English Recordings

Hello!
My name is Charlie and I am 27 years old.
I live in the United States. I was born on August 15th.
My lucky number is 59 and my favorite colors are white and green.

What is your name?
What is your first name?
Where do you live?
When is your birthday?
How old are you?
What is your lucky number?
What is your favorite color?

How common is home vegetable gardening? Who's doing it? Why? And what is everybody raising?

In 1971, 25 million households, or 39% of American families, were raising some of their own vegetables. That number quickly rose until, by 1981, 38 million — 47%, or almost half — of our nation's households were gardening. Then, however, the numbers started to drop. By 1985, 33 million households — 37% — were growing vegetables.
What happened?
To put the answer simply, when the economy is bad, people tend to garden. In 1981, interest rates were 20%, the nation was stuck in a deepening recession, and people were growing food to save money. (And gardeners do save money — spending about $32 a year per family while harvesting $356 worth of produce!) Today, the financial climate appears rosier, so the pressure to garden has slacked off.

The number one reason people garden today (30% gave this answer) is home vegetable gardening for fresh vegetables, and number two (25%) is to get better-tasting, higher-quality food. Even gardening for fun (22%) beats out saving money (15%) as a motive.

The top gardening problem? Insects (35% of those polled mentioned it). That's followed by weeds (23%) and water shortages (16%).
The most popular homegrown vegetable? The winner — far and away — the tomato! It's followed, in order, by peppers, green beans, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, summer squash, carrots, radishes, and — way down in tenth place — sweet corn.

What about non gardeners? Why aren't they growing crops? The leading reason people don't garden (35% of respondents) is lack of space. Lack of time comes in second (28%), and then in third place (a mere 13%) comes the opinion that it's too much work.

Referring certain events to bright or dark pages of history is very subjective. Usually all periods of wars are reffered to dark pages of history, epochs of great discoveries,technological progress, achieving consensus on disputed problems traditionally may be regarded as bright pages of history.
Happy is the country that has no history.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
Take not a musket to kill butterfly.
Love your neigbour , yet pull not down your fence.
The pen is mightier than the sword.
History repeats itself.
All is fair in love and war.

James Bond, the larger-than-life secret agent was first played by Sean Connery.

Say "Sean Connery" to the man in the street and he'll probably say "James Bond". The famous British secret agent, 007, has been played by six actors in the last forty years, but Connery was the original and probably the best. He was larger-than-life both on the screen and in the flesh. Even in his 60s, he was chosen by the readers of an international women's magazine as The World's Most Attractive Man.

She was precise and quick in her movements
Let's have a quick look at those papers.
Give your guests a fast tour of the house.
Don't drive so fast, there's ice on the road.
In China, it was a period of rapid change.
I had to make a quick decision.
She made a rapid recovery after her operation.
The new aircraft flies almost twice as fast as the old one.
We witness a rapid change in the world of computer technology.
That was quick! Have you finished already?
I'll just take a quick shower.
He is a very quick walker.
In the morning we had a quick trip to town.
She speaks so fast. I can't understand her.
People are worried about the rapid increase in military spending.
In a quick movement he pulled the gun out of his pocket.
When does the fast train to Liverpool start?
Rapid learning: learn to speak a new language in 12 weeks.

1. She is married, but she doesn't wear a ring.

2. I don't know much about politics. I'm not interested in it.

3. This hotel isn't expensive. It doesn't cost much to stay there.

4. He lives near us, but we don't see him very often.

1. They like horror movies.

2. I don't like to go to bars very often.

3. She likes to ride her bicycle every day.

4. He has a car, but he doesn't use it very often.

5. His friends like the movies, but they usually watch movies at home.

Her car turned almost as many heads as she did.

A Hollywood actress once met the British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Whereas he was quite ugly, she turned heads wherever she went. She was rather full of herself and said to Russell, "They say I'm the most beautiful women in the world, and I hear you're the smartest man. Imagine if we had a child with your brains and my beauty."

Russell, who was never lost for words, replied, "Imagine if it had my beauty and your brains."

Hey Anna and Bob,

Good morning!

Thank you for hosting this test on a holiday to help students like me. Thanks!

My name is Cathy. I'm a second year Master of Computer Science student. I love my major a lot. I enjoy solving daily problems through coding so that people are freed from tedious and repetitive work.

I am also very passionate about teaching. I used to work as a tutor when I was an undergraduate. I enjoy helping others to understand new concepts and master new skills.

I believe I would make a great Teaching Assistant because I'm a patient person. I believe that if I truly understand something, I should be able to explain it in the most straightforward way for others to understand. If others cannot get my ideas, I will try my best to think of different ways to explain. I'm good at communication, and I would be fully supportive of the teacher I am assisting. I'm also a strong planner and organizer, which helps me to balance my study and work.

This fall is my last quarter at the university. I hope I could experience more about American universities through taking this new role as a TA.

Thank you.