Mount Everest This is a recap of a small passage about Mount Everest. Ascending Mount Everest is a dangerous trip even for experienced climbers. If you think that you just need some money for the trip to the mount, hire a guide and just go to the top, you are wrong. The mount has some deadly challenges. There is not enough oxygen to sustain a human life at altitudes higher than 26000 feet. Brain cells begin to die, and vital organs can shut down without any warning. When climbers reach this death zone, it's a race to the top and back to a safer altitude before getting any serious injuries. Since 1922, over 200 people have died on Mount Everest. Some climbers have lost their limbs because of frostbite. Before going to the mount, you should seriously consider all the risks.

A question about electricity Hello everyone. How do you say correctly when electricity is suddenly off (there is no light at your home and all electrical things don't work)? I think I've heard once "Power went down". Is this correct? Are there other ways of saying this?

A small update why I haven't written anything for two weeks Hey everyone. I haven't written anything in English for almost two weeks. At first, I wasn't in the mood for writing. Then I got sick. And now I'm slightly angry at myself for not writing anything during this time. On one hand, I can't learn and write in English when I'm not comfortable. On the other hand, I could write at least 5 sentences. It's not a lot, but it's something. I hate when it happens - you miss one day of learning English and then you somehow end up not learning English for weeks.

Word practice #2 bullet points 1. Lisa, please, use bullet points insted of numbers in your article. 2. He prefers to use numbers rather than bullet points to make a list. sea urchin 1. His kid was stung by a sea urchin when they were on holiday. 2. That evil witch turned my fiance into a sea urchin! How do I lift the spell? 3. Her kid asked me if sea urchins were edible. I didn't know the answer. in earnest 1. I thought that Mr. Doe was just goofing around, but he was in earnest. 2. She's crying in earnest. I wish I hadn't said that. 3. His political campaign has started in earnest. meringue 1. Mary made a delicious meringue cake and won the cooking contest. 2. Dad is in a grocery store buying ingredients to cook meringue. revitalization 1. This revitalization project of the district will bring a lot of businesses. 2. People will benefit from the revitalization of this neighborhood. get an earful 1. Jack got an earful from his wife yesterday. He came back home late and he was drunk. He also fall on geraniums in their garden. They are completely destroyed now. 2. You will get an earful if you do this. Don't upset your parents. 3. Miranda, you are wearing a very short skirt! Your mother won't be happy to see you in this skirt. You're going to get an earful when you get home. lie in state 1. John Doe has passed away. His body will lie in state for public tomorrow. raggedy 1. A man with raggedy hair entered the room. Everyone started to look at him. 2. Even though she has money, she always wears weird raggedy clothes. destitute 1. - Ma'am, have you seen this man? - said officer Thompson and showed a picture of a man. - Yes, I think I have. Yesterday, I saw a destitute man in raggedy clothes sitting with a ginger cat in the park. He kind of looked like this one on the picture. 2. The tragedy destroyed many homes and left people destitue. 3. She became destitute after losing everything in poker. We should have helped her with her gambling problems. superintendent 1. The superintendent of our park is going to retire soon. We should find a new one. 2. As the superintendent of the firm, Mr. Andrews does a great job, but as a person, he is just horrible. time-sensitive 1. We have to talk. I have some time-sensitive information. 2. You should act right now if you don't want to lose your chance. This is time-sensitive!

Word practice #1 set yourself up for 1. You should set yourself up for success before the exam. 2. Ann said that Joe didn't get the job because he had set himself up for failure. quill 1. A porcupine will raise its quills to scare an enemy away. 2. His dog was hit by a porcupine's quills. 3. Julie draw a picture of a hedgehog with an apple on its quills. envoy 1. Russian envoys have arrived. 2. I can't really think of any sentences with the word envoy. dead set 1. We are dead set on learning languages. 2. Jeremy said he is dead set on going to a foreign country. 3. The envoys were dead set on discussing this problem. make a covenant 1. The Alliance and the Horde should make a covenant to fight against the Burning Legion. 2. Mrs Pickles made a covenant with her neighbor. They had been in disagreement for ages. geranium 1. Granny planted geraniums in the garden yesterday. 2. He bought a bouquet of geraniums for his wife. 3. The gallery has a painting of a geranium made by an unknown painter. brocade 1. She bought a dress made of beautiful turquoise and gold brocade. 2. The designer is working on a new collection using brocade. 3. Ann couldn't afford a brocade dress. edifice 1. Even though I don't like him, I have to admit that he has built a magnificent edifice. 2. Yesterday, the teacher was talking about some edifice during the lesson. Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention and can't remember the name of the edifice. 3. Could you take a picture of me in front of this impressive brick edifice? podiatrist 1. Mike is a podiatrist. He spends all day touching other people's legs. 2. She is going to make an appointment to see a podiatrist. She has some problems with her feet. steal someone's thunder 1. Lilly thinks you shouldn't have proposed her at Jack and Kate's wedding. You stole their thunder. 2. - Why didn't you tell us about your job promotion? - I didn't want to steal your thunder.

Goose Bumps Most people have experienced goose bumps. It is an involuntary reflex called the pilomotor reflex. Tiny muscles beneath the skin contract and pull our hair to an upright position. This is how we get goose bumps. They occur anywhere that we have hair on our body, but the most common places are our arms and legs. This reflex is a natural reaction to feelings like fear, cold, happiness. Animals experience the pilomotor reflex too. For example, when a cat is frightened by an enemy, the cat's hair will stand on end. It makes the cat look bigger and it may scare away the enemy. The pilomotor reflex can also help animals to stay warm. Many scientists think that the pilomotor reflex is useless for people. It doesn't keep us very warm (although it does prevent some heat from leaving the body), and it doesn't make us look bigger.

Hot Air Balloons What does keep hot air balloons flying? It's a basic principle: hot air goes up and cold air goes down. A hot air balloon has three major parts: the basket, the burner and the envelope. The basket is made of wicker and it's where passengers are. The envelope is color fabric balloon. The burner is above passengers' heads and it gives a huge flame to heat the air in the envelope. The pilot can control the altidute by heating and cooling the air in the envelope. Before launching the balloon, the pilot knows the direction of the wind. So he or she knows where the balloon will go. What if you want to change the direction of the balloon? The air has different layers in which the direction of the wind may be different. If the pilot wants to change the direction of the balloon, he or she just needs to change the altitude. Keep in mind that some days the direction of the wind between layers is negligible. Other days the difference is quite strong. ------ I hope I haven't made a lot of silly mistakes in this text. I don't feel very well and I'm quite sleepy right now.

Learning a language can prevent Alzheimer's disease Today, I've watched a TED Talk about Alzheimer's disease and what we can do to prevent it. Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist and the author of "Still Alice", shared some interesting information. I'm not going to write what exactly happens in our brain that causes Alzheimer's. This is way too challanging to write even in my native language, Russian. We still have no cure for Alzheimer's. Most scientists agree that the cure probably will be a preventative medicine; we will have to do something before reaching a tipping point. Knowing this is actually a good news for us. It means that we can change the way we live to keep us from reaching the tipping point. According to researches, good sleep, healthy food and active lifestyle can prevent Alzheimer's disease. But what if you are already 65 and you haven't done these things? What if you have been burning the candle at both sides for years and you love bacon? What if you are already symptomatic for Alzheimer's? Don't panic! There's one more thing you can do to at least mitigate the disease. You have probably already guessed what this thing is, given the title of the entry. It's learning new things, for example, a new language. So learning a new language not only helps us to communicate with each other, but it also helps to prevent this scary thing called Alzheimer's disease.

Food Trucks Writing about articles I have read seems like a good idea. Articles or some short texts and passages can be about anything, so you end up learning a range variety of vocabularly: animals, art, science, sports etc. It also gives you an idea for a notebook entry when you don't know what to write about. So I'm going to continue to describe what I've read. Today's topic probably isn't as smart as yesterday's, but it's still a good one for practicing English. It's about food trucks. The idea of selling food from a food truck isn't new. You can probably find food trucks or carts in any country selling something like hot dogs or pretzels. But what about more upscale food? Something less simplistic and more fancier, more complex? Apparently, a new trend is taking hold: gourmet food trucks. They sell something you can find in a restaurant and they offer lower prices due to low overhead costs (they don't need to pay rent or hire waiters). Sounds good, right? Well, not everyone is happy about it. Restaurant owners may not like that a competitor can suddenly appears across the street. City officials may also express concerns about safety. The author of the article believes that this trend will continue to grow. The idea is perfect for people who want to be their own boss. You have less risks starting a food truck business than a restaurant. There is always going to be a lot of customers as well. I am not a fan of street food. It can be delicious, but it doesn't look safe to eat. I believe big cities are quite polluted with exhaust fumes. Can it affect street food in a negative way? On the other hand, food trucks are probably good for some big festivals away from cities.