Saturday, June 28, 2008

HOC TIENG ANH QUA THANH NGU

Two Heads Are Better Than One

Some problems are difficult to solve. But there are a lot of number expressions that can help. For example, if we put two and two together, we might come up with the right answer. We know that two heads are better than one. It is always better to work with another person to solve a problem.

Sometimes there are no two ways about it. Some problems have only one solution. You cannot be of two minds over this.

But with any luck, we could solve the problem in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. We could have our answers quickly and easily.

Sometimes we can kill two birds with one stone. That is, we can complete two goals with only one effort or action. But we must remember that two wrongs don’t make a right. If someone does something bad to you, you should not do the same to him.

If you are going out with your girlfriend, or boyfriend, you do not want another friend to go along on your date. You can just say to your friend: two’s company, three’s a crowd.

When I was a young child in school, I had to learn the three R’s. These important skills are reading, writing and arithmetic. These three words do not all start with the letter “R.” But they have the sound of “R.” My teachers used to give three cheers when I did well in math. They gave praise and approval for a job well done.

Some of my friends were confused and did not understand their schoolwork. They were at sixes and sevens. In fact, they did not care if they finished high school. They saw little difference between the two choices. Six of one, half a dozen the other – that was their position. But they were really happy when they completed their studies and graduated from high school. They were in seventh heaven. They were on cloud nine.

Nine times out of ten, students who do well in school find good jobs. Some work in an office doing the same things every day at nine-to-five jobs. You do not have to dress to the nines, or wear your best clothes, for this kind of work.

Last year, one of my friends applied for a better job at her office. I did not think she would get it. I thought she had a hundred to one shot at the job. Other people at her office thought her chances were a million to one. One reason was that she had been caught catching forty winks at the office. She slept at her desk for short periods during the day. But her supervisor appointed her to the new job at the eleventh hour -- at the very last minute. I guess her lucky number came up.

Học Tiếng Anh Qua Thành Ngữ

TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS


Julie had always felt that she was missing out on a lot of fun because of her clumsiness on the dance floor. She had been putting off taking lessons, but she finally took the bull by the horns and went to a professional dance studio for help. She was tired of feeling left out and acted decisively to correct the situation.


LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG


Bob was going to retire from teaching in June, and the foreign language department was planning on presenting him with some luggage at his retirement dinner. He wasn't supposed to know about it, but someone let the cat out of the bag. At the dinner Bob acted surprised, even though someone had told him what he was getting before the official presentation.


FOR THE BIRDS


They went to a poetry reading, but they got bored and restless. As far as they were concerned, it was for the birds! They left during an intermission because they found the reading totally uninteresting and meaningless

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Confusing Words

BY OR UNTIL

Both until and by indicate “any time before, but not later than.”

Until tells us how long a situation continues. If something happens until a particular time, you stop doing it at that time.

For example:
  • They lived in a small house until September 2003. (They stopped living there in September.)
  • I will be away until Wednesday.(I will be back on Wednesday.)
  • We also use until in negative sentences.

For example:
  • Details will not be available until January.(January is the earliest you can expect to receive the details.)
  • If something happens by a particular time, it happens at or before that time. It is often used to indicate a deadline.

For example:
  • You have to finish by August 31. (August 31 is the last day you can finish; you may finish before this date.)
  • We also use by when asking questions.
For example:
  • Will the details be available by December?(This asks if they will be ready no later than December.)

Monday, June 23, 2008

Idioms And Expressions

FEELING LONELY


Moving to a new city can be a lonely experience. When I first moved to Los Angeles, I didn’t know anyone and it was hard to strike up new friendships. I’m a pretty sociable person, but it’s still hard meeting new people and even harder to make lasting friendships.

I’ve never been a lone wolf, so being in a new city out on my own was a new experience. Sometimes I liked doing solitary things, but after awhile, I yearned to be around other people. I would go to busy places to people-watch. I would see families walking by, groups of friends hanging out together, and couples arm-in-arm, and wished I was walking along with them. When you’re feeling lonely, it sometimes feels like there’s a wall between you and everyone else, a wall that’s not easy to break down.

Slowly, I started to meet people at my new job and to see them outside of work. Having this companionship and camaraderie, especially with people I had a good rapport with, was a welcomed change. In time, I made some good friends and I no longer dreaded the weekends. But, I’ve never forgotten how hard it was in those first months to be a stranger in a new place!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Improving Your Speaking Skill


SAYING GOODBYE

Mina: I’d better be going. See you later.

Oliver: It might be awhile before we run into each other again.

Mina: Why is that?

Oliver: I’m going to Puerto Rico for three months starting next Tuesday. I got a job there for the summer.

Mina: I didn’t know that. That’s great! I’ve never been to Puerto Rico, but I’ve heard it’s nice. Have a good trip. It’s a shame we didn’t have more time to catch up. Is your girlfriend going with you?

Oliver: Yeah, she is. She got a job there, too, so we won’t have to be apart for three months.

Mina: That’s good. It’s too bad I won’t get to see her before you two leave. Give her my best.

Oliver: I will. Oh, I’d better get going or I’ll be late.

Mina: It was good seeing you.

Oliver: You, too. Stay in touch.


Mina: I will. Let’s get together when you get back from Puerto Rico.

Oliver: I’d like that. Bye. Mina: Bye.


Saturday, June 14, 2008

Improving Your Listening Skills

THE WAY PEOPLE COMMUNICATE HAS CHANGED OVER TIME

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Communicating information always has been extremely important. Throughout history, some information has had value beyond measure. The lack of information often costs huge amounts of money and, sometimes, many lives.

One example of this took place near New Orleans, Louisiana. Britain and the United States were fighting the War of Eighteen Twelve. The Battle of New Orleans is a famous battle. As in all large battles, hundreds of troops were killed or wounded.

After the battle, the Americans and the British learned there had been no need to fight. Negotiators for the United States and Britain had signed a peace treaty in the city of Ghent, Belgium, two weeks earlier. Yet news of the treaty had not reached the United States before the opposing troops met in New Orleans. The battle had been a terrible waste. People died because information about the peace treaty traveled so slowly.

From the beginning of human history, information traveled only as fast as a ship could sail. Or a horse could run. Or a person could walk.

People experimented with other ways to send messages. Some people tried using birds to carry messages. Then they discovered it was not always a safe way to send or receive information.

A faster method finally arrived with the invention of the telegraph. The first useful telegraphs were developed in Britain and the United States in the eighteen thirties.

The telegraph was the first instrument used to send information using wires and electricity. The telegraph sent messages between two places that were connected by telegraph wires. The person at one end would send the information. The second person would receive it.

Each letter of the alphabet and each number had to be sent separately by a device called a telegraph key. The second person would write each letter on a piece of paper as it was received. Here is what it sounds like. For our example we will only send you three letters: VOA. We will send it two times. Listen closely.

In the eighteen fifties, an expert with a telegraph key could send about thirty-five to forty words in a minute. It took several hours to send a lot of information. Still, the telegraph permitted people who lived in cities to communicate much faster. Telegraph lines linked large city centers. The telegraph soon had a major influence on daily life.

The telegraph provided information about everything. Governments, businesses and individuals used the telegraph to send information. At the same time, newspapers used the telegraph to get information needed to tell readers what was happening in the world. Newspapers often were printed four or five times a day as new information about important stories was received over the telegraph. The telegraph was the quickest method of sending news from one place to another.

On August fifth, eighteen fifty-eight, the first message was transmitted by a wire cable under the Atlantic Ocean. The wire linked the United States and Europe by telegraph. This meant that a terrible mistake like the battle of New Orleans would not happen again.

Reports of daily news events in Europe began to appear in American newspapers. And news of the United States appeared in European newspapers. Information now took only a matter of hours to reach most large cities in the world. This was true for the big cities linked by the telegraph. However, it was different if you lived in a small farming town, kilometers away from a large city. The news you got might be a day or two late. It took that long for you to receive your newspaper.

On November second, nineteen twenty, radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania broadcast the first radio program. That broadcast gave the results of a presidential election.

Within a few short years, news and information could be heard anywhere a radio broadcast could reach. Radios did not cost much. So most people owned at least one radio. Radio reporters began to speak to the public from cities where important events were taking place.

Political leaders also discovered that radio was a valuable political tool. It permitted them to talk directly to the public. If you had a radio, you did not have to wait until your newspaper arrived. You could often hear important events as they happened.

Some people learned quickly that information meant power. In the nineteen thirties, many countries began controlling information. The government of Nazi Germany is a good example.

Before and during World War Two, the government of Nazi Germany controlled all information the German people received. The government controlled all radio broadcasts and newspapers. The people of Germany only heard or read what the government wanted them to hear or read. It was illegal for them to listen to a foreign broadcast.

After World War Two, a new invention appeared -- television. In industrial nations, television quickly became common in most homes. Large companies were formed to produce television programs. These companies were called networks. Networks include many television stations linked together that could broadcast the same program at the same time.

Most programs were designed to entertain people. There were movies, music programs and game programs. However, television also broadcast news and important information about world events. It broadcast some education programs, too. The number of radio and television stations around the world increased. It became harder for a dictator to control information.

In the nineteen fifties, two important events took place that greatly affected the communication of information. The first was a television broadcast that showed the East Coast and the West Coast of the United States at the same time. A cable that carried the pictures linked the two coasts. So people watching the program saw the Pacific Ocean on the left side of the screen. They saw the Atlantic Ocean on the right side of the screen.

It was not a film. People could see two reporters talk to each other even though a continent separated them. Modern technology made this possible.

The other event happened on September twenty-fifth, nineteen fifty-six. That was when the first telephone cable under the Atlantic Ocean made it possible to make direct telephone calls from the United States to Europe. Less than six years later, in July, nineteen sixty-two, the first communications satellite was placed in orbit around the Earth. The speed of information greatly increased again.

By the year nineteen hundred, big city newspapers could provide people with information that was only hours old. Now, both radio and television, with the aid of satellite communications, could provide information immediately. People who lived in a small village could listen to or watch world events as they happened.

A good example is when American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. Millions of people around the world watched as he carefully stepped onto the moon on July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine.

People in large cities, small towns and villages saw the event as it was happening. There was no delay in communicating this important information.

A few years after Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon, the United States Department of Defense began an experiment. That experiment led to a system that could send huge amounts of information around the world in seconds. Experts called it the beginning of the Information Age. The story of that experiment will be our report

This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I’m Steve Ember.

From voaspecialenglish

Thursday, June 5, 2008

FOOTBALL VOCABULARY



BASIC VOCABULARY




1. a match: two teams playing against each other in a 90-minute game of football

2. a pitch: the area where footballers play a match

3. a referee: the person who makes sure that the players follow the rules. Normally wears a black shirt and shorts, and has a whistle

4. a linesman (referee's assistant): the person whose main duty it is to indicate with a flag when the ball has gone out of play or when a player is offside

5. a goalkeeper: the player in goal who has to stop the ball from crossing the goal-line. The only player who is allowed to handle the ball during open play

6. a defender: a player who plays in the part of the football team which tries to prevent the other team from scoring goals, e.g. 'Kolo Touré is a defender and plays in defence for Arsenal and Ivory Coast'.

7. a midfielder: a midfielder - a player who plays mainly in the middle part of the pitch (or midfield), e.g. Michael Essien is a midfielder and plays in midfield for Chelsea and Ghana

8. an attacker: also called a forward; a player whose duty it is to score goals, e.g. Samuel Eto'o is an attacker and plays in attack for Barcelona and Cameroon

9. a skipper: the player who leads a team, also called the captain

10. a substitute: a player who sits on the bench ready to replace another team-mate on the pitch. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. the manager was not happy with his attacker and substituted him after 60 minutes

11. a manager: the person in charge of a team and responsible for training, new players and transfers. For example, Alex Ferguson is the manager of Manchester United

12. a foul: a violation of the rules. For example, if a player other than the goalkeeper handles the ball in the penalty box (or penalty area) it is a foul and a penalty is given to the other team

13. a booking: a yellow card shown to a player by the referee for a serious foul. Two bookings or yellow cards result in a red card or sending-off

14. full-time: the point of the game when the referee blows the final whistle and the match is over. Normally after 90 minutes and any added injury or stoppage time

15. injury time: also called stoppage time, added minutes at the end of the regular playing time at half-time or full-time. Entirely at the referee's discretion and normally indicated by an official on the sideline (or touchline)

16. extra time: if a match has no winner at full-time, 2 x 15 minutes of extra time may be played in some competitions

17. offside: in a position which is not allowed by the rules of the game, i.e. when an attacking player is closer to the opposing team's goal-line at the moment the ball is passed to him or her than the last defender apart from the goalkeeper.
SCORING
1. the score: the record of goals that indicates who is winning. The final score is the result that decides who has won the match . Can also be used as a verb, e.g. the attacker scored a beautiful goal

2. to concede: to allow a goal in, the opposite of scoring a goal. For example, Ghana conceded only four goals in the World Cup qualifying group 2

3. a goal: a successful attempt at scoring achieved by putting the ball over the goal line into the goal past the goalkeeper. For example, Gyan Asamoah has scored a beautiful goal for Ghana
4. an own goal: a goal scored accidentally by a member of the defending team that counts in favour of the attacking team

5. the lead: when a team scores first it is "in the lead", i.e. winning the match at the point of scoring. For example, Fabrice Akwa's early goal gave Angola the lead after 72 minutes but the final score was 1-1 (one all)

6. an equaliser: a goal that cancels out the opposing team's lead and leaves the match tied or drawn. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. Marouan Chamakh equalised for Morocco after 40 minutes and brought the score level

7. to win: a match in which a team is victorious and beats the other team. A win normally gives the winning team three points, the losing team does not get any points. More commonly used as a verb, e.g. Brazil won the World Cup in 2002

8. a draw: a match that ends in a tie, i.e. has no winner or loser. The teams get one point each for a draw. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. Congo drew 0-0 (nil all) with Senegal in June

9. a defeat: a match that is lost, the opposite of a win. For example, Sudan suffered a home defeat to Zambia in September 2002

10. to knock out: to eliminate another team from a competition. For example, in the last World Cup Brazil knocked out England in the quarter-finals

11. a penalty shoot-out: in a knock-out competition, a penalty shoot-out takes place if a match is a draw after full-time or extra-time. Five players from each team take a penalty each, and if the score is still level after that, one player from each team takes a penalty in turn, in order to decide who wins the match

12. a goal difference: If team A has scored four goals and team B one, the goal difference is three
13. a head-to-head: a way of deciding which team is ranked higher if two teams are level (or equal) on points. For example, if team A and B both have six points, but team A beat team B in the head-to-head game, team A will be ranked above team B

14. a play-off: an extra match to decide which of two or more teams should go through to the next round. For example, Australia beat Uruguay on penalties in a play-off to qualify for the World Cup 2006

15. the away-goal rule: in some competitions, e.g. the UEFA Champions' League, a rule that rewards teams for scoring away from home over two legs (or matches). For example, in 2005 AC Milan beat PSV Eindhoven 2-0 at home (in Milan) but lost 1-3 away in Holland. So both teams had scored three goals and conceded three goals, but because AC Milan had scored a goal away from home it went through to the Champions' League final on the away-goal rule.
TYPES OF SHOT

1. to kick: to hit something, or somebody, with your foot. In football, the players kick the ball.

2. to shoot: to kick the ball towards the net at one end of the pitch (the goal) in an attempt to score a goal

3. the kick-off:
the first kick of the game when two players from the same team in the centre circle play the ball and start the match. Also the first kick after half-time or after a goal has been scored

4. a goal-kick: a kick taken from the 6-yard line by the defending team after the ball has been put over the goal line by the attacking team

5. a free-kick: the kick awarded to a team by the referee after a foul has been committed against it

6. a penalty: a free shot at goal from 12 yards (11 metres or the penalty spot) awarded by the referee to a team after a foul has been committed in the penalty area

7. a corner: a kick from the corner flag awarded to the attacking team when the ball has crossed the gaol-line (or byline) after last being touched by a player of the defending team

8. a throw-in: a throw is taken from the sideline (or touchline) after the ball has gone out of play. The only time a player can handle the ball without committing a foul

9. a pass:
a kick of the ball from one player to another. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. the defender passed the ball to the midfielder

10. a cross: a pass from the side of the pitch into the penalty area in an attempt to find an attacker and score a goal. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. the defender crossed the ball into the penalty area

11. a one-two: a passing move in which player 1 passes the football to player 2, who immediately passes it back to player 1

12. a header: the "shot" that occurs when a player touches and guides the ball with his or her head. For example, El Hadji Djouf scored with a fine header. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. the defender headed the ball back to the goalkeeper

13. a backheel: a kick where the ball is hit with the heel (or the back) of the foot. Can also be used as a verb, e.g. Nwankwo Kanu back-heeled the ball to Thierry Henry

14. to volley: to kick a moving ball from the air before it hits the ground. Can also be used as a noun, e.g. Jay Jay Okocha's beautifully-struck volley beat the goalkeeper at the near post

15. a clearance: a defensive kick that is intended to put the ball out of danger, e.g. Peter Odemwingie's clearance went out of play for a throw-in