Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.

4 comments

• English Club Indonesia says:
  

  Gavin Thomas is a boy who became famous through the “the boy with a fake smile” meme. The first time this trending phenomenon was discovered was when his uncle placed a gecko (a type of lizard) on Gavin’s shoulder and shared it online. Gavin’s expressions conveyed an awkward feeling, which Chinese people are usually too polite to express. I follow memes, but I have never seen this one. Memes can be challenging to understand if you can’t relate to the subject being shared.

• Fabio Cossenzo says:
  

  Answers:
  1.
  The Boy with a Fake Smile Finds Fame in China
  An eight-year-old boy from Minneapolis has become famous in China with his cute, fake smile and funny
  expressions
  . Gavin Thomas was first discovered back in 2014 when his uncle placed a gecko on his head and
  shared
  a video of his reaction online. A series of similar videos of Gavin became popular in China and soon
  means
  of “the boy with a fake smile” went viral. As some of his fans have described, Gavin’s expressions are used to describe feelings that Chinese people are
  too
  polite to say themselves. Gavin now has over 1.5 million
  followers
  on Weibo and has even visited China to meet some of his fans.

  Comprehension Questions
  Who is Gavin Thomas?

  Gavin Thomas is an eight-year-old boy from Minneapolis has become famous in China with his cute, fake smile and funny expressions.

  Why does the report mention a lizard?

  Because a smile like a lizard means fake smile.

  What does this child help Chinese people do?
  To avoid a fake smile, because according with the text, chinese are very polite.

  Discussion Questions
  Memes have become both a language and an art. Do you follow and understand memes? What makes them difficult to understand?
  Yes, I understand it, but sometimes a Meme is lauched with a new situation, and if you don’t be refreshed with news, probably You will not understand it.

• Bijan says:
  

  Hi Tara,

  First, thank you for this week’s audio news report.

  Second, the audio news report is so difficult to me and then couldn’t understand the subject. Of course after seeing the text I understood it, but could fill in the blanks the words shared and followers.

  Third, I agree with this subject that Chinese people are too polite because I have a few friends from China who are so polite.

  In addition, as I know the people of the east of Asia like Japan, they are also too polite.

  Thank you and best wishes,
  Bijan from the Persian Gulf

• Mehrzad Khederzadeh says:
  

  Nothing