Idioms: Red with answers

This week 'red' is the theme of our idioms. Do you know what they mean?

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Comprehension: Recycling Company Stubs Out Cigarette Garbage

Cigarette butts are an urban nuisance but one company has a solution it says is good for the environment and business. Recyclers Terracycle have figured out how to convert filters into saleable items, including ashtrays, and clean up the streets.

Watch the video and answer the questions below. Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. Terracycle mixes the cigarette filters with other plastics to make industrial pallets.

a. True

b. False

2. The organic parts of the cigarette are composted.

a. True

b. False

3. In Canada one-third of the cigarette butts collected come from individuals and businesses.

a. True

b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:
Smokers get to enjoy their cigarettes, but leave their butts littering streets and sidewalks everywhere. But finally, someone's found use for them. Terracycle turns used cigarettes into plastic. Most cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, which Terracycle blends with other recycled plastics to make everything from lumber, to industrial pallets.
"These feel and look just like regular plastic pallets. There's a slight smell of tobacco that is associated with the plastic, but it's a smell that can be masked if necessary."
Terracycle's mission is to take the toughest trash and turn it into something useful, and profitable. Many of its products are "upcycled," and retain some of their original traits -- items like eyeglass chandeliers and skirts made from packaging. The company's headquarters even uses trash as low-budget decor.
"I have this very weird tendency that when I go around the world, like when I land in a city, the first thing I do is look in the garbage can. Because that's my opportunity: Anything that goes to waste."
 And there's no shortage of opportunities with cigarettes. Trillions are smoked every year. Terracycle takes the cigarette butts, composts their organic components and radiates the rest. It's a process the company says is no more energy-intensive than traditional recycling. Though less than a year old, the program is already a hit with tobacco companies and green groups who provide support.
 "Not only was there huge response from individuals, businesses but especially NGOs. In Canada, one-third of all the cigarettes we've collected have come from groups like the World Wildlife Fund, from Ocean Conservancy, from all these places that do cleanup projects and instead of throwing the cigarettes they collect out, they now send them to us to be recycled."
Szaky says the company turns a modest profit. They're not getting rich off cigarettes.  Terracycle, now plans to tackle more of the world's most notorious trash, from dirty diapers to chewing gum.

 
Answers:
1. a
2. a
3. b

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Phrase of the Week: Cold Feet

Phrase of the Week: COLD FEET: to suddenly become nervous about doing something that you had planned to do

“He was going to ask her out but he got cold feet and said nothing.”

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Image from Bob B. Brown on Flickr

Comprehension: When The House Becomes a Home

Life as a US Congressman isn't all perks. Some lawmakers are now sleeping in their offices in Washington, to save money, and to set an example of cost-cutting.
Watch the video and answer the questions below. Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. Tim Walberg prefers sleeping in his office to sleeping at home.

  a. True

  b. False

2. Congressman Tim Walberg hasn’t been working very long on Capitol Hill.

  a. True

  b. False

3. Congress is less noisy, at night, than the rest of Washington.

  a. True

  b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:  

For Congressman Tim Walberg, sleeping on the job isn't always a bad thing. Every night, he rolls out his air mattress and makes his bed, on his office floor.
 "The only thing better about my bed at home is my wife is in it with me."
Walberg has worked in Washington for years, and all of his time in the city is spent on Capitol Hill.  "This is important because of the espresso maker; I have to have my double espresso in the morning"
From espresso machine...to breakfast cereal...and even a small closet …
"Wardrobe of all the clothes that I need." …everything is in his office, everything, except a shower.
 "It forces me every morning to get up and go to the congressional gym, which is in the basement of this building"
Down the hall, Congressman Paul Gosar has his makeshift kitchen, including a small fridge.  "Buckwheat pancakes!" Gosar and Walberg aren't the only ones who've turned the House into their home. Some 50 Congressmen, mostly Republicans, sleep in their offices every night, saving precious money, and precious time.
"They know where I’m at. I’m getting my work done. So I spend a lot of time reading, dialoguing, making sure that we've got issues for the day and working on behalf of our constituents back home."
But it's not all about the savings. Walberg says he was elected to the House by the people, for the people.
"I am not a king or a prince or a lord and the people who sent me here are the people I serve and I don't ever want to get to a point where I believe that because I’m here, I am better than them"
But sleeping at work also has its perks. The halls are bustling during the day but, when night falls, Congress is among the quietest, and safest, places in Washington
 
Answers:
1. b
2. b
3. a

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Phrase of the Week: Cloak-and-dagger

Phrase of the Week: CLOAK-AND-DAGGER:cloak-and-dagger activities are secret and mysterious, sometimes in a way that people think is unnecessary or ridiculous

“Why can't we be open about the changes in the office? Do we really need all this cloak-and-dagger stuff?

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Image from Tony Fischer on Flickr

Comprehension: Bucket List

Do you know what a bucket list is?
Watch the video and answer the questions below. Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. Thousands of bucket list websites appeared after the movie ‘Bucket List’ came out.
a. True
b. False

2. There are only four categories of bucket list.
a. True
b. False

3.One of the most popular bucket list items is swimming with dolphins.
a. True
b. False


For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

Do you know what a bucket list is?  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary a bucket list is a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying.  In other words it’s a list of all your dreams and goals.  The expression, bucket list, comes from the English idiom, ‘To kick the bucket’, which means to die.  The phrase bucket list was popularised in a Hollywood movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman and since then thousands of websites have appeared giving advice and ideas to help people create their own bucket list.

So what do people typically put on them?  Well, just about anything is the answer.  But generally we can divide the most popular bucket list goals into four categories.

The first category is travel.  Many people just want to travel the world before they die; others have very specific travel objectives.  Popular destinations for bucket lists include the Egyptian pyramids, and the Great Wall of China, or Australia’s magnificent Great Barrier Reef.

The second category is having unique experiences.  Some of these may be daring and exhilarating such as bungee jumping, others maybe more serene such as taking a ride in a hot air balloon.  One of the most common goals on bucket lists is swimming with dolphins.

The third category concerns the development of personal skills.  This may include learning to speak another language or to play a musical instrument or doing a creative writing course and writing the book you have always wanted to write.

The final category is all about having a better quality of life for example living in a house by the sea or doing work which you find more personally rewarding such as working for a charity.  It could simply be spending more time with the grandchildren. 

Whatever your goals and ambitions why not do as millions of others and write them in your own bucket list.  Imagine the satisfaction as you cross each goal off your list as your dreams come true.

 
Answers:
1. a
2. b
3. a

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