Academic English

You can learn to understand local and world news reports by predicting the main ideas based on the news headlines. Read the possible headlines below for the four news stories and predict the content for each. Try to guess what key words that would come up in each story.

“catch someone red-handed” = catch someone in the middle of doing something wrong
“Some of the employees caught the president red-handed lying to the media about the company’s financial problems.”

“have a strong stomach” = have a strong ability to endure unpleasant things
“With so much violence in the world, you need to have a strong stomach to listen to the news today.“

Listen to the recording and answer the questions. (See transcript)

Here are some words and expressions that appear in the recording:

• reptile (noun): group of cold-blooded animals including snakes and lizards
  – The zoo has an exciting reptile exhibit that will be open to the public at the end of the month.
• feline (adjective): relating to cats
  – The feline family includes household cats, lions, and tigers.
• fish out (verb): retrieve or get out
  – My wife threw away an important letter by mistake, so I had to fish it out of the garbage.
• blizzard (noun): heavy snow storm
  – It was impossible to travel in the blizzard because of the deep snow.
• be/get stranded (verb): be cut off of left behind
  – She got stranded at the airport due to poor weather conditions.
• dip (verb): drop or decrease
  – Temperatures are predicted to dip below freezing tonight.

The internet now allows people to search for news stories around the world much easier than before. Use any online service or search engine to find an unusual news event or story in English from a different country than where you presently live. Summarize the main ideas and share it with a partner. Discuss why the event would be of particular local or international interest.