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A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters say American colleges and universities have a negative effect on the United States.
That is one of the findings of a new report by the Pew Research Center. The report was based on phone interviews with more than 2,500 adults across the United States and the District of Columbia.
Over the past two years, Pew found the share of Republicans and Republican leaners who view the effect of colleges and universities positively has dropped 18 percentage points. In the past, a little more than half had a positive view. Now only about one-third do.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents see the value of colleges and universities very differently. Pew said 72 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaners say colleges have a positive effect on the United States -- little changed from recent years.
Younger Republicans see colleges more positively
Some of the opinions about the value of college differ based on age.
Pew reported that half of Republicans and Republican-leaners aged 18 to 29 say colleges have a positive effect on the country. But only about one-quarter of Republican and Republican-leaners 65 and older say colleges have a positive effect.
Anger, distrust and debt
A former Republican congressman from Louisiana, Billy Tauzin, said he believes many Republicans are unhappy that at some colleges conservative speakers are not only unwelcome, but blocked from speaking.
This year some students at the University of California - Berkeley and Middlebury College in Vermont demonstrated violently against conservative speakers. The demonstrations drew wide coverage and criticism by news media favored by conservatives.
David Andersen, who teaches political science at Iowa State University, said he is not surprised Republicans and Republican-leaning adults have a negative opinion of American higher education.
“One of the things going on is that there is an anti-elitism and anti-intellectualism among some in the Republican Party,” Andersen said.
Andersen said he sees distrust in his own classroom among students from largely Republican and conservative communities in Iowa.
“Students are very willing to push back as we discuss issues,” he said. “But that’s the whole point of being at a university. Let’s talk about what you believe and see how it matches up with the facts."
On some issues, such as climate change, Andersen offers information about the big majority of scientists who say climate change is real and caused by man-made activities.
When they get home, some students talk with their families about classroom discussions that conflict with the ones at home.
Sometimes, those conversations do not go well.
“One student said, ‘My uncle yelled at me for two hours because he thought I had become a godless liberal,’” Andersen said.
Andersen said he believes most Americans without a college education still want their children to go to college, hoping they will gain better job opportunities.
William Eveland Jr., a professor at the School of Communication and the Department of Political Science at Ohio State University, said there may be other reasons Republicans do not favor colleges and universities. One of them is the increased cost of college, and the increasing number of students and parents who go into heavy debt to pay off loans.
College is still preferred over the media
The Pew Research Center report found Republicans have an even worse opinion of the news media than they do of American colleges. Pew found 85 percent of Republicans and people who lean Republican say the news media has a negative effect on the United States.
Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults are divided -- with 44 percent saying the news media has a positive effect and 46 percent saying it has a negative effect.
I'm Bruce Alpert.
And I'm Jill Robbins.
 
Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page.
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Words in This Story
 
leaning - n. a preference for something or tendency to do something
elitism - n. people who are considered more powerful, smart, or wealthy
intellectualism - n. valuing study and knowledge
match - v. to go well with something or someone
conversation - n. an informal talk involving two people or a small group of people
yell - v. to say something very loudly especially because you are angry, surprised, or are trying to get someone's attention
 (2017/07/20 07:01)

One of the best uses of technology is to make life easier.
A new product from Microsoft Corporation can do just that for people who have trouble seeing. They may be blind or visually impaired.
The product, an app, is currently available for free for Apple’s iPhone and iPad. The app is called Seeing AI. “AI” is short for artificial intelligence, a term for computers with an ability to think and learn like human beings.
Seeing AI uses both a camera and artificial intelligence to identify places, objects and people. The app then announces what the camera sees so users will know what is in front of them.
People can also use Seeing AI to learn words in English. With the app open, you can point your iPhone or iPad at any object and it will say what the object is.
With Seeing AI, users can hear a description of not just objects, but other people. It can even tell you about their emotions. It will not just say that someone is smiling. The app will say that the person is happy. Or surprised. Or angry.
People can use the app when going to a store or supermarket. It can read product bar codes so users will know whether a can is filled with fruit or dog food. Microsoft says Seeing AI will soon be able to identify banknotes so people know whether they are holding a bill that is worth $100 or $1.
At restaurants, diners can use the new app to hear a list of drinks and other menu offerings. It can recognize both food choices and prices.
People can use the app to read signs and get directions, although Microsoft warns against using it for navigation purposes.
One of the more interesting tools of Seeing AI is its ability to read documents. The app can read documents aloud and even help a user position them on the center of the electronic device.
The app looks for the edges of the document so it knows that it is reading all of the wording.
Seeing AI can also identify images in other apps. When you are using another app, hit the Share icon and choose "Recognize with Seeing AI." The app can identify what is in the image, as if it were right in front of you.
How to use Seeing AI
The Seeing AI app has four Channels: Short Text, Document, Product, and Person. After you download it, the app will show video directions for each channel.
With the Document and Person channels, the app takes a picture of the object or person, then examines the image and announces what it is.
The Short Text channel can be used to read things such as signs that have a few words that will fit on a screen. Hold the camera over the text and the app will start reading the wording out loud.
The Documents channel is for longer, printed pages. The app will tell the user how to center the camera so it can read all the text.
Users should put the document on top of something with a different color, such as a white sheet of paper on a dark surface. This helps the app identify the edges of the paper.
The Product channel reads bar codes to help users recognize what the product is. The app may also provide more information about the product, such as cooking directions.
Seeing AI will guide users with sound – short beeps -- to let them know when the camera is getting closer to, and then scanning the bar code.
When the app scans the bar code, it will read the name of the product. If more information is available about the product, a More Information button will appear in the program.
The Person channel helps users identify people, who they are and what they are doing. The app can identify more than one person in a photograph.
Users can teach the app names of people so it can announce who they are by name.
The app will help guide users while taking a photo of people so that their faces are in the center of the image.
This channel also helps identify the emotions of people. The app will tell how the person is feeling, based on their faces. The app will also predict the person's age and sex.
Experimental channels
The app also has an experimental channel called Scene. With that channel, the app guesses what is happening in the photo.
Microsoft also says a Currency channel is coming soon to the app. That area will help users the value of banknotes.
What else you need to know
Seeing AI is a new app and will not be correct 100% of the time. For example, just because someone is smiling does not necessarily mean they are happy.
The app recognizes text, but not handwriting yet. That feature may be available in the future.
Also, Seeing AI needs to be connected to the Internet to work.
For more information about the app, including the informational videos, go to Microsoft's Seeing AI website.
Availability
As we said earlier, Seeing AI is a free app and available for Apple’s iPhone and iPad in the iTunes App Store. Microsoft has not yet said whether it will be available on Android in the future.
The app is currently available in Canada, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
I’m Ashley Thompson.
And I'm John Russell.
 
Carolyn Nicander Mohr wrote this report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
 
Do you like the idea of Seeing AI to help blind and visually impaired people identify what is in front of them?How do you think Seeing AI will be helpful to others? What would you like to see the app be able to do?
Share your thoughts in the Comments Section below or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
 
visually impaired - adj. eyesight that cannot be corrected to a normal level.
artificial intelligence - n. the ability of a computer to think and learn like a human
bar code - n. a group of thick and thin lines that is placed on a product so that a computer can get the price of the product and other information about it
menu - n. a list of the foods that may be ordered at a restaurant
navigation - n. the act, activity, or process of finding the way to get to a place when you are traveling in a ship, airplane, car, etc.​
icon - n. a small picture on a computer screen that represents a program or function
screen - n. the usually flat part of a television or computer monitor that shows the images or text : the part of a television or computer that you look at when you are using it
frisbee - n. a plastic disc that you throw to someone who tries to catch it as part of a game(2017/07/20 07:00)

 
The United States Navy has demonstrated a new laser weapon operating in the Persian Gulf. The Laser Weapons System, or LaWS, is deployed on the USS Ponce transport ship.
A live test firing of the weapon was recently carried out for Cable News Network (CNN). In the latest test, a drone aircraft was launched from the ship and then shot down by the laser. 
Lieutenant Cale Hughes is a laser weapons expert on the USS Ponce. He told CNN that because the weapon operates at the speed of light, it can immediately hit and destroy a target. This is about 50,000 times faster than an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM.
“We don't worry about wind, we don't worry about range, we don't worry about anything else,” Hughes said. “We're able to engage the targets at the speed of light.”
The technology is also called “directed energy.” The laser contains large amounts of photons that shoot intense energy.  It destroys its targets with fire and heat thousands of degrees in temperature.
The system is powered by electricity. It costs much less to build and operate than other weapons. The Navy said the cost of a single laser shot is about one dollar.
Captain Christopher Wells said the laser weapon is far more exact than most systems.
Inez Kelly is an advisor with the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. She says the laser's exactness results in less damage and could reduce the number of human deaths and injuries during war.
“If you’re looking at a boat coming in over the water, you can target exactly the engine and take out exactly the engine, and not necessarily damage anything else,” she told CNN.
Military officials have tested the ship-based weapon against boats and small aircraft. The Navy says the system has performed well against drones, which military forces are increasingly using around the world.
The Navy has said it plans to deploy laser weapons to additional ships by the early 2020s. It is also developing laser technology to be used against more powerful weapons, such as missiles.
Military contractor Lockheed Martin is currently developing laser technology to protect against possible attacks by missiles and drones. The company is working on a 60-kilowatt system combining multiple lasers to form a “high power weapon beam.”
This system could protect against an attack by many drones – or even missiles - at the same time. Lasers can be an effective defense against such an attack because the system is not easily destroyed as long as it has power, the company says. 
“The laser weapon system can fire over and over, essentially creating an unlimited magazine of “bullets,” says a description on Lockheed Martin’s website.
In January, Britain confirmed its military had signed a $39 million deal with European defense companies to build a prototype laser weapon.
British military officials said the Dragonfire system will not be developed to be used against any single target. Instead, it will be tested to see how well it can identify and follow a mix of targets in many different environments and situations. 
I’m Bryan Lynn.
 
Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on a report from CNN and other sources. Caty Weaver was the editor.
We want to hear from you. Do you think laser weapons should be used for military purposes? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
 
laser – n. strong, focused line of light or energy
drone – n. small flying machine flown remotely by a pilot
range – n. a specified distance
engage – v. start an action against someone or something
beam – n. line of light or energy
magazine – n. part of a gun that holds bullets
prototype – n. original or first model of something from which others are developed or made
 (2017/07/20 07:00)

 
This is What’s Trending Today.
It turns out the warming climate is good for something.
The children of Marcelin and Francine Dumoulin of Switzerland finally might find out what happened to their parents 75 years ago.
One daughter, 79-year-old Marceline Udry-Dumuolin, says her parents left their house to milk their cows one day in 1942. But, she says they did not return.
The family lived high in the mountains, at an elevation of about 2600 meters. People from nearby villages searched for the man and woman for over two months. But the search was unsuccessful.
Many people believed the couple fell into a crevasse, or a deep divide in the land.
Young Marceline and her five siblings went to live with other families. She said she and her brothers and sisters spent their entire lives looking for their parents so they could have a proper funeral.
Now, people who work for a company that operates ski lifts may have found the Dumoulins in melting ice. An employee was doing work on one of the lifts last week when he says he saw something strange.
He found two bodies, a man and a woman, close together in the Tsanfleuron glacier. They were wearing clothing from the 1940s and had items like a backpack and food container.
Police said they will do a DNA comparison to find out for sure if the bodies are the missing Doumoulins.
The director of the ski lift company said the bodies were “perfectly preserved.”
Many people around the world reacted to the news.
One Twitter user, Amber, wrote: “Wow! This now ends the agony of the family left wondering how/where the couple disappeared.”
The newspaper Le Matin reported that daughter Marceline said “this news calms me deeply.” She also said if the bodies turn out to be those of her parents, she will not wear black to their funeral.
She said, “I think white will be more appropriate. This represents hope, which I have never lost."
And that’s What’s Trending Today.
I’m Dan Friedell.
Dan Friedell wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
Do you think the bodies are the missing parents? We want to know. Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
 
________________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
 
sibling – n. a brother or sister
proper – adj. correct according to social rules
agony – n. extreme mental or physical pain(2017/07/20 07:00)

 
Some Indonesians believe the country would be better off if single people stopped wasting time on dating.
Writer La Ode Munafar started a group called Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran, or Indonesia Without Courtship, about two years ago.
He and his group say Indonesians spend too much time and energy on trying to find the perfect mate. They want young people to stop looking around for such a person, and go straight to marriage.
When asked why he started the group, Munafar said, “I was concerned about the younger generation, who are victims of the doomed culture of courtships.”
Munafar is married. A native of Southeast Sulawesi, the 26-year-old now lives in Yogyakarta on the island of Java.
His website says he has written 60 books since the age of 20. He also directs a “quick-write” training program. It promises that students will be able to write a book with only eight hours of training.
His group, Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran, has received over 200,000 likes on Facebook and over 300,000 Instagram followers. Its social media posts are often related to Islam. Many have messages critical of dating and photographs of women wearing head coverings.
The social movement has been gaining popularity. Its popularity has increased concerns about child marriage in the country. Depending on the province, between 14 and 35 percent of Indonesian girls get married before the age of 18, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). 
Some children’s activists are worried that the movement will lead to more child marriages. Indonesia is one of the top 10 countries with the largest number of child brides.
With permission from their parents, Indonesian girls can legally marry at age 16, but boys must wait until they are 19. Children younger than 16 can get married secretly. Nikah siri is a secret marriage carried out under Islamic law. These marriages are not registered with the government.
Emilie Minnick is a child protection specialist at UNICEF Indonesia. She said that when two people are married through nikah siri, it is easy to make the marriage official.
She said many child marriages take place because people use forged identification documents. Those documents often list the wrong ages.
Minnick said girls who marry before they turn 18 are six times less likely to finish secondary education than those who marry after they turn 18. She said those numbers come from Indonesia’s Central Bureau of Statistics.
She added that problems during pregnancy and childbirth are the second leading cause of death for girls between the ages of 15 and 19 worldwide.
Poverty is a big issue when looking at child marriages, Minnick said. Indonesian girls are four times more likely to be married before 18 if they are poor.
Cultural pressure is not the only reason for more child marriages. Poverty and a lack of social services are other possible reasons.
The anti-dating movement appears to be a product of Indonesia’s cultural and religious environment. The founder of Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran told VOA that his group offers advice to concerned individuals and holds discussions in WhatsApp groups. It also broadcasts relationship advice on social media and has launched online campaigns like #TolakValentineDay. The campaign urges Indonesians to reject Valentine’s Day, the traditional holiday for lovers.
"Dating only wastes time, energy and money for a moment's pleasure," said Munafar. "It's not for serious relationships or building a house."
The group suggests unmarried people try ta’aruf, an Islamic cultural tradition, instead of dating. Ta’aruf is a way of getting to know a future husband or wife through family members.
Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran is not the only anti-dating group in the country. Accounts such as @nikahasik and @muliatanpapacaran praise the value of Islamic marriages. Nikah Asik means “cool marriage” and Mulia Tanpa Pacaran means “nobility without dating.”
Indonesian law makers and law enforcement have also tried to fight dating. In parts of West Java, security cameras are used to watch social interactions between men and women.
Last year, conservative politicians proposed banning all extramarital sex. The nation’s highest court has yet to rule on the measure.
I’m Mario Ritter.
And I’m Olivia Liu.
Olivia Liu adapted this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
 
date – v. to go out with someone in hopes of developing a love relationship
courtships – n. the activities that could lead to marriage
doomed – adj. of or related to an unhappy ending
post – n. a message that is published on social media
bride – n. a woman who has just married
forged – adj. of or related to a copy, something that is not the real thing
online – adj. connected to a computer or telecommunications system
nobility – adj. great admirable qualities
extramarital – adj. sexual or romantic relations between a married person and someone who is not that person’s husband or wife
We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.(2017/07/20 07:00)