 Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower, and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. Coming up on the program, Brian Lin reports on a Hong Kong publisher on trial under China's National Security Law. Anna Mateo has this week's health and lifestyle report on Americans affected by long-term fatigue. Later, Andrew Smith and Joe Robbins present the lesson of the day. But first... Well-known Hong Kong activist and publisher Jimmy Lai went on trial Monday on charges related to the territory's National Security Law. The 76-year-old Lai is the former head of Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper. The publication was long a supporter of pro-democracy activities in the Chinese territory. But Apple Daily was forcibly seized by Hong Kong police in 2021. Top reporters and officials were arrested. Lai was detained in August 2020 during a wave of arrests linked to Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement. He was charged with working with foreign forces to endanger the territory's National Security. Lai faces another charge that accuses him of acting with others to publish seditious information. Hong Kong was once a model for press freedom. Pro-democracy protests were covered freely by local and international reporters. But those same protests led to mainland China's National Security Law. That law bans what it calls secession and collusion with foreign forces. The Chinese government in Beijing passed the National Security Law in June 2020. Critics say it seeks to silence dissent and crush freedoms promised to Hong Kong when it passed from British control to mainland China in 1997. Officials in both Hong Kong and Beijing have said the security legislation was needed to restore stability to the territory after repeated large pro-democracy demonstrations. Rights of the territory's citizens were to be guaranteed under its basic law for 50 years. But in recent years the Hong Kong government has used the National Security Law to severely limit free speech, public protests, and political opposition. Many leading activists have been arrested, silenced, or forced into self-exile. Lai's trial is widely seen as a test of press freedom and judicial independence in the Asian Financial Center. The case is the first in Hong Kong involving charges of foreign collusion. It also targets three companies related to Apple Daily. Last year six former Apple Daily executives pleaded guilty to collusion charges. They said in court they had worked with Lai to call for sanctions or other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China. The executives were found guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Some were expected to testify as witnesses against Lai. Lai has pleaded not guilty to all charges he faces. He is already serving a five-year nine-month sentence linked to a fraud charge over a property dispute involving Apple Daily. Lai smiled and waved at supporters when entering the courtroom Monday inside Hong Kong's West Kowloon Law Court building. A heavy security presence was reported in the area. The territory's security chief warned last week that any activist attempts to interfere with the trial could be stopped. Reuters news agency reported that one protester who called for Lai's release was blocked by police about 100 meters from the courtroom. That protester, 67-year-old Alexandra Wong, said the national security law has destroyed the legal foundations of the past. Other supporters of Lai lined up overnight in cold temperatures in order to secure a seat in the courtroom. Western democracies, including the United States, Britain and the European Union, are watching the trial closely to see how it could affect freedoms in the future. On Sunday, Britain strengthened its position on the situation of Lai, a British citizen, by directly calling on Hong Kong officials to release him. The U.S. State Department also condemned the charges against Lai and called for his release. I'm Brian Lin. From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle Report. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its most recent estimate for adults with chronic fatigue syndrome. People with chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS, suffer from at least six months of severe tiredness that is not helped by rest. They can also report pain and mental confusion. Health officials said the study was the first nationally representative estimate of how many U.S. adults have chronic fatigue syndrome. The study gathered information from 2021 to 2022. It found that 1.3% of American adults reported having CFS or something like it. These numbers from the CDC are larger than earlier studies have suggested. They likely include people with long COVID, a condition of long-lasting sickness after a COVID-19 infection. The findings led CDC's Dr. Elizabeth Unger to say that CFS is not a rare illness. She was one of the writers of the report. The tiredness and other symptoms of CFS can get worse after exercise, work, or other activity. There is no cure and no testing leads to a quick diagnosis. Doctors do not know the cause. However, research suggests it is the body's overreaction to an infection or other shock to the immune system. The condition gained attention nearly 40 years ago when many cases were reported in Incline Village, Nevada and Lindenville, New York. Some doctors dismissed it, calling it psychosomatic. Psychosomatic means a problem is mental or emotional rather than physical. Some doctors also called it yuppie flu. Yuppie stands for young urban professional, people who have good jobs and medical coverage. Some doctors still think CFS is a mental condition, experts and patients say. Doctors called me a hypochondriac and said it was just anxiety and depression, said Hannah Powell. She is a 26-year-old woman from Utah who was diagnosed after five years. The new CDC report is based on a survey of more than 57,000 U.S. adults. They were asked if a doctor or other healthcare professional had ever told them they had myalgic encephalomyelitis or CFS and whether they still have it. About 1.3% said yes to both questions. CDC officials said that results in an estimate of 3.3 million U.S. adults. The study also reported other findings. It said that CFS was more common in women than men. White people reported the condition more than other racial and ethnic groups. Earlier, smaller studies reported similar findings. The finding showed there was less of a difference between women and men than some earlier studies suggested. And there was little difference between black and white people. However, the study also found that a higher percentage of poor people reported the condition than wealthy people. Dr. Brayden Yellman is a specialist at the Bateman Horn Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. He said patients who report the condition usually have healthcare coverage. He said doctors might believe them more when they say they continue to be fatigued and can't go to work. The CDC study is based on patients' memories. It did not use medical records. That could lead to overcounting. However, it is possible that only a percentage of people with CFS are diagnosed, said Dr. Daniel Klau. He is director of the University of Michigan's Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center. He added that it is not a popular diagnosis to give because there are no drugs approved for it. There are no treatment guidelines for it. The total number likely includes some patients with long COVID who were suffering from long-term tiredness, CDC officials said. We think it's the same illness, Yellman said, but long COVID is more widely accepted by doctors and is being diagnosed much more quickly, he said. Powell, one of Yellman's patients, was a high school athlete who came down with an illness during a trip to Belize before her final year. Doctors thought she had malaria and she seemed to recover, but she developed chronic tiredness, had trouble sleeping, and had frequent vomiting. She said she slowly stopped playing sports and had trouble doing schoolwork. After five years, a doctor said she had chronic fatigue. She began to regain normal life through regular treatments of fluids and medications. She graduated from the University of Utah and now works for an organization that helps domestic violence victims. Getting care is still a struggle, she said. When I go to the emergency room or to another doctor's visit, instead of saying I have chronic fatigue syndrome, I usually say I have long COVID, Powell said, and I am believed almost immediately. And that's the Health and Lifestyle Report. I'm Anna Mateo. Anna Mateo was here now to talk more about the story. Hi, Anna. Thanks for having me, Dan. So there was a word in the story I was hoping you could explain, hypokondriac. Sure. Hypokondria means having health anxiety. So when you call someone a hypokondriac, you are saying they are overly anxious about having a serious health condition. They could even be misinterpreting normal feelings as a serious health condition. Hannah Powell is someone with CFS. She was interviewed for the story. She said doctors called her a hypokondriac when she complained about her chronic fatigue. That means doctors didn't think she had a serious condition, but it was more mental or more related to her anxiety or depression. And some doctors still think chronic fatigue is a mental condition. That's right. That might be the reason why experts think CFS is not a common diagnosis. Dr. Daniel Klaw from the University of Michigan said it's not a popular diagnosis because there are no drugs approved for it and no treatment guidelines. And many doctors might be misdiagnosing CFS as long COVID. Long COVID means lasting symptoms related to the COVID-19 virus. A common symptom is fatigue. One patient interviewed said she tells doctors that she has long COVID rather than chronic fatigue because she is more likely to be believed by doctors and get treatment. Thanks for answering my questions, Anna. You're welcome, Dan. My name is Anna Matteo. My name is Andrew Smith. And I'm Jill Robbins. You're listening to The Lesson of the Day on the Learning English podcast. Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our video series, Let's Learn English. This series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. If you have watched Let's Learn English, you know that Anna has a boss named Ms. Weaver. Ms. Weaver has asked Anna to do some special projects, such as making a children's television show. In Lesson 49 of the series, Ms. Weaver tells Anna to go to a special museum in Washington. She tells Anna to go to the International Spy Museum and learn about spying. A spy is a person who collects secret information or intelligence about other countries or organizations. The most famous spy in movies is the British agent named James Bond. The word spy is also a verb. We use the preposition on after the verb spy. So we say that a secret agent or a spy spies on other countries. Andrew, have you ever been to the spy museum in Washington, D.C.? I haven't, but I'd really like to go there. I know you've been there. I have been there, and it was really cool. Let's listen to the beginning of Lesson 49 and hear Anna talk about her special mission. It is no secret that Washington, D.C. has spies. Well, it should be a secret because spying is secret, but it's not a secret. There's even a spy museum. The International Spy Museum has created an amazing collection of spy things, and today we will see them. My boss, Ms. Weaver, has sent me here on a mission. Hello, Anna, are you there? That's her. Yes, Agent Peacock. This is Agent Flamingo reporting for duty. Agent what? Look, Anna, I mean Agent Flamingo. I want you to learn all you can about spying. You mean collect intelligence? Yeah, it's for our new show, DC Secrets. You got it, Agent Peacock. The mission is safe with me. Oh, okay, great. Just... As you watch Lesson 49, you will learn that Ms. Weaver has a few other reasons for sending Anna to the museum. And you can notice that Anna used the code names Peacock and Flamingo to talk about herself and Ms. Weaver. Codes use symbols, numbers, or words to give or get access to secret information. We often use the word security before the word code. For example, to enter some buildings, you must enter a security code, usually a set of numbers. And spies often try to break codes or figure out their meaning to get secret information. The code names Anna uses, Peacock and Flamingo, are actually the names of two types of large birds. Now, let's listen to the first thing Anna tries to do at the spy museum. Agent Peacock, I'm at an air duct. Yes, spies sometimes sneak down air ducts. I have never snuck down an air duct. It's dark and small. I'm afraid of dark small places. You can do it, Agent Flamingo. You know, spies aren't afraid of a little darkness. As you heard in one of our recent podcasts, Anna is using the present perfect tense. To make that tense, Anna used the past participle form of the verb sneak, which is snuck here. Andrew, did you know the past tense form and the past participle form can be either sneak or snuck? You know, when I watched the video and I heard her say, sneaked, it made me think about that. And I realized, hmm, sometimes we say have snuck, sometimes we say have sneaked. Before the late 1800s, only sneaked was considered correct. But gradually people accepted snuck. Anyway, an air duct carries cooling air or heat through a building. A person can fit inside of it, but must crawl to move through it. Because air ducts are usually only about one meter wide and one meter high. The verb sneak means to move around secretly. Listen to these prepositions that usually follow the verb sneak. I'm going to sneak in the movie theater. I'm going to sneak in to the movie theater. They snuck around the office building. When we go in a room without permission, we sneak in or sneak into. When we walk through more than one room or through a larger area, we sometimes say sneak around. And when we secretly go through a narrow area, we sneak down. At Christmas time, children often sneak downstairs to see what's under the tree for them. So Anna sneaks down the air duct. Yes, spies sometimes sneak down air ducts. And this reminds me, in the Christmas holiday tradition, Santa Claus sneaks down the chimneys of houses to bring presents to children. But then he has to climb back up the chimney. I think I would have trouble doing that. Yeah, me too. But let's listen and see if Anna has trouble sneaking down the air duct. I have never snuck down an air duct. It's dark and small. I'm afraid of dark small places. You can do it, Agent Flamingo. You know, spies aren't afraid of a little darkness. Right. It's just an air duct. Dark, small air duct. Okay. I'm doing it, Agent Peacock. I am sneaking down a long, dark, small air duct. I'm having a little trouble breathing. Just keep going, Agent Flamingo. Think of the team. Okay. I will think of the team. I'm thinking of the team, Agent Peacock. I did it! I did it! I sneaked down an air duct. That was a little uncomfortable. Anna was able to sneak down the air duct, but she had a little trouble breathing because she was nervous. When we say we have trouble doing something, we mean that it is difficult for us to do. And here are rules for using that expression. We use the preposition with when a noun follows half trouble. For example, students can say they're having trouble with their homework. And if we use a verb after half trouble, we must use the gerund or ing form of the verb. So we can say the students are having trouble doing their homework. I also noticed that Ms. Weaver and Anna both used the expression afraid of. Because the word of is a preposition, if we use a verb after it, that verb must also use the gerund or ing form of the verb. For example, if you are having some big problems with a friend, you might say you are afraid of losing your friendship. And the expression scared of means the same thing as afraid of. Anna said she is afraid of dark small places. Listeners, what kinds of places or situations are you afraid of? Write to us at LearningEnglishatvoanews.com and let us know. Andrew, before we go, we should find out what other reasons Ms. Weaver had for sending Anna to the museum. One reason that you can learn when you watch the video is simply to make Anna try to do some difficult things, like hanging from a bar, breaking a code, or crawling through a small space. But the other reason is connected to Ms. Weaver's stomach. Her stomach? Yes. Let's listen. The International Spy Museum is awesome! Agent Peacock, I completed the mission. Great, great. Now I have another very important mission for you. Got it. See you back at HQ. Yummy! You brought my lunch. Thanks, Agent Flamingo. Mission completed. Agent Peacock. Ah, Ms. Weaver gave Anna the mission of bringing her lunch. Maybe that's because the Spy Museum is near some good restaurants. Maybe so. And HQ is short for headquarters. In this case, HQ was the office where Ms. Weaver works. Yes, and bringing lunch is not exactly a spy mission, but as we know, Anna has a big imagination. Well, now I'm getting hungry for my own lunch, so it's time to say goodbye for now. We hope you've enjoyed this lesson of the day on the Learning English podcast. I'm Jill Robbins. And don't forget to write to us. And remember that you can find us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. I'm Andrew Smith. And that's our program for today. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.