Quiz 17 Jan

What do you know? I'm actually a day early! Here is the quiz this week. Email me with your answers to both the reading and the listening. Best of luck!

News of the Weird from 14 January
Read the following news and give the correct vocab word (definitions are taken from The New Oxford American Dictionary)

1. Lead Story: to follow the course or trail of (someone or something), typically in order to find them or note their location at various points?

2. Government in Action!: to scold or rebuke?

3. Government in Action!: disagreement or hostility between people?

4. Government in Action!: to assume control or responsibility (a phrasal verb)?

5. Clichés Come to Life: to make (secret or new information) known?

6. Scamming the Horny Panda: (of a person, typically a woman, or their clothes) unfashionable and without style in appearance?

7. Rules: tell (someone) officially that they can or must leave, in particular patients, someone in the armed forces or police?

8. Créme de la Weird: (this is too weird and gross for me). . . your choice—choose one: write word and definition.

9. Recurring Themes: showing a skillful use of underhanded tactics to achieve goals?

10. Least Competent Parent: (this is completely horrific). . . choose your own word with definition.

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Rodrigo y Gabriela: Elegant and Rollicking
Listen to this interview about 2 guitarists, originally from Mexico, who now live in Dublin, Ireland. They moved there without speaking much English and had to depend on their musical abilities to survive. Now they’ve made a name for themselves, coupling their love of heavy metal with their intricate fingerpicking. The interview is 30 minutes but they play three of their songs during that time. . . I find their music exhilirating!

1. How does the interviewer describe the listener (2 words) after hearing the first song?

2. When they left Mexico City, what didn’t Rodrigo y Gabriela want anything to do with?

3. 2 questions in one: Where did they want to play in Ireland and where did they end up playing?

4. At first, the two played traditional Mexican music on the streets, true or false?

5. “Foc” is from what language and means what?

6. What are two things people wrongly think about them?

7. Were they financially successful on the street?

8. What musical parts did Gabriela try to play on the guitar when the two jammed?

9. Who was the first artist they played a gig with in Europe?

10. How do they pick a name for their songs?


If you would rather download the podcast on iTunes, you can find this interview on the Wednesday, 1 November, 2006 podcast of NPR: Music. Hope you enjoyed it! I personally love their accents, a melodic mix of Mexican and Irish!