Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

February is a special month for football fans in America. The upcoming Super Bowl LVIII will be held on Sunday, February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas. This will be the first Super Bowl to be played in the state of Nevada. Are you familiar with football terms? How about testing yourself on the following football terms? 🏈🏈🏈       1.    _________________ is a tactic used by the defense to disrupt pass attempts by the offense.       2.    What do you call the zone inside the 20-yard line on the opponent's side of the field?   _______________ zone       3.    In gridiron football, “SAFETY” is the position on the (defense    or     offense). *Choose the answer.       4.    When a player touches a loose ball while unsuccessfully attempting to gain possession, we call it to “____________” the ball. It most frequently occurs when a kick or punt returner fa...

Quite a few English learners find it difficult or confusing to use heteronyms . Heteronyms are two or more words that are spelled identically but have different sounds and meanin gs, such as tear meaning “rip” (and being pronounced /teər/) and tear meaning “liquid from the eye” (and being pronounced /t ɪ ə r/ )   Try to fill in the following blanks with heteronyms.     1.    Phil thought it was time to pop the question to Janet. So he decided to ______________ a nice ______________ to his girl. *hint: the word begins with the letter “p”         2.    More people ______________ in the ______________ than in the mountains. *hint: the word begins with the letter “d”       3.    The insurance was _______________ for the _____________ in his hospital bed. *hint: the word begins with the letter “i”       4.    I had to ___________ the _____________ to a series o...

Herbs, Food Ingredients, and Health It is natural to become physically weaker as one ages. However, it is possible to stay younger and healthier than your physical age by what you eat at your table every day. More and more medical research and studies have shown the medicinal properties and benefits of herbs and healthy diet. As of this new year of 2024, let us stay healthy by looking into a variety of herbs one by one, their nutrition facts, and healthy diet so that we are able to lead a life with more confidence and constantly get ourselves back on track with aplomb even if we happen to deviate from the optimal state of health.   #4. Let’s go cocoNUTS ! 😉 Are you a big fan of tropical fruits? Afraid of too much sugar contained in most tropical fruits? Well, today we are going to explore the priceless benefits of this precious tropical fruit COCONUT, which is the edible fruit of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera), a tree of the palm family. It has been argued that 1. ...

Every answer today is a proper name that starts and ends with the same two letters. As a hint, the answers today are in alphabetical order.   Ex. Queen of Ithaca, in Homer's Odyssey --> PE NELO PE .   1. Capital of the Netherlands   2. Member of the Church of England   3. Wife of David, and mother of Solomon, in the Bible   4. 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman   5. Largest city on the south island of New Zealand   6. Way of connecting local-area computers   7. Planet beyond Uranus   8. People who live in Dakar in West Africa   9. Largest city in Canada   10. Capital of Poland, as the Polish spell it     Answer Keys 1.   Am sterd am 2.   An glic an 3.   Ba thshe ba 4.   Ca sablan ca 5.   Ch ristchur ch 6.   Et hern et 7.   Ne ptu ne 8.   Se negale se 9.   To ron to 10.    ...

Herbs, Food Ingredients, and Health   It is natural to become physically weaker as one ages. However, it is possible to stay younger and healthier than your physical age by what you eat at your table every day. More and more medical research and studies have shown the medicinal properties and benefits of herbs and healthy diet.   As of this new year of 2024, let us stay healthy by looking into a variety of herbs one by one, their nutrition facts, and healthy diet so that we are able to lead a life with more confidence and constantly get ourselves back on track with aplomb even if we happen to deviate from the optimal state of health.   #3. Flaxseed As well aware, when women reach their mid-age phase in life, quite a lot of them start to suffer a variety of overwhelming symptoms, such as mood swings, insomnia, hot flushes, night sweats, frequent trips to the bathroom, anxiety attacks, weight gain, difficulty in concentrating, and you name it. Today, we are fo...

As I close the book “ The Illiterate ” by Ágota Kristóf Jean J. Lee   This short memoir of the Hungarian writer Ágota Kristóf titled “The Illiterate” has stolen my heart and soul. Reading the author’s life story, which was full of passion to read and write, I came to realize it could be all our stories. We all have our own mother languages through which we truly define ourselves, create and elaborate our thoughts, reinforce our faith or beliefs, discuss, argue, complain, pray, and above all, to show your love.  Then, one day, if life’s journey or destiny happens to take us to some place where our mother tongue is not in use for any reasons that we could wholeheartedly accept or never understand, the world we used to have naturally belonged to is forced to get ready for a drastic change. A handful of exciting days sporadically hidden in the midst of vast, open sea of a new language and culture. Grandparents or parents in the immigrant families feel themselves like the ill...

It is natural to become physically weaker as one ages. However, it is possible to stay younger and healthier than your physical age by what you eat at your table every day. More and more medical research and studies have shown the medicinal properties and benefits of herbs and healthy diet.   As of this new year of 2024, let us stay healthy by looking into a variety of herbs one by one, their nutrition facts, and healthy diet so that we are able to lead a life with more confidence and constantly get ourselves back on track with aplomb even if we happen to deviate from the optimal state of health.   #2. Dates Dates are full of several vitamins and minerals. In addition, dates are high in 1. ___________, which benefits your digestive health by preventing constipation. Furthermore, dates are beneficial for 2. _________-pressure control. Fiber slows digestion and may help prevent the levels of 3._____________________ from spiking too high after eating. In other words, da...

Today's puzzle is sort of a true/false test. Every answer is a familiar two-word phrase or name with the initials T- F-.   Ex. Rest for a few minutes --> T AKE F IVE   1. The I.R.S.'s 1040, for example   2. Like an 800-number telephone call   3. Basketball infraction involving unsportsmanlike behavior   4. Variant of a sport in which tackling isn't allowed   5. African insect that causes sleeping sickness   6. Who's said to leave money under a pillow for a child   7. Legal entity in which assets are set aside for a loved one   8. Two-pronged device to help musicians determine pitch   9. Idaho city on the Snake River   10. Former "S.N.L." comedian who created "30 Rock"   11. Where the action is on a stock exchange   12. Amount that a cabbie charges   13. What "Tempus fugit" means in English   14. Our current year, Two thousand ___     A...