English Recordings

(Dec 12th 2011)It`s Monday, today. /Today, it`s Monday.
Today is the first day of the beginning of a week。
Today`s whole sky is filled with gloomy clouds,and I can`t find any blue color in the sky, at all.
The sky looks like this， is easy make us to feel gloomy.
We are easy became to feel gloomy, when the sky is gloomy like today.
Let`s enjoy/ watching /look at/ the videos below and try to laudly laugh and heartily !
Two videos below are two little kids/bibies who are bursting laughting at a spraying water , and a cute baby who is screaming with laughter by tearing paper.
(THanks for reading. Please correct my mistakes. THANK YOU!)
（1）Cute two babies who are bursting laughting at a spraying water
http://tvpot.daum.net/clip/ClipViewByVid.do?vid=pNsyiNW134U$
（2）a bay who is screaming with laughter by tearing paper.

Coca-Cola was invented by John Styth Pemberton, a pharmacist in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. In 1886, he made up a new kind of medicine to cure tiredness and headaches. Two of the most important ingredients at that time were coca leaves and kola nuts – and that’s how the drink got its name. The famous Coca-Cola logo was created by John Pemberton's accountant, Frank Mason Robinson, in 1885. Pemberton sold the first glass on May 8, 1886. It tasted terrible, and as a result, almost nobody wanted to buy it. In the first year, Pemberton only earned $ 50 from it!
Then a businessman called Asa Griggs Candler bought the recipe in 1887 for 2300$. he advertised it, not as a medicine but as a refreshing drink. he mixed it with water and carbon dioxide! It worked. Everybody wanted to buy it. in only a few years Coca-Cola became the national drink of the United States. The shape of the famous bottle was invented in 1915 by a bottle designer Earl R. Dean.
During the Second World War American soldiers drank three million bottles of Coca-Cola a day! They helped to promote the name and the taste for ‘Coke’ all over the world. Today, nearly 300 million bottles are drunk every day, in 155 different countries. Coca Cola also helped popularize the image of Santa Clause in red uniform.

Anybody can try to make a drink which tastes something like Coca-Cola. Chemists say that it consists almost entirely of fourteen ingredients. The most secret ingredient is called ‘7X’, and is less than one per cent of the drink. But nobody outside the Coca-Cola company discovered what the ‘magic’ extra ingredient is, and very few people got to know the secret formula of this world-famous soft drink.

I just wonder, if in your country, when you apply for a job, would you attach your picture and write in your age on your resume?

I'm not sure it's true, but I heard that when you apply for a job in Canada, it's not required to paste in your picture, even as a flight attendant.

I was surprised to hear that because in Japan, appearances, such as body hight and weight, are quite important factors in being hired as a flight-attendant. I also heard that applicant's experience is more important than how they look in Canada. Is it the same in your country?

I guess the standard of beauty for women varies from country to country, and from person to person. For example, fatter women, women with big eyes, and women with high noses are thought of highly in some countries, while thinner, fragile women are lionized in other countries.

Sorry I went off on a tangent...

It really depends on the type of the job, though. I feel a little impressed to know that some companies in some countries place more value on people's experience, motives, and who they are beyond their appearances.

I haven't filled in any resumes for a long time, so I am not sure about it, but facial portrait is required in most or all cases in Japan. Hope this information is right.

In quantitative and qualitative tests, we make the test shelves realistic as exactly as possible by using the actual shelves and real mock-ups so that we can understand the whole perception.In the earliest stages of development of a brand, I think it is good to resolve the consumers' perception. We often see marketers collect many partial perception to understand the consumers in market surveys. But on the other hand, we often have a feeling that each of them is right but something is wrong as a whole. No matter how hard we may consider the partial perception, we can not understand the whole perception at all. This is because a man first defines things as a whole. Therefore, we focus on understanding the whole perception.

He goes to morning walk every morning.

Yesterday,He went to morning walk.

Tommorrow,He will go to morning walk.

He doesn't go to morning walk every morning

Yesterday,he didn't go to morning walk

Tommorrow, he willn't go to morning walk

[modify the sentences as people commonly use in america so,it sounds nice add words if needed or remove unwanted words god bless you]

As there seems to be a slight difference between our approaches to product development, I would like to explain our way. We don't intend to persist in our own way, but we would appreciate it if you, our business partner, would understand our approach which has led to enduring success in our business.
Our international sales have captured only 25 percent of the total turnover, which means we are a domestic market-oriented company.
In other words, we have been making product development for the Japanese market a central business policy.
Japan is a racially almost homogeneous nation-state.
We Japanese have an almost common perception about various things.
Under such cultural circumstances the people tend to grasp things macroscopically and abstract them.
Therefore we give first priority to Japanese consumers' whole perception and develop new products.
We don't often decompose and analyze their perceptions by using concept sheets and keyword sheets.

How to Read More: A Lover’s Guide

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Reading a good book is one of my favorite things in the world.

A novel is a time machine, a worm-hole to different dimensions, a special magic that puts you into the minds and bodies of fascinating people, a transporter that lets you travel the world, a dizzying exploration of love and death and sex and seedy criminal underworlds and fairylands, a creator of new best friends.

All in one.

I read because I love the experience, because it is a powerful teacher of life, because it transforms me.

I am not the world’s most prodigious reader, but I do read daily and with passion.

Lots of people say they want to read more, but don’t know how to start.

Read this. It should help.

1. Don’t read because you should — read for joy. Find books about exciting stories, about people who fascinate you, about new worlds that you’d love to visit. Forget the classics, unless they fit this prescription.

2. Carve out the time. We have no time to read anymore, mostly because we work too much, we overschedule our time, we’re on the Internet all the time (which does have some good reading, but can also suck our attention endlessly), and we watch too much TV. Pick a time, and make it your reading time. Start with just 10 minutes if it’s hard to find time — even 10 minutes is lovely. Try 20 or 30 if you can drop a couple things from your schedule.

3. Do nothing but read. Clear all distractions. Find a quiet, peaceful space. It’s just your book, and you. Notice but let go of the urges to do other things instead of read. If you must do something else, have some tea.

4. Love the hell out of it. You’re not doing this to better yourself. You’re doing it for joy. Reading is magic, and the magic will change everything else in your life. Love the experience, and you’ll look forward to it daily.

5. Make it social. Find friends who love to read, or find them online. There’s a world of readers on the Internet, and they’d be happy to make recommendations and talk about the books you’re all reading. Try a book club as well. Reading is solitary, but is also a social act.

6. Make it a habit. Pick a trigger in your daily routine, and consistently read exactly after that trigger each day. Even if it’s just for 5-10 minutes. The more consistent you are, and the longer you keep the streak going, the stronger the habit will become.

7. Don’t make it a chore. Don’t make it something on your todo list or schedule that you have to check off. It’s not part of your self-improvement plan. It’s a part of your Make Life More Awesome Plan.

8. Give up on a book if it’s boring. Reading isn’t something you do because it’s good for you — it’s not like taking your vitamins. You’re reading because it’s fun. So if a book isn’t fun, dump it. Give it a try for at least a chapter, but if you still don’t love it, move on.

9. Discover amazing books. I talk to other people who are passionate about books, and I’ll read reviews, or just explore an old-fashioned bookstore. Supporting your local bookstores is a great thing, and it’s incredibly fun. Libraries are also amazing places that are underused — get a card today.

10. Don’t worry about speed. Speed reading is fine for some, but slow reading is great too. The number of books, and the rate of reading them, matters not a whit. It’s not a competition. You’re reading to enjoy the books, so take your time. It’s like enjoying good food, or good sex: better savored, not rushed.

The Voice of Patience

Post written by Leo Babauta.

There are moments when other people just set you off, and you lose your patience.

It is the downfall of many of us — coworkers, children, spouses, other drivers, irritating people on the subway — they can grate, they can anger.

And it can ruin your day. You clench your jaw, you replay imaginary arguments in your head, or worse, you snap. And then you feel like crap.

How can we find the patience?

I will admit that I’m no saint. Just like everyone else, I get annoyed, and I will say things in a less-than-kind tone. I’m learning.

Here’s what helps me:

First, I learn to be aware of the emotions that rush up from nowhere.

I learn to accept those emotions as perfectly fine.

And I watch them, but don’t act.

I will talk to those emotions, like they’re a little child: it’s OK to be mad, but breathe. Talk to the other person, after you’ve calmed down, about the problem.

And then I breathe.

I remind my childlike emotions: other people are different, and that’s good. Celebrate humanity and all its glorious varieties. When people live and work together, there will be friction, and that is a part of the mix of humanity.

I remind: life is too short to waste my days in irritation and anger. Don’t let other people’s problems become my own.

I then give thanks. Gratitude solves all problems. I am grateful for having this friend, or stranger, in my life, and I’m grateful for the chance to even be here, and for the incredible life I have.

I talk to the other person, when I’ve calmed down, with compassion. I respond with love. It often will melt the other person’s jagged edges, and things will go better.

Patience isn’t an easy thing, but the alternative is much worse. Love will triumph if you let it.

The Rules of Effortless Parenting

Post written by Leo Babauta.

I often get asked how I can do so much while having six kids.

My short answer, and all you really need to know, is my wife Eva is awesome. I couldn’t do half what I do without her.

She is the reason Zen Habits is able to exist. And so if you want parenting advice, you’d be smart to ask her.

She doesn’t, however, have a blog. And so I’ll share some things that we both do that make our jobs as parents easier.

These are Very Important Rules that must never be broken by any Serious Parent … until, of course, you want to break them. The first rule of Rules of Effortless Parenting is that you should always break rules.

Rules of Effortless Parenting

There is really only one rule: Love Them. But you already knew that one, so let’s get into details:

1. Teach kids to be self-sufficient. Our kids started by learning how to pick up after themselves (as 1 and 2 year olds), and later learned how to feed themselves breakfast, brush their teeth and shower and dress themselves, wash dishes and clean up in the kitchen, clean their rooms, do laundry, etc. Our jobs as parents became tons easier, but it does take a little patient teaching in the beginning of each skill.

2. Teach older kids to help with the younger kids. If you have multiple kids, this rule is golden. Our teens can help the little kids with anything. That makes our jobs a lot easier, and the older kids learn responsibility.

3. Teach them to solve problems. This is really the main job of unschooling, which is the philosophy we follow as homeschoolers. Our kids don’t learn facts or even skills. They learn to solve problems on their own. If they know how to do this, they can learn any facts or skills they need to solve their problems. Want to learn how to write a computer program? That’s just another problem that you need to learn how to solve. Want to cook Thai food, or write a blog, or start a business, or build something? Problems that you can solve.

4. Show them how to be passionate. The other main thing you teach unschoolers, besides solving their own problems, is how to be passionate about something. If they know this, they will do work they’re passionate about as adults. How do you teach them this? By modeling it yourself. By doing projects with them where you’re passionate about something. Kids learn an amazing amount by watching and mimicking.

5. Play with them outside, and be active. Spending time with your kids is one of the best ways to show them you love them. Playing with them is one of the best ways to spend time with them. Playing outside shows them how to be active and have fun being active. I also stay active on my own, but I make sure they know what I’m doing, why, and how much fun it is. They have a role model who is healthy and fit, and that will help them for the rest of their lives.

6. Don’t overschedule. Most parents schedule too many classes, sports, parties, activities. We give our kids lots of unstructured, unscheduled time. They have to figure out what to do with that time. That’s an important skill to learn. It also means their lives are less stressed out, as are ours, and they learn a slower pace of life.

7. Don’t dote. I’ve seen lots of parents that dote on everything their kids do, who are worried about every little thing their kid might touch or that might cause a fall. Back off, and give them some space. They need attention, but they also need some time alone to explore, to fall and get back up, to scrape their knees, to figure stuff out on their own. Go do something on your own, and leave your kids alone sometimes.

8. Dance. Because life without dance is dull and not worth living. Play loud music. Go crazy.

9. Read with them, and read in front of them. Kids love books, especially if you read them with them. Here are some of my favorites. If you are a reader yourself, and they see that, this will teach them to love reading too. Reading is one of the best loves you can instill in kids.

10. Be inquisitive. Ask questions about everything, and encourage them to do the same. Kids are naturally inquisitive … they can ask a million questions, because everything is new to them. Learn to see the world through their eyes — it’s amazing. Why the hell IS the sky blue? Why do leaves change color? How does a bird fly? These are brilliant questions, and you should explore them with the kids — don’t just give them answers, but show them how to find out.

The Rut, & the Way Out

Post written by Leo Babauta.

You’re in a rut, and you can’t get unstuck.

Motivation is a resource that seems harder and harder to come by these days. You’re mired in malaise, you’re unexcited after a slump or a break, you’re in a dull 9-to-5 routine.

Any of these sound familiar?

If so, you’re not alone. I’ve been in these kinds of ruts, often, and sometimes for embarrassingly extended periods. While it doesn’t happen much these days, as I’m excited about everything I do, I’m no stranger to the rut. I was stuck in one for a couple years once, until I felt the rut wasn’t something I was in, but was me.

What is the way out? How do you start along this way if you don’t have motivation to start with?

I’ve found that the best way out of a rut is with the smallest step possible. But that step can result in more than you realize.

What if that smallest step is to announce a major challenge? In my recent past I’ve announced 30 days of yoga, writing a novel in 30 days, and some grueling physical challenges. In years past I’ve announced that I’m going to run a marathon, do a triathlon, start a blog, give up my car, give up meat, and so on.

Here’s the thing: the first step wasn’t to take on a major challenge. It was simply announcing it. And announcing something is really really easy. Doing it is much harder, but once you’ve announced it, you have some momentum, and you’re committed to a direction. Making the announcement only takes the moving of your lips and some hot air, or the typing of your fingers while your email program is open, and let’s face it, you do those things even when you’re in a rut.

What if the moving of your fingers or some hot air is too big a step? Can you take an even smaller step? Sure: you can simply ask, “What if?”

What if you took on a challenge? What if you cleared the clutter from your desk? What if you went outside for a brisk walk? What if you quit your job and headed for southeast Asia with nothing but a small backpack? What if you started a blog about your biggest passion? What if you decided to paint a picture or snap a photograph every single day for the next month? What if you did 5 minutes of yoga each morning? What if you tossed out your to-do list and only did 1 important thing each day before doing the less important tasks? What if you proposed your dream project to your boss? What if you stopped asking permission and just started doing what you’ve been wanting to do? What if your life was a blank slate and you could fill it with only the things you love? What if you could change someone else’s life? What if you tossed out all your excuses? What if you were grateful for what you have, instead of complaining about what you don’t have? What if you tossed out your goals? What if you let go of your expectations? What if you got rid of everything you had?

What if is a very easy step.

Take the easiest step you can imagine. Once you start moving, you’ll feel unbelievably better. Once your foot touches ground, you will feel the power of the earth, you’ll feel the power of motion, you’ll feel the rut moving behind you. That one step — it’s a doozy.