Tuesday, September 30, 2008

put somebody on the spot


You put somebody on the spot when you put somebody in a difficult position because you ask a difficult question and they have to make a decision at that moment or on the spot.


Sheylla put her boss on the spot by asking him when he was going to give us a pay-rise.

You put me on the spot by inviting me to Eric's party right in front of Eric. I felt I had to say yes, even though I didn't want to go. I didn't like to be put on the spot.

She asked if I would vote for her, which really put me on the spot because I had decided not to.


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Back Story: New York Times David Herszenhorn on the stunning defeat of the $700 billion economic rescue despite pressure from the White House

From www.nytimes.com


Thursday, September 25, 2008

bailout

The financial rescue of a business or other organization in difficulty by giving or lending them money.

A government bailout of a large company.

Government guarantees for loans made to Chrysler Corporation constituted a bailout.

READ ON THE NEWS THESE DAYS:

Bush gives TV address to promote $700 billion bail-out.

Bush confident of financial bailout.

Congress and the White House are trying to hammer out a $700 billion plan to bail out Wall Street.

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iffy

(INFORMAL) Not sure, undecided, doubtful.

Simon's still kind of iffy about going to Columbia.

Book on Alaska corruption a bit iffy on facts. Author admits he made up some of the dialogue.

Gary Neville will miss out for sure, and Rio Ferdinand is still iffy after a hamstring tweak.

I was very iffy about Will Smith, but I've seen some footage of it and Will Smith looks amazing.

In the event of the weather looking iffy, we will make a decision on playing on the evening itself.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

JOOC: Just out of curiosity

You use this expression to ask a personal question.

Out of curiosity, why are you dressed up so nice today?

Out of curiosity, are you married?

Out of curiosity, where are you from originally?

Out of curiosity, what does that tatoo you have on your back mean?

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When the cat’s away, the mice will play


When a person in authority is away, those under the person’s rule will enjoy their freedom.

People whose behaviour is strictly controlled go over the top when the authority is not around, which is why most teenagers have parties when their parents have gone on holiday.

The parents are the scary authority figures, but the cat's away and the kids are the mice partying and enjoying their freedom.

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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Pancakes


From www.livinginperu.com

Brenda and Steve took their six-year-old son to the doctor. With some hesitation, they explained that although their little angel appeared to be in good health, they were concerned about his rather small penis.

After examining the child, the doctor confidently declared, 'Just feed him pancakes. That should solve the problem.'

The next morning when the boy arrived at breakfast, there was a large stack of warm pancakes in the middle of the table.

Gee, Mom,' he exclaimed. 'For me?'

'Just take two,' Brenda replied . 'The rest are for your father'.


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Birth control


The mother of a 17-year-old girl was concerned that her daughter was having sex. Worried the girl might become pregnant and adversely impact the family's status, she consulted the family doctor.

The doctor told her that teenagers today were very willful and any attempt to stop the girl would probably result in rebellion. He then told her to arrange for her daughter to be put on birth control and until then, talk to her and give her a box of condoms.

Later that evening, as her daughter was preparing for a date, the woman told her about the situation and handed her a box of condoms.

The girl burst out laughing and reached over to hug her mother saying: 'Oh Mom! You don't have to worry about that! I'm dating Susan!'

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naughty


SUGGESTIVE. You call "naughty" to someone who does something or says something that makes you think of sex. For example, a girl wearing a buttoned down shirt so she can suggest but not show completely.
Also, when someone wants to have sex with you so he or she does something to let you know.

The film was on TV but they'd cut out all the naughty scenes.

He always buys her naughty underwear for her birthday.

This guy likes telling jokes all the time.

A girl wearing tight and revealing clothes is a naughty girl.

NAUGHTY LIBRARIAN: a hot girl wearing glasses who looks innocent but is not. A hottie with a brain.

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What's the best way to drink your morning coffee?


ILLUMINATING ANSWERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTIONS...

From http://www.slate.com/
By Jacob Leibenluft. Sept. 16, 2008

My office recently switched from Styrofoam coffee cups to a "bring your own mug" policy. Sounds like the right idea, but with all the water and paper towels we now waste on washing mugs, I'm not sure this is a huge net gain for the environment. What is the "greenest" way to drink coffee around the office?

Judging from all the letters the Lantern gets on this topic, you and your office-mates are not alone in being confused about how to balance a caffeine addiction with a concern about responsible consumption. It's true: You'll have a hard time finding a more eco-unfriendly product than the material most of us call Styrofoam. Those soft, white cups are made of highly processed petroleum (polystyrene, to be exact), and they're almost certain to languish in a landfill for centuries. Still, it may not always be the right move to switch over to ceramic or stainless-steel mugs. It all comes down to which aspects of the environment you care about most.

If your biggest concern is landfill waste, there's no question that a reusable cup is best. While it's technically possible to recycle a polystyrene cup or a paper cup, your office will be hard-pressed to find a way to do so: Polystyrene recyclers are difficult to find, and the waxy coating on paper cups—not to mention the leftover food residue—makes it equally unlikely that these cups will find a second life. If you use a disposable cup, it's going to linger a long while on this Earth—polystyrene isn't biodegradable at all, and for all practical purposes, you shouldn't expect a paper cup to degrade very fast in a landfill, either.

But water use matters, too—especially if you're living in parts of the country, like South Carolina or California, that have recently faced droughts. By this measure, using a mug doesn't look quite as good, given that each wash will require substantially more water than it takes to make a polystyrene or paper cup.

Finally, there's the question of energy use and emissions. Here, the results get a little more complicated. Pound-for-pound, petroleum-based polystyrene is a pretty bad material—it takes twice as much energy to produce a gram of polystyrene as it does to produce the same quantity of ceramic. But you'll need at least 70 times as much energy to produce a ceramic mug as you will to manufacture a polystyrene cup, and probably even more to produce a stainless steel mug.

How could that be? Simply speaking, it's all about mass: A polystyrene cup is much lighter than a permanent mug. That means it requires far less material, so the fact that it's made from petroleum is more than made up for by the greater mass of the mugs. It also takes less energy to ship the lighter, disposable cups, and they're more likely to be produced here in the United States. (Stainless-steel mugs tend to come from overseas, although you should check the labels for yourself.)

Washing your mug will add to its energy burden. Research from the early 1990s suggests that each time you clean a mug in the dishwasher, it takes about as much energy—and would probably produce as many emissions—as it takes simply to produce a new polystyrene cup. Gains in dishwasher efficiency since then may have changed the math a little, but if you wash your mug after every use, you could easily be talking hundreds of cups of coffee before your mug makes more sense than a daily dose of polystyrene. As the Lantern has pointed out before, washing the mug by hand may not absolve you, either—although you can help your case by using cold water.

The Lantern uses a mug for office beverages, but he's chosen to go the scavenger route—using an old one someone left in his office. Your colleagues' instincts are right to avoid polystyrene, but they shouldn't buy brand-new mugs as a replacement (even the kind that come with cheeky green messages). Unless you absolutely need to drink your coffee on the go, ceramic is better than stainless steel. And when you wash, do it by hand, using phosphate-free soap and cold water. (If you want to use hot water, see if you can share washing duties throughout the office, so the water doesn't need to be heated separately for each mug.)

What if you get your coffee at the local Starbucks on your way to work? The nationwide chain deserves credit for including 10 percent recycled content in its cups, and paper—unlike polystyrene—has the advantage of being a renewable resource. But in other ways, the wood-based venti cups are even worse than office polystyrene: They're heavier, which means more energy used to create the cup and more waste once the cups have been crushed. Other coffee retailers are experimenting with cups made out of plant-based material, which can then be composted—a positive step, although one that raises a question of where all that extra corn will come from.

Starbucks and other coffee chains are also talking more seriously about encouraging people to use reusable mugs if they are drinking coffee in the store. (Starbucks, for example, says it wants to increase mug use tenfold by 2010.) That's probably a good step—but the Lantern hopes the company is thinking seriously about its baristas' dishwashing habits, too.



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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

the icing on the cake



Icing is made from powdered sugar and is used to cover and decorate cakes: birthday cakes, Christmas cakes, wedding cakes.

When one great thing happens, then another great thing happens on top of it, the second thing is the icing on the cake.

"Today I was promoted to head of the department! And they decided to give me a raise!" "Wow, that's the icing on the cake."

"Your wife is beautiful to look at, and she is a wonderful person!" "True, that's the icing on the cake."

"We won the case, and they are going to pay our legal expenses." "That's the icing on the cake."

"I've been accepted by the university, and they've offered me a position on the basketball team!" "That's wonderful! That's just the icing on the cake."




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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

acquaintance

A person you have met but don't know well, not a close friend.

A business acquaintance.

*** TAKE A RAIN CHECK ***

If you take a rain check on something, you politely decline an offer now, suggesting you will accept it later.
(take a rain check + on something)

Can I take a rain check on that drink? I have to work late tonight.

I can't play tennis this afternoon but can I take a rain check?


Thanks for inviting me to dinner but can I take a rain check?

I'll take a rain check on that drink tonight, if that's all right.



ORIGIN OF THE PHRASE: When an American baseball game was rained out, those who had tickets were given a rain check which they could redeem at another game. The use of the term as early as 1884 gives some indication as to the popularity of the game in the U.S. even at that time.


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Monday, September 8, 2008

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving"

safe and sound

Not hurt. If you are safe and sound, you are not harmed in any way, although you were in a dangerous situation.

It was a difficult drive but we all arrived safe and sound.

After three days of searching for them, the hikers were found safe and sound.

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Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Stand & Deliver (Units 1-4)

Stand & Deliver: Giving Business Presentations (Longman American Business English Skills) by Neil Heyden (Author)

S&D (Units 1-4).mp3






Stand & Deliver (Units 5-7)


Stand & Deliver: Giving Business Presentations (Longman American Business English Skills) by Neil Heyden (Author)


S&D (Units 5-7).mp3





Tuesday, September 2, 2008

How come?

(informal expression) You use it to ask why something has happened.

How come? is essentially the same as why? but How come? is more challenging, more emphatic than just asking why?

”How come Jimmy never has to wash the dishes?”

How come you never visit us anymore?

If you ask How come? you already have an opinion on the situation and you don't really agree with what's going on.

So how come you missed the train? We told you the meeting was at 8 o'clock.

We had to stop in New York and I was told the flight was nonstop. How come?

How come you don't call me anymore? (watch Alicia Keys singing and playing the piano wonderfully http://myenglishtimes.blogspot.com/search/label/Music)


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Monday, September 1, 2008

So what?

(INFORMAL) You use this expression when you want to say 'it's not important' or 'I don't care'.

So what if I'm 35 and I'm not married - I lead a perfectly fulfilling life!

"Andrew won't like it, you know." "So what? - I don't care what Andrew thinks!"

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