听播客学英语 36 出土的骨头

Do you know the English word unearth? If you unearth something, you dig it out of the ground. Perhaps you remember the podcast about the Staffordshire Hoard, a collection of gold and precious stones which had been discovered in a field. The man who f

听播客学英语 37 运煤到纽卡斯尔

Have you come across the English expression carrying coals to Newcastle? This is what it means. For several hundred years, from the 16th century until about 50 years ago, the North-east of England was a major coal-producing area. There were literally

听播客学英语 38 骑驴比赛

I am sorry that there has not been a podcast for the last two weeks. We have been very busy in this country. We have had a General Election and now we have a new government. Many countries have electoral systems that we call, in English, proportional

听播客学英语 39 你值得吗

Today, we meet the English word worth, and a famous cosmetics company that tells us that we are worth it. Worth means simply the value that something has. Sometimes we use it in a literal way, to mean how much money would people pay? But often we use

听播客学英语 42 改变时间

Last Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, a whole hour disappeared. It was the beginning of summer time. Every year, at the end of March, we change the time on our clocks and watches. We move the time forward by one hour, so that, for example,

听播客学英语 43 翻滚吧

Have you ever thought that the English are mad? Of course you have. And after todays podcast, you will know that it is true. But first we must meet the English verb to tumble. Tumble means, simply, to fall down. For example, if you are coming down so

听播客学英语 44 罪与罚

Some of you have e-mailed me to say that you would like more podcasts about life and politics in Britain. The subject of the podcast today is a difficult and serious one. It is about a small boy who was murdered 17 years ago. The murder and what happ

听播客学英语 45 Catch

We are going to catch things in this podcast, and yes there will be a new phrasal verb as well to catch up with. Like many common English verbs, catch is irregular. The past tense of catch is caught. So, I catch, I caught, I have caught. If you look

听播客学英语 40 滞留

Today we will learn some words connected with volcanoes; and we will find out that volcanoes are bad for aeroplanes, and why people in west London can now hear the birds sing. Volcanoes are mountains, or other places, where the inside of the earth co

听播客学英语 35 穿衣打扮

I think I told you in an earlier podcast that my daughter, who is 16 years old, attends a secondary school for girls. She has now completed Year 11, and has finished her GCSE exams. In September she will start at a sixth form college. Most of the oth

听播客学英语 34 女人、猫、垃圾桶

Welcome back to Listen to English after the summer break. Many British people take their holidays in August. Our politicians are on holiday, so there is no political news. Our business and finance people are on holiday too, so there is not much busin

听播客学英语 33 我不想在海边

It is September. The summer holidays are over. People have gone back to work. The children have gone back to school. And, when we meet people, often they ask us, What sort of summer did you have? Did you go anywhere nice? How do we reply? Perhaps we

听播客学英语 32 没关系

You have probably come across the English word matter. It is one of those difficult words that seem to mean different things in different contexts. An easy way to learn words like this is to memorise a few common expressions which contain them, and t

听播客学英语 31 玛丽怎么啦

The last podcast, about the word matter, reminded me of a poem by A A Milne. A A Milne was an author who published books for children in the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote the stories about Pooh Bear, which have been translated into many languages and mad

听播客学英语 52 做蛋糕

Today we will meet the imperative form of English verbs, and learn how to bake a cake. English verbs are difficult. There are so many verb forms, and so many irregular verbs. But lets not worry about complicated verbs today. Lets think about the simp

听播客学英语 51 冷冻

For the last two weeks, our newspapers have been full of stories about the Big Freeze. Like many other places in Europe, the weather in Britain has been very cold. We have had lots of snow, and the roads are covered with ice. There are shortages of g

听播客学英语 50 猫

Today we meet a cat called Casper, and we learn about the English verb to commute. Lets start with the verb. Commute has an interesting history, because its modern meaning is quite different from its original meaning. Originally, to commute meant to

听播客学英语 49 乔治的巧克力工厂

Martina Lopez has sent me an e-mail. She suggests that every week, I should tell you about a phrasal verb. Good idea, Martina. There are hundreds of phrasal verbs in English, and there is, I am afraid, no easy way to learn them. You just have to reme

听播客学英语 48 罗伯特的城堡

We have a saying in English that an Englishmans home is his castle. What exactly does it mean? Some people say that it means that you can do anything you like in your own home. But that isnt true. You are not allowed to kill people in your home, for

听播客学英语 47 保持冷静

This weeks phrasal verb is to carry on. I shall explain it in a minute, but first here is a story about a typical Monday morning for Kevin, in his new job as Assistant Sales Manager (South East England). It is 6.30. Time to get up. The alarm clock ri