Reply and respond are interchangeable when used as verbs...e.g. Why do you always reply so negatively? Why do you always respond so negatively? However, reply is also a noun, whereas respond cannot be used as a noun (you would use 'response' instead) e.g. His reply was unsatisfactory / His response was favourable...

The Red Line

 

“That’s incredible, Hassan!” exclaimed the man who was sitting in a high-priced armchair.

 

He glanced at the wide screen that occupied the entire wall of the luxurious suite. The highest ranking Illuminati had finished their ceremony and now they were about to open the trunk.

 

“And those idiots think they will find the Skulls of Destiny there, in the trunk,” he sneered, looking at the Crystal Skulls that were lined up behind Hassan-i-Sabbah.

 

“I don’t know how it can be possible, but ‘the Red Line’ …”

 

“The Red Line?” Hassan interrupted him. 

 

The man looked at him curiously, as if surprised by his ignorance. “Yes, 'the Red Line'. It’s the our boss’ nickname. I take it that you want to speak to him?" , don’t you?”

Hassan –i-Sabbah nodded.

 

“He’ll be very satisfied to have all the skulls and the reward is extremely high, ”The other man continued, before leaning on the expensive armchair.  so it's too bad for you, Hassan, that it won't be you that gives them to him.”

 

He took his gun and fired several shots at the Arab without a flicker of hesitation. 

 

The bullets kissed Hassan’s forehead before reversing course and returning to their source. The shooter sat transfixed, frozen in place as if the cold champagne had turned him to ice. One of the bullets hit him in the thigh, severing a femoral artery.

“Where is ‘The Red Line’ now?” Hassan-i-Sabbah asked.

The man was trying to staunch the flow of blood with a white linen napkin that had already turned crimson. Blood seeped through his fingers and soaked into the expensive carpet.

 

“I don’t know!" he said, through teeth gritted in pain.

 
“Do not lie. The Na Sha Ra Skull can read your mind, but you will find it very painful,” Hassan said. "It will be much easier if you simply tell me what I need to know."

“I honestly don’t know!” the man said, his voice betraying his fear. looking at the arm of his expensive armchair. It was seriously damaged by the some bullets.(I removed this final part of the sentence because I really don't think that a man bleeding to death from a severed artery would be worrying about or noticing the damage to his armchair - even if it does contain a bomb detonator!)

 

“If I knew, I'd tell you, I swear! Why would I save him at the cost of my own life? I need to get to a hospital!”

“Where is ‘The Red Line’?” The Arab insisted. “I can spare you many pains if you’ll tell me.”

 

He held out the skull towards the other man, who shrank back in terror. 

“Get me out of there, Hassan!” the other man begged. watching at the arm of the armchair again. “

Hassan's face was stony and unmoved. “Where is your boss?”

“You don’t understand, Hassan! The entire conference room is full of explosives. The Red Line ordered it. I was to get in touch with him as soon as I had the skulls and …”

“Then you were to press the button on your chair and detonate the bomb.”

“Yes but now…” The man gasped, trying to strengthen his mind against the power of Na Sha Ra .

“Now you dial his telephone number for me.”

“No, I’ll never give it to you, Hassan!” he objected.

The Arab smiled. “You have thought of it, however. Your mind is an open book, and I can read every thought…” He looked at The Skull of Na Sha Ra. “Goodbye, you stupid man!”

A few shots rang out in the air but Hassan-i-Sabbah had already disappeared.

I love Italian pasta

 

I love travelling! I like to see new places and taste new things but I'm Italian and when I'm abroad I miss my daily pasta! I like pasta with olive oil, 'parmigiano' cheese and a little bit of chilli pepper...

It's Is a really simple meal which I can make in a few minutes, and it's very light and good!
I also love pasta with some other sauces, but for a fast and light lunch I usually prefer this one....

I'm pasta-addicted!

 

Mmmm, anche a me piace la pasta! Il mio piatto preferito è spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino ma anche mi piacciono gli tonnarelli cacio e pepe. 

Ben fatto, il tuo inglese è ottimo.

My Experience on italki

To be very honest these European people are very rude. I have been asking native English speakers to help me with British English but they don't even bother to reply to me. I even offered my help for those who are learning Hindi. I think this is really disappointing.

 

Sz, you need to be patient. There are probably not a huge amount of British English native speakers who want to learn Hindi, so you are not able to offer a reciprocal exchange. Most people are here for reciprocal language learning, and can't afford to offer their help to everyone that wants to learn English. As a native English speaker I'm aware that my language is in huge demand (Iget on average 6 requests a day for my help from English learners all over the world, of which only a small proportion are native speakers of the language that I'm learning (Italian). Some of these would-be 'friends' couch their 'requests' for my help in language that is very demanding and rude! 

Stay Alert!

 

On the hotel's second floor Amadeus Falco walked slowly along the corridor, checking if the doors were opened or closed.

 

He took off his mask to free his movements. The floor was empty, as all the guests and the staff were all on the ground floor.

 

Falco listened to a door banging in the breeze that blew from the lagoon. He pulled out his Beretta M51 and crept forward, hugging the wall, until he reached the source of the noise. It came from the Double Room Garden, which had an open window.

 

Falco peeked inside. There was a velvet armchair, a round table with a lamp, some Venetian pictures on the walls and a double bed. He went in. His shoes slipped on the floor and he almost lost his footing. Checking his shoes, he saw that they were covered with organic matter.  Blood had pooled out from under the double bed.

 

Falco crouched down, careful not to contaminate the scene further,  and saw the dead body of Hassan's chauffeur, the skin bluish-grey in the dim light.  Falco stretched his arm and took the card that was attached to the breast pocket of the dead man. 

Hi Elisabetta. I've made some corrections to your text to make the English sound more natural. For instance, we use the verb 'to supervise' when we talk about someone supervising the work of other people, or supervising a process to check that it goes smoothly. It's better, therefore to say that he 'checked' or 'tested' the doors to see if they were open or closed.

"Falco listened a door beat" isn't grammatically correct. You need to rephrase, saying something like: e.g. 'He heard a door bang' / 'he listened to a door slamming in the wind' /  'a door was banging ceaselessly..' / 'a door creaked ceaselessly in the wind' / 'a draft caught one of the doors and slammed it shut.'

"The inspector wield his Beretta M51 and moved along the wall carefully": This isn't wrong, apart from you need to say 'wielded' rather than 'wield'. However, the language is a little stilted. Repharasing it as follows makes it sound more natural: "He pulled out his Beretta M51 and crept forward, hugging the wall, until he reached the source of the noise." We say 'hugging the wall' when we want to imply that someone is trying to make themselves less conspicuous or less of a target to a potential assailant by walking close to the wall rather than in the middle of the passageway. 

"...the inspector maintained the balance..." It sounds better to just say 'he kept his balance' or 'he kept his footing'. 

"...but when he watched his soles, there were pieces of flesh attached..." Firstly, you wouldn't watch your soles, you'd check your soles. Secondly, I thought it sounded wrong to say 'pieces of flesh attached.' 'Pieces of flesh' brings to mind chunks of meat like pieces of raw steak, which isn't what you're trying to convey, I suspect! So, I would either be more specific and say "He checked his soles and saw that they were covered with what looked like blood, brain matter and chips of bone'" or I'd be less prcise and say 'they were covered with organic matter'. 

'Blood had pooled from under the bed' sound better than 'blood had come from under the bed'.

I hope my comments and corrections don't discourage you, Elisabetta. Your novel is excellent and very engrossing, and your standard of English is very good. I'm just trying to make it sound more as though it's written by a native speaker, which is important if you ever intend to send this to a publisher. 

Corrections: 5 - If you are asking for my advice, I'll tell you what would I do if I WERE in your place. Just tell her (how you feel), or you will regret it later. 6 - Your aggression TOWARDS your classmates is not ACCEPTABLE in THIS school. You WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO RETURN TO SCHOOL tomorrow UNLESS YOU'RE ACCOMPANIED BY your parents. 7 - You will feel so happy after HELPING SOMEONE who really NEEDS it. 8 - Everyday, I go out for AN EARLY MORNING walk TO GET some fresh air. IT ALWAYS MAKES ME FEEL BETTER / IT ALWAYS MAKES ME FEEL MORE HEALTHY. 9 - You need to control your anger, otherwise IT COULD LEAD TO / IT COULD CAUSE YOU a lot of problems.

Capacity means to have the means to do, perform or absorb something. It's the word that fits best into your example sentence. Other examples: 1) I'm sorry, I'm already full to capacity, I simply can't take any more students this semester. 2) I'm sorry, we simply don't have the capacity to treat any more patients. All of our hospital beds are already full.... 3) We are operating at full capacity. We can't possibly ramp up production without investing in more machinery. Ability means capability. E.g. 1) I don't think he has the ability to learn very quickly. He needs to go a little slower. 2) His ability to take on more students is hampered by his already full schedule....he simply doesn't have the capacity! 3) I heard he has capacity for another 3 or 4 students, but frankly I don't think he has the ability to cope with any more...it will be too stressful for him! Availability means to be free to do something, and not to be tied up with other commitments. 1) His availability is limited this week...can you reschedule your appointment for next week? 2) I don't have any availability for the next two weeks...my diary is completely booked up. 3) She said that she didn't have any availability for another month, but I'm not sure that I can wait that long for an appointment.

I've heard it used occasionally in England, but it's a bit old fashioned. The sort of thing you'd expect your elderly uncle to say. It would be very unusual to hear anyone under the age of 50 say it....