Tom Boy

1087 Tomboy

Rebecca talks about growing up as a tomboy and what made her change.  Promote here.

Rebecca	Gareth

Source: www.elllo.org

Gareth: Okay, so Rebecca, we just talked about kids and technology, and you asked me whether or not I should give a cellphone to my son.

Rebecca: Yeah.

Gareth: Now, I would like you to give me a little bit of advice for my daughter. I have a daughter, and she's only seven months old, but I'm worried about when she's older, when she gets a boyfriend, and when she has her first date, and when she'll start wearing make-up, so could you kind of give me some advice about this?

Rebecca: Well, I think maybe I had a bit of an unusual experience. My mom actually made me wear make-up. When I got into high school, it was like -- you know, in middle school, I was the kid with you know braces and glasses, stuck in a book

, and my mom was like you can't do that in high school, you 'll never meet anyone, so she took away my glasses and made me get contacts. And I couldn't do anything about the braces, but you know, as long as you cover mouth or do something weird when you smile.

Gareth: Wow, that sounds quite the opposite to many of my friends, like they all wanted to wear make-up, and their parents wouldn't let them.

Rebecca: No, I was a tomboy

. My mom was actually kind of worried, like, she's like, do you have any interest at all in girlie things

. I was like, no, I don't like shoes, I don't like clothes, I don't need a purse. I'll just go climb a tree.

Gareth: So, do you think it's important as a parent to steer your children

 to like kind of sculpt them

, and make them into more rounded people

, or do you think you should justlet them go

?

Rebecca: At the time, I think I actually resented my mom

 for it, cause like she waxed my eyebrows. My mom removed my eyebrows. She sat me down and was like 'you have a unibrow that is not acceptable' and she pinned me down

 and ripped them out

, and I screamed and I hated her for weeks.

Gareth: Wow, how old were you when she did that?

Rebecca: It was the end of middle school sometime. But middle school, high school, somewhere in that area.

Gareth: So like fifteen?

Rebecca: Fifteenish, yeah. I didn't shave either. My mom actually shaved my legs the first time. She was like you need to shave this now.

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, or do you think you should justlet them go

?

Rebecca: At the time, I think I actually resented my mom

 for it, cause like she waxed my eyebrows. My mom removed my eyebrows. She sat me down and was like 'you have a unibrow that is not acceptable' and she pinned me down

 andripped them out

, and I screamed and I hated her for weeks.

Gareth: Wow, how old were you when she did that?

Rebecca: It was the end of middle school sometime. But middle school, high school, somewhere in that area.

Gareth: So like fifteen?

Rebecca: Fifteenish, yeah. I didn't shave either. My mom actually shaved my legs the first time. She was like you need to shave this now.

Family Album, USA 51

Source: Family Album USA.

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Hollywood's actor and actrees Screen names

HOLLYWOOD STYLE

Source: Speak Up

Speaker: Chuck Rollando

Language level: Upper Intermediate

In the golden age of Hollywood studios created personas for their stars. They chose names that sounded sexier, more American or simply memorable. These days actors are not owned by studios, but still make adjustments to the names they were born with. Why?

SEXY

Frances Gumm sounds ordinary and boring, but Judy Garland is adorable, Virginia McMath doesn’t sound like a dancing sensation, but Ginger Rogers does  (a child’s mispronunciation of Virgina, plus her stepfather’s surname). Lauren Bacall was a wonderful femme fatale, but would she have won Humphrey Bogart’s heart if she was still Betty Joan Perske? The sexiest improvement was surely from Norma Jeane Baker to Marilyn Monroe.

It works for men, too. Archibald Leach sounds like a tired old shopkeeper. Cary Grant is much more sophisticated. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV makes little impression, but we all know Tom Cruise.

SIMPLICITY AND STYLE

Simplicity is crucial for all actors, from comedians to romantic stars. Stan Laurel, of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, sounds funnier than Arthur Stanley Jefferson. Maurice Micklewhite might be a great actor, but his iconic status is helped by the name Michael Cain.camille Javal sounds interesting, but surely not as memorable as Brigitte Bardot.

Sometimes a small change does wonders. Jodie foster, Sigourney Weaver an Meryl  Streep have a movie magic about them that Alicia Foster, Susan Weaver and Mary Louise Streep do not. Frank cooper could not be the western hero that Gary Cooper became.

The starts of My Fair Lady both simplified their names: Reginald Harrison became the archetypal English gentlemen  Rex Harrison; Edda Van Heemstra Ruston disguised her European origins with the name Audrey Hepburn.

EXOTIC/

Many stars hope to hide ethnic origins –or just want their names to be easier to pronounce. The Graduate’s Anne Bancroft had to change form Anne Italiano. Alan Alda, from M*A*S*H, created his surname from initial letters of his real name, Alphonso D”Abruzzo. Would comedy partners Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin have been as popular as Joseph Levitch and Dino Crocetti?

Al Jolson sounds more American than Asa Yoelson. Woody Allen and Mel Brooks are easier to recognize than Allen Kronigsberg and Mel Kaminsky. Walter Matthau is memorable, but would you remember Walter Matasschanskayasky:  Doris Kappelhoff lacks the girl-next-door magic of Doris day. Freeric Austerlitz hid his German roots by becoming Fred Astaire. Issur Demsky’s Russian family turned him into heroic Kirk Douglas. Charles Buchinksky sounds tougher as Charles Bronson, while Martin Sheen won star roles by changing from Ramones Estevez.

English actor William Pratt is the exception. He became screen legend Boris Karloff a middle European name, perfect for horror movies.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Some try to avoid accusations of nepotism. Emilio Estevez his father’s real surname, while Brother Charlie Sheen kept the screen name. Would Nicholas Cage have succeeded sooner if he had still been Nicholas Coppola, nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola?

Others changed embarrassing names: Marion Morrison, a woman’s name was no good for the epitome of masculinity John Wayne.

The strangest story is that of Yul Brynner. He often claimed he was Taidje Khan, of Mongolian-Japanese origins, but his name was really Yul Brynner and has parents Russian.

SCREEN NAME	REAL NAME
Joan Crawford	Lucille Fay LeSueur
Cher	Cherllyn Sarkisian
Dirk Bogarde	Derek Jules Caspard Ulric Niven Van den Bogaerde
Lou Costello	Louis Francis Cristillo
Tony Curtis	Bernard Schwartz
Bette Davis	Ruth Elizabeth Davis
Marlene Dietrich	Marie Magdalene Deitrich
Mia Farrow	Maria de Lourdes Villers-Farrow
Jean Harlow	Harlean Carpentier
Rita Hayworth	Margarita Carmen Cansino
Bob Hope	Leslie Townes Hope
Rock Hudson	Roy Harold Scherer Jr.
Buster Keaton	Joseph Frank Keaton VI
Michael Keaton	Michael John Douglas
Natassja Kinski	Nastassja Naksyzns
Hedy Lamarr	Hedwig Eva Maria Kiester
Bruce Lee	Lee Jun Fan
Vivien Leigh	Vivian Hartley
Sophia Loren	Sofia villani Scicolone
Bela Lugosi	Bela Ferenc Dezso Blasko
Shirley MacLaine	Rosmarie Magdelena Albach
Barbara Stanwyck	Ruby Stevens
Rudolph Valentino	Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina
Gloria Swanson	Gloria Svensson
Shelley Winters	Shirley Schrift.

Words and Their Stories: Hold Your Horses!

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/words-stories/Words-and-Their-Stories-Hold-Your-Horses-118296964.html

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

Today, we tell about "horse" expressions.  In the past, many people depended on horses for transportation, farming and other kinds of work.  A lot of people still like to ride horses.  And, horse racing is also popular.  So it is not surprising that Americans still use expressions about the animals.

Long ago, people who were rich or important rode horses that were very tall.  Today, if a girl acts like she is better than everyone else, you might say she should get off her high horse.

Yesterday my children wanted me to take them to the playground.  But I had to finish my work, so I told them to hold your horses. Wait until I finish what I am doing.  My two boys like to compete against each other and play in a violent way.  I always tell them to stop horsing around or someone could get hurt.

We live in a small town.  It does not have any exciting activities to offer visitors.  My children call it a one-horse town.

Last night, I got a telephone call while I was watching my favorite television show.  I decided not to answer it because wild horses could not drag me away from the television.  There was nothing that could stop me from doing what I wanted to do. 

Sometimes you get information straight from the horse's mouth. It comes directly from the person who knows most about the subject and is the best source.  Let us say your teacher tells you there is going to be a test tomorrow.  You could say you got the information straight from the horse's mouth.  However, you would not want to call your teacher a horse!

You may have heard this expression: You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.  That means you can give someone advice but you cannot force him to do something he does not want to do.

Sometimes a person fights a battle that has been decided or keeps arguing a question that has been settled.  We say this is like beating a dead horse.

In politics, a dark-horse candidate is someone who is not well known to the public.  Sometimes, a dark horse unexpectedly wins an election.

Another piece of advice is, do not change horses in midstream. You would not want to get off one horse and on to another in the middle of a river.  Or make major changes in an activity that has already begun.  In the past, this expression was used as an argument to re-elect a president, especially during a time when the country was at war.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust.  I'm Faith Lapidus.  You can find more WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our website, voaspecialenglish.com.

Lyrics, Billy Joe

The River of Dreams by Billy Joel Author of This Exercise:ESL Teacher Judith Jékél Source: English Exercises www.englishexercises.org Watch the video and do the following exercises. Write in the missing prepositions.  the middle   the night I go walking   my sleep  the mountains   faith  the river so deep I must be looking   something Something sacred I lost But the river is wide And it’s too hard to cross Choose the words that you can hear And even doughthroughthoughthought I know the river is widewhitewildwind  I waketaketalkwalk  down every evening and stand on the showshorestoresore  I try to cross to the opposite sideslidesightsite  So I cancan'tcanecannal  finally find what I’ve binbeanbeenbee  looking for Write in the missing words. The images may help . In the middle of the   I go   in my sleep Through the   of fear To a   so deep I’m a   for something Taken out of my soul Something I’d never   Something somebody   Match the beginning and the end of the following lines. I don’t know why                A  the rest of my life But now I’m tired and             B  I go walking at night     Hope it doesn’t take                      C   I don’t wanna walk anymore Until I find what it is              D   I’ve been looking for Unscramble the words in brackets. In the   (lieddm) of the night I go walking in my  (elesp) Through the   (lejung) of doubt To the river so   (edpe) I know I’m   (hcaengsir) for something Something so undefined That it can only be seen By the eyes of the  (inldb) In the middle of the night Write in the missing words. The images may help. I’m not sure about a life after this  knows I’ve never been a spiritual man Baptized by the , I wade into the river That is   to the promised land In the middle of the night I go walking in my sleep Through the   of truth To the river so deep We all end in the   We all   in the streams We’re all carried along By the river of    In the middle of the night

World affairs

Brazilian teachers, schools, Students should got the signature of Maganews, it's excellent, I recommend it.

Source: MAGANEWS

World affairs

Barack Obama in Brazil

The objectives of president Barack Obama’s trip toBrazil are economic, political and social

   

   Brasília – According to the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, the objectives of president Barack Obama’s trip to Brazilare economic, political and social. The president will deal with a wide variety of issues in these areas with officials, business leaders and citizens, explained Carney.  Brazil is one of the few countries the United States is currently running a trade surplus with (last year it was almost $8 billion; five years ago, in 2006, Brazil had a $10 billion trade surplus with the US). So, on one hand, the Americans are really excited about partnership and cooperation opportunities in the booming Brazilian economy (now the seventh biggest in the world). On the other hand, the Brazilians are eager to reduce imports from the US and get back to a surplus. A Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement (TECA) will be signed and it will make it easier for both sides to move ahead with their trade objectives.  Trade expansion is seen (by both sides) as the path to more jobs and growth.

         The political side of the trip is recognition of the rise of Latin America in world affairs and, especially, the leadership role of Brazil. Two days from the arrival of Obama officials from both countries are hammering out the details of between 10 and 20 agreements and memorandums that will be signed on Saturday in Brasilia. Some of them still face hard technical and legal obstacles.  The American president’s entourage will consist of around a thousand people. The president will be accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and two daughters.

        There is an undeniable symbolic aspect to the visit. America’s first Afro-American president meets Brazil’s first female president. There will definitely be a strong commitment by both governments to combating racial and gender discrimination, along with recognition of Brazil’s efforts to raise its poor out of poverty and make them participating citizens who are able to receive the benefits of citizenship (“inclusão social”).

     In Brasilia, Obama will deal with business and politics. He will meet business leaders from both countries at two different moments: a business forum (“Fórum Empresarial Brasil-Estados Unidos”) with 400 and a more intimate meeting with selected CEOs. Topics the president will discuss include renewable energy, such as ethanol (although the US will not reduce import barriers on Brazilian sugarcane-based ethanol, preferring to continue with corn-based ethanol) and investments in infrastructure in Brazil uniting the public and private sector. Among the opportunities: partnerships in the World Soccer Cup and Olympics Games that Brazil will host in 2014 and 2016, respectively.

     As he did in Berlin in 2008 and in Cairo in 2009, Obama will make a public speech in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, March 20. Without a doubt he will stress the common interests and shared values of Brazil and the United States, emphasizing the countries’ similarities: historical backgrounds, large size, diverse populations and democratic traditions. The speech will be shown on large screens with translation.

By – Renata Girardi / ABr and Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Pictures (Obama and family) – Marcello Casal Jr / ABr