Brainwash: Not as Clean as You Think

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Materials Daily News

Intermediate

Exercise 1

Vocabulary

gaslight

Noun

ˈɡæslaɪt

light produced from burning gas

This 19th century house still has gaslights.

wire

Verb

ˈwaɪər

to connect somebody/something to a piece of equipment

The microphone is wired to the speaker.

star

Verb

stɑːr

if a film/movie, play, etc. stars somebody, that person has one of the main parts

‘The Titanic’ stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

convince

Verb

kənˈvɪns

to make somebody/yourself believe that something is true

He had a hard time convincing his boss that he was correct.

They convinced us that there was sufficient advantage for us in this deal.

Her testimony convinced the jury that the man was guilty.

She tried to convince me to give up working abroad.

dim

Verb

dɪm

if a light dims or if you dim it, it becomes or you make it less bright

Could you at least dim the lights – I’m trying to sleep.

pretend

Verb

prɪˈtɛnd

to behave in a particular way, in order to make other people believe something that is not true

The little girl likes to pretend she is a butterfly.

He loves pretending to be a soldier.

The CEO pretended that he knew nothing about his company's loss.

It's hard to pretend you enjoy a job that you don't like.

Please pretend you didn't hear anything about this.

He really didn't want to attend the class, so he pretended to be sick.

Don't pretend you don't know!

The children pretended that they were pirates.

sanity

Noun

ˈsænəti

the state of having a normal healthy mind

It’s really hard to keep your sanity with all this stress.

mind game

Noun

maɪnd ɡeɪm

something that you do or say in order to make somebody feel less confident, especially to gain an advantage for yourself

Stop playing mind games with me!

Exercise 2

Article

AI Generated Audio––:–– / ––:––

Brainwash: Not as Clean as You Think

Today we are talking about expressions to describe people who are not in their right minds. People who are not in their right minds are not thinking in a normal, healthy way.

You might say they are brainwashed.

There are many types of brainwashing.

To gaslight someone is also a type of brainwashing. A gaslight is a light powered by gas. They were common before electricity was wired into people’s homes and neighborhoods.

So, why is gaslight a type of brainwashing?

This expression comes from the film “Gaslight” starring the actress Ingrid Bergman. Bergman marries a man who wants to convince her that she is crazy. He does this by dimming the gaslights in their London home. And then he pretends he doesn’t notice.