Vocabulary Builder: Detroit Declares Bankruptcy

Here is a vocabulary building passage based on a current news story.

To go bankrupt in the USA means that a person's debts are so high that he/she will probably never be able to pay them off.  In this case, a person (or corporation or even a city) can go to court and 'declare bankruptcy.' A judge then determines whether that person is really insolvent (incapable of paying back his/her loans).

If this is decided, the person declaring bankruptcy will only have to pay back 10% of the money he/she owes.  So if he/she owes $50,000 to creditors, he/she will only have to pay them $5,000.  However, the person's credit history will be damaged and he/she will probably not be able to get any more credit (no credit cards or loans) for at least 7 years. Also, the person will not be able to declare bankruptcy again for at least 7 years.

The city of Detroit has recently declared bankruptcy.  Basically the city used to be wealthy because of the automobile industry.  There were many jobs in this industry and the government was able to collect a lot in taxes from the companies and employees.  The US auto industry, however, has not competed well against foreign car companies, which have been making smaller and more fuel efficient models.  Therefore, due to the problems of the auto industry in Detroit, not much money has been generated, the government continually borrowed money to provide services to the people, and now Detroit must declare bankruptcy and find a way to create businesses and jobs in that city for the future.
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About the article:

During his election campaign against Mitt Romney, Barack Obama boasted of how he saved two huge automobile companies through "bailouts."  A bailout is when the US government gives money to companies to stop them from failing.  Usually the money is in the form of low interest loans.

Unfortunately for the people of Detroit, the federal government (Washington D.C.) is not going to help them.  The city where the automobile industry began is at least 20 billion dollars in debt and will have to declare bankruptcy.

Please read the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/no-signs-washington-come-detroits-rescue-170850937.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

bleak - if an environment is bleak, it means there is very little there.  Antarctica has a bleak environment - it is nothing but ice and snow.  Parts of Africa have lush environments - there is a huge variety of different plants and trees and wildlife.  So if a situation is 'bleak' this means there is very little hope or few opportunities for the situation to get better.

The Great Recession - we are now still in, apparently, the Great Recession.  The world economy has slowed down to the point where there is high unemployment and not much is being produced.

bipartisan - bi means two. Partisan means political party.  So if there is a bipartisan vote, it means two political parties agree with each other and cooperate with each other instead of fighting with each other.

appetite - in this case it means 'desire.'  Neither party really wants to do anything to help Detroit.

to rescue something - to save something from harm

resources are strained - this means that at one time there were enough resources but they have been mostly used up: there are few resources left but many needs for these resources.

a constraint -  a limit.  The government is limited as to how much it can spend because the Congress did not take timely action earlier and, by law, money was automatically cut (removed) from the US budget because of Congress' inaction.

in firm control - they control that part of the Congress easily.  The US Congress is divided into two parts: The Senate and the House.  Democrats control the Senate and Republicans control the House.  Very little can be accomplished under this situation.

his plate is so full - he has so many things to do.

throwing Detroit into the mix - adding Detroit to the rest of what he ahs to do

the era - the period of time

a declining population, accelerated by hard times - this sentence might be a bit confusing. The author is saying that the decline or drop in population was due to the difficult times the auto industry in Detroit has had.

punishing - here it means very difficult.  If you go through a punishing workout at the gym, you really really workout.

in near gridlock territory - gridlock is the term for non-cooperation between the political parties.  If the parties do not cooperate, nothing gets done, and this is called gridlock.

a wait and see approach - they are not going to do anything yet...they are just waiting to see what might happen and whether they can do anything.

federal - this is the US government in Washington D.C.

to rule something out - to say something is not an option or is not possible.

insolvency - when someone (or in this case some city) just simply can't pay its debts.

diligent - careful, precise, meticulous, detailed

a tough step - a difficult move or action to take

delegation - each state gets a number of Congressmen/women based on the state's population.  This is the state's delegation.

to clamor for - to demand, to strongly request

pension funds sued - a pension is money a person gets after he retires from a job.  City workers feel that their pensions will be cut (lowered) after this bankruptcy decision, so they went to court hoping a judge would stop the bankruptcy.  The judge refused to do that.

strings attached - this means, basically, I'll give you something but I want something in return! If someone is generous they might give you something and say, "No strings attached!"

a lifeline - if someone falls into the ocean, someone might throw him/her a lifeline so that the person can be pulled to safety.

stimulus spending - when the government spends money to try to stimulate the economy (make the economy more active).

a mortgage - monthly payments people make in order to buy a house.

remote - far away; in this case, remote means unlikely.

to be off the hook - to be safe, to be able to avoid responsibility.

align them - make sure they provide Detroit with the money that Detroit really needs and requests.  To align something means to put in in line with something else - to make sure something fits something else.
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Test your vocabulary :)

There is no vocabulary section on the SHSAT, but a good vocabulary will help you do better on the reading section.  These are kind of high-level vocab words... 20 words...10 sentences....please try to find the right answers. :)

*to abduct -  to kidnap, to illegally capture and hold against one’s will
*to absolve – to formally wipe away the guilt of another
*to bellow – to yell out, often in emotional or physical pain, in a deep voice
*to chronicle – to document, to preserve for history
*to debunk – to disprove  
*to ebb – to decrease in intensity 
*to facilitate – to make more easy 
*to grapple with – to struggle with
*to hone – to perfect, to make better, to sharpen
*to incense – to make angry 
*to laud – to praise 
*to mollify – to soften s/o's anger or other emotional response
*to nurture – to care for, to raise from infancy
*to perjure oneself – to lie in court
*to ratify – to formally agree to, to approve before establishing
*to saturate – to fill or soak completely
*to taint – to poison or corrupt
*to unveil – to reveal something  
*to vacillate – to change, to not remain certain
*to yearn for – to desire intensely


If a student wishes to really ___________ a foreign language skill, he/she should probably go to a host country and immerse him/herself in the language.

Although the CIA engaged in brutal and inhumane forms of torture against suspected terrorists, the Obama administration has chosen to ___________ these officers of guilt and to not pursue criminal trials.

In times of economic or social crisis many people seem to miss and____________ more simple days when life was easier and there was less stress.

In Nanjing, during the Japanese occupation, many foreigners began to feel helpless to stop the Japanese massacre of innocent people; all they could do was ____________ what happened in the hopes that justice would be done at a later date.

Once a person in a position of authority makes a decision, he/she sometimes feels it is not a good idea to _______________; the public can interpret that as a sign of weakness.

The smart phone market world-wide has become _______________: virtually everyone has a cell phone and it’s really tough to sell more of them.

After Somali pirates _____________ members of a ship’s crew, they usually take them to dry land and hold them as hostage.

Perhaps the most difficult yet interesting topic a psychological researcher can _________________ involves our moral judgments: what is morality, how did it evolve and what control do we have over our moral actions?

No matter how many times scientists have ___________ ESP (Extra Sensory Perception), many people still believe that mind-reading is possible and there is one guy who even claims that he can bend spoons with the power of his thoughts (Yuri Geller)!

The government of China has stated that it will soon ___________ a new type of totally electric car that nobody outside of the Chinese auto industry has yet to see.











answers:

1. hone
2. absolve
3. yearn for
4. chronicle
5. vacillate
6. saturated
7. abduct
8. grapple with
9. debunked
10. unveil

Vocabulary Builder: Some NY School Children Were Forced To Do An Exercise Based on a Slave-Owner's Perspective

There is no vocabulary section on the SHSAT, but the better your vocabulary is, the better you'll do on the test.  Also, it's good to have an amazing vocabulary so that you can express your insights with subtlety and power. :)

Included in the following link is an intro to an article from NY1 and an article from NY1.  Following the article is a list of useful vocabulary words (to help you understand the article). 

The posting from which these vocabulary words were taken is here (you can find the definitions of the words here):

http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/02/some-new-york-school-children-were.html

Words to be used (answers are below the exercise):

to be based on something, a curriculum, common sense,
to be appalled by something, inappropriate, nonchalant,
to be ticked off by something, a whistleblower, to haggle over

{By the way: to be ticked off by something means you are a little upset. To be appalled by something means you are shocked.}

Exercise:

In some foreign countries there are no price tags on products sold in markets.  People are expected to ________________ the price of the item.  In America, most people dislike this type of negotiation - they want to see a price tag and will either accept or reject that final offer.

In the 1800s a man named Horace Mann worked hard to create a public school system in the United States.  He thought this would help ensure equality of opportunity for everyone.  A central aspect of his public school system idea was to have a uniform _____________, or, in other words, to make sure that every child in the system studied the same educational materials. (uniform means 'the same')

By the expression on Bob's face I could see that he had been _______________ by someone or something.  It turned out that a clerk at a Starbucks had been rude to him and he was a little upset.

Although it is _______________ that a person should carry an umbrella when it rains, Bob just hated carrying an umbrella. Therefore, the last time it rained he got soaked and caught a cold.

Many visitors to New York City are _________________ how dirty and disgusting the subway system is.  It is a very old and ugly system that often runs unpredictably.

The current economic policies that the Obama administration is using seem to be ___________________ the suggestions made by John Maynard Keynes to president Roosevelt in the 1930s.

Although women have gained a great deal of equality to men in America, they are still sometimes subjected to ________________ comments about their 'beauty' or 'attractiveness' by male workers. 

Often when an honest person sees something wrong and complains about it, the wrongdoer will try to get revenge against the ___________________.  There are now laws in America that attempt to protect these concerned and honest people from the reprisals (revenge) of those who are guilty.

Bob was an easy-going guy who smiled a lot and who was quite friendly.  Yet, despite his apparently _______________ attitude, he was a hard worker who never missed a deadline.


Answers are below:







Answers:

1. haggle over
2. curriculum
3. ticked off
4. common sense
5. appalled by
6. based on
7. inappropriate
8. whistleblower
9. nonchalant

Vocabulary Builder: Cambodian Workers Protest at a Nike Factory

The SHSAT doesn't have a vocabulary section.  Nevertheless, it is essential that you develop your vocabulary for this test.  It is also essential that you read a variety of articles and books - not just to prepare for the test but to develop a greater understanding of the world.

Many middle schools, and even high schools, do not cover current events.  This is a shame.  Here's a very topical and meaningful article.  Many Americans do not know that their designer clothes are made by extraordinarily poor people in developing Asian countries. These workers are paid very low wages while the companies make huge profits.

Cambodia is a very poor country in SE Asia.  Here is an article about how the Nike corporation treats its female workers there.

The following vocabulary words come from this article (please review the definitions from this link before doing the exercise):

http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/workers-are-harmed-after-protesting-at.html

Words to be used:

minimum wage, to decline to, to collapse
a clash, to account for, a strike,
a protest, a coffin, to be deployed


Vocabulary exercise (answers are below the exercise):

1)  Right now the US government has US soldiers _______________ in over 100 countries around the world.

2)  If we want to stimulate the economy, perhaps we should raise the __________________ law.  $7.25/hr. is way too low.  If people made more money, they would spend more and more goods and services would be needed.

3)  In the movies, Dracula, or other vampires, usually have to be inside their ____________ by daybreak, or they will finally die.

4)  There was a _____________ between protesters and police near Wall Street last year, when young people were protesting the unequal distribution of wealth in the USA (as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement).

5)  Although Bob invited his old friend to attend his wedding anniversary party, Joe ____________ come because he still felt angry with Bob over a negative situation that had happened years before.

6)  Many people now agree that the Vietnam War was one of the most foolish wars that the USA ever got involved in.  In the late 1960s thousands of young people began to ____________ the war, and this lead to the US government removing troops from Vietnam in 1973.

7)  Last month over 1,000 people died at a factory in Bangladesh because the roof was too weak and it ________________.

8)  Internet and computer companies are beginning to _________________ a larger and larger portion of the money generated in the US economy.

9)  Only if workers become truly dissatisfied do they seem to ________________.  Nobody wants to stop working and start losing wages unless he/she really has to.


Answers are below:







Answers:


1) deployed
2) minimum wage
3) coffins
4) clash
5) declined to
6) protest
7) collapsed
8) account for
9) strike

Vocabulary Builder: Where Are America's Poor Going?

You'll need a good vocabulary to do well on the SHSAT.  Here is a posting and article that will help you pick up a few more essential words.

The vocabulary words were taken from this posting (definitions of the words can be found here): http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/where-are-americas-poor-going.html

Words to be used:

a suburb, ill-equipped, to handle
a surge, to plummet, segregated
integrated, to skyrocket, a voucher

Exercise (answers are below):

1) During the Great Depression, which began in 1929, unemployment in America ________________ from 6% to 25%.

2)  In the 1970s and 1980s, many upper middle class families decided to move to the _______________ because the cities were considered too dangerous.  Now the trend is reversing and people from the upper middle class are flooding the cities of America.

3)  In order to try to end the Iraq War, George Bush initiated (started) a troop ___________.  He sent a huge number of new soldiers to Iraq.  Apparently the strategy worked and now US soldiers have been steadily leaving Iraq.

4)  The City of New York seemed ________________ for the terrorist attack on 9/11/2001.  For instance, there was an emergency center which the city had created for a potential disaster, but the center was located at the World Trade Center Building and was made useless by the attack.

5)  There is a saying in America:  The people of the USA are never more segregated than on Sunday.  This means that in America there are very few racially _______________ churches.  Many Christian churches are either filled with all white or all black worshippers.

6) Many conservative politicians believe that poor families should be given school ______________. So instead of relying on the public school system, poor parents can use this system to pay tuition at private schools. 

7)  A good manager knows how to ______________ his staff fairly. 

8)  During the early 2000s, many internet stocks rose very quickly but then suddenly they all seemed to _______________ at the same time.  It turns out they were not worth as much money as investors had thought.

9)  The difference between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. was that Malcolm X did not trust the dominant white culture and wished for blacks to remain _________________ from whites.  He did not think it was a good idea for the races to mix.

Answers are below:






Answers:

1) skyrocketed
2) suburbs
3) surge
4) ill-equipped
5) integrated
6) vouchers
7) handle
8) plummet
9) segregated
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Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P

Links:
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

Vocabulary Builder: Japanese Politicians Visit a Controversial War Shrine

In order to do well on the SHSAT reading section, you'll need pretty good vocabulary.  Here is a passage that will help you pick up a few new words. :)

This vocabulary review is from this posting and the article linked in the posting:

http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/japanese-government-officials-will.html

Words to be used:

to pledge, a memorial, an outcry,
a protest, to elaborate, an atrocity,
a landmark decision, to be convicted, a symbol

Exercise:

1)  Brown vs. The Board of Education was a ____________________ by the US Supreme Court, which made it illegal for a public school system to prevent African American students from attending schools with white students.

2)  When Coca Cola tried to change the formula of its drink a few years ago, there was an ______________ and many people pledged that they would not drink the new version.

3)  The American Eagle is the official ____________ of the United States of America.  It holds arrows in one claw and an olive branch in the other.  What does this mean?  Basically it means that the US wishes to have peace with other countries, but will fight if necessary.

4)  Recently many organizations around the USA raised a lot of money so that a ______________ could be built to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights activist.

5)  Although Richard Nixon did many things that were morally wrong as president of the United States, he was never actually ______________ of a crime.

6) Hiroshima was a Japanese city which did not have any military purpose.  When the USA dropped an atomic bomb on that city, many innocent people died.  Yet, this has never been classified as an ________________ in history books, since the US government claimed it was necessary to drop the bomb to end the war quickly.

7)  When I went off to college, my parents _____________ that they would support me as well as they could financially, even though they were relatively poor.

8)  I didn't quite understand the plan fully.  It seemed to vague.  That's the reason why I asked him to ___________________.

9)  Many historians believe that the Vietnam War might have lasted longer if so many young Americans had not ______________ the war as being morally wrong.


Answers are below:




Farther down:




Answers:

1) landmark decision
2) outcry
3) symbol
4) memorial
5) convicted
6) atrocity
7) pledged
8) elaborate
9) protested

Vocabulary Builder: Cannibalism at Jamestown

In order to do well on the SHSAT reading section, you'll need a pretty good vocabulary.  Please review this link:

http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony.html  

...and try to do the vocabulary exercise below.

The link provides an introduction to an article, a link to an article (Cannibalism at Jamestown) and useful vocabulary words from the article.  (You'll figure it out!)

Vocabulary Exercise for "Cannibalism at Jamestown"

Please test yourself on these 9 words.  Please feel free to take a look at the article "Cannibalism at Jamestown" to review these vocabulary words.  Answers are below the exercise.

Words to be used:

to confirm, evidence, to figure something out
to butcher, to resort to, to be executed
a casualty, to unearth, sparingly


1)  About 4,000 American soldiers were killed in the Iraq War, which started in 2003.  These were not the only ______________ however.  Many American soldiers were wounded and thousands and thousands of Iraqis were killed or wounded.

2)  I am not sure whether I can make it to the meeting tomorrow morning.  I will call you and _____________ whether I can make it, tonight.

3)  Sugary soft drinks like Coca Cola can have adverse (negative) side effects if a person drinks too much of this type of beverage.  However, if you drink soft drinks _______________, you should be OK.

4)  Most people are very peaceful and kind, but almost everyone will ____________ violence if his/her life is threatened.

5)  Recently archeologists have been able to ____________ incredible religious artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization.

6)  There is a lot of ______________ that North Korea sank a South Korean ship in 2010, but some people feel there is no concrete (real) proof.

7)  I would really like to travel to Vietnam.  I hear it is an amazing country of lovely people and beautiful scenery.  I need to ________________ how I am going to get enough money to travel there, however!

8)  Some animal rights activists say that if we all had to slaughter (kill) and _____________ our own food, we would all be vegetarians.

9)  People who oppose capital punishment (the killing of criminals by the government) say that if you look at states in America where prisoners are ____________, you will see that this form of punishment does not lower the numbers of violent crime or murder.  Indeed, in states that have capital punishment, murder rates often increase!



Answers are below:


Keep going.....



Keep going....


A little farther......




Don't stop now!  Just a little more.....


Here they are:



Answers:



1) casualties
2) confirm
3) sparingly
4)  resort to
5) unearth
6) evidence
7) figure out
8) butcher
9) executed