May take C1Advanced test until 2025

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exclamation

2024-04-21 22:29:01 | Learning materials
This is a great finding. Very useful. But not for the test.

Dictionary of Interjections
https://www.vidarholen.net/contents/interjections/
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daydream

2024-04-21 20:16:26 | Nonsense
It's a shame that I have to interrupt my blog due to unavoidable circumstances. I'd just resumed it recently and it was much earlier than I expected to have a break.
I hope I will be back within a month.

I always procrastinate when I face with something problematic and being in extremely busy.
Actually, whenever I update the blog, I have important things to do.

Now I take a break to update the blog. I don't have time to read news articles today, so I indulge myself fantasising the absurd to escape from the trouble.
My regular daydream is my Desert Island Discs. Eight audio recordings. It's difficult to choose only eight.

Track one
Maurizio Pollini - Chopin Etude Op. 10 No. 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIQuZwnBAa4
He was a prodigy.

Track two
Yellow Magic Orchestra - Solid State Survivor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLF1BNcfIU
I realised this was a masterpiece when Gideon Coe aired.

Track three
Pink Floyd - See Emily Play
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fYYhZ4v_90
I love Syd Barrett era, not later one.

Track four
Kraftwerk - Das Model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQIYEPe6DWY
I prefer German version.

Track five
Blur - This Is A Low
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G6BpJziFVk
I love 90's. I love Britpop.

Track six
Claudio Abbado - Mahler Symphony No. 9 4th movement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY301g42vO8
I love any Mahler, but I prefer 9 and Abbado's.

Track seven
David Bowie – Space Oddity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYRH4apXDo
Just brilliant, needless to say.

Track eight
Genesis - Supper's Ready
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVyfj7-mHqs
Never bored. But only recordings Gabriel singing and playing flute.

Aww. British and Europeans...no Americans...but Japanese
I want to add links to the URL but I often cannot paste more than one links in goo blog.

I have to go back to work. I will stay up tonight, again.
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toe the line

2024-04-20 12:53:16 | Vocab - local
This is very Orwellian. We are just guinea pigs. I feel I'm just lucky to be alive.

Infected blood scandal: Children were used as 'guinea pigs' in clinical trials
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-68831061

medical words
haemophilia - haemophilia centres - United Kingdom Haemophilia Centre Doctors' Organisation UKHCDO
Hep C - hepatitis C - the potentially lethal viral infection hepatitis C
plasma [Collins]Plasma is the clear liquid part of blood which contains the blood cells.
cirrhosis - pronunciation
heat-treated Factor VIII / heat treatment
prophylaxis - This was preventative treatment, know as prophylaxis
von Willebrand's disease

administer [Collins]If a doctor or a nurse administers a drug, they give it to a patient.
contracted [Collins]If you contract a serious illness, you become ill with it.

words
problematic
cohort [Collins]A cohort of people is a group who have something in common. Cohort is used especially when a group is being looked at as a whole for statistical purposes.
[quote]Their doctor used his "unique" cohort of boys for extensive clinical trials.
riddled [Collins]If something is riddled with undesirable qualities or features, it is full of them.
plethora [Collins]A plethora of something is a large amount of it, especially an amount of it that is greater than you need, want, or can cope with.
[quote]There was a plethora of studies that we were all enrolled on for the decade we were at the school.
saline [Collins]A saline substance or liquid contains salt.
invincible
short window < window of opportunity
flawed
toe the line [quote]It would have meant their trials would have been flawed and so we, us kids, were made to toe the line.
rigorous
infectiousness < infectious
carriage
veer

I wondered why the "PUPs" or the "lab rats" were boys at first, but haemophilia is inherited genetic disorder and most commonly found in men.
The contaminated blood scandal in Japan was caused non-heat-treated blood products. This case was experiment of heat treatment.

This song was playing in my head while reading the article. We are the pigs. We are the guinea pigs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxtIwh1Nz0k
The Butler's guitar and the music video are brilliant.

words
firing line [quote]We are the stars of the firing line
deceit [quote]But deceit can't save you
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vein

2024-04-20 11:45:49 | Vocab - travel
I like hedonistic British. They are loud, but they looks happy.

I met them on an easyJet plane from London to Ibiza. They were too excited to start singing a song along with drinking beers.
I encountered them on an East Coast train from New Castle to Edinburgh. They drunk loads of booze on the train or maybe even before getting the train.

'Hedonistic' British tourists drink all booze on four-hour SunExpress flight to Turkey in 25 minutes
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/flight-turkey-sunexpress-alcohol-british-uk-tourists-drink-b1152594.html

words
hedonistic < hedonism
booze
drain
[quote]A Turkish airline chief described the “hedonistic” attitude of some British holidaymakers after a flight’s entire alcohol supply was drained in just 25 minutes.
high-spend < high-spending
vein
[quote]In the TTG profile, Max Kownatzki set out his blueprint to grow SunExpress as a tourist and commuter airline in a similar vein to that of Jet2.
accommodate
[quote]the business is looking to increase the number of UK passengers it accommodates every year.
venture
[quote]We needed to venture further in terms of our network – that made us look at the UK.

I didn't know SunExpress. Sun and Express sound tabloid papers, but it's a Turkish-German. I wonder if it is a member of Star Alliance. I can't find it on the web.
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prevalence

2024-04-18 23:00:54 | Vocab - local
This article reminds me Ken Loach's films. It's sad to know about poor people.

Record 3.7m workers in England will have major illness by 2040, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/17/record-37m-workers-in-england-will-have-major-illness-by-2040-study-finds

Words
record (adj)
[Collins]You use record to say that something is higher, lower, better, or worse than has ever been achieved before.
Profits were at record levels. She won the race in record time.
deprived - [quote]Harehills, one of the most deprived areas of Leeds
deprivation -[quote] linked to geographical data to estimate the difference in diagnosed illness by level of deprivation
mortality - [quote]substantial risk of mortality, examined 1.7m GP and hospital records, alongside mortality data
arm - [Collins]An arm of an organization is a section of it that operates in a particular country or that deals with a particular activity.
ill health - [quote]They then projected how levels of ill health are predicted to change
life expectancy - [Collins]the statistically determined average number of years of life remaining after a specified age for a given group of individuals
develop - [Collins]If you develop an illness, or if it develops, you become affected by it.
prevalence < prevalent [quote]prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is four times more common in the most deprived areas than the leas
COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
thrive - [quote]A healthy workforce is the backbone of any thriving economy
set to - [quote]the number of working-age people living with major illness is set to increase
potential - [quote]everyone can reach their full potential

UK or England-Wales government words
Health Foundation - The Health Foundation
Office for National Statistics - ONS
Economic inactivity - [ONS]People not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last 4 weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next 2 weeks
whole-government approach - Whole-of-government approach (WGA). - cross-government approach
NHS Providers
TUC - Trades Union Congress
Department of Health and Social Care
Back to Work Plan

Realistically speaking, it's not easy to interact with them. I always keep away from deprived areas in the UK, but I often get lost and stray into such areas. I found fly-tipping as the photo in the article in such areas.
I even stay away from certain areas in Tokyo such as the edge of Yoyogi park. I cannot be friendly to them...
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hail

2024-04-17 01:46:47 | Vocab - local
I'm extremely busy and no time for long articles. This is very easy to read, but I still don't remember some basic daily words.

Riccall: Girl, six, wakes sleeping family during home blaze
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-68820964

Word
hail - A six-year-old girl hailed a hero
immensely - She was immensely brave
adjoin - the adjoining house
go off - our smoke alarms didn't go off
hardwire [Collins]to join (electrical parts) permanently
I think this is the second time to pick "attend blaze" but I couldn't find it in my blog.
[quote]Four fire engines attended the blaze at the semi-detached property[unquote]

badder is six-year old children's word - don't use it
[quote]I was getting a bit upset, because it was getting badder[unquote] I was getting,, it was getting..

It's surprising that BBC interviewed, not AP, for such a small news.
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relevant

2024-04-14 21:50:47 | Vocab - business
This BBC article is a promotion of a radio programme. I like such articles because I could find good radio programmes.
Moreover, written summaries and quotes from radio programmes are helpful for listening to colloquial phrases and expression.

Little Chefs: What happened to roadside diner chain
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68796980

en route - family visits en route to Bournemouth
end up doing something - ended up buying the restaurant chain
spot an opportunity
prefabricated building accent pref-A-bricated
conglomerate - pronunciation
go from strength to strength
on the go - on-the-go food outlets
go bust
revamp
secret sauce
dizzy heights
be toast - [Collins]If someone is toast, you mean that they are certain to be defeated or destroyed.

relevant - it can be used for the replacement for "important" which I repeat a lot
[quote] I think with those sorts of heritage brands, you still need to find ways of keeping them fresh and relevant. [unquote]
[quote]Ultimately it had failed to remain relevant to enough customers to survive in the face of new competition. [unquote]

[quote] "it just wasn't quite offering what people were after" [unquote]
I cannot talk like this...

I'd never been to Little Chefs, but I can understand the fond memories and the nostalgia for childhoods.

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compromising

2024-04-13 20:49:13 | Vocab - politics
It's just terrible. I assume it is Chinese espionage as "i" reported.

The Westminster honeytrap mystery is even stranger than we thought
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68796369

Words
point the finger at
nefarious
compromising
confined
proximity - proximity-based app
gratification < gratify
journo < journalist
stall
modus operandi
unsolicited
explicit
fractious
heady
1922 Committee

sexual words - not for exam
flirtatious
hook-up
orgy

This article doesn't specify the criminal but it explains what had been happened
But this is true.
[quote]And there is no doubt that more sophisticated scams will come their way soon.[unquote]
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namesake

2024-04-13 12:52:52 | Vocab - gossip
A genius passed away.

Roberto Cavalli: Italian fashion designer dies aged 83
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68801294

[quote]
The fashion house that bears his name announced the death on Instagram but provided no details.
[unquote]
Is the underline subject? What does this bear mean? Is this?
[Collins]If you bear someone a feeling such as love or hate, you feel that emotion towards them.

Word
namesake - After launching his namesake fashion brand in 1970, [..]
scanty - the Playboy Bunnies' scanty uniform
tap - [Oxford] [transitive, usually passive] tap somebody (North American English) to choose somebody to do a particular job
verve
seductive

The second photo in the article shows how genius was he. He turned Spice Girls to be looked sophisticated and fashionable!
I've never possessed his clothes, but my mother has some, his clothes proved that attire was very important.

I like his words.
[quote] I started to understand that God is really the best designer, so I started to copy God. [unquote]
R.I.P.
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compassionate

2024-04-12 23:32:43 | Vocab - gossip
I didn't know that he stepped down as host of University Challenge due to Parkinson's disease. I also didn't know that World Parkinson's Day was 11th April. Furthermore, I even didn't know much about the disease. I didn't know that it causes depression.

Jeremy Paxman: Parkinson's 'makes you wish you hadn't been born'
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68795161

Word
neurological
neurodegenerative diseases
compassionate < compassion - compassionate care
involuntary - involuntary shaking - accent: inv-O-luntry
condition [Collins]If someone has a particular condition, they have an illness or other medical problem
a neurological condition, a heart condition
sufferer [Collins]A sufferer from an illness or some other bad condition is a person who is affected by the illness or condition.

I compared Wikipedia between English and Japanese

Prevention section
It's interesting that English Wiki doesn't mention about cigarette, but Japanese. It's first time to find the benefit of tobacco, apart from relaxing.
It's glad to know that "Caffeine appears protective with a greater decrease in risk". It's also good to know that Alcohol isn't bad for the disease in Japanese Wiki.

List of people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
I didn't know Billy Connolly is also Parkinson's. I only knew Michael J. Fox but Parkinson's is not uncommon.
Hitler is listed in Japanese Wiki, but not English. Japanese Wiki is unreliable, but Adolf was teetotal and had character which was tend to be suffered Perkinson's.
It's awesome that Masa Saito is the only Japanese who is listed in English Wiki. Even a lot of notable Japanese are listed in Japanese Wiki!
I believe that Mino Monta is a smoker but it seems cigarette (and alcohol) didn't work for him. That's the shame.
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I'm back to the blog

2024-04-12 20:46:01 | Nonsense
Hello. I'm back. I've been too busy and too lazy to update the blog.
I've been busy at work and busy with socialising. Moreover, I've increased regular exercises more than the weekly workout with a personal trainer.
On the flip side of the busy days, I've been lazy at the same time. As a matter of fact, I'd started reading Japanese articles, I mean gossips.
I heard that Morinaga Takuro san had got cancer. I was surprised and I searched his articles in Japanese, because there were no English articles about him. I thought I only read articles about him, but having said that, I couldn't restrain myself from reading another articles in Japanese. I read some gossips such as Takarazuka. I had no idea about the theatre company but a neighbourhood girl had been preparing for the entrance exam very hard, so I had wanted to know about it. What is more, I'd even started reading a Manga serial Investor Z. I'd been looking forward to the twice a week serials. Eventually I realised that reading news and gossips in Japanese was waste of life. I stopped reading them, but Investor Z by Takai san and Morinaga san's Golden Radio YouTube. They are the exceptions. I'd like to know about investment. I can access to many financial articles in English, but I need explainers for NISA and Japanese tax exemption scheme.
I will be busier for upcoming Golden Week, but I'm going to continue the blog.
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