English Recordings

May I have the attention of all passengers on the 11:30 AM train from New Orleans continuing on to Houston? Due to the collision between the flight train and a pickup truck at the crossing near Baton Rouge, there will be a one hour and 40 minute delay. The new time of arrival will be 1:10 PM on track 7. Thank you for your patience and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Image of scientists

What image do most people have of science and scientists? Opinion poll survey show that the public sees scientists as cold and humorless, unwilling to communicate their specialized knowledge to ordinary people. These characteristics are associated with maleness, and this image may be a major reason why fewer girls than boys opt to be scientists.
The image most people have comes from their own experience of school science and from the mass media. The popular stereotype of science is like the magic of fairy tales. It has potential for enormaous good or awful harm. The mass media also tends to overpersonalize scientic work, depiciting it as the product of individual genious, while neglecting the social organization which makes scientific work possible.
Science is what scientists do. What is done with their work depends on who has the power to turn their discoveries into techlogy.

Sugar

Sugar was a luxury for a long time in our history. In the opinion of some people in the medical profession, it still should be. However, since the time when manufactures discovered ways of producing it in vast quantities, it has become one of the staple articles of human diet. It has the advantages of being comparatively cheap, easily digested, rich in energy and useful for flavoring.
Its major shortcomings are that it lacks every nourishing quality except that of giving energy. Because of its attractive flavor, it tends to displace other foods much more valuable for our diet.
Most serious of all is its adverse effect on health; in fact, excessive consumption can cause heart problems, obesity, and dental decay. The latter is widespread among the developed contries. From the very young to the very old, scarcely anyone escapes.

To some people, this may seem just so simple, so natural, so obvious! But I know from my own past feelings of sadness and depression, that it really DOES take a heart-felt Belief that Life is Worth Living! Thank the Lord that I have grown, changed enough, and become happy enough again that now it is quite simple, it has become natural and obvious for me. So, in this light, I am Sharing this beautiful post in hopes that it will help someone else to find that belief within themselves! :) With gratitude for this beautiful post to my dear friend Nothing But Respect - A True Victim to Victory Story

Urban life

Urban life has two faces, oportunities and stress. You have chances to make money but at the same time you have competition and competition is stressful. Stress is most intense in the largest cities where opportunities are greatest. The presence of huge numbers of people inevitably involves more conflict, and crime flourishes.
In order to try to reduce the pressures upon themselves, city dwellers tend to use various strategies. For example, contacts with other people are generally brief and impersonal, doors are kept locked and telephone numbers are not in directories.
Those defensive forms of behavior are no good to socity. They cause widespread loneliness and destroy the community's concern for its members. Nobody denies that lack of personal contact and indifference to others can be major causes of urban crime.

When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along to an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini's The Thieving Magpie, which has to be the perfect music for cooking paste.
I wanted to ignore the phone, not only because the spaghetti was nearly done but because Claudio Abbado was bringing the London Symphony to its musical climax. Finally, though, I had to give in. It could have been someone with news of a job. I turned down the gas, went to the living room, and picked up the receiver.

Origin of tea

According to Chinese legend, the discovery of tea's benefical qualities has something to do with an emperor in ancient times. He was a scholar and herbalist and drank only boiled water for the sake of hygiene. One day in the year 2737 B.C., when the emperor was resting under a wild tea tree, a slight breeze stirred the branches. A few leaves drifted down into the simmering water that he was preparing. He found the resulting brew very delicious and refreshing. Thus tea was discovered.
Of course, it is impossible to know if that emperor really existed or not. It is unlikely that an emperor existed as far back 2737 B.C., because China was certaily not unfified as an empire until the third century B.C. But, whatever the origin of tea, it is an accepted fact among scholars that tea was indeed popular in China all those year ago.

Driving in Britain

Drving is done on the left and seat belts must be worn. It is advisable for you to get books of maps with an index of the street names, because then whenever you lose your way, you can find out which road you are on by just looking its name up in the index of these convenient books.
There is no fee to drive on motorways. There are Motorway Service stations on motorways. There are restaurants, toilets and showers, shops, gasoline, and even play areas for young children in these stations.
At roundabouts you must always go round to the left, which means clockwise, even if you want to turn right. In a big roundabout usually there are two lanes. Keep on the left side if you want to go left, and on the right if you want to go straight or turn right.

For the last few weeks, I've had a chance encounter to read some journal entries that talked about American jokes. I watched some video clips that American people would consider funny, but some of them didn't click with me, like "huh? is it funny to you?　How?"

I thought that it would be an interesting starting point to get to know Western culture by studying the differences between American and Japanese jokes.

As far as I can tell, most Japanese comedies on TV are slapstick these days. To be honest, the recent Japanese style of comedy is not my taste, as there are lots of toilet humor jokes and repetitions of absurd words with nonsensical sounds.

I think that the Japanese comedic storytelling performance called "rakugo" sounds more intelligent, even though they use some somewhat offensive sounding jokes. The punch line cracks up lots of audiences. However, it is said to be old fashioned nowadays.

So far as I've gathered regarding American jokes, they use irony or sarcasm; sometimes they use intellectual humor as well, which I feel is very creative. People enjoy and laugh not only because of the insulting kinds of jokes, but also because of the creative type of implied jokes that are created.

I remember how a friend of mine with blond hair was telling me "blond jokes," and killed herself with laughter! I really liked that scene.

I somehow love Americans' sense of humor, as they have the ablitily to laugh away various social problems in comedies, which might be a bit difficult to do for most Japanese people.

（*^_^*）

Sheri Shares ~ Motivation to Live, Learn, Grow and Thrive

Your Life is a Reflection of Your Thoughts
“You can either activate thoughts that produce stress within you, or activate thoughts that make stress impossible. It’s your choice.” ~ Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
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