Oral and Listening ( Term 3 )
Unit 028 – 041
028
Section 1 : US campaign resumes after Sandy
….accused of trying to save his job, rather than doing his job. As it is, he’s earned some praise for firmly taking charge. When he visited….
- Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2012
Section 2 : Disney in North Korea?
….These images from North Korean TV suggest Kim Jong-un may want to carve out a different image to his predecessors…..
Section 3 : UK’s first healthy pizza
…what they contain. Not one of them, up until now, has been properly balanced for all the nutrients. But some have the right amount of fat, some have the right amount of saturated fat; some have actually….
029
Section 1 : Iran’s approaching medical crisis
…Dr Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey, says people have to remember the risks: “We’ve had a rather quiet….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Seismology
- Emergency management
- 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Section 2 : No sanctuary for whales
….It’s been a recurring issue at the annual gathering along with Japan’s request for a commercial hunting quota. ….
Section 3 : Dress code debate
….The Shanghai Metro authority used its official Weibo account, the Chinese version of Twitter, to publish a photograph of a woman in what….
030
Section 1 : Auctioning Marie Antoinette’s clothes
….Of particular note: a pair of green and pink silk slippers which belonged to the queen. Not one of the shoes she dropped while climbing the scaffold – that still….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Marie Antoinette
- Louis XVI of France
Section 2 : South Africa’s female footballers
…A lthough the team is dreaming of winning gold, their debut is about more than the glory alone…..
Section 3 : Croatia’s threatened floodplains
….The Kopacki Rit area, where the River Drava flows into the Danube, is one of the best preserved areas of floodplain forests in Europe. It’s a major fish-spawning area, with ancient willow forests which….
031
Section 1 : Helping refugees survive the winter
….More than 340,000 Syrians have already fled their country. But with two to three thousand crossing the borders every day, the UN refugee agency expects that figure to double to 700,000 by the end of this year. Most….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Melissa Fleming
- United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
- Refugees of the Syrian civil war
Section 2 : Hanging up on work
….The German government has decided to tackle the issue. It’s laying down rules on when companies can and can’t contact their employees…..
Section 3 : Disabled doll
….A disabled doll. That is controversial. A controversy is a debate or argument with people expressing different opinions….
032
Section 1 : World hunger overestimated
….A few years ago the United Nations announced that the number of hungry people around the world had gone through the one billion mark. But the UN agencies….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- United Nations
- Malnutrition
Section 2 : Psychic fish
….The dragonfish, known as Big Huat, was spot on with one-all for the football tournament’s opener between Poland and Greece…..
Section 3 : Africa’s economic progress
….there are a few things which will continue to cause problems across Africa, such as unemployment and corruption. However, the report….
033
Section 1 : Holiday congestion in China
….and it went viral on the internet. It was a photo showing a visitor on the Great Wall near Beijing last week, with the famous structure snaking to the horizon behind him completely….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- National Day of the People’s Republic of China
- Golden Week (China)
Section 2 : Queen’s small celebration
….A new Lego model of Elizabeth II, complete with a mini version of the crown jewels, has been added to the Buckingham Palace scene at the toy company’s theme park…..
Section 3 : Youth unemployment crisis
….So they are dropping out. They are not doing anything. They are excluded from the jobs market or from education. They are not learning new….
034
Section 1 : French hotel apology
….A spokesman for the fashion label said he had NOT been misquoted, but misinterpreted. He later urged the journal to change “Chinese tourists” to “busloads of tourists”….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Zadig & Voltaire
- Thierry Gillier
Section 2 : Hotel in the air
….This interactive theatre performance was dreamt up by the Belgian group Time Circus and is taking part in a festival in Norfolk, England…..
Section 3 : Texting and walking made illegal
….For example you could trip over… or bump into someone… Listen to our next clip to hear about a danger that is not quite so obvious. It involves….
035
Section 1 : Cleaning up space junk
….they move it if the chances of a collision are greater than one in 10,000. Earlier this year, astronauts had to take refuge in escape….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- International Space Station
- NASA
Section 2 : Brazilians who won’t play ball
….But they’re not looking forward to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The stadium’s renovation works might put them at risk of eviction. ….
Section 3 : The worst place to be a mother
….Food emergencies compound the impact, and Niger is at the epicentre of the emergency currently developing in the Sahel. After….
036
Section 1 : Miliband’s “One Nation”
….Ed Miliband took to the stage, no doubt mindful of a recent opinion poll, suggesting only one in five voters believe he would make a good prime minister. His party hopes this performance will make some voters think again…..
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Ed Miliband
- Elections in the United Kingdom
Section 2 : Cat café
….Cafe Neko is home to five cats which customers can cuddle whilst enjoying a hot drink. Cat cafes are a popular phenomenon in Japan, but this is a first for Austria…..
Section 3 : A Peruvian ‘hero’
….That’s right, the report said that he had a bandaged hand and was limping. A bandage is a strip of material used to cover or protect….
037
Section 1 : Shrinking fish
….bottom of the oceans, the resulting impacts on fish body size are “unexpectedly large”, according to this research. As ocean temperatures increase….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Global warming
- Basal metabolic rate
Section 2 : Tourism amongst the tanks
….The buffer zone has been tightly restricted for more than 50 years creating an untouched nature reserve……
Section 3 : Pulitzer Prize losers
….but there’s been a big change since then. Since 1980 the Pulitzers have revealed their short lists, so we now….
038
Section 1 : Stare tactics
….food stalls. According to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua, the government inspectors then stood and stared at the vendors until they….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Wuhan chengguan officers vs. street vendors with evil eye, sparks debate
Section 2 : Koalas at risk
….Habitat loss, urban expansion, vehicle strikes, dog attacks and disease have contributed to theirdwindling numbers…..
Section 3 : Dream apps
….So some people wake up feeling better after an agreeable, or a pleasant, dream. They are able to work more and are more productive….
039
Section 1 : No time for Russian trains
….Imagine trying to timetable cross-border train services without knowing just a month before, whether the clocks are going to change. That’s the situation….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Russian Railways
- Daylight saving time
Section 2 : Football crosses ocean
….Identified thanks to the names written on it, the ball was set adrift by the tsunami that hit Japan over a year ago. It was washed ashore in Alaska!….
Section 3 : Australia’s war on drugs
….So it has to do with his brother and a heroin overdose – he took an excessive amount of this drug and died…..
040
Section 1 : Danish sperm donor passes on disorder
….Known only as donor 7042, the man gave sperm to the Nordic Cryobank in Copenhagen. Current regulations in Denmark say that the number of women who can be….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Genetic disease
- Artificial insemination
Section 2 : Motorcycle diaries
…The American brand was favoured by the authorities before the 1959 Revolution. Almost all of the country’s remaining models date from that …time.
Section 3 : London’s Theatreland
….to the ballet or to see a play. London’s West End is not cheap – tickets to see a play can cost $75 – so there’s been….
041
Section 1 : Malaysian babies thrown away
….Hundreds of Muslim babies have been left this way in recent years. Social workers believe it is driven by the shame of having a child out of wedlock and abortion is limited….
Extended Topic for Discussion :
- Mother’s Choice
- The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong
Section 2 : An end to traffic jams?
….If the idea catches on, it could put an end to traffic jams. Motorists would just unfold the wings and off they go. ….
Section 3 : Funeral fit for a king
….King George is credited with bringing democracy to Tonga, a country with a population of 100,000 spread over nearly 200 islands. And….