English Recordings

It is a good thing my aunt Harriet died years ago. If she were alive today she would not be able to air her views on her favourite topic of conversation： domestic servants. Aunt Harriet lived in that leisurely age when servants were employed to do housework. She had a huge， rambling country house called 'The Gables'. She was sentimentally attached to this house， for even though it was far too big for her needs， she persisted in living there long after her husband's death. Before she grew old， Aunt Harriet used to entertain lavishly. I often visited The Gables when I was boy. No matter how many guests were present， the great house was always immaculate. The parquet floors shone like mirrors； highly polished silver was displayed in gleaming glass cabinets； even my uncle's huge collection of books was kept miraculously free from dust. Aunt Harriet presided over an invisible army of servants that continuously scrubbed， cleaned， and polished. She always referred to them as 'the shifting population'， for they came and went with such frequency that I never even got a chance to learn their names. Though my aunt pursued what was， in those days， an enlightened policy， in that she never allowed her domestic staff to work more than eight hours a day， she was extremely difficult to please. While she always criticized the fickleness of human nature， she carried on an unrelenting search for the ideal servant to the end of her days， even after she had been sadly disillusioned by Bessie.
Bessie worked for Aunt Harriet for three years. During that time she so gained my aunt's confidence that she was put in charge of the domestic staff. Aunt Harriet could not find words to praise Bessie's industriousness and efficiency. In addition to all her other qualifications， Bessie was an expert cook. She acted the role of the perfect servant for three years before Aunt Harriet discovered her 'little weakness'. After being absent from the Gables for a week， my aunt unexpectedly returned one afternoon with a party of guests and instructed Bessie to prepare dinner. No only was the meal well below the usual standard， but Bessie seemed unable to walk steadily. She bumped into the furniture and kept mumbling about the guests. When she came in with the last course —— a huge pudding —— she tripped on the carpet and the pudding went flying through the air， narrowly missed my aunt， and crashed on the dining table with considerable force. Though this caused great mirth among the guests， Aunt Harriet was horrified. She reluctantly came to the conclusion that Bessie was drunk. The guests had， of course， realized this from the moment Bessie opened the door for them and， long before the final catastrophe， had had a difficult time trying to conceal their amusement. The poor girl was dismissed instantly. After her departure， Aunt Harriet discovered that there were piles of empty wine bottles of all shapes and sizes neatly stacked in what had once been Bessie's wardrobe. They had mysteriously found their way there from the wine cellar！

In this much-travelled world， there are still thousands of places which are inaccessible to tourists. We always assume that villagers in remote places are friendly and hospitable. But people who are cut off not only from foreign tourists， but even from their own countrymen can be hostile to travellers. Visits to really remote villages are seldom enjoyable —— as my wife and I discovered during a tour through the Balkans.
We had spent several days in a small town and visited a number of old churches in the vicinity. These attracted many visitors， for they were not only of great architectural interest， but contained a large number of beautifully preserved frescoes as well. On the day before our departure， several bus loads of tourists descended on the town. This was more than we could bear， so we decided to spend our last day exploring the countryside. Taking a path which led out of the town， we crossed a few fields until we came to a dense wood. We expected the path to end abruptly， but we found that it traced its way through the trees. We tramped through the wood for over two hours until we arrived at a deep stream. We could see that the path continued on the other side， but we had no idea how we could get across the stream. Suddenly my wife spotted a boat moored to the bank. In it there was a boatman fast asleep. We gently woke him up and asked him to ferry us to the other side. Though he was reluctant to do so at first， we eventually persuaded him to take us.
The path led to a tiny village perched on the steep sides of a mountain. The place consisted of a straggling unmade road which was lined on either side by small houses. Even under a clear blue sky， the village looked forbidding， as all the houses were built of grey mud bricks. The village seemed deserted， the only sign of life being an ugly-looking black goat on a short length of rope tied to a tree in a field nearby. Sitting down on a dilapidated wooden fence near the field， we opened a couple of tins of sardines and had a picnic lunch. All at once， I noticed that my wife seemed to be filled with alarm. Looking up I saw that we were surrounded by children in rags who were looking at us silently as we ate. We offered them food and spoke to them kindly， but they remained motionless. I concluded that they were simply shy of strangers. When we later walked down the main street of the villager， we were followed by a silent procession of children. The village which had seemed deserted， immediately came to life. Faces appeared at windows. Men in shirt sleeves stood outside their houses and glared at us. Old women in black shawls peered at us from doorways. The most frightening thing of all was that not a sound could be heard. There was no doubt that we were unwelcome visitors. We needed no further warning. Turning back down the main street， we quickened our pace and made our way rapidly towards the stream where we hoped the boatman was waiting.

Pollution is the price we pay for an overpopulated， over industrialized planet. When you come to think about it， there are only four ways you can deal with rubbish： dump it， burn it， turn it into something you can use again， attempt to produce less of it. We keep trying all four methods， but he sheer volume of rubbish we produce worldwide threatens to overwhelm us.

Rubbish， however， is only part of the problem of polluting our planet. The need to produce ever-increasing quantities of cheap food leads to a different kind of pollution. Industrialized farming methods produce cheap meat products： beef， pork and chicken. The use of pesticides and fertilizers produces cheap grain and vegetables. The price we pay for cheap food may be already too high： Mad Cow Disease （BSE） in cattle， salmonella in chicken and eggs， and wisteria in dairy products. And if you think you'll abandon meat and become a vegetarian， you have the choice of very expensive organically-grown vegetables or a steady diet of pesticides every time you think you're eating fresh salads and vegetables， or just having an innocent glass of water！

　　However， there is an even more insidious kind of pollution that particularly affects urban areas and invades our daily lives， and that is noise. Burglar alarms going off at any time of the day or night serve only to annoy passers-by and actually assist burglars to burgle. Car alarms constantly scream at us in the street and are a source of profound irritation. A recent survey of the effects of noise revealed （surprisingly？） that dogs barking incessantly in the night rated the highest form of noise pollution on a scale ranging from 1 to 7. The survey revealed a large number of sources of noise that we really dislike. Lawn mowers whining on a summer's day， late-night parties in apartment blocks， noisy neighbors， vehicles of al kinds， especially large container trucks thundering through quiet village， planes and helicopters flying overhead， large radios carried round in public places and played at maximum volume. New technology has also made its own contribution to noise. A lot of people object to mobile phones， especially when they are used in public places like restaurants or on public transport. Loud conversations on mobile phones invade our thoughts or interrupt the pleasure of meeting friends for a quiet chat. The noise pollution survey revealed a rather spurring and possibly amusing old fashioned source of noise. It turned out to be snoring！ Men were found to be the worst offenders. It was revealed that 20% of men in their mid-thirties snore. This figure rises to a staggering 60% of men in their sixties. Against these figures， it was found that only 5% of women snore regularly， while the rest are constantly woken or kept awake by their trumpeting partners. Whatever the source of noise， one thing is certain： silence， it seems， has become a golden memory.

The public reacted with fury. A full-page headline in the tabloid NewYork Post captured the sentiments of many: "Not So Fast You Greedy Bastards." The U.S House of Representatives sought to claw back the payments by approving a bill that would impose a 0- percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of companies that received substantial bailout funds. Under pressure from New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, fifteen of the top twenty A.I.G. bonus recipients agreed to return the payments, and some $50million was recouped in all. This gesture assuaged public anger to some degree, and support for the punitive tax measure faded in he Senate. But the episode left the public reluctatn to spend more to clean up the mess the financial industry had created.
At the heart of the bailout outrage was a sense of injustice. Even before the bonus issue erupted, public support for the bailout was hesitant and conflicted. Americans were torn between the need to prevent an economic meltdown that would hurt everyone and their belief that funneling massive sums to failed banks and investment companies was deeply unfair. To avoid economic disaster, Congress and the public acceded. But morally speaking, it had felt all along like a kind of extortion.
Underlying the bailout outrage was a belief about moral desert: The executives receiving the bonuses (and the companies receiving the bailouts)didn't deserve them. But why didn't they? The reason may be less obvious than it seems. Consider two possible answers - one is about greed, the other about failure.
One source of outrage was the bonuses seemed to reward greed, as the tabloid headline indelicately suggested. The public found this morally unpalatable. Not only the bonuses but the bailout as a whole seemed, perversely, to reward greedy behavior rather than punish it. The derivatives traders had landed their company, and the country, in dire financial peril- by making reckless investments in pursuit of ever-greater profits. Having pocketed the profits when times were good, they saw nothing wrong with million-dollar bonuses even after their investments had come to ruin.
The greed critiqued was voiced not only by the tabloids, but also ( in more decorous versions) by public officials. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-ohio)saids that A.I.G.'s behavior "smacks of greed, arrogance, and worse." President Obama stated that A.I.G "Finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed"
The problem with the greed critique is that its doesn't distinguish the rewards bestowed by the bailout after the crash from the rewards bestowed by markets when times were flush. Greed is a vice, a bad attitude, and excessive, single-minded desire for gain. So it's understandable that people aren't keen to reward it. But is there any reason to assume that the recipients of bailout bonuses are any greedier now than they were a few years ago, when they were riding high and reaping even greater rewards?

1.1
-(a) bit
-but
-bat
-bought
-bot

Examples:
-I bought a bat.
-There´s a lot of bots working at Wikipedia, but they can´t do everything.

1.2
-butter
-better

Example:
-This butter is better than the butter we ate the last time.

1.3
-bad
-bed

Example:
-This man is a bad person, because he stole my bed.

1.4
-bath
-both

Example:
-These men both were washing up in this bath.

2.
-(to) know
-now
-no
-new

Examples:
-No, he doesn´t know yet that we´re sleeping now.
-Do you know about the new song?

3.
-wall
-(to) walk
-well
-will

Examples:
-We will walk in the forest.
-Is this wall well built?

4.
-thing
-thin
-think
-sink

Examples:
-I think he is very thin.
-There are lots of things in the sink.

5.
-air
-ear
-hour, our

Examples:
-Today the air outside is very clean, but it is going to get worse about 10 hours p.m.
-Our ears are big.

6.
-red
-rude
-road
-(to) ride
-right
-(to) read

Examples:
-There was a red car and I was a person in it reading a book.
-There is a man riding a bike on the right side of the road.
-Don´t be rude, it doesn´t become you.

(Feb 28th 2011 03:18)–<Complaint >–
My eyes are really complaining to me now .
Yes, I know (that) I should go to bed,
but now I am here in front of my/the desk. ( but now I am here at my desk. )
WOoooo~~ ok, I really need to go to bed, like right now!
(Mar 04th 2011 19:11)-( ☆(At the noon)☆—————–
•I haven’t written any entries in English for a few days.
• SooooooOoooo~~? It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
•Yeah~~ I should be regretting the fact that I didn’t write. SooooooOoooo~~?
• I will try to write again soon/ (= later/= sooner or later .)
• Oh, now I am not home, I’m at a school in an empty classroom.
• I’m by myself. It`s such a nice feeling.
• Ok–*when I come back home I will try to keep writing this entry. = * When I come back home I’ll try to finish this entry. bye~~see you soon!
——☆(in the evening )-☆————————————
Hi~~ everyone! I came back, and now I’m here at home.
It’s evening now. Is 19:00 the evening ? Or is it night time?
I don’t know well….but anyway,
I am here in front of my desk / ( I am here at my desk ), writing an English entry now.
• Yes, now I will go on writing into the daytime, but what will I write?
• OK., I will talk about one of my friend’s. She is one of my Lang-8 friends.
• She wrote an entry in Korean.
• In her entry, she went to see her cousin. Her cousin is studying at a university 1000 kilometers away from where she lives.
• So she has to take a plane there, and she said, she are scared a little bit to take a plane. //
(She was scared a little bit taking a plane. Anyway, she has arrived safely now! )
• bye-bye~~ see you soon!
I hope she will have a good time with her cousin.
bye-bye~~ see you soon! Because I will back to read my lang-8 friends’ corrections.

So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves， that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer， for these are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials， newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes. Men， particularly， spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces， laying out their own gardens； building garages and making furniture. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers. Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices， but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy， but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians， carpenters， plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse， furniture gets rickety， pipes get clogged， or vacuum cleaners fail to operate， some woman assume that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything， even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had broken down the previous summer， and though I promised to repair it， I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself. One Saturday afternoon， I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see， it needed only a minor adjustment： a turn of a screw here， a little tightening up there， a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow， so I decided to dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower. But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it， for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it， I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.

In democratic countries any efforts to restrict the freedom of the press are rightly condemned. However， this freedom can easily be abused. Stories about people often attract far more public attention than political events. Though we may enjoy reading about the lives of others， it is extremely doubtful whether we would equally enjoy reading about ourselves. Acting on the contention that facts are sacred， reporters can cause untold suffering to individuals by publishing details about their private lives. Newspapers exert such tremendous influence that they can not only bring about major changes to the lives of ordinary people but can even overthrow a government.
The story of a poor family that acquired fame and fortune overnight， dramatically illustrates the power of the press. The family lived in Aberdeen， a small town of 23，000 inhabitants in South Dakota. As the parents had five children， life was a perpetual struggle against poverty. They were expecting their sixth child and were faced with even more pressing economic problems. If they had only had one more child， the fact would have passed unnoticed. They would have continued to struggle against economic odds and would have lived in obscurity. But they suddenly became the parents of quintuplets， an aeroplane arrived in Aberdeen bringing sixty reporters and photographers.
The rise to fame was swift. Television cameras and newspapers carried the news to everyone in the country. Newspapers and magazines offered the family huge sums for the exclusive rights to publish stories and photographs. Gifts poured in not only from unknown people， but room baby food and soap manufacturers who wished to advertise their products. The old farmhouse the family lived in was to be replaced by new $500，000 home. Reporters kept pressing for interviews so lawyers had to be employed to act as spokesmen for the family at press conferences. While the five babies were babies were still quietly sleeping in oxygen tents in hospital nursery， their parents were paying the price for fame. It would never again be possible for them to lead normal lives. They had become the victims of commercialization， for their names had acquired a market value. Instead of being five new family members， these children had immediately become a commodity.

People travelling long distances frequently have to decide whether they would prefer to go by land， sea， or air. Hardly anyone can positively enjoy sitting in a train for more than a few hours. Train compartments soon get cramped and stuffy. It is almost impossible to take your mind off the journey. Reading is only a partial solution， for the monotonous rhythm of the wheels clicking on the rails soon lulls you to sleep. During the day， sleep comes in snatches. At night， when you really wish to go to sleep， you rarely manage to do so. If you are lucky enough to get a sleeper， you spend half the night staring at the small blue light in the ceiling， or fumbling to find you ticket for inspection. Inevitably you arrive at your destination almost exhausted. Long car journeys are even less pleasant， for it is quite impossible even to read. On motorways you can， at least， travel fairly safely at high speeds， but more often than not， the greater part of the journey is spent on roads with few service stations and too much traffic. By comparison， ferry trips or cruises offer a great variety of civilized comforts. You can stretch your legs on the spacious decks， play games， meet interesting people and enjoy good food —— always assuming， of course， that the sea is calm. If it is not， and you are likely to get seasick， no form of transport could be worse. Even if you travel in ideal weather， sea journeys take a long time. Relatively few people are prepared to sacrifice holiday time for the pleasure of travlling by sea.
Aeroplanes have the reputation of being dangerous and even hardened travellers are intimidated by them. They also have the disadvantage of being an expensive form of transport. But nothing can match them for speed and comfort. Travelling at a height of 30，000 feet， far above the clouds， and at over 500 miles an hour is an exhilarating experience. You do not have to devise ways of taking your mind off the journey， for an aeroplane gets you to your destination rapidly. For a few hours， you settle back in a deep armchair to enjoy the flight. The real escapist can watch a film and sip champagne on some services. But even when such refinements are not available， there is plenty to keep you occupied. An aeroplane offers you an unusual and breathtaking view of the world. You soar effortlessly over high mountains and deep valleys. You really see the shape of the land. If the landscape is hidden from view， you can enjoy the extraordinary sight of unbroken cloud plains that stretch out for miles before you， while the sun shines brilliantly in a clear sky. The journey is so smooth that there is nothing to prevent you from reading or sleeping. However you decide to spend your time， one thing is certain： you will arrive at your destination fresh and uncrumpled. You will not have to spend the next few days recovering from a long and arduous journey.

Insurance companies are normally willing to insure anything. Insuring public or private property is a standard practice in most countries in the world. If， however， you were holding an open air garden party or a fete it would be equally possible to insure yourself in the event of bad weather. Needless to say， the bigger the risk an insurance company takes， the higher the premium you will have to pay. It is not uncommon to hear that a shipping company has made a claim for cost of salvaging a sunken ship. But the claim made by a local authority to recover the cost of salvaging a sunken pie dish must surely be unique.
Admittedly it was an unusual pie dish， for it was eighteen feet long and six feet wide. It had been purchased by a local authority so that an enormous pie could be baked for an annual fair. The pie committee decided that the best way to transport the dish would be by canal， so they insured it for the trip. Shortly after it was launched， the pie committee went to a local inn to celebrate. At the same time， a number of teenagers climbed on to the dish and held a little party of their own. Dancing proved to be more than the dish could bear， for during the party it capsized and sank in seven feet of water.
The pie committee telephoned a local garage owner who arrived in a recovery truck to salvage the pie dish. Shivering in their wet clothes， the teenagers looked on while three men dived repeatedly into the water to locate the dish. They had little difficulty in finding it， but hauling it out of the water proved to be a serious problem. The sides of the dish were so smooth that it was almost impossible to attach hawsers and chains to the rim without damaging it. Eventually chains were fixed to one end of the dish and a powerful winch was put into operation. The dish rose to the surface and was gently drawn towards the canal bank. For one agonizing moment， the dish was perched precariously on the bank of the canal， but it suddenly overbalanced and slid back into the water. The men were now obliged to try once more. This time they fixed heavy metal clamps to both sides of the dish so that they could fasten the chains. The dish now had to be lifted vertically because one edge was resting against the side of the canal. The winch was again put into operation and one of the men started up the truck. Several minutes later， the dish was again put into operation and one of the water. Water streamed in torrents over its sides with such force that it set up a huge wave in the canal. There was danger that the wave would rebound off the other side of the bank and send the dish plunging into the water again. By working at tremendous speed， the men managed to get the dish on to dry land before the wave returned.