English Recordings

Nov 18th 2012 ) <Isn't it beautiful ?
Isn't it beautiful? Would you correct my mistakes?>
Aren`t these so beautiful?/
Isn't it a beautiful view?
My friend just sent me these pictures with her smartphone.
She said that these are pictures she just took of the sunset over the West Sea from 영홍(도/island).
I'm grateful to her for sharing this beautiful moment with me.
I will share it with everyone!
~~ ♪~ Thanks for reading and correcting!~~♪~~~

236 I usually ride my bicycle to the train station.
237 I used to have a no-gear bike, but now I have an expensive 10-speed mountain bike.
238 I rent a parking space, but I was in a hurry today so I parked on the sidewalk and chained my bike to a telephone pole.
239 Chains are safer than wheel locks.
240 But when I went to get my bicycle after work it was gone.
241 I thought a bicycle thief had stolen it or maybe city workers had impound it.
242 I went to the bicycle collection center and found one just like mine.
243 It had black fenders, green handlebars, big yellow reflectors, and silver pedals.
244 It even had loose brakes, just like mine.
245 But the frame was gray and it had a shopping basket.
246 As I walked home, I saw something that looked familiar.
247 It was my bicycle, chained to a telephone pole. Ah, I had the wrong telephone pole.

218 I'll show you how to drive.
219 First, get in the driver's seat and put on your seatbelt.
220 After you adjust the rearview mirror and the seat, insert the key and start the engine.
221 After you warm up the engine for a few seconds, release the parking brake.
222 Next,push down on the brakes and shift into drive.
223 Turn on the turn signal, make sure there are no cars coming, and then start out.
224 No quick stops or starts.
225 There's a car tailing us so speed up a little.
226 The stoplight is red so make a gentle stop in front of the crosswalk.
227 The light has changed to green now.
228 Okay, make a right turn at the next corner.
229 Turn on the right turn signal and get into the right lane.
230 When you make a right turn, the oncoming cars have the right of way.
231 Don't turn the steering wheel so sharply.
232 Be careful at intersections.
233 That's where most traffic accidents happen. Okay, now let's head home.
234 Watch out for that car! (Crash!)
235 Didn't I tell you to be careful?!

207 I'll be gone for a while, so I'd better check everything.
208 I'd better double check the gas in the kitchen. Ah, the valve was open.
209 Now, I've turned off the gas for the water heater in the bathroom. The air conditioner is also off.
210 I've already set the answering machine.
211 I'll also pull out the plug for all the appliances.
212 I hear that's a good way to save electricity.
213 Did I remember to lock up everything? T he bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room.
214 Check. All the windows are closed and locked.
215 Okay. And now I'll turn on the home security system.
216 If a cat burglar tries to break in while I'm gone, the system will call a security guard.
217 I'll make a final check and then I'm ready to go.

195 Billy, could you go to that fast food shop on the corner?
196 I'd like you to get two hamburgers, French fries, and two large drinks.
197 I want mine heavy on the mustard and light on the mayonnaise.
198 And leave off the pickles.
199 If they have set specials, get those instead.
200 Most sets have a hamburger of your choice, French fries and a drink, but maybe only medium-size drinks.
201 Be sure to ask for catsup packets and those plastic cups.
202 I like French fries with lots of catsup.
203 When you place the order, the clerk will ask you if you are going to eat in or take out.
204 Tell them that you want it to go.
205 Take these coupons with you and they'll give you a 50-yen discount.
206 Two thousand yen should be more than enough, so don't forget to bring back the change.

11. Plan a support system. Who will you turn to when you have a strong urge? Write these people into your plan. Support forums online are a great tool as well — I used a smoking cessation forum on about.com when I quit smoking, and it really helped. Don’t underestimate the power of support — it’s really important.
12. Ask for help. Get your family and friends and co-workers to support you. Ask them for their help, and let them know how important this is. Find an AA group in your area. Join online forums where people are trying to quit. When you have really strong urges or a really difficult time, call on your support network for help. Don’t smoke a cigarette, for example, without posting to your online quit forum. Don’t have a drop of alcohol before calling your AA buddy.
13. Become aware of self-talk. You talk to yourself, in your head, all the time — but often we’re not aware of these thoughts. Start listening. These thoughts can derail any habit change, any goal. Often they’re negative: “I can’t do this. This is too difficult. Why am I putting myself through this? How bad is this for me anyway? I’m not strong enough. I don’t have enough discipline. I suck.” It’s important to know you’re doing this.
14. Stay positive. You will have negative thoughts — the important thing is to realize when you’re having them, and push them out of your head. Squash them like a bug! Then replace them with a positive thought. “I can do this! If Leo can do it, so can I!” :)
15. Have strategies to defeat the urge. Urges are going to come — they’re inevitable, and they’re strong. But they’re also temporary, and beatable. Urges usually last about a minute or two, and they come in waves of varying strength. You just need to ride out the wave, and the urge will go away. Some strategies for making it through the urge: deep breathing, self-massage, eat some frozen grapes, take a walk, exercise, drink a glass of water, call a support buddy, post on a support forum.
16. Prepare for the sabotagers. There will always be people who are negative, who try to get you to do your old habit. Be ready for them. Confront them, and be direct: you don’t need them to try to sabotage you, you need their support, and if they can’t support you then you don’t want to be around them.
17. Talk to yourself. Be your own cheerleader, give yourself pep talks, repeat your mantra (below), and don’t be afraid to seem crazy to others. We’ll see who’s crazy when you’ve changed your habit and they’re still lazy, unhealthy slobs!
18. Have a mantra. For quitting smoking, mine was “Not One Puff Ever” (I didn’t make this up, but it worked — more on this below). When I wanted to quit my day job, it was “Liberate Yourself”. This is just a way to remind yourself of what you’re trying to do.
19. Use visualization. This is powerful. Vividly picture, in your head, successfully changing your habit. Visualize doing your new habit after each trigger, overcoming urges, and what it will look like when you’re done. This seems new-agey, but it really works.
20. Have rewards. Regular ones. You might see these as bribes, but actually they’re just positive feedback. Put these into your plan, along with the milestones at which you’ll receive them.
21. Take it one urge at a time. Often we’re told to take it one day at a time — which is good advice — but really it’s one urge at a time. Just make it through this urge.

(From http://zenhabits.net/the-habit-change-cheatsheet-29-ways-to-successfully-ingrain-a-behavior/)

3. Do a 30-day Challenge. In my experience, it takes about 30 days to change a habit, if you’re focused and consistent. This is a round number and will vary from person to person and habit to habit. Often you’ll read a magical “21 days” to change a habit, but this is a myth with no evidence. Seriously — try to find the evidence from a scientific study for this. A more recent study shows that 66 days is a better number (read more). But 30 days is a good number to get you started. Your challenge: stick with a habit every day for 30 days, and post your daily progress updates to a forum.
4. Write it down. Just saying you’re going to change the habit is not enough of a commitment. You need to actually write it down, on paper. Write what habit you’re going to change.
5. Make a plan. While you’re writing, also write down a plan. This will ensure you’re really prepared. The plan should include your reasons (motivations) for changing, obstacles, triggers, support buddies, and other ways you’re going to make this a success. More on each of these below.
6. Know your motivations, and be sure they’re strong. Write them down in your plan. You have to be very clear why you’re doing this, and the benefits of doing it need to be clear in your head. If you’re just doing it for vanity, while that can be a good motivator, it’s not usually enough. We need something stronger. For me, I quit smoking for my wife and kids. I made a promise to them. I knew if I didn’t smoke, not only would they be without a husband and father, but they’d be more likely to smoke themselves (my wife was a smoker and quit with me).
7. Don’t start right away. In your plan, write down a start date. Maybe a week or two from the date you start writing out the plan. When you start right away (like today), you are not giving the plan the seriousness it deserves. When you have a “Quit Date” or “Start Date”, it gives that date an air of significance. Tell everyone about your quit date (or start date). Put it up on your wall or computer desktop. Make this a Big Day. It builds up anticipation and excitement, and helps you to prepare.
8. Write down all your obstacles. If you’ve tried this habit change before (odds are you have), you’ve likely failed. Reflect on those failures, and figure out what stopped you from succeeding. Write down every obstacle that’s happened to you, and others that are likely to happen. Then write down how you plan to overcome them. That’s the key: write down your solution before the obstacles arrive, so you’re prepared.
9. Identify your triggers. What situations trigger your current habit? For the smoking habit, for example, triggers might include waking in the morning, having coffee, drinking alcohol, stressful meetings, going out with friends, driving, etc. Most habits have multiple triggers. Identify all of them and write them in your plan.
10. For every single trigger, identify a positive habit you’re going to do instead. When you first wake in the morning, instead of smoking, what will you do? What about when you get stressed? When you go out with friends? Some positive habits could include: exercise, meditation, deep breathing, organizing, decluttering, and more.
“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain

From http://zenhabits.net/the-habit-change-cheatsheet-29-ways-to-successfully-ingrain-a-behavior/

• The following is from my Chinese journal entry yesterday。 This time I am writing it over in English.Please help me correct my mistakes. Thanks for reading and correcting! ^.^
(November 17,2012)<A Rainy Night in Late Autumn/the latter part of Fall (Burning Friday night) >
• 'Burning Friday night'? It's a joke that Korean students began saying recently.
• Yestreday afternoon, it was raining.After I got off from work/finished work/, I took the subway and went to GuangHwa-Mun to meet three of my old friends. We had some roast[broiled] fish and a fish stew for dinner
=.(We had dinner for some roast[broiled] fish and a fish stew.)
• 0It's a very good feeling to have dinner with some old freinds in the latter part of autumn. It had been a long time, but old friends always make me (us) feel at ease and comfortable whenever we meet together. The moment we meet old friends we are suddenly transported to the days of our youth. // ...we suddenly return to the days of our youth.After we finished eating dinner, me went to a nearby bear cafe and talked about what has been going on in our lives recently. One of my friends had wonderful news. All of us sincerely congratulated her.
= sincerely celebrated her finding a job./
• My other friend`s daughter took the Korean SAT last week, so we pray that she will receive a good result. And my last friend`s news was that his aging mother got cancer, so he has became more busy and very worried. We just sincerely pray that his mother will receive the proper treatment that she needs. We sincerely pray for that to happen!
•The pictures that I uploaded/attached today are of the food/dishes that we ate/had that night. The first picture is of the roast/broiled fish, fish stew, and Dongdong-Ju that we had/ate. The other picture is a view of the front of the bear cafe door. Most of the leaves were falling to the ground because of the constant rain. The night lights reflected off of the leaves and it filled the atmosphere with the feeling of a late fall night. In the late hours of the autumn evening I hope that everyone has a good night as well。

11/17/2012<Running in the Night>
Tonight, my son suddenly wanted to go out for a run, but he hesitated to take 'Zzang-ah'. At that moment, I also wanted to go inline skating outside.So we went out and played/exercised near our house.It seems that 'Zzang-ah' got to go on a run, just like he wanted.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle
Our daily lives are often a series of habits played out through the day, a trammeled existence fettered by the slow accretion of our previous actions.
But habits can be changed, as difficult as that may seem sometimes.
I’m a living example: in tiny, almost infinitesimal steps, I’ve changed a laundry list of habits. Quit smoking, stopped impulse spending, got out of debt, began running and waking early and eating healthier and becoming frugal and simplifying my life and becoming organized and focused and productive, ran three marathons and a couple of triathlons, started a few successful blogs, eliminated my debt … you get the picture.
It’s possible.
And while I’ve written about habit change many times over the course of the life of Zen Habits, today I thought I’d put the best tips all together in one cheatsheet, for those new to the blog and for those who could use the reminders.
Keep it simple
Habit change is not that complicated. While the tips below will seem overwhelming, there’s really only a few things you need to know. Everything else is just helping these to become reality.
The simple steps of habit change:
1. Write down your plan.
2. Identify your triggers and replacement habits.
3. Focus on doing the replacement habits every single time the triggers happen, for about 30 days.
That’s it. We’ll talk more about each of these steps, and much more, in the cheatsheet below.
The Habit Change Cheatsheet
The following is a compilation of tips to help you change a habit. Don’t be overwhelmed — always remember the simple steps above. The rest are different ways to help you become more successful in your habit change.
1. Do just one habit at a time. Extremely important. Habit change is difficult, even with just one habit. If you do more than one habit at a time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Keep it simple, allow yourself to focus, and give yourself the best chance for success. Btw, this is why New Year’s resolutions often fail — people try to tackle more than one change at a time.
2. Start small. The smaller the better, because habit change is difficult, and trying to take on too much is a recipe for disaster. Want to exercise? Start with just 5-10 minutes. Want to wake up earlier? Try just 10 minutes earlier for now. Or consider half habits.

From http://zenhabits.net/the-habit-change-cheatsheet-29-ways-to-successfully-ingrain-a-behavior/