Comprehension: Frustration foments in Yangon's slums despite reforms

Watch the video below and answer the following questions.  Are they True or False.

1. The women are well provided for by the state.

a. True

b. False

2. 25% of Myanmar's population lives below the poverty line.

a. True

b. False

3. The people of Myanmar do not have the right to protest.

a. True

b. False

For transcript and answers see below:

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Transcript and Answers to Frustration foments in Yangon's slums despite reforms

In this Yangon slum, a group of women have taken charge of their own destiny. Each week they put aside a few dollars, hoping to one day start their own business from the savings. With the state failing to provide a safety net, it may be their only route out of poverty, and a neighbourhood that floods each month during the high tide.

"We have not felt the change everybody is talking about. I think it has happened among the upper level of society".

Government reforms over the past year-and-a-half have so far failed to reach the quarter of Myanmar's population that survives below the poverty line. Authorities want to reduce the poverty rate to 16 percent by 2015, and hope a new law encouraging foreign investment will drive job creation.

"They need income. So they need more job opportunities. For that, foreign investment needs to come. Business can create the jobs that people need."

How the government manages the hopes of Myanmar's poor, who now have the right to protest, is essential to the progress of reform. Last spring, demonstrations against chronic power cuts brought hundreds of people to the streets. And after 50 years of military rule, those left behind as Myanmar opens up will be tempted to stake a claim to the opportunity that many see in the country's future.

"We think we have to manage those expectations, because things do not happen in a hurry."

At this illegal slum settlement near the centre of Yangon, residents eke out a living, waiting for reforms to trickle down to their community. Cut adrift from the euphoria of progress being enjoyed by Myanmar's elite, their prospects remain bleak. 

Answers:

1. b
2. a
3. b

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Common Mistakes 1

Autumn brings Baltic gold rush to Poland

Watch the video below and answer the following questions.  Are they True or False.

1. The Amber hunters along Poland's Baltic Sea coast provide enough amber for market demands in Gdansk.

a. True

b. False

2. Gdansk is the world's number one city for amber.

a. True

b. False

3. Amber has more tones and colours than any other material.

a. True

b. False

For transcript and answers see below:

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Transcript and Answers to Autumn brings Baltic gold rush to Poland

In November, amber hunters scour the beaches along Poland's Baltic Sea coast. Wlodek Janowski has been fishing out this fossilized resin known locally as 'Baltic Gold' for forty years. A gold rush of sorts comes as the first autumn storms wash up amber, from the sea floor onto the shore. 

"It's a good day's catch! This piece will sell for 80 zloty and these for about 50 a piece, and that big one will be at least 150. If you find two or three pieces weighing 200 or 300 grams each, it’s a few thousand zloty in just one day." 

But the amber collected by hunters like Janowski is just a fraction of what the market needs. Poland's Baltic port city of Gdansk is the world's amber capital, and demand here for this ancient treasure is high. Most of the amber in this jewellery shop is imported from the nearby Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. But these gems are entirely crafted in Gdansk, where expertise in amber work stretches back to before the Middle Ages. 

 "The tradition of amber work was totally lost under communism in the former Soviet countries but even then in Poland the amber workshops were preserved. Even though access to amber was limited, craftsmen could still develop their skills and traditions." 

In Gdansk, this man is known as the king of amber. At 66, Lucjan Myrta has devoted his life to working wonders with Baltic gold. In total, he's transformed over three hundred tonnes of raw amber into priceless works of art. His piece de resistance is this Biblically-themed treasure chest. At nearly 3 metres high, and weighing in at eight tonnes, it took 12 years to complete. 

"No other material has such a rich variety of tones and colours. Amber has more than 300 variations! Amber is the hero of my work. It decides for me what I'll do, it shapes my ideas and the designs I create." 

Having already been on exhibition in Poland's historic southern city of Krakow, plans are afoot to see Myrta's entire collection on display in Russia, before future stops, possibly in Saudi Arabia and France. 

Answers:

1. b 
2. a
3. a

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News Report 1st December 2012

Watch the video below and answer the questions True or False.

1. Theprank happened on the show 'Breaking Magic'.
a. True
b. False

2. Stephen King's novel was Number 1 on Amazon's Kindle chart before "The Long Run".
a. True
b. False

3. The secret Santa wishes to remain anonymous.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

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Transcript and Answers: News Report 1st December 2012

A famous US magician has been seriously injured after a TV host set his head on fire live on television.
Wayne Houchin was appearing on a show in the Dominican Republic when, in an apparently unscripted prank, its host dropped flammable liquid on his head, setting him alight.
Houchin's own crew, who were at the show, rushed to save him and put out the flames - but not before he had suffered burns to his head, face, neck and right hand.
The illusionist, who hosts Breaking Magic on the Discovery Channel, was rushed to hospital where he says he is "in pain" but recovering.
Houchin, wrote on Facebook after the incident: "I was not aware he was going to do this. This was a criminal act.


In his memoir," The Long Run,"  Mishka Shubaly chronicles his journey from "irreverent young drunk" to ultra-runner. The author sobered up by running five miles at a time, then 10, then 50.
It was Shubaly's editor who first suggested he write about his road to recovery.
"I told him point-blank, 'No one wants to hear me cry about how I messed up my own life,' " Shubaly said. "And I was totally wrong."
When "The Long Run" was published on Amazon's Kindle Singles list in 2011, it was No. 1, bumping Stephen King out of the top spot.
The book's popularity may have been a surprise to Shubaly, but experts know he's not alone in using exercise to overcome addiction. Groups have been popping up around the country to help people stay sober by staying active.


A wealthy American businessman posing as a "secret Santa" is giving away $100,000 in $100 bills to survivors of Superstorm Sandy.
The benefactor is from Kansas City, Missouri and insists on not being named or photographed.
On Thursday, he spent the day in New Jersey and New York thrusting crisp bills into the hands of stunned residents.
"It's about the random acts of kindness," he said.
"I'm just setting an example, and if 10% of the people who see me emulate what I'm doing, anybody can be a Secret Santa."
In Staten Island, his motorcade passed homes surrounded by debris before stopping at a disaster centre run by volunteers.

Answers:

1. b
2. a
3. a

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