 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, I reports on the trapped workers in India who were all rescued from a collapsed tunnel. Andrew Smith has a story on fine water. Ana Mateo has this week's education report on a media program for inner-city youth in Washington, D.C. Later, John Russell presents the lesson of the day, but first, rescuers pulled out all 41 workers who were trapped for 17 days in a mountain tunnel in northern India on Tuesday. A crowd of people around the tunnel cheered and shouted Long Live Mother India. Officials put flowers around the necks of the workers as the crowd celebrated with firecrackers. Nitin Godcury, the minister of road transport and highways, said on X, I am very happy that all the 41 trapped workers have come out and their lives have been saved. The workers were pulled out through a passageway made from welded pipes that had been pushed through dirt and rocks to reach them. One of the rescuers, Devender, told New Delhi Television that the trapped workers were overjoyed when they spotted us in the tunnel. Some rushed toward me and hugged me. A landslide on November 12th caused part of a tunnel they were building in Uttarkashi to collapse, and they were stuck about 200 meters from the entrance. The men survived for more than two weeks on food and oxygen that was sent through steel pipes only 15 centimeters wide. Kirti Panwar is a state government spokesperson. Panwar said a large drilling machine opened up about 47 of the 60 meters needed to reach the workers before it broke down on Friday. Rescuers then worked by hand overnight from Monday into Tuesday using digging tools and drills. Many of the workers who were trapped are migrant workers who came from around India for the job. As word spread that the workers were close to freeing the trapped men, family members traveled long distances to gather at the tunnel and waited to see their loved ones. Officials said the rescued workers were treated inside the 13 meter wide tunnel. After a first health check, they were taken to a hospital about 30 kilometers away. Their condition is first class and absolutely fine, just like yours or mine, said Wakil Hassan, a rescue team leader. The tunnel is part of the Chardam Highway. It is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's largest projects. The plan is to build a network of roads covering almost 900 kilometers to connect four important Hindu religious sites. Some building experts, however, are concerned about the project. They say the work could create more landslides and hurt some small towns in the Himalayas, which are already built on top of landslide debris. At a meeting in April in Athens, Greece, drink experts looked carefully at the liquid in their glasses. They held them up to the light. They tasted and sometimes spit them out into containers. And they discussed the mineral content and purity. But these experts were not tasting wine. Instead, they were tasting fine water. The experts are members of the Fine Water Society. They had come together in Athens for the yearly tasting competition. Their activity reflects the growing market for luxury water, with some bottles costing over $100 per liter. Companies collect the so-called fine water from sources such as volcanic rock in Hawaii, melting ice from glaciers in Norway, and drops of mist from forests in the Amazon or the island of Tasmania. The most costly water is sold in bottles made with special glass painted with artwork. At their meeting, Fine Water Society members learned about the environments from which the water is collected. And they compare the total dissolved solids or TDS. Waters with a low TDS are like rain that has not yet touched the earth. Those with high TDS, such as Vichy mineral water from hot springs in France and Catalonia in northeastern Spain, have high mineral content that may include calcium, magnesium, potassium or sodium, among others. A few restaurants in countries such as Spain and the United States now have menus that match food with certain kinds of fine water. Water with high TDS, for example, might go with beef. Low TDS, more like rainwater, might go with fish. Ganesh Ayar is an Indian businessman who has worked in the beverage or drink industry for years. After he saw increased interest in non-alcoholic drinks, he studied to become a drink expert, also known as a water sommelier. He is now the managing partner of Veen Waters India, the company bottles natural mineral water in the Himalayan country of Bhutan and sends it by truck to India. Veen Waters is mostly served in costly hotels and restaurants. It costs $6 a bottle, about a day's pay for an Indian laborer. Veen Waters is exporting about 240,000 bottles of water into India each month. Ayar thinks the company has reached only about 10% of the possible market so far. The story of water, however, is very different for many people in India. The World Bank reports that India is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. To get more water, the country has built huge plants to remove salt from seawater. Other countries, including Singapore, are collecting and cleaning up storm and wastewater to try to solve their water problems. But these kinds of solutions are only used in some places and the increasing need for water could lead to more disagreements. At the same time, those in the fine water industry see their activity as part of an effort to protect the environment and its clean water. Michael Masha is a co-founder of the Fine Water Society. He told the Associated Press, I think what we do is we raise the awareness of water. And if you cherish something, you're more likely to protect it. I'm Andrew Smith. A 17-year-old student in Washington, D.C., recently got the chance to interview retired American basketball star Magic Johnson. As a result, Magic offered to pay for the student's college education, all of it. Jordan Williams studies at Bard High School Early College, a D.C. public school. The teenager is also in the city's Deanwood Radio Broadcast Youth Journalism Program, run by D.C.'s Parks and Recreation Department. As a member of the Deanwood Media Program, Jordan attended a press conference at the Boys and Girls Club to interview Magic Johnson, a co-owner of the city's Washington Commanders football team. Standing with professional reporters, Jordan asked the famous athlete why he wanted to visit a youth club in Washington, D.C. Magic answered that he wanted to make a difference. And he meant it. He offered Jordan a full scholarship on the spot. You never know who's in the room. You never know who's watching. You never know who's listening. And the fact that I was able to ask that question that people were able to hear and Magic Johnson was so impressed by, you know, he was able to give me a scholarship. Viaway Learning English recently spoke with Jordan, as well as Sally Williams, the director of the media program. Williams established the Deanwood Program to address what he describes as a language barrier between local media and teenagers in two areas of the city, Ward 7 and Ward 8. Crime is higher in those wards than in others. I knew the value of developing young voices. So in the beginning, it was just developed communication skills, but also to engage them in news, because I thought that a lot of times the only time that people in Ward 7 and Ward 8 engaged with media people was when there was a tragedy or death. Students in the program learn researching, communication, and interviewing skills, as well as how to engage with the news media. The students complete 30 to 40 interviews a year. Williams says these skills will help the students, whether they decide to stay in journalism or go into a different field. The program has also become a gateway to college. Since the program began in 2016, 38 of its students have gone to college, 23 on full scholarships. Ayonla Carter is a graduate of the program. I feel like it kind of gives us the opportunity to kind of express ourselves or just voice our opinions. And in a bigger sense, this is a group with black and brown kids. That carries weight in itself. So it's nice to be in a space where we're uplifted, but also it feels like we're making a difference. And I feel like maybe 10, 15 years from now, we're going to see a lot more black journalists or just people in media. She says one of the best things about the program is the community of students. She says they look out for each other and have become found family. I think we all just reach out and look out for each other. And I think this was valued most. You know, some of us don't have the best backgrounds, but we still kind of pull each other up or help out where we can. Ayonla said her mother died when Ayonla was only 10 years old. When she turned 17, she said her family situation changed so much that she had to leave. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She said the media program and its founder, Sally Williams, gave her life direction. Coming upon like going to college, I really didn't know where I was going to go or what I was going to do. But luckily to this program and to Sally, like I was able to go to college on a full scholarship and everything was taken care of. A saying Sally Williams likes to use with the students is, your network is your net worth. Jordan agrees. He adds that connections are important in succeeding and growing. Just being treated like we matter. There's people who are there to listen to us, listen to our questions, you know, anything that we need there to help. Yeah, I think that's what makes the program so special. Jordan says he enjoys hearing success stories from people who share a similar background. Jordan hasn't even started college, but he already has his sights on being a role model someday, like those he has learned from. Ayonla Carter says she is also excited about her future wherever she ends up. I think I'm just more so excited to see, like, where I end up at. Like, will I be on the news? Will I be right on my own books? Like, I genuinely don't know. And I think I'm in a space right now where I'm kind of trying my hand at everything. The media program began as part of Washington, D.C.'s summer youth employment program. Now it also includes a winter program, which is administered by the Department of Employment Services Office of Youth Programming. The Deanwood Radio Broadcast Youth Journalism Program partners with the Congressional Award Foundation. Its website, congressionalaward.org, explains that students will gain direct access to members of the Board of Directors, who will serve as mentors and guide the students through the Congressional Award Program. If students finish the required number of hours within the Congressional Award Program, they can earn Congressional Award certificates and medals. From Washington, D.C., I'm Anna Mateo. Anna joins me now to talk a bit more about her story. Hi, Anna. Hi, Dan. Thanks for having me. In the story, you said that the students in the media program come from wards seven and eight. What can you tell us about those areas of Washington, D.C.? So Washington, D.C. has a very diverse population that live in eight wards. And there are some really wealthy people who live in the city. However, wards seven and eight have the highest number of people living at or below the poverty line. Also, those wards experience more violence and crime than the other wards. In the story, Sally Williams talked about a language barrier between local media and wards seven and eight. Can you explain a little bit more about what he meant by that? There is often a language barrier or misunderstandings between the young people of those wards and how they are shown in the media. Often the news reports about wards seven and ward eight are all about gun violence or young people not attending school or crime. So I think the students involved in the Dean Wood media program want to offer a different type of portrayal. And how does the program support the students? Most of the students go to college and many go on full scholarships. They also have access to mentors in many different industries from media to sports to the U.S. Congress. But they also become part of a very supportive group of young people who serve as role models, mentors and found family for each other. As Ayanna, a graduate of the program said, for her that is the most valuable thing, a continued community of support, encouragement and found family. Great reporting, Anna. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me, Dan. In this next report, Gregory Stockle tells us about scientific research exploring the possibility of growing plants on the moon. We learned that scientists on Earth used bacteria to improve the quality of moon-like soil in an experiment. Pay careful attention to the word cultivation. We will talk more about it after the report. If humans are to establish long-term bases on the moon, they will need food resources. In recent years, scientists have been taking steps toward making moon agriculture possible. Researchers in China said this month that they have found a way to turn soil that is similar to lunar soil, fertile. They found that introducing special bacteria into the soil can increase the amount of phosphorus and important nutrient for plants. The Chinese scientists grew a plant that is related to the tobacco plant in a laboratory in China. They used volcanic soil from the Chongbai Mountains in Zhilin Province that is similar to moon soil, which scientists call lunar regolith. They treated the moon-like soil with three different kinds of bacteria. The researchers found that the plants raised in the bacteria treated soil grew better than plants that grew in moon-like soil without the bacteria. The researchers said the bacteria made the soil more acidic. This permitted phosphate from minerals to dissolve, making the nutrient available to the plants. Researcher Xia Yi Tong of the China Agriculture University in Beijing was the lead writer of the study published in Communications Biology. Xia said the importance of these findings is that scientists may be able to use the bacteria in lunar regolith to grow crops in future greenhouses on the moon. In a study published last year, researchers in the United States grew a flowering plant called Arabidopsis thaliana in small containers. Each container had a gram of moon soil collected during the NASA missions to the moon more than 50 years ago. Arabidopsis, also called Thalcress, is a plant widely used in scientific research. In the earlier study, Arabidopsis did grow, but not as well in soil from the moon as it did in volcanic ash from Earth, which the researchers used for comparative purposes. Their study suggests that soil from the moon could become more fertile with improvements. The new research involved benth, or nicotiana benthamiana, another plant often used in research. In the most recent study, the scientists said they used volcanic material from the Chongbai mountains to create soil with similar chemical and physical properties to lunar regolith. The names of the three bacteria used in the study are bacillus eucyloginosis, bacillus megaturium, and pseudomonas fluorescence. The researchers tested other bacteria as well, but those did not produce the same effects. Shia said carrying food, oxygen, and water to people on the moon would be too costly. Shia added, a greenhouse for plant cultivation on the moon could greatly reduce the need of Earth-moon transportation. A plant cultivation system on the moon could help meet long-term food and oxygen requirements for humans on the moon, Shia added. Plants produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in the process they use to create energy, called photosynthesis. Shia said other plants to grow food on the moon that do not require soil are more costly because they require materials to be transported from Earth. Shia said his team's study met the same goal of plant cultivation with much less consumption of carrying capability compared to other plants. I'm Gregory Stockle. Before the report, we asked you to pay careful attention to the word cultivation. Can you remember when you heard it? You heard cultivation several times in the report. Here is the first example. Shia said carrying food, oxygen, and water to people on the moon would be too costly. Shia added, a greenhouse for plant cultivation on the moon could greatly reduce the need of Earth-moon transportation. Cultivation is a noun. It has a few different meanings. It can mean the act of growing and caring for plants. It can also mean the act of growing or raising something under conditions that you can control. Let's explore a little of the history of the word cultivation. It comes from the verb cultivate. Cultivate has a long history. The word traces its beginnings to Latin. The online etymology dictionary tells us that by around the 1650s, cultivate meant till prepare for crops. The noun cultivation, meaning the raising of a plant or crop, is from around 1720. Google's Ngram viewer, an online database of thousands of books, tells us that the noun cultivation is slightly more common than the verb cultivate. Because cultivation is a noun, the most commonly used words before it are articles, especially the word the. And what might be the most common word after the noun cultivation? It is the short word of. Still, our report involved some structures with the noun cultivation that are slightly different from what you would expect from the most common structures contained in Google's Ngram viewer. This is because the subject matter is slightly unusual, the possibility of growing plants on the moon. So instead of cultivation being followed by the short word of, you heard it followed by the short word on, because we are discussing possible plant cultivation on the moon. And that's the lesson of the day. I'm John Russell. 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.