Dexway English Magazine: B1 – Edition 5
Good morning!
It is widely understood that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The word breakfast is adapted from two words – Break and Fast- literally meaning to break the nights fasting.
Night-time is the only time in the day that most of us pass 6 hours without eating. For most of us breakfast happens in the morning after a night of deep restful sleep.
But have you ever considered what a big part the morning plays in our lives and just how important that time of day is? In general the morning is from 5 a.m to 11.59 a.m.
The process of the sunrise is a signal for many animals to being their morning routines and the animal nightshift to go to bed. Blackbirds and robins sing in the morning, the radio is fun and lively; morning news is beamed into our houses and the smell of freshly brewed [coffee filters through our sleepy heads.
Energy consumption and water usage also begin to raise stopping at about 8am before beginning to fall. Morning is the second highest period of energy consumption in the day after the evening. Energy is something we have plenty of in the morning, as we leave our houses for work or school. Morning is like standing on the blank canvas of day. A good morning will often lead to a good day, a good evening and a good night.
Headache
47% of the world’s population between the ages of 18 and 65 have reported having a least one headache last year, of these forty seven percent, 10% have reported having a migraine-type headaches and 4% of the population have reported having headaches on 15 days or more a month.
Headaches are a huge problem for the global population; only in the UK, 3 billion pounds are lost in working hours in a year due to headache related days off.
There are four types of headaches if you are very unlucky, you might suffer from one type or all four types:
- Tension headaches – mild to moderate pain – duration of 30 minutes to a few hours – tightness or pressure across head.
- New daily persistent headache – duration of four hours daily – periods of 15 days a month for three months – located on one or both sides of head.
- Cluster headache – severe pain – duration of 30 minutes to 3 hours – at any time – located one side of head around the eye.
- Migraine – severe pain – duration of 4 hours to 3 days – at any time – located on one or both sides of head.
Spaceman
Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who was the first Canadian to walk in Space and to take charge of the International Space Station, has just returned to Earth after a 5 month expedition.
Hadfield was described as “perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth” by Forbes Magazine.
Besides, he has a large following on Youtube and Twitter with more than 930,000 people. He kept them entertained with pictures and videos. Youtube followers asked him questions about Space and he would post a video clip of the answer while he was in space.
People asked him how astronauts cry, or how they cook and brush their teeth.
One very popular clip was a music video of the astronaut singing David Bowie´s famous song “Space Oddity”. It is the first music video ever to be shot in Space!
After 5 months in Space, he is readjusting to gravity. He is not used to supporting his own head so his neck and back are very sore. He lost 1% of his bone density for every month in orbit. At the start of the mission, Mr. Hadfield said his aim was not only to achieve the technical and scientific objectives of his journey, but also to share his experiences, inspire young people and make Canadian(s) aware of their own Space program.
Privacy
BEWARE OF THE DOG
We like living in a community, we like being around people but at the same time, we put up high fences and keep our curtains closed. We put up signs “Private property, no entry” “Beware of the dog.”
Privacy is something we take very seriously, protecting our space at work, on the Internet, in our cars and at home. Some people are more private than others and some people are constantly in the public eye, singled out because they are rich or famous.
Gossip magazines are popular because, while we need our privacy, we love to hear about other people’s lives. We often finish reading about the latest gossip and say to ourselves: “I’m glad it was not me.” Just because somebody is in the public eye does not mean they give up the right to privacy.
The Internet has brought the idea of privacy to a new level. New laws are passed and new methods of monitoring are invented. Yet, the Internet grabs hold of the human need to share our experiences and sharing experiences means opening our private lives to the world at large.
Technology Pioneers
After a British man, Stephen Power from Cardiff, suffered a disfiguring motorcycle accident, he hid away. His cheekbones, eye sockets, jaw and skull were shattered. He also suffered two broken arms and his right leg required a bone graft. Since the accident, he has worn sunglasses and a hat to hide his face because he was self-conscious.
Now, a year and a half after the accident, he has been given a new lease on life. Mr. Power under-went a pioneering new operation, lasting 8 hours, to reconstruct his face using a series of 3D printed parts. This is the first time in the world a patient has undergone a procedure like this.
Before the surgery, the surgical team took CT scans (computed tomography) and produced a 3D model of his skull. One of the surgeons said it took the guesswork out of reconstructing his face. They can print implants that are custom fit. Maxillofacial surgeon Adrian Sugar said “I think it’s incomparable – the results are in a different league from anything we’ve done before (…) It allows us to be much more precise.”, he said. Information about Mr. Power´s surgery is now on exhibit at London´s Science Museum. He says he is excited to be able to walk down the Street, see other people and not have to hide.
Filled pauses
The objective of most 2nd language learners is to gain fluency in the language they are learning, so we quickly become obsessed when we seem to have long pauses (this is a result of “thinking online”). We try to fill these pauses with suitable filler words and as a result we find “um” and “uh” creeping into our speech. The use of “um” and “uh” according to research can make us seem like we lack knowledge or haven’t prepared for the discussion. But each carries a different weight: “um” is used to signal a generally longer or more important pause then “uh”.
The research was extended to British and Scottish English, German, Danish, Dutch and Norwegian and found the same thing! In all these languages which have the same root, women and young people use “um” more than older people.
Why? The researchers think we are seeing a change in language and that change is being led by women and young people. Why the change? The researchers do not know, it could be down to choice, we tend to choose either “um” or “uh” and stick with that thereby replacing the other option. Or maybe we say less but it is actually more important, a possible product of writing in X number of characters.
