President Trump formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of diplomacy

In a dramatic shift in United States policy in the Middle East, President Donald Trump announced yesterday that the U.S. formally recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and that the U.S. embassy will be relocated there from Tel Aviv. Analysts fear that the move could trigger violence and undermine prospects for peace in the region.

Trump’s declaration defied warnings from allies in the Middle East and Europe that naming Jerusalem as Israel’s capital could have dangerous consequences. Pope Francis also spoke out against the decision, appealing yesterday morning for the “status quo” to be maintained. Trump’s announcement was driven by political, rather than diplomatic considerations, as it fulfilled a campaign promise to evangelicals and ardently pro-Israel American Jews.

U.S. officials said that Trump’s decision does not negate the possibility that Palestinians could claim part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. They added that the process of moving the U.S. embassy would take years.

“The Silence Breakers” named Time’s Person of the Year

Time magazine has named “The Silence Breakers” -- the women who helped launch a global conversation about sexual harassment and assault -- as its “Person of the Year” for 2017. The announcement was made yesterday morning, with Editor in Chief Edward Felsenthal saying that the #MeToo movement represented the “fastest moving social change we’ve seen in decades.”

Among the women honored by Time are actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd, whose accusations against film producer Harvey Weinstein helped ignite discussion of sexual misconduct in Hollywood. Also named were Tarana Burke, creator of the #MeToo movement, and hospitality workers, politicians, and journalists. Over the past two months, millions of men and women worldwide have shared their own stories of harassment under hashtags including #BalanceTonPorc, #YoTambien, #QuellaVoltaChe, and others.

Time defines its Person of the Year as the person or group who has most influenced the events of the year, “for better or for worse.” U.S. president Donald Trump, who was named Person of the Year in 2016, was runner-up this year; Chinese president Xi Jinping was second runner-up.

World’s largest battery could ease power shortages in Australia

The world’s largest lithium-ion battery was activated in South Australia last Thursday, and has begun dispensing power to the state’s electricity network. The 100-megawatt battery, built by the company Tesla, is expected to help prevent power shortages in the region and lower energy costs.

The battery was built in just two months, fulfilling Tesla founder Elon Musk’s promise to build it within 100 days. The battery is connected to a nearby wind farm, and will store power produced by the farm. This will increase the supply of electricity during periods of high demand, which is expected to help prevent blackouts like one that left the entire state without power last year.

The next several weeks -- the beginning of Australia’s summer -- will be critical for judging the battery’s success. If it works well, it could help to inspire the launch of similar programs elsewhere in the world. Already, Tesla is involved in similar projects in California, Hawaii, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and several Pacific islands.

Montréal’s “ugly” Christmas tree becomes a tradition

When Montréal tried to boast that it had North America’s largest Christmas tree last year, their plan failed. The tree the city got wasn’t the tallest -- but in many people’s opinion, it was the ugliest. This year, the city has decided to embrace the tradition, not only erecting a new “ugly” Christmas tree, but also setting up an entire village around it.

The “Village du Vilain Sapin” (“Village of the Ugly Tree”), open until Christmas Eve, celebrates imperfections. In the center of the village is this year’s tree -- shorter than last year’s, but with a curling top. There is a selfie stick near the tree so that visitors can take photos with it. There are also baskets of “ugly” fruit and vegetables for sale, along with juices made from them.

The co-founder of the village said that the concept is suitable to Montréal. “Montréal is a peaceful, tolerant, and open-to-minorities city, so it sure feels right to introduce a new tradition like this one,” said Philippe Pelletier. “Montréal is perfectly imperfect, and so is our Christmas tree.”

Chris:	You know, the footage of the moon landing always fills me with pride.
Jessica:	Me too. On July 20th, 1969, an estimated 600 million people around the world watched on TV as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, stepped on the moon after their daring journey. It was a touching moment.
Chris:	I love the poetic phrase that Armstrong used when he first stepped on the moon: “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Jessica:	That was what Armstrong claimed to have said. On the transmission, you can only hear: “One small step for man…” There is no “a,” which alters the meaning drastically.
Chris:	Really? What do you mean, exactly?
Jessica:	If he had said “a man,” instead of just “man,” it would have been clear that he meant that his footstep was a symbol for humanity’s progress. Most thought that Armstrong simply made a mistake there, but he maintained to his death in 2012 that he did say it, but it was inaudible.
Chris:	Maybe the “a” was muffled by static?
Jessica:	That’s the controversy! A recent study with the most up-to-date sound equipment concluded, with a high degree of certainty, that Armstrong did not say the “a.” There simply wasn’t enough space in the transmission between the word “for” and the word “man.”
Chris:	I would be interested to know whether he came up with the phrase himself, or if NASA scripted it.
Jessica:	That’s an interesting question. Armstrong said he thought of it in the moment, but his brother has said that they discussed this moving line before the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.
Chris:	I always wondered because Armstrong and Aldrin left a plaque on the moon with a very similar inscription: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind."
Jessica:	The sentiment and wording are very similar!
Chris:	Ultimately, the issue of the quote is kind of insignificant compared to the accomplishments of the space race, don’t you think? I am amazed at how fast the moon landing became a reality.
Jessica:	Remember, it was the Soviets who had originally blazed the trail for space exploration. One of the most shocking and frightening events we Americans have ever experienced was when the Russian satellite Sputnik orbited the earth in 1957.
Chris:	Yeah, that was a wake-up call! Americans thought that the Soviet Union was far behind technologically. Then Sputnik came, and in 1961, we were shocked again when Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth.
Jessica:	It led to a drastic reorganization of our priorities. After Sputnik, American wealth and resolve were focused on winning the space race. The moon had become the new frontier. The pursuit of this goal gave the US a technological advantage for decades to come.
Chris:	That change in thinking was reinforced by John F. Kennedy’s famous “moon speech” in 1962. He said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.”
Jessica:	Nice Kennedy impression, Chris. Inspiring words from another American icon... Would you like to go to the moon some day?
Chris:	I may be a little “out there,” Jessica, but the only space exploration I’m interested in is right here on Earth… in a planetarium.

Participial adjectives are a subset of adjectives. Like all adjectives, they are used to describe nouns. They can be identified by their endings, usually either –ed or –ing. Participial adjectives often have the opposite meaning of the adjective in the other participle verb.

I am so bored. I feel boredom. I am so boring. I am causing other people to feel boredom.

I. Present Participle Adjectives (Ending in -ing)

We usually use the present participle (ending in –ing) to talk about the person, thing, or situation which has caused the feeling. It is generally formed by taking the verb and adding –ing.

I read a very interesting book about language. The book caused the speaker to feel interest. Many people find insects frightening. Insects cause many people to be frightened. It was a shocking movie. The movie caused viewers to feel shock.

II. Past Participle Adjectives (Ending in -ed)

We usually use the present participle (ending in –ed) to express how the person feels. It is generally formed by taking the verb and adding –ed.

I am very interested in learning more about language. The speaker feels interest in language. Many people are frightened by insects. Many people feel frightened. I was shocked by the movie. The speaker felt shock after watching the movie.

Jessica:	Tell me, Chris, when I say “tobacco ad,” what comes to your mind?
Chris:	Like an advertisement about cigarettes?
Jessica:	Yes.
Chris:	Well, you don’t really see many ads for cigarettes these days. So what comes to mind are those vintage ads from the 50s and 60s. They were hilarious! I saw some in an antique shop once. One ad for Camel cigarettes shows a doctor holding a pack and the slogan: Give your throat a vacation - Smoke a fresh cigarette. Can you believe it?! Those posters are collectible items now!
Jessica:	You found them hilarious?
Chris:	Sure, in a ridiculous sort of way… Times were different back then! People didn’t really know what cigarettes were doing to their lungs, but now there are plenty of ads on TV and in newspapers that detail the negative health effects of smoking. The addictiveness of cigarettes, the dangers of secondhand smoke, and other health concerns...
Jessica:	Have you noticed that all of those ads mention a certain Federal Court order?
Chris:	Yeah, I know what you are referring to. They are "corrective statements," part of a court-ordered ad campaign that tobacco companies in the United States must release to inform the public about the dangers of smoking. I’m actually glad to see them! I think they are a good remedy for the damage done by tobacco companies in the past. And they have to pay for them, too, which adds to the penalty. That campaign definitely cost them an arm and a leg!
Jessica:	Sure, they are expensive, but the whole campaign is just a drop in the bucket! It’s simply not enough to undo the harm caused by their deceptive practices. A few ads paid for by Big Tobacco – Philip Morris, Lorillard, and some others – cannot repair the damage done by 50 years of civil fraud.
Chris:	It may be a drop in the bucket, but the ads are still meant, to some extent, to reverse some of the damage by admitting that they lied and providing real information about the consequences of smoking.
Jessica:	Reverse? Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the US alone. That’s more than HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, car accidents and gun-related incidents combined. Millions of nonsmokers have died from health problems caused by exposure to secondhand smoke. You can’t reverse all that!
Chris:	OK, there’s no denying those terrible figures, but if these ads are only a drop in the bucket, what else would you like the tobacco companies to do?
Jessica:	Don’t get me wrong Chris, placing ads in newspapers and on television is a move in the right direction, but the way young people consume media has fundamentally changed. For instance, only about 5% of 18 to 29-year-old Americans get their news from printed media on a regular basis.
Chris:	Of course! They're all getting their news from YouTube and Facebook.
Jessica:	Or a variety of other popular platforms. So, you see, if these “corrective statement” ads are not seen on these key sites, unfortunately they won’t reach the youngest sections of the population. The same people who, of course, Big Tobacco sees as their future clients, which they need to replace the old and dying.
Chris:	Yikes! That’s a grim perspective... but I understand your point now. I would expect that people who smoked for years pretty much know by now that it’s addictive and not good for their health. So, I think you’re right, the focus should be on young people and if the ads are not effectively reaching them, then the entire campaign seems like a drop in the bucket.

Imagine filling a large bucket with water, one drop at a time. It would take a very long time to fill the bucket because a single drop is just a small fraction of all the water that is needed. The phrase “a drop in the bucket” refers to an amount which is very small. So small, in fact, that on its own it can be considered inconsequential.

The expression is often used to illustrate how small something is, or how much more of something is needed to achieve a certain goal. It can also be used to criticize the relative value of a contribution, by making it sound unimportant or inadequate. Put simply, if we say that something is like a drop in the bucket, we mean that it’s a very small part of a larger whole.

As many popular phrases do, this one comes from the King James Bible. In the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 15 (Isaiah 40:15) it reads: "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance…”

Example 1:

An individual donation of $100 would be very generous, but it would still only be a drop in the bucket of our fundraising goal.

Example 2:

What I make in a year is a drop in the bucket compared to what the CEO makes in a week!

Example 3:

5 tons of food and supplies sounds like a lot, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed to help those affected by the flood.

Choose the correct participle adjective in the blank.

Type the correct participle adjective from the word bank in the boxes below.

Comforting | interesting | tempted | frightening | inspiring Inspired | satisfying | shocked | amazing | devastating