English Podcasts | Words of the Week 29 September 2017

Welcome to your Words of the Week Quiz 29th September 2017

Are you up to date with current vocabulary ?

Do you listen to the international news and wonder what it all means ?

This quiz is an opportunity to get up to date and test your comprehension of words you may have seen and heard in the news this week.

A good way to learn extra vocabulary is to group all words associated with a topic together and make a Mind Map. These graphic mind maps have been shown to be more effective when learning new vocabulary than the traditional lists of words.

HISTORIC BREAKTHROUGH: This week we saw this headline in many newspapers and on many news websites:

Saudi Arabia women hail end of driving ban.

From June 2018 Saudi women will be allowed to drive and at last they can use the piece of equipment featured in the photo. What is it called ?

A steerer.

A round wheel.

A steering wheel.

A turner.

None

PROTEST: A major controversy in the USA this week has been centered on some footballer players protesting during the playing of the national anthem.

What has this form of protest become known as?

Take a knee.

Bend the leg.

Crouching Tiger.

Do a knee.

None

INSPIRATION: This photo is a poster for the British team taking part in the Invictus Games in Toronto this week. This global sporting event provides a sporting challenge for wounded servicemen and women to compete against each other.

The word INVICTUS comes from a poem which also inspired Nelson Mandela when he was imprisoned on Robben Island.

What is an everyday synonym for the word INVICTUS ?

Winner

Powerful

Performance

Undefeated

None

MOVIES: Since its release at the beginning of the month, the film Mother has not been a great box office success. So in order to boost attendance figures the poster was changed to make the film appear "more exciting". One quote on the poster says that the film is a "mind blowing masterpiece".

What does the expression "mind-blowing" actually mean?

Excellent

Exciting

Astounding

Narcotic

None

SOCIETY: A headmistress at an all girls school in the UK has decided to stop calling her pupils "girls" in order to be more gender fluid.

How do you think she addresses her pupils now ?

Shes.

Them.

Its.

They.

None

POLITICS: This week Donald Trump tweeted his support for a candidate in the Alabama Republican primary election :

ALABAMA, get out and vote for Luther Strange - he has proven to me that he will never let you down! #MAGA

Following Mr Strange's defeat, this tweet has since been removed from the president's twitter feed.

What is the antonym of the phrasal verb "get out" in this context ?

Wake up

Stay at home

Speak up

Act up

None

GAME OF THRONES: In the Times of London this week this announcement appeared. Fill in the missing word.

"Mr K.C. Harington and Miss R.E. Leslie. The __________ is announced between Kit, younger son of David and Deborah Harington of Worcestershire, and Rose, middle daughter of Sebastian and Candy Leslie of Aberdeenshire."

Marriage

Civil partnership

Wedding

Engagement

None

GEOSCIENCE: The volcano on Mont Agung on the island of Bali has been showing signs of erupting and more than 75,000 people have been evacuated as officials say that it is HIGHLY LIKELY there will be a full scale eruption.

What does HIGHLY LIKELY mean in this context?

It will be a very fantastic spectacle for tourists, they will like to see it.

It will probably happen.

People living on high places on the island will not be badly affected.

It will be a huge disaster for local people. They won't like it.

None

TECHNOLOGY: Apple has revealed details of its new FACE ID security feature for the new iPhone X. The manual explains that this cutting edge development can "detect correct faces by using anti-spoofing technology".

Which sentence in everyday language corresponds most closely to "Apple Talk"?

The phone can identity the correct user and block unauthorized apps.

The phone is able to uncover incorrect passwords by a special type of technology.

The phone can trace the identity of people who are trying to hack the phone by fake technology.

The phone is able to recognise the user's real face due to technology which spots fake faces.

None

SHOW BIZ: The founder of Playboy magazine, Huge Hefner, died this week at the age of 91. Back in 1992 he bought a plot of land to have his grave next to that of Marilyn Monroe, who featured on his first ever magazine cover.

What is a synonym for the word "grave".