Learn English with the News – Reports of price hikes have been registered at bars, restaurants and hairdressers in Italy

Some of Italy’s shops and restaurants have added a “Covid Tax” in order to make more money after months of lockdown. Watch the video and then check out our website for the accompanying exercises.

The news is a consistent source of entertainment, knowledge and discovery that never ceases to exist and always comes out with more and more material each day. Because it plays such a vital part in our lives and is so important to keep up with, it is without a doubt a piece of your everyday routine that can’t go ignored. 

Whether it is to understand the ramifications of recent legislation passed, to hear about recent events and grasp the potential consequences to your country, or simply hear about what is happening in other countries in order to compare them to what’s happening in yours, the news is certainly a staple in our lives and the most consistent way to get information.

This is why Scrambled Eggs has decided to unite two of your biggest worlds: learning English and keeping up with what is happening in the world. We hope our challenging daily exercises, composed of listening, vocabulary and comprehension exercises in English, will satisfy both of those above worlds in a satisfactory and also entertaining way.

So enough about introductions, let’s get to today’s Learn English with the News topic:

Adapted from this article.

Now that you’ve had a listen, let’s put your knowledge to the test with some of our vocabulary and comprehension exercises:

Reports of price hikes have been registered at bars, restaurants and hairdressers in Italy | Definition Match

Put the following words to the correct definitions.

Reports of price hikes have been registered at bars, restaurants and hairdressers in Italy | Fill in the Blank

Fill the empty spaces with the proper words.

Reports of price hikes have been registered at bars, restaurants and hairdressers in Italy | True or False

Indicate which sentences are true and which ones are false.

And that’s it for today’s English lesson, where you can improve your English with the news and current events. Do you have any comments or special requests for us for the next edition of Learn English with the News? Be sure to leave any feedback you have in the comments section below, as we would love to help you on your quest to learn the English language!

For other Learn English with the News segments, be sure to check out the rest of our posts:

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Full Text:

“Italy’s consumers are being charged €2 to €4 more than before the coronavirus emergency as bars, restaurants and hairdressers add a ‘covid tax’ to the bill, according to consumer watchdog Codacons. Codacons has received dozens of reports on the increases in the price lists of hairdressers. Based on average costs in large cities, they have calculated how the price of a cut has gone from an average of €20 to €25, a rise of 25 per cent. Codacons also reports increases in the price of coffee at the bar, with cases of an espresso in Rome now costing €1.50 instead of the usual €1 or €1.10. In Milan the espressos are €2, up from €1.30. In Florence they are €1.70, up from the usual average of €1.40. The so-called covid tax has also been slammed by the National Consumer Union whose president Massimiliano Dona describes it as an “incorrect practice.” The hike in prices comes as many businesses struggle to get back to work after being closed for more than two months during the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Businesses are operating amid reduced capacity due to social distancing as well as dealing with extra costs relating to sanification and protective equipment required under Italy’s Phase Two in the covid-19 emergency.”