7617 Listen To Englishpodcast

www.listen-to-enghlish.
com (podcast)
y l ti liu luyn nghe ting anh c copy t trang web listen-to-enghlish.com, mnh download cc file mp3 cc bn c th va nghe v c th theo di theo bi nghe. Cc file mp3 mnh s upload sau hoc cc bn c th gh thm trang web nghe v downlaod v nghe. Chc cc bn hc tt mn anh vn. Chng ta cng chia s ti liu hc ting anh c tt hn nh, email cho mnh nu bn no c trang web hay hoc ti liu hay mun chia s. Thanks so much! http://www.listen-to-english.com ngoi ra cc bn c th tham kho thm trang luyn k nng nghe. http://www.world-english.org/listening.htm http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/ http://www.voanews.com The Longest Name ........................................................................................................................................3 A wet summer, and the Olympic Games ......................................................................................................3 Break up .........................................................................................................................................................4 Better ..............................................................................................................................................................5 Stonehenge .....................................................................................................................................................7 How much does the Queen cost? ..................................................................................................................8 How much does the Queen cost? - exercise .............................................................................................9 Alfred Brendel Calls Time ..........................................................................................................................10 Captain Calamity .........................................................................................................................................11 Getting married ............................................................................................................................................12 Kevin gets cold feet .....................................................................................................................................13 Godiva and Peeping Tom ............................................................................................................................14 The Worst Poet ............................................................................................................................................15 Bank Holiday ...............................................................................................................................................16 Bank Holiday - Grammar and Vocabulary Note ....................................................................................17 How to stay warm ........................................................................................................................................17 I get my car repaired. You get your hair cut. ..............................................................................................18 The Great Smell ...........................................................................................................................................20 Lost and Found ............................................................................................................................................21 How to enter the kitchen! ............................................................................................................................22 I could do with a haircut ..............................................................................................................................24 I get my car repaired. You get your hair cut. ..............................................................................................26 The Great Smell ...........................................................................................................................................27 Why the Blues are biting their nails ............................................................................................................28 Folly .............................................................................................................................................................29 Up up up ......................................................................................................................................................30 Up up up - grammar and vocabulary note...............................................................................................31 Murdered someone once! ............................................................................................................................31 Murdered someone once - grammar and vocabulary note......................................................................32 Budget ..........................................................................................................................................................33 Budget - Vocabulary Note.......................................................................................................................34 How many apples? How much sugar? ........................................................................................................35 The Market Rasen Earthquake ....................................................................................................................38 A Gruesome Discovery ...............................................................................................................................39 Painting the Forth Bridge ............................................................................................................................41 Spaghetti Junction .......................................................................................................................................43 Whether the weather is fine ... .....................................................................................................................44 Pancake Day ................................................................................................................................................48 Rhubarb ........................................................................................................................................................50 Languages ....................................................................................................................................................51 Mr Trump's Golf Course .............................................................................................................................53 haiyen36.85@gmail.com
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast)
Mr Trump's Golf Course - Grammar and Vocabulary Note ..................................................................53 A Christmas Story - part 1 ...........................................................................................................................54 A Christmas Story - part 2. ..........................................................................................................................54 Theres none so queer as folks .....................................................................................................................55 Talking. talking ... ........................................................................................................................................56 Talking, talking - vocabulary note ..........................................................................................................57 Frustrated .....................................................................................................................................................57 Eddie the Eagle ............................................................................................................................................58 Eddie the Eagle - vocabulary note ..........................................................................................................59 New Year .....................................................................................................................................................61 New Year - vocabulary note ...................................................................................................................62
haiyen36.85@gmail.com
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) The Longest Name Tuesday 16 September 2008
The name sign on the railway station at Llanfair PG. Once upon a time, there was a village in north Wales called Llanfair. Llanfair means, simply, the church of St Mary in the Welsh language, and there are many other places in Wales called Llanfair. The particular Llanfair in this story was called Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, to distinguish it from the other places called Llanfair. The name Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll means, in English, the church of St Mary beside the hollow (or little valley) with the white hazel tree. I think you will agree that Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll is perhaps too long for normal, everyday use. And English speaking people like me often find Welsh names difficult to pronounce. So people shortened the name to Llanfair PG. And people often still call the village Llanfair PG today. In the 1850s, a railway line was built along the coast of north Wales. It ran to Holyhead, which was the main port for ships sailing to Ireland. The railway line was busy and important. But only a few trains stopped at the station at Llanfair PG, and only a few visitors came to the village. How could Llanfair PG attract more visitors? I know, said a man who lived near the village. We need a new name. A special name. A name that people will remember. A name that will make people say Thats interesting. I really want to visit that place. So he suggested a new name the longest place name in Britain. And other people agreed, and so the village was re-named Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. (That was not me speaking, by the way. That was a real Welsh person speaking real Welsh!) What did the new name mean? In English it is: The church of St Mary beside the hollow with the white hazel tree and the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio with the red cave. They put up a new name sign in the railway station, and it was the longest railway name sign in Britain. And they waited for the tourists to come. Changing the name of the village was what today we would call a publicity stunt something which you do to get people to notice you. Many companies, when they want to sell more of their products, find a new name for the product, or they design new packaging, or do something else to attract more customers. Sometimes this works. sometimes it doesnt. Did the new name work for Llanfair PG? I do not think so. Llanfair is still a quiet little place with about 3,000 inhabitants. Some trains stop there, but many go through without stopping. People arrive in their cars. They park in the station car park. They take a photograph of the the name sign on the station platform. Then they get back in their cars and drive away. Why did the new name not attract more visitors? The answer is easy, I think. Imagine going to a railway t ticket office and asking for a ticket to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, please. A wet summer, and the Olympic Games Wednesday 10 September 2008
A wet summer. This photo was taken in the Netherlands by Aneemiek van der Kuil but Britain in August was like this too! The summer holidays are over. People have returned to work. The children are back at school. And this is my first podcast since July. So, what sort of summer has it been in Britain? Lets start with the bad news. Our economy is in big difficulties. Prices are rising, especially prices for food. Petrol prices are now so high that people are using their cars less, and trains and buses more. Holidays abroad are now much more expensive, because the British pound has fallen in value. Our economy has stopped growing. Indeed, there may be a recession next year that is, a period when the economy shrinks, or becomes smaller. Our Chancellor of the Exchequer (that means, our Finance Minister) certainly thinks that things are bad. He recently told a newspaper reporter that the economic position was the worst for 60 years. Many British people own their own homes. They buy their homes with a loan from a bank. The last ten years have been a very nice time to own a house. House prices have risen steadily, and people felt that they were getting richer, so they spent more. In fact, Britain has had its longest period of economic growth for 100 years. But this has now stopped. House prices have fallen, and everyone expects that they will fall further. The fall in house prices has been the fastest for over 25 years. This is bad news if you own your house already; it is good news if you do not own a house but would like to buy one. However, the really awful thing the thing that makes British people really gloomy is the weather. It has rained since the end of July. We have had the wettest August for many years. And there has been hardly any sunshine. In many places, August has been the dullest August (that is, the least sunny August) since 1927. It is still raining. And the weather forecast is yes, more rain. I am glad to say, however, that the summer has had one happy thing for Britain. At the Olympic Games in Beijing, British athletes won 45 medals. That is the highest number of medals since 1908. We even won more medals than the Australians, which is very satisfying. So, while the rain poured down, we could at least watch the Olympic Games on television. The next Olympic Games, in 2012, will take place in London. Will they be the wettest Olympic Games ever? Or will it stop raining before then? Break up Monday 21 July 2008
This car is being broken up in a scrap yard. Photo by Olly Clark/flickr
There is an English phrasal verb to break up. It means to break into pieces. Here are some examples of ways in which we can use it. Imagine a storm at sea. The wind and the waves drive a ship onto the rocks. The waves smash the ship into pieces. The ship breaks up. Or, think about the great ice sheets in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Many scientists say that, because the worlds climate is getting warmer, the ice sheets are starting to break up. Or, think about a really old car. You have had it for many years. You and it have had some fine adventures together. But now the engine does not start. And when, eventually, it does start, there are horrible clunking sounds and a cloud of black smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe. The car is finished. You take the car to the scrap yard where they break it up, so that the metal and some of the parts can be re-used. And sometimes we say that a relationship breaks up. For instance, Joe and Mary have been going out together for a few months. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. But then they disagree and argue. Joe starts to think that he really doesnt like Mary very much. Mary starts to think that Joe is selfish and boring. They break up. They decide that they are not going to be boyfriend and girlfriend any more. You may be thinking that break up is a rather sad expression. We use it to talk about shipwrecks, and cars that have reached the end of their lives, and relationships which come to an end. But there is at least one really happy use of break up. We can say that a school breaks up. That means, simply, that it is the end of term. It is the beginning of the holidays. There is a primary school behind my house. The school breaks up today. Today is the last day of the school term. The children are very happy. They are making even more noise in the school playground than they usually do. After today, there will be six weeks with no school. Six weeks to stay late in bed. Six weeks to play in the garden. Six weeks to watch rubbish programmes on daytime television and to play on the computer. Six weeks to visit your grandparents, or to go on holiday. Six weeks to argue with your older sister. Six weeks to drive your parents mad. Listen to English is going on holiday too. This will be my last podcast for this term. But dont worry I will be back with a new podcast on 10 September. I am going to spend part of the holiday in Wales, so here is some Welsh music for you to listen to. It is played on the Welsh harp by Cheryl Ann Fulton. I will put an extra posting on the website with a flash player where you can listen to more of her music if you like it. Until September, goodbye. Download MP3 (6:59min, 3MB) Better Monday 14 July 2008
Better buses, better service, better catch one I am sorry that there was no podcast last week. I was unwell. But now I am better. That means, I am not unwell any more. I have recovered. I am better. And todays podcast is about the word better. Better is of course the comparative form of the adjective good. Good better- best. We can say: This is a good restaurant. But the restaurant over the road is better. And the restaurant round the corner is the best restaurant in the town.
We can use better in other ways, too. There is an English expression I had better do something. It means I must do something, or it would be a good idea to do something. Here are some examples: Kevin and Joanne are having breakfast. Joanne looks in the fridge. There is no milk. I had better buy some milk this morning, she says. Kevin looks at his watch. It is nearly 7.30am. I had better go now, he says. I have to go to a meeting at 8.30. Yes, says Joanne. You had better hurry, otherwise you will miss the train. And it is raining. You had better take an umbrella. In Birmingham, where I live, there is a bus company. Actually, there are lots of bus companies, because our government believes that competition in public transport is a good thing. Our government is wrong. Britain has some of the worst public transport in Europe. But that is different podcast. One of our competing bus companies has a slogan on the side of its buses. It says: better buses, better service, better catch one. This is what it means.
Better buses Better buses the company has better buses. But better than what? Better than the buses of the other bus companies? Better than the old buses which it used to have? I suppose that better buses is OK as an advertising slogan, but if you want people to understand exactly what you mean, remember to use the word than better buses than our old buses, for example. Better service This means more frequent buses, more reliable buses. Perhaps the company means that they now run buses late in the evening and on Sundays. And better catch one is short for you had better catch one. In other words, it would be a good idea to catch one of our wonderful better buses. Remember that in English, we can take a bus or a train or a plane; or we can catch a bus or a train or a plane. Now you know all about I had better. There is a quiz with the podcast today. You can find it on the website. Now it is late. I had better stop now. I had better go to the supermarket. I had better cook supper for the children. I had better say goodbye. Download MP3 (3:57min, 4MB)
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) Stonehenge Friday 04 July 2008
A rainbow behind Stonehenge. This remarkable photo was taken by Lucille Pine/flickr In todays podcast, we talk about some theories. We talk about things which may be true, or may not be true. We use words like perhaps and maybe and it could be that... See how many examples you can find. We English have not lived in England for long. Our ancestors, the Saxons, came to England from northern Germany in the fifth century. They spoke a language which we call Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Over the centuries, Anglo-Saxon changed to become modern English. Before the Saxon invasions, people called the Celts lived here. The modern Welsh language is descended from the languages of these Celtic people. But the Celts had not lived in Britain for long, either. There were people here before the Celts came. These people had no written language, so they left us no manuscripts or inscriptions to tell us about them. However, they left us plenty of archaeological evidence burial places, pottery, tools and so on. And they left us a remarkable and mysterious monument called Stonehenge. If you drive by car south-west out of London, along a road with the romantic name A303, you will reach Stonehenge after about an hour and a half. You will see a circle of great stones, with other stones placed carefully on top of them. There are other, smaller stones called bluestones. Around Stonehenge, there are other ancient places burial places, for instance, and ancient paths. The archaeologists tell us that Stonehenge was not all built at one time. The oldest parts of Stonehenge are about 5,000 years old. The bluestones came about 1000 years later, and the great circle of stones a few hundred years after that. The great stones probably came from a place about 40km away. They each weigh about 25 tonnes. Experts say that perhaps 500 men pulled each stone, while 100 more placed logs on the ground for the stone to roll over. The bluestones are even more remarkable they are much smaller, about 4 tonnes each, but they come from Preseli in south Wales, a distance of nearly 400 km. How did they get to Stonehenge? Maybe people carried them on small boats, over the sea and along rivers. The big question is Why? Why did these people, four or five thousand years ago, build Stonehenge, and what did they use it for? Here are some of the theories: - Perhaps Stonehenge was a religious temple. Perhaps priests sacrificed animals or even human beings here. - Maybe Stonehenge was a centre of political power, a place built by a great and powerful king. - Possibly, it was a place to celebrate the dead, a place to send them on their way to the next world.
- Or it could have been a place where sick or injured people came to be cured, like Lourdes in France is today. - Or Stonehenge might have been a place to watch the movement of the sun, moon and stars, and to forecast important events like eclipses. - Or, conceivably, it was all of these things, or it had different purposes at different times. Today, Stonehenge is an important tourist site, and a place for people who like to believe in magic. At the summer solstice (that is June 21st, the longest day of the year) people go to Stonehenge to watch the sun rise. This year, about 30,000 people were there. And, because this is England, it rained How much does the Queen cost? Monday 30 June 2008
Queen Elizabeth II Thank you all for your e-mails, and for your suggestions about subjects for future podcasts. A listener in France has asked, can I make a podcast about the Queen? And several other listeners have said that they would like some help with listening to numbers (which is always one of the most difficult things in any foreign language). I am going to kill two birds with one stone, as we say in English. This podcast is about the Queen, and also about listening to numbers. I have left gaps in the script where there are numbers,. Try to fill in the numbers as you hear them. You can check on the website whether you have heard them correctly. Queen Elizabeth (a)..... came to the throne in (b)....., following the death of her father, King George...... She is now (d)..... years old, and she has been Queen for (e)..... years. She is the (f)..... monarch (that is, king or queen) since the Norman Conquest of England in the year (g)...... What sort of things does she do? The Queen has all sorts of official engagements in this country visits to towns and cities, to schools and hospitals, to open new buildings and to attend official dinners. Last year she had (h)..... official engagements, which is (i)..... more than in (j)...... The Queen makes official visits to other countries too. Since she came to the throne, the Queen has made over (k)..... visits to about (l)..... different countries. Last year , she visited the United States, Uganda, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Queen sends messages of congratulations to everyone in Britain who reaches their (m)..... birthday. Since (n)....., she has sent (o)..... of these messages. She has also sent more than (p)..... messages of congratulation to married couples who are celebrating their diamond wedding, that is the (q)..... anniversary of their wedding. Last week, her office published the royal accounts for...... The accounts show that the cost of the Queens official duties last year was (s)...... This was (t)....., or (u).....% more than in (v)...... However, officials at the palace want everyone to know that in real terms, that is after allowing for inflation, the cost of the Queen has fallen by (w).....% in the last (x)..... years. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
How much is (y).....? Well, there are about (z)..... people in Britain, so (aa)..... is about (bb)..... pence for each of us. Palace officials, who try very hard to keep up with new technology and new fashions, have pointed out to the newspapers that (cc)..... pence is about the cost of a download from the iTunes music store. An important part of the cost of the Queens official duties is the cost of travel. Travel, in Britain and overseas, cost (dd)..... pounds last year. The Queen has a special royal train. Our newspapers love to tell us how much the royal train costs. Last year the royal train was used only (ee)..... times. One of these trips was a visit which Prince Charles made to a pub in the town of Penrith the cost was (ff)...... However, palace officials have told the press that there are serious problems because several of the royal palaces need to be repaired. Altogether an extra (gg)..... is needed for this. The roof at Windsor Castle needs to be replaced this will cost (hh)...... Many parts of Buckingham Palace in London have not been redecorated for over (ii).....years, and the electrical wiring is over (jj)..... years old. It will cost (kk)..... to rewire the palace, and replace the plumbing (that is, the water pipes and the drains), and to remove dangerous asbestos from the building. In fact, Buckingham Palace seems to be such a mess that I am surprised that the Queen still lives there. If you know of somewhere else where she could live temporarily, until Buckingham Palace is repaired, perhaps you could telephone her office and tell them The number is (ll)..... How much does the Queen cost? - exercise Monday 30 June 2008 Here are the missing numbers from the podcast How much does the Queen cost? You can download a pdf version of the exercise and the answers by clicking the link at the foot of the page. (a) the second (normally we write Queen Elizabeth II) (b) 1952 (c) the sixth (King George VI) (d) 82 (e) 56 (f) 40th (g) 1066 (h) 440 (i) 60 (j) 2006 (k) 260 (l) 126 (m) 100th (n) 1952 (o) 100,000 (note that in English we use a comma to separate thousands in big numbers) (p) 280,000 (q) 60th (r) 2007 (s) 40,000,000 (generally, in written English we would normally write 40 million) (t) 2 million (u) 6.1% (in English we use a full-stop, not a comma, when we write decimals) (v) 2006 (w) 3.1% (x) 7 (y) 40 million (z) 61 million (aa) 40 million (bb) 66 pence (cc) 66 pence (dd) 6.2 million (ee) 19 (ff) 18,916 haiyen36.85@gmail.com
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) (gg) 32 million (hh) 16 million (ii) 50 (jj) 60 (kk) 2.4 million (ll) 020 7930 4832 Download Media (0:00min, 0MB) This file has been downloaded 14923 times Podcast # | Posted in exercises Alfred Brendel Calls Time Wednesday 25 June 2008
10
Alfred Brendel Last November, the Guardian newspaper contained an article. This was the headline. Alfred Brendel, piano maestro, calls time on concert career. What does it mean? Well, you may already know about Alfred Brendel. He is a pianist, or a piano maestro as the Guardian headline calls him. He is famous for his playing of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. We shall talk more about him in a minute. But what does call time mean? Until about 30 years ago, there were strict laws in Britain about when pubs could open. Generally, all pubs had to close at 10.30 in the evening, and everyone had to stop drinking and leave the pub at that time. Shortly before 10.30pm, the landlord of the pub used to ring a bell, and call out Time, gentlemen, please! or something like that. So, to call time means to announce that you will soon close something, or soon finish something. Lets go back to the newspaper headline. Alfred Brendel, piano maestro, calls time on his concert career. It means that Alfred Brendel has announced that his career as a concert pianist will soon come to an end. In other words, he has said that he is going to retire. There is another idiom with a similar meaning to call it a day. Imagine that you have been working all day on a project for school or college. It is now the evening and you are tired. Yes, there are some more things you could do, but you decide to stop now and go to bed. You call it a day. Alfred Brendel has decided, at the age of 77, to call it a day too. Alfred Brendel is a remarkable man. He was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1931. His family were not musical, and he had little formal training on the piano. Nonetheless, he made a successful career as a pianist from the 1950s. Since the 1970s, he has lived in Britain. He is not only a famous pianist, he also writes about music, and writes poetry, both in English and in German. When he retires, at the end of this year, he wants to spend more time writing and teaching.
11
For the last 15 years, Alfred Brendel has come regularly to Birmingham to play in Symphony Hall. Last night, I attended his last concert here. Every ticket was sold, every seat in the hall was occupied. When he played, the audience was completely silent. As we say in English, you could have heard a pin drop. Alfred Brendels playing is very personal and very direct. It is as if he was in your sitting room, playing specially for you. At the end of the concert, we gave him a standing ovation, and he gave us two encores. It was a memorable occasion, though also a rather sad occasion. To end the podcast, here is Alfred Brendel playing some music by Schubert. May he have a long and happy retirement. Download MP3 (5:20min, 3MB) Captain Calamity Friday 20 June 2008
I could not find a picture or Forwick, but here is one of another part of the Shetlands, so that you can see what the landscape looks like. It was taken by tigernuts/flickr In the past year, we have had two podcasts about English people who have gone to Scotland to do slightly crazy things. We had Andy Strangeway, who has spent a night on every island in Scotland. Then we had Steve Feltham, who has spent the last 17 years looking for the Loch Ness monster. Today we meet Stuart Hill. He lives on a tiny island in Shetland (a group of islands to the north of Scotland), and he has just declared his island to be an independent state. This is not the first time that Stuart Hill has been in the news. He has a nickname, Captain Calamity. (A calamity is another word for a disaster). This is why. He comes from Essex in eastern England. Several years ago he bought himself a small boat. His boat became his main interest. He took a sail from a wind-surfing board and fixed it to his boat. He started to go for sailing trips. Then, in 2001, he decided to sail his boat single-handed all the way round Britain. His wife and his children thought he was mad. The distance around Britain is over 3,000 kilometers, and there are dangerous rocks and currents, and the waves and the weather are often dangerous too. Stuart Hill set off. Within minutes, he hit another boat, and his sail collapsed into the water. He found he had forgotten some important equipment, and a friend had to swim out to his boat with it. Over the next few weeks, he had more problems with his boat, and he had to be rescued five times by lifeboats and twice by helicopter. Finally, in August 2001, his boat turned over in a storm near the Shetland islands. He was rescued again, but he had lost everything he had no boat, and no money and nothing but the clothes he stood up in. So he stayed in Shetland, and got a job there, working in a fish-processing factory. This week, Stuart Hill was in the news again. He now lives on a tiny Shetland island called Forewick Holm, where he is the only inhabitant (apart from lots of sheep and sea-birds). He is 65 years old, which means that he is able to get a state old-age pension. Most pensioners want a quiet life, but not Stuart. He has declared that Forwick is now an independent state, and that it is no longer part of Britain or of the
12
European Union. There will be no taxes in Forwick, he says, and his state will soon issue its own currency. Why is he doing this? He wants to draw attention to an argument that Shetland is legally not part of Scotland (and therefore not part of Britain). Many centuries ago, Shetland was ruled by the king of Norway. But in 1469, the king of Norway needed some money in a hurry, so he gave Shetland to the king of Scotland in return for a loan. So, says Stuart Hill, Shetland is not part of Scotland. It should be an independent state, able in particular to control oil production from the oil fields around its coast and to collect revenues from the oil companies. Some Shetlanders probably agree with him, though I doubt if they want Captain Calamity as their ruler. Stuart Hill has spent much of the week being interviewed by the newspapers. Its all jolly good fun, he says. Every pensioner should do something like this. Download MP3 (4:54min, 2MB) This audio file has been downloaded 37993 times Getting married Tuesday 17 June 2008
While I was searching Flickr, I found this wonderful picture of a wedding cake. By princess of Ilyr/flickr who likes taking photos of food! Our podcast today is about weddings. I hope you will learn some new English words. There is a quiz attached to the podcast today so that you can test how much you know. In England, you can get married in a church, or you can have a civil wedding (that is, a non-religious wedding) . Until about 10 years ago, civil weddings always took place at a Registry Office. Nowdays, however, you can get married in all sorts of places in hotels, in country houses, and in many mosques and Hindu temples, for example. A wedding can be very expensive. One website that I have seen says that the average cost of a wedding in Britain is over 11,000. Here are some of the things that many couples will want for their wedding: a wedding-dress for the bride, and dresses for her bridesmaids; wedding rings for the bride and the bridegroom; flowers for the church or the place where the wedding is held; a reception (that is, a party or a formal meal) for the wedding guests after the wedding ceremony; a wedding cake; a professional photographer, to take pictures or videos of the wedding; a honeymoon (a holiday) for the newly-married couple after the wedding. And there are lots more things to spend money on if you want to. Some couples want to hire a beautiful horse-drawn carriage, or a vintage Rolls Royce car to take them away after the wedding. Some people even fly to holiday resorts in Mexico or Thailand to get married, and their families and friends fly there too.
13
There is no such thing as a typical wedding. Every couple getting married has to decide for themselves what sort of wedding they want a religious wedding, or a civil wedding; a big wedding with lots of guests; or a small, simple wedding. I went to a wedding last weekend. It was definitely not a typical wedding, but you might be interested in it. It was a Quaker wedding. There was no priest or minister to conduct the wedding, and no music or singing. The bride and groom and the wedding guests all sat silently together. After about 10 minutes, the bride and groom stood up and said that they took each other as man and wife and made their promises to each other. After that, some of their friends and relatives spoke about love and marriage, or read a poem or a passage from the Bible, or simply wished the couple every happiness together. The wedding lasted for about an hour. At the end, everyone who was there about 80 of us signed the wedding certificate as witnesses to the marriage. And then because we are British we all drank cups of tea and chatted to friends and family members whom we had not seen for a long time. We went out into the garden of the Quaker Meeting House to take photos of the bride and groom. In the evening, we were all invited to a ceilidh. Ceilidh is a Scottish Gaelic word, which has become part of the English language in recent years. It means an evening of dancing, singing, story telling and poetry. The bride and groom cut their wedding cake, and we danced traditional English and Scottish dances until late in the evening. And then all the wedding guests, and the bride and groom too, did the washing up and helped to put the chairs and tables back in their proper places. We had a wonderful time. Is this the sort of wedding you would like? Download MP3 (5:06min, 2MB) Kevin gets cold feet Tuesday 10 June 2008
Parachute. Photo by John Shappell/flickr Today, we meet the expression to have cold feet about something. It means well, I will tell you a story, and you will see what it means. About 3 months ago, Kevin went to the pub with his friend George. At the pub they met some friends who were talking about parachute jumping (or skydiving). They were planning to go on a course to learn how to jump out of an aeroplane with a parachute. They thought it would be a really interesting thing to do. Maybe people would agree to sponsor their first jump so that they could raise money for a charity. By the end of the evening, Kevin and George had agreed that they too would go on the parachute jumping course. It sounded good fun. And Kevin would be able to tell everyone at work about his parachute jump, and they would be impressed. Today is the last day of the parachute jumping course. For the first few days, Kevin, George and the other course participants learned how parachutes work, and how to open the parachute in the air, and how to land on the ground safely. But today, the instructors will take them up in a small aeroplane, and they will make their first real parachute jump. Kevin feels ill. Three months ago, in the pub, jumping out of an aeroplane with a parachute was a great idea. Now Kevin thinks, Why did I say that I would do this? Jumping out of an aeroplane is a crazy haiyen36.85@gmail.com
14
thing to do. Suppose he cannot make the parachute work. He would fall hundreds of meters and be killed. Or maybe his parachute will work, but he will land in a river, or in a tree, or on the roof of a house, or in a field with a mad bull. He imagines himself, lying on the ground with a broken ankle, with the mad bull snorting angrily at him. In other words, Kevin has cold feet. Three months ago, he was enthusiastic about the parachute jump. Now he thinks it is a stupid idea. Perhaps he could pretend to be ill, or that his aunt has just died and he needs to go to her funeral. Yes Kevin has cold feet. Kevin arrives at the little airfield where the course is taking place The other course participants all seem a little quiet this morning. Perhaps they have cold feet too. Then the instructor comes out of his office. Bad news, I am afraid, he says. There is a mechanical problem with the aircraft, and it will take two or three days to fix it. So Im sorry but we wont be able to do the parachute jump today. And everyone on the course says how disappointed they are, and how they had really been looking forward to the parachute jump, and what bad luck it is that the aeroplane cannot fly. And Kevin says all these things too. But secretly, inside, he is relieved. And he thinks that some of the other people on the course look relieved too. Godiva and Peeping Tom Thursday 05 June 2008
Maureen O Hara starred as Godiva in a 1955 Holywood film. Do you know the English word to peep? If I peep at something, it means that I look at it quickly and secretly, and I hope that no-one notices. For example, I buy a birthday present for my daughter. She wants to know what the present is. But it is not her birthday yet, so I do not tell her. Quietly she goes upstairs and peeps into the bag, to see what the present is. Or, I hear someone walking up the path to my house. Is it the postman? I peep out of the window to see who it is. However, peeping can be bad for you, as we hear in todays podcast. Not far from Birmingham, where I live, is a town called Coventry. My grandmother was born in Coventry, and she lived there until she was married. Coventry is an industrial town, but it is also an old town, much older than Birmingham. In the 11th century, the powerful Earl Leofric imposed taxes on the people of Coventry and on the market which took place there. The people complained that the taxes were haiyen36.85@gmail.com
15
too high. The wife of Leofric, whose name was Godiva, agreed with the people. She went to her husband and begged him to reduce the taxes. Leofric refused. Godiva continued to plead with him. Eventually, Leofric said that he would reduce the taxes if Godiva would ride naked on a horse through the town and market place of Coventry. Godiva was astonished. But she was a woman of strong character, and she agreed. So Godiva called for her servants to bring her horse, and she rode naked through Coventry. The people of Coventry all went into their houses and closed the doors and the shutters on their windows so that they should not see her. All the people? Well, no, there was a man called Tom, who peeped through a hole in the window-shutters when he heard Godivas horse coming. And because he peeped, he was struck blind that means, he became blind immediately. According to the story, Leofric did indeed reduce the taxes. To this day, the people of Coventry celebrate Godivas ride through the town. And, in English, we have a special name for someone who spies secretly on other people. We call him a Peeping Tom. So if you think that taxes are too high in your country, you know what to do. Find a horse, and take your clothes off. But dont peep! The Worst Poet Tuesday 20 May 2008
William McGonagall We stay in Scotland for todays podcast. We are going to meet a man called William Topaz McGonagall. Most people agree that he was the worst poet ever in the English language. He was born in 1825. His father was a cotton weaver, who had to move from town to town in Scotland to find work. Young William spent only 18 months at school before he too had to go and work in the mills and factories. He became a jute weaver in Dundee, a town on the east coast of Scotland. (Jute is a fibre which is used to make sacks. In the 19th century, Dundee was the centre of the jute industry in Britain). It was in 1877, when William was 52 years old, that he suddenly discovered that he was a poet. Not just a poet a great poet possibly the finest poet since Shakespeare. Over the next 25 years, Willam McGonagall wrote a large number of poems. He wrote about the great public events of the day, like the attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria, and the funeral of the Emperor of Germany. He was particularly fond of disasters, like shipwrecks and railway accidents. He wrote about famous battles, and about people and places that he knew. And his poetry was bad. It was so bad that it almost became good, if you see what I mean. It was like someone playing a musical instrument, loudly and confidently, but completely out of tune and without any sense of rhythm. It was like a newspaper report turned into poetry. Here are some examples. In 1878, a railway bridge was built over the river Tay near Dundee. At the time, it was the longest bridge in the world. It was a triumph of British engineering, and the nation felt proud. Naturally, William McGonagall wrote a poem about it. It began: Beautiful railway bridge over the silvery Tay! With your numerous arches and pillars in so grand array, haiyen36.85@gmail.com
16
And your central girders, which seem to the eye To be almost towering to the sky. Less than two years later, the Tay bridge collapsed in a storm while a train was passing over it. Many people were killed. McGonagall wrote: Beautiful railway bridge over the silvery Tay! Alas! I am very sorry to say That ninety lives have been taken away On the last Sabbath day of 1879 Which will be remembered for a very long time. A new Tay Bridge was completed in 1887, and of course William wrote a poem for the occasion. I think you can guess how it began. Beautiful new railway bridge over the silvery Tay! With your strong brick piers and buttresses in so grand array, And your thirteen central girders, which seem to my eye, Strong enough all windy storms to defy.
Portrait of William McGonagall by W B Lamond William McGonagall organised public events where he would read his poetry. They were very popular. People came to laugh at his poems, and throw rotten fruit and vegetables at him. (Obviously, in those days, there was not much to do in Dundee in the evenings). But McGonagall continued to believe that he had a special gift as a poet. His fame as a bad poet spread throughout Scotland, and then in the rest of Britain and in the British empire. But his poetry did not make him rich, and he died penniless in Edinburgh in 1902. He has never been forgotten however. His books of poetry have been reprinted regularly. Last week, a manuscript of some of his poems was sold at auction for thousands of pounds. People still read his poems today and smile. Download MP3 (5:27min, 3MB) Bank Holiday Sunday 04 May 2008
We go to the seaside. We sit on the sand and eat ice-cream. Photo by crunchcandy/flickr Irene, who lives in Germany, is a regular listener to these podcasts. She has sent me an e-mail to suggest that I make a podcast about bank holidays in England and the way that we celebrate them.
17
Most countries have public holidays at various times of the year that means, days when schools, offices and many businesses are closed, so that most people do not have to go to work. In England, our public holidays have the rather strange name bank holidays. The name comes from an Act of Parliament in 1871, which required the Bank of England to close on certain days during the year. The idea was that, if the Bank of England was closed, many other businesses would close as well, and that their employees could have a day off work. And that is in fact what has happened the bank holidays have become general public holidays. Some of the bank holidays are at the times of the important traditional Christian festivals at Easter and Christmas. But the other holidays are not religious, they are secular. Unlike public holidays in many other countries, they are not on a fixed date every year. Instead they are all on Mondays, so that people can take a long weekend break if they wish. Tomorrow, for example, is the May Day Bank Holiday, which is on the first Monday in May every year. We have another bank holiday, the Spring Bank Holiday, on the last Monday in May; and another bank holiday on the last Monday in August. In Scotland and Ireland they have bank holidays on the feast days of their patron saints St Andrews Day (30 November) in Scotland, and St Patricks Day (17 March) in Ireland. But although we poor English have a patron saint, St George, we do not get a holiday on St Georges Day on 23 April. This is not fair. So, what do we English do on our bank holidays? We visit friends and relatives. Or perhaps we stay in bed until lunch-time. We dig our gardens and we mow our lawns. We go to football or cricket matches. We go to huge out-of-town superstores to buy curtains and things for the kitchen. We do DIY jobs around the house, like painting the bedroom or putting up a new shelf in the bathroom. And if the weather is good, we get in our cars and we go to the seaside. There we sit on the sand and eat ice-creams. At the end of the day, we get back into our cars and drive home. We get stuck in enormous traffic jams on the motorways. The children argue and fight in the back of the car. We arrive home tired but happy late in the evening. A perfect bank holiday! Its such a pity we have to get up in the morning and go to work. Download MP3 (3:59min, 2MB) Bank Holiday - Grammar and Vocabulary Note Sunday 04 May 2008 DIY means do it yourself. A DIY job is something like decorating a room, or installing a new shower. At one time, people generally employed a professional decorator, or a plumber, to do these things. Nowdays many people do these jobs for themselves. A DIY store is a store which sells paint, wallpaper, wood, tools, and everything else you need if you want to do it yourself. A day off work a day when you dont go to work eg because you have a holiday, or because you are sick. You can ask your boss, Please can I have a day off tomorrow. A long weekend is when you take a day off on Friday, or on Monday, or even on both Friday and Monday, in order to have three or four consecutive days when you do not have to work. We can say, for example, I am going to take a long weekend and go and visit my brother in Scotland. A break means a short holiday. A weekend break is when you go away just for the weekend. It is [such] a pity that or It is [such] a shame that These expressions mean unfortunately. Here are some examples: It is my birthday tomorrow. It is such a shame that my sister cannot come to my party. I enjoyed my holiday in France. But it is a pity that I forgot to take my camera. The football was great fun. Its a pity our team lost! It is a shame that we arrived too late to see the film. Podcast # | Posted in notes | Comments (3) How to stay warm Thursday 01 May 2008
18
Sheep on the road in North Yorkshire. Photo by Julia Parsons/flickr If you visit upland areas of Britain places like the mountains of Scotland, or Wales, or the Pennine Hills in northern England you will see a lot of sheep. Many of the sheep are in places where there are no walls or hedges to keep them in their fields. So the sheep can wander where they like, over the hills, and of course on the roads as well. Sheep do not take much notice of cars. So, imagine you are driving along a little road in northern England. The sun is shining. You look at the beautiful views across the hills and the valleys. You turn a corner. And you find a flock of sheep on the road. The sheep look at you. You look at the sheep. You toot your car horn. The sheep look at you some more. Then slowly, they move and let you past. The sheep particularly like the road in the evening, because it is warm. During the day, the sun shines on the road. If you try to walk across a sunny road in bare feet, you will know how hot the road can be. When evening comes, the road is a nice warm place for the sheep to go to sleep. And the sheep do not want to move, just because a car comes round the corner. Well, you would not like getting out of bed to let a car come past. What is the point of this little story about sheep? It is that roads are very good at absorbing heat from the sun. A laboratory in England wants to see if it can use this fact to keep roads free of ice and snow in the winter. It wants to place pipes filled with water underneath the road. When the sun shines, the road will become hot and the water in the pipes will become hot too. A small pump will pump the hot water into a tank buried in the ground at the side of the road. The tank will be heavily insulated. That means that the heat will not be able to escape, and the water will stay warm for a long time. And on cold winter nights, the pump will pump the warm water back into the pipes underneath the road. The warm water will heat the road surface and keep it free of ice. The scientists and technologists call this technology Interseasonal Heat Transfer, or IHT. It is of course a very simple technology, but many people think that intelligent use of simple technology will be very important in the future. Climate change and the rising prices of fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil make it urgent to find new ways of doing things which will not damage the environment. If we can store heat from roads, car parks, airport runways, roofs, school playgrounds etc in summer, we could use the heat during the winter not just for keeping roads free of ice, but for heating buildings and providing hot water. In the last podcast, I asked you to imagine that you were very rich, and had lots of servants. Naturally, you have a tennis court and a swimming pool probably you have three tennis courts and two swimming pools. How will you keep your swimming pools warm in winter? Easy place pipes filled with water under the tennis courts to collect heat from the sun in summer. Store the hot water in insulated tanks and use it to heat the swimming pools in winter. Download MP3 (4:38min, 2MB) I get my car repaired. You get your hair cut. Friday 25 April 2008
19
We get our milk delivered. Photo of a milkman with his milk float by Hembo Pagi/flickr My car does not go. I dont know what is wrong with it. The engine wont start. The car will not move. What shall I do? I will get the car repaired. That means I will not repair the car myself. I will ask someone else to do it, and they will repair the car for me. Look at the way we can talk about this in English. I will get my car repaired. I will have my car repaired. I will get the garage to repair my car. I will have the garage repair my car. Now here is something which we all need, but which we cannot do for ourselves cutting our hair. (What? You cut your own hair? How? Would you like to send me a photo so I can put it on the website?) So what do you do? You get your hair cut. You have your hair cut. You get the hairdresser to cut your hair. You have the hairdresser cut your hair. Do you know what a milkman is? In England you can have your milk delivered to your home. Our milkman comes at about 3am. He leaves two bottles of milk and one bottle of orange juice outside our door. He drives a little electric van (we call it a milk float in English), so he makes hardly any noise. The milk bottles are made of glass, and when they are empty, we leave them outside the door for the milkman to collect. So : We get our milk delivered. We have our milk delivered. We get the milkman to deliver our milk. We have the milkman deliver our milk. Now imagine that you are very rich. No, not very rich very, very rich indeed. You do not have a luxury sports car. You have three luxury sports cars, and a yacht, and a private aeroplane, and a home in Monte Carlo where your friends are all very rich too. And you have servants people to do things for you. Here are some of the things you get your servants to do: You get your food cooked. You have your finger nails polished. You get your butler to pour your champagne. You have your gardener mow the lawn. If you like, think of other things which your servants can do for you. Use the expressions we have used in this podcast -I get something done, I have something done etc and put them on the Listen to English website as comments. Or perhaps you can get someone to put them on the website for you. Download MP3 (3:46min, 2MB)
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) The Great Smell Sunday 20 April 2008
20
The Stink! Photo by whizchickenonabun/flickr In the last podcast, I said that I would tell you how Birmingham did in their match against Aston Villa. Well, they lost 5-1. Sorry, Birmingham! Birmingham could still stay in the Premiership next season, but things are not looking good. The nail-biting continues. Now for our story today. It started on Thursday evening last week. People in the south-east of England noticed a strange smell in the air. It was not a pleasant smell. Rather, it was the smell of rotten things, of manure and sewage, mixed with the smell of traffic fumes. People started to complain to the newspapers and TV stations, and to the weather forecasters at the Meteorological Office. What was it? Well, said the Meteorological Office, the cause of the Great Smell was this. There was a mass of cold, still air over northern Europe. There was low cloud and no wind. All sorts of smells and fumes from industry and from farms, from traffic and from everyday life had become trapped under the cloud. Then on Thursday, the cold air, and its smells, had moved westwards over southern England. What? said our newspapers. You mean, it isnt a good, healthy English smell. Its a nasty foreign smell. And the newspapers started to run stories about how the smell was all the fault of the French, because we English always blame the French first whenever anything bad happens. However, it then became clear that the smell was coming, not from France, but from further north and east. So we started to blame the Germans and the Dutch, because we English always blame the Germans and the Dutch second whenever anything bad happens. The Meteorological Office tried to explain that the smell was not a threat to health, and that it would blow away in the next few days. But the newspapers did not want to listen. They were having too much fun blaming foreigners. The truth, of course, is this: 1. there was nothing more interesting for the newspapers to report; 2. people who live in towns get used to town smells, like traffic fumes and fast-food restaurants. They forget that there are country smells too, like the smell of manure being spread on fields. 3. many newspapers forget that England too has serious pollution problems. Normally, the westerly winds carry our pollution over to other countries, so maybe it is fair that occasionally other countries polluted air comes to us. And what can you learn from this story? First, remember that smell in English is a neutral word. We can talk about nice smells and unpleasant smells. You can tell your girlfriend that her new perfume smells lovely; and you can say that a pile of rotten rubbish smells horrible. Second, there are lots of other words that you can use instead of smell. A delicate, pleasant smell, like the smell of a flower, can be called a scent. Aroma is a neutral word like smell there are pleasant aromas (like dinner cooking in the kitchen) and unpleasant aromas. And a really nasty smell like the smell of sewage can be called a stink or a stench. So now you know lots of words to use if you ever want to talk about the smelly English. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
21
PS. I forgot the word odour also means a smell, normally an unpleasant smell. Download MP3 (5:03min, 2MB) Lost and Found Wednesday 24 September 2008
The lost car keys. Picture by fallsroad/flickr. Alexandre Monteiro has sent me an e-mail asking about the difference between the words seek, find and look. I hope that this podcast will help him, and other people. I guess you know the English verb to lose. The past tense is lost. If you lose your pen, you do not know where you left it or where you put it. The pen is lost. When you lose something, probably you want to find it again. So you look for it, or you search for it, or you hunt for it. We also have a verb to seek which has a similar meaning to search. But we generally use seek when we are talking about abstract things. We can say, for example, I am seeking happiness. But we probably would not say I am seeking my car keys. And that brings us to our story today, which is about Joanne, and she has lost her car keys. Joanne is looking after her nephew Nick, who is two and a half years old. They have a happy afternoon together in the park. Then they come home and draw some pictures. Then Nick helps Joanne to make some biscuits. Nick eats most of the biscuits, until Joanne says, No more, Nick. Your Mum will be cross if you eat too many biscuits and then cant eat your tea. Then Nick watches a video, and then it is time for him to go home. Joanne helps Nick to put on his shoes and coat. She looks in her handbag for her car keys. The keys are not there. They are not in the pockets of her jacket, either. Where can I have put them? she says. She looks for the keys in the kitchen. Perhaps she left them on the kitchen table when they were making biscuits. But the keys are not there. She searches for the keys in the sitting room. Perhaps they have fallen down the back of the sofa. But the keys are not there. She hunts for the keys in the bedroom. Perhaps she put them down on the dressing-table. But the keys are not there. She searches high and low, but the keys are nowhere to be found. Have you seen my car keys, Nick? says Joanne. Down the toilet, says Nick. What? says Joanne. Nick, did you put the keys down the toilet? Dont know, says Nick, helpfully. Can I have another biscuit? Joanne rushes to the bathroom and looks into the toilet. No keys. By this time, Joanne is getting desperate. She told her sister that Nick would be home at 5.30. It is now 5.45. The door opens. Kevin comes in. He is in a good mood. He has been to a football match, where his team won 2-0. And he is carrying Joannes car keys. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
22
Where did you find them? asks Joanne. You left them in the car ignition, says Kevin. You are lucky that no-one drove your car away. Oh, I smell biscuits. Can I have one? Download MP3 (4:04min, 2MB) How to enter the kitchen! Friday 19 September 2008
A mouse in the kitchen! Photo by yeimaya/flickr. I have some poetry for you in todays podcast. It is a poem by a woman called Susie Paskins, and it is called How to enter the kitchen. Let me first explain what the poem is about. Susie has a problem. There is a mouse in her kitchen! She knows that the mouse is there somewhere in the kitchen and she does not like it. So what does she do? She makes lots of noise when she goes into the kitchen. She does not look in the corners of the room, where the mouse might be. She sings loudly when she puts water in the kettle to boil. She pretends that she does not worry about the mouse at all. The poem then goes on to say that we have secret parts of our lives which are like the mouse in the kitchen. Normally we ignore them. We make lots of noise so that we do not have to see them. And the secret parts of our lives, like the mouse, run away and hide. But perhaps it would be better if we sat quietly and waited. Then we might see these parts of our life, and we would not be afraid of them any more. Just like the mouse in the kitchen! Here is the poem: Approach with confidence, Then fling the door wide, Make a loud stamping noise. Do not look in the corners That is where it might be, Whisking and darting, A black shadow Running to hide. Sing loudly as you put the kettle on. Pretend a certainty you do not feel That it will not horror! run over your feet Or pause and stare up at you, Defying your possession of its space. Parts of you Hide in corners too, Not seeing the light, Muttering and grumbling, Too low to be heard. Mostly you avert your gaze haiyen36.85@gmail.com
23
And make too much noise To confront them. So they run away And hide in the secret places. But perhaps You should quietly tiptoe To the corner and wait. And then you might see, And not be afraid Of what lives in the dark. Poem originally published in Quaker Monthly, March 2008. Reproduced here by permission. 1. The mouse makes lots of noise in the kitchen. A. B. 2. ? True ? False
Which of these things does Susie Paskins NOT do? A. B. C. D. ? ? ? ? She stamps her feet on the ground to make lots of noise. She avoids looking in the corners where the mouse might be. She calls the police. She pretends that she is not worried about the mouse.
3.
"Fling the door wide" means .... A. B. C. ? ..knock on the door before opening it. ? ...open the door quietly so that the mouse does not hear. ? ...open the door quickly and fully.
4.
If Susie looked in the corner of the kithen. she might see... A. B. C. ? the kettle ? a black shadow ? the mouse, running to hide
5.
Susie "pretends a certainty she does not feel". This means: A. B. C. ? She acts confidently, even though she is afraid of the mouse. ? She thinks that the mouse will run over her feet. ? She thinks that the mouse will hide.
24
6. In the poem, Susie talks about things which the mouse might do. Which of these is NOT in the poem? A. B. C. D. 7. ? ? ? ? The mouse might hide The mouse might go to sleep. The mouse might run over Susie's feet The mouse might sit and look at Susie.
There are parts of our lives which, like the mouse,... A. B. C. ? ...make a lot of noise. ? ...hide in corners. ? ...run over people's feet.
8. The poem says that we "avert our gaze" from the secret parts of our lives. What does this mean? A. B. C. 9. ? We look away from them. ? We are frightened by them. ? We try to forget them.
What does the poem suggest that we do about the secret parts of our lives? A. ? We should be afraid of them. B. ? We should hide from them. C. ? We should wait quietly until we see them, and then we will not be afraid of them any more.
10. What does "tiptoe" mean? A. B. C. ? To walk very quietly on the tips of your toes. ? To hide in secret places. ? To sit down very quietly.
I could do with a haircut Friday 23 May 2008
25
I could do with a haircut. Artwork by Lorrie McClanahan/flickr In todays podcast we meet the English expression I could do with I could do with is an indirect way of saying I need If I say I could do with something, it means I need something. So, if I say to my teenage son, You could do with a haircut, I mean Your hair is too long and you need to get it cut. One more thing before we start. The expression always uses the conditional could form of the verb. We always say I could do with.., and never I can do with.. OK? It is the weekend. Kevins plans include an afternoon in front of the television watching football. Joanne however has other ideas. The house could do with cleaning, she says. I will start on the kitchen now, but this afternoon I could do with some help. Kevin protests that he wants to watch the football. United could do with a win today, he adds. Joanne says that United will win even if he does not watch them play. We could do with some more floor cleaner, she says. Please could you go to the shops and buy some. So Kevin walks to the shops while Joanne sets to work, cleaning the kitchen. Kevin returns about twenty minutes later, a little out of breath. I could do with a rest, he says. And he sits down on a chair and watches Joanne cleaning the floor. Kevin, you are out of breath because you are too fat, says Joanne. You could do with losing some weight. What? says Kevin, horrified. Yes. You could do with going swimming twice a week, or going to the gym. An idea comes into Kevins mind. At the gym, they have a cafe with a TV set. He could go to the gym, and watch the football on television instead of exercising. Youre right, says Kevin, I could do with some exercise. Ill go to the gym this afternoon. Nice try, Kevin, says Joanne. You can stay here and do some exercise at home. The carpet could do with vacuuming, and the lawn could do with being mowed. Three hours later, Kevin and Joanne are sitting on the sofa. They are exhausted, but the house is clean and tidy for the first time in weeks. I could do with a drink, says Joanne, and I could do with something to eat. Im tired, says Kevin. I could do with a shower and an early night. And as for me, I could do with a holiday. So I am going to Germany next week, but I will be back with a new Listen to English podcast on about 5 June. Download MP3 (3:42min, 2MB) This audio file has been downloaded 43635 times haiyen36.85@gmail.com
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) Animation linked to this podcast with thanks to Renee Maufroid # | Posted in podcasts | Comments (10) I get my car repaired. You get your hair cut. Friday 25 April 2008
26
We get our milk delivered. Photo of a milkman with his milk float by Hembo Pagi/flickr My car does not go. I dont know what is wrong with it. The engine wont start. The car will not move. What shall I do? I will get the car repaired. That means I will not repair the car myself. I will ask someone else to do it, and they will repair the car for me. Look at the way we can talk about this in English. I will get my car repaired. I will have my car repaired. I will get the garage to repair my car. I will have the garage repair my car. Now here is something which we all need, but which we cannot do for ourselves cutting our hair. (What? You cut your own hair? How? Would you like to send me a photo so I can put it on the website?) So what do you do? You get your hair cut. You have your hair cut. You get the hairdresser to cut your hair. You have the hairdresser cut your hair. Do you know what a milkman is? In England you can have your milk delivered to your home. Our milkman comes at about 3am. He leaves two bottles of milk and one bottle of orange juice outside our door. He drives a little electric van (we call it a milk float in English), so he makes hardly any noise. The milk bottles are made of glass, and when they are empty, we leave them outside the door for the milkman to collect. So : We get our milk delivered. We have our milk delivered. We get the milkman to deliver our milk. We have the milkman deliver our milk. Now imagine that you are very rich. No, not very rich very, very rich indeed. You do not have a luxury sports car. You have three luxury sports cars, and a yacht, and a private aeroplane, and a home in Monte Carlo where your friends are all very rich too. And you have servants people to do things for you. Here are some of the things you get your servants to do: You get your food cooked. You have your finger nails polished. You get your butler to pour your champagne. You have your gardener mow the lawn. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
27
If you like, think of other things which your servants can do for you. Use the expressions we have used in this podcast -I get something done, I have something done etc and put them on the Listen to English website as comments. Or perhaps you can get someone to put them on the website for you. Download MP3 (3:46min, 2MB) The Great Smell Sunday 20 April 2008
The Stink! Photo by whizchickenonabun/flickr In the last podcast, I said that I would tell you how Birmingham did in their match against Aston Villa. Well, they lost 5-1. Sorry, Birmingham! Birmingham could still stay in the Premiership next season, but things are not looking good. The nail-biting continues. Now for our story today. It started on Thursday evening last week. People in the south-east of England noticed a strange smell in the air. It was not a pleasant smell. Rather, it was the smell of rotten things, of manure and sewage, mixed with the smell of traffic fumes. People started to complain to the newspapers and TV stations, and to the weather forecasters at the Meteorological Office. What was it? Well, said the Meteorological Office, the cause of the Great Smell was this. There was a mass of cold, still air over northern Europe. There was low cloud and no wind. All sorts of smells and fumes from industry and from farms, from traffic and from everyday life had become trapped under the cloud. Then on Thursday, the cold air, and its smells, had moved westwards over southern England. What? said our newspapers. You mean, it isnt a good, healthy English smell. Its a nasty foreign smell. And the newspapers started to run stories about how the smell was all the fault of the French, because we English always blame the French first whenever anything bad happens. However, it then became clear that the smell was coming, not from France, but from further north and east. So we started to blame the Germans and the Dutch, because we English always blame the Germans and the Dutch second whenever anything bad happens. The Meteorological Office tried to explain that the smell was not a threat to health, and that it would blow away in the next few days. But the newspapers did not want to listen. They were having too much fun blaming foreigners. The truth, of course, is this: 1. there was nothing more interesting for the newspapers to report; 2. people who live in towns get used to town smells, like traffic fumes and fast-food restaurants. They forget that there are country smells too, like the smell of manure being spread on fields. 3. many newspapers forget that England too has serious pollution problems. Normally, the westerly winds carry our pollution over to other countries, so maybe it is fair that occasionally other countries polluted air comes to us. And what can you learn from this story? First, remember that smell in English is a neutral word. We can talk about nice smells and unpleasant smells. You can tell your girlfriend that her new perfume smells lovely; and you can say that a pile of rotten rubbish smells horrible.
28
Second, there are lots of other words that you can use instead of smell. A delicate, pleasant smell, like the smell of a flower, can be called a scent. Aroma is a neutral word like smell there are pleasant aromas (like dinner cooking in the kitchen) and unpleasant aromas. And a really nasty smell like the smell of sewage can be called a stink or a stench. So now you know lots of words to use if you ever want to talk about the smelly English. PS. I forgot the word odour also means a smell, normally an unpleasant smell. Download MP3 (5:03min, 2MB) Why the Blues are biting their nails Friday 18 April 2008
Blues fans looking glum after their team lost a match last year. Sick as a parrot? Do you bite your finger nails? No dont answer that question. I dont really want to know. Biting your nails is a bad habit which will lead to premature baldness and make you unattractive to the opposite sex. Instead, we are going to talk football in this podcast, and football has nothing to do with biting your nails, has it? I want you to imagine that you are a life-long supporter of Birmingham City Football Club. Every week during the football season, you go to watch the team play. You wear a blue shirt, and a blue and white scarf and a blue and white hat. (Yes, you probably guessed that blue is the Birmingham City colour). If you cant go to a match, you stay at home or go to the pub to watch it on television. And you wear your blue and white football kit even when you watch a match on TV. This is strange behaviour, but Blues fans are dedicated people. You live in Birmingham, and many of your friends are Blues supporters like you. But Birmingham is a divided city, because another tribe of people live here too. They are the supporters of Birminghams other big football club, Aston Villa. Both Birmingham City and Aston Villa play in the Premier League, or the Premiership, which is the top division in English football, made up of the 20 top clubs in the country. And I need to mention too that there is a third football club. It isnt actually in Birmingham, because its football ground is just over the border in the town of Sandwell. This third club is West Bromwich Albion, though everyone calls them the Baggies. (No, I dont know why they are called the Baggies.) When West Brom score a goal, their supporters celebrate by jumping up and down and shouting Boing Boing; and I dont know why they do that either. Unlike Birmingham City and Aston Villa, the Baggies play in the Championship, which is the division below the Premier League. It is getting towards the end of the English football season. Since the beginning of the season, at the end of last August, most clubs in the Premiership have played 34 games. They each have only have four more games to go. Aston Villa are 7th from the top of the Premiership. They are not going to win the Premiership, but they will definitely still play in the Premiership next year. And the Baggies are at present top of the Championship, so it is very likely that they will be promoted at the end of the season, and will play in the Premiership next year along with Aston Villa. And Birmingham City? Well, poor old Birmingham are fourth from the bottom of the Premiership. They could still win sufficient matches to stay in the Premiership next year; but equally they could be haiyen36.85@gmail.com
29
relegated at the end of the season. And how would that make you feel, Birmingham City supporter? You would feel awful. You would be depressed. You might even be suicidal. You can imagine the smirks on the faces of the Villa and Baggies fans. On Sunday, the Blues and their blue and white supporters will travel across Birmingham to play Aston Villa. The Blues really need to win this game if they are to be sure of staying in the Premiership. If you were a Birmingham City supporter, what words could you use to describe the atmosphere before the match nervous, perhaps; or tense; or even nail-biting. If something is nail-biting , we mean that it is very tense and exciting, and all we can do is to wait for it to finish, and bite our nails while we are waiting. So, we can talk about a nail-biting atmosphere; or we can say that the last 15 minutes of the match was nail-biting; or that you had a nail-biting wait for the results of your exam. Finally, can I remind you of two vital football phrases. If Birmingham win on Sunday, you will be over the moon. And if they lose, you will be sick as a parrot. I will tell you in the next podcast which you are. Download MP3 (5:48min, 3MB) Folly Monday 14 April 2008
Perrotts Folly. Today we meet the English word folly, and we visit a strange old building and an art exhibition. Lets start with the word folly. I guess you know what foolish means. If someone is foolish, he or she does stupid or unwise things. We can call such a person a fool. And a folly is, simply, something which is foolish something which is stupid, or unwise, or not sensible. We can say, for example, that it is folly to spend all your money at a casino, or that it is folly to drive your car on the wrong side of the road. In the 18th century, it was fashionable for wealthy landowners to decorate their estates with beautiful but completely unnecessary buildings. For example, a landowner might build something that looks like a ruined Greek temple, half hidden in the trees. Or he might build a tall tower on the top of a hill. These buildings had no useful purpose. They were simply to decorate the landscape. We call them Follies. We have a folly here in Birmingham. It is called Perrotts Folly. It is a tower nearly 30 meters tall. There are six rooms, one above the other, and a spiral staircase. A man called John Perrott built the tower, in the middle of the 18th century. At that time, there was open country all around. Birmingham was still a village, a mile or two away. Today it is quite different. There are streets and cars, houses and factories and offices, where there were once fields and woods. Close by, there is a second tower, built in the 19th century by Birmingham Waterworks. I guess you have heard of the author J R R Tolkien, who wrote the Lord of the Rings books. When he was a child, haiyen36.85@gmail.com
30
Tolkien walked past the two towers Perrotts Folly and the waterworks tower every day on his way to school. Tolkien fans say that the two towers were the inspiration for the two dark, evil towers which play an important part in Lord of the Rings. Today Perrotts Folly is in poor condition. One of the floors is missing and the paint is flaking off the walls. There are old pipes and a boiler from a long-forgotten heating system, perhaps from the time when Birmingham University used the tower as a weather station. It is not an obvious place to hold an art exhibition.
Part of the Jrgen Partenheimer exhibition in Perrotts Folly. But last week I was able to visit Perrotts Folly to see some art works by the modern German artist Jrgen Partenheimer. Carefully we climbed the spiral staircase. In each of the rooms, Jrgen Partenheimer had placed a single art work. When you look at his art works, they seem to remind you of something you once saw but which is now lost deep in your memory. And while we were looking at the art works, there was music playing- music written specially for this exhibition by the Irish composer Kevin Volans. The music too seems to remind you of something that you once heard but have now forgotten. Very strange. Here is a little bit to keep you company until the next podcast. Download MP3 (5:29min, 2.6MB) Up up up Friday 11 April 2008
Up! Photo by ezu/flickr When you learn English, you learn about phrasal verbs. What are phrasal verbs? They are verbs which are formed, not of one word, but of two or more words. For instance, if I come home from work and want to watch a TV programme, I go into my sitting room and I switch the TV on. Switch on is a phrasal verb. And when I have finished watching the programme, I switch the TV off, or I turn the TV off to switch off and to turn off are both phrasal verbs. We have thousands of phrasal verbs in English, and I could make podcasts about different phrasal verbs for the next year ( but dont worry, I wont!) However today, we are going to have a podcast containing lots of phrasal verbs with the word up. You know what up means, of course. Up is the opposite of down. You can climb up the stairs, and you can climb down the stairs again. However, lots of phrases
31
and expressions containing the word up have nothing to do with up in the sense of not down, and this is very confusing. I am sure that you already know several phrasal verbs containing up. In the morning, you wake up. Then you get up. After that, perhaps you have some breakfast. When you have finished eating breakfast, you stand up, and clear the table, and wash up the dishes. And then perhaps you notice that your room is in a terrible mess there are clothes and books and CDs on the floor. So you tidy up your room. Yesterday you spilled some coffee on the table. Now you clean it up, and you sweep up some cake crumbs that are on the floor. Then you set off for school. Today there are some roadworks near your house some workmen are digging up the road, to repair a broken water pipe. The roadworks hold the traffic up, and you are nearly late for school. In your English lesson,your teacher asks the class to make up a story about a family going on holiday. First you make some notes about words and phrases which you might use. Then you start to write up your story. You have to look up some of the words in the dictionary. At the end of the lesson, your teacher says, The time is up please give me your stories and clear up your things before you leave. It is time for lunch. Your friend calls out to you, but there are so many people making so much noise that you cannot hear what he says. Speak up, you shout, I cant hear you. Hurry up, he says, I dont want to be late. You are hungry, and you eat up all your lunch. After school, you have just got home when your cousin turns up. She has recently broken up with her boyfriend. You never liked her boyfriend in your opinion he was silly and immature and needed to grow up. You dont understand why she put up with him for so long. You try to cheer your cousin up by telling her all this, but it just makes your cousin more upset. You decide to shut up and change the subject. You suggest a trip to the cinema together. But your cousin says she is hard up and cant afford to go. So you end up offering to pay for her cinema ticket. And now I am fed up with finding phrases containing the word up. I am sure there are many, many more of them. If you want to tell me, and all the other visitors to the Listen to English website, about your day, using phrasal verbs containing up, then please post a comment on the website. On the website, you will also find a short grammar and vocabulary note. Up up up - grammar and vocabulary note Friday 11 April 2008 Wash up in English, we wash ourselves, and we wash the clothes, but we wash up dirty dishes and cutlery. Hold up means to delay. The roadworks held the traffic up. I was held up by a crisis at work. To make up here means to invent. There is a whole podcast about make up here. The time is up the time e.g. for an exam has finished. To turn up means to arrive, generally to arrive unexpectedly. So, you had not invited your cousin to come and see you, she just turned up. To break something up means to break it into pieces. If we say that a party is breaking up, we mean that people have started to leave and go home. If a meeting breaks up, it means that people have started to leave. A special use is when we say that a school breaks up it means that it is the end of term and the pupils are going home for the holidays. And when two people break up, it means that they have had a row and dont want to be in a relationship any longer. To put up with someone or something to tolerate someone or something. If you are hard up, it means that you do not have much money. You end up paying for her ticket eventually, perhaps at the end of a long discussion, you pay for her ticket. Murdered someone once! Monday 07 April 2008
32
Felix Dennis Felix Dennis publishes magazines. He is, in fact, a very successful publisher, and his magazines have made him very rich. He is one of the richest people in Britain. He has written a book about how to get rich. Unlike most books that tell you how to get rich, Felix Dennis book tells you that there are no simple ways to make a fortune, and that you have to work very hard and take big risks. Felix Dennis also writes poetry. Personally, I do not think his poetry is particularly good, but many people disagree with me, and his books of poetry sell very well. He is a great fan of the boxer Mohammed Ali, and he has written books about him. When he was young, Felix spent a short time in prison for publishing obscene material. Oh, and he also used to be addicted to crack cocaine, but he has now overcome his addiction. Is there anything more to know about Felix Dennis? Well, last week the Times newspaper published an interview with him, and in the interview, Mr Dennis revealed that he had once murdered someone! The man he had murdered had been abusive to a woman whom Felix Dennis had known. He hurt her, he explained, and I told him to stop, and he kept on. Wouldnt let her alone. She told him to stop. I told him to stop. Many people told him to stop. Wouldnt stop, kept on and on and on. So what did Felix Dennis do? In the end, had a little meeting with him. Pushed him off the edge of a cliff. Werent hard. The interviewer asked where this had happened. Dont matter where it was. And when? About 25 years ago. I am sure you have noticed something strange about the way in which Felix Dennis speaks. He often leaves out the subject of his sentences. For instance, he says wouldnt stop instead of he wouldnt stop. And he uses some incorrect verb forms he says werent hard instead of it wasnt hard. Can you turn Felix Denniss story into correct English? There is a pdf file on the website for you to look at if you have problems. So, have the police arrested Mr Dennis and charged him with murder? Will his career end with a second, much longer time in prison? Well, no. Felix Dennis has said that when the Times interviewed him, he was drunk. In fact, he was very drunk. His story about murdering someone was hogwash (that is, it was nonsense or rubbish). I do not know exactly what Felix Dennis said, but perhaps it was like this; Ridiculous story. Had too much to drink. Two, three bottles of wine maybe. Never harmed anyone in my whole life. Stupid to talk to the Times. Cant imagine why I said that. Hope no-one believes it. Download MP3 (4:12min, 2MB) Murdered someone once - grammar and vocabulary note Monday 07 April 2008 haiyen36.85@gmail.com
33
In the interview, Felix Dennis says several times he kept on.He means, of course, that the man kept on hurting or abusing the woman and her children. To keep on doing something or to keep doing something means simply to continue to do something, or to do it repeatedly. Here are some examples: My bicycle is too big for me and I keep on falling off! Felix Dennis keeps on saying that he did not push a man off a cliff. If you do not pass the exam the first time, you must keep on trying. In the second half of the football match, our team kept on trying to score a goal. I keep getting letters from my friends in Australia. I have translated what Felix Dennis said in the interview, like this: He hurt her and I told him to stop, and he kept on (hurting her)...He wouldnt let her alone. She told him to stop. I told him to stop. many people told him to stop.He wouldnt stop, he kept on and on and on (hurting the woman). ....In the end, I had a little meeting with him. I pushed him off the edge of a cliff. It wasnt hard (ie it was not difficult to push him)...It doesnt matter where t was (ie it doent matter where this incident happened). It happened about 25 years ago. Download Media (0:00min, 0MB) Budget Tuesday 11 March 2008
On Budget Day 2007, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, leaving 11 Downing Street with the red box containing his budget papers. Gordon Brown is now the Prime Minister. The new Chancellor, Alastair Darling, will take the red box to Parliament later today. Today we are going to find out about the English word budget. But first, I asked you a question at the end of the last podcast. I told you about the supermarket check-out for people who are buying only a few things. I asked you whether the sign above this checkout should say 10 items or less or 10 items or fewer. Well, I think it should say 10 items or fewer. We can count items one item, two items etc and fewer is a word which we use with things we can count, while less is a word we use with things we cannot count. But many people and several supermarkets say 10 items or less. That is the problem with English English people dont speak it properly. But now lets talk about budgets. What is a budget? Suppose you make a list of everything you need to spend money on in the next month rent, food, clothes, bus fares etc. Then you work out how much money you will earn. And then you compare these two your income and your expenditure to see
34
whether you will have enough money. This is a budget a look into the future to see how much money will come in and how much will go out. It is a financial plan, in other words. We use the word budget in other ways too. For example, suppose you want to buy a new computer. You work out how much money you have, and how much you will need to spend on other things. Then you calculate that you could afford to pay 450 for a new computer. 450 is your budget for the new computer. We can use the word budget as a verb. To budget means to plan what you will spend money on. You might say, for example I dont have a lot of money. I need to budget carefully. Sometimes budget just means cheap. The problem with the word cheap is that it implies poor quality as well as low price. So shops dont like to advertise their goods as cheap. They look for other words instead. They talk about our value tinned tomatoes, our bargain sofas or our budget range of computers. You see how much better it sounds to say budget instead of cheap. I should be an advertising executive, not a podcaster. And why are we talking about budgets in this podcast? Well, today is budget day, one of the great events of British politics. This afternoon our Finance Minister (or Chancellor of the Exchequer as we call him) will leave his home at number 11 Downing Street, next door to where the Prime Minister lives, carrying a red box. He will travel in his official car to Parliament, which is about 200 meters away. (I dont know why he cannot walk, like a normal person.) When he gets to Parliament, he will open the red box and take out a file of papers. He will then tell Parliament about the governments budget for the next financial year how much the government will spend and how much it will take from us in taxes. He will tell us about tax increases and tax cuts, and say how wise and careful the government is, and how the British economy is doing really well. And then the opposition parties will say that the government is spending too much, or too little, or that taxes are too high, or too low, and that the British economy is in a terrible mess. And by this evening, we will all be able to work out whether the budget has made us better off or worse off. I can hardly wait. Download MP3 (5:26min, 3MB) Budget - Vocabulary Note Tuesday 11 March 2008 Here are some useful words and expression from the podcast. to work out means to calculate. For example: I worked out that I could pay 450 fo a new computer. Kevin worked out that if United won their next 4 games, they would win the championship. Here is a maths problem. Can you work out the answer? Work out also has another, more modern meaning. If you go to a gym, and use the equipment the heavy weights, the bicycle that doesnt go antwhere to are working out. For example: Joanne works out in the gym twice a week. To be well off means to have plenty of money. For example: Tuscany (in Italy) is a favourite place for well-off British people to go for a holiday. And to be badly off means to have only a little money. For example: Badly-off people cannot afford to go on holiday at all. And if I am better off it means that I have more money, or that I have some other advantage. For example: George has a well-paid job. He is better off than Kevin. Will todays budget make me better off? Joan lives a long way from her work. She would be better off if she moved so that she did not have so far to travel. And, of course, worse off is the opposite of better off. For example: People in the north of England are generally worse off (ie they earn less) than people in the south. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
35
If the Chancellor of the Exchequer increases the tax on beer in the budget, Kevin will be worse off. I can hardly wait means I am very excited and I am counting the minutes until I can work out how much more tax I will have to pay next year! How many apples? How much sugar? Tuesday 04 March 2008
We can count apples ... Photo by nettsu/flickr What is the difference between apples and sugar? What is the difference between light-bulbs and electricity? What is the difference between trees and rain? What do you think? Do you give up? Shall I tell you? The difference between apples and sugar is simply this. You can count apples one apple, two apples, three apples etc. You cannot count sugar. You can weigh sugar, you can measure sugar, but you cannot count sugar. And it is the same with lightbulbs and electricity, and trees and rain. You can count lightbulbs and trees; you cannot count electricity or rain. Does this matter, you may be asking? Why is he telling us these things? Well, dear listeners, often we want to say how many? or how much? of something there is. And when we do this we need to remember that there are some words which we can use only with things we can count, and other words which we can use only with things we cannot count. Here are some examples. We can count cars one car, two cars etc. We can say: there are only a few cars on the road today there are many cars on the road today there are several cars parked outside my house there are fewer cars than there were yesterday Few, many, several and fewer are words that we can use with things we can count, like cars. But we cannot use them with things that we cannot count.
36
... but we cannot count water Photo by rogilde/flickr Or, imagine that you are painting your house. We cannot count paint. We can weigh paint, and we can measure paint, but we cannot count paint. We can say: I need a little paint for the kitchen (or a little bit of paint for the kitchen). so I do not need to buy much paint. but I need a large amount of paint for living room. I need less paint for the bathroom than for the bedroom. A little, much, a large amount of and less are words that we can use with things that we cannot count like paint, but not with things that we can count. How do you know what things we can count and what things we cannot count? Well, generally, if a noun is a plural noun (if it has an -s on the end), then it is the name of something we can count, like apples or cars. And if the noun is singular (no -s on the end) then it is the name of something that we cannot count, like electricity or rain. If you find it easier, think plural or singular instead of countable or not countable. And remember that there are also lots of words and expressions that you can use both with things you can count and with things that you cannot count (lots of.. is one of them). There is a grammar note on the podcast website with a PDF file which you can download. And there is also a quiz, so that you can test whether you have understood the podcast. Finally, here is a problem for you to think about. In many supermarkets in England, they have a checkout which is specially for people who only want to buy a few things. This is so that they do not have to wait a long time behind people who are buying a whole months groceries for a family of 12 people. There is a sign to show which is the check-out for people who are buying only a few things. In some supermarkets, the sign says 10 items or less. But in one supermarket, it says 10 items or fewer. Which one is right? Answer next time. Download MP3 (5:36min, 3MB) Listen to the podcast - then answer these questions Show questions one by one 1. There were .............. of people at the bus-stop. A. B. C. D. 2. ? ? ? ? many lots of less a bit of
After ...........minutes, the bus arrived. A. B. C. ? much ? a few ? a small amount of
3.
I like to have .....sugar in my tea. A. ? many
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) B. C. 4. ? a little ? a few
37
In winter, there are only ........ flowers in the garden. A. B. C. D. ? ? ? ? a little a few a small number of less
5.
He is very rich. He has ................. money. A. B. C. ? lots of ? many ? several
6.
I am poor. I have ......... money than he has. A. B. C. ? fewer ? several ? less
7.
I also have ........ children than he has. A. B. C. ? less ? fewer ? much
8.
I am going to bake an apple cake. First, I need to buy ....... apples. A. B. C. D. ? ? ? ? more a few a bit of less
9.
And I need to buy .......sugar too!
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) A. B. C. D. ? ? ? ? few more a bit of many
38
10. My children eat ........ apple cake! A. B. C. D. ? ? ? ? lots of several many fewer
The Market Rasen Earthquake Friday 29 February 2008
Some chimneys were damaged in Yorkshire The big news story this week was the great Market Rasen earthquake. We have lots of earthquakes in Britain. There are about 200 every year, but most of them are so small that people do not notice them The earthquake this week in the early hours [ie between midnight and about 4am] of Wednesday morning was different, however. It was of course, very small compared with earthquakes in other countries. But it was the biggest earthquake in Britain for 25 years, and people could feel it over a large part of England. The epicentre of the earthquake was close to a small town in eastern England called Market Rasen. Very little happens in Market Rasen. It is famous for well, it isnt famous for anything really. There is a racecourse and a man who wrote the lyrics for one of Michael Jacksons songs once went to school there. Several web-sites tell me that Charles Dickens, the famous 19th century novelist, described Market Rasen as the sleepiest town in England. However, I cant find where Charles Dickens said this, so I dont know if it is true. But everyone, and everywhere, can be world famous for 15 minutes. Market Rasens 15 minutes of fame was this week. On Wednesday, newspaper and TV reporters set to work to write the story of the great Market Rasen earthquake. Here are some of the things that they found : teacups rattled in Bedfordshire; haiyen36.85@gmail.com

39
toothpaste fell off a bathroom shelf in Halifax; cupboard doors flew open in Tipton, near Birmingham; a radio jumped up and down in London; a glass of water rattled on a bedside table in Chester; some chimneys were damaged in Yorkshire; a piece of stone fell off the church at Market Rasen.
...and a glass of water rattled on a bedside table in Chester. Photo by bram_app/flickr. As you can see, there was no story for the journalists to find. No-one was killed; only 1 person was injured; and damage to buildings was small. So why was the Market Rasen earthquake the big news story of the week? I think it is because the earthquake was an experience which everyone shared. On Wednesday morning, everyone had a personal story to tell. Some people could say how they woke up in the night. Their houses shook, and they heard a deep rumbling sound. Some people knew immediately that it was an earthquake. Other people said that they were frightened because they did not know what had happened. Some people ran out of their houses to see what was happening. Other people stayed in bed and went back to sleep. And other people said that they had not woken up at all they had slept straight through the earthquake. So, for a few hours on Wednesday morning, everyone in England could talk about the same thing. When people try to describe something like an earthquake, they often use the expressions it was like or it was as if. I found these descriptions in the newspapers: it was as if a giant was shaking my house; it was like a bomb had exploded; it was like a train very close to the house; it was as if someone had hit the house; it was like a plane had crashed; it was like a heavy lorry passing the house; it was as if a train was going under the house; it was like there was a big animal on the roof. Listen to English will be back next week with more important news stories. A Gruesome Discovery Tuesday 26 February 2008
40
The harbour at St Aubin in Jersey in the Channel Islands. Photo by MarilynJane/flickr. Today we visit the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands are a group of islands in the English Channel, close to the north coast of France. But they are not part of France. And they are not really part of Britain either. The British Queen is also ruler of the Channel Islands, and the British government looks after their defence and foreign affairs. But in other respects, the islands are tiny independent states they have their own Parliaments and governments and their own laws. Until about 100 years ago, most people on the islands spoke a dialect of French, but today the main language is English. The Channel Islands are famous for cows, potatoes and income tax. The Jersey and Guernsey breeds of cattle which come from the Channel Islands produce a creamy milk with lots of butterfat. At one time, we could buy Channel Islands milk in England people said how good it was for you, because it had so much cream. Today, everyone is afraid of getting too fat, so we dont want milk with lots of cream in it. And the potatoes? Well, many farmers in the Channel Islands grow potatoes which are ready to be harvested and eaten several weeks before potatoes grown in England. These Channel Island potatoes are called Jersey Royals and you can buy them in English supermarkets in April and May. And the income tax? Well, there isnt any income tax in the Channel Islands. In fact, the Channel Islands is a good place to live if you are very rich. And lots of rich people live there, and the harbours in the islands are full of their yachts.
A Jersey Cow excellent milk with lots of cream. Photo by David Nutter/flickr. However, in the last few days the Channel Islands have been in the news for a very different reason. About 12 months ago, the police in Jersey the largest of the Channel Islands received reports about the abuse of children in care on the island. I need to explain what this means. Abuse means very bad treatment of someone, like violence, or emotional or sexual bad treatment. And children in care means children who can no longer live with their parents, but live with foster parents or in a childrens home instead. About 150 people have now told the Jersey police about abuse of children in care on the island, over a period of many years. Many of their reports are about abuse at a childrens home called Haut de la Garenne. The Haut de la Garenne childrens home closed in 1986, and the building is now a youth hostel. A few days ago, the police made a gruesome discovery there. Using a police sniffer dog , they found the remains of a child buried under a concrete floor. The police think that there may be several more bodies to be found. Jersey is a relatively small community of under 100,000 people. The stories about child abuse have become a major political issue on the island. People are asking how could abuse of children have haiyen36.85@gmail.com
41
continued for so long? Who knew about the abuse at Haut de la Garenne? Who was responsible for the bad treatment of children? Why is it that it is only today 20 years after the Haut de la Garenne childrens home closed that the police are investigating? I guess that if you live somewhere like the Channel Islands, it is easy to think that you live in a little paradise, and that the problems of the rest of the world crime, poverty, war, disease do not really affect you. The childs body at Haut de la Garenne tells us that this is, unfortunately, not true. Painting the Forth Bridge Tuesday 19 February 2008
The Forth Railway Bridge. Photo by tigersweet/flickr My last podcast was about a motorway junction. But today I am going to talk about something much more romantic. When I think about it, a dreamy look comes into my eyes and my heart begins to flutter. Yes, dear listeners, I am going to talk about a railway bridge. If you look at a map of Scotland, you will see that on the east coast there are several wide river estuaries. The Scots word for a river estuary is a firth. Just north of Edinburgh is the Firth of Forth, the estuary of the river Forth. Further north, there is the Firth of Tay, the estuary of the river Tay. Until late in the 19th century, people crossed these estuaries by ferry, or they made a long detour by road to a bridge over the river. But when the railway companies arrived in Scotland, they wanted to build fast, direct railway lines between the towns and citites. They needed to build bridges over the firths. The first bridge was over the Firth of Tay. It was completed in 1877, but it was destroyed in a storm two years later. A train was passing over the bridge when it collapsed, and many people were killed. The collapse of the Tay Bridge was a great disaster, at became an important political issue in Britain at the time. The engineers responsible for the second bridge, over the Firth of Forth, decided that their bridge had to be much stronger. So they built it with steel. It was in fact the first big steel bridge in the world. About 4000 workmen worked on the bridge, which was opened in 1890. And the bridge which they built still stands today. About 200 trains cross THE FORTH RAIL BRIDGE The 2.5 km. (1.5 mile) Forth Railway Bridge, the worlds first major steel bridge, with its gigantic girder spans of 521 m. (1710 ft.) ranks as one of the great feats of civilization. It was begun in 1883 and formally completed on 4 March 1890 when HRH Edward Prince of Wales tapped into place a golden rivet. TancredArrol, constructed the bridge, robustly designed in the aftermath of the Tay Bridge disaster by civil engineers Sir John Fowler and Benjamin Baker. The balanced cantilever principle was adopted. The main crossing comprises tubular struts and lattice-girder ties in three double-cantilevers each connected by 105 m. (345 ft.) suspended girder spans resting on the cantilever ends and secured by man-sized pins. The outside double-cantilever shoreward ends carry weights of about 1000 tonnes to counter-
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) balance half the weight of the suspended span and live load.
42
This concept is readily understood from Bakers human cantilever model with his assistant Kaichi Watanabe representing the live load. The pull in his supporters arms indicates the tension in the ties and the push in the lower struts the compression in the tubes. Each of the 110 m. (361 ft.) high double-cantilevers is supported on well-founded granite faced piers. The bridges construction involved the employment of 4,000 men at times, the use of 54,000 tonnes of steel and driving 6,500,000 rivets. Its total cost was 3,200,000 (~235,000,000 today). During operations, rescue boats were stationed under each cantilever saving at least 8 lives, but still 57 men lost their lives. The continuous painting of its 18 ha. (45 acre) surface, for the first 100 years using paint supplied by Craig & Rose, is now being done using a state-of-the-art paint regime with at least a 20-year life. In 1996 Railtrack (now Network Rail), at the request of the Health & Safety executive, began a structural and maintenance assessment of the structure. The result of this was the 40m refurbishment package which began in 1998; this comprised steelwork repairs, surface coating, access improvements and an upgrade of the floodlighting. The contractor undertaking this work left site in 2002 due to financial problems. Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering gained the maintenance contract in 2002 (10M per annum until March 2009). The coating system employed for the steelwork requires blast cleaning to bare metal; an application of zinc based primer to prevent corrosion (35 microns); a glass flake epoxy intermediate coat providing a barrier (400 microns); and, a polyurethane gloss top coat to give an attractive Forth Bridge Red finish (35 microns) on all of its estimated 400,000m. This system which has been tried and tested in an offshore environment is designed to give a 20year life which means the bridge may be free of its legendary painters after 2009 for a short while!
43
Today, the bridge, Scotlands biggest listed building, continues to form a vital artery in Network Rail's East Coast railway system; it carries 180 - 200 train movements per day. Spaghetti Junction Tuesday 12 February 2008
If you are a regular listener to these podcasts, you will know that I live in BIrmingham. In Birmingham, we have the most famous landmark in the whole of Britain. What is a landmark? It means a place, or a building, or a natural feature like a river or a mountain, that everyone knows about. And what is Birminghams famous landmark? An ancient castle, perhaps, or a cathedral, or a statue on the top of a hill? No. None of these. Our famous landmark is called Spaghetti Junction. It is not, as you might think, an Italian restaurant. It is an interchange, or junction, on the M6 motorway about 5km north of the centre of Birmingham. If you look at the picture on the website, or on your iPod screen, you will see why people call it Spaghetti Junction. It looks like a plate of spaghetti. Now, please dont send me e-mails to say that you have a motorway junction called Spaghetti Junction in your country too. I dont care about your Spaghetti Junction. Birminghams Spaghetti Junction was the first Spaghetti Junction, and it is still the largest motorway junction in Europe. Work on Spaghetti Junction started 40 years ago, in 1968, and was finished four years later. About 150,000 vehicles, and 5 million tons of freight, pass through Spaghetti Junction every day. Everyone in Britain knows about Spaghetti Junction and where it is, even people who have never visited Birmingham itself. It is so well-known because it is unavoidable. If you travel by road in Britain, sooner or later you will pass Spaghetti Junction. You will remember it because it is the place where the traffic gets really bad, where the journey gets really boring and where the children start fighting in the back of the car. And if by accident you take the wrong road at Spaghetti Junction, you will find yourself in London instead of Manchester. Some people who took the wrong road at Spaghetti Junction five years ago are still trying to find their way home. So be careful.
Here are some other interesting things about Spaghetti Junction. It is not just a motorway junction. Underneath the motorway there are two railway lines, three canals, a river and several footpaths. There is haiyen36.85@gmail.com
44
a Birmingham joke that two of the roads at Spaghetti Junction are dead-ends. [A dead-end road means a road that goes nowhere]. And another Birmingham joke that there is a beach underneath the concrete arches of the motorway. A beach? It is in fact just a bank of dirt and gravel, with a view over a smelly river and an old factory. You are welcome to come to Birmingham for a beach holiday if you like, but you may find that Spain would be better. More seriously, it was necessary to demolish a few hundred houses and other buildings to build the motorway and Spaghetti Junction. The motorway created a barrier which cuts off the northern suburbs of the city from the city centre. The vehicles on the motorway create noise and pollution over a wide area. Birmingham today more than any other British city is a city of roads and cars, of heavy lorries and multi-storey car-parks and poor public transport. So perhaps it is appropriate that Birminghams most famous landmark is a motorway junction. Whether the weather is fine ... Friday 08 February 2008
A listener to these podcasts who lives in Brazil has sent me an e-mail to say, please can I make a podcast about when we say if and when we say whether. I have thought very hard about this, because it is not easy to explain. The trouble is that you do not think about grammar rules for your own language. You just know what word is correct and what word is wrong. At one time, perhaps 50 years ago, there were clear rules about when we should use if and when we should use whether. I shall explain these rules first, because if you stick to these rules, your English will be correct. But I will also tell you that, unfortunately, we English often do not obey the rules. Here are some sentences where we use the word if. If the sun shines tomorrow, we will go for a picnic. If the train is late, I will miss the meeting. If I have time, I will drink some coffee and read the newspaper. If I had remembered my umbrella, I would not have got so wet. Now here are some sentences with whether. Whether the sun shines tomorrow or not, we will have a picnic. Whether or not the train is late, I will still miss the meeting. I go for a walk every day, whether it is summer or winter. Now do you see the difference between if and whether. If introduces a single condition. It talks about only one possible thing that might happen if the sun shines tomorrow, if the train is late and so on. A sentence with whether talks about two or more different things that might happen maybe the sun will shine tomorrow, maybe it will not, but we will go for a picnic whether or not the sun is shining. Very often whether sentences contain the words or not; or they say or not indirectly, like the last example I gave you. We also use the word whether to begin a noun clause that describes a question or a problem or an issue. Lets look at some examples, so that you can see what I mean.
45
John asked me whether I could go to a party on Saturday. (Whether tells us that there is a question or problem can you come to the party?) I told him that it depended on whether I finished my homework in time. (Whether tells us that there is a question or problem will I finish my homework in time?) I do not know whether the train goes at 3pm or at 3.15pm. (Whether tells us that there is a question or problem what time does the train go?) I need to find out whether my mother is coming at the weekend.(Whether tells us that there is a question or problem is my mother coming at the weekend?) Joanne asked her boss whether she could go home early. (Whether tells us that there is a question or problem can I go home early?) So here is our simple rule. If introduces a single condition. Whether introduces alternatives, and is often followed by or not. And whether starts noun clauses that tell us that there is a question or a problem. The trouble is, however, that in modern English, particularly spoken English, people often say if when they should say whether. In particular, people often start noun clauses about questions or problems with if instead of whether. It is very common to hear people say for example He asked me if I could go to his party on Saturday. In some languages, like French, there is a central institute or academy which decides what the proper rules for the language are. We do not have anything like this for English. Good English is simply the English that educated and intelligent English people speak. So if people say if instead of whether, then if is correct! I hope this is not too confusing. I have made a little quiz so that you can practice if and whether you will find a link on the website. Finally, here is a little poem about whether. You will have to listen carefully, because there are two words in English that we pronounce whether. There is the word whether which we have been talking about in todays podcast, and there is the weather rain, wind, sunshine and so on. Whether the weather is fine Or whether the weather is not Whether the weather is cold Or whether the weather is hot Well weather the weather Whatever the weather Whether we like it or not. Picture of stormy weather by Robert Voors/flickr Download MP3 (6:33min, 3MB) the bridge every day. If you travel on one of these trains, you will often see people working on the bridge. They are always there. They are scraping off old paint, or repairing the bridge, or painting or welding. People say that the painters who work on the Forth Bridge start at one end of the bridge and gradually work their way across [ie they go forward, slowly, as they paint]. By the time they reach the other side, several years later, it is time to start painting again. This was never actually true, but everyone believed that it was. In English, if we say that something is like painting the Forth Bridge, we mean that it is a job that never ends. By the time you have finished, you have to start again. In our house, doing the ironing is like painting the Forth Bridge. What is it like in your home? However, in todays newspapers there is a report that the engineering company that maintains the bridge is painting it with a new sort of paint. They have tested the paint on oil rigs in the North Sea. It will last for 20 or 30 years, without repainting. So another great British tradititon has gone. In future, painting the Forth Bridge will no longer be well like painting the Forth Bridge. Photo of the Forth Bridge by tigersweet/flickr Download MP3 (4:45min, 2MB) How well did you understand the podcast? haiyen36.85@gmail.com
46
Listen to the podcast - then answer these questions Show questions one by one 1. ...our team wins the football match on Saturday, we will be top of the football league. A. B. ? if ? whether
2. ...or not our team wins the football match on Saturday, we will still be top of the football league. A. B. 3. ? if ? whether
... the book costs more than GBP5, I will not be able to buy it. A. B. ? if ? whether
4.
.... you like it or not, I am going to visit my friend. A. B. ? if ? whether
5.
John asked me ...I knew where he could buy a newspaper. A. B. ? if ? whether
6.
In Britain there is a big debate about ...we should build more nuclear power stations. A. B. ? if ? whether
7.
The TV news reports that house prices will fall .. there is an economic recession. A. B. ? if ? whether
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 8.
47
But some people say that house prices will fall ...or not there is an economic recession. A. B. ? if ? whether
9.
Shall I buy fish for supper? I don't know .... the children will eat fish. A. B. ? if ? whether
10. ...you are good today, I will buy you an ice cream. A. B. ? if ? whether
11. He asked me .... I spoke German or not. A. B. ? if ? whether
12. ...he is rich or poor, I would like to meet him. A. B. ? if ? whether
13. I have forgotten ... his name is Smith or Jones. A. B. ? if ? whether
14. I doubt ... he will write to us.. A. B. ? if ? whether
15. .. music be the food of love, play on!
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) A. B. ? if ? whether
48
16. I may go out tomorrow ....I can borrow a coat to wear. A. B. ? if ? whether
Pancake Day Tuesday 05 February 2008
Today is Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day. Shrove Tuesday is the day before the beginning of Lent, which is the period of 40 days leading up to Easter. Traditionally, during Lent, Christians avoid eating rich foods, for example foods containing lots of eggs or milk. So how do we use up our eggs and milk before Lent begins? We make pancakes, like this. First, mix some flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl, and then break two eggs into the flour. Whisk the eggs and flour together. While you are still whisking, add a little bit of milk, and then a bit more, until the batter is like thick cream. Then, heat a frying pan until it is really hot, and pour a small amount of the batter into the pan. Tip the pan from side to side to spread the batter thinly all over the pan, and cook the batter for about half a minute. Then and this is the really good bit you turn the pancake over, so that it can cook on the other side. How? You flick the pan, tossing the pancake into the air, and catch the pancake in the pan again. Or maybe you dont catch the pancake. Maybe it lands on the floor, or sticks to the ceiling. Your children will think it is very funny, even if you dont. Assuming that you catch the pancake, and that it doesnt go on the floor, you then cook it for a few more seconds and serve it with lemon and sugar.
49
In many places there are pancake races on Pancake Day. The runners have to toss a pancake in a frying pan while they are running. One of the most famous pancake races is in London, with teams from The House of Commons, the House of Lords and the press. I read in todays paper, however, that one traditional pancake race, in Ripon in Yorkshire, has been cancelled for health and safety reasons. Health and safety reasons? What can be dangerous about a pancake race? The other traditional Shrove Tuesday sport is much more dangerous football. Shrove Tuesday football is not like the modern game with 11 players on each team, and a referee. No, it is a very ancient game and the rules are let me see.oh, there arent any rules. In the town of Atherstone, not far from Birmingham, for example, the Shrove Tuesday ball game is played like this. At 3pm, someone will open an upstairs window in Barclays Bank in Atherstone High Street. He or she will throw a ball into the street below. The crowds in the street will then kick the ball, throw the ball, run away with the ball, fight each other for the ball, hide the ball, do almost anything with the ball. (But they are not allowed to take the ball out of Atherstone that is about the only rule in the game.) At 5pm a klaxon sounds. Whoever has the ball when the klaxon sounds is the winner. It sounds more like total war than a game of football, but everyone seems to enjoy themselves. Have a good Pancake Day! Photo of pancake by your_teacher/flickr and photo of pancake race by shufgy/flickr
Basic pancakes with sugar and lemon Preparation time less than 30 mins Cooking time less than 10 mins Ingredients For the pancake mixture: 110g/4oz plain flour, sifted pinch of salt 2 eggs 200ml/7fl oz milk mixed with 75ml/3fl oz water 50g/2oz butter To serve: caster sugar lemon juice lemon wedges Method Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl with a sieve held high above the bowl so the flour gets a airing. Now make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Then begin whisking the eggs - any sort of whisk or even a fork will do - incorporating any bits of flour from around the edge of the bowl as you do so. Next gradually add small quantities of the milk and water mixture, still whisking (don't worry about any lumps as they will eventually disappear as you whisk). When all the liquid has been added, use a rubber spatula to scrape any elusive bits of flour from around the edge into the centre, then whisk once more until the batter is smooth, with the consistency of thin cream. Now melt the 50g/2oz of butter in a pan. Spoon 2 tbsp of it into the batter and whisk it in, then pour the rest into a bowl anduse it to lubricate the pan, using a wodge of kitchen paper to smear it round before you make each pancake. Now get the pan really hot, then turn the heat down to medium and, to start with, do a test pancake to see if you're using the correct amount of batter. I find 2 tbsp is about right for an 18cm/7in pan. It's also helpful if you spoon the batter into a ladle so it can be poured into the hot pan in one go. As soon as the haiyen36.85@gmail.com
50
batter hits the hot pan, tip it around from side to side to get the base evenly coated with batter. It should take only half a minute or so to cook; you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over with a pan slice or palette knife - the other side will need a few seconds only - then simply slide it out of the pan onto a plate. Stack the pancakes as you make them between sheets of greaseproof paper on a plate fitted over simmering water, to keep them warm while you make the rest. To serve, spinkle each pancake with freshly squeezed lemon juice and caster sugar, fold in half, then in half again to form triangles, or else simply roll them up. Serve sprinkled with a little more sugar and lemon juice and extra sections of lemon. The BBC is not responsible for the contents of any other sites listed. Show me more pancake recipes Show me more Delia Smith recipes Find out more about these ingredients and techniques: Eggs Rhubarb Friday 01 February 2008
In this podcast, we are going to meet some words about food some very English sorts of food. Look out for these words rhubarb, pie, crumble, chutney, custard. A lot of people who visit England think that English food is very strange. A lot of English people think this too. My children, for example, seem to eat nothing but pizza and pasta. And the most popular restaurants in England are often Italian or Indian or Thai they are generally not English. However, some traditional English food is very good. We keep it secret, however, because we dont want the whole world to find out. One of our secrets is rhubarb. You can see a picture of a rhubarb plant on the website, and on your iPod screens. It has red stems and big leaves. The stems are the bit which we eat; the leaves are actually poisonous. Because the stems are very bitter, we chop then into pieces and cook the pieces very slowly with lots of sugar. We then use the cooked rhubarb to make pies, or crumbles, or we eat the rhubarb with custard. We also make rhubarb jam, and rhubarb chutney. There are lots of rhubarb recipes on the BBC website. Try some of them if you want to experience some uniquely English cooking.
51
I need to warn you, however, that the taste of rhubarb is something which you either love or hate. And rhubarb is said to be a laxative that means, it makes you want to go to the toilet, so be careful how much rhubarb you eat! In the 19th century, a gardener left an old chimney-pot on top of one of his rhubarb plants. The rhubarb grew up through the chimney pot, looking for the light. The stems were pale pink in colour, instead of bright red. And the rhubarb which had grown in the dark had a beautiful delicate taste. This method of growing rhubarb in the dark is called forcing, and we can talk about forced rhubarb. We can buy forced rhubarb in January and February, when there are not many home-grown fruit or vegetables in the shops. Most of the forced rhubarb comes from Yorkshire in the north of England. The rhubarb grows in big sheds, in the dark. The growers pick the rhubarb by hand, using candles instead of electric lights because the sheds must be kept as dark as possible. People say that if you stand in a rhubarb shed, and listen carefully, you can hear the rhubarb growing.
At one time, there were over 200 rhubarb growers in Yorkshire. Special trains used to take the picked rhubarb to London and other big cities. But today there are only about 12 traditional rhubarb growers left. Why? Public taste has changed, and rhubarb has a very old-fashioned image. People remember the wonderful rhubarb crumble that their grandmothers used to make. But they prefer to buy imported strawberries or other fruit instead. This is very sad. So I have made this podcast hoping that it will help to revive interest in rhubarb. Next time you are in England, eat some rhubarb, if you dare! Pictures by cdell/flickr, cheftami/flickr and kevandem/flickr Download MP3 (4:51min, 2MB) Languages Tuesday 29 January 2008
52
Last week a woman called Marie Smith Jones died. She was 89 years old and she lived in Alaska in North America. Marie was the last person alive to speak a language called Eyak. Eyak is, or was, one of the native North American languages. Linguists have carefully recorded Eyak grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation. But no-one speaks Eyak any more. It is a dead language. We do not have an official language in Britain, but most people of course speak English or a dialect of English. There are several other native or indigenous languages in Britain. They are descended from the languages spoken by the Celtic people who lived in Britain before the English arrived in the 4th and 5th centuries. The most important is Welsh, which is spoken by about more than half a million people in Wales, or about 20% of the population. Welsh and English now have equal official status in Wales. If you visit Wales, you will see that all road signs are in English and Welsh. Welsh is flourishing. Two other Celtic languages, Scots Gaelic in Scotland and Irish Gaelic in Northern Ireland are spoken by only a few percent of the population. Another Celtic language in South-West England called Cornish died out completely in the 19th century, just like Eyak has died out. It was re-introduced about 100 years ago and today Cornish is spoken by a few thousand people. It is interesting that we use some of the same words for languages as we use for plants and animals. Here are some examples: We talk about native or indigenous plants or animals that means the plants and animals which live naturally in a place, and have been there a long time. Similarly, we talk about native or indigenous languages, like English in England, or Irish Gaelic in Ireland. We can say that modern horses are descended from wild horses. Similarly, we can say that modern Welsh is descended from an old Celtic language. We can say, for instance, that wolves have died out in Britain. Similarly, we can say that the Eyak language has died out. We can say that an animal like the rhinocerous is endangered; and we can also say that a language is endangered, if the number of people speaking it is very small. Of course some species of animals are flourishing probably their numbers are growing and they are not likely to die out. Similarly, we can say that today the Welsh language is flourishing. And some species of animals or birds die out, but are then re-introduced into the wild. We have several examples of this in England, particularly a bird called the red kite. Similarly, we can say that the Cornish language has been re-introduced. I have also read in the paper that some experts think that three quarters of the worlds languages will die out in the next 100 years. Do you think that this will happen? Perhaps languages and animals die out for similar reasons reasons such as over-exploitation of natural resources, modern travel and tourism, and population movement. How many people will speak English one hundred years from now? English is widely spoken as a second language today, partly because of British colonial history, and partly because of American economic power. However, 100 years from now, British colonial history will be a long way in the past, and American economic power may be much less. What languages will your grandchildren and great-grandchildren learn? Chinese perhaps? Photo by iwouldstay/flickr haiyen36.85@gmail.com
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) Download MP3 (5:41min, 3MB) Mr Trump's Golf Course Tuesday 04 December 2007 by Peter Carter
53
We go to Scotland again today for our podcast. But first I must introduce you to an English expression to turn something into something else. What does turn into mean? The easiest way of explaining is to give you an example. Do you remember the fairy story about a handsome prince who had an argument with a wicked witch? The wicked witch turned the prince into a frog that means, she waved her magic wand, and muttered some magic words, and the handsome prince became something completely different, a frog. Later in the story, a beautiful princess finds the frog, and when she kisses the frog, it turns back into the handsome prince. Naturally the handsome prince and the beautiful princess get married and they live happily ever after, because that is what always happens in fairy stories. So, girls, if you are looking for a husband, and you dont fancy online dating, try kissing a few frogs. One of them may turn into a handsome prince. Maybe. Now that you know what turn into means, we can get back to our podcast story. You may have heard of Mr Donald Trump. He is American and he is very, very rich. He is a property developer that means, he buys land and builds new buildings, like flats and offices, on it. Generally, they are grand and expensive buildings, for rich people. Mr Trump is very intersted in golf. He owns several golf courses in the United States. They are, naturally, the biggest, the best and the most beautiful golf courses in the world. A few years ago, he decided that Scotland a country which is already full of golf courses needed a Trump golf course. So he bought land beside the sea near the city of Aberdeen, to turn into a golf course. In fact, he planned two golf courses, a golf academy, a luxury hotel, 1000 holiday homes and 500 houses. And all of these things would, of course, be the best in the world. Mr Trump and his people then spent several months persuading people in Aberdeen that this would be a wonderful thing. And they were very successful lots of people agreed that what Aberdeen needed was Mr Trump and his money. But there were two problems. The first was that the land contained a Site of Special Scientific Interest that means, it contained plants, birds or animals that need to be protected. If Mr Trump turned this land into a golf course, it would damage the environment. So many conservation groups decided to oppose Mr Trumps plans. The second problem was called Michael Forbes. Mr Forbes has a small farm in the middle of the area which Mr Trump wants to turn into a golf course. He lives there with his mother, who is 83. It is not a pretty farm. There are lots of old tractors and bits of rusting farm machinery. But it is Mr Forbes farm, and he does not want to sell. Mr Trumps lawyers have offered him money, and more money. But Mr Forbes has said no; and his mother has said that she will leave her home in her coffin, but not before. And last week something very surprising happened. The local authority in a very close vote rejected Mr Trumps plans. The conservation lobby cheered. The golf course lobby are dismayed. Mr Trump is very annoyed. But he will not give up. The newspapers report that he has just bought a large area of land in Northern Ireland, and wants to turn it into a golf course. Download MP3 (5:29min, 3MB) Guardian newspaper report Times newspaper report Grammar and Vocabulary Note # | Posted in podcasts| Comments (1) Mr Trump's Golf Course - Grammar and Vocabulary Note Tuesday 04 December 2007 by Peter Carter This note reminds you about how to make the superlative form of adjectives in English. If an adjective has only one syllable like big, small or two syllables of which the second is -y,like happy you make the superlative form by adding -est to the end. So biggest, smallest, happiest. But if the adjective is longer, then we make the superlative by placing most in front of the adjective haiyen36.85@gmail.com
54
most fantastic, most wonderful, most beautiful. And one or two adjectives are irregular. So good, best. If you want to remember the three different ways of making the superlative form of adjectives, just remember this sentence: Mr Trumps golf courses are the biggest, the best and the most beautiful golf courses in the world. Podcast A Christmas Story - part 1 Friday 21 December 2007 by Peter Carter [This podcast is longer than normal. The first part of the transcript is below. The second part is here and can also be download as a pdf file.] When you learn a new language, often it is the little words that cause the big problems. I am learning German. The long words are not a problem, which is good because German has lots of long words. If I find a long word, and I dont know what it means, I can look it up in a dictionary. No, it is the short words that confuse me in German words like doch and schon what exactly do they mean? How can I use them? Mariano has sent me an e-mail. He asks, please can I make a podcast about two little words that cause him problems. The two words are still and yet. In this podcast, I shall try to explain how we use still and yet, and I will tell you a Christmas story. First, I will tell you what I am not going to do. I am not going to give you dictionary definitions of still and yet. You can look the words up in a dictionary yourself. You do not need a podcast to do this for you. And I will not tell you about all the different meanings that still and yet have. The podcast would be very long, and use up all the spare memory in your iPod if I did that. Instead, I will take one of the common meanings of still and yet and explain to you how we use the words. When I use the word still, I want you to think of the words nothing has changed. Like this. Kevin is unwell. He telephones his boss to say that he cannot come to work. The next day Kevin is still unwell. That means, he was unwell yesterday. He is unwell today. Nothing has changed. He is still unwell. And how about yet? How do we use yet? Yet means so far, or until now. We generally use it in questions, and in negative sentences. What is a negative sentence? It is a sentence with not or none or no or another negative word in it. So, Kevins boss asks him a question, Are you better yet? And Kevin replies with a negative sentence, No, sorry, I am not better yet. You have probably guessed this already very often you can use not yet and still not interchangeably. Kevin says, I am not better yet. Or he could say. I am still not better. These two sentences mean the same. Are you very confused? Are you thinking, why am I listening to this podcast? I understood about still and yet before the podcast began. Now I dont understand at all. Never mind. Sit back and listen to a story about a typical English Christmas. [The rest of the transcript is here] Photo of presents around the Christmas tree by gigglejuice/flickr A Christmas Story - part 2. Friday 21 December 2007 by Peter Carter [This is the second part of the transcript of the Christmas story podcast. You can download it as a pdf file, if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer.] In England, as I guess you know, Father Christmas or Santa Claus comes during the night before Christmas Day. He climbs down the chimney, and leaves presents for all the children. And the children are wildly excited. They dont want to go to sleep. They want to stay awake to see Father Christmas. Ben is 8 years old. He lives with his mother and father. It is Christmas Eve and time to go to bed. Bens Mum sends him upstairs to put his pyjamas on. Twenty minutes later Ben, have you got your pyjamas on? Are you ready for bed yet? Twenty minutes later Ben, you still havent got your pyjamas on. Go and get ready for bed, now! haiyen36.85@gmail.com
55
Twenty minutes later Ben, you are not in bed yet. Go to bed, now! An hour later Ben, you are still awake. Why are you not asleep yet? Ben I cant sleep. I want to see Father Christmas. Mum Father Christmas wont come for a long time yet. He has lots of presents to take to lots of children. So go to sleep. Half an hour later, Mum and Dad are enjoying a glass of wine in front of the fire in the sitting room. The door opens. It is Ben. Is it Christmas Day yet? No, Ben, it is not Christmas Day yet. It is still Christmas Eve. Go to bed. Ben goes back to bed. He lies in bed, in the dark, and wonders, Has Father Christmas come yet? He turns on the light. He cannot see any presents. So he goes downstairs to find Mum and Dad, who are tidying up the kitchen. Yes, Ben, I know that Father Christmas hasnt come yet. But dont worry. He has not forgotten you. Now, for the last time, go to bed! Ben goes to bed, and falls asleep. The door of his bedroom opens. Is he still awake? whispers his Dad. No, its OK. Hes gone to sleep at last, says Mum. She tiptoes in and leaves a bag of presents at the foot of Bens bed, and tiptoes out again. Everything is still and quiet. It is six oclock on Christmas morning. Ben rushes into his parents room. Mum, Dad, Father Christmas has been. Look what he has brought me! Ben, it isnt time to get up yet. It is still only 6 oclock. But Ben doesnt care. He sits happily on his parents bed, playing with his new racing car, and reading his new story book. Read me this story, Dad. Are you still asleep? Happy Christmas everyone. Theres none so queer as folks Monday 17 December 2007 by Peter Carter In todays podcast, we are going to meet three English expressions. The first one is to get away with something. If you do something bad, and nobody discovers what you did, or they do not find out that it was you who did the bad thing, then we can say that you got away with it. For example, if you murder someone, and the police do not catch you, then you have got away with it, or got away with murder. And the second expression is to make a fuss. To make a fuss means to draw a lot of attention to something for example, to complain about something that you do not like, or write letters to the newspapers about it, and tell everyone about it in fact to shout about it, so that everyone turns round to look. And the third expression ? Well, you will have to wait until the end of the podcast. Here is a story, which has been a big story in the British newspapers recently. It started five years ago, in 2002. Anne and John Darwin lived in a village on the north-east coast of England. John had a hobby. He liked exploring the sea coast near his home in a small boat called a kayak. One day he set off for a kayaking expedition. The weather was good and the sea was calm. But John did not return. The police and volunteers searched everywhere for him, without success. John had disappeared. A few weeks later, wreckage from Johns kayak was found on the rocks. The police concluded that John had had a tragic accident and that he was dead. Five years later John walked into a police station in London. He told them that he thought he was a missing person. He could not remember anything that had happened in the last five years where he had lived, what he had done. The police however were suspicious. It was strange that John could remember who he was, and where he came from, but not what he had done in the last 5 years. And when the police tried to contact Johns wife, Anne, they found that she had recently sold her house and gone to Panama, in Central America. The newspapers published stories about the missing kayak man who had miraculously returned when everyone thought he was dead. Then a woman decided to type the words Anne John and Panama into the Google search engine on her computer. She found a picture of Anne and John, taken a year ago. It it was on the website of a company which helps people who want to go and live in Panama. And then haiyen36.85@gmail.com
56
other people who had seen John during the last 5 years contacted the police. Some of them, it appears, knew that John was officially dead, but they did not say anything to anyone at the time because they did not want to make a fuss. (This is typical British behaviour. We do not like to make a fuss. So we do not complain about bad food in restaurants, we do not complain about poor service or high prices in shops, and we pretend not to notice when we meet someone who is supposed to be dead.) For at least the last four years, Anne Darwin knew that her husband was alive. He was in fact living in a small flat in the house next to her house. He built a secret door between his bedroom and hers. He grew a beard, but a lot of the time, he did not hide. He did jobs around the house. He took the dog for walks on the beach. A few people thought they recognised him, but they thought It is none of our business. Lets not make a fuss. John and Anne got away with it for five years. If John had not walked into a police station last month, perhaps they might have got away with it for ever. They might have moved to Panama and lived the rest of their lives in that country. Why did they do it? The police say that Anne used Johns alleged death to claim money from an insurance company. And John had debt problems at the time he disappeared. The police have arrested Anne and John and charged them with fraud. And now for our third expression. My mother came from the north-east of England, like the Darwins. When she heard of some peculiar or stupid thing which people had done like pretending to be dead she would shake her head and say Eeee, theres none so queer as folks, which is Newcastle dialect for there is nothing as strange as people. Download MP3 (6:50min, 3MB) Talking. talking ... Friday 07 December 2007 by Peter Carter Valeriy, who lives in Russia, has sent me an e-mail. He asks whether I can make a podcast about these words say, tell, speak and talk. Well, that is easy, I thought. So I sat down to write a podcast about when we use say and when we use tell and so on. And after an hour, I realised that I could not do it. English is too complicated. There are far too many words in English and there are so many different ways of using them. So I thought, I will not try to explain everything. I shall just explain a few things the most important things. I will write a few rules, and if my listeners learn these rules, they will be right most of the time. Please remember that say, tell and speak are irregular verbs. They go like this I say, I said, I have said; I tell, I told, I have told; and I speak, I spoke, I have spoken. Talk is regular I talk, I talked, I have talked. Everybody clear? Then lets begin! I want you to imagine that you are reading a comic book, about Batman perhaps. In many of the pictures there is a bubble coming from the mouth of one of the characters. It contains the words which the character is saying. We often call this a speech bubble. Here is my RULE NUMBER 1. If you can imagine a speech bubble, with words in it, then you can always use the word say; like this : Kevin says, I am going to the football match on Saturday. Batman says, I have only five minutes to save the entire planet. Joanna says that she will go to the supermarket tomorrow. Kevin says to Joanne, Is it OK if I go to the football match on Saturday? When we want to explain who we say something to, we always use the word to I said to him that I would be late. We NEVER say I said him that I would be late. And here is RULE NUMBER 2. If there is no speech bubble with words in it, then you can use talk or speak. I will speak to my boss tomorrow about whether I can take a day off work. Kevin talks to George about the football match. Today, our teacher is going to talk about irregular verbs in English. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
57
So you see, speak and talk can tell us who is speaking or talking; who the speaker is talking to; and what sort of thing the speaker is talking about. But they do not tell us about the exact words which the speaker uses. There is no speech bubble with words in it. Very often, speak and talk mean exactly the same, and we can use them interchangeably (that is, we can replace one of them with the other). I think that we use talk more often than we use speak. And how about the last word which Valerij wants me to explain the word tell? Here comes RULE NUMBER 3. Tell means give information. And we can use tell when there is a speech bubble, and also when there is no speech bubble, provided that we mean give information. Nearly always, when we use tell, we also say who the speaker is talking to. Like this: Joanne tells her boss, I have nearly finished the report that you asked for. Kevin tells Joanne that he wants to go to the football match on Saturday. David told me about his holiday. He told me that he went to Spain, and that he had a great time there. John told me how to find his house. You asked me a question; now I will tell you the answer. I looked at my watch and told him the time. At the end of the school day, the teacher told the children a story. I hope this helps you, Valeriy. Please keep sending me your comments and questions, either by e-mail or by leaving a comment on the web site. I shall do my best to reply to all of them. There is a vocabulary note attached to the podcast today, and also a quiz, so you can test how well you understand the difference between talk, speak, say and tell. Download MP3 (6:33min, 3MB) Talking, talking - vocabulary note Friday 07 December 2007 by Peter Carter Talking is so important that we have lots of verbs which describe talking in some way. Here are some of them: to inform; to whisper; to ask; to state; to announce; to emphasise; to stress; to explain; to answer; to shout; to exclaim I am sure you can think of more. If you like, please leave a comment on the website with any other suggestions. Podcast Frustrated Friday 11 January 2008 by Peter Carter On the day after Christmas Day the day we call Boxing Day in England something terrible happened. My internet connection stopped working. I could not surf the net. I could not read my e-mails. I could not check my website or upload new podcasts. The internet is a bit like cigarettes. You become addicted, or hooked as we say in colloquial English. When suddenly you cannot use the internet, it is like wanting a cigarette, and finding that you do not have any cigarettes and that the shops are all closed. So,
58
when my internet connection stopped working, how did I feel? What words can we use to describe my feelings? Well, we could use words like angry or furious. But these words are too strong. If someone is angry or furious, they are shouting at people and banging the table. I was not shouting at people about my internet connection, nor was I banging the table. So angry and furious are not the right words. Could we use the word upset? If something upsets you, it means that it has hurt you emotionally. You may be unable to discuss the upsetting thing without crying. You may not want to talk to people, or to eat your food. Well, my internet connection problem was not like that. So I was not upset when my internet connection stopped working. We need some words that mean a little bit angry. There are several of them. We can say, for example, that I was cross when the train was late and I missed an important meeting. I was annoyed when I could not find my car keys. I was irritated when someone did not reply to an e-mail. Yes, all of these words would do I was cross, and annoyed, and irritated, when my internet connection stopped working. But there is another word that describes exactly how I felt. I wanted to do things surfing the net, sending e-mails etc but I could not. And I could do nothing to solve the problem. The only thing to do was to wait for my internet provider to mend the connection. And it was Christmas, so all of their engineers were on holiday. So I had to wait, and wait, and wait! I felt frustrated. The feeling we have when we cannot do something we normally do is frustration. If you break your leg, and you cannot play football for two months, you might find this frustrating. That is how it was with my internet connection it was frustrating. I felt frustrated The really bad news is that my internet connection still does not work. I have complained to my internet company. They say that there is nothing wrong. What do they mean, nothing is wrong? I cant access the internet. Of course something is wrong. Now I am very frustrated. I am not just cross with my internet company, I am starting to be angry. I am shouting at the internet company and banging the table. I have cancelled my contract with them, and next week some nice people from the cable TV company will come and install a new fibre-optic cable to my house, and I will have the internet again. And how will I feel then? Happy yes, of course. But a really good word is relieved. Imagine that your teenage daughter goes out with some friends for the evening. She says she will be home at 10 oclock. Ten oclock comes and she is not home; 10.30, 11 oclock. You get worried and anxious. What has happened? Should you telephone the police? Then at midnight, the phone rings. It is your daughter. She is at her friends house. How do you feel? You might be cross with your daughter because she did not telephone earlier. But mainly you would feel relieved no more worries, no more problems, everything is OK again relieved. That is how I shall feel when my internet connection is back relieved. In the meantime, I am using an internet cafe to upload my podcasts. It takes a lot longer to make and upload podcasts without an internet connnection at home. So, sorry, I do not have time to find a good picture to put on the website or your iPod screen to illustrate this podcast. And I may not be able to make another podcast until my internet connection is back. How will you feel about no new podcast next week? Will you be angry, or annoyed, or upset, or frustrated? Or will you feel relieved? I hope not! Download MP3 (7:03min, 3MB) Eddie the Eagle Monday 07 January 2008 by Peter Carter Every four years, the Olympic Games are held. This year 2008 is an Olympic year. The games are to be held in Beijing in China. As well as the main Olympic Games, there are also the winter Olympics. The winter Olympics are for snow sports things like ski-ing, ice-skating and bob-sleighing. Like the main Olympic Games, they take place every four years. They used to be held in the same year as the main Games; but now they are held in the year mid-way between the main Games. The last winter Olympics were in 2006; the next winter Olympics will be in 2010, in Vancouver in Canada. Naturally, most of the winners in the sports at the winter Olympics are from countries with mountains and lots of snow countries like Austria, Norway, Finland and Switzerland for example. In Britain, our mountains are quite small, and we do not have a lot of snow, so generally there are only a few British haiyen36.85@gmail.com
59
winners at the winter Olympics. But 20 years ago, in 1988, when the winter Olympics were held in Calgary in Canada, one of the British competitors became world famous. It happened like this. Michael Edwards was 13 when he first when ski-ing on a school ski trip. He loved it. He also had a childhood ambition to be a stuntman. A stuntman is someone who acts the really dangerous bits in films where people fall through windows, for example, or drive a car over a cliff. So Michael decided that ski-jumping should be his sport. In ski-jumping, the competitors ski very fast down a long, straight slope and onto a ramp. They then take off and fly though the air, and land 100 or 200 meters further on. It is slightly less dangerous than jumping out of an aeroplane with no parachute. You have to be very brave or very stupid to do ski-jumping. It is not easy to be a ski-jumper in Britain. There are, to start with, no ski jumps where you can practice. Michael went to some of the top French and Austrian ski-jumping coaches to ask them for advice. However, as he did not speak any French or German, this did not help him much. Also, Michael was short-sighted. He had to wear thick glasses, that often steamed up as he went down the ski slope, so that he could hardly see where he was going. But he kept on practising and training, and in 1987 he entered the world ski-jumping championships in Obertsdorf. There were 98 competitors. Michael came 98th. The press started to call him Eddie the Eagle. Eddie (as we will now call him) then asked the British Olympic Committee whether he could represent Britain in the ski-jumping event at the winter games in Calgary. There were no other British ski-jumpers. So the Committee agreed that he could go. He borrowed some skis, and set off for Calgary. In Calgary, Eddie was in competition with some of the finest ski-jumpers in the world. His best jump was 73.5 meters. To me, this seems a very long way to fly through the air with skis on ones feet. But top-class ski-jumpers regularly jump 200 meters and more. So Eddie did spectacularly badly in the Games, but he became one of the best known people in Calgary. Everyone laughed about him; and wondered whether he would be taken away in an ambulance after his next jump. He waved to the television cameras, and shouted Hello Mum, its me before he set off down the ski slope. We British love a brave loser, so we loved Eddie. The International Olympic Committee, the men in suits who run the Olympic Games, did not find Eddie amusing however. They changed the rules to make it much more difficult for someone like him to compete in future Games. The International Olympic Committee must be some of the most boring people in the world. So, at the next Winter Olympics in 2010, there will be some magnificent ski-ing, but there will be no-one like Eddie the Eagle. Download MP3 (6:03min, 3MB) Eddie the Eagle on YouTube Quiz - how well did you understand the podcast? Vocabulary note Eddie the Eagle - vocabulary note Monday 07 January 2008 by Peter Carter Here are some words connected to the Olympic Games which you may find useful: the Olympic Games, or the Olympics the Olympics are held every four years, or the Olympics take place every four years. competition competitors to come first, second, 98th winner, gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal, gold medallist, silver medallist etc a record to break a record, to set a new record, a new world record, a new Olympic record an event (ie an individual sport, like the marathon, or ski-jumping) athletics winter sports haiyen36.85@gmail.com
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) stadium Podcast How well did you understand the podcast? Listen to the podcast - then answer these questions Show questions one by one
60
1.
The next Olympic Games will be held in China. A. B. ? True ? False
2.
Ice-skating is one of the sports at the winter Olympics. A. B. ? True ? False
3.
There are lots of British winners in the winter Olympics. A. B. ? True ? False
4.
Michael Edwards decided to be a ski-jumper because he did not like ordinary ski-ing A. B. ? True ? False
5. Michael learnt French and German so that he could get help from top French and Austrian ski-jumping coaches. A. B. 6. ? True ? False
Michael came last in the ski-jumping championships at Obertsdorf. A. B. ? True ? False
7.
The press called him "Eddie the Eagle". What was his real name?
www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) A. B. C. 8. ? Michael Edwards ? Michael Jackson ? Eddie Carmichael
61
Eddie jumped over 200 meters at Calgary. A. B. ? True ? False
9. After the Calgary Games, the Olympic rules were changed to prevent someone like Eddie from competing in future. A. B. ? True ? False
10. The next winter Olympics are in 2009 in Vancouver in Canada. A. B. ? True ? False
New Year Wednesday 02 January 2008 by Peter Carter It is 2008. Happy New Year, everyone. What did you do during the Christmas and New Year holiday? How did you celebrate New Year? Traditionally in England, Christmas was our big winter celebration. Scotland was different. In Scotland, New Year was the more important celebration. On New Years Eve, on 31 December, Scotsmen wore kilts, and had parties where they danced traditional Scottish dances and welcomed the New Year with bagpipes. And we English? What did we do? Well, we either watched television programmes about Scottish people having a great party on New Years Eve; or we went to bed early. But it isnt like that today. The Scots still party on New Years Eve, but so do we in England. The Scots still have a huge street party in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland, with bands and singers and fireworks. But so do we in many cities in England. In London, for example, 700,000 people watched a great fireworks display on the river Thames. Of course, not everyone went to a New Years Eve party. But many of those who stayed at home watched other people having a party on television. Millions of people watched the London fireworks on television, for example. It is as if we all want to be part of a big national New Years Eve party. Here are some other things which are typical of England at New Year. People visit friends and relatives. They go for walks in the country, or in the parks in towns. Some brave folk go for a swim in the sea or a river on New Years Day. People read books, or go to football matches, or write thank-you letters for the gifts they received at Christmas. Travelling at during the holiday is a particular adventure. There are traffic jams on the roads, and long queues at the airports, and our railway system is in chaos, because Christmas and New Year is the time when major engineering works take place. And we go shopping. haiyen36.85@gmail.com
62
Traditionally, all the big stores had sales in January. They cut the prices of many of the things they sold, especially things like winter clothes or goods which they had not managed to sell for Christmas. There were lots of special offers, and people used to queue all night outside some of the stores, in order to get to the bargains first when the store opened. So what is different today? Only that the sales now begin immediately after Christmas. Indeed some stores begin their sales before Christmas Day. And now we can hunt for bargains on the internet as well as in the shops. The newspapers have reported that we British spent 84m buying things on the internet on Christmas Day. But now it is January. The weather is dark and wet. The long Christmas and new Year holiday is over. It is time to go back to work. Time to lose some weight. Time to give up smoking. Time to pay our credit card bills. Happy New Year. Download MP3 (4:26min, 2MB) Vocabulary note A lovely animated version of this podcast thanks to Renee Maufroid New Year - vocabulary note Wednesday 02 January 2008 by Peter Carter So do we means we do the same thing. Here are some more examples: Our friends go for a walk in the country on New Years Day. So do we. Kevin goes to a party on New Years Eve. So does Joanne. On New Years Day, Kevin goes to a foortball match. So does his friend George. It is raining, and Kevin gets wet. So does George. I am going to the sales today. So is my mother. Next year we will go to France for a holiday. So will thousands of other people. Podcast

7617 Listen To Englishpodcast

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

7617 Listen To Englishpodcast

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

www.listen-to-enghlish.

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) The Longest Name Tuesday 16 September 2008

This car is being broken up in a scrap yard. Photo by Olly Clark/flickr

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) Stonehenge Friday 04 July 2008

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) The Great Smell Sunday 20 April 2008

I could do with a haircut Friday 23 May 2008

After ...........minutes, the bus arrived. A. B. C. ? much ? a few ? a small amount of

I like to have .....sugar in my tea. A. ? many

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) B. C. 4. ? a little ? a few

He is very rich. He has ................. money. A. B. C. ? lots of ? many ? several

I am poor. I have ......... money than he has. A. B. C. ? fewer ? several ? less

I also have ........ children than he has. A. B. C. ? less ? fewer ? much

And I need to buy .......sugar too!

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) A. B. C. D. ? ? ? ? few more a bit of many

The Market Rasen Earthquake Friday 29 February 2008

.... you like it or not, I am going to visit my friend. A. B. ? if ? whether

John asked me ...I knew where he could buy a newspaper. A. B. ? if ? whether

11. He asked me .... I spoke German or not. A. B. ? if ? whether

12. ...he is rich or poor, I would like to meet him. A. B. ? if ? whether

13. I have forgotten ... his name is Smith or Jones. A. B. ? if ? whether

14. I doubt ... he will write to us.. A. B. ? if ? whether

15. .. music be the food of love, play on!

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) A. B. ? if ? whether

Pancake Day Tuesday 05 February 2008

The next Olympic Games will be held in China. A. B. ? True ? False

Ice-skating is one of the sports at the winter Olympics. A. B. ? True ? False

Michael came last in the ski-jumping championships at Obertsdorf. A. B. ? True ? False

www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) A. B. C. 8. ? Michael Edwards ? Michael Jackson ? Eddie Carmichael

Eddie jumped over 200 meters at Calgary. A. B. ? True ? False

You might also like