Listen to me read a short news article on the topic of marriage, divorce and the UK law, as part of my Conversational English course

Listen to English with Pip

Divorce & the Law

A：这块手表是你的吗？
B：不是我的，是我爸爸的。
A：多少钱买的？
B：三千多块。

日常对话 daily conversation

在房间

In this episode, you will listen to a dialog at the market and learn how to make simple conversation at the shopping. Enjoy your podcast!
<<< Don't forget to solve the quiz related to the podcast.

Turkish Conversations From ZERO to HERO

Episode 4 :  At The Market - Markette Alışveriş Yapıyorum...

みんなの日本語、第ニ課15ページ、かいわより。 リスニングとリーディングのれんしゅうです。私が言った後、リピートしてください。 
It‘ｓ for your practice of listening and reading. Repeat after me without reading みんなの日本語１、evern though you have the textbook. 
もしあなたが中級（ちゅうきゅう）でも、いいれんしゅうになると思います。 
If you are intermidiate level student, it should still be good practice. 

【What time are you open to？】

Miller: Excuse me, what is Auka`s phone number?

Sato: Asuka? It`s 5275-2725.

Miller: Thank you very much.



“Asuka” staff member: Hello. Asuka here.

Miller: Excuse me. What time are you open to?

“Asuka” staff member: Until ten.

Miller: What days of the week are you closed?

“Asuka” staff member: Sundays.

Miller: I see. Thank you.



 【そちらは なんじまでですか】

ミラー：すみません、「あすか」のでんわばんごうは なんばんですか。

さとう：「あすか」ですか。　5275の2725です。

ミラー：どうも ありがとうございます。



みせの人：はい、「あすか」です。

ミラー：　すみません。そちらは なんじまでですか。

みせの人：10じ までです。

ミラー：やすみは なんようびですか。

みせの人：そうですか。どうも。


ようへい先生　　N4,N5チャンネル

みんなの日本語第4課

This episode is about a weather report, enjoy!

JENNIFER: It’s freezing outside! What happened to the
weather report? I thought this cold front was supposed to pass.

GABRIELA: Yeah, I thought so too. That’s what I read online
this morning.

JENNIFER: I guess the wind chill is really driving down
the temperature.

GABRIELA: Can we go inside? I feel like my toes are starting to
go numb.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Weather Report

Nick discusses art today! What do you think makes a good piece of art? This question might come up in IELTS speaking Part 3 or Writing Part 2. 

IELTS with Nick - World Knowledge 

What makes a good piece of art?

NASA has given SpaceX an $843 million contract to build the vehicle that will help to destroy the International Space Station (ISS).

Space X, a company that's controlled by Elon Musk, will build the vehicle but the mission will be led by NASA.

The ISS was launched in 1998 and it's likely that it will have to be removed from space in the next few years.

The station is operated by space agencies from the US, Europe, Japan, Canada and Russia. All the countries involved have said they'll operate the station until 2030 except Russia, which has said it will operate it until 2028.

Teams of astronauts have been living in the space station since 2000. During that time, they have done more than 3,300 experiments in space.

It's expected that the SpaceX vehicle will pull the ISS through space before landing it in the sea. Both are likely to break apart as they re-enter Earth's atmosphere.

NASA said that it will be focusing on "commercially owned space destinations closer to home" as life on the ISS comes to an end.

The contract is seen as another vote of confidence for the company that Musk founded in 2002.

But experts say it won't be easy bringing such a large space station back to Earth safely.

Meghan Bartels from Scientific American said it will be a "delicate" challenge.

She said it took 42 different launches to send the ISS into space, where it was put together in orbit.

She added: "The orbiting laboratory contains about as much internal space as a six-bedroom house spread over an area the size of a football field," and that it weighs almost as much as three blue whales.

It's not yet known what the vehicle will look like or exactly when the mission will take place.

SpaceX Given Contract to Destroy Space Station

A very useful podcast on the MANY similarities between fishing and business

The Jerome Meadows Experience

Fishing & Business Metaphors 

双十一是中国的购物狂欢节，有点像美国的黑色星期五。双十一，也就是11月11日，原本是单身节，因为在中国单身的人被叫做光棍，而11月11号的4个阿拉伯数字“1”很像四根光滑的棍子,所以被称为光棍节。11月11日在十月一号国庆节和圣诞节之间，是一个理想的促销时间点，所以网购平台淘宝在2009年借此机会把双十一变成了网络促销日。如今双十一经过十几年的发展，已经不仅限于线上，线下商店也参与其中。那么今年的双十一有什么变化呢，我们一起来听听看。
昨天晚上朋友圈冷冷清清的，再也没有往年那种晒购物车的疯狂了。凭直觉，我还以为今年双十一应该是凉了呢。但是官方数据却显示，今年的双十一成交额居然是创了新高了。那这是咋回事呢？根据数据显示，今年双十一天猫成交5,403亿，京东3,491亿，都创了历史新高。历史数据天猫2019年成交额是2,684亿，2020年突然暴增到了4,982亿，那今年是5,403亿，相当于全国人民平均每个人贡献了400块。难道说经过了疫情之后大家反而更有钱了吗？那倒不是，只是说这个统计的时间变长了而已。从2020年开始，双十一就不再限于11月11号这一天了，而是会提前一个月就正式进入到购物节。去年和今年数据这么好，并不是大家更有钱，消费更多了，只是说这个统计的周期变长了而已。从双11当天的数据来看，这两年的数据反而是下滑的。2019年双11当天全网，注意是全网啊，成交额到了一个顶峰4,101亿之后，2020年就下滑到了3,328亿了，同比下滑18.8%。而今年呢，又下滑到了3,146亿，那些做物流快递的朋友可能会更有感觉一点，那就是今年双十一的业务没有想象中那么繁忙了。那问题来了，就本来一天就能搞定的购物节，怎么突然就变成一个月了呢？或许是为了照顾更多商家的利益吧。双11的当天首页和热门推荐的版面是有限的，只有几个店铺能上头条。上头条肯定是需要花钱的，那为了争夺头条的位置，店铺就会陷入内卷，把头条的坑位费是越炒越高，损人还不利己，而更多的店铺是压根没有机会享受双11广告的。但是如果把双11从一天变成一个月，首页推荐的坑位就多了不少，这就会更加有利于更多店铺的曝光了。那么，以后的双11会不会慢慢变成常态呢？从一个月变成全年呢？我觉得吧，双11常态化肯定是最终必然的归宿。电商的使命是什么呀？让商品变得更便宜，因为相对实体店电商有很多成本优势。一方面呢，店面成本省掉了，不需要开实体店交店租，不需要雇店员了。第二呢是渠道成本，不需要再给超市支付货架费，也没有经销商赚差价，可以从工厂直接出来就卖给消费者了。第三是规模效应，销量越大的话，那么单件商品的成本就会越低。薇娅和李佳琦之所以能卖那么便宜，离不开销量的支持。而双11为什么能更便宜呢？它只是把这个规模效应再次给放大了。但是你看现在，有一些头部主播的规模效应俨然都已经超过双11了，你会发现有一些商品它在双十一的价格并不比平时的直播间里的价格
便宜多少。如果没有办法更便宜，那双十一其实就失去意义了呀。就只能够巧立名目，比如说什么优惠券，满减折扣，让表面看上去好像更便宜一些。但是呢，这几年消费者也更加理性了，也更加贫穷了，恐怕也很难再上当了。所以，这个双11就这么随它去吧。
狂欢节/kuáng huān jié/Carnival
促销/cù xiāo/sales promotion
晒/shài/bask→show off
凉/liáng/cool→fail
咋/zǎ/怎么
统计/tǒng jì/statistics
同比下滑/tóng bǐ xià huá/Year-on-year decline
成交额/chéng jiāo é/Turnover
物流快递/wù liú kuài dì/Logistics&Express
版面/bǎn miàn/Page layout
上头条/shàng tóu tiáo/dominate headline
内卷/nèi juǎn/over-competition
坑位费/kēng wèi fèi/Advertising slot Fee
损人利己/sǔn rén lì jǐ/harm others to benefit oneself
曝光/bào guāng/(flow)exposure
归宿/guī sù/destination
渠道/qú dào/channel
规模效应/guī mó xiào yìng/scale effect
头部主播/tóu bù zhǔ bō/top streamer
俨然/yǎn rán/clearly
巧立名目/qiǎo lì míng mù/concoct various pretexts
满减折扣/mǎn jiǎn zhé kòu/such as 299-100
上当/shàng dàng/be tricked