Talking Points

1. Apple Slapped on the Wrist
2. When It Rains, It Pours
3. Finding History in the Trash

Focus Phrase: Slap on the wrist

Shadow This: Patrick and Neri Williams talk about their home and shop with House & Garden.

Executive Edition: Be Assertive: Make Stronger Statements – an excerpt from Ben’s upcoming book Lessons for a Billionaire

Figure It Out: Handling a situation when pressured for a comment.

Talking Points

Three quick news stories to help you start small talk conversations in English. Start your conversation with phrases like:

• I read a story about …

• Did you hear about … ?

• Saw something interesting the other day. …

Apple Slapped on the Wrist

Apple was recently ordered to pay $95 million USD in an eavesdropping lawsuit. Eavesdropping is when you listen to someone’s conversation without their knowledge.

The lawsuit alleged Siri had been eavesdropping on Apple device users for over a decade.

But that amount is just a drop in the bucket for them. According to Reuters, it’s about nine hours of profit for the tech giant.

Talking points: How many microphones are around you right now? Could any of them be eavesdropping? I count eight separate devices with microphones in the room I’m in right now.

When It Rains, It Pours

Often referred to as “Sunny Southern California,” Los Angeles is getting some much-needed rain.

But the rain comes with its own set of problems.

First, the fires ravage the plant life, which kills the roots. But the roots help hold the soil together.

Without the roots in place, the rain seeps into the dirt more easily.

The dirt turns to mud, which slides down the mountain, which wouldn’t happen if the roots were in place.

So, Los Angeles got the relief it needed to help fight the wildfires. But now they have to deal with the mudslides!

Language point: Notice how I listed cause and effect. The sequence starts with First, [an event happened]. After that, I talked about a result of the event. After that, I talked about the result of the result.

• Event → result of event → result of result

• Fire kills roots → rain makes mud → mudslides

Try to use this to explain why parents often get sick after their child.

Talking points: People who live in Los Angeles would tell you that’s just part of living in LA. What’s something that’s unique to where you live?

Finding History in the Trash

A man in Greece found an ancient statue wrapped in a black bag near a group of trash cans.

Suspecting it was a historical piece, he took it to the police.

The statue was given to a cultural protection group, who estimated it to be from the Hellenistic period, which ended in 31 B.C.

Talking points: Can you imagine finding something so valuable in the trash? What would you do if you found something you knew to be invaluable? Would you keep it? Would you sell it? Would you give it to a museum?

Language point: The last two stories in today’s edition have sentences that offer more information using the word which. Find them. Say the sentences again without the relative clauses (the part that starts with which.)