English Recordings

1. Go down Grosvenor Place, turn left into Knightsbridge, go down Knightsbridge and Kensington Road and turn left into Exhibition Road. It's on your left, opposite the Natural History Museum.

2. Go down Victoria Street, turn left into Millbank, go down Millbank, turn left on Lambeth Bridge, go down Lambeth Road. It's on your right, on the corner of Lambeth Road and St George's Road.

3. Go down Grovesnor Place, go straight on Park Lane, go down Park Lane and it's in front of you.

We often forget that people in other countries eat different things from us. Rice, for example, is the staple food of more than half the world’s population. In other words, it is a basic and important part of their diets. In many Western countries, such as Britain and America, bread made from wheat is the most important item of food. In many African countries a kind of corn called maize is the staple food.
Most countries have dishes that were first created there. In China such dishes as shark’s fin soup and fried rice are very common. In Thailand and India people eat many different curries. They like their food hot and spicy. In England, a favourite dish is roast beef. The Italians eat pasta, which is a kind of noodle made from wheat. French food is very famous everywhere. It is often very rich.
In recent years fast food – sometimes called “junk food” – has become very popular all over the world. It was invented in the USA and the first fast food was the hamburger, which is usually made from minced beef. Today there are restaurants and take-away places selling hamburgers in most cities of the world.
Perhaps the most international food is Chinese. There probably isn’t a city anywhere that does not have at least one Chinese restaurant. This is because there are so many different dishes from so many different parts of China that there is something for everyone, whatever their favourite kind of food.

I stand before you, Jade, as an ardent feminist, defender of women's rights. It is to call for a profound change in society and more equality that I am addressing you. If, acts of violence or not, we have already brought about changes, they were for an honourable cause, but they have not brought us to full equality between men and women. We want to make our voices heard, in order to change these inequalities.
Two centuries ago, women were considered an inferior race, who only thought of their husbands' happiness and could not aspire to a career. A century later, however, women woke up from their enslavement, they shook the chains of men's slavery. Women understood that they had been lied to, that they had been used, and demanded the abdication of this modern slavery. They came together, and they got rid of the hut in which society had placed them. What a great step for our country to move towards greater equality!
And this march that was then initiated never stopped. Over the years, the women's movement was only organized, strikes were held. Until their demands were accepted.
Discrimination can only revolt you by my side. Is it a blood-stained society that you want to maintain? The blood of so many women who have shed in uprisings, the blood of those who dared to say no, the blood of mothers but also of women like me. Our revolt, you muzzled it like the slaves did. Liberty, equality, brotherhood... we believed in it. Equality for all.
Our country is now a Republic and yet the people die, demonstrations are repressed, men keep the best side of the stick while women are forced to resort to prostitution. We have the right to demand that our rights be equal.
You are clinging to the image of an ageing culture, to outdated traditions, while the country has tasted equality, modernity.
We are being asked to shut up again. We do not want war, but only the right to keep what we have won in sweat and blood: equal rights for women and men.
I am asking you for a country in which our children can walk serenely under the banner of equality, a country that would be a beacon for other nations.

Many people think that snakes are the most dangerous creatures to humans. They are not. The most dangerous creatures to humans are insects. Many insects carry diseases that can kill people. The most dangerous insect is probably the mosquito. Mosquitoes carry a disease called malaria, which many millions of people die from every year. Flies also carry many diseases.
Snakes are actually the second most dangerous creatures to man. There are over 2,400 different species of snakes in the world. Of course, about 400 can kill a human being with their venom. Not all snakes kill with venom, however. A constrictor winds itself around its prey and squeezes tightly. The prey cannot breathe and becomes unconscious. The snake can then swallow it. Some constrictors are very large. The longest of them all, the anaconda of South America, can grow up to 11 metres long.
Every year about 30,000 people die from snakebite. Most of these people live in India. They die because they live far away from towns and medical help. When a venomous snake bites its victim, its teeth make holes in the victim’s skin. The snake then releases venom into these holes. It is not the bite that kills, therefore. It is the venom that the snake releases into the wound.

Suddenly, in the middle of a maths lesson, Emily had a bad stomachache. The pain was so bad that she cried out. Her teacher was very worried and took her to the school clinic. Then he sent for a doctor.
The doctor examined Emily. She pressed in different places on Emily’s stomach. When she pressed on her right side, the pain was very bad.
“I think you have appendicitis”, the doctor said. “You must go to hospital immediately. You will need an operation to have your appendix removed”.
“What’s an appendix?” Emily asked the doctor.
“Your appendix is a small tube inside your body. You do not need it, but if it gets infected we must take it out because it can be very painful and even dangerous”.
An ambulance came to the school and Emily was carried into it. Then the ambulance raced to the hospital. Three hours later, Emily didn’t have an appendix!
She had to stay in hospital for 4 days. All her friends came to visit her. They brought her sweets and fruit and magazines. She had a great time.
“At least there is one good thing about having appendicitis,” she told her friends. “You get lots of presents!”

One of Kate’s favourite places is her local zoo. It is not a big zoo, with just a few kinds of animals in it. The animals do not live in cages, but in specially built environments. There is even an ice machine in the polar bear’s environment to keep his swimming pool and cave really cold.
Kate especially enjoys watching the chimpanzees, which live in an environment with trees, caves, rocks and a small lake. There are about 15 chimps, including four babies. The babies are carried everywhere by their mothers.
Kate also likes watching the birds in the aviary. An aviary is a small area of forest enclosed by wire netting. The birds can fly about and build their nests in the trees. Many of the birds are very beautiful. Some, like the pelicans, are funny to look at.
The zoo needs money because the animals are expensive to feed. Kate has “adopted” a small monkey. Every month she sends the zoo 5 pounds for the monkey’s food. Kate wanted to adopt a tiger but she did not have enough money. Tigers eat a lot of meat, which is expensive. Fortunately nuts and fruit are cheap.

Last summer Annabelle Jones and Claire Hippert, two 17-year-old English schoolgirls, decided to climb the Matterhorn, the famous snow-covered mountain in Switzerland. The Matterhorn is popular with mountain climbers because it is so difficult to climb.
The girls first got the idea for a climbing expedition a few years ago, when a well-known disabled climber, Norman Croucher, gave a talk at their school. Norman lost both his legs in a train accident when he was nineteen, but he has climbed some of the world's highest mountains on his artificial legs. "He inspired us," said Claire.
Then the girls met a well-known mountaineer called Turbo Thomas and he became their trainer. For the next two years he took them climbing in the Swiss Alps during the summer holidays and they trained very hard. "It wasn't easy," said Annabelle. "The weather was often a problem. Sometimes it was freezing cold and we didn't want to get out of bed, but Turbo dragged us to the foot of the mountain and made us climb."
The girls kept going and finally they were ready to try the Matterhorn. They made a date for the last week in August and travelled to Zermatt. They started to climb but unfortunately the weather beat them. "It rained every day so it was impossible to climb very far," said Claire.
Are they disappointed? "Definitely not," said Annabelle. "I know we didn't get to the top, but we'll be back next summer to try again! Climbing is our life."

Ancient Egyptians believed in afterlife. That is why they built pyramids - houses for their dead kings - pharaohs. These pyramids were very big. People put food, clothes, weapons, beds, chairs and tables into the pyramids. They also prepared the bodies of the dead pharaohs in a special way. We call these specially prepared bodies mummies.
The Iargest and most famous pyramids stand near the Nile River, at Giza.
The pyramid of Cheops is the oldest and tallest pyramid in the world. It is one of the seven wonders of the world.
Pharaoh Cheops ruled 5,000 years ago. He was very rich. He had lots of gold, precious stones, beautiful furniture and clothes. He began to build his pyramid when he became pharaoh.
More than 100,000 people took part in the construction. It took them more than 20 years to complete the work. Many of them died because the work was very hard.
Near the pyramid of Cheops you can see the famous Sphinx. Sphinx has got the body of a lion and the head of a man. It is the largest statue in the world. It is 20 metres high and 73 metres long.

Mark: Hi, Jack, how have you been?

Jack: Not very well.

Mark: Why? Looks like you're feeling very down! What happened?

Jack: Nothing.

Mark: Come on. For a man who's feeling so down, there're usually two reasons. Either his career is going downhill, or he has a broken heart. Since you're so successful, it must be the other.

Jack: Well, you're right. I just broke up with Jane.

Mark: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you two were made for each other.

Jack: Well, you never know. I'm ready for a commitment and want to settle down, but she says she wants to pursue her career while she's still young.

Mark: Well, you can't blame her. It's always difficult to choose between career and family.

Jack: Maybe you're right.

Mark: Jack, I don't know what to say to comfort you, but cheer up! There's plenty of fish in the sea and you'll find your soul mate, your perfect match!

Jack: Yeah, but it's hard to forget her at the moment. You know, we were together for almost five years. It's really hard...

MI HOUSE IS RED