Show notes
Aprender ingles gratis con La Mansion del Ingles. Un podcast para mejorar la gramatica, el vocabulario y la pronunciacion del ingles. Una leccion del ingles con ejemplos y ejercicios.
Learn English free with podcasts from La Mansion del Ingles. Improve your grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. This English lesson contains examples and exercises.
Hello once again and welcome to another Mansion Ingles podcast. This is podcast number 61 recorded for May 2013.
Este mes, en el nivel básico practicamos el presente simple en un historia sobre un día en la vida de Alex. En el nivel intermedio, practicamos los adjetivos y los adverbios y hay vocabulario del tema crime and punishment. There are more animal idioms in the advanced section and we practise gerunds and infinitives. We have business vocabulary, a translation exercise and we've included new listening exercises at three different levels, all to help you improve your English and take it to the next level.
En los podcasts mensuales hablamos de los temas, vocabulario y ejercicios que salen en nuestro cuaderno mensual. Así podáis practicar la pronunciación y repasar el material del cuaderno. Si quieres recibir gratis el cuaderno cada mes, ver la trascripción de este podcast o leer los anteriores, vete a mansioningles.com y sigue los enlaces en la página principal.
Ok, let's start then with el nivel básico. Escucha el texto sobre un día en la vida de Alex: A Day in the Life of Alex
Alex gets up late every day, at about 8.30. He has a shower but he doesn't have breakfast because he hasn’t got time. He goes to work by bike. He gets to work at 8.55. He turns on his computer and starts work. At 11 o’clock he has a coffee and a sandwich in the local bar. He works until 1.30 and then he has lunch. When Alex finishes work he goes to the gym. He gets home late and he is usually very tired. He has dinner about 8.30 and then he watches TV or reads a book. Alex usually goes to bed at about 11 or11.30.
Ahora, escucha y repite algunas frases del texto:
He gets up late - Repite: He gets up late
He has a shower- Repite: He has a shower
He doesn't have breakfast - Repite: He doesn't have breakfast
He hasn't got time - Repite: He hasn't got time
He goes to work - Repite: He goes to work
He turns on his computer - Repite: He turns on his computer
He starts work - Repite: He starts work
He has coffee. He has coffee at 11 o'clock. - Repite: He has coffee - at 11 o'clock. - He has coffee at 11 o'clock
He works until 1.30- Repite: He works until 1.30
He has lunch - Repite: He has lunch
He finishes work- Repite: He finishes work
He goes to the gym - Repite: He goes to the gym
He gets home late - Repite: He gets home late
He has dinner - Repite: He has dinner
He watches TV - Repite: He watches TV
He reads a book - Repite: He reads a book
He goes to bed - Repite: He goes to bed
Ahora escucha y repite las preguntas.
What time does he get up? - Repite: What time does he get up?
Does he have breakfast? - Repite: Does he have breakfast?
Does he have a shower? - Repite: Does he have a shower?
How does he go to work? - Repite: How does he go to work?
What time does he get to work? - Repite: What time does he get to work?
What does he turn on? - Repite: What does he turn on?
When does he have coffee? - Repite: When does he have coffee?
When does he have lunch? - Repite: When does he have lunch?
What does he do after work? Where does he go? - Repite: What does he do after work?
What does he watch? - Repite: What does he watch?
What does he read? - Repite: What does he read?
What time does he go to bed? - Repite: What time does he go to bed?
Ok, moving on to the intermediate section, we practised some adjectives and adverbs. Listen and repeat the sentences to practise pronunciation.
That soup smells good.
Nervous - repeat: nervous - Did you feel nervous? Did you feel nervous before the interview? Were you nervous? Were you nervous before the interview?
She looked at me angrily. Anger is the noun, angry is the adjective and angrily is the adverb. Repeat: Why are you angry? You have so much anger inside you. He banged the table angrily.
Please leave the room quietly. If quietly is the adverb, what's the adjective? - quiet. He's a quiet boy. Please be quiet, your dad's asleep.
He plays the trumpet very well. Repeat: He plays well, he's a good musician. She sings well, she's a very good singer. I swim well, I'm a good swimmer. What's the opposite of well? - badly - repeat: badly. He speaks English very badly.
Don't get on that motorbike, it doesn't look safe. Repeat: safe. - It's not safe. Is it safe? Is that bike safe? And the opposite of safe is..........dangerous (you knew that!) It's a dangerous game. If safe is the adjective, what's the adverb? safely. Repeat: safely - Did you arrive safely?
Don't forget to drive carefully! carefully is the adverb. Repeat: carefully - The adjective is careful. He's a very careful driver. He drives carefully. Do it carefully - Do it with care.
The paella tastes nice. Nice has many uses and I think it's used more in British English than American English. It can mean amable - He's a nice man. It can mean agredable - The weather's nice today. It's a nice day. It can also mean attractive, bien, bonito. That's a nice house. Your flat's really nice. It can mean fino Her lunches are always very nice, with silver cutlery and silk serviettes. Another meaning is excelente - That was a nice shot on goal.
The second exercise in the intermediate section was about the vocabulary of crime and punishment.
to rob a bank - repeat: to rob a bank - a bank robbery. There was a bank robbery this morning. The bank robbers stole half a million euros. A person who steals something is a thief - THIEF. the noun is theft - THEFT. Why didn't you report the theft of your car, sir?
What's the adjective of crime? - criminal - repeat: criminal. He has no criminal record. A person who breaks the law is also a criminal. We can also say that he, or she, commits a crime. The verb to commit can be used with murder, suicide, adultery etc. Repeat: He committed murder. How many murders has he committed? Is it illegal to commit suicide? Is suicide a crime? If you have sex with a person who is not your wife or husband you commit adultery. Repeat: to commit adultery.
To smuggle means to import illegally. In Spanish, contrabandear, pasar de contrabando. Repeat: to smuggle - He was caught smuggling drugs. He tried to smuggle diamonds across the border. The border is la frontera. Across the border.
Innocent is an adjective. He's innocent - repeat: He's innocent - He was found innocent - She's innocent of the crime. What's the opposite of innocent? Guilty - Repeat: guilty - He was found guilty. Do you know the noun of innocent? Innocence - Repeat: innocence. There was no doubt of her innocence. doubt is duda - repeat: doubt - There was no doubt of her innocence
I want to tell you a secret - ¡un secreto que no mucha gente saben! Not many people know that you can buy complete English lessons for only 1 euro and 40 centimos from our online shop - nuestra tienda online. Tenemos un curso entero de nivel básico, y estamos haciendo lecciones nuevos de nivel principiante ahora mismo. Creo que hay 4 leccions ya en la tienda de nivel principiante, y cada 2 o 3 semanas ponemos una leccion más. Puedes encontrarlas en mansioninglesdescargas.wazala.com that's: mansioninglesdescargas - todo junto - punto . wazala.com. o busca Mansion Ingles descargas en Google. Cada leccion vale solo 1.40 euros y dura approx. 1 hora y cada leccion está en el formato mp3 y lleva su trascripcion en formato PDF. Así puedes aprender inglés haciendo ejercicio. limpiando la casa, en el coche, caminando con el perro y en todo el tiempo muerto - ¿Se dice esto en español; 'tiempo muerto'? En inglés se dice 'dead time' es el tiempo que estas haciendo una tarea (por ejemplo limpiando los platos) y puedes hacer otra cosa a la vez como mejorar tú ingles con las descargas de la mansión del inglés. Bueno, puedes encontrar la dirección de la tienda en la trascripción de este podcast.
In the advanced section, we had some more animal idioms. Listen and repeat some example sentences. The first was to teach an old dog new tricks. People usually don't change very much, not really, especially when they get older. Like my dad, for example. He won't ever change, he's very set in his ways. It's difficult to teach him new things or new habits. So, I could say, You can't teach an old dog new tricks. He is the way he is. Repeat: You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
I don't like bull fighting personally, but I do like this expression; to take the bull by the horns. It means to forcefully attack a difficult situation or problem. It's difficult to take a bull by its horns, I suppose. I've never tried it. Never will! But to confront a difficult situation with strength and determination is to take the bull by the horns. Repeat: to take the bull by the horns.
A dark horse is a person who does not tell other people about their ideas or skills and who surprises people by doing something that they don't expect. For example, "I didn't know your sister had written a novel. She's a bit of a dark horse, isn't she?"
A dark horse can also be a person who wins a race or competition although no one expected them to. For example, she has never won an international competition before, but she could be a dark horse this year.
Chicken feed is a small amount of anything, especially money. Of course I can afford $800. That's just chicken feed. Well, it may be chicken feed to you, but that's a month's rent to me! You could also say it's peanuts for a small amount of money. They pay me peanuts at my company.
To worm your way out of something means to manipulate yourself out of a job or responsibility. Don't try to worm yourself out of this situation. It's all your fault! You can't worm out of this. You promised you'd come with me. Don't worm your way out of it with some pathetic excuse about having to work.
To put or to set the cat among the pigeons is to do or say something that causes trouble and makes a lot of people angry or worried. Tell them all they've got to work on Saturday. That should set the cat among the pigeons. That was a very controversial suggestion Pete made at the meeting. He's certainly put the cat among the pigeons.
An early bird is a person who gets up early or arrives early to something. I always get up in time to watch the sunrise. I'm an early bird. She's such an early bird that she's usually in the office before 7.
A cash cow is a steady dependable source of funds or income. We can't sell the hotel, it's become such a cash cow.
Listen and repeat the idioms after me:
You can't teach an old dog new tricks
You must take the bull by the horns
You're such a dark horse
$500 is chicken feed
Don't try to worm your way out of it
That has really put the cat among the pigeons.
You're such an early bird.
it's a real cash cow.
Ok, moving on to the grammar exercise which was about gerunds and infinitives. Listen and repeat:
I tried to get back to sleep.
I remember walking you home.
Don't forget to lock the door.
We regret to inform you that there has been a delay.
This will mean paying more money.
I dread to think how much it's going to cost.
Please stop tapping your pen.
Remember to send me an email.
He came running up to me with a present.
In the Business English section we looked at some more business English vocabulary, and the first was the expression to be swamped with work. A swamp es un pantano. If you are swamped with something you have a lot of work. estas agobiado, inundado de trabajo. Repeat: swamped with work. I can't see you tonight, I'm swamped with work.
In your job, you have skills and knowledge that you are the most knowledgeable about. This is your area of expertise. It's the area in which you are proficient, skilled, and specialised in. What's your area of expertise? "I'm sorry, I can't help you. This isn't my area of expertise." or I can say, "It's outside my area of expertise."
¿Cómo se dice investigación in English? - research. And which verb collocates with research? Is it "make research" or "do research"? - It's do research. Repeat: Do research. We need to do some more research. Have you done the research?
A binder is una carpeta and a archivador de anillas is a ring binder. repeat: ring binder.
The phrasal verb to speed up means to get faster. Can you speed it up a bit? There are people waiting. Come on, speed up or we'll be late.
To pursue means perseguir, seguir for example, I've always wanted to pursue a career in advertising.
If something is familiar it's vaguely recognizable - conocido. His face looks familiar, I know him from somewhere. A stapler is a familiar tool to have in the office.
Finally, a company's stock or inventory is the supply of goods it has for sale. Do you have these shoes in stock? I'm sorry, we don't have them in stock, but I can order them for you.
We also gave you some more sentences to translate in this month's cuaderno. First, you had to translate from English to Spanish. So, I'll say the English sentences and you can say the Spanish translation. Then, repeat the English sentence after me to practise pronunciation. Ready?
1. Where have you been lately? - ¿Dónde has estado últimamente? - Where have you been lately?
2. She’s tall, fat and ugly. - Es alta, gorda y fea. - She’s tall, fat and ugly.
3. I’m getting better / I'm improving - Estoy mejorando. - I’m getting better / I'm improving.
4. What was the matter? - ¿Qué te pasaba? - What was the matter?
5. I broke a finger. - Me rompí un dedo. - I broke a finger.
Good, now I'll read some Spanish sentences and you translate to English. Then repeat the sentences after me to practise your pronunciation. OK?
La temperatura es de 4 grados bajo zero. - The temperature’s 4 degrees below zero.
¿Cómo está María? - How’s María?
¿Cómo es María? - What’s Maria like?
Es baja, morena y guapa. - She’s short, dark and beautiful / pretty. / She's a short, beautiful / pretty brunette.
¿Cómo te encuentras? - How do you feel? / How are you? / How are you doing? / How are you feeling?
Well, that's all we have time for on this podcast, but we'll be back with you next month as usual with another podcast based on our monthly newsletter, our cuaderno de inglés mensual. Remember, you can listen to all our previous podcasts at mansioningles.com and on iTunes.
Si te gusta este podcast, puedes hacernos un gran favor (¿Cómo se dice hacer un gran favor? - to do a big favour - so please, do us a really big favour y escribe una corta reseña en iTunes. Si escribes una reseña en iTunes más personas pueden escucharnos porque subimos en el 'ranking' de iTunes. y también puedes darnos algunas estrellas, si te gusta nuestros podcasts.
Thank you very much for listening to this podcast, and for being part of the community of La Mansión del Inglés.
Remember, If you want to contact us you can find us on Facebook. Just search Facebook for La Mansión del Inglés and join our growing community of fans. Or send me an email to: [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter. Our Twitter name is MansionTwit.
Puedes ver el cuaderno mensual de este mes, y todos los cuadernos anteriores en www.cuadernodeingles.com/
Until next month then, keep practising and taking your English to the next level! Take care and bye for now!
The music in this month’s podcast is by Revolution Void, the album is The Politics of Desire and the track is called Outer Orbit.