Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Words of the week.

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Date: 06/01/2016
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Barack Obama began his presidency with an impassioned plea for a world without nuclear weapons. This week, in his last year in office, he was to become the first American president to visit Hiroshima, site of one of only two nuclear attacks. Mr Obama has made progress on nuclear-arms reduction and non-proliferation.

impassioned - adj filled with great emotion
Ex: She made an impassioned plea for help.

plea - n appeal, request, call, petition
Ex: He made a dramatic plea for disarmament.


non-proliferation - n non-rapid spread (firearms)\
Ex: This will be the most important conference in our life on disarmament and non-proliferation.



Date: 06/02/2016
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He signed a strategic-arms-control treaty (New START) with Russia in 2010. A series of nuclear-security summits helped stop fissile material getting into the wrong hands. Most important, he secured a deal in July to curtail and then constrain Iran's nuclear programme for at least the next 10-15 years.


treaty - n agreement between countries.

summits - n meeting between heads of government

fissile - adj (chiefly of rock) easily split / (of atom or element) able to undergo nuclear fission
Ex: fissile wood

chiefly - adv mostly, mainly

curtail - reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on
Ex: we try to curtail our spending.

[To be continued]

Saturday, May 7, 2016

Word of the day


squad 
larger group of sports players from which a smaller team is chosen

outsiders 
(here) players or team thought unlikely to win a competition

bookmakers 
people whose job it is to take and pay money from betting.


Leicester City Football Club, whose entire squad cost less than a single player at some of its better-known rivals, have won the English Premier League. Leicester were 5000-1 outsiders to win at the start of the season, meaning bookmakers considered it more likely that Elvis Presley would be found alive. (= impossible)