Here are 12 very useful vocabulary words. As well as doing this fill-in-the-blank exercise, try to use these words meaningfully. If you can use these words, you will "keep" these words.
to thrive, a relic, to abolish
to incur, to incarcerate, to stem from
a stint, to contravene, to derive from
a resurgence, the indigent, to relent
1) The world financial crisis seems to have _______________ the financial crisis that began in the USA in 2008. At that time too many loans had been awarded to people with bad credit histories, and the loans went unpaid. Banks lost billions of dollars.
2) Although Japan had been suffering from economic problems, recently there has been a ______________ in the Japanese economy. The economy is becoming stronger and stronger.
3) Although the desert seems to be a desolate and lifeless place, many types of animal life _____________ there.
4) I used to do a lot of volunteer work for a homeless shelter in Manhattan. Each monthly volunteer _____________ would last from 7pm until 6am. Yes, the volunteers would literally sleep overnight at the shelter once per month.
5) The child kept bothering his mother to buy him a toy dinosaur. After several hours the mother _____________ and bought the child the toy.
6) Slavery was ____________ in the USA in 1863. However, African Americans have yet to attain equality of opportunity in America.
7) The ____________, in most American cities, live in the most dangerous neighborhoods with the fewest city services.
8) The last name Schmidt is ___________ from the German word for "smith."
9) The cell phone that I bought 3 years ago is already considered a ____________ compared to the latest smart phones and other electronic appliances.
10) I truly wanted to pursue a university education; therefore, I was willing to __________ whatever debt I had to in order to go to school.
11) Is it better to _____________ a murderer or execute him? Most European nations have abolished the death penalty in favor of the first option.
12) Any attempt by one country to take land obviously belonging to another country ______________ international law, by anyone's definition.
Answers are below:
Farther below...
Farther yet...
Here they are:
Answers:
1) stemmed from
2) resurgence
3) thrive
4) stint
5) relented
6) abolished
7) indigent
8) derived
9) relic
10) incur
11) incarcerate
12) contravenes
----------------------------------------
I started a pretty good art blog: http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
----------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P
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/
------------------------------------------
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Vocabulary Exercise for "Cannibalism at Jamestown"
Please test yourself on these 9 words. Please feel free to take a look at the article "Cannibalism at Jamestown" to review these vocabulary words. Answers are below the exercise.
Here is the initial posting. Please review the posting before doing the exercise: http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony.html
Words to be used:
to confirm, evidence, to figure something out
to butcher, to resort to, to be executed
a casualty, to unearth, sparingly
1) About 4,000 American soldiers were killed in the Iraq War, which started in 2003. These were not the only ______________ however. Many American soldiers were wounded and thousands and thousands of Iraqis were killed or wounded.
2) I am not sure whether I can make it to the meeting tomorrow morning. I will call you and _____________ whether I can make it, tonight.
3) Sugary soft drinks like Coca Cola can have adverse (negative) side effects if a person drinks too much of this type of beverage. However, if you drink soft drinks _______________, you should be OK.
4) Most people are very peaceful and kind, but almost everyone will ____________ violence if his/her life is threatened.
5) Recently archeologists have been able to ____________ incredible religious artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.
6) There is a lot of ______________ that North Korea sank a South Korean ship in 2010, but some people feel there is no concrete (real) proof.
7) I would really like to travel to Vietnam. I hear it is an amazing country of lovely people and beautiful scenery. I need to ________________ how I am going to get enough money to travel there, however!
8) Some animal rights activists say that if we all had to slaughter (kill) and _____________ our own food, we would all be vegetarians.
9) People who oppose capital punishment (the killing of criminals by the government) say that if you look at states in America where prisoners are ____________, you will see that this form of punishment does not lower the numbers of violent crime or murder. Indeed, in states that have capital punishment, murder rates often increase!
Answers are below:
Keep going.....
Keep going....
A little farther......
Don't stop now! Just a little more.....
Here they are:
Answers:
1) casualties
2) confirm
3) sparingly
4) resort to
5) unearth
6) evidence
7) figure out
8) butcher
9) executed
Here is the initial posting. Please review the posting before doing the exercise: http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony.html
Words to be used:
to confirm, evidence, to figure something out
to butcher, to resort to, to be executed
a casualty, to unearth, sparingly
1) About 4,000 American soldiers were killed in the Iraq War, which started in 2003. These were not the only ______________ however. Many American soldiers were wounded and thousands and thousands of Iraqis were killed or wounded.
2) I am not sure whether I can make it to the meeting tomorrow morning. I will call you and _____________ whether I can make it, tonight.
3) Sugary soft drinks like Coca Cola can have adverse (negative) side effects if a person drinks too much of this type of beverage. However, if you drink soft drinks _______________, you should be OK.
4) Most people are very peaceful and kind, but almost everyone will ____________ violence if his/her life is threatened.
5) Recently archeologists have been able to ____________ incredible religious artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.
6) There is a lot of ______________ that North Korea sank a South Korean ship in 2010, but some people feel there is no concrete (real) proof.
7) I would really like to travel to Vietnam. I hear it is an amazing country of lovely people and beautiful scenery. I need to ________________ how I am going to get enough money to travel there, however!
8) Some animal rights activists say that if we all had to slaughter (kill) and _____________ our own food, we would all be vegetarians.
9) People who oppose capital punishment (the killing of criminals by the government) say that if you look at states in America where prisoners are ____________, you will see that this form of punishment does not lower the numbers of violent crime or murder. Indeed, in states that have capital punishment, murder rates often increase!
Answers are below:
Keep going.....
Keep going....
A little farther......
Don't stop now! Just a little more.....
Here they are:
Answers:
1) casualties
2) confirm
3) sparingly
4) resort to
5) unearth
6) evidence
7) figure out
8) butcher
9) executed
Friday, May 10, 2013
Vocabulary Review - Please test yourself
I want to make sure that this site is really useful, so I took 15 highly useful words from the last 3 articles and I created a fill-in-the-blank exercise. Please try it. The answers are below the exercise.
If you have trouble doing this exercise, please go back to those articles and review the words. I promise you that this blog is an EXCELLENT resource for you, and it's free and without ads!!!!!
In fact, please recommend this blog to others, include it in your blog etc. I am really happy that many people from different countries tend to drop by and look at the articles. I honestly hope I am helping you! :) :) :) ^^ ~~~~~~
Words from which to choose:
domestic, probation, cruelty,
alleged, an ultimatum, desolate,
dilapidated, to commercialize, barbaric,
an obstacle, to intercede, to stimulate,
sluggish, prominent, to be indifferent to
Verbs can be used in various tenses etc.
1) In the morning, when I wake up, I usually feel and act a little ___________, but after I have a cup of coffee I become more energetic and active.
2) Mitt Romney ran against Barack Obama in the last US presidential race. One big __________ to his success was the belief by many Americans that he was a very rich person who did not care about others.
3) Because the young man had not committed any other previous crimes, he was just sentenced to one year of ________________. He was warned that if he committed any crimes during this period, he would be immediately thrown in jail.
4) About 20% of Americans can be classified as living in a state of poverty, yet many politicians and newspapers seem completely ________________ to their problems. Politicians never speak about the poor and newspapers never mention them.
5) The economic crisis that began in the USA in 2008 was not just a ____________ issue. This crisis has caused problems and suffering all around the world.
6) Lee Harvey Oswald was __________ to have been the lone assassin (killer) of president John Kennedy, however many people think others were involved.
7) When a person travels into neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, where most of the poorer people in that city live, he/she will see many ______________ houses which cannot be restored or repaired due to a lack of money by the inhabitants.
8) William Powers, a ______________ university president, believes that affirmative action programs are necessary to make sure that American university campuses are racially diverse. (Affirmative action is the practice of colleges giving black and Latino college applicants extra points just because they are black and Latino, so that they can compete effectively against white and Asian students)
9) Americans were shocked by the ____________ of the man in Cleveland who held three women captive in his house for 10 years. He regularly beat and abused them.
10) President Obama is currently trying to decide whether the USA should _______________ between the rebels and the government in the civil war in Syria. Most Americans do not want to get involved in that conflict, however, regardless of the suffering.
11) President Obama has issued an ____________ to president Assad of Syria. If Syria uses chemical weapons, the USA will intercede in the Syrian civil war.
12) A fast food company wanted to pay a New York City school to have advertisements in the school's cafeteria. The school, however, stated it did not want to ________________ aspects of their students' educational experience.
13) Although many parts of the American Southwest might seem _____________, their is wonderful natural beauty to be found in the deserts there.
14) Americans have debated this issue for many years: Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a ______________ action, or an action necessary to end World War II?
15) In his first four years of office, President Obama borrowed a great deal of money in order to try to ________________ the American economy and create more jobs. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Answers are below.
Farther....
Farther...
Just a little farther below.......
OK< here are the answers!!!! :)
1) sluggish
2) obstacle
3) probation
4) indifferent
5) domestic
6) alleged
7) dilapidated
8) prominent
9) cruelty
10) intercede
11) ultimatum
12) commercialize
13) desolate
14) barbaric
15) stimulate
----------------------------------------
I started a pretty good art blog: http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
----------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P
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/
------------------------------------------
If you have trouble doing this exercise, please go back to those articles and review the words. I promise you that this blog is an EXCELLENT resource for you, and it's free and without ads!!!!!
In fact, please recommend this blog to others, include it in your blog etc. I am really happy that many people from different countries tend to drop by and look at the articles. I honestly hope I am helping you! :) :) :) ^^ ~~~~~~
Words from which to choose:
domestic, probation, cruelty,
alleged, an ultimatum, desolate,
dilapidated, to commercialize, barbaric,
an obstacle, to intercede, to stimulate,
sluggish, prominent, to be indifferent to
Verbs can be used in various tenses etc.
1) In the morning, when I wake up, I usually feel and act a little ___________, but after I have a cup of coffee I become more energetic and active.
2) Mitt Romney ran against Barack Obama in the last US presidential race. One big __________ to his success was the belief by many Americans that he was a very rich person who did not care about others.
3) Because the young man had not committed any other previous crimes, he was just sentenced to one year of ________________. He was warned that if he committed any crimes during this period, he would be immediately thrown in jail.
4) About 20% of Americans can be classified as living in a state of poverty, yet many politicians and newspapers seem completely ________________ to their problems. Politicians never speak about the poor and newspapers never mention them.
5) The economic crisis that began in the USA in 2008 was not just a ____________ issue. This crisis has caused problems and suffering all around the world.
6) Lee Harvey Oswald was __________ to have been the lone assassin (killer) of president John Kennedy, however many people think others were involved.
7) When a person travels into neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, where most of the poorer people in that city live, he/she will see many ______________ houses which cannot be restored or repaired due to a lack of money by the inhabitants.
8) William Powers, a ______________ university president, believes that affirmative action programs are necessary to make sure that American university campuses are racially diverse. (Affirmative action is the practice of colleges giving black and Latino college applicants extra points just because they are black and Latino, so that they can compete effectively against white and Asian students)
9) Americans were shocked by the ____________ of the man in Cleveland who held three women captive in his house for 10 years. He regularly beat and abused them.
10) President Obama is currently trying to decide whether the USA should _______________ between the rebels and the government in the civil war in Syria. Most Americans do not want to get involved in that conflict, however, regardless of the suffering.
11) President Obama has issued an ____________ to president Assad of Syria. If Syria uses chemical weapons, the USA will intercede in the Syrian civil war.
12) A fast food company wanted to pay a New York City school to have advertisements in the school's cafeteria. The school, however, stated it did not want to ________________ aspects of their students' educational experience.
13) Although many parts of the American Southwest might seem _____________, their is wonderful natural beauty to be found in the deserts there.
14) Americans have debated this issue for many years: Was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a ______________ action, or an action necessary to end World War II?
15) In his first four years of office, President Obama borrowed a great deal of money in order to try to ________________ the American economy and create more jobs. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
Answers are below.
Farther....
Farther...
Just a little farther below.......
OK< here are the answers!!!! :)
1) sluggish
2) obstacle
3) probation
4) indifferent
5) domestic
6) alleged
7) dilapidated
8) prominent
9) cruelty
10) intercede
11) ultimatum
12) commercialize
13) desolate
14) barbaric
15) stimulate
----------------------------------------
I started a pretty good art blog: http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
----------------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P
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/
------------------------------------------
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Is This Man A Hero Or Not? (The Man Who Saved Three Women In Cleveland Had Been Jailed for Beating His Own Wife)
The biggest story in America these days involves the kidnapping of three women, who were held as "sex slaves" by a Latino man in Cleveland for 10 years. He kept these women in a type of prison in his basement and continually threatened to harm them if they tried to escape.
A kidnapping is when someone "steals" a human being. A slave is someone who is forced to work for free for another person - a sex slave is someone forced to provide sex to another.
After 10 years of captivity (being held prisoners) one woman was able to scream for help and a man who heard her screaming was able to break the door down and help her and three others gain their freedom. Here's the man:
The man was immediately called a hero. Indeed, he is a very funny and charming man and Americans began to really like him. Unfortunately, a website discovered that this man has been arrested by the police three times for beating his own wife (domestic violence). His wife ultimately got a divorce from him. Indeed, he was thrown in jail twice for doing this.
Therefore, it seems ironic that he told journalists that when he heard the woman scream, he thought she was suffering from domestic violence and he wanted to help her.
So the big question is: is this man a hero? Can we admire a person who saved three women and a child if he, himself, has been abusive to women in the past? I think it's an interesting topic to think about.
Many of my students have said, "The past is the past. He did something the police never did and he got these women out of a horrible situation. So he is a hero." I tend to agree.
Here's an article about the hero:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/charles-ramsey-domestic-violence-211150810.html
Vocabulary:
neighbor - students often get neighbor and neighborhood mixed up. A neighbor is someone who lives near you, a neighborhood is the general area in which you live. Many neighborhoods have specific names. The neighborhood where I grew up in Chicago is called Bucktown. I now live in Woodside, Queens.
domestic - this refers to "home." If you take a domestic flight, you take a flight in your home country, not internationally.
abuser - someone who causes harm or injury.
hailed as a hero - to 'hail' someone is to publicly praise the person. Did you ever hear: "Hail Caesar!" He has been praised as a hero.
to be held captive - to be kept as a prisoner, to be kept against your will.
to be convicted of domestic violence - if a person is convicted of a crime, he has been to court and has had a trial and he has been found 'guilty'
colorful interviews - if you are a colorful person, you are very outgoing and funny and unique.
rocketed him to stardom - he became famous very quickly - as if he rode a rocket to fame.
to be charged with a crime - to be accused of a crime; if you are charged with a crime, someone has claimed you committed a crime and the police have arrested you and have filed the paperwork
to plead 'no contest' - apparently in an American court you can plead 'guilty' 'not guilty' or 'no contest.' To plead is to basically say, "I am guilty." or "I am not guilty." or "I plead no contest." Before setting the date for a trial a judge will say to you, "How do you plead?" You'll say, "Not guilty!" (for instance). Pleading 'no contest' means that you are not pleading either guilty or not guilty, but it basically means that you are guilty. I really don't understand this legal concept very well to tell you the truth. :P
to be sentenced - a sentence is a punishment. A judge might say, "I am sentencing you to 2 years in jail!"
to be arrested - this is when a person is captured or taken by the police.
probation - Not everyone who is convicted of a crime goes to jail. You can receive probation. This means that you have to see a probation officer once a month and if you are convicted of another crime, you could go to jail for both crimes.
directed to - ordered to. A judge ordered him to get psychological help so that he would stop hitting his wife.
subsequently - afterwards
to file for a divorce - we saw the verb 'to file' in a previous article. To file a complaint means to write out the complaint and send it in. To file for a divorce means to submit the paperwork to the court system to get a divorce.
cruelty - a cruel person harms another person or other people without caring
for battering her - for hitting her
to figure - to understand something, to try to understand something. i.e. "When my friend called me I figured he probably wanted to borrow money because that's the only time he ever calls me."
a dispute - an argument
alleged - apparent. It has not been proved in court that she was a victim, so the newspapers have to say she is an 'alleged' victim.
"I knew something was wrong..."- he is being humorous. He's making a joke about racism in America. He's basically saying that a white woman would only hug a black man if the black man saves her life.
a dead giveaway - slang for "something certain." i.e. "The police knew he was the killer. The blood all over his clothes was a dead give away."
suspicion - if you suspect someone did something, you think the person did something.
"I tell you what to do..." - to be honest with you, his English is so bad that I don't even understand it. I think this is why people in America found him to be funny.
-----------------------------------------------------------
1) What do you think? Was he a hero? He was eating a sandwich when he heard a woman screaming. He then ran to where the woman was screaming and he kicked her door down and helped her escape. Police had been to that house in the past and had never helped the 3 women and child who were in there. If he had not taken action, they might still be in that house.
2) Do you think it was fair or right for the website to reveal this information about Mr. Ramsey? After all, the past is the past. If he had not done what the police had never done, those women would still be suffering.
----------------------------------------------------------
If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P
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/
A kidnapping is when someone "steals" a human being. A slave is someone who is forced to work for free for another person - a sex slave is someone forced to provide sex to another.
After 10 years of captivity (being held prisoners) one woman was able to scream for help and a man who heard her screaming was able to break the door down and help her and three others gain their freedom. Here's the man:
The man was immediately called a hero. Indeed, he is a very funny and charming man and Americans began to really like him. Unfortunately, a website discovered that this man has been arrested by the police three times for beating his own wife (domestic violence). His wife ultimately got a divorce from him. Indeed, he was thrown in jail twice for doing this.
Therefore, it seems ironic that he told journalists that when he heard the woman scream, he thought she was suffering from domestic violence and he wanted to help her.
So the big question is: is this man a hero? Can we admire a person who saved three women and a child if he, himself, has been abusive to women in the past? I think it's an interesting topic to think about.
Many of my students have said, "The past is the past. He did something the police never did and he got these women out of a horrible situation. So he is a hero." I tend to agree.
Here's an article about the hero:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/charles-ramsey-domestic-violence-211150810.html
Vocabulary:
neighbor - students often get neighbor and neighborhood mixed up. A neighbor is someone who lives near you, a neighborhood is the general area in which you live. Many neighborhoods have specific names. The neighborhood where I grew up in Chicago is called Bucktown. I now live in Woodside, Queens.
domestic - this refers to "home." If you take a domestic flight, you take a flight in your home country, not internationally.
abuser - someone who causes harm or injury.
hailed as a hero - to 'hail' someone is to publicly praise the person. Did you ever hear: "Hail Caesar!" He has been praised as a hero.
to be held captive - to be kept as a prisoner, to be kept against your will.
to be convicted of domestic violence - if a person is convicted of a crime, he has been to court and has had a trial and he has been found 'guilty'
colorful interviews - if you are a colorful person, you are very outgoing and funny and unique.
rocketed him to stardom - he became famous very quickly - as if he rode a rocket to fame.
to be charged with a crime - to be accused of a crime; if you are charged with a crime, someone has claimed you committed a crime and the police have arrested you and have filed the paperwork
to plead 'no contest' - apparently in an American court you can plead 'guilty' 'not guilty' or 'no contest.' To plead is to basically say, "I am guilty." or "I am not guilty." or "I plead no contest." Before setting the date for a trial a judge will say to you, "How do you plead?" You'll say, "Not guilty!" (for instance). Pleading 'no contest' means that you are not pleading either guilty or not guilty, but it basically means that you are guilty. I really don't understand this legal concept very well to tell you the truth. :P
to be sentenced - a sentence is a punishment. A judge might say, "I am sentencing you to 2 years in jail!"
to be arrested - this is when a person is captured or taken by the police.
probation - Not everyone who is convicted of a crime goes to jail. You can receive probation. This means that you have to see a probation officer once a month and if you are convicted of another crime, you could go to jail for both crimes.
directed to - ordered to. A judge ordered him to get psychological help so that he would stop hitting his wife.
subsequently - afterwards
to file for a divorce - we saw the verb 'to file' in a previous article. To file a complaint means to write out the complaint and send it in. To file for a divorce means to submit the paperwork to the court system to get a divorce.
cruelty - a cruel person harms another person or other people without caring
for battering her - for hitting her
to figure - to understand something, to try to understand something. i.e. "When my friend called me I figured he probably wanted to borrow money because that's the only time he ever calls me."
a dispute - an argument
alleged - apparent. It has not been proved in court that she was a victim, so the newspapers have to say she is an 'alleged' victim.
"I knew something was wrong..."- he is being humorous. He's making a joke about racism in America. He's basically saying that a white woman would only hug a black man if the black man saves her life.
a dead giveaway - slang for "something certain." i.e. "The police knew he was the killer. The blood all over his clothes was a dead give away."
suspicion - if you suspect someone did something, you think the person did something.
"I tell you what to do..." - to be honest with you, his English is so bad that I don't even understand it. I think this is why people in America found him to be funny.
-----------------------------------------------------------
1) What do you think? Was he a hero? He was eating a sandwich when he heard a woman screaming. He then ran to where the woman was screaming and he kicked her door down and helped her escape. Police had been to that house in the past and had never helped the 3 women and child who were in there. If he had not taken action, they might still be in that house.
2) Do you think it was fair or right for the website to reveal this information about Mr. Ramsey? After all, the past is the past. If he had not done what the police had never done, those women would still be suffering.
----------------------------------------------------------
If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P
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/
A Congresswoman Calls Attention to Sexual Assaults against Women in The US Military, and US Society in General
This is a shocking story about a significant problem that people in positions of authority in the US military and government have not adequately addressed (taken care of).
At least 33% of women in the US military have reported being sexually attacked by men, and, if this article is correct, about 20% of women in the USA have been raped. Rape is when a man forces himself, sexually, on a woman.
A Congressperson (or Congressman/Congresswoman) is someone who is elected to make laws in the USA.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/congresswoman-takes-on-sexual-assault-in-military/
At least 33% of women in the US military have reported being sexually attacked by men, and, if this article is correct, about 20% of women in the USA have been raped. Rape is when a man forces himself, sexually, on a woman.
A Congressperson (or Congressman/Congresswoman) is someone who is elected to make laws in the USA.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/05/congresswoman-takes-on-sexual-assault-in-military/
Monday, May 6, 2013
"Wounded Knee" Land Is Being Sold
The area called "Wounded Knee" (in the US state of South Dakota) was the place where the last battle between US soldiers and Native Americans (Indians) took place. That happened in 1890.
Actually, it isn't even classified as a 'battle,' it was more of a massacre. A massacre is when one powerful group attacks a weaker group and mercilessly kills many, if not all, the members of the weaker group. (Massacre is pronounced: MASS uh kur).
Indeed, at Wounded Knee, the US Army attacked and massacred about 300 Indians in 1890.
Now a non-Indian, who owns part of that historic land, wants to sell his share of the land. However, because he knows the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe would like to have complete control of the land, he is "offering" his land to this tribe for $5,000,000 (Five million dollars). The land is, however, only worth $14,000 (Fourteen thousand dollars).
Of course, this is disgraceful (shameful) behavior.
{By the way, one obvious question is: Why is this area called "Wounded Knee"? A wound is, of course, an injury, and your knee is in the middle of your leg. Nobody really knows any more why this area was called wounded knee. Some historians think that, long ago, an Indian may have injured his knee near a creek there (a creek is like a little river) or he might have been shot in his knee by an enemy Indian. So, basically, nobody knows.}
The article:
http://news.yahoo.com/sd-tribe-faces-ultimatum-sale-massacre-070615402.html
(Another article: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/indian-historic-site-wounded-knee-sale/story?id=19084522#.UYhuG77D-P8 )
Vocabulary:
an ultimatum - an ultimatum is when someone says, "If you don't do something I want you to do, then I will take some type of action that you don't like." In this case, a white man is saying to Indians, "If you don't pay me $5 million for this land, I will sell it to some business (for less money, apparently) and you will never have the land and the land might be used for some purpose you won't like!"
a patch - a small piece of land
a prairie - flat land with grass
desolate - empty, deserted
tucked amid rolling hills - place or located within hills. Rolling hills refers to the shape of the hills - like rolling waves, they are very round
dilapidated - a dilapidated building is an old building that is falling apart
a gravesite - a grave is where a dead body is buried
assessed value - what something is considered to be worth by an expert
tribal members - a tribe is a small group of a certain type of people. A tribe is larger than a family group.
to profit from their suffering - to make money from a very sad situation
a fraction - a small piece of the total land. 1/9 is a fraction. 2/3 is a fraction. I did some research and it looks as if his family was able to purchase the small faction of land due to some type of government mistake.
a historic landmark - a famous place
a parcel of land - an area of land
an investor - in this case an investor just means a buyer who might try to develop the land for business purposes
to commercialize this - to turn the land into some type of tourist or business site. The Indians are basically saying that they cannot afford such a huge price and that if a business tries to make money from the land where their ancestors died, they will protest this and fight against it.
to bid for the land - to make financial offers for the land.
a descendant - someone who is a son/daughter, grandson/granddaughter etc.
the 11th hour - the last minute. A very late period of time.
a selling pitch - a sales pitch is a way to sell something - for instance, if I say, "This automobile provides a very smooth ride!", the fact that it provides a smooth ride is the sales pitch. For this land, the fact that it is of very important historical value is the selling or sales pitch.
grotesque - disgusting, shameful, sickening
barbaric - not civilized
proximity - closeness to
a standoff - when two different groups engage in a conflict and neither side can win
is credited with raising awareness of - was the cause of. There was a huge protest at Wounded Knee in 1973. Several Indians took over the land and the police surrounded them and tried to force them off the land. This lead to a gunfight. This protest caused a greater awareness of issues that current Indians were facing in the USA, and caused people to begin to study Indian history.
to turn a hefty dollar sign - to make a lot of money
an obstacle - something that can block what someone wants to do. If there is an obstacle in the road, you cannot continue driving down the road.
a hue and cry - a protest, a complaint
to intercede - to stop something from happening.
Actually, it isn't even classified as a 'battle,' it was more of a massacre. A massacre is when one powerful group attacks a weaker group and mercilessly kills many, if not all, the members of the weaker group. (Massacre is pronounced: MASS uh kur).
Indeed, at Wounded Knee, the US Army attacked and massacred about 300 Indians in 1890.
Now a non-Indian, who owns part of that historic land, wants to sell his share of the land. However, because he knows the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe would like to have complete control of the land, he is "offering" his land to this tribe for $5,000,000 (Five million dollars). The land is, however, only worth $14,000 (Fourteen thousand dollars).
Of course, this is disgraceful (shameful) behavior.
{By the way, one obvious question is: Why is this area called "Wounded Knee"? A wound is, of course, an injury, and your knee is in the middle of your leg. Nobody really knows any more why this area was called wounded knee. Some historians think that, long ago, an Indian may have injured his knee near a creek there (a creek is like a little river) or he might have been shot in his knee by an enemy Indian. So, basically, nobody knows.}
The article:
http://news.yahoo.com/sd-tribe-faces-ultimatum-sale-massacre-070615402.html
(Another article: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/indian-historic-site-wounded-knee-sale/story?id=19084522#.UYhuG77D-P8 )
Vocabulary:
an ultimatum - an ultimatum is when someone says, "If you don't do something I want you to do, then I will take some type of action that you don't like." In this case, a white man is saying to Indians, "If you don't pay me $5 million for this land, I will sell it to some business (for less money, apparently) and you will never have the land and the land might be used for some purpose you won't like!"
a patch - a small piece of land
a prairie - flat land with grass
desolate - empty, deserted
tucked amid rolling hills - place or located within hills. Rolling hills refers to the shape of the hills - like rolling waves, they are very round
dilapidated - a dilapidated building is an old building that is falling apart
a gravesite - a grave is where a dead body is buried
assessed value - what something is considered to be worth by an expert
tribal members - a tribe is a small group of a certain type of people. A tribe is larger than a family group.
to profit from their suffering - to make money from a very sad situation
a fraction - a small piece of the total land. 1/9 is a fraction. 2/3 is a fraction. I did some research and it looks as if his family was able to purchase the small faction of land due to some type of government mistake.
a historic landmark - a famous place
a parcel of land - an area of land
an investor - in this case an investor just means a buyer who might try to develop the land for business purposes
to commercialize this - to turn the land into some type of tourist or business site. The Indians are basically saying that they cannot afford such a huge price and that if a business tries to make money from the land where their ancestors died, they will protest this and fight against it.
to bid for the land - to make financial offers for the land.
a descendant - someone who is a son/daughter, grandson/granddaughter etc.
the 11th hour - the last minute. A very late period of time.
a selling pitch - a sales pitch is a way to sell something - for instance, if I say, "This automobile provides a very smooth ride!", the fact that it provides a smooth ride is the sales pitch. For this land, the fact that it is of very important historical value is the selling or sales pitch.
grotesque - disgusting, shameful, sickening
barbaric - not civilized
proximity - closeness to
a standoff - when two different groups engage in a conflict and neither side can win
is credited with raising awareness of - was the cause of. There was a huge protest at Wounded Knee in 1973. Several Indians took over the land and the police surrounded them and tried to force them off the land. This lead to a gunfight. This protest caused a greater awareness of issues that current Indians were facing in the USA, and caused people to begin to study Indian history.
to turn a hefty dollar sign - to make a lot of money
an obstacle - something that can block what someone wants to do. If there is an obstacle in the road, you cannot continue driving down the road.
a hue and cry - a protest, a complaint
to intercede - to stop something from happening.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Harvard Professors Can Be Stupid (Apparently)
Here's a story about a Harvard history professor who criticized a famous English economist because the economist (who died in 1946) had been gay. Basically he stated that this economist would not have cared about future generations because, as a gay man, he never would have had children.
There are a couple problems with a statement like that. One is: even if you don't have children (and many people do not have children these days, by choice), you can still care about future generations.
Also, it turns out that John Maynard Keynes (the apparently gay economist) actually did marry a woman and the woman became pregnant (but she had a miscarriage - the baby was not born alive).
Here's Keynes:
Apparently this professor was trying to be funny.
The article:
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020924281_sorrykeynesxml.html
Vocabulary:
increasing deficits - increasing debt. Basically the theory seems to be that in times of financial crisis the government should borrow money and go into debt but use this borrowed money to stimulate (make active) the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt used this method during the Great Depression, but many historians feel that the method did not really work. Roosevelt borrowed money and then used it to hire men (yes, the policies were directed at men at that time believe it or not) to do work for the government. He hoped that by putting money in the pockets of these men, they would spend more and more products would be made. However, it looks as if the US entry into World War II was what finally pulled the US economy out of the depression.
to stimulate - to make active; in this case to stimulate the economy means to make it more active or to create greater wealth and more jobs.
sluggish - slow moving. A snail moves sluggishly.
short-sighted - not capable of seeing far into the future.
prominent - outstanding. Someone famous in his field.
sexual orientation - what kind of stuff a person likes sexually.
oft-quoted - often quoted, often repeated
"In the long run we are all dead." - Keynes was basically saying that economists should plan for the immediate future and not too far in advance. He joked that, basically, we need to plan effectively to enjoy our lives - we shouldn't be dead by the time economic policies begin to work.
Grammar mistake in the article: "increasing government deficits stimulate a sluggish economy" ---> "increasing" is the subject here. "...increasing government deficits stimulates a sluggish economy." Deficits is NOT the subject here.
unreservedly - without hesitation. Completely.
an off-the-cuff response - an informal response. A response he didn't think about ahead of time.
to be indifferent to s/t - not to care about something
entanglements - complicated, mixed-up relationships
to startle - to shock slightly
----------------------------------------------------------------
1) This professor was trying to be funny, but offended gay people. Do you think his statement shows that deep down inside he might be anti-gay?
2) Do you think that gay folks should have been offended by his comment?
3) Do you think it is sufficient that he apologized? Do you think his apology was sincere?
--------------------------------------
Do you like contemporary art? Here's my art blog:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
------------------------------------
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.
-----------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia two years ago :P
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/
There are a couple problems with a statement like that. One is: even if you don't have children (and many people do not have children these days, by choice), you can still care about future generations.
Also, it turns out that John Maynard Keynes (the apparently gay economist) actually did marry a woman and the woman became pregnant (but she had a miscarriage - the baby was not born alive).
Here's Keynes:
Apparently this professor was trying to be funny.
The article:
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020924281_sorrykeynesxml.html
Vocabulary:
increasing deficits - increasing debt. Basically the theory seems to be that in times of financial crisis the government should borrow money and go into debt but use this borrowed money to stimulate (make active) the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt used this method during the Great Depression, but many historians feel that the method did not really work. Roosevelt borrowed money and then used it to hire men (yes, the policies were directed at men at that time believe it or not) to do work for the government. He hoped that by putting money in the pockets of these men, they would spend more and more products would be made. However, it looks as if the US entry into World War II was what finally pulled the US economy out of the depression.
to stimulate - to make active; in this case to stimulate the economy means to make it more active or to create greater wealth and more jobs.
sluggish - slow moving. A snail moves sluggishly.
short-sighted - not capable of seeing far into the future.
prominent - outstanding. Someone famous in his field.
sexual orientation - what kind of stuff a person likes sexually.
oft-quoted - often quoted, often repeated
"In the long run we are all dead." - Keynes was basically saying that economists should plan for the immediate future and not too far in advance. He joked that, basically, we need to plan effectively to enjoy our lives - we shouldn't be dead by the time economic policies begin to work.
Grammar mistake in the article: "increasing government deficits stimulate a sluggish economy" ---> "increasing" is the subject here. "...increasing government deficits stimulates a sluggish economy." Deficits is NOT the subject here.
unreservedly - without hesitation. Completely.
an off-the-cuff response - an informal response. A response he didn't think about ahead of time.
to be indifferent to s/t - not to care about something
entanglements - complicated, mixed-up relationships
to startle - to shock slightly
----------------------------------------------------------------
1) This professor was trying to be funny, but offended gay people. Do you think his statement shows that deep down inside he might be anti-gay?
2) Do you think that gay folks should have been offended by his comment?
3) Do you think it is sufficient that he apologized? Do you think his apology was sincere?
--------------------------------------
Do you like contemporary art? Here's my art blog:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
------------------------------------
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.
-----------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia two years ago :P
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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