Famous (cheating) moments in sport

If you really want to win, cheat

Click on SPORTS and
enjoy the vocabulary

FOOD: FUEL OR PLEASURE?

Click on EATING OUT
and enjoy the vocabulary.







You can also follow HARROD'S food blog on facebook.

London Gastro Pubs

At a London gastro pub you can pop in for a swift half pint, or settle in and enjoy a relaxed meal made from well-sourced, seasonal produce.

Some have pretty gardens where you can eat al fresco, others host comedy nights and DJs. All combine top-notch food with a relaxed atmosphere and a relatively affordable menu.

Welcome to London's best gastro pubs!
http://www.visitlondon.com/attractions/pubs_bars/gastro-pubs?WT.mc_id=sm_facebook_vl

Edgar Allan Poe - Biography

Click on POE and read the writer's biography.

The Red Death- by E.A. Poe

Questions


1. How was it possible to recognize the sick people?
2. What did the nobles do to keep the castle free from the disease?
3. What did Prince Prospero organize?
4. How were the diferent rooms decorated?
5. What happened before the clock ended its twelfth stroke?
6. Why was everybody disgusted with the mysterious masked man?
7. Who was the visitor? Why did he go to the castle?

Student's answers:

1. Sick people could be recognized because they had sharp pains, sudden fainting, heavy bleeding through the skin and red marks on the body.
2. The nobles heated and melted the locks of the gates. They closed everything and nobody could enter or leave the castle.
3. Prince Prospero organized an unusual grand mask dance to avoid thinking about the disease.
4. It was painted and decorated in seven different colours (blue, yellow, green,etc.) and the colours of the windows matched with the walls, but one room was different. The last one was painted in black and the window was red. All of them were lit from a fire made outside.
5. When the last stroke ended, people had diferent feelings: confusion, discomfort, fear .
6. Because everybody in the castle was there to escape from the sickness and his presence was taken as an offence. They thought it was not a good joke.
7. The read visitor. It went to the castle to take their lives.

Summary:

A terrible disease called the Red Death has struck the country. It's incredibly fatal, horribly gruesome, and it's already killed off half the kingdom. But the ruler of these parts, Prince Prospero, doesn't seem to care about his poor, dying subjects. Instead, he decides to let the kingdom take care of itself while he and a thousand of his favorite knights and ladies shut themselves up in a fabulous castle to have one never-ending party. Wine, women, music, dancing, fools – Prospero's castle has it all. After the last guest enters, no one else can get in – the Prince has welded the doors shut. That means no one can get out, either…

About five or six months into his stay, Prospero decides to have a spectacular masquerade ball (a ball where the guests where masks and costumes). The setup is weird and wild, just like the Prince who designs it. The ball takes place in a suite of seven rooms, each one dressed up in a different color: blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black. The black room, which looks like death, is awfully creepy – it's got dark black walls, blood red windows, and big black clock which chimes so eerily every hour that everybody at the party stops dancing and laughs nervously. Most of the frolicking masqueraders are too weirded out to go into the black room.

Anyway, the party's in full swing and everybody's having a wild time when the clock strikes midnight. Everyone stops dancing and falls momentarily silent, as usual. Then some of the dancers notice a guest no one had seen before, wearing a scandalous costume. Whoever the new guest is, he's decided to dress as a corpse, a corpse who died of…the Red Death. He's so frighteningly lifelike (deathlike?) he freaks everybody out, and he slowly starts "stalking" through the frightened crowd. When Prince Prospero sees the ghostly guest, he's furious that someone would have the nerve to wear such a costume, and orders him to be seized and unmasked. But no one has the guts to do it, including Prospero himself.

The Red Death masquerader passes within a few feet of the Prince and starts to walk through the rooms, heading toward the black room. Prospero loses it and runs after him in a rage, drawing his dagger as he approaches. But just as Prospero reaches the edge of the black room, the corpselike guest suddenly whirls around to face him, and Prospero falls to the ground, dead. The shocked crowd throws itself at the guest, only to discover in horror that there's nothing underneath the mask and costume. The Red Death itself has come to the party. One by one the guests die, spilling their blood all over Prospero's lavish rooms. The candles go out, leaving only "darkness, decay, and the Red Death."

Reported Speech: Say, Tell, Ask

say, tell, give, ask
You use say when you are mentioning someone's exact words• 'Hello,' she said.• Someone said, 'Let's go!'Say can be followed by 'that'• He said that he was tired.In speech people often leave out 'that'• They said there had been a mistake.Say can be followed by 'something', 'anything', 'nothing', or 'so'• Did you say something?• Nobody dared to say anything.• You have to come - Dad said so.It can also be followed by 'goodbye' or 'hello'• I'll just go and say hello to David.
Apart from these uses, say is not normally followed by an object. For example, it cannot be followed by 'a story', 'a lie', 'some information', or 'an answer'.You tell a story, a joke, a lie, or the truth• They told a funny story about their trip.You give information, an order, an instruction, or an answer• He gave no reply.!! You do not say a question. You ask a question• Can I ask a question?
You can say something to someone• Has he said something to you?When talking about giving information, it is more usual to say that you tell someone something• Clare told us something interesting (NOT said us something...).• Can anyone tell me what time it is? (NOT say to me what...)You can tell someone about something• Did you tell Lucy about the party? (NOT say to Lucy about...)You can say to do something, but it is more usual to tell someone to dosomething• The teacher told us to open our books (NOT said us/said to us to...).
If you want to do some exercises click:
http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/reported-speech-exercises.html
or 
http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/cw-say-tell.htm

Vocabulary - Word Formation

Word Formation

1.

ü South (noun)

ü South (adjective)

ü South (adverb): towards the south

ü Southern (adjective): in or from the south part of an area

He travelled directly________, by the ________route, towards the ________ of the island near ________ Africa.

He travelled directly south, by the southern route, towards the south of the island near South Africa.

2.

ü Raffle (noun)

ü Raffle (verb)

Last month the supermarket ________ a bike. I didn’t win but, luckily, I won a car in a ________ yesterday!

Last month the supermarket raffled a bike. I didn’t win but, luckily, I won a car in a raffle yesterday!

3.

ü Excite (verb)

ü Excited (adjective)

ü Excitement (noun)

ü Exciting (adjective)

This is a really ________book. I was very ________ when Mark gave it to me.

Nothing about my life ________ me at present. I want________!. What should I do?

This is a really exciting book. I was very excited when Mark gave it to me.

Nothing about my life excites me at present. I want excitement!. What should I do?

4.

ü Employment (noun)

ü Employ (verb)

ü Employee (noun)

ü Employer (noun)

ü Employable (adjective)

ü Be employed in doing something

Conversation 1

A- How many people does the company ________?

B- They _______ over thousand persons. They have several________. It is one of the largest _______ in the area.

A- Did you fin a job in that company?

B- Unfortunately no, they told me that I was an ________ person but they weren’t looking for another accountant. I’m finding it more and more difficult to find ________.

Conversation 2

A- Could you phone Mary yesterday?

B- No, I was _______ in cooking.

Conversation 1

A- How many people does the company employ?

B- They employ over thousand persons. They have several employees. It is one of the largest employers in the area.

A- Did you fin a job in that company?

B- Unfortunately no, they told me that I was an employable person but they weren’t looking for another accountant. I’m finding it more and more difficult to find employment.

Conversation 2

A- Could you phone Mary yesterday?

B- No, I was employed in cooking.

Pilar Souto