 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, John Russell reports on NASA's plan to put human-like robots in space. Gina Bennett has a story on being connected to the world. Brian Lin has this week's health report on how two treatments for sickle cell will be unavailable to many people who need them. Later, Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins present the lesson of the day, but first… The American Space Agency NASA's human-like robot Valkyrie looks powerful. It stands 188 centimeters tall and weighs 136 kilograms. Valkyrie is named after supernatural females in Norse mythology. The robot is being tested at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The robot is designed to operate in damaged human-engineered environments like areas hit by natural disasters, NASA said. But robots like Valkyrie could also work in space one day. Robots that look like humans, or humanoid robots, have a torso, head, two arms, and two legs. Engineers believe that humanoid robots will be able to work similarly to humans and use the same tools and equipment. They just need the right software. NASA dexterous robotics team leader Sean Osamy said humanoid robots in space could do dangerous jobs. Such jobs include cleaning solar panels or dealing with equipment outside the spacecraft. As a result, human astronauts could pay more attention to exploration and discovery. They're not trying to replace human crews. We're really just trying to take the dull, dirty, and dangerous work off their plates to allow them to focus on those higher-level activities, Osamy said. NASA is partnering with robotics companies like Aptronic, which is based in Austin, Texas. The goal is to learn how humanoid robots developed for purposes on Earth could help the development of future humanoid robots meant for space. Aptronic is developing Apollo, a humanoid robot whose jobs on Earth will include working in warehouses and manufacturing plants. The robot can move packages and organize objects. Aptronic plans to start providing the humanoid robots to companies in early 2025. Aptronic chief technology officer Nick Payne said Apollo has strengths in comparison to humans. We're targeting having this system online 22 hours a day, Payne said. This does have a swappable battery, so you can work for 4 hours, swap the battery, and then keep going. Aptronic chief Jeff Cardenas said there are many possibilities as new software and development increase Apollo's abilities. The approach is we're starting in the warehouse and on the manufacturing floor, but then it can move into retail, to delivery, and out more into what we call unstructured spaces, Cardenas said. In years to come, those unstructured areas could include space, Azami said. He said the robots are being designed so they can be easily changed to do many different jobs. Robots like Apollo are designed with modularity in mind to be able to adapt to many applications, Azami said. Azami added that NASA is aiming to find out what areas it needs to look into to bring a terrestrial system into the space environment. I'm John Russell. Sadat Sadikova is an English teacher in Jazakh, Uzbekistan. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a flight attendant and traveling the world. Her parents told her she would have to learn at least three languages in order to reach that goal. Although she was not able to become a flight attendant, Sadikova did study languages. She speaks Uzbek, Russian, English, and Turkish. Sadikova has never traveled outside Uzbekistan. Even so, she reports feeling connected to people around the world. The whole world is for human beings, Sadikova said. She still dreams of visiting many countries. Even Trina Bright worked in education for nearly 25 years. Today, she lives in the southern U.S. state of Arkansas. During her career, she traveled to many countries, including China and South Africa. Bright used stories from her travels to help her students in the U.S. understand their place in the world. She spent most of her career in a minority-serving school district. Sharing stories from her travels helped her students see value in their own cultures. There's value in all experiences, not just typical American ones, Bright said. Bright has visited more than 20 countries. But Bright, unlike Sadikova, does not report feeling connected to people around the world. Bright is not alone. She is among the more than half of Americans who report they do not feel especially close to people around the world. That information comes from a new report by Pew Research Center, an organization that aims to inform the public about the issues, beliefs, and trends shaping the world. The report, called Attitudes on an Interconnected World, was released on December 6. Pew recently asked people in 24 countries a series of questions about how connected they feel to their own communities and countries, as well as to people around the world. Pew researchers looked at, among other things, how international travel experience relates to feelings of connectedness. About half of all respondents reported they feel at least somewhat close to people all over the world. Being close to others around the world is more common in Europe than in most other places, the study found. In the United States, only 35% of the respondents said they feel at least somewhat connected to those in other countries. The percentage was even lower in Argentina, 28%, and Indonesia, 22%. The study found that, in general, respondents who had traveled to at least one other country feel more connected to people around the world. 99% of respondents in the Netherlands reported having visited at least one other country and about half said they had visited 10 or more countries. The Pew researchers found that 77% of respondents from the Netherlands said they feel at least somewhat close to people all over the world. But international travel does not always mean a person feels a closeness to people around the world. Bright, the retired American school teacher, is one such exception. She said, I don't know a bunch of people around the world, just some. And, she said, her connections to them are not especially deep. Pew researchers found a similar case in Sweden. 99% of Swedish respondents said they had visited at least one other country. Yet a much smaller share of Swedish respondents, 47%, report feeling close to people all over the world. In fact, a higher number of Indian respondents, 68%, report feeling at least somewhat close to people all over the world. Yet just 3% of respondents from India said they had traveled to another country. Such findings show that international connectedness can be formed in ways other than traveling overseas. Sarikova, the Uzbek English teacher, told VOA Learning English she feels connected to people all over the world even though she has never traveled outside Uzbekistan. She said, some years ago it was difficult for us to get information about people in the world, but currently, because of media, it is quite easy to get acquainted with events and news. I'm Gina Bennett. United States health officials recently approved two new gene treatments for sickle cell disease, SCD. The treatments provide hope that the disease might be curable, but experts say high costs and limited availability will prevent many people from receiving them. SCD is a genetic disorder that causes oxygen-carrying red blood cells in the body to become misshapen. The condition can block blood flow and cause severe pain and organ damage. SCD is more common among black Americans, Africans, and Middle Easterners than other population groups. Many children with the most severe form of the disease die before age 5, usually from an infection or severe blood loss. Worldwide, the disease is believed to affect millions. It is known to be common in places with high cases of malaria, like Africa and India. Scientific research has shown that people who have SCD seem to react less severely when they are infected with malaria. While an estimated one million people suffer with the condition in India, many of them will not get the chance to receive the new gene treatments. The situation is not new to developing countries. Many have long-faced limitations on medicines and other treatment methods for disease. But the problem is even more severe with the new SCD treatments and other gene-based methods. This is mainly because of the high cost of treatment. The two methods approved in the US, both of which are given as a single treatment, cost between $2.2 million and $3.1 million. In addition, the treatment itself can be difficult to carry out in developing nations. This is because the process generally involves several steps and requires longer stays in well-equipped hospitals. Vertex's treatment, called Cascavi, is designed to repair the genetic condition that causes misshapen cells in sickle cell sufferers. It uses a gene-editing technology called CRISPR to do so. The other treatment offered by a company called Bluebird Bio does not use CRISPR technology, but it requires a similar treatment process as Vertex's version. Dr. David Altschuler is the chief scientific officer at Vertex. He told the Associated Press that while there is clearly a great unmet need for the new SCD treatments, the process also presents challenges. Altschuler said Vertex is working to simplify the treatment process to make it available to more people. For example, his team is seeking to develop a medication in pill form that could perform similarly to the gene-editing method. But experts have warned that simpler treatments will likely still be too costly for many people. This has led to calls for governments and non-profit organizations to get involved to help provide financial assistance to patients. Gautam Daungray lives in the city of Nagpur in central India. His two children suffer from SCD. He told the AP he has been praying the treatment should come to us. Daungray's son is now 19 years old and his daughter is 13. They both currently take a drug called hydroxyurea. That drug has long been used to help prevent the formation of sickle-shaped red blood cells in an effort to control pain and other damaging effects. Daungray leads India's National Alliance of Sickle Cell Organizations. He said many patients in rural parts of India are dying at very young ages without getting effective treatment. He added that if the gene treatments for SCD one day make it to India, he would like his children to be among the first to get them. But Daungray noted that people in all countries, rich or poor, should be able to get the latest treatments available. We are all part of one single planet. He said, I'm Brian Lin. Brian Lin is here now to talk more about his health and lifestyle report. Thanks for being here, Brian. Of course, Dan. Thanks for having me. Your report focused on availability issues for two promising gene-based treatments for sickle cell disease. You pointed out the disease is common in places with a lot of malaria cases, India being one. Many people there likely will not get the new treatments. What other areas are likely to face the same issue? Yes, so another country is Tanzania in East Africa, which also has a significant problem with sickle cell disease. Officials there have already partnered directly with drug companies in an effort to improve availability to existing treatments for the disease. But as the report mentions, these treatments are not completely effective in getting rid of symptoms of the disease, which can be quite severe, especially in children. And it was also pointed out that the cost of these one-time gene treatments is very high, putting them out of reach for most people in both of these countries. Yes, this is the other major problem. The current prices range from two to three million dollars, which really puts the treatment out of reach for people not only in India and Tanzania, but throughout the world. Another problem in the developing world is that many areas lack the modern hospitals and equipment necessary to support this kind of modern therapy. The report does note, however, there are companies seeking to simplify the treatment process to make it available to as many people as possible. OK, thanks again for being here, Brian. You're welcome. Thank you, Dan. Hello, 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. Today's lesson helps you do more with Level 2 of our video series, Let's Learn English. This series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. Today's lesson explains how we relate or connect two events in the past that happened at different times. In Lesson 3 of Level 2, Anna and her new work partner, Pete, talk about why they did not arrive at a meeting on time. But they disagree about the reasons they were late. Let's listen first to what Anna says. You two are late. Exactly 43 minutes late. What happened? He had to get his special coffee. Special coffee. She had to feed her birds. Her birds? Of course I have to feed the birds. It's very special coffee. OK, I can see already that you two need my help. You can't both talk at the same time. You have to take turns. All right, Anna, you go first. Sure. Kelly, Pete and I live in the same building, so we decided to meet at 8 a.m. 8 a.m. to come to work together. I had waited 15 minutes when Pete arrived. After Pete had wasted time waiting for coffee, we were late. I left you a message. Anna explains that they were late after Pete had wasted or spent too much time getting his special coffee. Notice that there are two events in the past here. They were late, but before they were late, Pete had gotten some coffee. When one event in the past happens before another event, we can use the past perfect tense to make this clear. We use the auxiliary verb had plus the past participle to show what happened first. That's why Anna said Pete had wasted time. The auxiliary had tells us that Pete wasted time before they were late. Now let's listen to Pete's explanation of why they were late. And listen for when he uses the past perfect tense. Yeah, that's not why we're late. This is why we're late. I had arrived on time at 8 a.m. but didn't see Anna. She was standing behind a tree. I think she was hugging it. I always walk to work, but she said that would take too long and that a scooter would be faster. It was awful. I hated it and it added too much time to our commute. Then Anna stopped by a pond to feed the birds. She had named them after characters from books and yelled the names out loud. Romeo, Juliet, Sherlock. By the time she had fed all the birds, we were late. Did you hear Pete use the past perfect? Listen again to this sentence. I had arrived on time at 8 a.m. but didn't see Anna. Now think what happened first. Pete's arrival or Pete's not seeing Anna. That's right, first he arrived at 8 a.m. and then he didn't see Anna. Here's one more example from Pete. By the time she had fed all the birds, we were late. We often use adverbs with the past perfect to help show how the two events relate to each other in the past. In this example, Pete uses the adverb phrase by the time, which means when an action has been completed or finished. Other adverbs commonly used with the past perfect are the adverbs already and never. For example, we might say, I had already seen that movie, so I didn't go with my friends when they went to see it. I had never given a speech before, so I felt nervous. Jill, those are good examples. But what about those times when we say had had? That might sound a little strange or perhaps surprising to some of our listeners. That's true, but if the main verb is have, the past participle of have is had. And because we use the auxiliary had, that gives us the two words had had. Of course, it's easier to understand if you hear it in a sentence like this one. Because I had had such a hard time learning, my professor didn't think I should continue with that subject. We should also tell our listeners that when they watch lesson three of level two, they can see and hear Professor Bot explain more about the past perfect. But now let's listen to the person Anna and Pete meet and see what she thinks about their disagreements. This is what I think. You two see the same event very differently. Does this happen often with you two? Yes. No. What are you talking about? Okay, this is good. This is good. It's good to see things differently. I have an idea. We will call the show, he said, she said. For every story, you tell a different point of view. That is a great idea, Kelly. Pete, we are different. That's why I thought of you for this job. I think you two understand perfectly. Let's get to work. Having more than one point of view or a way of thinking about things can be very useful for a team that is working on a project. That's true. However, if you have too many points of view, that can also be a problem. True. We have an idiomatic expression that relates to that. We say, too many cooks spoil the broth. Broth is another word for the liquid in soup. The expression too many cooks spoil the broth means if you have too many people trying to be in charge or in control, it's difficult to get the job done. Well, luckily for our podcast, we normally just have two cooks, so I think it works out pretty well. I hope our listeners agree. Listeners, we'd like to hear from you. Have you ever worked with someone who was very different from you? Write about it to us at learningenglishatvoanews.com. And remember that each lesson of Let's Learn English comes with a lesson plan you can download for free. It has lots of activities you can use to practice English. And don't forget that you can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. And be sure to share the lesson of the day and other programs from Learning English with your friends and family. And thank you for listening. I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Jill Robbins. 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.