In the news: Living frugally

I really enjoyed this story from abcnews Nightline. It's called Ultimate "Cheapsters" Compete for Cash. It's about a group of college students competing in yet another reality show, this time on who can save the most. The winner is the contestant who does the best job living frugally. These twenty-somethings penny pinch, dumpster dive, and bargain hunt. One even ditches his apartment for a tent in the woods, where he and his tent mate make hearty meals out of canned goods. Another contestant obsessively clips coupons, while yet another has learned how not to pay a dime for food, though he eats constantly. If you haven't seen this report, you'll find out how he does it when you click the link to the abcnews Nightline site below.


The contestants fight tooth and nail and slug it out for 7 weeks for the $10,000 cash prize. The show is actually sponsored by a bank in Utah and aims to teach and give students an incentive to learn how to be financially wise while they're still young. In the end, all their hard work pays off, especially for the winner who gets the cash prize. But really, as the reporter points out, they are all winners. With skyrocketing college tuition and the dismal job market, these college students are definitely on the right track.


Check out the vocabulary below and click on the link to watch the news report.
 Ultimate 'Cheapsters' Compete for Cash | Video - ABC News


vocabulary:
fighting tooth and nail - fight hard or use a lot of effort to compete or accomplish something
Penny pinching - when someone avoids spending money
Dumpster diving - going into a dumpster (a huge garbage bin) to look for trash that can still be used
Bargain hunting - looking for good, cheap prices
incentive - a good reason to do something (Getting a good grade is an incentive to study hard.)
Ditch something/someone - to throw away or to leave behind
hearty meal - filling, nourishing meal
frugality - being economical; saving money and spending less
Obsessive - preoccupied or controlled by something (obsessive gambler; obsessive eating)
Skyrocket - to increase fast (skyrocketing gas prices)
dismal - depressing (An economy that's not doing so well can be referred to as dismal)
Not pay a dime - get something for free
Slug it out - compete; fight
pay off - get the benefit of something (His hard work paid off in the end. His company gained a lot of recognition.)


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TT4BS - /æ/

Welcome to another TongueTwisting4BetterSpeech. For this pronunciation lesson, we're going to practice the sound /æ/. To make this sound, you need to flatten your mouth and spread it outward. /æ/


Let's practice pronouncing these words. Remember to go slowly first and emphasize the sound, especially if it's not easy to make.
Cat, mat, sat, flat, lack
Tangible, manor, cranberry, dragon, grapple
Uncanny, kilogram, romance, understand, retract


Here are three tongue twisters for you to practice the sound /æ/.
1. The fat cat had an uncanny way of catching rats.
     [ had an /hædən/   schwa /ə/ ]
2. Sam ran after the tram to escape the traffic jam.
3. He has to grapple with exams he can't understand.


Alright, folks. You should memorize at least one of these, so you can say it and practice whenever and wherever you are.


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This is Joe. Follow me on Twitter @joeyu2nd, and be a fan of the small guide site on Facebook.

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irrepressible (adj)

The word irrepressible is an adjective that means impossible to restrain or control.


1. He's always had an irrepressible love for animals since he was a kid.
2. The police had a hard time controlling fans at the rock concert. Their excitement was irrepressible.
3. Their irrepressible energy at practice stems from a strong desire to win first prize in the competition.
4. Their manager's anger was irrepressible when he found out they had spent $10,000 without asking him first.
5. He has an irrepressible sense of humor that is also contagious.

vocabulary:
contagious - able to spread or pass on something to others, as in a contagious disease.


Thanks for reading and listening to this small lesson.
This is Joe with the small guide site.
Follow me on Twitter @joeyu2nd.
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