Therapy Pig Brings Relief to Stressed Travelers

This is What’s Trending Today: Have you ever heard the expression “when pigs fly?” It is a saying people use to express that something is very unlikely to happen – as unlikely as pigs growing wings and flying like a bird! For example, a person who hates riding roller coasters might tell a friend: “I’ll go on that ride with you when pigs fly.” Well, one pig in San Francisco may not be flying. But she is helping people relax before they fly in a plane. LiLou is a small pig working at the San Francisco airport. She is a therapy animal. That means she is calm and likes to be touched by humans. She and other therapy animals aim to help travelers who get nervous about flying in planes. She was trained by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). This is LiLou’s first week on the job as a member of the airport’s “wag brigade.”     She only works at the airport once a month, so not all travelers to the San Francisco airport will see her. But you might see some of her fellow therapy animals. She works alongside a group of trained dogs. Their trainers walk around the airport with them. The animals wear signs that say “pet me!” LiLou the pig has been getting a lot of attention at the airport, and on social media. One Twitter user said he made fun of the airport’s decision to provide a relaxing yoga room for travelers, but he “fully supports LiLou.”  LiLou is the first pig to ever to be certified by the SPCA in San Francisco. Jennifer Henley is the manager of the SPCA’s program. “It’s wonderful to witness the surprise and delight that LiLou brings to people during therapy visits,” she said. And that’s What’s Trending Today.   Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. Will you look out for the therapy animals if you are at the San Francisco airport? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story nervous – adj. having or showing feelings of being worried and afraid about what might happen therapy – n. the treatment of physical or mental illnesses cruelty – n. actions that cause suffering brigade – n. a large group of soldiers that is part of an army pet – v. to touch (a cat, dog, child, etc.) with your hand in a loving or friendly way delight – n.  a strong feeling of happiness : great pleasure or satisfaction cute – adj. having a pleasing and usually youthful appearance relax - v. to make less tense; to reduce from nervous tension

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A Visit to the Virtual World

Virtual reality (VR) is a powerful, new technology. VR software programs are being used in many video games. But others have been developed for education, to train doctors and in military training. VR gives the people who use it an interactive three-dimensional experience. They can see realistic images and hear sounds that are almost like those one experiences in real life. Khora Virtual Reality opened earlier this year in Denmark’s capital, Copenhagen. It may be the first virtual reality store in the world. It is a place where people can learn about virtual reality and create and play it. The Greek philosopher Plato used the word “Khora” to describe a place between reality and fantasy. In the company’s VR game “Cityscape Repairman,” players must operate a huge urban infrastructure. Each person must take care of the city’s roads and public services to continue playing. Simon Lajboschitz is the CEO of Khora. He says the company’s developers do more than create games. “We work with artists in New York. We work with psychology. We work with the main city hospital here. We work with dementia. We work with businesses (to) tell (a) new way of telling stories…” Morten Haulik is the company’s event manager. “Tt’s super important to give people the experience of actually walking around in the world, interacting with stuff. It could be the Great Wall of China or the space station or stuff like that, but if you really need to learn something about it, you actually need to see it in real life, and touch it and interact with it." Lajboschitz says that is what students at the University of Copenhagen experience. “My favorite thing is showing people virtual reality and then, when they take off the goggles. It’s like, ‘Whoa, I forgot that I was in this space with white walls and with people around me.’ When they realize that they actually forgot that’s my favorite part.” Clara Lykkegaard is a student at the university. “I have read about virtual reality before, and I’ve seen others trying it, but I have never tried it myself. And it is a brand new world. It’s so weird because you almost forget where you are.” Khora’s leaders believe helping students get interested in this technology might persuade some of them to work in the industry, and gain a share of what is expected to be a more than $3 billion market by 2020. I’m Lucija Millonig.   VOA’s Faiza Elmasry reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the 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   interactive – adj. designed to respond to the actions, commands, etc., of a user three-dimensional – adj. made in a way that causes an image to appear to be three-dimensional; having or seeming to have length, width and depth fantasy – n. something that is produced by the imagination; an idea about doing something that is far removed from normal reality infrastructure – n. the basic equipment and structures (such as roads and bridges) that are needed for a country, region or organization to function properly dementia – n. a mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly or to understand what is real and what is not real stuff – n. informal used to refer to something when you do not need to name exactly what it is goggles – n. special eyeglasses that fit close to your face    

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Susan Watson: Still Singing After Decades in Musicals

  Ask many actors and they will tell you it is hard to get work when you are just starting out and also as you get older. That has not been the case for American musical actress Susan Watson. In 1958, Watson was offered a part in the musical, “West Side Story,” in London. At that time, she was still a student at New York City’s Julliard School for musicians, dancers and actors. More than 50 years later, she was offered another part. Watson was to take an important role in a remake of the musical, “Follies,” at the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Marquis Theatre in New York City. In both cases, the offers came from musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim. He wrote the lyrics for “West Side Story” and the music and lyrics for “Follies.” “It felt so good being on stage nightly with fellow ‘senior citizens,’ Bernadette Peters, Linda Lavin and Elaine Paige,” Watson said of “Follies.” “Active, empowered senior women are a resource that I think Americans can be proud of.” As a teenager, Watson developed her dancing, singing and acting skills in her home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She traveled to study at New York’s Julliard School before Sondheim interrupted her studies with the offer of a part in “West Side Story.” The award-winning musical, based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” tells a story of the struggles of immigrants in New York City. Watson later had starring roles in such well-known musicals as “The Fantastics,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Carnival,” “Celebration” and “No, No, Nanette.” She has also appeared in many American television shows. Musical Theater Created in America Musical plays are an American invention. They tell stories through many art forms: spoken words, song, acting and dance. Music adds an important emotional element, making an interesting story even more powerful, Watson said. Now, musical theater is regularly shown in such countries as Australia, China, Israel, Japan, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and South Korea. American musicals have been popular for many years in Britain and Canada. The end of a performance, when the stars of a show come out to a “curtain call,” to accept cheers from the people watching, never gets old, Watson said. The Theatrical Slap that Hurt In live theater, actors know the unexpected will happen -- it is just a question of when. Watson remembers how her co-star in the musical, “Carnival,” the late Jerry Orbach, liked to give as realistic a performance as possible. There was one scene, Watson recalled, where Orbach was supposed to slap her. “I’m a small person, and he was slapping me a little too hard,” she said. Watson said she asked him to lighten up, but if he did, it was not nearly enough for Watson. “So in one performance, I hit him back hard,” Watson said. After that, Watson’s co-star let up on their nightly hitting scene. That was important for her. Actors in Broadway shows in New York City do eight performances a week. Watson’s Strong Voice a Surprise to Some Watson’s singing voice often surprised people. John Wilson, writing for The New York Times in 1976, said a Susan Watson performance produced “shock value.” It surprised people that a small woman had such a “big full-bodied voice,” Wilson wrote. At age 78, Watson now lives in California, but she is not finished performing. She just released a new album of musical theater and other American music called, “The Music Never Ends.” She is excited that six of the 14 songs on her new album were written by “empowered women,” including Nancy Ford and Gretchen Cryer. “I’m 78 years old and still having a lovely time in show business,” Watson said. Some people have the opinion that it is harder to get started in the entertainment business. But Watson said today’s computer technology makes it easier to tell people about new shows, recordings and movies. Performers, musicians, television networks and theaters can tell the world “about their creative efforts” by placing messages on the internet and social media, Watson said. She said her new musical recording, “The Music Never Ends”, is selling “very well” partly because people do not have to go to a store to buy it. They can buy it online, like almost any other product. I’m Bruce Alpert. And I’m Jill Robbins.   Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. Have you ever thought about being an actor? How hard do you think it will be to succeed? ______________________________________________________ Words in This Story   role – n. part in a play legend - n. a famous or important person who is known for doing something extremely well lyrics - n. the words of a song stage - n. a raised platform in a theater, auditorium, etc., where the performers stand senior - adj. older people interrupt - v. to cause someone to stop doing what they had been doing curtain call - n. at the end of a show, when actors appear on stage to accept the cheers of the audience slap - v. to hit someone

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UN Report: Young Girls Still Face Gender Inequality

  A new United Nations report says a lack of education for girls in developing countries may be partly to blame for a rise in poverty worldwide. The U.N. released its 2016 State of the World Population Report last week in Jordan's capital, Amman. The writers examine the well-being of 10-year-old girls as signs of success or failure of a country's development. The report says most of the world's 10-year-old children live in developing countries. In many areas, girls face barriers to good education, healthcare and safety. The report points to problems with continued gender inequality among half of the world's young population. On the day of the report’s release, a group of students sang about gender equality at a press conference in Amman. The students take classes at the city’s Princess Alia School for Girls. The report says 89 percent of the world’s 125 million 10-year-olds live in developing countries. It also says 35 million 10-year-old girls live in countries said to be very unequal on issues of gender. Princess Basma Bint Talal is a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.N. Population Fund. She told reporters, “In some parts of the world, a 10-year-old girl looks forward to her horizons opening up” so she can reach her goals. But in other places, “she is up against closed doors.” Princess Basma said that girls’ chances for success are limited when their futures are decided by other people or their environment. Some barriers can threaten their safety and social or economic growth. Ten-year-old girls in many poor countries face the risk of being married off. More than 60 million girls are not in school. They do twice as much work around the home as boys their age, and they serve as unpaid laborers more than boys do.  Every 10 minutes, an adolescent girl dies of violence. Many of them are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, as a result of rape. Suicide is the second largest cause of death for young girls. Jordan’s Princess Basma said, “Let us remember that we are all responsible. Let us remember that our every word and deed, positive or negative, can affect the road a girl travels” from this turning point in her life. She continued, “This is what will shape her role in society, which is to say our society, and our world.” The U.N. report says that investment in the health, education and empowerment of 10-year-old girls can triple a girl’s lifetime earnings. Daniel Baker is the humanitarian coordinator for the U.N. Population Fund’s office in Amman. “Failing to invest in girls is nothing less than planned poverty. Unless we invest in girls, we’re planning to have a poorer future.” This is a point that cannot be noted enough, he said. The report closes with the message that doing damage to girls is harmful not only to their communities, but to humanity as a whole. I’m Alice Bryant. Zlatica Hoke wrote this story for VOANews.com. Alice Bryant adapted her report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. __________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story gender - n. the state of being male or female horizon - n. the limit of what is possible in a particular field or activity adolescent - adj. a young person who is developing into an adult deed - n. something that is done: an act or action triple - v. to cause something to become three times as great or as many  

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Introducing English Verb Tenses

Editors note: This is the first of a four-part series on verb tenses. Click here for part two. For VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Today we are going to give you a basic overview of the verb tense system in English. Verb tenses tell us how an action relates to the flow of time. There are three main verb tenses in English: present, past and future. The present, past and future tenses are divided into four aspects: the simple, progressive, perfect and perfect progressive. There are 12 major verb tenses that English learners should know. English has only two ways of forming a tense from the verb alone: the past and the present. For example, we drove and we drive. To form other verb tenses, you have to add a form of have, be or will in front of the verb. These are called helping, or auxiliary verbs. Time, culture, and grammar Verb tenses can be difficult to learn in a foreign language. Different cultures think different ways about time. Chinese, for example, has no grammatical verb tenses. Other languages, like Indonesian, express time only through adverbs — there are no changes to the verb form.   English verb tenses give many details about time and action such as: Is the action finished? How long did the action happen? Was the action repeated? Did the action happen at a known or unknown time? Is the action a habit? Is the action planned or spontaneous? It is difficult to think about time distinctions that do not exist in your own language. So, it can take many years for English learners to master verb tenses. Let’s get started. We are going to give examples of all 12 verb tenses using the verb drive. Simple Tenses We’ll start with the simple tenses. These are probably the first tenses you learned in English. Simple tenses usually refer to a single action. In general, simple tenses express facts and situations that existed in the past, exist in the present, or will exist in the future. Simple present: I drive home every day. Simple past: I drove home yesterday. Simple future: I will drive home later. Progressive (Continuous) Tenses Let’s go on to the progressive tenses. We use progressive tenses to talk about unfinished events. Progressive tenses are also called continuous tenses. Past progressive: I was driving when you called. Present progressive: I am driving now. Future progressive: I will be driving when you call. Perfect Tenses Now let’s look at the perfect tenses. Perfect tenses cause the most confusion. To put it simply, they express the idea that one event happens before another event. There are many tricky exceptions with the perfect tenses, which we will discuss in a future episode. The adverbs never, yet and already are common in perfect tenses. Present perfect: I have driven that road. Past perfect: I had already driven that road in the past.   Future perfect: I will have driven 200 miles by tomorrow. Perfect Progressive Tenses Finally, let’s look at the perfect progressive tenses. Generally, perfect progressive tenses express duration, or how long? Perfect progressive tenses usually include the adverbs for or since. Present perfect progressive: I have been driving since this morning. Past perfect progressive: I had been driving for three hours before I stopped to get gas. Future perfect progressive: I will have been driving for five hours by the time I arrive. Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything yet. Here are some recommendations we have for learning verb tenses. Adverbs are your friends First, think of adverbs as your friends. Adverbs of time offer valuable clues about the correct verb tense. Let’s use the adverb ago. Ago is only used in the simple past as in, “I left home three years ago.” The adverb ago is never used in the present perfect. Certain adverbs occur with certain verb tenses. Keep it simple English learners sometimes try to impress people by using complex verb tenses. You often have a choice of several verb tenses. When you do, always choose the simplest one. It will be clearer for your listener, and there is less chance of making a mistake. Practice with questions Native speakers don’t think consciously about verb tenses. With enough practice, English learners can internalize the verb tense system, too. Instead of worrying about deep time relationships, try using adverbs and your ear to choose the right verb tense. Often when someone asks a question, you can respond in the same verb tense. We’ll ask a question in each verb tense. Give an answer in the same tense, then listen to our answer. Ready? 1. Did you get enough sleep last night? (simple past) Yes, I slept well. 2. Do you shower every day? (simple present) Yes, I shower every day. 3. Are you going to study tonight? (simple future) Yes, I’m going to study tonight. 4. What were you doing when I called you last night? (past progressive) I was eating dinner when you called me last night. 5. What are you doing right now? (present progressive) I am practicing verb tenses right now. 6. What will you be doing at midnight on New Year’s Eve? (future progressive) I will be celebrating the New Year with my friends. 7. Had you ever tried skiing before today? (past perfect) Yes, I had already done it several times before. 8. Have you ever broken the law? (present perfect) No, I have never broken the law. 9. Will you have gotten married by the time you turn 30? (future perfect) No, I will not have gotten married by the time I turn 30. 10. How long had you been smoking before you quit? (past perfect progressive) I had been smoking for two years before I quit. 11. How long have you been waiting for the bus? (present perfect progressive) I have been waiting for the bus for 20 minutes. 12. How long will you have been working before you retire? (future perfect progressive) I will have been working for 30 years before I retire. This is just a basic introduction to verb tenses. In the following weeks, we will cover the more difficult verb tenses in more detail. I’m Jill Robbins. And I’m John Russell. Adam Brock wrote this story for Learning English. Jill Robbins and Kathleen Struck were the editors. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story aspect – n. the verb form that indicates completion, duration, or repetition of an action. distinction – n. a difference that you can see, hear, smell, feel, etc: a noticeable difference between things or people spontaneous – adj. done or said in a natural and often sudden way and without a lot of thought or planning consciously – adv. done after thinking about facts and reasons carefully   Reference VERB TENSES past present future Simple It snowed yesterday.     Simple past verb It snows every winter.     Simple present verb It is going to snow tonight. It will snow this winter. Will / be going to + simple present Progressive It was snowing when I drove to work. Was/were + -ing verb It is snowing.   Am/is/are+-ing verb It will be snowing by the time I get home. Will be + -ing verb Perfect It had already snowed before I left.   Had + past participle verb I have driven in snow many times.   Have/has + past participle verb It will have snowed 6 inches by the end of the day. Will have + past participle verb   Perfect progressive It had been snowing for two days before it stopped.     Had been + -ing verb + for/since It has been snowing all month long.       Has/have + -ing verb + for/since It will have been snowing for three days by the time it stops.   Will have been + -ing verb + for/since  

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December 8, 2016

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

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News Words: Authentic

In this week's News Words, learn what authentic means with Anne Ball and Johnathan Evans.

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December 7, 2016

A look at the best news photos from around the world.

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Tools to Create Infographics

An infographic is a powerful tool that can help explain something. Infographics present information visually and in an entertaining way. This can help watchers, listeners and readers understand the subject of interest. You can use infographics on social media, in presentations or just for fun. BitRebels.com says the human brain absorbs ideas presented in infographics three times faster than ideas presented in simple text. The easiest way to create infographics is to start with a template you can fill with facts. With most infographic templates, you can add images, icons and also backgrounds. Infographic websites offer free templates and tools to help you create. Just pick the template you want, then drag and drop items onto the infographic. Many of these sites let you add your own images from a computer. Type in text, choose fonts and colors, then save your infographic and/or share it on social media. These sites make creating infographics easy and free. Piktochart Piktochart is a website filled with infographic, presentation, poster and report templates. Register for an account and get started by choosing an infographic template. The free service gives a limited number of templates. Users can pay for more templates, and other help, such as the ability to save in PDF format. Piktochart has a helpful infographics tips page to guide you through creating infographics.   An infographic on Piktochart shows free tools to create your own infographic.                                                                   Canva Canva is a free design website to create infographics, social media cover images, invitations, posters, cards and more. Head to the site, register for an account and click Create a Design. Choose Infographic to find free templates. After choosing one, add background designs, images, text, charts and more. Use Canva's free photos or upload your own. Many of Canva's elements are free, though some cost about $1. Canva also has a free app for iPhone and iPad to create infographics on the go: Canva app.               Venngage Venngage is another website that gives free tools to create infographics, reports, posters, and social media posts. Sign up for Venngage and choose which type of infographic you want to create, such as process, timeline, comparison or charts. The templates are organized by level of difficulty: beginner, intermediate or advanced. Some of the templates are only available for sale. Venngage lets you include charts and their maps for free infographics. Users can create up to five infographics with Venngage for free.     Visme Visme lets you search for templates by keyword. Sign up for an account and search by format, such as comparison, or by subject, such as education. You can also view different templates to choose one that works best for you. Some of the templates are for sale only. A video on YouTube shows how to use Visme:   A very interesting feature of Visme infographics is that you can animate parts of the design. For example, you can make text move in a wave. Visme lets you create interactive maps you can use in the infographic. You can also add a YouTube video to your infographic. You can even add music to your infographic with free tunes from Visme. When you are finished with your Visme infographic, you can keep it to yourself, publish it or lock it with a password you can share. You must pay to use the shared password service.   Visme lets you make up to three projects with a free account.   Easelly Easelly has many free templates to use for infographics. Sign up for a free account and choose a template to get started. Select a background and add text, shapes, charts and objects to your infographic. Add images from Easelly or upload your own. You can add a YouTube video into your infographic.   The video from Easelly shows how to create an infographic using their site:   I’m Dorothy Gundy. And I'm Bryan Lynn. Carolyn Nicander Mohr wrote this report for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. Have you ever wanted to make an infographic? Have you tried any of these infographic tools? Can you suggest any other tools to create infographics? Share your thoughts in the Comments Section below or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story infographic - n. a visual image such as a chart or diagram used to represent information or data text - n. the original words of a piece of writing or a speech template - n. a computer document that has the basic format of something (such as a business letter, chart, graph, etc.) and that can be used many different times icon - n. a small picture on a computer screen that represents a program or function item - n. an individual thing : a separate part or thing font - n. a set of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks that are all one size and style account - n. an arrangement in which a person uses the Internet or e-mail services of a particular company chart - n. information in the form of a table, diagram, etc. intermediate - adj. relating to or having the knowledge or skill of someone who is more advanced than a beginner but not yet an expert advanced - adj. far along in a course of progress or development animate - v. to make (something, such as a drawing) appear to move   

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Athena Zhe: Creating Art on Human Bodies

  “I love to create. I’m very visual person and I love to paint. I love to express myself in doing makeup, special effects, body paintings. I feel like I haven’t worked a day in my life. It seems like I love to do everything that doesn't involve a job from 9 to 5 but by the end of the day I end up working so many more hours but doing what I love. ” That is Athena Zhe, artist. Her canvas is the human body on which she paints beautiful images.  Zhe is also owner of Athena Entertainment. The company provides performances and performers for all kinds of parties and other events. Body art creation is among the possibilities. Athena Zhe was born and raised in Ukraine. Her parents wanted her to become a lawyer or a doctor. But she always knew she wanted to paint. She also realized early in life a career in painting would not be possible if she stayed in her country. “I've been painting my whole entire life as I'm thinking about it since I was a little kid. Everywhere all of all of the walls were painted, my notepads were painted everything everywhere I could paint, I always did. Like there's always doodles and in every single book I was reading, I was always creating stuff since I was a little child. Even though I was painting my whole life and it was my passion but it was only a hobby and I never really took it to the next level because back in the country that I came from all the artists were starving artist. So I know for some reason I never considered art as a career because I would never in a million years wouldn't be able to make money and be successful at it.” So, Athena Zhe came to the United States. She was clear on her goal. “I came here when I was 14 years old to pursue an American dream.” Athena first worked at a health food store. She began to paint on the store’s menu boards. A customer praised her skill and asked if she would help paint faces at street fairs. Athena says it was a good start. "I was doing it for about a year or two and I'm the type of  person that always like to take it to the next level. Like OK what’s next, what's next? I'm already done with facepainting, now what? And I went to FABAIC, its face and face and body art convention in Florida many years ago, and I saw that people were doing body painting and I'm like oh my god this is so exciting and so much better than just face painting because now I can do my all my art with the body painting as well. And I actually end up enjoying body painting so much more because it didn't limit my art to just faces. But now I can do body painting, I can create installations with human canvases which was extremely exciting and actually a little nerve-racking at first because I was really nervous in the beginning. I wasn't even 21 back then I think.  And that's how body painting came along. So face painting led into body painting and body painting led into special effects.” Athena Zhe says painting on the body is very different than painting on a flat canvas. “With body, you work with the human factor and it's not only you, paints and canvas it's you, paint, canvas and the person behind that canvas. When I pick up a brush it almost like  I'm getting into my own zone in my own new world my comfort zone. Very often my models try to talk to me throughout the process, but it's so hard for me to even keep up a conversation because I'm so focused about what I'm doing and I'm so inspired that it totally takes me like out of this world it's almost like a drug. When I paint like very often I can't stop. That's why doing body paintings actually been great for me because I know that I have to start to stop at some point because I'm painting on a human and obviously the model can’t stand still for three or four days. But I can definitely paint for three or four days nonstop if I'm in creative mode.”       Zhe considers the body shape of her models as well as their skin colors. She says the most important part of her work is how it makes the person feel. “When I'm doing a body painting, my goal is not only to create a beautiful piece of artwork, but also very important to make the model feel beautiful, because if the model will feel beautiful with your art work no matter how horrendous your body painting can be, she will rock it and it makes me feel accomplished and happy when I see that the model, my human canvas, is happy with the artwork I created on her." Bodypainting is a much bigger project than face painting. Zhe says it takes 15 to 20 minutes painting a face. A body can take as long as 10 hours to paint, depending on how detailed it is. She has won many awards for her paintings. Her work also has been featured in music videos, publications and on national television. Zhe says she is often inspired by nature, fashion and the world around her when creating her art.  And she is passionate about what she does. She says she believes passion should be everyone’s professional guide. “If you want to be an artist or an actor or a scientist you should do exactly that. Follow your passion and do what you love. Don't be afraid to start an industry that maybe some of your friends didn't succeed in because if you gonna love what you do, you will never work a day of your life and you will be so great at it, that you will be remembered and even to be a great example to the rest of the world about that particular art or field that he will choose.” I’m Marsha James. Marsha James wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. Next time on People in America, meet Matthieu Finot, winemaker at King Family Vineyards. Listening Quiz See how well you understand this story by taking a listening quiz. Play each video, then answer the question. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story      special effects – n. an image or sound that is created in television, radio, or movies to represent something real (such as an explosion) or imaginary (such as a monster) notepad – n. sheets of paper that are attached at one end and used for writing notes doodle – v. to draw something without thinking about what you are doing installation – n. a work of art that usually has several parts (such as a sculpture, lights, and sound) and that is usually shown in a large space canvas – n. a specially prepared piece of cloth on which a picture can be painted by an artist mode – n. a specified way of thinking, feeling, or acting nerve-racking – adj. causing stress or anxiety

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TIME Magazine Names Donald Trump “Person of the Year”

  This is What’s Trending Today. Time magazine named Donald Trump its “Person of the Year” on Wednesday. The magazine called him “President of the Divided States of America” on its cover. Trump is the president-elect. He will take office on January 20, 2017. The magazine calls the U.S. “the Divided States” in part because Trump did not win the most votes in the election. He did, however, easily win enough electoral votes to defeat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In its story about selecting President-elect Trump, the magazine said that he won the presidency by inspiring “new levels of anger and fear within his country.” The magazine says the cover goes to the “person (or people) who wielded the most influence in the previous 12 months.” It said Wednesday that American presidents become “Person of the Year” about half the time in election years. The last time someone other than a U.S. president won the title in an election year was 1996. That year, AIDS researcher David Ho won. Time magazine ran its first “Man of the Year” issue in 1928. That year, the honors went to airplane pilot Charles Lindbergh. Wallis Simpson was the first woman Time magazine chose for the yearly award. She was named in 1937, when she married King Edward VIII and became the Duchess of Windsor. That year, the cover said “Woman of the Year.”  But the name of the award was officially “Man of the Year” until 1999. Others who have made the cover include Joseph Stalin, Deng Xiaoping, and Winston Churchill. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was on the cover last year. But, Time magazine does not always name just one person, or even a person at all. In 1988 it named the Endangered Earth. And in 1975, it named “American women.” The choice of Trump had both his supporters and detractors talking on social media. “Person of the Year” was one of the top trending topics on Wednesday. One person wrote: “Whatever you think of him, it’s a fitting choice.”  Other commenters suggested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Julian Assange of Wikileaks, or Harambe, the gorilla who was killed at a zoo in Ohio after a child fell into his enclosure. Time said it also considered Hillary Clinton, computer hackers, and singer Beyonce, among others, for the title of 2016 Person of the Year. And that’s What’s Trending Today. I’m Dan Friedell. Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. What do you think of Time magazine’s decision? Who would you select as the Person of the Year? Let us know in the comments section. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   inspire – v. to make (someone) want to do something : to give (someone) an idea about what to do or create entrepreneur – n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money wield – v. to have and use (power, influence, etc.) fitting – adj.  of a kind that is appropriate for the situation or purpose

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