Welcome to an excellent, FREE resource to improve your English! I'm Daniel Gauss - MA Teachers College at Columbia University - at danielgauss31@gmail.com. If you add me at https://www.facebook.com/dgauss3 you'll get updates to this blog. (Google + works too.)
One thing I like about writing this blog is that I often find good examples of how American values differ from other values of other societies around the world. The Chinese government, for example, certainly does not value "American style" democracy. Indeed, there are many problems with the electoral and political system in the USA that the Chinese government would like to avoid. So the values in China would seem to reflect a desire to avoid the conflicts that a two party political system can cause - as is evident in the USA. Of course there are problems with a one-party system as well, but this is the system that is in place in China currently and the government wants to make changes within this system instead of abandoning it and replacing it with 'democracy'. Hong Kong used to be an English colony. The city was literally stolen from China by England at the end of the Opium War in the middle 1800s. But Hong Kong was never a democracy under England - the Queen appointed leaders.. Yet, many people in Hong Kong now suddenly oppose any attempts by the Chinese government to control the way things work in Hong Kong. Indeed, when Hong Kong was absorbed into China, the Chinese government seemed very tolerant and did not seem to interfere much in the life of the people there. Now, however, Beijing is trying harder to integrate Hong Kong more into the overall Chinese system (Beijing is trying to make the way life in Hong Kong more similar to the way life in China is in general).
Occupy Central - this is a group of people who believe in democracy in Hong Kong. They believe Hong Kong should be separate from the government in Beijing. a ruling - a decision by thos ein authority in the government vowed - promised legislature - the group that makes the laws to nominate - to offer names for an election; a nominating committee is a group that will offer names for an election an activist - someone who works to fight against or for something to protest - when a group publicly expresses anger over some type of issue unanimously - everyone agreed the worst-case scenario - the worst thing that could have happened pan-democratic - this is a political group that supports total democracy in Hong Kong chaotic - wild, unorganized meddling - interfering, disturbing rallies - protests, public gatherings to express disapproval in regard to an issue
If you are gay and 'closeted' or 'in the closet' it means that you do not want others to know that you are gay. Two people have come forward now to state that Kim Jong Un is gay. The latest person was a university student with KJU and served in the North Korean military. This person has escaped from North Korea and is seeking asylum in South Korea. (Asylum is given to a person who escapes a country because he is afraid of being harmed - the USA grants asylum to lots of people who escape countries where they might be harmed by their own governments.)
to be puzzled - to be confused, to be unable to clearly understand something a refugee - someone who runs away from his country because he is afraid of being harmed controversial - if someone is controversial this means that people have strong emotions or feelings about the person heterosexual - when a man loves a woman and vice versa intimate - close dictator - when one person controls an entire society virtually - in this case if he was virtually KJU's sex slave he was nearly or almost completely KJU's sex slave a praetorian guard - a group of body guards that used to guard the Roman emperor the demilitarized zone - the area between North and South Korea where meetings are held. miraculously - a miracle is an event which is difficult or impossible to do manifested - shown degenerated - if something degenerates, it gets worse a fantasy - a type of imagined situation, a sort of dream or secret desire degrading - if something is degrading it makes a person feel ashamed or humiliated to loathe - to hate a playmate - someone who plays with another person - the implication here is that this Japanese man was a 'sexual' playmate
presents proofs - should be presents proof (proof is non-counntable)
'anti' means against. Anti-democratic action is action meant to harm or destroy a democracy. The president of Ukraine has eliminated the Ukrainian parliament (the group of people who make the laws in Ukraine). Indeed, he even stated that he has 'dissolved' (removed, eliminated) the Ukrainian parliament because there are members of the parliament who support those in eastern Ukraine who do not want to be a country that is controlled by the government in Kiev, Ukraine. These are clearly the actions of a dictator - a single person who controls all aspects of a government. Because there are people in the parliament who disagree with him, he has thrown them out and they will be replaced by people who agree with the new dictator of Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko. The current government of Ukraine was established by violent protests that overthrew an elected president and now Poroshenko is openly taking the actions of a dictator. It is a disgrace that the US government supports this kind of nonsense.
Here is an article about the latest illegal and anti-democratic actions in Ukraine:
to dissolve s/t - if you dissolve something you usually drop it into water and it slowly disappears. In this case, to dissolve a parliament means to eliminate it, get rid of it, remove it. an insurgency - this is a group of people who reject the government of their area and fight for their freedom from it snap elections - I am assuming 'snap' elections mean 'quick' elections. In this case they probably also mean 'dishonest' elections to prefigure - if something prefigures something else, it comes before something else coalition - group militants-separatists - these are the people who do not want to live under the Ukrainian government in Kiev rebels - those who fight against what they feel is wrong a convoy - a group of trucks or other vehicles stalling tactics - a strategy to delay something from happening shelling - when an army shoots large explosive devices into a city to destroy buildings and kill people
Moldova is often classified as the 'poorest' country in Europe. It's a small country of only a few million people and it is between Romania and Ukraine. Lately, due to the troubles between the USA and Russia, Moldova has been suffering a great deal. Very little is being written about this country in the US press since the country does not seem to be useful to the US government. Yet, apparently, the current government of Moldova wants to have closer ties to western Europe and apparently Russia is punishing Moldova with a boycott of some of its fruit and vegetable produce. (a boycott is when someone or group or some country or group of countries refuses to buy products from a company or country). From what I have been able to tell, many people in Moldova are turning against the government because they do not feel it has acted in the interests of its people by pursuing a closer relationship with western Europe. It's a shame that a ridiculous disagreement between the USA and Russia is hurting a country like Moldova. When the "Cold War" ended in 1989 everyone thought this would lead to a period of greater peace and harmony throughout Europe. It's such a shame that politicians in the USA, Europe and Russia could not act with honesty and integrity (ethics, morals, goodness) to bring nations and peoples closer together.
Here is an article from the Guardian about Moldova:
Vocabulary to help you understand the article about Moldova:
a ban - if something is banned, people in a given area or society cannot buy or use it. i.e. Cigarettes are now banned in nightclubs in New York City. an embargo - this is more formal than a boycott. An embargo is when one country bans something from another country. begin to bite - begin to hurt a raft of measures - a raft is a small structure that can be made to float small distances. A 'measure' is, in this case, a plan of action. I am guessing that a 'raft' of 'measures' means plans of action meant to help the Moldovan economy function despite the harm the Russian embargo is causing. a crop - a fruit or vegetable is grown as a 'crop' - this is the whole group of a certain type of fruit or vegetable. So a crop of grapes may include thousands of bunches of grapes. a new market - a new place to0 have his produce bought. fuming - to be very angry scrapped - got rid of, ended duty-free exemptions - an exemption is an exception. So it means Russia charged duty fees (taxes) on imports, but allowed Moldova to send its goods to Russia without paying these taxes. retaliation - revenge; if someone hurts you, you might hurt someone back as retaliation encroaching on - trespassing on, crossing a line or boundary that should not have been crossed, going where one shouldn't go former Soviet countries - countries that used to be controlled by Russia when Russia was a communist country called the Soviet Union. government sponsored measures - actions brought about by the government to promote - to encourage or increase a largely symbolic farmer's market - it is largely symbolic because it isn't having any real effect. A farmer's market is usually a place in a city where people can buy fresh produce. a publicity stunt - something silly or crazy which is done to bring more attention to a product or issue or company etc. pledged - promised compensation - money lost revenue - lost money state-subsidized - the government pays for it slated to - scheduled to allocated - set aside a think-tank - a place where experts get together to talk about different policies and to make recommendations to companies and governments the incumbent government - the current government protests - when groups of people gather publicly to express their anger over policies or actions a convoy - this is usually a long line of cars or trucks their financial plight - their financial troubles to scrap - to end discontent - unhappiness, dissatisfaction minimal - hardly anything, the least possible pesticides - chemicals to kill the bugs which eat plants autonomous region - there seems to be a region of Moldova which does not agree with the current government and it is now independent of Moldova and is supported by Russia. keeping the lid on something - keeping something from getting worse may hinge on - may depend on, may be base don a quota - an amount which has to be reached; in this case a certain amount of goods from Moldova have to be bought not holding their breath - this means something will not happen soon; there is an expre4ssion: When do you think this will happen? Well, don't hold your breath! to put the squeeze on someone - to make things difficult for someone a glut - when there is too much of something poses a hurdle - presents a problem presents an obstacle ------------------------------------- If you are in New York City and need a good English teacher, please consider me. :) http://djg51qu.wix.com/gauss
How did Ukraine become such a mess? (a 'mess' is a dirty, disorderly, chaotic situation) Viktor Yanukovych was elected president of Ukraine in 2010. In 2013 he signed an economic agreement with Vladimir Putin of Russia that would have brought $15 billion of badly needed money to the Ukrainian economy. It is also important for Ukraine to maintain a good relationship with Russia because the two countries are neighbors and Ukraine receives natural gas from Russia. Indeed, traditionally Ukraine has not paid its gas payments in a prompt (timely) manner and so a good relationship with Russia meant, under Yanukovych, that gas was continually supplied even though Ukraine was in debt to Russia. Although there were claims that Yanukovych was 'corrupt', he had been fairly elected and there was going to be another election within a year. It would have been possible for someone else to be peacefully and fairly elected to replace him. ('corrupt' means dishonest - a corrupt politician often makes money illegally through his political and business connections) Unbelievably, individuals who supported a rival political party began to protest this economic agreement between Ukraine and Russia. (a 'rival' political party is a party or organization that is against another political party or organization - a 'protest' is when a group of people get together publicly to demonstrate that they are unhappy with some policy or decision). The protests become more and more violent as the USA and EU seemed to support this anti-democratic action ('anti' means against - the protests became more violent and became designed to overthrow or get rid of the elected president).
(a 'peaceful' Ukrainian protester in Kiev)
Indeed, the rival political party (the other political organization which wanted power) encouraged more and more violent protests, hoping to get rid of Yanukovych before the next elections. They created a huge amount of destruction in Kiev and acted in an undemocratic and violent manner. Ultimately Yanukovych was forced to leave Ukraine and new elections were held in which a very wealthy and pro-western businessman was elected President. ('pro' western means he favors the west over Russia). This new president, Poroshenko, made all of his money making and selling chocolate. So of course he should be a perfect president (that's sarcasm - of course this guy is not qualified to lead a country, but then again few leaders are really qualified - Obama certainly was never qualified.) So the people of Ukraine got rid of (eliminated) one very wealthy guy (a guy with a lot of money) and they elected another very wealthy guy. If so many people were not suffering I would be laughing my butt off right now. Yet, people in the eastern part of Ukraine no longer want to be a part of a unified (whole) Ukrainian nation and the current president is killing more and more civilians in a civil war in which organized groups of eastern Ukrainians are fighting (just as the protesters in Kiev did) against a government they don't like. Among other things, this has lead to the tragedy of a commercial airplane being shot down. Due to the fact many people in Ukraine refused to choose the road of peaceful change, hundreds of innocent people died in a horrible plane crash and hundreds of innocent people die each day. Basically, because a rival political party encouraged violent protests, and because the USA and EU supported this anti-democratic violence, hundreds of innocent people are being killed every day.
Here you see the 'peaceful' Ukrainian protesters in Kiev literally attempting to burn police officers to death:
An article about the military attacks against civilians in eastern Ukraine:
Vocabulary from the article: a rebel or a rebel city - a rebel is a person who does not obey or do what he/she is supposed to do. Politically a rebel is often someone or some group that opposes the dominant or stronger government of a territory. In the US Civil War the southern states were the rebellious or rebel states. A rebel city is a city that refuses to do what the central government wants it to do. on the verge of - close to; if something is on the verge of happening, it will probably happen soon. i.e. We are on the verge of success! It could happen any day now! a humanitarian catastrophe - a catastrophe is when something horrible happens. If a building collapses and many people die, that is a catastrophe. A humanitarian catastrophe means that many innocent people will probably die. insurgent stronghold - insurgents are those who fight against a government which they feel is not legitimate (lawful or legal). Insurgents are rebels. A stronghold is a place which a military group can defend well. a mayor - the leader of a city a siege - when a military group completely surrounds a city and refuses to let any food or water get inside. That military group also tries to get the city to surrender or they attempt to invade (forcefully enter) the city. the hub - a hub usually means a central location but in this case it means a place where many people live and work shelling - shells are large explosive things that are shot out of cannons so that lots of people will be killed. To shell a city means to shoot many of these huge explosive devices into a city to kill people.
scores of civilians - a score is 12, so scores means 'lots' - civilians are non-army people, just normal people to tighten your grip on something - to gain greater control of something to hunker down somewhere - to get comfortable somewhere and to kind of dig in at a specific place blockade - when a city is surrounded and no food or supplies can get in incessant - not ending, continuous brutal - not merciful, not gentle, very harsh, very severe, horrible and cruel severed - cut in half, cut, interrupted overstretched - there is not enough, so they are stretching what they have...only providing a little bit instead of a lot butchers - these are folks who kill animals and sell the parts as food halted - stopped pensions - money a person gets after he stops working; money a person gets after he retires to have fled - to have run to or escaped to
