Today’s photo: New Year’s Fireworks from the Sky Tower, Auckland Part 1: Today's word ‘To exceed’ means to be more than. The adjective is ‘excessive’, which means too much. If your speed is excessive, you could be stopped by the police, for instance. The noun is 'excess' and the expression 'in excess of' is a more formal way of saying 'more than'. When your insurance policy includes an 'excess' of $ 1 000, this means that you have to pay the first $ 1 000 of any claim before the insurance company makes a payout - so it's a very important thing to check! Sales exceeded our wildest expectations. He claimed to have acted in self-defence, but it was clear that excessive force had been used. The bank holds deposits in excess of $ 2 bn. Click here for more practice. Part 2: Test Here are FOUR sentences with the word of the day. But only THREE are correct. Which is the Odd One Out? Our aim is certainly to achieve excessive levels of output while minimizing production costs through smart technology. While a full investigation of the accident remains to be completed, it appears clear that excessive speed was a major factor. Researchers concluded that excessive drinking seems to have become an integral part of youth culture in the country. Excessive profits may prove rewarding in the short term but in the longer term may undermine the sustainability of the enterprise. Part 3: Practice Questions: What is excessive about the behaviour of alcoholics, shopaholics and telly addicts? Have you done anything to excess over the holiday? What's the excess on your car, travel or health insurance policies? Part 4: The Idiomatic Five put your foot down Be stricter She lets those kids get away with murder - it’s time she put her foot down. make fun of / poke fun at Make jokes about someone / humiliate someone They used to make fun of me at school because I was the only boy who went to church every week. give the game away Reveal a secret Everything was going well with the surprise party till you gave the game away by telling him you’d see him later. (A bit of) give and take compromise You can’t always have it your own way. Every relationship needs a bit of give and take. take sb for granted Not appreciate what someone does for you My kids always took me for granted, till that time when I was in hospital for a month. Then they realised how much I did for them. Part 5: Kiwi New Year’s Quiz Here’s a text about New Year’s Eve in Auckland. But there are 18 mistakes (I say 17 on the recording, but I found one more!). Some of the mistakes are vocabulary – for example, near the end, it should be ‘keep this up’ – and some of the mistakes are cultural / factual – for instance, in line 16, it should be ‘Sky Tower’. Listen and/or read and see if you can spot the other 15 mistakes. What a year it’s been! 2008 – I have to say, I’m glad to see the backside of it! So, I was especially keen to celebrate my Kiwi New Year here in Auckland. My friends had invited me to a barbecue at their place and asked if each guest could bring a tray, as is traditional for these things. So, I took along a Russian salad that I’d prepared at home in the afternoon. It was a cool evening – actually a little drizzly, but we were still able to sit outside on my friends’ stage, overlooking their garden, because they had big umbrellas to cover the tables. How nice it was to sit and chat with a group of friends, sharing our memories of the year that had passed and our hopes (and fears) for the year to go. A few of my friends were going to stay at their shack on the coast for a few days and invited me to join them - people can be so kind! Soon it was nearly midnight, so we switched on the radio to hear the midnight chimes of Big Ben. Our hosts had thoughtfully chilled the lemonade bottles and prepared our glasses so that we could toast the New Year. It’s always a wonderful moment as we shake hands with each other and wish everyone happy Christmas. What was really nice this year was that we had a great view of Auckland’s Sea Tower with its breathtaking fire display. Last, but not least, we all sang a couple of verses of that traditional Swiss New Year’s song, ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Even after all these years, it still brings tears to my ears! And so, it’s 2009! “Another year over – a new one just begun,” as the old Elvis Presley song goes. Let’s hope it’s a good one! I couldn’t agree more. I just have to make sure I keep at least some of the New Year’s disillusions that I’ve made! I’ve already taken up smoking and given up jogging, so that’s a good start – but it is only January 1st! If only I can make this up for the next 364 days, I’ll really have something to celebrate this time next year! Part 6: Today's online listening: This is an interview from Radio New Zealand with a dermatologist (someone who specialises in the health of the skin) from Newcastle University in the UK called Professor Birch-Machin, who received a lot of publicity in 2008 for his research into an interesting way of reducing sunburn. Vocabulary for the article: ranking / fragile / a placebo / Questions for the article: Choose the most appropriate answer to these questions based on the first 10 minutes of the interview. The researcher found that skin cancer can be reduced by ... recharging your batteries using a cell phone eating tomatoes sunbathing regularly This new approach can serve as a/an ............... existing methods, such as sunscreen replacement for imitation of improvement of addition to This new approach reduces the harmful effects of ............ lycopene free radicals antioxidants ageing Which of these processes increases the bio-availability of the key element in this approach? cooking exercise fresh air relaxation What was the main research method used by the researchers? survey qualitative focus group experiment What was the improvement in protection against sunburn provided by the treatment? 3.3 % 13.3% 30.3% 33% The participants in the study were female because ... the sponsor had requested this their biology was more suitable they were more available sunburn is a more serious problem for women To explain the function of mitochondria, Professor Birch-Machin uses the analogy of ... cell phones batteries cosmetics shopping Extra online practice: Click here for a short programme from the BBC with vocabulary and questions read less