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

I'm Brian Lynn.

I'm Anna Mateo.

This program is made for English learners, so we speak a bit slower, and we use words and sentences especially written for people learning English.

Here are the stories we have for you on today's program.

Andrew Smith answers another question from one of our listeners in Ask a Teacher.

On words in their stories, we ask the question, what does it mean to hit pay dirt?

I will bring you that story later in the program. And we will end the

program with American Stories. This week, we bring you the purloined letter, a story by Edgar

Alan Poe. We hope you enjoy. But first, my co-host, Brian Lynn, brings us this report.

Technology Company Microsoft is working with the Roman Catholic Church to create a detailed digital version of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

The project aims to give people a new way to experience the famous building, which sits in the Catholic Church's spiritual and administrative center

in Rome. Roman Catholic leaders recently joined Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, to present

the new digital creation to the public.

The official launch of the system has been set for December 1st.

It will permit individuals to explore St. Peter's Basilica online

and provide interactive experiences for all visitors to the Vatican.

The effort involved drones flying around the empty basilica for four weeks to capture images of all parts of the building.

The drones, equipped with many cameras and lasers,

took more than 400,000 high-quality pictures.

The process used artificial intelligence, AI methods, to create a complete 3D copy of the Basilica.

One goal of the project was to provide a way for anyone in the world to have the chance to visit the church and learn about its history.

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