Reading Lesson#1

International Women's Day

Vocabulary:

vibrant -- fully alive 

discrimination -- unfair treatment 

grim -- harsh, relentless 

pandemic -- disease spread over wide areas 

alleviate -- reduce 

vulnerable -- likelihood towards 

to exhort -- to urge strongly 

moribund -- stagnant, doesn't move well 

pioneer -- first to act 

This lesson has been provided by Mark McCarthy. Visit his website at www.getesl.comfor more information on studying English online.

Grammar:

Each of these sentences contains one error. Find and correct the error.

Women urge unity to advance rights as they mark International Women's Day

1) Women marked International Women's Day around the world with vibrant calls for unity for advance sexual equality and women's rights.

2) In Tehran several hundred of Iranian female activists staged a rally to mark of International Women's Day, despite of warnings from authorities that the gathering was illegal. (Omit 3 words)

3) The United Nations urged man to reject violence against woman in

order to protect their daughter from the AIDS pandemic. (Three errors)

4) The Vatican asked the United Nations to condemn all sexual violence against women in a submission to the Commission on the Status of Women meet in New York.

5) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meanwhile called on women a world over to oppose the Israeli occupation in the speech marking International Women's Day. (two errors)

6) In Italy, men reported spent five million euros (6.2 million dollars)

sending text messages on their cell phones to tell the women in their lives how much they appreciate them.

7) And Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi exhorted his countrywoman to have more babies, saying legislation must ensure that work and motherhoods are compatible and would spur the country's development.

(two errors)

8) Several governments payed lip service to the women's cause.

9) Stalinist North Korea also marked the day with a call for women to give birth to more children and take a leading role in revive the country's moribund economy.

10) In Norway, often a pioneer in issues of gender equality, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said the country was in its way toward reaching its goal of becoming the first country with women in at least 40 percent of public sector management positions.

Check Your Answers:

1) Change "for" to "to"

2) Omit of 3 times

3) change to: men, women, daughters

4) meeting

5) switch a and the 6) reportedly

7) countrywomen, motherhood

8) paid

9) reviving

10) on its way