Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America.

I'm Katie Weaver.

And I'm Mario Ritter Jr.

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.

On today's program, Katie Weaver tells about atomic bomb survivors in Japan who support nuclear disarmament.

Andrew Smith and I present a shorter version of a story about early Americans.

We welcome the new year with advice on setting learning goals.

Then the lesson of the day.

But first,

Survivors of the U.S.

atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

said receiving a Nobel Peace Prize

has given them new energy to campaign for nuclear disarmament.

Next August will be the 80th anniversary of the two atomic bombings that ended World War II in 1945.

Tarumi Tanaka survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

He said, I felt like I needed to work even harder on what I had done so far.

Tanaka is 92 years old.

He spoke at a press conference in Tokyo on December 24th after returning from Oslo, Norway.

That is where he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for

Nihon Hedankio, the Japanese atomic bomb survivors organization earlier in the month. Tanaka is

chair of the organization.

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