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Comprehension Culture Learning Reading Vocabulary

Has the time come for floating cities?

From schools at sea to a city that perpetually sails the oceans, is climate change creating a bold new era of floating urban design?
Cities: Seasteading Institute floating citiesThe Seasteading Institute proposes a series of floating villages – and claims to be in active negotiations with potential host nations. Photograph: Seasteading Institute

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Culture Learning Reading

Saint Patrick’s Day

st-patricks-day-comment-011Saint Patrick’s Day or the Feast of Saint Patrick is a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It is named after Saint Patrick (c. AD 385–461), the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland.

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Comprehension Culture Learning Reading Vocabulary

A Concise History of Tiger Hunting in India

 

Untitled-12-600x393Thousands of tigers were killed in elaborate hunts by Indian and British nobility before hunting was outlawed by the Indian government in 1971. (Courtesy Valmik Thapar)

India’s tigers have been in the crosshairs for centuries, with elite safaris dating back to the early 16th century. They rose out of Mughal Emperor Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar’s passion for big game: He began a tradition of  royal hunting, or shikar, that was carried on by Mughal rulers until the dynasty fell in 1857. Paintings from the period depict Mongol, Rajput, Turk  and Afghan nobility hunting from elephant or horseback. These outings were considered exotic, heroic sport—and tigers were the ultimate trophies.

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Comprehension Culture Learning Reading

Quote of the day by Henry James

«Money’s a horrid thing to follow, but a charming thing to meet».

Henry_James_(micro

Henry James,  (15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916) was an American writer who spent the bulk of his career in Britain. He is regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of  Henry James, Sr.  and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James.  

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Comprehension Culture Learning Reading

Reading: Now we can’t eat protein. What can we eat?

This week a new report said that a diet high in animal protein could increase our chances of dying from cancer or diabetes fourfold. So if protein has joined sugar, fat and carbohydrate in being bad for us, what’s left for dinner?

Red meat: everything in moderation, perhaps.  Red meat: everything in moderation, perhaps.

When my father died of secondary liver cancer, they didn’t have time to find the primary, but assumed it was in his bowel. My stepmother was pleased because she said: «At least nobody can say he drank too much» (to which I replied: «Yeah, unless they’d met him»). On the assumption that it did start in his bowel, we agreed that if there had been any fault at all in his lifestyle, it would have been eating too much red meat. This was in 2004, but the link between red meat, especially processed meats, and cancer of the bowel had been well-established for some time. And who can blame a man for eating too much red meat? You might just as well blame him for singing too loudly in the bath; it’s part of what it is to be an exuberant human, living in fortunate times.

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Culture Learning News Reading

Reading: Nasa release images to coincide with Gravity Oscar win

After the film Gravity picked up a handful of Oscars, including for best cinematography and best visual effects, Nasa releases images of the real thing.

image 1The sun greets the International Space Station from the Russian section of the orbital outpost, photographed by one of the STS-129 crew members

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Culture Learning News Reading

Reading: 12 Years a Slave: New York Times publishes correction 161 years later

Newspaper report in 1853 got author Solomon Northup’s surname wrong twice, misspelling it as Northrop and Northrup.

LIBRARY IMAGE OF 12 YEARS A SLAVE

The New York Times has printed a correction for misspelling 161 years ago the name of a black man who was sold into slavery and whose memoirs were turned into the Oscar-winning movie 12 Years a Slave.

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Culture News Reading Vocabulary

Real-life Wolf of Wall Street says his life of debauchery ‘even worse’ than in film

Jordan Belfort, who was jailed for 22 months for securities fraud, admits that the Oscar-nominated film based on his memoir had no need to exaggerate the sex and drugs.

Jordan Belfort

The controversial figure whose memoir formed the basis of Leonardo DiCaprio’s unhinged stockbroker in Martin Scorsese’sOscar-nominated black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street has revealed his debauched life of sex and drugs was «even worse» than shown in the film.

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Learning News Reading Song Unclassified

Tribute to Paco de Lucía

Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez (21 December 1947 – 26 February 2014) was a Spanish flamenco guitarist, composer and producer. A leading proponent of the New Falmenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists who has also successfully crossed over into other genres of music such as classical and jazz.

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Comprehension Culture Learning Reading

What Are Animals Really Thinking? Author Explores Hidden World

In her book «Animal Wise,» Virginia Morell gets inside our fellow creatures’ heads.

perro para entradaAnimals like this Belgian Malois «aren’t just robots—they truly are living, sentient beings,» says the author.

What do animals think and feel? This question, which has long intrigued science writer and author Virginia Morell, is explored in her new book Animal Wise.

Partly inspired by her 2008 National Geographic magazine article, «Animal Minds,» the book was just named a finalist for the 2013 L.A. Times Book Prize in Science and Technology. 

From ants that teach, to earthworms that make decisions, to rats that love to be tickled, Morell aims to reshape our understanding of animals and their emotions. For the book, she shadowed several innovative scientists investigating the animal psyche, focusing on well-known species such as dolphins and the domestic dog.

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Comprehension Culture Learning Reading

New Murakami Novel Coming in August

haruki-murakami-400x300

Haruki Murakami’s latest novel, “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage,” will be published in the United States on Aug. 12, Alfred A. Knopf has announced. The novel was an enormous hit in Japan in April, where it sold more than a million copies in its first week, according to Knopf.

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Culture Reading

QUOTE OF THE DAY BY KATE CHOPIN

“The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude.”

Kate Chopin, The Awakening 

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Kate Chopin, born Katherine O’Flaherty (February 8, 1850 — August 22, 1904), was an American author of short stories  and novels. She is now considered by some to have been a forerunner of  feminist authors of the 20th century.