This month's Free Story

She watched him pack his clothes and his wedding suit into his old suitcase. She could smell his cologne. When did he last wear cologne? Ah, at their wedding. It smelt strange then too. She never wore perfume. What use was perfume to a working woman like her? And married women who wear perfume are looking for lovers, trying to catch other men. That’s what people say. She already had a good, hardworking husband with a shop of his own. What more can a woman want? Download this story Use the lesson plan provided with last month's free story. This time, as you play the Audio Hook, give your students a copy of the picture on page 3 of the free story. Then ask them these questions about the picture: How do the people in the picture feel? Whose wedding is the husband going to? Can you guess? Ask your students: Why do you think the author wrote this story? How long did she take to write it? Encourage students to find out by reading the interview with the author. http://www.oup-bookworms.com/teachers-only.cfm

Millions tune in to find out who shot J.R.

On this day in 1980, 350 million people around the world tune in to television's popular primetime drama "Dallas" to find out who shot J.R. Ewing, the character fans loved to hate. J.R. had been shot on the season-ending episode the previous March 21, which now stands as one of television's most famous cliffhangers. The plot twist inspired widespread media coverage and left America wondering "Who shot J.R.?" for the next eight months. The November 21 episode solved the mystery, identifying Kristin Shepard, J.R.'s wife's sister and his former mistress, as the culprit.

The CBS television network debuted the first five-episode pilot season of "Dallas" in 1978; it went on to run for another 12 full-length seasons. The first show of its kind, "Dallas" was dubbed a "primetime soap opera" for its serial plots and dramatic tales of moral excess. The show revolved around the relations of two Texas oil families: the wealthy, successful Ewing family and the perpetually down-on-their-luck Barnes family. The families' patriarchs, Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes, were former partners locked in a years-long feud over oil fields Barnes claimed had been stolen by Ewing. Ewing's youngest son Bobby (Patrick Duffy) and Barnes' daughter Pam (Victoria Principal) had married, linking the battling clans even more closely. The character of J.R. Ewing, Bobby's oldest brother and a greedy, conniving, womanizing scoundrel, was played by Larry Hagman.

As J.R. had many enemies, audiences were hard-pressed to guess who was responsible for his attempted murder. That summer, the question "Who Shot J.R.?" entered the national lexicon, becoming a popular t-shirt slogan, and heightening anticipation of the soap's third season, which was to air in the fall. After a much-talked-about contract dispute with Hagman was finally settled, the season was delayed because of a Screen Actors Guild strike, much to the dismay of "Dallas" fans. When it finally aired, the episode revealing J.R.'s shooter became one of television's most watched shows, with an audience of 83 million people in the U.S. alone--a full 76 percent of all U.S. televisions on that night were tuned in--and helped put "Dallas" into greater worldwide circulation. It also popularized the use of the cliffhanger by television writers.

The shooting of J.R. wasn't "Dallas'" only notorious plot twist. In September 1986, fans learned that the entire previous season, in which main character Bobby Ewing had died, was merely a dream of Pam's. The show's writers had killed the Bobby character off because Duffy had decided to leave the show. When he agreed to return, they featured him stepping out of the shower on the season-ending cliffhanger, and then were forced the next season to explain his sudden reappearance.

The last premiere episode of "Dallas" aired on May 3, 1991. A spin-off, "Knots Landing," aired from December 27, 1979 until May 13, 1993. "Dallas" remains in syndication around the world.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=VideoArticle&id=52279

First barrel ride down Niagara Falls

October 24: General Interest

1901 : First barrel ride down Niagara Falls

On this day in 1901, a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel.After her husband died in the Civil War, the New York-born Taylor moved all over the U. S. before settling in Bay City, Michigan, around 1898. In July 1901, while reading an article about the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, she learned of the growing popularity of two enormous waterfalls located on the border of upstate New York and Canada. Strapped for cash and seeking fame, Taylor came up with the perfect attention-getting stunt: She would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.Taylor was not the first person to attempt the plunge over the famous falls. In October 1829, Sam Patch, known as the Yankee Leaper, survived jumping down the 175-foot Horseshoe Falls of the Niagara River, on the Canadian side of the border. More than 70 years later, Taylor chose to take the ride on her birthday, October 24. (She claimed she was in her 40s, but genealogical records later showed she was 63.) With the help of two assistants, Taylor strapped herself into a leather harness inside an old wooden pickle barrel five feet high and three feet in diameter. With cushions lining the barrel to break her fall, Taylor was towed by a small boat into the middle of the fast-flowing Niagara River and cut loose.Knocked violently from side to side by the rapids and then propelled over the edge of Horseshoe Falls, Taylor reached the shore alive, if a bit battered, around 20 minutes after her journey began. After a brief flurry of photo-ops and speaking engagements, Taylor's fame cooled, and she was unable to make the fortune for which she had hoped. She did, however, inspire a number of copy-cat daredevils. Between 1901 and 1995, 15 people went over the falls; 10 of them survived. Among those who died were Jesse Sharp, who took the plunge in a kayak in 1990, and Robert Overcracker, who used a jet ski in 1995. No matter the method, going over Niagara Falls is illegal, and survivors face charges and stiff fines on either side of the border.

Words in the news

Young Britons shy away from learning languages
Figures show that most teenagers in the UK have no foreign language skills, and this has an economic impact.
Download transcript & vocabulary (21 K pdf)

Bagatela

Es algo de poco valor o de poca importancia. Proviene del italiano bagattelle, lengua en la cual también tiene el significado de ‘cosa sin importancia’. La palabra se formó en italiano a partir del bajo latín baga (pequeña prenda de ropa) cuyo diminutivo era bagatta. El vocablo original ya aludía a algo pequeño y el diminutivo a algo menor aun, pero el italiano se caracteriza por tener en ciertos casos un diminutivo del diminutivo (Ver fettucine), de modo que bagatta tiene el diminutivo bagattella, algo realmente insignificante. La palabra llegó también al francés bagatelle, con el mismo significado.El etimólogo alemán del siglo XIX Hugo Schuchardt, por su parte, sugiere que el origen no sería baga sino baca, que en latín significaba ‘pequeño objeto redondo’ pero, en todo caso, la evolución posterior de la palabra sería la misma. En la primera edición del Diccionario de la Academia, bagatela aparecía así definida:
Cosa menuda, de poca substancia, sin valor.
http://www.elcastellano.org

El retrato de Dorian Gray

Por Oscar Wilde

De las obras de Oscar Wilde la más conocida, la que en verdad le ha dado fama universal, es El retrato de Dorian Gray. El escándalo que en todos los niveles sociales produjo su aparición, se debió a los alcances contestararios de la moral victoriana que la obra dejaba al desnudo. Nadie emitió entonces opinión acerca de sus valores literarios, salvo aquellos que encendidamente emprendieron la defensa estética de la libertad expresiva y de la realización estética. De modo que si bien esta obra, y la conducta misma de Wilde, terminaron con sus huesos en la cárcel, en donde escribió aquella bellísima balada de la cárcel de Reading, que en sí es una especie de pendant de la presente novela teatral que aquí se presenta, lo cierto es que el drama aquí relatado tan finamente y tan desembozadamente por Oscar Wilde ha devenido un arquetipo de cinismo, y también de castigo ético, o de trascendencia de la vida moral, temas todos que quizá estuvieron en el ánimo del creador, o simplemente alcanzaron a fundirse en su creación estética. Los tiempos han cambiado, a buen seguro, pero esta obra produce todavía el mismo escozor y la misma sensación de plenitud ante la obra de arte; aunque la reacción de las sociedades haya variado 180 grados, y nadie ya plantee el escarnio al autor por la rudeza de las convicciones y la valentía de asumir sus propias lacras morales.

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www.artnovela.com.ar

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Patricia, on living and working in Brazil

Download Patricia interview (MP3)
Download the activity worksheet to use with this month's Podcast.
Worksheet (PDF)
Tapescript (PDF)
http://www.businessenglishonline.net/TheBusiness/podcasts.htm