 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. On today's program, you will hear stories from Andrew Smith, Jill Robbins, and Brian Lin. Later, Anna Mateo presents this week's Health and Lifestyle Report. Finally, we hear today's lesson of the day from Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins. But first... American pop singer and songwriter Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for Midnights on Sunday at the Grammy Awards. She has now won that award four times, breaking the record for wins in that category. Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, and Stevie Wonder each won the award three times. An album is a collection of songs on a single recording. For me, the award is the work, Swift said. All I want to do is keep doing it. Earlier, when receiving another Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights, she shared a surprise. She announced that her new album, the Tortured Poets Department, will be released April 19th. Women earned the biggest awards and gave the majority of the performances on the American television broadcast. Of the eight nominees for Song of the Year, seven were performed by women. Billie Eilish's song from the movie Barbie, What Was I Made For, one song of the year for her and co-writer Phineas O'Connell, her brother. Miley Cyrus won Record of the Year for her song Flowers. The Record of the Year recognizes the best-sounding recording of a particular song. Flowers also earned Cyrus the award for Best Pop Solo Performance. Solana Imani Roe, known professionally as SZA, won for Best R&B Song, Snooze. R&B stands for Rhythm and Blues. SZA also won for Best Pop Duo Group Performance for Ghost in the Machine with Phoebe Bridgers. Rock Group Boy Genius, whose three members are women and include Bridgers, won Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for their song Not Strong Enough. The group also won a Grammy for Alternative Album of the Year. Their album is simply named The Record. Victoria Monet won the Grammy for Best New Artist, but it has taken her years of work to become a successful performer. Thanks to my mom, a single mom raising this really bad girl, said Monet when she received her award. Then she started to cry, adding that this award was 15 years in the making. Carol G. of Columbia became the first female performer to win Best Musica Urbana album for Mañana Serra Bonito. The Grammys added three new categories this year. African Music Performance, Alternative Jazz Album, and Pop Dance Recording. Women were the winners in each of them. South African singer Tyler won the African Music Performance Grammy for her hit song Water. I never thought I'd say I won a Grammy at 21 years old, she said in her acceptance speech. Last year, God decided to change my whole life. Michelle Nadegio Cello, an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bass player, won Best Alternative Jazz Album. And Kylie Minogue of Australia won Best Pop Dance Recording for her hit Potom Potom. Rapper Killer Mike won three awards Sunday, his first since winning a Grammy in 2003. He won Best Rap Performance for Scientists and Engineers, which featured Andre 3000, Future and Aaron Allen Kane. The performers won for Best Rap Song for the same song. Killer Mike also received the award for Best Rap Album for Michael. Jay-Z won the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award. Jay-Z has won 24 Grammys and has been nominated 88 times. He spoke about the times that rap artists did not get enough attention from the Grammys, although they sold lots of recordings. Jay-Z's wife, Beyoncé, has won 32 Grammys, more than any other artist. Because she has won so many, Jay-Z thinks it is unfair that she has never won Album of the Year. Think about that. The most Grammys never won Album of the Year. That doesn't work, Jay-Z said. When I get nervous, I tell the truth, he added. The awards show included performers both young and old. American pop singer and songwriter Olivia Rodrigo, aged 20, was nominated for six Grammys, including top awards such as Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell, aged 80, won for Best Folk Album. It was her 11th Grammy win. She performed both sides now from her 1969 album Clouds. Mitchell suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015 and has had to relearn how to walk and speak. American singer and songwriter Billy Joel, aged 34, ended the awards show with two performances. First, he played his new song Turn the Lights Back On. It is his first pop music release since 1993. Later, he played his 1980 hit You May Be Right. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. Russia's space agency Roscosmos says Cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko has broken the world record for total time spent in space. Kononenko passed the record Sunday after spending more than 878 days and 12 hours in orbit aboard the International Space Station, ISS. The previous record was said in 2015 by another cosmonaut, Gennady Padalka, who spent 878 days and 11 and a half hours in space. The 59-year-old Kononenko has so far made five trips to the ISS. The first one came in 2008. Kononenko told Russia's state-supported news agency, TASS, that each trip he took to the ISS required careful preparation. This is because the orbiting space lab is always getting upgrades. Kononenko said his repeated space trips represent the realization of a childhood dream to become a cosmonaut. I fly into space to do what I love, not to set records, he told TASS. He added that his continued interest in living and working in orbit motivates him to keep flying. Kononenko's current trip to the ISS began on September 15, 2023. He arrived along with American astronaut Laurel O'Hara and cosmonaut Nikolay Chubh. Kononenko's service on the ISS is continuing. He is expected to reach a total of 1,000 days in space on June 5. His current flight is expected to end in late September. By then he will have spent at least 1,110 days in space. Kononenko said he worked out often aboard the ISS to help him deal with the physical effects of weightlessness. He added that he realizes the social effects of his long stays on the ISS when he returns back to Earth. It is only upon returning home that the realization comes that for hundreds of days in my absence the children have been growing up without a papa, Kononenko said. No one will return this time to me. Kononenko noted that cosmonauts are now able to use video calls and messaging to stay in better touch with their family. He said one of the most difficult things about being a cosmonaut is getting ready for each new space flight. The profession of a cosmonaut is becoming more complicated, Kononenko said. The systems and experiments are becoming more complicated. The ISS is one of only a few areas where the United States and Russia still closely cooperate after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Roscosmos announced in December that its program with the American Space Agency, NASA, to transport astronauts to the ISS had been extended until 2025. I'm Brian Lin. From VOA Learning English, this is the Health and Lifestyle Report. During the Southern Hemisphere Summer, South America is experiencing a sharp increase in cases of dengue, a mosquito-borne disease common in much of Latin America. The symptoms, or signs, of dengue are high fever, extreme tiredness, muscle pain, and internal bleeding. In Brazil, dengue is often called break bone fever, for the severe joint pain it causes. Sometimes people with the disease show no symptoms, but dengue can be deadly. In Brazil, officials plan to start a new dengue vaccine campaign. The program, which could begin within days, will make Brazil the first country in the world to offer dengue vaccine. In January, Brazil also started spraying insecticide from trucks as the disease spread to earlier, unaffected areas. Because of the increase in dengue cases, hospitals in Paraguay have set up health centers at night to care for the sick. In 2023, cases of dengue have set record highs in Latin America. Health official records show Argentina with a sharp increase of 12,500 cases of dengue last December. It is a big jump compared with the same period a year ago. The increase has led to health warnings and shortages of insect repellent. Repelent sold out everywhere. There were literal clouds of mosquitoes. Laura Ledesma told Reuters from Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires. She added that there were signs the situation had begun to improve. Scientists say the spread of dengue in South America and other areas is worsened by rising temperatures and the El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific. Both events also add to a longer dengue season. Climate change has expanded the range for mosquitoes to breed, both in the Americas and globally. Taís Dos Santos told Reuters. He specializes in insect-borne diseases at the Pan American Health Organization, or PAHO for short. PAHO information shows 4.2 million cases of dengue and 2,050 deaths in the Americas last year. Much of that was in the so-called Southern Cone of South America. The December-February-Southern summer months bring hot and humid conditions for mosquitoes to breed. This helps to spread the possibly deadly disease. Recently, people in Brasilia lined up outside medical centers set up to test for dengue. Dengue cases in the Brazilian capital have increased by as much as 646 percent in the first 20 days of January compared with last year. Nelson Diego, 37, tested positive for dengue in the Brasilia neighborhood of Recanto da Zamos, where spraying has started. He said he was suffering from muscle pain and extreme tiredness from the disease, though some days were more difficult than others. Today is one of the better days because I can still open my eyes, he said. I have a lot of pain in my joints and couldn't walk before. And that's the Health and Lifestyle Report. I'm Anna Mateo. Anna Mateo is here now to talk more about her Health and Lifestyle Report. Hi Ashley, thanks for having me. Anna, during the Southern Hemisphere summer, South America is experiencing a sharp increase in cases of a disease called dengue. First of all, how is dengue spread, Anna? Dengue is a disease common in much of Latin America and it is spread by mosquitoes. So it is a mosquito-borne disease. It is important to note that adding the word born helps us explain how illnesses are spread. Some diseases are airborne, others are food-borne, and in this case, dengue is mosquito-borne. That's right. And because mosquitoes spread the disease, experts say that longer breeding seasons and larger areas suitable for mosquitoes have led to this increase in dengue cases. What are health officials doing to address this sharp increase in cases? Well, in Brazil, officials plan to start a new dengue vaccine campaign. This will make Brazil the first country in the world to offer dengue vaccine. Brazil has also started spraying insecticide from trucks and hospitals in Paraguay have set up emergency health centers to help care for the sick. Well, thank you for that information, Anna. My pleasure, Ashley. Thanks for having me. It's time for the lesson of the day on the Learning English podcast. My name is Andrew Smith, and I'm joined by Dr. Jill Robbins. Hi, Jill. Hi, Andrew. Our lesson is based on our video series. Let's learn English. The series shows Anna Mateo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. Here's Anna introducing herself. Hello. My name is Anna Mateo. In our previous lesson, we listened to lesson 17 of level two of the series. The story of lesson 17 continues in lesson 18. In the story, Anna and Pete each have to take care of a baby for one week. But their babies are not real. Instead, they are bags of flour. Anna's boss, Ms. Weaver, wants Anna and Pete to learn about single parents who take care of children by themselves. To do this, she tells Anna and Pete to keep their bags of flour with them at all times. Today, we'll find out how well Anna and Pete took care of their flour babies. And like lesson 17, lesson 18 uses many reflexive pronouns, which we taught in our previous lesson of the day. Those are pronouns such as myself, yourself, itself, themselves, and so on. But lesson 18 teaches one more thing. It reminds us that when we use a preposition of place, such as the words next to, around, near to, or beside, we cannot use reflexive pronouns after them. Instead, we just use object pronouns. For example, we simply say next to me, next to you, next to him, next to them, and so on. Now, let's join lesson 18 and see how well Pete and Anna took care of their flour babies. Okay, Pete, let me see your research first. That's a heavy binder. And you and your baby look great. Thanks, Ms. Weaver. We feel great. Anna? Anna, you're next. Anna. Anna, wake up. I'm here, baby. I'm here. I'm here. Here's your bottle. Anna, you and your baby look awful. What happened? Well, I took her everywhere. Everywhere. And I fed her every three hours. So I haven't slept since what day is it? It's Friday. What happened there? Oh, that. Oh, that. I was making myself a salad and had a little accident with a knife. I put my flour baby in front of me, and then I accidentally stabbed it. But I gave it first aid. Is that a burn? Yes. Yes, it is. While I was making myself dinner, I put baby next to me. I accidentally knocked her into the sink. So I put her in the microwave to dry. That's when she caught fire. Hmm. This doesn't sound too good for Anna or her flour baby. Listeners, do you think Anna is able to take care of a baby by herself? What do you think Ms. Weaver will say? And Jill, here's a question for you. When your children were babies, did you have to take care of them by yourself? No, I had help from my husband and friends and in-laws. Just like language learning, it helps when you have a guide, a more experienced person to help you. My mother-in-law had seven kids, so she had a lot of experience. Well, I think that was probably helpful. It sure does help to have a guide. On the other hand, what do you think are some of the things language learners need to do, or perhaps sometimes need to do, by themselves? Practice using new words, of course, but it's hard to do that by yourself. You need a conversation partner, unless you're just learning to read and write a language. And the thing that you would really need to do by yourself is to read in that language. I think reading is a great way to build your vocabulary. I do, too. And it's enjoyable. And, you know, with the internet, there are lots of ways to teach yourself many different skills. I know, for example, that I've learned how to fix some things on my car by watching tutorials. That's spelled T-U-T-O-R-I-A-L-S, which are videos where someone teaches you how to do something. It can be fun to teach yourself, but on the other hand, I think we need a personal connection. And sometimes there's no substitute for working with the teacher. I agree. And that's a good expression to know. There's no substitute for. That means there is nothing that can be as good as what you had. Jill, do you think robots will ever be a substitute for human teachers? I think they already are, in a way. Language learning apps and artificial intelligence or AI programs help people learn languages by themselves. But they are not yet substitutes for the real human connection of a person. That's true. However, robots don't seem to get angry or impatient if we don't do our homework or don't listen carefully. Well, we could program the robots to show emotions if we wanted them to be more like ourselves. That's true, but we might have to be careful about that. It is interesting to think about. And Jill, you just used the reflexive pronoun ourselves, which reminds me that we should listen to the end of the story from lesson 18. Anna has stabbed her bag of flour with a knife and has also burned it. Let's see what Ms. Weaver has to say. Anna, you should be very proud of yourself. Proud? She stabbed and burned her baby, and she only did one page of research, and it's covered in milk. Yes, Pete, but she followed instructions. Hey, I did the... Please, Pete. Anna, I think your baby has lost some weight. Is there something else you want to share? Yes, I'd like to share these. I made them myself this morning. You baked your baby? You should be ashamed of yourself. I baked them at the end of the experiment, Pete. At that point, this was just a bag of flour. It was always just a bag of flour? Pete, will you listen to yourself? You sound crazy. I sound crazy. This whole experiment was crazy. She was the one who carried her around and fed it in what... Hmm, that is good. At the end, Ms. Weaver says Anna did a good job, because she stayed with her baby at all times. But Pete left his baby alone. Even though his baby did not get hurt, he did not really take care of it. The poor flower baby. But Anna still gives him a cookie at the end. All's well that ends well, I guess. Listeners, are there things you have taught yourself? What kinds of things can you learn by yourself? Write to us and let us know. You can send your e-mail to blingenglish at voanews.com. And we'll reply up by ourselves. Remember, you can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Thanks for listening. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world. I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Dan Novak.