Are US Travel Restrictions Keeping Visitors Away?

America’s travel industry says it fears new restrictions on foreign visitors to the United States will harm U.S. tourism. President Donald Trump approved the travel restrictions. They affect people from some Muslim majority nations. But online searches for flights to the United States are down in most major nations, not just those affected by the travel order. Some rights groups have criticized the travel restrictions, saying they unfairly target Muslim visitors. The rules led to protests around the country and legal action. U.S. courts have temporarily blocked enforcement of Trump’s travel orders.    Patricia Rojas-Ungar is with the U.S. Travel Association. She says tourism is a very competitive business. She says the U.S. tourism industry will be hurt if foreigners fear coming to America. “Travelers have a choice and, if they feel any concern or anxiety about traveling to a destination, they can very well pick another destination to go.” Rojas-Ungar said even people in countries not covered by the restrictions could be afraid to plan a U.S. trip. She added that worried travelers going elsewhere could affect the economic health of many states.    “Travel and tourism is a top economic driver for the U.S. economy. It’s a $2.1 trillion dollar industry, and we support 15.1 million American jobs...” Rojas-Ungar added that tourism creates many jobs that cannot be exported. They include positions in restaurants and hotels. She said she hopes the Trump administration will make travel policies clearer in the future. She would also like to see more efforts by U.S. officials to extend a warmer welcome to visitors.     Andrew Coggins studies travel issues. He is a professor at Pace University in New York City. Coggins says the restrictions are likely to keep many foreign visitors and students away because of fears they could face bigotry and prejudice. Even if the travel rules keep getting revised, as they did once before, he said the message sent will not be easy to change. “The damage has been done,” he said. “I think the resentment is there. It has been generated and it is not going to go away that fast.” Coggins says New York City alone could see hundreds of thousands fewer visitors and lose millions of dollars.   Juhel Miah, a British citizen and mathematics teacher, brought attention to the issue after he was removed from an airplane. He and a group of students were going to a school trip to America. Miah told VOA he is still not sure why he was prevented from visiting the United States. “I really think I was being targeted. Is that because of my name? Is that because of the way I look or the color of my skin? Who knows? I do not know.” He added that many other teachers have contacted him and are considering canceling plans to visit the U.S. with their students. But he has also received encouraging emails from Americans, including one from a fifth-grader in Atlanta. The teacher said these reactions still make him want to visit America very much. I’m Bryan Lynn.   Jim Randle reported this story for VOANews.com. Bryan Lynn adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   tourism – n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure anxiety – n. a feeling of being worried bigotry – n. act of having strong and unfair dislike of others resentment – n. feeling of anger about something viewed as unfair encouraging – adj. causing a feeling of hope and confidence  

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Does a College Education Help All People Equally?

  Higher education has been a dream for generations of men and women all over the world. Many people consider higher education a major step on the path towards success. Most high-paying jobs require a college or university degree. And parents often begin saving for their children’s college years when they are still young. But does higher education improve the lives of all people in the same way? People have long called college the ‘great equalizer,’ meaning it gives students from all backgrounds the same opportunities or similar chances for success. A study released in February 2017 supports this idea. The study comes from a research program called the Equality of Opportunity Project. It is operated by Stanford University and other top schools in the United States. In the study, researchers examined tax records from about 30 million U.S. college students and their families. The tax records were from the years 1999 to 2013. The researchers then compared the earnings of families before their children went to college to the income of individual students about 10 years after they completed their studies. The findings may not come as a surprise to some. For example, it showed a degree from an ‘Ivy League’ or other highly selective school helps students from low income families a great deal. Ivy League is a term for eight private universities in the northeastern United States. Many people consider them to be among the best for higher education in the world. Two of the eight, Columbia University and Cornell University, are in New York State. The others are Brown University in Rhode Island; Dartmouth College in New Hampshire; Harvard University in Massachusetts; the University of Pennsylvania; Princeton University in New Jersey; and Yale University in Connecticut. The study found that about 60 percent of the lowest income students at Ivy League schools earned as much as students from the highest income families later in life. But the high cost and intense level of competition to attend one of these schools can be a barrier for many students. What may be more interesting is what less widely known colleges can do, says Niklas Flamang. He is a doctoral degree candidate in economics at Stanford. Flamang says the study identified 10 less selective universities that also helped large numbers of students escape poverty. The State University of New York at Stony Brook is one example. Fifty-one percent of Stony Brook students from the lowest income group entered the highest income group sometime after graduating. Flamang says this proves that any given college can be a tool for success. "From a societal perspective, these universities really contribute to economic mobility in the sense that they both admit a large share of low income students, and also provide excellent outcomes for these low income students." However, there are other issues to consider. The study notes that Ivy League and other top schools are less likely to admit students from low-income families. On average, a young person from the highest income background is 77 percent more likely to attend one of these schools than someone from the lowest income background. Also, while a college education may help almost everyone, higher income students still have an advantage. That is the opinion of Dirk Witteveen, a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In February, the journal Social Forces published his report on a study of college graduates and their earnings. Witteveen examined information from the U.S. Department of Education on all students attending an American college or university in 1993 and 2008. He did not compare different schools or degree programs. Instead Witteveen compared the earnings of all students 10 years after they graduated. He found that the students born into the highest income families still earned at least two percent more after college than anyone else. Witteveen says this is because people from wealthier families have more connections that can help their children. "Some families have connections within professional industries that could lead to a good first job or a great first internship. So, more generally, this means that class is a much wider concept than just the amount of money that your parents earn or the amount of wealth that your parents have." Witteveen suggests that almost no amount of education can take the place of these special relationships. Colleges can help lower income students by doing more to connect them with successful graduates. Also, programs teaching skills like network-building should become part of how colleges prepare students for the real world. But some people would argue that college is not the only path to success. Nicholas Wyman is head of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation. His company helps organizations and educators with job training for employees. Wyman argues that there are still many well-paying jobs that do not require a college degree. This includes jobs in manufacturing and other highly technical fields. “There is no guarantee of a job,” Wyman said. “College is definitely a pathway for some people, and there is no question that it is very successful for many people. But for some people, there are alternatives.” Many U.S. high schools once offered classes in how to repair automobiles and other machines. But programs like these have become less and less common over the years. Wyman says this is because many Americans do not want their children working in positions involving physical labor. He suggests parents should support students’ interests in these fields to keep manufacturing jobs from leaving the country. And, with the cost of college rising, Wyman says young people may find the success they are looking for at a much lower price.  I’m Pete Musto.   Pete Musto reported this story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. How important do you think a college education is to a person’s success? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   degree – n. an official document and title that is given to someone who has successfully completed a series of classes at a college or university background(s) – n. the experiences, knowledge and education in a person's past selective – adj. careful to choose only the best people or things doctoral – adj. of or relating to the highest degree that is given by a university graduating – v. earning a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university societal – adj. of or relating to people in living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values perspective – n. a way of thinking about and understanding something contribute – v. to help to cause something to happen mobility – n. the ability or tendency to move from one position or situation to another usually better one outcome(s) – n. something that happens as a result of an activity or process advantage – n. something, such as a good position or condition, that helps to make someone or something better or more likely to succeed than others journal – n. a publication that reports on things of special interest to a particular group of people internship – n. a position as a student or recent graduate who works for a period of time at a job in order to get experience, often without pay class – n. the way people in a society are divided into different social and economic groups concept – n. an idea of what something is or how it works network – n. a group of people or organizations that are closely connected and that work with each other alternative(s) - n. something that can be chosen instead of something else

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South Africa Proposes Legalizing Limited Trade in Rhino Horn

  The parliament of South Africa may soon consider a law that would permit limited trade and export of rhinoceros horn for personal use. The government proposed the law earlier this year. It accepted comments about the measure for 30 days. That period ended on March 10. The measure has some supporters. But animal rights groups strongly oppose it. The government wants to permit domestic trade in rhino horn and individual exports of two rhino horns at one time. The horns must be for personal use only. There would be strict controls on the trade. South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs said records would be kept about the buyers and sellers of rhino horns. Officials would keep genetic information about each horn. Domestic trade in rhino horn was banned in South Africa in 2009. But, two independent rhino breeders won a court case challenging the ban in 2015. The government appealed the ruling but it was not successful. So the Department of Environmental Affairs proposed the new law. Independent rhino breeders who sought to cancel the ban are happy about the proposed law. Pelham Jones is the chairman of the Private Rhino Owners Association. He said the trade would be supervised by wildlife officials and would not harm living rhinos. “The benefit of domestic trade is that it will allow now a partial supply of rhino horn from existing stockpiles, no injury to existing live animals whatsoever, to be traded in South Africa, to be exported with a CITES permit.” But opponents say all trade in rhino horn should be banned. They believe even limited trade will cause criminal groups to become involved. Jo Shaw is the manager of the World Wildlife Fund’s South Africa Rhino Program. “We don’t believe that the necessary control mechanisms are currently in place at an international, national or provincial level to enable law enforcement and permitting staff to be able to regulate this legal domestic trade alongside the existing levels of illegal trade in horn.” International trade in rhino horn has been banned since 1977. Jones says there is no proof that the international ban has protected rhinos. He says legal trade will help the animals. He argues that many reserves where rhinos are protected have sold their rhino populations because of security costs. Jones notes that the sales will help pay for some of the costs of keeping and protecting rhinos. A rhino horn can sell for as much as $23,000. The South African government reports that every year the country loses about 1,000 rhinos to poachers. These criminals sell the horns to people in Asian countries where the horns are used to treat some medical problems. However there is no scientific evidence that rhino horns can help someone with such problems. I’m John Smith.   Correspondent Thuso Khumalo reported this story from Johannesburg. John Smith adapted his reporting into VOA Special English. Mario Ritter 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   domestic – adj. of, relating to or made in your own country stockpile – n. a large supply of something that is kept for future use CITES permit – n. permission given under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement between governments; its goal is to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. mechanism – n. a process or system that is used to produce a particular result enable – n. to make (someone or something) able to do or to be something regulate – v. to make rules or laws that control (something) reserve – n. an area of land where animals and plants are given special protection poacher – n. someone who hunts illegally  

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Spring Is in the Air!

  Now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories. This program explores the history and usage of common expressions in American English. Today we talk about a time when half the world is waking from the dark, cold winter months. Spring! We often describe spring as a time of rebirth, renewal and awakening. Many trees are blossoming and early flowers are pushing through the earth. Things are coming to life! When the weather turns warm, many people suffer from spring fever. Common “symptoms” of spring fever include not being able to focus on school or work, taking long walks, or falling in love. So, are you actually sick when you have spring fever? Originally, yes. Spring fever used to refer to an actual illness. When the weather turned warm, some people developed sore throats, headaches, or stuffy noses. The definition of “spring fever” slowly changed in the early 1800s. People came to use the term to mean a sudden increase of romantic feelings. Elvis Presley describes this feeling in the song “Spring Fever.” “Spring fever, comes to everyone. Spring fever, it's time for fun. There’s no doubt now, love is everywhere. Get up, get out, spring is everywhere” These days, we use “spring fever” to describe a restless feeling after the long, cold days of winter. But the word “spring” is not just a season. It is also a verb that means something happening or appearing quickly. When you put “spring” and “life” together, you get spring to life. This expression means something suddenly becomes very active or perhaps seems more alive! You may spring to life after hearing that a distant friend will be visiting you. Or maybe your favorite soccer team finally sprang to life in the second half, played well, and won the match. But this is just the beginning. There are so many more "spring" expressions that mean to happen suddenly.  Imagine that you are resting on the couch when suddenly you see a mouse run across the floor. You spring into action! You jump from the couch and run after the mouse! But you miss. So, that night you leave some cheese in a small device that will snap quickly: you want to spring a trap. And it works! But when you tell your roommate that you caught a mouse in a trap, tears spring from her eyes. You feel badly, but she really should have told you about her pet mouse Charlie! After all, your apartment doesn’t allow pets. And you don’t want to get in trouble with your landlord. See, your neighborhood is finally turning into a really nice place to live. There are more places to eat and shop. In fact, stores, restaurants and cafés seem to have sprung up overnight! They moved in quickly. As you can see, American English has so many phrases that use “spring” to mean "something happens quickly." The ones we have heard are just the ones that sprang to mind. In other words, they were the first ones I thought of, without spending much time thinking about it. But perhaps those examples are confusing. Maybe I should have prepared you instead of just springing them on you. And, I did it again. If you spring something on other people, you have surprised them, usually not in a good way. Let’s go back to the roommate story. Let’s say one day your roommate, the one with the pet mouse, says to you, “Oh, by the way, I’m still really upset about Charlie. So, I’m moving out tomorrow. You’ll have to find someone else to share the rent.” You say to her, “You can’t just spring that on me! I’ll need time to find another roommate!” But then you think about. Maybe it’s for the best. Every time you see her you feel guilty about Charlie, her pet mouse. And anyway, she does something that really annoys you. She always expects you to buy her things: she wants you to spring for lunch, spring for movie tickets, and sometimes even spring for groceries.  When you spring for something, you pay for someone else. This expression can also be an informal invitation. At work you can say to a colleague, “I have spring fever. Let’s leave early and go to an outdoor café. I’ll spring for coffee.” Now, besides being a season and a verb, the noun “spring” refers to a metal coil that is wound tightly. When the coil unwinds, it often jumps. So, we often say a person has a spring in his step if he is lively and active. He might even appear to jump, or bounce, a little when he walks. There is another way we use “spring” as a description. In the case of a spring chicken, “spring” means young. Also called a “springer,” these young chickens have very tender meat. However, “spring chicken” is also an informal, humorous way to refer to someone who isn’t young at all. So, we use this expression in the negative form, as in “no spring chicken.” For example, let’s say you know an 85-year old man who decides to run a marathon, even though he has never exercised before. You could say, “That’s amazing! After all, he’s no spring chicken.” But be careful when using this expression. It could be a little disrespectful. Let’s say your boss shows you a picture of his wife, and you say, “Wow, she’s no spring chicken.” That response would be disrespectful and a bad career move. We end this Words and Their Stories back on the season spring. Here is a short poem by Oliver Herford titled “I Heard a Bird Sing.” It tells how a simple bird song brings a longing for spring during the month of December. I Heard a Bird Sing I heard a bird sing In the dark of December A magical thing And sweet to remember.   “We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,” I heard a bird sing In the dark of December.   I’m Anna Matteo.   Anna Matteo wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   rebirth – n. a period of new life, growth, or activity renewal – n. the state of being made new, fresh, or strong again : the state of being renewed symptom – n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present imagine – v. to think of or create (something that is not real) in your mind annoy – v.  to disturb or irritate especially by repeated acts  coil – n. a long thin piece of material (such as a wire, string, or piece of hair) that is wound into circles bounce – v. to move with a lot of energy and excitement marathon  – n. a footrace run on an open course usually of 26 miles 385 yards (42.2 kilometers); broadly : a long-distance race  

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English in a Minute: See Eye to Eye

Anna and her yoga teacher do not "see eye to eye." Learn what this expression means in this week's EIM!

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Pure 'Madness' on Words to the Wise

  We are getting wordy once again in the Learning English studio. I’m Caty Weaver and here with me are reporters Ashley Thompson and Dan Friedell. Hey, Caty.  Hi, Caty. Hello, you two. Thanks for coming in! We are going to try another installment of “Word to the Wise,” our new program where we discuss, explain, and learn very current words and terms. It's...it's that time of year again. The most wonderful time of the year… My birthday?! Really? Happy Birthday.  Yes, Ashley, happy birthday, again. But actually that is not the event Dan is talking about. March Madness has begun. I thought we should go over some related language. Ah, yes, the big college basketball championship. It begins in the middle of March. And people definitely go "mad" over it. But not mad as in angry, right Dan? Well, Caty, some people might get a little mad if their favorite team does poorly. But March Madness refers to the wild nature of the tournament. There are so many teams and a lot of games ending at the same time -- dramatic endings, especially! We'll hear about some of those endings later on. And the "madness" also refers to the wild excitement the tournament causes. Actually, college basketball, or NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] basketball, is very popular here in the United States. In many parts of the country, it's a lot more popular than the NBA even, or National Basketball Association.  Yeah. So, anybody checking out American news and social media will likely face some of the "madness" online. That's right, Caty. The tournament really begins on Selection Sunday, and that's when a committee decides which university's teams will get into the tournament. They start out with 68 teams, and then it gets down to the championship game, which doesn't actually happen in March. It happens in the beginning of April. So, we go from one Sunday in March all the way to the beginning of April.  Wow, Dan...March Madness, Selection Sunday. There sure are a lot of alliterations involved. Those are phrases where many or all of the words start with the same letter or sound. And we haven't talked about the "Final Four" yet!  Oh, another one!  So, we start out with 68 teams in the men's tournament and 64 in the women's. And then they start dancing, right Dan? Yeah, I've heard everyone say 'Oh, this school or that school...they're all going to the Big Dance.'  Mhmm. What is this "Big Dance?" Well the Big Dance...that's just what they call it for fun. They don't dance. They play basketball. It's like a big party for a few weeks. Each of the teams are ranked, based on their performances during the regular season. And those rankings are called "seeds." Each group of teams is put into one of four regions. And each region has the number-one seed all the way down to the 16th seed.  Um, just to be clear, Dan, the word "seed" in this case does not relate plant life, right? That's right, Ashley. “Seed” has to do with the ranking of the teams in the competition. And they wanna make sure that the best teams don't play each other too early. So, there are four sets of number-one seeds, and four sets of number-two seeds, and so forth and so on.  So, in other words, you want to spread around the competition to produce a better sporting event. Kind of like a farmer spreads seeds for a good crop. So, it does come back to that literal meaning that I mentioned.  Mhmm. So, before it began, a lot of people in the United States tried to pick which team would win each game of the tournament.  That's right, Caty. That's called the "bracket." And it's a chart. It shows all of the teams and their projected next-round opponent. But nobody knows for sure which team will win the subsequent games. So you choose the winner, the team that you think will win, and filter it all the way down to the Sweet Sixteen, and the Elite Eight, and the Final Four, and all the way down to the championship game.     Okay, so it sounds like someone here has his own bracket all finished up! Wait, um, why don’t people just pick the higher-seeded team to win each game when they’re filling their brackets out? I mean, that's what I would do. Seems sensible.  It seems like a sensible method, right. Well, it rarely works out that way. Sometimes two or three of the best four teams will make it to the Final Four. But usually there's a team that's unexpected.  Okay, so there's that "Final Four" phrase again, Dan...Can you explain that to our audience?  So the Final Four, those last four teams that make it, that's the semifinal of the tournament. And the previous round is the quarterfinals. And we call that the Elite Eight.  Another alliteration! And before that you have the Sweet Sixteen! Oh my gosh. So you might say there are a lot of "upsets" along the way, then?  Right, an upset is when one team that's favored doesn't win the game. The "underdog" team upsets the favorite. And some of those upsets happen with dramatic moments at the end of the game. Those are called "buzzer beaters." a That sounds violent! So, it's not violent, usually! The "buzzer" is the device that makes a loud sound to signal end of play. And a "buzzer beater" is a moment at the very end of the game, when that game can be decided with one just shot that goes into the basket before the buzzer.  It might even go in after the buzzer, right? The shooter has to have let go of the ball before the buzzer...buzzes.  Yes. A really exciting game might combine a "Cinderella Story" team and a buzzer beater.  Cinderella? Are we going to Disneyland?  Tell her. Go ahead, Dan. Tell her. So, a Cinderella team is a team that is not expected to do well. Maybe they don't have the best record. Maybe they were not the best team in their conference during the season. But usually something happens where they start winning some games, they get confident, and it's a surprise...like Cinderella getting to the ball and winning the prince's favor.  Okay you guys, so do want to tell the world about your brackets, who've you got picked? Who do you think, Dan, will "cut down the net" this year? Cut it down? What...is this destructive all the sudden? Actually, it is.There's a tradition where the winning team takes scissors and cuts down the net so that they can put it in their trophy case back at their university for future generations of fans to admire.  Oh, well, in that case, the net will go home to the University of Kansas. Oh really?  That's my guess.  Oh yes, Dan? Who do you think's gonna cut down the net?  I think I'll go with Villanova, which is a small school near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were the champions last year, in one of the most exciting championship games ever -- won on a buzzer beater! And I think they can do it again this year.      Okay, cool. Well I have no idea who might win. I'm not even sure -- now I know two teams that are actually involved in the tournament --  ...both number-one seeds! Okay, I didn't know that! But I will say, I will watch the games, 'cuz I love watching basketball. So I'm gonna watch this weekend. I'm Caty Weaver.  I'm Ashley Thompson.  And I'm Dan Friedell.  _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   madness - n.  committee - n.  a group of people who are chosen to do a particular job or to make decisions about something alliteration - n. the use of words that begin with the same sound near one another literal - adj.  bracket - n. a diagram representing the rounds of games in a sports tournament, especially as used for making predictions about its outcome. seed - n. a player or team that is ranked as one of the best in a competition (such as a tennis tournament) in order to be sure that the best players or teams do not play against each other in the early part of the competition projected - v. to plan, calculate, or estimate (something) for a time in the future subsequent - adj. happening or coming after something else filter - v. to remove (something unwanted) by using a filter; often used figuratively  upset - n. an occurrence in which a game, contest, etc., is won by a person or team that was expected to lose upset - v. to win a game that you were expected to lose  underdog - n. a person, team, etc., that is expected to lose a contest or battle buzzer - n. an electric device that makes a loud sound conference - n. a group of sports teams that play against each other and that are part of a larger league of teams trophy case - n. a place where people keep objects that are given as a prize for winning competitions

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Will Angelina Jolie Movie Help Renew Khmer Language?

Angelina Jolie’s latest movie as a director was filmed in Cambodia and the story is told in the Khmer language. Many hope the movie will help renew the Khmer language and literature.

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Brazilians Protest against President’s Reform Plan

  Brazilian labor unions, government employees and rural workers held protests on Wednesday against proposed changes to work rules and aid for retired workers. One of the largest protests took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. Bus and train service was affected. Small street demonstrations around the city slowed traffic. The Associated Press says traffic was slowed partly because of a partial transport strike that began Tuesday night. Later in the day, teachers, union members, and activists went into the streets of Sao Paulo to protest the proposed changes. In Brasilia, the capital, over 1,500 hundred protesters broke into the Finance Ministry’s offices and occupied it for several hours. Protesting reforms despite progress The demonstrators were protesting Brazilian President Michel Temer’s plan to change labor rules and the social security pension system. Critics are saying his plan would reduce job security for workers. They also say it would force many people to work longer to meet requirements for a pension. It would also reduce government aid for many retirees. The changes would give businesses fewer restrictions on employment. Companies would have the ability to set up longer, temporary agreements with workers. They could require longer work days and use more part-time workers. The Reuters news service says President Temer and leading lawmakers have redoubled their support of the pension plan. They believe that limiting pension benefits and raising the retirement age are necessary to fix the country’s economic problems.  Brazil is currently in one of its worst recessions in more than a century. Temer says that without changes, the financial system could collapse. In a speech, he said his plan would keep Brazil from having to make the changes that European countries like Portugal and Greece were forced to make to rescue their economies. On Wednesday, Moody’s Investors Service amended its ratings for Brazil’s sovereign credit rating from “negative” to “stable.” The service said it was making the change because of Brazil’s fiscal reforms. Moody’s said it expected the pension plan to pass Congress in the second half of 2017. And it said Latin America’s largest economy was preparing to end its deepest recession on record. Temer said Moody’s decision was a recognition of his government’s “efforts to recover credibility in the Brazilian economy.” Moody’s last cut Brazil’s sovereign debt rating in February 2016, downgrading the country as then-President Dilma Rousseff struggled to keep public finances under control. I’m Phil Dierking.   The Associated Press and Reuters reported this story. Phil Dierking adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   benefit – n. money that is paid by a company (such as an insurance company) or by a government when someone dies, becomes sick, stops working, etc. fiscal – adj. of or relating to money and especially to the money a government, business, or organization earns, spends, and owes pension – n. an amount of money that a company or the government pays to a person who is old or sick and no longer works sovereign – adj. having independent authority and the right to govern itself

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'William Wilson,' by Edgar Allan Poe, Part Two

  We present the second of four parts of the short story "William Wilson," by Edgar Allan Poe. The story was originally adapted and recorded by the U.S. Department of State. In the first part of my story I spoke about my life at my first school, and about the other boys — over whom I gained firm control. But there was one boy who would not follow my commands, who would not do what I told him to, as the other boys did. His name was the same as mine — William Wilson — although he did not belong to my family in any way. He seemed to feel some love for me, and had entered the school the same day as I had. Many of the boys thought we were brothers. I soon discovered that we had been born on the same day: January nineteenth, eighteen hundred and nine. Wilson continued his attempts to command me, while I continued my attempts to rule him. The strange thing is that, although I did not like him, I could not hate him. We had a battle nearly every day, it is true. In public it would seem that I had been proved the stronger; but he seemed somehow able to make me feel that this was not true, and that he himself was stronger. Nevertheless, we continued to talk to each other in a more or less friendly way. On a number of subjects we agreed very well. I sometimes thought that if we had met at another time and place we might have become friends. It is not easy to explain my real feelings toward him. There was no love, and there was no fear. Yet I saw something to honor in him, and I wanted to learn more about him. Anyone experienced in human nature will not need to be told that Wilson and I were always together. This strange appearance of friendship — although we were not friends — caused, no doubt, the strangeness of the battle between us. I tried to make the others laugh at him; I tried to give him pain while seeming to play a lighthearted game. My attempts were not always successful, even though my plans were well made. There was much about his character that simply could not be laughed at. I could find, indeed, but one weakness. Perhaps he had been born with it, or perhaps it had come from some illness. No one but me would have made any use of it against him. He was able to speak only in a very, very soft, low voice. This weakness I never failed to use in any way that was in my power. Wilson could fight back, and he did. There was one way he had of troubling me beyond measure. I had never liked my name. Too many other people had the same name; I would rather have had a name that was not so often heard. The words sickened me. When, on the day I arrived at the school, a second William Wilson came also, I felt angry with him for having the name. I knew I would have to hear the name each day a double number of times. The other William Wilson would always be near. The other boys often thought that my actions and my belongings were his, and his were mine. My anger grew stronger with every happening that showed that William Wilson and I were alike, in body or in mind. I had not then discovered the surprising fact that we were of the same age; but I saw that we were of the same height, and I saw that in form and in face we were also much the same. Nothing could trouble me more deeply (although I carefully tried to keep everyone from seeing it) than to hear anyone say anything about the likeness between us of mind, or of body, or of anything else. But, in truth, I had no reason to believe that this likeness was ever noticed by our schoolfellows. He saw it, and as clearly as I; that, I knew well. He discovered that in this likeness he could always find a way of troubling me. This proved the more than usual sharpness of his mind. His method, which was to increase the likeness between us, lay both in words and in actions; and he followed his plan very well indeed. It was easy enough to have clothes like mine. He easily learned to walk and move as I did. His voice, of course, could not be as loud as mine, but he made his manner of speaking the same. How greatly this most careful picture of myself troubled me, I will not now attempt to tell. It seemed that I was the only one who noticed it. I was the only one who saw Wilson’s strange and knowing smiles. Pleased with having produced in my heart the desired result, he seemed to laugh within himself and cared nothing that no one laughed with him. I have already spoken of how he seemed to think he was better and wiser than I. He would try to guide me; he would often try to stop me from doing things I had planned. He would tell me what I should and should not do; and he would do this not openly, but in a word or two in which I had to look for the meaning. As I grew older I wanted less and less to listen to him. As it was, I could not be happy under his eyes, that always watched me. Every day I showed more and more openly that I did not want to listen to anything he told me. I have said that, in the first years when we were in school together, my feelings might easily have been turned into friendship; but in the later months, although he talked to me less often then, I almost hated him. Yet, let me be fair to him. I can remember no time when what he told me was not wiser than would be expected from one of his years. His sense of what was good or bad was sharper than my own. I might, today, be a better and happier man if I had more often done what he said. It was about the same period, if I remember rightly, that by chance he acted more openly than usual and I discovered in his manner something that deeply interested me. Somehow he brought to mind pictures of my earliest years — I remembered, it seemed, things I could not have remembered. These pictures were wild, half-lighted, and not clear, but I felt that very long ago I must have known this person standing before me. This idea, however, passed as quickly as it had come. It was on this same day that I had my last meeting at the school with this other, strange William Wilson. That night, when everyone was sleeping, I got out of bed, and with a light in my hand, I went quietly through the house to Wilson’s room. I had long been thinking of another of those plans to hurt him, with which I had until then had little success. It was my purpose now to begin to act according to this new plan. Having reached his room, I entered without a sound, leaving the light outside. I advanced a step, and listened. He was asleep. I turned, took the light, and again went to the bed. I looked down upon his face. The coldness of ice filled my whole body. My knees trembled, my whole spirit was filled with horror. I moved the light nearer to his face. Was this — this the face of William Wilson? I saw indeed that it was, but I trembled as if with sickness as I imagined that it was not. What was there in his face to trouble me so? I looked, and my mind seemed to turn in circles in the rush of my thoughts. It was not like this — surely not like this — that he appeared in the daytime. The same name, the same body; the same day that we came to school! And then there was his use of my way of walking, my manner of speaking! Was it, in truth, humanly possible that what I now saw was the result — and the result only — of his continued efforts to be like me? Filled with wonder and fear, cold and trembling, I put out the light. In the quiet darkness I went from his room and, without waiting one minute, I left that old school and never entered it again. Download a lesson plan to use with this story here. Now it's your turn to use the words in this story. What are some of the problems you had with other young people when you were younger? How did you solve those problems? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story lighthearted - adj. having or showing a cheerful and happy nature perhaps - adv. possibly but not certainly height - n. a measurement of how tall a person or thing is likeness - n. the quality or state of being alike or similar especially in appearance schoolfellow(s) n. - a more formal word for schoolmate or classmate tremble(d) - v. to shake slightly because you are afraid, nervous or excited

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Mexican Company Wants to Give Light to Border Wall

Hundreds of companies have expressed interest in helping build U.S. President Donald Trump’s southern border wall. However, only one of them is from Mexico. Around 640 companies, mostly from the United States, have registered with the U.S. to design and build the wall. Among them are also companies from Spain, Germany, South Africa, Britain, Ireland, Puerto Rico and Canada. The only company from Mexico is Ecovelocity. Located in Puebla, near Mexico City, the company sells cheap industrial LED lights. Theodore Atalla is the owner. He is a Greek-Egyptian native who has lived in Mexico for nearly 20 years. Atalla said his lights, mostly imported from China, are cheaper than his competitors. He wants to provide lights for the wall that many people in Mexico hate. "It would only be on the Mexican side because I don't think we would be allowed to work on the other side," Atalla said in an interview. "They said they only wanted American products." Two other Mexican companies told Reuters that they are willing to work on the project. Mexico's Cemex is one of the world's largest cement producers. It is willing to provide quotes to supply materials for the wall. And its competitor, Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua, has also said they might be willing to work on the project. Both companies have a history of projects in the United States. I’m Phil Dierking   Anthony Esposito reported this story for Reuters. Phil Dierking adapted it for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. Do you think a wall is a good idea against illegal immigration?  We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   cement – n. a soft gray powder that is mixed with water and other substances to make concrete industrial – adj. of or relating to factories, the people who work in factories, or the things made in factories

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William Wilson by Edgar Allan Poe, Part Two

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