Humor4u

After the Lionesses, England's female football team, won the European Cup last Sunday, there has been a national celebration of soccer and female empowerment. The media have reflected the historical moment by flooding the waves with words of praise and joy for the victorious women athletes. BBC Radio 4 programme Today is a good example of this shared communal enthusiasm, and on August 1st, Today devoted several slots to cover the different angles of the the story during the 3 hour programme (that podcast is available on line for 29 days, and it is suitable for C2 students). A compilation of the different interviews can be heard on Best of Today , a podcast that is only available on line for 6 days, also suitable for C2 students. In the podcast 5 Minutes On , you can hear a short summary of the story for a whole year (C1). Below you can watch a Sky Sports News video, where the England players interrupt the press conference that coach Sarina Wiegman was giving by singing the song ...

Travel + Leisure magazine  has just published the  50 Best Places to Travel in 2022 , for their affluent American readers, featuring Alaska (left) among other national and international destinations.  C1 students can do some virtual travel with the article 50 Best Places to Travel in 2022 , they can look at the beautiful pictures and pick up English words galore, as the text is packed with descriptive adjectives, nouns and verbs like: a far-flung destination, a thrill, travel restrictions galore, albeit, to cross off [destinations], the hospitality industry was hit hard, downtime, to venture, to reap [the benefits], valiant [efforts], to teem with [fresh-air activities], to be raring, to make up for, splashy, hard-hit destinations, buzzy, stateside, to hold back, wellness, farm-to-table living, to stretch, overlooked, unspoiled [villages], picturesque, stunning, sleepy, underdog, harbinger, an eco-lodge, glamping, a [food] hotspot, local produce, an eager [traveler], vast...

Blue Ocean Event [ from Blue Ocean Event ] A Blue Ocean Event occurs when virtually all sea ice disappears and the surface color changes from white (sea ice) to blue (ocean). According to many, a Blue Ocean Event starts once Arctic sea ice extent falls below 1 million km². The image on the right shows a trend pointing at zero Arctic sea ice volume by September 2027. Note that the volume data in the image are averages for the month September ⁠— the minimum for each year is even lower. Furthermore, since zero volume implies zero extent, this indicates that a Blue Ocean Event (extent below 1 million km²) could happen well before 2027. Sea ice extent The image below, adapted from NSIDC , shows the extent of Arctic sea ice on July 26, 2022.  [ click on images to enlarge ] The extent of Arctic sea ice was among the lowest on record for the time of year on July 26, 2022. Furthermore, Antarctic sea ice extent is currently at a record low for the time of year, as illustrated by the image ...

Mr. Happy Face is a Chihuahua-Chinese crested mix dog that has recently won the "World's Ugliest Dog" contest held in Petaluma, Ca .  Here, you can read the story from Canadian CBC programme " As It Happens ", which is a written summary of the radio interview (6:12) that you can also access on this link.    The article is suitable for B2 students, whereas the radio interview, without script, is recommended for C1 students, especially if you listen to the interview before reading the article.   Here you can find a list of some key words as they appear in the radio interview which can be used as a listening guide if you get very lost, as there is no script: bat, tuft, snarl, crookedly, bound, curl, quirky, cute, so popular, extra-attention, shelter, unadoptable, hoarder situation, human touch, bond, hospice situation, a second chance, caring and nurturing, strange noises, grunt, a diesel truck revving, barks in his sleep, cries, howl, on tour, meet and greet, joy,...

Daffodils is one of the most popular poems in the English language, it is full of beautiful images, colours and lights described with gentle, poetic words. The sounds of the English words themselves, consonants and vowels, are worth listening to, even if you do not understand their meaning.  It was composed by romantic poet William Wordsworth on  April 15th, 1802, when he was walking with his sister Dorothy around Glencoyne Bay in the Lake District after the death of his brother. It is a poem about the seductive beauty of nature, about loneliness and memory. The poem is short, but it is full of literary words, so it is recommended for C1 students.  You will find words like: to wander, to float, o'er (over), a vale, a host, golden, daffodils, to flutter, breeze, to twinkle, the Milky Way, to stretch, never-ending [line], a bay, a glance, to toss [their heads], a sprightly [dance], sparkling [waves], in glee, [to be] gay, jocund [company], to gaze, oft (often), couch, vac...

Most important metric Kevin Trenberth et al. suggest in a recent  article  that Earth's energy imbalance, defined as the absorbed solar radiation minus the net outgoing longwave radiation, is arguably the most important metric related to climate change. Of the extra heat from Earth's energy imbalance, about 93% ends up in the ocean as increasing ocean heat content (see image below), 3% goes into melting ice, 4% goes into raising temperatures of land and melting permafrost, and less than 1% remains in the atmosphere.  One could also argue that the most important metric related to climate change is the monthly mean surface temperatures on land, as illustrated by the image below that was created with a July 16, 2022 screenshot from  NASA customized analysis plots  and shows that the February 2016 (land only) anomaly from 1886-1915 was 2.94°C or 5.292°F.  Land only anomalies are important. After all, most people live on land and humans will likel...

Just a few days earlier than the running of the bulls started in Pamplona, New York City organized its own "running of the goats" in Riversida Park, Manhattan .  Families gathered to see the trailer opening its door to release twenty goats that had been brought to the park to eat all the weeds away. Here you can listen to the All Things Considered report on NPR (3':42")  that tells the story with a script, which makes it suitable for B2 students.  You will come across words like goats, to weed, a sliver, farmland, pretty flat, to slope sharply, invasive plants, porcelain berry, to take over, garden maintenance, a herd of goats, upstate [New York], a trailer, the thick impenetrable bush, hillside, with ease, a beloved ritual, St. Patrick's Day parade, to show up, [dogs] to strain against leashes, to sniff, to poke, dazzling, tawny-colored, horns, to curl in on themselves, poised, a gaze, to commune [with nature], nonprofit rescue service, a fenced area, chill, to ...