Top 10 Lists for News, Movies and Pigeons

AS IT IS 2015-12-25 Top 10 Lists for News, Movies and Pigeons

This is the time of the year for top 10 lists.

The end of the year produces lists that cover: top news stories, top entertainment stories and top sports stories.

Other lists cover more unusual topics. Some that caught our eye include:  the Top 10 Heroes, the 10 Most “Generous’ Nations, the Richest People in the World, and the 10 Reasons Pigeons Are Unappreciated.

As for pigeons, listverse.com’s reasons these birds should be loved more include: People have been raising them for 6,000 years and there are some 350 breeds. Who knew?

CNN puts out a list every year of The Top 10 Heroes for volunteer work. Leading the list this year was Maggie Doyne of New Jersey¹.

Doyne, a 28-year-old, turned $5,000 in earnings² from her teen-age babysitting days to buy land in Nepal. On that land, she set up a school, women’s center and home for children.

Here are some of the top 10 lists for 2015.

The website top100songscenter.com listed “Hello” by Adele; “Sorry” by Justin Bieber, and “Hotline Bling” by Drake as the top songs of 2015.

Bill Gates topped the list of the richest people in the world, according to Forbes.com. Gates is founder³ of Microsoft and co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. No. 2 on the list is Carlos Slim from Mexico. He is the head of two of ‘Mexico’s top corporations, Telmex and America Movil.

The most “generous” nations, according to aneki.com, are Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden, based on giving per person.

The top grossing films for 2015, according the-numbers.com website are: “Jurassic World”, “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”, “Inside Out”, "American Sniper”, “Minions”, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”, “Star Wars Ep. VII: The Force Awakens”, “The Martian”, and “Cinderella”. The “Star Wars” film, which opened last week, is expected to rise toward the top of the list in coming days.

Lists are very popular because they compile information quickly and offer ways to compare things, events, successes and failures.

One of the most popular lists was delivered almost daily by David Letterman, a well-known television host. He, or sometimes his TV guests, read top 10 lists since 1985.

His last show in May ended with past guests reading a top 10 list that poked⁷ fun at Letterman. Comedienne and actress Tina Fey was one of them.

She said: “Thanks for finally proving men can be funny.”

Words in This Story

entertainment – n. amusement or pleasure that comes from watching a performer, playing a game

generous – adj. freely giving or sharing money and other valuable things

pigeon – n. a gray bird that is common in cities and that has a fat body and short legs

breed – n. a particular kind of bird, dog, cat, horse, or other animal

earnings -- n. money received as wages or gained as profit

babysitting – adj. taking care of children

generous – adj. freely giving or sharing money and other valuable things

grossing – adj. the amount of money earned by a movie or other project

minion⁴ – n. someone who is not powerful or important and who obeys the orders of a powerful leader or boss

awaken⁵ – v. to wake up

compile – v. to create a CD, book, or list by gathering⁸ things

success – n. getting or achieving wealth, respect, or fame

failure – n. the act or result of failing

poke⁶ – v. to make (fun of)

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 minion   

n.宠仆；宠爱之人

参考例句：

• At worst some egregious minion had conducted a childish private enterprise.这最多也不过是一批低能的小人物自己干的无聊把戏而已。
• She delegated the job to one of her minions.她把这份工作委派给她的一个手下。

5 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

6 poke   

n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• We never thought she would poke her nose into this.想不到她会插上一手。
• Don't poke fun at me.别拿我凑趣儿。

7 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。