joshua bell - stop and hear the music

One of my brilliant on-line Students, Marta, told this story yesterday. That's a story about a social experiment which involved international violin virtuoso and passers-by hurrying in the morning rush hour at a subway station in Washington DC. I chose this piece of news, because the presenter is speaking so distinctly that you can distinguish every single word:



And this is a fragment of the concert itself:

improve your english

I can't resist the temptation to upload here my favourite advert promoting English learning. I recalled this short video when I was watching a DVD training material for teachers, attached to one of the teacher's books published by Oxford University Press. The training DVD showed a case study of a one-to-one lesson. The teacher was an English woman in her mid-fifties, and her student - a German manager. He was quite fluent, however, hardly capable of producing the "th" sound. It veered towards "s" all the time.
That's how I remembered this 40-second story about the German Cruise Guard.
Enjoy.

case study - studium przypadku
one-to-one lesson - lekcja jeden na jeden (indywidualna)
hardly capable of - niemalże niezdolny
veer towrds - zmierzać w kierunku, skłaniać się ku

I wish I was able to produce my teacher's notes on the fly, but I'm afraid they would form, at the most, a complaint book. A teacher's diary is namely a record of ups and downs, of commitment rarely matched up by the genuine response of the students, who generally wish they had got prepared but unfortunately had no time, next time it will be better I promise, and what can I do but accept.
Instead of writing this, I might have produced a nice informative piece on meteorological phenomena or economy, which would help me carve out a career for myself. Alas!, as Shakespeare's characters used to say, I can't find proper time for that.

on the fly = right away - na poczekaniu
at the most - co najwyzej
a complaint book - książka skarg i zażaleń
namely - minaowicie
commitment - zaangażowanie
match up - dopasować, spełnić oczekiwania
genuine - autentyczny, szczery
what can I do but accept - co mogę zrobić, jeśli nie pogodzić się z tym
carve out a career fr oneself - wyrobić sobie pozycję zawodową
alas [old-fashioned] = unfortunately

i'm so happy

I would like to apologize for my inclination for the songs that seem cheerfull but only as long as you don't get into the lyrics; however, I can't resist them. Today there's another example - a song we listened to with a group of my intermediate students tonight.
I first heard the song some seven, eight perhaps, years ago, and it has become one of my favourites ever since. The mood of the tune is so entirely careless that you might think it's just another country song. The idea of being happy on the verge of tears is not unfamiliar, either. The mixture of those two - music and lyrics - brings about an unusual effect. Listen and judge for yourselves.


I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying
Seven weeks have passed now since she left me
She shows her face to ask me how I am
She says the kids are fine and that they miss me
Maybe I could come and baby-sit sometime

She says, "Are you O.K.? I was worried about you
Can you forgive me? I hope that you'll be happy."
I'm so happy that I can't stop crying
I'm so happy I'm laughing through my tears

I saw a friend of mine
He said, "I was worried about you
I heard she had another man,
I wondered how you felt about it?"
I'm so happy that I can't stop crying
I'm so happy I'm laughing though my tears

Saw my lawyer, Mr Good News,
He got me joint custody and legal separation
I'm so happy that I can't stop crying
I'm laughing through my tears
I'm laughing through my tears

I took a walk alone last night
I looked up at the stars
To try and find an answer in my life
I chose a star for me, I chose a star for him
I chose two stars for my kids and one star for my wife
Something made me smile
Something seemed to ease the pain
Something about the universe and how it's all connected

The park is full of Sunday fathers and melted ice cream
We try to do the best within the given time
A kid should be with his mother
Everybody knows that
What can a father do but baby-sit sometimes?

I saw that friend of mine, he said,
"You look different somehow"I said,
"Everybody's got to leave the darkness sometime"

inclination for - skłonność, upodobanie do
resist - opierac się; I can't resist them - nie mogę się im oprzeć
tune - melodia
on the verge of sth - na skraju
bring about = cause

'tis a memoir

And now it's the time for a piece of prose. That's the fragment of a memoir. The author remembers his mother and a special story of hers - an account of a lonesome Irish immigrant's day. Please, pay attention to curious punctuation - in order to show the story as it was said, to make the narration more "real", most of punctuation marks have been omitted.

Well, I was sitting in my apartment and I was feeling lonesome so I went up and sat on one of those benches they have in the grassy island in the middle of Broadway and this woman came along, a shopping bag woman , one of the homeless ones, all tattered and greasy , rooting around in the grabage can till she found a newspaper and sat beside me reading it till she asked me if she could borrow my glasses because she could read only headlines with the sight she had and when she talked I noticed she had an Irish accent so I asked where she came from and she toled me Donegal a long time ago and wasn't it lovely to be sitting on a bench in the middle of Broadway with people noticing things and asking where you came from. She I asked if I could spare a few pennies on a soup and I insisted she could come with me to the Associated supermarket and we'd get some groceries and have a proper meal. Oh, she couldn't do that, she said, but I told her that's what I was going to do anyway. She wouldn't come inside the store. She said they wouldn't like the likes of her. I got bread and butter and rashers and eggs and when we got home I told her she could go in and have a nice shower and she was delighted with herself though there wasn't much I could do about her clothes or the bags she carried. We had our dinner and watched television till she started falling asleep on me and i told her lie down there on the bed but she wouldn't. God knows the bed is big enough for four but she laid down on the floor with a shopping bag under her head and when I woke up in the morning she was gone and I missed her.

I know it wasn't the dinner wine that had me against the wall in a fit of remorse. It was the thought of my mother being so lonesome she had to sit on a street bench, so lonesome she missed the company of a homeless shopping bag woman.

(Frank McCourt 'Tis. A Memoir.)

shopping bag woman = bag lady - kloszardka
tattered - obszarpany
greasy - zatłuszczony
root around in - grzebac w
garbage can - US pojemnik na smieci
she wouldn't come inside
the likes of her - infml jej podobni
groceries - artykuły spozywcze
rasher - plasterek bekonu
had me against the wall - zmuziło mnie do oparcia się o scianę
a fit of remorse - przypływ wyrzutów sumienia