dimanche 3 juin 2012

African child adoptions

Résumé
all at once {adverbe}
à la fois · tout à coup
détails complets


Synonymes
all at once: all of a sudden · all together


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African child adoptions

Summary

31 May 2012
Child welfare experts say the number of international adoptions of children from African countries has risen dramatically in recent years. In a new report, the African Child Policy Forum says adoptions by people in the United States and other countries have tripled in the past eight years.
Reporter:
Mary Harper
An African orphan
The number of adoptions from African countries has greatly increased

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Report

The African Child Policy Forum says more than 41,000 African children have been sent overseas for adoption in the past eight years. Most go to the United States, others to Western Europe and Canada. The situation is especially dramatic in Ethiopia which, the report says, now sends more children abroad for adoption than any other country, apart from China.
One reason for the increase in adoption from Africa is that it is more difficult to adopt children from countries in South America and Eastern Europe because many have limited or shut down overseas adoption programmes. As a result, the report says, countries such as the United States have turned en masse to Africa to find children to adopt.
The African Child Policy Forum insists every child has the right to be reared in the country in which it was born, an opinion shared by Mr Bekele of the Abebech Gobena orphanage [in Ethiopia]: "We prefer local adoption to international adoption because the children will not be uprooted from their culture, from their people, and they will not forget their country or their language."

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Vocabulary

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overseas
to a foreign country
dramatic
extraordinary, remarkable
abroad
out of the country
apart from
except for
limited
restricted
shut down
closed
en masse
all at once
reared
brought up, raised
orphanage
home that cares for children with no parents
uprooted
displaced, taken out

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Hotel in the air

Video

Report and vocabulary

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Transcript
It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.


But these hanging pods are in fact a temporary hotel. Staff lead guests through bizarre rituals designed to put them in tune with nature.


They receive just the bare essentials but spend the night in comfort.


This interactive theatre performance was dreamt up by the Belgian group Time Circus and is taking part in a festival in Norfolk, England.



sci-fi or science fiction
a literary or movie genre that creates fantasies based on scientific discoveries
hanging
suspended from a height
bizarre
strange and unusual
in tune with
connected to or in harmony with something
bare essentials
items that people think they can't live without

Exercise

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from BBC news reports.

Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

sci-fi / hanging / bizarre / in tune with / bare essentials

1. The BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut says the overall casualty figures for Friday, though they may be revised upwards, were very much lower than many had feared. That is ________ the overall state of the ceasefire itself, our correspondent says.

2. We sat together on his bright, fluffy pink, red and white rug and an orange-flowered garland framed a ________ portrait of the revolutionary Islamic leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, who watched over us.

3. A decade on, is Smith confident audiences will be receptive to another helping of fantastical ______ comedy, this time presented in the divisive 3D format?

4. According to the report, absolute poverty is measured by the number of people who can afford only the ____________ of shelter, food and clothing.

5. "They hear voices or they have delusions. They have ________ ideas which are not supported by the facts and they stick to these beliefs," he says.

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Exercise

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Answers
How did you do?
1
in tune with
2
hanging
3
sci-fi
4
bare essentials
5
bizarre

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Traduit en français


Il ressemble à quelque chose d'un film de SF.(science fiction)
Mais ces cosses de suspension sont en fait un hôtel provisoire. Des invités d'avance(de plomb) de personnel par des rituels bizarres conçus pour les mettre en accord avec la nature.
Ils reçoivent juste le strict nécessaire, mais dépensent(passent) la nuit dans le confort.
Cette performance(exécution) de théâtre interactive a été rêvée en haut par le Cirque de Temps de groupe belge et participe à un festival à Norfolk, l'Angleterre.






item

dimanche 28 mars 2010

sexennial

sexennial
sksnl

• adjective recurring every six years.

lasting for or relating to a period of six years.

— origin mid 17th cent.: from sexennium + -al.

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recurring  ===  récurrent, périodique

lasting   ===  durable

relating   ====  relatif, concernant

mardi 19 janvier 2010

بتی فریدن


بتی فریدن

BBC Betty FriedanLearning English - Words in the News06 February, 2006 - Published 12:28 GMTUS feminist Betty Friedan diesBetty Friedan, a feminist iconOne of America's most famous feminist thinkers and writers, Betty Friedan, has died at the age of 85. She was best known for her book The Feminine Mystique, which helped start the modern women's movement in the United States.This report by Lucy Williamson:
That the things Betty Friedan said in the 1960s seem unremarkable now is, partly at least, down to her impact. Back then the things she campaigned for - the right to abortion, equal pay, maternity leave and job adverts that didn't specify the sex of the person being sought - were seen by many in America as radical ideas. Something Betty Friedan herself was keenly aware of, when in 1963 she published her book The Feminine Mystique.In the book, Betty Friedan described what she called 'the problem with no name' - the frustrations felt by educated, full-time mothers. In the 1950s, America expected its women to be completely fulfilled by marriage and motherhood. The idea that women might want to achieve something outside of this startled polite society.The book became a best-seller; and Betty Friedan a household name. Three years later, she co-founded the National Organisation for Women and served as its first president. But in the 1970s, she split from the organisation, accusing many of her contemporaries of focusing too much on lesbian issues and of equating feminism with hating men.
impact = influence, powerful effect
campaigned for = worked for
specify = describe, name
sought = looked for
radical = extreme, supporting great social and political change
mystique = the quality of being special in a mysterious and attractive way
startled polite society = surprised and worried large numbers of people who live in a socially correct way
a household name = a very famous person that most people know of lesbian = to do with women who are sexually attracted to other women
equating feminism with hating men = thinking of feminism and hating men as the same thing