 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 have a story on mosquito scientists that are getting bit on purpose for research. Brian Lin has this week's science report on an oxygen-producing device placed on Mars. Later, Andrew Smith and Joe Robbins present the English lesson of the day. But first, it is lunchtime. And mosquitoes find their way to Ella Branham's arm at a Salt Lake City lab in the American States of Utah. They are not very aggressive, and their kind of picky eaters, said Branham. She breathed into a glass tank to attract the insects to the carbon dioxide in her breath. So, I'll be feeding them with my arm. Branham had volunteered to let the South American mosquitoes, called Sabbaths Sienius, feed on her blood. She is doing so to help produce eggs and maintain the colony for education and research at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District. The district is one of many mosquito control areas around the United States that seek to control one of the world's deadliest animals. Mosquitoes are expected to strengthen as climate change creates a warmer and wetter environment. Mosquitoes can carry viruses including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and zika. They are especially threatening to public health in Asia and Africa, but are closely watched in the United States. Local agencies reported more than 1,100 cases of West Nile virus in 2022, says the US Centers for Disease Control. Most humans who get West Nile show no symptoms, but for some it can cause vomiting, fever, and in rare cases seizures or meningitis. Over roughly the last 25 years, nearly 3,000 deaths and more than 25,000 hospitalizations connected to West Nile were reported throughout the US, mostly in August. West Nile deaths have been reported this year in states including Texas and Colorado. Mosquitoes are also thought to have caused malaria infections of people in Maryland, Florida, and Texas. Ari Faraji is a disease expert and the director of the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District. He said the mosquito season is starting earlier and lasting longer as the climate has warmed. The district used to shut down each year in mid-September, but that has gotten later and later. Last year, district workers were still setting and checking traps until late November. And this year, workers estimated that there were five times as many mosquitoes in May compared to the average year. There was an unusually snowy winter in Salt Lake City and a very rainy spring that left more water for mosquitoes to breed in. That is where the health threat comes in. While both males and females feed on sugar or nectar throughout their lives, females require blood to provide nutrition to their eggs. The workers, including scientists and students, use drones, boats, and vehicles to trap, sort, and test mosquitoes for viruses. Their work considers how things like weather systems and population growth will affect the spread of disease. The more people there are close to a lot of mosquitoes, the higher the chance of spread, Faraji said. The wetland areas surrounding Utah's Great Salt Lake are problematic, he added. Though dangerous, mosquitoes are also important to ecosystems throughout the world. Some serve as pollinators or food sources to fish, birds, and frogs. We try to maintain a balance and suppress them to the point that they're not negatively affecting communities, Faraji said. Bringing them away would definitely negatively impact our ecosystem overall. I'm Dan Ovek. The American Space Agency, NASA, says a device placed on Mars to produce oxygen has performed better than expected in a series of experiments. The system is called moxie. It is designed to change or convert carbon dioxide captured from the Mars atmosphere into oxygen. The instrument works through a process called electrolysis. This process uses extreme heat to separate oxygen atoms from molecules of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide makes up about 95% of the Martian atmosphere, NASA reports. The rest is mostly molecular nitrogen and argon. Nuclear oxygen makes up just 0.16% of the Martian atmosphere. But future exploration of Mars and possibly other planets by humans will require a large supply of oxygen. NASA has said the chemical element will be necessary for astronauts to breathe and to produce rocket fuel for launches carried out from the Martian surface. NASA financed the moxie demonstration experiment. A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, created the device. The moxie instrument was carried to Mars aboard NASA's Perseverance Explorer, or rover. Perseverance arrived on the red planet in February 2021. The device is a box-shaped instrument attached to the rover. NASA reported its first results with the moxie system in April 2021. At the time the space agency reported, the device had successfully converted carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. In the first experiment, moxie produced 5.4 grams of oxygen in one hour. NASA then carried out a series of additional experiments to test the effectiveness of the system. In a statement issued earlier this month, leaders of the demonstration project said moxie had completed its 16th and final experiment. They noted the device's impressive performance had proven it was possible to capture oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. Such oxygen could help supply breathable air or rocket propellant to future astronauts. The statement said. NASA said that moxie had produced a total of 122 grams of oxygen since Perseverance landed on Mars. This amount is about what a small dog would breathe in 10 hours. While the amount of oxygen is small, it represented the first experimental capture of a natural resource from the environment of another planet. When working at its highest level of effectiveness, the instrument was able to produce 12 grams of oxygen in one hour. NASA says this is twice as much as its engineers first estimated the system could produce. The moxie team has also been measuring the purity of the oxygen the device produces. Overall, it has reported the instrument produced oxygen that was at least 98% pure. The latest experiments with moxie on Mars are designed to help NASA build a much larger version of the system. A full-sized device could be deployed on Mars in the future. A NASA explanation of the instrument states, the goal of a big moxie would be to make and store all the oxygen that the astronaut and their rocket would need for their mission before they even launch. Such a system would need to make between 2,000 to 3,000 grams of oxygen per hour, the space agency noted. Trudy Cortes is the director of technology demonstrations at NASA headquarters in Washington DC. She said the agency was pleased to be able to support such a technology. By proving this technology in real-world conditions, we've come one step closer to a future in which astronauts live off the land on the red planet. Cortes said. MIT's Michael Hecht leads the moxie development operation. He said in a statement, the team's work will next center on working on the larger version of moxie. In addition, scientists will need to create equipment to liquefy and store the produced oxygen. I'm Brian Lin. Brian Lin joins me now to talk more about his science report. Welcome back, Brian. Thanks, Dan. Glad to be here. This week you reported on a device, NASA, placed on Mars, to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. And we learned the leaders of the project are very pleased with how the instrument performed. Why is this considered an important project for NASA? So NASA and the creators of the device from MIT say it was designed to prove it's possible to produce oxygen in space environments that really have none currently. It is important because without oxygen, it won't be possible for future astronauts to spend extended periods on Mars and possibly other planets, too. And as noted in the report, the level of oxygen produced during the tests was quite small. And the team is confident a much larger version of the instrument can be built and one day deployed on Mars. NASA has said another possible use for oxygen on Mars will be to help make fuel for additional space missions that might launch from the Martian surface. What can you tell us about that? So NASA says it plans to use the oxygen to make propellant for future launches. It is a combination of fuel and oxygen and the fuel needs the oxygen to burn. And while it might be possible to transport fuel supplies from Earth, getting oxygen there will be more difficult. This is because oxygen is several times heavier than the fuel itself, which presents transportation issues. So having the ability to produce large amounts of oxygen on Mars could open the door to more exploration possibilities. Very cool. Thanks again for being here, Brian. You're welcome. Thank you, Dan. My name is Anna Matteo. And my name is Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. You're listening to the Learning English podcast. Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our series Let's Learn English. The series shows Anna Matteo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. To be or not to be in Washington, D.C.? That is an easy question for Anna to answer. Anna loves being in Washington because it gives her the opportunity to do a lot of special things. Andrew, are you quoting William Shakespeare, the famous English playwright? Of course I am. To be or not to be is probably the most famous line from all of Shakespeare's plays. And in Lesson 13 of Let's Learn English, Anna, who loves the theater, is excited. And that's because she gets to do and see some unusual things at an unusual party. That's right. Anna gets to visit a special birthday party for William Shakespeare. And it's an unusual party because Shakespeare died more than 400 years ago in the year 1616. Well, people still celebrate his life, especially at the Folger Library in Washington, D.C., which has the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's works. That's where Anna was lucky to find this birthday party for Shakespeare. Let's listen. What is going on here? It's a big birthday party for the writer William Shakespeare. This is a party for William Shakespeare? Yes! Awesome! Awesome! I think awesome is one of Anna's favorite words. She uses it a lot. Yeah, so do a lot of people in the United States. In American English, awesome just means really good or enjoyable. And this birthday party is awesome for Anna because it lets her see and do things she does not usually see or do. You could say it's an unusual day for Anna. It's a most unusual time, it's a most unusual day. It's quite bizarre, it's super odd, it's strange in every way. I guess that's our unusual theme music for today's podcast. But now, let's listen to the things Anna gets to hear, see, or do at the birthday party. This is a drum band. I never listen to a drum band. But today, I am listening to a drum band because it's Shakespeare's birthday. This is a puppet show. I never watch puppet shows. But today, I am watching a puppet show because it's Shakespeare's birthday. My clothes are usual. His clothes are unusual. In Washington DC, seeing a politician or even the president is usual. Seeing the queen of England is very unusual. Your majesty. But today, I am sword fighting because it's Shakespeare's birthday. Sword fighting is pretty unusual these days. I know I've never tried it. Me neither. But in some of the plays Shakespeare wrote, it's normal to see a sword fight. Now let's review what Anna saw and what she did at the birthday party. First, she listened to a drum band. This is a drum band. I never listen to a drum band. But today, I am listening to a drum band because it's Shakespeare's birthday. Second, she watched a puppet show. This is a puppet show. I never watch puppet shows. But today, I am watching a puppet show because it's Shakespeare's birthday. After that, she saw a man dressed in clothes from Shakespeare's time. That looks unusual today. My clothes are usual. His clothes are unusual. Next, she meets someone dressed like Queen Elizabeth the first of England, who was queen during Shakespeare's time. In Washington, D.C., seeing a politician or even the president is usual. Seeing the queen of England is very unusual. Your majesty. And listeners, what's last? You got it. The sword fight. Sword fight! But today, I am sword fighting because it's Shakespeare's birthday. I think the sword fight and the people dressed in old styles of clothes are the most unusual things on a saw. You could say they're not normal. They're strange. Bizarre. Weird. Different. Out of the ordinary. Odd. Novel. Atypical. Curious. Rare. Unexpected. And I think that list of words might have been unexpected for our listeners. It's a most unusual time. It's a most unusual day. It's... Excuse me. We have more to explain to our listeners. Oh, right. Sorry about that. I'm Andrew Smith and you're listening to the Learning English podcast. There are many words in English that mean the same or almost the same thing as other words. We call these similar words synonyms. Andrew and I gave eleven synonyms for the word unusual. Now we're going to say them one more time. But pay close attention because we're going to say them very quickly and we're going to add one more for a total of twelve synonyms. You ready, Andrew? Ready. Strange. Bizarre. Abnormal. Weird. Different. Out of the ordinary. Odd. Novel. Atypical. Curious. Rare. Unexpected. That was fast, but our listeners can have fun listening to that part of the podcast again to try to understand all twelve words. We should also explain that one of those synonyms is actually four words connected together with hyphens, or the small line between words you sometimes see when you are reading English. That's right. The synonym was out of the ordinary. Those four words out of the and ordinary get connected into what sounds like one big word. Out of the ordinary. Out of the ordinary simply means not ordinary. Which means not normal. Unusual. Odd. Atypical. Rare. Okay, okay, stop. I think our listeners get the idea about synonyms. I think they do too. But it's good to know how English can use synonyms to express an idea in many ways. That's true. Sometimes it's also good to know which synonyms are used most commonly to express a particular idea. But this can be difficult for people learning English. Yet they might need to ask a native speaker which words are commonly used and which words are rarely used or used only in certain kinds of communication. And even with two common synonyms like the words usual and normal, there can be a difference in how often the words are used. For example, some language databases show that native speakers of American English use the adjective normal about twice as often as the adjective usual. That's interesting. And that word interesting makes me think of another important thing from lesson 13 of Let's Learn English. In the beginning of the episode, Anna said she was bored. But today I feel bored. When I feel bored, I always look for something unusual to do. But after going to the birthday party, she says she is no longer bored. There are many things to do in Washington, D.C. Some usual, some unusual. Today I am not bored because it is William Shakespeare's birthday. Well, that means the party was not boring. Exactly. Instead, it was interesting or maybe even exciting. If it were boring, then Anna would still be bored. Okay, I see what you are trying to explain to our listeners. We use ED, like with the word bored, to describe our feelings inside. But ING, like boring, to describe things we see or perceive. So that means Anna would probably not say, I'm boring. That's correct. If she said I'm boring, that means she thinks other people do not find her interesting in any way. It would be very unusual for a person to say I'm boring. It would be atypical. Or out of the ordinary. A bit odd. Or maybe just an English mistake. So please, listeners, do not say that you are boring. But it's okay to feel bored from time to time. Jill, how are you feeling? Oh, I'm not bored, but I am a bit tired. Thinking of all these synonyms can be tiring. Yeah, but it's fun too. Hey, I have an idea to keep you awake. Uh oh, I see you grabbing your guitar. Are you going to play your unusual theme music again? You guessed it. But first, I want to tell our listeners that there's even more they can learn from Lesson 13 of Let's Learn English. And we will explain those things in another podcast soon. Oh boy. And they can learn more on our website, learningenglish.voanews.com. They can also find us on YouTube and Instagram. And thanks for listening to the Learning English podcast. I'm Jill Robbins. And I'm Andrew Smith. It's a most unusual time, it's a most unusual day. It's quite bizarre, it's super odd, it's strange in every way. It's a most unusual time, it's a most unusual day. My mind keeps wondering what to think when colors smell like gray. I've heard the strangest things today, like words that rhyme with oranges. And so I think I'll sit right back and watch the world. It's weird and strange in every way. 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.