今日BBC

1、unit 11 session4
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Swiss children used as slave labour

This week’s News Report tells the story of the ‘contract children’ - children in Switzerland who were taken away from their families and sent to work on farms.

While you’re listening, you’ll hear lots of examples of the passive voice, especially the past simple passive. How many examples of the passive can you hear? Listen once or twice, then have a look at the transcript and check your answer.

You can also check the vocabulary list, to see the new words that appear in this week’s News Report, and their definitions. Practise using these words to write your own sentences based on your experience or your imagination. This can be a very effective way to learn new vocabulary.

Vocabulary

demand
to ask for something strongly

compensation
money which is paid to you because you have been hurt in some way

orphan
a child whose parents have died

foster family
a family which takes care of a child, although they are not the child’s biological family

agriculture
the science or industry of farming

mechanized
using machines to do work

labour
work; particularly, physical work

object
(here) to oppose something; to say that something is not acceptable

decline
(here) to decrease; to become less

campaigner
a person who works, together with others, to try to change something in society

parliament
the group of elected people who make laws for the country

suffer
to experience something painful

decade
ten years

2、今日新闻

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Facebook ‘listening’ claim denied by professor
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Prof Kelli Burns has denied saying she believes Facebook is listening to people’s conversations via the microphones on their smartphones.
In a news story that went viral this week it was reported that she had said key words around her phone which then appeared on Facebook.
Prof Burns says there was a practical explanation for what had happened.
Facebook has previously told the BBC it does not allow brands to target advertising based on microphone data.
It did not comment on the latest story.
Prof Burns, a social media expert from the University of South Florida, sat with a reporter from US-based News Channel 8 and mentioned African safaris and the car brand Jeep.
When she checked her Facebook news feed, the first post on her timeline was from a friend who had written about an African safari which someone had commented on three hours earlier.
“Nowhere have I heard anything about Facebook serving you your friends’ posts based on what you are saying or Googling,” she said.
“This friend has a lot of friends, and gets a lot of engagement, it’s no surprise that it would be at the top of my feed.”

When quizzed, both Google and Facebook denied that they would use such a capability to tailor adverts and content for users.
Facebook also said that its ads are based only around information shared by members on the social network and their net surfing habits elsewhere.

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South Korea trials wireless seat alerts for pregnant train travellers
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A bluetooth system that alerts underground train users to give up their seats for pregnant travellers has been trialled in South Korea.
The Pink Light campaign was tested by 500 pregnant women in the city of Busan over a five-day period.
The women carried sensors that activated pink lights by priority seats on the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail service.
However some might be embarrassed by the extra attention, said podcaster and tech journalist Ellie Gibson.
The sensors have six months of battery life and must be carried outside a bag for maximum signal strength, although they are not waterproof, the Pink Light website (in Korean) says.
The project was a collaboration between the city council and local businesses.

In the UK, Transport for London offers a free pin badge to pregnant travellers, which reads “Baby on board”.
The Pink Light campaign “feels a bit like an overly complicated solution to a simple problem,” said Ms Gibson, from parenting podcast Scummy Mummies.
“I found the level of attention embarrassing when I wore the ‘Baby on board’ badge - I’m not sure how comfortable I would feel with pink lights going off when I got on a train.”