Check your mailbox next week!


Good day!

Some of my friends have already received the face masks distributed as per order by the PM. Be sure to check your mailbox this week or the next!

 

ー初めにー

Today’s Riddle:

If your answer was “a towel”, then you got it right!

Why?

After you take a shower, your body would be wet, but your towel is dry. After using it, your body is dry, but your towel is wet. Easy!

For this week, here’s the riddle:

“Mr. Smith has 4 daughters. Each of his daughters has a brother. How many children does Mr. Smith have?”

 *Hint

I would usually advise against this, but if you translate this to Japanese, it should make the riddle much easier!

 

ー続いてー

Today’s Conversational Point:

For today, we will be talking about pauses before we speak in a conversation. I’ve read articles and watched videos about it, but here are two sources that I found to be very helpful. If you have time, give them a try, too!

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/the-incredible-thing-we-do-during-conversations/422439/

 

Basically, it’s saying that it takes about 2 seconds for the next person to answer another person’s question or to continue where the conversation was going. The author of the article above observed people from different countries speaking different languages and has came to the conclusion that in almost all languages, the duration of the pause is almost the same. So, the next time you speak English, try to think that the conversation is in Japanese, except you’re speaking in English. Hopefully, it would help you lessen the pause in between!

 

 

ー最後にー

Today’s Column:

https://euobserver.com/coronavirus/148092

For today’s column, let’s get a little political.

In the article above, it says that the EU is slowly softening its lockdown. It won’t go back to where it was before when things were still normal. Instead, it’s going to a new and vague/unclear normal. No one know what that really means as of now. One thing for sure is that even after the lockdown, some countries would still enforce people traveling inbound would be put under quarantine. Also, it is mentioned in the article that President Trump will stop funding WHO. What are your opinions regarding these matters?

Remember to take care of yourself!

Ryo