Vocabulary review from: Erdogan and Turkish police.....

This vocabulary review comes from this entry:

http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/06/erdogan-and-turkish-police-attack.html

Please review the vocabulary from that entry before attempting this exercise.

Answers are below the exercise.

Words to be used:

objective, disgusted, to topple, authoritarian,
makeshift, to vow, to storm, a concession,
to erect, to spark, intervention, a riot,


1)  The American Revolution was started because it was felt that Kind George III had adopted a too _________________ approach to ruling the North American colonies.  For instance, the colonists did not have any chance to represent themselves in the English Parliament.

2)  Is there an _______________ newspaper in New York City?  No.  Each newspaper seems to have some bias (prejudice) toward a political party.  Can a newspaper exist which does not favor one political ideology over another? 

3)  Political authorities should always be careful in regard to how they deal with protesters.  If they allow the protesters to make their point peacefully, everything will be ok.  But if the police overreact and attack the protesters, a _____________ will likely break out.

4)  Syrian 'rebels' recently tortured and killed a teenage boy for religious reasons.  This is why I am ______________ that the president of the United States will now be giving weapons to these rebels. (A rebel group is a group that wants to overthrow a government and establish a new government.)

5)  The world has become more than disgusted with the constant attempts at _____________ which the United States government makes.  It seems that regardless of who the president is, the US government wants to get involved in the affairs of every possible foreign government.

6)  During the Cold War it was feared that one little incident might __________ a nuclear war.  Therefore, diplomacy between the US and USSR (Russia) was critical at that time.

7)  Although George W. Bush claimed that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction, there were, obviously, other reasons as to why he wanted to ______________ that government.  Many people feel he wanted to gain access to more oil for his father's business friends.

8)  When gorillas (big apes) want to sleep, they make ______________ beds for themselves out of many tree branches and leaves.

9)  Although President Obama _________ to eliminate the illegal prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where various men captured in Afghanistan have been held without any court proceedings for many years, he did not do this.

10)  Many new buildings are being ___________ in New York City, but they are for wealthy individuals who want to move here and live here.  There is very little effort to create affordable housing for the poor or middle class.

11)  Thankfully the New York City police never ______________ Zuccoti Park, where the Occupy Wall Street protesters were.  They found another way to eliminate the protests without using violence.  Now Occupy Wall Street seems to be a dead movement, but at least people were not killed or harmed.

12)  In order for an immigration law to be passed in the USA, both political parties will have to make _________________.  Only by compromising can this law be passed.







Answers:

1. authoritarian
2. objective
3. riot
4. disgusted
5. intervention
6. spark
7. topple
8. makeshift
9. vowed
10. erected
11. stormed
12. concessions

Vocabulary Exercise Based On: Some NY School Children Were Forced To Do An Exercise Based on A Slave-Owner's Perspective

The posting from which these vocabulary words were taken is here (you can find the definitions of the words here): http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/02/some-new-york-school-children-were.html


Words to be used (answers are below the exercise):

to be based on something, a curriculum, common sense
to be appalled by something, inappropriate, nonchalant
to be ticked off by something, a whistleblower, to haggle over

{By the way: to be ticked off by something means you are a little upset. To be appalled by something means you are shocked.}

Exercise:

In some foreign countries there are no price tags on products sold in markets.  People are expected to ________________ the price of the item.  In America, most people dislike this type of negotiation - they want to see a price tag and will either accept or reject that final offer.

In the 1800s a man named Horace Mann worked hard to create a public school system in the United States.  He thought this would help ensure equality of opportunity for everyone.  A central aspect of his public school system idea was to have a uniform _____________, or, in other words, to make sure that every child in the system studied the same educational materials. (uniform means 'the same')

By the expression on Bob's face I could see that he had been _______________ by someone of something.  It turned out that a clerk at a Starbucks had been rude to him and he was a little upset.

Although it is _______________ that a person should carry an umbrella when it rains, Bob just hated carrying an umbrella. Therefore, the last time it rained he got soaked and caught a cold.

Many visitors to New York City are _________________ how dirty and disgusting the subway system is.  It is a very old and ugly system that often runs unpredictably.

The current economic policies that the Obama administration is using seem to be ___________________ the suggestions made by John Maynard Keynes to president Roosevelt in the 1930s.

Although women have gained a great deal of equality to men in America, they are still sometimes subjected to ________________ comments about their beauty or sexiness by male workers.  This is sometimes called 'sexual harassment' in America.

Often when an honest person sees something wrong and complains about it, the wrongdoer will try to get revenge against the ___________________.  There are now laws in America that attempt to protect these concerned and honest people from the reprisals (revenge) of those who are guilty.

Bob was an easy-going guy who smiled a lot and who was quite friendly.  Yet, despite his apparently _______________ attitude, he was a hard worker who never missed a deadline.


Answers are below:







Answers:

1. haggle over
2. curriculum
3. ticked off
4. common sense
5. appalled by
6. based on
7. inappropriate
8. whistleblower
9. nonchalant

Vocabulary Exercise for "Where Are America's Poor People Going?"

The vocabulary words were taken from this posting (definitions of the words can be found here): http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/where-are-americas-poor-going.html

Words to be used:

a suburb, ill-equipped, to handle
a surge, to plummet, segregated
integrated, to skyrocket, a voucher

Exercise (answers are below):

1) During the Great Depression, which began in 1929, unemployment in America ________________ from 6% to 25%.

2)  In the 1970s and 1980s, many upper middle class families decided to move to the _______________ because the cities were considered too dangerous.  Now the trend is reversing and people from the upper middle class are flooding the cities of America.

3)  In order to try to end the Iraq War, George Bush initiated (started) a troop ___________.  He sent a huge number of new soldiers to Iraq.  Apparently the strategy worked and now US soldiers have been steadily leaving Iraq.

4)  The City of New York seemed ________________ for the terrorist attack on 9/11/2001.  For instance, there was an emergency center which the city had created for a potential disaster, but the center was located at the World Trade Center Building and was made useless by the attack.

5)  There is a saying in America:  The people of the USA are never more segregated than on Sunday.  This means that in America there are very few racially _______________ churches.  Many Christian churches are either filled with all white or all black worshippers.

6) Many conservative politicians believe that poor families should be given school ______________. So instead of relying on the public school system, poor parents can use this system to pay tuition at private schools. 

7)  A good manager knows how to ______________ his staff fairly. 

8)  During the early 2000s, many internet stocks rose very quickly but then suddenly they all seemed to _______________ at the same time.  It turns out they were not worth as much money as investors had thought.

9)  The difference between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. was that Malcolm X did not trust the dominant white culture and wished for blacks to remain _________________ from whites.  He did not think it was a good idea for the races to mix.

Answers are below:






Answers:

1) skyrocketed
2) suburbs
3) surge
4) ill-equipped
5) integrated
6) vouchers
7) handle
8) plummet
9) segregated
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If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
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Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P

Links:
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/
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http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.

Vocabulary Review from "North Korea" Article

Here's a vocabulary review exercise from this previous article:
http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/02/north-korea-creates-video-of-new-york.html
Please review the vocabulary words at this link before doing the exercise.

Words to be used (two words are used twice):

to stem from, a sanction, hostility
to retaliate, imminent, a double-standard
to ban, billowing, to resemble
apparent, a PR stunt, provocative

Exercise:

1)  These days, many parents are concerned because performers like Lady Gaga and Rhianna try to make their songs and music videos as sexually _______________ as possible, to draw attention to themselves and to sell their music. This sends the wrong message to young people about women and interpersonal relationships. 

2)  Although there will probably be immigration reform (changes) in the USA, the changes are not ________________.  The new laws will probably not be passed until next year and it will take some time before the laws can take effect.

3)  The mayor of New York City tried passing a law making it illegal for fast-food establishments (like McDonalds) to sell very large containers of soda.  This _____________ of large soft drinks, however, was ruled "unconstitutional" by a judge (the judge decided that it is a person's right to drink whatever he wants to drink).

4)  The novels of Dostoyevsky are among the most _______________ novels ever written.  They cause you to think, feel a variety of emotions and even become angry at times. 

5)  The current world financial crisis _________________ a terrible decision by the US Congress to force banks in the USA to loan money to people who had bad credit histories.  Obviously these people were not be able to pay back their loans, and so they defaulted (were officially not able to pay the loans back) and banks lost billions of dollars.

6)  Many of the world's great religions teach that if a person harms us, we should not __________________.

7)  The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is one of the largest parades in the world and, of course, takes place on the American holiday of Thanksgiving each year.  Tens of millions of Americans watch this parade on TV and about a million people show up in downtown Manhattan to see it.  Therefore, it is a huge ________________ stunt by Macy's, which generates lots of publicity and new customers.

8)  Don't you think the world should be concerned about whether the nation of Iran acquires nuclear weapons?  Most people would think so, but how can we stop that government from doing so?  Israel would like to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, but the Obama administration prefers to use economic ________________.

9)  On 9/11/2001, I was teaching in the Bronx.  Indeed, The Bronx is quite far from where the World Trade Center attacks occurred.  Yet, even from the Bronx I could the smoke ________________ up into the sky from lower Manhattan on that day.

10)  There was an immense (strong) feeling of ______________ between the US and Soviet governments during the Cold War (1945 to 1989), but, thankfully, another World War in Europe did not occur.

11)  The pain in Bob's back ______________ an accident he had had 3 years ago.

12)  In some countries, young men are required to do military service.  Many of these young men feel that there is a _______________ involved in this situation.  Women and men might have equal rights in their country, but only the men are expected to make a two year sacrifice for their society.

13)  Three women had inexplicably (without explanation) disappeared in the city of Cleveland 10 years ago.  It suddenly became ______________, however, that these women had been kidnapped (captured) and held as prisoners in a man's house.  This was realized one day when one woman was able to scream for help, and was heard by a neighbor who took action to save her and the others.

14)  Bob's brother looks more like his father while Bob tends to _____________ his mother more.


Answers are way below:





Keeping going down please:




Father, please:




OK, here they are:


Answers:


1) provocative
2) imminent
3) ban
4) provocative
5) stems from
6) retaliate
7) PR stunt (here's a good web site of PR stunts: http://www.taylorherring.com/blog/index.php/tag/top-50-pr-stunts/
(the peanut protest is my favorite!!!!! so creative!)
8) sanctions
9) billowing
10) hostility
11)  stemmed from
12) double standard
13) apparent
14) resemble