Bletchley Park

 

Language Level, Basic

Standard: British Accent

Source: Speak up, Edition253, pags10/11

Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire looks like a typical English country house with four acres of beautiful gardens and its own lake, but then you notice several wooden huts and concrete constructions built around the house. What happened in these building...in this strange place?

THE CODEBREAKERS

During the Second World War this was the legendary "Station X" where code breakers and spies worked to defeat  Hitler's And the Enigma Machine. All this has been Chronicled in the Film Enigma (2001), starring with Kate Winslet. Bletchley Park was also the birthplace of the modern world. It was here that Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers built Colossus, the world's first "programmable, digital, electronic computing device," or computer.

A GREAT DAY OUT

There's plenty to do at Bletchley Park: you can begin with a tour of the "Station X" exhibits, then you can see the Colossus and Enigma machines and learn about their note is code breaking and military espionage during the Second World War. The work here wasn't all high technology: the "Pigeons at War" display explains the role homing pigeons played during the war.

Visit the garage to see some 1930's cars, then on to the antique toy collections, and don't miss the Churchill memorabilia exhibition. Bletchley Park offers an interesting and fun day out, but it could also change someone's life. Legend has it that Alan Turing, the mathematical genius, buried several silver bars somewhere near Bletchley and forgot the location, Turing never found his treasure can you?

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This was an electrical device which used rotating wheels to produce random code. The Germans believed The Enigma code was impossible to decipher, but British and Polish codebreakers at Bletchley Park succeded with the help Colossus and it predecessor, "The Bombe." Britain Agents then listened to German orders transmitted all over the world. This saved many lives: for example, they discovered the position and plans of U-boats operating in the Atlantic. Most important of all, in 1944 they confirmed that the Germans believed the false plans that the Allies leaked before D-Day, the Allies invasion and liberation of Europe.

Station X

In 1940 prime minister Winston Churchill moved this government's Code & Cipher School away form London's constant bombardment to Bletchley Park. There were 12.000 people working at the centre of the war many of them recruteited from Cambridge University. There were chss masters mathematicians academics experts - people like Alan Flaming, the creator of James Bond, secrecy was essential in fact no-one knew about the centre until the 1970's when documents describing wartime events at Bletchley became available.

Irregular verbs, the daily English show

Thanks for Zach's campaign

Good to see you everyone, as you could notice, this days I'm struggling and joined an important campaign in order to raise money, not to me, I have a pay pal account, if I receive any money there by accident I'll return back to Zacharias. I'm quite sure that everything is working, I'm following anxiously and desire that he got his achievemente as soon as possible. Me and Marzio, owner of Real English blog, www.realenglish.com we're not going to sit back while we'll see Zach sitting on the plane's chair and flighting to US, I dedicate letter by letter, posting by posting for you, I dedicate a little bit on skype in order to give support for students overseas. I love you all, but don't forget to help Zacharias, when the campaign is over, I'm going to start a new ones, because as you know I'm teaching as a volunteer here in Brazil, my project also needs your support, so far, Zach's fundraiser is more important. God, Alah blesses you, and please telling for your friends about Zach and keep donating  for http://zachs-fundraiser.blogspot.com/

PMS - Everything You Want To Know About Pre-menstrual Syndrome

Written by Kyle J. Norton Reproduction of any Kyle J. Norton is allowed with name of the author and all link intact.

Source: http://pre-menstrualsyndrome-pms.blogspot.com/

Series of Premenstrual syndrome contains over 110 articles. All information are for educational purpose, please consult with your doctors before applying.It covers everything you want to about PMS. Please choose your subject and enjoy reading.

Premenstrual syndrome effects over 70% to 90% of women before menopause in the US and less for women in Southeast Asia because of their difference in living style and social structure. The occurrence of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) have more than doubled over the past 50 years due to the acceptance of it as a medical condition that is caused by unhealthy diet with high in saturated food. Premenstrual syndrome is defined as faulty function of the ovaries related to the women's menstrual cycle, it effects a women's physical and emotional state, and sometimes interferes with daily activities as a result of hormone fluctuation. The syndrome occurs one to two weeks before menstruation and then declines when the period starts. It is said the symptoms can be so severe that between 10-15% of women have to take time off work, costing businesses millions of dollars a year.

The Series of PMS articles are for education and information only, please consult with your doctor, herbalist, dietitian before applying.

Supporter Links

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Words and Their Stories: Numbers Part Two

 

Source: www.voanews.com

Or download MP3 (Right-click or option-click and save link) 

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

Last week, I told about the number one.  Today, I will tell about expressions using other numbers.

Some problems are difficult to solve. But there are a lot of number expressions that can help. For example, if we put two and two together, we might come up with the right answer. We know that two heads are better than one.  It is always better to work with another person to solve a problem.

Sometimes there are no two ways about it.  Some problems have only one solution. You cannot be of two minds over this.

But with any luck, we could solve the problem in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.  We could have our answers quickly and easily.

Sometimes we can kill two birds with one stone. That is, we can complete two goals with only one effort or action. But we must remember that two wrongs don’t make a right. If someone does something bad to you, you should not do the same to him.

If you are going out with your girlfriend, or boyfriend, you do not want another friend to go along on your date.  You can just say to your friend:two’s company, three’s a crowd.

When I was a young child in school, I had to learn the three R’s.  These important skills are reading, writing and arithmetic.  These three words do not all start with the letter “R.”  But they have the sound of “R.”  My teachers used to give three cheers when I did well in math.  They gave praise and approval for a job well done.

Some of my friends were confused and did not understand their schoolwork. They were at sixes and sevens. In fact, they did not care if they finished high school.  They saw little difference between the two choices.  Six of one, half a dozen the other – that was their position.  But they were really happy when they completed their studies and graduated from high school. They were in seventh heaven. They were on cloud nine.

Nine times out of ten, students who do well in school find good jobs.  Some work in an office doing the same things every day at nine-to-fivejobs.  You do not have to dress to the nines, or wear your best clothes, for this kind of work.

Last year, one of my friends applied for a better job at her office.  I did not think she would get it.  I thought she had a hundred to one shot at the job.  Other people at her office thought her chances were a million to one.   One reason was that she had been caught catching forty winks at the office.  She slept at her desk for short periods during the day.  But her supervisor appointed her to the new job at the eleventh hour -- at the very last minute.  I guess her lucky number came up.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss.  I’m Faith Lapidus.

The centenary of the first 14-Bis flight

The centenary of the first 14-Bis flight

Source: www.maganews.com.br

The conquest of the skies

On October 23^rd 1906, a crowd in Paris witnessed the first flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft. The pilot was Brazilian Santos Dumont, who had built the plane he called 14-Bis

   The world experienced one of the most creative periods in its history in the last decades of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th Century. It was in this period than man invented electric light, cinema and the automobile, amongst other inventions (read more about them on page 12). At that time man had flown in hot-air balloons, but no one had managed to fly in a motorized machine that was heavier than air and that could be controlled – that is, that could be directed wherever the pilot wanted it to go. Brazilian Santos Dumont was the first man to achieve this feat.  On October 23rd 1906, a crowd gathered in Paris and saw an aircraft fly for the first time without the aid of a catapult or any other external boost. Santos Dumont was piloting 14-Bis, as had called the plane he had made himself. This made the headlines the world over and the Brazilian became a worldwide celebrity.

A brief biography

Dumont: love for machines and aviation

He had a few accidents during test flights, but never gave up fighting for his dreams

   Alberto Santos Dumont was born on July 20, 1873 in a small city in Minas Gerais called Palmira (it is today called Santos Dumont, in honor of its illustrious son). When still a child, little Alberto used to like watching birds fly and asked how they could do it if they were heavier than air.  Dumont left Brazil when he was just 19 years old and went to live in France. In Paris he studied physics, mechanics and electricity. From 1898 he began planning, building and flying different hot-air balloons and dirigibles. Dumont had a few accidents during test flights, but he never gave up on his dreams. Besides becoming a famous aviator all over the world, Dumont was also well-known for other inventions of his, such as the wristwatch, for example. The Brazilian was considered to be a simple and generous man. In the last years of his life, Dumont suffered from two serious diseases: multiple sclerosis, and depression. On July 23rd 1932 Santos Dumont committed suicide in Guarujá (SP) andBrazil lost one of the greatest geniuses it has ever had. 

The aeronautical industry in Brazil

The Aeronautical Technology Center (CTA) was opened in the 1950s, in São José dos Campos-SP. It was the first step towards Brazil’s building of top quality airplanes and its advances in varied scientific and technological fields. Specialized schools were set up in CTA to train professionals to work in the aerospace industry and to fly planes. The following decade the government decided to build a large aeronautical company. Embraer (the Brazilian Aeronautical Company) was opened in 1969, also in São José dos Campos, being privatized in 1994. Today this company sells its airplanes to countries all over the world. 

Vocabulary

1 crowd – multidão

2 to witness – presenciar / testemumhar

3 heavier-than-air aircraft – aeronave mais pesada do que o ar

4 plane (= aircraft) – aeronave / avião

5 to flew – voar

6 hot-air ballon – balão movido a ar quente

7 wherever – na direção / por onde

8 feat – feito / proeza

9 catapult – catapulta
10 external boost – impulso externo

11 to make headlines – virar manchete

12 to give up – desistir
13 to fight – lutar
14 bird – pássaro
15 dirigibles – dirível

16 wristwatch – relógio de pulso
17 to be set up – ser criado

Matéria publicada na edição de número 33 da Revista Maganews.

Fotos - www.santosdumont.14bis.mil.br