For example, there is one of the cards, with a poem:
http://img.123greetings.com/eventsnew/emar_womensday_poems/8787-021-04-1027.gif
"It's not just your beauty...
Not only your charming ways...
Your presense
somehow just makes
my world a more special place!
Your understanding,
warmth and affection,
Your small thoughtful actions...
All define the perfection
of womanhood to me!
Happy Women's Day! "
Actually, it is difficult to find a nice poem in English, I mean "nice" as Russian people understand it, for the women's day. They mostly cherish strength and independence of women, not in a way that we used to think. For English women, that day mostly represents standing up and fighting for their rights, as well as teaching the girls how to be "feminists". That impression I got while looking for a good poem on the internet. There were many nice poems, but all of them were too long, too personal and too aggressive for your purpose, - if I correctly understand what you want... Sorry... :(
For me it is very bad, because not you are "just drunk" which is not too cool by itself, but you are also doing things that you can't control and may not want to do if you were in your normal mind.
For example, if you get a speeding ticket or arrested for some minor crime while you are drunk, and they do find out that you were drunk at that time, they will not only charge you instead of letting you go, but they will even charge you for the more serious offense. Just because you were drunk. And I believe, it's reasonable.
On the other hand, if you were not drunk, but "clear as a glass" and did realize completely what you were doing, then I might believe that there could be some situations when kissing someone, for example out of gratitude caused by their extremely heroic deeds, won't be a cheating.
If someone saves your life, and you actually do believe that your kiss is valuable enough prize for that, then, by all means, go ahead and kiss the guy or a girl.
And let your significant one know that you did it, and your reasons for doing it, as well. If he or she will not agree with you, or (at least!) even not understand, - then why do you need such a jerk around you, to begin with?
Hi stagger, I can offer you an easy way to boost your understanding of English immediately: read the books (teachers prefer the short form: "RTB!" )
Find a short, simple and easy book to start with. Something, that you already know, is usually the best. When you read that English text, try not to translate each word separately, but to connect the whole phrases to the meaning that you remember from the Russian version.
Try to continue translation using only the words that you recognize and do not look up any new words in a dictionary for at least a page or two. Just underline the words you don't know with the pencil and continue reading while trying to understand the general meaning. Imagine the meaning of the new words from the overall meaning of a sentence or a paragraph.
Later, go through all the underlined words and write them down in your little notebook, starting with the ones that you did underline more often than others. Learn, study, repeat these words several times. Correct your mental impression of the text using the actual meaning of new words. Continue the same reading pattern through the next few pages, and the next, and so on, - till the end of the book. The longer you can read through the text without looking up any words in the dictionary, the better for your imagination and, eventually, understanding of English.
After that, read the same book again and notice the difference in your understanding. If it improved, it means that this method did work for you.
Now, you can pick the longer book, or even the book that you never read in Russian and repeat the same steps.
I like figure skating, all the kinds of it: dance, pair competition, men, women, even the numerous "Ice projects" like "Ice Age" Show, etc. But I don't like to think of it as a sport. It seems, that I do like it not for the qualities that are marked the highest during the competition, even at the show like Ice Age. My perception is somehow very subjective and non-professional. I like all the beautiful movements or nicely performed elements of all the daring, bashful, "high-spirited" skaters as long as it's not shaky and they don't fall. But, mostly I like the overall impression of some magic happening, arising from their performances all together, regardless of their "technical correctness". And for some reason, the performers I like to watch the most do not always get the highest marks, even though they get them most of the time, as I already mentioned above. On the one hand, I don't care about their marks as long as they make me cry or laugh, or both. On the other hand, it seems unfair when the skaters I liked the most get lower marks than somebody else, but when they win, - I am soooo happy... :)
SAMOCVET, use simple words and VERY short sentences. And ask somebody to correct your mistakes BEFORE you post something, not AFTER. Is your first language Ukrainian? Check your Russian before using automatic translation.
Sandra, I have to disappoint you, but nobody knows English "perfectly", believe me. So, just do your best and practice a lot and then a little bit more, and you'll get it. As a student of Foreign Languages you probably will have some opportunities to communicate with native speakers now and then. Make sure to get a good use of these opportunities and don't be too shy: talk to people and ask them to correct you if you are making too many mistakes. Also, when they speak, try to understand them and if you don't, - then ask to repeat or rephrase the words you did not get from the first time. Never mind my punctuation: I know it's not completely correct, but if I'll start checking it right now I'll never finish a sentence...
WonderAlice,
Why are soap operas called soap operas?
Historically, "They were sponsored by soap and detergent companies like Proctor and Gamble, Colgate-palmolive, and Lever brothers".
(from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_soap_operas_called_soap_operas )
Also, "While soaps themselves have complicated stories involving romance, betrayal, and dark family secrets, the story behind the term "soap opera" is simple and squeaky clean.
In the 1920s, radio was booming, and broadcasters wanted to get advertisers in on the act to increase their station's profits. So radio stations convinced businesses that sold household goods to sponsor radio shows. To appeal to the main consumers of these items -- female homemakers -- the radio stations created the daytime serial drama format. The first radio soap opera ran in Chicago and was sponsored by a margarine company.
Soon, all the networks had serials aimed at women, and companies selling cleaners and food products rushed to sponsor the shows. For example, Proctor & Gamble's Oxydol soap powder sponsored a popular serial drama in 1933. By 1939 the press started calling the shows "soap operas" because so many were sponsored by soap manufacturers. "Opera" had already been used in a non-musical sense in the '20s with "horse opera," which described Western movies.
Soaps moved from radio to TV along with most entertainment forms in the 1950s. Despite the intervention of evil twins, presumed-dead spouses, vengeful lovers, and the occasional vampire, soap operas have been going strong ever since. "
(from http://ask.yahoo.com/20050520.html )
As well, "The term soap opera has at times been generally applied to any romantic serial,[1] but it is also used to describe the more naturalistic, unglamorous UK primetime drama serials such as Coronation Street.[2] What differentiates a soap from other television drama programs is the open-ended nature of the narrative with stories spanning several episodes. The defining feature that makes a program a soap opera, according to Albert Moran, is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode".[3]
Soap opera stories run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several different concurrent story threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent of each other. Each episode may feature some of the show's current storylines but not always all of them. There is some rotation of both storylines and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely "wrap things up" storywise and generally avoid bringing all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. When one storyline ends there are always several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger."
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera )
In my own words, it's something "overly sentimental" which is continuously "going on and on and on" for tens of episodes or more... I used to like some of them when there was nothing else to watch. They seem to be "an easy distraction from everyday problems" when you are feeling down and very tired.
Afinity, don't forget to take some vitamins, especially in Winter and Spring. In any form that you like and can get. If not as fruit and vegetables, try taking 1 tablet from the bottle every day, until you get better, then you can take it not as often anymore. Continue to sleep enough, or if you can't do it all the time - try to sleep even more on the holidays or weekends, to compensate for too little sleep on your busy days. Try to have some fun and don't blame yourself for any mistakes, it also helps. Good luck to you... :)
Anton, you have got a good reason for learning English, so it should not be too difficult for you anymore. I would suggest, that you can take some advanced grammar course in order to organize or "structurise" (this is not the correct word, I think, I just "translated" from russian "структуризировать") your extensive knowledge of English. Related to the fact that you decided to pass IELTS exam, why don't you consider taking some preparation course specific for that type of test? Try self-preparation guides/books from the library first, and if it does not help much, find yourself a tutor who know the format of that test well. The last requirement is important, because if the tutor (private teacher) knows the format of the test well, he or she will know how to train you well the fastest possible way.
I like to improve my English vocabulary by reading the books that I have already read in Russian. Than helps me to make the correct guesses about the meanings of new English words without wasting time for "consulting" the dictionary for every new word. If the book is mine, I just underline these words with a pencil when I read and continue reading, guessing the meaning of the new words from the context and from my memory of the Russian version of that book. If after few pages I realize that I guessed wrong, only then I do look that word up in a dictionary.
Hi, Exion
I did like to watch English movies with English subtitles to help my study of English, when I had a chance. If it was a recording, I would pause it any time when I wanted to listen to a phrase again or find a meaning of any word in a subtitle part. It's maybe a little boring that way, but it did allow me to go at my own speed and learn many words and phrases in some context (of the movie). I would not advise everybody to do the same, because as I said - it's quite boring and slow, - only if someone would like to give it a try...
Tileno, don't be too disappointed, it took two people to make the right guess...
And, I was not sure I got it right until finding the same picture on the internet. Because, I only tried them for the first time in my life about few years ago when visiting with Canadian friends. But these lychees were dark colored, almost brown, so I would not recognize your picture without description from Sphynx.
Cheers :)
Olivia_ko, girls could be scouts too. They just don't belong to the same units or teams as the boys do, so that normally there are no co-ed (mixed gender) teams with scouts. Or, sometimes, it could be completely different organizations.
Exion, Don't worry about mistakes, especially the small ones, at least until you become more comfortable about expressing your thoughts out loud or in writing. If you notice a specific mistake and decide to work on it, you know what to do, wright? But if you don't notice some mistakes or cannot memorize the correct writing, - don't worry, it will come sooner or later.
If you stress yourself too much over a foreign language, you might loose interest to it, and it's no fun learning without interest in the subject. From my experience, our brain needs different periods of various intensity of work on a new subject at different times. So, it's better take one step at a time.
For example, first - intensive, when you learn something new on purpose; then - moderately active, casually gathering experience of possible uses of the new expression or rule; then - more relaxed, taking your time incorporating your own understanding of the structure and it's uses into your normal practice; etc. And after the full cycle - you can start intensively building another "block" upon the previous one...
Exion, Look at his profile and you'll see even deeper... ;)
http://www.rapidsteps.ru/en/en/users/LisaAliso
I wonder, why male users like posting female faces on their avatars? To pass themselves off as the girls? Or they actually are the girls, who did not read which gender options they were choosing in their profiles? Actually, I personally don't have anything against them, but I just don't like that kind of confusion going on and on and on... Of course, if passing as somebody else helps you guys to learn English better and have more fun, then I don't have anything to say on that subject.
Ok, Poseidon, let me say it that way: "I would be happier". And this is because I love when my biological times go uninterrupted. I do really enjoy when the day is starting to get longer after winter and the sun rises a bit earlier day after day, so I can feel the difference when I go to work at 6 in the morning. And the early morning sunlight is all you can get till the late evening if you don't work outdoors, so it really affects one's mood for the whole day. That slow gradual increase of the early morning light gives me a great joy as a way of appreciating and anticipating the beginning of Spring. I do feel a little bit more energy day after day, and then suddenly - SNAP!!! - and it's deep dark Winter again, for a month or more, and it hits me even harder than "the natural" winter, because there already was a HOPE... And to get same amount of sleep, I do have to get to bed one more hour earlier, but it's hard to fall asleep that early in the evening. Why early? Well, to be able to get up at 4:30 AM and be active during the day, I need 8 hours of sleep, - so, you can easily tell that I need to go to bed ridiculously early, about 8:30 PM. And, I don't get used to the time going back and forth for the whole hour at least for a week, until next weekend or so... Altogether it means, that I am being cheated by about 1 week of a good sleep and about 1 month of a Happy Spring mood... I can understand that everybody is different and any of you can disagree with me all you want, but I, personally, don't want to be robbed of my good times for no particular reason, thank you very much. :)
Russian
you can look here for the International Women's Day cards and poems:
1. http://cards.123greetings.com/cgi-bin/newcards/showthumbs.pl?q1=emar_womensday_poems&log=123
For example, there is one of the cards, with a poem:
http://img.123greetings.com/eventsnew/emar_womensday_poems/8787-021-04-1027.gif
"It's not just your beauty...
Not only your charming ways...
Your presense
somehow just makes
my world a more special place!
Your understanding,
warmth and affection,
Your small thoughtful actions...
All define the perfection
of womanhood to me!
Happy Women's Day! "
2. http://www.usagreetings.com/html/internationalwomensday/category.html
3. http://www.ecard4all.com/greetings/love_ecard.htm
4. http://www.care2.com/send/catwomen1.html
5. http://www.ecardica.com/
Actually, it is difficult to find a nice poem in English, I mean "nice" as Russian people understand it, for the women's day. They mostly cherish strength and independence of women, not in a way that we used to think. For English women, that day mostly represents standing up and fighting for their rights, as well as teaching the girls how to be "feminists". That impression I got while looking for a good poem on the internet. There were many nice poems, but all of them were too long, too personal and too aggressive for your purpose, - if I correctly understand what you want... Sorry... :(
For example, if you get a speeding ticket or arrested for some minor crime while you are drunk, and they do find out that you were drunk at that time, they will not only charge you instead of letting you go, but they will even charge you for the more serious offense. Just because you were drunk. And I believe, it's reasonable.
On the other hand, if you were not drunk, but "clear as a glass" and did realize completely what you were doing, then I might believe that there could be some situations when kissing someone, for example out of gratitude caused by their extremely heroic deeds, won't be a cheating.
If someone saves your life, and you actually do believe that your kiss is valuable enough prize for that, then, by all means, go ahead and kiss the guy or a girl.
And let your significant one know that you did it, and your reasons for doing it, as well. If he or she will not agree with you, or (at least!) even not understand, - then why do you need such a jerk around you, to begin with?
Find a short, simple and easy book to start with. Something, that you already know, is usually the best. When you read that English text, try not to translate each word separately, but to connect the whole phrases to the meaning that you remember from the Russian version.
Try to continue translation using only the words that you recognize and do not look up any new words in a dictionary for at least a page or two. Just underline the words you don't know with the pencil and continue reading while trying to understand the general meaning. Imagine the meaning of the new words from the overall meaning of a sentence or a paragraph.
Later, go through all the underlined words and write them down in your little notebook, starting with the ones that you did underline more often than others. Learn, study, repeat these words several times. Correct your mental impression of the text using the actual meaning of new words. Continue the same reading pattern through the next few pages, and the next, and so on, - till the end of the book. The longer you can read through the text without looking up any words in the dictionary, the better for your imagination and, eventually, understanding of English.
After that, read the same book again and notice the difference in your understanding. If it improved, it means that this method did work for you.
Now, you can pick the longer book, or even the book that you never read in Russian and repeat the same steps.
http://www.quotationspage.com/subjects/
You can do a search there by typing the words you are interested in the proverb:
http://www.quotationspage.com/search.php3
Or just see what they do want to offer today:
http://www.quotationspage.com/mqotd.html
http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html
For example, I like this one very much:
"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit."
- Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)
Why are soap operas called soap operas?
Historically, "They were sponsored by soap and detergent companies like Proctor and Gamble, Colgate-palmolive, and Lever brothers".
(from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_soap_operas_called_soap_operas )
Also, "While soaps themselves have complicated stories involving romance, betrayal, and dark family secrets, the story behind the term "soap opera" is simple and squeaky clean.
In the 1920s, radio was booming, and broadcasters wanted to get advertisers in on the act to increase their station's profits. So radio stations convinced businesses that sold household goods to sponsor radio shows. To appeal to the main consumers of these items -- female homemakers -- the radio stations created the daytime serial drama format. The first radio soap opera ran in Chicago and was sponsored by a margarine company.
Soon, all the networks had serials aimed at women, and companies selling cleaners and food products rushed to sponsor the shows. For example, Proctor & Gamble's Oxydol soap powder sponsored a popular serial drama in 1933. By 1939 the press started calling the shows "soap operas" because so many were sponsored by soap manufacturers. "Opera" had already been used in a non-musical sense in the '20s with "horse opera," which described Western movies.
Soaps moved from radio to TV along with most entertainment forms in the 1950s. Despite the intervention of evil twins, presumed-dead spouses, vengeful lovers, and the occasional vampire, soap operas have been going strong ever since. "
(from http://ask.yahoo.com/20050520.html )
As well, "The term soap opera has at times been generally applied to any romantic serial,[1] but it is also used to describe the more naturalistic, unglamorous UK primetime drama serials such as Coronation Street.[2] What differentiates a soap from other television drama programs is the open-ended nature of the narrative with stories spanning several episodes. The defining feature that makes a program a soap opera, according to Albert Moran, is "that form of television that works with a continuous open narrative. Each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode".[3]
Soap opera stories run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments. An individual episode of a soap opera will generally switch between several different concurrent story threads that may at times interconnect and affect one another or may run entirely independent of each other. Each episode may feature some of the show's current storylines but not always all of them. There is some rotation of both storylines and actors so any given storyline or actor will appear in some but usually not all of a week's worth of episodes. Soap operas rarely "wrap things up" storywise and generally avoid bringing all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time. When one storyline ends there are always several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger."
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap_opera )
In my own words, it's something "overly sentimental" which is continuously "going on and on and on" for tens of episodes or more... I used to like some of them when there was nothing else to watch. They seem to be "an easy distraction from everyday problems" when you are feeling down and very tired.
http://hondurassprouts.blogspot.com/2007/08/funny-looking-fruit.html
It is a tropical fruit tree native to southern China. It is also found south to Indonesia and east to the Philippines.
I did like to watch English movies with English subtitles to help my study of English, when I had a chance. If it was a recording, I would pause it any time when I wanted to listen to a phrase again or find a meaning of any word in a subtitle part. It's maybe a little boring that way, but it did allow me to go at my own speed and learn many words and phrases in some context (of the movie). I would not advise everybody to do the same, because as I said - it's quite boring and slow, - only if someone would like to give it a try...
And, I was not sure I got it right until finding the same picture on the internet. Because, I only tried them for the first time in my life about few years ago when visiting with Canadian friends. But these lychees were dark colored, almost brown, so I would not recognize your picture without description from Sphynx.
Cheers :)
If you stress yourself too much over a foreign language, you might loose interest to it, and it's no fun learning without interest in the subject. From my experience, our brain needs different periods of various intensity of work on a new subject at different times. So, it's better take one step at a time.
For example, first - intensive, when you learn something new on purpose; then - moderately active, casually gathering experience of possible uses of the new expression or rule; then - more relaxed, taking your time incorporating your own understanding of the structure and it's uses into your normal practice; etc. And after the full cycle - you can start intensively building another "block" upon the previous one...
http://www.rapidsteps.ru/en/en/users/LisaAliso
I wonder, why male users like posting female faces on their avatars? To pass themselves off as the girls? Or they actually are the girls, who did not read which gender options they were choosing in their profiles? Actually, I personally don't have anything against them, but I just don't like that kind of confusion going on and on and on... Of course, if passing as somebody else helps you guys to learn English better and have more fun, then I don't have anything to say on that subject.