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ON MONDAY
ESL Podcast 1208 – Living on Low Wages
In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “wage” and “jet.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Disparaging Terms Related to American Companies.”
“Some of America’s major employers are often referred to ‘disparagingly’ (in a highly critical and offensive way)…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…
ON WEDNESDAY
English Cafe 555
Topics: American Authors – Louisa May Alcott; Classic TV – Gilligan’s Island; up-to-date versus updated; to work out the kinks and to deserve a pat on the back; to seize the moment
In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear).
In “What Insiders Know,” you will read about “Survival Handbooks.”
“The ‘survival handbook’ ‘genre’ (type of writing, film, music, and more) is popular among people who want to be prepared for any possible situation….” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
…
ON FRIDAY
ESL Podcast 1209 – Questioning Mental Competency
In the Learning Guide: Get a full transcript (written version of every word you hear), vocabulary list and sample sentences, and comprehension questions.
In “What Else Does it Mean,” learn the other meanings of “sharp” and “estate.”
In the “Culture Note,” learn about “Determining Competence to Stand Trial.”
“Often the ‘outcome’ (how something ends) of a court trial depends on the attorney’s ability to determine the mental competence of the “defendant”…” – READ MORE in the Learning Guide
Captain America : Civil war ,the latest on superhero genra is a star vehicle that just can’t find its mark.
It is a galling ,creaky gangster movie whose abysmal script is barely saved by some strong performance.
If anything it is a gangster movie with forced humour.
Here again to say What?
I don´t really know, but just to say something I could remark that today is St. Isidro Patron of Madrid.
Have in mind that Madrid isn´t a city, it is a Villa and Court, because the Spanish king stablished his
court in this Villa.
Villa, more than a town and less than a city.
Even being a Villa, Madrid is the third capital of Europe in population, after London and Paris.
Today is the feast of Madrid, but along all the week has been celebrated its feasts with all kind
of celebrations and events.
It is possible than some of the blogers don´t know that people that have been born in this Villa, like
me, are called “Cats” so I am a cat just because I was born in Madrid.
When Madrid was in Muslims power sourrounded by heavy walls its name was Magerit, the Christian
king Alfonso VI wanted to conquer Madrid about the year 1080.
Conquering the city was really difficult even being under siege for years, so some of the Christian
soldiers climbed the stone walls like cats and opened the doors of the citity.
Since then, 1080 aprox., every body who is born in Madrid are called “Cat” so Cuca and me are
cats, the same like my daughters.
Today is our feast, and thousand of cats are celebrating the feast “en la pradera de San Isidro”
in the fields of Sr. Isidro close near the Manzanares river.
Greetings. emiliano “the cat”
ESL Podcast 1208 – Living on Low Wages is one of the best I’ve seen. It is important to live with the money you earn a month. It is called budget. Don’t try to go beyond your budget so you can go into trouble with your lenders or osmehing. Thanks Jeff and Lucy. I am waiting for the next podcast.
From Brazil
Me
What is going on everybody!
Dan here, hi!
In my country yet are debating same sex law.
I am not sure at what stage is the law now. I do not know whether it is law already or it still is in parliament.
I know that because when I am driving, I usually listen to a conservative religion radio.
You know I am a non believer, but you know, they say we have to listen to who thinks differently from us, and I do that.
Anyway, I do not have an opinion on same sex couple, basically I do not care
what 00000.1 of the population does, and even if they were more would not change my views.
I do not even care if they get to adopt.
In my opinion anyone could be a good parent regardless their gender.
I mean, I could give you countless examples of traditional families where the parents did very poorly.
Have a good weekend everyone..I am working.
Dan, what you said as my opinion is a . Atruth, a man or a woman could be good or bad father or mother.
It depends of the person not of the gender, but we use to think mother are always better than father.
Why?
A mistery for us, men, but it could be women has the project of a baby along nine months inside their
body, and afterward it cost a lot to give them out life with great efforts and a lot o pain.
I have seen that when Cuca was a mother and she has to give them birth.
My opinion about couples of same sex, of course I agree with that as I think every one has the right
to express their sex preferences without any kind of difficulties that have been along so many years.
Babys with couples same sex? Yes, of course as they could be as good parents as other and some
time even better.
Babys adopted inside a monoparental family, man or woman, also Yes without any doubt as there
are too many children that have nothing. No father, not mother and some time they have the
worst parents a person could imagine.
All you/we need is LOVE, as the Beatles said in some of their song.
Why so many discussions about nearly everything?
Fear, only fear and to me it is the worst feeling a person or the society could have.
See you soon.
emiliano
About a couple of same sex it is a freak. Can you imagine the child as grown up asking for the father or asking for the mother and figure out that there is no father or there is no mother? Only two fathers or two mothers? It would be you the child. I’d like to see your face of disapointment. When God made man and woman was It wrong? Why did not God make only women or only men. Think about it. We are the two halves to be put together and bear children.
From Brazil
Me
Hi Emi.
Thanks for that story about the history of Madrid.
I did not know that.
Dear Aecio Nature is not as simple as that and in my opinion the only thing a
children needs is good education, respect and love.
It is better to have two fathers or two mothers than none without any kind
of family or loving care.
Of course that´s my opinion being hetero with a wife and three daughters
but with a mind open as much as I can open it.
We need to be in the site of other persons to understan them, their problems,
their life, and their feeling that could be just the oposite of ours.
Do you really think that God create humans in the way that Bible said?
A man, a wonan from the rib of him and so on?
Well, again I respect your believes but please do respect other different ones
not so clear or simple as yours.
Good, polemic is once again in the blog. that´s good. emiliano
Hi,
Dear Emiliano, you are a real treasure for all of us. You have to learn us how we can face ,
accept and be prepared to deal with unpleasant, difficult and stressant problems.
So you have to write us more and more.
Best wishes,
Tania
Hi,
A Spanish feast without bulls, bull-fighters, and matadors?
Only in Madrid are there bull-fights? Is there any difference between a bull-fighter and a matador?
Hi,
I now understand why Emiliano loves his cat so much.
As he is a “cat”.
Hi,
Dear Emiliano,
Your poem remembers me of Love Story movie and its song Where I Do Begin with its tint of sorrow.
She is your sun, your sky, your love.
“Where she has gone
Far away from home
………………………..
not now but soon
she will be not home.”
Like in the movie, “she fills my soul/ with so much love”.
But for sure, Cuca “is always there/ And she’ll be there”.
Thank you for this nice poem. I have listened to Andy Williams on YouTube singing “Where I Do Begin”.
Best wishes,
Tania
Monday morning, at home, Cuca and Chary are seeing The Tudor the tv. serial
about Henry VIII of England.
They both like history a lot, so to have a nice morning they see which ever
tv. serial or movie about History.
Two month ago they way seeing “I Claudius” from the BBC., and it is the
history of the first Roman Emperators till Claudius that is supposed he is
who writes the history of his own family.
But the real writer is Robert Graves and English incredible writer that
touch in his novels some aspects of History.
This monday here in Madrid is feast, because the day of the St. Isidro falls
in Sunday.
The city is nearly empty of madrileños but a lot of tourist have come from
other sites of Spain or even from the rest of Europe and far aways countries.
Last year Madrid received nearly 14 millions of tourists coming from all
over the world.
On the first days of May three thousand employees Tiens Chinese business
group dedicated to sectors such nutrition, health care, real estate and
education, have been in Madrid as an incentive trip payed by the company.
these workers have being in Madrid from 4 to May 7 and they have visited
the great attractions of Madrid, afterward they went to Barcelona.
I think it has been the second group of Chinese workers that come here
to Madrid or Spain.
Regards, emiliano
A SHORT NOVEL
Chapter 1
Still falling branches of old trees and young, killing people walking below, and have even begun to fall suddenly whole trees, without any explanation to this phenomenon as disturbing.
No one knows why, unexplained collapse as if it were a heart attack, but the trees have no heart, haven´t they?.
Huge pines fall endlessly here, there, and the noise is continuous, overwhelmed, is going ask the people who witness these tremendous facts of Nature it destroys itself.
It is a prelude to what is to come ?. Could it be that our world will end well, first falling trees, a few others there, and each passing day the pandemic consuming arboreal environment extends here.
In cities and towns the mayors do not know what to do, they try to reassure its neighbors
They are saying that they have reviewed the fallen and are apparently healthy, which still is much more disturbing.
Healthy? ask everyone, as they will be healthy if they fall fulminated down and kill everyone who caught underneath.
Sheep, cows, people, chickens, everything is crushed under its weight.
No one can avoid looking up when it is below the trees will fall over my ?, we ask everyone.
I do not usually leave home often and the two trees he had against the viewpoint of felled two years ago caused me
sad to see how the sawed and left the stump ground.
Today almost glad I not see them, would fear to fall against the glass and produce one mess.
Just as well, wait, do not go, no explanation will I tell myself.
The wait in vain because they do not have and can not give it, and the phenomenon of falling trees is spreading
outside the cities, it spreads to the countryside, to other countries and the terror of such a global and inexplicable
tragedy begins to spread throughout all regions of the world.
This arborea slaughter is warning us a catastrophe near where the land protest by human intrusion ?. unnatural
overcrowding in the cities, the annihilation of millions of plants by the inhuman and unnatural asphalt highways,
roads and streets with massive populations that do not respect the land or the animals, and natural grass is even
eliminated and replaced by a mass green report imitating the inimitable nature.
Widespread alarm is what is occurring in the absence of a reasonable explanation.
It’s not natural, it is a disease that attacks the whole the forest in the world and is decimating the forest stand ?, is
the question being asked in the media, talk shows, and even within families.
As old trees can fall leaving exposed roots, raised land and dread anyone who sees or hears rumblings by
the great unexplained collapse for the country people and the city.
It is announced with these facts ?.
Try to reassure saying stop, which is transient, there is no evidence of such a fact and in the absence of criteria
or scientific evidence to support the theory of a tree disease people speculate, they speculate media, and terror
spreads like a wildfire that is flooding the earth as they fall centennial giant that nothing had affected them before.
+++++
Some announces the end of the world and proclaim that we prepare for total disaster, extinction of life on Earth.
They invent nonexistent sentences of scripture, prophets and we go out anywhere.
“They will come evils that ravage the earth “and
announced Armageddon in the Bible is what comes to everyone’s mind.
Constantly theories or threats will evolve as this natural disaster are heard. They ask us to imagine a falling
trees because they no longer find the right environment for their development. They will fall steadily, first to
an area of the world, as is the case, then in all other places, no region or country is exempt and finally not
be a single tree in the entire globe.
The life of beings will need those trees are dying with them.
We ourselves need the trees to purify the atmosphere, breathing, and experts on call ask, how long would
the necessary oxygen for millions of human beings who inhabit this planet ?.
Impossible to conceive life for birds, squirrels, humans and all kinds of animals that need forest cover
to survive, to breathe, to hedge against the relentless rays of the sun, for rain, for regenerating the water go.
Who would be in the world? Hard to imagine.
No rain, no plants, no animals, how long would have to go to the absolute and utter desolation from seizing the whole earth.
Not really very little, and those who were surviving devour their own by not having to eat.
The drying would swamps, rivers would stop flowing, and the burning thirst would be implacable.
Finally death for almost all living things that depend on the forest, rain, water, and oxygen.
Possibly cockroaches or other insects could survive?
Who knows, but it is likely that these beings also need the trees to eat their leaves, lay eggs,
away from the cold or extreme heat, especially breathing.
They seek alternative to survive and be the only living things in a withered and desolate land ?.
In the absence of insectivorous birds, insects by the millions would propagate at least for now,
making it impossible to end up with all different kind of existence.
And so the speculation continue of so-called experts that we are already putting the willies.
Fear spreads everything starts to be chaotic, everyone tries to dig in their homes, ensure their
lives, to procure what is necessary and little else. Deaths Crush are counted as thousands.
At first they succored the wounded, collected the dead beneath the branches, and is not given
to rough and no one dares to go deep into a wooded area.
The bodies of animals and humans are rotting under the branches and the smell is irresistible.
Like land mines scattered, exploding when stepped on, the trees fall without warning crushing everything around them.
Some flee to open, clear, even desert terrain, but foods become scarce, the roads are impassable with thousands,
millions of fallen trees is preventing step for them.
Just circularcampo through possible scarce supplies to keep poorly stocked populations, and no one thinks anything
other than survival of the unknown and wait, wait it all happen.
They have finished the contests for whoever cares to make war when everything seems to be destroyed.
+++++++++++
All this is mere speculation to something that is happening in my city.
Dozens of branches have fallen this summer, they have been killed two or three people, trees that suddenly
they collapse without knowing why and City Hall promises to review the hundreds of thousands of trees growing in Madrid.
Someone may believe that this revision can be done ?.
I doubt it, and I think we cherish much our environment or other generations will live situations impossible to conceive.
Sleep well, without nightmares, and look up when riding under the trees.
to be continued…
In part I agree with you, Emiliano. The Bible has a symbolic language. But we can think of Bible as being Nature and Nature built woman and man. What for? If it were able to make mankind go forward to the future with only man or woman, why two genders? The Nature is wise and we must believe in it. Have you ever seen two male dogs produce babies? And cats? And birds? I don’t mind if someone has a choide of changing their gender. It is their choice. But I definitely don’t agree with that. That’s what I think. Anyone can think differently from me. It is not my business. Sorry if I stand against you. You have your opinion and I have mine. I respect yours and you respect mine, so we can live in peace. Do you think that this is the only mistake men make? The world is full of human mistakes and nevertheless the Earth goes round the Sun, the days last 24 hours and so on. Useless to agree or disagree. All in a good time.
From Brazil
Me
Aecio, now I could see your opinion better and more or less I agree with your point of view
adapted to my own life. Just the life I have choosen to live as a man, father and husband.
Even so I could understand there are other choices and if these persons are honest and
really feel love each other what is the matter if they are the same gender or not?.
Virtudes of people have nothing to do with their sex election if they are right, have
fidelity the one for the other and they are good and honest persons about other
several things there are in the world.
Along my life I have met these persons who have choosen to live together being the
same gender and what I can say about them is they are one of my best friends
that help me along the last years, even more than my own family?.
They have not decided to adopt, buy if they whould had I am sure they could be
the best mothers, or fathers that I could imagine.
So, it has not be my life, but I know and met friends that are fifferent of me
and of course about my own sex appeal.
Do you know something?
We may choose, we have mind that direct us in the right or bad directions,
we could decide how could be our life.
Animals have not these qualities that for good or for bad humans being have.
Inside my heart I prefer animals than humans because they are pure
and without any malice.
That´s the big difference, so in fact we could be in agreement dear Aecio, of course
be sure about that, in spite of I agree also with people that are different from me
and have choosen other ways of life.
Person is the important subject not his/her sex circunstances.
****
Tania, dear Tania you are also my inspiration, thank you so much
for your kind words.
emiliano
Dear, Emiliano. I understand you completely. I don’t hate people who made a choice to love people of the same gender. I don’t aprove it but I don’t hate them either. I agree with you about animals. They are so simple when they decide to mate and have babies. I love and admire them. Unfortunately the same doesn’t happen with humans. Your point of view makes sense when you say you don’t matter if a couple if made of two men or two women. Really, it doesn’t matter. The new world has been changing and we must to follow new rules, new culture, new thoughts. I think we go further when we have points in which we disagree. Discussing different points of view leads us to a new understanding, We become richer. Turn to me if you need something else. I am here for you.
From Brazil
Me
Hey Dan
I hear it is still a bill.
A learning guide member
🙂
Pete
About English Cafe 555, I must say it is interesting in deed. Thanks Jeff to tell us that tale.
From Brazil
Me
Hi, good day sunshine
So Peter, it seems it is not worth seeing in the cinema Captain America: civil war.
My neighbour and I enjoyed so much its prequel and were planning to go to the cinema together.
Bye bye
ESL Podcast 1209 – Questioning Mental Competency is awesome! Good Heavens! Thanks Jeff and Lucy.
From Brazil, honey and milk
Me