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クイズ 今日の言葉

こんにちは。秋田県由利本荘市にある英会話スクール、ウィンザーイングッリッシュスクールの雑用係です。

昨日講師にちょっとした提案をされ、今日から始めることにしました。
ブログ記事の最後にちょっとしたクイズを出して、次の更新時に正解をだす、というものです。
まあ、調べようと思えばあっという間ですが、(調べるまでもなく、わかるよ!という方も)
もし良かったらお付き合いください。


今日の言葉

make headway

The word make headway means:

1 make progress
English is difficult but I am making headway.

2 graduate
I made headway at Boston University in 1990.

3 become good friends again after a fight.
He sent me flowers and we made headway.

http://windsorschool.biz/http://windsorschool.biz/
スポンサーサイト



電話のお話/"Information Please..."

こんにちは。秋田県由利本荘市にある英会話スクール、ウィンザーイングッリッシュスクールの雑用係です。

すっかり秋めいて、朝晩はストーブつけたくなるくらい寒かったりもしますね。
スーパーにはいろいろな果物や栗等がおいしそうに並んで秋っていいなあと思いますが、読書の秋でもありますね。
我が家の子供達はスマホを持つ前はよく本を読んだものですが、特に下の娘は全然読まなくなってしまいました。

スマホといえば雑用係が子供の時は、食事中に男の子から電話などあろうものなら、大変上品な父が、「ほら、○○、男から電話!!」などと向こうにも聞こえそうな大きな声で電話を取り次がれ、そして皆の耳がダンボになってる状態で会話しなくてはならないなんて時には、穴があったら入りたい気持ちになったものです。
今の子供たちにはピンと来ない話です。下の娘はスマホを見ながらニヤニヤ、ニヤニヤ。とっても気持ち悪いです。(と何度言っても全然気にしてません)

ときどき子供の英語の教科書を見せてもらったり、「これ、おもしろいよ」と教えてもらったりするのですが、
我が家の長女の英語の教科書にあった、"Information Please..."という電話が家庭に普及し始めたアメリカでのお話、とてもいいお話なのでここでも紹介したいと思います。
少し長いですが、それほど難しくありませんので読みやすいかと思います。


When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighbourhood.
I remember well the polished old case fastened to the wall.
The shiny receiver hung on the side of the wooden box.
I was too little to reach the telephone, but would listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.

I came to realize that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person with the name "Information please,"
and there was nothing she did not know.
I overheard my father saying to my mother that "Information please" could supply anybody's number and even give you the correct time of the day.

My first personal experience with this "genie-in-the-bottle" came one day while dad was at work and my mother was visiting a neighbour.
Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer.
The pain was terrible, but there didn't seem to be any reason for crying because there was no one at home to give me sympathy.
I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger. Finally, arriving at the stairway, I saw...the telephone!

Quickly I ran for the footstool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver and held it to my ear. "Information please!" I spoke desperately into the mouthpiece just above my head.

A click or two later, a small, clear voice spoke into my ear:

"Information," she answered.

"I hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience.

"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's home but me," I blubbered.

"Are you bleeding?"

"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."

"Can you open your icebox?" she asked. I said I could. "Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger," said the voice.

I did what she said and my finger stopped hurting!

After that, I called "Information please" for everything. I asked her for help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was located. She helped me with my math. She told me that my pet chipmunk, which I had caught in the park just the day before, would eat fruits and nuts.

Then, there was the time when Petey, our pet canary, died. I called "Information" and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was unconsoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birdies should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up in a heap?" She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there is another world to sing in." Somehow, I felt better.

Another day I was on the telephone again. "Information please," I spoke into the receiver.

"Information," said the now familiar voice.

"How do you spell 'fix'?" I queried.

All of these conversations took place on the phone in my childhood home in a small town in the Pacific Northwest.

When I was 9 years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much. I longed to say, "Information please," into that old wooden box back home, and somehow I never thought of trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall.

As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me. Often, in the moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy.

A few years later, on my way west to college, I had to stop at the airport in Seattle. I had a half hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then, out of the blue, I decided to dial my hometown operator and found myself saying, "Information please."

Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well. "Information," she replied." I hadn't planned this, but heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell, 'fix'?"

There was a long pause. Then came the soft-spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now."

I laughed. "So it's really still you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time."

"I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never had any children, and I used to look forward to your calls."

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister.

"Please do," she said. "Just ask for Sally."

Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered, "Information." I asked for Sally.

"Are you a friend?" she asked.

"Yes, a very old friend," I answered.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Sally had been working part time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago." Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Paul?"

"Yes."

"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you. The note says, 'Tell him I still say there is another world to sing in. He'll know what I mean.'"

I thanked her and hung up the phone. I knew what Sally meant.

Prince William showed off his juggling skills

こんにちは。秋田県由利本荘市にある英会話スクール、ウィンザーイングッリッシュスクールの雑用係です。

我が家の娘は高校でジャグリング同好会にも所属しています。
今の時期あまり活動していないようなのですが、なかなか上手にできるようになりました。
将来仕事がなかったら、大道芸で食べて行けるかな?なんて話もしますが、何か一芸あるといいなあ、と何の取り柄もない雑用係はうらやましく思います。

来日中のウィリアム王子が福島を訪ね、子供達の前でジャグリングを披露しました。


7HpNXUsAAmkwJ.jpg



Prince William showed off his juggling skills during his visit to Japan -
and proved he was rather good.

On the third day of his royal tour,
the Prince met Japanese Prime Minister Sinzo Abe and visited Motomiya City,
the smallest town in Fukushima - the scene of the biggest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

There he met children from charity Smile Kids,
who aim to make the air and water safe in the area.

show off 自慢する
prove 証明する
nuclear disaster 原発事故


http://www.itv.com/news/story/2015-02-28/prince-william-shows-off-juggling-skills-during-japan-visit/元の記事はこちら


教室のHPはこちら
http://windsorschool.biz/

The water is wide

こんにちは。秋田県由利本荘市にある英会話スクール、ウィンザーイングッリッシュスクールの雑用係です。

皆さんはNHK連続テレビ小説「花子とアン」見ていますか?
英語に四苦八苦する主人公がかわいらしく、毎日楽しく見ています。
今朝、スコット先生が歌っていた歌を覚えてしまった花子がクラスで歌を披露する場面がありましたが、
なんの歌かなと歌詞をちょっと書き留めて調べたところ、
"The Water Is Wide"というイギリスのフォークソングのようでした。
歌を覚えて英語を「こぴっと」勉強というのもいいですね。
山梨弁も娘達と使ってます。
(使い方が合っているかは謎ですが・・・)
ちなみに子供達は見ていないのですが、私に合わせて喋っています。

The water is wide and I can't cross over
And neither have I wings to fly
Build me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row My love and I

There is a ship and it sails on the sea
loaded deep as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I'm in
I know not if I sink or swim

I leaned my back up against an oak
Thinkin' it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
just like my own false love to me

Oh love is gentle and love is kind
Gay as a jewel when first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew

The water is wide and I can't cross over
And neither have I wings to fly wings
Build me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row My love and I

あなたの精神年齢は? Mental Age Test

こんにちは。秋田県由利本荘市にある英会話スクール、ウィンザーイングッリッシュスクールの雑用係です。

本日より、こちらにブログを引っ越しました。
どうぞよろしくお願い致します。

旧ブログはこちら
年末の忙しい時期とは思いますが、ちょっと気晴らしにこんなテストはいかがでしょうか。
精神年齢をテストする
http://mymentalage.com/です。
テストは20問の質問からなり、2つから5つの答えの中から選択して進んでいき、最終的に自分の精神年齢が何歳かを見るものです。シンプルに、何歳、と出て終わりです。
雑用係も試してみましたが、なんとぴったり自分の年が出てきてびっくりしてしまいました。
気持ちだけは若いつもりだったのに、自分が思う程若くないんだなあ、と淋しい結果でした。




テストを受ける前の文章の中に
We would recommend though that you don't think too hard.
Sometimes your first instinctive reaction is going to be the most accurate.
(あまり深く考えないことをオススメ。最初の直感が一番正確なことも。)
とありました。

教室のHPはこちらです
http://windsorschool.biz/


プロフィール

positivelearner

Author:positivelearner
秋田県南西部にある由利本荘市で英会話スクールの雑用を担当しています。

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