The Syrian refugee situation reminds some people of the Rwanda tragedy of the 1990s.

Here is a brief article about the human suffering due to the civil war in Syria.

This civil war seems to be between the dictator of Syria (and his army) and an army of "Islamists" who wish to establish a religiously based government.

To me it seems as if this war is being supported by both Russia and the USA, and neither Russia nor the USA is taking in any of the refugees who are being created by this situation.

The article:

http://www.euronews.com/2013/07/16/un-syrian-conflict-is-worst-humanitarian-crisis-in-nearly-20-years-/

Vocabulary to help you read the article:

a tragedy - this is a situation, usually, when an innocent person dies or people die.

a civil war - this is generally a war within one country which is fought by groups with different ideologies (beliefs).  A civil war can also be due to differing ethnic groups within a country. An ethnic group is a group of people who identify themselves differently from other groups based on the language they speak or the type of  family groups they come from, for instance: Serbians are ethnically different from Bosnians.  If a person is from China, her race would be Asian, but her ethnicity would be Chinese. I was born in the USA, as was my father, but I would be considered white and German-American.

a dictator - a leader who does not allow the people of a country to experience freedom.

a crisis - this usually means a very serious if not desperate situation that requires action immediately.

to displace millions - to force millions of people to leave their home country and become refugees in another country.

seeking refuge - seeking safety in a foreign country

fled - perfect tense of 'to flee' ...flee, fled, fled. To flee means to escape.

an outflow - a pouring out of people; a situation in which huge numbers of people leave a country

to escalate - to get worse; escalators are found in many shopping malls and buildings - you can stand on the moving stairs of an escalator and ascend up or descend down

a frightening rate - the rate is increasing so rapidly it is scaring some people at the UN and in various governments.

The Rwandan situation - this was a war between two 'tribes' in Rwanda in the 1990s.  In that situation the world merely ignored the situation until one tribe began to engage in acts of genocide against the other tribe (one tribe tried to kill every member of the other tribe).

About genocide in Rwanda: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm

on their soil - another way of saying 'in their countries'

aggravated - made worse

aggravated by the host summer weather - I think this is a typing mistake and it should be: hot summer weather.

stressing during Ramadan - this is a Muslim holiday in which people are supposed to 'fast' every day (to avoid eating) for 40 days from sunrise to sundown.  The holiday makes the situation more stressful for some people.

the generosity comes at a heavy price - because they are allowing people to come into their countries, they are being forced to spend a lot of money.

urgent - if something is urgent, it should eb taken care of immediately

to alleviate s/t - to make something better; alleviate is often used with the word suffering.  In order to alleviate the suffering of the patient, the doctor gave him some pain medication.

Vocabulary Review for "Taiwan and The Philippines"

This vocabulary review is from this article:
http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/tension-between-taiwan-and-philippines.html
Please review the vocabulary at this link before doing the exercise.

Words to be used:

a dispute, a rift, to oscillate,
to implement,  compensation, sloppy
tension, to impose sanctions, aviation

Exercise:

1) Although Howard Hughes was a movie producer, he became famous because of his feats (amazing actions) in the field of ______________.  For instance, he built one of the largest airplanes ever: The Spruce Goose.

2) Although Japan and Korean are allies and normally have friendly relations, the dispute over the island the Koreans call Dokdo and the Japanese call Takeshima has created a ___________ in relations between the two countries.

3)  If a person does a job for an employer, he/she is certainly entitled to a fair amount of ________________.

4) Scientists are still _____________ whether or not global warming is a fact or not with many conservative politicians.  The politicians claim that changes in global temperature are natural and are not due to carbon emissions.

5)  I used to like Bob, until I learned that he had been gossiping about me.  He knows that I know that he was gossiping, so now, every time I see him, there is a great amount of ______________ between us.

6) Joe couldn't make up his made. He kept ____________ between going back to graduate school and staying at a job he didn't like.

7) The current educational strategy to help poorer students do as well as wealthier students has not worked. It is time we ____________ a new policy in which we helped lower income families make more money to provide their children with better lives, and then better educations.

8)  Bob was a genius.  But, when Bob showed up for his job interview, he looked really ___________. His suit was wrinkled, there was a stain on his tie and the employer did not want to hire someone who looked like a slob (a slob is a messy, dirty person).

9) Whenever North Korea does something terrible, the USA tries to __________________ against North Korea in the United Nations.  Unfortunately, this has not changed the attitude of the government there.

Answers are below:




Keep going down please"





Farther down:



Here they are:


The answers:


1. aviation
2. rift
3. compensation
4. disputing
5. tension
6. oscillating
7  implemented
8. sloppy
9. impose sanctions
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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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Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
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.

Polio Workers Killed In Pakistan

Polio is called the "plague of development."  Ironically, in "under-developed" countries very young children are often exposed to the virus at very early ages and develop immunity for the rest of their lives.  In "developed" countries, in the past, very young children were not exposed naturally to the virus and often contracted the disease later in life.  A US president, Franklin Roosevelt, had polio.  Now, however, immunization can help to eradicate the disease in every country.

The big problem in Pakistan is that the United States is no longer trusted in that country and the vaccinations are suspected to be a part of a plot by America to harm the people there.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/20/16039942-rumors-of-plot-to-sterilize-muslims-with-polio-vaccine-spark-killings-in-pakistan

1)  Given the fact that the US military has been in that part of the world for too long, can you understand why some Pakistani people are rejecting the vaccines from America?

2) What can be done to help immunize the children of Pakistan, even though the USA is no longer trusted in that country?

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Yes, I'm the guy who caused the "scandal" in Asia two years ago :P http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

Yes, I'm also the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS