English Recordings

no entiendo lo que quieres decir

The presence of the two police officers unsettled her.

What's your name?
Where do you live?
How old are you?
Where were you born?
When were you born?
What's your nationality?

She's Karen.
She lives in New York City (USA). She's 14 years old.
She spends her free time hanging out with friends and reading comic books. She's a real Marvel expert! her favourite comic books character is Kamala Khan a.k.a Ms Marvel.
She often goes to museums such as the MoMA (it's a Modern Art Museum). Her favourite artist is Roy Lichtenstein, a pop art painter.

The salesman was a little too pushy, and we felt uncomfortable.
That sounds like another of his harebrained schemes!
She spoke in her soft, lilting brogue.
The door jingled and an elderly female customer waddled in.
Choosing a key from a ring which hung round his fat waist, the guard waddled past a number of cells.
Towards the end of her pregnancy, she developed a waddle.
Critics say the company is trying to drive out competition and charge high royalties.
With the relentless march of the supermarkets, a lot of small retailers may be driven out of business.
Plants in their growth stage exhibit an increased uptake of nutrients.
There is a 90 percent uptake of vaccination in this country.
Uptake of places on the training course has been disappointing.They never put down other companies in their commercials.
Did you have to put me down in front of everybody?
She quickly settled down in her new house/job/school.
Eventually I'd like to settle down and have a family, but not yet.
At the age of 70, he married a much younger woman and went on to sire two more children.
The large bay colt was sired by Pleasant Colony.
OK, everybody, settle down.
Lindi has achieved her comfortable life only after years of hard toil.
Well, after a day's toil in the office I like to relax a little.
Farm workers have been toiling in the 100-degree heat over the past week.
After toiling away at work all week, it's good to relax.
For an initial outlay of $2,000 to buy the equipment, you can earn up to $500 a month if the product sells well.
This technology will require an initial outlay, but it will produce long-term savings.
The airline was racking up losses of $1.5 million a day.
Miller racked up 28 points in the first half, and kept racking them up in the second.
By the late 70s the band's popularity was beginning to wane.
There are signs that support for the group is on the wane.
Traditional employer-funded pensions are on the wane.
Our new improved moisturizer has wondrous effects on tired-looking skin.
And to satisfy your sweet tooth, this café has desserts galore.
Down South you get biscuits and gravy and fried foods galore.
He's a loathsome man.
My father told me to never pick up a hitchhiker.
He's never picked up any hitchhikers in the time he's been a trucker.
I ended up driving some hitchhikers to Manchester.
We saw a hitchhiker trying to thumb a lift at the motorway junction.
Suddenly we heard a screech of brakes and saw the car swerve to miss the bicycle.
Don't forgot to put the brake on.
The brakes failed and the car crashed into a tree.
He would drive very fast and brake sharply at the last minute.
The result is a mixed bag of campy humour and special effects.
The movie is a mixed bag of campy humor, wild-eyed fantasy, and high-tech special effects.
On the highway we passed dozens of billboards showing his smiling face.
To advertise a local film festival, the city has put billboards of classic movies, like "Gone With the Wind," on buildings throughout the city.
It was one of his so-called friends who supplied him with the drugs that killed him.
t's fairly shocking when a so-called developed country can't even provide homes for all its citizens.
My so-called friend has stolen my girlfriend.
This so-called charity has robbed thousands of poor people of their money.
And this is one of the so-called privileges of working for this company.
This so-called therapy has effectively ruined my life.
hey're considering scrapping the tax and raising the money in other ways.
Do you have a scrap of paper I could write on?
I've read every scrap of information I can find on the subject.
Over 60% of all Georgians want to keep the present flag and only 29% want to scrap it.
The plan to cull large numbers of baby seals has angered environmental groups.
She went to strange lands to cull recipes for her book.
The programme of redundancies was intended to cull 1000 jobs.
Tons of internationally donated food was distributed to the starving peasants.
Most of the produce sold in the market is grown by peasant farmers.
Peasant women with scarves around their heads were working in the fields.
She wondered how it would be to touch him and recoiled at the thought.
He leaned forward to kiss her and she recoiled in horror.
I recoiled from the smell and the filth.
Sun-worshipers might recoil in horror at the chilling winds and rough seas, but we loved the place.
She was a lifelong member of the Labour party.
He’s had a lifelong interest in science.
The coach has already chewed out two of his swimmers for arriving late to practice.
Stand up straight, tuck your tummy in and tuck your bottom under.
Tuck your gloves in your pocket so that you don't lose them.
Scoot over and make room for your sister.
When I mildly rebuked your cousin for falling asleep, she acted like she had done the most horrible thing.
Don't be browbeaten into working more hours than you want.
He objected that McDonald was browbeating the witness.
They're very chummy with their neighbours.
At the frontier, there were people pestering tourists for cigarettes, food, or alcohol.
Rather than revise the ruse of cooperation that he devised to protect his political domain, he blamed corrupted evidence.
You resemble your mother very closely.
Companies are having recruitment difficulties as they battle it out for a dwindling number of skilled staff.
If only we could tap into all that energy and creativity.
They allowed retired and elderly couples or single people to vacate cottages needed for working families, without obliging them to leave the village altogether.
My brother's voting for me by proxy in the club elections.
Can I nominate someone as a proxy to sign for me?
If this charge were true, the discovery would have remained public, but would have been re-attributed to the person from whom it was pilfered.
They hoped to dig up some dope on her that might be damaging, but they never did.
Where on earth have you been? We've been frantic with worry.
Share prices have soared to a new all-time high in a day of frantic trading on the stock market.
I was never a down-and-out, but it did start to look that way.
Down-and-outs warmed themselves at bonfires on the lorry park.
I tried to slink out of the room so that nobody would see me go.
I was so embarrassed that I tried to slink away.
Variegated ivy is a popular choice for covering fences.
He attended several of the fringe meetings at the conference.
She's so stuck up, she won't even talk to us.
We're having plain blue walls in the dining room.
I want a plain black jumper with no fancy trimmings.
t's quite plain that they don't want to speak to us.
If she'd been a plain Jane, she wouldn't have had all the attention.
I mean, taking the wrong equipment with you - that's just plain stupid.
A number of paintings by Western artists show Indian settlements in the plains.
We moored the boat to a large tree root.
He levered open the engine compartment and released a great cloud of blue smoke.
He levered himself out of his chair with the usual difficulty and opened his arms wide.
They accused the companies of using political pressure to lever out competition.
If your mortgage offer is less than you wanted, it may be a useful lever for getting the price of the house down.
Modern houses have replaced the one-room mud huts with grass roofs that had been home to generations of peasants.
Your shoe laces are undone.
A coffee laced with brandy.

The owner of the hotel warned me that if my wife doesn't get any better, we're going to have to leave.

Topic: Some people think that it is a waste of money for countries to host big sporting events like the world cup, and that the money would be better spent on other things. However, others think that hosting large sporting events has a clear, positive impact on a country. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.

Model answer:

There is fierce competition between nations to host major international sports events like the World Cup or Olympics as it is a unique opportunity to boost the national reputation of the host nation. In spite of its undeniable benefits, I believe that the costs are too great and therefore governments should prioritise other key issues to better benefit their citizens.

On the one hand, becoming a host nation for global events such as the World Cup or the Olympics brings a number of economic and infrastructural benefits. During these events, there is an influx of tourists from all over the world who need places to stay, restaurants to eat in and traditional products to purchase. The efforts made to cater to these tourists will remain long after they have gone. The cost of renovating a hotel might pay for itself during the event and then begin turning a large profit in later years. The other main area of development is related to the rapid expansion of quality infrastructure. Nations will be forced to invest in new sports facilities like swimming pools and stadiums as well as make renovations to pre-existing infrastructure like roads and airports. For example, China used the Beijing Olympics as an opportunity to modernise old buildings and roads.

On the other hand, these competitions use up tremendous resources from the host nation for a temporary competition. To ensure the success of these prestigious events, governments must waste a large percentage of the nation budget in the years leading up to the competition, oftentimes in the billions of dollars. The newly constructed facilities usually fall into disuse after each tournament. A salient example of this is Brazil as many of the swimming pools and sports facilities that were used in the 2014 Olympics are currently abandoned and becoming decrepit. Meanwhile, there are other pressing issues that have been festering including the need for new schools for underprivileged students and quality healthcare for the elderly population. If the government had prioritised these issues the country would be in a better position and its citizens would have a higher standard of living.

To summarize, due to the exorbitant costs, I am of the belief that the government should not allocate such a large percentage of its financial resources to hosting global events with negligible long-term impact. Instead these events should be hosted in the same countries year after year so that the new infrastructure pays for itself over time.

Topic: Traffic and housing problems in major cities could be solved by moving companies, factories and their employees to the countryside. Do you agree or disagree?

Model answer:

Many people claim that moving companies, factories and their employees from cities to the countryside might ameliorate some of the worst traffic and housing issues. I strongly believe that this is a suitable solution for those two particular city problems.

Moving the facilities of major corporations to the countryside will reduce traffic problems by encouraging more people to live in the countryside for their work. It is widely known that more people live in cities today than ever before and this has caused terrible traffic. For example, in Beijing it is not uncommon for gridlocked motorways to delay motorists for hours. Travelers depend on getting in to Beijing for their livelihood but if their jobs were in the countryside, or a nearby suburb, they could live outside the city and reduce traffic. This would have a major impact on overcrowded cities like Beijing that lose billions of dollars a year because of time wasted in traffic jams, according to recent research.

Moving factories and employees to the countryside will also help to mitigate housing issues in cities. In many developing countries, the rush of people from the country to the city has necessitated the construction of massive skyscrapers. A lot of these underdeveloped cities such as Mexico City and Lagos do not have the sophisticated infrastructure including efficient plumbing, clean water and trash collection that is needed to service a concentrated population. By moving jobs and people to the countryside, developing countries will have more time to improve their infrastructure to deal with surging urban populations.

In conclusion, moving people to the countryside will help to reduce traffic and housing problems, especially in developing countries. If more governments studied this closely and enacted laws to encourage people to move, it would greatly improve the quality of life for everyone living in the city.

Topic: Museums and art galleries should focus on works that show the history and culture of their own country rather than works of other parts of the world. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Sample answer 2: Mostly Agree

There is natural debate around the issue of whether or not museums should be showcasing works mainly from their own country or other countries. Although it is important to learn about other cultures through museums, countries have the right and responsibility to preserve and maintain their own cultural history.

Proponents of museums showing a variety of works from many different countries rightly argue that people’s lives are enriched through all these different cultures. For example, Europe is a relatively small area that packs in dozens of distinct national identities. Someone going to a museum in a cosmopolitan city like Berlin is likely to find Italian Renaissance paintings next to modernist Spanish sculpture as well as German works. This allows people to feel they are travelling around the world and taking in a variety of viewpoints. Through this exposure to culture they may come to better understand other nations and have greater insight into what connects and differentiates countries from each other.

Despite the clear benefits of learning about other cultures, countries have the right to house the relics of their own history. Many of the museums displaying works from other countries took them without permission. For example, the British Museum’s collection was mainly sourced during the height of the British Empire. Many nations have disputed the right of the museum to house their country’s artifacts and some have been returned. It is only right that countries keep what was made in their country so that they can educate their own people about their history. Anything that has been taken without explicit permission should be returned, just as a thief is required to return what they have stolen if they are caught.

I think that there is tremendous value in museums displaying works from other countries but it does not override the basic right of nations to look after their own history. One way forward would be to encourage museums to have frequent exchanges and temporary exhibitions.

Topic: Museums and art galleries should focus on works that show the history and culture of their own country rather than works of other parts of the world. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Sample answer 1: Mostly Disagree

Many people claim that it is more important for museums to display work from the country where they are located rather than draw from other places around the world. I partly agree that museums are a valuable educational tool to learn about one’s own country but overall museums should aspire to broaden people’s perspective rather than narrow and deepen it.

Proponents of museums mainly showcasing works from their own country often point out that they help people connect with their country’s culture and history. Children all over the United States learn about American history from their textbooks. They learn about the constitution, the founding fathers, and the various wars of liberation America has fought. However, if they go to a museum to see the actual historical documents from the period this will likely have a more memorable impression. Seeing a famous work of art or historical document up close, they may notice details that were not in their book and feel a more personal connection to their country.

Although there is a strong argument to be made for museums specialising in this way, I feel it is more important for people to gain a broader view of cultures around the world. Most people cannot afford to travel abroad and even if they do, they are unlikely to experience another culture deeply as a tourist. Museums are a great opportunity for people of all ages to learn about other countries. Someone visiting the British Museum in London will see artifacts from every continent in the world without a plane ticket. Over the years if they keep returning to the museum they will learn more and more.

Museums will inevitable show a mixture of works from their own country as well as other countries. In my opinion, it is more important for people to take in the breadth of culture of the whole world rather than just their country. If children start from a young age learning about the world they are likely to grow up more tolerant.