VOA · What's Trending Today?
Intermediate · B1–B2learner speed3:422018-11-08public domain
What's Trending Today? covers viral stories and social media moments in short, punchy reports. The episodes are brief and topical — perfect for a quick daily dictation session.
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01This is what's trending today.
02Are you unhappy with your age?
03Do you feel younger than your age?
04Well, perhaps you should consider legally changing your birth year.
05That is what a Dutchman is trying to do.
06Emil Rattleband is a television host.
07He works as an expert in positivity.
08But he says that his age is having a negative effect on his ability to find work and love.
09So, Rattleband went to court to get his birth year legally changed from 1949 to 1969.
10He told the court that he did not feel comfortable with his age.
11He said he self-identified as 20 years younger.
12Rattleband says he wants to avoid age discrimination in society.
13He says that when he asks for a mortgage, they say it's impossible.
14He complains that when he tries to get dates on a dating site called Tinder, he only gets women his age, in their late 60s.
15He says that with his youthful face and an age of 49, he would get more dates, possibly with younger women.
16He told the Associated Press on Thursday, With this freedom of choice, choice of name, freeness of gender, I want to have my own age.
17I want to control myself.
18Marjoline Vandenbrink specializes in human rights and gender issues at Utrecht University.
19She said, It's quite clear that elderly people have a much smaller chance of getting a job than younger people.
20However, she says that age is different from the issues involved in reassigning gender.
21Age discrimination, she says, happens only at certain points in your career, usually between 40, 50, or 60 years of age.
22Whereas gender is something that follows you from birth to grave, she said.
23Rutelbond says the Dutch government could benefit if it were to accept his age demand.
24He says he would be happy to give up his monthly pension of around $1,370.
25That would be a savings of $343,000 over the 20 years for the government.
26The court in the city of Arnhem is expected to issue a ruling in about four weeks.
27And that's what's trending today.
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