Sitting on the dock of the bay

La música del sur de Estados Unidos ha trascendido todas las fronteras: las de la geografía y las del tiempo. Este es el caso de la canción que hemos preparado para este post en Home English, una composición que ya forma parte de los clásicos; además, te damos la letra en Inglés y en español, para que sepas lo que estás cantando. Si necesitas de músicos que te acompañen para cantarla, puedes bajártela de: 

http://stage.vitaminic.com/main/percy_sledge/singles/

*Es muy típico del acento sureño norteamericano no pronunciar las “g” de las terminaciones “-ing”.

**Frisco Bay hace referencia a la famosa bahía de San Francisco. A veces los forasteros llaman ’Frisco a la ciudad.

Sentado en el Muelle de la Bahía 

Sentado al sol de la mañana

Estaré sentado cuando llegue la noche

Observando cómo llegan los barcos

   y los veo volverse a marchar

(Coro)

Sentado en el muelle de la bahía

Observando cómo baja la marea

Simplemente estoy sentado en el muelle de la bahía

Perdiendo el tiempo

Dejé mi hogar en Georgia

  Y me dirigí hacia la bahía de Frisco*

Porque no tenia nada por lo que vivir

Y parece que nada va a salir como yo quiero

Así que estoy sentado en el muelle de la bahía

Observando la marea marcharse cómo baja la marea

Simplemente estoy sentado en el muelle de la bahía

Perdiendo el tiempo

Parece que nada va a cambiar

Todo permanece igual

No puedo hacer lo que diez personas me dicen que haga

Así que supongo que permaneceré igual

  Sentado aquí, descansando mis huesos

Y esta soledad no me dejará solo

Ya he vagado dos mil millas

Tan solo para convertir este muelle en mi hogar

Ahora, simplemente estoy sentado en el muelle de la bahía

Observando cómo baja la marea

Simplemente estoy sentado en el muelle de la bahía

Perdiendo el tiempo

Slang:Things to Say When...

Someone is expecting a baby:

“She’s got a bun in the oven.”(1)

“She’s got a little one on the way.”

“She’s wearing her apron high.”(2)

Someone dies:

“He’s pushing up the daisies.”(3)

“He’s kicked the bucket.”

“He’s sleeping the big sleep.”(4)

You’re under pressure:

“I can’t take the pace.”

“I’m going to snap/crack.”

“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.”(5)

(1) Esta frase literalmente significa tener un panecillo en el horno. Se usa como una manera graciosa para decir que una mujer está embarazada. También se dice to be in the pudding club. La frase se entiende igual sin la palabra “pudding”.

(2) Esta frase viene de la zona rural de los Estados Unidos y significa que la mujer lleva su delantal muy por arriba (¡porque está embarazada y tiene mucha barriga!).

(3) Esta frase se refiere al hecho de que cuando uno se muere, y está enterrado bajo tierra, la descomposición de su cuerpo da nutrientes a la tierra y las plantas que viven en ella. ¡Así que si estás muerto estás ayudando las margaritas (daisies) a crecer!

(4) El término The Big Sleep (El Sueño Eterno) es el título de una famosa novela policíaca escrita por un autor norteamericano que se llama Raymond Chandler. En su libro la frase se refiere a la muerte, y ahora se usa como una manera poética para hablar de la muerte.

(5) Significa literalmente: si no puedes soportar el calor, sal de la cocina. Es muy típico usar esta frase para responder a alguien que se queja porque está bajo demasiada presión. Le estás diciendo que en vez de quejarse sobre su situación, deberían hacer algo para salir de ella.

Wilderness Food

Estamos en pleno invierno y las temperaturas en gran parte del planeta se han situado a una cifra bajo cero vertiginosa. ¿Estás preparado para el frío? Desde Home English te mostraremos en este post algunas recetas tipicas de Alaska, uno de los países más gélidos del globo terrestre.

Alaskan cuisine was until recently the food of survival (supervivencia) and of adapting to very difficult conditions. Like bears (osos) before they hibernate, indigenous people had to look for enough food to last (resistir) the long winter. Now, like anywhere in North America, you can buy any food at any time of year. But people here prefer to eat Alaskan products if possible. Here you can find incredible fish, especially salmon and halibut, and excellent wild game,(pieza de caza salvaje) including caribou and moose.(alce) 

     

King Salmon

Alaska is one of the world’s most important places for wild salmon production. One third of the world total is caught (pescado) here every year. There are five varieties of salmon. The largest is the King or Chinook salmon, which has red flesh (carne roja) and a very rich flavour.(sabor delicioso) The most common variety is the smaller Pink salmon. You can eat it fresh, or buy the smoked (ahumada) variety. When you taste authentic Alaskan salmon, you will understand why bears love it so much!

Halibut and Crab (cangrejo)

The 34,000 miles of coastline (linea de costa) and cold, clear (transparentes) waters provide abundant and diverse fish and seafood.(marisco) One of the most famous products is Alaska King crab. This large crab if famous for its sweet flavour. There is also halibut, called the “gem (piedra preciosa) of the sea” for its taste. And we cannot forget the oysters,(ostras) clams (almejas) or shrimp,(gambas) which would satisfy the most experienced gourmet.

   

Hunting for Game

In Eskimo societies, hunting (cazar) used to have an almost religious significance. Now thousands of tourists come to Alaska every year to go hunting, and the tradition is still very strong for locals. This activity is very strictly controlled, with limits on what and when you can hunt in each region. The resulting moose or caribou makes delicious stews,(guisos) and good winter breakfast is reindeer (reno) sausages (salchichas) (but do not tell the children that they are eating Santa’s friend, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!)

Wait a Minute !

Wait, hope, expect...en inglés existe una palabra distinta para cada "tipo de espera". El post de hoy  te ayudará a aclarar algunas  dudas sobre su uso.

You may not expect much from this post, but we still hope to give you a few tips to improve your English. As you may have guessed by now, this is about the difference between wait, hope and expect.

Wait, Hope, Expect. When you WAIT FOR something, you let some time pass before it happens (normally without doing much):

I’m waiting for John (to come) = I am spending some time until John comes.

He had to wait for the bus for over an hour = An hour went by until the bus came.

She waited for the rain to stop = She did not move until the rain stopped.

Don’t forget to use the preposition for with wait to introduce the thing or person you wait for.

We waited for John.

We waited for the bus.

Notice that the following structure is common after wait:

To wait for + SUBJ. + to + INFINITIVE

I am waiting FOR Peter TO come and pick me up.

When you HOPE that something will happen, you wish/want it to happen.

I hope (that) you are doing well in London = I wish that you are doing well in London.

He hopes to get the job = He wants to get the job (and thinks he might get it).

You often use hope followed by a clause in the future tense (will):

I hope (that) he will be a good husband.

When you EXPECT something to happen, you think it is the most probable thing to happen:

Rain is expected for Monday and Tuesday. = It is very probable that it will rain on Monday and Tuesday.

We expect him to come at eight. = We think he will come at eight.

Notice that the following structure is common after expect:

To expect + SUBJ. + to + INFINITIVE

I expect HER to come and pick me up.

Practice 1: Choose one of the verbs in brackets to fill in the blanks:

(a) I ______________ (expect/hope/wait) he does well tomorrow at the exam.

(b) I _________________ (expected/hoped/waited) her to pick me up at the station, but she wasn’t there.

(c) I ________________ (expect/hope/wait) they come soon, otherwise we won’t get to the wedding in time.

(d) The train was so late that I had to ________________ (expect/hope/wait) at the station for half an hour.

Answer key: 

Practice 1: (a) hope; (b) expected; (c) hope; (d) wait.  

English Prepositions

A preposition is a word which governs, and normally is positioned in front of a noun or pronoun. It expresses a relation to another word or element.

Here are some examples.

• She left after the meeting.
• What are you looking for? (The preposition is generally placed at the end of the English question.)

English Preposition Rule

There is an easy rule about prepositions in sentences.
A preposition is always followed by a "noun". It is never followed by a verb.

Examples of nouns are:

• noun (cat, honey, life)
• proper noun (name) (Berlin, Michelle)
• pronoun (you, him, us)
• noun group (His first kiss)
• gerund (skating)

A preposition cannot be followed by a verb. If we want to follow a preposition by a verb, we must use the "-ing" form which is really a gerund or verb in noun form. An example is:

After eating all that ice-cream, he felt sick.

Look at these examples of simple sentences with prepositions.

Subject + verb	Preposition	Noun
Breakfast is ready	in	the kitchen.
John has moved	to	India.
Jane is waiting	for	you.
Your keys are	under	your jacket.
I’m not used	to	spicy food.
Brian can’t get used	to	working late.

In this post we look at three common prepositions of place: at, in, on

In general, we use:

• at for a point
• in for an enclosed space
• on for a surface

Look at some examples.

at	in	on
POINT	ENCLOSED SPACE	SURFACE
at the corner	in the yard	on the wall
at the meeting point	in New York	on the roof
at the door	in Africa	on the door
at the top of the page	in a bag	on the cover
at the end of the street	in my suitcase	on the floor
at the exit	in my wallet	on the rug
at the roundabout	in an office	on the list
at the hotel reception	in a taxi	on a page

Now it is time to practise. Choose at, in or on to complete the sentences.

1. Stella is waiting for you __ the bus stop.
2. How long have you lived __ Mexico?
3. What time do you usually arrive __ the office?
4. I have a casting __ Hollywood.
5. The post office is __ the end of this street.
6. I have an apartment __ the top floor __ 121 Park Lane __ London.
7. Do you work __ a factory?
8. The photo is __ the cover of the CD.
9. Venus is __ the Solar System.
10. There are some nice dishes __ this menu.
11. There was a lot of graffiti __ the wall.
12. Our flight was delayed __ Heathrow airport and we arrived __ Barcelona two hours late.

Answers

1. at 2. in 3. at 4. in 5. at 6.on/at/in

7. in 8. on 9. in 10. on 11. on 12. at/in

Is This Real Life ?

Estas son las preguntas que hace un niño de 7 años tras la visita al dentista y sufrir los efectos de la medicación. Have fun !

David has just had his tooth removed and is suffering the after effects of the medication he received. These are some of the questions 7 year old David asks his Dad after his visit to the dentist:

Is this real life ?
Do I have stitches (puntos) ?
Why can't  I touch it ?
Why is this happening to me?
Is this going to be forever?

Watch the video to find out (averiguar) the answers. Have fun !

(puedes ver el video con subtítulos en castellano siguiendo este enlace David after dentist -subtítulos en castellano- )

The Statue of Liberty

Nueva York es famosa por infinidad de cosas- sus parques, sus tiendas y muchos monumentos y museos, pero nada es más emblemático en su ciudad que la Estátua de la Libertad- the Statue of Liberty. Hay pocas personas en el mundo que no hayan oído hablar nunca de élla. Fue una de las primeras cosas que vieron los inmigrantes cuando llegaron por primera vez a "la tierra prometida"y siempre simbolizó la libertad y la oportunidad para nuevos retos. Desde Home English, recordamos hoy en este post a esta gran señora de la gran manzana.

“Liberty Enlightening (iluminando) the World”

This is the statue’s real name, although (aunque)  it is known simply as the Statue of Liberty.  It is an enormous copper (cobre) statue of a woman holding a torch in her right hand on Liberty Island – one of the largest statues ever built. The Statue of Liberty was given to the people of the United States by the people of France in 1884. It was given in friendship (amistad) and also to express the ideal of freedom shared (compartido) by the two countries. The French donated the money to build the statue and the Americans raised the money to construct the base. It was designed by the French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. 

 

When he returned to France, he began designing the statue. He started his work in a workshop (taller) in Paris in 1875. He made wooden moulds (moldes de madera) and attached (pegó) thin copper sheets (láminas de cobre) to them and hammered them into shape.(les dió forma con el martillo) The copper sheets were then attached to an internal iron structure that was designed by Gustave Eiffel, the designer of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

After the statue was finished it had to be dismantled (desmontada) into 300 pieces for shipping (enviar en barco) to the United States. The French ship Isère carried the statue across the Atlantic Ocean and it arrived in the United States on 17^th June 1885. Unfortunately, the base was not finished because of lack (falta) of money. However, after an intensive newspaper campaign by Joseph Pulitzer, the pedestal was finally completed in April 1886. The official ceremony, dedicating the statue to the city of New York, finally took place on 28^th October 1886.

        

It is said that Liberty’s face was based on Bartholdi’s own mother’s face. He created a kind of Roman goddess (diosa) figure wearing a cloak (manto) fastened (abrochado) at her left shoulder and the loose  robes (túnica aholgada) generally associated with them. In her right hand she is holding the torch burning with the light of liberty. In her left hand she is holding a tablet, which has the date of the American Declaration of Independence (4^th July 1776) written in Roman numerals. She wears a crown (corona) with seven spikes,(puntas) which correspond to the seven seas and the seven continents, so that the light of liberty can shine (brillar) over them too. And there is a broken chain (cadena rota) lying at her feet. This represents the breaking of tyranny and slavery.(esclavitud)

...But Today is a Gift.

En el post de hoy recordamos las sabias palabras de la Tortuga Guru de la película Kung Fu Panda: Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That is why it is called the present !

At the end of the year, it’s common to review the past 365 days, and then at the beginning of the year, we make resolutions [1] for the next 365 days. During this period of time, we look backwards and forwards but we don’t take enough time to look at the here and now. For this reason, I think it would be appropriate to reflect on the wise words of the Turtle Guru from the movie Kung Fu Panda, which you probably haven’t heard in the original English version.

Turtle: I see you have found our sacred tree of Heavenly wisdom [2].

Panda: Oh! Is that what this is? I’m so sorry! I though it was just a regular peach tree.

Turtle: I understand. You eat when you are upset.

Panda: Upset [3]?! I’m not upset. What makes you think I’m upset?

Turtle: So why are you upset?

Panda: I probably sucked [4] more today than anyone in the history of Kung Fu. In the history of China. In the history of sucking!

Turtle: Probably

Panda: And the five. Man, you should’ve seen them. They totally hate me.

Turtle: Totally.

Panda: How is Master Shi Fu ever going to turn me into the Dragon Warrior? I mean I’m not like the Five. I’ve got no claws [5], no wings, no venom. Even Mantis has those thingies [6]. Maybe I should just quit and go back to making noodles.

Turtle: Quit, don’t quit. Noodles, don’t noodles. You are too concerned with what was and what will be. There’s a saying: Yesterday is history. / Tomorrow is a mystery. / But today is a gift. That is why it is called the present!

---

[1] propósitos, [2] sabiduría, [3] alterado, [4] cagarla , [5] garras, [6] “thingy” refiere a una “thing” cuyo nombre hemos olvidado