Daily Content Archive
(as of Friday, August 18, 2017)| Word of the Day | |||||||
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gullible
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| Daily Grammar Lesson | |
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Reporting VerbsIn reported speech, we use reporting verbs to introduce the information that was spoken previously. The most common so-called "reporting verbs" are "say" and "tell." When we use "tell," what else do we need to use? More... | |
| Article of the Day | |
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 William James Sidis: Child ProdigySidis was an American child prodigy who could read The New York Times by the time he was 18 months old. By age eight, he had taught himself eight languages and had invented one of his own. It is said that in his adult years he could speak more than 40 languages and learn a new one in a single day. In 1909, he became the youngest person ever to enroll at Harvard College and began lecturing on higher mathematics the following year. What became of Sidis after he graduated in 1914, at age 16? More... | |
| This Day in History | |
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 Priest Urbain Grandier Burned at the Stake for Witchcraft (1634)Grandier was a 17th-century French Catholic priest who was accused of bewitching the nuns of the Ursuline convent. Although he was acquitted by an ecclesiastical council, Grandier had published scathing criticisms of Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister and virtual ruler of France, who arranged to have him re-tried. Accused of having entered a pact with the devil, Grandier was tortured, found guilty, and burned at the stake. What was presented as evidence of the Grandier's diabolical pact? More... | |
| Today's Birthday | |
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 Liviu Librescu (1930)A Holocaust survivor, Professor Liviu Librescu had seen more than his fair share of death before April 16, 2007—Holocaust Remembrance Day—when a gunman tried to enter his classroom at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech. Librescu jumped into action, blocking the door to give his students time to escape through the windows. His heroic actions cost him his life; he was shot five times by the gunman. How many of his students did he manage to save? More... | |
| Quotation of the Day | |
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 From reading too much, and sleeping too little, his brain dried up on him and he lost his judgment.Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) | |
| Idiom of the Day | |
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penguin suit— slang A man's formal evening wear, i.e., a tuxedo. More... | |
| Today's Holiday | |
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 Mohegan Wigwam Festival (2018)This Mohegan festival, which takes place in Uncasville, Connecticut, has evolved from the pre-Columbian thanksgiving ceremony held by the Indians to thank their creator for the corn harvest. The Wigwam Festival, now billed as a "homecoming"—a time for Mohegan Indians living in all parts of the world to come home and renew their roots—is an opportunity to conduct tribal business, such as the installation of new chieftains and medicine women, and to update one another on tribal matters. Other events include traditional dancing, storytelling, and arts and crafts displays. More... | |
| Word Trivia | |
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Today's topic: transfertranslate - Early on, it meant "transfer." More... emancipate - Derives from Latin e-, "out," and mancipare, "deliver as property; transfer, sell." More... metaphor - From Greek metapherein, "to transfer," as it is a word or phrase transferred from one context (meaning) to another. More... transistor - A blend of transfer and resistor. More... | |
| In the News | |
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Scientists Discover 91 Unknown Volcanoes Beneath Ice Sheet in AntarcticaScientists have identified 91 volcanoes beneath an ice sheet covering Antarctica's west coast, a study shows. The volcanoes covered in ice stand nearly 3 miles along West Antarctica, possibly making the region denser than east Africa where Mount ... More... | |