Let’s learn English with the news.
With the Olympics just around the corner, that means just about to happen, Sha’Carri
Richardson has made headlines for being banned in competing in her sport.
The Today’s Show did a story about it.
Star sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson breaking her silence about competing in the summer
games.
If someone is breaking their silence, it means there’s been headlines or news about them,
they haven’t said anything yet and now they are.
You might hear this with a politician or a celebrity on a big news story about them personally
or about something that they did.
They may take a few days, think about it.
Think about what they want to say before they break the silence and make a public statement.
Star sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson breaking her silence about competing in the summer
games.
Tweeting: I’m sorry, I can’t be y’all Olympic champ this year but I promise I’ll
be your World Champ next year.
Champ, simply short for champion, here assuming she was going to win the race and she will
win the World Championship.
Tweeting: I’m sorry, I can’t be y’all Olympic champ this year but I promise I’ll
be your World Champ next year.
The 21-year old accepting a 1-month suspension after testing positive for Marijuana.
A suspension.
This is a noun and it means temporarily preventing something, someone from participating in their
sport for example, a school suspension is when a kid is disciplined for misbehavior
usually and is not allowed to go to school for one day, two days, three days for example,
that would be a suspension.
The 21-year old accepting a 1-month suspension after testing positive for Marijuana.
Marijuana.
The dried flowers and leaves of the Hemp plant.
There are so many different names for this substance.
Cannabis, Marijuana, weed, reefer, pot, grass, dope, hash, Mary Jane, Ganga.
I’m probably missing some so if you can think of another word for Marijuana put it
in the comments below.
The 21-year old accepting a 1-month suspension after testing positive for Marijuana.
She turned heads with her speed and style dominating in the 100-meter dash last month.
If you turn heads, this is an idiom that means you make people notice you.
So, she turn heads with her style.
Not just her speed but how she presented herself.
She turned heads with her speed and style dominating in the 100-meter dash last month.
If you’re dominating something, this means you’re the most important person in a particular
situation.
So she was dominating that event, she won that event.
She was the best.
She turned heads with her speed and style dominating in the 100-meter dash last month.
A victory now invalidated because of the drug violation.
If something becomes invalidated, that means it's been decided that it will not count.
So her victory there in the US trials which qualified her for the Olympic team has been
invalidated because of the drug test that she failed, her win is not allowed to count, it doesn’t
go in the record books.
A victory now invalidated because of drug violation.
Down here on the screen they have the word “fallout”.
Fallout is adverse or negative effects or results from a situation.
So another way to think of this is new negative reactions in response to this woman being
banned from competing.
In an exclusive interview on Today, she said she used Marijuana to cope after learning
the death of her biological mother from a reporter.
Biological mother.
This is a term we use to define the woman who birthed, the woman who’s DNA is in Sha’Carri
Richardson.
So, a biological mother and father maybe different than a mother or father who raised you if
you’re adopted for example.
So in this case, it implies that Sha’Carri was not raised by her biological mother.
If we use the term biological mother, it implies that there was another mother figure who raised
her.
In an exclusive interview on Today, she said she used Marijuana to cope after learning
the death of her biological mother from a reporter.
Cope.
This is a verb and it means to deal with something difficult.
She was coping with this very difficult news.
And it was extra tough because she found out from a reporter.
In an exclusive interview on Today, she said she used Marijuana to cope after learning
the death of her biological mother from a reporter.
I know what I did.
I know what I’m supposed to do.
Uhm, I’m allowed not to do and I still made that decision but I’m not making an excuse.
So in this interview, she’s taking responsibility, she says she’s not making any excuses, she
understands she did something wrong and she has to deal with the consequences.
I feel for her.
What an awful situation.
Now some people will probably say why would you feel bad for her?
She broke the rules.
And I would say “I hear that.”
If you say you hear that in an argument or a conversation, it’s saying you understand
or acknowledge somebody else’s opinion so I hear that but still feel compassion for her.
Compassion is a noun.
It means concern or pity for someone who is dealing with a difficult situation or has
a hard life.
Someone who’s suffering.
Another note about the phrase I hear that, it can also mean just to show agreement.
So it’s not just acknowledging someone’s opinion but it’s like saying I agree with you.
For example, let’s say there’s a new bakery in town and everyone says they have the best
apple pie.
You go try it with a friend.
But you actually think your own apple pie recipe is better.
You could say “I like their pie but I still think mine is better.”
and your friend could say “I hear that.”
That means I agree with you.
Hundreds of thousands now signing an online petition to let Sha’Carri run.
A petition is a formal written request usually signed by lots of people that would be presented
to an official who maybe able to make a decision in a particular case.
So for example, petitioning the Olympic committee to let Sha’Carri run in the 100-meter dash.
Hundreds of thousands now signing an online petition to let Sha’Carri run.
Athletes, celebrities and public figures coming to her defense.
Coming to someone’s defense.
This means to defend them, to stand up for someone, to voice publicly your support for
somebody.
Athletes, celebrities and public figures coming to her defense.
Actor Seth Rogen denouncing the suspension tweeting “If weed made you fast, I’d be Flojo.”
So there he is using weed.
One of the slang words for Marijuana.
Flojo was a woman who ran for the US Olympic team in the 80s and broke records, was extremely fast
Her full name is Florence Griffith Joyner and she also had a great sense of style.
Actor Seth Rogen denouncing the suspension tweeting “If weed made you fast, I’d
be Flojo.”
If you denounce something, you publicly declare that it is wrong, perhaps that it is evil
that it should not be.
He’s denouncing the suspension, he’s saying the suspension should not stand.
Actor Seth Rogen denouncing the suspension tweeting “If weed made you fast, I’d be Flojo.”
President Biden also weighed in over the weekend.
If someone weighs in, this means they give their opinion on something.
So he publicly commented what he thought about the situation.
President Biden also weighed in over the weekend.
The rules are the rules.
Whether they should remain at, that should remain the rule is a different issue.
The rules are the rules.
So he’s saying we shouldn’t change the rules retroactively, that means after the
fact in this case.
But maybe we need to look at the rules, maybe the rules themselves should be changed.
So he’s saying the suspension shouldn’t be changed in this situation because she did
break the rule.
But maybe the rule isn’t a very good rule and we need to look at what are the rules
about what drugs would cause an athlete to fail a drug test.
The rules are the rules.
Whether they should remain at, that should remain the rule is a different issue.
I was really proud of it, the way she responded.
And the Olympics controversy doesn’t end there.
Controversy.
Disagreement usually publicly over an issue.
And the Olympics controversy doesn’t end there.
The international swimming federation received swift backlash banning swim caps designed
for natural black hair.
Backlash.
This is a strong, negative, adverse, public opinion based on something that happened.
It’s similar to fallout but probably even stronger.
For example, let’s say there was a new tax and stated a higher sales tax.
There could be such a backlash, such a public outcry, so many people saying they disagree
with it, it’s a problem but they may change what they have done so a backlash, a strong,
large widespread negative reaction to a decision may cause the authorities to change that decision.
The international swimming federation received swift backlash banning swim caps designed
for natural black hair.
British brand, Soul Cap responding to the rejection writing “How do we achieve participation
and representation in the world of competition swimmers, if the governing body stops suitable
swimwear being available to those who are underrepresented?”
Representation.
People being underrepresented.
This refers to groups of people who are not typically in any given sphere.
So, in this example the sphere of competitive swimming.
Traditionally has not had many black participants.
And so we would say they are underrepresented.
When you take their proportion of the population, they’re very much so underrepresented proportion-wise
when we talk about competitive professional swimmers.
“How do we achieve participation and representation in the world of competition swimmers, if the
governing body stops suitable swimwear being available to those who are underrepresented?”
In this quote we have three words that end in –tion and the rule for stress is the
stress will come on the syllable just before that ending syllable.
So let’s look for example, participation.
Partici-pa-tion.
Second to last syllable.
Representation.
Representa-tion.
Stress on second to last syllable.
Competition.
Compe-ti-tion.
Again, stress on second to last syllable.
So it doesn’t matter how many syllables there are in a word with this –tion ending,
stress will be on the second to last syllable that’s also called the penultimate syllable.
“How do we achieve participation and representation in the world of competition swimmers, if the
governing body stops suitable swimwear being available to those who are underrepresented?”
The swimming federation acknowledge the reactions writing “They are reviewing the situation
while understanding the importance of inclusivity and representation.”
Situation.
Representation.
Two more examples there.
“They are reviewing the situation while understanding the importance of inclusivity and representation.”
Inclusivity.
This is the practice or the policy of including people.
Providing equal access, equal opportunities to all different kinds of people.
You’re probably familiar with the adjective included.
You always want to feel included, right?
It doesn’t feel good to be excluded, the opposite.
“They are reviewing the situation while understanding the importance inclusivity and representation.”
Cathy back to Sha’Carri Richardson.
What’s next for her now?
So based on what we are seeing and hearing, looks like her Olympic dreams are on hold
at least for now.
If something is on hold, that means it’s not being addressed for now.
So her Olympic plans, her Olympic dreams are on hold.
This ban will probably not be overturned.
You can use these for a lot of different situations.
You could put a conversation on hold.
For example, let’s say, you know what, I like what you’re talking about but I need
to do a little bit more research, so let’s put this conversation on hold and we’ll
come back to it in a few days.
looks like her Olympic dreams are on hold at least for now.
But listen, she’s 21 years old she says she has a lot of games in her, she has a lot
of talent to back her up.
Meanwhile, her agent is actually saying that we will likely see her compete next month
at the Prefontaine Classic which is a premiere track and field meet.
People just want to see her run.
I know.
The future is bright for her though.
The future is bright for her.
This is just a way of saying we think she’s going to have a lot of opportunities, we expect
a lot of success for her.
People just want to see her run.
I know.
The future is bright for her though.
I think Sha’Carri has picked up a lot of fans.
By the way, this newscaster, Craig Melvin he was part of my interview of broadcaster
Youtube series that I did several years ago.
If you want to see my interview of him, check it out here.
That’s it and thanks so much for using Rachel’s English.