World News for Students of English

03-02-2021 15:00

In 1918, a flu hit the world, and the pandemic became the worst in US history. Between 1918 and 1919, about 675,000 Americans died and the reason why the number was so high was World War I and war propaganda.

The US president Woodrow Wilson needed men and boys to fight. If people knew about the flu, it could have an impact on the war. The US government passed a law that changed the way how journalists informed people. If journalists wrote something bad about the government, they could go to prison. Newspapers wrote only about the war and little information was about the flu.

The 1918 flu was very deadly, and people could die 12 hours after the first signs of the disease. People bled from the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears.

Difficult words: war propaganda (when TV and newspapers inform people about a war, and they want to change people’s ideas about it), deadly (something what kills people), bleed (when somebody is sick or hurt and blood comes out from his body).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.