English Audio Request

This article was published in the guardian on the 12th of June 2005
This idea dates back to 1997
a topical question
a bare statement of facts
current events
current issues
nowadays
the world today
the text deals with the question of
the journalist raises the question of
he analyses the reasons why
this passage throws light on
this text casts a new light on
the author starts with a ..., he then focuses on..., next he passes on to.../turns to...
the first point we shall focus on is

As the author says
In the author's own words
to quote but one significant example
He claims that
He lays emphasis on
He reflects on
The author's stance on
He gives us to understand that
to arouse controversy
contrasting opinions
the heart of the matter
at first sight, it looks like..., but on second thoughts...
There is no denying that
granted that
seeing that
that is to say
namely
in other words/to put it differently
to be related to
to be justified in thinking that
by comparison
by contrast / to draw a parallel
in short / in a word
All things considered, we can come to the conclusion that

If we talk about the situation in
an efficient decision would be
New developments are likely to happen
What we know for sure is that we have today no idea of
The matter is difficult
It is not very easy nowadays to know exactly what the best decision would be
In my opinion
On the one hand / on the other hand
First of all / Above all / then / finally
There are two different priorities : one could be summarised as... and the other one as...
to demand
hazards / Hazardous
standards
to take chances
to set an example
to reverse the trend

The analysts provide us with a number of solutions
Three points stand out about this issue
If we consider the question from different angles
One can point out the drawbacks on the one hand and the advantages on the other
One can tackle this issue by means of several approaches
The different stages of the action
I think / I guess / I mean / In my opinion / One usually thinks
it occurred to me that
I seem to remember him saying so
to pay attention to
to investigate a matter
there is no evidence that
there is some evidence that
I'm not exactly sure what you mean
to increase in scale