Reading With Dave Q.

-Upper-Intermediate-Topic: Science & Technology-Ten Vocabulary Words[essential, remain, simplify, anxiety, sufferer, swear, trigger, uncover, via, phantom]-http://www.headsupenglish.com/upper-intermediate/newslessons/ringxiety/ringxietyspeakingintermediate.pdfCellphones have become an essential item for most people. The phone lets you remain connected to friends and family, check e-mail and the Internet, and listen to music or watch TV just about anywhere. The invention has simplified our lives in many ways. But it has also made our lives more complicated, too. Some experts wonder if we are too dependent on our phones. A recent phenomenon connected with cellphones is a feeling of anxiety. Here's an example: You stand in a crowded place, hear someone's phone ring, and reach for yours, too. Experts and the media are calling this "ringxiety." Some people think they hear the phone while in the shower, or shaving. Others often check their phones while watching TV, or walking down the street. A doctoral student named David Laramie came up with the word. He's also a sufferer of ringxiety. He swears that TV advertisements, songs on the radio, even running water can trigger his ringxiety. Many other people have reported similar experiences, either imagining the ringing sound, or feeling their phone vibrating. A look at Internet discussion boards will uncover debates on the same topic. Most visitors to the discussion boards point out that ringxiety is a result of the modern world. There are a few people, though, who see it as mind control via TV and radio broadcasts. Although ringxiety is not an officially recognized illness, there is some truth behind the idea. Scientists explain that the human ear is very sensitive to frequencies between 1,000 and 6,000 hertz. The tones of cellphones fall within this range. Unfortunately, many other sounds do, too. As a result, phantom rings are common.

-Upper-Intermediate-Topic: Environment-Ten Vocabulary Words[aspect, priority, ensure, obtain, tolerate, severe, renew, alliance, vital, scarce]-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-environment-lessons/278-oil-supplyOil plays an important role in the world. It powers every aspect of everyday life, from trains, planes, and cars; to industry; to the farms which supply our food at the supermarket. It fuels war, too. Only a few people believed that the war in Iraq was primarily about terrorism. In reality, the main priority focuses on the control of oil. And it's going to get worse.Nations have already begun to ensure a steady supply of oil in the future. Canada has built bases in the Arctic, because global warming will open up drilling opportunities in the polar regions. China has invested a lot of money in African countries such as Angola, because they want to obtain rights to drill there. They've also increased the development of their navy to protect oil interests in the South China Sea and elsewhere. Europe heavily depends on an increasingly strong and vocal Russia. America tolerates leaders, countries, and policies with which it disagrees.Global warming has worsened the situation. As climate change becomes increasingly severe, it will affect food and water supplies. At present, many of China's cities face water shortages, for example. In addition, deserts in the west of China are rapidly growing, and farmland is shrinking. The same has begun to happen in other places around the globe, and scientists grow more and more worried. Water could become a non-renewable resource like oil. If so, then countries will need even more oil to guarantee food and water for their citizens.It's important to note that many countries chased oil in the years before World War I. Alliances were formed to protect interests around the world, and this led to the start of the Great War. As vital oil and water become scarcer in the 21st century, there can be only one result: conflict.

-Upper-Intermediate-Topic: Environment-Ten Vocabulary Words[boost, active, recommend, indicate, self-esteem, remarkable, prescription, benefit, GP, option]-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-environment-lessons/280-ecotherapyHave you heard of ecotherapy? Supporters in the UK believe it is a new, more effective treatment against depression. In order to boost mental health, people should get outside and get active in a green environment. Ecotherapy will hopefully give new choices to future mental health treatments. Physicians would recommend ecotherapy in addition to or instead of traditional drugs.The University of Essex conducted the study. It compared people who walked thirty minutes in a country park with people who walked for thirty minutes in a shopping mall. Seventy-one percent of the people who walked in the park indicated that they had decreased levels of depression. Ninety percent reported increased levels of self-esteem, too. The mall walkers had less remarkable results. Only 45% experienced lower levels of depression. Even worse, 22% actually felt more depressed.The study was conducted in the UK. Recent statistics point to a huge rise in people taking anti-depressant medication. Doctors wrote more than 31 million prescriptions last year, which is a 6% increase. The figures point to a future which has experts worried about the mental health of the nation.A separate study showed even more positive results. A combination of nature and exercise benefited 90% of the participants. GPs need to understand that ecotherapy is a scientifically proven option for better mental health.

-Upper-Intermediate-Topic: Health-Ten Vocabulary Words[heed, initial, booming, prompt, demonstrate, hoax, critical, major, predict, hype]-http://headsupenglish.com/index.php/upper-intermediate-students/upper-intermediate-news-lessons/upper-intermediate-health-lessons/295-swinefluTake heed because the swine flu will kill millions of people, paralyze economies, and create chaos around the world! During the initial outbreak, schools closed and universities canceled graduation ceremonies. In Egypt, the health minister ordered the slaughter of all pigs in the country. Face masks did a booming business everywhere too.World health experts had taken prompt steps at the start, offering dark warnings that it could become the next pandemic. They declared that almost two billion people could be sickened by the virus. Yet nothing happened. There have been less than one hundred deaths worldwide in total. This figure is significantly fewer than the millions expected in a possible worst-case scenario. In fact, there have been fewer deaths than in an annual flu season. Few people are now listening to health experts, who continue to state that the threat is very real.As newspaper editorials and comments on the Internet demonstrate, people have become sick and tired of the reports. "Crying wolf" and "hoax" are some of the milder terms, as everyone everywhere takes an unconcerned viewpoint. Many people are also critical of how the media focused on the doom-and-gloom scenarios in a slow news cycle. In other words, because there wasn't anything major to report, the media focused on the swine flu to sell newspapers, magazines, and air time.Of course, the media and health experts disagree. Both say that they have acted quickly and properly at the discovery of the swine flu in the past. They took the right steps to spread the message. It just so happens that the flu didn't become the pandemic predicted. Perhaps, however, it all just amounts to fear-mongering hype.

-Lower-Intermediate-Topic: Business-Ten Vocabulary Words[stack, efficient, remind, review, tidy, & deadline]-http://www.headsupenglish.com/index.php/lower-intermediate-students/lower-intermediate-news-lessons/lower-intermediate-business-lessons/432-messiness-efficientEvery office has at least one person who always has a messy desk. Papers are stacked here and there. Old Post It Notes are still on the cubicle wall. The garbage is filled with takeout coffee cups and empty bags. But a business book suggests that these messy people are more efficient and creative than neat people.The book's author, David Freeman, explains that a mess is like a filing system. For example, one employee admitted her desk looks like a disaster. Yet it's an organized mess because she knows where everything is. If someone cleaned up the mess, then she wouldn't be able to find anything.A messy workspace can be a natural reminder system. The person who made the mess will review old papers and notes with new information. As a result, he can more easily make connections between new and old information. On the other hand, when papers are filed away, they quickly get forgotten. And anything which is thrown away is lost forever. Lastly, tidy employees usually spend from one to four hours per day keeping their desks clean.But Barry Izsak, who is the head of the National Association of Professional Organizers, disagrees with the idea that messiness is more efficient. Izsak explains that the average person will often feel stress because of the mess. He will also have feelings of missed deadlines and lost opportunities.