English in a Minute: Mom-and-Pop

"Mom" is common word for "mother." And "pop" is another way of saying "father." Find out how to use this phrase in this week's EIM!

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'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' by Edgar Allen Poe, Part Two

We present the second of five parts of the short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," by Edgar Allen Poe. The story was originally adapted and recorded by VOA Learning English. It was in Paris in the summer of 1840 that I met August Dupin. Dupin was a strangely interesting young man with a busy, forceful mind. He seemed to look right through a person and uncover their deepest thoughts. Sometimes Dupin seemed to be not one, but two people — one who coldly put things together, and another who just as coldly took them apart. One morning, in the heat of the summer, Dupin showed me once again his special mental power. We read in the newspaper about a terrible killing. An old woman and her daughter, living alone in an old house in the Rue Morgue, had been killed in the middle of the night. The story in the paper went: Paris, July 7, 1840 -- Early this morning, cries of terror were heard in the western part of the city. They reportedly came from a house on the Rue Morgue, in which the only occupants were a Mrs. L’Espanaye, and her daughter Camille. Several neighbors and a policeman ran to the house. By the time they reached it, the cries had stopped. They forced the door open. As they entered, they heard two voices, apparently from above. The group searched but found nothing until the fourth floor. There, they came to a door, locked from the inside.  Quickly they forced it open. Before them was a bloody horror scene! The room was in total disorder — broken chairs and tables and the mattress pulled from the bed. Blood was everywhere; on the walls, the floor, the bed. A sharp knife lay on the floor in a pool of blood. In front of the fireplace was a clump of long gray hair, also bloodied; it seemed to have been pulled straight out of a head. On the floor were four pieces of gold, an earring, several silver objects, and two bags containing a large amount of money in gold. Clothes had been thrown around the room. A lock box was found left open with just a few old letters and papers inside. There was no one there. But, when the group inspected the fireplace, they discovered another horror.  A still-warm body had been forced up the chimney. It was the old woman’s daughter. There was blood on the face, and dark, deep finger marks on the neck, suggesting a strangling. After searching the house thoroughly, the group went outside. They found the body of the old woman behind the building. Her neck had been cut so severely that when they tried to lift the body, the head fell off. The next day the newspaper offered to its readers these new facts: Paris, July 8, 1840-- The police have questioned many people about the vicious murders in the old house on the Rue Morgue. But none of the answers revealed the identity of the killers. Pauline Dubourg, a washwoman, said she has known both of the victims for more than three years, and washed their clothes. She said the two seemed to love each other dearly. They always paid her well. She did not know where their money came from, she said. She never met anyone in the house. Only the two women lived on the fourth floor. Pierre Moreau, a shopkeeper, said Mrs. L’Espanaye had bought food at his shop for almost four years. She owned the house and had lived in it for more than six years. He never saw anyone enter the door except the old lady and her daughter, and a doctor eight or ten times, perhaps. Many other persons, neighbors, said the same thing. Almost no one ever went into the house. Mrs. L’Espanaye and her daughter were not often seen. Banker Jules Mignaud said that Mrs. L’Espanaye had put money in his bank, beginning eight years before. Three days before the killings, she withdrew a large amount in gold. A man from the bank carried it to her house for her. Isidore Muset, a policeman, said that he was with the group that first entered the house. While he was going up the stairs, he heard two voices, one low and soft, and one hard, high, and very strange — the voice of someone who was surely not French, the voice of a foreigner, maybe Spanish. It was not a woman’s voice, he said, although he could not understand what it said. But the other voice, said softly, in French, “My God!” Alfonso Garcia, who is Spanish and lives on the Rue Morgue, says he entered the house but did not go up the stairs. A nervous man, he was afraid he might be sick. He heard the voices. He believes the high voice was not that of a Frenchman. Perhaps it was English; but he said he doesn’t understand English, so he is not sure. William Bird, an Englishman who has lived in Paris for two years, also entered the house. He said the low voice was that of a Frenchman, he was sure, because he heard it say, in French, “My God!” The high voice was very loud, he said. He is sure it was not the voice of an Englishman, nor the voice of a Frenchman. It seemed to be that of an Italian, a language he does not understand. He said it might have been a woman’s voice. Mr. Alberto Montani, an Italian, was passing the house at the time of the cries. He said the screams lasted for about two minutes. Montani, who speaks Spanish but not French, says that he also heard two voices. He thought both voices were French. But he could not understand any of the words spoken. All who went in the house agreed that the door to the room on the fourth floor was locked from the inside. It was quiet. They saw no one. The windows were closed and locked from the inside. There is only one stairway to the fourth floor. They said that the chimney opening is too small for escape that way. It took four or five people to pull the daughter’s body out of the chimney. It was four or five minutes from the time they heard the voices to the moment they entered the room. Paul Dumas, a doctor, says that he was called to inspect the bodies soon after they were found. They were in a horrible condition, badly marked and broken. He said only a man could have caused such injury. The daughter had been strangled, he said. When we had finished reading the newspaper’s report of the murders, we were quiet for a while. Dupin had that cold, empty look that I know means his mind is working busily. He asked me what I thought of the crime. I said I considered it a mystery with no answer. But Dupin responded, “No, no. No. I think you are wrong. A mystery, yes. But there must be an answer. Let us go to the house and see what we can see. There must be an answer. There must!”   Download activities to help you understand this story here. Now it's your turn to use the words in this story. Have you ever heard of a terrible crime happening in your city or town? Were the police able to solve it? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page. ______________________________________________________________ QUIZ _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   lock(ed) – v. to fasten something with a lock scene – n. the place or event of an action mattress – n. a cloth case that is filled with material and used as a bed clump – n. a small ball or mass of something earring - n. a piece of jewelry that is worn on the ear and especially on the earlobe lock box – n. a box that locks, usually for storing money or valuables fireplace – n. a specially built place in a room where a fire can be built chimney – n. a part of a building through which smoke rises into the outside air strangling – gerund. the killing of a person or animal by squeezing the throat vicious – adj. very violent and cruel reveal(ed) – v. to make something known shopkeeper – n. someone who owns or manages a shop or store stairs – n. a series of steps that go from one level or floor to another nervous – adj. having or showing feelings of being worried and afraid about what might happen stairway – n. a set of stairs that go from one level or floor to another

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‘Rocket Man’ Vs. ‘Dotard’ in War of Words

  A war of words is rising between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The two leaders have been exchanging unusually personal insults as international pressure on North Korea grows. The latest examples came on Friday, when Kim called Trump a “mentally deranged U.S. dotard.” Dotard is not used very much in American English. So it quickly became a top search word on Google Trends, and a much-discussed term on social media. America’s Merriam Webster dictionary describes dotard as “a person in his or her dotage.” Britain’s Oxford defines the word as “an old person, especially one who has become weak or senile.” Kim’s insult came in response to statements made by Trump earlier this week during his speech to the United Nations General Assembly. In the speech, Trump called the North Korean leader - who often attends missile tests – “rocket man.” He also said Kim’s actions show that he appears to be on a “suicide mission.” Trump also used his strongest words yet for Kim’s government, warning that if the U.S. ever felt threatened, it would “have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” The United States and many other nations have criticized North Korea for continuing to develop nuclear weapons and carrying out repeated missile tests. The U.N. has placed sanctions on North Korea in an effort to get it to give up its nuclear weapons program. In a statement carried by North Korean state media, Kim also said Trump would “pay dearly” for his recent threat to destroy the country. A photo and video was released of Kim reading the statement. He called Trump “a rogue and a gangster” who likes “playing with fire.” Kim said Trump’s comments had “insulted me and my country in front of the eyes of the world.” He added the U.S. president had “made the most ferocious declaration" of war in history. In response, Kim said his country would “consider with seriousness” carrying out the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.” North Korea’s foreign minister was asked in New York during a visit for the U.N. General Assembly what this countermeasure could be. The minister, Ri Yong Ho, told South Korean TV the country might test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean. “I think it could be the most powerful detonation of an H-bomb in the Pacific,” the minister was quoted as saying. He then added, “We have no idea about what actions could be taken as it will be ordered by leader Kim Jong Un.” Trump took to Twitter to respond to Kim’s latest statements. “Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!” he tweeted on Friday. Trump's tweet came a day after he signed an executive order permitting the U.S. to sanction individual companies and institutions that do business with North Korea. He said the action was needed to stop those who “financially support this criminal, rogue regime.” Some experts believe the strong words between Trump and Kim may be purposeful attempts to seek a better position during future negotiations, if they are held. Bong Young-shik is with Yonsei University’s Institute for North Korean Studies in Seoul. He says the war of words could mean that both sides are now trying to get the other to back down to make way for possible diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. I’m Bryan Lynn.   Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from VOA News, the Associated Press and Reuters. Hai Do 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   deranged – adj. not able to think or act in a normal or logical way, especially when suffering from mental illness dotage – n. the period of old age senile – adj. confused and unable to remember things due to old age sanction – n. action taken to make a country obey a rule or law rogue – adj. used to describe something or someone that is different from others, usually in a dangerous or harmful way gangster – n. member of a group of violent criminals ferocious – adj. extremely angry, violent or forceful hard-line – adj. strict and forceful way of behaving when dealing with other people detonation – n. explosion madman – n. man who has severe metal illness  

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What It Takes: Benazir Bhutto

  00:00:02    OPRAH WINFREY: "Hattie Mae, this child is gifted," and I heard that enough that I started to believe it. 00:00:08    ROGER BANNISTER: If you have the opportunity, not a perfect opportunity, and you don't take it, you may never have another chance. 00:00:14    LAURYN HILL: It all was so clear. It was just, like, the picture started to form itself. 00:00:19    DESMOND TUTU: There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth, darkness over light, death over life. 00:00:27    CAROL BURNETT (quoting CARRIE HAMILTON): “Every day I wake up and decide, today I'm going to love my life. Decide.” 00:00:35    JOHNNY CASH: My advice is, if they're going to break your leg once when you go in that place, stay out of there. 00:00:40    JAMES MICHENER: And then along come these differential experiences that you don't look for, you don't plan for, but boy, you’d better not miss them. 00:00:53    ALICE WINKLER: This is What It Takes, a podcast about passion, vision, and perseverance from the Academy of Achievement's recorded collection. I'm Alice Winkler. For today's episode, we pulled an interview from the vault that is profoundly inspiring but also unsettling. The interview is with Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s former prime minister, and it’s unsettling because her words take on a painful resonance when you realize that she spoke them in exile, seven years before she was assassinated by a suicide bomber. Here’s a news clip from that shocking day in 2007. 00:01:33    NEWSCASTER: We begin with the assassination that is reverberating around the world. Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, made her triumphant return from exile just two months ago. It ended today in horror as she was struck down only 12 days from an election it was widely expected she would win. 00:01:52    Benazir Bhutto was the first elected female leader of a Muslim nation. She was also one of the youngest heads of state ever, becoming prime minister at the age of 35. She served in that role twice, in the late 1980s and again in the mid-‘90s. She was devoted to democracy and to modernizing Pakistan. She tried to tackle her country's deep poverty and gender inequality, and she was adamantly opposed to violence of any sort. 00:02:23    BENAZIR BHUTTO: When I was a very young child, I remember I was always against violence. It was an era when people used to go shooting and hunting, and I remember once coming out on the veranda in our home in the countryside, and my father was teaching my brother to shoot a parrot. And I remember seeing the parrot fall down dead and bleed, and I remember being appalled by it, the parrot fluttering. And I can’t bear to see blood to this day, or killing, and I'm very much against war and conflict and the taking of life. 00:02:52    And I think that seeing that little bird, green and beautiful and living and chirping in the tree, and then falling down dead, did have a profound effect. It sounds silly to say that. Why should I feel so strongly about a bird? But I remember my father telling me, when he was facing the death sentence, that, "I remember the little girl who cried so much because a bird died, how she must feel." 00:03:14    ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto's father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, an extremely popular statesman. During the 1970s, he served as both Pakistan's president and its prime minister. He was overthrown by a military dictator and was executed, just days after Benazir returned home from Oxford University. But in this interview with the Academy of Achievement, Benazir Bhutto began her story before all of those events, describing the Pakistan she was born into in 1953, a country with few cars and extreme poverty. 00:03:53     BENAZIR BHUTTO: The gap between the rich and the poor was greater too. I remember people walking barefoot and barebacked because of the poverty. It was a very privileged life that we led, with huge homes and scores of staff, with everything looked after. Now the world has changed much more. There's a greater appreciation of each human being, being equal and entitled the same opportunity, as well as emphasis on human dignity. 00:04:25     In those days, there was much less dignity. I remember that the poorer people would greet the richer people by bending down and touching their feet or prostrating them and throwing themselves on the feet. So it was a totally different kind of world, and it's changed for the better in that sense. 00:04:46     ALICE WINKLER: Even as a child living in luxury, Bhutto said, she was aware of the disparities. 00:04:53     BENAZIR BHUTTO: Well, my father was always championing the cause of the poor. He was very much against the status quo, so he was always telling us that it's wrong that there should be people in such abject poverty, unable to feed their children. I mean, I'd be sitting there when women would come to my mother and say, "Take our children. We can't feed them." My father was a lawyer. I remember him coming back and saying that a man came and said, "I don't have any money to pay you for this case," — some murder case he'd been involved in — and he said, "Take my cow because I don't have any money," and that was the cow that would give the milk to feed the children. 00:05:29    So it was quite shocking to me, and I was sensitive to it because my father was sensitive to it. And he'd take us — we were landowners, large landowners, and he'd take us to the lands, and he would tell me, "Look at the way these people sweat in the heat and in the sun in the fields, and it is because of their sweat that you will have the opportunity to be educated. And you have a debt to these people because it's — they weren't born to sweat like this, and you have a debt, and you've got to come back and pay that debt by serving your people." 00:05:59     ALICE WINKLER: Her father was clearly her greatest influence. As Bhutto told journalist and documentary filmmaker Irv Drasnin, who conducted this interview for the Academy of Achievement, it was her father who was most against the gender constraints of the era that threatened to hold her back. 00:06:17     BENAZIR BHUTTO: My mother, she used to be a working woman herself. She joined the National Guards. She was a captain in the National Guards. She was the first woman in Karachi to own a car and to drive, and people used to talk about her because they said, you know, "Women aren't supposed to drive cars." But when I look back on it, it was my mother who taught that a woman grew up to be married and to have children, and she would tell my father in front of me, "Why do you want to educate her? No man will want to marry her." 00:06:48     So all the time, for her, success depended on having a good catch as a husband and having children. But as for my father, he broke free of those constraints, and he insisted that I have an education. He said, "Boys and girls are equal. I want my daughter to have the same opportunities." 00:07:06    IRV DRASNIN: How do you account for that? 00:07:09     BENAZIR BHUTTO: I don’t know. I really don't know because I never had a chance to ask him. I just assumed this is what fathers did. And when I finished university he was in prison, and then he was unjustly hanged by a military dictator. And now, in reflection, I would like to ask him and say, "What made you do things differently?" Although I’d go to other people's homes, and I remember a friend of mine, they couldn’t eat food until the brothers had finished, and the leftovers would be given to the daughters. 00:07:39     That never happened in our home. I remember that I used to sit at the head of the table because I'm the eldest child. That never happened in other homes, and I should have asked my father when I had the chance, but he enabled me to appreciate that a woman is not a lesser creature. 00:07:56     ALICE WINKLER: There was one other lasting and maybe surprising influence on Benazir Bhutto, the nuns who educated her at the Convent of Jesus and Mary, a Catholic girl’s school in Karachi, where the majority of the students were Muslim. 00:08:11     BENAZIR BHUTTO: And I remember very much Mother Eugene, who used to teach us literature and poetry and, you know, “Reach for the moon and the lodestar,” and — inspiring us more to — it was very inspirational and motivational that one could conquer the moon and the stars if one reached out. So it was all about reaching out. I think the two powerful influences in my life and my childhood were my father and my teacher in the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Mother Eugene. 00:08:43    I was fascinated with literature. My father gave me a love for books. He loved reading books, and he'd make sure that I bought books, and he'd buy me books, and then Mother Eugene made my imagination run wild through Shakespeare and Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, and Keats and Browning, Byron. 00:09:04     ALICE WINKLER: Mostly, Benazir Bhutto loved historical biographies, beginning with Alfred the Great, the king who defended the English against the Viking conquest and, as Bhutto remembered with a smile, was scolded for burning cakes by a commoner who didn’t know his identity. She also loved reading about Alexander the Great, who was told that whoever untied the Gordian knot would conquer Asia. He took out his sword and cut it, instead, or so the legend goes. Basically, Bhutto said, her favorite books were about great achievers. 00:09:42     BENAZIR BHUTTO: My father was himself an achiever, and maybe it was a time of achievers. It — you know, I grew up at a time when colonialism had just ended, and the whole inspiration behind colonialism had been to discover the world and to achieve more. There was a sense of adventure, going to unmapped places, braving beasts of unknown description to conquer the world. 00:10:07     So it was very much still within that phase when words were more grandiose, and expressions were more grandiose, and the imagination was more grandiose. Now things are much leaner. And meaner. 00:10:20     ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto may have inherited some of the colonial-age spirit of achievement, but her politics were more the product of the post-colonial protest era. She was at Harvard during those years, and, she told interview Irv Drasnin, they changed her. 00:10:38    BENAZIR BHUTTO: I went there at a time of great social ferment, at a time when the Vietnam War was being fought. I, as a nation, was against the Vietnam War, but I found that my American fellow students were against that war, too, so it — and they didn't want to fight the war. They were protesting it, and I found that if you didn’t like something, you could do something about it. It was also a time of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and idealism, Chavez — I mean, the great boycott from California, laborer's rights — so I was very much into saving the world. 00:11:14     My generation grew up in saving the world. We thought education wasn't important, exams weren't important, although I still did it because I was scared my father would get cross. But I discovered that life was more than my homework and my tutorial. Life was about the larger issues, where we could all play a role, and the women's movement had just started. Kate Millett had just written her book, and I remember a very dear friend of mine from college years — who I've hardly seen since, Wendy Lesser. She's taking out a literary magazine now in California, the last I heard. 00:11:45     But we'd sit there having these intense conversations about women succeeding, and could they succeed? Could they break the barriers? Because at that time still women, many women, thought that the objective in life was to go on and be married and not so much to have a career. It was the time of President Nixon's impeachment, and recycling newspapers; I’d go around trying to recycle. And I see a bit of that age come back in the sense of the environmental issues, which are getting important, but less in issues of sacrificing yourself for the larger community. 00:12:22     Now I think it's more an age of the individual comes first. Then it was more an age that we, as an individual, subordinate ourselves to the larger communal good. 00:12:33    IRV DRASNIN: So all of this you took back to Pakistan with you? 00:12:36    BENAZIR BHUTTO: Yes, I said, “Why can't we change our presidents?” Because I saw the power of democracy. It was really — I felt powerful. I felt my voice counted, and meantime, in Pakistan, my father had been trying to empower the ordinary Pakistanis, and telling them that they could break free of the shackles of feudalism and military-industrial complex. So when I went back, my own experience put me a bit ahead because I'd had a broader experience. 00:13:05    I'd had experience in Pakistan and in America, and I'd seen it succeed, so I went back, really, at the right time. 00:13:13    IRV DRASNIN: Did you have any doubts about what a woman could do, could accomplish, in a Muslim country? 00:13:20    BENAZIR BHUTTO: I didn't have doubts somehow. I didn’t have any doubts. Somehow the other, for me — because my father was so important. He thought a woman could succeed, and he would tell me that, "My daughter's going to make me more proud than Indira Gandhi made her father." So for me, it was, like, it's normal for daughters to go on to succeed, and then Indira Gandhi was there, and she was a very powerful leader. 00:13:42    Mrs. Bandaranaike had been there in Sri Lanka, the first woman prime minister. Then, of course, we had Fatima Jinnah, who was also a presidential candidate — unsuccessful, but a presidential candidate. So I grew up in a region full of powerful women, and I thought, "Well, if they can do it, I can do it too." But when I used to talk to others, they'd say, "You're mad. How can a woman succeed?” — not necessarily in politics, but I wanted to be a diplomat. 00:14:07    I wanted to have — run a newspaper. You know, I wanted to do things, and other people, men and women, would find that very surprising. So others doubted it. Even my own husband, when he married me. He thought I was under delusions that I could meet a — beat a military dictator. And he thought that, “When she wakes up and finds out that it's all wrong and she can't, then I'll be there to console her,” little knowing that I was the one who had to console him when I won. 00:14:37    So it was a time when people would say, "How can you think that people will elect you?" When I first got elected, I mean, they said that a woman has usurped a man's place. Said, "She should be killed. She should be assassinated. She's committed heresy." But I always felt — I mean, even when I didn’t want to go into politics — that I could become prime minister if I wanted to. I had a faith in myself, but at that stage, I didn’t want to, because I'd seen the assassination attempts on my father. 00:15:07    I'd seen the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur, Bangladesh, or maybe there was some kind of subconscious fear of what politics could bring, so I didn't want to do it. I didn't want the fear. 00:15:20     IRV DRASNIN:    But the execution of your father changed that? 00:15:22     BENAZIR BHUTTO: His execution changed that, because I felt I just couldn't let his blood and the blood of all those others who had died — because the dictator hanged so many people who were supportive of him. And they were coming on the streets to have him freed, and he'd had them whiplashed or hanged. And I thought they all did so much, and he did so much, and how can we let the dictator win and let all this blood go to waste? 00:15:46    ALICE WINKLER: That decision, while prompted by the execution of her father, did not come overnight. She would spend the next decade either in prison or in exile. 00:15:57     BENAZIR BHUTTO: It came gradually. It was not a — there were two moments, let us say, when it happened. You see, one of the moments was when my father died, and I had my — before he died, I had my last meeting with him in the death cell, and he said that, "You have suffered so much." I had been in prison myself, and he said, "You're so young. You just finished your university. You came back. You had your whole life, and look at the terror under which we have lived." 00:16:21     So he said, "I set you free. Why don't you go and live in London or Paris or Switzerland or Washington — and you're well taken care of — and have some happiness, because you have seen too much suffering." And I reached out through the prison bars, and I remember grasping his hands and saying, "No, Papa. I will continue the struggle that you began for democracy." And so that was one of the points where I decided that I didn't want out. I'd stay back, but I still didn't think I'd ever be prime minister. 00:16:53    I thought my mother would be the prime minister, and that I'd work for her to be the prime minister. And that's what I did, but my mother got sick, and actually, she had lung cancer, but we didn’t know she was getting Alzheimer's. So she started behaving differently, and we thought it's because she's had this serious illness and she's reflecting on how to lead her life. And suddenly I found that since Mommy was away, the whole party was about to collapse unless I was there, so I started looking after the party at that stage. 00:17:23    And when I went back, I remember people were shouting, "Prime Minister Benazir," and suddenly it struck me that looking after means — Mommy ill — looking after means that I will be the prime minister. So it was in that sort of moment when I realized the responsibility that I had taken over could lead me all the way to an office that could govern the destiny of more than a hundred million Muslims of Pakistan. 00:17:49     ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto was elected prime minister the first time in 1988. The political ups and downs that followed are serpentine and would require a retelling of the history of modern-day Pakistan, which is, frankly, beyond the scope of this podcast. But briefly, Bhutto was dismissed by Pakistan’s president three years into her term, her government accused of corruption. 00:18:15     But her popularity grew again, and in 1993 she became prime minister for the second time. Once again, after three years in office, Bhutto was caught up in a swirl of corruption charges against her, her husband, and her government. The accusations against her were never proven. Her husband was tried and convicted and served eight years in prison, though Bhutto continued to insist he was simply the victim of politics. 00:18:46     She took their children and went into self-imposed exile, and it was during this period, in the year 2000, more precisely, that this interview with her was recorded by the Academy of Achievement. At the time, Benazir Bhutto was considering whether to return again to Pakistan to run for office. Her husband was still in prison, and she was worried about her children, who hadn’t exactly had much semblance of a normal life. 00:19:14     She said she was leaving the decision to God what was best for her and for her country, but she sounded sanguine and openly offered an assessment of her political career up until that point. 00:19:28     BENAZIR BHUTTO: When I look back on my life, I really think of the different stages when we were so raw and naïve and little realized how things were. I think back to my first tenure as prime minister, and I didn't get on with the president because he wanted to have a kind of presidential system, and I believed in the parliamentary system. But then I remember that my own president was from my party. Amount of power I gave him, and he treated me so shabbily, and I think if I’d treated the first president with half of — given him half the powers that I gave my own president, maybe he wouldn't have knocked us out and democracy could have taken stronger roots. 00:20:05     So in those terms, you know, I really look back on it. I look back also — you know, they say in politics there'll be the appointed and the disappointed, so there'll always be the critics. One has to take it. I learned that after my first election. I thought, "All I have to do is win an election, and all my critics will disappear," and, according to Barbara Cartland, we'll live happily ever after. 00:20:28     BENAZIR BHUTTO: But I realized, the day you wake up later, your critics are still around, and you still have to factor them in, and my experience has made me a more inclusive person. Not inclusive to the margins, but inclusive to those people who are — have differences with us but were still moderates. So I tried to be more inclusive. It's not easy because the other side has to respond too, but ultimately, there will be critics, but one has to do what is right, as long as the majority of people support that. 00:21:00     Building schools was right. I tried to placate even the clerics originally. I adopted a very aggressive — you know, I thought I had to prove I was as tough as a man because I was in a man's world. It was supposed to be a man's world. Now I think it's not a man's world anymore, but in those days. So because it was to be in the man's world, I also tried to be very aggressive and warmongering in my second term to try and co-opt. I am a consensus sort of person. 00:21:28    I like to win people over or co-opt or compromise, not the core of my values, but I seek the middle way, and I tried to do that. But I think, in retrospect, it was wrong, because I did not co-opt them, and I alienated some of my own supporters. Power is such a strange phenomenon that one gets isolated from the real world. People can't see you. They can't phone you. They have to go through the operator, and it's up to the operator who he puts through. 00:21:56    They can't write you because the secretary is going to read the letters and decide which ones are going to come to you. So really, one becomes a prisoner. And I used to meet my party people; I used to meet poor people in the villages, and they were all very happy because we were doing poverty alleviation and so on. But the people in the urban middle classes were very unhappy, and I realize now that I should have been out more meeting people who worked with us, or meeting people who were the representatives of organized groups. 00:22:25     The other thing I learned — in the past when I used to meet people, I used to want to tell them what we were doing. Now I’ve realized that you have to listen to people and what they are saying we ought to be doing. Even much more critical to my own life was my failure to understand that the world is moving towards transparency. I had lived through this era of military dictatorship, when the press would write all sorts of things, and it would be water off the duck's back. 00:22:52     Now I say that when there were these demands, why didn't I have the — I did say make an information act but didn't follow it through, so I wish I had given more freedom of information. I wish I had tackled the so-called corruption issues more deeply. It was a precedent, you know. We all knew kickbacks must be taken. Not personally, but on the level that, "Well, these things happen." And it wasn't like, "Well, we're here to change it." It was like, "This is how business is done." 00:23:19     So I — in retrospect, I think that it — I really would have done many things, many, many, many things differently. But then you learn from your own experiences. Like somebody told me, "How do you succeed?" and they said, "Right decisions." But how do you come to the right decisions? Well, through experience. And how do you get experience? Through wrong decisions. 00:23:38     BENAZIR BHUTTO: So you've got to make — one does make wrong — I mean, in retrospect, one is older and wiser. 00:23:45     ALICE WINKLER: Interviewer Irv Drasnin asked Benazir Bhutto whether she still felt she could be an idealist after all that had happened to her and to her country. 00:23:55    BENAZIR BHUTTO: I feel that society's like a canvas, and that if you get an office, you're given an opportunity to paint it, and it's up to you whether you make a good picture, whether you make a bad picture. I think it's very, very important to have ideals, because when one has ideals, one thinks the suffering is worth it. And, for me, the suffering has been worth it because I think I could change things, and I'm still idealistic, and I'm still optimistic, and people tell me, "Why are you still idealistic and optimistic?" And I say, "Because there could be ten people who are bad, but there are 90 people who are good." 00:24:28    ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto’s closing thoughts, haunting to hear now, were words of advice she offered to students interested in making change in the world. 00:24:38    BENAZIR BHUTTO: If a young person came to me, I'd tell them that, “If you believe in something, go for it, but know that when you go for it there's a price to be paid. Be ready to pay that price, and don't be afraid.” 00:24:51    ALICE WINKLER: Benazir Bhutto eventually did decide it was her destiny to return to Pakistan to run in the 2007 general election. Her chances of winning were considered very good, but the dangers were clear. As she left an election rally and paused to wave once more to the crowd, she was killed by a teenage gunman and suicide bomber. As of the recording of this podcast, no one has been convicted of her murder. High-up officials, including the military ruler at the time, General Pervez Musharraf, were charged, but charged with negligence for providing inadequate security when the threats against her life were well known. 00:25:37    In the intervening years, witnesses have recanted, trial motions have caused endless delays, and one of the chief prosecutors investigating her murder was himself gunned down on the way to a court hearing. It seems no one may ever be held responsible for her death. 00:25:59    BENAZIR BHUTTO: In life, there are challenges, but I think leadership is very much predicated on the capacity to absorb defeat and overcome it. Now, after having been in politics for more than two decades, I have come to the strong conclusion that the difference between somebody who succeeds and somebody who fails is the ability to absorb a setback, because on the road to success there will be setbacks, and there are those who give up and those who say that, "No, we are going to go on." 00:26:32     And then, I also — when I was in prison, I became very devout. I'm not a fundamentalist, but I am very devout. In solitary confinement, when I had nobody to turn to — see, I was brought up ritualistically religious, as everybody is. Their parents take them to church or teach them how to say their prayers, like my mother taught me, but it's all ritualistic. It was when I was in prison and everyone was cut off from me — my family, my friends, food — I even couldn't get a glass of water without having to beg somebody — nothing. 00:27:04     I had nothing. They cut — took everything away — material, physical, everything — and suddenly I realized they can take everyone away. I couldn’t read newspapers; they wouldn't give me newspapers or Time magazine. So suddenly I realized, "But they can't take God away from me." So to pass the time, I started passing it in prayer. So from that moment I realized that God is always with one, so what gave me the faith and the sustenance was my belief that God places a burden on people to bear, and He places only that burden which they can bear. 00:27:40    The second was the love of ordinary people. The love was so much that it was enriching. It gave me strength, nurturance, nourishment. Maybe I'm a needy person, maybe I need love, because why would sometimes I think, "Why would someone go on doing it?" But when I get so much love, I feel that — at the mass level — I feel I must go on. So I think that those are the two factors that really kept me going because in the worst of my moments I always had vast reservoirs of love. 00:28:19     ALICE WINKLER: Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto talking to the Academy of Achievement in 2000. To watch video excerpts of Benazir Bhutto telling other stories from her life and lessons in leadership, you can download the Academy of Achievement’s e-textbook Social Justice. It’s free from iTunes University. This is What It Takes. Join us for the next episode in two weeks. So a little heads up, from here on, we’ll be posting new episodes every other week, but we’re sticking with Mondays because we can all use some inspiration on Mondays. 00:28:59     I’m Alice Winkler, and tremendous thanks to the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation for funding What It Takes. See you next time.  

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Emma Stone Used Dance Skills to Prepare for Role as Tennis Star

    American actress Emma Stone admits she has never played tennis.     So to play the role of tennis champion Billie Jean King in the new film Battle of the Sexes, she prepared her body using a different exercise: dance. Battle of the Sexes tells the story of King’s 1973 exhibition match against former men’s champion Bobby Riggs, played in the film by Steve Carell. It also tells the story of King fighting for equal pay and against sexism in sports. Stone, who is 28, and King, the 73-year-old tennis great, became good friends while making the movie. King said, “I tried to put myself in Emma’s shoes. That’s really taking a risk portraying someone who is still alive. I‘m like, ‘God, that’s a little pressure.” Stone won an Oscar earlier this year for her work in the musical movie La La Land. In that film, she had to sing and dance. So she practiced her footwork and body movements to play King. “I danced, so footwork was good. (And) I had been on stage before and when Billie Jean went out onto the tennis court it felt like her stage, so she really keyed in on that,” Stone said. Stone also practiced basic tennis moves like serves and cross-court backhands. But even after weeks of work, she still struggled with the simple things related to the sport. Stone said, ”We went to the U.S. Open ... and I was sitting next to Billie Jean, and Sloane Stephens was catching balls and tucking them in her skirt and bouncing them with the racquet. “It’s just little in-between stuff but that took me months to learn!” King herself worked with the film’s screenwriter. She recalled her experiences in the sport in the early 1970s. At the time, she was trying to establish a professional tour for women. There was also her match against Riggs. King beat Bobby Riggs in that famous Battle of the Sexes tennis match. More than 50 million people watched it on television. King says she is not surprised that women are still fighting for equal pay. She said, ”If you read history, you realize how slow progress is and that it’s each generation’s job to try and move the ball forward." “We’ve come further, but we’ve a lot further to go,” King said. Battle of the Sexes opens on Friday, September 22, in theaters across the United States. I’m Caty Weaver.   Hai Do adapted this story for Learning English based on Reuters news reports. Ashley Thompson was the editor. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   exhibition - n. a public display of athletic skill portray - v. to play a character in a film, play, or television show tuck - v. to put something in a particular place to hold it bounce - v. to hit (a tennis ball) against the court and catch its return

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Pakistan Wants ‘Zero’ Political or Military Part for India in Afghanistan

  Pakistan has promised to continue working with the United States in fighting terrorism and ending unrest in Afghanistan. But Pakistani officials say “any political or military” role for India in Afghanistan will be unacceptable.  Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi made the comments this week during a talk at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his “new strategy” for the Afghan war and South Asia. Trump said he supported more Indian involvement in Afghanistan -- something the Pakistani government has long opposed. “If they (India) want to do economic assistance, that’s their prerogative,” the Pakistani prime minister said. “But there’s no — we don’t accept or see any role politically or militarily for India in Afghanistan. I think it will just complicate the situation and it will not resolve anything,” he added. The Pakistani government claims the Indian intelligence agency is partnering with Afghan security forces. It accuses them of financing and plotting terrorist attacks against Pakistan through anti-state militants. Both Afghan and Indian officials deny the accusations.  U.S.: Pakistan has much to gain Pakistani officials said Abbasi also raised his country’s objections over the proposed Indian role in his talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. The two men met in New York on Tuesday during the United Nations General Assembly. The meeting was the highest contact between Pakistani and U.S. officials since Trump gave his new strategy speech in August. He accused Pakistan of sheltering terrorists who carried out attacks against American forces in Afghanistan. The U.S. government provides billions of dollars in financial assistance to Pakistan. After the meeting, Pence said he restated President Trump’s belief that “Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort” in South Asia. While speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations, Abbasi repeated Pakistan’s interest in supporting a peaceful settlement to the Afghan conflict. He said that Pakistani security forces have destroyed all sanctuaries on its soil that reportedly were being used to carry out cross-border attacks.  Afghanistan: Pakistan can do more Separately this week, Afghanistan’s president suggested Pakistan was not doing enough to stop terrorism and prevent the Taliban from using Pakistani sanctuaries to plot attacks on his country. President Ashraf Ghani spoke at the Asia Society in New York. He repeated his offer of “comprehensive” talks with Pakistani leaders for settling their differences and working towards peace. Ghani praised Trump’s call for Pakistan to become a “responsible stakeholder” in the fight against terrorism.  The Afghan leader has said that having a peace dialogue with Pakistan will eventually end the Taliban campaign against his government. Pakistani leaders dismiss those claims. They say the Afghan government needs to open talks with militants under an "Afghan owned and Afghan-led" peace process. They also say the Pakistani government will make all possible attempts to support the peace efforts. Pakistani officials say it is wrong for Afghan and U.S. officials to blame their country for the Afghan crisis. They say those claims are an effort to divert attention away from security and political "failures" in Afghanistan. President Trump also has warned that the U.S. government will not stay silent if Pakistan does not move against the suspected terrorist sanctuaries. Afghan officials say Pakistan supports the Taliban and its partner, the Haqqani network, in an effort to slow India’s growing role in Afghanistan. Afghan leaders, however, dismiss as unfounded Pakistani concerns about India’s growing ties with their country. They say no one will have permission to use Afghan territory against any country. I’m Anne Ball.   Ayaz Gul wrote this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted the report for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   role – n. a part that something has in an activity or situation prerogative – n. a special right or power complicate – v. to make complex or more complex sanctuary – n. shelter; a place of refuge; the protection provided by a safe place comprehensive – adj. covering completely; including many or most things stakeholder – n. one who is involved in or affected by something dialogue – n. a discussion or series of discussions between two groups   We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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Japan Marks Respect for the Aged Day

  Over 200 people gathered recently on a hot day at a shrine in downtown Tokyo. Many in the crowd were older adults. Some chewed gum and lifted dumbbells. The weight lifting was meant to increase their strength and balance. The elderly Japanese had gathered for an event to mark Respect for the Aged Day. The observance comes at a time when Japan’s population is aging. The number of people aged 65 and over has grown to 27.7 percent of the population. That information comes from government reports. The number of elderly Japanese who still work has also hit a new high. These numbers are evidence of efforts by the government and private businesses to keep the elderly at work. The government estimates, released on Monday, are a sign of the problems resulting from a declining birthrate. Now, there are around 1.45 births for every woman in Japan. Many economists say a developed country needs a birthrate above 2 births per woman to prevent its population from shrinking. Japan has struggled with a declining workforce for many years. The percentage of elderly people is among the highest in the Group of Seven Nations. Italy, for example, has an elderly population of around 23 percent. Germany has around 21.5 percent, while France has 19.7 percent. In Japan, the government estimates that 35.14 million Japanese people are age 65 or older. 7.7 million of those men and women are still working. For the first time, the number of Japanese aged 90 or older rose above two million. Natsu Naruse joined the group exercise in Tokyo last week. She recently turned 100 years old. "I think my children would have trouble," if I lived longer, she said. I'm John Russell.   Stanley White and Kwiyeon Ha reported on this story for Reuters. John Russell adapted their 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   shrine – n. a place connected with a holy person or event where people go to worship : a place that people visit because it is connected with someone or something that is important to them dumbbell – n. a short bar with weights at the ends that is used to make muscles stronger chew – v.  to bite on (something) repeatedly with the teeth gum – n. a type of soft candy that you chew on but do not swallow birthrate – n. a number that shows how many babies are born in a particular place or during a particular time  

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English @ the Movies: 'Getting Ahead of Myself'

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Let's Learn English - Level 2 - Lesson 4: Run Away With the Circus!

Anna and Pete visit a circus and talk about circus arts. Are the performers artists or athletes? See the whole lesson at: http://ift.tt/2feVLie

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Are You Afraid of Adjectives and Prepositions?

  The 2007 film No Country for Old Men tells the story of a lawman in West Texas. Actor Tommy Lee Jones played the part of the lawman. If you saw the movie, you might remember when he spoke these lines: "The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job." Our report today is not about crime. Instead, it is about one grammatical structure you just heard: an adjective + preposition combination. Jones used it when he said, "afraid of." What exactly are these structures? We will tell you, but first we have to give some definitions. Adjective + preposition in conversation Adjectives are words that describe nouns. You will hear English speakers use adjectives in front of nouns or after non-action verbs. Non-action verbs include words like "be," "seem," "become," and so on.* Here are two examples: My neighbors have a big dog. The dog is sick today. In the first example, the adjective "big" comes before the noun "dog." In the second example, the adjective "sick" comes after the verb "be" – a non-action verb. Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are language experts. They note that when English speakers use adjectives before a noun, they almost never use a preposition. However, when speakers use adjectives after a non-action verb, they often use a preposition. Here are two examples: We had a fine day! That is fine with me. ​In the first example, the adjective "fine" comes before the noun "day." There is no preposition after "fine." In the second example, the adjective "fine" comes after the non-action verb "be." The adjective "fine" is followed by a preposition: with. "Fine with" is one example of an adjective and preposition combination. It means good, acceptable, or satisfactory. In everyday situations, speakers use many adjective and preposition combinations. These adjective and preposition combinations have specific meanings. There are many possible adjective and preposition combinations. We cannot give you all of them. However, we can tell you about three of the most common ones you will hear when Americans are talking. These include adjective + of, adjective + for, and adjective + with Adj. + of The first common structure you will hear in everyday speech is adjective + of. Speakers often use adjectives such as "afraid," "tired," or "sick" with the preposition "of." For example, Americans often use "tired of" and "sick of" to show restlessness or a lack of interest in something. Usually, they use this expression when they feel they have had, seen, or done too much of something. Bad students, for example, might say the following words: I'm tired of school. Yeah! Me, too. And I'm sick of homework. When the students say "tired of" or "sick of", they do not mean that they are tired or sick. Instead, they mean that they have spent too much time in class. We hope you do not feel that way about school! Adj. + for A second common structure you might hear in everyday speech is adjective + for. Speakers often use the adjectives "good," "great," or "ready" with the preposition "for." Doctors, for example, might say, "Vegetables are good for your health." Some people might even say, "Vegetables are great for your health." In both cases, the adjective + for structure means not causing harm or causing something desired. The main difference is that "great" has a stronger meaning than "good." Adj. + with A final common structure is the adjective + with combination. Examples include the expressions "fine with," "happy with," and "wrong with." You heard one of these earlier: That is fine with me. This is a casual way of showing approval. How could you use it in an everyday situation? Here is an example. At a café, you might hear the following words: Waitress: I'm sorry sir, but we do not have cream. Would you like milk instead? Customer: Sure, that is fine with me! In the example, the waitress gives bad news: the café does not have cream. Her customer gives an agreeable response by saying "that is fine with me." Speakers use those words in many situations – at stores, restaurants, hotels and so on. What can you do? The next time you are watching a movie or reading a book in English, try to look for examples of adjective + a preposition. Do the speakers use similar or different adjective and preposition combinations? Learning adjective + preposition combinations can be difficult. But if you put in hard work, you will be happy with the results. I'm John Russell. And I'm Jill Robbins.   John Russell wrote this story of VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor. * These are also called linking verbs. The adjective acts as the subject complement – it is describing the subject.  ______________________________________________________________ Words in the Story   preposition – n. grammar : a word or group of words that is used with a noun, pronoun, or noun phrase to show direction, location, or time, or to introduce an object cream – n. the thick part of milk that rises to the top; the part of milk that contains fat response – n. a reaction or answer casual – adj. not planned; done without much thought or effort specific – adj. special; exactly presented or stated grammatical – adj. of or related to the rules of language

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North Korea to Mark Anniversary of Kim Jong Un’s Grandmother

  North Korea prepares to observe the death anniversary of Kim Jong Un’s grandmother as world leaders increase criticism of its missile and nuclear test program. Kim Jong Sook was the grandmother of the North Korean leader. A popular figure in North Korea, she was the first wife of the country’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung. He ruled for more than 45 years until his death in 1994. Upon his death, the son of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Sook, Kim Jong Il, came to power. He ruled until his death in 2011. At that time, his son, Kim Jong Un, became leader. He has ruled North Korea ever since. Major observances are planned to mark the September 22  anniversary, according to sources who spoke to Radio Free Asia. North Korea began to emphasize the role of Kim Jong Sook after last year’s 7th Congress of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party, a source said. At one event on August 15, she was called “the Mother of the Revolution, the source added. Flowers from Kim Jong Un will be placed on a statue of Kim Jong Sook at her birthplace in North Hamgyong province, said another source. The celebrations will be a way for officials to emphasize Kim Jong Un’s direct blood ties to North Korea’s founding couple.  According to another source in North Hamgyong province, the observances under former leader Kim Jong Il were handled more quietly. “But this has become a more important event now that Kim Jong Un is in charge,” the source said. International pressures The observances come as the international community attempts to put more pressure on North Korea to end its nuclear weapons program. North Korea has a history of marking anniversaries with nuclear and missile tests. The country tested its fifth nuclear device on the anniversary of its founding last year. More recently, it tested its sixth nuclear device and several missiles.  Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump used powerful language to warn North Korea. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday, Trump said that if the U.S. is threatened, in his words, “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.” He also called Kim “rocket man,” saying he seemed to be on “a suicide mission.” On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order permitting the U.S. to sanction individual companies and institutions that do business with North Korea. He announced the action during a working lunch with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly Thursday, Moon said he approved of sanctions being placed on North Korea to help resolve the nuclear conflict. But he urged North Korea to agree to hold talks on the issue to prevent a possible conflict. Although South Korea is backing sanctions against North Korea, it also decided to move forward with a planned aid package worth $8 million to its communist neighbor.  I’m Caty Weaver.   Sunghui Moon reported this story for Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service. Bryan Lynn adapted it for VOA Learning English, with additional material from the Associated Press. Hai Do 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   sanction – n. action taken to make a country obey a rule or law emphasize – v. show that something is important or needs special attention achievement – n. result gained through work or effort  

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