Friday, August 31, 2012

Tale Of A Bean (3)

"... the string bean growsblossomsseeds.  "

Missing the familiar presence of the few green leaves, the old lady leaves her lonely room and each day goes discreetly to see her plant. With enough sun and water, drawing strength from the rich earth, the string bean grows (crece), blossoms (florece) , seeds ( salen semillas) .

Nobody knows it is hers, her own secret garden. She has saved it, and seeing it grow is her comfort and joy, day and night. Soon it reaches out above the  hedge  that has hidden it and kept it from harm.

One day she arrives to find gardeners at work, planting and pruning (podando) , clipping and cutting. She is just in time to see them approach her string bean. It’s presence upsets the harmony of the design. It is an intruder. She doesn’t dare  ( no se atreve) rush in, to tell these men. She waits, her heart racing. And one of the gardener pulls out the string bean and throws it on the ground (suelo) .

When the men leave for lunch and she is alone, the old lady gently lifts the broken plant. It is dead, and the leaves are already fading. She looks at it for a long time.

She picks some of the string beans and holds them in her hand as a bouquet. Quickly she returns to her room. She puts soil from the gardens in the pot, and in it plants three new seeds (semillas) . Everything will begin again, as before, perhaps even better than before.
Behind her window, the old lady once again is on the look-out, her eyes fixed on the little pot of earth where the three little seeds sleep. This time she will know how to protect them, when to move them, when to bring them home. A healthy, quiet rain comes from the sky, falling gently on the pot and the life it contains.

"... quiet rain comes from the sky, falling gently on the pot..." 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Tale Of A Bean (2)



"...she plants one bean ..."
In the precious earth she plants one bean from among those chosen for her dinner and sets the pot on the window-sill. Every day she waters the soil. To her amazement, two leaves appear, then a third. To support the tender sprig (rama) , the old lady ties its stem (tallo)  to a knitting needle (Aguja de coser, stuck in the pot .

But enemies appear. A neighbour above shakes dust (polvo)  from his rug down on the bean on the window-sill. Pigeons peck at the leaves and will not be chased away. The old lady decides to move the plant, but there is not enough sun in her room. So she puts the flowerpot out on the landing (rellano) . She must keep moving the pot as the patch of sun moves. Sometimes she forgets and neglects it. Sometimes she goes to the landing and neglects her work.

Then she has an idea. One walks ( sacar a pasear ) dogs and children. Why not string beans? So she takes her plant to the garden. In the Tuileries  there is both sun and water. And sitting on a bench each day, she watches the plant as it starts to become green.

But the walks are brief, because she must work. Back in the dark building the leaves begin to fall. The old lady makes a decision. Early one morning she carries her string bean to the garden, and plants it behind a hedge  (seto) in the midst of luxurious flowers. Afterwards, a little tired, she rests on the bench. She is happy. Without anyone knowing, she has saved a plant, a life.

"...In the Tuileries  there is both sun and water...."

Monday, August 27, 2012

Tale Of A Bean (1).


Once upon a time this fable was a film, made by French director Edmond Séchan. The film won a Golden Palm award for short films at the 1963 Canne film festival. And twenty years later he retold the fable as a book from which these words are taken.




The old woman lives and works in a dark building in Paris. On a sewing-machine  (máquina de coser) as aged  as she is, she makes evening bags, handbags with pearl embroidery (bordado) and silver fringe (flecos) , for elegant ladies and festive occasions.

Every morning and evening the old woman works .But for a short time in the afternoon, when the weather is pleasant, she closes her sewing-machine , takes her handbag-an ordinary handbag- and goes out.
She has followed the same path for many years, through the Tuileries gardens, near where she lives. As she walks slowly around the impeccable flowerbeds, she dreams of her childhood gardens, filled with the perfume of peonies and lilacs.

On her way home one evening, she sees a discarded flowerpot ( maceta). The azalea it holds is dead. Still the soil (tierra ) is good and the pot can be used, so the lady carries it upstairs. A flowerpot. Some earth (tierra) . Good. She holds the pot close, her eyes shining.


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

As clear As Day

" ...as clear as day..."
Something as clear as day  is  very  easy to understand ( The instructions were as clear as day.)  or  certain ( It's as clear as day that Barça is going to win the  Champions League). However,  if the instructions are as clear as mud  , they are very difficult to understand.

Complete these five common English expressions with the five words below.This  is as clear as day  !


feather (pluma) -horse ( caballo)- lark (alondra) -  snail ( caracol)-   mouse (ratón)


1- as slow  as a_____________.
2- as light as  a___________ .
3- (eat)  like  a___________ .
4-(sing) like  a____________.
5- as quiet as a _____________.

Now put one of these expressions in each of the following sentences.

a-"Come on ! Hurry up ! You're_____________  ".
b-When the baby watches television , he's______________________.
c-This box looks heavy but it's______________ .
d-He was so hungry that he ate _______________.
e -She sings beautifully, just______________ .


Answers in the comments.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

As Easy As a Piece Of Cake


" A piece of cake" is an informal way of saying something is very easy to do.Complete these five common English expressions with the five words below. It's a piece of cake  !


bee (abeja) -iron(hierro)-log (tronco) -peacock (pavo real) -fish (pez) 


1. as hard as__iron __.
2. like a _________out of water.
3.as proud as a________.
4.(sleep) like a ________.
5. as busy as a  _______ .

Now put one of these expressions in each of the following sentences.

a- I was so tired last night that I slept_____ .
b- The ground was frozen this morning, it was ___________.
c- She never stops working.She's always ______________.
d-Riding around town in his new Rolls Royce, he looked __________.
e-I feel completely lost, I feel__________ .

Answers in the comments.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Apple Jack


In 2010, Estrella Damm used the coasts of Menorca as the background for its summer campaign. This time, the music was provided by the Australian group The Triangles performing their 2005 hit song Apple Jack



Raise your hands and sing it with me
Sometimes the strongest and most wonderful things are those we cannot see
Sing a song, sing a song
About how things seem more important at night

Raise your hands and sing it with me
Sometimes the strongest and most wonderful things are those we cannot see
Sing a song, sing a song
About how things seem more important at night

So sing apples, sing drumkits
Sing moonlight, sing lungfish
And sing a song mitochondria
Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

Raise your hands and sing it with me oh,
Sometimes the strongest and most wonderful things are those we cannot see

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Women In The Olympics


Women are very much a part of the Olympic scene.Think of Fanny Blankers -Koen , Nadia Comaneci  or  Jessica Ennis . But it was  not always so.

Women were banned from the ancient Olympic Games on pain of death. After all, men tended to compete naked.When the Olympics were restarted in 1868 there were no women and no naked men!

Modern Olympics founder , Baron Pierre de Coubertin thought  that men were more athletic and that women were too weak. The 1900 Paris Olympics were the first Games where women competed. Great Britain's Charlotte Cooper became the first ever female gold medallist winning the ladies singles.By 1908 there were 36 women competing in the skating and tennis only.In 1936 there were just 4 sports events for women and in 1968 still only 6.
By 2008 over 4,000 women competed in 28 sports and  over 100 individual events. What would Baron de Coubertin have thought as women now compete in the marathon, triathlon, weight-lifting, wrestling and shooting ?

Monday, August 6, 2012

Summercat

Probably the catchiest (la mas pegadiza ) song Estrella Damm chose for its summer commercial spot was in 2009, by the Swedish band Billie the Vision and the Dancers, who performed their hit Summercat, originally released in 2004. That carefree (despreocupado) summer took place on the island of Formentera



I kissed you good bye at the airport.
I held you so close to me.
I said So here we are now and I cant stop from crying Lilly.
And you said Hey hey hoo, you know this is the way to go
You will forget about me when Im on that plane.
Forget about me when Im on that plane.

Tonight tonight tonight tonight
I wanna be with you Tonight tonight tonight tonight
I wanna be with you tonight

The plane took off and my love went with it.
The chilly wind whipped my both cheeks hard.
And the man next to me said Everything is gonna be alright.
I said Nothing is gonna be alright, but thank you anyway.
And then I saw your face in the airplane window.
I waved my hands and I shouted to you:

Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
I wanna be with you tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
I wanna be with you tonight

I wore a T-shirt and my worn out hat.
Abandoned as a summer cat.
And as I stood there as a broken hearted I realized you got the car keys still.
So I broke into my own old car.
I fell asleep on the passenger seat.
I dreamed of summer sex with you and you whispered in my ear:

Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
I wanna be with you tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
I wanna be with you tonight
Why can’t you leave me tomorrow instead?
Why can’t you leave me tomorrow instead?

And above the clouds she said to herself I can’t believe how naive a man can be.
That’s why I love you so and that’s why I can’t be with you

Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
I wanna be with you tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight
I wanna be with you tonight

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Bobbies

"Bobbies on the beat  ( patrullando a pie por las calles ) "
The name "Bobby" comes from the person who founded the London Police in1825, Robert (Bobby) Peel. It has been used as a friendly description of the English policeman since that time. (Another word, less polite, for policeman is "cop" or "copper" which comes from the word "to cop" = to catch someone).
There is only one kind of police force in England and it is organized on a regional basis under the control of local and regional authorities.There is no paramilitary police force ( as the U.S National Guard , for example) in Great Britain.

The Bobby can easily be recognized by his strange looking hat which reminds one of the hats worn in India a hundred years  ago. The policemen  and policewomen in England are not armed and only carry guns on exceptional occasions. The fact that they do not have a gun increases the policeman's image  as a friendly, unthreatening public servant.