Category: Life Style

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By DANICA KIRKA Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Critics are accusing the British publisher of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s books of censorship after it removed colorful language from works such as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda” to make them more acceptable to modern readers.

A review of new editions of Dahl’s books now available in bookstores shows that some passages relating to weight, mental health, gender and race were altered. The changes made by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Random House, first were reported by Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Augustus Gloop, Charlie’s gluttonous antagonist in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which originally was published in 1964, is no longer “enormously fat,” just “enormous.” In the new edition of “Witches,” a supernatural female posing as an ordinary woman may be working as a “top scientist or running a business” instead of as a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman.” Continue reading

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Laura Olds

Vacationing couples in Lisbon, Portugal, this Valentine’s Day are in for more than a chocolate treat. New research analyzing Trip Advisor’s data for European capital cities shows that Lisbon has 152 romantic hotels and 588 romantic restaurants, ranking it as the top city for lovebirds.

The study determined its findings by accounting for each capital city’s population and area relative to the number of hotels and restaurants that Trip Advisor lists as romantic. Lisbon has an impressive 278 romantic hotels per million people and 1,077 romantic restaurants per million people.

Where Does The City of Love Rank?

Paris, a French city where even the rain is romanticized, comes in third place as Europe’s most romantic capital city, according to Catamaran Charter Croatia’s study.

Love isn’t the only time when looks can be deceiving, though. Couples have more accommodation and restaurant options in Paris than in Lisbon, with nearly twice as many romantic hotels and almost 2.5 as many romantic restaurants. But from a ratio perspective, Paris’ romantic hotel and restaurant industry is lacking. Paris is only five square kilometers larger than Lisbon but boasts a population nearly four times as big. Continue reading

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Advanced

By LINDSEY TANNER AP Medical Writer

The coolest thing on social media these days may be celebrities and regular folks plunging into frigid water or taking ice baths.

The touted benefits include improved mood, more energy, weight loss and reduced inflammation, but the science supporting some of those claims is lukewarm.

Kim Kardashian posted her foray on Instagram. Harry Styles has tweeted about his dips. Kristen Bell says her plunges are “brutal” but mentally uplifting. And Lizzo claims ice plunges reduce inflammation and make her body feel better.

Here’s what medical evidence, experts and fans say about the practice, which dates back centuries.

THE MIND

You might call Dan O’Conor an amateur authority on cold water immersion. Since June 2020, the 55-year-old Chicago man has plunged into Lake Michigan almost daily, including on frigid winter mornings when he has to shovel through the ice. Continue reading

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By KELVIN CHAN AP Business Writer

LONDON (AP) — Food companies making big profits as inflation has surged should face windfall taxes to help cut global inequality, anti-poverty group Oxfam said Monday as the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting gets underway.

That’s one of the ideas in a report by Oxfam International, which has sought for a decade to highlight inequality at the conclave of political and business elites in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

The report, which aims to provoke discussions on panels featuring corporate and government leaders this week, said the world has been beset with simultaneous crises, including climate change, the surging cost of living, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the world’s richest have gotten richer and corporate profits are surging.

Over the past two years, the world’s super-rich 1% have gained nearly twice as much wealth as the remaining 99% combined, Oxfam said. Meanwhile, at least 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is outpacing their wage growth, even as billionaire fortunes are rising by $2.7 billion a day. Continue reading

Read time : 6 mins

Level : Advanced

By BOBBY CAINA CALVAN Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New Year’s celebrations swept across the globe, ushering in 2023 with countdowns and fireworks — and marking an end to a year that brought war in Europe, a new chapter in the British monarchy and global worries over inflation.

The new year began in the tiny atoll nation of Kiribati in the central Pacific, then moved across Russia and New Zealand before heading deeper, time zone by time zone, through Asia and Europe and into the Americas.

The ball dropped on New York City’s iconic Times Square as huge crowds counted down the seconds into 2023, culminating in raucous cheers and a deluge of confetti glittering amid jumbo screens, neon, pulsing lights and soggy streets. Continue reading

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Intermediate

By Robyn Goldfarb

Social media has become an epicenter for news and politics. More than 4.74 billion people across the world use social media to stay up to date on current events and express their opinions on political and social issues. Ans it’s not going away. Experts are forecasting nearly 6 billion users on the major platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok by the end of 2027.

Some analysts have argued that social media is one of the most significant contributors to the decline of democracy around the world. The Pew Research Center surveyed 19 economies to discover how the citizens of these countries view social media and if they see it as a constructive or destructive aspect of political life.

A Force for Good and Bad

Pew Research posed the overarching question of whether people believe social media is good or bad for democracy. Across the 19 advanced economies polled, 57% say that social media has been more of a good thing, while 35% say it has been bad. Continue reading

Read time : 6 mins

Level : Advanced

By JOCELYN NOVECK AP National Writer

Taylor Swift was up. Elon Musk was in, out, in and maybe out again. Tom Cruise was back. BTS stepped aside, and so did Serena Williams, and Tom Brady too — oops, scratch that.

But the slap? The slap was everywhere.

Ok, so maybe it wasn’t on the level of a moon landing, or selection of a pope. But henceforth all you need say is “the slap” and people will know what you mean — that moment Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars and a global audience said, “Wait, did that happen?” Even in the room itself — maybe especially in the room itself — there was a sense everyone had imagined it, which helps explain why things went on as normal, for a bit.

The pandemic was over, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward in 2022, with mask mandates dropping and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets! Continue reading

Read time : 5 mins

Level : Intermediate

By LEANNE ITALIE Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — “Gaslighting” — mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful — is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year.

Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn’t a single event that drove significant spikes in the curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year.

The gaslighting was pervasive.

“It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s unveiling.

“It was a word looked up frequently every single day of the year,” he said. Continue reading

Read time : 4 mins

Level : Advanced

By KANIS LEUNG Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — In London, Wong Wai-yi misses the taste of home.

A year ago, the 31-year-old musician was in Hong Kong, earning a good living composing for TV and movies and teaching piano. Today, she makes about half as much in London working part-time as a server alongside her musical pursuits. She chose the job in part because staff meals allow her to save money on food.

It’s a difficult adjustment. And Wong, who left Hong Kong with her boyfriend in January, has turned to a beloved hometown staple to keep her grounded: milk tea. She brings the beverage to parties with Hong Kong friends and gives bottles to co-workers as gifts.

“It’s like reminding myself I am a Hong Konger. It will be fine as long as we are willing to endure the hardships and work hard,” said Wong, who left as part of an exodus that began after Beijing passed a law in 2020 that curtailed civil liberties. Continue reading

Read time : 3 mins

Level : Intermediate

By NICK PERRY Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand lawmakers will take a vote on whether to lower the national voting age from 18 to 16, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.

Her announcement came hours after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that not allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote amounted to age discrimination.

But while Ardern said she personally favors lowering the age, such a change would require a 75% supermajority of lawmakers to agree. And even proponents acknowledge they don’t currently have the numbers.

A number of countries are debating whether to lower their voting age. Some that allow people to vote at 16 include Austria, Malta, Brazil, Cuba and Ecuador. Continue reading