LESSON NOTES

Advanced Audio Blog S3 #23

Top 10 US Holidays: New Year's

CONTENTS
2 English
2 Vocabulary
3 Sample Sentences
3 Cultural Insight

# 23
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 ENGLISH

1. Top 10 US Holidays—New Year's

2. Celebrating New Year's in the United States brings to mind plenty of drinking and
partying. Law enforcement agencies around the United States have extra officers on
patrol on New Year's Eve because so many people are drinking heavily to welcome in the
New Year. Ad campaigns warn about the dangers of drunk driving, and some
organizations offer free cab rides home to fight against drunk driving.

3. Amidst all the alcohol, there are celebrations all over the country, the most famous of
which is in Times Square in New York City. People who aren't in Times Square for the
celebration often watch it on television. The highlight of the Times Square celebration is
the ball drop right at the stroke of midnight.

4. Organizers estimate that a million people watch the ball drop in Times Square each year,
and millions more watch from other places in the United States. It is believed that over a
billion people in all are watching the Times Square celebration from places all over the
world.

5. In addition to the famous ball drop, New Year's Eve in Times Square is also highlighted
with several music performances. Numerous celebrities perform and take part in the New
Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. Ten seconds before midnight, a celebrity leads
the countdown to the new year, and when that countdown reaches zero, the ball drops.

6. Many Americans kiss precisely at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, so often they
make sure they are next to someone they would like to kiss.

VOCABULARY

V oc abular y English C lass

a round object, often the

ball focus of a game or sport noun

celebrity a famous person noun

nothing; none; boundary

zero between positive and noun
negative

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 touch one's lips to someone
kiss verb, noun
else as a gesture of affection

having lost one's judgment

or control over one's
drunk behavior after drinking too adjective
much alcohol

to make sure that [a rule or

enforce law] actually gets followed verb, noun

in the middle of the night,

midnight twelve o'clock a.m. noun

series of events or memories

that characterize a particular
times period in the life of a person, noun
nation, etc.

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Passing the ball is difficult for players of He dreams of becoming a celebrity.

some sports.

A zero-tolerance policy is often declared Kiss is not only a noun, but the name of a
for various laws. very famous American rock band.

Getting drunk is never good for your Enforcement of some laws is nearly
health. impossible.

The shop closes at midnight. Those were good times.

CULTURAL INSIGHT

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Fun Facts about New Year's Eve

The first mass celebration of New Year's Eve in Times Square was in 1904, which was when the
first subway line in the city opened. Also, the new headquarters of The New York Times
opened, thus earning the square its name. The tradition of the New Year's Eve ball drop began
in 1907, the year city officials banned the fireworks displays that had taken center stage in
previous years. The only two years since then that there was no ball drop were 1942 and 1943,
when a more solemn observance of the New Year was punctuated by a moment of silence
and the ringing of chimes in honor of troops during World War II.

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