F2F Class Notes 30th August (Celeste)[2]
Homework for next class:
- At home, review this article, find any new vocabulary you don’t understand or know. Prepare to talk about these in your next class.
- Prepare to tell a summary about this article in the next class.
Study shows there are two divorce seasons
Level 6
Couples might want to put a little extra effort into their marriage just before March and August every year. Sociologists have identified annual spikes in the number of divorces filed in these two months. Researchers from the University of Washington analysed data for divorces filed in the U.S. state of Washington between 2001 and 2015. There were almost 25,000 divorces filed in the state in 2014 alone. The scientists found that over the 14-year period of the study, divorce rates peaked in August, after the summer holidays, and in March, after the Christmas and New Year holidays. Some researchers said the divorces could be due to financial problems caused by the winter and summer holidays.
Researcher Julie Brines suggested that the anti-climax felt after the build-up to holidays, and the holidays themselves, may leave couples feeling stressed and deflated. She said: “People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past.” She added: “[Holidays] represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. It’s like an optimism cycle.” Couples generally spend more time in closer proximity to each other during holidays, which may actually exacerbate tensions rather than rekindle romance.
***Once Iren completes her summary of the article above, please use the article below for the next few classes.***
Ever wonder what Kindle, the name of the Amazon “e-book,” means and where it come from? Well, even if you didn’t, I’m going to tell you. The name was conceived by San Francisco designer Michael Cronan and according to his wife and partner Karen Hibma, this is how it was coined:
About three years ago, Cronan was asked by Lab126, an Amazon.com company, to name a consumer product line, which turned out to be the Kindle. Hibma says, “Michael came up with the name through our usual practice of exploring the depths of what the potential for the new product and product line could be and how the company wanted to present it. Jeff [Bezos, the CEO] wanted to talk about the future of reading, but in a small, not braggadocio way. We didn’t want it to be ‘techie’ or trite, and we wanted it to be memorable, and meaningful in many ways of expression, from ‘I love curling up with my Kindle to read a new book’ to ‘When I’m stuck in the airport or on line, I can Kindle my newspaper, favorite blogs or half a dozen books I’m reading.’”
Kindle means to set alight or start to burn, to arouse or be aroused, to make or become bright. The word’s roots are from the Old Norse word kyndill, meaning Candle. “I verified that it had deep roots in literature,” adds Hibma. “From Voltaire: ‘The instruction we find in books is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbours, kindle it at home, communicate it to others and it becomes the property of all.’” No other name could hold a candle to Kindle.
Cronan also named TIVO (and designed the logo) and currently has an exhibition of his paintings, “Sibyls and Prophets from the Sistine Chapel,” at Vintage Berkeley, 2113 Vine St., Berkeley, California, until January 17.
Valentine’s Day, February 14th
deflate / deflating /deflated ( dee – flay – tid ) / will deflate v. – to take air out / to make sth fall flat
conceive / conceiving / conceived / will conceive v. – to imagine, to think / to become pregnant
coined – to make or invent
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