An Italian priest says he is organizing the world’s first beauty pageant for nuns to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour. Antonio Rungi says The Miss Sister Italy online contest will start on his blog in September. "Nuns are - above all - women, and beauty is a gift from God," he told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper. He is asking nuns to send their photos to him, saying that internet users will then choose the winner…

Read this article on the BBC.

LEARN ENGLISH

1. beauty pageant: a competition in which women are judged on how attractive they look
2. stereotype: a fixed idea or image of what a particular type of person or thing is like
3. dour: severe and never smiling

During the early months of 1996, not long before Easter, an amateur wildlife photographer named Christo Baars made his way to the Australian island-state of Tasmania, where he set up camp in an old airport shack within the boundaries of Mount William National Park. Baars’s purpose, as on previous visits, was to photograph Tasmanian devils, piglet-size marsupials unique to the island’s temperate forests and moors. Because devils are nocturnal, Baars equipped his blind with a cot, a couple of car batteries, and several strong spotlights. For bait he used road-kill kangaroos. Then he settled in to wait…

• Read this article on Harper’s Magazine

LEARN ENGLISH

1. contagious: A disease that is contagious can be caught by touching or being very close to people or things that are infected with it.
2. shack: a very simple and small building made from bits of wood, metal or other materials
3. piglet-sized: the size of baby pigs
4. marsupials: a type of mammal from Australasia or South or Central America which is not completely developed when it is born and is carried around in a pocket on the mother’s body where it is fed and protected until it is completely
5. temperate: Temperate is used to describe a climate or a place which is never extremely hot or extremely cold.
   
6. moor: an open area of hills covered with rough grass:
7. nocturnal: Nocturnal creatures are active mainly at night.
8. bait: a small amount of food used to attract and catch a fish or animal

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
‘Cause there’s a million things to be
You know that there are
And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
‘Cause there’s a million ways to go
You know that there are…

• Read the full lyrics on Sing365.com.
• More information on Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam on Wikipedia.

LEARN ENGLISH

• ‘Cause is an informal way of saying because.

Birth-control pills could screw up a woman’s ability to sniff out a compatible mate […]. While several factors can send a woman swooning, including big brains and brawn, body odor can be critical in the final decision, the researchers say. That’s because beneath a woman’s flowery fragrance or a guy’s musk the body sends out aromatic molecules that indicate genetic compatibility…

• Read this article on Yahoo News.

LEARN ENGLISH

1. the pill: a type of medicine for women which is taken every day in order to prevent them from becoming pregnant
2. screw up: To screw something up, or to screw up, means to cause something to fail
3. sniff out: to discover where something or someone is by smelling:
4. a compatible mate: a suitable sexual partner
5. sends a woman swooning: makes a woman feel a lot of pleasure and love
6. brawn: physical strength and big muscles
7. odour: smell
8. fragrance: a sweet or pleasant smell
9. musk: a substance with a strong sweet smell, used in making perfumes

A pretty girl who won national fame after singing at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was only miming. Wearing a red dress and pigtails, Lin Miaoke charmed a worldwide audience with a rendition of “Ode to the Motherland”. But the singer was Yang Peiyi, who was not allowed to appear because she is not as "flawless" as nine-year-old Lin…

• Read this article on the BBC.

LEARN ENGLISH

The girl in the photo is wearing her hair in pigtails. Here is a list of some common hairstyles:

1. She wore butterfly glasses and had a beehive hairdo.
   (a woman’s hairstyle in which the hair is arranged in a pile high on the head)
2. She always wears her hair in a bob.
   (a women’s hairstyle with the hair cut to neck length all around the head)
3. Why don’t you wear your hair in a bun? It suits you very much.
   (If a woman has her hair in a bun, she has fastened it tightly on top of her head or at the back of her head in the shape of a ball.)
   
4. chignon
   (a woman’s hairstyle where the hair is arranged in a knot or roll at the back of her head)
5.  crewcut
   (a man’s hairstyle in which his hair is cut very short)
   
6. dreadlocks
   (If someone has dreadlocks, their hair is divided into a large number of tight strips, like pieces of rope. )
   
7. A little girl in with pigtails welcomed the princess.
   (a length of hair which is tied at the back of the head or at each side of the head, sometimes in a plait)
   
8. Her long hair was swept back in a ponytail.
   (A ponytail is a hairstyle in which someone’s hair is tied up at the back of the head and hangs down like a horse’s tail.)
   
9. She usually wears her hair in a plait/in two plaits.  (US: braid)
   (a length of hair or other material which is divided into three parts which are then crossed over each other in a special pattern)

beehive	bob	bun	chignon	crewcut
dreadlocks	pigtails	ponytail	plaits

US scientists have discovered people who can "hear" what they see. The rare form of synaesthesia - a condition where senses intermingle - came to light after a student reported "hearing sounds" from a screensaver…

• Read this news story on the BBC.

LEARN ENGLISH

1. Human beings understand the world around them through five senses: the sense of sight (–> eyes), the sense of hearing (–> ears), the sense of smell (–> nose), the sense of taste (–> tongue), and the sense of touch (–> skin).
2. If two things intermingle, they become mixed together.
3. If something comes to light, it becomes known.

While the world complains about human rights violations, air pollution, censorship and the despotic rule of the Chinese regime, China is celebrating a dream come true. Many in the West are convinced that awarding the Olympics to Beijing was a mistake. Are they right? …

• Read this article on Spiegel.

LEARN ENGLISH

1. human rights violations: breaking or acting against the basic rights which it is generally considered all people should have, such as justice and the freedom to say what you think
2. despotic rule: controlling a country with unlimited power and in an unfair and cruel way
3. a dream come true: a wish that has happened
4. are convinced that: are certain that

While the quest for the proverbial Fountain of Youth is endless and typically fruitless, one method known to extend the human lifespan by up to five years has quietly become accepted among leading researchers. The formula is simple: Eat less. It could add years to your life, several experts now say. And done in moderation, it could at least help you live a more healthy life…

• Read this article on Live Science.

LEARN ENGLISH

1. In stories, the Fountain of Youth is a spring (= a stream of water that comes out of a hole) that restores the youth of anyone who drinks of its waters.
2. endless and typically fruitless: it never ends and it is - as expected - useless
3. extend the human lifespan: make the humans live longer
4. done in moderation: If you don’t overdo it.

Ah, the Internet: you use it every day for school, work or fun. In such a short period of time, the Net has grown into an essential every day thing that it’s hard to imagine life without it.

But how much do you know about the Internet? Did you know that you have the Soviets to thank for this wonderful invention? Or that despite the flack that he got for inventing the Internet, Al Gore actually did play a major role in the creation of the Net?

Here are the 10 Things You Should Know About the Internet…

• Read this article on Neatorama.

LEARN ENGLISH

1. despite = in spite of: without taking any notice of or being influenced by (You use despite to introduce an idea that appears to contradict your main statement.) Example: She told friends she will stand by (= continue to support) her husband, despite reports that he sent another woman love letters.
2. flack: strong criticism or opposition