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The American dream
An American businessman was standing at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
"How long did it take you to catch them?" the American asked.
"Only a little while" the Mexican replied.
"Why don't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" the American then asked.
"I have enough to support my family's immediate needs" the Mexican said.
"But" the American then asked, "What do you do with the rest of your time?"
The Mexican fisherman said: "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor."
The American scoffed: "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds you could buy a bigger boat and, with the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own can factory. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The Mexican fisherman asked: "But senor, how long will this all take?"
To which the American replied: "15-20 years."
"But what then, senor?"
The American laughed and said: "That's the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO - an Initial Public Offering - and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich. You would make millions."
"Millions, senor? Then what?"
The American said slowly: "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos..."
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Mobile phones
THE MOBILE PHONE HAS STEEPLY CHANGED OUR LIVES
During the last years, the use of the mobile phones has increased until the point that nowadays almost everyone has one. There are a lot of advantages but on the other hand you can also find some disadvantages that are not easy to solve. For example, the use of the mobile phones all day makes you start living an antisocial life due to the fact that you don’t speak to people in different places where you used to. Instead of that, you just chat on the phone with them and the main problem is that people don´t realise that this is affecting their lives.
Furthermore, in order to add another disadvantage, there is problem that should concern to parents around the world which is the use of the mobile phones by their children between the ages of 8 to 13. They are just children once and they need to have fun playing outside with other children. However, the use of them by young people could also be really useful as it helps parents to be in touch with their children all day. In other words, make them live in a safer world.
Leaving aside the use of mobiles phones by children, thanks to this device the fact of communication with people from different countries has become really easy. But it is not necessary to think about the effect to communicate with people from other countries, just thinking about how this invention has change our everyday life you can realise that you couldn´t live without it anymore.
Therefore, for these and other reasons this device is something as important as the keys, the wallet or your money when you go outside to anywhere.
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the end of the happy prince! :)
Because of that, the poor children were no longer as poor as they were before.
When everybody saw the statue, it was grey so no one wanted it. It was not an example for others to follow anymore due to the statue was no longer beautiful so it was no longer useful.
They melt the statue to build another one but this time using the mayor of the city and not the happy prince.
The heart of the statue couldn’t be melt so they throw it to the snow together with the swallow that died because of the cold weather.
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a whole of/ a string of / a series of
I would like to know if all these collective nouns have the same or similar meaning.
1) The journalist raised A WHOLE HOST OF questions about...
2) He was not prepared to listen A STRING OF wild questions....
3) He just gave A SERIES OF short answers....
thanks! :)
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THE HAPPY PRINCE
THE HAPPY PRINCE
It tells the story of a Prince who lived a long time ago in a big walled palace. His life was very happy but the massive walls that separated him from the rest of the people didn´t let him see the reality (the poverty, the hunger …).
A gold statue on the top of a large column was built when he died in order to make all citizens remember “The Happy Prince”.
As autumn ended, all swallows emigrated to Egypt apart from one who stayed enjoying there with the reeds next to the river flying around them. However, the swallow got bored because the reeds were so beautiful but they didn´t say anything. So, he decided to emigrate to Egypt where all the swallows were going. It was cold that night, therefore he tried to find a proper place to spend the night. He thought that the statue was a good place to sleep but, after a few minutes, the statue started to cry. The swallow asked him why he was crying and he told, “When I was alive I couldn´t see the real life but since I am here, I just see starving and thirsty people“
The prince asked the swallow for help. He wanted the swallow to be his messenger for one night to give a ruby to a family with a sick child. The mother could only give him river water and the child´s fever was getting him worse.
As the swallow returned, he said that he has to go but the prince asked him for the last favour. He begged the swallow to stay one more day so as to help a young man who was trying to finish a play but he couldn´t finish because of the cold.
To do this, he pulled out one of his eyes made of sapphire. It happened the same with a young girl who sold matches in the street. If she didn´t arrive home with money, his father would beat her.
The swallow came back a while later and he said that he was going to stay with him forever. The prince was so happy and he said him to fly around the village so as to tell him what he could see. Later, he removed leaf by leaf all his body made of gold to give all the gold to poor people.
(I DIDN´T FINISH IT BUT IT WOULD BE QUITE BORING TO WRITE THE WHOLE STORY)
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I have no idea
What is the difference between in the coming years and in the following years?
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formal letter
Dear Sir / Madam,
I am writing this letter to complain about a problem which concerns me. I have been living in a flat rented from you for last two years and, as I told you several times, the drains are blocked. Consequently, they smell really awful during the summer.
From my point of view, this smell might make my children ill. I would be very glad if you could call a plumber to solve this problem as the state of the flat is unacceptable. In the event that you cannot contact with a plumber, I can do it on my own. Once fixed the problem, I would send you the invoice.
This is going to be the last time I contact with you in a peaceful way. As you know, when I tried to contact with you last month, I received excuse upon excuse and I am starting to get very furious.
Taking legal action would be my last option to choose. However, if I do not have any other choice, I will be committed to do it.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Javier.
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formal letter
Dear Sir,
I am writing this letter to complain about a roof repaired by your staff last April. To begin, I would like to say that the work made in my roof not only didn´t fix the issue, but also it became worse after the storms in May.
Due to this matter, the roof has been leaking badly and the walls in my upstairs rooms are now damp. As a result, I have been living in a hotel for the last couple of weeks.
This morning I rung the builder to see it, but he has not come yet. Therefore, I want to have this problem solved by next week. Otherwise, I will be force to take legal action.
In fact, I am not going to pay the lodging in the hotel but you. So, if I were you, I would start as soon as possible.
In closing, let me say that I am really frustrated as you can see in regards to the work made, so I would like to receive compensation or at least a refund of the payment done.
Yours faithfully,
Javier.
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A question JUST for native English speakers
Can you understand the whole song? I struggle to understand the lyrics but it is quite difficult.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHyuraau4Q
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Is this sentence correct?
There is such a long time since the last time we talked so I write this letter to catch up with you.
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