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

Vocabulary

Smash (v): 1- to cause something to break noisily into a lot of small pieces.
E.g.: She dropped her cup and watched it smash to pieces on the stone floor.
E.g.: The vase rolled off the edge of the table and smashed.
E.g.: The glass smashed into little bits.
E.g.: Someone smashed his windows.

Photoshoot (n): 1- an occasion when a photographer takes a series of photographs, usually of the same person or people in the same place.
E.g.: The models arrived on time for the photoshoot.
E.g.: The brand wanted to do an outdoor photoshoot, but it was raining.

Freshwater (n): 1- water that is not salty.
E.g.: Their diet consist mostly of vegetables and freshwater fish.
E.g.: There’s a freshwater lake right next to the beach.

Shift (n/v): 1- a change in position or direction. 2- to (cause something or someone to) move or change from one position or direction to another, especially slightly. 3- (of an idea, opinion, etc.) to change:
E.g.: The last few years have seen a shift in opinion on the issue.
E.g.: She shifted (her weight) uneasily from one foot to the other.
E.g.: Society’s attitudes towards women have shifted a lot over the last century.

Distribution (n): 1- the process of giving things out to several people, or spreading or supplying something. 2- the way in which people or things are spread out in a place:
E.g.: The Channel Tunnel improved the distribution of goods between the British islands and mainland Europe.
E.g.: This is a map showing the distribution of global population.

Equatorial (adj): 1- near the equator (赤道), or typical of places near the equator.
E.g.: The equatorial climate of the Amazonian rain forests is hot and wet.

Drastic (adj): 1- (especially of actions) severe and sudden or having very noticeable effects:
E.g.: They had to take drastic measures to improve sales.
E.g.: Many employees have had to take drastic cuts in pay.

Alter (v): 1- to change something, usually slightly, or to cause the characteristics of something to change:
E.g.: We’ve had to alter some of our plans.
E.g.: Although the cost of making phone calls is going up, the charge for connecting to the internet will not alter.
E.g.: Selling our car has drastically altered our lifestyle.

Stand for (phr v): 1- to represent something.
E.g.: She explained that DIN stands for “do it now.”
E.g.: Uncle Sam stands for the US.

Original:

Recently I join a badminton club named Smash Badminton. In this club almost of the members are foreigners. We play badminton together every weekend. Last Saturday I played with a man who was really good badminton. He’s Germany, Polish, he has two nationality. He’s very humor, and he played double men with my husband. We maked friends quickly and we said that we’ll have dinner next Tuesday with his wife. And now beside of badminton, I have a lot of work recently. I have a job of stylist for the brand UR. It’s a big brand based in Guangzhou. I do the stylist for his winter autumn collection 2018, so this week I need to move to Zhoushan to take photos.

Edited:

Recently I joined a badminton club named Smash Badminton. In this club almost all the members are foreigners, and we play badminton together every weekend. Last Saturday I played with a man who was really good at badminton / good at it / a really good player. He has two nationalities, German, and Polish, and  he’s very humorous / funny. He played men’s doubles with my husband and we made friends quickly. We are planning to have dinner next Tuesday with his wife.

Besides badminton, recently I‘ve been having a lot of work. I am doing a job for UR, a big brand based in Guangzhou. I’ll do the styling for their autumn-winter collection, 2018, so this week I need to go to Zhoushan to take photos / for the photoshoot.

Humans causing big shifts in freshwater locations
(Source: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1805/180520-freshwater-4.html)

Humans are shifting freshwater resources across Earth. This will continue as people move and eat more. Many equatorial regions are drying, while tropical areas are getting wetter. If this continues, many cities could struggle to find enough water in the future. NASA spent 14 years studying freshwater resources. It was part of a mission called GRACE, which stands for Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment.

Jay Famiglietti, a co-author of the research, said: “The study shows that humans have really drastically altered the global water landscape in a very profound way.” He warned that: “We see it as a driver of climate change.” Professor Famiglietti said that over 40 per cent of the hot areas looked at in the research were drier than twenty years ago. He said this was because of human activity. One reason was too much pumping of groundwater for farming.

Pronunciation

Twenty: /ˈtwen.t̬i/

Shoe: /ʃuː/

Smash: /smæʃ/

Nationality: /ˌnæʃ.ənˈæl.ə.t̬i/

Polish: /ˈpɑː.lɪʃ/

Humorous: /ˈhjuː.mə.rəs/

Equator: /ɪˈkweɪ.t̬ɚ/

Equatorial: /ˌek.wəˈtɔːr.i.əl/