Angelina Jolie receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards

 

Watch the interview and answer the question:

What problem does Angelina raise in her acceptance speech?

The most common English idioms

 

These English idioms are extremely common in everyday conversation in the United States. You will hear them in movies and TV shows and can use them to make your English sound more like that of a native speaker. 

Idiom	Meaning	Usage
A blessing in disguise	a good thing that seemed bad at first	as part of a sentence
A dime a dozen	Something common	as part of a sentence
Beat around the bush	Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable	as part of a sentence
Better late than never	Better to arrive late than not to come at all	by itself
Bite the bullet	To get something over with because it is inevitable	as part of a sentence
Break a leg	Good luck	by itself
Call it a day	Stop working on something	as part of a sentence
Cut somebody some slack	Don't be so critical	as part of a sentence
Cutting corners	Doing something poorly in order to save time or money	as part of a sentence
Easy does it	Slow down	by itself
Get out of hand	Get out of control	as part of a sentence
Get something out of your system	Do the thing you've been wanting to do so you can move on	as part of a sentence
Get your act together	Work better or leave	by itself
Give someone the benefit of the doubt	Trust what someone says	as part of a sentence
Go back to the drawing board	Start over	as part of a sentence
Hang in there	Don't give up	by itself
Hit the sack	Go to sleep	as part of a sentence
It's not rocket science	It's not complicated	by itself
Let someone off the hook	To not hold someone responsible for something	as part of a sentence
Make a long story short	Tell something briefly	as part of a sentence
Miss the boat	It's too late	as part of a sentence
No pain, no gain	You have to work for what you want	by itself
On the ball	Doing a good job	as part of a sentence
Pull someone's leg	To joke with someone	as part of a sentence
Pull yourself together	Calm down	by itself
So far so good	Things are going well so far	by itself
Speak of the devil	The person we were just talking about showed up!	by itself
That's the last straw	My patience has run out	by itself
The best of both worlds	An ideal situation	as part of a sentence
Time flies when you're having fun	You don't notice how long something lasts when it's fun	by itself
To get bent out of shape	To get upset	as part of a sentence
To make matters worse	Make a problem worse	as part of a sentence
Under the weather	Sick	as part of a sentence
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it	Let's not talk about that problem right now	by itself
Wrap your head around something	Understand something complicated	as part of a sentence
You can say that again	That's true, I agree	by itself
Your guess is as good as mine	I have no idea	by itself

Make up 3 sentences with any of these idioms and post them in the commentary section below.

‘People are proud of this green spirit of ours’: how a small Spanish city rejected cars

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Read the article and answer the questions:

1. Why is Vitoria-Gasteiz called 'the green ring'?

2. Has the population of the city increased or decreased over the years?

3. When did the plan to build the city arise?

4. Are there any other climate-neutral cities in Europe?

Harvard, Penn, MIT Heads Defend Response to Israel-Gaza Protests on Campus

 

Comment on the video below. According to you, does freedom of speech exist in the US?

Word of the Year

 

The editors of the Oxford dictionary left the selection for Word of the Year to language lovers.

Over 30,000 people voted and selected four finalists for word of the year. They were “Swiftie” (fans of Taylor Swift), “situationship” (an informal romantic or sexual relationship), “prompt” (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program), and “rizz.”

If you are not familiar with “rizz,” it is time to learn its meaning. It is Oxford’s word of the year. “Rizz” is believed to come from the word “charisma.” Oxford says it means having “style, charm or attractiveness.” It can also mean the “ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner.” The word is popular among Generation Z -- people born during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“Rizz” can be used as a verb, too. To “rizz up” means “to attract, seduce, or chat up (a person).”

Oxford editors said they chose “rizz” as “an interesting example of how language can be formed, shaped, and shared within communities, before being picked up more widely in society.”

Read the article and make up a sentence with the word 'rizz'. Post it in the commentary section below.

Harvard professors defend president amid calls to resign after statements on antisemitism

 

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Read the article and answer the questions:

1. What happened to the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

2. What was the students' reaction to the crisis?

3. What was Claudine Gray's response to the accusations?

Leave your answers in the commentary section below.