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What Are the “5 A’s” to Help Manage Stress? Mental Strategies

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Learn the “5 A’s” to better manage stress, which includes avoiding, altering, adapting, accepting, and being active.

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T053-All tenses - English Grammar Exercises

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Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!

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When you think about it, kissing is strange and a bit icky. You share saliva with someone, sometimes for a prolonged period of time. One kiss could pass on 80 million bacteria, not all of them good.

Yet everyone surely remembers their first kiss, in all its embarrassing or delightful detail, and kissing continues to play a big role in new romances.

At least, it does in some societies. People in western societies may assume that romantic kissing is a universal human behaviour, but a new analysis suggests that less than half of all cultures actually do it. Kissing is also extremely rare in the animal kingdom.

So what's really behind this odd behaviour? If it is useful, why don't all animals do it - and all humans too? It turns out that the very fact that most animals don't kiss helps explain why some do.

According to a new study of kissing preferences, which looked at 168 cultures from around the world, only 46% of cultures kiss in the romantic sense.

Previous estimates had put the figure at 90%. The new study excluded parents kissing their children, and focused solely on romantic lip-on-lip action between couples.

Many hunter-gatherer groups showed no evidence of kissing or desire to do so. Some even considered it revolting. The Mehinaku tribe in Brazil reportedly said it was "gross". Given that hunter-gatherer groups are the closest modern humans get to living our ancestral lifestyle, our ancestors may not have been kissing either.

The study overturns the belief that romantic kissing is a near-universal human behaviour, says lead author William Jankowiak of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Instead it seems to be a product of western societies, passed on from one generation to the next, he says. There is some historical evidence to back that up.

Kissing as we do it today seems to be a fairly recent invention, says Rafael Wlodarski of the University of Oxford in the UK. He has trawled through records to find evidence of how kissing has changed. The oldest evidence of a kissing-type behaviour comes from Hindu Vedic Sanskrit texts from over 3,500 years ago. Kissing was described as inhaling each other's soul.

In contrast, Egyptian hieroglyphics picture people close to each other rather than pressing their lips together.

So what is going on? Is kissing something we do naturally, but that some cultures have suppressed? Or is it something modern humans have invented?

We can find some insight by looking at animals.

Our closest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, do kiss. Primatologist Frans de Waal of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, has seen many instances of chimps kissing and hugging after conflict.

For chimpanzees, kissing is a form of reconciliation. It is more common among males than females. In other words, it is not a romantic behaviour.

Their cousins the bonobos kiss more often, and they often use tongues while doing so. That's perhaps not surprising, because bonobos are highly sexual beings.

When two humans meet, we might shake hands. Bonobos have sex: the so-called bonobo handshake. They also use sex for many other kinds of bonding. So their kisses are not particularly romantic, either.

These two apes are exceptions. As far as we know, other animals do not kiss at all. They may nuzzle or touch their faces together, but even those that have lips don't share saliva or purse and smack their lips together. They don't need to.

Take wild boars. Males produce a pungent smell that females find extremely attractive. The key chemical is a pheromone called androstenone that triggers the females' desire to mate.

From a female's point of view this is a good thing, because males with the most androstonene are also the most fertile. Her sense of smell is so acute, she doesn't need to get close enough to kiss the male.

The same is true of many other mammals. For example, female hamsters emit a pheromone that gets males very excited. Mice follow similar chemical traces to help them find partners that are genetically different, minimising the risk of accidental incest.

Animals often release these pheromones in their urine. "Their urine is much more pungent," says Wlodarski. "If there's urine present in the environment they can assess compatibility through that."

It's not just mammals that have a great sense of smell. A male black widow spider can smell pheromones produced by a female that tell him if she has recently eaten. To minimise the risk of being eaten, he will only mate with her if she is not hungry.

The point is, animals do not need to get close to each other to smell out a good potential mate.

On the other hand, humans have an atrocious sense of smell, so we benefit from getting close. Smell isn't the only cue we use to assess each other's fitness, but studies have shown that it plays an important role in mate choice.

A study published in 1995 showed that women, just like mice, prefer the smell of men who are genetically different from them. This makes sense, as mating with someone with different genes is likely to produce healthy offspring. Kissing is a great way to get close enough to sniff out your partner's genes.

In 2013, Wlodarski examined kissing preferences in detail. He asked several hundred people what was most important when kissing someone. How they smelled featured highly, and the importance of smell increased when women were most fertile.
It turns out that men also make a version of the pheromone that female boars find attractive. It is present in male sweat, and when women are exposed to it their arousal levels increase slightly.

Pheromones are a big part of how mammals chose a mate, says Wlodarski, and we share some of them. "We've inherited all of our biology from mammals, we've just added extra things through evolutionary time."

On that view, kissing is just a culturally acceptable way to get close enough to another person to detect their pheromones.

In some cultures, this sniffing behaviour turned into physical lip contact. It's hard to pinpoint when this happened, but both serve the same purpose, says Wlodarski.

So if you want to find a perfect match, you could forego kissing and start smelling people instead. You'll find just as good a partner, and you won't get half as many germs. Be prepared for some funny looks, though.

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IELTS Academic Reading practice, sample 3.3 - IELTS-up

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IELTS Academic Reading practice: sample 3.3. Read the text from IELTS Reading test and answer the questions online. Finish full IELTS Reading sample to get your score.

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Dear Manager !

I would like to complain about the poor and service we while we were at your hotel recently.

First of all, the bedroom wasn't clean when we arrived for our holiday. In fact, it was absolutely . In addition, we a room with a of the sea. Well, I don't call that tiny glimpse of blue above the rooftops of all the hotels a view.

The website said that the hotel had been recently built. However, when we arrived there were still construction workers on the and nothing seemed to be finished. The noise was almost impossible to . the receptionist offered us a room at the back of the hotel , we weren't very keen being directly above the kitchen. So we decided there was no alternative but to with the noise.

Then there was the problem with the air conditioning. It was to turn it off, so we almost froze to death.

Finally, we weren't satisfied with the room service, . We ordered some snacks every evening , but it so long for them to arrive that we were absolutely starving by the time they got to the room. The waiter was downright when we mentioned the long wait.

We certainly will not be your hotel to anyone we know. I hope you will take this feedback , so that future guests won't the same problems we had.

Yours sincerly,

Max Smith

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Dear Manager ! I would like to complain about the poor and service we while we were at your hotel recently. First of all, the bedroom wasn't clean when we arrived for our holiday. In fact, it was absolutely . In addition, we a room with a of the sea.

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A 27-year-old Indian man plans to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent.

Mumbai businessman Raphael Samuel told the BBC that it's wrong to bring children into the world because they then have to put up with lifelong suffering.

Mr Samuel, of course, understands that our consent can't be sought before we are born, but insists that "it was not our decision to be born".

So as we didn't ask to be born, we should be paid for the rest of our lives to live, he argues.

A demand like this could cause a rift within any family, but Mr Samuel says he gets along very well with his parents (both of whom are lawyers) and they appear to be dealing with it with a lot of humour.

In a statement, his mother Kavita Karnad Samuel explained her response to "the recent upheaval my son has created".

"I must admire my son's temerity to want to take his parents to court knowing both of us are lawyers. And if Raphael could come up with a rational explanation as to how we could have sought his consent to be born, I will accept my fault," she said.

Mr Samuel's belief is rooted in what's called anti-natalism - a philosophy that argues that life is so full of misery that people should stop procreating immediately.

This, he says, would gradually phase out humanity from the Earth and that would also be so much better for the planet.

"There's no point to humanity. So many people are suffering. If humanity is extinct, Earth and animals would be happier. They'll certainly be better off. Also no human will then suffer. Human existence is totally pointless."

A year ago, he created a Facebook page, Nihilanand, which features posters that show his images with a huge fake beard, an eye-mask and anti-natalist messages like "Isn't forcing a child into this world and forcing it to have a career, kidnapping, and slavery?" Or, "Your parents had you instead of a toy or a dog, you owe them nothing, you are their entertainment."

You might also be interested in:

Parents sue 30-year-old son who refuses to move out

'There's so much guilt in being a modern parent'

Do children in two-parent families do better?

Mr Samuel says he remembers first having anti-natalist thoughts when he was five.

"I was a normal kid. One day I was very frustrated and I didn't want to go to school but my parents kept asking me to go. So I asked them: 'Why did you have me?' And my dad had no answer. I think if he'd been able to answer, maybe I wouldn't have thought this way."

As the idea grew and took shape in his mind, he decided to tell his parents about it. He says his mum reacted "very well" and dad too "is warming up" to the idea.

"Mum said she wished she had met me before I was born and that if she did, she definitely wouldn't have had me," he says laughing and adds that she does see reason in his argument.

"She told me that she was quite young when she had me and that she didn't know she had another option. But that's what I'm trying to say - everyone has the option."

In her statement, his mother also said it was unfair to focus on a "sliver of what he believes in".

"His belief in anti-natalism, his concern for the burden on Earth's resources due to needless life, his sensitivity toward the pain experienced unwittingly by children while growing up and so much more has been ruefully forgotten.

"I'm very happy that my son has grown up into a fearless, independent-thinking young man. He is sure to find his path to happiness."

Mr Samuel says his decision to take his parents to court is only based on his belief that the world would be a much better place without human beings in it.

So six months ago, one day at breakfast, he told his mother that he was planning to sue her. "She said that's fine, but don't expect me to go easy on you. I will destroy you in court." Mr Samuel is now looking for a lawyer to take up his case, but so far he's not had much success.

"I know it's going to be thrown out because no judge would hear it. But I do want to file a case because I want to make a point."

His Facebook posts have also attracted a lot of responses, "some positive, but mostly negative" with some even advising him to "go kill yourself". He has also had worried mums asking him what would happen if their children see his posts.

"Some argue logically, some are offended and some are offensive. To those abusing me, let them abuse me. But I also hear from many who say they support me but can't say this publicly for whatever reasons. I ask them to come out and speak up," he says.

His critics also say that he's doing this to get some publicity.

"I'm not really doing this for publicity," he says, "but I do want the idea to go public. This simple idea that it's okay to not have a child."

I ask him if he is unhappy being born.

"I wish I was not born. But it's not that I'm unhappy in my life. My life is good, but I'd rather not be here. You know it's like there's a nice room, but I don't want to be in that room," he explains.

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'I'm suing my parents for giving birth to me'

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A 27-year-old Indian man plans to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent. Mumbai businessman Raphael Samuel told the BBC that it's wrong to bring children into the world because they then have to put up with lifelong suffering.

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Read the text about James Bond, the most famous British spy. Choose ONE word that fits into each blank.

James Bond is an English secret agent created by the British novelist Ian Fleming, started out as a journalist and later worked in the Foreign Office. The character of Bond became not only in Fleming's books but through many movies well. "007" was first introduced in the novel Casino Royale in 1953.

James Bond is probably one of the famous and longest running characters in film history. his first appearance in Dr. No (1962) the Queen's number one spy has to more places, romanced more women, escaped from more dangerous situations and saved the world more times {1:SA:=than} .

After the war he entered the British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, where he became a "double-0" agent with a license to kill. His assignments have him to volcanic islands, India, Las Vegas and even a space station in orbit. He has charm, loves beautiful women, likes martinis - shaken, not stirred- fine suits and fast . Most of Bond's missions bring him into contact with shadowy figures of the underworld.

Starting in 1962, Fleming's novels have been into successful films. All 22 of them have made a net profit of over $4 billion. Sean Connery was the first, and for many true followers of the series the best, Bond. He played the in six movies from 1962 to 1971. Daniel Craig is the present Bond, starring in 5 movies since 2006.

Bond films always have the same ingredients: a of action, car chases, leaps from high mountains, gunfights and narrow escapes. The selection of a Bond girl is almost as important as the choice of the main character himself. She is only beautiful but also a woman that causes Bond great trouble when he finds himself attracted her.

James Bond always drives in extravagant cars that have included an Aston Martin, a BMW Z3 and a Lotus Esprit. He also is the first to test Q's latest - deadly darts, watches that explode and special guns.

Bond reports to M, head of MI6, who finds the agent's habits frustrating but respects his many talents and him on missions where all other agents have failed.

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OC026 - James Bond - A Licence To Kill - Open Cloze

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Read the text about James Bond, the most famous British spy. Choose ONE word that fits into each blank. James Bond is an English secret agent created by the British novelist Ian Fleming, started out as a journalist and later worked in the Foreign Office.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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Molly Wright: How every child can thrive by five | TED

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Full IELTS Academic Reading test (Sample 11) - IELTS-up

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IELTS Academic Reading practice - full online test. Use this IELTS Reading sample for IELTS Reading practice: read the text and answer the questions online. Finish full IELTS Reading sample to get your score.

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The Monkey's Paw is a scary classic short story by W.W. Jacobs about a family who finds a magic talisman that grants three wishes that also carry with them a lot of tragedy.

The Monkey's Paw

Without,Â the nightÂ was cold and wet, but in the small parlor of Lakesnam Villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes, putting his king into suchm sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the whitehaired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.

"Hark at the wind," said Mr. White, who, having seen a fatal mistake after it was too late, was amiably desirous of preventing his son from seeing it.

"I'm listening," said the latter, grimly surveying the board as he stretched out his hand. "Check."

"I should hardly think that he'd come tonight," said his father, with his hand poised over the board.

"Mate," replied the son.

"That's the worst of living so far out," bawled Mr. White, with sudden and unlooked-for violence; "of all the beastly, slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst. Pathway's a bog, and the road's a torrent. I don't know what people are thinking about. I suppose because only two houses on the road are let, they think it doesn't matter."

"Never mind, dear," said his wife soothingly; "perhaps you'll win the next one."

Mr. White looked up sharply, just in time to intercept a knowing glance between mother and son. The words died away on his lips, and he hid a guilty grin in his thin grey beard.

"There he is," said Herbert White, as the gate banged to loudly and heavy footsteps came toward the door.

The old man rose with hospitable haste, and opening the door, was heard condoling with the new arrival. The new arrival also condoled with himself, so that Mrs. White said, "Tut, tut!" and coughed gently as her husband entered the room, followed by a tall, burly man, beady of eye and rubicund of visage.

"Sergeant Major Morris," he said, introducing him.

The sergeant major shook hands, and taking the proffered seat by the fire, watched contentedly while his host got out whisky and tumblers and stood a small copper kettle on the fire.

At the third glass his eyes got brighter, and he began to talk, the little family circle regarding with eager interest this visitor from distant parts, as he squared his broad shoulders in the chair and spoke of strange scenes and doughty deeds, of wars and plagues and strange peoples.

"Twenty-one years of it," said Mr. White, nodding at his wife and son. "When he went away he was a slip of a youth in the warehouse. Now look at him."

"He don't look to have taken much harm," said Mrs. White politely. "I'd like to go to India myself," said the old man, "just to look round a bit, you know."

"Better where you are," said the sergeant major, shaking his head. He put down the empty glass, and sighing softly, shook it again.

"I should like to see those old temples and fakirs and jugglers," said the old man. "What was that you started telling me the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris?"

"Nothing," said the soldier hastily. "Leastways, nothing worth hearing."

"Monkey's paw?" said Mrs. White curiously.

"Well, it's just a bit of what you might call magic, perhaps," said the sergeant major offhandedly.

His three listeners leaned forward eagerly. The visitor absentmindedly put his empty glass to his lips and then set it down again. His host filled it for him.

"To look at," said the sergeant major, fumbling in his pocket, "it's just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy."

He took something out of his pocket and proffered it. Mrs. White drew back with a grimace, but her son, taking it, examined it curiously.

"And what is there special about it?" inquired Mr. White, as he took it from his son, and having examined it, placed it upon the table.

"It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said the sergeant major, "a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it."

His manner was so impressive that his hearers were conscious that their light laughter jarred somewhat.

"Well, why don't you have three, sir?" said Herbert White cleverly.

The soldier regarded him in the way that middle age is wont to regard presumptuous youth. "I have," he said quietly, and his blotchy face whitened.

"And did you really have the three wishes granted?" asked Mrs. White.

"I did," said the sergeant major, and his glass tapped against his strong teeth.

"And has anybody else wished?" inquired the old lady.

"The first man had his three wishes, yes," was the reply. "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw."

His tones were so grave that a hush fell upon the group.

"If you've had your three wishes, it's no good to you now, then, Morris," said the old man at last. "What do you keep it for?"

The soldier shook his head. "Fancy, I suppose," he said slowly. "I did have some idea of selling it, but I don't think I will. It has caused enough mischief already. Besides, people won't buy. They think it's a fairy tale, some of them, and those who do think anything of it want to try it first and pay me afterward."

"If you could have another three wishes," said the old man, eyeing him keenly, "would you have them?"

"I don't know," said the other. "I don't know."

He took the paw, and dangling it between his front finger and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire. White, with a slight cry, stooped down and snatched it off.

"Better let it burn," said the soldier solemnly.

"If you don't want it, Morris," said the old man, "give it to me."

"I won't," said his friend doggedly. "I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don't blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again, like a sensible man."

The other shook his head and examined his new possession closely. "How do you do it?" he inquired.

"Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud," said the sergeant major, "but I warn you of the consequences."

"Sounds like the Arabian Nights," said Mrs. White, as she rose and began to set the supper. "Don't you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me?"

Her husband drew the talisman from his pocket and then all three burst into laughter as the sergeant major, with a look of alarm on his face, caught him by the arm.

"If you must wish," he said gruffly, "wish for something sensible."

Mr. White dropped it back into his pocket, and placing chairs, motioned his friend to the table. In the business of supper the talisman was partly forgotten, and afterward the three sat listening in an enthralled fashion to a second installment of the soldier's adventures in India.

"If the tale about the monkey's paw is not more truthful than those he has been telling us," said Herbert, as the door closed behind their guest, just in time for him to catch the last train, "we shan't make much out of it."

"Did you give him anything for it, Father?" inquired Mrs. White, regarding her husband closely.

"A trifle," said he, coloring slightly. "He didn't want it, but I made him take it. And he pressed me again to throw it away."

"Likely," said Herbert, with pretended horror. "Why, we're going to be rich, and famous, and happy. Wish to be an emperor, Father, to begin with; then you can't be henpecked."

He darted around the table, pursued by the maligned Mrs. White armed with an antimacassar.

Mr. White took the paw from his pocket and eyed it dubiously. "I don't know what to wish for, and that's a fact," he said slowly. "It seems to me I've got all I want."

"If you only cleared the house, you'd be quite happy, wouldn't you?" said Herbert, with his hand on his shoulder. "Well, wish for two hundred pounds, then; that'll just do it."

His father, smiling shamefacedly at his own credulity, held up the talisman, as his son, with a solemn face somewhat marred by a wink at his mother, sat down at the piano and struck a few impressive chords.

"I wish for two hundred pounds," said the old man distinctly.

A fine crash from the piano greeted the words, interrupted by a shuddering cry from the old man. His wife and son ran toward him.

"It moved," he cried, with a glance of disgust at the object as it lay on the floor. "As I wished, it twisted in my hand like a snake."

"Well, I don't see the money," said his son, as he picked it up and placed it on the table, "and I bet I never shall."

"It must have been your fancy, Father," said his wife, regarding him anxiously.

He shook his head. "Never mind, though; there's no harm done, but it gave me a shock all the same."

They sat down by the fire again while the two men finished their pipes. Outside, the wind was higher than ever, and the old man started nervously at the sound of a door banging upstairs. A silence unusual and depressing settled upon all three, which lasted until the old couple rose to retire for the night.

"I expect you'll find the cash tied up in a big bag in the middle of your bed," said Herbert, as he bade them good night, "and something horrible squatting up on top of the wardrobe watching you as you pocket your ill-gotten gains."

In the brightness of the wintry sun next morning as it streamed over the breakfast table, Herbert laughed at his fears. There was an air of prosaic wholesomeness about the room which it had lacked on the previous night, and the dirty, shriveled little paw was pitched on the sideboard with a carelessness which betokened no great belief in its virtues.

"I suppose all old soldiers are the same," said Mrs. White. "The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could, how could two hundred pounds hurt you, Father?"

"Might drop on his head from the sky," said the frivolous Herbert.

"Morris said the things happened so naturally," said his father, "that you might, if you so wished, attribute it to coincidence."

"Well, don't break into the money before I come back," said Herbert, as he rose from the table. "I'm afraid it'll turn you into a mean, avaricious man, and we shall have to disown you."

His mother laughed, and following him to the door, watched him down the road, and returning to the breakfast table, was very happy at the expense of her husband's credulity. All of which did not prevent her from scurrying to the door at the postman's knock, nor prevent her from referring somewhat shortly to retired sergeant majors of bibulous habits, when she found that the post brought a tailor's bill.

"Herbert will have some more of his funny remarks, I expect, when he comes home," she said, as they sat at dinner.

"I daresay," said Mr. White, pouring himself out some beer; "but for all that, the thing moved in my hand; that I'll swear to."

"You thought it did," said the old lady soothingly.

"I say it did," replied the other. "There was no thought about it; I had just- What's the matter?"

His wife made no reply. She was watching the mysterious movements of a man outside, who, peering in an undecided fashion at the house, appeared to be trying to make up his mind to enter. In mental connection with the two hundred pounds, she noticed that the stranger was well dressed and wore a silk hat of glossy newness. Three times he paused at the gate, and then walked on again. The fourth time he stood with his hand upon it, and then with sudden resolution flung it open and walked up the path. Mrs. White at the same moment placed her hands behind her, and hurriedly unfastening the strings of her apron, put that useful article of apparel beneath the cushion of her chair.

She brought the stranger, who seemed ill at ease, into the room. He gazed furtively at Mrs. White, and listened in a preoccupied fashion as the old lady apologized for the appearance of the room, and her husband's coat, a garment which he usually reserved for the garden. She then waited as patiently as her sex would permit for him to broach his business, but he was at first strangely silent.

"I-was asked to call," he said at last, and stooped and picked a piece of cotton from his trousers. "I come from Maw and Meggins."

The old lady started. "Is anything the matter?" she asked breathlessly. "Has anything happened to Herbert? What is it? What is it?"

Her husband interposed. "There, there, Mother," he said hastily. "Sit down, and don't jump to conclusions. You've not brought bad news, I'm sure, sir," and he eyed the other wistfully.

"I'm sorry-" began the visitor.

"Is he hurt?" demanded the mother.

The visitor bowed in assent. "Badly hurt," he said quietly, "but he is not in any pain."

"Oh, thank God!" said the old woman, clasping her hands. "Thank God for that! Thank-"

She broke off suddenly as the sinister meaning of the assurance dawned upon her and she saw the awful confirmation of her fears in the other's averted face. She caught her breath, and turning to her slower-witted husband, laid her trembling old hand upon his. There was a long silence.

"He was caught in the machinery," said the visitor at length, in a low voice.

"Caught in the machinery," repeated Mr. White, in a dazed fashion, "yes."

He sat staring blankly out at the window, and taking his wife's hand between his own, pressed it as he had been wont to do in their old courting days nearly forty years before.

"He was the only one left to us," he said, turning gently to the visitor. "It is hard."

The other coughed, and rising, walked slowly to the window. "The firm wished me to convey their sincere sympathy with you in your great loss," he said, without looking around. "I beg that you will understand I am only their servant and merely obeying orders."

There was no reply; the old woman's face was white, her eyes staring, and her breath inaudible; on the husband's face was a look such as his friend the sergeant might have carried into his first action.

"I was to say that Maw and Meggins disclaim all responsibility," continued the other. "They admit no liability at all, but in consideration of your son's services they wish to present you with a certain sum as compensation."

Mr. White dropped his wife's hand, and rising to his feet, gazed with a look of horror at his visitor. His dry lips shaped the words, "How much?"

"Two hundred pounds," was the answer.

Unconscious of his wife's shriek, the old man smiled faintly, put out his hands like a sightless man, and dropped, a senseless heap, to the floor.

IN THE HUGE NEW cemetery, some two miles distant, the old people buried their dead, and came back to a house steeped in shadow and silence. It was all over so quickly that at first they could hardly realize it, and remained in a state of expectation, as though of something else to happen-something else which was to lighten this load, too heavy for old hearts to bear. But the days passed, and expectation gave place to resignation-the hopeless resignation of the old, sometimes miscalled apathy. Sometimes they hardly exchanged a word, for now they had nothing to talk about, and their days were long to weariness.

It was about a week after that that the old man, waking suddenly in the night, stretched out his hand and found himself alone. The room was in darkness, and the sound of subdued weeping came from the window. He raised himself in bed and listened.

"Come back," he said tenderly. "You will be cold."

"It is colder for my son," said the old woman, and wept afresh.

The sound of her sobs died away on his ears. The bed was -warm, and his eyes heavy with sleep. He dozed fitfully, and then slept until a sudden cry from his wife awoke him with a start.

"The monkey's paw!" she cried wildly. "The monkey's paw!"

He started up in alarm. "Where? Where is it? What's the matter?" She came stumbling across the room toward him. "I want it," she said quietly. "You've not destroyed it?"

"It's in the parlor, on the bracket," he replied, marveling. "Why?"

She cried and laughed together, and bending over, kissed his cheek.

"I only just thought of it," she said hysterically. "Why didn't I think of it before? Why didn't you think of it?"

"Think of what?" he questioned.

"The other two wishes," she replied rapidly. "We've only had one."

"Was not that enough?" he demanded fiercely.

"No," she cried triumphantly; "we'll have one more. Go down and get it quickly, and wish our boy alive again."

The man sat up in bed and flung the bedclothes from his quaking limbs. "Good God, you are mad!" he cried, aghast.

"Get it," she panted; "get it quickly, and wish- Oh, my boy, my boy!"

Her husband struck a match and lit the candle. "Get back to bed," he said unsteadily. "You don't know what you are saying."

"We had the first wish granted," said the old woman feverishly; "why not the second?"

"A coincidence," stammered the old man.

"Go and get it and wish," cried the old woman, and dragged him toward the door.

He went down in the darkness, and felt his way to the parlor, and then to the mantelpiece. The talisman was in its place, and a horrible fear that the unspoken wish might bring his mutilated son before him ere he could escape from the room seized upon him, and he caught his breath as he found that he had lost the direction of the door. His brow cold with sweat, he felt his way around the table, and groped along the wall until he found himself in the small passage with the unwholesome thing in his hand.

Even his wife's face seemed changed as he entered the room. It was white and expectant, and to his fears seemed to have an unnatural look upon it. He was afraid of her.

"Wish!" she cried, in a strong voice.

"It is foolish and wicked," he faltered.

"Wish!" repeated his wife.

He raised his hand. "I wish my son alive again."

The talisman fell to the floor, and he regarded it shudderingly. Then he sank trembling into a chair as the old woman, with burning eyes, walked to the window and raised the blind.

He sat until he was chilled with the cold, glancing occasionally at the figure of the old woman peering through the window. The candle end, which had burned below the rim of the china candlestick, was throwing pulsating shadows on the ceiling and walls, until, with a flicker larger than the rest, it expired. The old man, with an unspeakable sense of relief at the failure of the talisman, crept back to his bed, and a minute or two afterward the old woman came silently and apathetically beside him.

Neither spoke, but both lay silently listening to the ticking of the clock. A stair creaked, and a squeaky mouse scurried noisily through the wall. The darkness was oppressive, and after lying for some time screwing up his courage, the husband took the box of matches, and striking one, went downstairs for a candle.

At the foot of the stairs the match went out, and he paused to strike another, and at the same moment a knock, so quiet and stealthy as to be scarcely audible, sounded on the front door.

The matches fell from his hand. He stood motionless, his breath suspended until the knock was repeated. Then he turned and fled swiftly back to his room, and closed the door behind him. A third knock sounded through the house.

"What's that?" cried the old woman, starting up.

"A rat," said the old man, in shaking tones, "a rat. It passed me on the stairs."

His wife sat up in bed listening. A loud knock resounded through the house.

"It's Herbert!" she screamed. "It's Herbert!"

She ran to the door, but her husband was before her, and catching her by the arm, held her tightly.

"What are you going to do?" he whispered hoarsely.

"It's my boy; it's Herbert!" she cried, struggling mechanically. "I forgot it was two miles away. What are you holding me for? Let go. I must open the door."

"For God's sake don't let it in," cried the old man, trembling.

"You're afraid of your own son," she cried, struggling. "Let me go. I'm coming, Herbert; I'm coming."

There was another knock, and another. The old woman with a sudden wrench broke free and ran from the room. Her husband followed to the landing, and called after her appealingly as she hurried downstairs. He heard the chain rattle back and the bottom bolt drawn slowly and stiffly from the socket. Then the old woman's voice, strained and panting.

"The bolt," she cried loudly. "Come down. I can't reach it."

But her husband was on his hands and knees groping wildly on the floor in search of the paw. If he could only find it before the thing outside got in. A perfect fusillade of knocks reverberated through the house, and he heard the scraping of a chair as his wife put it down in the passage against the door. He heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back, and at the same moment, he found the monkey's paw, and frantically breathed his third and last wish.

The knocking ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it were still in the house. He heard the chair drawn back and the door opened. A cold wind rushed up the staircase, and a long, loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.

The End

Listen to an audio adaptation of The Monkey's Paw on the Scary For KidsÂ Scary Podcast.

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The Monkey's Paw | Short Story | Scary For Kids

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The Monkey's Paw is a scary classic short story by W.W. Jacobs about a family who finds a magic talisman that grants three wishes that also carry with them a lot of tragedy.

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The Digital Camera is a scary ghost story about a little girl whose mother dies suddenly. She begins to exhibit strange behavior and refuses to be left alone. It is based on a supposedly true story that apparently happened in Japan a few years ago.

One of my relatives passed away suddenly. I never met the woman. She had a daughter who was four years old. The little girl's name was Yuki. Her father wasn't able to raise her on his own, so he asked my aunt to take care of her.

The little girl refused to be left alone and never left my aunt's side. It started to become a problem. My aunt couldn't go anywhere without Yuki. She constantly needed attention. Even my aunt's own daughter started to get jealous.

One day, my aunt told me she had to go out of town for a couple of days and asked if I would babysit the little girl for her. I said it would be my pleasure. I lived alone and I could do with some company.

A few days later, my aunt dropped Yuki off at my apartment. As she was leaving, she took the little girl aside and said, "Yuki, please be good. Behave yourself."

When my aunt was gone, I tried to talk to Yuki and play some games with her, but the little girl's behavior was very strange. She had a teddy bear tucked tightly under her arm and never let go of it. She never smiled. She never spoke. All she ever did was sit quietly in the corner and stare at the wall. It made me kind of uneasy.

I was trying to find something that would entertain her. I had just bought a new digital camera and I decided to let Yuki play with my old one. When she saw the camera, her eyes lit up. I showed her how to use it and she went around my apartment taking pictures of everything. There was a bright smile on her face.

That evening, I discovered how difficult Yuki was to deal with. Whenever I tried to leave the room, she started crying and screaming out my name. I couldn't leave her alone or she would create a huge fuss. She even insisted on going to the bathroom with me, which was very embarrassing.

At bedtime, she refused to stay in the spare room and insisted on sleeping in my bed. I read her a bedtime story and after a while, I managed to get her to go to sleep. That was when I noticed her teddy bear. One of its legs was charred and blackened, as if it had been burned. It made me wonder.

In the middle of the night, I was awoken by a strange noise. When I turned over, I saw that there was something wrong with Yuki. The little girl's body was trembling and shaking. Her eyes were wide open, her teeth were chattering and tears were streaming down her cheeks. I held her close and asked her what was wrong.

"She's looking at me again," she mumbled.

"Who is?" I asked in surprise.

"The dark woman," replied Yuki.

She wouldn't say anything more. I tried to tell her it was just her imagination, but she kept shaking her head and whimpering. It took me a long time to get her to go back to sleep.

The next day, Yuki was fine again. She loved playing with my digital camera. When it was time for her to go home, I told her she could keep it. Yuki hugged me. Although she didn't say anything, I could tell she was overjoyed.

I dropped the little girl off at my aunt's house and stayed to have a cup of tea. My aunt thanked me for taking care of Yuki we spent a while chatting at the kitchen table.

"Poor little thing," said my aunt. "She hasn't said a word since her mother died."

I couldn't contain my curiosity. "How did Yuki's mom die?" I asked.

A strange look came over my aunt's face. "She died in a fire..."

"How did the fire start?" I asked.

"Well..." my aunt hesitated, unwilling to talk about it. "It's a very sad story. She committed suicide. Yuki's mother was a very troubled woman. She poured gasoline over herself and lit a match. She burned herself alive."

"OMG!" I exclaimed. "How horrible!"

"Yes," said my aunt. "Her family was so shocked, they hushed it up and pretended it was an accident. We had a small funeral but only close relatives were invited. Yuki wasn't there. She doesn't even know her mother is dead. She thinks her mother is just on a long holiday. We haven't had the heart to tell her the truth."

"Poor Yuki," I murmured.

My aunt nodded her head sadly. "Poor yuki."

A few days after that, Yuki died.

My aunt was trying to change Yuki's behavior. At night, she forced the little girl to sleep in her own bedroom. Even though Yuki screamed and cried, my aunt left her there alone and locked the door. In the morning, she found Yuki lying motionless in bed. The poor little girl was dead.

Nobody could understand what had happened. The coroner couldn't determine a cause of death. There wasn't a mark on her body. She was perfectly healthy. She had just mysteriously died during the night. There was no explanation.

After the funeral, I went back to my aunt's house. Everyone was very sad. She returned the digital camera I had given to Yuki. I took it home with me. It was something to remember her by.

The memory card was full of random photos that Yuki had taken. I browsed through them, wiping a tear from my eye. There were pictures of my apartment, pictures of my aunt's house, pictures of flowers, dogs, toys, candy... Silly pictures that a child would take.

Then, I came to the last picture and it made my blood run cold.

My hands were trembling.

I wanted to scream, but nothing would come out.

The timestamp on the photo showed that it had been taken on the night Yuki died.

Here is the last picture that poor little girl ever took with my digital camera:

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The Digital Camera is a scary ghost story about a little girl whose mother dies suddenly. She begins to exhibit strange behavior and refuses to be left alone. It is based on a supposedly true story that apparently happened in Japan a few years ago. One of my relatives passed away suddenly.

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Cornus Fruit has been used for at least 2,000 years in Chinese herbal medicine. Cornus is shrub that grows to a height of 30 ft (10 m) in the woodland regions of East Asia from China to Korea. Cornus is strongly associated with the kidneys, the reproductive system, and, to a lesser extent, the liver.

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Cornus Fruit has been used for at least 2,000 years in Chinese herbal medicine. Cornus is shrub that grows to a height of 30 ft (10 m) in the woodland regions of East Asia from China to Korea. Cornus is strongly associated with the kidneys, the reproductive system, and, to a lesser extent, the liver.

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drien ---Cornus canadensis - drieň

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the abrupt and complete cessation of taking a drug to which one is addicted.

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the abrupt and complete cessation of taking a drug to which one is addicted.

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"I had to go cold turkey"

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(A) People trying to give up smoking often use e-cigarettes to help wean themselves off tobacco. Most experts think they are safer than cigarettes but a surprising paper was published recently - it suggests that people who use e-cigarettes are less successful at giving up smoking than those who don't. "E-cigarettes WON'T help you quit," reported the Daily Mail. "Smokers using vapers are '28% less likely to ditch traditional cigarettes,'" read the paper's headline. The story was reported on many other websites around the world, including CBS: "Study: E-cigarettes don't help smokers quit," it said.

(B) The study causing the fuss was written by researchers at the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, and published in one of the Lancet's sister journals, Lancet Respiratory Medicine. It is a meta-analysis, which means the authors reviewed the academic literature already available on the topic. They sifted out the weaker papers - ones that didn't have control groups, for example - and were left with 20.

(C) The conclusion? Smokers who use e-cigarettes have a 28% lower chance of quitting than smokers who don't use them, according to Prof Stanton Glantz, one of the authors. But while the conclusion is surprising, so is the number of academics who have criticised the paper. One was Ann McNeill, professor of tobacco addiction at Kings College London, whose own research is included in Glantz's analysis. "This review is not scientific," she wrote on the Science Media Centre website. "The information... about two studies that I co-authored is either inaccurate or misleading... I believe the findings should therefore be dismissed.

(D) "I am concerned at the huge damage this publication may have - many more smokers may continue smoking and die if they take from this piece of work that all evidence suggests e-cigarettes do not help you quit smoking; that is not the case." Prof Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at the Wolfson Institute also called the findings "grossly misleading".

(E) The critics are making three main points. First, the definition of e-cigarettes is a bit loose. There are many different types - some look like cigarettes, others have tanks for the vaping liquid, some are disposable and other are multi-use. They all deliver different doses of nicotine. Many of the papers included in the analysis don't specify which type people are using, according to Linda Bauld, professor of health policy at the University of Stirling. Another point is that the studies vary in the way they measure how often people use e-cigarettes. "Some only assessed whether a person had ever tried an e-cigarette or if they had tried one recently, not whether they were using it regularly or frequently," Bauld says.

(F) Even the paper's author admits it's possible that in some of the studies e-cigarettes may only have been used once, which he says would not be a good predictor of whether they had affected people's ability to stop smoking. And there is another problem. You might expect, if you were going to draw conclusions about how useful e-cigarettes are in helping people quit, to focus on studies looking at people who are trying to give up. Prof Robert West, who heads a team at University College London researching ways to help people stop smoking, says this analysis mashed together some very different studies - only some of which include people using e-cigarettes to help them quit.

(G) "To mix them in with studies where you've got people using an e-cigarette and are not particularly trying to stop smoking is mixing apples and oranges," he says. Some of the studies track smokers who use e-cigarettes for other reasons - perhaps because smoking a cigarette in a bar or an office is illegal and they want a nicotine hit. "With the studies where people are using electronic cigarettes specifically in a quit attempt the evidence is consistent," says West, referring to two randomised control trials.

(H) Both are quite small and one was funded by the e-cigarette industry. They took two groups of smokers, and gave one real e-cigarettes, and the other a placebo. The studies reach a broadly similar conclusion to a large, real-world study called the Smoking Toolkit run by West. West's investigation follows people in their daily lives and assesses how successful various methods of giving up smoking are - this includes nicotine patches, medicines and going cold turkey. These studies suggest that people using e-cigarettes to help them quit are 50% to 100% more successful than those who use no aids at all.

(I) In his paper, Glantz acknowledges there are limitations to the research that he analysed. He agrees there are problems with the way the use of e-cigarettes is measured and accepts it's not clear which devices people are using. But he is sticking by his analysis because he believes he has taken these factors into account. The editor of Lancet Respiratory Medicine, Emma Grainger, defends the article too. She says she does not see a problem with the paper and that it has been through the normal peer-review process.

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IELTS Academic Reading free samples. Sample 6.2 - IELTS-up

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The best IELTS Academic Reading practice: sample 6.2. Take IELTS Reading test online and get your score.

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active adults banning billion cancer conclusion cut deaths exposed exposure laws particles passive pneumonia quarter respiratory smoke strict

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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active adults banning billion cancer conclusion cut deaths exposed exposure laws particles passive pneumonia quarter respiratory smoke strict

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Read the text about how opioid use has changed life expectancy in the US. Fill in the blanks with the words and phrases from the list. There are TWO items you will not need.

US Life Expectancy Drops Because of Opioid Abuse

For the second year in a row life expectancy in the United States has . One of the main reasons is the in opioid-related deaths, especially with young adults.

Life expectancy in 2016 was 78.4 years, to 78.6 years two years earlier. It is the first two-year decline in over 50 years. While life expectancy in other parts of the world is increasing, the American is dying at an earlier age.

According to a recently report, overdoses of painkillers and other opioids are causing more and more deaths. The figures have risen from 6.1 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 21 per 100,000 people in 2016.

Last year 63 000 people died from some form of overdose. While 15000 of them were heroin addicts, an 14,000 died from other painkillers. Most of them were in the 28-54 year age group.

In many cases, drug is caused by a general dissatisfaction with a person's situation. This results in depression and if addicts don't have a family to support them. Such victims don't have the stability that they need. As a , they turn to alcohol and drugs.

Opioids are drugs that pain by targeting pain receptors in the brain. You need a doctor's to get them, but more and more
people are buying them illegally on the streets.

While many start out with painkilling drugs, they later turn to heroin, also an opioid. In the terminal of cancer, morphine is often used to reduce a patient's pain.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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MWC027 - US Life Expectancy Drops Because of Opioid Abuse - Missing Word Cloze

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Read the text about how opioid use has changed life expectancy in the US. Fill in the blanks with the words and phrases from the list. There are TWO items you will not need. For the second year in a row life expectancy in the United States has .

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T054 - Global Warming - Present Tense

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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T054 - Global Warming - Present Tense - English Grammar Exercises

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Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!

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And the legacy of McCarthyism

The 1950s in the USA was the age of McCarthyism. At the start of the "Cold War", many Americans became paranoid about the perceived threat from "Communism", and rooting out supposed "communists" became something of a national hobby. McCarthyism reached its climax in the "Rosenberg Affair", an affair that many since then have preferred to forget.

The Rosenberg Affair is an affair that will not go away. It was the subject of Sidney Lumet's 1983 movie The Book of Daniel, and later the subject of a never-released song by Bob Dylan, entitled Julius and Ethel. Historians now tend to agree that Ethel Rosenberg was wrongly convicted, and in the 2020s Ethel Rosenberg's grandchildren are still campaigning for their grandmother to be granted a presidential pardon.

On June 19th 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg died in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison, New York. Their death marked the end of the most notorious political affair in America in the nineteen fifties, and came over two years after their sentencing for the crime of spying for the Soviet Union.

It came in spite of some 21,000 petitions and telegrams to the White House, demanding clemency, from people, organisations and governments in North America and Europe, including Albert Einstein. It was, in a way, the climax of McCarthyism.

At the time the American press, full of a manic fear and hatred of communists and anything that could be considered "leftist" fully supported the verdict. Only one major paper, the National Guardian, saw anything wrong in the trial, anything excessive in the verdict. The Rosenbergs were sentenced principally on the word of Ethel Rosenberg's brother David, an employee at the Atomic Research Center at Los Alamos, who admitted having handed the Russians plans of US atomic weapons; he accused Julius Rosenberg of having recruited him.

But what was all the hassle about ? David's A-bomb plans, handed to the Russians, were no more than "a poor caricature", in the words of the bomb's inventor, "A drawing unable to give any worthwhile information". Some other accusations were proved to be false, too, and throughout the trial, the Rosenbergs themselves maintained their innocence. By normal standards of justice, there was little in the affair that could justify a sentence of death.

However, there was one point. The Rosenbergs were Communists, and proud of it. In the age of McCarthyism, that in itself was a heinous crime, in the eyes of a nation encouraged to believe that Communism was worse than devil-worship. After the departure of Senator McCarthy from public life (following his accusations that many of America's leading politicians were secretly communists or sympathisers), McCarthyism died away and the Rosenberg affair came to represent the nation's guilty conscience - the case of two people who were unjustly put to death.

Senator Joseph McCarthy

Thirty years later, two American historians published a book on the Rosenberg Affair, and after much research, Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton concluded that Julius Rosenberg in fact was guilty of spying, though there was no proof of anything in Ethel's case; Ethel's only mistake was to have loved her husband, and to have sympathized with his views, neither of which is a crime, let alone a crime punishable by the death sentence in a country where freedom of speech and opinion are guaranteed by the Constitution.

Radosh's research allowed him to ascertain that Julius was indeed the head of a Russian spy ring, that he did hand over secrets to the Russians, and that these did allow the Soviets to save three years on their nuclear research program. But, he concluded "That being said, he did not legally deserve the electric chair, but thirty years in jail. For her part, she was executed for nothing".

Peering more deeply into the character of Julius Rosenberg, the historians portrayed him as a devoted communist, ready to sacrifice himself, his wife and his family in the name of the principles he so strongly believed in. He believed, furthermore, that Ethel would never be killed, and that one day the United States would become a socialist state.... a fear that is still brandished to this day in the dystrumpian rhetoric of some on the right.

The legacy of McCarthyism

As for McCarthyism, following the death of Senator McCarthy the movement rapidly declined in popularity and indeed in credibility, and by the sixties the period was looked back on by many Americans with embarrassment, an age of witch-hunts against mostly innocent people..By the nineteen nineties, and the demise of the Soviet Union, the communist threat was completely forgotten by all in America other than some die-hards on the far right, who continued to see "Reds under the bed" in the most unlikely of situations. Fear of communism was dropped from mainstream politics in the USA, being replaced by a fear of socialism that is portrayed by American conservatives as representing the antithesisof American values. Thus in the runup to the 2020 presidential elections, the popular candidate for the Democratic party nomination, Bernie Sanders, lost out to Joe Biden in part because Sanders was repeatedy branded as a socialist..... with Donald Trump going one step further, telling Fox News ""I think he's a communist. I mean, you know, look, I think of communism when I think of Bernie."

McCarthyism may have died out with the McCarthy generation.... but its DNA is still present on the fringes of American political life seventy years after the Rosenbergs went to the electric chair.

WORDS:- danger - root out: find and remove - notorious: famous for the wrong reasons - sentencing : judgement - spying : espionage - clemency : opposite of harshness, strictness - verdict: decision mde by a court - conviction : sentencing hatred : hate - trial : legal judgement - hassle : trouble - worthwhile : valuable - heinous : very bad - worship: to consider as a god -- he was guilty of : he really did - to peer : to look - brandish: to wave, to show - unlikely: improbable - antithesis: opposite - runup: period before - classified : secret.
Note also the word dystrumpian , a recent word which is formed by combining the words Trump and dystopian.
Dystopian means bad, unfair, inhuman... an opposite of utopian

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The Rosenberg Affair

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At the time the American press, full of a man fear and hat of commun and anything that could be consider "left" fully support the verdict. Only one major paper, the National Guard, saw anything wrong in the trial, anything excess in the verdict. The Rosenbergs were sentenc princip on the word of Ethel Rosenberg's brother David, an employ at the Atom Research Center at Los Alamos, who admitted hav hand the Russians plans of US atomic weapons; he accused Julius Rosenberg of hav recruited him.

But what was all the hassle about ? David's A-bomb plans, hand to the Russians, were no more than "a poor caricature", in the words of the bomb's invent, "A draw unable to give any worth information". Some other accusations were proved to be false, too, and through the trial, the Rosenbergs themselves maintained their innoc. By normal standards of just, there was little in the affair that could justify a sentence of death.

© linguapress.com

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The Rosenberg affair and the age of McCarthyism

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Joseph and Ethel Rosenberg were executed as communist spies in 1953, and their case remains controversial to this day

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A CNN/ORC poll carried out in December 2015 suggests 69% of Americans are either "very angry" or "somewhat angry" about "the way things are going" in the US. And the same proportion - 69% - are angry because the political system "seems to only be working for the insiders with money and power, like those on Wall Street or in Washington," according to a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll from November. Many people are not only angry, they are angrier than they were a year ago, according to an NBC/Esquire survey last month - particularly Republicans (61%), somewhat white people (54%), but also 42% of Democrats, 43% of Latinos and 33% of African Americans.

Candidates have sensed the mood and are adopting the rhetoric. Donald Trump, who has arguably tapped into voters' frustration better than any other candidate, says he is "very, very angry" and will "gladly accept the mantle of anger" while rival Republican Ben Carson says he has encountered "many Americans who are discouraged and angry as they watch the American dream slipping away". Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders says: "I am angry and millions of Americans are angry," while Hillary Clinton says she "understands why people get angry". Here are five reasons why some voters feel the American dream is in tatters.

"The failure of the economy to deliver real progress to middle-class and working-class Americans over the past 15 years is the most fundamental source of public anger and disaffection in the US," says William Galston, an expert in governance studies at the Brookings Institution think tank. Although the country may have recovered from the recession - economic output has rebounded and unemployment rates have fallen from 10% in 2009 to 5% in 2015 - Americans are still feeling the pinch in their wallets. Household incomes have, generally speaking, been stagnant for 15 years. In 2014, the median household income was $53,657, according to the US Census Bureau - compared with $57,357 in 2007 and $57,843 in 1999 (adjusted for inflation). There is also a sense that many jobs are of lower quality and opportunity is dwindling, says Galston. "The search for explanations can very quickly degenerate into the identification of villains in American politics. On the left it is the billionaires, the banks, and Wall Street. On the right it is immigrants, other countries taking advantage of us and the international economy - they are two sides of the same political coin."

America's demographics are changing - nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the US since 1965, not all of whom entered the country legally. Forty years ago, 84% of the American population was made up of non-Hispanic white people - by last year the figure was 62%, according to Pew Research. It projects this trend will continue, and by 2055 non-Hispanic white people will make up less than half the population. Pew expects them to account for only 46% of the population by 2065. By 2055, more Asians than any other ethnic group are expected to move to US.

"It's been an era of huge demographic, racial, cultural, religious and generational change," says Paul Taylor, author of The Next America. "While some celebrate these changes, others deplore them. Some older, whiter voters do not recognise the country they grew up in. There is a sense of alien tribes," he says.

The US currently has 11.3 million illegal immigrants. Migrants often become a target of anger, says Roberto Suro, an immigration expert at the University of Southern California. "There is a displacement of anxiety and they become the face of larger sources of tensions, such as terrorism, jobs and dissatisfaction. We saw that very clearly when Donald Trump switched from [complaining about] Mexicans to Muslims without skipping a beat after San Bernardino," he says, referring to the shooting in California in December that left 14 people dead.
3. Washington
"When asked if they trust the government, 89% of Republicans and 72% of Democrats say "only sometimes" or "never", according to Pew Research. Six out of 10 Americans think the government has too much power, a survey by Gallup suggests, while the government has been named as the top problem in the US for two years in a row - above issues such as the economy, jobs and immigration, according to the organisation.

The gridlock on Capitol Hill and the perceived impotence of elected officials has led to resentment among 20 to 30% of voters, says polling expert Karlyn Bowman, from the American Enterprise Institute. "People see politicians fighting and things not getting done - plus the responsibilities of Congress have grown significantly since the 1970s and there is simply more to criticise. People feel more distant from their government and sour on it," she says.

William Galston thinks part of the appeal of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders is down to frustration with what some see as a failing system. "So on the right you have someone who is running as a 'strong man', a Berlusconi and Putin, who will get things done, and on the left you have someone who is rejecting incrementalism and calling for a political revolution," he says.

Ted Cruz, who won the Republican caucuses in Iowa, is also running as an anti-establishment candidate. "Tonight is a victory for every American who's watched in dismay as career politicians in Washington in both parties refuse to listen and too often fail to keep their commitments to the people," he said on Monday night.

4. America's place in the world

America is used to being seen as a superpower but the number of Americans that think the US "stands above all other countries in the world" went from 38% in 2012 to 28% in 2014, Pew Research suggests. Seventy percent of Americans also think the US is losing respect internationally, according to a 2013 poll by the centre.

"For a country that is used to being on top of the world, the last 15 years haven't been great in terms of foreign policy. There's a feeling of having been at war since 9/11 that's never really gone away, a sense America doesn't know what it wants and that things aren't going our way," says Roberto Suro. The rise of China, the failure to defeat the Taliban and the slow progress in the fight against the so-called Islamic State group has contributed to the anxiety.

Americans are also more afraid of the prospect of terrorist attacks than at any time since 9/11, according to a New York Times/CBS poll. The American reaction to the San Bernardino shooting was different to the French reaction to the Paris attacks, says Galston. "Whereas the French rallied around the government, Americans rallied against it. There is an impression that the US government is failing in its most basic obligation to keep country and people safe."

Democrats and Republicans have become more ideologically polarised than ever. The typical (median), Republican is now more conservative in his or her core social, economic and political views than 94% of Democrats, compared with 70% in 1994, according to Pew Research. The median Democrat, meanwhile, is more liberal than 92% of Republicans, up from 64%.

The study also found that the share of Americans with a highly negative view of the opposing party has doubled, and that the animosity is so deep, many would be unhappy if a close relative married someone of a different political persuasion.

This polarisation makes reaching common ground on big issues such as immigration, healthcare and gun control more complicated. The deadlock is, in turn, angering another part of the electorate. "Despite this rise in polarisation in America, a large mass in the middle are pragmatic. They aren't totally disengaged, they don't want to see Washington gridlocked, but they roll their eyes at the nature of this discourse," says Paul Taylor. This group includes a lot of young people and tends to eschew party labels. "If they voted," he says, "they could play an important part of the election."

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IELTS Reading test (Academic module) - IELTS-up

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The best IELTS Academic Reading practice: sample 6.1. Take IELTS Reading test online and get your score.

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Anyone who has had a relationship with a dog can attest to their sentience. They get extraordinarily happy when they see their person after a long day of being apart; they tuck their tail and whine when visiting the veterinarian; they sulk when they don't get what they want

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Anyone who has had a relationship with a dog can attest to their sentience. They get extraordinarily happy when they see their person after a long day of being apart; they tuck their tail and whine when visiting the veterinarian; they sulk when they don't get what they want

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In the traditional marriage ceremony the bride and groom each say 'I plight thee my troth', meaning 'I pledge my word'. Plight means 'to promise solemnly', and 

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In the traditional marriage ceremony the bride and groom each say 'I plight thee my troth', meaning 'I pledge my word'. Plight means 'to promise solemnly', and 

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The plight of strays is one of the most visible animal welfare issues in the world today. Stray animals can be seen as a nuisance and threatening public health through the spread of diseases and the environment. Nevertheless, stray animals also may experience poorer welfare themselves through a lack of resources, such as shelter, food and water and exposure to cruelty. Therefore, an evaluative study in legal perspective on the protection of the welfare of stray animals is imperative. Generally, the Malaysian law in animal welfare is clear in protecting them from any kinds of cruelty as well as proper humane treatment. However, the protection received by stray animals under the current animal protection regime is seen as inadequate as the increasing numbers of cases reported since the Animal Welfare Act 2015 came into force. Hence, it is felt that the lack of clear guidelines in the enforcement concerning stray animals has resulted in their welfare receiving insufficient protection.  This study utilizes doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research techniques. In complementing the doctrinal discussions, various valuable insights in understanding the law and the practices were adopted. This study provides possible suggestions to enhance solutions in protection of the welfare of stray animals in Malaysia. By using information from current developments in philosophy concerning animal welfare, with references to international instruments and comparing it with the domestic elements of animal protection, this study considers measures and possible ways to enhance protection of the welfare of stray animals in Malaysia. The research suggests that Malaysia should consider incorporating references to animal sentience and the principles in promoting kindness towards animals. Most importantly, this survey urges the government, local authorities and public to improve their commitment through legal intervention to better enforce in protecting the welfare of stray animals.

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What are the Lean Six Sigma Principles? LSS Certification - Purdue

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Experts recommend Lean Six Sigma leadership principles to keep in mind that will help ensure the success of your lean project.

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Read the text about adulthood. Choose ONE word that fits into each blank.

Becoming an adult is a very important phase in every person's . However, when this happens can be very different depending where you live or which culture you from. Most countries have laws on when adolescents are allowed to do certain things.

In the US, for example, adulthood starts at the of 16, when a person can get employment or a driving licence. Even American youngsters have the right to vote at 18, they can't legally drink alcohol they reach the age of 21.

In some countries of Central and South America, girls celebrate their 15th , which marks their rise to womanhood. Families often church services with their 15-year-old daughters and afterwards have parties with many guests.

In Japan young men and women transfer to adulthood at 20, when they are to vote and drink alcohol. The Japanese even have a special day for this event "Coming-of-Age Day" , the second Monday of January. On this day, the new adults celebrate their families and attend speeches given by politicians.

Until recently young people in Saudi Arabia considered adults at the age of 15 - a time when they started showing physical signs becoming an adult. However, a
years ago the country raised this age to 18.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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Read the text about adulthood. Choose ONE word that fits into each blank. Becoming an adult is a very important phase in every person's . However, when this happens can be very different depending where you live or which culture you from. Most countries have laws on when adolescents are allowed to do certain things.

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Tenses

This section is all about English tenses. It contains exercises on every tense - simple and progressive - as well as a section with mixed tense exercises.

Levels of Difficulty : Elementary Intermediate Advanced

Present Tense

Past Tense

Present Perfect

Present Perfect - Past Tense

Past Perfect Tense

Future Tense

All Tenses

Irregular Verbs

Further Exercises

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Online Tense Exercises - English Grammar

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English Grammar Tense Exercises - All exercises can be done online

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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Choose the correct verb form for each blank ! When I started school , the other children at me because I was shorter than they were and I wasn't very pretty. By the time I left school, however, I a lot and was the second tallest girl in my whole class.

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You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 13-26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 below.
Trash Talk Sorting through a mountain of pottery to track the Roman oil trade

(A) In the middle of Rome's trendiest neighborhood, surrounded by sushi restaurants and nightclubs with names like Rodeo Steakhouse and Love Story, sits the ancient world's biggest garbage dump-a 150-foot-tall mountain of discarded Roman amphoras, the shipping drums of the ancient world. It takes about 20 minutes to walk around Monte Testaccio, from the Latin testa and Italian cocci, both meaning "potsherd." But despite its size-almost a mile in circumference-it's easy to walk by and not really notice unless you are headed for some excellent pizza at Velavevodetto, a restaurant literally stuck into the mountain's side. Most local residents don't know what's underneath the grass, dust, and scattering of trees. Monte Testaccio looks like a big hill, and in Rome people are accustomed to hills.

(B) Although a garbage dump may lack the attraction of the Forum or Colosseum, I have come to Rome to meet the team excavating Monte Testaccio and to learn how scholars are using its evidence to understand the ancient Roman economy. As the modern global economy depends on light sweet crude, so too the ancient Romans depended on oil-olive oil. And for more than 250 years, from at least the first century A.D., an enormous number of amphoras filled with olive oil came by ship from the Roman provinces into the city itself, where they were unloaded, emptied, and then taken to Monte Testaccio and thrown away. In the absence of written records or literature on the subject, studying these amphoras is the best way to answer some of the most vexing questions concerning the Roman economy-How did it operate? How much control did the emperor exert over it? Which sectors were supported by the state and which operated in a free market environment or in the private sector?

(C) Monte Testaccio stands near the Tiber River in what was ancient Rome's commercial district. Many types of imported foodstuffs, including oil, were brought into the city and then stored for later distribution in the large warehouses that lined the river. So, professor, just how many amphoras are there?" I ask José Remesal of the University of Barcelona, co-director of the Monte Testaccio excavations. It's the same question that must occur to everyone who visits the site when they realize that the crunching sounds their footfalls make are not from walking on fallen leaves, but on pieces of amphoras. (Don't worry, even the small pieces are very sturdy.) Remesal replies in his deep baritone, "Something like 25 million complete ones. Of course, it's difficult to be exact," he adds with a typical Mediterranean shrug. I, for one, find it hard to believe that the whole mountain is made of amphoras without any soil or rubble. Seeing the incredulous look on my face as I peer down into a 10-foot-deep trench, Remesal says, "Yes, it's really only amphoras." I can't imagine another site in the world where archaeologists find so much-about a ton of pottery every day. On most Mediterranean excavations, pottery washing is an activity reserved for blisteringly hot afternoons when digging is impossible. Here, it is the only activity for most of Remesal's team, an international group of specialists and students from Spain and the United States. During each year's two-week field season, they wash and sort thousands of amphoras handles, bodies, shoulders, necks, and tops, counting and cataloguing, and always looking for stamped names, painted names, and numbers that tell each amphora's story.

(D) Although scholars worked at Monte Testaccio beginning in the late 19th century, it's only within the past 30 years that they have embraced the role amphoras can play in understanding the nature of the Roman imperial economy. According to Remesal, the main challenge archaeologists and economic historians face is the lack of "serial documentation," that is, documents for consecutive years that reflect a true chronology. This is what makes Monte Testaccio a unique record of Roman commerce and provides a vast amount of datable evidence in a clear and unambiguous sequence. "There's no other place where you can study economic history, food production and distribution, and how the state controlled the transport of a product," Remesal says. "It's really remarkable."

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Free IELTS Reading samples: Academic Reading test #4.2 - IELTS-up

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IELTS Academic Reading practice: sample 4.2. Read the text and answer the questions online. Finish full IELTS Reading sample to get your score.

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Printable & Online Short conversation completion exercises with answers-- Complete the dialogues with the most appropriate answers.

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Complete the short dialogues with the most appropriate options. ESL Dialogue completion worksheet 7

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The parents of a woman who was found fused to a couch and caked in her own feces claim they 'loved her to death'.

Sheila and Clay Fletcher pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the death of their daughter Lacey Fletcher, 36, who was discovered dead on their sofa in January 2022.

The couple's lawyer in a Louisiana courthouse said they did not intend to hurt their daughter.

'They were negligent, yes. It is clear they were negligent. They loved her to death - that is the true statement with the Fletchers,' said attorney Steven Moore on Monday. 'They loved their daughter to death.'

Moore continued: 'When you look back at it, you wonder, why? How could this happen? It did happen.

'But at no point did Sheila or Clay Fletcher ever have a single intent to harm their daughter. They loved their daughter to a fault.'

The couple 'are completely remorseful', Moore added.

'Their life revolved around Lacey Fletcher... They lived for Lacey Fletcher.'

Lacey was found 'melted' into a maggot-infested sofa in her parents' East Feliciana home. She was covered in sores and had ulcers on her bottom from sitting there for 12 years and weighed less than 100 pounds.

The parents said that Lacey - who suffered from a neurological disorder called locked-in syndrome and had social anxiety and Asperger's syndrome - refused to leave the living room and had a 'sound mind'. They said they provided her with meals and made a makeshift potty for her.

Moore argued that the Fletchers 'are not criminals' and are on bond because they are not and have never been a danger to the small community.

'Anyone with handicapped children can tell you those things can happen. This is an extreme example of how that happens. They have taken responsibility. Now they look back, they can't believe they got to the position they're in,' Moore said.

'They are good people who have never been in trouble in their life. They are great members of this community, people came to support them, because that is not who they are.'

While some neighbors appeared in the courtroom to support the couple, prosecutors brought victim advocate Dana Lovett, who said that 'nobody should have to have lived like (Lacey) did all these years'.

'They had so many resources at their fingertips, especially Mrs Fletcher,' said Lovett. 'Why she didn't utilize those resources when she was actually almost hand in hand with people that could help is beyond me.'

The couple initially faced second-degree murder charges before they were reduced.

Prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence of 40 years for the parents. Their sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March 20.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.

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Woman found melted onto sofa 'was loved to death' by her parents

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Sheila and Clay Fletcher pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the death of their daughter Lacey Fletcher.

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Many woke up this morning to the news that Vladimir Putin is planning to put nuclear weapons in space, according to US intelligence.

That sounds fantastical and frightening in equal measure, but what would happen if a nuke went off in space?

Well, we actually have quite a good idea of what would happen, because the US has already done it.

It was July 8, 1962. After darkness fell, the military launched a rocket carrying a fusion bomb from the tiny Johnston Atoll in the middle of the Pacific. Elsewhere around the region people gathered to watch, expecting to see a small burst of light, maybe something like a shooting star.

Instead, the entire sky lit up, bringing daylight to the middle of the night.

A giant ball of plasma erupted above them, particles of radiation raining down on the atmosphere.

'It looked as though the heavens had belched forth a new sun that flared briefly, but long enough to set the sky on fire,' said one account in the Hilo Tribune-Herald.

This was Starfish Prime, a 1.4 megaton bomb, 500 times as powerful as Hiroshima.

Its aim was to examine how a nuclear bomb in space would affect Earth's atmosphere.

But the thing is, space is already radioactive. Astronauts, animals and plants in space are all subjected to cosmic radiation. This could come from distant stars or weird phenomena like quasars, but the biggest, most dangerous source, is the Sun.

However, the protective cocoon of the atmosphere - specifically the magnetosphere - stops this radiation reaching life on Earth.

Instead, the radiation jiggles molecules in the atmosphere and creates one of nature's most awesome spectacles, aurora - seen as the Northern Lights across Europe, Russia and the US.

Human-made nuclear radiation can have the same effect, earning Starfish Prime and subsequent high-altitude nukes the deceptively lovely name 'rainbow bombs'.

But even if the radiation could not reach Earth's surface, nuclear bombs in space could still have catastrophic consequences on the ground.

The assumed aim of a Russian nuclear weapon is to destroy satellites.

How this may be achieved is not known. The bomb could target one particular satellite and consider it mission accomplished.

However, the damage from a nuclear bomb is not easy to contain.

In 1962, fallout from Starfish Prime caught up in Earth's magnetic field formed a band of radiation around the planet that lasted for a decade. Nicknamed the 'Starfish belt', it continued to destroy satellites long after the initial explosion, including Ariel-1, the UK's first satellite, and Telstar 1, the first to broadcast a live television signal.

Space is a much busier place today, and if the same radioactive band formed following a nuclear blast, countless satellites from numerous countries would be at risk - not just the target, and possibly those from the aggressor.

However, more recently, a scientist from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has designed a way to eliminate such radiation belts. Radio waves, blasted from a satellite-mounted transmitter, could push the charged particles into the atmosphere, which would harmlessly absorb them.

'So now, if you had a Starfish belt and you had the right technology in space, you could get rid of that belt in a couple of weeks,' said its designer Geoff Reeves, speaking to National Geographic.

The US wanted to nuke the Moon

Yes, you read that right.

But satellites aren't the only thing up there.

Starfish Prime was tested decades before the International Space Station (ISS) was built, but detonated around the same altitude.

Russia is a vital part of the ISS programme, and last year agreed to stay in the partnership until at least 2028, suggesting Russian cosmonauts will also remain on board, and should expect their country to keep the spacecraft safe.

There is one more potential issue from a nuclear weapon in space, a global one.

The most powerful blasts of solar radiation have the ability to knock out communications on Earth. Could a nuke do the same?

In 1859, Earth was hit by the biggest solar storm ever recorded. Known as the Carrington Event, it was so powerful it gave telegraph operators electric shocks.

Technology has moved on a fair bit since then, so it isn't hard to imagine the damage that could be done by a similar-sized or even bigger blast of radiation.

'A lot more things depend on computer chips and power than they did in 1962,' said Nasa scientist David Sibeck, speaking to National Geographic. 'Things in your house, things in your car, communications. It would be much worse.'

And like the radiation cloud crippling passing satellites, communications blackouts caused by nuclear fallout in the atmosphere would be impossible to contain or target.

Whoever set off the bomb could end up in the dark too.

MORE : Vladimir Putin 'preparing to launch a nuclear weapon into space'

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MORE : Map reveals best places to live in the US if nuclear war breaks out

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Here's what could happen if Putin launched a nuclear bomb in space

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With US intelligence officials reporting Russia could launch a nuclear weapon into space, what would happen if one went off?

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Shocking before and after photos of Ukrainian soldier released by Russia

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The 41-year-old lost almost half his body weight and has been left with several health issues.

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Use the word in capitals at the end of the sentence to form a new word that fits into the blank !

A trip to southwestern Germany

The food was excellent. I tried several ( TASTE) local dishes. I also bought some cuckoo clocks as souvenirs.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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WF055 Southwestern Germany and the Black Forest

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WF055 Southwestern Germany and the Black Forest - Word Formation - English Vocabulary Exercises

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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WF061 - Word Formation Sentences - English Vocabulary Exercises

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Crossing the Bering Strait

It is easy when looking at a globe of the earth, to become captivated by the narrow gap separating North America and Siberia. At its narrowest point the Bering Strait is only 85 km across beckoning explorers to try crossing its icy waters.

Despite the fact that a ferry could potentially cross from the USA to Siberia in two hours, political hurdles restrict traffic across this body of water. It is virtually impossible for a westerner to receive permission to arrive on the Russian shores of the Bering Strait. An adventurer wishing to kayak, swim, walk over the ice, or sail from Alaska to Siberia across the Bering Strait would have to do so illegally.

To learn more about crossing the Bering Strait and Beringian gap, download a copy of Colin Angus' bestselling book, Beyond the Horizon . This book details the team's human-powered journey across Alaska, the Bering Strait and Siberia.

Methods of Transportation
Is it possible to walk across the Bering Strait?
A common misconception is that the Bering Strait freezes in the winter time and it is easy to walk across the ice. In reality there is a strong current flowing north through the strait which usually creates large channels of open water. On occasion these open channels become clogged with moving chunks of pan ice, so it is theoretically possible to jump from chunk to chunk, along with some swimming across the open leads. Luck is also required in having favourable currents.

There are two reported cases of successful ice crossings. The first was in 1998 when a Russian father and his son attempted walking to Alaska. They became marooned on the pack ice and spent many days drifting and cut off from shore. The ice finally reached the far side of the Strait. The men, on the brink of death staggered onto American soil. More recently in 2006 English trekker, Karl Bushby, and his American companion Dimitri Kieffer succeeded in doing the reverse route. The duo were immediately detained by the Federal Security Service and deported for entering the country illegally.

There have been several other attempts that have ended with helicopter rescues on the ice.
How about crossing in a small boat in summer?
The Bering Sea is one of the most dangerous bodies of water in the world. There are three main reasons for this; shallow depth, volatile weather, and extremely cold sea temperatures. The depths average 35 fathoms (about 200') which means the waves are shorter and pack more power than deep sea waves. Additionally, strong currents make for difficult navigation.

It is recommended to cross in a seaworthy vessel capable of handling intense storms. It is possible to cross the narrowest part of the Bering Strait in a smaller boat such as a kayak during a calm period of weather, however a support boat would be recommended. The problem, however, is the possibility of having the boats confiscated upon reaching shore.

Bering Strait Geography
Little Diomede and Big Diomede Islands
These two islands are situated in the middle of the Bering Strait 3 km apart. The Russian/American border (also the International Date Line) runs between them. The smaller of these granite islands is American.

These islands can be used as a resting point during a crossing of the Bering Strait, however, being in the proximity of Russia's Big Diomede Island will reduce the chance of a successful crossing from Alaska to Russia. It is unlikely permission will be obtained from the Russian government to cross the Bering Strait, which means a successful crossing involves keeping a low profile. There is a heavy military presence on Big Diomede and the soldiers will turn back any explorers trying to sneak into their country. From what we've heard they are pretty good natured, and are unlikely to shoot.

After reaching mainland Russia eventually the inevitable will happen (unless you turn around and go back) and you will be arrested and deported.

Permissions
Note: For updated (2016) information on crossing the Bering Strait, and receiving permits for arriving in Chukotka, Russia, please visit our Keynote Speakers Canada page. Information on the Bering Strait and Chukotka permits is at the bottom of the page. How do you cross the Bering Strait legally?
This is very difficult. Not only is it necessary to arrive in Russia in an official port of call, but it is also necessary to depart from an official port of call. We have not heard of any adventurers who have received permission to arrive or depart from the remote shoreline of Russia.
Is it possible to cross from Alaska to Russia legally?
Yes, but not via the Bering Strait. It is possible to depart from Alaska outside of a port of call (a community that has customs and immigration processing facilities), but you must arrive in an official port in Russia. The closest official port to the Bering Strait in Russia's Far East is Providenia. The distance across the Bering Sea from Alaska to Providenia is 400 km. This stretch is broken by St. Lawrence Island (American) which lies 200 km out from Alaska. The island is 125 km long, and it is 75 km from Russia.

A crossing via this route would necessitate the ability to navigate 200 km of open stormy water. It is also necessary to receive permission from the Russian government to arrive in Providenia in a small boat (a process which takes about a year).
What it is the advantage of adhering to protocol?
If your objective is nothing other than to cross from Alaska to Russia, it is probably easiest to do so by crossing the Bering Strait and dealing with the consequences (although this is not advisable or recommended). If your expedition involves more than just crossing to Russia (such as a human powered journey from Alabama to Kazakhstan) it is necessary to play by the rules so you will be granted permission to keep traveling through Russia. It is impossible to travel through Russia's Far East without appropriate permits.
What is required to arrive and travel through Eastern Siberia?
Chukotka, Russia's most NE state, is the last closed part of the country. This means that many of the barriers that were in place during Soviet times still apply and free travel is not allowed. This does not mean that foreigners are banned, but strict protocol must be followed.

If one were to arrive in Providenia in a small vessel such as a rowboat or sailing vessel several things are required:

Russian Visa: This is fairly easy to acquire and the procedure is outlined on the Website of most Russian consulates. You can get a Russian visa for up to a year.

Rasporyazheniye: The only thing harder than pronouncing the name of this permit is actually receiving it. Visitors to the closed state of Chukotka need an additional permit that is not required in the rest of Russia. In order to receive a rasporyazheniye you need a Chukotkan resident to sponsor you and vouch to look after you for the duration of your stay. This sponsor also needs to be registered with a special division of the government, which most people aren't. Those who have this special registration are mainly the owners of the few "tourist" agencies so it is necessary to go through them. These agencies can be found on the official Chukotka website at: www.chukotka.org. We would not recommend Nikolai Ettynne of the organization Alliot.

Additionally, because free travel is not allowed, a detailed itinerary and outline of your route must be submitted. Each administrator or mayor of the various communities en route must give advance permission for you to enter their community. The itinerary also must be okayed by the military. It is very difficult to change your route once in the country, so plan carefully. After these requirements have been met a rasporyazheniye will be granted. It is virtually impossible for an outsider to take care of these requirements so a Chukotkan "tourist" agency must be recruited and compensated to look after these details.

Start the process of applying for your rasporyazhniye a year before you plan to arrive in Chukotka.

Special Permits: Any communications devices (including cell phones) and electronics that communicate with satellites (such as a GPS) need special permits from Moscow. If the official documents from Moscow are not procured upon arrival, these items will be confiscated. Again, the tourist agency you are working with can take care of these details, but be sure to start the process very early.

Coast Guard: If you are arriving in a small boat approval is also required from the Russian Coast Guard.

Communication: After you have received all your permissions and permits, it is essential to continually update the authorities with your ETA. It is absolutely essential not to arrive unannounced. Progress updates need to be relayed via your sponsoring organization. When you arrive in the Port of Providenia you will be greeted by about fifteen officials including customs, immigration and members of the military.

And that's it. If you have your Russian Visa, rasporyazheniye, local sponsor, special permits, permissions and you continually communicate with the officials you will hopefully be able to step off your kayak and into the country.

We have only heard of one other expedition (apart from our own) that has entered Providenya by small boat. Mike Horn arrived from Alaska in a sailboat with two others. They had Russian visas but not their additional permits. Mike Horn was detained and deported, and his crew was sent back out to sea.

Beringian Gap Geography
What is the Beringian Gap?
There is a 5000 km gap between the Russian and American road systems. The Bering Sea is only one of the inconveniences separating the two road networks. It is an endless wilderness of boggy tundra, boreal forests and rivers. Additionally Far Eastern Russia is the coldest area on the planet outside of Antarctica.

For expeditions wishing to cross the Beringian gap by human power various factors must be considered carefully to minimize the dangers. It is virtually impossible to trek through the wilderness of Chukotka in the summer (apart from the drier peninsula stretching 750 km betweem Providenya and Anadyr) due to endless bogs, rivers, and lakes. The only realistic time to pass through this region is during the frigid winter months when all water becomes solid. Depending on what route you choose from Providenia it is between 2500 km to 3500 km to reach the roads connecting the rest of Russia.

In Alaska, the Dalton Highway joining Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay is the last strip catering to the automobile. The easiest way to reach the Bering Sea from the Dalton Highway is to paddle down the Yukon River. It is about 1600 km from the Dalton Highway Bridge to the mouth of the Yukon.

The mouth of the Yukon River is situated at the closest point to St. Lawrence Island for the crossing to Siberia.

Bering Sea Conditions
Strong north-flowing currents sweep the upper portions of the Bering Sea. In the vicinity of St. Lawrence Island currents average half to one knot. In the Straits around Little Diomede and Big Diomede currents flow 1-2 knots.

Wind direction is extremely variable and during the summer there are no reliable prevailing winds. Visibility is often limited with thick cloud cover and light mist or fog. Storms are powerful, frequent and move in quickly. The unpredictability of the weather makes it difficult to gauge ideal weather conditions for a crossing.

Climate in Chukotka
Summer in Chukotka can be pleasant with temperatures reaching the low twenties. Often storms rolling off the Bering Sea can produce very windy conditions.

Winter in Chukotka is the most extreme in the planet. It is much, much colder than Alaska due to the fact that the prevailing weather comes from the west and chills as it moves across the largest landmass in the world. In central Chukotka temperatures hover around -50 for long periods through the winter.

It is the winds accompanying these extreme temperatures that really make the weather abysmal. The location of Chukotka between the Arctic Ocean and the Pacific creates unique meteorological conditions, and frequently winds from 50-100 km/hr blast across the peninsula. Wind chill temperature is often below -100. The lack of vegetation trees and blowing snow means that whiteout conditions are very frequent.

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Crossing the Bering Strait & Beringian Gap

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It is easy when looking at a globe of the earth, to become captivated by the narrow gap separating North America and Siberia. At its narrowest point the Bering Strait is only 85 km across beckoning explorers to try crossing its icy waters.

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My life started when they said it was over | Elin Kjos | TEDxKI

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a/ Unlike strength training which involves weights, machines or resistance bands, calisthenics uses only the body’s own weight for physical development.

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a/ Unlike strength training which involves weights, machines or resistance bands, calisthenics uses only the body’s own weight for physical development.

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b/Battle of Thermopolylae. Herodotus reported that, prior to the battle, the god-king Xerxes sent a scout party to spy on his Spartan enemies. The scouts informed Xerxes that the Spartans, under the leadership of King Leonidas, were practicing some kind of bizarre, synchronised movements akin to a tribal dance., only 300 Spartans

c/The combination of athleticism and physical beauty. You may have heard a friend whimsically sigh and mention that someone ‘has the body of a Greek god’.

d/ the birth of gymnastics 1800s , these were people of astounding physical strength and development who forged nomadic careers by demonstrating outlandish feats of strength to stunned populations. Most of these men trained using hand balancing and horizontal bars, as modern weight machines had not yet been invented.

e/In the 1950s, Angelo Siciliano, dying breed

a series of mail order comic books he taught these methods to hundreds of thousands of children and young adults

f/1960/70 the sport of body building.Physical development of this nature was only attainable through the use of anabolic steroids, synthetic hormones which boosted muscle development while harming overall health

g/In this “bigger is better” climate, calisthenics was relegated to groups perceived to be vulnerable, such as women, people recuperating from injuries and school students.

h/ in recent year =everything is shifting backto Modern practices often combine elements from a number of related traditions such as yoga, Pilates, kettle-ball training, gymnastics and traditional Greco-Roman calisthenics.

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/əˌnʌɪəˈleɪʃn/

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Read Section 3 and answer Questions 29-40
CALISTHENICS The world's oldest form of resistance training
(A) From the very first caveman to scale a tree or hang from a cliff face, to the mighty armies of the Greco-Roman empires and the gymnasiums of modern American high schools, calisthenics has endured and thrived because of its simplicity and utility. Unlike strength training which involves weights, machines or resistance bands, calisthenics uses only the body's own weight for physical development.

(B) Calisthenics enters the historical record at around 480 B.C., with Herodotus' account of the Battle of Thermopolylae. Herodotus reported that, prior to the battle, the god-king Xerxes sent a scout party to spy on his Spartan enemies. The scouts informed Xerxes that the Spartans, under the leadership of King Leonidas, were practicing some kind of bizarre, synchronised movements akin to a tribal dance. Xerxes was greatly amused. His own army was comprised of over 120,000 men, while the Spartans had just
300. Leonidas was informed that he must retreat or face annihilation. The Spartans did not retreat, however, and in the ensuing battle they managed to hold Xerxes' enormous army at bay for some time until reinforcements arrived. It turns out their tribal dance was not a superstitious ritual but a form of calisthenics by which they were building awe-inspiring physical strength and endurance.

(C) The Greeks took calisthenics seriously not only as a form of military discipline and strength, but also as an artistic expression of movement and an aesthetically ideal physique. Indeed, the term calisthenics itself is derived from the Greek words for beauty and strength. We know from historical records and images from pottery, mosaics and sculptures of the period that the ancient Olympians took calisthenics training seriously.
They were greatly admired - and still are, today - for their combination of athleticism and physical beauty. You may have heard a friend whimsically sigh and mention that someone 'has the body of a Greek god'. This expression has travelled through centuries
and continents, and the source of this envy and admiration is the calisthenics method.

(D) Calisthenics experienced its second golden age in the 1800s. This century saw the birth of gymnastics, an organised sport that uses a range of bars, rings, vaulting horses and balancing beams to display physical prowess. This period is also when the phenomena of strongmen developed. These were people of astounding physical strength and development who forged nomadic careers by demonstrating outlandish feats of strength to stunned populations. Most of these men trained using hand balancing and horizontal bars, as modern weight machines had not yet been invented.

(E) In the 1950s, Angelo Siciliano - who went by the stage name Charles Atlas - was crowned "The World's Most Perfectly Developed Man". Atlas's own approach stemmed from traditional calisthenics, and through a series of mail order comic books he taught these methods to hundreds of thousands of children and young adults through the 1960s and 1970s. But Atlas was the last of a dying breed. The tides were turning, fitness methods were drifting away from calisthenics, and no widely-regarded proponent of the method would ever succeed him.

(F) In the 1960s and 1970s calisthenics and the goal of functional strength combined with physical beauty was replaced by an emphasis on huge muscles at any cost. This became the sport of body building. Although body building's pioneers were drawn from the calisthenics tradition, the sole goal soon became an increase in muscle size. Body building icons, people such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sergio Oliva, were called mass monsters because of their imposing physiques. Physical development of this nature was only attainable through the use of anabolic steroids, synthetic hormones which boosted muscle development while harming overall health. These body builders also relied on free weights and machines, which allowed them to target and bloat the size of individual muscles rather than develop a naturally proportioned body.
Calisthenics, with its emphasis on physical beauty and a balance in proportions, had little to offer the mass monsters.

(G) In this "bigger is better" climate, calisthenics was relegated to groups perceived to be vulnerable, such as women, people recuperating from injuries and school students.
Although some of the strongest and most physically developed human beings ever to have lived acquired their abilities through the use of sophisticated calisthenics, a great deal of this knowledge was discarded and the method was reduced to nothing more than an easily accessible and readily available activity. Those who mastered the rudimentary skills of calisthenics could expect to graduate to weight training rather than advanced calisthenics.

(H) In recent years, however, fitness trends have been shifting back toward the use of calisthenics. Bodybuilding approaches that promote excessive muscle development frequently lead to joint pain, injuries, unbalanced physiques and weak cardiovascular health. As a result, many of the newest and most popular gyms and programmes emphasize calisthenics-based methods instead. Modern practices often combine elements from a number of related traditions such as yoga, Pilates, kettle-ball training, gymnastics and traditional Greco-Roman calisthenics. Many people are keen to recover the original Greek vision of physical beauty and strength and harmony of the mind-body connection.

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IELTS General Reading free samples. Sample 2.3 - IELTS-up

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IELTS General Reading practice: sample with auto-correction and answers 2.3.

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Put simply, the 80-20 rule states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Sometimes this is even more extreme – sometimes close to 99% of the effects come from less than 5% of the results. This is true in both social and scientific contexts.

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Put simply, the 80-20 rule states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Sometimes this is even more extreme – sometimes close to 99% of the effects come from less than 5% of the results. This is true in both social and scientific contexts.

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The 90-10 principle, or the Pareto Principle, asserts that approximately 90% of outcomes result from 10% of efforts. This concept originated from the observations of Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noted that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

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The 90-10 principle, or the Pareto Principle, asserts that approximately 90% of outcomes result from 10% of efforts. This concept originated from the observations of Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noted that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

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‘Identical Strangers’ Explore Nature Vs. Nurture

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Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein were both adopted as infants. They met for the first time when they were 35 years old. That’s when they discovered they are identical twins — separated at adoption and subjects in a secret research project.

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What was your childhood like?

Childhood is a universal experience, something every adult across the world has gone through. For many, childhood is a time we are nostalgic for. It's a time of curiosity, imagination, exploration and incredible development. The fact that you are reading this article possibly means that you had a fortunate childhood that shaped you into the motivated adult you are today - here, improving your English skills. But what helped to get you this far? Who inspired you along the way? For many of us, a special adult helped us to learn and grow as children and led us to love learning. For some, it was a great teacher or wise neighbour. Others had parents, grandparents or other relatives who encouraged them to be curious and study hard. Even if your childhood wasn't easy, you probably had at least one inspirational adult in your life who encouraged you and was a role model.

What difficulties do children face?

Unfortunately, not everyone has a good childhood. Proportionately, more children live in poverty than adults. 19.5 per cent of the world's children live in extreme poverty, and even though children are only one third of the global population, they are half of the poor. Around the world, many children live without access to clean water, enough food, or decent healthcare. Others live in extremely dangerous places and some are forced to join armies to fight wars they don't understand. Over 120 million children do not attend school and even those who do are not always learning: two out of five students leave primary school not knowing how to read, write or do basic maths. Even those who may have happy memories of childhood did not necessarily have an easy life as a kid. Children are dependent on the adults in their life for support, and not all adults treat children well.

What's so special about 20 November?

Even though every day is, or at least should be, a day to nurture and celebrate children, Universal Children's Day is celebrated as a special day around the world on 20 November. In 1989 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - a 54-item list describing the universal rights of children - was signed. This document came out of the work of a lot of experts and representatives from many nations who met to create a child-specific version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was signed in 1948. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely and quickly signed treaty in history, meaning it was quickly adopted into the civil codes of most countries around the world.

What are human rights? And what are the rights of a child?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that there are basic rights and freedoms that every human is entitled to, regardless of race, sex, language, religion, or anything else that may divide people. The Rights of the Child recognises that people under the age of 18 have specific needs and are entitled to their own rights. There are four main principles that these rights follow: non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, the right to life, including survival and development, and the right to be heard and taken seriously. According to this, every child has the right to safety, to care, to education, to play, to rest and to know their rights!

What can we do?

The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the world's promise to children that we, the adults, will do everything in our power to protect them, to educate them, and to help them grow. Are you helping keep this promise? There is a lot to be done to make the world a safer, more supportive place for children. The good news is, you're an adult and you have the power to influence the next generation in the most wonderful way. Start by explaining the Rights of the Child to the children in your life. Let them know that they, just like all human beings, have rights. Help a child learn to love learning, so they can become a motivated adult just like you.

Sources:

Discussion

Language level

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Children all around the world need adults to help, protect and teach them. Do you know what the Rights of the Child are? Every year, 20 November is Universal Children's Day, a chance for all of us to learn how we can help the youngest, most vulnerable members of our communities.

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Key points

Cultural effects were observed in individualism-collectivism in separated twins, raised in South Korea and the U.s.

Reared-apart twins are valued in research--especially those raised in different cultures.

Twins raised apart are highly valued in psychological research. Studies have shown that genetic factors underlie a wide range of behaviors, including, intelligence, personality and interests. Twins raised apart in different countries are a unique subset of twins reared apart. They are also very informative for revealing the extent to which cultural factors may affect the similarity of identical twins-- therefore, it is very important to include such cases in the general and professional literature.

I have written about a number of such cases and was fortunate to discover several new cases quite recently. My latest report concerns identical South Korean female twins, one raised in South Korea (K) by her birth parents and the other raised in the United States (U) by her adoptive parents. The circumstances of their separation are extraordinary.

When and How Were The Twins Separated?

The twins were born in 1974. When they were two years old their grandmother took them to a market. Somehow, U got away, was picked up and brought to a hospital. She then entered a foster home before being transferred to a baby care facility. Her case was eventually managed by the Holt International Adoption Agency whose staff arranged for her to be adopted by a couple from the United States.

U's biological mother and father were desperate to find her. They distributed printed information asking for help, and they also went on a television program for missing persons.

Discovery of Separation and Twinship

As part of South Korea's program for reuniting adopted-apart family members, U sent a DNA sample to the data bank. In March of 2020, she received a telephone call that was life-changing---her biological mother had been identified in South Korea. During an online meeting several months later, U learned that she had a twin sister, as well as a biological brother four years older and a biological sister two years older.

Case Study

I learned about U and S when I did an interview and discussion for a group called Boston Korean Adoptees (BAK), Inc. That session took place in October 2020.

I contacted my South Korean colleague, Dr. Yoon-Mi Hur, a faculty member at Kookmin University and Director of the Kookmin Twin Research Institute, in Seoul. She and I have collaborated in the past on similar case studies. We agreed that Dr. Hur would study S, I would study U, and then we would combine our results. Each twin completed a general ability (Wechsler IQ) test, administered by a trained assistant in their respective countries. The twins also completed an array of other protocols, such as a life history interview, self-esteem survey, family environment form, personality questionnaire, job satisfaction survey, individualism-collectivism assessment, and twin relationship questionnaire. I will focus on selected aspects of this case study. At the end of this essay I will provide a source for finding additional information.

Findings

The twins' parents and families were very different as indicated by the family environment form. For one thing, S grew up in a more nurturing and supportive environment than U. Nevertheless, the twins showed favorable and similar levels of self-esteem, suggesting genetic effects. They also showed similar performance in personality, e.g., in the trait of conscientiousness. However. their general ability scores were quite different-U scored 84, while S scored 100. Their difference of sixteen points exceeds the mean difference of 6 points reported for identical twins reared together. This could be partly due to U's history of concussions, which also may have affected her performance on a test of non-verbal reasoning. U also described herself as having a history of being a poor test-taker. However, the twins did show similarities in selected subtests that comprise the Wechsler test. Perhaps the most interesting outcome for me and for my collaborator concerned the twins' score in individualism-collectivism.

Here, U's scores show that she perceives the self as autonomous and believes that members of a collective are equal in status. This suggests that U has adapted well to American culture. S's scores suggest that she perceives the self as a part of a collective and is willing to accept hierarchy and inequality within that collective. This is consistent with the South Korean culture of her age. In sum, the United States is largely an individualistic culture, while South Korea is mainly a collectivist culture. The twins' scores reflect the importance of culture on their respective value systems.

Summary

The twins described here offer a look into how rearing in different environments and cultures can affect people with identical genetic endowments. Cultural climates can modify values, as shown by the individualism-collectivism assessment. It is likely that other transnational reared-apart identical twin pairs will be identified; in fact, I am working with some pairs because it is important to include them in future studies.

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Case Study: Identical Twins Reared in Different Cultures

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Cultural effects can be seen in some traits in reared-apart identical twins.

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Read an email managing the problems faced by a member of an international team.

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Aggravating circumstances refers to the factors that increase the severity or culpability of a criminal act. Typically, the presence of an aggravating circumstance will lead to a harsher penalty for a convicted criminal.

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Aggravating circumstances refers to the factors that increase the severity or culpability of a criminal act. Typically, the presence of an aggravating circumstance will lead to a harsher penalty for a convicted criminal.

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psychologist

ˈməːdə/=murder

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The ballpoint pen

The ballpoint pen

Most of us have at least one, but how did this popular item evolve?

One morning in 1945, a crowd of 5,000 people jammed the entrance of Gimbels Department Store in New York. The day before, Gimbels had placed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times for a wonderful new invention, the ballpoint pen. The advertisement described the pen as 'fantastic' and 'miraculous'. Although they were expensive, $12.50 each, all 10,000 pens in stock were sold on the first day.

In fact, this 'new' pen was not new at all. In 1888, John Loud, a leather manufacturer, had invented a pen with a reservoir of ink and a rolling ball. However, his pen was never produced, and efforts by other people to produce a commercially successful one failed too. The main problem was with the ink. If it was too thin, the ink leaked out of the pen. If it was too thick, it didn't come out of the pen at all.

Almost fifty years later, in 1935, a newspaper editor in Hungary thought he spent too much time filling his pens with ink. He decided to invent a better kind of pen. With the help of his brother, who was a chemist, he produced a ballpoint pen that didn't leak when the pen wasn't being used. The editor was called Ladislas Biro, and it was his name that people would associate more than any other with the ballpoint pen.

By chance, Biro met Augustine Justo, the Argentinian president. Justo was so impressed with Biro's invention that he invited him to set up a factory in Argentina. In 1943, the first Biro pens were produced.

Unfortunately, they were not popular, since the pen needed to be held in a vertical position for the ink to come out. Biro redesigned the pen with a better ball, and in 1944 the new product was on sale throughout Argentina.

It was a North American, Milton Reynolds, who introduced the ballpoint pen to the USA. Copying Biro's design, he produced the version that sold so well at Gimbels. Another American, Patrick Frawley, improved the design and in 1950 began producing a pen he called the Papermate. It was an immediate success, and within a few years, Papermates were selling in their millions around the world.

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The ballpoint pen - IELTS reading practice test

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The ballpoint pen reading practice test has 5 questions belongs to the Short Practice subject. All of the questions are Sentence Completion form

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Rubik's Cube - How the puzzle achieved success

Erno Rubik first studied sculpture and then later architecture in Budapest, where he went on to become a teacher of interior design. It was while he was working as a teacher that he began the preliminary work on an invention that he called the 'Magic Cube'.

Rubik was inspired by geometric puzzles such as the Chinese tangram, a puzzle consisting of various triangles, a square and a parallelogram which can be combined to create different shapes and figures. However, unlike the tangram, which is two- dimensional, Rubik was more interested in investigating how three-dimensional forms, such as the cube, could be moved and combined to produce other forms.

His design consisted of a cube made up of layers of individual smaller cubes, and each smaller cube could be turned in any direction except diagonally. To ensure that the cubes could move independently, without falling apart, Rubik first attempted to join them together using elastic bands. However, this proved to be impossible, so Rubik then solved the problem by assembling them using a rounded interior. This permitted them to move smoothly and easily. He experimented with different ways of marking the smaller cubes, but ended up with the simple solution of giving a different colour to each side. The object was to twist the layers of small cubes so that each side of the large cube was an identical colour.

Rubik took out a patent for the Cube in 1977 and started manufacturing it in the same year. The Cube came to the attention of a Hungarian businessman, Tibor Laczi, who then demonstrated it at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. When British toy expert Tom Kremer saw it, he thought it was amazing and he persuaded a manufacturer, Ideal Toys, to produce 1 million of them in 1979. Ideal Toys renamed the Cube after the toy's inventor, and in 1980, Rubik's Cube was shown at toy fairs all over the world. It won that year's prize in Germany for Best Puzzle. Rubik's Cube is believed to be the world's best-selling puzzle; since its invention, more than 300 million Cubes have been sold worldwide.

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Rubik's Cube - How the puzzle achieved success - IELTS reading practice test

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Rubik's Cube - How the puzzle achieved success reading practice test has 7 questions belongs to the Short Practice subject. All of the questions are Summary, form completion form

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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You are going to read a text about stereotyping in movies. Some words are missing from the text. Use the words in brackets to form a word that fits in the gaps.

Stereotypes are simple, one-dimensional(PORTRAY) of people - usually based on sex, race, profession or age. Most of us stereotype people to some extent as we try to understand the world.

Filmmakers relied (HEAVY) on stereotypes in the past because they were a quick and easy way to create a movie character's (PERSON): for example, blonde women were dumb, foreigners were villains, Mexicans were lazy, and blacks were great (ATHLETIC) . Teenagers tended to be thrown into two categories, popular kids or geeks.

The film industry today has become more (SENSE) to issues of culture and gender than it was in the old days of Hollywood. Many movies, however, still (COURAGE) common concepts about groups of people. The way Native Americans are shown in westerns is a good example of how negative stereotyping can distort the history and (UNDERSTAND) of another culture.

Such oversimplified and (ACCURATE) characterizations can (DEEP) influence how we relate to one another. Because children have a (LIMIT) experience of the world, they're particularly vulnerable to being influenced by media stereotypes, even in (ANIMATE) movies. The kindly grandfather in Pinocchio, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella, even the (HERO) male lion in the Lion King are all stereotypes known and understood by children.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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WF085 - Stereotyping in Movies - Word Formation

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You are going to read a text about stereotyping in movies. Some words are missing from the text. Use the words in brackets to form a word that fits in the gaps. Stereotypes are simple, one-dimensional(PORTRAY) of people - usually based on sex, race, profession or age.

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Imagine waking up to a nightmare as an intruder invades your home, blindfolds you, ties you up and forces a sedative down your throat.

This is not the plot of any Hollywood thriller but the harrowing true story of what happened to a young couple, Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn, chronicled in the new Netflix docuseries - American Nightmare .

This three-part docuseries delves into Denise Huskins' seemingly implausible kidnapping. Dubbed the 'real-life (the 2014 film featuring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike based on Gillian Flynn's novel), American Nightmare, with its three episodes, has hooked and kept audiences in suspense.

Huskins' traumatic experience, initially dismissed as a hoax and mere fabrication by the police, gripped the world's attention in 2015, till her abductor was caught a year later.

But what made this true crime misdeed so unbelievable to the authorities?

Join us as we unravel the true story behind American Nightmare - the kidnapping, the rift with the police and the eventual arrest of the culprit.

Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn wake up to their 'American Nightmare' in 2015

The chilling ordeal of physical therapists Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn began on the morning of March 23, 2015, when an intruder infiltrated Quinn's residence in the San Francisco Bay Area. Quinn and his girlfriend, Denise, were staying in the house at the time.

The kidnapper, wielding a simulated gun, blindfolded, tied the couple and forced them to ingest a sedative. According to Aaron's statement to the police, featured in the docuseries, Quinn was blindfolded with swimming goggles, and his hands were secured with zip ties. Following this, the kidnapper fled with Huskins in a car, and Quinn received two ransom demands of USD 17,000.

Aaron also received explicit instructions dictating his actions, which would determine Denise's safety. Despite eventually reaching out to the police hours later, his delayed response cast a shadow of suspicion upon him, as evident in interrogation footage presented in the docuseries.

In episode 1 of the Netflix documentary American Nightmare , Aaron recounts the horror and shocking details surrounding the kidnapping. Initially intending to target Aaron's ex-girlfriend, Andrea, the kidnapper proceeded with Denise upon realising the mistaken identity. Aaron also revealed that the kidnapper had installed a camera in the room and instructed him not to make any movements.

What unfolded next in 'Gone Girl' Denise Huskins' story

Following initial exchanges with the kidnapper, Aaron ultimately opted to contact the police when communication ceased, aligning with the assailant's original instructions. In the predictable turn of events, Aaron, the boyfriend, became the primary suspect, a common occurrence in such cases. The Vallejo Police Department, unconvinced by Aaron's account, targeted him, given the shocking nature of the crime.

Complicating matters further, Aaron's history with his ex-girlfriend Andrea, who also worked with the couple at the same hospital, made him susceptible. Tensions between Aaron and Denise over his communication with Andrea before Denise's disappearance amplified suspicions. It seemed inconceivable to authorities that Denise could vanish from Aaron's residence without his direct involvement. Even Denise's defence attorney, Dan Russo, acknowledged the scepticism surrounding Aaron's narrative in his Netflix interview.

The heinous nature of the crime drew swift media attention. Initially under suspicion, Aaron found some relief when an unexpected audio clip, purportedly from her, surfaced in the media. In the audio, Denise indicated her kidnapping but claimed to be unharmed. This development shifted focus to Denise, prompting investigators to explore the possibility of her orchestrating her own abduction. The plot deepened when Denise was mysteriously discovered at Huntington Beach, Southern California, 400 miles away from Vallejo, intensifying both media scrutiny and police suspicion.

As speculation about Denise's involvement in her own kidnapping spread rapidly, the media drew parallels with the 2014 psychological thriller Gone Girl . Released a year before these events, the film narrates the tale of a woman staging her disappearance to frame her unfaithful husband for murder. Aaron's admission of infidelity with Andrea further fueled this theory.

So, did Denise Huskins stage her own kidnapping?

The second episode of American Nightmare unravels the events that unfolded after Denise left Aaron's residence. Initially left alone, Denise's nightmare amplifies when the kidnapper insists she engages in sexual intercourse with a member of his group, recording the interaction as collateral. Threatening to publicise the video if Denise approached the police, the kidnapper subjected her to further sexual assault. Unfortunately, Denise endured another assault before being suddenly released after almost 48 hours of captivity.

Much like Aaron, Denise faced similar suspicion from both the media and the police, unwilling to accept the incredulous turn of events presented. In a statement, Lieutenant Kenny Park accused the couple of diverting valuable resources and attention from genuine community victims and instilling fear among community members. Despite persistent calls for an investigation, the police maintained an indifferent stance, holding the couple responsible for their own plight.

A surprising twist emerged when Aaron's attorney, Dan, received emails from the kidnapper, urging belief in Denise's story and sharing photographs of crucial evidence. The emails suggested the involvement of a three-person group in the kidnapping. With the commotion around Denise's disappearance somewhat settling, a breakthrough occurred when a foiled kidnapping attempt in Dublin, California came to light. The kidnapper's efforts met with strong resistance from the victims and forced him to flee the scene. In the process, he left behind a vital piece of evidence - his mobile phone.

The kidnapper, a Harvard graduate and ex-marine, is finally arrested

The owner of the mobile phone was identified as Matthew Muller, a Harvard-trained attorney and former U.S. Marine afflicted with bipolar disorder. Officers from Dublin Police Services, part of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department investigating the Dublin break-in, apprehended Muller. The arrest further led to a search of Muller's residence in South Lake Tahoe, where evidence related to the Denise Huskins kidnapping and other attempted crimes was unearthed.

Notably, a pair of blacked-out swimming goggles, bearing a strand of blonde hair, captured the attention of Dublin Police Detective Misty Carausu. Investigating Matthew's past, Misty discovered prior charges for similar crimes. Misty's diligent work established a connection between the Dublin case and Denise's kidnapping, leading her to conclude that Matthew was the perpetrator behind Denise's abduction and assault in March 2015.

An FBI investigation brought forth additional evidence, including two videos showing Muller sexually assaulting Denise, who was blindfolded. Matthew stood alone in facing charges.

In 2017, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, with the judge describing the crime as according to a recently updated article by the as reported by the "heinous, atrocious, and horrible," Associated Press. At the sentencing, Denise Huskins expressed her ongoing struggles with nightmares, while Aaron Quinn conveyed that he "cannot and will not ever be the same," AP.
American Nightmare is currently streaming on Netflix. You can check out the trailer below: (Header and feature image courtesy: Netflix)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

- Are Gone Girl and American Nightmare based on the same story?No, and American Nightmare are not based on the same story. , the 2014 movie is based on Gillian Flynn's fiction novel, while American Nightmare is a docuseries based on a true crime incident that occurred in 2015.

- Who kidnapped Denise Huskins? Denise Huskins was kidnapped by Matthew Muller, a former U.S. Marine and Harvard Law School graduate who struggled with bipolar disorder.

- Where are Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn now? Denise Huskins and Aaron Quinn got married in 2018 and currently reside away from Mare Island, California. The couple has two daughters and, in media interviews, shared that they underwent therapy to 'rebuild' their lives. They have also resumed their careers as physical therapists.

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The True Story Behind American Nightmare, The New Netflix Docuseries

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Unravelling the true story behind Netflix's new crime docuseries American Nightmare and the horror that Denise Huskins went through in 2015.

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Some working breeds are: Akita, Alaskan Malamute, Anatolian Shepherd Dog, Bernese Mountain Dog, Black Russian Terrier, Boxer, Bullmastiff, Doberman Pinscher, Dogue de Bordeaux, German Pinscher, Giant Schnauzer, Great Dane, Great Pyrenees, Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Komondor, Kuvasz, Mastiff, Neopolitan Mastiff, Newfoundland, Portugese Water Dog, Rottweiller, Saint Bernard, Samoyed, Siberian Husky, Standard Schnauzer, and Tibetan Mastiff.

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1. a smokeless explosive made from nitrocellulose, nitroglycerine, and petroleum jelly, used in ammunition.

2. "Eureka" comes from the Ancient Greek word εὕρηκα heúrēka, meaning "I have found (it)",

3. tarnished =discoloured

4. austerity=strictness

5. benign -very small

6. scupper =to prevent a good plan to reach its fruition

7. /sʌɪˈnɒlədʒi/, place to train dogs

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(A) Imagine you're the greatest fantasy writer of your age. One day you dream up the idea of a bomb of infinite power. You call it the "atomic bomb". HG Wells first imagined a uranium-based hand grenade that "would continue to explode indefinitely" in his 1914 novel The World Set Free. He even thought it would be dropped from planes. What he couldn't predict was how a strange conjunction of his friends and acquaintances - notably Winston Churchill, who'd read all Wells's novels twice, and the physicist Leo Szilard - would turn the idea from fantasy to reality, leaving them deeply tormented by the scale of destructive power that it unleashed.

(B) The story of the atom bomb starts in the Edwardian age, when scientists such as Ernest Rutherford were grappling with a new way of conceiving the physical world. The idea was that solid elements might be made up of tiny particles in atoms. "When it became apparent that the Rutherford atom had a dense nucleus, there was a sense that it was like a coiled spring," says Andrew Nahum, curator of the Science Museum's Churchill's Scientists exhibition. Wells was fascinated with the new discoveries. He had a track record of predicting technological innovations. Winston Churchill credited Wells for coming up with the idea of using aeroplanes and tanks in combat ahead of World War One.

(C) The two men met and discussed ideas over the decades, especially as Churchill, a highly popular writer himself, spent the interwar years out of political power, contemplating the rising instability of Europe. Churchill grasped the danger of technology running ahead of human maturity, penning a 1924 article in the Pall Mall Gazette called "Shall we all commit suicide?". In the article, Churchill wrote: "Might a bomb no bigger than an orange be found to possess a secret power to destroy a whole block of buildings - nay to concentrate the force of a thousand tons of cordite and blast a township at a stroke?" This idea of the orange-sized bomb is credited by Graham Farmelo, author of Churchill's Bomb, directly to the imagery of The World Set Free.

(D) By 1932 British scientists had succeeded in splitting the atom for the first time by artificial means, although some believed it couldn't produce huge amounts of energy. But the same year the Hungarian emigre physicist Leo Szilard read The World Set Free. Szilard believed that the splitting of the atom could produce vast energy. He later wrote that Wells showed him "what the liberation of atomic energy on a large scale would mean". Szilard suddenly came up with the answer in September 1933 - the chain reaction - while watching the traffic lights turn green in Russell Square in London. He wrote: "It suddenly occurred to me that if we could find an element which is split by neutrons and which would emit two neutrons when it absorbed one neutron, such an element, if assembled in sufficiently large mass, could sustain a nuclear chain reaction."

(E) In that eureka moment, Szilard also felt great fear - of how a bustling city like London and all its inhabitants could be destroyed in an instant as he reflected in his memoir published in 1968:
"Knowing what it would mean - and I knew because I had read HG Wells - I did not want this patent to become public." The Nazis were on the rise and Szilard was deeply anxious about who else might be working on the chain reaction theory and an atomic Bomb. Wells's novel Things To Come, turned into a 1936 film, The Shape of Things to Come, accurately predicted aerial bombardment and an imminent devastating world war. In 1939 Szilard drafted the letter Albert Einstein sent to President Roosevelt warning America that Germany was stockpiling uranium. The Manhattan Project was born.

(F) Szilard and several British scientists worked on it with the US military's massive financial backing. Britons and Americans worked alongside each other in "silos" - each team unaware of how their work fitted together. They ended up moving on from the original enriched uranium "gun" method, which had been conceived in Britain, to create a plutonium implosion weapon instead. Szilard campaigned for a demonstration bomb test in front of the Japanese ambassador to give them a chance to surrender. He was horrified that it was instead dropped on a city. In 1945 Churchill was beaten in the general election and in another shock, the US government passed the 1946 McMahon Act, shutting Britain out of access to the atomic technology it had helped create. William Penney, one of the returning Los Alamos physicists, led the team charged by Prime Minister Clement Atlee with somehow putting together their individual pieces of the puzzle to create a British bomb on a fraction of the American budget.

(G) "It was a huge intellectual feat," Andrew Nahum observes. "Essentially they reworked the calculations that they'd been doing in Los Alamos. They had the services of Klaus Fuchs, who [later] turned out to be an atom spy passing information to the Soviet Union, but he also had a phenomenal memory." Another British physicist, Patrick Blackett, who discussed the Bomb after the war with a German scientist in captivity, observed that there were no real secrets. According to Nahum he said: "It's a bit like making an omelette. Not everyone can make a good one."When Churchill was re-elected in 1951 he "found an almost complete weapon ready to test and was puzzled and fascinated by how Atlee had buried the costs in the budget", says Nahum. "He was very conflicted about whether to go ahead with the test and wrote about whether we should have 'the art and not the article'. Meaning should it be enough to have the capability... [rather] than to have a dangerous weapon in the armoury."

(H) Churchill was convinced to go ahead with the test, but the much more powerful hydrogen bomb developed three years later worried him greatly.HG Wells died in 1946. He had been working on a film sequel to The Shape of Things To Come that was to include his concerns about the now-realised atomic bomb he'd first imagined. But it was never made. Towards the end of his life, says Nahum, Wells's friendship with Churchill "cooled a little". "Wells considered Churchill as an enlightened but tarnished member of the ruling classes." And Churchill had little time for Wells's increasingly fanciful socialist utopian ideas.

(I) Wells believed technocrats and scientists would ultimately run a peaceful new world order like in The Shape of Things To Come, even if global war destroyed the world as we knew it first. Churchill, a former soldier, believed in the lessons of history and saw diplomacy as the only way to keep mankind from self-destruction in the atomic age. Wells's scientist acquaintance Leo Szilard stayed in America and campaigned for civilian control of atomic energy, equally pessimistic about Wells's idea of a bold new scientist-led world order. If anything Szilard was tormented by the power he had helped unleash. In 1950, he predicted a cobalt bomb that would destroy all life on the planet. In Britain, the legacy of the Bomb was a remarkable period of elite scientific innovation as the many scientists who had worked on weaponry or radar returned to their civilian labs. They gave us the first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, near-supersonic aircraft and rockets, highly engineered computers, and the Jodrell Bank giant moveable radio telescope.

(J) The latter had nearly ended the career of its champion, physicist Bernard Lovell, with its huge costs, until the 1957 launch of Sputnik, when it emerged that Jodrell Bank had the only device in the West that could track it. Nahum says Lovell reflected that "during the war the question was never what will something cost. The question was only can you do it and how soon can we have it? And that was the spirit he took into his peacetime science." Austerity and the tiny size of the British market, compared with America, were to scupper those dreams. But though the Bomb created a new terror, for a few years at least, Britain saw a vision of a benign atomic future, too and believed it could be the shape of things to come.

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IELTS Academic Reading free samples. Sample 2.2 - IELTS-up

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IELTS Academic Reading practice: sample 2.2. Read the text and answer the questions online. Finish full IELTS Reading sample to get your score.

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10 facts about human body :

1. Babies are born with 300 bones while adults have 206

2. Finger nails grow  3 to 4 times faster  than toe nails

3. Eyelashes last for up to 150 days

4. Blood  in our heart circulates 1000  times each day

5.  We produce 500ml of spit per day

C/ the smallest bone in our body is in the ear

6. Blood has the same amount of salt in it as ocean does .

7. Sneeze blows from  our nose 100 miles per hour

8. Lungs is the only organ in our body that floats

9. Eyeball is actually a part of your brain

A/ bones are 4 times stronger than concrete

B/heart beats 3 billion times in the lifespan of a human being on average .

10. Yawn , scientist are not sure why we yawn , but perhaps it is to regulate body temperature

11. Blood vessels can circulate Earth 4 times

12.  We breath in and out from one nostril and every few hours the work load shifts to another nostril

13. Our nose can detect 1 trillion of smells

14.Hair grows six inches per year

15.Bone marrow is the only thing that grows faster than hair

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10+ Facts about Human Body | Amazing Body Facts | Interesting Facts

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present +will

past +would

past perfect (had) + would have

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Those of you who have been following this conditional tutorial should now be familiar with present, past and future conditional verb forms. Sometimes unreal conditional sentences are mixed. This means that the time in the if-clause is not the same as the time in the result. Study the examples below to learn how to mix conditional verb forms like a native speaker.

Verbs in green are in the present unreal conditional.

Verbs in red are in the past unreal conditional.

Verbs in purple are in the future unreal conditional.

Mixed Conditional Patterns

Mixed Conditional Exercises

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Complete description of mixed conditional verb forms.

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упражнение для повторения времен

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Exercise 10 for reviewing the tenses in the active. Choose the most appropriate answer. Упражнение 10 для повторения времен в активном залоге. Выберите наиболее подходящий ответ.

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Choose the best expression to complete the sentences

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Francis David.

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English Test - Grammar Tenses Mix :: Learn English online - free exercises, explanations, games, teaching materials and plenty of information on English language.

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English Tenses- Mixed Exercise | English4u

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Advanced Exercise on English tenses - mixed online exercise.

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1/ since , for , still , never, ever , recently , lately , yet, just now , for sometime ,already

USE HAVE

2/ when /while/as

Please use continuous tense if something is longer than 1 minute

I was looking at you when your phone rang (started ringing)

For two actions in the past happening at the same time

3/ after+HAD  before+past simple

4/ I think , I promise, I believe , I am almost sure , I hope + WILL

5/ yesterday , last night , last year

Simple past , use DID in questions and negatives , please only change 50%

Did I see you yesterday?

I did not see you yesterday.

Future option if not will you can use GOING to + evidence

I am going to pay , look I have 20 Euros

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Listen to Emily talking about the importance of managing her stress levels and the techniques she uses.

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December 24 - January 20

Birch signs are often highly driven and motivate others. You are always reaching for more, seeking better horizons and obtaining higher aspirations. Birch signs (just like the tree) are tolerant, tough, and resilient. You are cool-headed and are natural-born rulers, often taking command when a situation calls for leadership. You are a natural leader and do best taking the lead. When in touch with your softer side, you also bring beauty in otherwise barren spaces, brightening up a room with your guile, and charming crowds with your quick wit. Your sign is compatible with Vine and Willow signs.

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What Kind of Tree Are You? | One Tree Planted

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What type of tree are you? Ever wonder what kind of tree you are: a "Weeping Willow" or a "Mighty Oak"? Find out your tree personality based on Celtic Tree Astrology.

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Modal verbs of speculation and deduction

Must

We use must + infinitive for obligation and strong recommendation, but also to say that we are quite sure that something is true.

We use must be + - ing with dynamic verbs to say that we are quite sure that something is happening now.

We use must have + past participle or must have been + -ing to say that we are quite sure that something was true or happened in the past.

Can't

We can use can't + infinitive to say that we are quite sure that something is NOT true.

We use can't be + - ing to say that we are quite sure that something is NOT happening now.

We use can't/couldn't have + past participle or can't have been + -ing to say that we are quite sure that something did NOT happen or was NOT true in the past.

Note that for negative deduction we use can't and NOT

Could/might/may

We can use could/might/may + infinitive to say that it's possible that something is true (but we are not sure).

We use could/might/may be + - ing to say that we are quite it's possible that something is happening now (but we are not sure).

We can use could/might/may have + past participle or might/may have been + -ing to say that it's possible that something was true or happened in the past.

We can use could have + past participle to say that something was possible in the past but did not happen.

Note that we use might not or may not (NOT ) to talk about a negative possibility.

Should/ought to

We use should/ ought to + infinitive to talk about a situation that we expect to happen (present or future).

We use should have/ ought to have + past participle to talk about a situation expected to happen in the past. We can also use this form to express criticism.

Expressions for speculation

Bound/sure

Bound and sure are adjectives that are used to say that we are quite sure that something will be true or happen. We use them in the structure be bound/sure + to-infinitive.

Likely/unlikely

Likely and unlikely are adjectives. If something is likely to happen it means that it will probably happen or that it is expected to happen. If something is unlikely to happen it means that it probably won't happen. We can use these two adjectives in two ways.

It is likely/unlikely that + clause

Subject + be likely/unlikely + to + infinitive

Definitely/probably

Definitely and probably go before the main verb and after the auxiliary verb (if there is one) in (+) sentences.

You' get the job. Nobody's got your qualifications and experience.

And they go before the auxiliary verb in (-) sentences.

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Speculation and deduction - modal verbs and expressions - Test-English

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Expressing speculation and deduction. Advanced English grammar exercises. Modal verbs, adjectives and adverbs used to express speculation and deduction.