PENN STATION

Source: http://www.ingvip.com and www.voanews.com

Today's tip we're continue promoting and telling about ING VIP, the owner of this website is Teacher Fuvio C. Perini, an English teacher, translator-interpreter who lives in Sorocaba, São Paulo State. Not so much Brazilian have heard about this awesome website, very useful, not only for Brazilian but Asia English Students and teachers and people from different nationalities have been visited and practise English there. 

Teacher Fuvio as me, we both promote VOA Special English podcast, besides that, you can find a useful English course like this http://www.ingvip.com/curso-de-conversacao.htm . For more info, please visit his website and do not forget to telling for Students and recommend for teachers, helpful internet toll for English learners. Keep practising, keep studying, no fear to communicate that's why it's impossible to learn without mistakes, practise makes perfect. 

One hundred years have passed since (1) New York's Pennsylvania Station opened its doors. The building(2) stood (3)in the middle of Manhattan for more than 50 years. Today, only the underground(4)area remains(5). Lorraine Diehl wrote(6) a book about(7) Penn Station. She remembers playing there as a child(8).

LORRAINE DIEHL: "Every space just sort of triggered(9) your imagination. For instance(10), when you walk in from Eighth Avenue, that was the great train shed(11), the concourse(12), and it was this extraordinary space of great vaulted iron(13) columns and a glass ceiling(14), and the dust (15) particles would just drift in (16) and just be frozen(17) in space. And you felt(18) that this was a room of journeys(19). Your mind(20) took a journey(21) before you ever got on a train(22) in this space."

The old Penn Station was covered(23) with statues of eagles and young women(24). Artist William Low never saw(25) the building. But he used old pictures (26)and descriptions to make a picture book about it.

WILLIAM LOW: "It's just awe-inspiring(27). It would be like(28) the first time I saw the Grand Canyon. The idea of this immense space -- you can't put it into words(29)."

Low painted the separate rooms of the station: the concourse, the restaurants and waiting room(30). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was the owner(31) of Penn Station. By the early(32) 1960s, the company was failing(33). So it sold(34) the above-ground(35) building to the developers(36) of a sports center -- Madison Square Garden.

WILLIAM LOW: "It was torn down(37). And the sculptures wereripped apart(38) and unceremoniously(39) dragged(40) anddumped(41) into the New Jersey Meadowlands."
Only six architects protested when the building came down(42) in 1963. Slowly(43), other people came to regret the loss(44). This led to(45) New York's Landmarks(46) Protection laws.

PEG BREEN: "Nobody is happy with Penn Station as it exists in New York today. People who never even saw (47)the original Penn Stationmourn(48) its loss. It was probably the greatest architectural crime that has been committed in New York City."

Peg Breen heads(49) the New York Landmarks Conservancy. Her group has been working to turn(50) an old Post Office building(51)across the street(52) into a new version of Penn Station.

PEG BREEN: "This was built in 1912 by Charles McKim, the architect of Pennsylvania Station, and it's the architectural twin(53) to the old Penn Station. It was built when public spaces were built to honor(54) the public, and when you walked into a building, it said, you know, 'This is a great city, you are a good citizen(55) in a wonderful(56) space.'"

The changes(57) are expected to cost(58) more than $1 billion. The building can never really take the place(59) of the old Penn Station. But Breen's group says it will give train passengers arriving in New York a beautiful door into the city. I'm Barbara Klein.

Vocabulário
 

1.                  Since = desde

2.                  Building = prédio

3.                  Stood = ficava

4.                  Underground = subterrâneo

5.                  Remains = permanece

6.                  Wrote = escreveu

7.                  About = sobre

8.                  as a child = quando era criança

9.                  sort of triggered = como que disparava

10.              For instance = por exemplo

11.              Shed = oficina, barracão

12.              Concourse = pátio

13.              vaulted iron = abóbada de ferro

14.              glass ceiling = teto de vidro

15.              dust = poeira

16.              drift in = flutuar

17.              frozen = congelado

18.              felt = sentiu

19.              room of journeys = salão de viagens

20.              mind = mente

21.              took a journey = fazia uma viagem

22.              before you ever got on a train = antes que você sequer entrasse em um trem

23.              covered = coberto

24.              women = mulheres

25.              never saw = nunca viu

26.              old pictures = fotos antigas

27.              awe-inspiring = inspirador

28.              It would be like = seria como

29.              put it into words = traduzir em palavras

30.              waiting room = sala de espera

31.              owner = proprietário(a)

32.              By the early = perto do inicio

33.              Failing = falindo

34.              Sold = vendeu

35.              above-ground = acima do solo

36.              developers = desenvolvedores

37.              torn down = demolido

38.              ripped apart = rasgado, destruído

39.              unceremoniously = sem cerimônias

40.              dragged = arrastado

41.              dumped = despejado

42.              came down = veio abaixo

43.              Slowly = lentamente

44.              regret the loss = lamentar a perda

45.              led to = levou a

46.              Landmarks = pontos turisticos

47.              never even saw = nunca sequer viram

48.              mourn = prantear

49.              heads = chefia

50.              turn = transformer

51.              Post Office building = prédio do correio

52.              across the street = do outro lado da rua

53.              twin = gêmeo(a)

54.              honor = homenagear

55.              citizen = cidadão

56.              wonderful = maravilhoso

57.              changes = mudanças

58.              cost = custar

59.              take the place = ocupar o lugar

   

Seasick Steve

Source: http://www.speakup.com.br

Language level: A1 Basic

Speaker: Jason Bermingham and Chuck Rolando

Standard: American standard 

 source of the picture: guardian.co.uk

Have you heard of Seasick Steve? He is the biggest surprise in the music business today. He’s 70 years old, he looks like a homeless person, and he plays the blues on an old guitar with only three strings. His CD I started out with Nothin’ and I Still Got Most of it Left went high in the UK album charts. If you buy a copy, you can discover the magic of Seasick Steve.

BLUE MAN

Steve suffered a serious heart attack in 2004 and decided his music career was finished; but when he recovered, his wife convinced him to record his songs for posterity – just him  and his guitar. He made the CD Doghouse Music in his own kitchen in front of the fire, and the thought that was the end of it. He was wrong he was invited to appear on the BBC television show. Jools Hollands’ annual Hootenanny, on New Year’s Eve 2006, and he instantly became a star.

ON THE ROAD

Steven Gene Wold, who was born in Oakland, California in 1941, really was a homeless person. He left home when he was 13 years old to escape from his violent stepfather, and spent the next years travelling around the USA on freight trains and working on farms. In the 1960s he played gigs with legends like Lighnin Hopkins and Son House. He remembers. “The old blues-men all suddenly became famous. It lasted a couple of years and then they disappeared back to the farms.”

STREET LIFE

In the early 1970s Seasick Steve himself disappeared to Europe and became a homeless busker on the street of Paris. He later moved to Britain and worked as a sound engineer and session musician. He later went back to the USA and headed to Seattle, where he worked with Grunge bands like Modest Mouse. In the 1990s he lost his enthusiasm for modern music and moved to Norway –his wife is Norwegian. What does he think of his sudden success? “It’s a surprise for an old guy like me,” he says. “All these young people coming to see me that’s a real honor!”

See Seasick Steve’s  “Hootenanny” performance on: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoPNC3ebYQ .   

Pecos Bill (An American Tall Tale)

Source: http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/Childrens-Story-Pecos-Bill-123660404.html

STEVE EMBER:  Now, the Special English Program AMERICAN STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Today we tell a traditional American story called a "tall tale." A tall tale is a story about a person who is larger than life. The descriptions in the story are exaggerated – much greater than in real life. Long ago, the people who settled in undeveloped areas in America first told tall tales. After a hard day's work, people gathered to tell each other funny stories.

Pecos Bill was a larger than life hero of the American West.  No one knows who first told stories about Pecos Bill.  Cowboys may have invented the stories.  Others say Edward O'Reilly invented the character in stories he wrote for The Century Magazine in the early nineteen hundreds.  The stories were collected in a book called "The Saga of Pecos Bill" published in nineteen twenty-three.

Another writer, James Cloyd Bowman, wrote an award-winning children's book called "Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time."  The book won the Newbery Honor in nineteen thirty-eight.

Pecos Bill was not a historical person.  But he does represent the spirit of early settlers in the American West. His unusual childhood and extraordinary actions tell about people who believed there were no limits to what they could do.  Now, here is Barbara Klein with our story.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN:  Pecos Bill had one of the strangest childhoods a boy ever had.  It all started after his father decided that there was no longer enough room in east Texas for his family.

"Pack up, Ma!" he cried.  "Neighbors movin' in fifty miles away!  It's getting' too crowded!"

So they loaded up a wagon with all their things.  Now some say they had fifteen children while others say eighteen.  However many there were, the children were louder than thunder.  And as they set off across the wild country of west Texas, their mother and father could hardly hear a thing.

Now, as they came to the Pecos River, the wagon hit a big rock.  The force threw little Bill out of the wagon and he landed on the sandy ground.  Mother did not know Bill was gone until she gathered the children for the midday meal.  Mother set off with some of the children to look for Bill, but they could find no sign of him.

Well, some people say Bill was just a baby when his family lost him.  Others say he was four years old.  But all agree that a group of animals called coyotes found Bill and raised him. Bill did all the things those animals did, like chase lizards and howl at the moon.  He became as good a coyote as any.

(SOUND)

Now, Bill spent seventeen years living like a coyote until one day a cowboy rode by on his horse.  Some say the cowboy was one of Bill's brothers.  Whoever he was, he took one look at Bill and asked, "What are you?"

Bill was not used to human language.  At first, he could not say anything.  The cowboy repeated his question. This time, Bill said, "varmint."

That is a word used for any kind of wild animal.

"No you aren't," said the cowboy.

"Yes, I am," said Bill.  "I have fleas."

"Lots of people have fleas," said the cowboy.  "You don't have a tail."

"Yes, I do," said Bill.

"Show it to me then," the cowboy said.

Bill looked at his backside and realized that he did not have a tail like the other coyotes.  "Well, what am I then?" asked Bill.

"You're a cowboy!  So start acting like one!" the cowboy cried out.  Well that was all Bill needed to hear.  He said goodbye to his coyote friends and left to join the world of humans.

(MUSIC)

Now, Pecos Bill was a good cowboy. Still, he hungered for adventure.  One day he heard about a rough group of men. There is some debate over what the group was called.  But one storyteller calls it the "Hell's Gate Gang."

So Bill set out across the rough country to find this gang of men.  Well, Bill's horse soon was injured so Bill had to carry it for a hundred miles.  Then Bill met a rattlesnake fifty feet long.  The snake made a hissing noise and was not about to let Bill pass.  But after a tense minute, Bill beat the snake until it surrendered. He felt sorry for the varmint, though, and wrapped it around his arm.

After Bill walked another hundred miles, he came across an angry mountain lion.  There was a huge battle, but Bill took control of the big cat and put his saddle on it.  He rode that mountain lion all the way to the camp of the Hell's Gate Gang.

Now, when Bill saw the gang he shouted out, "Who's the boss around here?"

A huge cowboy, nine feet tall, took one look at Bill and said in a shaky voice, "I was the boss.  But you are the boss from here on in."

With his gang, Pecos Bill was able to create the biggest ranch in the Southwest.  Bill and his men had so many cattle that they needed all of New Mexico to hold them.  Arizona was the pasture where the cattle ate grass.

Pecos Bill invented the art of being a cowboy.  He invented the skill of throwing a special rope called a lasso over a cow's head to catch wandering cattle.

Some say he used a rattlesnake for a lasso.  Others say he made a lasso so big that it circled the whole Earth.

Bill invented the method of using a hot branding iron to permanently put the mark of a ranch on a cow's skin.  That helped stop people from stealing cattle.  Some say he invented cowboy songs to help calm the cattle and make the cowboy's life easier.  But he is also said to have invented tarantulas and scorpions as jokes. Cowboys have had trouble with those poisonous creatures ever since.

Now, Pecos Bill could ride anything that ever was.  So, as some tell the story, there came a storm bigger than any other.  It all happened during the worst drought the West had ever seen.  It was so dry that horses and cows started to dry up and blow away in the wind.  So when Bill saw the windstorm, he got an idea.  The huge tornado kicked across the land like a wild bronco.  But Bill jumped on it without a thought.

He rode that tornado across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, all the time squeezing the rain out of it to save the land from drought.  When the storm was over, Bill fell off the tornado.  He landed in California.  He left a hole so deep that to this day it is known as Death Valley.

(MUSIC)

Now, Bill had a horse named Widow Maker.  He got that name because any man who rode that horse would be thrown off and killed and his wife would become a widow. No one could ride that horse but Bill.

And Widow Maker, in the end, caused the biggest problem for Pecos Bill.  You see, one day Bill saw a woman.  Not just any woman, but a wild, red- haired woman, riding a giant catfish down the Rio Grande River.

Her name was Slue-foot Sue.  And Bill fell in love with her at first sight.  Well, Bill would not rest until he had asked for her hand in marriage.  And Slue-foot Sue accepted.

On their wedding day, Pecos Bill dressed in his best buckskin suit.  And Sue wore a beautiful white dress with a huge steel-spring bustle in the back.  It was the kind of big dress that many women wore in those days — the bigger the better.

Now, after the marriage ceremony Slue-foot Sue got a really bad idea.  She decided that she wanted to ride Widow Maker.  Bill begged her not to try.  But she had her mind made up.

Well, the second she jumped on the horse's back he began to kick and buck like nothing anyone had ever seen.  He sent Sue flying so high that she sailed clear over the new moon.

She fell back to Earth, but the steel-spring bustle just bounced her back up as high as before.

Now, there are many different stories about what happened next.  One story says Bill saw that Sue was in trouble.  She would keep bouncing forever if nothing was done.  So he took his rope out -- though some say it was a huge rattlesnake -- and lassoed Sue to catch her and bring her down to Earth.  Only, she just bounced him back up with her.

Somehow the two came to rest on the moon.  And that's where they stayed.  Some people say they raised a family up there. Their children were as loud and wild as Bill and Sue were in their younger days.  People say the sound of thunder that sometimes carries over the dry land around the Pecos River is nothing more than Pecos Bill's family laughing up a storm.

(SOUND & MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER:  This tall tale of Pecos Bill was adapted for Special English and produced by Mario Ritter.  Your storyteller was Barbara Klein. I'm Steve Ember.

Timbaland, The Way I are! learning through lyrics songs

Here you can take notice about the bad grammar "The way I are" actually it's common for Americans' Rappers similar to this one, the expressions She don't, He don't, both grammatically doesn't make sense. 

All credits for this exercise for: JUJUKA (Judith Jékel) a Hungarian EFL Teacher, for more contribution visit the website: http://www.englishexercises.org/exercise.asp?id=518

Source: ENGLISH EXERCISES. 

Watch the video and do the following exercises.

Write in the missing words. The images may help.

I ain't got no 
I ain't got no  to take you on a 
I can't even buy you 
But together we could be the perfect soul 
Talk to me girl

Oh

Unscramble the following lines

                                           If we go touch

                                           Thug it out til' we get it right

                                           Baby, it's alright now

   We can work without the perks just you and me

                                           You ain't gotta flaunt for me

                                           You can still touch my love, it's free

Choose the correct words in the chorus

~ Chorus ~
Baby if you stripestripstripsstripes, you can get a toptaptapetip
'Cause I like you just the waywhyweighweight you are
I'm about to strip and I'm well equipequipedequippedequipp
Can you handhandlelandbend me the way I are?

I don't feelneedhealkneel the G's or the car keykeyscrycries
Boy I like you just the way you are
Let me seeseasheepshow ya strip, you can get a tip
'Cause I like, I like, I like...

Unscramble the words in brackets.

I ain't got no (AIVS)
I ain't got no Red American (Eerxsps)
We can't go (hronwee) exotic
It don't (etmrta) 'cause I'm the one that loves you best
Talk to me girl

Write in the missing prepositions.
Oh
Baby, it's alright now
You ain't gotta flaunt  me
If we go touchy you can still touch my love, it's free
We can work  the perks just you and me
Thug it  til' we get it right

~ Chorus ~


Write in or choose the missing words. The images may help.

You know
Baby girl, I don't got a  ol' ,
I rent a  in a house
Listen baby girl
I ain't got a ,
But I can flutefloodfloatfoot your boat

So listen, baby girl
Once you get a thosedosethesetoes of D.O.E
You gon' want sumsamesomesoon mo'
So listen, baby girl
When I'm naked I want you theretheetheirtheirs,
Want you there, yeah.

Yeah my manymoneymainlymoonlit and me loof like feel me them,
And it's really not quitquietquitekite Louis Allason,
Your  ain't Pamela Anderson,
It's a struggle just to get you in the ,

But listen  girl,
Before I let you looseloselosslost a pondpantpentpound I'll buy a bigger car,
So listen baby girl,
I love you just the way ya are, the way ya are

Find the extra words in each line and write them in the boxes.
Oh
Baby girl, it's alright now                                              
You ain't gotta flaunt it for me                                        
If we go touchy then you can still touch my love, it's free
We can work without the hard perks just you and me       
Thug it out please til' we get it right                            

Pauls Case, Part Two

Source: www.manythings.org/voa/stories

source of the picture: starpulse.com

Pauls Case, Part Two

The podcast's audio is available on part I and II.

This is Part 2. If you haven't read it yet, go to Part 1.

Today we complete the story "Pauls Case."  It was written by Willa Cather. Here is Kay Gallant with the story.

(MUSIC)

Paul was a student with a lot of problems. He hated school. He didnt like living with his family on Cordelia Street in the industrial city of Pittsburgh.

Paul wanted to be surrounded by beautiful things. He loved his part-time job as an usher at the concert hall. He helped people find their seats before the concert. Then he could listen to the music and dream of exciting places.

Paul also spent a lot of time at the local theater. He knew many of the actors who worked there. He used to do little jobs for them. And they would let him see plays for free.

Paul had little time left for his studies. So he was always in trouble with his teachers. Finally, Pauls teachers complained again to his father. His father took him out of school and made him take a job in a large company. He would not let Paul go near the concert hall or the theater.

Paul did not like his job as a messenger boy. He began to plan his escape.

A few weeks later, Pauls boss, Mr. Denny, gave Paul a large amount of money to take to the bank. He told Paul to hurry because it was Friday afternoon. He said the bank would close soon and would not open again until Monday. At the bank, Paul took the money out of his pocket. It was five thousand dollars. Paul put the money back in his coat pocket. And he walked out of the bank.

He went to the train station and bought a one way ticket for New York City. That afternoon Paul left Pittsburgh forever.

The train traveled slowly through a January snowstorm. The slow movement made Paul fall asleep. The train whistle blew just as the sun was coming up. Paul awoke, feeling dirty and uncomfortable. He quickly touched his coat pocket. The money was still there. It was not a dream. He really was on his way to New York City with five thousand dollars in his pocket.

Finally the train pulled into Central Station. Paul walked quickly out of the station and went immediately to an expensive clothing store for men.

The salesman was very polite when he saw Pauls money. Paul bought two suits, several white silk shirts, some silk ties of different colors. Then he bought a black tuxedo suit for the theater, a warm winter coat, a red bathrobe, and the finest silk underclothes. He told the salesman he wanted to wear one of the new suits and the coat immediately. The salesman bowed and smiled.

Paul then took a taxi to another shop where he bought several pairs of leather shoes and boots. Next, he went to the famous jewelry store, Tiffanys, and bought a tie pin and some brushes with silver handles. His last stop was a luggage store where he had all his new clothes put into several expensive suitcases.

It was a little before one oclock in the afternoon when Paul arrived at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. The doormen opened the hotels glass doors for Paul and the boy entered. The thick carpet under his feet had the colors of a thousand jewels. The lights sparkled from crystal chandeliers.

Paul told the hotel clerk he was from Washington, D.C. He said his mother and father were arriving in a few days from Europe. He explained he was going to wait for them at the hotel.

In his dreams Paul had planned this trip to New York a hundred times. He knew all about the Waldorf-Astoria, one of New Yorks most expensive hotels. As soon as he entered his rooms, he saw that everything was perfect--except for one thing. He rang the bell and asked for fresh flowers to be sent quickly to his rooms.

When the flowers came, Paul put them in water and then he took a long, hot bath. He came out the bathroom, wearing the red silk bathrobe. Outside his windows, the snow was falling so fast that he could not see across the street. But inside, the air was warm and sweet. He lay down on the sofa in his sitting room.

It had all been so very simple, he thought. When they had shut him out of the theater and the concert hall, Paul knew he had to leave. But he was surprised that he had not been afraid to go. He could not remember a time when he had not been afraid of something. Even when he was a little boy. But now he felt free. He wasnt afraid anymore. He watched the snow until he fell asleep.

It was four oclock in the afternoon when Paul woke up. He spent nearly an hour getting dressed. He looked at himself often in the mirror. His dark blue suit fit him so well that he did not seem too thin. The white silk shirt and the blue and lilac tie felt cool and smooth under his fingers. He was exactly the kind of boy he had always wanted to be.

Paul put on his new winter coat and went downstairs. He got into a taxi and told the driver to take him for a ride along Fifth Avenue. Paul stared at the expensive stores.

As the taxi stopped for a red light Paul noticed a flower shop. Through the window, he could see all kinds of flowers. Paul thought the violets, roses, and lilies-of-the valley looked even more lovely because they were blooming in the middle of winter.

Paul began to feel hungry so he asked the taxi driver to take him back to the hotel. As he entered the dining room, the music of the hotel orchestra floated up to greet him. He sat at a table near a window. The fresh flowers, the white tablecloth, and the colored wine glasses pleased Pauls eyes. The soft music, the low voices of the people around him and the soft popping of champagne corks whispered into Pauls ears.

This is what everyone wants, he thought. He could not believed he had ever lived in Pittsburgh on Cordelia Street!  That belonged to another time and place. Paul lifted the crystal glass of champagne and drank the cold, prescious, bubbling wine. He belonged here.

Later that evening, Paul put on his black tuxedo and went to the opera. He felt perfectly at ease. He had only to look at his tuxedo to know he belonged with all the other beautiful people in the opera house. He didnt talk to anyone. But his eyes recorded everything.

Pauls golden days went by without a shadow. He made each one as perfect as he could. On the eighth day after his arrival in New York, he found a report in the newspaper about his crime. It said that his father had paid the company the five thousand dollars that Paul had stolen. It said Paul had been seen in a New York hotel. And it said Pauls father was in New York. He was looking for Paul to bring him back to Pittsburgh.

Pauls knees became weak. He sat down in a chair and put his head in his hands. The dream was ended. He had to go back to Cordelia Street. Back to the yellow-papered bedroom, the smell of cooked cabbage, the daily ride to work on the crowded street cars.

Paul poured himself a glass of champagne and drank it quickly. He poured another glass and drank that one, too.

Paul had a taxi take him out of the city and into the country. The taxi left him near some railroad tracks. Paul suddenly remembered all the flowers he had seen in a shop window his first night in New York. He realized that by now every one of those flowers was dead. They had had only one splendid moment to challenge winter.

A train whistle broke into Pauls thoughts. He watched as the train grew bigger and bigger. As it came closer, Pauls body shook. His lips wore a frightened smile. Paul looked nervously around as if someone might be watching him.

When the right moment came, Paul jumped. And as he jumped, he realized his great mistake. The blue of the ocean and the yellow of the desert flashed through his brain. He had not seen them yet! There was so much he had not seen!

Paul felt something hit his chest. He felt his body fly through the air far and fast. Then everything turned black and Paul dropped back into the great design of things.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

You have just heard the American story "Pauls Case."  It was written by Willa Cather.  Your storyteller was Kay Gallant.  Listen again next week at this time for another American story told in Special English on the Voice of America. Im Steve Ember.

YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND

Source of the picture: http://www.savvydaddy.com

I dedicate this song for those who support English tips and I'm not going named because I could forget someone, then, I just say to you...GRATITUDE, it's a single and beautiful word, and also I dedicate this song for those Readers, Teachers, Bloggers from Brazil and worldwide, Students and all who dropping daily here...Thank you so much...I've got a friend, we're got thousands of friends...YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND James Taylor...Good night all (Morning in Asia), I love you all.