Family Album, USA, 41

Source: Family Album USA ESL content

Britain's waterways

BRITAIN’S WATERWAYS


Source: www.speakup.com.br

The metallic surface of the water ripples as the man navigates the 20-metre-long narrowboat around a Bend in the river. A dog barks excitedly as it chase along the river bank after the boat. When the dog’s owners arrive they chat for a minute or two with the boat owner. And then they walk past along the towpath. This is truly life in the slow lane: the narrow boat has just been overtaken by two people walking a dog!

LIFE ON BOARD

There are more than 6.400 kilometres of inland waterways in Britain, including 3.200 kilometres of historic canals. The narrowboat (not to be confused with a “longboat,” which was the type of ship used by Vikings!) is well named, being 2.1 metres or less in width. Inside, however, there is a surprising amount of space: most boats have a large living and dining area, a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom, and comfortable beds. There’s usually heating and hot water. Best of all, there’s room to stand without banging your head!

There’s something special about cruising along a canal or mooring a boat beside a waterside pub and watching the world go by – slowly!

“Water has its own pace, it has its own heartbeat, and you slow down to that pace and that heartbeat,” says Lindy Foster Winreb, who has enjoyed a 50-year love affair with waterways. She lives in a canal-side house in Berkhamsted near London, where she started he own hire boat company back in 1972. What are her tips for enjoyable boating? “It’s not the arrival that counts, it’s the travelling,” she says, with a smile.

THE RURAL ROUTE

Britain’s canals are corridors through the countryside and back doors into towns and cities. A narrowboat can glide quietly, almost unseen, under bridges full of traffic. Even a sedate four kilometers per hour seems fast by comparison with the rush-hour queues. And along the canals there are usually people out walking, jogging, cycling and fishing.

SINCE ROMAN TIMES

The first British canal is believed to have been built by Romans: the Foss-dyke, which connected the city of Lincoln with the River Trent and is still in use today. But the system of canals for inland navigation only really arrived in Britain with the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century. Roads were then notoriously unreliable and railways didn’t exist. Most trade ran up and down Britain’s canals involved the formation of completely new bridges, tunnels, aqueducts, pumps and locks. More than 200 years later, many of these original structures are still in use, thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of an army of volunteers. With trains, and then heavy goods lorries, dominating the transport industry, canals fell into disrepair. After the Second World War the nationalized canal system was saved in large part by the enthusiastic campaigning of the Inland Waterways Association.

PEOPLE CARRIER

Very little commercial cargo is carried of Britain’s canals today, but the waterway is busier than ever, with millions of people every year enjoying narrowboat cruises. Lindy Foster Weinreb explains that everything changed in 1968, when “it was recognised that the canals had a new reason for existence – which was that the cargo they could carry wasn’t just goods, it could be people.”

If you Go…

Travel safety with Anglo Welsh Narrow Boats, a member of DRIFTERS, a consortium of awar-winning holiday boat companies with bases throughout the UK; tel :08457 626252; www.drifters.co.uk

No special skill or experience is required to hire a narrowboat. They are simple to control and it’s hard to get lost! Speed is limited t 6kmph an each look takes about 15 minutes to complete. Boats come fully equipped. Hire costs vary depending upon the season. Costs for four people (a six-berth narrowboat) vary from £550 to £1.300 per week. The National Waterway Museum is one national museum at three different waterside locations, each with its own special appeal. Admission costs £3.95 (Gloucester Docks), £4,75 (Stoke Bruerne) or £5,50(Ellesmere Port); www.nwm.org.uk

Justin Timberlake, Changing places

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: Intermediate

Standard: American accent

Changing Places

29-year-old Justin Timberlake is chiefly known for being a singer, but recently He has also been working on his movie career, acting in films like The Love Guru and The social Network.Timberlake was asked to compare the experience of recording an album with that of making a movie:

Justin Timberlake

(Standard American accent):

Recording an album is a lot less organized. It’s a lot of more on a whim. For instance, the last album I did, I would work for two weeks and then take a week off, and then work for two weeks and then take a week off. And whatever I got out of there, I would just keep kind of pounding away at, but I find that a film takes longer to do because the process is more organized. You write the film, you get the film green lit, you find the director –that happens around the same time – you cast the players, you film the film, you edit the film, you score the film. With music, you’re sort of doing all that at the same time. I’m writing and recording, at the same time I’m going back, fixing lyrics, fixing notes, adding piano to certain songs, adding guitar to certain songs, redoing the drums. You’re constant…you’re editing, you’re producing, you’re directing, you’re writing, all at the same time.

A PIECE OF ME

He was then asked whether he managed to be objective when it came to writing and recording songs:

Justin Timberlake:

It’s completely objective. I think that, even when I write for myself, I’m very objective. It’s not as personal as you would think. I find this analogy kind of interesting and I’ve said this since I started doing film, that a lot of our favorite actors, they end up playing a lot of parts that you start…start to realize, “Oh, he was cast in that, or she was cast in that movie, because that’s kind of who she is.” And I find that the drill for acting is to find something personal that makes it relative, so that you can display the truth of the character or the emotion of the character.

DYLAN’S POETRY

And, with writing, it’s kind of the opposite, you know, so many of Dylan’s songs, I mean, they were just poems, and then, all of a sudden, they get stuck to you, like they’re supposed to be more personal. We praise actors for playing someone else, when in reality they’re using so much of themselves to play it. And then we praise musician for being so personal, when, in reality, they’re probably using someone else to write the song. I mean you look at the Bee Gees, who wrote, “To Love Somebody.” They wrote that song for Otis Redding. He died before he recorded it, so they recorded it themselves, it was one of their biggest hits.  You know, and in reality they were writing for a young soul singer.

So I find that analogy kind of interesting, in the way that people perceive the art and the way that art is created.

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Pro-jovem, part 14, Inglês vip

Source: www.ingvip.com
Boss: Ready(1) for your second day at work?
Mariana: Yes, I am 
Boss: OK, Let's start(2). We are starting the high season(3). High season is when people travel more. Our high season is during(4) the summer(5).
Mariana: Yes, that is true(6). It is during summer that people have vacations(7).
Boss: That's right(8). So those are the places(9) people want to visit more: Porto Seguro, Recife, Rio de Janeiro.
Do you know any of these places?
Mariana: No, I don't
 

---

Mariana: Good afternoon. Travel agency. How can I help you?(10)Customer: Good afternoon. I want to go to Ceará with my family during summer. We are five: My wife(11), three children and me.
Mariana: How would you like to go? By bus(12) or by airplane?
Customer: By airplane
Mariana: Just a second sir. I'm going to see the prices for you OK? It's R$ 899,99
Customer: But the prices are too high! It's very expensive.
Mariana: Well sir(13), it's summer, the high season
Customer: High seasons? High prices, it's very expensive. Can't you give me a discount?(14)Mariana: Just a second, sir. I'm sorry, sir. Summer is a high season. Airplane tickets(15) are expensive, hotels too. But if you go before Christmas(16), we can give you a big discount. I can send(17) you an email with the prices. I'm sending it right now(18). Have a nice day(19).  

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                                      Vocabulary
 1. Ready  = Pronto(a)
 2. Let's start = Vamos começar
 3. High season = Alta temporada
 4. During = durante
 5. Summer = verão
 6. That is true = Isso é verdade
 7. Vacations = férias
 8.  That's right = Está certo
 9. Places = Lugares
 10. How can I help you?  = Como posso ajudá-lo?
 11. Wife = esposa
 12. By bus = De ônibus
  13. Sir = Senhor
 14. Can't you give me a discount? = Você não pode me dar um desconto?
 15. Tickets  = passagens
 16. Before Christmas = antes do Natal
 17. Send = Enviar
 18. Right now = Já, agora
 19. Have a nice day = Tenha um bom dia

Yoko Ono

www.sergiomsoares.blogspot.com

Standard: American accent

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Language level: Upper intermediate

Opinions about Yoko Ono vary immensely. For her admires, like music critic Byron Coley, she is “one of the most important and enduring artist of the last half-century.” For her detractors, she is a mediocre performance artist whose dominance of her husband John Lennon led to the break-up of the Beatles. And yet, whether you love her or hat her, Yoko Ono is an important figure in the history of our times: who can forget the famous bed-ins that she and John staged in 1969, as a protest against the Vietnam War?

THERE WWILL BE AN ANSWER…

41 years later, the 77-year-old Yoko is still going strong. Last year she released an album on her son Sean Lennon’s Chimera label. Called Between My Head and the Sky, it features the first performance by the famous Plastic Ono Band since 1973. And whereas critics laughed at Yoko’s music in the past, this time she has received rave reviews. For The Daily Telegraph of London, for example, the album is “fantastically cool, fearlessly weird.” Here Yoko talks about the new album and the solution to the world’s problem:

Yoko Ono

(Japanese accent)

Oh, well, the solution is already here, but some people don’t realize it, and some people do. And the solution is to use the strong vibration that we discovered, such as music, such as art. They have (a) very strong vibration. One is auditory and the other is visual, but the visual vibration is very important, too. The visual vibration create future, creates things, and (the) auditory vibration heals things. So, between the two, if you can cover the earth with the vibration of art and (the) vibration of music, and this will become a planet of music and art, and that’s when everything’s going to be healed and we are going to have a peaceful world. Just like that. It’s going to happen very fast. And then, between us, we will still have this beautiful vibration of peace, which we will send it to the universe.

A WITCH

And Yoko doesn’t seem bothered about the criticism she received in the past. She called her last album, which was released in 2007, Yes, I’m a Witch:

Yoko Ono:

I had a life of my own, which had nothing to do with critics, you know. So, when they were attacking me, if that meant so much to me, I would be dead now. I mean, you know, spiritually dead. But it didn’t affect me so much because I was so much into my own music, and what to do about it and what to give to the world. And I was proud that I was giving so much, though they didn’t know that I was giving! And now this (is) very nice, I just don’t want myself to become sugar-coated.

IMAGINE

And she is positive about today’s artists:

What they’re doing now is incredibly revolutionary, and we don’t know it. I’ll tell you why: because, you know, they’re going into the area of communication, of imagining and communicating, no through words, but through vibration. And that’s really going to be the most important thing that’s going to happen to us, that we will be communicating and correcting the thing in the Planet Earth and everything through just thinking, through imagining.

THE NEW MEDITATION

Nor is she worried about today’s youngsters:

Yoko Ono:

In Japan there’s a group of children who don’t want to come out of their own room. And that’s being a very, very difficult thing for parents. And they’re all so upset that “My child is always in the room, and we have to just put a plate of food in front of it, and they just take it in.” And they’re thinking that that’s a terrible thing that the children (are) doing, but I think that those children are (the) equivalent of gurus 5,000 years ago, something like that, who’s being meditating, and it’s a form of meditation, and they are trying to not be with other people in their rooms meditating and somehow changing the world through meditation. And I don’t know if they (are so aware of that, but that’s what’s happening. And it’s a beautiful thing that’s happening, but, of course, the parents think (sic) it’s a terrible thing that’s happening. And it’s interesting, interesting that some of the kids decided that that’s the only way that they can survive or be alive.

Pro-jovem, part 13, Ingles vip

Source: www.ingvip.com

Pedro: Hello, I'm Pedro
Boss1: Hello Pedro, How can I help you(1)?
Pedro: I'm here because the job you are offering(2) as a salesman(3) in your clothing store(4)
Boss1: I'm sorry Pedro, but the job is already taken(5).
Pedro: OK, bye.
 

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Pedro: Excuse me(6)Boss2: Yes
Pedro: Are you looking for waiters(7)?
Boss2: Oh yes, we are!
Pedro: Do I know you? You look familiar(8).Do you have a clothing store?
Boss2: Oh no, but my brother has a clothing store. So, you are here because you want to be a waiter. Can I ask you some questions?
Pedro: Yes. My name is Pedro, and my birthday is in December, 24th, 1982. And I think I can be(9)a good waiter, because I'm very nice with people...
Boss2: OK, OK. Are you a little nervous(10)?
Pedro: Yes, I am. How do you know?
Boss2: You don't need to be nervous. Relax, ok? Can you stay all day?
Pedro: Yes, yes!
Boss2: Then I can show you some things, and see if you can have the job
Pedro: OK, that's fine!(11)
Boss2:  Well Pedro,  the job is easy. You have to write(12) here what the people want and serve them, OK?
Pedro: OK
Boss2: OK, let's try(13). Let's pretend(14) I am a customer, OK?
Pedro: OK
Boss2: I want three soft drinks and four sandwiches
Pedro: You want all of this? You eat a lot(15)!
Boss2: No, no Pedro. You can't say things like that(16) to clients. You have to write it and bring(17) it here, OK?
Pedro:  OK, sorry.
Boss2: Let´s go! This is going to be a long day... 

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                                      Vocabulary
 1.  How can I help you? = Como posso ajudá-lo?
 2. Offering = Oferecendo
 3. Salesman = Vendedor
 4. Clothing store = Loja de roupas
 5. The job is already taken = O emprego já foi preenchido
 6. Excuse me = Com licença
 7. Waiters = garçons
 8. You look familiar  = Você me parece familiar
 9. I think I can be = Eu acho que posso ser
 10. A little nervous = Um pouco nervoso
 11. That's fine = Está ótimo!
 12. Write = Escrever
 13. Let's try = vamos tentar
 14. Pretend = fingir
 15. You eat a lot!  = Você come muito!
 16. You can't say things like that =  Você não pode dizer coisas assim
 17. Bring = Traze

Ace in the hole, word and their stories

Source: www.voanews.com do not forget to tell about students, this site is really useful for those English learners. 

Now, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

It is surprising how many expressions that Americans use every day came from the card game of poker. For example, you hear the expression, ace in the hole, used by many people who would never think of going near a poker table. An ace in the hole is any argument, plan or thing kept hidden until needed. It is used especially when it can turn failure into success.

In poker and most card games, the ace is the highest and most valuable card. It is often a winning card. In one kind of poker game, the first card to each player is given face down. A player does not show this card to the other players. The other cards are dealt face up. The players bet money each time they receive another card.

No one knows until the end of the game whose hidden card is the winner. Often, the ace in the hole wins the game.

Smart card players, especially those who play for large amounts of money, closely watch the person who deals the cards. They are watching to make sure he is dealing honestly. They want to be sure that he is not dealing off the bottom of the stack of cards. A dealer who is doing that has stacked the deck. He has fixed the cards so that he will get higher cards. He will win and you will lose.

The expression, dealing off the bottom, now means cheating in business, as well as in cards. And when someone tells you that the cards are stacked against you, he is saying you do not have a chance to succeed.

In a poker game you do not want to let your opponents know if your cards are good or bad. So having a poker face is important. A poker face never shows any emotion, never expresses either good or bad feelings. No one can learn – by looking at your face – if your cards are good or bad.

People now use poker face in everyday speech to describe someone who shows no emotion.

Someone who has a poker face usually is good at bluffing. Bluffing is trying to trick a person into believing something about you that is not true.

In poker, you bluff when you bet heavily on a poor hand. The idea is to make the other players believe you have strong cards and are sure to win. If they believe you, they are likely to drop out of the game. This means you win the money they have bet.

You can do a better job of bluffing if you hold your cards close to your vest. You hold your cards close to you so no one can see what you have. In everyday speech, holding your cards close to your vest means not letting others know what you are doing or thinking. You are keeping your plans secret.

We are not bluffing when we say we hope you have enjoyed today’s program.

(MUSIC)

This Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano. This is Bob Doughty.