English
A compilation of newsTicker
articles and exercises
April, 2009
CONTENTS
EVERY CLOWN HAS ITS DAY ............................................ 3
A MATTER OF TRUST....................................................... 5
GUN SHORTAGE IN U.S. .................................................. 7
A TWO-WAY STREET ....................................................... 9
SMOKERS SWAMP 'QUITLINES'....................................... 11
APRIL FOOL'S FOR RACING FANS.................................... 13
PENTAGON STUDY QUESTIONED .................................... 15
BAILOUT BENEFITS....................................................... 17
LIMITS ON CUBA LIFTED ............................................... 19
FACEBOOK VS TEXTBOOKS ............................................ 21
ECONOMIC SURVIVALISTS............................................. 23
THE POTTER MAGIC ...................................................... 25
BOYLE'S GOT TALENT.................................................... 27
MIXED REACTION TO HUMILITY...................................... 29
THE MIRROR EFFECT..................................................... 31
newsLetter - 2
01/04/2009
EVERY CLOWN HAS ITS DAY
Governors oblige feel-good proclamations
As the sinking economy has placed state
budgets in peril, the peculiar tradition of
issuing proclamations for just about anything
continues to flourish. It's one feel-good
gesture a governor can make without costing
taxpayers anything, so now fire ants,
backpacks, beans and drowsy drivers can all celebrate
their special day.
U.S. governors issued official proclamations in 2008 for
scores of causes. New Yorkers celebrated Medical Billers'
Day, while Alaskans honored Tai Chi and Qigong Day.
Aug. 1 saw the start of Clown Week in Wisconsin, and
Clean Hands Month was celebrated all though out
September in Nevada.
"This is a time-honored tradition in American politics,"
says David Canon, a professor of political science at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. "It's just something
that political leaders like to do. A cost-free way to make
people feel good," Canon says.
Joel Sawyer, communications director for South Carolina
Gov. Mark Sanford, recalled a group that requested a
proclamation for Bear Awareness Week. Asked if there
are any bears in South Carolina, Sawyer responded,
"Apparently there are enough to be aware of."
newsLetter - 3
EXERCISE
If you were able to choose a group, individual or
anything at all to be honored with a special
awareness day, who or what would you pick?
Write a letter to the governor of any state you
choose, and plead your case for your special cause.
Make sure to use the appropriate style for writing
a formal letter.
newsLetter - 4
02/04/2009
A MATTER OF TRUST
Obama Afghan strategy to focus on citizens
Haji Gran, a 70-year-old farmer in
Bakwa, Afghanistan, wants a pump
for his well, and U.S. Marine Sgt.
Joshua Randall has an answer. "If you
start telling us where the Taliban is
and where they're placing bombs on
the road, I can start asking for water pumps." The
grizzled village elder replies that he will be glad to
provide the information, adding, "The bombs are not
good for us either."
Randall's approach is at the heart of the Afghanistan war
strategy, which President Obama has just announced, to
double the size of Afghanistan's security forces by 2011
and to concentrate not on battling the Taliban insurgents
face-to-face, but to improve security in far-flung villages
such as Bakwa by winning the trust of the local
population, one farmer at a time.
"The Taliban is not my focus," says Marine Capt. Mike
Hoffman, a company commander, who lives on a dusty
outpost in southern Afghanistan. "If I focus on the
people, I'll get rid of the Taliban or make them
irrelevant. I didn't come out here to kill bad guys."
newsLetter - 5
EXERCISE
Answer the following questions about President
Obama's new strategy in Afghanistan using your
own words and complete sentences.
1. What is the main idea behind Obama's new
strategy?
2. What does he hope to offer the Afghan people?
3. What does he want in return?
4. How is the approach different from the Bush
administration's strategy?
5. Do you think the plan will work? Explain your
answer.
newsLetter - 6
03/04/2009
GUN SHORTAGE IN U.S.
Fear of regulations drives stockpiling
Concern
that
the
Obama
administration could impose a new
ban
on
some
semiautomatic
weapons is driving worried gun
owners to stockpile guns and ammunition at such a rate
that manufacturers can't meet demand.
Attorney General Eric Holder last month suggested that
President Obama's administration favors reinstituting a
U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons that President
Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994, but President George
W. Bush allowed to expire.
"After the election, where you have a change of parties
to a more liberal side, I would say I guess the
conservatives want to protect what they feel might be
taken away from them, either through a tax, or an allout ban," said Jere Jordan, general manager of Midsouth
Shooters Supply in Clarksville, Tenn.
In Wyoming, Frontier Arms co-owner Becky Holtz said
she's also been selling semiautomatic rifles as fast as
she can put them on the shelves, and the run on bullets
reached such a frenzy that she is rationing sales. "You
know there's something wrong when I've got little old
ladies coming in buying 5,000 rounds of .22 shells,"
Holtz said.
newsLetter - 7
EXERCISE
Find words from the article which match the
definitions listed below. Then use the words you
found in the article to write original sentences of
your own.
1. causing, motivating
2. accumulate, collect
3. complete, total
4. demand for, call for
5. parceling out, limiting supply
newsLetter - 8
06/04/2009
A TWO-WAY STREET
Guns from U.S. undermine Mexican controls
There is only one gun store in all of
Mexico, it is run by the Mexican army,
and prospective customers need a permit
that can take months to get. Once they
buy a gun, there are strict rules as to
how much ammunition they can buy
each month, where they can take the gun, and who they
can sell it to.
Yet even though Mexico has some of the toughest guncontrol laws in the world, the country's drug cartels are
armed to the teeth with weapons smuggled from the
United States. Now, Attorney General Eric Holder has
visited Mexico to discuss ways to stop the smuggling.
"This is a two-way street," President Obama said on CBS'
Face the Nation. "We've got to do our part in reducing
the flow of cash and guns south."
Ironically, U.S. gun-ownership groups say Mexico is
proof that gun control doesn't work. "Mexico has very
strict gun laws which clearly have done nothing to
prevent criminals from obtaining firearms, and it's left
many of the honest residents of Mexico defenseless,"
said Chris Cox, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle
Association.
newsLetter - 9
EXERCISE
Answer the following questions about the problem
Mexico is facing due to lax gun control laws in the
U.S. Make sure to use your own words and answer
in complete sentences.
1. What is the problem Mexico is facing today?
2. What is the root of the problem according to the
article?
3. What has President Obama done to address the
issue?
4. What do American pro-gun groups think is the
cause of the problem?
5. What do you think about Mr. Cox's assessment
of the situation? Explain your answer.
newsLetter - 10
08/04/2009
SMOKERS SWAMP 'QUITLINES'
New tax has many kicking the habit
Quit-smoking hotlines are being swamped by
smokers across the U.S. ready to kick the
habit after the largest-ever increase in the
federal tobacco tax.
The tidal wave of calls was "totally, totally
unexpected," says Karen Brown of the
Michigan Department of Community Health,
whose hotline offered free nicotine replacement products
and got 21,000 calls in the first 24 hours.
Smokers said they wanted to quit because of higher
tobacco prices, says Brown, who helped work the
phones. "I heard a lot of commitment," she says, as
callers told her, "This is it!" Michigan provided so much
counseling and medications, Brown says, the state is
now restricting its aid to low-income people.
All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have quitlines
staffed with counselors, and more than half offer free
nicotine patches and gum, says Linda Bailey of the North
American Quitline Consortium. If smokers try to quit cold
turkey on their own, Bailey says, their chance of success
is only 3%, but if they get counseling, it rises to 16%,
and if they add medication, it's about 30%.
newsLetter - 11
EXERCISE
Find words or phrases from the article which
match the definitions listed below, then use the
words or phrases you found in the article to write
original sentences of your own.
1. large number
2. stop immediately with no help
3. overrun, extremely busy
4. poor, disadvantaged
5. stop smoking
newsLetter - 12
14/04/2009
APRIL FOOL'S FOR RACING FANS
Obama-NASCAR hoax creates stir
A Car and Driver magazine article
published on the Web, reporting that
President
Obama
had
ordered
Chevrolet
and
Dodge
out
of
NASCAR, the most popular autoracing circuit in the United States,
turned out to be an April Fool's hoax that many fell for
and many others felt was journalistically irresponsible.
"Just when we thought we could take a breather from
Barack Obama's wacky policies, he reached across the
Atlantic today to drop another one on us," wrote Sandra
Rose at Rightfielders.com, evidently believing the hoax.
"Naturally, NASCAR fans are outraged," Rose added.
Car and Driver later pulled the fake story, which said the
president was looking to save $250 million for the two
struggling automotive manufacturers, and apologized for
"going too far" while noting the magazine "has a proud
tradition of irreverent editorials and we amplify that each
year with our April Fool's Day joke."
Denny Darnell, who does public relations for Dodge's
motor sports program, did not accept the apology. "I've
been in this business more than 30 years and I have
never seen a story so irresponsible," Darnell said.
newsLetter - 13
EXERCISE
Answer the following questions about the recent
April Fool's hoax on the Web that outraged racing
fans and many others as well. Use your own words
and make sure to answer in complete sentences.
1. What is April Fool's day and when is it
celebrated?
2. What hoax did Car and Driver publish on-line?
3. According to the story, why did Obama take
Dodge and Chevrolet off of the NASCAR circuit?
4. How did the magazine respond to the Internet
reaction?
5. How did Car and Driver defend the hoax?
newsLetter - 14
15/04/2009
PENTAGON STUDY QUESTIONED
Military used live pigs in blast tests
Military researchers have blown up
live pigs dressed in body armor to
study the link between bomb blasts
and brain injury in an attempt to
protect soldiers, but some question
the study given the suffering of the
animals used in the tests.
Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency, said the military feared body
armor would deflect blasts toward the head and increase
brain injuries, but the research has determined that is
not the case.
Walker said the animals were treated "humanely" at all
times, though many were killed in the tests. "If use of
animal subjects in testing results in our ability to save
lives or prevent injury to our troops, we're confident this
is the right thing to do."
Martin Stephens of the Humane Society of the United
States called on the Pentagon to end such testing. "This
is a worthy goal," Stephens said, but added, "I think the
relevance of this is highly questionable. People are not
pigs. Is this the best they can do after several years of
losing soldiers to roadside bombs?" he said.
newsLetter - 15
EXERCISE
The Pentagon's use of live pigs in its bomb tests
has again raised questions about the use of
animals for such experiments. What do you think
about the issue? Do you think this type of research
is acceptable if it is for a cause such as saving
human lives? Write an essay explaining your view
using a clear introduction, good topic sentences
and a strong conclusion.
newsLetter - 16
16/04/2009
BAILOUT BENEFITS
Domino's dishes out 11,000 free pizzas by mistake
While the U.S. government's bailout
plan for financial institutions using
taxpayers' money has been difficult to
swallow for many Americans, the word
"bailout" turned out to be very
appetizing indeed to the thousands of
people who enjoyed free pizza last week because of an
Internet promotion mix-up.
"Bailout" was the magic word that forced Domino's, the
reigning king of delivery pizza in the U.S., to give away
the pizzas because someone stumbled on an online
promotion the company had dreamed up but later
scrapped. Domino's Pizza Inc. spokesman Tim McIntyre
said that the company had prepared an Internet coupon
for an ad campaign that was considered in December but
finally not approved. He says someone apparently typed
"bailout" into a Domino's promo code window and found
it was good for a free medium pizza.
Word about the code spread quickly on the Web and
11,000 free pizzas were delivered before it was
deactivated. Cincinnati-area franchise owner John Glass
says his 14 stores gave away more than 600 pies, but
that Domino's has promised to reimburse him for his
loss.
newsLetter - 17
EXERCISE
Define the following words and phrases AS USED
IN THE ARTICLE about the first bailout benefit the
American public has enjoyed. Use a dictionary if
you need help, but use your own words to explain
the meaning.
1. dishes out
2. swallow
3. appetizing
4. stumbled on
5. scrapped
newsLetter - 18
17/04/2009
LIMITS ON CUBA LIFTED
Obama announces another policy shift
President Obama has significantly
altered U.S. policy toward Cuba with a
wide-ranging order that wipes out the
restriction
that
limited
Cuban
Americans to one trip every three
years to the island. Cuban Americans
can also now send unlimited amounts
of money to relatives in Cuba, whereas the Bush
administration limited these gifts to $1,200 a year.
But some Cuban Americans said more travel and aid will
only strengthen Cuba's communist rulers. A joint
statement from Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart,
Florida Republicans who are Cuban American, called the
move a "serious mistake," saying that "unilateral
concessions to the dictatorship embolden it to further
isolate, imprison and brutalize pro-democracy activists."
The Obama administration evidently does not agree, and
its goal is to enhance freedom by giving Cubans some
independence from their government. Dan Restrepo,
senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs at the
National Security Council, said "it's very important to
help open up space so the Cuban people can work on the
kind of grass-roots democracy that is necessary to move
Cuba to a better future."
newsLetter - 19
EXERCISE
Find words from the article which match the
definitions listed below. Then, use the words you
found in the article to write original sentences of
your own.
1. eliminates, removes
2. one way
3. strengthen, make more powerful
4. make room
5. from the ground up
newsLetter - 20
20/04/2009
FACEBOOK VS TEXTBOOKS
Social networking may affect grades
A study of 219 students at Ohio
State University has suggested
a link between the social
networking site Facebook and
lower academic performance.
Students who said they used Facebook reported gradepoint averages, which range from 0 to 4, between 3.0
and 3.5; those who don't use it said they average 3.5 to
4.0. Facebook users also said they studied one to five
hours a week, whereas non-users reported studying 11
hours or more.
Ohio State doctoral student Aryn Karpinski, who
conducted the research, says the study is too narrow to
conclude that Facebook and academics don't mix. "It
cannot be stated that Facebook use causes a student to
study less" or get lower grades, she says, but added,
"We need to look into it further."
Karpinski says 79% of Facebook users believe it has no
impact on their academics, and some say it actually
helps them to form study groups. She says faculty ought
to consider harnessing it as a learning tool, yet a
preliminary peek at a second survey suggests "a lot of
faculty didn't even know what Facebook is."
newsLetter - 21
EXERCISE
Answer the following questions about a new study
on how social networking affects academic
performance. Make sure to use your own words
and answer in complete sentences.
1. What link was discovered between Facebook
and student grades?
2. Did most Facebook users agree with this
conclusion?
3. Why aren't professors using Facebook as a
teaching tool?
4. How could Facebook be used to improve grades?
5. Do you use Facebook? Do you think it helps, or
hurts your academic performance? Explain your
answer.
newsLetter - 22
21/04/2009
ECONOMIC SURVIVALISTS
Families reassessing priorities
Hard times are turning many families into
economic survivalists who are paring
expenses by becoming more self-sufficient
and reassessing their priorities.
When the economy started to squeeze the Wojtowicz
family, they gave up vacation cruises, restaurant meals,
new clothes and high-tech toys to become 21st-century
homesteaders.
Now Patrick Wojtowicz, 36, and his family raise pigs and
chickens for food on 40 acres near Alma, Mich. They're
planning a garden and installing a wood furnace. They
disconnected the satellite TV and radio, ditched their
dishwasher and started buying clothes at resale shops.
Reviving "almost lost" skills and preparing for tough days
make people feel more in control, says Charlotte Richert,
consumer sciences educator for Oklahoma State
University's Extension Service in Tulsa County.
"The earn, spend, earn era has come to an end for us,"
says Wojtowicz. "The idea of living a fuller, more
satisfying life seems simple to us now. ... Money, cash,
credit, maybe they don't matter. Maybe, just maybe, it is
those things that impede our ability to be truly happy."
newsLetter - 23
EXERCISE
Define the following words AS USED IN THE
ARTICLE about economic survivalists. Use a
dictionary if you need help, but use your own
words to explain the meaning.
1. paring
2. squeeze
3. raise
4. homesteaders
5. ditched
newsLetter - 24
22/04/2009
THE POTTER MAGIC
Director hopes Harry will continue to draw
The series of books is complete, we
know who lives and who dies, who
marries whom and what they become
when they grow up, but the makers of
the sixth film in the Harry Potter
franchise are convinced the boy wizard remains a draw.
"Once you're hooked into these stories, it's really difficult
to let go," director David Yates says. "The audience has
grown up with these characters. I think that gives them
a very special relationship. They started out at 10 or 11,
and now they're 18 and 19."
The trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince can
now be seen online at harrypotter.com and in theaters
starting May 1 with showings of Ghosts of Girlfriends
Past. The movie itself is set to open July 15.
In Half-Blood Prince, Harry and Hogwarts' headmaster
Professor Dumbledore journey through time and space
to discover the whereabouts of the soul of the evil Lord
Voldemort.
Yates believes Harry's fans will stick around for movie
No. 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, due in two
parts on Nov. 19, 2010 and July 15, 2011.
newsLetter - 25
EXERCISE
Harry Potter director David Yates is convinced that
the series has a special relationship with the
public. Do you think this is true, and if so, why?
Write a review of the book/movie franchise
explaining why it is so popular with the young, and
not-so-young alike.
newsLetter - 26
23/04/2009
BOYLE'S GOT TALENT
Cinderella story lights up the Web
Susan Boyle is the middle-aged woman
with frizzy hair who has been all over
TV and computer screens for days,
singing a Broadway show tune while
millions
wept
and
shouted
and
applauded wildly.
Ten days ago, Boyle — 47, unglamorous, unfashionable,
unknown — faced down a sneering British audience and
cynical panel of judges on Britain's Got Talent. Then, in
an instant, she turned jeers to cheers with her rendition
of a song from Les Misérables. Almost as instantly, Boyle
was known worldwide, and her clip on YouTube has been
seen some 30 million times so far.
Boyle forced people to recognize how often they dismiss
or ignore people because of their looks. "Is Susan Boyle
ugly? Or are we?" asked essayist Tanya Gold in Britain's
The Guardian.
Blogger Anne Jolley of San Jose, who describes herself
as 47, unemployed, frumpy and "disheartened in these
bleak times," said Boyle's message is that "there is hope
still in this world; that dreams really can come true; that
cynical people can be turned around; that maybe my
best years are not behind me after all."
newsLetter - 27
EXERCISE
Have you seen the video of Susan Boyle's
performance on Britain's Got Talent? If not, check
it out on YouTube and then answer the following
questions in complete sentences using your own
words.
1. Why was Susan's performance such a surprise?
2. Why do you think some people literally wept
upon hearing her sing?
3. What does the word 'sneering' mean?
4. Why does the article describe the judges on the
show as 'cynical'?
5. What is your opinion of this type of talent show?
Why do you think these shows are so popular?
newsLetter - 28
27/04/2009
MIXED REACTION TO HUMILITY
Praise abroad and criticism at home
President Obama and Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton have
made humility a centerpiece of their
foreign policy, drawing praise from
world leaders and wrath from some
Republicans at home.
In France, Obama said that "there have been times
where America has shown arrogance and been
dismissive, even derisive," failing "to appreciate Europe's
leading role in the world." And on her way to Mexico,
Clinton said the lack of gun control in the U.S. is partly
to blame for the violence south of the border.
Such candor led British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to
tell Obama, "You've changed America's relationship with
the world," and London's Daily Telegraph has said
Obama "went further than any U.S. president in history
in criticizing his own country's action while standing on
foreign soil."
But this sincerity has drawn scorn from conservatives
such as Fox News' Sean Hannity, who referred to
Obama's European trip as an "apology tour." And former
Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich asked "You go
around the world apologizing, what did you get for it?"
newsLetter - 29
EXERCISE
The Obama administration's humility has received
a lot of criticism from political opponents, and
Republican Newt Gingrich has asked how such an
attitude can benefit the U.S. See if you can answer
that question for Mr. Gingrich using your own
words and ideas in a well organized essay.
newsLetter - 30
28/04/2009
THE MIRROR EFFECT
Study says narcissism is on the rise
In her new book, The Narcissism
Epidemic: Living in the Age of
Entitlement, psychologist Jean Twenge
of San Diego State University and coauthor W. Keith Campbell of the
University of Georgia say research shows more young
people today have "narcissistic traits" than in previous
generations.
Such traits, Twenge says, include a very inflated sense
of self, which is illustrated by a preoccupation with
MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and other internet sites
that allow users to achieve instant recognition, but often
for the wrong reasons. "We've been on this selfadmiration cultural kick for a long time," Twenge says.
Twenge's studies have found more narcissistic traits
among college students today, based on the analysis of
more than 20,000 college students surveyed from using
the Narcissistic Personality Inventory to measure such
tendencies.
Twenge's book arrives just a month after The Mirror
Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America, a
book co-written by behavioral expert Drew Pinsky, which
suggests that a celebrity-obsessed culture is causing
more narcissism.
newsLetter - 31
EXERCISE
Answer the following question about the new
study which finds that narcissism is on the rise
among young people today. Make sure to use your
own words and answer in complete sentences.
1. What is narcissism?
2. What behavior do the authors cite to support
their theory?
3. What does the article suggest might be the
cause of this narcissistic trend?
4. Can you think of any recent cases where
someone achieved fame for the wrong reason?
5. Do you think young people today are more
narcissistic? Explain your answer.
newsLetter - 32