- Refugees
This once-homeless 8-year-old worked his way to victory
Tanitoluwa Adewumi, who goes by Tani, isn't a typical 8-year-old. Last March, Tani won the New York State chess championship for kindergarten to third-grade players. Most young chess champions come from wealthy families and have private chess tutors. But Tani trained for the competition while his family lived in a homeless shelter. When he won, Tani had only been playing chess for about a year.
Tani's family moved to America from Nigeria in 2017. They were refugees, fleeing their country because they feared that terrorists would target them for being Christians. But life in America wasn't easy for them. They found themselves in New York City without a home.
Tani began attending a local public elementary school where a teacher taught him how to play chess. Tani enjoyed the game so much that he asked his mom if he could join the chess club. But his family could not afford the membership fee. So his mother wrote the school a letter that persuaded the head of the chess club to waive the fee.
Language Lab
champion n.
someone or something (such as a team or an animal) that has won a contest or competition especially in sports
- The beauty pageant champion will win a $100,000 prize.
- The movie Rocky tells the story of a boxer who fought hard to become a champion.
championship n.
an important competition that decides which player or team is the best in a particular sport, game, etc.
- The team didn't win the championship by pure luck, but by hard work and determination.
- The tennis player successfully retained her championship this year.
shelter n.
a structure that covers or protects people or things
- The school gym was turned into a temporary shelter after the earthquake.
- Diane lives in a shelter for abused women after she ran away from her husband.
- We took shelter in a cave from the rainstorm.
- The trees gave the passersby shelter from the sun.
refugee n.
someone who has been forced to leave a country because of war or for religious or political reasons
- The conditions in the refugee shelter are terrible. It is overly crowded and people are getting sick.
refuge
/ˈrɛˌfjuːʤ/
shelter or protection from danger or trouble
- We took refuge in a basement when the tornado hit.
waive v.
/ˈweɪv/
to officially say that you will not use or require something that you are allowed to have or that is usually required
- The school board decided to waive the tuition fee of these disadvantaged students.
- The maintenance fee of the checking account will be waived if you open a savings account.
waive
- The daughter waived all her rights to her parent's estate because she's very rich already.
Info Cloud
topic: uphill battle 非常堅難的戰役
Hello friends, welcome to info cloud. For many people who are experiencing financial difficulties, life can be an uphill battle,because they have to face a lot of difficult situations and challenges.
Just like the word uphill suggests an uphill battle implies that you have to exert more effort or work harder to get where you want to go.
And also the word battle just means a fight, which implies there are struggles, pains and hardships in the situation because it’s just like you are fighting the enemy while moving up the hill.
As you could imagine, an uphill battle is not a fun experience, it is indeed very serious and painful. The entrepreneur’s road to success could be an uphill battle.
Uphill battle can be used to describe any situation that is very serious, very challenging in the odds of success are stacked against the person in that situation.
For example, the defense team faces an uphill battle in court.From the sentence, we can tell that they will have to do a lot to prove their client’s innocence.
