Why Food Allergies are on the Rise

"Food allergies have risen to an absolutely crazy extent", according to Grahan Rook, emeritus professor of medical microbiology at University College London, and hospital admissions figures in the US, Australia and Europe, are part of the data that prove that strong statement. This BBC Future article discusses two hypotheses -the hygiene hypothesis and the dual-allergen exposure theory- that try to explain this sharp increase in food allergies around the world, and the environmental factors that affect the response of our immune system to certain products. The length, technicality and textual complexity of this article, make it suitable for C2 students.

The more interesting new words you will come across in this article are: on the rise, risky, a minor reaction, itching, swelling, a mild, severe [reaction], anaphylaxis, a state of shock, wheezing, dizziness, vomiting, pulse, blood preasure, to drop, airways, hospital admissions, [increased] threefold, to see [a 72%] rise in [the number of hospital admissions], to be aware of [food allergies], to pinpoint, self-reported data, food intolerance, prevalence, the "gold-standard" test for [a food allergy], to involve [feeding], a [clinical] setting, time-consuming, costly, to come [with risks], peer-reviewed sources, the rate, the range [of foods], to widen, to go by the name of ["the hygiene hypothesis], to give a wide berth, appalling, siblings, hay fever, eczema, declining [family size] household amenities, cleanliness, the gut, [to increase] the likelihood of [meeting] the microbiota, [born by] caesarian section, the birth canal, [an allergic] disorder, to lower the risk, to develop an allergy, to coin [a phrase], biocide-treated timber, plasterboard, to bear [no relation to], a failure, dual-allergen exposure, a detour [into], to end up with [guidance], dust, to trigger [a response], an infant, early-onset [eczema], to handle, a window of opportunity, an EpiPen, to caution [women] against [eating peanuts], pregnancy, a conclusive link, to change tack, barely, vulnerable to [food allergies], to deprive ourselves [of Vitamin D], a Goldilocks [scenario], amid [a rise in food allergy cases], to yield, promising [results].

Display Copy: Old Clothes are the Newest Thing in Fashion

Display Copy is a new fashion magazine that just features vintage and thrifted items from second hand and charity shops like eBay, Etsy or the Salvation Army, but pictured by top-notch models and photographers. "The idea was to make used clothes desirable", says Brian Hemingway, editor of the magazine.  The New York Times reports that "upcycling" is gaining momentum in the fashion industry, and well-established brand names like Miu-Miu, Levi's, Maison Margiela, Patagonia, Gucci, Stella McCartney or Burberry have launched collections of recycled clothes and have set up second life stores.  This article is suitable for C1 students.

You will come across words like: disposablility, chic, a host of big brands, joy, upcycling, the cover [of a magazine], to feature, to debut, newsstands, a plus-size model, inclusivity, glossy shoots, vintage, secondhand, thrifted, pre-loved, for resale, a stream of [mostly] on-line shoppable [content], collectible, sustainable, [upcycled] apparel, 18-karat gold, to scour flea markets [for inspiration], to embrace, to tweak, to refashion, to jazz up, to unveil, a buyback [program], denim, to follow the footsteps, garments, charity shops, to deconstruct, to rework, to double down on [the idea], to come in the wake of, pioneer, attire, partnership, second life store, samples and pieces, to gather [dust], closet, to sell off, embellishment, tags, one-off, quasi-couture, to plot, to reissue, a cape, premier, to put the spotlight on, conventional wisdom, to addle [their senses], to risk [losing their attention], [wallet] share, to turn out, short term, to reek of [insecurity], to rely on [freneticism], white noise, to boost sales, a glut [of stuff], the value proposition, to hang on to [a garment], to be done with [something], to grapple with [the impact of..., the problem], [systems] weren't in place, housedress, leftover fabric, pandemic, lockdown, mills, deadstock, to prompt [Farfetched to expand], on-site [credit], the landfill [problem], to bolster, the [much] heralded [growth], to hit [$ 6 billion], to turn away from, to price out of [something], accessories, to co-opt, to gross out, to move on, to open a new realm [of possibility].

If you want to read on, you can try this Refinery29 article about Fall 2020 fashion trends, which includes streams of technical jargon to describe the garments in detail as well as pictures. The vocabulary of this report is suitable for C2 students.

Indian Matchmaking Causes a Stir in India

Indian Matchmaking is a Netflix TV show that has become a huge hit in India, but it has also stirred a heated debate about arranged marriages and the role of women in modern relationships.  Some people love the show, and they think it is "realistic and honest", while others find it  regressive and even "cringe-worthy".

Here you can read a BBC News article on the story, and below you will find the video report version of the story with Punjabi subtitles (4':30"), where you can listen to Indian an American accents, and three more YouTube video links. This story is recommended for C1 students.  

In the BBC News article, you will come across words like: cringe-worthy (informal), a [huge] hit,a  matchmaker, a [huge] buzz (informal), docuseries, to jet-set, bride, groom, a meme, to hate-watch (informal), in-your-face misogyny, casteism, colourism, [to cause] outrage, posh [hotels], closet, at stake, to leaf through [a database], to pull out, a [good] fit, to trawl through, a hunt, to come as a surprise, affluent, to rely on, a shopping list, an outsider, [an] alien [world], dating, [to suggest] condescendingly, insightful, hilarious, unaware, a [regressive] mindset, a caveat (formal), an astrologer, a face reader, auspicious, stubborn, to compromise, to adjust, to call out, picky [clients], to gloss over, to scar [women permanently], chattel, painful [memories], [bride viewing] demeaning, to put on display, to be sized up, to reveal, prejudice, a freaking [reality show], woke [people] (US informal).

If you want to find out more about Indian Matchmaking, here there is a short clip with the best moments of the show (2':46").

Here, you can find a link to one episode of Indian Matchmaking (40':21"). 

And, finally, here you can watch a Netflix programme where the creator of the show, Smriti Mundhra, and Sima Taparia, the Mumbai matchmaker, discuss "colourism, caste, religious prejudice and gender inequality in Indian society and on-screen".

Louise Glück: "Landscape" and Other Poems

Louise Glück died on October 13th, 2023. This entry was published in 2020, when she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, now it has become a tribute to her memory and to her poetry.

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Poet Louise Glück has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Poetry must be read out loud to appreciate its sound and its music, the unique sound and music of a language, in this case English, which cannot be faithfully translated into any other language.

Below you can watch a YouTube video of Louise Glück reading out loud several of her poems at a Lannan literary event.  After an introduction by Peter Streckfus, the poet reads "Mock Orange" (10:17), then two poems from her book "The Wild Iris" (10:29).  Next, two more poems from "Averno" (14:03): "Telescope" (14:27) and "Landscape", which is introduced at 15:50 and recited at 17:26.  Then, Ms Glück goes on to read two poems from "A Village Life" (29:24), and. finally, the poetic rendition ends with two texts form "Faithful & Virtous Night" (43:11).

You can read the words of "Landscape" while you listen to the poem on this link from "The Threepenny Review", you should listen to the poem several times before you can glimpse some kind of meaning.  Nevertheless, poetry is more than a factual message, poetry is the sound of words, poetry is tempo, so, you can enjoy, straightaway, the rhythmical patterns of English, the articulation of consonants, the quality and length of the vowels that the poet recites, slowly and carefully -which we tend to turn a deaf ear to, when we are engaged in our everyday communication exchanges- and that auditive perception is worthwhile in itself, even more so, if you are a mystified learner of a foreign language. After listening to the poet, you can try to recite the poem yourself, paying mindful attention to the pronunciation of phonemes, words and sentences -a pronunciation class in quest for poetic beauty! This poem is accessible to C1 students for the lexis is rather easy: [the sun] sets, bare, chestnut, quilt, damp, to trail, to rush, to strain the leash, path, sunset, precipice, to call out, faintly, twilight, to untie [his horse], to stir, to float, propitious [time], demure inviting [sounds], to vanish, to bleach, [an image] to fade, to set fire to [a field], wheat, tinder, for [the farmer's] sake, char, [a field] parched, failure, abiding, a memento, soil, a slot, complacent, harsh, obsolete, shallow, to soothe, the earth, to defeat, accurate, shelter, thickly, steadily, [sure] footing, a premonition.

If you want to read an introduction to the poetry of Louise Glück, you can follow this link to "The Poetry Foundation", where you will find an article with a dense collection of review extracts which is recommended for Experts, above C2 level.  Here you will find a lot of information about the recent Nobel Prize winner and about her poems.

One article that may strike you in "The Poetry Foundation" is this interview to Boston-based composer Harriett Staff, who has set the text of "Averno" to music. She describes the process of turning text into music in these terms: "To be set as music easily, the text needs to be concise. There has to be some sense of rhythm - even a single phrase that has a strong sense of long and short beats. And then the vowels need to be longer and the consonants leaning towards softer sounds, 'l', 'm', 'n', with fewer hard consonants. I don't think too much about meaning at the beginning. When I find a poem that seems to feel as if it could be music, I look for a single line that speaks to me musically, I memorise it, and I start saying it with various emphases and melodic lines. When something begins to emerge that sounds natural and musical, I write it down. Usually it is both melodic and rhythmic." This interview is suitable for C1 students.

Election Polls: the Swing States That Will Decide the Next President

On Tuesday November 3rd 2020, Americans will vote for the next President of the USA, but the battle between the two candidates, President Trump and Vice-President Biden is fought particularly fiercely in the "swing" states, where there race is very close. The reason is that the Presidential election is an indirect election: voters choose an Electoral College first, and then, the elected members of that Electoral College vote for the President, so the popular vote does not always decide the President, but the number of "electoral votes" -a minimum of 270-  that each candidate has won in each of the 50 states of the Union -the winner in each state carries all the votes from that constituency. Some states are clearly Republican, so they are called "red states", basically, the Mid-West and the South, other states usually vote for the Democrats, they are called "blue states", mainly on the West Coast and in New England, but there are "purple states", which "swing" or change sides in sucessive elections, like Florida (29 electoral votes), Ohio (18 votes), Iowa (6 votes), and, in the last two elections, Pennsylvania (20 votes), and they become the real battleground for Presidential elections. 

This article from the Los Angeles Times reports on the latest polls in the "battleground states" of the 2020 Presidential election. The vocabulary is rather technical, so, the reading is recommended for C1 students and above.  You will come across words like: polls, battleground states, a tight [race], former, to butt [heads], to bar, blue states, red states, a high-profile [event], too-close-to-call [states], a flurry [of polls], backdrop, to trail, worrisome, key states, the industrial belt, an aberration, a realignment, [non-college-educated] working-class [white] voters, [Republican]-leaning [Ohio], on a knife's edge, a dead heat, [his] edge, coveted [Pennsylvania], a lead, likely [voters], survey, a split, to beat, to trend for [Trump], [to remain] close, a snapshot, pollsters, to flip [for Biden].

If you want to follow election polls, The Guardian Polls Tracker collects reliable national and state polls results in 8 swing states and gives you the average in the last 14 days, or you may check the Politico US Election Forcast, with charts, the latest news and a map of the "solid", "likely" and the "lean" states, together with the "toss-up" states, which are the most undecided.

The Teenage Inventor Who Wants to Help his Great Aunt

Freddie is a 14-year-old inventor who has developed two machines to help his 89-year-old great aunt, Pat, who has demetia. In this short BBC World Service video (4':46") you will hear him explaining his inventions.  The video can be seen with automatic subtitles, so it is accessible to B2 students and above.

Some of the new words you will find in the video are: an award-winning inventor, a facial recognition door entry system, random strangers, to scan my ID tag for authentification, a code club, a wearable sensor, to dispatch [a robot], to rope in [his family], to trigger [a false positive], thoroughly, to be over, for a second year running, to set him up, a former [winner], to showcase [your skills].