G8 pledges billions to foster Arab Spring

News story	Words	Meanings
The Group of Eight promised tens of billions of dollars in aid to Tunisia and Egypt on Friday and held out the prospect even more to foster the Arab Spring and the new democracies emerging from popular uprisings. Likening it to the fall of the Berlin Wall that changed the face of Europe, G8 leaders ending an annual summit in France launched a partnership for North Africa and the Middle East that tied aid and development credits to political and economic reforms by states which have thrown off autocratic rulers. Most is in the form of loans, rather than outright grants, to the two countries in the vanguard of protest movements which have swept the Arab world from the Atlantic to the Gulf.  (Reuters, 27 May 2011)	aid	financial assistance; money, food, or other help
	held out	offered
	prospect	possibility; hope
	foster	encourage; promote
	Arab Spring	The Arab Spring refers to the pro-democracy uprisings currently sweeping the Middle East and North Africa.
	uprisings	revolutions; rebellions
	summit	official meeting
	tied	connected or linked (closely with)
	credits	loans
	thrown off	got rid of; freed themselves from
	autocratic	oppressive; dictatorial
	outright	entirely; altogether
	vanguard	frontline; forefront
	swept	suddenly affected strongly

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “prospect”:

• There is no immediate prospect of peace.

• A place in the semi-finals is in prospect (= likely to happen).

• There's a reasonable prospect that his debts will be paid.

• The prospects for employment in the technology sector are especially good right now.

• There is every prospect (=a strong possibility) of the weather remaining dry this week.

• There are good prospects for growth in the retail sector.

• There's a real prospect that England will not qualify for the World Cup.

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. credit 2. vanguard 3. foster 4. tiredness 5. outright

1. The club's aim is to . . . . . better relations within the community.

2. The bank refused further . . . . . to the company.

3. Neither candidate won . . . . . .

4. The company is proud to be in the . . . . . of scientific progress.

5. A wave of . . . . . swept over her.

Answer key: 1. foster 2. credit 3. outright 4. vanguard 5. tiredness

Anti-American sentiments in Pakistan army institution

News story	Words	Meanings
Officers received training biased against the United States at a prestigious Pakistan army institution, according to Wikileaks, underscoring concern that anti-Americanism in the country's powerful military is growing amid strains with Washington. A U.S. diplomatic cable said the former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, found officers at the National Defence University (NDU) were "naive and biased" against the United States . . . Fears the military could be harbouring militant sympathisers have grown since U.S. forces found and killed Osama bin Laden this month in a Pakistani garrison town, where the al Qaeda leader had probably lived for several years. Anti-Americanism runs high among many of Pakistan's mainly Muslim people but it has deepened after bin Laden's killing in a secret U.S. raid which many Pakistanis see as breach of sovereignty. Many Pakistanis believe the United States and India would like to confiscate their nuclear weapons.   (Reuters, 25 May 2011)	biased	prejudiced
	prestigious	esteemed; admired and respected
	underscoring	emphasizing; drawing attention to; underlining
	strains	tensions
	a diplomatic cable	a message sent by telegraph; a telegram sent abroad
	naive	deficient in worldly wisdom; naive people lack experience of life and tend to trust other people and believe things too easily
	harbouring	protecting; giving shelter to
	garrison	troops (stationed in a town)
	runs	if a feeling runs through you, you experience it or feel it strongly
	deepened	become stronger; become worse
	breach	violation; infringement
	sovereignty	authority; complete power to govern a country; the power of a country to control its own government
	confiscate	take or seize; take possession of

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “prestigious”:

• Forget their prestigious past.

• a prestigious award

• a prestigious university

• the city's most prestigious and exclusive hotel

• a prestigious literary award

• a highly prestigious university

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. harbouring 2. sovereignty 3. biased 4. confiscate 5. deepened

1. The newspapers gave a very . . . . . report of the meeting.

2. Talks are being held about who should have . . . . . over the island.

3. The teacher threatened to . . . . . their phones if they kept using them in class.

4. Their friendship soon . . . . . into love.

5. Police believe someone must be . . . . . the killer.

Answer key: 1. biased 2. sovereignty 3. confiscate 4. deepened 5. harbouring

President Obama hails strong UK-US alliance

News story	Words	Meanings
President Obama has told MPs and peers in Parliament that the UK and US have "one of the oldest and strongest alliances the world has ever known". Mr Obama got a standing ovation as he became the first US President to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. Questions about the international community's strategy in Libya featured heavily during an earlier press conference on the second day of President Obama's state visit to the UK. "The President and I agree we should be turning up the heat in Libya," he [UK Prime Minister David Cameron] said, adding that "all options" for intensifying the pressure on the regime were being considered. "Gaddafi and his regime need to understand there will be no let-up in the pressure we are applying," he said. "I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course we are on, he (Gaddafi) will step down. Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces." (BBC News, 25 May 2011)	peers	(in Britain) members of the nobility; people who are from a high social class in the UK
	got a standing ovation	the crowd stood up while they clapped, to show respect
	Parliament	the parliament of the United Kingdom consists of the House of Commons and the House of Lords
	strategy	long-term plan or policy
	featured	were important parts or aspects
	heavily	to a great deal
	turning up the heat	applying great or increased pressure
	options	alternatives; choices
	regime	a government, esp. an authoritarian one
	let-up	reduction in intensity
	momentum	progress or development that is becoming stronger
	sustain	maintain; continue for a period of time
	step down	resign
	wear down	weaken; reduce to submission

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “option”:

• This was not the only option open to him.

• Another option is to rent somewhere for six months.

• I'm keeping all my options open for the moment.

• There are various options open to you.

• She had the option of staying for an extra year.

• He was given one month's imprisonment without the option of a fine.

• Students have the option of studying abroad in their second year.

• I had no option but to (= I had to) ask him to leave.

• Going to college was not an option for me.

• We are currently studying all the options available.

• This particular model comes with a wide range of options (= things you can choose to have when buying something but which you will have to pay extra for).

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. sustain 2. worn down 3. step down 4. let-up 5. regime

1. The . . . . . got rid of most of its opponents.

2. The cold, windy weather will continue this week with no . . . . . in sight.

3. The economy looks set to . . . . . its growth into next year.

4. US President Barack Obama called on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to . . . . . from power.

5. It was clear he was being . . . . . by the rumours over his future.

Answer key: 1. regime 2. let-up 3. sustain 4. step down 5. worn down