[63] The top 20 Airline ratings have been judged

TRAVEL NEWS WIRE…

The top 20 Airline ratings have been judged by Travel and Leisure magazine. Asian airlines came in the top of the rankings, followed by many Arabian Peninsula airlines. Out of 76 global airlines, the number one rank went to Singapore Airlines. Number two was Air New Zealand, which has a new “cuddle class” seating arrangement that allows couples to recline across three economy class seats. Emirates took third place, with its showers in the first class cabin, though there were some complaints about passenger service and pricing. Fourth place went to Korean Air, and fifth place to Cathay Pacific. European and U.S. carriers had lower ratings. JAL and ANA were not in the top five, but stayed in the top 20. For more information on airline rankings, check http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-best-airlines

THIS WEEK’S NATURAL PHRASE

keep me posted

Kelly: Did you hear that Christopher is in the hospital? He’s stable but they’re going to operate on him tomorrow.

Taylor: I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll try to see him on the weekend. In the meantime, keep me posted.

Explanation: The phrase “keep me posted” is a way of asking someone to give you more information later. You want to know if anything changes.

THIS WEEK’S MEDICAL PHRASE

UBI

Paramedic: We have a patient coming in with light injuries. The patient is conscious but isn’t giving us much information.

Doctor Jackson: How did the injuries happen?

Paramedic: It seems that it’s a U.B.I.

Explanation: A UBI is a slang term that emergency room staff sometimes use. The letters U-B-I stand for an “unexplained beer injury” which happens when drunk people fall down or somehow injure themselves, but can’t remember what happened.

THIS WEEK’S EMAIL PHRASE

silver bullet

Dear Timothy:

We’ve tried many different designs for fixing the broken heating system. Nothing seems to work right, and the repairs are very expensive. I’m afraid there’s no silver bullet for this problem.

Explanation: A “silver bullet” means one easy solution to a problem. The phrase comes from the legend that a werewolf can be killed by one silver bullet. But if a situation is difficult, we can say “there’s no silver bullet” for the problem.