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Hello, and welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Ana Mateo. And I'm Brian Lynn. This program is aimed at English learners, so we speak slowly, and we use words and phrases, especially written for people learning English. Today on the show, Ana Mateo brings us words and their stories. We also have the weekly Science Report, and John Russell takes a look ahead to some major sky events we can expect in 2025. Researchers in Russia's Siberia area are showing the public what they say are the 50,000-year-old remains of a baby mammoth. Melting permafrost led to the animal's discovery. They are calling it the best-preserved mammoth body ever found. Named Yana by the scientists, the female mammoth weighs more than 100 kilograms and is 120 centimeters tall. Scientists believe that Yana was one year old when she died. Her remains are among several mammoth carcasses that have been recovered. Yana was found among the melting permafrost at Baragaika Crater in the far eastern Russian area of Yakutia. Known as the gateway to the underworld, scientists have found remains of other ancient animals there, including bison, horses, and dogs. Permafrost is soil that remains frozen for a period of years or more. As the permafrost in Siberia melts, discoveries of prehistoric animals are becoming more common. Scientists at Russia's Northeastern Federal University will study Yana's remains. The university has a research center and museum specifically for mammoths. Scientists at the university described the find as exceptional. They said Yana would give researchers additional information about how mammoths lived and how they changed to survive in their surroundings. I'm Ana Mateo. The world will have to wait until 2026 for the next total solar eclipse. However, the sky promises plenty of other big events in 2025. The new year starts off with a six-planet parade in January that people will be able to see for weeks. The smallest planet, Mercury, will join the crowd for a seven-planet line in February. The Planetary Society's chief scientist Bruce Betts said about the visible planets, people should go out and see them sometime during the next many weeks. I certainly will. Here is a look ahead to the major sky events in 2025. The moon will disappear for more than an hour over North and South America on March 14. The event will be followed two weeks later by a partial solar eclipse. People in Maine, eastern Canada, Greenland, Europe, Siberia, and northwestern Africa will be able to watch the show. In September, there will be an even longer total lunar eclipse over Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Two weeks later, a partial solar eclipse will take place in the area over the South Pacific, including New Zealand and parts of Antarctica. Three supermoons are coming this year in October, November, and December. The full moon will look especially big and bright those three months as it orbits closer to Earth than usual. November's supermoon will come closest, passing within 356,980 kilometers from Earth. Last year had four supermoons, ending in November. This month, six of our seven neighboring planets will line up in the sky to form a long arc. All but Neptune and Uranus should be visible with the eye just after sunset, weather permitting. The parade will continue for weeks. Mercury will make a short appearance by the end of February. The planets will slowly exit, one by one, through spring. Geomagnetic storms painted the sky with beautiful colors in unexpected places last year. Space weather experts predict more of these storms this year. Such storms could produce even more northern and southern lights. The reasoning for the prediction is that the Sun has reached its solar maximum during its current 11-year cycle. The cycle could continue through this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Sean Dahl urges everyone to follow space weather news so as not to miss any colorful shows. The Perseid and Geminid meteor events, or showers, are well-known crowd-pleasers. The Perseids will take place in August. The Geminids come in December. But do not forget about the smaller meteor showers, including the Lyrids in April, the Orionids in October, and the Leonids in November. Areas away from cities, where night skies are darker, are best for watching the events. Generally, meteor showers are named for the constellation which they appear to come from. They take place whenever Earth moves through paths of debris left behind by comets and sometimes asteroids. I'm John Russell. And now, words and their stories from VOA Learning English. One of the most popular sports in the United States is American football. In the U.S., football is a sport that involves a lot of contact. What people around the world call football, Americans call soccer. For today's show, we talk about some idioms and expressions that come from American football. The American sport mainly involves carrying or throwing the ball. But there are times when a player must use their feet to kick the ball. The kicker can kick field goals to get points. In addition to that, the game starts with a kickoff, and after scoring points, a team will kick off to the other side, beginning their turn on offense. The term kickoff is commonly used to describe the start of an event or project. For example, we could say, experts from all over the world attended the kickoff of the New Language Museum. You can use it as a phrasal verb as well. For example, people often like to kick off the new year with a resolution or promise to yourself, to reach a goal or to do something. Football also has the term punt. Punting is another sort of kick a team uses when they cannot score. The punter kicks a ball with the top of his foot. Punt, like kick, can be both a noun and a verb. When you punt the ball, you put it in play for the other team. The same can be said for punting in life. When we punt something, we give our task, job, or responsibility to someone else. For example, if I'm not good at a certain task, or I just don't want to do it, I can punt it to someone else. It can also mean to delay a decision. If I'm not sure about taking a trip, for example, I can punt the decision until later. Another way to say this in American English is to table it. If you are not ready to think about something, it can or must wait until later. In football, the kicker not only starts the game with a kickoff, but also kicks field goals. To do this, the kicker must kick the football between the goal posts at either end of the football field. If he succeeds, his team gets three points. Kicking a field goal can be difficult if the kicker is far from the goal posts, or if the weather in an outdoor stadium is windy, rainy, or snowy. But imagine if the goal posts were moving. That would make kicking the ball between them much more difficult. We can face this problem in everyday life. Imagine if you are given a task at work with specific goals to reach. For example, if you are a social media manager, you could be asked to increase followers by But when the end of the month comes, your boss tells you that now you need to add 20,000 followers, not 10,000. In this case, your boss has moved the goal post. Sometimes a person moves the goal posts on purpose. They have a reason for doing so. If the goal posts keep moving, it is difficult, or even impossible, to reach the goal. So if you say that someone has moved the goal posts, you are accusing them of changing the rules or end goals to make it difficult for you to succeed. We can also say to move the target to mean the same thing. A moving target is a changing goal or result. A desired goal, end, or objective that changes all the time is difficult, or perhaps even impossible to reach. Both expressions, to move the goal posts and to move the target, can be used in the same way and in similar situations. However, moving the goal posts is a classic football expression, while moving the target can refer to several sports. And that's Words and Their Stories. Until next time, I'm Ana Mateo. As we enter the new year, we take a look back at some of the biggest space stories of the 2024. Nearly one year ago, a private spacecraft completed the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years. The American space agency, NASA, announced the spacelander, called Odysseus, had touched down on the lunar surface February 22nd. Odysseus was developed by the Texas-based company Intuitive Machines. The spacecraft carried out several science experiments before powering down permanently on the moon in late March. NASA said Odysseus had successfully captured data to help the agency better understand the moon's environment and improve landing precision and safety. Japan's space agency, JAXA, announced in January 2024 that its Slim spacecraft had successfully landed on the moon. But the lander touched down the wrong way up, causing some communication and power problems. Japanese space officials reported that they stayed in communication with Slim through late April. They said the spacecraft was able to collect valuable data about the touchdown and surrounding area. One purpose of the mission was to demonstrate new precision landing technology. JAXA said the experiment was successful because Slim was able to land within 10 meters of its planned target. In May, China launched its Cheng'e-6 spacecraft to the moon's far side. In late June, Chinese space officials announced the spacecraft had returned to Earth after with rock and soil samples collected on the lunar surface. The successful return made China the first country to ever collect and bring back lunar samples from the far side of the moon. The area is known as the far side because it always faces away from Earth. In October, the European Space Agency, ESA, said it had successfully launched a spacecraft called Hera to explore an asteroid struck in an earlier NASA test mission. Hera's trip to the asteroid is expected to take about two years. Hera is headed to the asteroid Dimorphos. NASA crashed its DART spacecraft into the space rock in 2022, about 11 million kilometers from Earth. NASA said its mission successfully showed it was possible to change the orbit of asteroids that might threaten Earth in the future. Hera aims to closely examine Dimorphos to get more details on how the strike by DART affected the asteroid. The data that NASA collected is to be used together with information gathered by ESA to develop future planetary defense plans. NASA announced the successful launch of its Europa Clipper spacecraft in October. The Explorer is designed to search for possible signs of life on Jupiter's moon Europa. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and has numerous moons. But icy Europa has been identified by scientists as a good candidate for having the right conditions to support life. Several studies have suggested the moon likely contains a large ocean beneath its icy surface. NASA said the Europa Clipper would fly past Mars then back toward Earth, using the gravity of each planet to increase its momentum. These kinds of gravity assists are expected to provide the needed push to get the spacecraft to Jupiter by 2030. In early June, Boeing successfully carried out a test mission for NASA by transporting two American astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams, to the International Space Station, ISS. The two were expected to stay in space for only a week, but ongoing technical issues with the Starliner spacecraft prevented a return trip. NASA announced plans in August to have Starliner return to Earth without the astronauts. The current plan is for Wilmore and Williams to return on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft sometime in late March or April. SpaceX has now completed six launch tests of its huge Starship rocket system. Four of those tests were carried out in 2024. The last test took place in November. The Starship rocket and spacecraft system is designed to be a completely reusable vehicle to transport astronauts and supplies. It has successfully demonstrated that ability in its most recent experimental flights. During one of the tests in October, Starship's super-heavy booster rocket was caught and secured by a huge structure that includes metal arms. A short time later, Starship's second stage safely splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Hi Gina, did you hear Anna's having a party? No, I didn't. It's this weekend? Yes, and you just gave me an example of what I want to talk about today. What are we talking about today? Restating using intonation to clarify what you heard. And you did that by raising your voice at the end of a sentence, like this. It's this weekend? So it's not really in the question form, where we usually change the order of the subject and verb. Instead, here we are using the same word order, but adding rising intonation to clarify we heard correctly. That's something really useful for people learning English, isn't it? You bet. In Let's Learn English Lesson 10, we see Ashley going over to Anna's house. Let me guess, she'll ask about how to get there? You just did it again. I'm really good at this. Let's listen. Hi, today my friend Ashley is coming over. I am showing her my new apartment. Oh, that's Ashley calling. Hi Anna, I'm coming to your apartment. Where is your apartment? My apartment is near the Columbia Heights Metro. It is near the Columbia Heights Metro? Yes, exit the Metro and turn right, then at the bus station, turn left, then walk straight ahead. How many times did you hear Ashley restate what she heard using rising intonation? I think she did it twice. It is near the Columbia Heights Metro? And Exit Metro, turn right, turn left, then go straight ahead? I'm Gina Bennett, and you're listening to Voice of America's Learning English Podcast. I think there's another good point we can teach from this lesson, Dr. Jill. What's that, Gina? The verb forms are all in the imperative. Sometimes we call it the command form. I get confused when someone gives me directions using a different form. I know what you mean. So this is just the simple verb, no endings, exit, turn, go. Let's hear how Anna says it again. Yes, exit the Metro and turn right, then at the bus station, turn left, then walk straight ahead. I noticed Anna tried to help Ashley with some more information, a landmark to look for. Listen to what she says about a coffee shop. Okay, exit Metro, turn right, turn left, then go straight ahead? Yes, my apartment is near a coffee shop. Okay, see you soon. Hi, Ashley. Hello, Anna. Which coffee shop? There are three coffee shops. Okay, my across from a big department. A big department store? Ah, I see it. Best. Hey, Jill, did you notice? Ashley did that thing again with raising her voice at the end of a sentence to make sure she understood about the department store. Hi, Ashley. Hello, Anna. Which coffee shop? There are three coffee shops. Okay, my apartment is across from a big department store. A big department store? Ah, I see it. In the next lesson, lesson 11, we see Marcia is helping Anna find things in her neighborhood. There's the usual question you hear when someone is asking directions that begins with where is. Marcia, before we get ice cream, I need to return three books to the library. Where is the library? It is on this street, on the corner. That's right. You can ask that way, or you can use another expression. Anna needs to mail some letters, so she asks. Anna, what are those in the book? Marcia, these are letters to my family and friends back home. Four letters. Is there a post office near here? I'm Jill Robbins, and you're listening to Voice of America's Learning English Podcast. Marcia helps Anna, but doesn't send her to the post office. Let's listen. Um, no, the post office is far from here. But there is a mailbox across from the store. Awesome, let's go. Marcia, now I need to buy stamps. Do you have cash? No. Is there a bank near here? There is a bank behind you. Now I have cash. I can buy stamps. That store sells stamps. Wait here. I have stamps. Wow, you're fast. Thank you. Thank you, letters, for sending my words, my love, to my family and friends back home. Do you have more cash? I do. Ice cream! I love my new neighborhood. Everything is near our apartment, even hair salons and ice cream. Until next time. I noticed she helped her with two things she needed, money and stamps. That reminds me, Gina, are you driving to Anna's party on Saturday? I plan to. Why? Do you need a ride? You guessed it. That's another kind of question. I asked you a yes-no question, but I really wanted to ask for more information. Like, your question leads to another one. Can you give me a ride? Sure, I'd be glad to, if you don't mind riding on the back of my motorcycle. Sounds like fun. See you on Saturday. And that's all the time we have for today's show. But join us again tomorrow for another VOA Learning English program. I'm Brian Lynn.