課程活動
  • 1.
    25 words/phrases for final

    Dear All,

     

    The final exam is taking place at 6:45 PM, Jan. 3rd, so be on time please.

     

     

    On the final, the 25 words/phrases will be blanks in the sentences without the 1st letter printed on the paper, like this:

     

     

    Each keiretsu has representative companies in all these areas and pursues new growth sectors with __ enthusiasm.

     

     

    There will be no word choice either. So you're expected to be familiar with all the 25 along with their example sentences listed below.

     

    Sources of example sen.:

    Longman dictionary at https://www.ldoceonline.com/

    Cambridge dictionary at https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/

     

    1 relentless  adj.

     

    -- Each keiretsu has representative companies in all these areas and pursues new growth sectors with relentless enthusiasm.

    --Its history has a message for evolution: that the existence of any creature is a constant struggle against relentless forces.

     

    2 nuance  n.

     

    -- Scientists now understand the subtle nuances of its genetic machinery.

    -- We shall see how much or how little of local nuances it succeeded in conveying to the top authorities.

     

    3 magnate  n.

     

    -- Foundations set up by magnates such as Carnegie and Rockefeller provided most of the funding for the arts in the US.

    -- Both were his colleagues amongst the seven original confederate magnates.

     

    4 influx  n.

     

    -- Turkey is expecting an influx of several thousand refugees over the next few days.

    -- The sudden influx of families needing work and housing caused some problems at first.

     

    5 surveillance  n.

     

    -- The police have kept the nightclub under surveillance because of suspected illegal drug activity.

    -- It was reported that the agreement covered missile systems, light armoured vehicles and sea surveillance aircraft.

     

    6 stride (in)  n.

     

    -- The West made impressive strides in improving energy efficiency after the huge rises in oil prices during the 70s.

    -- There have been some strides at the federal level in cleaning up diesels.

     

    7 deport  v.

     

    -- Under this emergency measure, dozens of opposition figures were arrested without charge, and many were subsequently beaten and deported.

    -- People were arrested and deported to Siberia on the slightest suspicion of disloyalty to the czar.

     

    8 lapse  n.

     

    -- The management's decision to ignore the safety warnings demonstrated a remarkable lapse of judgment.

    -- None of what has been said suggests that we should ignore ethical lapses or law-breaking by public figures.

     

    9 constrain  v.

     

    -- Financial factors should not constrain doctors from prescribing the best treatment for patients.

    -- As a government becomes less committed to democracy, the freedom and independence of the media are increasingly constrained.

     

    10 underfunded  adj.

     

    -- But environmentalists have long claimed that the scheme has been underfunded, badly run and above all exploited by the tourist trade.

    -- It was chronically underfunded, as a result of which faculty often went unpaid.

     

    11 disgruntled   adj.

     

    -- A disgruntled former employee is being blamed for the explosion.

    -- In some industries the employer may fear sabotage from disgruntled redundancy candidates.

     

    12 snoop (on)  v.

     

    -- People were sent out to snoop on rival businesses.

    -- Every one of these nodes presents the opportunity for snooping.

     

    13 entrenched  adj.

     

    -- The organization was often criticized for being too entrenched in its views.

    -- The more entrenched unwelcome developments have become, the harder it will be to reverse them.

     

    14 play down  v.

     

    -- The White House spokeswoman sought to play down the significance of the event.

    -- Management has been playing down the possibility of job losses.

     

    15 paedophile/pedophile  n.

     

    -- The discrepancy between the treatment of Hayman and his fellow paedophiles inevitably aroused indignation.

    -- More than 100 fugitive paedophiles are believed to be hiding in London.

     

    16 vindicate  v.

     

    -- The decision to include Morris in the team was completely vindicated when he scored two goals.

    -- The charges are false, and we are sure we will be vindicated in court.

     

    17 torpedo  v.

     

    -- New threats of violence have effectively torpedoed the peace talks.

    -- Aron has accused Brock of conspiring with his campaign staff to torpedo her candidacy by labeling her a criminal.

     

    18 veneer  n.

     

    -- She managed to hide her corrupt dealings under a veneer of respectability.

    -- I was afraid alcohol would eat through the thin veneer of self-control.

     

    19 underpin  v.

     

    -- Gradually the laws that underpinned apartheid were abolished.

    -- Good independent journalism underpins a free, democratic society.

     

    20 waive  v.

     

    -- Copyright is waived for non-commercial educational use of the book.

    -- They believe a Government promise to waive the clause could be the crucial breakthrough.

     

    21 hegemony  n.

     

    -- The geography of Boiotia might to a shallow observer seem to suit her for naval hegemony.

    -- What we have encountered is a much more unstable hegemony, which was successfully challenged by competing groups.

     

    22 ulterior motive  n.

     

    -- The legislation pertaining to protection of wetlands and endangered species is clearly being abused by extremists pursuing ulterior motives.

    -- However, for Guangming Daily, all her appeals to students to end the demonstrations had an ulterior motive.

     

    23 awash (with)  adj.

     

    -- The city is awash with drugs and the police are powerless to do anything about it.

     

    -- The ship leaned further to starboard and soon the decks were awash.

     

    24 dispense (with)  v.

     

    -- Volunteers helped dispense food and blankets to people involved in the accident.

    -- Being able to dispense with the services of an interpreter is a big incentive to fluency.

     

    25 coalition  n.

     

    -- He hoped to convert his party members to a belief in coalition.

    -- The coalition was led by the Christian Democrats and the Socialists.

     

    • 2.
      midterm part2
      There are another 15 blanks in this part of news 7, with only the 1st letter of each word/phrase printed on the paper. You're expected to read thoroughly this part of news 7, understand the context, memorize the spelling of some unfamiliar words/phrases, and also pay attention to the verb tenses.
       

      "Defending the Public Sphere Itself Is a Huge Challenge in Journalism"

      Seite 3/4: "Simply reporting on right-wing populism makes you a part of it"

       

      ZEIT ONLINE: What else should journalists do?

      Jay Rosen: Let me give you an example. The first week here, the Bosch Academy, where I am a fellow, took us on tour to Thuringia. We met with young state parliament representatives. One of them, from the Left party (Die Linke) told us that in the state parliament, AfD representatives attend committee meetings but never make any suggestions. They don't try to influence the government process in the committees where most of the work is done. But when there's a plenary session in the parliament, they throw out stories no one has heard before, sensational claims usually involving immigrant crime. And the whole parliament is in an uproar about that. The next day, of course, journalists covering the regional parliament report on that. They also speak to people criticizing populist tactics. But just by reporting, they have allowed AfD to take up political space with its issues. With the conventional ideas journalists hold about their profession, you cannot respond to these problems. Journalists in Germany are going to need to be able to tap other sources of inspiration to solve these kinds of problems. 

      ZEIT ONLINE: Do you see any lessons that could be learned from the U.S.?

      Jay Rosen: I don't think that there are solutions American journalists have come up with that you could use. I think there are warnings coming from America. One of them is that if you simply report on right-wing populism, you will become a part of it. It's not good enough to say, "Well it's news, so we report it." Another one would be: Because Trump has no shame, it is impossible to embarrass him. It's not possible to show him that he is going to get so much negative feedback that he shouldn't do this or that, because he lives off controversy. Even hatred in a way helps his cause of polarizing the country. In order to prevent your enlistment in the right-wing populist agenda, you have to have your own reporting agenda and go public with it. 

      ZEIT ONLINE: You mean newspapers should formulate an explicit reporting agenda and publish it as a sort of mission statement?

      Jay Rosen: It is more than a mission statement. It is also an analysis of the current situation. You should come forward and say: "These are the things that we think are really important in German politics and society right now. They're going to make a huge difference to the future of this country. They matter to our readers, and we as journalists think these things are essential, we are going to keep ourselves focused on this agenda, even though we will pay attention to everything that goes on. We're not going to be distracted from our agenda." Another thing that the American press has done is a move in the direction of radical transparency. This allows you to say to people: "You don't believe us? Look for yourself. Here's the research. Here are our interviews. Here are the people we talked to." Building trust on transparency is different than on reputation and professional authority. It is different than saying: "We are The Washington Post, trust us."

      ZEIT ONLINE: What are the most important differences you see between the German and the American media system?

      Jay Rosen: The first thing that strikes me as an American in Germany is the enormous importance of the public broadcasting system. The games of the biggest sporting event of the year are all on the public stations. To an American, that is incredible. 

      ZEIT ONLINE: But there's also a lot of criticism about that in Germany. The fact that billions of the license fee budget are spent on the rights to sporting events.

      Jay Rosen:  I understand that there are political tensions around the broadcasting system, that there is criticism. But if the biggest games of the year are on public TV, that has a huge effect on the perception of public broadcasting's value to society. It's not a perfect system, I get that. But it is very solid, it is taking up this cultural space, it is securely financed, committed to public service, preventing hyper commercialization. The second thing that really struck me was: no Fox News. You have Bild, you have the tabloid press, you have the exploitation of rising sentiment against immigrants, but you have nothing like Fox News. In the U.S., 25 to 30 percent of the electorate are isolated in an information world of its own that Fox News provides. 

       

       
       
      • 3.
        midterm part1
        There are 15 blanks in this part of news 4, with only the 1st letter of each word/phrase printed on the paper. You're expected to read thoroughly this part of news 4, understand the context, memorize the spelling of some unfamiliar words/phrases, and also pay attention to the verb tenses.
         
        (Part 2 will be announced later this month.)
         

        Thousands of protesters challenge Democratic governor at climate summit

        California’s status as a progressive bastion on climate change action has been challenged by activists who attempted to barricade the way to a major summit in San Francisco and decried the oil and gas drilling they say is blighting the health of low-income and minority communities.

        The Global Climate Action Summit is acting as a rallying point for cities, businesses and regions from around the world to outline plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The event has been hosted by Jerry Brown, the governor of California who has been lauded as a progressive climate leader and bulwark against the Trump administration.

        But community representatives claim Brown has largely abandoned certain neighborhoods to pollution from oil and gas drilling operations. California’s central valley has some of the worst air quality in the country. Across the US, sicknesses linked to air and water pollution are disproportionately felt by people of color, who are far more likely to live near power plants, landfills and other toxic sites.

        “Jerry Brown needs to stop oil drilling expansion and if he doesn’t do that, what kind of leader is he?” said Alicia Rivera, a community activist in Wilmington, a district of Los Angeles with six oil refineries, several chemical plants, scrap yards and hundreds of oil wells. “He has failed in a big way.”

        Several thousand protesters marched through San Francisco on Thursday before attempting to block the entrance to the summit, where mayors, prime ministers, executives from companies such as McDonald’s and celebrities including Alec Baldwin are gathering.

        Activists chanted “Tell Jerry Brown to keep it in the ground” and held signs reading “Don’t drill” and “We’re drowning”. There were scuffles as police attempted to remove several protesters who chained themselves to the gates of the conference building in downtown San Francisco. Inside the venue, protesters interrupted a speech by Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York, by chanting: “Our air is not for sale.”

        Brown’s critics claim California’s cap-and-trade emissions system, which allows major polluters to trade emissions allowances and offsets, is overly generous to fossil fuel interests.

        They’ve also attacked the governor for allowing more than 20,000 drilling operations during his tenure, as well as for an alleged conflict of interest in which his sister, Kathleen Brown, sits on the board of Sempra Energy. Sempra owns the Aliso Canyon gas facility near Los Angeles which suffered a major leak in 2015, releasing more than 100,000 metric tons of natural gas before it was finally plugged.

         

        • 4.
          news interview starting 10/4
          Dear All,
           
          You'll be presenting a news interview for around 3 min starting 10/4 till 11/29 at the beginning of each class. You may work alone or with one partner (in pair).
           
          Plz refer to the following steps in the preparation of the interview:
           
          1. choose only one piece of news, such as news1, news2, or news3...
          2. choose 3 words/phrases in the news
          3. incorporate the words/phrases in a news interview (no longer than 3 min) you're going to stage in class
          4. introduce/highlight the words/phrases before, during, or after the interview in a creative way
           
          Starting 10/4, individual or pair will stage the show at the beginning of the class.
           
          10/4   Jeniffer+Ortino   Alex
          10/11   Ting+Elaine   Tammy+Vivianne   Arthur
          10/18   Judy+Megan   Eleanor+Renee
          10/25   Martin   Abby+Trevor
          11/1   Cindy+Mona   Janet+Melody   Frances+Tony
          11/15   Amy+Steve   Jeff+Scott   Elvy+Lynn
          11/22   Willie   Darren   Oscar
          11/29   Joanne+Shepard   Aurora+Weiwei   Virginia
          • 5.
            class info by Gogo
            Dear All,
             
            contact me ONLY thru my LINE ID plz: gogosmokif
             
            There's no textbook in this class, but I'll post the news items (to be discussed in class) plus all class info here on i-learning. So do set up your email address here plz.
             
             
            Evaluation--
            1. motivation & participation 40%
            2. news interview (individual or pair work), midterm & final exams 60%
            3. You are allowed to be absent for 6 hours at most for all reasons this semester:

            Being late for over 30 min/leaving 30 min early is seen as absenteeism.
            If you're absent for 7 hours, 7 points will be deducted from the semester score.
            If you're absent for 8 hours, 10 points will be deducted from the semester score.
            If you're absent for 9 hours, 15 points will be deducted from the semester score.
            If you're absent for 10 hours, 20 points will be deducted from the semester score, and so on.