stories tales. a1-a2. english

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The word "beer" didn't come into general use until the 16th. Century and it was used to

describe ale which had had hops added to it. The word is believed to be derived from bibere, "to

drink" in Latin and this reflects the importance of beer in English culture.Until the late 19th.

Century beer was not a recreational drink but the everyday drink of the entire population since

most water and milk were not safe to drink. It was only a little over a hundred years ago that tea

replaced beer as the everyday drink of the British.Until the end of the 1700s nearly every cottage

in the English countryside brewed its own beer. The rural women brewers were called "ale wives".

By the way, a nice little point to remember is the fact that the female of "brewer" is "brewster".The

English pub grew from the homes of the most successful ale wives. Their homes became "public

houses" or "pubs". Indeed, beer was even once described as "liquid bread"!

THE INCREDIBLE ANTIQUITY OF BEER

Beer was first developed by the Mesopotamians and the Ancient Egyptians over 5000 years

ago. The truth is quite a simple one. Civilization as we know it evolved in the great river valleys

such as the Euphrates and the Tigris in Asia Minor and the Nile in North Africa, where the nomads

and cave-dwellers gave up chasing and took to growing grains. And where there was grain, sooner

or later there was beer.But Egypt was the true home of beer, just as it was the originator of so many

arts and institutions. There the patroness of beer was the goddess Isis, and beer was literally the

national beverage.

Egyptian beer -called Hek- was made from lightly baked barley bread. The bread was

crumbled, put into jars with water and allowed to ferment, after which the liquid was strained and

consumed or bottled. Most Egyptians, even children, drank beer and esteemed it so highly that it

was regularly offered as a libation to the gods. Egypt gave beer its big start but the Greek and

Roman conquerors took that special knowledge of brewing with them and spread it al over the

world. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, he toasted his troops with beer, and he always took

plenty of it on long marches to keep the legionnaires happy.

Of course, the Egyptian and Middle Eastern brewing industries collapsed with the arrival of

Islam. Fortunately, by this time the barbarians in Northern Europe had mastered the art of

brewing. Tacitus and Pliny the Elder both bear witness to the strange habit of the Germans and the

Gauls of drinking beer instead of wine. Despite the availability of wine in the north and beer in the

south, Europe still has a north-south drink divide. Further north, ale had a special place in Vikingmythology. Valhalla, the Norse paradise, was where dead warriors went to spend their days



drinking beer.

GLOSSARY: hairy: covered in a lot of hair ( peludo) ale: (specifically) beer without hops; (more generally) beer

(cerveza inglesa muy fuerte) hops: the dried fruit of a climbing plant which is used to make beer taste bitter

(lúpulo). cottage: small house in the country (casa de campo) to brew: make or ferment beer (or make tea) (elaborar

cerveza) evolved: developed (se desarrolló) cave-dweller: caveman (cavernícola) crumbled: broken into pieces or

fragments (desmenuzado) Rubicon: The boundary in ancient times between Italy and Gaul; Caesar's crossing it with his

army in 49 BC was an act of war (límite entre Italia y la Antigua Galia en la antigüedad ) toasted: saluted, proposed a

toast to (brindó) to master: dominate, control, acquire, learn (dominar, manejar) to bear witness to: testify to,

comment on (atestiguar, testimoniar) warrior: fighter, (primitive) soldier (guerrero).



MAKING ENDS MEET

Sandra: Health insurance bills, child-care bills, rent! Now that I'm going to school and only

working part time, I have a hard time making ends meet.

Teddy: Health insurance is so expensive, isn't it?

Sandra: Yeah! My company used to pay for it when I was working full time.

Teddy: And child care isn't cheap either, is it?

Sandra: No, it's not. After I pay for rent and groceries, almost all my money goes to pay for myson's day care.

Teddy: Your college should provide free day care for students with children.

Sandra: I think so, too. But they don't have any services like that. Oh, listen to me. I'm always

complaining, aren't I? Anyway, how are things with you?

Teddy: Oh, not bad, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do after I graduate.

Sandra: Yeah, it's hard to find a job these days, isn't it?

Teddy: It's not that. I'm just not sure if going to law school was the right thing to do.

Sandra: What do you mean?

Teddy: I only have a few more months before I graduate, and I'm wondering why I did this. I don't

want to be a lawyer. It all seems like a waste of time now.

Sandra: So what are you going to do?

Teddy: Well, I'd like to move to Mexico and open a coffee shop, but I think my parents would killme.

GLOSSARY: health insurance bills: facturas del seguro de salud; child-care bills: facturas de la guardería

infantil; rent: alquiler; part time =/= full time: a tiempo parcial =/= a tiempo completo; I have a hard time: me

cuesta, me resulta difícil; make (both) ends meet: llegar a fin de mes (con el dinero); used to pay for it: me lo pagaba;

either: tampoco; groceries: comestibles, abarrotes; like that: de ese tipo; complaining: quejándome; aren't I?: ¿no?;

law school: facultad de derecho o abogacía; I'm wondering: me pregunto; lawyer: abogado; move to: mudarse a;coffee shop: cafetería, café (negocio).



BETTER WORLD

Paul: Excuse me. Would you like to make a contribution to Greener World ?

Sylvia: Sure. What are you working on right now?

Paul: Well, we're developing educational programs for schools. We want to show children how theoceans are being polluted by industrial waste. And we want to tell them about how fish supplieshave been depleted through overfishing.

Sylvia: I think what you're doing is terrific. I wish I could do more to help.

Paul: So, have you ever thought about becoming a member of Greener World ?

Sylvia: No, but tell me a little more about it.

Paul: We've been active in this area for almost five years now. Are you aware of some of our other

local projects?

Sylvia: No, I don't think I am.

Paul: Well, one of the things we've been doing is planting trees. We have a group of volunteersinvolved in several tree-planting projects in different parts of the city. We're trying to get as manytrees planted as possible to help clean the air and also to help lower the temperature during thesummer.

Sylvia: That sounds smart.

Paul: Uh-huh. We've also placed over 50 recycling bins around the city so that people can drop offthings for recycling – cans, bottles, plastic bags, and newspapers. Last year we raised over $100,000through recycling.

Sylvia: That's fantastic. I'd love to get involved in Greener World . Where do I sign?

GLOSSARY: are being polluted: están siendo polucionados; by industrial waste: por residuos industriales;

fish supplies: las provisiones de pescado; have been depleted: han sido agotadas; through overfishing: a causa de lapesca excesiva; terrific: genial, estupendo; area: zona; for almost: durante casi; aware of: enterado/a, al tantode; volunteers: voluntarios; involved in: que se dedican a; tree-planting projects: proyectos de plantación deárboles; to help lower: ayudar a reducir; smart: inteligente, perspicaz; placed over: instalado más de; recycling bins: cubos (botes, tachos) de basura para reciclar; drop off: desechar; cans: latas; we raised over: juntamos, acumulamosmás de; through recycling: por medio del reciclado.



AMY AND THE RED BOX

Read pages 1 to 4 and then answer

1.- How old is Amy?

_______________________________________________________________________________

2.- Where does she live?

_______________________________________________________________________________

3.- Who is Mrs Morton?

_______________________________________________________________________________

4.- Where is Amy this evening?

_______________________________________________________________________________5.- Does Amy like the school?

_______________________________________________________________________________

6.- Who is a naughty girl?

_______________________________________________________________________________

7.- Why Amy must do her homework?

_______________________________________________________________________________

8.- Where does she go that night?

_______________________________________________________________________________

9.- Who is Marvo?

_______________________________________________________________________________

10.- Why is Amy amazed?

_______________________________________________________________________________

11.- What will be tomorrow?

_______________________________________________________________________________

12.- What’s her mother’s name?

_______________________________________________________________________________

13.- Where will be the fire?

_______________________________________________________________________________

14.- Where does she study?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Make activities, page 4



AMY AND THE RED BOX

Read pages 5 to 8 and then answer

1.- What rang the next day at school?

_______________________________________________________________________________

2.- What do the children see?

_______________________________________________________________________________

3.- Who do Amy talk to?

_______________________________________________________________________________

4.- How many buttons are on the wall?_______________________________________________________________________________

5.- Who have white hair and a long beard?

_______________________________________________________________________________

Complete the sentences

1.- At _________________________ everybody go home

2.- Amy walk ________________________ into the tent

3.- There is a _________________________ in the box

4.- They go behind the ______________________

5.- After two more minutes he is an _______________________

Make activities, page 8



The adventures

of

Betty and Bronto

VOCABULARY

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Chaim Potok about his novel The Chosen

The Chosen is essentially about the core of my own tradition. At the very heart of any living

tradition there are at least two elements of ongoing tension. One element says, "I don't need the

outside world to solve my problems. It is disgusting and creates only ugliness. Why do I need the

noise, the music, the pornography, and the heathenism therein. Using my own inner resources I can

solve all my problems from inside my own tradition."

The second element insists on an openness toward the outside world. "There are some really

beautiful things in the world beyond us," it points out. "There are really things that we can learn

from that world. Not everything about the outside world is ugly. Let's borrow the good things, and,

by integrating them with our tradition, enrich ourselves as a result."

These two elements are an ongoing conflict in any viable religious tradition. In The Chosenthose two elements are brought into confrontation with one of the fundamental gifts to us from the

very heart of the general civilization that we call Western Humanism.

The gift to us we call Freudian psychoanalytic theory. When the religious person encounters

Freud for the first time he or she is struck dumb by what Freud has done to the human being. For

Freud has no supernatural, no priest, no rabbi. With no supernatural, religion is a kind of mask, an

infantile delusion of the species which we all ought to outgrow. Everything is tightly linked in a

causal chain to the origin of this or that pathology.

Understand the origin and you can more or less deal with the pathology. There is no intrinsic

meaningfulness in the universe, no intrinsic sense to human actions. Most of our actions come from

a kind of oceanic, unconsciousness inside ourselves about which most of us are only dimly aware.

VOCABULARY

core: essence

at the very heart: at the origin

ugliness: distortion

heathenism: not believing in any religion

therein: in those situations

beyond: away from us

it points out: it says

enrich ourselves: improve

struck dumb: left speechless

has no: does not believe in



outgrow: to grow out of

linked: connected

meaningfulness: significance

dimly: unclearly



Cats

Cats may be the most popular pet in America, but they are becoming public enemy nº 1 to

bird lovers and biologists who worry that suburban growth is introducing legions of domestic cats

into once wild areas.

Fluffy might nap on the sofa, eat off fine china and love to have its belly rubbed. But don't

be fooled, biologists say it's a natural born killer.

While dogs were domesticated as long as 100,000 years ago and have become, well, dopey

over the eons, cats are relative newcomers to home life and their wild instincts have remained razor

sharp. Cats that are well-fed ad home will satisfy those instincts by raiding nests and hunting rabbits

in the backyard. Studies of free-ranging domestic cats have shown that the best hunters can kill

more than 1,000 animals per year although smaller numbers are more typical.

Declawed cats are adept at batting birds our of the air, and even cats with bells move so

slowly that their prey don't hear the telltale jingle until the final pounce. In short, you can take the

cat out of the wild but you can't take the wild out of the cat.

But, the life of a feral cat is not very long. Most cats living in the wild succumb to cars,

catfights and wild predators. Coyotes in particular tend to keep cat populations in check in the

West, and even Great Horned Owls have been known to swoop into back yards and city parks and

snatch up cats. Call it the ultimate bird's revenge!

VOCABULARY

Fluffy: Nombre común de los gatos

Eat off: Destruir

Rubbed: Acariciado

Dopey: Atontado

Razor sharp: Agresivo

Free-ranging: Extraviado Declawed: Cortar las uñas del gato para prevenir los arañazos en los muebles

Telltale: Indicador

Population: Población

Swoop: Descenso en picado



Questions

1.- Who is the enemy nº 1 to birds lovers?

2.- How many years ago the dogs were domesticated?

3.- Who are the best killers and hunters?

4.- How does the cat moves?

5.- How much is the cat’s life?

6.- What animal control cats population?



C. Santana

You see, great music comes not from thinking, but from pure emotion. As the Grateful Dead

people say, it's when the music plays. You make the best music when you're not conscious of doing

it.

I've been saying these things since the beginning. I remember getting in trouble with Frank

Zappa - I'm pretty sure he coined the phrase, shut up and play your guitar; for people like me,

because we talk a lot! But I am passionate about turning on massive amounts of kids and pulling

them out of that miserable state.

I want to turn them over. You don't have to be Jimi Hendrix or Charlie Parker - you can get

it done in your own way.

God made the world round so we can all have center stage. Everybody is important, as long

as you're doing it from your heart. Frustration and depression lead to homicide and genocide, butinspiration and vision lead to a spiritual orgasm, where you're constantly happy, and you don't have

to feel weird when people say, Man, what are you laughing about I'm laughing because I know the

secret of life. And the secret of life is that I have validated my existence. I know that I am worth

more than my house, my bank account, or any physical thing. When I hit that note - if I hit it

correctly - I'm just as important as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, or anybody, because when I hit that

note, I hit the umbilical cord of anybody who is listening.

VOCABULARY

getting in trouble: getting into difficulties

shut up: stop talking

turning on: making enthusiastic

kids: young people

pulling out: moving out of a situation

turn them over: make them abandon previous bad ways

have center stage: have an important role

lead to: conduct to

weird: strange, different

worth: value

hit that note: play a note on the guitar



Schumacher's win at San Marino

Michael Schumacher took his third race win of the season at the San Marino Grand Prix and

in the process lifted the championship fight even further away from McLaren, who again were the

victims of an inferior pit stop strategy.

A close race between the top two contenders saw Hakkinen leading the race until

Schumacher made his second pit stop on lap 49 when he barrelled out of the pit lane a clear two

seconds ahead.

Likewise it was a pit stop maneuver that enabled David Coulthard to pass the slower Ferrari

of Rubens Barrichello after being forced to trail the Brazilian for the best part of the race. Third

place was clearly a disappointment to the Scot after his frustrating drive.

Jacques Villeneuve took a well-deserved fifth place after battling with both Jarno Trulli andRalf Schumacher throughout the race. The ever improving Sauber of Mika Salo took the final place

having been embroiled in the midfield action for the final points.

Ferrari won the race using their heads. Technical director Ross Brawn put together another

unbeatable strategic package that compensated for their weaknesses on the track.

VOCABULARY

took: won

in the process: with this victory

lifted the championship fight: took off victory chances

barrelled: exited the boxes at a very high speed

being forced to trail: trying unsuccessfully to pass him

Scot: driver from Scotland

embroiled: confused

using their heads: using a good strategy

put together: decided



Peter Stillman

My name is Peter Stillman. Or maybe it isn't. I don't know.

My name is Peter Stillman. Sometimes I think I am someone else. I wander the streets of

Brooklyn, looking for clues to my own existence. I am writing a book. It is called The Invention of

Solitude. It is about my father, Peter Stillman. My name is Paul Auster.

I wander through this city of glass, looking for clues. Ghosts surround me. I wonder who I

am. My name is Peter Stillman. Some days I cannot tell if I am free on the streets of New York or if

I am still in the locked room. There is darkness all around. Everything is as clear as glass.

Things are no longer what they once were. I came to the city to find someone. I am lost in

the city. There is no longer any way to escape. We are living through the last times, we are living in

the country of last things. There are clues everywhere. But is there still a mystery to go with them?

VOCABULARY

Wander: go from place to place without a destination

Clue: a fact that gives a guide to the solution of a problem

Ghosts: a person's spirit appearing after his death

Locked room: a room whose door is fastened



Thank God

Thank God. Jude and Mark Darcy came in the kitchen and helped me make big omelette and

mashed up half-done fondant potatoes and fried them in the frying pan in manner of hash browns,

and put the recipe book on the table so we could all look at the pictures of what chargrilled tuna

would have been. At least orange confit will be good. Look fantastic. Tom said not to bother with

Grand Marnier Crème Anglais but merely drink Grand Marnier.

(from Bridget Jones' Diary, by Helen Fielding)

VOCABULARY

Thank God: esclamation of relief

mashed up: reduced in a soft masshalf-done: not cooked enough

fondant potatoes: potatoes looking like the creamy mixture used as a basis for candies

hash brown: cooked potatoes, cut in small pieces and refried

orange confit: marmalade

bother: worry

meerely: just



Today, 10 years ago

Your computer clocks at 1 GHz, you access the Internet through DSL at a minimum of 384

kbps, and you look at Web sites through a supermodel-thin LCD. Life is good. But for the sake of

perspective, we're going to take a short trip, a little jaunt into the wired life of our recent past.

The year is 1990; flannel shirts and David Lynch's Twin Peaks are hot, and George Bush is

scoring Republican points for launching Operation Desert Shield.

In those days, PCs were the corporate world's beasts of burden, not gateways to the Internet

or (gasp!) gaming machines. Cell phones were too bulky to stuff in a purse or a pocket, floppies

were the mass storage of choice, and scanners were too costly to be on every desktop. And that's

only the beginning.

Whether you're too young to remember what '90s technology was like or old enough thatyou'd rather forget it, here's an enlightening backward glance at the humble beginnings of today's

must-have tech tools.

With Windows 95 still a good six years away and DOS and the Macintosh holding

significant market share, a well-equipped 386-based desktop was typically clocked at 16 MHz and

cost around USD 3,000, while a top-of-the-line 486 might have run at 25 MHz and would have

emptied your wallet of USD 5,000 or so, depending on the configuration you chose

Ready to toss your 56-kbps modem in favor of faster cable or DSL access? Imagine for a

second online life with a ten-year-old modem. Those were the days when most modems transferred

data at 1,200 or 2,400 bits per second (bps), though for around USD 1,000, you could outfit your

PC with a speedy 9,600-bps modem using the CCITT's

What do you mean your 20GB drive doesn't hold all your stuff? In 1990, a 40MB drive

would have been more than enough for even the worst software pack.

VOCABULARY

clocks: has a maximum speed of

for the sake of perspective: for an interesting comparison

jaunt: tour

wired: connected

hot: popular

scoring Republican points: increasing the popularity of Republican party

corporate world's beasts of burden: instruments for hard workers

bulky: big



stuff: store

enlightening backward glance: clear review

humble: poor

holding significant market share: selling a consistent number of computers

would have emptied your wallet: could cost hold all your stuff: provide enough space



MY OWN RESTAURANT

Wanda: I hear you're going to open your own restaurant.

Mikel: Yeah, I've always wanted my own place.

Wanda: But isn't it a little risky?

Mikel: Sure, but in order to succeed in business, you need to take a few risks – calculated risks, of

course. That's what they taught me in business school, anyway!

Wanda: So what do you have to do in order for a restaurant to succeed in this town? I mean, don't

you need some sort of gimmick?

Mikel: Well, I've come up with a concept that I think will work very well.

Wanda: So what's your plan?

Mikel: Well ... I'm going to have singing waiters.

Wanda: Singing ... waiters? What do you mean?

Mikel: I'm going to hire waiters who are also good singers – maybe guys who are going to music

school. Then every half hour or so, they'll take a break from waiting on tables and do a little

singing.

Wanda: Like what?

Mikel: Maybe a little opera or some barber shop quartet-type stuff, popular musical theater pieces

... that kind of thing. I went to a restaurant like that once in San Francisco, and it was really neat.So, what do you think?

Wanda: It sounds kind of crazy, but who knows? People might love it.

GLOSSARY: I hear: me enteré que; open: inaugurar (en este contexto); a little risky: un poco arriesgado; in

order to: para; to take a few risks: afrontar algunos riesgos; calculated risks: riesgos previamente analizados; they

taught me: me enseñaron; in order for a restaurant to succeed: para que un restaurante triunfe; some sort of

gimmick: algún truco o ardid publicitario; I've come up with a concept: se me ocurrió una idea; singing waiters:

camareros o mozos cantantes; to hire: contratar; guys: muchachos, tipos; every half hour or so: más o menos cadamedia hora; take a break: hacen una pausa; a little opera: algo de ópera; some barber shop quartet-type stuff: algo

así como el cuarteto del barbero (de Sevilla); that kind of thing: esa clase de cosas; neat: genial; it sounds kind of

crazy: parece un poco descabellado; people might love it.: a la gente podría fascinarle.

stories tales. a1-a2. english

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