Improve your vocabulary with an advanced news story
This is a blog post that I wrote in 2014 with vocabulary for advanced English students. The story is old but the vocabulary is still useful! Enjoy this advanced English vocabulary story.
Samsung unveils new smartwatch
Samsung has entered the newly emerging smartwatch market by unveiling its multi-function timepiece, the Galaxy Gear. It is a digital watch with a difference.
Wearers can make telephone calls, receive emails and take photographs. It can also run dozens of Android apps on its 1.6-inch screen. Users navigate through different screens and functions using swipes.
What’s more, it comes in a range of vibrant colors that add a sci-fi feel to its stainless steel body. The device will be on sale from September 25th and it comes with a $299 price tag.
Samsung beat its main competitor Apple to the market. Industry insiders expect Apple to reveal details of its smartwatch within a week or two. Analysts have had mixed reactions to the Galaxy Gear.
Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates suggests the product is overpriced. He said Samsung would need to price it at under $100 to get mass-market appeal. He added: “At $300, that’s probably as much as most people will pay for a phone itself.”
Independent analyst Jeff Kagan said the Gear “is another step into the future” and that Samsung continues to “push the innovation envelope.” He predicted it would be as popular as Samsung’s smartphones and tablets. A Samsung spokesperson said:
“We have created something incredible. You don’t need to get your phone out anymore. Gear takes the entirety of your digital world and places it right where you can see.”
High-level English vocabulary
unveil verb – to reveal; to show
navigate verb – to direct or manage on its course.
vibrant adjective – vigorous; energetic; Vibrant is often used to describe very bright and exciting colors.
mixed reactions – situations where people reacted differently.
“Lawmakers give mixed reactions to Obama’s Syria speech.” = Some lawmakers thought it was a positive speech but some thought it wasn’t good.
OR
1 person has 2 feelings (reactions)
“I got my first car when I was 17. My mother had mixed reactions about it. She liked that I was becoming more independent but she didn’t like me driving too much because I was still young and it was a little dangerous.”
innovation noun – the act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods.
push the envelope – To attempt to extend the current limits of performance. To innovate, or go beyond commonly accepted boundaries. “TV shows are really pushing the envelope by showing so much sex and violence today.”
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