IE1: Izumi’s Blog

Class IE Name Izumi Ishii
Report 1 Date May 05/26

1,MLA CITATION

For my news report, I chose an article from the BBC website about American Idol. I chose this topic because I am interested in this TV show.
[http://http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8063009.stm]

2, ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Idol finale viewing figures drop

Kris Allen (right) was crown this year’s winner
This year’s American Idol finale drew its lowest ratings in the US since 2004, according to early figures.
An estimated 28.8m viewers watched the two-hour show on Wednesday which saw 23-year-old student Kris Allen crowned the winner of the singing contest.
The figure is down from the 32m who watched the finale last year, but the programme remains the most watched TV show in the US.
A record number of almost 100m votes were cast by viewers this year.
Increased competition
American Idol audiences have slipped to an average 26.3m per twice weekly episode over the five-month broadcast, compared to a 2006 high of about 30.8m.
It comes despite producers adding a fourth judge, songwriter Kara DioGuardi, and slightly changing the format in a bid to keep the show fresh.
The drop is now raising questions about the future of some of the show’s key players.
Judge Simon Cowell, who commutes weekly across the Atlantic while filming UK reality shows X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, has discussed leaving when his contract expires in May 2010.
He has already said he would want to leave American Idol if it was toppled from its six-year reign at the top on US TV.
The declining ratings reflect a general fall-off in US TV viewing in the past two years, which is being blamed on increased competition from computer games and the internet.

3,SUMMARY

    The American TV show called American Idol is in danger of abolition. This is because the number of people who see this movie is decreasing. The reason of this situation is the spread of Internet or radio ,or the fact that everyone gets tired of seeing this TV show. Simon Cowell who is one of the judgement says that he will quit this show if the ratings continues to decrease.

4,OPINION

    American Idol is one of my favorite shows, so I donnot want this TV show to dessaper. However, it is very understandable that people are tired of seeing same entertainment shows. I think it is inresting if similar TV program comes up from Japan.

5,VOCABURARY

crown;v to form or cover the top of something

slip;v to fall to a lower level, to become worse

commute;v to travel regularly by bus, train, car, etc between your place of work and your home

contract;n an official written agreement

expire;v to be no longer valid because the period of time for which it could be used has ended

6,QUESTION

1,Have you ever seen the American Idol？

2,What kind of American show do you like？

3,Do you have any favorite artists？

       There are various differences between the play and the book in Oliver Twist.  In the book,Nancy, the cleaner of Sikes was killed by hitted by Bill Sikes. Fagin, the head of the theft , Jewis,was arrested by police and became to be put to death. Oliver and Ms brownlow went to see Fagin, although he ended up going mad and comiting a suicide before the play. On the other hand,in the play,Nancy was died by being fired a gun by Sikes. Fagin who was arrested and died in the book, succeeded to go away from the police and continue to live a same life as before. Needless to say, Oliver and Ms brown low did not go to see Fagin in the play.                                                                              

         I think both of the play and the book have essential factor to end the whole story. However, in my opinion, the ending of the book is much better than that of the play. The play has the time limit,so it cannot help but tend to make the ending shallow. On the other hand , the description of the ending of the book is much detailed and bring readers the question of this story. Charles Dickens, the author, described good and evil vividly by using a variety of characters. For instance, Oliver can be a symbol of good in this story and Oliver is a representation of a lowere class. What represents the evil is social order and the devastated tsocial tide in the18th century of London. At first sight, Dickens tries to criticize some characters, like Mr Bumble, Fagin, Bill Sikes by describing how crucially they treat Oliver, the symbol of the good. However, I think what Dickens tries to criticize esentially is that the system in England at that time  behind their bad characters. The play cannnot describe how evil the social was completely by omitting some scenes, especially the description of the death.

     On the other hand, the play has also good element than the book. I think the play is well concerned not to make audience boring. For example, the scene that is not so important but comical scene is described well in the play because it would give audience a large laugh. In addition, although some scenes in the book are omitted in the play, audience who does not read the book or see the movie could understand the content of such a long story in just two hours play. The tempo of the play is so good and described well in spite of the difficulty of the set.Therefore, i like the play better than the book in the point of the conciseness and the enjoyment.

feminine  adj

 having the qualities or appearance considered to be typical of women ,connected with women

 Mary likes feminine fashion.

transplant  noun

 a medical operation in which adamaged organ is replaced with one from another person

 I had a transplant operation two years ago.

leukaemia  noun

 a serious disease in which too many white blood cells are produced, causing weakness and sometimes death

 My brother suffered from leukaemia.

paediatrician  noun

 a doctor  who studies and treats the deseases of children

 The dream of Tom is to be a paeditrician.

locum  noun

 a doctor or a priest who does the work of another doctor or priest while they are sick on holiday,etc

 It is very hard to be a locum today.

maturity  noun

 the quality of thinking and behaving in a sensible, adult manner

He has a mtured thinking despite of his age.

confirm  verb

 to state or show that sth is definitly true or correct,especially by providing evidence

 I urged honors to confirm a reservation.

consensus  noun

 an option that all members of a group agree with

 We resulted in the consensus that all members should have responsible for this incident.

pandemic  noun

  a desease spreads over a whole country or the whole world

  Pig virus becomes a pandemic desease thesedays.

refund  noun

  a sum of money that is paid back to you, especially because you paid too match or because you returned gods to a shop

 I had my money refunded yesterday.

capacity  noun

 the number of things or people that a container or space can hold

The new theater has a big capacity.

indigeneous  adj

 belonging to a particular place rather than coming to it from somewhere else

 Indian people have a indigenous flavor.

at risk

 in danger of sth unpleasant or harmful happening

 Students at Senzoku Gakuen are at risk of pig virus now.

irreplaceable  adj

 too valuable or spacial to be replaced

 The position of Mr Smith is irreplaceable.

withering adj

 intended to make sb feel silly or ashamed

  The boss gave us a withering glace today.

harsh  adj

 cruel, severe and unkind

 The test result was harsh.

deliver  verb

 to help a woman to give birth to a baby

 My sister was delivered of a pretty girl three years ago.

precaution  noun

 something that is done in advance in order to prevent problems or to avoid danger

 My family take precaution against fire.

swot  noun

 a person who spends too much time studying

 I was a so-called swot at the age of sixteen.

contraction  noun

 the process of becoming smaller

 The sudden contraction  of the markets took the company to bankruptcy.

midwife  noun

 a person especially a woman , who is trained to help women give birth to babies

 Marys ocupation is a midwife.

 

 

inquiry noun

 a question that you ask when you want more question

There are lots of forms of inquiries in this quastionnaire.

compile verb

 to collect information and arrange it in a book , report, or list.

 The editor compiled the papers.

vomit verb

 If someone vomits, food or liquid that was in their stomach comes up and out of their stomach.

 A old man vomited in the crowded train yesterday.

additive  noun

 a chemical which is added to food in order to make it taste or look better or keep it fresh

 The lunch boxes at convenient stores conbine a large account of additives.

veterinarian noun

 someone whose job is to give medical care to animals that are ill or hurt

 A professional veterinarian made my hurted cat happy.

pessimistic adj

 always believes that bad things will happen

 I am pessimistic when I stay home alone.

surgery  noun

when a doctor cuts your body open and requires or removes something

 I had a surgery when I was 9 years old because of heart attack.

initial  adj

 first or happening at the beginning

 My initial reaction was crying.

medic noun

a medical student or doctor

One of my friends are medics.

deprived  adj

without enough food , education and all the things that are necessary for people to live a happy and comfortable life

She has a deprived background.

routine  noun

 the normal order and the way in which you reguraly do things

 Exercising after taking a bath is my routine.

fecilitate  verb

 to make an action or a process possible or easier

 Mary facilitate the edit of the play.

vulnerable  adj

 weak and easily hurt physically or emotionally

 Children today are likely to be vulnerable.

hygiene  noun

 the practice of keeping yourself and your living and eorking areas clean in order to prevent illness and disease

  Tom took a class of hygiene to be a dentist.

predict  verb

 to say that sth will happen in the future

 The forecast predicts that it snows today.

net  noun

 a type of material that is made of string , thread or wire twisted or tied together, with small spaces in between

  I bought a fishing net yesterday.

appreciation  noun

 pleasure that you have when you recognize and enjoy the good qualities of sth

 We clapped players in apprecation.

forecast  noun

 a statement about what will happen in the future , based on information that is available now

 The forecast says it will rain today.

tease  verb

 to laugh at sb and make jokes about them , either in a friendly way or in order to annoy or embarrass them

 Marky used to get teased about her hair.

suicide  noun

 the act of killing yourself deliberately

 Mrs Smith commited  suicide two years ago.

option  noun

 something that you can choose to have or do, the freedom to choose what you choose

 This menu have lots of options.

urge  verb

 to advise or try hard to persuade sb to do sth

 My friends urged me to stay home later.

likelihood  noun

 the chance of sth happening, how likely sth is to happen

 The likelihood is that money costs will fall doen in this company.

require verb

 to need something

 You have to eat out because it is required.

carnivore  noun

 an animal that eats flesh

 Lion is one of carnivores on earth.

exceptional  adj

 unusual and likely not to happen

This is an exceptional case.

curb  verb

 to control or limit something in order to prevent it from having a harmful effect

You should curb the spred of pig  influenza.

intake    noun

 the amount of food,drink, etc  that  you take into your body

 I have to reduce my intake of food.

reveal    verb

 to make known something that was previously secret or known

 Richard revealed the scandal of the campany.

consume  verb

 to use time,energy,good,etc

 We are consumer of foods.

hail   noun

 frozen rain drops which fall as hard balls of ice

On the mountain, there are heavy hails.

cessation  noun

  a pause or stop

 lets have cessation now.

explosion   noun

 a loud sound and the energy produced by something such as a bumb bursting into small pieces

My grandfather was died of the bomb explosion.
 

snicker  verb

  to laugh quietly and in a way that is not nice at something which is not supposed to be funny

  The other students snickered at Steve.

wow  verb

  to make people admire you a lot

  The show has wowed audiences all over the country.

rivet  verb

 1, be riveted on/to/by sth

   if your attention is riveted on something,you are so interested or so friehtened that you keep looking at it

   All eyes were riveted on her in horror.

2,  be ribeted to the spot

  to be so shocked or frienhtened that you cannnot more

3, to fasten something with rivets

vindicate   verb

 1,  to prove that someone who was blamed for something is in fact  not guilty

 The charges are false, and we are sure we will be vindicated in court.

2, to prove that someone or something is right or true

  The decision to advertise has been vindicated by the fact that sales have grown.

sneer  verb

 to smile or speak in a very unkind way that shows you have no respect for someone or something

 Is that your best outfit ？　he sneered.

accuse  verb

 to say that you believe someone is guilty of a crime or of doing something bad

 He was accused of murder.

infant  noun

  a baby or very young children

  An infants skin is very sensitive.

custody  noun

 the right to take care of a child ,given to one of their parents when they have divorced

 He got custody of his son after the divorce.

acquaintance  noun

someone you know, but who is not a close friend

She was a casual acquaintance of my family in Vienna.

felony noun

 a serious crime such as murder

steady  adj

 continuing or developing gradually or without stopping, and not likely to change

 Paul is making steady progress.

graze  verb

  if an animal grazes, or if you graze it, it eats grass that is growing

 Groups of cattle were grazing on the rich grass.