Trivia of the Week: Colors

Sometimes the colors we see when we look at things can be influenced by culture. An American picturing a tiger sees orange and black stripes, but the Hanshin Tigers have yellow and black stripes. The sun on the Japanese flag is red, but Americans usually color the sun...

Idiom of the Week: Sick as a Dog

“How are you?” “I’m sick as a dog. Don’t touch me; it’s contagious.” Dogs are not particularly more prone to sickness than other animals, but when someone is very sick, we say they are as sick as a dog. One theory about the origin of this phrase is that it is because...

Word of the Week: Recently

Bill: Ted and I used to hang out together all the time, but recently he never wants to go anywhere with me. Frank: I know. He’s gotten really busy with work lately. “Recently” or “lately” mean “in the period of time leading up to the present.” The starting point may...

Phrase of the Week: No Such Thing

Beth: Did you hear that? I think this place is haunted. Jan: Don’t be silly. There’s no such thing as ghosts. Do you believe in ghosts? Aliens? If you don’t, you can say that there is no such thing as ghosts or aliens. It means they do not exist.  ...

TOEIC Practice Question of the Week

Unfortunately we were randomly selected to have our taxes auditing. A. Unfortunately B. randomly C. selected to D. auditing 間違っている部分はどれですか? 「残念ながら、うちの会社が税務監査に選ばれてしまった。」 税務監査をするのではなく、監査されるので、「Our taxes will be audited」となります。「We will have our carpet...