think critically and find their place in the world around them. Technology can bring teachers to students all over the world, as in the case of Ashok Goel’s class at Georgia Tech. But Bowen notes that online classes do little for students with limited educational experience. "So those tools are there. But the problem is that online content by itself doesn’t know how to ask you the question ‘What interests you? What motivates you?’ … The first thing a good swim teacher does is ask you a couple of questions. The first question is, ‘How do you feel about water?’ And if you don’t like water, then I change my lesson plan. … And if you love water, well maybe I push you in the deep end." He admits there is a place for technology outside the classroom. It can do some things teachers cannot, like provide answers immediately when a teacher is unavailable. Bowen says teachers must accept the many things technology can do that they cannot. But he and Goel agree that nothing can replace the personal relationship between teachers and students. And the training in the classrooms of today may be the only thing that prepares students for the technology of tomorrow. I’m Pete Musto.   Pete Musto reported on this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. How is technology used in college classrooms in your country? How important do you think technology is to learning? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   graduate – adj. of or relating to a course of studies taken at a college or university after earning a bachelor's degree or other first degree artificial intelligence – n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence online – adj. connected to a computer, a computer network, or the Internet semester – n. one of two usually 18-week periods that make up an academic year at a school or college reveal(ed) – v. to make something known survey – n. an activity in which many people are asked a question or a series of questions in order to gather information about what most people do or think about something adaptive – adj. using the process of changing to fit some purpose or situation content – n. the ideas, facts, or images that are in a book, article, speech or movie motivate(s) – v.  to give someone a reason for doing something

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3D Device Lets Museum Visitors See Hidden Treasures

  A museum in the Netherlands is trying to show more of the objects it has and bring excitement to museum visitors. The museum is using an augmented reality device made by Microsoft to reach its goals. The use of this high-technology device started with a basic problem. The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities does not have enough space to put all of its artifacts on display. So, the museum asked experts at Delft University of Science and Technology to find a way to let more visitors – especially young people – experience what the museum has to offer. The experts used the Hololens. It is a computer that shows visitors holograms, or virtual pictures that appear to have three dimensions. People can wear the Hololens on their heads. Annelies Maltha is a researcher at Delft University of Technology. She says that almost 80 percent of the artifacts at the museum are not shown to the public. "So by using the Hololens," she says "people can virtually visit the exhibit and see so much more." The Dutch National Museum has artifacts like the Egyptian Temple of Teffeh. The structure was reconstructed inside the museum in 1971. It is not currently available to the public. "The Hololens enables you to have an augmented reality, instead of a virtual reality, which means you can still see the temple, you can still feel the ancient vibe around you, so to speak." Maltha says the augmented reality technology gives visitors the ability to interact with their surroundings. The researchers at Delft University of Technology are using the Hololens to make three dimensional images of every room in the temple. Erik Hoglund is also a researcher at the university. He explains that his team can create 3D models and add different images, movies, or animations. The effect is to make visitors feel like they are interacting with the temple. The Hololens program is still being developed. But museum officials hope that, in the future, the HoloLens will serve as a tour guide for exhibits that have been hidden from public view. I’m John Russell. Deborah Block reported this story for VOA News. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in the Story   artifact -- n. a simple object (such as a tool or weapon) that was made by people in the past​ exciting – adj. causing feelings of interest and enthusiasm augment – v.  to add something to (something) in order to improve or complete it reconstruct -- v.  to build (something damaged or destroyed) again interact -- v. to come together and have an effect on each other vibe – n. informal : a feeling that someone or something gives you 3D Model – n. made in a way that causes an image to appear to be three-dimensional exhibit – n. an object or a collection of objects that have been put out in a public space for people to look at

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English in a Minute: The Ball Is In Your Court

American English has a lot of sports-related idioms. This idiom comes from tennis. What should you do if the ball is your court? Find out in this week's episode of EIM!

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Sky Watchers: Look Out for ‘Supermoon’

  It is coming very soon. You can hear about it in a song performed by American singer Victoria Vox. "Oooo, I’m waiting on a supermoon to come into view, on the horizon…” Sky watchers will have a special treat Monday night. That is when a supermoon appears in the night sky. So what is a supermoon? It is a full moon that appears bigger and brighter than normal. The American space agency, NASA, says the full moon on Monday will be the closest full moon of the year. In fact, the moon has not been this close to Earth since 1948. The moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical – it does not move in an even circle. That means it sometimes moves closer to our planet. But other times it is farther away. A supermoon is when the moon and Earth are closer than they usually are, if only by a small amount. But even that small distance can make the moon appear up to 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than a normal full moon. Even if the skies are cloudy where you are on November 14th, the moon will still be very bright this weekend. The best time to see it is just before sunrise. “I’ve been telling people to go out at night on either Sunday or Monday night to see the supermoon,” said Noah Petro, who works for NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission. He said that the difference between Sunday night and Monday night will be very small, so either night will be good. “Anytime after sunset should be fine” to see the moon, he said. “You don’t have to stay up all night to see it, unless you really want to!” The name supermoon is fairly new. It was the idea of astrologer Richard Nolle in 1979. In the past, some people called a supermoon, a “mega beaver moon.” That name comes from a best-selling book, the Old Farmer’s Almanac. It said the name was first used before the creation of the United States. It said that “for both the colonists and the Algonquin tribes, this was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs.” This will be is the second of three supermoons in recent months. If you miss this one, the next chance is on December 14. The bad news about next month’s supermoon is that its brightness will limit what we can see of another light show in the night sky -- the Geminid meteor shower. That is when as many as 100 or more shooting stars move fast across the night sky every hour. The moon, however, will not be this close again until November 25, 2034. But for now you can enjoy more of Victoria Vox’s song. I’m Anne Ball. Matt Hilburn wrote this story for VOANews.com. Anne Ball adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story elliptical – adj. shaped like a flattened circle, an oval astrologer – n. a person who studies how the positions of the stars and movements of the planets have a supposed influence on events and on the lives and behavior of people beaver – n. a small animal that has thick, brown fur and a wide, flat tail, that cuts down trees with its teeth, and that builds underwater houses … its fur is very warm and was used by people for coats in the winter Algonquin – n.  the name of one of the native American tribes in the U.S.

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Shenandoah: A Western-Style Park in the East

  This week on our national parks journey, we visit a mountainous landscape on America’s east coast. Within the park are rocky peaks, rolling green hills, and spectacular waterfalls. It is also home to hundreds of black bears. Welcome to Shenandoah National Park in the state of Virginia. Shenandoah sits in the heart of Blue Ridge Mountains. The mountains are part of the larger Appalachian Mountain range. The park’s hiking trails, waterfalls and wildlife appeal to nature-lovers and adventurers.         Driving on top of the mountain Shenandoah National Park is perhaps best known for the road that goes through it: Skyline Drive.  Skyline Drive runs nearly 170 kilometers north to south. It is the only road in the park. There are more than 70 overlooks along the way, where people can pull their car off the road. These overlooks provide visitors with beautiful views of the Shenandoah Valley. The road was built in the 1930s, at a time when the automobile was becoming popular. Shenandoah’s north entrance lies less than 120 kilometers from Washington, D.C. Early planners wanted a major national park like those in the American West here on the East Coast, close to big cities. In fact, Shenandoah was described as “an Eastern park in the Western tradition.” And, early park planners wanted Skyline Drive to be “the single greatest feature” of the park. Denise Machado is a park ranger at Shenandoah. She explains that the park soon became a place for people to escape the noise -- and heat -- of big cities. “It was created just so people could kind of get away, a place to escape the big city hustle and bustle. Pre-air-condition days, this was the place to be. The temperatures were about 10 degrees cooler up here on the mountain.” But, Shenandoah’s history is not without controversy. To create the place that park planners envisioned, many families were forced to leave behind properties in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Shenandoah National Park was formed from more than 3,000 individual land purchases. They were presented to the federal government by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Shenandoah officially became a national park in 1936. Today, most of the buildings and structures that once stood in the area are long gone. But, you can find some signs of the past. A log building called Corbin Cabin still stands. George Corbin, who built the log structure, was forced to leave the land in the late 1930s, just after the creation of the national park. Today, the cabin is operated by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. The club permits people to rent the cabin. Hiking Shenandoah Shenandoah National Park has more than 800 kilometers of hiking trails. They take visitors to rocky mountain peaks, grassy meadows, and forested canyons. Hikers are especially drawn to the park’s famous waterfalls. “The waterfalls are definitely the most popular. We have nine waterfalls. Dark Hollow Falls is our most popular. It’s a beautiful waterfall, it's a 70-foot waterfall. It 1.4 mile hike round-trip. It follows along a stream. And you’re right at the base of the falls and you’re looking up and you can feel the spray. It’s a really great experience.” Grace Williams hiked to Dark Hollow Falls with her daughter on her birthday. “My daughter’s gift for me to bring me to the national park. And it’s on my bucket list. I always love falls, I like the sound. The water is refreshing. So, they did tell us it's kind of like a moderate hike. I do have knee problems, but I just wanted to challenge it, and I’m glad I came. It’s beautiful.” Another of Shenandoah’s famous hikes is called Old Rag. It is almost 15 kilometers long. To get to the top of Old Rag Mountain, hikers must scramble up large rocks. It is a long and difficult hike. But, the views from the top bring hikers from all across the country and world. Because it is close to many big cities, Shenandoah’s trails are often crowded with people. More than 1 million people visit the park each year. Although Shenandoah was created to be an easy escape from big East Coast cities, today it sees visitors from all over the world. “It's amazing how many people you meet that come from far-flung countries and corners of the world. We've had people from Africa. We get a lot of people from Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands, so you  just never know where they're going to come from."    Machado says summer and fall are the most popular times to visit the park. While summer is a good time to enjoy the waterfalls, the fall brings beautiful autumn colors. In the middle of October, the trees begin to lose their leaves. The leaves change from green to different shades of yellow, orange, and red as winter approaches. On weekends in October it can take up to two hours just to get into the park. Shenandoah’s black bears Visitors to Shenandoah National Park have a good chance of seeing a black bear. The park is home to between 400 to 600 black bears. It has one of the densest black bear populations of any national park. Denise Machado knows a lot about these black bears. In fact, her nickname is “the bear lady.” “Well, I am known in Shenandoah as the bear lady. I see a lot of bears every season. I'm in the park early in the morning and late in the evening. I see anywhere from 400 or so bears every year. And, it's wonderful to see. I never get tired of seeing them. They are all different and they are all special.” Machado gives visitors advice for what to do if they see a black bear. “So, if you see a bear, you want to clap your hands, you wanna say ‘Hey bear! Hey bear!’ They really don’t like to be startled. You don’t want to try to sneak up on them to get a photo or anything. You want to make sure that they are totally aware you are there.” Malachi and his older brother Brent visited Shenandoah National Park with their parents. The family traveled here from Cincinnati, Ohio. The family hiked the Little Stony Man Trail. Along the way, they came upon a black bear. “I really liked how we could see the animals. We saw a really big bear. And he was really friendly and he didn’t do anything. And he was just eating.” The park’s bears and other wildlife are a big part of what attracts so many visitors to Shenandoah. Carol Bair and her husband visited the park from York, Pennsylvania. She said visiting Shenandoah is “like a breath of fresh air.” “It's just quieter. You hear the birds. You look at trees different. The wind blowing through the fields, it's just really neat.”        I'm Ashley Thompson.  And I'm Adam Brock.    Ashley Thompson reported and wrote this story. Adam Brock was the editor.  _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   peak - n. the pointed top of a mountain spectacular - adj. causing wonder and admiration hustle and bustle - expression. busy and noisy activity meadow - n. a usually flat area of land that is covered with tall grass canyon - n. a deep valley with steep rock sides and often a stream or river flowing through it bucket list - n. a number of experiences that a person hopes to do in their lifetime moderate - adj. average in the level of difficulty scramble - v. to move or climb over something quickly especially while also using your hands recreation - n. activities done for enjoyment dense - adj. having many of something in a certain area startle - v. to surprise or frighten suddenly sneak up - phrasal verb. to approach (someone) quietly and secretly in order to avoid being noticed

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'The Devil and Tom Walker,' by Washington Irving

A man who loves only money makes a deal with the Devil.

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First Women Complete US Army Infantry Officer Course

  Ten women recently became the first female military officers to complete the U.S. Army’s Infantry Basic Officer Leader’s Course. The program is at Fort Benning in the southern U.S. state of Georgia. This year was the first time women were allowed to attend. The recent graduates are now infantry officers, able to lead infantry soldiers in combat. Infantry soldiers fight on the ground, rather than in the air or at sea. Instead of leading soldiers immediately, the recent graduates plan to follow an unspoken military tradition of attending Ranger school. That program is the Army’s most difficult combat training course. The Army expects the recent women graduates to do well there. That is because soldiers with the highest success rates in Ranger school are those who have first graduated from the Infantry Basic Officer Leader’s Course. Including the recent graduates, the U.S. Army now has 11 female infantry officers. Captain Kristen Griest became the first earlier this year. She completed a different program -- the Army’s Maneuver Captains Career Course -- and then entered the infantry branch. I’m Anne Ball.   VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb reported this story. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report into VOA Special English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

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English @ the Movies: 'We've Been Hacked'

Our English @ the Movies phrase today is "we've been hacked." The saying is from the movie "IT." Do you know what the word hacked means? It has been in the news. Watch our story--test yourself-- and see if you get it right.

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