background preloader

English pronunciation test

English pronunciation test
While most of you non-native speakers of English speak English quite well, there is always room for improvement (of course, the same could be said for every person for any subject, but that is another matter). To that end, I'd like to offer you a poem. Once you've learned to correctly pronounce every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world. If you find it tough going, do not despair, you are not alone: Multi-national personnel at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters near Paris found English to be an easy language ... until they tried to pronounce it. To help them discard an array of accents, the verses below were devised. After trying them, a Frenchman said he'd prefer six months at hard labor to reading six lines aloud. Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. Related:  words

Learning and Teaching English - Strange Strange strange [streɪndʒ] Прилагательное чужой; чуждый; незнакомый, неизвестный2 источникаin strange lands — в чужих краях1I don't like strange people coming into my house. — Я не люблю, когда в мой дом приходят незнакомые мне люди.1strange voice — незнакомый голос3ещё 7 примеровстранный, чудной; необыкновенный; удивительный; необычный;чудесный2 источникаIt was strange to hear her voice again. — Было странно снова услышать ее голос.1strange man — странный человек3strange behaviour — странное поведение3ещё 9 примеровСиноним: odd, queer1сдержанный, холодный, сухой2 источникаto look strange at smb. — равнодушно /сухо/ смотреть на кого-л.3Синоним: reserved, restrained1непривычный1 источникto be strange to smth. — быть непривычным к чему-л.3чужеземный; иностранный1 источникнесобственный1 источникпосторонний; инородный1 источникstrange bodies — инородные тела3неловкий, смущенный1 источникto feel strange — чувствовать себя неловко, смущаться3 I'm strange to these parts — я нездешний3 Next Entry

Important Infrequently Used Words To Know | Just English Paul V. Hartman (The Capitalized syllable gets the emphasis) alacrity a-LACK-ra-tee cheerful willingness and promptnessanathema a-NATH-a-ma a thing or person cursed, banned, or reviledanodyne AN-a-dine not likely to cause offence or disagreement and somewhat dull//anything that sooths or comfortsaphorism AFF-oar-ism a short, witty saying or concise principleapostate ah-POSS-tate (also: apostasy) person who has left the fold or deserted the faith.arrogate ARROW-gate to make an unreasonable claimatavistic at-a-VIS-tic reverting to a primitive typeavuncular a-VUNC-you-lar “like an uncle”; benevolent bathos BATH-ose an anticlimaxbereft ba-REFT to be deprived of something valuable “He was bereft of reason.” cynosure SIGH-na-shore (from the Greek: “dog’s tail”) center of attention; point to which all eyes are drawn. dilettante DILL-ah-tent 1. having superficial/amateurish interest in a branch of knowledge; 2. a connoisseur or lover of the fine arts Click to read: Like this: Related

Get (Almost) Any Book For Free: 100+ (Kosher) Sites Offering Great Literature for Download By Tiffany Davis Reading a book is fun, but when you forget it at home, are bored at work, looking to get ahead on your reading for your online bachelor degree class, or are just curious to get a sneak peek at whatever you ordered from Amazon, online book sites can be handy too. Below is a list of over 100 free (and legal) sites to find great literature for download. The Classics Browse works by Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad and other famous authors here. Classic Bookshelf: This site has put classic novels online, from Charles Dickens to Charlotte Bronte.The Online Books Page: The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia hosts this book search and database.Project Gutenberg: This famous site has over 27,000 free books online.Page by Page Books: Find books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Textbooks If you don’t absolutely need to pay for your textbooks, save yourself a few hundred dollars by reviewing these sites. Math and Science Children’s Books Philosophy and Religion Plays Foreign Language

Top 100 Inspirational Quotes Inspirational Quotes by Henry David Thoreau 1. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. 2. None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. 3. Inspirational Quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Friedrich Nietzsche Inspirational Quotes 11. 12. 13. Albert Einstein Inspirational Quotes 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. Inspirational Quotes by Mark Twain 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Robert Frost Inspirational Quotes 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. Inspirational Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. Rabindranath Tagore Inspirational Quotes 40. 41. 42. 43. Inspirational Quotes by Swami Vivekananda 44. 45. 46. 47. Winston Churchill Inspirational Quotes 48. It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic. 49. 50. Inspirational Quotes by Aristotle 51. 52. Voltaire Quotes 53. 54. 55. Michael Jordan Inspirational Quotes 56. 57. 58. 59. Inspirational Quotes by Henry Ford 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71.

Animal Rights Quotes, Sayings about Animal Welfare, Cruelty, Compassion Related Quotes Animals Civil Disobedience Integrity Vegetarianism Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. ~Charles R. God loved the birds and invented trees. We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. From beasts we scorn as soulless, In forest, field and den, The cry goes up to witness The soullessness of men. The question is not, "Can they reason?" I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it. Personally, I would not give a fig for any man's religion whose horse, cat and dog do not feel its benefits. Hunting is not a sport.

The best free cultural & educational media on the web - Open Culture How to Be In The Moment Consciously vs. Mentally We hear a lot about ‘being in the moment’ and enjoying the NOW, but what does this actually mean? It seems as though there is a difference between understanding any given concept at the mind level versus truly putting it into practice at the level of being. So I thought why not simplify it all and run through some tips on how to achieve this? When it comes to “being in the moment.” The moment is where we are most natural. Misconceptions Being in the moment does not mean you are only meditating.Being in the moment does not mean you cannot reflect on past dates and future plans. How to Find the Moment To provide an incredibly simple image of the moment, imagine a space with no noise, I don’t mean environmental noise, but noise that comes from the incessant voice we hear in our minds that has made you a slave to its thoughts. Here are some simple techniques to find the moment more easily in life and make it something you can keep doing easily. Breathe!

Western Esoteric Texts Sacred-texts home Neopaganism GrimoiresBuy CD-ROM Buy Esoteric and Occult Books This page indexes resources at this site in the Western Esoteric tradition. There is much more related to this topic at this site, listed below. The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, translated by John Everard [1650] The Virgin of the World of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, translated by Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland [1885] The Isiac Tablet of Cardinal Bembo by W. The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme by Jacob Boehme, edited by Franz Hartmann [1891]An anthology of the German Christian mystic's thought. The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Balthasar Gracian, translated by Joseph Jacobs [1892] The Chaldæan Oracles of Zoroaster by W. A Wanderer in the Spirit Lands by Franchezzo (A. Cosmic Consciousness by Richard Maurice Bucke [1901]Three dozen cases of illumination, with detailed commentary. The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka (pseud. Raja Yoga by Yogi Ramacharaka (pseud. Tertium Organum by P.D.

20 Places to Find Free Books Online - Northern Cheapskate | Northern Cheapskate The following is a guest post by Bailey Harris. There are many different sites offer free books online. Within minutes, you could find enough reading material in the form of e-books and audio books to keep you and your family entertained for months, if not years. The following sites provide free books that can be enjoyed online, downloaded to your computer, or transferred to an e-reader or MP3 player. E-books Google Books – Google Books is a great place to find free classic books in the public domain. Read Print – Read Print makes thousands of novels, poems, and stories freely available online. Online Books Page – This University of Pennsylvania website lists over 800,000 books that can be read for free online. Project Gutenberg – Project Gutenberg was the first site to provide free e-books online and is still among the most popular. Bibliomania – Bibliomania offers more than 2,000 free classic books, plays, poems, and short stories. Audio Books Children’s Books

12 Laws Of Karma That Will Transform Your Life You are actually governed by the laws of Karma, just as everything in the world is governed by the laws of Physics. You may not know it – or you may believe that your life is actually in your own hands. But these Karmic laws will govern your entire life. And instead of being afraid of some grey laws, it’s best to know them and be empowered by your knowledge instead! Let’s now check out… The 12 Laws of Karma #1: The Great Law – this law is often also called the “Law of cause and effect”. #2: The Law of Creation – Everything is created so as to be one. #3: The Law of Humility – You have to be able to accept everything. #4: The Law of Growth –Growth of the world and everything around you starts with your own growth. #5: The Law of Responsibility – Learn to take responsibility. #6: The Law of Connection – Everything in the universe is actually interconnected. #7: The Law of Focus – Focus is a singular thing. #9: The Law of Here & Now – Whatever is, is in the here and now.

You're Bored? Are You Kidding Me? • Fevered Mutterings (Updated 11th August 2016). So…I saw your tweet. You’re “bored”? Bored. Really? I am…absolutely floored. You are everything I aspire to be. Oh. Back. Which is just incredible. You are amazing. I mean, by being “bored”, you must have… Started a blog (try going here to get cheap, reliable hosting – those guys are great)…and then learned how to tell stories that really make people care? Feasted your eyes on the 67,000 historical maps of the Rumsey Collection (including the above Mercator map of Europe from 1607). Walking for weeks, months and years in the outdoors, calipering the vast physical and human stage called landscape with my legs, is the opposite of boring. …or just went for a walk where you are right now? Packed a bag, walked out your front door, caught a bus, caught another bus, caught yet another bus, and kept going until you ended up somewhere incredible? Not enough for you? I mean, there’s other stuff – but let’s face it, doing these things really ate up your free time.

OZ magazine, London | Historical & Cultural Collections | University of Wollongong July 1971 Richard Neville This issue appears with the help of Jim Anderson, Pat Bell, Felix Dennis, Debbie Knight, Stephen Litster, Brian McCracken, Pearce Marchbank, Richard Neville, John O’Neil, Chris Rowley, David Wills. Thanks for artwork, photographs and valuable help to Eddie Belchamber, Rip-Off Press, David Nutter, Stanslav Domichick, Charles Shaar Murray, Sue Miles, Warren Hague, Paul Whitehead, Insect Fear Comics, Michael Ramsden (for heroic help with the Ozjects d'art Exhibition - sorry Michael), Jim Leon, Nicholas and Michael and particularly Michel de Saint-Chien, whose sketch books provided at least a dozen fantastic illustraions. Contents: Dream Power cover by Jim Leon.

Julie Loves English The Machine Stops - E. M. Forster The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. It describes a world in which almost all humans have lost the ability to live on the surface of the Earth. Each individual lives in isolation in a 'cell', with all bodily and spiritual needs met by the omnipotent, global Machine. The Machine Stops is a short science fiction story. (less)

Related: