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Silva English Online: You tube English lessons: Mike and Molly- Victoria's Birthday This video is hilarious but they do speak very fast in this clip. Look up the vocabulary words and rea...

You tube English lessons

Mike and Molly- Victoria's Birthday
This video is hilarious but they do speak very fast in this clip.  Look up the vocabulary words and read the questions before watching the video.  You will subconsciously make more of a concerted effort to listen, and your listening skills will improve faster!

Vocabulary:    Folks, bouncer, pop-up camper, long-term, Winnebago, hot dog truck, extension curb, half-eaten bun, curb, load

Questions:

1.       Why is Victoria upset?

2.       How old is Victoria?

3.       When she says, “the same man a bunch of nights in a row” what does Molly say another name for that is?

4.       Molly asks if the bouncer in the pop-up camper was a long term thing.  What is Victoria’s response?

5.       What does Victoria say happens when you show up for a second date with a guy who lives in a Winnebago, pop-up camper, or hot dog truck?

6.       She says they don’t leave a note, but what two things do they leave behind?

7.       Molly tells Victoria she shouldn’t pin her happiness on what?

8.       Victoria tells Molly that’s easy for her to say because she has a what?

9.       Victoria tells Molly that at least she has someone to be ____________ in?

Idioms

IDIOMS- Mike and Molly - Carl is Jealous

This clip is full of idioms
Here are some explanations for various idioms and phrases taken from this hilarious clip.
You almost flattened a small dog-
-Mike fell on top of a dog and almost crushed it.

Tatoo it on your eatin' hand
-Mike is always eating, so Carl tells him if he tattoos something on the hand he uses to eat, he’ll have a constant reminder of it.

Play the fat card
-have things said about him for being fat, or make excuses for himself because he’s fat

Play the hand I’m dealt
-when playing cards, everyone is dealt a “hand” of cards. Carl is saying that he has been given what he has been given, and he is in good shape, as opposed to Mike.

Old married couple
-a couple, husband and wife, who have been married to each other for a long time

Bickering
-constant arguing, and a term often used in reference to a couple.

guys bustin' each other’s stones
-two guys saying critical things to each other, but in a good humored way

..”so you can take one of your little ´bat naps´”
-A nap is a short period of sleep and in this case Carl throws in the term “bat” because they are talking about being Batman and Robin.

Twist my words
-change something I’ve said

Cop-hatin' gang bangers
-criminals who don’t like policemen

“Do you want your little school teacher to take the grade A double yoke to the back of the head?”
-Do you want Molly to get hit in the back of the head with an egg?  (this was asked after Mike makes the comment that they’ve never been shot at, only around Halloween with eggs.)

I hear what you’re saying.
-I understand what you’re saying.

"The Enjoyment of Summer Changed"- The Diary of Three Sisters

Translated by Masaharu Yamauchi, edited by Rebecca Silva
“Summer vacation is just around the corner.”

I’m getting excited about the first summer vacation since moving to the Kanagawa prefecture in April. Although the summer vacation in Kanagawa is supposed to be longer than in Iwate, I feel it might be shorter, because I have many things I want to do during the summer vacation－watch horror movies, watch fire works with my friends, and so on.  

During an ordinary summer vacation, I spend time lying around at home or playing with my friends after coming back home from the club activities that the school provided. Since there was a small department store near my home, what I did there was the same－play on the same corner and talk with my friends in the food court－it was like a routine job.

But I had one thing that made me happy. There was a shop that sold dumplings filled with sweat bean paste in winter and sold shaved ice in summer- it was smothered in a lot of ‘Calpis-Lemon’ syrup, which was very delicious. If I could go to Ofunato City during summer vacation, I would go there to eat it definitely.

Our Hometown is Far Away ― The Diary of Three Sisters

translated by, Masaharu Yamauchi, from the Asahi Newspapar, Japan                      

山内　雅晴

edited by, Rebecca Silva

‘The fear of aftershocks comes to mind’  

Five months have passed since the big earthquake happened. I still remember clearly the experience of the earthquake, and I think I won’t ever completely forget.

What bothered me most after the earthquake was the problem with water and electricity.

Since we couldn’t flush the toilets, we poured water that the army brought in a big tank into buckets and used them after two or three people went to the toilet.

 Five days later, I could take a bath. In an emergency, I thought I wouldn’t die if I didn’t take a bath for a while. But I had a hard time because my hair became so greasy. The bath that we three sisters took wasn’t hot, it was almost cold water, that made us shiver, but I felt nothing less than happiness.

Also, I have coming to my mind the fear of aftershocks. It was soon after that powerful aftershocks followed a large number of times a day, not just a few times.

But I gradually came to understand that big aftershocks followed －we needed to decide whether to evacuate or not－according to how strong the aftershocks were. ‘Wobbly’ isn’t a big deal. But the aftershock that starts with small vertical vibrations followed by a roaring from underground becomes powerful.

Recently my concern grows very big every time I hear the news predicting a big earthquake and powerful aftershocks. Since simply worrying doesn’t take you anywhere, I think we have to decide where we evacuate to and how we will contact other family members in preparation for future earthquakes.  

（Nanako）

◇

The life of these three students who suffered from the big earthquake and the nuclear power plant disaster, and transferred to the Kanagawa prefecture have seemed to settle down gradually.　But they have lived a life that they could have never imagined living over the last year.

This is a commentary about how they feel on a daily basis in the Kanagawa prefecture that is far from their hometown. We have three sisters who moved to Fujisawa city in the Kanagawa prefecture from Ofunato city where the big tsunami hit.

(From top to bottom) Mariko Hayashizaki(17), Nanako(16), Sayako(13). March 11^th, they suffered in Ofunato city, Iwate prefecture. Although all family members- 5 including the parents - were safe, their house was partially destroyed by the tsunami. For three weeks, they moved around from shelters to their grandmother’s house,  and so on. At the end of March, they transferred to Fujisawa city.

Punch Line

The idiom, Punch Line, is used in a recent CNN Video about U.S. Governor Chris Christie's weight.

Let's Face It

Let's Face It- The idiom is used in CNN video interview with EU President Jose Manuel Barroso

Idioms- Soft Spot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d3iSA_7SDY

Newsworthy Idioms

Minamisanriku Diary (from the Asahi newspaper)

Photo: A truck loaded with household belongings on its carrier  ‘Sorry for doing well’
Translated by: Masaharu Yamauchi

山内　雅晴

Edited by: Rebecca Silva

In the devastated area, as a reporter, there are two questions I have to ask sufferers: ‘how about your house?’ and ‘how about your family?’ I sometimes feel heart broken when I ask these questions that evoke the depth of their hollow sorrow.

I got a similar feeling when I asked Ms. Hiromi (35) these questions. She bowed her head saying, “I’m sorry. Both my family and house are ok.”

Her house, that was built on a highland, was spared the damage from the tsunami. But, the next day after I met her, her family moved to the next city. “We can’t live in Minamisanriku where there is no water supply and most of the shops have been flooded by the tsunami. Above all, when I walk in the town, I feel like being told, ‘You have good luck, because both your family and car are ok.’ and bursting.”

The other day, when her son tried to bring a baseball uniform to join a baseball practice, she told him, “Your teammates won’t have them. You have to think more.” After she said this, she was about to break into tears and put her arm around him. “Sorry. You have done nothing wrong.”

She told me that she would come back someday…. She looked over her shoulder many times from a truck that was loaded with her household belongings while driving away from the devastated town.   

(Hideyuki  Miura)

Piece of Cake

A Cry of Hope

-An initial cry echoed in a town that was filled with rubble and debris…..

Translated by: Masaharu Yamauchi, from Focus magazine, Japan                      

山内　雅晴

Edited by: Rebecca Silva

Words sometimes show their cruel fangs.

“Hang in there.” “I support you.” Encouragement given to the sufferers.

But, they had already hung in there. How could they hang in there anymore?

There is nothing like a hope that is formed from ‘warmth’, not empty words.

“She was born on an unforgettable Spring day. People treated us very kindly, and that’s why we had to express much thanks to them. My husband and I talked about that. We named her ‘Sumire’ (it is composed of three Chinese characters that represent congratulations, beauty, and thankful.) to convey our feelings for her.”

“In an evacuation center, I was blessed with a lot of kindness. Some people brought portable heat packs and put a stove on for me even though it was forbidden because of the oil shortage.”

Parents’ smiles and Sumire’s sleeping face are a shining ray of recovery.

Existence beyond helpless words.

A tiny life brings big hope to the devastated area. 

Silent Aftermath - Yamauchi Masaharu

“The scene where human figures had evaporated within a 20km radius of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant－and one can hear only the voice of the wind”

All sounds were gone from the town where the nuclear power plant is, and three weeks had passed since the big earthquake happened. Only the sound of the wind blowing strongly could be heard in a dead calm main street. There was a Siberian Husky lying down on the center line of a two lane road. And then a mongrel dog came along on the sidewalk, and another one from out of nowhere. All of them were still wearing collars. They were looking at me as if they were asking something, standing in front of an arch saying ‘Bright Future Nuclear Energy.’
Not only were dogs stranded. I found a cowshed within a ten kilometer radius from the nuclear power plant. I approached and said, ‘Hello’, but no response. When I stepped into the cowshed, it smelled pretty bad. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I recognized that there were some cows standing motionless or crouching on the floor. Looking closely, I realized the cow lying down in front of me didn’t have eyeballs. Birds or something must have picked at them. Six cows that appeared to be just lying down were dead.