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Taste the World Festival

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00082dp The podcast is a relation from a culinary event where music and dance play an important role. It shows an amazing relation between food and culture if various ethnic groups from different parts of the world. In today's world, in the era of globalization, we can try different countries' cuisine without travelling further than to the city centre. It is an amazing opportunity to broaden one's cultural horizons and eat some delicious and extraordinary foods. However, I think it would be a huge loss for us if we gave up all the historical and sometimes even philosophical aspects of ethnic food. Originally, the process of preparing a dish might have been long and complexed and many 'oriental' restaurants, omnipresent in the streets of most western cities, just deprive their meals of the initial meaning and just play with foreign spices. Obviously, it does not mean that all the things we eat have to be authentic and have a spirit
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The Testaments

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/opinion/sunday/margaret-atwood-the-testaments-handmaids-tale.html The article focuses on a new Margaret Atwood's novel, "The Testaments", and relates it to the current political situation of the US and some other places in the world as well. The author of the article compares the reality in the United States in the time of Trump’s term to the regime of Gilead, a fictional Republic created by Attwood in "The Handmaid's Tale", one of her most popular books, to which "The Testaments" is a sequel. The state of affairs is, of course, not as horrible as in the books but many events may actually be considered parallel, for instance the recent change of the abortion law in Alabama and its probable repercussions would fit in the books' vibe. I have not read the second novel yet, so I can not relate to its plot but I am a little bit worried if it will be as good as "The Handmaid's Tale". I would personal
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Are we all related?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnYSMhR3jCI This video presents a theory that all people who live today have an identical part of DNA what would imply that we are all distantly related. The speaker mentioned the DNA tests that show how much of what races’ genes does one have in their DNA and kind of encouraged people to take them. While I find these discoveries very interesting and potentially useful in future research that might lead to revolutionary achievements of science and medicine, I doubt that learning this about myself would change anything in my life. To me, it rather seems to be an expensive entertainment than a thing one must know about themselves. at one point At one point I was sure he would fail but he fortunately made it to the finish line. ancestry They were proud of their Canadian ancestry. to mold sb/sth into sb/sth A good leader can mold every group of people into a well-functioning team.
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Introspection

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https://youtu.be/s-NiJzwdN0Y This video builds an analogy between people's inner motivations and problems and a fairytale about a lion with a thorn in his paw. I found the most of the conclusions drawn here quite obvious - it is not a great discovery that usually a problem have some reason, and in case of ‘behavioral’ problems in humans the reason will probably be related to their psyche. However, in my opinion the main thought, that introspection matters, was not explained well enough. Some of the examples of problems which could be solved by introspection appeared to me as ones clearly in need of some kind of psychological help from the outside. blood-curdling She was in the shower when she heared a blood-curdling scream coming from the bedroom. strained Small talk often feels strained to me. He could not walk because of a strained ankle. debilitating Some people have debilitating stage fright and are unable to make public performances.
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Socrates and democracy

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https://youtu.be/fLJBzhcSWTk This video briefly presents Socrates doubts about democracy. I agree with it in some ways but for me it misses a very important conclusion, that it is not about democracy being good or bad but voters being educated and aware. It is quite obvious, probably, that people who are educated will make better decisions and will be more resistant to manipulation and demagoguery. The arguments used by Socrates only make it even more visible that it is immensely important to educate people, especially the young, because the future is directly dependent on their choices and skills. demagoguery Demagoguery is one of the worst disadvantages of democratic systems but banning it would be against the idea of democracy. condemnation The government’s condemnation of racism should be more pronounced. the flaws of sth The flaws of the system suddenly became visible to him.
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Hongkong's housing problem

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https://youtu.be/hLrFyjGZ9NU This video shows the problem of housing in Hong Kong and its main causes. Combined with my own experiences from this city, it made me realise how important the looks of the living place are for me and actually the whole West. I have had an impression that is not only for the financial issues and the majority of the people of Hong Kong just do not feel the need to have a beautiful flat. I found it quite surprising and opposite to the idea that the how the space we live in looks can tell quite a lot about us, which I've considered rather versatile. land scarcity Growing land scarcity is a big problem in the most of capital cities. to stack The books were stacked in piles. to piece sth together from The vase was finally pieced together from all the parts but everybody could tell it had been broken.
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Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

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https://youtu.be/L0PKWTta7lU This video is about Maslow’s pyramid of needs. While I was watching, it crossed my mind a few times that nowadays in social media quite a lot of attention is focused on self-development and ‘becoming the true self’ or ‘the best self’, which is the top level of the pyramid, has somehow become trendy. However in my opinion many of the statements in this area are meaningless and rather aphoristic. Also, the increase in focus on such topics would mean that the society is close to some kind of an ideal which I strongly doubt. a yearning for His yearnings for knowledge were impossible to answer in those times. hard-nosed The company is looking only for hard-nosed businessmen so there is no chance for you to be hired. to honour sth All parents should teach their children to honour other people’s opinions from the very beginning.
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