Monday Morning English with Mai

Week

190

 
English Group Lessons

Travel News wire...


SampleZika virus expands across the Americas After several hundred infants were born in Brazil with microcephaly, (abnormally small heads), other Latin American countries have taken steps to limit infection and pregnancies among infected individuals. In El Salvador, the government is advising citizens to “avoid” having children for the next two years. But many of the populations in South and Central America have very limited access to family planning and reproductive health services.

microcephaly: 小頭症


Health and Tech News

SampleCan a car drive itself ? Tesla now has cars available in Japan with a self-driving "autopilot" function. The cars have sensors that can recognize street lanes and other cars in traffic, and can even read speed limit signs. The autopilot enables the car to stay in a lane on the highway, change lanes on command, maintain and increase speed according to surrounding traffic, and park by itself. Laws require the driver to stay in the driver's seat, and to touch the wheel periodically to confirm that the driver is still in control.
The system can differentiate between large objects and small objects in the road, such as a deer vs. a plastic bag. But it does not detect traffic lights….yet.

automatic lane change: 自動車線変更
differentiate between (A) and (B): 見分ける

This week's Natural Phrase

run out of (time)

SampleDonna: We’ve gone to two restaurants already, but they don’t have the organic lunch salads that I love.

Zack: It's already 12:45 and we're running out of time for our lunch break. Just order a simple sandwich so we can eat quickly and get back to work.

Explanation: To "run out of (time)" means that the available time will soon become zero. We can also say "We’re running out of money" or "We ran out of food on our camping trip" etc.

run out of (X) (verb): 種切れになる

 

This week's Medical Phrase

sponge bath

SamplePatient: Will I be able to take a bath after the operation, with the stitches still in my abdomen?

Doctor Rivera: The water might cause an infection on your skin, so I’m afraid that you’ll have to take a sponge bath for the next few days.

Explanation: A “sponge bath” means that a patient washes with only a small amount of water and a towel or sponge. It is common in hospitals when the patient has had surgery or is otherwise unable to stand up to go to the shower.

sponge bath (noun): 清拭
stitches (noun): 縫合

 

This week's Business/Email phrase

latest version

SampleHello Jenna:

We need to make sure that our customers know about the latest version of our photocopier. We need to advertise the two main advantages: the increased speed and the reduced energy costs.

Explanation: When a new version of a system is developed, we often call it the “latest version” or the “latest model.”

latest version: 最新版

 

 

 

 

HOME