Vocabulary : Discovery & Adventure

To climb mountains, to paddle down rivers, to trek in the jungle, or...to stay at home!

Rucksack, knapsack, backpack = mochila
road map = mapa de carreteras
hitch-hiker = autostopista
to trek = caminar con dificultad
a trek = una excursión
to climb = escalar
compass = brújula
snake = serpiente
to snake = serpentear
diving = submarinismo
diving board = trampolín
cruise = crucero
globe-trotter = trotamundos
flippers = aletas
crossing = travesía
customs = aduana
hike = excursión a pie
to roam = vagar
to stop over = hacer escala
to take a trip = irse de viaje
tripper = excursionista
to wander = ir a la aventura, deambular
thirst for adventure = sed de aventuras

Topic: Mind, body and spirit

Below there are some questions concerning mind, body and spirit. Among these questions there are body idioms and sayings that has to do with this topic.

Which things most stress you out? What stresses me out the most is being bothered whenever I am in the middle of something important, i.e, working on a report, studying or listening carefully to a foreign-language song on the radio. Generally speaking, I could say that I need a lot of concentration because I tend to get distracted very easily. Some other things that stress me out are having to deal with a lot of noise in the streets when I am at work (road works) and having to work on weekends.

Do you take any notice of superstition? Sometimes. Not necessarily superstition but déjà vus. I am prone to have dèjá vus, it is some kind of sensation lived repeatedly. It seems that everything I am living at a moment's notice is something I have already lived. I often feel this sensation and I cannot find any answer to it, maybe it is because I want to relate everything.

Have you ever had your palm read? No, never. And I've never thought about it. Actually, I don't think I believe in those things. I know there are fortune tellers and faith healers with their clientele but, personally, I wouldn't visit one. From my point of view, they only want to make money by making people hear what they want to hear and sometimes they guess right by asking too many questions to their customers. As for faith healers, that's something we should take seriously since it's not only money what is brought into game but people's health also.

Healthy body, healthy mind = mens sane in corpore sane

The eyes are the window to the soul = la cara es el espejo del alma

You are what you eat = eres lo que comes

Man does not live by bread alone = no sólo de pan vive el hombre

No pain no gain = todo se consigue a base de esfuerzos

Bookaholic : "A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT"

"A Connecticut yankee in King Arthur's court" by Mark Twain sets the story in the 6th century. The main character travels through time (although at first sight it's unknown how) and finds himself in Camelot. He is compared to Merlin due to his knowledge of the upcoming future and his arts (those of a nineteenth-century man). Not only does he become the sidekick of king Arthur but he also takes part in battles alongside the Knights of the Table Round. On his way throughout Europe he comes across a lot of odd people. Archaic words are used making the reading kind of tedious.

Here's an excerpt of chapter 29 "The smallpox hut" (our man is travelling alongside king Arthur, who is in desguise so that nobody can recognize him, and get to a hut where a woman in rags begs for mercy since she caught smallpox and nobody seems to help her. This woman referring to his late husband ):

"This morning was he out of his mind, and in his fancy we were boy and girl again and wandering in the happy fields; and so in that innocent glad converse wandered he far and farther, still lightly gossiping, and entered into those other fields we know not of, and was shut away from mortal sight."

Grammar spot: Adverbs I

AWAY (adverb of Place or Motion) ; away from (preposition)

1. Place : away = "not her or not here"

E.g. "Is Mr. Cannon there?" - "No, I'm sorry, he's away on business"
       "Keep away!! This animal is dangerous"
       "I live thirty miles away"

2. Motion : away (from) = the opposite of "towards here" or "towards there"

E.g. "The dog was afraid, and ran away"
       "Please go away, I'm busy"

3. Away from (preposition) means the opposite of at or towards.

E.g. "He kicked the ball towards the goalkeeper, who fortunately headed it away from the goal"

  

Miscellaneous : Elizabeth Taylor 1932 - 2011

Elizabeth Taylor died at 1:28 AM at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles ... where she had been hospitalized for the past couple of weeks.  A private funeral will be held later this week.

Taylor's publicist says she was "surrounded by her children -- Michael Wilding, Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd, and Maria Burton."

Taylor's rep says the actress died "peacefully" from congestive heart failure, "a condition with which she had struggled with for many years." The rep adds, "Though she had recently suffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home.  Sadly, this was not to be."

Source : http://www.tmz.com/

Elizabeth Taylor stars in Giant, Cleopatra, Cat on a hot tin roof, Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and many others.

                                           Elizabeth Taylor alongside James Dean in "Giant"

Vocabulary : Jobs

Here are some words concerning different jobs and careers.

Lawyer : abogado
hairdresser : peluquera
teacher : profesor
professor : profesor (universidad)
cook : cocinero
fireman : bombero
doctor : médico
family doctor : médico de cabecera
vet : veterinario
nurse : enfermera
baker : panadero
air stewardess : azafata
steward : auxiliar de vuelo
ticket collector : revisor (trenes)
surgeon : cirujano
pilot : piloto
salesman : vendedor
computer scientist : informático
ballet dancer : bailarín
musician : músico
painter : pintor
gardener : jardinero
butcher : carnicero
grocer : tendero
architect : arquitecto

Song : Dixie Chicks "Travelin Soldier"

Here's one of the best country songs ever by Dixie Chicks, "Travelin Soldier". It's based on the Iraq War which took place in 2003.

Two days past eighteen
He was waiting for the bus in his army green
Sat down in a booth at a cafe there
Gave his order to a girl with a bow in her hair
He's a little shy so she gives him a smile
And he said would you mind sittin' down for a while
And talking to me,
I'm feeling a little low
She said I'm off in an hour and I know where we can go

So they went down and they sat on the pier
He said I bet you got a boyfriend but I don't care
I got no one to send a letter to
Would you mind if I sent one back here to you

Chorus: I cry
Never gonna hold the hand of another guy
Too young for him they told her
Waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier
Our love will never end
Waitin' for the soldier to come back again
Never Born to be alone when the letter said
Soldier's coming home

So the letters came from an army camp

From california then vietnam
And he told her of his heart
It might be love and all of the things he was so scared of
He said when it's getting kinda rough over here
I think of that day sittin' down at the pier
And I close my eyes and see your pretty smile
Don't worry but I won't be able to write for awhile

[Chorus]

One friday night at a football game
The lord's prayer said and the anthem sang
A man said folks would you bow your heads
For a list of local vietnam dead
Crying all alone under the stands
Was a piccolo player in the marching band
And one name read and nobody really cared
But a pretty little girl with a bow in her hair

I cried never gonna hold the hand of another guy too young for him they told her waitin' for the love of a travelin' soldier our love will never end waitin' for the soldier to come back again never more to be alone when the letter said soldier's coming, {repeat chorus}