VOA Learning English

“Quarantines belong to the Stone Age,” the Iranian health minister said late last month at a press briefing about COVID-19. The country is in no danger from the virus he said, while coughing and sweating severely. One day later, he was under quarantine. The story helps explain how Iran became one of the countries most affected by the new coronavirus. The government reports more than 17,000 cases of infection and over 1,100 deaths. And many observers fear those numbers are even higher than officials say. The days of Iranian denial of the virus gave it time to spread. And the conditions were right --- Iran celebrated its 41st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution with huge public gatherings. Later, people gathered at voting places to take part in parliamentary elections. Now state television is warning the virus could kill “millions.” Iran has one of the best medical systems in the Middle East. However, its hospitals appear to be in crisis. The country has asked other countries to provide it with 172 million masks. It has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a $5 billion loan. The major holiday of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is Friday. On Monday, Iran’s president asked people to stay home for the holiday. The next day, Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a religious ruling banning “unnecessary” travel. What happens next will affect not only Iran, but the wider world as well. Amir A. Afkhami, a professor at George Washington University, is an Iran expert. He says the request for the $5 billion loan shows that Iran is realizing the situation is “out of control.” Many unknowns about Iran’s outbreak remain. For example, officials have not identified “patient zero” - the first person infected. So, they also do not know where the first infection appeared. Public comments on that issue suggest the city of Qom, 125 kilometers southwest of Tehran. How the virus arrived there remains in question. Officials suggested that an Iranian businessman returned from China with the virus. Qom is home to major Shi’ite religious schools that include Chinese among the student population. The city lies along a $2.7 billion railroad project. A Chinese company is building the railroad. China is also building a solar power plant in Qom. The pro-reform newspaper Aftab-e Yazd first warned of the virus in January. “Mysterious virus at Iran’s gates,” the paper reported as China established a lockdown to control the spread of the new coronavirus. Yet travel between China and Iran continued. The first two coronavirus cases were reported February 19 with the announcement that both patients died in Qom. The Health Ministry later shared maps that showed the virus moving across Iran. Among the first infections in Tehran was Harirchi, the deputy health minister. COVID-19 killed several officials including Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a close adviser to Khamenei, Hadi Khosroshahi, Iran’s former ambassador to the Vatican, and Ahmad Tuyserkani, another adviser. Several lawmakers and a member of the country’s Assembly of Experts also died from the disease. And, the virus infected a vice president and two government ministers, along with Revolutionary Guard members and doctors. “We found out a little late that the coronavirus had entered Iran because we mistook it for the flu,” a deputy health minister later said. A man in Qom recorded video of bodies that waited days for burial. The man said all died of COVID-19, although officials later said they did not have test results yet. “The situation is terrible here and I hope God helps us,” the man said. He was later arrested. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/svwzyjt

You have been told to wash your hands many times a day to help stop the spread of the new coronavirus. You have been told to avoid touching your face. But, you also should try to keep clean the device that you may be using now more than ever – your phone. Scientific studies have shown that the virus can live for two to three days on materials like plastic and stainless steel. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends cleaning all “high-touch” surfaces every day. These include things we touch and come into contact will all day long, like phones, keyboards and computers. But it is important to be careful. If you do not clean your phone in the right way, it can get damaged. Here are some things not to do when disinfecting your phone: · Do not spray cleaners directly on the phone. · Do not put the phone into any cleaning liquids. · Do not use devices that use forced air, which are often used to clean computer keyboards · Avoid rubbing your phone with rough materials that could make small cuts on it. So, what should you do? Start by turning off the phone and unplugging any wires. You want to make sure your phone is not charging when you clean it. Below are some suggested ways to clean your phone. With any of these suggestions, be sure not to get the phone wet. You can use Clorox wipes or wipes with 70 percent alcohol. You can buy these products at a store and wipe down your phone. iPhone manufacturer Apple has warned against using household cleaners on its phones, and says that when using wipes, do so “gently.” AT&T recommends pushing out any liquid from disinfectant wipes before using them on a phone. It says paper cloths work too. You can spray them with disinfectant and then use the cloth to clean the phone. Again, do not spray the phone itself. You can also use a soft fabric to clean the phone. Some examples are microfiber cleaning cloths or ones used to clean camera lenses and eyeglasses. Google suggests cleaning your phone with a cloth that has been lightly covered in soap and water, as long as you are careful not to get moisture in the phone. Samsung, the world’s biggest phone manufacturer, says it is offering something new: A free phone-sanitizing service involving UV light. The service will be offered at some U.S.-based Samsung stores and service centers. It will expand to other countries in the coming weeks. Cleaning your phone is one of many measures public health officials are recommending to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Most patients have only minor or moderate symptoms. However, older people and those with existing health conditions are more likely to develop more severe illness. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/ul52tu9R

The Christ the Redeemer statue has sat on top of Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro for nearly 90 years. Almost 90 million people visited the nearly 40-meter high statue last year. Now, it is being forced to close, at least temporarily. The reason: the coronavirus outbreak. The Christ the Redeemer statue closed at day’s end on Tuesday and will not reopen for at least a week. Brazil’s Chico Mendes Institute ordered the closure of all national parks it oversees to fight coronavirus and COVID-19, the name of the disease caused by the virus. On Tuesday, Rio’s governor, Wilson Witzel, declared a state of emergency. Just one day earlier, the city’s famous coastline was filled with people. Now the beaches are empty. Witzel’s declaration calls on restaurants and bars to limit themselves to 30 percent capacity for 15 days. Boats and buses are to cut their passenger loads in half. Brazilians are being told to avoid beaches and swimming in public places. The declaration also suspended classes and all other activities and events that involve gatherings. “We are afraid, we feel unsafe,” said Maurilivia Gomes, who was visiting Rio from Goias state. She spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday from inside a near-empty train to the top of the statue. “We’re taking the necessary measures. And we’re also going to enjoy what we can,” she added. Brazil has recorded almost 300 confirmed cases of Covid-19. More than 50 percent are in Sao Paulo, followed by Rio, notes the health ministry. Across the country, some local government leaders have announced steps aimed at preventing the spread of the virus. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has warned the measures could damage the economy. He expressed skepticism of the virus’ severity. He told one radio station, “What is incorrect is the hysteria, as though it were the end of the world. A nation like Brazil, for example, will only be free when a certain number of people are infected and create antibodies.” . People who work in the tourism industry are worried about their jobs. “We have to count on the hope that we can find a family that wants to walk around and do something at least, so we can earn something this month,” noted Alexandre Faria Carbonelli. He spoke to The Associated Press. At the Christ statue, Rio’s Catholic Church is planning a light show for Wednesday night. It will show the flags of nations fighting coronavirus on the lonely statue. Words In This Story redeemer – n. to make new or clean outbreak – n. the sudden occurrence of war or disease park – n. a green place where children play and people gather bar – n. a place where people go to drink alcohol capacity – n. the full amount skepticism – n. to express disbelief hysteria – n. uncontained panic and fear tourism – n. visiting a place for entertainment Read more: http://tinyurl.com/v2xzh4m

On Scotland’s Isle of Skye, scientists have identified two areas with evidence of ancient life forms. Researchers believe the markings are, in fact, footprints from dinosaurs that lived 170 million years ago. They say the prints date to the middle of the Jurassic Period, a time from which few dinosaur fossils have been recovered. Researchers reported this month on their study of about 50 fossilized footprints at the two sites. The markings are just a few hundred meters apart from each other. They are said to show dinosaurs walking in different directions. At least three kinds of dinosaurs left the footprints. Steve Brusatte, the leader of the research team, is a paleontologist with the University of Edinburgh. “The tracks are located on flat rocky surfaces near the beach, so they are only exposed at low tide,” he said. “The tide laps across them, back and forth, every day.” One set of markings came from a two-legged, meat-eating dinosaur that researchers say was about the size of a car. They say its footprints have three toes. The creature, with sharp claws, appears to be from a group of dinosaurs called theropods. Bigger, three-toed footprints came from large-bodied, two-legged plant-eaters called ornithopods or perhaps, the researchers say, a large theropod. All of these prints had worn-down toes, not sharp edges. The researchers are especially interested in markings left by another creature: an early member of a group of heavily built, four-legged plant-eaters called stegosaurs. The footprints represent some of the oldest evidence anywhere of a stegosaur, notes Paige dePolo, a doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh. DePolo was the lead writer of a report on the study. The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE. The most famous member of the stegosaurs was Stegosaurus, which lived late in the Jurassic Period. It had large, bony protective plates around the neck and back - and a large spiked tail, too. Brusatte was careful to note that the researchers still have a lot of unanswered questions about this creature. “I suspect this stegosaur was about the size of a cow, which is fairly small for a stegosaur. Whether that’s because it’s a primitive, smaller species or a juvenile of a bigger species, we’re not sure,” he said. The researchers noted that the findings were an important window into the many kinds of dinosaurs on the Isle of Skye. “Skye has emerged as one of the most important windows into Jurassic dinosaur evolution. We know that dinosaurs were diversifying with a frenzy in the Middle Jurassic, but there are few fossil sites of this age anywhere in the world,” Brusatte added. Words in This Story fossil – n. the remains of an ancient organism paleontologist – n. the science that deals with the fossils of animals and plants that lived very long ago especially in the time of dinosaurs track – n. markings; something showing evidence of movement beach – n. a sandy or stone-filled area, usually between the ocean and land expose – v. to leave (something) without covering or protection lap – v. washing against something with a gentle sound toe – n. any of five extensions at the end of the human foot claw – n. a curved, pointy hard surface on each finger or toe in birds and some animals spiked – adj. having sharp points : formed into points evolution – n. the process by which changes in plants and animals happen over time frenzy – n. a period of wild behavior Read more: http://tinyurl.com/u693f3s

A small Italian company has used 3D printing technology to quickly produce oxygen valves to treat some coronavirus patients. Italy has been battling the world’s largest number of cases of the new coronavirus outside of China. Cristian Fracassi founded and heads the Italian start-up company Isinnova. He told the Reuters news agency that he heard about a shortage of the valves at a hospital near the northern city of Brescia. The area has had an explosion of coronavirus cases. The devices are called Venturi valves. They are named after 18th century Italian physicist Giovanni Battista. The devices are used to connect patient masks to oxygen equipment. The oxygen masks are used to treat patients suffering from breathing problems. Fracassi, a 36-year-old engineer, said the hospital was in serious need of the valves. The devices “are impossible to find at the moment,” he said. He added that the fast-spreading virus was simply preventing current production from meeting the growing demand. He decided to offer the services of his company’s 3D printing equipment and of his 14 employees to help ease the shortage. “When we heard about the shortage, we got in touch with the hospital immediately. We printed some prototypes, the hospital tested them and told us they worked,” Fracassi said. “So we printed 100 valves and I delivered them personally.” The company’s team was able to effectively copy the valves using a 3D printer at the company headquarters in Milan The company produces a series of technology products. They include high-tech luggage for Italian designer Gucci and a special paint developed to survive temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. Fracassi told Reuters it cost his company very little to produce the plastic valves, which weigh around 20 grams each. “I’m not going to charge the hospital,” he said. “It was the least I could do to help doctors and nurses who work all day long to save human lives.” The company's quick action to help coronavirus patients was praised by Italy’s Minister of Innovation Technology Digitalization, Paola Pisano. In a Twitter message, she thanked Fracassi and his employees for supplying the valves. She also published a picture of the freshly made 3D devices. At least 10 hospital patients had used the new valves as of March 14, reported Massimo Temporelli, the president and co-founder of Italy’s FabLab. The organization creates technology-based solutions for companies. It has worked with Isinnova in the past. In a Facebook post, Fracassi said he did not want to be called a hero or a genius for the actions he took. “Sure, people were going to die, but we only did our duty,” he wrote. Fracassi added that refusing to act after learning of the need could have likely resulted in more patient deaths. In the message, Fracassi said the company does not plan to profit from its valve production and will only use its designs and manufacturing methods to help those currently in need. He added: “Let's focus on the real heroes, those who save lives, who work 16-hour hospital shifts, and are day and night next to the sick, and praise them.” Read more: http://tinyurl.com/tovvabm

Facebook and Twitter say they have removed numerous false social media accounts linked to Russia that targeted the American public. Facebook said in a statement that the network of accounts appeared to be in the process of building up a following of U.S.-based users. The network was operated by people in Ghana and Nigeria for individuals in Russia. Facebook said its investigation found that the accounts had ties to individuals linked to past activity by Russia’s Internet Research Agency. U.S. officials have accused that group of leading a major disinformation campaign online in an attempt to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In some cases, the removed accounts claimed to be nongovernmental organizations or personal blogs. The accounts on Facebook and on the company’s Instagram service attempted to gain users by posting about issues like black history, fashion, and news about famous Americans. In total, Facebook removed 49 accounts, 69 Facebook pages and 85 Instagram accounts. Twitter removed 71 accounts. Facebook said the accounts did not appear to center on elections. They also did not include support or criticism of individual political candidates. Facebook’s statement said that while the company is making progress in identifying and stopping such abuses, the problem represents “an ongoing challenge” it is dealing with. “That means building better technology, hiring more people and working more closely with law enforcement, security experts and other companies,” the statement said. Twitter said the accounts it removed dealt mainly with social issues such as race and civil rights, without favoring any candidate or political ideas. The latest removals follow a recent report that found Russia’s campaign of election interference has not reduced since 2016 -- and appears to be getting more difficult to discover. Young Mie Kim, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison created the recent report. She found that Russia-linked social media accounts were posting about many of the same issues as during the 2016 elections. These include race relations, gun laws and immigration. Facebook has since removed those accounts, too. Last month, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Christopher Wray, warned that Russia was still involved in a campaign of “information warfare” that uses false social media accounts to spread disinformation. Russia has repeatedly denied interfering in U.S. elections. Words in This Story: account – n. an arrangement in which a person uses internet or service of a particular company network – n. a system or group of connected parts blog – n. a regularly updated website or web page, usually run by an individual or small groups fashion – n. the most popular style of clothes, appearance or behavior at a particular time LGBTQ – adj. a term that is short for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer challenge – n. a difficult task that tests a person’s abilities Read more: http://tinyurl.com/sflbrqu

Wasima Khan stopped attending school six years ago. She has yet to complete her studies. The 19-year-old is not an exception. She is like many other young women in Nuh, where she lives, in northern India. Only about 30 percent of the women there can read and write. That is about half the national average. Wasima Khan left school because she had to do housework and help her mother with younger brothers and sisters, she said. And there was no middle school in her community. At the same time, boys living in Papika, in Haryana state, walk to the nearest high school, about four kilometers away. Yet girls are not permitted to leave the small village. In Papika, many of the women work in fields or care for farm animals. Young girls get water, while children play. Men often sit outside their homes in the sun after a cold winter. A group of young women from this mostly Muslim community made it to college by overcoming prejudices against women. Now they are working to get more girls into school. Every Sunday they spread out in Papika and other villages to talk to people about why they should let their daughters study. The young women persuaded Wasima Khan’s mother to keep her younger daughter at school. They ease her concerns about dowries — the money or goods that a woman’s family must give to her husband’s family when they marry. She fears that educated girls will want to marry educated men who will demand a bigger dowry. This is a difficult for many poor families who see no reason to educate girls. Arastoon is a postgraduate student studying history. She says her college education has given her the strength to fight the dowry tradition. “I will only marry into a family which does not demand dowry,” she said, “however well-to-do they may be.” The young women tell Wasima Khan that she can return to school. As a girl, her goal had been to join India’s police force. She does not know if she can go back, but she says she will do whatever she can to make sure her sister does not leave school. “I loved my classes,” she said. “But I was helpless.” A non-profit organization called the Selfie with Daughter Foundation is leading the campaign to empower and education women in these villages. Its aim is to bring change by publicizing the success stories of girls who came from the villages and now serve as role models for other families. Rizwana Khan began her campaign by persuading her extended family to educate their daughters. She tells these women that educated girls could help the villages. In some areas, women are not permitted to interact with male lawyers, be taught by male teachers or get treated by male doctors. Khan is training for a job in health care as a nurse. When she was a teenager, she became terribly sick, but her treatment was a problem. Her parents could not read and medical centers in the area were very poor quality. It made her decide to get her own education. Khan said she wants to bring medical aid to women in the area. This is a goal her father urged her to go for — even selling belongings to pay for her nursing school. “They don’t want to educate their daughters, but if women are ill, they want a lady doctor. How will that happen?” Khan said. Another girl in the campaign, Shahnaz Bano, wants to teach in a local school. She said, “I tell them that if your daughters don’t attend schools, how will they find female teachers?” Read more of this story and take our comprehension quiz: http://tinyurl.com/rqu9bcb

With schools shutting down and the ways of daily life-changing, children are hearing more about the coronavirus. They may not fully understand it, or know how seriously to take it, but their lives are affected. Many parents are trying to decide how to talk with their children about the virus and the outbreak. Some say they are checking in each day to see how their children are doing. But others worry that talking too much about it could make their children more nervous and fearful. Nicole Poponi is the mother of 10-year-old Clara, and 12-year-old Jane. The family lives in Audubon, New Jersey. She said, “We talk about it a lot. I watch the news every morning, and they’re always watching it, too.” Both girls said they have talked about the virus at school. Jane said her teachers have discussed it during science lessons. “I’m not really as scared of it. It’s still not even that many people getting sick here," Jane said. “One of my friends is really scared of it, but she’s honestly really scared of all diseases.” Beth Young said she has decided to limit the conversations with her four children. They are ages 8, 10,12, and 15. The family lives in Fort Mill, South Carolina. She said she does not want them to be afraid of getting sick, because “kids get sick pretty often.” And she does not want them to worry about dying. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/rm73zwh

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle Report. Every culture has some sort of person-to-person greeting. But they are different all over the world. In some countries such as the United States, handshakes and hugs are the norm. In many European cultures, kisses on the cheek or air kisses are the thing to do when greeting people. And if you play on a sports team, high fives may be the greeting -- no matter what your cultural background. These are our traditions during normal times. The World Health Organization recently declared the new coronavirus a “pandemic.” Health officials all over the world are urging people to wash their hands frequently. People are warned to avoid large crowds and to practice social distancing to control the spread of the disease. This has led to new ways of greetings around the world. The new COVID-19 virus came from Wuhan, China. So, it is not surprising that a video featuring something called the “Wuhan Shake” recently went viral. In the video, a man offers his hand to another man for a handshake. Instead of shaking hands, the two men greet each other by kicking feet – quick right kick, quick left kick. The video then shows more men greeting each other this way. It looks like a dance step or a soccer move. Other videos are appearing on social media showing people in other parts of the world using the foot tap as a greeting. Changes in the workplace Zheng Yu Wen is a television host for Voice of America’s China service. Her job involves contact with many on-air guests. So, she says she has changed her guest greeting policy. “So, starting today [March 12] I was telling all my guests who appear in the studio -- we don’t shake hands anymore. We do elbow touch, we do foot tapping or, we say, foot kissing...” Another journalist in VOA China’s branch, Sharon Wu, is taking a different approach. For now, she has not changed the way she greets guests. However, she has a new after-greeting habit – group hand-washing. “Recently we’ve had some guests coming to the studio. And for me, I still shake hands with them. But after that I say, ‘Okay. Let’s both go to the restroom and wash hands.’ ” Mir Abdul Moshref works at Voice of America in the Afghan service. He says that while hugging between men and women is not common, same-sex hugging is. However, those who used to hug have started using new ways of greeting people. “Usually people are not shaking hands. But, they are greeting verbally. They are not hugging, which is common among Afghans here in my service. We are just elbow-touching and sometimes we are kicking feet [with] each other. And sometimes we are just, you know, having a bump-bump to each other.” In Iran, people have used a similar greeting called “butt bump.” Besides the foot kick, butt bump and elbow touch, there are other ways to greet people without touching. Many Asian cultures already use non-contact greetings. So, people in this part of the world may have an easier time avoiding person-to-person contact. In Japan, a deep bow with both hands kept down to the sides is a traditional greeting. No more kissing ... for now In Europe, kissing is a common way to greet people. People in France and other parts of Europe often use two kisses -- one on each cheek -- or in the air as a greeting. People in Switzerland give three kisses. Reuters reported that health officials in Switzerland and France have advised people to stop the traditional kiss greeting. And the Italian government has banned kissing in an effort to stop the spread of the disease. This is not the first time a government has made lip contact between people forbidden. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/ull6jvu

Saudi Arabia has directed the state oil company Aramco to increase its total possible oil production, or capacity. It announced the move at the Saudi Tadawul stock exchange Wednesday. A short time later, Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas company ADNOC said it was increasing production by 25 percent to 4 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia is working to flood the market after another oil producer, Russia, refused to agree to oil production cuts. Worldwide, demand for oil is decreasing as the spread of the new coronavirus has interfered with travel, transport and other industries. Saudi Arabia said earlier this week it would increase its oil production to 12.3 million barrels a day starting in April. That is 300,000 barrels per day more than Aramco’s current production. Now the company says it will produce up to 13 million barrels per day. Aramco also said Wednesday that the Saudi Energy Ministry, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, ordered the increase. Saudi Arabia had been producing around 9.8 million barrels per day. That amount was in line with an agreement among a number of oil producing nations, including Russia. The cuts were an attempt to stop the oversupply in the market that had pushed prices down. However, a few days ago, the kingdom’s policy changed completely when Russia refused to go along with deeper cuts. Saudi Arabia is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC. It is expected that other members of that group will also increase production. Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC on Wednesday said it would increase output from about 3 million barrels to over 4 million barrels of oil a day starting in April. In addition, the company said it would move up its plans for a 5 million barrels a day production goal. ADNOC said its plan to increase production was made in reaction to the market. Experts say it appears Saudi Arabia hopes to pressure Russia by controlling market share in a price war. The price of unprocessed, or crude oil went down 25 percent on Monday. It was the sharpest decrease since the 1991 Gulf War. By yesterday, the price had increased a small amount. By the end of trading, oil was at $36 a barrel. Eurasia Group is a private business that researches and advises clients about political risk. It describes the current oil situation as a crisis that could last “several weeks or months, until prices are low enough to change fundamental views in Moscow and Riyadh” and force a compromise. Words in This Story barrel – n. a round usually wooden container with curved sides and flat ends client – n. a person who pays a professional person or organization for services fundamental – adj. of or relating to the basic structure Read more: http://tinyurl.com/vrxfsqv

A Chinese company says it has created a new facial recognition system that can identify people even if they are wearing masks. Developers began working on the new system in January, when cases of the new coronavirus began rising in China. The fast spread of the virus – which can be deadly – has led most Chinese citizens to wear face masks in public to help reduce infections. China is recognized as a world leader in the development of artificial intelligence and facial recognition systems. Engineers at the Beijing-based Hanwang Technology Ltd. say their system is the first to be created to effectively identify people wearing face masks. The company told the Reuters news agency that a team of 20 people built the system in about a month. The system is based on existing technologies developed over the past 10 years. The process involved adding a collection of about 6 million unmasked faces and a much smaller collection of masked faces, the company said. Hanwang is now selling two main kinds of products that use the new technology. One performs “single channel” recognition, which is designed to be used at the entrances to buildings. The other product is a “multi-channel” recognition system that uses groups of surveillance cameras. Hanwang’s vice president, Huang Lei, told Reuters that the multi-channel system can identify individuals in a crowd of up to 30 people “within a second.” “When wearing a mask, the recognition rate can reach about 95 percent, which can ensure that most people can be identified,” Huang said. He added that the system’s success rate for people not wearing a mask is about 99.5 percent. The company says one of the largest users of the new system is China’s Ministry of Public Security, which operates the country’s police agencies. The Chinese government widely uses cameras and facial recognition technology for identification purposes and to record people’s movements. Huang said officials can use Hanwang’s technology to compare images with ministry records on individuals in order to identify and track people as they move about. The system can identify crime suspects, terrorists or make reports or warnings, he added. However, the new system struggles to identify people wearing both a mask and sunglasses. “In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost. In such cases recognition is tough,” Huang said. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/w8kbw8f

Housing centers for old people in the United States are buying large numbers of masks and thermometers because of coronavirus. They are also screening visitors and preparing for shortages of health workers. In China, where the new virus began, the disease has been much deadlier for old people. In Italy, the most affected country in Europe, more than 100 people have died from COVID-19. All either were old, already had health problems or both. Of the 21 deaths across the U.S. as of Sunday, at least 16 had been linked to a home for old people near Seattle, Washington. The Seattle Times reported that a second similar home and a retirement community in the area had each reported one case of the virus. That has gotten the attention of other old people homes in the U.S., especially in Florida and California. Both those states have large numbers of old people. About 2.5 million people live in long-term care centers in the United States. “For people over the age of 80 ... the (death) rate could be as high as 15 percent,” said Mark Parkinson. He is president of the American Health Care Association. The federal government inspects such centers. It is now working on plans to control infection centers with confirmed cases of coronavirus. Federal rules already require the centers to employ an infectious disease prevention specialist. However, action to deal with the coronavirus has been uneven at such centers. About 160,000 old people live in some type of special care homes in Florida. These places are not screening visitors “because we’re not at that stage,” said Kristen Knapp. She is a spokeswoman for the Florida Health Care Association. The Palm Gardens Corporation operates 14 Florida old people homes. Each is now requiring visitors to answer some questions upon arrival. They are asked about their health, recent travel and contact with others said company Vice President Luke Neumann. At the South Shore Rehabilitation and Skilled Care Center south of Boston, patient Leo Marchand keeps a container of disinfecting cloths near his bed. He uses one several times a day. The 71-year-old retired truck driver has breathing problems. The possibility of getting the coronavirus worries him. Many old people housing centers across the country have reported difficulties in finding medical masks and clothing because of shortages. Some visitors have been angry about the screenings. Janet Snipes is the director of the Holly Heights Nursing Center in Denver. She said it has been difficult to explain to visitors that the screening is necessary to keep the old people there safe. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/r3zaueo

Former Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for sex crimes. Last month, a New York jury found him guilty of raping an actress in a hotel room in 2013 and sexually assaulting a former production assistant at his home in 2006. The 67-year-old Weinstein has been accused of sexual wrongdoing by more than 90 women, including Hollywood actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek and Uma Thurman. Weinstein has said that any sexual activity was consensual, or agreed to by both people involved. “Although this is a first conviction, this is not a first offense,” Judge James Burke said before announcing the prison sentence. Weinstein faced up to 29 years in prison. Before the sentencing was announced, Weinstein told the court he felt “remorse for the situation.” But he also added that men are being accused of “things that none of us understood.” “I’m totally confused,” Weinstein said. “I think men are confused about these issues.” Weinstein added that he remembered having “wonderful times” with his accusers. His lawyers have promised to appeal the court’s guilty finding. Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood. He and his company produced Oscar-winning films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “Pulp Fiction. Accusations against him became public in October 2017. That month, stories published in The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine described Weinstein’s mistreatment of women. The stories helped give rise to the #metoo movement on social media, in which women and some men told their stories of sexual assault and harassment. Weinstein’s lawyers had sought a five-year sentence, the least severe punishment for his crimes, because of his age and poor health. Government lawyers had asked for a long sentence that would take into account the many accusations against Weinstein. Weinstein is also facing charges of rape and sexual assault in Los Angeles, California. He faces up to 28 years in prison for those crimes. Police in California are also investigating three additional sexual assault cases that involve Weinstein. Words in This Story assault – n. the crime of trying or threatening to hurt someone physically conviction – n. the act of proving that a person is guilty of a crime in a court of law remorse – n. a feeling of guilt confused - adj. unable to understand or think clearly sexual harassment – n. behavior such as making unwelcome sexual remarks or physical advances in a workplace or other professional or social settings Read more: http://tinyurl.com/sqxmuos

Dogs have a kind of sensor on the end of their nose that helps them recognize small changes in temperature, such as when other animals are nearby. That information comes from scientists at Lund University in Sweden and Hungary’s Eötvös Loránd University. The scientists say the discovery can help researchers better understand how some animals identify their prey. The findings appeared in Scientific Reports, a publication produced by Nature Research. The scientists reported that the wet skin surface at the end of a dog’s nose is full of nerve endings. It works like a kind of infrared sensor, they said. “Dogs are able to sense the thermal radiation coming from warm bodies or weak thermal radiation and they can also direct their behavior according to this signal,” said Anna Balint. She was the lead author of the published report. “We tested whether we can find an area in the brain that shows higher activity if they are exposed to a warmer … object,” she added. Brain imaging tests showed increased brain activity when dogs were shown objects that were warmer than their surroundings. The study involved two sets of experiments. In one, Lund University researchers used weak thermal radiation to train three dogs. The other, at the Eötvös Loránd University, involved 13 dogs. They were given functional magnetic resonance imaging tests to see how the brain reacted if they recognized weak thermal radiation. Researchers were careful to note that all the animals were privately owned. Owners gave “informed consent for their dogs to be used in the study.” Among the dogs involved in the experiments were golden retrievers and border collies. Ronald Kroger is a scientist at Lund University. He noted “it is possible that other carnivorans possess a similar infrared sense and that adds a new chapter to the story of prey-predator relationships.” The researchers wrote that in the grey wolf, the closest wild relative of domestic dogs, “the ability to detect the radiation from warm bodies would be advantageous for such predators.” Kroger added, “Predator hunting strategies have to be re-evaluated and the biology of prey animals has to be revisited with body heat sensing predators in mind.” Read more: http://tinyurl.com/sal2fg2

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Professor Matthew Delmont decided a few years ago that he wanted to change how he teaches African American history. Delmont teaches at Dartmouth College in the state of New Hampshire. At first, Delmont turned to Twitter. There, he shared stories of the everyday lives of African Americans he read about in black newspapers. That project expanded in November to become the website Black Quotidian. There, readers will find life stories of hundreds of African Americans taken from black newspapers. The stories appeared in publications between the early 1900s and the 1980s. The website contains copies of stories from more than 10 black newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier. It also has audio recordings, pictures and videos. “l felt like my students were coming away from the class only thinking African American history was about these civil right(s) marches or about martyrs,” Delmont said. “I felt like they spent so much time thinking about black death that they were losing sight of the broader complexity, really the beautiful aspects of African American history.” The website shows African Americans who made their mark in sports, politics, the military and other areas. Among them are icons like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and civil rights activist Rosa Parks. But Delmont also aims to bring attention to lesser known people. One of them is Juanita Blocker. She was the first black member of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association. She wrote about bowling in the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper for 20 years. The website also tells about Claudette Colvin of Montgomery, Alabama. As a 15-year-old, she refused to give up her seat on a bus – nine months before Rosa Parks did the same. Delmont said, “These iconic figures are important but we need to understand the everyday people doing important things in their community.” He added that he has observed a growing interest in rediscovering overlooked African Americans. Delmont said he hopes the website brings attention to black newspapers. He said the publications were especially important for African American communities that had recently migrated north. The newspapers described people’s daily lives. They provided news of everything from politics to sports to weddings. Ethan Michaeli worked for the Chicago Defender and wrote a book about the newspaper. He said Delmont’s website is offering a fresh look at the role these newspapers played in black communities. Many of the papers included on the website have closed or no longer print newspapers. Michaeli said, “I’m very excited about it as kind of serving as the bridge between the past and the present in this way.” Read more! http://tinyurl.com/r4eslp7

The popularity of Chinese-owned video sharing service TikTok continues to grow among young people in the United States. In 2019, experts say the service more than doubled its American user base to 37 million. TikTok is especially popular with teens and young adults. The service lets users create and share short videos, many of which are under 15 seconds. The TikTok app offers a wide choice of sounds, brief parts of songs and special effects tools to help create a video. Some TikTok-based memes go viral. Videos often include popular songs from well-known artists and TikTok has even helped launch the careers of new music stars. TikTok is considered a competitor to video-sharing app Snapchat, as well as Facebook’s Instagram service. Snapchat and Instagram also mainly interest young users with a wide mix of photos and videos centered largely on fashion, pop culture and humor. Last year, TikTok was the second-most downloaded app from Apple and Google stores. Only WhatsApp was downloaded more. Research company Sensor Tower estimates people have downloaded the TikTok app 1.65 billion times. TikTok has been used by many major companies to reach young people who use little or no traditional media. One of those companies is American-based e.l.f. Cosmetics. The makeup company’s chief marketer, Kory Marchisotto, told The Associated Press that TikTok is “where the Gen Z party is.” Gen Z is a name used to describe the generation born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. “That’s where they’re all hanging out,” Marchisotto said. Companies appearing on TikTok can make money through advertising. Often, the companies create user “challenges” as part of their ad campaigns. In challenges, users are invited to publish their own videos in which they perform similar dance moves. One campaign by e.l.f. Cosmetics, for example, asked people to wink and move their lips while following a song. TikTok users created 3 million videos that received more than 4 billion views. While TikTok has continued to grow since its U.S. launch in 2017, it has also received media attention for being the first Chinese-owned social-media service to rise to major success in the U.S. U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about TikTok’s collection of user data and the possibility that the company could be sharing information with the Chinese government. In addition, the lawmakers said the app presents national security risks and could be used to censor material for users in the U.S. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/ttgb3x6

The 1997 film Titanic is one of the most popular movies ever made. It won many film awards and was one of the highest-grossing films in movie history. The film is a love story set against the sinking of the famous ship in 1912. It has many memorable scenes. Some of them can teach you important ideas about English grammar. Today, we will explore one short scene to teach you about tag questions and polite forms of speaking. A tag question is a short question added to a statement. #1 Tag questions In our scene, Jack, played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio, eats dinner with a group of rich people. DiCaprio does not come from a wealthy background – just the opposite, in fact. He does not have a home. A wealthy woman asks Jack a difficult question. She asks if he enjoys his homeless life. You can hear the tense silence after her question. “And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?” “Well, yes, ma'am, I do.” Let’s examine this short exchange. We will begin with the woman’s question. The woman’s question is a kind of tag question. First, she makes a statement: ”And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing” Notice that the main verb is find. The woman follows the statement with a tag question: “do you?” If English speakers make a statement that uses a verb other than be, then the tag question often uses an auxiliary verb such as do or have. In this case, the woman made a statement using the verb find, and she used the auxiliary verb do in the tag question. This is just one form that a tag question can take. If you want to learn more about different kinds of tag questions, you can read the story on our website, learningenglish.voanews.com. #2 Polite forms of address, word order Now let’s continue with the scene. Think about DiCaprio’s response to the woman’s question. DiCaprio responds by saying: “Well, yes, ma'am, I do.” The order of DiCaprio’s words is important. DiCaprio begins with the word well. Well is a common word that has many uses. Speakers often use well when giving an explanation. DiCaprio then says yes, a term of agreement. The next word is ma’am. Ma’am is a polite term. Americans generally use it to speak to a woman who they do not know. The Online Etymology Dictionary notes that in the United States, speakers generally use ma’am in answers - after the word yes or the word no. In other words, you are more likely to hear Americans say yes, ma’am, or no, ma’am. Americans do not use the term ma’am along with a woman’s name. DiCaprio uses the words well, yes, ma’am … to show politeness, and to show that an explanation is coming. DiCaprio could have responded in a different, more direct way, as in: ”And you find that sort of rootless existence appealing, do you?” “Yes, I do.” Such a statement would have been a little too strong. That is why DiCaprio did not say it. Closing thoughts The point of this story is to show you that you can learn about culture and grammar by watching films or television shows. Even short clips can give you a lot of information. When watching these films or shows, try asking yourself some questions. Why do the speakers say the things they do? Could they change the way they say their lines? These can be difficult questions to answer, but you will learn a lot by thinking about them. A word of advice: It helps if you choose a clip from something that you like – perhaps a film or a show that you have seen before. Read more! http://tinyurl.com/vc8fx3p

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