Comprehension: Ultra-Wired South Korea Battles Smartphone Addiction

South Korea's pride in its high-tech prowess is now tinged by anxiety over digital addiction, with even pre-school children showing symptoms of IT obsession.

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

1. About 30% of South Koreans DON’T have smartphones.
a. True
b. False

2. 10% of teenagers are smartphone addicts.
a. True
b. False

3. Seoul has a reputation for being the most wired city in the world.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

This is a boot camp with no sweat and no tears at least for the moment.  The session, run by a civic group in Seoul, aims to show there’s more to life than being online.  These children are internet and smartphone addicts.

"Smartphone addiction is not only talking about children playing a lot with their smartphones but causing conflicts in their families."
                  
 About 70 percent of South Koreans have smartphones; believed to be the highest penetration rate in the world.  It’s estimated that one in five teenagers is an addict.
                   
Park Sung-Hee, like many parents here, says she has problems communicating with her two children. 

"My kids play games on their smartphones until bedtime. Sometimes when I go check on them at night the smartphones are still running in the dark.”  

Her son spends four hours a day online and doesn’t see what the problem is. 

"When I’m not playing games my mom still yells at me for playing them. She doesn’t even allow me to go on the internet which makes me mad."
                    
Campaigners say some teenagers resort to violence and self-harm when their smartphones are confiscated.   The government’s now asking schools to extend their no-phone policy and organise holiday "boot camps" to try to wean students off their dependency.  But some warn against overstating the problem and demonising technology.
                                        
"I don't believe humanity will vanish because nobody in the future will be talking to anybody else because of IT devices."                    

South Korea is proud of its high-tech prowess and Seoul’s reputation as the most wired city on the planet.  But many are now asking whether the price they’re paying is too high.

Answers:
1. a
2. b
3. a

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Idioms: Light with answers

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

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Comprehension: Chinese Tourists Targeted by Paris Pickpockets

With pickpocketing and other petty crime on the increase in Paris, analysts say that Chinese tourists are being singled out for special attention. And with some half a million of them visiting the French capital every year, Paris authorities are taking the problem seriously. 

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

1. Over half a million Chinese Tourists visit Paris every year.
a. True
b. False

2. There were 6,000 incidents of pickpocketing in the first three months of 2013.
a. True
b. False

3. Paris earns 30 million euros from tourism every year.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

More than half a million of them visit Paris every year.  But Chinese tourists are increasingly being targeted by pickpockets and other petty criminals.  In March of this year alone, 23 of them were assaulted or robbed by people who see them as particularly vulnerable targets.

 "Pickpockets think that Chinese people have a lot of cash on them, that they're easy prey, and of course in harassment cases Chinese tourists can't defend themselves properly because they don't speak the language and they can't respond physically."

 And the crime figures continue to go up: more than 7500 incidents of pickpocketing in the first quarter of 2013, compared to fewer than 6000 over the same period last year.  City authorities say it's become a whole industry.

 "These are people with a great deal of delinquency in their past, who are generally extremely specialised they’re pickpockets, not opportunists. They are mostly foreign nationals, especially from central or eastern Europe."
                    
 To catch them, or dissuade them, police are now deploying some 200 officers every day to the main tourist sites.  The area around the Eiffel Tower is also patrolled by a dozen policemen on bicycles with more plain-clothes officers stationed on the tower itself.

 "The pickpockets come in here with the wallets, they throw them in the bin here or sometimes up in the false ceiling, they open this up and stash the wallets here."

Paris has also launched an information campaign to try and bring crime rates down.  Most tourists say they’re trying to be careful.

"Each day we usually have less than 100 euros, just like, it depends where we go as well, we just bring just enough for the whole day."
                   
 It's an issue city authorities will want to sort out fast.  With 30 million visitors annually, Paris earns around eight billion euros from tourism every year and they won’t want to see their pockets picked when the sums involved are that big.

Answers:
1. a
2. b
3. b

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Comprehension: Democratic Republic Of Congo Struggles to Control Minerals Trade

The Democratic Republic of Congo possesses vast quantities of minerals such as gold, diamonds and coltan, but the work of extracting them is hard and dangerous. The battle for control of the DRC's natural resources has been at the heart of the conflicts which have ravaged the country in recent years, with fraud and corruption meaning that the majority of mineral exports are beyond government control.

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

1. Cobalt is one of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s natural resource.

a. True

b. False

2. A third of the worlds known Coltan is found in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

a. True

b. False

3. Workers at the quarry in Rubaya earn twice as much as the average worker.

a. True

b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

Every day, thousands of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo enter narrow tunnels, like this one, to work in the mines. Rich in copper, cobalt, coltan, uranium, gold and diamonds, the country possesses an abundance of natural resources, but accessing them can be hazardous. 

"Two weeks ago we found out people had died here. I don't know how many, but it was around a dozen who died, it was following the collapse of the holes where we bring out the minerals." 

It's hard to confirm incidents such as that one, as the authorities are tight-lipped over any accidents. At this large quarry in Rubaya, in North Kivu, miners are digging for Coltan, a mineral used in the production of mobile phones and laptops. Two thirds of the world's known reserves are in the DRC. 

"We treat the minerals; we're treating them well in order that we can take them to the market. It's coltan that we dig for here, but it's mixed with manganese." 

Workers earn up to ten dollars a day, double the average, and at the market, coltan can sell for several hundred dollars per kilo. Critics sometimes call it a 'blood mineral', as for decades the Congolese army and various rebel groups have been fighting to control its trade. Currently, the majority of exports are not controlled by the state. In an effort to keep track of the country's raw materials, an official trading centre has recently been built, but it's yet to open. 

"We'll try to concentrate all the trade in minerals here, but the centre's closed. As a result, there'll be lots of fraud. The minerals are scattered here and there, and there's no way to control them." 

The situation is so murky that in April, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative suspended the Democratic Republic of Congo for a year. The government says it wants to clear up the minerals trade, but that will be an enormous task, in a country where these precious resources are both a blessing and a curse. 

Answers:

1. a

2. b

3. a

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Comprehension: Congress Student Loan Fight Could Leave Graduates with More Debt

Graduating from university is a time to celebrate, but millions of Americans are also leaving full-time education this summer owing massive amounts of money, and in sore need of a job. Meanwhile, if Congress fails to act in the coming weeks, interest rates for student loans from the government are set to rise even higher.

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

1. Greg Dubé has a debt of $15,000.
a. True
b. False

2. The price of houses has gone down.
a. True
b. False

3. Renea Gooch is over thirty years old.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

Greg Dubé graduated this summer with a degree in chemical engineering. It’s an education that hasn’t come cheap, leaving him $150,000 in debt. He thought it would be an investment that would put him ahead in the job market but so far, things haven’t quite worked out that way. 

“I figured I would have a job where I would start right after graduation - maybe have a week off or two weeks off.  You don't see it on my face but it's stressful. It's something that I deal with more in my own time and it's something that I consider almost every night just reminding myself ‘OK, I have this amount, I need to make sure I do something about it.’” 

Greg’s one of thousands of graduates who question the fairness of the US student loans system, where private lenders can charge steep rates. 

 “The housing market is down to three, four percent, but student loans where we have no income or no considerable income at least not yet, we’re still being charged more than double that.” 

The bad news for students is that government-backed loans could also see a price hike next month when the current funding model expires. Republicans and Democrats are trying to forge a compromise that would see interest rates linked more closely to market rates. But some activists say that while the proposals would save the government money, many borrowers would be charged more. 

“Because of the economics of the situation right now, we would be accepting - allowing - the Federal Government to make 36 to 50 billion dollars off the backs of students over the course of the next ten years.” 

Renea Gooch knows the long-term cost of debt better than most, graduating with a degree in molecular biology at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, she says that even now that she’s got a good job; her debt burden is weighing her down.

 “I’m in my mid 30s, and I still live with roommates.  I’m not really seeing anyone and if I were there’s no way I could possibly afford to get married at the moment. I can’t really think about having children either which is kind of scary considering my age.” 

With the Federal Bank of New York finding that 30 year-old graduates with loans are less likely to have a mortgage than those without student debt, the worry is that if America can’t find better ways to pay for higher education, the whole economy could lose out. 

Answers:
1. b
2. a
3. a

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Comprehension: Race the Butt of South African Comedy

South African comedy is taking on a new role, poking fun at sensitive race issues, along with politicians' political and bedroom antics. The stand-up comics are breaking taboos, helping heal a country with a turbulent past.
Watch the video and answer the questions below.  

Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. The jokes are about many issues in South Africa.
a. True
b. False

2. Comedians are very careful NOT to be racist.
a. True
b. False

3. The irreverent comedy appeals to different types of people in South Africa.
a. True
b. False

For transcript and answers see below.

Transcript and Answers:

For years race has been a touchy subject in South Africa. But now irreverent comedy is tackling the country's persistent racial divides, making audiences laugh about issues they don’t dare to discuss in public. And it's increasingly popular with audiences, whether they are black or white, rich or poor. 

"We go from a gold mine on one day where people only speak Zulu and Afrikaans and a little bit of English to a billionaire's birthday party that night to a nightclub in Soweto the next day." 

"You know why Oscar's crying - because white people don't think of jail until they're in court." 

In a country still trying to come to terms with the legacy of apartheid, humour has a key role to play. The jokes take on politicians, as well as the cultural differences between white and black, coloured and Indian. Comedians are openly racist with all racial groups the butt of their jokes. 

"Maybe because of our history it confronts a lot of things that a lot of countries in the world, even going as far to say as the UK, don't really deal with." 

The jokes make fun of the same topics that for years caused violent confrontation - race, politics and religion. And laughing at those subjects brings some light relief, helping to heal a country not yet twenty years into democracy. 

"I have fought against white domination I have fought against black domination and I am fighting against your domination. I thank you."

Answers:
1. a
2. b
3. a

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Phrasal Verbs with Answers: to go (part 2)

This week,'to go' is the verb used to make our phrasal verbs. Do you know what they mean?

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