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Click here to see an animated version of the card showing key moments from the school's 140-year history.
COMMENT
Did you spot the grammatical mistake? Yes, it should be '140-year history' and not '140 year-history'. Apparently, the printers moved the hyphen. At least they didn't add an 's' to year!
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This year Newsy.com analyzed thousands of stories, but which ones proved to be the most popular? The results might surprise you. View transcript >>
COMMENT
A big 'thank you' to Newsy.com for all their excellent reports over the past year. OK, some of the reports can be a bit frivolous, and there's a definite US bias, but the international news coverage is pretty good too (especially the UK).
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Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind) from Vanessa Whyte on Vimeo.
Alex Warren and Terema Wainwright with their rendition of Newport State of Mind.
COMMENT
A deserved winner—though you probably have to be Welsh to get all the references! BBC News has a nice interview with the director and singers (who don't have Welsh accents in 'real life'). You can see the complete Top Ten Viral Videos, including some real classics, here.
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Have you made any New Year resolutions yet? If one of them is to laugh more, then check out this New Year Resolution cartoon slideshow from Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Blog. This cartoon by Patrick Corrigan from The Toronto Star illustrates just how difficult it can be to keep resolutions!
VOCABULARY
A big-box store (also supercenter, superstore, or megastore) is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store. Examples include large department stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. [source: Wikipedia]
LESSON IDEA
Check out this New Year Resolutions lesson based on the opening scenes of the movie Bridget Jones's Diary.
MORE NEW YEAR CARTOONS
• Daryl Cagle's Political Cartoonists Index
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Prince William and Kate Middleton don't want any personal servants once they get married. His dad's servants run £6.3 million a year. View transcript >>
READ MORE
• How will William and Kate cope ? (Financial Times)
• The Horror: Prince William and Kate Middleton Won't Have Servants (TIME)
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The Guardian claims the Government has been told that millions more should be vaccinated against flu. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
If a person or animal is vaccinated, they are given a vaccine, usually by injection, to prevent them from getting a disease. • In the course of the yellow fever outbreak, Uganda plans to vaccinate 2.5 million people in the northern districts of the African Nation.
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From oil-drenched birds to Haiti, war and the Chilean miners, TIME.com photo editor Mark Rykoff explains the choices for TIME's top photographs of 2010. You can see a photo gallery with TIME's top photos of 2010 here.
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Hundreds of herbal medicinal products will be banned from sale in Britain next year under what campaigners say is a “discriminatory and disproportionate” European law, The Independent reports. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
A remedy is something that is intended to cure you when you are ill or in pain. • Natural cold remedies can help you to beat colds more quickly, and reduce the severity of symptoms.
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Amazon's Kindle eReader has held off competition from more sophisticated tablets from Apple and Android. But what makes it so successful? View transcript >>
READ MORE
• Amazon's Kindle opens new chapter for publishing industry (LA Times)
• Amazon Kindle E-Reader Sales Will Keep Growing in 2011: 10 Reasons Why (eWeek.com)
COMMENT
I got a Kindle for Christmas and think it's just wonderful. OK, you can't play Angry Birds on it, but at $139 (or £109) it's a no-brainer if you want a dedicated e-reader. There are literally thousands of free books available for download and you can get a sample of any book you're thinking of buying in a matter of seconds. There are also two built-in dictionaries (one for British and one for American English), which allow you to quickly find the meaning of any word on the screen—great for learners of English! I'm not sure how the Kindle will change my reading habits yet. I'll probably continue to buy physical books for a while yet, but I'm pretty sure that the eReader's time has come.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised to loosen restrictions on foreign investment in some sectors next year, hours after President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated his calls to improve what he called Russia's "bad" investment climate. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
If you woo people, you try to encourage them to help you, support you, or vote for you, for example by promising things which they would like. • Dozens of the UK's largest fashion retailers are offering pre-Christmas discounts of up to 50pc in a desperate bid to woo shoppers.
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The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange claims he unwillingly signed a book deal to protect his website and its cause. See transcript >>
READ MORE
• Julian Assange to use £1m book deals for legal fight (The Guardian)
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Following his release on bail from prison, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reportedly spent Christmas as a guest of British media pioneer Vaughan Smith at Ellingham Hall, a 10-bedroom Georgian mansion in eastern Britain.
In this cartoon, Morten Morland of The Times imagines the scene on Christmas Day. Assange sits in an armchair eating mince pies and revealing 'secrets' to his host's young son. The joke, of course, is that WikiLeaks made its reputation by leaking secret information about governments and corporations. Here, the secrets are rather more banal.
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The Daily Telegraph's front page focuses on the nine men remanded over a pre-Christmas terror plot to attack UK landmarks. Full story >>
VOCABUALARY
A plot is a secret plan by a group of people to do something that is illegal or wrong, usually against a person or a government. • Bolivian prosecutors have charged 39 people over an alleged plot to assassinate President Evo Morales and launch an armed rebellion in the country’s Santa Cruz province in April of last year.
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Apple dominated the tablet market so far but with more devices on the way, will 2011 see the competition missing in 2010? View transcript >>
READ MORE
• Best Tablets: iPad alternatives (T3.com)
• It's tablet time at CES 2011 (ZDNet)
• Year of the Tablet, or the Year of the iPad? (New York Times)
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The Independent leads on the discovery of Joanna Yeates' body in Bristol. Police are treating her death as "suspicious". Full story >>
VOCABULARY
A tragic event or situation is extremely sad, usually because it involves death or suffering. • A 37-year-old woman is fighting for her life on Friday night after a tragic accident in Newmarket.
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