Today's Headlines:

Obama's final State of the Union address

Counting Africa's elephants from the sky

Australia celebrates Elvis

Transcript:

President Obama has set out the vision he hopes will define his legacy in his final State of the Union address. He vowed to continue targeting terrorist networks, accelerate the switch from fossil fuels and also launch a new drive to cure cancer. He called for Congress to be less partisan in order to make real progress.

The elephant population in Africa is continuing to decline despite an international ban on the trade of ivory tusks. Counting the remaining animals is certainly a difficult task – they roam through vast areas, across 20 countries but that is the bold ambition of the great elephant census. It's a continent-wide initiative started by the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, to keep an account of Africa's elephants and to do it from the sky.

Thousands of Elvis Presley fans descended on a town in Australia over the weekend for an annual outback festival dedicated to the iconic US singer. The celebrations in Parkes coincided with what would have been Elvis's 81st birthday. The festival was first held in 1993 and includes lookalike competitions, an Elvis-themed gospel service and large street parades as well.

Words and phrases and definitions:

vowed
promised (to do something)

partisan
supporting the political views of just one party

bold ambition
big or difficult aim, requiring lots of effort

census
official count and collection of information about a population

iconic
famous person or object which is thought to represent an idea or style from a particular time

Exercise:

Use one of the words or phrases from Lingohack to complete each of these sentences. Note that you may have to change the form of a word or phrase to complete the sentence correctly.

vowed / partisan / bold ambition / census / iconic

1. The latest _______ shows that there are more people living in London than ever before.

2. Staff at the factory weren't convinced by the manager's _______ to improve working conditions and improve wages.

3. One of the world's most _______ railway locomotives, the Flying Scotsman, has taken its first public test run after ten years of repairs and rebuilding work.

4. Some people thought John's _______ to row across the Pacific Ocean in one month as completely mad.

5. The prime minister thought ________ differences got in the way of real progress.

Answers:

1. The latest census shows that there are more people living in London than ever before.

2. Staff at the factory weren't convinced by the manager's vow to improve working conditions and improve wages.

3. One of the world's most iconic railway locomotives, the Flying Scotsman, has taken its first public test run after ten years of repairs and rebuilding work.

4. Some people thought John's bold ambition to row across the Pacific Ocean in one month as completely mad.

5. The prime minister thought partisan differences got in the way of real progress.