Listening and reading Bruce Lee Bruce Lee was the man who brought kung fu to the West with his famous film Enter the Dragon. Although Bruce Lee was born in Chinatown in San Francisco in 1940, his parents soon moved back to Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Hong Kong shortly afterwards but the family survived. His father Lee Hoi Chuon was a famous Cantonese opera singer and actor and his mother Grace was a wealthy aristocrat from Hong Kong. In 1957 Lee fought and won the Hong Kong high school boxing championship and then became the Hong Kong cha cha cha champion for 1958. At the age of 18, he returned to the United States where his sister and brother lived. He studied drama and philosophy at the University of Washington in Seattle. Then he opened his first martial arts school where he taught his friends Jun Fan Gung Fu. Bruce Lee then had the original idea behind the very famous TV series Kung Fu but Warner Bros. decided not to have a Chinese person as the star of the series. As a result, Bruce and wife and children caught a plane to Hong Kong. Back in Hong Kong, Bruce immediately made three very successful films with director Raymond Chow called The Big Boss, Fist of Fury and The Way of the Dragon. There is a very famous fight scene in The Way of the Dragon with Chuck Norris filmed in the Colosseum in Rome where the gladiators fought. His last film was Enter the Dragon and was also a huge hit. The movie has made more than 200 million US dollars. Bruce Lee was a philosopher as well as a fighter and wrote a lot of books. He believed that all knowlegde eventually became selfknowledge. 221words Grammar: GHT irregular verbs www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2009 Listening and reading Jackie Chan is Angry! Less than 150 years ago, the magnificent Chinese Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing was robbed and burnt by the British and the French. At the time, more than 1000 tons of hard drugs a year were smuggled into China by Britain, who used the military to protect their drug trafficking interests from the Chinese government. 300 men and women were burned alive inside the palace. 3,500 British troops carried out the destruction and massacre. Charles Gordon of the Royal Engineers took part. “We went out, and after pillaging it, burned the whole place... We got upward of 48 pounds apiece prize money... I have done well... You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the places we burnt... It was wretchedly demoralizing work for an army.” Many of the treasures were more than 3,500 years old. The wonderful palace grounds, known as the Garden of Perfect Brightness, were destroyed so completely that the area was used for farmland until the 1980s. Inside the garden, there was an amazing zodiac water clock. It consisted of twelve bronze statues representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac. All these statues were robbed in the attack. The Chinese Poly Art Museum is being helped by billionaire Stanley Ho to recover the twelve bronzes. He bought the horse for 6.3 million pounds in 2007 and gave it to the museum. So far, the museum has recovered the tiger, the monkey and the ox, as well as the horse of course. In February 2009, the rabbit and the rat appeared in an auction at Christie’s in Paris. They had been in the possession of French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent until his death. The price of the statues was estimated to be worth 8.8 million pounds! The Chinese government tried to stop the auction and the film star Jackie Chan was very angry. “The statues were stolen. It was stealing yesterday and it is still stealing today. And now we are going to lose two more pieces of the clock to whoknowswho.” When the auction was held at Christie’s in Paris, the rabbit and the rat were sold for 13 million pounds! They were bought by Cai Mingchao. But now Mr Mingchao says he will not pay for them. The author of Les Miserables, the great French writer Victor Hugo, gave his opinion about the robbery and destruction of the Chinese Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. “ Two robbers broke into a museum, destroying, robbing and burning. They left together with their bags full of treasure and laughing. One robber is called France and the other Britain.” It is now March 2009 and the rabbit and the rat are still in France. 449 words Grammar: the passive voice www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2009 Listening and reading J.K. Rowling J.K. Rowling is the author of the books about Harry Potter played by Daniel Radcliffe in the films. At university JK studied French and the classics. Her first husband was Portuguese but unfortunately the marriage was not a success. After, she was very sad and cried a lot. She was unemployed and poor. J.K. prepared the first Harry Potter book in the Nicolson’s Café in Edinburgh. Then JK tried to find a publisher. She offered her first book to twelve publishers in England but they didn’t like it. Fortunately, a little girl called Alice enjoyed reading the first chapter. She is the daughter of a publisher and he agreed to publish the book. Six more books followed and the films of course. Now JK isn’t sad or worried about money. In fact, her life is more magic than Harry Potter’s! 140 words Grammar: regular verbs ending in vowel sounds. Some Questions 1 What did J.K. Rowling study at university? ............................................................................................................................ 2 Where did J.K. Rowling prepare the first Harry Potter book? ............................................................................................................................ 3 How many publishers did she offer her book to? ............................................................................................................................ 4 Why did the publisher agree to publish the book? ............................................................................................................................ www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2009 Listening and reading If I were Mayor If I were mayor of my city, the first thing I would do is pedestrianize the main shopping streets and also the old part of town. Studies in Germany show that pedestrianization increases business in 80% of shops and in 60% of restaurants, although it has a bad effect on hotels. In Copenhagen, pedestrianization had a very positive effect on society. People left their cars at home, became more friendly with their fellow citizens and revitalized the centre of the Danish capital. Another effect of pedestrianization is making the streets safer for children and old people and so I would provide more street furniture and children’s areas. In the pedestrianized zones, it also causes a greater variety of shops to appear as well as markets and performances by street artists. Pedestrianization reduces air and noise pollution too. To reduce air pollution even more, I would provide free parking for electric vehicles next to the city centre. The next thing I would do is build a network of bike lanes all over the city, just like Mayor Enrique Peñaloca in Bogota. Doing this quadrupled the amount of people using bikes in Colombia’s capital. I would also integrate bus stops with safe places to park bicycles. Intermodal passenger transport is absolutely vital to smooth flow and safety within a city and I think it is something mayors and mayoresses everywhere need to study. After that, I would introduce a community bicycle programme, similar to Paris and Barcelona. This means that people can use public bikes for free and then leave them in a special stand. Paris now has public bike stands every 300 metres and more than 20,000 public bicycles. When I finished that, I would pass a law saying that all buildings must install solar panels, solar water heaters and wind turbines in order to reduce the city’s carbon footprint. The last thing I would do is create green corridors which allow animals to move freely between the city and the country without being killed by cars. I realise my programme would probably be very unpopular with a lot of people and I think I would lose the next election. However, if I finished my programme to help make my city more environmentally-friendly, I would be happy. 376 words Grammar: the second conditional www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2009 Listening and reading The Opium Wars The Opium Wars between the United Kingdom and China lasted from 1839 to 1860 and started because the Chinese government wanted to stop the British from smuggling drugs into China. th From the mid17 century, Britain imported porcelain, silk and tea from China in large quantities. Because Britain exported very little to China, the British paid for these goods in silver. Eventually, the British government decided to stop this trade deficit. They illegally transported hard drugs from India to China and so created drug addicts in China. More and more Chinese people became addicted to opium and in 1729 the Chinese government prohibited the sale and use of the drug. In 1757 the British invaded Bengal and after that the British East India Company had the monopoly on opium production and exportation. By the 1830s, the British exported more than a thousand tons of opium to China every year. In 1839, the Chinese Emperor appointed a new commissioner of Canton called Lin Zexu. He confiscated about a thousand tons of the drug from the British and destroyed it. Then he demanded that the British sign a treaty promising to stop dealing drugs to China. The British rejected this proposal so Lin wrote to Queen Victoria to tell her about what was happening. Historians believe she never got the letter. Suddenly, the British attacked China with warships and an army. They captured Canton and destroyed a lot of Chinese boats on the Yantse River. In 1842 the Treaty of Nanjing was signed to negotiate peace. However, the Chinese had to surrender Hong Kong to the British. The Second Opium War started when the Chinese authorities conducted a search of a British ship suspected of carrying drugs. This time the British invaded Peking. They stole the art and treasures from the Imperial Summer Palace and annihilated the beautiful buildings and gardens. The stolen objects included famous bronze statues from a fountain which have recently appeared in the news. The destruction of the Imperial Royal Palace is considered a terrible tragedy even today. 339 words Grammar: D and T regular verbs www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2009 Listening and reading Paella Getting from the airport to the centre of Valencia, which is where paella originally comes from, is easy. You unpack and settle into your downtown self-catering apartment and already you are thinking about paella, although no one has warned you that ordering paella in the centre of Valencia is the equivalent to a culinary catastrophe. Other things you probably do not know are that there are dozens of kinds of paella as well as the fact that for the best paellas you need to order in advance. For a delicious seafood paella, take the metro to the Las Arenas beach where there is a row of famous and reasonably priced restaurants right by the sand. Here you will not have to book ahead but you will need to be patient as real paellas are made individually and take half an hour or so to prepare. While away your time munching tellinas or clams. If you decide to rent a car, book a Valencian paella in Serra, which is a town up in the mountains, to savour what the Valencians consider to be the authentic paella. It is made with chicken, rabbit, snails, rosemary, butter beans and green beans and cooked over a log fire. You have to book though or your journey will be wasted. My favourite restaurant is La Balsa de San Antonio, just out of town tucked into a bend in the mountain road by a small reservoir. Take advantage of having a car and drive out to the fishing village of El Palmar by the lagoon. Order arros a banda or arros amb caranc, which is crab and rice stew along with a serving of spicy eels with potatoes called all i pebre. (287 words) Phone number and address La balsa de San Antonio - Carretera Serra-Torres-Tores. (Valencia) tel. 961.688.434 www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2010 Listening and reading Paella Fill each gap with just one word. Getting from the airport to the centre of Valencia, (1). . . . . . . . . . is where paella originally comes from, is a doddle. You unpack and settle into your downtown self-catering apartment and already you are thinking about paella, (2). . . . . . . . . . no one has warned you that ordering paella in the centre of Valencia is the equivalent to a culinary catastrophe. Other things you probably do not know are that there are dozens of kinds (3). . . . . . . . . . paella as (4). . . . . . . . . . as the fact that for the best paellas you need to order in advance. (5). . . . . . . . . . a delicious seafood paella take the metro to the Las Arenas beach where there is a row of famous and reasonably priced restaurants right by the sand. Here you will not (6). . . . . . . . . . to book ahead but you will need to be patient as real paellas are made individually and take half an hour or so (7). . . . . . . . . . prepare. While away your time munching tellinas or clams. (8). . . . . . . . . . you decide to rent a car, book a Valencian paella in Serra, which is a town up in the mountains, to savour what the Valencians consider to be the authentic paella (9). . . . . . . . . . . is made with chicken, rabbit, snails, rosemary, butter beans and green beans and cooked over (10). . . . . . . . . . . log fire. You have to book though or your journey will be wasted. My favourite restaurant is La Balsa de San Antonio, just out of town tucked into a bend in the mountain road by a small reservoir (11). . . . . . . . . . . advantage of having a car and drive out to (12). . . . . . . . . . fishing village of El Palmar by the lagoon. Order arros a banda or arros amb caranc, which is crab and rice stew along with a serving of spicy eels with potatoes called all i pebre. (287) Phone number and address La balsa de San Antonio - Carretera Serra-Torres-Tores. (Valencia) tel. 961.688.434 www.autoenglish.org 1 Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2010 Listening and reading Answers Paella Getting from the airport to the centre of Valencia, which is where paella originally comes from, is a doddle. You unpack and settle into your downtown self-catering apartment and already you are thinking about paella, although/though no one has warned you that ordering paella in the centre of Valencia is the equivalent to a culinary catastrophe. Other things you probably do not know are that there are dozens of kinds of paella as well as the fact that for the best paellas you need to order in advance. For a delicious seafood paella take the metro to the Las Arenas beach where there is a row of famous and reasonably priced restaurants right by the sand. Here you will not have/need to book ahead but you will need to be patient as real paellas are made individually and take half an hour or so to prepare. While away your time munching tellinas or clams. If you decide to rent a car, book a Valencian paella in Serra, which is a town up in the mountains, to savour what the Valencians consider to be the authentic paella. It is made with chicken, rabbit, snails, rosemary, butter beans and green beans and cooked over a log fire. You have to book though or your journey will be wasted. My favourite restaurant is "La Balsa de San Antonio", just out of town tucked into a bend in the mountain road by a small reservoir. Take advantage of having a car and drive out to the fishing village of El Palmar by the lagoon. Order arros a banda or arros amb caranc, which is crab and rice stew along with a serving of spicy eels with potatoes called all i pebre. (287 words) www.autoenglish.org 2 Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2010 ... number and address La balsa de San Antonio - Carretera Serra-Torres-Tores (Valencia) tel 961.688.434 www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2010 Listening and reading. .. number and address La balsa de San Antonio - Carretera Serra-Torres-Tores (Valencia) tel 961.688.434 www.autoenglish.org Written by Bob Wilson ©Robert Clifford McNair Wilson 2010 Listening and reading. . .Listening and reading Jackie Chan is Angry! Less than 150 years ago, the magnificent Chinese Imperial Summer Palace in Beijing was robbed and burnt by the British and the French. At the time, more than 1000 tons of hard drugs