Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Letter of Reference


The Letter of Reference

To Whom It May Concern:
Bob Smith, my assistant programmer, can always be found
  hard at work in his cubicle. Bob works independently, without
  wasting company time talking to colleagues. Bob never
  thinks twice about assisting fellow employees, and he always
  finishes given assignments on time. Often he takes extended
  measures to complete his work, sometimes skipping coffee
  breaks. Bob is a dedicated individual who has absolutely no
  vanity, in spite of his high accomplishments and profound
  knowledge in his field. I firmly believe that Bob can be
  classed as a high-caliber employee, the type which cannot be
  dispensed with. Consequently, I duly recommend that Bob be
  promoted to executive management, and a proposal will be
  executed as soon as possible.
Delivered a short time later:
"That idiot was standing over my shoulder while I wrote the letter sent to you earlier today. Kindly re-read only every other line."

Vocabulary Help

  • always - sempre
  • find (find, found, found) - encontrado
  • fellow employees - companheiros de trabalho
  • assignments - tarefas
  • skip coffee breaks - não usar os intervalos de café
  • vanity - vaidade
  • in spite of - apesar de
  • accomplishments - realizações
  • shoulder - ombro
  • every other line - ler pulando uma linha

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sad Stories

Sad Stories

Bill, Jim & Scott were at a convention together & were sharing a large suite on the top of a 75-story skyscraper.
After a long day of meetings, they were shocked to hear that the elevators in their hotel were broken & they would have to climb 75 flights of stairs to get to their room.
Bill said to Jim & Scott,"Let's break the monotony of this unpleasant task by concentrating on something interesting. I'll tell jokes for 25 flights, Jim can sing songs for the next 25 flights and Scott can tell sad stories for the rest of the way."
At the 26th floor, Bill stopped telling jokes & Jim began to sing. At the 51st floor Jim stopped singing & Scott began to tell sad stories.
"I will tell my saddest story first," he said."I left the room key in the car!!!

Vocabulary Help

  • sad - triste
  • sharing - dividindo
  • skyscraper - arranha-céu
  • meetings - reuniões, encontros
  • climb - subir a pé
  • flights of stairs - escadas
  • task - tarefa

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Rooster Race


Rooster Race

An old rooster sees a young one strutting around and he gets a little worried. So, they're trying to replace me, thinks the old rooster. I've got to do something about this. He walks up to the new bird and says, "So, you're the new guy in town. I bet you really think you're hot stuff don't you? I'm not exactly ready for the chopping block yet. I bet I'm still the better bird. And to prove it, I challenge you to a race around that hen house over there. We'll run around it ten times and whoever finish's first gets to have all the hens for himself."
Well, the young rooster was a proud sort, and he definitely thought he was more than a match for the old guy. You're on," said the young rooster. "And since I know I'm so great, I'll even give you a head start of half a lap."
"I'll still win easily," said the young cocky rooster.
So, the two roosters go over to the hen house to start the race and all the hens gather around to watch. The race begins and all the hens start cheering the roosters on.
After the first lap, the old rooster is still maintaining his lead. After the second lap, the old guys lead has slipped a little but he's still hanging in there. Unfortunately the old roosters lead continued to slip each time around, and by the fifth lap he just barely led the young rooster. By then, the farmer has heard all the commotion. He ran into the house, got his shotgun, and ran out to the barn yard, figuring a fox or something was after his chickens. When he got there, he saw the two roosters running around the hen house, with the old rooster still slightly in the lead. He immediately took his shotgun, aimed, fired, and blew the young rooster away. He walked away slowly, saying to himself.........
"That's the third gay rooster I've bought this month."

Vocabulary Help

  • rooster - galo
  • strut - andar orgulhosamente
  • worry - preocupação
  • new guy - cara novo
  • town - cidade
  • bet - apostar
  • chopping block - matadouro
  • challenge - desafio
  • race - corrida
  • hen house - galinheiro
  • proud sort - tipo orgulhoso
  • head start - vantagem
  • half a lap - meia volta
  • maintain - manter
  • shotgun - espingarda
  • barn yard - pátio do celeiro
  • figure - imaginar
  • fox - raposa

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Minhas listas - ...em pleno crescimento

PALAVRAS IDÊNTICAS OU MUITO PARECIDAS

O QUE VOCÊ NÃO SABE QUE SABE EM INGLÊS

PROVÉRBIOS EM INGLÊS

PALAVRAS COM A MESMA PRONÚNCIA, PORÉM COM ESCRITA DIFERENTE

FALSOS COGNATOS OU FALSE FRIENDS

Se você lembrar de outras palavras e quiser contribuir envie um e-mail para marcusaugusto.vale@gmail.com

College Test

College Test

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a test.
I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?
I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.
Absolutely, said the professor. In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say hello.
I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

Vocabulary Help

  • breeze through - passar os olhos rapidamente
  • joke - piada, gozação
  • tall - alta
  • dark-haired - morena
  • hand in the paper - entregar o teste
  • blank - em branco
  • quiz - prova, teste
  • career - carreira
  • meet (meet, met, met) - encontrar
  • deserve - merecer
  • care - cuidado, atenção
  • smile - sorrir
  • forget (forget, forgot, forgotten) - esquecer
  • learn (learn, learnt, learnt) - aprender

Road painting

Road painting

One day this blonde got hired for a job, painting lines on the road.
The first day on the job she painted 20 miles of lines, the second day she painted only 15 miles, the next day 10 miles and then the next only 5 miles.
That day her boss asked her "How can you do 20 miles of lines one day then 3 days later only do 5 miles of lines?"
"It's one long walk back to that paint can!" she replies.

Vocabulary Help

  • road - estrada
  • boss - chefe
  • long walk - longa caminhada
  • paint can - lata de tinta

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Perfect People

Perfect People

Practically perfect people never permit sentiment to muddle their thinking.
Mary Poppins

Vocabulary Help

  • muddle - confundir, atrapalhar

Rights

Rights

Men have as exaggerated an idea of their rights as women have of their wrongs.
E.W. Howe

Vocabulary Help

  • rights - direitos
  • women - mulheres
  • wrongs - erros

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Strange but Interesting Facts


Strange but Interesting Facts (3)

  • China has more English speakers than the United States.
  • The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
  • "I am" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
  • Cats have over 100 vocal sounds, dogs only have about 10.
  • Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our noses and ears never stop growing.
  • Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.
  • In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
  • Feb 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
  • Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. State capital without a McDonald's.
    ==Vocabulary Help==
  • at a time - de cada vez
  • blink - piscar
  • cat - gato
  • dog - cão
  • ear - ouvido
  • electric chair - cadeira elétrica
  • eye - olho
  • full moon - lua cheia
  • grow (grow, grew, grown) - crescer
  • nose - nariz
  • sound - som

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Relativity

Relativity

When a man sits with a pretty girl for an hour, it seems like a minute. But let him sit on a hot stove for a minute and it's longer than any hour. That's relativity.
Einstein

Vocabulary Help

  • sit (sit, sat, sat) - sentar
  • pretty girl - garota bonita
  • seems like - parece
  • hot stove - fogão quente

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Florist Mistake

Florist Mistake

On opening his new store, a man received a bouquet of flowers. He became dismayed on reading the enclosed card, that it expressed "Deepest Sympathy". While puzzling over the message, his telephone rang. It was the florist, apologizing for having sent the wrong card.
"Oh, it's alright." said the storekeeper. "I'm a businessman and I understand how these things can happen."
"But," added the florist, "I accidentally sent your card to a funeral party."
"Well, what did it say?" ask the storekeeper.
"'Congratulations on your new location'." was the reply.

Vocabulary Help

  • apologize - desculpar
  • businessman - homem de negócios
  • deepest - profunda
  • dismayed - triste, desconsolado
  • open - abrir
  • puzzle over - quebrar a cabeça, pensar
  • receive - receber
  • reply - resposta
  • ring (ring, rang, rung) - tocar
  • store - loja
  • wrong - errado

More Thoughts on Marriage

More Thoughts on Marriage

Getting married is very much like going to a continental restaurant with friends. You order what you want, then when you see what the other person has, you wish you had ordered that.

At the cocktail party, one woman said to another
-- Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?
The other replied:
-- Yes I am -- I married the wrong man.

When a man opens the car door for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: either the car is new or the wife.

Vocabulary Help

  • wish - desejar
  • order - pedir
  • wear - usar
  • wedding ring - anel de casamento
  • wrong - errado
  • finger - dedo
  • wife - esposa

Books


Books

Never lend books, for no one ever returns them. The only books I have in my library are books that other folks have lent me.
Anatole France

Vocabulary Help

  • lend (lend, lent, lent) - emprestar
  • return - devolver
  • library - biblioteca
  • folks - pessoas

Reference Questions

Reference Questions

-- Patron: "I am looking for a globe of the earth.
-- Ref: "We have a table-top model over here."
-- Patron: "No, that's not good enough. Don't you have a life size one?"
-- Ref (after a short pause): "Yes, but it's in use right now!"

Vocabulary Help

  • looking for - procurando por
  • table top model - modelo de mesa
  • not good enough - não é bom o bastante
  • life size - tamanho real

Monday, August 16, 2010

The snake

The snake

An old snake goes to see his doctor.
He says, "Doctor, I need something for my eyes. I can't see well these days". The doctor fixes him up with a pair of glasses and tells him to return in 2 weeks.
The snake comes back in 2 weeks, and tells the doctor he's very depressed.
The doctor says, "What's the problem? Didn't the glasses help you?"
"The glasses are fine doc. I just discovered I've been living with a water hose the past 2 years!"

Vocabulary Help

  • discover - descobrir
  • eye - olho
  • fine - ótimo
  • fix him up - receita, prescreve
  • pair of glasses - óculos
  • return - retornar
  • see (see, saw, seen) - ver
  • snake - cobra
  • tell (tell, told, told) - dizer, contar
  • the past 2 years - pelos últimos dois anos
  • water hose - mangueira de água

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Dinner

Dinner

My wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to our six-year-old daughter and said:
-- Would you like to say the blessing?
-- I wouldn't know what to say, she replied.
-- Just say what you hear Mommy say, my wife said.
Our daughter bowed her head and said:
-- Dear Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?

Vocabulary Help

  • dinner - jantar
  • wife - esposa
  • daughter - filha
  • say the blessing - fazer a oração
  • bow - inclinar
  • all these people - todas estas pessoas

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Small people

Small people

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too, can become great.
Mark Twain

Vocabulary Help

  • keep away - mantenha-se longe
  • people - pessoas
  • try - tentar
  • belittle - diminuir
  • great - grande
  • feel (feel, felt, felt) - sentir
  • too - também

Real life Dilbert Quotes

Real life Dilbert Quotes

My boss spent the entire weekend retyping a 25-page proposal that only needed corrections. She claims the disk I gave her was damaged and she couldn't edit it. The disk I gave her was write-protected.
(CIO of Dell Computers)

Vocabulary Help

  • boss - chefe
  • weekend - final de semana
  • claims - afirma
  • damaged - estragado, danificado

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Expressões Úteis da Língua Inglesa

Expressões Úteis da Língua Inglesa

Colaboração: Diones Alves

"TER" AS TO BE (15)

O verbo ter do português é largamente usado, aparecendo muito em expressões do nosso cotidiano e assumindo freqüentemente um papel idiomático. O verbo to have, que seria seu correspondente em inglês, tem um uso mais restrito, não aparecendo muito em formas idiomáticas. O verbo to be, por outro lado, cobre em inglês uma grande área de significado, aparecendo em muitas expressões do dia a dia, de forma semelhante ao verbo ter do português. Portanto, muitas vezes ter corresponde a to be, conforme os seguintes exemplos:
Quantos anos você tem? - How old are you?
Você tem certeza? - Are you sure?
Você tem razão. - You are right.
Não tenho medo de cachorro. - I'm not afraid of dogs.
O que é que tem de errado? - What's wrong?
Não tive culpa disso. - It wasn't my fault.
Tivemos sorte. - We were lucky.
Tenha cuidado. - Be careful.
Tenho pena deles (sinto por eles). - I feel sorry for them.
Isto não tem graça. - That's not funny.
Não tenho condições de trabalhar. / Não estou em condições ... - I'm not able to work. / I can't work.
Ela tem vergonha de falar inglês. - She's too shy to speak English.
Você tem que ter paciência. - You must be patient.
Ele tem facilidade para línguas. / Tem jeito ... - He's good at languages.
Este quarto tem 3 metros de largura por 4 de comprimento. - This room is 3 meters wide by 4 meters long.

ESTAR DE ... E ESTAR COM ... - PORTUGUESE "ESTAR DE ..." / "ESTAR COM ..." (19)

A combinação do verbo estar com as preposições de e com é muito comum em português, sendo que os significados que essas combinações representam, podem assumir diferentes formas em inglês, conforme os seguintes exemplos:
Estou com frio. / ... fome. / ... medo. / ... sono. - I'm cold. / ... hungry. / ... afraid. / ... sleepy.
Estou com vontade de beber uma cerveja. - I feel like drinking a beer. / I'd like to drink ...
Estou com pressa. - I'm in a hurry.
Estou com dor de cabeça. - I've got a headache. / I have a headache.
Está com defeito. - It's out of order.
Está com jeito de chuva. - It looks like rain.
Ela está com 15 anos. - She is 15 years old.
Estou de ressaca. - I've got a hangover. / I have a hangover. / I'm hung over.
Ela está de aniversário. - Today is her birthday. / She's celebrating her birthday today.
Estou de férias. - I'm on vacation. / ... on holidays.
Estou de folga. - It's my day off.
Estou de serviço. - I'm on duty.
Estou de castigo. - I'm grounded.
Estou de saída. / ... de partida. - I'm leaving.
Estou só de passagem. / I was just passing by.
Estamos de acordo. - We agree.
Estou com pouco dinheiro. / Estou mal de dinheiro. - I'm short of money.
Está de cabeça para baixo. / Está de pernas para o ar. - It's upside down.
Está tudo misturado. - It's all mixed up.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Este post é para Biólogos "insetos"

1. Formiga: Ant
Ex: Ants can lift up to 20 times their own body weight. (As formigas conseguem erguer pesos até vinte vezes maiores que o próprio.)
2. Abelha: Bee
Ex: Bees produce honey. (Abelhas produzem mel.)
3. Barata: Cockroach
Ex: Most women are afraid of cockroaches. (A maioria das mulheres tem medo de baratas.)
4.Libélula: Dragonfly
Ex: Dragonflies are predators that eat mosquitoes and other small insects. (Libélulas são predadores que comem mosquitos e outros insetos pequenos.)
5. Gafanhoto: Grasshopper
Ex: From every part of this State complaints of the grasshopper plague is assuming alarming proportions. (Em todas as partes deste estado, as reclamações da praga de gafanhotos estão tomando proporções alarmantes.)
6. Borboleta: Buttefly
Ex: I think butterflies are very beautiful. (Eu acho as borboletas muito bonitas.)
7. Besouro: Beetle
Ex: The beetles were taken to the laboratory after that. (Os besouros foram levados para o laboratório depois disso.)
8. Joaninha: Ladybug
Ex: Today, ladybugs are used to symbolize good luck and fortune. (Hoje, as joaninhas são usadas para simbolizar boa sorte e futuro.)
9. Mosquito: Mosquito
Ex: Dengue Mosquitoes breed in still water. (O mosquito da dengue reproduz em água parada.)
10. Vespa, Marimbondo: Wasp
Ex: A wasp stung him on the arm. (Um vespa o picou no braço.)
11. Piolho: Louse
Ex: Her son had lice when he was seven. (O filho dela tinha piolho quando tinha sete anos.)
12. Mosca: Fly
Ex: I think there is a fly in my soup. (Eu acho que tem uma mosca na minha sopa.)
13. Inseto: Bug
Ex: There are a lot of bugs near the river. (Há muitos insetos perto do rio.)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

At the mental hospital

At the mental hospital

A guy walks past a mental hospital and hears a moaning voice
"13.......13.......13.........13"
The man looked over to the hospital and saw a hole in the wall, he looked through the hole and gets poked in the eye. The moaning voice then groaned
'14.........14.........14.......14.'

Vocabulary Help

  • groan - gemer
  • guy - sujeito, pessoa
  • hear (hear, heard, heard) - ouvir
  • hole - buraco
  • look through - olhar através
  • moaning voice - voz gemendo
  • poked in the eye - atingido no olho
  • see (see, saw, seen) - ver
  • wall - paredce

Questions

Questions

A father and son went fishing one day. While they were out in the boat, the boy suddenly became curious about the world around him.
He asked his father, "How does this boat float?"
The father replied, "I don't know son."
A little later, the boy looked at his father and asked, "How do fish breath underwater?"
Once again the father replied, "I don't know son."
A little later the boy asked his father, "Why is the sky blue?"
Again, the father repied. "I don't know son."
Finally, the boy asked his father, "Dad, do you mind my asking you all of these questions?"
The father replied, "Of course not, if you don't ask questions, you will never learn anything."

Vocabulary Help - Ajuda de vocabulario

  • father - padre - pai
  • son - hijo - filho
  • go fishing - ir a pescar - ir pescar
  • boat - barca - barco
  • suddenly - de repente - subitamente, de repente
  • float - flotar - flutuar
  • breath underwater - respirar bajo el agua - respirar debaixo da agua
  • sky - cielo - ceu
  • do you mind - te importa - importar-se
  • learn (learn, learnt, learnt) - aprender - aprender

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Question and Answer

Question and Answer

Q. What's a mixed feeling?
A. When you see your mother-in-law backing off a cliff in your new car.
Q. What's the height of conceit?
A. Having an orgasm and calling out your own name.
Q. Why do most women pay more attention to their appearance than improving their minds?
A. Because most men are stupid but few are blind.

Vocabulary Help

  • mixed feeling - sentimentos confusos, misturados
  • mother-in-law - sogra
  • back off - dar ré
  • cliff - penhasco
  • height of conceit - cúmulo do orgulho
  • call out - chamar, gritar
  • improve - aperfeiçoar
  • mind - mente
  • blind - cego

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Mini-teste: Collocations

Have you ever noticed how native English speakers use a host of other words where Brazilians use “very”? The word “very” is a general-purpose intensifier, but it shouldn’t be used in every case. Often there are other words that are more appropriate as intensifiers. These strong word associations are called “collocations”. For example, we can say that someone is “very” rich, or we can say that someone is “filthy” rich. In both cases the idea is the same (very rich). However, we can’t use “filthy” and “very” interchangeably; you can’t be “filthy” poor or “filthy” hungry. ‘Filthy’ and ‘rich’ naturally go together and form a strong collocation. Knowing and using these frequent and strong collocations is an important step forward in really using the language like a native English speaker.
Let’s see how well you know these common collocations. Match the intensifiers in column A with the words in column B.
AB
(1) The hotels were outrageously(a) mad last night.
(2) Shoes are dirt(b) hot in July.
(3) He was dirt(c) wet.
(4) Mary was fuming(d) successful at the moment.
(5) I ordered a freezing(e) sorry.
(6) Arizona is burning(f) poor as a child.
(7) I’m late. I’m terribly(g) beautiful.
(8) His talk show is enormously(h) cold beer to cool off.
(9) The view from the top was breathtakingly(i) expensive in London.
(10) After the tennis game I was dripping(j) cheap in Mexico.
Some other common substitutes for “very” in English are:
Terribly
I’m terribly sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask you something.
She’s terribly busy right now.
Horribly
We were horribly late to the wedding.
Jack was horribly drunk when he got in last night.
Awfully
He seemed awfully interested in the proposal.
Jane is awfully nice to offer her beach house for the weekend.
Absolutely
Are you absolutely certain it was John who took the laptop?
I’m absolutely delighted with the new sound system.
Utterly
I’m utterly exhausted from the hike this morning.
What an utterly ridiculous thing to say!
Also: entirely, absolutely, astonishingly, frightfully, tremendously, extremely etc.
We are waiting for your participation. The 3 first to answer correctly will win a brand new book.
Sobre o autor: Mark, canadense, reside no Brasil há quatorze anos. Possui mestrado em Teoria da Comunicação pela McGill University, bacharelado em Antropologia e Estudos Culturais e graduação em Semiótica pela Trent University. Autor de diversos livros da série Michaelis.

Puzzle

Puzzle

Three blondes walk into a bar and ask the bartender for three shots of tequila. He looks at them and says "OK" and pours their shots.
They all clink glasses and and yell "51 days!" Then they proceed to slam the shots, looking very self-satisfied. They look back to the bartender and decide to order another round. This time they pick up the glasses again and, more gleefully yell " Only 51 days!"
The bartender finally can't stand wondering what they are talking about and asks them what they mean by Only 51 days.
One of the blondes looks at him and says "Well," looking very smug. "We "We just finished a jigsaw puzzle. It took us Only 51 Days.....and on the box it said 4-7 years"

Vocabulary Help

  • blondes - louras
  • pour - servir
  • clink glasses - tocar os copos
  • yell - gritar
  • order - pedir
  • wonder - imaginar
  • smug - satisfeita
  • jigsaw puzzle - quebra-cabeças
  • box - caixa

Monday, August 2, 2010

WORD-FORMATION MORFOLOGIA (FORMAÇÃO DE PALAVRAS)


WORD-FORMATION


MORFOLOGIA (FORMAÇÃO DE PALAVRAS)


Ricardo Schütz
O estudo da morfologia, ou seja, da formação de palavras, serve para demonstrar a flexibilidade da língua, flexibilidade esta que permite ao falante nativo transferir palavras de uma categoria a outra, através da adição de afixos.

Infelizmente, regras de formação de palavras não se aplicam a todas as palavras, tendo na verdade uma aplicação, ou uma "produtividade" muito limitada. Ou seja, a regra só se aplica àquelas palavras já consagradas pelo uso na língua. Do ponto de vista daquele que aprende inglês, a regra ajuda apenas no reconhecimento das palavras, não na produção. Portanto, de pouco adianta aprender a regra para poder aplicá-la na formação de palavras. O que também, mais uma vez, demonstra a eficácia superior da assimilação natural (acquisition) sobre estudo formal (learning) no processo de aprendizado de línguas.
A utilidade de se conhecer as principais regras de formação de palavras, do ponto de vista daquele que está desenvolvendo familiaridade com inglês, está no fato de que este conhecimento permite a identificação da provável categoria gramatical mesmo quando não se conhece a palavra no seu significado, o que é de grande utilidade na interpretação de textos.
São 3 os processos de formação de palavras:

AFFIXATION: É a adição de prefixos e sufixos.
Ex: pleasant - unpleasant, meaning - meaningful - meaningless.

CONVERSION: É a adoção da palavra em outra categoria gramatical sem qualquer transformação.
Ex: drive (verbo) - drive (substantivo)

COMPOUNDING: Refere-se à junção de duas palavras para formar uma terceira.
Ex: tea + pot = teapot, arm + chair = armchair


Sunday, August 1, 2010

Parrots

Parrots

A parrot fancier entered a London pet shop noticed a particularly colorful bird and asked its price.
"Five thousand pounds," the shop owner replied.
"Five thousand pounds?" the man asked. "Why so much?"
"Well, this bird speaks fluent Italian, Spanish and French, is brushing up on his German and starting to study English," came the reply. "With the European Community's unification due in 1992, he'll be a great asset."
"I don't care about the Common Market," the parrot fancier said. "What about that gray one in that other cage?"
The gray one was 15,000 pounds, he was told, because the bird spoke Arabic, Chinese, and Korean and was learning Japanese--"the languages of the 21st century."
"I'm too old to worry about the 21st century," the frustrated parrot lover replied. "What about that brown parrot up on that perch in the corner?"
The brown one, said the shopkeeper, was 25,000 pounds.
"Twenty-five thousand pounds!" exclaimed the customer. "What does he do to worth that?"
"We're not sure," the pet-shop owner replied. "But the other two call him chairman."

Vocabulary Help

  • pet shop - loja de animais
  • notice - notar
  • bird - pássaro
  • shop owner - dono da loja
  • speak (speak, spoke, spoken) - falar
  • brushing up - aperfeiçoar
  • asset - coisa de valor
  • I don't care - Eu não me importo
  • gray - cinza
  • cage - gaiola
  • corner - canto
  • shopkeeper - funcionário da loja, atendente
  • be worth - valer
  • sure - certo
  • chairman - chefe, gerente

Public Telephone

Public Telephone

At a public telephone:
-- I am sorry Sir, but I am in a terrible hurry. It's fifteen minutes you're using this telephone without saying a single word.
-- I am talking to my wife.

Vocabulary Help

  • sorry - desculpar
  • hurry - pressa
  • say (say, said, said) - dizer
  • single - única
  • word - palavra
  • talk - falar
  • wife - esposa