Confusing words for pronunciation

Hurricane Katrina Voted Top Story of 2005

Written by Brianna Blake
31 December 2005
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I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The editors and news directors of the Associated Press have chosen the following as the top ten news stories of two thousand five. The AP chose Hurricane Katrina as this year's top news story.

The fierce ocean storm hit the United States' southern coast in August. It killed more than one thousand three hundred people in five states. The storm destroyed much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It caused flooding that left eighty percent of New Orleans, Louisiana, under water.

Other top news stories of the year included the death of Roman Catholic Church leader Pope John Paul the Second in April. He died after serving twenty-six years as Pope, the third longest in history. Millions of people around the world attended services on the day of his funeral. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany became the new Pope.

In Iraq, rebel violence continued. The Bush administration said more than two thousand American service members and thirty thousand Iraqis have been killed since the war in Iraq began. Iraqi citizens elected a parliament and voted on a new constitution.

In Washington, two new judges were nominated to the Supreme Court. John Roberts was confirmed to take the place of Chief Justice William Rehnquist who died. And Samuel Alito was nominated to take the place of Sandra Day O'Connor who announced her retirement.

Crude oil prices reached a record high of almost seventy-one dollars a barrel. The rise in gasoline prices affected drivers in the United States.

In July, a series of attacks on three trains and a bus in London killed fifty-six people, including four bombers who had ties to Islamic militants.

In October, a huge earthquake near the border of Pakistan and India killed more than eighty-seven thousand people. More than three million people were left without homes.

In the United States, the husband of a severely brain-damaged woman fought for the right to remove the feeding tube that had kept her alive for fifteen years. The United States Congress and President Bush became involved with efforts to keep Terri Schiavo's feeding tube connected. A judge later ordered its removal. Missus Schiavo's case raised questions about the role of government in private, family decisions about life and death.

Members of the Bush administration were under investigation and accused of telling the name of an American intelligence agent to news reporters. The agent's husband had earlier accused the administration of misusing prewar intelligence on Iraq.

And President Bush's national approval rating dropped below forty percent this year, the lowest of his presidency. Many Americans began to question the president's decisions about the war in Iraq. Others were unhappy with how the president reacted to Hurricane Katrina.

IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English, was written by Brianna Blake. Our reports can be found on our web site, voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

Time Conversation

My alarm clock didn't go off this morning.

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Rosie overslept because her alarm clock didn't go off this morning.... .

Rosie: Sorry, I overslept. My clock didn't go off this morning.
Francie: Again?
Rosie: That's right, even though I did set the alarm last night.
Francie: Your clock never works. Perhaps you should buy a new one.
Rosie: Well, if it breaks down again tomorrow, I'll definitely buy a new one.
Francie: Maybe by then it'll be too late.
Rosie: What do you mean "too late"?
Francie: By that time you'll be fired.
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I always forget to put my clock back one hour.
Jessica is late everytime it is daylight savings time because she always forgets to put the clock forward one hour....


Kelly: Ha, Jessica, you're late.
Jessica: Yeah. Each time we switch to daylight savings time, I always forget to put the clock forward an hour.
Kelly: Well, then later this year when we switch back to normal time, don't forget to set the clock back one hour.
Jessica: I just can't win! Each time we switch back to normal time, I always forget to put the clock back an hour, so I always come to work an hour early.
Kelly: So, just remember. Spring forward, fall back.
Jessica: So, that'll make it even.





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My watch always gains 10 minutes a day.

Jane's watch gains ten minutes a day, while Mary's watch loses ten minutes a day. Jane can put up with her watch, but Mary seems to be tired of hers....


Jane: My watch always gains ten minutes a day.
Mary: That's funny. My watch always loses ten minutes a day.
Jane: No kidding.
Mary: I'm serious. Every morning I set my watch by the radio, but it still loses ten minutes.
Jane: You know what you can do?
Mary: Throw it away and buy a new one?
Jane: No, you don't have to. You only need to put your watch back ten minutes everyday.
Mary: So you put your watch back ten minutes everyday?
Jane: Yeah, that's what I'm doing.
Mary: Why bother? Just buy a new watch. It doesn't cost much. Besides, I just can't put up with this thing any more.



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I always set my clock ahead ten minutes.

Roselind is very curious about why Jamie's clocks show different times....

Roselind: Hey, you have so many clocks in your bedroom.
Jamie: Yeah, I want to make sure I can wake up in the morning.
Roselind: But is there something wrong with your clocks? None of them has the same time.
Jamie: I do it on purpose. I set this clock ahead ten minutes, and this one back ten minutes, but I always set that one to the right time.
Roselind: So the alarms ring every ten minutes?
Jamie: Yeah.
Roselind: Are your crazy or what?
Jamie: No, I am a heavy sleeper. I need thunder to wake me up.

Words:

Ambition noun [C/U]
a strong desire for success, achievement, power, or wealth
His presidential ambitions were frustrated in the 1980s.
No one ever accused him of lacking ambition.
She's got a lot of ambition.
[+ to infinitive] His ambition is ultimately to run his own business.
He has already achieved his main ambition in life - to become wealthy.
political ambitions
She doubts whether she'll ever be able to fulfil her ambition.
I've always had a burning (= very great) ambition to be a film director.
After his heart attack, he abandoned his ambition to become Prime Minister.
ambitious adjective
1 having a great desire to be successful, powerful or wealthy:
an ambitious young lawyer
He's very ambitious for his children (= He's anxious that they should be successful).
Even as a young man he was ambitious and self-assured.
2 If a plan or idea is ambitious, it needs a great amount of skill and effort to be successful or be achieved:
She has some ambitious expansion plans for her business.
The government has announced an ambitious programme to modernize the railway network.
The original completion date was over-ambitious, so we have had to delay the opening by six months.
It was an ambitious project to restore the public parks.
ambitiously adverb

Celebrity:

arrogant adjective
unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than, or know more than, other people:
I found him arrogant and rude.
arrogantly adverb
The authorities had behaved arrogantly, she said.

arrogance noun [U]
He has a self-confidence that is sometimes seen as arrogance.

naive, naïve adjective MAINLY DISAPPROVING
too willing to believe that someone is telling the truth, that people's intentions in general are good or that life is simple and fair. People are often naive because they are young and/or have not had much experience of life:
She was very naive to believe that he'd stay with her.
They make the naive assumption that because it's popular it must be good.
It was a little naive of you to think that they would listen to your suggestions.

naively, naïvely adverb
I, perhaps naively, believed he was telling the truth.

naivety, naïveté noun [U]
trust based on lack of experience:
DISAPPROVING He demonstrated a worrying naivety about political issues.
APPROVING I think her naivety is charming - she's so unspoilt and fresh.

foyer noun [C]
1 a large open area just inside the entrance of a public building such as a theatre or a hotel, where people can wait and meet each other:
I'll see you downstairs in the foyer in half an hour.
2 US (UK hall) the room in a house or apartment leading from the front door to other rooms, where items like coats and hats are kept

aisle noun [C]
1 a long narrow space between rows of seats in an aircraft, cinema or church:
Would you like an aisle seat or would you prefer to be by the window?

2 a long narrow space between the rows of shelves in a large shop:
You'll find the shampoo and the soap in the fourth aisle along from the entrance.
go/walk down the aisle INFORMAL to get married

wallflower (PLANT) noun [C]
a pleasant smelling garden plant that has yellow, orange or brown flowers which grow in groups
wallflower (SHY PERSON) noun [C] INFORMAL
a shy person, especially a girl or woman, who is frightened to involve herself in social activities and does not attract much interest or attention:
Sooner or later someone would take pity on the poor wallflower and ask her to dance.

gate-crasher noun [C]
a person who goes to a party although they have not been invited to it
The party was ruined by a couple of gate-crashers who got very drunk.

Weird adjective
strangely different from anything natural or ordinary
She is a little weird in the way she dresses, I have to admit.

Starve verb [I/T]
to become weak or die because there is not enough food to eat
Many people could starve because of the drought.
If someone says they are starving, they want to eat: I'm starved because I missed lunch today.

starvation noun [U]
The animals died of starvation.

Burst verb [I/T]
to break open or apart suddenly, or to cause (something) to break open or apart
Fireworks burst across the night sky.
I thought I might have burst a blood vessel.
(FIG.) If a person is bursting, they are extremely eager or enthusiastic: I was bursting with excitement.
If something is bursting at the seams, it is extremely full:
When everyone comes home, the house is bursting at the seams.

burst noun [C]
a sudden, brief increase in something, or a short appearance of something
With a burst of speed, the horse won easily.

burst in/intophrasal verb [T]
to enter (a place) suddenly or unexpectedly
He burst into the room and shouted orders at us.
burst into phrasal verb [T]
to begin to produce (something)
I burst into tears.
The car burst into flames.
burst out phrasal verb [T]
to begin to do (something)
She burst out sobbing.
Everyone burst out laughing.

bias (CLOTHING) noun [U] SPECIALIZED
a direction at an angle across the threads of woven material:
The dresses in his new winter collection are all cut on the bias (= in a diagonal direction across the cloth).

bias (PREFERENCE) noun
1 [C usually singular; U] a tendency to support or oppose a particular person or thing in an unfair way by allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment:
The government has accused the media of bias.
Reporters must be impartial and not show political bias.
There was clear evidence of a strong bias against her.
There has always been a slight bias in favour of/towards employing arts graduates in the company.
2 [C usually singular] a preference towards a particular subject or thing:
She showed a scientific bias at an early age.

bias verb [T] -ss- or US USUALLY -s-
The judge ruled that the information should be withheld on the grounds that it would bias the jury against (= influence them unfairly against) the accused.

biased, UK ALSO biassed adjective
showing an unreasonable like or dislike for a person based on personal opinions:
The newspapers gave a very biased report of the meeting.
I think she's beautiful but then I'm biased since she's my daughter.
NOTE: The opposite is unbiased.

Topics:Diet

Idioms:

1-bite the hand that feeds you
to treat someone badly who has helped you in some way, often someone who has provided you with money
Leaving the company after they've spent three years training you up - it's a bit like biting the hand that feeds you.
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2-be in the same boat
to be in the same unpleasant situation as other people
She's always complaining that she doesn't have enough money, but we're all in the same boat.
If he loses his job he'll be in the same boat as any other unemployed person. [often + as]
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3-round of applause
when people clap:
The singer got a big round of applause.

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4-pick up the bill/tab (US ALSO pick up the check) INFORMAL
to pay for what has been bought, especially a meal in a restaurant

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5-pat sb on the back
to praise someone for doing something good

I got a pat on the back from (= was praised by) my boss.

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6-under your breath
quietly so that other people can not hear exactly what you are saying:
He muttered something under his breath.