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The moto car

The start of the automobile's history went all the way back to 1769 when automobiles running on the steam engine were invented as carriers for human transport In 1806, the first batch of cars powered by an internal combustion engine came into being, which pioneered the introduction of the widespread modem petrol-fueled internal combustion engine in 1885.

It is generally acknowledged that the first practical automobiles equipped with petrol/gaso-line-powered internal combustion engines were invented almost at the same time by different German inventors who were Working on their own. Karl Bfenz first built the automobile in 1885 in Mannheim. Benz attained a patent for his invention on 29 January 1886, and in 1888, he started to produce automobiles in a company that later became the renowned Mercedes-Benz.

As this century began, the automobile industry marched into the transportation market for the wealth. Drivers at that time were an adventurous bunch; they would go out regardless of the weather condition even if they weren't even protected by an enclosed body or a convertible top. Everybody in the community knew who owned what car, and cars immediately became a symbol of identity and status. Later, cars became more popular among the public since it allowed people to travel whenever and wherever they wanted. Thus, the price of automobiles in Europe and North America kept dropping, and more people from the middle class could afford them. This was especially attributed to Henry Ford who did two crucial things. First, he set the price as reasonable as possible for his cars; second, he paid his employees enough salaries so that they could afford the cars made by their very own hands.

The trend of interchangeable parts and mass production in an assembly line style had been led by America, and from 1914, this concept was significantly reinforced by Henry Ford. This large-scale, production-line manufacture of affordable automobiles was debuted. A Ford car would come off all assembled from the line every 15 minutes, an interval shorter than any of the former methods. Not only did it raise productivity, but also cut down on the requirement for manpower. Ford significantly lowered the chance of injury by carrying out complicated safety procedures in production-particularly assigning workers to specific locations rather than giving them the freedom to wander around. This mixture of high wages and high efficiency was known as Fordism, which provided a valuable lesson for most major industries.

The first Jeep automobile that came out as the prototype Bantam BRC was the primary light 4-wheel-drive automobile of the U.S. Army and Allies, and during World War II and the postwar period, its sale skyrocketed. Since then, plenty of Jeep derivatives with similar military and civilian functions have been created and kept upgraded in terms of overall performance in other nations.

Through all the 1950s, engine power and automobile rates grew higher, designs evolved into a more integrated and artful form, and cars were spreading globally. In the 1960s, the landscape changed as Detroit was confronted with foreign competition. The European manufacturers, used the latest technology, and Japan came into the picture as a dedicated car-making country. General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford dabbled with radical tiny cars such as the GM A-bodies with little success. As joint ventures such as the British Motor Corporation unified the market, captive imports and badge imports swept all over the US and the UK. BMC first launched a revolutionary space-friendly Mini in 1959, which turned out to harvest large global sales. Previously remaining under the Austin and Morris names, Mini later became an individual marque in 1969. The trend of corporate consolidation landed in Italy when niche makers such as Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia were bought by larger enterprises. By the end of the 20th century, there had been a sharp fall in the number of automobile marques.

In the US, car performance dominated marketing, justified by the typical cases of pony cars and muscle cars. However, in the 1970s, everything changed as the American automobile industry suffered from the 1973 oil crisis, competition with Japanese and European imports, automobile emission control regulations* and moribund innovation. The irony in all this was that full-size sedans such as Cadillac and Lincoln scored a huge comeback between the years of economic crisis.

In terms of technology, the most mentionable developments that postwar era had seen were the widespread use of independent suspensions, broader application of fuel injection, and a growing emphasis on safety in automobile design. Mazda achieved many triumphs with its engine firstly installed in the fore-wheel, though it gained itself a reputation as a gas-guzzler.

The modem era also has witnessed a sharp elevation of fuel power in the modem engine management system with the. help of the computer. Nowadays, most automobiles in use are powered by an internal combustion engine, fueled by gasoline or diesel. Toxic gas from both fuels is known to pollute the air and is responsible for climate change as well as global warming.

List of Automobile Brands

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The moto car - IELTS reading practice test

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The start of the automobile's history went all the way back to 1769 when automobiles running on the steam engine were invented as carriers for human transport In 1806, the first batch of cars powered by an internal combustion engine came into being, which pioneered the introduction of the widespread modem petrol-fueled internal combustion engine in 1885.

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500-year-old paintings from Raphael found – B1 English listening test - Test-English

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Listening comprehension test for intermediate students (CEFR B1). Watch a video about art and history and choose the correct answers.

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please submit , hand written , 60 to 80 words summary

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invented , invention , introduction, engine , gasoline ,  reknown  -famous , talked about , drivers , inclose body , convertible top , reasonable prices of the cars and good pay for the people , assembly line ,debuted-premier , assigning workers to specific location, the sales sky rocketed , Jeep derivatives , Japan dedicated car making country, niche market -hole in the market
gas-guzzler taking a lot of petrol

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be careful about the S in the third person, Andrea has blood shot eyes , from being very ill , having really high temperature .
one night she vomited , because of mucus , not because of digestion issues

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fore/fɔː/ Learn to pronounceSee definitions in:AllNauticalGolfadjectiveadjective: foresituated or placed in front.

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fore/fɔː/ Learn to pronounceSee definitions in:AllNauticalGolfadjectiveadjective: foresituated or placed in front.

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Sonido

The characteristics of management often vary according to national culture, which can determine how managers are trained, how they lead people and how they approach their jobs.

Below you will find five brief portraits of managers in five different countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden.
Managers from the United States...

Generally attend business schools.

Communicate easily and informally at work.

Admire the qualities of a leader.

Expect everyone to work hard.

Individual performance is measured and initiative is rewarded.

Have competitive and sometimes aggressive attitudes towards work.

Often accept innovation and change.

Managers from the United Kingdom...

1.- Decide which country the following statements refer to:

Corregir Ver Solución Limpiar

2.- Find synonyms in the text for the following words:

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Reading Comprehension - Management Styles - Inglés de Negocios

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Sonido The characteristics of management often vary according to national culture, which can determine how managers are trained, how they lead people and how they approach their jobs. Below you will find five brief portraits of managers in five different countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden.

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It may seem counter-intuitive that if you want to get ahead at work, you should make time for a life outside of it. But career coaches and business leaders alike say that having a hobby is key to being able to handle work-life stress and thinking creatively.

Take Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for example. He says that having a hobby shows a prospective employer that you have passion and drive. In fact, it's a question recruiters for the company will often ask job candidates.

If boosting your chances of landing a job at a company like Facebook isn't enough reason to take up a hobby, here are three science-backed ones:

Having a hobby outside of work could help you perform better 9 - 5. A study of 400 employees published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology finds marked differences between those who engage in creative hobbies and those who do not.

Having a creative hobby is associated with positive work-related traits, like creativity on projects and a better attitude on the job.

Other research shows that employees with hobbies are more satisfied with their jobs and have a lower likelihood of burning out.

Your hobby doesn't have to be physically demanding to correlate with better health.

A study conducted by several psychologists of about 1,400 people found that people who said they engaged in enjoyable leisure activities had lower blood pressure, total cortisol, waist circumference and body mass index.

In other words, even low-movement hobbies like knitting, crafting and guitar are connected to better health.

Engaging in a mentally stimulating hobby reduces stress, according to research by Matthew Zawadzki, a health psychologist at the University of California, Merced.

Zawadzki's study shows that leisure activity can provide immediate stress relief, which has been shown to have numerous health and psychological benefits, like improved focus, happiness and a longer life.

The benefits of engaging in a hobby extend to hours, even days later. Zawadzki's study finds that people with hobbies continue to be happier and to experience lower levels of depression and negative feelings after practice ends.

"We're still talking about the short term, but there was a definite carryover effect later in the day," he says in a university publication. "If we start thinking about that beneficial carryover effect day after day, year after year, it starts to make sense how leisure can help improve health."

Another study comes to a similar conclusion. Research published in the National Library of Medicine shows that regular leisure activities helps a person manage negative feelings like stress.
This is an updated version of a previously published article. Like this story? Like CNBC Make It on Facebook. Check out Warren Buffett's reading routine could make you smarter, science suggests

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3 science-backed reasons having a hobby will help your career

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It may seem counter-intuitive that if you want to get ahead at work, you should make time for a life outside of it. But career coaches and business leaders alike say that having a hobby is key to being able to handle work-life stress and thinking creatively.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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What if a photo showed how beautiful you were on the inside? Read what happens when people download a new app called TrueBeauty.

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please be so kind and write 5 to 7 sentences telling me about your opinion on people who are influencers and live for the image on social media , live for getting the likes and thumbs up and their life is not real , it is staged 

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please be so kind and write 5 to 7 sentences telling me about your opinion on people who are influencers and live for the image on social media , live for getting the likes and thumbs up and their life is not real , it is staged 

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it is from the article about Steph and Mat , so what is your opinion?

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Listen to the podcast about doing a digital detox to practise and improve your listening skills.

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A first-person account in English of one individual's experience of going to work, with most of the details focusing on the one-hour drive--useful for advanced beginners to learn everyday, conversational English about working life. Comprehension questions follow the text so you can check your understanding.

My job is a long distance from my home, almost 50 miles away. I have to wake up early every morning, as I'm always in a rush. There's never enough time for a relaxed breakfast. At exactly 6:00 AM, I get into my car and start the long drive.

I usually like driving on the highway more than in the city. During the morning rush hour, though, it's not very enjoyable. The heavy traffic is a little bit annoying. So I always listen to my favorite classical music CD's in the car - Chopin, Mozart, and Bach. That cheers me up a lot.

The drive to work takes about one hour. Going back home in the evening after work takes even longer, maybe around 70 minutes. Lately I've been thinking about trying to take the train to work instead of driving. That way, I could still listen to my music with headphones, and even read a novel at the same time.

Did you understand the text?

Please answer the following questions of understanding:

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A first-person account in English of one individual's experience of going to work, with most of the details focusing on the one-hour drive--useful for advanced beginners to learn everyday, conversational English about working life. Comprehension questions follow the text so you can check your understanding.

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There is a guide introducing wilderness , scrub brush and gum trees in the distant horizon . He uses satellite phone in his backpack in case of emergencies , his ancestors were guided by songs.

The Aboriginal were using etchings and marks on rocks , called the songlines to guide them in the terrain . These provided an oral map and the ancestors also told stories about the creator of the Dreamtime.

Dreamtime marked the period  introducing giants , serpents and  other animals , part human who came down to earth and then disappeared back into the landscape . These places were called sacred spots . Special serpent , snake that created the mountain range

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Explanations > Behaviors > Lying > Four Colors of Lies

There are four types of lie that can be characterized by naming them with four colors: Gray, White, Black and Red.

Two dimensions

To get the four colors we need to create two dimensions which are each subdivided into two categories. These are about who is affected by the lie.

How it affects me

The forces of evolution naturally push us towards self-preservation, especially when we feel threatened. When basic needs seem at risk we hence become inclined to lie in order to protect ourselves.

We also lie to get less basic needs, for example to fulfil our personal or received goals. Lying always causes values conflict and selfish lies cause even greater dissonance. This hence tends to reduce self as a primary reason for lying (or at least in terms of personal justification).

How it affects others

What we say often has an effect on others, especially when we are directly communicating with them. Lies may help or harm others and the thought of this impacts how or whether we lie.

The decision to lie to others is particularly affected by social values which at least say we should do no harm. As a result, decisions to lie can be a complex balance of who is affected and by how much.

Four lies

The four types of lie can be illustrated by the matrix below.

White lie

In this model, white lies are altruistic as we seek first to help others, even at some cost to ourselves.

In practice, there are shades of white and what we tell ourselves are white lies are often tending more towards gray than pure white.

Even when we lose out significantly, there is arguably always some benefit, for example in the way we feel good about our actions and how others praise or thank us for our selflessness.

Gray lie

Most of the lies we tell are gray lies. They are partly to help others and partly to help ourselves. They may vary in the shade of gray, depending on the balance of help and harm.

Gray lies are, almost by definition, hard to clarify. For example you can lie to help a friend out of trouble but then gain the reciprocal benefit of them lying for you while those they have harmed in some way lose out.

Black lie

Black lies are about simple and callous selfishness. We tell black lies when others gain nothing and the sole purpose is either to get ourselves out of trouble (reducing harm against ourselves) or to gain something we desire (increasing benefits for ourselves).

The worst black lies are very harmful for others. Perhaps the very worst gain us a little yet harm others a great deal.

Red lie

Red lies are about spite and revenge. They are driven by the motive to harm others even at the expense of harming oneself. They may even be carved in blood.

When we are angry at others, perhaps because of a long feud or where we feel they have wronged us in some way, we feel a sense of betrayal and so seek retributive justice, which we may dispense without thought of consequence.

Seek to understand lies and the motivation beneath them. Then respond to the lies in ways that help people tell the truth or otherwise further your aims.

When lying yourself, question your own motives. It is easy to think you are telling white lies when actually they are a certain shade of gray.

See also

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Explanations > Behaviors > Lying > Four Colors of Lies There are four types of lie that can be characterized by naming them with four colors: Gray, White, Black and Red. To get the four colors we need to create two dimensions which are each subdivided into two categories.

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When trying to obtain the truth from a dishonest employee, a suspect involved in another type of criminal investigation, or even a member of your family, we typically see five types of lies. These lies include:

Lies of Denial. This type of lie will involve an untruthful person (or a truthful person) simply saying that they were not involved.

Lies of Omission. A lie of omission is often referred to as the "lie of choice," as the person using this method can blame the interviewer for not asking the right question.

Lies of Fabrication. Fabrication is typically the most difficult type of lie for an individual to tell; the dishonest person needs to make up their "facts" as they are telling them, which of course makes it harder to remember later.

Lies of Minimization. Minimization involves attempts to distort the truth by making statements like "It was an accident" or "It was already damaged, though" in an attempt to minimize what they've done.

Lies of Exaggeration. This type of lie is similar to the lie of minimization in that there is a distortion of the truth; however, the subject will overstate what happened. For example, they might say something like, "Yeah, I am responsible for all the losses here."

It's always important to be aware of all five types of lies when interviewing a dishonest associate, another type of criminal-and yes, even someone in your family.

Every loss prevention investigator should continuously strive to enhance their investigative interviewing skills as part of an ongoing commitment to best-in-class interviewing performance. This includes holding ourselves to an elite standard of interview and interrogation training that is ethical, moral and legal while demanding excellence in the pursuit of the truth. The International Association of Interviewers (IAI) and Wicklander-Zulawski (WZ) provide interview and interrogation training programs and additional guidance to investigators when dealing with dishonest employees, employee theft, sexual harassment, policy violations, building rapport, pre-employment interviewing, lying, denials and obtaining a statement.

By focusing on the latest information and research from experts in the field as well as academic, legal and psychological resources, these video tips provide interview and interrogation training techniques that can enhance the skill sets of professionals with backgrounds in law enforcement, loss prevention, security, asset protection, human resources, auditors or anyone looking to obtain the truth.

To learn more about interview and interrogation training and how you can further develop your professional skill sets, please visit www.w-z.com or www.certifiedinterviewer.com for additional information.
This article was originally published in 2015 and was updated September 3, 2018.

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Interview and Interrogation Training: The Five Types of Lies

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When trying to obtain the truth from a dishonest employee, a suspect involved in another type of criminal investigation, or even a member of your family, we typically see five types of lies. These lies include: Lies of Denial. This type of lie will involve an untruthful person (or a truthful person) simply saying that they were not involved.

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Jack and Beverly Wilgus, collectors of vintage photographs, no longer recall how they came by the 19th-century daguerreotype of a disfigured yet still-handsome man. It was at least 30 years ago. The photograph offered no clues as to where or precisely when it had been taken, who the man was or why he was holding a tapered rod. But the Wilguses speculated that the rod might be a harpoon, and the man's closed eye and scarred brow the result of an encounter with a whale.

So over the years, as the picture rested in a display case in the couple's Baltimore home, they thought of the man in the daguerreotype as the battered whaler.

In December 2007, Beverly posted a scan of the image on Flickr, the photo-sharing Web site, and titled it "One-Eyed Man with Harpoon." Soon, a whaling enthusiast e-mailed her a dissent: that is no harpoon, which suggested that the man was no whaler. Months later, another correspondent told her that the man might be Phineas Gage and, if so, this would be the first known image of him.

Beverly, who had never heard of Gage, went online and found an astonishing tale.

In 1848, Gage, 25, was the foreman of a crew cutting a railroad bed in Cavendish, Vermont. On September 13, as he was using a tamping iron to pack explosive powder into a hole, the powder detonated. The tamping iron-43 inches long, 1.25 inches in diameter and weighing 13.25 pounds-shot skyward, penetrated Gage's left cheek, ripped into his brain and exited through his skull, landing several dozen feet away. Though blinded in his left eye, he might not even have lost consciousness, and he remained savvy enough to tell a doctor that day, "Here is business enough for you."

Gage's initial survival would have ensured him a measure of celebrity, but his name was etched into history by observations made by John Martyn Harlow, the doctor who treated him for a few months afterward. Gage's friends found him"no longer Gage," Harlow wrote. The balance between his "intellectual faculties and animal propensities" seemed gone. He could not stick to plans, uttered "the grossest profanity" and showed "little deference for his fellows." The railroad-construction company that employed him, which had thought him a model foreman, refused to take him back. So Gage went to work at a stable in New Hampshire, drove coaches in Chile and eventually joined relatives in San Francisco, where he died in May 1860, at age 36, after a series of seizures.

In time, Gage became the most famous patient in the annals of neuroscience, because his case was the first to suggest a link between brain trauma and personality change. In his book An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage, the University of Melbourne's Malcolm Macmillan writes that two-thirds of introductory psychology textbooks mention Gage. Even today, his skull, the tamping iron and a mask of his face made while he was alive are the most sought-out items at the Warren Anatomical Museum on the Harvard Medical School campus.

Michael Spurlock, a database administrator in Missoula, Montana, happened upon the Wilgus daguerreotype on Flickr in December 2008. As soon as he saw the object the one-eyed man held, Spurlock knew it was not a harpoon. Too short. No wooden shaft. It looked more like a tamping iron, he thought. Instantly, a name popped into his head: Phineas Gage. Spurlock knew the Gage story well enough to know that any photograph of him would be the first to come to light. He knew enough, too, to be intrigued by Gage's appearance, if it was Gage. Over the years, accounts of his changed character had gone far beyond Harlow's observations, Macmillan says, turning him into an ill-tempered, shiftless drunk. But the man in the Flickr photogragh seemed well-dressed and confident.

It was Spurlock who told the Wilguses that the man in their daguerreotype might be Gage. After Beverly finished her online research, she and Jack concluded that the man probably was. She e-mailed a scan of the photograph to the Warren museum. Eventually it reached Jack Eckert, the public-services librarian at Harvard's Center for the History of Medicine. "Such a 'wow' moment," Eckert recalls. It had to be Gage, he determined. How many mid-19th-century men with a mangled eye and scarred forehead had their portrait taken holding a metal tool? A tool with an inscription on it?

The Wilguses had never noticed the inscription; after all, the daguerreotype measures only 2.75 inches by 3.25 inches. But a few days after receiving Spurlock's tip, Jack, a retired photography professor, was focusing a camera to take a picture of his photograph. "There's writing on that rod!" Jack said. He couldn't read it all, but part of it seemed to say, "through the head of Mr. Phi..."

In March 2009, Jack and Beverly went to Harvard to compare their picture with Gage's mask and the tamping iron, which had been inscribed in Gage's lifetime: "This is the bar that was shot through the head of Mr. Phinehas P. Gage," it reads, misspelling the name.

Harvard has not officially declared that the daguerreotype is of Gage, but Macmillan, whom the Wilguses contacted next, is quite certain. He has also learned of another photograph, he says, kept by a descendant of Gage's.

As for Spurlock, when he got word that his hunch was apparently correct, "I threw open the hallway door and told my wife, 'I played a part in a historical discovery!' "

Steve Twomey is based in New Jersey. He wrote about map and document thieves for the April 2008 issue of Smithsonian.

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Phineas Gage: Neuroscience's Most Famous Patient

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Jack and Beverly Wilgus, collectors of vintage photographs, no longer recall how they came by the 19th-century daguerreotype of a disfigured yet still-handsome man. It was at least 30 years ago. The photograph offered no clues as to where or precisely when it had been taken, who the man was or why he was holding a tapered rod.

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B1 Reading Test

Read the text a famous British town and for questions 1 to 7, choose the correct answers.

Chocolate town for chocolate workers

If you love chocolate, maybe you have eaten a bar of Cadbury's Bournville chocolate. But Bournville isn't just the name of an English chocolate bar. It's the name of a village which was built especially for workers at the Cadbury's chocolate factory.
George and Richard Cadbury took over the cocoa and chocolate business from their father in 1861. A few years later, they decided to move the factory out of the centre of Birmingham, a city in the middle of England, to a new location where they could expand. They chose an area close to the railways and canals so that they could receive milk deliveries easily and send the finished products to stores across the country.

Here, the air was much cleaner than in the city centre, and the Cadbury brothers thought it would be a much healthier place for their employees to work. They named the site Bournville after a local river called 'The Bourn'. 'Ville', the French word for town, was used because at the time, people thought French chocolate was the highest quality. The new factory opened in 1879. Close to it, they built a village where the factory workers could live. By 1900, there were 313 houses on the site, and many more were built later.

The Cadbury family were religious and believed that it was right to help other people. They thought their workers deserved to live and work in good conditions. In the factory, workers were given a fair wage, a pension and access to medical treatment. The village was also designed to provide the best possible conditions for workers too. The houses, although traditional in style, had modern interiors, indoor bathrooms and large gardens. The village provided everything that workers needed including a shop, a school and a community centre where evening classes were held to train young members of the workforce.

Since the Cadbury family believed that their workers and their families should be fit and healthy, they added a park with hockey and football pitches, a running track, bowling green, fishing lake, and an outdoor swimming pool. A large clubhouse was built in the park so that players could change their clothes and relax after a game. Dances and dinners were also held here for the factory workers, who were never charged to use any of the sports facilities. However, because the Cadbury's believed that alcohol was bad for health and society, no pubs were ever built in Bourneville!

The Cadbury brothers were among the first business owners to ensure that their workers had good standards of living. Soon, other British factory owners were copying their ideas by providing homes and communities for their workers designed with convenience and health in mind. Today, over 25,000 people live in Bournville village. There are several facilities there to help people with special needs, such as care homes for the elderly, a hostel for people with learning difficulties and affordable homes for first-time homeowners and single people. Over a hundred years since the first house in Bournville Village was built, the aims of its founders are still carried out.

Reading comprehension test

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Chocolate town for chocolate workers - B1 English reading test - Test-English

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English B1 reading test for intermediate students (CEFR B1 level). Read a text about history and culture and answer the questions.

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B2 Reading Test

Read an article about teenage millionaires, and for questions 1 to 10, match the information to the young entrepreneur.

Teenage Social Media Millionaires

Many kids dream of becoming millionaires before they're twenty, but few realise their dreams. Some do, however. Harnessing new technology, their ideas become thriving multi-million-dollar businesses that inspire others. Let's see how some of them did it.

Dominic McVey

Dominic became a millionaire at the age of 13 due to a simple misspelling. He had been searching on the internet for information about Visa credit cards but mistakenly spelt it Viza. This took him to the website of an American company that sold scooters. Dominic had always wanted a scooter but couldn't afford one. So he contacted the site and offered to sell their scooters in the UK. The company gave him a deal: if he could sell five scooters, he would get one free. He scraped the money together, ordered the five scooters and sold them easily. After that, demand for scooters went up, and before long, he was selling thousands per week. He was later honoured by the queen as a young entrepreneur.

Maddie Bradshaw

10-year old Maddie wanted to decorate her school locker but couldn't find exactly what she wanted in the stores. So instead, she came up with her own idea. She had recently been given 50 bottle caps by her uncle, who had an old Coke machine that didn't work. She decorated these, added magnets to the back, and soon the handy, attractive magnets on her locker were attracting attention from all over the school. Her ideas didn't stop there, though. With help from her mother and a few hundred dollars' investment, she converted her bottle-cap idea into jewellery. At the age of 12, she created 'Snap-cap' necklaces with exchangeable magnetic pendants and add-ons, allowing girls to make custom designs that reflected their personalities. She made her first million when she was 13.

Nick D'Aloisio

15-year-old Nick was struggling with the amount of news on the internet. Despite his intention to keep up-to-date with current affairs, there just seemed no end to the stream of information. So he came up with 'Trimit', an app that compressed news articles into short summaries. Trimit was pretty basic, and summaries were mostly gibberish. However, the app attracted the attention of a Hong Kong investment company, which gave Nick $300,000 to develop his idea. He improved the app and re-launched it under the name 'Summly'. This version was very successful and later sold to Yahoo! for 30 million dollars. Now Nick runs a team of programmers who work on algorithms and language processing intricacies while he focuses on design.

Sean Belnick

As a young teenager, Sean made money by selling Pokemon cards and mowing lawns. But he also had an eye for business and paid curious attention to his stepfather's work as a manufacturer's representative for office furniture. He noticed that customers generally had no need for face to face contact with suppliers, so he invested $500, learned HTML programming and created a website from which he sold mid-price office chairs. He sourced these directly from the manufacturer and stored them in his bedroom. His timing was perfect, as his business launched when companies were looking to cut costs. Sean, a millionaire by the age of 16, continues to work with his stepfather in a partnership that brings together experience gained over time and youthful, fresh ideas. Their company has won an award for its efforts to reduce energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Take the reading test

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Teenage Social Media Millionaires - B2 English reading test - Test-English

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English reading test for upper-intermediate students (CEFR B2). You can use this reading practice test to prepare for Cambridge B2 First, IELTS (5.5 - 6), TOEIC (785 - 940) or TOEFL iBT (72 - 94)

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Listen to a student explain why she can't come to class to practise and improve your listening skills.

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Customers might not think about competition when they're walking through the grocery store or making an online purchase, but it happens to be a cornerstone of business and the free economy that impacts every single thing that's bought and sold. Technically, competition consists of the cumulative force of actions taken by companies that're designed to improve their market standing, sales, and ultimately, profits. But really, competition is simply what allows businesses to try and get ahead of each other, and consumers to get the best possible value.

Like many business ideas, competition is best explained through an example. Imagine that a company opens a profitable retail location and sells bread at an enormous profit. After another company notices all the profits that're being made through bread sales in this neighborhood, they may open a store of their own and undercut the competition, or sell similar items or services for lower prices. The first company may respond by lowering their own prices (so they sell more bread to their former customers, who're presumably buying the cheaper bread), and the end result is much cheaper bread for consumers. In this way, businesses going head-to-head benefits customers.

Reverse competition, or the tendency of some businesses to purchase items that're being sold below market value (or the price that an item can reasonably be expected to sell for) and reprice them, is also a business practice that's worth considering. Imagine that a bread company, to limit the success of other businesses, sells their bread that's worth five dollars per loaf elsewhere for one dollar per loaf. Instead of being pushed out of the market, a competing business could recognize the discrepancy between the bread's value and its sale price, and then proceed to purchase all the first company's bread for one dollar and resell it for two dollars with their own label.

The effects of not having competition, in a particular professional sphere or entire economies, are devastating to consumers and the wellbeing of citizens generally. Consider the example of railroad companies in Europe and America a couple centuries back that owned a multitude of tracks and land; essentially no other companies existed to create competition (because the major railroad companies bought all the land and kept others from doing so), and they were able to charge whatever high prices they wanted. This described scenario is an example of a monopoly, or a situation when one company has complete control over an industry and its prices due to a lack of competition.

Lastly, an oligopoly is a style of competition wherein businesses are small in number and coordinate with each other to raise prices-thus making goods and services more expensive for consumers. Modern-day examples of oligopolies are satellite television and internet services, which, although they cost companies very little to provide, are billed to consumers for sizable sums. Thus, something of a general understanding has been reached by leading internet and television companies, as they would make far less money if they competed rigorously.

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Customers might not think about competition when they're walking through the grocery store or making an online purchase, but it happens to be a cornerstone of business and the free economy that impacts every single thing that's bought and sold.

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audacity-bravery
heist -synonym for robbery

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One of the most notorious robberies in English history took place on 8, August, 1963, when a gang of men stole over two million pounds (US$53 million in 2018) from a night mail train in the countryside outside London. The daring audacity of the raid and its meticulous planning have given the heist iconic status.

The story began months earlier when the gang received a tip-off from a post office worker that a mail train would be carrying bags of old banknotes to London for recycling, an irresistible prize for criminals as they would be untraceable.

After careful research, they chose a lonely spot 50 kilometres north of London and stopped the train in the early hours by making a false red signal.

They then swarmed onto the locomotive, hitting the driver over the head in the struggle that followed. After uncoupling the front two coaches containing the money, they drove the train to a bridge 800 metres ahead where the rest of the gang were waiting.

Here they unloaded the 128 mailbags weighing 2.5 tons onto trucks parked in the lane below. These were disguised as military vehicles taking part in a night exercise. The whole operation took just 30 minutes.

Driving slowly through back lanes to avoid detection, they arrived forty-five minutes later at a remote farmhouse which they had bought six weeks earlier. When they counted the money, they found it was far more than they had expected and amid noisy celebrations, they shared out the loot.

By listening in on police radio messages, they soon learned the police had guessed they were still in the area. Concerned that the farmhouse would soon be discovered, they decided to leave immediately and over the next 24 hours went their separate ways. Each man had about £150,000 (nearly US$4 million in 2018). The police found the farm four days later.

It was at this point that things started to go wrong. They had paid a man to clean up the farmhouse to remove all evidence but he never turned up, which meant that fingerprints remained at the farm. These would later lead to the arrest of some of the gang.

Meanwhile, as the story hit the headlines, public reaction was surprisingly sympathetic. People wished the robbers good luck rather than deplore their lawless behaviour, never mind that the driver had been brutally beaten.

The gang were eventually to become victims of their own success. The media frenzy put the police under intense pressure to make arrests, and as leading professional criminals, they were prime suspects. A few weeks later, an unknown informer who was in jail for another crime revealed most of their names, possibly in return for early release. By Christmas, most of the robbers had been caught.

When their trial came early in 1964, the sentences shocked the nation: the defendants were given a total of over 300 years in prison. The government had clearly been embarrassed by the raid - the train had neither security guards nor an alarm system - and was determined to make an example of the men.

Many criticised the harsh sentences, including the detective in charge of the investigation. But as it turned out, none of the gang served more than fifteen years, while a number escaped and four were never caught.

As for the money, to this day only a fraction of it has ever been recovered.

It is sobering to reflect that train driver, who had bravely defended the state's millions, received a mere £250 (US$6,700 in 2018) in compensation. Yet some of the robbers' wives were later paid thousands for their stories by the newspapers.

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The Great Train Robbery | Reading comprehension exercise

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The Great Train Robbery - Reading comprehension exercise for students of English. 606 words. Intermediate B1-B2. One of the UK's best-known crimes, the Great Train Robbery of 1963 was a daring heist that gave the robbers almost celebrity status. PDF download with reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammar exercises.

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Curriculum Vitaes: Tips that can Help – B1 English reading test - Test-English

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English B1 reading comprehension test for intermediate students (CEFR B1). Read a text about CVs and answer the questions.

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MOT strenghtens youth's robustness and quality of life | MOT.global

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Do you find it difficult to say no? When somebody asks you a favour or wants you to join something, it can be hard to say no. We want to help, we don't want to miss important opportunities and we don't want to offend. These are some important tips that can help you say no [...]

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The story of Socrates and the three sieves - MOT strenghtens youth's robustness and quality of life | MOT.global

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One day a man runs up to Socrates and said: "I have to tell you something about your friend who..." "Hold up" Socrates interrupts him "About the story you're about to tell me, did you put it trough the three sieves?" The man was not familiar with the three sieves, so Socrates continued: "The first [...]

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simply that people with tone deafness (or' amusia") are unable to sing in tune, they are also unable to discriminate between tones or recognize familiar melodies.

Congenial amusia , the inability to distinguish pitches.

while most people can easily distinguish differences smaller than that, when listening to melodies which have had a single note altered so that it is out of key with the rest of the melody, do not notice a problem

it might be expected that a musical impairment may be caused by a language impairment. Studies suggest, however, that language and music ability are independent of one another

Moreover, while amusics show deficiencies in their recognition of pitch differences in melodies, they show no tonal languages, such as Chinese, do not report having any difficulty discriminating between words that differ only in their intonation.

New studies, however, have suggested that the deficits in amusics are located outside the auditory cortex. Brain scans of amusics do not show any reaction at all to differences smaller than a half step, when changes in tones are large, their brains overreact, showing twice as much activity on the right side of the brain as a normal brain hearing the same thing.

The more important question now becomes one of normality

Darwin believed that music was adaptive as a way of finding a mate, but who needs to be able to sing to find a partner in an age when it is possible to express your emotions through a song on your IPod?

it must be done to determine whether lack of musical ability is actually detrimental in any way. If no disadvantages can be found of having amusia, then it is no more a disability than having poor fashion sense or bad handwriting.

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Mind Music

Scientists investigate 'earworms', the music we can't get out of our head

A Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them

'involuntary musical images', or 'earworms, and a wave of new research is shining light on why they occur and what can be learned from them. Some neuroscientists and cognitive psychologists are studying earworms to explore the mysteries of memory and the part of the brain that is beyond our conscious control. The idea that we have full control over our thought processes is an illusion,' says psychologist Lauren Stewart, who founded the master's program in music, mind and brain at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, where recent research has taken place. Researchers haven't been able to watch what happens in the brain when earworms occur, because they happen unpredictably. Much of what is known about them comes from surveys, questionnaires, diaries and lab experiments.

B A Goldsmiths study published in the journal Memory and Cognition this year showed that the singing we hear in our heads tends to be true to actual recordings. Researchers had 17 volunteers tap to the beat of any earworm they heard during a four-day period while a device attached to their wrist recorded their movements. The tapping tempos were within 10% of the tempos of the original recordings. Another Goldsmiths study, published this year in Consciousness and Cognition, found that people who report hearing earworms often, and find them most intrusive, have slightly different brain structures, with more gray matter in areas associated with processing emotions.

C Studies also show that the music in our heads often starts playing during times of 'low cognitive load', such as while showering, getting dressed, walking, or doing chores. Dr Stewart likens earworms to 'sonic screen savers' that keep the mind entertained while it is otherwise unoccupied. She and her colleagues tested that theory by having volunteers listen to songs and giving them various tasks afterwards. The volunteers who sat idly for the next five minutes were the most likely to report hearing the music m their heads. Dr Stewart observed that the more challenging the activity, the less likely the volunteers were to hear the music. Diary studies also show songs tend to match people's moods and therefore they are not random. If you are energized and upbeat, an earworm that occurs is likely to be uptempo too.

D Songs the brain fixates on are usually those it has been exposed to recently, surveys show, which is why tunes getting heavy radio play frequently top the earworm charts. Even tunes you may have heard but didn't pay attention to can worm their way into your subconscious, says Ira Hyman, a psychologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, USA. In an unpublished study there, participants who listened to music while doing other tasks were more likely to report that the songs returned as earworms later on, compared with participants who simply listened.

E Some earworms are just fragments of a song that repeat like a broken record. So, when the mind hits a part of a song it can't remember, it loops back rather than moving on. That could make an earworm even more entrenched, Dr Hyman says. According to a theory known as the Zeigarik effect, named for a Soviet psychologist, Bluma Zeigarnik, unfinished thoughts and activities weigh on the mind more heavily than those that are completed, although experiments exposing students to interrupted songs have yielded mixed results.

F Researchers say they can't pinpoint a spot in the brain where earworms live. Imaging studies by Andrea Halpern at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, USA, have shown that deliberately imagining music and actually listening to music activate many of the same neurological networks. Dr Halpern's earlier studies showed that when subjects listened to the first few notes of familiar music, areas in the right frontal and superior temporal portions of the brain became activated, along with the supplementary motor area at the top, which is typically involved in remembering sequences. When the same subjects listened to unfamiliar music and were asked to recall it, there was activity in the left frontal portions of the brain instead.

G One factor that makes some songs stick might be repetition. 'Repetition leads to familiarity which leads to anticipation, which is satisfied by hearing the song,' says John Seabrook, author of The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory, about how producers pump pop songs full of aural "hooks', the punchy melodic phrases designed to target the brain and leave it wanting more. The researchers are comparing the melodic structure of 100 often-mentioned songs with 100 similarly popular songs that weren't cited as earworms, to assess the difference. Songs with earworm potential appear to share certain features: a repeating pattern of ups and downs in pitch, and an irregular musical interval.

H The researchers plan next to test their results in reverse, and play ringtones from songs of both the earworm and non earworm variety for volunteers several times a day to see which ones get stuck. Drs Stewart and Halper are now working together to recruit survey participants for a study looking at whether people at different stages of life experience earworms differently. 'You can argue that older people might get them more often because they know more songs,' Dr Halpern says. 'But the few responses we have so far indicate that they have earworms less often. It could be that they don't play music as often as younger people do.

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Mind Music - IELTS reading practice test

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Scientists investigate 'earworms', the music we can't get out of our head A Ever had a song stuck in your head, playing on an endless loop? Scientists call them 'involuntary musical images', or 'earworms, and a wave of new research is shining light on why they occur and what can be learned from them.

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ket- free reading practice  exam practice english language elt efl grammar writing structure cambridge business exercises a2

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Read the description of a new shopping mall and answer questions about it.

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cefr a2 vocab words ket- free reading practice  exam practice english language elt efl grammar writing structure cambridge business exercises a2

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A2 Listening Practice: Describing people

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Listen to Kevin and Maria. They are talking about Maria and her sister, Catherine. Choose true or false.

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Pollution and the environment

In this B2 Pre-advanced Vocabulary Lesson about Pollution and the Environment, you will learn crucial terms related to environmental protection and sustainability. From the damaging effects of a growing carbon footprint to the protective actions of reforestation and sustainable practices, this lesson will equip you with the language needed to talk about environmental challenges and solutions. Check the pictures and read the texts and definitions below.

Threats to the environment

Our planet is facing an environmental crisis exacerbated by our growing carbon footprint¹. This footprint results from all the greenhouse gases² we emit, often from burning fossil fuels³ like coal, oil, and natural gas for energy. These gases, including carbon dioxide, are the primary culprits behind the greenhouse effect⁴, trapping heat in our atmosphere and leading to global warming⁵ and climate change⁶. The consequences of climate change are very serious, with extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels⁷ and the alarming process of desertification⁸, where once fertile lands become deserts.

Deforestation⁹ plays a significant role in accelerating these environmental issues. Cutting down vast areas of forest releases carbon dioxide and reduces the Earth's capacity to absorb existing carbon, making it difficult to counteract our ecological footprint¹⁰. This footprint measures the impact of human activity on Earth's resources, indicating how sustainably we live.

Another pressing issue is plastic waste¹¹, which clogs our oceans and landscapes, taking centuries to decompose. The accumulation of plastic not only pollutes but also contributes to shrinking habitats¹², threatening the survival of countless species. As our natural spaces dwindle, the delicate balance of ecosystems is disrupted, underscoring the urgency with which we must address our environmental responsibilities.

1 Carbon footprint: The total amount of greenhouse gases released by a person, group, or activity.

2 Greenhouse gases: Gases like carbon dioxide that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

3 Fossil fuels: Natural fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas that are used for energy.

4 Greenhouse effect: A process that occurs when certain gases in the Earth's atmosphere trap the sun's heat and warm the planet.

5 Global warming: Gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect.

6 Climate change: Changes in global or regional climate patterns, largely due to the increase of the Earth's temperature.

7 Rising sea levels: Increasing height of the ocean's surface, mainly due to the melting of ice caps and glaciers and the expansion of seawater as it warms.

8 Desertification: The process by which fertile land becomes desert, often because of drought and deforestation.

9 Deforestation: The clearing or thinning of forests by humans that cut down trees often to make way for agriculture or development.

10 Ecological footprint: A measure of how much an individual or group consumes resources and generates waste, compared to the Earth's ability to regenerate those resources and absorb the waste.

11 Plastic waste: Used plastic items that are discarded and can harm the environment because they take a long time to break down.

12 Shrinking habitats: The reduction in the size of the natural environments where plants and animals live, often due to human activities like urbanization or pollution.

Helping the environment

Eco-friendly practices¹ are leading the fight against worldwide environmental problems, and using renewable energy² is a key part of this effort. More and more, we see solar farms³ and wind turbines⁴ across the land, using natural energy to make cleaner electricity. Alongside energy solutions, forest protection⁵ and reforestation⁶ are vital eco-friendly practices. They not only help reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also enhance wildlife conservation⁷ by preserving natural habitats.

A growing environmental awareness⁸ drives governments and individuals to advocate for sustainable practices⁹. Every day, more and more efforts and policies are implemented to improve pollution control¹⁰ and waste management¹¹. A key component of waste management is recycling, which helps reduce the amount of trash in landfills and leads to the creation of eco-friendly products¹². Often made from recycled or organic materials, these products represent a shift towards more environmentally friendly consumption and production patterns.

1 Eco-friendly practices: Actions that help protect the environment by reducing waste and conserving natural resources.

2 Renewable energy: Energy made from natural sources that never run out, like the sun and wind.

3 Solar farms: Large-scale setups of solar panels that capture sunlight and convert it into electrical energy.

4 Wind turbines: Tall structures with blades that spin with the wind to generate electricity.

5 Forest protection: Efforts to preserve forests from deforestation and promote biodiversity.

6 Reforestation: The act of planting trees in deforested areas to rebuild forest ecosystems.

7 Wildlife conservation: The practice of protecting wild species and their habitats to prevent extinction.

8 Environmental awareness: Understanding the importance of protecting the environment and promoting healthy ecosystems.

9 Sustainable practices: Methods of using resources that ensure they are not depleted or permanently damaged.

10 Pollution control: Strategies and technologies used to reduce the release of harmful substances into the environment.

11 Waste management: The process of treating and disposing of trash in ways that are safe and do not hurt the environment, like recycling.

12 Eco-friendly products: Items made using recycled materials or natural materials that are not harmful to the environment.

Verb phrases and phrasal verbs

1 If you cut down a tree, you cut its trunk so that it falls to the ground.

2 If you cut back (on) something, such as CO2 emissions, you reduce it.

3 If something breaks down, it decays or decomposes into smaller parts.

4 If you switch to something, such as clean energy, recycled materials, etc., you start using these new practices, materials, etc. instead of the old ones.

5 If you preserve something like natural resources or endangered species, you protect them from damage, depletion or extinction.

6 If you tackle a problem, such as environmental issues, global warming, climate change, etc., you take action to deal with it and try to find solutions.

7 If you dump something like garbage, waste, chemicals, etc. you get rid of it, often in an improper or careless way, such as throwing it in a non-designated area.

8 If you become self-sufficient, you are able to provide for your own needs without relying on external sources, often in terms of producing your own food or energy.

9 If you harm the environment, an ecosystem, etc., you cause damage to it, often through pollution or destructive practices.

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Pollution and the environment - B2 English Vocabulary - Test-English

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English B2 pre-advanced vocabulary lesson on Pollution & the Environment with pictures, examples, exercises, and fun games.

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Making a change How easy is it for us to change our lives - and why?

In 1990, a young American named Christopher McCandless gave up his career plans, left behind everyone he knew, including his family, and went off on an adventure. He was 22 at the time. In an act of kindness, he donated all his savings to the famous charity, Oxfam International, and hitchhiked his way through America to Alaska. His decisions were so unusual for his age that Jon Krakauer wrote a book about them called Into the Wild, and Sean Penn directed a film that had the same title.

Of course, this is an unusual story. Most college graduates would not do quite the same thing. However, studies do show that in teenage years, people are more likely to try out new experiences. Instead of following the family career path, for example, and working his way up the same organisation like his grandfather did, a 15-year-old may dream about becoming a traveller - only to find in his early 20s that this fascination with new places is declining and change is less attractive. This age-related trend can be observed in all cultures.

The reason why people all over the world become less keen to change as they get older may be because people's lives generally follow similar patterns and involve similar demands. Most people, wherever they are, aim to find a job and a partner. As they get older, they may have young children to look after and possibly elderly family members. These responsibilities cannot be achieved without some degree of consistency, which means that new experiences and ideas may not have a place in the person's life. New experiences may bring excitement but also insecurity, and so most people prefer to stay with the familiar.

However, not every individual is the same. One toddler may want to play a different game every day and get fed up if nothing changes at the nursery. Another may seek out and play with the same children and toys on every visit. Young children who avoid new experiences will grow up to be more conventional than others. Psychologists argue that those who have more open personalities as children are more open than others might be when they are older. They also suggest that young men have a greater interest in novelty than women, although, as they age, this desire for new experiences fades more quickly than it does in women.

The truth is that, as we get older, we prefer the things we know. We tend to order the same meals in restaurants, sit on the same side of the train when we commute to work, go on holiday to the same places and construct our day in the same way. If you are older than 20, remember that your openness to new experiences is slowly declining.

So you are better off making a new start today than postponing it until later.

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Making a change How easy is it for us to change our lives - and why? - IELTS reading practice test

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Making a change How easy is it for us to change our lives - and why? reading practice test has 6 questions belongs to the General Training subject. All of the questions are YES-NO-NOT GIVEN form

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Charles Darwin - a genius remembered. Advanced English

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The name of Charles Darwin is known all over the world, and Darwin is remembered as one of the greatest scientists of all time

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Read about how the film Star Wars follows a pattern found in myths to practise and improve your reading skills.

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The Hero's Journey, or monomyth, is a narrative structure found in myths and stories across cultures. It consists of three stages: Departure, Initiation, and Return, and involves the hero's call to adventure, trials, personal transformation, and the bringing back of a reward or boon.

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Test your knowledge of whether a verb is followed by a gerund or an infinitive. Basic exercise 1 of 30.

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Listen to the lecture about a science experiment to practise and improve your listening skills.

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English Tenses- Mixed Exercise | English4u

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Advanced Exercise on English tenses - mixed online exercise.

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English Test - Grammar Tenses Mix :: Learn English online - free exercises, explanations, games, teaching materials and plenty of information on English language.

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1. Present perfect negative notion or present perfect continuous positive notion

2. Past tense negative with did , and b past tense is WAS or WERE

3. Evidence +going to

4. Last summer , simple past

5. Simple past from the sentence 4

6. Before with simple past , and the second half is HAD

7. While , two things at the same time

8. Simple past with fact

9. Fact and simple past

10. At the moment present continuous

11. Present perfect already

12. I think+ will

13. Facts

14. Speculation , with will

15. Maybe next future speculative concept with will

16. Modal verb and present perfect Already

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As when while  in the past two things happen at the same time  

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As when while  in the past two things happen at the same time  

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Please be careful about the factual statement , they are just fact , fact of the past fact of the present or fact of the future , just facts

I hope , I believe , Maybe , I promise , I am sure , I think ....with will

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A famous actress is interviewed about her recent work.

Dennis: Joining me this evening on Theatre Hour is the recent winner of the New York Times Actress of the Year award Jenny Longton. She's currently appearing on Broadway in the spectacular musical, Daydreams. Jenny, welcome to the show.

Jenny: Thank you Dennis. It's a pleasure to be here.

Dennis: Your life has been rather hectic recently, wouldn't you say?

Jenny: Oh yes, I haven't had time to take a breath, honestly, for about six months.

Dennis: Tell us what you're up to.

Jenny: Well, Daydreams has been running for three months now but I've been working non-stop since I began working on my new movie.

Dennis: Ah yes, this is quite a departure for you, isn't it?

Jenny: In as much as I have never worked in cinema before, yes it is. I have found it a very rewarding experience and...

Dennis: ...very different challenges compared to the theatre work...

Jenny: Oh, totally. But that's been the great thing. From the audition to when we began shooting, it's just been a steep learning curve for me. You don't have time to sit down and think "what am I doing here? I belong in a little theatre in Kansas"

Dennis: Tell us something about this movie.

Jenny: Well, everyone knows Tom Cruise plays the lead role but it's a team performance to tell you the truth. Yeah, Tom is our quarterback but he has great support all across the field...

Dennis: What position are you in this football team?

Jenny: Me? Oh..I carry the sponge to the injured guys. No, seriously, I play one of Tom's wives. I don't want to give too much away, to spoil things for the listeners, but Tom isn't exactly a good guy in this movie. He treats me pretty bad and plays around with my head a fair bit.

Dennis: What was Tom Cruise like to work with?

Jenny: Oh listen! You know you get all these up and coming actors and people who just say, who just gush away at the big stars and say how wonderful they are, but with Tom it's been great. He put me at ease from the first take and you don't ever feel star struck or....well, that's not exactly true. I was a little in awe on day one. We were out in the desert in Arizona and I just wanted to ask Tom for his autograph. What an amateur. But he makes it simple and that was the key for me.

Dennis: Now you say you don't want to give too much away but you could give us a little taster, couldn't you?

Jenny: Oh sure...this is a superb, dark mystery in the great tradition of cinema. Leaves you guessing right until the final frame. A lotta twists and turns in the plot. And, I gotta say, some great cinematography too. I just mentioned Arizona but we've been moving around in a lot of great areas like Texas, Montana, Oregon and so on.

Dennis: Hmmm...sounds like a bit of a road movie.

Jenny: Ha...no, but Tom is moving around a lot in the story. Mainly to get away from me - well, he can try, can't he?

Dennis: Has the title been confirmed or a release date yet?

Jenny: The movie is gonna be called "Choices" and we are looking at a release date around Christmas.

Dennis: How do you fit in the filming with your work on Daydreams? It can't be possible, can it?

Jenny: I didn't think so either. Err, well, what we did was to do my location shots at the start of filming before Daydreams started, now I am filming either in New York or a little in Chicago too.

Dennis: So you are commuting between New York and Chicago?

Jenny: Yeah....

Dennis: Oh, you don't sound....

Jenny: Well, I mean, it's not ideal. I miss Grace and Larry isn't...

Dennis: Your daughter and husband....

Jenny: Yes, being married with a child doesn't easily allow for you to be getting up at five in the morning for a flight to O'Hare. But we all know this is what I've wanted to do since I can't remember when.

Dennis: A worthwhile sacrifice, wouldn't you say?

Jenny: Oh, positive in that respect. Yeah, sure. The Chicago scenes are almost done now anyway, so I'll be in the Big Apple in a month until the end of shooting.

Dennis: Now, if we can just switch subjects a little.

Jenny: Hmm mm..

Dennis: You raked up a lot of controversy recently when you criticized Broadway's policy on using women in major productions. Were you surprised at people's reactions to that?

Jenny: In what way exactly?

Dennis: Well, it was said you were biting the hand that was feeding you and ...

Jenny: That wasn't fair.

Dennis: You don't think so?

Jenny: It was like I was supposed to keep quiet just because I worked there. Come on - get real. I work there so I have more right than anyone else to make the observations I did. You notice I called them observations, and NOT criticisms.

Dennis: Observations that were quite, erm, let's say, erm - critical.

Jenny: I am far from being a lone voice in stating this opinion. It just happens that I'm well known, starring in a current musical, acting, erm, performing now in this movie with a star like Tom Cruise, and now the press are interested in what I have to say. Was this point any less valid two years ago when I made it?

Dennis: Which you did?

Jenny: Oh, yeah, I can find you the article, or rather the square inch, that my comments appeared in. Look, I think women are getting a raw deal on Broadway currently and I would like to see something done to ensure the huge array of very talented female performers at our disposal are given the chance to shine. That's all I want. A level playing field for everyone.

Dennis: If there are changes to these policies, will you still be around on Broadway or sipping champagne in Hollywood?

Jenny: Oh, no, my heart will always be on the stage. Doing this movie has given me a new aspect to my professional life, but I would never leave that, the theatre side of me I mean, behind.

Dennis: Jenny Longton, as always, it's been great speaking with you. The best of luck with all your projects and come back and see us as soon as possible.

Jenny: Just try and stop me! Thanks for having me on the show Dennis.

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Advanced Listening | Interview with an Actress - Transcript | esl-lounge Student

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A famous actress is interviewed about her recent work. Dennis: Joining me this evening on Theatre Hour is the recent winner of the New York Times Actress of the Year award Jenny Longton. She's currently appearing on Broadway in the spectacular musical, Daydreams. Jenny, welcome to the show. Jenny: Thank you Dennis.

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How many carrots he picked up?

What happened with the bucket ?

Why did he need to wash the carrots fast ?

Why did he wash them in the sink ?

The next day ..he spent money ...how much and why?

Plumber ?

Electrician?

The hole in the wall?

Carpenter ?

Where did they find the problem?

Summary , shock , bank 10000 minus

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B1+ Reading Test

Read the text about eco-terrorism and for questions 1 to 6, choose the correct answers.

Seeding clouds to make rain

Drought is an increasing problem in our warming world. All continents have been experiencing more extended periods without rain, leading to forest fires and poor crop growth. Consequently, people are looking at cloud seeding to solve the problem. Cloud seeding is a method of encouraging precipitation by distributing small particles of silver iodide into clouds.

Cloud-seeding expert Arlen Huggins has been studying its effectiveness. 'My earliest experience was to use cloud seeding to reduce the amount of hail in northeast Colorado. They don't get huge hailstones here, like in the Midwest, but they get it more often. We didn't have any luck with that, but we had success later on in increasing snowfall in Utah. Now, the focus is shifting towards increasing rainfall from summer clouds, which is far more unpredictable.

The problem is that it's pretty hard to know whether precipitation resulted directly from cloud seeding. It might have rained or snowed anyway. Even if you cloud seed in one place and don't in another, it's impossible to know for sure what caused the precipitation unless the cloud system is straightforward, like fog that otherwise has no chance of forming rain or snow.

However, it's not during foggy and snowy conditions that people think of increasing the chance of rainfall. It's when a country is hit by drought, and then cloud seeding isn't an option due to the lack of clouds. In warm conditions, only storm clouds can produce rain by seeding, while during drought, skies tend to be clear with a few wispy clouds. The best option to prevent drought is to seed at times of the year when rainfall levels are normal or higher. That way, slightly more rain can be extracted and stored in reservoirs for the dry season.

As cloud seeding is expensive and its effectiveness tenuous, its usefulness is still a matter of opinion. University of Colorado researcher Katja Friedrich says cloud seeding can't end a drought. However, it can be beneficial, provided it occurs alongside other water conservation strategies. Arlen Huggins is of the same mind. Increasing precipitation through cloud seeding would significantly benefit the economy in the large water basin where he works. Still, for that to happen, the water would need to be captured and stored effectively.

There are also environmental issues regarding the impact of cloud seeding. At high levels, silver iodide can harm humans and other mammals, and some studies have found silver compounds to be slightly toxic. However, several ecological studies have shown minor environmental and health impacts. Where cloud seeding has taken place, the amount of silver compounds in the soil and vegetation has been found to be no higher than natural levels. Even so, some environmentalists are concerned about the long-term impacts, as there isn't data on how much silver iodide accumulates in the environment over periods exceeding ten years.

Another fear is that cloud seeding could potentially steal water from neighbouring areas by encouraging the water in clouds that would otherwise fall somewhere else to fall in your location. According to Maarten Ambaum from the University of Reading, it is possible to use cloud seeding to make rain fall on your farm, which otherwise would fall on your neighbour's farm. It's not the case, though, that if one country uses cloud seeding to create rain, a neighbouring country will lose out because clouds are constantly forming and reforming.

Reading comprehension test

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Seeding clouds to make rain - B1+ English Reading test - Test-English

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English reading comprehension test for upper-intermediate students (CEFR B2.1). Read a text about cloud seeding and answer the questions.

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Rubik's Cube - How the puzzle achieved success

Erno Rubik first studied sculpture and then later architecture in Budapest, where he went on to become a teacher of interior design. It was while he was working as a teacher that he began the preliminary work on an invention that he called the 'Magic Cube'.

Rubik was inspired by geometric puzzles such as the Chinese tangram, a puzzle consisting of various triangles, a square and a parallelogram which can be combined to create different shapes and figures. However, unlike the tangram, which is two- dimensional, Rubik was more interested in investigating how three-dimensional forms, such as the cube, could be moved and combined to produce other forms.

His design consisted of a cube made up of layers of individual smaller cubes, and each smaller cube could be turned in any direction except diagonally. To ensure that the cubes could move independently, without falling apart, Rubik first attempted to join them together using elastic bands. However, this proved to be impossible, so Rubik then solved the problem by assembling them using a rounded interior. This permitted them to move smoothly and easily. He experimented with different ways of marking the smaller cubes, but ended up with the simple solution of giving a different colour to each side. The object was to twist the layers of small cubes so that each side of the large cube was an identical colour.

Rubik took out a patent for the Cube in 1977 and started manufacturing it in the same year. The Cube came to the attention of a Hungarian businessman, Tibor Laczi, who then demonstrated it at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. When British toy expert Tom Kremer saw it, he thought it was amazing and he persuaded a manufacturer, Ideal Toys, to produce 1 million of them in 1979. Ideal Toys renamed the Cube after the toy's inventor, and in 1980, Rubik's Cube was shown at toy fairs all over the world. It won that year's prize in Germany for Best Puzzle. Rubik's Cube is believed to be the world's best-selling puzzle; since its invention, more than 300 million Cubes have been sold worldwide.

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Rubik's Cube - How the puzzle achieved success - IELTS reading practice test

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Rubik's Cube - How the puzzle achieved success reading practice test has 7 questions belongs to the Short Practice subject. All of the questions are Summary, form completion form

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The ballpoint pen

The ballpoint pen

Most of us have at least one, but how did this popular item evolve?

One morning in 1945, a crowd of 5,000 people jammed the entrance of Gimbels Department Store in New York. The day before, Gimbels had placed a full-page advertisement in the New York Times for a wonderful new invention, the ballpoint pen. The advertisement described the pen as 'fantastic' and 'miraculous'. Although they were expensive, $12.50 each, all 10,000 pens in stock were sold on the first day.

In fact, this 'new' pen was not new at all. In 1888, John Loud, a leather manufacturer, had invented a pen with a reservoir of ink and a rolling ball. However, his pen was never produced, and efforts by other people to produce a commercially successful one failed too. The main problem was with the ink. If it was too thin, the ink leaked out of the pen. If it was too thick, it didn't come out of the pen at all.

Almost fifty years later, in 1935, a newspaper editor in Hungary thought he spent too much time filling his pens with ink. He decided to invent a better kind of pen. With the help of his brother, who was a chemist, he produced a ballpoint pen that didn't leak when the pen wasn't being used. The editor was called Ladislas Biro, and it was his name that people would associate more than any other with the ballpoint pen.

By chance, Biro met Augustine Justo, the Argentinian president. Justo was so impressed with Biro's invention that he invited him to set up a factory in Argentina. In 1943, the first Biro pens were produced.

Unfortunately, they were not popular, since the pen needed to be held in a vertical position for the ink to come out. Biro redesigned the pen with a better ball, and in 1944 the new product was on sale throughout Argentina.

It was a North American, Milton Reynolds, who introduced the ballpoint pen to the USA. Copying Biro's design, he produced the version that sold so well at Gimbels. Another American, Patrick Frawley, improved the design and in 1950 began producing a pen he called the Papermate. It was an immediate success, and within a few years, Papermates were selling in their millions around the world.

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The ballpoint pen - IELTS reading practice test

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The ballpoint pen reading practice test has 5 questions belongs to the Short Practice subject. All of the questions are Sentence Completion form

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The electric revolution

Your next car may be electric. We look at the technologies that will bring the revolution.

The main reasons why electric cars are not more popular at present are their price and their relatively small range. Existing battery systems only allow electric cars to travel a distance of between 100 and 160 km. However, this distance may not be a problem for urban drivers. A recent Sydney study reported that 20 percent of journeys were 30 km or less, and recent data from the US suggests that ?? percent of trips taken there are 48 km or less.

An innovative company called Better Place is aiming to make electric cars an option for all drivers. It wants to see existing vehicles replaced by electric vehicles which, it says, offer a number of benefits. Firstly, they can be powered by renewable energy which produces zero emissions. What is more, electric motors are more efficient and can convert more than 90 percent of power into movement, whereas the

efficiency of diesel or petrol engines is less than 20 percent. To achieve its aim, Better Place plans to use technology which is already available.

The plan is simple but revolutionary. It starts with the installation of a home charge point, and through this, the vehicle will be plugged into the electricity grid whenever it is in the garage, typically at night. In the morning, with a fully charged battery, the car is capable of as much as 160 km in urban motoring conditions. In addition to the home charge point, the battery can be topped up by charge points at work and at supermarkets.

The battery is linked to a control centre by smart technology inside the vehicle. Better Place can then ensure that the car is charged with electricity from renewable sources at the cheapest price. For longer trips, a navigation system directs the driver to the nearest switch station, where the depleted battery can be replaced with a charged one by a robot within a couple of minutes.

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The electric revolution - IELTS reading practice test

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The electric revolution reading practice test has 6 questions belongs to the Short Practice subject. All of the questions are Plan, map, diagram labelling form

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IELTS General Reading free samples. Sample 2.3 - IELTS-up

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IELTS General Reading practice: sample with auto-correction and answers 2.3.

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definition . history bonus .origin of its roots 

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definition . history bonus .origin of its roots 

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a/ Unlike strength training which involves weights, machines or resistance bands, calisthenics uses only the body’s own weight for physical development.

b/Battle of Thermopolylae. Herodotus reported that, prior to the battle, the god-king Xerxes sent a scout party to spy on his Spartan enemies. The scouts informed Xerxes that the Spartans, under the leadership of King Leonidas, were practicing some kind of bizarre, synchronised movements akin to a tribal dance., only 300 Spartans

c/The combination of athleticism and physical beauty. You may have heard a friend whimsically sigh and mention that someone ‘has the body of a Greek god’.

d/ the birth of gymnastics 1800s , these were people of astounding physical strength and development who forged nomadic careers by demonstrating outlandish feats of strength to stunned populations. Most of these men trained using hand balancing and horizontal bars, as modern weight machines had not yet been invented.

e/In the 1950s, Angelo Siciliano, dying breed

a series of mail order comic books he taught these methods to hundreds of thousands of children and young adults

f/1960/70 the sport of body building.Physical development of this nature was only attainable through the use of anabolic steroids, synthetic hormones which boosted muscle development while harming overall health

g/In this “bigger is better” climate, calisthenics was relegated to groups perceived to be vulnerable, such as women, people recuperating from injuries and school students.

h/ in recent year =everything is shifting backto Modern practices often combine elements from a number of related traditions such as yoga, Pilates, kettle-ball training, gymnastics and traditional Greco-Roman calisthenics.

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Fill in the correct form of the PAST TENSE (Simple or Progressive)

"What between 5 and 7 yesterday afternoon? (YOU DO) - I in the Red Lion Pub with a lot of other people. (SIT)

1. The weather was bad as I in a queue for the cinema - It heavily and a cold wind ( STAND, RAIN, BLOW)

2. Linda and John the car when it to rain. They everything away and into the house where mother cookies. (WASH, START, PUT, RUN, JUST MAKE)

3. Yesterday when I home from school, a man out on the road. Luckily I very fast, so I managed to stop in time and him. (CYCLE, STEP, NOT GO, NOT HIT)

4. The car strange noises all the way home. (MAKE)

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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Past Tense - Simple or Progressive 2 - English Grammar Exercises

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Fill in the correct form of the PAST TENSE (Simple or Progressive) "What between 5 and 7 yesterday afternoon? (YOU DO) - I in the Red Lion Pub with a lot of other people.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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English Tenses 042 - Interactive Grammar Practice

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Fill in the correct form of the verb . All tenses

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In this article Frei and Morriss outline an effective way to leverage the power of storytelling.

They outline four key steps:
- understand your story so well that you can describe it in simple terms
- honor the past
- articulate a mandate for change
- lay out a rigorous and optimistic path forward

Understand your story so well that you can describe it in simple terms:
When you think about the change you want to lead, ask yourself this: Can I capture my vision in a page? A paragraph? A word?

Honor the past:
In a study of large organizational change initiatives, the University of
Amsterdam’s Merlijn Venus and colleagues found that employees commonly feared their soon-to-be-transformed company would no longer be the organization they valued and identified with. The greater the uncertainty around the initiative, the greater the anxiety. Leaders were most effective in building support for change when they also emphasized continuity, the researchers found. You don’t need to have all the answers to begin addressing the difficult parts of your company’s past. You do need to be willing to look at them unflinchingly and deal honorably with whatever you find.

Provide a Clear and Compelling Mandate for Change:
Now that you’ve honored the past—the good, the bad, and the ugly—and opened your stakeholders’ minds at least somewhat to your message, it’s time to share your rationale for creating a different future.
Begin by reflecting on the “why” of your plan. What problem are you
trying to solve?

Describe a Rigorous and Optimistic Way Forward:
Your next step is to get into the weeds of your plan. What persuaded you to choose the road ahead? How confident are you that it’s passable? In addressing those questions, you want to convey two things: rigor and, again, optimism. Data can help you demonstrate the first to stakeholders. When it comes to data in storytelling, less is more.

Both Frei and Morriss talk about emotions—an underexplored part of
leading change.

Evolution has taught us to pay close attention to one another’s feelings, particularly those of people with influence over our security and well-being. That unconscious vigilance can be both an asset and a liability for executives. It means that a leader’s optimism is highly infectious—but so are emotions such as stress and anxiety.

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T097 - The Stranger in the Car

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to Klaus Rosmanitz.

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T097 - Stranger in the Car - Tense Exercises - English Grammar Practice

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What and when is Holi?

Holi is an ancient Hindu festival that originated in India and Nepal and is now celebrated in many places around the world. Holi marks the beginning of spring. The date changes each year, depending on the full moon, but it is held sometime between the end of February and the middle of March and lasts a night and a day.

What does Holi celebrate?

Holi is a celebration of good winning over evil. It is also a time to forgive people, make peace and repair broken relationships, as well as playing and having fun.

What happens on Holika Dahan?

The festivities start on the night before Holi, which is called Holika Dahan. People build bonfires that represent good winning over evil and the end of winter. In ancient stories, the god Vishna destroyed a powerful evil being, called Holika, through fire. People start collecting wood several days before so that they can build really big fires, and on Holika Dahan they meet around the bonfire to sing, dance and do other traditional activities.

What happens on Rangwali Holi?

The next day is called Rangwali Holi. In the morning everyone goes outside and throws coloured powders and water at each other. Some people use water guns and water balloons. There is music and drumming, and people run and laugh in the streets and parks. After a few hours everyone is wet and covered in a rainbow of different colours. In the evening people put on clean clothes and go and visit their friends and family. They share traditional food and drink, such as gujiya, a sweet made with dried fruit and nuts, and thandai, a delicious cold milk drink with nuts and spices.

Why do people throw colours?

Some people say that the colours are a way of celebrating the many colours of the flowers in springtime. But in some places, people also tell a story about the god Krishna. Krishna was passionately in love with a girl called Radha, but he was worried that she would not love him because their skins were different colours. Radha let him paint her face the same colour as his to show that she loved him. It is said that lovers nowadays often paint their faces the same colour during Holi to remember this story.

Can everyone celebrate Holi?

Holi celebrations are hundreds of years old. But recently, Holi-themed events have become popular with a new generation in Europe and North America. Many thousands of people go to Holi events, attracted by the bright colours and playful atmosphere. Holi has a friendly and inclusive spirit, so non-Hindus are often welcomed to join the celebrations. If you don't identify as Hindu, it's respectful to learn about how Holi is celebrated in India and Nepal before participating in this colourful festival. Happy Holi!

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What do you know about Holi? Read the article to find out about this very colourful festival, celebrated by Hindus all over the world.

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Supply and Demand - Business English Lesson

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In the business world, it’s common to hear and see references to supply and demand. With that said, few individuals possess a thorough understanding of the idea and its wide-ranging impact on markets, prices, and consumers. In short, supply and demand refers to the force of consumers (or how much customers want or need to buy something) in relation to the available supply (or how much of something companies are able to sell). Generally speaking, high demand results in limited supply and increased prices, and low demand results in an ample supply and decreased prices.

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abundant , available , satisfactory