Reading With Dave Q.: Recent Episodes
Dave Q.
-Improve your English language ability. -Levels vary from Beginner, Lower-Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate and Advanced. -Topics include Business, Culture, Education, Environment, Health, Holidays, Relationships, and Science & Technology.
-Upper-Intermediate
-Topic: Science & Technology
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[essential, remain, simplify, anxiety, sufferer, swear, trigger, uncover, via, phantom]
-http://www.headsupenglish.com/upper-intermediate/newslessons/ringxiety/ringxietyspeakingintermediate.pdf
Cellphones have become an essential item for most people. The phone lets you remain connected to friends and family, check e-mail and the Internet, and listen to music or watch TV just about anywhere. The invention has simplified our lives in many ways. But it has also made our lives more complicated, too. Some experts wonder if we are too dependent on our phones.
A recent phenomenon connected with cellphones is a feeling of anxiety. Here's an example: You stand in a crowded place, hear someone's phone ring, and reach for yours, too. Experts and the media are calling this "ringxiety." Some people think they hear the phone while in the shower, or shaving. Others often check their phones while watching TV, or walking down the street.
A doctoral student named David Laramie came up with the word. He's also a sufferer of ringxiety. He swears that TV advertisements, songs on the radio, even running water can trigger his ringxiety. Many other people have reported similar experiences, either imagining the ringing sound, or feeling their phone vibrating.
A look at Internet discussion boards will uncover debates on the same topic. Most visitors to the discussion boards point out that ringxiety is a result of the modern world. There are a few people, though, who see it as mind control via TV and radio broadcasts.
Although ringxiety is not an officially recognized illness, there is some truth behind the idea. Scientists explain that the human ear is very sensitive to frequencies between 1,000 and 6,000 hertz. The tones of cellphones fall within this range. Unfortunately, many other sounds do, too. As a result, phantom rings are common.
-Upper-Intermediate
-Topic: Environment
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[aspect, priority, ensure, obtain, tolerate, severe, renew, alliance, vital, scarce]
-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-environment-lessons/278-oil-supply
Oil plays an important role in the world. It powers every aspect of everyday life, from trains, planes, and cars; to industry; to the farms which supply our food at the supermarket. It fuels war, too. Only a few people believed that the war in Iraq was primarily about terrorism. In reality, the main priority focuses on the control of oil. And it's going to get worse.
Nations have already begun to ensure a steady supply of oil in the future. Canada has built bases in the Arctic, because global warming will open up drilling opportunities in the polar regions. China has invested a lot of money in African countries such as Angola, because they want to obtain rights to drill there. They've also increased the development of their navy to protect oil interests in the South China Sea and elsewhere. Europe heavily depends on an increasingly strong and vocal Russia. America tolerates leaders, countries, and policies with which it disagrees.
Global warming has worsened the situation. As climate change becomes increasingly severe, it will affect food and water supplies. At present, many of China's cities face water shortages, for example. In addition, deserts in the west of China are rapidly growing, and farmland is shrinking. The same has begun to happen in other places around the globe, and scientists grow more and more worried. Water could become a non-renewable resource like oil. If so, then countries will need even more oil to guarantee food and water for their citizens.
It's important to note that many countries chased oil in the years before World War I. Alliances were formed to protect interests around the world, and this led to the start of the Great War. As vital oil and water become scarcer in the 21st century, there can be only one result: conflict.
-Upper-Intermediate
-Topic: Environment
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[boost, active, recommend, indicate, self-esteem, remarkable, prescription, benefit, GP, option]
-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-environment-lessons/280-ecotherapy
Have you heard of ecotherapy? Supporters in the UK believe it is a new, more effective treatment against depression. In order to boost mental health, people should get outside and get active in a green environment. Ecotherapy will hopefully give new choices to future mental health treatments. Physicians would recommend ecotherapy in addition to or instead of traditional drugs.
The University of Essex conducted the study. It compared people who walked thirty minutes in a country park with people who walked for thirty minutes in a shopping mall. Seventy-one percent of the people who walked in the park indicated that they had decreased levels of depression. Ninety percent reported increased levels of self-esteem, too. The mall walkers had less remarkable results. Only 45% experienced lower levels of depression. Even worse, 22% actually felt more depressed.
The study was conducted in the UK. Recent statistics point to a huge rise in people taking anti-depressant medication. Doctors wrote more than 31 million prescriptions last year, which is a 6% increase. The figures point to a future which has experts worried about the mental health of the nation.
A separate study showed even more positive results. A combination of nature and exercise benefited 90% of the participants. GPs need to understand that ecotherapy is a scientifically proven option for better mental health.
-Upper-Intermediate
-Topic: Health
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[heed, initial, booming, prompt, demonstrate, hoax, critical, major, predict, hype]
-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-health-lessons/295-swineflu
Take heed because the swine flu will kill millions of people, paralyze economies, and create chaos around the world! During the initial outbreak, schools closed and universities canceled graduation ceremonies. In Egypt, the health minister ordered the slaughter of all pigs in the country. Face masks did a booming business everywhere too.
World health experts had taken prompt steps at the start, offering dark warnings that it could become the next pandemic. They declared that almost two billion people could be sickened by the virus. Yet nothing happened. There have been less than one hundred deaths worldwide in total. This figure is significantly fewer than the millions expected in a possible worst-case scenario. In fact, there have been fewer deaths than in an annual flu season. Few people are now listening to health experts, who continue to state that the threat is very real.
As newspaper editorials and comments on the Internet demonstrate, people have become sick and tired of the reports. "Crying wolf" and "hoax" are some of the milder terms, as everyone everywhere takes an unconcerned viewpoint. Many people are also critical of how the media focused on the doom-and-gloom scenarios in a slow news cycle. In other words, because there wasn't anything major to report, the media focused on the swine flu to sell newspapers, magazines, and air time.
Of course, the media and health experts disagree. Both say that they have acted quickly and properly at the discovery of the swine flu in the past. They took the right steps to spread the message. It just so happens that the flu didn't become the pandemic predicted. Perhaps, however, it all just amounts to fear-mongering hype.
-Lower-Intermediate
-Topic: Business
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[stack, efficient, remind, review, tidy, & deadline]
-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/lower-intermediate-students/lower-intermediate-news-lessons/lower-intermediate-business-lessons/432-messiness-efficient
Every office has at least one person who always has a messy desk. Papers are stacked here and there. Old Post It Notes are still on the cubicle wall. The garbage is filled with takeout coffee cups and empty bags. But a business book suggests that these messy people are more efficient and creative than neat people.
The book's author, David Freeman, explains that a mess is like a filing system. For example, one employee admitted her desk looks like a disaster. Yet it's an organized mess because she knows where everything is. If someone cleaned up the mess, then she wouldn't be able to find anything.
A messy workspace can be a natural reminder system. The person who made the mess will review old papers and notes with new information. As a result, he can more easily make connections between new and old information. On the other hand, when papers are filed away, they quickly get forgotten. And anything which is thrown away is lost forever. Lastly, tidy employees usually spend from one to four hours per day keeping their desks clean.
But Barry Izsak, who is the head of the National Association of Professional Organizers, disagrees with the idea that messiness is more efficient. Izsak explains that the average person will often feel stress because of the mess. He will also have feelings of missed deadlines and lost opportunities.
-Upper Intermediate Level
-Topic: Education
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[tend, expose, consensus, ward off, suppress, irrelevant, portion, accustomed, acquire, adept]
-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-education-lessons/613-benefits-of-bilingualism
Being Bilingual Good for the Brain In the modern world, being bilingual (or even multilingual) has many benefits. As one example, children who speak two languages score higher in math. Or as another example related to the business world, employers tend to offer a higher salary if the employee can speak more than one language. And let's not forget that people who speak another language have also been exposed to another culture, which can bring about a greater acceptance and understanding of others. However, did you know that bilingualism benefits the brain too?
Increasingly, more and more scientists are reaching a consensus that speaking two or more languages provides measurable positives. Improved memory and decision-making skills serve as one benefit. Bilingualism also wards off Alzheimer's Disease.
The brain of multilinguals must suppress one language. In other words, let's say someone knew both Spanish and English. When he/she used Spanish in a conversation, then the brain would need to ignore the momentarily irrelevant English. This results in frequent exercise for the portion of the brain responsible for focused thought and problem-solving skills.
There's more, though. People who use two or more languages also can switch between tasks more quickly, perhaps because these people are more accustomed to the confusing back and forth between languages. And as for people with dementia, the first signs generally appear at about 71.4 years of age for monolinguals, but 75.5 years of age for bilinguals.
As research continues, scientists will likely discover even more reasons to acquire a foreign language. Being adept at two languages results in desirable consequences.
-Upper Intermediate Level
-Topic: Holidays
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[despise, craft, unique, adopt, obligatory, gauge, sympathize, gripe, fulfill, counterpart]
-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-holiday-lessons/406-black-day
Black Day: Holiday for the Loveless
Whether you love it or despise it, almost everyone around the world knows Saint Valentine's Day. Then there's White Day on March 14th, when men who received chocolate buy sweets for women. Fewer people have heard of Sweetest Day, though, which is a holiday crafted by candy makers in the US for mid-October. Loved ones purchase candy and small gifts for each other on this day. But have you ever heard of Black Day?
Black Day is a uniquely Korean holiday. It was created in response to the overly sweet Valentine's Day and White Day. Like some other countries, Koreans have adopted the tradition of obligatory chocolate for both holidays. Women give chocolate not only to husbands or boyfriends, but to male coworkers, friends, and love interests on Valentine's Day. Men do the same for women on White Day. The amount of chocolate one receives gauges the popularity of the person.
Black Day, which falls on April 14th, lets the loveless sympathize with one another. People who didn't receive any chocolate or gifts on either Valentine's Day or White Day wear black clothes. Black advertises their single status, and sort of offers the opportunity to meet similarly single men and women. People who celebrate Black Day also eat a noodle dish with black bean sauce, drink alcohol, and gripe about romance and love. There aren't any presents to buy. There aren't any unfulfilled hopes. Few people know about the holiday outside of Korea, and perhaps this is the best part about the day. It hasn't been marketed and sold to the consumer like its opposite counterparts in February and March.
-Upper Intermediate Level
-Topic: culture
-Ten Vocabulary Words
[gluttony, envy, ensure, complexities, manipulation, injustices, point of view, unpredictable, projected, and ramifications]
-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-culture-lessons/382-modern-deadly-sins
New Sins for the Modern Age
According to the Catholic Church, there are seven deadly sins. These include pride, lust, anger, gluttony, envy, greed, and laziness. The church believes that all people should try to live a life free of the seven deadly sins, which will then ensure entrance into heaven. The original sins were written in the sixth century. Because church officials thought a more modern list was needed to deal with the complexities of society today, the Vatican has added several new sins.
You shall not pollute the Earth. You shall avoid genetic manipulation. These are only two examples from a longer list of mortal sins which includes buying, selling, and using drugs, and social and economic injustices. These new sins require punishment, and differ from other less sinful behavior.
The second in charge at the Vatican released the information on sins, modern evils, and forgiveness. In particular, he criticized cloning, stem cell research, and similar acts brought about because of advances in biology and medicine. The Catholic Church holds the point of view that stem cells represent a destroyed human life, and hence experimentation with them is a deadly evil. But it believes other areas of biotechnology and genetics represent unpredictable outcomes and should be avoided.
The environment received nearly equal attention from the Vatican, as the projected changes in climate signify a serious threat to the human race. The Vatican has gone green in recent years, and has hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming.
Some priests welcomed the new list of sins, as many realize that modernization is required to fit the global world.
-Upper Intermediate Level -Topic: Health
-Ten Vocabulary Words [primary, deforms, vastly, previously, factors, insufficient, popping, connection, hinder, and endorsed]
-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-health-lessons/301-heart-disease
Sunshine Vitamin May Prevent Heart Disease
Vitamin D has been called "the sunshine vitamin" because the sun's rays are a primary source for it. Scientists used to believe that vitamin D only strengthened bones and prevented rickets, a disease which deforms bones. But new studies point to a vastly different conclusion. Vitamin D is significantly more important for good health than experts previously believed.
A study was conducted in Austria with 3,258 men and women, most of whom had heart disease. The study found that people are more likely to die if they also have low levels of the sunshine vitamin. During the study's eight years, blood was taken and analyzed every week. 737 people died, with more than half due to heart-related problems. Of this figure, 307 of the test subjects had the lowest levels of vitamin D. Only 103 people who died had the highest levels of the vitamin. The researchers looked at age, physical activity, and other factors. They concluded that people with insufficient levels of the sunshine vitamin were twice as likely to die.
People shouldn't begin popping pills and spending hours and hours in the sun, because both are harmful to good health. However, low levels of vitamin D have definitely been linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity. There is also a connection between levels of vitamin D and some forms of cancer. In fact, some scientists believe that the vitamin could hinder the formation of tumors.
A set of guidelines to guarantee enough vitamin D hasn't been endorsed yet. But milk, fatty fish, a multivitamin, or ten minutes in the sun each day should lead to good health and prevent heart disease until a recommendation becomes available.
-Upper Intermediate Level -Topic: Culture
-Ten Vocabulary Words [surge, trace, sleuths, armed, pinpoint, announcement, mortality, consider, troublesome, and lore]
-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-culture-lessons/384-ancestors-and-genealogy
Discovering Your Ancestors There has been a surge in genealogy websites in recent years, proving that more and more Americans want to trace their family history. Records, such as ship registries and marriage and death certificates, are digitally scanned and available online for the sleuths, too. And now there's a new option: photo detectives.
Armed with fashion magazines and an eye for detail, photo detectives hunt for clues in old photos. Hair styles, clothes and fashion, and the objects in the pictures help detectives pinpoint dates, places, and professions. The job also requires an expert's knowledge in social history. For example, a photo of a woman with unusually short hair in the 19th century could mean that she had scarlet fever. A person sick with the disease often had their head shaved. Or a photo of a baby carriage in the mid-1800s could be an announcement that the infant had died, instead of recording his birth. The period had a very high infant mortality rate, and death cards were often sent to family and close friends. These are only some of the facts that photo detectives must have at their fingertips.
Photography was invented in the 1830s. The earliest photos usually required a visit to the studio by the whole family, which was a lengthy and formal process. But when Kodak invented the snapshot in the 1880s, family collections grew with shots of birthdays, holidays, and everyday life. Unfortunately, most people didn't consider labeling the pictures. The descendents now find it troublesome to identify the old pictures.
Photo detectives can help. But customers may not always like the results, as sometimes the answers disagree with family lore.
-Upper Intermediate Level -Topic: Culture
-Ten Vocabulary Words [dwindling, woes, prospects, impact, pampered, resent, peers, assess, prevent, and prosperous]
-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-culture-lessons/254-anxiety-affects-youth
Anxiety Affects Youth A lot has been said about the current economic climate. Dark and gloomy scenarios are in the media everywhere. There are home foreclosures, dwindling savings, and bankruptcies. Yet little has been said about the current woes and how they will affect the youth of today. At least, that is until now.
The Millennials will perhaps receive the biggest shock because they have grown up with promises of plenty. In other words, there will always be jobs, money, vacations, and success. Unfortunately, as these twenty-somethings now enter the job market or try to change their current positions, the jobs that are available don't meet their high, unrealistic expectations. The prospects are terrible. Current career decisions could have a long-term impact, and affect their career success and income for years and years. What's more, having been pampered and protected, a great many Millennials may resent their parents' promises of guaranteed success.
The youngest children may experience the greatest effects. Although likely unable to express what's happening, they still notice their parents' fears and anxieties about money. These children will then see the world less positively than their teenage and twenty-something peers and siblings. They will assess the world with greater caution, ultimately affecting career choices and financial decisions.
As for teenagers, they have known both the promises given to the Millennials and the hardships now changing the young children. Therefore they better understand the current sense of loss. They may try to prevent something similar from affecting them again. Therefore, teens will pay more attention to the economy and business than in the past, which will affect their studies at college and their careers. This age group will also lose confidence in the belief that children generally live better, more prosperous lives than their parents.