Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.
Preparation
Transcript
The first item in the news today is the recent elections that took place across the country. This was a crucial vote, which may see a dramatic change in how the country develops over the coming years. Overall, a 54.5 per cent voter turnout was registered. This represents an increase of 11 per cent over the previous election and six per cent above the average for the past 50 years. There has also been a slight change in demographics, with an increase in youth turnout in the 18- to 24- and 24- to 29-year-old brackets. Despite this increase, young people are still less likely to vote than older people; 84 per cent of voters in the 70 plus age group came to the polling stations.
Moving on, the global digital powerhouse ONK today posted quarterly results which were above forecast. Back in March, Tim Bolling, CEO, issued a profit warning over fears that there would be losses following the recall of their leading product, the 40d device. In fact, the company posted quarterly revenue of US$14.8 billion which represents an increase of 11 per cent from the same quarter a year ago. They also announced that they had sold 21 million 40d devices over the quarter. The company has provided the information that with this level of revenue, there will be a gross margin of 34 to 35 per cent, ultimately leading to a US$1.20 per share cash dividend awarded to shareholders.
And in our final news item we ask, will we soon be saying goodbye to coins and notes forever? The nationwide trend of using cashless payment options is increasing. There are a number of reasons for this development. A key reason for this is a growing interest in reducing the number of items people need to leave their homes with. As almost everyone carries a smartphone with them, and many people also have smartwatches, the ability to pay for things using one of these two technologies is particularly appealing. More and more retailers are accepting cashless payments and in some cases they've stopped accepting cash altogether.
I have problem with the sound, don't hear anything...(((
Hello NatSta,
I'm sorry to hear you're having problems with hearing the sound. I've checked the page and the audio is working correctly so it must be a local issue. If possible, try accessing the page on a different device or using a different browser - sometimes this helps. You might also check your security settings to ensure they are not blocking multimedia components.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Peter,
Thank you. Finally i fixed it. Don't know even what it was..
Now, in my country there is a socialist government that want to statize the economy, but many people thinks that it's a bad politics because it can raise corruption and raise lost of jobs.
Hi guys, I am a little bit confused as I dont know if this has happened to any of you before, but in some exercises the answer of the questions does not seem the appropiate. In task 1 , on the third question that is about ONK, why the correct answer is "is a strong successful company with offices all over the world" when it does not mention nothing about other offices of ONK around the world?
Please if anyone could be so kind to help me to figure out why that is the correct answer?
Hello Alexandra169,
In the first sentence of the second paragraph the newsreader says this:
'Global', of course tells you that it has offices all over the world and 'powerhouse' tells you it is a strong and successful company.
The transcript is available on the page for you to read.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Oh yes! I just realised it, you are right! Thank you so much for your time x
Write a short overview of statistics, figures or trends that you are familiar with.
In my opinion about this topic is, now a days in the politic system doesn't work well, because they only are working interest in benefit themself .
Therefore, young people don t interest in that system , they only want to earn money for they can covert their need it, also young people more and more underdo a new technology system because is more easy and comfortable such as contactless and credit card.
In September 2022, political elections to renew the Italian Parliament took place across the country in Italy. In fact, in 2021 the former Prime Minister Draghi's government went into a sudden crisis and ended its task before its natural term of five years. The voter turnout register was 64 per cent that has been the worst result since Italy became a republic, and 9 points under the previous negative record. There were two coalitions, the right-centre wing and the left-centre wing, plus some other minor political parties and movements. The first won the elections and named as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is also Fratelli d'Italia's leader, on of the most important political party of the coalition. Last, but not less important to remember, Giorgia Meloni also represents the first woman to have been Prime Minister in the history of Italian republic.
My country has been going through an economic crisis for ten years the currency is beginning to drop and is having an impact on our and every town in our country the things are getting expensive and the elections are coming soon and there is way more things to come in the future