912384 Five tremors in excess of magnitude 5.0 on the Richter scale have shaken Japan just this week, but scientists are warning that the largest expected aftershock has yet to hit. Source_VOA 954354 The more countries a language is spoken in, the less important it is to sound like a native speaker, since speakers of that language are accustomed to hearing various dialects. CK 3020392 After the iron had cooled off, Mary wrapped the electrical cord around the iron, put the iron back on the shelf, folded up the ironing board, and put it away back in the closet. Delian 2783162 A mistake young people often make is to start learning too many languages at the same time, as they underestimate the difficulties and overestimate their own ability to learn them. catcher 552259 In 1969, Roger Miller recorded a song called "You Don't Want My Love." Today, this song is better known as "In the Summer Time." It's the first song he wrote and sang that became popular. American 26395 The swimmer, Cindy Nicholas, barely made it ashore at Dover at the end of the exhausting swim, but a spokesman from the Channel Swimming Association announced that she was in very good shape. NekoKanjya 1338945 I do many things at the same time, so not only am I reading things by Akutagawa, I've also increased the amount of time I spend reading in English and I also read a little in German every day. CM 1141314 There are four main causes of alcohol-related death. Injury from car accidents or violence is one. Diseases like cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, heart and blood system diseases are the others. Source_VOA 940411 As a prank, some students let three goats loose inside their school after painting the numbers 1, 2 and 4 on the sides of the goats. The teachers spent most of the day looking for goat number 3. CK 3020394 Tom made the comment so offhandedly that at first it seemed unimportant, but then I saw the tension in his face and his body language and it quickly became clear that it really meant the world to him. Delian 347771 There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for their child's college education. CM 1863010 "Top-down economics never works," said Obama. "The country does not succeed when just those at the very top are doing well. We succeed when the middle class gets bigger, when it feels greater security." Source_VOA 1141316 A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide pollution that we produce as a result of our activities. Some people try to reduce their carbon footprint because they are concerned about climate change. Source_VOA 1969892 Death is something that we're often discouraged to talk about or even think about, but I've realized that preparing for death is one of the most empowering things you can do. Thinking about death clarifies your life. davearms 3020390 Using high heat settings while ironing synthetic fabrics will melt the synthetic fibers and cause visible permanent damage, which often looks like a shiny area where the too-hot iron had the longest contact with the fabric. Delian 2435490 The United States cannot win a war against a big and strong country. It can only annihilate a weak and relatively small country like Serbia or Iraq. It can also win a war in less than 24 hours against a tiny island like Grenada. Amastan 954270 Since there are usually multiple websites on any given topic, I usually just click the back button when I arrive on any webpage that has pop-up advertising. I just go to the next page found by Google and hope for something less irritating. CK 953962 If you want to sound like a native speaker, you must be willing to practice saying the same sentence over and over in the same way that banjo players practice the same phrase over and over until they can play it correctly and at the desired tempo. CK