3 ways to upgrade democracy for the 21st century

Max Rashbrooke

https://www.ted.com/talks/max_rashbrooke_3_ways_to_upgrade_democracy_for_the_21st_century?language=en

အမှန်ပြောရရင် ကိုယ် စိတ်မဝင်စားဆုံး ဘာသာရပ်တွေထဲမှာ ဒီဟာလည်း ပါပါတယ်။ ဒါပေမဲ့ အင်္ဂလိပ်စာ လေ့လာတဲ့နေရာမှာ ဘယ်အကြောင်းအရာကိုပဲဖြစ်ဖြစ် ပြစ်ပယ်ထားလို့ မရပါဘူး။ ဒီတော့လည်း နားထောင်ဖြစ်/ဖတ်ဖြစ်သွားတယ်ဆိုပါတော့။ ဘာပဲဖြစ်ဖြစ် အသိအမြင်သစ်တွေ ရလိုက်တာ အမြတ်ပါ။

#C1+ #IELTS #Listening #Politics #Democracy #Government #Ted

1. get onto sth = to start talking about a subject

Let's get onto the next item on our agenda.
How did we get onto this subject?

2. supposedly /səˈpəʊzɪdli/ (adv) according to what is generally thought or believed but not known for certain; as some people believe or say, although you may not agree with this

The novel is supposedly based on a true story.
a poem supposedly written by Shakespeare
Police have found the supposedly stolen car.
The house is supposedly haunted.
Supposedly the process causes no environmental damage.

syn: allegedly /əˈledʒɪdli/, presumably, ostensibly, professedly

3. fast-forward to sth | + adv./prep. (v) to move quickly forwards in time, especially to a later point in a story; to direct one's attention towards a particular time or event, ignoring intervening material

The action then fast-forwards to Ettore as a young man.
Fast-forward to the summer of 2008
Fast-forward to York at the turn of the century.

4. interest (n) a good result or an advantage for sb/sth

to promote/protect/safeguard somebody's interests
She was acting entirely in her own interests.
These reforms were in the best interests of local government.
It is in the public interest that these facts are made known.

5. live through sth (v) to experience a disaster or other unpleasant situation and survive it; to experience a difficult situation or event

He has lived through two world wars.
She could never know the pain and fear this child had lived through.

6. deliver (v) to do what you promised to do or what you are expected to do; to produce or provide what people expect you to

He has promised to finish the job by June and I am sure he will deliver.
~ on sth = She always delivers on her promises.
~ sth = If you can't deliver improved sales figures, you're fired.
The team delivered a stunning victory last night.
Successive administrations have failed to deliver adequate funding for education.
the failure of successive governments to deliver economic growth

7. deferential (towards sb) /ˌdefəˈrenʃl/ (adj) showing that you respect sb/sth, especially sb older or more senior than you

He was always deferential towards his mentor.
a deferential tone
She is always deferential to/towards anyone in authority.

syn: respectful, civil, polite, courteous, considerate, obedient, submissive, dutiful, ingratiating

8. deliberation /dɪˌlɪbəˈreɪʃn/ (n) (formal) the process of carefully considering or discussing sth

After ten hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of 'not guilty'.
The deliberations o the committee are completely confidential.
After much deliberation, Roy accepted the offer.

syn: consideration, thought, reflection, speculation, calculation, forethought, circumspection, cogitation

9. in pocket (A) provided with funds

(B) in the position of having made a profit

[Oxford in/out of pocket = having gained/lost money as a result of sth

We're in pocket on that deal.
That one mistake left him thousands of pounds out of pocket.

Cambridge in pocket = having more than you started with after an activity involving money]

10. polling /ˈpəʊlɪŋ/ (n) (A) the activity of voting

Polling has been heavy since 8 a.m.
Polling took place over two days.
polling hours/irregularities
heavy/light polling (= with many or few people voting)

(B) the act of asking questions as part of an opinion poll

Our polling indicates that this is a popular issue with women.

11. innately (adv) according to a quality or ability that you are born with

He believes that humans are innately violent.
Racism is the belief that one race is innately superior to another.
the army's innately conservative values

12. consensus (n-sing/U) an opinion that all members of a group agree with

~ (about/on sth) = She is skilled at achieving consensus on sensitive issues.
There is a growing consensus of opinion on this issue.
an attempt to reach a consensus
There now exists a broad political consensus in favour of economic reform.
consensus politics (= which people in general agree with)
~ (among sb) (about/on sth) = There is a general consensus among teachers about the need for greater security in schools.
~ (that...) = There seems to be a consensus that the plan should be rejected.

syn: agreement, unanimity, unity, harmony, assent, concord

13. draw sth <-> up (v) to make or write sth that needs careful thought or planning

to draw up a contract/list
Guidelines have been drawn up for dealing with emergencies.

14. teeth (pl) effective force or power; the power to produce a desired effect

This committee can make recommendations but is has no real teeth.
that law has no teeth
We need an Environment Agency that really has teeth.

15. weight (n) (A) ~ (of sth) = a great responsibility or worry

The full weight of responsibility falls on her.
The news was certainly a weight off my mind (= I did not have to worry about it any more).
Finally telling the truth was a great weight off my shoulders.

syn: burden

(B) importance, influence or strength

The many letters of support added weight to the campaign.
The President has now offered to lend his weight to the project.
Your opinion carries weight with the boss.
How can you ignore the sheer weight of medical opinion?
The weight of evidence against her is overwhelming.

16. participatory /pɑːˌtɪsɪˈpeɪtəri/ (adj) (usu before N) allowing everyone in a society, business, etc. to give their opinions and to help make decisions

Participatory democracy is a fundamental principle of cooperative businesses.
Participatory sports are becoming more popular.
a participatory democracy
a participatory management style
Decentralisation and participatory budgeting challenge neoliberalism.

17. budgeting /ˈbʌdʒɪtɪŋ/ (n-U) the fact of being careful about the amount of money you spend; the process of planning to spend an amount of money for a particular purpose; financial planning

Living on his income takes careful budgeting.
We have to continue to exercise caution in our budgeting for the current year.

syn: plan, estimate, allocate, ration, apportion

18. trade-off (between A and B) (n) the act of balancing two things that are opposed to each other

a trade-off between increased production and a reduction in quality
There is a trade-off between the benefits of the drug and the risk of side effects.

19. ward /wɔːd/ (n) (in Britain) one of the areas into which a city is divided and which elects and is represented by a member of the local council

syn: district, area, division, zone, parish, precinct

20. consensus (n) an opinion that everyone in a group agrees with or accepts

a lack of consensus about/on the aims of the project
There is a consensus among teachers that children should have a broad understanding of the world.
the current consensus of opinion
The general consensus was that technology was a good thing.
the consensus politics of the fifties
Canada worked on building a consensus among national governments.
There was no clear consensus about the future direction of the company.

syn: agreement, unanimity /ˌjuːnəˈnɪməti/, unity, harmony, assent, concord

21. put up sth | put sth <-> forward (v) to suggest an idea, etc. for other people to discuss

to put up an argument/a case/a proposal
He rejected all the proposals put forward by the committee.
It was Clare who first put up the idea of a concert to raise money for the school.

22. knock sb back (v) to prevent sb from achieving sth or making progress, especially by rejecting them or sth that they suggest or ask; to reject/refuse

You cannot possibly knock back such an offer.

23. refine sth (v) to improve sth by making small changes to it

She has refined her playing technique over the years.
This theory still needs a little refining.
Car makers are constantly refining their designs.

syn: improve, perfect, polish, temper, elevate, hone /həʊn/, cultivate

24. yield (v) to produce a result, answer, or piece of information

Our research has only recently begun to yield important results.
Higher-rate deposit accounts yield good returns.
He reluctantly yielded to their demands.
I yielded to temptation and had a chocolate bar.

25. peril /ˈperəl/ (formal or literary) (A) (n-U) serious danger

The country's economy is now in grave peril.
She seemed blissfully unaware of the peril she was in.
Jensen feared that his life was in peril.

(B) ~ (of sth) (n, usu pl) the fact of sth being dangerous or harmful; the ~ of (doing) sth = danger or problems connected with a particular activity

a warning about the perils of drug abuse
the peril of air travel

26. populism /ˈpɒpjəlɪzəm/ (n-U) a type of politics that claims to represent the opinions and wished of ordinary people

Their ideas are simple populism - tax cuts and higher wages.

27. descend into sth (v) (no passive) (formal) to gradually get into a bad state

The country was descending into chaos.
Filming descended into chaos after further arguments.

28. indigenous (adj) (formal) belonging to a particular place rather than coming to it from somewhere else

the indigenous peoples/languages of the area
~ to = The kangaroo is indigenous to Australia.
Blueberries are indigenous to America.
the many indigenous cultures which existed in Siberia

syn: native, original, aboriginal  /ˌæbəˈrɪdʒənl/

29. agile (adj) (A) able to move quickly and easily

a strong and agile athlete
The ferret is an agile hunter.

syn: nimble, active, quick, lively, swift, brisk, supple, lithe, limber, spry

(B) able to think quickly and in an intelligent way

an agile mind/brain
For a man of 80, he was remarkably agile mind.

syn: acute, sharp, quick, bright, prompt, alert, clever, quick-witted, nimble

30. nimble /ˈnɪmbl/ (nimbler, nimblest) (adj) (A) able to move quickly and easily

You need nimble fingers for that job.
She was extremely nimble on ther feet.

syn: agile

(B) (of the mind) able to think and understand quickly

His nimble mind calculated the answer before I could key the numbers into my computer.
a nimble mind/brain/wit

syn: alert, ready, bright, sharp, keen, active, smart

31. in the face of sth (A) despite problems, difficulties, etc.

She showed great courage in the face of danger.
The campaign continued in the face of great opposition.
It is amazing how Daniels has survived in the face of such strong opposition from within the party.
They won in the face of still competition from all over the country.

(B) as a result of sth

He was unable to deny the charges in the face of new evidence.

32. disruption (to sb/sth) (v) a situation in which it is difficult for sth to continue in the normal way; the act of stopping sth from continuing in the normal way

We aim to help you move house with minimum disruption to yourself.
disruptions to rail services
The strike caused serious disruptions.
The accident on the main road through town is causing widespread disruption for motorists.
There will be some disruption to traffic while the work is in progress.

syn: disturbance, disorder, confusion, interference, disarray, interruption, stoppage

33. disproportionately /ˌdɪsprəˈpɔːʃənətli/ (adj) in a way that is too large or too small when compared with sth else

The lower-paid spend a disproportionately large amount of their earnings on food.
his disproportionately large head

34. engage (with sth/sb) (v) to become involved with and try to understand sth/sb; to make an effort to understand and deal with sb/sth

She has the ability to engage with young minds.
Are you so tired you don't have the energy to engage with your kids?
She is accused of failing to engage with the problems of her staff.

35. entrenched (adj) entrenched attitudes or feelings have existed for a long time and are difficult to change; entrenched ideas are so fixed or have existed for so long that they cannot be changed; strongly established and not likely to change - often used to show disapproval

It's very difficult to change attitudes that have become so deeply entrenched over the years.
The organization was often criticized for being too entrenched in its views.
Ageism is entrenched in our society.
entrenched attitudes/positions/interests, etc.

syn: fixed, set, firm, rooted, ingrained, deep-seated, deep-rooted, indelible

36. propaganda /ˌprɒpəˈɡændə/ (n-U) (usu disapproving) ideas or statements that may be false or exaggerated and that are used in order to gain support for a political leader, party, etc.

enemy propaganda
a propaganda campaign/war/exercise
a piece of anti-government propaganda
The movie was later used by the ruling party for propaganda purposes.

syn: brainwashing, ballyhoo, information, advertising, promotion, publicity, hype

37. justify (v) (A) to show that sb/sth is right or reasonable

~ (sb/sth) doing sth = How can they justify paying such huge salaries?
~ sth = Her success had justified the faith her teachers had put in her.

(B) ~ sth/yourself (to sb) | ~ (sb/sth) doing sth = to give an explanation or excuse for sth or for doing sth

The Prime Minister has been asked to justify the decision to Parliament.
You don't need to justify yourself to me.

syn: defend, explain, support, excuse