#10 edx

Class：The Science of Weight Loss: Dispelling Diet Myths

From：The University of Newcastle, Australia MOOCs

#8 TED Talk

TED Talk：馬修．歐瑞利: 面對「我快死了嗎？」的最誠實回答

https://www.ted.com/talks/matthew_o_reilly_am_i_dying_the_honest_answer/transcript?language=en#t-316665

1.      Impending

→used to refer to an event, usually something unpleasant or unwanted, that is going to happen soon

Ex: The player announced his impending retirement from international football.

2.      dilemma

→a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two different things you could do

Ex: The president is clearly in a dilemma about/over how to tackle the crisis.

3.      imminent

→coming or likely to happen very soon

Ex: A strike is imminent.

4.      immortal

→living or lasting for ever

Ex: The priest said he was endangering his immortal soul.

5.      perish

→to die, especially in an accident or by being killed, or to be destroyed

Ex: Three hundred people perished in the earthquake.

#7 Steve Jobs’ Talk

1 relent

→to act in a less severe way towards someone and allow something that you had refused to allow before

Ex: Her parents eventually relented and let her go to the party.

2 tuition

→the money paid for this type of teaching

Ex: Few can afford the tuition of $12,000 a semester.

3 stumble

→to walk in a way that does not seem controlled

Ex: He pulled on his clothes and stumbled into the kitchen.

4 intuition

→an ability to understand or know something immediately based on your feelings rather than facts

Ex: I can't explain how I knew - I just had an intuition that you'd been involved in an accident.

5 diverge

→to follow a different direction, or to be or become different

Ex: Although the two organizations have worked together for many years, their objectives have diverged recently.

I like the story─connecting the dots in Steve Jobs’ Talk. He was lucky the he found what he loved to do early in life. He had dropped out and decided to take a calligraphy class, and 10 years later, he used it to design the first Macintosh computer, he might never think that he would needed in the future. I also think that I’d never need the thing I learned now in the future sometimes. But after reading this talk, I know that maybe I will need someday, somewhere later. Just like he said: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” It's inspired me a lot!

#6 English song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aatr_2MstrI

CLEAN BANDIT - Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson)

I’ve been hearing symphonies

Before all I heard was silence

A rhapsody for you and me

And every melody is timeless

Life was stringing me along

Then you came and you cut me loose

Was solo singing on my own

Now I can’t find the key without you

*And now your song is on repeat

And I’m dancin' on, to your heartbeat

And when you’re gone, I feel incomplete

So if you want the truth

**I just wanna be part of your symphony

Will you hold me tight and not let go?

Symphony

Like a love song on the radio

Will you hold me tight and not let go?

I’m sorry if it’s all too much

Every day you’re here, I’m healing

And I was runnin' outta luck

I never thought I’d find this feeling

'Cause I’ve been hearing symphonies

Before all I heard was silence

A rhapsody for you and me (A rhapsody for you and me)

And every melody is timeless

*

**

Ah, ah, ah, ah-ah-ah, ah, ah, ah

Ah, ah, ah, ah-ah-ah, ah, ah, ah

*

**

Symphony

Will you hold me tight and not let go?

Symphony

Like a love song on the radio

Will you hold me tight and not let go?

Singer:

"Symphony" is a song by British classical crossover band Clean Bandit featuring Swedish singer Zara Larsson.

Clean Bandit are a British electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. The band consists of Grace Chatto, Jack Patterson and Luke Patterson.

Zara Maria Larsson is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Born in 16 December 1997,just smaller than me.

The word I learned:

1.      rhapsody

→a piece of music that has no formal structure and expresses powerful feelings

2.      string sb along

→to deceive someone for a long time about what you are really intending to do

Ex:She's been promising to pay back the money for six months, but I think she's just stringing me along.

I like the melody of this song when I first heard. It gave me the comfortable feeling. After that, I found that this song is talking about the two men are homosexual. One of them has been killed in an accident, the man who is alive is shown grieving and visiting the spots where he and his boyfriend used to go. By the end, he has composed a beautiful symphony in his boyfriend's memory.And I like the plot in this mv.

#5 All Ears English

AEE711:This Weekend? Next Weekend? Last Weekend? How to Ask Questions to Clarify Your Calendar Plans

1

(1)  rule of thumb

→a practical method of doing or measuring something, usually based on past experience rather than on exact measurement

ex: As a rule of thumb, you should cook a chicken for 20 minutes for each pound of weight.

2

We sometimes get confused about “This Weekend”, “Next Weekend” or “Last Weekend”.Today’s episodeis going to clear up for us.

For example, if it's Wednesday May 10 then the closest Friday May 12 would be called "this Friday" not "next Friday". Because "next Friday" would be May 19.

It's all depends on where you currently are in the week.

Last weekend:if it’s Monday May 12 ,last weekend would be May 10/May 11, it could also be May 3/May 4, but it probably means the closest one back.if you’re not sure,you can ask for more clearly.

The most important thing to learn from today is don’t be afraid to ask questions to clarify!

Link:https://www.allearsenglish.com/aee-711-weekend-next-weekend-last-weekend-ask-questions-clarify-calendar-plans/

#3 Six Minute English

I choose 《What your lunch says about you》from 6 minute English to be my topic.

This week’s question is “How long is the average lunch break in the UK? And the answer is 25 minutes.

A survey from 2012 showed a third of Britons eat exactly the same thing for lunch every day! And it’s mostly sandwiches. According to food writer Bee Wilson,she said that they were what you had in an emergency. It’s was a kind of makeshift lunch when you couldn’t get anything better.

The view on eating the same thing every day from philosopher Julian Baddini said: What lunch says about us is that we’re still very much stuck in this kind of quite functional, efficient, utilitarian attitude of how we should construct our daily lives.

In Today’s vocabulary, I learned a new word “utilitarian”, it means designed to be practical rather than beautiful.

link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english/ep-170316

#2 Vocabulary Exercise

1.tension

• A situation in which people do not trust each other, or feel unfriendly towards each other, and which may cause them to attack each other. 

→The incident has further increased tension between the two countries.

2.rail

• A wooden or metal bar placed around something as a barrier or to provide support. 

→She leaned on the ship’s rail and gazed out to sea.

3.hold back

• To prevent somebody/something from moving forward or crossing something. 

→The police were unable to hold back the crowd.

4.manipulate

• To control or influence somebody/something, often in a dishonest way so that they do not realize it. 

→As a politician, he knows how to manipulate public opinion.

5.transition

• The process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. 

→We need to ensure a smooth transition between the old system and the new one.

#1 Greeting

Hello, I'm Janice. Nice to meet you! I'm going to introduce myself.
My major is Information Management Department(IMD) in National Taipei University of Business(NTUB). I'm 19 years old now.Although my English is not very well, English is always my favorite course in school. I think English is important, because it is a common language that can be used in everywhere, so I want to improve my English, this is why I choose this class in this semester. Hope I can talk to the foreigners in English easily in the future.