Showing posts with label Reading and Grammar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading and Grammar. Show all posts

Monday, December 6, 2021

Omicron (Bloomberg weekend reading)

 A wild week had the world scrambling to figure out how dangerous the omicron variant of the coronavirus is, but there are still more questions than answers. Drugmakers always knew there would be more mutations, and that battling them without comprehensive data would be the new normal. In another sign the world is facing up to some uncomfortable truths, several countries plan to slap fines, bans and curbs on the unvaccinated. Omicron also threatens to widen an already yawning global gap in access to shots, but it’s the delta variant that’s heaping pressureon healthcare systems right now. Still, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, warned on Friday that omicron cases may very well sweep across America. The looming question is how the variant will fare when it has to compete where delta is prevalent. “Will it take off and become the dominant variant, or will it get a bit smothered by delta?” Fauci said. 

What you’ll want to read this weekend

Access to abortion in the U.S. looks likely to shrink next year as six Republican-appointed members of the Supreme Court expressed a willingness to narrow or jettison 49 years of precedent. Also in court, the trial of Jeffrey Epstein-associate Ghislaine Maxwell got underway and her lawyers again revealed an alleged victim’s identity.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger says markets are crazierthan during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s and omicron is denting any optimism that the global economy can cope. Add to that a highly anticipated U.S. jobs report that contained conflicting signals.

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A wild week had the world scrambling to figure out how dangerous the omicron variant of the coronavirus is, but there are still more questions than answers. Drugmakers always knew there would be more mutations, and that battling them without comprehensive data would be the new normal. In another sign the world is facing up to some uncomfortable truths, several countries plan to slap fines, bans and curbs on the unvaccinated. Omicron also threatens to widen an already yawning global gap in access to shots, but it’s the delta variant that’s heaping pressureon healthcare systems right now. Still, Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, warned on Friday that omicron cases may very well sweep across America. The looming question is how the variant will fare when it has to compete where delta is prevalent. “Will it take off and become the dominant variant, or will it get a bit smothered by delta?” Fauci said. 

What you’ll want to read this weekend

Access to abortion in the U.S. looks likely to shrink next year as six Republican-appointed members of the Supreme Court expressed a willingness to narrow or jettison 49 years of precedent. Also in court, the trial of Jeffrey Epstein-associate Ghislaine Maxwell got underway and her lawyers again revealed an alleged victim’s identity.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger says markets are crazierthan during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s and omicron is denting any optimism that the global economy can cope. Add to that a highly anticipated U.S. jobs report that contained conflicting signals.

Did you forget to ask Santa for an iPhone? Apple told suppliers that demand is slowing. Jack Dorsey stepped down from Twitter, then changed the name of his other company to Block. Bloomberg Opinion had a wide-ranging discussion about his complicatedlegacy. And here’s a look at how cryptocurrency has spawned speculators, saloons and now sheriffs.

Jack Dorsey

Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

Eight-digit pay isn’t enough for the bigwigs at Goldman Sachs. They say they’re not getting enough, so they’ve been searching for ways to fatten their comp. And at Big Oil’s Exxon Mobil, U.S. employees can forget about raises keeping pace with inflation.

What do Alexey Navalny, MacKenzie Scott and Britney Spears have in common? They’re all in the Bloomberg 50, Businessweek’s annual look at the people and ideas that defined global business over the past year. Did we put the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich on the list in 2019? Yes. Is our 2021 version less tasty? Perhaps, but no less culturally significant.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

The Amazing Timothy Doner


Timothy Doner looks like an average student in his T-shirt and jeans. But there is something very special about him. He speaks 20 languages. He doesn't speak all of them equally well, but he is very comfortable in many of them . He feels most comfortable with Hebrew , Farsi, French and Arabic . At any one time , he is studying three to four languages. 

    Videos of him are going around the Internet. In one video, he is riding in a taxi and talking to Haitian taxi driver in French. In it , he is telling the driver that he wants to learn Creole, a language of Haiti. In another he is speaking Russian with the owner of video store in New York, where he lives. In another he is speaking Farsi with the owner of a book store. He is asking a Farsi speaker for more information about that language. In other videos , he is studying Mandarin or discussing the similarities between Hebrew and Arabic with native speakers of these languages. He also speaks Urdu, Indonesian, Swahili, and Ojibwe and an American Indian language.
    Doner spends almost all his time trying to learn languages.To learn some languages , he takes classes . To learn others, he studies on his own. He always looks for opportunities to practice with native speakers. Sometimes he uses video chats to practice with native speakers in other countries. He uses other methods to improve language ability: He memorize the lyrics of songs or watches movies in other languages. He really enjoys himself. He thinks that language helps you connect to other people. When he speaks another language, he feels like a different person.

    Interestingly, he doesn't study Spanish. For him Spanish isn't challenging enough.

Herbrew: an official language spoken in the state of Israel 

Farsi: The official language of Iran 

Urdu: an Official language spoken in Parkistan

Swahili: a language spoken in Kenya and other countries of the African Great Lakes region 

Lyrics the words of  a song 

(1.1 ) The Present of Be  ( Be has 3 form in the present am/is /are )

I  + am  + from New York

He + is + from New York.

She + is + from New York. 

You are from New York.

They are from New York.

We are from New York.

Subject pronouns and most singular nouns can contract with a present form of be . 

(I'm , He's , She's , It's , You're , We're ,They're , Timothy's 

 I am surprised about Timothy's abilities. 

Timothy's an amazing person.

He's is very intelligent.

( We use a form of be with  ) + description , classification , location ,weather , reaction to the weather , place of origin , physical states , age, time , there 

  1. description
  2. a classification 
  3. a location
  4. a weather 
  5. reaction to weather 
  6. place of origin 
  7. age 
  8. physical states 
  9. time 
  10. there 

Timothy is smart

Mandarin and Cantonese are languages of China. (classification )
 

Haiti is southeast of Florida.(a location ) 

  1. What part of Africa you come from ?  
  2.  

It is warm in Haiti all year.(weather ) 

I am hot . Let's turn on the air-conditiong.(reaction to the weather)

Timothy Doner is from New York . ( Place of Origin) 

How old is Timothy now ?  (age ) 

I am hungry. ( Physical states) 

What time is it in New York now? (time )  

There are many language in India . (there) 

  1. There are two official language of Cameroon are French and English.

 

 

Observe these pattern with the verb be 

Subject Question : 

Negative WH Question (Why isn't Spanish a challenge for Timothy ?)

Wh Question : ( Why is Spanish easy for Italians)

  1. What is your native language? 

Affirmative Statement  ( Spanish is the official language of  Columbia ) 

Negative Statement  ( It isn't the language of Brazil)  

Yes/No question ( Is Spanish is easy for Italians? )

 Language Note : 

We don't make contraction with is if the noun ends in s, se, ce, ge, ze , sh ,ch or X 

example :   FFrench is one of Timothy's language ( Not : Franch's )

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