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Directions

REVIEW the vocabulary.
LISTEN to the audio.
ANSWER the questions.
CHECK your answers (Show Answers)

Vocabulary

guidance [n] - advice or information to solve a problem
discourage [v] - persuade not to do an action
alternatives [n] - other choices
trick or treating [exp] - dress up on Halloween and go from house to house to get candy
banned [adj] - legally or officially prohibited or stopped
pumpkin carving [exp] - making a face in a pumpkin with a knife
a costume [n] - clothes worn during Halloween to look like someone else
festive [adj] - cheerful, happy
go forward [phv] - continue, not delay
at any cost [exp] - do something regardless of price or effort
pushed back [phv] - delayed, postponed
The Games [n] - The Olympics
a third [exp] - ⅓ (33%)
one in four [exp] - ¼ (25%)
dummies [n] - plastic fake human bodies
a coffin [n] - a box in which a dead body is kept
backfire [v] - have the opposite effect of what was intended
Netizens [n] - people who read or use the Internet
decent [adj] - appropriate, acceptable

[n] - noun, [v] - verb, [phv] - phrasal verb, [adj] - adjective, [exp] - expression

Questions

L.A. health officials have banned trick or treating during Halloween.
True
False
L.A. health officials have recommended that children wear masks while trick or treating.
True
False
L.A. health officials have suggested people find ways to celebrate Halloween online.
True
False
One suggestion is having Halloween car parades.
True
False
The Japanese Olympic minister wants to delay the Tokyo 2021 Olympics until the COVID panademic is over.
True
False
The Tokyo Olympics were originally scheduled to start in July of this year (2020).
True
False
1% to 4% of Japanese people (in a poll) said they want the Olympics to be held as scheduled in 2021.
True
False
More than 33% of Japanese people (in a poll) said that they think the Olympics should be postponed.
True
False
About 33% of Japanese people (in a poll) said that they think the Olympics should be cancelled.
True
False
The Indonesian government is putting dummies in coffins on the street to make people follow pandemic rules.
True
False
The campaign has been very successful.
True
False
People on social media have praised the campaign for saving lives.
True
False

Script

Welcome back to a little bit of news we can all use from around the globe. This is the news for September 11th, 2020.

We begin in the US, the Los Angeles Health Department has recently released guidance to help families plan for a pandemic-safe Halloween. It is discouraging traditional activities and recommending socially distant alternatives. Although Trick or treating has not been banned, it is not recommended. Public health officials said that there is no way to guarantee trick or treating can be done safely. They therefore have recommend people celebrate Halloween online or from a safe distance. Suggestions include activities like online pumpkin carving and costume contests and participating in drive-by events or festive car parades.

In Japan, the Japanese Olympic minister says the Tokyo Olympics should go forward in 2021 at any cost. Many Japanese and Olympic officials have stressed in the past week that the games will continue regardless of the global pandemic and that the games would take place even if a vaccine were not yet available. The Tokyo Summer Olympics had been scheduled to start in July of this year, but they were pushed back a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is some evidence that the Japanese public is unsure about holding the games just 10 months from now. A recent survey found that fewer than 1 in 4 people in Japan want the Tokyo Olympics to go forward as scheduled. More than a third of the people polled said the Olympics should be postponed, and another third said they wanted the games to be canceled.

In Indonesian, the government has made one of the stranger attempts at protecting the public. They have been putting dummies wearing masks in coffins and then displaying them around the capital city of Jakarta. They hoped it would scare people into following the pandemic rules so that they would not end up in coffins. However, the campaign has quickly backfired. Netizens have used social media to criticize the action as inappropriate and a waste of money, stating that the government should instead focus on providing decent social assistance for the poor. One expert, Andina Dwifatma, a public communication professor at Atma Jaya Catholic University Jakarta, says the coffin campaign is a "useless theatrical form."

News You Can Use - Sept 11th

Published: 9.11.2020

Level 3 | Time: 4:11

Accent: American

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Script