 Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from The Voice of America. I'm Dan Friedel. And I'm Katie Weaver. This program is aimed at English learners. So we speak slowly, and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. In today's show, Faith Perlow brings us Ask a Teacher. We also hear from Anna Matteo. And we close the show with an American story. But first... Chinese lawmakers recently entered a fierce online debate on whether fireworks should be used to celebrate the Lunar New Year this February. They said a total ban on fireworks in the country credited with inventing the noisemakers would be hard to enforce. Lawmakers said air pollution prevention and fire safety laws have led to differences in understanding of the ban on fireworks. However, it was never a total ban. In 2017, official data showed 444 cities had banned fireworks. Since then, some of the cities have loosened the bans. They permit fireworks at certain times of the year and at special places. This month, however, many counties made announcements banning fireworks, restarting discussion on the ban. Weave the Right to Fireworks wrote a user of Weibo, a popular Chinese online discussion service. Chinese folklore says the earliest fireworks were invented 2000 years ago to drive away the Nian. The Nian, the story goes, was a monster that hunted people and animals before the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival. Since then, fireworks came to be used to celebrate other events. This January, after three years of COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, some people ignored bans and officials and set off firecrackers. Some Chinese say the fireworks bans were necessary to protect the environment. An online opinion study by the official Beijing Youth Daily found that over 80% of people supported fireworks during Spring Festival. The festival is the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar. Some also said the ban was ironic after the United Nations recently named the Spring Festival an official holiday, a move supported by Chinese officials. The Spring Festival belongs to the world, but China's is almost gone, wrote another Weibo user. Southern Hunan Province is a worldwide supplier of fireworks. Its exports totaled $579 million from January to November, state media reported. That number is far greater than domestic sales. I'm Dan Ovek. Lawmakers in Uganda are considering barring people from making a popular alcoholic drink at home. The bill being considered would affect people like the Dianabo family. At least once a week, Guerrino Dianabo's family gathers around a hole in the ground, where bananas have been left to ripen. The family then peels the bananas and puts them into a wooden container shaped like a boat. The father steps in with his bare feet. The sweet banana juice he presses out is then filtered. To this he adds sorghum. The juice is then left to ferment for up to a day. This process changes the juice into an alcoholic drink. The result is the home-brewed drink Ugandan's call Tonto, or Tantomera. This word describes a drinker's poor movements. Tonto is famous in Uganda. Everyone drinks it, from officials to laborers. Singers sing about it, politicians seeking office drink it with voters, and traditional ceremonies end at sunset with Tonto parties. However, there are threats to the way Tonto is currently produced. More people are now drinking low-cost bottled beer. Health officials want rules to limit the risks from contaminated home brews. And officials want to get tax income from the production and sale of the drink. The bill in the National Assembly seeks to set rules for the production and sale of alcohol. It would make the activities of home brewers of Tonto a crime. It would also make the production of other traditional home brews in the East African country a crime. But farmers have a more urgent concern. Not enough new banana juice cultivars are being planted to produce the drink. Instead, more farmers are planting a different sort of banana. This kind is boiled and eaten as a popular dish, called matuk. Garino Dianabo farms in the western district of Mbarada. His first experience with Tonto was as a little boy in the 1970s. He said he has only a few plants left of the cultivars he uses to make Tonto. He gets his bananas from farmers near him until he can fill the small pit on his farm. The natural underground heat ripens the bananas within days as he prepares for the weekly pressing. The event is important in the family's daily life because they sell Tonto. Dianabo said his weekly brew has regular buyers. But in recent years he has seen both demand and supply slow. This is partly because the sale price of Tonto has been largely unchanged for many years. However the process of brewing it has become more difficult. Tonto brewers must travel farther for their bananas. Also the price of sorghum has gone up. You take a lot of time doing this work. It's not as easy as someone who cuts matuk, puts it on a bicycle and sells it for cash immediately. Dianabo said of the green bananas that are eaten raw by most Ugandans. The bananas used for alcohol come from very far, he added. To help this situation he has been trying to plant more of the banana juice cultivars. They grow faster and his son, Mathias Kamukama, helps. The family makes five or six 20 liter jerry cans for each brewing. A jerry can's worth sells for about $8. A half liter of Tonto sells for about $0.27, compared to $0.67 for the cheapest bottled beer. Benson Mujereja is an electrician who regularly visits a small drinking place in a poor neighborhood of Mbarada. It is like a favorite drink when you have your lunch. It is like a juice. When you don't want to take beer, you come and have your Tonto. Mujereja said. He said it does not make him feel bad or cause his head to hurt. Christine Kumahanji sells Tonto. She said she receives two jerry cans of the brew every day. She knows her business is at risk because of the bill. But she smiled, saying buyers come from all over the city. Tonto will never get finished, she said. Meaning Tonto will survive all of these challenges. I'm Anna Mateo. Hi there. This week on Ask a Teacher, we answer a question from Nirmala about the meaning of the word slender. Hello, teacher. I'm Nirmala. What does the word slender mean? Thank you, Nirmala. Thank you for writing to us, Nirmala. As the year starts, many people make new goals. A large number of them center on losing weight. This is a great time for this question. We will talk about the word slender and offer some synonyms to help you compare and understand this word better. The word slender is an adjective. The first meaning has to do with body shape. Something slender is small around, especially in comparison to its length. A slender person has no extra fat and little roundness, usually in an appealing way. In other words, slender has a positive connotation when used to describe a person. The word skinny, on the other hand, suggests an underweight condition that is not appealing. The slender girl could walk through the narrow opening in the fence. Many cultures consider a long slender neck beautiful. Some synonyms that you can use in place of slender include slim, lean, and thin. These words all have a more positive association to them than skinny. But what separates them from slender is the idea that slender also includes the association of graceful. Slender can also be used to describe non-physical things. The mayoral candidate won by a slender number of votes. In that sentence, slender means small. Spending money is slender just before payday. In that one, it means limited. The slender glass tube was all that protected the rare sample. In that last sentence, slender means small, but also suggests a delicate or easily breakable quality. Please let us know if these explanations and examples have helped you, Nirmala. Do you have a question about American English? Send us an email at learningenglishatvoanews.com. And that's Ask a Teacher. I'm Faith Perlow. That was this week's Ask a Teacher report. Now Teacher Faith joins me on the show. Hi, Faith. It's great to be back in the studio with you, Katie. Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you. So this week you had a question from Nirmala about the word slender. I love the sound of the word. No surprise there. The adjective or descriptive word is most commonly used in a positive way. What are some associations you make with the word slender? This is a great question, Katie. It can be helpful when memorizing a word to connect that word with something in real life, something we can easily picture in our minds. When I think of the word slender, what comes to mind is a ballet dancer. Ballet is generally performed on a stage and uses movement, music, costumes, and sets to tell a story. The dancers are usually very slender, long and lean. This is especially true of female ballet dancers. Also ballet dancers are very graceful. The word slender reflects that idea too. Ballet dancers glide across the stage with graceful arms. This is what I picture for the word slender. Can you give me a word that is kind of opposite of slender? Yes, the opposite of slender is curvaceous or curvy. Curvy body types are very round in certain areas, and the word has a positive connotation. When I think of curvy, I think of belly dancers. Ah, not ballet dance, but belly dance. Yes, belly dance. Belly dance is a dance from the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey, and even parts of Europe. Belly dancers dance in a way that emphasizes their curves. There are lots of isolated hip movements, belly movements, so that comparison can help you remember what curvy means, and having those two comparisons of dancers can help you to remember the different associations of each word. Very true, Faith. Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me, Katie. Today we complete the story Rappaccini's Daughter. It was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Here is Cagaland with the second and final part of Rappaccini's Daughter. Many years ago, a young man named Giovanni Guasconti left his home in Naples to study in Northern Italy. He took a room in an old house next to a magnificent garden filled with strange flowers and other plants. The garden belonged to a doctor, Giacomo Rappaccini. He lived with his daughter Beatrice in a small brown house in the garden. From a window in his room, Giovanni had seen that Rappaccini's Daughter was very beautiful, but everyone in Pagua was afraid of her father. Pietro Baglioni, a professor at the university, warned Giovanni about the mysterious Dr. Rappaccini. He is a great scientist. Professor Baglioni told the young man, but he is also dangerous. Rappaccini cares more about science than he does about people. He has created many terrible poisons from the plants in his garden. One day, Giovanni found a secret entrance to Rappaccini's garden. He went in. The plants all seemed wild and unnatural. Giovanni realized that Rappaccini must have created these strange and terrible flowers through his experiments. Suddenly Rappaccini's daughter came into the garden. She moved quickly among the flowers until she reached him. Giovanni apologized for coming into the garden without an invitation, but Beatrice smiled at him and made him feel welcome. "'I see you love flowers,' she said, and so you have come to take a closer look at my father's rare collection.' While she spoke, Giovanni noticed a perfume in the air around her. He wasn't sure if this wonderful smell came from the flowers or from her breath. She asked him about his home and his family. She told him she had spent her life in this garden. Giovanni felt as if he were talking to a very small child. Her spirit sparkled like clear water. They walked slowly through the garden as they talked. At last they reached a beautiful plant that was covered with large purple flowers. He realized that the perfume from those flowers was like the perfume of Beatrice's breath, but much stronger. The young man reached out to break off one of the purple flowers, but Beatrice gave a scream that went through his heart like a knife. She caught his hand and pulled it away from the plant with all her strength. "'Don't ever touch those flowers,' she cried. "'They will take your life.' Hiding her face, she ran into the house. Then Giovanni saw Dr. Rappuccini standing in the garden. That night, Giovanni could not stop thinking about how sweet and beautiful Beatrice was. Finally, he fell asleep. But when the morning came, he woke up in great pain. He felt as if one of his hands was on fire. It was the hand that Beatrice had grabbed in hers when he had reached for one of the purple flowers. Giovanni looked down at his hand. There was a purple mark on it that looked like four small fingers and a little thumb. But because his heart was full of Beatrice, Giovanni forgot about the pain in his hand. He began to meet her in the garden every day. At last she told him that she loved him, but she would never let him kiss her or even hold her hand. One morning, several weeks later, Professor Balioni visited Giovanni. "'I was worried about you,' the older man said. "'You have not come to your classes at the university for more than a month. Is something wrong?' Giovanni was not pleased to see his old friend. "'No, nothing is wrong. I am fine. Thank you.' He wanted Professor Balioni to leave, but the old man took off his hat and sat down. "'My dear Giovanni,' he said, "'you must stay away from Rappuccini and his daughter.' Her father has given her poison from the time she was a baby. The poison is in her blood and on her breath. If Rappuccini did this to his own daughter, what is he planning to do to you?' Giovanni covered his face with his hands. "'Oh, my God,' he cried. "'Don't worry,' the old man continued. "'It is not too late to save you, and we may succeed in helping Beatrice, too. "'Do you see this little silver bottle? It holds a medicine that will destroy even the most powerful poison. Give it to your Beatrice to drink.' Professor Balioni put the little bottle on the table and left Giovanni's room. The young man wanted to believe that Beatrice was a sweet and innocent girl, and yet Professor Balioni's words had put doubts in his heart. "'It was nearly time for his daily meeting with Beatrice.' "'As Giovanni combed his hair, he looked at himself in a mirror near his bed. "'He could not help noticing how handsome he was. His eyes looked particularly bright, and his face had a healthy warm glow. "'He said to himself, at least her poison has not gotten into my body yet.' "'As he spoke, he happened to look at some flowers he had just bought that morning. "'A shock of horror went through his body. The flowers were turning brown. "'Giovanni's face became very white as he stared at himself in the mirror. "'Then he noticed a spider crawling near his window. "'He bent over the insect and blew a breath of air at it. "'The spider trembled and fell dead, and cursed, Giovanni whispered to himself, "'My own breath is poison.' "'At that moment a rich, sweet voice came floating up from the garden. "'Giovanni, you are late. Come down. "'You are a monster,' Giovanni shouted as soon as he reached her. "'And with your poison you have made me into a monster, too. I am a prisoner of this garden.' "'Giovanni,' Beatrice cried, looking at him with her large, bright eyes. "'Why are you saying these terrible things? It is true that I can never leave this garden, but you are free to go wherever you wish.' Giovanni looked at her with hate in his eyes. "'Don't pretend that you don't know what you've done to me.' A group of insects had flown into the garden. They came toward Giovanni and flew around his head. He blew his breath at them. The insects fell to the ground dead. Beatrice screamed, "'I see it. I see it. My father's science has done this to us. Believe me, Giovanni. I did not ask him to do this to you. I only wanted to love you.'" Giovanni's anger changed to sadness. Then he remembered the medicine that Professor Baglione had given him. Perhaps the medicine would destroy the poison in their bodies and help them to become normal again. "'Dear Beatrice,' he said, "'our fate is not so terrible.'" He showed her the little silver bottle and told her what the medicine inside it might do. "'I will drink first,' she said, "'you must wait to see what happens to me before you drink it.'" She put Giovanni's medicine to her lips and took a small sip. At the same moment, Robert Cine came out of his house and walked slowly toward the two young people. He spread his hands out to them as if he were giving them a blessing. "'My daughter,' he said, "'you are no longer alone in the world. Give Giovanni one of the purple flowers from your favorite plant. It will not hurt him now. My science and your love have made him different from ordinary men.'" "'My father,' Beatrice said weakly, "'why did you do this terrible thing to your own child?' Robert Cine looked surprised. "'What do you mean, my daughter?' he asked. "'You have power no other woman has. You can defeat your strongest enemy with only a breath. Would you rather be a weak woman?' "'I want to be loved, not feared,' Beatrice replied. "'But now it does not matter. I am leaving you, father. I am going where the poison you have given me will do no harm. "'Goodbye to you, Giovanni.'" Beatrice dropped to the ground. She died at the feet of her father and Giovanni. The poison had been too much a part of the young woman. The medicine that destroyed the poison destroyed her as well. That's all the time we have for today's show.