The Slow English Podcast

There is a reason why I haven't been posting recently, I talk about in this podcast along with the future of it. Long story short, I'm in the middle of a move between two cities and I've packing and preparing everything. It's a long process and there isn't a whole lot of time left in the day for me to make episodes. (lame excuse). Once I get to my new location, I plan on recording all my episodes at once and then having them published throughout the week at the same time. That way if I have a busy day I'm not worried about missing a podcast episode, and you all will get this podcast on a regular consistent basis. I really enjoy getting the opportunity to help you learn English and I want to give you an effective way of doing it. Please send me an email with your feedback if you have any recommendations of what you would like to hear in future episodes! I'll make more episodes in the next week once I get to my new location. Please send me an email at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.com

Happy Monday and happy Memorial Day! Memorial Day is a special holiday in America where we celebrate and thank the men and women of our military. Most of us don't have to work (but I wanted to make a podcast for y'all anyway). Hope everyone enjoys and I'll see y'all tomorrow!VOCAB WORDS:- statement- circumstances- collections- luxury- creativeTRANSCRIPT:Gucci and Saint Laurent are two of the highest profile luxury fashion houses to announce they will leave the fashion calendar behind, with its relentless four-times-a-year rhythm, shuttling cadres of fashionistas between global capitals where they squeeze shoulder-to-shoulder around runways for 15 breathless minutes.The coronavirus lockdown, which has hit luxury fashion houses on their bottom lines, has also given pause to rethink the pace of fashion, offering the possibility to return to less hectic, more considered periods of creativity and production — and perhaps consumption.Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele imagines a twice yearly appointments — one in the fall and one in the spring — to present co-ed collections, getting away from the hyped-up calendar which has come to require pre-season collections before the major women’s and men’s runway shows and a one-off cruise collection, increasingly in exotic locations.“Two appointments a year are more than enough to give time to form a creative thought, and to give more time to this system,” Michele said in a video conference Monday, expanding on an idea he launched over the weekend in a series of Instagram posts from his own lockdown diaries.The virus-imposed shutdown — while stopping production and consumption that feed the fashion cycle — also recharged creativity among those who found new time for reflection. "It is a great gift that our planet gave us, a great gift that cannot be discarded,’’ Michele said.Michele said he hopes that a new calendar and new rhythms would be decided within the fashion system and in cooperation with other designers.It has been clear for the last few years that the fashion world has been suffering under the current pace: More luxury houses have been combining men’s and women’s shows as genderless and even seasonless dressing becomes a global theme; it hasn't been unheard-of for major brands to skip a season or to venture away from their fashion cities to expand their audience.Saint Laurent hasn’t articulated its intentions, but said in a statement last month that it would “take control” of the fashion schedule “conscious of the current circumstances and its waves of radical change.”Luxury fashion was one of the first industries to show suffer from coronavirus, first with the China shutdown that closed boutiques and blocked travelers already in January from a region responsible for a third of global luxury. And the pandemic appeared in Europe just as Fall-Winter 2020-21 shows were underway in Milan and then Paris.Illustrating just how vulnerable the show system is in the face of a fast-spreading global virus, Giorgio Armani showed his collection in a closed theater on Feb. 23 — just two days after Italy became the first Western country with a coronavirus outbreak.CREDITS:Article: Guicci, Saint Laurent Seek Radical Redo of Fashion ClaendarsAuthor: Associated PressPublisher: U.S. News & World ReportLink: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2020-05-25/gucci-saint-laurent-seek-radical-redo-of-fashion-calendars

Apologies for not being able to upload a podcast yesterday (work is really crazy right now!). Hope you guys enjoy and I will see you for the next episode. VOCAB WORDS:- restrictions- to flock- to sunbathe- to have a picnic (picnicking)- to fishTRANSCRIPT:A surge in visitors to beaches in northern Europe after coronavirus lockdowns were eased and temperatures rose has alarmed officials and experts.Three towns in north-western France shut their beaches on Wednesday because of the "unacceptable" failure of people to observe social-distancing rules.Municipalities in the Netherlands urged German tourists not to visit.And in England, the town council in Southend said it might take action after sunseekers flocked there.The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world has now passed five million, but the number of new infections has been falling across most of Europe.European countries had reported 1.74 million cases and 164,349 deaths as of Wednesday, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Those with the most fatalities are the UK, Italy, France, Spain and Belgium.The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that there is "still a long way to go in this pandemic", and called on people in countries where restrictions are being eased to continue to adapt their behaviour to minimise transmission of Covid-19.The authorities in France reopened hundreds of beaches last weekend for running, swimming and fishing, but not for sunbathing or picnicking. On Wednesday evening, the prefecture of Morbihan, in Brittany, said beaches in five municipalities had been closed because of "unacceptable behaviour" by visitors in recent days, including incivility and ignoring social distancing.CREDITS:Article: Coronavirus: Alarm as crowds flock to European beachesAuthor: BBCPublisher: BBCLink: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52751228

NOTE: This episode was meant for a Monday release, but it was unsuccessfully loaded and by time I found out I was already on my way to bed (lame excuse). I'll make sure this doesn't happen again to y'all. Sorry for the late upload! Crazy Monday today. Please let me know what you think a good upload time is for this podcast! Send me an email at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- crisis- position- ammunition- account- fameTRANSCRIPT:Cyber-nationalism is common on Chinese social media. Thousands of angry netizens stand ready to rear their head whenever China is criticised, humiliated or subjected to some form of foreign insult. And Fang Fang is far from the first Chinese writer to face online backlash.In this case, as the virus continued to spread across the world, people started to become more critical of China's response to the outbreak. The heavy scrutiny and criticism meant many went on the defensive.It was in this climate that it became known that Fang Fang's works were due to be sold in the West.According to specialist news site What's on Weibo, this was when public opinion turned against it, after it "became known that an international edition of her diary was on pre-sale through Amazon"."In the eyes of many Chinese users, a translated version of Fang's critical account of the Wuhan outbreak would only provide opponents of China with more ammunition," says the report.She was quickly seen not as a bearer of truth but instead a traitor to China, with some saying she was capitalising on her fame - and even possibly a tragedy."She's seizing this time of national crisis and taking advantage [of it]," said one user on Weibo. "This is contemptible."The anger against her is not helped by the fact that the book was published by US publisher HarperCollins - at a time when the US and China are in the midst of a diplomatic spat.Chinese state media have also made it very clear what their position is on Fang Fang."Her global rise propelled by foreign media outlets has sounded the alarm for many in China that the writer might have become just another handy tool for the West to sabotage Chinese people's efforts," said a piece by the Global Times."Her diary only exposes the dark side in Wuhan while ignoring the efforts that local people made and the support extended across the nation."CREDITS:Article: Fang Fang: The Wuhan writer whose virus diary angered ChinaAuthor: BBC NewsPublisher: BBC NewsLink: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52712358

Hope you enjoyed the episode, have a great weekend!VOCAB WORDS:- patrons- operators- shelter- to prove (proven)- perpetualTRANSCRIPT:Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state will move into a “full Phase 1” reopening starting Monday.That means gyms, which have until now been excluded from the partial reopening that started May 4, can open. Restaurants, retail shops, museums and libraries, which had been allowed to serve people at 25 percent capacity, can now serve patrons at 50 percent capacity. Even theme parks have been put on the path to reopening, DeSantis said. But before that happens, operators will be asked to submit a safety plan to the state. Movie theaters, however, which the White House included in its guidelines for phase 1 reopening, will not reopen Monday, DeSantis said.“The American people never signed up for a perpetual shelter in place,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Jacksonville.For months, officials across the state had closed businesses in the hopes of slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus. DeSantis, citing recent hospitalization and testing figures, argued those efforts have proven successful. So far, the state has reported more 43,000 cases, and more than 1,900 deaths related to the virus, around the middle of the pack of the 50 states when weighted for population.Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were phased into initial re-opening after the rest of the state. But a spokeswoman for DeSantis confirmed that those three counties would be included in this most recent round of openings.CREDITS:Article: Ron DeSantis: Gyms will reopen starting MondayAuthor: Kirby Wilson and Gabrielle CalisePublisher: Tampa Bay TimesLink: https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/05/15/ron-desantis-gyms-will-reopen-starting-monday/

Whenever someone talks about finance, get ready for a bunch of big words and complicated topics. That what this article is full of! I'll try and refrain from using these complicated articles in the future (unless you want more of them!). Let me know what you think and how you did at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- investment- spigot (pronounced like "spi-get")- brokerage- trading- periodTRANSCRIPT:The lure of snapping up stocks at bargain prices has been too strong to pass up for many people, even as uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic clouds the market and global economic outlook.Stuck at home, but armed with online trading apps, individual investors helped drive the historic comeback for stocks since late March, despite a backdrop of historic job losses, forecasts of sinking corporate profits and a global recession due to the economic fallout from the outbreak.The market’s rally, which accelerated in April as the Federal Reserve and Congress opened an unprecedented spigot of financial aid to prop up the economy and ensure trading on Wall Street didn’t skip a beat, has pushed up the S&P 500 about 26% higher following a 34% plunge from February into late March.Many professional investors remain wary about the sustainability of the market’s recent gains, however, given that the outlook for corporate earnings growth, a key driver of stock prices, remains uncertain at best as long as the outbreak continues to undermine efforts to reopen the economy. For many regular investors, those concerns have apparently taken a back seat to the temptation to take advantage of recent price drops to load up on stocks.“In the last 10 years, this market’s had a pretty substantial bull run,” said Steven Quirk, executive vice president of Trading & Education at TD Ameritrade. “If you had bought the dips even when we’ve seen a correction, you’d have been rewarded.”Several of the biggest online investment brokerages have seen a record surge this year in accounts opened by individual investors, sometimes referred to as retail investors in the industry, and a record volume of trades.All told, some 608,000 new retail trading accounts opened in the first three months of the year at TD Ameritrade, a high-water mark for the company. That represents a more than three-fold increase from the same quarter last year.“The biggest month we had for account openings in the quarter was March, when all of this was unfolding,” Quirk said.ETrade Financial added 329,000 new individual investor accounts in the same period. That quarterly total eclipsed the company's previous annual high of 204,000 accounts opened in 2018. The online brokerage’s trading activity also marked a new high during the quarter.“We pretty much shattered any record that we had in the firm,” said Chris Larkin, ETrade’s managing director of Trading and Investing Product.CREDITS:Article: Buying the Plunge: Individual Investors Remain OptimisticAuthor: Associated PressPublisher: U.S. News & World ReportLink: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2020-05-14/buying-the-plunge-individual-investors-remain-optimistic

Today is a bit of a shorter article, hope you enjoy!VOCAB WORDS:- format- content- audio- to acuire- to rumorTRANSCRIPT:Apple is reportedly asking publishers for permission to record audio of their stories to include in its News Plus app, according to Digiday. The publication says it spoke with four publishers that heard the offer. Apple would cover the costs of production and compensate publishers similarly to how it does for written articles: 50 percent of subscriber revenue goes to publishers based on how much time subscribers spent with publishers’ content in a 30-day period.Digiday’s sources say that Apple initially wanted permission to record any story it wanted, but publishers are now looking to pitch the company their own works because of intellectual property concerns. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update if we hear back.This move would come at a time when audio stories appear to be in demand. The New York Times acquired Audm, a company that turns longform stories into audio content, in March, and Google launched its audio news product in November. In Google’s case, it licensed audio from a variety of news sources and paid its partners to work with the company to create their stories in this format. Apple has been rumored to be looking into creating its own audio content for months now — although, in that case, people thought it would involve the company creating its own podcasts.CREDITS:Article: Apple will reportedly record news stories and include the audio in News PlusAuthor: Ashley CarmanPublisher: The VergeLink: https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/13/21257103/apple-news-plus-update-audio-stories-publishers

This is a long article today! Good job for sticking through and listening all the way to the end! If you have any questions or comments please send me an email at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- department- volume- weekday- minimum- gradual TRANSCRIPT:Although vehicle traffic statewide is lighter than it was the same time last year, over the past month traffic volume has begun increasing. The Oregon Department of Transportation has been tracking traffic volume along the state’s 13 major highway corridors, and has a website displaying its findings. During the first week of Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-at-home order (March 23–29), the state saw an average of 220,814 vehicles on highways during weekdays. The week after also saw a drop in traffic volume. But, the weeks since then have shown traffic slowly building.For the week of April 27 to May 3, the most recent week of full data available from ODOT, the average was more than 259,000 vehicles during weekdays. “For the month of April, traffic began with 43% lower weekday volumes than 2019,” ODOT’s report states. “By the end of April the difference changed to 29% below 2019 weekday volumes.”ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said the traffic increase is expected as some businesses and areas begin to open and as the weather gets better. “We expect to see a continued uptick as some of the public facilities start to open up again and people come out into the sun and start to get their jobs done and get their lives back on track,” Hamilton said. “This is going to be a slow, gradual process for a long time.”Still, Hamilton said, the uptick in traffic is a reminder that Oregonians should continue to take measures to slow the spread of coronavirus. “Oregon has seen some benefits from the quarantine work that we’re doing and I think that it’s important that we keep that going,” he said. “I think that’ll be critical for us to keep the number of cases to a minimum and the number of deaths to a minimum, too.” CREDITS:Article: Oregon Sees an Uptick in Traffic As Coronavirus Pandemic ContinuesAuthor: Meerah PowellPublisher: OPBLink: https://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-traffic-increase-highways-coronavirus-covid-19-april-may-2020/

Good Afternoon and happy Monday! If you're working from home or in the office, enjoy yourself and try to keep your sanity during these crazy times (studying English can help with that!).VOCAB WORDS:- coroner (not to be confused with corner)- journalism- publishers- summer- monopolisticTRANSCRIPT:It reads like a coroner's report on the news business, 623 pages filled with charts and graphs detailing the devastating decline in local news and public policy reporting of the past decade. It landed on the Australian prime minister's desk last summer, unnoticed by most news consumers in America and around the world. But the report by Australian regulators left little doubt about what they see as the cause of local journalism's demise - the near monopolistic power of Google and Facebook. And it has set off a chain of events that could shift the balance of power between big tech and the news at a dire moment for journalism. "Global tech companies are not beyond national laws, especially when there is so much at stake," Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and author of the report, texted me this weekend on WhatsApp. Mr. Sims and a like-minded regulator in France, Isabelle de Silva, are challenging a universally accepted fact of the internet: that Google and Facebook can carry content created by news organizations without directly paying the organizations for creating it. Last month, as the coronavirus put hundreds of publishers out of business around the world, the Australian government instructed Mr.Sims to force the platforms to negotiate payments with newspaper publishers - making it the first country to do so. CREDITS:Article: Big Tech Has Crushed the News Business. That's About to Change.Author: Ben SmithPublisher: The New York TimesLink: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/business/media/big-tech-has-crushed-the-news-business-thats-about-to-change.html

Happy Friday! Hope everyone here has a great weekend, and that your English studies are coming along normally. Keep practicing and it will get easier (I promise). Feel free to contact me at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- exception- brand- advertiser- coverage- blacklistedTRANSCRIPT:Most companies regularly take steps to make sure their ads don’t run near headlines that could upset potential customers. So news organizations weren’t surprised when advertisers canceled campaigns in recent weeks or demanded that their ads be placed far from coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, costing publishers significant revenue.Burger King was an exception. Instead of shunning articles that included terms like “Covid-19” or “pandemic,” the company behind the Whopper focused its message on contactless food delivery and pickup. That way, its marketing would not seem out of place in a grim news cycle, said Marcelo Pascoa, the company’s head of brand and communications.“It isn’t damaging for the brand to appear within the context of the crisis, because the brand is playing a role,” he said.To stay away from bad news, advertisers often turn to a method known as blacklisting. It allows airlines to avoid running ads near plane-crash coverage, and companies with wholesome images to keep away from articles containing words like “murder” or “sex.” In a time of political polarization, frequently blacklisted terms include “Russia,” “impeach” and, among the most avoided, "Trump."CREDITS:Article: News Outlets Want More Advertisers to Act Like Burger KingAuthor: Tiffany Hsu and Marc TracyPublisher: The New York TimesLink: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/07/business/media/advertising-coronavirus-news.html

This article was more like a questions and answer article, but its good to get some local news in here and there. Hope y'all enjoyed! Please contact me at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- indoors- outdoors- seating- to operate- to containTRANSCRIPT:Downtown Sarasota restaurant Duval’s Fresh. Local. Seafood. adapted quickly when Florida restaurants were ordered closed except for takeout and delivery to contain the spread of COVID-19; merging operations with sister restaurants Element: Modern Mediterranean Grill and Plaza Bistro -n- Tavern, as well as adding groceries and other new offerings. Now like many other Florida restaurants, Duval’s has reopened for dine-in under the current state guidelines allowing 25 percent indoor capacity and outdoor seating, with social distancing of at least six feet for both. Element and PBnT currently remain closed, and Duval’s will still offer takeout and delivery.Jim Abrams, who heads the American Dreams Restaurant Group that operates all three restaurants, discussed how Duval’s has been handling this challenge in an April 29 interview, the same day Gov. Ron DeSantis announced restaurants would be allowed to reopen.We will reopen Duval’s — that will really give us a kind of test case to see what the demand is for inside seating or even outside seating, and then we’ll go from there. The other restaurants, they just could not survive. That’s not how it works in the restaurant business, you’re trying to have as many seats as what you can effectively fill and hopefully then have a couple of turns at night at Element, for instance. And at (25 percent) capacity, those numbers just aren’t going to play out.CREDITS:Article: Restaurant News: Duval's in Sarasota on reopening, responding to pandemicAuthor: Jimmy GeurtsPublisher: Herald-TribuneLink: https://www.heraldtribune.com/entertainment/20200507/restaurant-news-duvals-in-sarasota-on-reopening-responding-to-pandemic

It feels great to be back making these podcasts again! I hope they help. Feel free to contact me at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.com with any questions or concerns!VOCAB WORDS- commuters- hairdresser- to rise (rose)- to permit- desertedTRANSCRIPTThe Netherlands will begin a phased easing of its almost two-month-old coronavirus lockdown on Monday, according to a report by the national broadcaster NOS.Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to announce the reopening schedule in a live TV broadcast at 1700 GMT on Wednesday evening, the NOS said, citing anonymous sources.From next week, elementary schools will reopen, with classes split and rotated to enable greater distancing.Beauty salons and hairdressers will also be allowed to reopen, for customers who make appointments, and non-contact outdoor sports such as tennis will be permitted, the NOS said.Public transport will resume normal schedules from June 1, but with just 40% of seats available to allow for social distancing, and with the wearing of face masks compulsory. High schools will also reopen in June.Millions of commuters generally take the Netherlands' efficient trains, buses and trams to work every day.Since the lockdown began in mid-March, they have kept running, but with most people working from home, they have been virtually deserted.The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the Netherlands rose by 232 to 41,319 on Wednesday, with 36 new deaths for a total of 5,204, the National Institute for Health (RIVM) said in its daily update.CREDITSArticle: Netherlands to Begin Phased Easing of Lockdown Monday: BroadcasterAuthor: Reuters, Wire Service ContentPublisher: U.S. News & World ReportLink: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-05-06/netherlands-to-begin-phased-easing-of-lockdown-monday-broadcaster

I know I said I would resume the podcast on the 20th of April, but work happens and had to stay longer than expected. I'm back now and you can expect daily podcast uploads to help you with your English (except on the weekends). Hope you enjoyed the episode! Feel free to send me an email at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- supply chain- fears- facility- to reopen- to expectTRANSCRIPT: President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force is in the early stages of winding down, according to two people familiar with the matter.Drs. Deborah Birx and Anthony Fauci are still expected to be at the White House on a daily basis, but other members of the task force may be less physically present.Speculation about the task force's ongoing presence emerged as President Trump was traveling outside the D.C. area for the first time in more than a month to visit a Honeywell mask manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona.The U.S. coronavirus death toll inched closer to 70,000 Tuesday, with 69,149 deaths recorded at 4 a.m. ET. Globally, the more than 250,000 have died from the virus.Meanwhile, businesses in several states including Florida and California, have reopened their doors, hopeful to bring back customers while managing expectations and safety. But fears continue to mount about America's food supply chain. At a Tyson meat factory in Iowa, 58 percent of workers tested positive for COVID-19.CREDITS:Article: Coronavirus live updates: White House to wind down task forceAuthor: NBC NewsPublisher: NBC NewsLink: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/2020-05-05-coronavirus-news-n1200041

Hey everyone, today I just wanted to make a quick announcement about the future of this podcast. To make a long story short, I'm going on a business trip that will last about a month or so, and I won't be able to record any more podcast episodes. I'm expecting to come back around April 20th (plus or minus a few days). While I'm gone I'm going to listen to all my episodes and make some improvements so that way when I come back The Slow English Podcast will have a totally new look and sound! I'm excited to continue this journey with you all, I hope this podcast has helped you learn english and I hope it will continue to help you in the future! Thank you all of the support and listens you've given me already!See you all in April!-JacksonP.S. Send email suggestions to me at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.com

I know I said I would try and do less Coronavirus topics, but there is a lot happening! Also what's the best way to avoid getting sick? Studying English! Stay inside and study and you won't have to go outside or meet anyone. It's a perfect plan!Email: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- spike- demand- delivery- customers- lockdownTRANSCRIPT:In Italy, one of the world’s hardest hit countries, people woke up to yet further virus-containment restrictions. Premier Giuseppe Conte ordered restaurants, cafes and retail shops closed after imposing a nationwide lockdown on personal movement. Jewelry and clothing shops that on Tuesday and Wednesday had posted signs urging customers to queue up out the door a meter (3.3 feet) apart were closed until further notice. Supermarkets, pharmacies and outdoor markets were still open and supermarkets in particular had hours-long lines of customers queued up waiting to go inside a few at a time. Many of the customers were actually working for food delivery services, which have seen such a huge spike in demand that some have stopped taking new orders.CREDITS:Article: What's Happening: People Separated, China Closing EverestAuthor: The Associated PressPublisher: MYNorthwestLink: https://mynorthwest.com/1760507/whats-happening-people-separated-china-closing-everest/

Once again, another article about the coronavirus! I try and find news from all over about everything, but coronavirus is taking up all of the headlines. Hope you enjoyed, please send me an email if you have any suggestions! Email: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.comVOCAB WORDS:- contrast- to believe- to originate- to celebrate- starkTRANSCRIPT:As countries around the world grapple with the coronavirus, Taiwan may offer valuable lessons on how to curb its spread.The island is just 81 miles and a short flight away from mainland China, where COVID-19 is believed to have originated in the city of Wuhan. As the outbreak took hold in January, many Taiwanese business people and their families based in China were returning to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and up to 2,000 Chinese tourists a day visited the island, potentially bringing the virus with them.And yet, Taiwan has had only 47 cases of COVID-19 and one death as of Tuesday — far fewer than China’s 80,754 cases and 3,136 deaths, a stark contrast even when taking into account the enormous population difference: Taiwan’s 23 million to China’s 1.4 billion. Taiwan’s numbers are also much lower than neighboring countries such as South Korea, which has had more than 7,500 cases, and Japan, with 530. It’s also faring better than countries much farther away from China, such as Italy, with more than 9,000 cases, and the United States, which has over 700.CREDITS:Article: What Taiwan can teach the world on fighting the coronavirusAuthor: Cindy SuiPublisher: NBC NewsLink: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/what-taiwan-can-teach-world-fighting-coronavirus-n1153826

Thanks for listening! Hope you are finding this podcast helpful as your learn/study English. Let me know what you think! Send me an email at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.com VOCAB WORDS:- extensions- browser- warning- harmful- secureTRANSCRIPT: You’ll recall that last month Google started warning Microsoft Edge users about the browser’s potential dangers. You’re more secure using Chrome, the company said, whenever a Microsoft Edge user browsed their way onto the Chrome Web Store in search of extensions. Well, not any more.At the time, Windows Latest, which first reported the warnings, accused Google of “abusing user agents,” or browser identity codes, to detect Edge users and flash up the frightener. Now Google has taken the criticism to heart—the warnings have stopped. Instead, users are greeted with a much more friendly: “You can now add extensions from the Chrome Web Store to Microsoft Edge—Click on ‘Add to Chrome’.” Good news indeed.The issue arose because Chrome and Edge are both built on the same Chromium platform. It seems that Google’s reasoning for issuing the warning to Edge users is that the Microsoft browser does not integrate with Google’s Safe Browsing. Google explains that Safe Browsing enables Chrome and other browsers “to show users a warning message before they visit a dangerous site or download a harmful app—it also protects the Chrome Web Store from potentially harmful extensions.”CREDITS:Article: Google Chrome Now Has Some Good News For Millions Of Microsoft UsersAuthor: Zak DoffmanPublisher: ForbesLink: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2020/03/09/google-chrome-now-has-some-good-news-for-millions-of-microsoft-users/#697fa8582e1c

So sorry for getting this podcast in so late! A lot of traveling and a lot of work today. You can expect the podcast at the normal time tomorrow.VOCAB WORDS:- cases- health- connection- to detect- to testTRANSCRIPT:There are 717 cases of the novel coronavirus in the United States, according to state and local health agencies, governments and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.According to the CDC, there are 49 cases from citizens who were repatriated from abroad -- three from Wuhan, the pandemic's epicenter, and 46 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.Twenty-one cases have also been identified in connection with another cruise ship, the Grand Princess, which arrived in port in Oakland, California on Monday. According to CNN's tally of cases that have been detected and tested in the United States through US public health systems, there are 647 cases in 36 states and the District of Columbia.This includes presumptive positive cases that tested positive in a public health lab and are pending confirmation from the CDC, and confirmed cases that have received positive results from the CDC.CREDITS:Article: Live updates: Coronavirus death toll nears 4,000 worldwideAuthor: Joshua Berlinger and Adam RentonPublisher: CNNLink: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-10-20-intl-hnk/index.html

This was a long episode with a lot of hard vocabulary! Good job for listening and sticking through until the end. IMPORTANT NOTE: There will NOT be a podcast tomorrow (Friday) morning. I am traveling and will not be able to record. We will resume the podcast Monday morning around the same time! Until then, study hard and keep learning more vocabulary!VOCAB WORDS:- transition- negotiations- agreement- divorce- institutionsTRANSCRIPT: The EU's chief negotiator in trade talks with former member Britain warned Thursday of “serious divergences" between the two sides after the conclusion of the first round of negotiations.Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Michel Barnier highlighted four main areas of disagreement. These relate to the so-called level playing field, judicial cooperation, governance and fisheries.“Our differences come as no surprise," Barnier said. “Especially after only one round of negotiations. But some are very, very difficult."Britain left the EU on Jan. 31, the first country ever to do so. This week's talks marked the start of a process aimed at securing new commercial, fishing and other ties with the world’s biggest trading bloc.The teams are expected to meet every two to three weeks, alternating between Brussels and London. Half a dozen or so rounds of negotiations are expected to take place by the end of June.Under the divorce agreement signed last year, Britain must decide by June 30 whether it wants to extend a transition period that is aimed at smoothing its departure from the bloc, of which it was a member of for 47 years.Barnier said the changes that will come at the end of the transition period are being “underestimated," and warned that it won't be “business as usual" as new customs arrangements, for example, come into force.During the transition, Britain remains within the EU's economic orbit, including its single market for trade in goods and services, even though it has left its political institutions.CREDITS:Article: EU's Barnier Warns of Big Divergences With UK in TalksAuthor: Samuel PetrequinPublisher: U.S. News & World ReportLink: https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2020-03-05/eus-barnier-warns-of-big-divergences-with-uk-in-talks

Thanks again for listening! Today you will get 6 vocabulary words instead of 5 (congrats). Feel free to send me an email at: theslowenglishpodcast@gmail.com if you want to let me know how I'm doing!VOCAB WORDS:- precautions- history- community- outbreak- to cover (covering)- positiveTRANSCRIPT: Los Angeles County declared a local health emergency Wednesday during a news conference in which officials confirmed six new cases of coronavirus.“We’ve confirmed these cases as of last night with positive lab results,” Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.All six cases are linked to an "assumed known exposure source," she said. All of the patients either had a travel history to an area with an outbreak, were exposed to travelers from an area with an outbreak, or had close contact with a confirmed case.No further details were given on the patients who tested positive.Ferrer urged people to incorporate more public distancing practices.Individuals should stay home if they are sick. “Sick people make other people sick,” she said. Washing hands for 20 seconds, covering coughs and keeping 6 feet distance from people you don't know were also recommended. Ferrer pointed out that taking precautions can help slow the spread of the virus. “As of today we still don’t have known cases of community transmission,” she said.CREDITSArticle: Local health emergency declared in L.A. County amid announcement of 6 new coronavirus casesAuthor: Tony Kurzwell, Jennifer GouldPublisher: KTLALink: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/health-officials-to-make-major-announcements-1-day-after-coronavirus-case-confirmed-in-l-a-county/