English Recordings

Once upon a time there was a clever, wily peasant, whose tricks could be much talked about. The best story, however, is how he once got the best of the devil and made a fool of him. One day the peasant had been working in his field, and just as it was getting dark he was getting ready to go home when in the middle of his field he saw a pile of burning coals. Filled with amazement he walked toward it, and sitting on the top of the glowing coals there was a little black devil.

"You must be sitting on a treasure," said the peasant.

"Yes indeed," replied the devil, "on a treasure that contains more gold and silver than you have ever seen in your life."

"the treasure is in my field and belongs to me," said the peasant.

"It is yours," answered the devil, "if for two years you will give me one half of everything your field produces. I have enough money, but I have a desire for the fruits of the earth."

the peasant entered into the bargain, saying, "To prevent any dispute from arising about the division, everything above the ground shall belong to you, and everything beneath the ground to me."

the devil was quite satisfied with that, but the cunning peasant had planted turnips.

Now when harvest time came the devil appeared and wanted to take away his crop, but he found nothing except the yellow withered leaves, and the happy peasant dug up his turnips.

"You got the best of me this time," said the devil, "but it won't happen again. Next time what grows above ground shall be yours, and what is under it shall be mine."

"That is all right with me," answered the peasant. When planting time came the peasant did not plant turnips again, but wheat. The crop ripened, and the peasant went into the field and cut the full stalks off at ground level. When the devil came he found nothing but the stubble, and he angrily disappeared into a chasm in a cliff.

"That's the way one has to deal with foxes," said the peasant, then carried away the treasure.

One day the rooster said to his hens, "Go into the kitchen and pick up the breadcrumbs from the table. Our mistress has gone out visiting."

the hens said, "No, no, we won't go. If our mistress finds out, she will beat us."

then the rooster said, "She won't know anything about it. Come on. She never gives us anything good."

then the hens said once again, "No, no. Not ever. We are not going in there."

But the rooster would give them no peace until they finally got onto the table and began to eat the breadcrumbs with all their might. Just then the mistress came home, quickly took hold of a stick, drove them off the table and gave them a good beating.

Once outside the house, the hens said to the rooster, "Don't you see, see, see, see, see, see, see?"

the rooster laughed and said, "Didn't I know it, know it, know it?"

And they went their way.

안녕하세요, 어떻게 지내요?

Commando is a 1985 American action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Alyssa Milano, David Patrick Kelly and Bill Duke. It was directed by Mark L. Lester and shot on location in and around Los Angeles, California.
Retired Special Forces operative John Matrix is informed by Major General Franklin Kirby that all the other members of his unit have been killed by unknown mercenaries. Despite being given protection, the mercenaries attack Matrix's secluded mountain home & kill the guards, kidnapping his daughterJenny in the process.
A remaining mercenary explains that Matrix is needed to carry out a political assassination for Arius (who calls himself "El Presidente") and his army of former U.S. soldiers and mercenaries. Arius is awarlord and dictator who was previously overthrown by Matrix. He now wishes to lead a military coup in his home country, Val Verde, and reasons that Matrix' familiarity with the country's new leader will aid in an assassination attempt. As Arius has Jenny, Matrix reluctantly accepts the demand.[2]
After boarding an airplane to take him to Val Verde, Matrix instead kills his guard and jumps into aswamp just as the plane is taking off from the runway. He then sets his watch timer for the approximate time of the flight. Subsequently, he commandeers an off-duty flight attendant's (Cindy) car and eventually manages to enlist her help. After confronting (and killing) two of the mercenaries Matrix learns where Arius' mansion is located (and where Jenny is presumably being held), he breaks into a surplus store and steals a one-man arsenal of both small arms and heavy weapons. With Cindy's complicit help he escapes from the Police who have arrested him for breaking and entering the surplus army store.
After commandeering a seaplane from a nearby marina run by Arius, Matrix and Cindy land the plane off the coast of the island where Arius is located. Matrix instructs Cindy to contact General Kirby and then proceeds to Arius' villa, fighting and killing Arius' private army on the way. He subsequently confronts and kills Arius in a gunfight.
Matrix finds Jenny in the basement, but he is shot in the arm by Bennett, a previous member of his team who had been thought dead. Matrix then taunts Bennett into facing him in a knife fight, an invitation Bennett cannot resist. After a fierce struggle, Matrix gains the upper hand and Bennett, defeated, reaches for a machine pistol, but is impaled with a steel pipe by Matrix before he can fire. After Kirby arrives with a military detachment he offers Matrix another term of service in the Force, however Matrix declines and he, Cindy, and Jenny fly off into the sunset.

Rocky V is a 1990 American film that is the fifth film in the Rocky series.
Rocky V begins with Rocky and his trainer Tony "Duke" Evers in their dressing room after the Drago fight (Rocky IV). Tony praises Rocky for his victory, but Rocky, seen to be in some form of physical discomfort, asks Tony to summon his wife, Adrian. His hands are shaking, and he cannot make them stop due to the trauma, pain and fear caused by Drago. In addition to that, he keeps calling for "Mick", the name of his deceased former trainer.

Rocky returns home from the Soviet Union and is greeted by his son, Robert. At the following press conference, a crooked promoter named George Washington Duke (a parody of boxing promoter Don King) tries to goad Rocky into fighting the new #1 contender to his championship, Union Cane, in Tokyo. Duke sees this as a great opportunity with both Rocky’s managers Mickey Goldmill and Apollo Creed dead. With Adrian insisting on her husband’s retirement, Rocky decides, at least for the time being, not to take the fight with Cane.
Rocky, Adrian, and Adrian’s brother Paulie return to their lavish Philadelphia home to find out that Paulie had unknowingly signed 'power of attorney' over to Balboa’s accountant, who had, in turn, squandered all of Rocky’s money on bad business deals and disappeared (it is also revealed the accountant had not paid Rocky’s income taxes in 6 years). Now bankrupt, Rocky is forced to sell his house and auction all of his cars and belongings: the only thing Rocky does not lose is Mickey’s gym, which Mickey had willed to Rocky’s son (making it untouchable to the IRS). Rocky immediately decides to take the fight against Cane to earn money. However, years of fighting, especially the last one with Drago, have taken a toll on him and after a physical evaluation, it is determined that Rocky has suffered significant brain damage, and that he can no longer fight without further risking his health. Rocky is forced to vacate the championship (which Cane subsequently wins) and move back into his old working-class Philadelphia neighborhood, where he and the family must try to start their lives over again. Rocky begins training boxers at Mickey’s gym, Adrian gets her old job back at the pet store across the street and Paulie goes back to the meat packing plant.

Things start to look up for them when Rocky meets a hungry young fighter from Oklahoma named Tommy Gunn and takes him under his wing. Training the young fighter gives Rocky a sense of purpose, and he slowly helps Tommy fight his way up the ladder to become a top contender. Meanwhile, the new friendship results in Rocky paying little attention to Robert, who becomes withdrawn and angry. He eventually falls in with the wrong crowd at school, and as a result he begins acting out at home.

Tommy’s rapid rise through the ranks catches the eye of Duke, who uses the promise of a title shot and Tommy’s own resentment at being compared to his trainer to lure him away from Rocky. Duke pulls up outside the Balboa house with Tommy in tow, who has now been brainwashed into thinking that Rocky doesn’t have his best interests in mind. When Rocky tries to convince his friend otherwise, an ungrateful Tommy drives off in a huff, leaving Rocky for good.

As he watches Tommy’s car speed off into the night, his head suddenly pounds with nightmarish flashbacks of his fight with Drago. When Adrian attempts to comfort him, Rocky’s frustrations finally boil over. He confesses that his life had meaning again when he was able to live vicariously through Tommy’s success. She reasons with him, telling him that Tommy never had his heart and spirit – that it was something he could never learn. When this realization hits him, an emotional Rocky embraces his wife and they begin to pick up the pieces. After finding Robert hanging out on a street corner, Rocky apologizes to his son, and they mend their broken relationship.
On January 1, 1990, Tommy wins the heavyweight title by knocking out Union Cane in the first round, but is booed by protesters during the fight and is hounded by reporters after the fight: they tell him that Cane was nothing but a paper champion (indicating that Cane was named champion after Rocky vacated the title) with a glass jaw and that the public would never consider Tommy the real champion because he didn’t win the title from Balboa. In the hallway Tommy is very upset about being called "Rocky’s robot"。 Duke, sensing an opportunity, tells Tommy that he needs to fight Rocky man to man and settle once and for all who is the best.
Duke and Tommy show up at a local bar to goad Rocky into accepting a fight; Rocky initially declines but after Tommy hits Paulie, Rocky agrees, however he insists on a street fight then and there. Despite Duke’s warnings to "fight in the ring", Tommy accepts the fight.
Despite gaining the upper hand early in the fight, Rocky is eventually beaten down by Tommy and is seemingly out for the count. His head once again pounds with hellish visions of the fight with Drago, and with visions of Mickey’s burial. He then has visions of Mickey and hears his old mentor’s voice saying "I didn’t hear no bell!" and urging him to go "one more round". Rocky gets back up and with Robert, Adrian, Paulie, and the whole neighborhood cheering him on, utilizes the street fighting knowledge from his days of collecting for a loan shark to defeat Tommy, using various tricks to trip Tommy, tie him up and finally knocking him into the grill of a bus with a final blow. After the fight, Duke commends Rocky and tries to appeal to him, but Rocky has heard enough. Duke threatens to sue if Rocky touches him, but after a brief hesitation, Rocky punches him in the gut anyway, knocking him onto the hood of a car. The crowd cheers as the bankrupt Rocky shrugs and asks "Sue me for what?".

Rocky and Robert meet up the next day at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Rocky gives Robert the Rocky Marciano cuff-link given to him as a gift from Mickey. They make their way to the museum, Rocky says "I love most everybody". The film ends with a shot of Rocky’s statue looking out over Philadelphia.

There is some question as to whether the film takes place right after the Drago fight or over a period of several years. The Drago fight was in 1985 and Tommy Gunn wins the title in 1990. Some have speculated that Rocky could not return to the United States immediately after the Drago fight, as a result of recuperating from the fight.

The critical period hypothesis is the subject of a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age. The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal 'window' of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which this is no longer possible.

The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli. If language input doesn't occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve a full command of language — especially grammatical systems.

The evidence for such a period is limited, and support stems largely from theoretical arguments and analogies to other critical periods in biology such as visual development, but nonetheless is widely accepted. The nature of this phenomenon, however, has been one of the most fiercely debated issues in psycholinguistics and cognitive science in general for decades. Some writers have suggested a "sensitive" or "optimal" period rather than a critical one; others dispute the causes (physical maturation, cognitive factors). The duration of the period also varies greatly in different accounts. In second language acquisition, the strongest evidence for the critical period hypothesis is in the study of accent, where most older learners do not reach a native-like level. However, under certain conditions, native-like accent has been observed, suggesting that accent is affected by multiple factors, such as identity and motivation, rather than a critical period biological constraint

An individual's whole experience is built upon the plan of his language. There are no full stops to the language learning process. But just like every drop makes an ocean, every new word adds to your wealth of vocabulary.

There is no alternative to reading books for enriching your word power. As I mentioned earlier in " Learning By Reading" by books I do not mean academic books-which you already must be consuming by the mouthful-but books which captivates your interest and keeps you absorbed and engrossed.

The advantage with reading books that caters to your tastes, interests and fascinations, is that they help you assimilate and retain the theme and content to a considerable extent.

Newspapers and Magazines are also rich sources for enriching your word power. Newspapers have multi-purpose values. They inform, enlighten, entertain and educate the readers. To a great extent the language is flawless and the communication is crisp and to the point. You rarely come across flabby news content. By flabby, I mean, fattened up news copy with lot of unnecessary and irrelevant matter. In newspapers you are exposed to different presentation styles for news, features, editorials, analysis etc.

Another important source for enriching your word power is the BBC. Those who regularly stay tuned in to the BBC programs have developed remarkable proficiency in the English language.

You should also stay tuned in to Discovery and National Geographic channels not just for its enriching content, but also the commentaries that accompany the captivating visuals. The advantage with watching these channels regularly is that the combination of rich visuals and commentary has the potential to leave an everlasting impression and impact on your mind.

You definitely do learn a lot while reading. You may be a moderate or voracious reader. As life is a learning process so is reading. Every book is a new and different experience. Books are a treasure trove of information. As you read along you assimilate and absorb the contents and the theme. Likewise you come across new words and sentences that describe the situations with clarity and purpose.

But are you able to retain it to memory and utilize your reading experience for a practical purpose? The book may be absorbing and you may never feel like putting it down. The point I am trying to make is that never let your reading experience go waste. Reading helps you enrich your word power and communication abilities.

But do not reduce reading to an academic exercise. This way you are never going to achieve your objective. You are into the habit of reading. Good. You find what you are reading to be interesting and you are totally absorbed in the book. Fantastic! Since you now have the foundation for enriching your word power.

From here onwards you need to develop a certain method to ensure that you make the best possible use of your reading habit. Again, I would like to emphasize that your approach should not be academic. This kind of approach may prove to be a spoilsport and deprives you of a fun filled learning experience.

Are you finding it difficult to communicate effectively despite being equipped with a wealth of vocabulary. You may have the words at your tongue-tip or finger-tips depending on whether you are speaking or writing respectively, but unable to put an idea or thought across in an appropriate way.

Do not let this discourage or demoralize you in your pursuit to communicate effectively. You are not the only one who has this problem. I know a lot of people who have good vocabulary. Ask them for the meaning of even a difficult word and out it comes in a jiffy. But when it comes to writing or speaking they just could not get going.

I can tell you the probable reason for this problem. It is due to lack of structured thinking. In other words, you may not have thought of a proper shape and form for the communication.

Communication is nothing but an expression of your thought process.

How do you condition your thought process?

Learn to always think in that language. In other words mentally interpret your day to day experiences and thoughts in the language. It is quite an easy and interesting exercise. This way you develop an intuition, instinct and spontaneity to communicate correctly and effectively.

Now if you want to become an effective writer, it is very important that you visualize your concept and organize your thinking process accordingly.

What I mean to say is that you need to have a clear picture of the concept or idea you want to communicate.

The four commandments to become an effective writer

** Think of a concept or a subject

** Visualize the concept-
(An image of the concept or subject in the mind will help you develop an uninterrupted flow of thoughts while you are writing)

** Interpret the concept in your mind

** Organize your thoughts according in tune with the subject or concept Now the question uppermost in your mind is how to condition and organize your thoughts in accordance with the four commandments.

Way to enrich your word power through reading.

Take for instance the following extract in which you may come across new words.

Freddie stared after him, aghast. He felt like a clergyman who has found schism in his flock. It was axiom in Donaldson's Dog Joy that its leading rival Peterson Pup Food was a product lacking in many of the essential vitamins and dogs who indulged in it were heading straight for rheumatism, sciatica, anemia and stomach trouble.

While reading a book you are already into a theme and you follow a train of thought. So even if you come across unfamiliar words you may have an idea about the probable meaning of these words. In other words, you can associate words with the themes and the situation in a particular sentence as you read on.

Now in the above example, Freddie had encountered something unpleasant or shocking in the paragraph preceding the extract. Hence he is Aghast which means Horrified, Appalled or Shocked. The next line describes Freddie feeling that there was a Schism in his flock.

Schism means Division In the next sentence you come across the word Axiom which means Motto or Cliché.

But, you may not be always able to associate a word with a theme or a situation and guess its meaning. I mean to say that this hit and trial method cannot be used with the case of all unfamiliar words. Even if you are able to guess the relevant meaning by relating it to the sentence you should make it a point to always refer to the dictionary.

But you will definitely have a head start in your pursuits to enrich your word power by first guessing the meaning of the word through an association or a relationship with the theme (if this approach is applicable to the sentence).