Idiom of the Week: It’s a small world.

Ken: You’ll never guess who I saw at the grocery store. Ted: Who? Ken: My old roommate from college! Ted: But didn’t you go to college in California? Ken: Yeah! Small world, huh? We say the world is small because we keep meeting the same people by coincidence. What...

Word of the Week: Broke (文無し)

Maurine: Oh no, I forgot my wallet. Could you lend me three dollars for some coffee? Catherine: I would, but I’m completely broke! Sorry! When you are broke, you have no money at all. If you knock a vase off of a table and it breaks, it is not broke; it is broken....

Picture of the Week: Persimmons

What is orange and round and sweet, and eaten in the fall? Persimmons are well-known in Japan, but actually they can be grown in many other places as well, such as the U.S., Europe, and Brazil. America also has its own species of persimmon, and there are other...

Phrase of the Week: Rags to Riches

Newscaster A: In a Dickensian twist, the orphan child turned out to be a long lost princess and is now living in the lap of luxury. Newscaster B: She’s really gone from rags to riches. A “rags to riches” story tells about someone who starts out very poor and ends up...

TOEIC Practice Question of the Week

We were forced to cancel the contract with them because their work did not meet our expectant. Find the mistake: A. were forced to B. contract with them C. did not meet D. our expectant “Expectant” is an adjective describing a person who expects something. (For...