You can read the Bangkok Post : Mainly for fun

Looking for a job

Couldn't the man in the story get any other kind of job? Couldn't he have been a high school teacher, for example? Read the story and you might be surprised too.

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S Korean scientist gets the brush-off

SEOUL: A jobless scientist in South Korea with a doctorate in physics, desperate for work as the economic slump bites, applied for a street sweeper’s job but was rejected.

It wasn’t because he was overqualified for such a menial position – the 36-year-old simply lacked the physical ability, local officials said yesterday.

He wasn’t the only highly educated applicant for five street-sweeping jobs in Seoul’s Sangseo district. Among the 63 who applied were 11 university graduates.

But brawn overcame brains.

Applicants had to carry two 20kg sandbags on their shoulders before dashing 25 metres with another.

The scientist, identified only as Kim, was three seconds too slow in the dash.

brush-off – rude an unfriendly behaviour that show that a person is not interest in someone – in this case for a job
desperate – feeling or showing that you have little hope and are ready to do anything
slump – a period when a country’s economy or a business is doing very badly
reject – to not refuse to accept or consider something
menial – (of work) boring or dirty; considered to be of low status
brawn – physical strength
dashing – running very quickly

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:23 AM

Heavy flier

Who do you think has the more reasonable position, the man or the airline?

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Too fat to fly

LOS ANGELES: Kevin Smith says he’s ‘‘way fat’’, but that shouldn’t stop him from flying.

The director and actor says a pilot ejected him from a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank, California, because he didn’t fit properly in a single seat.

Smith raised a stink about the incident on his Twitter page on Sunday, saying: ‘‘If you look like me, you may be ejected from Southwest Air’’.

Southwest says customers must be able to fit safely and comfortably in one seat or make other arrangements.

After a storm of angry online comments, the airline issued a ‘‘heartfelt apology’’ to Smith. AP

eject – to force out
raise a stink – to make a loud complaint
incident – something that happens, especially something bad
arrangements – plans for doing something, in this case, for getting a flight
storm – a situation in which many people are upset or excited
apology – a statement that tells someone that you are sorry for doing something wrong or for causing a problem

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:04 AM

Dirtying the air

Instant communication is great, but it does have some negative aspects. Here's one.

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Text offender sought

WELLINGTON: Telecom New Zealand, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, said yesterday that it was carrying out a ‘‘thorough and urgent’’ investigation to find the person who sent abusive text messages to at least five customers.

The hunt began when a woman in the North Island city of Wanganui said that after making a complaint to Telecom, she received a message apparently from a customer service representative saying ‘‘f**k you.’’

Telecom spokesman Nick Brown said initial investigations showed that similar messages may have been sent to four other customers from an eTXT website, which allowed a computer user to send a text message to a cell phone. dpa

offender – someone who has done something wrong
urgent – needing to be dealt with immediately
abusive – using offensive or insulting language
initial – first
investigation – the process of trying to find out all the details or facts about something in order to discover who or what caused it or how it happened

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:12 AM

Jailed, but for how long?

It sounds like they are going to need to find a stronger prison for this man.

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Escape artist caught

ATHENS: Greek police arrested a heavily-armed fugitive yesterday who embarrassed authorities by twice escaping from prison in a helicopter.

Alket Rijai, a 41-year old Albanian, was sleeping when policemen stormed his hideout in a village northeast of Athens. ‘‘He had no time to use his machine gun, pistols or hand grenades,’’ a police official said.

Three suspected accomplices were arrested in the raid. Rijai, who was serving prison terms on multiple counts of murder and robbery, had last escaped the Athens high-security Korydallos prison in February with Greek accomplice Vassilis Paleokostas, who is still at large.

The two first escaped from the Athens jail by a helicopter in 2006. They were caught, but escaped by exactly the same method in February. REUTERS

fugitive – someone who has done something illegal and is trying to avoid being caught by the police
embarrass – to make someone feel nervous, ashamed, or stupid; to cause problems for someone
storm – to use force to enter a place
grenade – a small bomb that someone throws or fires from a gun
accomplice – someone who helps another person to do something illegal or wrong
at large – not yet having been caught by the police

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:31 AM

Different kind of crime

This was actually a clever type of crime, but it obviously went on for too long.

To download audio file, right click here

Brought to heel

SEOUL: A South Korean who stole 1,200 pairs of expensive shoes from funeral homes while posing as a mourner has been arrested, police in Seoul said yesterday.

The man identified only as Park, 59, took off his own shoes before entering mourning rooms and donned more expensive footwear when he left.

He intended to sell them through his own second-hand shoe business, police in Seoul’s Suseo district said.

Police said they caught Park stealing three pairs of shoes, worth a total of two million won (57,800 baht) when new, at one funeral home. AFP

brought to heel – put under control (in this case, of the police)
funeral home – a place where the body of a dead person is prepared and kept before the funeral (religious ceremony), and where relatives and friends may go to see it
posing as – pretending to be someone or something
mourner – someone who is at a funeral, especially a relative or close friend of the dead person
identified – named
donned – put on (shoes, clothing, etc.)

Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:42 AM

	Mainly for fun
Words in the News General News Easy English News Easy Business News Economics and Business Business Words in the News Teaching with the Bangkok Post Feature Focus From the Weeklies Mainly for Fun Hey kids! Weekend Practice Lessons on H.M.the King Focus on Thailand Buddhism Business and Economics Library 60 years ago General Links Terry's blog About Site General suggestions for teachers Building your vocabulary Suggestions for learners Suggestions for parents Who is Acharn Terry? Who is Acharn Jon?	March 13, 2010 Looking for a job Couldn't the man in the story get any other kind of job? Couldn't he have been a high school teacher, for example? Read the story and you might be surprised too. To download audio file, right click here S Korean scientist gets the brush-off SEOUL: A jobless scientist in South Korea with a doctorate in physics, desperate for work as the economic slump bites, applied for a street sweeper’s job but was rejected. It wasn’t because he was overqualified for such a menial position – the 36-year-old simply lacked the physical ability, local officials said yesterday. He wasn’t the only highly educated applicant for five street-sweeping jobs in Seoul’s Sangseo district. Among the 63 who applied were 11 university graduates. But brawn overcame brains. Applicants had to carry two 20kg sandbags on their shoulders before dashing 25 metres with another. The scientist, identified only as Kim, was three seconds too slow in the dash. brush-off – rude an unfriendly behaviour that show that a person is not interest in someone – in this case for a job desperate – feeling or showing that you have little hope and are ready to do anything slump – a period when a country’s economy or a business is doing very badly reject – to not refuse to accept or consider something menial – (of work) boring or dirty; considered to be of low status brawn – physical strength dashing – running very quickly Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:23 AM March 12, 2010 Heavy flier Who do you think has the more reasonable position, the man or the airline? To download audio file, right click here Too fat to fly LOS ANGELES: Kevin Smith says he’s ‘‘way fat’’, but that shouldn’t stop him from flying. The director and actor says a pilot ejected him from a Southwest Airlines flight from Oakland to Burbank, California, because he didn’t fit properly in a single seat. Smith raised a stink about the incident on his Twitter page on Sunday, saying: ‘‘If you look like me, you may be ejected from Southwest Air’’. Southwest says customers must be able to fit safely and comfortably in one seat or make other arrangements. After a storm of angry online comments, the airline issued a ‘‘heartfelt apology’’ to Smith. AP eject – to force out raise a stink – to make a loud complaint incident – something that happens, especially something bad arrangements – plans for doing something, in this case, for getting a flight storm – a situation in which many people are upset or excited apology – a statement that tells someone that you are sorry for doing something wrong or for causing a problem Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:04 AM March 11, 2010 Dirtying the air Instant communication is great, but it does have some negative aspects. Here's one. To download audio file, right click here Text offender sought WELLINGTON: Telecom New Zealand, the country’s biggest telecommunications company, said yesterday that it was carrying out a ‘‘thorough and urgent’’ investigation to find the person who sent abusive text messages to at least five customers. The hunt began when a woman in the North Island city of Wanganui said that after making a complaint to Telecom, she received a message apparently from a customer service representative saying ‘‘fk you.’’ Telecom spokesman Nick Brown said initial investigations showed that similar messages may have been sent to four other customers from an eTXT website, which allowed a computer user to send a text message to a cell phone. dpa offender – someone who has done something wrong urgent – needing to be dealt with immediately abusive – using offensive or insulting language initial – first investigation – the process of trying to find out all the details or facts about something in order to discover who or what caused it or how it happened Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:12 AM March 10, 2010 Jailed, but for how long? It sounds like they are going to need to find a stronger prison for this man. To download audio file, right click here Escape artist caught ATHENS: Greek police arrested a heavily-armed fugitive yesterday who embarrassed authorities by twice escaping from prison in a helicopter. Alket Rijai, a 41-year old Albanian, was sleeping when policemen stormed his hideout in a village northeast of Athens. ‘‘He had no time to use his machine gun, pistols or hand grenades,’’ a police official said. Three suspected accomplices were arrested in the raid. Rijai, who was serving prison terms on multiple counts of murder and robbery, had last escaped the Athens high-security Korydallos prison in February with Greek accomplice Vassilis Paleokostas, who is still at large. The two first escaped from the Athens jail by a helicopter in 2006. They were caught, but escaped by exactly the same method in February. REUTERS fugitive – someone who has done something illegal and is trying to avoid being caught by the police embarrass – to make someone feel nervous, ashamed, or stupid; to cause problems for someone storm – to use force to enter a place grenade – a small bomb that someone throws or fires from a gun accomplice – someone who helps another person to do something illegal or wrong at large – not yet having been caught by the police Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:31 AM March 09, 2010 Different kind of crime This was actually a clever type of crime, but it obviously went on for too long. To download audio file, right click here Brought to heel SEOUL: A South Korean who stole 1,200 pairs of expensive shoes from funeral homes while posing as a mourner has been arrested, police in Seoul said yesterday. The man identified only as Park, 59, took off his own shoes before entering mourning rooms and donned more expensive footwear when he left. He intended to sell them through his own second-hand shoe business, police in Seoul’s Suseo district said. Police said they caught Park stealing three pairs of shoes, worth a total of two million won (57,800 baht) when new, at one funeral home. AFP brought to heel – put under control (in this case, of the police) funeral home** – a place where the body of a dead person is prepared and kept before the funeral (religious ceremony), and where relatives and friends may go to see it posing as – pretending to be someone or something mourner – someone who is at a funeral, especially a relative or close friend of the dead person identified – named donned – put on (shoes, clothing, etc.) Posted by Terry Fredrickson at 06:42 AM
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March 13, 2010

Looking for a job

To download audio file, right click here

S Korean scientist gets the brush-off

March 12, 2010

Heavy flier

To download audio file, right click here

Too fat to fly

March 11, 2010

Dirtying the air

To download audio file, right click here

Text offender sought

March 10, 2010

Jailed, but for how long?

To download audio file, right click here

Escape artist caught

March 09, 2010

Different kind of crime

To download audio file, right click here

Brought to heel