VIP Class Notes (Raph)[R]

Vocabulary

Integrity (n): 1- the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change.
E.g.: No one doubted that the president was a man of the highest integrity.

Artistic / professional, etc. integrity: 1- ​someone’s high artistic standards or standards of doing their job, and that person’s determination not to lower those standards.
E.g.: Keen to preserve his artistic integrity, he refused several lucrative Hollywood offers.

Astounding (adj): 1- very surprising or shocking.
E.g.: an astounding fact/decision/revelation
The election results were an astounding (= very great) victory to the party.

Circuit (n): 1- a regular pattern of visits or the places visited. 2- a closed system of wires or pipes through which electricity or liquid can flow.
E.g.: They first met each other on the tennis circuit (= while at different tennis competitions).
E.g.: He was a familiar figure on the lecture circuit.
E.g.: A defect was found in the water-cooling/electrical circuit.

Australian Man Awakes from Coma Speaking Fluent Mandarin
(Source: www.people.com/celebrity/australian-man-can-speak-fluent-mandarin-after-waking-from-coma/)

Ben McMahon of Melbourne, Australia, can’t remember the serious car accident that left him in a coma for over a week, but what he recalled upon waking up is truly astounding.

McMahon awoke from his coma with the ability to speak near-perfect Mandarin, reports IJ Review. His parents were overjoyed to hear that their son was going to be okay, but they were equally shocked by his new language skills. McMahon had taken Mandarin in high school, but admits he was never close to mastering the Chinese dialect.

For the first few days after waking up, McMahon could only speak and write Mandarin. It took several days for him to regain his comprehension of English. Even after McMahon started speaking English again, his new knowledge of Mandarin remained.

Today, McMahon is putting his surprising new skill to use. He is currently living and studying in Shanghai, and he has also spent time leading Mandarin tours of Melbourne and hosting a Chinese television show. The Chinese-speaking friends McMahon has made along the way say the Australian is the best non-native speaker they’ve met.

McMahon’s surgeon is unable to fully explain the sudden burst of knowledge, but describes his patient’s skills as new circuits at work. Simply put, McMahon’s English circuits were damaged during the accident, so his Mandarin circuits got engaged” in a new way to compensate.

However doctors want to explain it, McMahon is just happy to be alive and fluently speaking two very different languages.

Pronunciation

Artistic: /ɑːrˈtɪs.tɪk/

Integrity: /ɪnˈteɡ.rə.t̬i/

Adjective: /ˈædʒ.ek.tɪv/

Lucrative: /ˈluː.krə.t̬ɪv/

Accident: ˈæk.sə.dənt/

Astounding: /əˈstaʊn.dɪŋ/

Calendar: /ˈkæl.ən.dɚ/