 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 Brian Lin, Maria Ritter Jr., and Gregory Stockle. Later, Faith Perlow presents this week's everyday grammar lesson. But first, Brian Lin has a report on the European Union's new migration agreement. The European Union has reached an agreement that sets new rules for controlling migration. The deal, announced Wednesday, will become part of an EU agreement called the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The Associated Press reported the document will need to get final EU approval by February and is expected to enter into force by June. The main purpose of the agreement is to set new rules to ease difficulties facing EU nations as they seek to deal with migrant arrivals. The deal also aims to establish a process for EU nations to more fairly share the duties and costs related to migration. The laws cover screening policies for when migrants first arrive in the EU. They also provide rules relating to migrants, seeking asylum and set guidelines for processing applications and dealing with possible migration crises. It's truly a historic day. European Parliament President Roberta Mazzola told reporters in Brussels after the negotiations. She added that reaching an agreement was important because migration is likely to be a major campaign issue ahead of EU elections in June. Let's not underestimate the risk if we had not reached such a deal, Mazzola said. She added that she hopes the agreement will persuade EU members not to establish individual borders because the migration flows can now be more effectively dealt with. Migrant arrivals in the EU are down from a high in 2015 of more than one million. Most of those migrants entering Europe were fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. But the flows started to increase in recent years and reached 255,000 so far this year through November, Reuters news agency reported. More than half of those crossed the Mediterranean from Africa, mainly to Italy. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantadosi called the deal a great success for Europe and Italy. He said it should help EU border countries most involved with migration feel less alone. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said finding agreement on migration disputes was very important and can help lighten the load for the most affected EU states, including Germany. Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he sees the deal improving control over migration and providing a better asylum process for migrants to the EU. Far-right lawmaker Gert Wilders aims to replace Rutte after winning the country's elections last month on a campaign that included anti-migration policies. Under the new system, countries not at the EU border will have to choose between accepting their share of 30,000 asylum applicants or paying nearly 22,000 euros per person to the EU. The screening system seeks to separate those in need of international protection from others who are not. People whose asylum applications have a low chance of approval such as those from India, Tunisia or Turkey can be prevented from entering the EU and detained at the border. People seen as representing a threat to security can also be held at the border. The agreement also sets policies for speeding up the processing of applications. While praised by many European leaders, the agreement also received criticism from groups seeking to assist migrants. The European Council on Refugees and Exiles, a migrant rights organization, condemned the proposed rules on ex, formerly Twitter. The group said the policies were Byzantine in their complexity and Orban-esque in their cruelty. The message was commenting on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who ordered the building of security fences to keep migrants out of the country. Rights Group Amnesty International said it sees the deal setting EU asylum law back many years and leading to greater suffering for people seeking asylum. It also said the agreement is likely to cause more people to be put into de facto detention at the EU's borders, including families with children and other vulnerable individuals. I'm Brian Lin. Thailand is looking for investment to build a land bridge across the narrow southern part of the country. The Southeast Asian nation hopes to provide a shorter path for cargo between the Pacific and Indian oceans without having to go through the Malacca Strait and Singapore. Under the plan, cargo would travel by highway and railroad from the area of Chumpan on the Gulf of Thailand to Ranang on the Indian Ocean to be loaded onto waiting ships. Thai Prime Minister Seta Thavesin has been seeking support for the $28 billion project from investors around the world. At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, gathering in San Francisco, Seta said the land bridge would connect the oceans without requiring ships to sail down along the tip of Singapore known to experience congestion and would cut transport duration. He called it a very important project, not just for Thailand, but also for the world. Thailand says it is open to interest from all investors. After a meeting with Japanese businesses and leaders, Seta said there was interest in the project without providing additional information. Thai Transport Minister Suriya Junrung Rancit said more than ten American companies expressed interest without naming them. China, an important trade nation in the area, has not commented on the plan for the land bridge. For many years Chinese businesses have been pushing for a deep-water project called the Kraw Canal. The canal would cross the Kraw Ithsmas and would permit large ships to pass. The proposed project would cut at least one day of sailing time from passing through the Malacca Strait. Former Prime Minister Preyuchan Ocha set up a Chinese-supported center to study the canal idea. But it has never started because of the cost and possible environmental damage. Sampong Puttivisu Tisak, a professor at Chulalongkorn University, has studied the land bridge proposal. Sampong said China won't give away its position that easily until it sees the other investors. He told VOA there are two reasons that China would invest in the land bridge project. First, financial benefits. Secondly, geopolitics. Financially, this project is not worth the investment. But geopolitically, it could be interesting as China would have control over both seas. At a Belt and Road Initiative meeting in Beijing last October, Thai officials said the land bridge could be connected to another high-speed railway under construction from Thailand to Singapore. Sata even drew a map of the route during a meeting, which he posted online. But critics say the plan is unlikely to win China's full backing. They say a land bridge would require loading and unloading cargo from ships and would not save any time. Sombun Kamhang, chairman of the Coordinating Committee on Development, called it another dreamy project. He told VOA China isn't interested in the land bridge project. Building a land bridge is just way too costly and time-consuming. But China can get behind the canal idea, which could give it more control over the region. I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. A large Swedish study has found an unexpected finding about people diagnosed with extreme fear of serious illness. It found they are more likely to die earlier than people who are not as concerned about their health. Hypochondriasis, now called illness anxiety disorder, is a rare condition with symptoms that go beyond average health concerns. People with the disorder are unable to lose their fears despite normal doctor visits and lab tests. Some may change doctors repeatedly. Others may avoid medical care. Dr. Jonathan E. Alpert of Montefiore Medical Center in New York said many of us are mild hypochondriacs, but he added there are also people on the extreme side of it who are always worrying and thinking about whether they have a serious illness. People with the disorder are suffering and it's important to take it seriously and to treat it, said Alpert, who was not involved in the new study. Treatment can include behavioral therapy, calming methods, education, and sometimes mental health medication. The researchers have found that people with the condition have an increased risk of death from both natural and unnatural causes, including suicide. Continuing stress and its effects on the body could explain some of the differences, the writer said. The study was published recently in JAMA Psychiatry. David Matajskuls of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden led the research. We got lucky, he said, because the Swedish system for organizing disease has a separate entry for hypochondriasis that permitted research on thousands of people over 24 years from 1997 to 2020. Older research has suggested the risk of suicide might be lower for people with the condition. Matajskuls said their research found that statement was incorrect. In the study, the risk of suicide death was four times higher for people with the condition. They looked at 4,100 people with hypochondriasis and matched them with 41,000 people similar in age, sex, and where they lived. They used a measurement called person years, which measures the number of people and how long they were followed. Overall death rates were higher in the people with hypochondriasis, 8.5 instead of 5.5 per 1,000 person years. People with the condition died younger than the others with a mean age of 70 instead of 75. The risk of death from diseases related to body systems, such as breathing and eating, was higher. The risk of death from cancer, however, was about the same. Alpert leads the American Psychiatric Association's group on research. He said more care is needed when suggesting a patient to mental health professionals. Patients can become angry because they feel they are being accused of imagining symptoms. Alpert added, fortunately, there are good treatments. I'm Gregory Stockle. Many Americans will travel over the winter holidays, often to return to the homes and towns of their childhood. For people from the state of West Virginia and wider Appalachia, one song comes to mind on the trip home. Take Me Home, Country Roads. Singer John Denver co-wrote and performed the 1971 song. It became a major hit. Recently, my favorite singer, Lana Del Rey, recorded her version of the song after performing in West Virginia in October. In today's everyday grammar, we will look at parts of the song performed by Del Rey and connect it to grammar and figurative language. Let's look at the first verse of the song. Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River, life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze. In the first verse, we have a couple of comparisons. One comparison uses an appositive as metaphor. The others use comparative adjectives and even a simile. Appositives are nouns or noun phrases that go beside another noun to describe it. Sometimes we can use the appositive structure to create a metaphor. Almost heaven, West Virginia, is a metaphor using an appositive. Here our subject is West Virginia. And the appositive is almost heaven. The appositive is giving more information about West Virginia. The comma takes the place of the typical verb used to make metaphors, be. West Virginia is almost heaven. Almost heaven, West Virginia. Heaven is a perfect place. Many cultures and traditions uphold it as a beautiful holy place. People go when they die. So if West Virginia is almost heaven, its natural landscape of mountains and rivers and trees must be a holy place of beauty. Next we have a comparison of life in West Virginia. It is older than the trees and younger than the mountains. Older and younger are comparative adjectives. Comparative adjectives compare one thing to another. They help express whether something has more or less of a particular quality. The song suggests the ancient history of the land. Scientists say the mountains began to develop about a billion years ago. Life began sometime after that, but before the growth of trees the song goes. And the mountains and life continue into the future the song then suggests. The writers used the simile growing like a breeze to express this idea. A simile is a figure of speech in which unlike things are compared with the use of the words like or as. Breezes come and go and sometimes grow into a stronger wind. This verse could mean that life and land grow with ease in West Virginia. Let's move on to the chorus of the song. Country roads take me home to the place I belong West Virginia mountain mama take me home country roads In the chorus of the song we have an interesting grammatical feature and some figurative language. We have an imperative structure that is repeated in the beginning and end of the chorus. Country roads take me home take me home country roads Imperatives are predicate only clauses used to give instruction, direction, or command. Imperative sentences use the base form of the verb and may have other information. We know that this song was written about a road trip through the mountains and rural communities. The singer seeks direction from the country roads themselves to find the way home. We also have more figurative language. The writers refer to West Virginia as mountain mama. This is an example of personification or the human representation of a non-living thing. The reference humanizes West Virginia and suggests that it is the mother of mountains. But it uses the more childlike term mama for mother. The word expresses hominess, warmth, and nostalgia. Today we looked at the beloved song Country Roads. We found figurative language like metaphors using a positives and personification which is the humanizing of non-living things. We even found some interesting grammar with the use of comparative adjectives like younger and older to describe life in West Virginia and imperatives or commands to give direction through the country roads. I'm Faith Perlow and I'm Anna Mateo and we're both from West Virginia. You just heard Faith Perlow present this week's Everyday Grammar Report. Faith joins me now to talk more about it. Hi Faith, welcome back. It's great to be back Ashley. This week you wrote about grammar and figurative language in the song Take Me Home Country Roads. You have a personal connection to this song. Is that right? That's right Ashley. I'm from West Virginia and this is actually one of our state's four official songs. I grew up hearing this song a lot and it is actually quite well known all over the world. I was at a bar 13 years ago in the Czech Republic in a little village and my classmates and I were listening to a traditional Czech folk band. When the band found out we were from West Virginia University they started playing country roads for us. It was a really incredible moment. I bet it was. But I have a geographical question for you about some of the places mentioned in the song. Aren't the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River in Virginia a completely different state than West Virginia? That's actually true Ashley. Even though the song mentions West Virginia by name the references to the river and Blue Ridge Mountains are actually about western Virginia and possibly Maryland. Most of the Shenandoah River runs through the western part of Virginia but it does eventually cut into the eastern panhandle of West Virginia before meeting up with the Potomac in Maryland. Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia all kind of meet up around this area. The Potomac is the river that eventually runs through Washington DC and is a natural boundary between Maryland and Virginia. Exactly Ashley. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a portion of the Appalachian Mountains and while the majority of the Blue Ridge Mountains are in Virginia part of those mountains also make up that eastern panhandle of West Virginia. So the writers of the song might have been a bit confused about the specific geography of West Virginia and it's obviously a little complicated and they were actually traveling along a road in Maryland and that's what inspired them to write part of the song. Wow I did not know that Faith. Well thanks for sharing a little geography and history of the song with us. You're welcome Ashley. 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.