Today is the second class of our current four-class set. We will begin class with our editing exercise. 

Today's reading is about eating a big breakfast and explains why it is hard for me to lose weight. When you read this you will probably think it is old news, but thought it was fascinating. Our listening material is episode 1 part 5 of Serial. The vocabulary words will come from the reading. 

Vocabulary

• taper- (verb) diminish or reduce or cause to diminish or reduce in thickness toward one end. (noun) a gradual narrowing.
• abstain -(verb) restrain oneself from doing or enjoying something.
• metabolism- (noun) the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.
• periphery- (noun) the outer limits or edge of an area or object. peripheral- (adj) relating to or situated on the edge or periphery of something.

Click HERE for the reading

Keywords and phrases

• Fixated- cause (someone) to acquire an obsessive attachment to someone or something.
• Bloodhound- A dog that has a good sense of smell used for hunting and tracking people. 
• Crack it- crack the code- Solve the problem, understand something
• Get to the bottom of it- get the result/answer
• That’s a bummer- that's too bad or "I'm sorry for you"
• Pretty chill about it- understanding person. For example, "I dropped his phone, but he was pretty chill about it."
• Heinous-(of a person or wrongful act, especially a crime) utterly odious or wicked.
• People who flip out- get really upset or angry
• Technicality- You can use the noun technicality for any small point or detail, but it's most likely to come up in the context of a court trial or a conversation with an attorney. A legal technicality is a small but ultimately important detail of the law. For example, a robbery suspect might have his trial dismissed on a legal technicality if the arresting police officer neglected to show him a search warrant before searching his house.

Listening Questions

What does Jarrod Johnson remember on January 13, 1999?

What does Derrick say about Asia? 

Why does Asia remember that day, January 13, 1999?