Just As Beautiful

Source: Speak Up

Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe (British standard accent)

JUST AS BEAUTIFUL

Do you think today’s super models are too thin? Is it time the world’s fashion houses put “real” women on their catwalks? New glossy magazine Just As Beautiful certainly thinks so. The launch of the bimonthly magazine has caused incredible controversy in Britain.

PLUS-SIZE

Just As Beautiful is the first magazine for plus-size women. What’s a plus-size woman? The magazine’s publisher Ronie Ajoku explains: “She’s curvy. She wears a dress size between 14 and 20 (46-52). And she’s just as beautiful. “The magazine was launched in October, but has existed online for three years. It had an online readership of 30.000. Ajoku decided to launch the print magazine after hundreds of requests from the readers.

THE MESSAGE

What makes the magazine special? It never uses traditional super thin models. Photographs of models are never modified Editor Sue Thomason says. “Women are constantly exposed to one message: ‘thin is beautiful’. We have different message. You don’t need to change your appearance to be happy.” Just As Beautiful model Rachel Morales adds. “The curvy revolution is here. This magazine promotes self-acceptance, not starvation and emaciation!

DIVISION

The launch of the magazine was very controversial. Health experts claimed the magazine promoted obesity. Others suggested it created a division: thin versus fat. People also suggested the magazine’s title Just As Beautiful was patronising.

DIET-FREE

How does editor Thomason react? She says the magazine isn’t creating a divide. It has articles on all types of women. The magazine doesn’t claim thin women are ugly. It simply says that many fat women are beautiful too. The magazine offers articles on fashion, cooking and lifestyle. It aims to be like any other mainstream magazine. It does not however, give diet tips. Thomason argues that dieting is often the cause of obesity. It is the catalyst for many eating disorders.

ONLINE

Are you interested? Visit the magazine’s website and you can download the most recent issue, and all the previous months as well. Simply register with the site. It’s free. Finally, Thomason says, “We hope other magazines will follow our example and end the era of the super-thin model.”

Arthur's Theme Song

 Source: English Exercises 

Author: Teacher Aimee from Israel

Follow up this link http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2303

 LISTEN TO THE SONG

  

  

   CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD:

Every day when you’re runningwalking down the street,

Everybody that you seemeet,

Has an original point of view.

And I say Hey! Hey!

What a wonderful kind of day

If we can learn to work and studyplay

And get along with each other.

You’ve got to listen to your heartbody

Listen to the beat,

Listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street.  

Open up your eyesmouth, open up your ears.

Get together
And make things better
By sittingworking together.

It's a simple message,
And it comes from the househeart.
Believe in yourself,
For that's the place to endstart. 

 

And I say Hey! Hey!

What a beautifulwonderful kind of day

If we can learn to workstay and play                       

And be happyget along with each other. 

You’ve got to speaklisten to your heart

Listen to the beat,

Listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street,

Open up your eyes, open up your earshands.
Get together
And make things greatbetter

By working together.

It's a simple wordmessage,

And it comes from the heart.
ThinkBelieve in yourself,
For that's the place to start.

 COMPLETE WITH THE CORRECT WORD:

And I say Hey! Hey!

What a   kind of day

If we can learn to work and 

And get along with each other. 

Hey! What a wonderful kind of day

If we can learn to  and play

And  along with each other. 

Hey! What a wonderful kind of !

Hey! What a wonderful kind of day! Hey!

Words and Their Stories: Proverbs About How to Live

 Source: www.voanews.com

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Today we explain more popular proverbs.  A proverb is a short, well known saying that expresses a common truth or belief.  Proverbs are popular around the world.

Many listeners have sent us their favorite proverbs.  They give advice about how to live.  We begin with two popular proverbs about staying healthy by eating good food: One is an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Another isyou are what you eat.

Several proverbs about birds also give advice.  You may have heard this one:  The early bird catches the worm.  This means a person who gets up early, or acts quickly, has the best chance of success.

Another famous proverb is a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  This means you should not risk losing something you have by seeking something that is not guaranteed.

Here is another piece of advice: Do not count your chickens before they are hatched. In other words, you should not think too much about some future event before it really happens.

Another proverb warns do not put all your eggs in one basket. This means you should not put all of your resources together in one place because you could risk losing everything at one time.  Many Americans learned this the hard way by investing all their money in stock shares, which then lost value.  Another proverb says a fool and his money are soon parted. This means someone who acts unwisely with money will lose it.

Here is more advice:  If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Also,never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

You might learn that haste makes waste if you do something so fast, resulting in mistakes. Most people would agree with this proverb: honesty is the best policy.

Yet another proverb advises us not to be concerned about something bad that you cannot change.  It says there is no use crying over spilled milk.

Do you agree with the proverb that children should be seen and not heard? Maybe you have told your children that hard work never hurt anyone. But other people say that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. They believe it is not wise to spend all your time working and never having fun.

Finally, here is one of our favorite proverbs: People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. This means you should not criticize other people unless you are perfect yourself.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust.  I'm Faith Lapidus.  You can find more proverbs and oth er WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Water: The United Nations urges campaign against waste

 Source: www.magews.com.br The great English content for students and teachers, for more info access the site. 

The Environment

Water: The United Nations

urges campaign against waste

Over one billion people worldwide now suffer a shortage of 

drinking water. The United Nations (UN) recommends countries create campaigns against wasting water supplies. This is the first in a series on the issue brought to you by Maganews

On March 22^nd, World Water Day, the UN made a recommendation to every country in the world. It wants them to create campaigns to reduce water consumption and to prevent waste. Our planet has a lot of water, but the problem is that the oceans’ water, comprising 97.6% of all water in the world, is unsuitable for consumption. There remains just 2.4% in freshwater, which can be treated and drunk. However, most of this water is frozen in ice flows. Over one billion people in the world now suffer a shortage of water. The number of people without access to drinking water may double by around 2030, says the UN. Population growth is one of the factors responsible for this shortage, with eighty million people added to the global total every year, according to the UN.  More people means more consumption. Waste, deforestation, pollution and climate change are other factors that contribute to making the problem worse.

Brazil:  awareness in schools

The States of Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo are this semester establishing the project Caminho das Águas in public primary schools. The aim is to make 6^th to 9^th grade students aware of the shortage of water and the importance of using it rationally, without waste.  In São Paulo city in 2008 the water company Sabesp set up the program “Pura” (Uso Racional de Água) in 500 municipal schools.  Sabesp checks the amount of water needed by the schools and offers alternatives for them to reduce consumption. Sabesp says the program has resulted in savings of 26% in schools’ water consumption. From March 23^rd another 750 municipal schools in São Paulo have joined the program.

Matéria publicada da edição de abril da Revista Maganews.

Vocabulary

1 to urge – desejar / encorajar (aqui = recomendar / pedir)

2 waste - desperdício

3 shortage – escassez

4 drinking water – água potável

5 unsuitable – inadequada (o)

6 remain (s) - sobra

7 freshwater – água “doce” / potável

8 ice flows – geleiras

9 to double – dobrar

10 deforestation - desmatamento

11 awareness –  aqui = conscientização ( to be aware = ficar ciente / se conscientizar)

12 to set up – iniciar

13 amount – quantidade

13 to join – aderir

Photo - Sabesp

Politics Religion And War

Source: Speak Up

Language level: Upper intermediate

Speaker Justin Ratcliffe British accent

POLITICS RELIGIONS AND WAR

It’s not only pop stars, actors and writers who change their names to make themselves glamorous, sexy, cool, tough, or just memorable. From the dawn of time, political and religious figure have changed their names to grab our attention –or to hide from their opponents.

NICKNAMES

Some names are so complicated that a nickname is easier. Like many Brazilians, Luiz Inácio da Silva grew up with a nickname. Luckily, it makes a memorable name for a president Lula.

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr Von Richthofen found fame in World War I as demon prilot, the Red Baron.

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de La Serna used the Argentinian slang word “Che” so often in conversation that it became his own name.

THE X FACTOR

On converting to the Nation of Islam, Malcolm Little took the surname X as a form of protest. He explained “My X replaced the while slave master name of Little, which some blue-eyed devil had imposed on my family.” The Muslim ‘s X symbolized the true African family name the he “couldn’t never know.”

Dutch exotic dancer Margaretha Geertruida Zelle became famous under the stage name Mata Hari, meaning “eye of day,” or “Sun” in Indonesian.

PLAYING POLITICS

Roman politician Octavian realised that his adopted father’s cognomen Caesar was powerful weapon, and so it became a little synonymous with Roman Emperors. He also took the name Augustus, meaning “great” or “venerable.”

Khmer Rouge leader Saloth Sar adopted the names “Brother Number One” and “Pot Pot,” a nickname given to him by Chinese authorities short for “politique potentielle.”

Kim Song Ju of North Korea renamed himself Kim II Sung after a legendary guerilla fighter.

HOLY NAMES

Religious leaders can also benefit from strong names. Rajneesh Chandra Mohan called himself Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, meaning “Blessed One” and “Master”. Towards the end of his life, he became Osho, which may derive from an ancient Japanese word for master, or from philosopher William Jame’s expression “oceanic experience.”

In ancient times, Siddartha Gautama, whose first name  means“ he who gets success,” became Shakyamuni, but today he is known as Buddha “the enlightened one.”Kung Quiu was known as  K’ung-fu-tzu, or “Master Kong,” this has long been transliterated into western languages as Confucius.

PERSECUTION

The most common reason for political name changes in persecution. German chancellor Willy Brandt was originally Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm, before he had to escape from the Nazis.

Vietnamese revolutionary Nguyen Sinh Cung used many pseudonyms before setting on Ho Chi Minh meaning “enlightened will or “bringer of light.”

RUSSIAN REVOLUNTIONARIES

The Soviet leaders chose the most striking names. Vladimir llich Ulyanov was exiled to Siberia, near the river Lena: his adopted name Lenin reminded him of what the suffered in the name of revolution

Iosif Vissarionvich Dzhugashvili, who was sent to Siberia seven times, used many names, but settled on Stalin, “man of still.”

Some think Lev Davidovich Bronstein changed his name to avoid becoming know as a Jew, but Leon Trotsky was only one of the pseudonyms he used to avoid Tsarist Persecution.

THE REAL ADOLF

Another politician who understood the power of names was Hitler. He styled himself the Fuher (leader, or guide), a little as strong as Kaiser or Czar. But Adolf’s father adopted the surname Hitler from his mother’s husband, Johann Hiedler) when he was 39. Would the Nazi salute have been so powerful if it had been Heil Shickgruber?

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Source: www.manythings.org www.voanews.com

This is Steve Ember. And this is Sarah Long with the VOA Special English program,EXPLORATIONS.

Today we tell about a scientist who changed the way we understand the universe, Albert Einstein.

(MUSIC)

In the year 1905, Albert Einstein published some important papers in a German scientific magazine. They included one of the most important scientific documents in history. It was filled with mathematics. It explained what came to be called his "Special Theory of Relativity." Ten years later he expanded it to a "General Theory of Relativity."

Albert Einstein's theories of relativity are about the basic ideas we use to describe natural happenings. They are about time, space, mass, movement, and gravity.

Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany, in 1879. His father owned a factory that made electrical devices. His mother enjoyed music and books. His parents were Jewish but they did not observe many of the religion's rules.

Albert was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read.

When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction -- to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move.

Their answers about magnetism and gravity were difficult for the boy to understand. Yet he spent a lot of time thinking about them. He said later that he felt something hidden had to be behind things.

Albert did not like school. The German schools of that time were not pleasant. Students could not ask questions.  Albert said he felt as if he were in prison.

One story says Albert told his Uncle Jacob how much he hated school, especially mathematics. His uncle told him to solve mathematical problems by pretending to be a policeman. "You are looking for someone," he said, "but you do not know who. Call him X. Find him by using the mathematical tools of algebra and geometry."

Albert learned to love mathematics. He was studying the complex mathematics of calculus when all his friends were still studying simple mathematics. Instead of playing with friends he thought about things such as: "What would happen if people could travel at the speed of light?"

Albert decided that he wanted to teach mathematics and physics. He attended the Federal Polytechnic Institute in Zurich, Switzerland. He graduated with honors, but could not get a teaching job. So he began working for the Swiss government as an inspector of patents for new inventions. The job was not demanding. He had a lot of time to think about some of his scientific theories.

From the time he was a boy, Albert Einstein had performed what he called "thought experiments" to test his ideas. He used his mind as a laboratory. By 1905, he had formed his ideas into theories that he published.

In one paper he said that light travels both in waves and in particles, called photons. This idea is an important part of what is called the quantum theory.

Another paper was about the motion of small particles suspended in a liquid or gas. It confirmed the atomic theory of matter.

The most important of Albert Einstein's theories published that year became known as his "Special Theory of Relativity." He said the speed of light is always the same -- almost three hundred thousand kilometers a second. Where the light is coming from or who is measuring it does not change the speed. However, he said, time can change. And mass can change. And length can change. They depend on where a person is in relation to an object or an event.

Imagine two space vehicles with a scientist travelling in each one. One spaceship is red. One is blue. Except for color, both spaceships are exactly alike. They pass one another far out in space.

Neither scientist feels that his ship is moving. To each, it seems that the other ship is moving, not his. As they pass at high speed, the scientist in each ship measures how long it takes a beam of light to travel from the floor to the top of his spaceship, hit a mirror and return to the floor. Each spaceship has a window that lets each scientist see the experiment of the other.

They begin their experiments at exactly the same moment. The scientist in the blue ship sees his beam of light go straight up and come straight down. But he sees that the light beam in the red ship does not do this. The red ship is moving so fast that the beam does not appear to go straight up. It forms a path up and down that looks like an upside down "V".

The scientist in the red ship would see exactly the same thing as he watched the experiment by the other scientist. He could say that time passed more slowly in the other ship. Each scientist would be correct, because the passing of time is linked to the position of the observer.

Each scientist also would see that the other spaceship was shorter than his own. The higher the speeds the spaceships were travelling, the shorter the other ship would appear. And although the other ship would seem shorter, its mass would increase. It would seem to get heavier.

The ideas were difficult to accept. Yet other scientists did experiments to prove that Einstein's theory was correct.

Ten years after his paper on the special theory of relativity, Albert Einstein finished work on another theory. It described what he called his "General Theory of Relativity." It expanded his special theory to include the motion of objects that are gaining speed. This theory offered new ideas about gravity and the close relationship between matter and energy. It built on the ideas about mass he had expressed in 1905.

Einstein said that an object loses mass when it gives off light, which is a kind of energy. He believed that matter and energy were different forms of the same thing. That was the basis of his famous mathematical statement E equals m-c squared (energy equals mass times the speed of light squared). This statement or formula explained that a great amount of energy could come from a small piece of matter. It explained how the sun could give off heat and light for millions of years. This formula also led to the discovery of atomic energy.

In his general theory of relativity, Einstein said that gravity, like time, is not always the same. Gravity changes as observers speed up or slow down. He also said that gravity from very large objects, such as stars, could turn the path of light waves that passed nearby. This seemed unbelievable. But in 1919, British scientists confirmed his theory when the sun was completely blocked during a solar eclipse. Albert Einstein immediately became famous around the world.

In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. It was given to him, not for his theories of relativity, but for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect. This scientific law explained how and why some metals give off electrons after light falls on their surfaces. The discovery led to the development of modern electronics, including radio and television.

Albert Einstein taught in Switzerland and Germany. He left Germany when Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933. He moved to the United States to continue his research. He worked at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Einstein became a citizen of the United States in 1940.

Einstein was a famous man, but you would not have known that by looking at him. His white hair was long and wild. He wore old clothes. He showed an inner joy when he was playing his violin or talking about his work. Students and friends said he had a way of explaining difficult ideas using images that were easy to understand.

Albert Einstein opposed wars. Yet he wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to advise him that the United States should develop an atomic bomb before Germany did.

Einstein spent the last twenty-five years of his life working on what he called a "unified field theory." He hoped to find a common mathematical statement that could tie together all the different parts of physics. He did not succeed.

Albert Einstein died in 1955. He was seventy-six years old. 

Sweet Dreams, The sleep Factor, part II

Source: www.speakup.com.br

SWEET DREAMS 

“Sleep has its own world, “Said the poet Lord Byron. We all sleep. We all dream. We spend around a third of our lives doing it, but still we know little about this strange other world circadian rhythm and the cycles of darkness and light. It is something that humans have in common with most living things: plants, birds and animals. However, what has gone almost unnoticed until recently is that human sleep patterns have undergone significant change.

“Our society has seen a steady decline in the number of hours that people sleep,” says professor Francesco Cappucio head of sleep research at the University of Warvick in England. “Our ancestors used to sleep probably nine hours a night and now we hardly sleep six or seven hours a night.”

THE EDISON DISEASE

The cause, he explains, is not physiological, but a result of changes in our society longer hours at work, more shift work the 24/7 society and what is sometimes called the Edison Disease changes to our biological clocks caused by electricity and artificial lighting.

Sleep is regulated by two key factors. The first is our biological clock, which is located in the centre of the brain and controls the chemicals telling us when to get up and go to sleep. The second is light. Light stimulates the brain and limits the release of melatonin, which goes up when it is dark and triggers falling asleep.

TOUR GOOD HEALTH

No one knows exactly why we need to sleep, but it is clear that it acts as a form of restoration for the functions of the brain and body. Most of us need between six and eight hours sleep pr night to remain healthy. Older people frequently manage with less. However, those getting short sleep, or those oversleeping consistently, risk ill health and a variety of diseases. Major new research carried out by the University of Warwick is collaboration with the Federico II University Medical School in Naples has found that people who sleep for less than six hours each night are 12 per cent more likely to die prematurely six to eight hours.

“Fatigue is the best pillow,” said US founding father Benjamin Franklin. But just being tired doesn’t mean you will sleep, of course. As much as one third one of the UK population suffers from some form of insomnia, a prolonged inability to obtain adequate, uninterrupted sleep Street is a major contributor.

NO LAUGHING MATTER

Sleep loss affects the higher “executive” functions of the human brain and can lead to behavior such as rigid thinking, reduced verbal fluency, impaired working memory and an inability to react to the unexpected. Watch politicians toward the end of long election campaigns and you may recognize some of these symptoms!

Tiredness causes accidents and some of the worst disasters in recent history have been linked to fatigue. The Bhopal gas tragedy in December 1984, the Challenger space shuttle disaster in January 1986, Chernobyl in April, the Exxon Valdez in March 1989 and the Selby rail accident in February 2001 have all been linked to shift work and lack of sleep.

So if the importance of a good night’s sleep is clear, what’s the best way of getting it? “Prepare properly”, says Professor Francesco Cappuccio. Good sleep hygiene includes avoiding heavy meals, cigarettes, caffeine or alcohol late at night it also helps to create a soothing environment. To keep TVs and computers out of bedrooms and to dim the lights before bedtime. Sleep is a vital part of life. Or, as the American author and social commentator Fran Lebowitz once said: “Life is something that happens whey you can’t get to sleep.

THE PROFESSOR

Professor Francesco Cappuccio is a cardiovascular physician and gained his medical degree in Naples before moving to Britain. He heads a multi-disciplinary research group into sleep and its impact on society and has worked at the University of Warwick Clinical Sciences Research Institute since 2005.

Sleep, Health and Society (ISBN 978-019-956659-4 1) by Professor Francesco Cappuccio and others, was published by Oxford University Press in 2010 http://ukcatologue.oup.com/category/academic.do http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/staff/cappuccio