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In the news: Robots and the future of work

3.666665
Average: 3.7 (12 votes)

'When Robots take all the work, what'll be left for us to do?' is the title of this interesting article published in the equally interesting 'Wired.'

Read through a few select parts of this article, and find out what the words in bold mean:

In the news: Wild animal photos & 'Tiger selfies'

3.375
Average: 3.4 (16 votes)

Here's an article from 'The Guardian' about the rise in the popularity of 'tiger selfies', and the harm this social activity is causing...

An animal protection charity is _1_ tourists to turn down opportunities to take photos of themselves with wild animals, as a growing number of such images, including “tiger selfies”, surface online.

The Ten Stages Of Learning English As A Second Language

2.958335
Average: 3 (24 votes)

If you are learning a second language, then you must be really familiar with the ups and downs, the highs and the lows, the challenges and the joys... of the journey to proficiency!

Take a look at this fantastic Buzzfeed article, which covers the 10 stages of learning English as a second language. It also features EC English! :)

We hope you'll enjoy reading it... We will be sharing more interesting articles for you to read in the near future!

It's Party Time!

4.157895
Average: 4.2 (19 votes)

Friends, music, food and fun… these are the main ingredients of a good party! Today we're going to 'celebrate' a few of the different types of parties you can enjoy.

Housewarming Party: When you move into a new house or apartment, you throw a housewarming party to celebrate your new home and show it to your friends.

In the News: Germany crowned World Cup Champions

4.29412
Average: 4.3 (17 votes)
Yesterday, Germany became the first European country to win the World Cup in South America.

With neither team _1_ in the first 90 minutes, the match went into _2_ time and Mario Gotze scored a winning goal for his country just 7 minutes before the end of the match.

The Argentinian team seemed devastated after losing the game, with Lionel Messi looking _3_ as he collected his medal.

Many commented that Messi was not at his _4_ during this match, and missed many opportunities to score.

Summer Vocabulary

3.608695
Average: 3.6 (23 votes)

The year can be separated into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn (fall in American English) and winter. Which is your favourite season of the year?

It's easy to have a good time in the summer when the sun is out. We can spend more time outside and the warm weather puts everyone in a good mood. From barbeques to hiking in the mountains, summer provides more opportunity to do fun stuff.

In the news: Lego, Shell and Greenpeace

4.25
Average: 4.3 (16 votes)

Lego is "letting kids down" by putting sales above the environment because of its _1_with Shell, say Greenpeace, the environmental organisation.

The charity is launching a global _2_ to get Lego, the children's toy manufacturer, to drop the oil giant, Shell.

More than 16 million Shell-branded LEGO sets have been sold or given away at petrol stations in 26 countries. Greenpeace believe Shell is using Lego to _3_ its image.

In the news: Starbucks to pay for workers' college

3.636365
Average: 3.6 (22 votes)

Starbucks, which is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 23,187 stores in 64 countries, is offering its workers _1_ college degrees.

Any of the company's135,000 employees who work at least 20 hours per week will soon be able to _2_ college at Arizona State University (ASU) Online. Starbucks employees can choose among 40 online courses, _3_ from retail management to electrical engineering.

World Cup 2014

3.4
Average: 3.4 (30 votes)

What are the ten missing words we need to complete this text?

We are less than one week _1_ from the start of the 2014 World Cup.

This is the twentieth time the tournament has taken place and Brazil is the host nation for the first time _2_ 1950.

The _3_ competition was held in Uruguay in 1930 with the host nation beating Argentina 4-2 in the final.

World Environment Day

3.9375
Average: 3.9 (16 votes)

World Environment Day ('WED') is _1_ every year on June 5 to _2_ global awareness to take positive environmental action to protect _3_ and the planet Earth. It is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).