Try something new for 30 days

•         stuck in a rut: (idiom) sống theo một lối mòn, lặp đi lặp lại
•          memorable:[ memərəbl] đáng ghi nhớ, đầy ý nghĩa
•          self-confidence: [ 'self'kɔnfidəns] sự tự tin, lòng tự tin
•          dwelling: ['dweliɳ] (noun) sự dừng lại, day di day lại vấn đề gì
•          to hike: [haik] (v) đi bộ đường dài
•          adventurous: [əd'ventʃərəs] (adj) thích phiêu lưu, mạo hiểm, liều lĩnh
•          scratch:[ skrætʃ] (n, adj) con số không, không có giá trị, hỗn tạp, linh tinh
•          ton: [tʌn] tấn
•          guarantee: [gærən'ti:](v,n) bảo đảm, sự bảo đảm, sự cam đoan
•          turns out: (v) hóa ra là, thì ra là
•          deprived : (adj) [di'praiv] thiếu thốn
•          novelist: ['nɔvə'list] (n) người viết tiểu thuyết
•          to stick: [stick] giữ lại, trở thành một
•          sustainable: [səs'teinəbl] (adj) dễ duy trì

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A few years ago, I felt like I was stuck in a rut, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of the great American philosopher, Morgan Spurlock, and try something new for 30 days. The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you've always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit -- like watching the news -- from your life.

There's a few things I learned while doing these 30-day challenges. The first was, instead of the months flying by, forgotten, the time was much more memorable. This was part of a challenge I did to take a picture every day for a month. And I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing that day. I also noticed that as I started to do more and harder 30-day challenges, my self-confidence grew. I went from desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work -- for fun. Even last year, I ended up hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. I would never have been that adventurous before I started my 30-day challenges.

I also figured out that if you really want something badly enough, you can do anything for 30 days. Have you ever wanted to write a novel? Every November, tens of thousands of people try to write their own 50,000-word novel from scratch in 30 days. It turns out, all you have to do is write 1,667 words a day for a month. So I did. By the way, the secret is not to go to sleep until you've written your words for the day. You might be sleep-deprived, but you'll finish your novel. Now is my book the next great American novel? No. I wrote it in a month. It's awful. But for the rest of my life, if I meet John Hodgman at a TED party, I don't have to say, "I'm a computer scientist." No, no, if I want to, I can say, "I'm a novelist."


So here's one last thing I'd like to mention. I learned that when I made small, sustainable changes, things I could keep doing, they were more likely to stick. There's nothing wrong with big, crazy challenges. In fact, they're a ton of fun. But they're less likely to stick. When I gave up sugar for 30 days, day 31 looked like this.

So here's my question to you: What are you waiting for? I guarantee you the next 30 days are going to pass whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you have always wanted to try and give it a shot for the next 30 days.

Thanks.

(Applause)

Violations in Thu Thiem Tunnel punished

SaigonTimes. Wednesday, November 30,2011
HCMC – Thirty-two cases of violating Thu Thiem Tunnel regulations have been recorded after three days of applying penalties with the highest fine amounting to VND1.7 million, the police said.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of Ben Thanh Traffic Police in HCMC’s District 1, said a large number of violations are resulting from citizens forgetting to turn on low beam headlights and illegally turning around at tunnel entrances.

Loan added that penalties varied depending on the seriousness of the violations. Under Decree 34/2010, the penalties range from VND800,000 to VND2 million for automobile drivers violating the rules on lighting, parking, U-turning, passing other vehicles inside the tunnel or exceeding the speed limit by 10-20 kilometers per hour.

However, since Thu Thiem Tunnel was newly opened to traffic, the highest penalty applicable to the above violations is VND1.7 million, plus a 30-day detention of driver’s licenses.

Motorcyclists committing the same violations can receive fines as high as VND750,000 and their licenses can also be detained for a month.

Because the tunnel section is under the Saigon River and it has 20,000 vehicle crossings daily, citizens traveling in the tunnel must strictly obey the regulations, said Tran Quang Lam, director of Thu Thiem Tunnel management center.

Lam said the application of penalties helped threaten drivers and motorcyclists but the most important thing is people’s awareness.

Only one week after being opened to traffic, Thu Thiem Tunnel at the weekend was completely overloaded with motorcycles, causing severe congestion at both entrances.


Vocaburary:

1. Tunnel /ˈtʌn(ə)l/(n)
An artificial underground passage, especially one built through a hill or under a building, road, or river.
Ex: A road tunnel through the SaiGon River.
Ex: light at the end of the tunnel

2. Punish /ˈpʌnɪʃ/ (v) phạt, trừng phạt, trừng trị

3. Artificial /ɑːtɪˈfɪʃ(ə)l/ made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally, especially as a copy of something natural.

4. Lieutenant /lɛfˈtɛnənt/ (noun): A deputy or substitute acting for a superior: one of the Prime Minister’s most trusted lieutenants

(In the US) a police officer next in rank below captain

Colonel /ˈkəːn(ə)l/ (noun)

A rank of officer in the army and in the US air force, above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier or brigadier general.
đại tá

Lieutenant Colonel = trung tá.

5. Beam /biːm/ (n, v): A ray of light
Tia ánh sáng

6. Headlight /ˈhɛdlʌɪt/ (n): A powerful light at the front of a motor vehicle or railway engine.

Đèn pha

Entrances /ˈɛntr(ə)ns/ (n) an opening, such as a door, passage, or gate, that allows access to a place.

Ex: the entrance to a tunnel.

Cổng vào, lối vào.

7. Decree /dɪˈkriː/ (n) an official order that has the force of lawv.

Nghị định.

8. Vehicle /ˈviːɪk(ə)l/  (n) a thing used for transporting people or goods, especially on land, such as a car, lorry, or cart.

9. Detention /dɪˈtɛnʃ(ə)n/ (n) the action of detaining someone or the state of being detained in official custody.

Sự giam cầm, sự cầm tù; tình trạng bị giam cầm, tình trạng bị cầm tù

Detention = Detainment = hold.

10. Motorcyclists = Motorcycle /ˈməʊtəsʌɪk(ə)l/ (noun) a two-wheeled vehicle that is powered by a motor and has no pedals.

Xe hai bánh.

11. Obey /ə(ʊ)ˈbeɪ/ (v) Tuân theo, vâng lời.

I always obey my father.

12. Penalty /ˈpɛn(ə)lti/ (n) a punishment imposed for breaking a law, rule, or contract

hình phạt, tiền phạt

13. Severe /sɪˈvɪə/ (adj) (of something bad or undesirable) very great; intense

Nghiêm trọng, nặng nề, ác liệt.

14. Congestion /kənˈdʒɛstʃ(ə)n/ (n)

Sự tắc nghẽn, sự đông nghịt (đường sá).

15.  Automobile /ˈɔːtəməbiːl/ (noun) a car.

Xe hơi

Day 7 (Dec 20, 2011)

1,
freeze /fri:z/ (n):
Ex: If you freeze something such as food, you preserve it by storing it at a temperature below freezing point. You can also talk about how well food freezes.
Ex: If a liquid or a substance containing a liquid freezes, or if something freezes it, it becomes solid because of low temperatures.
Ex: If the temperature drops below 02C, water freezes
freeze(v):
past tense: froze, frozen

2,
thaw /θɔ:/ (n):
thaw( v ), past tense: thawed
Ex:  A thaw is a period of warmer weather when snow and ice melt, usually at the end of winter.
We slogged through the mud of an early spring thaw.

3,

enemy /'enemy/ (n) (adj):

Ex: If someone is your enemy, they hate you or want to harm you

Ex: The enemy is an army or other force that is opposed to you in a war, or a country with which your country is at war. 

4,

Investigate /in'vestigeit/ (v): investigates, investigating, investigated 

Ex: Gas officials are investigating the cause of an explosion which badly damaged a house in Hampshire. 

The two officers were being investigated by the director of public prosecutions.

5,

Pile /pail/ (n): a pile of book,  a pile of sand,

DAY 5 (06 DEC 2011)

_ hairdresser /’he ədres ə/ (n): a person who cuts and styles hair as an occupation

_ barber /’ba:b ə/ (n): a person who cuts men’s hair and shaves beards as an occupation

             

             * shave / ʃ eiv/ (v): cut the hair off the face with a razor      
             * beard /bi ə d/ (n): a growth of hair on the chin and lower cheeks of a man’s face

_ dye /dai/ (n): a natural or synthetic substance used to add a color to sth

                              Ex: I dye my hair blonde (blonde: light yellow)             

                

                 (v): add a color to sth

                              Ex: You should use a red dye if you want to have the impressive hair

_ straighten /’streitn/ (v): make or become straight

->straightener (n) tool to make straight

Ex: Jemmy used to straighten her hair by ironing it. It’s much easier nowadays with straighteners

 _ Curl /’k ə : l/ (n): something in the shape of a spiral or coil, especially a lock of hair

                                   Ex: She keeps the hair in curl by rinse

                          

                       (v): form or cause to form into a curved or spiral shape

                                   Ex: She needn’t go to hair salon because her hair curls naturally

Day 4 - The technology of storytelling

Ladies and gentlemen, gather around. I would love to share with you a story.

Once upon a time in 19th century Germany, there was the book. Now during this time, the book was the king of storytelling. It was venerable. It was ubiquitous. But it was a little bit boring. Because in its 400 years of existence, storytellers never evolved the book as a storytelling device. But then one author arrived, and he changed the game forever. (Music) His name was Lothar, Lothar Meggendorfer. Lothar Meggendorfer put his foot down, and he said, "Genug ist genug!" He grabbed his pen, he snatched his scissors. This man refused to fold to the conventions of normalcy and just decided to fold. History would know Lothar Meggendorfer as -- who else? -- the world's first true inventor of the children's pop-up book. (Music) For this delight and for this wonder, people rejoiced. (Cheering) They were happy because the story survived, and that the world would keep on spinning.

Lothar Meggendorfer wasn't the first to evolve the way a story was told, and he certainly wasn't the last. Whether storytellers realized it or not, they were channeling Meggendorfer's spirit when they moved opera to vaudville, radio news to radio theater, film to film in motion to film in sound, color, 3D, on VHS and on DVD. There seemed to be no cure for this Meggendorferitis.

And things got a lot more fun when the Internet came around. (Laughter) Because, not only could people broadcast their stories throughout the world, but they could do so using what seemed to be an infinite amount of devices. For example, one company would tell a story of love through its very own search engine. One Taiwanese production studio would interpret American politics in 3D. (Laughter) And one man would tell the stories of his father by using a platform called Twitter to communicate the excrement his father would gesticulate.

And after all this, everyone paused; they took a step back. They realized that, in 6,000 years of storytelling, they've gone from depicting hunting on cave walls to depicting Shakespeare on Facebook walls. And this was a cause for celebration. The art of storytelling has remained unchanged. And for the most part, the stories are recycled. But the way that humans tell the stories has always evolved with pure, consistent novelty.

And they remembered a man, one amazing German, every time a new storytelling device popped up next. And for that, the audience -- the lovely, beautiful audience -- would live happily ever after.

Day 3 - Tuesday 29 Nov, 2011

agenda
Pronunciation:/əˈdʒɛndə/
•  a list of items to be discussed at a formal meeting:
Ex: The question of nuclear weapons had been removed from the agenda
•  a plan of things to be done or problems to be resolved:
Ex: He vowed to put jobs at the top of his agenda

procrastination (Sự trì hoãn)
Pronunciation:/prə(ʊ)ˌkrastɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/
noun
The action of delaying or postponing something:
Ex: Your first tip is to avoid procrastination
Phrases: procrastination is the thief of time
proverb if you delay doing something, it will take longer to do later on:
Ex: Maybe TV and procrastination really are the thieves of time

inevitable (không thể tránh được, chắc chắn xảy ra)
Pronunciation:/ɪnˈɛvɪtəb(ə)l/
adjective
•    certain to happen; unavoidable:
Ex: War was inevitable
•    informal so frequently experienced or seen that it is completely predictable:
Ex: The inevitable letter from the bank
noun
(the inevitable)
•    a situation that is unavoidable:
Ex: By the morning he had accepted the inevitable

distractor (Những thông tin thừa thải)
Pronunciation:/dɪˈstraktə/
noun
•    a person or thing that distracts:
Ex: The visual channel is capable of being a powerful distractor
•    an incorrect option in a multiple choice question:
Ex: Four pictures, three of which are distractors

extravagance (lãng phí, hoang phí)
Pronunciation:/ɪkˈstravəg(ə)ns, ɛk-/
noun
•    lack of restraint in spending money or using resources:
Ex: His reckless extravagance with other people’s money
•    [count noun] a thing on which too much money has been spent or which has used up too many resources:
Ex: Shark fin is an unnecessary extravagance
•    excessive elaboration:
Ex: The extravagance of the decor.

Day 2 - Thursday, 24 Nov 2011

Examiner /ig´zæminə/(n): a person who gives a mark of a test. Ex: My teacher is also my examiner of English Test

Demographic /deməˈgrafik/(adj,n): (thuộc) nhân khẩu học,sự thống kê nhân khẩu:  Social statistic of a human population. Ex: the average age of a population may increase or decrease over time

Psychology /¸sai´kɔlədʒi/(n/adj): tâm lý. Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior of a person. Ex: 1/ He used psychology on his parents to get a larger allowance.  (Psychologist = researcher about psychology)

Accountancy /ə'kauntənsi/(n): the profession or duties of an accountant /nghề kế toán, môn kế toán/. Ex:  a good accountancy firm can serve as a strategic partner for your business

Diff: accountancy = accounting + auditing + booking + cashing

Institution = association (UK) /insti'tju:ʃn/(US) /insti'tu:ʃn/ (n): Sự thành lập, sự lập, Cơ quan; trụ sở cơ quan: The building where such an organization is situated. Ex: Oxford  and Cambridge universities are internationally respected  institutions.

Philology (n):

Philological (adj) /ˌfɪləˈlɒdʒɪkəl/: thuộc về môn văn

·         literary (adj): /'litərəli/ thuộc về văn chương

·         a literary man: nhà văn = a man who write the story.

·         literary property = bản quyền tác giả

Metaphor (n) /,metə'fɔr/ = Phép ẩn dụ 
            ·         metaphoric (adj): /,metə'fɔrik/

·          metaphorical

Deal (v,n), deal-ing (n) /di:l/

Meaning	Example
1.    Thỏa thuận	It’s  a deal
2.    Giải quyết/Đối phó (resolve) Deal + with something	-       I have to deal with a problem - this is a difficult matter to deal with
3.    Cư xử … ntn …. Với ai to deal (adv) with (by) SB	-       to deal generously with (by) somebody (đối xử rộng rãi với ai) -       to deal cruelly with (by) somebody (đối xử thô lỗ với ai) -       to refuse to deal with somebody (từ chối giao thiệp với ai)
4.    Giao dịch	-       to do (make) a deal with somebody
5.    Ban bố, phân phát Deal + out	-       To deal out gifts -       to deal someone happiness (ban cho ai hanh phuc)
6.    Chia bài	-       It’s your deal (tới lượt anh chia bài) “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” —Randy Pausch. View the book “The last lecture”.

Day 1 - Tue, 22 Nov 2011

1.    Graduate (verb: /ˈgrædʒ·uˌeɪt/ --- noun: /ˈgrædʒ·u·ɪt/ )

+ (v) receive an academic degree upon completion of one's studies

Ex: She graduated in 1990,I plan to graduate from college in the spring.

+ (n) a person who has received a degree from a school (high school or college or university) = postgraduate

Ex: A graduate of Oxford university.

+ (adj) of or relating to studies beyond a bachelor's degree

Ex: She is a graduate student.

           Short term (if a noun): grad.

2.    Dissertation /,disə:'teiʃn/ = thesis

+ (n) a treatise advancing a new point of view resulting from research; usually a requirement for an advanced academic degree

           (Thesis = a long essay on a particular subject.)

            Ex: I have successfully defended my dissertation.

3.    Revise (v): /rɪˈvɑɪz/ (n: revision)

+   to change or correct something, esp. a piece of writing
Ex: With the final exam, you don’t revise it after the teacher reads it.
+   To revise is to study again what you have been learning in order to prepare for an exam.
Ex:  Her book is available in a new revised edition.

4.    Retake /'ri:'teik/ (v)

+ take an exam you failed in the pass for the second time.

 Ex: Don't worry you will be able to retake this exam if you don't pass

5.    Diploma: (n) /di'ploumə/

+ a document given by a school, college, or university to show that you have successfully completed a course of study

 Ex: It’s hard to find a good job if you don’t have a high school diploma.

Diploma example by picture

 Degree (longer course than) Diploma (longer course than) Certification

6.    Gratitude /'grætitju:d/ noun: a feeling of being grateful to someone because they have given you something or done something for you.

Ex 1: We would like to express our deep gratitude to everyone.

Ex 2: I felt I owned a debt of gratitude to my old teacher.

Ex 3: In Teacher’s Day, students of all levels come to their school to show their gratitude to their teachers.

Grateful /'greitful/ adj: feeling that you want to thanks someone because they have given you something or done something for you.

Antonyms /'æntənim/ từ trái nghĩa: Ingratitude, ungratefulness

7.    Humble /'hʌmbl/ (adj, verb)

From a low social class.

With a low status.

khiêm tốn, nhún nhường, thấp kém.

Ex: In our present time, the time when most teachers with their humble salary, still go on with their teaching career in spites of their difficulties.

in spites of = although

Ex: a humble attitude

Ex: He is very humble towards his superiors.

Ex: He humbles himself.

Ex: I’m just a humble receptionist.

Ex: They lived in a humble two-roomed flat.

Synonyms: base, lowly, small.

8.    Morality /mə'ræliti/ (noun)

Principles of right or wrong behavior.

The degree to which something is considered to be right or wrong.

đạo đức, đức hạnh, phẩm hạnh, nhân cách

Ex 1: Vietnamese people are proud of their tradition, tradition of respecting the teacher and appreciating the morality.

Synonyms: ethical, motive