English Recordings

The Tower of London
Big Ben
a double decker bus
a phone box
a tea set
a British guard
a black cab
an umbrella
the crown of the queen
the houses of parliament

Bessie Smith was the most popular blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s and was nicknamed the Empress of Blues.

The blues has its roots in African-American history and is evolved from Spirituals. It developed in the Mississippi Delta and is know as country blues. In blues bands musicians played guitars, mandolins, banjos, harmonicas, fiddles, washboards, kazoos, etc. When the music made its way to cities and to the North, it evolved into Chicago blues to later give birth to rythm 'n' blues and rock 'n' roll.

"To have the blues" is to feel depressed, in low spirits. Congo Square in New Orleans is the exact birthplace of jazz. It was the only place in America where slaves were allowed to come and share African rhythms and traditions. New Orleans was the only place in the United States where slaves were allowed to own drums. Jazz is a mix of African and European traditions. In New Orleans jazz you can often hear the trumpet, the clarinet and the trombone driven by the rhythm of piano, guitar, a banjo, bass and drums. Louis Armstrong remains one of the most famous and influential jazz musicians of all times. He was born in New Orleans. His song "What a wonderful world", is known all over the world.

Black slaves and "Spirituals"

Spirituals are religious songs composed by black Americans. Before the Civil War, black slaves sang while working in the cotton fields to express their pains and sorrows and their desire for freedom. The rhythm of the song helped them with their backbreaking work of picking cotton and collecting tobacco or sugar. They used the Spirituals as coded messages to communicate within their communities. An example can be found in "Sing Low Sweet Chariot" which is believed to be about the Underground Railroad, a secret network of people that helped black people escape from the South to the North.

- Alex, I've given it some thought and it's pretty tempting, but it's not that long since I last had a break. I don't know - I still haven't come to any definite decision.

- It's not so much that as my work situation. Taking another break so soon after my promotion might send out the wrong message to my team, although I think my line manager would understand.

- Well... I guess... I could empty my in-tray in time - my workload's not too heavy just now. It's just that I haven't had much time to get the office organised, and to be honest, one of my colleagues would probably by only too glad to use my absence to further his own position.

could you pronounce ' costco ' ?

1. Ergonomics in the work place maximises the workers’:
+efficiency

+comfort

+ and safety

2. It reduces the workers:

- discomfort

- fatique

- and muscular-skeletal troubles

3. Ergonomics is about the :

+ reorganisation of the work place

+ use of ergonomic tools and equipment

The Giant’s Causeway
Part I
The Giant’s Causeway is a place of breathtaking beauty, one of the greatest
wonders of the world, covered in mystery. It’s located in the County of Antrim in
Northern Ireland, in the north-eastern part of Ireland.
Its beauty was opened to people by the Bishop of Londonderry, who visited the
north of Ireland in 1692 and discovered the causeway. Later he spoke about it in
Dublin and London and in 1694, a debate started on how it was formed. Theories
ranged from man-made to natural formation, but scientists were puzzled by the
amazing symmetry of thousands of columns. The mechanism of their formation
was not clear until 1771 when a Frenchman explained that it was the result of
volcanic activity. The columns that make up the causeway were formed about
60 million years ago by cooling lava.
While the Bishop brought knowledge of the causeway to a wider world, the
first people who probably saw it were hunters and gatherers who settled in the
area after the last ice age (10,000 years ago). It is believed that they travelled
around the densely forested north coast by boats and saw the causeway on their
travels. Perhaps they created a lot of myths and legends about this area. This is
one of them.

The length of the Belarusian border with Lithuania is 462 kilometres.
It is 399 kilometres long with Poland. The longest border is with Russia –
990 kilometres. It is a little shorter with Ukraine – 975 kilometres.
The total length of the Belarusian border with other countries is
2,969 kilometres.

The length of the Belarusian border with Lithuania is 462 kilometres.
It is 399 kilometres long with Poland. The longest border is with Russia –
990 kilometres. It is a little shorter with Ukraine – 975 kilometres.
The total length of the Belarusian border with other countries is
2,969 kilometres.

What is the location of the UK?
How many islands are the British Isles made up of?
What seas surround the UK?
How long is the land border?