 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. In today's program, Katie Weaver and Andrew Smith tell us why a newly opened Hindu temple in India is facing criticism. Later, Dan Novak and Gina Bennett present this week's Education Report. Finally, John Russell has today's lesson of the day. But first... One Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has opened part of a hotly disputed Hindu holy building in the northern city of Ayodhya. The temple stands at the former site of a 16th century Islamic holy building that Hindu mobs tore down 30 years ago. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindu nationalist groups say the opening of the Lord Ram Temple is central to their goal of reclaiming Hindu pride after centuries of suppression. Modi and his supporters hope the move will help the Prime Minister win a record third straight term in elections expected this spring. But critics accuse Modi of opening the temple too early, as much of the structure remains unbuilt. Opponents say the partial opening was a political act to gain voter support. And experts say the government-led opening ceremony marks a critical moment in India's history. They argue it demonstrates the weakening line between religion and state under Modi's leadership. India's founders considered the separation of religion and government to be a critical policy for national unity. On Monday the Prime Minister dressed in traditional clothing led the ceremony as Hindu clergy chanted hymns inside the temple. Nearly 7,500 people, including leading industrialists, politicians and movie stars, attended the event. A military helicopter flew over the site dropping flower petals on the crowd below. Our Lord Ram has arrived after centuries of wait, Modi said in a speech after the ceremony, receiving applause from thousands of attendees. He said the temple was built after countless sacrifices and is a testament to a rising India breaking the shackles of slave mentality. January 22, 2024 is not merely a date but marks the dawn of a new era, Modi said. Modi's government turned the event into a national celebration by organizing live screenings across the country and closing offices for half a day. Saffron flags, the color of Hinduism, flew in the streets of several cities. Government party workers had gone house to house in those cities to present religious papers to residents. Television news channels ran non-stop coverage of the event. Some movie theaters broadcast it live with complimentary popcorn. Many states declared the day a public holiday. In a rare step, stock and money markets were closed for the day. Modi has been the face of a new mix of religion and politics in India. Ahead of the temple opening, he set the tone by visiting numerous Ram temples over eleven days as part of a Hindu ritual. Hindus from across the country arrived to celebrate the opening. Countries of them danced to religious songs played from speakers along roads covered with flowers. Some 20,000 security personnel and more than 10,000 security cameras were deployed. Officials say the temple, a three-level structure made of pink sandstone, is now open to the public. They expect 100,000 people to visit every day. I am here to see history unfolding before our eyes. For centuries the story of Lord Ram has resonated in the hearts of millions, said Harish Joshi, who arrived in the city from Uttarakhand state four days before the ceremony. But not all are celebrating. Four important Hindu religious leaders refused to attend. They said opening an unfinished temple violates Hindu scripture. Some top leaders from India's main opposition Congress party also boycotted the event, with many accusing Modi of using the temple for political gain. Neighboring Pakistan said a temple built on the site of a destroyed mosque would remain a blot on India's democracy. There is a growing list of mosques in India facing a similar threat of desecration and destruction. Nations foreign ministry said in a statement. It urged the international community to help save historic Islamic sites in India from extremist groups and ensure that minority rights are protected. The estimated cost of building the temple is $217 million, all provided by public donations of money. The temple site spreads over almost 3 hectares on top of the ruins of the Babri mosque. In 1992 Hindu mobs attacked and destroyed Babri. They claimed it was built on temple ruins, marking the birthplace of Lord Ram. The mosque's destruction led to bloody riots across India that killed 2,000 people, mostly Muslims. The dispute officially ended in 2019 when India's Supreme Court called the mosque's destruction an egregious violation of the law. Still, the court ruled that the site would go to Hindus. The ruling provided another piece of land to go to Muslims. At least three historical mosques in northern India are involved in court disputes brought by Hindu nationalists. They say temple ruins lie beneath the mosques. Hindu nationalists have also taken action in Indian courts to seek ownership of hundreds of historic mosques. I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm Andrew Smith. It has become easy for students to find and copy published material. But copying another person's writing without giving them credit can get students and other scholars into big trouble. Copying another person's writing without crediting them is called plagiarism. Recently, the leader of Harvard University stepped down over problems related to the use of other people's work in her writing. Copying copyright law protects original works of authorship, including books, movies, music, images, and artworks. The protection extends to computer software and the design of buildings and structures. The owner can sell a copyright or permit others to use it because it is property and property ownership is protected by law in the U.S. The idea is that copyright helps society. If people can gain from their own creations, called their intellectual property, then more people will want to create original works. The law, however, permits the unlicensed use of copyrighted works under what is called fair use. Fair use can include criticism, comment, news reporting, education, and research. However, there are some limitations. In education, students can include small parts of copyrighted work in their writing and research. But they must provide credit to the original creators through a citation which gives details about the source. Many universities, including Harvard University, even urge students to give credit to sources of ideas when they come from discussions with professors or other students. Harvard even warns students about copying themselves. That is, they cannot hand in the same work for more than one class without the permission of their instructors. A failure to do so is considered plagiarizing. Just as it is easy to copy, it is also easy for professors to know if a student has plagiarized. First, there are computer programs and artificial intelligence, or AI, tools that compare students' papers to large databases of published writing. The programs can identify whether students have copied published writing. Second, if English is not a student's first language, a professor might recognize a change in wording and writing style. This could bring more attention to the student's paper. Plagiarism is punished in different ways. Professors could simply warn a student not to do it again, lower their grade, or they might fail the student in that class. In more extreme cases, a student may be temporarily banned or expelled from school. There are free tools to make citations easier for students and to avoid plagiarism. Zotero is a free open source program that helps organize all the research a student may use. For example, it can automatically create citations and combine them into a list. The Purdue Online Writing Lab, or Purdue OWL for short, is another free resource. Many universities also have writing centers where students can learn the citation rules. And another way for students to learn how to avoid plagiarism is to read published papers and pay careful attention to how information is presented. Students should observe when and how citations are used. This can help them learn the rules of citations. In educational or academic writing, it is better to cite too much than too little. Harvard's Claudine Gay resigned this month after several accusations of plagiarism in her academic work. Gay's academic writing got attention after she was strongly criticized for her answers to a congressional committee related to freedom of speech. Critics found several cases of possible plagiarism in her 1997 doctoral paper. Harvard's governing board first supported Gay, saying a review of her scholarly work turned up a few instances of inadequate citation but no evidence of research wrongdoing. There has been debate among academics over whether her conduct amounted to academic dishonesty. D. Stephen Voss is an associate professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. He knew Gay when they were graduate students at Harvard. A paper he co-wrote in the 1990s was one Gay is accused of plagiarizing from. He said in an interview with the New Yorker magazine that Gay did plagiarize from him. But what she copied from his paper was trivial and inconsequential. What Gay used from his paper did not take an idea of any significance from my work. He added, the bit she used from us was not in any way a major component of what made her research important or valuable. Roger Cruz is a psychology professor at the University of Memphis who is writing a book on the history and psychology of plagiarism. He told VOA in an email that if plagiarism is defined as taking words from another person's work, the opinion of Voss doesn't really matter. Cruz wrote in the online publication The Conversation that university students and professors might face different requirements when it comes to plagiarism. Cruz wrote that professors suspected of plagiarism may be given the benefit of the doubt by their schools. They may also be given the chance to make corrections to their published work. Cruz added that university leaders think that faculty members know what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. If a problem arises, administrators might think they were just being careless with their citations or use of quotation marks. Students, on the other hand, must follow university policies on academic behavior. Harvard, for example, warns that students may be forced to leave the college if they plagiarize. Work written by students is more likely to be closely examined and put through tools that identify plagiarism than faculty work. Many students consider this a double standard. Cruz wrote in an opinion piece in the Boston Globe that university plagiarism policies for faculty are unclear. How can academics set or enforce policies for faculty when the concept is so ill-defined? he asked. I'm Dan Novak and I'm Gina Bennett. Dan Novak is here now to talk more about this week's education report. Hi Dan. Hi Ashley. Today's report was about plagiarism. One of the easiest ways to avoid plagiarism is to use citations. Can you explain what a citation is? Yeah, so in academic writing or journalism, plagiarism is taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as your own. The way not to do that is to cite or credit the source where you got the information from. So if you listen to my story, I gave credit to multiple sources where I received information to write the story. I gave credit to the New Yorker magazine. I gave credit to Robert Cruz. I gave credit to the conversation website. But if I didn't, I would be plagiarizing because I would be passing off the ideas as my own. In academic writing, which has different style rules, each piece of information taken from somewhere else must be cited and listed with the name of the author and the name of the article or book. Every source is then listed at the end in what is called a bibliography. There has been a lot of attention on what Claudine Gray was accused of at Harvard. Can you fill us in? Right, so Gay was accused of multiple instances of plagiarism in her academic work before she became the president of Harvard. She has mostly been accused of copying technical definitions and terminology from other scholars without giving credit. D. Stephen Voss was someone she allegedly plagiarized from. He had an interesting take on the matter. What was that? Yeah, Voss said that while Gay, as he said, technically plagiarized from him, what she took was unimportant. I should say that he does not support what she did, but Voss did say she has been overly criticized for her actions. But it's likely that her actions would have gotten her in trouble if she were a student. So it's a complicated situation. How plagiarism and academic dishonesty is defined going forward may need to change or be made more clear because there aren't actually clear standards, especially when it comes to faculty. Well, thanks again for today's report and thanks for answering my questions, Dan. You're welcome. In this next report, Brian Lynn tells us about changes to shipping rules in the Panama Canal. We learn that reduced water levels have caused officials to take steps to limit ship crossings. Pay careful attention to the word tolls. We will talk more about it after the report. Officials have ordered restrictions on shipping traffic in the Panama Canal because of reduced water levels. The latest restrictions limit ship crossings through the canal by 36 percent. The Panama Canal is one of the world's busiest waterways, linking the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Canal officials have estimated reduced water levels could cost them between $500 million and $700 million in 2024. The Associated Press reports. The losses are linked to tolls shipping companies must pay to pass through the Panama Canal. The Central American Nation is experiencing drought or extremely dry weather. The climate condition can slow traffic and reduce safety in the 80 kilometer canal. Panama Canal administrator Ricardo Vasquez said the new restrictions reduced daily ship crossings to 24. The latest cut followed additional reductions last year. There were 38 crossings a day in normal times last year. Vasquez told the AP it's vital that the country sends a message that we're going to take this on and find a solution to this water problem. He added that in the first quarter of the fiscal year the waterway saw a 20 percent reduction in goods and 791 fewer ships than during the same period the year before. Vasquez said the reductions were part of necessary control measures to make sure water levels remain high enough to permit at least 24 ships to pass daily. Officials are hoping the situation will improve in April when the new rainy season starts. Weather experts blame the drought on climate change and the weather system called El Niño. El Niño is a warming of surface temperatures in the eastern and central pacific ocean. This event usually causes hot dry weather in Asia and Australia and can drive weather changes in other parts of the world. Vasquez warned that Panama must seek new water sources for both the canal's operations and drinking water. The same lakes that fill the canal also produce water for more than half of the country's four million people. The water problem is a national problem not just of the canal. Vasquez said we have to address this issue across the entire country. However, Vasquez told Reuters news agency he expects the waterway to meet its latest earnings targets in part because of recent increases in tolls. I'm Brian Lin. Before the report, we asked you to pay careful attention to the word tolls. Can you remember when you heard it? You heard the term used in relation to payments that shipping companies must make. Let's listen again. Canal officials have estimated reduced water levels could cost them between five hundred million dollars and seven hundred million dollars in 2024. The Associated Press reports the losses are linked to tolls shipping companies must pay to pass through the Panama Canal. The word tolls is a plural noun. The singular form is toll. Let's take some time to work on the pronunciation of both forms. Let's take the consonant sound This is a voiced consonant sound, meaning that you should feel your vocal cords move when you say the sound. Repeat after me Now let's include the vowel sound. Repeat after me Now let's include the first consonant sound. We will say the singular noun form together. So our singular noun is toll. The plural noun form includes one more sound at the end. Repeat after me Now we will say the plural noun, the noun you heard in the report. A toll is an amount of money that you are required to pay for the use of a passageway, such as a road, bridge, or a canal. In the report you heard an example of how we might use toll, or its plural form tolls, to describe paying for the use of a canal. But how might we use the term toll in other situations, such as for the use of a road or bridge? Here are a couple of examples. You might hear a person say, you have to pay a toll to use that road, or drivers who use that bridge have to pay a toll. In today's lesson we learned how to pronounce toll, and we learned how to use it in common situations related to travel. However, you should know that the word has many other meanings. And that's the lesson of the day. I'm John Russell.