BBC News summary

Listen to six short BBC news items and choose the option a, b or c which best summarizes each. 0 is an example.



0. Example:
a) The new book shows you how to purify water by adding copper and silver nanoparticles.
b) The new book's pages are contaminated with copper and silver nanoparticles.
c) The new book's pages are used as filters which can clean dirty water.

1.
a) A new superbug has been found which can’t be cured by antibiotics.
b) A new superbug has been found which can only be cured by Colisten.
c) A new antibiotic has been developed which can cure superbugs.

2.
a) The Solar Impulse has had to make an emergency landing in the Pacific Ocean.
b) The Solar Impulse is exactly halfway through its journey across the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Hawaii.
c) The Solar Impulse is crossing the Pacific Ocean and is unable to land until it gets to Hawaii.

3.
a) An unarmed black teenager has been shot dead at a rally in the US state of Missouri.
b) Two people have been killed after shooting at each other during a rally in the US state of Missouri.
c) People have started shooting guns at a rally in the US state of Missouri.

4.
a) Maria Sharapova has been banned from playing tennis after drugs were found in her body.
b) One of Maria Sharapova's sponsors has stopped employing her after drugs were found in her body.
c) Maria Sharapova has denied using banned drugs after a banned substance was found in her body.

5.
a) The World Health Organisation has published a report about red meat and cancer.
b) The World Health Organisation has published a report which says red meat causes cancer.
c) The World Health Organisation will publish a report on research about red meat and cancer.

6.
a) Researchers say there are only 2,000 types of plants left in the world.
b) Researchers have discovered 2,000 types of new plants but also say many are at risk.
c) Researchers say 2,000 plants are at risk of dying out.

0.
Researchers in the United States have designed an instruction book on how to purify water, with the pages themselves doubling as water filters. Tests show that when ripped out, the pages, which are impregnated with copper or silver nanoparticles, killed almost all of the bacteria counts in contaminated water.
1.
Health officials in the United States say a superbug resistant to all known antibiotics has been found in the country for the first time. The case involves a woman infected with a strain of the e-coli bacteria resistant to Colisten, an antibiotic of last resort.
2.
The team behind a solar-powered plane, which is aiming to fly around the world, say it's past the point of no return on the longest leg of its journey. The Solar Impulse is crossing the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Hawaii – a journey that will take five days. It's risky because there's nowhere to land in an emergency.
3.
There's been an outbreak of gunfire in the city of Ferguson in the US state of Missouri towards the end of a rally to remember an unarmed black teenager, shot dead by a white policeman a year ago. Two people were shot in an exchange of fire. One person was seriously wounded.
4.
The sportswear company Nike says it's suspending its relationship with the Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova after she announced that she'd failed a drugs test at this year's Australian Open. Nike said it would await the outcome of an investigation. Sharapova earlier said she had tested positive for meldonium, a drug used to treat blood flow restriction, and had failed to notice that the tennis authorities had moved it to the list of banned substances last December. She said that she had let her fans down.
5.
The World Health Organisation is due to publish a report today on whether some kinds of meat can increase the risk of cancer. The WHO's agency for research on cancer has been reviewing evidence on red and processed meats.
6.
A new report on the state of the world's plants says that more than 2,000 new species were discovered last year alone including a three-metre-tall orchid and a sprawling insect-eating sundew plant from Brazil. But the researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens in London warned that a fifth of all plants were at risk of extinction – vulnerable to climate change, habitat loss or disease.

KEY: 
1A 2C 3C 4A 5C 6B

Listening test: Entertianment News April 2017

Listen to some news related to the world of entertainment and choose the heading A-G which goes with each extract. There are two headings you do not need to use.


A - And they lived happily ever after
B - Battling a long-term addiction
C - Long battle to recover artist’s own creations
D - Social media addiction
E - Star sentenced to prison term
F - Stormy relationship
G - Wrong identity

1 Stormy relationship
Spice Girl Mel Brown, also known as Scary Spice or Mel B, has filed for divorce from her husband of 10 years, Stephen Belafonte. Citing irreconcilable differences, the performer filed the papers on Monday March 20 at the Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles. The couple married on June 6, 2007 and the court papers specify the pair separated on December 28, 2016. They have one child together, Madison Brown Belafonte. Belafonte is a film and television producer behind films such as ‘Thank You for Smoking’, and, with his wife, recently invested in Serafina, an Italian restaurant in West Hollywood. No statements from either party have been given regarding the split.

2 Wrong identity
Grammy award-winning hip hop artist Wyclef Jean said he was handcuffed and treated like a criminal when he was briefly detained by law enforcement officers in Los Angeles as they investigated a robbery. In tweets and video of the incident posted on his Instagram and Twitter feed, the Haitianborn former Fugees singer said he appeared to have been the victim of “another case of mistaken identity” and threatened to sue. Jean blamed the Los Angles Police Department for the incident, which occurred around 1 a.m., but in fact it involved sheriff’s deputies, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The department said Jean was
briefly detained while deputies were looking for a suspect matching the description who had carried out an armed robbery at a gas station in West Hollywood. The singer was placed in handcuffs and released without charge when it was determined he was not the suspect. Jean emigrated to the United States from Haiti at the age of 9, but has maintained his Haitian citizenship. Tuesday’s incident comes amid heightened sensitivity about racial issues and the US justice system following shootings by police of unarmed black people.

3 Social media addiction
Pop star Selena Gomez said she cancelled her world tour last year and went to therapy because she was depressed, anxious and her self-esteem was shot. 24-year-old Gomez, who has more than 113 million Instagram followers, also said in an interview with Vogue magazine that she was freaked out by her social media obsession and no longer has the Instagram app on her phone. “As soon as I became the most followed person on Instagram, I sort of freaked out. It had become so consuming to me. It’s what I woke up to and went to sleep to. I was an addict,” Gomez explained in a cover story of its April edition. The former Disney Channel star and actress made headlines last August when she abruptly quit her “Revival” world tour, saying she needed to take time off to deal with panic attacks and depression. She told Vogue she had entered a treatment program for three months saying: “My self-esteem was shot. I was depressed, anxious. I started to have panic attacks right before getting on stage, or right after leaving the stage. Basically I felt I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t capable. I felt I wasn’t giving my fans anything, and they could see it - which, I think, was a complete distortion.” Gomez said that she also found it hard - as have other young stars like Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan - to shake off her perky “Wizards of Waverly Place” persona from her Disney days. “For a guy there’s a way to rebel that can work for you,” she said. “But for a woman, that can backfire. It’s hard not to be a cliché, the child star gone wrong.”

4 Long battle to recover artist’s own creations
Paul McCartney’s potential hold. The singer has waited decades to reclaim ownership of hundreds of Beatles’ songs and Sony/ATV Music Publishing says he should wait a little longer rather than continue his US lawsuit. In a filing with the US District Court in Manhattan, a lawyer for Sony/ ATV said the publisher had never challenged the validity of McCartney’s notices to terminate its copyright in the songs, starting in October 2018. As a result, McCartney’s lawsuit “impermissibly seeks an advisory opinion on a hypothetical claim” and
should be dismissed for the time being, a lawyer wrote. McCartney was outbid in 1985 for the rights to the songs he created with John Lennon such as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Yesterday” and “Hey Jude” by pop star Michael Jackson. The rights were rolled a decade later into Sony/ATV, a joint venture with Sony Corp. Jackson’s estate sold its stake in the venture to Sony for $750 million last year. Lawyers for McCartney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

5 Battling a long-term addiction
Hollywood star Ben Affleck says he’s completed treatment for alcohol addiction. The ‘Argo’ director posted on Facebook on Tuesday that the treatment was the first of many steps towards recovery. He also said he wanted to be the best father he could be and thanked his ex-wife Jennifer Garner for her support. The Batman actor wrote I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I’ve dealt with in the past and will continue to confront. The two-time Oscar winner is currently working on upcoming film The Batman, in which he stars as the caped crusader himself.

KEY: 
1F 2G 3D 4C 5B 

Listening test: Entertainment News

Listen to some recent entertainment news and choose the best heading A-G which suits each one. There are two headings you do not need to use.


A - 56-year-old star retires
B - Discrimination in 21st century
C - Health problems for star
D - Second reunion for singer and city
E - Singer wins legal battle
F - Toys on sale before the movie
G - Weight problems lead to legal battle

1
Former teen idol David Cassidy said Monday he’s suffering from dementia. It came just a day after
weekend performances in California in which he forgot his words and appeared to fall off stage, raising concerns over his health. The 66-year-old former Partridge Family star told People magazine he was fighting dementia, a disease his mother also suffered from. He said he was in denial, but ‘part of me always knew this was coming’. Cassidy told the magazine he’d decided to stop touring as a musician to focus on his health. His publicist said his comments were accurate, but gave no further details. Cassidy has struggled with drinking and financial troubles in recent years.

2
Cher and Vegas are together again. The legendary singer opened a new residency show in Sin City on February 8. Titled “Classic Cher,” the concert at Monte Carlo’s Park Theatre, features some of her greatest hits like “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “Half Breed.” During the 90-minute show Cher has 11 costume changes, all designed by her long time collaborator Bob Mackie. Cher will be playing the 5,000-seat theatre through February 25, before returning for another block in May. This is the second residency Cher has had in Nevada. The Grammy and Oscar-winner performed a three-year engagement at Caesars Palace from 2008 to 2011.

3
Disney has announced that they will once again be holding a ‘Force Friday’ to unveil the latest toys from the upcoming ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’. Like last time, the event, called ‘Force Friday II’ will be held worldwide at 12:01 am on September 1, allowing fans from around the globe to get a first glimpse of what will feature in the eighth film in the franchise. ‘Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi’ will launch two and a half months after the toys on December 15.

4
Singer Kesha has released a series of emails in which her producer Dr. Luke says that musicians were unwilling to give her their songs to perform because of her weight. The emails were part of a set of court documents filed this week amid the singer’s case to get out of her recording contract. 29-year-old Kesha has been involved in a three-year battle to be released from a deal with Sony Music and pop hit maker Dr. Luke. Documents filed in New York state court this week show a 2012 email chain between Kesha’s manager and Dr. Luke in which he chastised the singer for breaking her juice diet by drinking soda and eating turkey. Another email chain outlines a dispute between the singer and the producer over the lyrics of a song. But representatives for Dr. Luke say the documents don’t show the full story. Kesha first filed a civil lawsuit in 2014 in Los Angeles against Dr. Luke with numerous allegations including that the producer’s criticism of her appearance had caused her to develop bulimia. The “Tik Tok” singer later dropped the lawsuit in California but her lawyers said she would continue her case in New York to get out of her contract. A New York judge last year denied Kesha’s bid to extricate herself from her recording contract, which sparked an emotional #FreeKesha campaign by the singer’s fans on social media.

5
13th argues that although it’s been 150 years since slavery was officially abolished, it is still alive in the United States in the form of mass incarceration that disproportionately affects the black population. It’s
already won a BAFTA and director Ava DuVernay has also received her fair share of acclaim and was recently announced as the first black female director to commandeer a $100 million movie budget. DuVernay’s documentary also shows how the black community has been wrongfully characterized over the years. Part of the reason why you can have a Muslim ban is that enough people don’t exactly know what that even means. You know what I mean, that enough people don’t know other kinds of people. They haven’t sat at your table, you haven’t read their history, you don’t know their music, you don’t know their poetry, you don’t know what their religion even really is, you only know what has been fed to you, you know, and it’s all about the ways that we don’t know each other. If we knew each other more, there would be more compassion and empathy and I think we’d be in a better place.

KEY: 
1C 2D 3F 4G 5B

Listening test: Tiny Texts

In this week's listening test we are going to practise the heading-matching kind of task.

Listen to some news from Tiny Texts and choose the best heading A-H for each one. There are two headings you do not need to use.

A - Gender differences
B - Give someone an inch and they'll take a mile
C - Helping save the world
D - Honesty rewarded
E - In danger of going moneyless
F - Less is more
G - Sticks or carrots
H - Travelling back in time

Source: Tiny Texts

Photo: Tiny Texts

1
If you visit a café and the staff are rude you can choose not to go back, but what happens when it’s the customers who are impolite? A French Café has decided to reward polite customers and punish rude ones by implementing some unusual coffee price variations. According to the menu board, ‘a coffee’ costs €7 while ‘a coffee, please’ costs a more affordable €4.50. Of course, there’s an even cheaper option: ‘hello, can I have a coffee, please?’ will cost you just €1.40. Sometimes it pays to be polite and if you are in a bad mood you can always choose another café.

2
According to a recent report, British women admit that they are no good at parking. Nearly a third change their driving plans to avoid parking in a tight space. Only one in ten men admit to doing so. Women also took 20 seconds longer than men to park an expensive Audi during an experiment at a German university. While some studies suggest that men are better at spatial tasks because of the way their brains work, it could also be true that women lack confidence rather than ability. There is some promising news, however: the 2012 national parking championship in Germany was won by a woman.

3
A Canadian family has decided to spend a year living as if it was 1986. Blair McMillan was concerned that his kids spent too much time indoors with technology. He wanted them to experience what it was like when he was growing up. That means no I-pods, mobile phones or Internet. If they need information, they have to go to the library and look up an encyclopaedia. For entertainment, they have a VHS player to watch movies and cassette tapes to listen to. When travelling, they use only paper maps and have to wait to have their photos developed. The family dress in vintage clothes, have 80’s hairdos and the dad has a true Magnum PI moustache. So far, Blair says his family talk more and are much closer.

4
A recent survey by the National Association of Professional Organizers reveals that 54% of Americans feel overwhelmed by clutter and 78% have no idea what to do with it. According to psychologists, people accumulate things because they are unhappy but having too many possessions brings stress and more unhappiness. Minimalists say you can live better if you focus only on what’s really important and get rid of your excess stuff. You can donate things you don’t need to charity. Minimalism is not new. Some of the ancient Greek philosophers were advocates, as were Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy. There may be more joy in owning less than in constantly accumulating more.

5
Coldplay are paying the price for their flashing wristbands. The gadgets, which are given out to everyone in the audience on their latest tour are costing them a fortune. The idea was originally suggested by a fan. They are radio controlled and light up in synchronised patterns creating an amazing light show. Chris Martin and his band are trying to figure out a way to keep up this crucial part of their concert without going broke. One idea was to ask their fans to hand them back at the end of the gig. However, the band’s lawyers have advised against this as it could lead to legal problems if someone picks up a contagious condition like Herpes. There were 40,000 people at the London show, so their profits were slashed. Nevertheless, the band say the wristbands are going to stay.

6
For most people, stealing shampoo or soap from a hotel room is not a serious crime. Some even think it’s OK to help themselves to the towels. A couple of newlyweds from Oregon, U.S.A went a little too far. They tried to steal everything including the sheets, pillows and paintings. However, they didn’t get away with it. Staff grew suspicious when the two guests refused to settle the bill for a pay-per-view movie by saying their room didn’t have a TV. When a member of staff went to check the room, he found that the TV was, in fact, missing. That’s because it was with the rest of the stolen goods in the trunk of their car.

KEY: 
1G 2A 3H 4F 5E 6B

Kiosko

Kiosko.net is a visual daily press directory that gives access to the world's largest news sites and displays a readable image taken from today's frontpage cover of each newspaper.

The site can be useful for both English students and teachers to compare how the same news item is reported from a different perspective.

h/t to Nik Peachy.

Listening test: World news

Listen to five international world news items and choose the heading A-G which best suits each extract. There are two headings you do not need to use.

A - Agreement reached to end war
B - Companies to help with gender issues
C - Conference over a divided island
D - Fighting the enemy for over 75 years
E - Happy ending for adventurer in difficulties
F - Real hope for a country devastated by war?
G - Stability vs authoritarianism

Photo: Wikipedia

1 Companies to help with gender issues
They only employ men, but in Saudi Arabia Uber and local ride-hailing firm Careem are helping women get into the workplace. As women in Saudi Arabia we are not allowed to drive and we do not have enough money to pay a chauffeur. The Careem app has solved all these problems. In some cities Uber has provoked protests, with taxi drivers fearing their businesses will suffer. But Saudi Arabia is offering state investment to both Uber and Careem. It’s hoping the companies will get 1.3 million women into work by 2030. Uber
and Careem say they’ll create up to 200,000 jobs for Saudi men in the next two years. That’s almost three times the number of employees at state oil giant Aramco. All the new jobs must also be given to Saudi nationals. And there’s another reason for the success of ride-hailing. Many of the vehicles in the existing taxi system are considered too old for some of the wealthier women. There’s a three-year age limit on all Uber and Careem cars.

2 Stability vs authoritarianism
Turkey’s parliament has voted to press on with a controversial debate to reform its constitution. If adopted, the proposals will expand the powers of President Tayyip Erdogan and get him one step closer to an executive presidency. Erdogan and his supporters argue that Turkey needs this sort of strong leadership, saying an executive presidency would prevent a return to the fragile coalition governments of the past. The prime minister insisting it would resolve the problems of Turkey having two executive authorities, saying
two captains sink the ship, there needs to be one captain. But Erdogan’s opponents fear the reform will fuel authoritarianism. If changed, Erdogan would be able to appoint and dismiss government ministers, take back the leadership of the ruling party, and govern until 2029. The initial vote was passed with 338 in favour and 134 against. Debate on the individual articles will start on Tuesday. The AKP plans to finish this by the 24th January. A referendum is expected by the spring.

3 Real hope for a country devastated by war?
Bashar al-Assad promising everything will be on the table at proposed Syria peace talks, including his own presidency. With the caveat though: Assad saying only Syrians can determine his fate at the ballot box, though his opponents want him out under any peace deal. Assad clearly feeling himself to be in a strong position. Three weeks ago, his army dealt the rebels their biggest blow in nearly six years of war by driving them from Aleppo. Assad defending that bloody, drawn-out battle by saying it had liberated civilians from
what he called terrorists. No date has yet been set for the peace talks, which Russia, Iran and Turkey proposed last month. But Kazakhstan is the planned venue.

4 Conference over a divided island
It’s the start of a week of intensive talks. Leaders of ethnically split Cyprus meeting in Geneva, hoping to succeed where others have failed. The goal is to reach an outline of a peace deal to end decades of division. The island was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. Mediators are keen to capitalize on the momentum of two moderates at the helm. Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci are seen as being very pro-settlement. But the talks will be difficult, there are dozens of disagreements to tackle; power-sharing, territorial adjustments and security issues. First on the agenda is how to handle property disputes stretching back more than 40 years. On Thursday, talks are scheduled to broaden to include other nations with a stake, Britain, Greece and Turkey. Conference organizers have already begun suggesting the process might be more open-ended than initially thought.

5 Fighting the enemy for over 75 years
He’s one of Belgium’s most famous exports. So it’s no surprise that a crowd of Tintin fans turned up in Brussels to meet their hero, sort of. An actor dressed as the literary adventurer arrived to Belgium’s capital city Grand Place, driving in an old-fashioned car. The stunt was to celebrate the oldest comic book of Tintin’s adventures , ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ being published in colour for the first time. Fans, many of whom were dressed as Tintin or his fictional best friend Captain Haddock, were thrilled at the new release. Some fans also brought their dogs to the event – particularly those that looked like Tintin’s canine companion Snowy. ‘Tintin in the Land of the Soviets’ was first published by author Herge in 1929. It sees the intrepid adventurer narrowly escape death in Berlin, then being pursued by Soviet secret police.
It’s one in a series of publications by the author. As many as 230 million Tintin books have been sold worldwide and they’ve been translated into 77 languages.

KEY: 
1B 2G 3F 4C 5D

Extensive listening: It's time for women to run for office

With warmth and wit, Halla Tómasdóttir shares how she overcame media bias, changed the tone of the political debate and surprised her entire nation when she ran for president of Iceland — inspiring the next generation of leaders along the way.

"What we see, we can be," she says. "It matters that women run."

Icelandic entrepreneur Halla Tómasdóttir believes that if you’re going to change things, you have to do it from the inside. She infused the world of finance with “feminine values," which helped her survive the financial meltdown in Iceland and nearly made her president.

You can read the full transcript for the talk here.

Listening test: Global news

Listen to some radio news and choose the heading A-G which corresponds to each news item. There are two headings you do not need to use.

A - Nobody around to help
B - Not so stupid as we thought
C - One catastrophe after another 
D - Only one country affected by this phenomenon
E - Recognition for well done work
F - Very expensive device
G - Wearing very expensive clothes

1
The scale of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Matthew on Haiti’s becoming clearer. The United Nations, citing Haitian authorities, say at least 350, 000 people need immediate help. Homes have been destroyed by the fierce winds and floods are adding to the misery. The nation was still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake of 2010. Now the strongest storm to hit the impoverished nation in more than half a century has unleashed a new humanitarian crisis. At least 26 people were killed in Haiti, but the
exact toll may take some time to establish because communications are nearly non-existent. Cuba also took a battering from the hurricane. Residents of Baracoa returned on Wednesday to see what was left of their neighbourhood, and their homes. The storm’s now been demoted to a Category 3 but it’s still ferocious. One and a half million people have been urged to leave the southeast coast of America.

2
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian returning to New York badly shaken on Monday after being robbed at gunpoint in her Paris residence by masked men who stole some $10 million worth of jewellery. According to E! News, whose US network broadcasts “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” the celebrity was alone when the robbery took place. Ken Baker of E! News explains:
I’m told by my sources that Kim was alone in her room at the time and it was around 3 a.m. and she was stormed by these robbers and actually they handcuffed her, they ended up gagging her with tape around her mouth, they tied her hands and her feet, ended up putting her in the bathroom, put her in the bathtub, locked the door and proceeded to finish their robbery.
A Paris police source earlier told Reuters that five attackers, wearing ski masks and clothes with police markings, struck around 3 a.m. inside the exclusive apartment block where Kardashian, 35, was staying while attending Paris Fashion Week. Two of the men entered Kardashian’s apartment after threatening the night guard with a hand gun. Kardashian, who has two young children with husband rapper Kanye West, was not beaten but the robbers put a handgun against her temple before tying her up. Kardashian was alone in her Paris residence because her bodyguard was attending a party with her sisters, according to E!. The robbers stole a box containing jewels worth $5.6 million to 6.7 million and a ring worth about 4.5 million.

3
This is Pixel - Google’s new smartphone, compatible with their new virtual reality headset. Executives say it has the best available smartphone camera on the market. The 5 and 5.5 inch screens alone will help with the photographic eye, but that’s not all.
Pixel has a 12.3 mega pixel rear-facing camera featuring an F2.0 aperture and a big 1.55 micron pixels to capture significantly more light than other cameras.
Google’s Vice President of Virtual Reality introduced the new Daydream View headset for VR use.
It’s the first Daydream-ready VR headset. Now if you’re into VR I’ll just say that the specs are there. It has a nice field of view and with the Daydream phone, low latency, and really accurate head tracking. But we didn’t just look at the specs, we obsessed over the details of the design.
Google is teaming up with Verizon, exclusively, to bring Pixel to the market. The phone starts at a price of $649.

4
Japan’s Yoshinori Ohsumi has won this year’s Nobel prize for medicine for his ground-breaking experiments with yeast. Ohsumi exposed a key mechanism in the body’s defences where cells degrade and recycle their components. Understanding this process, says the Nobel Committee, has led to a better understanding of
diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s and type 2 diabetes. Ohsumi says he’s extremely honoured to get the prize. The Physiology or Medicine prize, the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year, is worth 8 million Swedish crowns, close to $1 million.

5
A new study has pigeons flying up in the pecking order. Researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand and the Ruhr University in Germany have found that these birds can distinguish between real
words and non-words. They trained the pigeons to peck their preference: a correctly spelled four-letter
word or a symbol when the letters did not spell anything. Over the course of the study, the birds built a vocabulary of 26 to 58 words. The pigeons also pecked the symbol for more than 8,000 non-words. The birds’ performances rivalled those of baboons who completed similar complex tasks. With these promising results, researchers are rethinking the put-down “bird brain”, at least for these proficient pigeons.

KEY:
1C 2A 3F 4E 5B

Talking point: The news

This week's talking point is the news. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

When did you last read a newspaper?
Did you pay for it?
How often do you read the news online?
Where do you get most of your news from (TV, PC, smartphone, newspaper)?
Is there a particular time and place for you to read the news?
Do you ever read the news in English?
Do members of your family get the news from the same source as you?
What makes you read stories (interesting headlines, a topic you know about, breaking news)?
Do you think we are surrounded by too much news?
Do you ever get your news through social media?
Have you ever read some news on social media that you later discovered to be false?
What kinds of news are you (not) interested in? Choose from the list below and give your reasons:

Business

Celebrity gossip

Entertainment

Fashion

Nature and the environment

Politics and current affairs

Science and technology

Sport

Travel

Weather

Horoscopes

Obituaries

Pastimes

To illustrate the point, you can watch the Speakout video Media, where some passers-by are going to answer these questions:
How do you usually get your news?
What kinds of news stories interest you the most?
How has modern technology and new media changed our relationship with the news?
In your opinion, does the media use its power responsibly?



V: Hi. I start work quite late, so in the mornings I normally read the papers or go on news web sites: it’s important for me to find out what’s going on in the world. Today, I’m interviewing people about the media and the news. How do you usually get your news?
J: I read my news on the Internet mainly because I don’t have a television at the moment.
A: I usually get my news by watching the TV news when I get home.
M: I don’t actually live in Britain, so I like to read the news in English and I get it all on the Internet.
Jo: Well, I often listen to the radio: I find that, actually, much better than the television.
H: I watch the news every morning and I read the Guardian newspaper maybe two or three times a week I buy the paper.
T: I usually get my news from the Internet, or from newspapers.
V: What kinds of news stories interest you the most?
J: Well, I study conflict and development, so I’m interested in world affairs.
A: A variety, really. I like to read about politics, of course, and what’s happening in the country, but I also like to hear about what’s happening in other countries of the world.
M: I like all sorts of news stories, about what’s going on and I especially like things about new technology, but I also like a bit of trashy news – I like a bit of celebrity gossip, just to break up the day.
T: Well I certainly don’t like celebrity news but I do like sports.
Jo: I work as a doctor and, therefore, it’s very important to know what the health stories are.
H: I don’t enjoy the, sort of, more popular culture news stories. I think there’s a different place for that. I don’t think they should be included in the main news.
V: How has modern technology and new media changed our relationship with the news?
A: On my laptop I can go on the Internet and I can just see what the latest headlines are. I can see news developments as, as they happen, almost in real time.
Jo: There are many different sources and therefore you often compare and contrast what different media are saying.
T: Often you don’t have to pay, so you don’t have to – it doesn’t discriminate against people who don’t have money.
M: We used to rely on the messages from TV, from different outlets and now with things like Twitter people can spread the news, but it does run the risk that it’s not always correct.
V: In your opinion, does the media use its power responsibly?
A: I think, in general, yes, but I think there are occasions when I think it’s irresponsible. I think, for example, when, when they hound celebrities, for example, I don’t think that’s very responsible news. I don’t even think it’s very good news.
J: I think the media has a lot of power and it doesn’t always appreciate the extent to which it can affect things.
M: I think in this country it does: I think it certainly doesn’t in some other countries.
Jo: In my area – I’m especially interested in the area of health – often you get these health stories about immunisation or about some latest scare about cancer and this causes a great deal of anxiety, and yet when you go down to the real truth it’s often based on very flimsy foundations. So, I think the media do have a, a duty to use their power responsibly.

Radio Sweden -News in English

Radio Sweden broadcasts a daily news programme in English which students at an intermediate and advanced level may find of interest.

The show lasts about 26 minutes and is downloadable as a podcast. In addition, individual news items are showcased so we can choose them if we just want to listen to a three- or four-minute segment on a specific topic.

On the minus side, it must be said that the daily show doesn't come complete with transcript, but many of the individual segments have been transcribed, at least partially.

As you can imagine, a good share of the news deals with domestic issues, which can help us to get acquained with life and culture in that part of the world.

Listening test: Tiny Texts news

In this week's listening test we are going to use six news items that came up on the website Tiny Texts to practise the heading-matching kind of task.

Listen to the news items and match them with their corresponding heading. There are two headings you do not need to use.



A - A hidden problem, though
B - Children and parents enjoying themselves together
C - Customers do not have to worry about money
D - For Apocalypse believers
E - Great results by making small changes
F - Health benefits
G - Only for British people?
H - Perfect destination for a break

picturesque town of Gangi (Italy)

photo: The Telegraph

Extract 1 Great results by making small changes
A 14 year-old boy of Indian origin has come up with a clever plan, which could save the U.S government up to $400 million per year, simply by changing the font they use on official documents. Suvir Mirchandani had the idea while thinking of ways to cut waste and save money for a project at school. He noticed that his school used a lot of handouts and considered recycling to save paper. Suvir also wanted to find a way to cut down on ink, which, he says, is twice as expensive as French perfume. He experimented with different fonts and found that Garamond uses 24% less ink. It is incredible to think that such a small change could result in such a huge saving.

Extract 2 Only for British people?
A survey has revealed the 50 things which show that you have become an adult.  The 2,000 people questioned by the Skipton Building Society indicated what they consider to be the key signs of adulthood.  These include being able to cook a meal from scratch and not relying on your parents for financial decisions.  Other factors were: being annoyed by a messy house, washing up immediately after eating and going to bed before 11pm (after taking off your makeup, of course).  The participants of this study were British. This is reflected in some of the activities they think of as grown up, such as buying a Sunday paper, visiting garden centres and listening to Radio 2.  Apparently, adult Brits also own a set of best towels to put out when they have special visitors.  It would be interesting to find out if other cultures have different ideas.

Extract 3 Health benefits
If you have ever felt like joining your kids on the climbing frame at the park, this is for you.  New York City is testing the first playground for adults.  The goal is to lure people off the couch to have fun outdoors and get fit at the same time.  There are no swings or slides, however.  It’s more like an outdoor gym without the costly fees.  This trend is not unique to America: similar parks are popping up across the UK.  Health experts on both sides of the Atlantic have praised the idea.  They believe that the playgrounds will help combat obesity and related illnesses.  Studies in the UK have shown that 26% of people using the playgrounds had never exercised before.  

Extract 4 Customers do not have to worry about money
Dementia is a growing problem for society.  A care home in the Netherlands is experimenting with a new way of treating patients by offering them an “alternative reality”.  Residents live in small groups within a protected community.  They are free to wander the streets and go to the supermarket, beauty salon, restaurant and even the theatre.  If they forget to pay, it’s not a problem because the shop assistants and waiters are actually carers.  To make the patients feel comfortable, the houses are decorated in a style that reflects their personal background. It may seem a little like the Truman Show but the patients and their families are enthusiastic about the project.  Perhaps the rest of the world can learn some useful lessons for the future.

Extract 5 A hidden problem, though
Are you looking for a holiday home in Italy? Why not buy a home in the picturesque town of Gangi for one Euro? This offer may seem too good to be true, but there’s a catch: you have to promise to renovate the property within three years and this could cost you €20,000. Gangi’s mayor came up with the idea to put some life back into the Sicilian town. Poverty caused many inhabitants to leave after World War II. The idea is attracting interest from all over the world. 

Extract 6 For Apocalypse believers
A mystic mountain in Serbia is becoming a popular destination for people who believe that the world will end on December 21st.  Hotels at its base are being inundated with booking requests.  The mountain is pyramid-shaped and many people believe that it conceals a building left behind by alien visitors thousands of years ago.  They say that it emits a special energy that could protect them from the apocalypse.  Scholars of Mayan civilisation say that people have wrongly interpreted the Mayan calendar and that the world will not be destroyed. However, this has not stopped fears from spreading.

KEY:
1E 2G 3F 4C 5A 6D

Listening test: Sinkholes

Listen to two friends talking about sinkholes and choose the option A, B or C which best completes each sentence. 0 is an example.

source: Podcast in English

0 Example:
Last year
A 10 sinkhole incidents were reported in the UK.
B a man was swallowed in Florida in February.
C a man was swallowed while he was in his own house.

1 In one of the pictures they talk about
A a man saw a house disappear on his way back home.
B a man was unable to open a door in his own house.
C a woman noticed her garden had disappeared when she opened the window.

2 The soil collapses into the hole because
A of heavy rains.
B the hole is too big.
C the soil is too heavy.

3 The water makes holes in the limestone rock
A a long way from the surface.
B by erosion.
C overnight.

4 The building complex in China collapsed because
A a tunnel had been made.
B of a naturally formed sinkhole.
C there were no foundations.

5 In the UK the sinkholes were caused by
A construction work.
B excess rain.
C no known reason.

6 The sinkholes are next to the houses in the UK because
A of luck.
B the quality of the houses is better.
C the soil under the houses doesn’t get wet.

7 The woman is worried because
A of the soil in the area where they live.
B there are holes in the area where they live.
C they live in a cave.

Last year a man was sleeping in his bed when the ground opened up and swallowed him and his bed and he was never seen again. Now the man lived in Florida where sinkholes are relatively common but in February of this year more than ten were reported in the UK. And frightening pictures there were, Richard, weren't there?
There were many pictures. I remember, I think there was one lady, woke up one morning, opened her window, and her car had disappeared and there was a huge hole outside her house. Awful.
Horrible, yes. Then there was the man who... he came home after being out with his wife and he couldn't open the back door. It seemed a bit strange and he looked up and he saw a crack and as he was looking the crack got bigger and bigger and the house was just falling apart in front of him. Very frightening.
Awful
So how are sinkholes actually caused then, Richard?
I think they're mainly in limestone areas for a start and limestone gets dissolved by water. So the water goes though the ground and forms a big hole underground, and then, when there's a weight on top of the soil, the soil collapses and then all of a sudden there's a huge hole in the ground.
Why does the water make the hole in the ground?
Because the water is acidic and it dissolves the limestone, the rock.
So you're talking about rainwater here?
Yes
And this can take a long time?
It can take thousands of years. Because we know lots of places have caves, don't they, underground and they're perfectly safe. It's just that when they form quite close to the surface of the ground, that's when there's a danger.
But the holes themselves can also be man-made, can't they?
Yes. Actually one huge sinkhole occurred recently in China. An entire building complex collapsed and that was because... well, it may have... may have been because... of the construction of an underground metro line nearby.
Okay. So you've got this big hole and you're saying that after a while the soil collapses into the hole, right?
Yeah, well the hole's underground, you can't see it.
Right
And then what happened in England, the holes were there, all this rain they've been having, got soaked up by the soil, and of course it made it very, very, very heavy. The weight of that soil crashed through these holes and that's what formed the sinkhole.
So basically you need the hole and you need a lot of water then?
Yes.
Why is it then that when you see all those horrible pictures of the sinkholes in the UK, they're often by people's homes, whereas that man in Florida, it was his house that went down the hole. Why is that?
That's interesting because the water runs off the roof of the house, in Britain, and so that water goes down into the garden for instance, so it's that soil that's very heavy and sodden with water, not the actual soil underneath the house.
Well, I don't know why, for me there is something just horrific about falling down one of these sinkholes and I think I'm a little bit concerned because we live in a fairly chalky, limestony area, don't we?
Yes. There's lots of caves round here that's for sure.
And it rains a lot.
And what a horrible way to go! That man in Florida, he just disappeared forever.

KEY:

1B 2C 3B 4A 5B 6C 7A