آموزش زبان انگلیسی

آموزش زبان انگلیسی ,آموزش گرامر انگلیسی , مکالمه انگلیسی, اصطلاح , لغت , تست , سرگرمی , ضرب المثل, شعر , داستان , نکته ها ی مهم , و اخبار جالب..

آموزش زبان انگلیسی

آموزش زبان انگلیسی ,آموزش گرامر انگلیسی , مکالمه انگلیسی, اصطلاح , لغت , تست , سرگرمی , ضرب المثل, شعر , داستان , نکته ها ی مهم , و اخبار جالب..

The Winepressداستان انگلیسی

The Winepress

Upper-Intermediate
1500 words (British English)

"You don't have to be French to enjoy a decent red wine," Charles Jousselin de Gruse used to tell his foreign guests whenever he entertained them in Paris. "But you do have to be French to recognize one," he would add with a laugh.

After a lifetime in the French diplomatic corps, the Count de Gruse lived with his wife in an elegant townhouse on Quai Voltaire. He was a likeable man, cultivated of course, with a well deserved reputation as a generous host and an amusing raconteur.

This evening's guests were all European and all equally convinced that immigration was at the root of Europe's problems. Charles de Gruse said nothing. He had always concealed his contempt for such ideas. And, in any case, he had never much cared for these particular guests.

The first of the red Bordeaux was being served with the veal, and one of the guests turned to de Gruse.

"Come on, Charles, it's simple arithmetic. Nothing to do with race or colour. You must've had bags of experience of this sort of thing. What d'you say?"

"Yes, General. Bags!"

Without another word, de Gruse picked up his glass and introduced his bulbous, winey nose. After a moment he looked up with watery eyes.

"A truly full-bodied Bordeaux," he said warmly, "a wine among wines."

The four guests held their glasses to the light and studied their blood-red contents. They all agreed that it was the best wine they had ever tasted.


One by one the little white lights along the Seine were coming on, and from the first-floor windows you could see the brightly lit bateaux-mouches passing through the arches of the Pont du Carrousel. The party moved on to a dish of game served with a more vigorous claret.

"Can you imagine," asked de Gruse, as the claret was poured, "that there are people who actually serve wines they know nothing about?"

"Really?" said one of the guests, a German politician.

"Personally, before I uncork a bottle I like to know what's in it."

"But how? How can anyone be sure?"

"I like to hunt around the vineyards. Take this place I used to visit in Bordeaux. I got to know the winegrower there personally. That's the way to know what you're drinking."

"A matter of pedigree, Charles," said the other politician.

"This fellow," continued de Gruse as though the Dutchman had not spoken, "always gave you the story behind his wines. One of them was the most extraordinary story I ever heard. We were tasting, in his winery, and we came to a cask that made him frown. He asked if I agreed with him that red Bordeaux was the best wine in the world. Of course, I agreed. Then he made the strangest statement.

"'The wine in this cask,' he said, and there were tears in his eyes, 'is the best vintage in the world. But it started its life far from the country where it was grown.'"

De Gruse paused to check that his guests were being served.

"Well?" said the Dutchman.

De Gruse and his wife exchanged glances.

"Do tell them, mon chéri," she said.

De Gruse leaned forwards, took another sip of wine, and dabbed his lips with the corner of his napkin. This is the story he told them.


At the age of twenty-one, Pierre - that was the name he gave the winegrower - had been sent by his father to spend some time with his uncle in Madagascar. Within two weeks he had fallen for a local girl called Faniry, or "Desire" in Malagasy. You could not blame him. At seventeen she was ravishing. In the Malagasy sunlight her skin was golden. Her black, waist-length hair, which hung straight beside her cheeks, framed large, fathomless eyes. It was a genuine coup de foudre, for both of them. Within five months they were married. Faniry had no family, but Pierre's parents came out from France for the wedding, even though they did not strictly approve of it, and for three years the young couple lived very happily on the island of Madagascar. Then, one day, a telegram came from France. Pierre's parents and his only brother had been killed in a car crash. Pierre took the next flight home to attend the funeral and manage the vineyard left by his father.

Faniry followed two weeks later. Pierre was grief-stricken, but with Faniry he settled down to running the vineyard. His family, and the lazy, idyllic days under a tropical sun, were gone forever. But he was very happily married, and he was very well-off. Perhaps, he reasoned, life in Bordeaux would not be so bad.

But he was wrong. It soon became obvious that Faniry was jealous. In Madagascar she had no match. In France she was jealous of everyone. Of the maids. Of the secretary. Even of the peasant girls who picked the grapes and giggled at her funny accent. She convinced herself that Pierre made love to each of them in turn.

She started with insinuations, simple, artless ones that Pierre hardly even recognized. Then she tried blunt accusation in the privacy of their bedroom. When he denied that, she resorted to violent, humiliating denouncements in the kitchens, the winery, the plantations. The angel that Pierre had married in Madagascar had become a termagant, blinded by jealousy. Nothing he did or said could help. Often, she would refuse to speak for a week or more, and when at last she spoke it would only be to scream yet more abuse or swear again her intention to leave him. By the third vine-harvest it was obvious to everyone that they loathed each other.

One Friday evening, Pierre was down in the winery, working on a new electric winepress. He was alone. The grape-pickers had left. Suddenly the door opened and Faniry entered, excessively made up. She walked straight up to Pierre, flung her arms around his neck, and pressed herself against him. Even above the fumes from the pressed grapes he could smell that she had been drinking.

"Darling," she sighed, "what shall we do?"

He badly wanted her, but all the past insults and humiliating scenes welled up inside him. He pushed her away.

"But, darling, I'm going to have a baby."

"Don't be absurd. Go to bed! You're drunk. And take that paint off. It makes you look like a tart."

Faniry's face blackened, and she threw herself at him with new accusations. He had never cared for her. He cared only about sex. He was obsessed with it. And with white women. But the women in France, the white women, they were the tarts, and he was welcome to them. She snatched a knife from the wall and lunged at him with it. She was in tears, but it took all his strength to keep the knife from his throat. Eventually he pushed her off, and she stumbled towards the winepress. Pierre stood, breathing heavily, as the screw of the press caught at her hair and dragged her in. She screamed, struggling to free herself. The screw bit slowly into her shoulder and she screamed again. Then she fainted, though whether from the pain or the fumes he was not sure. He looked away until a sickening sound told him it was over. Then he raised his arm and switched the current off.


The guests shuddered visibly and de Gruse paused in his story.

"Well, I won't go into the details at table," he said. "Pierre fed the rest of the body into the press and tidied up. Then he went up to the house, had a bath, ate a meal, and went to bed. The next day, he told everyone Faniry had finally left him and gone back to Madagascar. No-one was surprised."

He paused again. His guests sat motionless, their eyes turned towards him.

"Of course," he continued, "Sixty-five was a bad year for red Bordeaux. Except for Pierre's. That was the extraordinary thing. It won award after award, and nobody could understand why."

The general's wife cleared her throat.

"But, surely," she said, "you didn't taste it?"

"No, I didn't taste it, though Pierre did assure me his wife had lent the wine an incomparable aroma."

"And you didn't, er, buy any?" asked the general.

"How could I refuse? It isn't every day that one finds such a pedigree."

There was a long silence. The Dutchman shifted awkwardly in his seat, his glass poised midway between the table and his open lips. The other guests looked around uneasily at each other. They did not understand.

"But look here, Gruse," said the general at last, "you don't mean to tell me we're drinking this damned woman now, d'you?"

De Gruse gazed impassively at the Englishman.

"Heaven forbid, General," he said slowly. "Everyone knows that the best vintage should always come first

The Winepress - Vocabulary

NB: the meaning given for each word is contextual meaning, that is to say it is the specific meaning of the word within the context of the story. Some of these words have other meanings not shown here.

Word Part of Speech Contextual Meaning Example Sentence
arithmetic noun mathematics (adding, multiplying etc) Don't ask me to add the numbers; I'm terrible at arithmetic.
aroma noun scent The aroma at the spa was of roses and vanilla.
bulbous adjective large and round Santa Claus has a bulbous nose and belly.
cask noun wooden container We filled the cask with wine and put it in the cellar.
claret noun French red wine You should always serve a nice claret with a juicy steak.
concealed verb - past hid Franco concealed his love notes under his pillow.
contempt noun feeling that a person or thing is worthless Jane's contempt for her ex-husband is unfair on her kids.
cultivated adjective educated about art My husband is very cultivated because his grandmother was into classical music and painting.
dabbed verb - past touched lightly Mary dabbed her extra lipstick off with her napkin.
decent adjective pretty good At least wear a decent shirt because you are going to be photographed from the waist up.
denouncements noun accusations The thief rejected the denouncements even though he was caught stealing on camera.
elegant adjective attractive, graceful, simple I need a long elegant dress to wear to my graduation ceremony.
entertained verb hosted a party Whenever my parents entertained their college friends we always had a BBQ and badminton tournament.
excessively adverb with extra effort than necessary Chrisie called me so excessively that I didn't want to be friends with her.
fathomless adjective deep, incomprehensible Astronomers are constantly trying to search the fathomless depths of space.
flung verb - past threw wildly The bride flung her bouquet of flowers behind her.
fumes noun strong smell that makes it hard to breathe The petrol fumes at the garage always give me a headache.
game noun hunted birds and other animals (for food or sport) The only game I enjoy eating is duck.
gazed verb - past looked at intently with wide eyes The couple sat on the beach and gazed at the sunset.
genuine adjective real This movie is not a genuine documentary.
glances noun looks that last only a short moment Before we started dating we used to exchange glances from our desks.
grief-stricken adjective upset because of a loss I was grief-stricken when my dog got run over by a car.
harvest noun season when crops are ready to pick During the harvest the whole family goes out to work in the corn fields.
heaven forbid interjection expressing a strong wish that something does not happen Heaven forbid that we ever get hit by one of these terrible hurricanes!
humiliating adjective causing embarrassment It was humiliating when they made me stand up and make a speech.
idyllic adjective peaceful, perfect It was an idyllic afternoon with all of the kids away at school.
immigration noun permanent movement of someone from one country to another The rules of immigration say that I need a permit to work in this country.
impassively adverb without expression, not showing emotion The young teen stood impassively while the policeman put handcuffs on him.
insinuations noun suggestions about someone (without proof) that are not nice I broke up with Bob because of the insinuations he made about me and my ex-boyfriend.
intention noun aim or plan Alice's intention was to rent a guitar, not to buy one.
loathed verb - past hated I loathed my grade nine French teacher because he gave us so much homework.
lunged verb - past moved forward suddenly and quickly The child lunged at the birthday cake before we could remove the candles.
peasant noun poor person who usually lives off the land My ancestors were peasants who used to beg for food when their crops wouldn't grow.
pedigree noun record of ancestry, line of relatives We only breed dogs of excellent pedigree.
poised verb - past prepared to act The fashion model was poised at the foot of the walkway.
raconteur noun a skilful storyteller There is always one raconteur in the family who makes everyone laugh at the dinner table.
ravishing adjective very beautiful, entrancing Brides always look ravishing on their wedding days.
reasoned verb - past analyzed and formed judgement logically; tried to persuade by giving good reasons I reasoned with my father to extend my curfew.
reputation noun opinions or beliefs that others have about a person or thing Mark has a reputation for dating more than one woman at a time.
resorted to verb - past did because nothing else worked There were no size ten skates so Marie resorted to wearing men's.
root noun early stage, cause Janice's mother-in-law is the root of her marital problems.
shuddered verb - past trembled or shook because of cold or fear Andrea shuddered when she heard the loud scream.
telegram noun (formerly) mail sent electronically and delivered in printed form on paper During the war she learned of her son's injuries by telegram.
termagant noun a bad-tempered, noisy woman The termagant was hassling her husband about forgetting to make her coffee.
veal noun the meat of a young cow Samantha doesn't eat veal because she's a vegetarian.
vigorous adjective strong, energetic The vigorous builders had the house finished in one week.
vintage noun top wine, usually wine from a specific year They're serving a 1975 vintage to mark their anniversary.
vineyard noun place where grapes are grown We worked in the vineyard until all of the grapes had been picked.
visibly adverb easily seen She stood visibly in front of the window, so I knew she was home.
welled up verb - past filled up (often with liquid) Her eyes welled up with tears when he asked her to marry him.
winepress noun machine or equipment used to squeeze the juice out of grapes We'll need a winepress if we want to make juice out of these grapes.

Moneyآموزش زبان انگلیسی

Money


































Basic
Currency
Unit
Code SymbolFractional
Unit
1:100
Swiss francCHF  centime
EuroEURcent
British poundGBP £penny
Japanese yenJPY ¥sen (not used)
American dollar USD $cent

Some Tips for Learning How to Speak Englishآموزش زبان انگلیسی

Irregardless of the language that you are trying to learn, connecting the way words sound with how they look on paper is a difficult task. Because the pronunciation rules for English are not consistent, you may often come to points where you will have a difficult time determining how to say things correctly.


It is also important to realize that the English has accents and dialects like any other language. As a result, you may feel confused when you are told to pronounce a word in a certain way, only to hear it spoken in a different way by someone else. Nevertheless, there are still a number of methods that you can use to develop your English speaking skills.


Using a Tape Recorder


In many cases, when you are concentrating on how to form sounds, you may not be aware of how they actually turn out. A tape recorder is very useful for helping you learn the results of your efforts. As you listen, you will be able to hear the difference in what you intended to sound out, and what actually occurred. You can also compare these results to tapes of native English speakers and work on specific sound groups that are difficult to manage. A tape recorder will also help you learn how to control the pace of your speech, as well as your breathing pattern.


Listen and Repeat Numerous Dialects and Accents


Once you have mastered the basic sounds, it may be helpful to listen to these words spoken by people with different accents. As an example, you might want to try and imitate everything from Texan accents to Irish ones. In the process, you may find that some letter pronunciations fit better with your own natural speech patterns.


As you listen and repeat from tapes, it is very important to experiment and find out what will make you speech clear and understandable. You can also find numerous samples of spoken English on the internet. If you visit sites like You Tube, it is possible to download videos on just about any subject. Some video producers may even have content available that shows you the proper lip and tongue positions to form specific sounds. You can also select materials that match a hobby or other personal interest, and gain the benefit of hearing a native English speaker at the same time.


Voice Chat


At some point, you will want to gain steady practice in conversational English. If your computer is equipped with a sound card and microphone, you may be able to find internet chat rooms that also support voice chat. That said, you may not find this of much help if your internet connection is too slow.


Unfortunately, learning to verbalize in English will be very difficult if you do not actually speak out loud. If you cannot find someone to practice with, you can still use a tape recorder, or practice with videos. On the other hand, if your computer has the necessary hardware, you may find that you have unlimited opportunities to carry on conversations with native English speakers from all over the world.

Stupid Questions with the Smart Answers

BOY : May I hold your hand?
GIRL : No thanks, it isn't heavy.

GIRL : Say you love me! Say you love me!
BOY : You love me...

GIRL : If we become engaged will you give me a ring??
BOY : Sure, what's your phone number??

GIRL : I think the poorest people are the happiest.
BOY : Then marry me and we'll be the happiest couple

GIRL : Darling, I want to dance like this forever.
BOY : Don't you ever want to improve??

BOY : I love you and I could die for you!
GIRL : How soon??

BOY : I would go to the end of the world for you!
GIRL : Yes, but would you stay there??

SHARON : Have you ever had a hot passionate, burning kiss??
TRACY : I did once. He'd forgotten to take the cigarette out of his mouth.

MAN : You remind me of the sea.
WOMAN : Because I'm wild, romantic and exciting?
MAN : NO, because you make me sick.

WIFE : You tell a man something, it goes in one ear and comes out of the other.
HUSBAND : You tell a woman something: It goes in both ears and comes out of the mouth.

MARY : John says I'm pretty. Andy says I'm ugly.What do u think, Peter?
PETER : A bit of both. I think you're pretty ugly.

Girlfriend : "...And are you sure you love me and no one else ?"
Boyfriend : "Dead Sure! I checked the whole list again yesterday".

Teacher : "Which is more important to us, the sun or the moon?"
Pupil : "The moon".
Teacher : "Why?"
Pupil : "The moon gives us light at night when we need it but the sun gives us light only in the day time when we don't need it"

Teacher : "What do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?"
Pupil : "A teacher".

Waiter : "Would you like your coffee black?"
Customer : "What other colors do you have?

Teacher : "Sam, you talk a lot !"
Sam : "It's a family tradition".
Teacher : "What do you mean?"
Sam : "Sir, my grandpa was a street hawker, my father is a teacher".
Teacher : "What about your mother?"
Sam : "She's a woman".

Tom : "How should I convey the news to my father that I've failed?"
David: "You just send a telegram: Result declared, past year's performance repeated".

Teacher : "Now, children, if I saw a man beating a donkey and stopped him, what virtue would I be showing?"
Student : "Brotherly love".

Teacher : "Now, Sam, tell me frankly do you say prayers before eating?"
Sam : "No sir, I don't have to, my mom is a good cook".

Patient : "What are the chances of my recovering doctor?"
Doctor : "One hundred percent. Medical records show that nine out of ten people die of the disease you have. Yours is the tenth case I've treated. The others all died".

Teacher : "Can anybody give an example of COINCIDENCE?"
One Student : "Sir, my Mother and Father got married on the same day and at the same time."

Teacher : "George Washington not only chopped down his father's Cherry tree, but also admitted doing it. Now do you know why his father didn't punish him ?"
One Student: " Because George still had the axe in is hand."