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TỔNG HỢP TỪ VỰNG BỞI

KÊNH IELTS & HP ACADEMY

Source: The Economist

Magazine tittle: TECH'S RAID ON BANKS
Translated by: Ms. Khanh An
Kenh IELTS team
 Drugmaking
ARTICLE 1

A TOUGH SELL
Why producers of new
antibiotics are ailing.

ARTICLE 2
Facebook
ZUCKERBERG S ’

WE CHAT
MOMENT
The social network s boss ’

has a plan to overpower

 

his opponents .
DRUGMAKING

A TOUGH
SELL

WHY PRODUCERS OF NEW

ANTIBIOTICS ARE AILING .

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY AND KENH IELTS

 D r u g m a k i n g

A TOUGH SELL

Why producers of new antibiotics are ailing .

Getting hold of penicillin in 1943 was a lottery in America The miracle drug had been discovered 15 years. “ ”

earlier but production capacity was limited and most went to the war effort What remained was rationed
, . ,

and a single injection cost at least 40 about 600 in today s prices By 1949 better manufacturing
$ ( $ ’ ).

methods allowed the price to fall to 20 cents The use of penicillin exploded. .

Antibiotics subsequently became a staple of modern medicine Massive volumes offset low margins No . .

longer Finding new molecules is getting harder which means higher development costs At the same
. , .

time growing awareness that overuse accelerates development of bacterial resistance to the drugs has
,

led to antibiotics stewardship the practice of using the newest antibiotics only for infections untreatable
“ ”,

with older ones Volumes in other words are often disappointing With returns from antibiotics down big
. , , . ,

pharmaceutical companies have abandoned them for more lucrative drugs GlaxoSmithKline Pfizer and . ,

Merck are the only three doing clinical research in the field .

Small biotechnology firms tried to pick up the slack In the past ten years as the world began to panic
. ,

about the rise of resistant superbugs governments and charities provided early stage financing Like big
, - .

pharma though the biotech startups have struggled to make money from antibiotics An American one
, , . ,

Achaogen filed for bankruptcy on April 15th plazomicin a novel antibiotic it began selling in 2018 sold
, ; , ,

barely any doses in the first eight months Melinta another antibiotics startup is restructuring Share prices
. , , .

of similar firms have plunged in some cases below their liquidation value
, .
YRALUBACOV

1. Injection (n): the act of putting a liquid especially a drug into a person s body using a
, , '

needle and a syringe small tube mũi tiêm (= ) ( )

2. Staple (n): a main product or part of something yếu tố chính ( )

3. Resistance (n): a force that acts to stop the progress of something or make it slower
(kháng lại )

4. Resistant (a): kháng lại  

5. Infections (n):
a disease in a part of your body that is caused by bacteria or a virus :

(bệnh truyền nhiễm )

6. Infectious (a):
truyền nhiễm
7. Lucrative (a):
producing a lot of money có lợi nhuận ( )

used to refer to medical work or teaching thatrelates to the examination

8. Clinical (a):
and treatment of illpeople lâm sàng ( )

to suddenly feel so worried or frightened that you cannot think or

9. Panic (v): behave calmly or reasonably hoảng loạn ( )

a measured amount of something such as medicine liều thuốc ( )

10. Dose (n):

to cause someone or something to move or fall suddenly and often
( )

11. Plunge (v): along way forward down or into something giảm nhanh
, , ( )

the process of closing a business so that its assets can be sold to pay its ,

12. Liquidation (n): debts or an instance of this giải thể

, ( )

ARTICLE 1 02 |
 D r u g m a k i n g

A TOUGH SELL

The demise of Achaogen has been blamed on the peculiar features of the antibiotics market rather than the ,

poor business decisions of its managers The low number of cases that are suitable for potential treatment
.

with novel antibiotics makes it hard to recruit enough patients for clinical trials Take carbapenem resistant .

Enterobacteriaceae or CRE for short which Achaogen went after These bacteria kill half of those whose
( ), .

bloodstream they infect But CRES cause only a tiny fraction of bacterial infections in American hospitals
. .

Firms get around this by having their new antibiotics approved for more common ailments treatable with
existing drugs such as urinary tract infections At the same time they publish results from small observational
, - . ,

trials of the new drugs showing good recovery rates for hospital patients with CRE infections counting on —

doctors to prescribe the medicines off label for CRE In the case of Achaogen a small study showed that
- . ,

plazomicin was indeed safer and more effective for CRE than colistin a highly toxic antibiotic of last resort ,

from the 1950s Yet plazomicin did not make a dent in colistin use A CRE antibiotic by Melinta that has been
. .

on the market for over a year is not selling well either , .

That could be because few doctors know about the new treatments The firms which sell them lack the .

marketing dollars that big pharma firms shower on new drugs says Alan Carr an analyst at Needham an asset , , ,

manager in New York It takes time for new antibiotics to make it into clinical guidelines such as those of the
. ,

Infectious Diseases Society of America which are updated infrequently

, .

American hospitals meanwhile avoid new antibiotics because they end up footing the bill which can run to
, , ,

several thousand dollars per patient Federal programmes like Medicare which provides health care for the
. ,

elderly often pay hospitals for antibiotics as part of bundled payments for hospitalisation not as
, ,

reimbursement for a particular treatment as in the case of cancer Aleks Engel of Novo Holdings another
, . ,

asset manager cites this model as a perennial gripe among fellow investors in antibiotics
, .

Antibiotics which fall flat in the first few years can eventually become profitable notes Bibhash Mukhopadhyay ,

of New Enterprise Associates an American venture capital firm Until tests pinpoint the specific bug causing
, - .

an infection which may take days doctors try several common antibiotics that usually work for the microbial
( ),

culprit they suspect For example when a first line antibiotic stops working for most cases of pneumonia
. , -

caused by bacteria that grow in hospital patients breathing tubes the third line antibiotic starts selling briskly
’ , - . 

Many investors are too impatient to wait that long Lacking other products on the market to turn a profit firms like
. ,

Achaogen struggle to raise capital to cover their costs Higher prices might help but the debate in America is . ,

about how to lower the cost of drugs not raise it Even if new antibiotics were paid for separately many investors
, . ,

think that patients for drugs like plazomicin are too few to make these drugs commercially viable in the near term .

Making them profitable for firms will take ingenuity This week a uncommission mused about granting large .

cash prizes for companies that create such drugs or paying them a subscription that guarantees fixed ,

revenues regardless of use Given the x Prize and Netflix these are at least familiar to venture capitalists
. , .

13. Demise (n): the end of something that was previously considered to be powerful
YRALUBACOV

  ,

such as a business industry or system sự sụp đổ , , ( )

14. Peculiar (a):  belonging to relating to or found in only particular people or things
, ,

(riêng biệt )

15. Trial (n):  a test usually over a limited period of time to discover how effective or
, ,

suitable something or someone is thử nghiệm ( )

16. Prescribe (v):  (of a doctor to say what medical treatment someone should have kê
) (

đơn thuốc )

17. Reimbursement (n): the act of paying back money to someone who has spent it for you or
lost it because of you or the amount that is paid back hoàn trả tiền
, ( )

18. Ingenuity (n): someone s ability to think of clever new ways of doing something sự
' (

khéo léo )

ARTICLE 1 03 |
FACEBOOK

ZUCKERBERG’S
WE CHAT
MOMENT

THE SOCIAL NETWORK S BOSS HAS

’

A PLAN TO OVERPOWER HIS

 

OPPONENTS .

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY AND KENH IELTS

 F a c e b o o k

ZUCKERBERG’S WE
CHAT MOMENT

The social network s boss has a plan to overpower his opponents

’ .

n his spare time Mark Zuckerberg likes to run In 2016 . much Far from retreating he is limbering up for
. ,  

Facebook s boss pledged to cover 365 miles 587km

’ ( ) a new contest to reinvent social networking this
—     ,

that year and ever the overachiever completed the

, , time around messaging The future is private he . “ ,”

challenge by July He does not practise martial arts

. declared grandiosely Though he might not admit it .

(võ thuật but his almost discomfiting poise could

), in public he seems keen to turn Facebook into a
,

lead you to mistake him for a master of something Western version of WeChat the Chinese messaging ,

like aikido That would be appropriate for in his

. , app whose array of mobile services from payments ,

professional life Mr Zuckerberg is trying to turn his to filing court paperwork has made it ubiquitous in ,

opponents energy against them

’ . China even if his recent pledge to store user
—

information only in countries that respect the rule of

When in early March he announced that Facebook law is an implicit admission that he has given up on
would follow a privacy focused vision for social
“ -
the Chinese market where Communist minders
networking complete with encrypted messages
,
”,
insist that Western firms must keep all data locally
that even the firm cannot peer into observers
.
,

interpreted this as a defensive move Some . Older. And wiser?

discerned a belated response to outrage over Facebook s core business is maturing as its boss
’ ,

privacy abuses on the world s largest social network ’ . clearly sees Its operating margins 42 excluding
. — %,

Others saw the plan to knit together its instant - $ 3bn set aside to cover an expected fine by
messaging services chiefly Messenger and , America s Federal Trade Commission for privacy
’

WhatsApp as a way to make the company harder to

, violations remain the envy of the tech world In
— .

break up as some American politicians demand

, . the latest quarter revenue grew by 26 compared %

Others still spied a ruse to escape liability for violent with the previous year exceeding 15bn But user , $ .

user content now that Facebook would no longer be

, growth is slowing In some rich countries especially . ,

able to read any of it . European ones it is flat The young prefer social
, .

media which are more intimate and ephemeral

All three rationales probably played a part Yet the
“ ” “ ”,
.
like Snapchat which pioneered stories messages
firm s privacy pivot is perhaps better seen as an
, “ ”,
’ “ ”
and pictures that disappear after 24 hours and
aikido like redirection of detractors momentum Mr
—
- ’ .
which Facebook aped More than 500m users of
Zuckerberg s speech at his firm s annual developer
.
’ ’
Instagram Messenger and WhatsApp now post
conference in San Jose on April 30th suggested as
,
  
stories every day .

1. Opponent (n): a person who disagrees with something and speaks against it or tries to
change it đối thủ
YRALUBACOV

( )

2. Pledge (v): to make a serious or formal promise to give or do something cam kết ( )

3. Martial arts (n): a sport that is a traditional Japanese or Chinese form of fighting or defending
yourself võ thuật ( )

4. Poise (n): behavior or a way of moving that shows calm confidence dáng vẻ ( )

5. Encrypted (a): to put information into a special form so that most people cannot read it mã hóa ( )

6. Discern (v): to see recognize or understand something that is not clear nhận thấy
, , ( )

7. Belated (a): coming later than expected đến chậm ( )

8. Ruse (n):
a trick intended to deceive someone mưu mẹo ( )

9. Reinvent (v):
to produce something new that is based on something that already exists
(tự đổi mới )

seeming to be everywhere ở đâu cũng có ( )

10. Ubiquitous (a):
suggested but not communicated directly ngấm ngầm ( )

11. Implicit (n):

the income that a government or company receives regularly lợi nhuận ( )

12. Revenue (n):

ARTICLE 2 05 |
 F a c e b o o k

ZUCKERBERG’S WE
CHAT MOMENT

Mr Zuckerberg expects migration from the online town square to a digital living room to continue “ ” “ ” ;

stories may soon outnumber posts on Facebook s newsfeed The plan is to build it around WhatsApp ’ . ,

which already offers secure texting It would let users find each other pay digital and offline shopkeepers
. , ,

or purchase a cornucopia of online services perhaps one day using Facebook s own currency In time the — ’ . ,

thinking goes it may become as indispensable to Westerners as WeChat is in China

, .

Some elements of the new platform already exist WhatsApp is testing a payment service in India Others ; . ,

such as new shopping features on Instagram were launched in San Jose All this falls short of a full blown , . -

business plan But the contours of Mr Zuckerberg s vision are taking shape The 34 year old is proceeding
. ’ . - -

more cautiously than in Facebook s early years when he was guided by the now infamous injunction to
’ ,

“move fast and break things but no less deliberately ”— .

That is just as well for platform shifts are tricky Microsoft did not see smartphones coming and Facebook
, “ ” .

itself almost missed the rise of mobile apps To succeed it must clear a number of hurdles The first is . , .

technical Facebook wants an Instagram user to be able to send a note directly to a friend on WhatsApp
.   .

Creating a common phone book for these services with a combined total of 2 7bn users and different , .

source codes presents a knotty problem for programmers Chris Cox one of Mr Zuckerberg s top
, . , ’

lieutenants is rumoured to have left the company in March because he did not think it could be done this
, (

week Mr Cox attributed his departure to artistic differences with his boss “ ” ).

The second challenge is economic WeChat could become the platform of choice on smartphones .

because China had no dominant app stores Facebook must contend with incumbents such as Apple and .

Google Since you can t sell microtargeted adverts against encrypted messages your algorithms cannot see
. ’ ,

the new platform will need a fresh way to make money For all its ubiquity WeChat is no cash cow . ,

(Tencent its owner makes most of its revenue from online games Maintaining Facebook s fat margins
, , ). ’

would require new revenue sources such as charging businesses to contact users or taking a cut of any
,

purchases as credit card issuers do Lastly there are the entwined issues of privacy and competition Mr
, - . , .

Zuckerberg accepts that a lot of people dismiss Facebook s sincerity here his recent article in the ’ —

Washington Post imploring governments to regulate social media notwithstanding It will continue to
, , .

collect plenty of data Integrating these and the underlying apps could in turn enable Facebook to
. , ,

convert its dominance in public social networking into power over private messaging This reminds .

seasoned competition regulators of Microsoft s attempts to bundle its operating system with a web ’

browser in the mid 1990s in a bid to control cyberspace With the internet s rise the stakes today are
- . ’ ,

bigger no country wants one firm to become society s de facto operating system
: ’ .

Since its services cost nothing Facebook says it is not gouging users It could argue that a single dominant
, , .

social network is easier to police than lots of smaller ones and has greater financial and technical capacity
to keep users safe from harmful content And it would be a bulwark against WeChat which might . ,

otherwise become a force outside China bringing the Chinese surveillance giám sát state with it — ( ) .

Indeed Mr Zuckerberg s Washington Post article looks like a bid to broker a 21st century version of the
, ’ -

Kingsbury Commitment of 1913 when AT T then America s telephone monopoly accepted government
, & , ’ ,

oversight and agreed to spin off some of its businesses in exchange for not being nationalised or broken
up The difference is that unlike AT T Facebook s reach extends beyond America and spans a growing
. , & , ’

range of industries from advertising to finance It must grapple with politicians regulators and rivals If
, . , .

enough opponents gang up at once even the most gifted aikido master may struggle to fend them off
, .

ARTICLE 2 06 |
VOCABULARY
13. Indispensable (a): too important not to have necessary không ; (

th ể thi ế u)

14. Platform (n): A platform is a group of technologies that

are used as a base upon which other
applications processes or technologies are
,

developed n ề n t ả ng công ngh ệ

( )

15. Deliberately (adv):  intentionally c ố ý ( )

16. Hurdle (n): a problem that you have to deal with before
you can make progress ch ướ ng ng ạ i v ậ t
( )

17. Dominant (a): more important strong or noticeable than

, ,

anything else of the same type th ố ng tr ị ( )

18. Dominance (n): s ự th ố ng tr ị

19. Cyberspace (n):

the internet considered as an imaginary area
where emails websites etc Exist especially
, , . ,

when information is passing between one

computer and another không gian ả o ( )

.20. Surveillance (n):

  the act of watching a person or a place
( giám sát)

ARTICLE 2 07
|
 COLLISION
CONT COURSE
ENTS America, Iran and the
threat of war

ARTICLE 1
SURVIVING THE FOREST
Survival skills are techniques that a
person may use in order to sustain life
in any type of environment. 

PAGE 3
THINGS TO CONSIDER
WHILE TRAVELING

Travel is the movement of people

between relatively distant geographical
locations, and can involve travel by
foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat,
airplane, or other means.

PAGE 4
WHAT TO PUT IN YOUR
TRAVEL BAG

The use of bags predates recorded

history, with the earliest bags being no
more than lengths of animal skin,
cotton, or woven plant fibers.
LUNAR EXPLORATION

APOLLO’S
SISTER
There is renewed interest in
returning people to the Moon. This
time it might actually happen

ARTICLE 1
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 2

LLUUNNAARR EEXXPPLLOORRAATTIIOONN
APOLLO’S
APOLLO’S SISTER
SISTER
There is renewed interest in returning people to the Moon. This time it might actually happen

On march 26th Mike Pence America s vice president   , ’ - , Village people

gave a speech at the us Space Rocket Centre in
Nor will Artemis be alone In matters lunar something
    &

Huntsville Alabama in which he told his audience that . ,

is stirring China s space agency though in less of a

, ,

he was bringing forward by any means necessary the . ’ ,

hurry than Mr Pence also plans to land people on the

, “ ”,

target date for America to send astronauts back to the ,

Moon The previous deadline had been 2028 It was now Moon Its target date is 2035 Other agencies
. . ,

European Indian Japanese and Russian intend to

. .

2024 Then on May 13th NASA s administrator Jim , , ,

bombard the place with robot probes And private

. , ,  ’

Bridenstine gave the reinvigorated project a name It will .

enterprise is also seeking a share of the glory In the

.

be called Artemis after Apollo s twin sister the ancient .

mind of Johann Dietrich Wörner head of the

“ ”, ’ ,

Greek goddess of the Moon Following this on July 10th - ,

European Space Agency there is a sense of

. , ,

Mr Bridenstine moved two long standing managers ,

community among these ventures giving rise to what

-

of NASA s human space flight programme to other ,

he calls a Moon village

  ’

duties writing in his memo In an effort to meet this

, , “
“ ”.

challenge I have decided to make leadership changes to

,
Some indeed would go further and convert this
the Human Exploration and Operations HEO Mission
, , ,

( )
village from a metaphor into a reality People like
Directorate
.

.”
Robert Zubrin a prominent American evangelist for
,

The timing of all this is surely no coincidence On July .

manned space flight think that this time around there
,

21st it will be exactly 50 years since Neil Armstrong fluffed should be no namby pamby messing about with tip-
-

his lines at the culmination of the original Moon and-run missions like Apollo A Moon base should be .

programme his small step off Apollo 11 s lunar — “ ” ’ the objective from the beginning .

module Eagle onto the regolith of the Sea of

,  ,
It could be built quickly according to a blueprint Dr
Tranquillity America abandoned Moon shots 41 months
,

.
Zubrin an aerospace engineer published in a book
later and attempts to revive them have never appeared
, ,

convincing But Artemis looks not unlike the real deal For called The Case for Space It would be at one of the
“ ”.
.

one thing its arrival on the Moon will now fall

.
lunar poles where mountain tops in near perpetual
, -
,

conveniently within the second term of office of Mr Pence sunlight could house solar energy farms and craters in - ,

everlasting shadow contain ice from billions of years

and his boss Donald Trump should they be re elected in
of comet impacts This ice could supply drinking water
, , -

2020 It also helps that Artemis is recycling ideas . .

It could also if its molecules were split by electricity

.

salvaged from those previous attempts notably the

,

from the mountain tops provide oxygen for breathing

,

Constellation programme unveiled in 2005 by George ,

and hydrogen and further oxygen for rocket fuel
, ,

W Bush and cancelled five years later by Barack Obama

. .
.

VOCABULARY
1 Astronaut n
.     ( ): a person who has been trained fortravelling in space (phi hành gia)
2 Reinvigorate v
.     ( ): to make someone feel healthier, and moreenergetic again (truyền sức sống)
3 Coincidence n
.     ( ): an occasion when two or more similar things happen at the same time, especially in a way that
is unlikely and surprising (sự trùng hợp)
4 Regolith n
 

.     ( ): The  regolith  itself is a mixture of loose soil, dust and rock on the surface, which has probably
become compacted to a greater or lesser degree with depth (tầng phong hóa)
5 .     Salvage v ( ): to succeed in achieving or saving something that is in a difficult situation (thu thập, góp nhặt)
6 .     Unveil v ( ): If you unveil something new, you show it or make it known for the first time (công khai, tiết lộ)
7 .     Probe n ( ): a device that is put inside something to test or record information ( máy thăm dò)
8 .     Enterprise n ( ): an  organization,  especially  a  business, or a  difficult  and  important  plan,  especially  one that
will earn money (doanh nghiệp)
9 Venture n
.     ( ): a new activity, usually in business, that involves risk or uncertainty (dự án mạo hiểm)
10 Metaphor n
.  ( ): an  expression, often  found  in  literature, that describes  a  person  or  object  by referring to
something that is considered to have similar characteristics to that person or object (phép ẩn dụ)
11 Evangelist n
.  ( ): a  person  who  tries  to  persuade  people  to  become Christians, often by  travelling  around and
organizing religious meetings (người truyền giáo)
12 .  Manned a ( ): (of an aircraft or spacecraft) having a human crew (có người lái)
14 .  Tip and run a- - ( ):   designed for or consisting of a brief attack followed by a quick escape (nhanh chóng)
15 .  Aerospace a ( ): producing or operating aircraft or spacecraft (không gian)
16 .  Crater n ( ): the round hole at the top of a volcano, or a hole in the ground similar to this (miệng hố)
17 .  Everlasting a ( ): lasting forever or for a long time (mãi mãi, trường tồn)
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 3

LLUUNNAARR EEXXPPLLOORRAATTIIOONN
APOLLO’S
APOLLO’S SISTER
SISTER
Dr Zubrin s back of the envelope calculations suggest
’ - - - altitude of 400km China is pointedly excluded from ,

his base would cost about 7bn and take seven years to $ , involvement in building Gateway American law   . 

develop and build Thereafter it would need 250m a . , $ prevents NASA collaborating with the Chinese
  —

year to sustain it NASA however has other plans .  , , . something regretted by Wu Ji a former director general , -

Though Artemis does require a base of sorts that base , of China s National Space Science Centre who is now an
’

will not be on the Moon Instead it will be an . , adviser to the government .

intermittently crewed space station the Lunar Orbital

In fact says Dr Wu China s main goal in space over the
,  

Platform Gateway depicted about to dock with a , , ’

next decade is to build a space station of its own in orbit

—   ( ,

supply vessel in an artist s impression on the previous

around Earth Development of a crewed Moon
, ’

page that is in orbit around the Moon .

programme will probably begin in the mid 2020s By

) .

- . “

Artemis will work like this Its crewed vehicle Orion is a . , , 2035 there will be a Chinese person landing on the
,

version of a craft originally designed for the now - Moon he says But there is no rush We are not in
,” . . “

abandoned Constellation project Similarly the rocket . , competition with anybody So we go step by step So . .

which will lift Orion the Space Launch System SLS is a , ( ), even if we land Chinese on the surface of the Moon by
cut down version of Constellation s heavy lifter Ares V
- ’ , . 2035 it s still great
, ’ .”

Orion s destination will be Gateway Two of its four crew

China has however already landed unmanned probes
’   .

will stay on the station while the others descend to the , ,

surface in a special lunar shuttle do their stuff then there Its most recent mission Chang e 4 touched down
. ,  ’ ,

on the lunar far side the part never visible from Earth in
, ,

return to Gateway and thence to Earth leaving the ( )

January The next two probes in the series will be

    ,

station uncrewed until the next mission arrives .

sample return missions and further craft will explore the

.

- ,

If Congress approves the additional 20bn 30bn $ - Moon s poles ’ .

for NASA s budget that Mr Bridenstine says the project

The launch of India s second lunar mission Chandrayaan
  ’  

will require over the next five years a big if Orion ’ , 

2 which will put a lander and a rover down near the south
— “ ”— ,

the SLS and the lunar shuttle could all be ready and ,

pole has been delayed but should happen soon India is

   

tested within Mr Pence s timetable There is however , , .

also working with Japan s space agency JAXA to develop

’ . , ,

the small matter of Gateway itself for which existing ’ ,  ,

a joint robotic mission Russia too has plans Luna 25

    ,

plans involve all the partners of the International Space . , , .  ,

Station ISS Europe Russia Japan and Canada as well scheduled for 2021 will be another visitor to the south ,

pole And six more Luna missions orbiters and landers

( )— , , ,

as America .
.     — —

are intended to follow before the end of the decade .

The first Gateway module is intended for launch in 2022

   

and subsequent components would go up in a series of From a scientific point of view the Moon is not only of ,

missions using both commercial and SLS launches until     ,

interest in its own right It is also a museum of the solar .

2028 This means that when Orion arrives at Gateway in

. ,    
system s past Its surface will probably be strewn with
’ .

2024 with its Moon bound astronauts it will dock with a - ,

terrestrial rocks older than anything now preserved on
partially completed space station There is no official cost . Earth that were blasted into space aeons ago by asteroids
for the Gateway project but given the 150bn price tag
  , $ colliding with that planet It will also preserve clues about .

of the ISS it would be a surprise if the lunar space station

  , the sun s history the galactic environments that the solar
’ ,

cost less than several tens of billions of dollars In light of . system has encountered on its journey through space
all this Dr Zubrin s approach starts to look attractive
, ’ . since its formation 4 6bn years ago and the abundance in . ,

the early solar system of objects so large that their impact

Look East
might have interfered with the emergence of life on
As with the ISS currently in orbit around Earth at an
  ,  
Earth or elsewhere .

VOCABULARY
1 Intermittently adv
.    ( ): in a way that does not  happen  regularly  or continuously; in a way that  stops  and  starts
repeatedly or with periods in between (gián đoạn)
2 Orbit n v
.  ( , ): the curved path through which objects in space move around a planet or star (quỹ đạo, quay
theo quỹ đạo)
3.  Orbiter n ( ): a spacecraft that orbits a planet or other celestial body (= a moon, star, etc.) (vệ tinh)
4.  Terrestrial a ( ): relating to the earth (trên mặt đất)
5.  Collide v ( ): (especially of moving objects) to hit something violently (va chạm)
6.  Galactic a ( ): relating to the Galaxy or other galaxies (thuộc ngân hà)
7.  Interfere v ( ): to involve yourself in a situation when your involvement is not wanted or is not helpful (can thiệp)
8.  Emergence n ( ): the process of coming into view or becoming exposed after being concealed (sự xuất hiện)
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 4

LLUUNNAARR EEXXPPLLOORRAATTIIOONN
APOLLO’S
APOLLO’S SISTER
SISTER
The Moon or rather its far side is also a good place to
( Besides the two behemoths smaller fry are also involved
) ,

hide radio telescopes from the deluge of radio waves in the Moon village s commercial side One of these ’ . ,

coming from Earth s surface There they will be able to Astrobotic a firm in Pittsburgh is developing an
’ . , , ,

pick up signals that are otherwise swamped unmanned lunar lander it calls Peregrine This will carry — .

particularly radiation from the earliest days of the

, the Mexican Space Agency s first lunar payload ’ .

universe which may encode details of the origin of

, Astrobotic is also one of three firms awarded contracts
everything . by NASA as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services  

programme The other two are Intuitive Machines of .

As to the Moon village s non governmental members Houston Texas and OrbitBeyond of Edison New
’ - , , ,

these are led by the usual suspects of private space Jersey NASA wants these companies to help it survey . 

flight Elon Musk SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin various places on the Moon s surface that might be
, ( ) ( ), ’

both billionaires who hope that the Moon might one suitable for building bases .

day be made to pay its way but who would probably ,

admit that the whole giddy adventure of it rather than Even if Dr Zubrin does not get his way then there are
, , , ,

the prospect of profit is what truly drives them on likely within decades to be permanent human outposts
, . , ,

Space invaders on the Moon frequented by scientists and tourists from ,

many countries The place will thus become something .

SpaceX already has a contract for lunar tourism Yusaku like Antarctica is today hard to get to but not impossible . — ,

Maezawa founder of Zozotown Japan s largest online if you have the money or the right government backing
, , ’ .

clothing retailer wants to take a group of artists with And just as Antarctica is no longer enough in the eyes of
, ,

him for a project he calls dearMoon This is a free those who look to explore new frontiers so in the minds
# . - , ,

return trajectory trip around the Moon there and back of some the residents of these actual Moon villages will
- ( ,

again passing behind the far side but without going be testing human endurance psychology and technology
, , ,

into orbit that SpaceX says could happen as early as with a view to constructing an even more remote hamlet
) :

2023 using the Starship spacecraft the firm is on Mars .

developing If the SLS does not measure up the

.   ,

Starship system might take on its job too , .

Blue Origin meanwhile recently unveiled a mock up of

, , -

its Blue Moon lunar lander The company claims this .

would be able to deliver 3 6 tonnes of cargo to the .

Moon s surface That is just the sort of thing Dr Zubrin

’ .

would need to help construct his Moon base but a ,

more likely first mission for it would be as Artemis s ’

lunar shuttle .

VOCABULARY
1 Deluge n
.     ( ): a lot of something (tràn ngập)
2 Spacecraft n
.     ( ): a vehicle used for travel in space (tàu không gian)
3 Frontier n
.     ( ): a border between two countries (ranh giới)
BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACES

A SCENT OF
MUSK
The boss of Tesla and SpaceS wants
to link brains directly to machines

ARTICLE 2
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 6

B R A I N -- M A C H I N E I N T E R F A C E S
A
A SCENT
SCENT OF
OF MUSK
MUSK
SAN FRANCISO
The boss of Tesla and SpaceS wants to link brains directly to machines

Elon musk perhaps the world s most famous entrepreneur is sometimes referred to as the Trump of technology
, ’ , “ ”—

not for political reasons but because of his habit of making at short notice spectacular pronouncements that stretch
, , ,

the bounds of credibility On July 16th he was at it again unveiling a new type of brain machine interface BMI If
. , - ( ).

human beings do not enter a symbiosis with artificial intelligence AI he declared they are sure to be left behind ( ), , .

And he the announcement implied was going to be the man who stopped that happening
, , .

Connecting brains directly to machines is a long standing aspiration And it is already happening albeit in a crude - . ,

way In deep brain stimulation for example neurosurgeons implant a few electrodes into a patient s brain in order to
. - , , ’

treat Parkinson s disease Utah arrays collections of 100 conductive silicon needles are now employed
’ . , ,

experimentally to record brain waves A team at the University of Washington has built a brain to brain network . “ - - ”

that allows people to play games with each other using just their thoughts And researchers at the University of .

California San Francisco have captured neural signals from people as they talk and have then turned that
, , ,

information via a computer into intelligible speech

, , .

As with all things Musk related Neuralink is much more ambitious The firm does not just want to develop a
- , .

better BMI Its aim is to create a neural lace” a mesh of ultra thin electrodes that capture as much information from
  . “ , -

the brain as possible Unsurprisingly hurdles abound The electrodes needed to do this must be flexible so that they
. , . ,

do not damage brain tissue and will also last for a long time They have to number at least in the thousands to . ,

provide sufficient bandwidth And to make the implantation of so many electrodes safe painless and effective the
. , ,

process has to be automated much like lasik surgery which uses lasers to correct eyesight ,     , .

Neuralink does indeed seem to have made progress towards these goals Its presentation at the California Academy . ,

of Sciences in San Francisco included videos of a neurosurgical robot that is best described as a sewing machine
, , .

This robot grabs threads films containing electrodes that measure less than a quarter of the diameter of a human
“ ” ( , ,

hair and shoots them deep into the brain through a hole in the skull It is capable of inserting six threads each
), . ,

carrying 32 electrodes per minute The firm has also designed a chip that can handle signals from as many as 3 072
, . ,

electrodes ten times more than the best current systems and transmit them wirelessly
— — .

The real magic however kicks in only when the output is analysed which happens in real time Looked at
, , — .

superficially neurons in the brain seem to fire at random Software can though detect patterns when the individual
, . , ,

those neurons are in does certain things Stick enough electrodes into someone s motor cortex for instance and it is . ’ , ,

possible to record what happens in the brain when he types on a keyboard or moves a mouse around Those data .

can then be used to control a computer directly Conversely the electrodes can be employed to stimulate neurons . , ,

perhaps to give the person in question the feeling of touching something .

Neuralink has already tested its system successfully on rats and monkeys These were it says able to move cursors . , ,

on screens with it The firm now hopes to work with human volunteers perhaps as early as next year should
. ,

America s Food and Drug Administration play along

’ .

The first goal is to use the technology to help people overcome such ailments as blindness and paralysis Neuralink .

is however clearly aiming for a bigger market than this It has also designed a small device that would sit behind
, , .

someone s ear picking up signals from the implanted chip and passing them on as appropriate In a few years using
’ , . ,

a brain implant to control your devices may be as de rigueur among San Francisco s techno chics as wearing   ’ -

wireless earbuds is today Ultimately Mr Musk predicts neural lace will allow humans to merge with AI systems thus
. , ,     ,

enabling the species to survive .

Though as this announcement shows Mr Musk does have a habit of presenting himself as the saviour of the human
, ,

race his desire to settle Mars seems motivated partly by fear of what might in the future happen to Earth the idea
( , , ),

that some machines at least will come under the direct control of human brains seems plausible The biggest .

obstruction to this happening will probably not be writing the software needed to interpret brainwaves but rather ,

persuading people that the necessary surgery whether by sewing machine or otherwise is actually a good idea , , .
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 6

B R A I N -- M A C H I N E I N T E R F A C E S
A
A SCENT
SCENT OF
OF MUSK
MUSK
VOCABULARY
1 Credibility n
.     ( ): the fact that someone can be believed or trusted (sự tín nhiệm)

2 Symbiosis n
.     ( ): a relationship between people or organizations that depend on each other equally (cộng
sinh, cùng sinh sống)

3 Aspiration n
.     ( ): a strong hope or wish for achievement or success (khát vọng)

4 Implant v
.     ( ): to put an organ, group of cells, or device into the body in a  medical operation (cấy)
(n): an  organ,  group  of  cells, or  device  that has been put into the  body  in
a medicaloperation (mô cấy)

Implantation n ( ): the action of inserting a device or tissue into the body  (sự cấy ghép)

        

5 Needle n
.     ( ):
a very  thin,  hollow,  pointedpiece  of  metal  that is  connected  to a syringe and used to
take blood from the body or to put drugs or medicine in (kim tiêm)

6 Ambitious a
.     ( ): having a strong desire for success, achievement, power, or wealth (tham vọng)

7 Neural lace n
.     ( ): an ultra-thin mesh that can be implanted in the skull, forming a collection of electrodes
capable of monitoring brain function 

8 Hurdle n
.     ( ): a problem that you have to deal with before you can make progress (chướng ngại vật)

9 Abound v
.     ( ): to exist in large numbers (đầy rẫy)

10 Tissue n.  ( ): a  group  of  connected  cells  in an  animal  or  plant  that are  similar  to each other, have the
same purpose, and form the stated part of the animal or  plant (tế bào)

11 Neurosurgical a
.  ( ): relating to operations on the nervous system (thuộc khoa giải phẫu thần kinh)

12 Detect v
.  ( ): to discover something, usually using special equipment (phát hiện)

13 Motor cortex n
.  ( ): the region of the  cerebral cortex  involved in the planning,  control, and execution of
voluntary movements (vỏ não vận động)

14 Cursor n
.  ( ): a line on a computer screen that moves to show the point where  work is being done (con
trỏ màn hình)

15 Ailment n
.  ( ): an illness or health problem (bệnh tật)

16 Paralysis n
.  ( ): a  condition  in which you are  unable  to  move  all or  part  of  your  body because of
illness or injury (bệnh bại liệt)

17 Earbuds n
.  ( ): very small headphones that you wear in your ears (tai nghe)

18 Saviour n
.  ( ): a person who saves someone from danger or harm (vị cứu tinh)

19 Plausible a
.  ( ):   seeming likely to be true, or able to be believed (đáng tin)

20 Obstruction n
.  ( ): something that blocks a road, passage, entrance, etc. so that nothing can go along it (vật
cản)
 HP ACADEMY
&

ARTICLE KENH IELTS

1
Conservation THE
Hunger ECONOMIST
Games
How to train rare animals
to avoid predators .

ARTICLE

2
Organic farming
Not a pile
of dung
Organic farm s fields are
’

free of faeces because  

things that live there eat

A NEW KIND
them .

OF COLD A NE
WAR OF
W
 ARTICLE 1

Conservation

HUNGER GAMES

How to train rare animals to avoid predators.

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 PAGE 02
ARTICLE 1

Conservation
HUNGER GAMES

How to train rare animals to avoid predators.

More than a score of Australian mammals have been exterminated by feral cats These .

predators. which arrived with European settlers still threaten native wildlife and are too
, —

abundant on the mainland to eliminate as has been achieved on some small islands which were
,

previously infested with them But Alexandra Ross of the University of New South Wales thinks
.

she has come up with a different way to deal with the problem As she writes in a paper in the .

Journal of Applied Ecology she is giving feline awareness lessons to wild animals involved in re
, - -

introduction programmes in order to try to make them cat savvy

, - .

Many Australian mammals though not actually extinct are confined to fragments of cat free
, , -

habitat That offers the possibility of taking colonists from these refuges to places where a species
.

once existed but is no more This will however put the enforced migrants back in the sights of the
. , ,

cats that caused the problem in the first place Training the migrants while they are in captivity
. ,

using stuffed models and the sorts of sounds made by cats has proved expensive and ineffective , .

Ms Ross therefore wondered whether putting them in large naturalistic enclosures with a
scattering of predators might serve as a form of boot camp to prepare them for introduction into
their new cat ridden homes
, - .

She tested this idea on greater bilbies a type of bandicoot that superficially resembles giống a
, ( )

rabbit She and her colleagues raised a couple of hundred bilbies in a huge enclosure that also
.

contained five feral cats As a control she raised a nearly identical population in a similar
. ,

enclosure without the cats She left the animals to get on with life for two years which given that
. , ,

bilbies breed four times a year and live for around eight years was a substantial period for them , .

After some predation and presumably some learning she abstracted 21 bilbies from each
enclosure fitted radio transmitters to them and released them into a third enclosure that had ten
,

hungry cats in it She then monitored what happened next

. .

The upshot was that the training worked Over the subsequent 40 days ten of the untrained
. ,

animals were eaten by cats but only four of the trained ones One particular behavioural
, .

difference she noticed was that bilbies brought up in a predator free environment were much -

more likely to sleep alone than were those brought up around cats And when cats are around . ,

sleeping alone is dangerous .

How well bilbies that have undergone this extreme training will survive in the wild remains to be
seen But Ms Ross has at least provided reason for hope
. .
ARTICLE 1
PAGE
PAGE 032

Conservation
HUNGER GAMES

VOCABULARY

1. Predator (n) an animal that hunts kills and eats other animals thú săn mồi
, , ( )

2. Exterminate (v) to kill all the animals or people in a particular place or of a particular
type diệt trừ
( )

3. Abundant (a) more than enough nhiều dồi dào ( , )

4. Eliminate (v) to remove or take away someone or something loại bỏ ( )

5. Infest (v) with to cause a problem by being present in large numbers tràn vào quấy (

phá )

6. Come up with to suggest or think of an idea or plan nghĩ ra ( )

7. Confined (a) to to exist only in a particular area or group of people hạn chế ( )

8. Captivity (n)
the situation in which a person or animal is keptsome where and is
not allowed to leave nuôi nhốt giam cầm ( , )

9. Enclosure (n)
an area surrounded by fences or walls chuồng ( )

10. Scattering (n)

a small number or amount of things in a particular area phân tán ( )

11. Superficially (a)

in a small way slightly bề ngoài
; ( )

12. Resemble (a)

to look like or be like someone or something giống ( )

13. Identical (a)

exactly the same or very similar tương tự
, ( )

14. Upshot (n)

something that happens as a result of other actions events or , ,

decisions kết luận

( )

15. Be likely to
tend to có xu hướng
( )
 ARTICLE 1

Organic farming

NOT A PILE OF DUNG

Organic farm’s fields are free of faeces

because things that live there eat them.

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 PAGE 05
ARTICLE 2

Organic
farming NOT A PILE OF DUNG

o called organic crops grown without recourse to synthetic fertilisers and pesticides are credited with
- , ,

miraculous properties by many of their fans Unfortunately there is little scientific evidence that they are
. ,

more nutritious than those produced by conventional means But their supporters argue that the methods .

used to raise them bring other benefits too And here they may be correct That at least is the conclusion of
, . . , ,

a study by Matthew Jones of Washington State University in America which he has just published in the
, ,

Journal of Applied Ecology .

Contamination of fresh produce with bacteria laden wild animal faeces is a problem in many places For
- - .

this reason farmers often remove hedgerows ponds and other habitats to discourage visits by such animals
, .

That is necessarily indeed deliberately detrimental to wildlife and also requires the application of more
( , ) ,

pesticides because it reduces the number of insectivorous birds and mammals around Dr Jones speculated .

that an alternative way of dealing with animal dung would be to encourage dung beetles to bury it and
bacteria to break it down and that this encouragement might be an automatic consequence of organic
,

farming .

To test this theory he and his team dug pitfall traps baited thả mồi with pig faeces to lure dung beetles in
, ( ) ,

41 broccoli fields on the west coast of North America a region that grows well over a third of that continent s
, ’

fresh produce They also collected soil samples from the fields in question Western North America has been
. .

the source of several outbreaks of food poisoning caused by toxin producing strains of E coli a gut - . ,

bacterium Research suggests these are linked to contamination by wild boar faeces hence the choice of pig
. - (

dung as the lure Dr Jones focused on broccoli because it is frequently eaten raw and is thus likely to carry
). ,

live pathogens into the human gut .

Of the fields in the study 15 were farmed conventionally and 26 organically Dr Jones and his colleagues
, .

found from their traps that organic farms did indeed foster large dung beetle populations which removed - ,

significantly more pig faeces over the course of a week than did beetles dwelling on conventional farms They .

also found by analysing the soil samples that organic farms had more diverse populations of faeces
, , -

consuming microbes than did conventional farms .

To establish whether high beetle numbers and good microbe diversity really did result in fewer disease -

causing bacteria the researchers followed up their field work with laboratory experiments In one such they
, .

presented three species of dung beetles with pig faeces that had been inoculated with a cocktail of harmful
strains of E coli One of these species Aphodius pseudolividus had no effect on those strains But the other
. . , , .

two Onthophagus taurus and Onthophagus nuchicornis reduced pathogenic E coli numbers by 90 and
, , . %

50 respectively
% .

In a second experiment the researchers presented microbes from the various fields with the same faecal mix .

This showed that the bacterial floras of organic farms were much more effective at suppressing dangerous
strains of E coli than those of conventional farms The order of business then seems to be that beetles bury
. . , ,

the dung and soil bacteria render it harmless One up to organic farming
. .
ARTICLE 2
PAGE
PAGE 072

Organic
farming NOT A PILE OF DUNG

VOCABULARY

1. Faeces (n): the solid waste passed out of the body of a human or animal through the
bowels phân chất thải
( , )

2. Synthetic (a): made from artificial substances often copying a natural product nhân tạo
, ( ,

tổng hợp )

3. Miraculous (a): very effective or surprising or difficult to believe kì lạ

, ( )

4. Conventional (a):  traditional and ordinary truyền thống ( )

5. Contamination (n): the action or state of making or being made impure by polluting or
poisoning sự ô nhiễm
( )

6. Detrimental (a): causing harm or damage gây hại ( )

7. Insectivorous (a): eating only insects Ăn côn trùng ( )

8. Alternative (a):
something that is different from something else especially from what is ,

usual and offering the possibility of choice thay thế

, ( )

9. Bait (v):
to put food on a hook or in a special device to attract and catch a fish or
animal thả mồi
( )

a particular type or quality giống loài ( )

10. Strains (n):
any small organism such as a virus or a bacteriumthat can cause disease
,

11. Pathogen (n):

(sinh vật gây bệnh )

the long tube in the body of a person or animal through which food moves ,

12. Gut (n): during the process of digesting food ruột ( ) 

to cause someone or something to be in a particular state tạo ra ( )

13. Render (v): )

 Astronomy and evolution

01 STARCHILDEN
Human beings may owe their
A R T I C L E

existence to nearby supernovas

  .

Robotics

02 HAND IN GLOVE
Improving robots grasp
’

requires a new way to 

measure it in humans .

Medicine

03 GUTS BRAINS
,

AND AUTISM
Understanding the
connection between
gut bacteria and
 

autism spectrum
-

disorder may be the

key to treatment
 Astronomy and
evolution
STLEI HNEK
&
YMEDACA PH YB DELIPMOC

STARCHILDEN
The economist

Arrticle 1
 01
Astronomy and evolution

STARCHILDEN
Human beings may owe their existence to nearby super novas.

If a supernova went off near Earth that would be bad , . stars are believed to have happened in the
, 

From a distance of less than say 25 light years the resulting

, , - , Tucana Horologium stellar group currently about
- ,

bombardment of fast moving atomic nuclei known as

- , 130 light years from Earth
- .

cosmic rays would destroy the layer of atmospheric ozone

,

that stops most of the sun s harmful ultraviolet light ’ One reason for believing these supernovas
reaching Earth s surface In combination these two kinds of
’ . , occurred is that the shock waves from them
radiation cosmic and ultraviolet would then kill many
, , swept away nearby interstellar gas and
forms of life . the magnetic  field which threads through that
   

gas This has left the sun embedded  in what is

.  

If a supernova went off not quite so close by though that , , known as the Local Bubble a peanut shaped void , -

might be interesting It would have effects but more subtle

. , 300 light years long in which the vacuum of
-

(khó thấy ones Indeed a paper published in the latest

) . , space is even emptier than normal and which is ,

edition of the Journal of Geology by Brian Thomas of , bounded by a wall of somewhat denser gas and
Washburn University in Kansas and Adrian Melott of the
, , stronger magnetic fields .

University of Kansas suggests that a series of such stellar

,

explosions may have nudged humanity s forebears down ’ Once the Local Bubble was established any ,

from their trees and up onto their hind legs . cosmic rays created by a supernova within it
would have kept bouncing off this magnetic wall
The chain of events Dr Thomas and Dr Melott propose starts and back into the bubble They would thus have .

with the observation that between 14 and 20 supernovas strafed every object within it including Earth for , ,

have gone off in Earth s vicinity over the past 8m years

’ .  tens or even hundreds of thousands of years after
,

These explosions of young massive

, ,   the explosion that created them .

VOCABULARY
1. Supernova (n) a star that has exploded strongly increasing its brightness for a few months
,

(sao băng )

2. Bombardment (n) a continuous attack with bombs shells or other missiles sự bắn phá , , ( )

3. Atomic (a) relating to an atom or atoms nguyên tử ( )

4. Nuclei (plural, n) the central part of an atom usually made up of protons and neutron hạt nhân
, ( )

5. Atmospheric ozone (n) The ozone layer or ozone shield is a region of Earth s stratosphere that absorbs '

most of the Sun s ultraviolet radiation tầng khí quyển

' ( )

6. Subtle (a) not loud bright noticeable or obvious in any way khó thấy
, , , ( )

7. Explosion (n) a violent burst often with a loud noise vụ nổ

, ( )

8. Forebear (n) a relative who lived in the past tổ tiên ( )

9. Vicinity (n) the area immediately surrounding something vùng lân cận ( )

10. Magnetic field (n) a region around a magnetic material or a moving electric charge within which
the force of magnetism acts từ trường ( )

11. Embed (v) fix an object firmly and deeply in a surrounding mass bao lấy
( ) ( )

ARTICLE 1 / PAGE 2
 01
Astronomy and evolution

STARCHILDEN
fSome of these rays were the nuclei of a radioactive such molecules apart liberating electrons from
  ,

isotope of iron that is created almost exclusively in their atoms These liberated electrons would in
.

supernovas These unstable nuclei together with their

. , turn knock loose other electrons creating cascades ,

decay products have been found in the ocean floor on

, that would make the air electrically conductive .

Earth and in rock samples brought from the Moon — This would encourage lightning strikes .

another reason to believe the supernovas happened .

Those isotopes found on Earth can be dated from the Observations made recently on a mountain in
sediment they are in The strongest signal is from 2 5m . . Armenia of electron cascades caused by normal
,

years ago indicating that this explosion was the closest

, . cosmic rays showed that many of these did indeed
,

end in a lightning flash so the idea is plausible , .

A geological feature that coincides with the period when Encouraged by this Dr Thomas and Dr Melott ,

Local Bubble supernovas were going off is an increase in calculated the effect that the cosmic rays of the
traces of charcoal in oceanic sediment That is evidence of . explosion of 2 5m years ago would have had on the
.

wildfires on land This increase starts about 7m years ago

. number of cascades They conclude that the .

and in turn coincides with a period when much of Earth s ’ cascade rate would have increased 50 fold - .

vegetation shifted from forests to grasslands The fires .

recorded by the oceanic charcoal could explain this The replacement of forests by grassland is thought
vegetational shift because grass is more resilient to fire
, by some anthropologists to have encouraged the
than trees are What explains the fires though remains
. , , evolution of humanity s ancestors away from tree ’ -

mysterious . climbing and towards the bipedalism It was this .

change in locomotionthat freed human hands to

Dr Thomas and Dr Melott propose that the culprit thủ ( get up to all the mischief which distinguishes
phạm is cosmic rays from the local supernovas The main
) . people from other species Human beings in all . ,

arsonist of wildfires is lightning The hammering of . their manipulative glory are thus if the chain of , ,

atmospheric molecules these rays handed out they , events Dr Thomas and Dr Melott are suggesting is
suggest caused more lightning The rays would knock
, .   correct the children of dying stars
, .

VOCABULARY
12 Sediment n
. ( ) =a soft substance that is like a wet powder and consists of very small pieces of a
solid material that have fallen to the bottom of a liquid trầm tích ( )

13 Charcoal n
. ( )
a hard black substance similar to coal that can be used as fuel or in the form
, ,

of sticks as something to draw with than

, ( )

14 Vegetation n
. ( )
plants in general or plants that are found in a particular area thảm thực vật
, ( )

15 Culprit n
. ( )
a fact or situation that is the reason for something bad happening thủ phạm ( )

the simplest unit of a chemical substance usually a group of two or more ,

16 Molecule n
atoms phân tử
. ( )
( )

17 Liberate v
. ( )
to release someone or something giải phóng ( )

18 Cascade n
. ( )
layer tầng lớp
( , )

19 Plausible a
seeming likely to be true or able to be believed hợp lí đáng tin cậy
. ( )
, ( , )

20 Locomotion n
. ( )
the ability to move sự di động ( )

ARTICLE 1 / PAGE 3
 Robotics
STLEI HNEK
&
YMEDACA PH YB DELIPMOC

HAND IN
GLOVE The economist

Arrticle 2
 02
Robotics

HAND IN GLOVE
Improving robots’ grasp requires a new way to measure it in humans.

Human beings can pick up and manipulate objects and tools tThe trick was to take these recordings and train a machine -

with hardly a thought This seemingly simple task however . , , learning program called a neural network to interpret them
, , .

requires the precise co-ordinated movement of individual Since many of the best neural networks available are
fingers and thumbs each applying the correct amount of
, designed to learn and interpret images Dr Sundaram ,

pressure at exactly the right places to the object handled

, , . decided to present the team s data to the network visually by ’ ,

making each of the seven a second samples into an image in - -

That people can do this successfully is thanks to special nerve which the colour of the grid points represented the pressure
endings called mechanoreceptors found in their skin These
, , . applied there in shades of grey from low white to high ( )

provide instant tactile thuộc xúc giác feedback to the brain of

( ) (black Once the network had been trained on these images
).

the shape feel and weight of whatever is being grasped With

, . it could then identify any of the 26 test objects from new
time and experience people learn to vary their grip , pressure maps recorded by the glove .

instinctively when lifting a golf ball for example as opposed , ,

to an egg .
Measuring in this way just how a human hand exerts force
will as originally intended be useful in programming robots
, ,

Replicating that dexterity in robots is hard A machine .

to mimic people more closely when they pick objects up But .

usually picks things up by first identifying the object via a , ,

Dr Sundaram s experiments also provide insights into how
’

camera and appropriate software and then using a ,

the different parts of the hand work together when grasping
preprogrammed grasping strategy appropriate to what it things how often for example the first finger is used at the
— , ,

thinks it has seen This approach has improved greatly in

.
same time as the thumb or the second finger Those data he . ,

recent years thanks to advances in machine learning and

,
reckons could assist designers of prosthetic limbs in the
,

vision Further improvement will however be best served by a

. , ,
perfection of their devices .

more precise understanding of the mechanics of how people

themselves manipulate objects A new smart glove from . “ ” ,
Dr Sundaram s invention is clever then But one of the
’ , .

computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of cleverest things of all about it is that it is also cheap for the ,

Technology promises to do just that

, .
glove costs only around 10 to make This he hopes will $ . , ,

encourage others to create their own versions Building .

Writing in this week s Nature Subramanian Sundaram and his

’ ,
team describe a way to measure quickly and easily the forces
a human hand exerts as it grasps and manipulates things
Their invention is a sensory sleeve that fits over a knitted glove
comprehensive tactile maps of how people employ their
, ,
hands to manipulate the world will require huge sets of data
.
— ideally derived from many thousands of individuals
.
handling thousands or millions of objects To gather data on .

Attached to the sleeve s palm and running up the fingers and

’ ,
that scale requires cheap tools .

thumb of the glove are pieces of a film that generates

  ,

electricity in response to pressure This film has electrically .

Dr Sundaram cites as an analogy the example of computer
conducting threads running through it to form a set of grids vision This he says has improved quickly in recent years
. , ,

Each of the 548 places on the grids where two threads overlap
.
because almost everyone has easy access to a standard ,

acts as a localised pressure sensor the equivalent of a —

cheap digital recording device the camera the outputs of , ,

mechanoreceptor in he skin of a hand The signals from the

  .
which are easy to share label and process by computers The
, .

threads are fed to a computer for storage and interpretation  

analogy is not perfect People like taking and sharing .

photographs so the supply is endless and free They will have

, . ,

In their experiment Dr Sundaram and his colleagues asked

,
by contrast to be encouraged and perhaps paid to handle
, , ,

people to put on one of these gloves and use their now gloved -
things while wearing special gloves however inexpensive But , .

hand to pick up and manipulate 26 everyday objects a mug — ,

the success of so-called citizen science projects which ,

a pair of scissors a spoon a pen and so on one at a time for a

, , —
require the mass participation of interested amateurs ,

few minutes each The system then recorded the signals from
.
suggests the task would not be impossible So if in the future . , ,

the threads seven times a second as every object was held and someone asks you to put on a new pair of gloves and handle
moved in its turn .
a strange object don t take it the wrong way
, ’ .

ARTICLE 2 / PAGE 5
 VOCABULARY
1. Manipulate (v to control something using the hands Điều khiển bằng tay( )

2. Grasp (n,v) to quickly take something in your hand s andhold it firmly nắm lấy
( ) ( )

3. Precise (a) exact and accurate chính xác( )

4. Co-ordinated (a) to work together with another person or organization in order to achieve
something hòa hợp
( )

5. Tactile (a) related to the sense of touch thuộc xúc giác

( )

6. Grip (n): a tight hold on something or someone cầm nắm ( )

7. Instinctively (adv) n a way that is not thought about planned or developed by training theo
, , (

bản năng )

8. Replicate (v) to make or do something again in exactly the same way sao chép ( )

9. Dexterity (n) the ability to perform a difficult action quickly andskilfully with the hands sự (

khéo léo)

10. Advance (n) development sự tiên tiến

( )

11. Exert (v) to use power or the ability to make something happen gây ra lực ( )

12. Generate (v) to produce energy in a particular form sản sinh năng lượng
( ( ))

13. Interpret (v) to describe the meaning of something examine in order to explain giải mã
; ( )

14. Interpretation (n) (sự giải mã )

15. Mimic (v) to copy the way in which a particular person usually speaks and moves ,

usually in order to make people laugh nhại lại

STLEI HNEK

( )

16. Prosthetic (a) denoting an artificial body part such as a limb a heart or a breast implant
, , ,

(lắp bộ phận giả )

17. So-called (a) used to show that something or someone is commonly designated
by the name or term specified được gọi là ( )
&
YMEDACA PH YB DELIPMOC

HAND IN GLOVE

ARTICLE 2 / PAGE 6
 Medicine
STLEI HNEK
&
YMEDACA PH YB DELIPMOC

GUTS BRAINS
,

AND AUTISM The economist

Arrticle 3
 03
Medicine

GUTS BRAINS AND AUTISM ,

Understanding the connection between gut bacteria  and autism-spectrum disorder may
be the key to treatment.

Paradigm shift is an overused term Properly it refers to . , was Prevotella This bug which makes its living by
. ,

a radical change of perspective on a topic such as the , fermenting otherwise indigestible carbohydrate
-

move from the physics of Newton to the physics of polymers in dietary fibre is abundant in the ,

Einstein or the introduction of plate tectonics into

, alimentary canals of farmers and hunter gatherers in -

geology Such things are rare Something which history

. . places like Africa rare in western Europeans and
,

may come to regard as a true paradigm shift does , Americans and nearly nonexistent in children with ASD
, .

however seem to be going on at the moment in

,

medicine This is a recognition that the zillions of

.
Their discovery led Dr Krajmalnik Brown and Dr Adams -

apparently non-pathogenic bacteria on and in human
bodies hitherto largely ignored are actually important
,
to the idea that restoring the missing bacteria might
alleviate autism s symptoms Two years ago they tested a
,
’ .

for people s health They may even help to explain the

’ .
process called microbiota transfer therapy MTT on 18 ( )

development of some mysterious conditions autistic children aged between seven and 16 Of their .
.

participants 15 were regarded according to the ,

One such condition is autism these days often called Childhood Autism Rating Scale as having severe autism
— , “ ” .

autism spectrum disorder ASD ASD is characterised by

- ( ).

repetitive stereotypical and often restricted behaviour MTT is a prolonged version of a process already used to
,

such as head nodding and by the difficulties those with treat infection by a bug called Clostridium difficile which
- ,
,

it have in reading the emotions of and communicating causes life threatening diarrhoea It involves
,
- .

with other people These symptoms are noticeable in transplanting carefully prepared doses of faecal bacteria
, .

children from the age of two onwards Currently in from a healthy individual to a patient The researchers . ,
.

America about one child in 59 is diagnosed with ASD

,
gave the children first an oral antibiotic a bowel .
, , ,

cleanse and an oral antacid to ensure that microbes (

What causes ASD has baffled psychiatrists and administered by mouth would survive their passage
   

neurologists since the syndrome was first described through the stomach They followed this up with either , ).

in the mid 20th century by Hans Asperger and Leo an oral or a rectal dose of gut bacteria and then for
- , , ,

Kanner But the evidence is pointing towards the seven to eight weeks a daily antacid assisted oral dose
.  , - .

bacteria of the gut That suggestion has been .

reinforced by two recently published studies one Ten weeks after treatment started the children s —
’

on human beings and one on laboratory rodents Prevotella levels had multiplied 712 fold In addition   .
- . ,

those of another species Bifidobacterium had , ,

Restoring the balance quadrupled Bifidobacterium is what is known as a .

The human study the latest results of which came out probiotic organism something that acts as a keystone
, “ ” —

a few weeks ago in Scientific Reports is being species in the alimentary ecosystem keeping the , ,

conducted by Rosa Krajmalnik Brown of Arizona mixture of gut bacteria healthy Now two years later
-   . , ,

State University and her associates It was prompted by although levels of Prevotella have fallen back somewhat
. ,

earlier work in which Dr Krajmalnik Brown and James they are still 84 times higher than they were before the
-

Adams a colleague at Arizona State sequenced the experiment started Levels of Bifidobacterium
, ,  . ,

DNA of gut bacteria from 20 autistic children to meanwhile have gone up still further being five times
    , —

discover which species were present They found that higher than they had been at the beginning of the study
. .

the children in their sample were missing hundreds of This says Dr Krajmalnik Brown suggests the children s , - , ’

the thousand plus bacterial species that colonise a guts have become healthy environments that can recruit
-

“neurotypical person s intestine One notable absence beneficial microbes by themselves

” ’   . .

ARTICLE 3 / PAGE 8
 VOCABULARY
1. Gut bacteria (n): very small organisms that are found in the gut vi khuẩn đường ruột ( )

2. Autism-spectrum disorder (n): (ASD is a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior hội chứng
) (

rối loạn phổ tự kỉ )

Autistic (a): relating to or affected by autism thuộc chứng tự kỉ ( )

3. Paradigm shift (n): a time when the usual and accepted way of doing or thinking about something changes
completely sự thay đổi thế giới quan
( )

4. Plate tectonics (n): the study of how the surface of the earth is formed how the separate pieces of it move , ,

and the effects of this movement mảng kiến tạo học ( )

5. Non-pathogenic bacteria (n): those that do not cause disease harm or death to another organism vi khuẩn không gây bệnh
, ( )

6. Stereotypical (a): relating to a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of
person or thing khuôn mẫu ( )

7. Baffle (v): to cause someone to be completely unable to understand or explain something gây     (

trở ngại ) 

8. Psychiatrist (n):
 a doctor with special training in treating mental illness bác sĩ tâm thần ( )

9. Rodent (n):
any of various small mammals with large sharp front teeth such as mice and rats loài , ,   (

gặm nhấm )

10. Sequence (v):

to discover the order in which nucelotides chemicalsubstances are combined within (= )

DNA giải trình tự gen

( )

11. Intestine (n):

a long tube through which food travels from the stomach and out of the body while it is
being digested ruột ( )
12. Ferment (v):
If food or drink ferments or if you ferment it the sugar in it changes into alcohol because ,

13. Dietary fibre (n):

of a chemical process lên men ( )

a substance in certain foods such as fruit vegetables and brownbread that travels
, , , ,

through the body as waste and helps the contents of the bowels to pass through the  

4. Alimentary canal (n):

body easily chất xơ
STLEI HNEK

( )

15. Diarrhoea (n):

the parts of the body that food goes through as it is eaten and digested ống thức ăn ( )

an illness in which the body s solid waste is more liquid than usual and comes out of the
'

16. Faecal (a): body more often bệnh tiêu chảy( )

consisting of contained in or relating to the solid waste passed out of the body of a
, ,

Faeces (n): human or animal through the bowels thuộc cẵn phân ( , )

the solid waste passed out of the body of a human or animal through the bowels phân
&

17. Cleanse (n): ( )

an act of cleaning your skin or a product or treatment for doing this tẩy rửa
YMEDACA PH YB DELIPMOC

( , )

18. Antacid (n): a substance used to reduce or prevent acid collecting in the body especially in the ,

19. Rectal (a): stomach chất làm giảm độ axit trong dạ dày
( )

relating to the rectum the last section of the large bowel trực tràng
(= ) ( )

GUTS BRAINS ,

AND AUTISM
ARTICLE 3 / PAGE 9
 03
Medicine

GUTS BRAINS AND AUTISM ,

Crucially these changes in gut bacteria have translated into

, a neurotransmitter meaning that it carries signals ,

behavioural changes Even 18 weeks after treatment started between nerve cells In particular it counters the
. ( ,

the children had begun showing reduced symptoms of action of another neurotransmitter glutamate that , ,

autism After two years only three of them still rated as

. excites nervous activity in the brain Studies have shown
, .

severe while eight fell below the diagnostic cut off point for
, that levels of GABA are lower than normal in the brains -

ASD altogether These eight thus now count as neurotypical

. of autistic children though inexplicably not in autistic . ( , ,

adults Some researchers suspect that this deficiency ).

Exactly how gut bacteria might contribute to autism is a takes the brakes off glutamate s excitatory activity thus ’ ,

puzzle But light has been shed on the matter by the second stimulating things like repetitive behaviour
.
.

study published this week in Cell by a team led by Sarkis

,

Mazmanian of the California Institute of Technology Dr Dr Mazmanian and his colleagues produced evidence .

Mazmanian and a group of colleagues that also included Dr supporting this idea They collected faeces blood and . ,

Krajmalnik Brown performed a type of MTT on mice They brain tissue from the rodents in the experiment When
- . .

collected bacteria from the faeces of both neurotypical and they analysed these they found that the autistic “ ”

autistic people who ranged in their symptoms from mild to animals were deficient in taurine and 5 aminovaleric
( -

severe and transplanted these into hundreds of mice They acid two substances that stimulate GABA s activity
) . , ’ .

then interbred the recipient mice and studied the offspring

of these crosses animals that had picked up the They too drew potentially therapeutic conclusions from
—
, ,

transplanted bacteria from their mothers at birth their results and tested those conclusions by giving the .
,

missing substances to female mice carrying autism -

Signal results inducing bacteria in the weeks before those females

They were looking for the rodent equivalent of ASD And they become pregnant The resulting offspring though still . . ,

found it Most of the young mice harbouring gut bacteria showing some symptoms of autism scored 30 better
. , %

from autistic human donors người hiến tặng showed on the rating scale than did the offspring of untreated
( )

features of autism themselves These included repetitive females . .

behaviours reduced social and vocal communication with

,

other mice and restricted movement In contrast none of Meanwhile the success of the study in Arizona has
, . ,
,

the mice colonised with bacteria from neurotypical people prompted America s Food and Drug Administration ’

ended up autistic Dr Mazmanian and his team discovered FDA to look into the matter A firm called Finch
. ,
( ) .

moreover that the intensity of a human donor s autism was Therapeutics Group based in Massachusetts hopes to
, ’
, ,

transferred to the recipient mice If an individual s symptoms commercialise the use of MTT as a treatment for autism
. ’

were severe then so too were those of mice that hosted his and the FDA has now granted this effort fast track
, ,
“ ”

gut bacteria .
status which should speed up the review process Dr , .

Krajmalnik Brown and Dr Adams are now recruiting -

Dr Mazmanian s study also dealt with the question of volunteers for a large scale trial of MTT for adults with
’ -

mechanism One long held suspicion is that a molecule autism to see if they too can benefit The paradigm it
. - , , , . ,

called gamma aminobutyric acid GABA is involved GABA is seems really is shifting
- ( ) , .

VOCABULARY
20 Neurotypical a
. ( ):  not suffering from or associated with an unusual brain condition especially autism   ,

(thần kinh ổn định )

21 Donor n
. ( ):  a person who gives some of their blood or a part of their body to help someone who is  

ill người cho người hiến gì đó

( , )

22 Neurotransmitter n
. ( ): a chemical that carries messages between neurons or between neurons and muscles
(chất dẫn truyền thần kinh )

23 Nerve cell n
. ( ): a cell that carries information between the brain and other parts of the body tế bào thần kinh ( )

24 Excitatory a
. ( ):
 characterized by causing or constituting excitation kích thích
, , ( )

ARTICLE 1 / PAGE 10
Article 01 Tyre techonology
page 70 Flat out usefull - An airless,
puncture-proof type

Science & technology

Article 02 Policing social media

page 71 Guardians of the galaxy -
Content moderators are the
unacknowledged legislators of
the online world

Books & arts

Article 03 Crime and the environment

page 73 Into the inferno - An inquiry
into bushfires in Australia
identifies more than one culprit

Books & arts

ARTICLE 1 TYRE TECHNOLOGY PAGE | 02

FLAT OUT USEFUL

AN AIRLESS, PUNCTURE-PROOF TYRE
Punctures (lỗ thủng) always seem to strike at the most irksome times.
Scrambling around on the ground to change a wheel in the wet on the side of a
busy road is a sure way to ruin any journey. And punctures can be extremely
dangerous, especially if a tyre blows out at high speed on a motorway. For
decades carmakers have sought various solutions, but with new materials and
novel manufacturing methods, a genuinely puncture-proof (chống bị thủng) car
tyre has finally appeared.
 
 
This summer Michelin and General Motors (gm) will begin testing a prototype
(mẫu thử đầu tiên) airless tyre on a fleet of Chevrolet Bolt electric cars. Although
it does not need to be inflated (thổi phồng), the self-supporting tyre is said to
produce the ride and handling of a standard pneumatic (đầy không khí) tyre.
And being airless, it is thus immune from punctures. The French tyremaker and
the American car giant call the tyre Uptis (for “unique puncture-proof tyre
system). Provided the trials (thử nghiệm) in Michigan go well, the two partners
reckon Uptis tyres could be available for cars by 2024.
 
 
At first sight the Uptis (see picture) resembles the diminutive (rất nhỏ), airless
rubber-spoked wheels already used on some small machines, such as golf carts,
lawnmowers and certain all-terrain vehicles. There is a similarity, although the
Uptis is designed to take the greater weight of a car and cope with high-speed
manoeuvring (sự vận động). Uptis tyres are also different from “run-flat” tyres,
which use beefed-up sidewalls to remain upright if punctured and must be
driven at reduced speeds for a limited distance only.

The Uptis uses an integrated (được hợp nhất) wheel and tyre that comes in one
piece. The wheel part consists of an aluminium assembly in the centre, from
which emerge spokes made from a new composite material described as “resin-
embedded fibreglass”. The  spokes  (nan hoa (bánh xe)) are fitted to a
conventional - looking  tread  (lốp xe) around the outside of the wheel. Michelin
has filed some 50 patents (bằng sáng chế) on the technology.
The company reckons that as 200m tyres have to be scrapped worldwide every
year because of punctures or the uneven (gồ ghề) wear caused by incorrect air-
pressure, the Uptis will be more environmentally sustainable than standard
tyres. It would also save weight, as vehicles will no longer have to carry a spare
wheel, a jack, a puncture-repair kit or need to be fitted with a tyre-pressure
monitoring system.
 
But an Uptis will still wear out, like a conventional tyre. When that happens it
will need a new tread—one way Michelin and gm hope to do that is using a 3d
printer to create a new outer shell for the tyre. That could open up new
motoring possibilities, including having seasonal treads printed on your wheels:
a summer one for faster roads and a winter tread for increased grip in the wet
and snow.
 ARTICLE 1 TYRE TECHNOLOGY PAGE | 03

1. Puncture (n) a small hole made by a sharp object, especially in a tyre lỗ thủng)
VOCABULARY

2. Puncture-proof chống bị thủng

3. Prototype (n) the first example of something, such as a machine or other industrial
product, from which all laterforms are developed (mẫu thử đầu tiên)

4. Inflated (a) distended through being filled with air or gas thổi phồng)

5. Pneumatic (a) containing air (đầy không khí)

6. Trial (n) a test, usually over a limited period of time, to discover how effective
or suitable something or someone is (thử nghiệm)

7. Diminutive (a) very small (rất nhỏ)

8. Manoeuvring (n) the action of moving, or of moving something, with skill and care (sự
vận động)

9. Integrated (a) with two or more things combined in order tobecome more effective
(được hợp nhất)

10. Spoke (n) wheel to its centre, so giving the wheel its strength(nan hoa (bánh xe))

11. Tread (n) the pattern of raised lines on a tyre that prevents a vehicle from
sliding on the road (lốp xe)

12. Patent (n) the official legal right to make or sell an invention for a particular
number of years (bằng sáng chế)

13. Uneven (a) not level, equal, flat, or continuous (gồ ghề, không bằng phẳng)
ARTICLE 2 PAGE | 04
POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Content moderators are the unacknowledged legislators (nhà lập pháp) of

the online world
They are paid to spend their days watching filth (lời nói/ hình ảnh thô tục):
beheadings and chemical-weapons attacks, racist insults and neo-Nazi cartoons,
teenagers encouraging each other to starve, people having sex with animals or
with ex-lovers against whom they want revenge (trả thù). When batches of images
leap onto their screens, they must instantly sort them into categories, such as
violence, hate speech (phát ngôn tiêu cực) and “dare” videos, in which people
offer to do whatever a stranger asks. If the material violates (xâm phạm) the
platform’s explicit (cụ thể) policies (nudity, sensationalistic gore), they take it
down. If it contains suicide threats or evidence of a crime, they alert law-
enforcement authorities. If it is a borderline case (violence with possible
journalistic content, say), they mark it for review. Some earn $15 an hour, some a
piece-work rate of a few cents per item, sorting anywhere from 400 to 2,000 a day.

With soldierly bravado (ra vẻ dũng cảm), they insist the job does not upset them.
“I handle stress pretty well,” says one of the social-media content moderators
interviewed by Sarah Roberts in “Behind the Screen”—before admitting to gaining
weight and developing a drink problem. They avoid discussing their work with
friends or family, but it intrudes (không mời mà đến) anyway. War-zone footage,
child sex-abuse and threats of self-harm are especially hard to repress. “My
girlfriend and I were fooling around on the couch or something and she made a
joke about a horse,” says another moderator. “And I’d seen horse porn earlier in
the day and I just shut down.”

Those who work directly for the big American internet platforms may  boast  (lấy
làm kiêu hãnh) about it to their friends, but they are mainly on short-term
contracts with little  kudos  (tiếng tăm) or chance of promotion. At a huge Silicon
Valley firm that Ms Roberts calls MegaTech, the content moderators were barred
from using the climbing wall. Even further down the  hierarchy  (hệ thống phân
cấp) are third-party contractors in India and the Philippines, who handle material
for corporate websites, dating sites and online retailers, as well as for the big
platforms. Whether in San Francisco or Manila, their task is fundamentally the
same. These are the rubbish-pickers of the internet; to most of the world, they are
all but invisible.
ARTICLE 2 POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE | 05

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

 
An estimated 150,000 people work in content moderation (sự kiểm duyệt)
worldwide. Ms Roberts’s book is one of just a few about them. Much of her
research was conducted(thực hiện) early this decade; for recent developments,
she is obliged to refer to articles by journalists such as Adrian Chen of Wired. But
in some ways little has changed. A short documentary Mr Chen made in 2017
about moderators in India suggests the job was largely the same as it was in
California in 2012.

One reason content moderation is hard to investigate is that social-media

companies prefer not to talk about it. The platforms have never been comfortable
with their role as gatekeepers. Like much of Silicon Valley, their culture reflects
the libertarian optimism of the internet’s pioneers, which Ms Roberts terms “an
origin myth (chuyện hoang đường) of unfettered possibility for democratic free
expression”. Early cyberspace (không gian mạng) utopians thought censorship
would soon be obsolete (lỗi thời): the internet would treat it as a broken node and
route around it. (The Great Firewall of China had not yet been erected.) Until
recently, strategists at giant social-media firms seemed to imagine they were still
running the sorts of self-policing communities which existed on text-only
messaging boards in the 1990s, and which survive today on forums like 4chan and
Reddit.

The platforms also have less  rarefied  (riêng biệt) reasons to keep content
moderation out of the public eye. America’s law on online content, the
Communications Decency Act of 1996, lets internet companies restrict it as they
see fit, and holds them largely immune from  liability  (trách nhiệm pháp lí) for
third-party material on their websites. A fear that legislators might deem the
firms’ methods biased or inadequate—and decide to regulate them—makes
executives circumspect in both what they do and how they talk about it. The big
platforms and their contractors routinely require moderators to sign non-
disclosure agreements.
 
Since the American presidential election of 2016 and the Brexit referendum,
controversies over fake news, hate speech and online harassment have forced
internet companies to bring content moderation into the light—up to a point.
Facebook says it now has 30,000 people working on safety and security worldwide,
of whom half are moderators (many of them employed by outside contractors).
Twitter has beefed up (tăng cường) its moderation staff; it now boasts about the
number of accounts it suspends, sometimes millions per month. A new German
law requires internet sites to delete material that breaks hate-speech laws within
24 hours of a complaint. Last week YouTube began taking down thousands of
channels that violated policies against  racism  (phân biệt chủng tộc), sexism and
religious bigotry. It has also been criticised for algorithms (now amended) that
routed family videos to viewers who expressed an interest in child porn.
ARTICLE 2 POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE | 06

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

Lines in the sand
 
These efforts have exposed the platforms to just the sort of criticisms they are least comfortable with.
Alt-right YouTubers whose channels are taken down because of racism complain they are being
censored by the liberal establishment. Some history channels were initially knocked out too, because
they displayed racist material in order to critique (phê bình) it (they have since largely been restored).
Still, when targets of suspensions complain, they are usually met by a boilerplate statement that their
content violated company policies, with no explanation of what those policies are or exactly what the
violation was.
 
As Ms Roberts shows, the opacity is ingrained (ăn sâu). Social-media sites have often been reluctant
(miễn cưỡng) to tell malefactors precisely what they did wrong. Beside the political risks, they fear that
would let provocateurs (kẻ kích động phạm tội) flirt with the edges of prohibitions, and furnish
endless fodder for challenges to their decisions. A report in February by the Verge, a news site, found
that a Facebook subcontractor’s training regime required moderators to learn a decision-tree of rules,
then justify which one led to a take-down. Even so, individual instances often involve subjective
judgments, which are almost never explained to users.
 
For years, tech activists have called for more transparency about these boundaries (hạn chế). But
some say that simply revealing the rules is insufficient, because formal criteria can never capture the
irreducible moral and political decisions moderators make. Ms Roberts’s subjects already faced such
dilemmas in 2011, when MegaTech decided that gruesome images from the Arab spring constituted
news (and so could stay), but equally grim (nghiệt ngã) ones from gang conflicts in Central America
had to go.

Others think the focus on what may be published misses the bigger question of which posts
get amplified (lan rộng)—by being shared, liked or “ratioed” (the current term for a wave of negative
comments). Last week Carlos Maza, a reporter for Vox.com, pilloried YouTube for refusing to take
down videos by Steven Crowder, a conservative YouTuber who had mocked him using homophobic
slurs. As well as complaining about the slurs themselves, Mr Maza said he had been subjected to
online  harassment  (hành động quấy rối) by some of Mr Crowder’s many followers. This raises the
difficult question of whether platforms should impose stricter rules on influential personalities.
 
A different approach was suggested last year by Tarleton Gillespie, a consultant, in his book
“Custodians of the Internet”. Part of the problem, he says, is that both users and companies have got it
wrong: content moderation is not a  peripheral  (thứ yếu) inconvenience, but “in many ways, the
commodity that platforms offer”. Increasingly, these sites are where people conduct their lives, and
the task of keeping them within acceptable bounds of discourse, and excluding the unconscionable,
may be the most important thing the firms do. It is too demanding for harried box-tickers.
 
Facebook has recently raised moderators’ pay; YouTube has limited their exposure to disturbing
videos to four hours a day. But in general, as Ms Roberts  chronicles  (ghi chép), moderators are
treated as low-skilled labour. She is particularly good at depicting how the strange international
network of content moderation mirrors the class divides of other globalised industries. Just as it
dumps some of its nastiest refuse in poor countries, the West leaves it to them to sort much of the
internet’s yuckiest trash.
 ARTICLE 2 POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE | 07

1. Legislator (n) a member of a group of people who together have the power to
VOCABULARY

make laws  (nhà lập pháp)

2. Filth (n) sexually offensive words or pictures (lời nói/ hình ảnh thô tục)

3. Revenge (n) harm that you do to someone as a punishment for harm that the
person has done to you (trả thù)

4. Hate speech (n) public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a
person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or
sexual orientation  (phát ngôn tiêu cực)

5. Violate (v) to break or act against something, especially a law, agreement, 

principle, or something that should be treated with respect (xâm
phạm)
 
6. Explicit (a) clear and exact (rõ ràng)

7. Bravado (n) a show of courage, especially when unnecessary and dangerous to

make people admire you (ra vẻ dũng cảm)

8. Intrude (v) to go into a place or situation in which you are not wanted or not
expected to be (không mời mà đến)

9.  Boast (v) to have or own something to be proud of (lấy làm kiêu hãnh)

10. Kudos (n) praise, admiration, and fame received for an achievement (tiếng
tăm)

a system in which people or things are arranged according to  their

11. Hierarchy (n)
importance (hệ thống phân cấp)

12. Moderation (n) the quality of doing something within reasonable limits
(sự kiểm duyệt)

13. Conduct (v) to do something, or make something happen (thực hiện)

14.  Myth (n) a commonly believed but false idea (chuyện hoang đường)

the internet considered as an imaginary area without  limits where

15. Cyberspace (n)
you can meet people and discover information about any subject
(không gian mạng)
 ARTICLE 2 POLICING SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE | 08

16.   Obsolete (a)
VOCABULARY

not in use any more, having been replaced by something newer  and
better or more fashionable (lỗi thời)
 
17.   Rarefied (a) without any of the problems of ordinary life (riêng biệt)

18.  Liability (n) legal responsibility for something (trách nhiệm pháp lý)

19.   Beef up st: to make something stronger or more effective, esp. by adding more
support (tăng cường)

20.   Racism (n) the belief that some races are better than others, or the
unfairtreatment of someone because of his or her race (phân biệt
chủng tộc)

21.    Critique (v) to give an opinion or judgment about a piece or work, book, film, etc.
(phê bình)

22.    Ingrained (a) so firmly held that they are not likely to change (ăn sâu)

 
23.    Reluctant (a) not willing to do something and therefore slow to do it (miễn cưỡng)

 
24.    Provocateur (n) a person who intentionally encourages people to do something illegal so
that they can be caught (kẻ khiêu khích, kích động phạm tội)

25.    Boundary (n) the limit of a subject or principle (giới hạn, hạn chế)

 
26.    Grim (a) worried and serious or sad (nghiệt ngã)

 
27.    Amplify (v) to increase the size or effect of something (lan rộng)

 
28.    Harassment (n)
behaviour that annoys or upsets someone (hành động quấy rối)

 
29.    Peripheral (a)
not central or of main importance (thứ yếu)

30.    Chronicle (n)
a written record of events in the order in which they happened (ghi
chép)
ARTICLE 3 CRIME AND THE ENVIRONMENT PAGE | 09

INTO THE INFERNO

An inquiry into bushfires in Australia identifies more than one
culprit

Beehives spontaneously combust (bốc cháy) and trees ignite (bốc cháy) in sudden
blasts (vụ nổ). Burning birds fall from the sky. As embers the size of dinner plates
rain down and a blaze (đám cháy) roars “like seven jumbos landing on the roof”,
people submerge (nhấn chìm) themselves in any body of water they can find. They
cover their faces with lilypads, pond slime, tea-towels or wet gloves. The sun is
smothered by smoke and everything turns red. There is, reports Chloe Hooper, “no
air in the air”.
 
This was how survivors described their experiences ten years ago, after hundreds
of fires, giving off the heat of 500 atomic bombs, raged through the state of
Victoria in south-eastern Australia. Thousands of homes were lost, 173 people
died and 450,000 hectares of land were burnt to a crisp, over seven times the area
that was incinerated (thiêu rụi) in and around Paradise, California, last year.
When investigators looked down from helicopters afterwards, it seemed that the
roofs of houses had been peeled off (tốc mái nhà), the rooms below resembling
(trông giống) “chambers of the heart”.

Although many of the fires that wreaked (trút) havoc (sự tàn phá) in the state
were subsequently found to have been caused by failures in its badly regulated
electricity grid, two turned out to have been lit intentionally. In “The Arsonist” Ms
Hooper focuses on the infernos (đám cháy dữ dội) sparked by a “firebug” in the
Latrobe Valley. She asks what she calls “the impossible question”: What sort of
person would do this, and why?

The answers were not simple. Evidence was all around—in the wasteland, the
rubble and the gum leaves of highly  flammable  (bén lửa, dễ cháy) eucalyptus
trees, “thousands of fingers pointing the way the fire had gone”. But  arson (cố ý
gây hỏa hoạn)  is  notoriously  (khét tiếng) difficult to solve: only 1% of  wildfire
arsonists  (người gây ra hỏa hoạn) are ever caught. The conviction of Brendan
Sokaluk, a middle-aged man on the autism spectrum, for  deliberately  (cố ý)
starting a blaze that killed 11 people, was a surprising success for the Victoria
police.
ARTICLE 3 CRIME AND THE ENVIRONMENT PAGE | 10

INTO THE INFERNO

But the road to the guilty verdict (lời tuyên án) was rocky. Unemployed and eccentric
(lập dị), Mr Sokaluk collected scrap metal to sell for pocket money and enjoyed watching
episodes of “Thomas the Tank Engine” in his shed. He can barely read or write and had
never been on a plane, but was able to draw complex maps with an uncannily precise
bird’s-eye perspective. He was the “butt of jokes amongst people who were themselves
the butt of jokes”, the author says of his ostracised life in a downtrodden part of the
country.
 
Mr Sokaluk emerges as both vulnerable and an odd, sometimes malicious, pest. To the
detectives, he was a cunning fiend capable of “unleashing chaos and horror”. To his
lawyers he was hapless and naive. After the verdict was delivered they felt devastated,
“for it seemed they were leaving behind a child”

Another villain lurks in the background of this story: the Hazelwood power station, a
coal-powered plant that looms over Latrobe Valley and provided almost a quarter of the
state’s electricity before it was closed in 2017. Brown coal is dirty and unstable, and the
lives of those associated with it are liable to be equally  volatile  (không ổn định). The
plant’s privatisation (tư nhân hóa) in the 1990s led to a rise in long-term
unemployment. “People’s friends and family worked cutting the stuff out, burning it,
and then everyone breathed in the vapours of strife,” writes Ms Hooper. “The valley
became a human sink.”

Unpredictable as arson can be, she learns that people are more inclined to destruction
in places where “high youth unemployment, child abuse and
neglect,  intergenerational  (tồn tại giữa nhiều thế hệ) welfare dependency and poor
public transport meet the margins of the bush”. In an age of climate change and
stubborn inequality, in Australia and beyond, that is an unsettling conclusion to a
gripping and insightful book..
 ARTICLE 3 CRIME AND THE ENVIRONMENT PAGE | 11

1. Inferno (n) a very large uncontrolled fire (đám cháy dữ dội)

VOCABULARY

2. Combust (v) to start to burn (bốc cháy)

3. Ignite (v) to (cause to) start burning or explode (bốc cháy)

4. Blast (n) an explosion (vụ nổ)

5. Blaze (n) a large, strong fire (đám cháy)

6. Submerge (v) to cover or hide something completely (nhấn chìm)

7. Incinerate (v) to burn something completely (thiêu rụi)

8. Peeled off (v) tốc mái nhà

9. Resemble (v) to look like or be like someone or something (trông giống)

10. Wreak (v) to cause something to happen in a violent and often

uncontrolled way (trút)

confusion and lack of order, especially causing damage or

11. Havoc (n)
trouble (sự tàn phá)

12. Flammable (a) able to catch fire easily (bén lửa, dễ cháy)

13. Arson (n) the crime of intentionally starting a fire in order todamage
or destroy something, especially a building (cố ý gây hỏa
hoạn)

14. Arsonist (n) người gây ra hỏa hoạn

15. Notoriously (adv) in a way that is famous for something bad (khét tiếng)

16. Deliberately (adv) on purpose (cố ý)

17. Verdict (n) a decision by a jury as to whether someone is guilty after

having heard the facts given at a trial (lời tuyên án)

18. Eccentric (a) strange or unusual (lập dị)

19. Volatile (a)

INTO THE
likely to change suddenly and unexpectedly, especially by
getting worse (không ổn định)

20. Privatization (n)

INFERNO
the act of selling an industry, company or service that was
owned and controlled by the government, so it becomes
privately owned and controlled (tư nhân hóa)

21. Intergenerational (a) relating to, involving, or affecting several generations (tồn
tại giữa nhiều thế hệ)
Inside
TEXAFORNIA

Article 1
THE NEXT PINK
TITLE
Courts across the Americas are
legalising same sex marrige
-

Article 2
GREENLAND IS
MELTING
Its ice sheet is shedding 3bn tonnes of
water a day

Article 3
CYBERNETIC
SKIVVIES
Cleaning up nuclear waste is obviouly a
task for robots But designing bots that
. '

can do it is hard

www kenhielts com

. .

www facebook com hpacademy vn

. . / . /
 Article 1

Gay rights
THE NEXT PINK
 Article 1

VOCABULARY
1. Legalise (v): to allow by law; make legal (hợp pháp hóa)
2. Constitution (n): the set of political principles by which a place or
organization is governed, or the written document that records it (hiến
pháp)
3. Constitutional (a): relating to or following the rules of the US
Constitution (thuộc hiến pháp)
4. Explicitly (adv): in a clear and exact way (rõ ràng, dứt khoát)
5. Conservative (n): someone who belongs to
or supports the Conservative Party of Great Britain(a political party that
traditionally supports business and opposes high taxes
and government involvement in industry), or a similar party in another
country (phe bảo thủ)
6. Dictate (v): to give orders, or tell someone exactly what they must
do, with total authority (ra điều kiện)
7. Dissenting (a): different (khác nhau, trái nhau)
8. Legislature (n): an elected group of people who have
the power to make and change laws in a state or country (cơ quan lập
pháp)
9. Contradiction (n): a fact or statement that is the opposite of what
someone has said or that is so different from
another fact or statement that one of them must be wrong (sự đối lập)
10. Clause (n): a part of a written legal document (điều khoản)
11. Privilege (n): a special advantage or authority possessed by
a particular person or group (đặc quyền)
12. Legislation (n): a law or set of laws that is being created (pháp
luật, pháp chế)
13. Formidable (a): strong and powerful,
and therefore difficult to deal with if opposed to you (dữ dội)
 Article 1
Gay rights
THE NEXT PINK
People waved rainbow flags in the streets of
Quito. Gay couples kissed. They were
celebrating the decision on June 12th by
Ecuador’s constitutional court to legalise (hợp
pháp hóa) same-sex marriage. Ecuador is now
the eighth country in the Americas to take that
step. Its constitution (hiến pháp) explicitly (rõ
ràng, dứt khoát) defines marriage as a union
between a man and a woman. The court
therefore had to rule that one part of the
constitution—which holds that citizens are
entitled to equal treatment under the law—
outweighs the part that defines marriage.

Less than a third of Ecuadoreans support gay

marriage, a poll in 2017 found. Conservatives
(phe bảo thủ) ask why unelected judges should
dictate (ra điều kiện) to a whole country what a
family means. In a dissenting (khác nhau, trái
nhau) opinion four of the nine judges in
Ecuador said that the legislature (cơ quan lập
pháp), not the court, should resolve the Courts across the
constitutional (thuộc hiến pháp) Americas are
contradiction (sự đối lập).
legalising same-sex
In the biggest Latin American countries
marriage
attitudes are more tolerant than in Ecuador. In
Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, support for gay
marriage exceeds 50% (as it does in Chile and
Uruguay). In the rest of Latin America and the
Caribbean it is near or below Ecuador’s level.
Ecuador is not the only country with laws that
explicitly forbid gay marriage. Honduras’s
constitution bans it. The constitutions of six
countries besides Ecuador refer to marriage as
a union between a man and a woman. Some
Caribbean countries have laws that make
homosexual acts illegal.
 Article 1
Gay rights
THE NEXT PINK
Even where laws and attitudes are hostile
campaigners for gay rights are making and
winning legal arguments. By The Economist’s
count, 25 of the 35 countries in the Americas
have constitutions with equal-treatment
clauses. The American Convention on Human
Rights, to which 23 countries are party, has
such a clause (điều khoản). In 2015 the
United States Supreme Court legalised same-
sex marriage on the grounds that to deny gay
people the rights and privileges (đặc quyền)
of marriage is to deny them equal treatment.
Colombia’s constitutional court made a similar
ruling. In January the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights said that the convention’s
equality clause required its signatories to
permit same-sex marriage.

In some countries, politicians are putting up a

fight. Paraguay’s president, Mario
AbdoBenítez, campaigned in last year’s
election on a promise to veto legislation Courts across the
(pháp luật, pháp chế) to allow same-sex Americas are
marriage. Both of the remaining candidates in
Guatemala’s presidential election oppose gay legalising same-sex
marriage. marriage
Ecuador’s ruling will encourage campaigners
to continue challenging even the most
formidable (dữ dội) obstacles to same-sex
marriage. This year they filed a case to
overturn Honduras’s constitutional ban. When
Latin Americans talk about a “pink tide”, they
usually mean the spread of leftwing politics. In
future, they may mean the increasing freedom
of gay people to wed whom they love.
 Article 2

Climate change
GREENLAND’S ICE SHEET
IS MELTING
 Article 2

VOCABULARY
1. Shed (v): to let something fall; to drop something (tan chảy)
2. Millennia (plural of millennium): a period of 1,000 years, or
the time when a period of 1,000 years ends (thiên niên kỉ)
3. Run off (v): to leave somewhere or someone suddenly (chảy ra
(biển))
4. Be to blame: to be the reason for something that happens (là
nguyên nhân)
5. Jet stream (n): a narrow current of strong winds high above
the earth that move from west to east (dòng tia/ luồng khí)
6. Portend (v): to be a sign that something bad is likely to happen in
the future (báo hiệu/ )
7. Record (a): at a higher level than ever achieved before (cao mức
kỉ lục)
8. Shrinkage (n): a reduction in the size of something, or
the process of becoming smaller (sự thu nhỏ)
9. Absorb (v): to take something in, especially gradually (hấp thụ)
10. Hasten (v): to make something happen sooner or more quickly
(đẩy nhanh)
11. Reckon (v): to consider or have the opinion that something is
as stated (cho là)
12. Thermal (a): connected with heat (nhiệt)
 Article 2
Climate change
GREENLAND’S ICE SHEET IS MELTING
Its ice sheet is shedding ( tan chảy) 3bn tonnes of water a day
Greenland’s misleading name is the result of a marketing campaign by Erik the Red, a
tenth-century Norse explorer who wished to attract settlers to its icy landscape. Little did he
know that the island had been covered by lush forests many millennia (thiên niên kỉ)
before he was born. Nor could he have fathomed that, a millennium after his death, the
vast ice sheet that gave the lie to his inviting description would be in rapid retreat.

That sheet holds enough water to raise the world’s sea level by more than seven metres,
should it all melt and run off (đổ ra) into the oceans. For this reason, climate scientists
monitor the sheet’s seasonal trends closely. In particular, they study the spring melt that
leads up to the late summer ice minimum, after which the sheet starts to grow again.
The latest data show that the area of melting ice is unusually high this year. On June 12th
712,000 square kilometres of the sheet (more than 40% of it) were melting. That is well
outside the normal range for the past 40 years.

Several things are to blame (là nguyên nhân). First, a natural cycle known as the North
Atlantic Oscillation is encouraging ice-melt. Then there is long-term warming driven by
rising greenhouse-gas emissions. Third, climate change has also weakened the jet stream
(luồng khí), permitting a warm and humid weather system to settle over north-eastern
Greenland. As a result of all this, the seasonal ice-melt began two weeks early. And
according to data published on the Polar Portal, a Danish climate-research website,
Greenland is currently losing 3bn tonnes of ice a day. That is roughly three times the
average for mid-June in the period from 1981 to 2010.

The three previously recorded losses at this scale, in 2002, 2007 and 2012, each
portended (cảnh báo) a record (cao mức kỉ lục) shrinkage (sự thu nhỏ) of the sheet’s
volume at the end of the summer. This year’s is likely to do the same. As Thomas Mote of
America’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre observes, although a switch in the weather
could still turn things around, the early melt will result in darker snow and ice,
which absorb (hấp thụ) more sunlight and hasten (đẩy nhanh) the melting process.

Jason Box of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland reckons (cho rằng) that if
this year is anything like 2012 (which set the current record for ice melt), melting ice from
Greenland will raise the sea level by a millimetre. That is on top of the 2.5mm-a-year rise
brought about by other causes, such as thermal (nhiệt) expansion of the oceans in
response to global warming. Greenland may not be green yet, but it is far less icy than in
Erik’s time.
 Article 3

Extreme robotics
CYBERNETIC SKIVVIES
 Article 3
Extreme robotics
CYBERNETIC SKIVVIES
Some people worry about robots taking work away from
human beings, but there are a few jobs that even
these sceptics (người đa nghi) admit most folk would not
want. One is cleaning up radioactive waste (chất thải
phóng xạ), particularly when it is inside a nuclear power
station—and especially if the power station in question has
suffered a recent accident.

Those who do handle radioactive material must first don

(mặc) protective suits that are inherently cumbersome
(cồng kềnh) and are further encumbered (vướng víu) by
the air hoses needed to allow the wearer to breathe. Even
then their working hours are strictly limited, in order to avoid
prolonged exposure to radiation and because operating in
the suits is exhausting. Moreover, some sorts of waste are
too hazardous for even the besuited to approach safely.

So, send in the robots? Unfortunately that is far from simple,

for most robots are not up to the task (đủ khả năng làm gì).
This became clear after events in 2011 at the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, which suffered a
series of meltdowns (rò rỉ phóng xạ) after its safety
systems failed following a tsunami. The site at Fukushima Cleaning up nuclear
has turned into something of a graveyard (nghĩa địa) for waste is obviously
those robots dispatched (được đưa đến) into it to monitor
radiation levels and start cleaning things up. Many got a task for robots.
stuck, broke down or had their circuits fried by the intense But designing
radiation.
robots that can do
Intelligence test it is hard
Stopping such things happening again is part of the work of
the National Centre for Nuclear Robotics (NCNR). This is a
collaborative effort involving several British universities. It is
led by Rustam Stolkin of the University of Birmingham, and
its purpose is to improve the routine use of robotics in
nuclear power stations as well as to ensure that robotic trips
into irradiated (bị chiếu xạ) areas are less likely to end up
as suicide missions (nhiệm vụ tự sát).
 ARTICLE 3
One problem with the robots dispatched into the
ruins of Fukushima Daiichi was that they were
not particularly clever. Most were operated by
someone twiddling joysticks at a safe distance.
Such machines are awkward to steer and their
arms are tricky (phức tạp) to move accurately
when viewed via a video screen. Dr Stolkin
reckons the answer is to equip them with
artificial intelligence (AI), so that they can
operate autonomously.
The nuclear industry, though, is extremely
conservative (bảo thủ) and not yet prepared to
let autonomous robots loose within its facilities.
So, for the time being at least, AI will be used to
assist human operators. For example, instead of
relying on a remote human operator to
manipulate (điều khiển bằng tay) all its
controls, an AI-equipped robot faced with a pile
of (nhiều) different objects to move would
employ a camera to understand those objects’
shapes and positions relative to one another. It
could then plan how best to grasp each object
and move it to, say, an appropriately designed
disposal skip without it colliding(va đập) with
anything else in the vicinity(khu vực lân cận).
A human being would remain in overall control
of the process via a motorised joystick that
exerts forces on the operator’s hand similar to
those he or she would feel by actually grasping
(nắm lấy) the object. But although the operator
still uses the joystick to move the robot’s arm to
carry out a particular task, it is the AI which
takes care of the details. It makes sure the arm
swings in exactly the right direction and picks
things up properly. Such an arrangement has
already been successfully tested at the
Springfields nuclear-fuel facility in north-west
England. It was used to cut up contaminated
steel with a high-powered laser.
Other members of NCNR are examining
different aspects of the problem. At the
University of Bristol, Tom Scott leads a group
working on means for robots to identify
materials, including various sorts of plastic, from
the “fingerprints” provided by the distinctive
ways they scatter (tán xạ) laser light.
At Queen Mary, a college of the University of
London, Kaspar Althoefer’s team is working on
radiation-resilient tactile sensors for robots’
fingers. Gerhard Neumann of the University of
Lincoln is developing advanced navigation
systems. And to ensure robots’ circuits don’t
get frazzled (nóng chảy), Klaus McDonald-
Maier at the University of Essex is developing
electronics toughened against the effects of
radiation, including circuits that automatically
detect (phát hiện) and correct errors.
Besides helping run nuclear power stations
(nhà máy điện), all this will also assist with the
growing need to clean up and recycle nuclear
waste—and not just because of disasters like
Fukushima. Early members of the nuclear club,
such as America, Britain, France and Russia,
have accumulated (tích lũy) a vast legacy of
the stuff. In Britain alone, some 4.9m tonnes of
contaminated nuclear material are in need of
safe disposal.
A lot of this is found at one of the most
hazardous industrial sites in Europe, Sellafield,
also in north-west England. Sellafield began
producing plutonium for bombs in 1947. In
1956 the world’s first commercial-sized civil
nuclear power station opened there. The site
went on to become a centre for reprocessing
nuclear fuel. Cleaning up Sellafield’s decaying
buildings and nuclear-waste storage facilities
will take decades. Robots with autonomous
abilities would greatly hurry that process along.
 Article 3

VOCABULARY
1. Sceptic (n): a person who doubts the truth or value of an idea or belief (người đa nghi)
2. Radioactive (a): having or producing the energy that comes from the breaking up
of atoms (phóng xạ)
3. Don (v): to put on a piece of clothing (mặc)
4. Cumbersome (a): awkward because of being large, heavy, or not effective (cồng kềnh)
5. Encumbered (a): prevented from making quick progress by having to carry heavy
objects (làm vướng víu)
6. Be up to/for the task (idiom): capable, able, suitable, competent enough to complete
the job (đủ khả năng để làm gì)
7. Meltdown (nuclear) (n): an extremely dangerous situation in a nuclear power station in
which the nuclear fuel becomes very hot and melts through its container and escapes into
the environment (rò rỉ phóng xạ)
8. Graveyard (n): a place, often next to a church, where dead people are buried (nghĩa
địa)
9. Dispatch (v): to send something, especially goods or a message, somewhere for
a particular purpose (gửi đi/ đưa đến)
10. Irradiated (a): treated with light or other types of radiation (được chiếu xạ)
11. Suicide mission (n): the mission of killing yourself intentionally (nhiệm vụ tự sát)
12. Tricky (a): difficult to deal with and needing careful attention or skill (phức tạp)
13. Conservative (a): not usually liking or trusting change, especially sudden change (cứng
nhắc/ bảo thủ):
14. Manipulate (v): to control something using the hands (điều khiển bằng tay)
15. A pile of (n): a lot of something (nhiều)
16. Collide (v): (esp. of moving objects) to hit something violently (va đập)
17. Vicinity (n): the area around a place or where the speaker is (khu vực lân cận)
18. Grasp (v): to quickly take something in your hand(s) and hold it firmly (nắm lấy)
19. Scatter (v): to move apart in many directions, or to throw something in
different directions (tán xạ)
20. Frazzled (a): burned or dried out after being in the sun or cooking for too long (nóng
chảy)
21. Detect (v): to notice something that is partly hidden or not clear, or to discover
something, especially using a special method (phát hiện)
22. Power station (n): a factory where electricity is produced (nhà máy điện)
23. Accumulate (v): to collect a large number of things over a long period of time (tích lũy)
24. Aerial (a): of, from, or in the air (trên không)
25. Robotic drone (n): an unmanned aircraft which may be remotely controlled or can fly
autonomously (máy bay robot không người lái)
26. Reactor (n): a large machine in which atoms are either divided or joined in order
to producepower (lò phản ứng)
 Article 3

Nor is it just inside buildings that robots can

help. This April Dr Scott and his colleagues at
Bristol completed an aerial (trên không) survey
of the Red Forest in the Chernobyl exclusion
zone in Ukraine using robotic drones (máy bay
robot không người lái). Even 33 years after the
accident at the site’s number four reactor (lò
phản ứng), they found previously undetected
radiation hotspots.
Unlike a neat and tidy factory, where robots can
be programmed to undertake repetitive tasks
without any surprises, decontaminating an old
nuclear site requires the ability to operate in an
unstructured environment. In some cases,
operators may not even know what they might
find inside a building. Devising artificial
intelligence clever enough to deal with all this
will be tricky. But if Dr Stolkin and his colleagues
succeed, their efforts are likely to have a wider
impact, stretching even into the world of jobs
that people are, at the moment at least, content
to do themselves.
Cleaning up nuclear
waste is obviously
a task for robots.
But designing
robots that can do
it is hard
 ARTICLE 1

A BETTER RAINCOAT
Superhydrophobic materials

ARTICLE 2

GRUB’S UP
Farming insects
 ARTICLE 1

SUPERHYDROPHOBIC MATERIALS

A BETTER
RAINCOAT

SHEDDING WATER MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH TINY WATER BOWLS

Article 1
Superhydrophobic materials

A BETTER RAINCOAT

SHEDDING WATER MORE EFFECTIVELY WITH TINY WATER BOWLS

A few years ago Kripa Varanasi a   , To limit this spread the researchers used ,

researcher at the Massachusetts a laser to etch into an already

Institute of Technology made the , superhydrophobic surface a series of
news with a ketchup bottle that could patterns of small rings These are the .

be emptied without leaving any of the water bowls in question Their purpose is .

ketchup behind Instead of sticking to . to constrain the spread of droplets

the bottle s interior the sauce was
’ , falling on them thus encouraging the ,

repelled by it . rapid ejection of those droplets back

into the air .

Superhydrophobicity as physicists call ,

this effect involves peppering a

, To test the idea s effectiveness the trio
’ ,

surface with microscopic structures needed a way of measuring the strength of

that contain pockets of fluid That . the contact between falling water drops
reduces the area of contact between and their new surface Their solution was .

the surface and any water droplets to use the heat transferred from surface to
which fall on it This in turn . , ,
water while they were in contact as a
diminishes the surface tension that proxy for contact strength They therefore .

would otherwise cause the droplet to showered the surface while it was at room ,

cling on bám vào đ ọ ng l ạ i

( so it / ),
temperature 20 C with water chilled to
( ° ),

instead falls off In nature using air as 3ºC While doing so they monitored the
.

resulting drop in the surface s

. ,

the fluid lotus leaves and insect ’

temperature This proved to be 40 less

,

cuticles are both famously good at . %

superhydrophobicity In lotuses the air than that experienced over the same
period by a standard superhydrophobic
.

pockets are created by minute lumps

of wax In insects they are the result of
.
surface which they used as a control .

tiny hairs Dr Varanasi s ketchup bottle

The reduced transfer of heat from
. ’

improved even on these paragons by

surface to droplets showed that the
,

replacing the air with an oil

water bowls greatly reduced interaction
.

His latest surface though which is between the two In other words the . ,

surface s hydrophobicity had been

, ,

even more hydrophobic than the ’

previous ones goes back to tinkering increased Moreover

. further tests ,

showed that even if a droplet landed on

,

not with the pockets contents but

the edge of a water bowl rather than
’ ,

with the surface s geometry As he and ,

dead centre it was still repelled more

’ .

his colleagues Henri Louis Girard and ,

effectively than by a flat surface

-

Dan Soto report in ACS Nano the trick   ,

.

is to carve minuscule structures they

call water bowls on a surface Dr Varanasi and his colleagues believe
that using lasers and other modern
“ ” .

The trio began their research by manufacturing techniques it should be ,

looking at how the contact area possible to carve water bowls into a wide
between a surface and a droplet variety of surfaces Potential applications .

falling onto it influences how range from preventing the icing of

effectively that droplet will bounce aircraft wings by freezing rain to
away again If it falls on even a reducing the corrosive effects of brine
from ocean spray and even helping
.

standard superhydrophobic —

surface a droplet will spread out people stay snug and dry inside
waterproof clothing
, .

That reduces its bounceability “ ” .

.

02
Article 1 A BETTER RAINCOAT

VOCABULARY

1.     Interior (n) : the inside part of something (phần bên trong)

2.     Repel (v) : to have a magnetic field that pushes away something
with a similar magnetic field (đẩy)
3.     Pepper (v) : to add to something in many places (rải lên)
4.     Microscopic (a) : very small and only able to be seen with a microscope
(cực nhỏ)
5.     Fluid (n) : a substance that flows and is not solid (lưu chất (nước
và khí))
6.     Contact (n) : the fact of two people or things touching each other
(sự tiếp xúc)
7.     Surface ension (n) : the natural force existing in a liquid that holds its 
surface together (sức căng bề mặt)
8.     Cling on (v) : to try very hard to keep something (bám vào/ đọng lại)
9.     Tinker (v) :  to make small changes to something, especially in
an attempt to  repair or improve it (điều chỉnh)
10. Trio (n) :  a group of three people or things (nhóm 3 người)
11. Etch (v) :  to cut a pattern, picture, etc., in a surface (khắc)
12. Ejection (n) : an act of pushing something out suddenly and with a
lot of force (sự phóng lên, phun lên)
13. Corrosive (a) : tending to destroy something slowly by chemical
action (ăn mòn)
14. Brine (n) : water with salt in it, especially when used
to preserve food (nước mặn)
15. Snug (a) : warm, comfortable, and protected (ấm áp, thoải mái)

03
 ARTICLE 2

FARMING INSECTS

GRUB’S UP

Beetles and flies are becoming part of the agricultural food chain
Article 2
FARMING INSECTS

GRUB’S UP

BEETLES AND FLIES ARE BECOMING PART OF THE AGRICULTURAL

FOOD CHAIN
Some vis ionaries hope that insects will
  at one remove from people s dining ’

play a big role in future human diets . tables instead of being served up
Insects are nutritious being packed with , directly for lunch .

protein Unlike hot blooded mammals

. -

and birds which use a lot of energy to

, The two most promising species are
keep themselves warm they are efficient , flour b eetles and black soldier flies ,

converters of food into body mass And in . specifically the larval st ages of these
some parts of the world they are indeed , , animals Flour beetle larvae better
. - ,

eaten already . known as mealworms have been used as ,

fish food for a long time they are —

Well maybe But it will take some serious

, . excellent bait for anglers and are bred
marketing to persuade consumers in the , commercially on a small scale for this
West at least that fricasseed locusts or
, and other purposes including as chicken ,

termiteburgers are the yummy must - food Black soldier fly larvae are a more
. - -

haves of 21st century cuisine The - . recent subject of interest They are in . ,

visionaries might nevertheless prove the jargon saprophagous meaning that

, ,

correct that insects will contribute to they feed on decaying organic matter
human nutrition just not in the way they
— and will thus eat all sorts of stuff ,

imagine . including manure phân chu ồ ng This ( ).

has led to interest in using them as

What is actually happening is that a composting agents so that cultivating ,

band of entrepreneurs are breeding them too has already been happening
, ,

insects as animal fodder particularly — on a small scale What has changed are
.

fish food Grown on cheap inputs then

. , people s ambitions Instead of turning
’ .

crushed and formed into meal they , such insects out by the kilogram the ,

will thus provide all of the nutritional plan is to do it by the tonne by ,

advantages the visionaries talk of but , industrialising the process .

_VOCABULARY_

1.     Visionary (n) : a person who is able to imagine how a country, society,  industry, etc., will or

should develop in the future and to plan in a suitable  way (người nhìn xa
trông rộng)
2.     Locust (n) : a large insect found in hot areas that flies in large  groups and
destroys plants and crops (châu chấu)
3.     Termiteburger (n) : burger made from termite (burger làm từ con mối)
4.     Entrepreneur (n) : someone  who starts their own business, especially when
this involves seeing a new opportunity (nhà kinh doanh)
5.     Fodder (n) : food that is given to cows, horses, and other farm animals (thức ăn gia súc)
6.     Beetle (n) : an insect with a hard shell-like back (bọ cánh cứng)
7.     Larval (a) : describing or connected with the stage in an insect's life when it has just come
out of an egg and looks like a short fat worm (thuộc giai đoạn ấu trùng)
Larva (plural larvae) (n) : a form of an insect or an animal such as a frog that has left its egg but has
notyet developed into a pupa or adult insect  or animal (ấu trùng)
8.     Bait (n) : a small amount of food on a hook (= curved piece of wire) or in
a specialdevice used to attract and catch a fish or animal (mồi câu)         
9.     Manure (n) : excrement from animals, esp. horses and cattle, often used as
a fertilizer (=material added to earth to help plants grow) (phân chuồng)

05
Article 2
FARMING INSECTS

GRUB’S UP

F ly fis hi ng operation 30 metres tall This farm in

, . ,

Amiens will produce 1 500 tonnes of meal

, ,

One of the most advanced mealworm - a month And Ynsect is not alone in its
.

raising enterprises is run by Ynsect a , ambitions for mealworms In Washington .

French firm It uses an approach called

. state in America the home of many fish
, ,

v e r t i c a l f a r m i n g Which is also popular

, farms a firm called Beta Hatch is building
,

with those growing salad vegetables in a commercial mealworm farm inside an

cities in the modern e q u i v a l e n t s of
, old juice factory This Virginia Emery the . , ,

market gardens Vertical farming is an

. firm s boss hopes will match the output
’ , ,

indoor operation in which the produce of Ynsect s farm in Burgundy

’ .

is held in trays that can be shuffled

around robotically . The leading contender in the breeding of
black soldier flies meanwhile is , ,

Ynsect s test facility in Burgundy is

’ , , AgriProtein Its factory on the outskirts of
.

20 metres tall and has 10 000 , Cape Town South Africa produces a , ,

mealworm laden trays Nothing is

- . similar tonnage to that of Ynsect s ’

wasted The insects droppings are

. ’ Burgundian facility Flies being more .

collected for use in fertilisers When . active than beetles AgriProtein s farm , ’

the larvae are about ten weeks old , employs huge cages to hold them by the
those not destined to pupate and , million The fertilised đ ư ợ c th ụ tinh
. ( )

thus provide the next generation of females lay their eggs in trays fitted with
mealworms are sorted cleaned and
, , cavities shaped like honeycomb and
steamed to death They are then as . , slathered in molasses m ậ t đ ư ờ ng These ( ).

Antoine Hubert Ynsect s boss puts , ’ , trays are removed at regular intervals to
it treated like olives They are
, . ensure that the larvae within hatch
crushed to extract their oil and the s i m u l t a n e o u s l y and are thus the same
remaining pulp is dried and size for large larvae often cannibalise
—

powdered These products are sold as

. small ones .

pet food But the company s eventual

. ’

targets are fish farms raising salmon , Once removed from the breeding cages ,

trout and sea bass . the eggs are placed in hatching units and
the young larvae then transferred for a
The test facility turns out 30 tonnes short time to a nursery before being
of protein meal a month On the . moved again to an area where they can ,

back of its success Ynsect is , grow After ten days here they are crushed
.

planning to start construction later , and turned into oils and meal in a manner
this year of a full scale commercial
, - similar to that employed by Ynsect .

_VOCABULARY_

10. Vertical farming (n) : the activity of growing crops  in tall buildings with many floors (hệ thống

canh tác nhiều tầng)
11. Equivalent (n) : something that has the same amount, value, purpose,  qualities, etc. as
something else (tương đương (vật))
12. Pupate (v) : to become a pupa (hóa nhộng)
13.    Turn out (v) : to produce somebody/something (sản xuất/ tạo ra)
14.    Fertilise (v) : to join sperm with an egg so that a baby or young animal develops (thụ
tinh)
15.   Molasses (n) : a thick, dark, sweet liquid made from sugar plants (mật đường)
16.    Simultaneously (adv) : at the same time as something else (cùng lúc)

06
Article 2
FARMING INSECTS

GRUB’S UP

One n o t a b l e difference between the At your disposal

mealworm and soldier fly approaches to -

insect farming is the fodder that the larvae
are themselves fed The companies are tight
lipped about their specific formulas
Mealworms are vegetarians Ynsect feeds its
charges on a diet including wheat bran
Both beetle farmers and fly farmers
. - also aspire to follow the paths of
. other husbanders of livestock by
. breeding better versions of their
. animals Over the past four years for
. ,

AgriProtein s fly larvae were originally

’ example researchers in Finland Spain
, ,

pampered with blood from abattoirs mixed and Serbia have built up a genetic
with bran while the adults were fed milk
, library of black soldier fly varieties
- - .

powder molasses and sugar Now the firm

, . Gunilla Ståhls of the University of
has formulated proprietary diets for both Helsinki says this library shows how
larvae and adults . much variety the flies have to offer —

an essential basis for a breeding -

Exactly what farmed insects eat depends as improvement programme .

much on local regulations as on what the

insects prefer It was only in 2017 that
. Mr Drew thinks the scope for such
the EU permitted the feeding of insect
    improvement is enormous As he .

protein to farmed fish and this on condition — observes by analogy a few decades ,

that the insects themselves t u c k e d i n t o ago a laying hen would produce about
foodstuffs approved as animal fodder . three eggs a week and even then only
,

AgriProtein which intends to expand its

, during the summer Selective .

reach beyond South Africa formulates its , breeding means such a hen can now
proprietary mixes to conform to the rules in be counted on to turn out double that
destination markets . number and to do so all year round
, .

Regulatory fussiness though understandable , , At the moment the tonnages firms

,

does get in the way of another possible like Ynsect and AgriProtein aim to
benefit of fly f a r m i n g — w a s t e d i s p o s a l . produce are still t r i v i a l compared
Jason Drew AgriProtein s boss reckons fly
, ’ , with the multi million tonne market
- -

farms may one day prove ideal places to for fish feed But that leaves plenty of
.

manage and r e c y c l e e x c r e m e n t especially , room for growth This is moreover a

. , ,

in poor countries To this end a s u b s i d i a r y

. , growth that may bring environmental
of the company has worked out how to benefits as well as economic ones .

extract birth control and growth hormones

- Today a lot of fish food is itself fish
, .

from human and a n i m a l f a e c e s respectively , Insect farming could help relieve the
to avoid these getting into the finished oceans of that burden and improve ,

product They hope regulators permitting to

. , , the prospect of the adage that there “

start adding treated faeces to fly feed next - are plenty more fish in the sea ”

year or the year after . actually being true .

_VOCABULARY_

17. Notable (a) important and deserving attention, because of being very good or

: interesting (đáng kể)
18. Tuck into (Phr.v) : to start eating something eagerly (ăn ngấu nghiến/ chén)
: to become a pupa (hóa nhộng)
19. Waste disposal (n) : the process of getting rid of unwanted materials or substances
(việc xử lí chất thải)
20.   Subsidiary (n) a company that is owned by a larger company (công ty con)
21.   Trivial (a) having little value or importance (không đáng kể)

07
 Conservation and tourism

CONT

ARTICLE 01
WHAT? ME
WORRY?

ENTS
Contrary to the fears of
some penguins and
,

people do mix

Cannabis use CONVERSATION IN INDIA

ARTICLE 02

ARTICLE 03
UNINTENDED, UH, LIQUID
WHATEVER, MAN ASSETS
Legalising cannabis seems India s neglected but
’

to make it less attractive magnificent stepwells are

to teenagers relics of a nuanced history
 
 CONSERVATION AND TOURISM

WHAT? ME
WORRY?

TRAVEL TRIPS AND MORE

MSIRUOT CITCRA ROF SELPICIRP NET

MSIRUOT CITCRA ROF SELPICIRP NET

ARTICLE 1

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 Article 1 02
Conservation and tourism
WHAT? ME WORRY?
Contrary to the fears of some, penguins and people do mix

In 1969 a cruise ship called MS Lindblad

        That worries many conservationists who ,

Explorer the first vessel purpose built for such

, - fear such quantities of people may be
a trip and carrying 90 passengers arrived in
, , disturbing the penguins to the birds , ’

Antarctic waters Since then Antarctic tourism. , detriment However a study just published
. ,

has increased dramatically Nowadays well over . , in Polar Biology by Maureen Lynch of Stony
   

35 000 visitors a season make landfall in the

, Brook University in New York brings good
, ,

austral summer Most of these landings take . news for penguins tourists and tour , -

place on the Antarctic peninsula and its operators alike for as far as Dr Lynch can
— ,

adjacent islands with the intention of visiting , determine the tourists visits are not
, ’

colonies of gentoo penguins . stressing the birds at all .

The conventional way of deciding whether visits that corticosterone concentrations in

by tourists are stressful to the animals so visited guano went up shortly after animals were
is to recruit a bunch of PhD students to observe     approached by human beings and then ,

those animals and make copious behavioural returned to normal later With that in mind . ,

observations when tourists are and are not she decided to compare guano from
present in order that the two may be
, penguin colonies visited by lots of tourists
compared This is arduous and expensive for
. , with those farther off the beaten track .

even PhD students lowly as they are need to be

    , ,

housed and fed An alternative is to sample the

. She and her colleagues therefore visited
animals blood and analyse it for stress
’ the Antarctic peninsula during the tourism
hormones such as corticosterone The problem . seasons of 2017 18 and 2018 19 Once there
- - .

with this is that catching animals to measure they collected 108 guano samples from 19
their hormone levels is of itself stressful , , . gentoo penguin colonies and returned
them to the laboratory for analysis A few .

There is however a third way which is to look for

, , , of the sites sampled like Bryde Island and
(

stress hormones in animals droppings Dr Lynch ’ . Moot Point are hard to get to and never
)

knew from previous work by her collaborators at see tourists Others see between 5 000 and
. ,

the University of Houston that corticosterone 15 000 visitors a season One Neko
, . (

and its metabolites show up in penguin Harbour sees more than 20 000
) , .

guano Moreover the Data showing this hinted

.  ,
 Article 1 03
Conservation and tourism
WHAT? ME WORRY?
As the researchers expected all the samples contained corticosterone and its associated
,

metabolites Contrary to their expectations however there were no significant differences

. , ,

between samples from different sites regardless of the number of visitors those sites played host
,

to It seems then either that penguins do not worry about human visitors in the first place or that
. , , ,

they quickly get used to them which is good news all round What is more Dr Lynch s method
, . , ’

provides an easy way to monitor the situation If it does transpire that as tourist numbers grow . , ,

they cross a threshold where they become oppressive to the birds it will be possible to advise ,

tour operators of the fact and ask them to put their charges ashore to look at less visited colonies - .

VOCABULARY

1.     Vessel (n): a large boat or a ship thuyền tàu lớn

        ( , )

2.     Austral (a): relating to the southern hemisphere phương nam ( )

3.     Peninsula (n): a long piece of land that sticks out from a largerarea of land into
                   

the sea or into a lake bán đảo

      ( )

4.     Adjacent (a): very near next to liền kề sát bên

, ( , )

5.     Detriment (n): harm or damage thiệt hại

    ( )

6.     Arduous (a): difficult needing a lot of effort and energy khó khăn tốn công sức
,          ( , )

7.     Droppings (n):

the excrement of certain animals such as rodents sheep birds and , , , ,

insects phân chim động vật

( ( , ))

8.     Guano (n): the excrement of seabirds and bats used as fertilizer phân chim , ( ( ))

9.  Off the beaten in or into an isolated place xa xôi hẻo lánh ( )

track (adv):

10. Laboratory (n):

a room or building with scientific equipment for doing scientific tests
             

or for teaching science or a place where chemicals or medicines are

    ,          

produced phòng thí nghiệm ( )

11. Transpire (v):

to happen xảy ra
  ( )

12. Threshold (n):

the level or point at which you start to experience something or at
              ,

which something starts to happen ngưỡng       ( )

13. Oppressive (a):

causing to feel worried and uncomfortable đè nặng áp lực
          ( , )
 CANNABIS USE
UNINTENDED, UH,
WHATEVER, MAN

LEGALISING CANNABIS SEEMS TO MAKE

IT LESS ATTRACTIVE TO TEENAGERS
REDROSID ESU SIBANNAC

REDROSID ESU SIBANNAC

A
ARR TT II C
C LL EE 22

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 Article 2 05
Cannabis use
UNINTENDED UH WHATEVER MAN , , ,

Legalising cannabis seems to make it less attractive to teenagers

When Justin Trudeau promised to legalise cannabis
  It is too early to tell whether Canada s change at ’ ,

use across the border in Canada his main reason for , the end of last year will have the desired effect
, .

doing so was to protect the young Cannabis is bad . Yet there is a wealth of historical data in
for the developing brain and a worrying number of America which has been tinkering with various
,

minors were taking the drug The counterintuitive

. forms of liberalisation since the 1990s Today 33 .

proposal was based on the idea that regulated sales states permit medical cannabis and 11 have ,

would drive out illegal sellers who do not care how

, legalised recreational use The most recent .

old their customers are Legal sellers however will

. , , legalisation bill for recreational use was signed
, ,

generally abide by age restrictions in sales to keep in Illinois on June 25th .

their licence
.

Until now the evidence on youth use was mixed In . causal connection is plausible   .

Washington state one study found increased use

among 8th and 10th graders after legalisation A . Across the country cannabis remains a big and ,

different study found that use among these groups flourishing business worth nearly 10bn last
, $

actually fell However a new study in the

. , , year and projected to rise to nearly 45bn by
, $

journal Jama Pediatrics attempts a more

  , 2024 Yet California has become the first state to
.

comprehensive national analysis using data from shrink its legal market after legalisation Its value .

biennial appraisals of high school students known

- went from 3bn in 2017 to just 2 5bn last year
$ $ . ,

as the Youth Risk Behaviour Surveys It found that . according to Arcview Market Research
relatively permissive laws were associated with a and BDS Analytics
    .

9 decrease in frequent cannabis use by high

% -

school students There was no evidence that

. The finding on teenaged use will put wind into
legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes the sails of advocates for liberalisation Most of .

encouraged use among young Americans . the public across many demographic groups
supports legalising marijuana At the same time . ,

Although the drop is not large it is notable given

, business growth is turning the pot industry into
policy variation between states Some states will . a force in the lobbies of Washington and of state
have been more successful than others at chipping capitols Witness the Damascene conversion of
.

away at black market sales regulating licensed

- , John Boehner The former House speaker
. ,

sellers and getting the message across that cannabis opponent and member of the
cannabis is damaging to young brains Though the . Republican Party is now a board member and
study showed only that a correlation between shareholder of New York based cannabis firm -

policy changes and a dip in teenaged use a

  ,   Acreage Holdings .
 Article 2 06
Cannabis use
UNINTENDED UH WHATEVER MAN , , ,

Earlier this year Mr Boehner launched a new industry funded lobbying group promoting
, -

“common sense federal regulation Were federal law to shift to make cannabis legal his firm
- ”. ,

Acreage could complete a lucrative sale to Canopy Growth a big Canadian cannabis firm On July , .

10th a Congressional committee held a hearing on the need for reform With the promise of real “ ”.

jobs and investment that could come from federal legalisation it could even become a vote , -

winner .

VOCABULARY
1.    Legalise (v): to allow something by law hợp pháp hóa
      ( )

2.    Legalization (n): sự hợp pháp hóa

3.    Legal (a): allowed by the law hợp pháp
    ( )

4.    Illegal (a): phi pháp

5.    Cannabis (n): the hemp plant whose leaves and flowers are used to make marijuana cần
    ,           (

sa )

6.   Counterintuitive (n): Something that is counter intuitive does not happen in the way you -  

would expect it to phản trực giác

    ( )

7.    Regulate (v): to check that the activities of a business or

           

organization are legal and follow official rules or laws điều chỉnh
              ( )

8.    Licence (n): an official document that gives you permission to own do or use something
        , , ,

usually after you have paid money and or taken a test giấy phép       /   ( )

9.    Tinker (v): to make small changes to something especially in

      ,   

10. Liberalization (n): an attempt to repair or improve it sửa đổi

            ( )

11. Recreational (a): the practice of making laws systems or opinions less severe tự do hóa
      ,  ,     ( )

12. Biennial (a): connected with ways of enjoying yourself when you are not working thuộc
            (

về giải trí )

13. Appraisal (n): happening once every two years hai năm một lần
      ( )

14. Correlation (n): the act of examining someone or something in

       

order to judge their qualities success or needs sự đánh giá

        ,  ,   ( )

15. Plausible (a): a connection or relationship between two or more facts numbers etc sự
        ,  , . (

tương quan )

16. Flourishing (a): seeming likely to be true or able to be believed hợp lí đáng tin
      ,     ( , )

growing or developing successfully phát triển thịnh vượng

      ( )

17. Opponent (n): a person who disagrees with something and speaks against it
         

or tries to change it người phản đối

        ( )
 CONVERSATION IN INDIA

LIQUID ASSETS

A VIEW OF THE MAGNIFICENT RAJON KI

BAOLI STEPWELL 
KNIRD OT PORD A TON

IHLED NI
A
ARR TT II C
C LL EE 33 ,
AIDNI
,

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 Article 3 07
Conversation in india
LIQUID ASSETS
DELHI
India’s neglected but magnificent stepwells are relics of a nuanced history

The story goes that devout followers of Nizamuddin

  metres deep was in an advanced state of
) ,

Auliya a Sufi saint who lived from 1238 to 1325 had

, , dilapidation One section of its walls of grey Delhi .

already begun work on his baoli or stepwell when     quartzite had collapsed Other parts were bulging .

Ghazi Malik the new sultan of Delhi ordered all

, , alarmingly and for the dozens of families who had
— ,

projects to stop until the construction of an built homes atop them perilously India has , .

impregnable citadel for him was finished Out of . thousands of surviving stepwells but the great ,

adoration for Nizamuddin the labourers worked on , majority are similarly run down Many others have - .

the fortress by day and the baoli by night Enraged     . , vanished often filled in and built upon This, .

Ghazi Malik banned the sale of oil for lamps — neglectful attitude is extraordinary for they are one   ,

whereupon Nizamuddin blessed the well s water and ’ of India s unsung wonders At last through ’ . ,

told his followers to use that instead Miraculously it . , restoration efforts by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture
burned . (AKTC among others they are starting to get the
), ,

recognition they deserve

Today Nizamuddin remains one of South Asia s most
.

, ’

admired Sufi saints His message of tolerance and . The earliest of the wells date back almost 2 000 ,

humanity appeals in an age when political leaders years They were first and foremost a response to a
.

preach communal division Not just Muslims but . climate in which a year s rains fall chiefly in the four ’  

Hindus Sikhs and Christians flock to his dargah or

,   , brief months of the summer monsoon when they ,

shrine in New Delhi where qawwali songs of devotion

, ,     fall at all The point of the staircases and side ledges
.

are performed Thousands crowd every day down the

. is to provide permanent access to ever fluctuating -

narrow beggar lined passageway that runs alongside

, - water levels and cool shelter in the hottest —

the baoli on their way to strewing rose petals on the

    months In the north western regions that are
. -

holy man s tomb Many pilgrims believe in the healing

’ . India s most arid such as Rajasthan and Gujarat
’ , ,

power of the baoliwater   . the baolis underwrote life as sources of both

    ,

irrigation and drinking water They were often

Until recently that water was filthy The tank was full of
.

  .
located on ancient trade routes In Delhi every
rubbish the neighbourhood s raw sewage flowed into
. ,

; ’    
community once had its own tank
it Worse the structure which is more than 160 feet 49
.

. , , (  

VOCABULARY

1.     Relic (n): an object tradition or system from the past that continues to exist di tích
  ,  ,           ( )

2.     Devout (a): believing strongly in a religion and obeying all its rules or principles sùng đạo
                  ( )

3.     Citadel (n): a strong castle in or near a city where people can shelter from danger
        ,         ,

especially during a war thành trì   ( )

4.     Fortress (n): a large strong building or group of buildings that can be defended from attack
  ,                 

(pháo đài )

5.     Flock to (v): to move or come together in large numbers kéo tới
        ( )

6.     Filthy (v): extremely or unpleasantly dirty bẩn dơ       ( , )

7.     Sewage (n): waste and liquid from toilets nước cống
        ( )

8.     Extraordinary (a): very unusual special unexpected or strange khác thường
  ,  ,  ,   ( )

9.     Monsoon (n):

the season of heavy rain during the summer in hot Asian countries mùa mưa
                    ( )

10.  Fluctuating (a):

go up and down biến động ( )
 Article 3 08
Conversation in india
LIQUID ASSETS
Many stepwells were used for ablution the tanks ; less impressive architecture , of arches
associated with mosques Hindu temples and other , and jaalis stone lattice windows
  ( ).

shrines offered the most purificatory form .

Summoning water from the depths was also a symbol Not a drop to drink
of temporal power Around Hyderabad in south But all this was abandoned The decline of the .

stepwell began with the British raj which

. -

central India many of the baolis were built by kings ,

insisted baolis were unhygienic havens of vermin

,    

and zamindars A surprising number were built at the    

and disease They called for them to be filled in or

.

behest of women including princesses courtesans .

barricaded The raj s administrators were blind to

, ,

and merchants wives who wished to attain . ’

their role in socialising and as subterranean

’ ,

immortality through the gift of water Indeed

caravanserais Independent India s encouragement
. ,

stepwells have always been considered women s . ’

of diesel powered borewells proved to be

’

spaces places to gather without inhibitions away -

the baoli s death knell

— ,

from men s domineering eyes in India after all it is

’ ( , ,
  ’ - .

traditionally a woman s job to fetch and carry water

’ ).
Yet these borewells impact on the water table plus
Rani ki Vav or the queen s stepwell in Patan in
’ ,

- - , ’ ,
untrammelled urban development have led to a
Gujarat graces the new 100 rupee note
,

, - .
drastic depletion of natural aquifers and a
countrywide water crisis That is one reason why the
And as you descend into them what mind-boggling
.

, ,
restoration efforts of the aktc and like minded
structures these wells are Their early builders were
    -

.
groups have struck a chord more Indians are
capable of astonishing feats of engineering The
:

.
wondering whether old fashioned water
Chand Baori in Abhaneri east of Jaipur the capital of
- -

, (
conservation methods have lessons for today
Rajasthan resembles an inverted ziggurat Its 13
.

), .

storeys and 3 500 narrow steps prefigure M C Escher s

, . . ’ At Nizamuddin dargah the trust has saved the baoli   ,   .

“impossible objects by centuries The Panna Meena Ka

” . Its workers cleared the tank of tonnes of sludge and ,

Kund stepwell pictured above also near Jaipur is

( ), , relaid the neighbourhood s sewage pipes Marrying ’ .

another elaborate masterpiece Hindu . traditional workmanship with laser scans and
embellishments to baolisincluded covered arcades
  ground penetrating radar the trust rebuilt
- ,

and pavilions that served as refuges from the heat the baoli in a form as close to the original as possible
    .

and even as lodgings Sculptures and friezes were . In the process a subterranean passage from the ,

crammed with gods animals and humans Spreading, . saint s tomb to the tank was uncovered along with
’ ,

Muslim rule introduced a more austere though no ,   water springs and the well s wooden foundations ’ .

VOCABULARY
11.     Ablution (n): the act of washing yourself việc vệ sinh thân thể
        ( )

12.     Mosque (n): a building for Islamic religious activities and worship nhà thờ hồi giáo
              ( )

13.     Attain (v): to reach or succeed in getting something đạt được có được
        ( , )

14.     Descend (v): to go or come down đi xuống tiến vào ( , )

15.     Mind-boggling (a): surprising shocking and often difficult to understand or imagine phi thường kì lạ
,  ,           ( , )

16.     Refuge (n): a place that gives protection or shelter from danger trouble unhappiness etc
    )          , , , .

(nơi ẩn náu )

17.     Haven (n): a safe or peaceful place nơi trú ẩn

        ( )

18.     Barricade (v):

8to block anyone from reaching a place ngăn chặn
          ( )

19.     Aquifer (n): a layer of rock sand or earth that contains water or allows water to pass through
      ,  ,              

it tầng ngậm nước

( )

20.  Crisis (n):  

an extremely difficult or dangerous point in a situation khủng hoảng
              ( )
 Article 3 09
Conversation in india
LIQUID ASSETS
Meanwhile the trust also turned to the adjacent
, , The AKTC is now taking on the most ambitious
   

huge gardens belonging to Humayun s tomb a ’ , project yet a 106 acre site in Hyderabad where
: - ,

Mughal building of even more breathtaking beauty seven stepwells were built by the Qutb Shabi
than the Taj Mahal The lush grounds are covered in
. dynasty in ornate white plastered granite As , - .

tanks and wells that the trust is restoring With Ratish . became clear during the restoration they were ,

Nanda the aktc s enthusiastic head in India this

,   ’ , linked by underground channels that also connect
correspondent recently descended to the bottom of to aquifers .

a baoli that was being cleared of centuries of rubble

   

and sludge bucket by laborious bucket Two weeks

, . Some of the obstacles to this effort are not physical
later water was starting to gush in One find covered
, . , but political To help pay for its conservation work
. ,

over by the British is a 16th century well built not to

, - the trust seeks donations from Indian companies .

capture water but to ensure it flows back into the

, Yet supporters of the Hindu nationalist government -

underlying aquifer Mr Nanda says the restoration work

. of Narendra Modi the prime minister dislike the , ,

has helped raise the area s water table by several ’ idea of a body headed by the Aga Khan an Islamic ,

metres . leader being involved in Indian cultural work

, ;

besides the Hindutva agenda is to expunge Mughal

,

Next door in Sunder Nursery the trust has converted

, , influence from Indian life as if it were an alien , ,

90 acres 36 hectares of abandoned land into the

( ) Muslim carbuncle rather than an intrinsic part of the
sooty capital s first new park in years laid out as a
’ , country s inheritance They are said to have been
’ .

classical Persian garden Again tanks and wells are an . , leaning on companies not to donate That arid .

essential component Delhi needed a refuge says Mr. “ ,” worldview is refuted by the joyful families picnicking
Nanda The gardens have become one of the most
. in Sunder Nursery and the devotion of pilgrims at,

popular spots for the city s families and lovers ’ .  Nizamuddin baoli   .

VOCABULARY
1.     Adjacent (a): very near next to or touching ngay sát
, ,   ( )

2.     Dynasty (n): a series of rulers or leaders who are all from the same family or a period when
              ,    

a country is ruled by them triều đại

        ( )

3.     Ornate (a): having a lot of complicated decoration có hoa văn

    ( )

4.     Expunge (v): to remove or get rid of something loại bỏ ( )

5.     Refute (v): to say or prove that a person statement opinion etc is wrong or false bác bỏ
      ,  ,  , .       ( )

Not a drop to drink

 DATE STARTED:

THE NEXT
DATE FINISHED:

50 YEARS
IN SPACE
THE ECONOMIST
1 trong 3 tạp chí thường
được chọn để ra bài
reading trong ielts

Lunar exploration

ARTICLE 1 APOLLO’S SISTER

There is renewed interest in returning people
to the Moon This time it might actually happen
.

Brain-machine interfaces

ARTICLE 2 A SCENT OF MUSK

The boss of Tesla and SpaceS wants to link
brains directly to machines
LUNAR EXPLORATION

APOLLO’S
SISTER
There is renewed interest in
returning people to the Moon. This
time it might actually happen

ARTICLE 1
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 2

LLUUNNAARR EEXXPPLLOORRAATTIIOONN
APOLLO’S
APOLLO’S SISTER
SISTER
There is renewed interest in returning people to the Moon. This time it might actually happen

On march 26th Mike Pence America s vice president   , ’ - , Village people

gave a speech at the us Space Rocket Centre in
Nor will Artemis be alone In matters lunar something
    &

Huntsville Alabama in which he told his audience that . ,

is stirring China s space agency though in less of a

, ,

he was bringing forward by any means necessary the . ’ ,

hurry than Mr Pence also plans to land people on the

, “ ”,

target date for America to send astronauts back to the ,

Moon The previous deadline had been 2028 It was now Moon Its target date is 2035 Other agencies
. . ,

European Indian Japanese and Russian intend to

. .

2024 Then on May 13th NASA s administrator Jim , , ,

bombard the place with robot probes And private

. , ,  ’

Bridenstine gave the reinvigorated project a name It will .

enterprise is also seeking a share of the glory In the

.

be called Artemis after Apollo s twin sister the ancient .

mind of Johann Dietrich Wörner head of the

“ ”, ’ ,

Greek goddess of the Moon Following this on July 10th - ,

European Space Agency there is a sense of

. , ,

Mr Bridenstine moved two long standing managers ,

community among these ventures giving rise to what

-

of NASA s human space flight programme to other ,

he calls a Moon village

  ’

duties writing in his memo In an effort to meet this

, , “
“ ”.

challenge I have decided to make leadership changes to

,
Some indeed would go further and convert this
the Human Exploration and Operations HEO Mission
, , ,

( )
village from a metaphor into a reality People like
Directorate
.

.”
Robert Zubrin a prominent American evangelist for
,

The timing of all this is surely no coincidence On July .

manned space flight think that this time around there
,

21st it will be exactly 50 years since Neil Armstrong fluffed should be no namby pamby messing about with tip-
-

his lines at the culmination of the original Moon and-run missions like Apollo A Moon base should be .

programme his small step off Apollo 11 s lunar — “ ” ’ the objective from the beginning .

module Eagle onto the regolith of the Sea of

,  ,
It could be built quickly according to a blueprint Dr
Tranquillity America abandoned Moon shots 41 months
,

.
Zubrin an aerospace engineer published in a book
later and attempts to revive them have never appeared
, ,

convincing But Artemis looks not unlike the real deal For called The Case for Space It would be at one of the
“ ”.
.

one thing its arrival on the Moon will now fall

.
lunar poles where mountain tops in near perpetual
, -
,

conveniently within the second term of office of Mr Pence sunlight could house solar energy farms and craters in - ,

everlasting shadow contain ice from billions of years

and his boss Donald Trump should they be re elected in
of comet impacts This ice could supply drinking water
, , -

2020 It also helps that Artemis is recycling ideas . .

It could also if its molecules were split by electricity

.

salvaged from those previous attempts notably the

,

from the mountain tops provide oxygen for breathing

,

Constellation programme unveiled in 2005 by George ,

and hydrogen and further oxygen for rocket fuel
, ,

W Bush and cancelled five years later by Barack Obama

. .
.

VOCABULARY
1 Astronaut n
.     ( ): a person who has been trained fortravelling in space (phi hành gia)
2 Reinvigorate v
.     ( ): to make someone feel healthier, and moreenergetic again (truyền sức sống)
3 Coincidence n
.     ( ): an occasion when two or more similar things happen at the same time, especially in a way that
is unlikely and surprising (sự trùng hợp)
4 Regolith n
 

.     ( ): The  regolith  itself is a mixture of loose soil, dust and rock on the surface, which has probably
become compacted to a greater or lesser degree with depth (tầng phong hóa)
5 .     Salvage v ( ): to succeed in achieving or saving something that is in a difficult situation (thu thập, góp nhặt)
6 .     Unveil v ( ): If you unveil something new, you show it or make it known for the first time (công khai, tiết lộ)
7 .     Probe n ( ): a device that is put inside something to test or record information ( máy thăm dò)
8 .     Enterprise n ( ): an  organization,  especially  a  business, or a  difficult  and  important  plan,  especially  one that
will earn money (doanh nghiệp)
9 Venture n
.     ( ): a new activity, usually in business, that involves risk or uncertainty (dự án mạo hiểm)
10 Metaphor n
.  ( ): an  expression, often  found  in  literature, that describes  a  person  or  object  by referring to
something that is considered to have similar characteristics to that person or object (phép ẩn dụ)
11 Evangelist n
.  ( ): a  person  who  tries  to  persuade  people  to  become Christians, often by  travelling  around and
organizing religious meetings (người truyền giáo)
12 .  Manned a ( ): (of an aircraft or spacecraft) having a human crew (có người lái)
14 .  Tip and run a- - ( ):   designed for or consisting of a brief attack followed by a quick escape (nhanh chóng)
15 .  Aerospace a ( ): producing or operating aircraft or spacecraft (không gian)
16 .  Crater n ( ): the round hole at the top of a volcano, or a hole in the ground similar to this (miệng hố)
17 .  Everlasting a ( ): lasting forever or for a long time (mãi mãi, trường tồn)
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 3

LLUUNNAARR EEXXPPLLOORRAATTIIOONN
APOLLO’S
APOLLO’S SISTER
SISTER
Dr Zubrin s back of the envelope calculations suggest
’ - - - altitude of 400km China is pointedly excluded from ,

his base would cost about 7bn and take seven years to $ , involvement in building Gateway American law   . 

develop and build Thereafter it would need 250m a . , $ prevents NASA collaborating with the Chinese
  —

year to sustain it NASA however has other plans .  , , . something regretted by Wu Ji a former director general , -

Though Artemis does require a base of sorts that base , of China s National Space Science Centre who is now an
’

will not be on the Moon Instead it will be an . , adviser to the government .

intermittently crewed space station the Lunar Orbital

In fact says Dr Wu China s main goal in space over the
,  

Platform Gateway depicted about to dock with a , , ’

next decade is to build a space station of its own in orbit

—   ( ,

supply vessel in an artist s impression on the previous

around Earth Development of a crewed Moon
, ’

page that is in orbit around the Moon .

programme will probably begin in the mid 2020s By

) .

- . “

Artemis will work like this Its crewed vehicle Orion is a . , , 2035 there will be a Chinese person landing on the
,

version of a craft originally designed for the now - Moon he says But there is no rush We are not in
,” . . “

abandoned Constellation project Similarly the rocket . , competition with anybody So we go step by step So . .

which will lift Orion the Space Launch System SLS is a , ( ), even if we land Chinese on the surface of the Moon by
cut down version of Constellation s heavy lifter Ares V
- ’ , . 2035 it s still great
, ’ .”

Orion s destination will be Gateway Two of its four crew

China has however already landed unmanned probes
’   .

will stay on the station while the others descend to the , ,

surface in a special lunar shuttle do their stuff then there Its most recent mission Chang e 4 touched down
. ,  ’ ,

on the lunar far side the part never visible from Earth in
, ,

return to Gateway and thence to Earth leaving the ( )

January The next two probes in the series will be

    ,

station uncrewed until the next mission arrives .

sample return missions and further craft will explore the

.

- ,

If Congress approves the additional 20bn 30bn $ - Moon s poles ’ .

for NASA s budget that Mr Bridenstine says the project

The launch of India s second lunar mission Chandrayaan
  ’  

will require over the next five years a big if Orion ’ , 

2 which will put a lander and a rover down near the south
— “ ”— ,

the SLS and the lunar shuttle could all be ready and ,

pole has been delayed but should happen soon India is

   

tested within Mr Pence s timetable There is however , , .

also working with Japan s space agency JAXA to develop

’ . , ,

the small matter of Gateway itself for which existing ’ ,  ,

a joint robotic mission Russia too has plans Luna 25

    ,

plans involve all the partners of the International Space . , , .  ,

Station ISS Europe Russia Japan and Canada as well scheduled for 2021 will be another visitor to the south ,

pole And six more Luna missions orbiters and landers

( )— , , ,

as America .
.     — —

are intended to follow before the end of the decade .

The first Gateway module is intended for launch in 2022

   

and subsequent components would go up in a series of From a scientific point of view the Moon is not only of ,

missions using both commercial and SLS launches until     ,

interest in its own right It is also a museum of the solar .

2028 This means that when Orion arrives at Gateway in

. ,    
system s past Its surface will probably be strewn with
’ .

2024 with its Moon bound astronauts it will dock with a - ,

terrestrial rocks older than anything now preserved on
partially completed space station There is no official cost . Earth that were blasted into space aeons ago by asteroids
for the Gateway project but given the 150bn price tag
  , $ colliding with that planet It will also preserve clues about .

of the ISS it would be a surprise if the lunar space station

  , the sun s history the galactic environments that the solar
’ ,

cost less than several tens of billions of dollars In light of . system has encountered on its journey through space
all this Dr Zubrin s approach starts to look attractive
, ’ . since its formation 4 6bn years ago and the abundance in . ,

the early solar system of objects so large that their impact

Look East
might have interfered with the emergence of life on
As with the ISS currently in orbit around Earth at an
  ,  
Earth or elsewhere .

VOCABULARY
1 Intermittently adv
.    ( ): in a way that does not  happen  regularly  or continuously; in a way that  stops  and  starts
repeatedly or with periods in between (gián đoạn)
2 Orbit n v
.  ( , ): the curved path through which objects in space move around a planet or star (quỹ đạo, quay
theo quỹ đạo)
3.  Orbiter n ( ): a spacecraft that orbits a planet or other celestial body (= a moon, star, etc.) (vệ tinh)
4.  Terrestrial a ( ): relating to the earth (trên mặt đất)
5.  Collide v ( ): (especially of moving objects) to hit something violently (va chạm)
6.  Galactic a ( ): relating to the Galaxy or other galaxies (thuộc ngân hà)
7.  Interfere v ( ): to involve yourself in a situation when your involvement is not wanted or is not helpful (can thiệp)
8.  Emergence n ( ): the process of coming into view or becoming exposed after being concealed (sự xuất hiện)
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 4

LLUUNNAARR EEXXPPLLOORRAATTIIOONN
APOLLO’S
APOLLO’S SISTER
SISTER
The Moon or rather its far side is also a good place to
( Besides the two behemoths smaller fry are also involved
) ,

hide radio telescopes from the deluge of radio waves in the Moon village s commercial side One of these ’ . ,

coming from Earth s surface There they will be able to Astrobotic a firm in Pittsburgh is developing an
’ . , , ,

pick up signals that are otherwise swamped unmanned lunar lander it calls Peregrine This will carry — .

particularly radiation from the earliest days of the

, the Mexican Space Agency s first lunar payload ’ .

universe which may encode details of the origin of

, Astrobotic is also one of three firms awarded contracts
everything . by NASA as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services  

programme The other two are Intuitive Machines of .

As to the Moon village s non governmental members Houston Texas and OrbitBeyond of Edison New
’ - , , ,

these are led by the usual suspects of private space Jersey NASA wants these companies to help it survey . 

flight Elon Musk SpaceX and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin various places on the Moon s surface that might be
, ( ) ( ), ’

both billionaires who hope that the Moon might one suitable for building bases .

day be made to pay its way but who would probably ,

admit that the whole giddy adventure of it rather than Even if Dr Zubrin does not get his way then there are
, , , ,

the prospect of profit is what truly drives them on likely within decades to be permanent human outposts
, . , ,

Space invaders on the Moon frequented by scientists and tourists from ,

many countries The place will thus become something .

SpaceX already has a contract for lunar tourism Yusaku like Antarctica is today hard to get to but not impossible . — ,

Maezawa founder of Zozotown Japan s largest online if you have the money or the right government backing
, , ’ .

clothing retailer wants to take a group of artists with And just as Antarctica is no longer enough in the eyes of
, ,

him for a project he calls dearMoon This is a free those who look to explore new frontiers so in the minds
# . - , ,

return trajectory trip around the Moon there and back of some the residents of these actual Moon villages will
- ( ,

again passing behind the far side but without going be testing human endurance psychology and technology
, , ,

into orbit that SpaceX says could happen as early as with a view to constructing an even more remote hamlet
) :

2023 using the Starship spacecraft the firm is on Mars .

developing If the SLS does not measure up the

.   ,

Starship system might take on its job too , .

Blue Origin meanwhile recently unveiled a mock up of

, , -

its Blue Moon lunar lander The company claims this .

would be able to deliver 3 6 tonnes of cargo to the .

Moon s surface That is just the sort of thing Dr Zubrin

’ .

would need to help construct his Moon base but a ,

more likely first mission for it would be as Artemis s ’

lunar shuttle .

VOCABULARY
1 Deluge n
.     ( ): a lot of something (tràn ngập)
2 Spacecraft n
.     ( ): a vehicle used for travel in space (tàu không gian)
3 Frontier n
.     ( ): a border between two countries (ranh giới)
BRAIN-MACHINE INTERFACES

A SCENT OF
MUSK
The boss of Tesla and SpaceS wants
to link brains directly to machines

ARTICLE 2
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 6

B R A I N -- M A C H I N E I N T E R F A C E S
A
A SCENT
SCENT OF
OF MUSK
MUSK
SAN FRANCISO
The boss of Tesla and SpaceS wants to link brains directly to machines

Elon musk perhaps the world s most famous entrepreneur is sometimes referred to as the Trump of technology
, ’ , “ ”—

not for political reasons but because of his habit of making at short notice spectacular pronouncements that stretch
, , ,

the bounds of credibility On July 16th he was at it again unveiling a new type of brain machine interface BMI If
. , - ( ).

human beings do not enter a symbiosis with artificial intelligence AI he declared they are sure to be left behind ( ), , .

And he the announcement implied was going to be the man who stopped that happening
, , .

Connecting brains directly to machines is a long standing aspiration And it is already happening albeit in a crude - . ,

way In deep brain stimulation for example neurosurgeons implant a few electrodes into a patient s brain in order to
. - , , ’

treat Parkinson s disease Utah arrays collections of 100 conductive silicon needles are now employed
’ . , ,

experimentally to record brain waves A team at the University of Washington has built a brain to brain network . “ - - ”

that allows people to play games with each other using just their thoughts And researchers at the University of .

California San Francisco have captured neural signals from people as they talk and have then turned that
, , ,

information via a computer into intelligible speech

, , .

As with all things Musk related Neuralink is much more ambitious The firm does not just want to develop a
- , .

better BMI Its aim is to create a neural lace” a mesh of ultra thin electrodes that capture as much information from
  . “ , -

the brain as possible Unsurprisingly hurdles abound The electrodes needed to do this must be flexible so that they
. , . ,

do not damage brain tissue and will also last for a long time They have to number at least in the thousands to . ,

provide sufficient bandwidth And to make the implantation of so many electrodes safe painless and effective the
. , ,

process has to be automated much like lasik surgery which uses lasers to correct eyesight ,     , .

Neuralink does indeed seem to have made progress towards these goals Its presentation at the California Academy . ,

of Sciences in San Francisco included videos of a neurosurgical robot that is best described as a sewing machine
, , .

This robot grabs threads films containing electrodes that measure less than a quarter of the diameter of a human
“ ” ( , ,

hair and shoots them deep into the brain through a hole in the skull It is capable of inserting six threads each
), . ,

carrying 32 electrodes per minute The firm has also designed a chip that can handle signals from as many as 3 072
, . ,

electrodes ten times more than the best current systems and transmit them wirelessly
— — .

The real magic however kicks in only when the output is analysed which happens in real time Looked at
, , — .

superficially neurons in the brain seem to fire at random Software can though detect patterns when the individual
, . , ,

those neurons are in does certain things Stick enough electrodes into someone s motor cortex for instance and it is . ’ , ,

possible to record what happens in the brain when he types on a keyboard or moves a mouse around Those data .

can then be used to control a computer directly Conversely the electrodes can be employed to stimulate neurons . , ,

perhaps to give the person in question the feeling of touching something .

Neuralink has already tested its system successfully on rats and monkeys These were it says able to move cursors . , ,

on screens with it The firm now hopes to work with human volunteers perhaps as early as next year should
. ,

America s Food and Drug Administration play along

’ .

The first goal is to use the technology to help people overcome such ailments as blindness and paralysis Neuralink .

is however clearly aiming for a bigger market than this It has also designed a small device that would sit behind
, , .

someone s ear picking up signals from the implanted chip and passing them on as appropriate In a few years using
’ , . ,

a brain implant to control your devices may be as de rigueur among San Francisco s techno chics as wearing   ’ -

wireless earbuds is today Ultimately Mr Musk predicts neural lace will allow humans to merge with AI systems thus
. , ,     ,

enabling the species to survive .

Though as this announcement shows Mr Musk does have a habit of presenting himself as the saviour of the human
, ,

race his desire to settle Mars seems motivated partly by fear of what might in the future happen to Earth the idea
( , , ),

that some machines at least will come under the direct control of human brains seems plausible The biggest .

obstruction to this happening will probably not be writing the software needed to interpret brainwaves but rather ,

persuading people that the necessary surgery whether by sewing machine or otherwise is actually a good idea , , .
ARTICLE 1 PAPE 6

B R A I N -- M A C H I N E I N T E R F A C E S
A
A SCENT
SCENT OF
OF MUSK
MUSK
VOCABULARY
1 Credibility n
.     ( ): the fact that someone can be believed or trusted (sự tín nhiệm)

2 Symbiosis n
.     ( ): a relationship between people or organizations that depend on each other equally (cộng
sinh, cùng sinh sống)

3 Aspiration n
.     ( ): a strong hope or wish for achievement or success (khát vọng)

4 Implant v
.     ( ): to put an organ, group of cells, or device into the body in a  medical operation (cấy)
(n): an  organ,  group  of  cells, or  device  that has been put into the  body  in
a medicaloperation (mô cấy)

Implantation n ( ): the action of inserting a device or tissue into the body  (sự cấy ghép)

        

5 Needle n
.     ( ):
a very  thin,  hollow,  pointedpiece  of  metal  that is  connected  to a syringe and used to
take blood from the body or to put drugs or medicine in (kim tiêm)

6 Ambitious a
.     ( ): having a strong desire for success, achievement, power, or wealth (tham vọng)

7 Neural lace n
.     ( ): an ultra-thin mesh that can be implanted in the skull, forming a collection of electrodes
capable of monitoring brain function 

8 Hurdle n
.     ( ): a problem that you have to deal with before you can make progress (chướng ngại vật)

9 Abound v
.     ( ): to exist in large numbers (đầy rẫy)

10 Tissue n.  ( ): a  group  of  connected  cells  in an  animal  or  plant  that are  similar  to each other, have the
same purpose, and form the stated part of the animal or  plant (tế bào)

11 Neurosurgical a
.  ( ): relating to operations on the nervous system (thuộc khoa giải phẫu thần kinh)

12 Detect v
.  ( ): to discover something, usually using special equipment (phát hiện)

13 Motor cortex n
.  ( ): the region of the  cerebral cortex  involved in the planning,  control, and execution of
voluntary movements (vỏ não vận động)

14 Cursor n
.  ( ): a line on a computer screen that moves to show the point where  work is being done (con
trỏ màn hình)

15 Ailment n
.  ( ): an illness or health problem (bệnh tật)

16 Paralysis n
.  ( ): a  condition  in which you are  unable  to  move  all or  part  of  your  body because of
illness or injury (bệnh bại liệt)

17 Earbuds n
.  ( ): very small headphones that you wear in your ears (tai nghe)

18 Saviour n
.  ( ): a person who saves someone from danger or harm (vị cứu tinh)

19 Plausible a
.  ( ):   seeming likely to be true, or able to be believed (đáng tin)

20 Obstruction n
.  ( ): something that blocks a road, passage, entrance, etc. so that nothing can go along it (vật
cản)
 BROTHER IN
ARM
The new Russia-China
partnership

CONTE
NT
Extreme weather
ARTICLE CLIMATE BLAME
1 GAME
Greenhouse-gas emissions contribute to the rising
frequency of heatwaves

ARTICLE
Superorganisms

2 ROOT CAUSE
Tree stumps can live on indefinitely
 Extreme weather

CLIMATE BLAME
GAME
Greenhouse-gas emissions contribute to the rising frequency of heatwaves
Extreme heat is ruinous to productivity
  , Europeans have also been sweating for the second time ,

particularly if you are a criminal Several American . this summer A month ago warm air from the Sahara
. ,

police forces posted messages to their social - contributed to making it the continent s hottest June on ’

media accounts last weekend declaring a record At the top of Mont Blanc western Europe s highest
. , ’

moratorium on crime It is just too hot to be

. “ mountain instruments recorded 7 C the normal June
, ° (

outside committing crimes wrote the Park ,” temperature would be below freezing At Gallargues le ). - -

Forest Police Department in Illinois on its ,

Montueux near Nîmes in France temperatures peaked at , ,

Facebook page In some cases it seems to have

. ,
45 9 C The previous record anywhere in that country was
. ° .

worked We have had zero customers stay the

. “
1 8 C lower inked to these temperatures in Alaska and
. ° . ,

night at our hotel so we appreciate all of the

‘ ’,
Portugal forest fires are raging
, .

criminals adhering to the heat advisory ,”

tweeted the Malden Police in Massachusetts on If your hunch is that this kind of extreme weather is more
Sunday . common today than it was once-upon-a-time you are ,

correct When in 2003 tens of thousands of people in

. , ,

The messages came as scorching temperatures Europe died prematurely as a result of a two week -

swept across America placing more than 100m

, heatwave it was deemed to be a once in 1 000 years event
, - - , - .

people under excessive heat warnings - . Twelve

Temperatures hovered either side of 40 C on the ° years later a study led by Nikolaos Christidis of the Hadley
,

east coast On July 18th Mitch Petrus a well known

. , - Centre the climate research division of Britain s Met Office
, - ’ ,

retired player of American football died of , found that heatwaves of this severity had become once -

heatstroke after working outdoors all day At least . in 100 years events and would be commonplace by the
- - ,

five other deaths have been reported . 2040s .

VOCABULARY
1.    Greenhouse-gas a gas that absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range (
emissions/ Greenhouse gases: khí thải nhà kính )
2.    Heatwave (n): a period of time such as a few weeks when the  weather is
much hotter than usual ( đợt nóng )
3.    Criminal (n): someone who commits a crime ( tội phạm )
4.    Commit crimes to do something illegal (phạm tội )
(collocation):
5.    Moratorium (n):  a stopping of an activity for an agreed amount of time ( sự tạm dừng )

6.    Adhere to: to continue to obey, believe in, or support something, esp. a custom or belief (

tuân thủ )

7.    Advisory (n): an official announcement that contains advice, information, or a warning (

cảnh báo )
8.    Scorching (a): very hot ( nóng như thiêu )
9.    Rage (v):   to happen in a strong or violent way ( diễn ra dữ dội )
10. Hunch (n): an idea that is based on feeling and for which there is no proof (linh cảm )
11. Once-upon-a-time: used when referring to something that happened in the past,  especially when
showing that you feel sorry that it no longer happens (ngày xửa ngày xưa)
12. Prematurely (adv): before the due time; ahead of time ( (chết) trẻ )

13. Severity (n):  seriousness ( sự nghiêm trọng )

ARTICLE 1 PAPE 2
 Extreme weather
CLIMATE BLAME GAME

The question on many people s minds is whether these changes and specific events like this week s temperatures
’ , ’

in America and Europe are caused by greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere For years the semi
, . , -

official line was that no single weather event could be blamed on climate change only trends That began to , .

change in 2004 with the publication of the first attribution study This focused on the European heatwave of
, “ ” .

2003 when average summer temperatures broke through a threshold until then unbreached in 150 years of
,

records By comparing simulations of a world with and without greenhouse-gas emissions Peter Stott at the
. ,

Met Office and his colleagues found that climate change had made the record breaking heatwave at least twice -

as likely as it would otherwise have been .

Since then research of this sort intended to study how climate change is already promoting extreme weather
, , ,

has grown rapidly A recent extended drought in California has been linked to greenhouse-gas emissions as
. , ,

was the extreme heat southern Europe experienced during the summer of 2017 That event was made at least ten .

times more likely by climate change according to work published later that year by World Weather Attribution a ,

collaboration between experts in these sorts of analyses .

Shortening odds
Attribution work does not concern itself only with heat Floods storms and cold spells also carry a climatic
. ,

fingerprint When Hurricane Harvey hit America in August 2017 it stalled over Texas delivering huge quantities of
. , ,

rain which caused heavy flooding and more than 80 deaths On that occasion World Weather Attribution found
, . ,

that climate change was responsible for intensifying precipitation levels by between 8 and 19 Since 2012 % %. ,

the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society has published an annual compendium of attribution studies
    .

Roughly 70 of events scrutinised show some influence from climate change

% .

One challenge has been to do the analyses faster Findings connected with the heatwave of 2003 took a year to
.

appear by which time public interest had mostly moved on The goal today is to offer a verdict on the influence of
, .

climate change on particular meteorological events more or less as they are happening Here the Met Office . ,

has been leading the way with its Dutch French and German counterparts close behind But many other places
, , .

do not have the capacity to carry out the onerous computer modelling required As a result a European Union
- . ,

project planned to start before November will seek to provide contemporaneous weather attribution analyses -

for the continent .

An inadvertent early test of how this could work took place last month when many of Europe s attribution , ’

scientists gathered at a statistical climatology meeting in Toulouse just as the June heatwave hit Within days
- , .

they published their conclusions Accumulating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere had made the event at
.

least five times more likely than would otherwise have been the case .

VOCABULARY
1.    Climate change (n): a change in global or regional climate patterns ( biến đổi khí hậu )

2.    Threshold (n): the level or point at which you start to experience something, or at which

something starts to happen (ngưỡng )

3.    Analyses (n, plural of the act of analysing something ( sự phân tích )

‘analysis’):
4.    Be responsible for being the primary cause of something and so able to be blamed or credited for it
(collocation): ( nguyên nhân/ gây ra)

5.    Precipitation (n): water that falls from the clouds towards the ground, especially as rain or snow (

lượng mưa )

6.    Compendium (n): a short but complete account of a particular subject, especially in the form of

a book ( bản tóm tắt )

7.    Scrutinize (v): to examine something very carefully in order to discover information ( nghiên

cứu cẩn thận )

8.    Meteorological (a): relating to weather conditions ( khí tượng )

9.    Contemporaneous (a):  happening or existing at the same period of time ( đương thời )

10.   Inadvertent (a): not intentional (sơ suất )

ARTICLE 1 PAPE 3
 Extreme weather
CLIMATE BLAME GAME

Such statements help show that the danger posed by climate change is clear and present not just something for ,

future generations to worry about Heatwaves for example sometimes kill by the thousand and can cause more
. , , —

casualties than other meteorological extremes such as floods and hurricanes But attribution also provides useful
, .

guidance to policymakers .

For instance information about how much more likely an event is today than it was 50 or 100 years ago can assist
,

decisions about building and adapting infrastructure If what were thought of as once in a millennium heatwaves
. - - -

now come once a century and will soon become so frequent as to be normal then public health systems need to , -

be designed to cope with an influx of people suffering from heat stress Likewise if big floods are more frequent . , ,

water handling systems need to be expanded and flood defences raised Insurance and reinsurance companies
- .

are paying particular attention because these calculations help them reassess risk levels
, .

Conversely some people blamed climate change for a drought in south eastern Brazil in 2014 and 2015 in which
, - ,

water levels in reservoirs around São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro fell to between 3 and 5 of capacity But a study % % .

published in 2015 by Friederike Otto of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University found no sign
that greenhouse gas emissions had raised the risk of drought Dr Otto concluded instead that a quadrupling of
- .

São Paulo s population since 1960 had put pressure on scarce water supplies
’ .

Attribution science is also playing a role in courtrooms and human rights hearings A study published in 2015 - .

showed that climate change contributed to the high wind speeds of supertyphoon Haiyan which blew through ,

the Philippines in 2013 killing more than 6 000 people Those stronger winds created a much bigger storm surge
, , . .

The matter was raised during hearings held by the Philippine Commission on Human Rights last year which ,

sought to explore the question of whether fossil fuel companies could be held responsible
- .

Clear present and lethal

, ?

Others have sought to pin companies down more specifically In one widely reported lawsuit Saúl Luciano Lliuya . , ,

a Peruvian farmer is suing a German energy firm for contributing to the melting of a mountain glacier that
, , ,

threatens to sweep away his village Mr Luciano Lliuya s counsel Roda Verheyen has said that the case was
. ’ , , “

mostly made possible by the advancement of attribution science Lindene Patton a lawyer with the Earth and
... ”. ,

Water Law Group a firm specialising in environmental law has written that the science of event attribution may
, , “

become a driver of litigation as it shifts understanding of what weather is expected and relevantly for law
, , ,

foreseeable .”

To a layman however good attribution science has become trying to use it to link an event in the Peruvian Andes
, ,

to a particular firm in Germany looks a bit of a stretch But whether or not Mr Luciano Lliuya wins his case the fact
. ,

it is even being heard is a straw in the wind and a sign that global warming can change metaphorical weather
—

patterns as well as real ones .

VOCABULARY
1.    Casualty (n): a person or thing that suffers as a result of something else happening ( thương vong)
2.    Infrastructure (n): cơ sở hạ tầng 

3.    Millennium (n): a period of 1,000 years (ngàn năm )

4.    Reservoir (n): a place for storing liquid,especially a natural or artificial lake providingwater for
a city or other area ( bể chứa nước )

5.    Quadruple (v): to become four times as big, or to multiply a number or amount by four (gấp bốn lần)

6.    Sue: to take legal action against a person or organization, especially by making

a legal claim  for money because of some harm that they have caused you ( kiện )

7.    Specialise in: To have specific training, education, proficiency, or experience in one particular subje

ct,topic, field, etc. (chuyên (1 lĩnh vực))

8.    Litigation (n): the process of taking a case to a court of law so that a judgment can be made ( sự

tranh chấp )

9.    Metaphorical (a): not having real existence but representing some truth about a situation or

other subject (Ẩn dụ )

ARTICLE 1 PAPE 4
 ARTI
CLE
2
Superorganisms

ROOT CAUSE
Tree stumps can live on indefinitely
 Extreme weather

CLIMATE BLAME GAME

Tree stumps can live on indefinitely

A living stump  sounds like something out of a horror movie In fact it is not unusual for a tree deprived of its . , ,

trunk and foliage by lightning disease or a lumberjack but still possessed of roots and an above ground stump
, , - ,

to continue a zombie like existence for years even decades Such arboreal undead have been recognised since
- — .

1833 But surprisingly until now no living stump has been subjected to detailed scientific scrutiny
. , , .

The scrutinised stump pictured above is the remains of a Kauri tree in Waitakere Ranges Regional Park New
, , ,

Zealand It and two neighbouring intact Kauris were investigated by Martin Bader and Sebastian Leuzinger of
. , ,

Auckland University of Technology who have just published their results in iScience ,   .

Dr Bader and Dr Leuzinger started with the suspicion that living stumps are sustained through their roots by
nearby intact trees of the same species Above ground trees look like distinct entities but below the surface
, . , ,

things get more complicated More than 150 tree species Kauris among them are known to have roots that
. , ,

sometimes fuse with those of other members of the same species Such subterranean junctions permit .

exchange between individual trees of food water minerals and even micro organisms to create what some , , - ,

regard as a superorganism The question the researchers asked was if a tree in such a network were reduced to a
. :

stump would that remnant quickly be cut loose as useless and left to fend for itself Their study carried out over
, ? ,

the course of nine days proved that the stump under scrutiny was still a participating member of the local
,

superorganism .

Sensors fitted to the two intact trees and the stump showed that the stump’s flow of sap and water ran
inversely to that of the trees On sunny days when the intact trees were photosynthesising extensively and
. ,

drawing a great
deal of water up their trunks there was almost no water movement in the stump At night when the trees were
, . ,

no longer transpiring in this way water flooded into the stump and sap flow reached a maximum indicating
, ,

that it was receiving a burst of resources .

Exactly why a stump’s neighbours dole out their hard won nutrients in this manner remains a mystery but Dr - ,

Bader and Dr Leuzinger have ideas Biologists know of two ways co operation between organisms can evolve One
. - .

is kin selection which requires the collaborators to be related as neighbouring trees of the same species are likely
, (

to be and works if sacrifices by one bring disproportionate reproductive benefits to others The effect of this is to
) .

propagate a collaborator s genes collaterally in a way that sociologists might refer to as nepotism instead of
’ , ,

directly from parent to offspring This may be why root connections happen in the first place but cannot explain
. ,

their perpetuation for trying to help a trunkless stump reproduce would be a fool s errand
, ’ .

The other route to co operation is reciprocal altruism of the you scratch my back and I ll scratch yours variety
- “ ’ ” .

This requires a stump’s neighbours which are feeding it to benefit directly from the arrangement The
, , .

suggestion Dr Bader and Dr Leuzinger make is that they do the stump s role being to extend at minimal cost — ’ , ,

the root networks of its intact neighbours From their point of view that makes keeping the stump alive . ,

worthwhile .

If this is what is going on however it is a good illustration of the dangers of anthropomorphic terminology The
, , .

arrangement might look reciprocal to human eyes because it is keeping the stump alive But since the stump , .

cannot reproduce it might as well in Darwinian terms be dead anyway for it garners no evolutionary benefit
, , ,

from its survival Unless of course to go back to the idea of kin selection the neighbours it is sustaining are its kin
. , , ,

and it is rendering nepotistic assistance to them from beyond the grave .

ARTICLE 2 PAPE 6
 Extreme weather

CLIMATE BLAME
GAME

VOCABULARY

1.     Stump (n): the part of a tree, arm, etc. that is left after another part has been removed (phần
gốc cây còn lại sau khi bị đốn

2.     Foliage (n): the leaves of a plant or tree, or leaves on the stems orbranches on which they

are growing (tán lá)

3.     Lumberjack (n): a person whose job is to cut down trees to be used in building and industry

(người thợ đốn gỗ)

4.     Arboreal (v): of or living in trees (ở trên cây)

5.     Subject so/sth to sth: to cause someone or something to experience something,  esp. something 

unpleasant (chịu đựng)

6.     Scrutinise (v): to examine someone or something very carefully (nghiên cứu kĩ lưỡng)

7.     Intact (a): complete and in the original state (còn nguyên vẹn)

8.     Sustained (a): continuing fora long time (duy trì)

9.     Subterranean (a): under the ground (ngầm, dưới đất)

10.   Remnant (n): a small piece or amount of something that is left from a larger  original piece or
amount (tàn dư/ phần còn lại)

11.   Fend for itself: to take care of and provide for itself without depending on anyone else (tự bảo vệ)

12.   Sap (n): the liquid that carries food to all parts of a plant (nhựa cây)

 
13.   Transpire (v): If a body or plant transpires, it loses water through its  surface  or skin (thoát nước)

14.   Dole out sth: to give money, food, or something else that can be divided to several people (phát
tán/ phân phát)

15.   Disproportionate (a): too great or too small when compared to something else (không cân)

16.   Reciprocal altruism (n): a behaviour whereby an organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its
fitness while increasing another organism's fitness (lòng tốt có đi có lại)

17.   Garner (v): to get or earn something valuable or respected, often with difficulty (thu lại)

ARTICLE 2 PAPE 7
Reading Project

TỔNG HỢP TỪ VỰNG BỞI

KÊNH IELTS & HP ACADEMY

Source: The Economist

Magazine tittle: HOW WILL THIS END
Translated by: Ms. Khanh An
Kenh IELTS team
01
Illegal wildlife trade

WHERE THE WILD

THINGS ARE GOING
In the battle against the trade in endangered
species the criminals still have the upper hand
,

02
Space debris and human

safety

SHOPPING A HARD
RAIN
Technologists are working out ways to lessen
the likelihood the debris falling from space will
kill people

CONTENT
COMPILE BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS
 Illegal wildlife trade

WHERE THE WILD THINGS

ARE GOING
BEIJING AND KAFUE
In the battle against the trade in endangered species, the criminals still
have the upper hand
Illegal wildlife trade
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE GOING
BEIJING AND KAFUE
In the battle against the trade in endangered species the criminals still have the upper hand ,

Browsing peacefully at a waterhole the herd of two dozen elephants seems oblivious
  ,

to the car that has stopped 100 metres away and disgorged three visitors to gawp at
them The vast expanse of the Kafue National Park in western Zambia is quiet and
.

deserted of other people These humans are just curious but potential killers would be
. ,

hard to stop An anti-poaching unit based about 20km away tries to protect the
.

animals in the park s 22 000 square kilometres with just 27 rangers working shifts and
’ , , ,

a few jeeps and rifles Given the odds and the rewards poaching brings they have been
. , ,

remarkably successful The park is home to leopards rare antelope hippos pangolins
. , , , ,

aardvarks and crocodiles as well as elephants of which Kafue had about 60 000 in the , ,

1960s when it also had one of the world s largest populations of black rhinos But in the
, ’ .

1980s the very last black rhino was poached The elephant population has dwindled to
, .

4 000
, .

Elephants will be high on the agenda when the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CITES an agreement signed to date by ( ),

183 countries convenes its triennial conference of the parties COP its decision
, “ ” ( )— -

making forum in Geneva from August 17th 28th WWF a wildlife charity estimates that
— - .  , ,

around 20 000 African elephants are killed by people every year

, .

The animals meat hides and above all tusks are money spinners East Asia is the
’ , , , - .

biggest market for ivory and for many illegally traded products such as animal parts ,

used in traditional Chinese medicine TCM tiger bones rhino horns pangolin scales ( )— , , —

or in its cuisine pangolin meat for example In July the authorities in Singapore seized
— , .

8 8 tonnes about 300 elephants worth of ivory along with 11 9 tonnes of pangolin
. , ’- , , .

scales from some 2 000 of the anteaters the world s most widely trafficked
, , , ’

endangered mammal The annual profits of the trade in illegal wildlife products are
.

estimated at between 7bn at the low end and 23bn This makes it the fourth most
$ $ . -

profitable criminal trafficking business with links to others slavery narcotics and the , — ,

arms trade .

On the agenda in Geneva is a proposal from Zambia to shift its elephants from cites From HP Academy Kenh Ielts   ’ &

Appendix I which bans virtually all trade as the species is deemed at threat of
,
The Economist ,

extinction to the less restrictive Appendix II to allow some trade for example in
, , , ,

hunting trophies Botswana Namibia and Zimbabwe also want to trade some
. ,

stockpiled ivory Zambia argues that its elephant population has stabilised at about
. ,

27 000 animals just one tenth of the number 50 years ago but a marked increase on
, — - ,

the estimated 18 000 that survived the poaching epidemic of the 1970s and 1980s The
, .

animals have enough space and are not split into unsustainable subpopulations .

1.     Oblivious to (a): not conscious of something, especially what is happening around you (không

YRALUBACOV

biết, không chú ý)

2.     Deserted (a): having no people or things in it; empty (trống rỗng)

3.     Anti-poaching (a): chống săn bắt trộm
Poach (v): săn bắt trộm

4.     Dwindle (v): to become less in number or smaller (giảm, thu nhỏ)

5.     Convene (v): to bring together a group of people for a meeting, or to meet for a meeting (triệu

tập/ họp)

6.     Triennial (a): happening every three years (3 năm 1 lần)

7.     Tusk (n): either of the two long, pointed teeth of some animals such as elephants (ngà)

8.     Trafficked -> trafic (v): to buy and sell goods illegally (buôn lậu)

ARTICLE 1 -   2   - THE ECONOMIST

Illegal wildlife trade
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE GOING
It’s the people, stupid
Many local people would be quite happy to see elephant numbers decline These beasts . ,

protected in reserves and national parks such as Kafue which cover around 30 of the , %

country can be destructive trampling farmland and wrecking homes

, , .

Everybody involved in conservation agrees that the best protection for wildlife would be
for local people to have an interest in their survival but that is proving hard to bring ,

about In a village just outside Kafue Gertrude Mwiba is one of those trying to rub along
. ,

with the local megafauna As a local organiser for a community based natural
. - -

Resource management forum she has been helping find ways to reduce poaching by
- ,

promoting other livelihoods Growing maize soya beans and cassava the local staples
. , , ,

are options beekeeping deters elephants which hate bees as well as providing an
; , ,

income But poaching is more profitable than any of them Elephants are far from the
. .

only targets Various types of antelope buffaloes and even hippos are sought after as
. ,

“bush meat in the capital Lusaka and abroad

- ” , , .

Having big endangered beasts as neighbours brings in some money Safari lodges .

dotted through the park attract tourists with a few hundred dollars a night to spend But .

they do not create many jobs Locals would have nothing against trophy hunting
. - —

tourists paying to shoot animals but believe they would see little of the proceeds Of the
— .

money the government gets from safari operators 20 is earmarked for local villages , % .

But Ms Mwiba says disbursement can take two years if it happens at all and most is , ,

spent on anti poaching activities anyway Around the world poor farmers like her are the
- . ,

front line of defence for some endangered species Yet for them wildlife protection . ,

brings no obvious benefits just costs , .

Some conservationists believe that in order for locals to be given an interest in the
survival of wildlife a controlled market in products must be allowed Trade is a relatively
, .

small danger to the world s biodiversity Far more important are loss of habitat and
’ .

climate change .

Others argue the opposite that the trade in some products such as ivory and rhino horn
: , ,

has been a big factor in the threat to those species In countries that lack sufficiently .

solid political institutions and law enforcement agencies the argument goes trade will From HP Academy Kenh Ielts
- , ,
&

encourage short term killing rather than long term investment and the existence of any
The Economist
- - ,

legal market encourages and enables the illegal one It makes it easier to launder illegal .

products and sustains the demand that fuels the trade .

Vested interests on both sides distort the argument those sitting on valuable stocks of ivory —

or rhino horn obviously stand to profit from trade and some conservationist ngos purpose ;   ’

and fundraising rely on a purist approach But the numbers tend to support the abolitionists
. .

VOCABULARY
1.     Unsustainable (a): that cannot continue at the same rate (không bền vững)

2.     Megafauna (n): large or giant animals (động vật lớn)

3.     Lodge (n): a type of hotel in the countryside or mountains (nhà nghỉ)

4.     Sustain (n): to keep something in operation; maintain (duy trì)

5.     Vested interest (n): a personal reason for wanting something to happen, especially because you get
some advantage from it (quyền lợi)

6.     Stand to (v):  to be in, cause to be in, or get into a particular state or situation (thu lợi nhuận)

7.     Resurgence (n): a process in which something starts to grow, develop, or become successful again

(sự trỗi dậy)

ARTICLE 1 -   3  - THE ECONOMIST

Illegal wildlife trade
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE GOING
After the ivory trade was banned in 1989 elephants fortunes turned around The two , ’ .

camps squabble about whether that was mainly the result of falling demand or of better
anti poaching measures as African governments came under pressure to do more to
- ,

protect them But a resurgence of poaching in the past decade seems linked to a
.

partial liberalisation in 2007 when a one off sale of some existing ivory stocks was
, -

permitted Japan was approved as an authorised importer as its market seemed

.

sufficiently well regulated The result say the abolitionists is that it has become the
. , ,

centre of the illegal trade in worked ivory The biggest seizures of smuggled artefacts .

these days are by Chinese customs of goods entering the country from Japan .

The trend within cites is towards stricter controls At the previous cop held in
,   , .   ,

Johannesburg in 2016 more species were added to the appendices all eight species of
, —

pangolin for example are now listed in Appendix I and protection was enhanced for
, , —

the African grey parrot lion cheetah helmeted hornbill and totoaba a fish whose
, , , (

bladder is used in Chinese medicine citescongratulated itself that wildlife was now
). 

“firmly embedded in the agendas of global enforcement development and financing ,

agencies ”.

There has indeed been progress since 2016 notably in making it harder for criminals to ,

trade wildlife products on global internet platforms And the issue has gained .

prominence helped by a high profile conference in London in 2018 The firms that
, - .

unwittingly provide the infrastructure for the trade are getting better at monitoring it —

haulage companies at checking cargo banks at spotting suspicious flows of money , .

China has just taken over the chair of the Financial Action Task Force a plurilateral body ,

supposed to curb money-laundering The new chairman Liu Xiangmin has listed going
. , ,

after the proceeds of wildlife crime as an objective .

Some advances have also been made in curbing demand for the illegal products What .

happens in China matters most The emergence of hundreds of millions of Chinese with
.

disposable incomes turned what were once niche products into a huge market The .

Beijing metro has posters publicising the fight against wildlife crime Yao Ming a retired . ,

basketball star has lent his name to campaigns to save elephants sharks and rhinos
, , .

And at the end of 2017 China put into force a ban on all domestic trade in ivory Because From HP Academy Kenh Ielts . ( &

of cites trading newly acquired ivory was already illegal

  ,
The Economist .)

Technology is also helping In some parks in Zambia and elsewhere rhinos and elephants are
. ,

fitted with sensors and monitored by drones DNA testing of seized ivory makes it possible to .   

identify fairly precisely where the animal was killed However only 20 of large seizures are . , %

tested representing an important missed opportunity to better understand the criminal

—“

networks trafficking ivory says Matthew Collis of the International Fund for Animal Welfare a
”, ,

charity .

VOCABULARY
1.     Appendix (plural appendices) a separate part at the end of a report legal document book etc which
        ,   ,  , .

(n): givesextra information phụ lục  ( )

2.     Unwittingly (adv): without being aware of what you are doing or the situation that you are
involved in vô tình ( )

3.     Haulage (n): the business of moving things by road or railway vận chuyển hàng hóa
              ( )

4.     Money-laundering (n): the crime of moving money that has been obtained illegally into foreign
bank accounts or legal businesses so that it is difficult for people to know
where the money came from rửa tiền chuyển tiền trái phép ( / )

Drone (n): an aircraft that does not have a pilot but is controlled by someone on the
           

ground máy bay không người lái

( )

ARTICLE 1 -   4  - THE ECONOMIST

 Space debris and human safety

SHOPPING A HARD RAIN

Technologists are working out ways to lessen the likelihood the debris
falling from space will kill people
Space debris and human safety
SHOPPING A HARD RAIN
Technologists are working out ways to lessen the likelihood the debris falling
from space will kill people

Every day a tonne or two of defunct satellites rocket parts and other man-made
  ,

orbiting junk hurtles into the atmosphere Four fifths of it burns up to become . -

harmless dust but that still leaves a fair number of fragments large enough to be
,

lethal It is testament to how much of Earth s surface is sea and how sparsely
. ’ ,

populated the remainder remains that the only recorded victims of this artificial ,

hailstorm are five sailors aboard a Japanese vessel who were injured in 1969 and a , ,

woman in Oklahoma who was grazed by a piece of falling rocket in 1997 But it is also .

testament to luck and the odds of that luck holding are shortening
— .

Population growth means that the fraction of Earth s surface which space debris can ’

hit harmlessly is shrinking At the same time more spacecraft are going up 111
. , (

successful launches in 2018 compared with 66 a decade earlier and with many , ,

launches carrying multiple payloads And payloads themselves are increasingly ).

designed so that equipment which has fulfilled its purpose falls out of orbit years or
decades sooner than it otherwise would lest it collide with functioning spacecraft , .

In light of all this more attention is being paid to the safe disposal of satellites and
,

other space junk To do that space agencies and private companies alike want to steer
. ,

craft to the least risky impact destinations possible and also reduce the number of - ,

fragments that will survive re entry and endanger people and property - .

A drop in the ocean

One tried and tested solution is to plunge a re entering craft into a zone known as the -

South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area This is the expanse between Chile and New .

Zealand It is island free little sailed and little overflown Such controlled re entries are
. - , . -

not a completely precise science Any ships and planes heading into the vicinity at the .

time will be advised to steer clear of a potential impact area that may exceed
10 000km2 roughly the size of Lebanon But if everyone takes these warnings
, — .

seriously then controlled re entries are as safe as it gets according to Holger Krag
, - , ,

head of the European Space Agency s Space Debris Office in Darmstadt Germany ’ , .

Job done you might think Yet only a few controlled re entries are carried out each From HP Academy Kenh Ielts
, . -

year The reason is cost If a spacecraft is to be put into the steep descent needed to
&
. .

The Economist
aim it reasonably precisely at a particular spot on Earth s surface it will need to carry ’ ,

two or three times as much fuel as is required for standard orbital adjustments It will .

also require larger thrusters That fuel and those thrusters add to a mission s weight
. ’ ,

and therefore its launch costs Ground controllers are also necessary to supervise the
.

re entry Ending a mission with a controlled re entry can thus add more than 20m
- . - €

($22m to its cost

) .

VOCABULARY
1.      Debris (n): broken or torn pieces of something larger (mảnh vỡ)
2.     Man-made (a)/ artificial (a): made by people, often as a copy of something natural (nhân tạo)
3.     Orbit (n,v): the curved path through which objects in spacemove around
a planet or star (quỹ đạo, quay theo quỹ đạo)
4.     Orbital (a): relating to the orbit (= curved path) of an object in space (thuộc về quỹ đạo)
5.     Spacecraft (n)/ craft (n): a vehicle used for travel in space (tàu không gian)
6.     Hurtle (v): to move very fast, especially in a way that seems dangerous (di chuyển rất
nhanh)
7.      Lethal (a): able to cause or causing death; extremely dangerous (gây chết người)
8.     Testament (n): proof (bằng chứng)
9.      Launch (n,v): an occasion when a ship is put into water, or a spacecraft is sent intospace
,for the first time (phóng (vào không gian))

ARTICLE 2 -   6  - THE ECONOMIST

Space debris and human safety
SHOPPING A HARD RAIN
A cheaper alternative is a semi controlled re entry Instead of diving towards a pre
“ - ” - . -

arranged target a satellite is lowered gradually into the atmosphere using either
,

what thruster fuel remains to it or a specially designed drag sail This sail intercepts
- - .

air molecules that have leaked into space from the atmosphere slowing down the ,

satellite it is attached to and thus decreasing the craft’s altitude until it reaches a
point where air resistance to the body itself pulls it into the atmosphere .

The trade-off is that the danger zone associated with such a de orbiting is much -

larger than that of a properly controlled re entry It is still possible to arrange for this - .

zone to have lots of oceans and few big cities But there is not the certainty of no .

casualties that the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area brings with it Also . ,

though more economical than the fully controlled variety semi controlled re entry is , - -

not free Saving fuel for it shortens mission lengths Adding a drag sail adds to launch
. .

weight In practice therefore almost all spacecraft re enter the atmosphere at

. , , -

random But this has not prevented experts from working out the probability that the
.

random re entry of a given mission will cause casualties And that is useful
- .

information because it can be used to decide whether a mission should go ahead in

,

the first place .

Re entry survivability analysis as it is known is done using software that crunches

- - , ,

data on the size shape configuration composition and thickness of a satellite s

, , , ’

components That provides an estimate of the number weight size and shape and
. , , —

therefore potential harmfulness of pieces that atmospheric friction will not reduce —

to dust The probability of casualties can then be calculated in light of the

.

population density under the spacecraft’s orbit .

Hyperschall Technologie Göttingen htg a German firm charges about 50 000 for ( ), , € ,

such an analysis Its clients include three European satellite manufacturers

. —

ohb System of Germany Elecnor of Spain and Airbus as well as several space
  , —

agencies For their money these organisations get a bespoke assessment of the likely
. ,

fate of a particular spacecraft based on digital files of its design and using programs, ,

with names like Spacecraft Entry Survival Analysis Module and Debris Risk
“ ” “

Assessment and Mitigation Analysis that have been calibrated by experiments in the ”

plasma wind tunnels owned by Germany s space agency ’ .

If these calculations come back showing that the risk of a satellite killing or injuring omeone during re entry is -

greater than one in 10 000 which roughly half do then permission to launch will probably be denied unless the
, — —

craft is redesigned or can be rigged for a semi controlled entry at more favourable odds The idea of setting the - .

acceptable risk at 10 000 to one though derided by some as arbitrary was adopted by America s space
, , , ’

agency nasa in 1995 by Japan in 1997 by France in 1998 and by a dozen or so other places in the years since
,  , , , .
YRALUBACOV

1.     Plunge (v):   to (cause someone or something to) move or fall suddenly and often a long way forward,

down, or into something (nhấn chìm)
2.     Vicinity (n): the area around a place or where the speaker is (vùng lân cận)
3.     Exceed (v): to be greater than a number or amount, or to go past an allowed limit (vượt quá)
4.     Carry out to do or complete something, especially that you have said you would do or that you have
(phrasal verb): been told to do (tiến hành)
5.     Casualty (n): a person or thing that suffers as a result of something else happening (thương  vong)
6.     Thruster (n): a small rocket engine on a spacecraft, used to make alterations in its flight path or altitude
(động cơ đẩy)
7.     Intercept (v): to stop things, people, etc. As they go to a particular place (chặn)
8.     Altitude (n): height above sea level (độ cao)
9.      Trade-off (n): a balance achieved between two desirable but incompatible features; a compromise (Việc
cân bằng các yếu tố khác nhau để đạt được sự kết hợp tốt nhất)
10. Economical (a) not using a lot of fuel, money, etc. (tiết kiệm)
11. Alloy (n): a metal that is made by mixing two or more metals, or a metal and another substance (hợp kim)
12. Configuration the way in which all the equipment that makes up acomputer system is
(n): set to operate (cấu hình)
13. Calibrate (v): to check a measuring instrument to see if it is accurate (kiểm nghiệm)

ARTICLE 2 -   7 - THE ECONOMIST

Space debris and human safety
SHOPPING A HARD RAIN
Feeling the heat
Having to do such calculations at all though is suboptimal The best solution to the , , .

problem of re entering space debris is to build spacecraft so that nothing will reach the
-

ground in the first place One way to design for demise says Ettore Perozzi an expert on . “ ”, ,

debris at Italy s space agency is to build a spacecraft like a chocolate bar so that it
’ , “ ”,

snaps easily into pieces The idea is for specially positioned weak parts to fail early during
.

re entry ripping the thing apart at an altitude of about 125km rather than the standard
- , ,

80km or so This exposes the spacecraft’s guts to greater destructive heat for additional
.

seconds .

One promising means of getting a spacecraft to rip open early according to Charlotte ,

Bewick head engineer for debris at ohb System is to forge screws nuts and other parts
,     , ,

for couplings out of special shape memory alloys When heated these alloys return to a “ ” . ,

“remembered shape they once held which in this case will facilitate a rapid wiggling
” — , ,

apart early in re entry Thales Alenia Space a Franco Italian firm sees more promise in
- . , - ,

another way of accelerating a spacecraft’s break up It has patented a demisable - . “ ”

coupling that thanks to a special washer comes apart quickly when heated Engineers
, , .

are testing prototypes in a plasma wind tunnel and reckon the winning design will
contain a low melting point alloy of zinc - - .

Another way to reduce what reaches the ground is to substitute refractory materials such
as titanium and steel used to make things like fuel tanks and fly wheels with substances
, ,

such as aluminium and graphite epoxy that vaporise more easily According to Lilith .

Grassi a debris expert at Thales Alenia this approach is bearing fruit

, , .

Even these measures though will not bring every spacecraft into compliance with the
, ,

one in 10 000 rule So engineers have thought up additional ways to lower the likelihood
- - , .

of a casualty .

Those at ohbSystem for example have proposed fastening together with strong cabling
  , ,

any components expected to survive re entry That will prevent them from fanning out - . —

meaning as Dr Bewick puts it that the surviving debris will hit Earth like a single bullet
, ,

instead of a shotgun blast thus reducing the chance that anyone will be struck
From HP Academy Kenh Ielts
, .

&

System has yet to find a customer for a satellite fitted with such containment cabling It The Economist
.

would add weight and thus cost Moreover some dislike the notion of increasing the
, . ,

amount of material that will strike Earth even if that increase reduces the chance of a ,

death But a related approach is under study at Thales Alenia This firm may begin
. .

encasing in a single package the lenses and other components of optical systems that
currently often hit the ground as a spray .

Something no one seems to be asking in all this is what an appropriate level of safety for satellite re entries , -

actually is The original reason for picking 10 000 to one as an acceptable risk level has been lost in the mists of
. ,

time To a given individual in Earth s human population of 7 5bn it translates into one chance in 75 trillion per re
. ’ . , -

entry This is vanishingly small even in a world where re entries are numbered in the hundreds per year
. , - .

On the other hand any death delivered from outer space in this way would be headline news and might result in
, ,

calls for the rules to be tightened still further So far the satellite business has a pretty good safety record It would . , .

like to keep things that way .

1.     Suboptimal (a): below the highest level or standard, or not done in the best way possible

YRALUBACOV

(gần điểm tối ưu)

2.     Demise (n): the end of the operation or existence of something (chấm dứt)
3. Facilitate (v): to make something possible or easier (làm cho dễ dàng)
4.      Patent (v): to get the official legal right to make or sell an invention (có bằng sáng chế)
5.     Compliance (n): the act of obeying an order, rule, or request (sự tuân theo)
6.     Prototype (n): the first example of something, such as a machine or other industrial product,
from which all later forms are developed (mẫu thử đầu tiên)
7.     Vanishingly (adv): used to emphasize how small, rare, etc. Something is, so that it almost does
not exist (không đáng kể)

ARTICLE 2 -   8 - THE ECONOMIST

WHAT ARE

THE ECONOMIST
COMPANIES FOR?
Bigbussiness, shareholders
and society

ARTICLE
POWER GENERATION INSURANCE AND THE POOR

DOWN AND UNDER

DIRTY COVER
1 2
 POWER GENERATION

DOWN AND
DIRTY

SAN CARLOS ARTICLE 1

Asia digs up and burns three-quarters of the world’s coal.
That must change if the climate is not to
 ARTICLE 1
POWER GENERATION

DOWN AND DIRTY

SAN CARLOS
Asia digs up and burns three-quarters of the world’s coal. That must change if the climate is not to
 

Alarge sign in the city hall of San Carlos on the island of Negros in the Philippines lays out the local government s
  , , ’

ambitions It wants San Carlos to be a model green city a renewable energy hub for Asia and a sustainable
. “ ”, “ ” “

tourism destination But the local officials sitting directly beneath the sign are keen to talk about something else why
”. :

a plan to build a coal fired power plant nearby is an excellent idea

- .

Coal drives Asia Between 2006 and 2016 the continent s consumption of it grew by 3 1 a year Asia now accounts
. ’ . % .

for fully 75 of global demand for the stuff China is the world s largest producer and consumer of coal Largely as a
% . ’ .

result it also emits more carbon dioxide than any other country India is the second biggest consumer Japan and
, . - .

South Korea are also big consumers while Australia and Indonesia are big producers South East Asia was the only
, . -

region in the world in which coal s share of power generation grew last year according to the International Energy
’ ,

Agency IEA a research body And four of the five countries that shell out the most in subsidies for the fuel are Asian
( ), . .

Asia s passion for coal in turn threatens the health of the planet The Paris agreement on climate change which every
’ , , . (

country in Asia from Afghanistan to New Zealand has signed aims to limit the increase in global temperatures above
, , )

pre industrial averages to well below 2 C To avoid 1 5 C of global warming virtually all of the planet s coal fired
- “ ” ° . . ° , ’ -

plants need to close by 2050 climatologists say given the vast quantity of greenhouse gases produced by mining
, , ,

transporting and burning coal No new coal fired plants should be built from next year on the secretary general of
. - , -

the UN says But UBS a Swiss bank reckons that Indonesia and Vietnam may still be building coal fired power
    .   , , -

stations in 2035 Asia s last coal plant it projects will close only in 2079 Curbing global warming depends on
. ’ , , .

convincing Asian governments to take a different path .

China accounts for about half the coal the world consumes each year far more than any other country Happily its — . ,

appetite seems to be waning Although it burned through almost 4bn tonnes last year a slight increase on the year
. ,

before that is still below the peak of 4 24bn tonnes in 2013 Coal s share of China s energy mix has fallen by about ten
, . . ’ ’

percentage points over the past decade to 59 , %.

This is the result of a sustained and multifaceted official campaign to clean up China s energy generation There has ’ .

been huge investment in renewables leaving China with a third of the world s wind turbines and a quarter of its solar
, ’

panels according to the IEA In 2013 a national plan on air pollution gave Beijing the capital five years to reduce its
,   . , ,

coal consumption by half among other measures And in 2017 the government introduced a national carbon trading
, . -

scheme In the Paris agreement it pledged that its carbon dioxide emissions would stop growing by 2030
. - .

China s efforts to clean up have left India as the world s most enthusiastic builder of coal fired plants In its
’ ’ - .

submissions for the Paris accord India predicted that its demand for electricity would triple between 2012 and 2030
, .

About 48 gigawatts of coal fired capacity are under construction in the country Coal consumption increased by 9
- . %

last year according to BP a big oil firm

,   , .

1.    Sustainable (a):  able to continue over a period of time (bền vững)

VOCABULARY

2.    Continent (n): one of the seven large land masses on the Earth's surface (lục địa)

3.    Shell out sth: to pay money for something, especially when the cost is unexpected and not wanted
(trả tiền)
4.    Subsidy (n): money given as part of the cost of something to help or encourage it to happen (trợ ấp)
5.    Average (n): a standard or level that is considered to be typical or usual (tiêu chuẩn)
6.    Plant (n): a factory and the machinery in it used to produce or process something (nhà máy)
7.    Reckon (v): to consider or have the opinion that something is as stated (cho rằng)
8.    Multifaceted (a): having many different parts or sides (nhiều mặt)
9.    Pledge (v): to make a serious or formal promise to give or do something (cam kết)
10. Capacity (n): the amount that can be held or produced by something (công suất)

03
03 || ARTICLE
ARTICLE 11
 ARTICLE 1
POWER GENERATION

DOWN AND DIRTY

That is partly because India lacks obvious alternatives at least for back-up generation when the wind is ,

not blowing and the sun is not shining It cannot afford to import cleaner but more expensive liquefied .

natural gas as Japan South Korea and increasingly China do Partly however India s addiction to coal
, , , , . , , ’

stems from government bias The government owns more than 70 of Coal India the giant mining firm that
. % ,

produces most of the country s coal India s state owned railways depend on the cash generated by
’ . ’ -

transporting coal to subsidise passenger tickets coal provides 44 of freight revenues Coal generates ( % ).

hundreds of thousands of jobs many in the poorest states The government has an enormous vested interest
, .

in seeing the industry prosper .

Grime-stoppers
Nevertheless even in India the outlook for coal is becoming hazier For one thing growth in energy
, , . ,

demand has slowed thanks to improved energy efficiency and the growing importance of services to the
economy Demand has also been curbed by a failure to invest in transmission capacity and by the
.

inefficiencies of unprofitable power distribution companies This means that the increase in coal fired
- . -

generation has outstripped the increase in demand for energy in recent years Coal plants are already .

operating far below their potential capacity At the same time levies and transport costs have risen more . ,

quickly than Coal India s prices according to research by Rahul Tongia and Samantha Gross for the
’ ,

Brookings Institution an American think tank

, - .

These difficulties are mounting just as greener power sources are beginning to spread Shortly after .

Narendra Modi became prime minister five years ago his government announced a plan to quadruple ,

India s renewable energy capacity to 175 gigawatts by 2022 The scheme supports one of India s promises
’ - . ’

under the Paris accord If it is successful the share of renewables in the generation mix could rise from 7 8
. , . %

to 19 Steep cost falls help Indian renewables now cost less than three rupees 0 04 per kilowatt hour
%. . ($ . ) - ,

well below domestic coal at four rupees per kilowatt hour according to Tim Buckley of the Institute for - ,

Energy Economics and Financial Analysis a green think tank , - .

South East Asia has seen a similar shift in prices The government of Vietnam projects that demand for coal
- .

will more than double by 2030 But Matt Gray of Carbon Tracker a British think tank argues that if the cost
. , - , ,

of building solar and wind farms keeps falling reductions of 50 and 30 respectively have been seen in
- - ( % %

Vietnam in recent years they should be cheaper than new coal plants as soon as next year The economics
), . “

are there and this is what I think Asia is going to wake up to says an investor in Vietnamese wind farms ,” .

Renewables offer other advantages over coal as well Given the difficulty of getting power to South East . -

Asia s most remote areas Indonesia has more than 13 000 islands and the Philippines another 7 000 or so
’ — , , —

solar and wind installations can offer electrification without costly extensions of the grid The region also has .

manufacturers who would benefit from a stronger push for renewables Malaysia for example is the third . , , -

largest manufacturer of solar cells in the world .

1.    Alternative (n): a thing that you can choose to do or have out of two or more possibilities (sự lựa chọn)
VOCABULARY

2.    Back-up generation: the supporting production of energy in a particular form (năng lượng dự trữ)

3.    Prosper (v): to be successful, esp. financially (phát triển)
4.    Hazy (a): not remembering things clearly (mơ hồ)
5.    Curb (v): to control or limit something that is not wanted (hạn chế)
6.    Outstrip (v): to grow or develop more quickly than something else (vượt xa)
7.    Levy (n): an  amount  of  money, such as a  tax, that you have to  pay  to a  government  or 
organization (thuế)
8.    Quadruple (v): to become or make something four times greater (tăng gấp 4)
9.    Grid (n): a system of wires for supplying electricity across a large region, country,
etc. (mạng lưới điện)

04
04 || ARTICLE
ARTICLE 11
 ARTICLE 1
POWER GENERATION

DOWN AND DIRTY

Coal is coming in for more public criticism A recent documentary in Indonesia portrayed the harm caused
.

by the fuel to farmers fishermen and the natural resources upon which they depend In the Philippines the
, .

Catholic church is wading in Gerardo Alminaza a bishop is a leading figure in a campaign against the
. , ,

proposed coal plant in San Carlos for example He has given talks at banks on the need to divest from coal
, . .

Rodrigo Duterte the president of the Philippines recently instructed his government to hasten the shift
, ,

from fossil fuels to renewable energy .

Some investors are growing leery of coal A new report from the Centre for Financial Accountability an
. ,

Indian think tank reveals that private lending to coal fired power plants in India declined by 90 last year
- , - % .

One of the largest banks in South East Asia DBS of Singapore announced in April that it will stop funding
- ,    ,

new coal plants after its existing slate of projects is completed Last year Marubeni a huge Japanese trading . ,

house said it will no longer invest in coal plants it intends to halve its own coal fired capacity by 2030 And
, ; - .

the energy arm of Ayala Corporation a Filipino conglomerate announced plans last year to sell up to half
, ,

its coal assets and to invest more in renewables .

Coal comfort
The shifting sentiment is reflected in the recent sharp decline in investment approvals for new coal fired -

plants But even if the private sector were to wash its hands of coal altogether that would not guarantee its
. ,

demise In both China and India the biggest banks are state owned and their lending decisions are as
. , - ,

much a function of government policy as of expected returns The Chinese government in turn although . , ,

pursuing cleaner energy at home does not seem particularly keen to encourage it abroad The Belt and
, .

Road Initiative a big Chinese infrastructure development scheme will see billions spent to build coal fired
, - , -

plants in Bangladesh Indonesia Pakistan and Vietnam among other countries Chinese financial
, , , .

institutions are helping to fund more than a quarter of coal fired power stations under development around -

the world .

Finance for the coal business in India meanwhile comes mainly from the state Between 2005 and 2015
, , .

state owned banks provided 82 of the funding for coal fired power plants according to the Centre for
- % - ,

Financial Accountability If the governments of China and India continue to pump money into coal via state
. -

owned banks the fate of the climate will be sealed whatever encouragement they give to other forms of
, ,

generation .

1.    Portray (v): to describe or show somebody/something in a particular way, especially when this
does not give a complete or accurate impression of what they are like (phác hoạ)
VOCABULARY

2.    Wade in (v):
3.    Leery (a):
4.    Conglomerate (n):
5.    Sediment (n):
6.    Seal (v):
to start to do something in a forceful and determined way (can thiệp vào)
not trusting someone or something and usually avoiding him, her, or it if possible
(thân trọng)
a  company  that  owns  several  smaller businesses  whose products or  services  are
usually very different (tập đoàn)
a thought, opinion, or idea based on a feeling about a situation, or a way of thinking
about something (quan điểm)
to make an agreement more certain or to approve it formally (định đoạt)

05
05 || ARTICLE
ARTICLE 11
 INSURANCE AND THE POOR

UNDER
UNDER COVER
COVER

JALALPUR AND LUSAKA ARTICLE 2

Insurance is most useful for the very poor. How can they be
persuaded to buy it?
 ARTICLE 2
INSURANCE AND THE POOR

UNDER COVER
JALALPUR AND LUSAKA
Insurance is most useful for the very poor. How can they be persuaded to buy it?
Like many Zambian farmers Stephen Chomba suffered badly from a prolonged drought that started just after last
  ,

year s planting season in October The maize seeds he had used in his little 12 hectare farm in Chilanga on the
’ . - ,

outskirts of the capital Lusaka failed to germinate He risked losing his entire crop Then to his astonishment he
, , . . , ,

received a phone call from the seed company He was told he was entitled to pick up replacement seeds at no
- .

cost He was it turned out insured

. , , .

His story shows how technology and new ideas can bring insurance to poor people around the world but also —

how difficult that task is Moves to expand financial inclusion are being extended to bring the poor insurance as
. “ ”

well as mobile money accounts and access to credit Bottom of Form

- .

It is the very poor who need insurance most of all and as climate change makes extreme weather more ,

common poor farmers are likely to find themselves ever more vulnerable MrChomba has seven children to
, .

support five of them still at school For such families a loss like the one he faced is much more than a temporary
, .

setback It can tip them into crippling debt or utter destitution But most poor people around the world assume
. .

that insurance is not for them Indeed if they think about it at all many wonder why they would pay money now
. , , ,

a premium for something they hope never to need a claim for some unforeseen loss
, , .

Since 2011 the World Bank with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has produced a financial
, , -

inclusion index or Findex an attempt to measure access to financial services Included in the most recent Findex
, “ ”, . ,

covering 2017 was a survey of farmers across a range of poorer countries About half had experienced at least one
, .

very bad year in the past five The vast majority had borne the entire financial risk of the loss receiving nothing
. ,

from either an insurance payout or government assistance .

In India for example many poor farmers have no insurance says Shree Kant Kumar of VimoSEWA the insurance
, , , , ,

arm of SEWA a women s union and microfinance provider Most insurance is either subsidised or forced he says
  , ’ . “ ,” .

Based in Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat Mr Kant says that in the 1980s SEWA noticed that some of the
, ,    

women to whom it had lent money were unable to repay because a calamity had befallen them So in 1992 it .

started offering life insurance adding health insurance in 2000 , .

1.     Insurance (n): an agreement in which you pay a company money and they pay your costs if you have
an accident, injury, etc. (bảo hiểm)
VOCABULARY

2.     On the outskirts: the areas that form the edge of a town or city (ngoại ô)

3.     Germinate (v): to (cause a seed to) start growing (nảy mầm)
)

4.     Astonishment (n): very great surprise (ngạc nhiên)

5.     At no cost: free/ free of charge (miễn phí)
6.     Turn out (phrasal to happen in a particular way or to have a particular result, especially an 
verb): unexpected  one (hóa ra)
7.     Be likely to: tend to (có xu hướng)
8.     Vulnerable (a): able to be easily physically, emotionally, or mentally hurt,influenced, or attacked (dễ
bị tổn thương)
9.     Crippling (a): large (kếch xù)
10.  Utter (a): complete or extreme (hoàn toàn)
11.  Destitution (n): without money, food, a home, or possessions (cảnh thiếu thốn)
12.  Premium (n): an amount of money paid to get insurance (phí bảo hiểm)
13.  Borne (pp of bear) (v): to accept, tolerate, or endure something, especially something unpleasant (chịu đựng)
14.  Subsidise (v): to pay part of the cost of something (trợ cấp)
15.  Calamity (n): a serious accident or bad event causing damage or suffering (tai họa)
16.  Befallen (pp of befall)  if something bad or dangerous befalls you, it happens to you (xảy ra)

06 | ARTICLE 2
 ARTICLE 2
INSURANCE AND THE POOR

UNDER COVER
The government also offers a crop insurance scheme which is subsidised But this is available only to farmers
- , .

who take out loans through co-operatives and tend to be relatively well-off MrKant says Indian small farmers
, .

cover their risks as their ancestors did by hoarding produce and having more children to look after them they
— , ,

hope when they are old

, .  

A lose-lose policy
Among a group of rice farmers in the village of Jalalpur are some who have dabbled with insurance thanks to the
- ,

government subsidised scheme Some complain it did not pay out despite terrible harvests in 2015 16 Others
- . - .

have had no claims and resent paying premiums and getting nothing back Indeed SEWA has now begun to pay
, . ,   

no claims bonuses to people who do not submit a claim for several years
- .

In Zambia MrChomba did recall that when he bought his seeds the salesman had mentioned insurance But he
, , .

had assumed it was just part of his patter In fact in giving his mobile phone number he had registered for
. , -

insurance It covered only non germination and paid out only in seeds The extended drought left him with a
. - , .

crop about one fifth of a normal year s But that was a lot better than nothing
- ’ . .

Mobile phone adoption has outpaced both financial inclusion and insurance coverage According to GSMA an
- .   ,

organisation of mobile operators 5 1bn people two thirds of the world had mobile phones in 2018 It expects the
, . — - — .

number to rise to 5 8bn or 71 by 2025 According to the Findex 78 of the world s unbanked adults receiving
. , % . , % ’

wages in cash had a mobile phone Even Zambia a poor country has a mobile penetration rate of over 80
. , , - %.

Seeds of distrust
This makes it easier to reach the unbanked both to market insurance services to them and to manage and even
,

pay claims It is still however a tough sell An agricultural fair in Zambia s Mumbwa district is a three hour drive
. , , . ’ -

from Lusaka much of it through maize fields desiccated by drought A farmer at the fair says the year has been so
, .

bad it will send all but the very strong to the wall But he and others there find the idea of crop insurance tricky
, “ .”

to grasp Trying to explain are representatives of Pula the insurtech firm that designed the coverage and the
. , “ ” ,

Zambian subsidiary of Bayer an agribusiness giant that sells it with its maize seeds The idea is unfamiliar And
, , . .

sometimes farmers buying seed do not go through the minimal registration procedure needed for insurance the —

seed shop may not explain it to them or they are in too much of a hurry , .

In selling insurance to the poor three things seem most important trust price and ease The most important way
, : , .

of establishing trust is the demonstration effect One of the seed marketers in Mumbwa laments that more fuss is . -

not made about payouts like the one MrChomba received KamlabenDayabhaiParmar a midwife and an . ,

insurance agent for SEWA in Gujarat would agree In her village 35 families are insured through SEWA she
    , . ,   ;

receives a small cut of the premiums Her main sales tactic is to make payments public large claims for
. — ,

example are paid at village meetings

, .

VOCABULARY
1.     Loan (n): an amount of money that is borrowed, often from a bank, and has to be paid back, usually
together with an extra amount of money that you have to pay as a charge for  borrowing
(tiền cho vay)
2.     Co-operative (n): a financial organization owned and controlled by itsmembers, who can borrow at low
interest rates from an amount ofmoney they have saved as a group (hợp tác xã)
3.     Well-off (a): rich (giàu có)
4.     Unbanked (a): without a bank account (không gửi ngân hàng)
5.     Desiccate (v): dried, with the moisture removed (làm khô hạn)
6.     Representative (n): someone who speaks or does something officially for another person or group of 
people (đại biểu)

7.     Subsidiary (a): a company that is owned by a larger company (chi nhánh)

8.     Tactic (n): a planned way of doing something (chiến thuật)

07|
07 |ARTICLE
ARTICLE22
 ARTICLE 2
INSURANCE AND THE POOR

UNDER COVER
Correspondingly where claims are not paid or met in full insurance can soon get a bad name often
, , , ,

unjustifiably So MsParmar is interrupted while advertising the benefits of insurance by an assertive woman in a
.

pink sari who complains that she made a health claim and received 2 000 rupees when her total costs were
, , ,

10 000 rupees She terminated her policy when the premiums rose
, . .

Similar problems have dogged some index insurance schemes A number of firms in east Africa offer farmers “ - ” .

crop insurance that will pay out automatically to a mobile phone account without the need to put in a claim if
- - , , ,

say a rainfall index drops below a certain threshold This is ingenious Following an index is cheaper than
, . .

assessing farmers lost crops or counting how many of his cows have survived a drought And since the index is
’ , .

out of the farmer s control moral hazard is reduced he cannot do anything to make a payout more likely But
’ , “ ” — .

the enthusiasm for index insurance has waned somewhat It has to make some general assumptions Some . .

policyholders might lose their crops but receive no payout discouraging others , .

The other important elements in increasing take up of insurance price and ease are often linked MicroEnsure a - — — . ,

British based insurtech signed up millions of customers by offering life insurance policies given away with
- “ ”, -

mobile phone top ups as an incentive to loyal customers It provides cover to 8 6m people in Africa and Asia But
- - , . . .

its boss Richard Leftley says that asking customers to answer even three simple questions name age and next of
, , ( ,

kin could be enough to deter them from taking up a free offer

) .

Or insurance may be bundled with a product making the price invisible and buying it as straightforward as ,

possible People says NdaviMuia of Bayer will not pay for insurance unless it is a statutory requirement like motor
. , , ,

insurance So Pula s premium is paid by the seed company which absorbs the cost and bundles the insurance
. ’ ,

with its product to boost sales It can afford this because the payout is in seed and the risk period relatively short
. .

The idea of buying insurance against the failure of a product you are purchasing seems obvious to many people
in developed markets but not to many poor people Lumkani a Johannesburg based firm sells fire detection
, . , - , -

equipment Lumkani means beware in Xhosa South African townships suffer lots of fires Lumkani s devices are
( “ ” ). . ’

networked so that an alarm triggers those nearby and users get an sms alert of a fire in their district or indeed
, ,     ,

their own home They also come with fire insurance with coverage for total losses up to 40 000 rand 2 600 For
. , , ($ , ).

smaller losses says David Gluckman Lumkani s boss policyholders often have to be chivvied into claiming
, , ’ , .

An Indian insurer called Toffee as in as easy as offers a range of products such as theft and damage cover for
, ( “ …”) ,

bicycles commuting insurance for accidents riders might have and insurance against mosquito borne
, “ ” ( ); -

diseases such as dengue which it hopes pharmacies will promote to people buying insect repellent It boasts
( - ).

that it takes less than 200 seconds to buy a policy on its app or website and less than three days to pay claims .

Such insurtech firms can win business by serving the poor venturing into parts of the market long neglected by ,

insurers and through digital processes exploiting the chronic inefficiency of well established competitors But it
, , - .

is hard for them to make large margins They are intermediaries between customers and the insurance .

companies that actually underwrite the policies Many also find it hard to achieve the volume of business that .

would bring economies of scale .

Insurance as a service
Many working on insurance for the poor believe that to make a real difference insurers need to do two things The , , .

first is to think of their role rather differently to move beyond providing merely an indemnity for losses in the , “ ”,

words of Hugh Terry founder of the Digital Insurer an online trade journal Rather they should be helping clients
,   , .

reduce and manage risk using the new technologies to advise and incentivise them into better practices farmers
, :

into planting the right seeds at the right time health policy holders to manage medical conditions online and so ; -

on .

Second in poor countries they probably need to work with governments and governments will need to use some
, , ,

of the money they spend on their poorest citizens to promote insurance Pula for example is on a pilot scheme in . , ,

Zambia involving 150 000 farmers They will be offered crop yield insurance sold with seeds and fertiliser under
, , . - , ,

the government s Farmer Input Support Programme which subsidises the cost of inputs to small scale maize
’ , - -

producers This will be the first time the government has used a yield index covering a wide range of risks
. “ ”,

affecting the harvest as opposed to a simple weather index Pula already has a similar collaboration with Nigeria s
, . ’

government .

The upshot should be that more farmers will benefit from the comfort MrChomba received from having something
of a safety net And as insurance becomes more commonplace fewer presumably will be so taken by surprise
- . , , , ,

07
08 || ARTICLE
ARTICLE 2
2

UNDER COVER
1.     Unjustifiably (adv):
2.     Assertive (a):
3.     Terminate (v):
4.     Ingenious (a):
5.     Incentive (n):
6.    Bundle (v):
7.     Straightforward (a):
8.     Inefficiency (n):
9.     Intermediary (n):
10.  Incentivise (v):
11.  Indemnity (n):
12.  Common  place (a):
09
09 || ARTICLE
ARTICLE 22
ARTICLE 2
INSURANCE AND THE POOR
in a way that cannot be accepted or defended as right (không thể biện minh được)
Someone who is assertive  behaves  confidently  and is not  frightened  to say what
they want or believe (quyết đoán)
to (cause something to) end or stop (chấm dứt)
(of a thing) skilfully made or planned and involving new ideas and methods (khéo léo)
something that encourages a person to do something (khích lệ)
to include an extra computer program or other product with something that you sell (bán kèm)
easy to understand or simple (dễ dàng)
a  situation  in which someone or something  fails  to use  resources  such as  time,  materials,
or labour in an effective way (không hiệu quả)
someone who carries messages between people who are unwilling or unable to meet (người trung
gian hòa giải)
to make someone  want  to do something, such as to  buy  something or to
do work, especially by offering prizes or reward (khích lệ)
protection against possible damage or loss, especially a promise  of payment, or the money paid if
there is such damage or loss (sự bồi thường)
happening often or often seen or experienced and so notconsidered to be special (phổ biến rộng rãi)
VOCABULARY
 The economist Compiled by HP ACADEMY
KENH IELTS
&

Article 1 Article 2
Information technology Helping the poor
THE DIGITAL BRAC TO THE
ASSEMBLY LINE FUTURE
DHAKA
REDWOOD CITY AND SAN FRANCISCO The world’s biggest charity has been so
Technology firms via for billions in successful at easing poverty in
corporate data-analytics contracts Bangladesh that is unsure what to do next
Information
Information technology
technology
THE DIGITAL
ASSEMBLY LINE
REDWOOD CITY AND SAN FRANCISCO
Technology firms via for billions in corporate
data-analytics contracts
 Information technology THE DIGITAL ASSEMBLY LINE
REDWOOD CITY AND SAN FRANCISCO
Technology firms via for billions in corporate data-analytics contracts

Somebody less driven than Tom Siebel would have long since thrown in the towel In 2006 the
  .

entrepreneur then 53 years old sold his first firm Siebel Systems which made computer
, , , ,

programs to track customer relations to Oracle a giant of business software That left him a , , .

billionaire but a restless one In 2009 a few months after Mr Siebel had launched a new startup
— . , ,

he was trampled by an elephant while on safari in Tanzania When a dozen surgeries later he . , ,

could work again the enterprise almost went bankrupt Undeterred he rebooted it
, . , .

Mr Siebel s fortitude has paid off The firm now called C3 ai raised 100m in venture capital last
’ . ,   . , $

year valuing it at 2 1bn It was an early bet on data analytics which converts raw data from a
, $ . . , (

machine s sensors or a warehouse into useful predictions when equipment will fail or what the
’ ) (

optimal stocking levels are with the help of clever algorithms Many investors see fortunes to be
) .

made from this new breed of enterprise software which is spreading from Big Tech s computer , ’

labs to corporations everywhere .

Worldwide 35 companies that dabble in data analytics feature on a list of startups valued at
,

$ 1bn or more maintained by CB Insights a research firm Collectively these unicorns some of
,     , . , —

which brand themselves as purveyors of artificial intelligence AI enjoy a heady valuation of ( )—

$ 73bn According to PitchBook another research company the six biggest alone are worth
. , ,

$ 45bn Many venture capitalists who back them are hoping to emulate the successful initial
.

public offerings this year of less exalted business services startups like CrowdStrike which - ,

provides cybersecurity or Zoom a video conferencing company And then some , , - . .

As is often the case in Silicon Valley hype springs eternal fuelled by big numbers from , ,

consultancies IDC reckons that spending on big data and business analytics software will reach
.    - -

$ 67bn this year But it will boosters say at last allow businesses to see the computer age in their
. , ,

productivity statistics freeing them from the shadow of Robert Solow a Nobel prizewinning
, , -

economist who in 1987 observed that investment in information technology appeared to do

,

little to make companies more efficient Just as electricity enabled the assembly line in the 19th .

century since machines no longer had to be grouped around a central steam engine data
, , -

analytics companies promise to usher in the assembly lines of the digital economy ,

distributing data crunching capacity where it is needed They may also as George Gilbert a
- . , ,

veteran business itanalyst observes help all kinds of firm create the same network effects
- , ,

behind the rise of the tech giants the better they serve their customers the more data they : ,

collect which in turn improves their services and so on

, , .

VOCABULARY
1.    Track (v): to record the progress or development of something over a period (theo dõi)
2.    Trample (v): to step heavily on or crush someone or something (giẫm lên)
3.    Undeterred (a): still continuing to do something or enthusiastic about doing it despite a  bad situation
(không nản lòng)                                                     
                                                                            

4.    Algorithm (n): a set of mathematical instructions or rules  that, especially if given to a  computer, 

will help to calculate an answer to a problem (thuật toán)
5.    Breed (n): a type of person or thing (kiểu/ loại)
6.    Purveyor (n): a business that provides goods or services (nhà cung cấp)
7.    Emulate (v): to copy something achieved by someone else and try to do it as well as they have (mô phỏng)
8.    Exalted (a): of high rank, position or great importance (được đánh giá cao)
1 ELCITRRA

9.    Assembly line (n): a line of machines and workers in a factory that a product moves along while it is

being built or produced (dây chuyền lắp ráp)
10.  Usher in: to be at the start of a new period, especially when important  changes or new things happen,
or to cause important changes to  start happening (mở ra) 03
Information technology
THE DIGITAL ASSEMBLY LINE

Consultants at Gartner recently calculated that in 2021 AI augmentation will create 2 9trn of “ ” $ .

“business value and save 6 2bn man hours globally A survey by McKinsey last year estimated
” . - .

that AI analytics could add around 13trn or 16 to annual global GDP by 2030 Retail and
  $ , %,     .

logistics stand to gain most .

Data analytics have a long way to go before they live up to these expectations Extracting and .

analysing data from countless sources and connected devices the Internet of Things is difficult — “ ”—

and costly Although most firms boast of having conjured up AI platforms few of these meet
.   “ ”,

the usual definition of that term typically reserved for things like Apple s and Google s , ’ ’

smartphone operating systems which allow developers to build compatible apps easily , .

An AI platform would automatically translate raw data into an algorithm friendly format and
    -

offer a set of software design tools that even people with limited coding skills could use Many
- .

companies including Palantir the biggest unicorn in the data analytics herd sell high end
, , - , -

customised services equivalent to building an operating system from scratch for every client
— .

Cloud computing giants such as Amazon Web Services Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud offer
- ,

standardised products for their corporate customers but as Jim Hare of Gartner explains these , ,

are considerably less sophisticated and lock users into their networks .

The enterprising Mr Siebel

Enter C3 ai founded to help utilities manage electric grids a complex problem that involves
  . , ,

collecting and processing data from many sources After its near bankruptcy advances in . - ,

machine learning sensors and data connectivity gave it a new lease of life and allowed it to
, —

repackage its products for a range of industries Crucially for corporate clients C3 s approach . ,  ’

grew out of Mr Siebel s experience with enterprise software He wanted to make data analytics
’ .

hassle-free for corporate clients without sacrificing sophistication , .

3M an American conglomerate employs C3 software to pick out potentially contentious

, ,  

invoices to pre empt complaints The United States Air Force uses it to work out which parts of
- .

an aircraft are likely to fail soon C3 is helping Baker Hughes to develop analytics tools for the oil.  -

and gas industry General Electric the oil services firm s parent company has struggled to
- ( , - ’ ,

perfect an analytics platform of its own called Predix , ).

C3 s chief rival in building a bona fide AI platform is not Big Tech or the very biggest data
’     -

analytics unicorns It is a company called Databricks It was founded in 2013 by computer

. .

wizards who developed Apache Spark an open source program which can handle reams of , -

data from sensors and other connected devices in real time Databricks expanded Spark to .

handle more data types It sells its services chiefly to startups such as Hotels com a travel site
. ( . , )

and media companies Viacom It says it will generate 200m in revenue this year and was
( ). $

valued at 2 8bn when it last raised capital in February

$ . .

Though C3 s and Databricks niches do not overlap much at the moment they may do in the
  ’ ’ ,

future Their approaches differ too reflecting their roots Databricks born of abstruse computer
. , , . ,

science helps clients deploy open source tools effectively Like most enterprise software
, - . -

firms C3 sells proprietary applications

,  .

It is unclear which one will prevail at the moment the two firms are neck-and-neck In the ; .

near term the market is big enough for both and more In the longer run someone will come
, — . ,

up with ai assisted data analytics that are no more taxing than using a spreadsheet It could
  - .

be C3 or Databricks or smaller rivals like Dataiku from New York or Domino Data Lab in San
  ,

Francisco which are also busily erecting aiplatforms The field s other unicorns are unlikely to
,   . ’

give up trying And incumbent tech titans like Amazon Google and Microsoft want to dominate
. ,

all sorts of software including advanced data analytics , .

1 ELCITRRA

Mr Siebel would be the first to admit that this scramble is likely to claim victims But it certainly .

bodes well for buyers of data analytics software which is likely to become as familiar to - ,

corporate IT departments in the 2020s as customer relations programs are today

  - .

04
 Information technology

THE DIGITAL
ASSEMBLY LINE

VOCABULARY
1.    Consultant (n): someone who advises people on a particular subject (cố vấn viên)
2.    Conjure up (Ph.v): to make something good, especially food, quickly and in a skilful way (tạo ra)
3.    Platform (n): the type of computer system or smartphone you are using, in relation to the type of
software (= computer programs) you can use on it (nền tảng điện toán)
4.    Compatible (a): able to be used with a particular type of computer,  machine, device, etc. (tương thích)
5.    Unicorn (n): a start-up (= new business) whose value is considered to be over $1 billion (công ty khởi
nghiệp tư nhân xuất sắc)
6.    Sophisticated (a): complicated or made with great skill (phức tạp/ tinh vi)
Sophistication (n): the quality of being sophisticated (sự tinh tế/ sự tinh vi)
7.    A new lease of life: an increase in the period for which something can be used or continued (tồn tại lâu
hơn)
8.    Hassle-free: without problems or bother (không gặp rắc rối)
9.    Invoice (n): a list of things provided or work done together with their  cost, for payment at a later time
(hóa đơn)
10.  Rival (n): a person, group, etc. competing with others for the same thing or in the same area (đối thủ
cạnh tranh)
11.  Reams of st: a lot of something, especially writing (rất nhiều)
12.  Abstruse (a): not known or understood by many people (trừu tượng/ khó hiểu)
13.  Proprietary (a): owned and legally controlled by a particular company
14.  Prevail (v): to exist and be accepted among a large number of people, or to get a position of  control 
and influence (chiếm ưu thế)
15.  Neck-and-neck: very close or equal (ngang nhau)
1 ELCITRRA

16.  Incumbent (a): officially having the named position (đương nhiệm)

17.  Scramble (n): a hurried attempt to get something (tranh giành)
05
Helping
Helping the
the poor
poor
BRAC TO THE
FUTURE
DHAKA
The world’s biggest charity has been so successful at easing
poverty in Bangladesh that is unsure what to do next
 Helping the poor

BRAC TO THE FUTURE

DHAKA
The world’s biggest charity has been so successful at easing poverty in Bangladesh that is
unsure what to do next

Nine years ago Selina Akter was in a sorry state She had eloped and gone to live with her
  .

husband in Charmotto a village west of Dhaka in Bangladesh But he was able to find only
, .

poorly paying casual work and because of the elopement her family had disowned her The
, , , .

couple had entered the ranks of the ultra poor the most indigent group of all who are barely
“ - ”—

able to feed themselves .

Ms Akter came to the attention of BRAC a charity so ubiquitous in Bangladesh that in some ,

rural areas you see one of its pink and white signs every few miles BRAC made her an offer she
- - .   

could hardly refuse It would give her a cow and visit once a week to teach her about animal
.

husbandry as well as the importance of saving money and the evils of child marriage To ensure .

she got enough to eat the charity would give her lentils and a small cash stipend
, .

By rural Bangladeshi standards Ms Akter is no longer poor She lives in a house with cement
, .

steps a pitched corrugated iron roof and a refrigerator Among other animals she owns two
, - . ,

cows which lounge in her courtyard under an electric fan Thanks in part to her earnings her
, . ,

husband has been able to buy an auto rickshaw He has plenty of customers The government
- . .

has built good roads around Charmotto and the district is growing wealthier as Dhaka sprawls
,

towards it Ms Akter s story is a tribute to BRAC She also hints at why this enormous unusual
. ’ . ,

charity has a problem .

BRAC was founded in 1972 by Sir Fazle Abed an accountant who was horrified by the state of his
  ,

country The four letters of its name have stood for various things over the years but today no
. ( ,

longer stand for anything It has grown into one of the world s biggest non governmental
.) ’ -

organisations the only outfit from a poor country to push its way into the top rank BRAC has
— .   

about 100 000 full time staff 8 000 of whom work outside Bangladesh In 2018 it lent money to
, - , , .

almost 8m people and educated more than 1m children across Bangladesh and ten other
countries It has a hand in a university a bank a seed company an artificial-insemination outfit
. , , , ,

a chicken concern a driving school and a chain of 21 fashion boutiques among other things
, — .

VOCABULARY

1.     Ease (v): to make or become less severe, difficult, unpleasant, painful, etc (giảm bớt)

2.     Elope (v): to leave home secretly in order to get married without the permission of your parents (trốn đi)
3.     Elopement (n): the act of leaving home secretly in order to get married (sự bỏ trốn)
4.     Indigent (a): very poor (nghèo khổ)
5.     Ubiquitous (a): seeming to be everywhere (nhan nhản khắp nơi)
6.     Husbandry (n): farming (nghề nông)
7.     Lentils (n): a very small dried bean that is cooked and eaten (đậu lăng)
8.     Stipend (n): a particular amount of money that is paid regularly to someone (thu nhập)
9.     Corrugated (a): (especially of sheets of iron or cardboard) having parallel rows of folds that look like
a series of waves when seen from the edge (lượn sóng)
2 ELCITRRA

10. Sprawl (v): (especially of a city) to cover a large area of land with buildings, especially gradually over

a period of time (mở rộng)
11. Artificial-insemination (n): the process of putting sperm into a female using methods that do not involve
sexual activity between a male and female (thụ tinh nhân tạo) 07
 Helping the poor BRAC TO THE FUTURE
It is also one of the world s best charities ngo Advisor which tries to keep score has put it top of
’ .    , ,

the heap for the past four years Its corporate culture is a little like an old fashioned engineering
. -

firm BRAC s employees are problem solvers rather than intellectuals and they communicate
.    ’ - ,

well the organisation constantly tweaks its programmes in response to data and criticisms from
—

local staff Some of its innovations have spread around the world The anti poverty programme it
. . -

created which involves giving assets and training to indigent women has been copied by other
, ,

charities and has been shown to work in countries as diverse as Ethiopia Honduras and India , .

But BRAC now has problems that it may not be able to solve Thanks largely to remittances and
  .

the garment industry annual GDP growth in Bangladesh has been above 5 for each of the past
,   %

15 years a record better than those of India or Pakistan Bangladesh is already a lower middle
— . - -

income country It will soon be too rich to be eligible for the World Bank s International
. ’

Development Assistance loans .

Bangladesh has never been awash with foreign aid It is not strategically vital and it is very .

populous Aid per head is usually higher in small countries Between the early 1980s and 2016
. ( .) ,

overall aid fell from more than 5 of Bangladesh s gross national income GNI to just 1 1 The
% ’ ( ) . %.

following year the Rohingya refugees arrived from Myanmar and aid rose to 1 4 of gni But the , . %   .

slide will probably continue BRAC s single largest source of grants a strategic partnership with
.  ’ , “ ”

the governments of Australia and Britain ends in 2021 , .

Meanwhile the state has more money than ever Between 2000 and 2018 annual government
, .

spending more than tripled That is a challenge Large charities took root in Bangladesh because
. .

of government weakness A catastrophic cyclone in 1970 and a famine in 1974 had shown the
.

state to be incapable of providing public services so it allowed others to do so Around the time , .

Sir Fazle created BRAC a university professor named Muhammad Yunus started experimenting
  , 

with lending small sums of money to women he went on to create Grameen Bank a ; ,

microfinance organisation These days though Sheikh Hasina s government has plans aplenty
. , , ’ —

for digital education conditional cash transfers and much more besides
, .

As Bangladesh grows wealthier and its government reaches into new corners the country s , ’

charities are being squeezed Most NGOS are scaling down they didn t see it coming says Asif
. “   — ’ ,”

Saleh BRAC s executive director They might simply be swept aside Victorian and Edwardian
,  ’ . .

Britain had mighty charities often linked to churches which ran schools and hospitals and built
, ,

houses for the poor Few were still mighty after the creation of the welfare state But Mr Saleh
. .

reckons BRAC can avoid that fate

    .

VOCABULARY
1.     Tweak (v): to change something slightly, especially in order to make it more correct, effective, or 
suitable (cải tiến)
2.     Assets (n): something valuable belonging to a person or organization that can be used for the payment 
of debts (tài sản)
3.     Remittance (n): an amount of money that you send to someone (số tiền được chuyển)
4.     Garment (n): a piece of clothing (may mặc)
5.     Eligible (a): having the necessary qualities or satisfying the necessary conditions (đủ tư cách)
6.     Populous (a): A populous country, area, or place has a lot of people living in it (đông dân)
7.     Refugee (n): a person who has escaped from their own country for political, religious, or economic 
reasons or because of a war (dân tị nạn)
8.     Triple (v): to increase three times in size or amount, or to make something do this (gấp ba)
9.     Catastrophic (a): causing sudden and very great harm or destruction (thảm họa)
2 ELCITRRA

10. Famine (n): a situation in which there is not enough food for a great number of people,  causing illness
 and death, or a particular period when this happens (nạn đói)
11. Mighty (a): very large, powerful, or important (to lớn) 08
 Helping the poor BRAC TO THE FUTURE

If aid money will not ome to Bangladesh perhaps BRAC can go where the aid money is It first ,   .

ventured abroad in 2002 opening an office in Afghanistan It now operates in five Asian countries
, .

and six African ones Some of the programmes that it developed in Bangladesh and tested on
. ,

people like Ms Akter work well overseas A recent evaluation by the World Bank of BRAC s ultra poor
, .   ’ -

programme in Afghanistan found a big boost to incomes and women s employment In Uganda its ’ . ,

after school clubs seem to cut teenage pregnancy rates and encourage girls to start working
- .

But the charity is still a minnow outside Bangladesh It is less prominent than Western aid .

agencies multilateral outfits like unicefor other big international charities One reason is that a lot
,   .

of aid money goes to humanitarian projects which are not BRAC s main strength although it ,   ’ ,

has learned from working in the Rohingya refugee camps that have sprung up in eastern
Bangladesh in the past two years BRAC is good at proving that its programmes work and good
.   

at keeping its costs down it pays staff less than other international NGOS But donors care less
(   ).

about these things than one might hope .

At home the charity is responding to the squeeze differently If Bangladesh has fewer desperately
, .

needy people why not take advantage of that BRAC is already a hybrid of charitable
, ?   

programmes and businesses It uses some moneymaking activities to subsidise the rest 15 of
. — %

the profits from its microfinance arm go into its core budget The aim now is to shift the balance .

further from philanthropy to commerce and quickly , .

In Gazipur district north of the capital 30 children in one of BRAC s schools sing songs chant
, , ’ ,

the names of countries they tend to know the ones that are good at football and run through
( )

the Bengali spellings of waves innovation and researcher This school which used to be
“ ”, “ ” “ ”. ,

free now charges 350 taka 4 a month The teacher Shahida Akhter says things have
, ($ ) . , ,

improved as a result She used to have to cajole children to come to school Now their parents
. .

pay they make sure the kids turn up

, .

BRAC to school
Since 2016 the charity has created or converted some 8 700 primary schools many of them , —

one room outfits into fee paying schools The change has been wrenching Safiqul Islam
- — - . . ,

who runs the education programme says that BRAC schools had been free for so long that
,    

some parents thought the teachers were corrupt Now that they are paying parents expect . ,

tables chairs and electric fans they also want qualified teachers rather than the trained local
, ;

women BRAC usually employs Higher expectations are good points out Mr Islam But fulfilling
. , .

them is expensive The fee paying schools currently cover only about a quarter of their costs
. - .

The fees will surely go up In January the charity created BRAC Academy which charges three
. ,

times as much as the school in Gazipur If that proves popular others will open And the search
. , .

is on for other opportunities to get people to pay for its services BRAC has introduced small .   

fees in its medical clinics and charges to check the paperwork of Bangladeshis who go abroad
,

— usually to the Gulf states to work — .

VOCABULARY

1.     Venture (v): to risk going somewhere or doing something that might be dangerous or unpleasant, or

to risk saying something that might be criticized (mạo hiểm)
2.     Prominent (a): very well known and important (nổi bật)
3.     Take advantage of: make good use of the opportunities offered by (something) (tận dụng)
4.     Subsidise (v): to pay part of the cost of something (trợ cấp)
5.     Wrench (v): to pull and twist something suddenly or violently away from its position (xoay chuyển mạnh)
2 ELCITRRA

6.     Corrupt (a): dishonestly using your position or power to get an advantage, especially for money (bị hối lộ)

09
Helping the poor BRAC TO THE FUTURE PAGE 10

Its efforts to rescue people from deep poverty have changed too The , .

lentils and cash stipends that women like Selina Akter received are no
more internal research suggests that almost nobody in Bangladesh now
:

struggles to afford food The charity divides the roughly 100 000 working
. , -

age poor it deals with each year into two groups The most indigent are .

expected to pay back 20 of the value of the asset often a cow or bull
% ( )

that they receive The somewhat less indigent are asked to pay back
.

between 30 and 70 Partly as a result the average cost of helping one

% %. ,

person has fallen from 530 to 430 $ $ .

Independent research on the original ultra poor programme which gave - ,

people animals and other assets for nothing has shown that it works ,

extremely well in Bangladesh and elsewhere It is not yet clear whether the .

new one does One worry is that the neediest people will refuse help
.

because they fear borrowing money When the loan component was .

introduced in 2017 the refusal rate shot up from less than 2 to 27 It has
, % %.

since come down partly because BRAC has altered the balance between
,  

grants and loans But a group of recipients in Borobaroil near Charmotto

. , ,

say the loans made them nervous and that one woman refused help —

altogether .

A combination of foreign expansion fees and cost cutting will probably not be quite enough to escape the
, -

squeeze If BRAC is to remain potent in Bangladesh and beyond it will probably have to do something
.   ,

more radical Rather than providing the services that governments fail to it will have to teach them how to
. ,

do the work The charity has deep experience in many areas It began opening pre primary schools in
. . -

Bangladesh in 1985 the government followed only in 2012 It has learned how to identify the poorest people
; .

in a village much harder than it sounds Mr Saleh points out that the government of Kenya which is
— . ,

weaving a social safety net has hired BRAC to assess whether it is targeting the right people Bangladesh s
- ,   . ’

government could do something similar .

Getting involved with politics is a tricky business though especially in Bangladesh Even by the dismal , — .

standards of the trade Bangladesh s politicians are a brutal vindictive bunch In 2007 soon after being
, ’ , . ,

awarded the Nobel peace prize for his microfinance work Mr Yunus tried to set up a political party Four , .

years later the political establishment struck back forcing him out as leader of Grameen Bank , .

BRAC s path is hard and strewn with traps But it has done well to acknowledge the challenges posed by
’ .

economic growth and to set out on the journey Where it goes other large charities are bound to follow
. , .

VOCABULARY
1.     Potent (a): very powerful, forceful, or effective
(có hiệu nghiệm)
2.     Radical (a): relating to the most important  parts 
of something or someone; complete or extreme
(quyết liệt, triệt để)
3.     Brutal (a): cruel, violent, and completely  without
 feelings (tàn bạo)
4.     Dismal (a): sad and without hope (u tối)
5.     Vindictive (a): having or showing a wish to harm
2 ELCITRRA

someone because you think that they harmed you; 

unwilling to forgive (hận thù)
6.     Bunch (n): group (nhóm)
10
 TNETNOC
ARTICLE
CANABIS

GOING TO POT
A GLOBAL REVOLUTION IN ATTITUDES TOWARDS CANNABIS IS UNDER
WAY

HORTICULTURE

THE FOODY BENEFITS OF

FARMING VERTICALLY
MORE VARIETY, NEW AND OLD TASTES

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 CANABIS

GOING TO POT
A GLOBAL REVOLUTION IN ATTITUDES TOWARDS CANNABIS IS UNDER
WAY
THE ECONOMIST

COMPILED BY:
HP ACADEMY AND KENH IELTS
 CANABIS GOING TO POT
A global revolution in attitudes towards cannabis is under way

The doctor was blunt with Hannah Deacon the mother of an epileptic boy He told her that she would
  , .

“never get a prescription on the National Health Service NHS for medicine based on tetrahydrocannabinol
” ( )

(THC the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis The British government too was unhelpful maintaining in
), . , , ,

February 2018 that cannabis had no medical value a position that it had held for over 50 years even as the — ,

country grew and exported cannabis for medicinal use Yet within months it had made a u turn accepting . ,   - ,

that Cannabis sativa had medical uses Eight months after Ms Deacon made her first public plea for it her
  . ,

son Alfie got THC based medicine on the NHS

, ,   -   .

Legislatures across the planet have been having similar changes of heart This may presage broader .

legalisation History suggests that when medical cannabis is permitted this is often the prelude to
.

broader recreational access .

People have exploited C Sativa for thousands of years and its medicinal use can be traced as far back at
  .

least as 400AD But like other recreational drugs it started to face restrictions during the first half of the
. , ,

20th century Fear mongering was common A turning point came in the 1900s when John Warnock a
. - . - ,

British expatriate doctor in Egypt suggested that cannabis was responsible for a large amount of the
,

insanity and crime in the country When the League of Nations met in 1924 to discuss narcotics such as
.

opium and heroin his evidence of the dangers of cannabis was influential But his methodology was
, “ ” .

dubious Data were gathered only from patients in the Egyptian Department of Lunacy He spoke no
. .

Arabic and an important way to determine if patients had been users was to note their excited denials

THE ECONOMIST
, “ ”

when asked if they had tried the drug .

Reefer madness
Then in the 1930s America was afflicted with a moral panic as cannabis was accused of inciting violence ,

among Mexican immigrants and of corrupting America s children When the international system of drug ’ .

control the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs was set up in 1961 at the United Nations the use of
, , ,

cannabis in traditional medicine was ignored It was treated as having limited or no therapeutic use and as
. ,

being a dangerous drug like heroin requiring the strictest controls

, , .

Within the plant are chemicals called cannabinoids similar to molecules produced by the human body known , ,

as endocannabinoids A wide network of receptors in the human brain and body respond to the plant and
.

human versions of these molecules The body s endocannabinoid system is involved in regulating everything
. ’

from pain to mood appetite stress sleep and memory So far 144 different cannabinoids have been found in C
, , , . ,   .

Sativa most of them barely understood and new properties are being discovered all the time
— — .

VOCABULARY
1.     Cannabis (n): a drug, illegal in many countries, that is made from the dried leaves and flowers of
the hemp plant. Cannabis produces a pleasant feeling of being relaxed if smoked or eaten ( cần sa)
2.     Epileptic (a): related to a disease of the brain that may cause a person to become unconscious and fall,
and to lose control of his or her movements for a short time ( động kinh)
3.     Psychoactive (a): A psychoactive drug affects your mind ( tác động tới trí tuệ )
4.     Legislature (n): the group of people in a country or part of a country who have the power to make
and change laws ( cơ quan lập pháp )
5.     Legalization (n): the act of allowing something by law ( sự hợp pháp hóa )
6.     Presage (v): to show or suggest that something, often something unpleasant, will happen ( tiên đoán )
7.     Prelude (n): something that comes before a more important event or action that introduces  or prepares
for it (mở đầu )
8.     Expatriate (a): someone who does not live in their own country (sinh sống ở nước ngoài )
9.     Insanity (n): the condition of being seriously mentally ill ( sự điên rồ )
10. Dubious (a): thought not to be completely true or not able to be trusted ( mơ hồ )

ARTICLE 1 PAGE 1
 CANABIS GOING TO POT
The best known are THC the ingredient that gets you high and cannabidiol CBD which does not and
  , , ( ),

which is increasingly used as a food additive and supplement Drug treaties have severely impeded research .

into cannabis But over the years evidence from clinical trials and elsewhere has shown its efficacy in
.

treating a range of conditions such as muscle pain in multiple sclerosis nausea induced by chemotherapy
, , ,

treatment resistant epilepsy and chronic pain in adults

- .

Helpful both in alleviating pain and in giving pleasure pot has been wildly popular in the decades since ,

the Single Convention and the drug control treaties that followed it It is the world s most widely grown and
- . ’

used illicit drug In 2017 it was produced in almost every country on Earth The UN s estimates of global
. .   ’

drug taking put the number of users at 188m out of a total of 271m taking illegal drugs
- ( ).

Cannabis is not completely free of dangers An overdose is unlikely perhaps impossible but one in ten do
. , ,

become addicted And at high doses with high strength strains or long term use there is a risk of psychosis
. , - - , .

In adolescents there is a risk of impaired brain development But given how much pot is smoked for fun it . , ,

is remarkable how little harm it does And more and more countries over 30 so far have legalised medical
. — —

cannabis In North and South America medical use has tended to be followed by acceptance of its
. ,

recreational use Some European countries have liberalised their laws for both sorts of purpose But
. .

Germany France and Britain have moved to medical pot first

, .

Allowing medical cannabis forces governments to build regulatory structures to control the legal supply to
patients Once this happens it seems easier for societies to accept the idea of recreational use When
. , .

grandma starts smoking pot for her arthritis the drug has entered the mainstream

THE ECONOMIST
, .

Other arguments are also persuasive in the push for full legalisation such as racial disparities in ,

prosecutions the social and judicial costs of criminalising so many users and the profits and taxes a legal
, ,

industry might generate But that patients are suffering seems to carry more political weight than
.

arguments from liberalisers Perhaps nervous politicians from a generation that grew up taking drugs find
.

wheelchairs offer convenient cover .

In America 33 states allow medical use and 11 have legalised the recreational kind Nationally most of the
, . ,

population favours federal legalisation By 2024 medical cannabis will be legal in all states and recreational
. ,

use will be found in almost half predict Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics firms that monitor the
,   ,

cannabis business Medical use is spreading weed like across Latin America as opposition wanes Medical use
. - , .

is already found in Argentina Colombia Mexico Chile Peru Jamaica and Uruguay
, , , , , .

VOCABULARY
1.     Be accused of: to say that someone has done something morally wrong, illegal, or unkind (bị cáo buộc )
2.     Clinical trials (n):  research investigations in which people volunteer to test new treatments,
interventions or tests as a means to prevent, detect, treat or manage various diseases or medical conditions
(thử nghiệm lâm sàng )
3.     Efficacy (n): the ability, especially of a medicine or a method of achieving something, to produce the 
intended result ( tính hiệu quả )
4.     Induce (v): to make something happen  ( gây ra )
5.     Alleviate (v): to make something bad such as pain or problems less severe (giảm nhẹ )
6.     Illicit (a): illegal or disapproved of by society (trái phép )
7.     Adolescent (n): a young person who is developing into an adult (thanh thiếu niên )
8.     Legalise (v): to allow something by law ( hợp pháp hóa )
9.     Liberalise (v): to make laws, systems, or opinions less severe ( tự do hóa )
10. Disparity (n): a lack of equality or similarity, especially in a way that is not fair ( sự không bình đẳng )
11. Prosecution (n): the act of officially accusing someone of committing an illegal act, esp. By bringing a 
case against that person in a court of law ( sự khởi tố )

ARTICLE 1 PAGE 2
 CANABIS GOING TO POT
Some governments and health insurers will cover cannabis prescriptions Almost 16 000 German patients . ,

receive medical cannabis mostly for chronic pain and spasticity and some improbably for attention
— , , , -

deficit disorder In 2017 the leading insurer approved two thirds of requests and spent 2 7m on pot This
. - $ . .

year the European Parliament passed a non binding vote to improve access to medical pot Even the
( - ) .

World Health Organisation wants cannabis treated in a less restrictive way that would acknowledge its
medical utility and make it easier to conduct research Most striking of all is the arrival of medical cannabis .

in countries that seemed highly unlikely to relax drug laws including South Korea Thailand and Zimbabwe , , .

In the countries that accept medical use ease of access varies International drug treaties technically permit
, .

medical cannabis But the body that monitors international compliance with drug treaties the
. ,

International Narcotics Control Board INCB maintains a tone of almost perpetual annoyance in its reports
( ), ,

arguing medical cannabis schemes are poorly regulated and allow leakage of the drug to recreational users
- .

Uruguay paved the way when it legalised cannabis in 2013 But it is the reform in Canada a G7 member . ,   ,

that has done most to heighten international tension over cannabis’s legal status Last year it fully .

legalised the drug Part of its rationale was that a regulated legal trade would curb the black market and
.

protect young people who were buying it there Canada s change has caused fierce fights within the unin
, . ’  

Vienna according to Martin Jelsma of the Transnational Institute a think tank The country now stands
, , - .

accused of undermining the drug control system Bill Blair a minister responsible for organised crime
- . , -

reduction acknowledges that Canada is non compliant But he says it is a very principled approach

THE ECONOMIST
, - . “ ”, , “ .”

Attitudes towards the drug are softening around the world But many important countries most notably Russia . ,

and China remain implacably opposed to reform The lack of a global consensus prevents the rewriting of the
, .

drug treaties Divisions are also found within the UN itself The Human Rights Council and the Special
.     .

Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings are critical of the human rights violations that come with harsh national -

policies to suppress drug use and the WHO wants a shift in the status quo The INCB and the UN Office of Drug
,   .        

Control oppose change .

It may be true that licensing medical marijuana tends to lead to a broader liberalisation But those resisting .

this are swimming against the current Mexico will probably legalise this year Luxembourg is hot on its heels
. ;

and likely to become the first EU country to legalise recreational cannabis and New Zealand is planning a
    ;

referendum on the issue It is only a matter of time before international drug treaties will come to be seen as
.

fundamentally broken Some worry that international law more generally will be undermined by all this rule
. -

breaking Mr Blair is reluctant to be drawn on how Canada might help resolve the issue
. .

Joint approaches
It could withdraw from the convention But the Canadian government has already ruled this out When Bolivia
. .

wanted to legalise the chewing of coca leaves it withdrew from the convention and rejoined with a ,

“reservation A possibility that intrigues international policy wonks is for Canada and other law breakers to form
”. - -

an inter se between themselves agreement allowing them to modify existing drug treaty provisions For this
“ ” ( ) , - .

to be an option Canada will probably want to wait until the club of outlaws is bigger
, .

In Britain medicinal cannabis is legal but still very hard to get without an expensive private prescription Alfie . (

was lucky The dilemma is that cannabis sits in an unusual medical no man s land neither licensed for most
.) - ’ - :

of the uses for which people want it nor tested to the standards that patients usually expect from medicines
, .

Despite this many countries are finding ways to push forward France for example is moving ahead with a
, . , ,

large scale clinical trial of the medical uses of cannabis

- .

The drug s ambiguous legal status as a medicine will persist for years A long history of prejudice has thwarted
’ .

research and deprived millions of patients access to therapies that might help them The work of creating .

regulated and approved medicines should be well advanced but is only just beginning Ironically it may be , . ,

that only when cannabis is legal for recreational use will a fuller picture emerge of the benefits it offers and the
risks it poses .

ARTICLE 1 PAGE 3
 CANABIS GOING TO POT
1.     Spasticity (n):  a condition in which certain muscles are continuously contracted (co cứng cơ )
2.     Utility (n): ability to satisfy a particular need; usefulness ( tính hữu dụng )
3.     Perpetual (a): continuing for ever in the same way ( liên tục )
4.     Regulate (v):  control or supervise (something, especially a company or business activity) by means of
rules and regulations ( điều chỉnh )
5.     Consensus (n): a generally accepted opinion or decision among a group of people ( sự đồng lòng )
6.     Violation (n): the act of breaking something (sự vi phạm )
7.     Liberalization (n): the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe ( sự tự do hóa )
8.     Dilemma (n): a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two different things you
could do (tiến thoái lưỡng nan)
9.     Ambiguous (a): having or expressing more than one possible meaning, sometimes intentionally (mơ hồ )

VOCABULARY
THE ECONOMIST

ARTICLE 1 PAGE 4
 HORTICULTURE

THE FOODY BENEFITS OF

FARMING VERTICALLY
MORE VARIETY, NEW AND OLD TASTES
THE ECONOMIST

COMPILED BY:
HP ACADEMY AND KENH IELTS
 THE FOODY BENEFITS OF FARMING
VERTICALLY
HORTICULTURE MORE VARIETY, NEW AND OLD TASTES

Many foodies pin the blame for farming s ills on unnatural industrial agriculture Agribusinesses create
  ’ “ ” .

monocultures that destroy habitat and eliminate historic varieties Farmers douse their crops with fertiliser .

and insecticide which poison streams and rivers and possibly human beings Intensive farms soak up
, — .

scarce water and fly their produce around the world in aeroplanes that spew out carbon dioxide The .

answer foodies say is to go back to a better gentler age when farmers worked with nature and did not try
, , , ,

to dominate it .

However for those who fancy some purple ruffles basil and mizuna with their lamb s leaf lettuce there is an
, - ’ ,

alternative to nostalgia And it involves more intensive agriculture not less

. , .

A vast selection of fresh salads vegetables and fruit is on the way courtesy of a technology called vertical
, ,

farming Instead of growing crops in a field or a greenhouse a vertical farm creates an artificial indoor
. ,

environment in which crops are cultivated on trays stacked on top of each other From inside shipping .

containers in Brooklyn New York to a disused air raid shelter under London s streets and an innocuous
, , - ’

warehouse on a Dubai industrial estate vertical farms are sprouting up in all sorts of places nourished by
, ,

investment in the business from the likes of Japan s SoftBank and Amazon s founder Jeff Bezos ’ ’ , .

This should cheer anyone who wants organic produce that has been grown without pesticides and other

THE ECONOMIST
chemicals and which has not been driven hundreds of miles in refrigerated lorries or flown thousands of
,

miles in the belly of a plane Such farms can greatly reduce the space needed for cultivation which is
. ,

useful in urban areas where land is in short supply and expensive Inside climatic conditions are carefully . ,

controlled with hydroponic systems supplying all the nutrients a plant needs to grow and recycling all but
5 of their water which is incorporated in the crop itself Specially tuned led lighting generates only the
% — .    

wavelengths that the plants require to prosper saving energy Bugs are kept out so pesticides are not , . ,

needed Foliage and fruit can be turned out in immaculate condition And the harvests last all year round
. . .

There is more As they will remain safe and snug inside a vertical farm long forgotten varieties of fruit and
. , -

vegetables can stage a comeback Most of these old timers have been passed over by varieties bred to
. -

withstand the rigours of intensive farming systems A cornucopia of unfamiliar shapes colours and flavours . ,

could arrive on the dinner table .

This glimpse of Eden is still some way off The electricity bill remains high principally because of the cost of
. ,

powering the huge number of LEDs required to simulate sunlight That means vertical farming can for the
  . ,

time being be profitable only for high value perishable produce such as salad leaves and fancy herbs But
, - , , .

research is set to bring the bill down and the costs of renewable energy are falling too In a hot climate such as , .

Dubai s extensive solar power could make vertical farms a valuable food resource particularly where water is
’ ,

scarce In a cold climate thermal wind or hydroelectric power could play a similar role
. , .

Some field crops including staples such as rice and wheat are unlikely ever to be suitable for growing in vast
, ,

stacks But as its costs fall thanks to further research vertical farming will compete more keenly with old
. , -

fashioned greenhouses and conventional horizontal farms where crops grow in the earth As an extra form of
, .

food production vertical farming deserves to be welcomed especially by the people whose impulse is to turn
, ,

their back on the future .

ARTICLE 2 PAGE 6
 THE FOODY BENEFITS OF FARMING
VERTICALLY
HORTICULTURE MORE VARIETY, NEW AND OLD TASTES

1.    Eliminate (v): to remove or take away someone or something (loại bỏ)

2.    Douse (v): to make something or someone wet by throwing a lot of liquid over it, him, or her (phun, tưới)
3.    Dominate (v): to have control over a place or person (kiểm soát)

4.    Nostalgia (n): a feeling of pleasure and also slight sadness when you think about things that happened 

in the past (hoài niệm)

5.    Alternative (n): something that is different from something else, especially from what is usual, and 
offering the possibility of choice (sự thay thế)

6.    Vertical (a): standing or pointing straight up or at an angle of 90° to a horizontal surface or line (theo

chiều dọc)

7.    Artificial (a): made by people, often as a copy of something natural (nhân tạo)

8.    Cultivate (v): to prepare land and grow crops on it, or to grow a particular crop (trồng )

9.    Cultivation (n): sự trồng trọt 10.Innocuous (a): completely harmless (= causing no harm) (không độc hại)

THE ECONOMIST
11.Generate (v): to cause something to exist (tạo ra)

12.Prosper (v): to be or become successful, especially financially (phát triển thịnh vượng)

13.Foliage (n): the leaves of the stems or branches on which they are growing (lá cây)

14.Immaculate (a): perfectly clean or tidy (sạch sẽ)

15.Staple (n): a main product or part of something (lương thực chính yếu)

16.Horizontal (a): parallel to the ground or to the bottom or top edge of something (theo chiều ngang)

17.Impulse (n): a sudden strong wish to do something (mong muốn)

VOCABULARY

ARTICLE 2 PAGE 7
 COMPILED BY: HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS
THE ECONOMIST

DON T PANIC 1
E-cigarettes
A R T I C L E

’
Adulterated vaping fluid appears to be killing people That is no
.

reason to ban all e cigarettes

-

LUNACY 2
Scientific research in India

India s government is pouring money into Cow dung

’

FRIENDS 3
Status update

WITH BENEFITS
Facebook s new dating service could return dating to its pre
’ -

internet ways
 1
DON’T PANIC
SETTERAGIC-E

Adulterated vaping fluid appears

COMPILED BY: HP ACADEMY & to be killing people. That is no
KENH IELTS reason to ban all e-cigarettes
 E-cigarettes
DON’T PANIC
Adulterated vaping fluid appears to be killing people. That is no reason to ban all e-cigarettes

“It s time to stop vaping says Lee Norman a health

’   ,” , E cigarettes are not good for you The vapour that vapers
- .

official in Kansas Six people are dead in America

. , inhale is laced with nicotine which is addictive Some of , .

apparently from smoking e cigarettes More than 450 - . the other chemicals in it may be harmful But vaping is far .

have contracted a serious lung disease So Mr Norman s . ’ less dangerous than smoking tobacco a uniquely deadly —

advice sounds reasonable The Centres for Disease .

product If people turn to e cigarettes as a substitute for
. -

Control and the American Medical Association agree the :

the conventional sort the health benefits are potentially
,

country s 11m vapers should quit A new idea is

’ .
huge Smoking kills 450 000 Americans every year and a
. , ,

circulating that vaping is worse than smoking On

, .
staggering 7m people worldwide Anything that weans .

September 11th the Trump administration said it intends people off tobacco is likely to save lives
to ban non tobacco flavoured vaping fluid Some
.

- .

politicians want a broader ban on all e cigarettes - . The big worry about e cigarettes is that they will create a
-

new generation of nicotine addicts Some people who have

The facts have gone up in smoke as so often happens
.

,
never previously smoked have taken up vaping including a
during health scares Although more research is needed
,
.

the evidence so far suggests that the recent vaping

,
worrying number of children In America for example one . , ,

deaths in America did not come from products bought quarter of high school pupils vape
- .

in a shop but from badly made items sold on the street . This is alarming and helps explain why so many
,

In five out of six cases the tainted vaping products were

, governments such as those of Egypt Mexico Singapore
, , , ,

bought illicitly the other involved liquid bought in a

; Taiwan and Brazil have banned e cigarettes They should
, - .

legal cannabis shop in Oregon One theory is that the . not Prohibition usually causes more harm than good
. .

vape fluid was mixed with vitamin E This is an oil . — Forbidding e cigarettes will lead vapers to buy illicit
-

something that should not enter the lungs If inhaled oil . , products the type that are far more likely to poison them
— .

causes the type of symptoms that the stricken vapers It will also deter many law abiding smokers from -

display . switching to something less deadly .

America s Food and Drug Administration FDA which is

’ ( ),
For these reasons regulating vaping is wiser than trying to
investigating the products involved rightly refuses to
,

eliminate it Governments should carefully control what

,

panic It says vapers should not buy products

.
.
goes into vape fluid following the example of the European
containing cannabis extract or those sold on the street
,
, .
Union which restricts the amount of nicotine it may contain
This is sensible When you buy an unlicensed liquid
, .
.
America s FDA by contrast seems constantly to change its
from an unregulated supplier you have no idea what
’   , ,

you are puffing This is why governments also

,
mind about how to regulate vaping Governments should .

also regulate how e cigarettes are advertised Marketing

.

discourage people from drinking moonshine spirits - .

aimed at children is obviously unacceptable So perhaps

,

which are sometimes deadly In Costa Rica for example . , ,

are fruity flavours that appeal especially to young palates

. , ,

25 people recently died from imbibing hooch .

contaminated with methanol However just as with . ,

Government health warnings should be clear and
alcohol regulators should draw a distinction between
,
measured Vaping may be a dangerous habit but it is vastly
. ,

illicit products and the legal unadulterated sort , .

less deadly than lighting up .

VOCABULARY
1.    Adulterated (a): có lẫn tạp chất
2.      Vaping (n): hành động hút thuốc lá điện tử
3.    Vaper (n): người hút thuốc lá điện tử
4.      Vape (v): hút thuốc lá điện tử
5.      Illicit (a): trái phép, bất hợp pháp
6.      Inhale (v): hít vào 11.   Addict (n): người nghiện
12.   Substitute (n): sự thay thế, vật thay thế
7.      Cannabis (n): cần sa
13.   Prohibition (n)/ Forbid (v): cấm
8.      Unlicensed (a): không cấp phép
14.   Eliminate (v): loại bỏ
9.      Contaminated (a): nhiễm độc, ô nhiễm
10.   Addictive (a): gây nghiện 15.   Regulate (v): điều chỉnh

PAGE 1
 2

HCRAESER

CIFITNEICS
NI
AIDNI

LUNACY

India’s government is pouring

money into Cow dung

DELHI

COMPILED BY: HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 Scientific research in India
LUNACY
DELHI
When it comes to government funding, cows have
jumped over the moon
On september 7th mission control in Bengaluru lost contact    

with an Indian designed and built lunar probe mere - -

seconds before it was supposed to land Some Indians were .

consoled by the fact that their country had nearly pulled off
an extraordinarily complex mission on a shoestring budget .

But others asked why the budget was quite so pinched .

As a proportion of GDP 0 6 public spending on research   — . %—

and development has not budged in 20 years That is one of .

the lowest figures among big economies Since 2015 the .

largest state funding agency the Council of Scientific and ,

Industrial Research has seen its budget decline in real ,

terms The government wants it to attract private money . .

LUNACY Yet firms are even stingier India s top companies spend : ’

barely half a percent of their income on R D   & .

Scientists complain too that state funding bodies seem increasingly driven by ideology A particular focus since the
, , . ,

Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party BJP took power in 2014 has been on promoting ancient Indian science and
- ( ) ,

medicine One recent three year government funded hospital study explored the effects of Vedic chants on brain
. - , - -

trauma victims This included consultation with an authority on medical astrology who incorporated horoscope
. “ ”

data in the chants undertook purification rituals with holy Ganges water and performed special prayers The results of
, .

the study have yet to be published .

Scientists also describe mounting pressure to propose work on gomutra cows urine or panchagavya a mixture of    ( ’ )    (

milk yogurt clarified butter urine and dung so as to win funding from a recently created government board tasked
, , , ),

with validating the beneficial qualities of all things bovine These ideas are based on absolutely unscientific
“ ” . “

mythology and scripture complains a researcher who declined to be named fearing funding cuts But my
,” , . “

department needs equipment and lab facilities for our real research and we can t get funds without doing this stuff , ’ .”

A newly created National Cow Commission has pledged to fund up to 60 of startup capital for businesses that %

commercialise panchagavya   .

A recently elected BJP MP insists that it was drinking cow urine that cured her breast cancer not the three operations she
  ,

had The Cow Urine Therapy and Research Institute of Indore claims to have cured dozens of patients while Junagadh
. ,

Agricultural University says its researchers have not only destroyed cancer cells in vitro with gomutra but discovered gold in   ,

the miraculous liquid Online retailers happily flog dung based soaps and urine based medicines promising to cure
. - -

cancer The benefits of the lunar mission are less clear

. .

VOCABULARY
1.      Probe (n): máy thăm dò 8.      Scripture (n): kinh thánh
2.      Console (v): an ủi 9.      Facility (n): cơ sở vật chất
3.      Pinched (a): (ngân sách) hạn 10. Pledge (v): cam kết
hẹp 11. Operation (n): cuộc phẫu
4.      Income (n): thu nhập thuật
5.      Consultation (n): sự hội chuẩn 12. Miraculous (a): thần kì,
6.      Horoscope (n): tử vi phi thường
7.      Ritual (n): lễ nghi 13. Retailer (n): người bán lẻ

PAGE 3
 STATUS UPDATE
FRIENDS
3
WITH
BENEFITS

Facebook’s new dating

service could return dating COMPILED BY: HP ACADEMY

to its pre-internet ways & KENH IELTS

 Status update
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
Facebook’s new dating service could return dating to its pre-internet ways

In America it is no longer merely acceptable to meet your romantic partner on the

 

internet It is the norm The latest data from a long running survey by researchers at
. . -

Stanford released this summer shows that 40 of new heterosexual couples met
, , %

online in 2017 far more than at bars through friends or at work For gay couples the
, , .

proportion is even higher at 60 , %.

Little wonder then that Facebook is bringing a dating service to the richest denizens
, ,

of its internet fief launched in America on September 5th having been tested first in
. ,

smaller markets such as Colombia and Canada American Facebook users seeking .

significant others can now find the dating service in a dedicated tab within the firm s ’

smartphone app Willing daters must explicitly create a profile and fill in their
.

preferences Users may if they wish tap into their social graph to look for matches
. , ,

among friends of friends but that option is not on by default Facebook says any data
, .

generated while searching will be kept separate from its main service and not used to
target ads .

Facebook Dating has the potential to break one of the most interesting features of internet dating Most dating apps .

pair up strangers rather than friends of friends For instance Tinder the most popular dating app pairs people up by
, . , ,

allowing them to choose from a menu of potential partners within a set radius of where they are OKCupid a more .  ,

old school text based approach asks users to read through a profile Real life pairings are usually circumscribed by a
- - , . -

person s social sphere and the chances of meeting a total stranger are low But online most people are paired with
’ , .

strangers Some sociology research suggests that this means that online dating has the potential to create couples
.

from more diverse backgrounds than would tend to form in real life possibly helping to reduce income inequality ,

over time .

Facebook s effort will also make it possible to match anonymously but trawling through friends of friends is likely to
’ ,

prove more alluring Thus Facebook is remaking the old world that was governed by social ties probably reducing
. ,

any benefits that may have come with less assortative coupling through online dating
These are inauspicious times for Mark Zuckerberg s company to roll out a dating service The firm is under antitrust ’ .

investigation from attorneys general in eight American states and the District of Columbia The firm s record on handling
- . ’

user data is poor Adding dating information to the mix which includes sexual orientation and perhaps HIV status
. — , ,  —

seems bold at best misguided at worst , .

Still recent history suggests Facebook Dating will be a success The firm has more tools at its disposal to help its
, .

amorous users find a good match than any other dating service thanks to its huge user base and its trove of their ,

data Although user growth on Facebook itself is slowing users seem generally unfazed by the firm s numerous
. , ’

missteps Its other services including WhatsApp and Instagram are still growing strongly If that success is anything to
. , , .

go by it suggests that future versions of the Stanford survey may do well to break out a new category of coupling
, :

Facebook .

VOCABULARY
1.     Norm (n): thông thường 8.     Circumscribe (v): giới hạn, hạn chế
2.     Heterosexual (a): thích giao hợp 9.     Anonymously (adv): ẩn danh
với người khác giới 10. Trawling (n): việc tìm kiếm (bạn bè)
3.     Denizen (n): người dân 11. Alluring (a): cám dỗ
4.     Launch (v): bắt đầu, trình làng 12. Assortative (a): (giao phối) có chọn lựa
5.     Explicitly (adv): rõ ràng 13. Inauspicious (a): không may, rủi ro
6.     Preference (n): sự yêu thích 14. Orientation (n): định hướng
7.     Radius (n): bán kính 15. Amorous (a): đa tình

PAGE 5
 Status update
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

Facebook s effort will also make it possible to match

’

anonymously but trawling through friends of friends

,

is likely to prove more alluring Thus Facebook is

.

remaking the old world that was governed by social

ties probably reducing any benefits that may have
,

come with less assortative coupling through online

dating
These are inauspicious times for Mark Zuckerberg s ’

company to roll out a dating service The firm is under

.

antitrust investigation from attorneys general in eight

-

American states and the District of Columbia The firm s

. ’

record on handling user data is poor Adding dating

.

information to the mix which includes sexual

—

orientation and perhaps HIV status seems bold at best

, ,  — ,

misguided at worst .

Still recent history suggests Facebook Dating will be a

,

success The firm has more tools at its disposal to help

.

its amorous users find a good match than any other

dating service thanks to its huge user base and its trove
,

of their data Although user growth on Facebook itself is

.

slowing users seem generally unfazed by the firm s

, ’

numerous missteps Its other services including

. ,

WhatsApp and Instagram are still growing strongly If

, .

that success is anything to go by it suggests that future

,

versions of the Stanford survey may do well to break out

a new category of coupling Facebook
: .

VOCABULARY

9.     Anonymously (adv): ẩn danh

10. Trawling (n): việc tìm kiếm (bạn bè)
11. Alluring (a): cám dỗ
12. Assortative (a): (giao phối) có chọn ựa
13. Inauspicious (a): không may, rủi ro
14. Orientation (n): định hướng
15. Amorous (a): đa tình

PAGE 7
 THE ECONOMIST

CLIMATE ISSUE

1850 1900 1950 2000

1
HAZE IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA

GASPING FOR AIR

Burning forests are blacken skies

2
REGULATION RENT

CONTROL YOUR
INSTINCTS
Capping how much landlords get paid is the wrong way
to help Generation Rent

COMPILED BY HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 SINGAPORE

ARTICLE 1

HAZE IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA

GASPING FOR AIR

BURNING FORESTS ARE BLACKEN SKIES

HP ACADEMY &
KENH IELTS
 ARTICLE 1 Haze in South-East Asia

GASPING FOR AIR

SINGAPORE
Burning forests are blacken skies
The Amazon is not the world s only smouldering
  ’ The fires are particularly difficult to extinguish
rainforest alas fires are also raging in the jungles of
, : because many of them are in peat forests These are .

Indonesia blanketing much of South East Asia in

, - swampy jungles where vegetation that falls to the
thick smoke Some 3 300 square kilometres on the
. , ground does not completely decay because of the
islands of Sumatra and Borneo have gone up in waterlogged soil When peat becomes dry enough
.

flames The government has deployed more than

. to burn it can continue to combust underground
,

9 000 people and 52 aircraft to fight the fires

, . long after the trees on the surface have been
Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia are also trying doused The resulting deforestation is especially
.

to quench the flames and clear the haze they harmful to the climate since peatlands store as ,

produce by seeding clouds But containing the . much as ten times more carbon per hectare than
infernos is even harder than usual because of dry other forests .

weather which has become more common as the

,
Since he was first elected in 2014 Mr Widodo better
climate changes
, ,

.
known as Jokowi has sought to stamp out the ,

The haze is thought to have caused more than flames there was another bad year in 2015
( ,

200 000 respiratory infections and has prompted

, although forest clearing fires are a feature of every
-

more than 1 500 schools in Malaysia alone to close

, . dry season In 2017 the forestry ministry launched a
).

The smoke has been thick enough to disrupt air masterplan for protecting peatlands and preventing
traffic The president of Indonesia Joko Widodo says
. , , fires The next year a national land use map was
. -

he is praying for rain . released making it easier for the authorities to

,

establish land ownership and prosecute those

Indonesia s environment and forestry ministry says
’
responsible for fires
most of the fires were lit deliberately In one .
.

district according to Doni Monardo of the National

, Jokowi s government has come down relatively hard
’

Disaster Mitigation Agency 80 of the fires appear , % on the culprits After the fires of 2015 police arrested
. ,

to be intended to convert forest into palm oil - 660 people So far the authorities have arrested 200
.

plantations In theory using fire to do this is illegal

. , , people and are investigating some 370 companies in
but the local officials who should stop it are easily connection with the current fires By contrast only 40 . ,

bought off The alternative clear felling the often

. — - or so were arrested under Jokowi s predecessor Susilo ’ ,

swampy forest and disposing of the resulting waste Bambang Yudhoyono Fires are often started just .

— is expensive Preparing land for plantations

.
outside palm oil concessions to obscure
-

without using fire costs around 300 400 a hectare $ - ,

responsibility But the government could be tougher
. :

says Herry Purnomo of the Centre for International as of February some 220m in fines owed by
, $

Forestry Research which is based in Indonesia , ,

plantation companies involved in past fires remained
whereas burning costs 30 $ .
unpaid They at least should be made to feel the burn
. , , .

VOCABULARY
1.     Smouldering (a): (lửa cháy) âm ỉ 8.     Alternative (n): sự thay thế
2.     Flames (n): lửa 9.     Plantation (n): đồn điền
3.     Haze (n): khói mù 10.  Extinguish (v): dập tắt
4.     Inferno (n): địa ngục 11.  Combust (v): đốt cháy
5.     Respiratory (a): thuộc về hô hấp 12.  Prosecute (v): khởi tố
6.     Infection (n): bệnh truyền nhiễm 13.  Culprit (n): thủ phạm
7.     Deliberately (adv): có ý, có chủ đích 14.  Obscure (v): che đậy

01 HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

 LONDON

ARTICLE 2

REGULATION RENT

CONTROL YOUR
INSTINCTS

CAPPING HOW MUCH LANDLORDS GET PAID IS

THE WRONG WAY TO HELP GENERATION RENT

HP ACADEMY &
KENH IELTS
 ARTICLE 2 Regulation rent

CONTROL YOUR INSTINCTS

Capping how much landlords get paid is the wrong way to help Generation Rent

The over regulation of homebuilding in and around

-   Rent controls are a textbook example of a
thriving cities is one of the great economic policy - well intentioned policy that does not work
- .

failures of recent times In London the median full

. - The deter the supply of good quality rental housing With - .

time employee renting the median two bedroom - rents capped building new homes becomes less
,

flat works nearly half the year just to pay the profitable Even maintaining existing properties is
.

landlord In San Francisco rent is so high that a four

. - discouraged because landlords see no return for their
person household with an income of 129 000 $ , investment Renters stay put in crumbling properties
.

might still qualify for federal handouts Housing . because controls often reset when tenants change Who .

shortages like these have helped suck wealth away occupies housing ends up bearing little relation to who
from young renters fuelling tension between the
, can make best use of it IE workers well suited to local
( , -

generations Supply restrictions have a high

. job opportunities The mismatch reduces economy wide
). -

economic cost by one estimate curbs in just three

— , productivity The longer a tenant stays put the bigger the
. ,

successful cities lower overall GDP in the United     disparity between the market rent and his payments ,

States by almost 4 As more and more voters find

%. sharpening the incentive not to move .

themselves on the losing end of property markets

The resulting damage is clear from the fate of two
,

they have also generated a political backlash In

American cities In the mid 1990s Cambridge
.

America and Europe politicians are thus under . - ,

pressure to reduce housing costs Massachusetts scrapped its rent controls while San , ,

Francisco made its regime even stricter In Cambridge

.

A rethink of housing policy is certainly overdue apartments freed from rent control saw a spurt of property
.

Many of the new ideas are welcome for example improvements San Francisco experienced its own
, .

more building and recognition of the harm wrought residential investment boom but one that was aimed at ,

by NIMBYism the attitude of homeowners

  ( getting round the rules for example by converting rental ,

campaigning against nearby developments Britain properties so that they could be sold The subsequent 15 ). . %

has improved the regulation of rental contracts a reduction in supply by affected landlords pushed up rents ,

vital component of a functional housing market across the city by more than 5 . %.

Unfortunately at the same time an old and rotten

It is unrealistic to expect politicians to ignore voters
,

idea is being resurrected rent controls If these ’

demands But the danger is that one abuse of power is

— .

proliferate they will just like rules that stymie .

replaced by another as renters just like NIMBYS

, ,

building skewer property market outsiders and ,   ,

campaign for regulations to lock newcomers out of the

, -

protect favoured residents

market Although today s residents might benefit from
.

. ’

Across the West rent controls are back in fashion On capped rent increases outsiders faced with less supply . , ,

September 11th California s lawmakers passed a bill and fewer opportunities will suffer Just ask the 636 000
’ , . ,

that would cap annual rent increases across the people who were queuing at the end of 2018 for a
state at 5 plus inflation The state is following in
% . diminishing stock of rental housing in rent controlled -

the footsteps of Oregon which earlier this year

, Stockholm There the average waiting time to find a . , -

limited most rent rises to 7 plus inflation long term tenancy is ten years and black market rentals
% . - -

Some Democrats want rents managed nationally have begun to thrive Rent control harms almost . .

On September 14th Bernie Sanders a senator and everyone eventually because the housing stock
,

presidential contender said that the limit

, deteriorates .

everywhere should be 3 or 1½ times inflation

Falling home ownership rates in countries like Britain
% ,

whichever is higher Meanwhile London s mayor -

and America mean that it is more important than ever

. ’ ,

Sadiq Khan has called for rent controls in the

capital Berlin s legislators have voted to freeze rents for the rental market to function well Yet rent controls
,

will only make it worse As a solution to housing

. ’

for five years from 2020 some German politicians .

shortages they are snake oil Voters and politicians

;

have called for national rent caps Paris reintroduced , .

everywhere should reject them

.

rent controls in July having scrapped them in 2017

, .
.

VOCABULARY
1.    Landlord (n): chủ đất, chủ nhà 6.    Inflation (n): lạm phát 11.  Mismatch (n): sự không phù hợp
2.    Federal (a): thuộc liên bang 7.    Contender (n): đối thủ 12.  Disparity (n): sự chênh lệch
3.    Overdue (a): quá hạn 8.    Legislator (n): nhà lập pháp 13.  Incentive (n): sự khuyến khích
4.    Regulation (n): sự điều chỉnh 9.    Profitable (a): sinh lợi nhuận 14.  Diminishing (a): hạ bớt
5.    Resurrect (v): khơi gợi lại 10.  Tenant (n): người thuê nhà 15.  Tenancy (n): sự thuê nhà

03 HP ACADEMY & KENH IELTS

THE ECONOMIST - OCT 5TH 2019

UNLUCKY
NUMBERS

GAMBLING IN FINLAND
 Gambling in Finland
Unlucky numbers
Finland has a problem with gambling
For decades Finns had their Saturday ritual They would have a sauna then watch the
, . ,

lottery draws on tv They would never feel bad about losing because they knew that the
  . ,

gaming proceeds would be channelled to good causes Things have changed a bit but
. ,

gambling like voting is still widely considered a civic duty

, , .

Nowadays around a third of adults

,

gamble every week A survey in 2016 .

found that 83 had gambled at least

%

once in the past year The lottery was .

legalised as long ago as the 1920s to

discourage Finns from playing Swedish
lotteries and from sending money to
,

their former rulers After the second

.

world war football pools were seen as a

,

way to foster a sense of unity and

thwart the threat of communism .

Veikkaus the state agency that holds the exclusive right to operate all gambling in
,

Finland is well thought of In 2017 its earnings of over 1bn 1 1bn were redistributed
, . € ($ . ) ,

half of them to sports physical education science arts and youth works and most of
, , , ,

the rest to health and social welfare .

VOCABULARY
1. Gambling (n): sự cờ bạc 8. Foster (v): thúc đẩy
2. Addiction (n): sự nghiện 9. A sense of unity (n): ý thức đoàn kết
3. Proceeds (n): tiền lời 10. Thwart (v): ngăn chặn
4. Be channelled to: được chuyển tới 11. Communism (n): chủ nghĩa cộng sản
5. Civic duty (n): trách nhiệm công dân 12. Exclusive (a): độc quyền
6. Legalise (v): hợp pháp hóa 13. Redistribute (v): sự phân phối lại
7. Discourage (v) sb from V-ing: ngăn cản
 Gambling in Finland
Unlucky numbers
(continue)

Every path has its puddle however In the case of Finland it is a dangerous
, . ,

addiction to gambling in two senses The Finnish state has come to rely on
, .

gambling money The former centre right government formed in 2015 slashed
. - , ,

the budgets of social and health care services in the expectation that Veikkaus
- ,

would help make up the difference through backing good causes Gambling .

revenues rose by over 30 between 2006 and 2016% .

At the same time 3 3 of the

, . %

adult population is reckoned

to have a gambling problem ,

compared with under 1 in %

neighbouring Norway Half .

of the state s gambling

’

revenue comes from a mere

5 of the players
% .

Norway has taken action to curb the number of its problem gamblers by
introducing mandatory identification for all games This helps exclude minors .

from gambling To date Finland has done very little That may now be about to
. , .

change Following a public outcry over a controversial radio ad perceived to

.

encourage gambling Veikkaus said in August that it would establish an ethics

,

board The prime minister has hinted at reform and an online petition asking
. ,

for the removal of some of the country s 20 000 slot machines from stores and
’ ,

restaurants among other places has garnered over 30 000 signatures Finns
, , , .

may end up spending a bit more time in the sauna .

VOCABULARY
14. Revenue (n): doanh thu 18. Exclude (v): loại trừ
15. Reckon (v): tin 19. Ethics board (n): ban đạo đức
16. Mandatory (a): bắt buộc 20. Reform (n): cải cách
17. Identification (n): nhận dạng
 minigame
CHOOSE THE APPROPRIATE OPTIONS A-D FOR EACH QUESTION
1. According to the text, why was the
lottery legalised in Finland?
A. Finns always enjoyed gambling.
B. Gambling was a civic duty.
C. It helped boost the economy of Sweden.
D. It helped prevent Finns from playing Swedish lotteries
and from giving money to their former rulers.

2. According to the writer, why is it a dangerous

addiction to gambling in the case of Finland?
A. The Finnish state depends on the money from gambling.
B.  Gambling revenues fell considerably by more than 30% from
2006 to 2016.
C.  Gambling can make people richer.
D. The earnings from gambling are used for personal purposes.
THE ECONOMIST-OCT 3RD 2019

Akita
BRIDES FOR BUMPKINS
Japan’s state-owned version of Tinder
 Depopulation
D E P O P U L A T I O N Iin
Brides for bumpkins
N Jjapan
APAN

Rural areas are trying to seduce nubile young ubranites - quite literally

Even after years of attending match making parties a professional in Tokyo

  - ,

explains she has not found any suitable marriage prospects I m tired of going to
, . “ ’

these events and not meeting anyone she gripes So she has decided to expand ,” .

her pool of prospective partners by looking for love outside the capital To that end .

she has filled out an online profile detailing her name job hobbies and even , ,

weight on a match making site that pairs up single urbanites with people from
-

rural areas
Match making services that promote iju konkatsu meaning migration
.
-   , “

spouse hunting are increasingly common in Japan They are typically operated by
- ”, .

an unlikely marriage broker local governments In Akita a prefecture near the

- : . ,

northern tip of Japan s main island the local government has long managed an
’ ,

online match making service to link up local lonely hearts It claims to have
- - .

successfully coupled up more than 1 350 Akita residents since it launched nine
,

years ago It recently began offering a similar service to introduce residents to

.

people living outside the prefecture and is optimistic about its prospects By using . “

the konkatsu site we hope that more people from outside will marry someone
    ,

from Akita to come and live here says Rumiko Saito of the Akita Marriage Support
,”

Centre .

Along with online matching services municipalities across Japan host parties,

to help singles mingle They also organise subsidised group tours in rural
.

prefectures in which half the participants are locals and the other half from cities
, ,

to encourage urbanites to marry and move to the countryside Hundreds of .

singletons participate in these tours every year .

1. Depopulation (n): sự suy giảm dân số 8. Broker (n): người môi giới
2. Seduce (v): dụ dỗ 9. Optimistic (a): lạc quan
3. Nubile (a): tuổi cập kê 10. Municipality (n): đô thị
4. Urbanite (n): người đô thị 11. Subsidised (a): trợ giá
5. Prospect (n): triển vọng 12. Prefecture (n): tỉnh
6. Prospective (a): có triển vọng 13. Encourage (v) sb to V: khuyến khích
7. Match-making (a): mai mối 14. Be compounded by: được kết hợp bởi
 DEPOPULATION IN JAPAN
Brides for bumpkins
The rural bureaucrats are playing cupid in the hopes of stemming emigration .

The population is shrinking in 40 of Japan s 47 prefectures Young people move ’ .

from the countryside to cities to go to university or look for a job As a result the . ,

dating pool in rural areas is becoming ever tinier a situation that encourages even —

more young people to move away The same singletons keep showing up at all the
.

local konkatsu events there is little prospect of meeting new people The size of the
    ; . “

rural konkatsu market is small it s nearly non existent says Koki Goto of the Japan
    ; ’ - ,”

Konkatsu Support Association .

The difficulty of finding true love in the

countryside is compounded by a gender
mismatch In 80 of prefectures with
. %

declining populations young women are ,

more likely than men to relocate to cities .

This means that whereas there are more

single women than men in big cities like
Tokyo bachelors outnumber spinsters in
,

rural areas Many men in the countryside

.

are left behind laments a government

“ ”,

official in Akita .

So much for the theory Most iju konkatsu schemes are quite new making it
.     ,

hard to assess whether they work in practice Only a handful of urban rural couples . -

have tied the knot using Akita s match making system The professional in Tokyo
’ - .

has not yet met the one either But she is willing to try anything that might improve
.

her chances of doing so .

15 Shrink v : co lại
. ( )

16 Mismatch n : không phù hợp

. ( )

17 Be likely to v : có khả năng

.

18 In pratice : trong thực tế

.  

19 Be willing to v : sẵn lòng

.  

20 Improve v one s chances of V ing : cải thiện cơ hội của ai đó

. ( ) ' -
 minigame
Fill  in the blanks with the right words.

Local governments Prefecture Optimistic

Prospect Subsidised Municipality
Shrink Seduce Urbanites

Match-making services
Match making services that promote iju konkatsu meaning migration
-     , “

spouse hunting have gained more and more popularity in Japan Unexpectedly
- , . ,

it s’ 1 that are marriage brokers who operate these services In Akita

…………………….. ( )    . ,

a prefecture in Japan an online match making service was launched to connect

, -

local lonely hearts and claims to have succeeded in coupling up over 1 350
- ,

dwellers Recently it started to provide a similar service for those living outside
. ,

the prefecture and is 2 about its prospects Besides online services

…………….. ( )    .  ,

municipalities across Japan set up parties to help singles mingle In addition . ,

they make 3 group tours in rural prefectures in which half the

…………….. ( )    ,

participants are locals and the other half from cities to encourage , ……………….

(4 to marry and move to the countryside Hundreds of singletons take part in

)    .

these tours every year .

A DJ SAVED
MY LIFE

The Economist - Oct 10th 2019

 TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN THAILAN

A DJ SAVED MY LIFE D

The government takes unusual steps to improve sex education .

Only in desperate times do governments enlist the help of teenage disc jockeys     .

Thailand s ministry of social development must be in a panic it has hired more

’   :

than 500 of them Its desperation stems from the teenage pregnancy rate
.     - ,

which has risen even as the overall birth rate has dropped Thailand has one of .

the highest teenage pregnancy rates in South East Asia Hence the DJS who
- - . ,

will promote safe sex on the radio .

That is not the government s only initiative to stop ’    

teenagers becoming mums It is also sending .

health ministry officials to lecture students about -

young love It has added sex education questions

“ ”. -

to standardised exams And in 2016 it passed the     .

Prevention and Solution of the Adolescent

Pregnancy Problem Act which gives ,

all adolescents the right to free contraception The       .

goal is to slash the number of children born to    

teenagers by a third by 2026 .

Supichaya Singhakasem who had a baby at 18 says she received sex education
  , ,

at school in Bangkok but it was unenlightening She attracted a large online

,   . (

following of both fans and detractors after posting photos of herself in school
, ,

uniform holding her baby Her experience is typical teachers tend to focus on
.) :

anatomy and deliver clinical lectures rather than practical advice   ,

says Beena Kuttiparambil who works for the United Nations Children s Fund
    , ’

(UNICEF in Thailand
) .

vocabulary
1 Teenage pregnancy n mang
. ( ):  6. Adolescent (n): thanh thi ếu niên
thai ở tuổi vị thành niên
        7. Contraception (n): ph ương pháp tránh thai
2 Enlist v tranh thủ
. ( ):   8. Slash (v): c ắt giảm
3 Panic n hoảng loạn
. ( ):   9. Unenlightening (a): không sáng t ỏ
4 Stem v from bắt nguồn từ
. ( ) + :     10. Clinical (a): thi ếu nhiệt huyết
5 Initiative n sáng kiến
. ( ):  
 TEENAGE PREGNANCY IN THAILAN

A DJ SAVED MY LIFE D

UNICEF favours online sex ed Such schemes have raised awareness of the birds
  .  

and the bees in Cambodia and Hong Kong Thais are avid netizens spending an
  .     ,

improbable ten hours online each day according to the government , .

Digital platforms provide direct access to teenagers rather than relying on

    ,

parents and teachers who are often reluctant to discuss sex ,     .

UNICEF has launched Love Care Station a website through which young people ,

can seek anonymous one on one advice on sexual health Several companies , - - .

have released apps that provide some sort of sexed too Some , .

are explicitly informative others are cloaked in entertainment The premise

    ;     .

of Judies a Thai video game downloaded more than 720 000 times is that
  , , ,

condoms are life saving shields for humans against aliens Thailand was once
- . 

considered a paragon of sexual education In the 1990s it stemmed

    .

an incipient epidemic of HIV Nearly everyone can get hold of contraception

    .     ,

but 12 of 15 19 year olds cannot

% - - - .

Prayuth Chan ocha the coup leader turned prime minister supported the
  - , - - - ,

adolescent pregnancy law Yet he believes that equality for women would
- .

“make Thai society deteriorate and has compared scantily clad females to
  ”

unwrapped sweets Earlier this year a small political party wanted a Netflix
.

show Sex Education to be banned The party reasoned that it is safe for
, “ ”, .

Western teenagers to watch such lewdness but that Thailand s young are at   , ’

greater risk because they haven t learnt the topic correctly

, “ ’ ”.

vocabulary
11 Favour v ủng hộ
.   ( ):    16 Cloak v che giấu
. ( ):  

12 The birds and the bees giáo dục giới tính

. :       17 Paragon n hình mẫu
. ( ):  

13 Avid a mê đắm
. ( ):   18 Get hold of v biết được
. ( ):  

14 Reluctant a không cởi mở

. ( ):     19 Deteriorate v xuống cấp
. ( ):  

15 Explicitly adv rõ ràng

. ( ):   20 Lewdness n dâm dục
. ( ):  
 MINIGAME
True False Not given
/ /

1.Thailand has the lowest teenage pregnancy rates in South

–   -

East Asia . 

The Prevention and Solution of the Adolescent Pregnancy

2. 
Problem Act has helped cut the number of children born to
 

teenagers by a half up to now . 

3.According to Beena Kuttiparambil in terms of sex education

    , 

at school teachers have a tendency to focus on anatomy and

,  

deliver clinical lectures instead of practical advice

        . 

4. Digital platforms provide direct access to parents and

teachers who are always open to discuss sex .
 AUTONOMOUS CARS

TRAFFIC
JAMMED

THE ECONOMIST-OCT 10TH 2019

 AUTONOMOUS CARS  

TRAFFIC,JAMMED
The self driving future is running late Blame Silicon Valley hype and the limits of AI
- .    

Few ideas have enthused technologists as much as

  service in Phoenix where it has been testing its cars at, ,

the self driving car Advances in machine learning a

- . , the end of 2018 The plan has been a damp squib . .

subfield of artificial intelligence AI would enable ( ), Only part of the city is covered only approved users ;

cars to teach themselves to drive by drawing on can take part Phoenix s wide sun soaked streets are
. ’ , -

reams of data from the real world The more they .

some of the easiest to drive on anywhere in the world ;

drove the more data they would collect and the

, ,
even so Waymo s cars have human safety drivers
,  ’  

better they would become Robotaxis summoned .   

behind the wheel just in case , .

with the flick of an app would make car Jim Hackett the boss of Ford acknowledges that the
, ,

ownership obsolete Best of all reflexes operating at

  . ,
industry overestimated the arrival of autonomous
“

the speed of electronics would drastically improve vehicles Chris Urmson a linchpin in Alphabet s self
”.   , ’ -

safety Car and tech industry bosses talked of a

. - -
driving efforts he left in 2016 used to hope his young
( ),

world of zero crashes

“   ”.
son would never need a
And the technology was just around the corner In   .
driving licence Mr Urmson now talks of self driving
  .      -

2015 Elon Musk Tesla s boss predicted his cars

cars appearing gradually over the next 30 to 50 years
    , ’ ,

would be capable of complete autonomy” by

.

Firms are increasingly switching to a more

“  

2017 Mr Musk is famous for missing his own

incremental approach building on technologies such
.       

deadlines But he is not alone General Motors said in

,

as lane keeping or automatic parking A string

. .

2018 that it would launch a fleet of cars without

- .

of fatalities  involving self driving cars have scotched

steering wheels or pedals in 2019 in June it changed
  -  

the idea that a zero crash world is anywhere close

;

its mind Waymo the Alphabet subsidiary widely

.  ,
- .

seen as the industry leader committed itself to ,

Markets are starting to catch on In September .

launching a driverless taxi service in Phoenix where - ,

Morgan Stanley a bank cut its valuation of Waymo by
, ,    

it has been testing its cars at the end of 2018 The , .

40 to 105bn citing delays in its technology
%, $ , . 

plan has been a damp squib Only part of the city is .

The future in other words is stuck in traffic Partly that
, , .

covered only approved users can take part

; .
reflects the tech industry s predilection for grandiose ’    

Phoenix s wide sun soaked streets are some of the

’ , -
promises But self driving cars were also meant to be
. -

easiest to drive on anywhere in the world even ;

a flagship for the power of AI Their struggles offer
    .

so Waymo s cars have human safety drivers behind

,  ’  
valuable lessons in the limits of the world s trendiest ’

the wheel just in case , .

technology .

VOCABULARY
1.Autonomous (a): tự lái  7.Overestimate (v): đánh giá quá cao
2.Autonomy (n): sự tự lái  8.Fatality (n): rủi ro chết người 
3.Hype (n): sự cường điệu  9.Scotch (v): chấm dứt
4.Enthuse (v): lôi kéo 10.Predilection (n): lòng ưa chuộng 
 5.Obsolete (a): lỗi thời  11.Flagship (n): sản phẩm quan trọng
6.Around the corner: dậm chân tại chỗ 
 AUTONOMOUS CARS  

TRAFFIC,JAMMED
One is that for all the advances in machine learning
, ,

machines are still not very good at learning Most .

humans need a few dozen hours to master

driving Waymo s cars have had over 10m miles of
.  ’    

practice and still fall short And once humans have

, .

learned to drive even on the easy streets of Phoenix

, ,

they can with a little effort apply that knowledge

, ,

anywhere rapidly learning to adapt their skills to

,

rush hour Bangkok or a gravel track in rural Greece

- - .

Computers are less flexible AI researchers have .

expended much brow sweat searching for -

techniques to help them match the quick-  

fire learning displayed by humans So far they have

  . ,

not succeeded .

Another lesson is that machine learning systems -

The most general point is that like most technologies
, ,

are brittle. Learning solely from existing data means

 
what is currently called AI is both powerful and
“ ”

they struggle with situations that they have never limited Recent progress in machine learning has
.

seen before Humans can use general knowledge

.
been transformative At the same time the eventual
. ,

and on the fly reasoning to react to things that are

- -  
goal the creation in a machine of a fluid general
— , ,

new to them a light aircraft landing on a busy road

human like intelligence remains distant People
— ,

for instance as happened in Washington state in

- — .

need to separate the justified excitement from the

,

August thanks to humans cognitive flexibility no

   

opportunistic hyperbole Few doubt that a

( ’ ,

one was hurt Autonomous car researchers call

.

completely autonomous car is possible in principle

). -

these unusual situations edge cases Driving is full

.

But the consensus is increasingly that it is

“ ”.

of them though most are less

    , ,
,

dramatic Mishandled  edge cases seem to have

. 
not imminent. Anyone counting on AI for business or
 

been a factor in at least some of the deaths caused pleasure could do worse than remember that
by autonomous cars to date The problem is so hard .
cautionary tale .

that some firms particularly in China think it may , ,

be easier to re engineer entire cities to support -

limited self driving than to build fully autonomous

-  

cars .

VOCABULARY
12.Quick-fire (a): nhanh  16.Justified (a) hợp lý 
13.Brittle (a): dễ dổ vỡ  17.Consensus (n) sự đồng thuận 
14.Reasoning (n): lập luận  18.Imminent (a) sắp xảy ra
15.Mishandle (v): xử lý sai, bạc đãi 
 MINIGAME

Choose a correct letter A D for each statement below

( - ) : 

A Elon Musk
.     

B General Motors
.  

C Waymo
.   

D Jim Hackett
.  

E Chris Urmson
.  

1 In June 2019 it changed its intention of introducing a

.  ,

fleet of cars without steering wheels or pedals . 

2 He anticipated his cars could be completely

.  

autonomous by 2017 but failed to make it come true .  

3 The advent of autonomous means of transport was

.

overestimated .
 THE
BIGGER
SLEEP
THE ECONOMIST (OCTOBER 19TH - 25TH 2019)
SCHOOL HOURS

THE BIGGER SLEEP

California gives teenagers a lie-in

A.School starting  times in America vary from an average of 7.48am in go-getting Mississippi to
8.31am in late-rising Connecticut. According to a survey by the National Centre for Education

The Economist - Who can trust Trump's America?

Statistics in 2017-18, only in two states—Alaska and Connecticut—do schools tend to start after
8.30am, the earliest recommended by a number of medical organisations. That may soon change. On
October 13th Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, signed legislation which cuts 2.7m of the state’s
schoolchildren some slack, setting a limit on starting times of half past eight for high-schoolers and
eight o’clock for middle schoolers, in the hope that pupils will benefit from the extra time in bed.

B.There is plenty of reason to think they will. Puberty alters circadian rhythms, meaning
adolescents are more alert in the afternoon and require more sleep in the morning. A research
review by epidemiologists at the Centres for Disease Control finds that later school starting times
correspond with improved attendance, less tardiness, less falling asleep in class, better grades and
even fewer crashes involving youngsters driving themselves to school. The  rand  Corporation
estimates that moving to a half-past eight start across the country would boost the economy by more
than $80bn within a decade.

VOCABULARY
Lie-in: ngủ nướng  Circadian rhythms (n): nhịp sinh học 
Vary from...to: trải dài  Alert (a): tỉnh táo 
Legislation: luật Epidemiologist (n): nhà dịch tễ học 
Cut (v) sb some slack: cho nghỉ  Correspond (v) + with: tương ứng 
Puberty (n): tuổi dậy thì  Tardiness (n): tình trạng đi trễ
Alter (v): làm thay đổi
SCHOOL HOURS

THE BIGGER SLEEP

California gives teenagers a lie-in

C.In response to  the evidence, school districts across the country
have begun to move start times back, but California is the first state
to take the leap. Parents and unions  are often bitterly opposed.
The California Teachers Association  vociferously resisted the
change, citing the financial burden on schools as they adjust to the
new hours, as well as the burden on parents who work as
labourers or in the service industry, and cannot start work later.

D.Last year  Mr Newsom’s predecessor, Jerry Brown, vetoed similar legislation, saying the decision
should be left to school districts. “We should not set the bell schedule from Sacramento,” implored
one Californian assemblyman this time round.

The Economist - Who can trust Trump's America?

E.Supporters argue that it is appropriate for the state to set a minimum health-and-welfare
standard, as it does in other areas. The legislation includes carve-outs for schools in rural areas and
at least a three-year implementation period. It will be up to school districts to decide whether to end
the day later, or cut its length. Anthony Portantino, the Democratic state senator who introduced the
legislation, believes evidence of the change’s benefits will soon win over opponents in rural areas.

F.Innovation has brought great benefits to humanity. Nobody in their right mind would want to
return to the world of handloom weavers. But the benefits of technological progress are unevenly
distributed, especially in the early stages of each new wave, and  it is up to governments to spread
them.

VOCABULARY
Take (v) the leap: thực hiện thay đổi Carve-out (n): những sự cắt giảm 
Opposed (a): phản đối  Innovation (n): sự đổi mới 
Burden (n): gánh nặng  Handloom weavers (n): thợ dệt thủ công
Welfare (n): phúc lợi xã hội
MINIGAME
Matching information
1. Parents and teachers strongly disapproved of the
change in the school starting times. 
2. A limit was set on the school starting times in
California in the belief that the students would gain
benefits from the additional time in bed. 
3. Later school beginning times result in a number of
advantages such as better students’ attendance and
higher grades. 
4. A senator puts forward his belief that proof
of benefits from the change in the school starting times
will win over opponents in rural areas soon.
 Liberia
How convenient
the economist-october 17th 2019
 Liberia
How convenient
Why do one in ten ships fly tiny Liberia’s flag?
Liberia’s economy is on the rocks. The aid money that held the country steady after
its brutal civil wars is ebbing and inflation has surged to more than 25%. Many
businesses are struggling to stay afloat. But one industry seems to be weathering
the storm: shipping.

The tiny west African country, with a GDP of just $2.1bn, has one of the largest
seagoing fleets in the world. Over 4,400 vessels (about 12% of global shipping) fly its
flag. And the number is growing.

The secret of this maritime success is an old

practice known as the flag of convenience. In the
1920s shipowners began to register their
vessels abroad for a small fee. This allowed them
to avoid taxes and  labour  laws back home.
Liberia had few regulations and made it easy to
sign up. By the 1960s it had the largest merchant
navy in the world.

vocabulary
1. On the rocks 7. Weather (v): the storm: vượt qua giai đoạn 
[informal]: gặp khó khăn  khó khăn
2. Aid money (n): tiền viện trợ  8. Fleet (n): hạm đội
3. Brutal (a): tàn khốc  9. Vessel (n): tàu biển
4. Civil war (n): nội chiến  10. Maritime (a): hàng hải 
5. Ebb (v): giảm dần 11. Register (v): đăng ký
6. Inflation (n): lạm phát
 Liberia
How convenient
But two civil wars in the 1990s and 2000s hit the registry hard. Charles Taylor, the
president from 1997 to 2003, used some of the $20m a year generated by the
registry to pay arms dealers. His bloody reputation prompted many shipowners to
switch to Panama. When the fighting ended in 2003, its registry was more than twice
the size of Liberia’s.
Liberia is striving to win back the ships it lost. Last
year it renewed an agreement with China that
makes it easier and cheaper to ship products into
Chinese ports under a Liberian flag. The
groundwork for that was laid in 2003, when Liberia
dropped Taiwan and recognized China. (Panama has
done the same the Marshall Islands, with the third
most popular flag, has not.) Efforts are paying off:
measured by gross tonnage, Liberia’s fleet grew by
8% in 2018.
Ordinary Liberians still see few benefits from the country’s vast fleet. The state
wastes much of the revenue generated by the registry (now thought to be over $20m
a year). Ships don’t often call at Monrovia, the capital, a ghostly place littered with
rusting hulks. On bad days the wrecks outnumber container ships.

vocabulary
12. Arms dealer(n): những người buôn  15. Rusting (a): rỉ sét 
bán vũ khí  16. Wreck (n): xác tàu 
13. Prompt (v): thúc đẩy 17. Outnumber (v): nhiều hơn
14. Strive (v): phấn đấu
 minigame

Matching endings
1. In Liberia, the industry of shipping 
2. In the 1920s, owners of ships 
3. The president Charles Taylor 
4. Liberia’s fleet

A. used $20m a year generated by the registry to pay arms

dealers from 1997 to 2003. 
B. appears to overcome the financial problems after two civil
wars 
C. went up by 8% in 2018. 
D. had a bad reputation that encouraged shipowners to move
to Panama from 1997 to 2003. 
E. started to register their vessels abroad for a small fee. 
F. were struggling with their business
 Bartleby

WHISTLE WHILE
YOU WORK

The Economist - Oct 31st 2019

 Bartleby
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
Research suggests happy employees are good for firms and investors.

There is an old joke about a new arrival in Hell, who is

given the choice by Satan of two different working
environments. In the first, frazzled workers shovel huge piles
of coal into a fiery furnace. In the second, a group of workers
stand, waist-deep in sewage, sipping cups of tea. The
condemned man opts, on balance, for the second room. As
soon as the door closes, the foreman shouts “Right lads, tea
break over. Time to stand on your heads again.” 

Terrible working conditions have a long tradition. Early industry was marked by its dirty,
dangerous factories (dark, satanic mills). In the early 20th century workers were forced into dull,
repetitive tasks by the needs of the production line. However, in a service-based economy, it makes
sense that focusing on worker morale might be a much more fruitful approach.

Proving the thesis is more difficult. But that is the aim of a new study* which examines the
relationship between happiness and productivity of workers at British Telecom. Three academics -
Clement  Bellet  of Erasmus University, Rotterdam,  Jan-Emmanuel de  Neve  of the  Saïd  Business
School, Oxford, and George Ward of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—surveyed 1,800
sales workers at 11 British call  centres. All each employee had to do was click on a simple emoji
each week to indicate their level of happiness. Those workers were charged with selling customers
broadband, telephone and television deals. In total the authors collected adequate responses from
1,161 people over a six-month period.

The results were striking. Workers made 13% more sales in weeks when they were happy than
when they were unhappy. This was not because they were working longer hours; in happy weeks,
they made more calls per hour and were more efficient at converting those calls into sales. The
tricky part, however, is determining the direction of causation. Workers may be happier when they
are selling more because they anticipate a bigger bonus, or because successful sales pitches are
less stressful to make than unsuccessful ones.

VOCABULARY

1. Frazzled (a): mệt mỏi/kiệt sức 4. Fruitful (a): có kết quả/thành công

2. Repetitive (a): có tính lặp lại 5. Causation (n): quá trình gây ra cái gì đó
3. Morale (n): tinh thần/chí khí 6. Anticipate (v): dự tính/lường trước

The Economist - Oct 31st 2019

 The academics tried an ingenious way to get round
this causation problem by examining a very British issue -
the weather. Workers turned out to be less happy on days
when the weather in their local area was bad and this
unhappiness converted into lower sales. Since they were
making national calls, not local ones, it is unlikely that
customer unhappiness with the weather was driving the
sales numbers. So it was worker mood driving sales, not
the other way round.

Even if this reasoning proves to be correct, businesses may not find it of comfort. Short of siting all
their call  centres  in Hawaii, companies cannot control the weather conditions their workers face.  The
academics point out that “what we are not able to do, given our data and setting, is adjudicate as to
whether investing in schemes to enhance employee happiness makes good business sense”. It is
possible that the costs of such schemes might outweigh any gains in productivity.

More research is clearly needed. But there is evidence that happier workers are good news for
shareholders, as well as productivity. Analysts at boa Merrill Lynch Global Research studied the stocks of
firms rated on Glassdoor, a website that allows employees to rate the companies they work for. Those with
the highest ratings outperformed those with the lowest by nearly five percentage points a year between 2013
and 2019. The analysts also used software that picked over the text of employee reviews and found that
incorporating this approach improved the risk-reward trade-off (as measured by the Sharpe ratio) of the
strategy.
The analysts have now applied the same approach to picking stocks based on particular industries.
Again, the sectors where workers gave the best reviews on  Glassdoor between 2013 and 2019 easily
outperformed those where employees gave a thumbs down.

None of this is unequivocal proof. The history of equity investing is littered with strategies that
worked well when back-tested only to disintegrate when applied in the real world. But at the very least, it
suggests that firms should consider the merits of a contented workforce. And that might mean
giving them harps and ambrosia, rather than Hell.

VOCABULARY
7. Ingenious (a): độc đáo/tài tình 11. Incorporate (v): sát nhập/ tham gia vào cổ đông
8. Adjudicate (v): phân xử 12. Unequivocal (a): rõ ràng 
9. Enhance (v): nâng cao 13. Contented (a): thỏa mãn/vừa lòng 
10. Shareholder (n): cổ đông 14. Workforce (n): nhân công

The Economist - Oct 31st 2019

 Minigame
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE
THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1. In the early 20th century laborers were made to do  monotonous  tasks by the
needs of the ______________. 

2. In a service-based economy, it makes sense that a much more ___________

approach might be to focus on staff morale. 

3. A new study has been conveyed with a view to assessing the relationship between
__________ and happiness of employees at British Telecom. 

4. 13% more sales in weeks were made when the workers were ________ than when
they were not.

Thank  you!
Financial Crime
Counter-Terrorists win

The Economist - November 9th-25th 2019

 COUNTER-TERRORISTS WIN
One of the world’s biggest video-game companies admits it has a problem

For people  who enjoy being (virtually) shot in the head by

foul-mouthed teenagers, Counter-Strike has long led the
field. The game, developed by Valve Corporation, pits a
team of terrorists against ananti-terrorist commando
squad in a fight to the death. Its various iterations have
helped make Steam, a digital marketplace for video games
also run by Valve, among the most successful in the
industry.
But Counter-Strike has appealed to more than just twitchy young men of late. On
October 28th Valve announced it was stopping the trading between players of
“container keys”—an in-game gambling device that players can buy (with real money) to
try to win (virtual) rewards such as special weapons or clothing. The firm says “nearly all”
of the trades of such keys were “believed to be fraud-sourced”. It is a rare admission of
the growing problem of using video games to facilitate financial crime.
The company has released no further details, and did not reply to a request for
information from  The Economist. But it seems likely that the keys, which were bought
with stolen credit cards, were then traded between accounts on Steam’s marketplace.
Players cannot withdraw real money from their accounts, but in-game credit can be
used to buy new virtual rewards or games. There is a burgeoning market (on third-
party websites) for accounts already loaded up with virtual cash. Criminals can cash out
by selling to gamers keen to acquire games or virtual items cheaply.

Valve is not the first to be affected by such dodgy trading. In 2007 eBay, an online
marketplace, banned the sale of virtual gamer goods, such as gold in World of Warcraft,
another game. But the problem seems to have worsened, probably because developers
now earn more from in-game items. In 2016 Electronic Arts, a developer, revealed that it
made 30% of its digital revenue from “loot boxes”, much like Counter-Strike’s container
keys. Such online items “function like virtual currencies”, notes Anton Moiseienko, of the
Royal United Services Institute, a British think-tank. They can move value between
countries and people, out of regulators’ sight.

Vocabulary
1. Lead (v) the field: dẫn đầu lĩnh vực
2. Admission (n): thừa nhận
3. Facilitate (v): tạo điều kiện thuận lợi
4. Financial crime (n): tội phạm tài chính
5. Withdraw (v): rút tiền
6. Virtual (a): ảo
7. Burgeoning (a): đang phát triển
 COUNTER-TERRORISTS WIN
One of the world’s biggest video-game companies admins it has a problem
Valve’s admission that fraudsters exploited its platform is striking, says Mr Moiseienko;
others have ignored the problem. But at least one firm has gone further. In July Linden
Labs, a games-maker, announced that players wanting to trade on its platform must
provide proof of identity. Its subsidiary also registered as a money-service business.
That is one way to counter-strike.

Vocabulary
8. Fraudster (n): kẻ lừa đảo 10. Identity (n): danh tính
9. Exploit (v): khai thác 11. Subsidiary (n): công ty con

Minigame
WRITE NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.
1. What virtual rewards can Counter-Strike players win through the

trading of “container keys”?

2.   According to the text, who can make money by selling to game

players wanting to get items cheaply?

3.   What must players prove if they want to engage in the trade on

Linden Labs’s platform?