Listening Practice - Fighting HIV AIDS

New guidelines for fighting HIV

Summary: Ahead of tomorrow's World Aids Day, the World Health Organisation has issued new guidelines for HIV treatment which would significantly increase the number of patients receiving anti-retroviral drugs.

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At the moment, four million people around the world receive anti-retroviral drugs. There's another five million who need them but don't get them.

The WHO recommendations on when to start treatment for HIV would mean an extra three to five million people would be added to that waiting list. The WHO wants people who have HIV to start drugs before their immune systems get so weak they start displaying symptoms. A study recently published in the medical journal The Lancet showed starting treatment at the newly recommended level could increase survival by nearly 70%.

It would also add significantly to the cost on health care systems. In South Africa, which has one of the biggest HIV burdens in the world, currently fewer than half of the people who should be receiving HIV drugs get them.

Poor health infrastructure is a common problem for nearly all developing countries. Putting HIV-positive people on drugs earlier would significantly reduce the cost to health systems of treating opportunistic infections - illnesses which take hold while the immune system is weak. It would also greatly improve life expectancy of HIV patients, with repercussions for families and the workforce.

The WHO is still working out how much it would cost countries to improve their treatment regimes, but it won't be cheap.

Madeleine Morris, BBC News

FURTHER READING (click here):

The World Health Organization changes HIV 'drug advice'

HIV and AIDS

Listening Practice - Family Planning in South Korea

South Korean family planning

Summary: South Korean government workers are being told to 'go home and multiply'. Tonight the Ministry of Health, concerned about the country's falling birth rate, will force staff to leave the office early and return to their loved ones.

DOWNLOAD AUDIO FILE HERE.

[LISTEN TO THE AUDIO FILE BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT]



Forget that still unwritten report or the backlog of paperwork building up on the desk, on this cold and rainy mid-week night there can be no excuses to stay late in the office. South Korea's Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs will be turning off all the lights at 7pm in a bid to force staff to go home to their families and, well, make bigger ones. It will repeat the experiment once a month.

The country now has one of the world's lowest birth rates, lower even than neighbouring Japan, and boosting the number of newborn children is a priority for this government, staring into the abyss of a rapidly ageing society, falling levels of manpower and spiralling health care costs.

The Ministry of Health, now sometimes jokingly referred to as the 'Ministry of Matchmaking', is in charge of spearheading that drive and it clearly believes its staff should lead by example. Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials who have more than one child and the department organises social gatherings in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats. But critics say what is really needed is wide-scale reform to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare and education that puts many young people off from starting a family.

John Sudworth, BBC News, Seoul

FURTHER READING (click here): South Koreans told to go home and make babies

Vocabulary Quiz

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Vocabulary Quiz: "Cut"

Decide if the definitions given for the idioms and other expressions using the word "CUT" are true or false. We will check your answers in class when we meet next week!

1. Someone or something that is a cut above other people or things is much better than those people or things.

2. If you are having a conversation with someone and you cut them short, you stop talking so that they can say something.

3. If you are cut up about something (for example, you are cut up about the way you are treated by someone), you are very happy and surprised.

4. If somebody cuts you dead, they shout at you because they are very angry.

5. A new employee in your company doesn't cut the mustard. In other words, he / she is not good enough.

6. Something in a shop that is described as cut-price is more expensive than it should be.

7. If your friend has a plan, and you cut the ground out from under his feet, you offer to support him, usually by lending him money.

8. A business that is described as cutthroat is a one that has a disadvantage because it is smaller than other businesses making the same product or offering the same service.

9. When someone cuts loose (for example, they cut loose from their family), they stop being influenced or controlled by them.

10. If you cut off your nose to spite your face, you work so hard and for so long that you become ill.

11. You have a train to catch and you are cutting it fine. This means that you have arrived at the station very early and have plenty of time before the train leaves.

12. If something is described as cut and dried (for example, "The issue of pay rises is cut and dried."), it is being talked about very carefully.

13. If something is described as cutting-edge (for example, cutting edge technology), it is very dangerous.

14. If you say to someone "Cut it out!", you are telling them to stop doing something that you do not like.

15. If, in a meeting, you cut to the chase, you waste time by talking about small, unimportant issues rather than issues which are more urgent.

16. A cutting remark is a remark that is cruel and intended to upset someone.

17. If you are in a difficult or unpleasant situation and you decide to cut and run, you pretend that the situation is not so difficult or unpleasant and continue behaving as normal.

18. If somebody tells you something important or impressive, and you say "That doesn't cut any ice with me", you are telling them that you have had the same experience yourself.

19. If you are doing a job and you cut corners, you do not do the job as thoroughly as you should, especially because you want to finish it as quickly as possible.

20. If you cut somebody down to size, you talk kindly to them and help them because they are very upset.

21. If somebody says something to you that cuts you to the quick, they offer you a suggestion or an idea which would help you a lot.

22. Somebody cuts a dash in the new clothes they are wearing. In other words, the clothes make them look stupid.

23. If you cut something short (for example, you cut a visit short), you arrive early.

24. If something cuts both ways, it has both good and bad aspects.

25. You and your friend own a car together, and your friend wants to sell it. You tell him that you want your cut. This means that you want to decide whether or not the car is sold.

Tricky Words: LOOK, SEE, WATCH

Some people have trouble using the words SEE, LOOK and WATCH correctly.



Try these. Can you fill the gaps with the word SEE, LOOK or WATCH (or some other form of them)? Sometimes more than one answer is possible.


1) You can't ____ far in this heavy rain.

2) Anton and Jack ____ good tonight.

3) Did you ____ Empat Mata last night?

4) ____ out for pickpockets!

5) Can you ____ the blue car on the left?

6) ____ you tomorrow after work, ok?

7) It ____ like rain, doesn't it?

8) Oh yes, I ____ what you mean.

9) What's wrong? You ____ really unhappy.

10) I'm afraid Linda has to ____ the doctor.


Some of these are a little tricky, don't you think?

Give us your answers to the 10 questions above in the COMMENTS below.

See if this guideline helps:

look -to pay attention, to try to see what is there (if look is followed by an object, you must use a preposition which is usually 'at'); to seem or appear - examples: Look at the board, please; this assignment looks unfinished; Have you looked in the drawer?

see - to notice people and things with your eyes; visual impression; to understand; to visit - examples: Can you see the the blue car over there?; I see what you mean; It was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

watch - to look at something for a period of time, usually something which moves or changes - examples: He watches TV in the evenings; Adrian has been watching his weight recently; watch what happens when I turn the volume control all the way up!

'Look', 'see' and 'watch' are very similar. They are all ways of using our eyes. However, there are two very important differences. It depends on how you intend to look or watch and how intense the looking is.

When we say 'see' we are normally talking about things we can't avoid – so for example, "I opened the curtains and saw some birds outside." - I didn't intend to see them, it just happened.

However, when we use the verb 'look', we're talking about seeing something with an intention. So, "this morning I looked at the newspaper" – I intended to see the newspaper.

When we watch something, we intend to look at it but we're also looking at it quite intensely, usually because it's moving. So, for example, "I watched the bus go through the traffic lights." "I watched the movie." We want to see it, we're looking at it intensely and it's normally moving.

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Vocabulary Building

VOCABULARY BUILDING

Change the 'neutral' verbs and expressions in bold in sentences 1 – 15 to more 'formal' words using the verbs / expressions in the box. Each sentence requires only one word or expression. In most cases, you will need to change the form of the verb.

• address • adjourn • adjust • administer
• admonish • analyse • annul • appeal to
• appoint • assess at • assign • audit • avert
• await • award

1. We need to examine in detail the market potential of these new products.
2. The value of the business was calculated to be £5 million.
3. The management increased their offer in the hope of stopping the strike happening.
4. It will be the HR manager's job to organise the induction programme.
5. He was given the job of checking the sales figures.
6. The contract was cancelled by the court.
7. Our accountants have been asked to examine the accounts for the last quarter.
8. When he was dismissed, he asked his union for support.
9. The chairman spoke to the sales team.
10. At the meeting it was decided to give middle management a salary increase.
11. Following a breach of safety procedures, the workers were told off by their manager.
12. We are waiting for the decision of the planning department.
13. Prices will be changed according to the current rate of inflation.
14. The chairman stopped the meeting until 3 o'clock.
15. We have chosen a new distribution manager.