International Students NZ

Today’s picture: Lake House, Takapuna, June 2009

Part 1: Today's word

If you are sceptical [skeptical in American English], it means that you are unwilling to believe something because you don’t find the evidence very convincing. It’s quite common that new ideas are greeted or treated with scepticism, which means that the community isn’t immediately convinced that they are true or valuable.

Click here for interactive exercises on academic vocabulary and writing.

Part 2: Test

Here are FOUR sentences with the word of the day. But only THREE are correct. Which is the Odd One Out?

I’m sceptical about the chances of the team gaining promotion this year.

These claims need to be treated with scepticism until more convincing evidence is put forward in their defence.

It was an innovative, sceptical theory which challenged accepted scientific understanding of the issue.

She remained sceptical about the effectiveness of military intervention in such circumstances.

Part 3: Practice Questions:

Do you feel sceptical about:

the reality of global warming?
the usefulness of prison?
the policy of rescuing banks?

Part 4: The Idiomatic Five

an eye-opener
an experience that teaches you a lot
My experience of living in Auckland was a real eye-opener for me after growing up in a village.

face to face
direct (communication) – not over the phone
I think we need to talk about this face to face.

make / pull a face
show your disapproval in a gesture
The kids pulled a face when I told them it was bedtime.

a figment of your imagination
a fantasy
I don’t believe anyone ever made threatening phone calls to him. If you ask me, it was all a figment of his imagination.

cut it fine / cut things fine
not allow much flexibility – risk being late
I think allowing 30 minutes to get to the airport is cutting it a bit fine. I’d allow an hour to be on the safe side.

Part 5: Kiwi Quiz Question

Yesterday, June 21st was the Winter Solstice in New Zealand. How many hours of daylight were there?

Part 6: Today's online listening:

This is a 10 minute talk about one of the world’s most interesting animals, the platypus, by the famous British biologist and TV presenter, David Attenborough. [The talk starts on 00.59!]

Vocabulary for the article:

gullible
duplication
conspicuous
anomaly
malfunction

webbed feet
a bill / a beak
a burrow
captivity
breed / bred
hatch

Questions for the article:

1) Why does David Attenborough start his talk with the topic of mermaids?

early explorers thought the platypus was a mermaid
to explain the scepticism of early scientists
both the mermaid and the platypus are very rare
both the mermaid and the platypus come from the Far East

2) Why was the platypus given another scientific name?

flat feet were not its most distinctive feature
the name had already been used
in order to make the name more appropriate
the first name hadn’t been correctly recorded

3) Why does David Attenborough compare the platypus’s bill to a metal detector?

it has a similar shape
it is equally accurate
it has a similar objective
both detect electromagnetism

4) Anatomically, the platypus seems to be a link between ...

birds and reptiles
reptiles and mammals
marsupials and mammals
mammals and ducks

5) David Attenborough became interested in the platypus thirty years ago as part of ...

A TV programme about evolution
a captive breeding programme
a scientific study of Australian mammals
an ecological project focusing on endangered wildlife

6) The film of the platypus hatching was incomplete because of ...

human error
a technical malfunction
an unexpected event
poor picture quality

7) His recent project succeeded in filming a platypus ..

hatching from an egg
in captivity
feeding its young
making a burrow

Click here to see a short film of the platypus and its cousin, the echidna (thanks to Monique for sending me this link)

Today’s musical suggestion: from the USA
What a fool believes performed by the Doobie Brothers
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