VIP Class Notes (Raph)[S][R]

Vocabulary

Undecided (adj): 1- If you are undecided, you have not yet made a decision or judgment about something.
E.g.: Are you still undecided about the new job?
E.g.: 54 percent of voters were in favor, 30 percent against, and the rest were undecided.

Consecutive (adj): 1- Consecutive events, numbers, etc. follow one after another without an interruption:
E.g.: This is the fifth consecutive weekend that I’ve spent working.
E.g.: Unemployment has risen again for the third consecutive month.

Ratio (n): 1- the relationship between two groups or amounts that expresses how much bigger one is than the other:
E.g.: The ratio of men to women at the conference was ten to one/10:1.
E.g.: The school is trying to improve its pupil-teacher ratio (= the number of teachers compared with the number of students).

Dwindle (v): 1- to become smaller in size or amount, or fewer in number.
E.g.: The community has dwindled to a tenth of its former size in the last two years.
E.g.: Her hopes of success in the race dwindled last night as the weather became worse.

Diminish (v): 1- to reduce or be reduced in size or importance:
E.g.: I don’t want to diminish her achievements, but she did have a lot of help.
E.g.: These memories will not be diminished by time.
E.g.: What he did has seriously diminished him in many people’s eyes.
E.g.: We’ve seen our house diminish greatly/sharply/substantially in value over the last six months.

Speaking exercise

Original:

Every year we have the summer family vacation after my daughter’s exam. Every time we have big discussion for where we should go. The most interesting things is everyone has their own favorite place. At last, we have to vote on it. This year we plan to do this early than last year. My daughter prefer Korea, my husband would like to go to Japan. Then I try to guide them to one place, but it is difficult. Finally, I have an idea: if this guy pay for that, we will go his place. So my daughter and my husband gave me the right to make decision. Okay, Japan! I heard from my boss and my friends it’s the beautiful place, and all people there are very polite. The food is good, and the scenery is beautiful. It’s not far from China – normally it takes us two hours to go there. Then, let’s go there!

Edited:

Every year my family and I go on a summer vacation after my daughter’s school exams. Every time we have a big discussion about where we should go. The most interesting thing is that everyone has their own ideas, so in the end we have to vote on it. This year we are trying to plan everything in advance. My daughter prefers Korea, while my husband would like to go to Japan, so I‘ve been trying to help them make a decision, but it is difficult. Then, I had an idea: if my husband pays for everything, we will go wherever he wants. Finally, my daughter and my husband gave me the right to make a decision and I decided we should go to Japan. I heard from my boss and my friends it is a beautiful place, and all people there are very polite. Also, the food is good, and it is not far from China – normally it takes two hours to go there. I’m excited!

Reading

Number of Japanese children at record low
(Source: www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1805/180508-japanese-children.html)

The number of children in Japan has fallen to its lowest number since records began. There were 170,000 fewer children in Japan at the end of March 2018 than there were a year earlier. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued a report on Friday showing the falling numbers of children. According to the statistics, the number of children aged 14 or under dropped for the 37th consecutive year. There was another record fall in the ratio of children to the overall Japanese population. This dropped to a new record low of 12.3 per cent and was the 44th year of decline in a row. This ratio is the lowest among countries in the world with a population of 40 million or more.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to address the country’s dwindling birth rate. He has introduced several measures to encourage lower-income families to have bigger families. However, these measures seem to be having little success. This is coupled with the fact that fewer Japanese people are getting married, which demographers say is a “ticking time-bomb” for Japan. The number of annual births in 2016 fell below one million for the first time since the government began collecting data in 1899. Japanese demographers predict that by 2050, Japan will have 23 per cent fewer citizens. This means a rapidly aging society and a greatly diminishing workforce.

Pronunciation

Perfect (adj): /ˈpɝː.fekt/

Perfect (v): /ˈpɝː.fekt/

Record (n/adj): /ˈrek.ɚd/

Record (v): /rɪˈkɔːrd/

Polite: /pəˈlaɪt/

Prefer: /prɪˈfɝː/

Preference: /ˈpref.ər.əns/

Statistics: /stəˈtɪs·tɪks/

Ratio: /ˈreɪ.ʃi.oʊ/

Decline: /dɪˈklaɪn/

Dwindle: /ˈdwɪn.dəl/

Amazon: /ˈæm.ə.zɑːn/