America's Presidents - Donald Trump

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Lesson 15: Before and After

Summary Anna hires a trainer to get back into shape. Her trainer does not read her application carefully. So, he offers her a workout program that she does not enjoy.    Conversation Anna: Penelope, even though we both love speed walking, could we slow down a bit? Penelope: No way! I think because I’m walking with you, I’m walking faster. Anna: Come on, Penelope. Let's take a break. We've been speed walking since 8 a.m.! You're so competitive! You even wore your medals! Penelope: You brought your trophies! You’re out of shape. When we were little girls, we could speed walk all day! (pulls ahead) Anna: (chases her) Hey, wait for me! Hey, you know the speed walking rules! If both feet leave the ground, it’s running! You ran! Prof. Bot:  Anna and Penelope are doing something they both love - speed walking! They are also using adverb clauses. Adverb clauses tell us when, why, how, where and under what conditions. For example, "since 8 a.m." tells us when. Adverb clauses are dependent clauses and need an independent clause to make a complete sentence. Words like before, after, when, because, since, if and even though can signal an adverb clause. Keep watching for more adverb clauses! Penelope: Whew! That was great! Anna: (Anna catches up) Wow, Penelope, you’re still really fast! Since I’ve been working in an office, my speed walking has been much slower. Penelope: You are slower, Anna. Maybe you should hire a personal trainer. Anna: That will be great. As long as the trainer understands speed walking. Penelope: (hands her a business card) Try this company. After you fill out an online application, they will match you to the perfect trainer. Anna: As soon as I get home tonight, I’ll do it! Thanks. Anna: Are you my trainer? Alaskan Albert: If you’re Anna, then I’m your trainer -- Alaskan Albert. Because I’m from Alaskan wilderness, I’m skilled in all outdoor activities of the wild. Anna: That’s great but what about speed walking? Alaskan Albert: Speed walking? That's funny! Since I’ve been living in the city, I’ve combined wilderness training with a city workout. I call it “Call of the Wild Parkour!” (He howls like a wolf.) Anna: Okay … but seriously, when do we speed walk? Alaskan Albert: Your application did not say how funny you are! Anna: No. But it did say that I'm a speed walker! Did you read it? Forget it. We'll have to cancel. Alaskan Albert: Why? Anna: We can't train today because it's too cold and too windy. Alaskan Albert: No way! No pain, no gain! When you exercise in really cold weather, you feel alive! Anna: Really? Because right now I just feel cold.  Alaskan Albert: You're so funny. But seriously, after our training, you will be ready for any extreme physical challenge. Let's get started! (He leads Anna through some parkour exercises.) Alaskan Albert: Anna, even though you’re trying really hard, you’re really bad at Call of the Wild Parkour. (he howls) Anna: I'm bad at Call of the Wild Parkour because I don’t want to do Call of the Wild Parkour! (she howls) I am a speed walker. It’s what I do. It’s part of who I am. Alaskan Albert: Why didn’t you say something? Anna: I did. Several times! You thought I was joking. Alaskan Albert: Now I understand. Anna, I can help you., if you follow my advice, I'll put the speed back in your speed walk. (He shows her how to improve her speed walking) Alaskan Albert: Go, Anna, go! Prof. Bot: For more about adverb clauses, visit our website!   New Words advice - n. an opinion or suggestion about what someone should do application - n. a formal and usually written request for something challenge - n. a difficult task or problem or something that is hard to do competitive - adj. having a strong desire to win or be the best at something extreme - adj. (sports) unusual and dangerous follow - v. to be guided by (something) no pain, no gain - expression. If you want to improve, you must work so hard that it hurts. parkour - n. the activity or sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping, and climbing. personal trainer - n. a person who teaches or coaches athletes or animals physical - adj. relating to the body of a person instead of the mind skilled - adj. having the training, knowledge, and experience that is needed to do something though - adv. used when you are saying something that is different from or contrasts with a previous statement wild - n. a wild, free, or natural place, state, or existence   Learning Strategy The learning strategy for this lesson is Access Resources. That means to find help as you learn. Sometimes that help can come from a book or an electronic dictionary. At other times, you can find help from other learners or teachers. In this lesson, Anna looks for help from a personal trainer. She has forgotten how to speed walk well. Penelope thinks that the trainer can help Anna, so she gives Anna his card. Anna accesses resources when she asks the trainer for help. There are many resources you can access as you learn English. Which ones work best for you? Do you use online dictionaries or grammar guides? Do you work with friends who are good at English? Write to us in the Comments section or send us an email.    Listening Quiz See how well you understand this lesson by taking a listening quiz. Play each short video, then choose the best answer. ​Free Materials Download the VOA Learning English Word Book for a dictionary of the words we use on this website. For Teachers Send us an email if you have comments on this course or questions. Grammar focus: Adverb clauses (using even though, when, since, if, before, after, as, because) Topics: Describing exercise; Indicating misinformation​ Learning Strategy: Access resources   Comments Now it's your turn. Send us an email or write to us in the Comments section below or on our Facebook page to let us know what you think of this lesson.

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Study: One Third of STEM Students in US Change Majors

  Most college students in the United States choose their major, or main field of study for their degree, before or during their first year. For Saskia Fagan, making that choice was not easy. Fagan, who is now 31 years old, grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland. From an early age, she loved animals. So when she began studying at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland in 2004, she expected to become a dog trainer. However, Frostburg State did not offer any degree programs related to dog training. Fagan chose to study psychology, instead. A few months later, she changed her major to biology. But then she decided she did not want to spend her life working in a laboratory. In her second year, she changed majors to another field of interest: fine art. After two years of studying fine art, however, Fagan felt that she preferred art as something she did for pleasure, not for work. So she made one final change into a field called liberal studies. That field let her design a major based around a mix of different subjects. Fagan finally completed her degree program in 2011 – seven years after she had started. The cost of adding extra time to earn a degree created some problems, she says. But, she adds, taking the time to find the perfect field also helped lead her to a career she has found very satisfying. Fagan is now a map designer. “It’s really important to know what you don’t want to do,” she told VOA. “If anything, those are great learning experiences, too, whether that’s a major that you tried and didn’t like or job that you had for a year and you thought, ‘This is not for me.’ If anything, those are just as valuable as knowing what path you want.” Changing majors in the U.S. Fagan’s experience is common in American higher education. About one third of college students in the U.S. change majors at least once. And many who do so began in science, technology, engineering and math – in other words, STEM fields. In December, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics released a study on students who changed majors. The study looked at 25,000 college students who entered into degree programs for the first time in 2011. By 2014, about one in three first-time students seeking bachelor’s degrees changed majors. One in ten changed majors more than once. In addition, the study found that students in STEM fields are about 6 percent more likely to change majors than non-STEM students. Tracy Hunt-White is one of the researchers who worked on the study. She points out that an earlier study found about one third of STEM students who changed majors left the STEM fields completely. They chose non-STEM related majors instead. The most recent study found that students who start in mathematics are the most likely to change, with 52 percent choosing another field. Hunt-White says she could not comment on the reasons students make these changes. But National Science Teachers Association executive director David Evans says he might have some idea why. He says the reason may be, in large part, due to the differences in teaching styles of STEM educators at the high school and university levels. High school math and science classes are often much smaller than they are at colleges and universities. So the students often feel they have a more personal connection to the subjects they are studying, and therefore their teachers as well, he says. And, Evans says, many professors feel college-level STEM classes should be difficult enough to make some students want to leave those fields. “There’s sort of a historic culture, often times in university education, especially in science and math, to think of the early courses … as being screening courses where the idea is you find out which students are ‘good enough’ to get through those courses,” he told VOA. “And so instead of being an educational regime that encourages students, it’s one that really filters.” Evans argues that as technology becomes a bigger part of everyday life, it is going to be only more important to understand STEM-related subjects. He says that, as a result, educators will have to learn to be more inclusive. Also, they will need to find ways to make the material they are teaching more relatable. Another big difference between high school and college-level STEM education is the way material is covered, Evans says. Once students enter the college level in mathematics, for example, they face much more abstract ideas. Evans suggests that college professors do not always do the best job of explaining how students will use these ideas in real world situations. Also, he says, many college STEM courses test students on how well they remember these complex ideas, not how well they understand them. The National Science Teachers Association released a series of suggestions for STEM teachers five years ago. They are for teachers at every level and discuss how to address the issues that Evans suggests make STEM fields so discouraging. Many STEM educators across the United States have begun to follow these suggestions, he says. The goal is to make sure that plenty of Americans stay in these fields throughout their entire education. “There’s no single thing that we could do, with one possible exception,” he said. “And that is, I think that if we could do something that would allow for … more time to be spent on STEM courses for elementary school children, that … might actually make a big difference.” Not everyone who majors in a STEM field in college goes on to work in that field. Yet Evans feels that if they start their STEM education early enough, that might keep students like Fagan interested as they progress. Then they can bring much-needed STEM knowledge along with them on whatever career path they take.  I’m ­Pete Musto. And I’m Alice Bryant   Pete Musto reported this for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. We want to hear from you. How common is it for college students in your country to change majors? How often to students leave STEM fields for other subjects? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. _________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   major – n. the main subject studied by a college or university student bachelor’s degree(s) – n. a degree that is given to a student by a college or university usually after four years of study course(s) – n. a series of classes about a particular subject in a school screening – n. the act of examining people or things in order to decide if they are suitable for a particular purpose regime – n. a system of management encourage(s) – v. to make someone more determined, hopeful, or confident filter(s) – v. to remove something unwanted abstract – adj. relating to or involving general ideas or qualities rather than specific people, objects, or actions allow for – p.v. to make something possible elementary school – n. a school in the U.S. for young children

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'Cold Feet' and Other Cold Body Expressions

  And now, the VOA Learning English program Words and Their Stories. Cold weather has a great effect on how our minds and our bodies work. Perhaps that is why we have so many expressions that combine the word “cold” with body parts. The most straightforward example is the adjective coldhearted. Just as it sounds, a coldhearted person is distant and, well, cold. An action can be coldhearted as well. This would be one that shows no love or sympathy. There are many songs about coldhearted men or coldhearted women who, without feeling, broke the hearts of their lovers. In the 1988 song, Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul sings about the coldhearted man who broke her heart. He's a coldhearted snake, look into his eyes, Oh, oh he's been telling lies. He's a lover boy at play, He don't play by the rules oh, oh, oh ... The song was a huge hit. It seems a trend may have been set. In 2010, the Zac Brown Band released a song with the exact same name. Pretty little words covered your dark and crooked heart With a forked tongue I fell in love, Then I fell apart You are so Cold hearted Other similar adjectives often get a hyphen, like cold-blooded. Reptiles, amphibians and most fish are cold-blooded animals. This means they are unable to control their own body temperature. Mammals, on the other hand, are warm-blooded -- well, for the most part. There are some people in the world you could call cold-blooded. People who show no emotions or feelings are often described as cold-blooded. Cold-blooded people are hard to get close to. And they often do terrible things, on purpose. For example, the police might look for someone they call a cold-blooded killer. The person killed someone without any understandable cause - not in self-defense, fear or even anger. Killing for no reason is often called cold-blooded. Okay, enough of cold-blooded people. Let’s go back to fish! As we said earlier, most are cold-blooded. So, calling a striped bass or rainbow trout a “cold fish” is fine. They would not be insulted…if they could be insulted. But calling a person a “cold fish” is an insult. A cold fish is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and shows no love or warmth. Cold fish do not offer much of themselves to anyone. However, not everyone who doesn’t show their feelings is a cold fish. Some people keep their feelings to themselves until they know you better. We could describe these people with the expression cold hands, warm heart. This means that a person may be very kind and warm. But they just don’t show their feelings very easily. Take my friend Celeste as an example. She doesn’t normally show her feelings. But she is always ready to help and is very kind. She is a classic case of cold hands, warm heart. Speaking of hands, the hands and feet are some of the first body parts to feel the cold. Getting cold feet is no fun – outdoors or in conversation. To get cold feet means to become afraid to do something you had already decided to do. We use this expression in situations that make us nervous or afraid -- from leading a big meeting at work to singing on stage in front of strangers. But we commonly use it in connection with weddings. People who are about to get married may begin to feel nervous as the day nears. They begin to question if they should take such a big step. If a bride shares these feelings of nervousness and uncertainty, a relative or friend might answer with “Don’t worry! This is a classic case of cold feet!” Another body part involved in our cold expressions today is the shoulder. You give someone the cold shoulder when you refuse to speak to them. You ignore them. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning your back toward someone. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend who has broken a promise, or to someone who has said mean things about others. Well, that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories. In the Comments Section, let us know what you think of today’s show. We try to answer as many comments as we can. But unfortunately we can’t respond to all. So, if you don’t get a reply, please know we’re not giving you the cold shoulder. I'm Anna Matteo.   Anna Matteo wrote this story. Caty Weaver was the editor. At the end, Norah Jones sings "Cold Cold Heart," a Hank Williams song. _________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   straightforward – adj. easy to do or understand : not complicated sympathy – n. the feeling that you care about and are sorry about someone else's trouble, grief, misfortune, etc. : a sympathetic feeling forked tongue – n. the intent to mislead or deceive —usually used in the phrase to speak with forked tongue striped bass – n. a large silvery marine food and sport fish that has black horizontal stripes on the sides, rainbow trout – n. a large trout native to western North America that usually has red or pink stripes with black dots on its side classic case – n. a typical example specific – adj. relating to a particular person, situation, etc.

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Using Cats to Explain Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

  By now, most people have heard of bitcoin. Bitcoin is a virtual currency that has had a huge rise in value during 2017. Bitcoin however is just one of many cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency is a kind of money that does not exist in the form of bills or coins. It is not overseen by banks or supported by governments. It is exchanged digitally between buyers and sellers using encryption for security. Amounts of cryptocurrency are created through a method called mining by developers. Mining involves users of the system lending computing power to record the exact same transactions during a certain “block” of time. This activity is called a blockchain. A blockchain is a global record of how cryptocurrencies are exchanged. Because cryptocurrencies and blockchains are technically complex, they can be difficult to understand. This has prevented many people from using bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.  One company is trying to change people’s opinions with its new online game CryptoKitties. The game lets people use blockchain technology to buy, trade and breed virtual cats. Axiom Zen is the company behind CryptoKitties. It says the game operates on a blockchain that uses the cryptocurrency ethereum, which is sometimes also called “ether.” People use ethereum to buy CryptoKitties. The game requires users to buy ethereum from an exchange site – such as coinbase – and then transfer amounts into a “cryptowallet” system called MetaMask. Once this is completed, people can log onto the CryptoKitties site and play the game.   The company says each kitty is unique, has a name, and is represented by a number. A new one is created every 15 minutes. Creators of the game say one reason CryptoKitties are highly collectible is because each has its own set of genes, just like people. When players breed kitties, the newborns carry on genetic traits of the parents. Elsa Wilk is the marketing director for AxiomZen. She says the worldwide response has been huge since the launch of CryptoKitties. One of the company’s goals has been to educate people who know very little about cryptocurrencies. “We have introduced blockchain to the masses by making the product user friendly, giving it a friendly face and really putting our own special touch on it.” But the game is not only about education and fun: people can also make a lot of money playing it. For example, some CryptoKitties are highly collectible and sought-after. Just days after the November 28 launch, people had reportedly spent more than $2 million on the virtual kittens. A third-party site that follows sales says several CryptoKitties sold for amounts equivalent to more than $100,000. The site noted that as of December 29, the most valuable CryptoKitty was worth more than $191,000. Elsa Wilk agrees that money can be made from CryptoKitties. But she warns people to be careful about how much they put into any cryptocurrency. She added that it does not cost a lot to try the game. “With CryptoKitties, we went out of our way to price the kitties in such a way that anybody can buy one. So if you have 10 dollars and an ethereum account, you can buy a CryptoKitty.” So what is next for AxiomZen after the success of CryptoKitties? “We are working on our 2018 roadmap and we've had a number of requests for battling cats or CryptoDoggies or CryptoDinosaurs. We haven't, I would say, finalized our plans around that yet. But I can tell you that we are considering a number of options and this is definitely not the last you've heard of us.” I’m Bryan Lynn.   Bryan Lynn reported this story for VOA Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   virtual – adj. existing on a computer or the internet cryptocurrency – n. digital currency that uses digital security measures to prevent it from being copied or misused encryption – n. the act changing (information) from one form to another especially to hide its meaning transaction – n. an occurrence in which goods, services, or money are passed from one person or account to another breed – v. to produce young animals by sexual reproduction wallet – n. a container used to hold money unique – adj. being unlike anything else; being the only one trait – n. quality that makes a person or thing different from another equivalent – adj. equal in value  

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Report Warns Against Selfies with Animals in Amazon

  Visitors to the Amazon rain forest in South America face different rules for how they can interact with wild animals. A new report issued by the animal rights group World Animal Protection says that animals suffer when they are kept in captivity so that tourists can touch and photograph them. The report is called “A close up on cruelty: The harmful impacts of wildlife selfies in the Amazon.” The group’s wildlife adviser, Neil D’Cruze, told the Associated Press, “We want tourists visiting the Amazon to know that if they care about wildlife, they should not use animals as photo props on their vacation.” Animals presented to visitors for photographs are often taken from their natural environments and kept in poor conditions, D’Cruze says. He added that animals that are touched and handled by many visitors each day can be harmed and experience stress. Educating for prevention D’Cruze says a solution to the problem is to better educate travelers. He supports programs like Instagram’s new campaign against “selfie” photographs with wild animals. Instagram users that search for hashtags such as #slothselfie now see the warning: “You are searching for a hashtag that may be associated with posts that encourage harmful behavior to animals or the environment.” The travel website TripAdvisor last year stopped organizing tours in which travelers have physical contact with captive or wild animals. National Geographic reporter Natasha Daly traveled to the Amazon earlier this year. She found that officials in Manaus, Brazil, have been actively preventing the use of wildlife as props for tourists. She said, “By the time I was there in mid-August, a lot of tour operators had stopped going to locations where the animals are brought out.” But she found that such practices continue in Puerto Alegria, Peru. Tourists beginning their Amazon trips from nearby Leticia, Colombia, often spend time in Puerto Alegria. Daly said she saw 20 kinds of animals brought out for tourists there in three days. Daly said visitors likely would not get a chance to see the Amazon’s famous, elusive wildlife without guides showing them captive animals. Day trips where sloths, snakes and other animals are presented to tourists for photos make it easier for visitors to see them. But she said educating travelers about these issues may change their behaviors, especially among animal lovers who may not realize the harm in touching and photographing creatures. “As soon as an activity crosses the line from observation to interaction, it’s probably going to be bad for the animal.” Many national parks in the Brazilian Amazon have policies for how tourists and guides can interact with animals. For example, the Anavilhanas National Park has rules that limit contact with the area’s famous freshwater dolphins. Te Batista has been a guide on the Rio Negro, which passes through the park, for 20 years. He says he feels there is a difference between observing animals in the wild and in captivity. “When tourists tell me, ‘I want to take the kinds of pictures I’ve seen on social media,’ I tell them they have to understand that those were taken with animals in captivity,” he said.   Sometimes, he said, he might pull a caiman crocodile out of the water for a few minutes to show it up close. “Within 10 minutes it will be back in the water,” he said. “It’s a different thing if that caiman is in captivity.” ​A developing country with needs Some Brazilian officials say outside organizations should not be able to tell local tourism organizations how to operate. Vinicius Lummertz is president of Embratur, Brazil’s tourism board. He said it would be impossible to observe and control tourists’ contact with animals across such a large territory. Brazil is larger than the mainland United States. The Amazon basin makes up about 60 percent of Brazil’s territory. Lummertz said, “This is a developing country that needs resources for education, health care, and then the world expects us to police the touching of a caiman on the head in an area about 60 percent [the] size of the United States? It’s not possible.” I’m Phil Dierking.     Peter Prengaman and Beth J. Harpaz originally wrote this story for the Associated Press. Phil Dierking adapted this story for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.   Do you think wildlife should be protected, or made available for people to see and touch?  We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. __________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   tourists - n. a person who travels to a place for pleasure​ captivity - n. the state of being kept in a place (such as a prison or a cage) and not being able to leave or be free​ selfie - n.  a picture that you take of yourself especially by using the camera on your smartphone​ interact - v. to talk or do things with other people​ prop - n.  an object that is used by a performer or actor or that is used to create a desired effect in a scene on a stage, in a movie, etc. encourage - v. to make (someone) more likely to do something​ basin - n. the area of land around a large river and the small rivers that flow into it​

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Program Trains Teachers, Students to Deal with School Shootings

Gun violence is a reality of American life. Across the country, at least 12 people were shot to death on the first day of 2018. A shooting can happen anywhere: in homes, businesses, on the street, and in schools. There were nine school shootings in the United States in 2017. They left 15 people dead and 18 others wounded. Now, a new simulation program is designed to help keep teachers and students safe from a shooter. The program is like a million other video games available. But this one is not really a game. It is meant to let the user experience what happens when a gunman enters a school. This simulation is difficult to watch, but the programmers say it can save lives. The simulator is a project of the United States Army and Department of Homeland Security. The program is available through an online training program called EDGE. That is short for the Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment. Bob Walker works as EDGE project manager. He says the simulation lets teachers choose and test several plans of action for dealing with a gunman. Walker provided an example: the mass shooting at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2007. Thirty-two students and teachers died in the attack. Some Virginia Tech teachers found setting up barriers behind doors worked very well. "So this gives school districts the ability to try out different things, see what works for their given environment." The goal is to give teachers, administrators, and even police a chance to virtually walk through an active shooter event at a school. Tamara Griffith works at the Army Research Laboratory. "So, experience builds survivability. The more experience you have, the better your chances of survival are. Griffith adds that the simulation helps users prepare for an attack. She says they can have different experiences, and see what works and what doesn’t work.” Griffith helped to develop the simulator. She says creating the program was difficult for everyone involved. She says the group sat down and listened to police dispatch tapes from earlier shootings. She says they were frightened when they thought about what was happening during those attacks. But their goal was to better prepare law enforcement officers and others who have to deal with shootings. The shooters, children and administrator in the game operate using artificial intelligence. This enables the programmers to test different safety methods to see how they work. The simulation is shocking and unpleasant. But the programmers say they are doing their best to prepare teachers for the worst that might happen. Tamara Griffith agrees. "We can prevent a lot of these deaths. We can prepare people better. We can make this a safer environment if we can get this into the hands of the right people." The program is already being used to train some emergency crews in the United States. The Army Research Lab plans to make a school version available soon, without cost to users. I’m Jonathan Evans.   Kevin Enochs reported this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted his report for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. __________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   simulation – n. something that is made to look or behave like something else virtually – adj. involving an experience provided by a computer program; a world of images and sounds made by a computer artificial intelligence – n. the ability of computers to copy human behavior, such as making decisions or offering suggestions   We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

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English in a Minute: Churn Out

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'To Build a Fire,' by Jack London

Our story today is called "To Build a Fire."  It was written by Jack London and adapted by Dona de Sanctis. Here is Harry Monroe with the story. The man walked down the trail on a cold, gray day. Pure white snow and ice covered the Earth for as far as he could see.  This was his first winter in Alaska.  He was wearing heavy clothes and fur boots.  But he still felt cold and uncomfortable. The man was on his way to a camp near Henderson Creek. His friends were already there. He expected to reach Henderson Creek by six o'clock that evening. It would be dark by then. His friends would have a fire and hot food ready for him. A dog walked behind the man.  It was a big gray animal, half dog and half wolf. The dog did not like the extreme cold.  It knew the weather was too cold to travel. The man continued to walk down the trail.  He came to a frozen stream called Indian Creek.  He began to walk on the snow-covered ice.  It was a trail that would lead him straight to Henderson Creek and his friends. As he walked, he looked carefully at the ice in front of him.  Once, he stopped suddenly, and then walked around a part of the frozen stream.  He saw that an underground spring flowed under the ice at that spot.  It made the ice thin.  If he stepped there, he might break through the ice into a pool of water.  To get his boots wet in such cold weather might kill him. His feet would turn to ice quickly. He could freeze to death. At about twelve o'clock, the man decided to stop to eat his lunch. He took off the glove on his right hand. He opened his jacket and shirt, and pulled out his bread and meat. This took less than twenty seconds. Yet, his fingers began to freeze. He hit his hand against his leg several times until he felt a sharp pain.  Then he quickly put his glove on his hand. He made a fire, beginning with small pieces of wood and adding larger ones. He sat on a snow-covered log and ate his lunch. He enjoyed the warm fire for a few minutes. Then he stood up and started walking on the frozen stream again. A half hour later, it happened. At a place where the snow seemed very solid, the ice broke. The man's feet sank into the water. It was not deep, but his legs got wet to the knees. The man was angry. The accident would delay his arrival at the camp. He would have to build a fire now to dry his clothes and boots. He walked over to some small trees. They were covered with snow. In their branches were pieces of dry grass and wood left by flood waters earlier in the year. He put several large pieces of wood on the snow, under one of the trees. On top of the wood, he put some grass and dry branches. He pulled off his gloves, took out his matches, and lighted the fire. He fed the young flame with more wood. As the fire grew stronger, he gave it larger pieces of wood. He worked slowly and carefully. At sixty degrees below zero, a man with wet feet must not fail in his first attempt to build a fire. While he was walking, his blood had kept all parts of his body warm. Now that he had stopped, cold was forcing his blood to withdraw deeper into his body. His wet feet had frozen. He could not feel his fingers. His nose was frozen, too. The skin all over his body felt cold. Now, however, his fire was beginning to burn more strongly. He was safe. He sat under the tree and thought of the old men in Fairbanks. The old men had told him that no man should travel alone in the Yukon when the temperature is sixty degrees below zero.  Yet here he was. He had had an accident. He was alone. And he had saved himself. He had built a fire. Those old men were weak, he thought. A real man could travel alone. If a man stayed calm, he would be all right. The man's boots were covered with ice. The strings on his boots were as hard as steel. He would have to cut them with his knife. He leaned back against the tree to take out his knife. Suddenly, without warning, a heavy mass of snow dropped down. His movement had shaken the young tree only a tiny bit. But it was enough to cause the branches of the tree to drop their heavy load. The man was shocked. He sat and looked at the place where the fire had been. The old men had been right, he thought. If he had another man with him, he would not be in any danger now. The other man could build the fire. Well, it was up to him to build the fire again. This time, he must not fail. The man collected more wood. He reached into his pocket for the matches. But his fingers were frozen. He could not hold them. He began to hit his hands with all his force against his legs. After a while, feeling came back to his fingers. The man reached again into his pocket for the matches. But the tremendous cold quickly drove the life out of his fingers. All the matches fell onto the snow. He tried to pick one up, but failed. The man pulled on his glove and again beat his hand against his leg. Then he took the gloves off both hands and picked up all the matches. He gathered them together. Holding them with both hands, he scratched the matches along his leg. They immediately caught fire. He held the blazing matches to a piece of wood. After a while, he became aware that he could smell his hands burning. Then he began to feel the pain. He opened his hands, and the blazing matches fell on to the snow. The flame went out in a puff of gray smoke. The man looked up. The dog was still watching him. The man got an idea. He would kill the dog and bury his hands inside its warm body. When the feeling came back to his fingers, he could build another fire. He called to the dog. The dog heard danger in the man's voice. It backed away. The man called again. This time the dog came closer. The man reached for his knife. But he had forgotten that he could not bend his fingers. He could not kill the dog, because he could not hold his knife. The fear of death came over the man. He jumped up and began to run. The running began to make him feel better. Maybe running would make his feet warm. If he ran far enough, he would reach his friends at Henderson Creek. They would take care of him. It felt strange to run and not feel his feet when they hit the ground. He fell several times.  He decided to rest a while. As he lay in the snow, he noticed that he was not shaking. He could not feel his nose or fingers or feet. Yet, he was feeling quite warm and comfortable.  He realized he was going to die. Well, he decided, he might as well take it like a man. There were worse ways to die. The man closed his eyes and floated into the most comfortable sleep he had ever known. The dog sat facing him, waiting. Finally, the dog moved closer to the man and caught the smell of death. The animal threw back its head. It let out a long, soft cry to the cold stars in the black sky. And then it tuned and ran toward Henderson Creek…where it knew there was food and a fire. Download activities to help you understand this story here. We want to hear from you. Have you ever been in a dangerous situation in nature? How were you able to survive? Let us know in the comments section or on our Facebook page. _________________________________________________________________ QUIZ ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story creek - n. a place where a small amount of water flows glove - n. a covering for the hand that has separate parts for each finger withdraw - v. to take something back, away or out tremendous - adj. very large or great blazing - adj. very hot, fast, or powerful aware - adj. feeling, experiencing, or noticing something

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Disputed Book About Trump, 'Fire and Fury,' Becomes Bestseller

  A new and sharply critical book about Donald Trump’s first year in office went on sale Friday, four days earlier than planned. Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” describes a chaotic White House, a president who was not prepared to win in 2016, and Trump aides who question his intelligence and ability to lead. Trump has dismissed the book, saying it is full of lies. On Thursday, lawyers representing the president called on the book’s publishers to stop the book’s release. They also sent a “cease and desist” letter to Stephen Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist. The book includes critical comments Bannon reportedly said about Trump and Trump’s family. ​ “Fire and Fury” had been set to be released January 9. Instead, it began sales early. It is now the top-selling book on Amazon.com. In Washington, D.C., people waited outside bookstores in extremely cold weather to buy the book. One popular bookstore, KramerBooks, began selling “Fire and Fury” at midnight Friday. It and another local bookstore reportedly sold out by 10 in the morning. Wolff spent 18 months reporting on both the Trump campaign and the Trump White House. He reported from inside Trump Tower in New York City and later from inside the White House. On Twitter Thursday, Trump said the book is “full of lies, misrepresentations and sources that don’t exist.” He also said he never spoke with Wolff for the book, and turned down his request for an interview many times. However, Wolff said Friday on NBC’s “Today” show that he had talked to the president for the book. “I absolutely spoke to the president. Whether he realized it was an interview or not, I don’t know, but it was certainly not off the record,” he said. He said he spent about three total hours talking with the president. Wolff says the book is mostly based on talks with people who have worked closely with the president. He said he has records and notes from about 200 interviews with people connected to the Trump campaign or Trump White House. Wolff has confirmed he has audio recordings of some of those talks. Wolff also said on the “Today” show that, “100 percent of the people around him [Trump]…they all say he is like a child.” Some parts of “Fire and Fury” were released earlier this week. They led to a vicious public flight between Trump and Bannon. In one passage, Bannon describes a meeting between a Russian lawyer and top Trump campaign aides -- including Trump's own son and son-in-law -- as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” After the passage was published, Trump said in a statement, “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” Who is Michael Wolff? Michael Wolff is a longtime writer and reporter based in New York City. He has been a media critic and columnist for USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine and Vanity Fair. In 2009, Wolff published “The Man Who Owns the News,” a book about media business leader Rupert Murdoch. Just before its publication, Murdoch publicly questioned some of Wolff’s reporting in that book.   Reuters reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English, with additional materials from VOA News and the Associated Press. Caty Weaver was the editor.  _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   chaotic - adj.  in a state of complete confusion or disorder aides - n. a person whose job is to assist someone  cease and desist - (legal term). an official order to stop doing something immediately midnight - n. the middle of the night : 12 o'clock at night interview - n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information absolutely - adv. in an absolute way -- often used to make a statement more forceful certainly - adv. without doubt fire - v. to dismiss (someone) from a job

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African Environmentalists Praise China's Ivory Ban

  China has made the sale of ivory in the country illegal. Conservationists have welcomed the decision. They say any legal ivory trade in the world hurts efforts to stop the killing of elephants. Max Graham is the Chief Executive of the group Space For Giants which works to protect elephants. He said, “There’s a new conservation superpower in the world that is taking its responsibilities seriously.” He said that the ban on the ivory trade will support a larger struggle against all kinds of illegal trade in wildlife. The traditional use of wildlife parts in Asia, and especially in China, he said, has been responsible for the loss of “rare species around the world.” China announced the ban at the end of 2016. The measure went into effect in December 2017. Conservationists are pleased about China’s decision, but they worry about its enforcement. Frank Pope is the chief of another environmental group, Save the Elephants. He believes the ban could greatly improve the future for elephants. But there is one problem, he says. “You’re going to see secondary markets,” he notes. Pope adds that these markets are “…in Vietnam, in Laos, in Myanmar and in Hong Kong. All of these places have markets that have boomed” when China announced its ban. Philip Muruthi is an official with the African Wildlife foundation. He also welcomes the ban but notes the importance of keeping new markets from growing. “About 35,000 elephants…are lost each year. There are 415,000 on this continent (Africa). That means that in 20 years…we will not have any elephants,” he said. He added that the loss of the elephant population would destroy Africa’s wildlife tourism and the jobs that it creates in countries like Kenya and South Africa. “It’s about the African peoples’ well-being. It’s about our heritage,” he said. Conservationists say that stopping the illegal killing of elephants for their ivory tusks is important, but so is managing their living areas. They urge African governments to do more to reduce threats to wildlife. I’m Susan Shand. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story   ivory – n. a hard white substance that forms the tusks of elephants and other animals with tusks conservationist –n. a person who works to protect animals, plants and natural resources to prevent their loss species – n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants tourism –n. the industry of providing hotels, restaurants and entertainment for people who travel for pleasure heritage –n. the traditions, history, art and knowledge of a group or nation tusk – n. a very long, large tooth that sticks out of the mouth of an animal such as an elephant

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