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Thanks so much! http://www.listen-to-english.com ngoài ra các bạn có thể tham khảo thêm ở trang để luyện kỹ năng nghe. http://www.world-english.org/listening.htm http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/ http://www.voanews.com The Longest Name 3 A wet summer, and the Olympic Games 3 Break up .4 Better 5 Stonehenge .7 How much does the Queen cost? 8 How much does the Queen cost? - exercise .9 Alfred Brendel Calls Time 10 Captain Calamity .11 Getting married 12 Kevin gets cold feet .13 Godiva and Peeping Tom 14 The Worst Poet 15 Bank Holiday .16 Bank Holiday - Grammar and Vocabulary Note 17 How to stay warm 17 I get my car repaired. You get your hair cut. 18 The Great Smell .20 Lost and Found 21 How to enter the kitchen! 22 I could do with a haircut 24 I get my car repaired. You get your hair cut. 26 The Great Smell .27 Why the Blues are biting their nails 28 Folly .29 Up up up 30 Up up up - grammar and vocabulary note .31 Murdered someone once! 31 Murdered someone once - grammar and vocabulary note 32 Budget 33 Budget - Vocabulary Note .34 How many apples? How much sugar? 35 The Market Rasen Earthquake 38 A Gruesome Discovery .39 Painting the Forth Bridge 41 Spaghetti Junction .43 Whether the weather is fine . .44 Pancake Day 48 Rhubarb 50 Languages 51 Mr Trump's Golf Course .53 haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 2 Mr Trump's Golf Course - Grammar and Vocabulary Note 53 A Christmas Story - part 1 .54 A Christmas Story - part 2. 54 Theres none so queer as folks .55 Talking. talking . 56 Talking, talking - vocabulary note 57 Frustrated .57 Eddie the Eagle 58 Eddie the Eagle - vocabulary note 59 New Year .61 New Year - vocabulary note .62 haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 3 The Longest Name Tuesday 16 September 2008 The name sign on the railway station at Llanfair PG. Once upon a time, there was a village in north Wales called Llanfair. Llanfair means, simply, “the church of St Mary” in the Welsh language, and there are many other places in Wales called Llanfair. The particular Llanfair in this story was called Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll, to distinguish it from the other places called Llanfair. The name Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll means, in English, “the church of St Mary beside the hollow (or little valley) with the white hazel tree”. I think you will agree that Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll is perhaps too long for normal, everyday use. And English speaking people like me often find Welsh names difficult to pronounce. So people shortened the name to Llanfair PG. And people often still call the village Llanfair PG today. In the 1850s, a railway line was built along the coast of north Wales. It ran to Holyhead, which was the main port for ships sailing to Ireland. The railway line was busy and important. But only a few trains stopped at the station at Llanfair PG, and only a few visitors came to the village. How could Llanfair PG attract more visitors? “I know,” said a man who lived near the village. “We need a new name. A special name. A name that people will remember. A name that will make people say ‘That’s interesting. I really want to visit that place’”. So he suggested a new name – the longest place name in Britain. And other people agreed, and so the village was re-named Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. (That was not me speaking, by the way. That was a real Welsh person speaking real Welsh!) What did the new name mean? In English it is: “The church of St Mary beside the hollow with the white hazel tree and the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio with the red cave”. They put up a new name sign in the railway station, and it was the longest railway name sign in Britain. And they waited for the tourists to come. Changing the name of the village was what today we would call a “publicity stunt” – something which you do to get people to notice you. Many companies, when they want to sell more of their products, find a new name for the product, or they design new packaging, or do something else to attract more customers. Sometimes this works. sometimes it doesn’t. Did the new name work for Llanfair PG? I do not think so. Llanfair is still a quiet little place with about 3,000 inhabitants. Some trains stop there, but many go through without stopping. People arrive in their cars. They park in the station car park. They take a photograph of the the name sign on the station platform. Then they get back in their cars and drive away. Why did the new name not attract more visitors? The answer is easy, I think. Imagine going to a railway ticket office and asking for “a ticket to Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, please.” A wet summer, and the Olympic Games Wednesday 10 September 2008 haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 4 A wet summer. This photo was taken in the Netherlands by Aneemiek van der Kuil but Britain in August was like this too! The summer holidays are over. People have returned to work. The children are back at school. And this is my first podcast since July. So, what sort of summer has it been in Britain? Let’s start with the bad news. Our economy is in big difficulties. Prices are rising, especially prices for food. Petrol prices are now so high that people are using their cars less, and trains and buses more. Holidays abroad are now much more expensive, because the British pound has fallen in value. Our economy has stopped growing. Indeed, there may be a recession next year – that is, a period when the economy shrinks, or becomes smaller. Our Chancellor of the Exchequer (that means, our Finance Minister) certainly thinks that things are bad. He recently told a newspaper reporter that the economic position was the worst for 60 years. Many British people own their own homes. They buy their homes with a loan from a bank. The last ten years have been a very nice time to own a house. House prices have risen steadily, and people felt that they were getting richer, so they spent more. In fact, Britain has had its longest period of economic growth for 100 years. But this has now stopped. House prices have fallen, and everyone expects that they will fall further. The fall in house prices has been the fastest for over 25 years. This is bad news if you own your house already; it is good news if you do not own a house but would like to buy one. However, the really awful thing – the thing that makes British people really gloomy – is the weather. It has rained since the end of July. We have had the wettest August for many years. And there has been hardly any sunshine. In many places, August has been the dullest August (that is, the least sunny August) since 1927. It is still raining. And the weather forecast is – yes, more rain. I am glad to say, however, that the summer has had one happy thing for Britain. At the Olympic Games in Beijing, British athletes won 45 medals. That is the highest number of medals since 1908. We even won more medals than the Australians, which is very satisfying. So, while the rain poured down, we could at least watch the Olympic Games on television. The next Olympic Games, in 2012, will take place in London. Will they be the wettest Olympic Games ever? Or will it stop raining before then? Break up Monday 21 July 2008 This car is being broken up in a scrap yard. Photo by Olly Clark/flickr haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 5 There is an English phrasal verb “to break up”. It means to break into pieces. Here are some examples of ways in which we can use it. Imagine a storm at sea. The wind and the waves drive a ship onto the rocks. The waves smash the ship into pieces. The ship breaks up. Or, think about the great ice sheets in the Arctic and the Antarctic. Many scientists say that, because the world’s climate is getting warmer, the ice sheets are starting to break up. Or, think about a really old car. You have had it for many years. You and it have had some fine adventures together. But now the engine does not start. And when, eventually, it does start, there are horrible clunking sounds and a cloud of black smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe. The car is finished. You take the car to the scrap yard where they break it up, so that the metal and some of the parts can be re-used. And sometimes we say that a relationship breaks up. For instance, Joe and Mary have been going out together for a few months. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. But then they disagree and argue. Joe starts to think that he really doesn’t like Mary very much. Mary starts to think that Joe is selfish and boring. They break up. They decide that they are not going to be boyfriend and girlfriend any more. You may be thinking that “break up” is a rather sad expression. We use it to talk about shipwrecks, and cars that have reached the end of their lives, and relationships which come to an end. But there is at least one really happy use of “break up”. We can say that a school breaks up. That means, simply, that it is the end of term. It is the beginning of the holidays. There is a primary school behind my house. The school breaks up today. Today is the last day of the school term. The children are very happy. They are making even more noise in the school playground than they usually do. After today, there will be six weeks with no school. Six weeks to stay late in bed. Six weeks to play in the garden. Six weeks to watch rubbish programmes on daytime television and to play on the computer. Six weeks to visit your grandparents, or to go on holiday. Six weeks to argue with your older sister. Six weeks to drive your parents mad. Listen to English is going on holiday too. This will be my last podcast for this term. But don’t worry – I will be back with a new podcast on 10 September. I am going to spend part of the holiday in Wales, so here is some Welsh music for you to listen to. It is played on the Welsh harp by Cheryl Ann Fulton. I will put an extra posting on the website with a flash player where you can listen to more of her music if you like it. Until September, goodbye. Download MP3 (6:59min, 3MB) Better Monday 14 July 2008 Better buses, better service, better catch one I am sorry that there was no podcast last week. I was unwell. But now I am better. That means, I am not unwell any more. I have recovered. I am better. And today’s podcast is about the word “better”. “Better” is of course the comparative form of the adjective “good”. Good – better- best. We can say: “This is a good restaurant. But the restaurant over the road is better. And the restaurant round the corner is the best restaurant in the town.” haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 6 We can use “better” in other ways, too. There is an English expression “I had better” do something. It means “I must” do something, or “it would be a good idea” to do something. Here are some examples: Kevin and Joanne are having breakfast. Joanne looks in the fridge. There is no milk. “I had better buy some milk this morning,” she says. Kevin looks at his watch. It is nearly 7.30am. “I had better go now,” he says. “I have to go to a meeting at 8.30.” “Yes,” says Joanne. “You had better hurry, otherwise you will miss the train. And it is raining. You had better take an umbrella”. In Birmingham, where I live, there is a bus company. Actually, there are lots of bus companies, because our government believes that competition in public transport is a good thing. Our government is wrong. Britain has some of the worst public transport in Europe. But that is different podcast. One of our competing bus companies has a slogan on the side of its buses. It says: “better buses, better service, better catch one”. This is what it means. Better buses… “Better buses” – the company has better buses. But better than what? Better than the buses of the other bus companies? Better than the old buses which it used to have? I suppose that “better buses” is OK as an advertising slogan, but if you want people to understand exactly what you mean, remember to use the word “than” – “better buses than our old buses”, for example. “Better service” – This means more frequent buses, more reliable buses. Perhaps the company means that they now run buses late in the evening and on Sundays. And “better catch one” is short for “you had better catch one”. In other words, it would be a good idea to catch one of our wonderful better buses. Remember that in English, we can take a bus or a train or a plane; or we can catch a bus or a train or a plane. Now you know all about “I had better”. There is a quiz with the podcast today. You can find it on the website. Now it is late. I had better stop now. I had better go to the supermarket. I had better cook supper for the children. I had better say goodbye. Download MP3 (3:57min, 4MB) haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 7 Stonehenge Friday 04 July 2008 A rainbow behind Stonehenge. This remarkable photo was taken by Lucille Pine/flickr In today’s podcast, we talk about some theories. We talk about things which may be true, or may not be true. We use words like “perhaps” and “maybe” and “it could be that ”. See how many examples you can find. We English have not lived in England for long. Our ancestors, the Saxons, came to England from northern Germany in the fifth century. They spoke a language which we call Anglo-Saxon or Old English. Over the centuries, Anglo-Saxon changed to become modern English. Before the Saxon invasions, people called the Celts lived here. The modern Welsh language is descended from the languages of these Celtic people. But the Celts had not lived in Britain for long, either. There were people here before the Celts came. These people had no written language, so they left us no manuscripts or inscriptions to tell us about them. However, they left us plenty of archaeological evidence – burial places, pottery, tools and so on. And they left us a remarkable and mysterious monument called Stonehenge. If you drive by car south-west out of London, along a road with the romantic name A303, you will reach Stonehenge after about an hour and a half. You will see a circle of great stones, with other stones placed carefully on top of them. There are other, smaller stones – called “bluestones”. Around Stonehenge, there are other ancient places – burial places, for instance, and ancient paths. The archaeologists tell us that Stonehenge was not all built at one time. The oldest parts of Stonehenge are about 5,000 years old. The “bluestones” came about 1000 years later, and the great circle of stones a few hundred years after that. The great stones probably came from a place about 40km away. They each weigh about 25 tonnes. Experts say that perhaps 500 men pulled each stone, while 100 more placed logs on the ground for the stone to roll over. The “bluestones” are even more remarkable – they are much smaller, about 4 tonnes each, but they come from Preseli in south Wales, a distance of nearly 400 km. How did they get to Stonehenge? Maybe people carried them on small boats, over the sea and along rivers. The big question is “Why?” Why did these people, four or five thousand years ago, build Stonehenge, and what did they use it for? Here are some of the theories: - Perhaps Stonehenge was a religious temple. Perhaps priests sacrificed animals or even human beings here. - Maybe Stonehenge was a centre of political power, a place built by a great and powerful king. - Possibly, it was a place to celebrate the dead, a place to send them on their way to the next world. haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 8 - Or it could have been a place where sick or injured people came to be cured, like Lourdes in France is today. - Or Stonehenge might have been a place to watch the movement of the sun, moon and stars, and to forecast important events like eclipses. - Or, conceivably, it was all of these things, or it had different purposes at different times. Today, Stonehenge is an important tourist site, and a place for people who like to believe in magic. At the summer solstice (that is June 21st, the longest day of the year) people go to Stonehenge to watch the sun rise. This year, about 30,000 people were there. And, because this is England, it rained How much does the Queen cost? Monday 30 June 2008 Queen Elizabeth II Thank you all for your e-mails, and for your suggestions about subjects for future podcasts. A listener in France has asked, can I make a podcast about the Queen? And several other listeners have said that they would like some help with listening to numbers (which is always one of the most difficult things in any foreign language). I am going to kill two birds with one stone, as we say in English. This podcast is about the Queen, and also about listening to numbers. I have left gaps in the script where there are numbers,. Try to fill in the numbers as you hear them. You can check on the website whether you have heard them correctly. Queen Elizabeth (a) . came to the throne in (b) ., following the death of her father, King George© She is now (d) . years old, and she has been Queen for (e) . years. She is the (f) . monarch (that is, king or queen) since the Norman Conquest of England in the year (g) What sort of things does she do? The Queen has all sorts of official engagements in this country – visits to towns and cities, to schools and hospitals, to open new buildings and to attend official dinners. Last year she had (h) . official engagements, which is (i) . more than in (j) The Queen makes official visits to other countries too. Since she came to the throne, the Queen has made over (k) . visits to about (l) . different countries. Last year , she visited the United States, Uganda, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Queen sends messages of congratulations to everyone in Britain who reaches their (m) . birthday. Since (n) ., she has sent (o) . of these messages. She has also sent more than (p) . messages of congratulation to married couples who are celebrating their “diamond wedding”, that is the (q) . anniversary of their wedding. Last week, her office published the royal accounts for® The accounts show that the cost of the Queen’s official duties last year was £(s) This was £(t) ., or (u) .% more than in (v) However, officials at the palace want everyone to know that in real terms, that is after allowing for inflation, the cost of the Queen has fallen by (w) .% in the last (x) . years. haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 9 How much is £(y) .? Well, there are about (z) . people in Britain, so £(aa) . is about (bb) . pence for each of us. Palace officials, who try very hard to keep up with new technology and new fashions, have pointed out to the newspapers that (cc) . pence is about the cost of a download from the iTunes music store. An important part of the cost of the Queen’s official duties is the cost of travel. Travel, in Britain and overseas, cost £(dd) . pounds last year. The Queen has a special royal train. Our newspapers love to tell us how much the royal train costs. Last year the royal train was used only (ee) . times. One of these trips was a visit which Prince Charles made to a pub in the town of Penrith – the cost was £(ff) However, palace officials have told the press that there are serious problems because several of the royal palaces need to be repaired. Altogether an extra £(gg) . is needed for this. The roof at Windsor Castle needs to be replaced – this will cost £(hh) Many parts of Buckingham Palace in London have not been redecorated for over (ii) .years, and the electrical wiring is over (jj) . years old. It will cost £ (kk) . to rewire the palace, and replace the plumbing (that is, the water pipes and the drains), and to remove dangerous asbestos from the building. In fact, Buckingham Palace seems to be such a mess that I am surprised that the Queen still lives there. If you know of somewhere else where she could live temporarily, until Buckingham Palace is repaired, perhaps you could telephone her office and tell them The number is (ll) . How much does the Queen cost? - exercise Monday 30 June 2008 Here are the missing numbers from the podcast “How much does the Queen cost?” You can download a pdf version of the exercise and the answers by clicking the link at the foot of the page. (a) the second (normally we write Queen Elizabeth II) (b) 1952 (c) the sixth (King George VI) (d) 82 (e) 56 (f) 40th (g) 1066 (h) 440 (i) 60 (j) 2006 (k) 260 (l) 126 (m) 100th (n) 1952 (o) 100,000 (note that in English we use a comma to separate thousands in big numbers) (p) 280,000 (q) 60th (r) 2007 (s) £40,000,000 (generally, in written English we would normally write £40 million) (t) £2 million (u) 6.1% (in English we use a full-stop, not a comma, when we write decimals) (v) 2006 (w) 3.1% (x) 7 (y) £40 million (z) 61 million (aa) £40 million (bb) 66 pence (cc) 66 pence (dd) £6.2 million (ee) 19 (ff) £18,916 haiyen36.85@gmail.com www.listen-to-enghlish.com (podcast) 10 (gg) £32 million (hh) £16 million (ii) 50 (jj) 60 (kk) £2.4 million (ll) 020 7930 4832 Download Media (0:00min, 0MB) This file has been downloaded 14923 times Podcast # | Posted in exercises Alfred Brendel Calls Time Wednesday 25 June 2008 Alfred Brendel Last November, the Guardian newspaper contained an article. This was the headline. “Alfred Brendel, piano maestro, calls time on concert career.” What does it mean? Well, you may already know about Alfred Brendel. He is a pianist, or a “piano maestro” as the Guardian headline calls him. He is famous for his playing of works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. We shall talk more about him in a minute. But what does “call time” mean? Until about 30 years ago, there were strict laws in Britain about when pubs could open. Generally, all pubs had to close at 10.30 in the evening, and everyone had to stop drinking and leave the pub at that time. Shortly before 10.30pm, the landlord of the pub used to ring a bell, and call out “Time, gentlemen, please!” or something like that. So, “to call time” means to announce that you will soon close something, or soon finish something. Lets go back to the newspaper headline. “Alfred Brendel, piano maestro, calls time on his concert career”. It means that Alfred Brendel has announced that his career as a concert pianist will soon come to an end. In other words, he has said that he is going to retire. There is another idiom with a similar meaning – “to call it a day”. Imagine that you have been working all day on a project for school or college. It is now the evening and you are tired. Yes, there are some more things you could do, but you decide to stop now and go to bed. You “call it a day”. Alfred Brendel has decided, at the age of 77, to “call it a day” too. Alfred Brendel is a remarkable man. He was born in what is now the Czech Republic in 1931. His family were not musical, and he had little formal training on the piano. Nonetheless, he made a successful career as a pianist from the 1950s. Since the 1970s, he has lived in Britain. He is not only a famous pianist, he also writes about music, and writes poetry, both in English and in German. When he retires, at the end of this year, he wants to spend more time writing and teaching. haiyen36.85@gmail.com [...]... the football match, our team kept on trying to score a goal I keep getting letters from my friends in Australia I have “translated” what Felix Dennis said in the interview, like this: “He hurt her and I told him to stop, and he kept on (hurting her) He wouldn’t let her alone She told him to stop I told him to stop many people told him to stop….He wouldn’t stop, he kept on and on and on (hurting the... the English language He was born in 1825 His father was a cotton weaver, who had to move from town to town in Scotland to find work Young William spent only 18 months at school before he too had to go and work in the mills and factories He became a jute weaver in Dundee, a town on the east coast of Scotland (Jute is a fibre which is used to make sacks In the 19th century, Dundee was the centre of the... murdered had been abusive to a woman whom Felix Dennis had known “He hurt her, “ he explained, “and I told him to stop, and he kept on.” “Wouldn’t let her alone She told him to stop I told him to stop Many people told him to stop.” “Wouldn’t stop, kept on and on and on.” So what did Felix Dennis do? “In the end, had a little meeting with him Pushed him off the edge of a cliff Weren’t hard.” The interviewer... poems today and smile Download MP3 (5:27min, 3MB) Bank Holiday Sunday 04 May 2008 We go to the seaside We sit on the sand and eat ice-cream… Photo by crunchcandy/flickr Irene, who lives in Germany, is a regular listener to these podcasts She has sent me an e-mail to suggest that I make a podcast about “bank holidays” in England and the way that we celebrate them haiyen36.85@gmail.com www .listen- to- enghlish.com... put them on the Listen to English website as comments Or perhaps you can get someone to put them on the website for you Download MP3 (3:46min, 2MB) haiyen36.85@gmail.com www .listen- to- enghlish.com (podcast) 20 The Great Smell Sunday 20 April 2008 The Stink! Photo by whizchickenonabun/flickr In the last podcast, I said that I would tell you how Birmingham did in their match against Aston Villa Well,... happens The Meteorological Office tried to explain that the smell was not a threat to health, and that it would blow away in the next few days But the newspapers did not want to listen They were having too much fun blaming foreigners The truth, of course, is this: 1 there was nothing more interesting for the newspapers to report; 2 people who live in towns get used to town smells, like traffic fumes and... afraid of them any more 10 What does "tiptoe" mean? A B C ? To walk very quietly on the tips of your toes ? To hide in secret places ? To sit down very quietly I could do with a haircut Friday 23 May 2008 haiyen36.85@gmail.com www .listen- to- enghlish.com (podcast) 25 I could do with a haircut Artwork by Lorrie McClanahan/flickr In today’s podcast we meet the English expression “I could do with…” “I... happens The Meteorological Office tried to explain that the smell was not a threat to health, and that it would blow away in the next few days But the newspapers did not want to listen They were having too much fun blaming foreigners The truth, of course, is this: 1 there was nothing more interesting for the newspapers to report; 2 people who live in towns get used to town smells, like traffic fumes and... means to delay “The roadworks held the traffic up” ““I was held up by a crisis at work.” To make up” here means to invent There is a whole podcast about “make up” here “The time is up” – the time e.g for an exam has finished To turn up” means to arrive, generally to arrive unexpectedly So, you had not invited your cousin to come and see you, she just “turned up” To break something up” means to break... 2008 Parachute Photo by John Shappell/flickr Today, we meet the expression to have cold feet” about something It means …well, I will tell you a story, and you will see what it means About 3 months ago, Kevin went to the pub with his friend George At the pub they met some friends who were talking about parachute jumping (or “skydiving”) They were planning to go on a course to learn how to jump out of . was a cotton weaver, who had to move from town to town in Scotland to find work. Young William spent only 18 months at school before he too had to go and. haiyen36.85@gmail.com www .listen- to- enghlish.com (podcast) 7 Stonehenge Friday 04 July 2008 A rainbow behind Stonehenge. This remarkable photo was taken by Lucille