angryrat (Learning_English) все записи автора

 There was a man who had worked all his life, had saved all of his money, and was a real miser when it came to his money.
Just before he died, he said to his wife...'When I die, I want you to take all my money and put it in the casket with me. I want to take my money to the afterlife with me.'

And so he got his wife to promise him, with all of her heart that when he died, she would put all of the money into the casket with him.

Well, he died. He was stretched out in the casket, his wife was sitting there - dressed in black, and her friend was sitting next to her. When they finished the ceremony, and just before the undertakers got ready to close the casket, the wife said, 'Wait just a moment!' She had a small metal box with her; she came over with the box and put it in the casket. Then the undertakers locked it and took the casket down and they rolled it away.

So her friend said, 'Girl, I know you were not foolish enough to put all that money in there with your husband.'

The loyal wife replied, 'Listen, I' m a Christian; I cannot go back on my word. I promised him that I was going to put that money into the casket with him.'

You mean to tell me you put that money in the casket with him!?!?!?'

I sure did,' said the wife. 'I got it all together, put it into my account , and wrote him a cheque.... If he can cash it, then he can spend it.'

Fevinn (Learning_English) все записи автора

During the first World War, troops from Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada) were being transported to eastern Canada, on their way to Europe, where they were to join the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. When the train stopped at White River, Ontario, a lieutenant called Harry Colebourn bought a small female black bear cub for $20 from a hunter who had killed its mother. He named her 'Winnipeg', after his hometown of Winnipeg, or 'Winnie' for short.
Winnie became the mascot of the Brigade and went to Britain with the unit. When the Brigade was posted to the battlefields of France, Colebourn, now a Captain, took Winnie to the London Zoo for a long loan. He formally presented the London Zoo with Winnie in December 1919 where he became a popular attraction and lived until 1934.
The bear was also very popular with Christopher Robin, son of author A.A. Milne. It was his favourite animal at the Zoo, and he often spent time inside the cage with it. The bear was Christopher Robin's inspiration for calling his own teddy bear Winnie.....Winnie the Pooh (this teddy bear started out with the name of Edward Bear). The name Pooh originally belonged to a swan, as can be seen in the introduction of Milne's 'When We Were Very Young'.
 

A.A. Milne started to write a series of books about Winnie the Pooh, his son Christopher Robin, and their friends in the 100-Acre-Wood. These other characters, such as Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga and Roo were also based on stuffed animals belonging to Christopher Robin. The characters, Rabbit and Owl, were based on animals that lived, like the swan Pooh, in the surrounding area of Milne's country home, Cotchford Farm in Ashdown Forest, Sussex. It is this area on which the 100-Acre-Wood was based.
'Winnie-the-Pooh' was published by Methuen on October 14th, 1926, the verses 'Now We are Six' in 1927, and 'The House at Pooh Corner' in1928. All these books were illustrated in a beautiful way by E.H. Shepard, which made the books even more magical. The Pooh-books became firm favorites with old and young alike and have been translated into almost every known language. A conservative figure for the total sales of the four Methuen editions (including When We Were Very Young) up to the end of 1996 would be over 20 million copies. These figures do not include sales of the four books published by Dutton in Canada and the States, nor the foreign-language editions printed in more than 25 languages the world over!

The Pooh-books had also been favourites of Walt Disney's daughters and it inspired Disney to bring Pooh to film in 1966. In 1977 'the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh', the first feature-length animated film of Pooh was released. In 1993, the Walt Disney Company acknowledged that Pooh Bear is second only to Mickey Mouse in their portfolio of the most-loved and trusted characters known to millions of people all over the world. By 1996, after the second release of 'the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh', the Bear of Very Little Brain had proven to be more popular than any other Disney character. In 1997, twenty years after the release of the first feature-length animated film, Disney released 'Pooh's Grand Adventure', picking up where Disney's 22nd Masterpiece left off. In February 2000 Disney released the third Winnie the Pooh movie called 'The Tigger Movie', this time with the leading part for Tigger.

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

 One of my fondest memories as a child is going by the river and sitting idly on the bank. There I would enjoy the peace and quiet, watch the water rush downstream, and listen to the chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves in the trees. I would also watch the bamboo trees bend under pressure from the wind and watch them return gracefully to their upright or original position after the wind had died down.

When I think about the bamboo tree’s ability to bounce back or return to its original position, the word resilience comes to mind. When used in reference to a person this word means the ability to readily recover from shock, depression or any other situation that stretches the limits of a person’s emotions.

Have you ever felt like you are about to snap Have you ever felt like you are at your breaking point Thankfully, you have survived the experience to live to talk about it. During the experience you probably felt a mix of emotions that threatened your health. You felt emotionally drained, mentally exhausted and you most likely endured unpleasant physical symptoms.

Life is a mixture of good times and bad times, happy moments and unhappy moments. The next time you are experiencing one of those bad times or unhappy moments that take you close to your breaking point then bend but don’t break. Try your best not to let the situation get the best of you.

A measure of hope will take you through the unpleasant ordeal. With hope for a better tomorrow or a better situation, things may not be as bad as they seem to be. The unpleasant ordeal may be easier to deal with if the end result is worth having.

If the going gets tough and you are at your breaking point, show resilience like the bamboo tree, bend, but don’t break!

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

The Everglades are a huge wetlands area covering about 10,000 square kilometres in south Florida. More than half of the area is part of the Everglades National Park. The Native American name for the Everglades is Pa-May-Okee, which means "Grassy Water".
The Everglades were created about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. Melting ice raised the sea level and caused flooding which in turn produced gigantic marshes and swamps.
The Everglades are home to many species of wetland birds, such as herons and pelicans, as well as alligators, crocodiles and snakes.

by Express Publishing

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

 You can see the future with a vision

Study your present situation throughly. Go over in your imagination the various courses of action possible to you. Visualize the consequences which can follow from each course.Pick out the course which gives you the most promise and go ahead.

Many successful people use this skill of mental visualization. They mentally run through important events before they happen.

Picture yourself in your minds eye as already having achieved your goal. See yourself doing the things you’ll be doing when you’ve reached your goal.

You can put your subconscious to work toward making your mental pictures come true. Go over your day in your imagination before you begin it. You can begin acting successfully at any moment. See the things you want as already yours. Think of them as yours, as already in your possession. What you can see in your mind, you can get.

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.
Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. It just seemed to be stuck. Then the man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets.

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

New York City isn't a city that can easily be ignored even by the most demanding visitor. Located on the east coast of the United States with a population of over ten million people, it is the destination of thousands of visitors who come every year to experience the excitement of one of the busiest cities in the world.
The streets of New York are incredibly noisy, with the sounds of car horns beeping, people shouting and police car sirens wailing. Amazingly tall skyscrapers rise up everywhere.
The most exciting thing about New York is how much there is to see and do there. For sightseers there is the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and Central Park, while lovers of culture can visit the theatres of Broadway or some of the city's hundreds of art galleries. Alternatively, if you are a sports fan you can even catch a game of baseball at Yankee Stadium. The night life in New York is equally brilliant, with a wide variety of restaurants, bars and nightclubs to choose from.
New York is a lively and exciting city to visit with something for everyone, and is recommended to anyone seeking fun, variety and adventure. 

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

With well over 600,000 words, English has a larger vocabulary than any other language – but many of these words have been 'borrowed' from other languages.
English has German and French roots, so a lot of its vocabulary is similar to words in these language. Many words have been formed from Latin and ancient Greek, especially for new inventions, such as television and helicopter.
Words from hundreds of other languages have been taken into English, too, often with slight changes in their spelling and pronunciation. Of course, other languages sometimes borrow English words in return.
The following is just a small selection of 'English' words and the languages they came from:
 - tea (Chinese)                  - coffee (Turkish, from Arabic)
- pizza (Italian)                   - potato (native American)
- robot (Czech)                  - rodeo (Spanish)
- caravan (Persian)            - commando (Afrikaans)
- kayak (Eskimo)                - boomerang (Aus. Aborigine).

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

A certain shopkeeper sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The lad wandered through the desert for forty days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, high atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.Rather than finding a saintly man though, our young lad, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world.The wise man listened attentively to the boy’s explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn’t have just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours. Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something, said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. As you wander around, carry this spoon without allowing the oil to spill.The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the castle, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was. Well, said the wise man, did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in the dining hall? Did you see the garden that took the master gardener 10 years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?. The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him. Then go back and observe the marvels of my world, said the wise man. Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens and the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen. But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you, asked the wise man. Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone. Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you, said the wisest of wise men. The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon. This story serves as just a little reminder that while we get all caught up in the frenzy of work and assignments, we mustn’t forget about the drops of oil, the things in life that really matter… friends, family, stuffed toys… and the ties that bind.

never_givin_up (Learning_English) все записи автора

A fable tells about two birds, each in a cage with food and water. One bird rebelled against his conditions, rejected the food and kept knocking his head against the cage door. A few hours later, he died of his injuries.

The other bird said, “Nothing’s worth dying that way.

Let me enjoy the food and water and be grateful for the little space in which I can fly.” At the end of the day, the master came to free both birds.  But only one was ready and able to enjoy freedom while the other lost it once and forever.

Our life may get trapped in a cage. Closed doors might be health problems, job problems, financial limitations, feeling of rejection and insecurity, marriage problems, inability to meet your life partner, etc.

If we focus on the closed door, we will eventually act like the poor bird. But if we enjoy our life the way it is granted, we will eventually be freed. In such situations -  “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.”