 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 Dan Friedle and Dorothy Gandhi. Later, Brian Lin presents this week's Science Report. Finally, Jill Robbins and Andrew Smith bring us today's lesson of the day. But first, here is Dan Friedle. Vietnamese Electric Vehicle Company, Vinfast, recently announced its plans to build a $2 billion production center in southern India. The new factory is expected to produce up to 150,000 cars per year once it is completed. The project will include an opening investment of $500 million. Construction will start this year. The production centers are expected to support over 3,000 jobs in the Tamil Nadu state. The center will be close to the port city of Thutukudi. Vinfast started in 2017 and has been producing electric vehicles since 2021. It already announced plans for a factory in the southern US state of North Carolina. The factory there will cost $4 billion to complete. And vehicle production is expected to begin this year. Vinfast brought its cars to market in the US for the first time in 2023. The cars have not sold well in the US because they have received some bad reviews and there are questions about their quality. Vinfast officials, however, believe the company can succeed in the US. The company's stock is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange and for a short time its shares were worth more than Ford and General Motors. However, by the end of 2023, the company had lost more than $1.4 billion. Vinfast said it hopes to sell its cars in 50 markets by the end of 2024. It announced a $400 million factory in Indonesia late last year. Vinfast cars will be used in Laos by Green SM, a taxi company mostly owned by Vinfast's founder. The production center is the first move by Vinfast to enter the growing Indian market. The country has one of the fastest growing electric vehicle markets in the world. India has launched a $1.3 billion plan to support electric vehicle manufacturing and use. However, of the 2.3 million EVs in use in India, most are inexpensive motorbikes, rickshaws, and scooters. Some experts wonder if there are enough Indians who have the money to purchase a costly electric car. Vinfast is part of Vin Group, which was started as an instant noodle company in Ukraine in the 1990s by Pham Nhat Vung, who is now Vietnam's richest man. I'm Dan Friedel. On Monday, Americans celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. In this next report, Dorothy Gundy tells us a bit about the life and work of the civil rights activist. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American leader of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. King is remembered for his nonviolent protests against the unequal treatment of African Americans. His actions led to equal rights laws for all people. In addition to being an activist, King was a scholar and religious leader, a pastor in the Christian Baptist Church. One of the most famous events related to him came in 1963. That year, more than 250,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. for the march on Washington. King spoke to them on the steps of President Abraham Lincoln's memorial. He delivered a historic address known as the I Have a Dream speech. One of the most famous lines from the speech reads, I have a dream that one day little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. King's actions helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The law ended the legal separation of people by race in public places. The act also banned job discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin. King and other activists watched the president sign the law. The Civil Rights Act was important, but it did not address all kinds of racial discrimination. For example, black Americans still did not have the same voting rights as white Americans, especially in southern states. So in March of 1965, a group of activists in Alabama marched in protest of unequal voting practices. State police attacked the protesters. Some wanted to answer with violence, but King urged peaceful action instead. The events in Alabama pushed Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. It was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in August of 1965. In the following years, King worked for economic equality. In April 1968, he was attending a workers' strike in Tennessee. While he was standing outside his hotel room, a sniper shot him in the face. King soon died of his wounds. The shooter was identified as a criminal who had escaped from jail. James Earl Ray was a white man who said he hated King. Ray was found guilty and sent to prison. King is remembered for many things, including his focus on nonviolent action to achieve social and political change. In 1986, the U.S. government observed the first Martin Luther King Day. Many Americans have the day off school and work. They are urged to use the time to volunteer in their communities. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and achievements are also honored at a memorial it was dedicated in Washington, D.C. in 2011. I'm Dorothy Gundy. The American Space Agency, NASA, has postponed two moon missions that are facing development and safety issues. NASA's program to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972 is called Artemis. The agency split the program into three parts. In 2022, Artemis-1 sent NASA's Orion spacecraft on a trip around the moon without a crew. The agency's huge space launch system, SLS Rocket, carried Orion into space. The spacecraft traveled more than 400,000 kilometers from Earth and completed a close flyby of the moon. NASA officials declared Artemis-1 a big success. The second planned trip, Artemis-2, was set for late 2024. The goal was to send Orion on the same path Artemis-1 took but with four astronauts. NASA announced last week it had set a new September 2025 target for the launch of Artemis-2. The third mission, Artemis-3, will attempt to land astronauts on the surface of the moon. NASA says the crew is expected to include the first woman and the first person of color. Artemis-3 was planned for 2025 but has now been pushed back to September 2026. NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the postpone months were necessary in order to give the agency time to deal with several ongoing problems affecting the Artemis program. Safety is our top priority, Nelson said. He added that the delays will give Artemis-1 teams more time to work through the challenges. NASA's announcement about the delays came shortly after the successful launch of a private American company's spacecraft that aimed to land on the lunar surface. That spacecraft, called Peregrine, is a moon lander built by Pennsylvania-based Astrobotic Technology. It launched January 8th aboard a Vulcan Centaur rocket built by America's United Launch Alliance, ULA. Immediately after Peregrine's launch, Astrobotic officials praised the mission as the first step to becoming the first private space vehicle to land on the moon. But shortly after the launch, a fuel leak was discovered. Astrobotic has said the spacecraft would continue on its mission while leaking fuel but faces ongoing power and propulsion problems. The company aims to keep the lander going as long as possible and to collect data from its instruments. But officials from Astrobotic have said Peregrine is no longer expected to land on the moon. Peregrine is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services CLPS program. It aims to hand over the nation's major missions to private companies in an effort to operate at reduced costs. Peregrine and other planned missions in the CLPS program aim to land on the moon to support future Artemis activities. Another program member, Texas-based Intuitive Machines, plans to launch its Nova Sea lander to the moon next month. Astrobotic has said it also plans to send another lander called Gryphon to the moon's South Pole in late 2024. It will be carrying an exploring robot or rover called Viper. Viper is designed to search for water sources on the moon. NASA's moon landing effort has been delayed repeatedly over the past 10 years, adding billions of dollars to the cost, the Associated Press reports. Government estimates have predicted total program costs will reach $93 billion through 2025. Reuters news agency reported NASA discovered problems with the Orion spacecraft's batteries during vibration tests. Engineers have said the batteries will likely need to be replaced. Catherine Kerner is a leader at NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate in Washington. She said in a statement all technical issues will be fully investigated with safety as NASA's top goal. We are letting the hardware talk to us so that crew safety drives our decision making. Kerner added, we will use the Artemis-2 flight test and each flight that follows to reduce risk for future moon missions. Even with the delays and ongoing concerns, she said NASA is closer than ever to establishing sustained exploration of Earth's nearest neighbor under Artemis. I'm Brian Lin. Brian Lin is here now to talk more about his science report. Thanks for joining me today, Brian. Of course, Ashley, glad to be here. In this week's report, you described some changes to NASA's moon mission plans. Would you say these announced changes, which relate to the timing of planned flights, came as a surprise? Well, on the one hand, I would say it was kind of a surprise just because only weeks ago NASA was talking about looking forward to another test flight this year of its Orion spacecraft. And this time, the flight was to include astronauts also riding aboard Orion on a distant trip around the moon, which the agency seemed very excited about. But these Artemis missions have already faced delays, and NASA says these are necessary to resolve remaining issues to ensure safe and successful flights. Has NASA identified specific issues that led them to announce the latest mission postponements? The agency did say it identified some specific problems related to the operation of the Orion spacecraft. These include a battery issue, as well as difficulties with electronic elements that control airflow and temperature. So these aren't seen as major problems, but again, NASA officials are saying they just need more time to examine the difficulties and carry out more testing. And the earlier timelines set for the moon missions would simply not give engineers enough time to deal with these issues. Okay, thanks again for joining me, Brian. You're welcome. Thank you, Ashley. Welcome to the lesson of the day on the Learning English podcast. My name is Andrew Smith. And my name is Jill Robbins. Thanks for joining us. Today's lesson will help you learn more about the English you hear in our video series, Let's Learn English. The series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. Here's Anna introducing herself. My name is Anna Matteo. Today we're going to look at lesson nine from level two of the series. Anna and her friend Ashley talk about their pets. And they talk about things they could have or should have done. Pets are animals that live with families, such as dogs or cats. Ashley's pet is a dog named Dublin. But Anna's pet is, well, it's very unusual. That's because Anna's pet is a rock. It's true. Anna has a pet rock. Of course, this is a kind of joke. Anna makes her rock look like it has eyes and hair. And her rock wins a contest for one-of-a-kind pets. One-of-a-kind means unique, which means there are no others the same as it. We spell unique, U-N-I-Q-U-E. Now, let's listen to Anna tell Ashley how she won a contest with her pet rock. And our lesson will focus on the phrases should have and could have. Listen for these phrases and we will explain more after you listen. But Anna, tell me, how did you win a pet contest without a pet? Okay, the closest thing I have is my pet rock. I know it's silly, but I've had it since I was a little girl. So for a joke, I brought it to the fair. But then I was invited to enter the one-of-a-kind pet contest. And I won. Anna, only you could have won a pet contest with a pet rock. I should have brought Dublin. He would have won a contest. It's not very easy to win one of these. Does he have a costume? They had a costume contest. You should have seen this little girl. She and her dog wore matching princess costumes. Dublin doesn't wear costumes. Does he know any tricks? Come this way. Now, watch this. One more. You caught it. You killed it. Good dog. Ashley, he could have won the best catch contest. Oh, good boy. Ashley, pets are fun, aren't they? Yes. And they become part of your family. Did you hear the examples with should have, could have, or would have? We can say should to give advice, as in this example. You should try to speak English. And we say should have plus the past participle of the verb. When we talk about actions in the past, we wish had been different. Ashley said, I should have brought Dublin. He would have won a contest. Ashley didn't bring Dublin to the contest, but she wishes she had brought him. When we talk about the past, but wish it had been different, or think about the past in a way that is different than what really happened. We say should have, or could have, or would have before the past participle of the verb. But native speakers usually shorten these with contractions. So it sounds like this. Should have, could have, would have. And sometimes native speakers reduce or shorten the pronunciation even more. So it sounds like this. Should have, could have, would have. Oh, I wish my past had been different. Should have, would have, could have. I should have gone. I would have won. I could have seen my friends. When you hear someone say should have, would have, could have, it's often because the person is saying it's not good to look back with regrets. I know, but sometimes I wish I could have done something different. Well, we all probably wish we could have done something different in the past. But now let's talk a little bit about owning a pet. After playing with Ashley's dog, Anna thinks she wants to own one. Ashley, I think I want a dog. No, I know I want a dog. It's a big responsibility. You may want to spend time with a dog first. Responsibility is a noun. The plural of this noun is responsibilities. And the word responsible is the adjective. And responsibly is the adverb. We often use the preposition for after the adjective responsible. Jill, what are some of the things you are responsible for at your home? Well, I shop for the food and I cook quite a lot. And I also feed the dog and take the dog for walks and give the dog baths. That's a lot of responsibility, isn't it? Well, it sounds like you do have a lot of responsibilities or things you are responsible for. And, as Ashley says, owning a pet can be a big responsibility. When you own something, that means it is yours. It belongs to you. The state of owning something is called ownership. Jill, you have a dog. What responsibilities come with pet ownership? And I'd like to say that I think my dog thinks she owns me. Well, first there are the basics. You have to make sure your pet has enough food and water and stays healthy. Sometimes you need to take your pet to the veterinarian, which means an animal doctor. And you have to protect your pet from danger, such as other animals or getting hit by a car. And then, especially for pets like dogs and cats, you should be nice to them and try to make them happy by petting them and speaking to them in a nice voice. I've heard you speaking in a very sweet way to your dog, Jill. And I noticed you used the verb pet. So that means we pet our pets. That's right. To pet means to gently touch and move your hand over an animal's hair or fur. Most dogs love to be petted. But you have to be careful because not all pets like to be petted. There are some dogs and cats that don't like to be touched or that only want their owner to touch them. We can say that those animals are very touchy. If someone or some animal is touchy, that means they are very sensitive and can become upset or angry very easily. My dog was like that when we first got her. That's because she was a rescue. A dog who had other owners who didn't want her or could no longer keep her. Yes, we talk about animals being rescued when someone new takes them into their home. It takes some time for the animals to adjust to the new home. So don't touch a touchy pet. But please, pet the pets that want to be touched. Isn't English fun? We hope our lesson of the day has been fun for you. And we invite you to write to us about any pets that your family and friends have. And do your pets like to be petted? I used to have a turtle. I don't think it really cared if I petted it. Probably not. You can email us at learningenglishatvoanews.com And remember that you can also find us on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Thanks for listening. I'm Jill Robbins. And 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.