English tips for kids, Alphabet

Child's English tip, The Alphabet

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Words and Their Stories: Money, Part 1

Source: www.voanews.com

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

I think people everywhere dream about having lots of money. I know I do. I would give anything tomake money hand over fist. I would like to earn large amounts of money. You could win a large amount of money in the United States throughlotteries. People pay money for tickets with numbers. If your combination of numbers is chosen, you win a huge amount of money – often in the millions. Winning the lottery is a windfall.

A few years ago, my friend Al won the lottery. It changed his life. He did not have a rich family. He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Instead, my friend was always hard up for cash. He did not have much money. And the money he did earn was chicken feed – very little.

Sometimes Al even had to accept hand-outs, gifts from his family and friends. But do not get me wrong. My friend was not a deadbeat. He was not the kind of person who never paid the money he owed. He simply pinched pennies. He was always very careful with the money he spent. In fact, he was often a cheapskate. He did not like to spend money. The worst times were when he was flat broke and had no money at all.

One day, Al scraped together a few dollars for a lottery ticket. He thought he would never strike it rich or gain lots of money unexpectedly. But his combination of numbers was chosen and he won the lottery. He hit the jackpot. He won a great deal of money.

Al was so excited. The first thing he did was buy a costly new car. Hesplurged on the one thing that he normally would not buy. Then he started spending money on unnecessary things. He started to waste it. It was like he had money to burn. He had more money than he needed and it wasburning a hole in his pocket so he spent it quickly.

When we got together for a meal at a restaurant, Al paid every time. He would always foot the bill, and pick up the tab. He told me the money made him feel like a million dollars. He was very happy.

But, Al spent too much money. Soon my friend was down and out again. He had no money left. He was back to being strapped for cash. He had spent his bottom dollar, his very last amount. He did not even build up a nest egg. He had not saved any of the money.

I admit I do feel sorry for my friend. He had enough money to live like a king. Instead, he is back to living on a shoestring -- a very low budget. Some might say he is penny wise and pound foolish. He was wise about small things, but not about important things.

(MUSIC)

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

Pod English, Lesson 80, Book

Source: Sozo Exchange
You don't realise how much important is to me when you come visit me and telling for friend about English tips. So, as I told before, you are the most important here, without you my blog doesn't make sense. Here there is no space for racism, and any kind of violence, no sex content, etc. But there is a space for Teachers, Students, and exchange experience around the world. Have a wonderful night friends keep sharing and Tweet me. 

Idiom Play it by year

Source: Sozo Exchange

This is a phrase which means to handle a situation without preparation.

This expression originated from musicians playing music without printed material.

The phrase also means to do something impromptu.

For example, you can say, “I’m not sure how the event will go; we’ll likely play it by ear.”

England, Bletchley Park

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?

No audio available

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.

Hepatitis - Part II

Credits for Teacher Fuvio, classes online visit http:www.ingvip.com  

   audio      

1-Last month, the journal Lancet reported that a combination of two experimental drugs could clear the infection in eight to twelve weeks. However, researchers are still studying the effects of the treatment.

2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about three million Americans are infected with hepatitis C. The rates are highest among people born between nineteen forty-five and nineteen sixty-five. Those especially at risk include persons who inject themselves with drugs and those who received blood or blood products before nineteen ninety.

3. Hepatitis D is spread through blood, but only infects people who already have hepatitis B. The hepatitis D virus greatly increases the chance of severe liver damage. Experts say the virus infects about fifteen million people around the world. They say it also appears in five percent of persons infected with hepatitis B.

4. Doctors say the best way to prevent hepatitis D is to get vaccine that protects against hepatitis B. Doctors can treat some cases of hepatitis B, C and D. The drugs used are costly, however. But they are less costly than getting a new liver.

5. The fifth virus is hepatitis E. Experts say it spreads the same way as hepatitis A -- through infectious waste. Cases often result from polluted drinking water. Medical science recognized hepatitis E as a separate disease in nineteen eighty. Hepatitis E is also found in animal waste. Studies have shown that the virus can infect many kinds of animals.

6. The WHO says many hepatitis E cases have been reported in Central and Southeast Asia, North and West Africa and Mexico. No vaccines or medicines are effective against hepatitis E. Most peoplerecover, usually in several weeks or months. But the disease can cause liver damage. In some cases, hepatitis E can be deadly.

7. The virus is especially dangerous to pregnant women. Twenty percent of those living with hepatitis E die in the last three months of pregnancy.

8. Scientists discovered yet another kind of hepatitis in the nineteen nineties. It has been named hepatitis G. The hepatitis G virus is totally different from any of the other hepatitis viruses. Donald Poretz is an infectious disease specialist in Washington, DC. He says the hepatitis G virus is spread through blood and blood products. But he says the virus has not been found to cause any real disease.

9. The World Hepatitis Alliance works to increase knowledge about the dangers of hepatitis. The group says people should know that the disease kills about one million five hundred thousand people each year. It also says one in twelve people worldwide is living with hepatitis B or hepatitis C. And, it says, most of those infected do not even know it.

10. Hepatitis cannot be cured. The only way to protect against infection is to receive vaccines against hepatitis A and B, and to avoid contact with the other viruses. And that may be difficult.

11. Remember that some kinds of hepatitis spread through sex or sharing needles. Blood products should be carefully tested for hepatitis. People in high-risk groups and those who have had hepatitis should not give blood. They also should not agree to leave their organs to others after they die. Donated organs can also spread hepatitis.

12. Experts say people can take other steps to protect themselves. These include always washing your hands with soap and water after using the restroom and before preparing or eating food. Experts saytravelers should not drink water of unknown quality when visiting foreign or unknown areas. They also should avoid eating uncooked fruits and vegetables.

STEVE EMBER: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake. George Grow was our producer. I’m Steve Ember. BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein. Listen again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

Hope in South Dakota

Language Level: Advanced

Standard Accent: American

HOPE IN SOUTH DAKOTA

Many young Native Americans nowadays find themselves caught between two worlds, finding it difficult to establish their own identity and path in life. But the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota has become a beacon of hope for Native Americans on the reservation and across the country, with some impressive academic achievements; on average, 93 per cent of their graduates go on to higher education, and the graduating class of 2007 included seven Bill Gates Millennium Scholarship recipients, the highest per capita in the nation.

BETRAYAL

The history of the relationship between the Lakota (or Sioux) Native American tribes and the white settlers is not so positive. It is one of betrayal and broken promises. The tribe’s sacred ancestral homelands lie in and around the Black Hills of South Dakota, but during the 19^th century, as gold as found and treaties broken, these lands were taken from them. As the Lakota refused to sell the land, an Allotment Act was passed, dividing it into small parcels. Tina Merdanian, who grew up on the reservation and is now Director of Public Relations at Red Cloud Indian School, takes up the story:

Tina Merdanian

Standard: American Accent

This concept of owning land individually, to the Lakota, was totally ludicrous. How can you own something that does not belong to you? It’s like dividing up the sky and saying “I own 180 acres.” For the Lakota people believe that they were stewards of the land for future generations – caretakers. Well, the last and final step was reservations, and placing our people on these reservations.

SERIOUS PROBLEMS

The Pine Ridge Reservation – the second largest reservation in the US – covers around 3,000 square miles of Southwestern South Dakota, with an estimated population of 30 to 40,000, who refer to it simply as “The Rez,” the realities of life on the reservation are harsh: unemployed is estimated to be as high as 85 per cent, life expectancy is 20 years below the national average and rates of infant mortality, suicide, diabetes and alcoholism are all frighteningly high. Although the reservation covers the southern half of the Badlands National Park, with its natural beauty and stunning rock formations, much of this land is fairly desolate:

Tina Merdanian:

Now, you have to understand, when they designed these parameters as reservations they did not give the Lakota people the most prosperous pieces of land – quite the opposite.

Nor were they designed to be self-sufficient, self-sustaining, but instead dependent. So how do you break the mould when the need is so great? How do you start up business when you don’t even have financial institutions?

A BRIGHTER FUTURE

At Red Cloud Indian School they believe the answer is through education. A Jesuit School, it was founded in 1888 as the Holy Rosary Mission, at the request of Chief Red Cloud. As a leader of the Oglala tribe of the Lakota (or Sioux), Chief Red Cloud had led the most successful military campaign ever waged by an indigenous people against the United States. Later he became more of a statesman for the Lakota people and petitioned the government for a Jesuit school on the reservation. His wish was granted before he died and now he lies buried overlooking the school.

These days Red Cloud Indian School is one the largest private Native American Schools in the country, with around 600 students attending classes from kindergarten to high school. Father Peter Klink, president of Red Cloud Indian School, explains how he sees its role:

Father Peter Klink

Standard American Accent

And, hopefully, to assist and be a part of the process of opening doors of opportunity for young people in the tribe, through education; and probably what has surprised me more is how blessed our efforts have been – as we watch, in the midst of the unemployment, poverty that are real challenge on the reservation – seeing youth come to high school graduation, seeing a future for themselves and having experienced an education that  they can use as a springboard to a brighter future for them, and I think through them – by kind of  a multiplier effect – as they come back as teachers, as leaders, as entrepreneurs, hopefully, a brighter future, not only for them, but for their people.

The Wounded Knee Massacre (no sound)

The most notorious incident in the history of the Pine Ridge Reservation took place near Wounded Knee Creek on a cold winter day in 1890. Chief Big Foot, one of the last Sioux leaders to resist the relocation of this people to reservations, had travelled to Pine Ridge with a band of men to join Chief Red Cloud. They were intercepted by the Seventh Calvary, a regiment of the US Army, and escorted to Wounded Knee. The next morning, December 29th 1890, as the army tried to disarm the Indigenous, a shot was fired. In the few minutes of carnage that followed, around 200 Indians were killed; the bodies of unarmed women and children were found as far as three miles away, slain as they tried to escape. The reaction to the incident helped to ensure that this was the last major armed conflict between the US Army and Native Americans. 

These days a simple stone monument (pictured) marks the mass grave where the dead Indians were buried. It is said that the soul of the nation may well be buried here, too. you can find out more by visiting the Wounded Knee Museum in Wall, South Dakota www.woundedkneemuseum.org For more information on the Red Cloud School, visit www.redcloudschool.org 

Travel info

For more information or reaching South Dakota, not mention its other attractions which include Mount Rushmore, we suggest you visit the state's tourism website: www.travelsd.com